PREFACE vii

fixed at Rs. 2-8 ans, per copy.

I beg to acknowledge the obligation I owe to the esteemed Trustees of the Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy Translation Fund for their support by subscribing for sixty copies of this Work.

KAVASJI EDALJI KANGA. BOMBAY, March, 1896.

PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION

The rapid sale, in the short space of two years and a half of the second edition revised and enlarged of this Work affords evidence at once satisfactory and gratifying of the utility and appreciation of the book, and of the growing taste for a correct and intelligent reciting of prayers among the Parsi community. In the present edition, two Yashts, viz., Tir and Gosh have been added to the ten given in the second edition; the number of Yashts in this edition being thus twelve in all.

I may add that, following the new edition of the Avesta Texts published by Dr. Karl F. Geldner, I have altered, in many places, certain Avestaic words, which appeared to me in the course of my study of that book to admit of corrections; and with the view of affording facility of reference to Avesta students, I have numbered the paragraphs in my text and translation as Dr. Geldner’s text. The translation has also, in some places, undergone revisions and improvements, suggested by further study and consideration of the Avesta literature.

KAVASJI EDALJI KANGA. BOMBAY, July, 1890.

PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION

The first edition of this Khordeh Avesta was issued in 1880. To judge from the favourable reception accorded to it, (a thousand copies having been sold off and a new issue called for ), the work may be assumed to have supplied a want and to be well adapted to the needs of the community for which it was intended. * * * Passages of Avesta and Pazend, which were omitted in the first edition, after they had been once cited, have been repeated in the present issue, on every occasion on which they recur. This and the addition of three Yashts has somewhat increased the bulk of the volume; yet the price has been greatly reduced, in order to place it within the reach of all sections of the community.

KAVASJI EDALJI KANGA. Bombay, December, 1887.

PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION

More than 60 years ago a translation of the Khordeh Avesta was for the first time published by the late Dustoor Framji Sorabji Meherji Rana. A few

viii

months later on another translation of the same was issued by the late Dustoor Edalji Dorabji Sanjana. These translations did not materially differ from each other; but for all practical purposes, the latter, up till now, has been most in use – it having passed in the meantime through several editions with but few important alterations. Thanks, however, to the rapid, but immensely satisfactory, progress made in comparative philology during the last half century by the indefatigable savants of Europe, considerable light has been thrown, not only on the ancient Zoroastrian religion, but on the interpretation of many a difficult passage in the Zend Avesta. Facts unknown before and excellences quite buried in obscurity have, by its aid, been brought to the surface; while some portion of the Zend Avesta, so ambiguous before, has been correctly interpreted and translated into Gujarati.a These made the want of a translation of the Khordeh Avesta, according to the most correct rules of grammar and philology, keenly felt; and I therefore undertook to supply it, at the suggestion of many educated and intelligent Zoroastrians.

The whole of the translation is based on Professor Westergaard’s excellent Zend text. This it was at first intended to publish in Zend characters, but being aware of the inability of a great portion of my co-religionists to peruse it in Zend, I deemed it expedient to abandon the original intention, and make the Work more convenient and accessible by transliterating the original text into correct Gujarati. In so doing, I have had to undergo the trouble and expense of getting cast some letters, the corresponding ones for which were not to be found in the Gujarati alphabet.

The text is divided into a number of convenient paragraphs, and each paragraph has subjoined to it, its translation; and to prevent confusion types in black pica have been throughout employed for the text and ordinary pica for the translation. In the translation the two-fold end is observed of making it useful both to Zend students and to general readers. It is kept, as much as practicable, close to the text, each word of which is distinguished by a number, corresponding with that placed over its translation immediately below. Words not occurring in the original, but necessary to complete the sense of the translation, are placed in parentheses. In many cases the substance of one or more paragraphs is summarized by way of explanation and placed below the literal translation.

Besides the correct text and its translation referred to above, the following important points are attended to:- (1) Careful attention is paid to punctuation, for want of which gross mistakes often arise. (2) Zend text is, in order to avoid confusion, separated and pointed out distinctly from the Pazend

a (1) Vendidad translated into Gujarati with explanatory notes, and a complete philological and grammatical glossary of all the words contained in the texts by Kavasji Edalji Kanga (K. R. Cama’s Prize Essay). (2) Ten yashts, translated by Dustoor Eruchji Sorabji Meherji Rana and Ervad Muncherji Shapoorji Vachha. (3) Aban Yasht, translated by Ervad Tehmulji Dinshaw Ankleshvaria.

