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The Guh,Z (Mace) As a Symbol Among the Zoroastrians. *

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The Guh,Z (Mace) As a Symbol Among the Zoroastrians. * 313 THE GUH,Z (MACE) AS A SYMBOL AMONG THE ZOROASTRIANS. * R ead on 28th April 1909. Pt'esident-Mn, R.' E~ ENTHOVEN, Le.S. ~fademoi se lle Menant, the learned daughter of the late M. Joackin Menant, a member of the Suggestion for the Institute of France, had, after the publi­ Ell bject of the Paper, cation of the first volu me of bel' book, entitled If Les Pm'sis," come to Bombay in 1 900, on a special mission from the French Government, to study, among other things, Parsiism at its headquarte rs. This visit to India was Iludel'taken with a view to prepare hendf for the econd volume of her book, whiuh is lJ ot published as yet. In the OhristmaR of that year, she had beeu for et few days to Tuosari, the headquarters of the Parsec priesthood, as the guest of the late Mr. Jamshedji Nusserwanji 'rata, who had kindly arranged to show her, while there, the religious places and institutions of the town, and also some of the religious ceremonies of the Parsees. She left the town, repeating the same words, I which her compatriot, the late Professor J)armesieter, whom I had the pleasure of accompanying to Naosari as a guide, had uttered, about thirteen years ago, viz., "On y tl'ouve nn sentiment de la realite qne les textes morts ne peuvent donner." Among the ceremonies that she had the pleasure of seeing at Naosari, one was that of Naval' or the cel'ernony of initiating a youth into pri (ls thood . ~ In that ceremony she saw that the gun, a kind of metallic mace 01' club, played a prominent part as a symbolic weapon. On her return to * Journal Vol. VU I, No. 7, pp, 478-!96. I Vide :ler paper " Chcz les Parsis tie Bombay et du Guzerate" in ., Le 'rour du Monde" of 18th April 1908, p. HI2 . 2 Vidt' my paper on "Nfivar and Marlltib," iu the " Zarthoshtl" o.f ~jr 1273 Ya7.(lnz:mli . '01. I, No, 2, pp_ 88-94. Z14 314 GURZ A.~lONG TIn: ZOROAST.KTANS. Bombay from Gujur1t, nu admiring Parsee priest, Mr. RllS­ tamji Bejanji Ranji, presented her with a gttl'Z as a souvenir of her visit to the Parsees. She had then asked me to write a short monograph on this instrument. I had begun that work then, but so me other urgent studies had made me place aside further work on the subject. I have been lately reminded of my promise, by her iuteresting articles entitled /( Chez les Pm'sis de Bombay et du Gnzerate" in the French journal Le Tour dll Monde.' In her account of her visit to Naosari, among other things, she refers to the Naval' ceremony above referred to, and gives a photograph of a newly initiat­ ed youth, holding a cow .. faced (gav·paGkar) mace in his hand. I produce for the inspection of the membel's present, the particular photo and also .other similar photos of newly initiated youths with their maces in their hands. I give on the other side the photo of a Nft var·initiate holding in his hand a cow-faced mace. Being thus reminded by her articles of my hitherto un­ fulfilled promise, I took up the subject again, and this paper is the result of a short study on the l!Iubject. Several of my papers have been undertaken at the initiative of this talented lady. Out of all these, I am proud of my papers un It The Parsees at the Court of Akbar and Dastur Mehel'ji Rana" and fC A Few Events in the Early History of the Parsees," both of which are referred to by her ill hOl' recent artioles. I am glad that her articles have reminded me of a long-fOl'gotten promise, and that I am able to prepare a short paper on the subject, which I now beg to submit. before the Society. Of all the weapons of war, referred to in the .Avesta, the gU7'Z is well-known, as it is still used by The GlI1'Z as a symbo. the Parsees as a symbolic weapon. Al­ lie weapon, most all the Parsee Fire-temples, which have the conveniences for thElil performanoe of the Naval' ceremony, possess a gU7·Z. ·lYide its issues of 4th; 11th, ISth, 25th April and 2nlil May 1908. GtJRZ AMONG THE ZOROASTRIANS. 