COLLECTANEA EURASIATICA CRACOVIENSIA KRAKÓW 2003
Tomasz Gacek
(Krakow)
Dante Alighieri’ s La Divina Commedia from the Euroasiatic perspective
1. Introduction
This article is writtento express the need for a synthesis in the field, where- to the best of the author’s knowledge - such a work is still lack ing, andtomake the preliminary notes and observations forthis task. And the field is: La Divina Commedia and numerous texts and traditions (beliefs, legends, accounts) from both Europe and Asia which show strik ing parallels to the Dante Alighieri’s opus magnum. Ofcourse,similarities between certain texts have been already noticed, however, we are still waitingfor a good comparative analysis of all of them at the same time, andthis should leadto definitely interestingconclusions.
2. Description of thecompared texts and traditions 2. 1. Arda WirazNamag ("J - centuryAD)
The Book of Wiraz the Righteous, Arda(y) Wiraz (Wiraf) Namag, is a Middle Persian religious work. Its dating is problematic: It is quite sure that the final redaction took place in the 9th or 10th century AD (This is establishedespecially on the basis of linguistic data - the language of the book approaches in many ways New Persian)1. On the other hand, the scene of the story suggests, that its development started much earlier
P. Gignoux, Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 1, p. 357.
(Gignoux states ‘The scene of piety troubled by religious uncertainty seems to be set sometime afterthe fall ofthe Achaemenidempire’’).
Thebookdescribes the astral journey of a pious Zoroastrian Wirâz to the Other World.The aim of the journey istocheck whether the religious practices of his community are observed in a proper manner, as after the centuries of confusion following Alexander’s invasion, nobody is really certain about this. Anothertask of Wirâz is toverify the vision ofheaven and hell shared by the Zoroastrian community. He was chosen to under take this journey because of his virtue (ardâ ‘the just’). He consumes mang (some psychoactive substance) mixed with wine and then his soul leaves the body and starts the journey that lasts for seven daysand nights.
All that time the community assembled in the fire temple watch over his body reciting the holy texts of Avesta. Having returnedArdâ Wirâzrelates his experiences in the other world. The main part of his relation is the description ofhelland of methods of punishment appropriate for specific sins. The partdevoted to the description of heaven is less vivid and devel oped1.
2 Ibidem.
3 See P. Gignoux, J. Amouzegar, Le Livre d'Ardâ Virâz, Téhéran 1993 (=
1376 HS).
P. Gignoux, Encyclopaedia..., op. cit., p. 357.
5 Ibidem.
Ardâ Wirâz Nâmag finds close parallels in the corpus ofZoroastrian texts. The nearest is the monumental inscription of the high-ranked priest Kirdîr (or Kardîr, Kerdîr) in Naqs-e Rajab. Kirdîr claims to have under taken a similar journey (again - onlyspiritual) with the same aim that is to verify the Zoroastrian cult2 34. Itseems thatKirdîr’s inscriptionis some kind ofearlyadaptation of the same tradition, which is observable in its more developed form in the Book of Ardâ Wirâz. Thus, it attests its existence already in the 3rd century AD. Another text that could be compared with Ardâ Wirâz. Nâmagis thefragment of the 7th bookof oneof the two great encyclopaedias of Zoroastrianism - Dênkard. Here the extra-terrestrial journey is undertaken by KingWistâsp(again - after drinking mang) who
could notdecide whether to embrace the new religion - that is Zoroastri
anism reveled by Zarathushtra - or not. So again, the visit to the other world servesto resolvedoubts5. Dênkardwas compiled in the first centu ries after the Muslim conquest; itcomprises,however, a lot of much older material (e.g. of Avestan origin).
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 49
2.2. Al-Isra’ and al-Mi‘raj, and the derived stories (from 8th c. AD?) The story ofMuhammad’s night journey from Mecca to Jerusalem and then to Heaven is referred to by numerous Muslim traditions {hadit).
Their sourceis the very beginning of the seventeenth sura of the Qur’an, entitled Al-lsra,(>: ‘Glory be to the One who carried his Servant from the Holy Mosque to the Distant Mosque...’*7. The first is thought to be situ
ated in Mecca, and the latteris commonly identified with the mosque al- Aqsctin Jerusalem.
Sometimes called also Banu Isra’il, as the great part of it is dedicated to the Sons of Izrael; See J. Bielawski, Koran, 1986, p. 887.
