Denkard
The ''Dēnkard'' or ''Dēnkart'' (Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭩𐭭𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭲 "Acts of Religion") is a 10th-century compendium of Zoroastrian beliefs and customs during the time. The ''Denkard'' has been called an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" an ...
, the fourteenth ''nask'' (volume) of the
Sasanian Avesta
The Sasanian Avesta or Great Avesta refers to the anthology of Zoroastrian literature produced during the Sasanian period. Most of this work is now lost, but its content and structure can be reconstructed from references found in a number of t ...
. The work itself is lost, but based on later references, several of the extant
Yasht
A Yasht (, ) is a hymn of praise composed in the Young Avestan language and dedicated to specific Zoroastrian divinities. The term commonly applies to the collection of 21 Yashts, although it may also refer to other texts within the wider Avest ...
s are considered to have originally been part of the nask.
Sources
The nask itself is no longer extant. Some information on its content are given in Book 8 of the
Denkard
The ''Dēnkard'' or ''Dēnkart'' (Middle Persian: 𐭣𐭩𐭭𐭪𐭠𐭫𐭲 "Acts of Religion") is a 10th-century compendium of Zoroastrian beliefs and customs during the time. The ''Denkard'' has been called an "Encyclopedia of Mazdaism" an ...
, a 9th-10th century compendium of Zoroastrianism. In addition, the Rivayats, a series of epistles from the 15th - 17th century, give a short overview on the content of the Bagan yasht.
Name
There is some confusion regarding the name of this nask. For instance
Bag nask. In the Rivayats, the name is given as ''Baḡān yašt'' and ''Bayān yašt''. In the Denkard, however, it is given as ''Baḡān yašt'' or ''Baḡān yasn''. While ''Yasht'' or ''Yasn'' is derived from Avestan ''Yaz'', to sacrifice, the term ''Bagan'' probably refers to Avestan ''Baga'', a generic term for god.
In the Sasanian Avesta
The
Sasanian Avesta
The Sasanian Avesta or Great Avesta refers to the anthology of Zoroastrian literature produced during the Sasanian period. Most of this work is now lost, but its content and structure can be reconstructed from references found in a number of t ...
was organized into 21 ''nasks'', i.e., volumes, which were grouped into 3 divisions; the Gāhānīg (Gathic nasks), Hada Mānsrīg ( manthras connected with the ritual), and Dādīg (legal nasks). Within this scheme, the Bagan yasht was part of the legal nasks despite its content not being concerned with the law. According to the Rivayats, it consisted of 17 chapters, called ''fragards''. The term fragard here has been interpreted as ''insertion'', indicating that the Yashts of this nask were used as intercalations into other texts. Edward William West estimates, that the Bagan yasht consisted of ca. 22,000 words of
Avestan
Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...
The description of this nask in the sources is compareably short, but it is generally assumed that most of the extant
Yasht
A Yasht (, ) is a hymn of praise composed in the Young Avestan language and dedicated to specific Zoroastrian divinities. The term commonly applies to the collection of 21 Yashts, although it may also refer to other texts within the wider Avest ...
s were part of the Bagan yasht. According to Kellens, it contained Yashts 5-19. According to Skjaervo, it also contained the Hom yasht ( Y. 9-11) and the Srosh yasht ( Y. 57), both of which are part of the
Avesta
The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Mod ...
.
In recent years, the Bagan yasht has recveived renewed interest regarding the role of the extant Yashts within the history of Zoroastrianism. Most of the extant Yashts are part of the Yasht collection, which is part of the
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 ...
and consequently grouped together with prayers aimed at lay people. However, their organisation in the Bagan yasht as well as references in other Zoroastrian texts indicate that the Yashts were once part of High Liturgies, similar to the
Visperad
Visperad or Visprad or Vispered is either a particular 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, vi ...