i. ANDARZ AND ANDARZ LITERATURE IN PRE-ISLAMIC IRAN

The Middle and New Persian term andarz is most often applied to remarks made by a prominent person, such as a king or a high priest, to his son, his courtiers, “people of the world,” etc., and commonly indicates a spiritual testament. It sometimes overlaps in usage with the Middle Persian term frahang, the proper meaning of which is “education, upbringing,” but which also denotes, by extension, “civilized behavior” and “chastisement.” The term andarz also has an area of affinity with Middle Persian ēwēn (NPers. and Ar. āʾīn, see āʾīn-nāma) “protocol, accepted and binding custom,” especially as applied at the royal court. As a literary designation, the term andarz denotes the type of literature which contains advice and injunctions for proper behavior, whether in matters of state, everyday life, or religion. In a wider sense it may be applied to the whole range of wisdom literature, i.e., literature which presents instructive material in an attractive style mak­ing it accessible to those without specialized education. Certain compositions within this genre seem to have originated in court circles (e.g., Xusraw ī Kawādān ud rēdag-ē “Ḵosrow son of Kavād and the page,” on which see further below); more popular versions of such works may also have existed, perhaps in a form suitable for oral recitation. But little is known about the modes of transmission of this literature in the Sasanian period, and the few post-Sasanian references to it seem usually to imply written books (e.g., the designation Ketāb ǰāvīdān ḵerad; see Ebn Meskawayh, al-Ḥekmat al­ ḵāleda: Jāvīdān ḵerad, ed. ʿA. Badawī, Cairo, 1952, pp. 3-6).

In the strict application of the term, andarz compositions consist of short, didactic sentences of gnomic character, most often only loosely grouped together. They are not, as a rule, narrative in character, though sometimes there is a brief frame story which provides information about the author of the advice (either an established historical figure or a fictitious character, venerated by tradition), the person(s) to whom the precept is addressed, and the occasion (e.g., the ruler on his death-bed, or, as in some pieces preserved only in Arabic, ascending the throne). Thus in the opening section to the “Andarz of Ḵosrow son of Kavād” we have: “When his time was completed (ka purr-gāh būd),he spoke in admonition to the people of the world, before his living soul was separated from the body” (Pahlavi Texts, p. 53.3-5). One andarz of Ādurbād ī Mahraspandān sets a similar scene (ibid., p. 144), but another collection of andarz attributed to the same figure gives a more circumstantial account of its compo­sition: “Ādurbād had no son of his body (frazand [ī] tanīg)born to him. Then he put his trust in the gods, and before long Ādurbād had a son, whom he named Zardušt, after the wholesome character of Zardušt son of Spitama. He said: Rise, my son, so that I may teach you education” (ibid., p. 58). Such frame story narra­tives reflect common literary devices and cannot be relied upon for detailed historical information.

Another narrative type in andarz writings is the short, moral anecdote which tells of past sages, whether named or unnamed (e.g., Dēnkard 6.D2, D3, D5; in S. Shaked, tr., Wisdom of the Sasanian Sages (Dēnkard VI), Boulder, Colorado, l979, pp. 177f.). This type is rare in the extant Pahlavi literature, though examples which survive in Arabic indicate that it was not uncommon. We may include among narrative elements in the andarz literature those sayings which contain parables. For example, the importance of preparing for the next world, although not realized by most people, is likened to the need to prepare fortifications against an enemy attack—a bothersome task, but one that people wish they had done better when the attack comes (Dēnkard 6.304; Shaked, op. cit., pp. 116f.).

