Haft Amahraspand Yasht

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The Haft Amahraspand Yasht or Haf-tan Yasht is the second Yasht of the Yasht collection. It is named after and dedicated to the Amesha Spentas. [1]

Contents

Name

Haft Amahraspand is a compound term of Middle Persian haft, with the meaning seven, [2] and amahraspand, the Middle Persian term for the Amesha Spenta. [3] It therefore means the seven Amesha Spentas. The hymn is also known as Haf-tan Yasht or Haptan Yasht meaning Yasht of the Seven. [4]

Within the Yasht collection

Within the Yasht collection of 21 Yashts, the Haft Amahraspand Yasht is the second hymn. Overall, the literary quality of the Yasht is considered inferior. [5] It is performed on the first seven days of the month, which are dedicated to the Amesha Spenta. [6]

There are a number of features which set it apart from the other Yashts. First, while most Yashts are dedicated to a single divinity, the Haft Amahraspand Yasht, as well as the Frawardin Yasht, is dedicated to several divinities. [7] Furthermore, unlike most other Yashts, it is not derived from the Bagan yasht, but must have been drawn from another source. [8] Finally, the text does not follow the metrical pattern and the division into Kardas as most other Yashts. [9]

Structure and content

According to Darmesteter, the Haft Amahraspand Yasht can be divided into three main parts. The first part consists of stanzas 1-5, [10] whereas the seond part consists of stanzas 6-10. [11] Both parts praise the Amesha Spantas using somewhat different formulas. According to Darmesteter, these two parts are drawn from the Sih-rozag, [12] whereas Lommel considers them to be mere adaptation of the typical opening formulas of the Yashts. [13] The last part, comprising stanzas 11-15, is considered to contain the only verses original to the Yasht. [14] They are, however, written in a particularly defective Avestan, indicating them to be a late composition. [15]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Panaino 2002, "HAFT AMAHRASPAND YAŠT or simply Haf-tān yašt, the second hymn of the Avestan corpus. It is dedicated to the seven Zoroastrian entities and recited on the first seven days of the month".
  2. ↑ MacKenzie 1971, p. 39: "haft [...] seven".
  3. ↑ Nyberg 1974, p. 14: "amahraspand [mhrspnd] the circle of the six divinities Vahuman, Art-/Urt-/vahišt, Sahrévar, Harvadat, Amurdat and Spandarmat surrounding Ohurmazd, himself reckoned as the seventh".
  4. ↑ Darmesteter 1892, p. 346: "Ce Yasht, dit « Yasht des sept Amshaspands » ou « Yasht des Sept » (Haftân Yasht)".
  5. ↑ Lommel 1927, p. 19: "Dies ist wohl unter allen Yäshts das erbärmlichste Machwerk".
  6. ↑ Darmesteter 1883, p. 35: "The Yast of the seven Amshaspands is recited on the first seven days of the week, that is to say, on the days consecrated to the Amesha-Speztas".
  7. ↑ Hintze 2009, p. 47: "With the exception of Yasts 2 and 13, which praise the Amesha Spentas viz. the 'guardian angels', or Fravasis, as a group, each of the Yasts is dedicated to one particular divinity".
  8. ↑ König 2017, p. 21.
  9. ↑ Panaino 2002, "The text [...] numbers fourteen unmetrical paragraphs (not divided in kardas)".
  10. ↑ Darmesteter 1883, p. 35: "§§ 1-5=Sirézah I".
  11. ↑ Darmesteter 1883, p. 35: "§§ 6-10=Sirézah II".
  12. ↑ Darmesteter 1883, p. 35: " In fact it is nothing more than an extract from the Sirézahs, being composed of the first seven formulas in their two forms".
  13. ↑ Lommel 1927, p. 19.
  14. ↑ Darmesteter 1883, p. 35: "Then come four sections which are the original part of the Yast (§§ 11-15)".
  15. ↑ Panaino 2002, "The text, partly written in a degenerate and unclear Avestan (in particular par. 12-14)".

Bibliography

  • Darmesteter, James (1883). Müller, Max (ed.). Zend-Avesta II: The Sirozahs, Yasts and Nyayis. Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 23. Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
  • Darmesteter, James (1892). Le Zend-Avesta, Vol. 2: Traduction Nouvelle Avec Commentaire Historique Et Philologique; La Loi (Vendidad); L'Épopée (Yashts); Le Livre de Prière (Khorda Avesta). Paris: E. Leroux.
  • Geldner, Karl F. (1889). Avesta. The Sacred Books of the Parsis II: Vispered and Khorda Avesta. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
  • Hintze, Almut (2014). "YAŠTS". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
  • Hintze, Almut (2009). "Avestan Literature". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). The Literature of Pre-Islamic Iran. A History of Persian Literature. I.B.TAURIS.
  • König, Götz (2017). "Bayān Yasn: State of the Art". Iran and the Caucasus 2. 21: 13–38. doi:10.1163/1573384x-90000003.
  • Lommel, Herman (1927). Die Yäšt's des Awesta. Quellen der Religionsgeschichte: Iran. Vol. 15. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  • MacKenzie, David N. (1971). A concise Pahlavi dictionary. London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press.
  • Malandra, William W. (2006). "YASNA". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
  • Nyberg, Henrik S. (1974). A Manual of Pahlavi II - Ideograms, Glossary, Abbreviations, Index, Grammatical Survey, Corrigenda to Part I. Wiesbaden: Otto Harrassowitz. ISBN   3447-01580-2.
  • Panaino, Antonio (2002). "HAFT AMAHRASPAND YAŠT". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. XI. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 515–516.
  • Westergaard, Niels L. (1852). Zendavesta: or The religious books of the Zoroastrians. Berling brothers.
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