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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
1. As he (Aharman) came seventhly to fire, which was all together against him, the fire separated into five kinds 3, which are called the Propitious, the Good diffuser, the Aûrvâzîst, the Vâzîst, and the Supremely-benefiting. 2. And it produced the Propitious fire itself in heaven (garôdmân); its manifestation is in the fire which is burning on the earth, and its propitiousness is this, that all the kinds are of its nature. 3. The Good diffuser is that which is in men and animals 4, and its business consists in the digestion of the food, the sleeping of the
body, and the brightening of the eyes. 4. The Aûrvâzîst is that which is in plants, in whose seed it is formed, and its business consists in piercing the earth, warming the chilled water 1 and producing the qualities and fragrance of plants and blossoms therefrom, and elaborating the ripened produce into many fruits. 5. And the Vâzîst is that which has its motion in a cloud, and its business consists in destroying the atmospheric gloom and darkness, and making the thickness of the atmosphere fine and propitious in quality, sifting the hail, moderately warming the water which the cloud holds, and making sultry weather showery. 6. The Supremely-benefiting, like the sky, is that glory whose lodgment is in the Behrâm fire 2, as the master of the house is over the house, and whose propitious power arises from the growing brightness of the fire, the blazing forth in 3 the purity of the place, the praise of God (yazdânŏ), and the practice of good works. 7. And its business is that it struggles with the spiritual fiend, it watches the forms of the witches—who walk up from the river 4, wear woven clothing, disturb the luminaries by the concealment of stench, and by witchcraft injure the creatures—and the occurrences of destruction, burning, and celebration of witchcraft, especially at night; being an assistant of Srôsh the righteous.
8. And in the beginning of the creation 1 the whole earth was delivered over into the guardianship of the sublime Frôbak fire, the mighty Gûsnasp fire, and the beneficial Bûrzîn-Mitrô fire 2, which are like priest, warrior, and husbandman. 9. The place of the fire Frôbak was formed on the Gadman-hômand ('glorious') mountain in Khvârizem 3, the fire Gûsnasp was on the Asnavand mountain in Âtarô-pâtakân, and the fire Bûrzîn-Mitrô on the Rêvand mountain which is in the Ridge of Vistâsp, and its material manifestation in the world was the most complete.
10. In the reign of Hôshâng 4, when men were continually going forth to the other regions (kêshvar) on the ox Srûvô 5, one night, half-way, while admiring the fires, the fire-stands which were prepared in three places on the back of the ox, and in which the fire was, fell into the sea, and the substance of that one great fire which was manifest, is divided into three, and they established it on the three fire-stands, and it became itself three glories whose lodgments are in the Frôbak fire, the Gûsnasp fire, and the Bûrzîn-Mitrô 6.
184:3 Bund. XVII, 1. Three of the Avesta names are here translated, the first two being the Spênist and Vohu-fryãn, which are the fifth and second in the Bundahis, and the fifth being the Berezi-savang, which is the first in the Bundahis.
184:4 See Bund. XVII, 2.
185:1 Reading mayâ-i afsardînîdŏ tâftanŏ instead of the seemingly unmeaning mayâ asardînîdŏ âftanŏ of the MS.
185:2 The Verehrânŏ âtâsh, or sacred fire of the fire-temples.
185:3 Reading pavan instead of barâ (see p. 176, note 5).
185:4 Or 'sea' (darîyâvŏ). This long-winded sentence is more involved and obscure in the original than in the translation.
186:1 Literally, 'creature.'
186:2 The epithets of these three sacred fires are, respectively, vargân, tagîkŏ, and pûr-sûdŏ in Pahlavi.
186:3 See Bund. XVII, 5, 7, 8.
186:4 Bund. XVII, 4 says, 'in the reign of Takhmôrup,' his successor.
186:5 Sarsaok or Srisaok in the Bundahis.
186:6 The remainder of 'the sayings of Zâd-sparam, about the meeting of the beneficent spirit and the evil spirit,' have no special reference to the Bundahis. They treat of the following matters:—
The coming of the religion, beginning in the time of Frâsîyâv and Mânûskîhar, with an anecdote of Kâî-ûs and the hero Srîtô (Av. Thrita). The manifestation of the glory of Zaratûst p. 187 before his birth. The begetting of Zaratûst through the drinking of hôm-juice and cow's milk infused, respectively, with his guardian spirit and glory, as declared in the manuscript on 'the guidance of worship.' The connection of Zaratûst with Aûharmazd, traced back through his genealogy as far as Gâyômard. The persistent endeavours of the fiends to destroy Zaratûst at the time of his birth, and how they were frustrated. His receiving the religion from Aûharmazd, with another anecdote of Kâî-ûs and Srîtô, and of Zaratûst's exclamation on coming into the world. The enmity borne to him by five brothers of the Karapân family, and how it was frustrated; his own four brothers, and some of his wonderful deeds. The worthiness of his righteousness; his compassionate and liberal nature; his giving up worldly desires; his pity; his good selection of a wife; and what is most edifying for the soul. What occurred when he was thirty years old, and his being conducted by the archangel Vohûman to the assembly of the spirits. The questions asked by Zaratûst, and Aûharmazd's replies thereto. The seven questions he asked of the seven archangels in seven different places, in the course of one winter. [Westergaard's MS. K35 ends in the middle of the second of these questions.] The five dispositions of priests, and the ten admonitions. The three preservatives of religion, with particulars about the Gâthas and the connection of the Ahunavar with the Nasks. Zaratûst's obtaining one disciple, Mêdyôk-mâh, in the first ten years, and the acceptance of the religion by Vistâsp two years afterwards.
The second of the writings of Zâd-sparam consists of his 'sayings about the formation of men out of body, life, and soul;' and the third (which is imperfect in all known MSS.) contains his 'sayings about producing the renovation of the universe.'