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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1from facts formerly established by tradition. In fact tradition gives the materials, and comparison puts them in order. It is not possible, either to know the Avesta without the former, or to understand it without the latter. ; The traditional school, and especially its indefatigable and well-deserving leader, Spiegel, made us acquainted with the nature of the old Iranian religion by gathering together all its materials; the comparative school tried to explain its growth. The traditional school published the text and the traditional translations, and produced the first Parsi grammar, the first Pahlavi grammar, and the first translation of the Avesta which had been made since Anquetil. The danger with it is that it shows itself too apt to stop at tradition, instead of going from it to comparison. When it undertakes to expound the history of the religion, it cannot but be misled by tradition. Any living people, although its-existing state of mind is but the result of various and changing states through many successive ages, yet, at any particular moment of its life, keeps the remains of its former stages of thought in order, under the control of the principle that is then predominant. Thus it happens that its ideas are connected together in a way which seldom agrees with their historical sequence: chronological order is lost to sight and replaced by logical order, and the past is read into the present. Comparison alone can enable us to put things in their proper place, to trace their birth, their growth, their changes, their former relations, and lead us from the logical order, which is a shadow, to the historical order, which is the substance. The comparative school developed Indo-Iranian mythology. Roth showed after Burnouf how the epical history of Iran was derived from the same source as the myths . of Vedic India, and pointed out the primitive identity of Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of Iran, with Varuaa, the supreme god of the Vedic age. In the same direction Windischmann, in his ‘Zoroastrian Essays’ and in his studies on Mithra and Anéhita, displayed singular sagacity. But the dangers of the method came to light in the works of Haug, who, giving a definite form to a system still INTRODUCTION, III. XXXi fluctuating, converted Mazdeism into a religious revolution against Vedic polytheism, found historical allusions to that schism both in the Avesta and in the Veda, pointed out curses against Zoroaster in the Vedas, and, in short, transformed, as it were, the two books into historical pamphlets.
2In the contest about the authenticity of the Avesta, one party must necessarily have been right and the other wrong; but in the present struggle the issue is not so clear, as both parties are partly right and partly wrong. Both of them, by following their principles, have rendered such services to science as seem to give each a right to cling to its own method more firmly than ever. Yet it is to be hoped that they will see at last that they must be allies, not enemies, and that their common work must be begun by the one and completed by the other. CHAPTER III. THE FORMATION OF THE ZEND-AVESTA. § 1. The collection of Zend fragments, known as the Zend-Avesta *, is divided, in its usual form, into two parts. The first part, or the Avesta properly so called, contains _the Vendidad, the Vispérad, and the Yasna. The Vendidad is a compilation of religious laws and of mythical tales ; the Vispérad is a collection of litanies for the sacrifice; and the Yasna is composed of litanies of the same 1 It would be unjust, when speaking of Haug, not to recall the invaluable services he rendered in the second part of his career, as a Pahlavi scholar. He was the first who thought of illustrating the Pahlavi of the books by the Pahlavi of the inscriptions, and thus determined the reading of the principal elements in the manuscript Pahlavi. 2 A very improper designation, as Zend means ‘a commentary or explanation,’ and was applied only to explanatory texts, to the translations of the Avesta. Avesta (froni the old Persian AbastA, ‘the law;’ see Oppert, Journal Asiatique, 1872, Mars) Js the proper name of the original texts. What it is customary to call ‘the Zend language’ ought to be named ‘the Avesta language ;’ the Zend being no language at all; and, if the word be used as the designation of one, it can be rightly applied only to the Pahlavi. The expression ‘Avesta and Zend’ is often used in the Pahlavi commentary to designate ‘the law with its traditional and revealed explanation.’ XXXli VENDIDAD. kind and of five hymns or G&athas written in a special dialect, older than the general language of the Avesta. These three books are found in manuscripts in two different forms: either each by itself, in which case they are generally accompanied by a Pahlavi translation; or the three mingled together according to the requirements of the liturgy, as they are not each recited separately in their entirety, but the chapters of the different books are intermingled; and in this case the collection is called the Vendidad SAda or ‘Vendidad pure,’ as it exhibits the original text alone, without a translation.
