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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
0. The family of the Môbads ('priests').
1. Bahak 2 was son of Hûbakht, son of Âtarô-bôndak, son of Mâhdad, son of Mêdyôk-mâh, son of Frâh-vakhsh-vindâd 3, son of Mêdyôk-mâh, son of Kâd 4, son of Mêdyôk-mâh, son of Ârâstih, son of Paîtirâsp 5. 2. As Bahak was Môbad of Môbads (high-priest) unto Shâhpûhar 6, son of Aûharmazd, so Kâd was the great preceptor (farmâdâr) unto Dârâî 7.
3. Âtarô-pâd 8 was son of Mâraspend, son of Dâdardâ, son of Dâdîrâd, son of Hûdînô, son of Âtarôdâd, son of Mânûskîhar, son of Vohûman-kîhar, son of Fryânô 9, son of Bâhak 10, son of Frêdûn, son of
[paragraph continues] Frashâîtar 1, son of Pôrûshasp, son of Vînâsp, son of Nivar, son of Vakhsh, son of Vahidhrôs, son of Frast, son of Gâk 2, son of Vakhsh, son of Fryân, son of Ragan, son of Dûrâsrôb, son of Mânûskîhar 3.
4. Mitrô-varâz was son of Nîgâs-afzûd-dâk, son of Shîrtashôsp, son of Parstva, son of Urvad-gâ, son of Tâham, son of Zarîr, son of Dûrâsrôb, son of Mânûs 4. 5. Dûrnâmîk was son of Zâgh, son of Masvâk, son of Nôdar 5, son of Mânûskîhar.
6. Mitrô-akâvîd is son of Mardân-vêh 6, son of Afrôbag-vindâd, son of Vindâd-i-pêdâk, son of Vâê-bûkht 7, son of Bahak, son of Vâê-bûkht. 7. The mother from whom I was born is Hûmâî, daughter of Freh-mâh, who also was the righteous daughters 8
of Mâh-ayâr son of Mâh-bôndak, son of Mâh-bûkht. 8. Pûyisn-shâd is son of Mardân-vêh, son of Afrôbag-vindâd, son of Vindâd-i-pêdâk, son of Vâê-bûkht, son of Bahak, son of Vâê-bûkht.
9. All the other Môbads who have been renowned in the empire (khûdâyîh) were from the same family it is said, and were of this race of Mânûskîhar 1. 10. Those Môbads, likewise, who now exist are all from the same family they assert, and I, too, they boast, whom they call 2 'the administration of perfect rectitude' (Dâdakîh-i Ashôvahistô) 3. 11. Yûdân-Yim son of Vâhrâm-shâd, son of Zaratûst, Âtarô-pâd son of Mâraspend, son of Zâd-sparham 4,
[paragraph continues] Zâd-sparham son of Yûdân-Yim 1, Âtarô-pâd son of Hâmîd 2, Ashôvahist son of Freh-Srôsh, and the other Môbads have sprung from the same family.
12. This, too, it says, that 'in one winter I will locate (gâkînam) the religion of the Mazdayasnians, which came out into the other six regions.']
145:1 This chapter is found only in TD, where it forms a continuation of the preceding, and affords a means (see §§ 10, 11) for determining the age of the recension of the text contained in that MS. As nearly all the names are written, in Pahlavi letters, the pronunciation of many of them is merely a matter of guess.
145:2 Here written Bôhak, but it is Bahak or Bâk in § 2; compare Bâhak in § 3, and Av. Baungha of Fravardîn Yt. 124.
145:3 Compare Av. Frashâvakhsha of Fravardîn Yt. 109.
145:4 Compare Av. Kâta of Fravardîn Yt. 124.
145:5 See Chap. XXXII, 2, for the last three generations; TD has Pîrtarâsp here, like the variant of M6 in Chap. XXXII, 1.
145:6 The Sasanian king Shâpûr II, who reigned A.D. 309-379.
145:7 According to the chronology of the Bundahis (Chap. XXXIV, 8, 9), Dârâî lived only some four centuries before Shâpûr II, for which period only seven generations of priests are here provided. This period, moreover, is certainly about three centuries less than the truth.
145:8 This priest was prime minister of Shâpûr II.
145:9 Compare Av. Fryâna of Yas. XLV, 12.
145:10 This name is repeated in TD, probably by mistake (compare Bahak in §§ 1, 2).
146:1 This is probably a semi-Huzvâris form of Frashôstar.
146:2 Perhaps this name should be read along with the next one, so as to give the single Pâzand name Skinas or Skivas.
