History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

174 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. IV.

been sent to him, and the two learned “dasturs” of Bombay have also forwarded the oldest manuscripts in their possession. It is very gratifying to note here that one of them, Dastur Jamaspji Minocherji, has been specially honoured by the University of Tiibingen with the honorary degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Master of Arts as an acknowledgment of his high merits in the Pehlevi literature, and his extreme liberality in communicating the precious manuscripts of his Zend library. Besides those sent by these two high priests, other old manuscripts have been sent by Dastur Erachji Merjirana and other priests of Bombay. Of all these the manuscripts of the Pehlevi Yasna, Sanscrit Yasna, and Sanscrit Khordeh-Avesta belonging to Dastur Jamaspji are respectively 500, 600, and 500 years old.

Besides the Avesta in which the original Parsi Scriptures are unfolded, some of their religious books are written in other languages. They are all necessarily of a subsequent date. Among these languages Pehlevi is the foremost. We may give here a brief outline of. this language and of its hterature.

Pehlevi was the current language of the Sassanian epoch. The inscriptions and books in the times of this dynasty were all written in this language. Its alphabet is not as perfect as that of the Avesta. The