Pahlavi Texts, Part II (SBE18), E.W. West, tr. [1882], at sacred-texts.com
1. As to the eighty-ninth question and reply, that which you ask is thus: Who, and how many are they who are without the religion (adînôîh) but are made immortal, and for what purpose is their immortality? 2. Where is the place they, each one, possess sovereignty, and in the place where they possess sovereignty are there people of the good religion of every kind, or how are they; are there sacred fires 2 and appointed worship, or how is
it; and for what purpose is each one of their sovereignties?
3. The reply is this, that the immortal rulers of the region of glory, Khvanîras 1, are said to be seven: one is Yôstô, son of Fryân 2; the Avesta name of one is Yakhmâyûsad 3, son of the same Fryân; the name of one is Fradhakhstŏ, son of the Khumbîks 4; the name of one is Ashavazang, son of Pôrûdakhstôîh 5; one is the tree opposed to harm 6;
one is Gôpatshah 1; and one is Peshyôtanû 2, who is called after the Kîtravôkŏ-mîyânŏ 3.
4. The reign of Gôpatshah is over the land of Gôpatŏ 4, coterminous with Aîrân-vêg 5, on the bank (bar) of the water of the Dâîtîh 6; and he keeps watch over the ox Hadhayãs 7, through whom occurs the complete perfection of primitive man 8. 5. The reign of Peshyôtanû is in Kangdez 9, and he resides in the illustrious Kangdez which the noble Sîyâvash 10 formed through his glory, he who is called the erratic youth 11 of the illustrious Kayânians. 6. And through his powerful spirit arose increase of cultivation and the ruler Kaî-Khûsrôî 12 among the highest of the mountains in the countries of
[paragraph continues] Irân and Tûrân; the purity of the sacred fire 1 of great glory and the recital of the liturgy exist there, and the practice of religious rites (dînô) is provided. 7. The custom, also, of him (Peshyôtanû) and his companions and coadjutors (ham-bâr), in the appointed millenniums, is the great advancement of religion and good works in other quarters likewise 2.
8. But, secondly, as to the whereabouts of the places which are theirs--just like his--of which there is no disquisition by me, this also is even owing to my not remembering 3.
255:2 Literally 'fires of Varahrân' (see Chap. XXXI, 7).
256:1 The central one of the seven regions of the earth, which is supposed to contain all the countries best known to the Iranians, and to be as large as the other six regions put together (see Bd. XI, 2-6). The name is here corrupted into Khvanâîras.
256:2 Av. Yôistô yô Fryananãm of Âbân Yt. 81, Fravardîn Yt. 120, who had to explain ninety-nine enigmas propounded to him by the evil Akhtya. In Pâz. this name is corrupted into Gôst-î Fryânô, whose explanation of thirty-three enigmas propounded by Akht the wizard, and proposal of three enigmas in his turn form the subject of a Pahlavi tale published with AV. He is not included among the immortals mentioned in Bd. XXIX, 5, 6, and Dk. (see § 8, note), but is one of those specified in Byt. II, 1.
256:3 No doubt, the Av. Ashem-yahmâi-usta ('righteousness for which be blessing') who precedes Yôistô in Fravardîn Yt. 120. He is the Asâm-î Yamâhust of Bd. XXIX, 5, who is said to reside in the district of the river Nâîvtâk; but he is not mentioned in Dk. The names Yakhmâyûsad, Fradhakhstŏ, and Ashavazang are written in Pâzand, which accounts for their irregular spelling.
256:4 Av. Fradhâkhsti Khunbya of Fravardîn Yt. 138. In Dk. he is said to be ruler on the Nâîvtâk waters, but in Bd. he is called Parsadgâ Hvembya residing in the plain of Pêsyânsaî.
256:5 Av. Ashavazdang the Pourudhâkhstiyan of Âbân Yt. 72, Fravardîn Yt. 112. He is the Ashavazd son of Pourudhâkhst in Bd., and is said to rule in the plain of Pêsyânsaî in Dk.
