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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1call him the son of P&pak’s daughter and of Saésan (see Bund. XXXI, 30). b2 xX PAHLAVI TEXTS, lad. 2b 3.p,f. 4.t,@ 5.4, ¢,%. 6.kh, h. 7.d. 8.1,v,w, 0,6. 9.z. 10.8. I1.sh,s. 12.k. 13.g. 14.l,r, 15.m. 16.n. 17. y,%,4& 18. doubtful, being equivalent to Chaldee N-> and to Pahl. MS. -man". Comparing this list of sounds with that of the sounds of the manuscript alphabet (pp. xvi, xvii) it is evident that the inscriptions must afford a means of distinguishing 4 from kh, s from any binary compound of y, d, g, or g, sh from any compound of y, d, g, or g with 4, h, or kh, n from vy, r, or |, and y, d, g from each other; all which letters and compounds are left in doubt by the manuscript alphabet. Unfortunately we do not possess trustworthy copies of some of the inscriptions which are evidently the most important from a linguistic point of view?; but such copies as have been obtained supply corrections of traditional misreadings of about twenty-five Huzvaris logograms, and at the same. time they confirm the correctness of three traditional readings which have been called in question by most European scholars. So far, therefore, the inscriptions would teach the Parsis that the decisions of comparative philologists are not likely to be right more than seven times out of eight, even when they are tolerably unanimous, The Chaldzo-Pahlavi character appears to have soon ' Whether the sound of this letter can ever be satisfactorily settled remains doubtful. Levy, in his Beitrage, cited on p. xi, considers it to be the Semitic 71, on palzeographical grounds ; but there are serious objections to all the identifications that have been proposed. ? The Sasanian inscriptions, of which new and correct copies are most urgently wanted, are:—1. An inscription of thirty-one lines high up in the left side-com partment (behind the king) of the centre bas-relief of Naqs-i Ragab, near Persepolis. 2. Two inscriptions, of eleven and twelve lines respectively, on the stones of the edifice near the south-west corner of the great platform at Persepolis, south of the Hall of Columns (see Ouseley’s Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 237 and plate 42). 3. All the fragments of the Pat KAlt inscription, of which probably not more than half have yet been copied. Of the very long inscription behind the king’s horse in the bas-relief of Naqs-i Rustam, containing more than seventy lines very much damaged, a copy taken by Westergaard in 1843. with his usual accuracy, probably gives nearly all that is legible. And of the Hagiabad and shorter inscriptions, little or nothing remains doubtful. INTRODUCTION. xxi
2with his usual accuracy, probably gives nearly all that is legible. And of the Hagiabad and shorter inscriptions, little or nothing remains doubtful. INTRODUCTION. xxi gone out of use, after the establishment of the Sasanian dynasty, as the latest known inscription, in which it occurs, is that of Pai Kali, which contains the name of Adharmazd I (A.D. 271-272); while the long inscriptions of Naqs-i Ragab and Nagqs-i Rustam, which contain the name of Varahran II (A.D. 275-283), are engraved only in Sasanian-Pahlavi. From these facts it seems probable that Chaldzo-Pahlavi went out of use about A.D. 275. The Sasanian characters continue to appear, with very little alteration, upon the coins until the end of the fifth century, when most of them begin to assume the cursive form of the manuscript Pahlavi, which appears to have altered very slightly since the eighth century. The oldest Pahlavi manuscript known to be extant, consists of several fragments of papyrus recently found in a grave in the Faydm district in Egypt, and now in the Royal Museum at Berlin; it is supposed to have been written in the eighth century. Next to this, after a long interval, come four manuscripts written on Indian paper, all by the same hand, in A.D. 1323-1324; they are two copies of the Yasna and two of the Vendidad, containing the Avesta with its Zand, or Pahlavi translation and com- - mentary; two of these old MSS. are now preserved in Kopenhagen, one in London, and one in Bombay. Next to these in age are two MSS. of miscellaneous Pahlavi texts, written probably about fifty years later; one of these is now in Kopenhagen and one in Bombay. Another MS. of nearly the same age is also a miscellaneous collection of Pahlavi texts, written in A.D. 1397, and now in Munich; where there is also one of the oldest Pazand- Sanskrit MSS., a copy of the Ard4-Viraf-namak, written in A.D. 1410. Another Pazand-Sanskrit MS., a copy of the Khurdah Avesta, of about the same age, exists in Bombay. Pahlavi and Pazand manuscripts of the sixteenth century are rather more numerous. Pahlavi literature reached the zenith of its prosperity about thirteen centuries ago, when it included the whole literature of Persia. Seventy years later its destruction commenced with the fall of the Sasanian dynasty (A.D. XXil PAHLAVI TEXTS.
