Vendidad
First page of the Vendidad in Geldner's edition[1]
Information
Religion	Zoroastrianism
Language	Avestan
Chapters	22fragards

TheVendidad/ˈvendi'dæd/, also known asVidevdad orJuddevdad, is the only volume of theSasanian Avesta to be still present in the extantAvesta collection.^[2] It is assumed that its use within theVidevdad liturgy guaranteed its survival to this day.^[3]

In the sources, the text is variously referred to asVendidad, Videvdad orJuddewdad.^[4] All these forms are assumed to derive fromAvestan 𐬬𐬍𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬬𐬋𐬛𐬁𐬙𐬀, (vī-daēvō-dāta).^[5] WhereasJuddewdad is theMiddle Persian translation,Videvdad andVendidad are seen as Middle Persian renderings of the Avestan original.^[6] In the scholarly literature, a wide range oftransliterations can be found for these various forms. Examples includeVendīdād,^[7]Vīdēvdād,^[8]Vidēvdād^[9] orWīdēwdād.^[10]

The interpretation ofvī-daēvō-dāta, likewise varies in the literature. The termdaēuua (Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀) refers to thedaevas;^[11] whereasdāta (Avestan: 𐬛𐬁𐬙𐬀) is an Avestan term forrule,norm orlaw.^[12] However,vī (Avestan: 𐬬𐬍) has a range of meanings, includingagainst oraway.^[13] Using the interpretation ofvī asagainst, the name was originally interpreted asthe law against the deavas. Nowadays, however,vī is interpreted asaway and the name of the text asthe law for pushing the deavas away.^[14]

The classic view is that the Vendidad is a late creation and its current use within theVidevdad liturgy happened later still.^[15] This is based on the corrupt Avestan of the text^[7] and the seeming lack of any connection between its content and the liturgy in which it is used.^[16] So whereas the Vendidad may be a product of theParthian period, the ceremony may be "an innovation of the Islamic period".^[7]

Both points have been challenged more recently.Skjaervo has argued that the corruptions of the Vendidad are not necessarily the result of a late redaction, but may have occurred during the process of its oral transmission. In addition, he demonstrates that at least the beginning and end of the Vendidad show a connection to the parts of the liturgy in which they are inserted.^[14] Cantera furthermore demonstrates a connection between its overall structure and the corresponding parts of the liturgy. This indicates that they were indeed composed as insertions. Finally, Cantera has shown that the performative variations of the liturgy are in proper Avestan, indicating that both the text and the liturgy were created when Avestan was still a productive language, i.e., during the much earlierAvestan period.^[17]

The text of the Vendidad has been transmitted in two types: exegetical manuscripts, calledPahlavi Vendidad, and liturgical manuscripts, calledVendidad Sade. Exegetical manuscripts contain only the 22 chapters of the Vendidad, but include atranslation and commentary inMiddle Persian, the written form of which is calledPahlavi.^[18]

On the other hand, liturgical manuscripts contain the text as it is performed in the liturgy, i.e., the text of theYasht i Visperad plus the Vendidad.^[19] As a result, they contain all 72 chapters of theYasna, all 24 chapters of theVisperad and the 22 chapters of the Vendidad. They are calledSade, pure, since they do not contain a translation, but only liturgical instructions along the Avestan text. A comprehensive list of all available manuscripts of the Vendidad is provided by Andrés-Toledo and Cantera.^[20]

The chapters of the Vendidad are bookended by a mythical framing device.^[21] The first chapter is, therefore, the Zoroastriancreation myth ofAhura Mazda, followed by the description of the destructive winter ofAngra Mainyu. This chapter contains a lengthy description of the world, known to theAvestan people and is therefore an important source for the delination of theirgeographical horizon.^[22] The second chapter recounts the legend ofYima (Jamshid). Chapter 19 relates the temptation ofZoroaster, who, when urged by Angra Mainyu to turn from the good religion, turns instead towards Ahura Mazda. The chapters in between cover diverse rules and regulations, through the adherence of which thedaevas may be confounded. Broken down by subject, these fargards deal with the following topics (chapters where a topic is covered are in brackets):

• hygiene (in particular care of the dead) [3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 17, 19] and cleansing [9,10];
• disease, its origin, and spells against it [7, 10, 11, 13, 20, 21, 22];
• mourning for the dead [12], theTowers of Silence [6], and the remuneration of deeds after death [19];
• the sanctity of, and invocations to,Atar (fire) [8],Zam (earth) [3,6],Apas (water) [6, 8, 21] and the light of the stars [21];
• the dignity of wealth and charity [4], of marriage [4, 15] and of physical effort [4]
• statutes on unacceptable social behaviour [15] such as breach of contract [4] and assault [4];
• on the worthiness of priests [18];
• praise and care of the bull [21], the dog [13, 15], the otter [14], theSraosha bird [18], and theHaoma tree [6].

