View source for Borzuya

{{Short description|Persian physician}}
{{distinguish|Bozorgmehr}}
{{Infobox medical person
|image                   = BorzuyaArtwork.png
|image_size              = 
|caption                 = Artwork of Borzūya
|birth_name              = 
|birth_date              = 5th century – 6th century
|birth_place             = [[Nishapur|Abarshahr]] or [[Merv]]<ref name="Iranica">{{cite encyclopedia |title=BORZŪYA
|encyclopedia=Encyclopædia Iranica |url=http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/borzuya-also-burzoe-a-physician-of-the-time-of-kosrow-i- |date=December 15, 1989}}</ref>
|death_date              = 6th century
|death_place             = [[Sassanid Iran]]
|education               = [[Academy of Gondishapur]] (possibly)
|profession              = [[Physician]]
|specialism              =
|political_party         = 
|research_field          =
|known_for               = Translating many books into [[Middle Persian|Pahlavi]]
|years_active            =
|work_institutions       = 
}}
'''Borzuya''' (or '''Burzōē''' or '''Burzōy''' or '''Borzouyeh,''' {{Langx|fa|بُرْزویه}}) was a [[Persian people|Persian]] physician in the late [[Sassanid era|Sasanian era]], at the time of [[Khosrow I]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Zargaran |first1=Arman |last2=Mehdizadeh |first2=Alireza |last3=Yarmohammadi |first3=Hassan |last4=Kiani |first4=Hossein |last5=Mohagheghzadehl |first5=Abdolali |title=Borzouyeh, an Ancient Persian Physician Who First Reported Uterine Contractions in Normal Vaginal Delivery |date=2015 |journal=Acta medico-historica Adriatica |volume=13 |issue=Suppl 2 |pages=23–28 |issn=1334-4366 |pmid=26959628}}</ref> He translated the Indian ''[[Panchatantra]]'' from [[Sanskrit]] into [[Middle Persian|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.''

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.<ref name=Blois>{{citation | author=François de Blois | year=1990 | title=Burzōy's voyage to India and the origin of the book of Kalīlah wa Dimnah | publisher=Routledge | isbn=978-0-947593-06-3 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JQ6ysVz89KEC}}</ref> 

== Voyage to India ==
Borzuya was sent to India by Khosrow I to find a plant that is capable of reviving the dead. He later learned from a philosopher that the plant he is seeking is actually a book, the ''Panchatantra'', that is locked in the treasury of the rajah.<ref name=":0">{{Cite journal |last=Kinoshita |first=Sharon |date=2008-12-01 |title=Translatio/n, empire, and the worlding of medieval literature: the travels of ''Kalila wa Dimna'' |journal=Postcolonial Studies |volume=11 |issue=4 |pages=371–385 |doi=10.1080/13688790802456051 |s2cid=143500773 |issn=1368-8790}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |last1=Roy |first1=Nilanjana S. |title=The Panchatantra: The ancient 'viral memes' still with us |url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180517-the-panchatantra-the-ancient-viral-memes-still-with-us |website=BBC.com |access-date=17 March 2019 |language=en}}</ref> He received permission to read the book from the rajah{{Clarification needed|date=October 2022}}, although he was not permitted copy it. Disobeying these instructions, Borzuya would memorize the text he read each day and secretly wrote the book again in Persian, then sent his translation back to his king.<ref name="Iranica" /> When he returned, Khosrow praises the work, stating "the book called ''Kalila'' has given my soul new life", and offers Borzuya any reward he chooses from the royal treasury. Instead of gold or jewels, Borzuya chooses a fine suit of clothes and that his name be written in the copy of the ''Kalila'' "so that after I die, learned men will not forget the difficulties I went through".<ref name=":0" />

The Semitic scholar François de Blois describes five distinct versions of Borzuya's voyage to India. The versions vary in details of the reasons Borzuya was originally sent to India, the purpose of his trip, and how Borzuya obtained access to the ''Panchatantra''. Scholar disagree as to which of the versions is older and can be traced back to the author of the Pahlavi translations, but agree that the themes of Khosrow's interest in Indian knowledge, particularly of statecraft, the difficulty in obtaining access to the book, etc.<ref name="Blois" />  

There is considerable discussion whether Borzūya is the same as [[Bozorgmehr]].<ref name="Blois"/> While sources indicate they are different people, the word "Borzūya" ''can'' sometimes be a shortened form of Bozorgmehr.<ref name=EIB>Djalal Khaleghi-Motlagh, "BORZŪYA" in ''Encyclopædia Iranica''.  Oneline link accessed in December 2010: [http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/borzuya-also-burzoe-a-physician-of-the-time-of-kosrow-i- BORZŪYA].</ref>

==See also==
* [[Academy of Gundishapur]]

==References==
<references/>

{{Panchatantra}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Burzoe}}
[[Category:Physicians from the Sasanian Empire]]
[[Category:6th-century Iranian people]]
[[Category:Sanskrit–Persian translators]]
[[Category:Khosrow I]]
[[Category:Panchatantra]]