THE ZEND-AVESTA.
DERIVATION AND LANGUAGE—DIVISIONS—AGE OF THE ZEND-AVESTA—MANUSCRIPTS—
ZARATHUŚTRA—THE EARLY PĀRSĪS—THE MODERN PĀRSĪS.
We use the ordinary form of the word, Zend-Avesta, for though some
Orientalists claim that it should be called the Avesta-Zend, it is an
open question whether this is the original and only correct term.
According to the Pārsīs, Avesta means the sacred text, and Zend its
Pahlavī translation, but in the Pahlavī translations themselves, the
original work is called the Avesta-Zend, although there is no reason
given for this course. Neither the word Avesta nor Zend occurs in the
original Zend texts. The word Avesta, however, seems to be the Sanskṛit
_avastha_, meaning “authorized text,” while Max Müller[145] claims that
the name Zend was originally a corruption of the Sanskṛit word
_Kh_andas, or “metrical language,” which is a name given by the Brāhmans
to the hymns of the Veda. The word Zend, or Zand, is also used to
designate the language[146] in which the greater part of the Avesta is
written.
In relation to its antiquity, the Zend ranks next to the Sanskṛit, and
such authorities as Westergaard and Spiegel, while differing upon many
points, agree in considering the Veda the safest key to an understanding
of the Avesta. Many of the gods which are unknown to any of the Indo-
European nations are worshipped under the same name in Sanskṛit and in
Zend, and indeed many of the gods of the Zoroastrians seem to be mere
reflections of the more primitive gods of the Veda, but at times the
tendency to monotheism in the Zoroastrian religions would appear to be a
solemn protest against the worship of all the powers of nature which is
found in the Veda. Although there is much kinship between the two
tongues, and many striking similarities between the gods of the two
mythologies, it does not necessarily prove that portions of the Zend-
Avesta were borrowed from the Veda. It does prove, however, that the two
works proceeded from a common source of Āryan tradition, and it also
proves that the Sanskṛit and the Zend continued to live side by side
long after they were separated from the common stock of the Indo-
European tongues.
There are decided differences between the themes of the Veda and the
Avesta, but the link which binds them to a common source is never
broken. Some Orientalists claim that there was a schism between the two
and that the differences are the result of a religious revolution, while
others argue that there was only a long and slow movement which led, by
insensible degrees, the vague dualism of the Indo-Īrānians onward to the
sharply defined dualism of the Magi. It has been clearly shown that the
mythologies of Europe and Asia have a common origin in the idolatry
found the valley of the Euphrates; so also the Veda and the Zend-Avesta
are two great literary productions flowing from the same fountain head,
which is found in the Indo-Īrānian period.
DIVISIONS.
The Zend-Avesta, or sacred books of the Pārsīs, is really a collection
of various fragments. The first part, which may be called the Avesta
proper, contains the Vendīdad, the Visparad and the Yasna. The Vendīdad
is a compilation of religious lore and mythological tales, the Visparad
is a collection of litanies for the sacrifice, while the Yasna, too, is
composed of litanies, but it also contains five hymns or Gāthas written
in a different dialect, which is older than the language of the greater
part of the Avesta.
These three books are found in manuscripts in two different forms.
Sometimes either of them is found alone or accompanied by a Pahlavī
translation, or the three are mingled together according to the
requirements of the liturgy.
The second portion of this work is generally known as the Khorda-Avesta,
and is composed of short prayers, which are recited not only by the
priests but by all the faithful, at certain moments of the day, month or
year, and in the presence of the different elements. It is also
customary to include in the Khorda or small Avesta, the Yaśts or hymns
of praise to the several Izads or Yazatas.
