Female Stereotypes in Religious Traditions

Edited by

Ria Kloppenborg & Wouter J. Hanegraaff

JE H T H E P R IM A L W H O R E ? O B S E R V A T IO N S O N Z O R O A S T R IA N M IS O G Y N Y 1
A l b e r t d e Jo n g

When Ohrmazd and Ahrcman dccidcd to battle, Ohrmazd laid Ahrcman low for 3,000 years by showing him the image o f the righteous man. During the 3,000 years. Ahremans demons tried to resuscitate their lord and father, but did not succeed. Finally, the wicked Jeh came and said: *Wake up, father, for in that battle I shall let loose so much harm to the righteous man and the ploughing ox that they will not be fit to live on account o f my deeds. I shall take away their Glory, 1 shall hurt the water, I shall hurt the earth, 1 shall hurt the fire, 1 shall hurt the plant, I shall hurt the entire creation Ohrmazd made. Thus she comforted Ahrcman and he emerged out o f his stupor. Ahreman kissed her on the head and she began to menstniate. Then Ahreman promised to give her whatever she would desire. Ohrmazd, knowing this, realized that Ahreman could give her whatever she desired. Ahremans body was in the shape o f a frog, but Ohrmazd (?) showed Jeh an image of a young man of fifteen years, and Jeh concentrated her thoughts on him. She asked Ahreman: ,Give me the desire for man, that I may seat him as a lord in my house. Ahreman was unwilling to grant that wish, but had to: . S u ch is th e b est k n o w n v ersio n o f th e m y th o f Jeh th e P rim al W h o re. O th e r v ersio n s o f th is m yth o r referen ces to Jeh reveal c o n sid e ra b le v arian ts. T h e v ersio n in th e Indian B undahisn states that Je h tried to aw ak e n A h rem an tw ice: o n c e by telling h o w she w o u ld attack O h rm azd and th e A m ah rasp an d s (w h ich had no c ffe c t w h atso ev er), an d th e seco n d tim e by tellin g h o w she w o u ld afflict th e rig h teo u s m an and O h rm a z d s creatio n (w h ich d id p ro d u c e th e d esired resu lt). In the Indian BundahiSn, m o reo v er, it is certain ly A h rcm an w h o sh o w s Jeh th e im ag e o f a y o u n g m an o f fifteen years, in o rd e r to fulfil h er

1 T his research w as supported by the Foundation for R esearch in the F ield o f P hilosophy and T h eo lo g y in th e N etherlands w hich is subsidized by the N etherlands O rganisation for the A dvancem ent o f R esearch (N W O ). I am very grateful to Dr. P hilip K rcyenbrock and Professor N icholas S im s-W illiam s. both o f SO A S, London, for reading an earlier draft o f this article and offering stim ulating com m ents. T h e abbreviations used in tfiis article arc: A irW b : Ch. B artholom ae, A ltira n isch es W orterbuch, B erlin scc.ed. 1961; CHI: C am bridge H isto ry o f Iran (quoted b y volum e num ber); D kM .: D enlutrd (ed. M adan); G.\ G dh: GB<I.: G reater BundahiSn; IIZ: M . B oyce, A H istory o f Z oroastrianism (L eiden 1975*1991, quoted b y volum e num ber); IndBd.: Indian B und a h iin : P hlR D d.: P ahlavi R iva ya t A ccom panying the D adestan i D enig (W illiam s); RV: R g-V eda\ S D N : S a d dar-e n a sr (D habhar); $G\V: Ska n d -g u m a n ig W izdr (de M enasce); SnS: S a yest n e-Suyest (T avadia); V d : Vendidad: Vr.\ Vispcrad; W Z W iz J d a g ih a i Zddspram ; Y.: Yasna: Yt.: YaJt. 2 Gbd. IV. I 9. S um m arized by the present author. T h e full text an d translation o f th is m yth can b e found in R.C. Z achner. Z urvan: A Z oroastrian D ilem m a. O xford 1955 (scc.ed. N ew Y ork 1972), 355-359. Cf. also B.T. A nklcsaria, Zand-akasih: Iranian o r G reater B u n d a h lin , B om bay 1956. 46-49.

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wish for the desire o f m an, whereas this is very uncertain in the Greater BundahiSn (on which, sec below)3. In the Syriac Book o f Scholia by Theodore bar Konay, it is not a mythological figure Jeh, A hrem an's daughter, who asks for the desire of man, but women themselves. Although they arc creatures o f Ohrmazd, they dcfcct to Satan-Ahrcman. Satan promises to give the women whatever they may ask, and Ohrmazd fearing that they might ask for the righteous man and hurt him thereby creates the god Narsa in the shape o f a young man o f fifteen years and placcs him behind Satan. When the women sec Narsa, they say: Satan, our father, give us the god N arsa!4 In the WizidagVta i Zadspram, finally, mention is made o f Jeh-dew as A hrem ans queen consort and leader of the collective group o f Jeh-dews , who afflict women and thereby afflict men5. The myths o f Jeh as reconstructed by Zachncr form an important part o f his general reconstruction o f Zurvanite misogyny, according to which Zurvanism considered women to belong to the evil creation. This idea was developed even further by G. W idengren, who argued that the myths o f Jeh had an Avestan background and that they were important evidence for the Iranian background o f Gnosticism in general and M anichaeism in particular6. Zaehners reconstruction o f Zurvanism, though of an impressive erudition, has been severely challenged since its publication, particularly because it stretches the meaning o f Zurvanism to virtually every myth and text that docs not correspond fully to Zachncr*s idea o f Zoroastrian orthodoxy7. The myths of Jeh arc a ease in point: not only did he consider them to be Zurvanite; they also served, in turn, as evidence for the rejection o f women in this important stream o f ancient Iranian religious thought .

' Indian BundahlSn 3.1-9; Zachncr, Zurvan, 356-360; cf. also I. Justi. Der Hundehesh, Leipzig 1868 (HildcshcinVNcw York scc.cd. 1976), Ar. 8-9 (text). 5 (translation); E.W. West, Pahlavi Texu I (Sacred Books o f ihc East 5). 15-16. 4 E. Bcnveniste, Le tmoignage de Thodore bar Knay sur le Zoroastrisme. Le Monde Oriental 26-27 ( 1932-1933). 170-215. csp. 185-192: Zachncr. Zurw n, 441 -442. 5 lli. Gignoux & A. Tafaz/oli, Anthologie de Tulspram (Studia Iranica Cahier 13). Paris 1993. ch 34.30-31. * G. Widengren. Primordial Man and Prostitute: A Zcrvanitc Myth in the Sassanid Avcsla. in: Studies in Mysticism and Religion Presented to Gershorn (7 Schalem, Jerusalem 1967. 227234. Cf. U. Bianchi. Zamn i Ohrmazd: h t Znroastrismo nelle sue origini e nella sua essenui. Torino 1958; M. Boyce. Some Reflections on Zurvanism', Bulletin o f the School o f Oriental and African Studies 19 (1957), 304-316; id.. Some Further Reflections on Zurvanism*, in: Iranica Varia: Papers in Honor o f Professor FJisan Yarsfutter (Acta Iranica 30). Ixidcn 1990. 20-29; S. Shakcd. ,The Myth o f Zurvan: Cosmogony and Eschatology, in: I. Grucnwald. S. Shakcd & G.G. Stroumsa (cds.). Messiah and Christos: Studies in the Jewish Origins o f Early Christianity (Texte und Studien zum antiken Judentum 22). Tbingen 1992. 219-240. who also offers an exhaustive bibliography. 1 Cf. Boycc. 117.1. 308 note 83.

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All this is already reason enough to reconsider the myths o f Jch and the texts on her Avestan counterpart, the jahika. Other views that have been expressed, about the latter in particular, make this task even more urgent. In the theories connected with the Mannerbund , as expounded particularly by S. W ikandcr and G. W idcngrcn, the jahika was interpreted in a highly specialized way. She was the whore who engaged in unbridled sexual relations with the members o f the Mannerbuna : cither because there frequently were women who engaged in free love with these young men (W ikandcr), or as part o f a complex o f myths and rituals related to fertility magic (W idcngrcn)10. More recently, J. Choksy has suggested that both Jch and jahika are intimately connected with menstruation, and that the Avestan
A f f f

The theories connected with the Mannerbund arc almost completely disregarded among Iranianists, for the obvious reason that the textual evidence for its existence and for t!>c great elaboration upon the theme especially by Widcngrcn is slender, and that in many eases the reconstruction is based on ethnographic parallels in institutions from totally unrelated (contemporary pre-industrializcd) cultures, which arc then discovered in the A vesta. The theme, however, is still very popular among specialists in other Indo-European religions, who frequently rely upon the hypothetical Iranian evidence. Wikandcr had a profound influence on Dumzil, mainly (though not exclusively) through his work on the M ahibhirata. The relation between the two is described by C. Scott Littleton, The New Comparative Mythology: An Anthropological Assessment o f the Theories o f Georges Dumzil, Berkeley-Ix Angeles 1966, 146-151, who describes Der arische Mnnerbund as *one o f the basic documents o f the "new comparative mythology'". The idea o f an Indo-Iranian Mnnerbund is frequently discussed by specialists in Graeco-Roman religions. Cf. for instance A. Alfbldi, Die Struktur des wretrustischen Rtmerstaates. Heidelberg 1974; J.N. Bremmer. The Suodales o f Poplios Valesios, Zeitschrift f r Papyrologie und Epigrophik 47 (1982), 133-147 (giving a very learned overview of different Indo-European Mnnerbiinde with exhaustive references to further literature); D .E Gcrshcnson. Apollo the W olf God. McLean (Virginia) 1991. For a critical evaluation o f the concept in the context of Graeco-Roman antiquity, cf. the important contribution by H.S. Versnel. W hat's Sauce for the Goose is Sauce for the Gander: Myth and Ritual, Old and New*, in: 1- Edmunds (ed.). Approaches to Greek Myth, Baltimore 1990. 25-90, esp. 45-59. For a reccnt sober assessment of the Mimnerbund in various Indo-European cultures. C. Ginzburg. Storia Nottuma: Una deciffrazione del sabba, Torino 1989. 130-160, esp. 152 note 2. So, instead o f being a rejected theorem, the concept is still widely applied. This makes a reconstruction o f the successive steps that led to the reconstruction of the Mnnerbund, and a critical evaluation o f the textual basis o f this reconstruction accessible also to non-specialists, an urgent task. For the recent attempt by B. Lincoln. Priests. Warriors, and Cattle. A Study in the Ecology o f Religions, Berkeley etc. 1981, to reinstate the theories o f the Mnnerbnde in an Iranian context, cf. M. Boycc, ,Priests, Cattle and Men*. BSOAS 50 (1987), 508-526. 10 S. Wikandcr. Der arische Mnnerbund. Lund 1938, 84-85; id., Vayu: Texte und Untersuchungen zur indo-iranischen Religionsgeschichte I. Lund 1941, 66-67, 152. 205 (!); id., Feuerpriester in Kleinasien luul Iran. Lund 1946. 89; G. Widcngrcn, Hochgottglaube im alten Iran (Uppsala Univcrsitets Arsskrift 1938:6), Lund 1938; id., ,Stand und Aufgaben der iranischen Rcligionsgeschichte, Numen I (1954), 16-83, csp. 51-55; 65-68; Numen 2 (1955), 47*134, p. 52; id.. Die Religionen Irans (Die Religionen der Menschheit 14), Stuttgart 1965, 23-26; 41-49; id., Religionsphnomenologie. Berlin 1969, 247-255; id.. Der Feudalismus im alten Iran. KlnOpladen 1969, 15-16. Cf. the summary o f Widengren's views in M. Hcmnanns, Schamanen Pseudoschamanen, Erlser und Heilbringer: Eine vergleichende Studie religiser Urphnomene, vol. I, Wiesbaden 1970, 27: Der bermige Gebrauch von Rauschgetrnkcn. Haoma vielleicht auch Hanf-Narkosen'*, bangha genanntsteigerte sie in Ekstase, so da sie im Anschlu an Sticropfcrmahlc durch Scxualvcrkehr mit ihren jahika, Huren'. Frucht barkeitsmagie betrieben.'

