The tanakh jewish bible also referred to as the torah is what the jews follow whereas zoroastrians follow the zend avesta. Hi folks, wonder if youd be interested in an english translation of what we pray and what the avesta is all about. Ahura mazda translates as wise lord, reflecting the belief that he is all powerful. Zoroastrianism or mazdayasna is one of the worlds oldest continuously practiced religions. The avesta is the scripture of zoroastrianism which developed from an. The title is generally accepted as meaning praise, though this interpretation is not universally agreed upon. This book is useful for the later history of the zoroastrians. If we summarised the zoroastrian ethics this would be. Learn vocabulary, terms, and more with flashcards, games, and other study tools. The original prayers and hymns were composed in a nowextinct language known as avestan which takes its. Lastly, the wise lord made his own holy spirit the protector of the mankind. The central core of the avesta, and the oldest truly zoroastrian part, is the gathas, the five hymns of zarathushtra. It is so named because of the language in which it was written. The translations in most widespread circulation are the english language and farsi language versions, although it was originally in the avestan language.
The beliefs of zoroastrianism were spread across asia via the silk. Zoroastrians believe that god is responsible for all good things that happen to people, and by worshiping him and studying the holy book, the avesta, followers believe they can get closer to god. Avesta, the bible of zoroaster wikisource, the free. According to a legend preserved in the book of arda viraf, a 3rd or 4th century work, a written version of the zend avesta had existed in the. The avesta museum is situated in khiva, in one of its numerous madrasahs. It was amazing how much of certain parts of the avesta were nearly identical to judaism and numerous symbols and concepts matched those of other religions like the sumerians, phoenicians and more.
Most of the texts in these archives are extremely rare. It is one of only two festivals mentioned by zoroaster in the avesta, the only holy zoroastrian scriptures written by zoroaster himself. The motto of the zoroastrian religion is good thoughts, good words, good deeds avesta, humata, hukhta, hvarshta. A very important difference that cannot be left out is about the holy book or scripture. This includes the original words of their founder zarathushtra, preserved in a series of five hymns, called the gathas. The latter represent the basic source of the religion. The zoroastrian book of holy scriptures is called the avesta. In the next place, the avesta, as the sacred book of early persia, must. Zoroastrianism is the ancient, preislamic religion of persia modernday iran. These many different texts are believed to have been transmitted orally for centuries before they were written down in the 3rd century. What survives today is estimated to be only a quarter of the original 21 books of the avesta. On the avesta, or the sacred scriptures of the zoroastrian.
If a man kill the dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog vanghapara, which evilspeaking people call the duzaka, what is the penalty that he shall pay. We provide the complete text of the extant avesta, the most ancient scriptures of zoroastrianism, as well as many pahlavi scriptures. This is the book of daily prayers of the zoroastrians. The avesta, the sacred scripture of zoroastrianism, is like a great pearl, in which layers and layers of material are added around a central core. The avesta contains scriptures, versus, prayers, and. He is to exercise scrupulous care in keeping the elements earth, fire, and water free from defilement of any kind. Among several words for prayers in avesta, one is called manthra, which means thought force, word, the holy word. Geldner, avesta, the sacred books of the parsis, stuttgart, 18891896. What is the name of the holy book of zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism, ancient preislamic religion of iran that likely. The visprat is a lesser liturgical scripture, containing homages to a number of zoroastrian. Man in his daily life is enjoined to preserve purity of body and soul alike. Today we can consider that the gatha, part of the sacred books of the avesta, is surely the first ethical treaty of humanity.
The avesta can be roughly split into two main sections. The avesta is the zoroastrian bible supplemented by the pahlavi, or middle persian. The avesta is the main holy book in zoroastrianism. It likely influenced the other major western religionsjudaism, christianity, and islam. Zoroastrian god ahura mazda the god on the verge of. Zoroastrianism is the oldest of the revealed worldreligions, and it has probably. Grecian influences, judaism, christianity, disputed with it the. Ascribed to the teachings of the iranianspeaking spiritual leader zoroaster also known as zarathushtra, it. Nawruz, also spelled nowruz as well as other variants, is an ancient persian holiday celebrating the new year. Zoroaster composed the most important portion of this book, the gathas. This book was translated by the conquering sasanids into the pahlavi tongue. Zoroastrian beliefs outside of india, for the most part, were only known through commentary by greek, christian, and muslim writers. Westergaard, zendavesta or the religious book of the zoroastrians i, copenhagen, 18521854. The avestas of zarathustrazoroaster are the holy books of zoroastrianism.
It also includes information about the avestan language, and other useful information for students of zoroastrian religion. There are two such android apps available to read avesta zoroastrianism holy book. Zoroastrianism is one of the most earliest monotheistic faith, in a concept of the one creator god known as ahura mazda abraham, isaac, jacob, and moses. A thousand stripes with the aspaheastra, a thousand stripes with the sraoshocharana. Good thoughts, good words, good deeds 3 h zoroastrian. The prophetic record of human destiny and evolution. Eirciv 102a, spring 2006 vi february 7, 2006 basic bibliography some useful literature boyce, m. The tenth century muslim historian, masudi, says zoroaster invented the writing of religion, his work, the nards, being a book in 21 parts consisting of 2 million verses requiring 21,000 cow hides, more evidence perhaps that zoroaster represented a prophetic tradition rather than just one person. This is the holy book of zoroastrianism itself and its printed here in a. Be it bible, quran, or geetha, there is at least two to three apps available which can easily be downloaded to read the books. According to the tradition in the parsee books, zoroaster was born in 660 b.
