The data contained in such sources as Ayadgar Zareran, Draxt Asurg, Xusraw Kawadanud redag-e and The Bundahishn offer valu-able information about the culture of musicalinstruments of the ancient and early medievalMiddle East.1 The presence of singers and musi-cians as permanent participants during all secularand ritual ceremonies is attested by a number ofpictures dating from the ancient and earlymedieval periods. Scholars have long been inter-ested in identifying the musical terms referred toin texts written in Pahlavi; some worthy observa-tions were conducted in that respect by H. G.Farmer (1938) and A. Christensen (1944). Theyreviewed the musical terms and compared themwith archaeological and pictographic dataobtained from ancient Iran. Extensive excava-tions carried out in Middle Asia since the 1930shave yielded abundant and varied material onmusic archaeology, which has contributed signifi-cantly to our knowledge of the areas musical cul-ture. They were followed by more studies andpublications. Interesting observations and recon-structions in regard to the ancient Hvarezm(Chorazmian) culture were made by R. L. Sa-dokov (1970). On the basis of archaeology, artmonuments, ethnographic and written materialshe provided a detailed description of musicalinstruments and showed the importance of musicin that culture. The contribution of the MiddleAsian peoples to the development of musicalinstrumentalism was demonstrated by T. S.Vyzgo (1980). Studies in Middle Asian musicarchaeology have been made by V. A. Meshkeris,one of the authors in the volume Mu-sikgeschichte in Bildern (Mittelasien, 1987). Thisvolume was the first attempt to generalize thedata on music archaeology collected from MiddleAsia, Kazakhstan, Altai, western Siberia, andeastern Turkestan. After Mittelasien was pub-lished even more interesting monuments repre-

senting musical instruments were discovered inMiddle Asia, like the Xan-tepe and Shivazossuaries (Kraseninnikova 1993), or the wallpaintings in the palace at Jar-tepe II/Sogd(Berdimuradov/Samibaev 1994). Thus theattempt to identify musical finds from the MiddleAsian region by comparing them with writtensources was made possible. We will take a closerlook now at some Middle Persian terms appliedto musical instruments.The oldest manuscript copied in 1322 by thescribe Mehr-Awan Kai-Khusru and known asthe MK source contains religious compositionsand almost all secular Pahlavi literature writtenin different times, combined on the basis ofthree separate manuscripts (Jamasp-Asana II,1913). Probably it was written during the lateSassanian period, and subsequently a number ofcopies were made. Early in this century, themanuscript was preserved in the private collec-tion of J. D. Jamasp-Asana in Bombay; theowner published it in 1897 (part II appeared in1913). Two Parthian poems of the first centuryBC, Ayadgar Zareran (Tale of Zarer) andDraxt As u r g (A dispute between the datepalm and the goat), written in Khorasan andtranslated into Middle Persian (southwesterndialect), contain some names of musical instru-ments and therefore will be our most importanttopic of discussion. Draxt Asu r g is a poeticpuzzle-contest (munazira) between two charac-ters, a goat and an Assyrian (Babylonian) tree.Musical instruments, made in part of goat skinand used in secular and religious music, arementioned. The goat tries to prove that it ismore useful than the tree:

1 The Pahlavi texts were edited by the late Dastur J. M.Jamasp-Asana with an introduction by B. T. Anklesaria,(Bombay 1913) 109114. The transcription of Pahlavi textsmentioned in this paper was made by A. Ambartzumian.

Musical Terminology in Pahlavi Writings in Com-parison to Music-Archaeological Finds fromAncient and Early Medieval Central Asia

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49 (100) mazdesnan padyabpad man post darend

(101) cang ud win ud kennaran barbut ud tambur

(102) hamag zanend pad man[hamag] srayend [pad man]

(103) eg-am bid abardar hamaz to draxt Asurig

(100) The Mazdayan ablutiongets done on my skin.

(101) cang (harp), win, and kennar,and barbut, and tambur

(102) they all play on me,(all) sing (with my assistance).

