Chapter XVI: Section THE SECOND: On the Book of Adam

The Dabistan gives here a Persian translation of the Genesis, from the beginning to chapter VI, verse 8; at the end of which the author says that this is the only portion of the sacred book of the Jews which he had an opportunity of examining. According to Eichhorn (see Einleitung in das alte Testament, 4th edit., vol. II. p. 329) the five books of Moses were translated into Persian by the rabbi Jacob, son of Joseph, after the ninth century; the translation contained in the Dabistan is said to have been executed by Abhi Chand; we cannot say whether it was made from the Hebrew original, or from the Arabic, or any other language. We are informed by the baron Hammer-Purgstall (see Gemaldesaal moslimisher Herrsher, p. 57) that Werka ben Nafil, a cousin of Khadija, Muhammed’s wife, and a Christian priest, translated the Old and New Testament from the Hebrew into Arabic; this translation appears however to have been but little known. Eichhorn says (loco citato, p. 231), that the first certain traces of a translation of the Hebrew sacred books into Arabic are to be found in the tenth century. Pocock mentions (pp. 34, 361) Sâadias, a learned Jew, who lived from 892 to 941 A. D., as translator of all the books of the Old Testament into Arabic; and another Jew (not named) who made a version of the book of Kings into the same language.

The Persian translation of the fragment under our consideration was revised by the author of the Dabistan, and by Sarmed, who was a Jew and a Rabbin, converted to Muhammedism, most probably in the first half of the seventeenth century. As it was undoubtedly executed from another original copy than that which had served to the translators in Europe, it appeared interesting enough to examine whether the Persian version of the Dabistan differs in any material point from the translations known in Europe. For that purpose I have consulted the following copies of the Bible:

I. The polyglot Bible, printed at Paris, 1645, in which I
chiefly compared the Arabic translation.

II. The Persian translation, published by the Bible Society
in 1825.

III. The German Bible, translated by Martin Luther.

IV. The English Bible, appointed to be read in Churches, 1837.

V. The English translation from the original Hebrew, by John
Bellamy, 1818.

VI. The French translation from the original Hebrew, by S.
Cahen, 1831.

VII. The French translation, by Messrs. Glaire and M. Frank,
1835.

Here follow some variations which I have remarked in the Persian translation compared with the text of the versions just enumerated. (References are made to the respective copies, by repeating the Roman numbers prefixed to each.)

GENESIS, CHAP. I.

V. 2. II. III. IV. V. VI. read: “the spirit of God;” I. the
Arabic translation has “the winds of God;” VI. “un vent
violent (divin) agitait la surface des eaux;” the Dabistan,

وباد خدا مى وزيد بہ روي آب

“And the _wind of God_ blew upon the face of the water.”

VV. 6. 7. 8. I. the Arabic translation has جلد, _jeld_, “a
skin, a volume;” II. پرده, _perdah_, “veil, curtain, fence;”
both Arabic and Persian, only figuratively “heaven;” III.
German, “veste;” IV. English, and VI. French, “firmament;” V.
English, “expanse;” VII. French, “étendue” (atmosphere); the
Dabistan رفيعه, “an elevation.”

V. 26. V. Mr. Bellamy objects to the translation of this verse
by the words: “Let us make man in our image” (in which all
the other versions agree), and he substitutes for it: “We
will make man;” in the Dabistan we find, in support of Mr.
Bellamy, بكنم آدم, “I will make man.”

CHAP. II.

V. 6. All the translations have: “a vapor _watered_ the face of
the earth;” the Dabistan says: “covered, decked.”

V. 7. All the copies agree in: “he breathed _into his nostrils_
the breath of life;” the Dabistan translates: “into his body.”

V. 8. Every where we read: “God planted a garden _eastward in
Eden_;” in the Dabistan: “from old times in Eden;” Mr. Cahen
remarks that Onkelos (a Hebrew commentator before our era)
interprets in the same manner: “in former times.”

V. 11. We read generally: “Pison: _that is it which compasseth
the whole land of Havilah, where there is gold_;” Messrs.
Glaire and Frank add: “l’or _de ce nom_;” in the Dabistan:

زمين حوملارا کہ آنجاست بلور و سذك يشب

“The land Havemla, where there is the beryl (also crystal)
and the stone jasper (especially a whitish kind found on
mount Imaus).”

V. 12. is not in the Dabistan.

V. 13. In the Dabistan are omitted, after the name of Gihon,
the words: “the same is it that compasseth the whole land of
Ethiopia.”

