Raham Asha, Jāmāspīg: The memoir of Jāmāspa and The Oracle of Hystaspes, Arrou, Alain Mole, 2023, ISBN 978-2-9579653-2-8, EAN 9782957965328; Tehran, Shourafarin, 2023, ISBN 978-622-259-096-3.
First edition: Raham Asha, Jāmāspīg: the Pārsīg version of the Memorial of Jāmāspa, Mumbai, K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 2014.
Contents
Preface to Second Edition 7-27
Introduction 29-143
Jāmāspa, the model of the wise minister 29-60
The Jāmāspīg 61-136
The Oracle of Hystaspes 137-143
Text and Translation 145-316
Jāmāspīg 145-293
Fragments of the lost Oracle of Hystaspes 295-316
The language versions of the Jāmāspīg 317-329
Abbreviations 331-333
Index of names 335-341
Preface to Second Edition
A first draft of the present book was written as long ago as 1999. At that time, I conceived it as forming part of a collection of the texts and fragments attributed to Jāmāspa. The late Dariush Kargar promised, in the same year, to collaborate on an edition of the other texts attributed to Jāmāspa in Persian and Arabic. After the death of this friend in 2012, I turned to the task of revising my old script, and after having written an Introduction, I published the Jāmāspīg in 2014.[1] On the 14th July of the same year the book launch was held at the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute (Mumbai). I was unable to attend the ceremony. Ervad Rooyintan P. Peer delivered a speech on the subjects of the Jāmāspīg. Ten years following publication of the book, I found that it had to be re-edited with some additional notes and corrections.
The Jāmāspīg is presented as a conversation between Vištāspa the king and Jāmāspa “the second after the king”. The major topic of the book is the apocalypse and eschatology that cannot be understood without first having a clear idea of the basic conceptional structure of the Perso-Aryans. Here I make a brief presentation of the Perso-Aryan ideology, followed by a few words on the other editions of the Jāmāspīg.
I
The structure of the Perso-Aryan vision is based upon two distinct lines that may be considered as its warp and woof:
-
- One, the functional line, concerns the three cosmic and social functions. The study of the functions of the material and spiritual worlds according to the Aryan perception owes to George Dumézil the discovery of the “tripartite ideology” of the Indo-Europeans.
- The other, the institutional line, concerns the divine and social twins, that reflect the “bipartite ideology” of the Perso-Aryans.
The duality, modelled by the solar twins (Av. yima / G yǝ̄ma ‘twin’), is reflected in the history of the world and also in the history of the Aryan lands, that is the legend of Yima and the narratives dealing with the life of Vištāspa. The Magi were aware of the comparable aspects of these two heroes.[2]
Yima
Yima son of Vīvaŋvhaṇt is the name of a cosmic hero. he had a twin sister, Yimī*.[3] One represents the xšaθra ‘(royal) power or command, kingdom’, and the other the daēnā ‘(religious) vision, religion’.[4] Ahura Mazdā exhibited the daēnā to Yima. But he refused to be the mǝrǝtō bǝrǝtaca daēnayāi, ‘memorizer (/ reciter) and bearer (/ messenger) of the daēnā’.[5] However, Yima said he was prepared to be the protector, watcher, and supervisor of the world in his Xšaθra (that is, to be the king of the whole earth).[6] Then Ahura Mazdā offered him two implements or powers[7] for the promotion of the world: a golden suβrā, and an aštrā adorned with gold.[8]
Aži Dahāka captured Yima’s two daughters, Saŋhavācī and Arǝnavācī.[9] Θraētaona asked Anāhiā (also Druvāspā, Vayu, Aṣ̌i) for a favour so that he might carry off the two beloved women (the favourites of Aži Dahāka), Saŋhavācī and Arǝnavācī.[10]
The Šāhnāma gives some details of the story of the capture of these two sisters, (Pers.) Šahrnāz and Arnavāz[11], and their deliverance from the bondage of Dahāka by the hero (Pers.) Frēdōn. Firdōsī clearly called them Yima’s daughters.[12]
دو پاکيزه از خانهء جم ِ شيد برون آوريدند لرزان چو بيد.
