Jamjid

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Jamschid, in a Shahname edition

Jamschid , ( Persian جمشید, DMG Ǧamšīd ), also Dschemschīd , short form Dschem ( Persian جم Djam , DMG Ǧam ), or Yima on Avestan , is a figure of Iranian mythology . Jamschid appears as a famous ruler ( Jamschid Shah ) or king already in Zoroastrian writings, but also in later works of Persian literature as an outstanding or princely figure under whom a golden age of the world or Iran began.

etymology

The name Jamjid has two parts, Jam and Shid . These are derived from the original Avestan words Yima and Xšaēta . This in turn from the Proto-Iranian words * Yamah Xšaitah .

The word Yima and the related Sanskrit word Yama can be translated as twin . Accordingly, the word twin could indicate an original Indo-Iranian belief, but this is not proven in Iranian mythology.

With the conversion of the Y into a J and the loss of the final syllable, the Avestian Yima became the Middle Persian Jam.

Xšaitah means shining , bright or radiant . With the further development of the Iranian languages, Xšaitah became the word Shēd (Xš → š (sch); ai → ē; t → d between vowels and the loss of the final syllable). In Iranian Persian , the ē became an ī, so that in Iran it is called Jamschīd , while it is still pronounced Jamschēd in Persian Afghanistan and Tajikistan .

Jamshid is still a popular name today. In Turkey the name is shortened to Cem.

Parallels between the Yima from the Avesta and the Yama from the Vedas

Yima is the son of Vivaŋhat and also the Hindu Yama is the son of Vivasvat . In both cases the name of the father can be translated as "He who radiates".

But in contrast to Yima, the Yama from the Vedas is the first man on earth and Yami is his consort. In contrast, the first human pair in the Avesta is called Maschya and Maschyana.

Yima at the Avesta

When Zarathustra asked his god Ahura Mazda with whom he had first discussed the Daena , i.e. the religious teachings, the religious order, he told him that it was Yima (older form of Jamschid). But since he refused Ahura Mazda's request to keep the Daena in memory and to support him, he made him the overseer and protector of the world and cattle, the first ruler ( Vendidad 2: 1-5). As insignia, Yima received a gold ring and a staff.

Under Yima, all good people lived a life free of sickness and poverty. Since the living things did not die at that time, the earth was overcrowded after three hundred winters. In response to a warning from Ahura Mazda, Yima turned to the Amshaspand , the benevolent immortals of the earth, with his ruler's insignia ring and staff , asking them to expand the earth by a third so that more people and cattle could be fed (Vendidad 2.8 -19). But after six hundred years the same problem arose again. So Yima asked the spirits to expand the earth again. They did it. After nine hundred years the earth was overcrowded again, so Yima had to ask the spirits again.

The text of the Avesta further reports that Ahura Mazda called a gathering of the venerable, the Yima and the people in the first perfect land, Airyanem Vaejah . He announced a great long winter. Yima was supposed to protect people and creatures by building a fortress (Avestish Vara) at the behest of Ahura Mazda, in which he gathered the seeds of physically immaculate people, animals, plants and fire. Special lights burned in the fortress and a year seemed like a day to people (Vendidad 2: 20-41). Yima built the cave by stomping his foot and forming the earth like clay. He built buildings and roads and brought nearly 2000 people there. After completion, he sealed the vara with a gold ring.

A much older Middle Persian text, which is understood as an interpretation of even older documents, predicts that the murderer Zarathustra of the Tur Bratoreres will emerge in the end times and cause heavy rains in winter, snowfalls and hail in summer, so that all people will die . The earth will then be repopulated from Yimas Fortress. ( Big Bundahisn 3 3,30)

Jamjid in Shāhnāme - Legend IV

In the Shāhnāme of Firdausi , Jamshid is the grandson of Hushang and the fourth king of the world from the Pishdadians . He ruled over all beasts, demons (diws) and angels in the world. He was king and at the same time the highest priest of Ormozd (Middle Persian for Ahura Mazda ). As a powerful king, he came up with all sorts of inventions that simplified people's lives. So he invented the weaving and dyeing of cloth, wool and silk and completed spinning and weaving in a period of 50 years. He also created armor and weapons for 50 years. He laid mines, discovered precious stones and built houses out of bricks. He invented perfume, wine, navigation at sea and invented the art of healing . In the third 50 years of his rule, he divided society into classes (priests, warriors, farmers and artisans). Since the days of the first King Gayomarth , when people were still uncivilized, people did not live any better than they did in Jamjid's time.

Jamjid is sawn in half before Zahak

Jamjid considered himself divine:

"In me," he said, "God's light,
I am a prince and no less a priest.
I cut the hand of evil from evil,
And every mind is turned towards the light. "

Jamjid was the first king to give society a structure by introducing a kind of division of labor and thus creating four social classes:

  1. Priest (Arthurian)
  2. Warrior (nisarian)
  3. Farmers (Nesudi)
  4. Craftsman (Anuchoschi)

Ferdosi ascribes the establishment of the New Year festival Nouruz to Jamschid .

