1 There is some doubt about this period. Dastfir Peshotanji mentions thirty or forty years, but in the MS. J, which appears to have been copied chiefly from this codex in Bombay, the date noted by the copyist of the older part of that MS. is ‘the day Rashn of the month Khiirdad, a, y. 1188’ (21st Deéember 1818, according to the calendar of the Indian Parsis), showing that the codex must have been at least sixty-four years in Bombay.
XVII PAHLAVI TEXTS.
portion c* the additional matter at the beginning of BK has been prefixed to it at a later date. The oldest portion of this copy, extending to Ep. I, vii, 4, bears a date corres- ponding to 21st December 1818; the date of a further portion, extending to Ep. II, vi, 2, corre-ponds to 12th February 1841; and a third portion cupied from BK, at the beginning of the manuscrint, is still more recent.
Another copy of this codex, or of the Dadistan-i Dinik
contained in it, exists in the library of the high-priest of
the Parsis in Bombay; and from this copy the text of the
Dadistan-i Dinik contained in M14 was transcribed.
This latter manuscript consists of two volumes, written
in 1865 and 1868, respectively ; the first volume containing
Chaps. I, 1-XX XVII, 9, and the second volume Chaps.
XXXVI, 1-XCIV, 15 of the altered text of the Dadistan-i
Dinik.
Other copies of the Dadistan-i Dinitk, which have not
been examined, are to be found in India, but, unless de-
scended from other manuscripts than K35 and the above-
mentioned codex recently belonging to Mr. Dhanjibhai
Framji, they would be of no further use for settling the
text.
" The text of Chaps. VI, 3-X, 2 has been lost, and recently supplied from J.
? No copy of the intermediate chapters obtained by the present translator, and several of the original folios have been lost.
* No copy of the intermediate chapters taken by the present translator.
* Chaps. LXXXIX, 1-XCI, 7 omitted.
® Ep. U, vi, 2-ix, 7 being copied from BK and wrongly inserted in Dd. XXXVII, 33 (see p. 89, note 5).
INTRODUCTION. X1X
legend about Keresdsp, and the extracts r lating to
Khvétik-das. Other manuscripts, used for the remaining
extracts translated in the Appendix, will be mentioned in
§ 4 of this introduction.
Under these circumstances it has been the duty of the translator to follow the text given in K35, wherever it is not wholly unintelligible after prolonged study, to note all deviations of the translation from that text (which are usually small), and merely to mention the variations of the revised text, so far as they are intelligible, in the notes.
The writings of Mantiskihar are certainly difficult to translate, not only from the involved and obscure style he affects, but also from the numerous compound epithets he uses, which are not easy either to understand with certainty, or to express clearly in English. The only other Pahlavi writings that approach them in difficulty are those of his brother, Zad-sparam, and those of the author of the third book of the Dinkarvd, who seems to have also been a con- temporary writer. Toa certain extent, therefore, an involved style of writing may have been a failing of the age in which he lived; and his works, being of an epistolary and hor- tatory character, would naturally be more abstruse and idiomatic than simple narrative ; but much of the obscurity of his style must still be attributed to his own want of clear arrangement of thought and inadequate, though wordy, expression of ideas, the usual sources of all obscure and rambling writing.
When to the difficulty of tracing the thread of an argument
XX PAHLAVI TEXTS.
(2 oe aw ee eee through ‘he involved obscurity of the text is added the perplexity occasioned by the ambiguity of many Pahlavi words, it can be readily understood that no translation is likely to be even approximately accurate, unless it be as literal as possible. The translator has to avoid enough pitfals, in the shape of false constructions and incorrect readings, without risking te innumerable sources of error offered by the alluring by-paths of free translation. [If, therefore, the reader should sometimes meet with strange idioms, or uncouth phrases, he must attribute them to a straining after correctness of translation, however little that correctness may be really attained.
For the purpose of more effectually keeping a curb upon the imagination of the translator, and indicating where he has been compelled to introduce his own ideas, all words not expressed or fully understood in the original text are italicised: in the translation. Occasionally, also, the original word is appended to its translation, where either the reading or meaning adopted is unusual, or where a scholar might wish to know the particular Pahlavi word translated.
Some endeavour has likewise been made to introduce greater precision than has hitherto been attempted, in the transliteration of Pahlavi words and names, by taking advantage of the italic system, adopted for this series of Sacred Books of the East, not only for distinguishing variations of sound (as in the use of g, #, and s for the sounds of Jj, soft ch, and sh, respectively, in English), but also to indicate the use of particular Pahlavi letters, when there are more than one of nearly the same sound. Thus, @ is used where its sound is represented by w t; / and r where they are represented by J n, v, a, or by ‘3 Av. 03 # and z where they are represented by @ £; and 2d where those letters are represented by » 4. If, in addition to these particulars, the Pahlavi scholar will remember that the uncircumflexed vowels are not expressed in Pahlavi characters, and the vowel 3 is expressed, he will find no particular difficulty in restoring any of the transliterated words to their original character, by merely following the
Introduction. Xxi
ordinary rules of Pahlavi writing. Without some such mode? of distinguishing the different Pahlavi letters used for the same sound, it would be practically impossible to restore the transliteration of any word, new to the reader, to its original Pahlavi form. And even the system here adopted requires the addition of a and 4 to represent the vowel » a, 4 when one of its turns is omitted in writing (as in ey ap, dv, used for Aj» ap, af; WKY adin used for rg adin, &c.), and of j or 7 to represent » y when it has the sound of g or English j, in order to distinguish it from CW , g.
