ZENDAVESTA. 



municated to Zoroafter, and which his followers hold in very 

 extraordinary veneration. A copy of this book is kept, 

 fays Dr. Prideaux, to this day in every oratory and fire- 

 temple, and portions of it are read at flated times by the 

 priefts to the people : and to this they appeal as the ftand- 

 ard of the good and evil of their aftions. This work, af- 

 cribed among other numerous writings to Zerdufht, or 

 the Perfian Zoroaller, and efteemed by his followers as of 

 facred authority, is faid to have been written in the Perfian 

 language, and to have confifted of two parts ; one of which 

 contains their forms of devotion and order of ceremonies, 

 the other the precepts of religion and moraUty. A com- 

 pendium of it, called the Sadda or Sadder, is read to the 

 people on every facred day by their priefts. There is, 

 however, much reafon to queftion, whether this book be of 

 fuch ancient date as the time of Zoroaft;er ; and it has been 

 fuggefted as probable, that it was written about the time 

 when many Jews and Chriftians refided among the Perfians ; 

 that is, about the 4th or jth century. In proof of its being 

 later than the time of Zoroafter, but written fince the days 

 of Mahomet, it is alleged, that the word Jhaitam occurs in 

 it, which is pecuhar to the Arabs ; for in other oriental 

 languages it is written yitem, or faton. 



Dr. Hyde gives us the following account of it. The 

 Zend is the general name of the book, which is alfo called, 

 the book of Abraham ; and it confifts of twenty-one or 

 twenty-two feparate parts, with diftinft names. Its con- 

 tents were originally written on twelve hundred Ikins ; and 

 the ancient copies of it, like the original, are in the 

 pure old Perfian language ; but the later copies are in 

 the fame language, mixed with modern Perfic or Arabic 

 words, ferving to explain fuch as were becoming obfolete. 

 Some parts of the Zend contain the original text, and 

 others contain Zerdufht's fecond thoughts fubjoined, for 

 more fully explaining his doftrine. Some writers fug- 

 geft, that Zerduftit firft intended to comprife his book 

 in four parts, viz. the Zend, containing the liturgy and 

 chief doftrine of his rehgion, and the Pazend, or com- 

 mentary upon the former ; and that the farther additions 

 were occaConed by the oppofition of adverfaries, and 

 unforefeen circumftances that occurred. The charafter 

 in which the Zend is written is that of the old Perfian, 

 called Pehlavi ; and the Pazend charafter differs in a 

 fmall degree from this. 



Dr. Hyde has given a catalogue of the feveral parts of 

 the Zend, each of which is called nojh or nujb. 



In procefs of time, when the old Perfian language be- 

 came antiquated, and little underftood, one of their deftours 

 or bifhops (about A.D. 1500) compofed the Sadda, 

 which is a compendium, in the vulgar or modern Perfic 

 tongue, of thofe parts of the Zend that relate to religion, or 

 a kind of code of canons and precepts, drawn from the 

 theological writings of Zoroafter, ferving as an authorita- 

 tive rule of faith and praftice for his followers. This 

 Sadda is written in a low kind of Perfic verfe, and, as Dr. 

 Hyde informs us, it is bonorum et malorum farrago, having 

 many good and pious things, and others very fuperftitious 

 and trifling. 



The Zend contains a reformed fyftem of Magianifm ; 

 teaching that there is a Supreme Being, eternal, felf-ex- 

 iftent, and independent, who created both hght and dark- 

 nefs, out of which he made all other things ; that thefe 

 are in a ftate of conflift, which will continue till the 

 end of the world ; that then there fhall be a general re- 

 furreftion and judgment ; and that juft retribution (hall 

 be rendered unto men according to their works ; and that 

 the angel of darknefs with lus followers (hall be con- 



Vol. XXXIX. 



out 



figned to a ftate of everlaftmg darknefs and puniftiment, 

 and the angel of hght with his difciples introduced into a 

 ftate of everlaftmg light and happinefs ; after which light 

 and darknefs ftiall no more interfere with each other. The 

 Zend alfo enjoins the conftant maintenance of facred fires 

 and fire-temples for religious wor(hip, the diftinftion of 

 *^ k^V""^ unclean beafts, the payment of tithes to priefts, 

 which are to be of one family or tribe, a muhitude of 

 waftiings and purifications, refembling thofe of the Jewifti 

 law, and a variety of rules and exhortations for the exercife 

 of benevolence and charity. 



