a pahlavi poem.pdf

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A Pahlavi Poem

Author(s): W. B. HenningReviewed work(s):Source: Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London, Vol. 13,No. 3 (1950), pp. 641-648Published by: Cambridge University Press on behalf of School of Oriental and African StudiesStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/608470 .

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A Pahlavi PoemBy W. B. HENNING

THE study of the Pahlavi poetry, so spiritedly initiated by M.Benveniste 1twenty years ago, seems to have come to a dead end. That certainPahlavi texts, as the Ayddgdr-iZarerdnor the Draxt-1AsurTg (the Dispute ofthe date-palm with the 'goat), are poems, is conceded on all sides; but theformal problems, the problems of rhythm, metre, and rhyme, remain in thedark. It seems doubtful whether the material at hand is capable of leading usto definite conclusions. There are two main obstacles. Firstly, the notorioussloppiness of the copyists leaves too much room for conjecture; the mereaddition or omission, at the editors' discretion, of the word for " and " and theharf-i iddfetis sufficient to disturb the rhythmical balance. Secondly, as a rulewe do not know the dates of composition, and therefore cannot tell how thewords were pronounced by the authors; it makes a considerable differencetothe metre (whatever it was) whether we put down paSak or paig, mazdayasnor mazdesn,rosn or rosan, aSak or aig, sikan' or skany,giyan 3 or gyan, yazatoryazd, awis or o,4 druyistor dristor drust or durust,haca&ar r azer.One thing is clear: a biased approach will not lead to convincing results.On the strength of the preconceived notion, carried forwardfrom the study ofthe Avesta (where matters are equally dubious), that the metre is a purelysyllabic one, the Pahlavi poems were madeto suffera great deal of emendation;where the usual procedure of omitting inconvenient words produced lines tooshort to fit into the scheme, either words were added or their pronunciationdistorted.5 The alternative theory, namely that the metre is accentual, seemsto offer better prospects. It relieves us of the necessity of changing the textsovermuch; the number of syllables to a line can be left as variable as it is;and the precise pronunciation, rosn or rosan, becomes a matter almost ofindifference.

Clear evidence in favour of the accentual verse can be found in the verytext that formed the starting-point of M. Benveniste's investigations, theDraxt-zAsurig. The whole of this poem, which is less encumberedwith glossesthan most other Pahlavi texts, is written in fairly long lines, of twelve syllableson an average, with a caesurain the middle. There is a recurring ormula,whichfills the first half of lines, x. az man karend " they make x. out of me ". Thefirstword can be one of one, two, orthree syllables, so that the first half of a linecan have five, six, or seven syllables. Does this not indicate that the metrical1J.A., 1930, ii, 193 sqq.; 1932, i, 245 sqq.2 The Babylonian (not Assyrian) tree.8 This seems to me a wrong form altogether.4 J.A., 1932, i, 276 line 7, 278 u.As asp and asps, J.A., 1932, i, 280; xyndan and xiyonan, 286; asta, 286; dasta, 287;pots9, 278; even f-ma, 274, and 5vaw, 70 (for us); mazdesndn,274, but mazdayasndn,J.A., 1930,ii, 194 sq.

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W. B. HENNING-value of a word is wholly independent of its number of syllables ? The secondhalves of the lines are not in any way affected by the greater or lesser length ofthe first halves :12 obb z man karend ke to grZw mdzend2 5 + 5 = 1011 rasan az man karend ke t5 pay bandend 6 + 5 = 1142 ambdnaz man karend wdzargananwasndd3 6 + 6 = 1234 kamar az man karnd ke dzndyend pad murward5 6 + 8= 146 gydgrobaz man karend ke wirazendmehan ud mnn 6 + 8= 1416 tabangokaz man karend ddrugdanwasndd 7 + 5 = 1237 makTzag6az man karend ke sur abar wirazend 7 + 7 = 14

It is not intended to give a full transcription of the Draxt-. Asurnghere,a text that bristles with difficulties. A few connected passages, selected atrandom,will be sufficient to show that the impression producedby the few linesquoted above out of context is not misleading.1 draxt-erust est tar 6s'ahrasurtg 4 + 6 = 10bun-as husk est sar-as est tarr 4+ 4 = 8

warg-as nay mdned bar-as mdnedangur 5 + 5 = 10iren barawar&d mardohmdnwasnd 7 6 + 5 = 1115 tdbistansdyaghem pad sar sahrddrdn 6 + 5 = 1116 ir8 ihm varzgardn angubendzddmarddn. 6 + 7 = 13

