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There are many evidences that
Persia (Iran) was the oldest wine-maker land in the world.
Residue on a potsherd dating to the time of the first permanent
settlements in the Middle East suggests that wine-making began
2,000 years earlier than previously thought. The sherd, ca. 7,000 years
old, came from one
of six two-and-one-half-gallon jars excavated two decades ago from the
kitchen area of a mud-brick building in Hajji Firuz Tepe, a Neolithic
village in Iran's northern Zagros Mountains. Using infrared
spectrometry,
liquid chromatography, and a wet chemical test, Patrick E. McGovern and
a team from the University of Pennsylvania
Museum found calcium salt from tartaric acid, which occurs naturally
in large amounts only in grapes. Resin from the terebinth tree
was also present, presumably used as a preservative, indicating
that the wine was deliberately made and did not result from the
unintentional fermentation of grape juice.
Analysis of the Hajji Firuz Tepe sherd
comes in the wake of two other recent discoveries of early
wine-making in this region where grapes grow in the wild. Residue from
a jar from Godin Tepe, in the nearby middle Zagros Mountains, was
dated to 5,100 years
ago, the earliest evidence of wine-making. Different evidences show
that wine from the Zagros Mountains were traded as far as Cuprus and
Egypt.
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Found at a Neolithic village site
in Iran, this jar was one of six vessels containing the remains of
7,000-year-old wine.
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Kneeling prince offering his cup of wine
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Lion rhyton, 550-450
B.C.
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Wine
Among the Ancient Persians
(author: J. Jamshedji Modi, 1888)
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Now When the Abkari system of the
Government of India is a topic of much discussion here and in England,
the subject of my lecture this evening will, I hope, be interesting to
you, especially to my Parsee hearers. The subject of temperance and
total abstinence has drawn the attention of many well-wishers of our
British Army, and among them of no less a personage than General Sir
Frederick Roberts,
our distinguished Commander-in-Chief, who, on account of his very
celebrated
march in the land of our fore-fathers, from the Kaboulistan and
Zaboulistan
of old to the town of Kandhar-and, on account of his equally-celebrated
victory at the latter place, which reminded ns of the ancient Roman
hero saying, on a similar occasion, " I came, I saw, and I conquered,"
was very
aptly compared with the national hero of Iran, the Jehân
Pehelvân Rustam, who had, as described by the great epic poet,
Firdousi, performed the celebrated marches of the Haftekhâns, or
Seven Stages. The object of my lecture today is to trace out a short
history of the use of wine among the ancient Persians, from remote
historic times up to the time of
cur emigration to India- an emigration that has, after several great
and
important political changes, placed us under the fostering care of the
benign British rule, whose kind shelter reminds us el the auspicious
shadow
of the fabulous Persian bird, Homâe, whose splendour reminds us
of our Cyrus the Great, and whose justice reminds us of our Noshirvan
the
Just.
In all nations, and at all times, we find
eminent men either singing the praise of wine, or magnifying its
evi1.
If we have the excellent Koran preaching against wine, we have
the
Divân of one of its disciples, Hafiz, praising its virtue.
If
we have a Sir Walter Raleigh, or a great divine, to run down the
use
of wine, we have a Martin Luther to extol it.
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For example, the
following two short lines of Martin Luther sum up, as it were, a few of
the gazals of Hafiz: -
“Wer nicht liebt Wein. Weib und Gesang
Der bleibt ein Narrr sein Lebenlang."
(i.e. ) He who does not like wine, song,
and wife,
Remains a fool for the whole of his life,
Compare with this the following lines of
Hafiz: -
“Ishkbâzi, wa jawâni, wa
sharb-i-lal fâm
Majlis-i-uns, wa harif-i-hamdam, wa
sharb-i-modâm
Har ke in majlls bejuyad khush deli
bar wal halâl
Wa ân ke in ashrat ne kbâbad
zindagi bar wai harâm."
{i.e.) Love, youth, and ruby-coloured wine,
A friendly meeting, a congenial companion
and
constant drinking.
