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Home , Zurvanism

CHAPTER NINE

THE TWO STATES AND THE THREE TIMES

As far as can be determined, the pagan doctrine with regard to cosmic history had been that first there existed many , who variously shaped this world, and peopled it by sacrifice. lit is also probable that association * of the souls of the blessed with the gods in had led to the idea of an immortality of the human spirit stretching backwards in time as well as forwards, as did that of the gods, so that pre- was postulated for the individual soul.2 's own doctrines appear to have been as follows :a at first there existed only the two mighty , Mazda and his great adversary. There followed, after these two had made their choice between good and evil, the creation or evocation by of the six great Immortals, and subsequently (either directly or through them) of the other , and probably also of the souls of men, since no appears why the prophet should have abandoned pagan doctrine in this respect. Y asna 29 suggests, moreover, that he adopted the doctrine of the pre-existence of the souls of beneficent animals also, a tenet ap­ parently closely connected with the veneration of the Gaus Urvan. Probably, therefore, one should attribute to Zoroaster himself the full doctrine so well known from the later theological works of his faith, that everything living has had a pre-existence, that Ahura Mazda brought all things into in an earlier, disembodied state before giving them sub­ stantial form within this world. Hence, one may suppose, Zoroaster's own emphasis on corporeal (astvant-) life as distinct from incorporeal. The Pahlavi terms for the two states are menog and getig, deriving from adjectives *mainyavaka "of the spirit" and *gaethyaka "corpo­ real".4 No ethical distinction exists between these two, for both are the

1 See above, pp. 137-40, 141. 2 See above, pp. III, 127-8. 3 In general on these matters (but with a commentary much concerned with Zurvanism) see H. S. Nyberg, "Questions de cosmogonie et de cosmologie mazdeennes", ]A 1929, 193-310; 1931, 1-134, 193-244. Also R. C. Zaehner, Zurvan; M. Mole, Culte, mythe et cosmo­ logie dans l' ancien, and "La naissance du monde dans !'Iran preislamique" in La naissance du monde, Sources orientales I, aux editions du Seuil, Paris 1959, 301-28. 4 See Nyberg, j A 1931, 31 ff.; Rel., 20 ff. Although the etymology appears clear, and in general the usage is straightforward, there have been many attempts to find satisfactory renderings of these two words other than "spiritual" and "physical", largely because of the ethical contrast so often associated with this pair of words. There are complexities also in Zoroastrian usage, such as the existence of menog gods and getig gods, and conflicting 230 THE PROPHET AND HIS TEACHINGS creation of Ahura Mazda, and hence good. Indeed what is remarkable in Zoroaster's teachings is that he evidently regarded the getig state as better than the menog, since in it the menog creation received the added good of tangible and sentient form. "The transfer to the getig state by no means signifies in itself a fall, but completion and plenitude."5 Unlike the menog creation, however, the getig one is open to assault and corruption by Angra Mainyu and his malignant powers; for the purpose of Ahura Mazda in establishing "corporeal life", astvant- ustana-, is actively to oppose evil, to create such conditions that all who are sp~nta, gods and men, may struggle in harmony with the spmta physical world against the external forces of wickedness and make an end of them. This doctrine has been characterised as a "·pro-cosmic dualism", since according to it the material world is good and evil attacks it from outside, whereas in the "anti-cosmic dualism" of such faiths as and Orphism the world itself is considered essentially bad, and belongs to the evil powers. 6 The Zoroastrian theological works distinguish between unlimited time, that is, eternity, and limited or bounded time, within which the events of cosmic history take place. 7 This limited time is divided into two vast periods. The first is that which followed the making of their choices by Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu; during it Ahura Mazda created all things, first in menog and then in getig state, both perfect. This time is accordingly referred to in the Pahlavi books simply as Bundahisn "Creation". In the Slavonic Book of Enoch, which apparently derives in part from Zoroastrian sources, it is said:B "Before everything was, before all creation came to pass, the Lord established the Aion of Creation. Thereafter he created all His creation, the visible and the invisible." According to the Zoroastrian tradition, Ahura Mazda achieved the statements that Ahura Mazda is menog, and also (in his perfection) both menog and getig. There were evidently anomalies with these definitions within the Zoroastrian tradition itself. The use of the terms in the Pahlavi books has recently been discussed by S. Shaked, "The notions menog and getig in the Pahlavi texts and their relation to ", Acta Orientalia XXXIII, 1971, 59-107. 5 H. Corbin, "Le temps cyclique dans le mazdeisme et dans l'ismaelisme", Eranos­ ]ahrbuch XX, 1951, 153. 6 See U. Bianchi, Zaman i Ohrmazd, Storia e Scienza delle Religioni 1958, Ch. V. 7 See, e.g. Greater Bundahi§n l.39 (BTA, I 3). Discussions on the question oftime ( zurvan) in are complicated, as so frequently in Iranian religion, by the existence of both a common noun and a personifying what this means. The present writer agrees with those scholars who consider the concept of the Zurvan to have evolved only relatively late-i.e. in the Achaemenian period. In the present chapter accordingly it is only zurvan, time, which is considered, and not the divinity. s Ed. and trans!. by A. Vaillant, Le livre des secrets d'Henoch, Paris 1952, 6o; seeS. Pines, "Eschatology and the concept of time in the Slavonic Book of Enoch", , Supp. XVIII, 1970, 77· On the Book of Enoch in general, with further references, see D. Winston, History of Religions V, 197-8, with n. 38.