American Oriental Society
ABSTRACTS OF COMMUNICATIONS
Presented at the 209th Annual Meeting
21-24 March 1999-Baltimore

(Listed in order of presentation)

 

 

 

Peter T. Daniels

If the Greeks ``Needed'' to Write the Vowels, How Come the Iranians Didn't?

W. Randall Garr

`Image' and `Likeness' in the Inscription from Tell Fakhariyeh

Eleonora Cussini

Aramaic Inscription from Babylonia: A Palæographic study of the Murasû texts

Christa Müller-Kessler

The Babylonian Legacy in Aramaic Incantation Texts of Late Antiquity

The result of this study stands in contrast to former opinions that the incantation formulas of Late Antiquity are more closely connected with the religion of the scribe, the script and the dialect, in which the formulas are composed and written. The method of analyzing and interpreting the incantation texts has to be reconsidered in light of the new evidence

Calvert Watkins

An Indo-European Divine Name in Anatolian and Celtic?

(a) South and West Anatolian	Tarhunt-s	(u-nt > unt)
	Tarhwant-s	(old full grade)
	Tarhunt-as	(thematicized)
	Tahunz-as	(hypostasis or -nt-io- )
	Tarhunt-i(ya)s	(post-Com. Anatolian -ya- )
(b) Central Anatolian	Tarhunna-s.

(a) can be exactly equated with the Vedic participle and divine epithet t\skew4\acute[`u]rvan `overpowering' (Eichner, IE ^*terh₂-). For (b) there is ample Indo-European evidence for a suffix of variable form specifically in divine names, containing -u- and -n(o)- .

We also find a set of derivatives of the name of the Stag God, derived from the word for `horn', parallel to those in the name of the Storm God:

(a)	K(u)runt-s
	later
	Runt-s
	K(u)runt-as
	Runz-as
	Runt-iyas.

The suffix of Tarunnas recurs exactly in the Gaulish name of the Celtic Stag God

(b)	C]emunnos,

also from the word for `horn'. It would be improper methodology to postulate an Indo European Stag God on the basis of an ``equation" of Anatolian K(u)runt- and Celtic Cernunno- , and the iconic similarity of their respective images belongs to the plane of universals. Yet one might imagine an inherited portmanteau semantic structure for a divine name or epithet HORN (-u- ) + possessive, OVERCOME (-u- ) + possessive, which could be independently implemented in the given tradition. Such reconstructions provide a necessary flexibility in the deten-nination and specification of semantic structures in many culturally important areas of the lexicon, as Benveniste in Le vocabulaire des institutions indo-européennes (1969) was at pains to show. It remains the case that the unique implementation of the possessive suffixes as

OVERCOME + -unt-	(Luvian)
OVERCOME + -unno-	(Hittite)

HORN + -unt-	(Luvian)
HORN + -unno-	(Celtic)

is a striking coincidence, and the existence of an Indo-European Stag God cannot be disproved.

H. Craig Melchert

Hittite damnassara- domestic

Furthermore, damnassara - at least once designates `men' and also occurs as the epithet of various animals: male goats, a male sheep, and snakes. In one instance it appears to contrast explicitly with gimras `of the field/open country'. The total evidence for damnassara - argues that it is an adjective with a basic meaning `domestic, of the household'. The application to animals is straightforward. The men so designated are probably not servants, but `household members' (Grk.  oke[^(i)]oi, Lyc. prñnezehi -). The Damnassara -deities are protective spirits of internal spaces, dwellings and temples, comparable in function to the Latin penates . Although these probably are goddesses, the use of damnassara- to qualify males suggests that the suffix -(a)ssara- here is not that marking females, but that which forms various secondary derivatives (such as ispantuzziassara- `libation vessel' < ispantuzzi- `libation'). The base ^* damn(a)- is itself surely a derivative of the PIE word for `house' ^*dóm-/dém- .

David Testen

Conjugating the ``Prefixed Stative'' Verbs of Akkadian

What is the source of the peculiarities surrounding these verbs? Synchronic irregularities frequently provide insights into the nature of earlier stages of a given language. It is suggested here that, however curious they may be from the standpoint of historical Akkadian, the shapes of ``know" and ``have" reflect the regular preterite-formation processes of a prehistorical stage of the language. An investigation into the reconstruction of Semitic verbal inflection suggests that the ide and isu which we find in the documented language have been left stranded by the expansion of what has now become the generalized pattern-i.e., they originated as preterite forms built from ``weak" roots of a sort which has not otherwise survived into Akkadian.

Alan Kaye

Afroasiatic and Alleged Nostratic Etymologies

Our conclusion is that there is no convincing evidence in favor of the Nostratic macrofamily.

Timothy C. Wong

Commentaries and Evolutionary Xiaoshuo Texts

Fang-yi Chao

On the Origin of the Aspect Markers in Chinese

Charles Yim-tze Kwong

Man and Religious Nature in Ancient Chinese Poetry

With the development of imaginative thought and language and Nature's domestication into a relationship of agricultural affinity, this response took on a supernatural dimension, as seen in religious incantations and songs expressing worship of an animistic world. The actual religiousness of the sentiment is uncertain, for the practically-directed prayers clearly arose from the hopes and needs of primitive livelihood. Seemingly exuding a mystical power in the course of singing and dance, such religious verse reflects a dual attitude to Nature: an appeasement of fearsome nature spirits, yet also an attempt through ritual to harness them to serve human purposes. Empirical agents affecting livelihood became deified spirits, enjoying sacrifices but summoned by words of authority to serve man's will. Majestic, supernatural Nature could apparently be mastered through intelligence and language. Like primitive poetry itself, visualizations of Nature in early China blend secular and religious, real and imaginary elements together.

This topic forms part of a half-written book that will be the first comprehensive study of the interflows shaping the Chinese vision of Nature and its poetic expression over time, and of Nature's total literary import on multiple planes. Related to the topic of this particular paper are a few articles and a book in Chinese on nature worship, but their focus is not on poetry.

Denis Sinor

Women in Medieval Inner Asia

Ruth I. Meserve

Punishments for Livestock Theft in Inner Asia

Punishments for livestock theft must, however, be dealt with on two separate planes. The first included those punishments applied under law by a judge or court to a ``convicted" thief or band of thieves. The second operated on the level of public opinion, capable of castigating the rustler(s) or, at the other extreme, rewarding or praising the clever thief, who managed to thwart the authorities. Whether operating under legal institutions or public opinion, both were often forced to consider the ethnic origins of victim and thief as well as their positions-official versus non-official, rich versus poor, etc.-adding fascinating elements to the equation of guilt related to punishment.

Barbara Kellner-Heinkele

Russia and the Nogays in the 18^th Century: Documents from the Arkhiv Vneshney Politiki Rossiyskoy Imperii in Moscow

In spite of the solid work of Russian scholars, published mainly in the 19^th century and focusing on Russian-Crimean Tatar relations in the 16^th to l8^th centuries, not much is known on the political, economic and social factors that determined the Crimean Tatar khanate's interior situation in the 18^th century. On the basis of so far unpublished documents from the Arkhiv Vneshney Politiki Rossiyskoy Imperii in Moscow, this paper attempts to show the important role the Nogay tribes played in the khanate's disintegration from within and their impact on Russian policy towards the Crimean Tatars before 1783.

Majd Y. Al-Mallah

Panegyric Poetry and Court Ceremonial: al-Mutanabb¯i's ``Victory Ode''

Elizabeth M. Bergman

Metrics by the Meter in Ibn al-H¯ajib and al-Khazraj¯i

The topic considered here is metrics (al-`ur¯ud ). This paper examines two texts: al-Maqsad al-jal¯l f¯i `ilm al-Khal¯il by Ibn al-H¯ajib (d.  1248) and al-Qas¯ida al-khazrajiyya by al-Khazraj¯i (d. 1228 or 1229). The two texts share a tripartite reminiscent of the classical Arabic qas¯da and also of the treatment of metrics found as early as Ibn `Abd Rabbihi's (d. 940) al-`Iqd al-Far¯id . They begin with the building blocks of meter, move on to the 16 meters of classical poetry, and close with a discussion of rhyme. They differ, however, in their treatment of the topic. Ibn al-H¯ajib grounds his text on dialogue, beginning with an introduction that addresses the novice and proceeds through definitions and lists. Al-Khazraj¯i, in contrast, relies on an oblique, highly allusive approach directed to an advanced student. Differences between these texts result, thus, from the level of the learner addressed rather than from differences in style or content. For all of the differences between them, each texts skillfully evokes the scholarly tradition toward which it seeks to guide the learner and in which its authors is clearly an active participant

Nitza Maoz

The Emergence of a System of Arabic Books for Children, 1826-1918, and Its Role in Building the Child Image

The new education systems produced new generations of enlightened individuals who participated in creating a modern secular cultural establishment. This establishment played a major role in Arabic Ottoman culture. The texts prepared its readers to utilize and produce books and newspapers, including translations and adaptations from Western literature.