7 J. Bielawski, Koran, op. cit., p. 333.
8 Ibidem, p. 888-889. See also J. Wronecka, Ibn 'Arabi, Księga o podróży nocnej do najbardziej szlachetnego miejsca, Warszawa 1990, p. XXVI ff.
’ J. Wronecka, Ibn 'Arabi..., op. cit., p. XXVI.
Thisone sentence is the Qur’anic foundation for the pious tradition, which relates the two phases of the night journey of the prophet. On the 27lhdayof the monthRajabof the year 620 Muhammad slept in the house of Umm Hani, sister of ‘Alt Ibn Abi Talib. There the journey started.
Muhammad is said to have mounted the strange horse al-Buraq {The Lighting), and flew to Jerusalem accompanied by an angel. The Prophet was told by this angel (Jibril, possibly together with Miha’il) to make a few stops during this flight, to pray on the Mountain of Sinai, in Bethle hem and in Hebron. In Jerusalem, the Prophet prayed togetherwith Abra
ham, Moses and Jesus in the ruins ofSalomon’s Temple. These episodes stressed the unity of all the prophetic missions. This was al-Isra', the night journey. Then the next phase began - al-Mi‘raj. Muhammad climbs the stairs (ladder) of light toget tothe sevenhierarchically organised heavens.
After that the Prophet gets to theLotus of the Border (Sidrat al-Muntaha) and finally he finds himselfbefore the throne of God. Having received special commandments for the believers, Muhammadcomes back to Jeru
salemand then to Mecca8.
The oldest relations of al-Isra’ and al-Mi‘raj areconnected with per
sons like Ahmad Ibn Hanbal (780-855), Abu ‘Abdillah Muhammad Ibn Isma‘11 al-Buhari (810-870),and Abu al-Husayn Ibn al-Hajjaj Ibn Muslim al-Quraysi al-Nisaburi (820-875).9
It seems that al-Isra’ andal-Mi'raj at the beginning appeared as in dependent episodes to be joined lateron in one story. One of the first inte grated versions ofthese traditions is ascribed to at-Tabari.10
10 Ibidem, p. XXVI-XXVII.
" Ibidem, p. XXXI1-XXX111.
12 Ibidem, p. XXXIII ff.
13 J. Rypka, Historia literatury perskiej i tadżyckiej, Warszawa 1970, p. 130.
Soon the motiveof the journey into the other world took on its own life in the Muslim world. Stories aboutMuhammad’s miraculousjourney were gradually enriched and poetised in the subsequent agesbytheologi
ans and mystics. Theturning point in the evolution of this thread was the moment, when an ordinary human being was placed in the role originally played bythe Prophet. Abu Yazidal-Bistami (died in 874AD)ascribesto himself a journey - only spiritual, however- based on the story ofal- Mi'raj.11
The next step inthe development of this idea is well illustrated bythe Treatise on Absolution (Risalat al-Gufran) by the renowned philosopher andpoet, Abu al ‘Ala’ al Ma‘arri, wholived at the turn ofthe 1 llhcentury.
This text is a part of a literary discussion carried out by the author with anotherSyrian poet about God’sCharity. A striking feature of this work is the fact that the main character encounters in the other world the souls of ordinary people, not only prophets and saints.
The motherland ofthe first of our texts (Arda Wirdz Ndmag), Iran, now islamicized, played its own role in the development of the Muslim vision of the journey into the other world. Ibn Sina (Avicenna) presented his own interpretation of the night journey and ascension in the works:
Hayy Ibn Yaqzan, Risalat at-Tayr and Qissat Salomon wa Absal.12 13 The great Persian mystic poet Hakim Abu-l-Majd Majdud Ibn Adam (d.
1130/31 AD),known as Sana’i,wrote a work entitled Sayr al-Ibdd ala al- Ma'dd, which is sometimes described as a miniature of La Divina Com- media^.
In the first half of the 13th century, the Hispano-Islamic mystic from Murcia,Muhiy ad-Din Ibn ‘Arabial-Hatimi at-Ta’i, relates thestory of his ecstatic journey before the face of God, where he claims to have been initiatedinto the secrets thatformedthe basis of his esoteric teaching.