The sacredness of the Avesta is to a certain extent reflected upon a
work called the Bundehesh, which was written in Pahlavī, or mediæval
Persian, during the Sassanian age. According to the Pārsī traditions the
bulk of Zoroastrian literature was formerly much greater than now. It is
claimed that the Vendīdad is the only survivor of the twenty-one Nosks
or books which formed the primitive Avesta revealed by Ormazd to
Zoroaster, and also that the eighteen Yaśts were originally thirty in
number, there having been one for each of the Izads who preside over the
thirty days of the month. The classic authors agree with the Pārsīs in
the statement that the early books of the Zend-Avesta were much more
extensive than at present, the sacred literature of the Zoroastrians
having suffered heavy losses in consequence of the ravages of the
Persian empire by Greeks and Arabians. It appears from the third book of
the Dīnkard that at the time of Alexander’s invasion there were only two
complete copies of the sacred books, one of which was traced upon skins
in golden letters and deposited in the royal archives at Persepolis,
where it was burned by Alexander[147] while the other having been placed
in another treasury fell into the hands of the Greeks, and was
translated into their language. The Arḍā-Vīrāf-nāmak mentions only one
copy of the Avesta, which was deposited in the archives at Persepolis
and burned by Alexander; it also mentions the fact that he killed many
of the priests and nobles. Both of these accounts were written, it is
true, long after the events they describe, so they merely represent the
tradition which had been handed down from one generation to the next,
but as they were written before the Arabian conquest[148] they cannot
have confounded the ravages of Alexander with those of the Mohammedans,
and their accounts are freely confirmed by classic writers.[149]
AGE OF THE ZEND-AVESTA.
There is no data by which the age of the Zend-Avesta may be definitely
determined. It is certain, however, that as the Zend is later than the
Sanskṛit, so also the Avesta is later than the Vedas. It is also certain
that this work is not the product of any one generation, as several
centuries have intervened between the dates of the earliest and latest
portions. The Gāthas which form the earliest portion of the work, are
written in the old Āryan metre, but the favorite deities of the Hindūs
are absent from the Gāthas, although they reappear in various forms in
the later portions of the Avesta. It is evident that the migrating
tribes, in consequence of their separation from their brethren in Īrān,
soon became estranged from them, and their most favored gods fell slowly
into neglect or disfavor. Considerable time must have been required for
the accomplishment of so great a change. The oldest portions of the
Avesta may therefore fall a few centuries this side of the hymns of the
Ṛig-veda, while the oldest portions of the later Avesta may be placed at
a period somewhat later than Darius.[150] We have a right to suppose
that the hymns and other portions of the Avesta which were then in
existence were gathered together and committed to writing about the time
of Darius, and according to Dr. Oppert’s rendering of the Behistun
inscription, the Persian king says: “By the grace of Ormazd, I have made
the writings for others in the Āryan language, which was not done
before; and the _text_ of the law and the _collection_.... I made and
wrote, and I sent abroad; then the old writings among all countries I
restored for _the sake_ of the people.”[151] Thus Darius claims to have
restored the writings that had been destroyed or injured by the Magian
revolt, but the word Avesta had not yet become a technical term;[152] it
was the care of Darius that gave it a fixed and restricted sense. Five
centuries afterwards, during the Sassanian period, these books were
again gathered, either from scattered manuscripts or from oral
traditions, and the later Avesta took a definite form in the hands of
Adarbad under King Shapur II,[153] who, like another Diocletian, aimed
at the extirpation of the Christian faith. Mazdeism having been shaken
by the Manichean heresy, a definite form was thus given to the religious
code of Īrān, and it was then promulgated as the sacred law of the
nation. We may conclude, therefore, that even the most modern portions
of the Avesta cannot belong to a later date than the fourth century of
the Christian era.
As the Pārsīs are the ruins of a people, so also their sacred books
represent the ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief
in the world that left such poor monuments of its fallen splendor. Yet
great is the value of the Avesta, and the belief of the few surviving
Pārsīs, in the eyes of the historian, as they present to us the last
reflex of the ideas which prevailed in Īrān during the five centuries
which preceded and the seven which followed the birth of Christ. By the
help of the Pārsī religion and the Avesta, we are enabled to go back to
that momentous period in the history of literature which saw the
blending of the Āryan mind with the Semitic, and thus opened the second
stage of Āryan thought.[154]
MANUSCRIPTS.
The recovery of the manuscripts of the Zend-Avesta, and the translation
of them proved to be a herculean task for Orientalists, and more than
one valuable life has been given largely to this work. For an hundred
years this great problem has cost tireless effort, for its solution
demanded as much pioneer work as the deciphering of the cuneiform
inscriptions of the ancient kings.
