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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1of Gautama Buddha, who lived about one generation later than the traditional Zaratdst. 79. How far Avesta scholars were justified in their conclusions must be left for future ages to determine; at present we have no really historical information about the origin of Zoroastrianism, and must still consider it as decidedly prehistoric; though, it may be admitted that the Parsi calendar, as used in Persia, so far agrees with tradition, . that it still bears witness to its own original institution in INTRODUCTION. xiii the reign of Darius Hystaspes, as will be seen from the following details. 80. The Parsi year consists of twelve months, each consisting of thirty days, with five additional days added at the end of the year, and the total number of 365 days never varies, so that, whenever a leap-year occurs in our calendar, the beginning of the Parsi year retreats one day in the Christian calendar. In this manner, the total number of days which the beginning of the Parsi year has retreated, since the institution of their calendar, records the number of leap-years which would have occurred in the same period of Christian years, if the regular leap-years had existed the whole time; and four times the number of leap-years would be the total number of years. But as leap-years have not been used the whole time, we have to calculate from astronomical data. 81. In the first place, we want to know at what season the Parsi year originally began, and we learn this from Bd. XXV, 7, 20, where we are told that the winter of the rectified year ends with the five extra days, and the spring begins with the first month; which means that the rectified year begins with the vernal equinox. We also have to observe that, retreating at the rate of one day every four years, the beginning of the year retreats all round the year in 1460 years; and we know from general history that the period, with which we have to deal, is much more than 1460 years and less than 2920. Then we have to ascertain the exact length of the tropical year, which astronomers say is 365-2422 days, with an infinitesimal decrement, quite inappreciable in the period we have in view. 82. We may calculate back from any vernal equinox which occurs not too far from noon, say that of March 22, 1865, when the beginning of the Parsi year, according to Persian reckoning, had retreated to August 24, 1864, or 210 days, in addition to a previous retreat of a whole year of 365 days, or altogether 575 days since the establishment of the calendar. So that the difference between the Parsi year of 365 days and the correct tropical year of 365-2422 days had then accumulated to a total of 575 days. Divid- xliv PAHLAVI TEXTS.
2So that the difference between the Parsi year of 365 days and the correct tropical year of 365-2422 days had then accumulated to a total of 575 days. Divid- xliv PAHLAVI TEXTS. ing the accumulated error of 575 days by the annual increment of 0-2422 of a day, we obtain a quotient of 2374 years, including A.D. 1865, as the time in which this error had accumulated, and this carries us back to B.C. 510 as an approximate date of the establishment of the Parsi calendar, with the first day of the year coinciding with the vernal equinox. 83. This date is, however, liable to some modifications for errors of observation on the part of the ancient astronomers, one of which errors, being constantly in one direction, must be taken into account. These old observers were not aware of the effect of refraction, which always makes the night seem somewhat shorter than it is in reality ; and this would lead them to antedate the vernal equinox by rather more than a day; so that they would observe an apparent equinox in B.C. 505 on the same day in the Parsi year as that on which the real equinox occurred in B.C. 510. The most probable date of the establishment of the Parsi calendar is therefore B.C. 505, with a margin of four to eight years in either direction for accidental errors of observation. 84. A few years before this period we know, from the cuneiform inscriptions of Behistdn, that Darius Hystaspes used an older calendar, when recording his early victories over insurgents, which consolidated his empire. It was a time when he was introducing many reforms in the government, and, being a believer in Auramazda, his most influential advisers would probably be Zoroastrian priests. If they thought it necessary to reform the old calendar, the adoption of strictly Zoroastrian names for the new months and days in the Parsi calendar would be fully explained. 85. But, besides this ordinary civil calendar, in which new-year’s day was constantly retreating, the Persians had a rectified calendar for religious purposes, which intercalated an extra month from time to time, for the purpose of bringing new-year’s day forward again to the vernal equinox, and restoring the festivals to their proper seasons. It is this calendar which is used in Bd. X XV, and its days INTRODUCTION. xlv and months are distinguished by the epithet véhi#akig (veh +i#+ak-+ig), ‘belonging to what is really good,’ or vehizak, ‘belonging to the really good,’ which, in this connection, may be best expressed by the word ‘ rectified.’
