Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1There are also whole classes of sinners whose life, it would seem, can be taken by any one who detects them in the act, such as the courtezan, the highwayman, the Sodomite, and the corpseburner ?. § 24. Such are the most important principles of the Mazdean law that can be gathered from the Vendidad. These details, incomplete as they are, may give us an idea, if not of the Sassanian practice, at least of the Sassanian ideal. That it was an ideal which intended to pass into practice, we know from the religious wars against Armenia, and from the fact that very often the superintendence of justice and the highest offices of the state were committed to Mobeds. We must now add a few words on the plan of the following translation. As to our method we beg to refer to the second chapter above. It rests on the Parsi tradition, corrected or confirmed by the comparative method. The Parsi tradition is found in the Pahlavi Commentary °, the understanding of which was facilitated to us first by the Gujarati translation and paraphrase of Aspendiarji %, and by a Persian transliteration and translation belonging to the Haug Collection in Munich*4, for the use of which we were indebted to the obliging kindness of the Director of the State Library in Munich, Professor von Halm. The " See p. 113, n. 43 Farg. XVIII, 65. ? Our quotations refer to the text given in Spiegel’s edition, but corrected after the London manuscript. 3 Bombay, 1842, 2 vols. in 8vo. * Unfortunately the copy is incomplete: there are two lacunae, one from I, 11 to the end of the chapter; the other, more extensive, from VI, 26 to IX. The perfect accordance of this Persian translation with the Gujarati of Aspendiarji shows that both are derived from one and the same source. Their accordance is striking even in mistakes; for instance, the Pahlavi avastar Soren, a transliteration of the Zend a-vastra, ‘ without pastures’ (VII, 26), is misread by the Persian translator Avastir, Leal oe ‘he who wishes,’ owing to the ambiguity of the Pahlavi letter » (av or 4v), and it is translated by Aspendiarji £4h4n4r, ‘ the wisher.’ Ixxxviii VEND{DAD. Ravaets and the Saddar?! frequently gave us valuable information as to the traditional meaning of doubtful passages. As for the works of European scholars, we are much indebted to the Commentary on the Avesta by Professor Spiegel, and to the translations in the second edition of Martin Haug’s Essays.
2frequently gave us valuable information as to the traditional meaning of doubtful passages. As for the works of European scholars, we are much indebted to the Commentary on the Avesta by Professor Spiegel, and to the translations in the second edition of Martin Haug’s Essays. We have followed the text of the Avesta as given by Westergaard ; the division into paragraphs is according to Westergaard; but we have given in brackets the corresponding divisions of Professor Spiegel’s edition. The singularly exact analysis of the Vendidad contained in the Dinkart has proved of great value. For the first chapter we owe much to the Commentary in an unpublished chapter of the Great Bundahis. The analyses of the Nasks in the Dinkart, the Great Bundahis and the essay of Jiwanji Modi on the funeral customs of the Parsis have thrown valuable light on many points of detail. Many passages in the Vendidad Sada are mere quotations from the Pahlavi Commentary which have crept into the Sada text: we have not admitted them into the text. They are generally known to be spurious from their not being translated in the Commentary ?: yet the absence of a Pahlavi translation is not always an unmistakable sign of such spuriousness. Sometimes the translation has been lost in our manuscripts, or omitted as having already been given in identical or nearly identical terms. When we thought that this was the case, we have admitted the untranslated passages into the text, but in brackets *. We have divided the principal Fargards into several sections according to the matter they contain: this division, which is meant as an attempt to resolve the Vendidad into its primitive fragments, has, of course, no traditional 1 The prose Saddar (as found in the Great Raviet), which differs considerably from the Saddar in verse, as translated by Hyde. * Without speaking of their not being connected with the context. See Farg. I, 4, 15, 20; II, 6, 20; V,4; VII, 53-54. 3 Farg. VII, 3; VIII, 95. Formulae and enumerations are often left untranslated, although they must be considered part of the text (VIII, 72; XI, 9, 12; XX, 6, &c.) INTRODUCTION, X. Ixxxix authority, the divisions into paragraphs being the only ones that rest upon the authority of the manuscripts. The translation will be found, in many passages, to differ greatly from the translations published heretofore’. The nature of this series of translations did not allow us to give full justificatory notes: but we have endeavoured in most cases to make the explanatory notes commend to scholars the new meanings we have adopted ; and, in some instances, we hope that the original text, read anew, will by itself justify our translation. We must not conclude this introduction without tendering our warmest thanks to Mr. E. W. West, who kindly revised the MS. of the translation before it went to press, and who has, we hope, succeeded in making our often imperfect English more acceptable to English readers. JAMES DARMESTETER.