1The old word for " neck "still persists in modern dialects, e.g. that of Sangisar (Zhukovskiyii, 314). One does not see why it should be changed to gardan(Unvala, BSOS., ii, 645, followed byBenveniste, J.A., 1930, ii, 194).2 maz- is apparently a dialect word, from mdrz-, in the sense of Persian m&lidan, o which it

belongs by etymology; another example of the loss of -r- in this position is Persian maze, mdzu"spine ", from *mdrzu- "the place of the vertebrae " (derived from Av. marazu-" vertebra ",cf. JRAS., 1942,242). I do not think that there is any talk of" kissing " in this line (as Mr. Unvalasuspected, loc. cit.).3 This Parthian word is common throughout the text (= MPers.rdy). Failure to recognize ithas produced some interesting misunderstandings, cf. Benveniste, p. 200.4 Probably belongs to Persian azTdan/daadan(the forms are not clear); cf. 6u dibd ba-zarrdzade (adade) n the Shahname.5 Although many forms and words are Parthian (or Median), many others belong to theSouthern dialect. The confusion reminds one of that familiar from the later Fahlawiyydt; howmuch of it belonged already to the original text is not by any means clear. It would be easy

enough to harmonize.6 " A leather cloth (a sufre) on which they serve the dinner."7 This is cast in the form of a riddle. The reader or listener is left to guess, from the descrip-tion, that the date-palm is meant. " Its leaves resemble the (leaves of) reeds "-in shape, ofcourse, not in taste (as Bartholomae said, Mir. Mund., iv, 24). That the last two words belongto this paragraph is shown by para. 28 (see below).8 Junker has two ideogramsfor fakar "sugar "in the Frahang, both of them due to misunder-

standing. " HL Y' " is sometimes = .HLB' = fr" milk " vii 4 (LBN' also occurs, see p. 67, n. 20),sometimes = .HL' (i.e. Aalld)= sik "vinegar " v 2 where the correct word is relegated to thevariants (sik and sirke) ; in Pahl. Texts 30, 6 = Husrav ud R6dak 31, "HLY' " z truJ is"astringent vinegar" = Arab. xall thiqqff(Tha'alibi). The other series, v 2 = xxxi 2-3, containsthe Semitic word for " beer " (or date-wine), Aram. sikra, etc. The Persian words are hur andanother that I cannot read (it occurs in the Kdrnamagvii 8 " As they had no wine, they offeredhim beer ").

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A PAHLAVI POEM17 tabang6gaz man karendsahr 6 sahr barend18 asydn hemmurwitagan19 astag3beabganimkad hirzendmardumag20 basn-um4est(?)zargonhawizmardumagaz man barxwarend

27 wdzend-umpad afsanku was a'i ud wad-xrad28 yad 7 tu bar aware

gusn-at abar hirzend829 xwadgumdangahem9

30 abzag Den Mdzdesndn31 yud az man ke buzhem32 ce yzwaz man karendGo6-urwa,yazdhawizHom tagig-

darogdanwasnad1bizisk 6 bizisk.sayag kdrddgdn.2pad nog bumroyedkum be ne windsendyad 5 rozydwed.5ke nest may ud nanyad amburdostend6

parsig mard6hmabe-suddraxtanmardohmdnwasnddpad ewen ce gdwanku rusplg-zadaka'i10

ce dt 11xwdbarOhrmazdyastan ne sahedke 12andaryazisn yazddn-harwTn aharpdydn,nerogaz man est.

