M.N. Dhalla: History of Zoroastrianism (1938)

This electronic edition copyright 2003 by Joseph H. Peterson.

Dastur Dhalla was high priest of the Parsis as well as a trained scholar. In this popular book he assembles quotations found throughout Zoroastrian literature. Presented chronologically according to the source literature, they present the story of a religion in evolution. This approach has its disadvantages and its critics. One disadvantage in my opinion is that it tends to present an exaggerated view of the differences which appear in the literature. It is quite possible to provide a much more homogeneous view of these elements. Another disadvantage of Dhalla's approach is that it necessitates a fair amount of interpolation to present a continuous view, which is subject to more speculation. Even so, Dastur Dhalla was uniquely qualified for the task, and I am pleased to make this valuable book available in this electronic edition.

History of Zoroastrianism BY MANECKJI NUSSERVANJI DHALLA, PH. D., LITT.D. High Priest of the Parsis, Karachi, India AUTHOR OF Nyaishes or Zoroastrian Litanies, Zoroastrian Theology, Zoroastrian Civilization, Our Perfecting World -- Zarathushtra's Way of Life idha apãm vijasâiti vanghuhi daena mâzdayasnaish vispâish avi karshvãn yâish hapta. "Henceforth from now may spread The Good Mazdayasnian Religion Over all the zones that are seven." NEW YORK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON TORONTO, 1938

Copyright, 1938,
BY OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
NEW YORK, INC.


PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

TO
KHAN BAHADUR
KAVASJI HORMASJI KATRAK, O.B.E.

at hvo vangheush vahyo nâ aibijamyât
ye nâo erezush savangho patho sîshoit
ahyâ angheush astvato mananghaschâ
haithyeng âstîsh yeng â shaetî ahuro
aredro thwâvãns huzentushe spento mazdâ.

"May that man attain to better than the good
Who helps teaching us the upright paths of blessedness
Of this material world and that of the spirit
-- The veritable universe wherein pervades Ahura --
That faithful, wise, and holy man is like unto thee, O Mazda."
                       - Zarathushtra