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 51
2.3. Visio Tnugdali(12th century:1149 AD)
The Vision ofTnugdal(orTundal), Visio Tnugdali, was written about the year 1149 AD by a monk named Mark from the Irish monastery in Regensburg. It is the story of a vision experienced by an Irish knight Tnugdal not more than a yearbefore. The work is deeply rooted in the Irish context (geography, knowledge of the dynastic problems of Munster province, etc.)14. Tnugdal didnot care a lot about his future life until one day he fell on the ground as if he was dead. He remained unconscious for three days and three nights and only the warmth ofhis chest saved him from being buried. Meanwhile his soul parted for the other world. He visited both heaven and hell. The result of this journey was his deep changefor the better after his soul’s return tothe body15.
14 J. Strzelczyk, lroszkoci ir kulturze sredniowiecznej Europy, Warszawa
Ibidem, p. 405.
Ibidem, p. 406.
This text belongs to a very popular and productive category of Irish visionary literature known from pagan times (aislinge ‘a dream, vision’, ffs ‘vision’). It may be compared with the Vision of Saint Fursa (Visio Fursae, recorded by the Venerable Bede in the 3rd book of his Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, Gaelic versions also survive), a text five hundred years older than the Vision ofTnugdal. We learn from it thatone- day St. Fursa fell ill and his soul left the body for three days. Guided by angelshe had to pass across the burning fires and resistthedevils trying to attackhim. His soul was judged and finallyhewas allowed to talk to some venerable Irishmen. Another text, Fis Adamndn records the vision of heaven andhell ascribed to St. Adamnan16.
There are twointeresting details which make Visio Tnugdali different from the earlier Irish texts of this kind: the journey to the other world starts unexpectedly and the main character is farfrom sanctity17. Another textsimilar in a way, that shares with Visio Tnugdalithe latter feature, is Purgatorium sancti Patricii, which tells the story of a certain Oenus who undertook an expiatory pilgrimage to Jerusalem and wasgiven a chanceto sufferthetorments of purgatory during his lifetime18.
As Visio Tnugdaliis firmly rooted in the Irish literary tradition, the earlier works of the same sort are naturally perceived as its possible
1987. 400.
Ibidem, p. 405.
Ibidem, p. 402-403.
sources. Other inspirations often taken into consideration are the Apoca lypse of St. John19 and certainclassical traditionsconcerning journeys into the otherworld20.
19 Ibidem, p. 400.
■° Ibidem, p. 400.
21 Ibidem, p. 400, 414-415.
" In case of the journey of Ardâ Wirâz this parallelism was noticed by Phillipe Gignoux in his ‘Les voyages chamaniques dans l’Iran ancien’, Monu- mentum G. Morgenstierne, Acta Iranica 21, p. 244-265.
21 M. Eliade, Szamanizm i archaiczne techniki ekstazy, Warszawa 1994, p. 16.
Visio Tnugdali gained enormous popularity during the ages. It was translated into many languages of Europe: German, Polish, Icelandic, Czech, Croatian and Belorussian included21 *.
2.4. La Divina Commedia (14,hcentury: 1307 - before 1321 AD) For the sake of a reminder, Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia (at the very beginning just Commedia) was written between 1307 and
1321 (the author's yearof death). It consists of more than 14000 verses and is divided into three parts. This work played an enormous role in forming the literary standard ofthe Italianlanguage.
2.5. Shamanic traditions concerning travels into the other world (not dated)
We shall trynow to look at all the texts mentioned in a manner that will broaden the Euroasiatic context of ourconsiderations. It seems that in allof thetexts in question we are able to notice some relics of shamanism.
The journeys of Wiraz, Dante and even Muhammad and his successors provokeassociations with shamanic wanderingsin the other world“.
To make such comparisons we need tofirstof all finda definition of shamanism. Mircea Eliade gives the most general, the widest one, pro posing an identification of the notion of shamanism with the phrase
’technique of ecstasy’23. Theopposite extreme ofunderstanding the term is formed by definitions limiting its meaning to certain cultures and geo graphical regions. Thus it happens to be understood as a religious phe
nomenon characteristic for Siberia and Central Asia, although similar manifestationsof spirituallife maybe noticed in North America, Oceania, etc. The word ‘shaman’ itself comes from the Tungus form saman. Via Russian it was incorporated into numerousEuropean languages. Thepos
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 53
sible connections of the Tungus form with the Pali samana, and in gen eral, the problem ofIndian influences on Siberian religions remains un
solved24.