3The second part, generally known as the Khorda Avesta or ‘Small Avesta,’ is composed of short prayers which are recited not only by the priests, but by all the faithful, at certain moments of the day, month, or year, and in presence of the different elements; these prayers are the five Gah, the thirty formulas of the Sirézah, the three Afrigan, and the six Ny4yis. But it is also usual to include in the Khorda Avesta, though they are no real part of it, the Yasts or hymns of praise and glorification to the several Izads, and a number of fragments, the most important of ' which is the Hadhékht Nask. § 2. That the extent of the sacred literature of Mazdeism was formerly much greater than it is now, appears not only from internal evidence, that is, from the fragmentary character of the book, but is also proved by historical evidence. In the first place, the Arab conquest proved fatal to the religious literature of the Sassanian ages, a great part of which was either destroyed by the fanaticism of the conquerors and the new converts, or lost during the long exodus of the Parsis. Thus the Pahlavi translation of the Vendidad, which was not finished before the latter end of the Sassanian dynasty, contains not a few Zend quotations from books which are no longer in existence: whole chapters also, or large quotations, of lost books are preserved in Pahlavi and Parsi tracts, like the Nirangistan and the Aogemaidé ; and numerous quotations, from texts unknown before, have recently come to light in a Pahlavi Ravdet discovered in Bombay. It is a tradition with the Parsis, INTRODUCTION, III. XXxili that the Yasts were originally thirty in mumber, there having been one for each of the thirty Izads who preside over the thirty days of the month; yet there are only eighteen now extant. The Bundahis contains much matter which is not spoken of in the existing Avesta, but which appears to have been taken from Zend books that were still in the hands of its compiler.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1from facts formerly established by tradition. In fact tradition gives the materials, and comparison puts them in order. It is not possible, either to know the Avesta without the former, or to understand it without the latter. ; The traditional school, and especially its indefatigable and well-deserving leader, Spiegel, made us acquainted with the nature of the old Iranian religion by gathering together all its materials; the comparative school tried to explain its growth. The traditional school published the text and the traditional translations, and produced the first Parsi grammar, the first Pahlavi grammar, and the first translation of the Avesta which had been made since Anquetil. The danger with it is that it shows itself too apt to stop at tradition, instead of going from it to comparison. When it undertakes to expound the history of the religion, it cannot but be misled by tradition. Any living people, although its-existing state of mind is but the result of various and changing states through many successive ages, yet, at any particular moment of its life, keeps the remains of its former stages of thought in order, under the control of the principle that is then predominant. Thus it happens that its ideas are connected together in a way which seldom agrees with their historical sequence: chronological order is lost to sight and replaced by logical order, and the past is read into the present. Comparison alone can enable us to put things in their proper place, to trace their birth, their growth, their changes, their former relations, and lead us from the logical order, which is a shadow, to the historical order, which is the substance. The comparative school developed Indo-Iranian mythology. Roth showed after Burnouf how the epical history of Iran was derived from the same source as the myths . of Vedic India, and pointed out the primitive identity of Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of Iran, with Varuaa, the supreme god of the Vedic age. In the same direction Windischmann, in his ‘Zoroastrian Essays’ and in his studies on Mithra and Anéhita, displayed singular sagacity. But the dangers of the method came to light in the works of Haug, who, giving a definite form to a system still INTRODUCTION, III. XXXi fluctuating, converted Mazdeism into a religious revolution against Vedic polytheism, found historical allusions to that schism both in the Avesta and in the Veda, pointed out curses against Zoroaster in the Vedas, and, in short, transformed, as it were, the two books into historical pamphlets.
