Acknowledgements
It is my great pleasure to acknowledge and express gratitude to those who supported me throughout the completion of this work. I would like to start with Dr. Shervin Farridnejad and Prof. Touraj Daryaee, who kindly accepted my work in the prestigious Ancient Iran Series. Gratitude is also owed to Abdurraouf Oueslati and his colleagues at Brill. This book is the expanded and updated version of my PhD dissertation submitted to the University of Toronto in 2021. My earnest thanks go to my thesis supervisor, Professor Enrico G. Raffaelli. He spent hours reading my drafts and provided me with instructive and insightful corrections and comments. Gratitude is also due to the members of my thesis advisory committee, Professors Maria E. Subtelny and Azita H. Taleghani, who generously offered me their time and insights. Their feedback was essential in improving my dissertation. I am also grateful to Professor Sarianna Metso as external to the discipline and for her invaluable comments and questions, which broadened my perspective. I would like to thank my external examiner, Professor Carlo G. Cereti of La Sapienza Università di Roma. His familiarity with the subject, his keen eyes, and constructive criticism helped me better frame my arguments. I am honored and privileged to have him on my exam committee.
During my research, I was supported by generous fundings from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship), the University of Toronto (University of Toronto Fellowship, University of Toronto Doctoral Completion Award, and several travel grants and research travel grants), and Soudavar Memorial Fund (travel grant). I acknowledge and thank their generous support, which enabled me to focus on my research. A special thanks is due to Dr. Mina Houtan (Houtan Scholarship Foundation) who has trusted me and supported my academic research since 2012. I am extremely grateful to her.
During my research I was fortunate enough to be able to travel to India and visit the K.R. Cama Oriental Institute (Mumbai) and the Meherjirana Library (Navsari). While working at the Cama, I enjoyed the kind support of the president of the institute, [the late] Muncherji N.M. Cama, as well as the honorary secretary, Dr. Nawaz B. Mody. I would also like to thank the librarians, Ms. Sarita Gandhi and Ms. Shobha Sahasrabuddhe. Additionally, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to the Chairperson of the Meherjirana Library, Ms. Katy K. Antia, as well as Mr. Behzad M. Suraliwala, member of the local managing committee. My special thanks go to the library administrator, Ms. Parinaz Gheewalla and her delightful husband, Mehernosh. I would also like to thank Ms. Chaitali J. Desai (librarian), Ms. Parvati D. Patel, Mr. Sanjay D. Parmar, and Ms. Tina (assistant librarians).
A major part of this work is based on examining manuscripts. In that regard, Dr. Daniel Sheffield kindly provided me with a digital copy of MS BU, originally made by Professor Alberto Cantera in June 2014. I am very grateful to both. A digital copy of MS T35 was acquired in April 2017 by the favor of the Meherjirana Library, UNESCO PARZOR project, and the director of the latter, Dr. Shernaz Cama, to whom the present author owes a debt of gratitude. A digital copy of the folios containing the MVY in MS W was acquired by the present author in August 2018 through the funding provided by the Department of Near and Middle Eastern Civilizations, University of Toronto. Additionally, the unpublished catalogues and descriptions of this manuscript prepared by Geldner and West were made available to the present author in May 2018 through Dr. John Hodgson, the Joint Head of Special Collections and Manuscripts and Archives Manager at the John Rylands Library. A digital copy of the folios containing the MVY in MS N was kindly provided by Professor Adriano Rossi of the Università degli Studi di Napoli âLâOrientale,â to whom I am very grateful. Dr. Shervin Farridnejad (Universität Hamburg) kindly double checked for the author the colophons on several manuscripts in the Meherjirana Library. I owe him a debt of gratitude.
Editing the MVY goes hand in hand with delving into the Pahlavi literature. Not only the MVY is closely connected to the ZWYPah., but there are also quite a few themes in the text that is shared with other Zoroastrian texts in Pahlavi. I have been fortunate enough to be able to participate and benefit from Professor Prods Oktor Skjærvøâs Pahlavi reading group. His unparalleled knowledge of Avestan and Pahlavi (among other disciplines), as well as his generosity in sharing his works with others, has provided me with a deeper knowledge of the Zoroastrian literature. For this, I am thankful to Oktor and other members of the Pahlavi reading group.
This research would not have been completed without the support of the following kind souls. They provided me with copies of books and/or articles, discussed parts of the dissertation, and I benefitted from their insight, knowledge, expertise, and instructive remarks. They are Salman Aliyari, Domenico Agostini, Miguel Ãngel Andrés-Toledo, Askar Bahrami, Hamid-Reza Dalvand, Touraj Daryaee, Desmond Durkin-Meisterernst, Pejman Firoozbakhsh, Nahid Ghani, Saloumeh Gholami, Leon Goldman, Farzaneh Goshtasb, @Huburz (
This work is dedicated to GolfÄm, my best friend, partner, and wife. Being a scholar herself, she has been my role model on whose invaluable support I have always relied. She patiently accompanied me through this journey and all its ups and downs with unwavering affection and encouragement. I will forever be grateful to her. My children, SÅ«rÄn and NavÄ, have continuously provided me with necessary breaks from work, and they put up with their dad working long hours. I love them dearly.
MÄm AuramazdÄ pÄtuv hadÄ visaibiÅ¡ bagaibiÅ¡ utÄmaiy vi