fravahr-cihr | fravaṣ̌i-nature
If we don’t regard the Iranian ideas on fravaṣ̌i, we must accept that they spoke of a number of “fravaṣ̌i”s. Av. fravaṣ̌i, Pers. fravahr, Sogd. fravart(i) are all used in different meanings.
One Avestan meaning of the fravaṣ̌i is an example or form of all (righteous) people existing together with Ahura Mazdā; This fravaṣ̌i precedes the dahišn ‘material creation’. These fravaṣ̌is are divided into the three Indo-European functions. (See for example Bundahišn (60-61) where speaks of the fravahr ī arteštārān ahlavān ‘fravaṣ̌i of the righteous charioteers’. Cf. also VZ 3.3, Yt. 13. 17)
The fravaṣ̌i festival (Pers. fravardīgān, which the Parsis call muktād) is bound to the Hamaspaθmaēδaya gāhāmbār, which corresponds to the Summer Solstice2, that is, the five additional days after the end of Spǝṇtā Ārmaiti’s month (panzag ‘epagomena’)3; Perhaps this could explain why the first month of summer was called fravardīn (< Av. fravaṣ̌inām) by the Persians. The Sogdian Magi named this month navasarδic, Xvārazmian Magi nāvsārci (both meaning ‘new year’), and Sakastānian Magi gvād (< Ir. vāta- ‘wind’; In Gujarati of Parsis we find guvād ‘wind’). Also the first month of the Armenian calendar is called navasard4. Bērōnī correctly identifies the Sogdian festival on the five stolen (Ar. المسترقة ) days at the end of the Xšumic month (equal to Spəṇtā Ārmaiti month) with the fravardīgān of Persians:
“At the end of the Xšumic month, the Sogdians weep and cry for their ancestors and bring them bread and wine.” Aṯār al-bāqīa, 1.8.
This must be compared with the despise of Mazdayasnians for ‘weeping and crying’. Perhaps from this association of fravardīgān and the dead Sogd. fravart took the meaning ‘corpse, grave’ (fravart-katē ‘grave, graveyard’). This word is found only in Christian texts6, and its meaning must be understood in the context of Christian ‘soul’ and death.
Fravahr finds a new meaning in Manichaean literature: Ether. If the Sakastānian Magi place the month of ‘wind’ instead of fravardīn, they must equate wind and fravaṣ̌i. Mani names one of the five elements as fravahr ‘ether’ (Gr. ᾱ̓ήρ, Lat. aer, Syr. …, Ar. نسیم, Uygh. tïntura, Ch. 氣 qì)7. Pers. (ardāv) fravahr ‘element’8 descends from Av. aṣ̌aonī- fravaṣ̌i-.
In the here we’re not dealing with those previous meanings, though all descend from *pra-ṵrti-.9 We deal with a fravaṣ̌i that is inside the peoples’ bodies, and we must identify its function. urvan and fravaṣ̌i are two individuals (Pers. stī) in the body:
urvan is free-willed, and it functions freely.
(This) fravaṣ̌i is natural, and it functions instinctively.10
This explains why the Dēnkird calls this fravaṣ̌i “fravahr-cihr”. The Rāsta also says that “fravahr is called ṭabʿ (‘nature’) in Arabic.”
Next we shall see the diagram of the human and the universe according to the Dēnkird iii 263 (M 278-279) to find the place of fravahr-cihr.
abar gēhān tan, u-š āmēzišnīg tan ristagān; hān ī-š ruvān-z ārāyēnāg ud sūdēnāg; u-š višōbāg ud zyānēnāg; ud ārāyišn ud sūd, višōbišn ud zyān cēīh ud bun.
1. gēhān tan, ātaš, āb ud zamīg ud ayoxšust ud urvar ud gōspend ud mardōm.
cōn mardōm tan: mazg ud xūn ud rahag ud pay ud ast ud pid ud mōy.
2. ud gēhān āmēzišnīg tan ristagān: ādur, vād ud ×nam ud gil. cōn mardōm tan: vād, xūn, viš ud ×rīm.
3. ud gēhān ristagān rāyēnāg ud kārīgēnāg: cihr ātaš ud vād, ped peymān sāzišnīh ud hamīh.
cōn mardōm tan hamēnāg ud kārīgēnāg ristagān: fravahr-cihr <ud> vād -gyān-, ped <peymān sāzišnīh ud> hamīh.
