SBE 05: Pahlavi Texts, Part 1 (E. W. West) — page scans

This copy of K35 was, no doubt, originally complete, but has lost many of its folios in the course of time; most of the missing text has been restored from another MS., but there are still twelve or more folios missing from the latter part of the work; it contains, however, all that portion of the Selections which is translated in this volume, but has, of course, no authority independent of K35. The other MS. in Bombay, from which some of the missing text was recovered, is in the library of Dastar Jamaspji Minochiharji ; it is a modern copy, written at different periods from forty to sixty years ago, and is incomplete, as it contains only one-fourth of the texts which usually follow the ninety-two questions and answers, and includes no portion of the Selec- tions of Zad-sparam.

Another MS. of the Dadistan-i Dinik and its accompani- ments, written also at Kirman, but two generations earlier than K35 (say, about A. D. 1530), has been already mentioned (see p. xxxiii). It is said still to contain 227 folios, though its first seventy folios are missing ; it must, therefore, begin very near the same place as K35, but extends much further, as it supplies about half the text still missing from the

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Bombay copy of K35, though it has lost about fourteen folios at the end. This MS. must be either the original from which K35 was copied, or an independent authority of equal value, but it has not been available for settling the text of the Selections for the present translation.

5. THE BAHMAN YAST.

The Bahman Yast, usually cailed the ‘Zand of the
Vohiman Yast, professes to be a prophetical work, in
which Adharmazd gives Zaratist an account of what
was to happen to the Iranian nation and religion in the
future.

It begins with an introduction (Chap. I) which states that, according to the Stidgar Nask, Zaratist having asked Atharmazd for immortality, was supplied temporarily with omniscient wisdom, and had a vision of a tree with four branches of different metals which were explained to him as symbolical of four different periods, the times of Vistasp, of Ardakhshir the Kaydanian, of Khdsr6é Néshirvan, and of certain demons or idolators who were to appear at the end of a thousand years. It states, further, that the commen- taries of the VohQman, Horvadad, and Astad Yasts men- tioned the heretic Mazdak, and that Khiisré Ndédshirvan summoned a council of high-priests and commentators, and ordered them not to conceal these Yasts, but to teach the commentary only among their own relations.

The text then proceeds (Chap. II) to give the details of the commentary on the Vohiman Yast as follows :—Zara- tast, having again asked Atharmazd for immortality, is refused, but is again supplied with omniscient wisdom for a week, during which time he sees, among other things, a tree with seven branches of different metals, which are again explained to him as denoting the seven ages of the religion, its six ages of triumph in the reigns of Vistasp, of Ardakhshir the Kaydanian, of one of the Askanian kings, of Ardakhshir Papakan and Shahpfr I and II, of Vahram Gor, and of Khisré Noshirvan, and its seventh age of adversity when

INTRODUCTION. li

Iran is to be invaded from the east by hordés of demons or idolators with dishevelled hair, who are to work much mis- chief, so as to destroy the greater part of the nation and mislead the rest, until the religion becomes nearly extinct. The details of this mischief, written in a tone of lamentation. constitute the greater part of the text, which also notice that the sovereignty will pass from the Arabs, Ramans, and these leathern-belted demons (Tiarks) to other Tarks and non-Tiranians who are worse than themselves.

Distressed at this narrative Zaratist asks Adharmazd (Chap. III, 1) how the religion is to be restored, and these demons destroyed? He is informed that, in the course of time, other fiends with red banners, red weapons, and red hats, who seem to be Christians, will appear in the north- west, and will advance either to the Arvand (Tigris) or the Euphrates, driving back the former demons who will assem- ble all their allies to a great conflict, one of the three great battles of the religions of the world, in which the wicked will be so utterly destroyed that none will be left to pass into the next millennium.

Zaratist enquires (III, 12) how so many can perish, and is informed that, after the demons with dishevelled hair appear, Hishédar, the first of the last three apostles, is born near Lake Frazdan; and when he begins to confer with Atharmazd a Kayan prince is born in the direction of XA inistan (Samarkand), who is called Vahram the Vargavand, and when he is thirty years old he collects a large army of Hindu (Bactrian) and Aini (Samarkandian) troops, and advances into Iran, where he is reinforced by a numerous army of Iranian warriors, and defeats the demon races with immense slaughter, in the great conflict already mentioned, so that there will be only one man left to a thousand women.

The writer then proceeds to describe the supernatural agencies employed to produce this résult: how the evil spirit (III, 24) comes to the assistance of the demon- worshippers ; how Attharmazd sends his angels to Kangdes, to summon Péshyétand, the immortal son of Vistasp, with his disciples, to re-establish the sacred fires and restore the

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religious ceremonies ; and how the angels assist them against the evil spirits, so that Vahram the Vargavand is enabled to destroy the fiendish races, as already detailed, and Péshyétani becomes supreme high-priest of the Iranian world.

