In conclusion it may be remarked that a translator of Pahlavi generally begins his career by undervaluing the correctness of Pahlavi texts and the literary ability of their authors, but he can hardly proceed far without finding abundant reason for altering his opinion of both. His depreciatory view of Pahlavi literature is generally due partly to want of knowledge, and partly to his trusting too much to the vile perversions of Pahlavi texts usually supplied by Pazand writers. But as his knowledge of Pahlavi increases he becomes better able to appreciate the literary merits of the texts. If the reader should have already formed some such low estimate of the ability of Pahlavi writers, it may be hoped that these translations will afford him sufficient reason for changing his opinion ; if not, they will have signally failed in doing those writers justice.
Bundahis
THE ORIGINAL CREATION.
1. For all divisions into chapters and sections the translator is responsible, as the original text is written continuously, with very few stops marked.
2. Italics are used for any English words which are not ex- pressed, or fully understood, in the original text, but are added to complete the sense of the translation.
3. Oriental words are usually ‘spaced.’ Italics occurring in them, or in names, are intended to represent certain peculiar Ori- ental letters. The italic consonants d, m, v may be pronounced as in English; but g should be sounded like j, Av like wh, & like ch in ‘church,’ n like ng, s like sh, 2 like French j. For further information, see ‘ Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East’ at the end of the volume.
4. In Pahlavi words all circumflexed vowels and any final 6 are expressed in the Pahlavi original, but all other vowels are merely understood.
5: In the translation, words in parentheses are merely explana- tory of those which precede them.
6. Abbreviations used are:—Av. for Avesta. Dad. for Dadi- stan-i Dinik. Huz. for Huzvaris. Mkh. for Mainy6-i-khard, ed. West. Pahl. for Pahlavi. Paz. for Pizand. Pers. for Persian. Sans. for Sanskrit. Vend. for Vendidad, ed. Spiegel. Visp. for Visparad, ed. Sp. Yas. for Yasna, ed. Sp. Yt. for Yast, ed. Westergaard.
K20 (about 500 years old), No. 20 in the University Library at Kopenhagen.
K2ob (uncertain date), a fragment of the text, No. 2ob in the same library.
M6 (written a.p. 1397), No. 6 of the Haug Collection in the State Library at Munich.
TD (written about a.p. 1530), belonging to Mobad Tehmuras Dinshawji Anklesaria at Bombay.
BUNDAHIS.
CuaprTer I,
o. In the name of the creator Aiharmazd.
1. The Zand-akas (‘Zand-knowing or tradition-
informed’)?, which is first about Atharmazd’s original
creation and the antagonism of the evil spirit ?, avd
afterwards about the nature of the creatures from
the original creation till the end, which is the future
existence (tand-i pasind). 2. As revealed by the
religion of the Mazdayasnians, so it is declared that
Attharmazd is supreme in omniscience and goodness,
A a Nn
4 BUNDAHIS.
and unrivalled! in splendour; the region of light is
the place of Attharmazd, which they call ‘endless
light,’ and the omniscience aud goodness of the
unrivalled Attharmazd is what they call ‘revelation®.’
3. Revelation is the explanation of both spzraés
together ; one is he who is independent of unlimited
time *, because Aftharmazd and the region, religion,
and time of Adharmazd were and are and ever
will be; whz/e Aharman‘ in darkness, with backward
understanding and desire for destruction, was 77, the
abyss, and it is Ae who wd? not be; and the place
of that destruction, and also of that darkness, is
what they call the ‘endlessly dark.’ 4. And between
them was empty space, ¢Aaé is, what they call ‘air,
in which is now ¢hety meeting.
5. Both are limited and unlimited spirits, for the
supreme is that which they call endless light, and
the abyss that which is endlessly dark, so that be-
tween them is a void, and one is not connected with
* Reading aham-kaf, ‘without a fellow-sovereign, peerless, un- rivalled, independent.’ This rare word occurs three times in §§ 2, 3, and some Pazand writers suggest the meaning ‘ everlasting’ (by means of the Persian gloss hamifsah), which is plausible enough, but hAmak? would be an extraordinary mode of writing the very common word ham§at, ‘ ever,’
* The word dind (properly dén6), Av. daéna, being traceable to a root di, ‘to see,’ must originally have meant ‘a vision’ (see Haug’s Essays on the Religion of the Parsis, znd ed. p. 152, note 2), whence the term has been transferred to ‘religion’ and all religious observances, rules, and writings ; so it may be translated either by. ‘religion’ or by ‘revelation,’
' This appears to be the meaning, but the construction of § 3 is altogether rather obscure, and suggestive of omissions in the text.