These modern texts for children and youth had a great impact on society as a whole, for they were used to prepare them to become ``modern" rather than ``traditional" adults. They also helped modem literary Arabic become accessible to a broader sector of the population as a main medium of expression in secular culture and literature.

This research, which includes approximately 500 books for children, covers (or more accurately: uncovers) for the first time a ``forgotten corpus: Arabic texts for children published in the 19^th century". Because this type of research has not been done before, its relationship with other scholarships is mostly marginal. However, it opens new research options, which were not previously considered.

John C. Eisele

Mistaking the Map for the Territory: Representations of Arabic in Arab grammatical and modern linguistic traditions

The difference between traditional approaches to Arabic grammar and modernist approaches may be described in terms of the differing values (and stigmas) that each places on the subject of their study and on its manner of representation. For example it may be said that Arab grammarians valued the linguistic purity of Arabic and stigmatized linguistic diversity, ostensibly (as the stories of early grammatical tradition go) to protect and maintain the proper reading and understanding of the Quran. However, in the formative years of the tradition much more value was placed upon speech elicited from tribal `rawis' from specific selected areas of the Arabian peninsula than was placed on the language in the Quran, to the extent that certain speech styles found in the Quran were judged not acceptable as the basis for analogical rule formation in the grammar. In other words, their actual practice (derived from the social and cultural concerns of individual grammarians, many of whom were non-Arab) contradicted somewhat their stated goals.

Modern theoretical linguistics, on the other hand, has tended to value linguistic diversity (by maintaining an interest in both official and unofficial forms of language) and has stigmatized attempts at linguistic purism. However the actual practice of theoretical linguists has tended to stigmatize the diversity of representation and has privileged the representation of a pure or idealized speaker competence. This is reflected in modernist linguistic representations of Arabic (especially Modern Standard Arabic), which often turn out to be little more than translations of the grammatical rules of Arab grammarians into modern theoretical terminology.

I will exemplify each of these problems with examples taken from the literature, and will point out the ways in which a critically reflexive understanding of these different approaches helps not just to clarify their limitations but also leads to a renewed appreciation of their insights and contributions to understanding the Arabic linguistic situation.

Signe Cohen

The Katha Upanisad Reconsidered

Natalie Gummer

Potent language: Translating the Heart S¯utra

Such a close reading provides resources for reconsidering the relationship between the communication of meaning and the creation of power in processes of translation in historical Buddhist communities, and suggests that we approach the study of Buddhist texts in terms of not only what they say, but also what they do.

Maria Hibbets

Altruism, Violence, and Generosity: Buddhist, Hindu, and Jain reflections on the gift of fearlessness ( abhayad¯ana )

The gift of fearlessness involves either rescuing beings from violence threatened by others, or abstaining from violence oneself. In the second sense, the gift of fearlessness suggests that merely refraining from inspiring fear in others can be considered a gift or an act of generosity towards them. The intersection in this gift of two very different virtues, generosity and non-violence, is illuminating for understanding South Asian views on human nature, social obligations, and the implications of the gift itself. Moreover, the use of the language of gift-giving for a conscious act of self-restraint brings together in a curious way two often opposed religious values in Indic religion: positive, merit-making activity on the one hand, and renunciation and withdrawal from activity on the other.

Jerome H. Bauer

The Origin of the Harivam\'sa Lineage

The paper discusses the story as an exception to the general karmic rules of rebirth, as an articulation of conflicted feelings about deathbed conversion, and as a ``theodicy," a characteristically Jaina solution to the problem of evil and unjust suffering. The paper also discusses briefly the theme of incest in stories of karmically linked twins.

George Thompson

On the Language of the Da¯euuas

In this paper a new hypothesis relating to the language of da¯euuas will be explored. Without denying the general legitimacy of the standard view, which relates the Avestan phenomenon to the more general Indo-European one, the dichotomy between the ``language of gods" vs. the ``language of men," it is argued here that this set of da¯evic terms may refer to, or imply an awareness of, a non-Avestan language or dialect. I suggest that this language is Vedic, known internally as the ``language of the gods" [daiv¯i v¯ac], and by no means a language unknown in early Avestan texts. More specifically, I would suggest that the ``Vedic" that I claim to be known to speakers of Old Avestan is specifically the formulaic poetic language out of which the Rgveda itself was constructed. As all students of Old Avestan know, this poetic language formed the fundamental background to the innovative poetry of Zarathustra's G¯ath¯as.

Evidence of mutual knowledge between speakers of Old Avestan and speakers of Old Vedic will be offered in support of this claim.

Paul-Alain Beaulieu

Babylonian Uranography

Francesca Rochberg

On Prediction in Babylonian Science: The Case of celestial divination

This paper investigates the nature of prediction as one aspect common to a number of texts counted among the Babylonian tradition of ``science." The success of late mathematical astronomy has been measured in terms of the accuracy of its predictions of dates and positions of celestial phenomena, and the mere fact of its predictiveness, as explicated by O. Neugebauer and others, has earned it a place in the history of positive science. The mathematical astronomical science of late Babylonia did not emerge from the head of Zeus, fully mature, but in several respects traces back to earlier tradition, to early astronomy and to divination. To my knowledge the way in which prediction itself formed an important connecting link from early to late tradition and how it was transformed from its role in a system such as celestial omens to one so different from it as the ephemerides of the late tupsar En¯uma Anu Enlil 's has not been investigated.

John M. Steele

Eclipse Prediction in Late Babylonian Astronomical Texts

Ktziah Spanier

Aspects of Feminine Authority: The ana abb¯uti Texts from Nuzi

It has been suggested that this clause was meant to protect the woman after the testator's death, or that it gave her the authority to act as guardian for her minor children. An examination of the texts indicates, however, that the ultimate heirs were not always minors, and that the woman was not necessarily their mother. In many instances, the authority vested in her far exceeded her need for protection.

I propose to demonstrate that the ana ab¯uti clause functioned to make the woman the effective head of the family, and that her authority was commensurate with many of the patriarchal duties and privileges.

Raymond Westbrook

Hard Times: CT 45 37

Peggy J. Boden

``If the workmanship of that god is not suitable for repair... you send it to Ea''

Timothy J. Collins

Theurgical Elements in Babylonian Medical Incantations

Some have assumed that all medical incantations were thought to be theurgically efficacious, and only seem to make little or no attempt to persuade a god to help because they follow rhetorical principles peculiar to magic, or else because they preserve forms from an earlier, non-theurgical conception of magic, which have been transposed into theurgy and endowed with a new meaning.

In this paper, however, I argue that Old Babylonian medical incantations were composed to be efficacious automatically, but were subsequently reinterpreted as being efficacious theurgically. I suggest that this change does not reflect a shift in Babylonian conceptions of magic over time, but rather medical incantations' transition from the oral to the written tradition.

Anne Marie Kitz

Divination in Ancient Near Eastern Religion

While both positions may be valid, they tend to overemphasize the contribution of human beings to the general process. Since divination presumes some form of divine communication, it may be productive to shift the focus from an analysis of human actions to one that examines the range of divine activity. To do this one can begin with the hypothesis that divination was based on the presupposition that all divine action caused material reaction . Since the deities were free to manipulate any element of the created world, then all things, animate and inanimate alike, could at any time become the conduit through which divine sentiments were expressed. Divination is a human response to this theological principle. It seeks to study divine activity as manifested by its affects on the physical universe. Consequently, the principal role of a diviner is to authenticate and, most importantly, interpret the relevance of these heaven-sent omens.

A classification of divination strategies according to this premise illustrates the breadth of the deities' transcendent nature. Additionally, the degree of divine power involved in material contact correlates with physical effects that range from violence yielding deformation and scars, to gentle provocation producing unusual behavior. These effects constitute the signs that are then interpreted by the diviner. A brief review of one major category, anthropromancy, the divine manipulation of human beings, and its subsets demonstrates that human beings experienced the divine in a manner that was shared by all elements of the physical universe.

