A literary history of Persia

"THE WAR OF THE METHODS" 69acumen," as Geldner "says, 1 have raised up Pahlawi studiesfrom the lowest grade of science," so that " indirectly hebecame the reformer of Avesta studies." But itmium on Dar- was by that incomparable man, the late JamesDarmesteter, that the judicious and almost ex-Geldner's enco-.LITmesteter and hisJr"historical'method.* Jhaustive use of the traditional materials (combined,of course, with a careful study of the texts themselves) wascarried to its fullest extent, and it is pleasant to find Geldner,whose methods of textual criticism he had so severely criticised,describing his work and methods in the following generous"words : 2" From the beginning an eager partisan of the Sasanian translationand thoroughly grounded in Pahlawi, he in no wise based his interpretationon this alone, but recognised that, amidst the strife as tothe best method, only a comprehensive enlargement of the field ofvision could lead from groping and guessing to clear and certainknowledge. His immediate sources of help are the native translations,carefully used in detail, and thoroughly studied as a whole,and the entire learning accumulated therein. His indirect meansof helpis the entire tradition from Sasanian times down to thepresent day, the whole Pahlawi and Pazand literature, the Shahnama,the Arabian chroniclers and historical notices of the Ancients,personal information derived from living Parsis, their customs andideas, the ritual of the present time, which is likewise a piece ofunfalsified tradition, and, on the linguistic side, the entire materialof Iranian philology in all itsdegrees of development and dialecticalvariations, and likewise Sanskrit, especially that of the Vedas. Thedispositions and beginnings had, for the most part, been alreadymade before him, although imperfectly, and with insufficient means,but Darmesteter combined them and carried them on to a certainconclusion. The ripest fruit of these endeavours is his most recentmonumental work : le Zend-Avesta, traduclion nouvelle avec commentairehistorique et philologique (Annales du Musee Guimet, vols. xxi,xxii, xxiv, Paris, 1892-3). Darmesteter rejuvenated the traditionalschool, and is properly speaking the creator of what he calls the1See Geldner's excellent article (Gcschichte der Awesfaforschung) invol. ii of Geiger and Kuhn's Gntndriss dcr Iranischcn Pltilologie,pp. 40-46, where full particulars and references concerning the studyof the Avesta will be found.* Op. laud., p. 45,