We are largely indebted to Anquetil Duperron, the young Frenchman who
was so fearless in his enthusiasm that he enlisted[155] as a private
soldier in order to secure a passage to India, and spent six years in
that country collecting the manuscripts of the Avesta, and in trying to
obtain from the Dastūrs a knowledge of their contents. But his was
pioneer work, and his translation of the Avesta, which was made with the
assistance of Dastūr Dārāb, was by no means trustworthy; it was in fact
a French translation of a Persian rendering which had itself been made
from a Pahlavī version of the Zend original.[156]
Afterward Dr. Rask went to Bombay in the interests of the Danish
government and after collecting many valuable manuscripts, wrote his
essay “On the Age and Genuineness of the Zend Language.”
About the middle of the present century, Westergaard, who is also a
Dane, and one of the most accomplished Zend scholars of Europe,
published an edition of the sacred books of the Zoroastrians.
Burnouf, Spiegel and Bopp were also enthusiastic students of these books
of the Magian literature, and after a time Dr. Haug, a young and
enthusiastic German, was appointed to a professorship of Sanskṛit in the
Poona College; while here he availed himself of his opportunity to make
a thorough study of the literature of the Pārsīs. He contributed a
valuable collection of “Essays” on the subject.
There are at present five editions, more or less complete, of the Zend-
Avesta. The first was lithographed and published[157] under Burnouf’s
direction in Paris, and the second was transcribed into Roman characters
and published[158] at Leipsic by Prof Brockhaus. The third edition was
presented in Zend characters, and was prepared[159] by Prof. Spiegel,
and the fourth was published at Copenhagen,[160] by Westergaard; there
are also one or two editions of the Zend-Avesta published in India with
Gujerātī translations, which are sometimes quoted by native scholars.
The Yasna, being that portion of the Zend-Avesta containing the Gāthas,
which are supposed to be the original hymns of Zoroaster, is the oldest
and most important part of the Magian literature. Early in the present
century,[161] Dr. Rask succeeded in bringing to Europe a celebrated
manuscript of the Yasna with Pahlavī translation which is now in the
University Library of Copenhagen,[162] and this is the only document of
the kind upon the continent of Europe.
Another priceless manuscript has for centuries been hereditary
property in the family of a High Priest of the Pārsīs,[163] who has
now presented it to the University at Oxford, and through the courtesy
of Prof. F. Max Müller we are enabled to give our readers a fac simile
representation[164] of this famous Yasna manuscript which constitutes
one of the fundamental documents of Zend philology. It contains nearly
eight hundred pages,[165] and was written by Mihirāpān Kaī-Khūsrō, the
same copyist who transcribed the Copenhagen manuscript, but it is from
a different original.
ZARATHUŚTRA.
Zarathuśtra or Zoroaster[166] is supposed to have been the prophet of
Īrān, and the author of the earliest hymns or Gāthas, but the fact that
the composition of the books of the Zend-Avesta, extended over a period
of several centuries, precludes the possibility of their authorship by
any one individual. There is no historic record of the birth, the life
or the death of Zarathuśtra, and this fact, together with the vast
amount of myth and legend which has grown up around his name, has led
some Orientalists to question whether or not such a man ever lived at
all.
Firdusī teaches in a mythical way that he belonged to the time of
Darius. Hyde, Prideaux and several others claim that Zarathuśtra was the
same as the Persian Zerdūsht, the great patriarch of the Magi, who lived
between the beginning of the reign of Cyrus and the end of that of
Darius Hystaspes, while others still claim that the prophet of Īrān
belonged to an earlier date.[167] It seems probable that he was a
veritable personage, who, although not necessarily the author of any
considerable portion of the Zend-Avesta, may have led the departure in
this direction from the mythology of the Vedas, toward the simpler forms
of Mazdeism, but whether he lived and first taught among the mountains
of Media, or in the land of Baktriana, is an open question.
Indeed, the controversy which prevails among scholars upon the exegesis
of the Zend-Avesta is one of unusual severity, and while the storm seems
to center upon the value of the Asiatic translations, there are other
questions which are involved; the personality of Zarathuśtra[168] is not
only questioned, but even amongst those who admit that he was an
historical personage, the field of his early labors, the exact time to
which he belonged, and many other points are subjects of spirited
discussion.