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ja h i in Vd. 18.61-65 should already be interpreted as the "W hore Demoness* (suggesting in passing that the misogyny evident in some Zoroastrian sources arose under influence o f Ncstorian Christianity)11. What these three approaches seem to have in common is the attempt to locate the origins o f the myths o f Jeh and the negative image o f the jahika outside Zoroastrianism: either in Zurvanism (with all the overtones of Babylonian influence implied by Zaehners reconstruction), or in the mists o f Indo-Iranian youth rituals (believed to be Turanian by Wikander, and specifically North-W est-Iranian (M edian/Parthian) by W idengren), or in Christianity. No explanation, however, has been offered for the growth of the myths o f Jeh or for the presumed negative view o f women in some Pahlavi books. Nor has a serious attempt been made to establish the connection between the Avestan and the Pahlavi views o f the jahika / jeh(dew). This is a vast field o f research, and only an attempt can be offered in the present article. W e will focus mainly on the jahika and the elements o f this category o f women that gave rise to the myths o f Jeh. In order to understand the relation between women, goddesses and demonesses, some general observations will first be made on goddesses and women in the A vesta; then the texts mentioning the jahi and the jahika will be discussed; and finally some elem ents o f the myths o f Jeh will be discussed in their Zoroastrian background, in order to evaluate the three models o f interpretation as described above. It is hoped that this will encourage a moderate change in com m only held views on women in Zoroastrian mythology and religion. A full-scale interpretation of the myths o f Jeh would necessitate a thorough evaluation o f the links that obviously exist between the myths o f Jeh and the Seduction o f the Archonts" in Manichaean mythology. This would require a fresh evaluation o f the vexed discussion on the relation ZoroastrianismManichacism-Gnosticism. Since this would expand the scope o f the present article beyond its allotcd space, it must be left for another occasion. Goddesses and Women in the Avesta: Marriage and Procreation
It is currently a popular idea that the goddesses o f a pantheon represent the wom en" o f the divine world. This implies that their behaviour mirrors the way women arc expected to behave in society; and the symbolic language used to speak o f the goddesses can then be interpreted by making use o f data concerning the social position o f women in the society that produced the religious texts. In the absence of such data, finally, the texts can be used as a source o f information on what men felt to be important in the behaviour of their wives. This approach, it must be stressed, has proved to be quite

11 J.K. Choksy. Purity and Pollution in Zoroastrianism: Triumph over Evil. Austin 1989, 94103. 154 note 38.

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successful for various religions o f the ancient w orld12. It could therefore be rewarding to search for a similar connection in the Avesta. Diogenes Laertius, one o f the Greek authors who have left us a more or less detailed description o f the religion o f the Persians, claims that the Magi (the Zoroastrian priests) despise the use o f cult statues, and most o f all those who say that there are male and female gods 13. He is wrong, o f course, for there arc many male and female divinities in the Zoroastrian pantheon. H ow ever they never act as men and women, for they do not marry and do not produce offspring. The notable exception is Ahura Mazda himself, who is frequently called the father o f all divinities14. Nowhere in the Avesta, however, is his fatherhood presented explicitly as resulting from his intercourse with a female divinity. It docs, however, imply that all divinities can be described as brothers and sisters15.
'* For example S.B. Pomeroy, Goddesses. Whores. \Vives, and Slaves: Women in Classical Antiquity, New York 1975. 8: the goddesses arc archetypal images o f human females, as envisioned by males*; T. Frymer-Kcnsky, in the Wake o f the Goddesses: Women. Culture, and the Biblical Transformation o f Pagan Myth, New York etc. 1992, 14: 'Goddesses arc the "women" of the divine world and behave much as women arc expected to behave*. In both these works, a good ease is made both for goddesses representing what men felt to be important (physical beauty, (sexual) loyalty, obedicncc. fertility) and what they considered to be unwanted in women (especially the uncontrolled exercise o f the goddesses' sexual desire, as witnessed, for instance, by Sumerian Inanna).
'* Diogenes !.aertius 1.6: xv St ^ocrvcov Notayivcboicciv, *cai n<i>.io:u xv Xeyvrcov dppcva cwii fe o ; m i thxia^.

14 Tlic translation o f ahurni , *female being dependent on the Ahura* (the Zoroastrian nymphs) as 'wife o f the Ahura be it Ahura Mazda o r the Avestan equivalent o f Vcdic Vanina (117. I. 51 ctc.)is as arbitrary as Bartholomae's translation 'daughters o f the Ahura* (AirWb 295). If they are meant by the phrase 'and your women, Ahura M azda' (ysca t ahura mazda G. 4.9 = Vr. 3.4), this should not be translated as and your wives. Ahura M azdi'. bccausc ihc female divinity o f the earth. Zam. is said to have wives" in exactly the same wording in Y. 38.1, on which Vr. 3.4 is dearly dependent. lapidary statements such as these arc always in urgent need of modification. Yt. 17.16: Your father is Ahura Mazda, who is the greatest o f gods, who is the best o f gods; your mother is Spcnta A rnuiti; your brother is good Snioia. accompanied by rewards, and high strong Ra&nu and Mithra who possesses wide pastures, who has ten thousand spies, who has a thousand cars; your sister is the Mazdayasnian religion* (pita t y ahur mazdi1 y maziit yazatanqm. y vahiit yazatanqm. mata armaitil sptnta brta t y vatjhui sraol afii ralnuSca b n z amciuu miSeasca vouru gaoiiaoitil y baiuuart.spasan hazarjra.gaoJ. xarjha dana mzdaiiesnif). This is a unique text, bccausc it introduces a mother in the heavenly family, who is elsewhere absent. I w the background o f this passage which establishes the pagan ASis place in the Zoroastnan pantheon beyond any doubtcf. P.G. Kreycnbrock. *On the Shaping o f Zoroastrian Theology*, in: P. Bernard & F. Grenet (eds.). Histoire et cultes de l'Asie Centrale prislamique: Sources crites et documents archologiques. Paris 1991, 137-145, esp. 137-138. L H . Gray, The Foundations o f the Iranian Religions (Journal o f the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute 15). Bombay 1929, passim, interprets Yt. 17.16 to mean that all divinities listed arc the offspring o f Ahura Mazda and Armaiti, but this is not supported by the passage. Consequently this fictive "genealogy" o f gods can not be found in the hymns and passages dealing with the other divinities named. As is well known, the imagery connected with A m uiti as the wife o f Ahura Mazda did unequivocally find its way into Pahlavi literature; cf. especially PhlRDd. 8a2-4 (A.V. Williams, The Pahlax-i Rivyat Accompanying the Ddestn i Denlg (HistFil.Mcdd.Dan.Vid.Selsk. 60, Copenhagen 1990), vol. 1 .48-9 (text); vol. 2. 10(translation), 132-133 (commentary)).

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In favour of the approach mentioned above (which secs goddesses as the women o f ihe divine world) it must be admitted that many goddesses in the Avesta do in fact display qualities that men cherished in women. This is particularly true in a physical sense. From the description o f the goddess Anhit, She has girded her waist, that her breasts may be of a fair shape, that they may be elegant (Yt. 5.127)16, it may be safely concluded that Avestan men regarded firm breasts as a sign o f beauty; and this is confirmed in the Avesta by the adjective 9r9duuani-t having uplifted breasts and by some representations o f women from the Achaemenian period1 . These physical qualities, however, arc not o f enough doctrinal or social importance to merit further consideration here. To establish the desired social attitude in women, the authors o f the Avesta portrayed some o f the (pscudo*)historical women as the perfect champions of the family. They also consistently portrayed the divinities as bestowing the desired characteristics on men and women. Some examples may elucidate these processes. IH 1. Several o f the Avestan YaSLs (the hymns to individual divinities ) contain lists o f mythical and pseudo-historical heroes sometimes evil ones, sometimes even gods who worship a divinity and perform sacrifices to obtain certain favours in return. These acts o f worship are described in a highly formalized manner, with the favours asked for adapted to the person worshipping. LisLs such as these can be found in the hymns to Anahita (Yt. 5). Druvsp (Yt. 9), Vayu (Yt. 15). Cist (Yt. 16) and ASi (Yt. 17)19. The typical