Jack M. Sasson

Ancestors Divine

James Evans

Cycle Theory in Ancient Literature

The Sumerian King List dates to circa 2000 BC. After the flood, 23 kings ruled for 24,510 years, 3 months, 3 one-half days, the remnant of 24,513.5 years. It is twelve h-cycles of 2043.6 years, equal to 746130 ^* 12 days. 746130 is the product of the numbers 2, 3, 5, 7, 11, 17, 19

Herodotus writes that the number of Persians who crossed from Asia was 5,283,220. This is 100 times the probable actual number, it is equal to 7 ^* 47 ^* 71 ^* (h-cycle 226.175) days, and also 249.5 h-cycles of 57.97 years.

Herodotus states that the Egyptians calculated 341 generations to their history, a reference to the 341.3 year h-cycle.

Diodorus Siculus quotes Egyptian history as `470 kings and 5 queens', taken as 4700 ^* 226.175 days, less 5 ^* 360 days, the date of the Rosetta stone from 3102 BC, the start of the Egyptian calendar and epoch of the 36.5 year h-cycle.

The list of the gifts in Esdras 1:7 read as a linear string is 3326357. This is 14707 h-cycles of 226.175 days. It is also 112641 lunar months and 1029 m-cycles of the rotation of the lunar orbit.

During the reign of Ammizaduga of Babylon a series of observations of the planet Venus was recorded as the observations of Ninsianna Ahutum, the ``other" Venus. The ninth year of this King is named, ``Year of the Golden Throne". In this year, 1575 BC, The epoch of this `Second Venus' h-cycle of 226.175 days coincided with the summer solstice, at the same time as the conjunction of the planet Venus.

The apocryphal Book of Adam and Eve, in Ethiopian, speaks of Adam and Eve having sex 226 days, four hours after the Creation, a creative explanation of ``Investment Day"

Melinda Zeder

The Role of Pastoralism in Developing Specialized Urban Economies in the Ancient Near East

Anne Porter and Thomas L. McClellan

Funerary Practices and Pastoralism at Third Millennium Tell Banat

Michael D. Danti and Richard L. Zettler

Pastoralism and the Evolution of the Tell es-Sweyhat (Syria) Settlement System in the Third Millennium bc

Christine K. Kimbrough

Spinning a Yarn: Textile production in third millennium bce northern Mesopotamia

Paul W. Kroll

Forgotten Poets of the T'ang Dynasty, III: Liu Shen-hsü

Michael R. Drompp

The T'ang Debate on the Settlement of the Türks

Jonathan Pease

Why Couldn't Prime Minister Wang Ride through the Palace Gate?

Joseph E. Lowry

Ijm¯a` in Sh¯afi`¯i's Ris¯ala

The place of ijm¯a` in Sh¯afi`¯i's legal epistemology in the Ris¯ala shows that problems which require recourse to ijm¯a` are, by definition, difficult and meet the attention of specialists rather than the community at large. Moreover, the example-problems in the Ris¯ala in which Sh¯afi`¯i appeals to ijm¯a` show that there is no principled difference between the ijm¯a` of the `¯amma and that of the ahl al-`ilm and, most significantly, that that the two terms are even used synonymously.

Given the logic of the legal-theoretical content of the Ris¯ala , found primarily in Sh¯afi`¯i's concept of the bay¯an , it is surprising that Sh¯afi`¯i did not do away with ijm¯a` altogether. There are, however, hints in the Ris¯ala that he was moving in that direction and in a later work, the Jim¯a` al-`ilm , he argues that one can dispense with ijm¯a` entirely.

Devin Stewart

Notes on the Early History of the Us¯ul al-Fiqh Genre

M. G. Carter

Legal Reasoning in Tenth-Century Grammar-A Missing Link

Norman Zide

The Tense/aspect Systems in the Gta? (South Munda) Language

The two `past' tenses, the `-ge past', and the `-ke past' ( -tI in Hill/Riverside Gta?) are distinguished-usually contrasted, but in a few cases (e.g. interrogation ) only one of the form occurs-in a largeish-and confusing-number of dimensions-tense, aspect, direction, negation, focus, interrogation (see Kh. Mahapatra , and Zide and Mahapatra's unpublished papers). It is only recently that N. Zide found that some clarification in the understanding of these `pasts' can be made if we set up two different systems, one operating in the traditional tales collected in Mahapatra and Zide (Gta? Texts) and the other elsewhere, i.e. in the spoken language materials collected. It turns out that -ge/-ke usage in the tales-exclusive of certain limited `everywhere' functions (negation, interrogation, tense/aspect marking in a few auxiliaries-is largely discourse-driven. The choice of -ge or -ke doesn't indicate the tense/aspect, etc. meanings it does elsewhere, but does mark discourse structure segments. So far as I have observed-not that there is much data or analysis on the subject-nothing like this has been observed elsewhere in South Munda. (On North Munda I reserve judgment pending further examination of the - extensive - data.)

Gregory D. S. Anderson

A New Classification of the Munda Languages: Evidence from the verb

Bhattacharya, S. 1975. A new classification of Munda. Indo-Iranian Journal 17: 97-101.

Zide, N. and D. Stampe. 1964. The position of Kharia-Juang in the Munda family. Studies in Indian Linguistics (Emeneau's 60th birthday volume): 370-7.

Kengo Harimoto

On the Manuscripts of the P¯atañjalayoga\'s¯atravivarana

Availability of five manuscripts will be reported. The discussion will include characteristics of each manuscript and the relationship among them. Also reported will be to what extent the original text can be restored utilizing the manuscript materials.

The text was first published in 1952 by the Government Oriental Manuscript Library, Madras. In 1968, Paul Hacker published an article, ``\'Sa\.nkara der Yogin und \'Sa\.nkara der Advaitin," and suggested that it is an earlier work of the famous Hindu philosopher. Since the publication of Hacker's article, authenticity problem has been one of the most interesting questions among the students of Indian philosophy. Interests into the text is so high that already more than one translation, including that of the entire text has been published. However, the text critical problems in the printed edition is easily noticeable and pointed by scholars, such as Albrecht Wezler. He, not only attracted interests of scholars to the text as a resourceful material in studying Indian philosophy, but also pointed out text critical problems of the printed edition, and reported the existence of two Malayalam manuscripts. The text is even considered not suitable for serious studies due to the lack of confidence into the printed edition. A new improved edition based on available manuscript materials is of urgent necessity.

The paper will conclude that all the five available manuscripts can be traced to a single archetype, and that despite the fact that the archetype already contained errors, it is possible to prepare much improved and philologically useful edition utilizing the materials.

Masato Kobayashi

Deocclusion of Sanskrit dh after Front Vowels

It becomes commoner, but still not regular in early MIA languages such as A\'sokan or P¯ali; and puzzlingly, dh reflecting PIIr. ^*d^h is sometimes preserved or restituted while the corresponding Skt. form has h : PIIr. ^*id^ha > Vedic ihá :: P¯ali idha `here' besides less frequent iha , A\'sokan (Gi. and Dh., whereas Sh. iha ), \'S., Mg. and ¯Av. idha . Here I try to find conditions triggering the deocclusion of dh in Sanskrit and propose phonological or phonetic motivation for it.

In most cases the deocclusion seems to be an idiosyncratic property of the morpheme in question: For example, while the PIE ending ^*-med^hoy always shows up as -mahe in Skt. and PIE ^*-d^hí as Skt.  -hí in most postvocalic contexts, infinitive -dhyai (see Rix [1976] for its PIE origin) never has a form with h , nor does the adverbial suffix -dh¯a `-fold', and the PIIr. locatival suffix ^*-d^ha is -dha in some words and -ha in others. Due to such apparent irregularity and lexical idiosyncrasy, it has traditionally been understood as pr¯akrtism or dialectal (e.g. Meillet (1912/3] p. 123 ``les parlers du Nord-Ouest sur lesquels repose en principe la langue du Rgveda ouvraient plus ou moins régulièrement dh et bh intervocaliques en h "). Wackernagel (1896) § 218 proposes conditions such as the context _wd[  V or the position after an unaccented vowel, but the paucity of the examples and insufficient regularity make it hard to call them laws. In the case of the 2sg. imperative suffix -dhí ~ hí in forms such as krdhi , vrdhi , \'srudhí and sprdhi , minimal word size of two moras might be related to the unexpected preservation of dh , but ihí does not follow this pattern.

