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PEHLVI AHD PARSEE LITERATURES. The second period of Persian literature includes all the books written in Pehlvic, and especially all the translations and paraphrases of the works of the first period. There are also in this language a manual of the religion of Zoroaster, dictionaries of Pehlvi explained by the Parsee, inscriptions, and legends.
The study of Syriac was introduced into Europe in the fifteenth century. Valuable collections of MSS., in this language, are to be found in the British Museum, and grammars and dictionaries have been published in Germany and in New York. The Persian language and its Divisions. 2. Zendic Literature; The Zendavesta. 3. Pehlvi and Parsee Literatures. 4. The Ancient Religion of Persia; Zoroaster. 5.
They were supposed to have proceeded entirely from two sources; one the Directorium Humanae Vitae of John of Capua, translated between 1262-78 from a Hebrew version, which again came from an Arabic version of the 8th century, which came from a Pehlvi version made by one Barzouyeh, at the command of Chosrou Noushirvan, King of Persia, in the 6th century, which again came from the Pantcha Tantra, a Sanscrit original of unknown antiquity.
Second. The period of the Pehlvi, or language of heroes, anciently spoken in the western part of the country. Its alphabet is closely allied with the Zendic, to which it bears a great resemblance. It attained a high degree of perfection under the Parthian kings, 246 B.C. to 229 A.D. Third. The period of the Parsee or the dialect of the southwestern part of the country.
When the seat of the Persian empire was transferred to the southern states under the Sassanides, the Pehlvi gave way to the Parsee, which became the prevailing language of Persia in the third period of its literature. The sacred books were translated into this tongue, in which many records, annals, and treatises on astronomy and medicine were also written.
It reached its perfection under the dynasty of the Sassanides, 229-636 A.D. It has great analogy with the Zend, Pehlvi, and Sanskrit, and is endowed with peculiar grace and sweetness. Fourth. The period of the modern Persian. After the conquest of Persia, and the introduction of the Mohammedan faith in the seventh century A.D., the ancient Parsee language became greatly modified by the Arabic.
Sanscrit : Surya, aryama, mitra, aditya, arka, hamsa : Tschandra, tschandrama, soma, masi. Persian : Chor, chorschid, afitab : Mah. Zend : Houere. Pehlvi : Schemschia, zabzoba, kokma : Kokma. Phoenician : Schemesih. Hebrew : Schemesch : Yarea. Aramean or Chaldean : Schimscha : Yarha. Syrian : Schemscho : Yarho. Arabic : Schams : Kamar. Ethiopian : Tzabay : Warha.
The Zendavesta is divided into two parts, one written in Zend, the other in Pehlvi; it contains traditions relating to the primitive condition and colonization of Persia, moral precepts, theological dogmas, prayers, and astronomical observations. The collection originally consisted of twenty-one chapters or treatises, of which only three have been preserved.
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