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Eschatological Seers and Otherworldly Travellers in Zoroastrianism

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Eschatological Seers and Otherworldly Travellers in Zoroastrianism ESCHATOLOGICAL SEERS AND OTHERWORLDLY TRAVELLERS IN ZOROASTRIANISM BY DOMENICO AGOSTINI (The Polonsky Academy at the Van Leer Jerusalem Institute) In the Zoroastrian tradition, there are five characters that can be asso- ciated with prophecy and otherworldly journeys. They are the sage Jāmāsp, the prophet Zoroaster, King Wištāsp, Wirāz the Righteous, and the high priest Kerdīr. Each of these characters can be defined as a medium, in the sense of a person capable of acting as an intermediary between the material and the spiritual worlds.1 Yet despite them falling into this same category, an analysis of selected passages from Middle Persian literary and epigraphic texts allows us to identify certain qualities and features that are unique to each of these five characters individually. These characteristics help in better understanding the activity and role these five figures serve in acting as mediums in Zoroastrian literature and belief. Moreover, these characters’ extraordinary qualities and ecstatic experiences can be classified according to the mode in which they were acquired, their duration, their effects, and their purposes. In this article, the five characters will be presented according to their experiences as mediums and analysis of the apocalyptic and eschato- logical aspects of their depictions in Zoroastrian sources will be provided.2 Specifically in the case of Wirāz and Kerdīr, attention will also be given to their role in Zoroastrian liturgy. 1 These characters should not be considered like trance-mediums in the Western spir- itualist and occultist. 2 For an outstanding study on the relation between eschatology and vision, see Shaked 1994:27-51. JournalAsiatique 302.1 (2014): 47-73 doi: 10.2143/JA.302.1.3030677 997185.indb7185.indb 4477 22/07/14/07/14 007:047:04 48 D. AGOSTINI Jāmāsp According to Jivanj Jamshid Modi, the belief in Jāmāsp continued to such an extent in the modern history of Zoroastrianism that even at the end of the nineteenth century and at the beginning of the twentieth Indian Zoroastrians, known as Parsis, claimed that Jāmāsp had foreseen the ter- rible epidemic that was then hitting India.3 Modi also wrote that the Parsis, especially the women, held the book known as the Jāmāspi(i.e., AyādgārīJāmāspīg4 “the memorial of Jāmāsp”) in great esteem and consulted it for foretelling the future, and notes that old Gujarati trans- lations of this book were guarded in treasury boxes.5 What Modi describes is essentially a practice of bibliomancy similar to that reserved for the Divan of Hafez. It is first necessary that we provide background on Jāmāsp’s place in the general collective Iranian imagination and in the Zoroastrian in par- ticular, and to attempt to explain how this character earned the status of sage and seer parexcellence. Jāmāsp appears in Avestan and Middle Persian literature and is later found in Persian and Arabic texts dating through the twelfth century (at least).6 However, in the Gathic and Young Avestan material no reference is made to his unique mantic qualities, but rather he is described as a member of the Gathic “circle,” as a disciple of Zoroaster, and as a venerable man closely connected to the prophet.7 3 See Modi 1903:LX. 4 For a recent study of this text, see now Agostini 2012. 5 See Modi 1900:233. 6 In Persian literature: Šāh-nāme (see Mohl 1876-1878, vol. IV:374-375, l. 196; 376- 377, l. 222; 386-387, ll. 326-329, ed.andtrans.), Zarātušt-Nāme (see infra), Desātīr(see Firuz bin Kaus 1818, pp. 117-118, trans.), Dabistān-imadhāhib (see Shea-Troyer 1843, vol. I:259, 359-361, trans.). In Arabic literature: Ta’rīkhal-rusulwa-l-mulūk (see Perl- mann 1987, pp. 76-77, trans.), Murūjal-dhahabwa-ma‘ādinal-jawāhir (see Barbier de Meynard-Pavet de Courteille 1861-1877, vol. II:127, Ta’rīkhghuraral-siyar (Zotenberg 1900:262, 266). 7 In the Gathas: Yasna 46.17, 49.9, 51.18 (see Kellens-Pirart 1988-1991, vol. II:163, 173, 184, ed.andtrans.). In the YoungAvesta: Yasna12.7 or Fravarānē (see Kellens 2007:136-137ed.andtrans.), Yašt 5.68-69 (see Malandra 1983:125, trans., and Oettinger 1983:81-83, ed.andtrans.), Yašt 13.103; 13.127 or FravašiYašt (see Malandra 1971:90, 100, 135, 144, ed.andtrans.), Yašt 24.3; 24.11 or WištāspaYašt(see Darmesteter 1892- 1893, vol. II:666, 669, trans.) and Nērangestān III.71:1 (see Kotwal-Kreyenbroek 2009: 34-35, ed.andtrans.). JournalAsiatique 302.1 (2014): 47-73 997185.indb7185.indb 4488 22/07/14/07/14 007:047:04 ESCHATOLOGICAL SEERS IN ZOROASTRIANISM 49 Pahlavi literature provides more details regarding Jāmāsp, offering the opportunity to analyze his character more fully. Jāmāsp is presented there as an authoritative individual and one worthy of imitation.8 He is connected to Zoroaster by a sort of apostolic succession, as is confirmed in the WizīdagīhāīZādspram 25:7.9 According to the Dēnkard V.3:4,10 Jāmāsp can foretell the signs of different ages through the teaching of Zoroaster. A passage from his eponymous eschatological book AyādgārīJāmāspīg (1:5-10)11 provides us with a detailed account of the acquisition and the nature of his supernatural gift: 5) During <his> life Zarduxšt said: “By the will of Ohrmazd I made Jāmāsp the sage, he knows everything.” 