16 ha he nun 1im muizata yafaca h u kjn p ta fit n a yaica a rflin 'nuzana. I w this passage, cf. H. Mumbach, 'Studien zur Kontinuitt des awcstischcn Wortgcbrauchs*. MUnchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 33 (1975). 51-60, esp. 53-55; J. Kellens. U \rrbe avestique, Wiesbaden 1984. 285-286. 17 H. Koch. Es kndet Dareios der Knig...: Vom U ben im persischen Groreich (Kulturgeschichte der antiken Welt 55). Mainz/Rhein 1992. 233-250 ("Frauen im Persencich"), contains several good illustrations o f women from the Achacmcman pcnod. Obviously, the fact that art from the Achaemenian period and from Western Iran is here mentioned docs not mean that the Achaemenian Persians are identical or even to be associated with the Avestan people. In view of the absence o f any precise knowledge on the Avestan people, however, the artistic representations o f their eventual co-religionists, the Achaemenian Persians, may occasionally illuminate this or that point. The only overall survey o f the YaJts is still H. l-ommel, Die Yait's des Awesta (Quellen der Rcligionsgcschichte 15). Gottingen/Leipzig 1927. This study, however, is heavily influenced by E.C. Andreas' theory o f the existence o f an Arsacid Avesta and therefore contains many emendations and interpretations that are no longer followed today (for Andreas' theory, cf. W.B. Henning, The Disintegration o f the Avestic Studies*. Transactions o f the Philological Soiiety 1942. 40-56. reprinted in W.B. Henning. Selected Papers II (Acta Iranica 15). Teheran-Lige 1977. 151-167). Several important YaJts, however, have been reeditcd or arc now in the process of being edited and interpreted anew. For a short recent survey o f the genie, cf. E. Tichy. 'Indoiranische Hymnen*, in: W. Burkert & F. Stolz (eds.). Hymnen der alten Welt im Kultunergleich (Orbis Biblicus et Oriental is 131). Freiburg-GUingen 1994. 79-95. w The YaJts have been renamed and inscribed lo different divinities in a later period o f the faith, influenced by the divinities o f the calendar. The divinities mentioned here arc those

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structure o f these passages is "Person X worshipped divinity Y in place Z, with hecatombs of stallions, cows and sheep, asking for favour A. Y granted (or did not grant, in the case of evil worshippers) X this favour, as he/she always docs to him/her who is righteous" etc. O f the 51 passages mentioning acts of worship in this way. five arc performed by evil men0 ; 43 are performed by good men, heroes and gods 1; and three are performed by women. The women performing the acts of worship are Hutaosa, the wife of Zarathustras patron king ViStaspa (Yt. 15.35-37); Hvovi, the third wife of Zarathustra (Yt. 16.15); and a group consisting o f girls who have known no man* (Yt. 15.39-40) . The favours asked in these three passages all have to do with marriage. Hvovi desires Zarathustra as a good husband/in good matrimony* ; Hutaosa desires to be cherished, beloved and acccptcd into the house o f Kavi ViStaspa*4 ; and the "girls who have known no man" ask that we may find a lord, a young man of fair body, who will treat us well, as long as we both shall live, and he will produce offspring25. Conversely, not a
divinities to whom the Y iits arc really addressed, not to whom they arc inscribed. Thus Yt. 5 is inscribed to ,the Waters'* (Aban YaSt). Yt. 9 to Geu* Urvan (the Soul of the Cow*, G dl YaJi). Yt. 15 to Raman K hviitra (M Pcace possessing good pasture* . Ram Yalt). Yt. !6 to Daena (the Religion*, Den YaJt). It should also be noted that in Yt. 14, the Bahram YaJl (hymn to Vercthraghna. Victory )the same formulae for a person * w h ip p in g are also used, hut the only wwshippcr in this list is Zarathustra himself. M Yl. 5. 29-31; Yt. 15.19-21 (A2i Dahaka); Y t 5.41-43 (Frangrasyan); Yt. 5.57-59 (sons of Vaisaka); Yt. 5.116-118 (Arejat-Aspa and Vandcramaini). Ahura Mazda (Yl. 5.17-19; Yt. 15.2-4); Hoaiyangha (Yt. 5.21-23; Yt. 9.3-5; Yt. 15.7-9; Yt. 17.24-26); Yima (Yt. 5.25-27; Yt. 9.8 11; Yt. 15.15-17; Yl. 17.28-31); Thraetaona (Yt. 5.3335; YL 9.13-15; Yt. 15 23-25; Yt. !7.33-35); Keresaspa (Yt. 5.37-39; Yt. 15.27-29); ATm-i Usan (Yt. 5.45-47); Haosrcnvh (Y l 5.49-51; Y l 9.21-23; Y l 17.41-43); Tusa (Yt. 5.53-55); Vafra Nax'dztt (Yl. 5.61-66); Jdmaspa (Yt. 5.68-70); Aiavazdah the son o f Pounulaxiti. Altn-azdah the son o f Satuidri and Thrila the son o f Saotara (Yt. 5.72-74); Vuiauni the son o f Naotara (YL 5.76-79); YdiSla Fryana (Yt. 5.81-83); Zarathustra (Yt. 5.104-106; Y l 9.25-27; YL 16.2-2-3; 6-7; 9-10; 12-13; Yt. 17.45-47); Viltdspa (Yl. 5.108-110; Yt. 9.29-32; Yl. 17.49-51); Zairivairi (Yt. 5.112-114); Haoma (Yt. 9.17-19; Yt. 17.37-39); Taxma Urupa (Yt. 15.11-13); A unasara (Yt. 15.31-33); the priests (Yl. 16.17); the ruler o f the land (Yl. 16.19). " In addition to these acts o f worship, in Yt. 5.87 groups o f women arc also introduced as possible worshippers of A ru h iti to obtain a good husband and to obtain an easy dclisrry. *' yqm (i.c. cistern, A.J.) yazata huuuuui aSaoni viftiSi vohu b a p m isjmna aSauuanjm zarafkdtnm . Following a suggestion by l.ommcl. Ytllls 157 with n. 3 . 1 take this passage to mean *Whom (i.c. Cista) the righteous, knowing Hvovi worshipped, desiring (to have) the righteous Zarathustra as a good husband/in good matrimony. Bartholomac (AirWb. 1432) and scsera] others have interpreted the pasvige as a svish directed by Hvfivf to Zarathustra (von Zarathustra bcgchrcnd, dass cr ihr gutcs Ehcgluck gcwahrc ctc.). but this interpretation fails to do justicc to the fact lhat a divinity is wonhipped and presumed to bestow a favour in return. Cf. also, differently, S. Zimmer, *Iran, baga cin CJottcsname?, MUnchener Studien zur Sprachwissenschaft 43(1984), 187-215, p. 192. *4 yat bauuani friia friiii paitizonta nmane luiuuoii viStaspahe. Cf. S. Wikandcr. Vayu I, 6. 65-7. Ii is interesting for the formulaic nature o f these texts that the formula in which the favour is granted by Vayu to Hutaosj refers to her with the masculine ahmai instead of the feminine airfuii.
yat nm ano paitim vindiima yuuand sraeltd k ih rp a y<o no h u b jn h /m bardI yauuaUi gaiia ju u au u a frazxiintimca ho v*rziiat.
* '

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single one of the male heroes who perform acts of worship asks for a wife or anything connected with m arriage' . 2. The importance o f marriage for Avestan women is not only clear from these three passages, in which women act as worshippers, but from many more texts. In the list o f women whose fravaHis (spirits) are worshipped (Yt. 13.139142), after the women o f Zarathustras family and o f ViStaspa's family (whose names and positions were well remembered in the tradition), the women are identified by their husbands (13.140) or by the fact that they were unmarried (13.141-142). Obedience to husband and priest is frequently identified as one o f the most important characteristics of righteous women (G. 4.9 = Vr. 3.4); the land that needs to be tilled is compared with a woman who longs for a husband in order to have children (Vd. 3.24-25); and adjectives used for women define her through her male relatives and descendants7. The girls who have known no man, whom we have already encountered, constitute a topos in many Avestan passages and arc invariously described as *longing for a husband2*. 3. The favours bestowed by various divinities on those who worship them are also differentiated according to the sex of the worshipper. Apart from victory in battle, righteousness, conversion of the pagans, long life, wealth and success (items that do not interest us here, but would be o f definite importance for anyone interested in the "m ale" stereotypes of the Avesta) men are also rewarded with special favours with regard to women. He who worships Mithra with the proper sacrifice will receive *great houses with bustling women and fast chariots, with spread-out rugs and piled-up cushion heaps (Yt. 10.30)29. TiStrya, M ithra and others give their worshippers many children (especially sons); Vcrethraghna not only represents great virility (Yt. 14.12) but also bestows the wells o f the scrotum and other manly qualities to Zarathustra (Yt. 14.28-29). ASi, the goddess of Reward, is most elaborately connected with family life: men worshipping her receive great houses, great flocks of cattle, great beds and

But cf. Yt. 5.34; 9.14; 15.24; 17.34, where Iluaetaona asks to defeat A2i Dahuka and to liberate (and in the later tradition m any) his two wives. In Yt. 926, moreover. Zarathustra asks D ruvjspj to grant him as a favour that he may convert Hulaosj to the religion, whereas in the parallel passage Yt. 5.105 he asks Aruhita to grant him the conversion o f ViStispa. 7 Cf.. for instance. afrauud.puBri. 'having a priest as son; pouru.braBra, -having many brothers; bratrauuaiii-, having brothers'; vird.vqlyji-. 'having a flock o f male children'; h u p u d r i *having good sons*; hufjSri-. having a good father*; hubaju-. 'having a good marriage (or having a good husband?)*. J* E g . Y. 9.23; Yt. 5.87; Yt. 15.39-40; Yt. 17.59. turn sraogtnd sraoratk1 n ilu in td spaiuJ niditd.barcziiui nrrumd nuisitA da& hi. Translated by I. Gcrshcvitch. The Axxslan Hymn to Mithra . Cambridge 1967. 81.

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b elo v ed first w iv e s '0 ; they sit o n b eds that arc beautiful, w ith pillow s, polished (?). ad o rn in g them selves w ith anklets, w ith square, b ored earrin g s and a gold inlaid golden necklacc, (th in k in g /say in g :) W h en shall o u r h u sb an d c o m e to us? W hen shall w c ex perience sw eet th in g s to enjoy in o u r b o d y ? [ ...] T h e ir y o u n g girls sit, w ith an k lets on th e ir feet, w ith their w aist girded, fair o f b o d y , w ith lo n g fingers, w ith a b o d y as beautiful as th at o f th o se w h o (are) a jo y for th o se w ho w atch ( t hem) 1. (Y t. 17.10-11)

W omen who worship the proper divinity are granted a good husband, many children, fertility, an easy delivery, an abundance o f milk in their breasts (cf. especially Yt. 5.2; 5.87 etc.). The picture resulting from this short evaluation is that texts relating to women in the Avesta show them either to be rewarded (with a proper husband and troops o f sons) or to be given in reward to pious m en (again as good wives, beautiful, producing sons). Obcdiencc, loyalty and reproduction arc key terms in the Avestan passages on ideal women. This in no way reflects the goddesses o f the Avesta, who (though obedient to Ahura M azda, their creator and father) are unmarried and, as far as wc can sec, in no way inferior to their brothers. Rather than as ideal women, they arc represented as instrumental in making mortal women pcrfcct, i.e., suitable for marriage and procreation.

