* Paper presented at the international conference organized by the Indian Council of CulturalRelations and the University of Leipzig “The Pañcatantra Across Cultures and Disciplines”held at the Saxon Academy of Sciences and Humanities in Leipzig, 27-29.09.2012.

1 Term used by Prof. Markus MODE, Martin-Luther-Universität, Halle-Wittenberg.2 Cf. e.g. references in DRESDEN 1981 or MARSHAK 2002: 23, fn. 5.3 Cf. GRENET 2007, with numerous references to earlier research.

BERLINER INDOLOGISCHE STUDIEN | BERLIN INDOLOGICAL STUDIES 24 · 2019: 279-298

The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings?*

Monika Zin

In memoriam of Boris Illich Marshak(Luga 1933 – Panjikent 2006)

For the land of the Sogdians, situated between the middle and upper coursesof the Amu Darya (Oxus) and Syr Darya (Jaxartes) and today divided be-tween Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan, terms like “multicultural” or“transcultural” which have become buzzwords of our time, can be said tohave been appropriate already in antiquity. The Sogdians represent a vitalcomponent of Central Asian civilization and are with good reason known as“the key nation” („Schlüsselvolk“) between Greece and China.1

Sogdiana was a part of Asia with a long and often fluctuating history. Ref-erences to it go back to the times of Xerxes. In post-Alexandrian times, Sog-diana almost certainly belonged to the independent Graeco-Bactrian kingdom,later to the Parthian and Sasanian empires, and subsequently came to be ruledby foreign peoples, including the Hephthalites (c. 509-565), the Turks (565-650), the Tang Chinese, and later by the Arabs.

Many secular and religious writings in the Sogdian language, which be-longs to eastern Iranian, have survived, the religious being translations ofBuddhist, Manichaean and Christian works.2 While, however, different reli-gions had been of importance to the Sodgians who lived in various oasesalong the Silk Road, in Sogdiana itself these cults formed minorities.3 Themain faith of the people was Zoroastrianism. The religious practice of the

280 M. Zin [2]

4 AZARPAY 1981a: 130-131.5 Cf. HUMBACH 1975.6 Cf. AZARPAY 1981a: 127-143 “Religious Imagery” with extensive references, or GRENET

1994.7 De la VAISSIÈRE 2005.8 For an extensive study, cf. MODE 1993.9 Cf. BELENITSKIJ/MARSHAK 1981; cf. Appendix in AZARPAY 1981: 185-203 “The Classi-

fication of Sogdian Paintings”.10 Cf. MARSHAK 2002, with references to earlier research; for newest research, cf. LO

MUZIO 2017: 263-281.

Sogdians was, however, different: their Zoroastrianism was influenced bydifferent sides. For example, mourning which was prohibited in the Zoro-astrian church was allowed and even depicted in their art.4 In Sogdiana, dif-ferent deities became the object of worship for families. These deities lookIndian. Sogdians identified their Z(a)rwa with Brahma, Åδβaγ with Indra andWišparkar, Ve¸ (actually Vayuš)5 with Mahådeva-˜iva (Sogdian Wišparkaris possibly Bactrian Oëšo (oηþo) represented on Ku¹å½a coins with ˜iva’sthree heads). Also, the iconography of the four-armed Nanai riding the lioncorresponds with Durgå / Devï. This assimilation of Indian gods came late;early Zoroastrianism had viewed Indra as a demon.6 All these and similaradaptation processes exemplify the function of the busy Sogdian merchantshustling along the Silk Road as middlemen in the transmission of cultures.7

The cities played an important role in the state. They were “cities of mer-chants”, with their own income and officials. Several old cities have been dis-covered, the biggest being Marakanda (today’s Samarkand). The cities wererich, with splendid architecture and art.

In Varakhsha near Bukhara, in Afrasiyab (on the territory of ancient Sa-markand),8 and in ancient Panjikent, the painted decoration inside severalbuildings has survived.9

Panjikent (Penjikent, Piandjikent, Pjenjikent),10 around 60 km east of Sa-markand, was a small city, less than 14 hectares in size; Samarkand had beenat least 15 times bigger. Panjikent’s significance was not great. Panjikent wasa “city of merchants”. The townhouses were two to three storeys high andcontained principal halls. Their structure was similar to the palace of the ru-ler, Dëwåštï…, and differed only in the number of rooms. Also, the paintingsin the palace of Dëwåštï… were not superior to those in the residences of themerchant aristocracy.