3We must not conclude this introduction without tendering our warmest thanks to Mr. E. W. West, who kindly revised the MS. of the translation before it went to press, and who has, we hope, succeeded in making our often imperfect English more acceptable to English readers. JAMES DARMESTETER. Paris: October, 1894. ' Complete translations of the Vendidad have been published by Anquetil Duperron in France (Paris, 1771) ; by Professor Spiegel in Germany (Leipzig, 1852); by Canon de Harlez in Belgium (Louvain, 1877). The translation of Professor Spiegel was translated into English by Professor Bleeck, who added useful information from inedited Gujarati translations (Hertford, 1864). A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS VOLUME. Asp. = Aspendiarji’s translation. Bund. = Bundahis; Arabic numbers refer to the chapter (according to Justi’s edition); Roman numbers refer to the page and line. Comm. = The Pahlavi Commentary. Gr. Rav. = Le Grand Ravéet (in the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris, Supplément Persan, No. 47). Orm. Ahr. = Ormazd et Ahriman, Paris, Vieweg, 1877. VENDIDAD. Digitized by Goog le VENDIDAD. Farcarp I. Turs chapter is an enumeration of sixteen perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues created in opposition by Angra Mainyu. Many attempts have been made, not only to identify these sixteen lands, but also to draw historical conclusions from their order of succession, as representing the actual order of the migrations and settlements of the old Iranian tribes?. But there is nothing in the text to support such wide inferences. We have here nothing more than a geographical description of Iran, seen from the religious point of view. Of these sixteen lands there are nine, as follows :— ZEND NAME. OLD PERSIAN. GREEK. MODERN NAME. Sughdha (2) Suguda oykav Soghd 3x. (Samarkand) Méuru (3) Margu = Mapyav)_ = Marv 9, Bakhdhi (4) Bakhtri Béerpa = Balkh , Har6yu (6) Haraiva ‘Apela Haré(sd) SP Vehrkina (9) Warkéna ‘Ypxavia Gurgan, Goede wWFole 7 Harahvaiti (10) Harauvati ’Apaywoia Ar-rokhag 5 Arghand- -(ab ” at 1 Haétumant (11) *Eripardpos Helmend scele Ragha (12) Rag&? = ‘Payal Rat , Hapta hindu (15) Hindava 'Iv8oi Hind J22 (Pafigab), which can be identified with certainty, as we are able to follow their 1 Rhode, Die heilige Sage des Zendvolks, p. 61 ; Heeren, Ideen zur Geschichte, I, p. 498; Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde I, p. 526; Haug in Bunsen’s work, Aegypten’s Stellung, V, 2nd part, p. 104; Kiepert, Monatsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1856, p. 621. Cf. the mythological interpretation by M. Bréal, ‘De la géographie de V’Avesta’ (in the Mélanges de mythologie et de linguistique, p. 187 seq.) * See however § 16, note 3. [4] B vY 2 VENDIDAD. names from the records of the Achaemenian kings or the works of classical writers down to the map of modern Iran. For the other lands we are confined for information to the Pahlavi Commentary, from which we get :
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1There are also whole classes of sinners whose life, it would seem, can be taken by any one who detects them in the act, such as the courtezan, the highwayman, the Sodomite, and the corpseburner ?. § 24. Such are the most important principles of the Mazdean law that can be gathered from the Vendidad. These details, incomplete as they are, may give us an idea, if not of the Sassanian practice, at least of the Sassanian ideal. That it was an ideal which intended to pass into practice, we know from the religious wars against Armenia, and from the fact that very often the superintendence of justice and the highest offices of the state were committed to Mobeds. We must now add a few words on the plan of the following translation. As to our method we beg to refer to the second chapter above. It rests on the Parsi tradition, corrected or confirmed by the comparative method. The Parsi tradition is found in the Pahlavi Commentary °, the understanding of which was facilitated to us first by the Gujarati translation and paraphrase of Aspendiarji %, and by a Persian transliteration and translation belonging to the Haug Collection in Munich*4, for the use of which we were indebted to the obliging kindness of the Director of the State Library in Munich, Professor von Halm. The " See p. 113, n. 43 Farg. XVIII, 65. ? Our quotations refer to the text given in Spiegel’s edition, but corrected after the London manuscript. 