3X XV, and its days INTRODUCTION. xlv and months are distinguished by the epithet véhi#akig (veh +i#+ak-+ig), ‘belonging to what is really good,’ or vehizak, ‘belonging to the really good,’ which, in this connection, may be best expressed by the word ‘ rectified.’ 86. This intercalation is described by Albirdni in various passages! which inform us that, after the new-year’s day had retreated more than a month from the vernal equinox, the king would order the priests to arrange for the solemn proclamation of an extra month to be intercalated, between the last month of the year and the five extra days, by merely moving those five days from the end of the twelfth month to the end of the first month of the next year. The effect of this was to put an extra month into the earlier year which, beginning with the first month, would also end with the first month augmented by the five extra days as the usual termination of the year. All following years would begin with the second month, and end with the first month and the five extra days, until the second intercalation, when a year of thirteen months and five days would be again obtained, by merely moving the five extra days to the end of the second month which would thus become the last month of the year, while the third month would begin the year until the third intercalation. By these means, any number of intercalations could be made without any additional month being named, and the position of the five extra days always indicated the end of the rectified year, and that the rectified first month, which followed them, was to become the last month of the preceding year at the next rectification, or intercalation. 87. If the Parsi calendar, as used in Persia, were established B.C. 505, as we have calculated, it ought to have been rectified by an intercalation of one month about each of the following years :—B.C. 381, 257, 133, 10, A.D. 115, 239, 363, 487, 610. Albirdni (p. 121), however, has recorded only one intercalation of two months in the time of Yazdakard I (A.D. 399-420), son of Shahpdhar, when the 1 Sachau’s Albfrani’s Chronology of Ancient Nations, pp. 12, 13, 38, 53-56, 121, 184, 185, 220, 221. xlvi PAHLAVI TEXTS. five extra days were removed to the end of the original eighth month Aban, where they remained until Albirdni’s own time (Alb. p. 56), about A.D. 1000. The reason for intercalating two months at once, was because the time for the seventh intercalation (A.D. 363) was already long past ; so the eighth was added three or four score years in | advance, being due in 487.
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.
1of Gautama Buddha, who lived about one generation later than the traditional Zaratdst. 79. How far Avesta scholars were justified in their conclusions must be left for future ages to determine; at present we have no really historical information about the origin of Zoroastrianism, and must still consider it as decidedly prehistoric; though, it may be admitted that the Parsi calendar, as used in Persia, so far agrees with tradition, . that it still bears witness to its own original institution in INTRODUCTION. xiii the reign of Darius Hystaspes, as will be seen from the following details. 80. The Parsi year consists of twelve months, each consisting of thirty days, with five additional days added at the end of the year, and the total number of 365 days never varies, so that, whenever a leap-year occurs in our calendar, the beginning of the Parsi year retreats one day in the Christian calendar. In this manner, the total number of days which the beginning of the Parsi year has retreated, since the institution of their calendar, records the number of leap-years which would have occurred in the same period of Christian years, if the regular leap-years had existed the whole time; and four times the number of leap-years would be the total number of years. But as leap-years have not been used the whole time, we have to calculate from astronomical data. 81. In the first place, we want to know at what season the Parsi year originally began, and we learn this from Bd. XXV, 7, 20, where we are told that the winter of the rectified year ends with the five extra days, and the spring begins with the first month; which means that the rectified year begins with the vernal equinox. We also have to observe that, retreating at the rate of one day every four years, the beginning of the year retreats all round the year in 1460 years; and we know from general history that the period, with which we have to deal, is much more than 1460 years and less than 2920. Then we have to ascertain the exact length of the tropical year, which astronomers say is 365-2422 days, with an infinitesimal decrement, quite inappreciable in the period we have in view. 82. We may calculate back from any vernal equinox which occurs not too far from noon, say that of March 22, 1865, when the beginning of the Parsi year, according to Persian reckoning, had retreated to August 24, 1864, or 210 days, in addition to a previous retreat of a whole year of 365 days, or altogether 575 days since the establishment of the calendar. So that the difference between the Parsi year of 365 days and the correct tropical year of 365-2422 days had then accumulated to a total of 575 days. Divid- xliv PAHLAVI TEXTS.
