Evil animals in the Zoroastrian religion

History of Religions

Volumn 44, Issue 4, 2005, Pages 300-317

  Moazami, Mahnaz ^a  

^a Howard Hughes Medical Institute

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 53949111682     PISSN: 00182710     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/497802     Document Type: Review

References (107)

1. Bundahišn, TD1, ed. Tahmuras Dinshah (Tehran, 1970), fols. 16v., 19v., 20r.;
2. Zand Âkâsîh, ed. B. T. Anklesaria (Bombay, 1956), 49, 57;
3. The Dādestan i Dēnīk, ed. M. Jafari-Dehaghi (Paris, 1998), chap. 36.40.
4. Bundahišn, fol. 5r.;
5. Zand Âkâsîh, 44.
6. Christian Bartholomae, Altiranisches Wörterbuch (Strasburg, 1904; repr., Berlin, 1961), col. 538.
7. Helmut Humbach, The Gāthās of Zarathustra and the Other Old Avestan Text (Heidelberg, 1991), pt. 1, 118, 140; pt. 2, 24, 107. Kellens proposed that the term approximately means "affreux, sauvage";
8. see J. Kellens and E. Pirart, Les Textes Vieil-Avestiques (Wiesbaden, 1990), 2:231.
9. H. W. Bailey, "A Range of Iranica," in W. B. Henning Memorial Volume, ed. M. Boyce and I. Gershevitch (London, 1970), 25-28.
10. Bûndahishn, TD 2, ed. E. T. D. Anklesaria (Bombay, 1908), 143.9.
11. I. Gershevitch, A Grammar of Manichean Sogdian (Oxford, 1954), add. 62, 246.
12. Bundahišn, fols. 58v., 59r.;
13. Zand Âkâsîh, 183.
14. On this subject see H.-P. Schmidt, "Ancient Iranian Animal Classification," Studien Zur Indologie und Iranistik 5-6 (1980): 209-44.
15. Vendidād (Vidēvdād), ed. D. H. Jamasp (Bombay, 1907), chap. 14.5-6. The Pahlavi translation renders these terms as: azi uδraišag, azi sag karbunag, kašawag, wazay ān ī zamīg, wazay ī ābīg, mōr dānkēš , mōr ī halag, pazūg gūh-ward, and maxš ērang.
16. Bundahišn, fol. 59r.;
17. Bundahišn, fols. 59r., 59v.;
18. Zand Âkâsîh, 185.
19. The Pahlavi Rivāyat accompanying the Dādestān ī Dēnīg, ed. A. V. Williams (Copenhagen, 1990), chap. 21.45-46.
20. The manuscript has on the margin gwnj, written in Persian alphabet; see M. Mo'in, Farhang-e Fārsi (Tehran, 1983), 3:3474, for gunz, gunž-ada, "cricket."
21. Herodotus Histories, 1:140.
22. Plutarch, Isis et Osiris, trans. M. Meunier (Paris, 1924), 46, 148;
23. see also J. Bidez and F. Cumont, Les Mages hellénisés (Paris, 1938), 1:85.
24. Agathias, The Histories, trans. J. D. Frendo (Berlin, 1975), bk. 2, sec. 24; sec. 10, 59.
25. Mary Boyce, A History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 1 (Leiden, 1975), 299;
26. see also N. K. Firby, European Travellers and Their Perceptions of Zoroastrians in the 17th and 18th Centuries (Berlin, 1988).
27. Wanant, literally the "Conquering One," chief star of the southern quarter, is the guardian of the apertures against demons, so that they may not block the passage of sun, moon, and stars; Dādestān ī Mēnōg ī xrad, ed. P. Sanjana (Bombay, 1895), chap. 49.12.
28. Quote is in Yašt, 20.1 (J. Darmester, Le Zend-Avesta: Annals du Musée Guimet, 3 vols. [Paris, 1892; repr., 1960]);
29. see also J. J. Modi, "Nirang-I-Jashan-I-Burzigarân," in Anthropological Papers (Bombay, 1912), 1:22-30.
30. The Complete Texts of the Pahlavi Dinkard, ed. D. M. Madan, 2 vols. (Bombay, 1911), bk. 5, 452.
31. Vidēvdād, chap. 3.7-10, 22;
32. Dādestān ī Mēnōg ī xrad, chap. 5;
33. The Supplementary Texts to the Šāyest-ne- Šāyest, ed. F. W. P. Kotwal (Copenhagen, 1969), chap. 13.19.
34. Shaul Shaked, The Wisdom of the Sasanian Sages (Dēnkard VI) (Boulder, CO, 1979), chap. 317, 127;
35. Šāyast-nē-Šāyast: A Pahlavi Text on Religious Customs, ed. Jehangir C. Tavadia (Hamburg, 1930), chap. 20.5.
