The Journal of the American Oriental Society articles from April 1998

The Journal of the American Oriental Society archives from April 1998

The Jewish origins of Qur An 18:65-82? Reexamining Arent Jan Wensick's theory. (scholar)
April 1, 1998... The story of moses and the anonymous "servant of God" in Q 18:65-82 has been the source of much commentary by Muslim and non-Muslim scholars alike. Muslim commentators generally follow the story attributed to Ubayy b. Ka b, transmitted by Ibn...

The Minas and their literature. (dissident Sikh group)(includes appendix)
April 1, 1998... SODHI MIHARBAN AND THE MINAS In the sikh panth, the term Mina was originally applied to a group who recognized a different line of gurus after the fourth Guru Ramdas: instead of the orthodox line proceeding from Ramdas to his youngest son...

The place of filial piety in ancient China.
April 1, 1998... To my great surprise, when I first began a study of filial piety in ancient China, I found very little secondary material on the subject.(1) Perhaps scholars in traditional China thought that filial piety was such a self-evident phenomenon in...

Qieyun and Yunjing: the essential foundation for Chinese historical linguistics.
April 1, 1998... In a recent article (Norman and Coblin 1995) I am chastised as a "neo-Karlgrenian" whose "mechanistic statements of correspondences between alleged stages of Chinese as codified in traditional dictionaries and rime tables" are "too far removed...

The ulcers of Duke Huan of Ch'i. (frequently mentioned character in classical Chinese literary sources)
April 1, 1998... According to the Tso Chuan [Chinese Text Omitted], the following is said to have occurred in the year 657 B.C. (i.e., the third year of Duke Hsi of Lu [Chinese Text Omitted], and in the twenty-ninth year of Duke Huan of Ch'i [Chinese Text...

A Kohlhammer translation (with commentary) of Tosefta tractates in MOED. (Hebrew rabbinic literature)
April 1, 1998... This translation of, and accompanying commentary on, three consecutive medium-sized tractates of the Second Order of the Tosefta-Moed ("Festivals") is a welcome attempt to offer an interested audience a prime text of Tannaitic literature. The...

Rereading the history of early Maliki jurisprudence. (new literary sources pertaining to development of Islamic law)
April 1, 1998... Most Islamicists would probably categorize Ossendorf-Conrad's new book as a typical contribution by a German orientalist - a narrowly defined project of interest to a mere handful of scholars. Indeed, Ossendorf-Conrad does nothing to change that...

Das "K. al-Wadiha" des Abd al-Malik b. Habib: Edition und Kommentar zu Ms. Qarawiyyin 809/40 (Abwab al-Tahara).
April 1, 1998... Most Islamicists would probably categorize Ossendorf-Conrad's new book as a typical contribution by a German orientalist - a narrowly defined project of interest to a mere handful of scholars. Indeed, Ossendorf-Conrad does nothing to change that...

A new edition of Vyadi's 'Paribhasavrtti.' (new critical edition based on four ancient Sanskrit manuscripts)
April 1, 1998... The strengths and weaknesses of Wujatyk's welcome edition are here examined. The Vyadiyaparibhasavrtti, alias Paribhasasucana, has been the source of scholarly debate concerning its antiquity; see Cardona 1976: 168 for work done to that date....

Metarules of Paninian Grammar: Vyadi's Paribhasavrtti, Critically Edited with Translation and Commentary, 2 vols.
April 1, 1998... The strengths and weaknesses of Wujatyk's welcome edition are here examined. The Vyadiyaparibhasavrtti, alias Paribhasasucana, has been the source of scholarly debate concerning its antiquity; see Cardona 1976: 168 for work done to that date....

Artaxerxes, Ardasir, and Bahman. (ancient Persian King Artaxerxes II; founder of ancient Sasanian Empire; Kayanid King; three figures who influenced the development of the Zoroastrianism religion in Iran)
April 1, 1998... Artaxerxes ([Greek text omitted]) is the Greek rendering of the throne name of three Achaemenid monarchs, Artaxsaca, corresponding to the Old Iranian [Greek text omitted] ("he who reigns through Truth/Right Order"). It became a personal name in...

