Jamshid
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Jamshid (in Persian: جمشید) is a common Persian male first name. The name takes its popularity from the legendary Shāh Jamshēd, the fourth and greatest of the early Shāhs of mankind in Firdausī's Shāhnāma. The name has also been transliterated Jamshyd, e.g., in Edward FitzGerald's translation of the Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam.
The Shāh Jamshēd of Persian mythology is based on the figure Yima Xšaēta of the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. Yima Xšaēta is in turn is based on a proto-Indo-Iranian heroic figure *Yamas, from whom Vedic Yama also derives. In the Avesta, Yima was the son of Vivaŋhat, who in turn corresponds to the Vedic Vivasvat, "he who shines out", a divinity of the Sun.
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[edit] Etymology
The name Jamshid is originally a compound of two parts, Jam and shid, corresponding to the Avestan names Yima and Xšaēta, derived from the proto-Iranian Yamah Xšaitah. Yamah and the related Sanskrit Yama may be interpreted as "the twin". By regular sound changes (y → j, and the loss of the final syllable) it became Persian Jam. However, in later Persian, the word jam means "pure".
some linguist blive that The name Arabic word ʕajam "foreigners, Persians", which is spelled with the letter ʕaynis related to the Jam.
Xšaitah meant "bright, shining" or "radiant". By regular sound changes (initial xš → š (sh); ai → ē; t → d between vowels; and dropping of the final syllable) xšaitah became Persian shēd. In the western Persian variants such as Fārsī, the vowel ē has changed to i. Consequently, Jamshēd, as it is still pronounced in Tajikistan and Afghanistan, is now pronounced Jamshid in Iran. The suffix -shid is the same as that found in other names such as khorshid ("the Sun", originally "the radiant Sun", Avestan hvarə-xšaēta).
The modern Turkish name Çem is derived from Persian Jam.
[edit] Yima in the Avesta
Quotations in the following section are from James Darmesteter's translation [1] of the Vendidad , as published in the 1898 American edition of Max Müller's Sacred Books of the East
In the second chapter of the Vendidad of the Avesta, the omniscient Creator Ahura Mazda asks Yima, a good shepherd, to receive his law and bring it to men. However, Yima refuses, and so Ahura Mazda charges him with a different mission: to rule over and nourish the earth, to see that the living things prosper. This Yima accepts, and Ahura Mazda presents him with a golden seal and a dagger inlaid with gold.
Yima rules as king for three hundred years, and soon the earth was full of men, flocks of birds and herds of animals. He deprived the daevas, who were demonic servants of the evil Ahriman, of wealth, herds and reputation during his reign. Good men, however, lived lives of plenty, and were neither sick nor aged. Father and son walked together, each appearing no older than fifteen. Ahura Mazda visits him once more, warning him of this overpopulation. Yima, shining with light, faced southwards and pressed the golden seal against the earth and boring into it with the poniard, says "O Spenta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men."
The earth swells and Yima rules for another six hundred years before the same problem occurred once more. Once again he pressed the seal and dagger to the earth and asked the ground to swell up to bear more men and beasts, and the earth swells again. Nine hundred years later, the earth was full again. The same solution is employed, the earth swelling again.
The next part of the story tells of a meeting of Ahura Mazda and the Yazatas in Airyanem Vaejah, the first of the "perfect lands". Yima attends with a group of "the best of mortals", where Ahura Mazda warns him of an upcoming catastrophe: "O fair Yima, son of Vivaŋhat! Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an arədvi deep on the highest tops of mountains."
Ahura Mazda advises Yima to construct a Vara (Avestan: enclosure) in the form of a multi-level cavern underground, two miles long and two miles wide. This he is to populate with the fittest of men and women; and with two of every animal, bird and plant; and supply with food and water gathered the previous summer. Yima creates the Vara by crushing the earth with a stamp of his foot, and kneading it into shape as a potter does to clay. He creates streets and buildings, and brings nearly two thousand people to live therein. He creates artificial light, and finally seals the Vara with a golden ring.
[edit] Jamshid of Persian mythology
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They say the Lion and the Lizard keep
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Over time, the Avestan hero Yima Xšaēta became the world-ruling Shāh Jamshid of Persian legend and mythology.
According to the Shāhnāma of the poet Firdausī, Jamshid was the fourth king of the world. He had command over all the angels and demons of the world, and was both king and high priest of Hormozd (middle Persian for Ahura Mazda). He was responsible for a great many inventions that made life more secure for his people: the manufacture of armor and weapons, the weaving and dying of clothes of linen, silk and wool, the building of houses of brick, the mining of jewels and precious metals, the making of perfumes and wine, the navigation of the waters of the world in sailing ships. The sudreh and kushti of the Zoroastrianism are also attributed to Jamshid. From the skin-clad followers of Keyumars, humanity had risen to a great civilization in Jamshid's time.
