called Avesta. This is the Book of
their religion. It alleges that there have elapsed since the reign of
Kayumarth, the father of mankind, down to the reign of king Yazdegerd,
4182 years, 10 months, and 19 days."

[Sidenote: Corrupt texts and faulty translations.]

Says Musa Ibn Isa al Kesravi in his book: I saw the Book which is called
the _Khoday Nameh_ and which is the Book which when it was translated
from Persian into Arabic was entitled _Kitab al Muluk al Fars._ I
carefully examined the copies of this Book and looked through the
narratives in them, and I found them in disagreement with each other so
that I could not find even two copies which agreed with each other, and
this was on account of the doubts in the minds of the translators who
turned from one writing into another.

[Sidenote: Mobed Behram the historian.]

And turning back to what I have related in the previous chapter as
regards the chronology [of the Persians], I relate what has been stated
by Behram son of Mardanshah, _Mobed_ of the district of Shabur in the
province of Fars. Says Behram the mobed: I collected together a little
over twenty copies of the book called _Khoday Nameh_ and I put together
properly the chronology of the kings of Persia from the times of
Kayumarth, the father of mankind, till the last days when the empire was
transferred from them to the Arabs.

[Hamza describes the dress of the kings according to a book in which
they were depicted just before their death. And he gives the buildings
which each of them erected, especially the fire-temples they established
along with the villages on the produce of which they were to be
maintained.]

[Sidenote: Avesta.]

"I have read in the book which has been translated from one of their
books called _Avesta_," and so on Hamza proceeds regarding the beginning
of creation.

TABARI.

(1st Series, Vol. 2, page 675.)

[Sidenote: Fire-temples in India.]

It is related by historians versed in the antiquities of Arabia and
Persia that Bhishtasb, son of Kay Loharasb, when he assumed the crown,
said:--To-day we have become sovereign and we shall employ our thoughts,
our action, and our knowledge for the acquisition of the good. And it is
said that he built in Fars a city called Fasa and he built fire-temples
in India, etc., and appointed _herbeds_ to the same. He assigned several
dignities to seven of his noblemen in his dominions and appointed each
of them to the charge of a district.