2. Old Iranian Literature. From the earli est times of Iranian independence there must have b'een some sort of a national literature, whether in annals or chronicles. lays or ballads, legends or mythical stories, traces of which survive perhaps in the New Persian Shah Namah, or Book of Kings, and in epic passages of the Avesta. But so far as our direct knowledge is concerned, Old Iranian Literature is represented by two ancient monuments, onc the Zoroastrian Scriptures, the other, the royal Achaemenian inscriptions. The first of these is the Avesta; the second is the inon ument of the Ancient Persian Inscriptions of the Achaemenian dynasty.
(1) The Avesta. The date of the great rock records is fixed as contemporaneous with the monarchs who had them carved (B. C. 521-338), but the date of the Avesta is hard to determine. Like our own Holy Scriptures, this book of early Iran represents a growth and development, and it gives evidence of the presence of different stages and strata. Standing in some degree as a remnant of the power of ancient Media and more especially of the Bactrian empire, certain parts of it must be old. The Gathas, or "Psalms' 0) of Zoroastcr, for example, can hardly be later in origin than the sixth century B. C.; on the other hand some portions of the Avesta, like late pas sages in Vendidad or bits of formulas in the Yasna, may he as late as our own era. If we knew the exact date of Zoroaster we could speak with more surety regarding thc seventeen Gathas or Psalms, for in general tone. language and composition they represent his epoch, which may perhaps with best ground be placed between the seventh and sixth century bcforc the Christian era; although some extravagant statements in the classics claim B. C. 6000 as thc time of his ap pearance.
The meaning of the name Avesta is not abso lutely certain ; possibly it is "Law," "Knowledge," or more likely "Text" (as Scriptures). The title Zend-Avesta is not accuratc; :end or :and signi fies "commentary, explanation" and refers to the Pahlavi version or comment on the text. If used at all the phrase should rather be Avesta-Zand, e., Scriptures and commentary.
Extent of the Zend-Avestan Literature. The Avesta itself is but a fragment of a once great literature, encyclopedic in its character, which tradition has connected with the prophet Zoro aster's name. Pliny speaks of 2,000,000 verses as composed by Zoroaster; Persian tradition claims that the original Zoroastrian works comprised twenty-one Nasks or books. Although by no means all these were composed by the prophet, they were at least regarded as canonical. It is further asserted, on Persian authority, that most of them were destroyed by Alexander the Great, when in his drunken frenzy he allowed the palace at Persepolis to be burned. A great part of the Scriptures without question survived, but the dark period of five centuries between the fall of the Achaemenian power and the rise of the Per sian house of Sasan (3d century A. D.) was not conducive to preserving ancient texts in their entirety. It was under the Sasanian monarchs.
in the third century A. D., that a renaissance of Zoroastrianism occurred; all that could be gath ered of the Holy Scriptures was then collected, edited and codified into a sacrcd canon. In thc sixth century, however, with the fall of the Zo roastrian Creed before the faith of Islam, the lit erature was again scattered, which accounts for its present fragmentary condition. The remnant that has survived such troublous times, has been preserved chiefly through the loyal efforts of faithful Parsis who left Persia on account of the fanatical Mohammedan persecution and sought refuge and safety in India, settling especially in the neighborhood of Bombay. Thc Indian Zo roastrians to-day number nearly 9o.000 believers, whereas their Iranian cousins have dwindlcddown to less than to,000 souls. The story of !IOW the Avesta was introduced into Europe toward the close of the last century, by Anquetil du Perron, who went to the Orient for the purpose of gain ing a knowledge of the sacred books of Zoroaster, is a narrative that reads like a romance; but there is not room to give it here.
According to the estimate of West, the original great Avesta of twenty-one Nasks must have con tained about 345,7oo words. Our present Avesta contains about 83.000 words (Gcldner) ; that is to say, about one-fourth of the original work. and in extent it equals perhaps one-tenth of our Bihle (810,697 words). Like our own Sacred Scrip tures the Avesta is divided into several divisions or books. (a) The l'asna, (Skt. yajna) lit. "sac rifice." the chief liturgical work of the canon, is a collection of texts relating for the most part to the ritual of the haoma or sacred juice partaken of in the celebration of the solemn Izashne cere mony. In the midst of the Yasna are inserted the Gathas lit. "hymns, psalms." These Psalms of Zoroaster are his metrical sayings, sermons or teachings, and they arc the oldest, the most sacred, and the most interesting part of the Avesta, although they cover less titan a hundred pages of text. (b) The Visperod (Av. T:ispe ratavo "all the lords") is a collection of minor litanies, invocations and offerings to various dei fied objects, divinities, or spiritual heads of the faith. (c) The Vendidad (Av. data vidaeva, "law against the Demons") is a sort of Iranian Pentateuch and priestly code; it forms with the Yasna and the Visperad, a kind of ancient Per sian missal or prayer-book. (d) The l'ashts (Av. yeshti "worship by praise") is a book of hymnic compositions in adoration of the pre-Zoroastrian divinities and mythical heroes. (e) Minor texts, like the Nyaishes, Gahs Sirozahs, Afringans are often put together as a Khordah Avesta, "little Avesta," a species of manual of daily devotion. (f) Fragments of greater or less extent have been preserved, like a portion of the Hadoklit Nask, the Nirangistan,Aogentadaeca,some glosses and an old Zand-Pahlavi Glossary.