In the Gāthas, or earlier hymns, Zarathuśtra appears as a toiling
prophet, and his sphere does not seem to have been greatly restricted.
The objects of his concern were provinces as well as villages, and the
masses as well as individuals. His circle was largely composed of the
reigning prince and prominent chieftains—and these, together with a
priesthood comparatively pure, were the greater part of his public. The
king, the people, and the peers were all portions of it.
It is claimed that Zarathuśtra had three sons, and these were
respectively the fathers and chiefs of the three classes, priests,
warriors and herdsmen; they played little part, however, in the Mazdean
system, and are possibly only three subdivisions of Zarathuśtra, who was
“the first priest, the first warrior and the first husbandman.”
But when the student leaves the Gāthas and turns to the Yaśts or the
Vendīdad, he goes from ground which is apparently historic into a land
of fable. He leaves behind him the toiling prophet, who is apparently
real, and meets the Zarathuśtra of these latter productions in the form
of a fantastic demi-god. He is no longer described as one who brings new
truth and drives away error, but as one who overthrows demons—the
valiant smiter of fiends, like Tiśtrya and Vāyu. He smites them chiefly,
it is true, with spiritual weapons, but he also repels the assaults of
Ahriman with the stones which Ahūra gave him—stones which are as large
as a house[169]—missiles like those that were hurled at their foes by
Indra, by Agni and by Thor. These are “the flames wherewith, as with a
stone,[170] the storm-god smites the fiend.” A singular incident of
Zarathuśtra’s birth, according to Pliny, and later Pārsī tradition, is
that he alone of all mortals laughed while being born. This tradition
would indicate that his nativity was in the region which was the
birthplace of the Vedic Marūts—those storm genii which are “born of the
laughter of the lightnings.”
Zarathuśtra is not the only lawgiver and prophet which the Avesta
recognizes. Gayo Maratan, Yima and even the bird Karśipta,[171] appear
under different names, forms and functions, as god-like champions in the
struggle for light, and they knew the law as well as Zarathuśtra. Many
of the features of Zarathuśtra point to a god, but the mythology has
probably grown up around a man, and the existing mythic elements have
been woven into a halo to surround a human face. There has been much of
individual genius in the formation of Mazdeism, but the system as a
whole was probably produced by the elaboration of successive generations
of the priesthood.
THE EARLY PĀRSĪS.
It is evident to the historian that the Zend-Avesta should be carefully
studied by all who value the records of the human race, but its
influence for good or evil cannot be determined without understanding
something of the character and habits of the people to whom it
peculiarly belonged. There have been periods in the world’s history when
the religion of the Pārsīs threatened to dominate over all others. If
Persia had won the battles of Marathon and Salamis, and thus succeeded
in the final conquest of Greece, the worship of Ormazd might have become
the religion of the whole civilized world. Persia already ruled over the
Assyrian and Babylonian empires; the Jews were under her power, and the
sacred monuments of Egypt had been mutilated by the Persian soldiery.
Again, during the Sassanian dynasty, the national faith had revived to
such an extent that Shapur II gathered the sacred books and issued their
code of law to the people, while the sufferings of the persecuted
Christians in the east were as terrible as they had ever been in the
west—Rome herself being rivaled in the work of cruelty. But the power of
Persia was broken by the Mohammedan conquest, and the war-cry of the
Moslem was the herald of defeated tyranny; hence it is that Mazdeism,
although once the fear of the world, has for a thousand years had but
little interest except for the historian. It was once the state religion
of a powerful empire, but it was virtually driven away from its native
soil by the sons of the desert, and the star and crescent waved in
triumph above its broken altars. Deprived of political influence, and
without even the prestige of an enlightened priesthood, many of its
votaries became exiles in a foreign land, while the few that remained on
Persian soil almost disappeared under the iron hand of Mohammedan rule.
In less than a century after their defeat, nearly all the conquered
people who remained upon their native soil were brought over to the
faith of their new rulers, either by persecution or policy, or by the
attractive power of a simpler creed, while those who clung to the faith
of their fathers sought a new home in the land of the Hindūs, and found
a refuge on the western coast of India and the peninsula of Gujarāt.
