Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1EPISTLE I, CHAPTER IV, 4-9. 295 from revelation! and the teaching of the high-priests is then not authorisedly changed by that priestly man whose decree of the fifteen? washings is written in your epistle®; because, on account of the whole and any perversion (gastakth) of the same writing, not of similar utterance with revelation, before which the custom did not exist, I am without doubt as to that decree. 8. And in it*, moreover, is written, declared, axd contained (vangidd) that once washing is mentioned’, until a purifier comes who is acquainted with the ritual, who washes just as declared in revelation. 9. Zo de so washed I consider just as a thing for which he is even now as z¢ were a purifier who is a good washer‘, that of which z¢ is written below and clearly realised that it should not be decreed ; and through the scanty deliverance written therein’ z¢ is manifest it would not be the statement above ®. 1 J has ‘which is brought out with knowledge of the puri/ving cup (tastik), with preservation of faith, and with manifestation from revelation.’ * All three MSS. have ‘sixteen’ in ciphers, but it is evident that Z4d-sparam and his erroneous teaching of the sufficiency of fifteen washings (see Ep. III, 1, 2) are here referred to. ® Reading semag, a Huz. hybrid for ndmak. * The decree of Zid-sparam, apparently. * Referring probably to Vend. VIII, 299, which provides a washing for the polluted person by himself, if he can find no one willing to purify him (see App. V). * That is, for such a purpose any ordinary washer would be sufficient. 7 In Pahl. Vend. VIII, 299, which states that, although pure enough for ordinary purposes, he must still abstain from engaging in ceremonies for others (see App. V). * That is, it is very different from the propitiation mentioned in § 3. 206 EPISTLES OF MANOsKtHAR. 10. If learned knowledge, re/ating both to that about inferior matters (agirtarth4) and that about superior matters, de! true authority praised and declared by the great primitive faith, former high-priests and those newly arisen (navakgandak4n6) would be and would have been similarly forward; then, too, it would exist not so much with the priestly men of the time as with the learned officiating priests (magépat4n) of Athaymazd who have been before. 11. And when, moreover, all the Avesta and Zand are easy ¢o a priest®, pre-eminently acquainted with the liturgy azd a supreme Zaratdst, he has attained unto, and should remain with, Adharmazd and the officiating priestship of Atharmazd, and the supreme, world-managing, religion-observing (hd-din-nikah) sovereignty as to religious treatises*. 12. To change then their practice in the law would be entirely an outcry apart from deliberation, and a like violation of the unanimity of the spirits who are the heads avd guardians® of the religion, and of the unanimity of the source of opinion of the good themselves, for the sake of what ts not acceptable.
213. But the statement above ® is, was, and will be that which remains a good idea well considered by them with the centre of thought, as to zs well- J has ‘because if even for that about superior matters, acquaintance with religion, and learned knowledge there be,’ &c. * That is, when he knows all the scriptures and commentaries by heart. § J omits ‘AQharmazed and.’ * That is, he has full authority to interpret the scriptures. *® Reading sar4n sard4rAn, but in K35 the two words overlap, so that sar-sard4r4n, ‘head guardians,’ might be intended. * Probably referring to the quotation from the Vendid4d in § 3. EPISTLE I, CHAPTER IV, 10-17. 297 operating characteristics, just contention, and complete powerfulness. 14. Also from the teaching of just high-priests, through the preservation of much evidence, and ascertained for the members of the assemblies of various provinces (shat76 shatv6), are shown the opinion amd experience of most priestly men; and to make the various districts (kd stak6 kdstak6) thrivingly steadfast, an unperverted one should be set up in all four quarters (padkés) of the same province. 15. And a semblance of it is apparent even from that which the glorified Nishahpdhar, the supreme officiating priest}, and also other officiating priests of Atharymazd have said, that one ts not to change any teaching of theirs thereon after z¢ zs provided, and not to render useless the statements of other authority thereon. 