24 Ibidem, p. 16.
Ibidem, p. 15.
'6 As an illness it is perceived as the result of abduction of the sick per
son's soul by supernatural powers.
27 Palacios, as cited by J. Wronecka, Ibn ‘Arabi..., op. cit., p. XXVII.
28 See P. Gignoux, Encyclopaedia..., op. cit., p. 357.
Practising the techniques of ecstasy, the shaman plays the roles of a sorcerer, priest, mystic,quack, souls’ guideand even of a poet25. Shaman fulfils his duties contacting himselfwith ghostsand deities during special seances. Dancing in a trance, he undertakes journeys into the otherworld.
Hedoesso to bring back the soul of an ill memberof the community26, to receive omensconcerning this community’s life,ortocontact thedead.
3. Similarities and/or influences 3.1. Arda WirázNdmag -> Al-Mi‘raj
The fact, that a lot of Zoroastrian elements infiltrated the doctrine of Islamatthe stage of the latter’screation is indisputable. It seems that also in the case of Arda Wiráz Námagand the story about the Prophet’s night journeysuch influencesare to be found. AccordingtoPalacios, in some of the early versions of al-Mi‘rájthere are traceable Zoroastrianinfluences'7.
Some scholars admit even the possibility ofArda Wiráz’s influence on Dante Alighieri'swork, of course, via the Islamictradition28.
Let us start from the general similarities. The stories about expedi tions into the other world were known from the oldest ages (v. Gil
gamesh). What makes both the Iranian text and the Muslim tradition dif ferent from the older traditionsis the fact that the main characters visit the other world which is organised on the basisof ethical principles (thus we haveheaven, hell and“purgatory” orbettersome intermediate place).
It seems that both in the case of the Middle Persian Book of Arda Wiráz and the Muslimtradition, thejourney has in a sense a didactic pur pose. Wiráz has to verify the form of the Zoroastrian cult and the tradi
tional vision of the other world. He passes the results of his mission onto his coreligionists. Similarly, Muhammad during his night journey gains knowledge that completes, in a way, the revelation. This is an important difference in comparison to the Christiansources of the samesort, where
the journey either is supposed to urge the believers to dopenance or itis a form of expiationitself.
There are also many more specific parallels. Inbothtraditions, before the beginningof thejourney, the main character undergoes some kind of purification practice. Arda Wiraz washes his body, puts on clean clothes and uses a kind of perfume29. Inthe case of al-Mi‘raj, Muhammad’s chest is cut by an angel, his heart is taken out and washed in the water from Zamzam. This vision is repeated in theIslamic tradition. Itappears e.g. in Ibn ‘Arabi’s work30.
P. Gignoux, J. Amouzegar, Le Livre..., op. cit., p. 75.
30 J. Wronecka, Ibn ‘Arabi..., op. cit., p. XXVIIand 13.
11 See P. Gignoux, J. Amouzegar, Le Livre..., op. cit., p. 111.
Another similarity is tobefound in the persons of bothArda Wiraz’s and the Prophet’s guides. In the first case we have Adur and Sraosa (yazatas - deities, whose rolein Zoroastrianism may be comparedto arch angels) and in the latter we find the archangelsJibril andMiha’il.
Both in the Zoroastrian and Muslim traditions (and in Dante’s work alike) characteristic repetitive punishments can benoticed: The sinners get hurt in a particular way to recoverin a moment and then punishment starts fromthe beginning.This is the case of theman who committed the unlaw ful slaughter of animals - his limbsfallapart, then come togetherand fall apartagain, and so on. In the Muslim sources wehave men whose heads are smashed andthenrestored to their original form. These are the persons who neglectedprayer.
We are even able to find nearly identicalfragments in the description ofthe punishments of hell in both traditions. This is the case of thewomen who committed adultery. They are suspended by their breasts over the abyss31.
3.2. Al-Mi‘rdj —>LaDivina Commedia
Thefirst person to elaborateon the problem of Muslim influenceson Dante's work was the Spanish Jesuit and expert on Islam, Don Miguel Asin Palacios, author of the work entitled La escatologia musulmana en la Divina Commedia, seguida de Historia y critica de una polemica, pub
lishedfirst in 1919.
