Bundahishn

The Bundahishn is a Zoroastrian text, written in Middle Persian, that recounts the creation of the world and its eventual destruction.

The title means "primal creation" or "original creation." It describes cosmic history from the perspective of ancient Persian religion—the struggle between good and evil, the origins of humans and animals, and prophecies about the end times.

The work exists in two versions, one longer than the other, both compiled from older sources in the ninth century CE.

text

manuscript

Original text before publication

Middle PersianClassical Iranian language stage
scriptureSacred religious writings
codexAncient bound manuscript

compilation · redaction · chapters · translation · commentary · exegesis · prose · recension · colophon · copyist

cosmogony

creation

Making something exist

genesisPoint of creation
primordialExisting from the start
mixtureCombined but unbonded substances

separation · cosmos · firmament · sky · earth · water · fire · plants · animals · humanity

Zoroastrian

dualism

Philosophy of opposed pairs

fire templeZoroastrian house of worship
ZarathustraAncient Persian religious founder
purityUncontaminated quality

Amesha Spentas · righteousness · good and evil

mythology

demons

Malevolent supernatural beings

world treeCosmic connector of realms
sacred riversReligiously venerated flowing waters

Bundahishn

manuscript

creation

dualism

demons

Bundahishn

Opposites

Categories