3Pahlavi literature reached the zenith of its prosperity about thirteen centuries ago, when it included the whole literature of Persia. Seventy years later its destruction commenced with the fall of the Sasanian dynasty (A.D. XXil PAHLAVI TEXTS. 636--651); and the subsequent adoption of the modern Persian alphabet gave it its death-blow. The last remnants of Pahlavi writings are now contained in the few manuscripts still preserved by the Parsis in Western India, and their almost-extinct brethren in Persia. A careful estimate of the length of these remnants, so far as they are known to Europeans, has shown that the total extent of existing Pahlavi literature is about thirty-six times that of the Bundahis, as translated in this volume. One-fifth of this literature consists of translations accompanying Avesta texts, and the remaining four-fifths are purely Pahlavi works which are nearly all connected with religion. How much of this literature may have descended from Sasanian times can hardly be ascertained as yet; in fact, it is only very recently that any trustworthy data, for determining the age of a few Pahlavi writings, have been discovered, as will be explained hereafter, when considering the age of the Bundahis. 3. THE BUNDAHIS. ‘The term Bundahis, ‘creation of the beginning, or ‘original creation, is applied by the Parsis to a Pahlavi work?! which, in its present state, appears to be a collection of fragments relating to the cosmogony, mythology, and legendary history taught by Mazdayasnian tradition, but which cannot be considered, in any way, a complete treatise on these subjects.; This term is applicable enough to much of the earlier part of the work, which treats of the ‘progressive development of creation under good and evil influences; but it is probably not the original name of the book. Its adoption was no doubt partly owing to the occurrence of the word bfn-dahisn, or bOn-dahisnih, twice in the first sentence, and partly to its appropriateness to the subject. But the same sentence seems to inform ‘ When this work forms part of & collection of Pahlavi texts, the whole manuscript is sometimes called ‘ the great Bundahis.’ There also exists a Saddar Bundahis, or Bundahis of a hundred chapters, which is a comparatively modern compilation, detailing the chief customs and religious laws of the Parsis in a hundred sections, INTRODUCTION. XXill us that the actual name of the treatise was Zand-akAs, ‘knowing the tradition.’
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.
1call him the son of P&pak’s daughter and of Saésan (see Bund. XXXI, 30). b2 xX PAHLAVI TEXTS, lad. 2b 3.p,f. 4.t,@ 5.4, ¢,%. 6.kh, h. 7.d. 8.1,v,w, 0,6. 9.z. 10.8. I1.sh,s. 12.k. 13.g. 14.l,r, 15.m. 16.n. 17. y,%,4& 18. doubtful, being equivalent to Chaldee N-> and to Pahl. MS. -man". Comparing this list of sounds with that of the sounds of the manuscript alphabet (pp. xvi, xvii) it is evident that the inscriptions must afford a means of distinguishing 4 from kh, s from any binary compound of y, d, g, or g, sh from any compound of y, d, g, or g with 4, h, or kh, n from vy, r, or |, and y, d, g from each other; all which letters and compounds are left in doubt by the manuscript alphabet. Unfortunately we do not possess trustworthy copies of some of the inscriptions which are evidently the most important from a linguistic point of view?; but such copies as have been obtained supply corrections of traditional misreadings of about twenty-five Huzvaris logograms, and at the same. time they confirm the correctness of three traditional readings which have been called in question by most European scholars. So far, therefore, the inscriptions would teach the Parsis that the decisions of comparative philologists are not likely to be right more than seven times out of eight, even when they are tolerably unanimous, The Chaldzo-Pahlavi character appears to have soon ' Whether the sound of this letter can ever be satisfactorily settled remains doubtful. Levy, in his Beitrage, cited on p. xi, considers it to be the Semitic 71, on palzeographical grounds ; but there are serious objections to all the identifications that have been proposed. ? The Sasanian inscriptions, of which new and correct copies are most urgently wanted, are:—1. An inscription of thirty-one lines high up in the left side-com partment (behind the king) of the centre bas-relief of Naqs-i Ragab, near Persepolis. 2. Two inscriptions, of eleven and twelve lines respectively, on the stones of the edifice near the south-west corner of the great platform at Persepolis, south of the Hall of Columns (see Ouseley’s Travels in Persia, vol. ii. p. 237 and plate 42). 3. All the fragments of the Pat KAlt inscription, of which probably not more than half have yet been copied. Of the very long inscription behind the king’s horse in the bas-relief of Naqs-i Rustam, containing more than seventy lines very much damaged, a copy taken by Westergaard in 1843. with his usual accuracy, probably gives nearly all that is legible. And of the Hagiabad and shorter inscriptions, little or nothing remains doubtful. INTRODUCTION. xxi
