§ This was the first nask or ‘ book’ of the complete Mazdayas- nian literature, according to the Dinkard, which calls it Sadkar; but according to the Dini-vagarkard and the Rivayats it was the second nask, called Stfidgar or Istfidgar. For its contents, as given by the Dini-vagarkard (which agrees with the account in the Rivayats), see Haug’s Essays, p. 126. In the Dinkard, besides a short description of this Nask, given in the eighth book, there is also a detailed account of the contents of each of its fargards, or chapters, occupying twenty-five quarto pages of twenty-two lines each, in the ninth book. From this detailed statement it appears
192 BAHMAN YAST.
Zaratist asked for immortality from Atharmazd,
then Attharmazd displayed the omniscient wisdom
to Zaratiist, and through it he beheld the root of a
tree, on which were four branches, one golden, one
of silver, one of steel, and one was mixed up with
iron. 2. Thereupon he reflected in this way, that
this was seen in a dfeam, and when he arose from
sleep Zarattist spoke thus: ‘Lord of the spirits and
earthly existences! it appears that I saw the root of
a tree, on which were four branches.’
3. Atharmazd spoke to Zaratist the Spitaman 1?
thus: ‘That root of a tree which thou sawest, and
those four branches, are the four periods which wed/
that the passage mentioned here, in the text, constituted the seventh fargard of the Nask, the contents of which are detailed as follows :—
If this be a correct account of the contents of this fargard, the writer was evidently consulting a Pahlavi version of the Nask, composed during the later Sasanian times.
* Generally understood to mean ‘descendant of Spitama,’ who was his ancestor in the ninth generation (see Bund. XXXII, 1).
Chapter I, 2-6. 193
come. 4. That of gold is when I and thou con-
verse, and King-Vistasp shall accept the religion,
and shall demolish the figures of the demons, dé
they ¢hemselves remain for! . . . concealed pro-
ceedings. 5. And that of silver is the reign of
Ardakhshir* the Kayan king (Kai shah), and that
of steel is the reign of the glorified (andshak-
riban) Khisr6é son of Kévad*, and that which was
mixed with iron is the evil sovereignty of the de-
mons with dishevelled hair* of the race of Wrath °,
and when it is the end of the tenth hundredth
winter (sat6 zim) of thy millennium, O Zaratist
the Spitaéman !’
6. It is declared in the commentary (zand)* of the Vohtiman Yast, Horvadad Yast, and Astad Yast
* A word is lost here in K20 and does not occur in the other copies and versions, nor can it be supplied from the similar phrase in Chap. II, 16. The meaning of the sentence appears to be that Vistésp destroyed the idols, but the demons they represented sull remained, in a spiritual state, to produce evil.
® See Chap. II, 17.
* Khusré Néshirvan son of Qubad, in modern Persian, who reigned in A.D. 531-579. Kévad is usually written Kavad.
* The epithet vigA4rd-vars may also mean ‘ dressed-hair,’ but the term in the text is the more probable, as the Persian version ‘translates it by kush4dah mui, ‘ uncovered hair.’ That it is not a name, as assumed by Spiegel, appears clearly from the further details given in Chap. II, 25.
® Or, ‘the progeny of Aéshm, the demon. Wrath is not to be understood here in its abstract sense, but is personified as a demon. It is uncertain whether the remainder of this sentence belongs to this § or the next.
° If there were any doubt about zand meaning the Pahlavi translation, this passage would be important, as the Avesta of the Horvadad (Khordad) and Astad Yasts is still extant, but contains nothing about the heretic Mazdik or Mazdak (see Chap. II, 21). No Avesta of the Vohfiman Yast is now known.
194 BAHMAN YAST.
that, during this time, the accursed Mazdik son of
Bamdad, who is opposed to the religion, comes into
notice, and is to cause disturbance among those in
the religion of God (yazddn). 7. And he, the
glorified ove!, summoned Khiisré son of Mah-dad
and Dad-Atharmazd of N ishapdr, who were high-
priests of Ataré-patakAn, and Ataré-frébag the un-
deceitful (akadba), Atar6-pad, Atard-Mitrd, and
Bakht-dfrid to 47s presence, and he demanded of
them a promise?, thus: ‘Do not keep these Yasts
in concealment, azd do not teach the commentary
except among your relations®.’ 8, dud they made
the promise unto Khisré.
Cuapter II.
