8. Chapter VI continues this account of marvels till the death of Vistásp,which occurred forty-three years later. The legends related are about the presentation of a heaver.ly chariot to Vistásp by the soul of an old hero Sritó who had been killed about 350 years before; and regarding the coming of two high-priests from the southern regions of the earth, ten years after the departure of Zaratüst, to enquire about the religion.
9. Chapter VII relates the marvels occurring after the death of Vistásp until the end of the sovereignty of Iran; mentioning king Vohümanó who was a grandson of Vistásp, the high-priest Sénév who lived throughout the second century of the religion, the devastator Alexander the Great, the four successive high-priests who restore ortho-
Xil PAHLAVI TEXTS.
o ee
doxy in the fifth and sixth centuries of the religion, the
apostate kashn-résh of about the same period, king
Artakhshatar the founder of the Sásánian dynasty, his
chancellor Tanvasar, ÀtürpáZ-i Máraspendán and his son
surnamed Avarethrabau, with an anonymous arch-apostate
of their time, and then king Khüsró Anóshérván. Finally,
it condemns the proceedings of the devastators in later
times, whose names are not mentioned.
10. Chapter VIII deals with the ninth and tenth centuries of the religion, which bring the millennium of Zaratüst to a close. After a bitter lamentation over the anarchy in religion and government—in which parts of 8$ 34 and 36 are taken from the Varstmánsar commentary on Yas..X XXII in Dk. IX, xxxii, 17, 20—it refers to the arrival of Kitró-méhónó, ‘im of the racial home, a title of Péshyótanó, son of Vistásp, and immortal ruler of Kangdez, who arrives with 150 disciples to restore the religion and destroy the wicked, including the Turkish demons, the Arabs, and the ecclesiastical Shégáspó! (Theodosius?) In the thirtieth year before the end of this tenth millennium A üshéZar, the Developer of Righteousness, is born, and confers with the archangels at the end of the millennium, when the sun stands still for ten days and nights.
11. Chapter IX describes the eleventh millennium, that of AüshéZar, who produces much prosperity and progress which continue until the fifth century. Then the wizard Mahrküs appears for seven years, and produces awful winters in four of them, in which most of mankind and animals perish, till he is himself destroyed by the Dahman Afrin. Afterwards, Yim's enclosure is opened to replenish the earth with animals and men who then begin to subsist more upon the milk of cattle, which is plentiful; and Ashavahistó interferes to diminish the slaughter of cattle. At the end of the fifth century two-thirds of the Iránians have become righteous, and in the thirtieth year before the end ofthis eleventh millennium A üshégar-máh,the Developer
* This name can be read ShéwAsfas in Byt. III.
INTRODUCTION. xiii
of Worship, is born, and confers with the archangels at the end of the millennium, when the sun stands stili for twenty days and nights.
,I2. Chapter X describes the twelfth millennium, that of Adshédar-mah, during which mankind continue to improve, are better supplied, and have fewer wants, while deaths occur only through old age and the executioner. During the last fifty-three years, they leave off eating meat and subsist upon vegetables and milk, for which latter they substitute water for the last three years. But the old tyrant Dahák breaks loose, and Kerésáspó has to be roused to smite him. In the thirtieth year before the end of this twelfth millen- nium Sósháns, the Triumphant Benefiter, is born; Kai- Khásró and his companions afterwards arrive to assist him, and the sun stands still for thirty days and nights.
13. Chapter XI describes how Sósháns and his assistants destroy all the evil remaining in the world, during the course of fifty-seven years, while mankind subsist for seventeen years on vegetables, thirty years on water, and ten years on spiritual food. And, at the end of these fifty-seven years, Aharman and the fiend are annihilated, and the renovation for the future existence occurs.
14. Several of the details described in Dk. VII are briefly mentioned in Dk. V, i-iv, where they are introduced by a statement of the siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar (Bikht-Narsith) assisted by Kai- Lóharásp, father of Vistasp. Excepting this account of the siege, in which the Jews are evidently called ‘a congregation or tribe’ (vam), and some remarks about the same ‘tribe’ at the end of Chapter IV, all the other details which are mentioned have reference only to Iranians; but they are said to be the sayings of Átür-farnbag as to the MS. which that tribe call really their Gyémara (Chaps. I, 2, 3; IV, 8), as the name can be most plausibly read. Most of the strictly Iranian details have manifestly been derived from the same sources as were consulted by the writer of Dk. VII, that is, from the Pahlavi versions of the Spend and KXitradad Nasks. It would probably be hazardous to suppose that the Jewish compilers of the Gemara could have had access to these
xiv PAHLAVI TEXTS.
eS SS
sources, and it might be preferable to assume that Atdr-
farnbag was himself compiling a record of Zoroastrian
traditions for the use of some converts from Judaism, to
take the place of the Gemara of their former faith.
15. The Zaratüst-námak of Zad-sparam is contained in the latter half (Zs. XII-X XIII) of the first series of his Selections, the former half of which, being a paraphrase of the first half of the Bundahis, has been translated in S. B. E., vol. v, pp. 155-186. In Chapter XII Zad-sparam relates two of the earliest legends referring to Mazda-worship, which he had found in old MSS. The first of these describes the appearance of the archangel SpendaxmaZ, wearing a golden sacred girdle, at the court of king MánüsZihar, 428! years before the coming of the religion to Zaratüst when he went to his conference with the sacred beings. The other is the legend of the warrior Sritó, the seventh brother, who was sent by Kai-Üs to kill the frontier-settling ox which threatened him, 300 years before the coming of the religion, with future execration by Zaratüst.
