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216
BAHMAN YAST.
vand-dâd said that these people are Raman (Aramâyik), and Rôshani said that they have red weapons, red banners, and red hats (kūlâh). 4. 'It is when a symptom of them appears, as they advance, O. Zaratust the Spitâmân! the sun and the dark show signs, and the moon becomes manifest of various colours; earthquakes (bam-guzand), too, become numerous, and the wind comes more violently; in the world want, distress, and discomfort come more into view; and Mercury and Jupiter advance the sovereignty for the vile, and they are in hundreds and thousands and myriads. 5. They have the red banner of the fiend Shedaspih of Kilisyâkih, and they hasten much their progress to these countries of Iran which I, Adharmazd, created, up to the bank of the Arvand 3,' some have said the Frâtó river, 'unto the Greeks (Yanân) dwelling in Asūristân;' they are Greeks by strict reckoning,
after the Muhammadan conquest of Persia ; but this reading is irreconcileable with the context. The position of Salman (Av. Sairim a) is defined by Bund. XX, 12, which places the sources of the Tigris in that country.
1 The name of a commentator, or commentary, often quoted in the Pahlavi Vendidad, and other texts. Mâhvand dad is mentioned in the Pahlavi Yasna (see Sls. I, 4).
• The Pâz. MSS. state that 'Mercury and Jupiter beat down the strength of Venus.'
• Here written Arang, Arand, or Arvad, but as it is Arvand in $$ 21, 38, that reading seems preferable, the difference between the two names in Pahlavi being merely a single stroke. The Arvand is the Tigris, and the Arang probably the Araxes (see SZS. VI, 20, Bund. XX, 8).
• Literally, there are and were some who said ;' this phrase occurs several times in the latter part of this text.
6 The Euphrates.
• Or, of strict reckoning,' reading sâkht amâr, but both reading and meaning are very uncertain. As it stands in K2o it
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