Musical Terminology in Pahlavi Writings in Comparison to Music-Archaeological Finds from

Ancient and Early Medieval Central Asia

Nina Vassilieva

The data contained in such sources as Ayadgar

Zareran, Draxt Asu rg, Xusraw Kawadan
ud redag-e and The Bu ndahishn offer valuable information about the culture of musical
instruments of the ancient and early medieval
Middle East.1 The presence of singers and musicians as permanent participants during all secular
and ritual ceremonies is attested by a number of
pictures dating from the ancient and early
medieval periods. Scholars have long been interested in identifying the musical terms referred to
in texts written in Pahlavi; some worthy observations were conducted in that respect by H. G.
Farmer (1938) and A. Christensen (1944). They
reviewed the musical terms and compared them
with archaeological and pictographic data
obtained from ancient Iran. Extensive excavations carried out in Middle Asia since the 1930s
have yielded abundant and varied material on
music archaeology, which has contributed significantly to our knowledge of the areas musical culture. They were followed by more studies and
publications. Interesting observations and reconstructions in regard to the ancient Hvarezm
(Chorazmian) culture were made by R. L. Sadokov (1970). On the basis of archaeology, art
monuments, ethnographic and written materials
he provided a detailed description of musical
instruments and showed the importance of music
in that culture. The contribution of the Middle
Asian peoples to the development of musical
instrumentalism was demonstrated by T. S.
Vyzgo (1980). Studies in Middle Asian music
archaeology have been made by V. A. Meshkeris,
one of the authors in the volume Musikgeschichte in Bildern (Mittelasien, 1987). This
volume was the first attempt to generalize the
data on music archaeology collected from Middle
Asia, Kazakhstan, Altai, western Siberia, and
eastern Turkestan. After Mittelasien was published even more interesting monuments repre-

senting musical instruments were discovered in

Middle Asia, like the Xan-tepe and Shivaz
ossuaries (Kras eninnikova 1993), or the wall
paintings in the palace at Jar-tepe II/Sogd
(Berdimuradov/Samibaev 1994). Thus the
attempt to identify musical finds from the Middle
Asian region by comparing them with written
sources was made possible. We will take a closer
look now at some Middle Persian terms applied
to musical instruments.
The oldest manuscript copied in 1322 by the
scribe Mehr-Awan Kai-Khusru and known as
the MK source contains religious compositions
and almost all secular Pahlavi literature written
in different times, combined on the basis of
three separate manuscripts (Jamasp-Asana II,
1913). Probably it was written during the late
Sassanian period, and subsequently a number of
copies were made. Early in this century, the
manuscript was preserved in the private collection of J. D. Jamasp-Asana in Bombay; the
owner published it in 1897 (part II appeared in
1913). Two Parthian poems of the first century
BC, Ayadgar Zareran (Tale of Zarer) and
Draxt As u r g (A dispute between the date
palm and the goat), written in Khorasan and
translated into Middle Persian (southwestern
dialect), contain some names of musical instruments and therefore will be our most important
topic of discussion. Draxt Asu r g is a poetic
puzzle-contest (munazira) between two characters, a goat and an Assyrian (Babylonian) tree.
Musical instruments, made in part of goat skin
and used in secular and religious music, are
mentioned. The goat tries to prove that it is
more useful than the tree:
1

The Pahlavi texts were edited by the late Dastur J. M.

Jamasp-Asana with an introduction by B. T. Anklesaria,
(Bombay 1913) 109114. The transcription of Pahlavi texts
mentioned in this paper was made by A. Ambartzumian.

84

Nina Vassilieva

49

(100)
(101)
(102)
(103)
(100)
(101)
(102)
(103)

mazdesna n padya b
pad man post darend
c ang ud win ud kennar
a n barbut ud tambur
hama g zanend pad man
[hamag] srayend [pad man]
eg-am bid abardar ham
az to draxt Asurig
The Mazdayan ablution
gets done on my skin.
c ang (harp), win, and kenna r,
and barbut, and tambur
they all play on me,
(all) sing (with my assistance).
This is why
I excel you, oh Assyrian tree!
(Jamasp-Asana, 1913, 109114)