Within the wider range of writings to which the term andarz may be applied more loosely, there are composi­tions which display a high degree of literary organization and a dominant, narrative frame story. The Dādestān ī mēnōg ī xrad has a frame story and a well-organized division into chapters, each of which deals with one question (pursišn)bearing on a religious topic. A work with a different sort of content is Xusraw ī Kawādān ud rēdag-ē, which has a frame story and a well­-defined structure. By recounting a conversation held by the king with a young page at the court, the unknown author displays, in an entertaining manner, a wide range of worldly knowledge. The best testimony for the popularity of this work is its survival not only in Pahlavi, but also in an Arabic translation (Ṯaʿālebī, Ḡorar, pp. 705-11). Another work of light-hearted learning and entertainment is the Pahlavi Čatrang­-nāmag, which describes how the game of chess was brought from India to Iran and gives valuable infor­mation about the terminology of the game; this too is extant in both Pahlavi and Arabic (cf. ibid., pp. 622-24). Draxt asūrīg (“The Babylonian tree”), which belongs with this literature of entertainment, is a poetic composition in Parthian. A debate between the palm tree and the goat about the relative merits of each provides both a measure of artistic tension and the occasion for light-hearted display of wit and erudition. Close in spirit is the story of the riddle contest between the sorcerer Axt and the Zoroastrian Jōišt ī Fryān in Mādayān ī Jōišt ī Fryān (ed. in M. Haug, E. W. West, and. H. Jamaspji Asa, The Book of Arda Viraf, Bombay and London, l872, pp. 207-66).

Andarz works in the strict sense are relatively free from conscious artistic embellishments, though verses are sometimes embedded in the prose text, occasionally with irregular rhyme (the conscious use of rhyme seems to be a feature of a late period only); an example is the “Poem in praise of wisdom” (See S. Shaked, “Speci­mens of Middle Persian Verse,” W. B. Henning Memorial Volume, ed. M. Boyce and I. Gershevitch, London, 1970, pp. 400f.; A. Tafażżolī, “Andarz i Wehzād Farrox Pērōz.” Stud. Ir. 1, l972, pp. 207-l7; on stylistic and poetic devices in andarz sayings cf. E. Fichtner in Mitteilungen des Instituts für Orientforschung 11, 1965, pp. 55f.). Some of the didactic sayings have the form of a riddle, while others are phrased as a paradox, to be puzzled over until explained or understood by the audience (see Shaked, Wisdom, pp. xxiiif.). These are presumably devices originally used in the oral delivery of sermons and homilies. Many sayings contain word plays, popular etymologies, and the like (ibid.). In the more serious religious compositions, there is a tendency to endow traditional or popular themes with a spiritualized or allegorical sense, in a style which is some­times reminiscent of the Jewish midrash and early Christian exegesis (ibid., p. xxix). Another favorite stylistic device is the use of numbers; many sayings list qualities, types of people, and other items, under numerical headings, sometimes contrasting the good and bad items according to a particular number of characteristics. One entire composition, attributed to the sage Ošnar, is arranged according to the numbers which most of the sayings contain.

Gnomic andarz works may be divided into two main categories according to their principal subject matter: religious and pragmatic. Most andarz compositions fall quite clearly into one of these two categories. (1) Religious andarz consists of three types of texts: (a) School manuals and instruction manuals. An example of the former is a short composition preserved only in Pāzand and written in simple language, X^veškārī ī rēdagān “The duty of children” (published by A. Freiman as Andarz ī kōdagān,DasturHoshangMem­orial Volume, Bombay, 1918, pp. 482-89; cf. J. Darmes­teter, “Les devoirs de l’écolier,” JA 13, 1889, pp. 355-­63; E. K. Antiâ, Pâzend Texts, Bombay, 1909, pp. 73­74; H. F. Junker, EinmittelpersischesSchulgespräch, Sb.HeidelbergerAk.Wiss., Phil.-Hist. Klasse, 1912, 15. Abhandlung [with description of mss.]; J. C. Tavadia, Die mittelpersische Sprache und Literatur der Zara­thustrier, Leipzig, 1956, p. 106). A work for adults, Abar 5xēm ī āsrōnānud 10 andarzkehamāgandarz ī dēnabarpaywastag (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 129-31; Zātspram, chap. 27, pp. 94-98; and Viǰīrkard ī dēnīg, ed. P. Sanjana, Bombay, l848, pp. l3-16), concentrates, as its title indicates, on the qualities most desirable in priests. (b) Gnomic texts of popular religious character. Several short texts belong to this group, including some which are attributed to the sage Ādurbād son of Mahraspand (Wāzagēčand ī Ādurbād ī Mahraspandān, Pahlavi Texts, pp. 144-53; other precepts in Pahl.Rivayat, chap. 62), one attributed to Wuzurgmihr (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 85-101), and Čīdagandarzī pōryōtkēšān, which is also known by the title Pand-nāmag ī Zardušt (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 41-50, Pers. tr. M. Nawwābī, Našrīya-yeDāneškada-yeAdabīyāt-eTabrīz 12/4, 1339 Š./1960, pp. 513-36). These texts emphasize the basic tenets of Zoroastrianism, urge people to frequent the hērbadestān to acquire religious knowledge, and tell them to consult with good people and keep the ordi­nances of the religion. (c) Religious gnomes addressed to a higher level of audience, with a certain tendency to spiritualize religious conceptions. This is the character of the andarz contained in the sixth book of Ādurbād ī Ēmēdān’s Dēnkard.