3 Bombay, 1842, 2 vols. in 8vo. * Unfortunately the copy is incomplete: there are two lacunae, one from I, 11 to the end of the chapter; the other, more extensive, from VI, 26 to IX. The perfect accordance of this Persian translation with the Gujarati of Aspendiarji shows that both are derived from one and the same source. Their accordance is striking even in mistakes; for instance, the Pahlavi avastar Soren, a transliteration of the Zend a-vastra, ‘ without pastures’ (VII, 26), is misread by the Persian translator Avastir, Leal oe ‘he who wishes,’ owing to the ambiguity of the Pahlavi letter » (av or 4v), and it is translated by Aspendiarji £4h4n4r, ‘ the wisher.’ Ixxxviii VEND{DAD. Ravaets and the Saddar?! frequently gave us valuable information as to the traditional meaning of doubtful passages. As for the works of European scholars, we are much indebted to the Commentary on the Avesta by Professor Spiegel, and to the translations in the second edition of Martin Haug’s Essays.
2frequently gave us valuable information as to the traditional meaning of doubtful passages. As for the works of European scholars, we are much indebted to the Commentary on the Avesta by Professor Spiegel, and to the translations in the second edition of Martin Haug’s Essays. We have followed the text of the Avesta as given by Westergaard ; the division into paragraphs is according to Westergaard; but we have given in brackets the corresponding divisions of Professor Spiegel’s edition. The singularly exact analysis of the Vendidad contained in the Dinkart has proved of great value. For the first chapter we owe much to the Commentary in an unpublished chapter of the Great Bundahis. The analyses of the Nasks in the Dinkart, the Great Bundahis and the essay of Jiwanji Modi on the funeral customs of the Parsis have thrown valuable light on many points of detail. Many passages in the Vendidad Sada are mere quotations from the Pahlavi Commentary which have crept into the Sada text: we have not admitted them into the text. They are generally known to be spurious from their not being translated in the Commentary ?: yet the absence of a Pahlavi translation is not always an unmistakable sign of such spuriousness. Sometimes the translation has been lost in our manuscripts, or omitted as having already been given in identical or nearly identical terms. When we thought that this was the case, we have admitted the untranslated passages into the text, but in brackets *. We have divided the principal Fargards into several sections according to the matter they contain: this division, which is meant as an attempt to resolve the Vendidad into its primitive fragments, has, of course, no traditional 1 The prose Saddar (as found in the Great Raviet), which differs considerably from the Saddar in verse, as translated by Hyde. * Without speaking of their not being connected with the context. See Farg. I, 4, 15, 20; II, 6, 20; V,4; VII, 53-54. 3 Farg. VII, 3; VIII, 95. Formulae and enumerations are often left untranslated, although they must be considered part of the text (VIII, 72; XI, 9, 12; XX, 6, &c.) INTRODUCTION, X. Ixxxix authority, the divisions into paragraphs being the only ones that rest upon the authority of the manuscripts. The translation will be found, in many passages, to differ greatly from the translations published heretofore’. The nature of this series of translations did not allow us to give full justificatory notes: but we have endeavoured in most cases to make the explanatory notes commend to scholars the new meanings we have adopted ; and, in some instances, we hope that the original text, read anew, will by itself justify our translation. We must not conclude this introduction without tendering our warmest thanks to Mr. E. W. West, who kindly revised the MS. of the translation before it went to press, and who has, we hope, succeeded in making our often imperfect English more acceptable to English readers. JAMES DARMESTETER.
