Pre-Islamic Central Asia produced a large number of texts in three Middle-Iranian languages (Parthian, Bactrian and Sogdian), but most of what has come down to us consists either of translations of foreign religious texts known elsewhere, or of practical documents, plus, in the case of Bactrian, royal proclamations. Did literature in the sense we understand it (narrative fiction, poetry) exist only orally, or was it wrecked in transmission? The aim of this lecture is to demonstrate that both ideas are partially false, and that a large part of this heritage is increasingly recoverable, both in written and pictorial form. In Parthian, Manichaean hymns have long been known, but have certainly not circulated outside the community. The Sogdian language has preserved a few original texts of Buddhist, Zoroastrian or secular epic origin, which show real creativity. Many of them are set to rhythms based on prosodic rules that have recently been elucidated. The Manichaean tales written in Sogdian and found at Turfan draw on a wide range of sources, mainly Indian, but also Esopoean and biblical. They too have not been transmitted to other literatures, but a growing number of tales from the same repertoires can be identified on wall paintings in Punjikent (Tajikistan), as well as several epic cycles, some of which foreshadow episodes that would later be "canonized" in Persian by the Book of Kings. The great absentee from the dossier is lyric poetry lyric poetry, although a few remnants have survived.
References
Walter Bruno Henning, "Sogdian Tales", BSOAS, 1945, pp. 465-487.
Boris Marshak, Legends tales, and fables in the art of Sogdiana, New York, 2002.
Frantz Grenet, "Between written texts, oral performances and mural paintings: illustrated scrolls in pre-Islamic Central Asia", in Orality and textuality in the Iranian world, ed. J. Rubanovich, Leiden, 2015, pp. 422-445.
Pavel B. Lurje, "More on Sogdian versification: translated and original compositions", in Studia Philologica Iranica. Gherardo Gnoli Memorial Volume, ed. E. Morano, E. Provasi, A.V. Rossi, Rome, 2017, pp. 243-256.