The Hymns to the Living Soul: Middle Persian and Parthian Texts in the Turfan CollectionThe 'Hymns to the Living Soul' presents texts in the Iranian languages Middle Persian and Parthian from the Turfan Collection in Berlin together with two fragments from the Otani Collection in Kyoto and one from St. Petersburg. The texts belong to the Manichaean community in Central Asia of a millennium ago which used Middle Persian and Parthian hymns in its rituals and celebrations. These hymns are predominantly in Parthian. They focus on a key area of Manichaean theology, the imprisonment of the divine principle light in the material world and the need for the Manichaean Chosen Ones to free this light, as they free themselves, in order to send it back to the paradise of light to where the Chosen Ones will eventually follow it. This edition gathers all the relevant published and unpublished texts (lists of hymns, hymns and 'cantillated' hymns as well as some possibly related hymns) and presents them in diplomatic edition together with a transcription and translation into English on facing pages. Unlike in previous editions great attention is paid to the formal structure of the hymns. An extensive introduction, notes, a complete glossary and facsimiles of fragments not previously reproduced accompany the edition. Will interest: Students of Manichaeism; of Central Asian history and cultures; of comparative religion; of Iranian languages and literatures. |
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33 hymn abecedarian hymn abecedarian units Andreas-Henning 1934 belong Bema blank line Blessed Boyce br'dr'n bw'h bwxtg by'd cantillation caption čē Colditz contains doxology duplication fragment fryd yy fryn'm grīw gryw jywndg gy'n Henning hymn 11 impv.pl incipits indicate jywhr Klimkeit large gap light light-soul line lost line-length line-spacing lines missing Living Soul Manichaean Middle Persian nw'g ō tō Otani pad drōd page-height page-width Parth Parthian pd drwd pdyšt pp.I praise pydr r-point Reck refer refrain rg'w rj'n yy sentence short hymns šhr Sogd Sogdian Sundermann tnb'r translation Turfan tw gryw rwšn unclear Unpublished v.itr v.tr verb verse Waldschmidt-Lentz 1926 wjyd word wxrd wyhm wysp wyspwhr wyst wzrg yazdān yy gryw yy tw gryw yy wd yyšw z'dg z'wr zrw'n