A thematic introduction to šak-ud-gumānīh-vizār (ŠGV)

Mardānfarrox gives a résumé of the religion: the world of thought (mēnōg) and the world of life (gētīg);

The five-part pattern of the religion (dēn) and the five-part structure of the Aryan society and the five-part pattern of the microcosm (gēhān ī kōdak, mardōm).

Mihrayyār puts another question as regards the unlimitedness and limitedness (of time and space). Mardānfarrox leaves the answer to this question for another chapter.

The second chapter begins with some definitional ground to expose the existence of the Holy Spirit and His adversary. Then he refutes the arguments of the “alien” athheists, those who are called σοφιστής ‘ sophist’ and also dahrī. This chapter is contained in the fifth and sixth fragments of the book.

R. P. Karkaria resumes the first fragment (V) thus:

Mardānfarrox points out (V.1-9) the necessity of understanding the nature of the sacred being as well as of admitting his existence. He then details (V.10-45) in a general manner the various modes of acquiring such knowledge, and these modes are (V.46-91) applied to prove the existence of a wise and benevolent Creator, from the evident existence of design in creatures, and their various organs and appliances. In the sixth fragment, the argument from design is continued with a special rebuke at its close to the Sophists who argue that there can be no certainty about spiritual matters because our knowledge of them is merely a subjective illusion.

Then Karakaria points out that this chapter presents a very close resemblance to the argument of M. Lucillius Balbus, the spokesman of the Stoics in the famous dialogue of Cicero, called the De Natura Deorum:

In the first book the representative of the Epicureans, C. Velleius, gives their views; he believes in the existence of the gods, but denies the government of the world by them. C. Aurelius Cotta, on behalf of the Academics, says that it is impossible to arrive at any certainty with regards to the divine natures. The second book is entirely taken up with the Stoic argument of Balbus. He gives, (1) proof of the divine existence, (2) of the divine nature, (3) of the providential government of the universe, and (4) of the providential care for man. Providential government is inferred from the consideration of the Universe itself, as embodying an intelligent principle first imported into it by a creative energy. A detailed review is given of the wonders of Nature, viz., the earth, the sun, moon, stars and planets; also wonders of vegetable and animal life. Then the hand of Providence is shown to be most plainly visible in man, in the provision made for supporting his life by food and air; in the fragment of his body and his erect position; in the organs of sense; in the gift of reason; in the gift of speech through the wondrous mechanism of the vocal organs; in the capacity for action through the mechanism of the hand; and finally in the capacity for the meditation and worship. This entire section of Cicero presents a resemblance to the two fragments of the second chapter; and this can be clearly seen by reading the two side by side. Karakaria gives one instance: Both Cicero and Mardānfarrox take the instance of the human eye to show the adaptation of means to ends in the human body as well as the Universe.

Then he succinctly reviews (VI.5-34) the doctrine of the Dahrī, that is, the principle of infinite time, the denial of heaven and hell, and materialism, and he ends (VI.35-45) by saying a few words about sophists.

Zaehner states: “God is good: that is the first Zoroatrian dogma, and to this Mardānfarrox returns again and again. In chapter (VIII) …, he develops three main lines of thought. First, the existence of good and evil is empirically verifiable and this dichotomy is traceable to the first causes. Secondly, since God is by definition a rational (and omniscient) being, his creation must have a rational motive. Thirdly, if it is admitted that God is good, then it necessarily follows that evil cannot proceed from Him, however indirectly … Mardānfarrox then goes on to argue that since good and evil are demonstrable facts in the material world and since the latter derives from a spiritual or unseen prototype, it follows that there is a dichotomy in that world too, ˗a dichotomy that leads inevitably to two first causes which are mutually antagonistic and irreconcilable.”

The whole Chapter Fourth (fragment IX) is a quotation from the third book of the Dēnkird, only the title of which is found in the extant Dēnkird (iii, M 262). It is about the existence of the contrary of the creatures, and the precedence of the contrary in comparison with the creatures.

