SUMMARY OF THE CONTENTS OF THE MAH ZEND.—It entitles the supreme Lord, Aharmuz, and acknowledges the existence, immateriality, and uncom­poundedness of his essence; accounting Bahmán the Great, the first-created being, who is also called Farvardín the Great, and looked upon and styled pure and uncompounded; from him was derived Ardibehesht the Great, along with the sublime soul and body of the empyrean heaven; from Ardibehesht the Great proceeded Khurdád the Great; from him Tír the Great; from him Murdád the Great; from him Shahrîvar the Great; from him Mihr the Great; from him Abán the Great; from him Azar the Great; and from him Dai the Great; these are the lords of the heavens, and after Farvardin the Great, are accounted as the months as well as the heavens collectively. In all other points, speculative and practical, such as the protection of harmless creatures and the destruction of noxious animals, it agrees with the Dasátir . During the Ashkanian dynasty, the people conformed to the Kah Zend, but as Ardeshir was obedient to the second Sasán, he, in compliance with the Dasátir and Mah Zend, studiously avoided the destruction of harmless animals: for the Mah Zand is a portion of the Dasátir. After him, others adopted the Kah Zand. But Nushirvan, under the guidance of the contemporary Azar Sasán, although conforming to the Dasátir and Mah Zand, was during the whole of his life innocent of the crime of slaying harmless animals; his successors however followed the precepts of the Kah Zend, until the fifth Sasán,* having uttered imprecations against the people of Iran, they became the victims of privation and wretchedness.

The professors of the Abadíán faith say that Ahri­man was produced by Time: they also say that the angels and the heavens have existed, exist, and will continue to exist.* Moreover the belief of the Azar Húshengíáns or Yazdaníáns is, that although the faith of Zardusht prevailed universally from the time of Gushtasp to that of Yezdejird, yet that the different intervening princes glossed it over and made it agree with the Azar Hushengíán or Mahabadíán system, so as never to sanction the destruction of animal life; and as they held the words of Zardusht to be figura­tive, they never put them in practice literally when they contradicted the Azar Hushengíán faith, but invariably glossed them over.

This statement proves that Ardeshir Babegan and the other Sasáníán princes showed great reverence to the Azar Sasáníán family and paid them implicit obedience, as being truly the ministers and wor­shippers of the Lord; they besides accounted them as the legitimate sovereigns, regarding themselves merely as their lieutenants: in short, when the Azar Sasáníáns ceased to reign, they exercised the government in their stead. However the Azar Sasá­níáns followed no faith except that of Máhábád, receiving no other without the requisite glosses, and attaching no esteem whatever to the external import of Zardusht's precepts: that is, regarding his words as true, but holding their external import as figura­tive. The Behdiníáns also maintain that such was the system adopted by the kings of old, particularly by Dárá, Dáráb, Bahmán, Isfendiár, and Lohrásp.

The present seems the proper time for stating some of the enigmatical sayings ascribed to the Magians or followers of Zardusht, as philosophy is guarded by such expressions from falling into the hands of the ignorant, whilst the sages thereby attain their object.

It is well known that according to their system the world had two creators, Yazdan (the Lord), and Ahriman: but the Lord having entertained this evil thought, “Perhaps an antagonist may rise up to oppose me,” Ahriman was produced from that thought.* In some places it is mentioned that God was alone, and gloom having come over him, he entertained an evil suspicion, on which Ahriman was produced. They say that Ahriman, who was outside the world, on looking through a small aper­ture, and beholding the Lord surrounded with glory and majesty, bore him envy and raised up wicked­ness and corruption. God then created the angels to be his host, and with them fought against Ahri­man; but being unable to destroy him, they made peace with each other on this condition: that Ahri­man should remain in the world during a definite period; and on his departure it should become the abode of unalloyed good.*

Jamásp, the venerable sage, says thus: “It is to be remarked that ‘world’ is a metaphorical expression for body; and ‘God,’ for the aspiration of the spirit; ‘Ahriman,’ for the physical temperement; ‘the evil thought,’ the habitual bias of the soul to material objects; by ‘the wickedness and corruption of Ahriman, and his war,’ are implied the domination of the sensual passions over spirit; and what they said of ‘the terrestrial world,’ means the same; by ‘the creation of angels,’ the existence of praiseworthy qualities and perseverance in pure morals, with the subjugation of the senses by means of religious austerities, for the senses con­stitute the gratuitous foes of the heart; by ‘peace,’ is signified the impossibility of expelling by one effort the evil propensities which are the armies of Iblis; that is, excess and extravagance are to be avoided, and the path of moderation followed; the circumstance of ‘Ahriman's remaining in the world for a definite period,’ means the ascendancy and supremacy of the bodily passions, particularly in early years, and before arriving at mature reflec­tion, and even during other periods of this mortal life, in certain constitutions; ‘the departure of Ahri­man from the world’ implies voluntary death, or religious austerities, or compulsory death, which is the natural decease; when the soul has by such means been emancipated, it finds itself adorned with perfections and attains to its particular sphere or bliss without alloy.”