که جمشيد را هر دو دختر بدند سر ِ بانوان را چو افسر بدند.
ز پوشيدهرويان يکی شهرناز دگر ماهرويی به نام ارنواز.
به ايوان ِ ضحاک بردندشان بدان اژدهافش سپردندشان.
‘Two chaste girls from the house of Yima Xšaēta, were brought out (to Dahāka) trembling like a Weeping-willow;
(Two girls), who were both the daughters of Yima Xšaēta, (like) the crowns of the queens;
Of the ladies, one was Šahrnāz (/ Saŋhavācī), the other a moon-faced Arnavāz (/ Arǝnavācī), by name.
They bore them to the palace of Aži Dahāka, and gave them over to the dragon-like (tyrant).’[13]
Vištāspa
The kingship of Vīštāspa was designed on the model of that of Yima. While Yima was the first king of the world, king of the golden age, the royal power of Vīštāspa was limited to some part of Xvaniraθa, the Aryan lands. Yima had two tools for the expansion of the earth; Vīštāspa possessed two implements by which he sought free space for Truth (or, Order): dru and paurvan.[14] The Avesta says that: “(Kavi Vīštāspa) who with dru and paurvan sought free space for aṣ̌a, who with dru and paurvan found free space for aṣ̌a, who served as arm and support of this daēnā, the Ahurian, the Zaraθuštrian. (Kavi Vīštāspa) who freed her (Daēnā) who was immobile and fettered from her fetters. He set her down sitting in the middle, …”[15]. Again: “of Kavi Vīštāspa … the robust one, personifying the sacred formula, who with intrepidity (brandished his) dru, the Ahurian one, who with dru and paurvan sought free space for aṣ̌a, who with dru and paurvan found free space for aṣ̌a, who served as arm and support of this daēnā, the Ahurian, the Zaraθuštrian.”[16]
Yima had a sister, Yimī*; Vištāspa’s sister was Hutaosā. In the 12th year of the daēnā, Hutaosā received the daēnā, and her brother, King Vištāspa, became Zaraθuštra’s princely promoter. The Avesta says that: ‘Give me that boon, O good, very strong Druvāspā, that I shall induce the good, noble Hutaosā to think according to the Daēnā, to speak according to the Daēnā, to act according to the Daēnā, (she) who has believed in and is acquainted with my Daēnā Māzdayasni, who has provided a good reputation for my community.’[17] The Zand of the hVaršt-mānsr Nask 22 about the Hutaosā’s role in the propagation of the daēnā says thus:
abar: stāyišn ī hutōs ped ravāgīh ī dēn māzdesn pediš būdan, ped vaxšišn ī ahlāyīh ud vānišn ī druz, ud hāmis kirbag ud sūd ī az ˟ravāg-dēnīh[18] ī andar gēhān būd ud baved, ud hamǝspāsīh[19] ud vazurggāhīh ī-š ēdar ud ānōh.
‘About: the praise of Hutaosā for the propagation of the daēnā māzdayasni through her, by the growth of aṣ̌a[20] and defeating druj[21], and for any merit and advantage of the propagation of the daēnā that was and will be in the world; showing her praise and bestowing her grand position here and yonder.’[22]
Yima had two daughters, Saŋhavācī and Arǝnavācī; Vištāspa’s daughters were Humāyā and Varǝδakanā.[23] The enemies of Vištāspa were called, in the Avesta, X́yaona-[24]. Their king, Arǝjat̰.aspa[25], who went to war with him, led off his two daughters captive. Vīštāspa sacrificed to Druvāspā and implored her favours: ‘May I bring back home Humāyā and Varǝδakanā from the Hyonian lands!’[26] Druvāspā, the protectress and the giver of favours, consented. Then the hero Spǝṇtōδāta, Vīštāspa’s son, caught Arǝjat̰.aspa, and restored his sisters from their bondage to their thrones.[27]
We find other legends that bear a striking analogy with that of Yima. I mention two examples:
Cyrus
Herodotus tells a (popular) story concerning two sisters, Atossa and Artystone, the daughters of Cyrus, who were captured by Gaumāta, and delivered by Darius.
