ABDĪH UD SAHĪGĪH Ī SAGASTĀN

 

ABDĪH UD SAHĪGĪH Ī SAGASTĀN (“The wonder and remarkability of Sagastān”), a short (about 300 words) Pahlavi treatise. Its authorship and period of composition are unknown, but it seems to be one of the few Pahlavi works written outside Fārs. The author, presumably a native of Sīstān, briefly mentions various features of the region and its history significant for Zoroastrianism. These are: 1. the Helmand river, the lake Frazdān, the sea Kayānsih, and the mountain Ušdāštār. 2. Birth and upbringing here of the three future saviors, Ōšēdar, Ōšēdarmāh, and Sōšyāns. 3. Sīstān served as a refuge for the descendants of the Kayanian kings after the murder of Ēriz (Pers. Īraǰ). 4. The Zoroastrian religion was first propagated here; it found such ardent adherents as Sēn, son of Ahumstūt, who, together with Burzmihr, son of Zardušt, prepared the Bagān Nask of the Avesta. 5. After Alexander’s conquest, the oral transmission of the Avesta was preserved here. The text does not refer to such profane wonders of Sīstān as are recorded, for instance, in Persian Tārīḵ-e Sīstān.

Bibliography:

Pahl. Texts I, pp. 25-26.

E. W. West in Geiger and Kuhn, Grundr. Ir. Phil. II, p. 118.

Idem, “A Transliteration and Translation of the Pahlavi Treatise " Wonders of Sagastān",” JAOS 36, 1917, pp. 115-21.

E. Herzfeld in AMI 2, 1930, pp. 94-95.

Bailey, Zoroastrian Problems, p. 161.

J. Tavadia, Die mittelpersische Sprache und Literatur der Zarathustrier, Leipzig, 1956, p. 141.

M. Boyce in HO I, Bd. IV2, Lfg. 1, Leiden and Köln, 1968, pp. 62-63.

(A. Tafażżolī)

Originally Published: December 15, 1982

Last Updated: July 15, 2011

This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 2, p. 210

Cite this entry:

A. Tafazzoli, “Abdih Ud Sahigih I Sagastan,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/2, p. 210; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/abdih-ud-sahigih-i-sagastan-the-wonder-and-remarkability-of-sagastan-short-pahlavi-treatise (accessed on 21 January 2014).