“The Righteous in Paradise are Ageless, Immortal, Fearless …”: An Edition and Annotated Translation of the Dādestān ī Mēnōg ī Xrad 7

Abstract The destiny of the soul after death occupies an important place in religious literature. Chapter 7 of the Pahlavi book Dādestān ī Mēnōg ī Xrad (“The Judgments of the Spirit of Wisdom”), which belongs to the genre of andarz literature and contains mostly practical wisdom for Zoroastrian laymen, presents a detailed description of the architecture and role of three otherworldly abodes that await souls in the afterlife. This description contains many architectural and religious features, which characterize these abodes in most Pahlavi literature. The narrative structure of the chapter constitutes a dialogue between a wise man ( dānāg ) and the Spirit of Wisdom. In the latter’s responses, a descriptive tripartite division of the afterlife is presented. This architecture of heaven and hell reflects different Zoroastrian traditions that were developed to adapt the afterlife to the tripartite ethical tenets of Zoroastrianism.