The sound boards of the five stringed instruments are made of wood, either with or without
leather. Three, cang, barbut and tambu r, can be
associated with certain instruments known from
Middle Asian archaeological monuments (Vyzgo
1980; 1972, 269297; Meshkeris et al. 1987; Farmer
1938). Two others, win and kennar, may have several meanings. Christensen translated win as
Indian lute (1944), whereas Farmer suggested
that win could be upper- and lower-chested
harps (Farmer 1938, 401404; 1939, 2784).2
Now let us introduce another source in which
the five instruments together with others are mentioned: the Husraw Kawadan ud redag-e (Khosrow, son of Kewad, and a page). It is the story
about a page who visits King Khosrow to demonstrate his skills. In the first fragment of the text,
13, the page says:
13 pad *c ang ud win ud barbut ud
tambur ud kenna r ud harw srud
c ega mag (c aga mag) ud pad-iz
padwa zag guftan ud padwa zg kardan
awestad-mard hem
13 I am a man skilled in (playing) the c ang,
the win, the barbut, the tambur, the kennar,
in all songs and poems, as in reflections
of disputes, as well as in compiling disputes.
(Jamasp-Asana vol. II, 1913, 157)
Another fragment, 6063, transmits a dialogue of King Khosrow and the page about the
entertainers, the musicians and actors.
60 Nohom fra maye d purs dan ku khuniya gare kada m xwastar ud weh?
61 Gowed redag ku ano ag bawed, en and
*huniya gar hama g xwa [ud] nek:
62 c ang-sra y, win-sra y ,win-kenna r-sra y, ud
sura z g-sra y, ud mustag-sra y, ud tambu rsra y, barbut-sray, ud nay sra y, ud du mbalag-sra y, si s ur g (?) ud dirig (?) (or

63

60

61

62

63

gahan[ba]rig [ud] widerg), rasan-wa zg,

ud zanj r-wa z g, ud da r-wa z g, ud ma rwa z g, ud c ambar-wa z g, ud tigr-wa z g,
ud tas-wazg, ud wandag-wazg, ud andarwa y-waz g, ud *kerm r/kalm r-sra y, *dawa l (or denar?)-sra y, tambur meh (-sra y),
spar-wa z g, zen-wa z g, ud go y-wa z g, ud
*sel-wa z g, am e r-wa z g, ud da nagwa zg, ud warz-wa zg, ud ag-wa zg, ud
kabg-wa zg e n *huniya gar hama g xwa
ud nek.
be aba g c ang-sray kang nekog pad abesta n kan zag c ang-sra y weh ka- wa ng
tez ud xwa-a wa z, pad-iz a n ka r nek
a yed, win-sra y xwaran wuzurg e c
*humiya gar payka r (pahikar) nest.
At ninth he (Khosrow) asks: Who of the
musicians (performers), who of them is
more pleasant and appropriate?
The page replies: May (Your Majesty) be
immortal, all these multiple performers are
pleasant and appropriate:
those playing the harp, the win, the winkenna r (cithar3 [?], lyre [?]), the sura z k
(from Middle Persian sura g hole), the
mustak (derived from Middle Persian must,
Parthian mus t, a fist ?), the tambur, the
barbut, the na y, (the reed-pipe), the dumbalag (trumpet or horn?, or drum?), the
sis ur g (?) and d r g (?) (or playing on
festival and mourning days), those playing
with ropes (rope-walkers), chains, clubs (or
some sort of swords?), snakes, rings, arrows, dice, strings, air, playing the kirmr (or
kam r, a kind of flute or oboe?), the dawal
(kettle-drums?, or de nar dinars, coins?),
the big tambur, those performing with a
shield, a saddle, a ball, a spear, a sword, a
dagger, a battle-club, bottles, monkeys; all
these performers (musicians and actors) are
pleasant and appropriate.
However, with the nice woman playing the
c ang inside the harem, the girl playing the
c ang, is better, whose voice is high and
pleasant-sounding, who is well suited for
that, or with the one playing the win during
the feast nobody can be compared.
(Jamasp-Asana 1913, 2738).

Previously, some of the terms for musical

instruments were incomprehensible, and the meaning of some is still obscure. The compound ends
with -sray in the text, the affix being in fact the
2

Farmer (1938 a, 1938 b) uses the form van, while Christensen renders the same as vin. Modern transcriptions express
it with win.
Christensen translates the word kenna r with cithare.

