Mashya and Mashyana ( Avest . Martya and Martyanag, cf. Persian Mashya and Mashyan, Mihri and Mihriyans; later Mahliya and Makhliyanag) - in the Iranian mythology of the first people. The story about them contained in the lost “Akhvesta” [1] of Chikhrdad-naska, was preserved in the exposition of “ Bundakhishn ”, a number of references are also in the “ Denkard ”. They are not mentioned in the early Avestan texts, nor in the later Shahnam .
Myth
They grew out of the Earth - Spandarmad , which got the seed of Gaillard , after 40 years, originally in the form of rhubarb, and after another 15 years they took the shape of people, but their bodies were fused at the waist. Then Ormazd addressed them with a speech, calling them the parents of the world and indicating that they should carry out the acts of faith and do good thoughts, words and deeds, and they realized that all the good in the world was created by Ormazd. However, the Evil spirit defiled their thoughts, and they spoke of the creation of certain things by an evil spirit and thereby sinned, for which they went to hell [2] .
The story of how Mashya and Mashyane first ate water, then plants, and then switched from milk to meat food [3] , has a number of parallels in Iranian literature (in particular, it is indicated that the millennium of Khushidarmakh is the last but one in the existence of the world, order changes in nutrition will be the opposite - from meat food to vegetarianism and water [4] ). Eliade points out that in many archaic myths the first couple is of vegetable origin (cf. Ask and Embla ) and does not feel the need for food, and the sin of Iranian heroes consists in simultaneously eating food and lying [5] . According to Denkard , Ormazd himself showed Mashya and Mashyana how to sow grain and plow on bulls [6] .
According to Bundakhishnu , for 30 days they wandered without food, after which they met a white goat in the steppe and began to drink its milk, which caused Masha's second deceitful speech. After another 30 days, they killed a black sheep, lit a fire by friction of two types of wood and roasted a sheep on a spit, devoting part of the meat to fire, and part to the gods (but this share is eaten by a kite), after which they made clothes from the skin. They learned how to make clothes from yarn, made an iron ax, and then they quarreled and began to venerate the devas , milking a cow and pouring milk to the north. [7]
For 50 years, they had no desire to get closer, but then they desired each other and connected. After 9 months, they had twins (a boy and a girl), but they looked so “delicious” that one child was eaten by a mother and the other by a father. Then Ormazd deprived the children of attractiveness, and subsequent children survived. Masha and Mashyana gave birth to another 7 pairs [8] of twins (one pair: Siyamak and Vashak, or Nisak), and the brother and sister of each pair married each other, and human races came from them. Mashya and Mashyane died after 100 years. [9] (according to another estimate, they lived in a marriage for 93 years until the reign of Khushang began [10] .)
With the resurrection of the dead, they will come to life immediately after Guyard [11] .
In some Manichaean texts, the first people are named after Gehmurd and Murdiyanag [12] (in others, Adam and Eve ), and the story about them carries Zoroastrian influence [13] .
Notes
- ↑ Denkard VIII 13, 1
- ↑ Great Bundahishn VIf 9; XIV 6-16; Xxxiii 1; Small Bundakhishn, ch. 15 (Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. S.284-285)
- ↑ Great Bundahishness XXXIV 1; Small Bundakhishn, ch.30 (Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. S.305)
- ↑ Great Bundahishness XXXIV 2-3; Chunakova O. M. Pahlavi Dictionary ... M., 2004. P.146
- ↑ Eliade M. History of faith and religious ideas. T.2. M., 2002. P.268
- ↑ Denkard VII 1, 11-12
- ↑ The Great Bundahishn XIV 17-27; Small Bundakhishn, ch. 15 (Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. S.285-286)
- ↑ according to The Big Bundahishnu (XIV 32), 6 pairs
- ↑ The Great Bundahishn XIV 28-33; Small Bundakhishn, ch. 15 (Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. P.286)
- ↑ Big Bundahishn XXXVI 4 (there is a discrepancy: 93 years and 6 months); Small Bundakhishn, chap. 34 (Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. S.310)
- ↑ Great Bundahishness XXXIV 6; Small Bundakhishn, ch.30 (Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. S.306)
- ↑ Khosroev A.L. History of Manichaeism. St. Petersburg, 2007. P.153
- ↑ Mythologies of the ancient world. M., 1977. S. 347
Sources and research
Sources:
- Zoroastrian texts. M., 1997. S. 286-288, 305, 306.
- Denkard III 26, 2; 65, 10 (with reference to the "Avesta"); 65, 11 (on the message of faith to them); 80 (on the consanguineous marriage of children); 209 (interpretation of names); 312; V 1, 5; VII 1, 9-14 (on cultural acts); 2, 70 (pedigree)
Research:
- The mythology of the ancient world. M., 1977. S. 346-347.
- Myths of the peoples of the world. In 2 t. T. 2. M., 1992. P.121 (article by L. A. Lelekov)
- Chunakova O. M. Pahlavi dictionary of Zoroastrian terms, mythical characters and mythological symbols. M., 2004. S.145-146.