Uygurca Bir Sivil Hayat Belgesi: Maitrisimit

Authors : Fatih Bakirci

Pages : 7-23

Doi:10.35236/jots.346108

View : 32 | Download : 31

Publication Date : 2018-01-31

Article Type : Research

Abstract :The Uighur that politically dominant on the stage of history since the 8th century, spread across different geographical regions based on such political structuring encountered different languages and cultures due to political, cultural and religious reason and interacted with these. There is court of Buddhist in those different interacted fields, too. The work called Maitrisimit translated from Tocharian is one of texts of Buddhist court that took an important place in Old Uighur Turkish works. GABAIN and TEKİN previously laid emphasis on the fact that Maitrisimit which has a dynamic and dramatic narration was a theatrical production and staged. Based on these remarks, this assertion in which the theatrical terms and concepts in the work were first identified focuses on the question why such a religious work includes theatrical aptitude style wise by giving examples from the Berlin (B) collection and the copy of Hami (H). It is seen that this work in an attempt to convey the Buddhist doctrines to the public in a more understandable way can be considered more of a civilian life documentary in terms of language and style, as compared to Sūtra and Abhidarma’s, the other religious texts of the period, which belong to Buddhist community.
Keywords : Maitrisimit, Old Uighur, Buddhism, theatre