remarkable things relating to the history of the ancient
Iranian race, and to the religious rites* and notions of the
Magi. BHt. the Vendidad is but a small part of a j series of
works of which the remaining are lost, or are unknown in
Europe, except by the titles yet extant in manuscript catalogues
written by Parsees. The entire series contained
twenty-one sections, or noshkas ; and of them, only a part
of the twentieth noshka is the Vendidad.*
The Yaçnà, or Yashna, termed in Pehlvi, Izeshne, is a
series of liturgies, or solemn prayers, addressed to Or-
muzd, professedly by Zoroaster. Rhode supposes it to bé a
collection, of various ages, a part having been written by
Zoroaster. It contains fragments from the Vendidad, and:,
probably, from other noshkas no longer extant. This work
is now under publication in a new and corrected version, by
M. Burnouf. The Vispered is a series of invocations; * These
three works, the Vendidad, Yashna, and Vispered, .are together
termed the Vendidad Sade. Besidesvthese, there
are several pieces of inferior importance, Such as the^irouze,
termed by Kleuker a liturgical calendar, containing.direc?
tions for the prayers proper to each day in the montjhy,and
an invocation to the protecting Genius pf. each day, matters
savouring of the late Chaldean style; ^fhe Y eA ^ ^ ad c ^—a
collection of hymns or praises ; lastly, the Boundehesh,
* The entire enumeration is given by Rhode. The following is a specimen :
1. Nosk, Setud-Yesht; contains thirty-three chapters, and treats of them^itur e
of God and of Spirits. 2. Nosk, Setud Gner; twenty-two chapters, ordaining;
prayers, purifications, &xr. Rhode conjectures, that thé prayers in '••the Yeshts
and Izeshné, other extant works, are parts of this noshka. 3. Nosk Vehesht-
mansre: treats of faith and obedience to the Law, the opinions of Zoroaster,
&c., relating to the resurrection. Parts of the Izesbne, and two pieces of the
Boundehesh, are fragments, according to Rhode, of this book. 4. Nosk Bagh;
On ffié contents of the Law, &c. From this, the Yesht-Ormuzd is probably an
extract. 5. Nosk Duasdah-Hamast, i. e. the twelve hamasts:; treats of the
wicked, the upper and lower worlds, the nature of all beings, the divinity, waters,
trees, animals, &c, Parts of the Bound@k^8|i: are, apparen||y^ extracts
from this work. A fragment of the ninth nosk, is, in like manner, extant in
the Izeshne. The other noshkas treated, as it seems from the catalogue, of
similar matters. The twentieth is the Nosk Vendidad, which is still extant
according to Rhode in its entire state. M. E. Burnouf thinks that we have
only a part of it.--Rhode, Die heilige Sage, &c., der alten Meder, &c.—Burnouf,
Comment, sur le Ya§na.—Avant-propos.
which is a work of greater importance; but this hook is not
extant in<yZend, and never existed in that language in its
present form. It # ; only to be found in Pehlvi, and was
compiled at a comparatively late period, but contains a
variety pf. fragments Dr extracts, from dif©rent parts of the
original Zendavesta, now lq§t in, the Zend language. It is a
sort of Persian Genesis, and, ©opsists of thirty-four pieces of
different composition. Many of them are evidently passages
.of the old Magian laws and mythology, ©xcerpts from the lost
Noshkas of the Z.endavestar. ^3ojQa#care.ofipter date, and conr
,tain 'potfeelVof some particular; s.^ct^A^,Critical care is requis
ite , in order to distinguish the',ancien4t8ana,g^ume parts of
the ’ Boundehesh from | | § more,,recenU M- Rhode has
carefully analysed%^diffei‘®0»t» seetiops, and. has noted what
parts are.; genuine/,so^ces of information. respecting the
.jpDienhdoctrines of, £he Magi.
Paragraph 3 —Mythos of the Zendavesta.
According to the mythos er theoga&ybof the Zendish
. Scriptures, “ Zerouane Afeeren'eV” thafcris,' Wntereated
•* Time,”vghve- origin, in the’ beginning of all things,vt|> t.wo
vgrpat and powerful, agents. One of them was.Ahura-Mazda,
Rs -his name is in the {original Zend, according to' M.tBur-
nouf, meaning the Divine Being,-^n Pehlvi contracted into
-Ormuzd. .He is the principle,, orieleinent of «light.* 'Hie
^ & e r is Petmre engre Mem'oseh',, or Ahriman, the ^principle
S o f darkness.- Ormnzd dwells | i infinite,tight, Ahriman in
profound darkness. These.firsf prqated ere^vor m
opposition, and waged war against each other. A The infinite
being, Zerouane Akerene, in order to produce a remedy for
the evils which had arisen in thMmontest, resolved to call
* From the illustrations which M. Bur noufhasiately given of the Magian
philosophy and worship, in his'learned commentaries omthe Yn5na, we learn,
that the ideas nf the ancient Persians were not sq.refined and metaphysical as
1 Modern writers have represented them. . Th^light, Which was the object of
adoration, was not, as.it has beta supposed, «uncreated ligh,t>sof which the
1 created is but a reflection.” “ Light, -abstractly,^^ays M. Burnouf, ‘ is not
the object of worship in the Zoro&strian*boeks, but the light of the Sun, Moon,