Avesta

Avesta
French translation of the Avesta by Polish Orientalist Ignacy Pietraszewski, Berlin, 1858.
Information
Religion	Zoroastrianism
Language	Avestan
Period	Avestan period (c. 1500–c. 400 BCE)

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The Avesta (/əˈvɛstə/, Book Pahlavi: ʾp(y)stʾk' (abestāg), Persian: اوستا (avestâ)) is the text corpus of religious literature of Zoroastrianism.^[1] All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet.^[2] Modern editions of the Avesta are based on the various manuscript traditions that have survived in India and Iran.^[3]

The individual texts of the Avesta were originally oral compositions.^[4] They were composed over a long period of several centuries during the Old Iranian period (possibly ranging from 15th century BCE – 4th century BCE).^[5] The written transmission began during the Sassanian period, with the creation of the Avestan alphabet. The resulting texts were then compiled into a comprehensive edition of the Avesta in 21 volumes.^[6] This edition was lost sometime after the 10th century CE and only a small part survived through a series of different manuscript traditions. The oldest surviving fragment of such a manuscript dates to 1323 CE.^[7]

Unlike the Sasanian Avesta, which was organized thematically, the surviving Avestan manuscripts correspond to the different ceremonies in which they are used.^[8] It is assumed that it was their regular use which ensured their survival to this day.^[9] The principal text is the Yasna, which takes its name from the corresponding ceremony, in which it is recited. Extensions to the Yasna ceremony include the texts of the Vendidad and the Visperad.^[10] Unlike the Yasna, Visperad and Vendidad, the Yashts and the other texts of the Khordeh Avesta or "Little Avesta" are no longer used liturgically in high rituals. Aside from the Yashts, these other lesser texts include the Nyayesh texts, the Gah texts, the Siroza and various other fragments.^[10]

The term Avesta originates from the 9th/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition in which the word appears as Middle Persian abestāg,^[11][12] Book Pahlavi ʾp(y)stʾkʼ. In that context, abestāg texts are portrayed as received knowledge and are distinguished from the exegetical commentaries (the zand) thereof. The literal meaning of the word abestāg is uncertain; it is generally acknowledged to be a learned borrowing from Avestan, but none of the suggested etymologies have been universally accepted. The widely repeated derivation from *upa-stavaka is from Christian Bartholomae (Altiranisches Wörterbuch, 1904), who interpreted abestāg as a descendant of a hypothetical reconstructed Old Iranian word for "praise-song" (Bartholomae: Lobgesang); but this word is not actually attested in any text.

The Zoroastrian history of the Avesta, lies in the realm of legend and myth. The oldest surviving versions of these tales are found in the ninth to 11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition (i.e. in the so-called "Pahlavi books"). The legends run as follows: The twenty-one nasks ("books") of the Avesta were created by Ahura Mazda and brought by Zoroaster to his patron Vishtaspa (Denkard 4A, 3A).^[13] Supposedly, Vishtaspa (Dk 3A) or another Kayanian, Daray (Dk 4B), then had two copies made, one of which was stored in the treasury and the other in the royal archives (Dk 4B, 5).^[14] Following Alexander's conquest, the Avesta was then supposedly destroyed or dispersed by the Greeks, after they had translated any scientific passages of which they could make use (AVN 7–9, Dk 3B, 8).^[15] Several centuries later, one of the Parthian emperors named Valaksh (one of the Vologases) supposedly then had the fragments collected, not only of those that had previously been written down, but also of those that had only been orally transmitted (Dk 4C).^[15]

The Denkard also records another legend related to the transmission of the Avesta. In this story, credit for collation and recension is given to the early Sasanian-era priest Tansar (high priest under Ardashir I, r. 224–242 CE, and Shapur I, 240/242–272 CE), who had the scattered works collected – of which he approved only a part as authoritative (Dk 3C, 4D, 4E).^[16] Tansar's work was then supposedly completed by Adurbad Mahraspandan (high priest of Shapur II, r. 309–379 CE) who made a general revision of the canon and continued to ensure its orthodoxy (Dk 4F, AVN 1.12–1.16).^[17] A final revision was supposedly undertaken in the 6th century CE under Khosrow I (Dk 4G).^[18]