He who is desirous of this number of
pleasure is
Deserving of cheerfulness;
He who does not like these pleasures, may
curse
be on his life.
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On the other hand, this short
definition of wine that " Wine is a turn-coat, first a friend,
and then an
enemy" finds itself amplified in the following denunciation of
Sir
Walter Raleigh, which says that, " Take especial care that thou
delight
not ill wine, for there never was any man that came to honour or
preferment
that loved it; for it transformeth a man into a beast, decayeth the
health,
poisoneth the breath, destroyeth natural heat, brings a man's stomach
to
an artificial heat, deformeth the face, rotteth the teeth, and to
conclude,
maketh a man contemptible, soon old, and despised of all wise and
worthy
men, hated in thy servants, ill thyself and companions, for it is a
bewitching
and infectious vice."
Now, then, if we are asked what does
the ancient Iranian literature teach? Does it run down its use or sing
its praise? We would say that it does neither the one nor the other.
The
Iranian literature preaches temperance in the strictest sense of the
word,
but not ill the sense of " total abstinence," in which it is generally
understood by the temperance societies. It does not totally prohibit
the
use of wine. The wine used by the Persians of very early times was the
innocent
juice of grapes. It was very sweet and nourishing. The fermented juice
of grapes was used very rarely, and that as a medicine.
King Jamsheed (the Yima Khushaeta of the
Avesta, and Yama of the Vedas), the fourth monarch of the
Peshdâdyan Dynasty of Persia, was the first monarch in
whose reign wine was discovered and used as a medicine. Many
incidents of the life of King Jamsheed are similar to those of
Noah as described in Genesis (VI.-VIII.). Jamsheed lived for
1,000 years. Noah, for 950. Both cultivated land. As Noah was
asked to build an arc to save himself from the Deluge, so was
Jamsheed asked to build a vara (enclosure). Both took therein the
choicest specimens of plants and animals. As Noah built an altar
unto the Lord as a mark of thanksgiving for his safety, so
Jamsheed established a sacred fire, named Atar Farobâ. Lastly,
as Noah was the first man to plant vineyards and to drink wine,
so was Jamsheed first to discover wine.
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Prince Jalâl-ood-din Mirzâ Kâjar thus describes the
incident of the discovery of wine in his History of Persia:-.”King
Jamsheed was very fond of grapes which grew only in summer. He once
ordered a large quantity to be deposited in a jar for his use in winter
when they were very rare. On sending for the jar after some time, he
found the juice of grapes fermenting. Thinking that it was turning into
a poisonous liquid be got the flask marked `poison,' and ordered it to
be placed in an out-of-the-way corner of the royal store-room, so as to
be beyond the reach of anybody.
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A maidservant, of the royal
household; happened to know this. As she was suffering from a very bad
headache, she thought of committing suicide in order to get rid of the
pain. She stealthily went into the royal storeroom, and took a dose Out
of that flask of wine, and to her surprise found that the drink,
instead
of killing her, lulled her to sleep and restored her to health. She
then
communicated the matter to King Jamsheed, who was greatly pleased with
the
discovery. The king and his courtiers began to use it on occasions of
joy
and merriment. The wine was known as the ´shâh daroo,' i.
e.,
the royal wine, from the fact of its being discovered by the
shâh,
i.e., the king." It is said that in Persia even now wine is sometimes
called
the " zeher-i-khoosh," i.e., pleasant poison, from the fact of its
first
being considered a poison by King Jamsheed. Coming to the time of
Avesta,
we find that the wine then used was the innocent juice of the grapes.
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That it was a sweet, nourishing, and health-giving drink appears from
several facts: -(l.) The very Avestic word for Wine shows that it was a
drink as sweet as honey. This Avestic word is madhô, which
corresponds to the Sanscrit, madhû, Latin, mel, and 'Frech, miel.
