Vishtasp yasht

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The Vishtasp yasht or Wishtasp yasht is the name of an Avestan text, which is extant in the Fragments collection, and of a ceremony in which this text was once used. [1] It is usually seen as being derived from the Wishtasp-sast nask, one of the lost nasks, i.e., volumes, of the Sasanian Avesta. [2]

Contents

In the Avesta

Despite its name indicating it to be a Yasht, its position within the Yasht collection is not accepted. This is due to two reasons. First, the Avestan languange of the text is grammatically very defective, which indicates that it is a late redaction, which was compiled from earlier, now lost, sources. [3] Second, there can be no such thing as a Yasht dedicated to a human like Vishtaspa, since, by definition, a Yasht is addressed to a Yazata. [4] As a result, its place in the Avesta differs between editions. In his seminal edition of the Avesta, Karl Friedrich Geldner did not include it. In other editions, however, it is included but typically listed as Yasht 24, i.e., outside, the collection of 21 Yashts.

The Vishtasp yasht ceremony

The extant manuscripts of the Vishtasp yasht indicate that they were used in a corresponding ceremony, namely the Vishtasp yasht ceremony. This ceremony is no longer performed but its structure can be reconstructed from the manuscripts. [5] Like the Videvdad and Visperad litugies, the Vishtasp yasht liturgy would consist of the text of the Yasna liturgy into which the sections of the Vishtasp yasht were intercalated at certain points. Like in the Videvdad, this would lead to a number of small changes to the underlying Yasna. [6]

Connection to the Wishtasp-sast nask

It is traditionally believed that the Vishtap yasht manuscripts originated in 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 Wishtasp-sast is that it consisted of eight sections, the same number of sections of the Wishtasp Yasht. [7] Likewise, Jean Kellens uses the name Vishtasp Yasht to label the Vishtasp-sast nask as list the Vishtasp Yasht (Yt. 24) as the surviving parts of this nask. [8] On the other hand, Marijan Mole was more sceptical about the connection, but stated that some parts of the Vishtasp Yasht may be taken from lost Vishtasp-sast nask. [9]

Manuscripts

The Vishtasp yasht 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. [10] The Avestan Digital Archive has pusblished the Pahlavi manuscript F12a_5310, [11] and a number of Sade manuscripts, namely manuscripts G18a_5010, [12] G120_5115, [13] HM_5040, [14] 5020 (K4), [15] and 5102 (DY1). [16]

References

Citations

  1. ↑ Porro 2020.
  2. ↑ Mirfakhraie 2022, "Vishtāsp Yasht presumably belongs to the second Nask of twenty-one Nasks of Sasanid Avesta named Vishtāsp Sāst".
  3. ↑ Mackichan 1904, pp. 13-14.
  4. ↑ Shapira 1998, p. 17: "In principle, there can be no such a thing as a Yast dedicated to a king; the Yasts are dedicated to Iranian gods of old, to Yazatas".
  5. ↑ Cantera 2022, p. 212: "[C]ertain variants [...] are no longer performed in modern practice, such as the Vīštāsp Yašt".
  6. ↑ Redard 2021.
  7. ↑ 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".
  8. ↑ Kellens 1987, Table 1.
  9. ↑ Shapira 1998, p. 19.
  10. ↑ Porro 2020, p. 219: "[B]oth traditions, the Indian and the Iranian, derive either from a single copy [...] or two similar copies".
  11. ↑ Andrés-Toledo 2011.
  12. ↑ Cantera 2012.
  13. ↑ Andrés-Toledo 2012.
  14. ↑ Jahanpour 2012.
  15. ↑ Ferrer-Losilla 2014.
  16. ↑ Moein 2015.

Bibliography

  • Cantera, Alberto (2012). "The Avestan manuscript G18a_5010 (Iranian Vīštāsp Yašt Sāde) and G18b_2010 (Vīsperad Iranian Sāde) of the First Dastur Meherji-rana Library in Navsarī.". Avestan Digital Archive Series. Vol. 42. p. 548. ISBN   978-84-695-7775-2.
  • Cantera, Alberto (2013). "Talking with god: The Zoroastrian ham.parshti or intercalation ceremonies". Journal Asiatique. 301 (1): 85–138. doi:10.2143/JA.301.1.2994461.
  • Cantera, Alberto (2022). "On the Edge between Literacy and Orality: Manuscripts and Performance of the Zoroastrian Long Liturgy" (PDF). Oral Tradition. 35 (2): 211–50.
  • Ferrer-Losilla, J. J. (2014). "The Avestan manuscript 5020 (K4), Iranian Vīštāsp Yašt Sāde, of the Kongelige Bibliotek (Copenhagen).". Avestan Digital Archive Series. Vol. 59. p. 460. ISBN   978-84-606-9722-0.
  • Jahanpour, F. (2012). "The Avestan manuscript HM_5040 (Iranian Vīštāsp Yašt Sāde) of the private collection of the Hosseini family of Mashhad.". Avestan Digital Archive Series. Vol. 50. p. 34. ISBN   978-84-695-7952-7.
  • Kellens, Jean (1987). "AVESTA i. Survey of the history and contents of the book". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. III. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 35–44.
  • Mackichan, D. (1904). "Avesta Literature, from the German of Prof. Karl Geldner, Ph.D.". Avesta, Pahlavi, and Ancient Persian Studies: In Honour of the Late Shams-Ul-Ulama Dastur Peshotanji Behramji Sanjana, M.A., Ph.D.
  • Mirfakhraie, Mahshid (2022). "About two Avestan compounds in Vishtasp yasht". Journal of Language Research. 14 (43): 145–154. doi:10.22051/JLR.2021.36778.2057.
  • Moein, H. (2015). "The Avestan manuscript 5102 (DY1), Iranian Vīštāsp Yašt Sāde including the two Sirozas and a liste with Westergaards extracts, from a private seller of Yazd.". Avestan Digital Archive Series. Vol. 77. p. 416. ISBN   978-84-606-9782-4.
  • Porro, Jaime Martínez (2020). "The Written Transmission of the Vištāsp Yašt Ceremony". Studia Iranica. 49 (2): 207–221.
  • Redard, Céline (2021). "Variations of the Yasna in the Vīdēvdād and Vištāsp Yašt Ceremonies". The Srōš Drōn - Yasna 3 to 8: A Critical Edition with Ritual Commentaries and Glossary. Brill. pp. 521–526. doi:10.1163/9789004500471_020. ISBN   9789004500471.
  • Shabazi, Alireza Shapur (2002). "GOŠTĀSP". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. XI. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 171–176.
  • Shapira, Dan (1998). Studies in Zoroastrian Exegesis - Zand (PhD thesis). Jerusalem.
  • Andrés-Toledo, M. Á. (2011). "The Avestan manuscripts F12a_5310 (Pahlavi Vīštāsp Yašt) and F12b (Hādōxt Nask) of the First Dastur Meherji-rana Library of Navsarī". Avestan Digital Archive Series. Vol. 30. p. 182. ISBN   978-84-695-7763-9.
  • Andrés-Toledo, M. Á. (2012). "The Avestan manuscript G120_5115 (Iranian Vīštāsp Yašt Sāde) of the First Dastur Meherji-rana Library of Navsarī. Avestan Digital Archive Series". Avestan Digital Archive Series. Vol. 46. p. 68. ISBN   978-84-695-7948-0.
  • West, Edward William (1892). Müller, Friedrich Max (ed.). Pahlavi Texts IV: Contents of the Nasks. The Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 37. Oxford university press. ISBN   1-139-41083-0.
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