Lesser Bundahishn
Also known as: Smaller Bundahishn, Indian Bundahishn, Bundahishn (Indian recension)
A concise Pahlavi compendium of Zoroastrian cosmology and sacred history, the Lesser Bundahishn outlines creation, the 9,000-year struggle between Ohrmazd and Ahriman, world geography, calendrics, and the final renovation.
Description
The Lesser Bundahishn is the Indian, shorter recension of a Middle Persian cosmological handbook that synthesizes Avestan lore with Sasanian scholastic tradition. It narrates the emanation of the spiritual and material creations, Ahriman’s assault and the preordained contest of epochs, and the formation of mountains, waters, plants, animals, metals, and humankind from primordial prototypes. Its chapters survey heavens, stars, winds, climates, the seven keshvars, and the paths of sun and moon; they also treat calendars, liturgical seasons, and omens. Interwoven mythic episodes—Tishtrya’s rain-bringing battle, the fall and propagation of the first human pair, and the binding of Dahāg—anchor the cosmography in sacred time, culminating in eschatology: the Chinvat judgment, resurrection, and Frashokereti.
Historiography
Preserved in later Pahlavi manuscripts transmitted chiefly in India, the Lesser Bundahishn abbreviates the Iranian ‘Greater’ Bundahishn while retaining core cosmological chapters. E. W. West published the first full English translation from Indian copies in the Sacred Books of the East. Later editions and studies—Anklesaria’s readings and modern critical work—compare the two recensions and align passages with Avestan sources. The text’s reception shaped later Zoroastrian cosmography and historical myth in both Iranian and Parsi traditions.
Date Notes
Indian (shorter) recension of a Pahlavi cosmological compendium based on earlier Sasanian materials; redacted post-Islamic in Iran and India.
Archetypes
Symbols
Major Characters
- Ahura Mazda
- Angra Mainyu
- Gayomart
- Yima
- Anahita
Myths
- Creation by Ohrmazd
- Assault of Ahriman
- The Mixture and the 9,000-Year Contest
- Cosmography of the World
- Resurrection and Frashokereti
Facts
- The Lesser Bundahishn is the shorter Indian recension; the Greater (Iranian) recension is fuller and differently arranged.
- It is written in Middle Persian (Pahlavi) with numerous Avestan loanwords and citations.
- Its cosmology structures history into fixed epochs culminating in Frashokereti (final renovation).
- Chapters catalog the seven keshvars (world regions) and detail Iranian sacred geography.
- Tishtrya’s myth explains monsoon and rainfall cycles via a celestial battle with Apaosha.
- The deaths of Gayomard and the Primordial Bull generate metals, plants, animals, and humankind.
- Judgment occurs at the Chinvat Bridge by Mithra, Sraosha, and Rashnu measuring deeds.
- The text harmonizes Avestan passages with Sasanian scholastic exegesis (zand).
- Calendrical sections align festivals and gāhānbārs with cosmological phases.
- Eschatology describes resurrection, a molten-metal ordeal, and the defeat of Ahriman.
- Transmission in Parsi circles produced distinctive readings and abbreviations versus the Iranian recension.
- E. W. West’s 19th-century translation made the text widely accessible in English.