It should be noted that there is no case of ^*d^h retained after i in the examples of the -dhí/-hí imperatives, while -dhí is preserved in some bimoraic imperative forms after the stem-final vowels u , r and a: i `go': ihí :: krdhí , \'srudhí etc. It can be just a coincidence that there is no fidhí attested besides ihí , unlike the case of gam : gahí ~ gadhi where gadhi appears only once in the RV while there are a good many occurrences of gahí . However, if -dhí of juhudhí is to avoid sequence of h in adjacent syllables as Whitney says, then why don't we have f jahidhí ? The total absence of fidhá in Vedic should also be recalled. I would like to propose a rule of deocclusion of ^*d^h by a preceding front vowel, which are i and its diphthongs (e and ai ) in the vowel system of OIA. This can either be formulated as a palatalization rule ^*d^h > [+distributed] / [-back]  V (fed to the output filter ^*j^h > h ) or a direct deocclusion rule ^*d^h > h / [-back]  V. Apparent counterexamples like edhí are ruled out by ordering ^*az > e after this rule.

Acoustic measurements of Hindi nonsense sequences show that /d^h/ tends to be short after /i/ and /u/ than after /a/, while /i/ after voiced aspirates does not show any consistent tendency of shortening or lengthening them.

Madhav M. Deshpande

Fluidity of Early Grammatical Categories in Sanskrit

Joshua T. Katz

How the Mole Got His Name

(a)sp\acutealax (etc.). The principal line of argument rests on the linguistic, cultural, and even biological connections between moles and badger-like animals (on the latter, see Historische Sprachforschung 111 [1998] 61-82, an expansion of my talk at the AOS last year, ``The Curious Case of the Hittite Mustelid"), and I attempt to show that the morpho-phonologically obviously very similar words in Indo-European for `badger,' <sup>*</sup>tasku- and `mole,' ^*¯asku- , make their way into India along one and the same path. I also address the problem, apparently hitherto unnoticed, that the geographical distribution of talpids precludes interpreting ¯akhu as `mole.'

Richard Salomon

A Fragment of a Sanskrit Manuscript in Kharosth¯i Script Found in Xinjiang

The main point of interest in this fragment is its value as a rare specimen of a Sanskrit text in Kharosth¯i script. A few other specimens of Sanskrit or hybrid Sanskrit written in Kharosth¯ have been found among inscriptions from the Gandh¯ara region of South Asia and the wooden Kharosth¯i documents from Niya on the southern rim of the Tarim Basin, but this is the first known specimen of a Kharosth¯ manuscript in Sanskrit. But it is hardly likely to have been unique, and suggests that Kharosth¯i was at some point adapted in Buddhist circles in central Asia, and possibly also in South Asia, for writing Sanskrit texts. The recent discovery of several Kharosth¯i manuscripts in a Sanskritized form of G¯andh¯ar¯i from Bamiyan, Afghanistan, presents us with what seems to be a forerunner of such a development.

Judy Bjorkman

Writing and the Crafts: The `Great Smith' ( simug.gal)

As sensible as these suggestions are, I propose that another hypothesis may have greater merit, based in part on a phrase from the Sumerian Sargon Legend (Cooper and Heimpel, JAOS 103). In line 30, Lugalzagesi describes his SIMUG.GAL as a man who can write. This suggests that an ability to read and write, at least in some basic sense, may have been what distinguished the ``great smith" from others of the same profession.

It is not clear that the term, ``great smith," retained the same meaning over the entire temporal and geographical spans of its use, nor that GAL, when used to qualify other professions, always indicated basic literacy. Some of these additional uses of GAL, as well as some aspects of the nature of the interface between literacy and the crafts, will be reviewed.

Glenn R. Magid

Quantitative Reflections on the `Temple-State'

An opposing model of the Girsu data took shape in the former Soviet Union. There, scholars like Struve, Tyumenev, and Diakonoff, sought to place contradictory evidence, e.g., the data deriving from land-sale documents, the so-called ``ancient kudurrus," within an evolutionary model, grounded in the historical-materialist paradigm. The model which developed out of their researches emphasized the limitations of the extant data-base, and situated the phenomenon of temple-households strictly within the urban sphere. Outside the cities, it was alleged, settlement, land tenure, and governance, were based on ancient kinship patterns.

In recent years the temple-state controversy has been revisited in the work of a number of scholars, Foster, Renger, and Steinkeller prominently among them. At present, a consensus has not been reached in the Assyriological literature.

My paper will examine the quantitative basis for both models. I will focus on sources pertaining to temple land-holdings, in an effort to define, more rigorously than has been done in the past, both the physical extent of the household as well as the social and economic relations adhering in its system of land-tenure. In light of my observations, I will conclude with a critique of the dominant models.

Atsuko Hattori

A Textile Archive from Ur III Nippur

Thus, for example, the textile industry has been extensively studied by Jacobsen, Waetzoldt and Maekawa, with the focus on the rich administrative archives from Ur and Lagas. However, the much smaller textile archive from Nippur of about 200 texts spanning the later years of Sulgi to the early years of Ibbi-Sîn, has been relatively overlooked. This paper, therefore, will firstly identify about 40 of these texts as belonging to a coherent archive of a female official named Ummi-tabat, and concentrated in Amar-Sîn years 8, 9, and Su-Sîn year 1. Ummi-tabat worked for Sat-Sîn, the daughter of Sulgi as a supervisor (ugula) of weavers. The archive consists largely of receipts of raw wool and the delivery-records of the finished garments registered in her name and marked with impressions of her seal. The paper will then examine both the ramifications of the archive for our understanding of the socio-economic structure of the Ur III period and the implications of its probable archaeological context, Mound X in western Nippur.

Tonia Sharlach

The Bala of the Province of Lagash in Ur III Times

An outline of the bala system was provided by W.W. Hallo, in his 1960 article, ``A Sumerian Amphictyony." While other scholars, such as Steinkeller (in an article called ``The Administrative and Economic Organization of the Ur III State: The Core and the Periphery") have investigated the problem, a detailed study using evidence from all of the three major Ur III archives has been lacking. In this paper, I will summarize data from my dissertation, showing that each year approximately one half of a province's total economic output was sent to the central government, which then redistributed the goods as needed.

The province of Lagash, probably the largest in the Ur III state, had the longest bala obligations. In this paper, I will examine the evidence for the bala of Lagash, including the form of their bala payments, the locations to which the payments were sent and the timing of the payments

William W. Hallo

Carcasses for the Capital

John M. Russell

A Remarkable House at Til Barsip

The wall in this area was painted with a half life-size image of Ishtar standing on a lion. She faces towards a niche paved with an ablution slab, upon which was a peculiar mudbrick platform, riddled with concealed cavities that were evidently designed to contain liquids. The ensemble, which seems to be unique in Assyrian archæology, is apparently a libation installation in front of a divine image. I will venture some preliminary speculations about the chronology and function of this room. Additional thoughts and comparanda from the audience will be most welcome.

Clemens Daniel Reichel

The `Seal of the Ruler' at Eshnunna (Tell Asmar)

This analysis, therefore, supports the idea of a connection between image, ideology and function of a seal and offers some new and unsuspected insights into this relationship.

Samuel M. Paley

The Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal at Nimrud. A Multimedia interactive publication project.
http://www.learningsites.com/NWPalace/NWPalhome.html

Since the publication of the volumes that document the theoretical reconstruction of the Northwest Palace of Ashurnasirpal II at Nimrud, Baghdader Forschungen 2, 10, and 14, (and the publication of several previously-unknown examples), is now complete, it has become possible to consider other ways of bringing this palace to the notice of the public and scholarly community. This paper will introduce a new project which will bring together, for the first time, all the new extant materials and research, using leading-edge computer-graphics technologies, to create a multimedia, interactive research tool.

The purpose of this paper is to explain how this process has begun to enhance our understanding of the palace in new ways, as the creation of a single database and unique computer environments proceeds. In these environments one can consider anew and in an interactive way how bas-reliefs might have looked in-situ and how the palace was utilized by its inhabitants. The creation of new drawings and the use of in situ and museum-quality photographs has already caused us to re-consider, in more detail, archaeological evidence, Assyrian architectural theory, construction methods, the interplay of natural and man-made light, iconography, ancient representational conventions, and palace decoration. Issues also being reconsidered are the integration of archaeology with architecture, history, and text transmission-linking this palace with other Assyrian monuments; the meaning of place (siting of the palace); Assyria's view of world domination as reflected in palace art; the economics that produced the resources to build palaces; religion, iconography and their relationships to the resulting built forms; the place of ``Assyrian Style" in the development of ancient art; and the place of the palace in Assyrian society.