Dr. Prideaux charges the Zend with allowing the worft 

 kind of inceft ; and Dr. Hyde alfo intimates that it was 

 allowed by Zoroafter, till it was at length abohihed ; but 

 no authority has been cited to juftify this charge. 



The above-mentioned doftrines of the Zend are accom- 

 modated to the eaftern tafte by a great intermixture of 

 fable. 



In this book there are many paflTages evidently taken 



t of the Scriptures of the Old Teftament, particu- 

 larly out of the Pfalms of David : the author reprefents 

 Adam and Eve as the firft parents of all mankind, gives in 

 fubftance the fame account of the Creation and Deluge with 

 Mofes, differing indeed with regard to the former by 

 converting the fix days of the Mofaic account into fix 

 times, comprehending in the whole three hundred and 

 fixty-five days; and fpeaks alfo of Abraham, Jofeph, 

 Mofes, and Solomon. Moreover, Dr. Baumgarten (Univ. 

 Hift. Suppl. vol. ii. p. 367, &c.) aflerts, that this work 

 contains doftrines, opinions, and fafts, aftually borrowed 

 from the Jews, Chriftians, and Mahometans ; whence, 

 and from other circumftances, he concludes, that both the 

 hiftory and writings of this prophet were probably in- 

 vented in the later ages, when the fire-wor(hippers under 

 the Mahometan government thought fit to vindicate their 

 religion from the fufpicion of idolatry. 



The Zoroafter, fays the abbe Foucher, ( fee Zoroaster, ) 

 who was the author of the Zend, is reprefented by him as an 

 apoftate Jew, a fubtle philofopher, and an obfequious art- 

 ful courtier, who infinuated himfelf into the favour of 

 Darius Hyitafpes ; and he fays that his great defign was 

 to reconcile the Hebrew with the Perfian rehgion by a 

 mixture of the leading and eflfential doftrines of each, to 

 revive the credit of the Magi, and to accommodate, by a 

 proper colouring, the Jewi(h religion to the weaknefs and 

 prejudices of the Medes and Perfians, by taking from it 

 that exclufive charafter that rendered it oflfenfive to other 

 nations, and mixing with it the reveries and viCons of the 

 ancient Zoroafter. See Hyde's Religio Veterum Perfa- 

 rum. Prideaux's Conn, of the Old and New Teftament, 

 vol. i. p. 317, &c. edit. 9. Univ. Hift. vol. ii. p. zo6, &c. 

 fol. 



The account more lately given both of the Perfees and 

 Zend, by M. Anquefil du Perron, diff^ers in feveral particu- 

 lars from that of Dr. Hyde. This gentleman made a voy- 

 age to India, and employed himfelf between the years 1755 

 and 1 76 1 in ftudying the Perfic and San(l<rit languages, 

 and in coUefting and tranflating manufciipts, many of which 

 he brought with him, and depofited in the king of France's 

 library. His account was read to the Royal Academy of 

 Sciences at Paris, and a tranflation of it was pubhftied in 

 the Gentleman's Magazine for 1762, and alfo inDodfley's 

 Annual Regifter for 1762, part ii. p. loi — 127. Of 

 the Perfees or Parfles, the difciples of Zoroafter, he fays, 

 a very numerous body has been eftabhfhed more than nine 

 hundred years in Guzerat, to which place they came fugi- 

 tives from Kerman, A.D- 767, on account of the Ma- 

 U hometan 



