What language is the Avesta written in?
Jun 28, 2020 · Who wrote the Avesta? Avesta, also called Zend-avesta, sacred book of Zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra). The extant Avesta is all that remains of a much larger body of scripture, apparently Zoroaster's transformation of a very ancient tradition. Click to see full answer.
Who wrote the Avesta and the Rig Veda?
The authorship of the Avesta is not factually known. It is believed that Zoroaster wrote the hymns that are found in the Avesta. But much of the... See full answer below.
What is the Avesta in the Bible?
Avesta, also called Zend-avesta, sacred book of Zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra). The extant Avesta is all that remains of a much larger body of scripture, apparently Zoroaster’s transformation of a very ancient tradition.
What is the other name of Zend Avesta?
Avesta: the holy book of Zoroastrianism, the Iranian religion that was founded by the legendary Bactrian prophet Zarathustra. History. Table of contents. Faravahar, the visual aspect of Ahuramazda. Relief from Persepolis.
When was Avesta composed?
Definition. The Avesta is the scripture of Zoroastrianism which developed from an oral tradition founded by the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathustra, Zartosht) sometime between c. 1500-1000 BCE.Jan 8, 2020
What is written in Avesta?
Avesta, also called Zend-avesta, sacred book of Zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, the teachings of the prophet Zoroaster (Zarathushtra). The extant Avesta is all that remains of a much larger body of scripture, apparently Zoroaster's transformation of a very ancient tradition.Mar 24, 2022
When were the gathas written?
The Gathas (/ˈɡɑːtəz, -tɑːz/) are 17 Avestan hymns traditionally believed to have been composed by the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster)....Gatha (Zoroaster)GathaInformationAuthorZarathustraLanguageAvestanPeriodc. 1500 – 1000 BC2 more rows
Which is the holy book of Zoroastrianism?
the AvestaThese religious ideas are encapsulated in the sacred texts of the Zoroastrians and assembled in a body of literature called the Avesta.Sep 23, 2019
Is Avestan still spoken?
The script used for writing Avestan developed during the 3rd or 4th century AD. By then the language had been extinct for many centuries, and remained in use only as a liturgical language of the Avesta canon. As is still the case today, the liturgies were memorized by the priesthood and recited by rote.
What does the name Avesta mean?
Avesta. / (əˈvɛstə) / noun. a collection of sacred writings of Zoroastrianism, including the Songs of Zoroaster.
Where was Zoroastrianism founded?
PersiaZoroastrianism was founded in Persia in the 6th century BCE by the priest Zarathustra, known to the Greeks as Zoroaster.
How many gathas are there?
According to tradition, the five Gathas are composed by Zoroaster himself, thus being the only authentic religious heritage left by him to posterity.
What is the oldest religion?
The word Hindu is an exonym, and while Hinduism has been called the oldest religion in the world, many practitioners refer to their religion as Sanātana Dharma (Sanskrit: सनातन धर्म, lit. ''the Eternal Dharma''), which refers to the idea that its origins lie beyond human history, as revealed in the Hindu texts.
How many gods does Zoroastrianism have?
One GodOne God. Zoroastrians believe in one God, called Ahura Mazda (meaning 'Wise Lord'). He is compassionate, just, and is the creator of the universe.Oct 2, 2009
Who is the founder of Judaism?
AbrahamAccording to the text, God first revealed himself to a Hebrew man named Abraham, who became known as the founder of Judaism. Jews believe that God made a special covenant with Abraham and that he and his descendants were chosen people who would create a great nation.Jan 5, 2018
Where did the Avesta texts come from?
The surviving texts of the Avesta, as they exist today, derive from a single master copy produced by collation and recension in the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE). That master copy, now lost, is known as the 'Sassanian archetype'. The oldest surviving manuscript ( K1) of an Avestan language text is dated 1323 CE.
How many fragments are there in the Avesta?