(2) Pragmatic andarz may also be discussed under three headings: (a) Instruction manuals, such as the treatise which provides a guide for epistolary style, Abarēwēnag ī nāmagnibēsišnīh (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 132-40; transcription and translation by R. C. Zaehner, BSOAS 9, 1937-39, pp. 93-109), and the model speech which is known under the title Sūrsaxwan (“Banquet speech,” ed. J. C. Tavadia , Journal of the Cama Oriental Institute 29, 1933). It is also possible to mention in this group the manual of games, Wizārišnī čatrangudnihišnī nēw-ardaxšīrir (“The explanation of chess and the establishment of the game of backgammon,” Pahlavi Texts, pp. 115-20; this title, and many similar ones in Pahlavi, is not original but was given by the editor of Pahlavi Texts). (b) Popular gnomes of pragmatic or worldly character. A typical composition of this type is Andarz ī Ādurbād ī Mahraspandān (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 58-71, Pers. tr. M. Nawwābī, Našrīya-ye Dāneškada-yeAdabīyāt-eTabrīz 11/4, 1338 Š./1959, pp. 501-29; some of this same material, probably based on another Pahlavi redaction, is translated into Arabic and attributed to Ādurbād in Ebn Meskawayh, al­Ḥekmat al-ḵāleda, pp. 26-28), which stresses the virtue of moderation, enjoins respect for parents, old people, and men in authority, warns against telling secrets to women, and counsels how to choose a wife and manage one’s wealth. The work abounds in similes, e.g., the wealth of the world is like a bird flying from one branch to another, a wise man is like fertile land, and an old enemy is like a black snake, while an old friend is like old wine. Other examples are the Andarz ī Ošnarī dānāg and the andarz of Wehzād [ī] Farroxpērōz (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 73-77). (c) Special manuals for the education of princes (usually called “mirrors for princes” or Fürstenspiegel). None of these has been preserved in Pahlavi, but the popularity of this group of writings is clearly visible through the many texts and fragments which have survived through Arabic transmission. Two of the most prominent compositions of this type are the Testament of Ardašīr (ed. I. Abbas under the title ʿAhdArdašīr, Beirut, 1967; ed. M. Grignaschi, JA 254, 1966, pp. 46f.) and the Letter of Tansar (preserved only in a New Persian version of Ebn Esfandīār done from the Arabic; ed. M. Mīnovī, Nāma-yeTansar, Tehran, 1311 Š./1932; tr. M. Boyce, Rome, 1968). Related to this category is the book KalīlawaDemna, translated into Arabic from a Pahlavi original by Ebn al-Moqafffaʿ (a Syriac version is also extant), the Pahlavi in its turn being a translation from a version of the Indian Pan c atantra. However, the scope of this type of litera­ture is best demonstrated by the numerous throne speeches and deathbed testaments recorded in Arabic by authors transmitting Sasanian royal traditions. See, e.g., the material contained in the anonymous Nehāyatal- a rab (E. G. Browne in JRAS, 1900, pp. 195-259; M. Grignaschi, in Bulletin des études orientales 22, 1969, pp. 15-67; 26, 1973, pp. 83-184; cf. also in Dīnavarī). These speeches belong to the tradition of political andarz, and contain the accepted ideas about the management of the state and the relationship between justice, religion, and government. Some of them may be late compositions modeled on Sasanian texts, but most seem to have been translated into Arabic together with other Sasanian works. Andarz works are difficult to summarize, for their teachings, even when religious in character, are applied to miscellaneous specific matters. Wisdom (xrad) is highly extolled, both in prose and in rhyme; the preamble to the treatise Dādestānī mēnōg ī xrad is wholly dedicated to its personification. Wisdom implies knowledge, particularly self-knowledge, which means understanding one’s origins and affiliation within the dualistic system (viz., that one belongs to the world of the spiritual deities, to the company of the good, etc.) and one’s ultimate destination (viz., the other world, paradise). (The locus classicus for this concept of wisdom is in Pahlavi Texts, p. 41; cf. Ayādgār ī Wuzurgmihr, ibid., pp. 90f.). Also praised are education (frahang) and the frequenting of the place of learning and religious guidance, the hērbadestān. Consultation with the wise or the good (hampursagīh ī wehān) is an oft-repeated injunction.

