Twice Told

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Sanjana, The Karname i Artakhshir i Papakan (Bombay, 1896): the Worm chapters, English translation and notes

Language
English
Read from
printed pp. 24, 27, 29, 30, 33, 34, 36, 37 (archive.org leaves n69, n72, n74, n75, n78, n79, n81, n82; printed page = leaf number minus 45)
Reading
transcribed from the page image
Retrieved
6 October 2026

Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana’s edition of the Middle Persian Kārnāmag ī Ardashīr ī Pābagān has the Pahlavi text in Roman letters, an English translation with notes, and a Gujarati translation. The title page of the scan reads “The Karname i Artakhshir i Papakan, being the oldest surviving records of the Zoroastrian emperor Ardashir Babakan”, Bombay, Education Society’s Steam Press, 1896. This file keeps the English of Chapters VI to VIII where the Worm appears, with the notes that bear on the metal and the name. Chapter numbers here are Sanjana’s; Antia (1900) numbers the same episodes X, XII and XIII.

Original

[p. 24, Chapter VI, 1] (1) On the road the army of Haftân-bôkht, the lord of the Worm, struck against them, seized the entire wealth, property, and portable lodges from those cavalry soldiers of Artakhshîr, and carried them into Gûzârân, one of the boroughs of Gular, where the Worm had its abode.

[p. 24, note 3] The proper name, Haftân-bôkht, means literally ‘freed from the evil influence of the seven planets.’ According to Mod. Pers. ‘a son,’ it means ‘having seven sons,’ and this signification is consistent with the statement in the text (Chap. VI, § 14) that he ‘had seven sons’.

[p. 24, note 4] The Dragon that was worshipped by Haftân-bôkht and his subjects. Compare the mythical stories relating to the battle of Apollo against Python (the monster serpent hatched from the mud of Deucalion’s deluge, and slain near Delphi by Apollo), of Heracles against Hydra, and of Indra against Vritra.

[p. 24, note 6, on the place name] D., P. [Pahlavi forms] ; Firdûsi [Persian form] which supports my reading of the name … Prof. Noeldeke reads it ‘Kôchârân’; Dastur Peshotanji ‘Gûlâl.’

[p. 27, Chapter VI, 14 and 15] (14) The lord of the Worm, Haftân-bôkht, had seven sons, and each of them was appointed (by him) governor of a city with one thousand men (under him). (15) At this juncture, one of the sons, who was in Arvastân, came by the passage of a sea, with a large army composed of soldiers from Arabia and Mazenderân, and stood against Artakhshîr in battle.

[p. 27, note 7] Mêzanyagân, Av. Mâzainya, from Mâzana meaning ‘Mâzenderân,’ hence the inhabitants of Mâzenderân. Dr. Noeldeke guesses Misrîkân ‘Egyptians,’ which is doubtful.

[p. 29, Chapter VI, 21 and 22, to p. 30] (21) That very moment a long arrow, despatched from the fortress, came down and pierced, as far as its feathers, through the (roasted) lamb that was on the table. (22) On the arrow it was written as follows:- “This arrow is darted by the troops of the lord of [p. 30] the glorious Worm; we ought not to kill a great man like you, so we have struck that (roasted) lamb.”

[p. 33, Chapter VII, 11, to p. 34] (11) But we understand [it thus] that a means can be sought against this deceitful creature if thou shouldst dress thyself after the fashion of an inhabitant of some distant city, on (thy) way to the fortress, [and] devote thyself personally in its service and worship (viz. of the Worm), [and] take there (with thee) two men who are religious pupils and persons conversant with the Revelation, [and] perform loudly with them the yazishne (adoration) and azbâishne (extollings) of God and the Ameshaspends (arch-angels); and when the time of the Worm comes for taking food, so arrange that thou shouldst have some molten brass for pouring it into the mouth of that wicked creature, [p. 34] so that it dies, and the spirit of that drûj, too, can be removed by the sacred adoration and extollings of the Deity.

[p. 33, note 11] Av. rudh ‘to flow’; Pers. rûyîn ‘brazen,’ ‘bronze;’ probably ‘some compound metal more fusible than ordinary brass.’

[p. 36, Chapter VIII, 9 to 11] (9) When it was its time for taking food the Worm cried aloud according to its daily habit. (10) Some time before that, Artakhshîr had made the commanding idolaters drunk and unconscious at breakfast, and he himself, with his own companions, went afterwards near the Worm, and carried to it the blood of large and small cattle, according as it was given it every day; and no sooner did the Worm turn up its mouth to drink the blood, than Artakhshîr poured the molten brass into the mouth of the Worm. (11) As the brass permeated through the whole body, the Worm burst asunder into two pieces, and such a noise arose from it that all the men in the fortress came on the spot, and confusion prevailed throughout the stronghold.

[p. 36, note 7: “Firdûsi describes the scene in the following lines”, first line as printed, Persian] بیاورد ارزیز و روئین لوید

[p. 37, Chapter VIII, 15 to 17] (15) Instantly the sword was held for use; and in such a manner the lord of the castle was killed, and everything destroyed, that the soldiers (of Haftân-bôkht), in the hurry and conflict of the battle, escaped by falling from the rampart, while those that remained solicited for protection, and went into bondage and submission. (16) Artakhshîr commanded that the fortress should be razed to the ground and demolished, while on its site (tamman) he ordered the city which they call Gûzârân to be erected. (17) In that quarter he caused an Âtash-î-Vâhrâm to be enthroned.

Translation

Sanjana’s English is the published translation. The Persian line in the p. 36 note begins “he brought” and then names two substances, arzîz and rûyîn, before a last word we have not parsed. We did not find a gloss of arzîz in any source we read, and the translators of the Shahnameh render it differently (see the Warner, Mohl and Marcus-Takeshita rows in sources.md).

Notes

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