2with his usual accuracy, probably gives nearly all that is legible. And of the Hagiabad and shorter inscriptions, little or nothing remains doubtful. INTRODUCTION. xxi gone out of use, after the establishment of the Sasanian dynasty, as the latest known inscription, in which it occurs, is that of Pai Kali, which contains the name of Adharmazd I (A.D. 271-272); while the long inscriptions of Naqs-i Ragab and Nagqs-i Rustam, which contain the name of Varahran II (A.D. 275-283), are engraved only in Sasanian-Pahlavi. From these facts it seems probable that Chaldzo-Pahlavi went out of use about A.D. 275. The Sasanian characters continue to appear, with very little alteration, upon the coins until the end of the fifth century, when most of them begin to assume the cursive form of the manuscript Pahlavi, which appears to have altered very slightly since the eighth century. The oldest Pahlavi manuscript known to be extant, consists of several fragments of papyrus recently found in a grave in the Faydm district in Egypt, and now in the Royal Museum at Berlin; it is supposed to have been written in the eighth century. Next to this, after a long interval, come four manuscripts written on Indian paper, all by the same hand, in A.D. 1323-1324; they are two copies of the Yasna and two of the Vendidad, containing the Avesta with its Zand, or Pahlavi translation and com- - mentary; two of these old MSS. are now preserved in Kopenhagen, one in London, and one in Bombay. Next to these in age are two MSS. of miscellaneous Pahlavi texts, written probably about fifty years later; one of these is now in Kopenhagen and one in Bombay. Another MS. of nearly the same age is also a miscellaneous collection of Pahlavi texts, written in A.D. 1397, and now in Munich; where there is also one of the oldest Pazand- Sanskrit MSS., a copy of the Ard4-Viraf-namak, written in A.D. 1410. Another Pazand-Sanskrit MS., a copy of the Khurdah Avesta, of about the same age, exists in Bombay. Pahlavi and Pazand manuscripts of the sixteenth century are rather more numerous. Pahlavi literature reached the zenith of its prosperity about thirteen centuries ago, when it included the whole literature of Persia. Seventy years later its destruction commenced with the fall of the Sasanian dynasty (A.D. XXil PAHLAVI TEXTS.
3Pahlavi literature reached the zenith of its prosperity about thirteen centuries ago, when it included the whole literature of Persia. Seventy years later its destruction commenced with the fall of the Sasanian dynasty (A.D. XXil PAHLAVI TEXTS. 636--651); and the subsequent adoption of the modern Persian alphabet gave it its death-blow. The last remnants of Pahlavi writings are now contained in the few manuscripts still preserved by the Parsis in Western India, and their almost-extinct brethren in Persia. A careful estimate of the length of these remnants, so far as they are known to Europeans, has shown that the total extent of existing Pahlavi literature is about thirty-six times that of the Bundahis, as translated in this volume. One-fifth of this literature consists of translations accompanying Avesta texts, and the remaining four-fifths are purely Pahlavi works which are nearly all connected with religion. How much of this literature may have descended from Sasanian times can hardly be ascertained as yet; in fact, it is only very recently that any trustworthy data, for determining the age of a few Pahlavi writings, have been discovered, as will be explained hereafter, when considering the age of the Bundahis. 3. THE BUNDAHIS. ‘The term Bundahis, ‘creation of the beginning, or ‘original creation, is applied by the Parsis to a Pahlavi work?! which, in its present state, appears to be a collection of fragments relating to the cosmogony, mythology, and legendary history taught by Mazdayasnian tradition, but which cannot be considered, in any way, a complete treatise on these subjects.; This term is applicable enough to much of the earlier part of the work, which treats of the ‘progressive development of creation under good and evil influences; but it is probably not the original name of the book. Its adoption was no doubt partly owing to the occurrence of the word bfn-dahisn, or bOn-dahisnih, twice in the first sentence, and partly to its appropriateness to the subject. But the same sentence seems to inform ‘ When this work forms part of & collection of Pahlavi texts, the whole manuscript is sometimes called ‘ the great Bundahis.’ There also exists a Saddar Bundahis, or Bundahis of a hundred chapters, which is a comparatively modern compilation, detailing the chief customs and religious laws of the Parsis in a hundred sections, INTRODUCTION. XXill us that the actual name of the treatise was Zand-akAs, ‘knowing the tradition.’
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.
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