ఇటీవల రెడ్డిశాస్త్రి గారితో కబుర్లలో ఒక విషయం కదిలింది. ప్రపంచవ్యాప్తంగా ప్రాచీనమైన పుస్తకాలు ఎంత పాతవి- అన్నది ప్రశ్న. ఉదాహరణకు ప్లేటో రిపబ్లిక్ అన్న గ్రంధం యొక్క చరిత్ర గురించి వెతుకుతుంటే “Text history The oldest surviving manuscript for about half of Plato’s dialogues is the Clarke Plato (MS. E. D. Clarke 39), which was written in Constantinople in 895 and acquired by the Oxford University in 1809”. Almost incredible, but that is all.
It should not have been named “Text history”, but “Some isolated fact from the text history which clarifies absolutely nothing but fills the gap in the article about Plato which is supposed to hold some sort of completeness the illusion of which could not have been achieved without this gap being filled no matter how”. It is exactly this same article on Plato from Wiki that I had read before writing the opening post. Its incompleteness urged me to formulate some questions in the opening post. And finally I receive advice to read this article on Plato. Thus the circle is complete. And I have the opportunity to contemplate on the irony of philosophical thinking whose basis is more often than not a mere vicious circle.
This “Text history” from Wiki leaves open the following questions, concerning this “Clarke Plato”:
– In what language was “Clarke Plato written? (Greek, Ancient Greek or any other)
– How many and which of Plato’s dialogues did it comprise?(“about half of dialogues” is ridiculous when it is possible to name the exact number seeing that it is still in existence)
– Who wrote it?
– Was this manuscript a copy, translation or reconstruction of Plato’s dialogues?
The answer to those questions can not be difficult provided one is entitled to give a negative answer like “The author unknown”, “It is not known whether it is a copy or a translation”. But it would have required a will to clarification. Which does not seem to be the case.
Let me restate the information given by Wiki on the text history in other words:
“We don’t want to or can’t give information on text history save that in 895 in Constantinople a manuscript was written by an unknown person in an unknown language comprising an unknown number of Plato’s dialogues. If you are interested go to Oxford and see it.” To tell the truth I would like it much better like this. It would have the refreshing candor of pure insolence.
వంటివి నెట్ లో కనిపించాయి. అంతేకాక ప్రాచీన గ్రీకు పుస్తకాలు అన్నీ అరబిక్ నుంచి 12-14 శతాబ్దాల మధ్య తిరిగి యూరోపియన్ భాషలలోకి అనువదించుకున్నవని విన్నాను. ఈ ఆలోచనలలో ఈ వ్యాసం జ్ఞప్తికి వచ్చింది. ఇది భారతం గురించి మనవారు చేసిన పరిశీలనగా అనిపించింది. ఆసక్తి గలవారు ఈ లంకెలో చూడండి.ANDHRA_SAHITHYA_PARISHAT_PATRIKA_1925_04bharata pendyala
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ఇష్టం వస్తోంది…