There is a degree ofmoral relativism apparent in the Vendidad, and the diverse rules and regulations are not always expressed as being mystical, absolute, universal or mandatory. The Vendidad is mainly about social laws, mores, customs and culture. In some instances, the description of prescribed behaviour is accompanied by a description of the penances that have to be made to atone for violations thereof. Such penances include payment in cash or kind to the aggrieved;corporal punishment such as whipping; as well as repeated recitations of certain parts of the liturgy such as theAhuna Vairyamanthra.

The text of the Vendidad was part of thecritical editions of theAvesta byWestergaard^[24] andGeldner.^[25] Of those, the edition by Geldner is considered the reference edition of the text, due to the large number of manuscripts used for his work^[26] In his Prologomena, Geldner also provided the standardcritical apparatus of the text including a number of stemmatics of different manuscript traditions.^[27]

Among the classic translations, the works of Darmesteter and Wolff stand out.^[28] Darmesteter provided translations into English^[29] and French,^[30] while Wolff translated the text into German.^[31] Overall, Wollf's work is considered more reliable, but Darmesteter's translation is considered more accessible.^[32] More recently, Andrés-Toledo has published a new critical edition of parts of the Vendidad including a critical apparatus.^[8]

Most of the Zoroastrians continue to use the Vendidad as a valued and fundamental cultural and ethical moral guide, viewing their teachings as essential to Zoroastrian tradition and see it as part of Zoroastrianism original perspectives about the truth of spiritual existence. They argue that it has origins on early oral tradition, being only later written.^[33][34][35]

The emergent reformist Zoroastrian movement reject the later writings in the Avesta as being corruptions of Zarathustra's original teachings and thus do not consider the Vendidad as an original Zoroastrian scripture. They argue that it was written nearly 700 years after the death of Zarathustra and interpret the writing as different from the other parts of the Avesta.^[36]

An article by Hannah M. G. Shapero sums up the reformist perspective:^[37]

"How do Zoroastrians view the Vendidad today? And how many of the laws of the Vendidad are still followed? This depends, as so many other Zoroastrian beliefs and practices do, on whether you are a "reformist" or a "traditionalist." The reformists, following the Gathas as their prime guide, judge the Vendidad harshly as being a deviation from the non-prescriptive, abstract teachings of the Gathas. For them, few if any of the laws or practices in the Vendidad are either in the spirit or the letter of the Gathas, and so they are not to be followed. The reformists prefer to regard the Vendidad as a document which has no religious value but is only of historic or anthropological interest. Many Zoroastrians, in Iran, India, and the world diaspora, inspired by reformists, have chosen to dispense with the Vendidad prescriptions entirely or only to follow those which they believe are not against the original spirit of the Gathas."

The Vendidad text is used within theYasht i Visperad abag Videvdad, or simplyVidevdad, one of the main variants of the ZoroastrianLong Liturgy. As the name implies, this liturgy consists of aYasht i Visperad into which the chapters of the Vendidad are intercalated. This intercalation happens during the Old Avestan text in theStaota Yesnya.^[38] Its use is connected to purification rituals like theBarashnom or the establishment of anAtash Behram.^[9] Nowadays, the Videvdad liturgy is only performed inIndia.^[39]

The Videvdad liturgy has to be distinguished from another performance of the text, namely theVidevdad Sade performance. This performance is different from the liturgy since it is only performed by a single priest, instead of two in the Videvdad liturgy, and there is no ritual activity. Instead, the priest simply reads the text as given in theVidevdad Sade manuscripts. The performance also does not require the typical levels of ritual purity. Due to this lack of ritual actions, theVidevdad Sade performance has been described as a lengthyprayer.^[40]

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