The Implied Author's Position in the Tales of Kalileh and Damneh from the Perspective of the Semiotics of Spatial Distribution

In any of the functional texts of classical Persian literature such as ethico-political writings, there is a hidden and ideological voice that, despite the apparent difference between the tales and the diversity of their subjects, flows through all parts or stories of the texts. In Kalileh and Damneh, this voice, which is an outcome of the implied author’s position, emphasises, in an indirect but consistent way, a hierarchical connection in all social relationships. In the present article, the implied author’s position in Kalileh and Damneh is discussed according to two contexts constructing the text – i.e., the situational and verbal contexts. Of course, based on the historical roots of the formation and composition of the tales, Indian Caste ideologies and the Iranshahri political doctrine are assumed as the text’s situational-epistemological context, while for the introduction, categorization and analysis of the verbal context the pattern of spatial distribution in Nasrollah Monshi’s writing has been relied on. The study concludes that the pattern of spatial distribution expressed by in-text agents on different levels indicates the production and dissemination of a discourse of pre-determined order and its resulting demarcations in the shape of an award/punishment system, so much so that the reward of keeping order and observing the borderlines is survival and redemption, whereas transgressing these points leads to death or loss.