16. But that which they should accept from them as a certainty is to maintain the statements of other high-priests as pre-eminent ; azd not to change the operation of statements of another description 4as appeared lawful. 17. Even so it was as that same Nishahpthar, in the council of the glorified (anéshakd rfib4né) Khisr6’, king of 1 This mébad of mébads is mentioned in Pahl. Vend. III, rsx, V, 112, VI, 71, VIII, 64, XVI, 10, 17, AV. I, 35, and twenty-four times in the Nirangistén (see Sls. I, 4n). His name is spelt in various ways. * King Khfisr6, son of Kavad, who is best known by his title Néshirvén, or Anéshirvan, ‘immortal-soulled,’ reigned a.p. 531~ 579; and the statement that Nishahpfhar was one of his councillors (made little more than three centuries after his death, and, therefore, probably correct) is of considerable importance for fixing a limit to the age of those Pahlavi books in which he is mentioned. These books are the Pahlavi Nfrangistan, a late recension of the Pahlavi Vendidad, and the Book of Arda-VirAf, in which last it is 298 EPISTLES OF MANOsKfHAR. kings and son of Kavad,—by preserving old things (lig4n6é)—showed that way on whose thoughts they are established, and wrote them unaltered, so that such thoughts thereon became as z¢ were decided ; and their thoughts thereon, after such decree of his, have so become unanimous. 18. Through the importance of Ais assured rank, and the rest which was said by him in the work of sustaining the faithful, he maintains as much as the other state-
318. Through the importance of Ais assured rank, and the rest which was said by him in the work of sustaining the faithful, he maintains as much as the other state- ments, one dy one, from the deliberative teaching of those high-priests. CHAPTER V. 1. That writing which comes amid the writing of your epistle is a correct fragment} as regards the nothing in which one is to change the operation properly maintainable, and it is becoming; because, if it be even for him, by whom it is written from the stated that Viraf was called by the name of Nikhshapfir by some. From the statements made in our text it seems probable that the council was employed in revising the Pahlavi Vendidad, in which they were careful not to erase the opinions of older commentators, and thus confirmed their statements by their own authority. It is possible that this council was that mentioned in Byt. I, 7, where the name Nishapfr also occurs, but whether it refers to a man or a city is not quite certain. This council, which seems to have been summoned for condemning the heresy of Mazdak, was held probably two or three years before Khfisr6 came to the throne (see Noldeke: Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, Pp. 465). 1 Reading bangisnth, but it may be bdgisnih, ‘deliverance Srom contamination” The reference is to the decree of Z4d-sparam mentioned in Chap. IV, 7, the ‘writing’ alluded to in Ep. II, ii, 1; iii, 1. EPISTLE I, CHAPTER IV, 18—v, 4. 299 statements of Médydk-m4h, Afarg, and Sésh4ns’, the several statements axzd teachings of the same high-priests, yet then the elaboration and publication thereof are not such as that which is sent down by his further elaboration®. 2. And thereby it Zas seemed manifest ¢haé zt is sent so that a wish for the spirit may proceed from the truth of z¢s minister (pad6), or from his thought for the desired decision; or his understanding may be of that kind which is warped (vukasté), as though he believed it as other than the exposition of the religion azd the teaching of the high-priests. 3. But until the unparalleled arrival of Sésh4ns? any one not sharing in complete knowledge is not appointed unto a patron spirit (ahvé), and the fiend specially contends more experimentally with the thoughts of the high-priests of the religion for a religious decision. 4. And even the recompense of community‘ of property is that when ome gladly observes pure thoughts; azd the swift action of voluble (pdr) speakers and kind regard of religious characters for deliverance® and for the noticeable undeceitfulness of the same spirit*—which is itself the desire of settled observation that is in it for the sake of the 1 The names of three of the commentators whose opinions are most frequently quoted in the Pahlavi Vendiddd (see Sls. I, 3). Each of them appears to have written a complete ‘teaching’ or dissertation upon the ceremonial laws, from which the quotations are taken (see § 6).
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.
