Topic: Irianian Mythology

[Prometheus]

https://archive.org/details/mythologyofallra06gray/page/n250

IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

BY
ALBERT J. CARNOY, Ph.D., Litt.D.

PROFESSOR OF LINGUISTICS AND OF IRANIAN PHILOLOGY,

UNIVERSITY OF LOUVAIN

RESEARCH PROFESSOR, UNIVERSITY OF PENNSYLVANIA



AUTHOR^S PREFACE

THE purpose of this essay on Iranian mythology is exactly
set forth by its title: it is a reasonably complete account
of what is mythological in Iranian traditions, but it is nothing
more; since it is exclusively concerned with myths, all that is
properly religious, historical, or archaeological has intention-
ally been omitted. This is, indeed, the first attempt of its kind,
for although there are several excellent delineations of Iranian
customs and of Zoroastrian beliefs, they mention the myths
only secondarily and because they have a bearing on those
customs and beliefs. The consequent inconveniences for the
student of mythology, in the strict sense of the term, are
obvious, and his difficulties are increased by the fact that, with
few exceptions, these studies are either concerned with the
religious history of Iran and for the most part refer solely to the
older period, or are devoted to Persian literature and give only
brief allusions to Mazdean times. Though we must congratu-
late the Warners for their Illuminating prefaces to the various
chapters of their translation of the Shdhndmah, it is evident
that too little has thus far been done to connect the Persian
epic with Avestic myths.

None the less, the value and the interest presented by a
study of Iranian mythology is of high degree, not merely from
a specialist's point of view for knowledge of Persian civilization
and mentality, but also for the material which it provides for
mythologlsts in general. Nowhere else can we so clearly follow
the myths In their gradual evolution toward legend and tra-
ditional history. We may often trace the same stories from the
period of living and creative mythology in the Vedas through
the Avestic times of crystallized and systematized myths to



254 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

the theological and mystic accounts of the Pahlavi books, and
finally to the epico-historic legends of FIrdausi.

There is no doubt that such was the general movement in
the development of the historic stories of Iran. Has the
evolution sometimes operated in the reverse direction? Dr.
L. H. Gray, who knows much about Iranian mythology, seems
to think so in connexion with the myth of Yima, for in his
article on "Blest, Abode of the (Persian)," in the Encyclo-
pcedia of Religion and Ethics, ii. 702-04 (Edinburgh, 1909), he
presents an interesting hypothesis by which Yima's successive
openings of the world to cultivation would appear to allude to
Aryan migrations. It has seemed to me that this story has,
rather, a mythical character, in conformity with my inter-
pretation of Yima's personality; but in any event a single case
would not alter our general conclusions regarding the course
of the evolution of mythology in Persia.

Another point of interest presented by Iranian mythology
is that it collects and unites into a coherent system legends
from two sources which are intimately connected with the two
great racial eleiyients of our civilization. The Aryan myths of
the Vedas appear in Iran, but are greatly modified by the
influence of the neighbouring populations of the valleys of the
Tigris and the Euphrates — Sumerians, Assyrians, etc. Occa-
sional comparisons of Persian stories with Vedic myths or
Babylonian legends have accordingly been introduced into
the account of Iranian mythology to draw the reader's atten-
tion to curious coincidences which, in our present state of
knowledge, have not yet received any satisfactory explanation.
In a paper read this year before the American Oriental Society
I have sought to carry out this method of comparison in more
systematic fashion, but studies of such a type find no place in
the present treatise, which is strictly documentary and presen-
tational in character. The use of hypotheses has, therefore,
been carefully restricted to what was absolutely required to
present a consistent and rational account of the myths and to



AUTHOR'S PREFACE 255

permit them to be classified according to their probable nature.
Due emphasis has also been laid upon the great number of
replicas of the same fundamental story. Throughout my work
my personal views are naturally implied, but I have sought to
avoid bold and hazardous hypotheses.

It has been my endeavour not merely to assemble the myths
of Iran Into a consistent account, but also to give a readable
form to my expose, although I fear that Iranian mythology is
often so dry that many a passage will seem rather Insipid. If
this impression is perhaps relieved in many places, that happy
result is largely due to the poetic colouring of Darmesteter's
translation of the Avesta and of the Warners' version of the
Shdhndmah. The editor of the series has also employed his
talent in versifying such of my quotations from the Avesta as
are in poetry in the original. In so doing he has, of course,
adhered to the metre in which these portions of the Avesta
are written, and which is familiar to English readers as being
that of Longfellow's Hiawatha, as it is also that of the Finnish
Kalevala. Where prose Is mixed with verse in these passages
Dr. Gray has reproduced the original commingling. While,
however, I am thus indebted to him as well as to Darmesteter,
Mills, Bartholomae, West, and the Warners for their meritori-
ous translations, these versions have been compared in all
necessary cases with the original texts.

My hearty gratitude Is due to Professor A. V. Williams
Jackson, who placed the library of the Indo-Iranian Seminar at
Columbia University at my disposal and gave me negatives of
photographs taken by him in Persia and used in his Persia Past
and Present. It is this hospitality and that of the University
of Pennsylvania which have made it possible for me to pursue
my researches after the destruction of my library in Louvain.
Dr. Charles J. Ogden of New York City also helped me in
many ways. For the colour-plates I am indebted to the cour-
tesy of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, where the
Persian manuscripts of the Shdhndmah were generously placed



256 AUTHOR'S PREFACE

at my service; and the Open Court Publishing Company of

Chicago has permitted the reproduction of four illustrations

from their issue of The Mysteries of Mithra.

A. J. CARNOY.

University of Pennsylvania,
I November, 1916.



TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION

THE transcription of Avesta, Pahlavi, and Persian adopted
in this study is of a semi-popular character, for it has been
felt that the use of the strictly technical transliterations — x for
kh, 7 for gh, 6 for th, etc., and the employment of "superior "
letters to indicate spurious diphthongs, as vdrya for vairya —
would confuse readers who are not professed Iranists. This
technical transcription is of value for philologists, not for
mythologists.

The vowels have in general the Italian value and are short
or long, the latter being indicated by the macron. The vowel ^,
which, except in a few technical passages in the Notes, is here
written <?, is pronounced with the dull sound of the "neutral
vowel," much as e in English the man, when uttered rapidly;
^ is a nasalized vowel, roughly like the French nasalized am or
an] do has the sound of a in English all (in strict transcription
do should be written dp) ; di and du are pronounced as in English
aisle and Latin aurum; in ae, ao, eu, eu (properly pu, pu), and
di both components are sounded; ere (properly ptp) represents
the vocalic r, as in English better (bettr). Sometimes the metre
shows that a diphthong is to be monophthongized or that a
single long vowel is to be resolved into two short ones (cf.
Ch. V, Note 54, Ch. V, Note 13); this depends chiefly on
etymology, and no rule can be given to govern all cases of
such occurrences.

The consonants are pronounced in general as in English.
The deviations are: c is pronounced like English ch in church
or Italian c in cicerone; g is always hard; t stands midway be-
tween t and d; zh is like z in English azure or like French ; in
jour; khv represents the Scottish or German ch -\r v; kh, gh, th,



2S8 TRANSCRIPTION AND PRONUNCIATION

dh, /, and w are pronounced as in Scottish loch or German achy
German Tag, English thin, this, far, and win respectively.

In the quotations from the Shdhndmah the Arabic letters
d, h, and q occur; d and h are pronounced very emphatically,
and q is a. k produced deep in the throat. The transcription
employed in the Warner translation of FirdausI differs some-
what, but not sufficiently to cause confusion, as when, for
instance, following the Persian rather than the Arabic pro-
nunciation, they write Zahhak instead of Dahhak, etc. They
also use the acute accent instead of the macron to denote long
vowels, as i instead of i, etc.



INTRODUCTION

ETHNOLOGIC ALLY the Persians are closely akin to the
Aryan races of India, and their religion, which shows many
points of contact with that of the Vedic Indians, was dominant
in Persia until the Muhammadan conquest of Iran in the seventh
century of our era. One of the most exalted and the most inter-
esting religions of the ancient world, it has been for thirteen
hundred years practically an exile from the land of its birth,
but it has found a home in India, where it is professed by the
relatively small but highly influential community of Parsis,
who, as their name ("Persians") implies, are descendants of
immigrants from Persia. The Iranian faith is known to us both
from the inscriptions of the Achaemenian kings (558-330 B.C.)
and from the Avesta, the latter being an extensive collection of
hymns, discourses, precepts for the religious life, and the like,
the oldest portions dating back to a very early period, prior to
the dominion of the great kings. The other parts are consider-
ably later and are even held by several scholars to have been
written after the beginning of the Christian era. In the period
of the Sassanlans, who reigned from about 226 to 641 a.d,,
many translations of the Avesta and commentaries on it were
made, the language employed in them being not Avesta (which
Is closely related to the VedIc Sanskrit tongue of India), but
Pahlavi, a more recent dialect of Iranian and the older form of
Modern Persian. A large number of traditions concerning the
Iranian gods and heroes have been preserved only in Pahlavi, es-
pecially in the Bundahish, or "Book of Creation." Moreover
the huge epic in Modern Persian, written by the great poet
Firdausi, who died about 1025 a.d., and known under the name



26o INTRODUCTION

of Shdhndmah, or "Book of the Kings," has likewise rescued a
great body of traditions and legends which would otherwise
have passed into oblivion; and though in the epic these affect
a more historical guise, in reality they are generally nothing but
humanized myths.

This is not the place to give an account of the ancient Per-
sian religion, since here we have to deal with mythology only.
It will suffice, therefore, to recall that for the great kings as
well as for the priests, who were followers of Zor^agter (A vesta
Zarathushtra), the great prophet of Iran, no god can be com-
pared with Ahura Mazda, the wise creator of all good beings.
Under him are the Amesha Spentas, or "Immortal Holy
Ones," and the Yazatas, or "Venerable Ones," who are secon-
dary deities. The Amesha Spentas have two aspects. In the
moral sphere they embody the essential attainments of re-
ligious life: "Righteousness" (Asha or Arta), "Good Mind"
(Vohu Manah), "Desirable Kingdom" (Khshathra Vairya),
"Wise Conduct" and "Devotion" (Spenta Armaiti), "Perfect
Happiness" (Haurvatat), and "Immortality" (Ameretat).
In their material nature they preside over the whole world as
guardians: Asha is the spirit of fire, Vohu Manah is the pro-
tector of domestic animals, Khshathra Vairya is the patron of
metals, Spenta Armaiti presides over earth, Haurvatat over
water, and Ameretat over plants.

The Amesha Spentas constitute Ahura Mazda's court, and
l^ it is through them that he governs the world and brings men to
sanctity. Below Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas come
the Yazatas, who are for the most part ancient Aryan divini-
ties reduced in the Zoroastrian system to the rank of auxiliary
angels. Of these we may mention Atar, the personification of
that fire which plays so important a part in the Mazdean cult
that its members have now become commonly, though quite
erroneously, known as "Fire- Worshippers"; and by the side
of the genius of fire is found one of water, Anahita.

Mithra is by all odds the most important Yazata. Although



PLATE XXXII
Iranian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins

I. MiTHRA

The Iranian god of light with the solar disk about his head.
From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king Huviska. After Stein,
Tioroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^ No. I. See pp. 287-88.

2. Apam Napat
The "Child of Waters." The deity is represented with a
horse, thus recalling his Avestic epithet, aurvat-aspa ("with swift
steeds"). From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king Kaniska.
After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^ No. III.
See pp. 267, 340. ^ y^^^

The moon-god is represented with the characteristic lunar
disk. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king Huviska. After
Stein, Xoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^No. IV. See p. 278.

4. Vata or Vayu
The wind-god is running forward with hair floating and mantle
flying in the breeze. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king
Kaniska. After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^
No. V. See pp. 299, 302.

5. Khvarenanh
The Glory, here called by his Persian name, Farro, holds out the
royal symbol. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king Huviska.
After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins ^ No. VI.
See pp. 285, 304-05, 311, 324, 332-33, 343.

6. Atar
The god of fire is here characterized by the flames which
rise from his shoulders. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king
Kaniska. After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^
No. VII. See pp. ibb-b-j.

7. Vanainti (Uparatat)

This goddess, "Conquering Superiority," is modelled on the
Greek Nike ("Victory"), and seems to carry in one hand the
sceptre of royalty, while with the other she proffers the crown
worn by the Iranian kings. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian
king Huviska. After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian
Coins, No. VlII.

8. Verethraghna

On the helmet of the war-god perches a bird which is doubt-
less the Vareghna. The deity appropriately carries spear and sword.
From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king Kaniska. After Stein,
Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins, l^o. IX. See pp. 271-73.



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INTRODUCTION 261

pushed by Zoroaster into the background, he always enjoyed
a very popular cult among the people in Persia as the god of the
plighted word, the protector of justice, and the deity who gives
victory in battle against the foes of the Iranians and defends
the worshippers of Truth and Righteousness (Asha), His
cult spread, as is well known, at a later period into the
Roman Empire, and he has as his satellites, to help him in his
function of guardian of Law, Rashnu ("Justice") and Sraosha
("Discipline").

Under the gods are the spirits called Fravashis, who origi-
nally were the manes of ancestors, but in the Zoroastrian
creed are genii, attached as guardians to all beings human and
divine.

It is generally known that the typical feature of Mazdeism
is dualism, or the doctrine of two creators and two creations.
Ahura Mazda (Ormazd), with his host of Amesha Spentas and
Yazatas, presides over the good creation and wages an inces-
sant war against his counterpart Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) and
the latter's army of noxious spirits. The Principle of Evil has
created darkness, suffering, and sins of all kinds; he is anxious
to hurt the creatures of the good creation; he longs to enslave
the faithful of Ahura Mazda by bringing them into falsehood
or into some impure contact with an evil being; he is often
called Druj ("Deception"). Under him are marshalled the
daevas ("demons"), from six of whom a group has been formed
explicitly antithetic to the Amesha Spentas. Among the demons
are Aeshma ("Wrath, Violence"), Aka Manah ("Evil Mind"),
Biishyasta ("Sloth"), Apaosha ("Drought"), and Nasu
("Corpse"), who takes hold of corpses and makes them im-
pure, to say nothing of the Yatus ("sorcerers") and the Pai-
rikas (Modern Persian pari^ "fairy"), who are spirits of seduc-
tion. The struggle between the good and the evil beings, in
which man takes part by siding, according to his conduct, with
Ahura Mazda or with his foe, is to end with the victory of the
former at the great renovation of the world, when a flood of



262 INTRODUCTION

molten metal will, as an ordeal, purify all men and bring about
the complete exclusion of evil.

Dualism, having impregnated all Iranian beliefs, profoundly
influenced the mythology of Iran as well or, more exactly, it
was in their mythology that the people of ancient Persia found
the germ that developed into religious dualism.



IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

CHAPTER I
WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS

THE mythology of the Indians and the Iranians has given
a wide extension to the conception of a struggle between
light and darkness, this being the development of myths dating
back to Indo-European times and found among all Indo-
European peoples. Besides the cosmogonic stories in which
monstrous giants are killed by the gods of sky or storm we have
the myths of the storm and of the fire. In the former a heavenly
being slays the dragon concealed in the cloud, whose waters
now flow over the earth; or the god delivers from a monster
the cows of the clouds that are imprisoned in some mountain
or cavern, as, for example, in the legends concerning Herakles
and Geryoneus or Cacus.^ In the second class of myths the
fire of heaven, produced in the cloud or in an aerial sea, is
brought to earth by a bird or by a daring human being like
Prometheus.

All these myths tell of a struggle against powers of darkness
for light or for blessings under the form of rain. They were
eminently susceptible of being systematized in a dualistic
form, and the strong tendency toward symbolism, observable
both in old Indian (Vedic) and old Iranian conceptions, re-
sulted in the association of moral ideas with the cosmic
struggle, thus easily leading to dualism.

The recent discoveries in Boghaz Kyoi and elsewhere in the
Near East have shown that the Indo-Iranians were in con-
tact with Assyro-Babylonian culture at an early date, and there

[Prometheus]

264 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

are many reasons for believing that their religious ideas were
influenced by their neighbours, especially as regards the group
of gods known In India as the Adityas, whose function is to
be the guardians of the law (Sanskrit rta — Avesta asha) and
of morality.^

Now, Babylonian mythology could only confirm the Indo-
. Iranians in their conceptions concerning the cosmic battle
against maleficent forces or monstrous beings. Thus Assyro->v
Babylonian legends tell of the fight between Tiamat, a huge
monster of forbidding aspect, embodying primeval chaos, and
"T^Marduk, a solar deity. As Professor Morris Jastrow suggests,^'X
the myth is based upon the annual phenomenon witnessed
in Babylonia when the whole valley Is flooded, when storms
sweep across the plains, and the sun is obscured. A conflict is
going on between the waters and storms on the one hand,
and the sun on the other; but the latter is finally victorious,
for Marduk subdues Tiamat and triumphantly marches across
the heavens from one end to the other as general overseer.

In other myths, more specifically those of the storm, the
storm Is represented by a bull,"* an idea not far remote from the
Indo-Iranian conception which identifies the storm-cloud with
a cow or an ox. (JThe storm-god Is likewise symbolized under
the form of a bird^a figure which we also find in Iranian myths,
as when an eagle brings to the earth the fire of heaven, the
lightning. Similarly in Babylonian mythology the bird Zu
endeavours to capture the tablets of Fate from En-lll, and dur-
ing the contest which takes place in heaven Zu seizes the tab-
lets, which only Marduk can recover. Like the dragon who has
hidden the cows, Zu dwells In an inaccessible recess in the moun-
ytains, and Ramman, the storm-god, is invoked to conquer
him with his weapon, the thunderbolt.^

Among the Indo-Iranians, the poetic imagination of the
Vedic Indians has given the most complete description of the
conflict in the storm-cloud. With his distinctive weapon, the
vajra ("thunderbolt"), Indra slays the demon of drought called



1*1



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PLATE XXXIII
I

Typical Representation of Mithra

Mithra is shown sacrificing the bull in the cave.
Beneath the bull is the serpent, and the dog springs
at the bull's throat, licking the blood which pours
from the wound. The raven, the bird sacred to
Mithra, is also present. On either side of the god
stands a torch-bearer, symbolizing the rising and the
setting sun respectively, and above them are the sun
and the moon in their chariots. This Borghesi bas-
relief in white marble, now in the Louvre, was origi-
nally in the Mithraeum of the Capitol at Rome. After
Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra^ Fig. 4.

2
Scenes from the Life of Mithra

This bas-relief, discovered in 1838 at Neuenheim,
near Heidelberg, shows in the border, round the central
figure of the tauroctonous deity, twelve of the principal
events in his life. Among them the clearest are his
birth from the rock (top of the border to the left),
his capture of the bull, which he carries to the cave
(border to the right), and his ascent to Ahura Mazda
(top border). The second scene from the top on the
border to the left represents Kronos (Zarvan, or
"Time") investing Zeus (Ahura Mazda) with the
sceptre of the universe. After Cumont, The Mysteries
of Mithra^ Fig. 15.



THE >,TV/ YORK

Tlzuc library



ASTOR, LENOX ANB

TiLDBN POL^^'DA^o^fS
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WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS 265

Vrtra ("Obstruction") or Ahi ("Serpent"). The fight is
terrible, so that heaven and earth tremble with fear. Indra is
said to have slain the dragon lying on the mountain and to have
released the waters (clouds) ; and owing to this victory Indra
is frequently called Vrtrahan ("Slayer of Vrtra"). The Veda
also knows of another storm-contest, very similar to this one
and often assigned to Indra, although it properly belongs to
Trita, the son of Aptya. This mighty hero is likewise the slayer
of a dragon, the three-headed, six-eyed serpent Visvarupa.
He released the cows which the monster was hiding in a
cavern, and this cave is also a cloud, because in his fight
Trita, whose weapon is again the thunderbolt, is said to be
rescued by the winds. He lives in a secret abode in the sky
and is the fire of heaven blowing from on high on the terres-
trial fire {agni), causing the flames to rise and sharpening
them like a smelter in a furnace.^ Trita has brought fire from
heaven to earth and prepared the intoxicating draught of
immortality, the soma that gives strength to Indra. ^

In Iran, Indra is practically excluded from the pantheon,
being merely mentioned from time to time as a demon of Angra
Mainyu. Trita, on the other hand, is known as a beneficent
hero, one of the first priests who prepared haoma (the Indian
soma),^ the plant of life, and as such he is called the first
healer, the wise, the strong "who drove back sickness to sick-
ness, death to death." He asked for a source of remedies, and
Ahura Mazda brought down the healing plants which by many
myriads grew up all around the tree Gaokerena, or White
Haoma.^ Thus, under the name of Thrita (Sanskrit Trita)
he is the giver of the beverage made from the juice of the mar-
vellous plant that grows on the summits of mountains, just as
Trita is in India. ^°

Under the appellation of Thraetaona, son of Athwya (Sans-
krit Aptya), another preparer of haoma, ^^ he smote the dragon
Azhi Dahaka, three-jawed and triple-headed, six-eyed, with
mighty strength, an imp of the spirit of deceit created by Angra



266 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Mainyu to slaughter Iranian settlements and to murder the
faithful of Asha ("Justice"), the scene of the struggle being
"the four-cornered Varena," a mythical, remote region. Like
the storm-gods and the bringers of fire, Thraetaona sometimes
reveals himself in the shape of a bird, a vulture,^^ and later we
shall see how, under the name of Farldun, he becomes an im-
portant hero in the Persian epic. His mythical nature appears
clearly if one compares the storm-stories in the Veda with
those in the Avesta. All essential features are the same on
both sides. The myth of a conflict between a god of light or
storm and a dragon assumes many shapes in Iran, although in
its general outlines it is unchanging. In Thraetaona's struggle
the victor was, as we have seen, connected with fire. Now
fire itself, under the name of Atar, son of Ahura Mazda, is
represented as having been in combat with the dragon Azhi
Dahaka:

" Fire, Ahura Mazda's offspring.

Then did hasten, hasten forward,

Thus within himself communing:
*Let me seize that Glory unattainable.'

But behind him hurtled onward

Azhi, blasphemies outpouring,

Triple-mouthed and evil-creeded:
*Back! let this be told thee.

Fire, Ahura Mazda's offspring:
If thou holdest fast that thing unattainable,

Thee will I destroy entirely.

That thou shalt no more be gleaming

On the earth Mazda-created,

For protecting Asha's creatures.'
Then Atar drew back his hands,

Anxious, for his life affrighted.

So much Azhi had alarmed him.

Then did hurtle, hurtle forward.

Triple-mouthed and evil-creeded,

Azhi, thus within him thinking:
'Let me seize that Glory unattainable.'

But behind him hastened onward

Fire, Ahura Mazda's offspring.

Speaking thus with words of meaning:



WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS 267

* Hence! let this be told thee,

Azhi, triple-mouthed Dahaka:
If thou holdest fast that thing unattainable,
I shall sparkle up thy buttocks, I shall gleam upon thy jaw,^^

That thou shalt no more be coming

On the earth Mazda-created,

For destroying Asha's creatures.'
Then Azhi drew back his hands.

Anxious, for his life affrighted,

So much Atar had alarmed him.

Forth that Glory went up-swelling

To the ocean Vourukasha.

Straightway then the Child of Waters,

Swift of horses, seized upon him.
This doth the Child of Waters, swift of horses, desire:
'Let me seize that Glory unattainable

To the bottom of deep ocean,

In the bottom of profound gulfs.'" ^*

Although much uncertainty reigns as to the localization of
the sea Vourukasha and the nature of the "Son of the Waters"
(Apam Napat), the prevalent opinion is that they are respec-
tively the waters on high and the fire above, which is born from
the clouds.

The Avesta's most poetical accounts of the contest on high
are, however, not the descriptions of battles with Azhi Dahaka,
but the vivid pictures of the victory of Tishtrya, the dog-
star (Sirius), over Apaosha, the demon of drought.^^ Drought
and the heat of summer were the great scourges in Iranian
countries, and Sirius, the star of the dog-days, was supposed
to bring the beneficent summer showers, whereas Apaosha,
the evil demon, was said to have captured the waters, which
had to be released by the god of the dog-star. Accordingly we
find the faithful singing:

"Tishtrya the star we worship.
Full of brilliancy and glory.
Holding water's seed and mighty,
Tall and strong, afar off seeing.
Tall, in realms supernal working.



268 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

For whom yearn flocks and herds and men —
'When will Tishtrya be rising,
Full of brilliancy and glory?
When, Oh, when, will springs of water
Flow again, more strong than horses?'" ^®

Tishtrya listens to the prayer of the faithful, and being satis-
fied with the sacrifice and the libations, he descends to the
sea Vourukasha in the shape of a white, beautiful horse, with
golden ears and caparisoned in gold. But the demon Apaosha
rushes down to meet him in the form of a dark horse, bald with
bald ears, bald with a bald back, bald with a bald tail, a fright-
ful horse. They meet together, hoof against hoof; they fight
together for three days and nights. Then the demon Apaosha
proves stronger than the bright and glorious Tishtrya and over-
comes him, and he drives him back a full mile from the sea
Vourukasha. In deep distress the bright and glorious Tishtrya
cries out:

"Woe to me, Ahura Mazda!

Bane for you, ye plants and waters!

Doomed the faith that worships Mazda!
Now men do not worship me with worship that speaks my name.
... If men should worship me with worship that speaks my
name, . . .

For myself I'd then be gaining

Strength of horses ten in number,

Strength of camels ten in number.

Strength of oxen ten in number,

Strength of mountains ten in number.
Strength of navigable rivers ten in number." ^"^

Hearing his lament, the faithful offer a sacrifice to Tishtrya,
and the bright and glorious one descends yet again to the sea
Vourukasha in the guise of a white, beautiful horse, with golden
ears and caparisoned in gold. Once more the demon Apaosha
rushes down to meet him in the form of a dark horse, bald with
bald ears. They meet together, they fight together at the time
of noon. Then Tishtrya proves stronger than Apaosha and



WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS 269

overcomes him, driving him far from the sea Vourukasha and
shouting aloud:

"Hail to me, Ahura Mazda!
Hail to you, ye plants and waters!
Hail the faith that worships Mazda!
Hail be unto you, ye countries!
Up now, O ye water-channels,
Go ye forth and stream unhindered
To the corn that hath the great grains,
To the grass that hath the small grains,
To corporeal creation." ^^

Then Tishtrya goes to the sea Vourukasha and makes it
boil up and down, causing it to stream up and over its shores,
so that not only the shores of the sea, but its centre, are boil-
ing over. After this vapours rise up above Mount Ushindu
that stands in the middle of the sea Vourukasha, and they
push forward, forming clouds and following the south wind
along the ways traversed by Haoma, the bestower of pros-
perity. Behind him rushes the mighty wind of Mazda, and the
rain and the cloud and the hail, down to the villages, down to the
fields, down to the seven regions of earth.

Not only does Tishtrya enter the contest as a horse, but he
also appears as a bull, a disguise which reminds us of the Semitic
myth in which the storm-god Zu fights under the shape of a
bull, and which is an allusion to the violence of the storms and
to the fertility which water brings to the world.

Finally Tishtrya is changed into a brilliant youth, and that
is why he Is invoked for wealth of male children. In this avatar
he manifests himself

"With the body of a young man.
Fifteen years of age and shining,
Clear of eye, and tall, and sturdy.
Full of strength, and very skilful." ^^

This rain-myth was later converted into a cosmic story, and
TIshtrya's shower was supposed to have taken place in pri-



270 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

meval times before the appearance of man on earth, in order to
destroy the evil creatures produced by Angra Mainyu as a
counterpart of Mazda's creation. Tishtrya's co-operators
were Vohu Manah, the Amesha Spentas, and Haoma, and he
produced rain during ten days and ten nights in each one of the
three forms which he assumed — an allusion to the dog-days
that were supposed to be thirty in number. "Every single
drop of that rain became as big as a bowl, and the water stood
the height of a man over the whole of this earth; and the
noxious creatures on the earth being all killed by the rain, went
into the holes of the earth." Afterward the wind blew, and
the water was all swept away and was brought out to the bor-
ders of the earth, and the sea Vourukasha ("Wide-Gulfed")
arose from it. "The noxious creatures remained dead within
the earth, and their venom and stench were mingled with the
earth, and in order to carry that poison away from the earth
Tishtar went down into the ocean in the form of a white horse
with long hoofs," conquering Apaosha and causing the rivers
to flow out.^°

In his function of collector and distributor of waters from
the sea Vourukasha, Tishtrya is aided by a strange mythical
being, called the three-legged ass. "It stands amid the wide-
formed ocean, and its feet are three, eyes six, mouths nine,
ears two, and horn one, body white, food spiritual, and it is
righteous. And two of its six eyes are in the position of eyes,
two on the top of the head, and two in the position of the
hump; with the sharpness of those six eyes it overcomes and
destroys. Of the nine mouths three are in the head, three in
the hump, and three in the inner part of the flanks; and each
mouth is about the size of a cottage, and it is itself as large as
Mount Alvand [eleven thousand feet above the sea]. . . . When
that ass shall hold its neck in the ocean its ears will terrify, and
all the water of the wide formed ocean will shake with agitation.
. . . When it stales In the ocean all the sea-water will become
purified." Otherwise, "all the water in the sea would have



WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS 271

perished from the contamination which the poison of the evil
spirit has brought into its water." -^ Darmesteter thinks this
ass is another incarnation of the storm-cloud, whereas West
maintains that it is some foreign god tolerated by the Mazdean
priests and fitted into their system.^^

Zoroastrianism, being inclined to abstraction and to personi-
fying abstractions, has created a genius of victory, embodying
the conquest of evil creatures and foes of every description
which the myths attribute to Thraetaona, Tishtrya, and other
heroes. The name of this deity is Verethraghna ("Victory
over Adverse Attack"), an expression reminding us of the
epithet Vrtrahan ("Slayer of Vrtra") of the mighty Vedic
conqueror-god Indra. The vrtra, the "attack," is in the latter
case made into the name of the assailing dragon Ahi, the
Iranian Azhi.

Verethraghna penetrated into popular worship and even
became the great Hercules of the Armenians, who were for
centuries under the influence of Iranian culture and who
called the hero Vahagn, a corruption of Verethraghna.^^ He
was supposed to have been born in the ocean, probably a
reminiscence of the sea Vourukasha, and he mastered not
only the dragon Azhi, whom we know, but also Vishapa, whose
name in the Avesta is an epithet of Azhi, meaning "whose
saliva is poisonous," and he fettered them on Mount Dama-
vand.^^ In a hymn of the Avesta ^'^ the various incarnations
of Verethraghna are enumerated. Here he describes himself
as "the mightiest in might, the most victorious in victory, the
most glorious in glory, the most favouring in favour, the most
advantageous in advantage, the most healing in healing." ^^
He destroys the malice of all the malicious, of demons as well
as of men, of sorcerers and spirits of seduction, and of other
evil beings. He comes in the shape of a strong, beautiful wind,
bearing the Glory made by Mazda that is both health and
strength; " and next he conquers in the form of a handsome
bull, with yellow ears and golden horns. ^^



272 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Thirdly, he is a white, beautiful horse like Tishtrya, and
then a burden-bearing camel, sharp-toothed and long-haired.
The fifth time he is a wild boar, and next, once more like Tish-
trya, he manifests himself in the guise of a handsome youth
of fifteen, shining, clear-eyed, and slender-heeled.

The seventh time he appears

" In the shape of the Vareghna,
Grasping prey with what is lower,
Rending prey with what is upper,^^
Who of bird-kind is the swiftest,
Lightest, too, of them that fare forth.
He alone of all things living
To the arrow's flight attaineth,
Though well shot it speedeth onward.
Forth he flies with ruffling feathers
When the dawn begins to glimmer,
Seeking evening meals at nightfall.
Seeking morning meals at sunrise,
Skimming o'er the valleyed ridges.
Skimming o'er the lofty hill-tops.
Skimming o'er deep vales of rivers,
Skimming o'er the forests' summits,
Hearing what the birds may utter." ^

Then Verethraghna comes as "a beautiful wild ram, with
horns bent round," and again as "a fighting buck with sharp
horns." That these are symbols of virility is shown by the
next avatar, the tenth, in which he appears

"In a shining hero's body,
Fair of form, Mazda-created,
With a dagger gold-damascened.
Beautified with all adornment.

Verethraghna gives the sources of manhood, the strength of the
arms, the health of the whole body, the sturdiness of the whole body,
and the eyesight of the kar-fish, which lives beneath the waters and
can measure a ripple no thicker than a hair, in the Rangha whose
ends lie afar, whose depth is a thousand times the height of a man.
. . . He gives the eyesight of the stallion, which in the dark and
cloudy night can perceive a horse's hair lying on the ground and



PLATE XXXIV

Iranian Deities on Indo-Scythian and Sassanian Coins

I. Tishtrya
The god bears bow and arrows, and his representation as female is
probably due to imitation of the Greek Artemis. From a coin of the
Indo-Scythian king Huviska. After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-
Scythian Coins^ No. X. See pp. 267-70.

2. Khshathra Vairya

The deity " Desirable Kingdom," who is also the god of metals, is
appropriately represented in full metal armour. From a coin of the Indo-
Scythian king Huviska. After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian
Coins^ No. X[. See p. 260.

3. Ardokhsho

[Prometheus]

This goddess is evidently modelled on the Greek Tyche ("For-
tune ") and has been held to be the divinity Ashi. The name, as given on
the coin, seems to mean "Augmenting Righteousness," and in view of the
reference to Haurvatat and Ameretat as "the companions who augment
righteousness" {ashaokhshayantao saredyayao^ 3^^j-«/2, xxxiii. 8-9), the Editor
suggests that Ardokhsho may be one of these Amesha Spentas, probably
Ameretat, the deity of vegetation. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king
Huviska. After Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^ No.
XVI. See pp. 260, 281.

4. AsHA Vahishta

In every respect except the name this deity is represented precisely
like Mithra. From a coin of the Indo-Scythian king Huviska. After
Stein, Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins^ No. XVII. See p. 260.

5. Ahura Mazda

The conventional representation of Ahura Mazda floats above what
appears to be a fire temple, rather than an altar, from which rise the
sacred flames. From a Parthian coin. After Drouin, in Revue arch'eolo-
gique^ 1884, Plate V, No. 2.

6. Fire Altar

The altar here appears in its simplest form. From a Sassanian coin
in the collection of the Editor.

7. Fire Altar

The altar is here much more elaborate in form. From a Sassanian
coin in the collection of the Editor.

