Studies in Manichaeism

A. V. Williams Jackson

Journal of the American Oriental Society, Vol. 43. (1923), pp. 15-25.

Stable URL:

http://links.jstor.org/sici?sici=0003-0279%281923%2943%3C15%3ASIM%3E2.0.CO%3B2-4

Journal of the American Oriental Society is currently published by American Oriental Society.

Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available athttp://www.jstor.org/about/terms.html. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtainedprior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content inthe JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use.

Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained athttp://www.jstor.org/journals/aos.html.

Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printedpage of such transmission.

The JSTOR Archive is a trusted digital repository providing for long-term preservation and access to leading academicjournals and scholarly literature from around the world. The Archive is supported by libraries, scholarly societies, publishers,and foundations. It is an initiative of JSTOR, a not-for-profit organization with a mission to help the scholarly community takeadvantage of advances in technology. For more information regarding JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

http://www.jstor.orgSat Oct 13 21:37:03 2007

STUDIES IN MANICHAEISM

STL-DENTS are familiar with the discoveries OF MANICHAEISM made a t Turfan and elsewhere in Chinese Turkistan, in the years 1903 and following, which brought to light an extensive mass of Manichaean Fragments dating back a thousand years or more. These fragments, consisting of hymns, prayers, con- fessions, religious treatises, and the like, contain portions of the long-lost Bible of M ~ n i . The discoveries were due largely to the expeditions of Grunwedel and Huth, Le Coq, Stein, and Pel- liot. The more important of these fragmentary texts have proved to be written in a form of the Middle Persian language now usually termed Turfan Pahlavi, and in the Turkish of Eastern Turkistan, though a valuable treatise in Chinese has been r a d e availatle, and also some Soghdian remnants.

The first scholar to identify a mass of the fragments as Man- ichaean documents, written down in a variety of the Estrangelo script, and then to decipher them, was the brilliant Berlin pro- fessor F. W. K. Muller, in 1904.' Since that date the work of deciphering and translating the remains also in the other lan- guages, together with the task of elucidating them, has been carried on es~e-ial ly by Miiller, Le Coq, Salemann, Foy, Rad- loff, Andreas, Reitzenstein, V. Thomsen, Chavannes, Pelliot, Cumont, Alfaric, Legge, while contributory studies, on the lin- guistic side, have been made by Gauthiot, Meillet, Bartho-lomae, Geldner, and Tolman. Through the effort; of the dis- coverers and their fellow-workers we have therefore now avail- able far more material for understanding MSni's doctrines than was known centuries ago; and still more light on the subject may be expected in the future, when more of the fragments are p~blished or new finds are unearthed.

The present writer, being interested in the Zoroastrian el-

See Sztzungsb. d . k . preuss. Akad. Wzss., Phz1.-Hist. Klasse, 1904, ix. 348. 15

l

16 A. V. Williams Jackson

ements in M ~ n i ' s religion, has been engaged for some time in preparing a small volume to be entitled Zoroastrian and -Ifan- ichaean Studies. Besides dealing with the question of Persian influence upon Manichaeism, the book will contain translations into English from the Petrograd as well as the Berlin fragments in Pahlavi from Turfan, accompanied by philological and ex-planatory notes that may possibly be of service to the gen- eral Iranian scholar as well as to the student of religion. A few special points that have been studied in connection with the preparation of that volume are discussed in the four divisions of the present paper.l

The well-known statement of Albirtini, in which Mani is quo- ted as acknowledging Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus as his re-ligious predecessors and as claiming to have come to the world as the fulfilment of the divine enlightenment, is too familiar to require citation here.3 Actual allusions to these three re-ligious leaders, or to their followers, are found to occur inci-dentally in the Manichaean Fragments. Here are given the references in the texts thus far available relating to Zoroaster.4

1. In the first place the name Zoroaster, under the Tur-kish form ZrnSt (ZrzZt), which became current in Chinese as 'Sou-lou-che,' has been shown by Le Coq-convincingly supported through linguistic evidence by Gauthiot-to occur as a Burxan, or divine messenger, in a Manichaean Uigurian fragment from Idiqut-Shahri.5 Some ten times the name with its spiritual a t- tribute (ZrdS? Burxan) is repeated in this particular fragment which records bits of a legend about a conflict between this

a A brief abstract of the present paper was laid before the Soci6tC. Asi- atique at its Centenary Celebration in Paris, July 12, 1922.

