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Book of Arda Viraf
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Part of a series on |
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Zoroastrianism / Mazdaism |
| Angels and demons |
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Overview of the Angels |
| Scripture and worship |
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Avesta · Gathas |
| Accounts and legends |
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Dēnkard · Bundahišn |
| History and culture |
| Adherents |
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Zoroastrians in Iran |
| See also |
The Book of Arda Viraf is a Zoroastrian religious text that describes the dream-journey of a devout Zoroastrian through the next world. Due to the ambiguity inherent to Pahlavi script, the name of the protagonist of the story may also be transliterated as 'Arda Wiraf', 'Arda Wiraz' or 'Arda Viraz'. The 'Arda' of the name is an epithet of Viraf/Wiraz and is approximately translateable as "truthful" or "righteous."
The date of the book is not known, but is generally assumed to be fairly late in the ancient history of the religion, probably from the period of the Sassanian empire, when Zoroastrianism experienced a state-sponsored revival. The fact that the "evil" Alexander of Macedon is referred to as a Roman suggests this period, in which the rivalry between the two empires was intense.
The text is frequently compared to Dante's Divine Comedy.
In the narrative Arda Viraf is chosen for his piety to undertake a journey to the next world in order to prove the truth of Zoroastrian beliefs, after a period when the land of Iran had been troubled by the presence of confused and alien religions (probably a reference to Hellenising policies of the Seleucid dynasty). He drinks wine and a hallucinogen, after which his soul travels to the next world where it is greeted by a beautiful woman named Den who represents his faith and virtue. Crossing the Chinvat bridge, he is then conducted by "Srosh the pious and Adar the angel" through the "star track", "moon track" and "sun track" – places outside of heaven reserved for the virtuous who have nevertheless failed to conform to Zoroastrian rules. In heaven itself he meets Ahura Mazda who shows him the souls of the blessed (ahlav). Each person is described living an idealised version of the life he or she lived on earth, as a warrior, agriculturalist, shepherd or other profession.
With his guides he then descends into hell to be shown the sufferings of the wicked, which are described in graphic detail. As in Dante, each wicked person is allotted a form of suffering appropriate to their transgressions. For example, a woman who failed to feed her children properly is forced to devour her own flesh. Stress is placed on obedience (Srosh), social authority, and order (Ard).
Having completed his visionary journey Viraf is told by Ahura Mazda that the Zoroastrian faith is the only proper and true way of life and that it should be preserved in both prosperity and adversity.
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| Middle Persian | Denkard · Book of Jamasp · Book of Arda Viraf · Karnamak-i Artaxshir-i Papakan · Shapuregan of Mani · Bundahishn · Greater Bundahishn · Menog-i Khrad · Pazand · Counsels of Adarbad Mahraspandan · Dadestan-i Denig · Zadspram · Zand-i Vohuman Yasht |
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| Classical Persian | Rūdakī (900s) · Daqīqī (900s) · Ferdowsī (Šahnāma, 900s) · Bal'ami (10th century) · Abusaeid Abolkheir (967 - 1049) · Avicenna (980-1037) · Bābā Tāher (1000s) · Kisai (10th century) · Nasir Khusraw (1004 - 1088) · Al-Ghazali (1058-1111) · Khwaja Abdullah Ansari (1006-1088) · Qatran Tabrizi (1009-1072) · Nizam al-Mulk (1018-1092) · Moezi Neyshapuri (11th-12th) · Masud-e Sa'ad Salman (11th-12th) · Hakim Iranshah (12th century) · Omar Khayyām (1048-1131) · Hujwiri (11th century) · Ayn-al-Quzat Hamadani (1098–1131) · Ashraf Ghaznavi (12th century) · Shahab_al-Din_Suhrawardi (1155-1191) · Sanai (11th-12th century) · Attār (1142 – ca. 1220) · Khaghani (1120 - 1190) · Anvari · Faramarz-e Khodadad (12th century) · · Nizāmī Ganjavi (1141 – 1209) · Fakhr al-Din al-Razi (1149-1209) · Shams Tabrizi (d 1248) · Abu Tahir Tartusi (13th century) · Najm al-din Razi (12th-13th) · Shams al-Din Qays Razi (12th-13th) · Baha al-din Walad (12th-13th) · Nasīr al-Dīn al-Tūsī (1201-1274) · Baba Afdal al-Din Kashani · Fakhr al-din Araqi (13th century) · Mahmud Shabistari (1288 – 1320s) · Abu'l Majd Tabrizi (1321) · Amīr Khosrow (1253 - 1325) · Sa'adī (Būstān (1257) and Golestān (1258) · Bahram-e-Pazhdo (13th) · Zartosht Bahram e Pazhdo (13th) · Rumi (13th) · Homam Tabrizi (1238-1314) · Khaju Kermani (13th-14th) · Sultan Walad (13th-14th) · Ibn Yamin (14th century) · Shah Ni'matullah Wali (14th) · Hāfez (Dīvān, 14th) · Abu Ali Qalandar · Fazlallah Astarabadi (14th century) · Nasimi (14th century) · Ubayd Zakani (15th) · Salman Sawaji (15th) · Jāmī (15th) · Kamal Khujandi (1400s) · Emad al-Din Faqih Kemani (14th century) · Ahli Shirzi (1454-1535) · Fuzûlî (1483–1556) · Baba Faghani Shirzani (1519) · Vahshi Bafqi (1523-1583) · Urfi Shirazi (1591) · Sa'eb Tabrizi (1607-1670) · Saba Kashani (17th) · Hatef Esfahani (18th century) · Neshat Esfahani (18th-19th) · Forughi Bistami (1798-1857) · Mahmud Saba Kashani (1813-1893) | |
| Contemporary Persian | Ahmad Kasravi · Mohammad-Taqī Bahār · Sādeq Hedāyat · Forough Farrokhzad · Šāmlū · Khalilollāh Khalilī · Shahriar · Loiq Sherali · Muhammad Iqbal · Parvin E'tesami · Mehdi Akhavan-Sales · Emad Khorasani · Aref Qazvini · Ebrahim Poordavood · Mirzadeh Eshghi · Allameh Tabatabaei · Adib Pishevari · Ashraf Gilani · Javad Nurbakhsh · Golchin Gilani | |
| Notes | The above lists includes poets of mainly Iranic background but also some of Indic, Turkic and Slavic background. Persian, at one time, was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic World. | |