4. ud gēhān zīvēnāg: abargār vāy, ī ped ēvāz ī gēhān xvānend-iz vāy; ud dēn, mēnōg ī vāy ī-z rāyēnīdār gōbed.
cōn mardōm tan zīvēnāg: ×uštānumand vād, ī ast gyān.
5. gēhān ×rāyēnāg: ruvān-cihr svāš, ī rah-iz, <ud> ped gēhānīg ēvāz spihr-z xvānīhed.
cōn mardōm tan ×rāyēnāg: bōyumand ruvān.
6. ud gēhān ārāyēnāg ud sūdēnāg: rah-ravišn rošn bayān.
cōn mardōm ārāyēnāg ud sūdēnāg: Vahman ped-ox-mehmānīh.
7. ud gēhān višōbāg ud zyānēnāg: azēr-rah-ravišn-bayān pe-šān kārīh pedyāragān: dvārīg gayōg, ī abāxtar-z xvānīhed.
cōn mardōm višōbāg ud zyānēnāg: Akōman ped rāhdārīh ī andrag ox ud menišn.
8. gēhān ×ārāyišn ud sūd: bayīg peymān, zāhag ī zīndagīh ud drustīh, ud rōyišn, ud vaxšišn, ud pezāmišn.
cōn mardōm ārāyišn ud sūd: vahmanīg dānāgīh ud kirbag ud husravīh ud ahlavīh.
9. ud gēhān višōbišn ud zyān: gayōgīg frāybūd ud abēbūd, vēmārīh ud margīh ud nirfišn ud pūdagīh ud gennāgīh cardār.
cōn mardōm višōbišn ud zyān: akōmanīg dušāgāhīh ud bazag ud durvandīh ud dušsravīh.
- …
11. ud gēhān ud mardōm višōbišn ud zyān bun: abar-rasišnīh ī jud-gōhr, ī dēnīg 'ebgad' nām.
12. ēd ī gēhān az xvēš ham-gōhr ārāyišn, ud nē višōbišn, astīh pēdāg az dādār ī gēhān ped frāxīh ud vazurgīh, ud mardōm ped hangirdīgīh ī gēhān ēvēnag, gēhān ud mardōm višōbišn būdan guftan-z nē sazed.
13. ud kēšdārān kē-šān anī bun ī anāgīh aziš nēstīh kēš ī-šān anāgīh bun ō hān ī nēkīh bun peyvast; ham bun az hamāg anāg anāgdar, ud az harv vad vattar guft baved.
About the body of the universe, and the elements of (that) body in the mixed state; those which regulate and render useful the soul, and those which disturb and damage it; the essence and origin of regulation and use, and the essence and origin of disturbance and damage.
1. The universe’s body: fire, water, earth, metal, plant, cattle and humans.
Like the human body: brain, blood, vein, nerve, bone, flesh and hair.
2. The elements of the universe’s body in the mixed state: fire, wind, water and earth.
Like the human body’s elements: wind, blood, bile and phlegm.
3. The governor and abler elements of the universe’s body: fire-natured and wind-natured, in temperate harmony and unity.
Like the equalizer and abler elements of the human body: fravaṣ̌i-nature and wind -vyāna-, with temperate harmony and unity.
4. The life-giver of the universe’s body: vayaoš uparō.kairyehe11, which the people call wind, and also the Daēnā (= Avesta) calls it the Governor Wind Spirit.
Like the life-giver of the human body: animated wind, that is vyāna (breath-soul).
5. The leader of the universe’s (body): the urvan-natured firmament12, also called chariot13, and called by the people sphere.
Like the leader of the human body: perceptive urvan.
6. The regulator and useful-maker of the universe: bright-souled fixed-stars14 that are moving in the chariot.
Like the regulator and useful-maker of humans: Vohu Manah that is guested in the Ahu (chest).
7. The disturbers and harmers of the universe: Those who are moving under the chariot against the fixed-stars, the wandering thieves15 that are called ‘planets’.
Like the disturbers and harmers of humans: Aka Manah that infiltrates Ahu and Manah (chest and heart).
8. Regulation and benefit of the universe: Baγa-like temperance, the mother of life, health, blossom, growth and maturation.
Like the regulation and benefit of humans: knowledge, good deed, well fame and righteousness by Vohu Manah.