Men and Women in the Avesta: Religions Equality

So far, the focus has been on social imagery, rather than on religious stereotypes. This has been done for good reasons: for, from the earliest period the time o f Zarathustra Zoroastrianism has recognized the total equality o f men and women vis-a-vis the religion. Accordingly, while men and women may have had different social functions, in the religious domain the differences between them were small. W hether or not this was an innovation in the Indo-Iranian tradition is difficult to say32; but from a relatively unambiguous passage from the Gths (Y. 46.10) it is clear that, in the mind of the prophet, hope o f salvation was equally good for men and women: ,O Wise Lord, whoever, man or woman, shall give me what you know as the best o f

Vl Following the interpretation o f Banholomac. AlrWb Nachtrge 18% . who identifies the vant- mmnii with the zan ipdixiy, full or fust wife, o f the Middle Persian law books. M aeSqm varttdrjh bl mainiirjh gtu] jxtiti *rjhjnte yi srlra barjzilhauuant mnziiumn& anktt.pacsjmmi fr gaoluuara sispimna caPrukarana minuca zaramio.pisi: ka&i n auui ajast nmn.paitiS? Licit siti *paitiSSma fr ii paili lanuui? /.../ aeii/rti kainino iitjhjnte <iym.pai&S uruuiz.maiSi srao.tanuu itarjj.anguihl U hrpa auuauuatqm sraiia yafki 'daiiiatqm zaoi. The passage is discusscd by H.W. Bailey, Zoroastrian Problems in the NinthCentury Books. Oxford sec.cd. 1971.4-9. H Z I. 251; more outspoken: M. Bovcc. Zoroastrianism: Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour, Costa Mesa 1992,33,76.92-93.

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being [...] with all these. I shall cross the bridge o f the Separator " . Similarly, Zarathustra addresses his audience as men and w om en (Y. 53.6), and the Yasna Haptanghaiti mentions men and women as equals several times. Such equality is also mirrorred in the divine world. One o f the most important prayers, the Yenghe Hatqm (Y. 27.15) which is repeated throughout the Avcsta and hence in the course o f the daily rituals specifically refers to the male and female deities that are worshipped; and the A airyema iSyd (Y. 54.1) also specifically asks for support for the men and women o f Zarathustra. Similarly in the Yasna Haptanghaiti, the souls o f righteous men and women are worshipped (Y. 39.2), as are their FravaSis (Y. 37.3); men and women arc presented as knowing the formula (Y. 35.6); both men and women can function as a good ruler in this world and in the hereafter (Y. 41.2). This tradition, o f mentioning men and women as equal with regard to their religious duties, has also found its way into the Younger Avesta. Examples can be found in the Far\ardin YaSt (Yt. 13), in which formulae such as We worship the fravasis o f the righteous men o f the Aryan lands, we worship the fravasis o f the righteous women o f the Aryan lands3 arc used. This indicates that both men and women are capable o f having a fravasi that must be worshipped. In the Vendidad, Zarathustra is mentioned asking Ahura Mazda whether he should urge the righteous man and the righteous woman to think of the hereafter (Vd. 19.26), and again the existence o f righteous men and women is acknowledged (Vd. 9.33; 9.42). The priesthood, however, appears to have been a male prerogative from the earliest times. The cult o f Aniihita in Asia Minor, however, appears to have known priestesses'5. Women were allowed to pursue religious studies, as is clear from the H crbcdestanH and the Pahlavi Wistasp Yast 64, where the virtuous woman is a.o. explained as a woman who is well-trained by the

" For a translation o f the entire passage and a grammatical commentary, cf. H. Humbach. The Gath is o f / urathnstra and the Other Old Aw stan Texts. H eidelberg 1991, both volum e* ad locum. For an historical interpretation in the light o f the Indo-Iranian background. Boyce, H Z 1. 251. u airiianqm daxiiunqm nan/m aiaonqm frauuaiaiid yazamaide airiianqm daiiiunqm ndrimjm afaonin/jm frauuaiaiid yazamaide . Yt. 13.143. M Strabo. Geographia 12.3.37, mentioning priestesses (tcpor.ouai) in the priestly state of Zcla. In the collcction o f Anajtis-inscriptions (I. Diakonoff. *Artemidi Anaeiti Anestescn: 'lhc Anaeitis-dedications in the Rijksmuseum van Oudheden at Leyden and Related Material from lia\tcm Lydia A Reconsideration*. Bulletin Antiekr Beschaving 54 (1979), 139-88. e\p. 141-2). inscription number 2 (from Leiden) mentions a priestess (Lcpcia) who helped cure the dcdicant by lier prayer. F.M. Kotwal & P.G. Kreyenbrock, The Herbcdestdn and Nerangestan Volume I: Hcrbcdcstan (Studia Iranica Cahicr 10). Pari* 1992. In chapters 5 and 6 the question o f women pursuing religious studies is addressed. It bcconics evident there that won>cn arc allowed to pursue religious studies, and there is even a discussion o f whether it is permissible to have women take carc of tlie sacred fire. Chapter 6 is conccrncd with live proper escort for a woman who pursues religious studies, and as such is an important confirmation o f the fact that women actually did do so.

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Hcrbeds (the teachcr-pricsts)17. Finally, there is the baffling passage in SnS 10.35 (Tavadia), where it is said that women are allowed to become zot (priest) for women rituals. Such indications o f female religious functionaries notwithstanding, there is hardly any evidence that priestesses actually existed. The Pahlavi passages mentioned above, however, do suggest a richer variety o f religious duties performed by women than is commonly acknowledged38.

The Jahikii: A Prostitute?

So far, the Avestan view o f women has been illustrated by texts that describe them as praiseworthy, as desirable rewards to be gained by men, or as reliable producers o f righteous offspring. But mention is also made o f evil women. This leads us to the Avestan concept o f the ja h i- or the jahikii-, a term generally translated as ,,whore, ,,prostitute', harlot, courtezan" and suchlike . W hereas the positive descriptions o f women in the Avcsta have never received much attention in scholarly literature40, numerous views have been expressed on the jahikii * and on Jeh. W hat is certain is that Middle Persian Jeh is dependent upon Avestan jahi-. The Avestan word, however, appears to have been interpreted on the basis o f the Middle Persian use o f it. But, in order to explain the Middle Persian usage it is necessary to understand the Avestan concept as precisely as possible. The Pahlavi and Persian Zoroastrian texts, moreover, arc certainly not unequivocal in their use o f the word jeh. but have offered various interpretations themselves. The etymology o f jahi- and jahikii- is unknown41. In translating the passages dealing with the jahikii-, most commentators have supposed a semantic development from "woman to "evil woman to "whore", and the idea is frequently put forward that the word is, in effect, the dacvic term for

B.N. Dhabhar, Translation o/Zand-i Khrtak Avistak. Bombay 1963.399. * Dr. Kreycnbroek has informed me that in lle edition o f the Ne rangestan which lie is preparing with Dr. KM. Kotwal. there will be a discussion o f another (Avestan!) mention of female priests (in ch. 22.1.2). >v Zaehner, Zurvan, 183: commonly used to mean a prostitute'; L.H. Gray, Foundations. 206: 'harlot; J. Darmcstcter, Sacred Books o f the East 4 & 23: ',courtezan''. 40 M. S chw ut/, *The Old Eastern Iranian World View According to the Avcsta", CHI II (Cambridge 1985), 640-663, esp. 652*6, presents a welcome exception. 41 Avestan jahikii - certainly is an extension o f jahi-. just as nirik-, "woman, is an extension of nairi. Following a suggestion by Bartholomae (AirWb 606, with refs.), most scholars suggest a connection with Old Indian has, "to smile, laugh" and compare hash I-, smiling girl, prostitute (?), which is a hapax in RV 1.124.7. This etymological connection with a supposed Iranian vetb *jah-, to smile", is upheldor at least not rejected by M. Mayrhofer, Kurzgefates Etymologisches Wrterbuch des Altindischen, vol. 3 (Heidelberg 1964), 587-588 and J. Kellens, Ix s noms-racines de l Avcsta (Wiesbaden 1974), 177. A different suggestion was made by H.W. Bailey, Iranian ropanak'. in: Studi linguistici in onore di Vittore Pisani, Brescia 1969. vol. I, 91 96, csp. 94-5, who suggested a root gah-/*jah, to be evil, to sin". Both suggestions, however, appear to be s ery uncertain.

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woman42. The meaning o f the word must therefore be established on the basis o f the texts mentioning the jaJii- and the jahika . In some passages the jahika- denotes simply a woman, without any obvious pejorative connotation. This is especially clear in texts which enumerate which categories o f people are or are not allowed to do certain things. Tw o passages arc o f importance here. In Yt. 17.54 (an enumeration of those categories of people who may not bring libations to Asi, the goddess "Reward, whose main concern is fertility and who disappears when the rules o f procreation are violated4 ) we read: Then good, high ASi said: *None of these libations shall be accepted by me. that either a man whose seed is dried up, or a jahika who no longer menstruates, or the prcpubcsccnt young man. or the girl who has not been touched by men bring to m e44. The appearance of the word jahika- in a list mentioning neutral categories o f people (nar-, "m an"; taunma-, "boy; kainina -, "girl") makes it seem very likely that the word here simply means "wom an, albeit a woman who is no longer capable of reproduction (see below). In Vd. 18.54, part of a list o f beings who impregnate the demoness Drug, the word jahika- is also used in a neutral sense: Then the Daevi Drug answered: SraoSa, fair of form, accompanied by rewards! This is the fourth of these men o f mine, who man or jahika walks without the sacred girdle and without the sacred shirt, after his fifteenth year'45. Here, again, jahika- is used in combination with nar-, and there is nothing to suggest the meaning "w hore", unless one would also translate nar- in a pejorative sense. A more dubious case is PursiSniha 9: Is any gdrnez (consecrated urine) other than that o f the cow allowed? These few that are mentioned in the Avcsta arc not allowed, the other (sorts) arc all allowed: *Not o f a man, not o f a jahika, not of a dog, not o f a sow, not of a devil-worshipper, not o f a mortal sinner4*. This

* Avcslan has a double set of words for "good" and "evil'* creatures and concepts, w hich are termed "ahuric" and "dacvic" respectively. On the semantic development o f jahika-, cf.. for instance. A. Christensen. Essai sur la dimonologie iranienne, Kobcnhavn 1941, 51; Bartholomac, AirW b 606; Zaehner, Zurvan, 183. 4' P.G. Krcycnbfock. On the Shaping o f Zoroastrian Theology137-138 ,. aal aoxta ajiS varjuhi yd b in za iti: md ciS m i dr)fujm zuodranqm *vindila yd mauudiia mpdraiieinti ma nard pairiStdxsuSro ma jahika para.daxSta ma aprynaiiu taurunu ma kainina tin upa it a m aftidnqm
45 aal he hii paitidauiuita y d daeuui druxi. sraoSa a fiia huraa&i ho bd m e aelaeStjm arlm jm tCunio y a t na jahika pasca pancadasim sa rffo m frapalaiti a n a ifiidsta vd anabddtd vd.