* The usual name of the evil spirit; it is probably an older cor-
ruption of Angra-mainyu than Ganrak-maindk, and a less
technical term, Its Sasanian form was Aharmant.
Chapter I, 3-10. 5
er ne ee
the other; and, again, both spirits are limited as to
their own selves. 6. And, secondly, on account of
the omniscience of Attharmazd, both things are in
the creation of Adharmazd, the finite and the infinite;
for this they know is that which is in the covenant
of both spirits. 7. And, again, the complete sove-
reignty of the creatures of Atharmazd is in the
future existence, and that also is unlimited for ever
and everlasting; and the creatures of Aharman will
perish at the time when! the future existence occurs,
and that also is eternity.
8. Afharmazd, through omniscience, knew that
Aharman exists,-azd whatever he schemes he in-
fuses with malice and greediness till the end; and
because He accomplishes the end by many means,
He also produced spiritually the creatures which
were necessary for those means, avd they remained
three thousand years in a spiritual s¢a/e, so that they
were unthinking? and unmoving, with intangible
bodies.
9. The evil spirit, on account of backward know-
ledge, was not aware of the existence of Adtharmazd ;
and, afterwards, he arose from the abyss, and came
in unto the light which he saw. 10, Desirous of
destroying, and because of Azs malicious nature, he
1 Substituting amat, ‘when,’ for mfin, ‘which,’ two Huzvaris forms which are frequently confounded by Pahlavi copyists be- cause their Pazand equivalents, ka and ke, are nearly alike.
2 Reading aminidar in accordance with M6, which has amini- dar in Chap. XXXIV, 1, where the same phrase occurs. Windisch- mann and Justi read am@itar, ‘uninjured, invulnerable,’ in both places. This sentence appears to refer to a preparatory creation of embryonic and immaterial existences, the prototypes, fravashis, spiritual counterparts, or guardian angels of the spiritual and material creatures afterwards produced.
6 BUNDAHIs.
rushed in to destroy that light of Adharmazd unas-
sailed by fiends, and he saw its bravery and glory
were greater than his own; so he fled back to the
gloomy darkness, and formed many demons and
fiends ; ad the creatures of the destroyer arose for
violence.
11. Attharmazd, by whom the creatures of the evil
spirit were seen, creatures terrible, corrupt, and bad,
also considered them not commendable (birzisnik).
12. Afterwards, the evil spirit saw the creatures of
Atharmazd; they appeared many creatures of de-
light (vayah), enquiring creatures, and they seemed
to him commendable, and he commended the crea-
tures and creation of Adtharmazd.
13. Then Attharmazd, with a knowledge! of which
way the end of the matter woz/d de, went to meet
the evil spirit, and proposed peace to him, azd spoke
thus: ‘Evil spirit! bring assistance unto my crea-
tures, and offer praise! so that, in reward for it,
ye (you and your creatures) may become immortal
and undecaying, hungerless and thirstless.’
14. And the evil spirit shouted thus ?: ‘I w// not
depart, I wz/7 not provide assistance for thy crea-
tures, I wz// not offer praise among thy creatures,
and | am not of the same opinion with thee as to
good things. I wed destroy thy creatures for ever
and everlasting; moreover, I w/¢ force all thy
creatures into disaffection to thee and affection for
myself.’ 15. And the explanation thereof is this,
that the evil spirit reflected in this manner, that
' The Huz. khavitfinast stands for the Piz. danist with the meaning, here, of ‘ what is known, knowledge,’ as in Persian.
* Literally, ‘And it was shouted by him, the evil spirit, thus :’ the usual idiom when the nominative follows the verb.
