Introduction

It is a well-known fact to our scientific society that the Christian worldview was laid as the cornerstone of Georgian literature and Christianity became its main pillar. Even when it became the victim of the oriental cultural expansion, the tendency to overcome orientality [Siradze] was a defining sign of Georgian literature. Accordingly, no matter by what measure or methodology we approach the medieval Georgian writing. Its two markers – the Christian foundation and the tendency to overcome orientality –   remain unchanged.

From a certain point of view, we can connect the issue of the ideological affiliation of Georgian writing to the current political dilemma – is Georgia West or East –   and consider it as one of the arguments of our European orientation. The example of "The Knight in the Panther’s Skin" is enough to show how organically and harmoniously the Western worldview can be combined with the elements of Eastern aesthetics and how distinctive "other" can be created as a result.

The multifaceted and deep researches of our science created the solid ground to expand the context of studying the Georgian writing and give it cross-cultural and intercultural directions; to determine its regional and global values; to become visible how important Georgian data can be for the cultural-civilizational area in which the artistic creativity of our nation developed or with which it had to come into contact in different eras; as the writing of the country at the crossroads of cultures, what "cultural information" was absorbed, processed and preserved for the Western or Eastern countries, which will complete the present ideas and notes about their literature.

I. The importance of the "cultural memory" of the medieval Georgian literature in the global context

To illustrate how important is the "cultural memory" preserved by Georgian writing as a "Kulturträger" in the context of world literature, how the Georgian "ornament" was woven into the fabric of the artistic creativity of mankind, it is enough to name three literary works –   "Visramiani", "Balavariani" and "Kilila and Damana".

"Visramiani" and its Georgian researchers gave rare assistance to Fakhr ed-Dīn Gorgānī's epic “Vīs o Rāmīn” of the 11th century. With the help of the data of the Georgian manuscripts, Iranologists Todua and Gvakharia identified and published the academic text of the original in Tehran in 1970. Iranian researcher Roushan, who authored the last critical edition of “Vīs o Rāmīn”, in the preface [Roushan, 2007: 7-18] of the edition recognizes the great and even decisive importance of the Georgian translation for the determination of the text of the original. He mentions the significant corrections made to the Persian text by the Georgian researchers, to whom he is very grateful. If we recall the opinions about the parallels between Gorgānī's poem and "Tristan and Isolde", the importance of the Georgian "Visramiani" will increase even more in terms of literary contacts of the West and the East.

"Balavariani", preserved in the form of two Georgian editions –   long ("The Life of the Blessed Iodasaph" – the 9th -10th centuries) and short ("The Wisdom of Balahvar" – the 11th century) –   played a significant role in spreading the plot from the East to the West¹.

The third   – “Kilila and Damana” – has a rather impressive and long history of "wandering" in the East. It was born in India ("Panchatantra"). Initially, it was translated from Sanskrit into Middle Persian, later into Arabic, and from Arabic into New Persian. The Georgian "Kilila and Damana" was taken from the later Persian version (Hossein Ibn Ali Kashefi, 1504).

These three examples are enough to clearly see the important role of the old Georgian writing in the migration processes of the Eastern literature and its textual criticism². Accordingly, a serious study of this literature requires consideration of both the Eastern and the Western contexts and the active involvement of orientalist scholars.

While speaking about the periodization of the history of the old Georgian literature, Siradze notes that for this problem "the essence of the so-called Eastern-Christian (Eastern-European) cultural-historical region should be considered" [Siradze, 2021:7]. I would add that for an adequate analysis of the Georgian writing of the Middle Ages, it is also necessary to know the Eastern context and the East known to us historically. This assertion is particularly relevant for Georgian-Persian literary relations, especially, when it comes to secular literature.

