[453] Darwands, the production of Ahriman: this word means: 1. the Darong, or “evil spirits, who appear under the human form;” 2. the worshippers of Ahriman; 3. the spirits of the damned. After the resurrection, they shall be anew precipitated into hell, to be punished there during three days and nights; after which the great and small mountains of the earth shall be dissolved and flow over its surface in rivers of metal; the Durwands will be forced to pass through this molten ocean, and being thus purified from all sin become eternally blessed.—D. S.
[454] In this sentence D. Shea found the manuscripts and the printed copy to differ greatly, but the manuscript of Oude agrees with the latter, which therefore the editor thinks himself justified in following, although there must remain a doubt about the author’s meaning having been perfectly expressed.—A. T.
[455] The account of Ardai Viraf’s vision of the other world can but remind us of what Plato relates (Respubl., t. x) of Hero, the son of Armenius, a Pamphilian by origin: viz., when this man had been killed in battle, and when, on the tenth day, the dead bodies were in a state of decomposition, he alone was preserved and carried home to be buried, and on the twelfth day, being placed upon the funeral pyre, he gave signs of life, and, resuscitated, he related what he had seen in the other world. Upon this we may reflect, that the name of Arda, which occurs as a part of many Persian names, may be referred to the Sanskrit ऊर्ध ûrdha, “elevated;” Ardashir is perhaps ऊर्ध शिरः úrdhaśiras, “elevated head;” ऊर्द्दर úrddara, signifies “a hero, a champion; from ऊर्ज úrja, to be strong: which would give nearly the sense of Plato’s αλκιμου του ανδρος, “of the strong man,” as he characterises Hero. This observation gains perhaps some relief, by connecting it with a passage of St. Clement of Alexandria (Strom. I. V. sect. xiv.), in which he interprets by Zoroaster the name of Hero, and quotes a passage from a work in which this supposed Zoroaster relates of himself what Plato states of Hero. The work mentioned by St. Clement, much known in the first centuries of our era, might have been composed by a Neo-platonic who transposed the fable from Hero to Zoroaster. Hero, certainly not Zoroaster, may with more probability be assimilated to one of his zealous followers, Ardai Viraf, who lived in the second century of our era.—A. T.
[456] According to the concurrent testimony of Persian records, Azarbad, the son of Maresfand, was the thirtieth descendant from Zoroaster. Twenty-nine generations, at four to a century, make 725 years; to this add forty for the probable age of Azarbad at the time of his assuming the prophetic mission: if from the sum 765 we subtract 240, that is, the epocha of king Shapúr, under whom Azarbad lived, there will remain 525, the time of Zoroaster before Christ. Four generations are here assigned to a century, because, according to Zoroaster’s law, marriage is an act of religion, and children are the steps or ladders for ascending to heaven: the observance of this precept must have tended to multiply the generations in the legislator’s family (Rauzet-us Safa, Shea’s transl., p. 280).
The following quotation from the Shah-nameh naser (Hyde, p. 280) may here find place, in addition to my note, p. 284: When king Shapúr heard of the great uncertainty still prevailing among a considerable number of men about the truth of Zoroaster’s religion, he demanded a solution of the great question from the principal priests, among whom Azarbad rose and offered to satisfy him: “I will,” said he, “further develop Ardai Viraf’s account of hell and heaven, and sit naked from head to foot, whilst eighteen pounds of melted brass are poured upon my body; if the least particle of it be hurt, the prophet’s words are false; they are true, if I receive not the least injury.” No harm ensued to him from the trial made upon his person, and all believed.—A. T.
[457] The reading of the manuscript and printed copy is exceedingly defective in this passage: it has been restored according to historical notices: Pope’s translation has (p. 99) “forty thousand souls have seceded from our holy faith,” instead of “the forty thousand wise men were again assembled.”—D. S.
[458] The Viraf nameh terminates by these words: “The Masdian religion became more firmly established than ever, and continued in all its purity until the Mahomedan conquest dispersed its votaries, and forced those who persevered in it to abandon the tombs of their ancestors, and to fly for refuge to distant countries. A small number fled to, and were kindly received on, the shores of western India, and the present Parsees of Bombay and Surat are their descendants.” That is to say, it was a short time after Yezdejerd’s death that, persecuted by the Muhammedans, a number of Persians, to preserve their ancient religion, fled to Kohistan, from whence after a century they descended to Ormuz on the Persian gulf, and after a stay there of fifteen years landed at Diu on the Indian coast. Nineteen years later they established themselves in the Guzerat; thence, after the lapse of three hundred years, they dispersed to the north and south of Surat. They had been five centuries in India when they fought with the Indians against the Muhammedans, and were again obliged to fly before the enemies of their faith. They maintained themselves, however, in different places of the province of Aurungabad. Having gradually increased in numbers to about 150,000 families (in 1816), they live dispersed in villages from Diu to Bombay, in which place about 24,000 of them reside (Zend Av., t. I. 1. P. p. cccxviii; and Pope’s Engl. transl. of the Viraf-nameh, p. 118).—A. T.
[459] Káshmar, Kishmar is the name of a town in the country of Tirshez, in Khorasan or in Bactria (Hyde, p. 332).
[460] Upon the cypress, see notes pp. [236], [280]. According to the Ferhang Jehangiri and the Burhani Kati, Zardusht planted two cypress-trees; one in the town just mentioned, and the other in the town of Farúmad, or Ferúyad, or Ferdíd, which is in the country of Tus. The Magi believe, he planted these trees by means of two shoots brought by him from paradise.—A. T.
[461] He was the tenth Khalif of the Abbassides, and began to reign in the year of the Hejira 232, A. D. 846.—A. T.