Vishtasp Yasht

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The Vishtasp Yasht is one of the variants of the Long Liturgy, the main ritual of Zoroastrianism. It is no longer performed, but its structure can be reconstructed from the Vishtasp Sast manuscripts, which contain the text once used in this ceremony.[1]

Name

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The name of the liturgy is given in the manuscripts in Pahlavi as wštʾsp yšt. This can be rendered as Vishtasp Yasht, Wishtasp Yasht, Vištāsp Yašt[2] or Wištāsp Yašt.[3] Here, the first term refers to Vishtaspa, an important figure in the history of Zoroastrianism.[4] The second term, Yasht, is a Middle Persian term for a religious ceremony.[5] It is derived from Avestan yašti.[6]

Within the Avesta

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Despite its name indicating it to be a Yasht, i.e., one hymns of the collection of 21 Yashts, it does not belong to this category. There can, for example, be no such thing as a Yasht dedicated to a human like Vishtaspa, since these other Yashts are addressed to a Yazata.[7] In some scholarly works, however, it is included but listed as Yasht 24, i.e., outside, the collection of 21 Yashts. In modern scholarship, the Vishtasp Yasht is classified as a variant of the Long Liturgy,[8] whereas the 21 Yashts are classified as Short Liturgies.[9]

The history of the Vishtasp Yasht is unclear. On the one hand, it has been argued that text of the Vishtasp Sast, which is used in the ceremony, is a late and unoriginal text, compiled from other sources. This is based on the observation that the Avestan language of the extant manuscripts is grammatically very defective.[10] On the other hand, Cantera has, for instance, argued that the arrguments for a late date are rather weak and the Vishtasp Sast is an original text.[11]

Structure

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The Vishtasp Yasht is no longer performed. However, its structure can be reconstructed from the surviving manuscripts.[12] Based on liturgical instruction contained in these manuscripts, the Wishtasp Yasht was one of the variants of the Long Liturgy, which also comprises, e.g., the Yasna and Visperad liturgies.[13] Within this framework, the Vishtasp Yasht is an intercalation ceremony, meaning that, like the Videvdad liturgy, the ceremony would be based on the Yasna and Visperad liturgies into which the eight sections, called fragards, of the Vishtasp Sast text were intercalated at certain points.[14]

Structure of the Vistasp Yasht[15]
Yasna Visperad Vishtasp Sast
Y. 27.6
Vr. 12
Y. 27.7-27.13
Vyt. 1
Y. 28-30
Vr. 13
Vyt. 2
Y. 32 - 3413
Vr. 14
Vyt. 3
Vr. 15
Y. 35-42
Vr. 16-17
Vyt. 4
Y. 43-46
Vr. 18
Vyt. 5
Y. 47-50
Vr. 19
Vyt. 6
Y. 51
Vr. 20-21
Y. 35-42 (repetition)
Vr. 22
Vyt. 7
Y. 52-53
Vr. 23
Vyt. 8
Y. 54

Apart from the intercalated fragards, the Sade manuscripts of the Vishtasp Yasht demonstrate that the underlying text of the Yasna is also modified. One example is the period of the day on which the liturgy is performed. Whereas the Yasna is performed on hāwan, i.e., the period from morning to noon, the Vishtasp Yasht, as well as the Vendidad, are performed on ušahin, i.e., the period from midnight to dawn.[16] Another difference is the marker of intercalation. For example, in Y. 3.1, the text of the Yasna is modified in the Vishtasp Yasht such that it announces that it is drawn from the manthric nasks, i.e., the second group of nasks of the Sasanian Avesta.[17] Moreover, the Vishtasp Yasht contains a number of dedications to the Fravashis, Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas.[18]

References

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Citations

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  1. ^ Martínez-Porro 2020.
  2. ^ Martínez-Porro 2013.
  3. ^ Cantera 2013.
  4. ^ Shabazi 2002.
  5. ^ Nyberg 1974, p. 225: "yašt [yšt'] worship, invocation, religious ceremony".
  6. ^ Nyberg 1974, p. 225: "yašt [...] Borrowed from Av. (1280) yašti".
  7. ^ Shapira 1998, p. 17: "In principle, there can be no such a thing as a Yast dedicated to a king; the Yasts are dedicated to Iranian gods of old, to Yazatas".
  8. ^ Andrés-Toledo 2015, p. 520.
  9. ^ Andrés-Toledo 2015, pp. 521-522.
  10. ^ Mackichan 1904, pp. 13-14.
  11. ^ Cantera 2013, pp. 102-103: "The situation of the Wistasp Yast is more complex, but at least we can affirm that it is an independent text which has not just been compiled from quotations of the Widewdad and the Hadoxt Nask and which accordingly should not be considered as a very late creation on the basis of these two works".
  12. ^ Cantera 2022, p. 212: "[C]ertain variants [...] are no longer performed in modern practice, such as the Vīštāsp Yašt".
  13. ^ Martínez-Porro 2013, p. 69: "El texto de Vištasp Yašt representa una de las variantes ceremoniales de la liturgia larga".
  14. ^ Andrés-Toledo 2015, p. 520: "Its eight sections or fragard were recited in the Vishtasp Yašt liturgy in the same part in which those of the Videvdad are recited in the Videvdad liturgy".
  15. ^ Cantera 2013, p. 87.
  16. ^ Redard 2021, p. 5.
  17. ^ Redard 2021, p. 521.
  18. ^ Martínez-Porro 2013, p. 69: "En cuanto a la dedicatoria, el texto está consagrado a las Frauuašiš (“alma”/“eleccion”). En ella aparecen además mencionados Ahura Mazda y los Aməša Spənta (“los benéficos inmortales”)".

Bibliography

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