(2.) The root of the word shows its medicinal virtue. It comes from an
old Aryan root, mad or 'madh,=Latin medêri, meaning, to make a
'remedy, from which comes our English word medicine. " Dâru," the
later Persian word for wine, Which is now commonly used in Gujerati,
also bas the etymological meaning of medicine.
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Davâ-dâru is a
colloquial phrase for medical treatment. It comes from an old Aryan
root " dru," Sanskrit, “dhru," meaning to be strong, to be healthy.
(3.) It was prescribed as nourishment to ladies in their accouchement.
(Vend. V.52.) (4.) Being a nourishing and innocent drink its use was
permitted even among the priesthood. (Vend. XIV. 1'7.) (5.) In one of
the later scriptures the Afrin-i-Gâhambâr, where they speak
abo1lt the six Gâhambârs, which are the season festivals
and thanksgiving occasions corresponding to the six days of the
Creation in the Christian Scriptures, it is said that the merit of
celebrating the last season festival of the year, the Hamaspathmaedem
Gâhambâr, in honour of the (creation of Man, is just the
same as that of feeding the poor and the pious. In the food referred to
here, wine is spoken of as a part of the diet. This accounts for why
wine is used together with milk and water in some of the Parsee
religious
ceremonies. At one time it was thought very meritorious to taste a
little
of the Wine used in the religious ceremonies of the
Gâhambâr festival. (6.) An allusion to wine in the recital
of blessings at the marriage
ceremony, known as the Asirvâd ceremony, shows that the wine
spoken
of in the old Parsee books was not the wine that intoxicated. The
officiating
priests in the recital of a long list of blessings that are invoked
upon
the marrying couple wish the brine and the brine-groom to be as
sparkling
and cheerful as Wine.
After the eminences of the Avesta, which
refer to the later times of the Kyânian dynasty, we come to
the Greek and Roman historians, who speak
of the Achymenian and Sâssânian dynasties.
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According to Herodotus, the rather
or History, in the time or Cyrus, " the Annointed of the Lord "
(Isaiah, XIV), the Persians din not make a general use of the
nourishing
wine. Sandanis, a wise man of Lydia, dissuades his Lydian King
Croesus
from going to war with a nation that din not indulge in Wine, but
simply
lived on water. He says, " Thou art about, oh! King, to make war
against
men who wear leathern trousers, and have all their other garments of
leather;
who feed not on what they like, but on what they can get from a soil
that
is sterile and unkindly; who do not indulge in wine, but drink water;
who
possess no figs nor anything else that is good to eat. If, then, thou
conquerest them, what canst thou get from them, seeing that they have
nothing at all? But if they conquer thee, consider how much that is
precious thou wilt lose, if they once get a taste of our pleasant
things, they will keep such hold of them that we shall never be able to
make them loose their grasp." (Herod. I. 71.) Again Cyrus, in order to
persuade his Persians to go to fight against the Medians under his
maternal grandfather Astyges, gives them a Median
feast and therein-wine also-a luxury with which they were not familiar.
According to Herodotus (I.126): "He (Cyrus) collected together all his
father's
flocks, both sheep and goats, and all his oxen, and slaughtered them,
and
made ready to give an entertainment to the entire Persian army. Wine,
too,
and bread of the choicest kinds were prepared for the occasion. When
the
morrow came and the Persians appeared, he hade them recline upon the
grass
and enjoy themselves. After the feast was over, he requested them to
tell
him ' which they liked best, to-day's work or yesterday's?' They
answered
that ' the contrast was, indeed, strong; yesterday brought them nothing
but what was bad, to-day every- thing that was good.' Cyrus instantly
seized
on their reply and lain bare his purpose in these words, ' Ye men of
Persia!
thus do matters stand with you. If you choose to hearken to my words,
you
may enjoy these and ten thousand similar delights, and never condescend
to any slavish toil; but if you will not hearken, prepare yourselves
for
unnumbered toils as hard as yesterday's.` "
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These evidences from Herodotus show
that wine was not so generally used by the Persians of the time of
Cyrus.
