Zend Avesta Part 01

Author(s): James Darmesteter
Publisher: Oxford

Page 98

FARGARD I.
I have made every land dear (to its people), even though it had no charms whatever in it?: had I not made every land dear (to its people), even though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world would have invaded the Airyana Vaêgo.
3 (5). The first of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Airyana Vaêgô %, by the Vanguhi Dâitya.
1.Every one fancies that the land where he was born and has been brought up is the best and fairest land that I have created' (Comm.)
• Greater Bundahish : It is said in the Sacred Book : had I not created the Genius of the native place, all mankind would have gone to Erân-Veg, on account of its pleasantness.'-On Airyanem Vaêgo or Erân-Vêg, see following note.-Clause 2 in the Ven. didåd Såda is composed of Zend quotations in the Commentary that illustrate the alternative process of the creation: 'First, Ahura Mazda would create a land of such kind that its dwellers might like it, and there could be nothing more delightful. Then he who is all death would bring against it a counter-creation.'
* Airyanem Vaêgo, Irân-Vêg, is the holy land of Zoroastrianism : Zoroaster was born and founded his religion there (Bund. XX, 32 ; XXXII, 3): the first animal couple appeared there (Bund. XIV, 4; Zad Sparam, IX, 8). From its name, the Iranian seed,' it seems to have been considered as the original seat of the Iranian race. It has been generally supposed to belong to Eastern Iran, like the provinces which are enumerated after it, chiefly on account of the name of its river, the Vanguhi Daitya, which was in the Sassanian times (as Veh) the name of the Oxus. But the Bundahish distinctly states that Irån-Veg is 'bordering upon Adarbaigân' (XXIX, 12); now, Adarbaigân is bordered by the Caspian Sea on the east, by the Rangha provinces on the west, by Media proper on the south, and by Arran on the north. The Rangha provinces are out of question, since they are mentioned at the end of the Fargard ($ 20), and the climatic conditions of Irân-Veg with its long winter likewise exclude Media and suit Arrân, where the summer lasts hardly two months (cf. § 4, note 6). The very name agrees, as the country
• For this note see next page.
B 2
Digitized by Google