The concept of right measure (paymān) is central in andarz texts, as well as in a group of texts in the third book of the Dēnkardwhich deals systematically with questions of moral behavior. The right measure is the middle way, standing between the extremes of charac­ter, which are to be condemned. The notion is presented as a purely Iranian one (Dēnkard, p. 429), and indeed it has old Iranian roots, e.g., in the classification of qualities of character not only as good or bad, or as extreme or moderate, but also as forward-inclined (frāz­-āhangīg) and backward-inclined (abāz-āhangīg; see Shaked, Wisdom, pp. xlf.); but the treatment has benefited from an awareness of the Aristotelian analysis.

Like other Zoroastrian Pahlavi works, the andarztexts give an important role to fate in human destiny and minimize the place of man’s free action, though without ever denying it entirely. The discussion of the interrelationship of these elements is a favorite topic of andarz authors. Contrary to the opinion of some scholars, expressions of relative fatalism do not imply a specifically Zurvanite posture. This attitude regarding human effort seems associated, rather, with the ten­dency to regard most aspects of the material world as dangerous and addiction to them as distracting from true piety. Here, too, the right measure is enjoined, but often with a strong tendency to tip the scale in favor of frugality and near abstinence (ibid., pp. xxxvif.). It is thus understandable that poverty (driyōšīīh, to be distin­guished, however, from škōhīh, which denotes abject material privation and is usually used in a negative sense) is often used as a positive term in its own right (Denkard 6.141),though we also hear of the advantages of material wealth and its proper employment (e.g., op. cit., 6.C32). Religious andarz texts stress the importance of making the gods welcome in one’s own person; this can be done by chasing away the demons, who are represented concretely by evil character and action, and by inducing in oneself the correct attitudes which the deities symbolize. These texts tend to spiritualize and interiorize traditional religious concepts through allegory while deemphasizing concrete ritual.

