On vürayna the Royal Falcon
By A. Sh. Shahbazi, Göttingen
In ZDMG 131 (I98I), 158-9 there appeared a note on the Avestan
värdyna^ that invites some comments.
According to Fo^i XIX, 34-5, the (God-given) Fortune (X'ardnah) left
Yima the King in the shape of a bird called värdyna after he had sinned.
Late in the last century, scholars entertained the idea that the word
värdyna may have survived in Pahlavi väräy, Balüchi guräy, and New
Persian kaläy, all signifying 'crow, raven', and all related to Greek xopa^
and xopuvT) as well as to Latin corvus, comix, etc., of the same
meanings.'' The 'crow' or 'raven', however, was an unsuitable form for
the Avestan concept of the (God-given) Fortune,* so it was abandoned
by philologists, especially by Ch. Bartholomae.'' By early this
century, the word was usually translated as 'eagle', and in 1911, M. J.
Charpentier firmly supported this interpretation." Subsequent
studies have generally confirmed a meaning such as 'hawk', 'falcon', or
'royal falcon'. Thus, it became known that the word survived in Sogdian
as w'ryn'y (to read wäraynay- < värayna-ka) or w'r'yn'y, w'ryn'k, etc., and
that it was rendered in Chinese as yan-ying, i. e., 'hawk'.' Further, the
' The form vdrmgan is Bartholomae 's reconstruction from the attested
genitive varmjinahe in Yaäl XIV, 35. The correct form värayna (proved by
dialectal attestations, see below), is used throughout this note.
^ Ali Hassuri: Avestan vdrmgan. In: ZDMG 131 (1981), 158-9.
' Originaffy based evidentiy on a surmise of Dastür Däräb; see J. Darmes¬
teter: Le Zand Avesta. Paris 1892-93, II, 566; P. Horn: Grundriss der neuper¬
sischen Etymology. Strassburg 1893, p. 192 (No. 862), and H. Hübschmann:
Persische Studien. Strassburg 1895, No. 862 (with references supplied by Th.
Nöldeke).
■* So Horn, loc. cit.
^ Altiranisches Wörterbuch, Strassburg 1904, 1412.
* Kleine Beiträge zur indoiranische Mythologie. Uppsala 1911, 59.
' E. Benveniste: Sur trois noms d'etres dans l'avesta. In: Journal ofthe Cama Oriental Institutes (1925), 19f and (inBENVENiSTB-RENOu): Vrtraet Vr&rayna.
Paris 1934, 34; D. N. MacKenzie: The 'Sutra of the causes and effects of Actions'
in Sogdian. London 1970, 20-21, 73.
On i'är,>yna the Royal Falcon 315
Xwärazmian language also preserved the word in the form of w'ryn'k
with the meaning of 'royal falcon'.'* Finally, B. H. Stricker made a
thorough examination of the origin and history of värdyna and demon¬
strated that the Iranian art took its symbolism of värayna as a falcon
from Egyptian prototypes."
Now Dr. Ali Hassuri has proposed anew the identification oivärayna
with the raven (ofthe type Raven Corvus Corax), and has connected it
wdth Pahlavi varäy. New Persian kaldy, adding that "in literary Persian it is called yuräb". His identification is based on the similarity between
the sounds of these words'" and on an interpretation of YaSt XIV, 19:
"scholars did not pay enough attention to the fact that in the 19th
stanza of the same YaSt, VaraGrayna (Mars) enters the eighth sign of the
Zodiac in the form of a värdyna which leaves no doubt about värdyna
being a 'raven' because in the old world the eighth sign of the Zodiac
was shown by a raven"."
These reasonings are interesting but inadmissible. The phonetic
approximations are merely superficial. Thus, yuräb is an Arabic word,
and as a well-know Semitic appellation, it is attested in the Qur'än,'^
and is, therefore, not to be brought into connexion with the Avestan
värdyna. Again, VaraGrayna's appearance in the shape of the bird
värdyna does not relate to the raven of the eighth sign of the Zodiac for
a number of reasons. The Zodiac has twelve signs, whereas VaraGravna
assumed ten guises only'^ when he appeared to Zoroaster,'" and most of
them are not analogous to the signs ofthe Zodiac. Besides, värdynav/SiS
the seventh, not the eighth, form adopted by the god VaraGrayna, and a
shift in the order of appearance is not permissible. Since the preoccu¬
pation with the signs ofthe Zodiac developed with the syncretism of the
Hellenistic and Mesopotamian religious ideas, they must not be brought
into connexion with the much older hypostases of the Iranian god of
victory, VsraGrayna.
' Z. V. T. Togan: Khworezmian glossary of the Muqaddimat al-Ardb. Istanbul 1951, 56''; W. B. Henning: The Khwarezmian Larupiage. In: Zaki Velidi Togan'a
Armagan. Istanbul 1955, 421-36 and esp. 435.
" Var.)yna, <Äe/aZco». .In: IIJ (1963-64), 310-17.
"' ZDMG 131 (1981), 159.
" Ibid., 158.
" Qur'än XXXI, 5.
'■' VargGrayna's hypostases were: 1. as the Lord of the Wind (Väta); 2. a bull;
3. a white stallion with golden ears; 4. a camel; 5. a boar; 6. a youth; 7. the bird vänyna; 8. a ram; 9. a male goat, and 10. an armed warrior.
