A Comparative Study of Two Musical Narratives Written by Ibn-e-Khardadbeh and Masoudi Evidence Proving the Existence of a Pahlavid Text on Music under the Sasanid

The Sasanian period, as one of that era's most prominent cultural epochs, is appreciated for its rich and vibrant music. The Islamic written sources are replete with references of this music and praise its beauty and significance. To truly grasp the essence of this music, it is imperative to examine all sources that have documented it meticulously. By delving into Sasanian music's history and evolution, a more thorough understanding can be achieved of that period's musical evolution.
Among the narratives written and available on musical modes of the Sasanid era, two narratives are prominent, " Al-Lahve-val-Malahi" and" Moruj-al-Zahb and Ma'aden-al-Jawhar "which were written by Ibn-e Khardadbeh and Ali –ibn Masoudi, respectively. The specific feature of these two treatises is that they mentioned the names of modes as well as a brief explanation of them. Surprisingly, there are some significant similarities and differences among these two treatises. As scholars suggest, Masoudi has copied the book of Ibn-e Khardadbeh, and since both writers lived during the same time period, the contradictions may not be considered plausible. When several copies of Masoudi's text are studied, it reveals that the mistake of those recopied from the main text may not be a good cause as well.
 This article aims to explain those differences and their causes. The authors analyzed and compared these two texts' similarities and differences, using the historical narrative analysis method. Some differences between the two texts include meaningless words like "Sakaf" or "Madarosnan." These words may have been mistakenly read from Pahlavi's words. Another significant difference is the reference to the number of musical modes. Ibn Khurdadba mentions eight tones, while Masoudi mentions seven. The difference between the two numbers may be due to their writing style in the Pahlavi script. These numbers are written differently in Arabic but very similarly in Pahlavi. Therefore, it is possible that a Pahlavi text was also available to both authors, hence the cause of the misinterpretation and dissonance between the two authors.
Also, one can observe differences in the dot's placement in words written similarly. This difference seems to be related to the writing rules of early Arabic texts. In the early writing style of Arabic during the first centuries of Islam, words were written without dots. Thus, it can be assumed that both authors probably wrote their texts based on the same early Arabic style.
Finally, the analysis of this article revealed that the two persons compiled their treatises using the same original text in Pahlavid. At that time, the original text was available in the Pahlavid and Arabic. Evidence shows that the two original texts were incomplete, and the Arabic edition was translated from the Pahlavi language and written without "dots."  During the Sassanid era, texts called "Aeen Namak" existed. These texts were written to teach various subjects such as Chogan, cooking, chess, and others. It is believed that the Pahlavi text on which the two authors based their writings was “Aeen Namak" about music.