In the 8th century AD, the Arab writer Abul al-Muqafa translated a book, which was also translated into European languages, which was widely circulated in Europe, and this book introduced Indian wisdom to the world, even to writers like Machiavelli and George Avel. Couldn’t live without being influenced by it.
The thinker and traveler Muhammad Abid al-Jabari wrote in the fourth and last part of his book ‘Critique of Arabic Knowledge’, ‘Arabic Ethical Knowledge’, that from its early days (when this book was translated) to the middle of the twentieth century, while the Arabic language At its peak, the role of this book has been of fundamental importance in the formation of moral wisdom in the Arabic language.
Jabri added, ‘Not only this but also this book has been of great value throughout this period. Both in terms of language and literature and thus this book is the first formal textbook of modern Arabic culture.
Aljabari’s words also show that there are some contradictory things in this book. For example, in one place, obedience to the king has been encouraged, while in another place, he has been told to stay away from the king, threatening the harm of his company. The texts that encourage obedience to the king come from Persian and those that threaten his company are based on Hindi texts.
Al-Jabri further states that Abdullah bin Al-Muqafa translated this book during the golden age of Arabic knowledge, when the practice of transferring knowledge from its neighboring languages was at its peak. Many popular books in the world that popularized the Enlightenment in political and moral contexts are indebted to this book. It is believed that the famous Italian thinker Macaulay was also influenced by this book and it should also be noted that Arabic was the language through which this text reached Europe.
Spanish translation
It may also be pertinent to mention here that the Spanish King Alfonso X (whose title was Hakim) in the middle of the 13th century AD ordered that ‘Kalila wa Damna’ be translated directly from Arabic into Spanish. After that, this translation had many effects. These influences were not only in Spanish and European symbolic literature (because this book contains symbolic literature), but also political thought could not remain without being influenced by it.
It is also said that anyone who wrote on politics, political affairs or state affairs after that (including Machiavelli, the author of ‘The Prince’) directly or indirectly made use of this book. This may be an exaggeration to some extent, but it certainly gives an idea of the effectiveness of this book.
The book Kalila Wadmanah was translated into Arabic in the 8th century AD, but before that the book had been translated into various Asian languages in different centuries. One of these translations is also in Persian language, which was translated by the order of King Noshirwan.
While this book played an important role in the formation of modern political thought in Europe, this book also played a very important role in the promotion of knowledge in the Arabic language. It should also be noted that although this book has its roots in pure Sanskrit and was known to the Persians before the advent of Islam, Kalila wa Damna has the reputation of being an Arabic classic. And the reason for this is Abdullah Ibn Al-Muqafa. Ibn al-Muqafa rendered it into Arabic with such skill that he is rightly included among the elite of Islamic history.
A page from Kalilah and Damnah (Public Domain)
Dabashlim and Bedpai
The stories of Kalila and Damna (at least in the Arabic version) always begin with an address by King Dabashlim to the philosopher Baid Pai. Most researchers believe that Bedpai is the original creator of these stories. Baid Pai was a moral philosopher and thinker. He brings out philosophical points through his stories and presents them in symbolic style through the language of animals and their interrelationships.
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History shows that this book was compiled several times in different periods after Bedpai. The most famous of these texts is the Pancha Tantra (Five Books). In this version we are first introduced to the two foxes ‘Kartak’ (named Kalila in Arabic) and ‘Damanak’ (named Damna in Arabic), the protagonists of the stories.
Through these foxes, we are exposed to the words of wisdom and wisdom of the Brahmin Pandit Faiznoz Arman. He was commissioned by the Raja to educate three ignorant princes. Thus we find another name for this book ‘Book of Princes’ and this name is adopted in many European manuscripts.
Journey to Kalila and Damna
The original text of this book made a long journey through Central Asia and Persia before it reached Ibn al-Muqafa, and what happened to such books happened to the book on the way (from other stories). became rich.
When Ibn al-Muqafa began to translate it in Baghdad (Baghdad was one of the great cities of the world in terms of culture and civilization at that time), it was quite natural that new stories would be added to it, and that is what happened. The manuscript had 17 chapters and one story in each, while the original Indian manuscript had only five stories. Therefore, we can say that Ibn Al-Muqafa’s version is the richest. It contains more Arabic political science and ethics than ancient Indian wisdom. Based on which it can be considered an Arabic text as compared to other texts from Asia (which were translated into Arabic).
sophistry of thought
Ibn al-Muqafa did not add much to the quantity, but he made changes in it intellectually. This change we see most prominently in the harvest in which there is a trial of leprosy (which sows discord among animals). The purpose of describing this trial is merely to present moral thoughts, but some such things have been described in it, which has made it more political than moral, due to which there has been a contradiction in this trial.
A fight between a snake and a snake in a story included in the Pancha Tantra (Public Domain)
There are four cases in the Arabic Kalila Wadmana, among them probably the most important case is the one in which spiritual and intellectual issues are made the subject while describing the biography of the Persian intellectual Buroziya, which shows that the political turmoil What should be done in the future? Different stories are told in the remaining chapters. When the reader reads these stories, he finds rhymes, symbols and allegory in these stories. As already stated, the purpose of these stories was very limited and that purpose was the moral education of the elite as well as the political training. The ‘moral’ conveyed in these stories is mostly consequentialist. This type of morality is mostly found in the following stories:
‘The Hare and the King of Fellas,’ ‘The Fox and the Drum,’ ‘The Hare and the Lion,’ ‘The Poor Worshipper,’ and ‘The Wolf, the Gadder and the Crow,’ etc. The researchers believe that psychoanalysis of the characters in Kalila Vadmana is not possible except in Vadmana. Damana is a character who has a Machiavellian personality and is close to the ancient Greek thinker, the Sophist.
From Lafontaine to George Orwell
As we have already mentioned, Kalila Vadamana was translated into Spanish. It was later translated into other European languages. The Latin language in particular was greatly influenced by it. Many authors wrote books on the same style, among them A.F. Doni who wrote a book called ‘Ethical Philosophy’ in 1525. Lafontaine used it in his stories and so did George Orwell in his book ‘Animal Farm’ in the 20th century.
Ibn al-Nadim wrote about Ibn al-Muqafa in his book Al-Fahrast that ‘Abdullah Ibn al-Muqafa’s name was Rozbah in Persian, before Islam his surname was Abu Amr and after Islam he took the surname Abu Muhammad. He is called by Ibn al-Muqafa because he was beaten by Hajjaj bin Yusuf in Basra and both his hands were severely damaged and both his hands were twisted. He belonged to Khouz, a city in southern Iran.
He was in the 8th century (Hijri) and was a very eloquent writer and poet. He was burned alive by Sufyan bin Muawiya on the charge of apostasy. He was the person who transferred many sciences from Arabic to Persian, he was equally proficient in both languages. Apart from Kalila and Damna, he translated several books including ‘Kitab al-Adab al-Kabeer’ and Kitab ‘Al-Adab al-Saghir’, which are considered reliable books of Arabic prose.
Note: This article was first published in Arabic on independentarabia.com.
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2024-08-28 03:12:07
