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DÎNKARD, BOOK VII.
CHAPTER VII. 1. About the marvellousness which is manifested after the time of Vistâsp until the collapse (hangaftano) of the sovereignty of Irân.
2. There is marvellousness which is manifested after Vistâsp until the collapse of the sovereignty of Irân, apart from the blessedness of ordeal, the accomplishment of other Avestic rites, the great power over the sacred fires, and many other religious observances which were connected with the disciples of Zaratûst.
3. Even after the devastation which happened owing to Alexander, those who were rulers after him brought back much to the collection from a scattered statel; and there are some who have ordered the keeping of it in the treasury of Shapân”.
4. Likewise there is to be brought forward what there is concerning the names of rulers and highpriests, such as arrive for it at times and periods, which are each consecutive, as organizers of the religion and the world; also of the tyrant or apostate, who is manifest at various periods, for the disturbance of the religion and monarchy and the penance of the world, with the coming of the penitential one.
1 Referring to king Valkhas the Askânian (probably Vologeses I, see S. B. E., vol. xxxvii, p. 413); possibly also to Ardashîr Pâpakân.
? So here, but usually written Shapigan, and sometimes Shaspîgân. It was no doubt a royal treasury, and Dk. V, iii, 4, calls it so, but uses the words gango-i khûdâyân, in which Gâmâsp is said to have deposited the Avesta and Zand written in gold upon ox-hides. If Shapigân be a corruption of sha ya gân, royal,' it is singular that some copyist has not corrected the spelling.
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