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65 pages
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The oral tradition of Zoroastrianism, as examined through Avestan texts, reveals a complex interplay of oral and written transmission influenced by historical contexts. This study highlights the significance of orality in shaping the Avestan corpus, demonstrating how oral performance impacted text formation and the preservation of religious traditions. It argues for a reevaluation of Avestan manuscripts as mirrors of ritual practices rather than mere sources for reconstructing original texts.
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Short description of the problems for an edition of the Zoroastrian long liturgy and of the transmission of the Avestan texts as case study for the chapter Textual criticism and text editing of the book Comparative Oriental Manuscript Studies. An Introduction
Indo-Iranian Languages and Peoples, 2003
Bulletin of SOAS, 2021
The manuscripts of the Iranian Pahlavi Yasna contain two consecutive colophons, the second of which relates the story of how their common ancestor manuscript, which combines the Avestan text of the Yasna with its Pahlavi version, was created. It is argued that Rōstahm Dād-Ohrmazd produced the first Pahlavi Yasna manuscript by taking the Avestan text from one manuscript and the Pahlavi text of a manuscript by Farrbay Srōšayār. Furthermore, it is argued that Rōstahm Dād-Ohrmazd wrote this manuscript both for himself and for Mahayār Farroxzād, who was from the province of Bīšāpuhr. The manuscript of Rōstahm Dād-Ohrmazd was then copied by Māhwindād Narmāhān, who composed the second colophon. This article also discusses the first colophon as it appears in the Iranian Pahlavi Yasna manuscript T54, which differs from other manuscripts of this group as it includes a passage written by a scribe called Kāyūs. It is argued that T54 was produced by Kāyūs, who added this passage to its first colophon. Furthermore, variant readings of these two colophons in two manuscripts of the Iranian Pahlavi Yasna, which also include Kāyūs's passage, are discussed. Unlike T54, Kāyūs's passage forms a separate colophon in these two manuscripts. It is suggested the two colophons are corrected according to the mindset of their respective scribes.
Andrés-Toledo, M. Á. (2015). “Primary Sources: Avestan and Pahlavi”. In: M. Stausberg, M. & Y. Vevaina (eds.). The Wiley-Blackwell Companion to Zoroastrianism: 519-528.
2022
The particular brand of Achaemenid-Zoroastrianism (AZ) practiced and promulgated in the Achaemenid empire has been a subject of debate for well over a century. • In recent decades, an important body of knowledge has steadily been assembled from more sophisticated linguistic and textual analyses of both Old-Persian as well as Avestan sources in addition to data from the colossal research undertaken on the Persepolis Fortification Archive (PFA)-which has produced significant textual and non-textual information that shines an important light on this topic. • From the fruit of these studies, it has become clear that the Persian administration as well as the common folk in the Achaemenid period displayed characteristic traits that are associated with known Zoroastrian doctrines and had a certain familiarity with Old-and Young-Avestan religious language-especially the Gāθās. Achaemenid-Zoroastrianism (AZ) • The land of Iran was settled by various tribes, which we tend to classify under the umbrella name "Iranian," who descended from the central-Asian steppes around the end of the second millennium BCE, or the beginning of the first. • Some form of the myths, religious practices, ideology and linguistic features that were to be incorporated into the Avestan texts were, in all probability, brought with them, and these progressively formed the flavor of religion promulgated by the Persian empire-an imperial proto-Zoroastrianism. Achaemenid-Zoroastrianism (AZ) • These texts were not written down until some point during the Parthian empire (247 BCE-224 CE), most probably in the latter part of that period, and the oldest manuscript available to us is later still-dating to the 10th century CE.4 That being said, as recent studies have shown, there are various types of indicators within Achaemenid documentation that reveal an undeniable Avestan or proto-Zoroastrian devotional payload from the Achaemenid and even earlier periods. This Old Iranian faith-as it was perceived, promulgated and practiced in the Achaemenid period-can be reconstructed, to a certain extent, from PNs, from archeology and by comparison with related Avestan and Vedic texts, some of which can be securely dated to the second or early first millennium-around