There are altogether more than 20 fragment collections, many of which have no name (and are then named after their owner/collator) or only a Middle Persian name. The more important of the fragment collections are the Nirangistan fragments (18 of which constitute the Ehrbadistan ); the Pursishniha "questions," also known as "Fragments Tahmuras "; and the Hadokht Nask "volume of the scriptures" with two fragments of eschatological significance.
What is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism?
Avestan. The Avesta ( / əˈvɛstə /) is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the liturgical group is the Yasna, which takes its name from the Yasna ceremony, ...
What is the Yasna?
The Yasna (from yazišn "worship, oblations", cognate with Sanskrit yajña ), is the primary liturgical collection, named after the ceremony at which it is recited. It consists of 72 sections called the Ha-iti or Ha. The 72 threads of lamb's wool in the Kushti, the sacred thread worn by Zoroastrians, represent these sections. The central portion of the Yasna is the Gathas, the oldest and most sacred portion of the Avesta, believed to have been composed by Zarathushtra (Zoroaster) himself. The Gathas are structurally interrupted by the Yasna Haptanghaiti ("seven-chapter Yasna "), which makes up chapters 35–42 of the Yasna and is almost as old as the Gathas, consists of prayers and hymns in honor of Ahura Mazda, the Yazatas, the Fravashi, Fire, Water, and Earth. The younger Yasna, though handed down in prose, may once have been metrical, as the Gathas still are.
When did Zoroastrianism start?
The texts became available to European scholarship comparatively late, thus the study of Zoroastrianism in Western countries dates back to only the 18th century . Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron travelled to India in 1755, and discovered the texts among Indian Zoroastrian ( Parsi) communities.
What is the Vendidad?
The Vendidad (or Vidēvdāt, a corruption of Avestan Vī-Daēvō-Dāta , "Given Against the Demons") is an enumeration of various manifestations of evil spirits, and ways to confound them. The Vendidad includes all of the 19th nask, which is the only nask that has survived in its entirety. The text consists of 22 Fargard s, fragments arranged as discussions between Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster. The first fargard is a dualistic creation myth, followed by the description of a destructive winter on the lines of the Flood myth. The second fargard recounts the legend of Yima. The remaining fargard s deal primarily with hygiene (care of the dead in particular) [ fargard 3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 16, 17, 19] as well as disease and spells to fight it [7, 10, 11, 13, 20, 21, 22]. Fargard s 4 and 15 discuss the dignity of wealth and charity, of marriage and of physical effort, and the indignity of unacceptable social behaviour such as assault and breach of contract, and specify the penances required to atone for violations thereof. The Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual, and there is a degree of moral relativism apparent in the codes of conduct. The Vendidad ' s different parts vary widely in character and in age. Some parts may be comparatively recent in origin although the greater part is very old.
What is the siroza?
The Siroza. The Siroza ("thirty days") is an enumeration and invocation of the 30 divinities presiding over the days of the month. (cf. Zoroastrian calendar ). The Siroza exists in two forms, the shorter ("little Siroza ") is a brief enumeration of the divinities with their epithets in the genitive.
What is the Avesta?
The extant Avesta is all that remains of a much larger body of scripture, apparently Zoroaster’s transformation of a very ancient tradition. The voluminous manuscripts of the original are said to have been destroyed when Alexander the Great conquered Persia.
What is Avesta in Zoroastrianism?
Avesta, also called Zend-avesta, sacred book of Zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, ...
What is the Visp Rat?
The Visp-rat is a lesser liturgical scripture, containing homages to a number of Zoroastrian spiritual leaders. The Vendidad, or Vidēvdāt, is the main source for Zoroastrian law, both ritual and civil. It also gives an account of creation and the first man, Yima.
Why were the Yashts not written by the prophet?
However, it is almost certain that these hymns were not really composed by the prophet, because they are written in another language, which is usually called "Younger Avestan". This language resembles the Old Persian that we know from the cuneiform texts of the Achaemenid Empire written between 521 and 331 BCE. The composition of the Yashts may therefore tentatively be dated between, say, 625 and 225.
