Dr Farzaneh Goshtasb, author of “Azar Keyvan”, which was nominated for book of the year 1401, spoke in the commemoration ceremony of Prof Pourdavood, about research on Dasatiri words, and according to her, this great work of Prof Pourdavood has yet to be looked into.
In her speech Dr Goshtasb said: “I will try to explain Pourdavood’s role in introducing the Dasatiri book and Dasatiri words. When we hear about Pourdavood, mostly his services in ancient linguistic and culture, Iranology, and especially his precise and scholarly translation of the Avesta. But, the fact is that Prof Pourdavood has other important works, which are all significant and crucial but their importance has not been addressed as yet. One of them is his research on Dasatiri’s words. When the professor was in Beirut, he got access to copies of the Dasatiri book, published in 1881.”
At that time, even though he had not yet entered the field of ancient languages, he became very interested in using Farsi words in writing, and whatever that was connected to Iran, so he was intrigued by this book and after reading it, he started compiling a list of Dasatiri words and using them in his poems. He would publish these poems in De Gaullen newspaper, until one day, a friend, Mohammad Qazvini, warned him to be careful. Still nevertheless, he researched, and the result of that research, with the help of the knowledge he gained later in linguistics, he was able to prove that these words of Dasatiri and the book of Dasatir are fake. And the result of that work is several lectures and articles, the most extensive and essential of which is the handwritten article published in the book Farhang Iran Bastan (The culture of ancient Iran). In that article he precisely introduces the Dasatiri words and their fakeness. In his articles published in the “Culture of Ancient Iran” periodicals, he only explains about the Dasatiri language. They had nothing to do with the religion and beliefs behind the Azar Keyvan and Dasatiris.
Prof Pourdavood has said in that article that many words in that book are fake words and a source of insult, which we all agree that it was right to say it, because we know that those beliefs that were behind his ideas of Dasatiri and Azar Keyvan ideology exist between 200 and 500 years and then again it started spreading fast; this is why his work was very crucial because in that period of time, this clarification about Dasatiri words was necessary. That is to say, in that period, people were so interested in using purely Persian words in their writing that even he, who was a member of the academy, and would suggest to the academy what words to replace which words, by mistake would use a large number of Dasatiri words. These words were widely used in literature and prose, and in various other fields. But with the help of the enlightenment that Prof Pourdavood brought to this subject for the people, this issue was clarified for writers and historians.
What is Dasatiri? It is one of the important books of Azar Keyvan: according to them, this book is a Persian translation of Sasan V, and the holy book written by Mahabad, the first prophet of this sect, and this language is a heavenly language so that it can be easily translated into all languages. And the Persian translation of Dasatiri was also done in the time of Sasan V. However, the same handbook that Pourdavood found was also found by Mullah Firooz, who had come with his father to Isfahan, to have discussions about the calendar. He took it to India and printed it. (Of course, I said elsewhere that this book has nothing to do with the Azar Keyvan treatises) This is a collection of the Azar Keyvan thoughts because those ideas and opinions are also present in this book.
Moreover, it is a fictious language that has penetrated into Farsi “in order to transform it into a heavenly language”. When we say Dasatiri words, we mean the fake language, not the Persian translation; of course, many of its terms are based on the specific grammar in the Persian language; although these words are rarely used in the Persian language, they still exist. So, when we say Dasatiri, we mean that fake language. Did Dasatiri words follow any rules? No; many of these words don’t have any specific root or foundation, or a history in the Farsi language. Another category of words among Dasatiri version exist that, for instance, one or two letters of this word are Farsi but the other one or two or even three letters of this words have been moved or replaced by another letter.
This language has no special rules for replacing words. We rarely find a special rule in the Dasatiris, such as the suffix “sa,” used to name celestial objects, such as Ermansa for the Moon and Latinsa for Saturn. The interesting point is that some had come to know about these fake Dasatiri words, such as Mohammad Qazvini, who had given the warning, but whatever he said also had scientific basis. Another interesting point is that the Zoroastrian Society of Yazd (Naseri Society at that time) had warned Pordawood that these do not have roots. Professor Pourdavood has also brought this document and writes that Mirza Mohammad Khan Foroughi Zakaulmolk writes letters to the Naseri Society and ask about the history behind these manuscripts and whether they can use these words. On 23rd Jumadi Al-Awl 1319 (1920) the Nasseri Association responded to the letters and Pourdavood requested these letters from the son of Mohammad Ali Foroughi. He published the contents of the letter in which the Nasseri Association says that they are a Sufi/Brahman group of Iranians and have nothing to do with Zoroastrians. Pourdavood’s job was just correcting the Dasatiri words. Apart from the scientific part of this subject, he was a great lover of Iranian culture.