6) Then he went before the king and said: “I know everything through the immortal Zarduxšt Spitāmān; oh, and what wisdom! The number of drops which, when it rains during the winter, fall on the mountains, their number on earth, their number in the desert, and their number in the sea; 7) I even know this: the number of flowers that blossom on the plants, the number of plants and trees that are in the world; 8) and what a wisdom! The number of stars <that there are> in the sky, and for each star their number in the constellation to which they belong; 9) and what a wisdom! The number, in a flock of sheep and bulls, of the <heads> with black hairs and white hairs, I know the number of all hairs. 10) Ask <me> by the will of Ohrmazd, O throne of the world, so that I would interpret the kind of response.” In a very similar passage of the originally Parthian text AyādgārīZarērān 35-3812 the figure of Jāmāsp appears with the same qualities of omniscience that are known from the AyādgārīJāmāspīg, and bearing the same title, bidaxš13 (i.e., constable, viceroy, major-domo). 8 In the WizīdagīhāīZādspram 35.12 (see Gignoux-Tafazzoli 1993:126-127, ed.and trans.), in the PahlaviRivayataccompainyingDādestānīDēnīg 18f:32 (see Williams 1990:109(I) and 42-43(II), ed.andtrans.), and 59:3 (see Williams 1990:219(I), 105(II), ed.andtrans.), in the Šayestnē-Šayest XI:4 (see Kotwal 1969:23, ed.andtrans.), in the AyādgārīZarērān 5 (see Monchi-Zadeh 1981:14, 31, 40, ed.andtrans.), in the Dēnkard III.7 (de Menasce 1972:33, trans.); V.2:12 (see Amouzgar-Tafazzoli 2000:30, ed.andtrans.); VIII.38.68 (see West 1892:130, trans.); IX.24:17 (see West 1892:230, trans.), 42:9 (see West 1892:290, trans.), 45:4 (see West 1892:299-300, trans.). 9 See Gignoux-Tafazzoli 1993:86-87, ed.andtrans. 10 See Amouzgar-Tafazzoli 2000:32-32, ed.andtrans. 11 See Agostini 2013:40-41, ed. 12 See Monchi-Zadeh 1981:18, 33, 43, ed.andtrans. 13 On this Parthian word, see Szemerényi 1975:360-67, 375, 391. JournalAsiatique 302.1 (2014): 47-73 997185.indb7185.indb 4499 22/07/14/07/14 007:047:04 50 D. AGOSTINI Coming back to the AyādgārīJāmāspīg, another one of Jāmāsp’s replies to King Wištāsp, located in chapter 13:3-7, is relevant to our discussion:14 3) Jāmāsp <the bidaxš> answered him: “This wisdom came to me by the religion of Ohrmazd and Zarduxšt and this magic art and <this> wisdom <came to me> like the sovereignty and the kingship came to you. 4) I received <it> neither from my father nor from my mother, but I can teach someone <else> this magic art. 5) This magic art and wisdom came to me such that I <know> the appearance of every man who today is born or died. 6) In addition, <I know> what is <their> name, of whom they <are> sons, what is <their> stock, what are <their> characteristics, under what favour- able zodiac sign and under what adverse planet <they were born>; and how many, how, and of what character <are> <their> wives and sons, goods and properties, lordships and kingdoms; I know this until the Renovation and the Future Body. 7) I can teach this magic art to the kings and to <other> men! Similarly I, Jāmāsp, at that time <will be> in heaven15; I never told lies, I never will!” Two other texts – one in Pahlavi entitled WizīrgerdīDēnīg, and the other in Persian called Zarātušt-nāme – are even more explicit in describing how Jāmāsp acquired his omniscience and clairvoyance. The Wizīrgerd īDēnīg 19,16 a late text, if not a modern fabrication,17 that is traditionally attributed to Mēdyōmāh, Zoroaster’s relative and the first to accept the religion, relates how Wištāsp had asked Zoroaster for a number of personal gifts. Zoroaster prepares the darūn (i.e., consecrated bread) and agrees to make four gifts to distribute between Wištāsp, Pišōtan, Spandyād, and Jāmāsp. He gives a flower to Jāmāsp who upon receiving it, immediately knows all past, present, and future events through visions. The Persian Zarātušt-nāme, which can be dated to the tenth or eleventh centuries,18 tells a similar story. This time, however, during the darūn, 14 See Agostini 2013:66-67, ed.
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