1EPISTLE I, CHAPTER IV, 4-9. 295 from revelation! and the teaching of the high-priests is then not authorisedly changed by that priestly man whose decree of the fifteen? washings is written in your epistle®; because, on account of the whole and any perversion (gastakth) of the same writing, not of similar utterance with revelation, before which the custom did not exist, I am without doubt as to that decree. 8. And in it*, moreover, is written, declared, axd contained (vangidd) that once washing is mentioned’, until a purifier comes who is acquainted with the ritual, who washes just as declared in revelation. 9. Zo de so washed I consider just as a thing for which he is even now as z¢ were a purifier who is a good washer‘, that of which z¢ is written below and clearly realised that it should not be decreed ; and through the scanty deliverance written therein’ z¢ is manifest it would not be the statement above ®. 1 J has ‘which is brought out with knowledge of the puri/ving cup (tastik), with preservation of faith, and with manifestation from revelation.’ * All three MSS. have ‘sixteen’ in ciphers, but it is evident that Z4d-sparam and his erroneous teaching of the sufficiency of fifteen washings (see Ep. III, 1, 2) are here referred to. ® Reading semag, a Huz. hybrid for ndmak. * The decree of Zid-sparam, apparently. * Referring probably to Vend. VIII, 299, which provides a washing for the polluted person by himself, if he can find no one willing to purify him (see App. V). * That is, for such a purpose any ordinary washer would be sufficient. 7 In Pahl. Vend. VIII, 299, which states that, although pure enough for ordinary purposes, he must still abstain from engaging in ceremonies for others (see App. V). * That is, it is very different from the propitiation mentioned in § 3. 206 EPISTLES OF MANOsKtHAR. 10. If learned knowledge, re/ating both to that about inferior matters (agirtarth4) and that about superior matters, de! true authority praised and declared by the great primitive faith, former high-priests and those newly arisen (navakgandak4n6) would be and would have been similarly forward; then, too, it would exist not so much with the priestly men of the time as with the learned officiating priests (magépat4n) of Athaymazd who have been before. 11. And when, moreover, all the Avesta and Zand are easy ¢o a priest®, pre-eminently acquainted with the liturgy azd a supreme Zaratdst, he has attained unto, and should remain with, Adharmazd and the officiating priestship of Atharmazd, and the supreme, world-managing, religion-observing (hd-din-nikah) sovereignty as to religious treatises*. 12. To change then their practice in the law would be entirely an outcry apart from deliberation, and a like violation of the unanimity of the spirits who are the heads avd guardians® of the religion, and of the unanimity of the source of opinion of the good themselves, for the sake of what ts not acceptable.
213. But the statement above ® is, was, and will be that which remains a good idea well considered by them with the centre of thought, as to zs well- J has ‘because if even for that about superior matters, acquaintance with religion, and learned knowledge there be,’ &c. * That is, when he knows all the scriptures and commentaries by heart. § J omits ‘AQharmazed and.’ * That is, he has full authority to interpret the scriptures. *® Reading sar4n sard4rAn, but in K35 the two words overlap, so that sar-sard4r4n, ‘head guardians,’ might be intended. * Probably referring to the quotation from the Vendid4d in § 3. EPISTLE I, CHAPTER IV, 10-17. 297 operating characteristics, just contention, and complete powerfulness. 14. Also from the teaching of just high-priests, through the preservation of much evidence, and ascertained for the members of the assemblies of various provinces (shat76 shatv6), are shown the opinion amd experience of most priestly men; and to make the various districts (kd stak6 kdstak6) thrivingly steadfast, an unperverted one should be set up in all four quarters (padkés) of the same province. 15. And a semblance of it is apparent even from that which the glorified Nishahpdhar, the supreme officiating priest}, and also other officiating priests of Atharymazd have said, that one ts not to change any teaching of theirs thereon after z¢ zs provided, and not to render useless the statements of other authority thereon. 