8. Fravashi
Of interest as showing the appearance of a Fravashi ("Genius") in
the flame, and as representing the king as one of the guardians of the fire,
although strictly only the priests are permitted to enter Atar's presence.
From a Sassanian coin. After Dorn, Collection de monnaies sassanides de
. . . J. de Bartholomaei^ Plate VI, No. I. See pp. 261, 342.



PUJ>LIC LlBllARY



ASTOR, LENOX AND
TILDBN POCNUAliONS



B



L



WARS OF GODS AND DEMONS 273

knows whether it is from the head or from the tail. . . . He gives
the eyesight of the golden-collared vulture, which from as far as the
ninth district can perceive a piece of flesh no thicker than the fist,
giving just as much light as a shining needle gives, as the point of a
needle gives." ^^

Yet even this is not ail, for we are also told that

"Be they men or be they demons,
Verethraghna, Ahura's creature,

Breaketh battle-hosts in pieces,
Cutteth battle-hosts asunder,
Presseth battle-hosts full sorely,
Shaketh battle-hosts with terror.

Then, when Verethraghna, Ahura's creature,

Bindeth fast the hands behind them,

Teareth out the eyeballs from them,

Maketh dull the ears with deafness
Of the close battle-hosts of the confederated countries,
Of the men false to Mithra [or, belying their pledges].

They cannot maintain their footing.

They cannot oppose resistance." ^-

The poetic Inspiration of this hymn has made it interesting
to quote it at some length, especially as it shows the con-
centration in the person of the genius of victory of many fea-
tures belonging to the old myths of contests on high.

This story was apt to have many replicas. Beyond those
mentioned here Persian mythology possessed several more,
such as the story of Keresaspa, who smote the horny dragon
or the golden-heeled Gandarewa,^^ and whose exploits have
been made the subject of an extensive narrative In the Shah-
ndmah, as will be set forth later on.

Iranian mythology, being essentially duallstic, contains
numerous other contests, such as the overpowering of Yima,
the king of the golden age, by AzhI Dahaka, the killing of the
primeval bull by Mithra, the battle between Ahura Mazda
and Angra Malnyu In the first times of creation, the war
waged by Zarathushtra, the prophet, against the tenets of the



274 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

demons, and the same struggle at the end of the world by the
future prophet Saoshyant.

All this will be considered in subsequent chapters, and all
this, according to certain mythologists like James Darmesteter,
is the perpetual repetition (with some modifications) of the
struggle in the storm-cloud between the light and the darkness.
That conclusion is obviously exaggerated, although it is very
likely, and very natural also, that features borrowed from the
famous myth have penetrated into those other battles which
are, each of them, incidents of the great dualistic war between
the two creations. It is this conflict that we are now going to
follow from the time of creation to the renovation of the world
at the end of this period of strife.



CHAPTER II
MYTHS OF CREATION

THE Iranian legend of creation is as follows.^ Ahura
Mazda lives eternally in the region of infinite light, but
Angra Mainyu, on the contrary, has his abode in the abyss
of endless darkness, between them, being empty space, the air.
After Ahura Mazda had produced his creatures, which were
to remain three thousand years in a spiritual state, so that
they were unthinking and unmoving, with intangible bodies,"
the Evil Spirit, having arisen from the abyss, came into the
light of Ahura Mazda. Because of his malicious nature, he
rushed in to destroy it, but seeing the Good Spirit was more
powerful than himself, he fled back to the gloomy darkness,
where he formed many demons and fiends to help him.

Then Ahura Alazda saw the creatures of the Evil Spirit,
terrible, corrupt, and bad as they were, and having the knowl-
edge of what the end of the matter would be, he went to meet
Angra Mainyu and proposed peace to him: "Evil spirit! bring
assistance unto my creatures, and ofl"er praise! so that, in
reward for it, thou and thy creatures may become immortal
and undecaying." But Angra Mainyu howled thus: "I will not
depart, I will not provide assistance for thy creatures, I will
not offer praise among thy creatures, and I am not of the same
opinion with thee as to good things. I will destroy thy crea-
tures for ever and everlasting; moreover, I will force all thy
creatures into disaffection to thee and affection for myself."
Ahura Mazda, however, said to the Evil Spirit, "Appoint a
period! so that the intermingling of the conflict may be for
nine thousand years"; for he knew that by setting that time



276 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

the Evil Spirit would be undone. The latter, unobservant and
ignorant, was content with the agreement, and the nine thou-
sand years were divided so that during three thousand years
the will of Mazda was to be done, then for three thousand
years there is an intermingling of the wills of Mazda and
Angra Mainyu, and in the last third the Evil Spirit will be
disabled.

Afterward Ahura Mazda recited the powerful prayer Yathd
ahu vairyd' and, by so doing, exhibited to the Evil Spirit his
own triumph in the end and the impotence of his adversary.
Perceiving this, Angra Mainyu became confounded and fell
back into the gloomy darkness, where he stayed in confusion
for three thousand years. During this period the creatures of
Mazda remained unharmed, but existed only in a spiritual or
potential state; and not until this triple millennium had come
to an end did the actual creation begin.

As the first step in the cosmogonic process Ahura Mazda
produced Vohu Manah ("Good Mind"), whereupon Angra
Mainyu immediately created Aka Manah ("Evil Mind"); and
in like manner when Ahura Mazda formed the other Amesha
Spentas, his adversary shaped their counterparts. After all
this was completed, the creation of the world took place in
due order — sky, water, earth, plants, animals, mankind.

In shaping the sky and the heavenly bodies Ahura Mazda
produced first the celestial sphere and the constellations, es-
pecially the zodiacal signs. The stars are a warlike army des-
tined for battle against the evil spirits. There are six million
four hundred and eighty thousand small stars, and to the many
which are unnumbered places are assigned in the four quarters
of the sky. Over the stars four leaders preside, Tishtrya (Sirius)
being the chieftain of the east, Hapt5k Ring (Ursa Major) of
the north, Sataves of the west, and Vanand of the south. Then
he created the moon and afterward the sun.

In the meanwhile, however, the impure female demon Jahi
had undertaken to rouse Angra Mainyu from his long sleep



M\THS OF CREATION 277

— "Rise up, we will cause a conflict in the world," — but this
did not please him because, through fear of Ahura Mazda, he
was not able to lift up his head. Then she shouted again,
"Rise up, thou father of us! for I will cause that conflict
in the world wherefrom the distress and injury of Aiiharmazd
and the archangels will arise. ... I will make the whole
creation of Aiiharmazd vexed."

When she had shouted thrice, Angra Mainyn was delighted
and started up from his confusion, and he kissed Jahi upon the
head and howled, "What is thy wish.^ so that I may give it
thee.''" And she shouted, "A man is the wish, so give it to me."
Now the form of the Evil Spirit was a log like a lizard's body,
but he made himself into a young man of fifteen years,^ and
this brought the thought of Jahi unto him.

Then Angra Mainyu with his confederate demons went
toward the luminaries that had just been created, and he saw
the sky and sprang into it like a snake,^ so that the heavens
were as shattered and frightened by him as a sheep by a wolf.
Just like a fly he rushed out upon the whole creation and he
made the world as tarnished and black at midday as though it
were in dark night. He created the planets in opposition to
the chieftains of the constellations, and they dashed against
the celestial sphere and threw the constellations into confu-
sion,'^ and the entire creation was as disfigured as though fire
had burned it and smoke had arisen.

For ninety days and nights the Amesha Spentas and Yazatas
contended with the confederate demons and hurled them con-
founded back into the darkness. The rampart of the sky was
now built in such a manner that the fiends would no more be
able to penetrate into it; and when the Evil Spirit no longer
found an entrance, he was compelled to rush back to the nether
darkness, beholding the annihilation of the demons and his own
impotence.

Then as the second step in the cosmogonic process Ahura
Mazda created the waters.^ These converge into the sea



278 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Vourukasha ("Wide-Gulfed"), which occupies one third of
this earth in the direction of the southern limit of Mount AlbGrz
and is so wide that it contains the water of a thousand lakes.
Every lake is of a particular kind; some are great, and some
are small, while others are so vast that a man with a horse
could not compass them around in less than forty days.

All waters continually flow from the source Ardvl Sura
Anahita ("the Wet, Strong, and Spotless One"). There are a
hundred thousand golden channels, and the water, warm and
clear, goes through them toward Mount Hugar, the lofty. On
the summit of that mountain is Lake Urvis, into which the
water flows, and becoming quite purified, returns through a
different golden channel. At the height of a thousand men an
open golden branch from that affluent is connected with Mount
Auslndom and the sea Vourukasha, whence one part flows forth
to the ocean for the purification of the sea, while another por-
tion drizzles in moisture upon the whole of this earth. All the
creatures of Mazda acquire health from it, and it dispels the
dryness of the atmosphere.

There are, moreover, three large salt seas and twenty-three
small. Of the three, the Puitika (Persian Gulf) is the greatest,
and the control of it is connected with moon and wind; It
comes and goes in increase and decrease because of her revolv-
ing. From the presence of the moon two winds continually
blow; one is called the down-draught, and one the up-draught,
and they produce flow and ebb.

The spring Ardvl Sura Anahita, which we have just men-
tioned, and from which all rivers flow down to the earth, is
worshipped as a goddess. She is celebrated in the fifth Yasht
of the Avesta as the life-increasing, the herd-increasing, the
fold-increasing, who makes prosperity for all countries. She
runs powerfully down to the sea Vourukasha, and all its shores
are boiling over when she plunges foaming down., she, Ardvi
SiJra, who has a thousand gulfs and a thousand outlets.

Not only does Anahita bring fertility to the fields by her



MYTHS OF CREATION 279

waters, but she makes the seed of all males pure and sound,
purifies the wombs of all females, causes them to bring forth in
safety, and puts milk in their breastsJ She gave strength to all
heroes of primeval times so that they were able to overcome
their foes, whether the demons, the serpent Azhi, or the golden-
heeled Gandarewa.

She is personified under the appearance of a handsome and
stately woman. ^

"Yea in truth her arms are lovely,
White of hue, more strong than horses;
Fair-adorned is she and charming;

With a lovely maiden's body,
Very strong, of goodly figure.
Girded high and standing upright,
Nobly born, of brilliant lineage;
Ankle-high she weareth foot-gear
Golden-latcheted and shining.

She is clad in costly raiment.
Richly pleated and all golden,

For adornment she hath ear-rings
With four corners and all golden.
On her lovely throat a necklace
She doth wear, the maid full noble,
Ardvi Sura Anahita.
Round her waist she draws a girdle
That fair-formed may be her bosom,
That well-pleasing be her bosom.
On her brow a crown she placeth,
Ardvi Sura Anahita,
Eight its parts, its jewels a hundred,
Fair-formed, like a chariot-body,
Golden, ribbon-decked, and lovely,
Swelling forth with curve harmonious.
She is clad in beaver garments,
Ardvi Sura Anahita,
Of the beaver tribe three hundred."

This precise description points to the existence of represen-
tations of the goddess, a thing unusual in Persia in ancient

VI — 19



28o IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

times. But Anahita, as Herodotus tells us, was at that period
identified with the Semitic Ishtar, a divinity of fertility and
fecundity, and a powerful deity invoked in battle and in war,
both these functions being attributed to Anahita in the hymn
quoted above. Ishtar seems to have absorbed in Babylonia
many of the attributes of Ea's consort Nin Ella, the "Great
Lady of the Waters," the "Pure Lady" of birth, whose name
is the exact equivalent of Ardvi Siira Anahita; and it was Nin
Ella, more probably than Ishtar, who was the prototype of the
Iranian goddess.

The Evil Spirit, however, also came to the water and sent
Apaosha, the demon of drought, to fight against Tishtrya
(Sirius), who bestows water upon the earth during the sum-
mer; the result of their encounter being the conflict that has
been narrated above.

The third of the processes of creation was the shaping of the
world. After the rain of Tishtrya had flooded the earth and
purified it from the venom of the noxious creatures, and when
the waters had retired, the thirty-three kinds of land were
formed. These are distributed into seven portions: one is in
the middle, and the others are the six regions (keshvars) of the
earth.

To counteract the work of Ahura Mazda, Angra Mainyu
came and pierced the earth, entering straight into its midmost
part; and when the earth shook, the mountains arose. First,
Mount Alburz (Hara Berezaiti) was created, and then the
other ranges of mountains came into being; for as Alburz
grew forth all the mountains remained in motion, for they
have all grown forth from the root of Albiirz. At that time
they came up from the earth, like a tree which has grown up to
the clouds and its root to the bottom." The mountains stand
in a row about Albiirz, which is the knot of lands and is the
highest peak of all, lifting its head even to the sky. On one of
its summits, named Taera, the sun, the moon, and the stars
rise, and from another of its heights, Hukairya, the water of



MYTHS OF CREATION 281

Ardvl Sura Anahita flows down, while on it the haoma, the
plant of life, is set. What plant this haoma was we do not
know, but its intoxicating qualities produced an exaltation
which naturally caused it to be regarded as divine.

Next came the creation of the vegetable kingdom when
Ameretat, the Amesha Spenta who has plants under her guar-
dianship, pounded them small and mixed them v/ith the water
which Tishtrya had seized. Then the dog-star made that water
rain down over all the earth, on which plants sprang up like
hair upon the heads of men. Ten thousand of them grew forth,
these being provided in order to keep away the ten thousand
diseases which the evil spirit produced for the creatures. From
those ten thousand have sprung the hundred thousand species
of plants that are now in the world.

From these germs the "Tree of All Seeds" was given out
and grew up in the middle of the sea Vourukasha, where it
causes every species of plant to increase. Near to that "Tree of
All Seeds" the Gaokerena ("Ox-Horn") tree was produced to
avert decrepitude. This is necessary to bring about the renova-
tion of the universe and the immortality that will follow; every
one who eats it becomes immortal, and it is the chief of plants.^

The Evil Spirit formed a lizard in the deep water of Vouru-
kasha that it might injure the Gaokerena; ^° but to keep away
that lizard Ahura Mazda created ten kar-fish, which at all
times continually circle around the Gaokerena, so that the
head of one of them never ceases to be turned toward the
lizard. Together with the lizard those fish are spiritually fed,
and till the renovation of the universe they will remain In the
sea and struggle with one another.

The Gaokerena tree is also called "White Haoma." It is
one of the manifestations of the famous haoma-plant, which has
been mentioned many times, while Its terrestrial form, the
yellow haoma. Is the plant of the Indo-Iranlan sacrifice and the
one which gives strength to men and gods. It Is with this
thought In mind that the sacrificer Invokes "Golden Haoma":



282 IRANIAN iMYTHOLOGY

"Thee I pray for might and conquest,
Thee for health and thee for healing,
Thee for progress and for increase,
Thee for strength of all my body,
Thee for wisdom all-adorned.

Thee I pray that I may conquer, .

Conquer all the haters' hatred,

Be they men or be they demons.

Be they sorcerers or witches,

Rulers, bards, or priests of evil.

Treacherous things that walk on two feet.

Heretics that walk on two feet.

Wolves that go about on four feet.

Or invading hordes deceitful

With their fronts spread wide for battle." ^

Above all, however, Haoma Is expected to drive death afar,
to give long llfe,^^ and to grant children to women and hus-
bands to girls.

"Unto women that would bring forth
Haoma giveth brilliant children,
Haoma giveth righteous offspring.

Unto maidens long unwedded
Haoma, quickly as they ask him.

[Prometheus]

Full of insight, full of wisdom,
Granteth husbands and protectors." ^'

The terrestrial haoma is said to grow on the summits of the
mountains, especially on Albijrz (Kara Berezaiti), to which
divine birds brought it down from heaven. It is collected in a
box, which is placed in an iron vase, and after the priest has
taken five or seven pieces of the plant from the box and washed
them in the cup, the stalk of haoma is pounded in a mortar
and filtered through the vara^ the juice being then mixed with
other sacred fluids and ritual prayers being recited.

The Haoma sacrifice is supposed to date back to primeval
times, its first priests being Vivanghvant, Athwya, Thrita, and
Pourushaspa, the heroes of ancient ages. The offering of it is



MYTHS OF CREATION 283

an Indo-Iranian rite, and the same legends are found in the
Veda, where amrta soma ("immortal soma" [= haoma]) has
been brought from heaven to a high mountain by an eagle.
Swift as thought, the bird flew to the iron castle of the sky and
brought the sweet stalks back.^'* It is actually an Indo-European
myth closely associated with the lire-myths, for the fire of the
sky (the lightning) is said to have been brought to earth either
by a bird or by a daring human being (Prometheus), while
exactly the same story is told of the earthly fire-drink, the
honey-mead, the draught of immortality {a/x/Spoa-ia). ' Curi-
ously enough, the Babylonian epic also knows of a marvellous
plant that grows on the mountains, the plant "of birth" be-
longing to Shamash, the sun-god. When the wife of the hero
Etana is in distress because she is unable to bring into the world
a child which she has conceived, Etana prays Shamash to
show him the "plant of birth": "O Lord, let thy mouth com-
mand, and give me the plant of birth. Reveal to me the plant
of birth, bring forth the fruit, grant me offspring"; and an eagle
then helps Etana to obtain the plant.^^ The Etana-myth is
also related to the story of Rustam's birth, as will be narrated
in a subsequent chapter.

When Angra Mainyu, the destroyer, came to the plants, he
found them with neither thorn nor bark about them; but he
coated them with bark and thorns and mixed their sap with
poison, so that when men eat certain plants, they die.^'' There
was also a beautiful tree with a single root. Its height was
several feet, and it was without branches and without bark,
juicy and sweet; but when the Evil Spirit approached it, it
became quite withered. ^^

In Iranian mythology the creation of fire constitutes, to all
intents, a subdivision of the creation of the vegetable world,
the close connexion between fire and plants in Indo-Iranian
conceptions being due to the fact that it was the custom of
those peoples to obtain flame by taking a stick of hard wood,
boring it into a plank or board of softer wood (that of a lime-



284 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

tree, for instance), and turning it round and round till fire was
produced hy the friction. ^^ For this reason the Veda declares
that Fire (Agni) is born in wood, is the embryo of plants, and is
distributed in plants. But fire has likewise a heavenly origin,
for it is the son of the sky-god (Dyaus) and was born in the
highest heavens, whence it was brought to earth, as already
narrated, though it is also described as having its origin in the
aerial waters. Owing to his divine births, Agni in India is
often regarded as possessing a triple character and is trisadha-
stha ("having three stations or dwellings"), his abodes being
heaven, earth, and the waters. The fire of the hearth has been
held in very great veneration among all Indo-Europeans. It
was adored as Hestia in Greece and as Vesta in Rome, while in
India the domestic Agni is called Grhapati (" Lord of the
House"). It is also the guest (atithi) in human abodes, for it is
an immortal who has taken up his home among mortals; it is
Vis'pati ("Lord of the Settlers"), their leader, their protector.
It is the friend, the brother, the nearest kinsman of man; ^^ it
is the great averter of evil beings, just as it keeps off wild ani-
mals in the forest at night.

The second aspect under which fire is subservient to human-
ity is the part that it plays as the messenger who brings to the
gods the offerings of men. It is the sacrificial fire, and as such
it is called Narasarhsa ("Praise of Men") in India. -°

As is well known, fire enjoys quite a special veneration in
Iran, and under its first guise, as a representative of divine
essence on earth, it dwells in the home of each of the faithful.
Particular reverence is given to the sacred flame which is main-
tained with wood and perfumes in the so-called fire temples,
two kinds of which are distinguished : the great temple for the
Bahram fire and the small shrine, or ddardn. The Bahram
fire, whose preparation lasts an entire year, is constituted out
of sixteen different kinds of fire and concentrates in itself the
essence and the soul of all fires. -^ It is maintained by means of
six logs of sandal-wood and is placed in the sacred room,



PLATE XXXV

Ancient Fire Temple near Isfahan

The structure, originally domed, is built of unburnt
bricks. Its height is about fourteen feet, and its
diameter about fifteen; octagonal in plan, its eight
doors face the eight points of the compass ; the inner
sanctuary is circular. It apparently dates at least from
the Sassanian period, and its shape may be compared
with what seems to be a fire temple as pictured on
Parthian coins (see Plate XXXIV, No. 5). For the
history of the shrine, so far as known, see Jackson,
Persia Past and Present^ pp. 256—61. After a pho-
tograph by Professor A. V. Williams Jackson.





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MYTHS OF CREATION 285

vaulted like a dome, on a vase. Five times a day a mobedy or
priest, enters the room. The lower part of his face is covered
with a veil (A vesta paitiddna), preventing his breath from
polluting the sacred fire, and his hands are gloved. He lays
down a log of sandal-wood and recites three times the words
dushmata, duzhukhta, duzhvarshta to repel "evil thoughts, evil
words, evil deeds."

As in India, so in Iran several kinds of fire are distinguished :
Berezisavanh ("Very Useful") is the general name of the
Bahram fire, the sacred one which shoots up before Ahura
Mazda and is kept in the fire temples; Vohu Fryana ("Good
Friend") is the fire which burns in the bodies of men and ani-
mals, keeping them warm; Urvazishta ("Most Delightful")
burns in the plants and can produce flames by friction; Vazishta
("Best-Carrying") is the aerial fire, the lightning that purifies
the sky and slays the demon Spenjaghrya; Spenishta ("Most
Holy") burns in paradise in the presence of Ahura Mazda.

Of these five fires, one drinks and eats, that which is in the
bodies of men; one drinks and does not eat, that which is in
plants, which live and grow through water; two eat and do not
drink, these being the fire which is ordinarily used in the world,
and likewise the fire of Bahram (= Berezisavanh); one con-
sumes neither water nor food, and this is the fire Vaishta.^^

This classification enjoyed a very great success among the
Talmudists, who took it from the Mazdeans in the second
century a.d.^^ Besides these five fires, the Avesta knows of
Nairyosangha, who is of royal lineage and whose name reminds
us of nardsamsa, the epithet of Agni ("the Fire") in India.
Like Narasarhsa Agni, Nairyosangha is the messenger between
men and gods and he dwells with kings, inasmuch as they are
endowed with a divine majesty. The emanation of divine es-
sence in kings, however, is more often called khvarenanh (Old
Persian /arn^A), which is a glory that attaches itself to mon-
archs as long as they are worthy representatives of divine
power, as will be seen later in the story of Yima.



286 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

The fire was all light and brilliancy, but Angra Mainyu came
up to It, as to all beings of the good creation, and marred It
with darkness and smoke. ^^

The fifth creation was the animal realm. Just as there was
a tree Gaokerena which had within Itself all seeds of plants
and trees, so Iranian mythology knows of a primeval ox in
which were contained the germs of the animal species and even
of a certain number of useful plants.

This ox, the sole-created animate being, was a splendid,
strong animal which, though sometimes said to be a female,-^ Is
usually described as a bull. When the Evil Spirit came to the
ox, Ahura Mazda ground up a healing fruit, called bindk, so
that the noxious effects of Angra Mainyu might be minimized;
but when, despite this, "It became at the same time lean and
111, as Its breath went forth and It passed away, the ox also
spoke thus: 'The cattle are to be created, their work, labour,
and care are to be appointed.' " When Geush Urvan (" the Soul
of the Ox") came forth from the body, It stood up and cried
thus to Ahura Mazda, as loudly as a thousand men when they
raise a cry at one time: "With whom is the guardianship of the
creatures left by thee, now that ruin has broken into the earth,
and vegetation Is withered, and water Is troubled.^ Where Is
the man of whom It was said by thee thus: 'I will produce him,
so that he may preach carefulness ? ' " Ahura Mazda answered :
"You are made 111, O Goshurvan! you have the Illness which
the evil spirit brought on; if It were proper to produce that man
in this earth at this time, the evil spirit would not have been
oppressive In it." Geush Urvan was not satisfied, however,
but walked to the vault of the stars and cried in the same way,
and his voice came to the moon and to the sun till the Fravashi^^
of Zoroaster was exhibited to It, and Ahura Mazda promised
to send the prophet who would preach carefulness for the
animals, whereupon the soul of the ox was contented and agreed
to nourish the creatures and to protect the animal world.

From every limb of the ox fifty-five species of grain and



MYTHS OF CREATION 287

twelve kinds of medicinal plants grew forth, their splendour
and strength coming from the seminal energy of the ox. De-
livered to the moon, that seed was thoroughly purified by the
light of the moon and fully prepared in every way, and then
two oxen arose, one male and one female, after which two
hundred and eighty-two pairs of every single species of animal
appeared upon the earth. The quadrupeds were to live on the
earth, the birds had their dwelling in the air, and the fish were
in the midst of the water.

Another myth ascribes the killing of the primeval ox to the
god Mithra.

The legend concerning the birth and the first exploits of
Mithra runs thus.^^ He was born of a rock on the banks of a
river under the shade of a sacred fig-tree, coming forth armed
with a knife and carrying a torch that had illumined the sombre
depths. When he had clothed himself with the leaves of the
fig-tree, detaching the fruit and stripping the tree of its leaves
by means of his knife, he undertook to subjugate the beings
already created in the world. First he measured his strength
with the sun, with whom he concluded a treaty of friendship —
an act quite in agreement with his nature as a god of contracts
— and since then the two allies have supported each other in
every event.

Then he attacked the primeval ox. The redoubtable animal
was grazing in a pasture on a mountain, but Mithra boldly
seized it by the horns and succeeded in mounting it. The ox,
infuriated, broke into a gallop, seeking to free itself from its
rider, who relaxed his hold and suffered himself to be dragged
along till the animal, exhausted by its efforts, was forced to
surrender. The god then dragged it into a cave, but the ox
succeeded in escaping and roamed again over the mountain
pastures, whereupon the sun sent his messenger, the raven,
to help his ally slay the beast. Mithra resumed his pursuit of
the ox and succeeded in overtaking it just at the moment when
it was seeking refuge in the cavern which it had quitted. He



288 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

seized it by the nostrils with one hand and with the other he
plunged his hunting-knife deep into its flank. Then the prodigy
related above took place. From the limbs and the blood of
the ox sprang all useful herbs and all species of animals, and
"the Soul of the Ox" (Geush Urvan) went to heaven to be the
guardian of animals.

The myths relating to the primeval ox contain traces of
several older Indo-European myths. First, the conception of
the production of various beings out of the body of a prime-
val gigantic creature is a cosmogonic story, fairly common
in the mythology of many nations and reproduced in the
Eddie myth of the giant Ymir, who was born from the icy
chaos and from whose arm sprang both a man and a woman.
He was then slain by Odhin and his companions, and of the
flesh of Ymir was formed the earth, of his blood the sea and
the waters, of his bones the mountains, of his teeth the rocks
and stones, and of his hair all manner of plants. ^^

Many features recall to us, on the other hand, the contests

on high between a light-god and some monster who detains the

rain which is the source of life for terrestrial beings and which

is often personified under the shape of a cow. The kine are

t concealed in caves or on mountains, or the monster is hidden

Lin a mountain cavern and escapes, as is the case with Vereth-
raghna and Azhi in the Armenian myth. In the birth of
Mithra traces of solar myths may also be detected. The raven
is the messenger of the sun because, like the bird Vareghna,

"Forth he flies with ruffling feathers
When the dawn begins to glimmer." ^^

Here, then, we are dealing with a secondary myth.

As regards the various species of animals produced from the
ox, the Mazdean books speak first of mythical beings, such as
the three-legged ass that has been described above, the lizard
created by Angra Mainyu to destroy the tree Gaokerena, and
the kar-f[shes that defend it. They know, moreover, of an ox-



hnpH



PLATE XXXVI

I
MiTHRA Born from the Rock

The deity, bearing a dagger in one hand and a
lighted torch in the other, rises from the rock. From
a bas-relief found in the Mithraeum which once occu-
pied the site of the church of San Clemente at Rome.
After Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra^ Fig. 30.

2

Mithra Born from the Rock

The divinity, lifting a cluster of grapes in his right
hand, emerges from the roclc, on which he rests his
left hand. On the rock are sculptured a quiver, arrow,
bow, and dagger. On either side of Mithra stand the
two torch-bearers, Caut and Cautopat (whose names,
in the opinion of the Editor, mean "the Burner" and
«He Who Lets His Burned [Torch] Fall"), doubt-
less symbolizing the rising and the setting sun, as
Mithra is the sun at noonday. From a white marble
formerly in the Villa Giustiniani, Rome, but now lost.
After Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra^ Fig. 31.




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PUDLIC LIBRARY



ASTOR, LENOX ANB

TILDBN POL'NDA'nONS

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MYTHS OF CREATION 289

fish that exists in all seas; when it utters a cry, all fishes become
pregnant, and all noxious water creatures cast their young.
There is also an ox, called Hadhayosh or Sarsaok in Pahlavi,
on whose back men in primeval times passed from region to
region across the sea Vourukasha. Many mythical birds are
known in the Mazdean mythology, i We have already seen the
raven as an incarnation of Verethraghna ("Victory") and as
a messenger of the sun to Mithra. The most celebrated bird,
however, is Saena, the Simurgh of the Persians, whose open
wings are like a wide cloud and full of water crowning the
mountains.^" He rests on the tree of the eagle, the Gaokerena,
in the midst of the sea Vourukasha, the tree with good rem-
edies, in which are the seeds of all plants. When he rises
aloft, so violently is the tree shaken that a thousand twigs
shoot forth from it; when he alights, he breaks off a thousand
twigs, whose seeds are shed in all directions.

Near this powerful bird sits Camrosh, who would be king of
birds, were it not for Saena. His work is to collect the seed
which is shed from the tree and to convey it to the place where
Tishtrya seizes the water, so that the latter may take the water
containing the seed of all kinds and may rain it on the world. ^^
When the Turanians invade the Iranian districts for booty and
effect devastation, Camrdsh, sent by the spirit Bcrejya, flies
from the loftiest of the lofty mountains and picks up all the
non-Iranians as a bird does corn.^^

The bird Varegan, Varengan, or Vareghna (sometimes trans-
lated " raven ") is the swiftest of all and is as quick as an arrow.
We have already seen ^^ that he is one of Verethraghna's incarna-
tions, and under his shape the kingly Glory (Khvamianh) of
Yima left the guilty hero and flew up to heaven.^^ He is essen-
tially a magic bird with mysterious power. Thus Zoroaster is
represented as asking Ahura Mazda what would be the remedy
"should I be cursed in word or thought." Ahura Mazda an-
swers: "Thou shouldst take a feather of the wide-feathered
bird Varengan, O Spitama Zarathushtra. With that feather



290 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

thou shouldst stroke thy body, with that feather thou shouldst
conjure thy foe. Either the bones of the sturdy bird or the
feathers of the sturdy bird carry boons.

Neither can a man of brilliance
Slay or rout him in confusion.
It first doth bring him reverence, it first doth bring him glory.
Help to him the feather giveth
Of the bird of birds, Varengan." ^^

The same thing is recorded of Saena (the Simurgh) in the

Shdhndmah. When Zal leaves the nest of the Simurgh, who

has brought him up, his foster-father gives him one of his

feathers so that he may always remain under the shadow of

his power.

"Bear this plume of mine
About with thee and so abide beneath
The shadow of my Grace. Henceforth if men
Shall hurt or, right or wrong, exclaim against thee,
Then bum the feather and behold my might." ^^

When the side of Riidabah, Rustam's mother, is opened to
allow the child to be brought into the world, Zal heals the wound
by rubbing it with a feather of the Simurgh, and when Rustam
is wounded to death by Isfandyar, he is cured in the same way.^^

The bird Karshiptar has a more intellectual part to play, for
he spread Mazda's religion in the enclosure in which the prime-
val king Yima had assembled mankind,^^ as will be narrated
below. There men recited the Avesta in the language of
birds.^^

The bird Asho-zushta also has the Avesta on his tongue, and
when he recites the words the demons are frightened. ^° When
the nails of a Zoroastrian are cut, the faithful must say: "O
Asho-zushta bird! these nails I present to thee and consecrate
to thee. May they be for thee so many spears and knives, so
many bows and eagle-winged arrows, so many sling-stones
against the Mazainyan demons." ^^ If one recites this formula,
the fiends tremble and do not take up the nails, but if the

[Prometheus]

PLATE XXXVII

The Simurgh

The Simurgh, flying from its mountain home, re-
stores the infant Zal to his father Sam, who had
caused the child to be abandoned because it had been
born with white hair. In his hand the prince carries
the ox-headed mace as a symbol of royalty. The
painting shows marked Perso-Mongolian influence.
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated
1587—88 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York. See also pp. 330-31.



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MinrHS OF CREATION 291

parings have had no spell uttered over them, the demons and
wizards use them as arrows against the bird Asho-zushta and
kill him. Therefore, when the nails have had a charm spoken
over them, the bird takes them and eats them, that the fiends
may do no harm by their means. ^ Asho-zushta is probably
the theological name of the owl.^

The part played by birds as transmitters of revelation leads
in later literature to the identification of the Simurgh with
Supreme Wisdom.^ As we have said more than once, the con-
ception of mythical birds dates back to Indo-Iranian — even
Indo-European — times, and often those birds are incarnations
of the thunderbolt, the sun, the fire, the cloud, etc. In the
Ilgveda the process is seen in operation. The soma is often
compared with or called a bird; the fire {agni) is described as
a bird or as an eagle in the sky; and the sun is at times a bird,
whence it is called garutmant ("winged"). The most promi-
nent bird in the Veda, however, is the eagle, which carries the
soma to Indra and which appears to represent lightning.'*^ So
in Eddie mythology the god Odhin, transforming himself into
an eagle, flies with the mead to the realm of the gods. Besides
these mythical birds there are one hundred and ten species of
winged kind, such as the eagle, the vulture, the crow, and the
crane, to say nothing of the bat, which has milk in its teat
and suckles its young, and is created of three races, bird, dog,
and musk-rat, for it flies like a bird, has many teeth like a dog,
and dwells in holes like a musk-rat.

Other beasts and birds were formed in opposition to noxious
creatures: the white falcon kills the serpent with its wings; the
magpie destroys the locust; the vulture, dwelling in decay, is
created to devour dead matter, as do the crow — the most
precious of birds — and the mountain kite.*^ So it is also with
the quadrupeds, for the mountain ox, the mountain goat, the
deer, the wild ass, and other beasts devour snakes. Dogs are
created in opposition to wolves and to secure the protection of
sheep ; the fox is the foe of the demon Khava ; the ichneumon



292 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

destroys the venomous snake and other noxious creatures In
burrows; and the great musk-animal was formed to counter-
act ravenous intestinal worms. The hedgehog eats the ant
which carries off grain; when the grain-carrying ant travels
over the earth, it produces a hollow path; but when the
hedgehog passes over it, the track becomes level. The beaver
is in opposition to the demon which is in the water.

