[89] On this schism, see Anquetil Duperron, Zend-Avesta,
Disc. Prel. p. ccccxxvi.; Wilson, The Parsi Religion, pp. 35, 36; Haug,
Essays, pp. 57, 58. Aspandiarji Kamdin resumed the controversy of the
Kabisa in a book appearing in Surat, in 1826: A Historical Account of
the Ancient Leap-Year of the Parsis (Gujerati). Mr. K. R. Kama held,
in 1869, a series of conferences on the ancient computation of time,
and has published The Era of Yezdezard (Gujerati).
[90] This is how Anquetil Duperron relates the incidents of this
memorable struggle: (Disc. Prel. pp. cccxxvi. et seq.) "About
forty-six years ago there came from Kirman a very clever Dastoor
named Djamasp. He had been sent to re-unite the Parsis divided on the
question of the Penom, a double piece of cloth with which the Parsis,
on certain occasions, cover a part of the face. Some wished that
it should be placed on the dead, others did not like this. Djamasp
decided in favour of the latter, according to the custom of Kirman. If
this Dastoor had not made the voyage to India, this frivolous contest
would have caused streams of blood to flow.
"Djamasp is believed to have examined the Vendidad, which was
current in Gujerat. He found the Pehlvi translation of it too long
and not correct in several places. Ignorance was the predominating
vice of the Parsis of India. In order to remedy it, the Dastoor of
Kirman formed some disciples, Darab at Surat, Djamasp at Naosari,
and a third at Bharooch, to whom he taught Zend and Pehlvi. Some
time after, tired of the contradictions which he had to endure, he
returned to Kirman. The books which this Dastoor has left in India
are an exact copy of the Zend and Pehlvi Vendidad, the Feroueschi,
the translation of the Vadjerguerd, and the Nerenguestan. These two
works are in Persian, mixed with Zend, and purely on ceremonials.
"Darab, the first disciple of Djamasp, and a Dastoor Mobed perfect
in the knowledge of Zend and Pehlvi, wished to correct the Pehlvi
translation of the Vendidad and rectify some portions of the Zend Text,
which appeared to him either to have been transposed or to present
useless repetitions. He began explaining to young Parsi theologians
the works of Zoroaster, which the Mobeds read every day without
understanding them. An enslaved people who for a long time practised a
thousand ceremonies, the sense and reason of which they were ignorant
of, would naturally fall into innumerable abuses. This was what
Darab, more learned than the others, observed. The purifications were
multiplied; the Zend text was inundated with Pehlvi commentaries, often
very inconsistent. Darab at first attempted the way of instruction. But
he found a powerful adversary in the person of Manscherdji, the chief
of the party who did not like reform, and himself the son of a Mobed.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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