It was after the conquests of Lydia and Media that the Persians began
to
possess the luxury of wine. Herodotus says on this point that "before
the conquest of Lydia the Persians possessed none of the luxuries or
delights
of life." (I. 75.) According to Xenophon, who also speaks of the time
of
Cyrus, the Persian kings of that time were familiar with Wine, but they
made a very moderate use of it. This appears from the following
conversation
which young Cyrus had with his Median grandfather, Astyges. (Cyropedia,
I. 3.) Cyrus says to Astyges: " When you feasted your friends on your
birthday,
I plainly found that he (the cupbearer) had poured you all poison." "
And
how child, " said Astyges, " din you know this." " Truly, " said he, "
because
I saw you all disordered in body and mind; for, first what you do not
allow
us boys to do, that you did yourselves; for you all bawled together,
and
could learn nothing of each other; then you fell to singing very
ridiculously;
and without attending to the singer, you swore he sung admirably; then
every
one told stories of his own strength; you rose up and fell to dancing,
but
without all rule or measure, for you could not so much as keep
yourselves
upright; then yon all entirely forgot yourselves ; you, that you were
king,
and they, that you were their governor ; and then for the first time I
discovered
that you were celebrating a festival, where all were allowed to talk
with
equal liberty, for you never ceased talking." Astyges then said: " Does
your
father, child, never drink till be gets drunk?"
" No, truly," said he. " What does he
then? " " Why, he quenches his thirst and gets no further harm."
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When we come to the reign of Cambyses, the successor of Cyrus, we find
from Herodotus that the Persians made a more general use of Wine. The
wine
which they used was very nourishing and health-giving. This appears
very
clearly from the following episode: -When Cambyses sent to the King of
Ethiopia a flask of wine as a present, the latter was greatly delighted
with its taste and its excellent nourishing quality, and said that the
longest life of eighty years which the Persians lived must be solely
due to that nourishing wine, more especially so, as the wheat they used
was of a very inferior quality.
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We quote Herodotus. " Last of all
he came to the wine, and having learnt their way of making it, he drank
a draught, which greatly delighted him; whereupon he asked what the
Persian
king was wont to eat, and to what age the longest lived of the Persians
had been known to attain. They told him that the king ate bread, and
described the nature of wheat, adding that eighty years was the longest
term of man's life among the Persians. Hereat he remarked: It din not
surprise him if
they fed on dirt that they died so soon; indeed, he was sure they never
would
have lived so long as eighty years, except for the refreshment they got
from
that drink (meaning the wine), wherein he confessed the Persians
surpassed
the Ethiopians." (Herod. III. 22.)
This luxury which the Persians began
to possess after the conquest of Lydia seemed to be on an increase in
the reigns of the successors of Cambyses. In the reign of Darius we
find
a few Persians of high rank playing an indecent mischief, under the
influence of wine, in the royal court of the Macedonian Amyntas, the
great grandfather of Alexander the Great, (the cursed Alexander of the
Pehelvi works). According to Herodotus, Megabazus, the Persian General
of Darius, sent an embassy to Macedonia to demand from its king,
Amyntas, " water and earth " as symbols
of submission. Amyntas din not only give these, but called them to a
dinner
in his palace. After dinner some of the Persians, under the influence
of
drink, behaved themselves disgracefully and insulted the Macedonian
ladies,
who were specially sent for at their request. This drunken frolic ended
in he massacre of the whole of the Persian embassy. The son of Amyntas,
who
was a youth of fiery spirit, determined to avenge this insult to the
fair
sex of his country. The next day he again called to dinner the members
of
the embassy. They were made to Bit each by the sine of a handsome
Macedonian youth, dressed as a young lady. The Persians, on heir again
at tempting to repeat their drunken frolic of the previous day were
pierced with daggers which the Macedonian youths carried beneath their
dress.