What are the three ancient texts?
In other words: at some point in history, perhaps the Parthian age, many ancient texts were brought together: 1 the older Yasna: liturgic texts, written in Gathic#N#including the Gâthâs, hymns to Ahuramazda written in Gathic by Zarathustra (1400-1200 BCE) 2 Yashts: hymns to several deities in Younger Avestan 3 the younger Yasna: liturgic texts, written in Younger Avestan 4 Vendidad: prose texts on ritual purity and myth (codified in the Parthian age)
What is the Vendidad?
The next group of texts is called the Vendidad. This word is a corruption of Vidaevadata, "against the demons". The language of these prose texts, which deal with myth and purity laws, is Younger Avestan, but it does not resemble the language of the cuneiform texts of the Achaemenid Empire. Probably, the Vendidad was written later, during the Parthian period (141 BCE - 224 CE).
What was the name of the Persian dynasty in 224 CE?
In 224 CE, the Parthian rulers of Iran were replaced by a new Persian dynasty, the Sasanians. Other texts were added to the already existing corpus, the most important being the Visperad, a long liturgy made up from Yasna and Vendidad texts with many additional invocations. Another texts is the Khorda Avesta or "Short Avesta", a collection of short prayers that could be used by every believer. The language of this period is known as Middle Persian or Pahlavi.
When Ahura Mazda the Lord first created humanity, He gave the following order: "Be diligent to save your souls
"When Ahura Mazda the Lord first created humanity, He gave the following order: "Be diligent to save your souls; I shall then provide for your bodily matters. For it is impossible to save your souls without you." People are deluded in the following manner: they themselves strive after material things, and as regards the things of the soul, they put their trust in the Yazads." (Dk6.291, tr. Shaked)
Where did Zarathushtra live?
The religion was founded by Zarathushtra. His date is uncertain, but is probably somewhere around 1200 BC. He lived and preached in the Inner Asian steppes. Zarathushtra received his revelations directly from Ahura Mazda, and from his Archangels (Amesha Spentas). Scripture: Avesta. The central scripture is the Avesta.
What are the tenets of Zoroastrianism?
Some of the major tenets of Zoroastrianism include: God: Ahura Mazda. The supreme being is called Ahura Mazda (Phl. Ohrmazd), meaning "Wise Lord.". Ahura Mazda is all good, and created the world and all good things, including people. He is opposed by Anghra Mainyu (Phl.
What is the most sacred scripture?
The central scripture is the Avesta. The most sacred sections of the Avesta are the Gathas or Hymns of Zarathushtra; they are also the most enigmatic. Later sacred literature includes the Pahlavi Texts, which contain extensive quotations and paraphrases from lost Avesta texts.
Who said I have created no one better than you in the world?
"The creator Ahura Mazda spoke to Zarathushtra thus: 'O Zarathushtra! I have created no one better than you in the world, and I shall likewise not create one better after you are gone. You are my chosen one, and I have made this world apparent on account of you. And all these people and monarchs whom I have created have always maintained the hope that I should create you in their days, so that they should accept the religion, and their souls should attain to the supreme heaven.'" (SD81.3)
What are the two sacred garments of Zoroastrians?
Two sacred garments, the sudreh (shirt) and kusti (cord) are the emblems of the religion. Zoroastrians perform a short cleansing ritual (Padyab), and retie the kusti several times a day with another short ritual (Nirang-i Kusti) as a sign of their faith. Other prayers are recited daily from the Khorda Avesta.
What is the book of common prayer?
Yasna. (Book of Common Prayer) including Yashts (hymns to the sacred beings), Niyayeshes (litanies to the sun, Mithra, Water, Fire, and the Moon), Gahs (prayers for the five periods of the day), Afrinagans (ceremonies of blessing), and other prayers.
Where did the Avesta texts come from?
