New Book, Event Recap and Website Refresh
New Book
We are delighted to announce the latest addition to our monograph series: The Picture Gallery (Nigaristan): A Persian Moral Miscellany. This new publication is the only known English translation of Nigaristan written by Muʿīn al-Dīn Muʿīnī Juvainī, who lived in the early 14th century in or near Juvain, Khurasan, then in the eastern part of the Mongol Empire. Nigaristan is a term referring to a collection of teaching stories imbued with ethical and moral lessons, and this particular work is considered a distinguished one in the tradition of Persian wisdom literature.
The publication of this translation is not without its complicated past. The translation was originally completed by Edward Rehatsek (1819–91), an engineer-turned-orientalist who spent most of his adult life in India teaching Latin and other languages. Rehatsek is known for translating a number of Persian and Arabic texts into English, including the five-volume Rauzat-us-safa, or, Garden of Purity, published by the Society’s Oriental Translation Fund between 1891 and 1894.
In 1888, while in Bombay, Rehatsek sent his translation of Nigaristan to Forster F. Arbuthnot (1833–1901), a literary collaborator of Sir Richard Burton, for review and editing. Arbuthnot had intended to publish the translation through the Society, but for reasons unknown, the manuscript did not reach publication. Instead, it was transferred to us in 1895 and has since then remained in our Archives alongside the translator’s other manuscripts, now catalogued as part of his personal papers here.
Now, more than a century later, Gregory Maxwell Bruce, editor of the book and Assistant Professor in the Department of South Asian Languages and Civilizations at the University of Chicago, took the work to fruition. As Professor Bruce writes in the introduction, Nigaristan is ‘of great historical and literary importance as one of the earliest Persian works to be modelled on the influential Gulistan of Sa’di’, but remains ‘sorely understudied’. For this publication, he restores Rehatsek’s translation to its original – the pre-Arbuthnot-edited version – with added introduction, glossary and notes to provide more entry points for understanding the work.
We are thrilled to see Rehatsek’s translation, after sitting in the Archives for all this time, finally make it to print, and particularly so to see its publication in its original form. We hope that this book will encourage and support further study of this important piece of literature.
The book is available to purchase through Edinburgh University Press and a reference copy is available in the Library for readers to consult. More information of the book can be found here: https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-the-picture-gallery-niga-rista-n.html
For more information about our publication programme, see this page.
Event Recap
October has been a vibrant and intellectually stimulating month for the Society, with three lectures hosted over the past weeks.
On 9th October, we welcomed Professor Prof Tirthankar Roy from the London School of Economics, who delivered a compelling lecture on the complexities of state-building in Bengal during the late 18th century. The evening also marked a special occasion: the presentation of the Society’s Bicentenary Medal to Professor Peter Robb, our former President, in recognition of his longstanding service to the Society.
This week we had two lectures, with fascinating echoes in their themes. On Wednesday we had Dr Liz Driver lecturing on the history of central India through the lens of two Governors of Bombay – Mountstuart Elphinstone and Sir John Malcolm. Then on Thursday, Professor Usha Vijailakshmi returned to the same historic context, focusing on the legacy and contemporary role of the Asiatic Society of Mumbai which was founded in the early 19th century.
It was striking to see the parallel trajectory of development between us and the Asiatic Society of Mumbai. One such example is that both societies collected items for a museum in their early years (including animal claws and rock specimens in their case!). Professor Vijailakshmi, in her presentation, also highlighted some treasures from the society’s collections, including a 15th-century manuscript of Dante’s Divine Comedy, gold Kushan coins and rare Shakespeare prints, among others. Thank you Professor Vijailakshmi for such an illuminating presentation!
Recordings of these lectures will be available soon on our YouTube channel – so stay tuned for updates!
Looking ahead to the final week of October, we are excited to be hosting a book launch on the 27th by Professor Jochen Sokoly on Islamic textile, and another on the 28th by Professor Scott Redford on medieval excavations in Turkey. We will finish the month off with a lecture on the 30th by Professor Peter Clift on the relationship between climate change and societal development in Asia. For full details of these events please visit our Events page here.
Website Refresh
As some of you may have noticed, we have been making some changes to our website – both in design and structure. These changes are part of our ongoing effort to better showcase the Society’s rich history, current initiatives and present identity. We have also enhanced the site’s navigation to make it easier for you to find key information about our awards, events and publications. We hope the refreshed site offers a smoother, more intuitive experience, but if anything feels unclear or if you have any comments, don’t hesitate to get in touch!
James Liu