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On these pages you will find the rough works of
Raham Asha رهام اشه concerning the Perso-Aryan world. The material on this site is constantly corrected and, hopefully, improved. If you want to cite anything here, please check with the author first. dēn
abestāg/ Avesta, zand, ayārdag Scriptures and Scripiture Knowledge The tradition of the Magi about the Avesta mēnōg xrad
The sacred, religious and cultural tradition of the Aryans jāyēdān xrad
Wisdom Literature pand, handarz, āzend, … Ancient Perso-Aryan kingship
The State in Persian Tradition išxan, šāh, xvadāy, vispuhr šāhīh ped ērānšahr Education of the ancients
hamōzišn ud frahang Calendars, Dates and Chronologies, ...
sālnāmag, māhrōz, ud sālmar, ud cē Astronomy, Astrology, Cosmology, Cosmogony, ...
starušmārīh, axtarmārīh, gētīgdānišnīh, bundahišnīh, ud cē Hemerology, Menology, Ophiomancy, Astral omens, and Lapidary of Sacred Stones (their Magical and Medicinal Powers), Bird Oracles, etc.
rōznāmag, māhnāmag, mārnāmag, axtarnāmag, nišān ī muhragīhā, murvnīšīh, ud cē Medicine
bizeškīh/ bišehkīh, drustbedīh Zamān ‘Time’ in the last texts of the Magi
زمان ِ بيکران اندر نوشته های پارسی ِ مغانA Cosmographical treatise in Gujarati
There exists a compilation of different fragments, written in Gujarati with interlinear Persian versions, on cosmography. The text of the treatise is found in the end of one manuscript of the Xvardag Abestāg. The story of the priest Dēnyār
and the daughter to whom Muḥammad was born دستور دينيار و پيامبر ِ دمدار The Aryan and the Jew
How the Magi look upon the three « Judaisms » On a number of occasions Jews (jehūd) and Judaism (jehūdīh) appear in the writings of the Magi. In these texts, Judaism constitutes the very antithesis of Magianism, the doctrine of the Jews (kēš ī jehūd) as opposed to the good religion (dēn māzdesn), the evil rule (dušxvadāyīh) versus the good rule (huxvadāyīh). Both good and evil rules have been put to the test three times –the Aryan rule is presented as the legacy of Yima and the Jewish rule as that of Dahāka. |
Forthcoming:
vīrāzagān The visionary journey of Vīrāza to heaven and hell The question of conversion
A Banquet Speech
āfrīn ī sūr This is a benediction pronounced in the sūr “where excellent food was served and where cooks and table boys, singers and musicians, and gate-keepers were engaged.” The text is also an example of after-meal speech at banquets and at anniversary ceremonies (different from death anniversary), the rōzgār. The text as reached us dates back to the Sasanian era; and a list of Persian dignitaries in it shows that it belongs to the sixth century, or as Tavadia states: “We have found only the upper limit, namely the reign of Xusrav I.” 
From the Discourse of Meliton of Sardis
A Syriac text of the apologist Melito of Sardis exists in the manuscript Add. 14658 (London BL), f. 176-f. 181. It professes to be an apology for Christianity addressed to Marcus Aurelius Antoninus (161-180) about A.D. 170. It bears the title of « The Discourse of Meliton the Philosopher », which was in the presence of Antoninus Cæsar Here is the text and (Persian and English) translation of a fragment of this work concerning the origin of Polytheism and idolatry – «I will write and show how and for what reasons images were made to kings and tyrants, and they came to be regarded as gods. » The coming of the King Vahrām Varzāvand
The present short text expresses the hope of the advent of Vahrām, the Aryan hero who will come in a future period and will restore the Aryan kingdom –in the Jāmāspīg he is the king of Pedišxvārgar. J. C. Tavadia established that it is a poem with rhyme (according to Bahar it is a verse-text with a series of twelve-syllable verses ), and called it “a rhymed ballad”. There exists another text concerning the coming of King Vahrām. In fact, his compiler has interpolated some glosses in the original (above) text. Edgar Blochet found it in a manuscript which once before was at his disposal. Another copy is found in the manuscript R 591 (K.R. Cama Oriental Institute, Mumbai), 49v-50 v. La mort de Baldr et la mort de Syāvaršan et Spəṇtōδāta