2So that the difference between the Parsi year of 365 days and the correct tropical year of 365-2422 days had then accumulated to a total of 575 days. Divid- xliv PAHLAVI TEXTS. ing the accumulated error of 575 days by the annual increment of 0-2422 of a day, we obtain a quotient of 2374 years, including A.D. 1865, as the time in which this error had accumulated, and this carries us back to B.C. 510 as an approximate date of the establishment of the Parsi calendar, with the first day of the year coinciding with the vernal equinox. 83. This date is, however, liable to some modifications for errors of observation on the part of the ancient astronomers, one of which errors, being constantly in one direction, must be taken into account. These old observers were not aware of the effect of refraction, which always makes the night seem somewhat shorter than it is in reality ; and this would lead them to antedate the vernal equinox by rather more than a day; so that they would observe an apparent equinox in B.C. 505 on the same day in the Parsi year as that on which the real equinox occurred in B.C. 510. The most probable date of the establishment of the Parsi calendar is therefore B.C. 505, with a margin of four to eight years in either direction for accidental errors of observation. 84. A few years before this period we know, from the cuneiform inscriptions of Behistdn, that Darius Hystaspes used an older calendar, when recording his early victories over insurgents, which consolidated his empire. It was a time when he was introducing many reforms in the government, and, being a believer in Auramazda, his most influential advisers would probably be Zoroastrian priests. If they thought it necessary to reform the old calendar, the adoption of strictly Zoroastrian names for the new months and days in the Parsi calendar would be fully explained. 85. But, besides this ordinary civil calendar, in which new-year’s day was constantly retreating, the Persians had a rectified calendar for religious purposes, which intercalated an extra month from time to time, for the purpose of bringing new-year’s day forward again to the vernal equinox, and restoring the festivals to their proper seasons. It is this calendar which is used in Bd. X XV, and its days INTRODUCTION. xlv and months are distinguished by the epithet véhi#akig (veh +i#+ak-+ig), ‘belonging to what is really good,’ or vehizak, ‘belonging to the really good,’ which, in this connection, may be best expressed by the word ‘ rectified.’
3X XV, and its days INTRODUCTION. xlv and months are distinguished by the epithet véhi#akig (veh +i#+ak-+ig), ‘belonging to what is really good,’ or vehizak, ‘belonging to the really good,’ which, in this connection, may be best expressed by the word ‘ rectified.’ 86. This intercalation is described by Albirdni in various passages! which inform us that, after the new-year’s day had retreated more than a month from the vernal equinox, the king would order the priests to arrange for the solemn proclamation of an extra month to be intercalated, between the last month of the year and the five extra days, by merely moving those five days from the end of the twelfth month to the end of the first month of the next year. The effect of this was to put an extra month into the earlier year which, beginning with the first month, would also end with the first month augmented by the five extra days as the usual termination of the year. All following years would begin with the second month, and end with the first month and the five extra days, until the second intercalation, when a year of thirteen months and five days would be again obtained, by merely moving the five extra days to the end of the second month which would thus become the last month of the year, while the third month would begin the year until the third intercalation. By these means, any number of intercalations could be made without any additional month being named, and the position of the five extra days always indicated the end of the rectified year, and that the rectified first month, which followed them, was to become the last month of the preceding year at the next rectification, or intercalation. 87. If the Parsi calendar, as used in Persia, were established B.C. 505, as we have calculated, it ought to have been rectified by an intercalation of one month about each of the following years :—B.C. 381, 257, 133, 10, A.D. 115, 239, 363, 487, 610. Albirdni (p. 121), however, has recorded only one intercalation of two months in the time of Yazdakard I (A.D. 399-420), son of Shahpdhar, when the 1 Sachau’s Albfrani’s Chronology of Ancient Nations, pp. 12, 13, 38, 53-56, 121, 184, 185, 220, 221. xlvi PAHLAVI TEXTS. five extra days were removed to the end of the original eighth month Aban, where they remained until Albirdni’s own time (Alb. p. 56), about A.D. 1000. The reason for intercalating two months at once, was because the time for the seventh intercalation (A.D. 363) was already long past ; so the eighth was added three or four score years in | advance, being due in 487.
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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