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After Darius, when we come to later
times, we find Herodotus speaking of the Persians of his own time that
" they are fond of wine and drink it in large quantities." This
increasing
propensity to drink they further imitated from the Greeks. ' " There is
no nation," says Herodotus, " which so readily adopts foreign customs
as
the Persians. As soon as they hear of any luxury they instantly make it
their own."
Xenophon, praising the moderation of
the Persians at the time of their first institution under Cyrus, says
of the Persians of his own time that " beginning their meal very early
they continue eating and drinking till the latest sitters-up go to bed.
It was likewise an institution among them not to bring large bottles to
their banquets; evidently thinking that, by not drinking to excess,
they should neither weaken their bodies nor impair their understanding.
And
that custom, too, continues of not bringing such bottles; but they
drink
to such excess, that instead of bringing in they are carried oat
themselves,
not being able to walk without help." (Cyrop. VIII. 8.)
Plato, on the other hand, writing of the
same time as Xenophon, represents the Persians as taking moderate
potations. In his discourse on Temperance (Laws 1.636) the
Athenian stranger, speaking on the subject of drink, says to
Megillus, the Lacedemonian, that " the Persians, again, are much
given to other practices of luxury which you reject, but they
have more moderation in them than the Thracians and Scythians."
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After Herodotus, Xenophon, and Plato, the next Greek historian of
importance is Strabo; who flourished in the beginning of the Christian
Era. Saying that the Persians as " nation are moderate, heat tributes
whatever there be of immoderation to the kings. He says, " Their habits
are in general temperate, but their kings, from the great wealth which
they possessed, degenerated into a luxurious way of life." (XV. C III.
22.)
The unlicensed luxury and licentiousness of
some of the Persians kings of the Achymenian dynasty have brought an
unjust odium upon the whole Persians nation. The hard drinking of the
kings
and their grandees is one instance of this kind.
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The marrying of many wives and
keeping of a large number of concubines furnish another instance. The
marriage
with their nearest of kins as sister is a third instance. These
instances of unlicensed luxury and licentiousness were confined to the
class of
kings and their grandees, but were not common in the whole nation. As
Herodotus himself says, the ancient Persians laws did in no way
sanction
such acts; but the kings of the Achymenian dynasty thought themselves
to be “above the law,” and indulging in them brought an odium
upon the whole nation.
The next Greek historian of importance, who
speaks on this subject, is Duris, of Samos, who flourished in the reign
of Ptolemy Philadelphus. His statement that once a year at the feast of
Mithras, the King of Persia was bound to be drunk has driven two
learned scholars of Europe to two opposite conclusions. Professor
George Rawlinson of England infers from this that the Persians at the
time were addicted to drinking. Professor Rapp of Germany, on the other
hand, says that drunkenness, as a rule, was avoided.
The fact that the king intoxicated himself
only once during a year showed that as a rule there was no
drunkenness. We are inclined to sine with Professor Rapp when we
refer to Firdousi for an account of this Mithraic festival. His account
refers to the practice of drinking on this gala day, but does not speak
of any immoderate use of wine, either by the king or by the
populace. This feast of Mithras is known among the Parsees of
India and their co-religionists of Persia
by the name of Jashan-i-Mehergân. It occurs on the 16th day
(Meher) of the 7th month (Meher) of a Farsee year. Firdousi says that
it occurred
on the first of the seventh month. Irrespective of the historic event,
with
which it was associated, this day was a great festival day like the
other
twelve festival days of a Parsee year which occur on the day
which
bears the name of a Parsee month. Again it occurred about, the time of
the
autumnal equinox, which was observed as a season festival. Lastly, that
which gave a great importance to this day was an historical event. It
celebrated
the anniversary of the accession of King Faridun on the throne of
Persia.
The great novelist, Sir Walter Scott, has familiarized to us, in his "
Talisman,"
the well-known episode of Faridun and Zohâk.
