Shikand-gumanic Vichar
Encyclopedia
Shikand-gumanic Vichar is a Zoroastrian theology book of 9th century Iran, written by Mardan-Farrukh. Part apology
, part polemic
, the book contains nascent elements of an academic discipline
: comparative religion
.
using the Pahlavi script. Its title Shkand-Gumanik Vichar has been rendered Analytical Treatise for the Dispelling of Doubts, or Decisive Solution for Doubts. A published text, as translated into English, runs 135 pages.
The Muslim conquest
of his native Persia was completed by 651 C.E.
Based on references made in his book to the then editions of other Zoroastrian works (e.g., the Dinkart
), Mardan Farrukh has been dated to the 9th century. "[I]t is evident that he lived after the time of Roshan, son of Atur-frobag, son of Farukh-zad. ...Abalis, the Zandik
, had a religious deputation with Atur-frobag, son of Farukh-zad, in the presence of the Kalifah
Al-Mamun who reigned A.D. 813-833."
Near the beginning of his book he states, "[T]his composition is provided by me, who am Mardan-farukh son of Auharmazd-dad." He goes on to say, "I have been fervent-mindedly, at all times in my whole youthful career, an enquirer and investigator of the truth." He declares, "The possession of the truth is the one power of the faithful, through the singleness of truth."
Apparently Mardan-Farrukh the author was young, earnest, well-traveled and committed. He was ably acquainted with his own religion, both its writings and the views of its authorities; also he was conversant with other systems of belief. Among Zoroastrian authors of the Pahlavi period, Mardan-Farrux can best lay "claim to being considered a philosopher." A practicing layman who drew on priestly Zoroastrian books in the Pahlavi
, his work "is distinguished by its clarity of thought and orderly arrangement." It creates a "rationalist and philosophic climate."
In the first half of his book, Mardan-Farrukh provides his version of the prevailing Zoroastrian response to issues of theodicy
(chapters 1-4 and 7-10). As he sees it, the acute moral quandary is how and why a wise and powerful God would create a world that seemingly has turned out so imperfect, which can at times appear merciless and cruel to creatures living in it. He outlines what might be called a dualist ethical metaphysics and a cosmology. In his remaining pages, the author discusses critically other neighboring religions. He addresses (chapters 11 and 12) the doctrines of the Qur'an
, and later those of the Bible
, both the Hebrew scriptures (chapters 13 and 14), as well as the Gospels (chapter 15). Earlier materialists (atheists or sophists) had been discussed and dismissed (chapters 5 and 6). He concludes with an adverse review of the brand of dualist theology particular to the Manichees (chapter 16). In a limited sense his work might be described as a nascent, adumbrated forerunner of comparative religion
studies with the understanding, of course, that it is rendered from the view point of a 9th-century Zoroastrian.
R. C. Zaehner gives this description of Mardan-Farrukh's Shkand-Gumänïg Vichär:
The Škand-gumanik Vičār was translated first into Sanskrit
c. 1100, for the benefit of the Parsi
s (the Zoroastrians of India). Modernly, the book has been translated into several European languages.
Mardan-Farrukh provides a summary of Zoroastrian doctrine. This view presents Ohrmazd
, the Creator of the world, being opposed by and contested by the satanic Ahriman
. The author justifies this belief by pointing to the universal presence of good vis-à-vis bad everywhere in the world, e.g., "darkness and light, knowledge and ignorance, perfume and stench, life and death, sickness and health, justice and disorder, slavery and freedom... visible in every country and land at all times." These distinct opposites are not of function, like that of the male and female, sun and moon, but rather are of the essence. "For where there is good there cannot possibly be evil. Where light is admitted darkness is driven away." Thus the antagonistic pairing prevalent everywhere springs from the opposing natures of Ohrmazd and Ahriman. "The material world is the effect of the spiritual, and the spiritual is its cause."
Accordingly, the wise and powerful Ohrmazd is not the maker of the evil that blights creation. "There is one dogma on which [Mardan-Farrukh] firmly takes his stand: God is good." Rather the Zoroastrians teach that it is his antagonist Ahriman who has corrupted the creation. The late Zoroastrian Dastur
, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla
, writes:
Mardan-Farrukh observes that if Ohrmazd and Ahriman had created the world together or in cooperation, then Ohrmazd would be "an accomplice and confederate with Ahriman in the harm and evil which ever arise."
Prior to creation Ohrmazd exists "fully complete in his own self", such that "his perfection consists in his having no need for any advantage or increase" from the outside. Hence when he created the world it was not to obtain "any advantage or aggrandizement". Yet Ohrmazd being "wise and sagacious" his actions "cannot be irrational or unmotivated". "We must conclude," continues Mardan-Farrukh, "that the reason and occasion" for the creation of the world was "to repel and ward off" his external adversary Ahriman and defeat the evil he intends; "this is the whole reason and occasion for the act of creation."
Ohrmazd's strategy is that the good creation will act as a trap to capture Ahriman and neutralize his evil. Ahriman being aggressive, rash and ignorant (he "does not know the final outcome"), as against the thoughtful and prudent Ohrmazd, certainly the ultimate result will be the triumph of good; undoubtedly creation will be restored. The entire cosmic process from the original creation by Ohrmazd and the attack by Ahriman, until the triumphant rehabilitation of physical goodness of creation, lasts twelve thousand years. Along with the Amesha Spenta
, humankind plays a vital rôle in the defeat of Druj (the Lie) and victory of Asha
(the Truth).
Mardan-Farrukh notes, "The duty of the creature is to understand and perform the will of the creator, and to abstain from what is disliked by him." To do so "is to preserve the soul." The will of the creator is known through his religion. From its care "for the soul are manifested [its] grandeur" and value, and "the compassion and [mercy] of the sacred being."
An example of inevitable knowledge is "once one is one, and twice two is four" and within the inevitable it is not possible to say that sometime or someplace twice two will be five or three. Knowledge by analogy announces something invisible derived from the visible through similarity or resemblance, e.g., from the presence of a thing made one may infer the absent maker. Information about what is possible and fit to exist seems to rely on the trustworthiness and good character of the person testifying. This attention to methods (logic, analogy
and inference, testimony
, and tangible evidence) demonstrates some respectful rigor and craft in persuasion.
