Mainyo-i-Khard 27

The sage asked the spirit of wisdom

thus: 'Wherefore have the people who were from Gâyômard, and those, too, who were lords and monarchs, from Hôshâng, the Pêsdâd, even unto Vistâsp, the king of kings, been such doers of their own wills?

Much benefit was also obtained by them from the sacred beings,

and they have been mostly those who were ungrateful unto the sacred beings,

and there are some even who have been very ungrateful, promise-breaking, and sinful.

For what benefit then have they been severally created,

and what result and advantage proceeded from them?'

The spirit of wisdom answered

thus: 'That which thou askest concerning them, as to benefit, or as to the reverse, thou shouldst become aware of and fully understand.

Because the affairs of the world of every kind proceed through destiny and time and the supreme decree of the self-existent eternity (zôrvân), the king and long-continuing lord.

Since, at various periods, it happens unto every one, for whom it is allotted, just as that which is necessary. to happen.

As even from the mutual connection of those ancients, who are passed away, it is manifest

that, ultimately, that benefit arose which was necessary to come from them to the creatures of Aûharmazd.

Because the advantage from Gâyômard was this,

first, the slaying of Arzûr, and making delivery of his own body, with great judiciousness, to Aharman.

And the second advantage was this,

that mankind and all the guardian spirits of the producers of the renovation of the universe, males and females, were produced from his body.

And, thirdly, this, that even the metals were produced and formed from his body.

'And the advantage from Hôshâng, the Pêsdâd, was this,

that, of three parts, he slew two parts of the demons of Mâzendar, who were destroyers of the world.

'The advantage from Tâkhmorup, the wellthe grown, was this,

that the accursed evil one, wicked, was kept by him thirty years as a charger.

And the writing of penmanship of seven kinds, which that wicked one kept in concealment, he brought out to publicity.

The advantage from the well-flocked Yimshed, son of Vivangha, was this,

that an immortality of six hundred years, six months, and sixteen days is provided by him for the creatures and creation, of every kind, of the creator Aûharmazd;

and they are made unsuffering, undecaying, and undisturbed.

Secondly, this, that the enclosure formed by Yim was made by him;

and when that rain of Malkôs occurssince it is declared in revelation that mankind and the other creatures and creations of Aûharmazd, the lord, are mostly those which shall perish 1-(29) one shall afterwards open the gate of that enclosure formed by Yim, (30) and the people and cattle, and other creatures and creations of the creator Aûharmazd, shall come out from that enclosure, (31) and arrange the world again. 32. Thirdly, (33) when he brought back the proportion of the worldly existences, which that evil-producing wicked one had swallowed, from his belly. Fourthly, when a goat (gôspend) was not given by him to the demons in the character of an old man.

And the advantage from Az-t Dahâk, the Bêvarâsp, and the accursed Frâsfyâk of Tûr was this,

that, if the dominion should not have come to Bêvarâsp and Frâsiyâk, the accursed evil spirit would then have given that dominion unto Aeshm;

and when it would have come unto Aeshm, it would not have been possible to take it away from him till the resurrection and future existence,

for this reason, because he has no bodily existence.

'And the advantage from Frêdûn was this,

such as the vanquishing and binding of Az-i Dahâk, the Bêvarâsp, who was so grievously sinful.

And, again too, many demons of MâzendarⓇ were smitten by him, and expelled from the region of Khvaniras..

And the advantage from Mânûskihar was this, (42, 43) that, in revenge for Afrik, who was his grandfather, Salm and Tug were kept back by him from disturbing the world. 44. From the land of Padashkhvârgar' unto the beginning of Dugakŏ, such as Frâstyák had taken, by treaty (padmânŏ) he seized back from Frâsfyâk, and brought it into the possession of the countries of Irân. And as to the enlargement of the sea of Kânsât, such as Frâstyák supplied, he also expelled the water from it.

And the advantage from Kaf-Kavâd was this,

that he became a thanksgiver unto the sacred beings.

Dominion, also, was well exercised by him,

and the family and race of the Kayâns proceeded again from him.

'And the advantage from Sâhm] was [this],

that the serpent Srôvar and the wolf Kapud, which they also call Pêhînŏ, the watery demon Gandarep, the bird Kamak, and the deluding demon were slain by him.

And he also performed many other great and valuable actions,

and kept back much disturbance from the world,

as to which, when one of those disturbances, in particular, should have remained behind, it would not have been possible to produce the resurrection and future existence.

And the advantage from Kâi-Us was this,

as Styâvakhsh was produced from his body.

Many other actions also proceeded from him.

'And the advantage from Styâvakhsh was this,

such as the begetting of Kaf-Khusrôi, and the formation of Kangdez.

And the advantage from Kaf-Khusrof was this,

such as the slaying of Frâstyâk,

the extirpation of the idol-temples which were on the lake of Kêkast,

and the management of Kangdez.

And he is able to do good through his assistance of the raising of the dead by the restorer of the dead, the triumphant Sôshâns', which is in the future existence.

And the advantage from Kat-Lôharâsp was this,

that dominion was well exercised by him,

and he became a thanksgiver unto the sacred beings.

He demolished the Jerusalem of the Jews, and made the Jews dispersed and scattered; and the accepter of the religion, Kal-Vistâsp, was produced from his body.

'And the advantage from Vistâsp was this,

such as the acceptance and solemnization of the good religion of the Mazda-worshippers,

through the divine voice (bakân aêvâz) of the Ahunavar, the word of the creator Aûharmazd;

the annihilation and destruction of the bodies of the demons and fiends;

and the pleasure and comfort of water and fire and all the angels and spirits of the worldly existences.

And he was full of the hope of the good and worthy,

through a virtuous desire for his own determination,

the compensation (nôs dasno) and gratification of Aûharmazd, with the archangels,

and the affliction and destruction of Aharman and the miscreations.'