Pahlavi kirrēnīdan: Traces of Iranian Creation Mythology Author(s): Bruce Lincoln Source: Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 117, No. 4 (Oct. - Dec., 1997), pp. 681-685 Published by: American Oriental Society Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606450 Accessed: 29-12-2016 10:38 UTC REFERENCES Linked references are available on JSTOR for this article: http://www.jstor.org/stable/606450?seq=1&cid=pdf-reference#references_tab_contents You may need to log in to JSTOR to access the linked references. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact [email protected]. Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of the Terms & Conditions of Use, available at http://about.jstor.org/terms American Oriental Society is collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Journal of the American Oriental Society This content downloaded from 128.135.12.127 on Thu, 29 Dec 2016 10:38:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms BRIEF COMMUNICATIONS Pahlavi kirrenidan: Traces of Iranian Creation Mythology* The occurrences of this etymon are examined for the light they throw on the Iranian mythologies of creation. Pahlavi contrasts two of the verbs it uses for acts of hair)"; Old Norse skera "cut, slaughter, carve"; Old High creation along familiar dualistic lines. The ahuric term, German scrinden "divide, split up"; Russian Kpoio, brehenidan, replaces Avestan da- and means "to cre- KpOHTb "cut out (esp. cloth)"; and Old Irish scara(im) ate," "to destine," and "to decree."' Generally, it implies "separate, remove, cut off."4 The verb's second semantic that creation takes place by divine fiat, for which no domain is unique to Iran, where it also denotes acts prior material or spiritual being is necessary, save only through which the Evil Spirit brought loathsome, de- Ohrmazd himself.2 In similar fashion, the daevic term, structive entities into the world as antagonistic counter- kirrenidan carries two different senses.3 The first of parts to Ohrmazd's good creation. these implies the preexistence of material substance, and conforms to the semantics of its cognates throughout When he saw the light of Ohrmazd, intangible and shin- the Indo-European family: Sanskrit krt-, krntdti, "cut, ing forth, due to his envious nature and desire to smite, split, rend"; Homeric cKEtip, "shear, clip, cut short (esp. [the Evil Spirit] made an attack to destroy it. Then he saw bravery and triumph that were greater than his own, and he scurried back to the darkness. He (mis-)created * I would like to acknowledge the extraordinary collegiality [kirrenid] many demons, a creation of destruction that of William Malandra and P. O. Skjaervo, whose numerous sug- was needed for battle. (GBd 1.16-17)5 gestions substantially improved this paper. Any remaining infe- Out of material darkness, which is his own body, the Evil licities are, of course, my own. Spirit (mis-)created [kirrenid] his creation in the form of 1 D. N. MacKenzie, A Concise Pahlavi Dictionary (London: blackness, the color of ashes, worthy of darkness, false Oxford Univ. Press, 1971), 19; H. S. Nyberg, A Manual of Pah- like the most evil-bringing vermin. (GBd 1.47)6 lavi (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz, 1974), 2: 49. Although The Evil Spirit, in the quality of the adversary, among there is no commonly accepted etymology for brehenidan, the chief demons (mis-)created [kirrenid] first Akoman, Professors Malandra and SkjTrv0 have both suggested to me the possibility that, like Pahl. bridan, it may be derived from Indo-European *bhr(e)iH- "to cut off" (Avestan pairi.brinayha, 4 T. V. Gamkrelidze and V. V. Ivanov, Indo-European and the Sanskrit bhrindti, Russian 6pHTb, etc.), conceivably by way of Indo-Europeans (Berlin: Mouton de Gruyter, 1995), 1: 612; Avestan *broi0ra-, attested in the compound broiOro. taeza- Mayrhofer, Etymologisches Worterbuch des Altindoarischen, "with sharp blade" (personal communications, January and 1: 315-16. The reconstructed root is PIE *skher-, which may February 1997). See further, Manfred Mayrhofer, Etymologi- be modified by nasal and other suffixes. sches Worterbuch des Altindoarischen (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 5 TD2 MS 4.9-14: ka-s did an i ohrmazd rosnih agriftar ud 1992-), 2: 282; idem, Kurzgefasstes etymologisches Worterbuch frdz-payrog zaddr-kdmagih aresk-gohrih ray pad murnjenidan des Altindisches (Heidelberg: Carl Winter, 1956-76), 2: 532-33; tag abar kard. u-s pas did cerih ud abarwezih i freh az an i and Herman Lommel, "Kleine Beitrage zur arischen Sprach- xwes abaz o tom dwdrist. kirrenid was dew[dn] an dam i murn- kunde: Arisch bhrinati," Zeitschrift fur vergleichende Sprach- jeniddr niyaz o ardikkarih. With one exception (frdz-payrog forschung 50 (1922): 271-75. for his fraz padirot), I have followed the text extablished by 2 H. W. Bailey, Zoroastrian Problems in the Ninth-Century R. C. Zaehner, Zurvdn: A Zoroastrian Dilemma (Oxford: Ox- Books (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971), 96. ford Univ. Press, 1955), 279, with notes at pp. 290-91. 