9. Disturbance and harm of the universe: thief-like extravagance and extra-restraint, the mother of sickness, death, decrease, rot and fester.
Like the disturbance and harm of humans: misinformation, bad deed, wickedness and bad fame by Aka Manah.
10. The origin of regulation and benefit of the universe and humanity: the creator of the universe in greatness and eminence, and the creator of humanity as the sum of the universe (microcosm).
11. The origin of disturbance and harm of the universe and humanity: the arrival of the opposite substance, which’s religious term is ‘Assault’.16
12. That the universe gains regulation and not disturbance from something of the same substance is evident from the creator of the universe in greatness and eminence, and creator of people as the sum of the universe: It cannot be said that from him is any disturbance of the universe and humanity.
13. The sectarians who do not accept another origin, that is an origin for evil, unifies the origin of good with the origin of evil. Such origin is called more evil than all evil and worse than all the bad.
Thus the material world is composed of the four elements fire, wind, water and earth, comparable to:
Manichaean (Pārsīg) | Sanskrit | Greek | |
Fire | ādar | jvalaná/agní | πῦρ |
Wind | vād | vāyú | ἀήρ |
Water | āb | jalá | ὕδωρ |
Earth | rōšn | pṛthivī | γῆ |
Only Mani, out of spite for the world, replaces earth with ‘light’. The fifth element is the sphere, which resembles the urvan of the universe: Av. θβāṣ̌a ‘firmament’; Pers. rah ‘chariot’; Skt. ākāśa ‘sky’; Gr. αἰθήρ ‘ether’; the same thing Mani calls fravahr.
The human body is also made up of four humors (Ar. خلط): Wind, Blood, Bile and Phlegm. This is different from the doctrine of Hippocrates and Ayurveda. The Greek medic identifies four “waters”. Blood (αἷμα), Phlegm (φλέγμα), Yellow Bile (μέλαινα χολή), Black Bile (ξανθη χολή)17. The Indian medic identifies three doṣa: Wind (vāta), Bile (pitta), and Foam/Phlegm (kapha / śleṣman)18.
Another fragment of that Iranian notion is found in the Preface of Burzōy to his translation of Pañcatantra.19
In the world, the wind and fire of nature regulate and make able the elements by temperate harmony. The Dēnkird separates the wind and fire as humors from the natural wind and fire. Two are the material principles of the world itself, while the two other are natural phenomenon in the world itself. Accordingly, in the human body the wind and fravaṣ̌i-nature equalize and make able the elements. This wind is not the same humor wind, it is the breath that humans inhale and exhale. In the heart, the wind is given life (animated) by the power of the fire in the heart. In the stomach too fire digests food and water. The Avesta speaks of the Vohu Fryāna fire in humans and animals (Y. 17.11 ātrəm vohu.fryānəm).
Bundahišn (123) explains it thus:
ātaš ī vohufryān ī vizāred ‘veh-franāftār’ hān ī andar tan ī mardōmān ud gōspendān ... az avēšān panz ātaš, ēk <āb ud> xvarišn harv dō xvared. cōn hān ī andar tan ī mardōmān, ī ped kumīg dād ēsted. u-š xvarišn ud āb gugārdan xvēškārīh.
“The Vohu Fryāna fire, which is translated ‘well advancer’ is in the body of humans and animals … from those five fires, one eats both water and food, like the one in the body of humans, given in the stomach, and its function is digesting food and water.”
Comparing with the Ayurvedic terminology, that wind resembles the vyāna and this fravaṣ̌i(-nature) resembles the samāna.20
Comparing with Greek medicinal terminology, natural wind is inhaled and enters the heart’s left chamber, the place of implanted heat (ἔμφυτον θερμόν). Here it becomes life-wind (πνεῦμα ζωτικόν, روح حیوانیة), and circulate the blood through the veins to the whole body.21
It could be said that vyāna is wind-natured, and fravaṣ̌i(-nature) fire-natured. Then the fire in the heart, the fire in the stomach and the fire in the head are all fravaṣ̌i-nature (against the view of Zādspram)22. Wind keeps fire alive, and fire is the fravaṣ̌i and runner of wind. Vyāna is the body’s life-giver, and this fravaṣ̌i is the body’s keeper.23
If the temperate harmony of natural wind and fire is interrupted, the world is disturbed, the earth quakes and volcanos erupt. Accordingly, if the temperate harmony of the fravaṣ̌i(-nature) and wind is interrupted, the body is disturbed and sicknesses become common.24
Translated from the book Rāsta. pp. 76-85—اشه، رهام؛ راسته، آموزه بزشکی مغان، تهران، (1390).
