Khordeh Avesta
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Khordeh Avesta
Khordeh Avesta, meaning 'little, or lesser, or small Avesta', is the name given to two different collections of Zoroastrian religious texts. One of the two collections includes the other and takes its name from it. * In a narrow sense, the term applies to a particular manuscript tradition that includes only the five '' Nyayesh'' texts, the five '' Gah'' texts, the four '' Afrinagan''s, and five introductory chapters that consist of quotations from various passages of the ''Yasna''.. More generally, the term may also be applied to Avestan texts other than the lengthy liturgical ''Yasna'', ''Visperad'' and ''Vendidad''. The term then also extends to the twenty-one yashts and the thirty '' Siroza'' texts, but does not usually encompass the various Avestan language fragments found in other works. * In the 19th century, when the first ''Khordeh Avesta'' editions were printed, the selection of Avesta texts described above (together with some non-Avestan language prayers) became a book ...
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Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion and one of the world's History of religion, oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian peoples, Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a Dualism in cosmology, dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a Monotheism, monotheistic ontology and an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrianism exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom known as ''Ahura Mazda'' () as its supreme being. Historically, the unique features of Zoroastrianism, such as its monotheism, messianism, belief in Free will in theology, free will and Judgement (afterlife), judgement after death, conception of heaven, hell, Angel, angels, and Demon, demons, among other concepts, may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including the Abrahamic religions and Gnosticism, Southern, Eastern and Northern Buddhism, Northern Buddhism, and Ancient Greek philosoph ...
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Avesta
The Avesta () is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into several different categories, arranged either by dialect, or by usage. The principal text in the liturgical group is the ''Yasna'', which takes its name from the Yasna ceremony, Zoroastrianism's primary act of worship, and at which the ''Yasna'' text is recited. The most important portion of the ''Yasna'' texts are the five Gathas, consisting of seventeen hymns attributed to Zoroaster himself. These hymns, together with five other short Old Avestan texts that are also part of the ''Yasna'', are in the Old (or 'Gathic') Avestan language. The remainder of the ''Yasna'''s texts are in Younger Avestan, which is not only from a later stage of the language, but also from a different geographic region. Extensions to the Yasna ceremony include the texts of the ''Vendidad'' and the ''Visperad''. The ''Visperad'' extensions consist mainly of addit ...
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Avestan
Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scriptural language of Zoroastrianism, and the Avesta likewise serves as their namesake. 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 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 ...
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Yasna
Yasna (;"Yasna"
''''. ae, ,) is the name of 's principal act of worship. It is also the name of the primary liturgical collection of texts, recited during that ''yasna'' ceremony.


Overview

The function of the ''yasna'' ceremony is, very roughly des ...
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Visperad
Visperad or Visprad is either a particular Zoroastrianism, Zoroastrian religious ceremony or the name given to a passage collection within the greater Avesta compendium of texts. Overview The Visperad ceremony "consists of the rituals of the Yasna, virtually unchanged, but with a liturgy extended by twenty-three supplementary sections.". These supplementary sections (''kardag'') are then – from a philological perspective – the passages that make up the Visperad collection. The standard abbreviation for ''Visperad'' chapter-verse pointers is ''Vr.'', though ''Vsp.'' may also appear in older sources. The name ''Visperad'' is a contraction of Avestan ''vispe ratavo'', with an ambiguous meaning. Subject to how ''ratu'' is translated, ''vispe ratavo'' may be translated as "(prayer to) all patrons". or "all masters" or the older and today less common "all chiefs.". or "all lords." The Visperad ceremony – in medieval Zoroastrian texts referred to as the ''Jesht-i Visperad'',. that ...
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Vendidad
The Vendidad /ˈvendi'dæd/ or Videvdat or Videvdad is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the ''Vendidad'' is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual. Name The name of the texts is a contraction of the Avestan language ''Vî-Daêvô-Dāta'', "Given Against the ''Daeva''s (Demons)", and as the name suggests, the ''Vendidad'' is an enumeration of various manifestations of evil spirits, and ways to confound them. According to the divisions of the Avesta as described in the Denkard, a 9th-century text, the ''Vendidad'' includes all of the 19th ''nask'', which is then the only ''nask'' that has survived in its entirety. Content The ''Vendidad'''s different parts vary widely in character and in age. Although some portions are relatively recent in origin, the subject matter of the greater part is very old. In 1877, Karl Friedrich Geldner identified the texts as being linguistically distinct from b ...
