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T H E 
 
 EXTANT PAHLAYI CODICES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NIRANGISTAN. 
 
 A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOMBAY 
 
 BRANCff OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 
 
 (24th NOVEMBER 1893) 
 
 BY 
 
 DARAB DASTUR PESHOTAH SAHJJHA, B.A. 
 
 Under the kind Patronage of the Trustees of the 
 Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhar Translation Fund, 
 
 ^ if^-' 
 
 ■UiNTI;:i) AT THIO KDUCATIOX S( M ' 1 ll'l' V's S'1'1:A.M I'liKSS. 
 
 lS9-i. 
 
/^^^/^y 
 
 THE 
 
 EXTANT PAHLAYI CODICES 
 
 OF THE 
 
 NIRANGISTAN. 
 
 A PAPER READ BEFORE THE BOMBAY 
 
 BRANCH OF THE ROYAL ASIATIC SOCIETY, 
 
 (24th NOVEMBER 1893) 
 
 BY 
 
 DARAB DASTDR PESHOTAN SAKJASA, B.A. 
 
 Under the kind Patronage of the Trustees of the 
 Sir Jamshedjee Jeejeebhai Translation Fund, 
 
 PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S STEAM PRESS. 
 1894. 
 
IDAN STACK 
 
/- 
 
 THE EXTANT CODICES OF THE PAHLAYI 
 
 KIRAKGISTAN. 
 
 A Paper read before the B. B. Royal Asiatic Society. 
 
 (24M Novemher 1893.) 
 
 The Palilavi literature that has survived to moderu 
 times, is far more extensive than the sacred Avesta 
 fragments now extant. It may be classed under three 
 heads: — I. The Pahlavi versions of the Avesta. 11. The 
 texts treating of subjects closely relating to religion. 
 III. The texts relating to history, mythology and 
 tradition. The Avesta-Pahlavi text of the NirangUtdn 
 belongs to the first category, wherein are included 
 the existing fragments of the sacred Avesta Nashs 
 which are translated and commented upon in Pahlavi. 
 These comprise the Zand-l- Avista of the Yasna, 
 Vendidddj Visparadj Airpatastdn, Nirangistdn, 
 Yishtdsp-YasM, Vazarlcard-I-Dhii, Hdddkht-Nash^ 
 Aogamadatchd, Chide-Avistd'i-Gdsdni, Farhang-i- 
 Oim-Aeuak, Shuze ; Auharmazd, Ameshaspand, Srosh 
 {Edd6kht)y Behrdm, Khurshed and Mdh Yashts ; the 
 JSfydyesh-l-Khurshidy Avdn, and Atash ; the Afringdn-t- 
 -Dahmdn, Gdthd and Qdhamhdr. The existing Avesta 
 fragments, therefore, form only one-fifth of the original 
 Scripture. Of these the largest and most impor- 
 tant books are the Yasna, the Yendidad, and the 
 Nirangistan. 
 
 The Pahlavi text, properly speaking, the Zand-i- 
 Avista text, of the manuscripts now extant in India 
 and Europe, contain two different books instead of the 
 one commonly known as the Nirangistan. It may be 
 easily proved from the contents of the Avesta Nasks 
 
 747 
 
given in the Eightli Book of tte Dinkard, tLat one- 
 eighth of the fragments or folios 1-27 of the MS. 
 belonging to Shams-ul-Ulama Dastur Dr. Hoshangji 
 Jamaspji of Poona, contain the Airpatastdn section of 
 the Husparam Nask. It can also be shown from the 
 contents mentioned above, that the text of the 
 Airpatastan is incomplete at the beginning as well 
 as at the end. The first two folios and a large 
 number of the final ones have been lost. The 
 fragments now extant seem to be about one-fifth of 
 the original work. 
 
 The text of the Nirangistan opens at folio 27 of the 
 oldest Bombay MS., belonging to Dastur Hoshangji 
 of Poona, w4iich is photozincographed for publication 
 by the Victoria Jubilee Pahlavi Text Committee. 
 It appears as though the first folios of the 
 Airpatastan and the old MS, of the Nirangistan had 
 been combined by an ignorant owner or copyist. The 
 two MSS. have been copied as a single work without 
 any regard to want of connection or dislocation. 
 Hence the present error of entitling the two Zand- 
 Avesta works by one ordinary name 'Nirangistan.' 
 The text of the Nirangistan as is given in the MSS., is 
 also incomplete at the end. It contains the first two 
 fargards and a portion of the third. Originally, the 
 Nirangistan section of the Husparam Nask contained 
 more than three fargards according to its contents 
 given in the Dinkard. It contained five fargards ac- 
 cording to the statement of the Dadastan-i-Dini, 
 Chapter LXVI, 1. (Cf. S.B.E., Pahl. Texts, Pt. IV.) 
 
