‘ As is the will of the living spirit (as is the will of Adharmazd) so should be the pastor (so excellent should he be) owing to whatsoever are the duties and good works of righteousness (the duties and good works should be as excellent as the will of Afhar- mazd). Whose is the gift of good thought (that is, the reward and recompense good thought gives, it gives also unto him) which among living spirits is the work of Adharmazd (that is, they would do that which Aflharmazd requires); there are some who say it is thus: Whose gift is through good thought (that is, the reward and recompense which they will give to good thought, they would give also unto him); Atar6d-pad son of Zaratist said that by the gift of good thought, when among living spirits, they comprehend the doing of deeds. The sovereignty is for Atharmazd (that is, the sovereignty which is his, Atharmazd has kept with advantage) who gives necessaries [or comfort, or clothing] to the poor (that is, they would make intercession for them).’
Additional phrases are sometimes inserted, and some words altered, but the above is the usual form of this commentary.
? Bund. I, 22. 2 Bund. I, 28.
160 APPENDIX TO THE BUNDAHIS.
27. At the same time Aharman came from accom-
panying Time out to the front, out to the star
station; the connection of the sky with the star
station was open, which showed, since it hung down
into empty space, the strong communication of the
lights and glooms, the place of strife in which is the
pursuit of both. 28. And having darkness with him-
self he brought it into the sky, avd left the sky so
to gloom that the internal deficiency in the sky
extends as much as one-third * over the star station.
* This is the Av, zrvana akarana, ‘boundless time or antiquity,’ of Vend. XIX, 33, 44. He is a personification of duration and age, and is here distinctly stated to be a creature of Afharmazd. This throws some doubt upon the statements of Armenian writers, who assert that the two spirits sprang from Zrvana.
* Compare Bund. III, 11.
Selections of Zad-Sparam, I, 25-1, 6. 161
CuHapTer II.
1. On the coming in of Aharman to the creatures
it is thus declared in revelation, that 7z the month
Fravarain and the day Adharmazd, at noon’, he
came forth to the frontier of the sky. 2. The sky
sees Aim and, on account of Azs nature, fears as
much as a sheep trembles at a wolf; avd Aharman
came on, scorching avd burning into it. 3. Then he
came to the water which was arranged below the
earth *, and darkness without an eyelid was brought
on by him; and he came on, through the middle of
the earth, as a snake all-leaping comes on out of a
hole; and he stayed within the whole earth. 4.
The passage where he came on is his own, the way
to hell, through which the demons make the wicked
run.
5. Afterwards, he came to a tree, such as was of a
single root, the height of which was several feet, and
¢¢ was without branches and without bark, juicy avd
sweet; and to keep the strength of all kinds of trees
in its race, it was in the vicinity of the middle of the
earth; and at the self-same time 2¢ decame quite
withered *.
6. Afterwards, he came to the ox, the sole- created‘, as it stood as high as Gayémard on the
1 Bund. III, 12. 2 Bund. Il, 13.
* Bund. III, 14, 16.
* The primeval ox, or first-created representative of animals, as Gayémard was of mankind; from which two representatives all mankind and animals are said to have been afterwards developed. There seems to have been some doubt as to the sex of this mytho- logical ox ; here it is distinctly stated to have been a female, but from Bund. X, 1, 2, XIV, 3, it would appear to have been a male, and this seems to be admitted by ZAd-sparam himself, in Chap. 1X, 7.
162 APPENDIX TO THE BUNDAHIS.
bank of the water cf Daitih! zz the middle of the
earth; and its distance from Gayémard being as
much as its own height, it was also distant from the
bank of the water of Daitih by the same measure ;
and it was a female, white azd brilliant as the moon.
7. As the adversary came upon z¢ Atharmazd gave
?¢ a narcotic, which is also called ‘bang,’ to eat, and
to rub the ‘bang’ before the eye’, so that the
annoyance from the assault of crimes may be less;
it became lean and ill, azd fell upon its right breast®
trembling.
$8. Before the advance to Gayédmard, who was
then about one-third the height of Zaratist, azd was
brilliant as the sun, Attharmazd forms, from the
sweat * on the man, a figure of fifteen years, radiant
and tall, and sends it on to Gayémard; and he also
brings his sweat® on to him as long as one Yatha-
ahi-vairyO® is deg recited. 9. When he issued
from the sweat, and raised his eyes, he saw the
world when it was dark as night?; on the whole
earth were the snake, the scorpion, the lizard
(vazak), and noxious creatures of many kinds; azd
so the other kinds of quadrupeds stood among the
* This is a misunderstanding of the corresponding phrase in Bund. III, 18. The narcotic here mentioned is usually prepared from the hemp plant, and is well known in India and the neigh- bouring countries,
* See Bund. IV, r.
* The word which, as it stands in the MS., looks like hOmanée, is here taken as a transposition of min khv4e, in accordance with Bund. III, 19; but it may be a variant of anumAe, ‘embryo,’ in which case the translation should be, ‘forms an embryo into the shape of a man of fifteen years.’
° Or it may be ‘sleep,’ both here and in § 9.
® See Bund. I, 21. 7 Bund. III, 20.
Selections of Zad-Sparam, Ii, 7—Iv, I. 163
reptiles; every approach of the whole earth was as
though not as much as a needle’s point remained, in
which there was no rush of noxious creatures. 10.
There were the coming of a planetary s¢ar into
planetary conjunction, and the moon and planets at
sixes and sevens'; many dark forms with the face
and curls of Az-i Dahak suffered punishment in com-
pany with certain non-Iranians; avd he was amazed
at calling the wicked out from the righteous.