The first record of a written text of the Avesta comes from the Middle Persian language (Pahlavi) writer Arda Viraf, in his book the Arda Viraf Nameh. In it, he writes that the the Persian Achaemenian kings (c. 700 - 300 BCE) commissioned the commitment of the Avesta to writing and deposited the texts in the royal library at Istakhr. "...the entire Avesta and Zand, written on parchment with gold ink, were deposited in the archives at Stakhar Papakan (Istakhr, near Persepolis and Shiraz in Pars province), ... and the invader Alexander of Macedonia... burned them. He also killed several judges, dasturs, mobeds, herbads and other upholders of the religion, as well as the competent and wise of the country of Iran" (in an attempt to destroy the oral tradition as well).
Why is the Avesta's Yasna called Young Avestan?
The balance of the Avesta's Yasna together with the Avesta's Yashts and Visperad were composed in a language called Young Avestan, so named because it is believed to have come into use after Old Avestan had stopped being used as an everyday language of the people.
What is the language of Kerman?
In addition to Farsi (Persian, the national language of Iran), the traditional language spoken amongst the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman is called Dari, a name shared with the dialect of Persian spoken in Afghanistan. However, despite sharing the same name, the Dari dialects of Yazd or Kerman are quite different from the Dari of Afghanistan.
What is the Parsi language?
The following is a quote from our page on Haroyu (Aria, presently Herat and adjoining provinces in north-western Afghanistan): "The residents of Herat City are mainly the Parsiban (or Farsiwan), a group otherwise simply called Parsi (or Farsi), two versions of an ethnic term sometimes meaning 'Persian speaker'. However, all Afghani Persian speakers are not called Parsiban. For the main part, Parsiban refers to a sub-group of ethic Tajiks who speak Khorasani Dari, a Persian language dialect. [Khorasan is the northeast province of Iran that borders Herat and Afghanistan.] This is especially true of the rural Parsiban who have maintained the tradition of speaking Khorasani Dari. Members of the same ethno-linguistic group are also found in the Eastern Iranian provinces of Khorasan and Siestan / Sistan. Khorasani Dari is native to Khorasan, Herat and Farah provinces - provinces that were once part of Greater Khorasan. The eastern-most district in Herat Province is called Farsi / Parsi. There are about 600,000 Parsiban in Afghanistan out of a present population of just under thirty three million." Given that Khorasani Dari is spoken all along eastern Iran, from Khorasan to Siestan, and that many Zoroastrians from these areas migrated to Kerman and Yazd, carrying with them their language, the eastern Iranian connections with the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman bear further exploration.
What is the Indo-Iranian language?
Indo-Iranian Languages. The languages of the Zoroastrian scriptures, the Avesta, and the Hindu scriptures, the Rig Veda, are classified by linguists as part of the Indo-Iranian family of languages. The people who spoke the Indo-Iranian languages are in turn called the Indo-Iranian peoples. The people who wrote the Avesta and ...
Where did Panini live?
Panini was a Sanskrit grammarian from Pushkalavati, Gandhara, a region which is now part of modern-day Charsadda District in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (formerly known as the North-West Frontier Province of Pakistan). One guess is that Panini lived around the 6th century BCE. Ancient Gandhara was part of Hapta Hindu (meaning Seven-Indus, the upper Indus basin of the Indus River and its tributaries), the 15th Avestan-Vendidad nation. Panini's work, the Ashtadhyayi, is the earliest surviving text on Classical Sanskrit grammar. Panini himself refers to previous works such as the Unadisutra, Dhatupatha and Ganapatha. Together with the work of his immediate predecessors Nirukta, Nighantu, and Pratishakyas, Panini's Ashtadhyayi is acknowledged to stand at the beginning of the history of linguistics. His theory of morphological analysis was more advanced than any equivalent Western theory before the mid 20th century. Vaibhav Niku informs us that 'संस्कृत' (commonly transliterated as Sanskrit) means "highly elaborated/well constructed speech".