CONTENTS

		PAGE
BIBLIOGRAPHY		xix
ABBREVIATIONS		xxix
INTRODUCTION		xxxi
PRE-GATHIC PERIOD From the earliest times to about 1000 B.C. CHAPTER
I.	THE SOURCES	3
	The data of information -- The Avestan Nasks -- The Pahlavi, Pazend and Persian sources -- Parsi-Sanskrit and Gujarati sources -- Oriental sources -- Occidental sources -- Inscriptions, coins and tablets as the last source of information.
II.	AIRYANA VAEJAH	8
	The Stem-land of the Aryans -- The Indo-Europeans -- The Indo-Iranians.
THE GATHIC PERIOD About 1000 B.C.
III.	ZARATHUSHTRA	11
	Zarathushtra doubts to know -- Zarathushtra seeks silent, solitary seclusion -- Zarathushtra yearns to see Ahura Mazda -- Zarathushtra longs to commune with Ahura Mazda -- Zarathushtra is fined with an intense fervour of enthusiasm for prophetic work -- People marvel at the new prophet -- Zarathushtra definitely breaks with the religion of his forefathers -- The hostile Daevayasnian priests -- Friendless and forlorn, Zarathushtra flees to Ahura Mazda -- Zarathushtra's teachings win the ear of the royal court -- Zarathushtra's mission.
IV.	TOWARDS MONOTHEISM.	27
	Gods in evolution.
V.	AHURA MAZDA	30
	Ahura Mazda is the name Zarathushtra gives to God -- Ahura Mazda is the Being par excellence -- The nature of Ahura Mazda -- The transcendental immanence of Ahura Mazda -- Ahura Mazda is the creator -- Ahura Mazda is the lord of wisdom -- Ahura Mazda is the law-giver and judge.
VI.	SPENTA MAINYU	36
	Spenta Mainyu is the self-revealing activity of Ahura Mazda.
VII.	MAZDA'S MINISTERING ANGELS	39
	Amesha Spentas in the making -- Vohu Manah -- The first in Ahura Mazda's creation -- Vohu Manah is Ahura Mazda's Good Thought.
VIII.	PRAYERS AND RITUALS	68
IX.	LIFE IS A BLESSING	75
X.	EVIL	81
XI.	LIFE AFTER DEATH	96
XII.	THE FINAL DISPENSATION	108
THE AVESTAN PERIOD From about 800 B.C. to about A.D. 200 at the latest
XIII.	INDIA LEAVES INDO-IRANIAN RELIGION BEHIND	115
XIV.	IRAN GOES BACK TO INDO-IRANIAN RELIGION	125
XV.	PROMULGATION OF THE FAITH OF ZARATHUSHTRA	129
XVI.	ZARATHUSHTRA IN THE YOUNGER AVESTA	139
XVII.	THE YOUNGER AVESTAN RELIGION	145
XVIII.	THE IDEA OF GOD IN THE MILLENNIUM	150
XIX.	AHURA MAZDA	125
XX.	SPENTA MAINYU	125
XXI.	AMESHA SPENTAS	162
XXII.	YAZATAS	173
XXIII.	FRAVASHIS	232
XXIV.	PERSONIFIED ABSTRACTIONS	244
XXV.	BAGHAS	246
XXVI.	PRAYERS AND RITUALS	248
XXVII.	EVIL	257
XXVIII.	DEATH AND BEYOND	278
XXIX.	THE RENOVATION	288
THE PAHLAVI PERIOD From the third to the ninth century
XXX.	ZOROASTRIANISM UNDER THE FOREIGN YOKE	293
XXXI.	THE BIRTH OF CHRISTIANITY	298
XXXII.	MITHRAISM	302
XXXIII.	ZARATUSHT IN THE PAHLAVI WORKS	309
XXXIV.	ZOROASTRIANISM AS TAUGHT BY THE PAHLAVI WORKS	318
XXXV.	THE ACTIVE PROPAGANDA OF THE FAITH	325
XXXVI.	SECTS	330
XXXVII.	HERESIES	338
XXXVIII.	OHRMAZD	350
XXXIX.	AMSHASPANDS	357
XL.	IZADS	368
XLI.	FAROHARS	375
XLII.	PRAYERS AND RITUALS	379
XLIII.	EVIL	384
XLIV.	LIFE AFTER DEATH	407
XLV.	THE RENOVATION	423
A PERIOD OF DECADENCE From the seventh to the eighteenth century
XLVI.	DOWNFALL OF THE SASANIANS, AND THE AFTERMATH	437
XLVII.	EXODUS TO INDIA	423
XLVIII.	ZARTUSHT DURING THE PERSIAN PERIOD	449
XLIX.	PERSIAN WORKS ON ZOROASTRIANISM	457
L.	MYSTICS AND MYSTICISM	461
LI.	RELIGIOUS CONTROVERSIES	470
LII.	AN EPOCH-MAKING ERA IN THE HISTORY OF ZOROASTRIAN RESEARCHES	472
LIII.	PROSELYTIZING COMES TO BE VIEWED WITH DISFAVOUR	474
LIV.	GUJARATI LITERATURE BEARING UPON ZOROASTRIANISM	477
.

[xix]

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[xxix]

