Avesta

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Avesta
Avesta, translated by Ignacy Pietraszewski.jpg
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)

The Avesta [a] 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 manuscripts that have survived in India and Iran. [3]

Contents

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 Vendidad and the Visperad . [10] In addition to these High Liturgies, the Avestan corpus comprises shorter litugical texts compiled in the Khordeh Avesta or "Little Avesta". Aside from the Yashts, these other lesser texts include the Nyayeshs , the Gāhs , the Sih-rozag and the Afrinagans . [10]

Name

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.

History

Zoroastrian tradition

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]

Modern scholarship

Modern scholarship generally rejects the Zoroastrian history of the Avesta from before the Sasanian period. [19] 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. [19] 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 by the Zoroastrian priests. [20] [21] [22]

Time and place of composition

Geographical horizon of the toponyms found in the Young Avestan texts Young avestan geography.png
Geographical horizon of the toponyms found in the Young Avestan texts

The Avestan texts are grouped into two distinct layers; Old Avestan and Young Avestan, which belong to two different chronological strata. [23] Regarding the Old Avestan material, scholars consider a time frame for its creation between 1500 and 900 BCE to be possible, [24] with a date close to 1000 BCE being considered likely by many. [25] There are no geographical references in the Old Avestan texts, which makes it impossible to specify where they were composed. [26]

The Young Avestan 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. [27] Scholars assume that this phase corresponds to a long time frame possibly lasting from 900 to 400 BCE. [28] In contrast to the Old Avestan texts, the Young Avestan parts contain a number of geographical references. As a result, there is a consensus that at least these texts were composed in the eastern portion of Greater Iran. [29]

Some texts in the Avestan corpus, like the Vendidad or the Vishtasp Yasht, show pronounced grammatical deficiencies. [30] They often consist of proper Avestan phrases, which are pieced together by people who no longer had an active command of Avestan. [31] This indicates that these texts were redacted from earlier, now lost sources, long after Avestan ceased to be a spoken language. [22]

Oral transmission

The Old Avestan texts must have crystallized early on, meaning their transmission became fixed. [22] During their long history, the Gathic texts seem to have been transmitted with the highest accuracy. [32] 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 completely and the process of transmission of the Young Avestan texts became fixed similar to the Old Avestan material. [33] This second crystallization must still have taken place during the Old Iranian period, as Young Avestan does not show any characteristics of Middle Iranian. [34] The subsequent transmission took largely place in Western Iran as evidenced by alterations introduced by native Persian speakers. [35] Scholars like Skjærvø and Kreyenbroek correlate this second crystallization with the adoption of Zoroastrianism by the Achaemenids. [36] As a result, Persian- and Median-speaking priests would have become the primary group to transmit these texts. [37] Having no longer an active command of Avestan, they would have decided to preserve both Old and Young Avestan texts as faithfully as possible. [38]

Written transmission

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. [39] 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 1] 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.

Avestan studies

Iranian Sade manuscript of the Vendidad, with the Avestan text in black and liturgial instructions in red ink Videvdad Sadah (Zoroastrian religious code), opened to first chapter, unknown copyist, Yazd, Iran, 1647 AD - British Library, London - DSC00550.jpg
Iranian Sade manuscript of the Vendidad, with the Avestan text in black and liturgial instructions in red ink

Avestan manuscripts became available to European scholarship comparatively late, thus the study of Zoroastrianism in Western countries dates back to only the 18th century. [40] 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 Zoroastrian 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 2] 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. [41] Hoffmann identifies [42] these changes to be due, [43] in part, to modifications introduced through recitation; [n 3] 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 4] and in part due to the influence of phonetic developments in the Avestan language itself. [n 5]

Manuscripts

Stemmatics of the Pahlavi and Sanskrit Yasna manuscripts used by Geldner Stemmatics yasna pahlavi.png
Stemmatics of the Pahlavi and Sanskrit Yasna manuscripts used by Geldner