PREFACE ix

text, and the text composed at a later period. (3) Special care is taken to point out the passages taken from the Yasna, Vispered, and Vendidad. (4) Pazend passages are, as far as practicable, compared with their corresponding Zend passages. (5) Subjects cursorily treated in the Khordeh Avesta, but discussed at great length elsewhere, are here amplified with fuller information from other sources. (6) Technical terms of Zoroastrian ceremonials and ethics, such as hom, jeevām, barsam, zor, chinvat bridge, &c, are fully explained. (7) Passages treating of the excellence and efficacy of the prayers Yathā and Ashem are culled and fully explained. (8) Pahlavi translation is sometimes indented upon, as in the case of Atash Nyāyesh. (9) References to parallel Zend passages, as in the case of the translation of Patet Pashemani which is wholly in Pazend, are given with their meanings and explanations; and in several places, where it was found necessary, additional information from Pahlavi commentators is given in footnotes. (10) Certain ceremonials, required to be observed in several places during prayers, are explained. (11) Requisite information is given about the Gahambars and their proper seasons, on the authority of the Avesta. (12) The Pazend Confession of Faith, which is generally recited at the end of the prayers, is substituted by a far better one, and that too found in Zend, which, I trust, will be appreciated by my co-religionists. This Confession of Faith constitutes the twelfth Hā of Yasna.

In conclusion, I offer my deep and most grateful thanks to Mr. Khurshedjee Rustomjee Cama, our respected citizen and well-known oriental scholar, and my own learned preceptor. With that kindness and good nature which are so characteristic of him, and which have invariably won him the esteem and affection of his private pupils, he has most cordially rendered me, in the preparation of this Work, as in that of my previous ones, very valuable assistance. My obligations are due to him also for his many sensible and practical suggestions for the improvement of this Work.

Lastly, I trust to the indulgence of the reader to overlook any inaccuracies or defects which may have crept in the translation, notwithstanding all the care and attention conscientiously bestowed on it. A list of the several oriental works which proved useful to me during the progress of the Work is given elsewhere.

KAVASJI EDALJI KANGA. BOMBAY, April 1880.

(This preface was written by late Ervad K.E. Kanga for the first Edition Published in Gujarati.)

Ervad KAVASJI EDULJI KANGA

Translator of the Vendidad, the Yasna, and the Vispered, the Yashts and

the Gathas;

Author of A Practical Avesta Grammar and of A Complete Dictionary of the Avesta Language (both Avesta into English and English into Avesta).

Fellow of the University of Bombay, Head Master, Mulla Feroze Madressa.

CONTENTS FOREWORD....................................................................................................i FOREWORD TO 2013 CORRECTED EDITION.........................................ii

PREFACE TO THE ENGLISH EDITION OF THE KHORDEH AVESTA- BĀ-MĀYENI...................................................................................................iii PREFACE TO THE ELEVENTH EDITION..................................................v PREFACE TO THE FIFTH EDITION...........................................................vi PREFACE TO THE FOURTH EDITION......................................................vi PREFACE TO THE THIRD EDITION.........................................................vii PREFACE TO THE SECOND EDITION.....................................................vii PREFACE TO THE FIRST EDITION..........................................................vii A note on the Reading and Pronunciation of the Avesta..............................xiv GLOSSARY.................................................................................................xiv