 The known MSS. of the Nirangistan existing in 
 India and Europe, excepting the Iranian copy belong- 
 ing to Eryad Tehmuras Dinshaii Anklesaria, are copies 
 
of one and the same original MS. wi^iiicli was first 
 brought by Dastur Jamasp Vilayati from Iran to India 
 in A. D. 1 720. Probably it was the MS. <Jopy written by 
 Shahpuhr iamasp in A.Y. 840., as stated in the 
 ■colophon at the beginning of all copies of the text 
 made in India. The Iranian copy brought from 
 Iran by Dastur Jamasp Vilayati, is no more 
 found in India, but its probably direct descendant — 
 the MS^ copy in the private library of Dastur Hoshangji 
 Jamaspji — is t<lie principal source from wliich are 
 derived theMSS. of the work in Indian and European 
 public libraries, a»d likewise the copies in the private 
 libraries owned by Shams-ul-Ulma Dastur Dr. Pe- 
 shotanji Behramji Sanjaua of Bombay and other 
 Parsee scholars. 
 
 Only four MSS. of the Nirangistan are known to 
 -exist in Europe. One is No. 41 of the Pahlavi Codices, 
 in the University Library at Copenhagen, taken from 
 Bombay by the Idte Prof. Westergaard in 1843. It is 
 a copy of the usual Bombay text, written by Mobad 
 Minochehrji Jamaspji Fredunji Jamshedji, and dated 
 the day of Tir in the month of Amerddd A. Y. 1205 
 { = 10th February 1836). This copy was presented to 
 Dr. Westergaard by Dastur Peshotanji, through the 
 late Dr, John Wilson. Another MS. is No. 8 of the 
 Haug Collection in the State Library at Munich, 
 taken from Bombay by the late Dr. Martin Haug 
 in 1866. This is a copy of the usual Bombay text, 
 written by Mobed Shapur, son of Fredun, son of 
 Manak, and dated the day of Dm, in the month of 
 Amn A.Y. 1177 (=2Sth May 1808), according to the 
 Persian colophon which is most likely to be correct, 
 the Pahlavi colophon has A. Y. 1167. A third MS; 
 is in the possession of Dr. E. W. West, and a fourth 
 
MS. is in the library, of Prof. J, Darmesteter, both 
 are recent copies of Indian MSS, 
 
 Consequently, the two original MSS. of the 
 Nirangistan are the independent copies owned by 
 Dastur. Hoshangji of Poona and Ervad Tehmuras of 
 Bombay. It would be interesting to describe the 
 present condition of these two MSS. in detail. 
 
 The Iranian text of Ervad Tehmuras, which has been 
 in his possession for the last 20 years, and which I 
 shall call TD., is much more perfect at the beginning 
 than that contained in the Dastur's MS., and supplies 
 several passages which arc wanting in this Poona text, 
 hereafter named HJ. - The last one-seventh of the 
 text of the Nirangistan surviving in HJ., is lost in it. 
 TD. is of great importance to a student of Pahlavi, 
 supplying, as it does, many omissions in H.J. — 
 defects which make the first five folios oi Dastur 
 Hoshangji's MS. almost unintelligible. The Iranian 
 copy contains 224 octavo pages, each having 16 to 17 
 lines. 
 
 The budget of Pahlavi folios in the possession of 
 Mr. Tehmuras begins with an Iranian copy of his 
 complete Bundahesh, which runs over 206 pages. 
 Then commences in page 207 the text of the Atrpatas- 
 fan, thus : — 
 
 ))w3e) 3^-^^e) J^'ioc**©^ Jie) -K)^ ik^'^ 
 
TD. being more incomplete than HJ., breaks off 
 at page 468, with the words : — 
 
 W ^ -0^ -^1^005 3^?^_)LJ^ 
 
 occurring in the 168ch folio, 11. 15 — 19. 
 
 Though TD. supplies very many words or passages 
 which are wanting in HJ., still I observe that 
 in this older text vacant spaces are left between words, 
 which indicate omissions or damage of some words in 
 the original from which TD. is descended. But this 
 regrettable fact does not take away very much from 
 its share of usefulness, for, as I have already pointed 
 out above, HJ, would have been quite obscure 
 at the beginning had it not been for the existence of 
 this Iranian copy. The two copies TD. and HJ. 
 undoubtedly help to correct and complete each other. 
 
