釋讀杭州鳳凰寺的“甲骨文”

孫鑰

2010年底，一場(chǎng)“元代杭州研究論壇”讓大家看到了一個(gè)“失落在歷史煙云中的繁華富麗天堂”。元代杭州，是當(dāng)時(shí)世界上規(guī)模最大和最富庶的大都市之一。

2012年夏秋之際，我在杭州文史研究會(huì)牽頭召開(kāi)的杭州鳳凰寺藏阿拉伯文和波斯文古碑釋讀評(píng)審會(huì)上了解到一個(gè)新情況：由世界頂尖專家初步轉(zhuǎn)譯釋讀出的銘文顯示，早在700年前，杭州已是一座具有高度國(guó)際化的大都市。

可是，為什么這批阿拉伯文和波斯文墓碑會(huì)出現(xiàn)在杭州？它們的主人是些什么人？又發(fā)生過(guò)怎樣的故事？

杭州文史研究會(huì)副秘書長(zhǎng)、浙江圖書館教育中心主任吳志堅(jiān)說(shuō)，沉睡了700年的古碑，并非一開(kāi)始就珍藏在鳳凰寺。它們最先是在清波門外柳浪聞鶯深處的回回塚，那是舊時(shí)杭州穆斯林墓地。后來(lái)經(jīng)歷波折，才收藏在重建于元代的伊斯蘭教清真寺——杭州鳳凰寺中。

早在上世紀(jì)，這批碑銘就為國(guó)際學(xué)界所關(guān)注，不過(guò)一直未能成功釋讀。難題在于，碑銘上所使用的是特殊的碑銘體，如要釋讀，并非掌握一般阿拉伯文和波斯文語(yǔ)言知識(shí)就可以勝任，而需要高深的專業(yè)技能。現(xiàn)今，國(guó)際學(xué)界有能力釋讀這種古阿拉伯文和古波斯文碑銘體文字的學(xué)者屈指可數(shù)。

2008年，杭州文史研究會(huì)與英國(guó)倫敦大學(xué)亞非學(xué)院伊朗學(xué)系莫爾頓講師（A.H.Morton）和蘭天德博士（Gorge.Lane）合作，著手釋讀這些碑銘。

古碑的主人是誰(shuí)？針對(duì)這個(gè)問(wèn)題，我請(qǐng)教了南京大學(xué)歷史系教授劉迎勝。他說(shuō)，根據(jù)銘文顯示，在這些墓主中，有波斯人、阿拉伯人、突厥人；其職業(yè)，有商人、行省高官、軍事官員，以及純粹的宗教人士；從宗教派別看，有遜尼派、什葉派、蘇菲派。他們多從陸路而來(lái)，有一位甚至就來(lái)自汗八里，即大都，也就是今天的北京。當(dāng)然，也有個(gè)別人士是通過(guò)海路而來(lái)。墓碑雕刻精美，也充分顯示了碑主的社會(huì)地位普遍較高。

劉迎勝說(shuō)，古碑形制為穆斯林式，使用語(yǔ)言為阿拉伯語(yǔ)和波斯語(yǔ)，但許多刻紋卻是明顯的漢式。這個(gè)特征是富有意味的，它反映了當(dāng)時(shí)的穆斯林在頑強(qiáng)保持自己宗教文化傳統(tǒng)的同時(shí)，也開(kāi)始受漢文化影響。學(xué)者陳垣曾揭示了“西域人”如何“華化”，比如，他們拜漢人為師，參加科舉，他們使用漢語(yǔ)吟詩(shī)作賦，與漢人士大夫親密無(wú)間。另一方面，他們又身處穆斯林社會(huì)，使用祖輩語(yǔ)言，使用阿拉伯語(yǔ)作為宗教語(yǔ)言，使用波斯語(yǔ)作詩(shī)，在西子湖邊低吟淺唱?！按艘粷崾溃粮《嗌倬跖c天子的頭顱；此世的塵埃，與散發(fā)著樟腦與龍涎香氣味的秀發(fā)與紅顏相混。”第14號(hào)碑上，這句詩(shī)歌的風(fēng)格意境，竟與我國(guó)唐代李長(zhǎng)吉的某些詩(shī)篇相像。

杭州文史研究會(huì)副會(huì)長(zhǎng)、中國(guó)人民大學(xué)歷史學(xué)院教授包偉民說(shuō)，元代杭州穆斯林與之前來(lái)華的穆斯林相比，出現(xiàn)了前所未有的新特征。

唐、宋時(shí)的穆斯林聚居于“蕃坊”，多為阿拉伯或波斯商人，沿著海上絲綢之路而來(lái)。到了元代，其族源的多元性、社會(huì)地位、聚居區(qū)繁華程度，都遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)高于以往。比如，他們大多從陸路而來(lái)，政治地位較高，經(jīng)濟(jì)上也比較富裕，且人口繁庶，大商富賈眾多。聚居區(qū)面積廣大，擁有數(shù)座清真寺。最古老的一座，就是今天的鳳凰寺。而且，還有許多那時(shí)的杭州穆斯林聚居區(qū)的地名一直沿用至今，比如，“薦橋”也就是今天清泰街一帶，還有“回回新橋”“珠寶巷”等。最重要的是，元代杭州的穆斯林聚居區(qū)并不是封閉的，它龐大、繁榮，構(gòu)成了杭州市井生活的重要部分。這也反映了占人口絕大部分的漢人的包容心態(tài)。