3 See Albiriini, tr. Sachau, p. 193; cf. Arabic text, p. 207. 4 A collection of references to Jesus and of allusions to Siikyamuni (Sak-

imun) as a Burxan is reserved for publication on another occasion. See A. LeCoq, Sitzungsb. preuss. Akad. LViss. 1908, pp. 398, 400-401;

id. 1909, p. 1216 n. 2; and cf. R. Gauthiot, ,tfkm. Soc. Linguistique, 16 (1911), p. 320.

17 Studies in JIanichaeism

hallowed personage and sorcerers or demons a t Babylon. The city of Babylon was sacrosanct in connection with Mani's life and was even associated with Zoroaster through apocryphal le- gend.6 In any case this sand-buried fragment, discovered in Turkistan, has preserved reminiscences of some old Zoroastrian tale that must have had vogue among the Manichaeans.

2. Not only that, but in a Turfan fragment in Pahlavi in the Berlin collection there is an explicit reference to Zoroaster by name (ZardaSt or [ ? I ZorohzGt), where he is mentioned by the side of the Persian angel Srdg (Avestan SraoSa). This mention occurs in an old Wlanichaean hymn which contains a reminiscence of the Zoroastrian belief in the re-awakening of the soul of LIan (i. e. Primal Llan, Gayomart). The text it-self, however, has unfortunately not yet been published, but its contents are available in a German version by Professor F. C. Andreas, reproduced in Reitzenstein's Das iranische Erlosungs- m?lsterium, p. 3, Bonn, 1921.

3. Furthermore, in still another Turfan fragment, LZ. 16. 20-22 (Muller, Handschrzftenreste I I , p. 94) there is an allusion to a 'Book of the Zoroastrians' as containing a reference to a certain rite performed on the fourteenth day of the Zoroastrian month of Tir. The text reads:-

'ad pad anq" Zardr[d?]iiStagdn nibdg 'n'on nibdsdd kc pad Zahdrdah r8j 'Z TZrmd kanZSn '0 kaniSngar

'And in another book of the Zoroastrians it is written thus: "On the fourteenth day of the month Tir a deed for the doer" '

[The rest is zjanting.]

4. There is likewise a probable allusion again to Zoroaster as a forerunner of Msni, with a mention also of Jesus, in the TPhl. fragment M. 543. 1-2 (Muller, 11, p. 79). The broken passage begins: / / / / / nangbdd 'ad pdS0bai 'Z DZn Mdzdds, ' . . . . . the famous master and leader of the Mazdayasnian

See Jackson, Zoroaster, pp. 90-91.

18 A . V. Williams Jackson

Religion.' Although the name Zoroaster is missing, owing to an initial break ( / / / / / ) in the page, the collocation with Den Mdzdes makes the conjecture reasonable, especially because there follows (line 7) an allusion to the Zoroastrian archangel Vabman (Av. Vohu Manah, 'Good Thought'). Mgni himself as a new voice, speaking in accord and giving the ordinances of a true creed for the faithful, is immediately implied in lines 2-3: Td ndg hamdc'iig I Xvardsdn 'Sd rdyEndg 'I VabIdendn, lit. 'Thou (Mgni), the new teacher of the East and organizer of those of the Good Religion (Manichaeism).'7 The context of lines 4-7 (jt?zdd hdi-Sabreydrdn, 'born of the seed of the rulers') shows MBni's right by descent to the prophetic office; and directly afterwards comes an express mention of 'the Vir- gin Jesus' (YISd' kanIg) as another of the divine 'manifesta-tions' (sandn). Consequently, judging from the entire col-location, the proposed interpretation of Zoroaster's being al-luded to as the 'Famous Master of the Mazdayasnian Religion' seems plausible. There happens to be likewise an incidental reference to the 'Magian Religion' (moyuE nomzn) in a Turkish Manichaean Fragment, T. M. 170, line 4, ed. Le Coq, Chotscho 111,p. 39 (Berlin Academy, 1922).