The cock, in co-operation with the dog, averts demons and
wizards at night and helps Sraosha in that task, and the
shepherd's dog and the watch-dog of the house are also indis-
pensable creatures and destroyers of fiends. The dog likewise
annihilates covetousness and disobedience, and when it barks
it destroys pain, while its flesh and fat are remedies for avert-
ing decay and anguish from man. Ahura Mazda created
nothing useless whatever; all these animals have been formed
for the well-being of mankind and in order that the fiends may
continually be destroyed. ^^



CHAPTER III
THE PRIMEVAL HEROES

THE culmination of Iranian cosmogony was the creation of
the human race. For the Mazdeans the first man was
Gaya A'laretan ("Human Life"),

"Who first of Ahura Mazda
Heard the mind and heard the teachings,
From whom, too, Ahura Mazda
Formed the Aryan countries' household
And the seed of Aryan countries." ^

He was the first man, as Saoshyant will be the last,^ and his
bones will rise up first of all at the resurrection.^ His spirit lived
three thousand years with the spirit of the ox during the period
when creation was merely spiritual, and then Ahura Mazda
formed him corporeally. He was produced brilliant and white,
radiant and tall, under the form of a youth of fifteen years,
and this from the sweat of Ahura Mazda. ^ In the meantime,
however, the demons had done their work, and when Gaya
Maretan issued from the sweat he saw the world dark as night
and the earth as though not a needle's point remained free
from noxious creatures; the celestial sphere was revolving, and
the sun and moon remained in motion, and the creatures of
evil were fighting with the stars. The Evil Spirit sent a thou-
sand demons to Gaya Maretan, but the appointed day had not
yet come, for Gaya was to live thirty years and was able to
repel the fiends and to kill the dreadful demon ArezOra.^
When at length the time had come for his immolation, Jahi
induced Angra Mainyu to pour poison on the body of Gaya,
whom he further burdened with need, sufi"ering, hunger, dis-



294 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

ease, and the plagues of the wicked Bushyasta (the demon of
sloth), of Asto-Vidhotu, and of other destroying beings. Gaya
died, and his body became molten brass, ^ while other minerals
arose from his members: gold, silver. Iron, tin, lead, quick-
silver, and adamant. Gold was Gaya's seed, which was entrusted
to the earth and carefully preserved by Spenta Armaiti, the
guardian of earth. After forty years it brought forth the first
human pair, Mashya and Mashyoi, under the appearance of a
rivds-p\a.nt {Rheum ribes) with one stem and fifteen leaves,
because the human couple were intimately united and were
born at the age of fifteen years. ^

The parallelism between this myth accounting for the pro-
duction of human beings and the ox-story explaining how ani-
mals were created Is very striking and is intentional, and In the
Avesta the primeval man and the primeval ox are Invoked
together.^ The same parallelism, curiously enough, exists in
the cosmogony of the Scandinavians, in which it Is reported
that the cow Audhubla was produced at the same time as the
giant Ymlr.^ The primeval giant Is an Indo-European con-
ception. We find it also In India In a form more similar to
the Iranian version, for in primordial times Purusa ("Male")
was alone In the world, but differentiated himself Into two
beings, husband and wife.

Besides this myth, the Indians knew of another explanation
for the origin of the human race. The first man is Manu, son
of VIvasvant, or Yama, son of Vivasvant. Yama and his sister
Yami were twins, and after the latter had overcome the
scruples of the former, they produced mankind, ^° a similar
story being told of Mashya and Mashyoi In Iran, as will be
set forth later on. Moreover, Yama and Yami exist in Persia
under the names of YIma and Yimaka (Pahlavi YIm and
Yimak), though they have been changed into a king and a
queen of legendary but no longer primeval times. In Iran
YIma Is the son of Vivanghvant, the same being as the Indian
Vivasvant, and both are mythical priests who offered the



THE PRIMEVAL HEROES 295

Soma sacrifice. They are heavenly beings In connexion with
the Asvlns (the evening and the morning star) and have been
taken by several scholars for the bright morning sky or the
rising sun. Although this is uncertain, the latter myth seems
to ascribe to man a heavenly origin, so that Darmesteter
wonders whether the youth of fifteen who Is the first man is
not Identical with the hero who In the contest on high slays
the demon AzhI or other storm-dragons. The question is, of
course, hardly answerable In our present state of knowledge,
but it seems at least probable that a certain contamination
between the storm-myth and the story of the first man has
taken place. We may observe that the first man is said to be
white and brilliant, that he slays a demon before being over-
come by the powers of darkness, and that he Is born from
sweat, etc.

A Manlchean narrative of the creation and life of the prime-
val man ^^ Is still more like a storm-myth: "The first man was
created by the Lord of Paradise to fight against darkness. He
had five divine weapons: warm breeze, strong wind, light,
water, and fire. He dressed himself with the warm breeze,
put light above it, and then water, wrapped himself in the
frightfulness of winds, took fire as a spear, and rushed forward
to the battle. The demon was assisted by smoke, flame, burn-
ing fire, darkness, and clouds. He went to meet the first man,
and after fighting for twenty years he proved victorious,
stripped his adversary of his light, and wrapped him in his
elements."

As to Mashya and Mashyoi, who grew up under the form
of a tree, they give an Illustration of another myth of man's
origin, the equivalents of which are found In many national
traditions. In Greece the Korybantes were born as trees, and
other legends speak of the birth of Attis from an almond-tree
and of Adonis from a myrtle, while Vergil mentions a similar
story of Italic origin. ^^

Coming back to the Iranian myth, we must narrate the



296 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

deeds of Mashya and Mashyol. In their rivds-plant they were
united in such a manner that their arms rested behind on their
shoulders, while the waists of both of them were brought close
and so connected that it was impossible to distinguish what
belonged to one and what to the other, although after a time
they changed from the shape of a plant into that of human
beings and received a soul. Meanwhile the tree had grown up
and brought forth fruit that were the ten varieties of man.
Now Ahura Mazda spoke to Mashya and Mashyoi thus:
"You are man, you are the ancestry of the world, and you
are created perfect in devotion by me; perform devotedly the
duty of the law, think good thoughts, speak good words, do
good deeds, and worship no demons !" Then they thought that
since they were human beings, both of them, they must please
one another and they went together into the world. ^^ The
first words that they exchanged were that Mazda had created
water and earth, plants and animals, stars, moon, and sun, and
all the good things which manifest His bounty and His justice.

Then, however, letting the Spirit of Deceit penetrate Into
their Intellects, they said that it was Angra Malnyu who had
formed water, earth, etc.; and this lie gave much enjoyment
to the Druj ("Deceit, Lie") because they had become wicked,
and they are his prey until the renovation of the world.

For thirty days they had gone without food, covered with
clothing of herbage. After thirty days they went forth into
the wilderness, and coming to a white-haired goat, they milked
the milk from the udder with their mouths. Then Mashya
said, "I was happy before I had drunk that milk, but my pleas-
ure is much greater now that I have enjoyed Its savour." This,
however, was an impious word,^^ and as a punishment they
were deprived of the taste of the food, "so that out of a hun-
dred parts one part remained."

Thirty days later they came to a sheep, fat and white-jawed,
which they slaughtered. Extracting fire from the wood of a
lote-plum (a kind of jujube) and a box-tree, they stimulated



THE PRIMEVAL HEROES 297

the flame with their breath and took as fuel dry grass, lotus,
date-palm leaves, and myrtle. Making a roast of the sheep,
they dropped three handfuls of the meat into the fire, saying,
"This is the share of the fire"; and one piece of the remainder
they tossed to the sky, saying, "This is the share of the
Yazatas," whereupon a vulture advanced and carried some of
it away as a dog eats the first meat.

At first Mashya and Mashy5i had covered themselves with
skins, but afterward they made garments from a cloth woven
in the wilderness. They also dug a pit in the earth and found
iron, which they beat out with a stone. Thus, though they had
no forge, they were able to make an edged tool, with which they
cut wood and prepared a shelter from the sun.

All those violations of the respect which they had to enter-
tain for the creatures of Ahura Mazda made them more com-
pletely the prey of the impure demons so that they began to
quarrel with each other, gave each other blows, and tore one
another's hair and cheeks. Then the fiends shouted to them
from the darkness, "You men, worship Angra Mainyu, so
that he may give you some respite!" Thereupon Mashya
went forth, milked a cow, and poured the milk toward the
northern part of the sky, for the powers of evil dwell in the
north; and this made them the slaves of the demon to such an
extent that during fifty winters they were so ill that they had
no mind to have any intercourse with one another. After this,
however, desire arose in Mashya and then in Mashyol, and
they satisfied their impulses and reflected that they had neg-
lected their duty for fifty years. Thus after nine months a
pair of children were born to them, but such was their tender-
ness for their infants that the mother devoured one and the
father one; wherefore Ahura Mazda, seeing this, took tender-
ness for ofi"spring from them.^^ They then had seven other pairs,
male and female, from every one of whom children were born
in fifty years, while the parents themselves died at the age of a
hundred. ^^ The story of the first human pair seems to have been



298 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

influenced by theological conceptions and probably also by
the traditions of Semitic people, perhaps even by the Jews,
since we have only a late redaction of the myth.

Of these seven pairs one was Siyakmak and Nashak, who
had as children another pair, Fravak and Fravakain. From
them fifteen pairs were born who produced the seven races of
men, and since then there has been a constant continuance of
the generations in the world. Nine races, owing to the in-
crease of population, proceeded on the back of the ox Sarsaok
through the sea Vourukasha and settled in the regions on the
other side of the water, while six races remained in Khvaniras,
among them being the pair Tazh and Tazhak who went to the
plain of Arabia, whence the Persians call the Arabs Tazls.
The Iranians are the descendants of Haoshyangha (Pahlavl
Hoshang) and of Giizhak.

Besides the fifteen races issued from the lineage of Fravak, son
of Siyakmak, there are ten varieties of mythical men, grown
on the tree from which Mashya and Mashy5i were detached,
these being "such as those of the earth, of the water, the
breast-eared, the breast-eyed, the one-legged, those also who
have wings like a bat, those of the forest, with tails, and who
have hair on the body."

In the Persian epic Gaya Maretan has become the first king
of the Iranians, and Siyamak is his son, but some old features
are preserved in the very much adulterated legend. Thus
Gayomart ( = Gaya Maretan) is said to have dwelt at first on a
mountain whence his throne and fortune arose, a detail which
may date back to the period when, according to Darmesteter's
supposition, the first man was said to have been born in the
mountains of the clouds. His subjects wore leopards' skins,
just as Mashya and Mashyoi were first clad in the fells of ani-
mals. Gayomart reigned thirty years over the world, while
Gaya Maretan was supposed to have lived on earth the same
length of time; and just as Gaya Maretan was "white and
brilliant," Gayomart was "on his throne like a sun or a full



THE PRIMEVAL HEROES 299

moon over a lofty cypress " — another feature which supports
Darmesteter's hypothesis.

The account of the struggle between Angra Malnyu and the
first man is reduced in Firdausl's narrative to a war between
Siyamak, son of Gayomart, and the wicked king Ahriman
( = Angra Mainyu), in which the superb youth was killed.

"When Gaiumart heard this the world turned black
To him, he left his throne, he wailed aloud
And tore his face and body with his nails;
His cheeks were smirched with blood, his heart was broken,
And life grew sombre." ^^

The victory of darkness has thus become the overcoming of
Gayomart by a moral gloom. Siyamak, however, had left a
son Hoshang — who in the older legend is his grandson — and
he attacked the devilish foe, cut off his monstrous head, and
trampled him in scorn.

In the traditions of the Iranians the story of Gaya Maretan
is immediately followed by that of H5shang, who is the old
Iranian hero Haoshyangha, mentioned several times in the
Avesta and referred to in the Bundahish as the son of Fravak,
son of Slyakmak. The name of this mythical ruler seems to
mean "King of Good Settlements,"^^ and he often receives
the epithet paradhdta (Pahlavi peshddt), or "first law-giver."
He is the Numa of the Iranians, the first organizer of the Ira-
nian nation, and is, moreover, supposed to have introduced
the use of fire and metals.

The old tradition concerning him simply says that he was a
man who was brave {takhma) and lived according to justice
{ashavan). Thanks to the sacrifice which he offered on the top
of Hara Berezaiti, the great iron mountain celebrated in all
Iranian myths, he obtained divine protection; he invoked
Ardvi Sura Anahita, the goddess who, as already stated, lets
her beneficent waters flow down from this height; and he also
addressed a prayer to Vayu, the god of wind. "He sacrificed
a hundred stallions, a thousand oxen, and ten thousand

[Prometheus]

300 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

lambs" ^^ while seated "on a golden throne, on a golden cushion,
on a golden carpet, with haresman ^° outspread, with hands
overflowing," ^^ and he obtained the favour that the awful
kingly Glory, the Khvarenanh, clave to him

"For a time of long duration,
So that he ruled over the earth sevenfold,

Over men and over demons,

Over sorcerers and witches.

Rulers, bards, and priests of evil,
Who slew two-thirds

Of the demon hordes Mazainyan

And the lying fiends of Varena." ^^

Making them bow in fear, they fled down to darkness,^'
and on account of his exploits his Fravashi ("Genius") is
invoked to withstand the evil done by the daevas.^^

The Persian writings have nothing but praise to tell of Ho-
shang, who was a just and upright sovereign, civilizing the
world and filling the surface of the earth with justice, so that
during his reign men reposed "in the gardens of content and
quiet, in the bowers of undisturbed security; Prosperity drew
the bloom of happiness from the vicinity of his imperial
pavilion; and Victory borrowed brilliancy of complexion from
the violet surface of his well-tempered sword." ^^

Whereas early tradition said that he had oflFered a sacrifice
on the top of an iron mountain, FirdausI tells us that he won
the iron from the rock by craft and was the first to deal with
minerals, besides inventing blacksmithing and making axes,
saws, and mattocks. His civilizing activity extended even fur-
ther, for he taught the human race how to dig canals to irrigate
a dry country, so that men turned to sowing, reaping, and
planting. Moreover he trained greyhounds for the chase and
showed how to make garments from the skins of sables or foxes,
instead of taking leaves for that purpose. Like all heroes, he
was a smiter of daevas — tradition had already attributed to
him the slaying of two-thirds of the demons — and, as usual,
that kind of exploit took place on a mountain.



THE PRIMEVAL HEROES 301

"One day he reached a mountain with his men
And saw afar a long swift dusky form
With eyes like pools of blood and jaws whose smoke
Bedimmed the world. Hushang the wary seized
A stone, advanced and hurled it royally.
The world-consuming worm escaped, the stone
Struck on a larger, and they both were shivered.
Sparks issued and the centres flashed. The fire
Came from its stony hiding-place again
When iron knocked. The worldlord offered praise
For such a radiant gift. He made of fire
A cynosure. 'This lustre is divine,'
He said, 'and thou if wise must worship it.'" ^s

In this story it is not difficult to recognize a storm-myth
thinly disguised: a hero on a mountain ( = cloud) smites a
large dragon bedlmming the earth; he sends a stone (= thun-
derbolt); he causes fire ( = lightning) to appear and Illuminate
the world; and, finally, he takes fire from Its hiding-place and
gives It to men. The mythical nature of the legend Is the more
evident In that It Is an explanation to account for the feast of
Sadah because

"That night he made a mighty blaze, he stood
Around it with his men and held the feast
Called Sada."

Hoshang Is also said to have been the first to domesticate
oxen, asses, and sheep, and to train dogs for guarding the
flocks.

"'Pair them,' he said, 'use them for toil, enjoy

Their produce, and provide therewith your taxes.'" ^

On the other hand, he Issued orders for the destruction of
beasts of prey. After forty years he left the throne to his heir
Tahmurath, the Takhma Urupl of the Avesta, whom he had
brought up In the principles of justice and righteousness.

The Avestic tradition gives Takhma Urupl as the successor
of Haoshyangha, but does not make him a son of the latter,
as FIrdausI does; In the early texts he Is held to be a son of



302 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Vivanghvant and a brother of Yima, and is almost a doublet
of Haoshyangha. He also has made a sacrifice to Vayu ("Wind")
and has been empowered to conquer all daevas and men, all
sorcerers and witches, etc., although he has not been able to
secure a permanent mastery over them, as his predecessor did.
After having reigned thirty years and subdued Angra Mainyu
so as to ride him, turned into a horse, all around the earth from
one end to the other, he was betrayed by his wife, who revealed
to the Evil Spirit the secret of her husband's power. The demon,
we are told, could attempt nothing against him so long as he
betrayed no alarm, and accordingly Angra Mainyu instigated
the wife of his conqueror to ask Takhma Urupi if he never was
afraid to mount his swift black horse. Thereupon Tahmurath
confessed that he had no fear either on the summits or in the
valleys, but that on Hara Berezaiti he was deeply alarmed when
the horse rushed with lowered head, so that he used to raise his
heavy noose, shouting aloud and giving the beast a blow on
the head to make it pass hastily the dangerous spot. Having
been promised incomparable presents by Angra, the woman re-
vealed this secret to him, and when the horse was on the fatal
mountain the following day, he opened his huge mouth and
swallowed his rider.

Fortunately Yima managed to recover his brother's corpse
from the body of Angra Mainyu, thereby rescuing the arts and
civilization which had disappeared along with Takhma Urupi.^^
During that operation he had his hands defiled, but he was able
to cleanse them by an infusion of the all-purifying gomez
("bull's urine ")."^ This story also is scarcely unlike a storm-
myth, and Darmesteter ^° compares it with the Scandinavian
legend in which Odhin is swallowed by the wolf Fenrir, the
demoniacal cloud-wolf "whose eyes and nostrils vomit fire,
whose immense mouth reaches the sky with one jaw and the
earth with the other." It should be noted that the scene of all
those contests is Mount Hara Berezaiti.

Another story connected with Takhma Urupi is reported in



PLATE XXXVIII

Tahmurath Combats the Demons

The hero, mounted on his charger and swinging
his mace (a characteristic Persian weapon), struggles
with four demons, whose forms are a combination
of human and animal shapes. A touch of Chinese
influence is discernible in the two human figures.
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated
1605—08 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York.



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ASTOR.


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TILDE.N' 1 . . .


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THE PRIMEVAL HEROES 303

the Bundahish.^^ "In the reign of Takhmorup, when men con-
tinually passed, on the back of the ox Sarsaok [a curious parallel
with the king's horse], from Khvaniras to the other regions,
one night amid the sea the wind rushed upon the fireplace —
the fireplace in which the fire was, such as was provided in
three places on the back of the ox — which the wind dropped
with the fire into the sea; and all those three fires, like three
breathing souls, continually shot up in the place and position
of the fire on the back of the ox, so that it becomes quite light,
and the men pass again through the sea." The meaning of this
myth is not altogether clear, although Darmesteter thinks
that the ox is another incarnation of the cloud. ^^

In later narratives Takhma Urupi is represented as having a
reign similar to that of his predecessor. He also teaches men
how to clothe themselves, but instead of skins he gives them
garments made by spinning the wool of sheep. As a rider of
the devilish horse he was predestined to be the tamer of swift
quadrupeds and to make them feed on barley, grass, and hay;
moreover he taught the jackal to obey him and began to tame
the hawk and the falcon.

Firdausi tells us further that when Tahmurath had conquered
the daevas, binding most of them by charms and quelling
the others with his massive mace, the captives, fettered and
stricken, begged for their lives.

"'Destroy us not,' they said, 'and we will teach thee
A new and useful art.' He gave them quarter
To learn their secret. When they were released
They had to serve him, lit his mind with knowledge
And taught him how to write some thirty scripts." ^*

This is evidently a later addition to the legend which
makes Takhma Urupi fetter the daevas, and the exploits of
Tahmurath have been further amplified by the historians of
the Arab period, particularly as they have identified him with
the Biblical Nimrod.



CHAPTER IV
LEGENDS OF YIMA

IN Iranian tradition the short reigns of Gayomart, Hoshang,
and Tahmiirath were followed, FIrdausi says, by a period of
seven hundred years during which Jamshid ruled the Iranian
world. Jamshid Is the Persian form of YIma Khshaeta (" YIma
the Brilliant"), the name of a very ancient hero of the Indo-
Iranlans, and his epithet of "brilliant," which is also applied
to the sun, corresponds not only to the early but also to
the later conception of this monarch. FIrdausi says that he
''wore In kingly wise the crown of gold" and that on his jewelled
throne he

"sat sunlike in mid air.
The world assembled round his throne in wonder
At his resplendent fortune." ^

In the Avesta YIma is the son of VIvanghvant, who first of-
fered the haoma to Ahura Mazda. Continuing, the poet de-
scribes him as

"Brilliant, and with herds full goodly,
Of all men most rich In Glory,
Of mankind like to the sunlight,
So that in his kingdom made he
Beasts and men to be undying.
Plants and waters never drying,
Food invincible bestowing.
In the reign of valiant YIma
Neither cold nor heat was present.
Neither age nor death was present,
Neither envy, demon-founded.
Fifteen years of age in figure
Son and father walked together
All the days Vivanghvant's offspring,
YIma, ruled, with herds full goodly." ^



LEGENDS OF YIMA 305

Thanks to the Glory which long accompanied him, Yima
subjugated the daevas and all their imps, taking from them
riches and advantage, prosperity and herds, contentment and
renown; ^ and Firdausi has faithfully preserved this tradition,
declaring that for three hundred years of Yima's reign

"Men never looked on death;
They wotted not of travail or of ill,
And divs like slaves were girt to do them service;
Men hearkened to Jamshid with both their ears,
Sweet voices filled the world with melody." *

The golden age of Yima is an essential element of Zoroas-
trian chronology. The period between Angra Mainyu's in-
vasion and Zarathushtra's religious reform is divided into three
millenniums. The first was the reign of Yima, during which the
good creation prevailed, and then came the dominion of Azhi
Dahaka (Dahhak), when demons ruled over the world, this
being followed by a period of struggle up to Zarathushtra,
whose birth Iranian tradition places in 660 b.c.^

Firdausi is obviously wrong in making Jamshid reign seven
hundred years only, for it is quite clear that the reigns of Jam-
shid and Dahhak are in complete parallelism and must last a
thousand years each.^ For the Zoroastrians, who conceived
illness, death, cold, etc., as the direct products of the Evil
Spirit, it was quite natural to admit the existence at the be-
ginning of the world of a period in which the good creation had
not yet felt Angra Mainyu's deleterious influence; and the
Iranian climate, moreover, was likely to lead to such a con-
ception, since after a glorious and luxuriant spring it offers the
drought of summer and the cold of winter.^

In the Shdhndmah Jamshid says that he is both king and
archimage,^ and this seems to have been the old tradition.
Yima had been both the material and the spiritual educator of
mankind, but the Zoroastrians wished to emphasize that the
religious teacher of the Iranians was Zarathushtra, and so they
made Yima say to Ahura Mazda:



3o6 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

"I was neither made nor tutored
To receive the faith and spread it";

whereupon Ahura Mazda replies :

"If thou, Yima, art not ready
To receive the faith and spread it,
then further my creatures, then increase my creatures,
then show thyself ready to be both the protector and the
guardian and the watcher of my creatures." ^

Accordingly Yima introduces men into their earthly abode
like a king of settlers opening new countries to his people each
time they fall short of ground to cultivate. He receives from
Ahura Mazda a golden arrow and a scourge inlaid with gold,
and he undertakes to secure to his subjects a delightful abode
with neither cold nor wind, full of flocks and herds, men, dogs,
and birds. Three fires protected that beautiful land, the Frobak
on the mountain In Khvarizm, the fire Giishasp on Mount
Asnavand, and the fire BOrzhin MItro on Mount Revand,^°
but under such favourable conditions flocks and men Increased
so much that after three hundred years had passed away,
there was no longer room for them. Then Ahura Mazda
warned Yima:

"'YIm, VIvanghvant's beauteous offspring,

Earth in sooth is overflowing

Both with small beasts and with great beasts,

Men, and dogs, and flying creatures, ^^

And with ruddy fires red blazing.

Nor indeed can they find places,
small beasts and great beasts and men.'

Then at noon Yima went forsv^ard to the light, in the
direction of the path of the sun,

And earth's surface he abraded

With the arrow, made all golden.

With the scourge he stroked it over,
thus speaking:

'O thou holy, dear Armalti,^^

Go thou forward, stretch thyself out
to bear small beasts and great beasts and men.'



LEGENDS OF YIMA 307

Then Yima made this earth stretch itself apart a third
larger than it was before. There small beasts and great
beasts and men roved

Just as was their will and pleasure,

Howsoever was his pleasure." ''

But a time came when the earth was even thus too small,
so that Yima had once more to perform the same rite; and he
did this yet again, making the earth increase in size by one
third on each occasion, so that after nine hundred years the
surface of the world became double what it had been at first.

"Then Ahura Mazda, the Creator, convened an assembly
with the spiritual Yazatas ^^ in the famous Airyana Vaejah, at
the goodly Daitya.^^ Then Yima the Brilliant, with goodly
flocks, convened an assembly with the best men in the famous
Airyana Vaejah, at the goodly Daitya. Then Ahura Mazda
spake to Yima: 'O beauteous Yima, son of Vivanghvant! On
the evil material world the winters are about to fall, wherefore
there shall be strong, destructive winter; on the evil material
world the winters are about to fall, wherefore straightway the
clouds shall snow down snow from the loftiest mountains into
the depths of Ardvi [Sura Anahita].^^ Only one-third of
the cattle, Yima, will escape of those who live in the most
terrible of places, ^^ of those who live on the tops of mountains,
of those who live in the valleys of the rivers in permanent
abodes. ^^

Till the coming of that winter

Shall the land be clad in verdure,

But the waters soon shall flood it

When the snow hath once been melted,

and, Yima, it will be impassable in the material world where
now the footprints of the sheep are visible. Therefore make an
enclosure {vara) long as a riding-ground (caretu) on every side
of the square; gather together the seed of small cattle and of
great cattle, of men and dogs and birds and red, blazing fires.
Then make the enclosure long as a riding-ground on every



3o8 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

side of the square to be an abode for men, long as a rldlng-
ground on every side of the square as a stall for cattle.

In their course make thou the waters

There flow forth, in width a hathra;

And there shalt thou place the meadows
where unceasingly the golden-coloured, where unceasingly the
invincible food is eaten.

And there shalt thou place the mansions
with cellars and vestibules, with bastions and ramparts.

"'Gather together the seed of all men and women that are
the greatest and the best and the finest on this earth; gather
together the seed of all kinds of cattle that are the greatest and
the best and the finest on this earth; gather together the seed
of all plants that are the tallest and the sweetest on this earth;
gather together the seed of all fruits that are the most edible
and the sweetest on this earth. Bring these by pairs to be
Inexhaustible so long as these men shall stay In the enclosure.
There will be no admittance there for humpback or chicken-
breast, for apdvaya,^^ lunacy, birth-mark, daiwish,^^ kasvish,^^
mis-shapenness, men with deformed teeth or with leprosy
that compels seclusion, nor any of the other marks which are
the mark of Angra Malnyu laid upon men. In the largest
part of the place thou shalt make nine streets, In the middle
six, and In the smallest three. In the streets of the largest
part gather a thousand seeds of men and women, In those
of the middle part six hundred. In those of the smallest
part three hundred. With thy golden arrow thou shalt mark
thine enclosure.

And bring thou to the enclosure
a shining door, on its Inner side shining by its own light.' "^^

At this YIma was much at a loss and wondered how he could
ever make such an enclosure. Ahura Mazda, however, told
him to stamp the earth with his heels and to knead it with his
hands, as people do when now they knead potter's clay; and



LEGENDS OF YIMA 309

"then Yima made exactly what Ahura Mazda had commanded.
When all was ready, Ahura Mazda provided the vara with spe-
cial lights, because only once a year can they who dwell there
see sun, moon, and stars rising and setting, so that they think
that a year is but one day. Every fortieth year a male and
female are born to each human pair, and thus it is for every
sort of animal. These men live a happy life in the enclosure of
Yima, but since Zarathushtra, the prophet, had no access to it,
the religion was brought thither by the bird Karshiptar.-^

The Avesta does not give any precise indication as to the time
of the coming of the winter predicted by Mazda, and though
it looks as if that scourge afflicted mankind in ancient times,
later books show that this was not the case. The fatal and
destructive winter is to occur in the last period of the world.
Three hundred years before the birth of Ukhshyat-nemah
(one of the sons of Zarathushtra who are to be born in the last
millennium of the world) the demon Mahrkusha will destroy
mankind by snow and frost within the space of three years,
after which Yima's enclosure will be opened and the earth
will again be populated. The name of this demon Mahrkusha
means "Destroyer, Devastator," and is of Iranian formation,
but in later times it was confused with the Aramaic word
malqos, "autumnal rain," so that in more recent texts the idea
of the fatal freezing winter was abandoned for that of the
deluging rain of Malqos.^^

A tradition which dates from very ancient days represents
Yima as diverging at a certain moment from the path of jus-
tice. He commits a fault, and from that instant he loses his
Glory and his kingdom and finally is put to death, while a
devilish being named Dahhak (the old Avestic dragon Azhi
Dahaka) extends his power over the world of the Aryans.

[Prometheus]

As to the nature of Yima's sin some uncertainty prevails in
the tradition. Nevertheless, there are certain hints that this
fault consisted in having rendered his subjects immortal by
giving them forbidden food to eat, and in the Gdthds of Zoroaster



3IO IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

the poet prays to Ahura Mazda In order to avoid such sins as
that of Yima, who gave men meat to eat in small pieces, as it
was offered to the gods in sacrifice.^^ A late book, on the other
hand, relates that Yima unwittingly gave meat to a daeva,^*
although the most current form of the legend is that Yima

"In his mind began to dwell on
Words of falsehood and of untruth." ^^

Firdausi explains that Yima's lie was in reality a sin of
presumption.

"One day contemplating the throne of power
He deemed that he was peerless. He knew God,
But acted frowardly and turned aside
In his ingratitude. He summoned all
The chiefs, and what a wealth of words he used!
'The world is mine, I found its properties,
The royal throne hath seen no king like me,
For I have decked the world with excellence
And fashioned earth according to my will.
From me derive your provand, ease, and sleep,
Your raiment and your pleasure. Mine are greatness
And diadem and sovereignty. Who saith
That there is any great king save myself.?
Leechcraft hath cured the world, disease and death
Are stayed. Though kings are many who but I
Saved men from death? Ye owe me sense and life:
They who adore me not are Ahrimans.
So now that ye perceive what I have done
All hail me as the Maker of the world.'" ^e

Another story of Yima's sin is connected with the fact that
he had a sister Yimak who, as is the case with all primeval
pairs, was also his wife. Various moral considerations regard-
ing the incestuous union of this twin pair have been made for
Yama and Yam! in India as well as for Yima and Yimaka in
Iran. In India a Vedic hymn ^^ records a conversation between
the twins in which Yama refuses to do what the sages at that
time condemned as a grave sin, whereas in the Pahlavi books
the union of Yim and Yimak is given as an example of the



PLATE XXXIX

I

Dahhak (Azhi Dahaka)

The tyrant is seated on his throne, surrounded by
his courtiers. From his shoulders spring the serpents.
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated
1602 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art,
New York.

2

Jamshid on His Throne

The king administers justice and is attended not
merely by human servitors, but also by <//'yi(" demons")
in monstrous guise, ynurghs ("birds"), and parls
("fairies"). The figures show a mixture of Indian
and Chinese influence, and it has been conjectured
that the miniatures in this manuscript are the work
of a Mongolian or Turkistan artist well acquainted
with Persia, but living in northern India. From a
Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated 1602 a.d.,
now in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.



i . •







\ Js^^jkdX^^J^ u^^-'Jk^S^M '\\J'^^'^)^M







LEGENDS OF YIMA 311

Khvetdk-dds, or incestuous marriage, which was recommended
by the Mazdeans at one period in their history. In the Biin-
dahish ^^ Yima is said to have given his sister to a demon
after he had been bhnded by folly at the end of his reign,
and to have himself married a demoness, these unions result-
ing in monstrous and degenerate beings, such as tailed apes.

Whatever Yima's sin may have been, the king soon received
his punishment, for the Glory {Khvarenanh), an emanation of
divine radiancy that gave prestige to the Iranian monarchs,
deserted him immediately and left him trembling, confounded,
and defenceless before his foes. The first time that the Glory
departed from Yima, it was in tKe shape of a Vareghna bird,
and Mithra, the lord of broad pastures, whose ear is quick to
hear, and who has a thousand senses, seized it. The second
time that the Glory departed from Yima the Brilliant, it was
seized by Thraetaona, the victorious hero who after a thousand
years was to take from the devilish Dahhak (Azhi Dahaka)
the realm which Yima lost. The third time it was the manly-
minded Keresaspa who seized the Glory, and who also was to
be a valiant and victorious ruler of the Iranians. ^^

Yima, deprived of the Glory that made his power, was over-
come by a being of decidedly mythical nature, the famous
serpent Azhi Dahaka, whom we have seen to be an incarnation
of the storm-cloud. In later texts this monster is called by a
Semitic name, Dahhak ("the Man with a Sarcastic Laugh"),
but this is merely a popular etymology, a pun on his real ap-
pellation. He is now an Arab king, living in Babylon, and in
the Avesta itself we read that Azhi Dahaka, the triple-mouthed,
offered sacrifice to Ardvi Sura in the land of Bawrl (Babylon),
wishing to become the ruler of the world and to make the seven
regions of earth empty of men. Although his prayer was not
granted to such an extent, he overcame Yima and made cap-
tives of his two sisters, Sanghavak and Arcnavak.^° If in the
Avesta Azhi Dahaka still has three mouths like the dragon,
in the Shdhndmah he is completely a man, though he has two



312 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

snakes springing from his shoulders, where they grew through
a kiss of Angra Mainyu, a legend which recurs in Armenia.
In the presence of this monstrous fiend Yima

"fled, surrendering crown, throne and treasure,
Host, power and diadem. The world turned black
To him, he disappeared and yielded all." ^^

For a hundred years he hid himself, but then appeared one
day in the Far East, on the shores of the Chinese sea, where
his foe, informed of the fact, gave him no respite, and sawing
him asunder, freed the world from him. In the older texts it
is Spityura, a brother of Yima, who sawed Yima in twain. ^-
Sometimes it is explained that he was in a hollow tree, where
he had concealed himself; but by the command of Dahhak
the stem of the tree was severed by the saw, and with it the man
inside. ^^

The story of Yima is the most interesting and the only ex-
tensive myth of the Iranians, and it is certain that the legend
dates back to Aryan, or at least to Indo-Iranian, times.