2In the contest about the authenticity of the Avesta, one party must necessarily have been right and the other wrong; but in the present struggle the issue is not so clear, as both parties are partly right and partly wrong. Both of them, by following their principles, have rendered such services to science as seem to give each a right to cling to its own method more firmly than ever. Yet it is to be hoped that they will see at last that they must be allies, not enemies, and that their common work must be begun by the one and completed by the other. CHAPTER III. THE FORMATION OF THE ZEND-AVESTA. § 1. The collection of Zend fragments, known as the Zend-Avesta *, is divided, in its usual form, into two parts. The first part, or the Avesta properly so called, contains _the Vendidad, the Vispérad, and the Yasna. The Vendidad is a compilation of religious laws and of mythical tales ; the Vispérad is a collection of litanies for the sacrifice; and the Yasna is composed of litanies of the same 1 It would be unjust, when speaking of Haug, not to recall the invaluable services he rendered in the second part of his career, as a Pahlavi scholar. He was the first who thought of illustrating the Pahlavi of the books by the Pahlavi of the inscriptions, and thus determined the reading of the principal elements in the manuscript Pahlavi. 2 A very improper designation, as Zend means ‘a commentary or explanation,’ and was applied only to explanatory texts, to the translations of the Avesta. Avesta (froni the old Persian AbastA, ‘the law;’ see Oppert, Journal Asiatique, 1872, Mars) Js the proper name of the original texts. What it is customary to call ‘the Zend language’ ought to be named ‘the Avesta language ;’ the Zend being no language at all; and, if the word be used as the designation of one, it can be rightly applied only to the Pahlavi. The expression ‘Avesta and Zend’ is often used in the Pahlavi commentary to designate ‘the law with its traditional and revealed explanation.’ XXXli VENDIDAD. kind and of five hymns or G&athas written in a special dialect, older than the general language of the Avesta. These three books are found in manuscripts in two different forms: either each by itself, in which case they are generally accompanied by a Pahlavi translation; or the three mingled together according to the requirements of the liturgy, as they are not each recited separately in their entirety, but the chapters of the different books are intermingled; and in this case the collection is called the Vendidad SAda or ‘Vendidad pure,’ as it exhibits the original text alone, without a translation.
3The second part, generally known as the Khorda Avesta or ‘Small Avesta,’ is composed of short prayers which are recited not only by the priests, but by all the faithful, at certain moments of the day, month, or year, and in presence of the different elements; these prayers are the five Gah, the thirty formulas of the Sirézah, the three Afrigan, and the six Ny4yis. But it is also usual to include in the Khorda Avesta, though they are no real part of it, the Yasts or hymns of praise and glorification to the several Izads, and a number of fragments, the most important of ' which is the Hadhékht Nask. § 2. That the extent of the sacred literature of Mazdeism was formerly much greater than it is now, appears not only from internal evidence, that is, from the fragmentary character of the book, but is also proved by historical evidence. In the first place, the Arab conquest proved fatal to the religious literature of the Sassanian ages, a great part of which was either destroyed by the fanaticism of the conquerors and the new converts, or lost during the long exodus of the Parsis. Thus the Pahlavi translation of the Vendidad, which was not finished before the latter end of the Sassanian dynasty, contains not a few Zend quotations from books which are no longer in existence: whole chapters also, or large quotations, of lost books are preserved in Pahlavi and Parsi tracts, like the Nirangistan and the Aogemaidé ; and numerous quotations, from texts unknown before, have recently come to light in a Pahlavi Ravdet discovered in Bombay. It is a tradition with the Parsis, INTRODUCTION, III. XXxili that the Yasts were originally thirty in mumber, there having been one for each of the thirty Izads who preside over the thirty days of the month; yet there are only eighteen now extant. The Bundahis contains much matter which is not spoken of in the existing Avesta, but which appears to have been taken from Zend books that were still in the hands of its compiler.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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