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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
On the coming in of Aharman to the creatures it is thus declared in revelation, that in the month Fravardîn and the day Aûharmazd, at noon 1, he came forth to the frontier of the sky. 2. The sky sees him and, on account of his nature, fears as much as a sheep trembles at a wolf; and Aharman came on, scorching and burning into it. 3. Then he came to the water which was arranged below the earth 2, and darkness without an eyelid was brought on by him; and he came on, through the middle of the earth, as a snake all-leaping comes on out of a hole; and he stayed within the whole earth. 4. The passage where he came on is his own, the way to hell, through which the demons make the wicked run.
5. Afterwards, he came to a tree, such as was of a single root, the height of which was several feet, and it was without branches and without bark, juicy and sweet; and to keep the strength of. all kinds of trees in its race, it was in the vicinity of the-middle of the earth; and at the self-same time it became quite withered 3.
6. Afterwards, he came to the ox, the sole-created 4, as it stood as high as Gâyômard on the
bank of the water of Dâîtih 1 in the middle of the earth; and its distance from Gâyômard being as much as its own height, it was also distant from the bank of the water of Dâîtih by the same measure; and it was a female, white and brilliant as the moon. 7. As the adversary came upon it Aûharmazd gave it a narcotic, which is also called 'bang,' to eat, and to rub the 'bang' before the eye 2, so that the annoyance from the assault of crimes may be less; it became lean and ill, and fell upon its right breast 3 trembling.
8. Before the advance to Gâyômard, who was then about one-third the height of Zaratûst, and was brilliant as the sun; Aûharmazd forms, from the sweat 4 on the man, a figure of fifteen years, radiant and tall, and sends it on to Gâyômard; and, he also brings his sweat 5 on to him as long as one Yathâ-ahû-vairyô 6 is being recited. 9. When he issued from the sweat, and raised his eyes, he saw. the world when it was dark as night 7; on the whole earth were the snake, the scorpion, the lizard (vazak), and noxious creatures of many kinds; and so the other kinds of quadrupeds stood among the
reptiles; every approach of the whole earth was as though not as much as a needle's point remained, in which there was no rush of noxious creatures. 10. There were the coming of a planetary star into planetary conjunction, and the moon and planets at sixes and sevens 1; many dark forms with the face and curls of Az-i Dahâk suffered punishment in company with certain non-Iranians; and he was amazed at calling the wicked out from the righteous.
11. Lastly, he (Aharman) came up to the fire, and mingled darkness and smoke with it 2.
161:1 Bund. III, 12.
161:2 Bund. III, 13.
161:3 Bund. III, 14, 16.
161:4 The primeval ox, or first-created representative of animals, as Gâyômard was of mankind; from which two representatives all mankind and animals are said to have been afterwards developed. There seems to have been some doubt as to the sex of this mythological ox; here it is distinctly stated to have been a female, but from Bund. X, 1, 2, XIV, 3, it would appear to have been a male, and this seems to be admitted by Dâd-sparam himself, in Chap. IX, 7.
162:1 The Dâîtîk river (see Bund. XX, 13).
162:2 This is a misunderstanding of the corresponding phrase in Bund. III, 18. The narcotic here mentioned is usually prepared from the hemp plant, and is well known in India and the neighbouring countries.
162:3 See Bund. IV, 1.
162:4 The word which, as it stands in the MS., looks like hômanâe, is here taken as a transposition of min khvâe, in accordance with Bund. III, 19; but it may be a variant of anumâe, 'embryo,' in which case the translation should be, 'forms an embryo into the shape of a man of fifteen years.'
162:5 Or it may be 'sleep,' both here and in § 9.
162:6 See Bund. I, 21.
162:7 Bund. III, 20.
163:1 Literally, 'in fours and fives.'
163:2 Bund. III, 24.