As the Avesta knows of Yima, son of Vivanghvant, so the
Veda speaks of Yama, son of Vivasvant. As Yima is the chief
of a remote kingdom, a marvellous realm where there is neither
cold nor suffering, so Yama is the ruler of the fathers, the de-
parted souls, with whom he revels in a huge tree. Just as
Yima's vara is concealed either on a mountain or in some re-
cess where sun and moon are not seen, Yama's dwelling is in
the remote part of the sky. While Yima calls a gathering of
men to assemble them in his vara, Yama collects the people and
gives the dead a resting-place. Yima has opened the earth for
mankind; Yama is "lord of the settlers" (vispati) and "father."
Yima has found new countries, following a road toward the
sun; Yama has a path for the dead to lead them to their abode,
being the first to die and having discovered "a way for many."
A bird brings messages into Yima's vara; Yama has the owl
or the pigeon as his envoy.



LEGENDS OF YIMA 313

In spite of these points in common, there is an important
discrepancy. Yama is the first mortal being and is clearly
associated with death and with a kingdom of the departed,
whereas Yima is simply a monarch of ancient times, his reign
is a golden age for mankind, and his enclosure has no clear
location.

This divergency is explained by the fact that the Iranians
had another legend for the first man: the story of Gaya Mare-
tan, which dates back to the Aryan period. Thus, owing to the
desire of the Iranians for a more coherent system of mythology,
the concurrent legend of Yima has been transferred into later,
though still primeval, times, although Yima has remained —
and this is very eloquent — the first sacrificer, the patriarchal
lord of mankind at the dawn of history.

The story of Yama as it is in India ^'* Is clearly a legend ac-
counting for the origin of man, but the primitive shape of the
story is probably an elemental myth. Several scholars have
endeavoured to show that Yama originally was the sun, and
although this has never been conclusively demonstrated, there
is much to be said in favour of the hypothesis.

It is certain that in the Veda Yama is often treated as a
god. He is the friend of Agnl and sometimes is identified with
him. He is the son of the deity Vivasvant ("Whose Light
Spreads Afar"), who most probably was at first the rising sun ^^
and who was also father of the Asvlns (the morning and the
evening star).

The evidence concerning Yama- Yima is, on the whole, that
he is the setting sun. He follows the path of the sun to go to a
remote recess, whither he leads all men with him. The path
of the sun was a very natural symbol of the path of human
life, the same words were used In Sanskrit for the death of
men and for the sunset,^^ and Indian literature declares that the
sun is the sure retreat. The sun is a bird or has birds as its
messengers, like Yama; and like a sun-god Yama has two steeds,
golden-eyed and Iron-hoofed.



314 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

In Iran the solar nature of Yima is rather more accentuated
than in India, and the old epithets of Yima are striking in this
respect. He is commonly called khshaeta ("brilliant"), an
adjective which is at the same time the regular epithet of the
sun {hvare khshaeta, Persian khurshid); and moreover he is
khvarenanguhastema ("the most glorious, the most surrounded
with light") and hvare-daresa ("who looks like the sun, the sun-
like one"). These epithets, which are very natural as a sur-
vival if Yima had once been the sun, would be incomprehensi-
ble if he was originally the first man and nothing more. He
is also hvathzua ("with goodly herds"), an adjective that very
possibly alludes to the stars following the setting sun in his
retreat, especially as stars are said in Vedic literature to be the
lights of virtuous men who go to the heavenly world,^^ so that
they would thus form the natural flock of Yima. Yima's
golden arrow reminds us strikingly of a similar missile in the
hands of his father Vivasvant in the Veda, by means of which
he sends men to the realm of the dead.^^ Other luminous gods,
like Apollo, show the same features, and it seems not improb-
able that these arrows are the rays of the sun.

The brilliancy of Yima was so deeply rooted in tradition
that Firdausi is still more definite about it. As we have al-
ready seen, Jamshid sits like the sun in mid air, his fortune and
his throne are resplendent, and the royal Glory shines brightly
from him. That this dates back to ancient sources is proved
by the fact that Firdausi has a very curious sentence about
Yima which is not at all in keeping with the nature of Jamshid
as a worldly king; he puts in the monarch's mouth the words,
" I will make for souls a path toward the light." This is taken
from the passage already quoted from the Vendlddd in which
Yima goes toward the path of the sun to open earth for men,
and it shows that this typical action of Yima may originally
have been meant for the dead: Yima used to lead the de-
parted toward the sun, on the way of the sun that is the path
of Yima.



LEGENDS OF YIMA 315

The end of Yima is also very characteristic. When his
brilliancy quits him, the world turns black to him and he
vanishes. When he appears again, it is in the distant east,
where the sun rises.

A solar year-myth seems likewise to have been involved in
the story, for Yima is the founder of the feast of Nauriiz, the
New Year's Day that with the Persians occurs in March at the
beginning of the radiant spring. Yima's vernal kingdom is
destroyed by the demon of cold and frost (Mahrkiasha), yet
the sun and life do not disappear forever from the world, but
are kept in reserve for the next spring, like the beings in Yima's
vara. As we have seen, the legend of Yima as told in the
Vendiddd expressly says that in the vara one year is one day.
The disappearance of the sun in winter is thus assimilated to
its daily departure to the remote recess in the world of dark-
ness, and the story of Yima's century of concealment until
he reappears in the East is very much in the same spirit.

The connexion of Yima with a tree reminds us of Yama's
abode in a high tree, and in the Atharvaveda an arboreal dwell-
ing-place is the home of the gods in the third heaven. ^^

No doubt other stories have come to be mixed up with the
solar myths of the departed souls. Thus the legend of Yima's
defeat by a storm-cloud monster, Azhi Dahaka, is probably
borrowed from the very prolific storm-myth of which we have
heard so many times. The abduction of Yima's two fair sis-
ters and their release by the storm-god Thraetaona is a mere
variation of the release of the imprisoned cows by this god,^°
although the sisters are at the same time, possibly, a reminis-
cence of Yama's two brilliant steeds.

The description of the monster's victory over Yima in Fir-
dausi has many features of a storm-myth:

"The king of dragon-visage came like wind

And having seized the throne of Shah Jamshid
Slipped on the world as 't were a finger-ring." ^^



3i6 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

The palace of the dragon, which is called kvirinta, is compared
to a bird with large wings. ^^

Finally, the story of Yima and Yama is closely related to
that of the twins Yama-YamI or Yima-Yimak, who after
much hesitation agree to have intercourse with one another
and become the parents of mankind. In Iran the tradition is a
doublet of the legend of Mashya and Mashyol, in which
similar hesitations occur. It seems clear enough that such a
story has been invented to account for the propagation of
human beings from one single pair.

Since the word "Yama" means "twin," it is fairly probable
that this story belongs originally to Yama, although it is also
possible, as several scholars admit, that YamI has been in-
vented later and that Yama was primarily the twin of an-
other being, perhaps Agni (fire of earth and fire on high),
or that he was the soul of the departed considered as the alter
ego of the living man.^ It might seem preferable, however,
to abide by the most natural explanation and admit that Yama
is the male twin of Yami. Now the twin pair had to come from
some pre-existent being, as was the case with Mashya and
Mashyoi, who sprang from Gaya Maretan's seed. In the legend
of Yima, some traces are left of a story that made the first pair
arise from the violent division of one being. Yima is sawn
asunder — a curious feature which is much in the spirit of
mythical stories among people of fairly elementary culture.
Among the Indo-Europeans we know of the Indian first man
Purusa, who differentiated himself into two beings, husband
and wife. On the other hand, the Slavonic people tell the story
that the moon, the wife of the sun, separated herself from him
and fell in love with the morning star, whereupon she was
cut in two by the sword of Perkunas. Comparing this myth
with the Iranian legend that the seed of the primeval ox was
preserved in the moon, one wonders if there are no traces of
that Indo-European tradition in the story of Yima. At all
events it is clear that Yima's legend combines several concep-



LEGENDS OF YIMA 317

tions concerning the first man and the dead. The old myth
of the pair issued from the first giant became mixed with a
more poetic conception which made the setting sun the first
departed, the father of the fathers, as well as with a myth of
winter, and possibly with a moon-myth accounting for the
division of the moon into quarters and a storm-myth in its
classical tenure. The idea of Yima's sin is so very Zoroastrian
in its form that it can scarcely be regarded as belonging to the
original story. In the primitive myth Yima obviously fell a
victim in a struggle with a dragon of darkness (cloud or night).
There was, however, perhaps a tradition of a fault committed
by the first men, accounting for the evils reigning on earth,
a conception which is, as a matter of fact, very widely spread,
quite independently of any Semitic or Christian influence.

Before relating the stories concerning other legendary kings
of Iran, we should point to the large development which
Yima's story received in later times. All kinds of great deeds
were attributed to King Jamshid, especially his institution of
castes, his medical knowledge, and his works as a constructor.

"Then to the joy of all he founded castes
For every craft; it took him fifty years.
Distinguishing one caste as sacerdotal
To be employed in sacred offices.
He separated it from other folk
And made its place of service on the mountains
That God might be adored in quietude.
Arrayed for battle on the other hand
Were those who formed the military caste;
They were the lion-men inured to war —
The Lights of armies and of provinces —
Whose office was to guard the royal throne
And vindicate the nation's name for valour.
The third caste was the agricultural,
All independent tillers of the soil.
The sowers and the reapers — men whom none
Upbraideth when they eat.
The fourth caste was the artizans. They live
By doing handiwork — a turbulent crew." '*''



3i8 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

This tradition of Yima's activity is probably fairly ancient.
He was Indeed the material organizer of mankind, and the
castes were already in existence in the days of Zoroaster, for
the Gdthds know of a caste of priests, of nobles or warriors, and
of farmers. The location of priests on the mountains curiously
recalls the fact that the heroes of ancient times are represented
in the Avesta as offering their sacrifices on the mountain-tops,
and Herodotus reports the same thing concerning the Persians
in his day: " It is their wont to perform sacrifices to Zeus, going
up to the most lofty of the mountains; and the whole circle
of the heavens they call Zeus." ^^

Regarding the farmers Firdausi says, in the passage from
which we have just quoted, that,

"Though clothed in rags,
The wearers are not slaves, and sounds of chiding
Reach not their ears. They are free men and labour
Upon the soil safe from dispute and contest.
What said the noble man and eloquent?
' 'T is idleness that maketh freemen slaves.'"

This high appreciation of the agricultural caste is also very
much in the spirit of Zoroastrianism.

As regards his medical skill, Jamshid is said to have known

"Next leechcraft and the healing of the sick,
The means of health, the course of maladies." ^^

Moreover he made use of his marvellous power to search
among the rocks for precious stones, he knew the arts of naviga-
tion, and his wisdom brought to light the properties of all
things. It is doubtful, however, whether his functions as a
healer were primitive, for the medical art is more properly
ascribed to Faridun (Thraetaona) or to Irman (Airyaman).

Yima's works as a constructor were better known, and
many an old ruin today is still ascribed to him by the Persians.
This fame is, Firdausi continues, a result of his subjugation
of the demons, whom he Instructed how to

[Prometheus]

LEGENDS OF YIMA 319

"Temper earth with water
And taught them how to fashion moulds for bricks.
They laid foundations first with stones and lime,
Then raised thereon by rules of art such structures
As hot baths, lofty halls, and sanctuaries."

Even more is ascribed to Jamshid by the writers of Muham-
madan times. As a wise king of great brilliancy he was as-
similated to Solomon, while as a primeval monarch and prob-
ably as the builder of the enclosure against the destructive
winter he was confused with Noah. Either on account of this
or because his wisdom brought to light the properties of things
he was supposed to have discovered wine. Mirkhond tells
an anecdote about this.^'' Having tried the taste of the juice
of grapes, the king observed a sensation of bitterness and con-
ceived aversion for it, thinking that it was a deadly poison.
A damsel of the palace, seized with violent pain in her head,
longed for death and accordingly resolved to drink of the
juice that was deemed poisonous. She did not die, however,
but drank so much of It that she fell into a beneficent sleep
which lasted an entire day and night. On awaking she found
herself restored to perfect health, and for this reason the
monarch ordered the general use of wine.



CHAPTER V

TRADITIONS OF THE KINGS AND
ZOROASTER

THE serpent-like dragon of the storm-cloud described as the
three-headed monster in Indo-European myths has often
appeared in our account of Iranian mythology. We have seen
how the cloud was forgotten for the serpent, and how the ser-
pent became a human monster, the conqueror of Yima. Of
his dragon nature he preserves a dragon-like face and two snakes
on his shoulders, the fruit of Angra Mainyu's kisses. As we
find the legend in Firdausi in a completely anthropomorphized
shape, it retains many features of the myth in the form in
which it appears in its most complete version in Armenian
books: the monstrous dragon Azhdak (Azhi Dahaka), with
serpents sprung from his shoulders and served by a host of
demons, is conquered by Vahagn (Verethraghna), the hero who
replaces Faridiin (Thraetaona) in Armenian Mazdean myth-
ology, and the demon is fettered in a gorge on Mount Dam-
avand, the serpents sprung from his shoulders being fed on
human flesh. We find all these features in Firdausi's account.
Dahhak every night sent to his cook two youths who were
slaughtered so that their brains might feed the snakes. Two
high-born Persians disguised as cooks devised a scheme to
rescue one youth from each pair doomed to death, and when
the young men who escaped, thanks to their contrivance, fled
to the mountains,

"Thus sprang the Kurds, who know no settled home,
But dwell in woolen tents and fear not God." ^



Like the dragon of old, Dahhak is a coward who lives in con-
stant terror because his death at the hand of Faridun has been
predicted in a dream which he had one night when he was sleep-
ing with one of Jamshid's sisters. Like the serpent of early
myth, who roared at the blows of the storm-god, he yells with
fright through fear of Faridun.

Dahhak is not merely a wicked and maleficent being, but is
also the personification of tyranny and barbarity in contrast
with Iranian civilization. Like rude tribes at war in all times,
he knows only massacre, pillage, and arson. In his kingdom
oppression reigns, and like all tyrants he desires the best of
his subjects to give official excuse to his abuses.

"He called the notables from every province
To firm the bases of his sovereignty,
And said to them: 'Good, wise, illustrious men!
I have, as sages wot, an enemy
Concealed, and I through fear of ill to come
Despise not such though weak. I therefore need
A larger host — men, divs, and fairies too —
And ask your aid, for rumours trouble me;
So sign me now a scroll to this effect: —
"Our monarch soweth naught but seeds of good,
He ever speaketh truth and wrongeth none.'"
Those upright men both young and old subscribed
Their names upon the Dragon's document.
Against their wills, because they feared the Shah." ^

All this is in complete contrast to the Iranian ideal of
order, truth, and wisdom, and accordingly Dahhak is the type
of the dregvant, the man of the Lie and the king of madmen.

"Zahhak sat on the throne a thousand years
Obeyed by all the world. Through that long time
The customs of the wise were out of vogue,
The lusts of madmen flourished everywhere,
All virtue was despised, black art esteemed.
Right lost to sight, disaster manifest;
While divs accomplished their fell purposes
And no man spake of good unless by stealth." ^



322 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

As if by a natural instinct of justice, the tyrant in his abuses
is pursued by fear of punishment. After the dream which we
have already mentioned Dahhak runs about the world, quar-
relling and slaughtering men and nations to anticipate the
attack of him who is to satisfy the popular conscience by caus-
ing his ruin. He has an army of spies, among them being Kun-
drav, a very ancient mythical creature of the Indo-Iranlans
(Sanskrit Gandharva, Avesta Gandarewa), who appears in the
Avesta as a dragon killed by Keresaspa. Kundrav manages to
penetrate Into Faridun's tent when he is at table, and having
gained his confidence, he notes all his preparations against
Dahhak, after which, escaping from the hero's camp, he makes
a full report to the tyrant. Dahhak endeavours to avert his
destined ruin, but in vain, for he is opposed by Farldun, en-
dowed with the kingly Glory of YIma, and tall and firm like a
cypress.^ Abtin (I.e. Thrlta Athwya), the father of Faridun
(Thraetaona), had been killed by Dahhak to feed the serpents,
and his son planned revenge for this ignominious murder,
another task being the release of the two sisters of Jamshid
(YIma), who had been surrendered to the monster when their

brother fell.

"Trembling like a willow-leaf,

Men bore them to the palace of Zahhak
And gave them over to the dragon king,
Who educated them In evil ways
And taught them sorcery and necromancy." ^

After Farldun had taken possession of Dahhak's palace,

"Then from the women's bower he brought two Idols
Sun-faced, dark-eyed; he had them bathed, he purged
The darkness of their minds by teaching them
The way of God and made them wholly clean;
For Idol-worshippers had brought them up
And they were dazed in mind like drunken folk.
Then while the tears from their bright eyes bedewed
Their rosy cheeks those sisters of Jamshid
Said thus to Faridun: 'Mayst thou be young



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 323

Till earth is old! What star was this of thine,
O favoured one! What tree bore thee as fruit,
Who venturest inside the Lion's lair
So hardily, thou mighty man of valour?'" ®

It is curious to see the old myth of the release of the women
of the clouds transformed into a merely romantic episode, and
one wonders whether the bath which the women must undergo
is not a remnant of their sojourn in the waters on high.

Faridun then assails Dahhak with a lasso made of lion's hide,
and while the dragon king, blinded by jealousy at the sight of

"dark-eyed Shahrinaz,
Who toyed bewitchingly with Faridun," '

rushed about like a madman, the hero bound him around the
arms and waist with bonds that not even a huge elephant
could snap. He conveyed the captive to Mount Damavand,
where he fettered him in a narrow gorge and studded him with
heavy nails, leaving him to hang, bound by his hands, to a crag,
so that his anguish might endure. He Is not killed by the hero
because In myth the storm-dragon does not die, but often es-
capes from the hold of the light-god.

Tradition knows little of Faridiin outside of his healing
power and his victory over the dragon. Nevertheless the
Dinkart ^ mentions the division of his kingdom between his sons
Salm, Tijr, and Iraj; and the Bundahish^ explains that the
two former killed the latter, as well as his posterity, with the
exception of a daughter who was concealed by Faridun and
who bore the hero Manushclthra, or MInucihr, the successor
of Faridun. The legends concerning these princes thus date
back to a fairly ancient period, although It Is doubtful whether
they had the amplitude and the character which they assume
in Flrdausi's epic. These stories are not mythical, but merely
epic, and they centre about the jealousy of two older brothers
who, envious of the younger son of Faridun because he was
braver and more beloved by his father, trea'cherously put him



324 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

to death. Manushcithra, grandson of the unfortunate Iraj,
was to be the avenger of his grandfather, aided by Keresaspa
(Garshasp), an ancient hero, who occupies a very secondary
position in the Shdhndmah, but is, nevertheless, one of the
greatest figures of old Iranian tradition. Keresaspa, whose
name means "with slender horses," is another son of Thrita
Athwya, the father of Farldun (Thraetaona) and seems origi-
nally to have been a doublet of the latter, especially as his main
exploit is also the slaying of dragons.

With his strength and his club Keresaspa is the Hercules of
Iran, and it is not in the least remarkable that he is supposed
to have slain many foes both human and demoniacal, among
them being not only Gandarewa and Srvara, but also Vare-
shava, Pitaona, Arezo-shamana, the sons of Nivika and of
Dashtayani, the nine sons of Pathana, Snavldhka, and the
nine sonsofHitaspa, the murderer of his brother Urvakhshaya.^"
Moreover he is one of the heroes who, at the end of time,
when Azhi Dahaka (Dahhak) will escape from the place of
concealment where Thraetaona (Farldun) has fettered him,
will slay the dragon and free the world.

He has accomplished his exploits under the protection of a
third part of Yima's Glory {Khvarenanh) and he is, therefore,
worshipped by the warriors to obtain strength "to withstand
the dreadful arm and the hordes with wide battle array, with
the large banner, the flag uplifted, the flag unfolded, the bloody
flag; to withstand the brigand havoc- working, horrible, man-
slaying, and pitiless; to withstand the evil done by the
brigand." ^^

Among Keresaspa's feats some are described in the Avesta
and in the Pahlavi books. ^^ His most dreadful fight was with
the dragon Srvara ("Horned"),

"Which devoured men and horses,
Which was venomous and yellow,
Over which a flood of venom
Yellow poured, its depth a spear's length,



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 325

On whose back did Keresaspa ^^
Cook food in an iron kettle
As the sun drew nigh the zenith.
Heated grew the fiend and sweaty,
Forth from 'neath the kettle sprang he
And the boiling water scattered.
To one side in terror darted
Manly-minded Keresaspa."

The Pahlavi sources further inform us that the dragon's
teeth were as long as an arm, its ears as great as fourteen blan-
kets, Its eyes as large as wheels, and its horn as high as Dahhak.
Undismayed, Keresaspa sprang on its back and ran for half a
day on it, and, notwithstanding his alarm, finally contrived to
smite Its neck with his famous club, thus slaying the monster
with a single blow.

In the case of Gandarewa the victory was no less brilliant.
The personality of this demon Is very Interesting, for he Is an
Indo-Iranlan spirit of the deep.^* In India his abode Is gen-
erally In the regions of the sky, where he hovers as a bright
meteor, though he often appears likewise In the depths of the
waters, where he courts the aqueous nymphs, the Apsarases,
so that he becomes a genius of fertility. In Iran Gandarewa Is
a lord of the abyss who dwells In the waters and Is the master
of the deep. Sometimes he Is a beneficent being who brings
the haoma, but more often he withholds the plant as Its jealous
guardian. He Is decidedly a fiend, although he has preserved
the epithet "golden-heeled" to remind us of his previous bril-
liancy. He Is a dragon like AzhI Dahaka or Srvara,^^ rushing
on with open jaws, eager to destroy the world of the good
creation. As Keresaspa went to meet him, he saw dead men
sticking In Gandarewa's teeth, and when the monster had
seized the hero's beard, both began to fight In the sea. After
a conflict of nine days and nights Keresaspa overcame his ad-
versary, and grasping the sole of his foot, he flayed off his skin
up to his head and bound him hand and foot, dragging him to
the shore of the sea. Even so, the fiend was not wholly sub-



326 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

jugated, but slaughtered and ate Keresaspa's fifteen horses
and pushed the hero himself blinded Into a dense thicket.
Meanwhile he carried off the hero's wife and family, but Keres-
aspa quickly recovered, went out to the sea, released the pris-
oners, and slew the fiend. ^^

Of Snavldhka It Is recorded that he used to kill men with his
nails, and that his hands were like stones. To all he shouted:

" 'I am immature, not mature;
But if I attain to manhood,
Of the earth a wheel I '11 make me,
Of the sky I'll make a chariot;
I '11 bring down the Holy Spirit
From the House of Praise ^^ all radiant,
Angra IMainyu I '11 make fly up
From the hideous depths of Hades;
And they twain shall draw my chariot.
Both those spirits, good and evil,

if the manly-minded Keresaspa slay me not.' The manly-
minded Keresaspa slew him." '^

Arezo-shamana was a more sympathetic adversary, brave
and valiant, always on his guard, and supple In his mode of
fighting. Hitaspa was the murderer of Keresaspa's brother
Urvakhshaya, a "wise chief of assemblies," and to avenge this
crime the hero smote Hitaspa and bore him back on his
chariot."

Moreover the Iranian Hercules purged the land of highway-
men, who were so huge that the people used to say, "Below
them are the stars and moon, and below them moves the sun
at dawn, and the water of the sea reaches up to their knees." ^°
Since Keresaspa could stretch no higher, he smote them on their
legs, and falling, they shattered the hills on the earth.

A gigantic bird named Kamak, which overshadowed the
earth and kept off the rain till the rivers dried up, eating up
men and animals as if they were grains of corn, was also
killed by Keresaspa, who shot arrows at It constantly for seven
days and nights. ^^ This story Is evidently the adulterated form
of an old myth of storm or rain.



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 327

A wolf called Kaput or Pehin likewise fell, together with its
nine cubs, at the hand of Keresaspa,^- who was also compelled
to fight even with the elements of nature, the wind being
tempted to assail him when the demons said, " See, Keresaspa
despises thee and resists thee, more than anyone else." Aroused
by the taunt, the wind came on so strongly that every tree
and shrub in its path was uprooted, while by its breath the
whole earth was reduced to powder, and a dark cloud of dust
arose. When it came to Keresaspa, however, it could not even
move him from the spot, and the hero, seizing the spirit of the
wind, overthrew him until he promised to go again below the
earth.23

Unfortunately, the conqueror of so many foes was himself
conquered by a woman, a witch {pairikd) called Khnathaiti,
who was in the court of Pitaona, a prince whom Keresaspa
had also killed.^^ Under the influence of his wife he became
addicted to Turanian idolatry and completely neglected the
maintenance of the sacred fire. On account of this grievous
sin Ahura Mazda permitted him to be wounded during his
sleep by one of the Turks with whom he lived in the plain of
Peshyansal, and though he was not killed, he was brought into
a state of lethargy .^^ Since that moment he has lain there in
slumber, protected by the kingly Glory which he took from
Yima and by nine thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine
Fravashis, or guardian spirits. ^^ Thus he will remain till the end
of the world, when Dahhak (Azhi Dahaka), fettered by Fari-
dun on Mount Damavand, will be released by the powers of
evil, who will rally for the last struggle against good. Freed
from his chains, Dahhak will rush forth in fury and swallow
everything on his way: a third of mankind, cattle, and sheep.
He will smite the water, fire, and vegetation, and will commit
all possible abuses. Then the water, the fire, and the vegeta-
tion will lament before Ahura Mazda and pray that Faridun
may be revived to slay Dahhak, else fire declares that it will
not heat, and water that It will flow no more. Then Mazda



328 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

will send Sraosha to rouse Keresaspa, whom he will call three
times. At the fourth summons the hero will wake and go forth
to encounter Dahhak, and smiting him on the head with his
famous club, will slay him, the death of the arch-fiend marking
the beginning of the era of happiness.

Till then, however, as long as Keresaspa is asleep, his soul
must make its abode either in paradise or in hell, but since the
heinous offence which he committed against the fire made
entrance into paradise very difficult for him in spite of all his
exploits, he was sent to hell, though Zarathushtra obtained the
promise that he would be summoned by Ahura Mazda. He
complained at the hideous sights which he saw in the realm
of punishment and said that he did not deserve such misery,
for he had been a priest in Kabul, but Ahura Mazda with great
severity reminded him of the fire, his son, which had been
extinguished by him. He then implored Mazda's pardon,
reciting all the deeds which he had performed: "If Srvara, the
dragon, had not been killed by me, all thy creatures would
have been annihilated by it. If Gandarewa had not been slain
by me, Angra Malnyu would have become predominant over
thy creatures " ; but Mazda was inflexible : " Stand off, thou soul
of Keresaspa! for thou shouldst be hideous In my eyes, because
the fire, which Is my son, was extinguished by thee." Never-
theless, when the spirits in heaven heard of Keresaspa's valor-
ous feats, they wept aloud, and Zarathushtra Intervened, so
that after a discussion between him and the spirit of fire, who
pleaded against Keresaspa, Geush Urvan made supplication
unto Mazda, while Zarathushtra, to propitiate Atar's wrath,
vowed that he would provide that the sanctity of the fire should
be maintained on earth, wherefore the hero's soul was finally
admitted Into Garotman ("House of Praise," " Paradise ").2^

As has already been said, no fair place Is granted to the great
national hero in the Shdhndmah, his personality being divided
by splitting the name Sama Keresaspa Naire-manah Into several
personalities. In this way Sam became the grandfather, and

[Prometheus]

PLATE XL

RUSTAM AND THE WhITE DeMON

Entering the cavern where the demon lurks, the
hero hews him limb from limb and finally slays him.
In this miniature the sole traces of the animal nature
of the demon are the horns springing from his head.
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated
1605—08 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York'.



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fclu^y,i,J'^: JjJi^:^,,,: wj:^J-la/\ \^\.:„.^,^C}
^Coy.jc': ^cj.;-.^-:/ j^i.-.X'r' ^^.>,Ci(j/




TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 329

Narlman the great-grandfather, of Rustam, who took the place
of Keresaspa as the Hercules of Iran, whereas Garshasp, the
tenth Shah, who bears Keresaspa's name, is little more than a
shadowy personality.^^

Garshasp appears for the first time as a prince who helped
Mlnuclhr (Manushclthra) to take revenge for the death of his
grandfather Iraj at the hands of his two brothers. FIrdausI
does not make it quite clear whether this Garshasp is identical
with the one who reigned as the tenth Shah, but it seems more
than likely that the two Garshasps are the remnants of a hero
who has been stripped of his exploits by the popularity of the
new comer Rustam and his family, the deeds of the Rustamids
being the central subject of FIrdausi's epic throughout the
reigns of several Shahs, beginning with Mlnuclhr.

Mlnuclhr himself seems to be a faded personality. His
name, Manushclthra, appears In the Avesta ^^ and means "off-
spring of Manu" (the Vedic name of the first man), whereas
in Pahlavl literature It was held to signify "born on Mount
Manush." ^° Besides his punishment of his grandfather's mur-
derers, the Bundahish records that he mounted a sheep of the
kind called kurishk, which was as high as a steed. He had a
prosperous reign during which he made canals to regulate the
course of the rivers, but for twelve years he was a captive of
the Turanian king Afraslyab (Pahlavl Fraslyav, the Frangras-
yan of the Avesta), who confined him in a mountain gorge and
kept him there In misery till Aghrerat (Avesta Aghraeratha,
Persian Ighrlrath) saved him from his distress and conse-
quently was slain by the tyrant.^^ This is not much, but is
more than Is told by the Shdhndmah, which, indeed, devotes
its account of Minucihr's reign to the facts in connexion with
Rustam's birth.

Sam Is the most prominent vassal of Mlnuclhr. He is, as
already noted, a fragment of Keresaspa's personality and be-
trays his origin In telling stories of dragons slain by him with a
club that weighed three hundred mans.^^ His adversary was



330 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

"Like some mad elephant, with Indian sword
In hand. Methought, O Shah! that e'en the mountains
Would cry to him for quarter! He pressed on,

Then like a maddened elephant I dashed him
Upon the ground so that his bones were shivered."

More striking still is the slaying of the dragon which haunted
the river Kashaf :

"That dragon cleared the sky
Of flying fowl and earth of beast of prey.
It scorched the vulture's feathers with its blast,
Set earth a-blazing where its venom fell.
Dragged from the water gruesome crocodiles,
And swiftly flying eagles from the air.
Men and four-footed beasts ceased from the land;
The whole world gave it room.



I came. The dragon seemed a lofty mountain
And trailed upon the ground its hairs like lassos.
Its tongue was like a tree-trunk charred, its jaws
Were open and were lying in my path.
Its eyes were like two cisterns full of blood.
It bellowed when it saw me and came on.

When it closed
And pressed me hard I took mine ox-head mace
And in the strength of God, the Lord of all.
Urged on mine elephantine steed and smote
The dragon's head: thou wouldst have said that heaven
Rained mountains down thereon. I smashed the skull,
As it had been a mighty elephant's.
And venom poured forth like the river Nile.
So struck I that the dragon rose no more." ^^

All these details strikingly resemble the story of Srvara.

A son is born to Sam in his old age, but the white hair of
the babe so disgusts the father that he commands the child to
be carried to the famous mountain Alburz (Hara Berezaiti).
There, fortunately, It is found by the SImurgh, the mythical
bird Saena, which we have described above and which takes
care of the Infant until he becomes a tall and sturdy youth.



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 331

In the meanwhile Sam regrets his fault, and being told in a
dream where the child is, he goes to Mount Albiirz and fetches
home his son, to whom he gives the name of Zal. Zal falls in
love with Rudabah, the daughter of the prince of Kabul, a
descendant of Dahhak; but though the maid is fair and grace-
ful, the marriage is opposed first by her father and then by the
Shah because she is of the race of the devilish King. This is
the subject of a tale which FirdausI narrates with much talent,
but it is no mythology, although the love for an Ahrimanian
woman recalls the errors of Keresaspa. Finally, of course,
every obstacle is removed, and Zal marries Riidabah.

Before long the princess is found to be pregnant, but no de-
liverance comes, and Rudabah suffers in vain. Then a thought
occurs to Zal. On his departure from the nest where he had
spent his infant years the SImurgh had given him one of its
pinions as a talisman, bidding him burn the feather in case of
misfortune, whereupon the bird would immediately come to
his rescue. He did so, and the SImurgh, arriving instantly,
told him that the birth would be no natural one. It bade him

bring

"A blue-steel dagger, seek a cunning man.
Bemuse the lady first with wine to ease
Her pain and fear, then let him ply his craft
And take the Lion from its lair by piercing
Her waist while all unconscious, thus imbruing
Her side in blood, and then stitch up the gash.
Put trouble, care, and fear aside, and bruise
With milk and musk a herb that I will show thee
And dry them in the shade. Dress and anoint
Rudaba's wound and watch her come to life.
Rub o'er the wound my plume, its gracious shade
Will prove a blessing." ^^

The mandate of the SImurgh was scrupulously obeyed, and
when Rudabah awoke and saw her babe, she joyously cried,
"I am delivered" (birastam), which in Persian happens to be a
pun on the name of the future hero, Rustam, the ancient form
of which (if the word were extant) would be Raodhatakhma



332 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

("Strong in Growth ").^^ When little more than a child the
promising youth breaks the neck of an elephant with a single
blow of his mace and with some companions takes possession
of a stronghold on Mount Sipand. Henceforth Rustam will
be the Roland or the Cid of the Persian epic and he puts his
sword — or rather his club — at the disposal of all Iranian
kings in succession. There are no traces of mythology in his
adventures, which are of a warlike character par excellence,
although occasionally they are at the same time romantic, as
in the story of his son Suhrab, who was brought up among
the Turanians, and whom his father killed in single combat,
not knowing that he was his son.^^ The feats performed by
Rustam in the service of the Iranian kings against the Tu-
ranians are attributed in Pahlavl literature to the monarchs
themselves, and it is evident that Rustam is a personality
whose importance has been made much greater in compara-
tively recent times. He is the hero of Seistan and has clearly
taken the place of Keresaspa and other Persian or Median
heroes.

If Rustam is the Roland of FirdausT, Afrasiyab plays the
part of the Emir Marsile, the chief of the Saracens in the
French epic; he is the arch-unbeliever, the leader of the Tura-
nian hordes.