The project will publish on DVD and the Internet (see our WEB prototype at the above address).

Samuel M. Paley, Richard P. Sobolewski, Donald H. Sanders, Alison B. Snyder (Paley delivering)

Grant Frame

The Rock Relief at Tang-i Var

K. R. Veenhof

The Archive of the Old Assyrian Trader Elamma

Gary Beckman

Matriarchy in Hatti?

Daniel A. Nevez

Seal Ownership and Use in the Kassite Period

Daniel E. Fleming

On the Yaminites and the Sim'alites at Mari

Durand offers persuasive evidence that the word Hana is first of all a word for ``bedouin", and not an individual tribe. Nevertheless, among the Yaminite and Sim'alite divisions of the Amorrite tribal peoples, the word most often means ``(our) bedouin", not the general category. Because king Zimri-Lim was a Sim'alite, and his administration was dominated by this people, a large proportion of ``Hana" occurrences refer only to Sim'alites. With this information, it is then possible to pursue the distinct organizations of Yaminite and Sim'alite tribal populations in both their mobile and their sedentary modes of existence.

In fact, while these peoples lived in very much the same way, the two divisions developed different structures, marked above all by the role of the sug¯agum or local chief. Among the Yaminites, the population led by a sug¯agum was defined by the settlement with which the tribal group was identified. The Sim'alites, in contrast, regarded their sug¯agum s as heads of the lowest identifying group above the household level in a kinship hierarchy that ignores sedentary affiliations.

Peter Feinman

The Kings of the East in Genesis 14: Chedorlaomer of Elam as Attila the Hun

This paper will not review the longstanding efforts to achieve such an identification except to note that such efforts have not been successful despite over one century of trying. Instead, this paper will address the question of why the biblical author chose to make an Elamite king the lead figure in the forces of chaos which disrupted the land and what impact such a figure would have on the intended audience.

At the recent Rencontre Assyriologique Internationale, there were two papers presented which serve as reminders of the place of Elam in Mesopotamian lore. Frances Reynolds focused on the impact on Babylonian tradition of the Elamite invasion of 155 BCE and noted the image of the Elamites ``as the most noxious of all foreign enemies." Kathryn Slanski spoke on the Babylonian entitlement narus and historiography using Nebuchadnezzar I, the hero over the Elamites, as the example for the case study.

This paper will suggest that the image of the Elamites as the ``bad guys" in Babylonia tradition was the reason why the biblical author chose to make the ``bad guy" of the story of Genesis 14 and Elamite. The audience was already familiar with that designation and would have understood immediately who in the story was wearing the black hat and who in the story was wearing the white in the ancient showdown at high noon.

Paul E. Walker

The Relationship between Chief Judge ( Q¯ad¯i al-Qud¯at ) and Chief Religious Propagandist ( D¯a`¯i al-Du`¯at ) under the Fatimids

Moreover, in North Africa, the Fatimids appointed separate q¯ad¯i s for the various cities of their empire with no hierarchy among them. During the reign of al-Mu`izz, the leading Ismaili authority on law was the famous Q¯ad¯i al-Nu`m¯an who is often said to have held the rank of chief judge (q¯ad¯i al-qud¯at ). That, however, appears unlikely. Not until Egypt did the Fatimid institute such a position in which the meaning of ``judge of judges" truly indicates the power to appoint subordinate judges.

Coincidentally, the first four men to hold this post were also chief d¯a`¯i s (the d¯a`¯i al-du`¯at ), although the connection between the two functions was poorly defined. Nevertheless, al-Maqr¯z¯ made a point of relating them in the case of the Fatimids. Starting in 406, however, these two offices were again split with the d¯a`¯iship naturally remaining in the control of the Ismailis and the basic governance of the judiciary falling to a judge who happened to be Hanbal¯i. Later efforts to recombine these positions most often failed.

In the era of the all-powerful wazirs beginning with Badr al-Jam¯al¯i, the wazir always assumed titular control of both offices. The relationship of chief q¯ad¯i to chief d¯a`¯i is thus even more difficult to investigate. Few of the later head judges were Ismaili even though there were also chief d¯a`¯i s until the end of the dynasty. A detailed list of the holders of both offices in these years is essential for understanding the connection between them.

Maya Shatzmiller

Society at War: Women and property in fifteenth-century Granada before and after the Conquest

The paper will study the legal aspects of the transaction, the notarial act itself and the legal conditions affecting women's property rights in Islamic Maliki law. I will use the results of my previous research on Muslim women's property rights in Islamic law and society, to implement the information provided by the documents. Finally I will address the question how did the continuous pressure of the Reconquista, contributed to the large amount of property held by Granadan women and how did the Granada situation influence women's economic and social status in a society at war.

Alan M. Guenther

D¯ar al-Harb or D¯ar al-Isl¯am : The Controversy regarding the British presence in India, 1870-72

William M. Brinner

Remarks and Reminiscences on David Ayalon

Ayalon is best known for his books and articles on aspects of the history, organization, and culture of the Mamluks in Egypt (1250-1517) that were influential in creating the modem study of the Mamluk institution. His long-awaited final work, ``Eunuchs, Caliphs and Sultans", completed shortly before his death, is to appear in the coming months.

This paper consists of personal reminiscences of thirty years about Ayalon, remarks about his important scholarly work and its impact on Mamluk scholarship, as well as about his contribution to the advancement of understanding between Israel and the Arabs.

Jacob Lassner

More Reflections on the Reign of al-Mutawakkil

Reuven Amitai

The Conversion of the Ilkhan Tegüder to Islam

Much of the material for this paper is derived from Arabic works written in the Mamluk Sultanate, sources which have not been fully used for the history of the period. This is one reason why it thought appropriate to deliver this paper in a session devoted to the memory of Professor David Ayalon.

James L. Fitzgerald

p¯ita and \'saikya : Two terms of iron and steel technology in the Mah¯abh¯arata

Stella Sandahl

The M¯anasoll¯asa by Some\'svara III: An Encyclopedia of social history

The M¯anasoll¯asa is a long text, some 8000 granthas , divided into five vim\'satis ., each containing 20 chapters of very unequal length. The total consists of 100 chapters treating 100 different topics. The first vim\'sati deals with the duties of a king, one of the more interesting is found in chapter 19 stressing the ``necessity of appointing excellent physicians and free distribution of medicines" to the subjects-an early example of state administered social welfare. The second vim\'sati deals with administration, policy and appointment of officials, and how to catch and train elephants. The third vim\'sati deals with twenty kinds of bhogas or upabhogas , the fourth devotes its longest chapter to music, and the fifth describes the sports and games the king enjoyed, including erotic dalliances.

I wish to give a brief overview of the M¯anasoll¯asa to stress its importance for various fields of Indology and discuss in detail two very short chapters of which I shall provide translations, the p¯an¯yabhoga and the vilepanabhoga . The first describes the different sources of water supplies and the second describes ointments and pomades.

David Pingree

The Amrtalahar¯i of Nity¯ananda

Christopher Minkowski

The Uses of Inconsistency

Addendum: Report on some unknown Johns Hopkins University Sanskrit manuscripts

This paper is about an episode in the 19th century when the argument about avirodha was resumed ``in the shadow of empire." The British political agent at Bhopal, Lancelot Wilkinson promoted the publication of texts by \'S¯astr¯is in Sanskrit, Mar¯ath¯i and Hind¯i which pointed out that while the paur¯anika cosmology was basically in error, the siddh¯antas assumed a cosmological model that could serve as the basis for learning modern, European astronomy. A controversy ensued, in which ``modernizing" and ``traditional" pandits took part, and in which the theory of ``avirodha" was paradoxically reasserted. I will discuss in particular the literary exchange between Subb¯aji R¯amacandra, a \'s¯astr¯i in the employ of Wilkinson, and Yajñe\'svara Rode, a \'s¯astr¯i based in Poona, which took the form of pamphlets and counterpamphlets, especially the Avirodha-prak¯a\'sa of Yajñe\'svara and the Avirodha-prak¯a\'sa-viveka of R¯amacandra.

Donald R. Davis, Jr.

The Formation and Reformation of Law in Early British Malabar: Remarks on words for ``law'' in the Tellicherry records

The premise of the paper is that by analyzing the legal vocabulary of these official documents, we can glean new insight into pre-colonial legal traditions in Malabar, or even in India itself. The paper primarily interprets the legal vocabulary of this important set of historical documents but also suggests broader implications for studies of legal history in India.

