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43-547: Numerous translations and interpretations exist, but the overall meaning of the text remains obscure. The Ahuna Vairya and Ashem Vohu (the second most sacred mantra at Yasna 27.14) are together "very cryptic formulas, of a pronounced magical character." The Ahunavaiti Gatha (chapters 28-34 of the Yasna ), is named after the Ahuna Vairya. Like the other three mantras ( Ashem vohu , Yenghe hatam , Airyaman ishya ),

86-579: A likely archaeological reflection of the early " Eastern Iranian " culture that is described in the Zoroastrian Avesta . It is not known what the original speakers of Avestan called the language. The modern term "Avestan" comes from the Avesta , a collection of Zoroastrian religious literature composed in the language, the name of which comes from Persian اوستا , avestâ and is of obscure origin, though it might come from or be cognate with

129-831: A number of reasons for this shift, based on both the Old Avestan and the Young Avestan material. As regards Old Avestan, the Gathas show strong linguistic and cultural similarities with the Rigveda , which in turn is assumed to represent the second half of the second millennium BC. As regards Young Avestan, texts like the Yashts and the Vendidad are situated in the eastern parts of Greater Iran and lack any discernible Persian or Median influence from Western Iran. This

172-489: A regular adjective or as a noun. In the latter case it acquires the meaning of possession , comparable to the English noun good in the sense of item of merchandise . The first line can therefore mean both "asha is the best possession" or "asha [is] good, it is best." The term uštā is equally ambiguous. It can be derived from ušta (desired things) or from ušti (desire). Finally, the term ahmāi can refer to itself or to

215-409: Is a thing of such a nature, that if all the corporeal and living world should learn it, and learning hold fast by it, they would be redeemed from their mortality." (19.10) In Yasna 19.3 and 4.8, the mantra is described as having been a primordial utterance of Ahura Mazda , articulated immediately after the creation of the spiritual world (and before the material world), and that its efficacy in aiding

258-462: Is attested in roughly two forms, known as "Old Avestan" (or "Gathic Avestan") and "Younger Avestan". Younger Avestan did not evolve from Old Avestan; the two differ not only in time, but they are also different dialects. Every Avestan text, regardless of whether originally composed in Old or Younger Avestan, underwent several transformations. Karl Hoffmann traced the following stages for Avestan as found in

301-566: Is classified as Eastern Old Iranian. But the east–west distinction is of limited meaning for Avestan, as the linguistic developments that later distinguish Eastern from Western Iranian had not yet occurred. Avestan does not display some typical (South-)Western Iranian innovations already visible in Old Persian, and so in this sense, "eastern" only means "non-western". Old Avestan is closely related to Old Persian and largely agrees morphologically with Vedic Sanskrit . The Avestan language

344-489: Is interpreted such that the bulk of this material, which has been produced several centuries after Zarathustra, must still predate the sixth century BC. As a result, more recent scholarship often assumes that the major parts of the Young Avestan texts mainly reflect the first half of the first millennia BC, whereas the Old Avestan texts of Zarathustra may have been composed around 1000 BC or even as early as 1500 BC. The script used for writing Avestan developed during

387-442: Is overall the shortest of the four Gathic mantras. It is dedicated to asha , a central concept of Zoroastrianism. It consists of only twelve words which are arranged in an alliterative fashion. This may have helped ordinary people to more easily remember it. It repeatedly uses the words aṣ̌a (truth, order), vohū/vahištā (good/best), astī (is) and uštā (desire); showing the centrality of these terms. It has been argued that it

430-412: Is the best good (reward/possession) there is. There are wished-for things in his wish for this one when his Order is for the best Order. or: Truth is best (of all that is) good. As desired, as desired, truth is for him who (represents) best truth. or: Holiness (Asha) is the best of all good: it is also happiness. Happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness!" or: Righteousness

473-577: Is the best good and it is happiness. Happiness is to her/him who is righteous for the sake of the best righteousness. In the early 20th century, several thousands documents were discovered by the Daoist monk Wang Yuanlu in the Library Cave at Dunhuang . They were subsequently acquired and brought to Britain by Sir Aurel Stein . In these documents, a Sogdian version of the Ashem Vohu