36. The Pahlavi Texts, ed. J. M. Jamasp-Asana (Bombay, 1897-1913), 70.
37. Anthologie de Zādspram, ed. Ph. Gignoux and A. Tafazzoli (Paris, 1993), chap. 27.2. Vidēvdād, chaps. 14.8; 18.2;
38. for the term "xrafstar-killer," see J. Kellens, Les Noms-Racines de l'Avesta (Wiesbaden, 1974), 162.
39. Bundahišn, fols. 77v., 78r.;
40. Zand Âkâsîh, 239;
41. J. de Menasce, Le Troisième livre du Dēnkart (Paris, 1973), chap. 48, 58-59;
42. see also Ph. Gignoux, "Contacts culturels entre Manichéisme et Mazdéisme: Quelques exemples significatifs," Studia Orientalia 70 (1993): 65-73.
43. The Pahlavi Rivāyat, chap. 8.7-8.
44. Šāyast-nē-Šāyast, chap. 8.19, 13.
45. Vidēvdād, chap. 16.11-12;
46. see also Šāyast-nē-Šāyast, chap. 3.21, 80;
47. and The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and Others, ed. E. B. N. Dhabhar (Bombay, 1932), 520-21: "Killing noxious creatures is said to be a great merit in the religion, and although a petty small noxious creature is killed, then will be great compensation for it in the spiritual world. If one kills a serpent and recites the Avesta for it, it will be as much merit as when a person takes two priests to his house and causes the Yasna service to be performed for him. If one kills a mouse, it will be a merit of 50 tanāfurs. And if a corn-carrying ant is killed, it will be as much as killing a lion of the forest or as much as having restored the sight of a blind man. If one kills a kuza called in Arabic mur or murcha, it will be a merit equivalent to setting right one involved in calamity. If they kill a lion or a wolf or a tiger and such wild animals, then as much merit will accrue."
48. Vidēvdād, chap. 18.73.
49. Šāyast-nē-Šāyast, chap. 7.9, 102;
50. see also The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and Others, 269-70.
51. Le Livre d'Ardā Virāz, ed. Ph. Gignoux (Paris, 1984), chap. 60, 194. Ardā Virāz Nāmag, the book of Ardā Virāz, contains descriptions of the fates of the just and the damned and various punishments awaiting the damned in hell.
52. The Hērbedestān and Nērangestān, ed. F. Kotwal and Ph. Kreyenbroek (Paris, 1995), vol. 2, chap. 7.5.
53. Xwarrah, "glory, divine grace," comparable with Greek tyche or Roman fortuna. Gignoux, ed., Le Livre d'Ardā Virāz, chap. 14, 167.
54. Avestan, am∂šå sp∂ncombining dot belowta-, "Revitalizing Immortals," the name of six divine beings that play an important role in Zoroastrian religion. J. J. Modi, The Persian Farziât-nâmeh and Kholâseh-I dîn of Dastur Dârâb Pâhlan (Bombay, 1924), text 32, trans. 46.
55. De Menasce, Le Troisième livre du Dēnkart, chap. 188, 195.
56. Vidēvdād, chap. 3, 7.
57. Gignoux, ed., Le Livre d'Ardā Virāz, chap. 54, 191;
58. Dādestān ī Dēnīg, chap. 26, 86-87.
59. Ph. Gignoux, Les quatre inscriptions du mage Kirdir (Paris, 1991);
60. Kerdīr Sar Mašhal (KSM) 40, "Mǎ;r ud karzang ud karbunag ud any xrafstar purr ěstěd; see also P. O. Skjaervoø, "Kirdir's Vision: Translation and Analyses," in Archaeologische Mitteilungen Aus Iran, Band 16 (Berlin, 1983), 269-306.
61. I. Jakobovits, "The Medical Treatment of Animals in Jewish Law," Journal of Jewish Studies 7, nos. 1-2 (1956): 210.
62. quoted by A. Harnack, Medizinisches aus der aeltesten Kirchengeschichte (Leipzig, 1902), 22.
63. Bundahišn, fol. 60v.;
64. Zand Âkâsîh, 189.
65. Zand Âkâsîh, 183;
66. see also Ph. Gignoux, Man and Cosmos in Ancient Iran, Serie Orientale Roma no. 91 (Rome, 2001), 53.