They have said: “Darkness besieged Light and imprisoned it; on which event the angels having come to the assistance of Light, Darkness demanded help from Ahriman, its source; but the angels having overcome the prince of Dark­ness, gave him a respite until the appointed hour and the predestined death.” As to Darkness having arisen from the evil thought of Light, the venerable sage Jamasp says: “The interpretation of this tradition is the same as that of the pre­ceding; as thus: The soul is a precious substance, formed from light; its darkness, the bodily pas­sions; its confinement and imprisonment, the dominion of the passions over that luminous essence, which drag down the souls of the wicked to the desolation of the lower world; the assistance of angels, is the obtaining of grace and power through elevation of mind, proceeding from illu­mination from on high, and the ascent of the spirit to the world of intellect; delay or respite implies the continuance of the passions until the period of natural death; and the corrupt thought the bias of the soul to material objects.”

Dáwar Haryár, the author of the Dáráí Sekandur, having once questioned the author concerning the enigmatical meanings attached to the words God and Ahriman, received this answer: “Light is the same as existence, and darkness signifies non-ex­istence; God is therefore light or existence, and Ahriman is darkness or non-existence. When it is said that Ahriman is opposed to God, the mean­ing is, that God is existence, the opposite to which is non-existence.

They say that the creation and production of diseases, serpents, scorpions, and such like is an abominable act, originating with Ahriman, which Jamásp thus explains: “It is evident that diseases, such as ignorance, folly, pride, negligence, noxious creatures, (such as) anger, lust, strong passions, concupiscence, calumny, envy, malignity, covet­ousness, treachery, fraud, and the like, arise not from spirit, but from the elemental constitution.” They have also said: “An angel is the agent of good, and Ahriman the agent of evil; and that God is exempt from both these acts; which the celebrated sage Jamásp thus explains:—By angel is implied spirit and the agent of good; which, if it overcome the senses, engages man in virtuous words and acts, which are styled ‘good.’ Ahri­man, or Satan, in this place means the desires inherent in the constitution of the senses, which, on obtaining the victory over spirit, attract it towards the pleasures of sense, thus making it for­get its original abode; which is denominated ‘evil:’ and as the Almighty has given his creatures free will, neither are their good or evil deeds to be imputed to him.” This saying: That the soul of him who has done evil, having determined on flight through fear of divine wrath, plunges downwards, is thus explained by the sage Jamasp: “By ‘sin­ner ’ is understood one whose essence is defec­tive; by ‘descent,’ turning away from the superior to corporeal attachments; by ‘resolving on flight,’ the strong desires of passion, through the sugges­tion of body, until the entire departure of divine grace.”

Thus far extend the illustrations of the sage Jamásp. But that the scope of Zardusht is couched under allegories agrees with the declaration made by the great Bahman, the son of Isfendiár, the son of king Gushtásp, who says: “Zardusht once said to me: ‘My father and mother delivered me to nurses, who dwelt in a place far remote from the city of my birth; with these I remained many a long year, until I quite forgot my father, mother, and native town. Suddenly this thought came over my mind—Who are my parents, and where the place of my birth?—I struggled hard until I returned naked and bare the way by which I had come; and having gained my house and beheld my father and mother, I returned again to the place where my nurses dwelt. As the dress worn by the people of this country was on my person, I shall therefore remain here until this dress is worn out, and then depart, in order that it may not be said—He was unable to perform his office and has run away, leaving our despised garments.’”

Bahman, the son of Isfendiár, thus says: “All that Zardusht uttered was enigmatical: the ‘city and native place’ are the angelic world; by ‘father,’ is meant the primary intelligence; and by ‘mother,’ the universal soul; ‘the nurses,’ this lower world and junction with body; ‘forgetting the original abode,’ attachment to the elements of body; ‘recalling it to memory,’ implies the struggle towards that direction; ‘the arriving there,’ means religious austerities; ‘the state of nakedness,’ the divesting one's self of bodily attachments; ‘the returning back to the nurses,’ means resuming the body; ‘that it may not be said that he was alarmed at the performance of duty, and ran off, leaving his clothes behind; I shall not therefore depart from hence, until these clothes be worn out;—the per­formance of duty,’ signifies the amassing of the capital of knowledge, true faith, and good works; by ‘the clothes being worn out,’ is implied the sepa­ration of the bodily members; that is, I will remain here as long as the body lasts, and after its dissolution return to my native place.”