Texts of the Avesta became available to European scholarship comparatively late, thus the study of Zoroastrianism in Western countries dates back to only the 18th century.^[19] Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron travelled to India in 1755, and discovered the texts among Indian Zoroastrian (Parsi) communities. He published a set of French translations in 1771, based on translations provided by a Parsi priest. Anquetil-Duperron's translations were at first dismissed as a forgery in poor Sanskrit, but he was vindicated in the 1820s following Rasmus Rask's examination of the Avestan language (A Dissertation on the Authenticity of the Zend Language, Bombay, 1821). Rask also established that Anquetil-Duperron's manuscripts were a fragment of a much larger literature of sacred texts. Anquetil-Duperron's manuscripts are at the Bibliothèque nationale de France ('P'-series manuscripts), while Rask's collection now lies in the Royal Library, Denmark ('K'-series). Other large Avestan language manuscript collections are those of the British Museum ('L'-series), the K. R. Cama Oriental Library in Mumbai, the Meherji Rana library in Navsari, and at various university and national libraries in Europe.

In the early 20th century, the legend of the Parthian-era collation engendered a search for a 'Parthian archetype' of the Avesta. According to the theory of Friedrich Carl Andreas (1902), the archaic nature of the Avestan texts was assumed to be due to preservation via written transmission, and unusual or unexpected spellings in the surviving texts were assumed to be reflections of errors introduced by Sasanian-era transcription from the Aramaic alphabet-derived Pahlavi scripts.^{[n 1]} The search for the 'Arsacid archetype' was increasingly criticized in the 1940s and was eventually abandoned in the 1950s after Karl Hoffmann demonstrated that the inconsistencies noted by Andreas were actually due to unconscious alterations introduced by oral transmission.^[20] Hoffmann identifies^[21] these changes to be due,^[22] in part, to modifications introduced through recitation;^{[n 2]} in part to influences from other Iranian languages picked up on the route of transmission from somewhere in eastern Iran (i.e. Central Asia) via Arachosia and Sistan through to Persia;^{[n 3]} and in part due to the influence of phonetic developments in the Avestan language itself.^{[n 4]}

The notion of an Arsacid-era collation and recension is generally rejected by modern scholarship.^[26] Instead, there is now a wide consensus that for most of their long history the Avesta's various texts were handed down orally and independently of one another.^[26] Based on linguistic aspects, scholars like Kellens, Skjærvø and Hoffman have also identified a number of distinct phases, during which different parts of the Avestan corpus were composed, transmitted in either fluid or fixed form, as well as edited and redacted.^[27][28][29]

The first phase comprises the creation of the Old Avestan texts, like the Gathas. Today, scholars consider a time frame between 1500 and 900 BCE to be possible,^[30] with a date close to 1000 BCE being considered likely by many.^[31] They must have crystallized early on, meaning their transmission became unchanged.^[29] During their long history, the Gathic texts seem to have been transmitted with the highest accuracy.^[32]

The second phase comprises the creation of the Young Avestan texts. These texts, which form the majority of the extant Avesta, originated in a later stage of the Avestan period separated from the Old Avestan time by several centuries.^[33] Scholars nowadays assume that this phase corresponds to a time frame from ca. 900–400 BCE.^[34] Due to a number of geographical references, there is a wide consensus that they were composed in the eastern portion of Greater Iran.^[35] While the Old Avestan material was handed down as a fixed liturgical corpus, the Young Avestan texts appear to have been transmitted during this time in an oral tradition which was still fluid. This means they were composed partly afresh with each generation of poet-priests, sometimes with the addition of new material.^[32]

At some time, however, this fluid phase must have stopped as well and the process of transmission of the Young Avestan texts became fixed similar to the Old Avestan material.^[36] This second crystallization must have taken place during the Old Iranian period, as Young Avestan does not show any characteristics of Middle Iranian.^[37] The subsequent transmission took largely place in Western Iran as evidenced by alterations introduced by native Persian speakers.^[38] Scholars like Skjærvø and Kreyenbroek correlate this second crystallization with the adoption of Zoroastrianism by the Achaemenids.^[39] As a result, Persian- and Median-speaking priests would have become the primary group to transmit these texts.^[40] Having no longer an active command of Avestan, they would have decided to preserve both Old and Young Avestan text as faithfully as possible.^[41] Some Young Avestan texts, like the Vendidad, show non-Avestan influence and are therefore considered to have been redacted or otherwise altered by non-Avestan speakers after the main corpus became fixed.^[42] Regardless of such changes and redactions, the main Avestan corpus was now transmitted by people for whom Avestan was no longer a native but a purely liturgical language.^[29]