The pointof view that certain ideas in La Divina Commedia may be of Islamic origin caused an upheaval. For a lot of Italians suggesting somethinglike thatwas a sacrilege. Even today,although at least some of
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 55
Palacios’ ideas seem to be well documented, many commentators of Dante’s work ignoretheproblem.32
’2 Sh. Elia, El Pensamiento Musulman en la Europa del siglo XIV. This ar
ticle is a precious source on possible Islamic inspirations in Dante’s La Divina Commedia. The paper is available at www.organizacionislam.org. There is no information there, however, about any printed version of this text. The author of the present article has done his best to verify any single piece of the information cited after Elia’s paper.
13 F. Déroche, ‘Le Coran et ses traductions occidentals’, [in:] Les Civilisa
tions dans le regard de l’autre. Actes du colloque International, Paris 13 et 14 décembre 2001, ed. Olga Weber, UNESCO, Paris 2002, p. 68-69.
The first step in supporting the view that Dante was to some extent inspired by Islamic eschatological conceptions should be to show that he had a possibility to do so. And this is not a problemat all. Even traditional commentators on La Commedia Divina, have admitted, that in Dante’s times in Italy, an adaptation of the tradition of al-Mi'ráf. Il Libro della Scala Book of Stairs (via the Andalusian version Libro de la escala de Mahoma) was known. A lot of other Muslim texts reached Europe, espe
cially via islamicized Spain. They weresometimes translations and adap tations of a particular text, and in other cases - compilations of several different sources. An example of the latter situation could be the workof the archbishop of Toledo, Rodríguez Jiménez de Rada (1170-1247) enti
tledHistoria de los árabes, which was written based on numerous Arabic sources. The fragment about Muhammad’s journey to Heaven (al-Mi‘raj) based on the traditions connected with Abü ‘Abdilláh Muhammad Ibn Isma‘11 al-Buhari andAbu al-Husayn Ibn al-Hajjaj Ibn Muslim al-Quraysi al-Nisaburi is also included in this text. It is also under the auspices of Rodríguez Jiménez de Rada that one of the first translations of Qur’an into theEuropean languages was made.33
To sum up we may cite EmestRenan, who said, referring to the ep
och in question,that ‘a work createdin Moroccoorin Cairo reached Paris in a time shorter than it was needed for a work written in Germany to cross the Rhine’.
Another category of sources that made the Europeans of the Middle Ages familiar with the world of Islam, were Christian polemic works. Of course,because of the inevitablebias, they were less reliablethan the texts ofthe first category,butanyway, the sourcesof thiskind were oftenbased on the authentic experience of theirauthorsand contained a lot of impor tant information.Wemay mentionhere Contestation Of the Muhammadan * 13
Sect {Impugnación de la secta mahometana) by a monk Pedro Pascual, who spentthree years (1297-1300) as aprisoner inMuslim Granada or the Falsity of al-Qur’án {Improbado Alcorani) by a missionary of the Do minican Order Ricoldo da Montecroce (1242-1320) who had a good knowledge of the Arabic language and who travelled to Palestine, Syria, Turkey, Iran and Iraq to dispute with Muslim theologians.34
Sh. Elia, El pensamiento..., op. cit.
35 Ibidem.
’6 The impact might have been mutual - see The New Encyclopaedia Brit- tanica, Chicago 1990, vol. 6, p. 267: ‘The last section of this work consists of a vision of Heaven and Hell in the style of Dante, composed immediately after the latter’s death in 1321’.
17 See The New Encyclopaedia Brittanica, op. cit., vol. 7, p. 359.
38 Sh. Elia, El pensamiento..., op. cit.
And Europeof those times owes another part of its knowledge about the world of Islam to travellers. Apart from da Montecroce and the re nowned Marco Polo, who finished his journey in 1295 (that is before Dante started to write La Divina Commedia), we should mention an Ital
ian Jew, a merchant Jacob ben Salomon from Ancona. In the years 1270- 1273 he undertook a long journey visiting Damascus, Baghdad, Basra, Hormuz (i.e. Bandar-e Abbas), Gujarat, Ceylon, Singapore and finally Canton.35 *
European Jews, in general, played a very important role in transmit ting ideas between the east (understood in the cultural sense, thus com prising Spain) and the west (i.e. Christian Europe). We should mention here a Jewish sage Emmanuel Ben Salomon Ben Yacutiel (1260-1328), known in Italy as Manoello Giudeo, who is reported to have been a close friend ofDante Alighieri. He was a mysticand a poet. He wrote both re ligious and secular poems in Hebrew that were compiled later to form a single work entitled Mahbarot Immanuel.ib He had thourough knowledge of Islamic mystics and eschatology. There is a curious detail connected with his person. He is believed to have suggested the form of the enig matic sentence “Raphél may améch zabi almi” (Inferno, XXXI, v. 67), which is an illustration of the confusion of human languages.