The concluding argument is that while kalpana , mary¯ada , and ny¯ayam refer broadly to royal edicts, community standards, and justice or propriety, respectively, they are united by the idea that the object of their injunctive force is not to establish `law,' but rather to realign society. In other words, no attempt is made to establish permanently an incontrovertible law. Instead, law is found in human interpretations of and realizations of the proper functioning of society, i.e., a sociological approach to law and an idea which not coincidentally corresponds to the concept of dharma in Indian history.

Besides Zachari's interesting introduction to the collection, no other examination of these records has apparently been published. In general, the paper is part of the scholarly efforts of Derrett, Sontheimer, Rocher, Lariviere, Leslie, Wezler, and others to historicize studies of law in pre-colonial India.

Bruce C. Robertson

Comparison of a Brahmo Bengali and a Christian Hindi Translation of the Luke and Matthew Versions of ``The Beatitudes''

Though R¯ammohan mentions translating the Precepts into Sanskrit and Bengali no record of these has survived. His criticism of the earliest Baptist missionary translations as full of inappropriate language and therefore fundamentally unreadable had been taken seriously by the missionaries. They invited him to join the translation team as a native speaking consultant. However, disputes with him over Christian doctrine brought the partnership to an hasty and dramatic end when William Adam, one of the members, left the Serampore Mission. The Precepts controversy was an early defining episode in the formation of British rule in Bengal because it put into public discussion the question of moral authority to govern.

A little known Bengali translation entitled Sukha\'s¯antir up¯ay svarup yi\'su-pran¯it hitopadés , claimed by Rakhal Das Haldar, was published in Calcutta in 1859. Comparison of the Luke 6 and Matthew 5 versions of the Beatitudes reveals some noteworthy differences between this Bengali version and that of Dharma\'s¯astra , published by The Bible Society of India and Ceylon (Bangalore, 1962). The Brahmo translation conveys nuances that capture, one might argue, a sense of the Greek text perhaps not as clearly present in the Christian version. This paper will examine Luke 6:20-24 and Matthew 5:3-11 in both versions in the light of The Greek New Testament published by the American Bible Society (1966). Preliminary conclusions might suggest a need to review present Indian vernacular translations of the Bible.

Carl F. Petry

Crime and Punishment? The Propensity to prosecute or neglect Criminal Acts in the Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt

Marian Feldman

Transcending Regionalism: The Iconography of kingship in Egypt and the Near East during the Late Bronze Age

Leo Depuydt

Tales from the Cusp of Relative and Absolute Egyptian Chronology: Did Taharqa kill Shabataka?

Shabataka's reign and the transition to Taharqa's are located at the very cusp of the divide between relative chronology and absolute chronology. The unique chronological significance of this episode is not matched, however, by an equal degree of historical significance. The sources pertaining to the episode originate, not only from Egypt, but also from Nubia and the Classical and Near Eastern worlds. This perhaps justifies this paper's inclusion in a panel on ancient Egypt and its international context. One crucial source, for example, is Eusebius of Caesarea. The present paper reexamines all the relevant sources, focusing especially on Shabataka's death, regarding which the sources are in contradiction.

Richard Jasnow

Egyptological Remarks on P. Amherst 63

Christine Lilyquist

Egypt's Material Culture Abroad

asor-l Egyptian/Canaanite Interaction Conference

1998 Abstracts of University of California San Diego/Hebrew Union College Institute of Religion Jerusalem conference, ``Egyptian-Canaanite Interaction: From the 4th through early 3rd Millennium, B.C.E.", held in Jerusalem, 13-16 April, 1998.

1998 ``Nubian Faience." Pp. 46-49 in Florence Dunn Friedman, ed., Gifts of the Nile: Ancient Egyptian Faience . Providence: Rhode Island School of Design.

1994 ``The Dilbat Hoard." Metropolitan Museum Journal 29: 5-36.

1995 Egyptian Stone Vessels; Khian Through Tuthmosis IV . New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1996 ``Stone Vessels at Kamid el-L¯oz: Egyptian, Egyptianizing, or Non-Egyptian? A Question at Sites from the Sudan to Iraq to the Greek Mainland." Pp. 133-73 in Rolf Hachmann, ed., Kamid el-L¯oz 16: `Schatzhaus'-Studien . Saarbrücker Beiträge zur Altertumskunde 59. Bonn: Rudolf Habelt.

1997 ``A New `Foreign' Vase Representation from Thebes: Chapel MMA 5A P2." Pp. 307-43 in Jacke Phillips, ed., Ancient Egypt, The Aegean, and the Near East: Studies in Honour of Martha Rhoads Bell vol. II. San Antonio: Van Siclen.

1993 Studies in Early Egyptian Glass . With M. T. Wypyski, and contributions by H. Shirahata, R. J. Koestler, and R. D. Vocke, Jr. New York: Metropolitan Museum of Art.

1998 ``International Relations between Egypt, Sinai and Syria Palestine from the Late Bronze Age to Early Persian Periods, c. 1550-525 BC," Ph.D. diss., University of Toronto.

1997 ``The Lapidary Art-Minoan Adaptations of Egyptian Stone Vessels." Pp. 209-23 in Robert Laffineur and Philip Betancourt, eds., TEXNH: Craftsmen, Craftswomen and Craftsmanship in the Aegean Bronze Age . Aegaeum 16. Liège and Austin: Université de Liège and University of Texas at Austin.

Mu-chou Poo

The Demonization of Foreigners: A Comparative view

Carolyn R. Higginbotham

Elite Emulation in Ramesside Palestine

Ogden Goelet, Jr.

Elmar Edel's Vertrag : More on the treaty between Ramesses II and Hattusili III: The Egyptian language version

Baruch A. Levine

Elmar Edel's Vertrag : More on the treaty between Ramesses II and Hattusili III: The Akkadian language version

Edel provides definitive editions of both language versions of the treaty. His careful translations and informative commentaries afford a greater degree of certainty regarding several critical readings in the text, and add to the precise interpretation of unusual terms of reference and legal formulas appearing in both versions. The present papers will focus, in a coordinated manner, on parallel terms, formulas, and concepts in the two versions in an attempt to draw certain comprehensive conclusions as to the overall impact of the treaty. Ogden Goelet will explore Egyptian usage and legal style, particularly the Treaty's position within the development of the Late Egyptian dialect, plus the implications of the Treaty for the Egyptian religious phenomenon known as ``Personal Piety"; Baruch Levine will address questions having to do with the composite character of the extant Akkadian versions, written in the lingua franca of imperial correspondence between Egypt and Hatti.

Irfan A. Shahid

Al-Nasr¯aniyy¯at

The paper will explain the reasons for this omission and will explore the various directions that Koranic studies took in treating Christianity. Then it will concentrate on one form of these directions, related to Christian monasteries, which exercised a fascination on Muslim writers, reflected in the number of works that were written on them. Noteworthy is the fact that these works moved out of the orbit of Koranic exegesis and became part of Islamic historiography. Dahabi as quoted by Sakh¯aw¯i considers Akhb¯ar al-ruhb¯an wa ¯ul¯i al-saw¯ami` as one of fun¯un al-t¯ar¯ikh .

Sidney H. Griffith

Greek Theology, Arabic Culture: The `Other' Translation Movement in the Early `Abbasid Period

The contribution of this communication to the study of this `other' translation movement in the early Abbasid period is to highlight the role of three individuals: Theodore Ab¯u Qurrah, Anthony David of Baghdad, and Stephen of ar-Ramlah. Theodore translated works attributed to Aristotle; Anthony David copied Arabic translations of Cyril of Scythopolis' Lives of the Monks of Palestine ; Stephen was responsible for manuscripts containing an Arabic Gospel lectionary, and one of the most interesting original, Arabic compositions in Christian theology. Together they made major contributions to the consolidation in the ninth century of a new denominational identity among Arab Christians, that of the `Melkites'.

There is little previous scholarship on these matters, but the review of the evidence offered here leads to the conclusion that the monastic translation movement played a crucial role in the socio-historical development of one of the most visible dhimm¯i communities in early Abbasid times.

Brian M. Hauglid

A Study of the Creation Narrative in the Qisas al-anbiy¯a' of al-Tha`lab¯i

Jon McGinnis

Ibn Sînâ and the Paradox of the Changing Now

Aristotle's puzzle begins with a question. If the now changes, when does it cease to be one now and become another? It cannot cease to be when it is. for it is. Nor can it cease to be in some later now, since the now would either (1) cease to be in an immediately adjacent now or (2) perdure through several later nows before ceasing to be. The present now clearly does not exist simultaneous with several nows before it ceases to be, but neither can it cease in the immediately adjacent now, since dimensionless nows, like points, are not immediately adjacent to one another. Hence the now does not change.