https://archive.org/details/fravahr-cihr
- Bd. 60-61 speaks of the fravahr ī arteštārān ahlavān ‘fravaṣ̌i of the righteous charioteers’. Cf. VZ 3.3, Yt. 13. 17↩
- See: Asha, The Avesta Periods of the Year, pp. 3.↩
- Yt. 13. 49 speaks of dasa … xṣ̌afnō ‘ten nights’.↩
- The first month of the Armenian calendar is also called navasard. Cf. Karst (1948), Mythologie arméno-caucasienne et hétito-asianique, pp. 84.↩
- Aṯār al-bāqīa, 1.8.↩
- Cf. Sims-Williams (1985), The Christian Sogdian Manuscript C2, word index.↩
- Henning (1977), Selected Papers II, pp. 28-29.↩
- Manichaean Parth. ardāv fravardīn, Manichaean Sogd. artāv fravarti (and in one occasion, frān.)↩
- For older studies, Cf. Lommel (1930), Die Religion Zarathustras, pp. 160; Bailey (1943). Zoroastrian Problems, pp. 107-109; Malandra (1971) The 'Fravaṣ̌i Yašt', pp. 8. From newer studies, see: Pirart (2001), Avestan ṣ̌, pp. 126-131.↩
- Cf. Dk iii. 123 (M 122) jud hend ruvān ud fravahr ēk az did, pad hān ī ruvān kāmagumand ud kāmīkkar, fravahr cihrumand ud cihrīkkār.↩
- Y. 22.24. Cf. Yt. 15.4 vayuš yō uparō.kairyō. Aside from Vayu, in the Avesta this epithet is applied to the fravaṣ̌is, Kayanian glory and Tištrya.↩
- Av. θβāṣ̌a‘firmament’ < *tṵarta↩
- Pers. rah, Av. raθa, Skt. rátha.↩
- Av. baga/baγa↩
- Pers. gayōg/gayag renders Av. gaδa‘thief, robber’ (Sogd. γaδ, Pasht. γal.)↩
- Av. aiβi.gaiti, Pers. ebgad, Zand: abar-rasišnīh. Cf. Vd. 9.6.↩
- χυμός has been loaned to Syriac as kwmws, and translated by ḥlṭʾ. In Pārsīg it has been glossed by āb. Cf. VZ 30.14↩
- Zādspram takes ‘foam’ to mean ‘phlegm’. Cf. VZ 30.16: pēšubāy az āmēzišnān, xūn ō dil šaved, ud pas andar ayārdēnišn ×kaf bē dil abganed… ‘before the mixing, the blood goes to the heart, and after boiling throws foam out of the heart.’↩
- See: Asha, Burzōy and the Persian Medicine, pp. 3.↩
- On the bodily winds in ancient India see: Zysk (1993), The Science of Respiration and the Doctrine of the Bodily Winds in Ancient India; –– (2007), The Bodily Winds in Ancient India Revisited.↩
- Cf. Sigerist (1961), A History of Medicine: Vol. 2: Early Greek, Hindu, and Persian Medicine, pp. 326.↩
- VZ 30.23 believes Vyāna to be of the same substance as fire. Surely, Dk iii. 123 (M 123) is more correct:
- Mardānfarrox calls fravaṣ̌i “keeper and grower of the body”. Cf. ŠGV 5.87 fravahr ī xvad cihr ī dāštār ī tan
- Cf. Dk iii. 93 (M 89.)↩
fravahr, ped ātaš-cihr, uštānēnag ī vād; ped vād-uštānīh zīvēnīdār ī tan.↩
8.60: zōr ī dārāg ud parvarāg ī cihr hamkār, ī dēnīg fravaṣ̌i xvānīhed.
Manušcihr calls vyāna the “life-giver” and fravaṣ̌i the “keeper”. Cf. DD 2.13. gyān ī zīvēnāg ud fravahr ī dārāg. ud vīr ayābāg, ud uš ī pāyāg, ud xrad ī vizīnāg.
Zādspram (VZ 30.35) incorrectly translates fravaṣ̌i by frāz-vaxšēnīdār and gives an incorrect view of it.↩