As would be expected given his prior chapters on theodicy
, he faults the type of monotheism
practiced by Islam because it posits an all-powerful Deity who creates the world and apparently the evil in it, so that (as he puts it) "good works and crime, truth and falsehood, life and death, good and evil are owing to him." Mardan-Farrukh alludes to passages in the Qur'an where it seems to say that the Deity may lead people astray. Relentlessly from different points of view and using various illustrations, Mardan-Farrukh asks why the sacred being, with Divine wisdom and concern for the happiness of humankind, would have chosen freely to create the world as it is, a dangerous and contentious realm where evil exists and people suffer. That is, if "no opponent or adversary of his existed" then by reason the sacred being would be the only party responsible for the calamities endured by humankind. Humans "with little knowledge and little wisdom... so far as they are able, do not let the lion and the wolf and other noxious creatures in among their own young ones... ." Yet then, "why has the merciful sacred being now let... the demons in upon his own... ?" When he placed Adam
in paradise, "why was not that garden
made by him fortified and strong, so that that deluder [Satan] could not have gotten into it?"
Similar issues were addressed by the Muslim writer Maulana Muhammad Ali
(1874–1951). He rejects as misinformed what he terms a popular idea that the Deity in Islam is maker of both good and evil. This false notion he traces to a long-ago "clash of Islam with Persian religious thought." Ali continues:
Notwithstanding, Mardan-Farrukh asks why (if no adversary like Ahriman
pre-existed as an independent source of evil) would the sacred being, who acts judiciously and desires universal "happiness and prosperity", come to create a world that results in "misery for multitudes of the innocent who are distressed, poor, necessitous, and sick." Moreover, Mardan-Farrukh insists on the logic that a solitary creator would imply ultimately a single source for all moral qualities; "if it be said that evil and crime arise from [Satan] or mankind, that implies, as they are likewise created and produced by the sacred being, that he is the source of them." Rather instead, for Zoroastrians the cause-of-evil Ahriman in origin and nature is completely independent of Ohrmazd
the sacred being; even now Ohrmazd is contending in the long-term but certain process by which he will defeat Ahriman with finality.
. Of creation out of nothing in six days, he asks: if God needed only to command and it arises, "to what was that delay of six days owing? ...the existence of that delay of six days is very ill-seeming." Accordingly, because of the use of time, "it is not fitting to speak of his producing [the world] from nothing." Continuing along these lines, Mardan-Farrukh says of the Biblical God, "It is manifest that he was not light," by inference from God's reaction to light following his creation of it. Mardan-Farrukh paraphrases from the Jewish Torah
, and concludes that regarding light God "considered it for the reason that he had not seen it before." Not stated here is that the Zoroastrian creator God, Ohrmazd, is essentially associated with light.
A narration in some detail he gives of the story of Adam and Eve
in the garden and their expulsion from it. Mardan-Farrukh notes that God made Adam and Eve and thus made their inclinations, and that God commanded them not to eat of a certain tree, yet nonetheless they disobeyed. For this reason, he observes of the Biblical God that his "will and command are inconsistent and unadapted, one to the other." Hence the Biblical God is "manifestly an opponent and adversary to his own will." Therefore, "to indulge in wrath about [Adam and Eve] is unreasonable." Mardan-Farrukh also finds fault with this story in that the curse of God on Adam affects everyone, "reaches unlawfully over people of every kind at various periods." In this vein, he states about the Biblical God, "This is what he says about his own nature, that is, 'I am the Lord, seeking vengeance, and retaliating vengeance, and I retaliate vengeance sevenfold upon the children, and one does not forget my original vengeance.'" In unspoken contrast would be the Zoroastrian Ohrmazd, "a wise Being whose actions were held to be wholly just and accessible to reason."
From a comparative perspective, a Jewish response to the Zoroastrian faith may be seen in the Book of Job
, which was written during or following a period of fruitful interaction between the Jews and the Zoroastrian Persians. In the Book of Job, the Biblical God allows Satan
to severely punish Job, even though Job has done no wrong to merit the abuse. The tragedy of innocent suffering is discussed without resolution by Job and by several friends who blame Job unjustly. Finally, an epiphany of ecstasy is visited on Job by the merciful Deity, in which Job comes to hear God and to realize with awe the Mystery, that God's ways are beyond the reckoning of humankind.
Mardan-Farrukh first questions the virgin birth, concluding skeptically "the origin of their religion has all come forth from the testimony of a woman, which was given about her own condition." He demonstrates a studied knowledge of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation
, although the premise of God taking the status of human being evokes no response, other than to call it "very strange". About the crucifixion
("death and execution on a tree") and its "resurrection" message for humankind, its 'brutality' and its "disgrace" offend Mardan-Farrukh. He questions why, from all the possible ways there are to signal human resurrection, God would want to choose to suffer such a death, if God is indeed omnipotent. If so, he asks why God did not make it "without doubt" and "clear knowledge" to humankind? Mardan-Farrukh continues, asking rhetorically if God chose such a death "through the will of his enemies" why does he curse them? Should they not be rewarded?
Mardan-Farrukh next challenges the doctrine of the Trinity
, "the father and son and pure wind". Yet he begins without finesse: "If it be proper for three to be one, that implies that it is certainly possible for three to be nine... ." He questions how a son could be equal to the father; then he discusses the trinity and the crucifixion. After a theodicean
analysis similar to his about Adam and Eve (see the Judaic section above), Mardan-Farrukh observes that "the sacred being himself created the executioners of his son," and concludes that these enemies then slew "the Messiah
, who is the son, through the will of the father." The author's interpretation here resembles aspects of the Christian heresy
fostered by the 2nd century gnostic Marcion. Mardan-Farrukh's analysis of free will in Christianity likewise (absent Ahriman) results in his ascribing to God responsibility for sins committed by humankind. Next he discusses St. Paul (Pâvarôs), quoting him thus, "Not the good works which I desire, but the iniquity which I do not desire, I do. And it is not I that do so, but that which is collected within me does it, because I always see that it is striving with me day and night." Mardan-Farrukh may well have associated St. Paul's feeling of an iniquity "within me" to Ahriman, for in the first half of the Shkand-Gumanik Vichar he states (as a proof of the existence of metaphysical evil), "[A] knowledge of the existence of an opponent of the creatures [i.e., Ahriman] is obtainable from the innermost recesses of the body of man... " which may be observed.
His critique of Christianity concludes with illustrations that seek to demonstrate a dualism partially embedded in Christian scriptures, or as he says, "The word of the Messiah is specially inconsistently a demonstrator as regards the two original evolutions" [of Ohrmazd and of Ahriman]. "[T]hey say, from the words of the Messiah, that the original evolution from the sacred being is light and goodness; evil and darkness are separate from him." Mardan-Farrukh quotes the Messiah, speaking to his human opponents:
Mardan-Farrukh immediately adds, "By these sayings it is demonstrated by him that there are two original evolutions" [of Ohrmazd and of Ahriman], one which produces the Messiah, and one producing his opponents.