Γάμους τε τοὺς πρώτους ἐγάμεε Πέρσῃσι ὁ Δαρεῖος, Κύρου μὲν δύο θυγατέρας Ἄτοσσάν τε καὶ Ἀρτυστώνην, τὴν μὲν Ἄτοσσαν προσυνοικήσασαν Καμβύσῃ τε τῷ ἀδελφεῷ καὶ αὖτις τῷ Μάγῳ, τὴν δὲ Ἀρτυστώνην παρθένον·
‘Darius took to wife the noblest among the Persians, (that is) Cyrus’ daughters Atossa and Artystone; the one, Atossa had been a wife of her brother Cambyses and afterwards of the Magus (the usurper Smerdis); and the other, Artystone was a virgin.’[28]
Yazdegird
According to one legend, Yazdegird, the last Persian king, had two daughters, Šahrbānū and BānūiPārs. One was caught by the Tāzīgs (Arabs/ Muslims), and was forced to become the consort of an Arab; but finally, both fled and disappeared in mountains (one near Ray, the other Near Yazd).[29] In the Perso-Aryan imagination, the restoration of the Aryan kingdom (*aryānām xšaθra) is connected with the liberation of these two girls.
Conclusion
Examples could be multiplied of the similarity of the original legend and other stories of the captivity of the (two) daughters of an Aryan king.[30]
All these examples come to show that we have a primal model that can be described thus:
Yima Yimī
xšaθra (kingship, kingdom) daēnā (Avesta, religion)
Saŋhavāci Arǝnavāci
liberation struggle
The xšaθra and daēnā, in the Aryan vision, are joined as twins and provide the foundation for prosperity and happiness for Aryan lands.[31] This duality is like a pillar of the whole historical and legendary structure of the Perso-Aryans. It is reflected in all knowledges, arts and institutions of the Aryan society, for example:
-
- The written and oral transmissions of the texts and traditions go hand in hand[32];
- The calendar pertaining to the daēnā (representing Time as a harmonious course, and the time unit as a constant year with no intercalation) and that pertaining to the xšaθra (using intercalation)[33];
- The medicine pertaining to the daēnā (belonging to the first function of the society) and that pertaining to the xšaθra (coming from the third function)[34].
One can understand that those with a Semitic and Euro-centric baggage may be at a loss to understand this ideal scheme, and their books or essays often give a partial and distorted vision of the Aryan kingdom and religion in obedience to their “tribal” or “ideological” interests. But we unfortunately observe that a number of the Parsis who have studied with those “foreign scholars” promote the views of their masters.[35]
II
I would like to wrap up with some words on the editions of the Jāmāspīg.
Jivanji Jamshedji Modi collected the fragments of the Jāmāspīg in “Pahlavi”, “Pāzend”, and Persian found in a few manuscripts belonging to Mānockji Rustomji Unwālā of Bombay, and one manuscript belonging to Edalji Nowroji Meherji Rānā of Navsari.[36] Edalji had copied it in about 1861 or 1862 A.D. from an old manuscript of Peshotan Behramji Sanjana. Modi could not secure Peshotan’s ms. itself for collation. Edward William West who had access to the manuscript of Peshotan noted that folios 1-16, 20-26, and 32 were missing in it; in his edition the text, thus lost, was supplied from the Persian-Pāzend version in Haug’s ms. N° 7 (now M 52 in Munich Staatsbibliothek).[37] I found a similar Persian-Pāzend version in the manuscript belonging to the Khudabakhsh Oriental P. Library (in Patna), N° 3766.
