Further Old Khotanese Texts in ‘Metre B’

Sims-Williams, Nicholas

Abstract

Old Khotanese poetry makes use of three metres, conventionally referred to as A, B and C. The metre of the longest surviving Old Khotanese poem, the Book of Zambasta (Z) was analysed in detail in Sims-Williams 2022, which was followed by a series of articles studying the use of metre C in other texts and fragments, in order to determine to what extent their treatment of this metre conforms to the practice of Z. The present article applies the same approach to passages in metre B, identifying some which probably belong to lost parts of the Book of Zambasta and others which certainly do not. The relevant passages are presented with a detailed metrical analysis as well as an English translation and brief commentary.

Citation

Sims-Williams, N. (2025). Further Old Khotanese Texts in ‘Metre B’. Indo-Iranian Journal, 68(1), 15-33. https://doi.org/10.1163/15728536-06801008

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Jan 24, 2025
• Publication Date: Feb 17, 2025
• Deposit Date: May 31, 2025
• Publicly Available Date: May 31, 2025
• Print ISSN: 0019-7246
• Electronic ISSN: 1572-8536
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 68
• Issue: 1
• Pages: 15-33
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1163/15728536-06801008
• Keywords: Khotanese language; Old Khotanese poetry; Khotanese metre; Book of Zambasta
• Publisher URL: https://brill.com/view/journals/iij/68/1/article-p15_2.xml