(103) This is whyI excel you, oh Assyrian tree!(Jamasp-Asana, 1913, 109114)

The sound boards of the five stringed instru-ments are made of wood, either with or withoutleather. Three, cang, barbut and tambur, can beassociated with certain instruments known fromMiddle Asian archaeological monuments (Vyzgo1980; 1972, 269297; Meshkeris et al. 1987; Farmer1938). Two others, win and kennar, may have sev-eral meanings. Christensen translated win asIndian lute (1944), whereas Farmer suggestedthat win could be upper- and lower-chestedharps (Farmer 1938, 401404; 1939, 2784).2

Now let us introduce another source in whichthe five instruments together with others are men-tioned: the Husraw Kawadan ud redag-e (Khos-row, son of Kewad, and a page). It is the storyabout a page who visits King Khosrow to demon-strate his skills. In the first fragment of the text,13, the page says:13 pad *cang ud win ud barbut ud

tambur ud kennar ud harw srudcegamag (cagamag) ud pad-izpadwazag guftan ud padwazg kardanawestad-mard hem

13 I am a man skilled in (playing) the cang,the win, the barbut, the tambur, the kennar,in all songs and poems, as in reflectionsof disputes, as well as in compiling disputes.(Jamasp-Asana vol. II, 1913, 157)

Another fragment, 6063, transmits a dia-logue of King Khosrow and the page about theentertainers, the musicians and actors.60 Nohom framayed pursdan ku khuniyagar-

e kadam xwastar ud weh?61 Gowed redag ku ano ag bawed, en and

*huniyagar hamag xwa [ud] nek:62 c ang-sray, win-sray ,win-kennar-sray, ud

suraz g-sray, ud mustag-sray, ud tambur-sray, barbut-sray, ud nay sray, ud dumba-lag-sra y, si s ur g (?) ud dirig (?) (or

gahan[ba]rig [ud] widerg), rasan-wazg,ud zanj r-wa zg, ud da r-wa zg, ud ma r-wazg, ud c ambar-wa zg, ud tigr-wazg,ud tas-wazg, ud wandag-wazg, ud andar-way-wazg, ud *kermr/kalmr-sray, *da-wal (or denar?)-sray, tambur meh (-sray),spar-wazg, zen-wazg, ud goy-wazg, ud*sel-wa zg, am er-wa zg, ud danag-wazg, ud warz-wazg, ud ag-wazg, udkabg-wazg en *huniyagar hamag xwaud nek.

63 be abag cang-sray kang nekog pad abe-stan kanzag cang-sray weh ka- wangtez ud xwa-a wa z, pad-iz a n ka r neka yed, win-sra y xwaran wuzurg e c*humiyagar paykar (pahikar) nest.

60 At ninth he (Khosrow) asks: Who of themusicians (performers), who of them ismore pleasant and appropriate?

61 The page replies: May (Your Majesty) beimmortal, all these multiple performers arepleasant and appropriate:

62 those playing the harp, the win, the win-kennar (cithar3 [?], lyre [?]), the sura zk(from Middle Persian sura g hole), themustak (derived from Middle Persian must,Parthian must, a fist ?), the tambur, thebarbut, the nay, (the reed-pipe), the dum-balag (trumpet or horn?, or drum?), thesisurg (?) and d r g (?) (or playing onfestival and mourning days), those playingwith ropes (rope-walkers), chains, clubs (orsome sort of swords?), snakes, rings, arro-ws, dice, strings, air, playing the kirmr (orkamr, a kind of flute or oboe?), the dawal(kettle-drums?, or denar dinars, coins?),the big tambur, those performing with ashield, a saddle, a ball, a spear, a sword, adagger, a battle-club, bottles, monkeys; allthese performers (musicians and actors) arepleasant and appropriate.

63 However, with the nice woman playing thecang inside the harem, the girl playing thec ang, is better, whose voice is high andpleasant-sounding, who is well suited forthat, or with the one playing the win duringthe feast nobody can be compared.(Jamasp-Asana 1913, 2738).

Previously, some of the terms for musicalinstruments were incomprehensible, and the mea-ning of some is still obscure. The compound endswith -sray in the text, the affix being in fact the

2 Farmer (1938 a, 1938 b) uses the form van, while Christen-sen renders the same as vin. Modern transcriptions expressit with win.

3 Christensen translates the word kenna r with cithare.

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present tense stem of srudan, which means tosing or to perform, and is usually employedwhen constructing complex words. Wazg is thepresent tense stem waz (Bailey 1943, 114; Monchi-Zadeh 1982, 4791; Nawabi 1976, 382397) of theverb wazdan, to play with something, togetherwith the suffix -ig. In the suggested translation, theterms ending with wazg denote people (jesters,acrobats, manipulators) performing with certainobjects in their hands.

