[INDOLOGY] Query

[Christophe Vielle]

An pioneering study on the history Barlam and Joasaph legend was by the Bollandist 
Paul Peeters s.j. "La première traduction latine de «Barlaam et Joasaph» et son original grec", Analecta Bollandiana 49, 1931, pp. 276-312. 
Following it, the (Manichean) Middle Persian version(s) was/were translated into Arabic (cf. survey of the versions + ed. and transl. of one of them by D. Gimaret 1971-72), and therefrom came the Christianized Georgian (rather than a Syriac one which had been postulated) version (cf. the works of  Lang 1955-1966 on the two, rather than one, Georgian versions) which was rendered into Greek by Euthymus the Athonite (the work is no longer ascribed to John Damascene). It is more or less what is told in the Wikipedia articles (in French, English or German) on "Barlam and Josaphat", but the name of Peeters is never mentioned. La Vallée Poussin, who was close to Paul Peeters, was also interested by the problem in the years 1931-32 (cf. Revue de l'Université de Bruxelles, 1931-32, p. 218 – http://digistore.bib.ulb.ac.be/2011/DL2503255_1932_000_037.pdf, in which there is also a paper by J. Przyluski on "L'influence iranienne en Grèce et dans l'Inde", pp. 283 sv.), but I did not find any publication on the topic by the Buddhist scholar.
In addition to the, already mentioned, introductory article by J. P. Asmussen in the Encyclopaedia Iranica (1988), there is for the (Manichean) Middle Iranian versions (which make the link between the Indian source(s) and the first Arabic version) the following important reference by Francois de Blois, "On the sources of the Barlaam Romance, or How the Buddha became a Christian saint", In:  Literarische Stoffe und ihre Gestaltung in mitteliranischer Zeit : Kolloquium anlässlich des 70. Geburtstages von Werner Sundermann /​ herausgegeben von Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst, Christiane Reck und Dieter Weber, Wiesbaden: Dr. Ludwig Reichert, 2009, pp. 7-26.
There should also be mentioned this other important book (co-directed) by Donald Lopez: In Search of the Christian Buddha: How an Asian Sage Became a Medieval Saint (2014): https://books.google.be/books?id=EiDQAgAAQBAJ
And on the Christian versions starting with the Byzantine one, this recent one:
Constanza Cordoni and Matthias Meyer eds, Barlaam und Josaphat: Neue Perspektiven auf ein europäisches Phänomen, Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, 2015
https://books.google.be/books?id=5NaRCwAAQBAJ

Best wishes,
Christophe Vielle

Le 5 mars 2017 à 15:57, Tieken, H.J.H. via INDOLOGY <indology at list.indology.info> a écrit :

> Allen's article is about Vidura telling Dhr̥tarāṣṭra about a brahmin hanging upside down above a pit (MBh  11, 5-6) and about Jaratkāru's ancestors from MBh 1, 13.9 ff, 1, 41, and 3, 94ff. The quotation from Barlam and Iosapath with which Allen opens the article reads: Than he loked downwards into the pyttes grounde, and there he sawe an horrible dragoun ... He had his mowthe euer open and euer redy to have deuowred hym. In the passage quoted in the previous mail Allen seems to imply that this particular motif is also present in Chavanne's Chinese version. I do not think that he is claiming that there is a Chines Barlam. He hope this helps. H
> 
> 
> Herman Tieken
> Stationsweg 58
> 2515 BP Den Haag
> The Netherlands
> 00 31 (0)70 2208127
> website: hermantieken.com
> 
> ________________________________________
> Van: Matthew Kapstein [mkapstei at uchicago.edu]
> Verzonden: zondag 5 maart 2017 15:41
> Aan: Tieken, H.J.H.; Anna Martin; indology at list.indology.info
> Onderwerp: RE: [INDOLOGY] Query
> 
> Dear Herman,
> 
> The citation from Allen is puzzling. He seems to be saying that there are
> recognizable ME and Chinese versions of Barlam, but at the end of the quote
> is referring to Vidura's story. As I don't think that there is a Chinese version of
> Barlam, is there perhaps something missing from the citation? Or is it
> just a poorly constructed sentence?
> 
> Matthew
> 
> Matthew Kapstein
> Directeur d'études,
> Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes
> 
> Numata Visiting Professor of Buddhist Studies,
> The University of Chicago
> 
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–––––––––––––––––––
Christophe Vielle
Louvain-la-Neuve



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