The ''Bundahishn'' (
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
: , "Primal Creation") is an encyclopedic collection of beliefs about
Zoroastrian cosmology
Zoroastrian or Iranian cosmology refers to the origins (cosmogony) and structure ( cosmography) of the cosmos in Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrian literature describing cosmographical beliefs include the Avesta (especially in its description of Avestan ...
written in the
Book Pahlavi
Book Pahlavi is the cursive variant of the Pahlavi scripts, Pahlavi script, which was derived from the Aramaic alphabet, Aramaic script during the Sasanian Empire, Sassanid period to write the Middle Persian, Middle Persian language. Book Pahlav ...
script. The original name of the work is not known. It is one of the most important extant witnesses to
Zoroastrian literature
Zoroastrian literature is the corpus of literary texts produced within the religious tradition of Zoroastrianism. These texts span the languages of Avestan, named after the famous Zoroastrian work known as the Avesta, and Middle Persian (Pahlavi), ...
in the
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
language.
Although the ''Bundahishn'' draws on the
Avesta
The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...
and develops ideas alluded to in those texts, it is not itself
scripture
Religious texts, including scripture, are texts which various religions consider to be of central importance to their religious tradition. They often feature a compilation or discussion of beliefs, ritual practices, moral commandments and ...
. The content reflects Zoroastrian scripture, which, in turn, reflects both ancient Zoroastrian and pre-Zoroastrian beliefs. In some cases, the text alludes to contingencies of post-7th century
Islam in Iran
The Arab conquest of Iran, which culminated in the fall of the Sasanian Empire to the nascent Rashidun Caliphate, brought about a monumental change in Iranian society by purging Zoroastrianism, which had been the Iranian nation's official and m ...
, and in yet other cases, such as the idea that the
Moon
The Moon is Earth's only natural satellite. It Orbit of the Moon, orbits around Earth at Lunar distance, an average distance of (; about 30 times Earth diameter, Earth's diameter). The Moon rotation, rotates, with a rotation period (lunar ...
is farther than the
star
A star is a luminous spheroid of plasma (physics), plasma held together by Self-gravitation, self-gravity. The List of nearest stars and brown dwarfs, nearest star to Earth is the Sun. Many other stars are visible to the naked eye at night sk ...
s.
Structure
The ''Bundahishn'' survives in two
recension
Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from the Latin ("review, analysis").
In textual criticism (as is the ...
s: an Indian and an Iranian version. The shorter version was found in India and contains only 30 chapters, and is thus known as the ''Lesser Bundahishn'', or ''Indian Bundahishn''. A copy of this version was brought to
Europe
Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
by
Abraham Anquetil-Duperron in 1762. A longer version was brought to
India
India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...
from
Iran
Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq to the west, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Armenia to the northwest, the Caspian Sea to the north, Turkmenistan to the nort ...
by T.D. Anklesaria around 1870, and is thus known as the ''Greater Bundahishn'' or ''Iranian Bundahishn'' or just ''Bundahishn''. The greater recension (the name of which is abbreviated ''GBd'' or just ''Bd'') is about twice as long as the lesser (abbreviated ''IBd''). It contains 36 chapters. The ''Bundahisn'' contains characteristics that fall under the rubric of different forms of
classification
Classification is the activity of assigning objects to some pre-existing classes or categories. This is distinct from the task of establishing the classes themselves (for example through cluster analysis). Examples include diagnostic tests, identif ...
s, including both as an encyclopedic text and as a text similar to
midrash
''Midrash'' (;["midrash"]
. ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary''. ; or ''midrashot' ...
.
[Domenico Agostini and Samuel Thrope. "What is the Bundahišn?: Genre and Zoroastrian Literature." Iran and the Caucasus 2020, 378-393.]
The traditionally given name seems to be an adoption of the sixth word from the first sentence of the younger of the two recensions.
The older of the two
recension
Recension is the practice of editing or revising a text based on critical analysis. When referring to manuscripts, this may be a revision by another author. The term is derived from the Latin ("review, analysis").
