SOAS Research Online

Abstract

The first part of the work gives a survey of the andarz books extant in Pahlavi. The texts are arranged according to whether they are attributed to a likely or legendary author or are anonymous. The sixth book of the Denkart, the largest collection of andarz, is dealt with separately. The discussion contains in each case, besides details of bibliographical interest, remarks on the character and structure of the text and notes on its relationship to other andarz compositions. Philological notes are included on difficult passages. The last sections of the first part deal with some general problems of the andarz literature; and an attempt is made to distinguish types of books and to comment on various stylistic devices used in these books. The question of the midrashic technique is discussed in some detail. The second part is devoted to analyzing the religious system of thought reflected in the andarz books, and particularly in Dk vi. This is done partly by examining the use of terms in different contexts. The main subjects discussed are: the various associations connected with the notion of wisdom; some techniques of instruction; the concepts of faith and religion; the complex of ideas centred round the term 'spirit'; the various ways of righteousness and the ideas connected with sin; the attitude to this world the concept of poverty and the poor; the idea of the measure; the reward in afterlife, the notion of xwarr, the problem of fate and free will. The probable existence of esoteric doctrines in Sasanian Iran is also considered.