[3] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 281

11 MARSHAK/RASPOPOVA 1990: 151-153; LO MUZIO 2017: fig. 7.34.12 MARSHAK/RASPOPOVA 1997-98; LO MUZIO 2017: fig. 7.33.13 MARSHAK 2002: 18-22.14 MARSHAK 2002: 61-99, 124-141, with references, e.g. BELENITSKII/RASPOPOVA 1971:

21-22; BELENITSKI/MARSHAK 1971: 18ff.

More than 50 rooms with wall-paintings have been excavated in Panjikent.Paintings were not the only medium of decoration of the houses, but they weresurely the most expressive, which was their task since they were placed pre-dominantly in the reception halls of buildings. It is important to note in thispaper that the paintings are quite precisely dateable according to archaeologi-cal strata in which coins or other clearly determinable artefacts or inscriptionshave been discovered. The long narrative friezes appeared in the short periodof prosperity of the town, from c. 700 until 740, after which Sogdiana wascompletely absorbed into the empire of the Caliphs and converted to Islam.

As for other religions, just two depictions of the Buddha have been dis-covered in Panjikent so far: one painting11 and one terracotta mould.12 Evenif the representations appear somewhat strange and the painting was incorpo-rated into a representation of the goddess Nanai, we ought to remember thatBuddhist stories might have been known in the city.

The programme of murals was complex: the pictures were arranged into reg-isters. MARSHAK13 classifies them into three grades of importance, accordingto moral categories, expressed through their location in the hall and their size.

The first grade was religious, connected with the family cult: the scene ofworship was placed on the wall opposite to the entrance and covered the entireheight of the wall. The second grade was heroic, connected with the life of no-ble warriors. The paintings were placed on either side, arranged into frieze-likeregisters. They illustrated heroic scenes, banqueting or hunting; the most im-portant were illustrations of the Rustam Circle. The third grade, in the lowestregister, which is the main subject of this paper, was not obligatory; it appearsin only four halls – 41/VI (i.e. room no. 41 from sector VI, “Rustam Room”),7/III, 1/XXI “Amazon Room”, 8/VI – replacing usual ornamental patterns.

The scenes in these lowest registers are divided into rectangular panels.The panels represent standing couples or musicians but, first of all, illustra-tions of fables and fairy-tales. Among the depictions, several narratives fromthe Pañcatantra have been recognized.14

282 M. Zin [4]

15 AZARPAY 1981a: 104ff., 179.16 Cf. SCHLINGLOFF 1981.

The upper and lower registers are stylistically different. The lowest reg-isters are not only narrower but also undemanding, the ornamentations andthe heroic pathos of the upper scenes are lacking. Characteristic are directimitations of Indian visual prototypes: a figure of a Brahmin appears severaltimes, apparently indicating that the scene is situated in that distant landwhere all wonders become believable.

No similar narrative friezes appear in neighbouring countries: the sourceof the maturity of depiction is unknown and can perhaps only be explainedby a transfer of ready-made prototypes. Their synoptic compositions15 prob-ably repeat Indian or Central Asian murals from residential houses or illustra-tions from books. The most ancient of the Panjikent paintings, from the 5th

century, display even more affinities with India than the later ones. One scenedepicts a woman with unclad upper body, a feature we do not encounter inlater time.

The representations are composed according to conventions: one and thesame person can be represented several times in one picture and the scenesare sometimes ordered not according to the chronological progress of eventsbut rather according to locations, which is a typical feature of Indian repre-sentations, especially paintings.16 Even if not a single such painting has sur-vived from that time in India, we can presume that the Panjikent murals re-peat Indian prototypes.

What follows is an analysis of the narrative paintings found in the lowest reg-isters and is intended for Indological use. As far as I know, this was never donebefore. The main focus is not the paintings themselves but narratives they il-lustrate. The aim is to establish evidence about Indian stories which were circu-lated in Sogdiana by the beginning of the 8th century. This topic calls for fur-ther research. Here an analysis of a limited number of pictures is undertaken.

At the outset, it must be mentioned how incomplete the available materialis: even in a place as small as Panjikent only about half the material has beenexcavated so far. Nevertheless, as we will see, the conclusions are quite co-herent and may be of help for further research.