315 From all the photographs, which I produce before the Society to-day, and fro 111 the original slleci mens of the gUl'Z, which I produce, we see that, generally !; pcaking, there arC two kinds of gurll, viz" the cow-faced aud the knobbed. A large number of those in the photos is the cow-faced gun:. The Ave5ta books refer only to the knobbed gul'Z. I t is the Shah-nameh of Firdousi that refcrs often La the cow-faced ynl'z. It speaks of it, as the gUl'z-i gdv-paeJl.aJ', gdv-sal', ai' gd,v-sa1' ~. a., cow-faced, cow-htuded Or cow-like mace. For example, Noshirwn n the J Llst (0h051'0e5 I ), wh en he appears before his commander Bilbak, carrie~, among othel' implements of war,:i cow-faced CJ~~J If g~ v-pllekar) mace. l The event, which led to the use of this kind of mace in The event, according ancient Persia, is tllus d scribed in the to Firdousi" which led to the use of the Gurz. Shah-nameh of Firdousi. ZohUk2 , a foreigner and an Arab, according to Firdousi, invaded Iran, killed its ruler, Jamshed, and usurped the throne. He once saw a cit'eam, in which he saw a young wan, h'ollding a cow-like mace in his hand.:! '1'he young man went towards him and struck him upon the head with that mace. 40 ZohBk awoke alarmed at the dream, and a.sked from his sages an interpretation of the dream. rfhey .aid, that a young man, named Faridun, will be soon born and he will stl'ike him with a cow-faced mace. 5 Zohak then ordered a look-out for the birth of this child. Somctime before the birth of this child, an extraordinarily beautiful fine cow was born in the adjoini ng country. .A short time after the birth of this boy, the followers of Zohak traced ont hi .. residence and killed his 1 Mobl. Vol. \I, p. 176, I, 8. ~~ Js:. ~ J {f !j.J ~ 2 Zoh ~k is idelllified with Nimrod. For tbe evident:; ill ~upport of this identification, vide my paper entitled,"Thc Lcgcndary and the Actual History u[ Freemasonry" in the K. R. Cama Masonic Jubilee Volume, pp. 182-88. 3 }_ if I j.,Jf CJ)).).j I ,J.~~ (Mohl. I, p. 72.) 4 """')"):P: l" aj...r'? Cliid 1,1'.72) <:f J) '" tg f ).,Jf ([bid p. 76,) 316 father Abtin. Before they could by their hands upon the child FariduII, his mothoL' FarQnak removed bim from the house aUll carried him to the country, Wh eL'c the above·mentioneu. cow , whieh was known as the cow Pur-mnyc, was uorn and brought up. She entrusted her son to the care of the owner of t bi s cow aud requested him to bL'ing him up with the milk of the cow Pur-mayc. The shepherd did so and Furidull gL'ew up a boy of three years of age. Zohnk SOOI} came to know of Lis where­ abouts and asked his mell to trace him. Fal'idun's mother Far-Jnak, hearing of this, rail to the abode of the shepherd a.nu took away her child to thc mountain-abode of a piOUK mUll , Zohiik traced the whereabouts of the cow and got her kllleu. Faridun grew up to be a bold youllg man in the company of' t he pion~ man of the mountain~ and) one day, asked hi ti IllOthcr about his parentage and his ancestors. She told him all the facts. His heart burned with a desire to go to Il'lJn aud to avenge the death of his father, His mother rcmonstrated with him and persuaded him to remain quiet. Now, in lrtm itselC the people were tired of tho oppL'esKive rule of Zobllk. 1'he tyrant bad two diseased sboulJers- or, as Firdousi says) had two serpents growing on his shoulders -the pain of which wa ti relieved by the fresh application of the brains of two LUeo daily. 'L'wo of his slIbj ect s hall to Lo killed every da.y to satisfy the appetite of the two snakes or to relieve his pain. A ul aekslllith, by name Kaveb) had thus loot by turo, orn e of his SO DS. Then came the turn of his surviving SOl1 . He got exasperated at this state of affair!; and raisell a rebellion. Hundreds and thousands joined his stanutLl'tl or revolt. They all had heard of Zohll k's dream abonL ll'al'id 11 11 , , 0) tl;1!'y went to thiti young man and ofForing tbeir af:isi~tallce, entreated him to invade Il'lm and overthrow Zohak. Faridlll1 com plied with tbeiL' req nest. He) at fi rst, t;on t for blud::smithK to order a mace for bim.l When the blaoksrnithR 'appeared C.I ~ 1;1"" .).j j l ... j~ \!'-!. C.l1.J.~ f 11 ~ I", .,)~) 4 ~ ~loh l. 1., p. 92. GURZ AMONG Tlll<.; - ZOiWASTlUANS. 311 before him. l!'at·idlll1 tJok a pail' of compJ.sse3 () If .J ~) and drew a sketch of a gw'z from which they could prepare it.l He drew over the ground the face of a cow Z and asked them to prepare a mace from tbat sketch.
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