For the authorship of andarz texts, there is only the evidence of the attribution of texts to authors in the works themselves. Several compositions are anony­mous, e.g., Andarz ī dānāgān ō mazdēsnān (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 51-54) and Andarzīhā ī pēšēnīgān (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 39-40, Pers. tr. M. Nawwābī, Našrīya-yeDāneškada-yeAdabīyāt-eTabrīz12/2, 1339 Š./1960, pp. 256-57). The latter is a group of four compositions which come in a single sequence in the manuscripts used by the editor of Pahlavi Texts (pp. 39-40); the title was added by him. Despite a similarity in style produced by the use of a rudimentary form of rhyme in each case, the individual sections seem to constitute different works. The first enumerates things which are “best,” each in its own class. The second contains a few injunctions, a section of self-inquiry, and a consi­deration of the last judgment. The third enumerates the hardships caused by want of different things like wisdom, a wife, offspring, etc.; the worst off is he who has no soul. The tone of the fourth is pessimistic, being an enumeration of what is missing to various categories of people; worst off is he with whom God (Xwadāy) is dissatisfied. Other andarz texts are apocryphal, as is the case with those attributed to the prophet Zoroaster (Dēnkard 3.195, p. 209), to his disciple Sēn (Dēnkard 3.197, pp. 212-13), and to Ošnar, a legendary sage whose name is borrowed from the Avesta (AirWb., col. 44). The Andarzī Ošnarīdānāg is extant in a unique Ms. (ed. by E. B. N. Dhabhar, Bombay, 1930). The frame story of the composition states that a disciple asked Ošnar to give him instruction “from one to a thousand,” and the sage proceeds with precepts based on various numbers. The second part of the treatise contains a miscellany of sayings, and the general spirit is pragmatic and worldly: Although the world is decried as transient, poverty is to be avoided. An Arabic version of a Persian andarzbook attributed to Hōšang and forming part of the Jāvīdān ḵerad also contains a large number of sayings on numbers, so the two works may be related, although they do not share the same material. The name of Hōšang might have been confused with that of Ošnar along the line of transmission (E. W. West, “Pahlavi Literature,” in Geiger and Kulm, Grundr.Ir.Phil. 11, p. 109; J. C. Tavadia, Die mittelpersischeSpracheundLiteraturderZarathustrier, Leipzig, 1956, pp. 106f.). Most texts are at­tributed to sages of the Sasanian period, about many of whom independent information exists; they may well have been the actual authors of the treatises ascribed to them. As for kings, only Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān is mentioned as the author of an andarzin Pahlavi. But other kings are said to be the authors of writings extant in Arabic. To Ardašīr is attributed, besides his Testa­ment, an āʾīn(Phl. ēwēn; JA 254, 1966, pp. 91f.); and there is reference to the wisdom of Hormoz: (Ebn Meskawayh, Jāvīdānḵerad, p. 66; JA 254, 1966, pp. 108f., with quotations also from Ardašīr, Šāpūr, and Yazdegerd). It may be assumed that such attri­bution need not be false, at least insofar as the writing could have emerged from the king’s official circle; but there is no way of verifying them. Even in the case of Ardašīr and Tansar, whose reputed writings contain some vague historical clues, and attributions have been debated, although no definitive argument for positive dating has yet been offered. The transmission of attri­butions is steady: Scattered sayings taken from Sasanian texts and quoted at random by early Arab authors are usually ascribed to the same traditional author. This is not proof of authorship, but it indicates at least that authors’ names were not carelessly attached to works; later Arab authors who use andarz material often tend to be careless.

To judge by explicit attribution in texts, the most prolific author of Pahlavi andarzworks was the sage Ādurbād ī Mahraspandān, who lived under King Šāpūr II (r. 309-79). Five works or fragments of works are attributed to him in Pahlavi, and at least one more in Arabic (Andarz ī Adurbād ī Mahraspandān, Pahlavi Texts, pp. 58f.; Wāzagēčand ī Adurbād ī Mahraspandān, Pahlavi Texts, pp. 144f.; Andarz ī Adurbād ī Mahraspandān, PahlaviRivayat, chap. 62; Dēnkard 3.199; Dēnkard 6.D1a; and Ebn Meskawayh, op. cit., pp. 26f.). The title of Pand-nāmag ī Zardušt (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 4l-50) apparently refers to his son Zardušt, although this attribution is not mentioned in the text itself; and his grandson, Adurbād ī Zarduštān (son of Zardušt ī Adurbādān), is quoted as the author of another short andarz treatise (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 81f.).

