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Pahlavi Texts, Part IV (SBE37), E.W. West, tr. [1892], at sacred-texts.com
1. About the three divisions of revelation there is a condensed medium, beneficial and small, of whose subdivision one category (ragistakô) is collection together; that is, the Ahunavair 2 itself is a symbol of the Nasks.
2. First, the Ahunavair is apportioned into its three degrees (padmân), as shown in another chapter; and by a like system (ragistak) the Gâthas 3, too, are into three, which are the three-lined, four-lined, and five-lined 4; even so the Nasks
are denominated Gâthic, Hadha-mãthric, and Law. 3. Then the Ahunavair is apportioned into six which they call half-lines (nêm-gâs); so, too, the Gâthas are into six, which are called the Ahunavaiti Gâtha, the Yasna, the Ustavaiti 1 Gâtha, the Spentâ-mainyû (Spetamatŏ) Gâtha, the Vohû-khshathra Gâtha, and the Vahistôisti Gâtha; even so the Nasks are into six, as the Gâthas are into two, which are called one the Gâthic creation—which is the Yast 2—and one the rest of the Gâthic; also the Hadha-mãthric into two, one the Mãthra of the arranger—which is the Pâkînŏ and Radŏ-dâdŏ-aîtŏ 3—and one the Mãthra full of good tokens, which is the rest of the Hadha-mãthra; and also the Law into two, one the law against the demons—which is the Vendîdâd 4—and one the law of Zaratûst, which is the rest of the Law. 4. Then it is apportioned into twenty-one, such as the twenty-one words (mârîk) of the Ahunavair; also the Gâthas are into twenty-one, which are the Ahunavair, the praise of righteousness, the performance of the good, and from Yânîm-manô unto Airyaman 5 which, being
accomplished (âkardŏ), are twenty-one; and the Nasks are twenty-one.
5. Then the Gâthas are apportioned into 278 1 stanzas (vêkêstŏ); and the Nasks also into 278 categories, every single category having borne a form like a single verse 2, as regards how much and how anything good is indicated, such as the Patkâr-radistân 3, in which what is legally disputable is reported (pêdâkŏ); the Zâkhmistân 4, by which the penalty of assault (zâkhm) is reported; the Stôristân 5, by which the sin and amount of penalty for a wound, as regard beasts of burden and cattle, are reported; the Aratêstâristân 6, by which battle is reported; the Pasûs-haûrvastân 7, by which the customary keeping of sheep in control is reported; the Gûrdâî-zarîtunistân ('corn-sowing code') 8, by which agriculture is reported; the Varistân 9, by which an ordeal being accomplished is reported; and others of a like description.
6. Then the Gâthas are apportioned into 1061 1 metrical lines (gâs), and the Nasks into 1000 Hâs and Fargards 2, and, since the Hâdôkht 3 is the priestly master (radŏ) of the Nasks, and the remedy 4 (darmôn) which is a perfect statement about the master of the resurrection, the existence of its fargards about the other fargards is therefore 1000 remedies fully combined, being the corn and fodder that are shut up (bastakŏ) when, over that thousand, they supply one that is great, which in every way protects them from hail and rain, from the wind which is hot and that which is cold.
7. Then the Gâthas are apportioned into 6666 words (mârîk) 5, and as to the Nasks, too, their own 6666 ordinances (dâdistânŏ) are therein severed. 8. And the 6666 words, which are in the Gâthas, are
an indicator of the period from the adversary having come to the creatures, as far as unto the end of the six millenniums 1—each millennium being ten centuries—which amount to 60 single centuries—a century being ten tens 2—and up to the time when its 3 cold and distress arrive, which become awful; the 600, including the excess as far as one ten 4, are years of the 6000 years which are the words of the six Gâthas that are the first indicator of the six millenniums; therefore of the 60 centuries are then the 600 and those which are added to them (zak-î ghal).
9. And after those 6000, which are the 6000 years, are the Airyaman 5 of Ashavahist and the accompanying sayings (ham-vâkŏ) which are at the end of the Gâthas; those are the 57 years of Sôshâns 6, and for the sake of them, too, are the Airyaman and from the praise of righteousness at its end to the consecration of the Airyaman, originally 57 words (mârîk), because the praise of righteousness for the Airyaman is 12, and the consecration of the Airyaman is 21, of the original 57 7.
401:1 Who was high-priest of Sîrkân, in the south of Persia, towards the end of the ninth century, being contemporary with the last reviser of the Dinkard (see S.B.E., vol. xviii, p. xxvii). This extract from his Selections constitutes the 'particulars about the Gâthas and the connection of the Ahunavair with the Nasks,' mentioned in the final footnote to Zs. XI, 10. For the Pahlavi text the translator is dependent upon a single MS., copied from K35 when this latter MS. was complete, and said to be now in the library of Dastûr Jâmâspji Minochiharji in Bombay.