La mort de Baldr, dans la religion des Germains, révèle, non pas l’avènement sans retour de la mort inévitable de l’homme dans le monde matériel –le thème qu’on trouve dans le texte avestique Aogәmadaēcā –, mais la mort inattendue, comme on voit dans une série de légendes perso-aryennes qui mettent en scène la mort inattendue du héros qui dérègle ainsi l’harmonie cosmique, et propage la guerre, la famine et le mensonge. Alors la légende prend la forme de la « réparation ». 1. La mort de Baldr et la mort de Spәṇtōδāta 1.1. L’invulnérabilité du héros 1.2. L’énigme de la mort du héros 2. La vengeance de Baldr et la vengeance de Syāvaršan 2.1. Lamentation de Frigg et lamentation des Mages 2.2. La cachette de Loki et la cachette de Fraŋrasyan 2.3. Le saumon Loki et le poisson Fraŋrasyan 2.4. Kvasir et Haoma مرگی ِ بيزمان به بينش ِ ايرانی و گرمنی
مرگ ِ بلدر و مرگ ِ اسپنديياد تهمتنی فرشن ِ مرگ ِ يل مرگ ِ بلدر و مرگ ِ اسپندياد گريستن ِ فريگ و گريستن ِ مغان خانة لوکی و هنگ ِ فراسياب لوکی و فراسياب به کرب ِ ماهی کوسير و هوم 
guzastag abdallāh (GA)
The accursed ʿAbdallāh The Pārsīg treatise, guzastag abdallāh (GA), gives an account of a theological debate which took place between the Manichaean ʿAbdallāh and the high priest Ādarfarrōbay in the presence of the Arab Caliph al-Ma'mūn (813-833 A.D.). Sur les sept qualités supérieures survenues au roi Kavi Vīštāspa, et la possibilité qu’a n’importe quelle personne de la bonne religion de s’approprier les mêmes qualités à son rang. Selon l’exposé de la religion.
Dk iii 389 abar haft pahlumīh ī ō vištāsp šāh mad ēstād <hend> tavānīgīh kadār-z-ē hudēn abar xvēšēnīdan pāyagīhā ham-pahlumīh. 
The manuscript LXI contains four texts belonging to the Pārsī divinatory literature.
The Wèi-shū and the Persian calendar
The Wèi-shū, or the Annals of the Wèi (dynasty), was written by Wèi shōu (506-572 A.D.), a high-ranking civil servant of the dynasty of the northern Qi (北齊). The account of Persia in the sixth century is found in chapter 102 of this book. It is almost identical with another Chinese account, the Běi shǐ (北史), or the book of the History of the dynasties of the North, completed by Lǐ yánshòu (李延寿) in 659 A.D., chapter 97.  King Akbar and Abuʾl-Faẓl
The Indo-Persian Divine Calendar
The so-called Tārīkh i Ilāhī The Divine Era (تاريخ الهی / yazdīg māhrōz) was established by the order of the Indian king Akbar in the 29th year of his reign, A.H. 992/ A.D. 1584. The architect of the sacred calendar was a Persian scholar, Šāh Fatḥullāh Šīrāzī. The epoch of the sacred calendar, according to the Framān, was the date of the vernal equinox just after the accession of the great king Akbar, that is, 1 D. Y. (divine year) began on Tuesday 1556 A. D., March 10 = 28 Rabīʿ II, A.H. 963
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 Avesta Glossary
A glossary of Avesta words and their Pārsīg equivalents, based on the Zand, the so-called Frahang ī ōīm: ēk Text and Grammatical Notes Raham Asha The K. R. Cama Oriental Institute Mumbai, 2009 ISBN 978-81-905943-1-8 |
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The Codex TD 26
In March 2011 I had an opportunity of visiting Mumbai, and seeing and reading some of the manuscripts of the library of the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute. Mrs. Dr. Nawaz Mody, Mr. Muncherji N. M. Cama and the librarians very kindly made all special arrangements required for an access of the manuscripts which were not yet listed. Out of twenty-four manuscripts I could page through I found two manuscripts of a special interest. I wrote by hand some fragments of them. Here is a brief survey of the contents of the codex TD 26, along with the transcription and translation of two texts of it. Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, N° 72, 2012, 9-21. |