Numerous andarz compilations were also made, it seems, in the reign of Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān (r. 531-79). Two texts extant in Pahlavi (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 55-57; Dēnkard 3.201, pp. 218f.) and others in Arabic (Ebn Meskawayh, op. cit., pp. 41f., 49f., 61; idem, Taǰārebal-omam, ed. Grignaschi in JA 254, 1966, pp. 16f.; cf. ibid., pp. 103f.) are attributed to the king himself. One of the former, Andarzī Xusraw ī Kawādān, an admonition spoken by the dying king to the people of the world, is concerned mainly with death, the impermanence of man, and the final judgment (C. Salemann, MélangesAsiatiques IX, St. Petersburg, 1888, pp. 242f.; recent translations: E. M. F. Kanga, SanjVartaman Annual, l948; M. Mokrī, Andarz-eḴosrow-e Qobādān [in Per­sian], Tehran, 1951, 2nd ed.; M. Nawwābī, Našrīya-ye Dāneškada-ye Adabīyāt-e Tabrīz 12, 1339 Š./1960, no. 1, pp. 142-44; Geiger and Kuhn, Grundr. Ir. Phil. II, pp. 72, 112). Still more writings are ascribed to him in Arabic sources. His famous counsellor, Wuzurgmihr ī Buxtagān, has one composition which has fortunately survived both in Pahlavi and in Arabic (Pahlavi Texts, pp. 85f.; Meskawayh, op. cit., pp. 29f.), and several others are ascribed to him in Arabic (cf. ibid., pp. 37f., 45f.). The priest Baxt-āfrīd, who belongs to the same period, has a number of short sayings attributed to him in Pahlavi (Pahlavi Texts, p. 81; Dēnkard 6.A4, E22). The date of Wehzād ī Farrox-pērōz, the reputed author of an andarz concerned mostly with wisdom, has not been ascertained (Pahlavi Texts, Bombay, pp. 73-77; Geiger and Kuhn, Grundr. Ir. Phil. II, p. 113; a poem in praise of wisdom from the text is edited and translated in S. Shaked, “Specimens of Middle Persian Verse,” W. B. Henning Memorial Volume, London, 1970, pp. 398-400; Persian translation of the whole text by F. Ābādānī, Našrīya-ye Dāneškada-ye Adabīyāt-e Tabrīz 19, 1346 Š./1967, pp. 36-42; ed. and Persian tr. by A. Tafażżolī, Īrān-šenāsī 2, 1971, pp. 45-60; English tr. by idem, Stud. Ir. 1, 1972, pp. 207-17; cf. G. Lazard, “Deux poèmes persans de tradition pehlevie,” Mémorial Jean de Menasce, Louvain, 1974, pp. 433-40, esp. p. 439). The only author of andarz whom we know with certainty to belong to the post-Sasanian period is Ādurfarnbag ī Farroxzādān, one of the compilers of the Dēnkard in the 9th century (his andarz is in Pahlavi Texts, pp. 79f.; the saying in Dēnkard 6.D10, where Ādurfarnbag is mentioned, need not refer to him).

The andarz genre probably existed in Iran as early as the period when the late Avestan literature was com­posed, for there are summaries of Avestan passages in Pahlavi, especially portions of the Avestan text of the Bariš Nask, which are definitely the Avestan prede­cessors of the Pahlavi andarz (see J. P. de Menasce, Une encyclopédie mazdéenne: le Dēnkart, Paris, 1958, pp. 38f.). Many passages in the extant Pahlavi andarz literature are introduced by phrases which usually indicate that they are considered to be derived originally from the Avesta, e.g., pad dēn paydāg “it is manifest in the religion,” i.e., in the scripture, or pad paydāgīh ī az dēn (Pahlavi Texts, p. 41). The unnatural word order in the Middle Persian of some andarz passages has the style of a translation from the Avesta (see intro. to Shaked, Wisdom, pp. xviif.). However, the Pahlavi exegesis, or zand, of an Avestan text often constitutes a conception of the original text which is quite divergent from what may be regarded as its original meaning.