Next the parable of the tree that bears good fruit is given: "[F]or every tree becomes manifest by its fruit, if it be of merit and if it be of offensiveness." Again he quotes the Messiah: "[E]very tree which the father has not sown should be dug up, and should be cast into the fire." Mardan-Farrukh concludes, "Wherefore it is fitting to understand from these words that there is a tree, which the father has not sown; that it is necessary to dig up and cast away." Apparently our author is indicating an analogy to the cosmic contention between good and evil of Zoroastrian teaching, so that here Ohrmazd will surely dig up and cast away trees sown by Ahriman.
Finally, Mardan-Farrukh quotes the Messiah: "Our father, that art in the sky, let thy empire arise! And may it be thy will that shall take place on earth as in the sky! Also give us daily bread! And do not bring us to a cause of doubt!" He then continues: "From these words it is evident that his will is not so unalloyed on earth as in the sky. Also this, that the cause of doubt of mankind is not owing to the sacred being." So does the author work to appropriate to the Zoroastrian dualist view the words of the Christian Messiah, i.e., that Ahriman has corrupted the earth and injected doubt into mankind.
. Some atheists are said to believe "that there is no reward for good works, no punishment of sin, no heaven and hell, and no stimulator of good works and crime. Besides this, that things are only worldly, and there is no spirit." Mardan-Farrukh responds "that to be made without a maker... is as impossible as to prepare what is written without a writer." As to "that there is no recompense of good works and punishment of crime" he responds that "no one whatever is seen that has come... from death back to life, and it is not possible to say so." Further, Mardan-Farrukh invokes what he calls in humankind "the manifestation of the maintenance of a hope for a supreme inspection over mankind, and indeed, over wild animals, birds, ad quadrupeds."
The sophist may argue that no distinctions can be made, as honey is sweet, but "bitter to those abounding in bile" or that bread is both pleasant "to the hungry and unpleasant to the surfeited." Yet the wise say, 'Even this statement of you sophists, about the jaundiced nature of everything, is alike jaundiced, and there is no truth in it."
Apologetics
Apologetics is the discipline of defending a position through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers Apologetics (from Greek ἀπολογία, "speaking in defense") is the discipline of defending a position (often religious) through the systematic use of reason. Early Christian writers...
, part polemic
Polemic
A polemic is a variety of arguments or controversies made against one opinion, doctrine, or person. Other variations of argument are debate and discussion...
, the book contains nascent elements of an academic discipline
Academic discipline
An academic discipline, or field of study, is a branch of knowledge that is taught and researched at the college or university level. Disciplines are defined , and recognized by the academic journals in which research is published, and the learned societies and academic departments or faculties to...
: comparative religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
.
The Author
What little is known of the person Mardan-Farrukh (Martānfarrux-i Ohrmazddātān) comes to us through the pages of his book, written in Middle IranianIranian languages
The Iranian languages form a subfamily of the Indo-Iranian languages which in turn is a subgroup of Indo-European language family. They have been and are spoken by Iranian peoples....
using the Pahlavi script. Its title Shkand-Gumanik Vichar has been rendered Analytical Treatise for the Dispelling of Doubts, or Decisive Solution for Doubts. A published text, as translated into English, runs 135 pages.
The Muslim conquest
Islamic conquest of Persia
The Muslim conquest of Persia led to the end of the Sassanid Empire in 644, the fall of Sassanid dynasty in 651 and the eventual decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Persia...
of his native Persia was completed by 651 C.E.
Common Era
Common Era ,abbreviated as CE, is an alternative designation for the calendar era originally introduced by Dionysius Exiguus in the 6th century, traditionally identified with Anno Domini .Dates before the year 1 CE are indicated by the usage of BCE, short for Before the Common Era Common Era...
Based on references made in his book to the then editions of other Zoroastrian works (e.g., the Dinkart
Denkard
The Dēnkard or Dēnkart is a 10th century compendium of the Mazdaen Zoroastrian beliefs and customs. The Denkard is to a great extent an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" and is a most valuable source of information on the religion...
), Mardan Farrukh has been dated to the 9th century. "[I]t is evident that he lived after the time of Roshan, son of Atur-frobag, son of Farukh-zad. ...Abalis, the Zandik
Zandik
Zandik was used in Sassanid Persia to denote "heretics", certainly the Manichaeans and possibly other heterodox groups such as the Mazdakites....
, had a religious deputation with Atur-frobag, son of Farukh-zad, in the presence of the Kalifah
Caliph
The Caliph is the head of state in a Caliphate, and the title for the ruler of the Islamic Ummah, an Islamic community ruled by the Shari'ah. It is a transcribed version of the Arabic word which means "successor" or "representative"...
Al-Mamun who reigned A.D. 813-833."
Near the beginning of his book he states, "[T]his composition is provided by me, who am Mardan-farukh son of Auharmazd-dad." He goes on to say, "I have been fervent-mindedly, at all times in my whole youthful career, an enquirer and investigator of the truth." He declares, "The possession of the truth is the one power of the faithful, through the singleness of truth."
"Now, as I have said above, I have always been earnestly anxious to know God and have been curious in searching out his religion and his will. In this spirit of inquiry I have traveled to foreign countries and (even) to India... for I did not choose my religion simply because I inherited it, but I wanted (only that religion) which was most firmly based on reason and evidence... ."
Apparently Mardan-Farrukh the author was young, earnest, well-traveled and committed. He was ably acquainted with his own religion, both its writings and the views of its authorities; also he was conversant with other systems of belief. Among Zoroastrian authors of the Pahlavi period, Mardan-Farrux can best lay "claim to being considered a philosopher." A practicing layman who drew on priestly Zoroastrian books in the Pahlavi
Middle Persian
Middle Persian , indigenously known as "Pârsig" sometimes referred to as Pahlavi or Pehlevi, is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as a...
, his work "is distinguished by its clarity of thought and orderly arrangement." It creates a "rationalist and philosophic climate."
His Book
The Shkand-gumanig Vizar of Mardan-Farrukh was written during an "intellectual renaissance of Zoroastrianism" which occurred "shortly before the rapid decline of Zoroastrianism, migrations to India, and conversions to Islam." Several reasons may account for its occurrence:"First, the times not only permitted but provoked such writings. Mu'tazilites, or Islamic free-thinkers, many of whom were Persians, had created an atmosphere of free debate and interest in philosophical and theological questions. ... Second, the Zoroastrians were losing ground and they passed from a militant defiance of Islam or the Arabs to an intellectual defensive. This may be seen in a number of apologetic works written at this time such as the Shkand Gumanik Vicar... .