After the loss of the Sasanian Avesta, the Avestan corpus survived through a number of individual manuscript traditions. [47] These manuscripts overwhelmingly correspond to specific liturgies in which they are used, [48] and it is assumed that this liturgical use guaranteed their survival. [49] The oldest surviving fragment of a manuscript dates to 1323 CE but most extant manuscripts date from after the 17th century. [50] Today, more than 300 such manuscripts are catalogued. [51] The most important analysis of Avestan manuscripts was provided by Geldner in his edition of the Avesta. In the Prolegomena to his edition, he provided a critical apparatus, detailing the stemmatics of the manuscripts he used. [52]

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. [53] Another criterion is whether they originated within the Iranian or Indian Zoroastrian communities. [54] In addition, manuscripts are classified according to their use. [55] Manuscripst for liturgical purposes contain the Avestan text plus liturgical instructions. They are called Sade or Sadah, meanig pure. [56] On the other hand, manuscripts for exegetical purposes contain the Avestan text jointly with a translation. Most exegetical manuscripts have a translation into Middle Persian, called Pahlavi. [57] But there are also some manuscripts with translations into Modern Persian, Sanskrit and Gujarati.

Editions

The corpus of Avestan literature was produced during the Old Iranian Avestan period and transmitted within an oral culture of priestly composition. [58] 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. [59] Since then, no new authoritative edition of the scattered Avestan corpus has been produced by the Zoroastrian community.

After Avestan manuscripts became known in the Western world, several scholary attempts were 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. [60] It was based mostly on the manuscripts collected by Rask. [61] Around the same time, Spiegel published an edition of the Zoroastrian High Liturgies, i.e., the Yasna, the Visperad and the Vendidad. Despite being smaller in scope and based on fewer manuscripts than Westergaard's edition, it is still considered relevant since it includes the Middle Persian translations jointly with the Avestan text. [62] Between 1886 and 1896, Geldner produced an edition of the Yasna, [52] the Visperad, the Khoreh Avesta, [63] and the Vendidad. [64] Although it lacked a few minor texts, included by Westergaard, it was based on significantly more manuscripts. [65] As a result, it has remained the standard edition of the surviving Avestan corpus to this day. [66] Overall these works share the same editorial principle, which was to reproduce the earliest common ancestor of the manuscripts, [67] therefore going back as close as possible to the Sasanian Avesta. [68]

Since the publication of Geldner's edition, a number of developments have increased the need for a new edition. [69] On the one hand many new manuscripts have been found, in particular in Iran. These new manuscripts have cast doubt on the, up to then, established opinion that all extant manuscripts derive from a single Sasanian archetype or, at least, some later hypearchetype. [70] Furthermore, the surviving Avestan texts are nowadays recognized as a primarily liturgical corpus. This means the editorial principle of previous editions, i.e., the reconstruction of the Sasanian Urtext, does not apply. The surviving texts are instead increasingly seen as witnesses of a living liturgical tradition; a tradition which is much older and existed parallel to the exegetical tradition represented in the Sasanian Avesta. [71]

These developments led to the creation of the Avestan Digital Archive (ADA) and the Corpus Avesticum Berolinense (CAB). ADA is a digital archive, which as of 2013 has digitized already 150 manuscripts and made 80 of them online available. [72] Furthermore, CAB is a project which attempts to edit the manuscripts within their original ritual context. [73]

Structure and content

The Sasanian Avesta

First page of an Iranian Sade manuscript of the Vendidad, the only volume of the Sasanian Avesta (called Juddewdad therein) which has remained intact until today Vendidad fol 1r.jpg
First page of an Iranian Sade manuscript of the Vendidad, the only volume of the Sasanian Avesta (called Juddēwdād therein) which has remained intact until today

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 manthra: each of the three lines of the prayer consists of seven words. [74] Correspondingly, the nasks are divided into three groups, of seven volumes per group. [75] Originally, each volume had a word of the prayer as its name, which so marked a volume's position relative to the other volumes. [74]

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. [76] 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. [77] It comprised the Dāmdād, the Nāxtar, the Pāzag the Raθβištāiti, the Bariš, the Kaškaysraw and the Wištāsp-sāst nask. [76] Only the Wištāsp-sāst nask may be extant in the Wishtasp Sast manuscripts, which are part of several fragments collections (see below). [78] All the other nasks are considered lost.

