Kalila wa Dimna

ʿAbd Allāh b. al‑Muqaffaʿ (d. c. 756) is one of the fathers of literary Arabic prose in the eyes of both Arab and Occidental academic traditions. His work, along with others chancellery secretaries, without a doubt laid the foundations of a cultural phenomenon whose golden age came soon thereafter through the adab. He is thus a precursor of a new cultural era. That said, we have to admit that his oeuvre is at the close of another literary, and more generally cultural epoch, characterized by a focus on orality, and labelled by some as the archaic period and by others as the Arab antiquity. This article proposes to situate his writing exactly at this turning point. In contrast to previous scholarship, we are interested in Ibn al‐Muqa aʿ less as the founder of a prose tradition than one who was able to build bridges between two sensibilities. A new reading of his collection of animal fables Kalīla wa Dimna, an Arabic adaptation of the Indian Pañcatantra through its intermediary pehlevi version, allows us to observe a culturally complex work. Through the de nition of two archetypes in his work, the kātib, or the man who writes, and the rawī, or the man who recites, we aim at describing how coexist in the structure of Kalīla wa Dimna several schemas of thought that sometimes resonate with an « administrative spirit » which redefined Arabic as a language of written transmission, and sometimes let the narration speak as the heir of a strong oral tradition we observe in the same period in the writings called traditional, that is belonging to the religious sphere, such as Qur’anic exegesis, prophetic traditions, hagiography, etc.
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ʿAbd Allāh b. al‐Muqa aʿ (m. vers 756) est aux yeux de la tradition académique arabe et occidentale l’un des “pères” ayant contribué à la genèse de la prose littéraire arabe. Il est incontestable que son œuvre, parmi celles d’autres secrétaires de chancellerie, contribua à jeter les bases de tout un champ culturel qui connaîtra son âge d’or peu de temps après, à savoir l’adab. Elle se situe ainsi en amont d’une nouvelle ère culturelle. Cela étant, force est de constater que cette œuvre vient conclure une autre ère littéraire, et plus généralement culturelle, marqué par l’oralité et quali ée par les uns d’époque archaïque, par les autres d’antiquité arabe. Le présent travail propose de situer l’écriture de ce prosateur précisément dans ce moment charnière. Contrairement à l’opinion dominante, il s’intéresse moins à Ibn al‐Muqa aʿ comme fondateur d’une tradition prosaïque, qu’à Ibn al‐Muqa aʿ comme passeur. Une nouvelle lecture de son fablier Kalīla wa Dimna, adaptation arabe du Pañcatantra indien par l’intermédiaire de sa version pehlevi, permet ici d’observer une œuvre culturellement composite. La dé nition de deux  gures théoriques dans l’œuvre, le kātib, ou l’homme qui écrit, et le rawī, ou l’homme qui récite, vise à décrire la cohabitation dans la structure de Kalīla wa Dimna entre plusieurs schémas de pensée qui tantôt sont en consonance avec à un « esprit administratif » qui redé nit l’arabe comme langue d’écriture et de transmission écrite, tantôt laissent la narration s’exprimer comme héritière d’une forte tradition orale, laquelle est observable, à la même période, dans les écrits dits traditionnels, c’est‐à‐dire inscrits dans la sphère religieuse, telles l’exégèse coranique, les traditions prophétiques, l’hagiographie, etc.

Perhaps more than any other region in the Middle Ages, Iberia demonstrates the fluidity of the pre-modern world. Its position at a cross-roads between East and West and the confluence of cultures and religions that inhabited the Peninsula created far-reaching connections that facilitated the dissemination of people, ideas, cultural forms, and material objects. A land of shifting borders and fluid configurations, Iberia triggers questions about boundaries and power struggles and brings to the fore issues of identity, alterity, and intercultural relations. This essay traces the journeys of a work that characterises the dynamism and porosity of Iberian space and whose history in western Europe is closely linked with the Peninsula: the highly influential Arabic collection of exemplary fables known as Kalila wa-Dimna. It offers a comparative analysis of three translations produced between the XIIIc and XVIIc century: Calila e Dimna (1251), the Exemplario contra los engaños y peligros del mundo (1493), and the Espejo político y moral para príncipes y ministros y de todo género de personas (1654, 1659). While ostensibly the same collection of fables, each version arrived in Iberia via different routes and discrete sources and languages: Arabic, Latin (via Hebrew), and Turkish (via Persian) respectively – a fact that not only demonstrates the complexity of the book’s origins and transmission, but that highlights the Peninsula’s position as a point of intersection for global encounters.
While Calila e Dimna and the Exemplario contra los engaños y peligros del mundo have been the subject of considerable research, the Espejo político y moral has garnered much less critical attention. Previous scholarship has also largely eschewed comparisons between the three Spanish versions. As this essay argues, however, a cross-period, comparative approach provides a particularly productive methodology. The production of these translations spans four hundred years in which the geo-political and ideological boundaries of the world were being recalibrated and the relationships between East and West re-contextualised. Calila e Dimna, the Exemplario, and the Espejo político y moral represent productive textual spaces in which to consider not only the processes of translatio studii et imperii across this period but changing conceptualisations of identity and perspectives on intercultural relations. The essay explores the evolving significance of the fables by analysing how each translation is re-framed for new audiences through prefatory material and changes to physical form, as well as by considering a selection of tales that address topics of good governance, friendship, and enmity.