Here they could worship their old gods, repeat their old prayers, and
perform their old rites; and here they still live, and thrive to a
certain extent, while their co-religionists in Persia are daily becoming
fewer in numbers.[172]
The Pārsīs of the old school used mats for seats, and ate with their
fingers from platters, but these and similar practices were cleanly and
refined when compared to some of their revolting and loathsome
ceremonies. Anthon says, “If the religion of Zoroaster was originally
pure and sublime, it speedily degenerated and allied itself to many very
gross and hideous forms of superstition; if we were to judge of its
tendency by the practice of its votaries, we should be led to think of
it more harshly than it may have deserved. The court manners were
equally marked by luxury and cruelty—by luxury refined until it had
killed all natural enjoyment, and by cruelty carried to the most
loathsome excess that perverted ingenuity could suggest. It is above all
the barbarity of the women that fills the Persian chronicles with their
most horrible stories, and we learn from the same sources the dreadful
depravity of their character, and the vast extent of their
influence.”[173] It is a well known fact in the world’s history that the
influence of an unprincipled woman is much stronger over a man who
yields to her power than is the influence of kindness and truth to win
him to higher associations, and therefore we find that at a certain
period, the men of Persia, cramped by the rigid power of ceremonials,
and surrounded by the ministers to their artificial wants, became the
slaves of their priests and concubines. It is probably true that even
after the people had lost much of the original purity and simplicity of
their manners, the noble youth of Persia were still educated in the
severe discipline of their ancestors, which is represented as nearly
resembling that of the Spartan, but gradually the ancient discipline
became either wholly obsolete or degenerated into empty forms.
THE MODERN PĀRSĪS.
The religion of the Pārsīs is sometimes called Dualism, on account of
its main tenet; it is called Mazdeism, because Ahūra Mazda is its
supreme god; it is called Magism, because its priesthood are the Magi;
it is called Zoroastrianism, as representing the doctrines of its
supposed founder, and it is also called Fire Worship, because fire has
for centuries apparently received the adoration[174] of the people.
At present the number of the Pārsīs in western India is estimated at
about one hundred thousand, while Yezd and Kermān together can claim
only about fifty-five thousand. Hence, while the colonies upon the soil
of India have retained their strength much better than the others, the
grand total is very small, being only about one-tenth of one per cent.
of the population of the world. They are still known as Fire-
Worshippers, although they protest against the name, as indicating that
they are mere idolators. It is doubtless true that at one time fire
itself was worshipped, and Atar, the fire-god, held high rank among the
Zoroastrians. The primitive Āryan hearth, upon which the sacred element
blazed, was also an object of adoration, and the Pārsīs still admit that
in their youth they are taught to face some luminous object while
worshipping God, although they claim that they look upon fire as merely
an emblem of divine power. There is certainly the existence of a strong
national instinct—an indescribable one—which is felt by every Pārsī in
regard to both light and fire. They are the only Eastern people who
abstain entirely from smoking, and they will not even blow out a candle
unless compelled to do so.
The modern Pārsīs believe in monotheism, and use a table, as well as
knives and forks at their meals. Their prayers are recited in the old
Zend language, although neither he who repeats, nor they who listen can
understand a word that is said. Every one goes to the fire temple when
he chooses and recites his prayers himself, or pays the priest to recite
them for him. Among the whole body of priests, there are perhaps not
more than twenty who can lay any claim to a knowledge of the Zend-
Avesta, and even these have only learned the meaning of the words they
are taught, without knowing the language either philosophically or
grammatically.
The modern Pārsīs are monogamists, and hence the manifold evils of the
harem are abolished from among the people. They do not eat anything
which is prepared by a cook belonging to another creed. They also object
to beef and pork. Their priesthood is hereditary. None but the son of a
priest can take the orders, and it is not obligatory upon him to do so.
The high priest is called Dastūr, while the others are called Mobed.
They are greatly attached to their religion on account of its former
glory, and it is felt that the relinquishment of it would be the giving
up of all that was most sacred and precious to their forefathers. Still
they have, in many essential points, unconsciously approached the
doctrines of Christianity, and if they could but read the Zend-Avesta
they would find that their faith is no longer the faith of the Yasna or
the Vendīdad.[175] As historical relics these works will always be of
value, but as the oracles of faith they lack the vitality of principle
necessary for the building of human character.
