The avesta, the sacred scripture of zoroastrianism. It gathered during the 4th or 6th centuries and it divided into 21 volumes text. The avesta has also been translated into other languages including farsi and english. Avesta persian grill is a unique dining experience, combining authentic persian and middle eastern cuisine. Avesta avest, pers apstak, avestak pahlavi law or the basic foundation, the sacred scriptures of the mazdeans. Avesta project gutenberg selfpublishing ebooks read. The avesta is a collection of mostly ritual texts that was composed orally at two different periods in the. The avesta is the primary collection of religious texts of zoroastrianism, composed in the otherwise. Avestan language, also called incorrectly zend language, eastern iranian language of the avesta, the sacred book of zoroastrianism. We provide the complete text of the extant avesta, the most ancient scriptures of zoroastrianism, as well as many pahlavi scriptures. However, all of them originated in later times than the.
Kanga, kindly contributed and scanned by soli dastur. The book explains well the aryan race which is very interesting for me who wishes to learn more of her background. The oldest zoroastrian religious scripture, as preserved at present, is known as the avesta. Avesta, the bible of zoroaster wikisource, the free. The language of the ancient aryans was the language of the vedic hymns and also of the. They form a middle section of the chief liturgical part of the. The avesta contains books written in various but related old indoiranian languages, broadly called the avestan. Avesta, originally a language of the ancient indoiranian stock of languages, is presently the language of the zoroastrian scriptures. Persiandna avesta the sacred scripture of zoroastrianism. The oldest surviving manuscript k1 n 1 of an avestan language text is dated ce. Aramaic was the language of the aramean also spelt aramaean people, a people who inhabited the upper reaches of the tigris and euphrates rivers, an area that would have placed it within, or in close. Avestan falls into two strata, the older being that of the gathas, which.
Iranian languages avesta, pahlavi, pazand etc an introduction iranian languages are the group of languages which belong to the indoeuropean and indoiranian family of languages. It is no more used for day to day communication purposes, and hence is. This is the holy book of zoroastrianism itself and its printed here in a book that is just way too small. Avestan is the language of the avesta, the sacred book of the zoroastrians.
There is also some later zoroastrian literature in modern persian, comprising works like the zartushtnamah book of zoroaster, the saddar hundred doors, or chapters, the rivayats traditional. Many prayers in the avesta are in avestan language. The relationship of vedic sanskrit and avestan old persian. Avestan is the oldest known form of the languages in the iranian part of the indoiranian language family, part of the indoeuropean language family. Avestan falls into two strata, the older being that of the gathas, which reflects a. This is an old iranian language old persian word, meaning interpretation or explanation. Avesta is name given to the most ancient language of the iranian branch.
The avesta is the scripture of zoroastrianism which developed from an oral tradition founded by the prophet zoroaster zarathustra, zartosht sometime between c. This book should be at least 25% bigger than it is, and the font size along with it. The avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialector by usage. The zendavesta or persian holy scripture by charles. The other, more commonly known old iranian language is the avestan, a northeastern dialect. Avestan language, eastern iranian language of the avesta, the sacred book of zoroastrianism. By northeastern is meant the southwestern portion of the central asia and todays afghanistan, and also the. The texts became available to european scholarship comparatively late. I recommend this book for every person who has a passion in history. Yes, there wereare also iranian texts from preislamic times other than the avesta. Its religious core is a collection of songs or hymns, the gathas, thought to be in the main the very words of zoroaster. Is there a preislamic persian literature other than the avesta. During zarathushtras time, avestan was only a spoken language because it did not have a script.
Old persian is one of the two directly attested old iranian languages the other being avestan and it is the ancestor of middle persian the language of sasanian empire. Both languages underwent systematic phonetic change. However, according to thomasburrow, in his book, the sanskrit language it is quite possible to find verses in the oldest portion of the avesta. The sound of the avestan language numbers, greetings. The zendavesta is the sacred book of the parsis, that is to say, of the few remaining followers of that religion which feigned. The term pazend has also been mentioned as one of the languages of the. Persian literature of early times the earliest remnant of the aryan languages of iran which antiquity has bequeathed to us is the language of the avesta, the sacred book of the zoroastrian religion.
Pahalavi is a middle persian language and many prayers in the avesta, composed after the 5th century ce, are in pahalavi. It also includes information about the avestan language, and other useful. Abraham anquetilduperron travelled to india in 1755, and discovered the texts in parsi communities. Avestan the avestan alphabet was created in the 3rd and 4th centuries ad for writing the hymns of zarathustra a. An old edition of the avesta with zand interspersed is called the zend avesta or zand avesta. The final rendition of these commentaries was in a relatively modern language called pahlavi or middle persian, the language of persia and iran from the 2nd to the 7th century ac. Although the mythic language is very ancient, the re editing went on much later, and some scholars have suggested that the yashts were composed during the achaemenid period, from 600330 bc. Many of the letters are derived from the old pahlavi. This work of antiquity, dating back some centuries before the christian era.
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