the time period usually associated with the floruit of Zaraθustra. Achaemenid-Zoroastrianism (AZ) • Important preliminary work on the religious aspects of the Achaemenid period was made by Heidemarie Koch in 1977 and Clarisse Herrenschmidt in 1980. Further significant insights were revealed through the work of scholars such as Wouter Henkelman, Jean Kellens, Bruce Lincoln and Prods Oktor Skjaervø among others. An illuminating realization made by Kellens, for example, showed that several Achaemenid throne names are Zitatnamen based on known passages from the Gāθās-a realization that has important implications. Kellens first argued that the compound in Darius' throne name Dāraya-vahuš includes the Avestan noun vohu denoting "(religious) good", rather than the Old Persian nai̯ ba. Moreover, this use of a Zitatnamen is true not only of Dāraya-vahuš, but also of Ạrtaxšaçā (Artaxerxes)-and even that of the namesake of the Achaemenid dynasty, Haxāmaniš (Achaemenes),19 who might have lived four-five generations prior to Darius I, but was more probably the dynasty's mythical apical ancestor.
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The study shows that the Avestan texts were primarily composed and performed orally before being transcribed, indicating dynamic oral transmission throughout centuries.
Initially, figures like F. C. Andreas questioned manuscript integrity, but later analyses by K. Hoffmann and others revitalized confidence in the manuscripts as authentic records of oral performances.
Recent scholarship emphasizes a performative philology approach, analyzing oral techniques and their manifestations in transmitted texts rather than simply reconstructing an original written version.
Avestan compositions often incorporated familiar building blocks, modified for context, and the degree of change depended on ritual purposes, as revealed through linguistic and formulaic analyses.
The Avestan script was likely established by the 4th to 5th centuries CE, transitioning from an oral tradition to written records amidst ongoing oral performance influences.
Encounters by the Rivers of Babylon: Scholarly Conversations between Babylonians, Iranians, and Jews in Antiquity, Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2014
Jewish-Iranian encounters in ancient times. The Iranian religious oral and written traditions The use of Gathic phraseolgy in the Videvdad (Vendidad) and the Achaemenid inscriptions. Scholarly discussions about pollution in the Pahlavi literature from late Sasanian times.
2022
Talk about philological practices in the Zoroastrian tradition in the series of talks "Global Philology"
Avestan Manuscripts in iran, 2019
The paper analyzes two passages belonging to the seventh book of the Dēnkard [Dk] that had earlier been studied and translated by Marijan Molé, presenting a new translation which improves our understanding of the text. Molé's-and de Menasce's-approach to the jargon of theological Pahlavi texts, often depending on the Middle Persian Zand of the Avesta, is briefly discussed here. This paper also shows that Dk VII,1,7 is most probably a rendering of an original Zand passage, while Dk VII,3,6 should rather be understood as a "remembrance" of the Avestan Zand. RÉSUMÉ L'article analyse deux passages du septième livre du Dēnkard [Dk], qui avaient été étudiés et traduits par Marijan Molé, et propose une nouvelle traduction qui permet de mieux comprendre le texte. L'approche de Molé-et de de Menasce-envers le langage des textes théologiques en pehlevi, qui dépend souvent du Zand moyen-perse de l'Avesta, est l'objet d'une brève discussion. L'article montre que Dk VII,1,7 reflète vraisemblable-ment un passage original du Zand, alors que Dk VII,3,6 devrait plutôt être compris comme une "réminiscence" du Zand de l'Avesta. Mots clés : zoroastrianisme ; moyen-perse ; littérature pehlevie ; Avesta ; Zand ; Dēnkard. SINTESI Nel suo contributo l'autore analizza due passi tratti dal settimo libro del Dēnkard [Dk] che già erano stati studiati e tradotti da Marijan Molé, e ne presenta una nuova traduzione, più prossima al significato originale del testo. In questo contesto s'inserisce una breve riflessione sulla metodologia applicata da Molé e da de Menasce allo studio del linguaggio utilizzato nei testi teologici pahlavi, che in molti passi dipendono dallo Zand * It is a much welcomed occasion to dedicate this paper to Rika Gyselen, whose studies on Sasanian numismatics and sphragistics radically changed our comprehension of Iran's Sasanian and Early Islamic history. Much like those by de Menasce and Molé, her researches-and the ones by Philippe Gignoux, who has co-authored a number of works on the subject-have been a constant companion of recent years.