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King Jamsheed was
overthrown and killed by one Zohâk (the Azidehâka of the
Avesta), who was an usurper and a tyrant. The whole of Persia groaned
under the foreign
away of this great tyrant, who came from Syria. King Faridun, having
freed
his country from the yoke of this tyrant, ascended the throne of Persia
on the auspicious day of the above named Mithraic feast, when his
accession was hailed with delight and joy by the whole of Persia. King
Faridun celebrated the day as a great holiday, and feasted the
grandees. Ever since that time the anniversary of that day was
celebrated as a great festival in Persia under the name of
Jashan-i-Mehergân.
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Firdousi, who lived about 1,000
years ago, said that it was celebrated even at his time. Some of the
Parsees of Bombay, though they have forgotten its historic origin,
celebrate it on a small scale, and it is said that their few
co-religionists in Iran still
celebrate it with its historic associations. Firdousi thus describes
this
festival in his Shahnameh, and refers to the practice of drinking wine
on
that gala day: " Faridun, when he found himself to be the fortunate
master of the world, and when he knew no other ruler but himself,
prepared the throne and the crown in the imperial palace according to
the usage of the kings. On an auspicious day, which was the beginning
of the month of Meher, he placed over his head the royal diadem. The
world was relieved of the fear
of evil; everybody followed the way of God. They put off quarrels from
their hearts and solemnly celebrated a festival. The grandees sat with
a joyous heart, each bolding a ruby-coloured cup of wine in his hand.
The
wine and the face of the new monarch shone brilliantly. The world was
fun
of justice, and it was a new month's day. He ordered a fire to be
kindled and to burn amber and saffron over it. It is he who has
instituted the feast of the Mehergân. The custom of taking rest
on, and enjoying that day comes from him. The month of Meher still
bears his memory. Try and be jolly." Thus it is that Firdousi describes
this great festival which, as he says, was observed even at his time,
and which he in his last line advises all to observe.
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Now it is natural that the Persian
monarchs celebrated with great eclat and joy this celebrated festival
which was not only a religious and season festival, but withal a
historic festival, and drank to their hearts' content or even more; but
this does not betray a propensity of very hard drinking among the
nation. This custom of the Persian king drinking too much on the
Mithraic festival reminds us of the practice which is said to prevail
among the illiterate class of Jews, who think it a pious duty to be
drunk on the day of their feast of Purim, which fans on the 14th and
15th of their 12th month Adar, and which celebrates the massacre of the
Persians by the Jews. It also reminds us of a similar practice which is
said to prevail among the lower classes of the Irish people, who think
it a pious duty to be drunk on St. Patrick's Day.
Among the Roman writers who have spoken
about this subject, we find Ammian who had accompanied the Emperor
Julian in his campaign against the Persians, under Shapur in A. D.363.
He says of the Persians of his time from his own experience that they
avoided drinking
as one would avoid the pest. Wealth and conquests had made the Persians
of the Achymenian times luxurious and slothful. They had lost the
moderation
of the early times and of the time of Cyrus. But alter the fan of the
Achymenian power reaction set in again, and they began to learn
moderation
once more. As Professor George Rawlinson says, “ Their fall from
power, their loss of wealth and of dominion did indeed advantage them
in one way; it put an end to that continually advancing sloth and
luxury
which had sapped the virtue of the nation, depriving it of energy,
endurance
and almost every manly excellence. It dashed the Persians back upon the
ground whence they had sprung, and whence, Antæus-like, they
proceeded
to derive fresh vigour and vital force. In their ' scant and rugged '
fatherland,
the people of Cyrus once more recovered to a great extent their ancient
prowess and hardihood-their habits became simplified, their old
patriotism
revived, their self-respect grew greater." (VII. Orien Mon. p. 25.)
Thus
it is that we see them avoiding drunkenness as Ammian says, “ like
the pest.”
