The _Taj Nameh_ as mentioned in the Fihrist page 305, and page 118, and
repeatedly referred to in the _Uyunal Akhbar_, Part I, of Ibn Kutayba 65
The Persian book with illustrations mentioned by Masudi in his _Kitab at
Tambih_, page 106-7 and the illustrations in the scrolls in the castle
of Shiz 68
_PAHLAVI BOOKS STUDIED BY ARAB AUTHORS_.
We have indicated in the preceding chapter the translations of Ibn al
Muqaffa from Persian books into Arabic. Besides those of an
ethico-didactic contents, among them there were books of historical
character. All these translations have not come down to us. Extracts of
these renderings into Arabic, however, have been preserved in the
original and sometimes in paraphrase. Unusually important was the
translation of the book called the _Khuday Nameh,_ the value of which
has long been appreciated by science. Questions of vital importance in
connection with this history are its relation to the _Shah Nameh_ and
the examination of its various translations in the Musalman period. The
loss of this book, perhaps the most important monument of Middle Persian
literature, is to be particularly deplored in that with it has perished
the connecting link of the historical evolution of Iran, incorporating
the religious and clerical legislature in an official redaction. Of
capital importance also was another book called the Ain Nameh[1] or the
Book of Institutes, a valuable source of the internal history of the
Sasanian Empire, comprising a descriptive table of official dignitaries
or the _Gah Nameh._[2] Judging by the clue given in the Fihrist (118,28)
it would appear that the _Book of Taj_ also was a historical one since
it has been explained that the book treated of the "Acts of Anushirwan."
As a matter of fact, among the books written by the Persians on epic and
historical subjects and indexed in the same Fihrist (305, 8-13) has been
mentioned the _Book of Taj._[3]
[Footnote 1: See below and also my book on _The Materials from Arabic
sources,_ &c., 63-66. Like Masudi in his _Kitab_ at Tambih, Asadi in
his _Lughal al-Furs_ (Asadi's _neupersischen Worterbuch Lughat al-Furs,_
edited by P. Horn, 1897, 110, 1), identifies the word _ain_ with the
word _rasam,_ practice or custom. As regards the word _ain_ in the
Iranian languages see Horn _Grundriss der neu persischen Etymologie_,
15-16; Hubschmann, _Persische Studien_ 11, and B.G.A. IV, 175, and VIII,
Glossarium IX. To understand the ancient usage of the term the modern
Parsi expression _Dad wa ain din_ in the sense of religious law and
custom helps us. In this phrase the word _dad_ corresponds to the modern
Musalman _shariyat_ and the word _ain_ to _adat_. Regarding its special
meaning in the Umayyad times see J. Wellhausen _Das Arabische Reich und
sein Sturz_ 189.]
[Footnote 2: Most probably in connection with the materials of this book
stood A collection of Persian genealogy written by the well-known Ibn
Khurdadbeh (Fihrist 149, 4), representing a peculiar antithesis to the
numerous selections of Arab tribal and family genealogies.]
[Footnote 3: Here are first mentioned the two books translated by Jabala
ibn Salim, namely, the _Book of Rustam and Isfandiyar_ and the _Book of
Behram Chobin_ (the well-known Romance of the King about which, sea
Noeldeke's Tabari 474-478), and further the _Book of Shahrzad and
Aberviz_ (which no doubt was connected with the _Thousand and one
Nights_), the _Book of Kar Nameh_ or the "Acts" of Anushirwan belonging
to the same class of books as the _Kar Nameh of Ardashir_. Then the
books that interest us are the _Book of Taj_, the _Book of Dara and the
Golden Idol_, the _Ain Nameh_, the _Book of Behramgor and his brother
Narseh_ and finally, one more _Book of Anushirwan._]
It is possible that the book of Ibn al Mukaffa was not the first
translation of the Persian book since this title is applied by not a few
other Arabic writers of the time to some of their own works. (For
example, Abu Ubaida, See Goldziher _Muhammed Studien_ 1,198).
In his time Baron Rosen called attention to quotations from a certain
_Book of Taj_ in _Uyunal Akhbar_ of Ibn Qutaiba.[1] These quotations are
only to be found in the first part of the _Uyunal Akhbar_. All these
quotations, eight in number, bear a didactic character, and excepting
three, refer back to Kisra Abarviz and contain his testament to his sons
(two), secretaries, treasurers and _hajibs_. Of the remaining three one
bears on general maxims of practical politics. Another is a testament of
an ancient Persian king to his Wazir. And the third is a maxim of one of
the secretaries of a king. In this manner all these citations are of an
ethicodidactic nature; only they have been invested with a historical
environment and under ordinary circumstances would represent the general
type of writings on political conduct for rulers, standing for the class
of literature designated _Furstenspiegel_. A similar class of citations
is preserved in the "speeches from the throne" and the counsels of the
Sasanian kings which we come across in various Arab historical and
anthological works bearing on Sasanian Persia, as also in the Shah
Nameh.
[Footnote 1: Baron Rosen, Zur arabischen Literatur geschichte der altern
zeit, 1. Ibn Qutaiba; _Kitab Uyunal Akhbar_ (Melanges Asiatiques, VIII,
1880, 745-779, especially 774-775). These citations correspond to those
in the edition of Brockelmann as follows: 21, 12-16; 27, 11-15; 32, 2-8;
44, 13-45, 4; 67, 13-66, 8; 84, 8-16; 107, 2-17; 120, 16-121, 5.]