Musical Terminology in Pahlavi Writings

present tense stem of srudan, which means to

sing or to perform, and is usually employed
when constructing complex words. Wa zg is the
present tense stem waz (Bailey 1943, 114; MonchiZadeh 1982, 4791; Nawabi 1976, 382397) of the
verb wazdan, to play with something, together
with the suffix -ig. In the suggested translation, the
terms ending with wazg denote people (jesters,
acrobats, manipulators) performing with certain
objects in their hands.
In Plutarchs studies, there are indications that
Achaemenid courts also had jesters, in addition to
musicians and singers. The tradition was old: in
the calendar festivals and carnivals, musicians and
other performers were important active participants, and this tradition can be traced back to the
6th 4th century BC, throughout Middle Asia
including Achaemenid Iran. With the 3rd century
BC, Middle Asia acquired the peculiar type of
Hellenistic theatre, the Maskhara.4 Archaeological
finds, including terracotta statuettes of comedians,
acrobats, masxaraba za n (pranks, puns, act of
clowns) support its existence (Trever 1934, tab. X
no. 145, tab. XIII no. 186187; Pugacenkova 1966;
1978, III, 465; Rachmanov 1972, 314331). The
words sis u r g (?) and *(d r g?) mean something
to be played with, likewise rasan (rope), mar
(snake), ta s (dice), wandag (rope, knot), am e r
(sword), ag (bottles), and kabg (monkey).
Considering the term da r (sword or stick), the
Iranian scholar Tafazzoli has proven on the basis
of Awesta passages (in which the word originally
meant a tree) that its meaning here applies to a
sharpened sword, a blade, or a cutting edge.
The two instruments cang and win in 63
deserve special attention. Almost all scholars who
translated the passage believe that the words mean
a harp and a lute. ang is most probably the
angular harp with a curved resonator as depicted
on the reliefs at Taq- Busta n in Iran, and widely
known from terracotta figurines of the 1st 3rd
centuries from Dalversin-tepe and Afrasiab, eastern Turkestan Kyzyl of the 5th century, the ossuaries of the 7th century in southern Sogdia, and Sogdian paintings in Jar-tepe II (56th centuries) and
Ustrushana (7th8th centuries AD; Meshkeris et al.
1987 Fig. 70, 106, 131, 152, 164165 and p. 152).
Win has been translated as the Indian lute
(Christensen 1944), but ancient Indian texts (4 th
century BC) suggest instead that it is the arched
harp (shaped like a bow). So, in the Ramayana a
bow is compared with the harp, a plectrum being
its arrow. The earliest representations of the harp
can be found on Indus valley seals and inscriptions. In the Vedas, win is mentioned as a harp
used in secular parties and religious ceremonies, in
the latter case by priests wives (Deva 1974, 129
132; 1980, 170171). However, we do not have a

85

single picture of an arched harp from ancient Iran.

It is shown only in an illustration on the bone rhyton excavated near Olbia, where a nude male figure carries a similar instrument on his shoulder
(Meshkeris 1987, Fig. 49). Another representation
of the arched harp can be seen on the relief in Merv
imported from Gandhara (Vyzgo 1980, 39), and a
third depiction of this type of harp is shown on a
slab from the Kushan site of Zar-tepe near Termez
(3rd century).5
Can the term win be attributed to this harp and
the arched harps from Middle Asia, or was it a different type of an angular harp? This question cannot be answered for the time being. As pointed out
before, the word win was used in the text together
with the kenna r: win-kenna r; besides, the latter
could be used alone. The MacKenzie dictionary
offers the meaning of lyre, harp, the kennar- sray
being therefore a harp-player (MacKenzie 1971,
51). Once we accept that win could be an arched
harp, we may assume that win-kennar was another type of a harp, perhaps with a straight resonator
(or was it a lyre?). Anyway, several types of harps
were played in Iran and Middle Asia. In the Taq-
Bust a n reliefs and in the Ustrushana paintings,
various harps are shown together: an angular harp
with a curved resonator and a harp with a straight
body (Meshkeris et al. 1987, 137, Fig. 167). Were
they all win? Furthermore, is the win-kenna r
another harp or lyre (or cithar?). The win is mentioned in the Greater Bundahishn with reference to
the nature of sounds and together with the word
wang: win wang, i. e. the win sound (West 1908).
The context describes how the Awesta was accompanied by the win (probably only in the first chapters: Zaratushras Gathas). The word Gatha is the
source of the modern Iranian gah, which denotes
the order of Persian classical music.
The term barbut applies to a kind of short lute,
@ud or barbiton; it was a large resonator with a
short neck, whose top is bent backwards and holds
the pins for usually two or four strings. The
instrument is known from sites in Baktria, Sogd,
and eastern Turkestan, which date from the 1st
through 5th centuries AD (Meshkeris et al. 1987,
Fig. 5253, 73, 7678, 99101, 102105, 116119,
120121, 153, 158, 168, 182190).6 The instrument
and its terminology have been discussed in detail
by T. S. Vyzgo (1980, 269297, note 8).
4