In the first half of his book, Mardan-Farrukh provides his version of the prevailing Zoroastrian response to issues of theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
(chapters 1-4 and 7-10). As he sees it, the acute moral quandary is how and why a wise and powerful God would create a world that seemingly has turned out so imperfect, which can at times appear merciless and cruel to creatures living in it. He outlines what might be called a dualist ethical metaphysics and a cosmology. In his remaining pages, the author discusses critically other neighboring religions. He addresses (chapters 11 and 12) the doctrines of the Qur'an
Qur'an
The Quran , also transliterated Qur'an, Koran, Alcoran, Qur’ān, Coran, Kuran, and al-Qur’ān, is the central religious text of Islam, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God . It is regarded widely as the finest piece of literature in the Arabic language...
, and later those of the Bible
Bible
The Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
, both the Hebrew scriptures (chapters 13 and 14), as well as the Gospels (chapter 15). Earlier materialists (atheists or sophists) had been discussed and dismissed (chapters 5 and 6). He concludes with an adverse review of the brand of dualist theology particular to the Manichees (chapter 16). In a limited sense his work might be described as a nascent, adumbrated forerunner of comparative religion
Comparative religion
Comparative religion is a field of religious studies that analyzes the similarities and differences of themes, myths, rituals and concepts among the world's religions...
studies with the understanding, of course, that it is rendered from the view point of a 9th-century Zoroastrian.
R. C. Zaehner gives this description of Mardan-Farrukh's Shkand-Gumänïg Vichär:
This is in some ways the most interesting of all the Zoroastrian books since it presents a philosophical justification of Zoroastrian dualism in a more or less coherent form; and it further contains a detailed critique of the monotheistic creeds, Islam, Judaism, and Christianity as well as an attack on Zoroastrianism's dualistic rival, Manichaeanism."
The Škand-gumanik Vičār was translated first into Sanskrit
Sanskrit
Sanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
c. 1100, for the benefit of the Parsi
Parsi
Parsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
s (the Zoroastrians of India). Modernly, the book has been translated into several European languages.
Good vs evil
Regarding issues of theodicyTheodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
Mardan-Farrukh provides a summary of Zoroastrian doctrine. This view presents Ohrmazd
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
, the Creator of the world, being opposed by and contested by the satanic Ahriman
Angra Mainyu
Angra Mainyu is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive spirit". The Middle Persian equivalent is Ahriman.-In Zoroaster's revelation:...
. The author justifies this belief by pointing to the universal presence of good vis-à-vis bad everywhere in the world, e.g., "darkness and light, knowledge and ignorance, perfume and stench, life and death, sickness and health, justice and disorder, slavery and freedom... visible in every country and land at all times." These distinct opposites are not of function, like that of the male and female, sun and moon, but rather are of the essence. "For where there is good there cannot possibly be evil. Where light is admitted darkness is driven away." Thus the antagonistic pairing prevalent everywhere springs from the opposing natures of Ohrmazd and Ahriman. "The material world is the effect of the spiritual, and the spiritual is its cause."
Accordingly, the wise and powerful Ohrmazd is not the maker of the evil that blights creation. "There is one dogma on which [Mardan-Farrukh] firmly takes his stand: God is good." Rather the Zoroastrians teach that it is his antagonist Ahriman who has corrupted the creation. The late Zoroastrian Dastur
Dastur
A dastūr is a Zoroastrian high priest who has authority in religious matters and ranks higher than a Mobad or Herbad.In modern usage the term dastūr refers mostly to Parsi priests in India.-References:...
, Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla
Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla
Maneckji Nusserwanji Dhalla , also abbreviated M. N. Dhalla, was a Zoroastrian priest and religious scholar....
, writes:
"The author of the Shikand Gumanik Vijar, who is himself a dualist of the most pronounced kind, strongly urges in his polemics against other religions that good and evil can on no account have originated from one and the same source. Evil is considered to have as independent and complete existence as good; they are both primeval. They are so entirely separate from each other that neither good originates from evil, nor evil from good. Each one of them exists by itself, and entertains perpetual antagonism towards the other."
Mardan-Farrukh observes that if Ohrmazd and Ahriman had created the world together or in cooperation, then Ohrmazd would be "an accomplice and confederate with Ahriman in the harm and evil which ever arise."
Prior to creation Ohrmazd exists "fully complete in his own self", such that "his perfection consists in his having no need for any advantage or increase" from the outside. Hence when he created the world it was not to obtain "any advantage or aggrandizement". Yet Ohrmazd being "wise and sagacious" his actions "cannot be irrational or unmotivated". "We must conclude," continues Mardan-Farrukh, "that the reason and occasion" for the creation of the world was "to repel and ward off" his external adversary Ahriman and defeat the evil he intends; "this is the whole reason and occasion for the act of creation."
Ohrmazd's strategy is that the good creation will act as a trap to capture Ahriman and neutralize his evil. Ahriman being aggressive, rash and ignorant (he "does not know the final outcome"), as against the thoughtful and prudent Ohrmazd, certainly the ultimate result will be the triumph of good; undoubtedly creation will be restored. The entire cosmic process from the original creation by Ohrmazd and the attack by Ahriman, until the triumphant rehabilitation of physical goodness of creation, lasts twelve thousand years. Along with the Amesha Spenta
Amesha Spenta
' is an Avestan language term for a class of divine entities in Zoroastrianism, and literally means "Bounteous Immortal" The noun is amesha "immortal", and spenta "furthering, strengthening, bounteous, holy" is an adjective of it...
, humankind plays a vital rôle in the defeat of Druj (the Lie) and victory of Asha
Asha
Asha is the Avestan language term for a concept of cardinal importance to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine. In the moral sphere, aša/arta represents what has been called "the decisive confessional concept of Zoroastrianism." ...
(the Truth).
Mardan-Farrukh notes, "The duty of the creature is to understand and perform the will of the creator, and to abstain from what is disliked by him." To do so "is to preserve the soul." The will of the creator is known through his religion. From its care "for the soul are manifested [its] grandeur" and value, and "the compassion and [mercy] of the sacred being."
