The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns in the
Younger 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 scrip ...
language. Each of these hymns invokes a specific
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 on ...
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
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 scrip ...
''𐬫𐬀𐬱𐬙𐬀'' (yašta, “honored”), from ''𐬫𐬀𐬰'' (yaz, “to worship, honor”), from
Proto-Indo-European
Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo-E ...
''*yeh₂ǵ-'' or ''*Hyaǵ-'', and several hymns of the ''
Barsom
A barsom is a ritual implement used by Zoroastrian priests to solemnize certain sacred ceremonies.
The word ''barsom'' derives from the Avestan language ''baresman'' (trisyllabic, '), which is in turn a substantive of ''barez'' "to grow high. ...
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
Sraosha ( ae, 𐬯𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬴𐬀 or ) is the Avestan name of the Zoroastrian ''yazata'' of "Conscience" and "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of his name.
In the Middle Persian commentaries of the 9th-12th centuries, the div ...
''Yasht'' in ''Yasna'' 57, the praise of the (hypostasis of) "prayer" in ''Yasna'' 58, and a hymn to the
Ahurani
Ahurani is the Avestan language name of a Zoroastrian (class of) divinity associated with "the waters" ( ''āpō''). In scripture, the expression ''ahurani'' appears both in the singular and in the plural, and may - subject to context - either den ...
in ''Yasna'' 68. Since these are a part of the primary liturgy, they do not count among the twenty-one hymns of the ''Yasht'' collection.
All the hymns of the ''Yasht'' collection "are written in what appears to be prose, but which, for a large part, may originally have been a (basically) eight-syllable verse, oscillating between four and thirteen syllables, and most often between seven and nine.".
Most of the '' yazata''s that the individual ''Yasht''s praise also have a dedication in the
Zoroastrian calendar
Adherents of Zoroastrianism use three distinct versions of traditional calendars for liturgical purposes, all derived from medieval Iranian calendars and ultimately based on the Babylonian calendar as used in the Achaemenid empire.
''Qadimi'' ...
. The exceptions are
Drvaspa
Drvaspa (''druuāspā'', ''drvāspā'', ''drwāspā'') is the Avestan language name of an "enigmatic" and "strangely discreet". Zoroastrian divinity, whose name literally means "with solid horses" and which she is then nominally the hypostasis o ...
and Vanant.
The twenty-one ''yasht''s of the collection (notes follow):