Among Kings and Sages: Greek and Indian Wisdom in an Arabic Mirror for Princes

Abstract

The mirror for princes known as the Nasihat al-mulük of al-Mâwardî, probably a tenth-century text, is replete with references to sources identified by the author as "Indian". A large number of these texts also appear in the so-called Wasiyyat Aristätälls li-l-Iskandar, some examples find parallels in Kalîla wa-Dimna and Bilawhar wa-Büdäsaf. These coincidences raise several possibilities: first, that the author's "Indian" source represents a work of Indie background, translated from Sanskrit or another Indian language into Arabic, probably at the time when the Barmakids were sponsoring such translations in significant numbers; secondly, that it was rendered from an Indian language into Middle Persian in the Sasanian period and from that language into Arabic in the early centuries of the Islamic era; thirdly, that the text was composed in a non-Indian language, probably Middle Persian, and acquired a "forged" Indian genealogy in a parallel to the numerous spurious Greek attributions (a category that would subsequently include the pseudoAristotelian testament). The article addresses these three possibilities, and, on the basis of textual and contextual considerations, suggests that at the present stage of research, it is the second that seems most likely. AbstractLe miroir des princes connu sous le titre de Nasthat al-mulük et attribué à al-Mâwardï, sans doute un texte du dixième siècle, comprend maintes références à des sources identifiées par l'auteur comme «indiennes». Un grand nombre de ces textes apparait également dans la Wasiyyat Aristätälls li-l-Iskandar, quelques exemples ne sont pas sans rappeler Kalila wa-Dimna et Bilawhar wa-Bûdasaf. Ces coïncidences ouvrent la porte à plusieurs possibilités: />nmo, que la source « indienne» de l'auteur représente un ouvrage d'origine indo-européenne traduit à partir du sanskrit ou d'une autre langue indienne vers l'arabe, probablement à l'époque où les Barmecides encourageaient ces traductions à grande échelle; secundo, qu'elle fut transmise d'une langue indienne en moyen perse (pahlévi) à la période sassanide, puis en arabe dans les premiers siècles de l'Islam; tertio, que le texte fiit composé en moyen perse et acquit une généalogie indienne « forgée» à l'instar de tant d'attributions prétendument grecques, comme cela s'avéra ultérieure-ment le cas pour le Testament du pseudo-Aristote. Cet article examine les trois hypothèses etsur la base de considérations textuelles comme contextuelles -suggère que, dans l'état actuel de la recherche, c'est la deuxième qui semble la plus vraisemblable.

Media for reflection: A comparison of renaissance mirrors for princes and contemporary management education

“…But mirror-like texts were found in the ancient Near East, in the Antiquity (Kaplan, 2012), as well as in medieval times, in the renaissance and up to around 1700. Geographically, Asian, Arabian (Marlow, 2013;Van Gelder, 2001), as well as West-European examples have been found (Blum, 1981;Léglu, 2011). Content-wise, the genre unfolds a broad spectrum from relatively simple lists of moral virtues to more complex political philosophical reflections on the state and issues like the relationship between politics and Christianity and between the prince and his subjects.…”

“…Historians adopted the term ‘mirror for princes’ to reference ‘literary works that offer advice to rulers and high-ranking administrators’ (Marlow, 2013: 523). These mirrors had an educational and admonitory aim and were directed to (future) kings, princes and also other subjects (Anton, 1968, 1999; Schmidt, 2015; Singer, 1981).…”