In the Avesta he is known as Frangrasyan and has a much
more mythical character than Rustam. Judging from the
episode of his fight with Uzava, in which he is said to have
detained the rivers so as to desolate Iran by drought, he be-
longed originally to a rain-myth. Ancient legend says that he
lived in a stronghold (Jiankana) in the depths of the earth,
where he offered an unsuccessful sacrifice to Ardvi Sura Ana-
hita in the desire of seizing the kingly Glory of the Aryans
which had departed from Yima and, escaping Azhi Dahaka,
had taken refuge in the midst of the sea Vourukasha.^^

The treacherous Turanian king tried to seize it, but though
he stripped himself naked and swam to catch it, the Glory fled



PLATE XLI

The Death of Suhrab

The figure of the king, bending over the son whom
he has unwittingly slain, is full of pathos. Rustam's
famous steed, Rakhsh, stands in the upper background.
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnatnah^ dated
1605—08 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum
of Art, New York.




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TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 333

away, and an arm of the sea, called lake Haosravah, resulted
from the movement of the water. Twice again he renewed his
effort, but each time a new gulf was formed, and all was in
vain. Then the crafty Turanian rushed out of the sea, with evil
words on his lips, uttering a curse and saying: "I have not
conquered that Glory of the Aryan lands, bom and unborn,
and of righteous Zarathushtra.

Both will I confound together,
All things that are dry and fluid,
Both great and good and beautiful;
Sore distressed, Ahura Mazda
Formeth creatures that oppose him."

Thus, according to this legend, he became a maleficent fiend,
a drought-demon, who was made prisoner by Haoma and finally
killed by Haosravah.^^ All these elements are preserved in
Firdausi's legend, but the story has become a regular conflict
between two nations or, at least, between two dynasties. This
warfare is the kernel of the Iranian epic material, the struggle
being divided into several episodes.

The first is the defeat of Naotara (Persian Naudhar), a son
of Manushcithra (Persian Miniicihr). Although FirdausI
places the event after Minucihr's death, the older tradition ^^
connects the facts with the reign of the latter king. The Ira-
nians are made prisoners in the mountains of Padashkhvargar
(Tabaristan), but though Afrasiyab afflicts them with starva-
tion and disease, his brother Aghraeratha (Persian Ighrlrath)
sympathizes with the captives and releases them, whereupon
Afrasiyab, in anger, kills his brother. Aghraeratha, although
living among unbelievers, was a pious man, and after his death
was placed among the immortals. Under the name of Gopat-
shah ^° he dwells in the region of Saukavastan, near Airyana
Vaejah, his form being that of a bull from his feet to his waist
and of a man from his waist to his head. His home is on the
sea-shore, where he continually pours holy water into the sea
for the worship of God. Thus he kills innumerable noxious



334 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

creatures, but if he should cease doing so, all those maleficent
beings would fall on earth with the rain.^^

The second episode is the battle between Afrasiyab and
Uzava Tumaspana (Persian Zav), this hero being a nephew of
Naotara, and his mother being the daughter of Afrasiyab's
sorcerer. Afrasiyab had invaded Iran, stopped the course of
all the rivers, and by his witchcraft prevented rain from fall-
ing, thus producing drought and starvation; '*^ but Uzava, who,
though a child, had the maturity and the strength of an adult,^^
frightened the sorcerers and their chief and caused rain to
fall. In two myths, therefore, Afrasiyab inflicts starvation on
the Iranians, and in the latter he does it by withholding the
rain, so that his original nature as a rain-demon is scarcely
open to question.

The third invasion is connected with the name of Kavi
Kavata (Persian Kai Qubad), the first king of the dynasty of
the Kaianians. In India the word kavi means "a sage," a
respectable person in ancient days; in Iran it was applied to
princes in olden times, and since those rulers originally were
not Zoroastrians, kavi (Persian kai) in the Avesta often has the
signification of "unbeliever," though this pejorative sense does
not apply to the group of legendary kings who are regularly
provided with that epithet and who, therefore, are called
Kaianians. Like Zal, Kai Qubad is said to have been aban-
doned on Mount Albijrz at his birth, and there, protected only
by a waist-cloth, he was freezing near a river when Zav per-
ceived him and saved his life.^ He remained on Alburz until,
Zav and his successor being dead, the Iranian throne was
vacant; but meanwhile Afrasiyab had again invaded the coun-
try. Thereupon Zal sent his son Rustam to Mount Alburz to
fetch Qubad and to make him the sovereign of all Iranian
tribes; and then it was that Rustam, who had received Sam's
club (i. e. the mace of Keresaspa), began to distinguish him-
self and to beat back the invaders.

The successor of Kavi Kavata is Kavi Usan (Persian Kai



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 335

Kaus), whose name has been compared with that of an ancient
seer who Is known as Kavya Usanas In the Vedas, where he Is
renowned for his wisdom. There he Is said to have driven the
cows on the path of the sun and to have fashioned for Indra
the thunderbolt with which the god slew Vrtra. The Identifi-
cation Is not quite certain, however, because the character of
Usan Is completely altered In Iran Into that of an ordinary-
king, although a trace of his quality of driver of cows may per-
haps survive In the legend of his wonderful ox, to whose judge-
ment all disputes were referred as to the boundary between
Iran and Turan.^^ Yet Kal Kaus was not really wise, for he
was, at least according to FIrdausI, an Imperfect character,
easily led astray by passion.*^ Legend has transferred wisdom
to his minister Aoshnara, whose epithet Is pouru-jira, "very
Intelligent." ^" While yet In his mother's womb, he taught
many a marvel and at his birth he was able to confound Angra
Malnyu by answering all the questions and riddles of Fraclh,
the unbellever.^^ This story Is a replica of the legend of Yolshta,
a member of the virtuous Turanian family of the Fryanas,^^
who preserved his town from the devastations of the ruffian
Akhtya by resolving the ninety-nine riddles asked by that
malicious spirit and by confounding the fiend with three other
enigmas which he was unable to answer,^" a tradition which
reminds us of the legend of QEdipus. Aoshnara became the
administrator of Usan's kingdom and taught many Invaluable
things to mankind, but unfortunately the Inconstant monarch
at last became tired of his minister's wisdom and put him to
death.

Kai Kaus was not only inconstant but presumptuous, for he
ascended Mount Alburz, where he built himself seven dwellings,
one of gold, two of silver, two of steel, and two of crystal. He
then endeavoured to restrain the Mazainyan daevas, or demons
of Mazandaran, only to be led Into a trap by one of these evil
beings who tempted him by making him discontented with his
earthly sovereignty and by flattering him so as to Induce him



336 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

to aim at the sovereignty of the heavenly regions. Yielding to
the tempter, he sought to reach the skies by means of a car
supported by four eagles, and he also began to display insolence
toward the sacred beings to such a degree that he lost his
Glory. His troops were then defeated, and he was compelled
to flee to the Vourukasha, where Nairyosangha, the messenger
of Ahura Mazda, was about to slay him when the Fravashi of
Haosravah, yet unborn, implored that his grandfather might
be spared on account of the virtues of the grandson. ^^

During this expedition — or during one to Hamavaran,
which is only a duplicate of the other — the land of Iran, being
abandoned by its ruler, was laid desolate by a fiend called
Zainigav, who had come from Arabia and in whose eye was such
venom that he killed any man on whom he gazed. So dire was
the calamity that the Iranians called their enemy Afrasiyab
into their country to rid them of Zainigav, and for that task
the Turanian received the kingly Glory which had abandoned
the frivolous king Kai Kaiis. Afrasiyab, however, abused his
power, and the Iranians had once more to be saved by Rustam,
who released Kai Kaus and expelled the Turanians.

Kai Kaias had married a Turanian woman named Sudabah,
a vicious creature who made shameful propositions to Syavar-
shan (Persian Kai Siyavakhsh), who was the son of a previous
wife of her husband and a superb youth. Since, however, the
pious young man rejected her love, she calumniated him to Kai
Kaus, so that Syavarshan had to flee to Afrasiyab, who received
him well and even gave him his daughter in marriage; but the
honour with which he was welcomed roused the jealousy of
Keresavazdah (Persian Garsivaz), the brother of Afrasiyab,
who by false accusations persuaded the king to put Siyavakhsh
to death.

To avenge this deed was the life-task of his son Haosravah
(Persian Kai Khusrau), the greatest king of the Kaianian
dynasty. His name means "of good renown, glorious," and
perhaps he was originally the same person as the Vedic hero



PLATE XLIl

Kai Kaus Attempts to Fly to Heaven

The ambitious king fastens four young eagles to
the corners of his throne, making them fly upward
by attaching raw meat to four spears. As he rises
through the clouds, the animals on the mountain-top
look at him with amazement. The king's features
have been obliterated by some pious Muhammadan
who was offended by the transgression of the prohibition
against portraying living creatures (cf. Plate XLIV).
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated
1587—88 A. D., now in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 337

Susravas, who helped Indra to crush twenty warriors mounted
on chariots. ^2 It is, indeed, a striking coincidence that
in the Avesta the gallant Haosravah, who united the
Aryan nations into one kingdom, begs of Ardvi SOra as a
boon, not only that he may become the sovereign lord of all
countries, but also

"That of all the yoked horses
I may drive my steeds the foremost
O'er the long length of the racecourse;
That we break not through the pitfall
Which the foe, with treacherous purpose,
Plots against me while on horseback." "

The war waged by Haosravah against Afrasiyab is a long
one, full of incidents of a fine epic character as we find them in
the Shdhndmah^ but all this has been grafted on the old legend
of Frangrasyan's death, which originally was in close connexion
with the story of the vain attempts of the impious king to seize
the Glory of the Aryan monarchs. As we have already seen,
Frangrasyan, enraged by his failure, was swearing, cursing, and
blaspheming in his subterranean abode; but at that very mo-
ment he was overheard by Haoma (probably the "White
Haoma," the tree of all remedies, which grows in the sea Vouru-
kasha), who managed to fetter the Turanian murderer and to
drag him bound to King Haosravah.

"Kavi Haosravah then slew him
Within sight of Lake Caecasta,
Deep and with wide spreading waters,
Thus avenging the foul murder
Of his father, brave Syavarshan." *^

[Prometheus]

In this contest, being helped by the fire of warriors that was
burning on his horse's mane, so that he could see in the sub-
terranean darkness where the Turanian was living and where
he had his idols, ^^ Haosravah destroyed everything and then
established the fire on Mount Asnavand. The intervention of



338 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Haoma (the drink of the gods when they fight the demons),
and the presence of a supernatural fire, of the white steed,
and of the cavern, as well as the location of the contest on a
lake, point to some natural myth as the origin of the story,
though it is too adulterated to admit of any convincing inter-
pretation. Firdausi, of course, introduces still more profound
alterations. Instead of being in his own subterranean palace,
Afrasiyab is supposed to have taken refuge in a cavern after
having been completely beaten by Kai Khusrau and having
taken to flight, while Haoma has become the hermit Hiim, who
overhears him bewailing his defeat and tries to capture the
fugitive, who escapes by plunging into the lake. Kai Khusrau
is called immediately and seizes Garsivaz (Keresavazdah), the
murderer of Siyavakhsh. To compel Afrasiyab to emerge from
his retreat his beloved brother Garsivaz is tortured, and finally
both brothers are put to death. ^®

Having achieved the greatest exploit of the epic and having
avenged his father, Haosravah fears that he may lapse into
pride and meet the same end as Yima. He becomes melancholy,
resolves to resign the throne to Aurvat-aspa (Persian Luhrasp),
and finally rides with his paladins into the mountains, where
he disappears. A few knights follow him till the end, but are
lost in the snow, so that he alone, guided by Sraosha, arrives
alive in heaven, where, in a secret place and adorned with a
halo of glory, he sits on a throne until the renovation of the
world. ^^

This very noteworthy legend of the retirement of the mighty
king and warrior has been compared by Darmesteter ^^ with
an episode of the Mahdbhdrata, the great Indian epic, where
the hero Yudhisthira, weary of the world, designated his suc-
cessors and with his four brothers set out on a journey north-
ward toward the mountains and the deserts of Himavant (the
Himalayas). One after the other all his companions expired
exhausted on the way, but he with his faithful dog, who was
Dharma ("Righteousness") in disguise, entered heaven, not



TR.A.DITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 339

having tasted death. Unless the story has been borrowed from
the Indians, it is Indo-Iranian, the latter explanation being the
more probable since the immortality of Haosravah is already
known in the Avesta.^^

Among the companions of Haosravah who died on the way
were Giv, son of Gudarz, both gallant heroes who played an
important part in the war against Afrasiyab, and Tiis, son of
Naotara (Persian Naudhar), the last monarch of the Pishda-
dian dynasty. He had been barred from his realm by the ac-
cession of the Kaianian kings because he was too frivolous, but
after having been the competitor of Haosravah, he became his
friend. An epic of Naotara's sons seems to have existed in
which Tus was the conqueror of the sons of Vaesaka (Persian
Visah), the uncle of Afrasiyab, for he is said to have besieged
them in the pass of Khshathro-Suka on the top of the holy and
lofty Mount Kangha;^" and as a reward for his exploits and
after his death he will be among the thirty who will help
Saoshyant at the end of the world. ®^

His brother "Vlstauru ("Opposed to Sinners "^2) is famed for
having obtained from Ardvi Siira, when he was pursuing
idolators, the power to cross the River Vltanguhaiti.

"'This is true, in sooth veracious,
Ardvi Sura Anahita,
that as many demon-worshippers have been slain by me
as I have hairs on my head. Therefore do thou, Ardvi Siira
Anahita, provide me a dry crossing ^^

O'er the good Vltanguhaiti.'
Ardvi Sura Anahita hastened down

With a lovely maiden's body,

Very strong, of goodly figure,

Girded high and standing upright.

Nobly born, of brilliant lineage.

Wearing golden foot-gear shining

And bedecked with all adornment.

Certain waters made she stand still,

Others caused she to flow forward.

And a crossing dry provided

O'er the good Vltanguhaiti." ^



340 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

After the reign of Kai Khusrau the scene of Flrdausl's epic
shifts toward Balkh in Bactria, and the military character of
the poem yields to more religious interests. We have, Indeed^
arrived at the point where legends, which are for the most part
of a mythical character, are brought into connexion with tradi-
tions concerning the origins of the Zoroastrian religion, of
Zoroaster himself, and of the persons around him.

In Firdausi's view the successor of Kai Khusrau is Luhrasp,^
the Aurvat-aspa of the Avesta, who Is renowned only as the
father of Vishtaspa, the first Zoroastrian king, and of Zairivairi
("Golden-Breastplated"; Persian Zarir). The deeds of the
latter are of much the same kind as those of other Iranian
heroes. He Is a slayer of Turanians, and near the river Daltya
he killed Humayaka, a demon-worshipper who had long claws
and lived in eight caverns, and he also did to death the wicked
Arejat-aspa,^^ but was treacherously assassinated by the
wizard Vidrafsh and avenged by his son Bastvar.^^ All this
savours pretty much of a combat with dragons.

In the Greek author Athenaeus ®^ Zairivairi appears under
the name Zariadres and is said to be a son of Adonis and Aphro-
dite. This is a truly mythic genealogy, for Aphrodite Is the
usual Greek translation of Anahlta, the goddess of the waters,
and her most natural lover is Apam Napat, the Child of the
Waters," whose name the Greek writer here renders by Adonis,
the habitual paramour of Aphrodite. A very frequent epithet
of Apam Napat is aurvat-aspa ("with swift steeds"), which is
precisely the name of Zairivairl's father. Accordingly, Dar-
mesteter thinks ^^ that Zairivairi is a mythical being and extends
the conclusion to his brother Vishtaspa and even to the prophet
Zarathushtra. This opinion is rejected by Orientalists of the
present day, who, not without reason, think that Zarathushtra
actually existed; but nevertheless It is possible that Zairivairi
has been introduced into Vishtaspa's family by a contamina-
tion of legends or by a similarity of names, such as has pro-
duced many errors concerning Vishtaspa himself. Zairivairi



PLATE XLIII

GusHTASP Kills a Dragon

The hero slays a dragon in serpent form. The
representation of the desert scene is very well done,
and Perso-Mongolian influence is strongly marked.
From a Persian manuscript of the Shahnamah^ dated
1587-88 A.D., now in the Metropolitan Museum of
Art, New York.







i# / >^i; ? ? ?? I -^—i *^: ' 'fin yy L .t^ i




TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 341

is the hero of a romantic adventure, which is attributed to his
brother Gushtasp (Vishtaspa) in the Shdhndmah.^^ He was the
handsomest man of his time, just as Odatis, the daughter of
King Omartes, was the most beautiful woman among the Ira-
nians. They saw one another in a dream and fell in love, but
when the princess was invited to a great feast at which she had
to make her choice and throw a goblet to the young noble who
pleased her, she did not see Zairivairi. Leaving the room in
tears, she perceived a man in Scythian attire at the door of the
palace and recognized the hero of her dream. It was Zairi-
vairi, who had come in haste, knowing the intentions of Omar-
tes, and the lovers fled together. ^°

Vishtaspa himself is known for heroic exploits. He defeated
some unbelievers, like Tathryavant, Peshana, and Arejat-
aspa (Persian Arjasp), king of the Hyaonians, although it is
difhcult to say whether these are more or less historical facts
in connexion with the protector of Zoroaster or are mythical
exploits attributed to some other Vishtaspa who became iden-
tified with the prophet's patron. The old tradition concerning
the latter reports that he was the husband of Hutaosa, a name
which is the same as that of Darius's wife Atossa. He had in
his possession the Iranian Glory, which he is said to have taken
to Mount Roshan, where it still is; and he was converted to the
new faith after having imprisoned Zoroaster, who had been
falsely accused by priests of the old religion, but had proved his
innocence by miraculously curing the favourite horse of the
king.''^ In Vishtaspa's court was the important family of the
Hvogvas, containing Jamaspa, the minister of Vishtaspa, who
became the husband of Zoroaster's daughter Pouruclsta and
who was one of the prophet's first protectors; while his brother
Frashaoshtra was the father-in-law of Zoroaster through the
latter's marriage to Hv5vi,

Zoroaster (Zarathushtra), of the Spitama family, was the
son of Pourushaspa, who is said to have been the fourth priest
of Haoma,^^ but we know very little about him from the Avesta



342



IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY



itself. Later literature, on the other hand, concocted a life of
Zoroaster which is full of marvels and in which the prophet is
in continual intercourse with Ahura Mazda and the Amesha
Spentas, achieving all manner of prodigious deeds. These
legends appear comparatively late in Mazdeism, centuries
after Zoroaster's life, and probably contain very few historical
elements, although they have accumulated stories borrowed
from various sources and even include pious forgeries. The
Avesta knows of an intervention of divine beings only at Zo-
roaster's birth. A plant of haoma contained the prophet's
Fravashi, or pre-created soul, which Pourushaspa, the father
of Zoroaster and a priest of Haoma,. happened to absorb. He
married Dughdhova, who had received the khvarenanh which
has been so frequently mentioned, and thus the Glory of Yima
himself was transferred to Zoroaster. The daevas repeatedly
sought to kill the prophet both before and after his birth, and
the adorers of idols persecuted him, but in vain. Ahura Mazda
then entered into communion with him and revealed the reli-
gion to him. For ten years he had only one disciple, his cousin
Maidhyoi-maongha, but at last he won converts in Vishtaspa's
court among the members of the Hvogva family, the king him-
self becoming a believer through the insistence of his wife
Hutaosa. A long war followed between Vishtaspa and Arejat-
aspa, king of the Hyaonians, who was determined to suppress
Zoroastrianism, and though the prophet's brothers Zairivairi
(Persian Zarir) and Spentodata (Persian Isfandyar) fought
gallantly, Zoroaster was slain by the Turanian Bratro-resh,
one of the karapans (idolatrous priests) who had tried to kill
him at his birth.

Zoroaster has left three germs in this world, and they are
like three flames which NairySsangha, the messenger of the gods
and a form of Agni,^^ has deposited in Lake Kasu (the Hamiin
Swamp in Seistan), where they are watched by ninety-nine
thousand nine hundred and ninety-nine Fravashis. Near
that lake is a mountain inhabited by faithful Zoroastrians,



PLATE XLIV

Sculpture Supposed to Represent
Zoroaster

Parsi tradition seeks to identify this figure with
Zoroaster, and the conventional modern pictures of
the Prophet are of this general type. The identifica-
tion is by no means certain, for the figure has also
been held to represent Ahura Mazda or — with much
greater probability — Mithra. Ahura Mazda regularly
appears as a bearded man in a winged disk (see
Plate XXXIV, No. 5); identification with Mithra is
favoured bv the sunflower on which the figure stands
and by the mace which he holds (cf. Tasht^ vi. 5, x. 96).
The face is mutilated, probably by the early Arab
conquerors, who, as strict Muhammadans, objected
to representations of living beings (cf. the similar
mutilations in miniature paintings, Plate XLII).
From a Sassanian sculpture at Takht-i-Bustan,' Kir-
manshah. After a photograph by Professor A. V.
Williams Jackson.






:^.-


.-?


,-: ?:^::


\"






V^-


\









v.^-




PV^^ A^n









•l.Vo



L



TRADITIONS OF KINGS AND ZOROASTER 343

and once in each millennium a maiden, bathing in the waters,
will receive one of those germs. Thus three prophets (Saosh-
yants, "They Who Will Advantage") will be born in succes-
sion: first Ukhshyat-ereta (Hushetar), then Ukhshyat-nemah
(Hiishetar-mah), and finally Astvat-ereta, the Saoshyant par
excellence. They will reveal themselves in periods when evil
will be prevalent and will put an end to wickedness. The last
Saoshyant will come when Dahhak will have desolated the
world after having broken his fetters on Mount Damavand;
but Keresaspa, as we have seen,'^'* will slay him at the very
instant when Saoshyant appears with the kingly Glory
(Khvarenanh), and when he will definitely conquer the Druj
(the principle of falsehood), Angra Mainyu, and the evil
creation.



VI — 23



CHAPTER VI
THE LIFE TO COME

THE accountof the Saoshyants, the future sons of Zoroaster,
brings us to the theme of Iranian eschatology. Like
Odysseus in Greece, or Dante in the Divina Commedia,^
Arta Viraf, a wise and virtuous Mazdean, is supposed in a
late Pahlavi book to have visited the other world, and it will
be interesting to follow him in his journey to see what were
the Mazdean conceptions of heaven and of hell.

When the soul of Viraf went forth from its body, the first
thing which it beheld was the Cinvat Bridge (the bridge of
"the Divider") which all souls must cross before they pass
to the future world. There he saw before him a damsel of
beautiful appearance, full-bosomed, charming to heart and
soul; and when he asked her, "Who art thou? and what
person art thou.? than whom, in the world of the living, any
damsel more elegant, and of more beautiful body than thine,
was never seen by me," she replied that she was his own
religion {daena) and his own deeds — "it is on account of
thy will and actions, that I am as great and good and sweet-
scented and triumphant and undistressed as appears to thee."

Then the Cinvat Bridge became wider, and with the assist-
ance of Sraosha ("Obedience to the Law") and Atar ("Fire")
Viraf could easily cross. Both Yazatas promised to show him
heaven and hell, but before entering the kingdom of the blest,
he had to pass through Hamistakan, the resting-place of those
whose good works and sins exactly counterbalance. There
they await the renovation of the world, their only sufferings
being from cold and heat.



THE LIFE TO COME 345

Passing from Hamistakan, Viraf ascended the three steps
of "good thought, good word, good deed," which are the
abodes of the souls of those who did not practise the specific
Mazdean virtues, although they were righteous men. These
steps lead to Garotman (A vesta Garo Nmana, "House of
Praise"), and there dwell the souls of men who constantly
practised the Zoroastrian precepts: the Hberal, who walk
adorned in all splendour; those who chanted the Gdthds (the
"Hymns" of Zoroaster), in gold-embroidered raiment; those
who contracted next-of-kin marriages, ^ illuminated by radi-
ance from above; those who killed noxious creatures; the agri-
culturists; the shepherds. All of them are brilliant and walk
about in great pleasure and joy. Then the pilgrims came to a
river which souls were endeavouring to cross, some being able
to do this easily, and others failing utterly. In reply to Viraf's
questions Atar explained that the river came from the tears
which men shed from their eyes in unlawful lamentation for
the departed, and that those who could not cross were the
souls for whom their relatives made an exaggerated and irre-
ligious display of grief. Atar also showed a lake whose water
was the sap of wood which had been placed on the sacred fire
without being quite dry.

Returning to the Cinvat Bridge, Viraf and his guides fol-
lowed the soul of a wicked man, just arrived from earth. In
its first night of hell it must endure as much misfortune as a
man can bear in a whole unhappy life. A dry and stinking
cold wind comes to meet that man, and he sees his vile life
under the shape of a profligate woman, naked, decayed, gaping,
and bandy-legged. Descending the three steps of "evil thought,
evil word, evil deed," the soul of the wicked arrives at the
greedy jaws of hell, which is a most frightful pit, where the
darkness is so thick that the hand can grasp it, and where the
stench makes every one stagger and fall. Each of the damned
thinks, "I am alone," and when three days and three nights
have elapsed, he wails, "The nine thousand years are com-



346 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

pleted, and they will not release me!" Everywhere are noxious
creatures, the smallest of them as high as mountains, and they
tear and worry the souls of the wicked as a dog does a bone.

For special crimes there are special punishments. The woman
who has been unfaithful to her husband is suspended by her
breasts, and scorpions seize her whole body, the same creatures
biting the feet of those who have polluted the earth by walking
without shoes. The woman who has insulted her husband is
suspended by her tongue. A wicked king must hang in space,
flogged by fifty demons. The man who has killed cattle un-
lawfully suffers in his limbs, which are broken and separated
from one another. The miser is stretched upon a rack, and a
thousand demons trample him. The liar sees his tongue gnawed
by worms. The unjust man who did not pay the salary of his
workmen is doomed to eat human flesh. The woman who has
slain her own child must dig into a hill with her breasts and
hold a millstone on her head. The bodies of impostors and
deceivers fall in rottenness. The man who has removed the
boundary stones of others so as to make his own fields larger
must dig into a hill with his fingers and nails. The breaker of
promises and contracts, whether with the pious or with the
wicked — since Mithra is both for the faithful and the un-
believers — is tortured by pricking spurs and arrows. Under
the Cinvat Bridge there is an abyss for the most heinous sin-
ners, this pit being so deep and so stinking that if all the wood
of the earth were burned in it, it would not even emit a per-
ceptible smell. There the souls of the wicked stand, as close
as the ear to the eye, and as many as the hairs on the mane of
a horse, and they also are submitted to various torments ac-
cording to their different offences. At the very bottom of the
abyss is Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), the Evil Spirit, who ridi-
cules and mocks the wicked in hell, saying, "Why did you ever
eat the bread of Ahura Mazda, and do my work.^ and thought
not of your own creator, but practised my will.'"'

It would be interesting to know how much in Arta Viraf's

[Prometheus]

THE LIFE TO COME 347

visions was influenced b^ the conceptions of other reHgions,
including Judaism and Christianity. That the Semites in-
fluenced Iranian thought in some measure is obvious — the
myth of the attempt of Kai Kaus to fly to heaven, for instance,
shows a remarkable parallelism to the Babylonian story of
Etana, who sought to ascend on an eagle's back to the sky
that he might secure the "plant of life."^ The close association
of Jews and Persians in the Exilic and post-Exilic periods seems
to have caused some interchange of religious concepts, though
the precise degree of this influence is still sub judice^



CHAPTER VII
CONCLUSION

THE special interest presented to the mytliologist by the
study of Iranian myths lies in the fact that they show
with ideal clearness the various stages in the evolution of myth
toward historical legend.

As is well known, a myth originally is an effort toward ac-
counting for some phenomenon. The attempt is made, of
course, with the mental tendencies of people of a fairly elemen-
tary culture, but it is clear enough that primitive man does not
only aim at giving an explanation, but at making it picturesque
and appealing to his imagination; and it is equally obvious that
he desires to stimulate the fancy of his fellow men by using
symbols, testing their ingenuity by transferring one order of
facts to another. This tendency generates parable, moral fic-
tion, and riddle, and it is difficult to doubt that myth is one
more aspect of that same turn of mind when we compare old
riddles with old myths.

Otto Schrader has collected ^ several Indo-European riddles
that are very instructive in this regard, and an episode of the
Shdhndmah also illustrates this explanation of myth. Thus, in
Firdausi's epic ^ Minucihr tests Zal by hard questions, con-
cocted by the shrewd priests, who formulate a series of riddles
that are very much of the same kind as those which are found
among people of primitive culture and which Schrader consid-
ers to be a source of myths. Zal is asked what are a dozen
cypresses with thirty boughs on each, and he finds them to be
the twelve moons of every year, each moon having thirty days.
Two horses, one white and one black, moving rapidly to catch



CONCLUSION 349

each other, but in vain, prove to be day and night. A lofty pair
of cypresses in which a bird nests, on the one at morning and on
the other at evening, represents the two portions of the sky, and
the bird which flies between them is the sun. The turn of mind
which generated such stories would readily produce myths.

In the Rgveda, where we have found so many names of gods
and heroes of Iranian mythology, mythical symbolism is rife
and in full operation. Not only does the singer in his prayers
remind his god of the myths that are current about him, but he
makes new ones and gives another turn to mythical interpre-
tations of facts because he is conscious that they are myths.
For that reason the Rgveda makes us live in an atmosphere
that is truly mythic, but, on the other hand, it presents such a
free treatment of the various stories that it is much more dif-
ficult to give a clear account of the old Indian myths than of the
Iranian legends. Vedic mythology is more fluid; the singer
deals freely with the stories, mixes them, makes new combina-
tions with the traditional elements, and even goes so far as to
invent myths which are entirely new.

If we compare the Iranian situation with the Vedic, which, of
course, at one time was the Indo-Iranian status, we observe
that the Mazdean Iranians have plenty of myths, but that, to
a great extent, the creative tendency has been checked. Their
myths appear rather as survivals of prior times, and, conse-
quently, they are more clearly delineated than in the Veda.
In addition to this, they have been systematized according to
the general tendency of Mazdeism, and the necessity of fitting
them into the dualistic scheme accounts for the monotonous
character of these myths, in which a good being is always at
war with some evil one. The good beings are pretty much
identical with one another, and the fiends are almost the same
throughout. A sure proof that the real meaning of the myths
has faded is the great number of epithets and details that are
quite clear in the original form of the story, but are often mean-
ingless and merely traditional in Mazdean lore*



350 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

The special evolution of myths in Iran assumes three forms.

(a) The myth, being no longer understood as such, becomes
a mere tale and, as is the case with tales, is apt to be sub-
divided into several stories or to be reproduced many times
with different names. This has especially been the case with
the storm-myth. The dragon is Azhi, Srvara, Zainigav,
Apaosha, Gandarewa, etc.; the youthful and godlike victor
is Thraetaona, Keresaspa, Raodhatakhma (Rustam), Hao-
sravah, etc.

Myths are duplicated. Besides Yima-Yimak, we find
Mashya-Mashyoi. Kavi Usan is twice a prisoner; Kavi
Keresavazdah has been calumniated twice; Urupi and Keres-
aspa both ride on a demon; Kavi Kavata and Zal are both
abandoned on Mount Albiirz at their birth; Thraetaona and
Vistauru both cross a river in a miraculous way; Yoishta and
Aoshnara both answer the riddles of a sphinx. All heroes
marry Turanian girls, and all stories take place on Mount
Hara Berezaiti (Alburz) or in the sea Vourukasha, etc., etc.

(b) On the other hand, several myths coalesce into one story,
the most complete instance being the legend of Yima, which
unites a story of primeval twins, a winter-myth, a myth com-
paring sunset to the death of man, a story of women cap-
tured by a fiend, etc.

(c) There is a gradual anthropomorphization of the myths.
On the one hand, the mythical contest is changed into a moral
one, the cloud-dragons, imprisoners of water, becoming here-
tics or enemies of the Zoroastrian religion. A curious instance
of this is Farldiin's conversion of Jamshid's daughters, who had
been brought up in vice and pagan lore by Dahhak, this being
a transformation of the traditional story of the storm-god re-
leasing the women of the cloud, i.e. the imprisoned waters.
In Yima's story a moral motive has been introduced into the
darkening of the sun by the cloud-dragon.

On the other hand, the mythical material becomes historical
or, at least, epic. Monsters, dragons, etc., become Turanians,



CONCLUSION 351

and the gods are transformed Into kings of a purely human char-
acter, so that In many cases in the Shdhndmah it is impossible
to determine whether we are dealing with some historical
event, more or less embellished by legend, or with a nature-
myth that has been humanized. Dahhak is an Arabian king;
Farldiin is an audacious soldier; haoma, the draught of im-
mortality, becomes a hermit in the story of Afrasiyab, etc.

In the legend of YIma we see all successive stages. First
we have the setting sun, and then the setting sun, showing the
path to the departed, becomes their sire, and his solar quality
fades away. He is thus evolved Into the first mortal or the
king of the dead, and finally becomes an ordinary Iranian
monarch of ancient times.

This transformation has, It Is true, deprived the Iranians of
the great source of Indian poetry, but has resulted, on the
other hand, in providing them with a rich epic material, the
direction in which their literature has been developed. They
were also creative In this domain, for they wove many legends
around their real kings, their prophet, etc. Both sources of
inspiration have been so blended that in the Shdhndmah
Rustam's mace, which was originally the thunderbolt of Indra,
is swung against the castellan bishops of the Syrian Church,^
and that Zairlvairi, a son of Apam Napat, is the lover of the
daughter of the Emperor of Byzantium.



NOTES



INDIAN



Chapter I

1. Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 356, note.

2. This is what F. Max Miiller {Ancient Sanskrit Literature, Lon-
don, 1859, pp. 526 ff.) called "henotheism."

3. Original Sanskrit Texts, v. 64, note.

4. See Al. Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, pp. 12, 126 ff. For
the Iranian Asha see infra, pp. 260, 264.

5. For the Iranian conceptions of Ahura Mazda and Mithra see
infra, pp. 260-61, 275 ff., 287-88, 305 ff.

6. For Ouranos see Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 5-6,
and for Moira see ib. pp. 283-84.

7. See H. Winckler, in Mitteilungen der deutschen Orientgesell-
schaft, No. 35 (1907); E. Meyer, "Das erste Auftreten der Arier in der
Geschichte," in Sitzungsberichte der koniglich-preussischen Akademie
der Wissenschaften, 1908, pp. 14-19, and Geschichte des Altertums,
I. ii. 651 ff. (3rd ed., Berlin, 1913) ; H. Jacobi, in JRAS 1909, pp. 721
ff., H. Oldenberg, ib. pp. 1095 ff., J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrian-
ism, London, 1913, pp. 6 ff.

