Zarathushtra and his Antagonists: A Sociolinguistic Study with English and German Translations of his Gāthās

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Helmut Humbach and Klaus Faiss

Zarathushtra and His Antagonists A Sociolinguistic Study with English and German Translations of His Gäthäs

WIESBADEN 2010 DR. LUDWIG REICHERT VERLAG

Contents Preface .................................. .................................................................................... IX

YAv. ye,jhe, but archaized Y Av. ye,jhew,th art1fic1al lengthenmg of the fmal -e. n Thus the half-verse y. 28,6 yä daibisvatö dvacsä taurvayämä counts 10 syllablcs. To rcstorc thc nmnber of 9 syllables expccted by thcm, Gäthä scholars are inclined 10 corre_ct taurvayamä to *Jaurvämä. not rcgarding the fact that the verbal stcm /aurvaya- (not taurva- !) 1s well-attested 111 rclated Y oung A vestan phrases. . 23 In 1he scholarly literaturc thc tenn ' Gäthä' is oftcn misuscd to denotc one smgle song.

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Thc socioling uis tic background

The sociolinguistic background

Zarathushtra's youngest daughter. If the Pahlavi translation of Y. 53,4 is right, the bridegroom was D:}jämäspa/Jämäspa mentioned three times elsewhere in the Gäthäs, but, strangely enough, his name is lacking here. This fact suggests that portions of the :,0ng. \\·hich in sc\·cral dctails is also lcss cxactly tran smittcd than the others. were lo,t c1~ c,1rl> ,b 111 th..: :,ubarchct) pc (6.1) or C\ cn c:1rl1LT: ·

Sasanian Great Kings, by a rich secondary Zoroastrian literature, and furthennore by part of the Manichean scriptures di scovered in Xinjiang (Sinkiang, Chinese Turkestan). Customarily the inscriptional and Zoroastrian variants of Middle Persian are called Pahlavi. a term wh ich. ilite .,µ.J~lli/.\Cil 11wi11; ll.> illj/"ihCil i/0.lf il.,/t' fral)hara ayaf asiste katarasciJ; / spantö mainyus astam fralJhara ayaJ vohuca manö

a$amca vahistam ätramca ahurahe mazda pu9ram; / alJrö mainy us astam fral)hara ayaf akamca manö aesmamca x mvi.dram aiimca dahäkam spitiy uramca yiinö.karantam '(for that Glory ... ) about wh ich Sp;itJta Mainy u and At:tgra Mainyu wcre in conflict with

each other ... / each of the two sent his swiftest messengers (to gain hold of it); as his messengers Sp;it)ta Mainyu sent Vohu Manah, Asha Vahis hta, and the Fire of Ahura Mazdä; / as his messengers AtJgra Mainy u sent Aka Manah , Aeshma/Fury of bloody weapon, the (monster) Azhi Dahäka, and Spitiyura who is (perpetually) cutting up Yima' Yt. 15,43 uva di!ma ... yasca da8aJ spa~1tö mainyus yasca da8af al)rö mainyus 'both creati o ns, ... that whic h Sp;it:tta Mainyu c reated and that which Aogra Mainyu c reated ' Y. 57, 17 sraosö ... yö nöiJ pascaeta /wsx'afa yaJ mainya dämfln dai8itam yasca spantö mainy us yasca 81Jrö ' Sraosha (Hearing/Obedience) who (watching over the herds of truth) has never slcpt since the two spirits, Sp;i1Jta Mainyu and Aogra (Mainyu), c reated the creatures' Yt. 13,76 frava$ayö ... ya ta8a ara8ßa histanta hyaf mainyü dämflll dai8itam yasca SJJ8(1fö mainyus yasca al)rö 'thc Fravashis (protective spirits) who then s tood upright w hen the two spirits, Sp;i1Jta Mainyu and Aogra (Mainyu), c reated the creatures'

23.4. In the Gäthäs, 110 creati ve activity of A1_1gra Mainyu (which, of course, would result in mis-creations) is mentioned. lt is Ahura Mazdä who is called datar- 'creator,' a tenn which, in regard of the wide scope of meanings of the root da. not only denotes the creator par excellence but also the giver/bestower and much more. In contrast, Sp::il)ta Mainyu is rather considered a prominent divine entity, showing a preference for sta11ding in the instrumental case, which is characteristic of thcse, e.g.: Y. 45,6 spantä mainyo sraoto mazda alwrö ' let the Wise Lord hear it with best thoug ht ' Y. 5 1,7 däidi ... spanistä mainyo 'grant (mc) through most bene licent spirit '

