Fetching
One moment.
Fetching
One moment.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1The Pazand version of Néryésang also occurs in short sentences alternating with a Gugardti translation in MH19, No. 19 of the Haug Collection in the State Library at Munich. This manuscript, which was given to Haug by Dastfir Kai-Khusré at Surat in 1864, is a small quarto of 124 folios of old Indian paper, of which the first 110 folios contain the Pazand-Gugarfti version of Chaps. I, 1-XI, 201, written thirteen to nineteen lines to the page. Towards the latter end of the manuscript blank spaces are left for the Gugarati version of many of the sections ; and several of the passages that are written only in Pahlavi in AK are similarly written in MHi9. From this and other peculiarities it is evident that MHig has descended from AK, but probably through some intermediate manuscript that must have been written when AK was more complete than it is now. Judging from the appearance of the paper of MH1g it can hardly be less than 150 years old, but it contains no date or colophon of any description. Another manuscript, which contains a large portion of the Pazand version of Néryésang, without his Sanskrit translation, is L23, No. 23 in the India Office Library in London. It is an octavo volume of eighty folios of Indian paper,written ten to twelve lines to the page, in the same handwriting as L15 and L26 (see p. xxix), which last manuscript contains a date corresponding to A.D. 1737. 123 contains the Pazand text of Chaps. I, 34-VIII, 23, and many of the passages written in Pahlavi in AK are similarly written in L23, which indicates the descent of the latter manuscript C2. XXXVi . PAHLAVI TEXTS. from the former; an indication which is confirmed by the repetition of other peculiarities. From this account of all the manuscripts of the Sikand- " gimAnik Vig4r, that have been examined by the translator, it appears probable that no manuscript independent of AK has yet been discovered. The few variations which indicate another source can easily be explained as emendations by some later copyist, who had noticed, or imagined, some deficiencies in the text of that manuscript. The Sikand-gim4nik Vigdr has not been hitherto translated into any European language, but an edition of its Pazand and Pahlavi texts was prepared by Dastir H6shangji about fifteen years ago, and arrangements have been made for the publication of these texts, with the Sanskrit version, at an early date. 3. Tue Sap Dar.
23. Tue Sap Dar. As its name implies the Sad Dar is a treatise on ‘a hundred subjects’ connected with the Zoroastrian religion. The word dar, literally ‘door, or gate,’ being also applied to the ‘chapters’ of a book, and to the ‘matters, or subjects,’ of which it treats. This work is not a Pahlavi text, being written in Persian with an admixture of about four per cent. of Arabic words; it is, however, more quoted than any other work by the Parsi-compilers of the Persian Rivayats, or religious ‘traditions, in the seventeenth century. In one of its recensions it is also found written in Avesta characters, and the Avesta-Persian sentences alternate with an- old Gugar&ti translation, in imitation of the PAzand- Sanskrit versions of Pahlavi texts compiled by Néryésang. In consideration of the existence of this pseudo-P4zand recension, together with the general acceptance of the work as an important authority, and its being a convenient summary of many of the religious customs handed down by Pahlavi writers, this work may be offered as a suitable appendix to the true Pahlavi texts, connecting them with ~ INTRODUCTION. XXXVii the Persian writings that are too modern to be accepted as authorities in religious matters. The Sad Dar NaTHr, or prose Sad Dar, which is here translated, appears to be first mentioned in the introduction to the Sad Dar-i Ba‘hr-i Zavil 4, or long-metre Sad Dar, in which the versifier states that the prose Sad Dar was compiled by three celebrated high-priests, named Médydmah, Vardast, and Siyavakhsh, near the time of the Arab conquest of Persia. This, however, really means little more than that the prose Sad Dar was considered a very old work at the time when the long-metre Sad Dar was composed from it. It appears, from Dastir JamAspji’s preface to his Gugarati translation of the long-metre Sad Dar, that this metrical version was composed in A.D. 1531 by Mulla Rustam Isfendiyar of KhurdsAn and Mulla Behz4d Rustam?. It may, therefore, be concluded that the prose Sad Dar had the reputation of being a very old work in the early part of the sixteenth century. Another version of the work, called the Sad Dar Nathm, or metrical Sad Dar, had already been composed in Kirman by fran-shah*, son of Malik-sh4h, as early as the 14th October, A. D. 1495. In his introduction he does not mention the source whence he drew his information, though he speaks of ‘renovating the old mysteries, but whether this phrase refers to the old prose Sad Dar, which he must undoubtedly have used, or to the original Pahlavi sources of that work, is uncertain. A Latin translation of this metrical Sad Dar was published by Hyde, in his History of the Religion of the Ancient Persians +. The contents of the Sad Dar are of a very miscellaneous character, and are not very systematically arranged. They treat of a great variety of duties and customs, but all from a strictly religious point of view, though the work is evidently