146:3 See Chap. XXXII, 1, for the last three generations. According to this genealogy Âtarôpâd-i Mâraspendân was the twenty-third in descent from Mânûskîhar, whereas his contemporary, Bahak (§ 1), was twenty-second in descent from the same.
146:4 No doubt Mânûskîhar is meant; if not, we must read Mânûs-dûrnâmîk in connection with § 5.
146:5 Here written Nîdar, but see Chaps. XXIX, 6, XXXI, 13.
146:6 Here written Mard-vêh, but see § 8.
146:7 Here written Aê-vûkht, but see § 8; it may be Vîs-bûkht, or Vês-bûkht.
146:8 The text is amîdar mûnas li agas zerkhûnd Hûmôî dûkht-i Freh-mâh-ik aharôb vûkht (dûkht?). We might perhaps read 'Freh-mâh son of Kahârôb-bûkht,' but it seems more probable that §§ 7, 8 should be connected, and that the meaning intended is that Hûmâî was daughter of Freh-mâh (of a certain family) and of Pûyisn-shâd (of another family); she was also the mother of the editor of that recension of the Bundahis which is contained in TD; but who was his father? The singularly unnecessary repetition of the genealogy of the two brothers, Mitrô-akâvîd and Pûyisn-shâd, in §§ 6, 8, leads to the suspicion that if the latter p. 147 were his mother's father, the former was probably his own father or grandfather. Unfortunately the text makes no clear statement on the subject, and § 10 affords further material for guessing otherwise at his name and connections.
147:1 Compare Chap. XXXII, 4.
147:2 Reading va lîk laband-i karîtûnd.
147:3 This looks more like a complimentary title than a name, and if the editor of the TD recension of the Bundahis were the son or grandson of Mitrô-akâvîd (§ 6) we have no means of ascertaining his name; but if he were not descended from Mitrô-akâvîd it is possible that §§ 10, 11 should be read together, and that he was the son of Yûdân-Yim. Now we know, from the heading and colophon of the ninety-two questions and answers on religious subjects which are usually called the Dâdistân-i Dînîk, and from the colophons of other writings which usually accompany that work, that those answers were composed and certain epistles were written by Mânûskîhar, son of Yûdân-Yim, who was high-priest of Pârs and Kirmân in A.Y. 250 (A.D. 881), and apparently a more important personage than his (probably younger) brother Zâd-sparham, who is mentioned in § 11 as one of the priests contemporary with the editor of the TD recension. If this editor, therefore, were a son of Yûdân-Yim (which is a possible interpretation of the text) he was most probably this same Mânûskîhar, author of the Dâdistân-i Dînîk (see the Introduction. § 4).
147:4 The last name is very probably superfluous, Zâd-sparham p. 148 having been written twice most likely by mistake. This Âtarô-pâd son of Mâraspend was probably the one mentioned in the following extract from the old Persian Rivâyat MS., No. 8 of the collection in the Indian Office Library at London (fol. 142 a):—
'The book Dînkard which the dastûrs of the religion and the ancients have compiled, likewise the blessed Âdarbâd son of Mahrasfend, son of Asavahist of the people of the good religion, in the year three hundred of Yazdagard Shahryâr, collected some of the more essential mysteries of the religion as instruction, and of these he formed this book.' That is, he was the last editor of the Dînkard, which seems to have remained unrevised since his time, as the present copies have descended from the MS. preserved by his family and first copied in A.Y. 369.
148:1 Zâd-sparham was brother of the author of the Dâdistân-i Dînîk; he was high-priest at Sîrkân in the south, and evidently had access to the Bundahis, of part of which he wrote a paraphrase (see Appendix). His name is usually written Zâd-sparam.
148:2 In the history of the Dînkard, given at the end of its third book (see Introd. to Farhang-i Oîm-khadûk, p. xxxiv), we are told as follows:—
'After that, the well-meaning Âtarô-pâd son of Hêmîd, who was the leader of the people of the good religion, compiled, with the assistance of God, through inquiry, investigation, and much trouble, a new means of producing remembrance of the Mazdayasnian religion.' He did this, we are further told, by collecting all the decaying literature and perishing traditions into a work 'like the great original Dînkard, of a thousand chapters' (mânâk-i zak rabâ bûn Dînô-kartô 1000-darakŏ). We thus learn from external sources that the group of contemporary priests, mentioned in the text, was actively employed (about A.D. 900) in an attempted revival of the religious literature of the Mazdayasnians, to which we owe either the revision or compilation of such works as the Dînkard, Dâdistân-i Dînîk, and Bundahis.