1 ddrogdnwasnad would make better sense.2 "Migrants " or " tramps ".3,( Date-stones."4 If the people leave (the young shoot) alone, so that they refrain from hurting me, mycrown will be green till the end of the days."5 The identical, wholly Parthian, phrase recurs in the Ayddgdr-i Zarerdn para. 93 (p. 13,line 5). Parth. yad is found several times in the text under review. The explanation given inBSOAS., xii, 52, cannot be fully maintained in view of the ideogram HN = yad in the Parthianinscriptions, see ibid. 54, 66. The ideogram is 7n = "if ", which corresponds best to OIr. yadi;several interrelated forms may have coalesced in yad. [Cf. even in the colophon to the Book ofZarer, P.T., 1616,yad.6 rozfraskerd.]6 ,"Until they have had their fill." Instead of O?t-one could also read awift-, more closelyconforming to Man. Parthian 'wyst-.7"HT," if not simply a mistake for yt, is presumably the ideogramfor that same word. If thePahlavi HT (already in inscriptions) is an ancient mistake for HN = hen, it may have beenused in this text to represent the Parthian ideogram HN = hen = yad. Cf. above. At any rate,it does not correspond to ag " if ", to judge by para. 25, HT 'L 'YK = yad o ku.8The Parthian form is preferable on account of para. 19 (see above), where hirz- seems betterthan arz-. Perhaps one should replace all ideograms by strictly Parthian or Median forms;I fear I have not been sufficiently consistent.9Here the full Parthian form is spelled out, not too correctly. In the same line the apparent'y? represents ayi or a'i " you are ", Parthian 'yy. So also in para. 53, tu kust a'i edar " you are

affixed here " (you are stuck here).10" Until you can bear fruit for men, they have to lead a male to you, as they do with cattle.I would even go so far as to suspect that you were born out of wedlock."1 = which.12 Uncertain. Kyc may be = Parthian kyJ, which equals Persian kas. On the other hand,the rhythm (cf. kardan nei ahkd at the end of lines) may favour the explanation proposed byBartholomae, loc. cit., 26, line 5.

7+ 5=125+5= 107+5= 126+5 116+ 6= 125 + 5 = 105+ 5= 105 + 5 10

6+4=-107 + 5 =126+5=116+6- 126+7= 13

7+6 =136+--6126+6=124+ 6=105+5= 10

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W. B. HENNING-33 hawi 1 bar-yamag

yud az man ke buzhem

35 mozaghemsaxtag4angustbanhusrogdn36 mask-umkarend dbdanpad garm rozud rabih6

39 ndmagaz man karenddaftarud pddaxsir

42 amban az man karendkenan udpust 8udpanirkapurud musk syd(w)was ydmagsdhwdrpad amban dwarend

49 kad buz 5 wazarbarendharwkedah drahmnedared

e 3pad pust ddremkardan ne s8ahed.

azadddn asnddsah hdmhirzdn.5pad dast ud viyabansard dbaz man est.

frawardagdibTwdnabar man nibesend

wazargananwasnddharwin9(?)royn-xwardTg0ud xaz 11tuxarigpadmozan kanigdnfradl2osahr ce Eran

ud pad wahagddrendfraz o buz ne dsed13

1Doubtful. MSS. 'Lc.2 " Satchel", = Persianbdryame. 3 =which4 Ofmoroccoleather ". saxtag belongs to Pers. saxtiydn; cf. also the Sogdian form mentionedin BSOAS., xi, 714, n. 6.5 " The archer's thumb-stall [not 'gloves '] for the illustrious companions of the king."6 Cf. Sb.P.A. W., 1934, 33, n. 4 (Man. MPers. rbyh).7 Or dibewdn(not, of course, to be read dabirdn), the ancestor of Persian dzwan. Originallydipi + pdna, hence " where one keeps and looks after the documents, writings, etc.". The wordwas early shortened to dewdn (by diwewdn). In this form it is attested (apart from Arm. divan)as the name of one of Mani's books, his Epistles. Each epistle was called a dyb = dib in Middle

