Zend-Avesta III: Yasna, Visperad, Gāthās
- Language:
- English
- Translation:
- L. H. Mills
- Status:
- Selection or partial work
- Authorship:
- Anonymous or composite
- Condition of the text:
- Clean text
- Extent:
- ~150,000 words · 718 passages
Cite this work
- APAAvesta. (n.d.). Zend-Avesta III: Yasna, Visperad, Gāthās. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/avesta/the-zend-avesta-part-iii-yasna-visparad-gathas-sbe-vol-xxxi
- MLAAvesta. "Zend-Avesta III: Yasna, Visperad, Gāthās." SigPhi, https://sigphiai.com/en/works/avesta/the-zend-avesta-part-iii-yasna-visparad-gathas-sbe-vol-xxxi.
- ChicagoAvesta. Zend-Avesta III: Yasna, Visperad, Gāthās. SigPhi. https://sigphiai.com/en/works/avesta/the-zend-avesta-part-iii-yasna-visparad-gathas-sbe-vol-xxxi.
What it is about
The third part of the Avesta in the 'Sacred Books of the East': the Yasna, the Visparad, and within them the Gathas, the only texts tradition ascribes directly to Zoroaster.
Context and history
This is the part that matters most. The Gathas are seventeen hymns in an archaic Iranian much older than the rest of the Avesta, and they are the oldest core of the Zoroastrian religion: a voice speaks there in the first person, addressing Ahura Mazda and posing the problem of evil in terms that would later reappear in the West. The Yasna is the liturgy within which they have been transmitted, and the Visparad is an expansion of it for certain feasts. Two things are worth knowing: the language of the Gathas is so difficult that translations diverge widely, and Mills's, of 1887, is one period's interpretation, not a settled reading.
Editorial context, not a citable source: unlike the passages of the work itself, these statements cannot be checked against the corpus.
by way of meeting the necessary disadvantages under, which I labour as in any sense a successor of Professor Darmesteter. It is sufficient to ' state that I believe myself to be fully aware of them, and that I trust that those who study my work' will accord me the more sympathy under the circumstances. Professor Darmesteter, having extended his labours in his University, found his entire time so occupied that he was obliged to decline further labour bn this Series for the present My work. On the Gathas had been for some time in Ms hands \ and he requested me, as a friend, to write the still, needed volume of the translation of the Avesta. Although deeply appreciating the undesirableness of following one whose' scholarship is only surpassed by his genius, I found myself unable to refuse. As to my general treatment, experts will not need to be informed that I have laboured under no common difficulties. •On the one hand, it would be extremely imprudent for any scholar not placed arbitrarily beyond the reach of criticism, ' to venture to produce a translation of the Yasna, Visparad, Afnnagan, and Gahs, without 'defensive notes. The smallest freedom would be hypercriticised by interested parties, and after them condemned by their followers. On the other hand, ■ even with the imperfect commentary which accompanies the Gathas here, the generous courtesy of the Delegates of the Clarendon Press has been too abundantly drawn ■ upon. One dobs not expect detailed commentaries in this Series. My efforts have therefore been chiefly confined to forestalling the possible assaults of unfair or forgetful critics, and so to spare myself, in so far as it may be possible, the necessity for painful rejoinder. 1 See the Revue Critique, Nov. 26, 1883. X THE GATHAS, ETC.