67. The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and Others, 265: "As the accused Ahriman has produced the silk-worm and the bee for doing harm to the creation of Ormazd and for the destruction of trees, so the Creator Ormazd has, through His wisdom, produced this advantage there for the greatest good of His creatures, that when the silks are artificially wrought and prepared, i.e. when they are dyed, they are proper for the embellishment of mankind if they are worn. The bee-hive should be purified and made ready by a Herbad for the priests and by a Behdin for the Behdins and (then) they should wash their hands and extract (honey) from the bee-hive and then it is proper, if it is eaten as medicine and for (effecting) a cure. On this side here (i.e. Persia), we consecrate cotton clothes with the Darun on the dawn of the fourth day (after death), because cotton grows from the earth and is nourished by water; for this reason it is more precious (than silk)." For almost a thousand years, silk was the principal economic and political pivot of the countries that produced and commercialized it. Among these countries, Persia was particularly important during the Sasanian period, for it controlled the Occidental straits of the "Silk Road" and, thus, overland transportation of silk to the Far East.
68. See A. Jeroussalimskaja, "Soieries sassanides," in Splendeur des Sassanides (Bruxelles, 1993), 113-19.
69. Judg. 14:8. Lice, mentioned in Exod. (8:15), is the third plague that God brought on the Egyptians. The Egyptian magicians were not able to produce lice using their own magic, which caused them to say "this is the finger of God." Aristaeus, Apollo's son, taught people to cultivate olive trees and breed bees. One day he involuntarily caused the death of Eurydice. To revenge her, the nymphs, her companions, killed all of Aristaeus's bees. An episode of Georgics is inspired by this legend: four bulls were sacrificed to calm the irritated spirits of Eurydice. A swarm of bees escaped from the entrails of these animals (Virgil, Géorgiques, trans. E. de Saint-Denis [Paris, 1995], bk. 4, 76). Jahez, a famous Arab prose writer (776-868 CE), says on this subject: "We note that cadavers give birth to worms as well as refuse. This is why Zoroastrians, after they defecate, cover their excrement with earth to prevent the generation of worms. Zoroastrians never defecate in wells or cesspools because they respect too much the earth to soil it by their defecations. Likewise, spontaneous generations occur in the hearts of palm trees of many flying creatures, like birds or similar animals, for example woodlice, or the animal that they call in Persian fadhu, weevil (sus), wood worms, termites, animals born in the tree trunks, cockroaches in the latrines. In Khorasan, one can see that snow which accumulates in the vaulted arches (azāj) completely transforms to frogs" (Kitāb al-Hayawan [Cairo, 1905-7], 3:369-72).
70. Bundahišn, fol. 60r.;
71. Zand Âkâsîh, 187;
72. The Pahlavi Rivāyat, chap. 21.2.
73. Saddar Nasr and Saddar Bundehesh, chap. 14, 13-14.
74. See P. O. Skjaervø, "Of Lice and Men and the Manichean Anthropology," in Studien zur Indologie und Iranistik Festschrift George Buddruss, ed. R. Söhmen-Thieme and O. V. Hinüber (Reinbek, Germany, 1994), 273-75.
75. See K. M. Jamasp-Asa, "The Ritual of Hair Trimming and Nail Paring in Zoroastrianism," in Acta Iranica, Hommages et Opera Minora, vol. 7, Monumentum Georg Morgenstierne I (Leiden, 1981), 321;
76. for modern times, see Ph. G. Kreyenbroek and Sh. Neville Munshi, Living Zoroastrianism (Curzon, 2001), 40.