1. In the VohQiman Yast commentary (zand) it is declared‘ that Zaratist asked for immortality from
* The Pers. version says nothing about this promise, but states that Khfisr6 sent a message to the accursed Mazdak, requiring him to reply to the questions of this priestly assembly on pain of death, to which he assented, and he was asked ten religious questions, but was unable to answer one; so the king put him to death immediately.
* A similar prohibition, addressed to Zaratfst, as regards the Avesta text, is actually found in the Horvadad Yt. 10.
* This seems to imply that this text is not the commentary
Chapter I, 7-Ii, 3. 195
Attharmazd a second time, avd spoke thus: ‘I am
Zaratist, more righteous and more efficient among
these thy creatures, O creator! when //ow shalt
make me’ immortal, as the tree opposed to harm *,
and Gépatshah, Gést-i Frydn, and Xitrdk-miyén
son of Vistisp, who is Péshyétanf, were made*. 2.
When thou shalt make me immortal they in thy
good religion w// believe that the upholder of
religion, who receives from Atharmazd his pure and
good religion of the Mazdayasnians, will become
immortal; then those men w// believe in thy good
religion.’
3. Adharmazd spoke‘ thus: ‘When I shall make
thee immortal, O Zaratist the Spitdmin! then Tar-i
Brddarvash the Karap° will become immortal, and
itself, but merely an epitome of it. The Paz. MSS. which have been examined, begin with this chapter.
1 Or, ‘when I shall decome;’ the verb is omitted by mistake in K2o.
8 Or, ‘became ;’ most of this verb is torn off in K2o.
* The verb is placed before its nominative in the Pahlavi text, both here and in most similar sentences, which is an imitation of the Avesta, due probably to the text being originally translated from an Avesta book now lost, or, at any rate, to its author’s wish that it might appear to be so translated. In such cases of inverted construction, when the verb is in a past tense, the Pahlavi idiom often requires a pronominal suffix, corresponding to the nominative, to be added to the first word in the sentence; thus, gfifté6s Afhar- mazd, or afas gfift Aflharmazd, does not mean ‘ Aftharmazd spoke to him (or said it),’ but merely ‘Afharmazd spoke’ (lit. ‘it was said by him, Aftharmazd’).
’ According to an untranslated passage in the Selections of Zad-sparam, mentioned in the note on p. 187, this is the name of
Go 2
196 BAHMAN YAST.
when Tfir-i Braddarvash the Karap shall become
immortal the resurrection azd future existence are
not possible.’
4. Zaratdst seemed uneasy about z¢ in 4zs mind!;
and Attharmazd, through the wisdom of omniscience,
knew what was thought by Zaratist the Spitaman
with the righteous spirit, and he? took hold of
Zaratiist’s hand. 5. And he, Atharmazd the pro-
pitious spirit, creator of the material world, the
righteous ove, even he put the omniscient wisdom,
in the shape of water, on the hand of Zaratist, and
said to him thus: ‘ Devour it.’
one of the five brothers in the Karapan family of sorcerers, who were enemies of Zaratfst during his childhood. Their names, as written in SZS., may be read as follows, ‘Bradarvakhsh, Bradréyisnd, Tar Bragrésh, Azané, and Nasm,’ and the first is also called‘ Tfr-i Bradarvakhsh ;’ they are described as descendants of the sister of Mantsfihar. In the seventh book of the Dinkard a wizard, who endeavours to injure Zaratist in his childhood, is called ‘ Tar-i Bradrdk-résh, the Karapé, and was probably the third brother, whose name (thus corrected) indicates brathr6-raésha as its Avesta form. Karap or Karapan in all these passages is evidently the name of a family or caste, probably the Av, karapand which Haug translates by ‘ performers of (idolatrous) sacrificial rites,’ in connec- tion with Sans. kalpa, ‘ceremonial ritual’ (see Haug’s Essays, pp. 289-291).
' Kao has ‘among the spirits ;’ the word minisn having become main6dk4n by the insertion of an extra stroke.
* Reading afas instead of minas (Huz. of agas, ‘from or by him,’ which is written with the same letters as afas, ‘and by him’), not only here, but also in §§ 5, 7, 9. The copyist of K20 was evi- dently not aware that afas is a conjunctive form, but confounded it with the prepositional form agas, as most Parsis and some Euro- pean scholars do still. The Sasanian inscriptions confirm the reading afas for the conjunctive form; and Nérydésang, the learned Parsi translator of Pahlavi texts into Pazand and Sanskrit some four centuries ago, was aware of the difference between the two forms, as he transcribes them correctly into Paz, vas and azas.