256:6 The many-seeded tree, said to grow in the wide-formed ocean, and also in Aîrân-vêg, on which the Saêna bird (simurgh) is sup-posed to sit and shake off the seeds, which are then conveyed by the bird Kamrôs to the waters gathered by Tîstar, who rains them down on the earth with the water; hence the growth of fresh vegetation when the rainy season commences (see Rashnu Yt. 17, Bd. XXXVI, 2, XXIX, 5, Mkh. LXII, 37-42).
257:1 Either a title or son of Aghrêrad, brother of Frâsîyâv of Tûr (see Bd. XXIX, 5, XXXI, 20-22). He is a righteous minotaur according to Mkh. LXII, 31-36.
257:2 Here written Patshâyôtanû, but he is the Peshyôtanû of Chap. XXXVII, 36.
257:3 The Katru-mîyân river in Kangdez (see Bd. XX, 31).
257:4 Which is a non-Aryan country according to Dk., but Bd. (XXIX, 5) calls it 'the land of the Saukavastân,' and Mkh. (XLIV, 24-35, LXII, 31) places Gôpatshah in Aîrân-vêg.
257:5 See Chap. XXI, 2.
257:6 Av. Dâitya, a river which flows out of Aîrân-vêg (see Bd. XX, 13).
257:7 See Chap. XXXVII, 99.
257:8 Referring either to the complete peopling of the earth by emigration on the back of this ox in ancient times, or to the immortality produced at the resurrection by tasting an elixir, of which the fat of this ox is one of the ingredients.
257:9 A settlement east of Persia formed, or fortified, by Sîyâvash (see Bd. XXIX, 10, Byt. III, 25).
257:10 See Chap. XXXVII, 36.
257:11 Or kang-î raftâr may mean 'jaunty youth;' but it is evidently an attempt to account for the name Kangdez as 'the fortress of the kang ("youth").'
257:12 The son of Sîyâvash (see Chap. XXXVI, 3, Bd. XXXI, 25).
258:1 Literally 'fire of Varahrân.'
258:2 He is expected to be summoned by the angels to restore the religious rites to the world, after the conflict of the nations in a future age (see Byt. III, 25-42).
258:3 In the detailed account of the contents of the Sûdkar (or Stûdgar) Nask, given in the ninth book of the Dînkard, the latter part of its fifteenth fargard is said to have been 'on the seven immortal rulers who are produced in the region of Khvanîras, and also about the determination of their glory, and the goodness, too, of their assistants and living sovereignty in both worlds. The tree opposed to harm is on Aîrân-vêg in the place of most excavations (frêh-nigânân?). Gôk-patŏ is in the non-Aryan countries. Peshyôtanû son of Vistâsp is in Kangdez of the hundred-ribbed shape (sad-dandakŏ kerpîh?), in which a myriad of the exalted, who wear black marten fur (mûn sîyah samûr yakhsenund), are righteous listeners out of the retinue of Peshyôtanû son of Vistâsp. Frâdakhstŏ son of the mortal Khûmbîks, who is sovereign on the water of Nâîvtâk. Ashavazd son of Pôrûdakhstŏ, who is sovereign over the most manifest among uplands, the plain, of Pêsinâs. Barâzd the causer of strife. And of the father-in-law's race (khast-tômagag?) of the famous Vistâsp is he who is called Kaî-Khûsrôî, who produces even an advance of thy religion of the Mazda-worshippers, and also understands about it; and who gives my good practices further blessings, so that the world maintains my doings with benedictions. Perfect is the excellence of righteousness.'
In this list of the immortal rulers of ancient times, the names of Barâzd and Kaî-Khûsrôî are substituted for those of Yôstô and p. 259 Yakhmâyûsad in our text. Barâzd is the Ibairaz of Bd. XXIX, 6, and, possibly, the Av. Berezyarsti of Fravardîn Yt. 101.