This article proposes a brief overview of the existing points of view concerning the emergence of the Ancient Israel state. The key question is the existence of the unified monarchy with Jerusalem as its capital which controlled the territories of Judea and Samaria. The scarcity of the archaeological findings makes this question dependent on how the historicity of the Biblical accounts on Saul, David and Solomon is seen. Some researches regard them as mythological while others as historical figures. Reconstructions of ancient history are never ideologically sterile, so the most important ideology here is Yahwism, a religious movement which gradually evolved from one step to another. Deuteronomist (the author of the Samuel-Kings cycle, most likely, a collective one) obviously adhered to his own version of Yahwism.

The publication provides a commented translation into Russian of the book V of Shinchō-kō ki chronicle, key source describing the life of Oda Nobunaga, daimyō of Owari province, who laid the foundation for reunification of Japan at the end of Sengoku jidai. The book V narrates about Nobunaga war with Azai and Asakura clans, and the beginning of his conflict with powerful Takeda house.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

Ka‘b’s daughter Rābi‘a is briefly mentioned in the poetical anthology Lubāb al-awbāb by ‘Aufi as a brilliant poet. A subject of the majority of her poems was love and šāhid-bāzī, i.e. gazing at the beauty of youths, which brings the spectator to internal contemplation of the beauty of the Creator. ‘Attar, a Persian Sufi poet (12–13 cent.), dedicated to the love and death of Rābi‘a the longest story in his Masnavis. So far it has not been ascertained whether it was based upon a certain source, which has not survived until the present day, or whether it was a development of the account by ‘Aufi. The first part of the article contains an analysis of the story about daughter of Ka‘b in the Ilahi-nameh, its place within the structure of the poem as well as discusses its possible historical background. Then a line-by-line translation in Russian is provided, together with an extensive historical and philological commentary.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The short story  “Apple and Knife”  (2008) by Indonesian writer Intan Paramaditha (born in 1979) is analysed within the comparative-typological framework of the Biblical and Quranic narrative about Yusuf and Zulaikha. The continuity of the motif transposition is traced from the literatures of the Middle East to that of the peoples of Nusantara who embraced Islam later. The intermediary was the Javanese Serat Yusup, which dates back to the 17th century. The literary skills and methods by Intan Paramaditha’s find their place somewhere in between the feminist literary criticism and horror stories. The deconstruction of some elements of the traditional narrative about Yusuf (e.g. the episode with the noble Egyptian women) makes the popular story to sound more meaningful to the readers of the modern Indonesian literature. In its turn, it sheds some light on the political and social developments of the “re-Islamized” island state of Indonesia.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The article comprises an analysis of the famous ghazal by the 14th cent. Iranian poet Shams al-Din Hafiz. Traditionally it has been considered as a response to a poem by his late contemporary Shah Ni‘matullah Vali. This poetic dialogue is rather remarkable since it reveals both the literary and the personal polemics. The juxtaposing of the two texts opens in their research further hermeneutic perspectives. The ideal images of the ghazals’ lyrical characters can be projected onto the personalities of the two poets and their relationships, which provides the poem by Hafiz with a new semantic dimension.