Finally, the writer gives some details regarding the mis- sions of the last three apostles, returning for that purpose (III, 44) to the birth of Hashédar, the first of the three, whose millennium witnesses both the invasion and the destruction of the fiendish races. Htishédar proves his apostolic au- thority, to the satisfaction of Vargavand and the people, by making the sun stand still for ten days and nights. His mission is to ‘bring the creatures back to their proper state;’ and it is not till near the end of his millennium that Péshyétand appears, as before described. As this millen- nium begins with the invasion of the fiendish races and the fall of the Sasanian dynasty, it must have terminated in the seventeenth century, unless it was to last more than a thousand years. A very brief account is then given of the millennium of Hdishédar-mah, the second of the three apostles, whose mission is to make ‘the creatures more progressive’ and to destroy ‘the fiend of serpent origin’ (Az-i Dahak). During his millennium (which appears to be now in progress) mankind become so skilled in medicine that they do not readily die; but owing to their toleration of heretics the evil spirit once more attains power, and releases Az-i Dahdk, from his confinement in Mount Dim4é- vand, to work evil in the world, till Adharmazd sends his angels to rouse Keresdsp the SamAn, who rises from his trance and kills Az-i Dahak with his club at the end of the millennium, Afterwards, Séshyans, the last apostle, appears to ‘make the creatures again pure;’ when the resurrection takes place and the future existence commences.

Whether this text, as now extant, be the original com- mentary or zand of the Vohiman Yast admits of doubt, since it appears to quote that commentary (Chap. II, 1) as an authority for its statements; it is, therefore, most pro- bably, only an epitome of the original commentary. Such an epitome would naturally quote many passages verbatim

INTRODUCTION. liti

from the original work, which ought to bear traces of trans- lation from an Avesta text, as its title zand implies a Pahlavi translation from the Avesta (see p. x). There are, in fact, many such traces in this epitome, as indicated by the numerous sentences beginning with a verb, the mode of addressing Adharmazd, the quotation of different opinions from various commentators, and other minor peculiarities. Some of these might be the result of careful imitation of other commentaries, but it seems more likely that they are occasioned by literal translation from an original Avesta teyt. In speculating, therefore, upon the contents of the Bahman Yast it is necessary to remember that we are most probably dealing with a composite work, whose statements may be referred to the three different ages of the Avesta original, the Pahlavi translation and commentary, and the Pahlavi epitome of the latter; and that this last form of the text is the only old version now extant.

With regard to the age of the work we have the external evidence that a copy of it exists in a manuscript (K20) written about five hundred years ago, and that this copy is evidently descended from older manuscripts as it contains several clerical blunders incompatible with any idea of its being the original manuscript, as witness the omissions noted in Chaps. II, 10, 13, 14, 22, 27, 45, IEI, 30, 32, the misplace- ment of II, 18, and many miswritings of single words. Owing to the threefold character of the work, already noticed, the internal evidence of its age can only apply to its last recension in the form of an epitome, as an oriental editor (to say nothing of others) generally considers himself at liberty to alter and add to his text, if he does not under- stand it, or thinks he can improve it. That this liberty has been freely exercised, with regard to these professed prophecies, is shown by the identification of the four pro- phetical ages of the Stidgar Nask in the first chapter of the Bahman Yast being different from that given in the Dinkard. The Dinkard quotes the Stidgar Nask (that is, its Pahlavi version) as identifying the iron age with some period of religious indifference subsequent to the time of Ataro-pad son of Maraspend, the supreme high-priest and

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prime minister of ShahparII (A.D. 309-379); but the Bahman Yast (Chap. I, 5) quotes the Nask as identifying the same age with the reign of an idolatrous race subsequent to the time of Khasré Noshirvan (A.D. 531-579). This example is sufficient to show that the compiler of the extant epitome of the Bahman Yast commentary largely availed himself of his editorial license, and it indicates the difficulty of dis- tinguishing his statements from those of the former editors. At the same time it proves that the epitome could not have been compiled till after Iran had been overrun by a foreign race subsequent to the reign of Khisré Néshirvan. I¢ is remarkable that the compiler does not mention any later Sasanian king, that he does not allude to Muhammadanism, and speaks of the foreign invaders as Turanians and Chris- tians, only mentioning Arabs incidentally in later times ; at the same time the foreign invasion (which lasts a thou- sand years) is of too permanent a character to allow of its having reference merely to the troublous times of Noshirvan’s successor.

Perhaps the most reasonable hypotheses that can be founded upon these facts are, first, that the original zand or commentary of the Bahman Yast was written and trans- lated from the Avesta in the latter part of the reign of Khasré Noéshirvan, or very shortly afterwards, which would account for no later king being mentioned by name; and, secondly, that the epitome now extant was compiled by some writer who lived so long after the Arab invasion that the details of their inroad had become obscured by the more recent successes of Turanian rulers, such as the Ghaznavis and Salgfiqs of the eleventh and twelfth centuries. It is hardly possible that the epitomist could have lived as late as the time of Gingiz Khan, the great Mongol conqueror (A.D, 1206-1227), as that would bring him within 150 years of the date of the extant manuscript of his work, which has no appearance of being an immediate copy of the original ; but the rule of the Salgiqs would certainly have afforded him sufficient materials for his long description of the iron age. The Avesta of the Bahman Yast was probably com- piled from older sources (like the rest of the Avesta) during

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the reigns of the earlier Sasanian monarchs; but it was, no doubt, very different in its details from the epitome of its commentary which still exists.