Persian, e.g. Muhr Dib " the Epistle of the Seal "; the whole collection was a dipi-pdna-. Surelythe oldest example of the use of this word for the collection of a man's writings.8Var. pist. Both pronunciations existed also in Persian.SMSS. HRWNN ? Scarcely = mes (Fr.P., vii 3) or dli(y) (ibid., iv 6 note 32). Cf.P.T., 1616.10 R6yn-xwardzg, iterally " butter-food ", means " sweetmeats " in Pahlavi. The " Southern"form ruwn-xtardTgn the Husraw ud Rldag, para. 37, correspondsto balawz n the Arabic version.In spite of the help afforded by Tha'alibi, Mr. Unvala misunderstood the word as " side-dish ".-The Man. MPers. form is rwyyn, see BSOAS., xi, 57, n. 56.-Possibly the line ran originallyrdyn ud royn-xwardig.11" Tokharian marten-furs " ? Hz = xaz occurs in the list of fur-animals in GrBd., 962.-Or should one read musk syda(w) [ce] buz tuxdrzg "black musk [of] the ' Tokharian' goat"(= Musk deer ?) ?-Neither xaz nor musk are articles usually associated with the name ofTokharistan/Balkh.12 Fr'Yis used in Man. Parthian, but in the Parthian inscriptions there is prMs nstead, e.g..HNprhS 'L = yadfrdxg o. This curious form represents the ancient nominative, i.e. frdnxg = Av.frqS = Skt. prda, with loss of the nasal; it shows that Bartholomae's rule, Grdr. Ir. Phil.,i, 1, p. 11, ? 24, is not correctly formulated.13 Thus rather than diyd.

5 + 5 106+5-11

5+ 5= 106+4 -106 + 6 126+5= 11

6 + 6 = 126+6=12

6+6 127+5=125+ 5= 105+6=116+6=12

7+6=137+6=13

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A PAHLAVI POEMamrawlpad do pasiz kodagdnxrinend 6+ 5 = 11dan ud astag t6o owe frdz 6 koy murddn.2 7 + 5 = 12

It is not claimed that the mere statement that this is accentual poetryrelieves us of the need for further investigation. On the contrary, a great dealof work will be requiredin order to discoverthe accented syllables, their placewithin the lines, and other questions of detail. For example, it seems that thelimits of variation in the number of syllables are precisely set. The differencesbetween the maximum and the average, and between the minimum and theaverage are apparently equal. Thus, in the Draxt-TAsuirg the average numberof syllables to a line is 12; the maximum is 14, the minimum 10 (with a singleexception, in para. 1, which is sufficient to render the text suspect); thevariation therefore is 2. In the ManichaeanMiddle Persian hymn analysed inTrans. Phil. Soc., 1944, 56, the average number is also 12, but the variation is 3(max. 15, min. 9). There arethus subtle differences n the structure of the verseswhich should be further explored. In the fragment published by Schaeder,Studien, 290 sq. (alphabetic hymn, end of 'Ain to Tau with tailpiece) theaverage is 11, the variation 2 :-[C ] 3 wadan6saguxaboy 4 x + 6parwarzedau bagan ad zamigud draxtdn. 6 + 6 = 126camagrosnin ddlgdn dfr7dagdn. 4 + 7 = 11kofdn nisdg wydwardgud bagcihr. 4 + 6= 10radnmn ram dsparhmawend wyag. 4 + 5 9sahrdnandsdg man mdn ud gah gdh. 5 + -5 10Tau sazedargdwtft sahrdaranmasist 6 + 5= 11namdzud astdwisn au Mdr-MdanUxasndm. 6 + 6 12dfrid dfr-d pad nawdg6rozwuzarg 4 + 6 = 10au Mdr-Zaq6amozag ad hamagram7 ros&nn. 7 + 6 = 13Average 5.1 + 58 =- 10-9

The following verses seem to confirm the rule; here the average numberof syllables is 9 5, the variation2 *5 (max. 12, min. 7). They belongto a Parthian"alphabetic " hymn, of which the strophes B-Z and T-N are preserved in1It is strange that all students of this text, even Bartholomae (loc. cit., 27), have stumbledover the perfectly ordinary ideogram for " date ".-Amrdw is the appropriate Parthian form(Man. 'mr'w, against Arm. armav); however, at the end of the text, para. 54, xurmd is writtenin clear (hwlm'y, " hwlm'k ").2 The goat predicts that the hopes which the date-palm put on its seeds (in para. 19, see above)will come to nought. Hence, " may your pips and stones end up in (lit. go forward to) the alley

of the dead " ? I feel rather uncertain of the reading of the last two words, koy murddn; mayone compare the Persian phrase kuSe-yi xadmsdn " cemetery " ? At any rate, Mr. Unvala'sversion has little to commend itself, "Wounded to the life thou willst be destroyed exterminatedby the spiritual leaders " !3The first word remains uncertain. 4 So, of course.5 ," The rest-house of the Jewels is a flowery place."6 " On the great New Year's day." 7So to be read.

