ĀDURBĀD ĒMĒDĀN, second author of the 9th century A.D. Zoroastrian compilation, Dēnkard. He gives an account of his activity at the end of Dēnkard 3 (ed. Madan, p. 406.11ff.). When the first author, Ādurfarnbag ī Farroxzādān, died, the text passed into the care of the latter’s son, Zardušt. But a “bad accident” befell Zardušt, and the book became disordered and dispersed. Ādurbād reunited and added to it; he gave it the title Works of the Religion [Dēnkard] in 1,000 Chapters. Since his name appears only at the end of Dēnkard 3, it may be inferred that he had a greater role in the redaction of that section than in the rest of the work. His life may be dated to the late 3rd/9th-10th century. Masʿūdī (Tanbīh, p. 104) names a mobad killed in Baghdad by the ʿAbbasid caliph Rāżī in 325/936-37 as Esfandīār b. Aḏarbād b. Enmayd. The last name is likely to be a copyist’s error for ʾymyḏ, so Esfandīār was probably Ādurbād’s son.
Bibliography:
See also J. de Menasce, Dēnkart, une encyclopédie mazdéene, Paris, 1958, pp. 8-11.
Idem, Le troisième livre du Dēnkart, Paris, 1973, p. 380.
(A. Tafażżolī)
Originally Published: December 15, 1983
Last Updated: July 22, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. I, Fasc. 5, p. 477
A. Tafażżolī, “ĀDURBĀD ĒMĒDĀN,” Encyclopædia Iranica, I/5, p. 477; an updated version is available online at http://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/adurbad-emedan-second-author-of-the-9th-century-a (accessed on 6 March 2014).