It was not until around the 5th or 6th century CE that Avestan corpus was committed to written form, which lead to the creation of the Sasanian Avesta.^[7] This is seen as a turning point in the Avestan tradition since it separates the purely oral from the written transmission.^[43] The surviving texts of the Avesta, as they exist today, derive from a single master copy produced by that collation. That master copy, now lost, is known as the 'Sassanian archetype'. The oldest surviving manuscript (K1)^{[n 5]} of an Avestan language text is dated 1323 CE.^[7]

The post-Sasanian phase saw a pronounced deterioration of the Avestan corpus. Summaries in the texts of the Zoroastrian tradition from the 9th/10th century indicate that the Sasanian Avesta was much larger than the Avesta that exists today.^[10] Only about one-quarter of the Avestan sentences or verses referred to by the 9th/10th century commentators can be found in the surviving texts. This suggests that an indeterminable number of juridical, historical and legendary texts have been lost since then. On the other hand, it appears that the most valuable portions of the canon, including all of the oldest texts, have survived. The likely reason for this is that the surviving materials represent those portions of the Avesta that were in regular liturgical use and therefore known by heart by the priests and not dependent for their preservation on the survival of particular manuscripts.

After the loss of the Sasanian Avesta, the Avestan corpus survived through a number of individual manuscript traditions. These manuscripts overwhelmingly correspond to specific liturgies in which they are used and it is assumed that this liturgical use guaranteed their survival.^[44] The oldest surviving fragment of a manuscript dates to 1323 CE but most extant manuscripts date from after the 17th century.^[45]

In modern editions, specific manuscripts are typically classified according to several criteria. One criterion is the liturgy, like the Yasna, Vendidad or Visperad, in which they are used.^[46] Another criterion is wether they originated from the Iranian or Indian Zoroastrian communities.^[47] Furthermore, manuscripts, which only contain the Avestan text are called Sade, i.e., pure, whereas manuscripts with a translation into Middle Persian are called Pahlavi.^[48]

The corpus of Avestan literature was produced during the Old Iranian Avestan period and transmitted within an oral culture of priestly composition.^[49] It was not until the Sasanian period, that the Zoroastrian priesthood produced an authoritative edition of this corpus. This edition is described in the Zoroastrian literature of the 10th century, but was lost at some undetermined time afterwards.^[50] Since then, no new authoritative edition of the scattered Avestan corpus has been produced by the Zoroastrian community.

After the Avestan manuscripts became known in the Western world, several scholary attempts where made to create a critical edition of the diverse manuscripts through which the, now much reduced, Avestan corpus had survived. The first critical edition, was published in 1852 by Westergaard.^[51] It was based mostly on the manuscripts collected by Rask as well as from various private collections.^[52] Between 1886 and 1896, Geldner produced a much expanded edition,^[53][54][55] based on 133 manuscripts.^[56] The editorial principle of these works was to reproduce the earliest common ancestor of the manuscripts,^[57] which were considerend to be fragments of the Sasanian edition of the Avesta.^[58] Despite its age, Geldner's edition has remained the standard edition of the extant Avestan corpus to this day.^[59]

According to the Denkard, the Avesta of the Sasanian period was organized into 21 nasks (volumes). This division was to mirror the structure of the 21-word-long Ahuna Vairya prayer: each of the three lines of the prayer consists of seven words.^[60] Correspondingly, the nasks are divided into three groups, of seven volumes per group.^[61] Originally, each volume had a word of the prayer as its name, which so marked a volume's position relative to the other volumes.^[60]

The first group of the nasks was the Gathic group. It contained the Gathas as well as long commentaries on them. It comprised the Stōd-yasn, the Sudgar, the Warshtmansr, the Bag, the Waštag, the Hadoxt and the Spand nask.^[62] Of these nasks, the Stod-yasn is extant in the Staota Yesnya, which forms the central portion of the High Liturgies like the Yasna and Visperad (see below). However, the other nasks only survive as fragments or are lost.

The second group was the manthric group. Its content has been interpreted as connecting the first and third group.^[63] It comprised the Dāmdād, the Nāxtar, the Pāzag the Raθβištāiti, the Bariš, the Kaškaysraw and the Wištāsp-sāst nask.^[62] Only the Wištāsp-sāst nask may be extant in the Wištāsp Yasht manuscripts, which are part of several fragments collections (see below).^[64] All the other nasks are considered lost.