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646~~~W.. HENNING-full. Each strophe has two long lines; the subdivisions are not marked in theMS., but there is scarcelyhitherto unpublished

1 Br&dardn mwastdnwiz&idagdnixtagJn12 Gy&ndn 5zs"na-nfrahTftastiimnn3 Dar&1 brangku bawJdaspurr4 Harw5nhanddmpad ast&wi,s'n5 Wjxt ud wi&zid jdjw a"Zazd,rJn

6 ZJdaghidud noxzdddn7 TdbMd56'niftdahid bJwag8 Yudid pad abrangr5z'dfridag9 Ki5'kic" z'asmdh

padwahid wandeid10 LdbudnimaSt7g 2hirz#id stiir11 Mejhmdn 5s"npad rdmis-n12 Niwar~d A.kfud andigJd

any uncertainty on tbat account. From M763,

ud wahigardnud dzddpuhrdnwiz'idagift rgd?wud b&tmrazend&tnpad bagabdtiskalCin bJnangpadrdstddrJd( anjaman rJmis'naz madydn wasdnud d5 az'biwarJnc~zir5,ft barJnC'jr5&"spurr7g

6+5= 117+ 5=124 + 6 = 105+ 5 = 104+4-= 85+5=104 +4=- 84 +6=---105 + 5 = 105 +6=~113 +6=- 94 + 5= 9

frdhift an5s"ag 4 + 5 = 9au warzigaruxibj 4 + 6 =10pad im d&"ambat 5 + 5 = 10'C" bj-dstdr7ft 4 + 6 = 10pad uxjstwjn7ft 5 + 4=-- 9ud dfrimid 5 +4=- 9barJdewbidAn 5 + 5 = 10anddisdgowindag3 4 + 6 7= 10mard(5hma'stag 3 + 4 = 7auangu-nziammd 3 + 5= 8pad trixt6axsgibed 5 + 5 = 10pad ~qfrz'lrift 4+4= 8Average 4-5 + 5=--9-5

Wholestrophe.232018182118

19201820151819

To turn now to the thorny question of the rhyme, I will say straightwaythat in the whole of the Western Middle Iranian material so far recognized aspoetical there is not a single rhyme in the strict sense. There are accidental

1" Selected by sifting ", Pers. bixtan. Cf. below str. 5. In MPers. 'zwyxtn occurs (samemeaning).2 This transcription of nmstyg is indicated by Parth. inscr. nymstyk (Inscr. of Shapur, line 4,cf. also Sprengling, AJSLL., lviii, 169 sq.), which is rendered by7rrapd'KA77cnrL9inhe Greek version,i.e. "appeal, request ". This mieaningfits the Manichnan texts far better than "adoration "Both spelling and meaning are at variance with the derivation from Olr. namah-, which has to beabandoned.3 Here spelled gwndg, but elsewhere gwyndg. "Failings, offences."'1nywryd(ni + var-).5I do not regard as a poem the passage from the Great Bundahishn (p. 10) to whichM. Nyberg has given such prominence (ZDMG., lxxxii, 222 sqq.). The wording indicates clearlythat the passage is merely a Pahlavi version of an Avestan text (quite possibly of an Ave,stanpoem).

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A PAHLAVI POEM

rhymes and assonances; but the principle of the rhyme as such, the deliberaterhyme, seems to have been unknown. The passages quoted above, fromPahlavi and Parthian,1 show that sufficiently. Especially as the answer to thequestion has some importance for the history of Persian literature, we shouldbe careful to confine the use of the word to cases in which rhyme was con-sciously applied as a poetic embellishment.Yet even the most cautious will not be able to deny the presenceof consciousrhyme in a Pahlavi poem that to the present has remained unnoticed. It formspart of one of the Andarz texts in Jamasp-Asana'sPahlavi Texts,the so-calledPahlavi Shahname, to which the other poetical Pahlavi books belong. Thepassage (p. 54) is conspicuous by its curious, plainly poetic, diction. Its text isin a sad condition: wordshave been left out, there are a few glosses, some linesmay be missing altogether ; nevertheless, its poetic characteris beyond doubt.The rhyme goes through the whole poem, in the manner of a Qaside; indeed,there is interior rhyme in the matla'. It seems that, apart from the openingline, two lines always made up a strophe; the first line of each stropheended inandargehdn (to gain such regularity one has to assume that a whole line hasbeen allowed to drop out). There are several uncertain points in the textprinted here 2:-0 Ddromandarz-eaz dCndgdn az guft-opesenTgdn1 0 smdah ewizdrom pad rdst7handargehdn

