Parsi · Gujarati · Related tradition

Mushkil Asan — a Zoroastrian sister tradition

A closely related woodcutter story survives in a distinct Zoroastrian setting: Behram Yazad replaces the unnamed remover of difficulties, and the telling is joined by prayer, response, offerings, light and the mirror.

Relationship, not identity

The similarities with Mushkil Gusha are extensive. They do not yet establish which form is earlier, whether one tradition borrowed from another, or whether both drew on a wider Iranian narrative and ritual field. “Sister tradition” is used here as a comparative description, not as a claim of common origin.

Accessible text

The Madon translation

English title: The Woodcutter and His Fortune (Mushkel Aasan)
Translation: Dhun Madon and Cyrus Madon, Australia, 1999
Revision: January 2007
Source language: Gujarati
Gujarati source: Described as a Gujarati book, but not bibliographically identified in the English edition.
Religious setting: Zoroastrian; centred on Behram Yazad, the yazata of victory, together with other spiritual beings and Zoroastrian prayers.
Research status: A modern English translation of a living Gujarati form, not evidence that the story originated in ancient Zoroastrian Iran.

Comparative importance

Why this version matters

This is not a distant tale sharing only a title or a woodcutter. It preserves an unusually large part of the same narrative architecture found in the 1919 Kerman witness: poverty and hunger, miraculous matter becoming jewels, sudden prosperity, a royal friendship, lost jewellery, accusation and imprisonment, a forgotten obligation, an impatient rider, a dying child who recovers, and final restoration.

At the same time, the story has been thoroughly situated within Zoroastrian religious life. The helper is Behram Yazad; Srosh, Mehr, Bahman and Ardibehesht also appear. The story concludes with Zoroastrian prayers and, in the Madon text, a remembrance of the preservation of the sacred fire at Udwada.

Narrative

How the Gujarati form moves

Hunger at the neighbour’s doorMishkin, a poor woodcutter, lives with his wife and daughter. The daughter is drawn by the smell of a neighbour’s meal and repeatedly asks for kindling, but receives no food.
Three days without woodMishkin promises to earn more, but a forest fire prevents him from working. After three days the family has survived only on water.
Five spiritual helpersBehram Yazad, Ardibehesht Yazad, Meher Yazad, Bahman Yazad and Sarosh Yazad hear his despair. Behram gives him three handfuls of dirt and asks him to remember them through story and offerings.
Dirt becomes jewelsThe dirt shines and becomes precious stones. Mishkin sells one, feeds his family and distributes nuts, fruit and flowers to people he meets.
A palace and a royal diamondMishkin builds a magnificent house. The king tests his humility by sending food; Mishkin returns the platter with a diamond, which is set into the princess’s necklace.
Pilgrimage and forgettingBefore leaving on pilgrimage, Mishkin asks his daughter to maintain regular prayers and offerings to Behram Yazad. Her new friendship with the princess distracts her from the promise.
The missing stoneAt a lake, a diamond disappears from the princess’s necklace. Mishkin’s daughter is accused; the family’s possessions are seized. On returning, Mishkin asks to take the place of his wife and daughter in prison.
The offering restoredAn angel reminds him of the neglected obligation. A rider refuses to help and is injured. An old man on his way to buy a shroud pauses to obtain the offerings and join Mishkin’s prayers; his dying son recovers.
The bird returns the diamondA large bird drops the lost stone before the royal family. The accusation is withdrawn, the king apologises, and Mishkin’s daughter eventually marries the prince.
The story spreadsA further act of prayer is followed by the return of the queen’s brothers after seven years. The queen fulfils her promise to make the story known throughout the kingdom.

Practice described by the Madons

A story performed, not merely read

Preparation

The practitioner bathes and says the Kusti prayers before the recitation.

Response

While one person tells, the others periodically answer “Jee ray Jee,” making listening audible.

The mirror

A person reciting alone places a small mirror in front and gives the response as well as the telling.

Offerings

Roasted chickpeas are customary in India; nuts, dates or other dried fruit may be substituted.

Light and fragrance

An oil lamp, incense, flowers and, where available, sandalwood accompany the offering.