In textual criticism (as is the ...
s has a different first line, and the first translation of that version adopted the name ''Zand-Āgāhīh'', meaning "
Zand-knowing", from the first two words of its first sentence.
Most of the chapters of the compendium date to the 8th and 9th centuries, roughly contemporary with the oldest portions of the ''
Denkard
The ''Dēnkard'' or ''Dēnkart'' (Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭩𐭭𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭲 "Acts of Religion") is a 10th-century compendium of Zoroastrian beliefs and customs during the time. The ''Denkard'' has been called an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" an ...
'', which is another significant text of the "Pahlavi" (i.e. Zoroastrian
Middle Persian
Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...
) collection. The later chapters are several centuries younger than the oldest ones. The oldest existing copy dates to the mid-16th century.
The two recensions derive from different manuscript traditions, and in the portions available in both sources, vary (slightly) in content. The greater recension is also the older of the two, and was dated by West to around 1540. The lesser recension dates from about 1734.
Traditionally, chapter-verse pointers are in
Arabic
Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...
numerals for the lesser recension, and
Roman numerals
Roman numerals are a numeral system that originated in ancient Rome and remained the usual way of writing numbers throughout Europe well into the Late Middle Ages. Numbers are written with combinations of letters from the Latin alphabet, eac ...
for the greater recension. The two series' are not synchronous since the lesser recension was analyzed (by Duperron in 1771) before the extent of the greater recension was known. The chapter order is also different.
Content
The ''Bundahishn'' is the concise view of the Zoroastrianism's creation myth, and of the first battles of the forces of
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda (; ; or , ),The former is the New Persian rendering of the Avestan form, while the latter derives from Middle Persian. also known as Horomazes (),, is the only creator deity and Sky deity, god of the sky in the ancient Iranian ...
and
Angra Mainyu
Angra Mainyu (; ) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of the Spenta Mainyu, the "holy/creative spirits/mentality", or directly of Ahura Mazda, th ...
for the hegemony of the world. According to the text, in the first 3,000 years of the cosmic year, Ahura Mazda created the
Fravashi
Fravashi (, ) is the Avestan term for the Zoroastrian concept of a personal spirit of an individual, whether dead, living, or yet-unborn. The ''fravashi'' of an individual sends out the ''urvan'' (often translated as ' soul') into the material wo ...
s and conceived the idea of his would-be creation. He used the insensible and motionless Void as a weapon against Angra Mainyu, and at the end of that period, Angra Mainyu was forced to submission and fell into a stupor for the next 3,000 years. Taking advantage of Angra Mainyu's absence, Ahura Mazda created the
Amesha Spentas (Bounteous Immortals), representing the primordial elements of the material world, and permeated his kingdom with ''Ard'' (
Asha
''Asha'' () or ''arta'' (; ) is a Zoroastrian concept with a complex and highly nuanced range of meaning. It is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of 'truth' and 'right' (or 'righteousness'), 'order' and 'right wor ...
), "Truth" in order to prevent Angra Mainyu from destroying it. The ''Bundahishn'' finally recounts the creation of the primordial bovine, Ewagdad (Avestan
Gavaevodata
Gavaevodata (') is the Avestan language name of the primordial bovine of Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology, one of Ahura Mazda's six primordial material creations and the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life.
T ...
), and Keyumars (Avestan
Keyumaretan), the primordial human.
Following MacKenzie,
[.] the following chapter names in quotation marks reflect the original titles. Those without quotation marks are summaries of chapters that have no title. The chapter/section numbering scheme is based on that of B.T. Anklesaria
[.] for the greater recension, and that of West
[.] for the lesser recension. The chapter numbers for the greater recension are in the first column and in Roman numerals, and the chapter numbers for the lesser recension are in the second column, and are noted in Arabic numerals and in parentheses.
Zoroastrian astronomy
Excerpt from Chapter 2:- On the formation of the luminaries.
1. Ohrmazd produced illumination between the sky and the earth, the
constellation
A constellation is an area on the celestial sphere in which a group of visible stars forms Asterism (astronomy), a perceived pattern or outline, typically representing an animal, mythological subject, or inanimate object.
