Societas Iranologica Europaea

State Hermitage Museum

Institute of Oriental Manuscripts of the

Russian Academy of Sciences

Abstracts
Electronic Edition

Saint-Petersburg 2015
http://ecis8.orientalstudies.ru/

Eighth European Conference of Iranian Studies. Abstracts

the manuscript he is referring to was indeed manuscript Dorn 306, and who this copy was
intended for.
Arthur Ambartsumian
The Problem of Wahrm Warzwand/Amwand in the Pahlavi Texts
and Two Main Apocalyptic Versions of His Future Arrival
King Wahrm, entitled as Warzwand or Amwand, is one of the important figures in
the late Pahlavi apocalyptic literature. The main story of his future arrival is attested in two
originally untitled and different by style small Pahlavi texts: On the Coming of King Wahrm
Having Miraculous Power (Abar madan h Wahrm Warzwand) (Mss. MK, JJ, DP)
[Pahlavi Texts, I-II, 1897-1913, 52, 160-161] and On the Coming of King Wahrm Powerful
(Abar madan h Wahrm Amwand) (Ms. E. Blochet, Paris) [Blochet, 1895, 1-3, 241-243,
251-253]. The first one, which is a mostly poetic text, resembling an Arabian or Persian
rhymed qada, has been widely studied and translated by European and Iranian scholars, is of
a later origin (10-11th cc.) and strongly influenced by New Persian grammar and has some
Arabic words (gazd poll-tax, aslg natural tax, mazgt mosque). The second one is an
earlier prosaic Pahlavi text of the same post-Sasanian period, having less new influences and
preserving better the original Middle Persian grammar. It enumerates more wide range of
Iranian enemies, besides Arabs (tzgn), among them are Turanians (trng), Byzantines
(hrm), Chinese (nstn), and demons of Mazanya (mzngn). This Blochets text may be
closer to the excluded by J. M. Jamasp-Asana version of the Ms. Ta (Tahmuras collection),
because of differences in the second part of the text. This part of the paper is based on my own
compared translations and research of the two texts.
The role of king Wahrm consists in liberation of the Iranian lands from invaders
(Arabs) at the beginning of the millennium of Oshedar, apocalyptic son of Zarathushtra. In the
abovementioned text On the Coming of King Wahrm Having Miraculous Power he will
come to Iran from India with one thousand elephants. According to Zand Wohuman Yasn
he will arise from China or India as a king of the Kayanid dynasty and with the help of
Pashutan, son of king Wishtasp, will liberate Iran. In Bundahishn he, as Kay-Wahrm, is
glorified as a restorer of the Zoroastrian faith. His deeds and names are also mentioned in the
New Persian poem Zartusht-Nmah, Pahlavi Rivayats, and calendar texts.
The origin of this figure in the later Zoroastrian apocalyptic tradition will be widely
discussed in this paper (Avestan yazata Vrrana; five Sasanian kings with the name
Wahrm, including Wahrm Gr and Wahrm Chbn; Wahram, son of the last Sasanian king
Yazdegerd III, whose name was presumably mentioned on a funerary stele near Luoyang in
China as Aluohan, according to A. Fortes article).
Khalil Ahmad Arab
Marriage in Afghanistan
Its Contribution to Domestic Violence and other Social Ills
Marriage, with no doubt, is one of the greatest concerns for every adult male in
Afghanistan. In a country with crippling economy, high unemployment rate and an annual per
capita GPD of only 528 USD in 2010/11, young Afghans are finding it increasingly difficult to