The third group 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. [76] 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 through the Vendidad manuscripts (see below), meaning that both its Avestan and Zand have remained the same. Of the other nasks, only fragments may have survived. [79]

The extant Avesta

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 Geldner's edition of the Avesta. Unlike the Sasanian Avesta, which was produced by the Zoroastrian priesthood, this is a scholary edition and it 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. [80] [81] [82] In this edition, Geldner included the three Zoroastrian High Liturgies, namely the Yasna, [52] the Visperad [83] and the Vendidad, [64] as well as the Khordeh Avesta, [84] a collection of minor liturgies, ceremonies and prayers aimed at lay people.

Yasna

First two pages of the first chapter of the Yasna in Geldner's edition of the Avesta Geldner Avesta I page 1.png
First two pages of the first chapter of the Yasna in Geldner's edition of the Avesta

The Yasna (from yazišn "worship, oblations", cognate with Sanskrit yajña ) is an Avestan text recited during the primary Zoroastrian liturgy, namely 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. [85]

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 embedded, 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. [52]

Visperad

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. [86] 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 extension 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. [87] In his edition, Geldner edited the text according to the Visperad Sade manuscripts. [88] It was published in the second Volume of his series. [83]

Khordeh Avesta

Khordeh Avesta manuscripts contain collections of Avestan texts, which are aimed at lay people. [89] They, therefore, differ from the High Liturgies, like the Yasna, Visperad and Vendidad, which are only performed by priest inside a fire temple. [90] The content of different Khordeh Avesta manuscripts can differ widely, depending on the choices made by the editor(s). Most manuscripts contain the five Nyayesh , the five Gah , a number of Yashts, the 30 Sih-rozag and the four Afrinagan prayers. [84]

  • The Niyayishns , abbreviated Ny., are five 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 Niyayishns are composite texts containing selections from the Gathas and the Yashts, as well as later material. [10]
  • The Gāhs are five invocations to the five divinities that watch over the five divisions ( gāh s) of the day. [10] Gāhs are similar in structure and content to the five Niyayishns.
  • The Yasht s (from yešti, "worship by praise") are a collection of 21 hymns, each dedicated to a particular divinity or divine concept. [91] They are extant through either pure Yasht manuscripts, which contain all 21 hymns, or through Khordeh Avesta manuscripts, most of which, however, only contain a selection of the most popular hymns. [92] Due to this inconsistent editorial practice, the Yashts are placed differently within the Avestan corpus by modern authors. In Geldner's edition, they are placed within the Khordeh Avesta. [63]
  • 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. [93]
  • The Afrinagans are prayers recited during the Afrinagan ceremonies. [94] The number of prayers in the manuscripts vary but most include four: 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. [95]

Vendidad

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. [96]

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. [96]

The text is extant through two different manuscript traditions. The first are the so called Vendidad Pahlavi manuscripts. They contain the 22 Fragards of the Vendidad jointly with the Zand. 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 as it is performed. Consequently, they contain the Avestan text of the 72 Has of the Yasna, the 24 Kardes of the Visperad and 22 Fragards of the Vendidad text. [96] For his edition of the Avesta, Geldner edited only the Avestan text of the 22 Fargards. [64]

Fragments

In his seminal edition of the Avesta, Geldner focussed only on the most important 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. [97] The more important of the fragment collections are the Nerangestan , the Herbedestan, the Wishtasp Sast (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.