Rhinoceros toes, manu V.17-18, and the development of the Dharma system. (ancient manuscript regarding consumption of five-toed creatures)
April 1, 1998... A widespread provision in the dharma texts (MDS V. 18, GDS 17.27, BDS 1.5.12.5, ApDS 1.5.17.37, VDS XIV. 47, ViSmr 51.6, Yajn. I.177) forbids the eating of the flesh of 'five-nailed' (pancanakha), i.e., 'five-toed' animals, save for a restricted...

Some storks and eagles eat carrion; herons and ospreys do not: kankas and kuraras (and badas) in the Mahabharata. (animal terminology in ancient epic Indian poem)
April 1, 1998... Birds occupy some interesting places in the imagination of many Sanskrit poets, perhaps because brahminic culture accorded sabda such a privileged place in its experience of the world.(1) The conversations and recitations of gatherings of...

Francisco Varo and the sound system of early Qing Mandarin. (Dominican friar who conducted research on Chinese historical phonology)
April 1, 1998... I. INTRODUCTION The Arte de la Lengua Mandarina, by Francisco Varo (1627-87), a Spanish Dominican missionary, was completed in Fuzhou in 1682 and printed posthumously in Canton in 1703. It is probably the earliest published grammar of any form...

Chinese fa in Altaic: a further note. (word meaning 'law, etc.')
April 1, 1998... Twice in this decade G. Kara has published short notes touching upon, and generally dismissing, the possibility of Chin. fa 'law, etc.' being etymologically connected with a somewhat eclectic selection of Manchu, Mongolian, and Turkic forms...

Concepts of the Other in near Eastern Religions.
April 1, 1998... Edited by ILAI ALON, ITHAMAR GRUENWALD, and ITAMAR SINGER. Israel Oriental Studies, vol. 14. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1994. Pp. 386. HF1 150, $85.75. This volume brings the contemporary concern for the category of "the other/Other" to bear on...

Koptische Lauten: Eine musikarchaologische Untersuchung von sieben Langhalslauten des 3.-9. Jh. n. Chr. aus Agypten.
April 1, 1998... By RICARDO EICHMANN. Deutsches archaologisches Institut Abteilung Kairo, Sonderschrift 27. Mainz: VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 1994. Pp. xxiv + 157, 71 fig., 19 tabulas, 8 enclosures, and 24 tables. DM 115. "Coptic lutes" are chordophones with a...

Ankaraner Kultepe-Texte, vol. 3.
April 1, 1998... By EMIN BILGIC: and CAHIT GUNBATTI. Freiburger altorientalische Studien, Beihefte: Altassyrische Texte und Untersuchungen, vol. 3. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1995. Pp. 210. DM 88, FS 88, OS 687 (paper). This volume, assigned the...

Einleitung in die Targume zum Pentateuch.
April 1, 1998... By UWE GLESSMER. Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum, 48. Tubingen: J. C. B. MOHR (PAUL SIEBECK), 1995. Pp. xv + 274. DM 138. The author here presents two chapters of his doctoral dissertation, accepted at the University of Hamburg in 1988....

The Inscriptions of Tiglath-pileser II, King of Assyria.
April 1, 1998... By HAYIM TADMOR. Jerusalem: THE ISRAEL ACADEMY OF SCIENCES AND HUMANITIES, 1994. Pp. xv + 318, 60 plates + 1 acetate sheet. $60. This is a scholar's book. Lucky are those of us who not only understand how valuable the research embodied in this...

Settlement and Society in the Early Bronze Age I and II, Southern Levant: Complementarity and Contradiction in a Small-scale Complex Society.
April 1, 1998... By ALEXANDER H. JOFFE. Monographs in Mediterranean Archaeology, 4. Sheffield: SHEFFIELD ACADEMIC PRESS, 1993. Pp. ix + 129; 3 foldout maps. [pounds]25, $37.50. The purpose of this revised doctoral dissertation is to create a theoretical model...