II. The important facts for the research of the Georgian and Persian literary relations

It is known that despite the centuries-old political-religious enmity, Georgia had the longest history of literary relations with Persia (among the neighbouring conquerors). In different periods, Persian was a foreign language that a certain part of the population of Georgia knew. The educated Georgians read (or translated from the original) the best examples of classical Persian literature. Therefore, when analysing the possible parallels or contacts with Persian, a literary critic should not lose sight of several facts:

1. The Iranian languages, one of which is Persian, went through a long way of development and thoroughly changed. The era of the old Iranian languages covered the 6th -3rd centuries B.C. The middle Iranian languages  existed from the 4th century B.C. to the 9th century A.D., while the era of the new Iranian languages started in the 10th century. One of the leading directions in Georgian Iranian studies has been the study of the contacts of the Kartvelian languages with the Iranian languages. It is already certain that the interaction between these two families should be considered at least from the second century B.C. Andronikashvili noted that contacts were important at all stages of the development of the Iranian languages [Andronikashvili 1966:11].  This linguistic material is of great service to a textual critic working on the Georgian compositions.

If we follow this chronology, we will see that the Persian native language of the cunning person, who accompanied Varsken (“The Martyrdom of St. Shushanik”) was different and the text that Rustaveli or the translator of "Visramiani" read in original was written in different Persian.

2. The complexity of the issue does not end with this. The phenomenon that we refer to as "Persian writing" has contained various historical-cultural patches and shared literatures and folklores of different nations. I will recall the words of Iranian writer and intellectual Mohammad-Ali Eslami Nodooshan:

"Iran and Greece were two states that first introduced and connected the East and the West [...] these two were considered two main civilizations of that time [...]. Even after that, during the Parthian and Sassanid period, Iran became a neighbour, a friend and a rival of the successor of the Greek civilization -   the Roman Empire. These two had divided the world of that time" [Eslami Noduushan, 2004: 92-93].

The process of the literary exchange between the above-mentioned two ancient civilizations has been the subject of discussion of many researchers³. This time I will cite one of Kaladze's conclusions: “Determining the source for the poem by Unsuri has broadened our point of view about cultural contacts between historical Iran and the Greek world, and has grounded the existence of such contacts not only in the field of science and art, as was known earlier, but in the sphere of literature as well” [Kaladze, 2011:72]. Therefore, while researching Georgian and Persian literary relations, it may be necessary to recognize traces of Iran's connection with the ancient world. Obviously, it should be taken into account that Georgia had individual contacts with both of these worlds.

3. The common roots of the Indo-Iranian (even more, of the middle Iranian linguistic era) literatures and their further connections with the Arabic literature are the factors that acquire special significance during analysing the Persian writing or its direct or indirect influence. Additionally, knowledge of the ancient Iranian religions (Zoroastrianism, Mithraism) will significantly increase our hermeneutic horizons⁴. It is noteworthy that the number of Middle Persian monuments that have come down to us is scarce. Some of them were saved from oblivion by the Arabic translations often made by ethnic Iranians.

4. The classical Persian literature of the Islamic period (poetry predominates in this era) falls within the framework of the Arabic Arud system and obeys self-made laws of themes, genres, etc. Naturally, the actual material of this period contains many fragments. Eslami Nodooshan's following assessment seems significant in this respect: "...Iran became a bicultural country. I mean that the roots of the old culture are still alive. Its remains coexist with the Islamic teaching" [Eslami Nodooshan, 2004:10-11].

Since the Eastern secular literature mostly entered Georgia through Iran, i.e. as the Persian "type”, in a Georgian's perception, this multi-layered writing was directly associated with Persian. Factually, the "Oriental context" refers primarily to the Persian context. Let us not forget that the earliest monuments of the secular writing that reached us were "suspected of being Persian" and vice versa. Georgian researchers had to prove that this or that outstanding monument of our medieval literature (including "The Knight in the Panther’s Skin") was not translated from Persian. In contrast to this, the Georgian "twin" of Fakhr ed-Dīn Gorgānī's “Vīs o Rāmīn” had been considered as an original monument until the nineteenth century.

This factor determined the attitude of our scientists, who were interested in researching the Georgian literature of the Middle Ages. Two directions were distinguished in the Georgian literary studies: the Kartvelologists mainly tried to dispel the arguments of the Persian origin of different monuments (sometimes even with fury), while the Iranologists did not overlook any similarity or allusion to the Persian (in general, eastern) writing. Therefore, their conclusions are often contradictory. Supposedly, this is not surprising, because the East and the West have been intertwined in this way since the Hellenistic period, including the Middle Ages. "There was no Chinese wall between the Western and Eastern cultures, particularly, between the writings. There is only a variety of different forms of relationship" [Gvakharia, 2019:17].