-----
Footnote 145:
Chips, Vol. I, p. 82.
Footnote 146:
Prof. Darmesteter and M. de Harlez claim that the Zend was the
language of Aryan Media.
Footnote 147:
See page 20.
Footnote 148:
Haug’s Rel. of Parsis, p. 123.
Footnote 149:
Diodorus (xvii, 72) and Curtius (v. 7) declare that Alexander burned
the citadel and royal palace at Persepolis in a drunken frenzy at the
instigation of the Athenian courtezan Thais, and in revenge for the
destruction of the Greek temple by Xerxes. Arrian (Exped. Alex., iii,
18) also speaks of his burning the royal palace of the Persians.
Footnote 150:
Sacred Books of the East, Vol. IV, Int., p. 39.
Footnote 151:
This is a literal rendering of the passage, the meaning of all the
words being certain, except the four which are written in _italics_.
Footnote 152:
In the Elamite and Babylonian versions Avesta is simply rendered “law”
or “laws.”
Footnote 153:
Shapur II ascended the throne about A.D. 309.
Footnote 154:
Sa. Books of East, Vol. IV. Int., p. 2.
Footnote 155:
About 1754.
Footnote 156:
Chips, Vol. I, p. 119.
Footnote 157:
1829-1843.
Footnote 158:
1850.
Footnote 159:
1851.
Footnote 160:
1852-1854.
Footnote 161:
About 1826.
Footnote 162:
Codex numbered 5.
Footnote 163:
Dastur Jamaspji Minocheherji Jamasp Asana, Ph. D. of Tübingen, Hon.
D.C. L. Oxon. Dr. L.H. Mills applied to the Dastur for the loan of his
manuscript to enable him to complete a critical edition of the Zend
and Pahlavi texts of the Gathas, and Dastur Jamaspji not only loaned
it to Dr. Mills, but most generously presented it to the University of
Oxford.
Footnote 164:
See page xx.
Footnote 165:
382 folios.
Footnote 166:
Clement, who is supposed to have written in the first century of the
Christian era, claims that the original name was Nebrod, but that “the
magician being destroyed by lightning, his name was changed to
Zoroaster by the Greeks on account of the living Ζωσαν stream of the
star (ἀστέρος) being poured upon him.”—_Clementine Homilies, IX, Chap.
5._
Footnote 167:
Masudi, the noted Arabian historian and traveler who wrote about A.D.
950, remarks that “according to the Magi, Zoroaster lived two hundred
and eighty years before Alexander the Great,” or about 610 B. C, in
the time of the Median king Cyaxares.
Footnote 168:
Dr. Haug, while maintaining the personality of Zarathustra Spitama,
claims that after his death, and possibly during his life, the name of
Zarathustra was adopted by a successive priesthood. (Essays, p. 297).
Footnote 169:
Vendidad, Farg. xix, 4.
Footnote 170:
Rig-veda, ii, 30, 40.
Footnote 171:
The bird Karsipta dwells in the heavens. Were he living on the earth
he would be the king of birds. He brought the law into the Var of
Yima, and recites the Avesta in the language of birds (Bund. xix and
xxiv). As a bird, because of the swiftness of his flight, was often
considered an incarnation of lightning, and as the thunder was
supposed to be the voice of a god speaking from above, so the song of
a bird was often thought to be the utterance of a god.
Footnote 172:
Chips, Vol. I, p. 167.
Footnote 173:
Clas. Dict., p. 1015.
Footnote 174:
Clement says: “The Persians, first taking coals from the lightning
which fell from heaven, preserved them by ordinary fuel, and honoring
the heavenly fire as a god, were honored by the fire itself, with the
first kingdom, as its first worshippers. After them the Babylonians,
stealing coals from the fire that was there, and conveying it safely
to their own home and worshipping it, they themselves also reigned in
order. And the Egyptians, acting in like manner, and calling the fire
in their own dialect _Phthaë_, which is translated _Hephaistus_ or
_Osiris_, he who first reigned amongst them is called by its name.”—
_Clementine Homilies, IX_, Chap. vi.
Footnote 175:
Chips, Vol. I, pp. 162-177.