Chapter I, Ii—20. 7
Adharmazd was helpless as regarded him}, therefore
He proffers peace; and he did not agree, but bore
on even into conflict with Him.
16. And Atharmazd spoke thus: ‘You are not
omniscient and almighty, O evil spirit! so that it is
not possible for thee to destroy me, and it is not
possible for thee to force my creatures so that they
wed/ not return to my possession.’
17. Then Adharmazd, through omniscience, knew
that: If I do not grant a period of contest, then it
well be possible for him to act so that he may be
able to cause the seduction of my creatures to him-
self. As even now there are many of the inter-
mixture of mankind who practise wrong more than
right. 18. And Adharmazd spoke to the evil spirit
thus: ‘Appoint a period! so that the intermingling
of the conflict may be for nine thousand years.’ For
he knew that by appointing this period the evil
spirit would be undone.
19. Then the evil spirit, unobservant and through
ignorance, was content with that agreement; just
like two men quarrelling together, who propose a
time thus: Let us appoint such-and-such a day for a
fight.
20. Atharmazd also knew this, through omni-
science, that within these nine thousand years, /ov
three thousand years everything proceeds éy the will
of Attharmazd, three thousand years ¢here ¢s an
intermingling of the wills of Adharmazd and Ahar-
man, and the last three thousand years the evil
spirit is disabled, and they keep the adversary away *
from the creatures.
' The words dén val stand for dén valman. * That is, ‘the adversary is kept away.’ In Pahlavi the third
8 BUNDAHIS.
o1. Afterwards, Atharmazd recited the Ahunavar
thus: Yatha aha vairy6 (‘as a heavenly lord is to
be chosen’), &c.1 once, avd uttered the twenty-one
words?; He also exhibited to the evil spirit His
own triumph in the end, and the impotence of the
evil spirit, the annihilation of the demons, and the
resurrection azd undisturbed future existence of the
creatures for everand everlasting. 22. And the evil
spirit, who perceived his own impotence and the
annihilation of the demons, became confounded, and
fell back to the gloomy darkness; even so as is
declared in revelation, that, when one of its (the
Ahunavar’s) three farts was uttered, the evil spirit
contracted zs body through fear, and when two
parts of it were uttered he fell upon Azs knees, and
when all of it was uttered he became confounded
person plural is the indefinite person, as in English. These gooo years are in addition to the 3000 mentioned in § 8, as appears more clearly in Chap. XXXIV, 1.
1 This is the most sacred formula of the Parsis, which they have to recite frequently, not only during the performance of their cere- monies, but also in connection with most of their ordinary duties and habits. It is neither a prayer, nor a creed, but a declaratory formula in metre, consisting of one stanza of three lines, containing twenty-one Avesta words, as follows :—
Yatha ah vairyd, atha ratus, ashad Aid haha,
Vangheus dazd&a mananghé, skyaothnanim angheus mazdai,
KhshathremAa ahurdi 4, yim dreguby6 dadad vastarem. And it may be translated in the following manner : ‘As a heavenly lord is to be chosen, so is an earthly master (spiritual guide), for the sake of righteousness, /o de a giver of the good thoughts of the actions of life towards Mazda; and the dominion is for the lord (Ahura) whom he (Mazda) has given as a protector for the poor’ (sce Haug’s Essays on the Religion of the Parsis, 2nd ed. pp. 125, 141).
* The word marik must mean ‘word’ here, but in some other places it seems to mean ‘syllable’ or ‘ accented syllable.’
Chapter I, 21-26. 9
Rm
and impotent as to the harm he caused the creatures
of Atharmazd, azd he remained three thousand
years in confusion ?.
23. Atharmazd created zs creatures in the con-
fusion of Aharman; first he produced Vohiman
(‘good thought’), by whom the progress of the
creatures of Adharmazd was advanced.
24. The evil spirit first created * Mitokht (‘ false- hood’), and then Akéman (‘evil thought’).
25 The first of Adharmazd’s creatures of the
world was the sky, and his good thought (Vohi-
man), by good procedure *, produced the light of
the world, along with which was the good religion
of the Mazdayasnians; this was because the renova-
tion (frashakard) * which happens to the creatures
was known to him. 26. Afterwards avose Ardava-