Wealth and Poverty in the Instruction of Amenemope and the Hebrew Proverbs.
April 1, 1998... By HAROLD C. WASHINGTON. Society of Biblical Literature Dissertation Series, no. 142. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 1994. Pp. xi + 242. $29.95 (cloth); $19.95 (paper). Washington seeks to illuminate Amenemope's and Proverbs' treatment of the issues...

Der Tempelturm Etemenanki in Babylon.
April 1, 1998... By HANSJORG SCHMID. Deutsches archaologisches Institut, Abt. Baghdad: Baghdader Forschungen, vol. 17. Mainz am Rhein: VERLAG PHILIPP VON ZABERN, 1995. Pp. xix + 154 + 42 plates + 18 plans + 1 jacketed plan. DM 135. This monograph is a careful...

Texts from the Amarna Period in Egypt.
April 1, 1998... By WILLIAM J. MURNANE. Edited by EDMUND S. MELTZER. Writings from the Ancient World; Society of Biblical Literature, vol. 5. Atlanta: SCHOLARS PRESS, 1995. Pp. xviii + 289. $49.95 (cloth); $34.95 (paper). Here is another set of translations in...

Ancient Egyptian Kingship.
April 1, 1998... Edited by DAVID O'CONNOR and DAVID E SILVERMAN. Probleme der Agyptologie, 9. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1995. Pp. xxxiii + 347 HFl 180, $103. The concept of kingship was central to ancient Egyptian civilization and has long been an object of study...

Amurru, 1: Mari, Ebla et les Hourrites: Dix ans de travaux, part 1.
April 1, 1998... Edited by JEAN-MARIE DURAND. Actes du colloque international (Paris, mai 1993). Paris: Editions Recherche sur les Civilisations, 1996. Pp. 440, 7 maps, illustrations. FF 230 (paper). The papers published in this inaugural volume derive from a...

Mesopotamian Culinary Texts.
April 1, 1998... By JEAN BOTTERO. Mesopotamian Civilizations, vol. 6. Winona Lake, Ind.: EISENBRAUNS, 1995. Pp. x + 252, including plates. $39.50. A delectable pleasure to read and review, this book is a chef d'oeuvre of cuisine and of Assyriology and...

Recasting Persian Poetry: Scenarios of Poetic Modernity in Iran.
April 1, 1998... By AHMAD KARIMI-HAKKAK. Salt Lake City: UNIVERSITY OF UTAH PRESS, 1996. Pp. xi + 335. $44. In this well-written and persuasively argued book, Ahmad Karimi-Hakkak chronicles the development of Persian poetry in the course of the nineteenth and...

Alchemie, Ketzerei, Apokryphen in fruhen Islam: Gesammelte Aufsatze.
April 1, 1998... By PAUL KRAUS. Edited by REMI BRAGUE. Hildesheim and New York: GEORG OLMS VERLAG, 1994. Pp. xiii + 346. DM 118. Eleven studies by Paul Kraus, one of the true geniuses of our times! Remi Brague introduces the book with a brief biography and...

Imaginal Worlds: Ibn al-Arabi and the Problem of Religious Diversity.
April 1, 1998... By WILLIAM C. CHITTICK. Albany: STATE UNIVERSiTY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 1994. Pp. vii + 208. $18.95. It is no exaggeration to say that the works of William C. Chittick stand in the forefront of the recent stream of serious scholarly monographs on...

Reference Grammar of Amharic.
April 1, 1998... By WOLF LESLAU. Wiesbaden: OTTO HARRASSOWITZ, 1995. Pp. xlv + 1044. DM 228. This thorough and detailed grammar of Amharic, representing over thirty years of research, supplants all previous such works and so represents a significant event in...

Semitic Studies in Honor of Wolf Leslau on the Occasion of His Eighty-fifth Birthday, November 14th, 1991, 2 vols.
April 1, 1998... Edited by ALAN KAYE. Wiesbaden: OTTO HARRASSOW1TZ, 1995. Pp. xix + 1,719. DM 368. The name Wolf Leslau is synonymous with the study of Modem South Arabic and the Ethiopic languages. His numerous works, dating from 1933 until today, attest to...

