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xlviii
PAHLAVI TEXTS.
Dâmdâd Nask appears pretty evident from Zad-sparam's remarks in Chap. IX, 1, 16 of his Selections.
The first part of these Selections consists of 'sayings about the meeting of the beneficent and evil spirits,' and the first portion of these 'sayings' (divided into eleven chapters in the translation) is chiefly a paraphrase of Chaps. I-XVII of the Bundahis (omitting Chaps. II, V, and XVI). It describes the original state of the two spirits, their meeting and covenant, with a paraphrase of the Ahanavar formula; the production of the first creatures, including time; the incursion of the evil spirit and his temporary success in deranging the creation, with the reason why he was unable to destroy the priinitive man for thirty years; followed by the seven contests he carried on with the sky, water, earth, plants, animals, man, and fire, respectively, detailing how each of these creations was modified in consequence of the incursion of the evil spirit. In the account of the first of these contests the Pahlavi translation of one stanza in the Gâthas is quoted verbatim, showing that the same Pahlavi version of the Yasna was used in the ninth century as now exists. The remainder of these 'sayings,' having no particular connection with the Bundahis, has not been translated.
With regard to the Pahlavi text of the Selections, the present translator has been compelled to rely upon a single manuscript of the Dadistân-i Dînîk, brought by Westergaard from Kirmân' in 1843, and now No. 35 of the collection of Ayesta and Pahlavi MSS. in the University Library at Kopenhagen ; it may, therefore, be called K35. This MS. is incomplete, having lost nearly one-third of its original bulk, but still contains 181 folios of large octavo size, written fifteen to seventeen lines to the page; the first seventy-one folios of the work have been lost, and about thirty-five folios are also missing from the end; but the whole of the ninetytwo questions and answers, together with one-third of the
1 That is, so far as the late Professor Westergaard could remember in 1878, when he kindly lent me the MS. for collation with my copy of the text, already obtained from more recent MSS. in Bombay, the best of which turned out to be a copy of K35.
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