 A copy of TD. belongs to the Mulla Firuz Library 
 at Bombay. It is a neatly written copy and is dated 
 A. Y. 1251 ( = A. D. 1 8R1 )^^^^^_^^^^__^_^^_^^ 
 
 1. The -Is in all MSS., is pF9j]^<3>i]^-^n e^;(or.' ■ '^' SEP PUNCH f> 
 
 2. c,;..p.....o>.iorlfl^Hs^.TH^^ 
 
6 
 
 The MS. HJ. needs no description, as it i9= 
 pliotozincographedby the V. J. PahlaviText Committeer 
 The various omissions, damage, or words wanting in its 
 original, will be clear from the passages a/nd expression* 
 which are supplied from T'D. under Collation s. 
 The only fact I have to draw the attention of the 
 student to, is thie important omission in HJ. of about 
 
 three folios after the words j-Cyiff -**15 ^ ^^ ^^'®' 
 
 11th line of the 6th folio, and of about one folio after 
 
 the words jO^i^Q^SiiXI^ •^^asju*^ in line 30 of 
 
 folio 153; also to the inadvertence of the copyist of 
 HJ. in giving in the 48th folio a duplicate transcript 
 of the 47th folio beginning from line 5, 
 
 ^)))^ )))^^ )f is^** — 5) ..... . 
 
 It may be remarked from- the Collations that TD. 
 is not free from blunders, such as we find in HJ., bu*t 
 the former seems to me to be more correct than the 
 latter. As in all other cases of two MSS.. descended 
 from one distant oi'iginal through different lines of 
 copies, the two MSS. mutually correct each .pther_,. 
 though neither is wholly correct in itselL It is gene- 
 rally believed that TD. and HJ. are- both copies of two- 
 independent MSS. descended from- very old fragments 
 of the two sections of the Husparam Nask, which were 
 evidently dislocated and incomplete at both endsr 
 Hence Dr. West remarks '* that the task of editing 
 the Pahlavi text is likely to be one of no small 
 difficulty and uncertainty whenever it is undertaken. .'' 
 
Kegarding the ag^e of HJ., it is evident from- the 
 colophon given in folio 195, that this MS. was copied 
 by Mar/tipat Jdmdsp Asd^ inhabitant of Nausari, in 
 the year A. Y. 1097 ( := A. D. 1727), less thnn seven 
 years after Dastar Jam^sp, surnamed Vilayati, first 
 brought the Nirangistan to India, Dastur Mulla 
 Firuz, alluding to him in his Avtjeh Dhi, states that 
 Dastur Jamasp Vilayati left Iran for India about the 
 end of A. D. 1720, Probably the- Nirangistan MS, 
 that he brought from Iran may haye been the one 
 written by Shahpubr Jamasp in A. Y. 840 (= A. D, 
 1470) as stated in the colophon at the beginning of all 
 copies of HJ. According to the Ravayat, Shahpuhr 
 Jamasp Shehryar was the writer of the letter brought 
 from Iran to India by Nariman Hoshang in A.Y. 847, 
 which was signed by his father Jamasp Shehryar a,nd 
 three others. 
 
 As to the older MS. TD., which is incomiplete, it is 
 difficult to fix its date in the absence of any colophon or 
 introduction. Its 112 folios are bound up with the 
 complete Iranian Bundabesh, though written by 
 another hand. The fact of its having been copied 
 by another hand, does not allow us to fiiX an exact 
 date for TD. However, there are good reasons to con- 
 clude from the first colophon to the Bundahesh that 
 TD. may not have been written later than A. J). 170O. 
 Consequently, it is the oldest MS. extant of the 
 Airpatastan and the Nirangistan sections of the sacred 
 Husparam Nask, 
 
 I have mentioned at the outset that the Airpatastan 
 and the Nirangistan texts of the Avesta of the Huspa- 
 ram Nask, form an important part of the Avesta 
 Scripture. The first 27 folios of HJ. from the begin- 
 
8 
 
 ning, comprehend the text of the Airpatastan, which 
 
 is dislocated at -^X^^^^ -^ in liue 19, folio27. It 
 
 is very incomplete in HJ. and TD., also defective at 
 the beginning. 
 
 There appears to be every probability that one or 
 two folios of the commencement of the Nirangistan, 
 too, are wanting. Its text begins in the middle of 
 the 19th line of the 27th folio of HJ. with the 
 Avesta: — 
 
 •"Jo^"^?*^^2) -x^>^**/ d^"^^ .•^i^i^ii/ .-ii?^ 
 
 From this passage down to the end of HJ. the 
 text agrees very closely with the contents of the 
 Nirangistan described in the Eighth Book of the 
 Dinkard. I have been able to identify the whole ot: 
 the work, and to conclude with certainty that 
 nearly the last half or at least one-third of the 
 original text is still missing. The sixty-sixth section 
 of the Dadastan-i-Dini tells us that the original 
 work contained five fargards of the Avesta. An 
 identification of the Pahlavi with the sketch of its 
 substance given in the Dinkard, proves that the extant 
 text ends at the subject of ** gathering and tying the 
 sacred haresma.*' The remaining text, relating to the 
 purport of the contents that follow, is, therefore, 
 evidently lost. 
 