Today, considering this context, we should look at the Georgian-Persian (and, in general, Eastern) literary parallels from a broader perspective in order to exclude a bias of critics and/or a sharp difference of their positions. The Georgian writing did not oppose Western or Eastern, but was often a healthy sharer and a processor of these literatures.

5. The significance of oriental folktales and fables for our secular literature requires a separate, completely different type of discussion. "One Thousand and One Nights", known in the West as "The Arabian Nights", with fairy tales, chivalrous or amorous novels, folk novels, etc., with opinions expressed centuries ago about its genesis (I mean the Arab author’s reference to the Persian, Indian and Greek sources [Tsereteli, 1969: 3-14]) will serve as one of the proves of this provision. I would like to recall the point of view repeatedly expressed in Oriental studies -   the Iranian myths and oral traditions have been spreading in the Caucasus since ancient times. One of them is the legend about Bevrasb Azhidahak who was chained to the mountain. These narrations can be found in the Armenian sources as well as in Leonti Mroveli’s works. He even indicates the "source" of the information: "This is written in the Persians’ lives"⁵.

In this regard, I share Kiknadze's regret expressed in his discussion about "Amiraniani":

"It is a pity that in Georgia, in the country of the ancient writing, there had been no attempts to record folk epics until the second half of the 19th century. Only fragmentary traces of their existence can be confirmed by our written monuments. Until the time, when there appeared interest in recording, the Georgian folk epic was incomplete, fragmented and one might say, in a degraded form. What it was like in the apogee of classical, epic creativity remains unknown to us forever" [Kiknadze, 2023: 5].

Ironically, the oldest record of the Georgian folklore   -   "The Georgian Tales" or the so-called collection of Bernarde of Naples - which was collected in the 17th century, is related to the Persian literature and folklore⁶. One of the researchers of the collection, Lia Kotashvili, relies on the abundance of the Eastern realities presented in most of these tales and thinks that some of these texts must be of a literary origin, while others can be considered as translated ones [Kotashvili, 1980: 8].

This situation clearly shows the importance of the Persian folk prose for the Georgian-Persian literary relations and generally, for the regional and global contexts of the Georgian secular writing. Two monographs⁷ of Alexandre Gvakharia are dedicated to this issue. The research on some questions raised by the author is necessary and promising even today.

III. Dāstān-s and the Georgian secular writing

Dāstān//Dastān is the Persian word that generally means "story". This is the name, for example, of the individual episodes of "Shahnama”. Fakhr ed-Dīn Gorgānī names the story of “Vīs o Rāmīn” as the dāstān. The folk dāstān refers to a fairy tale prose, a folk novel, and collections of short stories. It is mostly anonymous, sometimes attributed to a specific person [Gvakharia, 1968].

Two periods are conventionally distinguished in the development of the Persian dāstān-s: 1. the 11th -13th centuries and 2. the 16th -18th centuries. It is significant that around the same period (the 12th -13th centuries), a folk novel with heroic, amorous and fairy-tale elements appeared in Western literature and from the 16th century, a folk processing of monuments of prose became popular. Factually, there is a typologically similar situation between the literary processes taking place in the West and the East.

Folk dāstān-s are distinguished by the variety of genres and impressive distribution area. In the case of India - the country that used to be the source of internationally disseminated plots   - most of the dāstān-s came from Iran [Борщевский, 1963].

For Marzolph, the Persian folk novel is the specific amalgam of elements derived from the Greek, Persian-Indian and Arabic narrative traditions. “…There is some probability that a portion of the Greek contribution consisted of romance and fantasy, while the Persian tradition stressed the tragic, and the Arabian tradition - the chivalric (though chivalry formed an important constituent of the pre-Islamic Persian ideal of javânmardi)” [Marzolph, 1999: 281].

