Tārīkh-i pizishkī (i.e., Medical History)

Abstract

Background and Aim: In the Zoroastrian worldview, the boundary between "pure and impure" is not merely a ritual or hygienic category but rather a meaning-making system that contributes to the regulation of social relations and collective identity. Previous studies on the Ardā Wirāz Nāmag have been predominantly descriptive and content-oriented, with none having approached the rituals of purity from a discourse-analytic perspective. The present study aims to address the question of how the discourse of "purity" in the Ardā Wirāz Nāmag is transformed into a meaning-giving and ordering framework through specific linguistic and discursive mechanisms. The significance of this research lies in offering a model for analyzing the ordering functions of purity and impurity systems in ancient societies.

Methods: This research was conducted using a documentary-library approach and Fairclough's critical discourse analysis method. The unit of analysis was the edition of the Ardā Wirāz Nāmag by Jignoux and Amouzgar (1993). To mitigate the risk of anachronism, the analysis was carried out through a dual approach: an emic (insider) perspective, grounded in ancient Zoroastrian texts, and an etic (outsider) perspective, aimed at uncovering the objective functions of the discourse.

Ethical Considerations: The study is based on the analysis of historical texts and involved no intervention concerning living individuals; therefore, it did not require approval from an ethics committee.

Results: At the textual level, the binary opposition of "pure/impure" (occurring over 60 times), along with imperative verbs and deontic modality, has created a clear and unambiguous framework. At the level of discursive practice, intertextuality with ancient Zoroastrian texts lends historical legitimacy to the prescriptions of purity; the metaphors "heaven = health" and "hell = sickness" naturalize these concepts, while mechanisms of reward and punishment activate self-surveillance. At the level of social practice, the discourse of purity has served multiple ordering functions: regulating gender relations through prescriptions concerning menstruation (daštān) and coitus (mujāma‘at), thereby contributing to family cohesion; legitimizing social order by equating purity with righteousness; and reinforcing collective identity by delineating the boundaries between "us" and "the other."

Conclusion: The Ardā Wirāz Nāmag stands as a remarkable example of the transformation of a cosmic-hygienic system into a meaning-giving and ordering framework. "Purity" in this book constitutes a discursive apparatus that contributes to rendering the world meaningful, reducing anxiety, and fostering social cohesion. This study demonstrates that systems of "purity and impurity" have performed universal functions in regulating both individual and collective life.