K.M. J&maspAsa & H. Humbach. PursiSniha: A Zoroastrian Catechism, Wiesbaden 1971, chaptcr 9 (Dormestctcr 10); gdm ezjud az an i gd h Sayid ? in and i p<ut Abe stag g o n id n i Sayed. abarig hamdg Sayed: noil <n>arahe noil jahikaiiti noil siino null h<ii.>xSafr<iid> noil daeuuaiiasn<ahe> noit tanupjr &Ca>he. n i mttr ud n i jeh-diw-iz ud n i sag ud n i xiik n i dnxdsn ud n i tanapuhlagan. JamaspAsa and Humbach's emendation o f arahe into <n>arahe, of a man", seems preferable to Bartholomae's mairiiehe. The Pahlavi translation, however, does give mar, which is never used to translate Av. nar, but always translates mairiia. Bartholomae's choice for mairiiehe was obviously inspired by the parallcll passages Yt. 8.59-60 (= Yt. 14.51*52), where the jahika- is mentioned together with the mairiia-, "(evil?) man".

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list includes both good and evil categories o f beings (dog and devilworshipper respectively), which makes it impossible to ascertain whether or not jahika - is used in a pejorative sense. In other passages, the jahika- appears in the company of evil persons, and therefore must be interpreted as a pejorative or daevic term. Yt. 8.59-60 (= Yt. 14.51-52) contains an enumeration o f categories o f people who are not allowed to participate in the sacrifice to TiStrya (or Vcrethraghna): *,Ix t not a ntairya take o f this, nor a jahika nor a listless man who does not chant the Gathas, who destroys existence, who withstands this religion that is Ahuric, Zoroastrian47. The word mairya indicates an evil man4 K and consequently the word jahika seems to mean evil woman in this context4 ;. The jahika as an evil woman (coming close to the sometimes postulated daevic word for woman) is frequently associated with sorcery. Thus in Yt. 3.9 (also 3.12; 3.16) it is said The Jahi who practises sorcery fled, the Jahi who practises soothsaying (?) fled . This Jahi who practises sorcery is mentioned several times: in Vd. 21.17 she is in the company o f the Kakhuzhi and the Ayehya (two terms for evil females that are no longer understood51) and

JamaspAsa and Humbach translate jahikaiid as o f a woman, which is certainly possible, but they also translate Phi.jeh-dew (on which, see below) as woman'*, which is less likely. 47 md he mairiid guntuaiidit md jahika md aiduuo asrduuaial.gdSi ah u m jrixi paitiidnno irrujm daenejm yijm dhurim zarafUJtrim The most problematic word in this passage is aiduud, which has generally been left untranslated. I h e qualifying adjective asrauuatiat.gd&i, who docs not recite the Gathas, however, is used in Avestan in various contexts: in YL 5.92. it qualifies a pious member o f the community (dahma ). who by not having chanted the G ith is has forfeited his right to participate in the libations of /Vnahita; in Aogtmadaecd 81, it is used together with other negative adjectives, equallyit seemvdirected to Zoroastrians. who do not perform the right actions. In the Ne rangestan, the adjective asrduuaiiant is also applied to persons who do not say the required prayers and lexis, as is the case in Vd. 18.5. For the interpretation o f the word as listless, cf. Kotwal & Krcyenbrock, Herbedestdn 17.1; 17.6 and Kcllens, Nomsracines, 60-61 with n. 1. If the parallcllism with Yt. 5.92 is sound, however, the word can also be read as a variant nom. sg. o f alauuan-. This would also imply taking jahika as the synonym of stri-, "woman", in Y t 5.92. and hcncc as anotlicr non-pejorative occuncncc of the word. 4* That, at least, is the common view at present. As is well known, the term acquired the specific meaning o f member o f the Mannerbund' in the work of Wikandcr and Widengren. as did its cognate. Old Indian marya. 49 For tl>c passage, cf. A. Panaino, TiStrya. Par! I: The Avestan Hymn to Sirius (Scrie Orienlalc Roma 68-1), Roma 1990. 82-83, 146: id.. *Sulla supposta dipendenza di Yait VIII da YaJt XIV*. in: G. Gnoli & A. Panaino (edv). Proceedings o f the First European Conference o f Iranian Studies (Scrie Orienlalc Roma 67). Roma 1990, vol. 1 .239-251. * 0 jahi ydtumaiti apaduaarata. ja h i kax'arj fiiine aptuiuuarala. The yiitu- is a sorcerer, the kax'arAi a different type of sorcerer (used in Armenian kaxard to translate Greek y6t>; and tpdppcnco;), wliosc functions are briefly discussed by M. Schwartz. Miscellanea Inmica', in: M. Boyce & I. Gershevitch (eds.). IV ./?. Henning Memorial Volume. Ix>ndon 1970. 385-394, esp. 389-391. He proposes an etymology on Iranian *w ard-, to shout. 51 Bartholomac. AirWb. 161,432. Bartholomae proposes lo interpret kaxuB as vcr&chtliche Gauklcrin". The word may perhaps be a dialect variant o f kaxa n i d -. the feminine form of kax'ariSa. showing a development o f r S to !. The closest parallel 1 to such a development would be Khwarezmian. which shows rz. rj > I ( n di < handarza: 'Ind < arjant: cf. H. Humbach. ,Choresmian*, in: R. Schmitt (ed.). Compendium Unguanim Iranicarwn, Wiesbaden 1989, 193-

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together with them she is sent away by a magical formula. The most elaborate description o f this Jahi who practises sorcery is Y. 9.32: *Against the Jahika who practises sorcery, who practises concupiscence, who offers her vagina (?). whose mind floats like a cloud blown by the wind, strike your weapon, yellow H aoma!52 Here we touch upon one o f the fundamental accusations against the jalii: she is a woman who docs not restrain her sexuality. The translation whore" for jahika- becomes accutely problematic if it is used in the more elaborate passages dealing with these women. First o f all, Yt. 17, where we have already met the word in a neutral meaning "woman", contains two complaints o f ASi about women, which definitively rule out the possibility of the word referring to a prostitute: Good, high ASi would have lamented her first lament about the Jahika who has no children. [...] Good, high ASi would have lamented her second lament about that Jahika who bears that child made with another man, (and) brings it to her husband (as his ow n) (Yt. 17.58-59) . It makes good sense to translate the first part o f this passage as *Good, high ASi would have lamented her first lament about the woman who has no children, sincc giving children to women is one o f the prime concerns o f ASi, and no Zoroastrian divinity would have serious problems if a whore remained childless54. The second part of the passage is even more illuminating: here, it appears that the Jahika is a married woman. Her sin against ASi consists of threatening the legitimacy o f the offspring: by presenting the child fathered by another man to her (lawful) husband, she endangers the legitimacy o f his children. The incertitude o f men about whether the children o f their wives arc actually theirs or procreated by a strange man55 can be assumed to have been
203, p. 195). This, however, must remain highly uncertain. Khwarczmian has preserved the word JU uW ji- in the reconstructed form kxrzy'wc, "soothsaying. Cf. J. Benzing, Chwaresmischer Wortindex. Wiesbaden 1983. s.v.; I) N. MacKenzie. The Khwarczmian Glossary I*. Bulletin o f the School o f Oriental and African Studies 33 (1970). 540-559. p. 557. ' paiti jahikaiii ytumaitiii mutt&in.kairiii upait.bariii yerfie frafrauuaiti man yacki a n m vtJtim /.../ haoma zire u u ltin ja id The translation o f upait.bairi as "offenng her vagina" (J. Duchcsnc-Guillcmin. Les composes de l'Avesta, Ucgc-Ians 1936. 63; J. Kcllcns, Noms-racines 231 note I), is highly speculative. Kellens interprets yerjhe as a loc.sg.fem.. but a gen.sg.masc. is certainly possible, given the frequent confusion in the gender o f pronouns whenever the jahika is mentioned. " paoirilqm g m z q m g>rzueta a fU \arjuhi y b tm a iti haca apur.zaniii jahikaiii. /.../ btliiqm g jn z q m g tn za e ta aJil varjuhi y b tn z a iti haca auuarjhi jahikaiii y aom p u frjm baraiti aniiahmi arini \x1rlt>tn pai& upa baraiti. For this passage, cf. K. Hoffmann. Aufstze zur Indoiranistik II, Wiesbaden 1976, 609. * The absence o f children, frequently indicated by the word aputta. is a major concern in the A vesta. Cf. Vd. 3.24; 4.47, and especially Vd. 21.5*8. Dannestcters translation o f Yt. 17.57. the courtezan who destroys her fruit* (Sacred Books o f the East 23. p. 281). is impossible. ' 5 On this subject, cf. the famous question to the oracle o f IXxiona. printed, for instance, in H.W. Parke. The Oracles o f Zeus: Dodona-Olympiu-Ammon, Oxford 1967, 266 no. II. Cf. also Malinowskis rule o f legitimacy". B. Malinowski. Sex and Repression in S a w g e Society, I>ondon 1967, 212*214, or C. I^vi-Strauss. *The Family', in: H .L Shapiro (ed.). Man. Culture, and Society. New Yotk 1956. 212-285

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an important stimulating force in the restrictions placed upon women and in the dem ands o f female loyalty and chastity. This becomes particularly clear in one o f the longest passages dealing with the Jahika:
Z arathustra asked A h u ra M azda: *Ahura M azda, m o st ben eficen t spirit, creato r o f th e m aterial w orld, righteous one! W h o h u rts yo u . w ho are A h u ra M azda, w ith th e greatest pain? W h o in su lts (?) you w ith the g reatest insult?* T h en A h u ra M azd a said: *It is th e Jahi. u p rig h t Z arathustra. w h o m ixes th e sem en o f the m em bers o f th e co m m u n ity and th o se w ho are n ot m em bers, o f th e daevaw orshippers and th o se w h o d o n ot w orsh ip the daevas, o f th o se w hose b o d y is forfeit, and th o se w h o have n ot forfeited th e ir body. W ith h e r look, sh e w ith ers a third o f the strong w aters that run in stream s. Z arathustra. W ith h e r lo o k , she threatens a third o f th e g ro w in g , beautiful, y ellow -coloured plants w ith regard to their g row th . Z arathustra. W ith her look sh e ob stru cts a th ird o f th e ben eficen t A rm aiti [the earth, A.J.J w ith regard to h e r colour. Z arathustra. W ith h e r touch she threaten s a third o f th e righteous m an. w h o ex cels in g o o d tho u g h ts, w ho excels in g o o d w o rd s, w h o excels in good deeds, w ith regard to his stren g th and victory, and w ith regard to his righteousness, Z arathustra. I say to yo u , S pitam a Z arathustra, that these are m ore d eserv in g o f death than slith erin g snakes, than stalking w olves, than th e sh c-w o lf w ho goes on a h u n t and falls u p o n th e w orld, than th e she-frog w h o produces a th o u san d children an d falls upon th e w ater (Vd.