8. For the Amesha Spentas see infra, p. 260.

9. R. T. H. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, ii. 87.

10. See infra, pp. 282, 294, 304.

11. See M. Bloomfield, in American Journal of Philology, xvii. 428
(1896), from vi-\-snu (cf. sdnu, "back").

12. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 26-27, 246-47.

13. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 245-46.

14. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, iii. 157 ff.

15. See Shdhndmah, tr. J. Mohl, Paris, 1876-78, i. 69-70.

16. See infra, pp. 267, 340.

17. The word siva means "auspicious."

18. See L. von Schroeder, Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda, pp.
47 ff., 124 ff.

Chapter II

1. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, ii. 122-23.

2. Cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 208-09, 298.



356 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

3. See M. Bloomfield, in JAOS xvi. i ff. (1894); H- Usener, in
Rheinisches Museum, Ix. 26 ff. (1905).

4. See infra, pp. 265, 282.

5. See A, A. Macdonell and A. B. Keith, Vedic Index, ii. 434-37.

6. R. T. H. Griffith, Hymns of the Rigveda, iv. 355-56.

7. See J. Rhys, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as
illustrated by Celtic Heathendom, London, 1888, pp. 1 14-15.

8. See L. R. Farnell, Cults of the Greek States, Oxford, 1896-1908,
iii. 50 ff.

9. This expression denotes first five tribes famous in Vedic his-
tory, and then all men generally.

10. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, iii. 418-19.

11. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1915, pp. 127 ff.

12. See infra, pp. 325-26.

13. See L. von Schroeder, Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda, pp.

304-25.

14. See L. von Schroeder, op. cit. pp. 52, 63.

15. See infra, pp. 306-09.

16. Indische Studien, iv. 341 (1858).

17. Hence istdpHrta, "sacrifice and baksheesh," go together; see
M. Bloomfield, Religion of the Veda, pp. 194 ff.

18. R. T. H. Griffith, Hym7is of the Rigveda, iv. 133.

Chapter III

1. See A. Hillebrandt, Vedische Mythologie, iii. 430 ff. Unlike M.
Haug {Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the
Parsis,2,rd ed., London, i884,pp.287ff.), Hillebrandt places the hostile
contact with Iran after the period of the Rgveda and associates it
with an older form of Iranian religion, not with Zarathushtra's
teaching.

2. In Videgha Mathava V. Henry {La Magie dans flnde antique,
2nd ed., p. xxi.) sees the Indian Prometheus.

3. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1911, pp. 794-800.

4. Kubera appears as king of the Raksases in Satapatha Brdhmana^
XIII. iv. 3. 10; cf. Atharvaveda VIII. x. 28.

Chapter IV

1. See Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 17-18.

2. Apparently each of these years is equal to 360 years of man;
so Manu, i. 69, and the Purdnas (cf. H. H. Wilson, Visnu Purana,
ed. F. Hall, i. 49-50, and E. W. Hopkins, in JAOS xxiv. 42 ff. [1903]).

3. See B. C. Mazumdar, in JRAS 1907, pp. 337-39; Sir R. G.



NOTES



357



Bhandarkar, Faisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp.

113-15-

4. Religions of India, pp. 465 ff.

5. Indien und das Christentum, pp. 215 ff.; for another view see
Bhandarkar, op. cit. p. 12.

6. See A. B. Keith, in JRJS 1908, pp. 172 ff., 1912, pp. 416 ff.,
I9I5> PP- 547-49, 1916, pp. 340 ff., and in ZDMG Ixiv. 534-36 (1910).

7. Das Ramayana, pp. 127 ff. For a different view see J. von
Negelein, in WZKM xvi. 226 ff. (1902).



Chapter V

1. This story forms the subject of a Vedic imitation, the Suparnd-
dhydya (edited by E. Grube, BerHn, 1875); cf. J. Hertel, in WZKM
xxiii. 299 ff. ( 1909), and H. Oldenberg, in ZDMG xxxvii. 54-86

(1893)-

2. See J. Charpentier, in ZDMG Ixiv. 65-83 (1910), Ixvi. 44-47
(1912). ^

3 . This is a new element in the tale and gives the best ground for
regarding the narrative as Babylonian in origin; see M. Winternitz,
in Mitteilungen der anthropologischen Gesellschaft in Wien, xxxi. 321 ff.
(1901).

4. See W. Caland, Uber das rituelle Sutra des Baudhayana, Leipzig,
1903, p. 21 ; A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1913, pp. 412-17.

5. See G. A. Grierson, in ZDMG Ixvi. (1912) 49 ff.

6. This idea is based on a popular etymological connexion with
Sanskrit yam, "to restrain"; but as a matter of fact the word Yama
means "Twin."

Chapter VI

1. This explanation is based on a purely fanciful etymology of
mam, "me," and dhd, "to suck."

2. Cf. J. F. Fleet, in JRAS 1905, pp. 223-36; R. Garbe, Indien
und das Christentum, pp. 131 ff.

3. See Sir G. A. Grierson, in JRAS 1913, p. 144.

4. See A. B. Keith, in JRAS 1908, pp. 172-73.

5. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar {Faisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Reli-
gious Systems, pp. 35 ff.) seeks (though without success) to show
that Kr§na as a cowherd is late.

6. See C. Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde, ii. 811, ii07ff. A.
Barth {Religions of India, p. 200, note), while doubting this view,
points out that the androgynous form of Siva was known to Barde-
sanes (in Stobaeus, Eel. phys. i. 56).



358 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

7. Sir R. G. Bhandarkar (Faisnavism, Saimsm, and Minor Religious
Systems, pp. 147-49) ascribes the growth of a single deity to the
period about the sixth century a. d. The Vinayakas, who appear
reduced to one in Ganapati, or Ganesa, are found in the Mdnava
Grhya Sutra (ii. 14), and the Mahdbhdrata (xiii, 151. 26) mentions
Vinayakas and Ganesvaras as classes. Cf. M. Winternitz, in JRAS
1898, pp. 380-84.

8. See Sir R. G. Bhandarkar, Vaisnavism, ^aivism, and Minor Reli-
gious Systems, pp. 153-55; R- Chanda, The Indo-Aryan Races, Raj-
shahi, 1916, pp. 223 ff.

Chapter VII

1. Pali is the term used to describe the language in which the Bud-
dhist texts are preserved. It is a literary dialect whose origin is un-
certain, but which is certainly not the language spoken by the
Buddha, being much later than his time.

2. Vaisnavism, Saivism, and Minor Religious Systems, pp. 8 ff.

3. Indien und das Christentum, pp. 215 fF.

4. Cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 174-75.

5. See L. de la Vallee Poussin, Bouddhisme, Opinions sur Vhistoire
de la dogmatique, p. 239.

6. The phrase in question is chaddanta; see J. S. Speyer, in ZDMG
Ivii. 308 (1903).

7. See H. Liiders, in Nachrichten von der koniglichen Gesellschaft der
Wissenschaften zu Gottingen, 1901, p. 50; A. Foucher, in Melanges
d'indianisme . . . offerts a M. Sylvain Levi, Paris, 191 1, pp. 246-47,
for very clear cases of a difference in date.

8. This conception is often ascribed to Iranian influence, i.e. the
concept of the Fravashis; see A. Griinwedel, Buddhistische Kunst, 2nd
ed., pp. 169 ff.

9. See infra, pp. 261, 300, 336.
10. See infra, pp. 327, 338.



Chapter VIII

1. SBE xxii., p. xxxi., note, Oxford, 1884.

2. Cf., however, J. Charpentier, in JRAS 1913, pp. 669-74, who
would connect the Ajivikas with the Saivite sects.

3. Cf. W. H. Schoff, in JAOS xxxiii. 209 (1913)-

4. See M. Winternitz, in JRAS 1895, pp. 159 ff. Nejamesa is also
obviously to be read for Nejameya in Baudhdyana Grhya Sutra, ii.
2, as in W. Caland, Uber das rituelle Sutra des Baudhdyana, Leipzig,



NOTES 359

I903) P- 31- This passage, however, with its invocation of "mothers"
(apparently the diseases of children), is evidently late.



Chapter IX

1. See G. A. Grierson, in JRAS 1907, pp. 311 flF.; R. Garbe,
Indien und das Christentum, pp. 271 ff.

2. The name of the river means "destroying (the merit of good)
works."

3. On this mythological figure see I. Friedlander, "Khidr," in En-
cyclopcsdia of Religion and Ethics, vii. 693-95, Edinburgh, 191 5.



VI — 24



IRANIAN



Chapter I

1. On this cycle of legends see M. Breal, "Hercule et Cacus,"
in his Melanges de mythologie et de linguistique, Paris, 1877, pp. i-
161, and cf. Mythology of All Races, Boston, 1916, i. 86-87, 303.

2. See supra, pp. 23-24.

3. Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898, pp. 429, 432.

4. ib. p. 537.

5. ib. p. 541.

6. A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. 67.

7. For all these myths see supra, pp. 33, 35-36, 87-88, 93, 133.

8. Yasna, ix. 7.

9. Fendiddd, xx. 2-4.

10. Thrita, whose name means "third," was the third man who
prepared the haoma, according to Yasna, ix. 9.

11. Yasna, ix. 7.

12. Yasht, V. 61.

13. This line, frd thzvam zadanha paiti uzukhshdne zafara paiti
uzraocayeni, well illustrates the extent to which much of the Avesta
in its present form has suffered interpolation. It is obvious, from the
parallelism with Azhi Dahaka's speech, that the line should read
simply /ra thzvam paiti uzukhshdne ("thee will I besprinkle wholly"
[i. e. with fire]). The same thing occurs below in the last line of the
translation from Yasht, viii. 24, where the parallelism with dasandm
gairindm aojo ("strength of mountains ten in number") shows that
the word ndvayandm ("navigable") is interpolated in the line
dasandm apdm ndvayandm aojo, which should read dasandm apdm
aojo ("strength of rivers ten in number").

14. Yasht, xix. 47-51. The "Child of Waters" is mentioned in
magic Mandean inscriptions as "Nbat, the great primeval germ which
the Life hath sent" (H. Pognon, Inscriptions mandaites des coupes de
Khouahir, Paris, 1898, pp. 63, 68; cf. also p. 95).

15. G. Hiising {Die traditionelle U eh er liefer ting und das arische
System, p. 53) thinks that Apaosha means "Coverer," "Concealer"
(from apa + var).

16. Yasht, viii. 4-5.

[Prometheus]

NOTES 361

17. Yasht, viii. 23-24.

18. Yasht, viii. 29.

19. Yasht, viii. 13. Fifteen was the paradisiac age to the Iranian
mind,

20. Bundahish, vii. 4-7 (tr. E. VV. West, in SBE v. 26-27).

21. Bundahish, xix. i-io.

22. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 148; E. W. West, in SBE
v. 67, note 4.

23. M. Ananikian, "Armenia (Zoroastrianism in)," in Encyclo-
pcedia of Religion and Ethics, i. 799, Edinburgh, 1908.

24. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 559.

25. Yasht, xiv.

26. Cf. the healing functions of Thrita and Thraetaona, supra,
p. 265, and infra, p. 318.

27. Cf. the story of Atar, supra, pp. 266-67.

28. Cf. the legend of Tishtrya, supra, p. 269.

29. Namely, seizing its prey with its talons and rending it with its
beak. The bird Vareghna is apparently the raven.

30. Yasht, xiv. 19-21. The comparison of the lightning to a bird
is of frequent occurrence.

31. Yasht, xiv. 27-33.

32. Yasht, xiv. 62-63.

33. Yasna, ix. 11.

Chapter II

1. Adapted from E. W. West's translation of Bundahish, i-iii, and
Selections of Zdt-Sparam, i-ii, in SBE v. 1-19, 156-63.

2. "As the best lord"; the opening words of Yasna, xxvii. 13,
and a formula frequently used in prayers. Cf. L. H. Mills, in JRAS,
1910, pp. 57-68, 641-57.

3. A reminiscence of the myths of Tishtrya and Verethraghna;
cf. supra, pp. 269, 272.

4. A reminiscence of the storm-myths of Azhi, etc.; cf. supra,
pp. 266-67.

5. The planets are evil beings since they do not follow the regular
course of the stars.

6. Bundahish, xiii.

7. Yasht, V. 1-4.

8. Yasht, V. 7, 64, 126-129.

9. BUndahish, ix; Selections of Zdt-Sparam, viii.

10. Bundahish, xviii.

11. Yasna, ix. 17-18.

12. Yasna, ix. 19-20.



362 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

13. Yasna, ix. 22-23. It is scarcely necessary to note that the
word "Haoma" is dissyllabic.

14. A. A. Macdonell, Fedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. iii.

15. M. Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria, Boston, 1898,
pp. 52C^2I.

16. Bundahish, xxvii. I.

17. Selections of Zat-Sparam, ii. 5.

18. O. Schrader, "Aryan Religion," in Encyclopedia of Religion
and Ethics, ii. 39, Edinburgh, 1910.

19. A. A. Macdonell, Fedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. 88 flF.

20. See supra, pp. 44-45.

21. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta^ i. pp. lix ff.

22. Bundahish, xvii. I-4.

23. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, i. 150.

24. Bundahish, iii. 24; Selections of Zat-Sparam, ii. 11.

25. Selections of Zdt-Sparavi, ii. 6.

26. Namely, his spiritual prototype, his supra-terrestrial self or
guardian spirit. For this account of Geush Urvan see Bundahish,
iii. 17-18, iv. 1-5.

27. F. Cumont, The Mysteries of Mithra, Chicago, 1903, p. 131 ff.

28. See P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Religion of the Teutons,
Boston, 1902, p. 341.

29. Yasht, xiv. 19.

30. Yasht, xiv. 41.

31. Mainog-l-Khrat, Ixii. 40-42 (tr. E, W. West, in SBE xxiv.
112).

32. Bundahish, xix. 13.

33. Supra, p. 272.

34. Yasht, xix. 35.

35. Yasht, xiv. 34-36.

36. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 571, note 51; Shahndmah,
tr. A. G. and E. Warner, i. 246.

37. Shdhndmah, i. 320-22.

38. Fendiddd, ii. 42.

39. Bundahish, xix. 16.

40. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 189.

41. Fendiddd, xvii. 9.

42. Bundahish, xix. 19.

43. C. Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worterbuch, col. 259.

44. J. Darmesteter, in SBE xxiii. 203, note 4.

45. A. A. Macdonell, Fedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. 152;
see also supra, pp. 47, 62.

46. Bundahish, xix. 21-25.

47. Bilndahish, xix. 36.



NOTES 363

Chapter III

1. Yasht, xiii. 87.

2. Yasna, xxvi. 10.

3. Bihidahish, xxx. 7.

4. Bundahish, xxiv. i.

5. Alainog-i-Khrat, xxvii. 14.

6. Mainbg-i-Khrat, xxvii. 18; J. Darmesteter, Ortnazd et Ahriman,
p. 159-

7. F. Windischmann, Zoroastrische Studien, p. 216.

8. Yasht, xiii. 86; Yasna, Ixviii. 22; Visparad, xxi. 2.

9. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 159.

10. See supra, p. 68.

11. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 159, note 4.

12. F. Windischmann, Zoroastrische Studien, p. 215.

13. The Pahlavi text is very uncertain in this place.

14. The nature of this sin is not clear. It seems, however, that they
were required to respect all the creatures of Ahura Mazda.

15. This w^hole passage is very uncertain.

16. BUndahish, xv. 1-24.

17. Shdhndmah, i. 120.

18. F. Justi, Iranisches Namenbuch, p. 126.

19. Yasht, V. 21.

20. The bundle of twigs which the Iranian priest holds in his hand
during the sacrifice.

21. Yasht, XV. 7.

22. Yasht, xix. 26. The metre shows that the last word of the
second line, haptaithydm ("sevenfold"), should be omitted, so that
it should read yat khshayata paiti biimim ("so that o'er the earth he
governed"). Mazana is probably the modem Alazandaran, and
Varena seems to have corresponded to Gilan (see L. H. Gray, " Mazan-
daran," in Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics, viii. 507, Edinburgh,
1916).

23. Yasht, xvii. 25.

24. Yasht, xiii. 137.

25. Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, tr. D. Shea,
p. 68.

26. Shdhndmah, i. 123; cf. also L. H. Gray, "Festivals and Fasts
(Iranian)," in Encyclopcedia of Religion and Ethics, v. 873-74, Edin-
burgh, 1912.

27. Shdhndmah, i. 124.

28. J. Darmesteter, in SBE xxiii. 252, note I.

29. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 266, note 49.

30. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 169.



364 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

31. xvii. 4.

32. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 167.

33. Shdhndmah, i. 127.

Chapter IV

1. Shdhndmah, 1. 13 1, 133.

2. Yasna, ix. 4-5.

3. Yasht, xix. 31-32.

4. Shdhndmah, i. 134.

5. E. W. West, in SBE xlvii. p. xxix,

6. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 18.

7. J. Ehni, Der vedische Mythus des Yama, Strassburg, 1890, p.

171-

8. Shahndmah, i. 131.

9. Vendlddd, ii. 3-4. The second and fourth Hnes of verse read,
more literally, "to remember and carry the religion." In the first
line of Ahura Mazda's speech me ("my") has been omitted as un-
metrical both in Avesta and in English.

10. Biindahish, xvii. 5-8. Cf. the enumeration of the fires, supra,

11. This line is unmetrical in the original {mashydndmcd sundmca
vaydmcd). The second or third word (probably the latter) appar-
ently should be omitted.

12. Goddess of the earth.

13. Vendlddd, ii. 9-1 1.

14. Worshipful beings.

15. A mythical land, at one time identified with the valley of the
Aras in Transcaucasia.

16. The river-goddess; cf. supra, p. 278.

17. The deserts (C. Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worterhuch, col.

1799)-

18. In stalls (C. Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worterhuch, col. 819).

ig. The meaning of these terms is unknown. The Editor suggests
that kasvish may mean "dwarfishness" (cf. Avesta kasu, "small,"
kasvika "trifling").

20. Vendlddd, ii. 21-31.

21. Vendlddd, ii. 31-42.

22. Dlnkart, XII. ix. 3 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xlvii. 108).

23. Yasna, xxxii. 8; cf. J. H. Moulton, Early Zoroastrianism^
p. 149; C. Bartholomae, Altiranisches Worterhuch, col. 1866.

24. Sad-Dar, xciv. (tr. T. Hyde, Historia religionis veterum Per-
sarum, p. 485).

25. Yasht, xix. 33.



NOTES 365

26. Shahndmah, i. 134.

27. Rgveda, X. x; cf. supra, p. 68.

28. Bundahish, xxiii. i.

29. Yasht, xix. 34-38.

30. Yasht, V. 29-34.

31. Shahndmah, i. 140.

32. Yasht, xix. 46.

33. Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, tr. D. Shea,
p. 120.

34. See supra, pp. 68-69; cf. also pp. 99-100, 159-61, 214-15.

35. A. A. Macdonell, Fedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. 43.

36. J. Ehni, Die ursprungliche Gottheit des vedischen Yama, Leip-
zig, 1896, p. 8.

37. A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. 167;
cf. Rgveda, X. Ixviii. 11, "the manes have adorned the sky with con-
stellations, like a black horse with pearls."

38. Rgveda, X. Ixv. 6.

39. Rgveda, X. cxxxv. i (cf. A. A. Macdonell, fedic Mythology,
Strassburg, 1897, p. 167); Atharvaveda, V. iv. 3.

40. J. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 107.

41. Shdhndmah, i. 139-40.

42. J. Darmesteter, Etudes iraniennes, ii. 210-12.

43. E. H. Meyer, Indogermanische Mythen, Berlin, 1883-87, i. 229.

44. Shdhndmah, i. 132.

45. i. 132. _

46. Shahnamah, i. 133.

47. Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, tr. D. Shea,
p. 103.

Chapter V

1. Shdhndmah, i. 147.

2. Shdhndmah, i. I54~55-

3. Shdhndmah, i. 145.

4. On his way to Dahhak's capital, Gang-i-Dizhhukht (which
Firdausi identifies with Jerusalem) Faridun was checked for an in-
stant by a river, and a curious legend preserved in the Avesta {Yasht,
V. 61-65) is related to the episode. Since the ferryman Paurva was
unwilling to row him across, he, having a complete knowledge of
magic, assumed the shape of a vulture and flung the man high in
air, so that for three days he went flying toward his house, but could
not turn downward. When the beneficent dawn came at the end of the
third night, Paurva prayed to Ardvl SOra Anahita, who hastened to
his rescue, seized him by the arm, and brought him safely home.

5. Shdhndmah, i. 146.



366 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

6. Shdhndmah, i. 162.

7. Shdhndmah, i. 167.

8. VIII. xiii. 9 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xxxvii. 28).

9. Bundahish, xxxi. 10.

10. Yasht, xix. 38-44 (cf. Yasna, ix. 11, Yasht, v. 38, xv. 28).

11. Yasht, xiii. 136.

12. Yasna, ix. ii = Yasht, xix. 40, Pahlavi Rivdyat, tr. E. W. West,
in SBE xviii. 374.

13. The metre of the original shows that Keresaspa is to be pro-
nounced Krsa-aspa.

14. Supra, pp. 58-59, 94-95, 143-

15. The author is not convinced by the arguments advanced by
G. Hiising {Die traditionelle Ueberlieferung und das arische System,
pp. 135-39) to prove that Gandarewa was originally a bird.

16. Yasht, xix. 41, Pahlavi Rivdyat, tr. E. W. West, in SBE xviii.

375-

17. Heaven.

18. Yasht, xix. 43-44. The metre of the original is not wholly
correct.

19. Yasht, XV. 28, xix. 41.

20. Pahlavi Rivdyat (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xviii. 376).

21. E. W. West, in SBE xviii. 378, note i.

22. Maindg-i-Khrat, xxvii. 50.

23. Pahlavi Rivdyat (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xviii. '},7^~77)-

24. Yasht, xix. 41, Vendiddd, i. 9.

25. Bundahish, xxix. 7.

26. Yasht, xiii. 61.

27. Pahlavi Rivdyat (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xviii. 373-80).

28. Shdhndmah, i. 174.

29. Yasht, xiii. 131.

30. BUndahish, xii. 10.

31. BUndahish, xxxi. 21-22.

32. A Persian weight of widely varying values.

33. Shdhndmah, i. 291, 296-97.

34. Shdhndmah, i. 320-22.

35. On the story of Rustam cf. G. Husing, Beitrdge zur Rustamsage,
Leipzig, 1913.

36. Shahndmah, ii. 119-87; for the motij in saga-cycles see M. A.
Potter, Sohrab and Rustam: The Epic Theme of a Combat between
Father and Son, London, 1902.

37. Yasht, V. 41-43.

38. Yas7ia, xi. 7; Yasht, ix. 18-22, xix. 56-64.

39. Bundahish, xxxi. 21; J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 400,

40. BUndahish, xxix. 5.



NOTES 367

41. Malndg-l-Khrat, Ixii. 31-36. This seems to be a reminiscence
of the man-headed bulls in Babylonian art (L. C. Casartelli, Phi-
losophy of the Mazdayasnian Religion under the Sassanids, § 182).

42. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 400.

43. Dinkart, VII. i. 31 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xlvii. 1-12).

44. Bundahish, xxxi. 24.

45. Dinkart, VII. ii. 62-63 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xlvii. 31-32).

46. Shahndmah, ii. 26.

47. Yasht, xiii. 131; Afrin-i-Zartusht, 2.

48. Dinkart, VII. i. 36 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xlvii. 13).

49. Yasna, xlvi. 12; Yasht, v. 81-83.

50. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 386; cf. the Pahlavi text as ed.
and tr. by E. W. West, in The Book of Arda Viraf, Bombay, 1872.

51. Dinkart, IX. xxii. 4-12 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xxxvii. 220-
23)-

52. A. A. Macdonell, Vedic Mythology, Strassburg, 1897, p. 64.

53. Yasht, V. 50.

54. Yasht, ix. 17-18. Haosravah and Caecasta arc trisyllabic.

55. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, i. 154.

56. Shahndmah, iv. 264-69.

57. Dinkart, VII. i. 40 (tr. E. W. West, in SBE xlvii. 14).

58. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 661, note 29; see also supra,
pp. 149-50.

59. Afrin-l-Zartusht, 7.

60. Yasht, V. 54.

61. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, ii. 380.

62. C. Bartholomae, Altiranisches JVorterbuch, col. 1459.

63. The prose line dat me tum arpdvi sure andhite hush{k)3m psshum
raecaya should probably read,

dat hush{li)3m psshum raecaya
arsdvl sure andhite
("So a crossing dry provide thou,
Ardvl Sura Anahita").

64. Yasht, V. 77-7^.

65. Yasht, V. 113.

66. J. Darmesteter, Etudes iraniennes, ii. 230. The chief Pahlavi
source for Zairivairi, the Y dtkar-i-Zarlran, has been edited by Jam-
aspji Minochehcrji Jamasp-Asana (Bombay, 1897) and translated by
Jivanji Jamshedji Modi (Bombay, 1899).

67. Deipnosophistae, xiii. 35 (p. 575).

68. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, iii. p. Ixxxii.

69. Shahndmah, iv. 318 ff.

70. J. Darmesteter, Zend-Avesta, iii. p. Ixxxi; cf. E. Rohdc, Dcr
griechische Roman, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1900, pp. 47-55.



368 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

71. F. Rosenberg, Le Livre de Zoroastre {Zaratusht Ndma), pp. 47-

55-

72. Yasna, ix. 13.

73. See supra, pp. 44, 284-85,

74. See supra, pp. 327-28.



Chapter VI

1. Cf. also E. J. Becker, A Contribution to the Comparative Study
of the Medieval Visions of Heaven and Hell, Baltimore, 1899.

2. Cf. L. H. Gray, "Marriage (Iranian)," in Encyclopedia of
Religion and Ethics, viii. 456-59, Edinburgh, 1916.

3. See supra, pp. 283, 336.^

4. Cf. the literature cited in the Bibliography (V), p. 402.



Chapter VII

1. "Aryan Religion," in Encyclopedia of Religion and Ethics^
ii. 39, Edinburgh, 1910.

2. Shdhndmah, i. 308—11.

3. Shdhndmah, i. 378.



BIBLIOGRAPHY



INDIAN



I. ABBREVIATIONS

ASS . . . Anandasrama Sanskrit Series.

BI .... Bibliotheca Indica.

JAOS . . Journal of the American Oriental Society.

JRAS . . Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.

SBE . . . Sacred Books of the East.

WZKM Wiener Zeitschrift fiir die Kunde des Morgenlandes.

ZDMG . . Zeitschrift der deutschen morgenlandischen Gesell-
schaft.



II. GENERAL WORKS

Barth, a., The Religions of India. London, 1882.

Benfey, T., in J. S. Ersch and J. G. Gruber, Allgemeine Encyklo-

pddie der Wissenschaften und Kiinste, II. xvii. 158-213. Leipzig,
1840.
CoLEBROOKE, H. T., Essays. Revised ed. by W. D. Whitney. 2

vols. London, 1871-72.
Coleman, C., Mythology of the Hindus. London, 1832.
CooMARASWAMY, A. K., Mediaeval Sinhalese Art. London, 1908.

The Arts and Crafts of India and Ceylon. London, 191 3.

Eggeling, H. J., "Brahman," in Encyclopedia Britannica, nth ed.,

iv. 378-79-
"Brahmanism," in Encyclopcedia Britannica, nth ed., iv.

381-87.
"Hinduism," in Encyclopcedia Britannica, nth ed., xiii.



501-13-
Fergusson, J., Tree and Serpent Worship. 2nd ed. London, 1873.
History of Indian and Eastern Architecture. London, 1878.

Revised ed. by J. Burgess and R. Phene Spiers. 2 vols. London,

1910.
Frazer, R. W., Indian Thought Past and Present. London, 191 5.
Garbe, R., Indien und das Christentum. Tubingen, 1914.



372 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Griswold, H. DeWitt, Brahman: A Study in the History of Indian

Philosophy. New York, 1900.
Havell, E. B., Indian Sculpture and Painting. London, 1908.

The Ideals of Indian Art. London, 191 1.

The Ancient and Medieval Architecture of India. London,

1915-
Hopkins, E. W., The Religions of India. Boston, 1895.

India Old and New. New York, 1901.

"The Sacred Rivers of India," in Studies in the History of

Religions Presented to Crawford Howell Toy, pp. 213-29. New
York, 1912.
Lassen, C, Indische Alterthumskunde. 4 vols. Bonn and Leipzig,

1847-61. 2nd ed. of i-ii. Leipzig, 1867-73.
Lehmann, E., "Die Inder," in P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye,

Lehrbuch der Religions geschichte, ii. 4-1 61. 3rd ed. Tubingen,

1905.
Lyall, a. C, Asiatic Studies. 2 series. London, 1882-99.
Macdonell, a. a., Sanskrit Literature. London, 1900.
MacNicol, N., Indian Theism. Oxford, 1915.
MoNiER-WiLLiAMS, SiR M., Brahmanism and Hinduism. 4th ed.

London, 1891.

Indian Wisdom. 4th ed. London, 1893.

Moor, E., The Indian Pantheon. London, 18 10. New ed. by W. O.

Simpson. Madras, 1897.
Moore, G. F., History of Religions, chh. xi-xiv. Edinburgh, 1913.
MuiR, J., Original Sanskrit Texts on the Origin and History of the

People of India, their Religion and Institutions. 5 vols. London,

1858-72. 3rd ed. of i, London, 1890; 2nd ed. of ii, 1871; 2nd

ed. of iii, 1868; 2nd ed. of iv, 1873; 3rd ed. of v, 1884.
MiJLLER, F. Max Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion.

London, 1878.
Contributions to the Science of Mythology. 2 vols. London,

1897.
Noble, M. E., and Coomaraswamy, A. K., Myths of the Hindus and

Buddhists. London, 191 3.
Oldham, C. F., The Sun and the Serpent. London, 1905.
Oltramare, p., UHistoire des idees theosophiques dans Vlnde.

Paris, 1906.
Oman, J. C, The Brahmans, Theists and Muslims of India. London,

1907.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 373

Orelli, C. von, "Indische Religionen," in Allgemei7ie Rdigions-

geschichte, ii. 4-140. 2nd ed. Bonn, 1911-13.
ScHROEDER, L. VON, Indtens Lileratur und Kultur. Leipzig, 1887.
Smith, V. A., History of Fine Art in India and Ceylon. London,

1911.

Spiegel, F., Die arische Periode. Leipzig, 1881.

VoDSKOV, H. S., Sjczledyrkelse og ?iaturdyrkelse, i. Copenhagen,
1897.

Ward, W., J View of the History, Literature and Mythology of the
Hindoos. 5th ed. Madras, 1863.

Whitney, W. D., Oriental and Linguistic Studies. 2 vols. New
York, 1873-74.

WiLKiNS, W. J., Hindu Mythology. 2nd ed. Calcutta, 1882.
Wilson, H. H., Works, ed. R. Rost. 7 vols. London, 1861-62.
WiNTERNiTZ, A4., Geschichte der indischen Litteratur. 2 vols. Leipzig,

1905-13-
WuRM, P., Geschichte der indischen Religion. Basel, 1874.

[Prometheus]

III. THE VEDIC PERIOD

{a) Texts and Translations
(a) Saihhitds

1. Rgveda. Ed. T. Aufrecht, 2 vols., Bonn, 1877; with Sayana's
commentary, ed. F. Max Aliiller, 4 vols., London, 1890-92; tr.
H. Grassmann, 2 vols., Leipzig, 1876-77, A. Ludwig, 5 vols., Prague,
1876-88 (with an elaborate introduction — vol. iii — and notes),
R. T. H. Griffith, 2 vols., Benares, 1896-97, F. Max Miiller (hymns
to the Maruts, Rudra, Vayu, and Vata), in SBE xxxii. (1891), H.
Oldenberg (hymns to Agni from Books i-v), in SBE xlvi. (1897);
commentary by H. Oldenberg, 2 vols., Berlin, 1909-12.

2. Sdmaveda. Ed. and tr. T. Benfey, Leipzig, 1848; ed. Satyavrata
Samasrami, Calcutta, 1873; tr. R. T. H. Griffith, Benares, 1893.
See also W. Caland, Die Jaiminlya Sanihitd, Breslau, 1907.

3. Yqjurveda. (i) Kdthaka Samhitd. Ed. L. von Schroeder, 3
vols., Leipzig, 1900-10. (ii) Taitlirlya Samhitd. Ed. BI 1860-99,
A. Weber, in Indische Studien, xi-xii (1871-72); tr. A. B. Keith, 2
vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1914. (iii) Maitrdyani Samhitd. Ed. L.
von Schroeder, 4 vols., Leipzig, 1881-86. (iv) Vdjasaneyi Samhitd.
Ed. A. Weber, Berlin and London, 1852; tr. R. T. H. Griffith,
Benares, 1899. The tirst three texts belong to the "Black" division
of the Yqjurveda, and the fourth to the "White."



374 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

4. Atharvaveda. Ed. R. Roth and W. D. Whitney, Berlin, 1856;
tr. R. T. H. Griffith, 2 vols., Benares, 1897, M. Bloomfield (selected
hymns), in SBE xlii. (1897), W. D. Whitney and C. R. Lanman, 2
vols., Cambridge, Mass., 1905. See M. Bloomfield, The Atharvaveda,
Strassburg, 1899.

(/3) Brdhmanas

1. Attached to the Rgveda. (i) Aitareya Brdhmana. Ed. T. Auf-
recht, Bonn, 1879; ed. and tr. M. Haug, 2 vols., Bombay, 1863.
(ii) Kausltaki Brdhmana. Ed. B. Lindner, Jena, 1887.

2. Attached to the Sdmaveda. (i) Pancavuhsa Brdhmana. Ed.
A. Vedantavagisa, in BI 1869-74. (ii) Sadvimsa Brdhmana. Ed.
Jibananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1881.

3. Attached to the Yajurveda. (i) Taittiriya Brdhmana. Ed.
Rajendralala Mitra, in BI 1855-70, N. Godabole, in ASS 1898.
(ii) Satapatha Brdhmana. Ed. A. Weber, Berlin and London, 1855;
tr. J. Eggeling, in SBE xii, xxvi, xli, xliii, xliv (i 880-1900). There
are no separate Brdhmanas for the Kdthaka and the Maitrdyani
Samhitds, but these texts include Brdhmana portions.