This chapter is about the theoretic system of the monists (monotheists) in which Mardānfarrox presents a new proof of dualism. The opportunity is taken to speak of his personal quest, his travels, how he escaped from doubtfulness especially from Manichaeism, and those who inspired him, viz. Ādarpādyāvandān, Ādarfarrōbay and Rōšn. He also gives a brief summary of the history of the Religion, daēnā māzdayasni, viz. the coming of the religion, the conversion of Vīštāspa and the wise of his court, the conversion of Spəṇtoδāta and Zairi.vari and other governors, the ordeal of Ādarbād and the defeat of his hypocrite adversaries, colloquies with the “Roman” Atheists and the prevalence of the wise of Ērānšahr (Persia). It ends with a prelude to next chapter on Islam (X.78-80)

From the Dēnkird

This is the only chapter of the first two books of the Dēnkird that has been preserved. Mardānfarrox has cited it by way of authority after the chapter on Islam. It is about the inconsistent discourses of the Muslim doctrines as regards God, and concludes that Islam is incompatible with a measured religion. It then compares the god of the (Muslim) monotheists with the god of the (Mazdayasnian) dualists.

• This Chapter essentially contains an epitome of stories of creation and the fall of Adam as described in the Genesis. 5-47
• Objections 48-149

Ninth Chapter (XIV)

This Chapter is about the qualities of Adonai as described in a series of Scriptures and Agadot: He is vengeful, raging, heavy-hearted, wrathful, deceitful even of those who serve him best, warlike and cruel, capricious and mean to men; he does not even tolerate the protestation of the angels; he dismisses his own angels to a fiery river in hell; he engages in bloody battles against men; in the end, he comes to regret his creation. 4-86

• Introduction 1-3
• This chapter treats of a set of the dogmas of the Christian church: Incarnation, Trinity, Crucifixion and Redemption. The homeland of the Christian creed: Jerusalem. The Immaculate Conception and the Annunciation to a Jewish woman: The announcement by the angel Gabriel to the Virgin woman that she is impregnated by the Pure Wind (Holy Spirit), and she would conceive Messiah. 4-8
• About the testimony of the Virgin woman 9-17
• About the Pure Wind (Holy Spirit) 18-23
• About Messiah as Son of God 25-30
• About Messiah as God and his Incarnation 31-39
• About the crucifixion of Messiah 40-45
• The doctrine of the Trinity: Father and Son and Pure Wind 46-62
• Salvation 63-70

Eleventh Chapter :

• Introduction 71
• This chapter cites a number of sayings from the “Canonical Scriptures ” of the Christians. The central concept of this chapter is the Freedom of Will. 72-90

Twelfth Chapter :

• Introduction 91-92
• This chapter cites a number of sayings from Paul and other authorities. The central point of the critique is the “duality” of the Christian discourses. Mardānfarrox argues that the New Testament really confirms the existence of two Principles, Good and Evil; and he concludes that: Although Jesus claimed that he had not come to abolish the Laws of Moses, his sayings and commands really dissipate these laws. 93-155

The final chapter of Mardānfarrox’s treatise is devoted to Manichaeism.

• The head of the chapter 1-3
• Expository portion:
• Mani’s doctrine of the three times 4-7
• Initial: The infinity of the principles 4
• Middle: Mixture 5
• The world is the corporeal body of Aŋra Mainyu 8-9
• The production of Macrocosm from the bodies of the flayed giant demons 10-20
• Sun and moon and the process of purification 21-22
• Reaction of Ahrmen: the production of microcosm in the likeness of macrocosm 23-27
• Final: Separation 6
• Seduction of the Archonts 28-37
• Soul-Light is bound and imprisoned within the body. 38-39
• It ought not to procreate and propagate lineage, nor even to cultivate plants and grain. 40-41
• It ought not to kill any creature whatsoever. 42-45
• Victory of God and end of the world 46-50
• The doctrine of the two primeval principles 51-52
• Mardānfarrox criticizes Mani’s conception of the infinite 53-//

Mannichaeism

Since the editio princeps of the Pāzand version and Neryōsang’s Sanskrit rendering by Jāmāsp-Āsānā and the English translation by West (1885), this chapter has attracted the attention of Western scholars, and they have translated the whole chapter or various passages of it, and/or discussed some of technical terms in it.