18.61-65 ) * . The main characteristic o f the Jahi in this passage is that she mixes the semen o f various categories of men, especially that o f Zoroastrians and nonZoroastrians, righteous men and sinners. This sin is also mentioned in the Herbedestan , but there and this may be significant it refers to the woman using the word nuirika -, virtuous woman: We classify whores (rospigl) as being (on a par) with the females o f quadrupeds: they arc referred to in the following passage: the one o f the Mazdayasnians whose woman mixes the seed o f both Mazda -worsh ippers and demon-worshippers'57. It is significant that, in this passage, the Middle Persian word used for whore is rdspig and not jeh. In most respects, however, the passage reflects the same information as the passage from the Vd. mentioning the Jahi: the only change in Avcstan
p jD u il ztiradultrd ahunm nvizxiqm. ahura mazda rnair.no sp irilla d a ia n gaefanqm astuuaiti/upn ajaum. ko Bfijm yim ahunm mazdqm *maziliaiia *inti inaoiti ko mazilta ibiurlarjha tbaclaiieiri? aat mraol ahura ma^Li ja h i bii afilum zara&rftra yd (sic! read ytl) xiudn) hqrrt.rat&fhiieiri dahmanqm adahnvmqmca dacuuatiasnanqm adaruuaiicisnanqmca lanupjrj&mqm alanupjr?(kmqmca. friJum apqm Etaola.stacqm taxrnanqm pairiiiaiiciti paiti.diri zaraBUltra. Btiium uruuaranqm uzuxiiirntinqm sriranqm zairi.gaonanqm vatic) apaiiasaile paiti.diri zarafrdtra. drilum sp>ntaii& dramatdil varjru I apaiiasaitc paiti.diri zaraduStra. d iiu m narl afaond fraiio.hum ataht fraiib huxlahe fraiio.huuarltahe amaheca v*r>&raynahcca o f auuastahcca apaiiasairi paitipasti zara&Jtra. tasca tc mraomi spitama zaraBuStra jq&fiotara yada alaiia xJuuacfiirjho yatki vS vjhrkAqho srauuar/hauud ytifki iti vjhrkqm azrd.daiSm gaefkjm auui frapataiti y a tb iw X'azajqm hazarjrd.hunqm ap*m auui frapataiti.
5' Rdspig abag mddagdn i caharpadiltdn paydagcncm: a*'elan hart gy3g paydugcnend: ytrjhe actaSa tnazdaiiasnanqm nuirika uuaiii xludrd hqm rac&paiieiti mazdaiiasnanqmca daeuuaiuisnanqmca. (H. 12.4). Text and translation taken from Kotwal & Krcyenbrock, Herbedestan* 64-65. with one minor change.

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usage is the use of the word nairika - for "wom an and the explicit statement that the "w hore referred to is the wife o f a Zoroastrian! The passage from the Hcrbedestan appears to be an abbreviated reference to Vd. 18.62, which in its Pahlavi version has had a wide currency and is paraphrased also in Persian Zoroastrian literature5*. The danger inherent in the Jahi is that her look or her touch destroys parts o f the good creation. The belief that the look o f an unclean person hurts the good creation, is expressed in Vd. 16.2 with regard to a menstruating woman, who must be kept away from the fire lest she look upon it and hurt it. One further text needs to be discussed. In the curious passage Vd. 13.4448, where the character of a dog is said to resemble the charactcrs of eight different categories o f people, the dog is also compared with the jahika (Vd. 13.48). Unfortunately, this passage which contains, so to speak, a list o f the essentials o f the Jahika is almost totally incomprehensible. It has therefore given rise to many speculations. The dog is said to share 5 qualities with the Jahika: it is x amlrakara-, asnaeraeSa-, airito p a n z a i r i m i i a f s m a n - and Briiafsman-. None o f these adjectives has been explained sufficiently. Bartholomae suggested "obliging", wounding close by", defecating on the way, "?, ? ; Darmcstctcr suggested singing", "intrusive, "walking about the roads, "poor, meagre 59. Most o f these suggestions arc influcnccd by the Pahlavi translation; the latter is suspect, however, for the obvious reason that it interprets jahika-, without further consideration, as jeh. It is o f course
tr u e th a t a d o g r e lie v e s it s e lf o n th e r o a d , a n d th e P a h la v i c o m m e n ta r y th e r e is

60 one who says: she intentionally docs not sit above a pit* makes it unambiguously clear how the Pahlavi translators interpreted the passage. But why would this be typical for a jahika if that word means "w hore? Darmesteters she walks about the roads' makes better sense, for it could refer to a woman who walks without an escort, but it is difficult to find this in the word airito. This passage is indeed so problematical that it docs not tell us anything about the character o f a jahika. Yet, there is one very interesting connection. For, apart from the information that a jahika defecates on the road, all qualifications o f the jahika are shared not only by the dog, but also by the vaesa: the "household servant"61, a person who as far as is known is not evil. Apart from the (not understood) qualifications o f the household servant in Vd. 13.46, he is mentioned in one o f the medicinal price

51 $addar-e Nasr 67. w Rartholonuc. AirWb 1865; 220; 189; 1681; AirWb Nachtrdgc 1892. Darmcstcter, Sacred Books o f the East 4. 163. M ast k i edon gdwed ay andar XHeiuxahih abdz d m aync nilincd. A l Darmcstetcr translates "strolling singer-, but the formation o f llic word, from vis-, '*house', comparable for instance to Greek oinxrr);. "household slave", seems certain, and Khotanese bisti, servant", clinches the matter. As could be expected. Wikandcr interpreted llic word as a male prmtitutc: Vayu /, 205.

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lists o f the Vendidad (Vd. 9.37-38) together with the master o f the house, the mistress o f the house, the lord o f the town and other good" people. To sum up: the meaning o f jahi- and jahikd- is unclear in Vd. 13.48. It means wom an" without any further connotation in Vd. 18.54 and possibly in PursiShiha 962. It means "evil woman" (unspecified or practising sorcery) in Yt. 3.9 etc.; Yt. 8.59-60 (= Yt. 14.51-52); Vd. 21.17. In the most elaborate texts, however, the word refers to a woman who is sexually suspect for various reasons, either because she is barren (Yt. 17.57) or because she is unfaithful to her husband and sleeps with several men ad libitum (Y. 9.32; Yt. 17.58; Vd. 18.62). The interpretation o f the term in Farhang i Oirn 2F: W hen she is good, (she is called) vanta etc., when she is bad (she is called [...]) j a h f 63, seems to clinch the matter: any woman could become a jahi, which rules out the possibility o f the term being the normal daevic word for w om an"; and she would become a ja h i by being "bad. Definitions such as these arc not uncommon, as for instance in the Denkard: A woman in whom these several marks are found is a (proper) female (narig): adorning the husband, adorning the table, guarding the gate (of the house), dressing (as appropriate to) herself, keeping her body and place in cleanliness. A woman in w hom these several marks are found is a jeh: sorcery, divination (?), gloomy talk, prostitution (rospigih ), dressing strangely, not keeping her body and place in cleanliness*64. It can even be found in as late a text as the ad dar-i nasr. *every woman who has slept with a strange man must be called jeh'; whenever they (i.e. women, A.J.) perform the command o f their husband, she is called righteous (asu ) in the religion, and if she docs not, she is called je h M .

K The etymology, rcccntly proposed by R .E Lmmcrick. o f Khotancsc jsic, girt, from Iranian jahi, confirms (he views expressed here on the original neutral meaning o f ihe word in Iranian, and is evidence for the survival o f this usage in Middle Iranian languages; R .E Emmcrick. Boys" and Girls in Khotanese*. in: Iranian Studies in Honor o f Davitl Bivar (Bulletin of the Asia Institute, N.S. 7) 1993-1994, 51-54. I owe this reference to Prof. SimsWilliams. H. Rcichelt. Der Frahang i oim. Wiener Zeitschrift f r die Kunde des Morgenlandes 14 (1900), 177-213. G. Klingenschmitt's new edition o f this text (unpublished thesis ErlangenNrnberg 1968). was unavailable to me. M S. Shaked. The Wisdom o f the Sastuxian Sages (Denkard VI) (Persian Heritage Scries 34). Boulder 1979, 93. This also explains C 39: ,One should not be desirous o f the wives o f other people; for his love o f his own wife diminishes, and he himself turns to intercourse with a jeh. who is desirous o f the wives o f other peoples. By desiring the wife o f another man. he automatically turns her into a jeh. and makes himself guilty o f jeh-marzih. which again (B34(20J) is said to be the adversary o f love for ones wife, which is goodness. M har zxrni ke ba mard-e bigneh bexoft r jeh byad x n d . SDN 67; hargh ke farmn-e Sohar kr konund dar din r aS x'nand. va agar na. r je h x'iuw d. SDN 59.