5
6

O. M. unakova is of the same opinion (pers. comm.). Cf.:

D. Monchi-Zadeh, Xosrov Kavatan ut Retak. Acta Iranica
22, 1982, 4791; N. Nawabi, Opera Minora, T. 1 (Shiraz
1976) 382397 (a few notes on individual words).
Excavations carried out by the V. Zavyalov Institute of
Material Culture History, St. Petersburg, in 1982.
An especially large barbut is depicted in the Ustrushana
paintings of the 7th9th century. However, it is quite possible that the instrument had a name of its own.

86

Nina Vassilieva

The term tambur is used in the Greater Southern

Bu ndahishn for a long-necked stringed lute with
two or four strings. In the fragment it is mentioned a
second time, as tambur i meh, probably meaning a
big tambour. Long-necked lutes were well-known
in ancient Egypt, Sumer, and later in Parthia,
Hwarazm, Sogd, Ustrushana and eastern Turkestan

during the 2nd BC to 9th centuries AD (Meshkeris et

al. 1987, Fig. 57.4041, 50, 5160, 205).
In this paper an attempt was made to compare
musical terms with archaeological finds that
represent musical instruments, but the results are
still vague, and more studies will have to be carried out.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
BAILEY, H. W. (1943)
Zoroastrian problems in the ninth-century
books, Oxford.
BERDIMURADOV, A. E./SAMIBAEV, M. P. (1994)
Rannie rospisi sogdijskogo chrama Dar-tepe
II (5 nacalo 6 v.). Archeologiceskie vesti 3,
103, fig. 7.
CHRISTENSEN, A. (1944)
LIran sous les sassanides, Copenhagen.
DEVA, C. B. (1974)
Indian Music, Calcutta.
DEVA, C. B. (1980)
Indijskaja muzyka, Moskva.
FARMER, H. G. (1938)
The Instruments of Music in the Taq-i-Bustan
Bas-Reliefs. Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society
of Great Britain & Ireland (July 1938), 401403.
FARMER, H. G. (1939)
An Outline History of Music and Musical
Theory, in: A. Pope (ed.), A Survey of Persian
Art. vol. 3, London, 27832788.
KAROMATOV, F. M./MES KERIS, V.A./VYZGO, T. S.
(1987)
Mittelasien. Musikgeschichte in Bildern, Band
II, hrsg. v. W. Bachmann, Leipzig.
KRAS ENINNIKOVA, N. I. (1993)
Deux ossuaires dcor trouvs aux environs du
village de Sivaz, district de kitab, Sogdiane
Mridionale. Studia Iranica, t. 22, fasc. 1.
MACKENZIE, D. N. (1971)
A concise Pahlavi dictionary, London.

MESHKERIS, V. ET AL. 1987 (cp. Karomatov, s.a.).

MONCHI-ZADEH, D. (1982)
Xosrov Kavatan ut Retak. Acta Iranica 22,
4791.
NAWABI, N. (1976)
Opera Minora, T. 1, Shiraz, 382 397.
PUGAC ENKOVA, G.A.(1966)
Chalcajanskij masxarabaz. Iskusstvo No. 5.,
Leningrad.
PUGAC ENKOVA, G.A.(1978)
Chudozhestvennye sokrovi ca Dalverzin-tepe,
III 46, Leningrad.
RACHMANOV, M.R (1972)
Is istorii drevnego teatra Samarkanda. Iz istorii iskusstva velikogo goroda, 314331, Tashkent.
SADOKOV, R. L. (1970)
Muzykalnaja kultura drevnego Chorezma
(The musical culture of the ancient Hwarezm),
Moskva.
TAFAZZOLI, A. (1970)
Notes Pehlevies I. Journal Asiatique, 89-91.
TREVER, C. (1934)
Terracottas from Afrasiab, Leningrad, table X
no. 145, XIII no. 186187.
VYZGO, T. S. (1980)
Muzykalnye instrumenty Srednej Azii.
Istoriceskie ocerki, Moskva
WEST, E.W. (1908)
The Bundahishn. Pahlavi texts. Bombay; Translation by E. W. West-SBE. Chap. 20.