abestāg
The Tradition of the Magi about the Avesta
« There was one book (naska-) which they call Dva.yasna (‘Two Liturgies’, long and short), in whose preparation Sēn-burzmihr son of Zardušt was involved –it is well-known.
When the accursed Alexander the Greek came to the Aryan kingdom (= Persia), he seized and slew those who walked in the manner (or, in the garments) of magi. Some men and boys came to Sakastāna. There were some women and also some minor children who studied and learnt by heart the book Dva.yasna. In that way indeed the religion returned in Sakastāna, and was restored and re-established anew. But except in sakastāna, there was no recollection elsewhere. » From ASS
When the accursed Alexander the Greek came to the Aryan kingdom (= Persia), he seized and slew those who walked in the manner (or, in the garments) of magi. Some men and boys came to Sakastāna. There were some women and also some minor children who studied and learnt by heart the book Dva.yasna. In that way indeed the religion returned in Sakastāna, and was restored and re-established anew. But except in sakastāna, there was no recollection elsewhere. » From ASS
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The papers “The Avesta Texts : Introduction” and “Book One: Stūdgar” by Raham Asha have appeared in the Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 69/ 2009, pages 9-24, and 25-113. |
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The Avesta Texts: Introduction
The Pārsīg term Abestāg (‘Avesta’) was used by the Magians for both an old Perso-Aryan language –the language of Zaraθuštra and the First-teachers–, and also the corpus of texts compiled in this language. So far as the form of the Pārsīg abestāg is concerned, it might be best traced to *upa-stāva-ka-, with the meaning ‘praise’, as was proposed in the BundahiSn: abēzag stāyišn ‘pure praise’. The Avesta language is as archaic as Vedic Sanskrit. The texts of the corpus are designated by different names. 
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Book one. Stūdgar
Stūdgar is the first of the Avesta codex and second of the Gāθic division. There are two forms of the name of the book: swtkl / sūdegar/, and stwtkl /stūdegar/. In the Pārsīg Book of Psalms the word swtyklyḥy /stūdegarīh/ occurs three times to translate Syriac ܬܟܫܦܬܐ andܟܘܫܦܐ ‘prayer, supplication’. It is possible to suggest a possible connection of the name with Av. stūtō garō with the meaning of ‘the collection of praises (and) invocations’.
The Stūdegar contains twenty-two chapters. A separate chapter begins with a Gāθic phrase, illustrates it with ethical and theological remarks, with sometimes allusions to the legends. A concise description of the lost Stūdegar is found in the eighth book of the Dēnkird M 680 and also in the Persian Rivāyats.
Stūdgar is the first of the Avesta codex and second of the Gāθic division. There are two forms of the name of the book: swtkl / sūdegar/, and stwtkl /stūdegar/. In the Pārsīg Book of Psalms the word swtyklyḥy /stūdegarīh/ occurs three times to translate Syriac ܬܟܫܦܬܐ andܟܘܫܦܐ ‘prayer, supplication’. It is possible to suggest a possible connection of the name with Av. stūtō garō with the meaning of ‘the collection of praises (and) invocations’.
The Stūdegar contains twenty-two chapters. A separate chapter begins with a Gāθic phrase, illustrates it with ethical and theological remarks, with sometimes allusions to the legends. A concise description of the lost Stūdegar is found in the eighth book of the Dēnkird M 680 and also in the Persian Rivāyats.
| stdgar_nask.pdf |
The coming of the daēnā
Zaraθuštra is thirty years old when he enters upon the well-made path of good thought, along which the conscience (or, intellect) of those who shall revitalize the world stride with truth. He is āθravan, i.e. a priest by profession, an ordained priest (Ved. átharvan-).
Zaraθuštra is thirty years old when he enters upon the well-made path of good thought, along which the conscience (or, intellect) of those who shall revitalize the world stride with truth. He is āθravan, i.e. a priest by profession, an ordained priest (Ved. átharvan-).
| coming_of_the_dan.pdf |
The first hearers and first
teachers of the Daēnā
We have a prose list, preserved in the Fravardīn Yašt, of the first generations of those who upheld and transmitted the Daēnā Māzdayasni, and whose fravartis are to be preserved. What is characteristic of this text is the worship of the fravartis of a group of women.
teachers of the Daēnā
We have a prose list, preserved in the Fravardīn Yašt, of the first generations of those who upheld and transmitted the Daēnā Māzdayasni, and whose fravartis are to be preserved. What is characteristic of this text is the worship of the fravartis of a group of women.
| the_first_hearers_and_first_teachers_of_the_dan.pdf |
The women and children who saved the daēnā
The downfall of the Achaemenian kingdom led to a lot of damage to the daēnā through the plunder and destruction of the palaces and temples and the massacre of the priests who were the repositories and communicators of the sacred wisdom.