In comparison with earlier, medieval translations of Kalila wa-Dimna, such as the well-known Calila e Dimna (1251) or the Exemplario contra los engaños y peligros del mundo (1483), the version composed by Vicente Bratutti from a sixteenth-century Turkish source, the Espejo político y moral para príncipes y ministros y de todo género de personas (1654, 1659), has been the focus of much less scholarship. Yet, as I will argue, it is worthy of critical attention, above all for the ideological richness of the prefaces written by the translator and censors, which provide differing and often contrasting perspectives on both this famous Eastern work and Spain's position in the world and relations with other powers. This article examines how the fables were framed by Bratutti and the censors for new audiences, and how their relevance for the Spanish monarchy was justified. It considers the representation of translatio studii et imperii; and it looks at how its Ragusan translator was himself 'translated' by the Inquisition's censors for seventeenth-century Spanish audiences.

Resumen: Este artículo analiza la naturaleza e identidad del falcón oriol, mencionado en obras castellanas medievales de primer orden (Calila e Dimna, Libro del cavallero Zifar, Elena y María) como soberano de todas las aves. Esta es la denominación que, durante el siglo XIII, recibió el fénix en la Península Ibérica, una de las criaturas mitológicas más importantes de las culturas europeas y orientales. A lo largo de más de dos milenios, su aspecto ha variado notablemente: primero adquirió el aspecto de una garza, después su efigie se asimiló a la de las rapaces. El color dorado que posee su plumaje y otros testimonios de incuestionable valor (relación con el Simurg, representaciones escultóricas, etc.) permiten esclarecer su identidad que, hasta el momento, había sido ignorada por la crítica. Para ello, se analizará la etimología del nombre oriol, serán estudiadas las aves que tradicionalmente han sido utilizadas como símbolos del poder y se examinará el desarrollo del mito del fénix desde el Antiguo Egipto hasta la Edad Media.
Abstract: This article analizes the nature and identity of the falcón oriol, mentioned on Spanish medieval works of relevance (Calila e Dimna, Libro del cavallero Zifar, Elena y María) as king of birds. This is the name given to the phoenix, which is one of the most relevant mythological creatures of European and Eastern cultures, in the Iberian Peninsula during the 13th century. Throughout more than two millennia, its appearance has varied remarkably: first it acquired the aspect of a heron, then its effigy was assimilated to that of the raptors. Its golden plumage and other testimonies of unquestionable value (relationship with the Simurg, sculptural representations, etc.) allow us to know the identity of this bird that, until now, was ignored by critics. Therefore, it will be analyzed the etymology of the name oriol, the birds that have traditionally been used as symbols of power and the development of the phoenix myth from Ancient Egypt to the Middle Ages.

J'explique brièvement, à travers l'exemple du Panchatantra, comment sont organisés les oeuvres à récit-cadre, et les implications de cette technique.
NB : ce texte est complémentaire de « L'intrigue et l'entrelac : roman médiéval et moderne ». Mais l'un et l'autre peuvent être lus séparément.

De entrada pudiera parecer sorprendente que el primer ejemplo de ficción en prosa castellana del cual tenemos noticia, el Calila e Dimna, sea una traducción/adaptación de una obra clásica de la literatura sánscrita: el Pañcatantra. Sin embargo, amplios estudios textuales han logrado documentar las fases principales de la transmisión de dicha colección de cuentos desde la India antigua hasta la España medieval. Una veta de investigación que, en cambio, no se ha explorado es aquella que corresponde al análisis comparativo de las transformaciones que la obra sufrió en su largo peregrinaje para adaptarse a distintos contextos culturales. Este artículo es un paso hacia tal clase de estudios, ya que analizará algunas características de los personajes principales de la narración española, Calila y Dimna, e identificará sus similitudes y diferencias con sus ancestros indios: los chacales Karaṭaka y Damanaka.