The most important of these fragments is the Jāmāspnāmag ‘the Book of Jāmāspa’ contained as chapter XVI of the present book. It has been a point of research and major interest by some scholars. Harold Walter Bailey made available a correct transcription of the text with notes.[38] Émile Benveniste analysed it as verse, octosyllabic and partly rhyming.[39] Bo Utas went further, compared it with another text, the Āyādgār ī Zerīrān (AZ), and stated that: “The main subject matter which AZ has in common with this work (Jāmāspnāmag) is the simple fact that Jāmāsp bidaxš, being questioned by Vištāsp šāh foretells the future, but there are also some formal similarities. The text is obviously adapted from an original in verse. This is valid for chapter XVI, as argued by Benveniste, but it may also be so for other parts of the work, although it is difficult to establish the actual verse lines on the basis of the often quite confused secondary material in Pāzand and Pārsi. In chapter XVI the verse lines are characterized by four stresses with a caesura in the middle and quite frequent rhymes of the same somewhat uncertain verbal type as in AZ. This holds true also for the occasional lines of chapter XVI left out as interpolations by Benveniste.”[40] Tord Olsson took the Jāmāspnāmag as a test case in his study of apocalypticism as a type of speculative and verbal activity.[41]
The Persian-Pāzend text preserved in Haug’s ms. N° 7 was reedited in transliteration, supplemented with a reconstruction of the Pārsīg (“Pahlavi”), and translated into Italian by Giuseppe Messina.[42] The text preserved in H 7 and P 3766 is a collection and transcription of Pārsīg fragments in Persian characters. It is not quite complete at the end. This is the work of a Parsi priest who was not well acquainted with the Pārsīg language. Therefore, it needs a painstaking work of restoration so that we come close to the original.[43] Messina failed in this task. I am not talking about mistakes that would have minor impact on the understanding of the body of the text, but those that give a distorted and confused image of the Perso-Aryan ideology.
Finally, Domenico Agostini prepared a new edition of the book of Jāmāspa.[44] His book found favour in the eyes of his colleagues.[45] However, if we set aside the texts of the Codices of Munich and Navsāri collated in his book, and attention be drawn to his proper work, we notice that the same mistakes of Messina are also found in his book. This is not surprising given that most new “academic” works (papers, books) are often the makeups of older works. I will only give two examples showing how far Messina (and of course, Agostini) was from understanding the spirit of the text.
One. From the sixth chapter
Messina understood one passage of the sixth chapter thus: Yima caught the seven witches who, “like stars, when their course” (pa stār, ka raβišn) pass under the (fixed) stars, fight against the (fixed) stars. He imprisoned them, and except for one “eye” (cašm), he tore out the other eyes, tore from them off the covenant, established a (determined) measure for cold and heat and everything, and made the world wider.[46]
Either the passage itself is obscure, or it is awkwardly rendered. Messina tried to clarify his reading and translation with the help of some Avesta and Pārsīg texts (Tištriya Yašt, Miθra Yašt, Mēnōg Xrad).[47]
If one look at the translation of Agostini, he will note that it is based on Messina’s rendering, and we find the same errors in it.[48] What is even stranger is that Agostini, in his comments on the passage, only repeats what Messina had said in his footnote.[49]
Here we only mention two errors:
-
- The “original” text speaks of the seven witches who are “star-form” (Pers. star-kirb, Av. starō.kǝhrp-*). Then we should read ped star-kirbīh, and not ped star ka ravišn which is a non-sense. In the ŠGV 4.8-10, Mardānfarroxsays: spihr gyāg ī bayan ī nēkīh-baxtārān kē-šān harv nēkīhbaxtārīh aziš hamē baxšend rāstīhā; ud haftān starkirbān perīgān ī aēr avēšān dvārend appurdārān ī judbaxtārān kē-šān dēnīg nām gayōgān ‘The celestial sphere is the place of the Baγa (‘dispenser’) who bestow benefits, and every bestowal of benefits by them is done always rightly; the seven planets are star-form witches who roam about beneath them, rob and distribute amiss, whose scriptural (/ Avesta) name is Gaδa (‘robber’).’[50]
- The “original” text speaks of
The Pārsi transcriber has read it kīnān (a possible reading, but it makes no sense). Messina saw in kīnān a misreading of the ideogram 
/cašmān/ ‘eyes’. This suggestion is even worse than the former misreading. A good student of the “Pahlavi” reads the word 
thus: /kēvān/ ‘Saturn’. Then the phrase becomes clear.
