Yasna i Rapithwin

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The Yasna i Rapithwin is the name of an Avestan text and of a ceremony in which this text is used. Both the text and the ceremony are a simplified version of the standard Yasna. [1]

Contents

The liturgy

The Yasna i Rapithwin belongs to the so called Long Liturgies, like the Yasna or Visperad. These liturgies are characterized by a core of Old Avestan material, called the Staota Yesnya around which the other material, composed in Young Avestan, is organized. [2] The liturgy itself can be seen as a simpler variant of the regular Yasna. [1]

Like the other litugies, it is a vispe yazata ceremony, meaning it is dedicated to all Yazatas . However, unlike the others, it is only dedicated to the ratu Rapithwin, i.e., the Gāh of noontime. [3] As a result, it is not a vispe ratu ceremony, i.e., it is not dedicated to all ratus. [4]

Although, the Yasna i Rapithwin is overall a simplified version of the regular Yasna, it has 12 Ahuna Vairya manthras performed in dedication to Rapithwin, more than dedicated to Ahura Mazda or any other Yazata in the Yasna. This large number of dedications is seen as an expression of the importance of Rapithwin in the Zoroastrian liturgical system. [5] The historcal performance of the Yasna i Rapithwin is explained in the Nerangestan and described in detail by Porro, [6] whereas the current liturgical practice has been described by Boyce. [7]

The text

The text of the Yasna i Rapithwin is largely identical to the standard Yasna, except that all verses that celebrate the Gāhs and ratus are truncated to only celebrate Rapithwin. [8] Given the relatively minor status of the liturgy, the Yasna i Rapithwin is also only attested in a limited number of manuscripts. [9] A comprehensive list of all manuscripts, both from the Iranian and Indian tradition are provided by Hintze. [10] Since the text is a simplified variant of the Yasna, it has rarely been edited by modern scholars. One dedicated edition of the manuscripts was produced by Anklesaria in 1888, with the ritual intructions in Gujarati. [11]

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 Andrés-Toledo 2015, p. 520: "The text of the Yasna i Rapithwin liturgy of some manuscripts represents a simplified variant of the Yasna liturgy".
  2. ↑ Cantera 2020, p. 261: "As a matter of fact, Old Avestan texts do not exist outside the LL".
  3. ↑ Bartholomae 1904, p. 793: "ra-pithwä- f. 'Mittag".
  4. ↑ Porro 2020, p. 47: "it is not a vispa ratu ceremony".
  5. ↑ Kotwal & Boyd 1991, p. 86: "The current practice is to say y.a.v. 10 for the Yasna of Ahura Mazda, twelve for the Yasna of Rapithwin (it was noon [Rapithwin] when Ahura Mazda celebrated the Yasna and made the creation, and for seven months of the year Rapithwin is in its ascendancy, hence the importance of the occasion has determined the high number)".
  6. ↑ Porro 2020.
  7. ↑ Boyce 1968, p. 205.
  8. ↑ Hintze 2012, p. 245: "The Yasna ī Rapithwin is a ceremony in which chapters 1 to 4, 6, 7, 17, 22, 24, 59 and 66 of the Yasna only celebrate the Rapithwin Gāh and its co-workers instead of all five Gāhs. Furthermore, there is no mention of the ratus of the months, the year and of the texts".
  9. ↑ Porro 2020, p. 47: "The number of manuscripts of the Yasna i Rapithwin is very limited in comparison to other ceremonies of the LLs".
  10. ↑ Hintze 2012.
  11. ↑ Anklesaria 1888.

Bibliography

  • Andrés-Toledo, Miguel Ángel (2015). "Primary Sources: Avestan and Pahlavi". In Stausberg, Michael; Vevaina, Yuhan Sohrab-Dinshaw (eds.). The Wiley Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism. Wiley-Blackwell. pp. 519–528.
  • Anklesaria, Tehmuras Dinshaw (1888). Avesta, the sacred books of the Parsis: Part I, Yasna ba Nirang. Bombay: Fort Printing Press.
  • Bartholomae, Christian (1904). Altiranisches Wörterbuch. Straßburg: Karl J. Trübner.
  • Boyce, Mary (1968). "Rapithwin, Nō Rūz, and the Feast of Sade". In Heesterman, J. C. (ed.). Pratidānam: Indian, Iranian and Indo-European studies presented to Francisicus Bernardus Jacobus Kuiper. The Hague and Paris: Guilders. pp. 201–215.
  • Cantera, Alberto (2020). "Litanies and rituals. The structure and position of the Long Liturgy within the Zoroastrian ritual system". Aux sources des liturgies indo-iraniennes. Presses Universitaires de Liège.
  • Hintze, Almut (2012). "Manuscripts of the Yasna and Yasna ī Rapithwin". In Cantera, Alberto (ed.). The transmission of the Avesta. Iranica. Vol. 20. Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz. ISBN   978-3-447-06554-2.
  • Kotwal, Firoze M.; Boyd, James W. (1991). A Persian Offering. The Yasna: A Zoroastrian High Liturgy. Studia Iranica. Vol. 8. Paris: Association pour l'Avancement des Etudes Iraniennes.
  • Porro, Jaime Martínez (2023). "Text and Context of the Yasna ī Rapiϑβin". Estudios Iranios y Turanios. 5.
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