Generally we ascribe adverbial function to the instrumental case, rendering it with the prepositions 'with, through, by, due to,' but in several cases adnominal function must be take11 into account in the Gäthas, see, e.g.: Y. 44,7 azam täis 8ßä

fraxsni avämi mazdä

spa~1tä mainy o vispan{lm dätäram ' with these (offerings) 1 prudently re fresh you, 0 Wise One, with benelicent s pirit, (you,) the creator of all (things)' or: 'you who, with/ through (your) Bene liccnt Spirit , (are) the creator of all (things)'

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23.5. Sp;:iIJta Mainyu ' Beneficent Spirit' and his opponent AIJgra Mainyu/Ah reman ' Harmful Spirit' vary in the Gäthäs with Yohu Mainyu 'Good Spirit' and Aka Mainyu 65 'Evil Spirit,' respectively. By producing this intermed iate fom1 between Sp;:iIJta/AIJgra Mainyu ' Bene ficent/Harmful Spirit' and Yohu/Aka Manah 'Good/Evil Thought' the prnphl'l rcnounccs thc tcrmi no lPgical l"icarncss cuswmarily npcctccl fr0m him hy hi~ adhcrcnts and by modern scholarship.''" l li s intcnt is pocri cal ,·ari ati on li ke in Y. -!7, 1 ,,·hcrc the scqucncc of Sp;:i1_11a ;-.Jainyu and the six (latcr) i\111;:isha Sp;i1_1tas (17.8-9) is artisticall) crosscixso, itself a phonetic disfiguration of asa(h)e-wa(h)jst, a compound contracted from the syntagma YAv. a$a- vahista- in its gen .sg. form a$ahe vahistahe. w hich especially denoted the 2 nd month d

and 3' day of each 111011th in the Mazdayasnian calendar and was generalized as casus rectus in the Middle lranian period. Whereas lhe genitive ending -ahe of thc first member of the Avestan syntagma is preserved on the coins in its Avestan for m, it bccame -ein Man.MP . 'rdy-whyst

{arde-wahistj. Th is gives an impression of it having become a free variant of Phi. 'rt-whst {ard118 129

°

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lll

Documentation ofthe coins in Rosenficld 1967 and Göbl 1984 (3 1.2). The character p, originating from Greek /1 [hr]. denotes the Avestan aspirated r. lt is traditionally pronounced like Av. s [s]. but its original value was [hr] as it is rcndcrcd in Pahlavi borrowings from Avcstan. Sec K. Hoffmann 1986 and below on Asaeixso (35.2). Cf. on the onc hand thc Grcek genitivc in (h)ermaiou 'of (King) Hermaios' and kadfizou 'of (King) Kadphises,' on the other hand the Grcek nominativc in basileus ooemo kadfises 'King Vima Kadphises' (Humbach 1966-67, 1, 39 f.). On Anemos (not yet in Göbl) sec K. Tanabe 1990, who prefers to equate Anemos with Oado.

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Reconstructed Oßactr. -ö is an isogloss of Av. -ö ( < -ah vs. OP. -a"), cf. Bactr. bago [ßay] 'lord' with Y Av. bayö [bayö]. thc initials disagrecing. 3 ll Generalized ßactr. -o lraces back to -.'im in the gen.plur. saonano < saonänäm 'of the kings.' An earlicr pronunciation of sähän säh the Middle Persian equivalent of ßactr. saonano sao, reflects in its Sanskrit borrowing !fähänu !jähi in Gupta lnscriptions no. 1, line 23. u 4 Th. Nöldeke 1879/ 1973, 269. 135 The name ofShäba's son ßam1üdha looks lran ian rather than Turkish. 6 IJ i sao bago kaneski namobargo ' the Lord King Kanishka the famous/pious,' see Humbach 2003, 159.

