AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 2. Yima (Jamshed) and the deluge.

This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995.

Translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898.)

Compare this chapter with the ancient description given of it in the Denkard, Dk Book 8, Chapter 44.

Also, compare this translation with those given in Malandra, Introduction to Ancient Iranian Religion (p. 178 ff.), and Boyce Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism (pp. 94 ff.)

For a comparison of the underground enclosure of Yima with the the Indic/Sanskrit Yama as ruler of the underground, see Bruce Lincoln Death, War, and Sacrifice (Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991, p. 28). Also see Mary Boyce, History of Zoroastrianism I (Leiden, Brill, 1975 second impression with corrections, pp. 92 ff.)

Synopsis:

This Fargard may be divided into two parts.

First part (1-20). Ahura Mazda proposes to Yima, the son of Vivanghat, to receive the law from him and to bring it to men. On his refusal, he bids him keep his creatures and make them prosper. Yima accordingly makes them thrive and increase, keeps death and disease away from them, and three times enlarges the earth, which had become too narrow for its inhabitants.

Second part (21 to the end). On the approach of a dire winter, which is to destroy every living creature, Yima, being advised by Ahura, builds a Vara to keep there the finest representatives of every kind of animals and plants, and they live there a life of perfect happiness.

It is difficult not to acknowledge in the latter legend a Zoroastrian adaptation of the deluge, whether it was borrowed from the Bible or from the Chaldaean mythology. The similitude is so striking that it did not escape the Moslems, and Macoudi states that certain authors place the date of the deluge in the time of Jamshed. There are essential and necessary differences between the two legends, the chief one being that in the monotheistic narration the deluge is sent as a punishment from God, whereas in the dualistic version it is a plague from the Daevas: but the core of the two legends is the same: the hero in both is a righteous man who, forewarned by God, builds a refuge to receive choice specimens of mankind) intended some day to replace an imperfect humanity, destroyed by a universal calamity.



FARGARD 2. Myths of Yima [Jamshed]

I.

 Notes:
1. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda:

O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zarathushtra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse1, whom thou didst teach the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathushtra?

1. 'On the Religion' (Comm.)
2. Ahura Mazda answered: The fair Yima, the good shepherd2, O holy Zarathushtra! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zarathushtra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathushtra. 3. Unto him, O Zarathushtra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying: 'Well, fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer of my Religion!' And the fair Yima, O Zarathushtra, replied unto me, saying: 'I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy Religion.' 2. His being a good shepherd means that he held in good condition herds of men and herds of animals' (Comm.)
4. Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathushtra: 'Since thou dost not consent to be the preacher and the bearer of my Religion, then make thou my world increase, make my world grow: consent thou to nourish, to rule, and to watch over my world.'

5. And the fair Yima replied unto me, O Zarathushtra, saying: 'Yes! I will make thy world increase, I will make thy world grow. Yes! I will nourish, and rule, and watch over thy world. There shall be, while I am king, neither cold wind not hot wind, neither disease nor death.'

6.3 Then I, Ahura Mazda, brought two implements unto him: a golden seal and a poniard inlaid with gold4. Behold, here Yima bears the royal sway! 3. Vd2.6 is composed of unconnected Avesta quotations, which are no part of the text and are introduced by the commentator for the purpose of showing that 'although Yima did not teach the law and train pupils, he was nevertheless a faithful and a holy man, and rendered men holy too (?).' See Fragments of the Vendidad.

4. As the symbol and the instrument of sovereignty. 'He reigned supreme by the strength of the ring and of the poniard' (Asp.) Thus Faridoon gives royal investiture to Iraj 'with the sword and the seal, the ring and the crown' (Firdausi). -- The king is master 'of the sword, the throne, and the ring.'

7. [Obscure.]

8. Thus, under the sway of Yima, three hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.

9. Then I warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and men.'

10. Then Yima stepped forward, in light5, southwards6, on the way of the sun7, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Armaiti8, kindly9 open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.' 5. That is to say, his body being all resplendent with light. See Albiruni's Chronology (tr. by Sachau, p. 202): 'Jam rose on that day (Noruz) like the sun, the light beaming forth from him, as though he shone like the sun.'

6. The warm South is the region of Paradise (Hadhokht Nask, section 2.7): the North is the seat of the cold winds, of the demons and hell (Vd19.1; Vd7.2).

