Hindu-Muslim-Jewish Origin Legends in Circulation between the Malabar Coast and the Mediterranean, 1400s-1800s

传说中的印度国王Cheraman Perumal的名字早在15世纪就被记录在不同的亚洲和欧洲语言的文本中。这位传奇的国王与马拉巴尔王国（印度西南部）分裂成十二个地区有关，然后皈依伊斯兰教并前往麦加。传说的多重讲述及其在不同宗教背景下的“转换”，为研究区域和社区边界内外的宗教划分过程和模式提供了丰富的经验数据。马拉巴尔海岸作为印度、阿拉伯世界和欧洲之间的海上网络节点的中心地位，在近代早期和整个现代早期都突出了海上和宗教网络交织在一起的本质。我们的项目是第一次尝试系统地分析和历史化宗教划分模式，这反映在起源传说和各自的文本传统的流传中。该项目研究了七个不同的来源，分别用阿拉伯语、马拉雅拉姆语和希伯来语讲述了Cheraman Perumal传说。七个故事中有四个是单独研究的，两个是学者们知道但没有研究的，还有一个将在这个项目中首次研究。研究这些故事的方法是创新的，它将文本的文学和语言特征历史化，而不仅仅是文本的内容，同时在彼此的对话中阅读它们。这种互文对话支撑着什么样的社区间和社区内关系模式？语言和文学数据如何解释更广泛的宗教划分问题，无论是包容性还是排他性，凝聚力还是分裂性，在社区和政治实体内部还是在它们之间？解决这些问题对我们对所谓的“宗教身份”的认识具有深远的影响，挑战了宗教作为稳定实体的概念。文本传统，例如正在调查的文本传统，强调了社区感知自身和互动方式的多样性和流动性。到项目结束时，将完成这七个故事的三种语言的第一个学术版本，并进行英语翻译，同时进行批判性分析。此外，将开发一种接触语言的语言特征类型学，以描述性语法为特色。每个文本中提到的海上节点和链接的可视化数字地图将展示马拉巴尔海岸和地中海之间海上路线上宗教网络之间的交叉点和分歧。这些文本传统，它们的流通和演变是分析近代早期西印度洋宗教网络历史的关键。

The name of the legendary Hindu king Cheraman Perumal is documented in texts in different Asian and European languages as far back as the 1400s. This legendary king is associated with the division of the kingdom of Malabar (southwestern India) into twelve districts before converting to Islam and traveling to Mecca. The multiple tellings of the legend and its "conversion" into different religious settings provides rich empirical data for investigating processes and patterns of religious demarcation within and beyond regional and communal boundaries. The centrality of the Malabar Coast as a node in maritime networks between India, the Arab World, and Europe before and throughout the early modern period highlights the intertwined nature of maritime and religious networks. Our project is a first attempt to systematically analyse and historicise patterns of religious demarcation as reflected in the circulation of origin legends and their respective textual traditions.The project examines seven sources with different tellings of the Cheraman Perumal legend in Arabic, Malayalam, and Hebrew. Four of the seven tellings have been studied separately, two are known to scholars but not studied, and one will be studied for the first time in this project. The approach to the study of these tellings is innovative in historicising the literary and linguistic features of the texts rather than their contents alone, while reading them in conversation with each other. What patterns of inter- and intra-communal relations are underpinned by this intertextual conversation? How do linguistic and literary data account for broader concerns of religious demarcation, be it inclusive or exclusive, cohesive or divisive, within communities and political entities and between them? Addressing these questions has far-reaching implications for our knowledge on so-called 'religious identities', challenging the notion of religions as stable entities. Textual traditions such as the one under investigation rather underscore the multiplicity and fluidity in the ways communities perceive themselves and interact.By the end of the project, the first scholarly editions of the seven tellings in the three languages with English translations will be completed along with a critical analysis. Additionally, a typology of the linguistic features of languages-in-contact will be developed, featuring the first of its kind in terms of descriptive grammars. A digital map visualising the maritime nodes and links referred to in each text will demonstrate the intersections and divergences between religious networks along the maritime routes between the Malabar Coast and the Mediterranean. These textual traditions, their circulation, and their evolution are key to analysing the history of religious networks in the early modern Western Indian Ocean.