401:2 See Dk. VIII, Chap. I, 7.
401:3 The word gâsânŏ is usually written like dahisnŏ in the MS.
401:4 The three-lined stanzas of the Gâthas are 100 in the Ahunavaiti (Yas. XXVIII-XXXIV), 40 in the Yasna of seven hâs (Yas. XXXV-XLI), and 22 in the Vohû-khshathra (Yas. LI), altogether 162 three-lined stanzas; the four-lined are one in the Ustavaiti (Yas. XLVI, 15), 41 in the Spentâ-mainyû (Yas. XLVII-L), and nine in the Vahistôisti (Yas. LIII), altogether 51 four-lined stanzas; p. 402 and the five-lined stanzas are the remaining 65 in the Ustavaiti (Yas. XLIII-XLVI); making the total of 278 stanzas mentioned in § 5. Yas. XLII is a later supplement to the Yasna of seven hâs, and, in the MSS. Pt4, Mf4, it is headed as follows:—Avar vaharakŏ-î haft hâdŏ Yastô yazisnîk bûn, 'the beginning of worshipping as regards the portions of the Yasna of seven hâs.'
402:1 The MS. corrupts these two names into the one word asnavatŏ by omitting the syllables aûsta.
402:2 The Stôd-yast, or first of the Gâthic Nasks (see Dk. VIII, Chap. I, 9).
402:3 The third and fourth of the Hadha-mãthric Nasks (ibid. 10).
402:4 The fifth of the Legal Nasks (ibid. 11).
402:5 The three sacred formulas, Yathâ-ahû-vairyô, Ashem-vohû, p. 403 and YêNhê-hâtãm, with the seventeen hâs of the five real Gâthas, and either the Yasna of seven hâs, counted as a single item, or the Airyaman, will make up the twenty-one divisions (compare the names applied to each fargard of the Sûdkar, Varstmânsar, and Bakŏ Nasks in Dk. IX).
403:1 See § 2 n; here the MS. has 288, by miswriting, in both occurrences of the ciphers.
403:2 Doubtful; the text appears to be as follows:—kolâ ragistakŏ-aê bûrdŏ san mânâk ak gâh.
403:3 See Dk. VIII, Chap. XVI.
403:4 Equivalent to Zatamistân (ibid. Chap. XVII), see Darmesteter's suggestion (ibid. Chap. XVI, 8 n).
403:5 Ibid. Chap. XXIV; here spelt Stôritân by mistake.
403:6 Ibid. Chap. XXVI.
403:7 Ibid. Chap. XXIII; here written Pasûs-haûristân.
403:8 Ibid. Chap. XXXI, 30-32.
403:9 Ibid. Chap. XLII; here written Varîstân.
404:1 See Sls. XIII, 50; that this number is correct may be seen from the details given in § 2 n.
404:2 See Dk. VIII, Chap. I, 20; here the MS. has âyûînŏ instead of hâtŏ, by miswriting.
404:3 The sixth of the Gâthic Nasks (see Dk. VIII, Chap. I, 9).
404:4 See Dk. VIII, Chap. XLV, 13, where the word used is bêshâzŏ.
404:5 According to Sls. XIII, 50 the six Gâthas (including the Yasna of seven hâs) contain 5567 vâkak, 9999 mârîk, and 36,554 khûrdak; which enumeration makes the meaning of mârîk doubtful. In our present text, however, it must have its usual meaning of 'word,' as the number of 6666 words in the six Gâthas can be obtained by including the customary repetition of the first stanza of each Hâ of the five real Gâthas, with the text of the Airyaman and of the introductions to Yas. XXVIII, XXXV, and probably the homage formula prefixed to each Gâtha; also by considering each component of a compound as a separate word, and all verbal prefixes as separable; and by counting all enclitics except -kâ, in accordance with the different modes of treating -kîd and -kâ in counting the words of the Ahunavair. If the three sacred formula were included, and the Airyaman and five homage formulas were omitted, the total would be nearly the same.
405:1 The three millenniums during which Aûharmazd and Aharman had nearly equal influence, and the last three millenniums during which the power of Aharman diminishes (see Bd. I, 20).
405:2 Assuming that
stands for
.
405:3 Assuming that mûnas, 'whose,' stands for amatas.
405:4 As the cipher for 'one' precedes that for 'ten,' it may possibly mean 'one less than ten,' as in the Roman IX. At any rate, 6609 years with the 57 accounted for in § 9 make up the requisite total of 6666; but the mode of making this number correspond with the six millenniums is not very clear.
405:5 Yas. LIV, 1.
405:6 See Dk. VIII, Chap. XIV, 14; Bd. XXX, 7.
405:7 The Airyaman contains 24 words, its Ashem-vohû 12, and its consecration (Yas. LIV, 2) 21 words, making altogether 57 words.