7. Thence is derived the following tradition recorded by G. du Chinon: 'Ils en nomment un qui s'allait tous les jours promener dans le Ciel du Soleil d'où il aportait la sciance des Astres, aprez les avoir visités de si prez. Ils nomment ce grand personnage Gemachid' (Relations nouvelles du Levant, Lyon, 1671, p. 478).

8. The Genius of the Earth.

9. 'Do this out of kindness to the creatures' (Comm.)

11. And Yima made the earth grow larger by one-third than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished.

12. Thus, under the sway of Yima, six hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.

13. And I warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and men.'

14. Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Armaiti, kindly) open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.'

15. And Yima made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished.

16. Thus, under the sway of Yima, nine hundred winters passed away10, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men. 10. Yima, according to Yt9.10, made immortality reign on the earth for a thousand years. The remaining century was spent in the Vara ('for a hundred years, Jim was in the Var,' says the Gr. Bund.) On Yima's fall, see Yt19.34; see Yt5.25-31.
17. And I warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and men.'

18. Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Armaiti, kindly) open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.'

19. And Yima made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished.

II.

20. The Maker, Ahura Mazda, called together a meeting of the celestial Yazatas in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya11.

The fair Yima, the good shepherd, called together a meeting of the best of the mortals12, in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya.

11. See Vd1, notes to verse 2.

12. The best types of mankind, chosen to live in the Var during the Malkôshân and repeople the earth when the Var opens.

21. To that meeting came Ahura Mazda, in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya; he came together with the celestial Yazatas.

To that meeting came the fair Yima, the good shepherd, in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya; he came together with the best of the mortals.

22. And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters13 are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains14. 13. The Commentary has here Malkosan, a word wrongly identified with the Hebrew Malqôsh, which designates the beneficent autumn rains. Malkosan are the winters let loose by a demon or wizard named Malkôsh, in Avestan Mahrkûsha 'the death-causing' (see Westergaard's Fragments, VIII).

14. 'Even where it (the snow) is least, it will be one Vitasti two fingers deep' (Comm.); that is, fourteen fingers deep.

23. 'And the beasts that live in the wilderness15, and those that live on the tops of the mountains16, and those that live in the bosom of the dale17 shall take shelter in underground abodes. 15. The Comm. has, strangely enough, 'for instance, Ispahan.'

16. 'For instance, Aparsen (the Upairisaena or Hindu-Kush).'

17. 'For instance, Khorastan (the plain of Khorasan).'

24. 'Before that winter, the country would bear plenty of grass for cattle, before the waters had flooded it. Now after the melting of the snow, O Yima, a place wherein the footprint of a sheep may be seen will be a wonder in the world.
25. 'Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square18, and thither bring the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires19. Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for man; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, for oxen and sheep. 18 'Two hathras long on every side' (Comm.) A hathra is about an English mile.

19. That is to say, specimens of each species.

26. 'There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there thou shalt settle birds, on the green that never fades, with food that never fails. There thou shalt establish dwelling-places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and as gallery20. 20. The last three words are apax legomena of doubtful meaning.
27. 'Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth21; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth. 21. The best specimens of mankind, to be the origin of the more perfect races of the latter days.
28. 'Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of tree, of the highest of size and sweetest of odour on this earth22; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of fruit, the best of savour and sweetest of odour23. All those seeds shalt thou bring, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara. 22. 'The highest of size, like the cypress and the plane-tree; the sweetest of odour, like the rose and the jessamine' (Comm.)

23. 'The best of savour, like the date; the sweetest of odour, like the citron' (Comm.)

29. 'There shall be no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no malicious, no liar; no one spiteful, none jealous; no one with decayed tooth, no leprous to be pent up24, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals25. 24. 'A man, afflicted with leprosy, is not allowed to enter a town and mix with the other Persians' (Herod. I, 139); he was supposed to have sinned against the sun). Ctesias has a tale or how Megabyzes escaped his enemies by simulating leprosy.