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Coming to the time of the Pehelvi
literature of the Parsees, which flourished during the period of the
Sâssânian dynasty, we find Pehelvi writers permitting the
use of Wine and preaching moderation. Adarbâd Mârespand, in
his Pandnameh, or Book
of Advice, thus admonishes his son: " Make a moderate use of Wine,
because he who makes an immoderate use, committeth various sinful
acts." Dâdistân-i-dini (oh. XL., XLI.) allows the use of
Wine and admonishes every man to exert moral control over himself, To
the robust and intelligent who can do without wine it recommends
abstinence. To others it recommends moderation. A person who gives
another a drink is deemed as guilty as the drinker, if the latter does
any mischief either to himself or to others through the influence
of that drink. Only that man is justified to take Wine, who can thereby
do some good to himself, or at least can do no harm to himself. If his
humata, hukhta and hvarshta, i.e., his good thoughts, good words, and
good deeds are in the least perverted by drink, he must abstain from
it. The book advises a man to determine for himself once for all what
moderate quantity he can digest without doing any harm. Having once
determined that quantity he
is never to exceed it. The most that a man should take is three glasses
(Anaseme) of diluted wine. If be exceed that quantity there is a
likelihood
of his good thoughts, words, and deeds being perverted, This reminds us
of
a Parsee Gujerati saying:-
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(i. e,,) The first cup is a
medicinal drink,
The second an allowable thing;
The third is a luxury,
The fourth brings on misery.
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On the subject of the trade of
wine-sellers, the Dâdistân-i-dini says that not only is a
man who makes an improper and immoderate use of wine guilty, hut also a
wine-seller who knowingly sells wine to those who make an improper use
of it.
It was deemed improper and unlawful for
a wine-seller to continue to sell Wine, for the sake of his
pocket, to a customer who was the worse for liquor. He is to make
it a point to sell wine to those only who can do some good to
themselves by that
drink, or at least no harm either to themselves or to others.
We find from Mahomedan writers that after
the downfall of the Persian monarchy the Zoroastrian Persians were the
only persons who carried on the business of wine-sellers. The "
Peer-i-Moghân," often alluded to by the celebrated Persian poet,
Hafiz, in his well-known Divan, is the Parsee wine-seller. Wine being
altogether prohibited in the Mahomedan scriptures, no Mahomedan could
carry on this business. So it fell
to a Parsee's lot to do so. In India also, and especially in Guzerat, a
Parsee liquor.-seller was for the same reason up to recently a
wan-known figure in the villages.
We will now speak of some of the usages and customs observed by
the Persians when drinking wine. It was generally their custom to drink
wine after dinner. The cup bearer went round in the assembly when it
met in the hall after dinner. This appears from Herodotus and from
Firdousi.
The latter in his Dâstân of Bejan and Manijeh thus speaks
of
the party that had assembled in the royal palace of Kaikhusro to
participate in the rejoicings for the release of Bejan from the
captivity of Afrâsiâb. " Khusro ordered a table to be
spread and invited high-minded noblemen
to dinner- When they got up from the royal table, they prepared a
sitting-place for drinking wine." It was at one of such assemblies that
Afrâsiâb, the Turânian enemy of Persia, through the
instrumentality of one Susan Râmashgar, an excellent songstress,
made the different brigadiers-general of the Persian army of Kaikhosru
prisoners. An intoxicating powder was stealthily put in the wineglasses
of these generals which immediately lulled them
to sleep.
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In these after-dinner
assemblies the old Persians deliberated on affairs of importance under
the influence of drink. "It is also their general practice," says
Herodotus, " to deliberate upon affairs of weight when they are drunk I
and then on the morrow, when they are sober, the decision to which they
came the night before is put before them by the master of the house in
which it was made; and if it is then approved of they act on it; if not
they set it aside.
Sometimes, however, they are sober at
their first deliberation, but in this case they always reconsider
the matter under the influence of wine," (I. 134.) Strabo, who
wrote about five centuries after Herodotus, says on the same
subject : " Their consultations on the most important
affairs are carried on while they are drinking,
and they consider the resolutions made at that time more
to
be depended upon than those made when sober. (XV, ch. 3)
According to Prof. George Rawlinson Tacitns refers to a similar
custom among the ancient Germans, who deliberated upon questions
of peace and war in their banquets and reconsidered them the next
day.
