Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
1. On the nature of men it says in revelation, that Gâyômard, in passing away 4, gave forth seed; that seed was thoroughly purified by the motion of
the, light of the sun, and Nêryôsang 1 kept charge of two portions, and Spendarmad 2 received one portion. 2. And in forty years, with the shape of a one stemmed Rîvâs-plant 3, and the fifteen years of its fifteen leaves, Matrô and Matrôyâô 4 grew up from the earth in such a manner that their arms rested behind on their shoulders (dôsh), and one joined to the other they were connected together and both alike. 3. And the waists of both of them were brought close and so connected together that it was not clear which is the male and which the female, and which is the one whose living soul (nismô) of Aûharmazd is not away 5. 4. As it is said thus: 'Which is created before, the soul (nismô) or the body? And Aûharmazd said that the soul is created before, and the body after, for him who was
created; it is given into the body that it may produce activity, and the body is created only for activity;' hence the conclusion is this, that the soul (rûbân) is created before and the body after. 5. And both of them changed from the shape of a plant into the shape of man, and the breath (nismô) went spiritually into them, which is the soul (rûbân); and now, moreover, in that similitude a tree had grown up whose fruit was the ten varieties of man 1.
6. Aûharmazd spoke to Mashya and Mashyôî thus: 'You are man, you are the ancestry of the world, and you are created perfect in devotion 2 by me; perform devotedly the duty of the law, think good thoughts, speak good words, do good deeds, and worship no demons!' 7. Both of them first thought this, that one of them should please the other, as he is a man for him; and the first deed done by them was this, when they went out they washed 3 themselves thoroughly; and the first words spoken by them were these, that Aûharmazd created the water and earth, plants and animals, the stars, moon, and sun, and all prosperity whose origin and effect are from the manifestation of righteousness 4. 8. And, afterwards, antagonism rushed into their minds, and their minds were
thoroughly corrupted, and they exclaimed that the evil spirit created the water and earth, plants and animals, and the other things as aforesaid. 9. That false speech was spoken through the will of the demons, and the evil spirit possessed himself of this first enjoyment from them; through that false speech they both became wicked, and their souls are in hell until the future existence.
10. And they had gone thirty days without food 1, covered with clothing of herbage (giyâh); and after the thirty days they went forth into the wilderness, came to a white-haired goat, and milked the milk from the udder with their mouths. 11. When they had devoured the milk Mâshya said to Mâshyôî thus: 'My delight was owing to it when I had not devoured the milk, and my delight is more delightful now when it is devoured by my vile body.' 12. That second false speech enhanced the power of the demons, and the taste of the food was taken away by them, so that out of a hundred parts one part remained.
13. Afterwards, in another thirty days and nights they came to a sheep, fat 2 and white-jawed, and they slaughtered it; and fire was extracted by them out of the wood of the lote-plum 3 and box-tree, through the guidance of the heavenly angels, since both woods were most productive of fire for them;
and the fire was stimulated by their mouths; and the first fuel kindled by them was dry grass, kendâr, lotos, date palm leaves, and myrtle; and they made a roast of the sheep. 14. And they dropped three handfuls of the meat into the fire, and said: 'This is the share of the fire 1.' One piece of the rest they tossed to the sky, and said: 'This is the share of the angels.' A bird, the vulture, advanced and carried some of it away from before them, as a dog ate the first meat. 15. And, first, a clothing of skins covered them; afterwards, it is said, woven garments were prepared from a cloth woven 2 in the wilderness. 16. And they dug out a pit in the earth, and iron was obtained by them and beaten out with a stone, and without a forge they beat out a cutting edge 3 from it; and they cut wood with it, and prepared a wooden shelter from the sun (pês-khûr).