Translations

It is generally assumed that the Sasanian Avesta not only consisted of a comprehensive edition of the Avestan corpus but also contained a full translation and commentary in Middle Persian, called Zand. [98] This assumption is based on the observation that references to the Sasanian Avesta typically quote from the Middle Persian translation as well as the fact that the surviving texts, i.e., the Vendidad, the Herbedestan and the Nerangestan, all include a Zand. [99] The translations of these surviving texts is generally considered to be the oldest and most faithfull ones. [100]

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 and 1887. [101] [102] [103] In addition, Darmesteter also published a translation of the Avesta into his native French between 1892 and 1893. [104] [105] [106] These translations, however, were mostly based on the Middle Persian text of the manuscripts. [107] In 1910, Fritz Wolff produced a translation of the Avesta into German. [108] 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. [109]

See also

References

Notes

  1. ↑ /əˈvɛstə/ , Book Pahlavi: ʾp(y)stʾk' (abestāg), Persian: اوستا (avestâ)
  1. ↑ K1 represents 248 leaves of a 340-leaf Vendidad Sade manuscript, i.e. a variant of a Yasna text into which sections of the Visperad and Vendidad are interleaved. The colophon of K1 (K=Copenhagen) identifies its place and year of completion to Cambay, 692Y (= 1323–1324 CE). The date of K1 is occasionally mistakenly given as 1184. This mistake is due to a 19th-century confusion of the date of K1 with the date of K1's source: in the postscript to K1, the copyist – a certain Mehrban Kai Khusrow of Navsari – gives the date of his source as 552Y (= 1184 CE). That text from 1184 has not survived.
  2. ↑ For a summary of Andreas' theory, see Schlerath (1987), pp. 29–30.
  3. ↑ For example, prefix repetition as in e.g. paitī ... paitiientī vs. paiti ... aiienī ( Y. 49.11 vs. 50.9), or sandhi processes on word and syllable boundaries, e.g. adāiš for *at̰.āiš (48.1), ahiiāsā for ahiiā yāsā, gat̰.tōi for *gatōi (43.1), ratūš š́iiaoθanā for *ratū š́iiaoθanā (33.1). [44]
  4. ↑ e.g. irregular internal hw > xv as found in e.g. haraxvati- 'Arachosia' and sāxvan- 'instruction', rather than regular internal hw > ŋvh as found in e.g. aojōŋvhant- 'strong'. [45]
  5. ↑ e.g. YAv. -ō instead of expected OAv. -ə̄ for Ir. -ah in almost all polysyllables. [46]

