Menog-i Khrad
Also known as: Mēnōg ī Xrad, Minog-i Khirad, Menog-i Khirad, The Spirit of Wisdom
A Middle Persian wisdom dialogue in which a sage questions the Spirit of Wisdom on creation, ethics, fate, and the afterlife. It systematizes Zoroastrian doctrine on good and evil, judgment, and final restoration.
Description
The Menog-i Khrad (Spirit of Wisdom) is a concise Pahlavi wisdom text cast as a series of questions posed by a mortal sage to a personified Spirit of Wisdom. In compact answers it treats the origins of the cosmos, the moral struggle between Ohrmazd and Ahriman, human free will and fate, ritual conduct, and the soul’s journey after death across the Chinvat Bridge. The work outlines categories of sin and merit, the gradations of heaven and hell, and the doctrine of final renovation (frashokereti) with resurrection and the defeat of evil. Drawing on older Avestan theology but expressed in Middle Persian prose, it became a touchstone for later Zoroastrian catechesis and apologetic.
Historiography
Surviving in later Pahlavi codices, the text likely crystallized from late Sasanian scholastic circles and was transmitted in copies made between the 14th and early modern centuries. E. W. West’s 19th-century edition and translation made it widely accessible, and subsequent Iranological studies have refined readings of technical terms and doctrinal nuances. It is frequently cited alongside Bundahishn and Dādestān ī Dēnīk as a key witness to post-Avestan Zoroastrian theology.
Date Notes
Middle Persian (Pahlavi) composition probably with late Sasanian roots and early Islamic-era redaction; extant copies are much later manuscript transmissions.
Archetypes
Major Characters
- Menog-i Khrad
- Sage
- Ahura Mazda
- Angra Mainyu
Myths
- Dialogues with the Spirit of Wisdom
- Cosmic Order, Fate, and Duty
- Counsels for the Good Religion
Facts
- Cast as a dialogue between a human sage and the personified Spirit of Wisdom.
- Composed in Middle Persian (Pahlavi) prose with technical Zoroastrian terminology.
- Addresses theodicy by explaining the temporary mixture of good and evil.
- Affirms human free will while acknowledging constraints of fate and fortune.
- Details the weighing of deeds at the Chinvat Bridge by Mithra, Rashnu, and Sraosha.
- Describes graded states of heaven and hell prior to the final renovation.
- Links ethical conduct and ritual purity to postmortem destiny.
- Summarizes eschatology: resurrection, molten-metal ordeal, and annihilation of evil.
- Frequently transmitted with other Pahlavi doctrinal compilations in later codices.
- Standard 19th-century English edition and translation were published by E. W. West.