Borzuya | |
---|---|
Born | 5th century – 6th century |
Died | 6th century |
Education | Academy of Gondishapur (possibly) |
Known for | Translating many books into Pahlavi |
Medical career | |
Profession | Physician |
Borzuya (or Burzōē or Burzōy or Borzouyeh, Persian: بُرْزویه) was a Persian physician in the late Sasanian era, at the time of Khosrow I.[2] He translated the Indian Panchatantra from Sanskrit into Pahlavi (Middle Persian). Both his translation and the original Sanskrit version he worked from are lost. Before their loss, however, his Pahlavi version was translated into Arabic by Ibn al-Muqaffa under the title of Kalila wa-Dimna or The Fables of Bidpai and became the greatest prose of Classical Arabic. The book contains fables in which animals interact in complex ways to convey teachings to princes in policy.
The introduction to Kalila wa-Dimna presents an autobiography by Borzūya. Beside his ideas, cognitions and inner development leading to a practice of medicine based on philanthropic motivations, Borzuya's search for truth, his skepticism towards established religious thought and his later asceticism are some features lucidly depicted in the text.[3]