Iranian Influence on Moslem Literature Part 6

506, 10; Abulfida 2, 212, 2.

The Bavend dynasty is a continuation of the Masmughans. Their original ancestor Bav who is characterised as son of Shahpur, son of Kayos, received from Khusraw II the governorship of Istakhr, Adharbaijan and Tabaristan, but retired himself into a fire-temple in the time of queen Azarmidukht. When the Arabs in 655 had advanced to the vicinity of Amul, the Mazenderanis invited him to lead them and he was the founder of the Bavend dynasty called after him. Now Bav was killed by Valash in 679, who did not belong to the dynasty and it was only 8 years later on that the son of Bav, Suhrab, more correctly Surkhab, came to the throne. With the last potentate of this first line of the Bavends was united by marriage the house of Ziyar which produced two celebrated princes of Gurgan, Vashmgir and Qabus. The other line, the "mountain kings" proper, sprang from a son of the last prince of the first line and was extinguished with the murder of Rustum by Sayed Husain in 1210. A third offshoot originating from a collateral branch of the second enjoyed princely power from 1237-1349.

The Arabs had their governors in Tabaristan who in the first period minted coins with Sasanian impress and with Pahlavi legends; they were, however, from time to time expelled by the people. These coins struck by the Arabs after the model of the Pahlavi mintage were first deciphered by Olshausen. Ibn Khaldun is compelled to admit that "the Arabs are of all the people the least capable to govern a country."

[Translated from Justi's contribution to _Grunddrisder der iranischen Philologie_. Vol. II, p. 547 seq.--G.K.N.]

To the above concise sketch of the history of Tabaristan for the period which concerns us, which I have translated from Justi, one of the most sympathetic writers on Iran, a few paras may be added from the fascinating history of _Ibn-Isfandiyar_ which professor Browne has made accessible to us.

Long after the Sasanian dynasty had fallen, and the rest of Persia had been subdued by the Arabs the Ispahabeds continued to strike their Pahlavi coinage and maintained the religion of Zoroaster in the mountains and forests of Tabaristan; and their struggles with the Arabs only ended about A.D. 838 by the capture and cruel execution of the gallant Maziyar, son of Qaren, son of Wanda-Hurmuz. For a vivid portrayal of the last days of this unfortunate scion of the lost empire of the Iranians the reader is referred to the vivid page of this English authority, who has reproduced the story of Zoroastrian aggressions in all its original spirit. And nothing less could be expected from a profound and sympathetic scholar to whom "All that concerns Maziyar is of supreme interest because it stands for the old Persian national and religious ideal". (p. XII). Those who still hold in the teeth of historical fact that the empire and religion of Iran were overturned at one fell stroke by the ferocious Arabs may be referred to the alliance between the Ispahbed Shirvin and Windad-Hurmuz which brought it about that from one end to the other of a large track of country, "without their permission no one dared enter the highlands from the plains, and all the highlands were under their control. _And when a Moslem died they would not suffer him to be buried in that country_". (p. 131). [italics mine, G.K.N.]

I will not further quote at length from this volume as it is in English but I cannot resist the temptation to call attention to page 146, which supplies a typical instance of conversion by persuasion and not persecution. Further note that the Khalif Mamun had a Zoroastrian astrologer whose Zoroastrian name the Khalif arabicised into Yahya ibn Mansur (p. 146). Though Maziyar outwardly embraced Islam he was probably in secret a Zoroastrian inasmuch as he continued to have a large Magian following and "conferred various offices and distinctions on Babak, Mazdak, and other Magians _who ordered the Muhammadan mosque to be destroyed and all trace of Islam to be removed_." (p. 152-3). [Italics mine, G.K.N.] The Khalif Al-Muatasim was no less lenient in matters religious than some of the _Khulfa i rashidin._ In the year 854-55 he deputed one of his n.o.bles to bid a Zoroastrian chieftain "break his Magian girdle and embrace Islam, which he did and thereupon received a robe of honour from the Khalif." (p. 157). At page 157 we notice the extortionate practices of a Magian.

PARSI PRINCES DURING KHALIFAT.

"In the time of the Arabs we find an actual princ.i.p.ality whose ruler bore the t.i.tle of _Masimogan_ or the elder of the Magians. To him also belonged the cities of Wima and Shalamba (Istakhri 209; Ibn Khurdadbeh 118; Ibn-al Faqih 284) as well as the territory of Khwar. [Magian princes during Khalifat (Tabari 12,656).]

"The first definite mention of the _Masmoghan_ occurs in the year 131 A.H., in which Abu Muslim called upon the former to surrender and as he declined despatched Musa Ibn Kaab against him who however failed to effect anything against him. (Ibn al Athir vol. 5,304). It was only under Mamun that the mountainous country of the _Masmoghan_ was subjugated. The last prince, whose brother Aparwez fought on side of the Arabs, was taken prisoner and confined with his two daughters in the mountain fastness of Ustunawand in 141 A.H. (Tabari Vol. 2, 137).

"The exact time of the rise of this princ.i.p.ality is unknown. For the _Masmoghan_ Mardanshah who is mentioned by Saif in a treaty with Suwaid Mukarrin under Omar (Tabari 1, 2656), belongs positively to the time of Muhallab, 98 A.H. I surmise, however, that the Dynasty of the Magian Baw, the father of the renegade Mahgundat, whose Christian name was Anstasious, who became a martyr to Christianity in 628, originated from the village of Warznin in the territory of Rai (Acta Anstasii Persae, p.

