by Yana Popkostova

Dictionary of the Khazars is amongst the best and most invigorating books I have ever read. This is why I allowed myself to make a brief analyses of one of the entries in the book. I am not going to explain the basic characteristics of the book here since there is plenty of information on it in the net. I am strongly recomending this piece of fiction to everybody smart enough and able to analyze difficult balkan literature! :-))

The Kahazar Princess “ATEH” and her story according to Christianity, Islam and Hebrew sources in the book Dictionary of the Khazars by Pavic.

The dictionary of the Khazars is amongst the most invigorating novels one can read today. It represents the concept of active participation in reading which contrasts the old way of passive acceptance of information. Pavic gives to the reader the choice how to read the novel, how to accept the novel, and how to arrange by importance the different entries according to the importance placed on each source. Moreover, it depends entirely on the reader him/herself to “create” the novel, since s/he has to infer the story from information received by different, often conflicting sources. The novel takes the form of three cross-referenced mini-dictionaries, each compiled from the sources of one of the great religions known to the mankind - Christianity, Islam, and Judaism. As Pavic writes in his introduction to the work: "No chronology will be observed here, nor is one necessary. Hence each reader will put together the book for himself, as in a game of dominoes or cards, and, as with a mirror, he will get out of this dictionary as much as he puts into it, for you...cannot get more out of the truth than what you put into it."
The reading method chosen by the author was simultaneous reading of all the entries which repeat in all three books. The basic effect of this method was clear understanding of the contradictory character of the book and the absence of right or wrong, the absence of absolute truth presented and the utterly fairy-tale character of the book. What becomes clear from the novel as far as the author has read it and interpreted the information presented, is that the Khazars were an existent warlike tribe which was extremely powerful up till the moment they have decided to convert to one of the big religions. This decision followed a dream by the Khazar leader which he wished to be interpreted. According to the text the whole tribe converted to the religion which presented the best interpretation of this dream. While it is not known to which religion they converted, it is known that shortly after the conversion the Khazars disappeared. In all three dictionaries there is one entry which carries immense significance for the Khazar conversion. This is the personality of the Khazar princess Ateh whose role in the polemic concerning the Khazars conversion was decisive. Her story is repeated in all three dictionaries and of course the content of the story varies according to the religious context. In all three books though an agreement is reached regarding her active participation in the polemic and her significant role in the followed conversion of the whole Khazar tribe.
Comparing the meaning ascribed to her name in all three sources one can see that according to the Christians her name is taken to be the term for the Khazars' four states of consciousness. In the Hebrew book the name of princess Ateh is explained as detailed elucidation of each separate latter comprising it (At’h in Hebrew). "Aleph"-the first letter of her name, denotes the Supreme Crown, wisdom. "Aleph" is the beginning; it embraces all other letters, and is the beginning manifestation of the seven days of the week. "Teth" is the ninth letter of the Jewish alphabet, it is under a sign of the planet Saturn and divine rest; it is connected with broom sweeping, which stands for destruction and the loss of godlessness, and it denotes strength as well. "He" is the fourth letter of God’s name. It symbolizes the hand, power, a strong swing, cruelty (the left hand), and mercy (the right). Understanding the meaning of each separate latter in her name according to the Hebrew sources helps us understand more about the personality of the Khazar’s princess.
After clarifying the meaning of Ateh’s name the Christian section relates that Ateh would retire for sleep each night with letters of the Khazar alphabet inscribed on her eyelids. As the Khazar alphabet was poisonous to read, this practice served as her protection from molestation while she slept. Princess Ateh had in her possession two mirrors, one was a slow mirror, which reflected things slowly, the other was a fast mirror, which reflected things before they happened. One morning Ateh had her servants bring the two mirrors to her in bed, and while looking into them she happened to blink. As the poison letters were not yet washed from her eyelids, she was able to see them reflected, and so died "between two blinks of an eye". Further down the source though the reader will see that actually Ateh never died, but this kind of contradiction is typical for the whole book not only between different sources but inside the same source as well. Another peculiar thing one can find in the christian source is the importance of seven (holy number in the Christianity) and the mentioning Ateh was eating fish (symbol of the Christianity) “Seven kinds of salt stood on her table at all times, and she would always dip her fingers in a different salt before taking a piece of fish.”, “she had seven faces, like her seven salts”. The Christian source also mentions that “Ateh was a beautiful and pious woman”, and later on in the entry contradicts this statement by saying that “Ateh was no beauty at all, but she would train her face in the mirror and compose her features into a lovely expression and a pretty shape.” In the same entry we see further below the reference made by Daubmannus that “all Khazars, including Princess Ateh, are starting each day as someone else”. This is again contradicted by the records made by travelers who say all “Khazar faces were identical”. Despite all contradictions an agreement is reached that “a Khazar face epitomizes as face that is hard to recall.” Continuing this complex identification of the Khazar faces the Christian entry continues with the analyses that in the crucial Khazar polemic, Princess Ateh showed a different face to each of the participants” or even “there were three Princess Atehs--one for the Moslem, another for the Christian, and a third for the Hebrew scholar and dream interpreter.” According to the Christian source princess Ateh defeated the Hebrew theologian (strangely enough the Muslim theologian is not mentioned here?!) and along with the kaghan adopted Christianity.