[5] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 283

17 Cf. MARSHAK 2002: 55-108, 120-141; a short summary of the most important depictionsis found in MARSHAK 2004.

18 Fragments of the Vita Aesopi are preserved in Uyghur language (ZIEME 1968) but, asexpected, they do not include the fables. For Aesop’s fables in Central Asia, cf.http://www.vitterhetsakad.se/pdf/uai/Turfan.pdf.

19 Cf. PERRY 1952: 342.20 Cf. MARSHAK 2002: 86, 89-90, fig. 41; SEMENOV 1996: 106-108, fig. 36.21 MERKELBACH 1988.22 Cf. MARSHAK 2002: 133, 135, 137, ill.: pl. 14 and fig. 86; SEMENOV 1996: 106-108,

fig. 37; colour picture in BELENIZKI/BELOUS 1980: pl. 49; AZARPAY 1981a: fig. 25; LOMUZIO 2017: fig. 8.37.

23 Cf. PERRY 1952: 355.

Among the published material of the figurative lowest register there are 34representations in which tales from Aesop, the Pañcatantra or similar sourcesare illustrated.17

At first glance, the topics seem to illustrate a mixture of sources, thusdrawing more attention to the oral tradition rather than the written sources.This may be erroneous; pictures are ordered in series, and in fact, give theimpression that they even illustrate collections of the stories.

Two pictures illustrate Aesopian tales. The oral tradition may, of course,be a plausible source, but it is equally thinkable that a previous source of sto-ries or of story collections had existed which is lost today.18

Aesop’s fable (no. 53)19 about the father who initially asked his sons tobreak individual sticks – what was easy – and then the whole bunch of sticks– what was impossible – to impart to them the importance of living in unityand peace, is represented in one Panjikent painting (41/VI).20 The story hasbeen known in a written form and not only in western Antiquity (as fromStrabo and Plutarch, for example), but also from the Secret Story of theMongols. Fragments of a Manichaean text in Parthian that tell exactly thesame parable have also survived.21

It seems quite possible that literary sources of the illustrated stories circu-lated in the region and not just the oral tradition. Another representation of anAesopian topic titled “The Fable of the Goose that Laid the Golden Eggs”(1/XXI)22 confirms just this. The picture shows that the man is killing thegoose, apparently expecting to find more riches in her body. As MARSHAKhad observed, among all known versions, this story is told in this way only inAesop (no. 87),23 since all folklore versions have a happy ending.

284 M. Zin [6]

24 HARTMANN 2014.25 MARSHAK 2002: 86, figs. 38-39.26 Cf. PERRY 1952: 369 “Fable about the crow and the vixen”.27 MARSHAK 2002: 92, fig. 44.

Fig. 1 After SEMENOV 1996: fig. 34

It is certain that, in Panjikent, we are dealing with Aesopian topics but wewill never know from which direction the stories reached Sogdiana. An im-portant article by HARTMANN24 must be mentioned in this context where hepresented manuscript fragments from the 6th century, containing four storiesin Sanskrit from a so far unknown collection. One of these is the “Parable ofa Man and His two Ladies”, telling the story of the young one who pulled outhis grey hair and the old one who pulled out his black hair till he becamebald. This is a known Aesopian tale, but it is known also from Chinese Bud-dhist sources (T 1766 and T 2121) and from modern narratives in India andKorea. The 6th-century manuscript from Afghanistan shows that Sanskrit lite-rature was acting as a sort of locus of trans-shipment in the migration of sto-ries between Greece and the Far East. We do not have evidence that it wasknown in Sogdiana; if it was, it could have come from the West or the East.

Several identifications of the Panjikent paintings are doubtful because oftheir poor state of preservation. MARSHAK25 interprets one picture (41/VI) asthe Aesopian topic “Fable about the crow” (no. 124),26 even though only apart of a bird is visible. Some paintings are well preserved but the stories areunknown, e.g. a picture showing a wolf with seven heads (41/VI).27 Of great

[7] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 285

28 Fig. 1: Panjikent 41/VI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 62, 64, fig. 31; SEMENOV 1996: 97-104, fig.34; beautiful illustration in BELENIZKI/BELOUS 1980: pl. 36; LO MUZIO 2017: fig. 8.9.

29 HENNING 1945: 471-472; HENNING 1977: 175-176.30 For a Syriac translation, cf. BICKELL 1876: 14; for a translation from Arabic, cf. MIQUEL

1980: 72ff., le Lièvre et le Lion; for Persian, cf. NAJMABADI/WEBER 1996: 36-38.31 Fig. 2: Panjikent 1/XXI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 138, fig. 88; SEMENOV 1996: 85-86, fig.