Julia Rubanovich believes that thematically and structurally, dāstāns are based on the cycles of folktales or legends crystallized around the eponymous heroes and transmitted orally in the course of multiple storytelling events. At a certain point, these fragmentary narrative traditions were unified into a coherent narrative framework [Rubanovich, 2022: 838].

Renowned researcher of dāstān-s, William Hanaway, called them popular romances or folk romances, which were created, processed and distributed by professional storytellers. The existing scientific literature related to this issue testifies that folk dāstān-s are closely related to the form of their performance   -   oral narration. I will return to this point below.

Different opinions have been expressed in the scientific literature about the origin of dāstān-s - did they originate in a downward way or in an upward way, i.e. did they move from fiction to folk literature or vice versa? Alexandre Gvakharia thinks that both ways are acceptable. He believes that dāstān-s occupy an intermediate position between literature and folklore and more often "they stumble towards the written genre". According to Gvakharia’s viewpoint, we should be very careful while drawing conclusions in each specific case and typological coincidences should not be excluded.

As the history of the development of our writing shows, the Persian folk novel or folk dāstān -    a kind of bridge between the secular literature and folklore, between the East and the West - suited the taste of the Georgians well. It seems that the Georgians’ interest in dāstān-s was caused by their need for works having a heroic, patriotic spirit. The Georgian versions of "Shahnama" were developed in the 15th -18th centuries. The popularity of this monument in Georgia created even more fertile ground for the development and dissemination of the Georgian versions of Persian folk dāstān-s. This is indicated by the concern of Bernarde of Naples, who noted that the Georgians, who are very intelligent and philanthropic, are "uneducated in spiritual matters", do not like to study and teach, "but are attracted to read books like Bezhaniani, Baramiani, Rostomiani, etc." [Tamarashvili, 1902: 682 -683]. The Capuchin monk listed the works of dāstān type, which were related to the Georgian versions of "Shahnama" and its imitations. Such a taste proved to be stable and later we also find original (if considered as such) compositions of this type, for example, "Rusudaniani"⁸, in which traces of the "Persian story" are evident. This composition is framed and includes 12 different stories.

The story of Hamza is believed to be the oldest among Eastern folk dāstān-s. According to Blackburn, the most important composition for the Indo-Iranian culture is the literary synthesis of pre-Islamic and Islamic themes and Persian fairy tales. These stories are so varied that it is much easier to name what Amir Hamza did not do than to list what he did. This dāstān became urgent for the Georgian monument of the Middle Ages.

"Hamzanama" has a simpler structure than all the dāstān-s and at the same time, it is the most directly influenced by "Shahnama" [Hanaway]. David Kobidze noticed this influence early, when he compared "Amiran-Darejaniani" with the texts of "Shahnama" and its imitations-continuations⁹. It is worth noting that in the encyclopaedic article dedicated to "Hamzanama" (the same as “Qesse-ye Hamza”, “Romuz-e Hamza”, “Dāstān-e Amir Hamza”, its poetic version Ṣāḥeb-Qerān-nāma), in the section of the general information, while writing about different language versions of this dāstān, the author notes: "For the English translation of the Georgian version, see: Mose Khoneli, Amir Darejian, tr. R. G. Stevenson, Oxford, 1958” [Hanaway, 2003]. This means that the well-known expert of dāstān-s considers "Amiran-Darejaniani" as the Georgian version of this popular folk novel. Encyclopædia Iranica is an authoritative publication. Supposedly, it will be used by many authors as a reference. While speaking about the spread of the story of Hamza, Pritchett notes that it was soon translated into Arabic. There exist the 12th-century Georgian¹⁰ and the 15th-century Turkish twenty-four book versions¹¹. Pritchett names the 16th-century Malay, Javanese, and other versions [Pritchett, 1991]. This information is repeated almost verbatim by Chan [Chan, 2009: 96].

Therefore, despite the long time ago held polemic¹² of the Georgian and foreign researchers, the opinion regarding the derivation of "Amiran-Darejaniani" from "Hamzanama" has not been revised by foreign authors. This requires Georgian researchers’ more activities and dissemination of information on an international scale for avoiding equalization of the mentioned eastern dāstān and "Amiran-Darejaniani".

