The Literature of Pre-Islamic Iran

Companion Volume I

Ronald E. Emmerick, Maria Macuch, Ronald E. Emmerick, Maria Macuch

• Publisher: I.B. Tauris
• Year: 2008
• ISBN:
  9780857736536
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Literature
• Subtopic: Asian Literary Collections
• Index: Literature

Persian literature is the jewel in the crown of Persian culture. It has profoundly influenced the literatures of Ottoman Turkey, Muslim India and Turkic Central Asia and been a source of inspiration for Goethe, Emerson, Matthew Arnold and Jorge Luis Borges among others. Yet Persian literature has never received the attention it truly deserves."A History of Persian Literature" answers this need and offers a new, comprehensive and detailed history of its subject. This 18-volume, authoritative survey reflects the stature and significance of Persian literature as the single most important accomplishment of the Iranian experience.The main object of this companion volume is to provide an overview of the most important extant literary sources in Old and Middle Iranian languages - the languages of the Achaemenid, Parthian and Sasanian periods culminating in the rich resource of Pahlavi Persian which fed so directly into the language of the later great Persian poets. It will be an indispensable source for the literary traditions of pre-Islamic Iran and an invaluable guide to the subject.

CHAPTER 1

AVESTAN LITERATURE

A. HINTZE

According to tradition the great Iranian prophet Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, as he is usually known in Western literature, inaugurated the religion later known after him as the Zoroastrian religion.* The sacred texts of the followers of that religion are collected in a body of literature called the “Avesta”. The term “Avesta” derives from the word avastāk in Pāzand, which designates the writing of Middle Persian in Avestan script. The underlying Middle Persian word is written ʾp(y)stʾk in Pahlavi script. It has been interpreted in different ways, the most plausible of which is to transcribe it as abestāg and derive it from Avestan *upa-stā

aka- ‘praise’.¹ The language of the Avesta is simply called “Avestan” because nothing of it has survived outside the Avestan corpus. The Avesta comprises not only the texts in Avestan, but also their Middle Persian translations and commentaries, the “Zand”.² Although the oldest parts of the Avesta were presumably composed in southern Central Asia, or more precisely in northeastern Iran, the dialectal identification of the Avestan language is problematic. It is safe to say only that Avestan is a non-Persian dialect.³ Together with the southwest Iranian language known as Old Persian and a few indirectly attested dialects, Avestan represents the Old Iranian language. Being closely related to Old Indic of the Vedas, Old Iranian is a descendant of the Indo-Iranian or Aryan branch of the Indo-European language family.

The Avesta is by no means a uniform corpus. It includes texts dating from different periods and belonging to different literary genres. With respect to language and content, there are two basic divisions: the first consists of texts composed in a more archaic idiom commonly called “Old Avestan”. The second, usually called “Young Avestan”, is slightly different dialectally, and even more different with respect to its underlying religious system. The Old Avestan texts comprise not only the Gathas but also the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti and two of the sacred prayers. The rest are in Young Avestan, although some of the texts imitate Old Avestan and are therefore called “pseudo-Old Avestan”.⁴

From the point of view of its use, Avestan literature may be divided into two⁵ major groups: (i) ritual and (ii) devotional. Ritual texts are recited by priests during the religious ceremonies in the fire-temple, devotional texts by priests and lay people in any place. The ritual texts include the Yasna (‘worship’, abbreviated: Y), the Visperad (from Av. vīspe ratavō ‘all the Ratus’, abbr.: Vr) and the Vendidad or Vīdēvdād (from Av. vīdaēva dāta ‘law of those who reject the demons’,⁶ abbr.: Vd). The devotional texts consist of the Yašts (‘worship’, abbr.: Yt) and prayers and benedictions collected in the “Little” or Khorde Avesta. All the Old Avestan texts form part of the Yasna. In addition, there is a small corpus of Avestan literature which has been transmitted outside the canon of the Avesta, mainly as part of Pahlavi texts.

Ritual Texts

Yasna

The Yasna is the liturgical text recited during the ritual consumption of the Parahaoma, i.e. a concoction made from twigs of the pomegranate plant (urvarām) pounded with the juice of the sacrificial plant, the Haoma, and mixed with sacrificial milk (jīvām) and water (zaoϑra). The Parahaoma is prepared and consecrated in the preceeding Paragna rite and consumed in the ensuing Yasna ceremony during which the 72 chapters of the Yasna are recited.⁷ The Yasna ceremony is celebrated daily and only by fully initiated priests. As one of the so-called “inner liturgical ceremonies”, it is performed exclusively in rooms called the Dar-e-Mehr, especially set aside for this purpose and usually located inside the fire-temple.⁸

The Yasna consists of 72 chapters (hā or hāiti). The number 72 is represented symbolically by the 72 threads used in weaving the sacred girdle of the Zoroastrians, the kusti. These 72 chapters fall into three major divisions: Y 1–27, Y 28–54, Y 55–72.⁹ Between chapters 27 and 55, i.e. at its centre, the Yasna includes all the Old Avestan texts which represent the most ancient part of Zoroastrian literature. They consist of the Gathas (Av. gāϑā- ‘hymn, verse’) which, in turn, are arranged around the ‘worship of seven chapters’, the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (abbr.: YH). The latter, during the recitation of which the transformation of the ritual fire takes place, forms the very centre and culmination of the religious ceremony. The Old Avestan texts are introduced and concluded by two ancient prayers (both in Old Avestan), namely the Ahuna Vairya (Y 27.13) and the Aryaman Išya (Y 54.1). Moreover, the Ahuna Vairya is followed by two other sacred prayers, the Ašəm Vohū (Y 27.14), which could be Old Avestan, and the Yeŋhā Hātąm (Y 27.15) in pseudo-Old Avestan.¹⁰ The position of the Gathic hymns and the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti in the centre of the entire Yasna reflects the fact that the recitation of these texts constitutes the high point of the Yasna ceremony.

The Gathas, Sacred Prayers, and Yasna Haptaŋhāiti

The Gathas are made up of seventeen hymns arranged by metre into five groups. Each is named, in acronymic fashion, according to the first few words with which it begins. The first Gatha, the Ahunavaitī Gāϑā (Y 28–34), is named after the Ahuna Vairya prayer which introduces the entire cycle of Gathas. The Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (Y 35.2–41.6) is followed, after a short text in Young Avestan (Y 42), by the Uštavaitī Gāϑā (Y 43–46) which is named after the opening word of Y 43.1 uštā. The Spəntā.mainyu Gāϑā (Y 47–50) begins with the words spəṇtā mainyū, the Vohuxšaϑrā Gāϑā (Y 51) with vohū xšaϑrəm, the Vahištōišti Gāϑā (Y 53) with vahištā īštiš¹¹ and the Aryaman Išya prayer with ā airy

mā īšyō (Y 54.1). Between Y 51 and 53 a short text in Young Avestan (Y 52) is again interposed.

The metre of the Gathas is determined by the number of syllables. The most basic unit, which recurs in all five metres, is a hemistich of seven syllables. The stanza of the Ahunavaitī Gāϑā consists of three verse lines, each divided into two hemistichs of 7+9 syllables (schema: 3(7||9)). The Uštavaitī Gāϑā is made up of five verse lines, each consisting of two hemistichs of 4+7 syllables (schema: 5(4||7)), t...