The Nāṣirī Generations 134: ACCOUNT OF THE FIRST [ANCESTORS] OF THE FAMILY, THEIR GENEALOGY, AND THEIR PROGENITORS, UP TO ZUHAK, SURNAMED TAZI.

134

Zuhak has been mentioned in the section on the ancient kings of Iran; and the duration of his reign was a thousand years less one day and a half.
The learned in chronology differ considerably with respect to his ancestry and his forefathers, from Mihtar Adam down to Mihtar Nuh, on account of the great lapse of time. The fraternity, who account Zuhak among the descendants of Sam, son of Mihtar Nuh, relate as follows: — Zuhak, son of 'Anwan ['Ulwan], son of 'Amlak [Amlat and Alaf], son of 'Ad, son of ’Aus [’Awas and ’Awaz], son of Iram, son of Sam, son of Nuh, son of Lamak; while others again have related that his [Zuhak's] name was Biwar-asp, son of Arwand-asp, son of Tuh, or Tawah [Tarh], son of Kabah [Kayah?], son of Nuh.
Some, on the other hand, have stated: — Biwar-asp, or Biwar-asp, son of Arwand-asp, son of Zankaba [Ranbaka], son of Tazio-barsed [Tazio-barsid, Tazio-barshed, Tazionarsad, Tabur, Tazbu, and Tazbur], son of Farawwal [Farawal, Karawal?], son of Sia-mak, son of Mubshi [Mushbi], son of Kaiu-murs, son of Adam — peace be unto him ! — while others again say : — Kaiu-murs, son of Lawad, son of Sam, son of Nuh.
The writers of chronicles [other than those above ?] relate after this manner, that Arwand-asp was the father of Zuhak, and son of the son of Tazio-barsed [Tazio, Tazbu, and Tazbur] ; and, with the concurrence of historians, Tazio-barsed, likewise, was the father of all the 'Arabs, and brother of Hoshang Malik ; and the 'Arabs are called Tazi through affinity to him. He held dominion and sovereignty over the nomad tribes of 'Arabs, as did his descendants after him. From him the authority passed to his son, Zanbaka [Zankaba ?], and from him to the latter's son, Arwand-asp [Arwan-asp], who was a just, wise, and God-fearing man. He had a son, Zuhak by name, who was exceedingly malicious and factious, a blood-shedder, and a great tyrant, and a cruel man, whom Shaitan [Satan] had led astray from the right way. He dug a well in the path which his father was wont to pass, and Arwand-asp, who had become old and infirm, fell into it, and was killed.
Zuhak now became sovereign over the ’Arabs, and, after Jamshed [Jamshed’s time ?] conquered the whole world, and by sorcery and tyranny brought the whole of it under his sway. The author of the Tarikh-i-Mukaddasi states, that Zuhak possessed a cylinder, made of gold, in which were seven apertures, each of which was named after one of the seven climes of the four quarters of the earth. When the inhabitants of either of these climates happened to rebel against his authority, he would raise incantations in the aperture named after such climate, and breathe into it, and famine, pestilence, and calamity would arise in it.
After a thousand years of his sovereignty passed away, Almighty God was pleased to release the world from his tyranny and oppression, and the kingdom came to Faridun. He seized Zuhak, and confined him in a pit on mount Dimawand, in ’Irak.