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516-401: Is the first manifestation of the luminaries that Ahura Mazda created, i.e. the spirit of the mantra is the first of the material creations, and is at the same time the "fire form" force from which the material world is created. Moreover, in articulating the mantra, Ahura Mazda made his ultimate triumph evident to "the evil spirit" ( Angra Mainyu ), who then fell back "confounded and impotent as to

559-630: The c.  12th century texts of Neryosang Dhaval and other Parsi Sanskritist theologians of that era, which are roughly contemporary with the oldest surviving manuscripts in Avestan script. Today, Avestan is most commonly typeset in the Gujarati script ( Gujarati being the traditional language of the Indian Zoroastrians). Some Avestan letters with no corresponding symbol are synthesized with additional diacritical marks, for example,

602-524: The /z/ in zaraθuštra is written with j with a dot below. Avestan has retained voiced sibilants, and has fricative rather than aspirate series. There are various conventions for transliteration of the Avestan alphabet , the one adopted for this article being: Vowels: Consonants: The glides y and w are often transcribed as < ii > and < uu >. The letter transcribed < t̰ > indicates an allophone of /t/ with no audible release at

645-740: The Ahuna Vairya is part of the Gathic canon, that is, part of the group of texts composed in the more archaic dialect of the Avestan language. Together with the other three mantras, the Ahuna Vairya is part of the 'envelope' that liturgically encloses the Gathas , i.e. the hymns attributed to Zoroaster . One of the mantras, the Airyaman ishya ( Yasna 54.1) follows the Gathas, while the other three – Ahuna Vairya , Ashem vohu and Yenghe hatam (together at Yasna 27.13-27.15) – precede them. Unlike

688-520: The Ahura Vairya is prescribed as an act of hygiene to "protect the body". In Yasna 9.14, Zoroaster is given credit as the first mortal to recite it. The hymn's supremacy among sacred Zoroastrian mantras is well developed in the 9th-11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition. In the Denkard ('Acts of Religion', 9th century), four of the twenty-one nask s are described to have expounded on

731-508: The Sasanian period ". The Avestan language is only known from the Avesta and otherwise unattested. As a result, there is no external evidence on which to base the time frame during which the Avestan language was spoken and all attempts have to rely on internal evidence. Such attempts were often based on the life of Zarathustra as the most distinct event in the Avestan period . Zarathustra

774-485: The Zoroastrian Middle Persian by Darmesteter: A translation from the Avestan by Windfuhr: Vazquez's liturgically inclined translation is: Humbach, Elfenbein and Skjærvø translate it as: The Zoroastrian Assembly translates it as: Both the lord and the leader are to be chosen because of their righteousness. These two appointments are made with good mind so that acts of life are done for

817-493: The righteous is due to its primordial nature. As a primordial utterance, the Ahura Vairya is described to have talismanic virtues: the power to aid mortals in distress, and inversely as a potent weapon against the daeva s. Elsewhere in the Avesta, the Ahuna Vairya is described as the "most victorious" ( Yasht 11.13), as the "veracious word" ( Yasna 8.1), as the "sacred gift" ( Yasna 27.7). In Vendidad 11.3, in addition to being "most healing", frequent recitation of

860-414: The 3rd or 4th century AD. By then the language had been extinct for many centuries, and remained in use only as a liturgical language of the Avesta canon. As is still the case today, the liturgies were memorized by the priesthood and recited by rote. The script devised to render Avestan was natively known as Din dabireh "religion writing". It has 53 distinct characters and is written right-to-left. Among

903-508: The 53 characters are about 30 letters that are – through the addition of various loops and flourishes – variations of the 13 graphemes of the cursive Pahlavi script (i.e. "Book" Pahlavi) that is known from the post-Sassanian texts of Zoroastrian tradition. These symbols, like those of all the Pahlavi scripts, are in turn based on Aramaic script symbols. Avestan also incorporates several letters from other writing systems, most notably

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946-469: The Ashem Vohu must have been known to the Sogdians before they converted to Zoroastrianism. Combined with the fact that it contains no specific Zoroastrian beliefs, Gershevitch concluded that the mantra should be considered to be pan-Iranian. Avestan language Avestan ( / ə ˈ v ɛ s t ən / ə- VESS -tən ) is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages , Old Avestan (spoken in