Citations

  1. ↑ Vevaina 2013, p. 996: "The Avesta, conventionally referred to as the “Sacred Book of the Persians” is, in fact, an orally transmitted, liturgically based, corpus redacted by the Zoroastrian priesthood".
  2. ↑ Boyce 1984, p. 1.
  3. ↑ Hintze 2012, p. 419.
  4. ↑ Skjaervø 2012.
  5. ↑ Cantera 2012, "The Avestan texts were probably composed in Eastern Iran between the second half of the 2nd millennium bce and the end of the Achaemenid dynasty".
  6. ↑ Kellens 1987, "The Sasanian Avesta. It has now been established beyond any doubt that the known Avestan Vulgate originates from a canon which was arranged and written down under the Sasanians".
  7. 1 2 3 Boyce 1984, p. 1.
  8. ↑ Cantera 2012, "Almost all Avestan texts preserved in the manuscripts are ritual texts performed in the different Zoroastrian rituals".
  9. ↑ West 1892, chap. Introduction: "[B]ut when, through conversion and extermination, the Mazda-worshippers had become a mere remnant, [...] they rapidly lost all their old literature that was not in daily religious use".
  10. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Boyce 1984, p. 3.
  11. ↑ Kellens 1987a, p. 239.
  12. ↑ Cantera 2015a.
  13. ↑ Humbach 1991, pp. 50–51.
  14. ↑ Humbach 1991, pp. 51–52.
  15. 1 2 Humbach 1991, pp. 52–53.
  16. ↑ Humbach 1991, pp. 53–54.
  17. ↑ Humbach 1991, p. 54.
  18. ↑ Humbach 1991, p. 55.
  19. 1 2 Humbach 1991, p. 56.
  20. ↑ Hoffmann 1987, "Every Avestan text, whether composed originally in Old Avestan or in Young Avestan, went through several stages of transmission before it was recorded in the extant manuscripts. During the course of transmission many changes took place".
  21. ↑ Kellens 1998.
  22. 1 2 3 Skjaervø 2009, p. 46.
  23. ↑ Schmitt 2000, p. 25: "Die Sprachform der avestischen Texte insgesamt ist nicht einheitlich; es lassen sich zwei Hauptgruppen unterscheiden, die nicht nur chronologisch, sondern in einzelnen Punkten auch dialektologisch voneinander zu trennen sind[.]".
  24. ↑ Daniel 2012, p. 47: "All in all, it seems likely that Zoroaster and the Avestan people flourished in eastern Iran at a much earlier date (anywhere from 1500 to 900 B.C.".
  25. ↑ Hale 2004, p. 742: "Current scholarly consensus places his life considerably earlier than the traditional Zoroastrian sources are thought to, favoring a birth date before 1000 BC".
  26. ↑ Grenet 2015, p. 21: "Does the Avesta contain any reliable evidence concerning the place where the "real" Zarathustra (i.e., the person repeatedly mentioned in the Gāthās) lived? The answer is no".
  27. ↑ Hintze 2015, p. 38: "Linguistic, literary and conceptual characteristics suggest that the Old(er) Avesta pre‐dates the Young(er) Avesta by several centuries.".
  28. ↑ Skjaervø 2009, p. 43.
  29. ↑ Witzel 2000, p. 10: "Since the evidence of Young Avestan place names so clearly points to a more eastern location, the Avesta is again understood, nowadays, as an East Iranian text, whose area of composition comprised – at least – Sīstån/Arachosia, Herat, Merw and Bactria.".
  30. ↑ Schmitt 2000, p. 26: "Andere Texte sind von sehr viel geringerem Rang und zeigen eine sehr uneinheitliche und oft grammatisch fehlerhafte Sprache, die deutlich verrät, daß die Textverfasser oder -kompilatoren sie gar nicht mehr verstanden haben".
  31. ↑ Malandra 2006, "[I]t is the piecing together of separately good Avestan phrases by someone who could not compose Avestan, yet who could produce, nonetheless, an intelligible statement".
  32. 1 2 Boyce 1984, p. 2.
  33. ↑ de Vaan & Martínez García 2014, pp.5-6.
  34. ↑ Kreyenbroek 2022, p. 202: "Still, the language of these Old Iranian texts stopped well short of evolving to a “Middle Iranian” stage, which suggests that they became “fixed” a long time before they were committed to writing in their present form".
  35. ↑ Schmitt 2000, pp. 24–25.