3 MacKenzie, 51; Nyberg, 2: 118; and the glossary to A. V. 6 TD2 MS 11.10-12: gandg menog az getig tarigih an i xwes Williams, ed., The Pahlavi Rivayat Accompanying the Dadestdn tan [i] dam frdz kirrenid pad an i kirb i sydih i a durestar- *gon i Denig (Copenhagen: Royal Danish Academy, 1990), 1: 315. i tom-arzdnig druwand ciyon bazag-adentar xrafstar. 681 This content downloaded from 128.135.12.127 on Thu, 29 Dec 2016 10:38:50 UTC All use subject to http://about.jstor.org/terms 682 Journal of the American Oriental Society 117.4 (1997) then Indra, Saurva, Nahaithya, Taromand, Taric and krt- is twice used for heroic deeds with cosmogonic as- Zaric, then the other demons. (GBd 1.55)7 pects, and once for the dismemberment of animals.12 The latter occurrence holds particular interest. Since Yima withstood terror, distress, and trouble, for that reason his soul is worshiped and invoked for resis- What dereliction, O Agni, what fault did you commit tance to demon-created (dewdn-frdz-kirrenid) drought among the gods? Now, I unknowing, ask you. antithetical to the pasture and terror and trouble that In order to eat, the golden, toothless one-playing and moves in secrecy. (ZS 32.2)8 not-playing-cut apart [vi. cakarta] [the wood] limb by limb, just as a knife [cuts apart] the ox.13 In the Avesta, the verb kart-, from which kirrenidan is derived, usually denotes simple acts of cutting.9 On Here, it is worth noting that the kind of knife spe- one occasion, however, it describes an act of demonic cified-Vedic asi-, cognate to Latin ensis, "sword"'4- creation, when Azi Dahaka is named "the very most is not usually a ritual instrument.'5 Indeed, at times it powerful lie the Evil Spirit created (karantat) against the appears to be the very antithesis of the tools that by their embodied creation, for the destruction of the creations purity recode the violence of sacrifice as a sacred action. of truth."'0 Thus, the passage just quoted playfully describes the Here, as in the case of Avestan tas and Ofaras-," an way fire splits wood as a kind of ritual fault (enas-). Iranian verb most concretely associated with acts of scis- More striking still is a verse addressed to the sacrificial sion expands its semantic range into the field of creative horse just prior to its offering. action, a development that presumes a view of creation Let not your own self torment you as you enter, let not as a cutting of sorts: conceivably an artisanal, sculptural, the axe cause harm to your body. surgical, martial, or sacrificial act. Vedic evidence could support the last two of these alternatives, since the verb 12 Eight occurrences of krt- are listed in Hermann Grass- 7 TD2 MS. 15.7-10: ganag menog pad an petydragomandih mann, Worterbuch zum Rig-Veda (Wiesbaden: Otto Harrasso- az kamaligdn dewan nazdist akoman fraz kirrenid pas andar witz, 1964 [rpt.]), 346, most with the preverbs vi- or nis-. Two ud pas sdwul pas ndhagih pas taromad pas taric ud zeric pas combine martial and cosmogonic resonance, describing Indra's abarigdn dewan. liberation of sun and waters from mountain fastholds (RV 8 civon jam. abdz-darisnih i sahm ud tangih (ud) sej ray ru- 1.57.6 and 10.67.5). wdn i oy yazihed ud xwanihtd pad abdz-estisnih (i) dewdn-frdTz- 13 RV 10.79.6: kim devesu tydja ends cakarthagne prcchami kirrenid hez-iz (I) +awastar (ud) sahm ud sej-iz i nihdn-rawign. nu tvdm dvidvan / 9 Thus, for example, it is used for cutting in a surgical con- dkridan krfdan hdrir dttave 'ddn vi parvasas cakarta gadm text at Vd. 7.37-38; in a martial context in Yt. 10.72 and 14.62; ivasih II and in the context of post mortem punishments in Vd. 4.50. 14 Comparison to Avestan ayhi- is still advocated by Gam- 10 as.aojastamgm drujim fraca karantat anjro mainyus aoi krelidze and Ivanov, 643, and by older reference works, but is ygm astvaitim gaeOqm mahrkai aSahe gaeOanqm. Christian Bar- difficult to reconcile with William Malandra's identification of tholomae, Altiranisches Worterbuch (Berlin: Walter de Gruyter, the atyh- as a bow, not a sword, "A Glossary of Terms for 1961), col. 453, took Vd. 22.1-2 to contain two cosmogonic Weapons and Armor in Old Iranian," Indo-lranian Journal 4 usages of kart-, once (with the preverb a-) for an Ohrmazdean (1973): 268-69.