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“They deliberated," says Tacitus,
"on peace and war generally during the banquets, as if at no
other time was their mind able to conceive higher ideas. People
who are not cunning and too sharp always open the secrets of
their heart in free jokes. Thus the opened and revealed thoughts
of all are
again considered the next day. They take into consideration the
affair
of both times. They deliberate when the yare not able to deceive.
They
resolve when they are not able to err." The reason for this practice,
as
given by Tacitus, is this, that in banquets, under a partial influence
of
wine, all the members of the assembly feel themselves to be on an equal
footing, and so without any fear or favour give out their own
independent opinions, which enable the mover of the question to come to
a proper conclusion. We learn the same thing from the Shahnameh of
Firdousi, who represents Persian kings and heroes deliberating
carefully on questions of war and peace in their after-dinner
gatherings, when the cup-bearer (Sâki) was circulating the
wine. This custom of the old Persians reminds us of the
after-dinner speeches of modern times, wherein Cabinet Ministers and
Councillors while proposing toasts of one kind or another discuss
political questions of great importance to the State. These
after-dinner Persian assemblies are the" banquets of wine" spoken
about in the Old Testament (Esther, v. 6). It was at such a banquet
that the Persian King Ahasuerus, whose identity with any particular
Persian monarch is not yet determined, sent for his queen Vashti (which
seems to be the Avestic word, vahishti, i. e., the best), in order " to
shew the people and the princes her beauty, for she was fair to look
on," and divorced her for not having obeyed the royal mandate. It was
at such a banquet of wine that later on Esther, the Jewish queen of the
same Persian King, Won the royal favour and secured permission to
put to death an those Persians who hated the Jews (Esther,
ix.
5).
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Firdousi speaks of another custom.
When toasts were proposed and drunk in honour of great persons, as the
King, the assembly prostrated themselves on the ground after drinking
wine
and kissed the earth. Speaking of such an assembly, at which Rustam
presided, Firdousi says, " They first remembered the name of their king
(Kâus), then drank wine, and then prostrating themselves on the
ground kissed
it." Just as modern nations show their respect to their ruling
sovereigns
by drinking to their health while standing; so the ancients pain their
homage
by prostrating themselves and kissing the ground. Prostrating oneself
upon the ground was, according to Herodotus, the usual way of paying
respect
to the great." When they met each other in the streets," says
Herodotus,"
you may know if the persons meeting are of equal rank by the following
token:
if they are, instead of speaking they kiss each other on the lips; in
the
case where one is a little inferior to the other, the kiss is given on
the
cheek; where the difference of rank is great, the inferior prostrates
himself
upon the ground."
Old wine was held in very high
esteem in Ancient Persia. Adarbâd, speaking of friendship,
compares an old friend o old wine. He says, " An old friend is like old
wine. The more it grows old, the more it is fit for kings." It was
believed that wine improved by time. We read the same thing in the
Bible, " No man also having drunk old wine straightway desireth new for
he seeth the old is better" (Luke,
v. 89).
It seems that latterly two sorts of wine
were common in Persia. In the remote Avestic times it was only made
from grapes. But latterly it was also made from dates, the fruit of
palm-trees.
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Xenophon, in his
account
of the expedition of Cyrus, wherein be played a very prominent part as
the leader of " The Retreat of the Ten Thousand," thus speaks from his
own experience:-"At last coming to the villages where the guides told
them they might supply themselves with provisions, they found plenty of
corn, and Wine made of the fruit of the palm-tree, and also vinegar
drawn by
boiling from the same fruit.
These dates such as we have in Greece,
they give to their domestics; but those which are reserved for
the
masters are chosen fruit and worthy of admiration, both for their
beauty and size, having in an respects the appearance of amber,
and
so delicious that they are frequently dried for sweetmeats. The
wine
that was made of it was sweet to the taste but apt to give the
headache. ( II. 3.)
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