Portal:Zoroastrianism/Scripture Archive
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[edit] Archive of Selected Scriptures: 2006
[edit] December 2006
The Avesta is the primary collection of sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. The texts of the Avesta were collated over several hundred years. The most important portion, the Gathas, in Gathic Avestan, are the hymns thought to have been composed by Zarathushtra himself, and date linguistically to around 1000 BCE. Although some of the texts are very old, the term Avesta itself only dates to the second century CE.
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[edit] Archive of Selected Scriptures: 2007
[edit] January 2007
The name Gathas (Gāθās) refers to the oldest and the most sacred part of the texts of the Zoroastrian faith. The Gathas (Gāθās) are believed to have been composed by Zarathushtra himself. The 17 hymns of the Gathas consist of 238 verses, of about 1300 lines or 6000 words in total. They are part of the Yasna, the primary liturgical collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. The language of the Gathas is often referred to as Gathic or Old Avestan, the oldest attested Iranian language in the Indo-Iranian language group.
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[edit] February 2007
Yasna means 'worship' in (Avestan and is the name of the primary liturgical collection of texts of the Avesta. The texts of the Yasna are organized into 72 chapters, also known as hads or has. The 72 threads of the Zoroastrian Kusti - the sacred girdle worn around the waist - represent the 72 chapters of the Yasna. The collection includes the 17 chapters of the Gathas, the oldest and most sacred texts of the Zoroastrian canon.
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[edit] March 2007
Yasht or Yašt means 'praise' in Avestan. The twenty-four Yashts are part of the Younger Avesta and are mostly dedicated to various Zoroastrian divinities. Not liturgic or didactic in nature, the Yashts offer a very vivid and descriptive language in contrast to other parts of the Avesta.
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[edit] April 2007
The Vendidad, aka Videvdat, is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of Avesta. Unlike other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual. The name of the texts is a contraction of the Avestan language Vî-Daêvô-Dāta, "Given Against the Demons", and as the name suggests, the Vendidad is an enumeration of various manifestations of evil spirits, and ways to confound them.
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[edit] May 2007
The Visparad, or vîspe ratavo in middle Persian and meaning "all lords", is part of the Avestan collection and supplements the Yasna. It is subdivided into 23 karda (sections, singular: kardo), which deal with a description of the Yazatas, and their worship.
[edit] June 2007
Portal:Zoroastrianism/Scripture Archive/June 2007