989-493: The Avestan term 𐬎𐬞𐬀𐬯𐬙𐬁𐬬𐬀𐬐𐬀 , upastāvaka , 'praise'. The language was sometimes called Zend in older works, stemming from a misunderstanding of the Zend (commentaries and interpretations of Zoroastrian scripture) as synonymous with the Avesta itself, due to both often being bundled together as "Zend-Avesta". Avestan and Old Persian are the two attested languages comprising Old Iranian , and while Avestan

1032-865: The Fravarane. In the Yasna, the Ahuna Vairya (Y. 27.13), the Ashem vohu (Y. 27.14), and the Yenghe hatam (Y. 27.15) precede the Gathas, which are followed by the Airyaman ishya (Y. 54.1). Together with the Yasna Haptanghaiti , these texts form the Old Avestan layer of the Avesta . In the Younger Avestan portions of the texts, the Ashem vohu is mentioned more than 200 times. The Ashem vohu

1075-459: The Wise One, and the dominion of God is well established, in which the chosen person becomes the rehabilitator of the rightful who are oppressed. Other interpretations are listed in the further reading section below. Ashem Vohu The Ashem Vohu ( / ˈ ʌ ʃ ɛ m ˈ v ɔː h uː / , Avestan : 𐬀𐬴𐬆𐬨 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬏 aṣ̌əm vohū) is the second most important mantra , and one of

1118-486: The earlier Proto-Indo-Iranian language ; as such, Old Avestan is quite close in both grammar and lexicon to Vedic Sanskrit , the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language . The Avestan text corpus was composed in the ancient Iranian satrapies of Arachosia , Aria , Bactria , and Margiana , corresponding to the entirety of present-day Afghanistan as well as parts of Tajikistan , Turkmenistan , and Uzbekistan . The Yaz culture of Bactria–Margiana has been regarded as

1161-497: The efficacy of the hymn (8.44.1), and each volume of the nask s is said to have been initially assigned its title from a word in the Ahuna Vairya prayer ( Denkard intro, 6, 8, 17, 18, 9.1.4). The mantra's potency to smite daevas and protect life and property are described at length (4.38-45, 8.43.81, 9.1.4), and the mantra's primordial nature is seen as the root and summation of the belief in Ahura Mazda, "the seed of seeds of

1204-513: The extant texts. In roughly chronological order: Many phonetic features cannot be ascribed with certainty to a particular stage since there may be more than one possibility. Every phonetic form that can be ascribed to the Sasanian archetype on the basis of critical assessment of the manuscript evidence must have gone through the stages mentioned above so that "Old Avestan" and "Young Avestan" really mean no more than "Old Avestan and Young Avestan of

1247-500: The formula be uttered when entering a house (9.18.5). While the Avesta's Yasna 19 sees the subject of the Ahuna Vairya as referring to Zoroaster, and possibly to his successors, later tradition ( Denkard 9.24.1, also Zatspram 1.13.19) infers no such connection, and applies it evenly to all followers of Zoroaster's teaching. Like all Gathic Avestan verses, the prayer is altogether ambiguous and translations vary significantly. Even though several translations and interpretations exist,

1290-500: The harm he caused the creatures of Ahuramazd" (1.29-30). The Vendidad' s prescription of recitation of the mantra as an act of hygiene is reiterated in the Sayast ne Sayast , which prescribes recitation when sneezing or coughing (12.32), and recommends invocation when pouring potable liquids (10.7). The Sayast ne Sayast additionally notes that a mumbling of the prayer is particularly offensive. (10.25) The Denkard additionally suggests

1333-435: The hymn also exist and can differ greatly from those based on the Avestan original. The version found in the Avesta edition of Geldner reads: There are transliterations available with differences concerning certain words. Transliteration of Helmut Humbach: Dastur Dhalla also notes that a corrupt form of the prayer is commonly used: Translation by Boyce essentially derived from that of S. Insler: A simple translation from

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1376-702: The mid-2nd to 1st millennium BC) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BC). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scriptural language of Zoroastrianism . Both are early Eastern Iranian languages within the Indo-Iranian language branch of the Indo-European language family . Its immediate ancestor was the Proto-Iranian language , a sister language to the Proto-Indo-Aryan language , with both having developed from

1419-704: The most important prayers in Zoroastrianism . It is dedicated to Asha , a Zoroastrian concept denoting truth, order or righteousness. Together with the Ahuna Vairya , the Yenghe hatam , and the Airyaman ishya ; the Ashem vohu forms the four mantras that enclose the Gathas in the Yasna . It is also at the end of most of the prayers in the Khordeh Avesta , except a certain few, most notably