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Elements o f an Interpretation o f the Myths o f Jeh, No Longer "Primal Whore

I hope to have shown that the jahika and the jeh arc real life women. This m akes C hoksy's interpretation o f Vd. 18.61-65 as a reference to the Whore Demoness in the A vcsta unlikely. I hope to have shown as well that she often is a married woman, which makes W ikandcrs and W idcngrcns reconstruction o f the "free love" engagements o f the jahika with the members o f the Mannerbund (itself a highly questionable category) impossible, let alone the "fertility m agic" produced by these encounters. This leaves Zachncrs interpretation to be discussed. Zaehner* s initial argument for the attribution o f women to the evil creation (which he based on Benvenistes idea that the defection o f originally good women to Satan, as related by Theodore bar Konay, was a concession of an essentially Zurvanitc myth to Zoroastrian orthodoxy66) in Zurvanism was a difficult passage in Hippolytus Elenchos 1.2.12-14. Here, Zaratas the Chaldaean is said to have taught Pythagoras that there were two principles o f being: either a male principle (which is light, the elements of which arc warm, dry, light and swift) and a female one (which is darkness, the elements of which arc cold, moist, heavy and slow), or a cclcstial daemon (fire containing air) and a chthonian one (water from earth)6 . From this passage, Zaehner concluded that the moist clement, water and darkness, was viewed as
b e lo n g in g to th e e v il c r e a tio n : *As a g a in s t fire , th e b r ig h t, m a le , b e n e f ic e n t

deity, then, we have water, the dark, female, and m alcficcnt (p. 74). The evil female element was Jeh, the Primal W hore, who was *the survival o f an old chthonian goddess representing earth and water who, with the spread of Mazdean dualism, was reduced to the status o f a dem on' (p. 75). The Pahlavi books ccrtainly contain many speculations on the substances o f the cosmos. In those speculations, the warm-cold, dry-moist, heavy-light, bright-dark oppositions are o f great importance, and Zaehner could adduce these as evidence for his position. There arc, however, two problems. First of all, the Pahlavi texts on the mixture o f the substances arc generally regarded as reflecting Greek ideas in Zoroastrian garb. The original Zoroastrian mixture at the beginning o f creation was that o f good with evil, and the theories on the substances have been convincingly shown to be borrowings from Greek speculations**. This makes Zachncrs explicit reference to very ancicnt Zurvanitc theology impossible. The Pahlavi speculations, moreover,
44 Zaehner. Zun-on. 74; Benveniste. "Timoignage*. 186-187. On Hippolytus, cf. the impressive commentary by J. Mamfcld, Heresio^raphy in Context: Hippolytus' Elcncho\ as a Source fo r Greek Philosophy (Philosophia Antiqua 56). I-citlen 1992. On the passage under consideration: P. Kingsley. "The Greek origin o f the sixth-centurv Dating of Zoroasticr*. RSOAS 53 (1990). 245-265. csp. pp. 245-256. M H.W. Bailey. Zoroastrian Problems. 87-90; C. Colpe, *Die griechische. die synkretistischc und die iranischc Ixhrc von der kosmischcn Mischung. Orientalia Suecana 27-28 (1978-1979). 132-147.

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unequivocally place the moist substancc among the good substances, belonging to Ohrmazd, and the dry substancc among the evil substances, belonging to Ahrcman69. Therefore, far from supporting Zaehners view, the Pahlavi books seem to offer the strongest conceivable evidence against a theory that supposes a female element of water to have belonged to the evil creation. Zaehner, moreover, tried to prove that Theodore bar Kdnays version o f the myth was more original than the myth in the BitndaJitfn, because the BundahiSn had been reworked by Zoroastrian redactors and Theodore knew Zoroastrianism in its Zurvanite form. Since the myth was Zurvanite to begin with (because Zurvanism rejects the perversity of the female element, p. 188), Theodores version must be original. This argument, however, is circular and therefore not very convincing. It offends, moreover, to the earlier mentioned hypothetical Zoroastrian concessions in Theodore. Zurvanism as was already noted by others is not necessarily the best context in which to interpret Jeh70. There arc many elements of the myths of Jeh which cither elaborate upon or arc understandable from the Avesta and the subsequent evolution of Zoroastrianism. By isolating these elements (although this fails to offer a real analysis o f the myth) we may gain some understanding of the growth o f the story and its implications. 1. As was emphasized above, the idea that Ahura Mazda had a wife (who would then be mother o f the divinities) is virtually alien to the Avesta, as is all imagery attributing sexual acts or reproduction to the gods and goddesses. The Ahuranis, the Zoroastrian nymphs, are frequently mentioned as an exception, but with doubtful legitimacy: the word yna* ("woman), invoked to support this view, is not only used to indicate dependence on male divinities (which could sustain the translation wife"), but is also used to indicate female beings dependent upon the female Earth (Turn, Y. 38.1), who can scarcely be thought to have had wives. The imagery of Armaiti as Ahura M azdas daughter and wife, however, does occur in Pahlavi literature, and this should count as an (easily understandable) innovation in the imagery o f the Iranian gods.

M GBd. (Ms TD1) I.a.2 (7r.l7ff): Ohrmazd created fire from light, wind from fire, water from wind, earth from water. V.2 (I9r-v): just a* Ahrcman is against Ohrmazd and Xim is against SrfiS. cold is against warm, dry is against moist; XXVI. 127 (76r.9): the essence o f Ohrmazd is gann ud rued, w in ud hubdy, warm and moist, bright and fragrant'; XXVIL52 (79v.23): the essence of Ahrcman is sard ud hulk ud gannag ud nlrik. cold and dry and stinking and dark; XXVIII. 12 (81v.2ff): the essence of the good wind in the body, the soul, is garm ud x*cd\ the essence of the wind o f sin is sard ud hulk ; $GW9. 15 ;18 2 . 16 ;Dk\1. 175.12-13: Ahrcman creates sardih o abezag garmlh ud hulklh d abrztig redth, 'coldness against pure heat and dryness against pure moistncss*. 70 1/7.1. 308 note 83; Shakcd. Myth o f Zurvan. 226-227.

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A similar innovation that may be traccd in the Zoroastrian conception of the divine is the imagery o f Ahura M azda as the heavenly king, holding court in heaven. It is true that there arc some texts in the Avesta which speak of Ahura M azda as a divinity who holds dom inion ( xSaiiant-, xSaOriia-)', but when speaking o f Ahura Mazda, it is mainly his creative pow er and his guardianship o f the good creation that is stressed, not a * ,royal nature. The reasons for this are obvious: the Avesta is a priestly text par excellence and (if it reflects its social backgrounds at all) does not reflect centralized monarchies but, rather, small-scale tribal societies. This, also, is quite different in the Pahlavi books. It seems reasonable (though impossible to prove) to invoke the Achacmcnians as instrumental in the creation o f a new celestial imagery, which presented Ahura M azda as a king: the heavenly counterpart o f the great Achaemenian kings. The influence from neighbouring Mesopotamia on the Achacmcnian royal ideology seems to support this view. The eventual result o f the growing links between royalty and the conception o f the divine can be found in the Sasanian tradition that the kings are o f divine origin ' 1. The representation o f Ahura M azdas daughter-wife, Spandarmad, as queen o f heaven can be found for instance in PhlRDd. 8 a 2 5 ( Williams). Given the consequent juxtaposition o f Ohrmazd and Ahrcman it can hardly be surprising that the imagery of Ahreman as King o f the evil world, accompanied by his evil queen consort, is also to be found in Pahlavi literature. This, indeed, is the situation in \V Z 3 4 .3 0 * 3 1 :
It is revealed th u s in the religion: w hen A hrem an m oved against th e creation, he had th e species o f the jch-diw o f bad religion as his co n cu b in e, ju s t a s a m an has concubines. H e h im se lf is k in g o f th e d em o n s there and the jeh-dcw o f evil religion is his (o w n ) queen, th e leader o f all jch-dws, the w orst en em y o f the righteous m an. A nd Jeh-dZw o f evil religion, his ow n daughter, associated h erself w ith him . in o rd er to co rru p t w om en, th at w om en w ould b e co rru p ted , and that on account o f th e co rru p tio n o f w om en, m en w ould be co rrupted and w ould turn aw ay from perform ing their d u tie s '2 . 71 Tlxrrc is a good deal o f literature on the Achacmcnian and later royal ideology and its connection with the Iranian religion. Most o f it can be found in G. Ahn. Religise Herrscherlegitimation im achmenidischen Iran: Die Voraussetzungen und die Struktur ihrer Argumentation (Acta Iranica 31), Leiden 1992. Cf. also H. Humbach, Herrscher, Gott und Gottessohn in Iran und in angrenzenden Linden)1 , in: D. Zeller (ed.). Menschwerdung Gottes Vergttlichung von Menschen (Novum Tcstamentum et Orbis Antiquus 7). Gttingen 1988. 89114. For the Avcstan imagery o f Vohu Manahand not Ahura Mazda! as sitting on a throne, cf. A. Hultgird. T rne de Dieu et trne des justes dans les traditions de l'Iran ancien*, in: M. Philoncnko (ed.). Le Trne de Dieu (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament 69), Tbingen 1993, 1-18. who also reckons with influences from the Near Eastern countries. 7* pad d in wn paydg k Ahreman ka andar 5 dm *dwarist duS-dn *jeh dw sorting won pad hambz d o it ciyn mard zanih i hambiSn nh xw ad ast / / / dw ih u i dul dn i 'jeh dw (sardag/ *bnbist xwad ast sar hamg *jeh dwn garn petyragtar mard i ahlaw. u-i duS dn i <jeh dw> ham duxt ahgnidan i mdagn ry abg ham-yuxtihist k t mdagan hgnd ud hgnidagih <i> mdagn ry narn hgnnd <ud> az xwikrih wardnd The text is taken from Gignoux & Tafazzoli, Anthologie de Zdspram, 120-121, who. however, translate 34.31 differently.