16. Chapter XIII refers to the descent of Zaratüst's glory upon his mother at her birth, and the combination of his spiritual and worldly natures; also detailing his genealogy. Chapter XIV describes the attempts of the demons to destroy him before and at his birth, when Vohümanó entered his reasoning powers and made him laugh with delight and utter one form of the Ahunavair formula, Chapter XV is about the five Karap brothers, with their first cousins the Aüsikhshes, all descended from the demon of Wrath and a sister of king Mânûskîhar ; also about the four brothers of Zaratüst who seem to be unmentioned elsewhere.
17. Chapter XVI details the attempts of one of the Karaps to destroy Zaratüst during his infancy, and the means by which he is preserved ; it also explains who Rágh and NóZar were. In Chapter XVII one of the Karaps foretells the future success of Zaratüst. In Chapter XVIII
———M Me ie dace d a
1 The MSS. have 528, but this would be twenty-eight years before the accession of Mán(sAihar, see the synopsis in § 55.
Introduction. Xv
his father hears him accused of folly, and takes him to a Karap to be cured. In Chapter XIX the chief Karap comes to the house of Zaratüst's father, and is invited to consecrate the food set before him; but Zaratüst objects and a quarrel ensues, which so much disturbs the Karap that he leaves the house, and drops dead from his horse on the road home. In Chapter XX instances are given of Zaratüst's righteous desires, his compassionate assistance of people fording a river, his liberal disposition, his abandoning worldly desires, his pity for dogs, his wish for a good- looking wife, and his acceptance of progress even from the wicked, during his youth.
18. Chapter XXI relates that, at thirty years of age, on his way to the festival of spring, he saw in a vision all man- kind following MéZyómáh, his first cousin, into his presence. He then went on to the bank of the Dáitih, and crossed its four channels, when he met Vohümanó who led him to the assembly of the archangels, where he received instruction from Atharmazd and saw the omniscient wisdom; the archangels also subjected him to various ordeals.
I9. Chapter XXII refers to his conferences with the seven archangels, each at a different place, and extending over ten years. In Chapter XXIII, MéZyómáh is con- verted at the end of these ten years. The next two years are spent on the conversion of Vistásp, in which Zaratüst is assisted by some of the sacred beings, and the narrative ends by giving the dates of several other conversions, births, and deaths. But after its 300th- year the religion is dis- turbed and the monarchy contested ; referring, no doubt, to the effects of Alexander's conquest of Persia.
20. These three narratives appear to be the only con- nected statements of the Zoroastrian legend that remain extant in Pahlavi, and all three seem to be chiefly derived from the Sásánian Pahlavi version of the Spend Nask, with some probable additions from the similar version of the Kitradad Nask, as may be gathered from the summary accounts of the contents of these Nasks given in Dk. VIIT, xiii, 20-xiv, 15, and translated in S. B. E., vol. xxxvii, pp. 31-34. There are, however, allusions to other legends
xvi PAHLAVI TEXTS.
regarding Zaratûst to be found scattered about in Pahlavi literature, to which we shall return after mentioning the manuscript authorities for the texts translated in this volume.
21. The chief existing authority for the Pahlavi text of the DinkazZ, Books III-IX, and the only independent one for Book VII, is the MS. B in Bombay, which has been fully described in S. B. E., vol. xxxvii, pp. xxxiii-xxxvii ; it will therefore be sufficient here to give a short statement of the information which was there detailed at full length. This MS., written in 1659, was an unbound quarto volume of 392 folios when it was brought from Irán to Surat in 1783; after which time 70 folios became detached from various parts of the MS., but nearly all these had been discovered more than twenty years ago.
22. The writer of the MS. not only recorded the date of his own work, but also copied two previous colophons of his predecessors, with dates corresponding to A.D. 1516 and 1020, and it appears that there had been an intermediate copy about 1355. The MS. of 1020 had been copied at Bakdad, possibly from the original MS. of the last editor of the Dinkard, which must have been completed about A. D. goo,
23. For the text of Dk. V we have a second authority,
independent of B, in the MS. K43 at Kopenhagen (see
S. B. E., vol. xxxvii, pp. xxxvii-viii), written shortly after
1594 and also descended from the MS. of 1020.
24. The Selections of Zád-sparam are found in some of the old MSS., which also contain the Dázistán-i Dinik (see S.B. E, vol. xviii, pp. xv-xvii). Of the two MSS. used for the text of Zad-sparam’s Zaratüst-nàmak, K35 was brought from Irán to Kopenhagen in 1843. It has lost many folios, both at the beginning and end; but, before it was so mutilated, a copy (BK) of it was made, which is now in Bombay and contains a copy of its colophon, the date of which corresponds to A.D. 1592. For the text of Zs.: xxii, 4-xxiv, 19, which has been lost from K35, the translator is indebted to this old copy. The other MS. authority T, belonging to Ervad Tehmuras in Bombay
INTRODUCTION. xvii
— ——Á— a —rÓ———nóÓÁ— —Ó(ဗӗ— Ha P—— (Ga Ó
(a copy of which has been used), is dated two generations
earlier.
25. Regarding the period of Zad-sparam’s career we are well informed by the date of the third Epistle of Mânû- skihar, corresponding to A.D. 881, at which time Zad-sparam was probably in the prime of life; but his Selections were certainly compiled as late as A. D. 9oo, or about the same time as the completion of the DinkazZ. So that the Pahlavi texts, from which these three narratives of the Zoroastrian legends have been translated, were no doubt all written about A.D. goo, and the information they contain was nearly all derived from the Pahlavi versions of two of the Nasks.