4. Attached to the Atharvaveda. Gopatha Brdhmana. Ed. Rajen-
dralala Mitra, in BI 1872.

(7) Aranyakas and Upanisads

1. Attached to the Rgveda. (i) Aitareya Aranyaka, including the
Aitareya Upanisad. Ed. and tr. A. B. Keith, Oxford, 1909. (ii)
Sdnkhdyana Aranyaka. Tr. A. B. Keith, London, 1908. (iii)
Kausitaki Upanisad. Ed. E. B. Cowell, in BI 1861.

2. Attached to the Sdmaveda. (i) Jaiminlya Upanisad Brdhmana.
Ed. and tr. H. Oertel, in JAOS xvi. 79-260 (1894). (ii) Chdndogya
Upanisad. Ed. and tr. O. Bohtlingk, Leipzig, 1889.

3. Attached to the Yajurveda. (i) Kdthaka Upanisad. Ed. and
tr. O. Bohtlingk, Leipzig, 1890. (ii) Taittiriya Aranyaka. Ed. H. N.
Apte, in ASS 1898. (iii) Taittiriya Upanisad. Ed. Poona, 1889.
(iv) Maitrdyani Upanisad. Ed. E. B. Cowell, in BI 1870. (v)
Brhad_dranyaka Upanisad. Ed. and tr. O. Bohtlingk, Leipzig, 1889,
(vi) Isd Upanisad. Ed. ASS 1888. (vii) Svetdsvatara Upanisad
(attributed, though without much reason, to the Black Yajurveda).
Ed. ASS 1890.

4. Attached to the Atharvaveda. (i) Mundaka Upanisad. Ed.
ASS 1889. (ii) Prasna Upanisad. Ed. and tr. O. Bohtlingk, Leip-
zig, 1890. (iii) Mdndukya Upanisad. Ed. and tr. Bombay, 1895.

There are many other Upanisads, but they are of less importance
and of doubtful age. The principal Upanisads are translated by F.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 375

Max Miiller, in SBE i (2nd ed., 1900), xv (1884), and by P. Deussen,
Sechzig Upanishads des Feda, 2nd ed., Leipzig, 1905 (see also his
Philosophy of the Upanishads, tr. A. S. Geden, London, 1906, and
A. E. Gough, The Philosophy of the Upanishads, London, 1882).

(5) Ritual Literature

The most important source for mythology in the ritual literature
is furnished by the Grhya Sutras, of which those of Asvalayana,
Sankhayana, Paraskara, Khadira, Apastamba, Hiraijyakesin, and
Gobhila are translated by H. Oldenberg, in SBE xxix, xxx (1886).
The Kausika Sutra of the Atharvaveda, the chief text on Vedic magic,
is edited by M. Bloomfield, New Haven, 1890, and translated in
large part by W. Caland, Altindisches Zauberritual, Amsterdam, 1900,
who has also edited the Pitrmedha SUtra (on ancestor-worship) of
Gautama, Baudhayana, and Hiranyakesin. Of the Dharma Sdstras,
or law-books, those of Apastamba, Gautama, Vasistha, and Baudh-
ayana are translated by G. Biihler, in SBE ii (2nd ed., 1897), xiv
(1882), who has also translated the later Manu Smrti, in SBE xxv
(1886).

{h) General Treatises

Bergaigne, a.. La Religion vedique. 4 vols. Paris, 1878-83.

Bloomfield, M., The Religion of the Veda. New York, 1908.

CoLiNET, P., "Le Symbolisme solaire dans le Rig- Veda," in Melanges
Charles de Harlez, pp. 86-93. Leyden, 1896.

Deussen, P., Philosophie des Veda {Allgemeine Geschichte der Philoso-
phie mit besonderer Beriicksichtigung der Religionen, i, part i).
3rd ed. Leipzig, 1915.

Hardy, E., Die vedisch-brahmanische Periode der Religion des alien
Indiens. Miinster, 1893.

Henry, V., La Magie dans Plnde antique. 2nd ed. Paris, 1909.

HiLLEBRANDT, A., Vedische Mythologie. 3 vols. Breslau, 1891-1902.

Hopkins, E. \V., "Henotheism in the Rig- Veda," in Classical Studies
in Honour of Henry Drisler, pp. 75-83. New York, 1894.

"The Holy Numbers of the Rig-Veda," in Oriental Studies:

A Selection of the Papers Read before the Oriental Club of Phila-
delphia, pp. 141-59. Boston, 1894.

Raegi, a., Der Rigveda. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1 88 1. English transla-
tion by R. Arrowsmith. Boston, 1886.

KuHN, A., Die Herabkunft des Feuers und des Gottertranks. 2nd cd.
Giitersloh, 1886.
VI — 25



376 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Levi, S., La Doctrine du sacrifice dans les hrdhmanas. Paris, 1898.
Macdonell, a. a., Vedic Mythology. Strassburg, 1897.
Macdonell, a. a., and Keith, A. B., Vedic Index of Names and

Subjects. 2 vols. London, 191 2.
Oldenberg, H., Die Religion des Veda. Berlin, 1894.
PiSCHEL, R., and Geldner, K., Vedische Studien. 3 vols. Stuttgart,

1 889-1901.
Roth, R., "Die hochsten Gotter der arischen Volker," in ZDMG

vi. 67-77 (1852).
Sander, F., Rigveda und Edda. Stockholm, 1893.
ScHROEDER, L. VON, ludiens Literatur und Kultur. Leipzig, 1887.

Mysterium und Mimus im Rigveda. Leipzig, 1908.

SiEG, E., Die Sagenstoffe des Rgveda. Stuttgart, 1902.
De la Vallee Poussin, L., Le Vedisme. Paris, 1909.

Le Brahrdanisme. Paris, 1910.

Weber, A., "Vedische Beitrage," in Sitzungsberichte der koniglich

preussischen Akademie der Wissenschaften, 1 894-1901.



(f) Treatises on Special Points
I. Cosmology

ScHERMAN, L., Philosophische Hymnen aus der Rig- und Atharva-

Veda-Sanhitd. Strassburg, 1887.
Wallis, H. F., Cosmology of the Rigveda. London, 1887.

2. Dyaus

Bradke, p. von, Dyaus Asura, Ahura Mazda und die Asuras. Halle,
1885.

Hopkins, E. W., "Dyaus, Visnu, Varuna, and Rudra," in Proceed-
ings of the American Oriental Society, 1894, pp. cxlv-cxlvii.

3. Varuna

Bohnenberger, K., Der altindische Goti Varuna. Tubingen, 1893.
FoY, W., Die konigliche Gezvalt nach den altindischen Rechtsbiichern,

pp. 80-86. Leipzig, 1895.
Hillebrandt, a., Varuna und Mitra. Breslau, 1877.
Oldenberg, H., "Varuna und die Adityas," in ZDMG 1. 43-68

(1896).



BIBLIOGRAPHY 377

4. Mitra

Eggers, a., Der arische Gott Mitra. Dorpat, 1894.
Meillet, a., "Le Dieu indo-iranien Mitra," in Journal asialique,
X. i. 143-59 (1907)-

5. Pusan

Perry, E. D., "Notes on the Vedic Deity Pusan," 'n Classical
Studies in Honour of Henry Drisler, pp. 240-43. New York, 1894.
Siecke, E., Pusan. Leipzig, 1914.

6. Adityas

Oldenberg, H., "Varuna und die Adityas," in ZDMG xlix. 177-78
(1895), 1. 5(^54 (1896).

7. Savitr

Oldenberg, H., "Noch einmal der vedische Savitar," in ZDMG lix.
253-64 (1905).

8. Asvins

Myriantheus, L., Die Asviris oder arischen Dioskuren. Munich, 1 876.

9. U?as
Brandes, E., Usas. Copenhagen, 1879.

10. Indra

Hopkins, E. W., "Indra as the God of Fertility," in J JOS xxxvi.

242-68 (1917).
Perry, E. D., "Indra in the Rigveda," in J JOS xi. 117-208 (1885).

11. Trita

Bloomfield, M., "Trita, the Scape-Goat of the Gods, in Relation
to Atharva-Veda, vi. 112 and 113," in Proceeditigs of the Jmerican
Oriental Society, 1894, pp. cxix-cxxiii.

Macdonell, a. a., "The God Trita," in JRJS 1893, pp. 419-96.

12. Rudra and the Alaruts

Charpentier, J., "tjbcr Rudra-^iva," in WZKM xxiii. 151-79

(1909).
"Bemerkungen iiber die Vratyas," in JVZKM xxv. 355-68

(1911)-
Keith, A. B., "The Vratyas," in JRJS 1913, pp. 155-60.



378 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

ScHROEDER, L. VON, " Bemcrkungen zu Oldenberg's Religion des

Veda," in WZKM ix. 233-52 (1895).
SiECKE, E., IndrcCs Drachenkampf {nach dem Rig-Veda). Berlin,

1905.

13. Aditi

CoLiNET, p., "Etude sur le mot Aditi," in Museon, xii. 81-90 (1893).
HiLLEBRANDT, A., Uebcr die Gottin Aditi. Breslau, 1876.
Oppert, G., "IJber die vedische Gottin Aditi," in ZDMG Ivii.
508-19 (1903).

14. Saranyu

Bloomfield, M., "Contributions to the Interpretation of the Veda,"
in J JOS XV. 172-88 (1893).

15. Gandharvas

Meyer, E. H., Gandharven-Kentauren. Berlin, 1883.
ScHROEDER, L. VON, GHechische Goiter und Heroen, i. 23-39. Berlin,
1887.

16. Apsarases

SiECKE, O., Die Liebesgeschichte des Himmels. Strassburg, 1892.

17. Rbhus
Ryder, A. W., Die Rbhus im Rgveda. Giitersloh, 1901.

18. Animal Worship

Hopkins, E. W., "Notes on Dyaus, Visnu, Varuna, and Rudra," in
Proceedings of the American Oriental Society, 1894, p. cliv.

Keith, A. B., "Some Modern Theories of Religion and the Veda,"
in JRAS 1907, pp. 929-49.

Winternitz, M., Der Sarpabali. Vienna, 1888.

19. Asura

Macdonell, a. a., "Mythological Studies in the Rigveda," in
JRAS 1895, pp. 168-77.

20. Namuci

Bloomfield, M., "Contributions to the Interpretation of the
Veda," in JAOS xv. 143-63 (1893).



BIBLIOGRAPHY 379

21. Dadhikra

Henry, v., "Dadhikri-Dadhikravan et reuhemerisme en exegese
vedique," In Album Kern, pp. 5-12. Ley den, 1903.

22. Pisacas

Charpentier, J., Kleine Beitrdge zur indoiranischen Mythologie, pp.
1-24. Upsala, 191 1.

23. Matarisvan

Charpentier, J., Kleine Beitrdge zur indoiranischen Mythologie,
pp. 69-83. Upsala, 191 1.

24. Brhaspati
Strauss, O., Brhaspati im Veda. Leipzig, 1905.

25. Manu

Lindner, B., "Die iranische Flutsage," in Festgruss an Rudolf von

Roth, pp. 213-16. Stuttgart, 1903.
MiJLLER, F. AIax, India, What can it teach us?, pp. 133-38. London,

1883.
Weber, A., "Zwei Sagen aus dem (^atapathabrahmana iiber

Einwanderung und Verbreitung der Arier in Indien," in

Indische Studien, i. 161-232 (1851).

26. Eschatology

BoYER, A. M., "Etude sur I'origine de la doctrine du sarhsara,"
in Journal asiatique, IX. xviii. 451-99 (1901).

Caland, W., Altindischer Ahnencult. Leyden, 1893.

Die altindischen Todten- und Bestattungsgebrduche. Amster-
dam, 1896.

Ehni, J., Der vedische Mythus des Yama. Strassburg, 1890.

Die urspriingliche Gottheit des vedischen Yama. Leipzig,

1896.

Geldner, K., "Yama und YamT," in Gurupuj dkaumudi, Festgabe
. . . Albrecht Weber, pp. 19-22. Leipzig, 1896.

Keith, A. B., "Pythagoras and the Doctrine of Transmigration," in
JRAS 1909, pp. 569-606.

ScHERMAN, L., Materialien zur Geschichte der indischen Visions-
litteratur. Leipzig, 1892.

WiNDiscH, E., Buddha's Geburt, pp. 57-76. Leipzig, 1908.



38o INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

IV. THE EPIC

(a) Texts and Translations
(a) Mahdhhdrata

The Mahdbhdrata has been edited several times in India: at Cal-
cutta in 1834-39 ^11^ 1894, at Madras in 1855-60, at Bombay in
1863, 1888, and 1890. An edition based on the South Indian manu-
scripts, which vary greatly from those in Northern India, was pub-
lished at Bombay in 1906-1 1. There are two complete English trans-
lations, one made at the expense of Pratapa Chandra Ray, Calcutta,
1882-94, and one by M. N. Dutt, Calcutta, 1 895-1 904.

The Bhagavadgitd, which has been edited repeatedly, is translated
by K. T. Telang in SBE viii (2nd ed., 1898) (together with the
Anugltd and Sanatsujdtiya), R. Garbe, Leipzig, 1905, P. Deussen
and O. Strauss, in Fier philosophische Texte des Mahdbhdratam, Sa-
natsujdta-Parvan-Bhagavadgitd-Moksadharma- Anugltd^ Leipzig, 1 906
(the Bhagavadgitd separately, Leipzig, 191 1).

(/3) Rdmdyana

The Rdmdyana, which exists in three different recensions, has often
been edited: by G. Gorresio, Turin, 1843-67, K. B. Parab, 3rd ed.,
Bombay, 1909, and T. R. Krishnacharya and T. R. Vyasacharya,
Bombay, 191 1. It has been translated by R. T. H. Griffith, Benares,
1895, M. N. Dutt, Calcutta, 1892-93, and A. Roussel, Paris, 1903-09.

{b) Treatises

BiJHLER, G., Indian Studies, ii. Vienna, 1892.

Dahlmann, J., Das Mahdbhdrata als Epos und Rechtsbuch. Berlin,

1895-

Genesis des Mahabharata. Berlin, 1899.

Die Sdmkhya Philosophie. Berlin, 1902.

Fausb5ll, v., Indian Mythology according to the Mahdbhdrata in

Outline. London, 1902.
Feer, L., "Vrtra et Namuci dans le Mahabharata," in Revue de

rhistoire des religions, xiv. 291-307 (1886).
Garbe, R., Indien und das Christentum, pp. 209-71. Tubingen,

1914.
HoLZMANN, A., Agni. Strassburg, 1878.

Arjuna. Strassburg, 1879.

"Indra," in ZDMG xxxii. 290-340 (1878).



BIBLIOGRAPHY 381

HoLZMANN, A., "Die Apsarasen," in ZDMG xxxiii. 631-44 (1879).

"Agastya," in ZDMG xxxiv. 589-96 (1880).

''Brahman," in ZDMG xxxviii. 167-234 (1884).

— ^ Das Mahdbhdrata. 4 vols. Kiel, 1892-95.

Hopkins, E. W., The Great Epic of India. New York, 1901.

India Old and New. New York, 1901.

"Mythological Aspects of Trees and Mountains in the

Great Epic," in JAOS xxx. 347-74 (1910).
"Sanskrit Kabairas or Kubairas and Greek Kabeiros," in

JAOS xxxiii. 55-70 (191 3).

Epic Mythology. Strassburg, 1915.



Jacobi, H., Das Ramdyana. Bonn, 1893.

Das Mahdbhdrata. Bonn, 1903.

Keith, A. B., "The Child Krsna," in JRJS 1908, pp. 169-75.

Kennedy, J., "The Child Krsna," in JRJS 1907, pp. 951-92.

LuDWiG, A., Ueber das Verhdltnis des mythischen Elementes zu der
historischen Grundlage des Mahdbhdrata. Prague, 1884.

Ueber das Rdmdyana und die Beziehiuigen desselben zum Mahd-
bhdrata. Prague, 1894.

RoussEL, A., Idees religieuses et sociales de Vlnde ancienne d'apres
les legendes du Mahdbhdrata. Fribourg, 1911.

ScHOEBEL, C, Le Rdmdyana au point de vue religieux, philosophique

et moral. Paris, 1888.
SoRENSEN, S., Index to the Mahdbhdrata. London, 1904 ff.
Speijer, J. S., "Le Mythe de Nahusha," \n Acten des sechsten inter-

nationalen Orientalisten-Congresses, iii. 81-120 (Leyden, 1885).
Vaidya, C. v.. The Riddle of the Rdmdyana. Bombay and London,

1906.
Weber, A., Ueber das Rdmdyana. Berlin, 1870.

V. THE PURANAS AND TANTRAS

The following eighteen texts are generally recognized as the Purdnas
par excellence:

1. Brahma Ptcrdna. Ed. ASS 1895.

2. Padma Purdna. Preserved in two recensions, the first as yet
unedited, the second ed. N. N. Mandlick, in ASS 1894.

3. Visnu Purdna. Ed. JIbananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1882;
tr. H. H. Wilson, London, 1840 (2nd ed. by F. Hall, in Wilson's
Works, vi-ix, London, 1864-77), M. N. Dutt, Calcutta, 1896; Book



382 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

V, on the life of Krsna, by A. Paul, Krischnas Weltengang, Munich,
1905.

4. Vdyu Purdna. Ed. Rajendralala Mitra, in BI 1880-88, ASS
1905.

5. Bhdgavata Purdna. Ed. Bombay, 1904, 1910; ed. and tr. E.
Burnouf, M. Hauvette-Besnault, and P. Roussel, 5 vols., Paris,
1840-98. See also P. Roussel, Cosmologie hindoue d'apres le Bhdgavata
Purdna, Paris, 1898, Legendes morales de Vlnde, Paris, 1900.

6. Ndrada (or Ndradlya or Brhanndradiya) Purdna. Ed. Hrsikesa
Sastri, in BI 1891.

7. Mdrkandeya Purdna. Ed. K. M. Banerjea, in BI 1862, JI-
bananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1 879; tr. F. E. Pargiter, in BI
1 888-1*905, M. N. Dutt, Calcutta, 1897.

8. Agni Purdna. Ed. BI i^jo-jg, ASS 1900; tr. M. N. Dutt,
Calcutta, 1903-04.

9. Bhavisya Purdna. Ed. Bombay, 1897. (An interpolated and
in part untrustworthy text; see T. Aufrecht, in ZDMG Ivii. 276-
84 [1903].)

10. Brahmavaivarta (or Brahmakaivarta) Purana. Ed. Calcutta,
1888.

11. Lihga Purdna. Ed. Bombay, 1857, Jibananda Vidyasagara,
Calcutta, 1885.

12. Vardha Purdna. Ed. Hrsikesa Sastri, Calcutta, 1887-93.

13. Skanda Purdna. The original is lost, but various texts claim
to be parts of it: Sutasamhitd, ed. ASS 1893; Sahyddrikhanda, ed.
T. G. da Cunha, Bombay, 1877; Kdslkhanda, ed. Benares, 1868,
Bombay, 1881.

14. Vdmana Purdna. Ed. Calcutta, 1885.

15. Kurma Purdna. Ed. Nilmani Mukhopadhyaya Nyayalarh-
kara, Calcutta, 1886-90.

16. Matsya Purdna. Ed. Jibananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1876,
ASS 1907.

17. Garuda Purdna. Ed. Jibananda Vidyasagara, Calcutta, 1890,
Bombay, 1903; tr. in Sacred Books of the Hindus, ix, Allahabad,
1911.

18. Brahmdnda Purdna. Not extant as a whole; a part, Adhydtma-
rdmdyana ed. Bombay, 1 891, 1907.

Of the Upapurdnas, or minor texts of this type, the Kdlikd Purdna,
which contains an important chapter on the victims offered to Durga,
was published at Bombay in 1891; the Saura Purdna is edited in
ASS 1889, and summarized and partially translated by W. Jahn,
Strassburg, 1908.

Much information on the contents of the Purdnas is given by H. H.
Wilson in his translation of the Visnu Purdna and in his Essays on



BIBLIOGRAPHY 383

Sanskrit Literature {Works, iii. 1-155), by E. Buraouf in the preface
to his edition and translation of the Bhdgavata Purdna, by T. Auf-
recht in his Catalogus codicum mss. Sans critic or urn . . . iji Biblio-
theca Bodleiana, Oxford, 1859, and by J. EggeHng in his Catalogue oj
the Sanskrit Manuscripts in the Library of the India Office, vi, London,
1899. See also A. Holzmann, Das Alahdbhdrata, 4 vols., Kiel, 1892-
95 (especially vol. iv.).

The Tantric texts are now being made accessible by a series of
translations, etc., by "Arthur Avalon," Calcutta and London, 1913 flf.
Those which have thus far appeared are as follows: T antra of the
Great Liberation {Mahdnirvdriatantra), with introduction and com-
mentary; Hymns to the Goddess {Tantrdbhidhdna), Sanskrit text and
English translation; Satcakraniriipana, Sanskrit text and English
translation; Principles of Tantra, part I, The Tantratattva of Sriyukta
Siva Chandra Vidydrnava Bhattdchdrya Mahodaya, with introduction
and commentary; Prapancasdra Tantra, ed. Taranatha Vidyaratna;
Kulacuddmani Tantra, ed. Girlsa Candra Vedantatirtha. These
texts are intended to bring out the philosophic meaning of the belief
in the female principle as the Supreme Being.

[Prometheus]

VI. BUDDHISM

{a) Texts and Translations

Of the texts of the Southern canon, preserved in Pali and at the
present time current in Ceylon, the most important for mythology
is the sixteenth Sutta of the Dlgha Nikdya, the Mahdparinibbdnasutta,
tr. T. W. Rhys Davids, Dialogues of the Buddha, London, 1910, K. E.
Neumann, Die letzten Tage Gotamo Buddho's, Munich, 191 1. The
tales of the Jdtakas pertain to folk-lore rather than mythology proper.

Of works which, while belonging frankly to the HInayana, show
a tendency to the doctrines of the Mahayana the chief is the Mahd-
vastu, ed. E. Senart, 3 vols., Paris, 1882-97.

Of those of Mahayanistic tendency the most notable are: Lalita-
vistara, ed. S. Lefmann, 2 vols., Halle, 1902-08; tr. P. E. Foucaux,
in Annales du Musee Guiniet, vi, xix (Paris, 1884-94; this may
originally have been a Hinayana text); Buddhacarita by Asvagho?a,
ed. E. B. Cowell, Oxford, 1893; tr. E. B. Cowell, in SBE xHx (1894)
(it dates perhaps from about 100 a. D.); Saundardnanda Kdvya by
Asvaghosa, ed. Haraprasada Sastri, in BI 1910; Siltrdlamkdra by
Asvaghosa, of which only a Chinese translation exists, tr. E. Hubcr,
Paris, 1908; Mahay dnasraddhotpdda by an author whose identity is
uncertain, tr. from Chinese by Tcitaro Suzuki, Asvaghosha's Discourse
on the Awakening of Faith in the Mahdydna, Chicago, 1 900; Jdtaka-



384 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

mala by Aryasura (of the school of Asvaghosa), ed. H. Kern,
Cambridge, Mass., 1891; tr. J. S. Speyer, London, 1895; Avaddnasa-
taka, ed. J. S. Speyer, Petrograd, 1902-09; tr. L. Feer, in Annates du
Musee Guimet, xviii (Paris, 1891); Divydvaddna, ed. E. B. Cowell
and R. A. Neil, Cambridge, 1886 (in the main Hinayana of the second
or third century A. d.).

The following Sutras are strictly Mahayanistic: Saddharmapun-
darika, ed. H. Kern and Bunyiu Nanjio, Petrograd, 1908 ff.; tr.
H. Kern, in SBE xxi (1884); Kdrandavyuha, prose version ed.
Satyavrata Samasrami, Calcutta, 1873; Sukhdvatlvyuha, ed. F. Max
Miiller and Bunyiu Nanjio, Oxford, 1883; tr. F. Max Miiller, in
SBE xlix (1894); Amitdyurdhydnasiitra, tr. from Chinese by J.
Takakusu, in SBE xlix (1894); Lankdvatdra, ed. Calcutta, 1900;
Rdstrapdlapraiprcchd, ed. L. Finot, Petrograd, 1 901.

Of the Buddhist Tantric literature the Pancakrama is edited by
L. de la Vallee Poussin, Ehides et textes tantriques, Ghent and Louvain,
1896; Bodhicary avatar a by Santideva, tr. L. de la Vallee Poussin,
Paris, 1907.

{h) Indian Buddhism

BuRNOUF, E., Introduction a Vhistoire du houddhisme indien. 2nd ed.

Paris, 1876.
CoPLESTON, R. S., Buddhism, Primitive and Present, in Magadha and

Ceylon. 2nd ed. London, 1908.
Dahlmann, J., Nirvdna. Berlin, 1896.

Buddha. Berlin, 1898.

Indische Fahrten. Freiburg, 1908.

Die Thomas-Legende. Freiburg, 1912.

Eklund, J. A., Nirvana. Upsala, 1900.

FoucHER, A., Etude sur Viconographie bouddhique de Vlnde. 2 vols.

Paris, 1900-05.

V Art greco-bouddhique du Gandhdra. Paris, 1905.

The Beginnings of Buddhist Art and other Essays in Indian

Archaeology. London, 1915.
Getty, A., The Gods of Northern Buddhism. Oxford, 1914.
GoGERLY, D. J., Ceylon Buddhism. New ed. Colombo, 1908.
Grunwedel, a., Buddhistische Kunst in Indien. 2nd ed. Berlin,

1900; English translation, with additions, by T. Burgess and Mrs.

Gibson. London, 1901.
Hackmann, H., Buddhism as a Religion. London, 1910.
Hardy, E., Der Buddhismus. Miinster, 1890.
Hardy, R. S., Manual of Buddhism. 2nd ed. London, 1880.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 385

Kern, J., Der Buddhismus und seine Geschichte in Indien (tr. H.
Jacobi). 2 vols. Leipzig, 1882-84.

Manual of Indian Buddhism. Strassburg, 1896.

KoEPPEN, C. F., Die Religion des Buddha. 2nd ed. Berlin, 1906.
Lehmann, E., Der Buddhismus. Tubingen, 1910.
MoNiER-WiLLiAMS, SiR M., Buddhism. London, 1889.

Nagendra Nath Vasu, The Northern Buddhism and its Follozvers in
Orissa. Calcutta, 191 1.

Oldenberg, H., Buddha, sein Leben, seine Lehre und seine Gemeinde.
5th ed. Berlin, 1906. English tr. of ist ed., London, 1882.

PiscHEL, R., Leben und Lehre des Buddha. 2nd ed. Leipzig, 1910.

Rhys Davids, T. W., Historv of Indian Buddhism. 3rd ed. London,
1897.

Buddhism, its History and Literature. London, 1904.

"Buddha," in Encyclopcedia Britannica, nth ed., iv. 737-42.

"Buddhism," in Encyclopcedia Britannica, nth ed., iv.

742-49.

Senart, E., Essai sur la legende du Bouddha. 2nd ed. Paris, 1882.

Suzuki, Teitaro, Outlines of Mahdydna Btcddhisfn. London, 1907.

De la Vallee Poussin, L., Bouddhisme, Etudes et materiaux. Brus-
sels, 1897.

Bouddhisme, Opinions sur I'histoire de la dogmatique. Paris,

1909.

WiNDiscH, E., Mara und Buddha. Leipzig, 1895.

Buddha''s Geburt. Leipzig, 1908.

WiNTERNiTZ, M., Geschichte der indischen Litteratur, ii, part i.
Leipzig, 191 3.

(c) Tibetan Buddhism

Francke, a. H., Antiquities of Indian Thibet, i. Calcutta, 1914.
Grunwedel, a., Mythologie des Buddhismus in Thibet und der Mon-

golei. Leipzig, 1900.
Bericht uber archdologische Arheiten in Idikutschari und

Umgebung im Winter ig02-iQ0j. Munich, 1906.
Alt-buddhistische Kulturstdtten in Chinesiscli-Turkestan. Ber-



lin, 1912.
Pander, E., Das Pantheon des Tschangtscha Hutuktu; ein Beitrag zur
Iconographie des Lamaismus. Ed. A. Grunwedel, in Veroffent-
lichungen aus dem koniglichen Museum fiir Folkerkunde in
Berlin, 1890.



386 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Rhys Davids, T. W., " Lamaism," in Encyclopedia Britannica, nth

ed., xvi. 96-100.
RocKHiLL, W. W., The Land of the Lamas. London, 1891.
ScHLAGiNTWEiT, E., Buddkism in Thibet. Leipzig and London, 1863.
Waddell, L. a., The Buddhism of Thibet. London, 1895.

id) Buddhism^ Hinduism, and Christianity

Aiken C. F., The Dhamma of Gotama the Buddha and the Gospel of
Jesus the Christ. Boston, 1900.

Clemen, C, Religions gesc hie htlic he Erkldrung des Neuen Testaments.
Giessen, 1909.

Edmunds, A. J., Buddhist and Christian Gospels. 4th ed. by M.
Anesaki. 2 vols. Philadelphia, 1908-09.

Faber, G., Buddhistische und N eutestamentliche Erzdhlungen. Leip-
zig, 1913-

Garbe, R., Indien und das Christentum. Tubingen, 1914.

Gray, L. H., "Brahmanistic Parallels in the Apocryphal New
Testament," in American Journal of Theology, vii. 308-13

(1903)-
Hase, K. von, N eutestamentliche Parallelen zu buddhistischen Quellen.

Berlin, 1905.
Hopkins, E. W., India Old and New. New York, 1902.
KuHN, E., "Buddhistisches in den apokryphen Evangelien," in

Gur^ipHjdkaumudi, Festgabe . . . Albrecht Weber, pp. 116-19.

Leipzig, 1896.
Pfleiderer, 0., Die Entstehung des Christentums. 2nd ed. Munich,

1907.
Seydel, R., Das Evangelium von Jesu in seinen Verhdltnissen zu

Buddha-Sage und Buddha-Lehre. Leipzig, 1882.
Die Buddha-Legende und das Leben Jesu nach den Evangelien.

2nd ed. Weimar, 1897.
Soderblom, N., "The Place of the Christian Trinity and of the

Buddhist Triratna amongst Holy Triads," in Transactions of the

Third International Congress for the History of Religions, pp.

391-410 (London, 1912).
De la Vallee Poussin, L., "L'Histoire des religions de I'Inde et

I'apologetique," in Revue des sciences philosophiques et theolo-

giques, vi. 490-526 (1912).
Van Den Bergh Van Eysinga, A., Indische Einfliisse auf evangelische

Erzdhlungen. 2nd ed. Gottingen, 1909.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 387

Weber, A., Uber Krshna's Geburtsfest, Krshnajanmdshtamu Berlin,
1868.

Wecker, O., Christus und Buddha. 3rd ed. Miinster, 1910.



VII. JAINISM

{a) Texts and Translations

The sacred texts of the Jains have been published in Indian edi-
tions, usually with Sanskrit commentaries and vernacular explana-
tions. The following have been edited or translated in Europe, being
classed either as Aiigas or Updhgas: Niraydvaliydsuttam, een Upanga
der Jama's, ed. S. J. Warren, Amsterdam, 1879; Acdrdhga Siitra, ed.
H. Jacobi, London, 1882; tr. H. Jacobi, in SBE xxii (1884); Ut-
tarddhyayana Sutra, ed. Calcutta, 1879; ^^- H. Jacobi, in SBE xlv
(1895); Sutrakrtdnga Sutra, ed. Bombay, 1880; tr. H. Jacobi, in
SBE xlv (1895); Updsakadasd Siitra, ed. and tr. A. F. R. Hoernle,
in BI 1888-90; Aupapdtika Siitra, ed. E. Leumann, Leipzig, 1883;
Dasavaikdlika Siitra, ed. E. Leumann, in ZDMG xlvi. 581-613
(1892); Antakrtadasd Siitra and A nuttar aupapdtika Siitra, ed. Cal-
cutta, 1875; tr. L. D. Barnett, London, 1907.

Of the many later canonical and non-canonical texts by far the
most important is the Kalpasiitra by Bhadrabahu, ed. H. Jacobi,
Leipzig, 1879; tr. H. Jacobi, in SBE xxii (1884). Jacobi has also
edited and translated the following: Bhaktdmarastotra and Kalydna-
mandirastotra, in Indische Stiidien, xiv. 359-91 (1876), Caturvini-
satijinastuti, in ZDMG xxxii. 509-34 (1878), Sthavirdvalicarita or
Parisistaparvan by Hemacandra, in BI 1891, Tattvdrthddhigama Sutra
by Umasvati, in ZDMG Ix. 287-325, 512-51 (1906). Other note-
worthy texts are RsabhapaUcdsikd by Dhanapala, ed. and tr. J.
Klatt, in ZDMG xxxiii. 445-83 (1879); Yogasdstra by Hemacandra,
ed. and tr. E. Windisch, in ZDMG xxviii. 185-262, 678-79 (1874);
Sryddisvaracarita by Hemacandra, ed. Narmadasankarasarman,
Bombay, 1905; Prabandhacintdmani by Merutunga, tr. C. H. Taw-
ney, in BI 1899; Kathdkosa, tr. C. H. Tawncy, London, 1895;
Kalpasiitra, ed. and tr. W. Schubring, Leipzig, 1905; Jlvavicdra
by Santisuri, ed. and tr. A. Guerinot, in Journal asiatique, IX. xix.
231-88 (1902).

{b) Treatises

Bhandarkar, R. G., Report on the Search for Sanskrit Manuscripts

in the Bombay Presidency for the Year 188 j-4. Bombay, 1887.
BiJHLER, G., Ueber die indische Secte der Jaina. Vienna, 1887.



388 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Burgess, J., "Note on Jaina Mythology," in Indian Antiquary,
XXX. 27-28 (1901).

"Digambara Jaina Iconography," in Indian Antiquary,

xxxii. 459-64 (1903).

?Jaina Mythology," in his translation of G. Biihler, On the



Indian Sect of the Jains. London, 1903.
Feer, L., "Nataputta et les Niganthas," in Journal asiatique, VIII.
xii. 209-52 (1888).

GuERiNOT, A., "La Doctrine des etres vivants dans la religion jaina,"

in Revue de Uhistoire des religions, xlvii. 34-50 (1903).

Essai de bibliographie jaina. Paris, 1906.

