(6) Besides the above books, there are a num ber of fragments, one or two among them from the II5dhoklit Nask. There are also quotations or passages from missing :Casks; likewise glosses and glossaries. Here belong the Nirangistan, Aogemadaeca, Vijtrkari, Dina k, Frahanjiam, and other fragments. These are all written in the Avesta language, and are parts of a once great collection. Under the Zoroastrian reli gious literature, though not written in the Avestan language, must also be included the works in Pahlavi (q.v.), many of which are translations from the Avesta, or contain old matter from the original scriptures.
From the summary given, it will be seen that our present Avesta is rather a prayer-book than a bible. The Vendidiid, Vispered, and Yasna were gathered together by the priests for liturgical purposes. It was the duty of the priests to recite the whole of these sacred writ ings every day, in order to preserve their own purity, and to perform the rites of purification or give remission of sins to others. The solemn recitation of the Vendiad. Vispered, and Yasna at the sacrifice might be compared with our church worship. The selections from the Vendidnd would correspond to the Pentateuch when read; the preparation, consecration, and presentation of the holy water, the Haoma-juice, and the offering of the Yasna and Vispered would answer to our communion service; the metrical parts of the Yasna would be hymns; the intoning of the Gathlis would somewhat resemble the Lesson and the Gospels, or even the sermon. In the Khordah Avesta, the great Yashts might perhaps be comparable to some of the more epic parts of our Bible ; but as being devoted each to some deity and preserv ing much of the old mythology, they really have hardly a parallel, even in the Apocrypha.
Such, in brief outline, arc the contents of our books known as the .Avesta to-day; but, as im plied above, this is but a remnant of a literature once vastly greater. This we can judge both from internal and from historical evidence. The character of the work itself, in its present form, sufficiently shows that it is a compilation from various sources. This is further supported by the authority of history, if the Parsi tradition, going back to the time of the Sassanidx. be trustworthy. Pliny (!list. Sat. 30, 1, 2) tells of 2,000,000 verses composed by Zoroaster. The Arab historian, Tabari, describes the writings of Zoroaster as committed to 12,000 cow-hides (parchments) ; other Arabic references by Ma sudi, and Syriac allusions to an Avesta, which must have been extensive, have been noted above. The Parsi tradition on the subject is contained in the Itivayats, and in a Pahlavi book, the Denkart. The Denkart (Bk. Ill.) describes two complete copies of the Avesta. These each com prise 21 Nasks, or Nosks (books). The one deposited in the archives at Persepolis perished in the flames when Alexander burned the palace in his invasion of Iran. The other copy, it is implied, fell into the hands of the Greeks, and by them was translated into the Greek language. From that time the scriptures, like the reli gion under the Grieco-Parthian sway, lived on, partly in scattered writings and in the mem ories of the priests, for nearly 500 years.
The first attempt again to collect these writ ings seems to have been begun under the reign of the last .Arsacithe (q.v.), just preceding the
Sassanian dynasty. Pahlavi tradition, preserved in a proclamation of King Khosrn Anushirvan, or Chosroes 1. (531-579), says it was under King Valkash that the collection was begun of the sacred writings, as far as they had escaped the ravages of Alexander, or were preserved by oral tradition. The Sassanian dynasty A.D.( 226) next came to the throne. This house were genuine Zorixistrians and warm support ers of the faith, and they brought back the old religion and raised it to a height it had hardly reached even in its palmiest days. The first Sassanian monarchs. Artaklishir PhpaUn (Ar dashir 13abag5n, 226-241) and his son, Shahpuhr 1., or Sapor (•.241-272). eagerly continued the gathering of the religious writings, and the Avesta again became the sacred book of Iran. Under Shalipuhr II. (c.309-3S0) the final re vision of the Avesta texts was made by pat Mnraspend, and then the King proclaimed these as canonical, and fixed the number of the Nasks, or books.
Of these Nasks, 21 were counted, and a de scription of them, as noted, is found in the RivAyats, and in the Denkart; each received a name corresponding to one of the twenty-one words in the Ahuna Nra irya (lIonovar), the most sacred prayer of the Pa.rsis. Three groups or classes, moreover, were recognized in sub dividing these 21 books: First, the Gaihrt or G(istin group, a theological series; second, the group of the law, Dat ; and third, a miscellane ous class, Hurlba-ltdthra, partly metaphysical. Each of these Nasks contained both Avesta and Zend—i.e. original scripture and commentary. This tradition is too important to be idly re jected. Tts contents give an idea of what may have been the original extent and scope of the books of the Avesta. The subjects said to have been treated in the 21 Nasks may practically be described. in brief, as follows: Nask 1 (twenty-two sections), on virtue and piety: 2 (likewise twenty-two sections), religious ob servance; 3 (twenty-one sections), the Maz dayasnian religion and its teachings; 4 (thirty two sections), this world and the next, the res urrection and the judgment; 5 (thirty-five sec tions), astronomy; 6 (twenty-two sections), ritual performances and the merit accruing; 7 ( fifty sections before Alexander, thirteen then re maining) , chiefly political and social in its na ture: S (sixty sections before Alexander, twelve remaining), legal; 9 (sixty sections before Alex ander, fifteen preserved), mainly religious wis dom and advice; 11 (sixty sections before Alex ander. six preserved), religion and its practical relations to man; 12 (twenty-two sections), physical truths and spiritual regeneration; 13 (sixty sections), virtuous actions, and a sketch of Zoroaster's infancy; 14 (seventeen sections). on Ormazd and the Archangels; 15 (fifty-four), justice in business and in weights and measures, the path of righteousness: 16 (sixty-five sec tions), on next-of-kin marriage, a tenet of the faith; 17 (sixty-four sections), future punish ments, astrology; 18 (fifty-two sections), jus tice in exercising authority, on the resurrection, and on the annihilation of evil; 19, the Videv dad, or Vendidad (twenty-two sections), on pol lution and its purification; 20 (thirty sections), on goodness; 21 (thirty-three sections), praise of Ormazd and the Archangels.