25. In order that the new mankind may be exempt from all moral and physical deformities.

30. 'In the largest part of the place thou shalt make nine streets, six in the middle part, three in the smallest. To the streets of the largest part thou shalt bring a thousand seeds of men and women; to the streets of the middle part, six hundred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred26. That Vara thou shalt seal up with thy golden seal, and thou shalt make a door, and a window self-shining within.' 26. This division of the Var into three quarters very likely answers the distinction of the three classes.
31. Then Yima said within himself: 'How shall I manage to make that Vara which Ahura Mazda has commanded me to make?' And Ahura Mazda said unto Yima: 'O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Crush the earth with a stamp of thy heel, and then knead it with thy hands, as the potter does when kneading the potter's clay27.' 27. In the Shah Namah Jamshid teaches the Divs to make and knead clay 'by mixing the earth with water;' and they build palaces at his bidding. It was his renown, both as a wise king and a great builder, that caused the Moslems to identify him with Solomon.
32. [And Yima did as Ahura Mazda wished; he crushed the earth with a stamp of his heel, he kneaded it with his hands, as the potter does when kneading the potter's clay.28] 28. From the Vendidad Sada.
33. And Yima made a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square. There he brought the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. He made a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for men; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, for oxen and sheep.

34. There he made waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there he settled birds, on the green that never fades, with food that never fails. There he established dwelling-places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery.

35. There he brought the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth.

36. There he brought the seeds of every kind of tree, of the highest of size and sweetest of odour on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of fruit, the best of savour and sweetest of odour. All those seeds he brought, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.

37. And there were no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no one malicious, no liar; no one spiteful, none jealous; no one with decayed tooth, no leprous to be pent up, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.

38. In the largest part of the place he made nine streets, six in the middle part, three in the smallest. To the streets of the largest part he brought a thousand seeds of men and women; to the streets of the middle part, six hundred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred. That Vara he sealed up with the golden ring, and he made a door, and a window self-shining within.

39. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What are the lights that give light in the Vara which Yima made?

40. Ahura Mazda answered: 'There are uncreated lights and created lights29. The one thing missed there is the sight of the stars, the moon, and the sun30, and a year seems only as a day31. 29. The endless light, which is eternal, and artificial lights. The Commentary has here the following Avestan quotation: 'The uncreated light shines from above; all the created lights shine from below.'

30. The people in the Var cannot see them, since the Var is underground. That is why the Var has lights of its own.

31. As there is no daily revolution of the sun.

41. 'Every fortieth year, to every couple two are born, a male and a female32. And thus it is for every sort of cattle. And the men in the Vara which Yima made live the happiest life33.' 32. See the description of Eranwej according to a later source, the Mainyo-i-khard (as translated by West); 'Ohrmazd created Eranwej better than the remaining places and districts; and its goodness was this, that men's life is three hundred years; and cattle and sheep, one hundred and fifty years; and their pain and sickness are little, and they do not circulate falsehood, and they make no lamentation and weeping; and the sovereignty of the demon of Avarice, in their body, is little, and in ten men, if they eat one loaf, they are satisfied; and in every forty years, from one woman and one man, one child is born; and their law is goodness, and religion the primeval religion, and when they die, they are righteous (= blessed); and their chief is Gopatshah, and the ruler and king is Srosh' (44.24).

33. 'They live there for 150 years; some say, they never die' (Comm.)

42. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is he who brought the Religion of Mazda into the Vara which Yima made? Ahura Mazda answered: 'It was the bird Karshipta34, O holy Zarathushtra!' 34. 'The bird Karshipta dwells in the heavens: were he living on the earth, he would be the king of birds. He brought the Religion into the Var of Vima, and recites the Avesta in the language of birds' (Bund. 19 and Bund. 24). The Comm. identifies the Karshiptan with the Chakhravak, that is the Chakravaka of poetical reputation in India.
43. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who are the Lord and the Master there? Ahura Mazda answered: 'Urvatat-nara35, O Zarathushtra! and thyself, Zarathushtra.' 35. Zarathushtra had three sons during his lifetime, Isat-vastra, Hvare-chithra, and Urvatat-nara, who were respectively the fathers and chiefs of the three classes, priests, warriors, and husbandmen. Urvatat-nara, as a husbandman, was chosen to be the ahu or temporal Lord of the Var, on account of the Var being underground. Zarathushtra, as a heavenly priest, was, by right, the ratu or Spiritual Lord in Airyana Vaejah, where he founded the Religion by a sacrifice (Bund. 33 and Introd. III, 15).