The Islamic source is referring to Ateh as a woman “renowned for her beauty”. She was wearing bells (typical for Muslim community) which were never heard since “along with brains, the princess was endowed with inordinate slowness”. Ateh was hopping from one subject to the other in conversations “like a bird from branch to branch”, but she was always returning to her subjects few days later. She didn’t make any differentiation between important and marginal subjects, and was indifferent to all topics of conversation. In the Islam source we see that Ateh out-argued both the Jewish and Christian participants in the polemic and in the end helped the Islamic representative. The eternal life given to her by Islamic Iblis to avoid the condemnation made by Greek and Hebrew representatives angry with her choosing Islam, gave her the opportunity to “return endlessly and without haste to each of her thoughts and each of her words”. Love she could only have in her dreams. That is why Princess Ateh devoted herself to her sect of dream hunters. The reference to Ateh as the leader of the dream hunters is not made in the Christian source in this particular entry and it appear here for the first time. The reader will see a new reference to the sect of dream hunters in the Hebrew source as well.
At the Khazar polemic according to the Hebrew source she wore, attached to her belt, the skull of her lover” and helped the Hebrew representative and out-argued the other two participants, which was followed by Khazar conversion to the Jewish faith. The yellow book makes the reference to Ateh as the person who compiled the first Khazar dictionary. According to this source the first dictionary was made in poetic form. In the Hebrew source similarly to the Islamic source there is reference made to curse. After the acceptance of the Hebrew religion “the Islamic demon punished Princess Ateh by condemning her to forget her Khazar language and all her poems.” According to this source though, “Princess Ateh, sensing the coming danger, ordered a large number of parrots that could imitate human speech” and taught them each entry from the Khazar dictionary. These parrots were let free and after the “the Khazar faith was abandoned and the Khazar language suddenly began to die out,…there came a moment when the poems and the Khazar language were known only to parrots.” This is how in 17th century the khazar poems reached the Daubmannus edition of The Khazar Dictionary. In the Hebrew source we see as well Princess Ateh as the protectoress of the most powerful sect of Khazar priests, the so-called hunters or readers of dreams. According to this source we see the Khazar dictionary as “nothing more than an attempt to compile the records kept over the centuries by dream hunters who wrote down their experiences”.
So far the reader was able to see different perspectives on Steh’s personality and deeds. Despite this contradiction though all sources agree on the fact that Ateh was poetess. In the Christian source we see two of her poems being preserved. In the Islamic source the only lines preserved of her poetry are: "The difference between two yes's can be greater than the difference between a yes and a no", and according to the green book everything else is merely ascribed to her, which automatically qualifies null the verses quoted as hers in the other two books. According to the Hebrew source one of Ateh’s poems which was preserved is dedicated to the sect of dreamhunters and refers to the fact that “When at night we fall asleep, we all turn into actors and step each time onto a different stage to play our part.”
Another issue on which all three sources agree is the death (or lack of it) of princess Ateh. In the Christian source it is written that “Princess Ateh never managed to die.” In the Islamic source we see the story with the condemnation of princess Ateh by the Greek and Jewish deputies to “the underworld of the two hells--to the Hebrew Belial and the Christian Satan.” To defeat her of such an end the Islamic Iblis divested her of her sex, condemned her to forget all her poems and language, except for one word, ku, but he gave her eternal life. In the Hebrew source as well princess Ateh never dies. There is a version that the Jewish representatives saved Princess Ateh from the fury of the Arab and Greek missionaries by arranging to have her lover, the Khazar archpriest of the dream hunters' sect, punished in her stead.
In all three books we see different interpretations of the personality of princes Atah and the result of the Khazar polemic. Despite the contradiction though we have agreement on two points: the eternal life of Ateh and her poetic qualities. The reader can see the importance of salt, change, blurring, and opposition characteristic for the whole novel in the different entries for Ateh. The repeating entry on princess Ateh shows how the religious context interprets the same story differently and ascribes different importance to same things, moreover this entry shows that there is no ultimate truth since no explanation is considered to be more correct than the others.