Bundahishn

Abstract

Abstract The Bundahishn , meaning primal or primordial creation, is the most important Zoroastrian text on creation, cosmology, and eschatology. Written in the Zoroastrian dialect of Middle Persian during the early Islamic period, the Bundahishn includes and interprets traditions going back to the Avesta as well as Sasanian and post‐Sasanian materials. The book is composed in a three‐part structure that mirrors the Zoroastrian division of time into creation, the period of the mixture of good and evil in the created world, and the final eschatological battle. An essential scholarly source for the study of ancient Iranian religion, philosophy, myth, history, and language, the Bundahishn is especially important in defining the central characters and categories of Zoroastrian theology, including the good creator god Ohrmazd and the Evil Spirit Ahriman, spiritual ( mēnōg ) and material ( gētīg ) existence, and the human role in the cosmos. In its scientific chapters on astronomy, medicine, zoology, botany, and others, the Bundahishn displays its dialogue with the intellectual environment of the early Islamic era.