The Malka': Its Major Features and Source
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Date
2000-06
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Abstract
The Maika' is a Complimentary Ga'az poetry on various religious Subjects. These
Subjects could be Divine beings, Angels, Saints, Ecclesiastic objects and abstract ideas. It is
almost anonymous and its time of beginning and cessation is unknown for certainty. It has
five-line stanzas with identical end rhyme. The structure of each stanza is categorized into
three: description, call and supplication. Mostly the first two lines are description of the
different parts of the body; the third line is a call and the last two lines are supplication of the
suppliant. Some of the Malka'a maika' also have stanzas of invocation. The imagery in the
Maika' is frequently biblical and rarely non- biblical that is used for didactic purpose and
omamenting.
Regarding its origin, the Holy Bible, particularly the Song of songs, has influenced it.
Thematically and structurally, its imagery is highly similar to the Song of songs in terms of its
nature of praise and supplication. The Maika' uses identical descriptors for identical palts of
the body, similar descriptor~ and allusions for the Song of songs in palticular and the Holy
Bible in general. Since the Song of songs is earlier in its appearance, it can safly be said that
the Maika' must have been influenced by the Song of songs.
Based on comparative textual study between the Malka'a maika' and the Song of
songs in particular and the Holy Bible in general, the possible origin of the Maika' must be
the Holy Bible. The Maika' and the Song of songs are similar in their basic form: description
of the different P31ts of the body, praise and supplication. The organization, phrasing and
imagery of the Malka'a maika' are similar to that of the Song of songs. The use of explicitimplicit
reference to the Song of songs, identical descriptors for identical parts of the body
with the Song of songs, similar descriptors with the Song of songs, and allusions from the
Old and the New Testaments indicate that the possible origin is the Holy Bible, particularly
the Song of songs
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The Maika' is a Complimentary Ga'az poetry on various religious Subjects