The first constellati ...
stars and those also not of the constellations, then the moon, and afterwards the sun, as I shall relate.
2. First he produced the
celestial sphere
In astronomy and navigation, the celestial sphere is an abstract sphere that has an arbitrarily large radius and is concentric to Earth. All objects in the sky can be conceived as being projected upon the inner surface of the celestial sphere, ...
, and the constellation stars are assigned to it by him; especially these twelve whose names are
Varak (the Lamb),
Tora
Tora or TORA may refer to:
People
* Tora (given name), female given name
* Tora (surname)
* Tora people of Arabia and northern Africa
* Torá language, an extinct language once spoken in Brazil
Places
* Tora, Benin, in Borgou Department
* T ...
(the Bull),
Do-patkar (the Two-figures or Gemini),
Kalachang (the Crab),
Sher (the Lion),
Khushak (Virgo),
Tarazhuk (the Balance),
Gazdum (the Scorpion),
Nimasp (the Centaur or Sagittarius),
Vahik (Capricorn),
Dul (the Water-pot), and
Mahik (the Fish);
3. which, from their original creation, were divided into the
twenty-eight subdivisions of the astronomers, of which the names are Padevar, Pesh-Parviz, Parviz, Paha, Avesar, Beshn, Rakhvad, Taraha, Avra, Nahn, Miyan, Avdem, Mashaha, Spur, Husru, Srob, Nur, Gel, Garafsha Varant, Gau, Goi, Muru,
Bunda, Kahtsar, Vaht, Miyan, Kaht.
4. And all his original creations, residing in the world, are committed to them; so that when the destroyer arrives they overcome the adversary and their own persecution, and the creatures are saved from those adversities.
5. As a specimen of a warlike army, which is destined for battle, they have ordained every single constellation of those 6480 thousand small stars as assistance; and among those constellations
four chieftains, appointed on the four sides, are leaders.
6. On the recommendation of those chieftains the many unnumbered stars are specially assigned to the various quarters and various places, as the united strength and appointed power of those constellations.
7. As it is said that
Tishtar is the chieftain of the east,
Sataves the chieftain of the west,
Vanand
Vanand () is the area of historic Armenia that roughly corresponds to the Kars Province of present-day Turkey. Named after the Armenian family of Vanandi (derived from the Bulgar chieftain Vund), it was a principality of the Kingdom of Arme ...
the chieftain of the south, and
Haptoring the chieftain of the north.
Translations
* Domenico Agostini & Samuel Thrope (ed, trans), ''The Bundahišn: The Zoroastrian Book of Creation'', Oxford University Press 2020
*
See also
* ''
Dove Book
''The Verse About the Book of the Dove'' or ''Dove Book'' () is a medieval . At least 20 versions are known. They vary in length from 30 to over 900 lines. The poem is generally thought to have been written in the Veliky Novgorod, Novgorod regi ...
'', a
medieval Russian poem sharing striking similarities with the ''Bundahishn''
References
Further reading
*
*
* .
* Kassock, Zeke J.V., (2013), ''The Greater Iranian Bundahishn: A Pahlavi Student's 2013 Guide'',
*
A translation of the Iranian or Greater Bundahišnby Anklesaria, Behramgore Tehmuras (1956) at Avesta.org
at
TITUS
Titus Caesar Vespasianus ( ; 30 December 39 – 13 September AD 81) was Roman emperor from 79 to 81. A member of the Flavian dynasty, Titus succeeded his father Vespasian upon his death, becoming the first Roman emperor ever to succeed h ...
An edition of the Indian ''Bundahishn'' in the original Pahlavi with German translation, by Ferdinand Justi (1868) at the
Internet Archive
The Internet Archive is an American 501(c)(3) organization, non-profit organization founded in 1996 by Brewster Kahle that runs a digital library website, archive.org. It provides free access to collections of digitized media including web ...
An edition of the Pahlavi text from 1908 edited by Ervad Tahmuras Dinshaji Anklesaria
External links
{{Zoroastrianism
Middle Persian literature
Zoroastrian texts
Persian encyclopedias