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PERSIAN RIVÂYATS.
437
after the calamity of Alexander, they sought for the books again, they found a portion of each Nask, but did not find any Nask in completeness except the Vindâd which they found complete.
22. The name of the twenty-first Nask is Hádokht, and that is of thirty subdivisions, about the manner of bringing together and the many miracles, and their excellences and connections; and in this book the accursed devil becomes cursed and becomes annihilated.
23. At present, since the Nasks have not remained perfect in the midst of us, it is not possible to solemnize them, because Alexander the Ramani carried off a rough draft, in Raman characters, of those of the twenty-one Nasks of the Avesta which were about the stars and medicine, and repeatedly burnt the books of the Avesta, so that the soul of Alexander burns in hell; and after his calamity, every one of the high-priests, in council together, preserved something of the Avesta in his mind, and the aggregate has disclosed the books of the Yasna (yast), Visperad, Vendidâd, Fravash, Khôrdah Avesta, Darûn, Afringân, Kidah Vagarkardan, and Bundahis, which they wrote correctly; as to the remainder (tatammah) which they did not write, it was on this account, that they did not preserve it correctly in their minds. And the expectation, descended from the midst of them in the court of Ormazd and the archangels, is thus, that Vargâvand, Peshôtan, and Hushêdar? will arrive in haste for the manifestation of the religion, and the goodness
1 See Dk. Bk. IV, 24 n.
• The three chief producers of the future and final triumph of the religion (see Byt. III, 13-52).
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| SR No. | 007682 |
| Book Title | Questions of King Milinda Part 02 |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | T W Rhys Davids |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1894 |
| Total Pages | 2240 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 38 MB |