However, firstly, we need to find out the identity of "Amiran-Darejaniani" and its place in the Georgian literature of the Middle Ages. For this, good knowledge of the oriental folk prose and analysis of the oriental context is necessary. According to Siradze’s viewpoint, "Amiran-Darejaniani" is a chivalrous novel in which "the Persian tropology is strongly manifested. There is also the Christian stream and the myth, but everything "obeys" the unified artistry and chivalrous aesthetics" [Siradze, 2021: 26].

Todua's following viewpoint should also be considered: "The dubious composition, style and vocabulary of the survived "Amiran-Darejaniani" may indicate that it is a translation of the old (perhaps, poetic) version that existed in the 11th -12th centuries. The version known to us seems to be the later one, which consists of many eastern dāstān-s, including the stories of "Qissayate Hamza" [Todua, 1975:150]. Todua found out that 17 tapes of "Amiran-Darejaniani" presented (together with the fairy tales) in the collection of Bernarde of Naples, match the well-known text of "Amiran-Darejaniani"and partially fill the previous gap between stanzas 965 and 966.

In this respect, the note related to the spread of "Hamzanama" in the great Mughal Empire seems important. The chronicler of the court of great emperor Akbar (reigned 1556-1605) tells us that Hamza's adventures were twelve books (emphasis is mine – T. S.), while the wise artists created at least 1,400 stunning illustrations of these stories¹³.

Naturally, we remember Savarsamidze's words from "Amiran-Darejaniani". Many researchers paid attention to them: "And he reported: Twelve chapters are the story of my master and many other knights and it may take a year to be completed, as I am not able to retell" [Mose Khoneli, 1967, 29:1-4]. It is possible that the author or compiler of "Amiran-Darejaniani" was familiar with one of the adaptations of "Hamzanama", which was close to the version or redaction spread in India. A comparison of the 15th-century Turkish text (consisting of 24 parts) with the Persian-Indian "Hamzanama" would also be informative¹⁴.

Once again, I will draw attention to the note made in Bernarde of Naples list: according to the note, this Georgian poem-fairy tale was beautifully written in the thick Persian notebook (the emphasis is mine – T. S.). It is impossible that the Capuchin missionary held something as valuable as Emperor Akbar's manuscript in his hands. However, this thick notebook could be a collection of stories of the "Hamzanama" type (or this dāstān itself), which was popular in the East and was used by the folk storyteller (naqqāl, qessekhān, etc.).  One way or another, the discovery of the fragment of the Georgian "Amiran-Darejaniani" in the Persian notebook would undoubtedly have some reasons. Assumptions can still be made.

It is noteworthy that the major part of the text of "Amiran-Darejaniani" is the narration, which has a listener ("Listen, king!"). This feature of the monument relates it to the folk dāstān. However, a more important argument for this kinship is a strong similarity of topics, plots and rhetoric of works of the dāstān genre:

"In dāstān-s, at every step, we encounter a sonless king, a prince born through a prayer, the appearance of a strange gazelle during hunting, a picture of a beautiful girl, disguise as a merchant, support or rivalry of divs and fairies, "slicing an enemy in two parts like a cucumber", swinging mace and spear masterfully, a magic horse, breaking ships, etc." [Gvakharia, 1973: 90].

The above discussion about folk dāstān-s should be taken into account while researching and evaluating the Georgian monuments with which the parallels are drawn. Accordingly, one feature of the Persian writing mentioned above should be taken into consideration: “Classical literature was not only—and probably not even predominantly read individually. Rather, it was common practice to read the classics aloud, to memorize and recite the text, to retell and orally perform the text in various ways” [Marzolph, 2010: xlii].

The institute of Eastern storytellers (“naqqāl”, "raviān-e akhbār”, “shāhnāma-khān”, "qesse-khān" / “kissa-khān”, etc.) requires extensive discussion, which I will postpone for the future¹⁵. In short, I will say that Marzolph's quoted opinion is supported by the fact that the Eastern tradition, including the Persian one, required a reference to a storyteller ("this is what storytellers / naqqāls tell us", etc.). This was the technique adopted not only in folk dāstān-s, but also in classical literature. I will name only one example. In the Persian original of "Visramiani", the narration of the story of the loving couple begins as follows:

Neveshteh yāftam andar samarhā

Ze goft-e raviān andar khabarhā  [Gorgānī, 1970: 31-1; Roushan, 2007: 41-1].

