Vahishtoishti Gatha

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Vahishtoishti Gatha
Geldner Vahishtoishti Gatha page 1.png
First page of the Vahishtoishti Gatha in Geldner's edition of the Avesta
Information
Religion Zoroastrianism
Author Zarathustra
Language Old Avestan
Verses36

The Vahishtoishti Gatha is the last of the five Gathas, the most important texts of Zoroastrianism. It is named after the first word of the first verse. With just 9 stanzas and 36 verses it is the shortest poem in the collection. [1]

Contents

Overview

The name of the Vahishtoishti Gatha, also rendered as Gatha Vahishtoishti, [2] Gāθā vahištōištiš [3] or Vahištōišti Gāθā , [1] is drawn from the first words of the poem vahishtâ îshtish. The menaing of these words translate as best wish, but there is no particular connection to its content.

Among the Gathic hymns, the Vahishtoishti Gatha is the shortest overall and the least well preserved. [4] It only covers a single chapter of the Yasna, called haiti or ha. [5] Since the Gathas are edited as part of the wider Yasna, their chapters and stanzas are, therefore, referenced using the notation of the Yasna. [6] Within this system, the Vahishtoishti Gatha covers ha 53 of the Yasna. [7]

Structure

The Vahishtoishti Gatha consists of a single ha (chapter) with nine stanzas. Each stanza consists of four verses leading to 36 verses in total. The meter varies within each stanza. The first two verses of a stanza consist of 12 syllables with a caesura after the first seven, whereas the remaining two verses consist of 21 syllables with two ceasuras after seven syllables each. [8]

The first stanza of the Vahishtoishti Gatha reads as follows:


Transliteration
vahishtâ îshtish srâvî // zarathushtrahê
dà spitâmahyâ ýezî hôi // dât âyaptâ
ashât hacâ ahurô // mazdå ýavôi vîspâi â // hvanghevîm
ýaêcâ hôi daben sasheñcâ // daênayå vanghuyå // uxdhâ shyaothanâcâ

Meter:
x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x // x x x x x
x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x // x x x x x
x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x // x x x x x
x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x // x x x x x

Translation:
The best quest of Spitama Zarathustra
has has found a hearing
since Mazda Ahura, in accordance with truth, has granted the boons of good existence for all times
to him as well as to those who practice and master the utterances and actions of his good religion.

—  Yasna 51.1 (translated by Humbach and Ichaporia) [9]

Like all the Gathic meters, the meter of the Vahishtoishti Gathahas been analyzed in comparison with the Vedic metre found in the Vedas. It shares the eleven-syllable verse count as well as the caesura after the fourth syllable. On the other hand, the Gathic verses lack any qualitative structure, i.e., there is no recognicable pattern of stressed vs. unstressed syllables. [10]

Content

The Vahishtoishti Gatha differs substantially from the other Gathas. It is less about the ritual aspects of the religion and has a pronounced "didactic character". [4] The poem is commonly interpreted as a wedding sermon, which may have been created for the occasion of the marriage between Zarathustra's youngest daughter Pourucista and Jamaspa of the Hvoguva clan. [11] This would make it the only Gatha which directly relates to a specifc event in Zarathustra's life. [4]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Humbach 2000.
  2. ↑ Darmesteter 1892, p. 342.
  3. ↑ Gipper 1986, p. 275.
  4. 1 2 3 Humbach, Elfenbein & Skjaervo 1991b, p. 238.
  5. ↑ Humbach, Elfenbein & Skjaervo 1991a, p. 5.
  6. ↑ West 2008, p. 121.
  7. ↑ Geldner 1885, pp. 187-191.
  8. ↑ Darmesteter 1892, p. 342: "La Gâtha Vahishôishti ne contient qu’un Hâ, d’un rythme compliqué. La strophe comprend 4 vers, composés les deux premiers de 12 syllabes réparties en 7 + 5, et les deux derniers de 19 syllabes réparties en 7 + 7 + 5. La formule est donc : 2 (7 + 5) ; 2 (7 + 7 + 5)".
  9. ↑ Humbach & Ichaporia 1994, p. 103.
  10. ↑ Gippert 1986, p. 258.
  11. ↑ Insler 1975, p. 322.

Bibliography

  • Darmesteter, James (1892). Le Zend-Avesta: Traduction nouvelle avec commentaire historique et philologique; Vol I: La liturgie (Yasna et Vispéred). Paris: E. Leroux.
  • Geldner, Karl F. (1885). Avesta: die heiligen Bücher der Parsen I: Prolegomena, Yasna. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. doi:10.25673/100265.
  • Gippert, Jost (1986). "Zur Metrik der Gathas" (PDF). Die Sprache. 32: 257–275.
  • Humbach, Helmut; Elfenbein, Josef; Skjaervo, Prods O. (1991a), The Gathas of Zarathushtra and the Other Old Avestan Texts, Part I, Heidelberg: Winter
  • Humbach, Helmut; Elfenbein, Josef; Skjaervo, Prods O. (1991b), The Gathas of Zarathushtra and the Other Old Avestan Texts, Part II, Heidelberg: Winter
  • Humbach, Helmut; Ichaporia, Pallan (1994), The Heritage of Zarathustra - A new Translation of his Gathas, Heidelberg: Winter
  • Humbach, Helmut (2000). "GATHAS i". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. X. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 321–327.
  • Insler, Stanley (1975). The Gāthās of Zarathustra. Acta Iranica. Vol. I. Leiden, Liege, Tehran: Brill.
  • West, M.L. (2008). "On Editing the Gāthās". Iran. 46 (1): 121–134. doi:10.1080/05786967.2008.11864740.
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