Skip to main content

Phallocentric Esotericism in a Tale from Rumi�s Masnavi Manavi



Phallocentric Esotericism in a Tale from Jalal al-Din Rumi�s Masnavi 
By Mahdi Tourage

"The Masnavi-yi Ma�navi, the Mystical Epic of the great thirteenth century Persian mystic Jalal al-Din Rumi (d. 1273), contains explicit sexual images and bawdy tales that seem to have posed a problem for readers, commentators, and interpreters alike. When these �pornographic� tales are not completely overlooked, scholars view them as lacking mystical signi?cance and as disrupting the mystical ?ow of the text. This paper is an assessment of Rumi�s modes of communicating esoteric secrets in a virtually unexplored bawdy tale in the Masnavi, the Tale of the Prankster who Donned the Veil and Sat among the Women during a Religious Gathering (5:3325 �3350). I will begin with a survey of the established readings of the Masnavi in which the presence of the bawdy tales has been noted. In order to situate Rumi�s bawdy tales in their historical context, a discussion of the instances and purposes of bawdy material in medieval Persian literature will follow."

Read the entire paper below:

Phallocentric Esotericism in a Tale from Rumi�s Masnavi          


                     | PDF| ENGLISH| 24 PAGES |


Related Post:

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Maula-Maula laakh pukaare - Kalaam by Hazrat Zaheen Shah Taji (R.A.)

????-???? ??? ??????,???? ??? ? ?? ????? ?? ?? ??? ??? ???,???? ??? ? ?? ?? ???? ?? ??? ?? ???? ????,?? ?????? ?? ????-???? ????-????,?????? ?? ?? ??? ????-???? ????-????,?? ?? ??? ? ?? ?? ??????? ?? ?? ?? ??,?? ???? ?? ??? ???? ?? ????? ???? ???? ?? ??????? ???? ???? ??? ? ???? ???? ???? ?? ??? ?? ?? ????? ~ Hazrat Zhaeen Shah Taji (R.A.) Maula-Maula laakh pukaare,Maula haath na aaye Lafzon se hum khel rahe hain,maa'na haath na aaye Jo pani ke naam ko pani jaane,naadaani hai Pani-pani rat'te rat'te,pyaasa hi mr jaaye Shola-shola rat'te-rat'te,lab pe aanch na aaye Ik chingaari lab par rakh lo,lab fauran jal jaaye Ism pe Qaane hone waala aur musamma khone waala Kaam na karne waala moorakh bas naam se ji bahlaye English Translation: Calling out Maula Maula! Maula still escapes us. We only play with words,meaning still escapes us. Who understands the word Water as Water,is a fool, He will keep chanting Water Water and will die of thirst. By ch...
Post a Comment
Read more

Rumi's "Popular Versions" in Their Original Farsi Scripts

I've been receiving numerous emails requesting the original Farsi or Persian verses of Rumi's very famous and often quoted English "Versions" which are "translated" by the popular Rumi "version makers", particularly the incomparable Coleman Barks who has single-handedly made Maulana Jalaluddin Balkhi Rumi a household name here in our beloved America. In some instances, it's virtually impossible to find Rumi's original Farsi verses, mainly due to non-Persian speaking 'version makers' not providing a reference to the original Rumi verses in their famous  new-agey  translation works. Coleman Barks, the foremost Rumi translator and "version maker", not only openly admits, but also calls his Rumi translations as "versions," or "re-renderings" because he doesn't read Farsi:  �Of course, as I work on these poems, I don�t have the Persian to consult. I literally have nothing to be faithful to, except wha...
Post a Comment
Read more

Lucan: Opening to his Epic on the Civil War (From Latin)

I have recently finished reading (for the first time in its entirety) Lucan's unfinished epic Bellum Civile " The Civil War." I found it extraordinary. When I had finished, I wanted to translate the entire thing. Though I quickly realized that I hadn't the time or the resources to do so without the task taking several years. So I have selected a few excerpts from the Bellum Civile  that I think read well on their own, and have added these to my translation queue. Starting with this part here from the poem's opening. You can see a list of the planned excerpts on my table of contents (list of translated poems.) Opening to his Epic on the Civil War (1.1-82)  By Lucan Translated by A.Z. Foreman I sing of war far worse than civil war waged in the nasty fields of Thessaly, of crime gone legal, of a powerful state that disemboweled itself with victory's sword, of family front lines 1 ; how when the pact of tyranny imploded, all the forces of a concussed w...
Post a Comment
Read more