The Gathas ()"Gatha"
''

Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary ''Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary'' is a large American dictionary, first published in 1966 as ''The Random House Dictionary of the English Language: The Unabridged Edition''. Edited by Editor-in-chief Jess Stein, it contained 315, ...

''. are 17 Avestan

hymn A hymn is a type of song, and partially synonymous with devotional song, specifically written for the purpose of adoration or prayer, and typically addressed to a deity or deities, or to a prominent figure or personification. The word ''hy ...

s traditionally believed to have been composed by the prophet Zarathushtra (Zoroaster). They form the core of the

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...

liturgy (the

Yasna Yasna (;"Yasna"
'' cognate with

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

'' gāthā'' (गाथा), both from the Proto-Indo-Iranian word ''*gaHtʰáH'', from the root ''*gaH-'' "to sing".

Structure and organization

The Gathas are in verse, metrical in the nature of ancient

Iranian Iranian may refer to: * Iran, a sovereign state * Iranian peoples, the speakers of the Iranian languages. The term Iranic peoples is also used for this term to distinguish the pan ethnic term from Iranian, used for the people of Iran * Iranian lan ...

religious poetry, that is extremely terse. The 17 hymns of the Gathas consist of 238 stanzas, of about 1300 lines or 6000 words in total. They were later incorporated into the 72-chapter ''

Yasna Yasna (;"Yasna"
'' Avestan ''ha'iti'', 'cut'), that in turn is the primary liturgical collection of texts within the greater compendium of the

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 lit ...

. The 17 hymns are identified by their chapter numbers in the ''Yasna'', and are divided into five major sections: With the exception of ''Ahunavaiti'' Gatha, that is named after the ''

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 Zoroas ...

'' prayer (''Yasna'' 27, not in the Gathas), the names of the Gathas reflect the first word(s) of the first hymn within them. The meter of the hymns is historically related to the

Vedic upright=1.2, The Vedas are ancient Sanskrit texts of Hinduism. Above: A page from the '' Atharvaveda''. The Vedas (, , ) are a large body of religious texts originating in ancient India. Composed in Vedic Sanskrit, the texts constitute the ...

''tristubh-jagati'' family of meters. Hymns of these meters are recited, not sung. The sequential order of the Gathas is structurally interrupted by the '' Yasna Haptanghaiti'' ("seven-chapter ''Yasna''", chapters 35–41, linguistically as old as the Gathas but in prose) and by two other minor hymns at ''Yasna'' 42 and 52.

Language

The language of the Gathas, ''Gathic'' or ''Old'' Avestan, belongs to the old Iranian language group that is a sub-group of Eastern families of the

Indo-European languages The Indo-European languages are a language family native to the overwhelming majority of Europe, the Iranian plateau, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Some European languages of this family, English, French, Portuguese, Russian, Dutc ...

. The dependency on Vedic Sanskrit is a significant weakness in the interpretation of the Gathas, as the two languages, though from a common origin, had developed independently.

Sassanid The Sasanian () or Sassanid Empire, officially known as the Empire of Iranians (, ) and also referred to by historians as the Neo-Persian Empire, was the last Iranian empire before the early Muslim conquests of the 7th-8th centuries AD. Named ...

era translations and commentaries (the ''

Zend Zend or Zand ( pal, 𐭦𐭭𐭣) is a Zoroastrian technical term for exegetical glosses, paraphrases, commentaries and translations of the Avesta's texts. The term ''zand'' is a contraction of the Avestan language word ' (, meaning "interpreta ...

'') have been used to interpret the Gathas, but by the 3rd century the Avestan language was virtually extinct, and a dependency on the medieval texts is often discouraged as the commentaries are frequently conjectural. While some scholars argue that an interpretation using younger texts is inadvisable ( Geldner, Humbach), others argue that such a view is excessively skeptical ( Spiegel, Darmesteter). The risks of misinterpretation are real, but lacking alternates, such dependencies are perhaps necessary. "The

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle ...

translation seldom offers an appropriate point of departure for a detailed scholarly approach to the Gathas, but an intensive comparison of its single lines and their respective glosses with their Gathic originals usually reveals the train of thought of the translator. This obviously reflects the Gatha interpretation by the priests of the Sasanian period, the general view of which is closer to the original than what is sometimes taught about the Gathas in our time." There are four monumental English translations of the Gathas worth noting: The earlier James Darmesteter version (''Le Zend-Avesta'', 1892–1893) that is based on a translation "from below", that is, based on the later middle Persian commentaries and translations. The other three are Christian Bartholomae's ''Die Gathas des Awesta'' (1905, Strassburg: Trübner), Helmut Humbach's ''The Gathas of Zarathushtra'' (1959, Heidelberg: Winter), and Stanley Isler's ''The Gathas of Zarathustra'' (1975, Acta Iranica IV, Leiden: Brill). These three texts exploit the "Vedic" approach, and Bartholomae's was the first of its kind. The problems that face a translator of the Avestan Gathas are significant: "No one who has ever read a stanza of

he Gathas He or HE may refer to: Language * He (pronoun), an English pronoun * He (kana), the romanization of the Japanese kana へ * He (letter), the fifth letter of many Semitic alphabets * He (Cyrillic), a letter of the Cyrillic script called ''He'' ...

in the original will be under any illusions as to the labour that underlies the effort f translating the hymns The most abstract and perplexing thought, veiled further by archaic language, only half understood by later students of the seer's own race and tongue, tends to make the Gathas the hardest problem to be attempted by those who would investigate the literary monuments."