It seems that another thinker of the Judaic sphere, rabbi Hillel ben Samuel from Verona (1220-1295)37, a great medic and talmudist, and an expert on the philosophy of Ibn Rusd (Averroes) might have had some connectionswith Dante.38
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 57
And finally, we should remember that the continuing struggle be tween the East and theWest (in the Holy Land, in Spain), apart from its ugly violent face in a way intensified other kindsof contacts between the civilizations. The Crusaders’ presence in Palestine, Templarles’ policy playedan importantrole in sharing ideasbetween the EastandWest.
So, having sketchedthe possible channels we should try to answerthe question, whether there are observable traces of Muslim influences on European thought, and Dante’s work in particular. Well, even from La Divina Commedia and another of Dante’s works - Convivio - we learn that the ideas of two famous scholars of the Muslim world: the Persian Ibn Sina (Avicenna) and the Hispano-arabic aristotelist Ibn Rusd (Averroes, 1126-1198) were well known in Europe. In fact, the latter, while he was held in esteemby hiscoreligionists, in factenjoyed much greater popular
ity among Christians and Jews. The scale of this popularity is well illus
trated byPetrarca's polemics withItalian averroists.
A good piece of evidence for Islamic influence on Dante’s writings has been given by Miguel Asin Palacios. We may take the problem of Limboas an example. Dante was the first Christian writer to use the con cept of limbo. This isdescribedas a partofthe other world, where are the souls ofchildrenwho diedbefore being baptised and the soulsof just men whopassedaway before the coming of Christ. Having not known the light of the true religion they cannot be saved, on the other hand they do not suffer the torments of hell. The only punishment is the consciousness of everlasting separation from God.
The name limbo itself is somewhat enigmatic. Palacios explainedit as connected with the Islamic eschatological concept ofal-A‘raf, the place dividing the sphere of the saved from that of the damned. According to Arabic lexicographers, originally, it was the term for ‘an upper part of a curtain, veil’, and by widening its meaning ‘any kind of border between two things’. And that agrees perfectly with the original meaning of the Lat. limbus.'19
According to The New Encyclopaedia Brittanica, op. cit., vol. 7, p. 359,
‘The word is of Teutonic origin, meaning ‘a border’ or ‘anything joined on’.
411 Sh. Elia, El pensamiento..., op. cit.
Moreover, according to Palacios, thestructure of Dante's heaven and Hell seemstobe based onthe Islamictraditions.40
For the sakeof honesty, however, we have toprotest against some of Palacios' notions. E.g. the punishment of cold, described by Dante in the
ninth ring sphere of hell is totally absent in earlierbiblical eschatology, while it is well known in Islam (see Futuhat I 387). However, it seems to be well known intheCeltic andold English traditions, too. It appears both in Visio Tnugdali and in the so-called vision of Drythelm related by the Venerable Bede.
3.3. Visio Tnugdali: La Divina Commedia
It is declared, indeed, by some scholars that Visio Tnugdali influ
enced notonly Dante Alighieri’s work, but alsocould have inspired in a fewinstancesHieronimus Bosch41.
41 J. Strzelczyk, Iroszkoci..., op. cit., p. 400.
42 Ibidem, p. 411-412.
43 Ibidem, p. 413; See La Divina Commedia, canto XXXIV.
44 J. Strzelczyk, Iroszkoci..., op. cit., p. 413-414.
45 See description of this ceremony among Buriats in: J. S. Wasilewski, Podróże do Piekieł - Rzecz o szamańskich misteriach, Warszawa 1979, p. 60.
We observe in Visio Tnugdali the beginning of the process of estab
lishing the new division of the other world instead of the dualistic vision of heaven and hell. Purgatory is not called by nameyet, but hell is divided into infernum inferius and infemum superius (terms introduced by St.
Augustine). The punishment ofthe latter is not ultimateand notnecessar
ily everlasting. Visio Tnugdalisuggests that in some cases, a human soul is judged not immediately after death but aftersome timespent in infer
num superius'.42 43 These ideas found their final form in Dante’s work.