In Plutarchs studies, there are indications thatAchaemenid courts also had jesters, in addition tomusicians and singers. The tradition was old: inthe calendar festivals and carnivals, musicians andother performers were important active partici-pants, and this tradition can be traced back to the6th 4th century BC, throughout Middle Asiaincluding Achaemenid Iran. With the 3rd centuryBC, Middle Asia acquired the peculiar type ofHellenistic theatre, the Maskhara.4 Archaeologicalfinds, including terracotta statuettes of comedians,acrobats, masxarabazan (pranks, puns, act ofclowns) support its existence (Trever 1934, tab. Xno. 145, tab. XIII no. 186187; Pugacenkova 1966;1978, III, 465; Rachmanov 1972, 314331). Thewords sisur g (?) and *(d r g?) mean somethingto be played with, likewise rasan (rope), mar(snake), tas (dice), wandag (rope, knot), am er(sword), ag (bottles), and kabg (monkey).Considering the term dar (sword or stick), theIranian scholar Tafazzoli has proven on the basisof Awesta passages (in which the word originallymeant a tree) that its meaning here applies to asharpened sword, a blade, or a cutting edge.

The two instruments cang and win in 63deserve special attention. Almost all scholars whotranslated the passage believe that the words meana harp and a lute. ang is most probably theangular harp with a curved resonator as depictedon the reliefs at Taq- Bustan in Iran, and widelyknown from terracotta figurines of the 1st 3rd

centuries from Dalversin-tepe and Afrasiab, east-ern Turkestan Kyzyl of the 5th century, the ossuar-ies of the 7th century in southern Sogdia, and Sog-dian paintings in Jar-tepe II (56th centuries) andUstrushana (7th8th centuries AD; Meshkeris et al.1987 Fig. 70, 106, 131, 152, 164165 and p. 152).Win has been translated as the Indian lute(Christensen 1944), but ancient Indian texts (4th

century BC) suggest instead that it is the archedharp (shaped like a bow). So, in the Ramayana abow is compared with the harp, a plectrum beingits arrow. The earliest representations of the harpcan be found on Indus valley seals and inscrip-tions. In the Vedas, win is mentioned as a harpused in secular parties and religious ceremonies, inthe latter case by priests wives (Deva 1974, 129132; 1980, 170171). However, we do not have a

single picture of an arched harp from ancient Iran.It is shown only in an illustration on the bone rhy-ton excavated near Olbia, where a nude male fig-ure carries a similar instrument on his shoulder(Meshkeris 1987, Fig. 49). Another representationof the arched harp can be seen on the relief in Mervimported from Gandhara (Vyzgo 1980, 39), and athird depiction of this type of harp is shown on aslab from the Kushan site of Zar-tepe near Termez(3rd century).5

Can the term win be attributed to this harp andthe arched harps from Middle Asia, or was it a dif-ferent type of an angular harp? This question can-not be answered for the time being. As pointed outbefore, the word win was used in the text togetherwith the kennar: win-kennar; besides, the lattercould be used alone. The MacKenzie dictionaryoffers the meaning of lyre, harp, the kennar- sraybeing therefore a harp-player (MacKenzie 1971,51). Once we accept that win could be an archedharp, we may assume that win-kennar was anoth-er type of a harp, perhaps with a straight resonator(or was it a lyre?). Anyway, several types of harpswere played in Iran and Middle Asia. In the Taq-Bust an reliefs and in the Ustrushana paintings,various harps are shown together: an angular harpwith a curved resonator and a harp with a straightbody (Meshkeris et al. 1987, 137, Fig. 167). Werethey all win? Furthermore, is the win-kennaranother harp or lyre (or cithar?). The win is men-tioned in the Greater Bundahishn with reference tothe nature of sounds and together with the wordwang: win wang, i. e. the win sound (West 1908).The context describes how the Awesta was accom-panied by the win (probably only in the first chap-ters: Zaratushras Gathas). The word Gatha is thesource of the modern Iranian gah, which denotesthe order of Persian classical music.

