Contents, Arrangement, Extent. and Char aeter.—The Avesta, as we now have it. is but a small remnant of a once great literature. It has come down in a more or less fragmentary condition: not even a single manuscript con tains all the texts that we now have: whatever we possess has been collected together from vari ous codices. All that survives is commonly classed under the following divisions or books: (1) The Yasna, (2) the Vispered, (3) the Yachts, (4) a collection of minor texts, (5) the Vendidad. (6) Fragments. Among these divisions, not counting the Fragments. two groups are recognized. As used in the service of worship, the Vendid5d, Vispered, and the Yas na are traditionally classed together for litur gical purposes, and form the Avesta proper. In the manuscripts these three books appear in two different forms. If they are kept separate as three divisions, each part is then usually ac companied by a Pahlavi version. On the other hand, sinee these three books are not recited each as a whole, but the chapters of one book for liturgical purposes are mingled with an other, on this account the MSS. often present them in their intermingled form, portions of one inserted with the other, and arranged ex actly in the order that they are to he used in the service. In this latter case the Pahlavi translation is omitted, and the collection is called the Yendidnd Sadah, or Yendideid pure i.e. text without commentary. The second group, the minor prayers and the Yachts, which the MSS. often include with these, is called the Khordah Avesta, or 'Small Avesta.' Of the greater part of the latter there is no Pahlavi rendering. The contents and character of the several divisions may now be taken up in detail.
) The rostra, 'saerifiee, worship,' is the chief liturgical work of the sacred canon. It consists principally of ascriptions of praise and prayer, and in it are inserted the Gathtts, or `hymns.' verses from the sermons of Zoroaster (q.v.), which are the oldest and most sacred part of the Avesta. The Yasna (Skt. comprises 72 chapters, called Ha, Haiti. These are the texts recited by the priests at the ritual ceremony of the Yasna (Izashne). The book falls into three nearly equal divisions. The first part (chap. 1-27) begins with an invoca tion of the god Ormazd and the other divinities of the religion ; it gives texts for the consecra tion of the holy water, zaothru, and of the baresma, or bundle of sacred twigs, for the prepa ration and dedication of the Haoma, the juice of a certain plant—the Indian Soma—which was drunk by the priests as a sacred rite, and the offering of blessed cakes, as well as a meat offering, which likewise were partaken of by the priests. Interspersed through this portion, however, are a few chapters that deal only in directly with the ritual; these are Is. 12, the later Zoroastrian creed, and Is. 19-21, entechet kill portions. Then follow the GathAs—literally 'psalms,' or 'songs' (chap. 28-53), metrical selections or verses containing the teachings. exhortations, and revelations of Zoroaster. The Prophet exhorts his followers to avoid the evil and choose the good, the kingdom of light rather than that of darkness. (For the theology of the Gathes, see ZOROASTRIAMS11.) These Wallas are written in metre, and their language is more archaic than, and somewhat different from, that used elsewhere in the Avesta. The
GAthas. strictly speaking. are five in number, and are arranged according to the metres: they com prise 17 hymns (Is. 28-34, 43-46, 47-50, 51, 53), and they must have been chanted during time ser vice. In their midst (chap. 35-42) is inserted the so-called Yasna of the Seven Chapters (Haptang )riniM. This is written in prose, and consists of a number of prayers and ascriptions of praise to Ahura Mazda, or Ormazd, the archangels, the souls of the righteous, the fire, and the earth. Though next in antiquity to the Gathlts, and in archaic language. it represents a somewhat later and more developed form of the religion which in the Glithas proper was just begin ning. The third part (chap. 52. 54-72) of the latter Yasna (saparo gasna) consists chiefly of praises and offerings of thanksgiving to different divinities.
(2) The l'ispered (Av. rispe ratard) consists of additions to portions of the Yasna, which it resembles in language and in form. It com prises 24 chapters (called horde, literally, 'sec tions'), and it is about one-seventh as Iong as the Yasna. In the ritual, the chapters of the Vispered are inserted among those of the Yasna. It contains invocations and offerings of homage to 'all the lords' (vispe ratara) : hence the name Vispered.
(3) The l'ashtsi (natl. `worship by consist of 21 hymns of praise and adoration of the divinities, or angels, Yazatas (hails), of the religion. The chief of these are Ardvi-Sfira, the goddess of waters (It. 5). the star Tishtrya (Yt. 6). the angel Mithra, the divinity of truth: the Fravashis, or departed souls of the righteous, and the genius of victory, Vere thraghna, and of the Kingly Glory (It. 19.). They are written mainly in metre, with some poetic merit, and they contain much mytholo.• real and historical matter that may be illustrated by Firdausi's later Persian epic, the Shah m a h.
(4) The minor texts, Nyaishes, Oahs, Sirozahs, Afringans, consist of brief prayers, praises, of blessings recited daily, or on special occasions.
(5) The Vemtithid, or 'law against the divas, or demons' ( data), is a priestly code of 22 chapters (Fargard), corresponding to the Pentateuch in our Bible. Its parts vary greatly in time and in style of composition. Much of it must be late; some of it even as late, per haps, as the First or Second Century of the Christian Era ; but much of the material is very old. The first chapter (Parg. I.) is a sort of Avestan Genesis, a dualistic account of creation. Chapter 2 sketches the legend of Yinia, the Golden Age, and the coining of a destructive winter, an Iranian flood. Chapter 3 teaches the blessings of agriculture; chap ter 4 contains legal matter—breaches of con tract, assaults, punishments; chapters 5-12 re late mainly to the impurity from the dead; chapters 13-15 deal chiefly with the treatment of the dog; chapters 16. 17, and partly IS, are devoted to purification from several sorts of un cleanness. In chapter 19 is found the tempta tion of Zoroaster and the revrdation; chapters 20-22 are chiefly of medical character. In the ritual, the chapters of the Vendiad are inserted among the Gathas.