The Avesta, as we now have it, belongs to the Sassanian period, but it cannot be said to be of Sassanian origin. From the remnants and heterogeneous fragments at their disposal, the diasceuast or diasceuasts composed a new canon from the materials of the old. In point of detail, it is now impossible to draw a sharp distinction between that which they found surviving and that which they themselves added or revised. It may reasonably be supposed, not only that they constructed the external framework of many chap ters, and also made some additions of their own, but also that they fabricated anew many formulae and imitative passages on the model of the materials at their disposal. All the grammatically correct texts, together with those portions of the Avesta which have intrinsic worth, the Gathas and greater Yashts, especially the metrical passages, are indubitably authentic and taken ad verbum from the original Avesta. Opinions differ greatly as to the precise age of the original texts. According to some, they are pre-Achaemenian ; according to Darmesteter's former opinion, they were written in Media under the Achaemenian dynasty; according to some, their source must be sought in the east, accord ing to others, in the west of Iran. But it is more correct to say that the Avesta was worked at from the time of Zoroaster down to the Sassanian period. Its oldest portions, the Gathas, proceed from the prophet himself. This conclusion is inevitable for every one to whom Zoroaster is an historical personality. The rest of the Avesta, in spite of the opposite opinion of orthodox Parsees, does not even claim to come from Zoroaster. As the Gallas now constitute the kernel of the most sacred prayer-book, viz., the Yasna, they were the nucleus of a religious literature.
The Avesta now in our hands is but a small portion of the book as restored and edited under the Sassanians.. The larger part perished under the Mohammedan rule and under the more barbarous tyranny of the Tatars, when through conversion and extermination the Zoroastrians became a mere remnant. The understanding of the older Avesta texts began to die away at an early period. The need for a translation and interpretation became evident ; and under the Later Sassanians the majority of the books, if not the whole of them, were rendered into the current Pahlavi. For the interpretation of the older texts the Pahlavi is of great value where they are concerned with the fixed, formal statutes of the church. But when they pass beyond this narrow sphere, as particularly in the Gathas, it becomes defective and unreliable. The Parsee priest, Neryosangh, subsequently translated a portion of the Pahlavi version into Sanskrit.
The manuscripts of the Avesta are, comparatively speaking, of recent date. The oldest is the Pahlavi Vispered in Copenhagen, dated 1258. Next come the four manuscripts of the Herbad Mihirapan Kai Khusro at Cambay (1323 and 1324), two Vendi dads with Pahlavi in London and Copenhagen, and two Yasnas with Pahlavi in Copenhagen and Oxford. The earliest mss. are the best, though careful 17th and i8th century transcripts come from Kirman and Yazd in Persia.
The first European scholar to direct attention to the Avesta was Hyde of Oxford, in his Historia Religionis Veterum Persarum eorumque Magorum (i700), which, however, failed to awake any lasting interest in the sacred writings of the Parsees. The merit
of achieving this belongs to the enthusiastic orientalist Anquetil Duperron, the fruit of whose prolonged stay in India (1755-61) and his acquaintance with the Parsee priests was a translation (certainly very defective) of the Zend-Avesta. The foundation of a scientific exegesis was laid by Burnouf. The interpretation of the Avesta is one of the most difficult problems of oriental phi lology. Up to the present no kind of agreement has been reached by conflicting schools, even upon some of the most important points. Opinion is divided also as to the significance of the Avesta in the literature of the world. Upon the whole, the Avesta is a monotonous book. The Yasna and many Yashts in great part consist of formulae of prayer which are as poor in contents as they are rich in verbiage. The book of laws (Vendidad) is characterized by an arid didactic tone ; only here and there the legislator clothes his dicta in the guise of graceful dialogues and tales, or of poetic descriptions and similitudes ; and then the book of laws. is transformed into a didactic poem. Nor can we deny to the Yashts, in their depiction of the Zoroastrian angels and their presentment of the old sagas, a certain poetic feeling, at times, and a pleasant diction. The Ga.thas are quite unique in their kind. As a whole, the Avesta, for profundity of thought and beauty, stands on a lower level than the Old Testament. But as a religious book—the most important document of the Zoroastrian faith, and the sole literary monument of ancient Iran—the Avesta occupies a prominent position in the literature of the world. At the present day its significance is decidedly underrated. The future will doubtless be more just with regard to the importance of the book for the history of religion in general and even of Christianity. (For works on the theology of the Avesta see ZOROASTER.) EDITIONS.—Zend-Avesta, ed. by N. L. Westergaard (Copenhagen, 1852-54), complete ; F. Spiegel, Avesta (Vienna, 1853-58) , only Vendidad, Vispered and Yasna, but with the Pahlavi translation ; K. Geldner (Stuttgart, 1886-96). Translations.—Anquetil Duperron, Zend-Avesta, Ouvrage de Zoroastre (Paris, 1771) ; Fr. Spiegel (Leipzig, 1852-63), both completely antiquated. Avesta traduit par C. de Harlez, ed. 2 (Paris, 1880 ; The Zend-Avesta, Part I. Vendidad, Part II. Sirozahs, Yashts and Nyayish, tr. by J. Darmesteter, Part III. Yasna, Vispered, etc., by L. H. Mills (Oxford, 188o-87), in the Sacred Books of the East; Le Zend-Avesta, traduction nouvelle par J. Darmesteter (Paris, 1892-93) (Annales du Musee Guimet).