Method
The author at the start announces his intention to find the truth, which brings an "inward dignity". Yet by the "thorough understanding of the truth" he means the "blessedness and truth of the good religion" first taught by Zarathustra. The author does follow up on this quest later in his book. At one point Mardan-Farrukh describes several specific approaches to discovering the true (the matter at issue being the existence of the "exalted sacred being"). "[A] knowledge of anything is acquired in three modes: by knowing what is inevitable, or by knowing what is analogous, or by what is possible and fit to exist." Later he adds the obvious: the direct tangibility of nature.An example of inevitable knowledge is "once one is one, and twice two is four" and within the inevitable it is not possible to say that sometime or someplace twice two will be five or three. Knowledge by analogy announces something invisible derived from the visible through similarity or resemblance, e.g., from the presence of a thing made one may infer the absent maker. Information about what is possible and fit to exist seems to rely on the trustworthiness and good character of the person testifying. This attention to methods (logic, analogy
Analogy
Analogy is a cognitive process of transferring information or meaning from a particular subject to another particular subject , and a linguistic expression corresponding to such a process...
and inference, testimony
Testimony
In law and in religion, testimony is a solemn attestation as to the truth of a matter. All testimonies should be well thought out and truthful. It was the custom in Ancient Rome for the men to place their right hand on a Bible when taking an oath...
, and tangible evidence) demonstrates some respectful rigor and craft in persuasion.
Islam
As Muslim regimes ruled in the Iran of Mardan-Farrukh, he did not mention Islam by name in his critique. At the time Mardan-Farrukh was writing Zoroastrians lived under pressure:"[L]ate in the ninth century the tide began to ebb swiftly for the Zoroastrians, with Islam now enjoying the full support of temporal power everywhere. It was then that the founding fathers of the ParsiParsiParsi or Parsee refers to a member of the larger of the two Zoroastrian communities in South Asia, the other being the Irani community....
community left their homeland to seek religious freedom in exile in India, and thereafter those who held by their ancient faith in Iran were steadily ground down into the position of a small, deprived, and harassed minority, lacking all privileges or consideration."
As would be expected given his prior chapters on theodicy
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
, he faults the type of monotheism
Monotheism
Monotheism is the belief in the existence of one and only one god. Monotheism is characteristic of the Baha'i Faith, Christianity, Druzism, Hinduism, Islam, Judaism, Samaritanism, Sikhism and Zoroastrianism.While they profess the existence of only one deity, monotheistic religions may still...
practiced by Islam because it posits an all-powerful Deity who creates the world and apparently the evil in it, so that (as he puts it) "good works and crime, truth and falsehood, life and death, good and evil are owing to him." Mardan-Farrukh alludes to passages in the Qur'an where it seems to say that the Deity may lead people astray. Relentlessly from different points of view and using various illustrations, Mardan-Farrukh asks why the sacred being, with Divine wisdom and concern for the happiness of humankind, would have chosen freely to create the world as it is, a dangerous and contentious realm where evil exists and people suffer. That is, if "no opponent or adversary of his existed" then by reason the sacred being would be the only party responsible for the calamities endured by humankind. Humans "with little knowledge and little wisdom... so far as they are able, do not let the lion and the wolf and other noxious creatures in among their own young ones... ." Yet then, "why has the merciful sacred being now let... the demons in upon his own... ?" When he placed Adam
Adam
Adam is a figure in the Book of Genesis. According to the creation myth of Abrahamic religions, he is the first human. In the Genesis creation narratives, he was created by Yahweh-Elohim , and the first woman, Eve was formed from his rib...
in paradise, "why was not that garden
Garden of Eden
The Garden of Eden is in the Bible's Book of Genesis as being the place where the first man, Adam, and his wife, Eve, lived after they were created by God. Literally, the Bible speaks about a garden in Eden...
made by him fortified and strong, so that that deluder [Satan] could not have gotten into it?"
Similar issues were addressed by the Muslim writer Maulana Muhammad Ali
Maulana Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali was a Pakistani writer, scholar, and leading figure of the Ahmadiyya Movement.-Biography:Ali was born in Punjab, British India, in 1874. He obtained an English and Law in 1899...
(1874–1951). He rejects as misinformed what he terms a popular idea that the Deity in Islam is maker of both good and evil. This false notion he traces to a long-ago "clash of Islam with Persian religious thought." Ali continues:
"The doctrine that there are two creators, a creator of good and a creator of evil, had become the central doctrine of the Magian religion [another name for Zoroastrianism]... . The religion of Islam taught the purest monotheism, and it was probably in controverting the dualisticDualismDualism denotes a state of two parts. The term 'dualism' was originally coined to denote co-eternal binary opposition, a meaning that is preserved in metaphysical and philosophical duality discourse but has been diluted in general or common usages. Dualism can refer to moral dualism, Dualism (from...
doctrine of the Magian religion, that the discussion arose as to whether or not God was the creator of evil. These discussions grew very hot and many side-issues sprang up. ... God created man with certain powers which he could exercise under certain limitations, and it is the exercise of these powers in one way or another that produces good or evil. ... Hence the controversy, as to whether God was the creator of good and evil, arose simply out of a misconception of the nature of good and evil."
Notwithstanding, Mardan-Farrukh asks why (if no adversary like Ahriman
Angra Mainyu
Angra Mainyu is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive spirit". The Middle Persian equivalent is Ahriman.-In Zoroaster's revelation:...
pre-existed as an independent source of evil) would the sacred being, who acts judiciously and desires universal "happiness and prosperity", come to create a world that results in "misery for multitudes of the innocent who are distressed, poor, necessitous, and sick." Moreover, Mardan-Farrukh insists on the logic that a solitary creator would imply ultimately a single source for all moral qualities; "if it be said that evil and crime arise from [Satan] or mankind, that implies, as they are likewise created and produced by the sacred being, that he is the source of them." Rather instead, for Zoroastrians the cause-of-evil Ahriman in origin and nature is completely independent of Ohrmazd
Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazdā is the Avestan name for a divinity of the Old Iranian religion who was proclaimed the uncreated God by Zoroaster, the founder of Zoroastrianism...
the sacred being; even now Ohrmazd is contending in the long-term but certain process by which he will defeat Ahriman with finality.
Judaism
Mardan-Farrukh likewise brings his criticism of a type of monotheism to the Jewish texts. Here, he challenges the creation story of the BibleCreation according to Genesis
The Genesis creation narrative describes the divine creation of the world including the first man and woman...