3The contents of the Sad Dar are of a very miscellaneous character, and are not very systematically arranged. They treat of a great variety of duties and customs, but all from a strictly religious point of view, though the work is evidently 1 See Sad-dare Behere Tavil, translated into Gugarati by Dastir Jamaspji Minochiharji Jamasp-As4-n4; 2nd edition; Bombay, 1881. ? Possibly a son of the preceding Mulla. In the preface to his second edition Dastfir Jamaspji calls him Rustam Behzad. 5 So stated in his introduction, but in his postscript (as printed by Hyde) he calls himself Mard-shah. * Historia religionis veterum Persarum (Oxon. 1700), p. 433. XXXVI PAHLAVI TEXTS. intended rather for the guidance of the laity than for the information of the priesthood. The almost total absence of any reference to government or national life, other than complete submission to priestly control, seems to indicate a period of subjection to men of another faith, too dangerous, or too odious, to be mentioned, unless it were to forbid all voluntary social intercourse with them, as in Chap. XXXVIII. The allusions to the existing scarcity of priests in Chap. LVIII, 12, and to a rigorous levying of poll-tax in Chap. LX, 7, might also give some clue to the period when the work was compiled, if we were better acquainted with the minute details of Parsi history. Where temporal penalties for crimes are prescribed (as in Chaps. IX, LXIV) they were, no doubt, such as were recognised by the government of the time; and, in such matters, change of government has altered the law. Some other customs have also probably changed to some extent, but by far the greater part of the rules and duties prescribed in this work are still in force, though they may not be always very strictly attended to. Of the numerous quotations from the sacred books, which the Sad Dar contains, only a few can be identified, and nearly all of these are in the form of translations which are merely paraphrases of the original texts. Avesta passages are quoted from the Vendid4d and Yasna in Chap. XIV, 3, and from an unknown section of the H4dékht Nask in XL, 4. The commentary of the Vendid4d is six times quoted by name, but only four of the passages! have been identified; and an unknown passage is quoted from the commentary of the Hadékht in Chap. XXII, 3, 4, and three others? from the commentary of the Avesta. Four statements are said to be ‘declared in the good religion,’ but have not been identified; and out of thirty quotations from ‘revelation’ only five have been identified, of which those in Chaps. LXXII, 2, 3, LXXXII, 2 belong to the Vendidad, and those in IV, 3-11, XVI, 3, XVIII, 3 belong to the Spend Nask, which is no longer extant. The large 1 Chaps. XII, 3-5, LXVII, 3-6, LXXI, 2, 3, LXXXVI, 2. 2 Chaps. XXVIII, 4, XCIV, 3, 4, XCVII, 3. INTRODUCTION. XXXIX
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.
1The Pazand version of Néryésang also occurs in short sentences alternating with a Gugardti translation in MH19, No. 19 of the Haug Collection in the State Library at Munich. This manuscript, which was given to Haug by Dastfir Kai-Khusré at Surat in 1864, is a small quarto of 124 folios of old Indian paper, of which the first 110 folios contain the Pazand-Gugarfti version of Chaps. I, 1-XI, 201, written thirteen to nineteen lines to the page. Towards the latter end of the manuscript blank spaces are left for the Gugarati version of many of the sections ; and several of the passages that are written only in Pahlavi in AK are similarly written in MHi9. From this and other peculiarities it is evident that MHig has descended from AK, but probably through some intermediate manuscript that must have been written when AK was more complete than it is now. Judging from the appearance of the paper of MH1g it can hardly be less than 150 years old, but it contains no date or colophon of any description. Another manuscript, which contains a large portion of the Pazand version of Néryésang, without his Sanskrit translation, is L23, No. 23 in the India Office Library in London. It is an octavo volume of eighty folios of Indian paper,written ten to twelve lines to the page, in the same handwriting as L15 and L26 (see p. xxix), which last manuscript contains a date corresponding to A.D. 1737. 123 contains the Pazand text of Chaps. I, 34-VIII, 23, and many of the passages written in Pahlavi in AK are similarly written in L23, which indicates the descent of the latter manuscript C2. XXXVi . PAHLAVI TEXTS. from the former; an indication which is confirmed by the repetition of other peculiarities. From this account of all the manuscripts of the Sikand- " gimAnik Vig4r, that have been examined by the translator, it appears probable that no manuscript independent of AK has yet been discovered. The few variations which indicate another source can easily be explained as emendations by some later copyist, who had noticed, or imagined, some deficiencies in the text of that manuscript. The Sikand-gim4nik Vigdr has not been hitherto translated into any European language, but an edition of its Pazand and Pahlavi texts was prepared by Dastir H6shangji about fifteen years ago, and arrangements have been made for the publication of these texts, with the Sanskrit version, at an early date. 3. Tue Sap Dar.
