Sacred text of Zoroastrianism

Usage examples of avesta.

Finally he snapped out of it, blew his nose, and opened the thick copy of the Avesta.

This is I, your friendly local pastor, bringing you the blessings of Ahura Mazdah, my son, and have you been reading the Avesta every day before going to sleep .

Our knowledge of the religion of the ancient Persians is principally derived from the Zendavesta, or sacred books of that people.

Haug is inclined to date the Gathas, the oldest songs of the Avesta, as early as the time of Moses.

This collection is sometimes called Zendavesta, sometimes briefly Zend.

The antiquity of the Zendavesta has likewise been asserted by Rask, the great Danish linguist, who, according to Malcolm, brought back from the East fresh transcripts and additions to those published by Anquetil.

Erskine (Bombay Transactions) considers the existing Zendavesta to have been compiled in the time of Ardeschir Babegan.

According to the Sadder Bun-Dehesch, a more modern work, Ahriman is to be annihilated: but this is contrary to the text itself of the Zendavesta, and to the idea its author gives of the kingdom of Eternity, after the twelve thousand years assigned to the contest between Good and Evil.

The maxim of the Zendavesta, on the relative merit of sowing the earth and of prayers, quoted below by Gibbon, proves that Zoroaster did not attach too much importance to these observances.

Thus it is not from the Zendavesta that Gibbon derives the proof of his allegation, but from the Sadder, a much later work.

Perhaps it is rash to speak of any part of the Zendavesta as the writing of Zoroaster, though it may be a genuine representation of his.

Thus, according to the Zend Avesta, it is by the Word (honover) more ancient than the world, that Ormuzd created the universe.

The catholic, or primate, resided in the capital: in his synods, and in their dioceses, his metropolitans, bishops, and clergy, represented the pomp and order of a regular hierarchy: they rejoiced in the increase of proselytes, who were converted from the Zendavesta to the gospel, from the secular to the monastic life.

For our purposes at present, it is sufficient to note that such traditions seem to refer to the same ‘derangement of the sky’ that accompanied the fatal winter and spreading ice sheets described in the Iranian Avesta.

Finally he snapped out of it, blew his nose and opened the thick copy of the Avesta.