目前，中國(guó)元代穆斯林墓碑分別集中在泉州、揚(yáng)州和杭州三個(gè)沿海城市。泉州墓碑在數(shù)量上最多。從內(nèi)容看，杭州鳳凰寺的這批碑銘有著極高的思想性和文學(xué)性?！斑@一批墓碑是中國(guó)文化、宗教發(fā)展史留下的重要物證，更是古代杭州國(guó)際化程度較高的最好證明。它證明在古代相當(dāng)長(zhǎng)的一段時(shí)間里，杭州是非常國(guó)際化的，其國(guó)際化程度與現(xiàn)代相比甚至有過(guò)之而無(wú)不及。”包偉民說(shuō)，那是一種既保持某種共同的認(rèn)同，又寬容而多元的“全球化”。

2011年，莫爾頓不幸因病逝世，但他已完成了將碑銘釋成英文的大部分工作。此后，杭州文史研究會(huì)延請(qǐng)伊朗德黑蘭大學(xué)碑銘學(xué)專家烏蘇吉教授以及國(guó)內(nèi)一流學(xué)者通力協(xié)作，對(duì)照莫爾頓英文原稿，并參校碑銘原文，初步完成碑銘的中譯。這項(xiàng)研究集世界頂尖專家通力合作而成，體現(xiàn)了這個(gè)領(lǐng)域最前沿的研究成果。

目前，這項(xiàng)工作已完成釋讀的初稿，這次評(píng)審會(huì)后，譯者將進(jìn)一步完善譯作，爭(zhēng)取盡早完稿，目前預(yù)計(jì)最終的譯稿，將是一部包含碑銘圖版，波斯語(yǔ)與阿拉伯語(yǔ)原文譯文、英文譯文以及中文譯文合編的學(xué)術(shù)著作。

（本文攝影：李忠）

Ancient Muslim Tomb Inscriptions Deciphered in

Hangzhou

By Sun Yue

A defining moment of Hangzhou in history crystallized in the 12th century when the Southern Song Dynasty （1127-1279） chose Hangzhou as the capital of the new dynasty. In the Yuan Dynasty （1279-1368）， Hangzhou was one of the most prosperous cities in the world， as witnessed and documented by Marco Polo in his memoirs of his epic tour across the oriental country.

Toward the end of August 2012， a symposium， hosted by CPPCC Hangzhou chapter， opened a new page on the history of Hangzhou during the rule of the Mongols. Scholars met to discuss issues on the interpretation of engraved inscriptions on tombstone steles now housed in Phoenix Temple of Hangzhou， an ancient Muslim sanctuary erected in 1281， two years after the Southern Song Dynast fell apart. Top international experts on ancient Persian and Arabic tomb inscriptions as well as Chinese historians attending the symposium agreed that Hangzhou was an international metropolis 700 years ago， as testified by the inscriptions.

In the Yuan Dynasty， Hangzhou became internationalized when people from the West settled down here. Cultures of the Central Asia， Europe and Africa met and merged in Hangzhou. Islam flourished in Hangzhou. The steles at the Phoenix Temple of Hangzhou bear witness to the status Hangzhou enjoyed then as an internationalized city. The local government of today is highly interested in this period simply because the city aims to make itself into an international metropolis again in the 21st century.

In the 20th century， the headstone inscriptions in the Persian and Arabic languages， housed at the Phoenix Temple in Hangzhou， caught the attention of scholars across the world， but no interpretations came forward. The first challenge in reading the tombstone inscriptions was that the inscriptions were written in special ancient Persian and Arabic languages especially configured for tombstone inscriptions and it is said that only a few scholars in the world are able to read the special writing.

It was not until 2008 that Hangzhou Institute for History and Culture Studies worked together with A.H. Morton， a lecturer who taught the Persian at the School of Oriental and African Studies， University of London from 1979 to 1999， and Doctor Gorge Land to read the tombstone epitaphs.

In 2010， the two scholars presented part of their study results at a symposium in Hangzhou on Hangzhou during the Yuan Dynasty. Before he passed away in 2011， Mr. Morton had translated a majority of the epitaphs into English. By the time the lecturer passed away， the restoration of the epitaphs as well as English translation and annotations had been done. Afterwards， a professor with Tehran University， specialized in reading steles and tombstone epitaphs， was engaged to work with Chinese experts to bring the project to completion. Together， they worked out a Chinese version of the epitaphs based on the translation， original texts.

The symposium on August 30， 2012 assessed the finalized work and formulated a plan： Hangzhou is going to publish a research publication composed with photos of these steles， original texts， translations in Chinese and English， annotations， lists of glossaries， references from Bible and Koran. The scholars engaged in the project talked about their work and participating scholars came up with suggestions and comments.

Three highlights of the symposium： best domestic scholars in this field attended； the project results came up to the international level； and the symposium caught the attention of the mainstream media.

The attendees at the symposium agreed that the studies make great contribution to the understanding of the history of Hangzhou as a city and the history of Islam in China. The studies will help people understand the world system in the 13th and 14th centuries from a Chinese perspective. These studies also shed light on the ethnic diversity of the Chinese in ancient China.