Alexander earned the titles given him in the Aryan tradition of “the (world-)destroyer” and “the murderer of priests”. The widespread slaughter of the magi caused great harm to Avesta learning –also a small part of India suffered Alexander’s conquest and the killing of Brahmans. Many of the Avesta texts were lost for ever.
In a short treatise, in Pârsîg, from Drangiana (Sakastâna), it is said that, after Alexander’s onslaught, a few men of priestly class escaped and fled to Drangiana. There was a man, called SEn-burzmihr, who had compiled two Liturgies from Avesta books, viz. the Long Liturgy and the Short Liturgy. A few women and young children tried to study and memorize that book.
| the_women_and_children_who_saved_the_dan.pdf |
The restoration of the daēnā
The Arsacian period
The Sasanian period:
Tōsar
Kirdēr
Ādarbād
Sēn
Xusrō (Χοσρόης)
The pact of the high-priests with Xusrō
The Arsacian period
The Sasanian period:
Tōsar
Kirdēr
Ādarbād
Sēn
Xusrō (Χοσρόης)
The pact of the high-priests with Xusrō
| restoration_of_the_dan.pdf |
 Avesta Glossary
A glossary of Avesta words and their Pārsīg equivalents, based on the Zand, the so-called Frahang ī ōīm: ēk Text and Grammatical Notes Raham Asha The K. R. Cama Oriental Institute Mumbai, 2009 ISBN 978-81-905943-1-8 |
There exists an Avesta glossary which gives the Pārsīg meanings of Avesta words, occurring either singly, or in phrases, and goes by the name of Frahang īōīm : ēk due to its first entry.
This glossary was originally compiled from the texts which belonged all to the “Semantic Study” of the Avesta. Only chapter two gives us some idea of the “Grammatical Study” of the Avesta language in the absence of the Pārsīg treatises on Grammar. The compilation date of the glossary may have been some time in the late period of the Sasanian dynasty. However, its different sources are from various and older ages. |
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The hymn text of the star Vanaṇt
(Vanand Yašt/ Yt 21) The star Vanaṇt is worshiped by a specific formula which may be recited in all five watches of the day. The Parsi tradition, as James Darmesteter had heard it from a member of the Meherji Rana family, Peshotan Nusirvanji, tells how Meherji Rana during his visit of Aklabar’s court in 1578 recited this Yašt and nīrang of Vanand to ward off the evils of some natural phenomena that had occurred at that time, and the fortune of the Meherji Rana family was due to the recital of the Vanand Yašt.
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The Avesta periods of the year
The annual rites of the Avesta were organized with six solar dates which were originally determined by the annual risings and settings of some “chief” stars and formed the solar model of the year. These dates were called yāiryaēibyō aṣahe ratubyō ‘the periods of the year, (the periods) of Order’. It seems that the Pārsīg term gāhāmbār (from Av. gāθā- & *bāra- ‘occasion’) had been chosen to distinguish the “period” (ratu: gāhāmbār) of the year from the “period” (ratu: gāh) of the day. The calendar of gāhāmbārs had been given in the Avesta nask Pahag. Some Avesta fragments concerning the calendar have survived in a few manuscripts of the Zand of the Āfrīnagān ī Gāhāmbār. In these fragments, we find the days of the months corresponding to each dies solemnies, and time-spans between each two consecutive annual feasts. These periods of the year are also related to the six periods of creation. The last redactors of the Zand have failed to furnish the correct meaning and the original time of the Gāhāmbārs. And the new interpreters of the Zoroastrian calendar have based their arguments on these late and partially incorrect redactions. see also:
Āfrīnagān ī Gāhāmbār
The A3 is recited at the celebration of the six fixed times during the year, the so-called gāhāmbār.
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The route of Rašnu
Rašnu is a wandering Yazata, who travels all over the worlds, and each time traverses an upper stage in three strides. The Yasna-text of Rašnu (Yt 12.9-37) enumerates the (29) stations of the route of Rašnu from the earth up to the throne of Ahura Mazdā. |
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The traditional history of the
Zoroastrian Scriptures
There exists a historical statement about the scriptures of the Daēnā which extends till the first centuries of the onset of Islam in the last chapter of the third book of the Dēnkird (ch. 420), written by Ādurbād son of Emēd. |
Avesta
Education of the Ancients The education of the ancients was intended to form the student, typically an Āθravan or magian, in a particular function or office: First, that of aēθrapaiti ‘teaching priest’; Then, that of zaotar ‘officiating priest’; And, finally, that of a perfect scholar by whom the Truthful Wisdom is rescued from collective oblivion, and the Religion from doubt. The scholars of old were called paoirya tkaēša; later on, a perfect scholar –priest or layman– received the title of “the wise one”. |