17. Owing to the gracelessness which they practised, the demons became more oppressive, and they themselves carried on unnatural malice between themselves; they advanced one against the other, and smote and tore their hair and cheeks 4. 18. Then the demons shouted out of the darkness
thus: 'You are man; worship the demon! so that your demon of malice may repose.' 19. Mâshya went forth and milked a cow's milk, and poured it out towards the northern quarter; through that the demons became more powerful, and owing to them they both became so dry-backed that in fifty winters they had no desire for intercourse, and though they had had intercourse they would have had no children. 20. And on the completion of fifty years the source of desire arose, first in Mâshya and then in Mâshyôî, for Mâshya said to Mâshyôî thus: 'When I see thy shame my desires arise.' Then Mâshyôî spoke thus: 'Brother Mâshya! when I see thy great desire I am also agitated 1.' 21. Afterwards, it became their mutual wish that the satisfaction of their desires should be accomplished, as they reflected thus: 'Our duty even for those fifty years was this.'
22. From them was born in nine months a pair, male and female; and owing to tenderness for offspring 2 the mother devoured one, and the father one. 23. And, afterwards, Aûharmazd took tenderness for offspring away from them, so that one may nourish a child, and the child may remain.
24. And from them arose seven pairs, male and
female, and each was a brother and sister-wife; and from every one of them, in fifty years, children were born, and they themselves died in a hundred years. 25. of those seven pairs one was Sîyâkmak, the name of the man, and Nasâk 1 of the woman; and from them a pair was born, whose names were Fravâk of the man and Fravâkaîn of the woman. 26. From them fifteen pairs were born, every single pair of whom became a race (sardak); and from them the constant continuance of the generations of the world arose.
27. Owing to the increase (zâyisn) of the whole fifteen races, nine races proceeded on the back of the ox Sarsaok 2, through the wide-formed ocean, to the other six regions (kêshvar), and stayed there; and six races of men remained in Khvanîras. 28. Of those six races the name of the man of one pair was Tâz and of the woman Tâzak, and they went to the plain of the Tâzîkân (Arabs); and of one pair Hôshyang 3 was the name of the man and Gûzak of the woman, and from them arose the Airânakân (Iranians); and from one pair the Mâzendarân 4 have arisen. 29. Among the number (pavan aê mar) were those who are in the countries
of Sûrâk 1, those who are in the country of Anêr 2, those who are in the countries of Tûr, those who are in the country of Salm which is Arûm, those who are in the country of Sênî, that which is Kînîstân, those who are in the country of Dâî 3, and those who are in the country of Sînd 4. 30. Those, indeed, throughout the seven regions are all from the lineage of Fravâk, son of Sîyâkmak, son of Mâshya.
31. As there were ten varieties of man 5, and fifteen races from Fravâk, there were twenty-five races all from the seed of Gâyômard; the varieties are 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 6.
52:4 See Chap. IV, 1.
53:1 Av. Nairyô-sangha of Yas. XVII, 68, LXX, 92, Vend. XIX, 111, 112, XXII, 22, &c.; the angel who is said to be Aûharmazd's usual messenger to mankind.
53:2 The female archangel who is supposed to have special charge of the earth (see Chap. I, 26).
53:3 A plant allied to the rhubarb, the shoots of which supply an acid juice used by the Persians for acidulating preserves and drinks.
53:4 These names are merely variants of the Mâshya and Mâshyôî of the latter part of this chapter (nom. dual, m. and f., of Av. mashya, 'mortal'). This is shown by the Pandnâmak-i Zaratûst, saying: 'and my human nature is from Matrôîh and Matrô-yâôîh, from which first generation and seed from Gâyômard I have sprung.' And the names are also found in the more Persian forms Maharîh and Maharîyâôyîh (see the note to § 22). Windischmann considered the meaning to be that 'they grew up on the day Mitrô of the month Mitrô,' that is, the sixteenth day of the seventh month of the Parsi year; this is not confirmed, however, by Zâd-sparam in his Selections, Chap. X, 4 (see App. to Bund.)
53:5 That is, whether they had souls or not. That nismô is the Huzvâris for rûbân, 'soul,' appears clearly in § 4, where both words are used for the same thing.
54:1 This evidently refers to another tree, which is supposed to have produced the ten varieties of human monstrosities (see § 31).
54:2 This would be a translation of the Avesta phrase, 'the best of Ârmaiti (the spirit of the earth).'
54:3 Comparing mêgîd with Pers. magîd; but the verb is very ambiguous, as it may mean, 'they feasted themselves,' or 'they made water.'
54:4 The last phrase appears to be quoted from the Pahlavi Hâdôkht Nask, I, 2.