The Pārsi transcriber has read it kīnān (a possible reading, but it makes no sense). Messina saw in kīnān a misreading of the ideogram 
/cašmān/ ‘eyes’. This suggestion is even worse than the former misreading. A good student of the “Pahlavi” reads the word 
thus: /kēvān/ ‘Saturn’. Then the phrase becomes clear.The passage can be translated thus: ‘He (Yima) captured and imprisoned the seven witches (Av. pairikā) ˗except for Saturn˗ who move about beneath the stars in the form of stars and combat with the stars, and made Saturn blind with one eye. He took the measure back from them, and he restored cold and heat, and all things according to the measure. And he made the world wider.’
Two. From the fourteenth chapter
Vištāspa asks: “How many years must there be for us to rule?” And Jāmāspa answers: “You will die before the end of this year.”
The reaction of Vištāspa (according to Messina’s translation) is bizarre: When Vištāspa heard those words, he called his sister, Hutaosā, and his children, and said that “whoever has heard this saying should go immediately to prison (band)”.[51] Messina failed to translate next sentence (8). Agostini understands it thus: Vīštāspa ordered that in the case that someone had seized the Fortune (xvarǝnah) of Vištāspa, both he and Hutaosā should be hanged.[52]
I do not know about other peoples and cultures, but that attitude among the Perso-Aryans was simply unthinkable. To justify his translation, Agostini adds that Vištāspa was paranoid.[53]
There is another text in which Vištāspa asked about the outcome of the war with the army of Arǝjat̰.aspa, and Jāmaspa told him about the death of many people and among them his proper son. Vištāspa attempted physical assault or threatening behaviour towards Jāmāspa (and not towards his sister), until he became soothed by the wise words of the latter.[54]
The transcriber has read 
/tamām/, and 
/xurah/. Messina emended the first word to /band/ ‘fetters, prison’, and the second word to /xvah/ ‘sister’. However, one should be read /ānōh/ ‘there’, and the other /dast/ ‘hand’. Then the whole passage becomes clear:
“When the king Vištāspa heard those words, he wept, and cried: Hutaosā, my sister, and the sons and daughters who, thirty in number, have been born from her, and the other queens and children!
When they heard that cry, they at a run went there. Kavi Vištāspa embraced Hutaosā (lit. ‘took Hutaosā’s neck in his arms’[55]), and wept much, and cried.”
There is one further book to be mentioned here: Bozorgmehr Loghman has translated the Jāmāspīg into Persian.[56] I must thank him for some suggestions and corrections to the draft of this book.
frazaft ped šādīh
day-ped-ādur rōz ī tīr māh ī sāl 1391 pas az yazdegird
For notes see: Jāmāspīg: The memoir of Jāmāspa and The Oracle of Hystaspes, pp 7-27.
Purchase
For individuals situated within Iran, the book is available for acquisition at the designated address.
For those located outside Iran, it is advisable to forward your request via email to the Perso-Aryan Studies email address provided below:
PersoAryanStudies@gmail.com
جاماسپی (یادگارِ جاماسپ/ جاماسپنامه)