5. In the light of the passage already presented and in view of Albiriini's reference to Mgni's having acknowledged Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus as his religious predecessors, we may take up still another Turfan Pahlavi passage. Before doing so, however, we may add Albirfini's own further testimony to the effect that 'Mgni proclaimed himself a prophet after hav- ing acquainted himself with the doctrines of the Magians, Chris- tians, and dualist^'^; and supplement this statement by the authority of an-Xadim's Fihrist, that Mgni 'derived his teach- ing from the Magians and the Christians,'g appending likewise Shahrastgni's remark that M ~ n i ' s 'religion was a blend of Ma-gianism and Christianity. '~~ -

7 The designation Valzi-dln is especially applied to Manichaeism elsewhere in the Fragments. Instead of Muller's reading hamvalfig, the vocalization ham61fig, 'teacher,' is to be referr red, cf. Gauthiot, J A 1911, p. 590 n. 3. So also (now available) Bartholomae, Zur Kenntnis der mitteliranischen Mundarten, 1. 44 n. 1 (in Sitzb. Heidelberger Ak. Wiss. 1916).

Albiruni, op. rit. tr. p. 190, line 40; text, p. 207, line 13. 9 Cf. Flugel, Manz, pp. 85, 164-166; Kessler, Mani, p. 386. lo See Shahrastgni, tr . Haarbrucker, 1. 285; and cf. Flugel, p. 165.

19 Studies in iVfanichaeism

Considering all this, a conjecture (but only a conjecture till more Fragments become accessible) may be hazarded that the three great religious predecessors of Mgni may possibly be alluded to as 'the three Sons of God' in certain lines of the long Manichaean hymn of praise and prayer, the FraBEgErdiq (itself the Zoroastrian designation of the Renovation of the World), M. 4, p. 4; lines 10-13 (Mu. 11, p. 54m), which runs as follows:-

asdh man bdi'gar pad 'istavZSn anizvag bag Marf MdnZ ad hue bagpahrdn.

'mayest Thou come, my Liberator, through praise, Thou living God, Lord Mgni, with the three Sons of God.'

I t should be observed in this connection that the same at- tribute bagpaby, 'Son of God,' is twice applied to Jesus in a Manichaean citation from the New Testament (M. 18. 1, 3 = Mu. 11, p. Mt), where it is, however, a translation from the Biblical text. Furthermore, Mani is likewise called 'a Son of the Deity' (ManZ yazdan frazznd, M. 311. l = M u . 11, p. Mb) and is so addressed apparently again as '0 Son of the Deity' ('dn yazddn pahr, M. 32. 3=Mii. 11, p. 62b); while Zoroaster and Buddha, the other two of Mgni's three spiritual forerun- ners, are distinctly designated as Burxans, 'Divine Messengers,' in the Turkish Manichaean Fragments, as noted above (p. 16, n. 3). Hence there seem to be grounds for regarding 'the three Sons of God' in this passage as an allusion to Zoroaster, Buddha, and Jesus. In any event this suggestion may be offered wholly tentatively until further Fragments are published or dis-covered."

There is, for example, a possibility that the three above mentioned may be compared with 'the three gods' which appear a s attendants on the soul of the righteous after death, as described in the Fihrist, Fliigel, p. 100 (and n. 286), cf. also p. 92 (and n. 188). In that case it could be suggested that Primal Man (Ormazd), the Living Spirit, and the Third Messenger (Mithra) might come in for a claim to represent the 'Three Sons of God'; but we should have to wait, in any event, for further material in order finally to decide the question.

20 A. V. Wi l l iams Jackson

In connection with the jottings above recorded it must be emphasized that no attempt is made to deal here with the more general Zoroastrian aspects and allusions, such as to Ormazd and Ahriman, Persian angelology and demonology, or to Bud- dhistic elements, with references likewise to our Savior, be- cause those matters are reserved for treatment in the volume mentioned. There is space, nevertheless, to bring out two or three other Zoroastrian survivals, to which attention seems not to have been previously drawn.