The dilemma rest on a dichotomy, argues Ibn Sînâ. The now must either change all at once, i.e., in a single now, or it must change gradually, i.e., during a series of nows. Ibn Sîinâ observes that to change all at once or gradually is a false dichotomy and in fact there is a logical third option which avoids the dilemma. The paper will present Aristotle's paradox and Ibn Sînâ's resolution of it and then focus on Ibn Sînâ's conception of the now and how the now can change and yet neither change all at once or gradually.

Jawid A. Mojaddedi

Legitimizing Authority in Sufism: The Biographies in al-Qushayr¯i's Ris¯ala

In this paper I wish to demonstrate that al-Qushayri fulfilled his overall aim by the careful selection and juxtaposition of material, and that the biographical section of the work plays a crucial role in his method. In order to demonstrate this, at first the organisational framework of the biographical section will be compared with those of works of the Sufi tabaqat genre. Then the form and content of the biographies of Abu Yazid al-Bastami and Abu 'l-Qasim al-Junayd will be compared with those of the corresponding biographies in earlier works. Finally, the discrete segments of material in these biographies will be compared with those about the same individuals that are found in the systematic section of the same work. The criteria used by the author for selecting and juxtaposing material to create the Risala will thus become apparent, and will highlight the role of the biographical section in re-orientating the definition of Sufism, as part of the overall aim of al-Qushayri's work.

Timothy J. Gianotti

Making Sense of the Heretic and the Saint in al-Ghaz¯al¯i's Ihy¯a'

So what is really being said of al-Hall¯aj in the Ihy¯a' ? Does al-Ghaz¯al¯ paint conflicting pictures? This paper marks an attempt to resolve these questions.

John A. C. Greppin

Two Armenian Pharmaceutical Dictionaries

John Taber

Kum¯arila and Dharmak¯irti, Once again

Jeson Woo

Oneness and Manyness: Ratnak¯irti and V¯acaspatimi\'sra on an aspect of causality

Frederick M. Smith

The Hierarchy of Philosophical Systems according to Vallabh¯ac¯arya

Priyawat Kuanpoonpol

Utpaladeva on Memory: An Argument for the validity of memory from private experiences and public rationality

Patrick Olivelle

Sanskrit Commentators and the Transmission of Texts: The Example of Haradatta

I take as an example the prolific commentator Haradatta, who wrote commentaries on the Grhayas¯ura, the Dharmas¯utra, and the Mantrap¯atha of ¯Apastamba, as well as on the ¯A\'sval¯ayana Grhyas¯utra, and on the Gautama Dharmas¯utra. His date is uncertain, Kane placing him 1100-1300 C.E. The paper focuses on Haradatta's commentary on the ¯Apastamba Dharmas¯utra, closely examining his comments on difficult and unusual word forms, on recensional differences, and on difficult readings. This study shows Haradatta to a faithful transmitter of the variant and non-standard readings he found in his sources, even when he occasionally happened to disagree with them. It also opens a discussion about the role of commentaries in establishing critical editions of texts, especially of a text such as the Manusmrti with no less than nine commentaries.

Alex Wayman

An Evaluation of the Translation Emptiness for the Sanskrit Term \'s¯unyat¯a

While there have been various books on Buddhism come out with the term `emptiness' in the title, I shall first deal with the books Emptiness: A Study in Religious Meaning , by Frederick J. Streng (1967); and Reason and Emptiness , by Shotaro Iida (1980). If space permits I would also refer to some other such books.

Akira Yuyama

Some Philological Problems of the Mah¯avastu-Avad¯ana

Some scholars have declared to write a descriptive grammar of this peculiar Indic text. Some are said to be reading this very text with students on the basis of the editio princeps alone. Some others are interested in it from the viewpoints of the history of Indian Buddhist ideas.

Such investigations can only be made on the appearance of the best reliable critical edition. But, at the same time, a number of Mss must be examined once again. And there have appeared before us certain important but hitherto unknown Mss. Therefore, the prime necessity at the present is to bring out a more carefully and critically edited text on the basis of better manuscripts.

This paper intends to look into such philological problems with bibliographical analyses. A critical survey of this literature is badly needed. In fact, some Mss offer different contents missing in the others. Not only ``better" Mss but also modem Mss (often considered simply as ``bad" Mss) may offer some hints to various aspects of the textcritical and philological problems.

Christian K. Wedemeyer

¯Aryadeva's Lamp of Integrated Practice (Cary¯amel¯apakaprad¯ipa) : A Missing link in studies of Indian Guhyasam¯aja literature

One notable feature of this text is that it is intended as a companion volume in prose to N¯ag¯arjuna's famous Pañcakrama . The work quotes extensively from canonical sources in substantiation and authorization of the doctrines and practices of the N¯ag¯arjunian Guhyasam¯aja Tradition. This makes it an invaluable source of data for constructing the basic relative chronology of Tantric texts which is such a crucial desideratum if the historiography of Indian Tantra is to make any substantial progress. Also of interest is the CMP's affinity with the Subh¯asitasamgraha , which is much more far-reaching than has previously been noted.

Study of this text should begin to pick up in Indological circles, as a partial Sanskrit MS has recently been identified in Nepal after languishing for decades under the generic moniker ``Sam\'saya-paricchedah .'' This MS and its Indological potential will also be discussed.

Mary R. Bachvarova

Successful Birth, Unsuccessful Marriage: Applying Near Eastern birth texts to Aeschylus Suppliants

In the opening ode of this play the chorus of fifty Danaids, fleeing from their bridegroom cousins, refer to their ancestor Io, an Argive princess and the progenitrix of many Greek heroes connected with the Near East, to prove their claim to asylum in Argos, and the motif continues to add depth to the action of the rest of the play (Murray 1958). J. Duchernin (1978; 1980) noticed the connection between the myth of Io and the Near Eastern myth of the pregnant Cow-Maiden ravished by Sin/Baal in bull form. She focused on how the theme of `healing touch' was continued into Aeschylus's time, but other themes associated with Io that are important in the play show up in the Near Eastern materials dealing with birth: seizure, the heroine's difficult passage and the god's response to her suffering, gentle healing breath vs. the gale of a storm which overwhelms a boat at sea.

I plan to assess the significance of these correspondences by putting these metaphors for labor into cross-cultural perspective, in order to discuss how the Near Eastern texts and myths can influence our interpretation of the Suppliants.

Duchemin, Jacqueline. 1978. ``La justice de Zeus et le destin d'Io. Sources proche orientales d'un mythe eschyléen''. Revue des Études Grècques 91:xxiii-v.

Duchemin, Jacqueline. 1980. ``Le Zeus d'Eschyle et ses sources proche-orientales''. Revue de l'Histoire des Religions 197:27-44.

Murray, Robert Duff Jr. 1958. The Motif of Io in Aeschylus' Suppliants . Princeton: Princeton University Press.

Walter Bodine

YBC 11736: A Literary legal text?

Janice Polonsky

Fate Determining Ceremonies in the Cylinders of Gudea

This paper brings to the forefront the role of nam-tar, the decreeing of destiny, in the process of construction and inauguration of the Eninnu temple. The function of the ruler in individual ceremonies described in the cylinders of Gudea is discussed, and interpretation of prescribed rituals within the text is given. The analysis of the fate determining ceremonies found in the cylinders of Gudea demonstrates the process which insures the continued good fortune of the temple, its gods, and the ruler and realm of Lagash. The conclusions reached in this paper offer a new perspective on individual episodes within the cylinders, as well as a more comprehensive understanding of the cylinders of Gudea as a whole.

Gonzalo Rubio

Ur III Literary Texts Within the History of Sumerian Literature

An evaluation of these discrepancies will address important linguistic and literary issues. In the realm of language, I will distinguish between true grammatical features and mere orthographic phenomena. Furthermore, these variants will be placed in the context of the recensional process of these literary compositions. The peculiarities of the Ur III literary texts will be studied as scribal conventions different from those of most Old Babylonian copies and will be carefully distinguished from mere scribal errors. Thus, orthography and grammar will shed light on the history of Sumerian literature.