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The imagery of Jeh and her relation to Ahrcman perfectly mirrors that o f Armaiti as Ohrmazds queen, daughter and wife. In the PhlRD d, Armaiti is presented first as Ohrmazds daughter, then as his wife, then as the queen of paradise. When Zarathustra asks Ohrmazd who the lovely being sitting next to him, carrcssing him, is, Ohrmazd answers: This is Spandarmad, who is my daughter and my Queen of Paradise, and the M other o f Creation ' Similarly, Jeh is Ahremans daughter (G B d Arise, father!; \VZ 34.31), his wife ( \VZ 34.30) and his queen consort (IVZ 34.30). It seems appropriate, then, to search part o f the origin of the myths o f Jeh in connection with these innovations in celestial imagery. The question that arises, then, is why it should have been Jeh, who was created as Ahrcmans queen o f hell (assuming that she did not exist prior to this myth as a demoness, since there are no traces o f a mythological Jeh demoness elsewhere). There certainly arc more demonesses. The most importam arc Drug, the Lie", whose gender, however, varied in different accounts'4; and NasuS, the demoness o f the Corpse or Decay75, whose functions were too specialized for her to become the Queen o f Hell. A possible reason for the demonizing o f the jahikd into the archetypal Jeh may have been the increasing perception, already in the Avesta, o f the jahikd as one of the most dangerous enemies of mans righteousness. This is particularly clear in Vd. 18.61*65, where the touch of the Jahi is said to take away the righteousness o f man. and also in all texts that make the connection between the jahikd and sorcery. Both in Zadspram and in the BundahiSn, Jeh is specifically said to assault the virtue or the righteousness of man (or, in the case o f Zadspram, of man through woman). Taking into account the special attention paid also by Ahrcman to the humans in the world (being the only ones who fight against evil by choice) this would indeed be a suitable quality for his queen consort, especially in view o f Zadsprams stress on the assault of the virtue of man through woman. There is a further elaboration that seems to sustain this view. In Zadspram, Jeh is not a unique mythological figure, but is represented as the leader o f a collective o f jeh-dews, jeh-demons, who are defined as a sardag (species, category"). This appellation recurs in the oft-quoted passage from the BundahiSn, which contains Ohrmazds complaint conccming women:
1 creatcd thcc, thou w hose adversary is th e je h species, and thou w ast created w ith a m outh clo se to thy buttocks, and coition seem s to thee even as the taste o f th e sw eetest food to th e m outh; and thou art a helper to me. for from th ee m an is b o m , but th o u d o st grieve m e w ho am O hrm azd. B ut had I found an o th er vessel from w hich to m ake m an. n ev er w ould I have creatcd thee, w hose adversary is ' ' in Spandarmad i man duxt u-m kadag-banug i h u hiit ud mad i daman. Williams. Pahla\i Rtvdyat 1.48-49 (text), II. 10 (translation). 132*133 (commentary). * Gray. Foundations. 191*195. 75 Gray. Foundations. 2 ! ! ; / / Z I , 86 87.

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th e je h specics. B ut I sought in th e w aters and in th e earth, in p lants and cattle, in th e h ighest m o u n tain s and the deepest valleys, but I d id not find a vessel from w hich righ teo u s m an m ight procccd except w om an w hose adversary is the je h ' 6 .

This unique passage is in striking disaccord with all known passages on women from the Avesta, which stress the necessity o f procreation and greatly extol the virtue o f uomcn who produce children. Two points, however, need to be made. First o f all, the act o f parturition as such rendered a woman unclean, for the obvious reason that all substances leaving the body are polluting. Similarly, sexual intercourse rendered both man and woman unclean . It is therefore not surprising, nor atypical o f Zoroastrianism, that A hura M azda should be portrayed as abhorring the practicalities o f intercourse and childbirth. The passage, it is true, describes this abhorrancc in offcndingly misogynist terms; but, far from establishing a ban on procreation, as suggested by Zaehner7* , it specifically mentions the fact that woman helps Ohrmazd by producing men. Secondly: in accordance with Zadspram, the woman is here placed in deliberate opposition to the jeh. The je h -species has acquired a mythical dimension as evil opponent o f the virtuous woman. Z aehncr's identification o f woman with the jeh (p. 189) obscures the point in an unacceptable manner, as does Choksys suggestion that women are created by A hura M azda as opponents of the Whore Demoness 9. The spccics o f the jeh-dew is created by Ahrcman. to be sure as opponent o f the virtuous woman. 2. Surprisingly, the myth of Jeh is the only aetiological story on the origin of menstruation. That menstruation was an important subject in Zoroastrianism is clear from the Vendidad. where a whole chapter has been devoted to it (Vd. 16), establishing the seclusion o f women in menses and the prohibition of sexual intercourse with a woman during her period*0 . The origin of menstruation in the realm of the evil creation is congrucnt with the fact that all pollution is believed to derive ultimately from the Evil Spirit, as do sickness 81 t and death . That Ahrcman created sickncss, old age and death is repeated
6 Text and translation in Zaehner. Zurvan. 188; 195 note K; Widengrcn's attempt to restore the * original' passage as "I created you. who are a whore-species. the adversary o f the nghtcous man" (Primordial Man and Prostitute. 348-349) isindeedperverse. Choksy. Purify and Pollution, 88-94. 71 Zaehner, Zurvan, 188-189. ** Choksy. Purity and Pollution, 96. * For a description o f rules for women during menstruation, cf. IfZ I. 307-308; Choksy, Purity and Pollution, 94-103. There is an abundance o f literature on "menstruation taboos" and the consquences o f these for the position of women. Cf. the sober assessment o f the editors in T. Buckley & A. Gottlieb (eds.). Blood Magic: The Anthropology o f Menstruation, Berkeley etc. 1988, 3-50 (A Cntical Appraisal of Theories o f !Menstrual Symbolism). For a more traditional view. cf. W.N. Stephens, *A Cross-Cultural Study o f Menstmation Taboos. Genetic Psychology Monographs 64 (1961),

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many times. The specific nature of menstruation, however, i.e., the fact that it is periodic and not incidental *, may have given rise to a separate actiological myth. In the latter, the pollution o f menstruation comes upon Jeh first: through A hrem ans kiss. It is passed on to women through her specific function of attacking the virtue o f women in order to attack the virtue o f men, as told by Zadspram. In the discussion o f Vd. 18.61-65, the connections between the Jahi and menstruation were already briefly hinted at. Just as a woman in menses is thought to hurt the fire through her look, the Jahi hurts the water, plants and the earth by her look, and righteous man by her touch83 (which suffices to show that she is still assumed to be a real life woman, not a demoness). This theme is elaborated upon, somewhat grotesquely, in PhlRDd. 18dl0, where Fire is said to be unwilling to remain in the world because wicked menstruating whores (jehan ) will crawl up to me, and stench as great as a house will come to me from their whoring (jehiSn ), and I shall be ill, and I shall (have to) consume filth*4. The connection between the myth of Jeh in the BundahiSn and the myth of the women in Theodore bar Konay may now become apparent. W e recall that Zachncr (and Bcnvcnistc) argued that Theodores account was more trustworthy, and that in the original" myth it was indeed woman who was created by Ahrcman and consequently rewarded by him with the desire for man. However, the developments sketched above suggest, rather, that the Bundahisn and Zadpsram present elements o f the myth which were consistently misunderstood by Th*odore or his source. W hereas the BundahiSn and Zadspram deal specifically with a category o f dem ons called jeh(dew), Theodores indication women may have been caused by the fact that jeh continued to be used as a word for (evil) woman". It is impossible to say whether it was Theodore himself or his source, who interpreted the je h dew as a real life woman; but the odd situation that woman, as the creation of Ohrmazd, defects to Ahrcman may represent an additional rationalisation of

385-416. reprinted in C.S. Ford (cd.). Cross-Cultural Approaches: Readings in Comparative Research, New Haven scc.cd. 1969.67-94. *' B.B. Harrell, Lactation and Menstruation in Cultural Perspective. American Anthropologist 83 (1981), 796-823. has shown the idea o f the periodic and predictable nature o f menstruation lo be a construct based on experience in industrialized civilizations. Her warning against using the idea o f a monthly menstrual cycle for the interpretation of menstruation taboos" in non-induslrializcd (and therefore also ancient) societies is convincing, but the evidence from Vd. 16 is unequivocally clear in showing an awareness of the regularity o f menstruation among the ancient Iranians. *' Tliat this belief was not restricted to Iran is evident front Pliny. Historiu Naturalis, 7.63-67; 23.77-86. Cf. for the concept of the harmful look, the cross-cultural studies collected in C. Maloney. The Exit Eye. New York 1976. M ka-m jeh i druwund pad daJlan pad nazdikih be dwarend ud nitin az aweian jehiin kadag masay gand *awiJ *be rased u-m wemarih ba*ed ud remanih xwarim. Williams, PahUni R i\fi\ai. 1.98-99 (text). II, 37 (translation), 159 (commentary).

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the myth, again based on a misunderstanding of the (newly acquired) double meaning o f jeh as a sexually suspect woman and a demoness who assaults the virtue o f men through women. 3. As part o f the "seduction story", it is said in both the Bundahrfn and in Theodore that the seduction was brought about by the showing o f a young man o f fifteen years', either to Jeh or to the women (in this last case identified as the god Narsa, Neryosang, the divine messenger). The young man o f fifteen years is also a well-known theme in the Zoroastrian tradition. The age of fifteen was the age o f maturity, at which men and women were received into the community by being invested with the sacred girdle (kusri). It was also considered to be the age of physical perfection, and many divinities and heroes arc portrayed as men or women of fifteen years in the Avesta. There is a curious echo o f the showing o f a young man o f fifteen years in the first chaptcr of the GBd. and \VZ 2.10, where it is said that before (Ahreman) came to Gayomard (the first man) [...], Ohrmazd created sleep in the shape of a radiant, tall fifteen year old man. And he sent him to Gayomard and brought the sleep on him in a period as long as it takes to say one Ahunawar,M S. In Theodores account, the young man o f fifteen (emended from 500!) years is specified as being the god Narsa, the Avcstan Nairyd.sangha (Phi. Neryosang ): an ancient divinity o f prayer'7. .Since in the Iranian versions of the myth o f the "seduction o f the Archont-s" the Manichaean Third Messenger is called by the name o f Neryosang**, it seemed possible (and has indeed been frequently assumed) that Theodores account o f the seduction of women by the god Narsa in a way presented an Iranian myth, which laid at the basis of the Manichaean seduction myth . Although there are indeed striking similarities between the two myths, an interpretation o f these stories based on the dependence o f the Manichaean myth on a hypothetical Zurvanite mythemc in which Neryosang plays the part attributed to him by Theodore is not necessarily the most logical, and certainly not the most obvious solution.

15 M. Schwartz. Avestan World View*. 655. with many examples. ** p e l az frz madan i 5 Gayomard /.../ Ohrmazd w r brehenid pad nuird kirb i pnzdahslag roln i f uland. u-S abar frestid Gayomard u -i xw e abar ir*il burd *and-iz drahny cand yata h wairy-i abar gwihed. Gignoux & Tafazzoli. Anthologie de Ziulspram. 36-37. GBd. 1.51 ( Zand-Aksih 21); cf. Zaehner. Zurvan, 276-321. 17 Gray. Foundations. 152-154; HZ 1.60-61. Middle Persian nryshyztl. Parthian nrysjyzil. Soghdian nr'y sfi yzS or nrylnx yy. cf. W. Sundermann. *Namen von Gttern. Dmonen und Menschen in iranischen Versionen des manichiischcn Mythos . Alloricntalische Forschungen 6 (1979). 95-133. p. 101. w Zaehner. Zunxin 186. The main advocate o f thi!. idea is G. Widcngrcn. Cf.. in addition to the publications already mentioned. 'Manichaeism and its Iranian Background. CHI III (1984), 965-990. esp. 977-979.