The idea of the weighing of the soul in the scales of judgment after death is a characteristic one in Zoroastrianism. Although found in Egypt and elsewhere, it is a fundamental tenet in the Persian faith.12 Owing to the extensive influence of Zo-roastrianism upon Manichaean eschatology it would be natu-ral to look for some trace of this doctrine in the Fragments.

[Postscript.-In this latter connection compare Reitzenstein, Das Man- daische Buch des Herrn der Grosse, pp. 49 n. 3, 48, 94 n. 5. Furthermore, there is a passage (now available) in a Turkish Manichaean Fragment, T 11 D, 175, 2, lines 1-10, Le Coq, Chotscho, 111, p. 31, Berlin, 1922, which refers to 'three gods' in connection with the fate of the soul, as follows: 'The God of the Majesty of the Law comes w i t h t h e t h r e e g o d s , which he himself is, to the soul . . . and sends it to the judge of the dead.' hly Parsi pupil, Jal Dastur Cursetji Pavri, plausibly suggests that these three gods, associated with the dead, may be the well-known Manichaean per- sonifications XroZtag, Padvaxtag, and SrBZ, cf. Chinese "Hou-lou-cho-to, P'o-leou-houo-to, and Sou-IOU-cha-lo-yi," see Chavannes and Pelliot, J A 1911, p. 520-523, 524, 530, 542, 543 n. 2, 552, 567. The idea of these, though differing somewhat, would be parallel in general to the Zoroastrian notion of hlithra, Rashnu, and Sraosha. We may add that there is a Manichaean allusion to a judge of the dead in St. Ephraim, tr. C. W. Mitchell, i. p. lxx, who quotes MSni to the effect that 'the souls come to the ~udge.']

I1 See Jackson, 'Weighing the Soul in the Balance after Death, an Indian as well as Iranian Idea,' in Actes d u X m e CongrLs des Orientalistes (Session de Geneve, 1894), pt. 2, pp. 67-74, Leiden, 1895; and for Egypt see J. H. Breasted, Develornent of the Religion of Ancient Egypt, pp. 304-306, New York, 1912.

Studies in Manichueism 2 1

Search has now revealed such an allusion to the balance in one of the Turkish Manichaean Fragments brought back by Le Coq from Chotscho (Khocho).

The passage found occurs in Le Coq, Turkische -4fanichaica aus Chotscho 11, p. 12, Fragment T. 11. D. 173, recto, lines 7-12 (Abh. Akad. TTi'ss. Berlin, 1919), and the designation for the scales in Turkish, trazuk, corresponds to the familiar word Phl, tarnzak, NP. tartzza. The entire fragment is important for eschatology because it describes the fortunes of the lost soul, about whose fate the several majesties of the fire, waters, plants, and trees lament (quite Zoroastrian!) when it is brought to the judgment, a t which 'the deeds done by itself appear before it' in the life-account, to be weighed. The text in trans-literation from the Manichaean Turkish runs as follo\vs (lines 6-12) :-

konii buryuq koziingu t a kozunupan tanmi: uz utug tutupan trazuk 'icinta olyurtur tiyur t[razu]ka y[sar?]q[zljznti a i t z ~ bolur ['ilrintii qi'lmibS qzlzntz 'istig bolur

'The just judge seizes the confused soul which appears as in a mirror. In the b a 1 a n c e it is placed down, it is said. If the b a 1 a n c e rises, its deeds. . . (?) its evil done deeds will. . . (?)' [the sense i s uncertain]

[End of the page; the reverse page contains the ensuing torments for the rlanzned.]

Le Coq (to whom grateful acknowledgments are made for rend-ering such a text available) makes no observation as to the Persian significance of this passage in connection with the judg-ment scales, nor is special emphasis laid upon i t by Reitzen-stein (Das iran. Erlosungsmysterium, pp. 33, 35 ) , although the latter scholar draws attention (p. 36) to a Mandaean text with eschatological bearing (viz. Book of John, chap. 5 5 , ed.

22 A. V. Williams Jackson

Lidzbarski, Hibil, p. 196). I t appears certain, however, that the real source of the belief as to the 'balance' was Zoroastrian, and it may have come into Manichaeism through the Man-daean channel.

