Research Leader: Yayoi KAWAHARA
Systematic research will be carried out on four extant Chaghatay language manuscripts of Selected History authored by Muḥammad Ḥakīm khān, a major historical treatise of the Khanate of Khoqand (early 18th century to 1876). With the manuscript Tashkent 594 in the possession of the Institute of Oriental Studies, Academy of Sciences, Republic of Uzbekistan, the earliest one to be translated and transcribed, taken as a basis, researchers will examine its differences in comparison with the other three manuscripts from the viewpoints of word-for-word rendering of the translation, interrelations between the manuscripts, lineage of transcription, figures of the translator and his commissioner, translation purpose, targeted readership, etc. In the 2020 school year, an examination of two manuscripts in the possession of the Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the Russian Academy of Sciences will be conducted. Based on the results of this examination, the researchers will assess the value and position of these historical materials taking into account the local language and cultural context of the respective time period.