'" According to Ya,?t XIV, which is devoted to VarsOrayna; see also n. 13.
22 ZDMG 134/2
316 A. Sh. Shahbazi
Fig. 1. VaraGrayna (= ORLAGNO) on the KuSan coins
(after Herzfeld in: AMI 9 [1938], p. 109, fig. 5).
The identification of värdyna as the (royal) falcon is definitely estab¬
lished by its representations in Iranian iconography. Thus, some KüSän
coins portray VaraGrayna (= ORLAGNO) as a warrior armed with a
spear and a sword who wears the emblem of his bird, värdyna, in the
form ofthe falcon's long wings in his headdress (Fig. 1)."" Similarly, the
Sasanian Varahrän II (whose name is the Pahlavi form of the Avestan
VarsGrayna) wore the wings of the royal falcon in his crown to demon¬
strate his association with värdyna. One ofhis successors, Ohrmazd II,
adorned his crown with a full figure ofthe royal falcon, and other Sasan¬
ian kings wore the outstretched wings of the bird in their headdresses
(F. 2).'" Understandably, värdyna, whose feathers had amuletic power
useful in healing and protection against danger, furnished an appropri¬
ate emblem for the royal insignia, whereas the crow or raven, which
have sinister nature in Iranian traditions, would not have been consi¬
dered in connexion with royalty and god-given victory."
J. M. Rosenfield: The dynastic arts of the Kushans. Berkeley and Los
Angeles 1967, 95 with references and illustrations.
'" See particularly E. Herzfeld: Khurau Parwez und der Täq i Vastän. In:
Archäologische Mitteil, aus Iran [AMI] 9 (1938), 91-158 esp. llOf and K.
Erdmann: Die Entwicklung der sasanidisehen Krone. In: Ars Islamica 15/16
(1951), 87-123 esp. 97 fi".
" On Vänyna and its successors in Iranian iconography see A. Sh. Shah¬
bazi: An Achaemenid symbol II. Famah '(God-given) Fortune' symbolised. In:
AMI. NF 13 (1980), 119-47 esp. 137fl".
On vär dyna the Royal Falcon 31
Shihpuhrl Ohrmizdl U,. »'^
arhrän I Varhrän II
^ (a<]
^
Ohrmizdll ^^ihpuhrll 1 ^^ihpuhrll b
,^
\^
Varhrin IV Yazdcgerd I Varhran V
L^^
Pcrorl b Peröz I c Va!a^
Kaväd I a Kaväd I b Djämäsp
AS
Khusrau I Ohrmizd IV
Varhrin VI Khusrau II a Khusrau U b Khusrau II c Kaväd II
SfiüW itfi«' Ardnbirlll a ArdaUjirlll b
Siü^S^BtiP^
Börän
c«W-— ' 4»«
Ohrmizd V Vazdegtrd III Fig. 2. Crowns of the Sasanian kings
(after Ebdmann in: Ars Islamica 15/16 [1951], fig. 18).
Zu einem apokryphen Dhärapl-sütra aus China*
Von Herbert Franke, Gauting
Professor Erik Zürcher (Rijksuniversiteit Leiden) hat kürzlich ein¬
drücklich hervorgehoben, daß trotz der großen Zahl buddhistischer
Texte im chinesischen Tripitaka das Bild, welches wir uns daraus vom
Buddhismus in China machen können, recht einseitig ist. „A tiny
clerical establishment is working at imperial order in a handful of top-
level ofiicial monasteries; they are charged with the production of texts,
obviously as a magical protection for state and dynasty; the production
of those texts is to some extent regulated; their inclusion into the Canon (apparently an imperial prerogative) certainly is".' ZtJRCHER bezeich¬
net diese offiziell sanktionierten Texte als Teil der „Great Tradition"
des chinesischen Buddhismus. Diese aber war, so führt er weiter aus, im
Vergleich zu dem Gesamtphänomen Buddhismus in China nur hauch¬
dünn. „What about the vast body of innumerable little traditions — local
manifestations of Buddhist life as it existed among the people, far remo¬
ved from that world of texts, treatises, leamed doctors, impressive
rituals and rich endowments? What can we expect to find at those lower
levels?"^
Die Frage Zürchers können wir nicht generell beantworten. Statt¬
dessen soll versucht werden, hier eine chinesische Apokryphe vor¬
zustellen, die nun zweifellos zu der volkstümlichen Variante des Bud¬
dhismus gehört, zur „Little Tradition". Es handelt sich um eine Apo-
* Abkürzungen:
BD Mochizuki Shinkö: Bukkyö Daijiten. Tökyö: Sekai Shöten ''1958-
1963.
DKJ Morohashi Tetsu ji: Dai Kanwa Jiten. Repr. Taipei o.J.
Nj Bunyiu Nanjio: A Catalogue of the Chinese Translation of the Buddhist
Tripitaka. Repr. Tökyö 1929.
SH William Edward Soothill, Lewis Hodous: A Dietionary of Chi¬
nese Buddhist Terms. Repr. Taipei 1961.
T Taühö Shinshü Daizökyö. Tökyö 1924-1935.
' Erik Zürcher: Perspectives in the Study of Chinese Buddhism. In: JRAS
1982, 164.
^ Zürcher, op. cit., 165.
