The story of the priest Dēnyār
and the daughter to whom Muḥammad was born
A mythical legend with a historical core is found in a few manuscripts of the Persian Rivāyāt, in two versions, A and B.[1] It describes the collapse of the Persian Kingdom and the disturbance of the (Good) Religion. Two symptoms of the devastation of the kingdom and religion of the Perso-Aryan land are the birth of a cursed child and the appearance of a sinful or heretic priest.
1. It is revealed that a priest’s daughter, being virgin, will be raped by a cat (B: a demon), and will conceive an abnormal child. This happens in the house of a (high) priest (dastvar) of Yazd. He decides to kill his daughter, but he is unsuccessful. Her mother first hides her, and then helps her to flee. She goes to the Arabian Desert. As soon as she gives birth to a child, she dies. A she-wolf finds and suckles him. The child survives. The sign (daxšag) of this abnormal child is a tail (A: he is tailed; B: he is cat-faced). Three Arabs find the child, take him, and foster him to manhood; they exhibit him in fairs to amuse people.
2. The priest Dēnyār is the apostate of that time. Aṇgra Mainyu (Evil Spirit) sends a daēva to delude him. And he, disturbed in his prayers, kills his mother. The magi do not accept him to make atonement for his crime. He decides to take revenge on the Magi for not being atoned; and he goes to Arabia.
3. In a fair in Arabia, Dēnyār sees the crowd laughing at a tailed boy. He intervenes, saying: “This boy is your prophet, called Muḥammad.” Then he shows three miracles to convince them. The Arabs accept Muḥammad as their king-prophet; and Dēnyār who comes to be called Salmān the Perse, becomes his counsellor.
4. The young king-prophet, in company of his counsellor, returns to Persia, killing the Persian king Yazdegird, and causing the ruin of the Aryan land.
5. Of the two daughters of Yazdegird, the eldest is called Šahrbānūg, and the second Bānūg ī Pārs. Šahrbānū is captured, and she by force becomes the wife of Muḥammad[2]; but she does not bear any child. To avoid being captured, Bānūg Pārs runs to a mountain, and she prays for delivery; the mountain cleaves into two parts, and she enters. Since that time, her hidden spot has become a shrine and the place of pilgrimage.
[1] . I first published the first version in 1993 :
رهام اشه، دستور دينيار و پيامبر ِ دمدار، ارمان، 1362 يزدگردی
[2] . According to the Islamic tradition she became the wife of Ḥusayn son of ‘Alī.
and the daughter to whom Muḥammad was born
A mythical legend with a historical core is found in a few manuscripts of the Persian Rivāyāt, in two versions, A and B.[1] It describes the collapse of the Persian Kingdom and the disturbance of the (Good) Religion. Two symptoms of the devastation of the kingdom and religion of the Perso-Aryan land are the birth of a cursed child and the appearance of a sinful or heretic priest.
1. It is revealed that a priest’s daughter, being virgin, will be raped by a cat (B: a demon), and will conceive an abnormal child. This happens in the house of a (high) priest (dastvar) of Yazd. He decides to kill his daughter, but he is unsuccessful. Her mother first hides her, and then helps her to flee. She goes to the Arabian Desert. As soon as she gives birth to a child, she dies. A she-wolf finds and suckles him. The child survives. The sign (daxšag) of this abnormal child is a tail (A: he is tailed; B: he is cat-faced). Three Arabs find the child, take him, and foster him to manhood; they exhibit him in fairs to amuse people.
2. The priest Dēnyār is the apostate of that time. Aṇgra Mainyu (Evil Spirit) sends a daēva to delude him. And he, disturbed in his prayers, kills his mother. The magi do not accept him to make atonement for his crime. He decides to take revenge on the Magi for not being atoned; and he goes to Arabia.
3. In a fair in Arabia, Dēnyār sees the crowd laughing at a tailed boy. He intervenes, saying: “This boy is your prophet, called Muḥammad.” Then he shows three miracles to convince them. The Arabs accept Muḥammad as their king-prophet; and Dēnyār who comes to be called Salmān the Perse, becomes his counsellor.
4. The young king-prophet, in company of his counsellor, returns to Persia, killing the Persian king Yazdegird, and causing the ruin of the Aryan land.
5. Of the two daughters of Yazdegird, the eldest is called Šahrbānūg, and the second Bānūg ī Pārs. Šahrbānū is captured, and she by force becomes the wife of Muḥammad[2]; but she does not bear any child. To avoid being captured, Bānūg Pārs runs to a mountain, and she prays for delivery; the mountain cleaves into two parts, and she enters. Since that time, her hidden spot has become a shrine and the place of pilgrimage.
[1] . I first published the first version in 1993 :
رهام اشه، دستور دينيار و پيامبر ِ دمدار، ارمان، 1362 يزدگردی
[2] . According to the Islamic tradition she became the wife of Ḥusayn son of ‘Alī.
Preface
آزند ِ دستور دينيار و پيامبر ِ دمدار
آزند ِ دستور دينيار و پيامبر ِ دمدار
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Text
ماديان
ماديان
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