Prince Isfendiár, the son of king Gushtásp, also tells us: “Zardusht once said to me: ‘A number of persons once left their native place for the pur­pose of acquiring wealth, that on their return they might pass their time in pleasure and enjoy­ment. On arriving at the city of their destina­tion, some of them amassed wealth; some devoted themselves to wandering about the place and contemplating the beauties with which it abounded; whilst others remained altogether inactive. When the time of packing up came, the king of that people said—Depart from hence, that another set may arrive, and obtain their portion, as you have done.—On which all these people went out, some provided with stores for the journey; some without any provision; a few on horseback; a multitude on foot; a wide desert lay before, and a toilsome road, through rocks and prickly thorns, devoid of cultivation, destitute of water and shade. Those who were on horseback and furnished with provisions passed over, and having reached their native city, gave themselves up to joy and gladness; those who were on foot, and had provided stores for the journey, after experiencing many ups and downs, at last, with extreme difficulty, reached their halting place, where they passed their time in a state of happiness proportioned to their gains, although, on instituting a com­parison between themselves and those inhabi­tants and dignified persons who had acquired opulence by commercial pursuits, they feel pangs of regret; but those who came out of the city without any kind of conveyance or stores, and thinking that without supplies they could reach their native place, when they had gone some little distance, became wearied and unable to proceed through weakness, and fatigue from walking, want of provisions, the difficulties of the road, distress, the sun's overpowering heat, and the gloom of night; they were forced by necessity to turn back to the city, where they had been; but other merchants had in the mean­time taken possession of the houses, dwellings, shops, and apartments which they formerly occupied: they were thus reduced to a state of destitution, and had no resource left but that of working for hire or turning mendicants, pur­suits which they adopted.’”

Isfendiar says: “‘The city from which they departed for the purposes of commerce’ is the angelic world; ‘that to which they came with the design of accumu­lating wealth’ is the lower world; ‘the houses, shops, etc.,’ signify the human body; ‘the people of the city’ are the animals, vegetables, and minerals; ‘the king,’ the elemental nature; ‘what the merchants have amassed’ are their words and deeds; ‘what others have collected’ is devotion without knowledge; ‘the inactive’ are those whose only pursuits were sleep, sensual gratification, etc.; ‘the exclamation of the king’ is Death, who expels them from the mansions of body; ‘the deserts and mountains,’ the extremes of heat and cold; ‘the equestrians’ are those who unite the speculative and practical; ‘the pedestrians, who were furnished with some provisions’ are those who adore God, but neither knew themselves nor the Lord; ‘they who are without provisions or conveyance’ are those destitute of knowledge and good works, who being unable to reach the angelic world, return in despair to the elemental world, forfeiting the rank they once possessed.”

The sage Shah Nasir Khusran says on this head:

“When any one travels this road for that important purpose,

He takes at least a loaf of bread under his arm:

How then canst thou, who hast no store, proceed up the mount,

From the centre of darkness to the zenith of Saturn?”

In some other parables of Zardusht, which are here noticed, he speaks thus: “When the travellers, in consequence of the want of stores and fatigue of walking, return back to the king's city, not finding their former beautiful mansions, they settle themselves in caverns or lanes, hiring themselves as labourers or subsisting on alms.”

Esfendiar says: “By this is understood, that when they quit this mortal frame, they cannot reach the world on high, owing to their want of knowledge and good works; being thus rejected, on their return to the elemental world, they cannot obtain human bodies, but are invested with the forms of the brute creation.” As this parable nearly resembles what has been heretofore men­tioned, it is unnecessary to describe it more in detail.

“When thou departest from the inn of the body, there is no other storehouse;

Why dost thou not therefore procure supplies for the road in this place of sojourn?”

Isfendiar also records: “Zardusht once said: ‘Two persons of one house were partners, and were both possessed of great capital; they said: —We have gained a sufficient stock of wealth in the world, and live and dress in a manner suitable to our great riches; we now only want some beloved object, that our existence may be more blissful: therefore, to attain our desire, it will be necessary to undertake a journey. They directed their course to a city, the inhabitants of which were famed for beauty and graceful­ness; on arriving there with the caravan, one of the partners gave himself up to traversing the gardens, and was so absorbed in admiring the beauties of the city, that he attended to no business whatever, whilst the other partner obtained a mistress of exquisite beauty. All of a sudden the garden-door was closed.’”

Isfendiar says “Záíd and Amru* may serve as an example of the two friends; ‘the capital and stock,’ the original world; ‘the city of beauteous persons,’ this world; ‘the desirable beloved object,’ good works; ‘the rapacious animals, reptiles, and beasts’ are anger, lust, excessive desire, hatred, envy, con­cupiscence, malignity, and avarice; ‘the herbage and gardens’ are sloth and pride; ‘the garden-door ,’ the dakhmah (or sepulchral vault); ‘the urn,’ the grave, or the place of burying the dead; ‘shutting the garden-door’ the moment of death.”