Gutschmid already noticed in his time that by the Persian historians to
each Sasanian ruler was ascribed a maxim and indicated that with
reference to Ardashir and Anoshiravan these maxims may be taken as the
basis since the _Book of Counsels_ of the former was well-known and a
large number of edifying proverbs of the latter had found admittance
into the national language.[1] Let us add that, as we showed above,
there has been preserved a similar class of _Books of Counsels_, the
reputed author of which is Anoshiravan. The putative dicta of the other
Sasanian kings Gutschmid considered as fabricated being designed to be
brief characterisations of each of them. Gutschmid further advanced the
conjecture that these apophthegms formed the texts under the portraits
of the kings in the book which was used by Hamza Ispahani[2] and which
was seen by Masudi.[3] According to the information supplied us by the
latter (Masudi) he saw this book in Istakhr in an aristocratic Persian
family, and that it included, besides information of a scientific
character, the history of the Persian kings and their reigns and a
description of the monuments erected by them.[4] In the book were the
portraits of the Sasanians and it was based on the documents found in
the royal archives. And the portraits also were prepared from the
materials deposited there. The book was completed in A.H. 113 (A.D.
731), and it was translated for the Khalif Hisham from the Persian into
the Arabic language.
[Footnote 1: Gutschmid, Kleine schriften, III, 35-36.]
[Footnote 2: About this book see Gutschmid, III, 150-151.]
[Footnote 3: B.G.A. VIII, 106, 5-107, 5. Translation by Carra de Vaux
150-151. See Christensen 90-91.]
[Footnote 4: Gutschmid 150, 151.]
We called attention above to the information supplied by Istakhri and
Ibn Haukal regarding the castle of Shiz and the preservation in it of
the archives and the portraits of the Sasanian kings. It is highly
probable that for the reproduction of these portraits of the sovereigns
the authors were guided as much by the bas-reliefs, not far from this
castle, as by the tradition regarding them which was embalmed in older
books belonging to the class mentioned by Masudi which undoubtedly
existed in the Imperial archives.[1] Along with the literary tradition
there must have survived the artistic tradition. It is highly probable
that the peculiar Persian art of illuminating manuscripts which was yet
unknown according to Masudi in his own time,--the embellishing of books
with gold, silver, and copper dust was practised by the Manichians whose
calligraphy[2] delighted the Musalman authors and whose style of
illustrating manuscripts must have been fashioned after the art
displayed in those books which in the tenth century were preserved in
the castle of Shiz[3] and which at an earlier period were widely
desseminated among the Parsi circles.
[Footnote 1: Connected with ancient tradition, but dependant upon modern
science, are the portraits of the Sasanian kings in the recently
published _Nameh Khusrawan_, Tehran 1285, (A.D. 1868).]
[Footnote 2: In connection with the art of the Persian calligraphist and
illustrative of the Sasanian epoch stand the indications of the ancient
Moslem writers regarding the Avesta, which is reported to have been
inscribed by Zoroaster in gold ink on parchment and also writings in
gold ink of certain ancient Persian books. According to the _Zafar
Nameh_, Anushirwan directed that the maxims of Buzurjamihr should be
written down in golden water,--(ba-abizar). From early Sasanians also
comes the custom of writing on valuable parchment or paper. Masudi
speaks of the purple ink of these books.]
[Footnote 3: See Browne, "A Literary History", I, 165-166.]
Now we revert to the supposition of Gutschmid. Had he known the
quotations from the _Book of Taj_ in _Uyunal Akhbar_ he would have
adduced them in confirmation of his hypothesis, and he would have
compared the book mentioned by Masudi with the _Book of Taj_ referred to
among the Persian books enumerated in the Fihrist. On the basis of the
last-mentioned work it may be affirmed that in the Sasanian times there
existed a certain _Taj Nameh_ comparable to the _Khuday Nameh_ and _the
Ain Nameh_. The extracts in the _Uyunal akhbar_ do not contain anything
of a special nature with reference to king Anushirwan so that the _Book
of Taj_ on the "Acts of Anushirwan" mentioned in the Fihrist among the
books of Ibn al Mukaffa could hardly have comprised what has been quoted
in _Uyunal akhbar_. The materials at our disposal are too scanty to
establish its relation with the Sasanian _Book of Taj_.[1]
[Footnote 1: The supposition (Zotenberg, Thaalibi XLI,) according to
which Firdausi saw an illustrated "Book of Kings" rests on a
misunderstanding. The fact is that certain verses have been incorrectly
translated by Mohl (IV, 700-701, Verses 4071-4075).
Mohl translated the passage as follows: "There was an aged man named
Azad Serw who lived at Merv in the house of Ahmad son of Sahl; _he
possessed a book of kings in which were to be found the portraits and
figures of the Pehlwans_. He was a man with a heart replete with wisdom
and a head full of eloquence, and a tongue nourished with ancient
tradition; he traced his origin to Sam, son of Nariman, and he knew well
the affairs regarding the fights of Rustam."
A more correct translation would be: "There was a certain old man by
name of Azad Serw living in Merv with Ahmad son of Sahl. _He had a Book
of Kings. In figure and face he was a warrior_; his heart was full of
wisdom, his head full of eloquence, and in his mouth there ever were
stories of the ancient times. He traced his origin back to Sam, son of
Nariman, and preserved in his memory many a tale of the battles of
Rustam."]