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Yasht
The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns in the Younger Avestan language. Each of these hymns invokes a specific Zoroastrian divinity or concept. ''Yasht'' chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated as ''Yt.'' Overview The word ''yasht'' derives from Middle Persian 𐭩𐭱𐭲 yašt (“prayer, worship”) probably from Avestan ''𐬫𐬀𐬱𐬙𐬀‎'' (yašta, “honored”), from ''𐬫𐬀𐬰‎'' (yaz, “to worship, honor”), from Proto-Indo-European ''*yeh₂ǵ-'' or ''*Hyaǵ-'', and several hymns of the ''Yasna'' liturgy that "venerate by praise" are—in tradition—also nominally called ''yasht''s. These "hidden" Yashts are: the '' Barsom Yasht'' (''Yasna'' 2), another '' Hom Yasht'' in ''Yasna'' 9–11, the ''Bhagan Yasht'' of ''Yasna'' 19–21, a hymn to Ashi in ''Yasna'' 52, another Sarosh ''Yasht'' in ''Yasna'' 57, the praise of the (hypostasis of) "prayer" in ''Yasna'' 58, and a hymn to the Ahurani in ''Yasna'' 68. Since these are a part of ...
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Ahuna Vairya
Ahuna Vairya ( Avestan: 𐬀𐬵𐬎𐬥𐬀 𐬬𐬀𐬌𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀) is the first of Zoroastrianism's four Gathic Avestan formulas. The text, which appears in ''Yasna'' 27.13, is also known after its opening words yatha ahu vairyo. In Zoroastrian tradition, the formula is also known as the ''ahun(a)war''. Numerous translations and interpretations exist, but the overall meaning of the text remains obscure. The Ahuna Vairya and ''Ashem Vohu'' (the second most sacred formula 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 formula. In relation to the other formulas Like the other three formulas (''Ashem vohu'', ''Yenghe hatam'', ''Airyaman ishya''), 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 formulas, the ''Ahuna V ...
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Ashem Vohu
Ashem Vohu (, Avestan: 𐬀𐬴𐬆𐬨 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬏 aṣ̌əm vohū) is a very important prayer in Zoroastrianism. The Ashem Vohu, after the Ahunavar is considered one of the most basic, yet meaningful and powerful mantras in the religion. It is considered a lesson and praise of those who embrace Asha, along with being a sacred blessing for the aforementioned. It is also at the end of most of the prayers in the Khordeh Avesta, except a certain few, most notably the Fravarane. ''Ashem vohu, Ahunavar,'' ''Yenghe hatam'', and ''Airyaman ishya'' form four pillars of the Gathic canon, part of the group of Zoroastrian texts composed in the archaic dialect of the Avestan language. Prayer There are many translations that all differ significantly due to the complexity of Avestan and the concepts involved. For example: or: or: or: or: There is also a Sogdian version of the prayer: . See also * Zoroastrian prayer Zoroastrian prayer is performed for the worship of Ahu ...
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Pazend
Pazend () or Pazand ( pal, 𐭯𐭠𐭰𐭭𐭣; ae, 𐬞𐬀𐬌𐬙𐬌 𐬰𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬙𐬌) is one of the writing systems used for the Middle Persian language. It was based on the Avestan alphabet, a phonetic alphabet originally used to write Avestan, the language of the Avesta, the primary sacred texts of Zoroastrianism. Pazend's principal use was for writing the commentaries (''Zend'') on and/or translations of the Avesta. The word "Pazend" ultimately derives from the Avestan words ''paiti zainti'', which can be translated as either "for commentary purposes" or "according to understanding" (phonetically). Pazend had the following characteristics, both of which are to be contrasted with Pahlavi, which is one of the other systems used to write Middle Persian: * Pazend was a variant of the Avestan alphabet (''Din dabireh''), which was a phonetic alphabet. In contrast, Pahlavi script was only an abjad. * Pazend did not have ideograms. In contrast, ideograms were an identi ...
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Gujarati Language
Gujarati (; gu, ગુજરાતી, Gujarātī, translit-std=ISO, label=Gujarati script, ) is an Indo-Aryan language native to the Indian state of Gujarat and spoken predominantly by the Gujarati people. Gujarati is descended from Old Gujarati (). In India, it is one of the 22 scheduled languages of the Union. It is also the official language in the state of Gujarat, as well as an official language in the union territory of Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu. As of 2011, Gujarati is the 6th most widely spoken language in India by number of native speakers, spoken by 55.5 million speakers which amounts to about 4.5% of the total Indian population. It is the 26th most widely spoken language in the world by number of native speakers as of 2007.Mikael Parkvall, "Världens 100 största språk 2007" (The World's 100 Largest Languages in 2007), in ''Nationalencyklopedin''. Asterisks mark th2010 estimatesfor the top dozen languages. Outside of Gujarat, Gujarati is ...
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