Jamshid

When Tahmuras the Demon-Binder departed the mortal realm, his noble son Jamshid stepped forth to claim the mantle of sovereign power. Girded with a unified spirit, rich in the counsels of his father, and radiant with the Divine Glory (Farrah), he placed the golden crown of the Kians upon his head. He declared that to him belonged both the throne of supreme rule and the mantle of holy priesthood—that he would sunder the hands of evil from oppression and lead human souls into the eternal light. Under his sovereign will, not only humankind but also the divs, the birds, and the fairies bowed in total submission.

Jamshid divided his great civilizing mission into epochs of fifty years. In the first fifty years, by virtue of his royal aura, he softened iron, forging helmets, cuirasses, chainmail, swords, and bards for warhorses. In the second fifty years, he turned his vision to textiles, teaching his subjects how to spin and twist flax, silk, and wool. He wove rich brocades, satins, and furs, instructing the world in the fine arts of washing and tailoring garments. Then, to secure the order of society, he divided the populace into four distinct estates: the Katouziyan (the priesthood and holy worshipers), whom he assigned to quiet mountain sanctuaries to pray before the Creator; the Nisariyan (the valiant warriors), who guarded the throne and realm; the Nesoudi (the farmers and cultivators), who tilled the earth independently and ate the bread of their own honest labor; and the Ahtokhashi (the artisans and craftsmen), whose minds were ever occupied with trade and construction.

In the era that followed, Jamshid commanded the subjugated divs to mix clay with water, molding bricks and erecting grand bathhouses, soaring palaces, and formidable halls of stone and plaster. He mined granite to extract luminous gemstones—rubies, garnets, gold, and silver—and unveiled delicate aromatics: camphor, pure musk, aloeswood, ambergris, and crystal rosewater. He founded the science of medicine, uncovering the causes of illness and the secrets of healing, and built wooden ships to cross the vast oceans from realm to realm.

When all great works were complete, Jamshid fashioned a sublime, jewel-studded throne. At his command, the divs lifted this throne from the plains up into the clear heavens. Sitting upon it like the sun blazing in the sky, Jamshid shimmered over the earth. The princes and populace showered jewels upon him, naming that fateful day 'Nowruz'—the New Day, at the turn of the Farvardin spring. For three hundred years this golden era endured: no sickness touched mankind, no old age or death was known, and the divs remained bound in service.

Yet as three centuries of unblemished grandeur passed, hubris stole into the king's heart. Surveying his unmatched empire, Jamshid fell into self-exaltation and ungodly pride. He turned away from the Almighty, claiming that all wisdom, health, beauty, and dominion originated solely from himself. The moment these arrogant words passed his lips, the luminous Divine Glory departed from him like a fleeing bird. Darkness enveloped his realm, anxiety invaded his heart, and the blessed reign of Jamshid began its tragic descent into ruin.