3We must not conclude this introduction without tendering our warmest thanks to Mr. E. W. West, who kindly revised the MS. of the translation before it went to press, and who has, we hope, succeeded in making our often imperfect English more acceptable to English readers. JAMES DARMESTETER. Paris: October, 1894. ' Complete translations of the Vendidad have been published by Anquetil Duperron in France (Paris, 1771) ; by Professor Spiegel in Germany (Leipzig, 1852); by Canon de Harlez in Belgium (Louvain, 1877). The translation of Professor Spiegel was translated into English by Professor Bleeck, who added useful information from inedited Gujarati translations (Hertford, 1864). A LIST OF THE PRINCIPAL ABBREVIATIONS USED IN THIS VOLUME. Asp. = Aspendiarji’s translation. Bund. = Bundahis; Arabic numbers refer to the chapter (according to Justi’s edition); Roman numbers refer to the page and line. Comm. = The Pahlavi Commentary. Gr. Rav. = Le Grand Ravéet (in the Bibliothéque Nationale in Paris, Supplément Persan, No. 47). Orm. Ahr. = Ormazd et Ahriman, Paris, Vieweg, 1877. VENDIDAD. Digitized by Goog le VENDIDAD. Farcarp I. Turs chapter is an enumeration of sixteen perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues created in opposition by Angra Mainyu. Many attempts have been made, not only to identify these sixteen lands, but also to draw historical conclusions from their order of succession, as representing the actual order of the migrations and settlements of the old Iranian tribes?. But there is nothing in the text to support such wide inferences. We have here nothing more than a geographical description of Iran, seen from the religious point of view. Of these sixteen lands there are nine, as follows :— ZEND NAME. OLD PERSIAN. GREEK. MODERN NAME. Sughdha (2) Suguda oykav Soghd 3x. (Samarkand) Méuru (3) Margu = Mapyav)_ = Marv 9, Bakhdhi (4) Bakhtri Béerpa = Balkh , Har6yu (6) Haraiva ‘Apela Haré(sd) SP Vehrkina (9) Warkéna ‘Ypxavia Gurgan, Goede wWFole 7 Harahvaiti (10) Harauvati ’Apaywoia Ar-rokhag 5 Arghand- -(ab ” at 1 Haétumant (11) *Eripardpos Helmend scele Ragha (12) Rag&? = ‘Payal Rat , Hapta hindu (15) Hindava 'Iv8oi Hind J22 (Pafigab), which can be identified with certainty, as we are able to follow their 1 Rhode, Die heilige Sage des Zendvolks, p. 61 ; Heeren, Ideen zur Geschichte, I, p. 498; Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde I, p. 526; Haug in Bunsen’s work, Aegypten’s Stellung, V, 2nd part, p. 104; Kiepert, Monatsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1856, p. 621. Cf. the mythological interpretation by M. Bréal, ‘De la géographie de V’Avesta’ (in the Mélanges de mythologie et de linguistique, p. 187 seq.) * See however § 16, note 3. [4] B vY 2 VENDIDAD. names from the records of the Achaemenian kings or the works of classical writers down to the map of modern Iran. For the other lands we are confined for information to the Pahlavi Commentary, from which we get :
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
No commentary for this page.