26 & 56), and is connected with the Bawend dynasty which appeared just at this place in 167, and is definitely traced to the Magian Baw. (The authorities for the above are Tabari vol. 3, 1295 and Zahirud-din 205, see also ZDMG 49, 661.)

"Baw is a pure Magian name and is a transcription of the Avesta _Bangha_ (Yesht 13,124). Another transliteration of the same word is Bohak, a name borne by a hero of Ispahan who with his six sons and an army joined Ardeshir (_Karnamak_ 4, 3, p. 22-19; Neoleke 46). It was also the name of a son of Hobakht, the chief _Mobed_ under Shapur II. Bahak, son of Fredon, was the ancestor of Aturpat Mahraspand (Bundahesh 33; West Pahlavi Texts 1, 145). Another form of the same name is B[=a]we, who was the _Astabed_ or _magister officiorum_ of the Persians (Josua Stylite ed. Wright 59). The first ruler of the Bawend dynasty who enters history is Sharwin ibn Surkhab (Tabari 3, 519). By the Arabs he was at first made a va.s.sal controlling the slopes of the Alburz (Ibn al Faqih 304; Yakut 3, 283), and probably a.s.sumed the t.i.tle _Padashkhwargar-shah_ which his descendants continued to hold in the time of al Beruni (_Chronology,_ p. XL, No. 7). In Yakubi (vol. 2, 479) he even bears the t.i.tle of King of Tokharistaxi. After him is named Mount Sherwin on the boundary of Komish (Tabari 3, 1275; Ibn al Fakih 305; Belazuri 339, 7).

In the year 201, that is, A.D. 816-17, however, the governor of Tabaristan, Abdallah Ibn Khurdadbeh, the father of the historian and geographer, invaded Larijan and Sarijan and annexed them to the empire of Islam. He likewise conquered the mountain land of Tabaristan and compelled Shahryar, the son of Sherwin, to surrender (Tabari 3, 1014).

"But after the death of Shahryar, in 825-26, Maziyar Ibn Qaren contested the kingdom with his son Shapur and in alliance with the Moslems invaded Mount Sherwin, captured the sons of Shahryar and put them to death.

(Tabari 3, 1093, Belazuri 339 and Ibn al Fakih 309.) However, a son of Shahryar named Qaren who had been detained at the court of Maziyar later on joined the Arabs and after the fall of Maziyar was restored to his paternal estate.

"As regards the Avesta expression _Ragha Zarathushtrish_ in the Yasna 9, 18, it refers to political conditions of a much anterior age not yet reached by our historical investigations."

[Translated from Marquarts, _Eranshahr_, p. 127 _seq_-G.K.N.]

APPENDIX II

_IRANIAN MATERIAL IN MAHASIN WAL MASAVI AND MAHASIN WAL AZDAD_.

Professor Inostranzev gives a list of pa.s.sages of Iranian interest which are to be found in the _Mahasin-wal masawi_ and in the _Mahasin wal azdad_ giving references to pages in the European editions.

Unfortunately I have not been able to procure the latter and cannot verify the allusions. I, however, reproduce below the Iranian subjects touched upon in these two Arabic books on _adab_ in the Cairo editions.

Iranian material from the Mahasin-wal masawi, Part I, p. 1. A dictum of Buzarjmahir.

P. 82, A story of King Kobad.

P. 96, A story of a.n.u.shirwan, "the wisest of men of his time in Persia".

P. 110, A story of King Ardeshir.

P. 122, Reference to a custom of the Persian kings and a story of Yazdajard.

Iranian material from the Mahasin-wal masawi Part II.

P. 62, A story about Shiruya, son of Aberwez.

P. 74, A dictum of the Persians on eloquence.

P. 75, A story about Buzarjmahir.

P. 123, A story about a.n.u.shirwan.

P. 125, A story about King Kobad and a MOBED.

P. 131, A story of a.n.u.shirwan.

P. 133, A dictum of Buzarjmahir.

P. 154, A story of Hurmuz, son of a.n.u.shirwan.

P. 155, A story of Bahramgor.

P. 155, A story of the sense of justice of King a.n.u.shirwan.

P. 166, A story of a.n.u.shirwan.

P. 169, Reference to a ZAND book in connection with Islam.

P. 170, A story of an Arab who acted as interpreter in Arabic to a Persian King.

P. 178, A story as narrated by Kisrawi about Kisra, son of Hormuz.

P. 178, Reference to a Majus or Zoroastrian.

P. 194, A story of Shiruya, son of Kisra.

P, 199, A quotation from Ibn-ul Muqaffa.

P. 203, The story of Sabur-zul-aktaf.

IRANIAN MATERIAL IN THE MAHASIN-WAL-AZDAD.

P. 14, Story of King Abarwez.

P. 17, Story of the Kisra.

P. 35, Quotation from al Kisrawi, relating a story about Kisra, son of Hormuz. In this story the unfortunate general Afshin, the governor of Ashrushna, is plainly designated a _Majus_ or Zoroastrian.