1462-426: The next words hyat̰ aṣ̌āi . These ambiguities have resulted in a number of diverging translations, none of which has found universal acceptance. There are many translations that all differ significantly due to the complexity of Avestan and the concepts involved. For example: Righteousness is best (of all that is) good. As desired, what is being desired is truth for him who (represents) best truth. or: Order

1505-508: The overall meaning of the prayer remains obscure. The terseness of the prose, elaborate arrangement and poetical techniques make a translation from the Old Avestan difficult (See also: difficulties in translating the Gathas ). Given its syntactic density, scholarly agreement on a definitive translation, or even close approximation of its meaning, remains unlikely. Translations based on Middle Persian interpretations (and commentaries) of

1548-477: The reckoning of the religion." (8.45.1) The Bundahishn , an 11th/12th century narrative of Zoroastrian cosmological myths, continues and embellishes the Avesta's description of the Ahuna Vairya as a primordial utterance. In that tradition, Ahuna Vairya is not only an utterance of Mazda following the creation of the spiritual world. Additionally, in Bundahishn 12.13-14, the spirit of the yatha ahu vairyo

1591-568: The third and fourth mantra, the first two — the Ahuna Vairya and the Ashem vohu — are part of the Kusti prayers. Unlike the third and fourth mantra, the first two do not express wishes and are technically purificatory and meditational declarations ( asti , "it is"). The Ahuna Vairya is already a subject of theological exegesis in scripture itself, in particular in Yasna 19, where "this utterance

1634-432: The vowels, which are mostly derived from Greek minuscules. A few letters were free inventions, as were also the symbols used for punctuation. Also, the Avestan alphabet has one letter that has no corresponding sound in the Avestan language; the character for /l/ (a sound that Avestan does not have) was added to write Pazend texts. The Avestan script is alphabetic , and the large number of letters suggests that its design

1677-514: Was discovered in the 1970 and translated by Nicholas Sims-Williams . Sogdian 𐼺𐼴𐼶𐽁𐽂 𐼺𐼷𐽁𐽂𐼰𐼷 𐼴𐽁𐽂𐼰𐼰𐼷 𐼰𐽁𐽂𐼴𐼶𐼺𐼰𐼷 𐽂𐼴𐽀𐽂𐼰𐼷 𐼰𐼶𐼴𐽁𐽂𐼰𐼷𐽀𐽂𐼺 ‎ Reconstruction in Old Sogdian urtam wahu wahištam ištī uštā istī uštā ahmāi yat urtāi wahištāi urtam This version shows some phonological and linguistic peculiarities compared to the extant Avestan version. Ilya Gershevitch has, therefore, opined that

1720-462: Was due to the need to render the orally recited texts with high phonetic precision. The correct enunciation of the liturgies was (and still is) considered necessary for the prayers to be effective. The Zoroastrians of India, who represent one of the largest surviving Zoroastrian communities worldwide, also transcribe Avestan in Brahmi -based scripts. This is a relatively recent development first seen in

1763-401: Was localized in the northeastern parts of Greater Iran according to Paul Maximilian Tedesco  [ de ] (1921), other scholars have favored regarding Avestan as originating in eastern parts. Scholars traditionally classify Iranian languages as "old", "middle" and "new" according to their age, and as "eastern" or "western" according to geography, and within this framework Avestan

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1806-415: Was one of the prayers used from early on at the five daily times of prayer known as gáh . Prayer aṣ̌əm vohū vahištəm astī uštā astī uštā ahmāi hyat̰ aṣ̌āi vahištāi aṣ̌əm IPA Transliteration: aʂəm vohuː vahiʃtəm astiː uʃtaː astiː uʃtaː ahmaːi hjat aʂaːi vahiʃtaːi aʂəm The text poses a number of challenges for a grammatical analysis. The term vohū translates to good and can be used as

1849-556: Was traditionally based in the 6th century BC meaning that Old Avestan would have been spoken during the early Achaemenid period . Given that a substantial time must have passed between Old Avestan and Young Avestan, the latter would have been spoken somewhere during the Hellenistic or the Parthian period of Iranian history. However, more recent scholarship has increasingly shifted to an earlier dating. The literature presents

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