Prayer

The recitation is addressed to Behram Yazad and concludes with five Yatha Ahu Vairyo and three Ashem Vohu prayers.

The Madon instructions recommend habitual recitation but do not specify a weekday. Different days are reported in the broader living tradition. A fixed Thursday rule should therefore not be projected onto this version.

Comparison with Kerman 1919

The same skeleton, differently clothed

Element	Lorimer, Kerman 1919	Madon, Gujarati–English 1999/2007
Protagonist	A poor thorn-gatherer with wife and daughter.	A poor woodcutter named Mishkin with wife and daughter.
Opening need	The daughter asks for date cakes; three loads are gathered and ultimately burned.	The daughter longs for a neighbour’s food; a forest fire prevents work for three days.
Helper	A mysterious horseman who speaks of Mushkil Gusha.	Five named yazatas led by Behram Yazad.
Miraculous gift	Apparently worthless pebbles become jewels.	Three handfuls of dirt become jewels.
Forgotten act	Friday Eve telling, fasting and alms are neglected.	Prayer, story and offerings to Behram Yazad are neglected.
Royal jewel	A necklace left in a tree is rediscovered through its reflection in water.	A diamond lost from a necklace is returned by a large bird.
Refusal and help	A rider refuses; a father concerned for his dying child agrees to listen and share food.	A rider refuses and is injured; an old man seeking a shroud joins the offering and his son recovers.
Ending	The thorn-gatherer is released and his property restored.	Restoration expands into royal marriage, the return of the queen’s brothers and the spread of devotion to Behram Yazad.

Iran · India · Diaspora

A possible route — not yet a genealogy

Firoza Punthakey-Mistree places the story within the orbit of the Iranian Zoroastrian Sopra-e Shah Pariya, a domestic wish-fulfilling practice maintained largely by women. A related story called Nakhod-e Moshgel Goshāy Vahram Izad is recited near the end of that longer narrative complex. In it, a poor woodcutter encounters three yazatas; some versions add Bahman and Ardibehesht.

Her study reports that a simplified form became popular among Parsi women in India and Pakistan in recent decades. In this practice, a clean table, oil lamp, incense, an image, unshelled gram, dried dates, coconut, green raisins, rock sugar and other simple offerings accompany the story and a Behram prayer. Earlier studies by Mary Boyce and James R. Russell document the Iranian and Navsari settings.

Working inference: this evidence makes an Iran–India transmission route plausible and shows that the narrative has circulated within Zoroastrian women’s practice. It does not yet reveal when Mushkil Asan acquired its present form or how it relates historically to the Muslim Kerman witness published in 1919.

Sources presently in view

Text and scholarship

Dhun Madon and Cyrus Madon, The Woodcutter and His Fortune (Mushkel Aasan), translated from Gujarati, 1999; revised 2007. Read the external English edition ↗
Firoza Punthakey-Mistree, “Laying of the Sopra-e Shah Pariya,” in Jamsheed K. Choksy and Jennifer Dubeansky, eds., Gifts to a Magus, Peter Lang, 2013, pp. 195–204. Publisher’s record ↗
James R. Russell, “The Rite of Mushkil Asan Behram Yazad Amongst the Parsis of Navsari, India,” in A Green Leaf, Acta Iranica 28, 1988, pp. 521–534.
Mary Boyce, A Persian Stronghold of Zoroastrianism, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977, pp. 59–61. Bibliographic record ↗

Questions remaining

What must still be found

Which Gujarati book served as the Madons’ source, and when was it first printed?
What wording and ritual instructions occur in earlier Gujarati editions?
How does Russell’s 1988 Navsari documentation compare with the Madon form?
Which Persian versions of Nakhod-e Moshgel Goshāy Vahram Izad survive in writing or recording?
Can distinctive sequences establish contact with Lorimer’s Kerman witness, or do they point to an earlier shared narrative pool?
When did the associations with Behram Yazad, the other yazatas and the sacred fire enter the story?

Mushkil Asan is valuable precisely because it is both recognisable and different: the story’s architecture remains visible while its religious language, helpers, prayers and ritual objects have become unmistakably Zoroastrian.