J. de Menasce in his revised French edition gives a detailed introduction to this chapter, with giving most of the passages which refer to Mani in Pārsīg literature. However, in spite of revised translations and revisions, the technical terms that have been wrongly transcribed in Neryōsang’s Pāzand version are not yet correctly deciphered.

• The head of the chapter 1-3

Expository portion:

• Mani’ doctrine of the three times 4-7
• Initial: The infinity of the principles 4
• Middle: Mixture 5
• the world is the corporeal body of Aŋra Mainyu 8-9
• The production of Macrocosm from the bodies of the flayed giant demons 10-20

<<  Neryōsang reads kunī dēβ in Pāzand and kūnīdeva in Sanskrit.

In the Dēnkird III M. 217 this thesis is attributed to Mani:

  fragān +post ī  X druz ī-š bunēštag ‘ The foundation is the skin of the X devil which is the principle (of the world).’

For West (244) who translates it ‘The demon Kunī’ “there is little doubt that he is the (Avesta) demon Kuṇda or Kuṇdi.” However there is no parallel between the dismembered demon and the Avesta demon Kuṇda.

The construction of the sky and earth as the dismembering of a Giant (or Giants) recalls the story of the flayed Archonts, the sons of Darkness. See for example the account by Theodorus:

“ Then the Living Spirit ordered three of his sons that one should kill, and the other flay the Archonts, sons of darkness, and that they deliver them over to the Mother of the Living (Pers. mādar ī zīndagān); the Mother of the Living overspread the sky with their skin, and she made eleven (corr. ten) heavens, and they threw their bodies to the earth of darkness. They made eight earths.”

Recall, moreover, the account by Ephraim:

“[Mani says thus:] When the Primal Man hunted the Sons of Darkness he flayed them, and made this sky from their skins, and out of their excrement he compacted the Earth, and some of their bones, too, he melted, and raised and piled up the mountains.”

“But if, as some of them say, just as a serpent has a Sheath-skin, so out of the Sheath-skins of the Sons of Darkness the sky and the earth and the rest of created things were made…”

The Syriac words ܛܫܢ ‘to flay, skin’ and ܚܠܫ Pa. ‘to strip’ corresond to verb Pers. kan-: kand; and the Syriac word for flayed, ܐܚܝܠܫ , to Pers. kandag (pōst ī kandag ≈ ܐܬܚܠܫ) which is written: X . This is not the name of a demon, but an adjective for the giant demons (dēv māzandar) or devils (druz) who are the same as the Archonts (Syr. ܐܛܢܘܟܪ̈ܐ from Gr. ἄρχοντος). Then we should reconstruct Paz. kunī dēβ thus: kandag dēv ‘flayed demon(s)’ >>

• Sun and moon and the process of purification  21-22
• Reaction of Ahrmen: the production of microcosm in the likeness of macrocosm 23-27
• Final: Separation 6

<< It is said that twelve maidens appear before the giant demons so that these demons release the light they contain through their sperm. Neryōsang renders the twelve maidens thus: Paz. dvāzdahą xvarīgą duxtarą i zurvą: Skt. dvādaśarāśīḥ duhitaraḥ kālasya ‘the twelve signs of the zodiac, (i.e.) the daughters of Time’. Per. dvāzdahān means ‘ twelve’ and a o ‘ twelve signs of he Zodiac’. Neryōsang who was not familiar with the technical language of the Manichaean literature chose the second meaning. But Mani’s doctrine associates the zodiacal signs with the dark realm. “They are all enemies and rivals to each other.” The dvāzdahān duxtarān are to be associated with the Twelve Divine Virgins in Sogdian fragments, and the Twelve Auspicious Hours of the third Messenger in Uyγur fragments. They match with the “Twelve Virgins” ( ܐܪܣܥܬܪ̈ܬ ܐܬܠܘܬ̈ܒ ) of the Liber Scholiorum which the Third Messenger evoked in his greatness:

“ The ( third) Messenger called (= created) the Twelve Virgins with their clothes, crowns and custom(s): The first (virgin) was Kingdom; the second Wisdom; the third Victory; the fourth Persuasion; the fifth Chastity; the sixth Truth; the seventh Faith(fullness); the eighth Patience ; the ninth Uprightness; the tenth Goodness; the eleventh Justice; and the twelfth th Light. ”

As we see these Virgins are to be connected to the Twelve Dominions (of Light), enumerated in the Parthian fragment M 14 (and also in the Chinese Hymnscroll):

“Twelve Dominions: Dominion, Wisdom, Salvation, Contentment, Zeal, Truth, Belief, Patience, Righteousness, Goodness, Harmony, and Light.”

The series of Light Dominions are paralleled by an inverse series of dark realms:

“The twelve dark dominions are: first evil knowledge, second lust, third vanity, fourth turmoil, fifth anger, sixth defilement, seventh destruction, eighth annihilation, ninth death, tenth deception, eleventh rebellion, and twelfth darkness.”

If it is certain that the‘ Twelve xvarīgą Daughters of Time’ are personified deities associated with twelve virtues, the reading xvarīgą is not certain. West translates it by ‘glorious’, that is derived from Per. xvarrah ‘glory, fortune’. Jackson and de Menasce follow him. However, xvar(r)īg cannot be the adjectival form of xvarrah (read xvarǝhe by Neryōsang). Sundermann proposes another derivation: xvarīg ‘solar; sun-like’ from xvar ‘sun’ . West does not find this word anywhere else in the Persian or Parthian Manichaean texts. It is possible that in the original ŠGV the word was written thus: Y /naxvrēg/ or /noxrēg/ ‘first-born’; and Neryōsang read Y . The word naxvrēg is a technical term that is found in Turfan Pārsīg fragments. Then we can translate dvāzdahān naxvrēgān duxtarān ī zurvān by ‘ Twelve First-born Daughters of Zurvān (Time)’.>>

1. Soul-Light is bound and imprisoned within the body. 38-39
2. It ought not to procreate and propagate lineage, nor even to cultivate plants and grain. 40-41
3. It ought not to kill any creature whatsoever. 42-45
4. Victory of God and end of the world 46-50
• The doctrine of the two primeval principles 51-52

<< For Mani, there are two principles, both infinite, that coexist along a common border; they are not separate by an intermediary space, read by Neryōsang nišāmī u vašādaī: āsanatvaṁ viśleṣataṁca.

According to the old (Aryan) teaching (paoirya.tkaēša) between the two principles there was open space (Pers. višādagīh) or void (Pers. tuhīgīh); its Avesta name was vayu. It was the place of mixture, or material creation (Pers. dahišn).

The word read by Neryōsang nišāmīh seems to be a “ghost” word. Neryōsang himself interpreted it as nišēmīh and translated it by āsanatva- ‘resting-place’.

Others have emended it to nišānīh, niyām, višāmīh, etc. However, if we consult the Mazdean and Manichaean texts, the convenient word would be Z /vēhmīh/ ‘breadth; expanse, area’ (Per. vēhm ‘broad’ < *uaig-ma-). For example: VZ 2.11 vēhmīh ī andarvāy ‘The expanse of the atmosphere’; Gōišn abar pahrēzišn rōzān (Boyce, y 30): ka xvarxšēd andar ōy vēhmīh ī hāmkišvar ped asmānān bārist ‘When the sun is in that area of the cosmos in the highest of the skies …’. Then we have to read: u-šān nē būd ēc vēhmīh ud višādagīh meyān ‘And between them there was not any breadth (/expanse) and width (/ open space)’>>

• Critical portion: Mardānfarrox criticizes Mani’s conception of the infinite 53-

The most complete Mss. (JJ and JE) break off abruptly at §111, without concluding the chapter.