Content

Some of the verses of the Gathas are directly addressed to the Omniscient Creator Ahura Mazda. These verses, devotional in character, expound on the divine essences of truth ('' Asha''), the good-mind (''

Vohu Manah Vohu Manah (Avestan: 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬎 𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬀𐬵 ''vohu manah'') is the Avestan language term for a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as "Good Purpose", "Good Mind", or "Good Thought", referring to the good state of mind that ...

''), and the spirit of righteousness. Some other verses are addressed to the public that may have come to hear the prophet, and in these verses, he exhorts his audience to live a life as Ahura Mazda has directed, and pleads to Ahura Mazda to intervene on their behalf. Other verses, from which some aspects of Zoroaster's life have been inferred, are semi-(auto)biographical, but all revolve around Zarathustra's mission to promote his view of the Truth (again '' Asha''). For instance, some of the passages describe Zarathustra's first attempts to promote the teachings of Ahura Mazda, and the subsequent rejection by his kinsmen. This and other rejection led him to have doubts about his message, and in the Gathas he asked for assurance from Ahura Mazda, and requests repudiation of his opponents. Aspects of Zoroastrian philosophy are distributed over the entire collection of Gathas. There is no systematic arrangement of doctrine in the texts.

Excerpts

''The following excerpts are from the translation by Humbach & Ichaporia.'' ;Zoroaster asks Mazda for guidance * Where and which part of land shall I go to succeed? They keep me away from the family and the tribe. The community that I wish to join does not gratify me, nor do the deceitful tyrants of the lands. How shall I gratify you, O Mazda Ahura? (46.1) ;Zoroaster asks Mazda for blessings * I approach you with good thought, O Mazda Ahura, so that you may grant me (the blessing) of two existences (i.e. physically and mentally), the material and that of thought, the blessing emanating from Truth, with which one can put (your) support in comfort. (28.2) * With these entreaties, O Mazda Ahura, may we not anger you, nor

Truth Truth is the property of being in accord with fact or reality.Merriam-Webster's Online Dictionarytruth 2005 In everyday language, truth is typically ascribed to things that aim to represent reality or otherwise correspond to it, such as belie ...

or Best Thought, we who are standing at the offering of praises to you. You are the swiftest (bringer of) invigorations, and (you hold) the power over benefits. * I ask you, O Ahura, about the punishment for the evil-doer who delegates power to the deceitful one and who does not find a livelihood without injury to the cattle and men of undeceiving herdsman. * Grant us (a share) of it both this (material) existence and the spiritual one, that (share) of it through which we may come (and be in) Your shelter and that of

, for all time. (41.6) * Let good rulers assume rule (over us), with actions of Good Insight, O right mindedness. Let not bad rulers assume rule over us. The best (insight), which purifies progeny for mankind, let it also be applied to the cow. Her You breed for us for food. (48.5) ;Rhetorical questions posed by Zoroaster * This I ask you, O Ahura, tell me truly: Of what kind is the first (stage) of Best Existence? The desired one who implements it so that we may enjoy benefit, that one indeed, holy through truth, watching with His spirit the outcome left for all, is the healer of existence, (our) ally, (you), O Mazda. (44.2) * This I ask you, O Ahura, tell me truly: Who, by procreation, is the primal father of

? Who created the course of the sun and stars? Through whom does the moon waxe and wane? These very things and others I wish to know, O Mazda. (44.3) ;Zoroaster to his own followers *

is best (of all that is) good. As desired, what is being desired is truth for him who (represents) the best truth. (27.14) * The person who is pure-in-heart towards me, I for my part assign to him the best things in my command, through Good Thought, but harm to him who schemes to harm us. O Mazda, thereby gratifying your will by

. Such is the discrimination made by my intellect and thought. ;Zoroaster to the followers of the '' druj'' * Brilliant things instead of weeping will be ( the reward) for the person who comes to the truthful one. But a long period of darkness, foul food, and the word 'woe' – to such an existence your religious view will lead you, O deceitful ones, of your own actions. (31.20)

Notes

References

External links

{{Zoroastrian literature Zoroastrian texts Avesta Sources of ancient Iranian religion Hymns