The authors declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The paper focuses on the concept of bhāvanā, i.e. the key term of the Sanskrit treatise “Bhāvanā-krama” by Kamalaśīla (VIII CE). The analysis of the context of “Bhāvanā-krama”, where this term occurs provides an insight into the issues of the origin of the said treatise, its composition and contents. The meaning of this term in “Bhāvanā-krama” is compared to its usage in other Sanskrit texts. The general analysis of the text of “Bhāvanā-krama” and particularly of the application of this term in the expressions, such as bhūtārtha-bhāvanā, bhūtam eva… bhāvanīyam etc. offers a better understanding of the term proper and highlights the deep layers of its meaning.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The article deals with the activities of the Maronite patriarch Gabriel German Farhat (1670–1732) in the field of the Arab bibliography. The author argues that by the 18th century AD in the Arabic-speaking literature of the Middle East, were used two types of introductions to the written texts, the Muslim and the Christian. The metalanguage, which was employed by Muslim authors in the introductions to their texts, was very convenient for constructing book-titles that by themselves built the “data base” of the so-called the Arabic Islamic “virtual catalogue”. The metalanguage used by Christian authors was different, and therefore in the library world of the Middle Ages two traditions were incompatible and therefore existed without intersecting. The Maronite Patriarch Gabriel German Farhat, being a bibliophile and a librarian, in his writings proposed organizing introductions to Christian texts in a Muslim manner, however, preserving their Christian content.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The publication offers academic translations of fifteen stories from the major chronicles of the 9^th–10^th cent. AD written in Arabic and arranged after the ruling dynasties. These two centuries witnessed the genesis and further development of this very popular genre of historical narrative. The so-called “dynastic” chronicles display the events of the history of the Muslim Community by dividing it following the times of the rule of the Muslim sovereigns, the Caliphs. Such chronicles were authored by the Muslim as well as by the Christian authors. Concerning the composition of historical works, their texts can be described as “amalgamated” and comprise along with other information a certain type of stories, which are written in a “genre” of “belles-lettres”. They usually comprise dialogues and rather vivid descriptions of historical characters and their deeds. The chronicles, which these stories are extracted from are written by ad-Dinawari (d. 891), al-Ya‘kubi (d. 897), Eutichius (d. c. 940) and al-Muqaddasi (d. end X c.)² . The translations are arranged in the chronological order and supplied with roman numerals. The publication is followed by a detailed commentary.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The paper continues the research of the chapter “Diverse Writings” (Za shu 雜述) of the famous “Book to Burn” (Fen shu 焚書), opus magnum of iconoclastic late Ming thinker Li Zhi (李贄, 1527–1602), and presents the first Russian translations of Li Zhi’s essays on qualities of human character: “Interpretation of Voidness and Fullness” (Xu shi shuo 虛實說) and “Interpretation of Loftiness and Cleanliness” (Gao jie shuo 高潔說). In these writings the thinker makes accent on the importance of real, not only nominal possession of virtues as well as of the ability to reconsider one’s own wrong views. He also protests against the hypocrisy and prejudice and puts forward the genuineness as a criteria of what makes the difference between ordinary people and a gentleman. The essays provide a bright reflection of the core features of Li Zhi’s philosophical views, such as oppositional authentism, naturalistic dualism and the synthesis of Buddhist, Daoist and Confucian elements.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The Konjaku monogatari-shū (1120s) is a Buddhist  setsuwa collection especially interesting when being put into the context of concepts, which go back to the texts of the Canon. These concepts are considered to the everyday life of the Japanese sangha. One of these concepts is yoi, “intoxication”(Skt. mada). Traditionally, it is being interpreted literally (an intoxication achieved by an intake of alcohol, dope etc.) and in a figurative sense (a human’s consciousness obsessed by a passion). In Konjaku, the intoxication is the main motive for the maki 28. This text is usually read as a set of stories, which are considered as comic regardless of their quite serious end. By succumbing to passion, a person not only acts to his detriment, but also looks ridiculous to others. This means that by getting inebriated he puts himself into such a circumstance when other people start making fun of him. An emotional relationship between a drunk person and the society looks ambiguous: on the one hand, it is harmful for an individual (mocking, people lie, commit cruel acts, etc.), and on the other, it is useful if it reveals a common understanding of the concept of funny. This is a constant value, which is one of the few things to be relied upon in the volatile world. The article includes translations of several stories from the 28th maki of Konjaku.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The evolution of the research phenomenon is associated with certain features of cognition (as a philosophical problem) that are crucial for its dynamics. The phenomenon of the history of science / scholarship has its own specific research features and postulates, which serve as a methodological basis for the author of this article. This allows it to identify the primary role of reflection, which, as a consequence, contributes to changing the axiomatic base of research, that is, its evolution. This is illustrated in the article devoted to the complex of problems in the field of GaudiyaVaishnavism research. The author suggests to regularly revise the becoming outdated ideas and stereotypes, especially those that contain ideological connotations and obvious errors in the perception of the cultures of «the others».

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

This article is an attempt to find out how one of the leaders of the revival of Antiquity movement in China, the philosopher Han Yu (768–824), saw the place of the Han era philosopher Yang Xiong (53 BCE – 18 CE) in the history of Confucianism and Chinese culture. The author argues that the works by Yang Xiong influenced the ideas by Han Yu especially those regarding the lineage of the transmission of the Path. She also suggests that because the Neo-Confucianists had interpreted these features in a specific way the connection, which contributed to the fact that the relationship as mentioned above was ignored.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The author discusses some misconceptions about the Japanese language and its functioning as appearing in the Japanese linguistic literature in post-War Japan. Among them: the uniqueness of the Japanese language, its richness, usage of indigenous vocabulary. He argues that these misconceptions originated in the post War period and suggests to approach them as a cultural and psychological phenomenon.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.

The report of the regional conference (Dhaka, Bangladesh, June 2019) affiliated with the International Association for the History of Religions presents conceptual analysis of the papers brought together by the ‘river’ theme. Most of them focused on various aspects of the reciprocal connection and interdependence of rivers as natural water resource and religions as a socio-cultural construct. It also provides an analysis of the impact of religious beliefs on the recoding of geographical markers into cultural symbols. Similarly, the rivers and the religions are regarded as factors of physical and socio-political connectivity and disconnection in the context of their role in the formation of micro- and vast macro-regions, such as the South and South-East Asia.

The author declares that there is no conflict of interest.