Middle PersianMiddle Persian is the Middle Iranian language/ethnolect of Southwestern Iran that during Sassanid times became a prestige dialect and so came to be spoken in other regions as well. Middle Persian is classified as Western Iranian language...
literature is
Persian literaturePersian literature spans two-and-a-half millennia, though much of the pre-Islamic material has been lost. Its sources have been within historical Persia including present-day Iran as well as regions of Central Asia where the Persian language has historically been the national language...
of the 1st millennium AD, especially of the Sassanid period.
Literature of Pahlavi
Pahlavi Literature can be divided in three parts:
- the Pahlavi version of the Avesta
The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language.-Etymology:The etymology of the term Avesta itself is uncertain, but a derivation from Middle Persian meaning "praise", is a frequently noted possibility.-Age of the texts:The texts of the...
, generally known as the 'Zend-Avesta'.
- Pahlavi texts on religious subjects.
- Pahlavi texts on non-religious subjects.
Pahlavi translations of Avesta texts
This includes several major Pahlavi texts which are translations of Avesta texts. It includes also some Afringan, Yasht and Niyayishn.
Some major Pahlavi books of this kind are:
- Vendidad
- Afringan-i Gahanbar
- Yasna
- Haptan Yasht
- Nirangistan
- Srosh Yasht Hadokht
- Vishtasp Yasht
- Sirozak I, II
- Visperad
- Frahang-i Oim-evak
Frahang-i Oim-evak is an old Avestan-Middle Persian dictionary. It is named with the two first words of the dictionary: Oim in Avestan means 'one' and evak is its Pahlavi equivalent. It gives the Pahlavi meanings of about 880 Avestan words, either by one word or one phrase or by explaining it....
- Khurshet Nyayish
- Ahuramazd Yasht
- Aban Nyayish
- Bahram Yasht
- Afringan-i Dahman
- Hadokht Nask
- Afringan- Gatha
- Aogemadaecha
- Khurshet Yasht
- Chitak avistak-i gasan
- Mah Yasht
- Ataxsh Nyayish
- Vichirkart-i Denig
- Afaringan Fravartigan
- Mah Nyayish
Pahlavi texts on religious subjects
It includes several major Pahlavi texts about different Zoroastrian religious subjects such as cosmogony, cosmology, eschatology, creation of the world, ceremonies, rituals, Andarz, Pandnamak, Patit etc.
Major 9th-century texts include the encyclopedic
DenkardThe Dēnkard or Dēnkart is a 10th century compendium of the Mazdaen Zoroastrian beliefs and customs. The Denkard is to a great extent an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" and is a most valuable source of information on the religion...
; Manushchihr's Dadestain-i Denig ("Religious Decisions") and
EpistlesThe Epistles of Manushchihr are a response to comments made by the author's brother on the subject of purification in Zoroastrianism....
; the treatises of Manushchihr's heretical brother, Zat-Sparam; and
BundahishnBundahishn, meaning "Primal Creation", is the name traditionally given to an encyclopædiaic collections of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Book Pahlavi. The original name of the work is not known....
("Original Creation")
http://www.iranchamber.com/religions/articles/zurvanism1.php.
Some other Pahlavi books of this kind are:
- Rivayat accompanying
- Shikand-gumanic Vichar
Shikand-gumanic Vichar is a Zoroastrian theology book of 9th century Iran, written by Mardan-Farrukh.-The Author:What little is known of the person Mardan-Farrukh comes to us through the pages of his book, written in Middle Iranian using the Pahlavi script...
- Shayast ne-shayast
Shayast ne-Shayast .'proper and improper'.one of the Middle Persian books which is written about 8th century B/C and containing about 13,700 words .this book is a compilation of miscellaneous laws and customs regarding sin and impurity, with other memoranda about ceremonies and religious subjects...
- Bundheshn the creation
- Dana-i Menog Khrat
The Dana-i Menog-i khrat, or 'opinions of the spirit of wisdom', a Middle Persian book which was written about 8th century....
- Mah farvardin Ruz khordad
Mah farvardin Ruz khordad is a book written in Middle Persian in the 7th century AC. It was written while Chosrous II attacked the Byzantine Empire around 624 AD....
a notable evidents in a date
- Arda-Viraf Namag
The Book of Arda Viraf is a Zoroastrian religious text of Sassanid era in Middle Persian language,contains about 8,800 words. It describes the dream-journey of a devout Zoroastrian through the next world. Due to the ambiguity inherent to Pahlavi script, 'Viraf' may also be transliterated as...
- Jamasp Namag
- Zand-i Wahman yasn
Zand-i wahman yasn is a middle Persian book, written in the 6th century. The Bahman Yast, usually called the 'Zand of the Vohûman Yast', professes to be a prophetical work, in which Ahura Mazda gives Zoroaster an account of what was to happen to the Persian people and their religion in the future....
- Matigan-i Yosht-i Fryano
- Andarz Ushnerdanak
- Andarz-i Bozorgmehr Bukhtegan the advices by Burzoe
Borzūya was a Persian physician in the late Sassanid era, at the time of Khosrow I.He translated the Indian Panchatantra from Sanskrit into the Middle Persian language of Pahlavi. But both his translation and the original Sanskrit version he worked from are lost...
.
- Matigan-i gujastak Abalish
Pahlavi texts on non-religious subjects
This includes several major Pahlavi texts which fall into the categories of Pahlavi glossaries, stories, poems, Geographies, etc.
Some major Pahlavi books of this kind are:
- Matigan-i Hazar Datistan
The Matigan-i Hazar Datistan was the judicial code of the Magistan, the imperial parliament of the Arsacid Dynasty of the Parthian Empire and, for a while, of the Sassanid Empire ....
(Judicial code)
- Cities in the land of Iran
- Karnamak-i Artaxshir-i Papakan
The Kārnāmag-ī Ardaxšīr-ī Pābagān or Book of the Deeds of Ardashir, Son of Papag, is a mythological Middle Persian tale written sometime during the Sassanid period ....
- Vizarishn- i Chatrang ud nahishn-i new Ardashir (invent of chess)
- Yatkar-i Zariran
- Drakht-i Asurig
Drakht-i Asurig is an Parthian Language poem, from the Arscacid era. It is framed as a dialogue between a goat and a palm tree. It is one of the oldest existing texts in Arscacid Middle Persian, and of the few remaining examples of the Parthian language....
- Khusro-i Kavatan and his Page
- Frahang-i Pahlavig
Frahang-i Pahlavig is a dictionary of Aramaic language ideograms with Middle Persian translations and transliterations...
- Wonders of the land of Sagastan
- Forms of Epistles
- Namak-i Tenser the letter by Tenser
- Shah zanan the king of women
We have to add several other Pahlavi books which are now lost, and of which we are only aware through references in other Arabic and Persian texts, such as
Ayyatkar-i Anushirvan the Arabic translation of which can be found in 'Tajarob-al Omam' of 'Ibn-i Muskuye', or 'Khvatay Namak' that is completely lost.
External links