ASHEM VOHŪ...............................................................................................1

AHUNAVAR (YATHĀ AHŪ VAIRYŌ)..........................................................2

NIRANG-I-GOMEZ MĀLIDAN....................................................................2

KEM-NĀ MAZDĀ..........................................................................................3

HORMAZD KHODAY...................................................................................5

JASA ME AVANGHE MAZDA......................................................................6

BĀZ (PRAYER) FOR SAYING GRACE.......................................................7

BĀZ TO BE RECITED BEFORE PASSING URINE AND ANSWERING

THE CALL OF NATURE...............................................................................7

FIVE GĀHS TO BE RECITED SEPARATELY.............................................8

SROSH BĀZ...................................................................................................9

AHMĀI RAĒSHCHA...................................................................................12

HAZANGHREM...........................................................................................12

JASA ME AVANGHE MAZDA....................................................................13

KERFEH MOZD...........................................................................................13

HOSHBĀM...................................................................................................14

KHORSHED NYĀYESH.............................................................................17

MEHER NYĀYESH.....................................................................................28

VĪSPA HUMATA...........................................................................................32

DOĀ NĀM SETĀYESHNE..........................................................................33

HOMAGE FOR THE FOUR DIRECTIONS................................................36

MĀH BOKHTĀR NYĀYESH......................................................................37

ARDVI SURA NYĀYESH...........................................................................41

ĀTASH NYĀYESH......................................................................................49

HĀVAN GĀH................................................................................................58

RAPITHWAN GĀH......................................................................................62

UZIRIN GĀH................................................................................................64

AIWISRUTHREM GĀH...............................................................................67

USHAHEN GĀH...........................................................................................71

PATET (AVESTA).........................................................................................73

xi

xii

PATET PASHEMANI....................................................................................74

HOMAGE UNTO A LAMP..........................................................................88

HOMAGE UNTO FRAVARTIKĀN.............................................................88

HOMAGE UNTO DAKHMA – TOWER OF SILENCE.............................89

HOMAGE UNTO MOUNTAINS.................................................................89

HOMAGE UNTO WATERS.........................................................................89

HOMAGE UNTO PLANTS..........................................................................89

BĀZ OF RECITING ASHEM VOHU 1200.................................................90 YAZISHN HĀ XX known as FRĀMRAOT.................................................91

BĀZ OF RECITING YATHĀ AHU VAIRYO 1200.....................................93

NAMES OF THE DAYS AND MONTHS....................................................96 Description of the Jashans of Twelve Months...............................................98

NAMES OF SEVEN HAMKĀRS - COLABORATEURS.........................100

NAMES OF 12 YAZATAS OF HAMĀYASHT..........................................100

NAMES OF 21 NASKS..............................................................................101

YASHTS......................................................................................................103

HORMAZD YASHT...................................................................................103

NIRANG OF HORMAZD YASHT.............................................................114

HAFTAN YASHT LARGE..........................................................................115

ARDIBEHESHT YASHT............................................................................131

NIRANG OF ARDIBEHESHT YASHT.....................................................138

KHORDĀD YASHT....................................................................................139

KHORSHED YASHT..................................................................................144

MAH YASHT..............................................................................................146

TIR YASHT.................................................................................................148

GOSH YASHT.............................................................................................171

SROSH YASHT HĀDOKHT......................................................................182

NIRANG OF SROSH YASHT HĀDOKHT...............................................192

SROSH YASHT VADI................................................................................192

NIRANG OF SROSH YASHT VADI..........................................................204

FARVARDIN YASHT.................................................................................205

BEHERAM YASHT....................................................................................261

HOM YASHT LARGE................................................................................286

HOM YASHT SMALL................................................................................302

NIRANG OF HOM YASHT........................................................................304

VANANT YASHT.......................................................................................304

NIRANG OF VANANT YASHT.................................................................306

SIROZĀ YASHT.........................................................................................307

KARDĀ TO BE RECITED IN MEMORY OF THE DEPARTED ONES..319

A BRIEF AND INFORMATIVE SYNOPSIS OF THE ABOVE

MENTIONED PAZEND PORTION TO BE RECITED IN BĀZ — LOW

TONE...........................................................................................................325

DOĀ TANDAROSTI (IN AVESTA)...........................................................326

DOĀ TANDAROSTI (IN PAZEND)..........................................................328

CONTENTS xiii

DĪN-NO KALAMO (in Avesta) - THE ZOROASTRIAN CREED (Yasna Hā 12)................................................................................................................329 A SHORT SYNOPSIS OF DĪN-NO KALAMO (i.e. THE ZOROASTRIAN

CREED).......................................................................................................332

DĪN-NO KALAMO, THE ZOROASTRIAN CREED................................332

NIRANG TO BE RECITED AFTER THE RECITATION OF NYĀYESH

AND YASHT...............................................................................................333 101 NAMES................................................................................................334 MONĀJĀT to be recited any time...............................................................337

MONĀJĀT IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY CREATOR.................................340

MONĀJĀT IN PRAISE OF THE HOLY PROPHET ZARTOSHT............341 Farvardin Yasht to be recited along with the Kardāh of “Stum” in the sacred memory of the souls of the departed ones...................................................343 The famous kardāh of yātu zī Zarathushtra of the Haftan Yasht.................347