Vishtasp Sast

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The Vishtasp Sast, also known as Vishtasp Yasht, is the name of an Avestan text, which is extant through a number of manuscripts and was once used in the Vishtasp Yasht ceremony. [1] It is often seen as being derived from the Wishtasp-sast nask, one of the lost nasks, i.e., volumes, of the Sasanian Avesta. [2]

Contents

Name

The name of the text is used inconsistently in the sources. For instance in manuscript G18a, the term Vishtasp Sast (wštʾsp sʾt) is used for the text and Vishtasp Yasht (wštʾsp yšt) for the ceremony in which the text is used. However, in manuscript K4, both are called Vishtasp Yasht. Cantera has argued that the former division should be considered the original one, whereas the fusion between both terms is the result of a later copying error. [3]

In addition, different renderings of the Pahlavi wštʾsp sʾt are used by modern authors. Examples include Vishtāsp Sāst [4] , Vishtasp-sasto [5] and Wištāsp Sāst. [6] The name itself has been interpreted as meaning "Instructions to Wishtasp" [7] or "Instruction of Wishtasp". [8]

Structure and content

The text of the Vishtasp Sast is divided into eight chapters, called fragards. [9] These fragards are used during the Vishtasp Yasht ceremony as insertions into the Visperad. This is similar to the fragards of the Vendidad, which are likewise inserted into the Visperad during performance. [10] Since the sections of the Visperad are called karde, the term fragard has consequently being interpreted as around a karde.

The content of the Vishtasp Sast is not always clear, due to the deteriorated Avestan of the text. On the other hand, the Middle Persian translation of the text, present in the Pahlavi manuscripts, seems to be rather old. [11] Most of the text consists of Zarathustra explaining a number of principles of the religion to Vishtaspa.

Manuscripts

The Vishtasp Sast is extant through two manuscript traditions, one in India and in Iran. They have recently been analyzed by Jaime Martinez-Porro, who presented two different theories to explain the interdependencies between the different traditions. [12] The Avestan Digital Archive has pusblished the Pahlavi manuscript F12a_5310, [13] and a number of Sade manuscripts, namely manuscripts G18a_5010, [14] G120_5115, [15] HM_5040, [16] 5020 (K4), [17] and 5102 (DY1). [18]

Editions and translations

The Vishtasp Sast has been edited inconsistently by modern scholars. The first critical edition of the Vishtasp Sast was published in 1852 by Westergaard. [19] However, Spiegel's as well Karl Friedrich Geldner's seminal edition of the Avesta, do not include it. A first translation into English was provided by Darmesteter in 1883. In this work, he calles the text Vishtasp Yasht and included it into the Yasht collection as the 24. Yasht. [20] In 1892, he also published a translation into his native French. [21]

Connection to the Vishtasp-sast nask

It is traditionally believed that the text of the Vishtap Sast manuscripts originated, in whole or in parts, from the Vishtasp-sast nask, one of the nasks of the, now lost, Sasanian Avesta. For example, Edward William West observes how one of the information given about the lost Vishtasp-sast nask is that it consisted of eight sections, the same number of sections of the Vshtasp Sast. [22] Likewise, Jean Kellens uses the name Vishtasp Yasht to label the Vishtasp-sast nask as the surviving parts of this nask. [23] On the other hand, Marijan Mole was more sceptical about the connection, but stated that some parts of the Vishtasp Sast may have been taken from the lost Vishtasp-sast nask. [24]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Martínez-Porro 2020.
  2. ↑ Mirfakhraie 2022, "Vishtāsp Yasht presumably belongs to the second Nask of twenty-one Nasks of Sasanid Avesta named Vishtāsp Sāst".
  3. ↑ Cantera 2013, p. 85: "The manuscript G18a seems to maintain the original distribution: the wistasp yast is the designation of the yast, the long liturgy, and wistasp sast is the intercalated text. In K4 the graphical similarity of both terms could lead to confusion".
  4. ↑ Mirfakhraie 2022.
  5. ↑ West 1892, p. 24.
  6. ↑ Cantera 2013.
  7. ↑ Yarshater 1983, p. 467: "Vishtasp Sast ("Instructions to Vishtasp")".
  8. ↑ West 1892, p. 24: "Vishtasp-sasto means "the instruction of Vishtasp".
  9. ↑ Darmesteter 1892, p. 664: "Le Yasht est composé de huit Fargards".
  10. ↑ Darmesteter 1892, p. 664: "qui s’intercalent dans l’office aux places où s’intercalent les sections du Vendidad".
  11. ↑ Shapira 1998, pp. 17-18".
  12. ↑ Martínez-Porro 2020, p. 219: "[B]oth traditions, the Indian and the Iranian, derive either from a single copy [...] or two similar copies".
  13. ↑ Andrés-Toledo 2011.
  14. ↑ Cantera 2012.
  15. ↑ Andrés-Toledo 2012.
  16. ↑ Jahanpour 2012.
  17. ↑ Ferrer-Losilla 2014.
  18. ↑ Moein 2015.
  19. ↑ Westergaard 1852.
  20. ↑ Darmesteter 1883, pp. 328-345.
  21. ↑ Darmesteter 1892, pp. 663-683.
  22. ↑ 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".
  23. ↑ Kellens 1987, Table 1.
  24. ↑ Shapira 1998, p. 19.

Bibliography

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