27; colour picture in BELENIZKI/BELOUS 1980: fig. 5032 Cf. BICKELL 1876; WRIGHT 1884.33 RABY 1987-88 and 1991; SIMS/MARSHAK/GRUBE 2002.

importance is the picture (Fig. 1)28 that apparently illustrates the story aboutthe merchant (represented as an Indian ascetic) who, during the storm, pro-mises to give to the Spirit of the Ocean the first being he meets if he returnshome safely. He meets his daughter who then goes to meet the sea monster.The picture is important because the narrative is known from a Sogdianmanuscript.29

We see here, as was mentioned before, that the depictions exemplifystrong conventions, such as the repeated representation of one and the sameperson in a single pictorial item, or representations of “Indian-looking” Brah-mins (who are, however, not Brahmins in the story), but generally the paint-ings illustrate the stories quite comprehensible.

Let us proceed to the stories that present themes from the Pañcatantra. Atfirst, a commonly known narrative should be named, known from all recen-sions of the Pañcatantra as well as from the Kalïla and Dimna.30 This is “TheTale of the Lion and the Hare” (Fig. 2),31 the story about the clever hare whofooled the stupid lion by showing him his reflection in the well, which is fromthe Pañcatantra (I,7).

The terminus ante quem for the murals is the year 740; they were done inthe time when the (today lost) Pahlavi translation by Burzðë existed and itsSyriac rendition Kalïlag we Damnag32 – it is, however, not known if thosestory collections were known in Sogdiana. Ibn al-Muqaffa)’s Kalïla wa Dimnawas probably from a slightly later date; Ibn al-Muqaffa) was executed in 751.

Although not the topic of this paper, it should at least be mentioned thatthe iconography of the Panjikent murals was repeated in later illustrations ofthe parables.33 The earliest known illustrated copy of Ibn al-Muqaffa)’s Kalïlawa Dimna comes from Syria (13th century), but even in that source – 500 yearslater – enough similarities have survived to clearly show the resemblance

286 M. Zin [8]

34 Cf. the manuscript from Syria, ca. 1200-20 CE, Paris, Bibliothèque nationale, MS Arabe3465 fol. 58v.; ill.: RABY 1991: fig. 10.

35 RABY 1991: 19-20.36 Fig. 3: Panjikent 41/VI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 85, figs. 36-38; SEMENOV 1996: 96-97, fig. 31.37 Cf. BICKELL 1876: 1ff.; MIQUEL 1980: 49ff., Le lion et le bœuf.38 Egypt, Oxford Bodleian Library, MS 1354 CE, Pococke 400, fol. 45r.; ill.: RABY 1991:

fig. 14.

Fig. 2 After MARSHAK 2002: fig. 88

to Panjikent,34 or perhaps to an older, common pictorial source; it must, how-ever, also be mentioned that the majority of the Arab and Persian depictionsfollows different visual prototypes.35

Also the Panjikent picture “The Tale of the Bull, the Lion, and the Jackal”(Fig. 3)36 was repeated later. The picture illustrates the first book of thePañcatantra on “how to destroy alliances between greater powers” and wastaken over to all translations.37 The jackal creates hostilities between the bulland the lion by talking to each of them about the aggressive plans of theother. When the two finally meet, they attack each other. The white bull, withits black spots, will be depicted later in Arab illustrations.38 The literary basisof the parable cannot be ascertained. It is even difficult to say if the Buddhist

[9] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 287

39 Among others the Jåtaka, no. 349; T 1425, ed. vol. 22: 258b-c, trad. CHAVANNES 1910-34, vol. 2: 425-429, no. 394; SCHIEFNER 1906: 325-331, no. 33.

40 HENNING 1945: 471-472; HENNING 1977: 175-176.41 GEISSLER/ZIEME 1970.42 Cf. JÜLG 1866, story no. 20.43 Fig. 4: Panjikent 138/III, cf. MARSHAK 1996.44 Fig. 5: Panjikent 1/XXI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 130, pl. 13, fig. 81; SEMENOV 1996: 87-

88, fig. 29.

