Two Technicalities in Ancient Astronomy and Cosmology in Wizīdagīhā ī Zādesparam (An inquiry into the reading of enigmatic in the Phrase and Interpretation of the Phrase " se kanārag ī gēhān"

This article deals with two technicalities in Wizīdagīhā ī Zādsparam (Ch. 34:25 & 28); the enigmatic ائفقثجظ in the phrase ائفقثجظ ل‌تسوظ‌ا and the concept of the phrases “se kanārag ī gēhān”. Firstly, the enigmaticائفقثجظ is discussed which was read as “nisārīk” (Zaehner, 1955:345), a hapax legomenon in middle Persian language, followed by Gignoux-Tafazzoli (1993:120). With a slight emendation, the word can be satisfactorily read asاخقثجظ “wahārīg” (i. e vernal); thus the phrase runs as “vernal medium/equinoctial measure”. Then, based on the comparison of the phrases “se kanārag ī gēhān” (§ 25), with the existing ancient astronomical and cosmological contributions (namely, the so-called Assyrian astrolabes and Mul Apin Tablets, Brahmaṇas and the Oration upon the sovereign sun by Julianus Apostate), the phrase is introduced as a technicality which refers to “the tripartite division of sky vault pattern (to the southern, middle and northern regions)”; a renowned procedure in the ancient oriental cosmology.