23. Tue Sap Dar. As its name implies the Sad Dar is a treatise on ‘a hundred subjects’ connected with the Zoroastrian religion. The word dar, literally ‘door, or gate,’ being also applied to the ‘chapters’ of a book, and to the ‘matters, or subjects,’ of which it treats. This work is not a Pahlavi text, being written in Persian with an admixture of about four per cent. of Arabic words; it is, however, more quoted than any other work by the Parsi-compilers of the Persian Rivayats, or religious ‘traditions, in the seventeenth century. In one of its recensions it is also found written in Avesta characters, and the Avesta-Persian sentences alternate with an- old Gugar&ti translation, in imitation of the PAzand- Sanskrit versions of Pahlavi texts compiled by Néryésang. In consideration of the existence of this pseudo-P4zand recension, together with the general acceptance of the work as an important authority, and its being a convenient summary of many of the religious customs handed down by Pahlavi writers, this work may be offered as a suitable appendix to the true Pahlavi texts, connecting them with ~ INTRODUCTION. XXXVii the Persian writings that are too modern to be accepted as authorities in religious matters. The Sad Dar NaTHr, or prose Sad Dar, which is here translated, appears to be first mentioned in the introduction to the Sad Dar-i Ba‘hr-i Zavil 4, or long-metre Sad Dar, in which the versifier states that the prose Sad Dar was compiled by three celebrated high-priests, named Médydmah, Vardast, and Siyavakhsh, near the time of the Arab conquest of Persia. This, however, really means little more than that the prose Sad Dar was considered a very old work at the time when the long-metre Sad Dar was composed from it. It appears, from Dastir JamAspji’s preface to his Gugarati translation of the long-metre Sad Dar, that this metrical version was composed in A.D. 1531 by Mulla Rustam Isfendiyar of KhurdsAn and Mulla Behz4d Rustam?. It may, therefore, be concluded that the prose Sad Dar had the reputation of being a very old work in the early part of the sixteenth century. Another version of the work, called the Sad Dar Nathm, or metrical Sad Dar, had already been composed in Kirman by fran-shah*, son of Malik-sh4h, as early as the 14th October, A. D. 1495. In his introduction he does not mention the source whence he drew his information, though he speaks of ‘renovating the old mysteries, but whether this phrase refers to the old prose Sad Dar, which he must undoubtedly have used, or to the original Pahlavi sources of that work, is uncertain. A Latin translation of this metrical Sad Dar was published by Hyde, in his History of the Religion of the Ancient Persians +. The contents of the Sad Dar are of a very miscellaneous character, and are not very systematically arranged. They treat of a great variety of duties and customs, but all from a strictly religious point of view, though the work is evidently
3The contents of the Sad Dar are of a very miscellaneous character, and are not very systematically arranged. They treat of a great variety of duties and customs, but all from a strictly religious point of view, though the work is evidently 1 See Sad-dare Behere Tavil, translated into Gugarati by Dastir Jamaspji Minochiharji Jamasp-As4-n4; 2nd edition; Bombay, 1881. ? Possibly a son of the preceding Mulla. In the preface to his second edition Dastfir Jamaspji calls him Rustam Behzad. 5 So stated in his introduction, but in his postscript (as printed by Hyde) he calls himself Mard-shah. * Historia religionis veterum Persarum (Oxon. 1700), p. 433. XXXVI PAHLAVI TEXTS. intended rather for the guidance of the laity than for the information of the priesthood. The almost total absence of any reference to government or national life, other than complete submission to priestly control, seems to indicate a period of subjection to men of another faith, too dangerous, or too odious, to be mentioned, unless it were to forbid all voluntary social intercourse with them, as in Chap. XXXVIII. The allusions to the existing scarcity of priests in Chap. LVIII, 12, and to a rigorous levying of poll-tax in Chap. LX, 7, might also give some clue to the period when the work was compiled, if we were better acquainted with the minute details of Parsi history. Where temporal penalties for crimes are prescribed (as in Chaps. IX, LXIV) they were, no doubt, such as were recognised by the government of the time; and, in such matters, change of government has altered the law. Some other customs have also probably changed to some extent, but by far the greater part of the rules and duties prescribed in this work are still in force, though they may not be always very strictly attended to. Of the numerous quotations from the sacred books, which the Sad Dar contains, only a few can be identified, and nearly all of these are in the form of translations which are merely paraphrases of the original texts. Avesta passages are quoted from the Vendid4d and Yasna in Chap. XIV, 3, and from an unknown section of the H4dékht Nask in XL, 4. The commentary of the Vendid4d is six times quoted by name, but only four of the passages! have been identified; and an unknown passage is quoted from the commentary of the Hadékht in Chap. XXII, 3, 4, and three others? from the commentary of the Avesta. Four statements are said to be ‘declared in the good religion,’ but have not been identified; and out of thirty quotations from ‘revelation’ only five have been identified, of which those in Chaps. LXXII, 2, 3, LXXXII, 2 belong to the Vendidad, and those in IV, 3-11, XVI, 3, XVIII, 3 belong to the Spend Nask, which is no longer extant. The large 1 Chaps. XII, 3-5, LXVII, 3-6, LXXI, 2, 3, LXXXVI, 2. 2 Chaps. XXVIII, 4, XCIV, 3, 4, XCVII, 3. INTRODUCTION. XXXIX
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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