Fig. 3 After MARSHAK 2002: fig. 36

versions can be excluded.39 Fragments of the story are preserved among Sog-dian Manichaean translations from western Iranian languages.40 Also, frag-ments of an Uyghur version have survived, where the slanderer is not thejackal but the female fox,41 a version which is repeated in the MongolianVetålapañcaviº¸ati42 where, however, the fox is male. These versions cannotbe excluded as the possible literary basis of the representation since the tailof the canine animal is quite bushy.

As far as I can see, all further Pañcatantra depictions in Panjikent are evenmore controversial. They always differ from the known Pañcatantra versionsin one way or another; they also neither have counterparts in the Syriac Kalï-lag we Damnag nor in the Arabic Kalïla wa Dimna, which are translations ofBurzðë’s book.

Let us start with the story which is represented twice in Panjikent, i.e. ina medallion in sector III (Fig. 4)43 and in a typical rectangular painting insector XXI (Fig. 5).44 The depiction was recognized as “The Tale of the Re-surrected Tiger”. The representation should be read like this: three wise menfound the bones of a tiger. One of them joined the bones back together, andanother resurrected the tiger, and was attacked. The story is narrated in thePañcatantra (not in the Tantråkhyåyika, but in the Textus simplicior V,4and Textus ornatior V,3). The Pañcatantra narratives, however, also know

288 M. Zin [10]

Fig. 4 After MARSHAK 1996

Fig. 5 After SEMENOV 1996: fig. 29

[11] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 289

45 Cf. SIEG 1916.46 MODE/MODE (1986) take this and other discrepancies between pictures and the Pañca-

tantra as proof that the paintings illustrate popular culture and oral tradition. As we shallsee, several representations can be explained to be illustrations of versions as they arerendered in different story collections.

47 For this version, cf. JÜLG 1866 and JÜLG 1868.48 MARSHAK 2002: 133.49 Fig. 6: Panjikent 41/VI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 93, 97, figs. 48-49.50 Fig. 7: Panjikent 1/XXI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 133, figs. 84-85; SEMENOV 1996: 88-89,

fig. 30.

a fourth, truly wise man, who escaped by climbing up a tree. Moreover, thePañcatantra talks about a lion, not a tiger, same as the Tocharian renderingpreserved in manuscript fragments found in Shorchuq.45 The jåtaka version(prose of no. 150) knows the tiger, but in that version, it is a single Brahminwho brings the animal back to life while the other Brahmins are described asobserving the scene. One could argue that the painter developed a fancy anddepicted certain items as per the oral tradition,46 but this seems unlikely; inthe Vetålapañcaviº¸ati, in Jambhaladatta’s version (story no. 19), we meetthe tiger again. However, here also, there are four, and not three men whobring the animal back to life. The story is not incorporated into the Mongolianversion of the Vetålapañcaviº¸ati.47

As becomes clear, a simple explanation for the picture as being adopteddirectly from the Pañcatantra is not possible. Rather, it seems that the narra-tive was known in Panjikent in a different version. The story is not incorpo-rated into the Kalïla wa Dimna.

We have one more narrative of which two illustrations have survived in Panji-kent. MARSHAK48 explained it, unquestionably correctly, to be “The Tale ofthe Monkeys, the Elephants and the Woman Playing with the Ram” (Fig. 6)49

and (Fig. 7).50 The picture in sector XXI (Fig. 7) is better preserved. It shows(from left to right): monkeys in the mountains; a warrior holding one monkeyover a pot; a person of status talking to a male; elephants and a ram; and akneeling woman at the right edge. The story can be found in the Textus simpli-cior (V,10) and Textus ornatior (V,8), but again, not in the Tantråkhyåyika;it tells about a wise monkey king who advised his people to leave the humancourt but since nobody wanted to take this step, he left for the mountainsalone. A ram came into the kitchen and the female cook hit him with a burning

290 M. Zin [12]

Fig. 6 After MARSHAK 2002: fig. 49

Fig. 7 After MARSHAK 2002: fig. 85

billet of wood. The ram’s fur caught fire and while it ran to the royal stablesit set them on fire; many animals were wounded. The king was advised bydoctors that a monkey’s fat is good for treating burns and thus the king com-manded to kill the monkeys.