agar [en az man]padired2 Pad geti vistdxWma bedce geti pad kas bene hitt-hend3 [(saddh-ipad dil ce xanded4 Candmardomdndid-homCand xwadaydn3did-hom5 Awesdn mih wes-meniddrawedn aberdh5sud-hend6 Harw ke c6inen did--e rayka ne daredgeti pad spanj 7

bavedsud-i do-gehdnwas-drzogandargehdnne ktuskud [ne] xdn-u-mdnoneline missing ?]ud ce ndzedgetiydnwas[-drzog?] andargehdnmih-sarddr7h bar mardomdnberaft-hendandargehdn4abdgdardberaft-hendasdmdn6ka wastdrandargehdnud [ne] tan pad dsdn

1 M. Benveniste quoted two passages to prove the existence of rhyme in Man. Parthian (J.A.,1930, ii, 223). In the first, the words at the end of the lines should be read (a) framanyog,(b) abestaft,(c) wilastift, (d) manag. In the second, we have (a) wasndd, (b) 9stdd,(c) mardohmdn,(d) paiddg; 'st['d], in the place of 'st[d], is wrongly restored (the next word is [mdy]'n). There areno strophes in the second passage, which is an " alphabetical" hymn. Far better accidentalrhymes can be found in most Parthian poems.

2 The words I have added are in square brackets.3 A gloss: spahbedan"generals ".4Another gloss: ku amdh mihtar hem andar gehdn " thinking 'we are the greatest in theworld' ". Presumably to explain wes-menfddr.6 MSS. 'pl's (= dfrah) instead of 'pyl's.6 A variant: &smdn which also would make sense of a sort). I prefer the rarerword, a-sdmin,which here, in conjunction with abe-rdh,probably had the meaning of Pers. bfsdman.7 Not spoz here. Cf. P.T., 561s-571 getzpad aspranj ddr ud tan pad idsn.

VOL. XIII. PART 3. 46

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A PAHLAVI POEM0 I have a counsel from the Wise, fromthe sayings of the Ancient.1 To you I will explain it, truthfully, in the world; if you accept [it from me],

you will have profit for both worlds:-2 Do not put your trust in earthly goods, desiring much, in the world; forearthly goods have never been left in anyone's hands, neither a palace,[nor]house and hearth.3 ...............Joy in the heart ? Why laugh and be proud, worldlings ?4 How many men have I seen, [desiring] much, in the world! How manyprinces have I seen, lordingit over mankind !5 Grandly, in overweening pride, they strode in the world-they have gonewhere there is no way, in pain they went, poor and homeless.

6 Anyone, when he has seen that-what use if he remains pledged to theworld ? if he fails to consider the earthly existence an inn, the body afacile thing ?The poem raises a number of important problems; their discussion has tobe held over to another occasion. Is this an ancient poem, or merely an imita-tion of Persian models ? Can its date be determined ?2 The sentiment, thedistrust of the world, seems appropriateto all periods of Persian and MiddlePersian literature; it would have been appropriate to the time of Burz6i.The rhythm would perhaps improve, if one put more modern forms into thetext, in the place of the conventional heavy-vowelled Middle Persian forms

(e.g. in 2b ce gettpa kds be-n'-histand).1Or "self-abandoned ". The word had both meanings. Cf. the passages collected byM. F. Kanga, The Testamentof KhusravI, p. 3, n. 4 (add Pahl. Texts, 143, 5).2 The terminus ante quem is A.D. 956 (if the figure-324-in the first colophon, P.T., 83,deserves to be trusted).

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a pahlavi poem.pdf

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