Pāurva Story in Ābān Yašt

Yašts are a collection of twenty one hymns in Avestan. In these hymns old Iranian divinities are invoked. Usually among these hymns, old stories and myths are expressed in a short and brief form. The more complete forms of these stories can be found in Pahlavi texts, the Shāhnāme and the Islamic sources dealing with Iran. The story of Pāurva is one of the legends mentioned in Ābān Yašt (verses 61-65). According to these verses, Pāurva is a well-natured man, so that Ferēdōn aids him and Arəduuī Sūrā Anāhitā makes his wish come true. The name 4 Iranian Languages and Dialects 1 Summary of ArticlesPāurva is also attested in the Avestan part of the Pahlavi text Pursišnīhā. Differently, in this text he is a wicked person who wants to hurt Dahmān āfrīn (the god of blessing). It seems that we are dealing with two different stories with namesake characters, or maybe there was a single old story which was forgotten little by little and then mingled with a Mesopotamian epic, as a result, a hero was changed to an anti-hero.