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DINKARD.-BOOK V.
CHAPTER I. 1. The triumph of the creator Adharmazd, and glory of complete wisdom, is the divine (ahaig) religion of Mazda-worship.
2. The fifth book is about the sayings of the saintly Âtûr-farnbag !, son of Farukhzâd, who was the leader of the orthodox, even as to the manuscript which is called Gyêmarâ ?. 3. The collected replies of Âtûr
1 He was the leader of the orthodox about A.D. 815-835, and held a religious disputation with the heretic Abalis in the presence of the Khalifah Al-Mâmûn (A.D. 813-833), as detailed in the Mâdigân-î Gugastak Abâlis. He was also the first compiler of the Dînkard, probably of its first two Books, which are not yet discovered, as well as of some of the materials for the other Books. (See S.B.E., vol. xxxvii, p. 411, n. 1.)
The name of this MS. can be only guessed. It occurs three times in each of the two MS. authorities, B and K43, and the simplest reading of five of these six occurrences would be Sîmrâ, so that the remaining one (Sarmâ) may be neglected as a corruption. A final â in Pahlavi is a very certain indication of a Semitic word, for if a final of similar form occurs in an Irânian word, it represents either h or kh; so if the name were Irânian, its most probable reading would be Sîmurkh. But, in $ 3, it is intimated that the MS. belonged to an ancient tribe, or congregation (ram); it also seems, from Chap. IV, 8, 9, that the religion of this tribe was not so inconsistent with Zoroastrianism as to prevent its members being taught that orthodox faith; and $$ 4, 5 of the present chapter appear to quote from that MS, some
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