The Pahlavi texts selected for translation in this volume are distinguished from all others by the peculiarity that both the name and station of their author and the time in which he lived are distinctly recorded.
His name Manushikhar son of Yudan Yim is mentioned in each of the headings and colophons to the dadistan I dinik and the three Epistless attributed to him. He is styles simply a erpat or preist in the heading of Eps I and II and aerpat khudai or priestly lordship in that of Ep. III but he is called the rad pontiff or executive high priest of pars and priests in the colophons of Dd. And Ep. II and we learn from Dd. XLV 5 that the farmadar was also the pesupati or leader of the religion the supreme high priest of the mazda worshipping faith.
Regarding his family we learn from Ep. I iii,10, vii, 5 that his father yudan yim son of shahpuhar had been the leader of the religion before him and his own succession to this dignity indicates that he was the eldest surviving son of his father who in his declining years seems to have been assisted by his advice we also learn from the heading of his second epistle that zad sparam was his brother and this is confirmed by the language used in Ep. II vi, I, Ix 6 and by Zad sparam being a son of the same father that he was a younger brother appears from the general tone of authority over him adopted by manuskihar in his epistles. Shortly before these epistles were written zad-sparam appears to have been at Sarakhas in the extreme north east of Khurasan where he probably came in contact with the Tughazghuz and adopted some of their heretical opinions and whence he may have travelled through Nivshhpuhar and Shira on his way to sirkin to take up his appointment as high pries of the south heading II soon after his arrival at sirkan he issued a decree regarding the ceremonies of purification which led to complaints from the people of that place and compelled his brother to interfere by writing epistles threatening him with deprivation of office and the fate of a heretic. That Zad sparam finally submitted so far as not to be deprived of his office appears from his still retaining his position in the south while writing his selection whci must have been compiled at some later period free from the excitement of active and hazardous controversy.
The age in which Manuskihar lived in decided by the date attached to his third epistle or public notification to the mazda worshippers of Iran which date is the third month of the year 250 of Yazdakard corresponding to the interval between the 14th June and 13th July A.D. 88 at which time we learn he was an old man but not too old to travel.
His writings therefore represent that state of the Zoroastrain religion a thousand years ago and it may be presumed from the importance and influentialness of his position that his representations can be implicitly relied upon. To detect any differences there many be between the tenents and religious of the present time would require all the learning and experience of a Parsi priest but so far as a European can judge from these writings and his own limited knowledge of existing religious customs among the Parsis the change has been less than in any other form of religion during the same period.
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