The sociolinguistic background

The socio linguistic background

wahist], yet the calendaric function ofthe genitive s urvives in the month name NP . urdibehist. Another interesting aspect of Asae-ixso is that the phonetic difference bet ween Av. s [s] and f [hr], clearly observed in the Sasanian archety pe of thc Avesta (6.1), was blu1Ted in common 137 language as early as about a hundred and fifty or two hundred years beforc. :::'.. -'irduY~u {ard-11,~l fern. · c,ood Re\\ard · (k picted a, T,chi.' Fo rtuna. cf. \\. a,,.:: 1a1111hi ·uood Rc,\·,m1.· Ph i. an/ ·Re\\ard. · ahn.-.-11,mg ·to (day) Göshti' in the Tochi inscription ITSB (Humbach 1994, 142 f.). 138 Cf. OAv. aodaras 110111.sg. of aodar- 'frost,' thc antonym of 'fire,' in Y. 51 ,12. 139 For possible a9fo < a9r6 cf. Bactr. xfo110 ' year' borrowed from Gr. chronos ' time. '

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19. Risto [ristj fem. (Göbl 110. 288 1x), on two specimens (Göbl no. 332) w ritten with a 141 dwarfcd -o turncd upward like a flouri s h and, therefore, e1Toneously read risti. The dcity is described by Roscnfic ld 96 f. as wcaring "a c rested he lmet, a body armor, and a long chito n, holding in her lc ft hand a spear; in her ri ght hand a shie ld" ; Göbl 1984, 45 conv incing ly thinks o f Pal las A thene/ Minerva . F. Grenet 1984 connects the name with that of the Avcstan dcity arslät- 'straig htness/sureness/preciseness' whose name is simplified in Y. 57,33 to arstihomony mous with the a ppe llative noun arsti- ' lance.' Yet, ars/ 0 is from rst 0 which cannot become rist0 in lranian. The outward appearance o f risto rather points to rista- (Av. irista-, Ved.Skt. rififa-) w ho se meaning 'damaged, injured' is understandably no appropriate namc of a deity, for w hich reason we think it possible that risto on the model of the coin inscriptions was corrupted from *a-risto ' the unda maged/ unhurt one' (Av. a-irista-), possibly in the sense of ' virgin.' 20. Saoreoro [sahre1Varj ' Desirable Rule/ Power,' from the gen.sg. Av. xsa9rahe vairyehe; cf. Phi. strywar [sahre1Var] along with Man.MP. Pth. shrywr and the mo nth name NP. sahriwar lsahrir. - Variant sahreoar (Göbl no. 38 1 1x). 142 2 1. Teiro [tir] . cf. Phi. lir 'mercury' and Av. tira-(in the proper name tirö.11aka9ßa-).

36. Oesho 36.1. The obverses of the coins of Yima Kadphises, who is generall y cons idered the predecessor of Kanishka (the Great), 143 show a portrait of the king encircled by a Greek inscription of varying length, the langest of w hich runs basileus basileön söter megas ooemo kadphises ' King of Kings Y irna Kadphises, the Great Savior,' their reverses, however, fo llow a pattern different from those on the coins of Kanishka and his 140 Thc fi gure of Orom/ Ozdo is dcscribcd by Roscnficld 101 as "a type of bearded male with high cylindrical cap; staff in left hand, right hand in the gcsn1re of varada-mudrä. Cap is similar to those worn by lndra in Gandhäran sculpture." Differently Göbl 46 "mit hohem pilzartigen Hut (wie Modius)," apparcntly thinking of Sarapis. 141 Sim ilarly, the half-cursive vers ion B of the Surkh Kotal inscription SK 4 ends with a nourish tumcd downward, thus suggcsting the erroncous rcading borzomioro kirdi 'made by Burzmihr' instead o f intcnded correct kirdo. 141 On the reverses of Huvishka's coins one finds furthermore the Egyptian Sarapis (sarapo) and thc Grcek 1-lcraklcs (eraki/o). who is dcpictcd with a club. 143 On the problematic nature ofthe relat ive chronology sce 3 1.2, n. 12 1.

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The sociolinguistic background

successors, by molding the translation of the Bactrian text into a somewhat debased Sanskrit written in Kharoshthi script which nms maharajasa rajadirajasa sarvalogesvarasa mahesvarasa tradarasa vimasa katphisasa ' of the Great King, King of Kings. the Lord of thc World. the Great Lord (and) Savior Vima Kadphises' (see Göbl platc 1). Thc _I a,9a il/rllll 11iia11a11i illjtilhl" lllili11_1 Ju, d,tlllilllil/11 llitt'ti.:: "\ ilf _1 il[ ·'/irl!lliiht• ·1" \\,J1,hip.:1 Jlld~>.) kt illL >illllL (