REFERENCETO A LIFE-ACCOUNTFOR THE HEREAFTERIN MAN-

ICHAEISM

The idea of an account kept for the hereafter is a familiar one in Zoroastrianism and other religions. I t is natural to look for some allusion to this doctrine also in the Manichaean Frag- ments.

A special reference is now to be found, I believe, in the Pet- rograd Fragment S. 9 in Turfan Pahlavi. This fragment is one among several brought back to Petrograd in 1908 by Krot- kov, the Russian Consul a t OrfimEi (Urumchi). I t consists of two folios and has been reproduced in the original Syriac script, accompanied by a transliteration into Hebrew characters and a tentative version ('versuch einer iibersetzung'), as well as a glossarial index, by the late Petrograd Iranist C. Salemann, under the title 'Manichaica 111-IV' in Bzllletin de l'rlcadkmie Impkriale des Sciences de St.-Pe'tersbourg, 19 12, pp. 7-14.

Having made a careful study of this piece in the original Estrangelo text, largely with the help of a magnifying-glass, I have prepared a translation of the whole, with annotations, which bear out the view that the first section (I) relates t o the soul of Primal Man in Hell as overcome by the Powers of Darkness, and that the second section (11) appears to describe a colloquy in which a disciple receives from Mgni, who is named, an assurance of the ultimate redemption of the souls of the Elect as purified through the true faith, and the guarantee of the final triumph of good over evil.

I t is toward the end of this fragment that there is found, I think, an allusion to promised reward for those whose reckon- ing in life has won sanctification. The text with reference t o the triumphant Elect, as here transcribed from S. 9 verso, col. d , lines 18-33, runs as follows:

Studies in Manichaeism

pad 'istdvzin da&n viydbdnd c'ajmgdn

d 20. 'Tig dbdn zZndagdn 0 0 c ' y y d ( Z a y ~ d ) y y z y y d ( y ~ z a y ~ d ) v f r s r ' y y d

(frasrdyZd) c'Z nazd hdn zamdn 'TiS nISdndn 00

d 25. xz~anTihTist dnZlagdn ~Ihdddn 'Ti[%] Sahriydr 00 dafZdagIh 'Qd az!TiStdbZdagRh pddiSndhrZd a[t] z?hr 'Zg idy[Zddn001

d 30. Sahriydr Mdn[Ih] xvaddi vaxd a[bdZsTid] nISdn 'Tig zamdn barxst 0 0

'The fountains of living waters shall unloose their mouths in praise. (Therefore) teach, worship, and chant aloud, because that time (and) its signs are near. Song belongs to the Initiated and Elect of the Ruler (i. e. Mgni) ; their a c c o u n t i n g and steadfast mas- tery shall be r e w a r d e d by the 1 i f e e t e r n a 1. (Thus) M%ni the Ruler, the Lord, taught (?) the signs of the (Time) supreme.'

Omitting here a philological discussion of some of the tech- nical terms in the first part of the selection, which will be presented elsewhere, I turn a t once to the two particular words under consideration in connection with the life-accounting.

d, 26. dafZdagZh: The reading is assured, and I think that this word is to be taken as an ordinary derivative abstract (-Ih) based on dafzdag from *daftan, 'to write' (cf. Book Phl. raftan, 'to go,'rafZd), which is contained in the well-known word daftar, 'book, record, account' (recall also the old Indo-Iranian loan-word dipi-, lipi-, 'writing, inscription'; Hiibschmann, Pers. Stud. p. 61; Horn, Neupers. Ety.5 540). The meaning would therefore be 'reckoning, account, record,' and this interpretation would prove the fact of a survival in Manichaeism of the Zoro-

24 A . V. Williams Jackson

astrian doctrine of the reckoning or account demanded of the soul in the life hereafter. Similar in tenor is the following word.

d , 27. av?St6bZdag;i?h: Lit. 'established lordship, steadfast mastery,' i. e. upright stewardship. At least this is my sug- gestion, namely, to take this compound as made up of av'iSt6 'constitutus' (cf. Bartholomae , Zum altiran. Worterbzlch, pp. 31 n., 37, 84, 138 n.), plus the abstract formation bddag;ih (or -;i?h), 'lord-ship.' This explanation gives an excellent sense, matching well with the preceding wotd, and has a far-reaching religious significance.