His reasons for enumerating the urn, dakhmah, and grave are, that according to the faith of Azur Húshang, or Máhábád, they sometimes put the body of the deceased into a jar of aqua-fortis, as among them the body is deposited indifferently either in the dakhmah or the jar: but the sepulchre is in use among the people of Room, and the funeral pile among those of Hindustan.

King Gushtásp also relates the following parable of Zardusht: “A certain man delivered his son to a preceptor, saying: ‘Within such a time teach this boy the accomplishments necessary for a courtier.’ The boy, however, through a fond­ness for pleasure, sport, and amusements, was unwilling to give himself any trouble, and was slow in learning any thing; he however every day secretly brought from home sweetmeats and agreeable objects, as his tutor had a great inclina­tion for such enjoyments. When the preceptor's time had passed in this manner, and his pupil had become habituated to revelling, sensual pleasures, and enjoyments, the tutor at last fell dangerously indisposed through these excesses, and laid him­self down on the bed of death. His pupil well knew he had no other place left, and that he must return to his parents, so that when his master fell sick, he became sensible of his own state. Through dread of his father, shame of his mother, the disgrace of ignorance, and a sense of contrition, he went not near them, but pined in melancholy and wandered about in obscurity.”

This parable has been thus explained by Gushtásp: “‘The preceptor’ signifies the five senses; ‘the son,’ the immortal spirit; ‘the father,’ the universal intelligence; ‘the mother,’ the universal soul; ‘the sweetmeats and mistresses,’ worldly enjoyments; ‘the indispensable necessity of the immortal spirit,’ that it should, through the senses and the common reflection which is their instructor, attain the objects of intellect and amass provisions for its return, so that it may become the associate of the only true king. If this purpose be not effected, it of course feels terror at the death of the body. When it has become thus biassed to sensual plea­sures and devoid of all goodness, on being sepa­rated from the body, although still possessed of sufficient energy for mounting on high, yet through shame and confusion, it feels no desire of arriving there and beholding its parents, soul and intel­lect.”

The venerable Húryár once said to the author: “I have seen the following narrative in the Rama­zastán of Zardusht: ‘The prime minister to the sovereign of the world had so many sons, that their number surpassed all computation; these he first sent to a place of education, where, along with the children of Rayas (cultivators), they might attain knowledge. If the minister's sons became intelligent, the Dustúr summoned them to his presence, and enrolled them among the king's confidential servants; but if they remained without science, they were not regarded as the Vizir's sons, but classed among the Rayas; were not permitted to come into his presence; and were cut off from all share in their father's inheritance.”

The author replied: “It occurs to me that, by the king of the world,’ is meant the supreme God without equal; by ‘vizir,’ the primary intelli­gence; and by ‘the sons of the vizir,’ the souls endowed with reason; by ‘school,’ the elemental world, and the bodies formed of the elements; and by ‘the children of the common people’ the cor­poreal senses and passions.”

When the immortal spirits have acquired knowledge in this place of education, their father, “Uni­versal Intelligence,” brings them near himself, and advances them to the rank of holding inter­course with the Lord of Eternity: but the souls which do not acquire knowledge in this school are not allowed access to the world of uncompounded beings, the abode of the Universal Intelligence, and remain banished from the presence of the Creator of the world; so that they make no advance from the material bodies of this abode of the elements, which hold the rank of Rayas, but are excluded from all share in the inheritance of the primary intelligence or the acquisition of knowledge.

Zardusht has also said: “In the upper regions there exists a mighty ocean, from the vapors of which a great mirage appears in this lower world: so that nothing save that illusion subsists here; exactly as nothing besides that ocean exists in the world on high.”

The revered ruler of Húryár, having asked the author the meaning of this parable, received this answer: “‘The mighty ocean’ means the absolute essence and pure existence of God; ‘the mirage’ implies contingent existences, which in truth exist not, but appear to do so, through the inherent property of God's absolute existence; according to this view, he has said: ‘From the vapors of that ocean has arisen the mirage.’”

It is recorded in the books composed by Zar­dusht's followers, and also in the ancient histories of Iran, that at the period of Arjásp's second inva­sion of Balkh, king Gushtasp was partaking of the hospitality of Zál, in Sistan, and Isfendiar was a prisoner in Dazh Gambadán; and that Lohorásp, notwithstanding the religious austerities he per­formed through divine favor, laid aside the robes of mortality in battle, after which the Turks took the city. A Turk named Turbaratur, or Turbaraturhash, having entered Zardusht's oratory, the prophet received martyrdom by his sword. Zardusht, how­ever, having thrown at him the rosary (Shumar Afin, or Yád Afráz) which he held in his hand, there pro­ceeded from it such effulgent splendor, that its fire fell on Turburatur and consumed him.*