The explanation of the painting is correct, but again we are dealing herenot with the illustration of the versions of the Pañcatantra as they are known

[13] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 291

51 BOYCE 1955: 55-58.52 FALCONER 1841: 11-12; cf. BENFEY 1859, vol. 1: 503-504; BOYCE 1955: 56.53 Jåtaka, Nos. 404 and 140; T 203, trad. JULIEN 1859-60, vol. 1: 135-138; cf. CHAVANNES

1910-34, vol. 3: 145.54 T 1450, ed. vol. 24: 201a, trad. CHAVANNES 1910-34, no. 387, vol. 2: 412-414.55 SCHIEFNER 1906: 350-351, no. 43.56 BOYCE 1955: 58.57 MARSHAK 2002: 130, pl. 13, fig. 82; SEMENOV 1996: 86-87, fig. 28.58 BENFEY 1859, vol. 1: § 106 and 538-539.

today. First of all, in the Pañcatantra, the story only marks the beginning ofthe actual narrative, which is the “The Revenge of the Monkey”. Except forthis, other details do not match: in the Pañcatantra, there are stables ofhorses, not of elephants, and the clever monkey king leaves the human courtunaccompanied – but here apparently with a retinue or his wife. It is again notjust a fancy of the painter, since the narrative can be found in a version thatsuits the depiction: it is rendered in the Pahlavi Letter of Tansar 51 (known to-day from a Persian translation) and the Sindbåd-nåme;52 in the latter version,however, it is a goat and not a ram which causes the fire in the royal stables.The stories are close to the Buddhist versions53 which render the story as aseparate one, omitting the revenge of the monkey king. The painting corre-sponds to the version from the vinaya of the M÷lasarvåstivådins preserved inChinese54 and in Tibetan.55 BOYCE56 supposes that there had been Sasanianswho had learned the M÷lasarvåstivåda story during their rule over Gandhara.It was probably this version which found its way to the Letter of Tansar andto the Sindbåd-nåme, but not to the Kalïla and Dimna.

As a last example, let us take a small scene, explained by MARSHAK as“The Fable of the Blacksmith and his Monkey” (1/XXI).57 The representationis self-explanatory: the monkey hits his master on the head with a hammer;apparently, there was a fly sitting there. The picture is seemingly easy to un-derstand, but it still is the most difficult to explain because the story, in thisform, actually does not exist. In the Pañcatantra (in Textus ornatior I,30, butnot in simplicior nor in the Tantråkhyåyika), it was the king on whose headthe fly was sitting while the monkey tried to kill it with a sword. The jåtakaversion (no. 44) talks about a carpenter and his son, while the Russian folkstories58 mention a bear and a gardener. The fable, again, is not repeated inthe Kalïla wa Dimna.

292 M. Zin [14]

59 The interpretations of the paintings appear uncertain to me. MARSHAK (2002: 90-91, fig.42) supposed “The Tale of the Witness-tree”, illustrating Pañcatantra (I,26-27) and Kalïlaand Dimna (I,13-14). I can not connect either the persons with elephants on the left-handside nor the adviser on the right with the narrative about two friends, who hide theirmoney in the woods. — Also the interpretation of SEMENOV (1996: 91) is not convincing,since he counts the next panel to the right (MARSHAK 2002: fig. 43, colour depiction inBELENIZKI/BELOUS 1980: fig. 37) to the same story, which contradicts the usual method.SEMENOV connects the depiction with motifs from jåtaka 493 (Mahåvanijajåtaka, tellingabout merchants who cut branches of a tree, out of which came water, food, women andjewellery; in the prose of the jåtaka the merchants are punished, swallowed by the trunkof the tree). This story explains the bowls held by the person under the tree, the man witha hatchet, the women coming out and cutting off boughs. The male person there on theleft-hand side is explained by SEMENOV as a merchant being punished.

60 MARSHAK 2002: 127, fig. 78 “The Tale of the Bird’s Three Pieces of Advice”.61 MARSHAK 2002: 127, 129-130, figs. 79-80.62 Fig. 8: Panjikent 41/VI, cf. MARSHAK 2002: 67, figs. 34-35.