Niek Veldhuis

Sumerian Proverbs in their Curricular Context

Philip Jones

Kingship and the Anunna-Gods in the Old Babylonian Scribal Curriculum

In contrast, this paper will focus on the Anunna in the synchronic and exclusively Sumerian context of the Old Babylonian scribal curriculum, and examine the significance of their assent to the king's ordained fate. Therefore, instead of comparing the Anunna with other terms for divine groups found elsewhere in cuneiform literature, it will focus on contrasting images of the Anunna both in relation to various gods and in differing generic contexts. Taken in isolation, the scene of the Anunna's assent to the king's good fate seems little more than a conventional image of cosmic harmony. Read, however, against alternative conceptions of the Anunna in other, less celebratory, contexts, their presence serves to imbue the scene with premonitions of cosmic fragility and to define subtly the restrictions on the king's actions inherent in the divine grant of power.

Jorge Silva Castillo

The Term isd¯i in the New Fragment of the Gilgamesh Epic

Joan Goodnick Westenholz

Heroes of Sumer and Akkad

Steve Tinney

A Set of Elementary Schoolbooks from Larsa?

This paper will attempt to demonstrate that, in fact, there is ample evidence to show that at least three other texts were part of the elementary literary curriculum, and that there exists a previously unrecognized set of these texts written by the same scribe in the same month, and probably originating from Old Babylonian Larsa.

Alford Welch

The Cumulative Schematic Form of the Punishment-stories in S¯urat al-A`r¯af (7) and S¯urat H¯ud (11)

The schematic nature of some groups of punishment-stories-notably those in S¯urat al-Shu`ar¯a' (26)-is obvious and has often been mentioned by classical commentators and modern interpreters of the Qur'¯an. No attempt had previously been made, however, to analyze the punishment-stories as a whole and classify the major groups of accounts on the basis of their distinctive literary features. Such an analysis has now been undertaken and has yielded new insights into the extent to which the major groups of punishment-stories are dominated by repeated formulaic elements, giving the impression that rhetorical effect takes precedence over the distinctive components of the individual accounts.

This paper focuses on the groups of punishment-stories in two suras that illustrate one fully developed literary type that can be called ``cumulative schematic form", where two or more stages of schematic form are introduced one at a time and are then repeated verbatim in later accounts in the same series of accounts. The first stage usually occurs in the first account in the series and is repeated in the following account or accounts. A second stage is then introduced, usually in the second or third account, and is repeated in other accounts. A third stage occurs often, and a fourth stage occurs occasionally.

Andrew Rippin

The Symbolism of Numbers in the Qur'¯an

Some initial observations may be made: the Qur'an continues within the number symbolism of its near eastern context with an importance clearly attached to numbers such as 4, 6, 7, 10, 12 and 40. An emphasis in the Qur'an is to be noted in the plurality present in the number 3, clearly developing from an anti-Christian position. Notable, given the later Muslim stress on the number in ritual and law, is the relative infrequency of 5, except in its sense of symbolizing ``a lot'' of something when used in the thousands.

Leah Kinberg

Qur'¯an and Had¯ith -The Struggle for Supremacy (An Examination of Dreams)

Evaluation made through dreams is most often based on transcendental information regarding the compensation of the Dead in the Afterworld. The same technique is used in the contention between the Qur'¯an and the Had¯ith . The Dead from the next world appear in dreams of the leaving, and tell how, either the Qur'¯an or the Had¯ith , enabled them to reach an elevated station in Paradise. Although expressed in a simplistic and unsophisticated terms, these dreams convey a fundamental disagreement as to the supreme authority or the esteem of the Qur'¯an versus that of the Had¯ith .

Only in a few cases are we able to trace a dream that mentions both the Qur'¯an and the Had¯ith and compares between them. More common are the dreams that focus on either one or the other, and consequently only an inclusive examination of each type enables the comparison. Dreams that deal with the Qur'¯an touch upon issues such as the readings of the Qur'¯an ( qir¯a'¯at ), the virtues of certain chapters or verses of the Qur'¯an (fad¯a'il ), as well as the creation of the Qur'¯an . Dreams that deal with Had¯ith naturally raise different topics, such as the effort to collect Had¯ith (talab al-`ilm ), and the accuracy of its transmission. The descriptions of rewards which are bestowed upon individuals in a direct proportion to their indulgence in the study of the Qur'¯an or that of the Had¯ith , enables us to put the two in hierarchy, and more significantly, to understand the nature of the struggle.

The present study will adduce a few dream narrations to illustrate the struggle, and will examine their distinction and implications.

Jane Dammen McAuliffe

From Censure to Praise: The Transformation of Qu'anic Jadal

Eventually the developing disciplines of `ul¯um al-Qur'¯an incorporated the genre of debate as one of the many taxonomic categories which emerged through the hermeneutical classification of the Qur'¯an. This paired citation of commendable/reprehensible jadal can be tracked through several centuries of literature from the ninth-century work of Ish¯aq b. Ibr¯ah¯im to the developed `ul¯um al-Qur'¯an treatises of al-Zarkash¯i and al-Suy¯ut¯i. Over this six century span the evolving assessment achieves increasingly precise definition and delimitation.

Michael Cook

What Do We Know about the Later History of the Qir¯a'a Traditions?

Edeltraud Harzer Clear

Reciprocal birth: The case of Aditi Utt¯anapad

Since the beginning of the Western translations of the Rgveda, the same mistakes have been copied and perpetuated. Most often the compound utt¯anapad is translated as a description of Aditi. Aditi with feet turned up, Aditi crouching in labor.

Examples for the translation of utt¯anapad are: Hermann Grassmann: ``Gebaererin," Ralph Griffith: ``productive power," Karl Friedrich Geldner: ``Kauernde," Wendy Doniger O'Flaherty: ``who crouched with legs spread," and so on. S¯ayana, traditionally the most authoritative commentator on the Vedas, explains `` utt¯anapad " as a tree with its foot turned up (having its roots in heaven), obviously referring to the kalpataru . As recently as 1994 such a thorough study of the Rgveda 10.72. as that of Harry Falk continues in the same fashion. Although Falk considered some other possible meanings, he did not employ them in his translation.

My paper will show that Harry Falk's speculations in his recent study were on the right track. I substantiate his hypothesis, but I take the issue a step further, using sources from within the text itself, from the Avesta, and from Prakrit examples.

Joel Brereton

The Rbhus and the Sacrifice

Rahul Peter Das

Indra and \'Siva/Rudra

Arlo Griffith

The Study of the Paippal¯ada Branch of the Atharva Veda (in light of recent fieldwork in Orissa)

The second part of the paper gives a report on the results of fieldwork recently carried out in Orissa. A brief account of the present state of the living Paippal¯ada tradition will be followed by a discussion of the manuscripts which it was possible to film.

These palmleaf manuscripts in Oriya characters partly contain sources on the basis of which a re-edition of AVP is to be undertaken. Some entirely new texts belonging to the Paippal¯ada branch of the Atharva Veda have however also been discovered.

Further fieldwork must be carried out in the very near future.

Edwin D. Floyd

\'Sravahin the Context of Áks itam: Rig-Veda 9.100.5

According to Matasovi\'c, A Theory of Textual Reconstruction in Indo-European Linguistics (Frankfurt am Main: Peter Lang, 1996) p. 66, the Vedic rishis were ``preoccupied" with earthly fame-conveying treasures. This is supposed to explain the divergence in usage between Vedic \'srávah áks itam and Homeric kléos áphthiton . Actually, though, Vedic \'srávah , in the context of áks itam , can indeed have a more or less other-worldly reference. Albeit with some oversimplification, it can be said that (1) when áks itam / áks iti modifies \'srávah , the combination consistently refers to festive celebration, possessions, etc., but (2) when the noun and adjective appear together but are grammatically more independent of one another, there can be an association with, e.g., Soma's bestowing am\skew4\acuter ta `immortality'.

The latter pattern appears at Rig-Veda 9.110.5, which contains the noun \'srávas¯a (instrumental, `by fame') and the accusative adjective áks itam (`unfailing'). A close Greek parallel is found at Theognis 245-246, where the Greek cognates kléos and áphthiton are both used, but the two words are not directly combined. The Vedic and Greek passages also resemble one another in their overall tenor (a transcendence of ordinary human limitations) and setting (Soma ritual / symposium), as well as associated vocabulary (such as s\skew4\acute[`u]ryah / ¯eélios `sun').

Stephanie W. Jamison

`Let a Sleeping Boss Lie': A Sanskrit maxim and its ritual and legal applications