Jump to content

Bahram Yasht

Add links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Part of a series on
Zoroastrianism
Primary topics
Divine entities
Scripture and worship
Accounts and legends
History and culture
Adherents
Related topics
icon Religion portal

The Bahram Yasht also known as Wahram Yasht is the fourteenth Yasht of the 21 Yasht collection. It is named after and dedicated to the praise of Verethragna, the Zoroastrian divinity representing military might and victory.[1]

Name

[edit]
See also: Verethragna

The Bahram Yasht is named after Verethragna (Avestan: 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬀, vərəθraγna), a term meaning the smasher of resistance and representing the Zoroastrian hypostasis of victory.[2] It is known in Middle Persian as Wahram (𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭, wlhl’n') and Modern Persian as Bahram (بهرام, bahrâm). It is also the Persian name for Mars as well as for the 20th day of the month in the Zoroastrian calendar, on which the Bahram Yasht is celebrated.[3]

Structure and content

[edit]

The Bahram Yasht consists of 64 stanzas, which are further grouped into 22 sections called Kardas.[4] According to Darmesteter, the text can be divided thematically into four parts.[5] The first part consists of stanzas 1-28. These verses contain a list of ten different forms in which Verethragna appears.[6] These incarnations have been compared to the different Avatars of Vishnu or Indra, known from ancient India.[7] The next part consists of stanzas 30-33, which describe different powers that are bestowed by him on his faithful followers.[8] The third part consists of stanzas 34-46, which describe a number of protective rituals that warriors may perform before battle.[9] These verses provide important information on the martial customs of the ancient Iranians.[10] The forth and last part consists of stanzas 47-64 and is dedicated to the praise of Verethraghna.[11]

History

[edit]

The Bahram Yasht was composed during the Old Iranian period within a fluid oral tradition.[12] Its context may have been the sacrificial praise of Verethragna in order to achieve success in battle,[13] in particular against the tribal enemies of the ancient Iranians.[14] The described rituals prominently feature protective magic, like using an amulet from a Haoma stalk or stroking one's body with a bird's feather. These rituals can also be found in the Atharvaveda from ancient India and therefore must have originated already during the common proto-Indo-Iranian period.[15]

The written transmission of the Bahram Yasht probably began during the Sasanian period, when a comprehensive edition of the Avestan texts was produced. Within this edition, the Bahram Yasht was part of the Bagan yasht, where it formed the 11th chapter.[16] This work is now lost, but the text survived as part of the collection of the 21 Yashts.[17] The text of the Bahram Yasht was made available to modern scholarship through the editions of the Avesta by Westergaard[18] and Geldner.[19]

References

[edit]

Citations

[edit]
  1. ^ Gnoli & Jamzadeh 1988.
  2. ^ Lommel 1927, p. 131: "Im Awesta heißen sie aber schlechthin "siegreich" und "Sieg"".
  3. ^ MacKenzie 1971, p. 86: "Wahrām [wlhl’n'[...] N bahrâm] god of war, victory; astr. Mars; cal. 20th day".
  4. ^ Darmesteter 1883, pp. 231-248.
  5. ^ Darmesteter 1883, p. 231: "This Yast can be divided into four parts".
  6. ^ Darmesteter 1883, p. 231: "I (§§ 1-28). An enumeration of the ten incarnations in which Verethraghna appeared to Zarathustra".
  7. ^ Gnoli & Jamzadeh 1988, "These recall, although exact correspondences are lacking, the avatāras of Viṣṇu in Purāṇic literature, or the ten incarnations of Indra".
  8. ^ Darmesteter 1883, p. 231: "II (§§ 30-33). The powers given by Verethraghna to his worshipper, Zarathustra".
  9. ^ Darmesteter 1883, p. 231: "III (§§ 34-46). The magical powers, ascribed to the raven's feather, of striking terror into an army and dispersing it".
  10. ^ Sadovski 2009, p. 158: "The Avestan testimony is provided by an important but rarely discussed hymn: Yašt 14".
  11. ^ Darmesteter 1883, p. 231: "IV (§§ 47-64). The glorification of Verethraghna".
  12. ^ Hintze 2014, "[T]he Yašts were produced throughout the Old Iranian period in the oral culture of priestly composition, which was alive and productive as long as the priests were able to master the Avestan language".
  13. ^ Stewart 2007, p. 139: "Some sort of haoma offering may have been made in ancient times by warriors before going into battle, as in the hymn to Verethraghna, where worship is offered to the god of victory in return for success in battle (Yt. 14.57, 58)".
  14. ^ Stewart 2007, p. 139: "The foes of the Aryan warriors are invariably spoken of, whether demons or enemy tribes (Yt. 14.62; 15.24; 5.34) and often the way in which the enemy is overcome is described in detail (Yt. 14.62)".
  15. ^ Sadovski 2009, p. 165: "If we compare the ritual nuclei in the Veda and in Avesta, we can discover something additional – we can see how the sequence of magic procedures in Yašt 14,34 ff. preserves a much older stratum under its Mazdayasnian-Zoroastrian 'varnish'".
  16. ^ König 2017, p. 21.
  17. ^ Kotwal & Hintze 2008.
  18. ^ Westergaard 1852.
  19. ^ Geldner 1889.

Bibliography

[edit]
  • Benveniste, Émile; Renou, Louis (1934). Vṛtra et Vṛθragna. Étude de mythologie indo-iranienne. Paris: Imprimerie nationale.
  • Darmesteter, James (1883). Müller, Max (ed.). Zend-Avesta II: The Sirozahs, Yasts and Nyayis. Sacred Books of the East. Vol. 23. Dehli: Motilal Banarsidass Publishers.
  • Geldner, Karl F. (1889). Avesta. The Sacred Books of the Parsis II: Vispered and Khorda Avesta. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer.
  • Gnoli, Gherardo; Jamzadeh, P. (1988). "BAHRĀM (Vərəθraγna)". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. III. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 510–514.
  • Hintze, Almut (2014). "YAŠTS". Encyclopædia Iranica. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul.
  • König, Götz (2017). "Bayān Yasn: State of the Art". Iran and the Caucasus 2. 21: 13–38. doi:10.1163/1573384x-90000003.
  • Kotwal, Firoze M.; Hintze, Almut (2008). The Khorda Avesta and Yast Codex E1 (PDF). Harrassowitz. ISBN 978-3-447-05692-2.
  • Lommel, Herman (1927). Die Yäšt's des Awesta. Quellen der Religionsgeschichte: Iran. Vol. 15. Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht.
  • MacKenzie, David N. (1971). A concise Pahlavi dictionary. London, New York, Toronto: Oxford University Press.
  • Sadovski, Velizar (2009). "Ritual Formulae and Ritual Pragmatics in Veda and Avesta". Die Sprache. 48: 156–166. doi:10.13173/SPR.48.1-2.156.
  • Stewart, Sarah (2007). "Worship According to the Yašts". Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies. 45 (1): 137–151. doi:10.1080/05786967.2007.11864722.
  • Westergaard, Niels L. (1852). Zendavesta: or The religious books of the Zoroastrians. Berling brothers.
[edit]
Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Bahram_Yasht&oldid=1288408690"