The Jamasp Nameh[pronunciation?] (var: Jāmāsp Nāmag, Jāmāsp Nāmeh, "Story of
Jamasp") is a
Middle Persian book of revelations. In an extended sense, it is also a
primary source on
MedievalZoroastrian doctrine and legend. The work is also known as the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg or Ayātkār-ī Jāmāspīk, meaning "[In] Memoriam of Jamasp".
The text takes the form of a series of questions and answers between
Vishtasp and Jamasp, both of whom were amongst
Zoroaster's immediate and closest disciples. Vishtasp was the princely protector and patron of Zoroaster while Jamasp was a nobleman at Vishtasp's court. Both are figures mentioned in the
Gathas, the oldest hymns of Zoroastrianism and believed to have been composed by Zoroaster.
Here (chap. 3.6-7) there occurs a striking theological statement, that
Ohrmazd’s creation of the seven
Amašaspands was like lamps being lit one from another, none being diminished thereby.[1]
The text has survived in three forms:
a
Pahlavi manuscript, that is, a rendering of the Middle Persian language using an
Aramaic-derived script and accompanied by Aramaic
ideograms. The Pahlavi manuscript is damaged and fragmented.
a transmission in
Pazand, that is, a rendering of the Middle Persian language using Avestan script (also an Aramaic derivative) but without any non-Iranian vocabulary. The
Pazend version has survived in its entirety.
a Modern
Persian translation in
Arabic script has also survived. It is slightly younger than the other two manuscripts.
See also
The
Dēnkard, a 10th-century compendium of the Zoroastrian beliefs and customs.
Contemporary Persian and Classical Persian are the same language, but writers since 1900 are classified as contemporary. At one time, Persian was a common cultural language of much of the non-Arabic Islamic world. Today it is the official language of
Iran,
Tajikistan and one of the two official languages of
Afghanistan.