The third was the legal group, meaning its content covered topics of Zoroastrian jurisprudence. It comprised the Nikātum, the Duzd-sar-nizad, the Huspāram, the Sakātum, the Juddēwdād, the Čihrdād and the Bagān Yašt.^[62] The Bagān Yašt contained most of the Yashts of the extant Avesta (see below), whereas the Huspāram nask contained the Herbedestan and Nerangestan texts, which are extant in the fragments collections (see below). The Juddēwdād nask ist the only nask of the Sasanian Avesta which has survived intact as the Vendidad manuscripts (see below), meaning that both its Avestan and Middle Persian content as well as their arrangement have remained the same. Of the other nasks, only fragments may have survived.^[65]

The extant Avestan manuscripts no longer follow the division into nasks as described for the Sasanian Avesta. Instead, they are typically associated with the specific liturgy or ceremonies they are used in. The following structure is derived from the Geldner's edition of the Avesta. Unlike the Sasanian Avesta, which was produced by the Zoroastrian priesthood, this is a scholary edition and is consequently not canonical in a religious sense. It is, however, widely regarded to be the most important edition of the extant Avestan corpus and considered canonical for scholary purposes.^[66][67] In this edition, Geldner included the three Zoroastrian High Liturgies, namely the Yasna,^[53] the Visperad^[68] and the Vendidad,^[55] as well as the Khordeh Avesta,^[69] a collection of minor liturgies, ceremonies and prayers aimed at lay people.

The Yasna (from yazišn "worship, oblations", cognate with Sanskrit yajña) is an Avestan text recited during the primary Zoroastrian liturgy, namly the Yasna liturgy. It consists of 72 sections called the Ha-iti or Ha. Its central part, Yasna 14-58, consists of the Staota Yesnya, which formed one of the volumes of the Sasanian Avesta.^[70]

Being the most important liturgy, the Yasna is attested through a large number of manuscripts, which are grouped into six different mansucript types: The (i) Indian and (ii) Iranian Pahlavi Yasna, the (iii) Indian and (iv) Iranian Sade Videvdad, i.e., manuscripts which describe the Videwdad liturgy in which the Yasna is contained, the (v) Sanskrit Yasna as well as the (vi) Yasna Sade. In Geldner's edition, the Yasna is edited in the first volume of his series.^[53]

The Visperad (from vîspe ratavo, "(prayer to) all patrons") is an Avestan text named after the Visperad liturgy in which it is used. The text is divided into 24 sections called Karde, which are interleaved into the slightly rearranged 72 Has of the Yasna during the Visperad liturgy.^[71] For his edition, Geldner used 26 manuscripts, which fall into three different manuscript types. The first type are Vendidad Sade manuscripts of the Vendidad liturgy, which is an extention of the Visperad liturgy. The second type are Visperad Sade manuscripts, i.e., they contain the Avestan text of the Visperad liturgy. The third type are the Visperad Pahlavi manuscripts, which do, however, only contain the text unique to the Visperad liturgy, i.e., they lack the portions drawn from the Yasna liturgy.^[72] In his edition, Geldner edited the text according to the Visperad Sade manuscipts.^[73] It was published in the second Volume of his series.^[68]

The Khordeh Avesta refers to a series of editions of Avestan texts, which are aimed at lay people. These texts, therefore, differ from the high liturgies, like the Yasna, Visperad and Vendidad, which are only performed by priest and in a fire temple. The Khordeh Avesta typically contains the five Nyayesh , the five Gah, a number of Yashts, the 30 Sih-rozag and the four Afrinagan prayers.^[69]

The five Nyayeshes, abbreviated Ny., are prayers for regular recitation by both priests and laity.^[10] They are addressed to the Sun and Mithra (recited together thrice a day), to the Moon (recited thrice a month), and to the Waters and to Fire.^[10] The Nyayeshes are composite texts containing selections from the Gathas and the Yashts, as well as later material.^[10]

The five Gāhs are invocations to the five divinities that watch over the five divisions (gāhs) of the day.^[10] Gāhs are similar in structure and content to the five Nyayeshes.

The Yashts (from yešti, "worship by praise") are a collection of 21 hymns, each dedicated to a particular divinity or divine concept. Three hymns of the Yasna liturgy that "worship by praise" are—in tradition—also nominally called yashts, but are not counted among the Yasht collection since the three are a part of the primary liturgy. The Yashts vary greatly in style, quality and extent. In their present form, they are all in prose but analysis suggests that they may at one time have been in verse.

