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Abstract
This article investigates the theme, known from two passages of Pahlavi literature (Šāyist nē Šāyist 13.43 and Dēnkard 9.22.1), of the multiple comings of the deities Dahmān Āfrīn and Srōš to the world at night in order to give it increase. The article highlights that this theme reflects some characteristics of the Dahmā Āfriti prayer (which Dahmān Āfrīn personifies), and of the deity Sraoša (of whom Srōš is the equivalent) according to the Avestan tradition. Furthermore, the article highlights that this theme also reflects certain characteristics of the Dahmā Āfriti and of Srōš, as well as of the deity Dahmān Āfrīn, in the Zoroastrian tradition of the Sasanian to early Islamic times. The article analyzes these characteristics, and proposes some considerations on the relationship between Dahmān Āfrīn and Srōš. It also points out that a connection between Dahmān Āfrīn and Srōš is preserved in modern and contemporary Zoroastrian rituals.
Abstract
In this article, seven documents from the Pahlavi Archive of Hastijan have been examined. All seven documents are housed in the Bancroft Library of the University of Berkeley. Three documents, Berk. 35, Berk. 162, and Berk. 33A, were published for the first time by Gignoux (2010 and 2003), but the present writer tried to revise them and complete the unread words, correct the misreadings, and achieve a better translation. Other documents – Berk. 169, Berk. 12, Berk. 17, and Berk. 170 (a small fragment) – are published for the first time in this article. The common feature of these documents is that a person named Frāy is present in all of them. Frāy is a famous person in the Pahlavi Archive of Hastijan, and we can see his name in 38 documents. The early document, Tehran C, was written in the year 32 (32 years after the death of Yazdgird III), and the last document, Berk. 8, was written in the month Spandarmad (12th month) of the year 49.
Abstract
Many articles have been published on the life and career of Idrīs Bidlīsī (1457–1520) and his contribution to the history of Ottoman Empire. There has been much less research, especially in the West, into the influential role that Persian literature, especially Niẓāmī of Ganğa, played in all facets of his works. Consequently, even fewer studies have been done on Idrīs’ own poetry, which was composed mainly either in late fifteenth century, when he was still at the court of Aqquyunlu, or after his residence at the Ottoman court, especially in early sixteenth century. This study is dedicated to making a “voyage of discovery” of his Persian poems as reflected in the Book VI of Hašt Bihišt, an unpublished book of his magnum opus.
Abstract
Middle Persian nahang (historically preferable: nihang) is usually translated as ‘province’. The paper tries to demonstrate that the term most probably means ‘domain, orbit; region’. The two forms nihang and nahang also occur in Bactrian documents, translated by Sims-Williams as ‘adjacent’ and ‘environs’. Here it will be argued that this word is semantically narrowed down in Bactrian to a more technical term meaning ‘the land part of a property, simple land (not taking into account the accessories and facilities belonging to it)’. Furthermore, it is discussed that also the word āhang, which collocates with nihang in Bactrian documents, was a technical term, probably meaning ‘accessories and appurtenances; harvest, crop yield; usufruct (?).’ The same term is found in Pahlavi documents meaning “harvest, crop yield”.