Investigating and Analyzing the Zoroastrian Religious Concepts in “Qissa-i Sanjan”

Based on the text of the Holy Quran (Haj: 17), Zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion, and its followers are considered Ahl al-Kitab. Zoroastrianism was the religion of the majority of Iran plateau residents until 622 AD (when Muslim Arabs attacked Iran). After the arrival of newly-converted Arabs, based on the political and cultural necessities of the time, Zoroastrians had to accept the new dominant religion. Otherwise, they had to pay Jizya or be killed, and some of them were forced to immigrate. Some of the immigration stories are written in Islamic texts; some other were later written in the form of legends or myths during modern centuries. One of them which is nowadays available as a book is Qissa-i Sanjan. In this story, the immigration story of some Zoroastrians is narrated who immigrated to India, in several phases. The present study focuses on the religious concepts of this book of poetry. The Zoroastrians immigration to India has a time index and a place index, therefore, it is necessary to study the conflicts created by the cultural effects of time and place on both countries. The questions of the researchers are as follows: how much overlap exists in Qissa-i Sanjan narratives with the major concepts of Zoroastrianism? Also, what is the effect of the dominant culture of the book’s composition time and place on its content and narration style? The purpose of the study is recognizing and comparing the Zoroastrianism religious concepts mentioned in this book with the reality of Zoroastrianism. Moreover,this study investigates the India’s dominant cultural effects while this book ofpoetry was being composed considering the narration style.

The preliminary studying of the book, as the research main core, was the aim of the authors. However, other Zoroastrian and historical texts were taken into consideration in order to compare the religious rituals, historical information, and various religious impressions. The authors of the present study have divided the Qissa-i Sanjan (Razi edition, 1350) into ten sections and have marked each section with the help of Abjad letters from A to Z. in this way, the poem lines are recognizable by two indexes: Abjad letters and numbers, for referencing. For instance, the twelfth line of the fourth section of the book is referenced as (Bahman Qighobad, 1350: d: 12) in the footnote of the same page after writing the line of the poetry itself.

After the seizure of Iran by Muslims, Iranian Zoroastrians had to accept the conquerors’ religion, otherwise, they had to pay Jizya or be killed. Some of them decided to leave Iran. They had to immigrate to other places especially India. Qissa-i Sanjan narrates the story of such immigration to India. This book of poetry is composed based on an old story narrated by Dastoori Dana almost 1000 years since the beginning of the immigration in 1600 AD. The significance of this story is the Zoroastrian religious concepts narrated in a remote place after thousands of years. Bahman Qighobad, the composer of this book of poetry, has numerously mentioned the words God and Yazdan meaning the same; the words Ahooreh, Ahoora, and even Mazda are not used. However, the word God means owner, king, etc. in Pahlavi literature; Iranian Muslims used the word God instead of Allah, but Zoroastrians never used God instead of Ahoora Mazda. Even in one of the lines, Izad is described as Subhan which introduces a new outlook. Also, in some lines of the book, the composer refers to the supreme position of mankind as the Head of Creation; in Zoroastrian texts, it rarely happens. Therefore, such diction can show the co-life of Indian Muslims with Zoroastrians. In this story, having arrived in India, the Zoroastrians visit the Indian ruler, Jadirana. There, an old Mubad explains about the Zoroastrian philosophical and religious foundations and talks of the importance of cows, water, and fire; in the next lines, he talks of worshiping water, fire, cows, sun, and moonlight. Here, one can observe the similarity between worshipping cows in India and worshipping or respecting cows in this book of poetry which could be rooted in Indian Zoroastrian belief changes. The composer, while narrating the transfer of Bahram fire from Basandeh to Nosari, mentions that it happened at the time of Sadeh celebration. The composer believes that this celebration was performed in Azar day of Azar month, but this celebration is performed in Aban day of Bahman month. This date change is thought-provoking and remains a mystery to the authors. Another important issue is not mentioning the rituals of Zoroastrian burial ceremonies; they are not even mentioned by the old Dastoor while talking to Jadirana. However, it seems necessary to establish a Dakhmeh after arriving in India. It is shocking that the composer of Qissa-i Sanjan has never talked of this significant Zoroastrian ritual. 

During the first days of emergence of Islam in Iran, Zoroastrians tried to revise many of their texts to change some parts based on Islamic texts in order not to be misused by Sassanid opportunist clergymen. Qissa-i Sanjan is not an exception, it has tried to make Zoroastrianism close to Islam. This book, considering the immigration of Zoroastrians to India, enjoys new religious concepts which are the results of places changes by Indian cultural indexes and time changes by their own society’s domestic indexes and the co-life with the newly-spread community of Muslims. Therefore, this story cannot contain new ideas about Sassanid Zoroastrianism: this story, instead, is a mixture of time and place effects of its own era.