Repertoire d'epigraphie jaina, precede dhine esquisse de Phis-

toire du jainisme d'apres les inscriptions. Paris, 1908.
HoERNLE, A. F. R., " Jainism and Buddhism," in Proceedings of the

Asiatic Society of Bengal, 1898, pp. 39-55.
Jacobi, H., "Ueber die Entstehung der ^vetambara und Digambara

Sekten," in ZDMG xxxviii. 1-42 (1884), xl. 92-98 (1886).
" Die Jaina Legende von dem Untergange Dvaravati's und

von dem Tode Krishna's," in ZDMG xlii. 493-529 (1888).

"Ueber den Jainismus und die Verehrung Krischna's," in



Berichte des VII iniernationalen Orientalisten-Congresses, pp.
75-77 (Vienna, 1889).
Jaini, J., Outlines of Jainism. Cambridge, 1916.

Jhaveri, J. L., First Principles of Jaina Philosophy. Bombay,

1912.
Karbhari, B. F., The Jain Philosophy collected and edited. Bombay,

1912.
Leumann, E., "Die alten Berichte von den Schismen der Jaina,"

in Indische Studien, xv. 91-135 (1885).

Die Avasyaka-Erzdhlungen. Leipzig, 1897.

Milloue, L. de, Essai sur la religion des Jains. Louvain, 1884.
"Etude sur le mythe de Vrisabha," in Annales du Musee

Guimet, x. 413-43 (1887).
MiRONOW, N., Die Dharmaparlksa des Amitagati. Leipzig, 1903.
PuLLE, F. L., "La Cartografia antica dell' India," part i, in Studi

italiani di filologia indo-iranica, iv. 14-41 (1901).
Stevenson, Mrs. Sinclair, Notes on Modern Jainism. Oxford,

1910.

The Heart of Jainism. Oxford, 191 5.

Warren, S. J., Over die godsdienstige en wijsgeerige begrippen der
Jainas. Amsterdam, 1875.



BIBLIOGRAPHY " 389

Weber, A., Ueher das Qatrunjaya Mdhdtmyam. Leipzig, 1858.

Ueber ein Fragment der Bhagavatl. 2 parts. Berlin, 1866-67.

"Ueber die Suryaprajnapti," in Indische Studien, x. 2^6-^16

(1868).

Paiicadandachattraprabandha. Berlin, 1877.

"Ueber die heiligen Schriften der Jaina," in Indische Studien,

xvi. 211-479, xvii. 1-90 (1883-85). English translation by H.

W. Smyth, in Indian Antiquary, xvii-xxi (1888-92).
Ueber die Samyaktakaumudl. Berlin, 1889.



VIII. MODERN HINDUISM

Bhandarkar, Sir R. G., Faisnavism, ^aivism and Minor Religious

Systems. Strassburg, 191 3.
Birdwood, Sir G. C. M., The Industrial Arts of India. London,

1880.

Campbell, A., Santal Folk Tales. Pokhuria, 1891.

Campbell, J. S., Notes on the Spirit Basis of Belief and Custom. Bom-
bay, 1885.

Carnegy, p.. Notes on the Races, Tribes and Castes inhabiting the
Province of Oudh. Lucknow, 1868.

Crooke, W., North Indian Notes and Queries. 6 vols. Allahabad,
1891-96.

Tribes and Castes of the North-Western Provinces and Oudh.

4 vols. Calcutta, 1896.

Popular Religion and Folk-Lore of Northern India. 2 vols.



Westminster, 1896.
Dalton, E. T., Descriptive Ethnology of Bengal. Calcutta, 1872.
Day, L. B., Folk-Tales of Bengal. London, 1883.
Dubois, J. A., Hindu Manners and Customs. 3rd ed. by H. K.

Beauchamp. Oxford, 1906.
Elmore, W. T., Dravidian Gods in Modern Hinduism. Lincoln,

Neb., 1915.
Farquhar, J. N., Modern Religious Movements in India. New York,

1915-
Gangooly, O. C, South Indian Bronzes. Calcutta, 191 5.
GopiNATHA Rao, T. A., Elements of Hindu Iconography. Madras,

1914.
Grierson, G. a., Bihar Peasant Life. Calcutta, 1885.
Growse, F. S., Rdmdyan of Tulasi Dds. 4th cd. Allahabad, 1887.



390 INDIAN IVmrHOLOGY

Growse, S. F., Mathura, a District Memoir. Allahabad, 1885.
Ibbetson, D. C. J., Panjab Ethnography. Calcutta, 1883.
Jackson, A. M. T., and Enthoven, R. E., Folklore Notes, i

(Gujarat). Bombay, 1914.
KiTTEL, F., Ueber den Ursprung des Lingakultus in Indien. Manga-

lore, 1876.
Knowles, J. H., Folk-Tales of Kashmir. 2nd ed. London, 1893.
Levi, S., Le Nepal, i. Paris, 1905.

McCuLLOCH, W., Bengali Household Tales. London, 191 2.
Natesa Sastri, Folklore of Southern India. 3 parts. Bombay,
' 1884-88.

Parker, H., Village Folk-Tales of Ceylon. 3 vols. London, 1910-14.
Ralston, W. R. S., Tibetan Tales. London, 1906.
RiSLEY^ H. H., Tribes and Castes of Bengal. Calcutta, 1891.

The People of India. 2 vols. 2nd ed. London, 1915.

Rivers, W. H. R., The Todas. London, 1906.

Russell, R. V., The Tribes and Castes of the Central Provinces of

India. 4 vols. London, 191 6.
Sherring, M. a.. The Sacred City of the Hindus. London, 1868.

Hindu Tribes and Castes. 3 vols. Calcutta, 1872-81.

Sleeman, W. H., Rambles and Recollections of an Indian Official.

London, 1893.
Srinivas Aiyangar, ]\I., Tamil Studies. Madras, 1914.
Swynnerton, C, Indian Nights'* Entertainment. London, 1892.

Romantic Tales from the Panjab. Westminster, 1903.

Temple, R. C, Panjab Notes and Queries. 4 vols. Allahabad,

1883-86.

Wide-Azvake Stories. Bombay, 1884.

Legends of the Panjab. 3 vols. Bombay, 1884-1900.

Thurston, E., Omens and Superstitions of Southern India. London,
1912.

Thurston, E., and Rangachari, K., Castes and Tribes of Southern

India. 7 vols. Madras, 1909.
ToD, J., Annals and Antiquities of Rajasthan. Rev. ed. with preface

by D. Sladen. 2 vols. London, 1914.
Whitehead, H., The Village Gods of South India. London, 1916.
WiLKiNS, W. J., Modern Hinduism. 2nd ed. London, 1900.
Ziegenbalg, B., Genealogy of the South Indian Gods. English tr,

Madras, 1869.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 391

Valuable information as to Hindu religion and mythology is given
in the fragments of the Greek embassador to India, Megasthenes
(early part of the third century b. c), translated by J. W. McCrindle,
Ancient India as Described by Megasthenes and Arrian, London, 1877.
Still more importance attaches to the writings of the Chinese Bud-
dhist pilgrims Fa Hien and Sung Yun (400 and 518 a. d. respectively),
translated by S. Beal, London, 1869 (Fa Hien also by J. Legge,
Oxford, 1886), Hsiian Tsang (629-45 a.d.), translated by S. Beal,
new ed., London, 1906, and by T. Watters, 2 vols., London, 1904-06,
and I Tsing (671-95 a.d.), translated by E. Chavannes, Paris, 1894,
and J. Takakusu, Oxford, 1897. The account of India by al-Blrunl
(about 1030 A.D.), translated by E. Sachau, new ed., London, 1906,
contains much on mythology, as does the Persian Dabistdn, written
in the seventeenth century (tr. D. Shea and A. Troyer, Paris, 1843,
ii. 1-288). Some incidental material may be gleaned from the old trav-
ellers in India, such as Pietro della Valle (early seventeenth century;
ed. E. Grey, 2 vols., London, 1892), and from the earlier missionary
material, notably A. Roger, Open-Deure tot het verborgen Heydendom,
Leyden, 165 1 (new ed. by W. Caland, The Hague, 191 5; French tr.
Amsterdam, 1670; German tr. Nuremberg, 1663), and an anonymous
Roman Catholic Portuguese missionary of the early seventeenth cen-
tury partly translated by L. C. Casartelli, in Babylonian and Oriental
Record, viii. 248-59, 265-70, ix. 41-46, 63-67 (1900-01) and An-
thropos, i. 864-76, ii. 128-32, 275-81, iii. 771-72 (1906-08) (the author
is believed by H. Hosten, in Anthropos, ii. 272-74 [1907], to have been
Fr. Francis Negrone). For the problem of the relations between
India and the Greeks see A. Weber, "Die Griechen in Indien," in
Sitzungsberichte der koniglich preussischen Akademie der Wissen-
schaften, 1890, pp. 901-33; G. d'Alviella, Ce que Vlnde doit a la
Grece, Paris, 1897; S. Levi, Quid de Grcecis veterum Indorum nionu-
menta iradiderint, Paris, 1890, H. G. Rawlinson, Intercourse between
India and the Western World from the Earliest Times to the Fall of
Rome, Cambridge, 1916. Reference may also be made to M. Reinaud,
Memoire geographique, historique et scientifique sur Vlnde . . . d'apres
les ecrivains arabes, persans et chinois, Paris, 1849.



IX. PRINCIPAL ARTICLES ON INDIAN RELIGION IN
THE ENCYCLOPiEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS
(vols, i-viii)

Allan, J., "Maya," viii. 503-05.
Anderson, J. D., "Assam," ii. 131-38-
Anesaki, M., "Docetism (Buddhist)," iv. 835-40.
.VI — 26



392 INDIAN MYTHOLOGY

Bloomfield, M., "Literature (Vedic and Classical Sanskrit),"

viii. 106-13.
BoLLiNG, G. M., "Divination (Vedi.)," iv. 827-30.

"Dreams and Sleep (Vedic)," v. 38-40.

Crooke, W., "Aghorl," i. 210-13.

"Ahir," i. 232-34.

"Baiga," ii. 333.

"Banjara," ii. 347-48.

" Bengal," ii. 479-50I •

"Bhangi," ii. 551-53-

"BhiV'ii. 554-56.

"Bombay," ii. 786-91.

"Death and Disposal of the Dead (Indian, non-Aryan),'*

iv. 479-84-

"Demons and Spirits (Indian)," iv. 601-08.

"Dosadh, Dusadh," iv. 852-53.

"Dravidians (North India)," v. 1-21.

"Ganga, Ganges," vi. 177-79.

"Gurkha, Gorkha," vi. 456-57.

"Hinduism," vi. 686-715.

"Images and Idols (Indian)," vii. 142-46.

"Kandh, Khond," vii. 648-51.



Deussen, p., "Atman," ii. 195-97-

Frazer, R. W., "Dravidians (South India)," v. 21-28.

"Literature (Dravidian)," viii. 91-92.

Garbe, R., " Bhagavad-Gita," ii. 535-38.
Geden, a. S., "Buddha, Life of the," ii. 881-85.

"Devayana," iv. 677-79.

"Fate (Buddhist)," v. 780-82.

"God (Buddhist)," vi. 269-72.

"God (Hindu)," vi. 282-90.

"Images and Idols (Buddhist)," vii. 119-27.

"Inspiration (Hindu)," vii. 352-54.

Grierson, Sir G. A., " Bhakti-Marga," ii. 539-Si-

"Dards," iv. 399-402.

"Ganapatyas," vi. 175-76.

[Prometheus]

GuRDON, P. R. T., "Ahoms," i. 234-37.
"Khasis," vii. 690-92.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 393

HiLLEBRANDT, A., "Brahman," ii. 796-99.

"Death and Disposal of the Dead (Hindu)," iv. 475-79.

HoDsoN, T. C, "Lushais," viii. 197-98.

HoERNLE, A. F. R., "Ajivikas," i. 259-68.

Hopkins, E. W., "Festivals and Fasts (Hindu)," v. 867-71.

Jacobi, H., "Agastya," i. 180-81.

"Ages of the World (Indian)," i. 200-02.

"Blest, Abode of the (Hindu)," ii. 698-700.

"Brahmanism," ii. 799-813.

"Chakravartin," iii. 336-37.

"Cosmogony and Cosmology (Indian)," iv. 155-61.

"Cow (Hindu)," iv. 224-26.

"Daitya," iv. 390-92.

"Death and Disposal of the Dead (Jain)," iv. 484-85.

"Digambaras," iv. 704.

"Divination (Indian)," iv. 799-800.

"Durga," V. 1 17-19.

"Heroes and Hero-Gods (Indian)," vi. 658-61.

"Incarnation (Indian)," vii. 193-97.

" Jainism," vii. 465-74.

Jolly, J., "Fate (Hindu)," v. 790-92.
Lyall, Sir C. J., "Mikirs," viii. 628-31.
Macdonell, a. a., "Hymns (Vedic)," vii. 49-58.

"Indian Buddhism," vii. 209-16.

"Literature (Buddhist)," viii. 85-89.

? "Magic (Vedic)," viii. 311-21.

Rhys Davids, T. W., "Anagata Varhsa," i. 414.

"Hlnayana," vi. 684-86.

Rose, H. A., "Life and Death (Indian)," viii. 34-37.

"Magic (Indian)," viii. 289-93.

Russell, R. V., "Central Provinces," iii. 311-16.

Scott, Sir J. G., "Burma and Assam (Buddhism in)," iii. 37-44.

Sieg, E., "Bhrgu," ii. 558-60.

Stevenson, M., "Festivals and Fasts (Jain)," v. 875-79.

Temple, Sir R. C, "Fetishism (Indian)," v. 903-06.

De la Vallee Poussin, L., "Adibuddha," i. 93-100.

"Ages of the World (Buddhist)," i. 187^0.

"Avalokitesvara," ii. 256-61.



394



INDIAN MYTHOLOGY



De la Vallee 'Poussin, L., "Blest, Abode of the (Buddhist)," ii.

687-89.

"Bodhisattva," ii. 739-53.

"Cosmogony and Cosmology (Buddhist)," iv. 129-38.

"Death and Disposal of the Dead (Buddhist)," iv. 446-49.

"Incarnation (Buddhist)," vii. 186-88.

"Karma," vii. 673-76.

"Magic (Buddhist)," viii. 255-57.

"Mahayana," viii. 330-36.

"Mafijusrl," viii. 405-06.

"Mara," viii. 406-07.

Waddell, L. a., "Death and Disposal of the Dead (Tibetan),"

iv. 509-11.

"Demons and Spirits (Buddhist)," iv. 571-72.

"Demons and Spirits (Tibetan)," iv. 635-36.

"Divination (Buddhist)," iv. 786-87.

"Festivals and Fasts (Tibetan)," v. 892-94.

"Jewel (Buddhist)," vii. 553-57.

"Lamaism," vii. 784-89.

Winternitz, M., "Jataka," vii. 491-94.



IRANIAN



I. TEXTS AND TRANSLATIONS

1. Avesta. Ed. N. L. Westergaard, Copenhagen, 1852-54, F.
Spiegel (incomplete), 2 vols., Vienna, 1853-58, K. F. Geldner, 3 vols.,
Stuttgart, 1885-96; the Gdthds only ed. and tr. M. Haug, 2 vols.,
Leipzig, 1858-60, L. H. Mills, Oxford, 1892-94; tr. Anquetil du
Perron, 2 vols., Paris, 1771, F. Spiegel, 3 vols., Leipzig, 1852-63
(English tr. by A. Bleeck, 3 vols., Hertford, 1864), C. de Harlez, 2nd
ed., Paris, 1881, J. Darmesteter and L. H. Mills, in SBE * iv (2nd ed.,
1895), xxiii, xxxi (1883), J. Darmesteter, 3 vols., Paris, 1892-93, F.
Wolff, Strassburg, 1910; the Gdthds only tr. L. H. Mills, ^Oxford,
1900, C. Bartholomae, Strassburg, 1904.

2. Pdhlavi. (i) Artd-i-Vlrdf. Ed. and tr. E. W. West and M. Haug,
Bombay, 1872; ed. K. J. Jamasp Asa, Bombay, 1902; tr. A. Bar-
thelemy, Paris, 1887. (ii) Bahman Yaskt. Ed. K. A. Nosherwan,
Bombay, 1899; tr. E. W. West, in SBE v. 191-235 (1880). (iii)
Bundahish. Ed. and tr. F. Justi, Leipzig, 1868; tr. E. W. West, in
SBE V. 3-151 (1880). (iv) Dlnkart. Ed. and tr. P. B. and D. P.
Sanjana, Bombay, 1874 ff.; ed. D. M. Madan, 2 vols., Bombay, 191 1;
tr. (partial) E. W. West, in SBE xxxvii, xlvii. 1-130 (1892-97).
(v) Great Bundahish. Ed. T. D. Anklesaria, Bombay, 1908. (vi)
Gujastak-l-Abdlish. Ed. and tr. A. Barthelemy, Paris, 1887; tr.
I. Pizzi, in Bessarione, II. iii. 299-307 (1902). (vii) M alnog-l-Khrat.
Ed. and tr. E. W. West, Stuttgart and London, 1871; ed. D. P.
Sanjana, Bombay, 1895; tr. E. W. West, in SBE xxiv. 3-1 13 (1885).
(viii) Selections of Zdt-Sparam. Tr. E. W. West, in SBE v. 155-87,
xlvii. 133-70 (1880-97). (ix) Yosht-t-Frydnd. Ed. and tr. E. W. West,
in The Book of A r da Firaf, pp. 207-66, Bombay, 1872; tr. A. Bar-
thelemy, Paris, 1889.

3. Persian and Arabic, (i) Dabistdn. Tr. D. Shea and A. Troyer,
3 vols., Paris, 1843 (only vol. i relevant here), (ii) Firdausi, Shdhnd-
mah. Ed. T. Macan, 4 vols., Calcutta, 1829; ed. and tr. J. Mohl,
7 vols., Paris, 1838-78 (translation separately, 7 vols., Paris, 1876-78);
ed. J. A. Vullers and S. Laudauer, 3 vols., Leyden, 1877-84 (incom-
plete); tr. L Pizzi, 8 vols., Turin, 1886-88, A. G. and E. Warner,

* For the abbreviations see those given in the Indian Bibliography, supra, p. 371.



396 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

London, 1905 ff. (iii) Mas^udi, Les Prairies (Tor. Ed. and tr. C.
Barbier de Meynard and Pavet de Courteille, 9 vols., Paris, 1861-77.
(iv) Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia. Tr. D. Shea,
London, 1832. (v) Mohl, J., Fragmens relatifs a la religion de Zoro-
astre, Paris, 1829 (German tr. by J. A. Vullers, Bonn, 183 1). (vi)
Shahristdni, Kitdb al-Milal zv^al-Nihal. Ed. W. Cureton, London,
1846; tr. T. Haarbriicker, 2 vols., Halle, 1850-51. (vii) Tabari,
Chronique . . . sur la version persane de Bel^ami. Ed. and tr. H.
Zotenberg, 4 vols., Paris, 1867-74 (see also T. Noldeke, Geschichte
der Perser und Araher zur Zeit der Sasaniden aus der arabischen
Chronik des Tabari, Leyden, 1879). (viii) Tha' alibi, Histoire des
rois de Perse. Ed. and tr. H. Zotenberg, Paris, 1900. (ix) ^ Ulamd-i-
Isldm. Ed. J. Mohl, Fragmens relatifs a la religion de Zoroastre, pp.
l-io, Paris, 1829; tr. J. A. Vullers, Fragmente ueber die Religion des
Zoroaster, pp. 43-67, Bonn, 1831, E. Blochet, in Revue de V histoire des
religions, xxxvii. 23-49 (1899). (x) Zardtushtndmah. Ed. and tr.
F. Rosenberg, Petrograd, 1904.

II. NON-IRANIAN SOURCES

EzNiK OF KoLB, Against the Sects. Tr. J. M. Schmid. Vienna, 1900.
Gelzer, H., "Eznik und die Entwicklung des persischen Religions-
systems," in Zeitschrift fur armenische Philologie, i. 149-63

(1903)-
GoTTHEiL, R. J. H., "References to Zoroaster in Syriac and Arabic

Literature," in Classical Studies in Honour of Henry Drisler, pp.

24-51. New York, 1894.
Gray, L. H., "Zoroastrian . . . Material in the Acta Sanctorum,"

in Journal of the Manchester Egyptian and Oriental Society,

1913-14, pp. 37-55.
Hoffmann, G., Ausziige aus syrischen Akten persischer Mdrtyrer.

Leipzig, 1880.
Kleuker, J. F., Zend-Avesta, Appendix, vol. ii, part 3. Leipzig and

Riga, 1783.
Noldeke, T., "Syrische Polemik gegen die persische Religion," in

Festgruss an Rudolf von Roth, pp. 34-38. Stuttgart, 1893.
Rapp, a., "Die Religion und Sitte der Perser und iibrigen Iranier

nach den griechischen und romischen Quellen," in ZDMG xix.

1-89, XX. 49-204 (1865-66). English translation by K. R. Cama,

2 vols. Bombay, 1876-79.
SoDERBLOM, N., " Theopompus and the Avestan Ages of the World,"
in Dastur Hoshang Memorial Volume, pp. 228-30. Not yet
published.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 397

Theodore Bar Koni, Liber Scholiortcm, tr. H. Pognon, Inscriptions
manddites des coupes de Khouabir, pp. 161-65. Paris, 1898.

TiELE, C. P., "Plutarchus over de Amsaspands," in Feestbundel
Prof. Boot, pp. 1 17-19. Leyden, 1901.



III. GENERAL TREATISES

Ayuso, F. G., Los Pueblos iranios y Zoroastro. Madrid, 1874.

Bartholomae, C, Altiranisches Worterbuch. Strassburg, 1905.

Brisson, B., De regio Persarum principatu, pp. 338-401. Ed. J. H.
Lederlin. Strassburg, 1710.

Carnoy, a. J., Religion of the Avesta. London, no date.

" Le Nom des Mages," in Museon, II. ix. 121-58 (1908).

"La Magie dans I'lran," in Museon, III. i. 171-88 (1916).

" The Moral Deities of India and Iran and their Origins,"

in American Journal of Theology, xxi. 58-78 (191 7).

Casartelli, L. C, Philosophy of the Mazdayasnian Religion Under the
Sassanids. English translation by F. Jamaspji. Bombay, 1889.

The Religion of the Great Kings. London, no date.

Darmesteter, J., Etudes iraniennes, ii. 187-231. Paris, 1883.

Desai, p. B., "Iranian Mythology: Comparison of a few Iranian
Episodes with Hindu and Greek Stories," in Spiegel Memorial
Volume, pp. 40-49. Bombay, 1908.

Dhalla, M. N., Zoroastrian Theology. New York, 19 14.

Easton, M. W., "The Divinities of the Gathas," in JAOS xv. 189-
206 (1891).

Frachtenberg, L. J., " Allusions to Witchcraft and Other Primi-
tive Beliefs in the Zoroastrian Literature," in Dastur Hoshang
Memorial Volume, pp. 399-453- Not yet published.

Geiger, W., Ostiranische Kultur in Altertum. Erlangen, 1882. Eng-
lish translation by D. P. Sanjana. 2 vols. London, 1885-86.

Geldner, K., "Zend-Avesta," in Encyclopcsdia Britanyiica, nth ed.,
xxviii. 967-69.

"Zoroaster," in Encyclopedia Britannica, nth ed., xxviii.

1039-43.

Geldner, K., and Cheyne, T. K., "Zoroastrianism," in Encyclo-
pcedia Biblica, coll. 5428-42. London, 1 899-1 903.

Gilmore, G. W., "Zoroaster, Zoroastrianism," in New Schaff-Herzog
Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, xii. 522-35. New York,
1908-12.



398 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

GoRVALA, R. F., "The Immortal Soul: Its Pre-Existence, Persistence

after Death and Transmigration," in Spiegel Memorial Volume,

pp. 99-124. Bombay, 1908.
Harlez, C. de, "Les Origines du zoroastrisme," in Journal asiatique,

VII. xi. 101-34, xii- ^^7~7^) xiii- 241-90, xiv. 89-140 (1878-79).
Haug, M., Essays on the P arsis. 3rd ed. London, 1884.
Henry, V., Le Parsisme. Paris, 1905.

HovELACQUE, A., U Avesta, Zoroastre et le mazdeisme. Paris, 1880.
HusiNG, G., Die iranische Ueberlieferung und das arische System.

Leipzig, 1909.
Hyde, T., Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque magorum.

Oxford, 1700.

Jackson, A. V. W., "Die iranische Religion," in Grundriss der
iranischen Philologie, ii. 612-708. Strassburg, 1903.

JusTi, F., Iranisches Namenbuch. Marburg, 1895.

"Die alteste iranische Religion und ihr Stifter Zarathustra,"

in Preussische Jahrbucher, Ixxxviii. 55-86, 231-62 (1897).

Karaka, D. F., History of the P arsis. 2 vols. London, 1884.

Lehmann, E., "Die Perser," in P. D. Chantepie de la Saussaye, Lehr-

buch der Religionsgeschichte, ii. 162-233. 3^'i ^<^- Tubingen,

1905-
Lord, H., Religion of the Par sees. London, 1630.

Menant, J., Zoroastre. Essai sur la philosophie religieuse de la Perse.
2nd ed. Paris, 1857.

Modi, J. J., Catechism of the Zoroastrian Religion. Bombay, 191 1.
Moore, G. F., History of Religions, chh. xv-xvi. Edinburgh, 1913.
MouLTON, J. H., "Zoroastrianism," in Dictionary of the Bible, iv.
988-94. Edinburgh, 1 898-1904.

Early Zoroastrianism. London, 1913.

Orelli, C. von, Allgemeine Religionsgeschichte, ii. 140-87. 2nd ed.
Bonn, 1911-13.

Rawlinson, G., Five Great Monarchies of the Ancient Eastern World:
Third Monarchy (Media), ch. iv; Fifth Monarchy (Persia), ch.
vi. London, 1862.

Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, ch. xxviii. London, 1876.

Sanjana, R. E. p., Zarathushtra and Zarathushtrianism in the Avesta.
Leipzig, 1906.

SoDERBLOM, N., " Du Gcnic du mazdeisme," in Melanges Charles de
Harlez, pp. 298-302. Leyden, 1896.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 399

SoDERBLOM, N., "The Place of the Christian Trinity and of the
Buddhist Triratna amongst Holy Triads," in Transactions of
the Third International Congress for the History of Religions^
pp. 391-410 (London, 1912).

SpiEGBh^F., Era7iische Jlterthumskunde. 3 vols. Leipzig, 1871-78.

"Zur Geschichte des Dualismus," in his Arische Studien, i.

62-77. Leipzig, 1874.

Die arische Periode. Leipzig, 188 1.

"Die alten Religionen in Eran," in ZDMG lii. 187-96 (1898).



Stein, M. A., "Zoroastrian Deities on Indo-Scythian Coins," in

Babylonian and Oriental Record, 1887, pp. 155-66.
TiELE, C. P., Geschichte der Religion im Altertum (tr. G. Gerich), i.

1-187. Gotha, 1898.
WiLHELM, E., On the Use of Beef's Urine according to the Precepts of

the Avesta. Bombay, 1899.
"Analogies in Iranian and Armenian Folklore," in Spiegel

Memorial Volume, pp. 65-83. Bombay, 1908.
WiNDiscHMANN, F., Zoroastrische Studien. Berlin, 1863.

IV. TREATISES ON SPECIAL POINTS
I. Zoroaster

Jackson, A. V. W., Zoroaster, The Prophet of Ancient Iran. New

York, 1899.
"Some Additional Data on Zoroaster," in Orientalische

Studien Theodor Noldeke . . . gewidmet, pp. 1031-38. Giessen,

1906.
JusTi, F., "The Life and Legend of Zarathushtra," in Avesta . . .

Studies in Honour of . . . Peshotanji Behramji Sanjana, pp.

117-58. Bombay, 1904.
Kern, J. H. C, "Over het woord Zarathustra en den mythischen per-

soon van dien naam," in Verslagen en mededeelingender koninklijke

akademie van wetenschappen, xi. 132-64 (1868).
Yohannan, a., "Some Passages in Persian Literature Relating to

Zoroaster," in Spiegel Memorial Volume, pp. 150-55. Bombay,

1908.

2. Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu

Bradke, p. von, Dydus Asura, Ahura Mazda und die Asuras. Halle,

1885.
Darmesteter, J., Ormazd et Ahriman. Paris, 1877.



400 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY

Jackson, A. V. W., "Ormazd, or the Ancient Persian Idea of God,"

in The Monist, ix. 161-78 (1899).

3. Haurvatat and Ameretat
Darmesteter, J., Haurvatat et Ameretat. Paris, 1875.

4. Khshathrya Vairya

Jackson, A. V. W., "Khshathra Vairya," in Avesta . . . Studies in
Honour of . . . Peshotanji Behramji Sanjana, pp. 159-66.
Bombay, 1904.

5. Spenta Armaiti

Carnoy, a. J., "Aramati-Armatay," in Museon, II. xiii. 127-46
(1912).

6. Fravashi
Soderblom, N., Les Fravashis. Paris, 1899.

7. Verethraghna

Charpentier, J., Kleine Beitrdge %ur indoiranischen Mythologie, pp.
25-68. Upsala, 191 1.

8. Anahita

Windischmann, F., Die persische Anahita oder Anaitis. Munich,
1856.

9. MiTHRA

CuMONT, F., Textes et momiments figures relatifs aux mysteres de

Mithra. 2 vols. Brussels, 1896-99.
Les Mysteres de Mithra. 2nd ed. Brussels, 1902. English

tr. by T. J. McCormack. Chicago, 1903.
Eggers, a., Der arische Gott Mitra. Dorpat, 1894.
Gray, L. H., "Deux etymologies mithriaques," in Museon, III. i.

189-92 (1916).
Meillet, a., "Le Dieu indo-iranien Mitra," in Journal asiatique, X.

i. 143-59 (1907)-
Modi, J. J., "St. Michael of the Christians and Mithra of the Zoroas-

trians," in his Anthropological Papers, pp. 173-90. Bombay, no

date.
Windischmann, P., Mithra. Leipzig, 18^7.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 401

10, SlMURGH

Casartelli, L. C, "Cyena-Simurgh-Roc," in Compte rendu du congres
scientifique international des catholiques . . . i8gi, vi. 79-87.

1 1 . Khvarenanh

WiLHELM, E., "Khvareno," in Sir Jamshetjee Jejeebhoy Madressa
Memorial Volume' Bombay, 191 4.

12. Cosmology

Carnoy, a. J., "Iranian Views of Origins in Connection with Sim-
ilar Babylonian Beliefs," in J JOS xxxvi, 300-20 (191 7).

Darmesteter, J., "Les Cosmogonies aryennes," in his Essais orien-
taux, pp. 171-207. Paris, 1883.

13. Deluge

Lindner, B., "Die iranische Flutsage," in Festgruss an Rudolf von
Roth, pp. 213-16. Stuttgart, 1903.

14. Eschatology

Brandt, W., " Schicksale der Seele nach dem Tode nach mandaischen
und parsischen Vorstellungen," in Jahrbiicher fiir protestantise he
Theologie, xviii. 405-38, 575-603 (1902).

Casartelli, L. C, "The Persian Dante," in Dastur Hoshang Memo-
rial Volume, pp. 258-73. Not yet published.

HiJBSCHMANN, H., "Patsische Lehre vom Jenseits und jiingsten
Gericht," in Jahrbiicher fiir protestantische Theologie, v. 203-45
(1879)-

Jackson, A. V. W., "The Ancient Persian Doctrine of a Future
Life," in Biblical World, viii. 149-63 (1896).

Modi, J. J., "The Divine Comedy of Dante and the Viraf-nameh of
Ardai Viraf," in his Asiatic Papers, pp. 31-44. Bombay, 1905.

SoDERBLOM, N., La Vie future d''apres le mazdeisme. Paris, 1901.



402 IRANIAN MYTHOLOGY



V. ZOROASTRIANISM, JUDAISM, CHRISTIANITY, AND
MUHAMMADANISM

Aiken, C. F., "The Avesta and the Bible," in Catholic University

Bulletin, iii. 243-91 (1897).
BoKLEN, E., Verwandtschaft der jiidisch-christlichen mit der parsischen

Eschatologie. Gottingen, 1902.
Cheyne, T. K., "Possible Zoroastrian Influences on the Religion of

Israel," in Expository Times, ii. 202-08, 224-27, 248-53 (1891).
GoLDZiHER, I., "Islamisme et parsisme," in Revue de I'histoire des

religions, xliii. 1-29 (1901).
Gray, L. H., "Zoroastrian Elements in Muhammadan Eschatology,"

in Museon, II. iii. 153-84 (1902).
Haupt, E., Uber die Beriihrungen des Alten Testaments mit der Religion

Zarathustras. Treptow, 1867.
Jackson, A. V. W., "Zoroastrianism and the Resemblances between

it and Christianity," in Biblical World, xxvii. 335-43 (1906).
KoHUT, A., Jiidische Angelologie und Ddmonologie in ihrer Abhdngig-

keit vom Parsismus. Leipzig, 1866.
"Was hat die talmudische Eschatologie aus dem Parsismus

aufgenommen.^" in ZDMG xxi. 552-91 (1867).
KuHN, E., "Eine zoroastrische Prophezeiung in christlichem Ge-

wande," in Festgruss an Rudolf von Roth, pp. 217-21. Stuttgart,

1893.
Mills, L. H., Zarathushtra (Zoroaster), Philo, the Achaemenids and

Israel. 2 vols. Chicago, 1906.
Avesta Eschatology Compared with the Books 0/ Daniel and

Revelations. Chicago, 1908.
Our Own Religion in Ancient Persia. Chicago, 1913.



MouLTON, J. H., "Zoroaster and Israel," in The Thinker, i. 406-08,
ii. 308-15, 490-501 (1892).

"Zoroastrian Influences on Judaism," in Expository Times,

ix. 352-58 (1898).

Spiegel, F., "Der Einfluss des Semitismus auf das Avesta," in his
Arische Studien, i. 45-61. Leipzig, 1874.

Stave, E., Uber den Einfluss des Parsismus auf das Judentum. Haar-
lem, 1898.



BIBLIOGRAPHY 403



VI. PRINCIPAL ARTICLES ON IRANIAN RELIGION IN
THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF RELIGION AND ETHICS

(vols, i-viii)

Ananikian, M., "Armenia (Zoroastrian)," i. 794-802.
Carnoy, a. J., "Magic (Iranian)," viii. 293-96.
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