Fig. 8 After MARSHAK 2002: fig. 35

There are more pictures in Panjikent, showing the tree-spirit (41/VI),59 thespeaking bird (1/XXI),60 or the lady and her lovers (1/XXI),61 where storiessimilar to the Pañcatantra can be supposed, but they never match the text ex-actly. Knowing this, perhaps other Pañcatantra-like stories can be presumedin the pictures. To give just one example: a picture (Fig. 8)62 which was ex-plained by MARSHAK to be the illustration of a Tajik story about a princewhose friends were animals. To me it seems like a variant of the narrative of“Too Greedy Jackal” (Tantråkhyåyika I,I,I, Textus simplicior II,3 and Textusornatior II,4, Southern II,3). The story tells about a hungry jackal who unex-pectedly runs into a huge amount of food by finding a killed deer, a hunterand a boar in the woods. The jackal, however, decides to save the flesh andeat the bowstring. When it bit into the string, it severely cut and killed him.The Panjikent picture may depict the same parable, but the bounty of flesh

[15] The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings 293

63 SCHIEFNER 1906: 286-287, no. 19.

that the jackal finds, comes not from the hunt but from the battle. The Bud-dhist variant63 is again totally different: the flesh the jackal finds consists ofthe bodies of 500 robbers who had died due to poisoning.

All our examples provide us with general evidence about the Pañcatantra inSogdiana which might be valid even considering all reservations and the factthat further pictures may be discovered, etc. With the exception of just twobroadly known narratives which were integrated into the Kalïla wa Dimna,the murals illustrate narratives which do not correspond exactly with any ofthe Pañcatantra recensions known today. We have no evidence that they arePañcatantra stories at all.

The analysis of the Panjikent pictures arrives at rather important findings:it questions the legend about the physician Burzðë being sent out by KhosrouAnðširvån to India to bring the famous Pañcatantra; it also, more important-ly, brings to light that it was not just the Pañcatantra which was circulatingin Middle Asia before 740 CE, but a huge body of mostly Indian tales in ver-sions which are more similar to the ones known from other collections, andwhich were transferred further to the West not with the Kalïla and Dimna butwith the Sindbåd-nåme, for instance. In some cases, the stories were nottransferred at all.

There are two general conclusions in my paper. It was correct not to use a fullstop at the end of the title “The Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings” but rathera question mark. The second conclusion is that art history is not just art histo-ry, simply understood as being important for the beauty of artefacts which canbe excluded from philological studies. The pictorial sources are just as impor-tant for the analysis and the dating of the stories as the written ones.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

Aesop, cf. PERRY 1952.Jåtaka, ed. Viggo FAUSBØLL, The Jåtaka together with its Commentary, being Tales

of the Anterior Births of Gotama Buddha, 1-6. London, 1877-96; transl. EdwardByles COWELL (ed.), The Jåtaka or Stories of the Buddha’s Former Births. Trans-lated from the Påli by Various Hands, 1-6. Cambridge, 1895-1907.

Kalïla wa Dimna of Ibn al-Muqaffa) (Arabic), cf. MIQUEL 1980.

294 M. Zin [16]

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Further Reading

BELENITSKY, Aleksandr (1968) Central Asia (Archaeologia Mundi). Geneva / Paris /Munich.

HERTEL, Johannes (1904) Über das Tantråkhyåyika, die ka¸mirische Rezension desPañcatantra, mit dem Texte der Handschrift Decc. Coll. VIII. 145. Leipzig.

298 M. Zin [20]

— (1909) Tantråkhyåyika. Die älteste Fassung des Pañcatantra aus dem Sanskritübersetzt mit Einleitung und Anmerkungen. Leipzig und Berlin (repr. Darmstadt,1970).

— (1912) The Panchatantra-Text of Purnabhadra. Critical Introduction and List ofVariants (Harvard Oriental Series, 12). Cambridge, Mass.

— (1912) The Panchatantra-Text of Purnabhadra and its Relation to Texts of AlliedRecensions as shown in Parallel Specimens (Harvard Oriental Series, 13). Cam-bridge, Mass.

— (1915) The Panchatantra. A Collection of ancient Hindu Tales in its Oldest Re-cension, the Kashmirian, Entitled Tantrakhyayika (Harvard Oriental Series, 14).Cambridge, Mass.

OLIVELLE, Patrick (1997) Pañcatantra: The Book of India’s Folk Wisdom. Oxford.SCHMIDT, Richard (1901) Das Pañcatantram (Textus Ornatior), eine altindische Mär-

chensammlung. Leipzig.SIMS-WILLIAMS, Nicholas (1989) “Sogdian”. In: Compendium Linguarum Iranica-

rum, ed. Rüdiger SCHMITT. Wiesbaden: 173-192.STAWISKIJ, Boris J. (1982) Die Völker Mittelasiens im Lichte ihrer Kunstdenkmäler.

Archäologische Reise durch die Geschichte Alt-Mittelasiens (Vom Paläolithikumbis zur Islamischen Eroberung). Bonn.