Who is Ashtadhyayi?
Together with the work of his immediate predecessors Nirukta, Nighantu, and Pratishakyas, Panini's Ashtadhyayi is acknowledged to stand at the beginning of the history of linguistics. His theory of morphological analysis was more advanced than any equivalent Western theory before the mid 20th century.
Zoroaster & Early Development
Achaemenid, Parthian, & Sassanian Development
- The religion was adopted by the Achaemenid Empire, probably during the reign of Darius I (the Great, r. 522-486 BCE). The founder, Cyrus the Great (r. c. 550-530 BCE), references Ahura Mazda, but such inscriptions could be alluding to the earlier vision of the polytheistic faith. Allegedly, the Achaemenids wrote down a version of the Avesta which w...
The Avesta
- The most important section of the Avesta is the Gathas. These are personal praise songs comprised of prayer-petition and worship-adoration and, on their own, provide little by way of instruction in how one is to walk the Zoroastrian path in one's daily life. It is thought that Zoroaster must have taught his disciples how to conduct themselves in plain, direct speech, and some of t…
Loss & Recovery
- In 651 CE, the Sassanian Empire fell to the Muslim Arabs and Zoroastrianism was suppressed. People either converted to Islam, continued the faith in secret, or fled the region (the Parsees who took the religion to India where it continues to flourish). The Muslims burned the Zoroastrian libraries and either destroyed the fire templesor turned them into mosques. Scholars regularly p…
Legacy
- The Avesta is a completely original vision of its age, conceiving of a single, all-powerful, creative deity with a personal interest in the lives – and morality – of human beings. Its principles informed the policies of the greatest empires of the ancient East and its theology would influence the later monotheistic faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. Zoroastrianism is the first mon…
Overview
The Avesta the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in Avestan, an early Iranian language which was spoken by ancient Iranians that is almost identical to that of the Rig Veda.
The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the liturgical group is the Yasna, which takes its name from the Yasna ceremony, …
Historiography
The surviving texts of the Avesta, as they exist today, derive from a single master copy produced by collation and recension in the Sasanian Empire(224–651 CE). That master copy, now lost, is known as the 'Sassanian archetype'. The oldest surviving manuscript (K1) of an Avestan language text is dated 1323 CE. Summaries of the various Avesta texts found in the 9th/10th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition suggest that a significant portion of the literature in the Avestan languag…
Structure and content
In its present form, the Avesta is a compilation from various sources, and its different parts date from different periods and vary widely in character. Only texts in the Avestan language are considered part of the Avesta.
According to the Denkard, the 21 nasks (books) mirror the structure of the 21-word-long Ahuna Vairyaprayer: each of the three lines of the prayer consists of seven words. Correspondingly, the …
Similarities to Rigveda
The text of the Avesta is written in a language that is almost identical to that of the Rig Veda. The Avestan 'h' is the same as the Sanskrit 's'. For example, the word Sapta-Sindhu becomes Hapta-Hindu. The following is a list of cognate terms that may be gleaned from comparative linguistic analysis of the Avesta and the Rigveda. Both collections are from the period after the proposed date of separation (c. 2nd millennium BC) of the Proto-Indo-Iranians into their respective Indic a…
Other Zoroastrian religious texts
Only texts preserved in the Avestan language count as scripture and are part of the Avesta. Several other secondary works are nonetheless crucial to Zoroastrian theology and scholarship.
The most notable among the Middle Persian texts are the Dēnkard ("Acts of Religion"), dating from the ninth century; the Bundahishn("Primordial Creation"), finished in the eleventh or twelfth century, but containing older material; the Mainog-i-Khirad ("Spirit of Wisdom"), a religious confer…
External links
• avesta.org: translation by James Darmesteter and L. H. Mills forms part of the Sacred Books of the East series, but is now regarded as obsolete.
• "Zend-Avesta" . Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). 1911.
• The British Library: Discovering Sacred Texts - Zoroastrianism