Mitteliranische Handschriften, Teil l.

Sheffield, Daniel Jensen

Mitteliranische Handschriften, Teil l: Berliner Turfan-fragmente manichaischen Inhalts in soghdischer Schrift. By CHRISTIANE RECK. Verzeichnis der orientalischen Handschriften in Deutschland. Band XVIII, I. Stuttgart: FRANZ STEINER VERLAG, 2006. Pp. 363.[member of]72.

The present volume is a well-produced catalogue of the Manichaean fragments written in the so-called Sogdian scrip] (as opposed to the Christian or Manichaean scripts). The manuscripts described are primarily found in the Berliner Turfansammlung, on permanent loan from the Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften to the Oriental Department of the Staats-bibliothek zu Berlin. PreuBischer Kulturbesitz, along with fragments from several other collections, notably from the Otani collection in kyoto and from the Institut Vostokovednija in St. Petersburg. Together with the re cent digitization of the Berlin collection now available to the public at the Digitales Turfanarchiv (http://www.bbaw.de/bbaw/Forschung/Forschungsprojekte/turfanforschung/de/). this catalogue will greatly facilitate research in this important archive of primary sources for the Manichaean religion in Central Asia. The fragments described form part of a large collection recovered between 1902 and 1913 by the four German expeditions sent to the Turfan basin, located in the north eastern corner of what is today the Xinjiang Uyghur Autonomous Region in China. This is the second catalogue describing the Manichaean texts in the Berlin Turfan collection to appear in the Verzeichnis der orientalisthen Handschriften in Deutschland (VOHD) series (see also Jens Wilkens. Altturkische Handschriften, Teil 8: Manichaisch-turkische Texte der Berliner Turfan-summlung, VOHD XIII, 16) and the first of a projected three volumes that will describe all the Iranian fragments in the collection written in the so-called Sogdian script. It should be noted that, though these manuscripts are predominantly in the Sogdian language, the catalogue also describes fragments of other languages written in Sogdian script, such as Middle Persian and Parthian.

The catalogue contains 446 entries, in which individual fragments as well as manuscripts reconstructed from several fragments are described. The entries are limited to fragments that have an explicit or evident Manichaean provenance. Given the very fragmentary nature of many of these texts, the subject matter is often difficult to identify. In these cases, certain scribal conventions that are more often used in manuscripts written in Manichaean script than in Buddhist manuscripts written in the Sogdian script, can help to classify them as having a probable Manichaean origin, such as the use of stylized flowers in [leadings and pairs of encircled dots used as punctuation marks (Introduction, pp. 12-13).

Each entry lists the catalogue number; the "signature" of the fragment: So (for Sogdian), Ch/So (for Chinese/Sogdian), or a mark designating another collection, followed by an identifying number; and the site marks (Fundsigeln) by which the fragments were originally classified. This is followed by a physical description of the fragment. In the case of folios that have been reconstructed from multiple fragments, the arrangement in which these fragments fit together is described. A few representative lines of the text are transliterated. If the text consists of multiple fragments, the reconstructed text is given first, followed by descriptions of the individual fragments along with their transliterations. This is followed by a short description of the contents and references to relevant literature (text editions, photographs, citations, etc.).

There are several concordances that alleviate many of the problems faced by scholars working with this archive. Concordance One lists fragments found in publications; those cited in Ilya Gershevitch's A Grammar of Manichaean Sogdian (Oxford: Blackwell, 1961); frequently used signatures; and a list of site marks with their corresponding signatures. The second concordance lists (by contents) the fragments with texts in languages besides Sogdian, including Middle Persian, Parthian, Old Turkic, and Chinese. Most of the Chinese fragments are identified with known Buddhist texts cross-referenced to the Taisho Tripitaka. The third concordance is a detailed and very useful subject index, with references to fragments belonging to known works and subjects ranging from elephants to the usage of the numeral 1002. The fourth concordance lists texts written in list form: the fifth gives the illustrated texts; the sixth fragments that are probably from the same manuscript; and the seventh lists the fragments that fit together. Concordance Eight lists fragments from other collections mentioned in this catalogue, and Concordance Nine fragments now missing.

Reck's descriptions of (he individual fragments are characterized by great attention to detail, which will greatly facilitate future research. For instance, following up her speculative observation that the small marks in So 18121 (= MIK III 57, entry 248, pp. 184-85) may be aids for recitation or an indication or melody could contribute to our understanding of Manichaean hymns. This catalogue will be of tremendous use as a reference tool for scholars working on Middle Iranian languages and Central Asian Manichaeism, particularly as an accompaniment and index to the many unpublished fragments in the Digitales Turfanarchiv. That great pains were taken in the preparation of the catalogue is clear from the consistency of the entries and the lack of typing errors. The author is to be congratulated for a great service to the held.

DANIEL JENSEN SHEFFIELD

HARVARD UNIVERSITY