  36. ↑ Kreyenbroek 2022, p. 202: "The only way such a process is imaginable is a scenario where a small, authoritative group of priests taught these texts to another group of transmitters who had no prior knowledge of them. This would have been the case when Zoroastrianism first became influential in Western Iran, under Darius I".
  37. ↑ Hoffmann 1989, p. 90: "Mazdayasnische Priester, die die Avesta-Texte rezitieren konnten, müssen aber in die Persis gelangt sein. Denn es ist kein Avesta-Text außerhalb der südwestiranischen, d.h. persischen Überlieferung bekannt[...]. Wenn die Überführung der Avesta-Texte, wie wir annehmen, früh genug vonstatten ging, dann müssen diese Texte in zunehmendem Maße von nicht mehr muttersprachlich avestisch sprechenden Priestern tradiert worden sein".
  38. ↑ Skjaervø 2011, p. 59: "The Old Avestan texts were crystallized, perhaps, some time in the late second millennium BCE, while the Young Avestan texts, including the already crystallized Old Avesta, were themselves, perhaps, crystallized under the Acheamenids, when Zoroastrianism became the religion of the kings".
  39. ↑ Schmitt 2000, p. 22.
  40. ↑ Boyce 1984, p. x.
  41. ↑ Humbach 1991, p. 57.
  42. ↑ Hoffmann 1958, pp. 7ff.
  43. ↑ Humbach 1991, pp. 56–63.
  44. ↑ Humbach 1991, pp. 59–61.
  45. ↑ Humbach 1991, p. 58.
  46. ↑ Humbach 1991, p. 61.
  47. ↑ Cantera 2013, p. 345: "Es gibt keine Handschrift die "das Avesta" enthält. Avesta wird die Gesamtheit von zoroastrischen Texten in altiranischer Sprache genannt, die in vielen einzelnen Handschriften überliefert sind".
  48. ↑ Cantera 2013, p. 345: "Die meisten dieser Handschriften enthalten Sprechgesang zoroastrischer Liturgien".
  49. ↑ Cantera 2022, "Most non-ritual Avestan texts were therefore lost at an unspecified time.
  50. ↑ Boyce 1984.
  51. ↑ Cantera 2013, p. 345: "Die Zahl erhaltener avestischer Handschriften betragt mehr als 300".
  52. 1 2 3 4 Geldner 1886.
  53. ↑ Kellens 1987, "[T]he names of the manuscript families indicate the text (Yasna, Visprad, etc.)".
  54. ↑ Kellens 1987, "their origin (Indian or Iranian)".
  55. ↑ Cantera 2015b, p. 41: "The manuscripts can be further classified according to their use".
  56. ↑ Kellens 1987, "The manuscripts that contain only the Avestan text are called sāda 'pure'".
  57. ↑ Cantera 2015a, "The manuscripts transmitting the preserved Avestan texts often also include their translation into Pahlavi [PT], the Zoroastrian Middle Persian language".
  58. ↑ Skjaervø 2012, p. 5: "How were the Avestan texts composed? [The composers] reproduced, updated linguistically, and modified before or during performances according to the expectations of their times and places".
  59. ↑ Kellens 1987, "The Sasanian collection of the Avesta and its commentary (zand) is described in chap. 8 of the Dēnkard; it was probably composed of three books of seven chapters [...]".
  60. ↑ Westergaard 1852.
  61. ↑ Hintze 2012, p. 420: "Westergaard chiefly based his edition on the manuscripts which Rasmus Rask had brought to Copenhagen [and] manuscripts from various private collections".
  62. ↑ Schmitt 2002, "So Spiegel' edition [included], in contrast to Westergaard’s work, the Middle Persian rendering of the Avestan texts, which are often important for understanding them".
  63. 1 2 Geldner 1889.
  64. 1 2 3 Geldner 1896.
  65. ↑ Hintze 2012, p. 420: "Geldner had access to 133 manuscripts".
  66. ↑ Gholami 2024, p.19: "Geldner's edition has been considered the canonical text to date".
  67. ↑ Gholami 2024, p.19: "Geldner and Westergaard were of the opinion that all the surviving manuscripts had been based on one copy; thus, the aim of these scholars was to reconstruct the original text".
  68. ↑ Cantera 2012, p. VIII: "N. L. Westergaard tries in his edition to reconstruct as far as possible the original Sasanian Avesta. K. F. Geldner's edition had a similar purpose".
  69. ↑ Redard 2021, p. 1: "During recent years certain shortcomings in [Geldner's] edition have been brought to notice by scholars, and some scholars have argued that it should now be replaced by a new edition".