YAKUBOVSKIJ, A.Yu. (1954) Živopis’ drevnego Piandžikenta. Moskva.

Berliner Indologische StudienBerlin Indological Studies

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Klaus Bruhn _

24 . 2019

herausgegeben von / edited byGerd J.R. Mevissen

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Inhalt / Contents

GERD J.R. MEVISSEN (comp.)Updated Bibliography of Klaus BRUHN (1928 – 2016) . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

JOHANNES SCHNEIDERRezepte für Räucherwerk und andere Wohlgerüche aus dem

tibetischen Tanjur: Någårjunas *A¹¶åpadïk¡tadh÷payoga . . . . . 15

KURT TROPPERInscription 1 in the Entrance Area of the Lha khang chen mo at

’Khor chags Monastery. Edition and Annotated Translation . . . 63

GOURISWAR BHATTACHARYAImportance of Mainamati, A Unique Buddhist Site in Bangladesh . 105

PARUL PANDYA DHARCharacterizing Contrariety; Representing Råva½a in the

Early Western Deccan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 131

K.L. MANKODI˜ïtalå, and ˜iva as “˜ïtale¸vara”, on the Chandrabhaga’s Tïrtha

at Jhalrapatan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 165

GERD J.R. MEVISSENObservational Hints at the Probable Relevance of the Tropic of

Cancer in Indian Art: The Case of Tapasvinï Pårvatï . . . . . . . . 191

RAJESH KUMAR SINGHDevil in the Details-1, Spink’s Imaginations: Did the A¸makas

Really Destroy the Front Cells of Ajanta Cave 19? . . . . . . . . 257

CORINNA WESSELS-MEVISSEN & ADAM HARDYNote on a Recently Reported Early ˜iva Temple near Kothur

(Telangana State) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 265

MONIKA ZINThe Pañcatantra in Sogdian Paintings? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 279

BÉLA KELÉNYIHow to Read Pictures. Review of: Olaf CZAJA, Reflections of

the Divine: Treasures of Tibetan Painting. The UlrichWörz Collection. Weimar, 2018 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 299

Mitarbeiter / Contributors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 303

Mitarbeiter / Contributors

Dr. Gouriswar BHATTACHARYA, Epigraphist and Art Historian (retired),Kolkata, India.

Dr. Parul Pandya DHAR, Associate Professor (South & Southeast Asian ArtHistory), Department of History, University of Delhi, India.E-mails: pdhar@history.du.ac.in, parulpd@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Adam HARDY, Professor of Asian Architecture, Welsh School ofArchitecture, Cardiff University, Cardiff/Wales, United Kingdom.E-mail: HardyA@cardiff.ac.uk

Dr. Béla KELÉNYI, Retired Curator of the Tibetan-Nepalese Collection, Ferenc Hopp Museum of Asiatic Arts, Budapest, Hungary.E-mail: kelenyi.bela@gmail.com

Dr. K.L. MANKODI, Consultant, Project for Indian Cultural Studies,Franco-Indian Pharmaceuticals Pvt. Ltd., Mumbai, India.E-mail: klmankodi@gmail.com

Dipl.-Ing. Arch. Gerd J.R. MEVISSEN, M.A., Independent Researcher and Editor,Berlin, Germany.E-mail: gerdmevissen@hotmail.com

Prof. Dr. Johannes SCHNEIDER, Bayerische Akademie der Wissenschaften,Wörterbuch der tibetischen Schriftsprache, München, Germany. E-mail: johannes.schneider@lrz.badw-muenchen

Dr. Rajesh Kumar SINGH, Consulting art historian, Ajanta caves researchprogramme, Dharohar, Secure Meters Ltd., Udaipur, India.E-mail: rksingh1970@gmail.com

Dr. Kurt TROPPER, Austrian Academy of Sciences, Institute for the Cultural andIntellectual History of Asia, Vienna, Austria.E-mail: kurt.tropper@oeaw.ac.at

Dr. Corinna WESSELS-MEVISSEN, Independent Researcher, Berlin, Germany.E-mail: cwesselsmevissen@gmail.com

Prof. Dr. Monika ZIN, Research Team Leader, Research Centre “BuddhistMurals of Kucha on the Northern Silk Road”, Saxon Academy ofSciences and Humanities in Leipzig, and Honorary Professor, LeipzigUniversity, Leipzig, Germany.E-mail: zin@saw-leipzig.de