I found the writing among the stories,

Among the stories told by the narrators¹⁶.

This line is not presented in the Georgian "Visramiani". The translator considered it redundant, similarly to the first few chapters of the Persian text or the traditional oriental beginning¹⁷. In this line, Fakhr ed-Dīn Gorgānī brings double "evidence" for his story: 1. This is a "writing" or a document of high reliability, and 2. "Narrators’ telling" i.e. our fathers’ and grandfathers’ story brought to us. The Georgian translator did not use this oriental tradition.

The Eastern tradition of story-telling and storytellers may give us answers to many more questions, including assistance in determining features of a genre of different Georgian monuments or dating them.

The example of "Vīs o Rāmīn” can also be used as a proof of how a Georgian "author-translator" (Nikolai Marr's term) "bolts out" the original text and turns it into a form acceptable for the Georgian society.

It is also worth noting that during the recent years, the interest in Gorgānī's "Vīs o Rāmīn" has increased. This fact will draw foreign researchers’ attention to the Georgian "Visramiani". In this context, Cameron Cross’ recent publications [2018] are worth mentioning. They involve the study of Gorgānī's poem in many ways, including the genre theory and looking through its afterlife (nachleben). One of the goals of this interest seems to be a revision of the established opinions about the monument, including a new understanding of the reasons of popularity and unacceptability of this composition. In this regard, the experts of "Visramiani" are given an opportunity to show the great importance of this monument for the research of one of the first amorous novels of the new Persian literature    -   "Vīs o Rāmīn" by Fakhr ed-Dīn Gorgānī -  and to highlight the importance of the data of the medieval Georgian writing in the study of the world literature.

IV. Conclusions The study of the problematics of the medieval Georgian literature needs to consider both Western and Eastern contexts. Along with the recognition of the civilizational unity with the West, we should not forget the traces of close contacts with the Eastern world, which exist in the Georgian writing. We should pay due attention to the Western-Eastern cultural encounters in different eras and their echoes in us. It is especially important to find out how the Georgian "national filter" operated in the conditions of the flow of foreign literature - what was discarded, what was processed, and how the rest was assimilated. Our writing did not develop in isolation from the regional and global contexts. It is necessary to adequately present, explain and popularize the function and contribution of the Georgian literature in these contexts. Accordingly, a new conceptual approach is necessary. This implies a clear clarification of the nature of medieval Georgian writing; an objective evaluation of the cultural reality created as a result of the direct or indirect contacts with both Eastern and Western worlds; presentation of Georgian writing as a part of the world literary processes (not to separate it unconditionally from the foreign writing to prove its nationality); realization that our verbal creativity was not only an object of influence (Eastern or Western) but in certain cases, a link between these two worlds.

The research was carried out with the support of Shota Rustaveli National Science Foundation of Georgia [the grant number FR-21-660].

[1]Gvakharia does not consider it correct to exclude translation in the process of spreading "Balavariani", because, according to his observation, sometimes we have to deal with translation - sometimes accurate, sometimes free [Gvakharia, 1985:154]. It is worth noting that Roushan also worked on this monument. When I met him personally, he had no information about the Georgian versions. In 2014 Jalil Nowzari translated into Persian and published in Tehran "The Balavariani" translated into English by Lang (D. M. Lang, The Balavariani. A Buddhist Tale from the Christian East). Accordingly, this work is already available to Iranian scientific circles.

[2]In the publication, I will focus mainly on secular literature and will not touch the connections with Eastern Christian literature. For reference information on the latter, see L. Menabde, The Georgian-Middle Eastern Literary Relations, Matsne, Language and Literature Series, 1993, N2, pp. 15-31.

[3]For the interesting hypothesis of the Greco-Persian mutual loans, see: Davis, Dick. Panthea’s Children: Hellenistic Novels and Medieval Persian Romances. Costa Mesa, California: Mazda Publishers, 2000.