Chapter Ii, 4-12. 197
6. And Zaratiist devoured some of it; thereby the
omniscient wisdom was intermingled with Zaratist,
and seven days and nights Zaratist was in the
wisdom of Atharmazd. 7. And Zaratist beheld the
men and cattle in the seven regions of the earth,
where the many fibres of hair of every one are, and
whereunto the end of each fibre holds on the back.
8. And he beheld whatever trees and shrubs ‘here
were, and how many roots of plants were in the
earth of Spendarmad, where and how they had
grown, avd where they were mingled.
g. And the seventh day and night he (Adhar-
mazd) took back the omniscient wisdom from
Zaratist, and Zarattist reflected in this way, that
I have seen 7¢ in a pleasant dream produced by
Atharmazd, avd I am not surfeited with the dream.
10. And he took both hands, rubbed his body
(kerp) again, and spoke! thus: ‘I have slept a long
time, azd am not surfeited with this pleasant dream
produced by Atharmazd.’
11. Atharmazd said to the righteous Zarattist
thus: ‘What was seen in the pleasant dream pro-
duced by Afharmazd ?’
12. Zarattist spoke thus: ‘O Atharmazd, propi-
tious spirit! creator of the material world, righteous
creator! I have seen a celebrity (khunid) with
much wealth, whose soul, infamous in the body, was
hungry (gurs)* and jaundiced and in hell, and he did
not seem to me exalted; and I saw a beggar with
no wealth and helpless, and his soul was thriving
(farpih) in paradise, and* he seemed to me exalted.
1 This verb is omitted in K2o by mistake.
2 Or else ‘dirty.’
5 Reading afam instead of minam, both here and in § 14; the
198 BAHMAN YAST.
13. [And I saw a wealthy maz without children, and
he did not seem to me exalted;]! and I saw a
pauper with many children, and he seemed to me
exalted. 14. And I saw a tree on which were seven
branches, one golden, one of silver, one brazen, one
of copper, [one of tin]?, one of steel, and one was
mixed up with iron.’
15. Atharmazd spoke thus: ‘O Zarattist the
Spitiman! this is what I say beforehand, the one
tree which thou sawest is the world which I, Adhar-
mazd, created; and those seven branches thou
sawest are the seven periods which we// come.
16. And that which was golden is the reign of King
Vistasp, when I and thou converse about religion,
and Vistasp shall accept that religion and _ shall
demolish the figures of the demons, and the demons
desist from demonstration into concealed proceed-
‘ings; Aharman and the demons rush back to dark-
ness, and care for water, fire, plants, and the earth
of Spendarmad* becomes apparent. 17. And that
which was of silver* is the reign of Ardashir® the
copyist of Kzo having confounded these two words, like those mentioned in the note on § 4.
' The passage in brackets is omitted in K2o0, but is supplied from the Paz. MSS., being evidently necessary to complete the contrast. It occurs also in the Pers. version.
* Supplied from the Paz. and Pers, versions, being omitted here in K2o, though occurring in § 20.
* The female archangel who has charge of the earth (see Bund. I, 26).
* The Paz. MSS. omit the description of the silver age.
° Usually identified with Artaxerxes Longimanus, but his long reign of 112 years may include most of the Achazmenian sovereigns down to Artaxerxes Mnemon, several of whom are called Aha- suerus or Artaxerxes in the biblical books of Ezra and Esther. See Bund. XXXI, 30, XXXIV, 8.
Chapter I, 13-19. 199
Kayan (Kai), whom! they call Vohfiman son of
Spend-did?, who is he who separates the demons
from men, scatters ‘hem about, and makes the reli-
gion current zz the whole world. 18. And that
which was brazen ® is the reign of Ardakhshir *, the
arranger and restorer of the world, and that of King
Shahpdir, when he arranges the world which I,
Atharmazd, created ; he makes happiness (bdkhta-
kih)® prevalent in the boundaries of the world, and
goodness shall become manifest; and Ataré-pid of
triumphant destiny, the restorer of the true religion,
with the prepared brass*, brings this religion, to-
gether with the transgressors, back to the truth.
19. And that which was of copper is the reign of
the Ask&anian king’, who removes from the world