A substantial amount of andarz material was trans­lated into Arabic during the first three or four centuries of Islam; since so much of the literature composed in Middle Persian was lost in the original, the Arabic channel of transmission is particularly welcome, being in many cases the only mode in which a text has come down to us. Nearly all the celebrated authors of early Arabic adab literature used Persian andarz material to some extent. Large portions of Sasanian andarz in Arabic transmission are found particularly in Ebn Meskawayh’s Jāvīdān ḵerad; Ṯaʿālebī’s Ḡorar; Ketāb al-tāǰ fī aḵlāq al-molūk, attributed to Jāḥeẓ but actually by Moḥammad b. Ḥāreṯ Taḡlebī (cf. G. Schoeler, ZDMG 130, 1980, pp. 217-25; published by A. Z. Pāšā, Cairo, 1322/1914); and the Istanbul Ms. Köprülü 1608 (ed. M. Grignaschi in JA 254, 1966, pp. 1-142). A great deal of scattered material is found in the works of Ebn Qotayba (particularly ʿOyūn al -aḵbār), Masʿūdī (particularly Morūǰ), Jāḥeẓ, and Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ, to name only a few of the most prominent transmitters of such material. Fragments of andarz of possible Middle Persian origin are quoted and requoted in practically all adab compilations in Arabic, either juxtaposed with material from other sources, Islamic, Greek, Jewish, Indian, and ancient Arabic, or occasionally, presented under the distinctive heading of Persian wisdom. Some of this material was further translated from Arabic into New Persian, Hebrew and Syriac, and occasionally into other languages.

In some cases we find traces of Sasanian andarz in Arabic literature where they are not identified as Persian. This is true of certain texts which seem to be of Hellenistic Greek origin, such as the Serr al-asrār (known subsequently in Europe under the title Sec­retum secretorum), where it may be possible to surmise a combination of Persian and Hellenistic elements in the lost Greek original, rather than in the Arabic version. Other types of unacknowledged borrowing of Persian andarz into Arabic literature exist in some of the works of Ebn al-Moqaffaʿ, where only the existence of frag­ments of the Pahlavi original establish the fact of the borrowing (cf. Shaked, “From Iran to Islam,” Jerusalem Studies in Arabic and Islam 4, 1984, in press). Even Islamic religious literature, including collections of Hadith and of sayings by early ascetics (zohhād) seem to contain material possibly derived from Persian andarz sources, though it is much more difficult to establish such connections in detail.

Andarz literature must have existed, not only in Middle Persian, but also in other literary Middle Iranian languages, such as Parthian and Sogdian. At least one of the extant books in Pahlavi, Draxt asūrīg, is actually composed not in Middle Persian but in Parthian with some Middle Persian retouching (cf. Ch. Bartholomae, Zur Kenntnis der mitteliranischen Mund­arten IV, Heidelberg, 1922, pp. 23f.; E. Benveniste, in JA 217, 1930, pp. 193f.; C. J. Brunner, JNES 39, 1980, pp. 191f.); and fragments of Manichean collections of moral fables have come to light in Sogdian (cf. W. B. Henning, “Sogdian Tales,” BSOAS 11, 1945, pp. 465f.).

It seems unlikely that during the Sasanian period the andarz literature was still transmitted by oral means only. It may be assumed, on the contrary, that written collections were in circulation before the advent of Islam. Contemporary Syriac references to “Magian literature” may well refer to this type of writing, since the Avesta and the Zand seem to have had very limited circulation as written books in the pre-Islamic period. Islamic references to these works also imply written material (cf. above), but it is characteristic of this type of literature, which is nontechnical and popular in character, to have parallel oral transmission as well, the two modes of transmission interacting to some degree. The existence of Jewish, Christian, and Manichean litera­ture in Iran in the Sasanian period adds weight to this assumption of written transmission. It must, however, be noted that the extant manuscripts which contain andarz material in Pahlavi are all of a much later period, from the 14th century onwards.