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by Zamân Xân recorded and translated by Richard F. Strand |
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| [RS] strak de šo sta mün âmo_âsa â? âni. | [RS] Does your mün house still exist now, here? |
| [ZX] ou˜. ou˜. âsa. | [ZX] Yes, yes. It exists. |
| [RS] kâca jena â·ki. | [RS] Who lives there? |
| [ZX] o˜ jenam. | [ZX] I live there. |
| [RS] tü mi. | [RS] Just you? |
| [ZX] ou˜. [laugh] | [ZX] Yes. [laugh] |
| [RS] â·kiste vâre kâca jela nâ bunta? | [RS] Then no one else lives there? |
| [ZX] nâi âa? vâre kâca jelâ sâip. ia˜ vâre pta bo de vâre jena, nâ pta bo, suara ... | [ZX] Of course not. Who else would live there? If I give it to someone else, then someone else lives there; if not, then ... |
| [RS] toca di jenâsi â? | [RS] Was your father living there, too? |
| [ZX] ou˜. | [ZX] Yes. |
| [RS] voša di. toca sta totas. | [RS] Your grandfather, too? Your father's father. |
| [ZX] ou˜. ou˜. silsilâ silsilâ sâip. qâdim qâdim sâip_â. egek iâar viri âšta. ev, kui iâar kui inâar vari âi nâi â? [laugh]. tir bi sta âi. | [ZX] Yes, yes. All in a line. From ancient times. These are so many stories from that side [time]. They're stories sometimes from this side and sometimes from that side, right? [laugh] They're past. |
| [RS] âmgi but di pâta bunta â? | [RS] Do those idols still remain? |
| [ZX] but di, âvGånistån âçti âni i·slom kâri to â·ki bâRâ suanti. kobul bâRâ. oal oal but di bâRâ. suara sunti çârti âTleaâ sâip. eTa gâati Tâkeastâi kor gâati Tâkeastâi bo, SâÑe sta. âmna de, kor bâbun pkula bi sta bula bi. pua [?] ea vâñi·so âni e mânša âmo kuto˜ to moben, ina co to, u tea sta vâñio âni kuiu_âsala bo. âske nire hukumât to âska ea xorejâ, kâca âcanta bo, vRe˜c kunam 'ti, so taRa·si ne, âni. so taRa to hukumât âska bo, xâbâr bo. â·kist☠când nâfâr kuTuoli âçti âmgi bâRâ, hukumât to. | [ZX] The idols were all taken away there when Afghânistân came and made Islâm here. They were taken to Kâbul. A lot of big idols were taken away. But they chopped them all up. A few were taken and hidden, wherever they were taken and hidden. Ones from the old days. They must have rotted somewhere in the forest. Last year [for "a few years ago"] it turns out one was seen. While building a house here, a man saw one here set into a wall, wherever it might have been. He kept it here from the government down there, right, thinking he would sell it to some foreigner who might come. After he kept it, the government was informed. Then a few police came and took it to the government. |
| [RS] ou˜. âska ketta but_âsi. | [RS] Yes. Which idol was it? |
| [ZX] âskea. d'isni sta_âsi. d'isni. | [ZX] It was d'isni's. d'isni. |
| [RS] ou˜. 3âñanam, 3âñanam. âska strak musiâm to_âsa ne, ure kobul. | [RS] Yes. I know, I know. It's in the museum now, right, up in Kâbul. |
| [ZX] ou˜, âsala [laugh]. ânistâñ bâRâ âska. | [ZX] Yes, it must be. [laugh] It was taken from here. |
| [RS] ou˜, Ti˜ç bo ia˜. SâÑe ne, duç, pâcaç sa sâÑe bâlla. | [RS] Yes, I know about it. It must have been ten or fifteen years ago. |
| [ZX] egek sa buna â? nâi, egek skol nâ_âsa. kâa Su sa kâa što sa, âa, uS sa buna â? gita sta buna. ou˜ gita sta buna o. âni sta âçti bâRo. âskea imo to ea gija kâRo pRâcpRec 'ti âTloa ne kâa kunša kâRo sâip. nâi. inea kâca xorejâ qimât 'ti Ñânta; xoreja oasa bo pâisa kti pRelom, kunâsi. dre ukumât bâRo sâip. | [ZX] Is it that many years? No, it's not that many. Either six years or four years, uh, has it been eight years? It's been something like that. Yes, it's been something like that! They came and took it away from here. Someone said to us, "Smash it up, why don't you? What are you doing with it? Otherwise, some foreigner will buy it expensively; if a foreigner comes, I'll give you money for it." Later the government took it away. |
| [RS] suara âmgi vâre de kâca kâa pâta nâ bistâa. | [RS] But haven't any others of them remained? |
| [ZX] kâa vâre bula bi, eTa. kâca vâñalâ? sâip_â. kor âmna, kor gâati, âmna kåfir sâxta âqidâ vo bulâ nâi â? kor bâdo bâdo gâati Tâkeasta bula bi. ev nire vâñio, ev evor. nire paRu˜ç bâra_âveti âskea de, viati viati pRâçpReç 'ti âTeleao â·ki. | [ZX] There might be a few. Who would see them? These kâfir s used to have strong beliefs, didn't they? There might be some hidden somewhere in the mountains. I saw one down there, once. Down there in PaRu˜ç someone brought one out and hit it and hit it and smashed it all up. |
| [RS] erâ. nâi, i·a de, bâRa to musiâm to dåxil kâRa to lesta bulâsi. â·kiste e nišon pâta bulâsi. | [RS] Too bad. If it had been taken and put into the museum, it would have been better. Then some sign would have remained. |
| [ZX] ou˜. iådgor ni·šon_âsa nâi â? pâta bunta ou˜. | [ZX] Yes. It's a sign of remembrance, isn't it? They would remain, yes. |
| [RS] pRâçpReç kâRa bo de kâa di bulo. | [RS] If they smash them up, then what's left? |
| [ZX] kâi di bo kša âa? | [ZX] What's left, as you say. |
[After my interview, Zamân Xân took me to see his residence, the clan-house (am'al) of the
pazg'am clan. Below its three storeys were tunnels connecting it to the village watchtower (the
g'andar 'i·u) and to the riverbank. When they were under seige, they would use the tunnel to pass
food to the warriors in the tower.
The large main room of the house had six equidistantly spaced pillars. The four pillars toward the "upper"
(back) end of the room were elaborately carved, and faced the hearth in their midst. Each pillar was, in
pre-Islamic times, dedicated to one deity. The upper left pillar belonged to m'ârâ, the upper right
one to d'isni, the lower right one to kim'e, and the lower left one to paS'âSi. In front
of the latter three pillars were stands on which statues of the respective deities formerly resided. The
space in front of m'ârâ's pillar contained a chair reserved for the shaman (paSk'i), while
m'ârâ's statue resided along the center of the back wall. The designs on the pillars were
characteristic symbols of the deities: m'ârâ's design was a serpentine; d'isni's was a
crosshatch.
The shaman would sit in front of m'ârâ's pillar, with the other elders facing him in a circle around
the hearth. Then they would burn juniper, and the shaman would go into a trance. When a deity
contacted him, he would touch the deity's statue.]
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