Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 18.djvu/18

 XIV PAHLAVI TEXTS.

the extreme north-east of KhurAsdn, where he probably came in contact with the Tughazghuz (Ep. II, i, 12) and adopted some of their heretical opinions, and whence he may have travelled through NivshahpCihar (Ep. II, i, a, note) and Shirlsr (Ep. II, v, 3, 4) on his way to Sirkdn to take up his appointment as high-priest of the south (Eps. I, heading, II, i, 4, v, 9, vii, i, viii, i, Zs. I, o). Soon after his arrival at Sirk4n he issued a decree, regarding the cere- monies of purification, which led to complaints from the people of that place, and compelled his brother to interfere by writing epistles, threatening him with deprivation of office (Ep. I, xi, 7) and the fate of a heretic (Eps. II, viii, 2, 3, III, 17-19). That Z^-sparam finally submitted, so far as not to be deprived of his office, appears from his still retaining his position in the south while writing his Selec- tions (Zs. I, o), which must have been compiled at some later period, free from the excitement of active and. hazardous controversy.

The age in which MdnA^iJihar lived is decided by the date attached to his third epistle, or public notification, to the Masr^/a-worshippers of Ir4n ; which date is the third month of the year 250 of Yasr^/akarrf (Ep. Ill, 21), cor- responding to the interval between the 14th June and 13th July A. D. 881 ; at which time, we learn, he was an old man (Ep. II, ix, i), but not too old to travel (Eps. I, iii, 13, xi, 4, II, V, 5, vi, 4, 6, vii, 3, viii, 4, 5).

His writings, therefore, represent the state of the Zoroas- trian religion a thousand years ago ; and it may be presumed, from the importance and influentialness of his position, that his representations can be implicitly relied upon. To detect any differences there may be between the tenets and reli- gious customs he describes, and those upheld by Zoroas- trians of the present time, would require all the learning and experience of a Parsi priest; but, so far as a European can judge, from these writings and his own limited know- ledge of existing religious customs among the Parsis, the change has been less than in any other form of religion during the same period.

The manuscripts containing the writings of Melnfi^itihar

Digitized by

Google