With their chargers’ hoofs they shall lay it waste.”
Zardusht said: “O righteous Ormuzd! after so much toil, abridgment of life and long-protracted suffering shall not the professors of the true faith find some intercessor; and how can discomfiture overtake those clothed in black vestments?” The Almighty answered thus: “Pain is not to last for ever; when the black ensign is displayed, a host arrayed in red vestments and helmets shall come forth from the formidable room; and the land of Khorasan be desolate by flood and vapor; the earth shall tremble and the cultivated fields be laid waste; Turk, Rúmite, and Arab encounter each other; and the borders of Turan be made a wilderness by Turks, Persians, and Hindoos; the sacred fire be borne to Dushkhargar, or ‘the mountainous region;’ and, through invasions, Iran become one scene of desolation.” The prophet then said: “O, Lord! however short the duration of this people may be, they will surely destroy life; how then shall these wicked be exterminated?” To which he received this answer: “The standard of an army arises out of Khorasan, and then Hoshidar is separated from his mother; when he arrives at the age of thirty, he will follow the ancient mode of faith, and become sovereign of Hindustan and China; he shall have a son of the Kaianian race, named Bahram and entitled Hamawand, but whom his nation will call Shapur: on the birth of that illustrious child, the stars shall drop down from heaven; and his father pass away from this world in the month of Aban and the day of Baud.[428] When this son has attained twenty-one years of age, he shall march in every direction with a numerous host, and proceeding with his troops to Balkh and Bokhara, advance into Iran with the armies of India and China. A man professing the good faith in the mountain region will then exert himself, and bringing up an army from Khorasan and Sistan, come to the aid of Iran:
“From Kishtí Duwál, Roome, and Firingstan,
From demons clothed in black, like piebald wolves.”
“Three mighty battles shall then ensue, which will render Persia the land of mourning; after which will arise an exalted avenging prince who shall obtain the victory. In those days a thousand women shall not be able to find one man; and if they should perchance behold one, they shall be filled with astonishment. When those times are come to an end, I shall send Serósh towards Jerusalem and summon Bishutan, who will issue forth with a company of one hundred and fifty virtuous men, and duly perform Yasht, or ‘prayer,’ on which Ahriman will engage in battle with them; but, on hearing the sound of the Hadokht and the Ashtawazand, the partizans of Ahriman shall flee out of Iran. A prince, Báhrám by name, shall then ascend the throne, bring back the sacred fire, and restore the institutions of ancient times, and the seed of the wicked shall then be exterminated: finally, when Bishutan beholds every thing duly arranged, he will return with royal pomp to his own palace.”
The Mobed Azar Khirad relates in his book that the Zand contains twenty-one Nosks, or “parts,” every Nosk having a particular name in Zand and Parsi according to the following list:[429] Yathá, Ita, Ahu, Wíría, Alartúsh, Nadar, which they call in Arabic Búfastál, and in Parsi Favaímasíhan. This Nosk treats of the stars, constellations, order of the heavens, the aspects, the good and evil influences of the heavenly bodies, and such like topics. The other Nosks are: the Ashád, Chíd, Hashú, Wankawísh, Wazda, Mankahú, Sítanú, Nan, Ankahísh, Marzái, Khashar, Machá, Ahrá, Ayám, Darkúbíú and Astarám: all the sciences are contained in the Zand, but some are mentioned enigmatically and by way of allusion. At present there are fourteen complete Nosks possessed by the Dostúrs of Karman, the other seven being incomplete, as through the wars and dissensions which prevailed in Iran some of the Nosks have disappeared, so that, notwithstanding the greatest researches, the Nosks have come into their hands in a defective state.
Zaratusht Báhrám, the son of Pazhdú, relates that, at the time of the promulgation of the pure faith in Iran, there lived in India a sage of profound learning, named Jangrangháchah,[430] whose pupil Jamasp[431] had been during many years, a circumstance which procured him great distinction. On being informed of Gushtasp’s conversion, he wrote an epistle to the great king, to dissuade him from the profession of the pure faith. By the king’s command, this sage came to Iran to hold a disputation with Zardusht, who said to him: “Listen to one Nosk of this Asta which I have received from God, and attend to its interpretation.” Upon this, at the illustrious prophet’s command, one of his disciples read a Nosk in which God said thus to Zardusht: “On the promulgation of the pure faith, there shall come from Hindustan a wise man, named Jangrangháchah, who will ask thee questions, after such and such guise, the answers to which are after this manner, thus answering all his questions:
“By this same Nosk his condition was improved,
And the answer to each question was correctly given.”
When he heard the solutions of his questions he fell from his chair, and on recovering his senses adopted the pure faith. The prophet Sásán the Fifth, in his select commentary on the Dasátir and the interpretation of the code of Zardusht, relates, that when Isfendiar had promulgated the pure faith, the eminent sages of Greece dispatched a learned man, named Niyátús,[432] to interrogate the prophet of the Lord concerning the exact nature of his tenets. Gushtasp, having assigned him an audience on a most auspicious day. this distinguished Greek, on beholding the face of Zardusht, said: “From this face, knowledge, sagacity, and science are manifest as the properties of a mind so formed; and this is not the physiognomy of one who utters falsehoods.” He then asked him concerning the moment, day, month, and year of his birth, which being communicated by Zardusht, Niyátús observed: “Under such a horoscope, a person of weak intellects cannot be born.” He next questioned him concerning his food, sleep, and mode of life, which being also explained, Niyátús added: “From this rule of life he cannot be an impostor.” The prophet of the Lord then said to him: “Keep in thy heart whatever thou desirest to inquire about, and utter it not with thy tongue; as the Almighty has acquainted me with it, and for my sake has sent me his word in this chapter relative to these matters.” On this, one of the prophet’s disciples read to Niyátús, out of a single chapter, all that was laid up in the noble envoy’s breast, and whatever he was commissioned to enquire about, at the desire of the eminent men of Greece.