V. 14. The Dabistan reads, after the name of the river Hîdîkel,
رونده پيش طايفه يشراو, “running towards the _people of
Ashur_;” other versions have “towards the east of Assyria.”

V. 23. VII. Messrs. Glaire and Frank translate: “qu’elle soit
nommée _Ischâ_ (femme), parce qu’elle a été tirée de _Ish_”
(homme). This analogous derivation for man and woman does not
exist in other languages; we find however, in the old Latin,
_vir_ and _vira_, which words are used in the Latin
translation of the Samaritan text; in the Arabic version we
find امرعه for “virago,” and امريه for “virilitas;” the
translator, in the Dabistan, endeavored to reproduce the same
derivation, by _ânsán_ and _ânsn_:

از ابراي همين كَفته ميشود انسان كه كرفته شده است ار اسن

V. 24. The version in the Dabistan deviates from the other
translations by the word
ميخسپند بزنش
“he will _sleep_ with his wife,” instead of “cleave unto, or
adhere to, his wife.”

CHAP. III.

Offers no variation to be pointed out.

CHAP. IV.

V. 13. The translation in the Dabistan deviates from IV. VI.
VII. which have: “my _punishment_ is greater than I can
_bear_;” it agrees with I. II. III. and V. which say: “great
is my _iniquity_ to be _forgiven_;”

بزرك است كناه من از برداشتن

“Great is my _crime_ to be _overlooked_” (disregarded).

V. 16. There is coincidence between I. II. III. IV. VI. and
VII. which have: “he dwelt in the land _of Nod_, on the east
of Eden.” V. Mr. Bellamy translates: “he dwelt in the land
_wandering_ eastward of Eden;” in the Dabistan:

نشيست در زمين اواركي ييش عدن

“He dwelt in the land of vagrancy, before Eden.”

CHAP. V.

V. 25. All translations have: “Methuselah lived _a hundred
eighty and seven_ years, and begat Lamech;” in the Dabistan
we read only “eighty-seven years.”

V. 27. All versions agree in the words: “All the days of
Mathuselah were _nine hundred sixty and nine_ years;” in the
Dabistan we find: “the whole life of Manusalah was eight
hundred and fifty-nine years” (according to its own text it
ought to be 869).

V. 30. According to all versions: “Lamech lived after he begat
Noah _five hundred ninety and five_ years;” according to the
Dabistan, only “five hundred years.”

V. 31. Pursuant to all translations: “the days of Lamech were
_seven hundred seventy and seven_ years;” pursuant to the
Dabistan: “six hundred eighty and two years.”

CHAP. VI.

V. 3. In the Dabistan we read: “My spirit shall not always
_take patience_ with man;” other versions have: “shall not
always remain,” or “strive with man.”

V. 5. is omitted in the Dabistan.

The notice given in the Dabistan of the opinions of the Jews will be found very incomplete and inaccurate, inasmuch as it is exhibited without a due distinction of the different Jewish sects, to which they may be attributed. For a far better account of the Jews, see that of Makrisi, given in the “Chrestomathie arabe” of Silvestre de Sacy (vol. I. pp. 284-369), with the various explanatory notes of that celebrated orientalist.

[484] Tata is a town belonging to the Amírs of Sind, the
capital of a district of the same name, and situated near
the banks of the Indus about 130 miles, by the course of the
river, from the sea; lat. 22° 44´ N. long. 68° 17´
E.――(Hamilton’s _East India Gazetteer_.)

[485] See pp. 152-153.

[486] _Katéb_, the name of the sultan, signifies the north
pole; hence the author plays with the words _kateb_,
“north,” _naśif nahar_, “midday,” and _shám_, “evening.”

[487] The author leaves us in a total uncertainty about the
words to which he alludes; if to those of Isaiah, chap.
LIII, vv. 2-12, the prophet would have predicted his own
sufferings. According to the learned Jew, Isaac Orobio (see
_Israel vengé, ou Exposition naturelle des Prophéties que
les Chrétiens appliquent à Jésus, leur prétendu Messie_),
the words of Isaiah, chap. LIII, are not to be referred to a
single individual, but to the whole people of Israel.

CHAPTER V.

Of the religion of the Tarsá[488], containing three sections.

_Section I_――an account of the Lord Aisíá (Jesus).
_Section II_――of the creed of the Nasárá.
_Section III_――of the works of the Tarsá.

Of the Tarsá I saw several learned individuals, such as the Padrî Fransaî, who is highly esteemed by the Portuguese in Goa, and by those who are in Surat, a maritime place in India. In the year of the Hejira 1057 (A. D. 1647) the author of this book found him in the port of Surat.