. Of creation out of nothing in six days, he asks: if God needed only to command and it arises, "to what was that delay of six days owing? ...the existence of that delay of six days is very ill-seeming." Accordingly, because of the use of time, "it is not fitting to speak of his producing [the world] from nothing." Continuing along these lines, Mardan-Farrukh says of the Biblical God, "It is manifest that he was not light," by inference from God's reaction to light following his creation of it. Mardan-Farrukh paraphrases from the Jewish Torah
Torah
Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five books of the bible—Genesis , Exodus , Leviticus , Numbers and Deuteronomy Torah- A scroll containing the first five books of the BibleThe Torah , is name given by Jews to the first five...
, and concludes that regarding light God "considered it for the reason that he had not seen it before." Not stated here is that the Zoroastrian creator God, Ohrmazd, is essentially associated with light.
A narration in some detail he gives of the story of Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve
Adam and Eve were, according to the Genesis creation narratives, the first human couple to inhabit Earth, created by YHWH, the God of the ancient Hebrews...
in the garden and their expulsion from it. Mardan-Farrukh notes that God made Adam and Eve and thus made their inclinations, and that God commanded them not to eat of a certain tree, yet nonetheless they disobeyed. For this reason, he observes of the Biblical God that his "will and command are inconsistent and unadapted, one to the other." Hence the Biblical God is "manifestly an opponent and adversary to his own will." Therefore, "to indulge in wrath about [Adam and Eve] is unreasonable." Mardan-Farrukh also finds fault with this story in that the curse of God on Adam affects everyone, "reaches unlawfully over people of every kind at various periods." In this vein, he states about the Biblical God, "This is what he says about his own nature, that is, 'I am the Lord, seeking vengeance, and retaliating vengeance, and I retaliate vengeance sevenfold upon the children, and one does not forget my original vengeance.'" In unspoken contrast would be the Zoroastrian Ohrmazd, "a wise Being whose actions were held to be wholly just and accessible to reason."
From a comparative perspective, a Jewish response to the Zoroastrian faith may be seen in the Book of Job
Book of Job
The Book of Job , commonly referred to simply as Job, is one of the books of the Hebrew Bible. It relates the story of Job, his trials at the hands of Satan, his discussions with friends on the origins and nature of his suffering, his challenge to God, and finally a response from God. The book is a...
, which was written during or following a period of fruitful interaction between the Jews and the Zoroastrian Persians. In the Book of Job, the Biblical God allows Satan
Satan
Satan , "the opposer", is the title of various entities, both human and divine, who challenge the faith of humans in the Hebrew Bible...
to severely punish Job, even though Job has done no wrong to merit the abuse. The tragedy of innocent suffering is discussed without resolution by Job and by several friends who blame Job unjustly. Finally, an epiphany of ecstasy is visited on Job by the merciful Deity, in which Job comes to hear God and to realize with awe the Mystery, that God's ways are beyond the reckoning of humankind.
Christianity
Mardan-Farrukh himself notes that his unfavorable remarks on the type of monotheism held by Judaism and by Islam would apply as well to Christianity. During the prior Sasanid era (224-651), "non-Zoroastrians frequently occasioned heated polemics in which virulent criticism and derisive terms were exchanged between the Zoroastrian priests on the one side and the prelates of the rival faith on the other." In the case of Christianity, contention was not only religious, but military. "There was a state of perennial war between Sasanian Persia and Byzantine Rome, which had embraced Christianity." A prime instance would be the border region of Armenia, which had included Zoroastrian believers since the Persian Achaemenid Empire (c.550-330); centuries later despite Sasanid pressure Armenia converted to Christianity (after 300) and took the Byzantine side. In general Zoroastrian arguments contra Christianity first developed in the strong and prosperous Sasanid Empire; however, following several centuries under Islam, Zoroastrian fortunes had declined drastically.Mardan-Farrukh first questions the virgin birth, concluding skeptically "the origin of their religion has all come forth from the testimony of a woman, which was given about her own condition." He demonstrates a studied knowledge of the Christian doctrine of the Incarnation
Incarnation
Incarnation literally means embodied in flesh or taking on flesh. It refers to the conception and birth of a sentient creature who is the material manifestation of an entity, god or force whose original nature is immaterial....
, although the premise of God taking the status of human being evokes no response, other than to call it "very strange". About the crucifixion
Crucifixion of Jesus
The crucifixion of Jesus and his ensuing death is an event that occurred during the 1st century AD. Jesus, who Christians believe is the Son of God as well as the Messiah, was arrested, tried, and sentenced by Pontius Pilate to be scourged, and finally executed on a cross...
("death and execution on a tree") and its "resurrection" message for humankind, its 'brutality' and its "disgrace" offend Mardan-Farrukh. He questions why, from all the possible ways there are to signal human resurrection, God would want to choose to suffer such a death, if God is indeed omnipotent. If so, he asks why God did not make it "without doubt" and "clear knowledge" to humankind? Mardan-Farrukh continues, asking rhetorically if God chose such a death "through the will of his enemies" why does he curse them? Should they not be rewarded?
Mardan-Farrukh next challenges the doctrine of the Trinity
Trinity
The Christian doctrine of the Trinity defines God as three divine persons : the Father, the Son , and the Holy Spirit. The three persons are distinct yet coexist in unity, and are co-equal, co-eternal and consubstantial . Put another way, the three persons of the Trinity are of one being...
, "the father and son and pure wind". Yet he begins without finesse: "If it be proper for three to be one, that implies that it is certainly possible for three to be nine... ." He questions how a son could be equal to the father; then he discusses the trinity and the crucifixion. After a theodicean
Theodicy
Theodicy is a theological and philosophical study which attempts to prove God's intrinsic or foundational nature of omnibenevolence , omniscience , and omnipotence . Theodicy is usually concerned with the God of the Abrahamic religions Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, due to the relevant...
analysis similar to his about Adam and Eve (see the Judaic section above), Mardan-Farrukh observes that "the sacred being himself created the executioners of his son," and concludes that these enemies then slew "the Messiah
Messiah
A messiah is a redeemer figure expected or foretold in one form or another by a religion. Slightly more widely, a messiah is any redeemer figure. Messianic beliefs or theories generally relate to eschatological improvement of the state of humanity or the world, in other words the World to...
