Pahlavi Texts, Part IV (SBE37), E.W. West, tr. [1892], at sacred-texts.com
1. Homage to the glory of the good religion of Mazda-worship!
2. The Sûdkar 6 contains particulars about the
power of the pure glorifying of the first utterance of Aûharmazd 1, through thinking, speaking, and acting; and about abstaining from the law of very evil and very disturbing people 2. 3. Glorifying the observances (hûnarânŏ) and good works of the good religion and of a like nature, as well as their effectualness; and condemning the faults and sin of him of very evil religion, when all kinds of neglect of the spiritual ceremony and of care for the archangel of the worldly existence are owing to him 3; also much information about spiritual matters. 4. It has become old (kahûnîk), and is a witness whose statement extends even unto the renovation of the universe 4.
5. Righteousness is perfect-excellence 5.
10:6 Corresponding to the first word, yathâ, in the Ahunavair, according to the Persian Rivâyat of Bahman Pûngyah, which adopts the sequence detailed in Chap. I, 12. All other Persian Rivâyats and also the Dînî-vigirkard adopt the sequence G 1-4; H 1-7; p. 11 G 5, 7; L 6, 7, 1, 3, 2, 4, 5; G 6. Like most of the names of the Nasks, Sûdkar is an adjective, meaning 'causing benefit, or acting beneficially;' it is corrupted into Stûdgar, or Istûdgar, in the Rivâyats and Dv. For a detailed account of the contents of each of its twenty-two fargards see Bk. IX, Chaps. II-XXIII.
11:1 The Ahunavair, or Yathâ ahû vairyô, which Aûharmazd recited before the creation in order to confound Aharman (see Bd. I, 21, 22). This clause refers chiefly to the first fargard of the Sûdkar (see Bk. IX, Chap. II).
11:2 Referring to Bk. IX, Chaps. V, IX, X, &c.
11:3 See Bk. IX, Chap. IX.
11:4 See Bk. IX, Chap. XXIII, 7.
11:5 The text is aharâyîh âzâdîh pâhlûm aîtŏ, the Pahl. equivalent of the Av. ashem vohû vahistem astî, 'righteousness is the best good,' the first metrical line of the Ashem-vohû formula, with which it is usual to conclude forms of prayer and religious writings. It is here used to conclude the account of each of the twenty-one Nasks, and twice over at the end of the last one, so that it occurs twenty-two times in this eighth Book. In the ninth Book it concludes the account of each fargard of the three Nasks detailed, and is written twice at the end of the second Nask, and twice at the end of the Book; so that it occurs in three series of 22, 24, and 24 repetitions, respectively, in the ninth Book. As the formula, p. 12 which is thus repeated, consists of four words, it is capable of 1 × 2 × 3 × 4 = 24 permutations in the order of its words; and it appears as if the author intended that each of the four series of repetitions of the formula, contained in the two Books, should give all these permutations successively; and, with the exception of a few deviations (chiefly in the first two series, and probably due to the errors of copyists), he has maintained this fanciful peculiarity throughout. The English translations of the formula have been varied, so as to preserve this peculiarity to some extent, but it has not been found possible to differentiate the whole of the twenty-four permutations.