Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 1: Essays on the Science of ReligionMüller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Religion
Chips from a German Workshop, Volume 1: Essays on the Science of Religion
Müller, F. Max (Friedrich Max)
Comparative linguistics; Folklore; Literature -- History and criticism; Mythology; Religions
'Thus the religion is to be proclaimed; now give an
attentive hearing, and now listen, that is, keep your ear in
readiness, make your works and speeches gentle. Those who
have wished from nigh and far to study the religion, may now
do so. For now all is manifest, that Anhuma (Ormazd)
created, that Anhuma created all these beings; that at the
second time, at the (time of the) future body, Aharman does
not destroy (the life of) the worlds. Aharman made evil
desire and wickedness to spread through his tongue.'
Professor Spiegel, in 1859, translated the same passage, of which the
Pehlevi is a running commentary rather than a literal rendering, as
follows:
'Now I will tell you, lend me your ear, now hear what you
desired, you that came from near and from afar! It is clear,
the wise (spirits) have created all things; evil doctrine
shall not for a second time destroy the world. The Evil One
has made a bad choice with his tongue.'
Next follows the translation of the passage as published by Dr. Haug
in 1862:
'All ye, who have come from nigh and far, listen now and
hearken to my speech. Now I will tell you all about that
pair of spirits how it is known to the wise. Neither the
ill-speaker (the devil) shall destroy the second (spiritual)
life, nor that man who, being a liar with his tongue,
professes the false (idolatrous) belief.'
The same scholar, in 1865, translates the same passage somewhat
differently:
'All you that have come from near and far should now listen
and hearken to what I shall proclaim. Now the wise have
manifested this universe as a duality. Let not the
mischief-maker destroy the second life, since he, the
wicked, chose with his tongue the pernicious doctrine.'
The principal difficulty in this paragraph consists in the word which
Dr. Haug translated by duality, viz. dûm, and which he identifies with
Sanskrit dvam, i. e. dvandvam, pair. Such a word, as far as we are
aware, does not occur again in the Zend-Avesta, and hence it is not
likely that the uncertainty attaching to its meaning will ever be
removed. Other interpreters take it as a verb in the second person
plural, and hence the decided difference of interpretation.
The sixth paragraph of the same passage is explained by the Pehlevi
translator as follows:
'Thus I proclaimed that among all things the greatest is to
worship God. The praise of purity is (due) to him who has a
good knowledge, (to those) who depend on Ormazd. I hear
Spentô-mainyu (who is) Ormazd; listen to me, to what I shall
speak (unto you). Whose worship is intercourse with the Good
Mind; one can know (experience) the divine command to do
good through inquiry after what is good. That which is in
the intellect they teach me as the best, viz. the inborn
(heavenly) wisdom, (that is, that the divine wisdom is
superior to the human).'
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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