9 
 
 By a critical examination and digest of the Avesta 
 passages contained in the Airpatastfm and the Nirang- 
 istan I am led to believe that in spite of the fact that 
 three-fourths of the Pahlavi is filled with explanatory 
 glosses by the translators or commentators, most of 
 the Avesta, after deducting untranslated citations or 
 quotations, is a continuous Avesta text — as continuous 
 as is afargard of the Vendidad or a hd of the Yasna. 
 We can easily trace from the Nirangistan Wester- 
 gaard's fragments VI. and VII. (Cf. Darmesteter, Le 
 Zend Avesta, vol. Ill, Paris.) 
 
 At the present stage of Iranian research, it is very 
 difficult to ascertain the exact period or epoch of time 
 wherein the Nasks had been committed to paper. The 
 speculative scholar runs through the arduous field 
 without attaining to any satisfactory result. It has 
 been believed by scholars who profess to be its 
 adherents that the Parsee Scripture must have been in 
 existence when the Indian Vedas were composed, 
 ii: not very older. As to its Pahlavi version and gloss 
 we have enough materials to trace its beginning during 
 the Arsacian monarchy, in the reign of Narsih or 
 Valgash of the Dinkard, ( according to Greek writers 
 Vologeses I. ) and its completion in the illustrious 
 sovereignty of Khusro Noshirwan, the son of Kobad. 
 As to the age of our present text this may be easily 
 traced back to the same time as that of the Tasna 
 and the Vendidad. It mentions the same commenta- 
 tors as the Pahlavi Vendidad does. Besides the 
 names of Afarg, Gogoshasp, Soshyans, Medyo-mah, 
 Dad-Auharmazd, Dad-far ukh, Kiishtan-bujid, Mah- 
 goshasp, Nishahpuhr, Parik, Roshan, which are 
 noticed in both of them, we discover some more in 
 the Nirangistan, which are not alluded to in the Ven- 
 
10 
 
 didad. These commentators are Pisliaksar, Atar- 
 Auharrmazd, Narsih, A tar-pat, son of Dad-farukh, Baro- 
 shau-i-Auharmazd, Fariakh, Mard-bud and Veh-dost. 
 According to the Pahlavi epistle of Manushchihr, the 
 author of the Dadastan-i-Dini, it was in tiie reign 
 of Anoshirawan the Just, that all ike books and com- 
 mentaries referring to the Avesta were collected and 
 revised after the downfall of Mazdak. This may have 
 been the last revision, at all events, the kst great one, 
 for small emendations may have been made later* 
 Alluding to this point, Dr. West observes that '^ the 
 mention of Nishahpuhar in Ep. I., iv« 15, 17, as 
 the supreme officiating priest and councillor of 
 king Khusro Noshirwan (A. D. 531-579), engaged 
 :appai'ently in writing commentaries on the Avesta,'' 
 and as a commentator in the Pahlavi versions of the 
 ¥endidad and the Nirangistan, leads us to infer that 
 these works must have been revised since the 
 middle of the sixth century. 
 
 At all events the Husparam Nask which corre- 
 ■spouds to the seventeenth word •-"' in the Aliuna 
 Vairya stanza, or the different sections pertaining to 
 it, were very familiar to the famous Pahlavi commenta- 
 tors on the Vendidad, as is evinced by two references in 
 the glosses attached to Fargard IV. 10 and V. 25. 
 In the last the writer manifestly points to a passage 
 in the Nirangistan. 
 
 Besiddes the Pahlavi version of the Vendidad, the 
 Dinkard, the Dadastani-Dini, and the Epistles of 
 ManAshchihr, references to our text are found in 
 the Bahman Yasht (II. 37, III. 29) and in the 
 Shayast-la-Shayast (XII. 1, 31). 
 
11 
 
 It lias been already noted tlie the first edition of 
 the HJ. manuscript, which contains two Pahlavi 
 books, and is inadvertently called the '* Nirangistan/' 
 would reveal to the student o£ Pahlavi the discovery 
 of the codex of a new Zand- A vesta work already 
 existing. It is copied and bound with the fragments 
 of the Nirangistan at the beginning. It is the codex 
 of the Airpatastan section of the Huspfiram Nask. 
 
 BOMBAY : PRINTED AT THE EDUCATION SOCIETY'S STEAM PRESS.