Heaven is in Visio Tnugdali divided similarly to hellinto two parts.
A strikingparallel between thetwo texts can be observed in the way Lucifer is described. In both cases he is envisaged not only as the ruler of hell, but also as a creature suffering the torments together with the sin- ners 43 .
The paradiseseen byTnugdal is divided intothree parts, accordingto the level of sanctityof the souls that abode inthose regions44.
3.4. The texts: shamanic traditions
Purifying rituals form an important element of shamanic practises.
They are performed in a particularly solemn manner during the initiation ofanew shaman. Latertheyare repeated whenever he needsto regain the state of ritual purityand at least once a year. The ceremony usually con sists of some kindof ritual ablutions performedbythe ‘father shaman’.45
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 59
On the other hand, purifying rituals playan enormous role in the Zo- roastrian cult, too. Soit is not surprisingindeed, that Wirâz before starting his extra-terrestrial journey undergoes a kindof purification (v. sup.).The importanceof ritual purity in Islam is also great. Again, Muhammad un
derwent a kind ofpurification before al-Isrâ’. In the case ofTnugdal and Dante the situation is different. Their journey starts unexpectedly and the protagonists have notime to prepare. Moreover, Christianityhas no puri fying rituals (maybe apart from baptism and confession), which could be compared with those of Zoroastrianism, Islam or shamanism. On the other hand, the journey of the Irishknight andItalian poethas a purifying role in itself. It isone of theaims oftheir experience.
A strikingsimilarity between the texts mentioned and the shamanistic vision of the world is the division of the other world (both of heaven and hell - or the upper and the lower partof the otherworld) into successive levelsor spheres. Thatvision, thanks toDante,is now deeply rooted in our culture. In the Tnugdal’s vision, too, hell is divided intoregions, each one of which is dedicated to those who have committed aparticular sin. In the Book ofRighteousWirâz and in the story about the Prophet’s night jour
ney the construction of the other world issimilar.
In shamanistic communities (i.e. the ones where shamanism is prac tised) the idea of successive spheresof heavens (and hell alike) forms the rudiments of cosmology.In numerous descriptions of shamanic rituals, the moment of a shaman’s passing from one sphere to the other is clearly indicated. Sometimes the shaman shouts triumphantly: “Look! I’ve pierced it!” (“It” - i.e. the successive layer of the heavens) and hejumps on the nextstep of the symbolic cosmic tree situated in the centre. In the cosmology of the peoples of Altai the number of the spheres of heaven runs to seventeen. (Thelast is the seat of the god Ulgen and it is inacces
sible to humans)46.
Ibidem, p. 73-75.
47 Ibidem, p. 126-127.
The author of the present work has used conventionally the terms
“hell” and “heaven(s)” in the context ofshamanism.Ofcourse, applying here the terms borrowed from the eschatology of the great monotheistic religions is a simplification. However, although there are examples of cosmology dividing the universe on the basis of a binary opposition (i.e.
the world ofthe livingvs. the land of the dead in general, e.g. the latter surrounding the former47), still much more common is the triple division:
the upper world, the earth and the undergroundworld. The extremities are in clear opposition and haveconnotations which are not unlike that of our culture (thepositive- above, and the negative -below) .
Another interesting feature of the other world ofshamanism is the in version incomparison with thelandofthe living. The worldofthedead is like a mirrorreflection of the ours. Thatis why a dagger worn by the dead on the left side duringhis lifetime, is placed byhis right side in the grave.
Similarly, thereins are putinto his left hand. Moreover, the feetof the evil spirits are turned backwards. The ruler of the underground world, Erlik (known in lamaism, too) is portrayed as riding a black bull with his face turned backwards. The concepts of ‘up’ and ‘down’ are inverted. While contacting the inhabitants of the underground world, one has toremember that total inversion affects the language, too. Thus ‘no’ means ‘yes’ and vice versa49. A lot of other examples could be presented. It seemsthat the inversion of ideas and of co-ordinates in hell (that is in the underground world) is traceable in a way, in the role of the left side is stressed both in thehell of Dante and that of theMuslim eschatology.
Ibidem, p. 103.
Ibidem, p. 128, 132.