ABBREVIATIONS

Aerpt.	= Aerpatastan.
AF.	= Arische Forschungen.
Air. Wb.	= Altiranisches Wörterbuch (Bartholomae)
AnAtM.	= Andarz-i Atarpat-i Maraspand.
AnKhK.	= Andarz-i Khusru-i Kavatan.
Aog.	= Aogemadaecha.
Artax. Pers.	= inscriptions of Artaxerxes at Persepolis.
AthV.	= Atharva Veda.
Av.	= Avesta.
AV.	= Arda Viraf.
AZ.	= Afrin-i Zartusht.
Bd.	= Bundahishn.
BH.	= Behistan.
bk.	= book.
BYt.	= Pahlavi Bahman Yasht.
cf.	= (confer), compare.
Dar. Alv.	= inscriptions of Darius on Mt. Alvand (Elvend), near Hamadan.
Dar. Pers.	= inscriptions of Darius at Persepolis.
Db.	= Dabistan.
Dd.	= Dadestan-i Denik.
Dk.	= Denkard.
ed.	= edition of, edited by.
Eng.	= English.
EpM.	= Epistles of Manushchihr.
ERE.	= Encyclopaedia of Religion and Ethics (Hastings).
FHG.	= Fragmenta Historicorum Graecorum (Müller).
G.	= Gah.
GIrPh.	= Grundriss der Iranischen Philologie.
Gs.	= Ganj-i Shayikan.
Guj.	= Gujarati.
Hj.	= Hajiabad.
Hn.	= Hadokht Nask.
i.e.	= (id est), that is.
ibid.	= (ibidem), in the same work.
Is.	= Isaiah.
Jsp.	= Jamaspi.
JAOS.	= Journal of the American Oriental Society.
JRAS.	= Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society.
KZ.	= Kuhn's Zeitschrift für Vergleichende Sprachforschung. [xxx]
Mkh.	= Menog-i Khrad.
NR.	= inscriptions of Darius at Naksh-i Rustam.
Nr.	= Nirangistan.
Ny.	= Niyayesh.
Pers.	= Persian.
Pt.	= Patit.
Phl.	= Pahlavi.
Rv.	= Rivayat.
RV.	= Rig Veda.
SBE.	= Sacred Books of the East.
Sd.	= Sad Dar.
SdBd.	= Sad Dar Bundahishn.
Sg.	= Shikand Gumanig Vizar.
Skt.	= Sanskrit.
Sr.	= Sirozah.
SlS.	= Shayest-la-Shayest [Shayest-ne-Shayest]
TdFr.	= Tahmuras Fragment.
tr.	= translated by, translation of.
Vd.	= Vendidad.
vers.	= version.
vol.	= volume.
Vsp.	= Visperad.
WFr.	= Westergaard Fragment.
Xerx. Pers.	= inscriptions of Xerxes at Persepolis.
Ys.	= Yasna.
Yt.	= Yasht.
ZDMG.	= Zeitschrift der Deutchen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft.
Zsp.	= Zadspram.

[xxxi]

Notes:

INTRODUCTION Scope of the Work. This book is the revised and much enlarged edition of my Zoroastrian Theology, which has been out of print for the past fifteen years. The publication of my Zoroastrian Civilization, and Our Perfecting World, Zarathushtra's Way of Life, and professional duties have delayed the completion of the work. I have inserted new material in several chapters and added nineteen new chapters to the book. I have given a concise account of the religious beliefs and practices prevalent among the Zoroastrians and their early Iranian ancestors from the pre-Gathic times to the present day and named the book History of Zoroastrianism. Arrangement and method. I have divided the entire period of the history of Zoroastrianism on the linguistic basis. The earliest Zoroastrian documents are the Gathas, written in the Gathic dialect. They represent the earliest phase of the religion of Zoroaster. But ancient Iran had a religion which preceded Zoroastrianism in point of time. I have labelled this period pre-Gathic; for its beginning is lost in remote antiquity, and the advent of Zoroaster brings its end. The time when Zoroaster flourished is a moot question. The approximate date at which he lived is 1000 B.C. Zoroaster revolutionizes the religious life of the Iranians, which hitherto represented the evolutionary phase of religion. It was the movement in which we find the religious thought creeping for ages to rise from the lower to the higher level. To put this in another way, the pre-Gathic religion of Iran is the evolution of the religious thought of many men and many ages; Zoroaster's is the creation of one man and one age. The prophet of Iran establishes a new religion. In the pre-Gathic religion the trend of religious thought struggles from the complex to the simple, from concrete to abstract, and is yet the farthest removed from the ideal stage. Zoroastrianism, on the other hand, as preached in the Gathas is the very embodiment of the simple and the abstract. It is the realization [xxxii] of the ideal. It is the form to which the coming generations have to conform. Deviation from it means a fall, a degeneration of the religous life. This second period I have termed Gathic. Decay soon begins in the language in which Zoroaster composed his immortal hymns, and his successors now write in the Avestan dialect, which replaces the Gathic. The Avestan language remains the written language of the Zoroastrians from now onward to probably the last days of the Parthians, when the Pahlavi language becomes the court language of the Sasanians and supersedes the Avestan. The most extensive literature on Zoroastrianism is written in Avestan. This period, which I have called Later Avestan period, extends to the early part of the Pahlavi era and goes even beyond it. When the two periods thus overlap each other, it often becomes difficult to determine whether a certain phase of religious thought is on one side or the other of the dividing line between them. The Avestan works, in the form in which they were written in the Avestan period, no longer exist. They were scattered by the storm that swept over Persia when Alexander conquered the country, and shook her religious edifice to its base. The form in which the Avestan texts have reached us is that which was given them during the Pahlavi period. The artists employed to restore the broken edifice belong to the Pahlavi period, but the materials used come down from the Avestan sources. The Pahlavi period ranks fourth in the arrangement of the present work, and it covers a period of about eight centuries. Although it is most productive under the Sasanian rule, it does not close with the collapse of this, the last of the Zoroastrian empires, but survives it by at least three centuries in Moslem Persia. Though Pahlavi had replaced Avestan, the early works written in the ancient language had not yet ceased to influence the Pahlavi writers. In fact, some of the most important of the Pahlavi works are either versions of some Avestan works now lost to us, or draw their thought from the Avestan sources. Thus, the Pahlavi Bundahishn is the epitome of the Avestan Damdat [Damdad] Nask, which is subsequently lost. Similarly, not a few of the Pahlavi works written two or three centuries after the conquest of Persia by the Arabs tenaciously preserve the tradition handed down by Sasanian Persia. These are characterized by two layers of thought, one traditional, and the other representing new [xxxiii] thought current during the writer's times. The Menuk-i Khrat, for example, betrays Moslem influence when it preaches fatalism, but is otherwise faithfully voicing the sentiments of the orthodox Sasanian Church. This interweaving of old ideas with the new ones, and the interpolations and additions of the later writers in the works of earlier generations, often make it hopeless to disentangle the complications and distinguish between the opinions and ideas of different periods. Thirteen hundred years have elapsed since the dissolution of the last of the Zoroastrian empires. Henceforth we have to record the religious history of the Zoroastrian remnants in Persia and the Zoroastrian settlers of India. Zoroastrianism sinks with the Zoroastrian power, and a long period of obscurity follows. I have named it a period of decadence. Under the aegis of the British rule in India Zoroastrianism emerges once again with the prosperity of the Parsi community. I have hailed this as the period of the revival of Zoroastrianism. These various periods, which represent chronologically different stages of the historical development of the religious thought of Iran, from remote antiquity down to the immediate present, will, I hope, give the reader a general and comprehensive view of the history of Zoroastrian religion. As the subjects are treated piece-meal in different periods according to the natural growth of ideas from period to period, the reader will have to read crosswise when he needs a complete account of any particular concept. For example, if he wants to know all that the Zoroastrian literature has to say about Ormazd [Ohrmazd], he will get it as a whole not from any one period, but from all. The detailed list of contents and the index will help him in his inquiry. Transliteration of the technical terms. I have sought to preserve the changes that these have undergone during successive periods, and have variously transliterated them in the treatment of the different periods, according as they represent the Avestan, Pahlavi, or Persian pronunciations. Thus, for example, Ahura Mazda of the Gathic and Avestan periods become Ormazd [Ohrmazd] in the Pahlavi period. Angra Mainyu assumes the form Ahriman in the subsequent periods. The Avestan Vohu Manah changes into Pahlavi Vohuman and into Bahman in Persian. In the frequent use of the name of the prophet, I have, however, not scrupulously followed this method. I have distinguished between the Avestan, [xxxiv] Pahlavi, and Persian forms by writing Zarathushtra for the first, and Zaratusht for Pahlavi and Zartusht [Zartosht] for Persian as they actually occur in these languages; but I have adopted the more familiar form Zoroaster for general use. Similarly, I have called the religion of the prophet Zoroastrianism. With a view to simplicity for the general reader, I have avoided, as far as it has been practicable, the free use of diacritical marks, and have employed simple transcriptions of the names of the heavenly beings persons, and books when they occur in the text. * * * * * * * * * I am grateful to Dr. Charles J. Ogden who has carefully revised the greater part of the proofsheets and favoured me with his scholarly criticism.

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