Ranbir Singhs Juwelenbrosche und Aigrette: Erstedition und Übersetzung ausgewählter Kapitel von Sāhibrāms Vīraratnaśekharaśikhā
The Persian Mirror for Princes Aḫlāq-i Muḥsinī — “Muḥsin’s Ethics” — by Ḥusayn Vāʿiẓ Kāšifī (1436/37–1504/5) originated in Herat during the Timurid period, at the beginning of the 16th century. The work consists of forty chapters, each devoted to a virtue of the ideal ruler or a quality of statesmanship. It was widely received in various parts of the Islamicate world, including South Asia. Shortly after the beginning of Dogra rule, the Kashmiri scholar Sāhibrām (†1872), on behalf of the new foreign rulers, translated this Mirror for Princes into Sanskrit under the title Vīraratnaśekharaśikhā (“Ranbir Singh’s Jewel Brooch and Aigrette”). Sāhibrām not only embellished the title, but enriched the entire Persian source text in terms of content. He rendered the often laconic prose entirely into verse and also composed a scholastic commentary on his own Sanskrit verses. As a result, his derivative text is substantially more voluminous than the original.
The edited Sanskrit text and a diplomatic transcription of the main text of the unedited chapters have been published as research data. These are available for download at: https://doi.org/10.11588/DATA/LTF9NA
Ranbir Singhs Juwelenbrosche und Aigrette: Einleitung und Edition
Volume 1 documents for the first time, through a partial edition of 19 chapters, the portion of this Sanskrit work that can be most reliably established on the basis of available manuscript witnesses. The accompanying introduction explores the historical circumstances of the transfer of the text from New Persian. By determining the method of translation and providing a comprehensive account of Sāhibrām’s translation techniques — illustrated with numerous examples and synoptic tables — it is shown how Muḥsin’s Ethics ultimately became Ranbir Singh’s turban ornament.
The edited Sanskrit text and a diplomatic transcription of the main text of the unedited chapters have been published as research data. These are available for download at: https://doi.org/10.11588/DATA/LTF9NA
Ranbir Singhs Juwelenbrosche und Aigrette: Übersetzungen und Anhänge
Volume 2 provides content-based access to the text through a German translation of the metrical base text, supplemented by numerous additions from the auto-commentary. The translation is accompanied by the corresponding passages from the Persian source — likewise rendered in German translation. These are followed by numerous appendices, which gather the intertextual references, display Sāhibrām’s metrical repertoire, and visually represent his prosopopoeic poems. Also included is a lexicon listing the portions of his vocabulary not yet attested in existing lexical resources.
The edited Sanskrit text and a diplomatic transcription of the main text of the unedited chapters have been published as research data. These are available for download at: https://doi.org/10.11588/DATA/LTF9NA
