When Qobâd had established himself on the throne, he bestowed various favours on Soukher—whom Persian historians call Souqer—and left him in charge of all important matters as hitherto. The consequence of this step, however, was that the Persians began to consult in all affairs Soukher alone, whom they esteemed more than the king, so that nothing but the name of sovereign was left to Qobâd. This state of affairs naturally displeased the monarch, and he revealed his intention of amending it to Shâpur Sapabud, who was a man of great intelligence, and the latter replied: ‘Let the king be comforted, for I shall to-morrow remove this disquietude from his mind.’ Accordingly the next day Shâpur quarrelled on some subject with Soukher, in the presence of Qobâd, which altercation ended with the imprisonment of Soukher, and a few days afterwards he suffered capital punishment by order of the king.
After ten years had elapsed of the reign of Qobâd, a man from Estakhar [Persepolis], named Mazdak, made his appearance, and desired to found a new religion. The details of this affair are as follows: Mazdak, having been presented to Qobâd, introduced himself as a prophet, made a cellar under a fire temple, communicating with the fire by means of an aperture, and secreted a man underground. He stated to Qobâd that his miracle consisted in causing the fire to speak to him. The king went to the temple, and Mazdak, addressing the fire in his presence, received answers. The king was deceived, and, becoming a disciple of Mazdak, made profession of his religion, the tenets of which were as follows: All possessions and females were the common property of the people; sexual intercourse among relatives was made licit in all degrees of consanguinity; but the killing of animals and the eating of their flesh was prohibited. Mazdak preached that all ought to be satisfied with vegetable food, eggs, milk and the like. He put on woollen garments, practised devotions, and gathered around himself many adherents among the destitute and reckless, whose numbers increased so much that they became powerful, and the profligate among them drew rich women into their meshes, and accumulated much property, so that no infant was certain who was his father, and no man could trust in the safety of his property.
It is related that one day Mazdak asked Qobâd to give him the mother of Naushirvân; the king agreed, but his son kissed the hands and feet of Mazdak until he desisted from his request. When the corruptions of Mazdak had greatly spread in the world, the chiefs and grandees of Persia unanimously removed Qobâd from the government, and installed his brother Jâmasp on the throne.