, who is the son, through the will of the father." The author's interpretation here resembles aspects of the Christian heresy
Heresy
Heresy is a controversial or novel change to a system of beliefs, especially a religion, that conflicts with established dogma. It is distinct from apostasy, which is the formal denunciation of one's religion, principles or cause, and blasphemy, which is irreverence toward religion...
fostered by the 2nd century gnostic Marcion. Mardan-Farrukh's analysis of free will in Christianity likewise (absent Ahriman) results in his ascribing to God responsibility for sins committed by humankind. Next he discusses St. Paul (Pâvarôs), quoting him thus, "Not the good works which I desire, but the iniquity which I do not desire, I do. And it is not I that do so, but that which is collected within me does it, because I always see that it is striving with me day and night." Mardan-Farrukh may well have associated St. Paul's feeling of an iniquity "within me" to Ahriman, for in the first half of the Shkand-Gumanik Vichar he states (as a proof of the existence of metaphysical evil), "[A] knowledge of the existence of an opponent of the creatures [i.e., Ahriman] is obtainable from the innermost recesses of the body of man... " which may be observed.
His critique of Christianity concludes with illustrations that seek to demonstrate a dualism partially embedded in Christian scriptures, or as he says, "The word of the Messiah is specially inconsistently a demonstrator as regards the two original evolutions" [of Ohrmazd and of Ahriman]. "[T]hey say, from the words of the Messiah, that the original evolution from the sacred being is light and goodness; evil and darkness are separate from him." Mardan-Farrukh quotes the Messiah, speaking to his human opponents:
"I am appointed by that sacred being doing good works. Why do you not hear those words of mine? Only because you are from the iniquitous one it is not possible for you to hear them, and you wish to do the will of your own father. By him truth is not spoken; whatever he speaks he tells a lie of it, therefore you are false yourselves together with your father. As for me, who speak the truth, you do not believe it of me. And he who is from the sacred being hears the words of the sacred being, but you, because you are not from the sacred being, do not hear my words."
Mardan-Farrukh immediately adds, "By these sayings it is demonstrated by him that there are two original evolutions" [of Ohrmazd and of Ahriman], one which produces the Messiah, and one producing his opponents.
Next the parable of the tree that bears good fruit is given: "[F]or every tree becomes manifest by its fruit, if it be of merit and if it be of offensiveness." Again he quotes the Messiah: "[E]very tree which the father has not sown should be dug up, and should be cast into the fire." Mardan-Farrukh concludes, "Wherefore it is fitting to understand from these words that there is a tree, which the father has not sown; that it is necessary to dig up and cast away." Apparently our author is indicating an analogy to the cosmic contention between good and evil of Zoroastrian teaching, so that here Ohrmazd will surely dig up and cast away trees sown by Ahriman.
Finally, Mardan-Farrukh quotes the Messiah: "Our father, that art in the sky, let thy empire arise! And may it be thy will that shall take place on earth as in the sky! Also give us daily bread! And do not bring us to a cause of doubt!" He then continues: "From these words it is evident that his will is not so unalloyed on earth as in the sky. Also this, that the cause of doubt of mankind is not owing to the sacred being." So does the author work to appropriate to the Zoroastrian dualist view the words of the Christian Messiah, i.e., that Ahriman has corrupted the earth and injected doubt into mankind.
Sophistry
Mardan-Farrukh addresses "the assertors of the non-existence of a sacred being" or the atheistsAtheism
Atheism is, in a broad sense, the rejection of belief in the existence of deities. In a narrower sense, atheism is specifically the position that there are no deities...
. Some atheists are said to believe "that there is no reward for good works, no punishment of sin, no heaven and hell, and no stimulator of good works and crime. Besides this, that things are only worldly, and there is no spirit." Mardan-Farrukh responds "that to be made without a maker... is as impossible as to prepare what is written without a writer." As to "that there is no recompense of good works and punishment of crime" he responds that "no one whatever is seen that has come... from death back to life, and it is not possible to say so." Further, Mardan-Farrukh invokes what he calls in humankind "the manifestation of the maintenance of a hope for a supreme inspection over mankind, and indeed, over wild animals, birds, ad quadrupeds."
The sophist may argue that no distinctions can be made, as honey is sweet, but "bitter to those abounding in bile" or that bread is both pleasant "to the hungry and unpleasant to the surfeited." Yet the wise say, 'Even this statement of you sophists, about the jaundiced nature of everything, is alike jaundiced, and there is no truth in it."
Texts
- Hoshang Dastur Jamaspji Asana and E. W. West, editors, [ŠGV] (Bombay 1887). Texts in Pazand, Sanskrit, and Pahlavi (I-V).
- Neryosang, translator, [ŠGV], in Ervad Shariarji D. Bharucha, editor, Collected Sanskrit writings of the Parsis, Pt. IV (Bombay 1913).
- Jean de Menasce, translator, Škand-gumānīk Vičār. La solution décisive des doutes. Une apologétique mazdéenne du IXe Siècle. Texte pazand-pehlevi transcrit, traduit et commenté (Fribourg en Suisse: Librairie de l'Université 1945). Text transcript in Latin letters.
- E. W. WestEdward William WestEdward William West , usually styled E. W. West, was a scholarly English engineer, orientalist, and translator of Zoroastrian texts. He was educated at King's College London. He prepared five volumes of Pahlavi texts for Prof. Max Müller's monumental Sacred Books of the East series, published from...
, translator, Sikand-gûmânîk Vigâr, in his Pahlavi Texts, Part III (Oxford University Press 1885; reprint: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1994). Volume 24 of the Sacred Books of the EastSacred Books of the EastThe Sacred Books of the East is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious writings, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910...
, edited by Max MüllerMax MüllerFriedrich Max Müller , more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion...
. - R. C. Zaehner, The Teachings of the Magi. A Compendium of Zoroastrian Beliefs (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1956; reprints: Sheldon Press, London 1975; Oxford University Press, New York 1976). Includes translation of Chapter VIII of Shikand Gumānī Vazār.
- J. DarmesteterJames DarmesteterJames Darmesteter was a French author, orientalist, and antiquarian.He was born of Jewish parents at Château-Salins, in Alsace. The family name had originated in their earlier home of Darmstadt...
, transl., The Zend Avesta. Part I, Vendidad (Oxford University 1887; reprint Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1980). S.B.E.Sacred Books of the EastThe Sacred Books of the East is a monumental 50-volume set of English translations of Asian religious writings, edited by Max Müller and published by the Oxford University Press between 1879 and 1910...
, v.4. - E. W. West, translator, Pahlavi Texts, Part I (Oxford University Press 1880; reprint: Motilal Banarsidass, Delhi 1977). S.B.E., v.5.
- Seyyed Hossein NasrSeyyed Hossein NasrSeyyed Hossein Nasr is an Iranian University Professor of Islamic studies at George Washington University, and a prominent Islamic philosopher...
and Mehdi Aminrazavi, editors, An Anthology of Philosophy in Persia, volume 1 (New York: Oxford Univ. 1999).