2015
The volume demonstrates the cultural centrality of the oral tradition for Iranian studies. It contains contributions from scholars from various areas of Iranian and comparative studies, among which are the pre-Islamic Zoroastrian tradition with its wide network of influences in late antique Mesopotamia, notably among the Jewish milieu; classical Persian literature in its manifold genres; medieval Persian history; oral history; folklore and more. The essays in this collection embrace both the pre-Islamic and Islamic periods, both verbal and visual media, as well as various language communities (Middle Persian, Persian, Tajik, Dari) and geographical spaces (Greater Iran in pre-Islamic and Islamic medieval periods; Iran, Afghanistan and Tajikistan of modern times). Taken as a whole, the essays reveal the unique blending of oral and literate poetics in the texts or visual artefacts each author focuses upon, conceptualizing their interrelationship and function.
Le sort des Gathas et autres études iraniennes in memoriam Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin, ed. E. Pirart, Leuven-Paris-Walpole: Peters, 2013, pp. 25-48
W e know the Old A vestan texts only as they appear in Zoroastrian long liturgy. In recent times several proofs have been provided to the effect that at the time of the composition of sorne Y oung A vestan texts the arrangement of the Old Avesta was already the same as we find in the long liturgy (Hintze 2002: 33f.). Actually, the use of the Old Avestan texts in the long liturgy responds to their interpretation in the tradition. Thus the wish to underscore certain exegetical aspects can produce sorne small variations even in this fixed corpus. It is the aim of this paper to point out sorne of these still perceptible variations and their causes.
Journal of South Asian Languages and Linguistics, 2018
Avestan is one of the Eastern Iranian languages within the Indo-European language family known only from its use as the language of Zoroastrian scripture, i.e. the Avesta, from which it derives its name. It was spoken in the middle of the 1 st millennium BCE in the territory corresponding to present-day northeastern Iran and Afghanistan as well as parts of Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The status of Avestan as a sacred language ensured its continuing use for new compositions long after it had ceased to be a living language. Together with Old Persian, which belongs to the southwestern branch of the Iranian languages, it constitutes the Old Iranian stage of the attested history of the Iranian branch. It is closely related to Vedic Sanskrit, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language. The volume under review is a convenient up-to-date introduction to Avestan that furnishes a comprehensive survey of its orthography, phonology, morphology and syntax, and provides a birdʼs-eye view of current linguistic research in this field. It offers a complete description of the historical and synchronic grammar of Avestan as transmitted to the present day through manuscripts, the oldest of which date from the 13 th or 14 th centuries CE. The authors, Michiel de Vaan and Javier Martínes García, are prominent Indo-European scholars, both having published widely in Indo-Iranian and Indo-European linguistics. The authors' enthusiasm for Avestan was first brought to light in 2001 when they published a succinct but clearly expressed grammar of Avestan in Spanish. The book under review is an updated English translation of the original Spanish version (Martínez García and de Vaan 2001) by Ryan Sandell, who attended the first course in the authors' Avestan class. In particular, the book has been updated in its account of historical phonology, and especially on the basis of the findings of de . The book under review is the first volume in the planned series Brillʼs Introductions to Indo-European, aiming to provide concise introductions into
P. Oktor Skjaervo