The Sih-rozag ("thirty days") is an enumeration and invocation of the 30 divinities presiding over the days of the month. (cf. Zoroastrian calendar). The Sih-rozag exists in two forms, the shorter ("little Sih-rozag") is a brief enumeration of the divinities with their epithets in the genitive. The longer ("great Sih-rozag") has complete sentences and sections, with the yazatas being addressed in the accusative. The Sih-rozag is never recited as a whole, but is a source for individual sentences devoted to particular divinities, to be inserted at appropriate points in the liturgy depending on the day and the month.

The Afrinagans are four "blessing" texts recited on a particular occasion: the first in honor of the dead, the second on the five epagomenal days that end the year, the third is recited at the six seasonal feasts, and the fourth at the beginning and end of summer.

The Vendidad (or Vidēvdāt, a corruption of Avestan Vī-Daēvō-Dāta, "Given Against the Demons") is an Avestan text which is used during the eponymous Vendidad liturgy. This liturgy is an extension of the Visperad liturgy, itself an extension of the Yasna. The text consists of 22 sections, called Fargards. They are framed using the so called Frashna, i.e., a discussions between Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster. The Vendidad's different parts vary widely in character and in age. Some parts may have been composed during the Sasanian period although the greater part is very old.^[74]

The Vendidad originally was one of the legal nasks of the Sasanian Avesta, called Juddēwdād therein. This naks belonged to dādīg, i.e., legal, nasks and therefore, unlike the Yasna and the Visparad, it is a text dealing with laws rather than the record of a liturgical ceremony. Since the Vendidad includes all of the Juddēwdād nask, it is the only nask of the Sasanian Avesta that has survived in its original form.^[74]

The text has survived through two different manuscript traditions. The first are the so called Vendidad Pahlavi manuscripts. They contain the 22 Fragards of the Vendidad jointly with a translation and commentary in Middle Persian. This manuscript type is considered to go back directly to the Juddēwdād nask from the Sasanian Avesta. The other type are the Vendidad Sade manuscripts. They described the Vendidad liturgy and consequently contain the Avestan text of the 72 Has of the Yasna, the 24 Kardes of the Visperad and 22 Fragards of the Vendidad text, as they are performed during the liturgy.^[74] For his edition of the Avesta, Geldner edited only the Avestan text of the 22 Fargards.^[55]

In his seminal edition of the Avesta, Geldner focussed only on complete liturgical manuscripts and did not incldue any additional material. Other authors, however, did compile a number of minor or incomplete Avestan texts. They are often referred to as fragments. 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.^[75] The more important of the fragment collections are the Nerangestan fragments (18 of which constitute the Ehrbadistan); the Wištāsp Yasht (see Sasanian Avesta), the Pursishniha "questions," also known as "Fragments Tahmuras"; and the Hadoxt nask "volume of the scriptures" with two fragments of eschatological significance.

It is generally assumed that the Sasanian Avesta not only contained a comprehsensive edition of the Avestan corpus but also provided a full translation and commentary in Middle Persian. This is based on the observation that references to the Sasanian Avesta quote from the Middle Persian text as well as the fact that the surviving texts, i.e., the Vendidad, the Herbedestan and the Nerangestan, all include a translation.^[76] The translations of these surviving texts is generally considered to be the oldest and most faithfull ones.^[77]

After the Avestan corpus became known in the West, a number of scholary translation have been provided. The oldest translation of the Avesta into English was provided by Darmesteter between 1880-1887.^[78][79][80] In addition, Darmesteter also published a translation of the Avesta into his native French between 1892-1893.^[81][82][83] These translations, however, were mostly based on the Middle Persian text of the manuscripts.^[84] In 1910, Fritz Wolff produced a translation of the Avesta into German.^[85] This translation was based on Geldner's edition and translated the Avestan text direcly using Bartholomae's Altiranisches Wörterbuch. As a result, his translation is generally seen as superior.^[86]

• Avestan, the language of the Avesta
• Avestan geography, the geographical horizon of the Avesta
• Avestan period, the time period of the Avesta
• Zoroastrian literature

• Alberto Cantera & Céline Redard. Avestan Manual: A Handbook for Teaching and Self-Learning. Trans. Richard Tahmaseb Nirouman. Otto Harrassowitz, 2023.
• UESUGI, Heindio; CATT, Adam Alvah, eds. (2024). Old Avestan Dictionary (Thesis). Asian and African Lexicon. Vol. 67. Research Institute for Languages and Cultures of Asia and Africa; Tokyo Language of Foreign Studies. ISBN 9784863375420.

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