I need only add that pddis'ndhrZd is a derivative verb in the passive from the noun pddis'nbhr, which is found earlier in the same fragment (c, 23) and which is itself to be connected with Av. xs'nao8ra-, 'satisfaction, propitiation,' presupposing a streng- thened Av. form "pditi-xs'nao8ra-, 'satisfaction in return, re-quital, recompense, reward.' The other words are well-known, and the allusion to 'Lord MZni' lends assurance to the promised reward hereafter for a life-account well balanced.

A list of the Zoroastrian demons and fiends has been drawn up by the writer in the section on the Iranian Religion in the Grundriss der iranischen Philologie, 2. 649-668. A number of this infernal crew live on in Manichaean tradition. The flayed Archontes in Theodore bar Khoni's Scholia and elsewhere, to- gether with the devils named in the Turfan Fragments, are more or less familiar. The Avestan Kunda, a personified de- mon of intoxication, plays an arch role among the horde (cf. op. cit. p. 661). \;l;hile collecting the references to Manichae- ism in the Zoroastrian patristic literature, or 'Book Pahlavi,' I have come across a hitherto unnoticed allusion to Kandag Dras, 'the Fiend Kundag, or Kundi,' which may be worth while pointing out to Persian and Manichaean scholars alike.

The reference occurs in the noted Pahlavi work Denkart, 'Acts of the Zoroastrian Religion,' and is imbedded among a

Studies in Alanichaeisrn 25

dozen doctrines of Mani later controverted by the Zoroastrian priest Atfirpat, son of Mgraspand, famous pontiff of Shaptir 11, in the fourth century A. D. The text of the passage (DK. 3. 200, section 8) is available in the edition of Dastur Peshotan Behramjee Sanjana, vol. 5 , p. 243, Bombay, 1888, and in the later edition of the Parsi scholar D. M. Madan, vol. 1, p. 217, Bombay, 1911. A transcription from the original Pahlavi is here presented, following a plan previously adopted of insert- ing the Pgzand equivalents of Semitic words directly after their 'HuzvBrishn' forms in the text, which is transcribed in general according to tradition.

Dk. 3. 200. 8 : xadak ('Evak) patzrak zak (an) Z ahrdy3h &rasfar Atarcpat gZtZZ1j b9nEddtak1h rail3 ddStan andaridnZt, Drcf astak 1ZfdnZ.Z parkGrI6 pavan (pa) stcn Z Kcndag Drzi.2 zak (an) Z banEd& tak drayistan davist.

'As one doctrine contrary to that which Atiirpst, the adorner of holiness, enjoined, (namely) to hold the world as an original creation-the fiend incarnate, Mani, lyingly taught to proclaim [its] original crea-tion [to be] a circle on the s u p p o r t of the f i e n d K a n d a g.'

This passage, here very literally translated, becomes full of significance in the light of Manichaean studies and is to be associated with other allusions to the particular demon Kundag, such as ShGV. 16. 10-20; Bd. 28. 42;Av. lTd. 11. 9, 12 (=Phl . lTd. 9. 26, 35); 19. 41 (=Phi. lTd. 19. 138); cf. especially also Theodore bar Khoni, in Pognon, Coupes de Khouabir, p. 188, and the references in Cumont, La Cosmogonie maniche'enne, pp. 23-29, 69-75.

'3 Observe that Turfan Phl. has this word as gih, S. 9 c, 12 (=Salemann, Manichaica 111-IV, p. 37).

'4 So the Phl. word is best to be transcribed, as a derivative of *bune (loc.) ddta, cf. Salemann, 'Ein Bruchstuk Man. Schr. im Asiat. hluseum,' in M6m. Acad. Imp. Sciences de St.-Pe'tersbourg, 1904, p. 25S4. Salemann, ibid. p. 16 n. 2, p. 18 line 7, and p. 23 line 8, uses the transliteration buniyd6ak. For bzin-&tak see also Freiman, in T.12Khf 20. 240.

' 5 So hladan's text, rightly; see also Peshotan's footnote ad loc. l6 This Phl. form presumes an old A\,. pairi-kara-, 'encirclement, en-

closure, orb.'