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The change of the name Tusar to Tansar seems to have been the result of a misreading of a book written in the Pahlavi scripts, in which there is only one sign for the two letters "v" and "n". According to Christensen, if Ibn al-Muqaffa' had called the name Tusar in the Pahlavi text of Letter of Tansar into Arabic, this pronunciation should have been seen in Ibn Isfandiyar's Persian translation instead of Tansar. Hence, Biruni, who called him "Tusar, Herbadan Herbad", must have taken it from the Pahlavi text of Letter of Tansar or another Pahlavi source, not from the Arabic translation of Ibn Muqaffa'. With the recognition of Shapur I's inscription at the Ka'ba-ye Zartosht, it became clear that the correct form of the name in the Sassanid period and in Middle Persian was "Tusar". According to Shapur, one of the companions of his father Ardeshir Babakan's court was a man named "Mehrag Tusargan" (in Middle Persian: mtrk ZY twslk'n; in Parthian: mtrk twsrkn; in Greek: Μεερικ τόνσσεριγαν). Because there is a separate sign for the letter "v" in the side of the inscription, this inscription shows that the correct form of the name was "Tousar". Today, most scholars cite the traditional form of Tansar in their writings, and as Mary Boyce points out, changing it to Tusar is of little use.
The oldest known record of Tansar and his activities is the Middle Persian text of Denkard, compiled in the tenth century by Aturfarnbag-i Farruxzatan and Adurbad-i Emedan. Denkard identifies this Zoroastrian cleric as "Herbad" or "Herbadan Herbad" of the period of Ardashir I and praises him with characteristics such as "Right Order", "Pious Puriotkishan", and "Heavenly Sardar and devotee eloquence". It is also reported that Tensor, at the suggestion of Ardashir I, compiled scattered Avestan sacred texts.
third book of Denkard states:
"That lord, Ardeshir Shahnshah, the son of Babak, came to re-adorn the kingdom of Iran, and this writing was collected from the scattering of one, and Puriotkish Tansar, who was Herbad, came out and weighed it with the interpretation of Avesta, and said that based on this interpretation, it should be joined together And he did so."
in fourth book of Denkard states:
"The lord, Ardeshir Shahnashah, the son of Babak, with the guidance of Tansar, gathered all the religious teachings that were scattered in the court. Tansar came out, accepted it, and chose the more correct ones, leaving out the other sections, and thus commanded: From now on, only the correct ones are the correct interpretations based on the Mazdayasna, because now there is no lack of knowledge about them."
Apart from Denkard, some other historical reports have also dealt with Tensor and his activities. First of all, Al-Masudi, in The Meadows of Gold, talks about Tensor's friendship with Ardeshir I and calls him one of the ascetics and princes of Iran and Platonism and a follower of the ideas of Socrates and Plato. In his other book, At-Tanbih wa-l-'Ishraf, he says that Tansar, the priest of Ardashir I, who was also called "Dosar or Dusher", was a Platonic man and a remnant of the Parthian feudal system and had lands inherited from his father. Tansar had sent representatives to various lands of Iran to inform the Iranian people about the uprising of Ardeshir I, and with his efforts, he had prepared the ground for the reign of Ardashir and the destruction of all the monarchies. Al-Mas'udi also says that Tensor had written good writings on monarchical and religious policies, in which he discussed Ardashir's activities and the justifications for his innovations in the field of religion and monarchy. Al-Mas'udi also says that Tansar had written good writings on monarchical and religious policies, in which he discussed Ardashir's activities and the justifications for his innovations in the field of religion and monarchy. One of these writings was his letter to Goshnasb, the ruler of Damavand, Rey, Tabarestan, Deylam and Gilan mountains, and the other was Letter of Tansar to the king of India. Miskawayh reports in Tajar al-Ummah that Ardashir I used the wise advice of a pious Herbad called Tansar to organize the Persian kingdom and destroy the kings of the tribes. In Albiruni's India, al-Biruni quotes from the letter "Tusar, Herbadan Herbad" to the king of Padishkhwargar, in which he responded to his criticism of Ardashir I. In Fars-Nama, Ibn al-Balkhi called the minister of Ardashir I a wise man named Tsar and said that Ardashir I did all his work according to his advice and strategy.
These reports testify that Tansar was one of the strongest Zoroastrian theologians in the early years of the Sassanid Empire. In the Letter of Tansar itself, he says that he lived piously for fifty years before the rise of Ardashir I and tried to preserve Zoroastrianism.
First of all, it was Ernst Herzfeld who considered these two historical figures to be one. Martin Sprengling, who translated Kartir's inscriptions before others, recognized the two and believed that what Denkard had to say about Tansar's religious activities was a report of Kartir's religious activities, which he addressed in his inscriptions. Vladimir Lukonin also simply considered Tansar as a mythical figure and Letter of Tansar as a work by Zoroastrian priests in the sixth century AD. Nevertheless, Mary Boyce, with logical reasoning, recognized Tansar and Kartir as two separate historical figures. Referring to the anonymous heterogeneity of the two, he made it clear that Kartir and Tensor are both special letters, as in the inscription of Shapur I, in addition to "Kartir Herbad", the two names "Kartir son of Ardavan" and "Mehrag son of Tusar" They are also seen to indicate the existence of the letters of Kartir and Tusar at the beginning of the Sassanid period. Boyce also noted that the period of life and religious activities of Tansar and Kartir are not the same because of the various historical sources and the Letter of Tansar itself; He lived during the reign of Ardashir I and the peak of his activities and strength was during the reign of Ardeshir I, but it is clear from the theme of Kartir inscriptions that he must have been very young during the reign of Ardeshir I and the peak of his strength and activities was during the reign of Bahram II. Boyce, on the other hand, argued that the context of Tansar and Kartir's activities and achievements were completely inconsistent. In the history of Zoroastrianism, the name of Tansar is always seen in connection with his efforts in collecting Zoroastrian sacred texts and providing a standard text of the Avesta and maintaining it; But in his inscriptions, Kartir makes no mention of himself doing such things, and in general, Kartir and Tansar must be recognized as two separate historical figures.
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