  70. ↑ Gholami 2024, p. 19: "The most important arguments countering Hoffmann and Narten’s theory and critiquing Geldner’s edition were based on the results of and fresh information derived from a number of previously unknown Avestan manuscripts, which came to light in Iran".
  71. ↑ Cantera 2022, "In Sasanian times, there were two parallel collections: the Great Avesta and the Ritual Avesta. The extant Avesta known from the manuscripts derives from the latter".
  72. ↑ Cantera 2013, "Seit einigen Jahren verfolgt das Avestan Digital Archive (www,avesta-archive.com) das Ziel, alle avestischen Handschriften on1ine zu publizieren. Bisher wurden ca. 150 Haudschriften digitalisiert, ca. 80 sind indexiert und online zugänglich".
  73. ↑ Cantera 2020, p. 200: "Tis is the main aim of the Corpus Avesticum Berolinense. In this project carried out at the Institute for Iranian Studies (https://cab.geschkult.fu-berlin.de/), we aim to present an edition of the rituals in Avestan in two diferent ways: 1) a presentation of the ritual system still operating in Iran in the 16th century using mainly the evidence of the manuscripts".
  74. 1 2 Shapira 1998, p. 5.
  75. ↑ Kellens 1987, "The Sasanian collection of the Avesta [...] was probably composed of three books of seven chapters [...]".
  76. 1 2 3 West 1892, chap. Introduction p. XLV.
  77. ↑ Shapira 1998, p. 7.
  78. ↑ West 1892, p. 24: "'The last number refers, no doubt, to the eight fargards still extant under the corrupt name Vishtasp Yasht, which probably consist of fragments of the Avesta text of this Nask".
  79. ↑ Shaki 1993.
  80. ↑ Hintze 2012, p. 419: "To the present day Avestan Studies largely rely on two monumental works[:] Karl Friedrich Geldner's edition of the Avesta of 1889–1896 and Christian Bartholomae's Altiranisches Wörterbuch of 1904".
  81. ↑ Redard 2021, p. 1: "Geldner’s edition, became the reference edition".
  82. ↑ Gholami 2024, p. 19: "Geldner's edition has been considered the canonical text to date".
  83. 1 2 Geldner 1889, pp. 1-31.
  84. 1 2 Geldner 1889, pp. 37-277.
  85. ↑ Malandra 2006.
  86. ↑ Malandra 2000a.
  87. ↑ Geldner 1889, Intro.
  88. ↑ Geldner 1889, Intro: "The text is given according to the Visperad sada".
  89. ↑ Malandra 2000c, "KHORDEH AVESTĀ (Pahlavi xwardag aβistāg) “The Little Avesta,” the name given to a collection of texts used primarily by the laity for everyday devotions".
  90. ↑ Malandra 2000c, "Thus, it excludes the high liturgy of the priestly ritual, namely, the Yasna, Visperad, and Vendidād".
  91. ↑ Hintze 2014, "YAŠTS, the group of 21 Avestan hymns in praise of various deities of the Zoroastrian pantheon".
  92. ↑ Hintze 2014, "The Yašts are transmitted in two types of manuscript: Khorde Avestas and pure Yašt codices".
  93. ↑ Raffaelli 2000.
  94. ↑ Kanga 2014.
  95. ↑ Geldner 1889, pp. 268-277.
  96. 1 2 3 Malandra 2000b.
  97. ↑ Kellens 1987, "The fragments. In addition to the complete texts, more than twenty groups of fragments are known".
  98. ↑ Cantera 2004, p. 134: "da in diesem Kanon die Pahlavi Übersetzung enthalten war".
  99. ↑ Cantera 2015a, "We know that the Sasanian great Avesta [included] a translation into Pahlavi, because its description in the Dēnkard is based on the PT and because the manuscripts of texts deriving directly from the great Avesta always included the PT".
  100. ↑ Cantera 2015a, "We distinguish at least three chronological levels: (1) old translations like the Vīdēvdād, Nērangestān, and Hērbedestān".
  101. ↑ Darmesteter 1880.
  102. ↑ Darmesteter 1883.
  103. ↑ Darmesteter 1887.
  104. ↑ Darmesteter 1892a.
  105. ↑ Darmesteter 1892b.
  106. ↑ Darmesteter 1893.
  107. ↑ Kellens 1987, "Darmesteter, whose translation follows the Pahlavi version".
  108. ↑ Wolff 1910.
  109. ↑ Kellens 1987, "As a rule, Wolff is more reliable than Darmesteter".

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