The Empire of the Mahdi: The Rise of the Fatimids.
April 1, 1998... By HEINZ HALM. Translated from the German by MICHAEL BONNER. Handbook of Oriental Studies, the Near and Middle East, vol. 26. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1996. Pp. xiii + 452. HFI 260, $167.75. After almost a century of clandestine activity by a...

The Spiritual Writings of Amir Abd al-Kader.
April 1, 1998... Translated by MlICHEL CHODKIEWICZ. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS, 1995. Pp. ix + 233. $16.95 (paper). The publication of an English translation of Michel Chodkiewicz's selection of texts from the Kitab al-Mawaqif (Book of "Stops,"...

Index du grand commentaire de Fahr al-Din al-Razi.
April 1, 1998... Compiled by MICHEL LAGARDE. Handbook of Oriental Studies, The Near and Middle East, vol. 22. Leiden: E. J. BRILL, 1996. Pp. 80 (English) + 359 (Arabic). HFI 260, $167.75. This volume will be eagerly received by scholars of Islam. It is a...

Amaravati: Buddhist Sculpture from the Great Stupa.
April 1, 1998... By ROBERT KNOX. London: BRITISH MUSEUM PRESS, 1992. Pp. 247, 21 figures, 133 catalogue illustrations. [pounds]40. The two Buddhist sites from Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati and Nagarjunskonda, have justifiably held the attention of scholars-from the...

The Buddhist Art of Nagarjunakonda.
April 1, 1998... By ELIZABETH ROSEN STONE. Buddhist Tradition Series, vol. 25. Delhi: MOTILAL BANARSIDASS, 1994. Pp. xxvii + 143,282 plates. Rs 600. The two Buddhist sites from Andhra Pradesh, Amaravati and Nagarjunskonda, have justifiably held the attention of...

The Magic Mountains: Hill Stations and the British Raj.
April 1, 1998... By DANE KENNEDY. Berkeley and Los Angeles: UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS. 1996. Pp. xiii + 264, 14 illustrations, 2 maps. $38, [pounds]30. In this book Dane Kennedy, an associate professor of history at the University of Nebraska, has jumped...

Idioms of Improvement: Vidyasagar and Cultural Encounter in Bengal.
April 1, 1998... By BRIAN A. HATCHER. Calcutta: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 1996. Pp. xx + 307, maps, plates, tables. $29.95. This volume, a revised version of a doctoral dissertation at Harvard, illumines the world view of the complex figure of Igvarcandra...

Colonial Indology: Sociopolitics of the Ancient Indian Past.
April 1, 1998... By DILIP K. CHAKRABARTI. New Delhi: MUNSHIRAM MANOHARLAL, 1997. Pp. xi + 257. Rs 350. Archaeologist Dilip K. Chakrabarti has produced a polemical survey of scholarship on ancient India. In addition to rehashing the "racist" assumptions of...

Bhakti Religion in North India: Community Identity and Political Action.
April 1, 1998... Edited by DAVID N. LORENZEN. SUNY Series of Religious Studies. Albany: STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK PRESS. 1995. Pp. xi + 331. After six volumes of bhakti studies published by the Conference of Devotional Literature in New Indoaryan Languages...

Das Puskara-Mahatmya: Ein religionswissenschaftlicher Beitrag zum Wallfahrtsbegriff in Indien.
April 1, 1998... By ADITYA MALIK. Beitrage zur Sudasienforschung, Sudasien-Institut, Universitat Heidelberg, vol. 155. Pp. xiii + 408, maps, photographs. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 1993. In a recent review I introduced Roland Jansen's Die Bhavani von...

Korean.
April 1, 1998... By SUK-JIN CHANG. London Oriental and African Language Library, vol. 4. Amsterdam and Philadelphia: JOHN BENJAMINS PUBLISHING COMPANY, 1996. Pp. xvii + 251. The professed goal of this new S.O.A.S. series is admirable: "to make available .... ..