Judaism vs zoroastrianism difference and comparison diffen. All investigators, however, are agreed that his teachings were generally in force throughout iran before the time of the jewish captivity. Differences between jews and zoroastrians difference between. It survives there in isolated areas but primarily exists in india, where the descendants of zoroastrian persian immigrants are known as parsis, or parsees. Its religious core is a collection of songs or hymns, the gathas, thought to be in the main the very words of zoroaster. It is composed in the avestan language and it is only known and attested because of that. It focuses on the yasna, and from the 72 chapters it contains, 48 to 50 will be read. The zend avesta is the main texts used in the zoroastrian faith. Avesta is considered to be a holy book of zoroastrianism which was founded by zarathustra who is a legendary bactrian prophet. The analysis of the sasanian avesta and zand in the denkard is summarized in darmesteter, zendavesta iii, pp. Furthermore, zoroastrians believe in an eternal life either in heaven or in hell.
Zoroastrian holidays and festivals learn religions. The actual avesta was thought to have been lost in the muslim conquest of the 7th century ce. A section of this avesta is known as the khordehavesta which read more and download pdf. The extant avesta is all that remains of a much larger body of scripture, apparently zoroaster s transformation of a very ancient tradition. Not only was it a cohort of the ancient vedic hinduism, but also had a huge influence on the development of judaism and christianity.
Zoroastrianism download books, sacred, spiritual texts. Just how did this come about both at the social and doctrinal level is a subject worth exploring and understanding. Best android apps to read avesta zoroastrianism online. The holy book of zoroastrianism is known as the avesta. The oldest zoroastrian religious scripture, as preserved at present, is known as the avesta. And asha vahishta, the justice, became the guardian of fire. Prophet muhammad in zoroastrian and hindu scriptures. The avesta is the scripture of zoroastrianism which developed from an oral tradition founded by the prophet zoroaster zarathustra, zartosht sometime between c. The khordeh avesta is a collection of prayers selected from other major works of extant avesta literature such as yasna, vispered, vendidad, and the yasht literature. According to some scientists, avesta, the sacred book of zoroastrianism, originated in ancient khorezm also spelled khwarezmia, khwarizm, khwarazm, khwarezm, khoresm, khorasam, harezm, horezm, and chorezm, which was the reason why the. Vohu manah, the good mind, was the fifth holy spirit.
Its also a sacred language because the texts are written in it an. The zendavesta pahlavi texts links zoroastrianism, in spite of its small current number of adherents, has played a huge role in the study of comparative religion. Lawrence h mills was an american professor at cambridge who translated much of the avesta and published zarathustra, philo, the achaemenids and israel, in 1903 and our own religion in ancient persia in 19, both of which revealed the indebtedness of judaism to zoroaster and the persians. Zoroastrianism is a founding belief system acknowledged to have heavily influenced both abrahamic judaism, christianity, islam and dharmic hinduism, buddhism, jainism. Later priests would add to the gathas, in the avestan language, to make up the rest of the zoroastrian holy book, now known as the avesta or zend avesta. The other holy spirit, ameretat, the immortality, became the protector of plants. Download the bible, the holy quran, the mahabharata, and thousands of free pdf ebooks on buddhism, meditation, etc. Zoroastrians recite their prayers in avesta which is a sacred language. Something for enhancing the knowledge of our young ones. The most important texts of the religion are those of the avesta, which. Zarathustra haechataspa spitama or zoroaster greek or zartosht parsi life after death.
Avesta, also called zendavesta, sacred book of zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, the teachings of the prophet zoroaster zarathushtra. It is a cherished possession of every devoted zoroastrian household. Judaism under the exile was influenced by zoroastrian teachings and furnishes us with points of resemblance between the angelology, demonology, and eschatology of the iranians and the hebrews. These gathas are universally acknowledged to be the actual words of the prophet.
In this video, readings from zoroastrianisms sacred avesta will be presented. Zoroastrianism is an ancient persian religion that may have originated as early as 4000 years ago. The 100 most powerful evening prayer every christian needs to know christian prayer book 2 oliver powell. The religion of ancient persia as founded by zoroaster. Zoroastrianisms influence on judaism, christianity, islam.
It is centered in a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheismmonism, and polytheism. They form a middle section of the chief liturgical part of the canon, the yasna, which contains the rite of the preparation and sacrifice of haoma. The zoroastrian way of life has markedly influenced the early hebrew religious fabric. The avesta is the oldest and core part of the scriptures, which contains the. History of zoroastrianism avesta zoroastrian archives. The teachings of zoroaster, and the philosophy of the parsi religion. Even further back, c w king writing in 1887 said that.
The principal text in the liturgical group is the yasna, which takes its name from the yasna ceremony, zoroastrianisms primary act of worship, and at which the yasna text. Religious texts are to be found in the avesta, which is the holy book of zoroastrianism. If so here is a copy in pdf format for your reading pleasure and understanding. The parsees took the avesta with them to india gujarat at some point between the 8th and 10th centuries ce. It is hardly more than a century ago that the western world, already often enriched by the treasures of the east, received another gift, a contribution from persia, and a new text deci phered was added to our list of sacred books of ancient nations this was the avesta, or zendavesta, the bible and prayer book of zoroaster, the prophet of.
1011 16 1192 39 1239 367 1159 1288 1012 1387 929 1613 1336 786 172 1252 669 1335 442 1126 878 186 1514 1295 1521 1497 442 458 85 1163 869 1116 1058 1265 789 758 1095 1449