The general reader should, however, observe that these niceties of transliteration are merely matters of writing, as - the exact pronunciation of Pahlavi cannot now be fully ascertained in all its details. There is every reason to suppose that the Semitic portion of the Pahlavi was never pronounced by the Persians as it was written (unless, indeed, in the earliest times); but to transliterate these Semitic words by their Persian equivalents, as the Persians certainly pronounced them, would produce a Pazand text, instead of a Pahlavi one. If, therefore, we really want the trans- literation to represent the Pahlavi text correctly, we must transliterate the Semitic words as they are written, without reference to the mode in which we suppose that the Persians used to read them. With regard to the Persian words, if we call to mind the fact that Pahlavi was the immediate parent of modern Persian, we shall naturally accept the modern Persian pronunciation (stripped of its Arabic corruptions) as a guide, so far as Pahlavi orthogra- phy permits, in preference to tracing the sounds of these words downwards from their remote ancestors in ancient Persian or the Avesta. But the pronunciation of words evidently derived directly from the Avesta, as is the case with many religious terms, must clearly depend upon the
1 Dotted letters might be used, if available, instead of italics; but they are liable to the objection that, independent of the usual blunders due to the ordinary fallibility of human eyesight, it has been found by the translator that a dot, which was invisible on the proofs, will sometimes appear under a wrong letter in the course of printing.
KXi1 PAHLAVI TEXTS.
Avesta orthography, so far as the alteration in spelling
permits. These are the general rules here adopted, but
many uncertainties arise in their practical application, which
have to be settled in a somewhat arbitrary manner,
0: THE DADISTANS) DINIKe
The term Dadistan-i Dinik, ‘religious opinions or de- cisions, is a comparatively modern name applied to ninety-two questions, on religious subjects, put to the high- priest MAandsfihar, and his answers to the sume. These questions appear to have been sent in an epistle from Mitv6-khirshéd, son of Attvd-mahan, and other Magaa- worshippers (Dd. heading and I, 2), and were received by MAanisfihar, who was the leader of the religion (Ud. I, Io, note), in the month of July or August (Dd. I, 17); but it was not till September or October, after he had returned to Shiraz from a tour in the provinces, that he found time to begin his reply which, when completed, was sent by a courier (Dd. I, 26) to his correspondents, but at what date is not recorded.
Regarding the residence of these correspondents, and the year in which these transactions took place, we have no positive information. The correspondents seem to have thanked Manisfihar for sending them one of his disciples (Dd. I, 3, 4) to act probably as their high-priest ; and, from the mode in which the land of Pars is mentioned in Dd. LXVI, 28, LXXXIX, 1, it seems likely that they were not inhabitants of that province; but this conclusion is hardly confirmed, though not altogether contradicted, by the fur- ther allusions to Pars in Dd. LXVI, 3, 15, 21, LX XXVIII, 1. With regard to the date of this correspondence we may conclude, from the less authoritative tone assumed by Mantsihar in his reply (Dd. I, 5-7, 11), as compared with that adopted in his epistles (Ep. III, 17-19), that he was a younger man when he composed the Dadistan-t Dinik than when he wrote his epistles; we may, therefore, pro- bably assume that the Dadistan-? Dinik was written several years before A.D. 881,
INTRODUCTION. XXill
Although the subjects discussed in the Dadistan-i? Dinik cover a wide range of religious doctrines, legends, and duties, they cannot be expected to give a complete view of the Mazda-worshipping religion, as they are merely those matters on which Mitrvé-khirshéd and his friends enter- tained doubts, or wished for further information. It is also somewhat doubtful whether the whole of the questions have been preserved, on account of the abrupt transition from the last reply, at the end of Dd. XCIII, to the peroration in Dd. XCIV, and also from the fact that a chapter is alluded ‘0, ic Dd. XVII, 20, XVHI, 2, which is no longer extant in the text.
The questions, although very miscellaneous in their character, are arranged, to some extent, according to the subjects they refer to, which are taken in the following order :—The righteous and their characteristics; the tem- poral distress of the good; why mankind was created; good works and their effects; the account of sin and good works to be rendered; the exposure of corpses and reasons for it; the paths, destinations, and fate of departed souls, with the ceremonies to be performed after a death; the contributors to the renovation of the universe; the contest between the good and evil spirits from the creation till the resurrection ; works of supererogation ; the sacred shirt and thread-girdle ; apostasy and its prevention; the use of fire at ceremonies, and other details; duties, payment, and position of priests; details regarding ceremonies; lawful and unlawful trading in corn, wine, and cattle, with a definition of drunkenness; adoption, guardianship, and inheritance; rights of foreigners and infidels; the origin of mankind and next-of-kin marriage; the cost of religious rites; the causes of the rainbow, phases of the moon, eclipses, and river-beds; things acquired through destiny and exertion; the sins of unnatural intercourse and adultery; imperfect prayer before drinking ; ceremonies and payments for them; the seven immortal rulers before Zaratist ; the sky, the source of pure water, and the cause of rain and storms.
In his replies to these questions Mandsihar displays
XXIV PAHLAVI TEXTS.