77. Le livre de Zoroastre (Zarâtusht Nâma) de Zartusht-I Bahrâm Ben Pajdû, ed. F. Rosenberg (St. Petersburg, 1904), chap. 43, 47. Hair was also connected to the idea of resurrection. The Bundahišn, states that "at the time [of resurrection], bones will be demanded from the spirit of the earth, blood from water, hair from the plants, and life from fire, as they were accepted by them in the creation" (fol. 95r.; Zand Âkâsîh, 285).
78. Aristotle, Histoire des animaux, trans. J. Tricot (Paris, 1987), 1:488b, 16.
79. Bundahišn, fol. 59v.;
80. Zand Âkâsîh, 187.
81. P. O. Skjaervø, "AŽDAHĀ," in Encyclopaedia Iranica (London, 1989), 3:191.
82. Gignoux, ed., Le Livre d'Ardā Virāz, chap. 36, 182.
83. Dārāb Hormazyār's Rivāyat, ed. E. M. R. Unvālā (Bombay, 1922), 2:193-94;
84. Zand Âkâsîh, 189;
85. de Menasce, Le Troisième livre du Dēnkart, chap. 108, 110.
86. Madan, ed., Dēnkard, bk. 8, 723, line 10;
87. see also A. Tafazzoli, "Un chapitre du Dēnkard sur les guerriers," in Res Orientales (Bures-sur-Yvette, France, 1995), 7:297-301.
88. Bundahišn, fol. 61r.;
89. Zand Âkâsîh, 191;
90. The Pahlavi Texts, 123.
91. Bundahišn, fols. 60v., 61r.;
92. Bundahišn, fol. 61v.;
93. see also The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and Others, 270.
94. See M. C. Root, "Animals in the Art of Ancient Iran," in A History of the Animal World in the Ancient Near East, ed. B. J. Collins (Leiden, 2002), 169-209.
95. Dēnkard, bk. 8, 730.
96. See The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and Others, 269.
97. According to The Pahlavi Rivāyat (chap. 47.18-19), when Zarathustra invites Wištāsp for the second time to accept the religion, "Wisťāsp said: 'One sinful act of mine is so [great] that if I accept the religion, even then it will not benefit my soul, for in [my] first battle I slew 6,000 in [my] second 5,000, and in [my] third 5,000. When I did battle again, [in my] first I slew 1,000, [in my] second 10,000, and [in my] third 1,000. Zoroaster said: [There is] no sin at all in slaying them, for they were the offspring of wolves. You [did] well when you slew them!"
98. Vidēvdād, chaps. 7.2-3; 8.16-18, 71; 9.26.
99. Kitāb al-Hayawān, 4:298-300, 5:319-22.
100. Physiologus was the most widely known animal book during the Middle Ages. It was composed in the second century CE. The author added Christian moralizations, illustrated by quotations from the Bible, to short descriptions of the physical traits of animals.
101. Ayātkār ī Zāmāspīk, ed. S. I. Messina (Rome, 1939), chap. 8.7, 51-52.
102. Bundahišn, fol. 93v.;
103. Zand Âkâsîh, 281.
104. Zand Âkâsîh, 281;
105. Anthologie de Zādspram, chap. 34.52.
106. See J. A. Tober, Who Owns the Wildlife? The Political Economy of Conservation in Nineteenth-Century America (Westport, CT, 1981), 23-28. The federal Wildlife Services program (formerly called Animal Damage Control) slaughters tens of thousands of coyotes each year (about 86,000 in 1999).
107. Federal extermination efforts have been conducted since 1885, and during the past fifty years about 3.5 million coyotes have been killed (M. Bekoff, "Tireless Tricksters, Protean Predators, Coyotes Adapt to Wasteful Human Extermination Ploys," Daily Camera [November 18, 2001]). During the last half of the nineteenth century, the antiwolf campaign was most active in the western part of the United States, and no one knows how many animals were killed. By 1900, there were not many wolves left in the western United States. In 1919, the government joined the antiwolf campaign, passing a law that called for the extermination of wolves on federally owned lands. By 1942, when the law was abolished, 25,000 more wolves had been killed by the government plan.