While discussing the vision of universe, wecannot avoid mentioning the role of the cosmic axis. It is, on the one hand, a ‘traffic artery', the existence of which makes the communication between the spheres of the universe possible. On the other hand this is the source of the supernatural power which is gained by shamans. In shamanistic cosmology, the axis is the cosmic tree, with its roots deep in the underground world, and its crown in the heavens. We have already mentioned its role during sha manic mysteries.
In Zoroastrian cosmology, reflected in the Book ofRighteous Wirâz, this role may be played by Mount Dâitî, together withthe Cinwadbridge.
In Dante’sCommedia,the cosmic axis is indicated by the line passing across Jerusalem on the one side of the world, and through the mountain ofPurgatory on the other. In other words, this is the meridian ofJerusa
lem.
In the Muslim tradition, the role of the cosmic axis is played by the ladder, which enables the Prophet to reach the successive spheres of heaven (the aspectof a communication artery is clearly visible here), and possibly - by the Lotus of theBorder. It is worth mentioning here that the
Dante Alighieri’s La Divina Commedia ... 61
Arabie wordmi'râj may have meanings like ‘a ladder’, ‘a rungof a lad der'or ‘physical or spiritual ascension’.50
J. Wronecka, Ibn 'Arabi..., op. cit., p. XXV.
1 M. Eliade, Szamanizm..., op. cit., p. 99.
'2 Ibidem, p. 89.
" See M. Tardieu, ‘L’Ardâ Vîrâz Nâmag et l’Eschatologie Grecque’, [in:]
Studia Iranica 14, 1985, fase. 1.
We have already mentioned the presence of spirits - guides in the discussed texts. Now, it is the time to compare their function with the auxiliary spirits in shamanism. Theseare the spirits particularly close to a shaman, that guide and defend him during his ecstatic journeys, that ac company him to the underground world, and sometimes carry him on their backto the successive spheres of heaven, taking the form of a horse, or of a goose51.
It is a clearanalogy to the guides of the main characters of the dis
cussedtexts. Even the animal aspect can be traced - in the horse carrying Muhammad to Jerusalem, al-Burâq. A lot of other problems have to be analysed. One of them could bethe possible analogy between theBeatrice of Dante and the so-called “heavenly wives”, that is the female guardian spirits of the shamans52. Another interesting case is the role of the psy
choactive drink (mang) in the Iranian tradition.
4. Conclusions
4.1.Othertexts should be taken into consideration
A great deal of other texts and traditionsshould be discussedto make the above considerations complete. Let us mention, justfor the sake of an example, the apocryphalapocalypsesof Peter and Paul, especially as there is a question as to whether they were influenced by the Iranian traditions or vice versa53.
4.2. Influences versusuniversalia
While analysing the presented material one inevitably comes across thequestionof the origin ofall the striking similarities between the texts and traditions in question. Talking simply about ‘similarities’ is safe, but the most fascinating problem is, whether they are examples of inter- cultural influences or simply an inevitable consequence of their common origin in the minds of the same species. In some cases (e.g. Dante’s work and the traditions ofal-Mi‘râj) the existence of some direct influences
seems proved and no longer indisputable. In other cases (al-Mi‘raj and the Old Irish traditions) wehave tobecareful in articulating our opinion.
Moreover, we may find other explanations of the state of things and some of them, while being notsatisfying from the scientific pointof view, present an interesting object themselves, for a person interested in inter- cultural relations. This is the caseof the opinion, which could be labelled as ‘pan-ecumenical’: Thesimilaritiesare explained as the elements of the same truth revealed to the believers ofvarious religions, only sometimes understood by them ina different way.
4.3. Euroasiatic perspective
The motive of ‘divine comedies’, being well documented in literary works from various partsof Europe and Asia and observed even today in shaman practices gives us an exceptional possibility to study a motif so widely spread in Eurasia. It forms a good backgroundfor an analysis of problems like cultural interaction between the east and the west in the Middle Ages, the degreeof dialogue and conflict inthesecontacts. Having accepted the fact that at least some of the similarities between Dante’s work and al-Mi‘raj(and between the other traditionsdiscussed)are tobe classified as influences, we should look at the existence of ‘the divine comedy motive’ as at a phenomenon which could have happen only in a given historical, geographical and cultural context. The fact that Iranian culture formed a partofthebackground for Islam, the politicalsituation in the Middle Ages (Muslim Spain), the presence of Jews in Europe, and a great numberof otherfactors have contributed tothe spreadof themotifin Eurasia.
