Description
Spend Nask, given in the eighth book of the DJ nkarrf, chapter XIV, it is stated in 4(see S. B. E., vol. xxxvii, p. 32) that many marvels, owing to Zaratu-rt, are published therein,c just as there are some which, collected and selected, are noticed by theD inkarrf manuscript This statement evidently refers to the seventh book of theD lnkanf, which contains the legendary history of Zaratu,rt and his religion, related as a scries of marvels extending from the creation to the resurrection of mankind. A much briefer account of some of the same details occurs at the beginning of the fifth book of theD inkarrf, and appears to have been abridged from a compilation which was either derived partially from a foreign source, or prepared for the use of foreign proselytes. A third compilation of similar legends is found among theS elections of Zi-sparam. And a careful translation of these threeP ahlavi Texts constitutes theM arvels of Zoroastrianism contained in this volume. 2. As the extent of Dk. VII is about 16,000 Pahlavi words (without allowing for one folio lost), it probably contains about four-fifths of the details included in theS pendN ask, the Pahlavi version of which has been estimated, in S. B. E., vol. xxxvii, p. 469, to extend to 20,500 words. It says very little about Zaratu.rt sconferences with the sacred beings (mentioned in Dk.VIII, xiv, 5, 6), and gives no description of the other world and the way thither (as reported ibid. 8). But it probably contains many verbatim extracts from other parts of the Pahlavi version of theS pendN ask, which appear, however, to have been previously collected in theE xposition of the Good Religion, an older MS. than theD lnkarrf, which is quoted as an authority in Dk. VII, i, 2.
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don’t occur in the book.) About the Publisher
(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don’t occur in the book.) About the Publisher
Forgotten Books is a publisher of historical writings, such as: Philosophy, Classics,