Commentary
- M. M. AliMaulana Muhammad AliMuhammad Ali was a Pakistani writer, scholar, and leading figure of the Ahmadiyya Movement.-Biography:Ali was born in Punjab, British India, in 1874. He obtained an English and Law in 1899...
, The Religion of Islam (Lahore: Ahmadiyya Anjuman Isha'at Islam 1936). - H. W. BaileyHarold Walter BaileySir Harold Walter Bailey , who published as H. W. Bailey, was an eminent English scholar of Khotanese, Sanskrit, and the comparative study of Iranian languages....
, Zoroastrian Problems in the ninth-century books (Oxford University: Clarendon Press 1943). - Alessandro Bausani, Persia Religiosa (Milano 1959), translated as Religion in Iran (New York: Bibliotheca Persica 2000).
- Ervad Sheriarji Dadabhai Bharucha, Zoroastrian Religion and Customs (Bombay: D. B Taraporevala 1893, 1903, 1979).
- Mary BoyceMary BoyceNora Elisabeth Mary Boyce was a British scholar of Iranian languages, and an authority on Zoroastrianism...
, Zoroastrians. Their Religious Beliefs and Practices (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul 1979, 1985). - Mary Boyce, Zoroastrianism. Its antiquity and constant vigour (Costa Meza, California: Mazda Publishers/Bibliotheca Persica 1992).
- Mary Boyce, A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism (Oxford University: Clarendon 1977; reprint: University Press of America 1989).
- Edward G. Browne, A Literary History of Persia (London: T. Fisher Unwin 1902; reprint: Cambridge University 1964), 4 volumes.
- Henry CorbinHenry CorbinHenry Corbin was a philosopher, theologian and professor of Islamic Studies at the Sorbonne in Paris, France.Corbin was born in Paris in April 1903. As a boy he revealed the profound sensitivity to music so evident in his work...
, Terre céleste et corps de résurrection: de l'Iran mazdéen à l'Iran shî'ite (Paris: Buchet-Chastel 1960), translated as Spiritual Body and Celestial Earth. From Mazdean Iran to Shī'ite Iran (Princeton University 1977; reprint: I. B. Tauris 1990). - Maneckji Nusservanji DhallaManeckji Nusserwanji DhallaManeckji Nusserwanji Dhalla , also abbreviated M. N. Dhalla, was a Zoroastrian priest and religious scholar....
, History of Zoroastrianism (Oxford University 1938; reprint: K.R.Cama Oriental Institute, Bombay 1963). - Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, La religion de l'Iran ancien (Paris: Presses Universitaires de France 1962), transl. as Religion of Ancient Iran (Bombay: K. M. JamaspAsa 1973).
- Richard N. Frye, The Heritage of Persia (Cleveland: World Publishing Co. 1963).
- Farhang MehrFarhang MehrFarhang Mehr is a Zoroastrian scholar and former politician.-Background:Mehr was born to a Zoroastrian family in Tehran. His father, Mehraban Mehr, was from the province of Kerman, and at the age of 14 migrated to Tehran for greater economic and social opportunities...
, The Zoroastrian Tradition. An introduction to the ancient wisdom of Zarathustra (Rockport, Mass.: Element 1991). - Phiroz D. Mehta, Zarathushtra. The transcendental vision (Shaftesbury, Dorset: Element Books 1985).
- James Hope MoultonJames Hope MoultonReverend James Hope Moulton, born on 11 October 1863, and died at sea on 9 April 1917, was an English non-conformist divine.-Biography:His family had a strong Methodist background. His father was the first headmaster of the Leys School, Cambridge where James was one of the first students. After...
, Early Zoroastrianism (London: Williams and Norgate 1913). - Geo Widengren, Mani und der Manichäismus (Stuttgart 1961), transl. as Mani and Manichaeism (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1965).
- R. C. ZaehnerRobert Charles ZaehnerRobert Charles Zaehner was a British academic who specialised in Eastern religions. He was also an intelligence officer.-Life:Born on 8 April 1913 in Sevenoaks, Kent, the son of Swiss immigrants to England, Zaehner was educated nearby at Tonbridge School...
, Zurvan. A Zoroastrian Dilemma (Oxford Univ. 1955; reprint: Biblio & Tannen, NY 1972). Cf. B.S.O.A.S. 17:232-249 (1955). - R. C. Zaehner, The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism (London: Weidenfeld and Nicolson 1961).
- R. C. Zaehner, The Teachings of the Magi. A Compendium of Zoroastrian Beliefs (London: George Allen & Unwin Ltd. 1956; reprints: Sheldon Press, London 1975; Oxford University Press, New York 1976). Includes translation of Chapter VIII of Shikand Gumānī Vazār.
- Jean de Menasce, O.P., "Zoroastrian Literature after the Muslim Conquest" in R. N. FryeRichard Nelson FryeRichard Nelson Frye is an American scholar of Iranic and Central Asian Studies, and Aga Khan Professor Emeritus of Iranian Studies at Harvard University...
, editor, The Cambridge History of Iran. From the Arab Invasion to the Saljuqs (Cambridge University 1975) at 543-565 ["Škand-Gumānīk Vicār" at 560-564].
External links
- Shkand-gumanig Vizar - a translation per J. H. Peterson (1995), J. P. Kunst, Jean de Menasce, and E. W. West (1882)
- The text as preserved in Pazand script, in SanskritSanskritSanskrit , is a historical Indo-Aryan language and the primary liturgical language of Hinduism, Jainism and Buddhism.Buddhism: besides Pali, see Buddhist Hybrid Sanskrit Today, it is listed as one of the 22 scheduled languages of India and is an official language of the state of Uttarakhand...
translation and partially in Pahlavi scriptPahlavi scriptsPahlavi or Pahlevi denotes a particular and exclusively written form of various Middle Iranian languages. The essential characteristics of Pahlavi are*the use of a specific Aramaic-derived script, the Pahlavi script;...
(1887 edition, H. D. J. Jamasp-Asana and E. W. West) at the Internet ArchiveInternet ArchiveThe Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library with the stated mission of "universal access to all knowledge". It offers permanent storage and access to collections of digitized materials, including websites, music, moving images, and nearly 3 million public domain books. The Internet Archive... - a somewhat revised translation by Raham Asha (2004) with very detailed philological notes
- A tentative transliteration of the original Middle Persian pronunciation, restored on the basis of the Pazand version, by Raham Asha (2004)