The term barbut applies to a kind of short lute,@ud or barbiton; it was a large resonator with ashort neck, whose top is bent backwards and holdsthe pins for usually two or four strings. Theinstrument is known from sites in Baktria, Sogd,and eastern Turkestan, which date from the 1st

through 5th centuries AD (Meshkeris et al. 1987,Fig. 5253, 73, 7678, 99101, 102105, 116119,120121, 153, 158, 168, 182190).6 The instrumentand its terminology have been discussed in detailby T. S. Vyzgo (1980, 269297, note 8).

4 O. M. unakova is of the same opinion (pers. comm.). Cf.:D. Monchi-Zadeh, Xosrov Kavatan ut Retak. Acta Iranica22, 1982, 4791; N. Nawabi, Opera Minora, T. 1 (Shiraz1976) 382397 (a few notes on individual words).

5 Excavations carried out by the V. Zavyalov Institute ofMaterial Culture History, St. Petersburg, in 1982.

6 An especially large barbut is depicted in the Ustrushanapaintings of the 7th9th century. However, it is quite possi-ble that the instrument had a name of its own.

Musical Terminology in Pahlavi Writings 85

BIBLIOGRAPHY

BAILEY, H. W. (1943)Zoroastrian problems in the ninth-centurybooks, Oxford.

BERDIMURADOV, A. E./SAMIBAEV, M. P. (1994)Rannie rospisi sogdijskogo chrama Dar-tepeII (5 nacalo 6 v.). Archeologiceskie vesti 3,103, fig. 7.

CHRISTENSEN, A. (1944)LIran sous les sassanides, Copenhagen.

DEVA, C. B. (1974)Indian Music, Calcutta.

DEVA, C. B. (1980)Indijskaja muzyka, Moskva.

FARMER, H. G. (1938)The Instruments of Music in the Taq-i-BustanBas-Reliefs. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Societyof Great Britain & Ireland (July 1938), 401403.

FARMER, H. G. (1939)An Outline History of Music and MusicalTheory, in: A. Pope (ed.), A Survey of PersianArt. vol. 3, London, 27832788.

KAROMATOV, F. M./MESKERIS, V.A./VYZGO, T. S.(1987)

Mittelasien. Musikgeschichte in Bildern, BandII, hrsg. v. W. Bachmann, Leipzig.

KRASENINNIKOVA, N. I. (1993)Deux ossuaires dcor trouvs aux environs duvillage de Sivaz, district de kitab, SogdianeMridionale. Studia Iranica, t. 22, fasc. 1.

MACKENZIE, D. N. (1971)A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London.

MESHKERIS, V. ET AL. 1987 (cp. Karomatov, s.a.).MONCHI-ZADEH, D. (1982)

Xosrov Kavatan ut Retak. Acta Iranica 22,4791.

NAWABI, N. (1976)Opera Minora, T. 1, Shiraz, 382 397.

PUGACENKOVA, G.A.(1966)Chalcajanskij masxarabaz. Iskusstvo No. 5.,Leningrad.

PUGACENKOVA, G.A.(1978)Chudozhestvennye sokrovica Dalverzin-tepe,III 46, Leningrad.

RACHMANOV, M.R (1972)Is istorii drevnego teatra Samarkanda. Iz isto-rii iskusstva velikogo goroda, 314331, Tash-kent.

SADOKOV, R. L. (1970)Muzykalnaja kultura drevnego Chorezma(The musical culture of the ancient Hwarezm),Moskva.

TAFAZZOLI, A. (1970)Notes Pehlevies I. Journal Asiatique, 89-91.

TREVER, C. (1934)Terracottas from Afrasiab, Leningrad, table Xno. 145, XIII no. 186187.

VYZGO, T. S. (1980)Muzykalnye instrumenty Srednej Azii.Istoriceskie ocerki, Moskva

WEST, E.W. (1908)The Bundahishn. Pahlavi texts. Bombay; Trans-lation by E. W. West-SBE. Chap. 20.

The term tambur is used in the Greater SouthernBundahishn for a long-necked stringed lute withtwo or four strings. In the fragment it is mentioned asecond time, as tambur i meh, probably meaning abig tambour. Long-necked lutes were well-knownin ancient Egypt, Sumer, and later in Parthia,Hwarazm, Sogd, Ustrushana and eastern Turkestan

during the 2nd BC to 9th centuries AD (Meshkeris etal. 1987, Fig. 57.4041, 50, 5160, 205).

In this paper an attempt was made to comparemusical terms with archaeological finds thatrepresent musical instruments, but the results arestill vague, and more studies will have to be car-ried out.

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