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JEH THE PRIMAL WHORE? OBSERVATIONS ON ZOROASTRIAN MISOGYNY'

ALBERT DE JONG

When Ohrmazd and Ahreman decided to battle, Ohrmazd laid Ahreman low for 3,000 years by showing him the image of the righteous man. During the 3,000 years, Ahreman' s demons tried to resuscitate their lord and father, but did not succeed. Finally, the wicked Jeh came and said: 'Wake up, father, for in that battle I shall let loose so much harm to the righteous man and the ploughing ox that they not be fit to live on account of my deeds. I shall take away their Glory, I shall hurt the water, I shall hurt the earth, I shall hurt the fire, I shall hurt the plant, I shall hurt the entire creation Ohrmazd made'. Thus she comforted Ahreman and he emerged out of his stupor. Ahreman kissed her on the head and she began to menstruate. Then Ahreman promised to give her whatever she would desire. Ohrmazd, knowing this, realized that Ahreman could give her whatever she desired. Ahreman's body was in the shape of a frog, but Ohrmazd (?) showed Jeh an image of a young man of fifteen years, and Jeh concentrated her thoughts on him. She asked Ahreman: 'Give me the desire for man, that I may seat him as a lord in my house'. Ahreman was unwilling to grant that wish, but had to2 •

Such is the best known version of the myth of Jeh the Primal Whore. Other versions of this myth----or references to Jeh----reveal considerable variants. The version in the Indian Bundahisn states that Jeh tried to awaken Ahreman twice: once by telling how she would attack Ohnnazd and the Amahraspands (which had no effect whatsoever), and the second time by telling how she would afflict the righteous man and Ohrmazd's creation (which did produce the desired result). In the Indian Bundahisn, moreover, it is certainly Ahreman who shows Jeh the image of a young man of fifteen years, in order to fulfil her

1 This research was supported by the Foundation for Research in the Field of and in the Netherlands which is subsidized by the Netherlands Organisation for the Advancement of Research (NWO). I am very grateful to Dr. Philip Kreyenbroek and Professor Nicholas Sims-Williams, both of SOAS, London, for reading an earlier draft of this article and offering stimulating comments. The abbreviations used in this article are: AirWb: Ch. Bartholornae, Altiranisches Worterbuch, Berlin sec.ed. 1961; CHI: Cambridge History of (quoted by volume number); DkM.: (ed. Madan); G.: Giih; GBd.: Greater Bundahisn; HZ: M. Boyce, A History of Z.Oroastrianism (Leiden 1975-1991, quoted by volume number); IndBd.: Indian Bundahisn; PhLRDd.: Pahlavi Riviiyat Accomyanying the Diidestiin i Denig (Williams); RV: ~g-Veda; SDN: $ad dar-e nas.r (Dhabhar); SGW: Skand-gumiinig Wizar (de Menasce); SnS: Sayest ne-Siiyest (Tavadia); Vd.: Vendidiid; Vr.: ; WZ: Wizidagihii i Ziidspram; Y.: ; Yt.: Yust. 2 Gbd. IV. 1-9. Summarized by the present author. The full text and translation of this myth can be found in R.C. Zaehner, Z.Urvan: A Z.Oroastrian Dilemma, Oxford 1955 (sec.ed. New York I 972), 355-359. Cf. also B.T. Anklesaria, Zand-iikiisih: Iranian or Greater Bundahisn, Bombay 1956, 46-49. 16 ALBERT DE JONG wish for 'the desire of man', whereas this is very uncertain in the Greater Bundahisn (on which, see below/. In the Syriac Book of Scholia by Theodore bar Konay, it is not a mythological figure Jeh, Ahreman's daughter, who asks for the desire of man, but women themselves. Although they are creatures of Ohrmazd, they defect to Satan-Ahreman. Satan promises to give the women whatever they may ask, and Ohrmazd--fearing that they might ask for the righteous man and hurt him thereby--creates the Narsa in the shape of a young man of fifteen years and places him behind Satan. When the women see Narsa, they say: 'Satan, our father, give us the god Narsa!' 4 In the Wizidagihii i Ziidspram, finally, mention is made of Jeh-dew as Ahreman's queen consort and leader of the collective group of ]eh-dews, who afflict women and thereby afflict men5 • The myths of Jeh as reconstructed by Zaehner form an important part of his general reconstruction of Zurvanite misogyny, according to which Zurvanism considered women to belong to the evil creation. This idea was developed even further by G. Widengren, who argued that the myths of Jeh had an A vestan background and that they were important evidence for the Iranian background of in general and in particular6 • Zaehner' s reconstruction of Zurvanism, though of an impressive erudition, has been severely challenged since its publication, particularly because it stretches the meaning of Zurvanism to virtually every myth and text that does not correspond fully to Zaehner's idea of Zoroastrian orthodoxy7. The myths of Jeh are a case in point: not only did he consider them to be Zurvanite; they also served, in tum, as evidence for the rejection of women in this important stream of ancient Iranian religious thought8 •

3 Indian Bundahisn 3.1-9; Zaehner, Zurvan, 356-360; cf. also F. Justi, Der Bundehesh, Leipzig 1868 (Hildesheim/New York sec.ed. 1976), Ar. 8-9 (text), 5 (translation); E.W. West, Pahlavi Texts l (Sacred Books of the East 5), 15-16. 4 E. Benveniste, 'Le temoignage de Theodore bar Konay sur le Zoroastrisme', Le Monde Oriental 26-27 (1932-1933), 170-215, esp. 185-192; Zaehner, Zurvan, 441-442. 5 Ph. Gignoux & A. Tafazzoli, Anthologie de Ziidspram (Studia Iranica Cahier 13), Paris 1993, ch. 34.30-31. 6 G. Widengren, 'Primordial Man and Prostitute: A 2.ervanite Myth in the Sassanid ', in: Studies in and Religion Presented to Gershom G. Scholem, Jerusalem 1967, 227- 234. 7 Cf. U. Bianchi, Zaman i Ohrmazd: UJ 'Zoroastrismo nelle sue origini e nella sua essenza, Torino 1958; M. Boyce, 'Some Reflections on Zurvanism', Bulletin of the School of Oriental and African Studies 19 (1957), 304-316; id., 'Some Further Reflections on Zurvanism', in: lranica Varia: Papers in Honor of Professor Ehsan Yarshater (Acta Iranica 30), Leiden 1990, 20-29; S. Shaked, 'The Myth of Zurvan: Cosmogony and ', in: I. Gruenwald, S. Shaked & G.G. Stroumsa (eds.), Messiah and Christos: Studies in the Jewish Origins of Early (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum 22), Tiibingen 1992, 219-240, who also offers an exhaustive bibliography. 8 Cf. Boyce, HZ I, 308 note 83.