16. But that which they should accept from them as a certainty is to maintain the statements of other high-priests as pre-eminent ; azd not to change the operation of statements of another description 4as appeared lawful. 17. Even so it was as that same Nishahpthar, in the council of the glorified (anéshakd rfib4né) Khisr6’, king of 1 This mébad of mébads is mentioned in Pahl. Vend. III, rsx, V, 112, VI, 71, VIII, 64, XVI, 10, 17, AV. I, 35, and twenty-four times in the Nirangistén (see Sls. I, 4n). His name is spelt in various ways. * King Khfisr6, son of Kavad, who is best known by his title Néshirvén, or Anéshirvan, ‘immortal-soulled,’ reigned a.p. 531~ 579; and the statement that Nishahpfhar was one of his councillors (made little more than three centuries after his death, and, therefore, probably correct) is of considerable importance for fixing a limit to the age of those Pahlavi books in which he is mentioned. These books are the Pahlavi Nfrangistan, a late recension of the Pahlavi Vendidad, and the Book of Arda-VirAf, in which last it is 298 EPISTLES OF MANOsKfHAR. kings and son of Kavad,—by preserving old things (lig4n6é)—showed that way on whose thoughts they are established, and wrote them unaltered, so that such thoughts thereon became as z¢ were decided ; and their thoughts thereon, after such decree of his, have so become unanimous. 18. Through the importance of Ais assured rank, and the rest which was said by him in the work of sustaining the faithful, he maintains as much as the other state-
318. Through the importance of Ais assured rank, and the rest which was said by him in the work of sustaining the faithful, he maintains as much as the other state- ments, one dy one, from the deliberative teaching of those high-priests. CHAPTER V. 1. That writing which comes amid the writing of your epistle is a correct fragment} as regards the nothing in which one is to change the operation properly maintainable, and it is becoming; because, if it be even for him, by whom it is written from the stated that Viraf was called by the name of Nikhshapfir by some. From the statements made in our text it seems probable that the council was employed in revising the Pahlavi Vendidad, in which they were careful not to erase the opinions of older commentators, and thus confirmed their statements by their own authority. It is possible that this council was that mentioned in Byt. I, 7, where the name Nishapfr also occurs, but whether it refers to a man or a city is not quite certain. This council, which seems to have been summoned for condemning the heresy of Mazdak, was held probably two or three years before Khfisr6 came to the throne (see Noldeke: Geschichte der Perser und Araber zur Zeit der Sasaniden, Pp. 465). 1 Reading bangisnth, but it may be bdgisnih, ‘deliverance Srom contamination” The reference is to the decree of Z4d-sparam mentioned in Chap. IV, 7, the ‘writing’ alluded to in Ep. II, ii, 1; iii, 1. EPISTLE I, CHAPTER IV, 18—v, 4. 299 statements of Médydk-m4h, Afarg, and Sésh4ns’, the several statements axzd teachings of the same high-priests, yet then the elaboration and publication thereof are not such as that which is sent down by his further elaboration®. 2. And thereby it Zas seemed manifest ¢haé zt is sent so that a wish for the spirit may proceed from the truth of z¢s minister (pad6), or from his thought for the desired decision; or his understanding may be of that kind which is warped (vukasté), as though he believed it as other than the exposition of the religion azd the teaching of the high-priests. 3. But until the unparalleled arrival of Sésh4ns? any one not sharing in complete knowledge is not appointed unto a patron spirit (ahvé), and the fiend specially contends more experimentally with the thoughts of the high-priests of the religion for a religious decision. 4. And even the recompense of community‘ of property is that when ome gladly observes pure thoughts; azd the swift action of voluble (pdr) speakers and kind regard of religious characters for deliverance® and for the noticeable undeceitfulness of the same spirit*—which is itself the desire of settled observation that is in it for the sake of the 1 The names of three of the commentators whose opinions are most frequently quoted in the Pahlavi Vendiddd (see Sls. I, 3). Each of them appears to have written a complete ‘teaching’ or dissertation upon the ceremonial laws, from which the quotations are taken (see § 6).
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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