55:1 Reading akhûrisn instead of the khûrisn of all MSS. which is hardly intelligible. Perhaps âv-khûrisn, 'drinking water,' ought to be read, as it is alluded to in Chap. XXX, 1.
55:2 Comparing gefar with Av. garewa and Pers. garb, but this identification may not be correct.
55:3 The kûnâr, a thorny tree, allied to the jujube, which bears a small plum-like fruit.
56:1 Most of this sentence is omitted in K20 by mistake.
56:2 Reading khês-1-i tad, which Pahlavi words might be easily misread ashâbê tad, as given in Pâzand in the text. That Pâz. tadha stands for Pahl. tadak (Pers. tadah, 'spun, woven') is quite certain.
56:3 Or 'an axe,' according as we read têkh or tash. The order of the foregoing words, barâ tapâk-1, 'without a forge,' appears to have been reversed by mistake.
56:4 Reading rôd as equivalent to Pers. rûî, 'face,' but it ought to be rôd. Perhaps the word is lût, 'bare,' and the translation should be, 'tore their hair bare.'
57:1 This is merely a paraphrase of the original.
57:2 Or, 'the deliciousness of children' (shîrînîh-i farzand). Justi has, 'owing to an eruption on the children the mother deserted one,' &c.; but the legend of devouring the first children is still more clearly mentioned in the Pahlavi Rivâyat, which forms the first book of the Dâdistân-i Dînîk (preceding the ninety-two questions and answers to which that name is usually applied) as follows: Maharîh va Maharîyâôyîh dûshâram râî nazdistô farzand-i nafsman barâ vastamûnd, 'Mashya and Mâshyôî, through affection, at first ate up their own offspring.'
58:1 Or 'Vasâk.'
58:2 See Chaps. XVII, 4, XIX, 13; the name is here written Srisaok in the MSS., and is a Pâzand reading in all three places.
58:3 Av. Haoshyangha of Âbân Yt. 21, Gôs Yt. 3, Fravardîn Yt. 137, Râm Yt. 7, Ashi Yt. 24, 26, Zamyâd Yt. 26. His usual epithet is paradhâta (Pahl. pês-dâd), which is thus explained in the Pahlavi Vend. XX, 7: 'this early law (pês-dâdîh) was this, that he first set going the law of sovereignty.' For this reason he is considered to be the founder of the earliest, or Pêsdâdian, dynasty. See Chaps. XXXI, 1, XXXIV, 3, 4.
58:4 The people of the southern coast of the Caspian, the Mâzainya daêva, 'Mâzainyan demons or idolators,' of the Avesta.
59:1 Not Syria (which is Sûristân, see Chap. XX, 10), but the Sûrîk of the Pahlavi Vend. I, 14, which translates Av. Sughdha, the land east of the Oxus (see Chap. XX, 8). Windischmann reads it as Pâz. Erâk.
59:2 Probably for Av. anairya, 'non-Aryan,' which seems specially applied to the lands east of the Caspian.
59:3 The countries of Tûr, Salm, Sênî, and Dâî are all mentioned successively in Fravardîn Yt. 143, 144, in their Avesta forms Tûirya, Sairima, Sâini and Dâhi. The country of Tûr was part of the present Turkistân, that of Salm is rightly identified with Arûm (the eastern Roman Empire, or Asia Minor) in the text; the country of Sênî (miswritten Sênd), being identified with Kînîstân, was probably the territory of Samarkand, and may perhaps be connected with Mount Kînŏ (see Chap. XII, 2, 13); and the land of Dâî must be sought somewhere in the same neighbourhood.
59:4 Bactria or any part of north-western India may be intended; wherever Brahmans and Buddhists existed (as they did in Bactria) was considered a part of India in Sasanian times.
59:5 Grown on a separate tree (see § 5).
59:6 Only seven varieties of human monsters are here enumerated, p. 60 for the last three details seem to refer to one variety, the monkeys. The Parsi MS. of miscellaneous texts, M7 (fol. 120), says, 'The names of the ten species of men are the breast-eyed, the three-eyed, the breast-eared, the elephant-eared, the one-legged, the web-footed, the leopard-headed, the lion-headed, the camel-headed, and the dog-headed.'