The ''Epistles of Manushchihr'' (Minocher) ( fa, نامههای منوچهر) are a response to comments made by the author's brother on the subject of purification in
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, du ...
.
When
Zadsparam, who was the
high priest
The term "high priest" usually refers either to an individual who holds the office of ruler-priest, or to one who is the head of a religious caste.
Ancient Egypt
In ancient Egypt, a high priest was the chief priest of any of the many gods rever ...
of
Sirjan
Sirjan ( fa, سيرجان, also Romanized as Sīrjān; formerly Sa‘īdābād) is a city and the capital of Sirjan County, Kerman Province,in the south of Iran. According to the 2016 census, its population was 324,103 in 95,357 families. Sirjan ...
which is located near
Kerman
Kerman ( fa, كرمان, Kermân ; also romanization of Persian, romanized as Kermun and Karmana), known in ancient times as the satrapy of Carmania, is the capital city of Kerman Province, Iran. At the 2011 census, its population was 821,394, in ...
, proposed certain new precepts, the public were not ready for change and were very unsatisfied. Therefore, they decided to complain to the high priest's older brother
Manuschchihr, who was the high priest of Kerman.
In response, Manushchihr issued three
epistle
An epistle (; el, ἐπιστολή, ''epistolē,'' "letter") is a writing directed or sent to a person or group of people, usually an elegant and formal didactic letter. The epistle genre of letter-writing was common in ancient Egypt as par ...
s in the issue:
#A reply to the complaining people
#an expostulation with his brother
#a public decree condemning the new precepts of his younger brother as unlawful innovations.
The first epistle is dated March 15, 881; the third is dated June–July 881. This book contains almost 9000 words. Manushchihar is the author of another major
Pahlavi book named the '
Dadestan-i Denig
' ( "Religious Judgments") or ' ( "Book of Questions") is a 9th-century Middle Persian work written by Manuščihr, who was high priest of the Persian Zoroastrian community of Pārs and Kermān, son of Juvānjam and brother of Zādspram. The ...
'.
External links
English translationPahlavi original
Zoroastrian texts
9th-century books
{{Zoroastrianism-book-stub