“There sat like the shining sun in the air,
The Shah, who does not revoke any command.
They stood strewn with jewels, they
called the day New Year's Day.
The beginning of the year, the hormone of Ferwedin
, when the joy of the world appeared.
...
From those days such a happy day
remained for us from that prince. "

On the first day of Farvardin , Nouruz is still celebrated today. With the Parsees in India this day is still called “Jamshēd-i Nawrōz” .

At that time people knew neither death nor toil and work. The Diws did all the work and the people lived in heavenly conditions. But that should be over after 700 years. With the continued rule of Jamshid, his egomania grew immeasurably. At the end of his reign, Jamjid claimed that people should worship him as a creator god. Then Jamjid's divine splendor was extinguished, divine grace escaped in the form of a bird and people refused to follow him. Jamjid regretted his act, but it didn't help. The deity had turned away from him, the golden age ended and the foundation stone for the subsequent reign of the evil Zahak was laid.

At this point Ferdosi opens a new chapter in the epic: He tells the story of Mirdas the Arab and Bedouin king, and his son Zahak, a servant of Ahriman . Zahak or Dhohhak, as Rückert calls him, challenged Jamshid after he had previously, seduced by Iblis , murdered his father and seized his throne. The Iranian princes, who refused to obey Jamjid, supported Zahak and proclaimed him the new Shah. Jamjid fled from Zahak, but was caught and killed by him. Zahak, who became a monster through a pact with Ahriman, from whose shoulder two snakes grew that fed on human brains, is portrayed as a dragon king who only has evil, murder, robbery and pillage in mind. Under his rule, humanity fell back into a dark time without civilization.

According to Iranian self-image, Persepolis , Greek for "city of the Persians", symbolizes the capital of Jamshid. The site is therefore called Tacht-e Jamschid (The Throne of Jamschid) in Iran . Likewise, the graves with sculptures of the Achaemenid and Sassanid kings are attributed to the legendary hero Rostam . The tomb is therefore still called Naqsch-e Rostam today .

The chalice of Jamjid

The legend of Jamschid's chalice or goblet, a kind of "Holy Grail", is not included in the Schahname. Jamschid forgot that all his power, his knowledge of the world, which he obtained from a crystal chalice ("chalice of Jamschid", Persian جام جم, DMG Ǧām-e Ǧam ), and his ability was given to him by God, which ended the Golden Age.

literature

  • Michael Stausberg: Zarathustra and his religion . CH Beck, Munich 2005, p. 46-47 .
  • Friedrich Rückert : Firdosi's Book of Kings (Schahname), Sage I – XIII. 1890. Reprint: epubli GmbH, Berlin, 2010, pp. 17–32.
  • Grethe Auer : Dschemschid: episode in three acts (using an old Iranian legend). , Francke, Bern 1905
  • Manuel Sommer: The Hakim of Nischapur Omar Chajjám and his Rubaijat , based on old and recent Persian manuscript finds , Pressler, Wiesbaden 1974, pp. 72 and 115 (Dschemschid: "Yima der Glänzende")
  • Geo Widengren : Iranian Gnosticism. In: Iranian Spiritual World from the Beginnings to Islam. Baden-Baden 1961, (licensed edition for Bertelsmann Lesering) pp. 251–279, in particular pp. 263–279 ( Der Urmensch and Urkönig Yima ).
  • Peter Lamborn Wilson , Karl Schlamminger: Weaver of Tales. Persian Picture Rugs / Persian tapestries. Linked myths. Callwey, Munich 1980, ISBN 3-7667-0532-6 , pp. 79-139 ( The Kings ), here: pp. 80 f. ( Jamschid Shah ) and 104 f.
  • Uta von Witzleben : Firdausi: Stories from the Schahnameh. Eugen Diederichs Verlag, Düsseldorf and Cologne 1960, pp. 22–26.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Jürgen Ehlers (ed. And trans.): Abū'l-Qāsem Ferdausi: Rostam - The legends from the Šāhnāme . Philipp Reclam jun., Stuttgart 2002, p. 365
  2. ↑ Friedrich Rückert: Firdosi's King Book (Schahname) Sage I-XIII. 2010, p. 17.
  3. ↑ Friedrich Rückert: Firdosi's King Book (Schahname) Sage I-XIII. 2010, p. 20.
  4. ↑ Omar-i-Khajjam : Sayings. Translated from the Persian by Friedrich Rosen , Insel-Verlag, 5th edition. Leipzig 1973 (= Insel-Bücherei, 407), pp. 20 and 61.
  5. ↑ The songs of Mirza-Schaffy with a prologue by Friedrich Bodenstedt. 152nd ed., R. v. Decker's Verlag, Berlin 1896, p. 5 ("Becher Jamschid")
predecessor Office successor
Tahmorath King of Shahnameh
100 - 800 to Gayomarth 		Zahhak