The first major works of Sufism each systematically define the terms for drunkenness (sukr) and sobriety (sahw). This article attempts to trace the changes in the definitions of these terms in the tenth- and eleventh-century Sufi manuals, from the oldest example, Abū Nasr al-Sarrāj's (d. 378/988) Kitāb al-Luma‘ to ‘Alī Hujwīrī's (d. c. 467/1074) Kashf al-mahjūb, and to consider their implications. Hujwīrī provides an extensive debate about the relative value of the two experiences to which the terms refer, and associates arguments on either side with Abū Yazīd al-Bastāmī (d. 261/874–5?) and Abū l-Qāsim al-Junayd (d. 297/910), respectively. While the latter association stands out as innovative because previous commentators had not mentioned these individuals as exemplars of drunkenness and sobriety, it is argued here that Hujwīrī's choice was not entirely arbitrary, but a consequence of the dynamic nature of both biography and the definition of technical terminology.

The common view of adoption in pre-Islamic times is that it was widespread, that adoptees were the legal equals of biological sons, and that the institution was abolished with the advent of Islam. In the first part of this study I question the first two of these views. In the second part I argue that adoption, acknowledgement of paternity and false genealogical claims are three distinct practices, although scholars often confuse one with another. I explain the differences between them, and identify the sources of the confusion. Finally, I briefly mention Islamic alternatives to adoption.

An early-fourteenth-century capital of the Delhi sultanate, Tughluqabad is a prototype for the planning of many later cities. The ruins of Tughluqabad represent the extent of the architectural design and engineering skills of the time, while the street layout and other urban features remain as the earliest existing example of Indo-Muslim urban planning and its architectural components. In this report the survey of the major fortified gates with their corridors and guard rooms is presented, along with the granaries built to sustain the town in the event of siege or famine. A detailed study of the systems for controlling the water supply also shows how the flood plain was dammed and the water level managed by an ingenious system of sluices to create an artificial lake which supplied the moat and town. The report is part of the project of survey of Tughluqabad initiated in 1986 and complements the two earlier interim reports in BSOAS, 57 (1994) and 62 (1999), in which the architectural remains were studied together with urban planning and the method for construction of the town.

The products derived from the balsam tree (probably a cultivar of Commiphora opobalsamum [L.] Engl.) were employed extensively in medicine during the medieval period. This article presents a preliminary survey of the Arabic and European texts which discuss the varied medical uses of balsam. The analysis of the medical applications of balsam is organized into broad categories according to groups of illnesses and treatments. Although other sources of medicinal oleo-resin were available in the medieval period, the balsam gathered from the trees in the walled plantation at Matariyya in Egypt enjoyed a pre-eminent status. It is argued that the great regard shown to balsam in medieval medicine must be seen in the wider context of the history and legends associated with Matariyya and the earlier plantations in Palestine.

The present paper provides new evidence to support recent suggestions that a significant transformation of early Vedic culture was promoted by the kings of the Kuru dynasty, and argues that this transformation was fundamental to the establishment of the śrauta system of rituals. The evidence in question concerns a number of verse mantras in śrauta liturgies which, contrary to the rule, have no parallels in the Rgveda. It is suggested that the reason why new verse mantras were composed in these limited cases is that the rites for which they were intended were all rites of sovereignty through which the Kuru kings proclaimed, legitimized, and consolidated their hegemony.

The contributions of Rong Xinjiang to the study of Tang civilization, and particularly of external influences upon it, have already rapidly mounted up to a considerable number, so the appearance of a volume collecting many of his essays together in one place is much to be welcomed.

If written texts usually involve some kind of performative dimension, oral performances also entail the constitution of a text. American linguistic anthropology uses the term ‘entextualization’ for the process by which stretches of spoken discourse are detached from their immediate context and rendered repeatable and thus transmissible. In African oral poetry there are entextualizing strategies which involve rendering discourse object-like: by making it the focus of exegesis, or by presenting it as quotable, thus foregrounding the perception that these words pre-existed their present moment of utterance and could continue to exist after it. However, African oral praise poetry is also highly dynamic. Text is not consolidated in order to constitute it as an unchanging monument, but rather so that it can be re-activated in a new context of utterance, where it has an effectual engagement and dialogic force. Thus the performative and the entextualizing dimension can be seen to be inseparable and mutually dependent.

The Amharic letter published and translated here was sent to me by the learned Brad Sabin Hill, formerly of the Centre for Hebrew Studies at Yarnton, Oxford, and currently at New York.

In this paper a newly discovered copper-plate grant, dated year 8 of the Harsa era (A.D. 614–15), along with the seal, of mahārājādhirāja Harsavardhana of the Pusyabhūti dynasty, has been deciphered, edited and studied for the first time. Discovered in a village in the Nabha district, Punjab, the inscription is the earliest of the three known epigraphs of this ruler and the only one from Punjab. The other two—the Banskhera copper-plate (year 22) and the Madhuban copper-plate (year 25) are from Uttar Pradesh. This is the only one of Harsa's inscriptions that has been discovered along with the seal that was attached to it. The grant refers to the donation of a village named Pannarāngaka in the Darikkāni visaya of the Jayarata bhukti to a Brahmin named Ulūkhasvāmin of Bhārgava gotra for the increase of merit and fame of Harsa's parents and elder brother Rājyavardhana.

The notion of text, along with the issues relating to how variable or fixed a text may be, has been a central issue in the study of oral literature for some time. In this article it will be argued that the notion of the poetic text as being unchangeable is central to Somali maanso poetry, and that such poems are instances of what become, through the composition process, ‘definitive texts’. Arguments in favour of this will be presented from a number of different perspectives. Maanso poetry will be contrasted with traditional hees and the characteristics of both outlined, with a view to showing how the ‘texts’ of each type of poetry differ from an extra-textual viewpoint, that is from the point of view of people's expectations regarding the different types of poetry. Intratextual characteristics will also be mentioned with a view to showing the objectivity and autonomy of maanso definitive texts. The development of modern hees from the heello and also the development of the use of writing in Somali poetry will also be considered and shown to support the idea of the maanso definitive text.

The Shenxian zhuan is a biographical (or hagiographical) collection of great importance to our understanding of the formation of the Taoist religion in the early centuries of the Common Era.

Literary and archaeological evidence date mancala playing rules to the seventeenth century and mancala game boards at least to the sixth century A.D. Individual mancala games are rarely identified since different rules may be used on identical boards. The mancala game of Bao is a possible exception since its board often has distinctive square holes in the centre which also require characteristic rules. Muyaka bin Haji composed a poem on Bao in the early nineteenth century. The composition of the poem and the references to situations in the game indicate that his game is directly related to today's game of Bao. Muyaka's poem allows the rules of Bao to be dated to the beginning of the nineteenth century, almost a century before the earliest physical evidence of this game. In addition, it provides the earliest evidence of game rules which can be related to a contemporary mancala game.

This paper examines the nature of performance literature in Ancient Greece, comparing it with other modern and medieval examples. It concentrates on archaic Greek ‘song culture’, and especially choral praise poetry. It discusses the social and cultural significance of the original performances and, drawing on comparative examples, investigates the ‘gap’ between performance and text, possible cultural explanations and interpretations of ‘difficult’ performed literature—particularly competitive and religious—which stand out in comparison to performance literatures elsewhere.