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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com


CHAPTER VII.

1. And as he (Aharman) came thirdly to the earth, which arrayed the whole earth against him—

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since there was an animation of the earth through the shattering—Albûrz grew up 1, which is the boundary of the earth, and the other 2 mountains, which are amid the circuit of the earth, come up 2244 in number 3. 2. And by them the earth was bound together and arranged, and on them was the sprouting and growth of plants, wherefrom was the nourishment of cattle, and therefrom was the great advantage of assistance to men.

3. Even so it is declared that before the coming of the destroyer to the creatures, for a thousand years the substance of mountains was created in the earth—especially as antagonism came on the earth, and settled on it with injury—and it came up over the earth just like a tree whose branch has grown at the top, and its root at the bottom. 4. The root of the mountains is passed on from one to the other, and is arranged in connection with them, and through it is produced the path and passage of water from below to above, so that the water may flow in it in such manner as blood in the veins, from all parts of the body to the heart, the latent vigour which they possess. 5. And, moreover, in six hundred years 4, at first, all the mountains apart from Albûrz were completed. 6. Albûrz was growing during eight hundred years 5; in two hundred years it grew up to

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the star station, in two hundred years up to the moon station, two hundred years up to the sun station, and two hundred years up to the sky. 7. After Albûrz the Aparsên mountain 1 is the greatest, as it is also called the Avar-rôyis2 (up-growth') mountain, whose beginning is in Sagastân and its end unto Pârs and to Kînîstân 3.

8. This, too, is declared, that after the great rain in the beginning of the creation 4, and the wind's sweeping away the water to the ocean, the earth is in seven portions 5, a little above it, as the compact earth, after the rain, is torn up by the noise and wind in various places. 9. One portion, moreover, as much as one-half the whole earth, is in the middle, and in each of the six portions around is as much as Sagastân; moreover, as much as Sagastân is the measure of what is called a keshvar ('region') for the reason that one was defined from the other by a kêsh ('furrow'). 10. The middle one is Khvanîras, of which Pârs is the centre, and those six regions are like a coronet (avîsar) around it. 11. One part of the wide-formed ocean wound around it, among those six regions; the sea and forest seized upon the south side, and a lofty mountain grew up on the north, so that they might become separate, one from the other, and imperceptible.

12. This is the third contest, about the earth.


Footnotes

174:1 Bund. VIII, 1-4 is paraphrased in §§ 1-4.

174:2 The MS. has âvânŏ, 'waters,' instead of avârîk, 'other,' which alters the meaning into, 'which is the boundary of the waters of the earth, and the mountains,' &c.

174:3 Bund. XII, 2.

174:4 Bund. VIII, 5, and XII, 1, have 'eighteen years.' As both numbers are written in ciphers it would be easy for either to be corrupted into the other.

174:5 Bund. XII, 1.

175:1 The Apârsên of Bund. XII, 9.

175:2 Written Apû-rôyisn, as if it were an Arabic hybrid meaning 'father of growth.'

175:3 Bund. XII, 9. XXIV, 28, have Khûgîstân instead of Kînîstân; the latter appears to be an old name of the territory of Samarkand (see note to Bund. XII, 13).

175:4 Literally, 'creature.'

175:5 Bund. XI, 2-4 is paraphrased in §§ 8-11.


Next: Chapter VIII