11. Lastly, he (Aharman) came up to the fire, and mingled darkness and smoke with it *.
Cuapter III.
1. And Gdstirvan, as she was herself the soul of
the primeval ox, when the ox passed away, came out
from the ox, even as the soul from the body of the
dead, and kept up the clamour of a cry to Adhar-
mazd in such fashion as that of an army, a thousand
strong, when they cry out together®, 2. And Aa-
harmazd, in order to be much more able to keep
watch over the mingled creatures than in front of
Gaydédmard, went from the earth up to the sky. 3.
And Gésirvan continually went after him crying,
and she kept up the cry thus: ‘With whom may the
guardianship over the creatures be left by thee?’
CHAPTER IV.
1. This was the highest predominance of Ahar- man, for he came on, with all the strength which he
1 Literally, ‘in fours and fives.’
2 Bund. II, 24. $ Bund. IV, 2.
M 2
164 APPENDIX TO THE BUNDAIIIS.
had, for the dishgurement of the creatures; and he
took as much as one-third of the base of the sky},
in a downward direction, into a confined avd captive
state, so that it was all dark avd apart from the
light, for it was itself, at the coming of the adversary,
his enemy among the struggles for creation. 2. And
this is opposing the renovation of the universe, for
the greatest of all the other means of the fiend,
when he Zas come in, are of like origin and strength
this day, in the sleep? of the renovation, as ox that
when the enemy, who is fettered on coming in, is
kept back.
3. Amid all this struggling were mingled the in-
stigations of Aharman, cvyzzg thus: ‘My victory
has come completely, for the sky is split and dis-
figured by me with gloom and darkness, and taken
by me as a stronghold; water is disfigured by me,
and the earth, injured by darkness, is pierced by. me;
vegetation is withered by me, the ox is put to death
by me, Gaydémard is made ill by me, and opposed to
those revolving* are the glooms and planets ar-
ranged by me; no one Aas remained for me to take
and pervert in combat except Atharmazd, and of
the earth //ere is only one man, who is alone, what
is he able to do?’
4. And he sends Asté-vidad* upon him with the thousand decrepitudes (aizvd4radnd) and diseases
* Compare Bund. III, 11. The involved style of Zad-sparam is particularly conspicuous in this chapter,
* The word seems to be khvapisn6.
* Meaning probably the zodiacal signs, but the word is doubtful, being spelt vardisnand instead of vardisnind. A very small alteration would change it into vardisndn6, ‘ believers,’ but there were no earthly believers at the time alluded to,
* See Bund, III, 21, and XXVIII, 35.
Selections of Zad-Sparam, Iv, 2-8. 165
which are his own, sicknesses of various kinds, so that
they may make him ill avd cause death. 5. Gayo-
mard was not secured by them, and the reason
was because it was a decree of appointing Time
(zérvand) in the beginning of the coming in of
Aharman, that: ‘Up to thirty winters I appoint
Gayémard unto brilliance and preservation of life.’
6. And his manifestation in the ceéestia/ sphere was
through the forgiveness of criminals and instigators
of confusion by 4¢s good works, and for that reason
no Opportunity was obtained by them during the
extent of thirty years.
7. For in the beginning it was so appointed that
the star Jupiter (A fiharmazd) was life towards the
creatures, not through its own nature, but on
account of z¢s being within the control (band) of
the luminaries!; and Saturn (Kévan) was death
towards the creatures. 8. Both were in their
supremacy (bdalist)* at the beginning of the crea-
1 These luminaries are the fixed stars, especially the signs of the zodiac, to whose protection the good creation is committed (see Bund. II, o-4); whereas Jupiter and all other planets are supposed to be, by nature, disturbers of the creation, being employed by Aharman for that purpose (see Mkh. VIII, 17-21, XII, 7-10, XXIV, 8, XXXVIII, 5).
® The most obvious meaning of bAlist is ‘ greatest altitude,’ and this is quite applicable to Jupiter when it attains its highest northern declination on entering Cancer, but it is not applicable to Saturn in Libra, when it has only its mean altitude. At the vernal equinox, however, which was the time of the beginning mentioned in the text, when Aharman invaded the creation (see Chap. II, 1), Libra is in opposition to the sun, and Saturn in Libra would be at its nearest approach to the earth, and would, therefore, attain its maximum brightness; while Jupiter in Cancer would be at its greatest altitude and shining with four-fifths of its maximum brightness. Both planets, therefore, were near their most con- spicuous position (which would seem to be the meaning of balist
166 APPENDIX TO THE BUNDAHIS.
tures, as Jupiter was in Cancer on rising, that which
is also called Givan (‘living’)?, for it is the place in
which life is bestowed upon it; azd Saturn was in
Libra, in the great subterranean, so that its own
venom and deadliness decame more evident and
more dominant thereby. 9. And it was when both
shall not be supreme ¢Aat Gayémard was to com-
plete his own life, which is the thirty years * Saturn
came not again to supremacy, that is, fo Libra. Io.
And at the time when Saturn came into Libra,
Jupiter was in Capricornus*, on account of whose
own lowness*, and the victory of Saturn over
Jupiter, Gayémard suffered through those very
defects which came and are to continue advancing,
the continuance of that disfigurement which Ahar-
man can bring upon the creatures of Atharmazd.
here), and might each be supposed to be exercising its maximum astrological influence, so that the presumed deadly power of Saturn would be neutralised by the supposed reviving influence of Jupiter.
' This reading suits the context best, but the name can also be read Snahan, and in many other ways. It may possibly be the tenth lunar mansion, whose name is read Nahn in Bund. II, 3, by Pazand writers, and which corresponds to the latter part of Cancer.