Jamshid also divided the people into four groups:
- The priests, who conducted the worship of Hormozd
- The warriors, who protected the people by the might of their arms
- The farmers, who grew the grain that fed the people
- The artisans, who produced goods for the ease and enjoyment of the people
Jamshid had now become the greatest monarch the world had ever known. He was endowed with the royal farr (Avestan: hvarəna), a radiant splendor that burned about him by divine favor. One day he sat upon a jewel-studded throne and the divs who served him raised his throne up into the air and he flew through the sky. His subjects, all the peoples of the world, marvelled and praised him. On this day, which was the first of the month of Farvardin, they first celebrated the holiday of Nawrōz ("new day"). Some Zoroastrians to this day call the day Jamshēd-i Nawrōz.
Jamshid was said to have had a magical seven-ringed cup, the Jām-e Jam which was filled with the elixir of immortality and allowed him to observe the universe.
Jamshid's capital was erroneously believed to be at the site of the ruins of Persepolis, which for centuries (down to 1620 CE) was called Takht-i Jamshēd, the "Throne of Jamshid". However, Persepolis was actually the capital of the Achaemenid kings and was destroyed by Alexander. Similarly, the sculptured tombs of the Achaemenids and Sāsānians near Persepolis were believed to be images of the legendary hero Rostam, and so were called Naqsh-e Rustam.
The city of Jamkaran is named after Jamshid[citation needed].
Jamshid ruled well for three hundred years. During this time longevity increased, sicknesses were banished, and peace and prosperity reigned. But Jamshid's pride grew with his power, and he began to forget that all the blessings of his reign were due to God. He boasted to his people that all of the good things they had came from him alone, and demanded that he should be accorded divine honors, as if he were the Creator.
From this time the farr departed from Jamshid, and the people began to murmur and rebel against him. Jamshid repented in his heart, but his glory never returned to him. The vassal ruler of Arabia, Zahhāk, under the influence of Ahriman, made war upon Jamshid, and he was welcomed by many of Jamshid's dissatisfied subjects. Jamshid fled from his capital halfway across the world, but he was finally trapped by Zahhāk and brutally murdered. After a reign of seven hundred years, humanity descended from the heights of civilization back into a Dark Age.
| Preceded by Tahmuras |
Legendary Kings of the Shāhnāma 100-800 (after Keyumars) |
Succeeded by Zahhāk |
| edit | Persian literature series |
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شاهنامه فردوسی Shahnameh of Ferdowsi |
| Characters: | Abtin | Arash | Afrāsiāb | Esfandiār | Fereydun | Goodarz | Gordāfarid | Hushang | Jamshid | Kāveh | Kai Khosrow | Kiumars | Manuchehr | Rakhsh | Rohām | Rostam | Rostam Farrokhzad | Rudābeh | Sām | Shaghād | Siāmak | Siāvash | Simurgh | Sohrāb | Tahmineh | Tahmuras | Zāl | Zahhāk |
| Places: | Irān | Māzandarān | Samangān | Turān | Zābol | Kābul | Birjand |
[edit] Jamshids of history
The name Jamshid has also been carried in the course of history by several rulers, some more famous than others. More recent historical figures with the name include:
- Sultan Jamshid, fourteenth century ruler of Kashmir. Jamshid succeeded his father Shamsu'd-Din but ruled Kashmir for just fourteen months before falling out with his brother. In an armed confrontation which ensued in the village of Vantipore, Sultan Jamshid suffered a defeat, following which his younger brother Sultan 'Alau'd-Din ascended the throne in A.D. 1347.
- Sultan Jamshid (Sultan Jamshid Qutb, Shah of Golconda (ruled 1543-50) was a legendary ruler of the Qutb Shahi, a Shia Muslim dynasty in the Deccan. Jamshid Shah's father Sultan Quli Qutb Shah was the first of the dynasty and lived to be over ninety years old. The rumor ran that his son Jamshid became so impatient to become ruler that he had his father stabbed to death while he was at prayer in the mosque. Sultan Jamshid left a handsome domed octagonal tomb for his monument.
- Sultan Sayyid Jamshid bin 'Abdullah, Sultan of Zanzibar, 1963-1964 (born at Zanzibar, September 16, 1929) was overthrown in the 1964 Zanzibar Revolution.
[edit] See also
- Yama
- Jamkaran, a city in Iran
- Jamshed Town, a neighbourhood in the city of Karachi, Pakistan
- Jamshedpur, an industrial city in India, named after Jamshedji Nusserwanji Tata.
- Jamshid (musician)
- Jamshid, Jon (cockrat)
