Mazdak has also said: “It is altogether reprehensible and improper that one man should hold a distinguished rank, and another remain poor and destitute of resources: it is therefore incumbent on the believer to divide his wealth with his coreligionist; and so taught the religion of Zardusht, that he should even send his wife to visit him, that he may not be deprived of female society. But if his coreligionist should prove unable to acquire wealth, or show proofs of extravagance, infatuation, or insanity, he is to be confined to the house, and measures adopted to provide him with food, clothing, and all things requisite: whoever assents not to these arrangements is consequently a follower of Ahriman’s, and they get contributions from him by compulsion.”
Farhád, Shíráb, and Ayin Hoshpúyár adopted this creed; besides these, Muhammed Kúlí the Kurd, Ismail Bég, the Georgian, and Ahmadai of Tiran (a village near Ispahan) possessed this faith. From them it has been ascertained, that the followers of Mazdak do not at present assume the dress of Gebers, but practise their religion secretly among the Muhammedans. They also showed the author the volume of Mazdak, called the Desnad, written in old Persian, which Ayin Shakib, the grandfather of Ayin Hosh, translated into popular Persian. Farhod was a man of great intelligence, and assumed the name of Muhammed Said Beg among the Muhammedans: Shirab went under the name of Shir Muhammed, and Ayin Hosh under that of Muhammed Akil; and as they were eminent in their peculiar science, they possessed the volume called the Desnád. Such is the detailed account of the Parsi systems, agreeably to the promise made in the beginning of this work, into which not a single one has been admitted which has not either been taken from their own books, or heard from the followers of the respective creeds, as their enemies have, from hostile motives, falsely ascribed to them various erroneous doctrines.[526]
[524] Desnad, the volume which contains the doctrines of Mazdak.—D. S.
[525] A word not in the dictionaries; if derivable from बाण bána, “an arrow,” it may signify “an archer, head-archer;” if from बाणी bání, “speech,” it may be “a speaker, an orator.”—A. T.
[526] This first chapter of the Dabistán, here finished, represents the Sabæismus, or the worship of the heavenly bodies, and the formation of society by a race of kings, called the Máhábádiáns, who were succeeded by the Péshdádiáns, and other known dynasties of the Persian kings. We see laid down the principal features of Asiatic monarchies which have been preserved from times immemorial to our days. The Dabistán, it is true, blends the ideas of more recent epochs with those of the highest antiquity, and introduces sects of later times, the origin of which he traces back to the times of Abád, Húshang, and Zohák. It is however clear, that a very ancient religion prevailed in Asia, consisting of two principal points: the first was the adoration of the Creator of all good, whose unity was acknowledged very early by the enlightened class of men; the second point was the detestation of the author of all physical and moral evil. This religion inculcated purity of thoughts, words, and actions, and a tender regard for animal life; not without a great number of liturgical rites, dietetical observances, and other regulating customs in private and public. We may comprise under the general name of “Magismus” the fourteen religions mentioned in this chapter, the last but one of which, namely, that of Zardusht, appears to have been but a new systematic arrangement, not without a partial reform, of the old general religion of Asia, which has also been attributed to a more ancient Zardusht.
The duality of principle (good and bad) seems to come home to the common feeling of mankind; but it implies metaphysical questions about the creation, anteriority, posteriority, derivation and duration of light and darkness, about which the different sects are divided by their dogmas and opinions. That of the Zardushtiáns derived from God light and darkness, and considered the last as a shadow inseparable from the body. Zardusht was a dualist, inasmuch as he adopted light and darkness, as two eternal principles opposed to each other, and also inasmuch as he taught two immediate authors of good and evil, who were independent of, and absolutely contrary to, each other: but he was an unitarian, inasmuch as he subordinated these authors to the eternal decrees of the Supreme Being, who to him was the only principle of the universe, with respect not only to its original creation, but also to all its physical and moral accidents.
Although subdivided into sects, Zardusht’s religion appears to have been dominant, until the forcible introduction of Muhammedanism among the Persians, and zealously supported by the preaching of four wise men, called Sásán, who lived from 240 to 643 of the Christian era.
Here follow the principal epochs of the Zardushtián religion from the time of Gushtasp to the end of the ancient Persian monarchy:
| THE REIGNS OF | ACCORDING TO FERDUSI. | |
| I. Gushtasp | from 652 to 505 B. C. | Then lived Zardusht. |
| II. Alexander | — 337-323 id. | The First Sásan (Desátir, pp. 185. 186). |
| III. Ardeshir Babegan | — 200-240 A. D. | Arda Viraf. |
| IV. Shapur II. | — 240-271 id. | Arzabad, the son of Marasfand, Sásan II.(Desát, p. 188.) |
| V. Bahram, the son of Hormuzd | — 272-276 id. | Mani. |
| VI. Kobad | — 488-531 id. | Sásan III. Mazdak. |
| VII. Khosru Parvis | — 591-628 id. | The Fourth and the Fifth Sásan. |
| VIII. Yezdejerd | — 632-652 id. |
—A. T.