[4]This knowledge will be useful during the analysis of the cultural-religious realities of both hagiographical monuments (e.g.: Martyrdoms of Eustathius of Mtskheta, Abibos of Nekresi) and secular writings ("Visramiani", etc.). The importance of this issue is clearly seen in Mamatsashvili's monograph "Vīs o Rāmīn" and Georgian Visramiani (Tbilisi: Science, 1977), in which the author supposes the Parthian origin of the Persian monument and at the same time, offers many interesting observations regarding the text.

[5]See: See A. Gvakharia, The Epoch of Davit the Builder and the Inception of the Georgian-Persian Literary Contacts, Essays on the History of Georgian-Persian Literary Contacts, II, 2001. Tbilisi: TSU Publishing House, pp. 129-138; At the Sources of the Georgian-Persian Literary Contacts by the same author, Essays on the History of Georgian-Persian Literary Contacts, I, 1995. Tbilisi: TSU Publishing House, pp. 254-265.

[6]The fragment of the rhymed version of "Amiran-Darejaniani" found in the collection is noteworthy. Magali Todua’s opinions [Todua, 1975] about this and other issues of "Amiran-Darejaniani" are important.

[7]"The Georgian Versions of the Persian Folk dāstān-s" [1968] and "From the History of the Persian Folk Prose" [1973].

[8]Kobidze did not consider this monument as folk prose and appealed to the researchers to be careful: "It is difficult for us, for example, from the point of view of the development of the Georgian prose of the 16th-17th centuries, to include such an interesting work as "Rusudaniani" within the scope of the folk prose. Its author or authors are still unknown..." [Kobidze, 1978: 201].

[9]Kobidze D., For the origin of Amiran-Darejaniani, Literary Researches, 2, 1944, pp. 249-266; see the same in The Georgian-Persian Literary Relations, 1, Tbilisi: TSU Publishing House, 1984, pp. 453-468.

[10]The indicated source is D. M. Lang and G. M. Meredith-Owens, Amiran-Darejaniani; A Georgian Romance and its English Rendering.

[11]The data of Turkish oral speech is also important for folklore issues. "Destan" (cf. Adjarian Destan) or dāstān is a popular genre here as well.

[12]See, for example: Lang, D. M. and Meredith-Owens, G. M. Amiran-Darejaniani; A Georgian Romance and its English Rendering, Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 22, No. 1/3 (1959), pp. 454-490; Baramidze, A., Around Amiran-Darejaniani, Moambe of the department of for. sci. at Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR,1960, N1, pp. 260-268, etc. Iranologist Darsavelidze's paper is aimed at the lexicological study of the Georgian version of this dāstān, which, to some extent, facilitates an in-depth study of the main issue. See Darsavelidze, N., Some Notes on the Oriental Vocabulary of "Qissaye Amir Hamza", Bulletin of the Academy of Sciences of the Georgian SSR, Language and Literature Series, 1976, N 2, pp. 88-100.

[13]This famous manuscript is considered the highest achievement of the art of the Great Mughal Empire. From all the booty taken from India by Nadir Shah (1739), the only thing that Emperor Muhammad Shah asked for was the illustrated manuscript of Hamzanama. This information is taken from Pritchett’s paper.

[14]"Amīr hamze sāhebqerān’s and ‘amr vāmyye’s  dastān" [Farsai, 1991], which I had and which consists of 24 stories, is not an academic publication. The comparison of the text of "Amiran-Darejaniani" with this edition did not give tangible results and made no corrections in Baramidze’s, Todua’s and others’ conclusions.

[15]The third chapter of Gvakharia's monograph [1973] is dedicated to the institute of qessekhān. See also K. Kutsia, For the issue of Gusan-Mgosan’s art, Oriental Culture, 1980, pp. 54-69. However, till today new factual material and research have been accumulated on this issue, allowing for the consideration of a broader cultural context and more details.

[16]This line leads to an involuntary association with the prologue of “The Knight with the Panther’s Skin”.

[17]The omitted chapters (90 lines or 180 lines) - in particular, the first chapter “The Praise of the Lord” - are important for the study of echoes of the Eastern prologue in the medieval Georgian literature.