Khordeh Avesta, meaning 'little, or lesser, or small Avesta', is the name given to two different collections of
Zoroastrian
Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheistic ...
religious texts. One of the two collections includes the other and takes its name from it.
* In a narrow sense, the term applies to a particular manuscript tradition that includes only the five ''
Nyayesh'' texts, the five ''
Gah'' texts, the four ''
Afrinagan''s, and five introductory chapters that consist of quotations from various passages of the ''Yasna''.
[.] More generally, the term may also be applied to
Avestan texts other than the lengthy liturgical ''
Yasna
Yasna (;"Yasna"
'' Visperad
Visperad or Visprad is either a particular Zoroastrian religious ceremony or the name given to a passage collection within the greater Avesta compendium of texts.
Overview
The Visperad ceremony "consists of the rituals of the Yasna, virtually unch ...
'' and ''
Vendidad
The Vendidad /Λvendi'dΓ¦d/ or Videvdat or Videvdad is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the ''Vendidad'' is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual.
Name
...
''. The term then also extends to the twenty-one
yasht
The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns in the Younger Avestan language. Each of these hymns invokes a specific Zoroastrian divinity or concept. ''Yasht'' chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated as ''Yt.''
Overview
The wor ...
s and the thirty ''
Siroza'' texts, but does not usually encompass the various Avestan language
fragments found in other works.
* In the 19th century, when the first ''Khordeh Avesta'' editions were printed, the selection of Avesta texts described above (together with some non-Avestan language prayers) became a book of common prayer for lay people.
[.] In addition to the texts mentioned above, the published ''Khordeh Avesta'' editions also included selections from the ''Yasna'' necessary for daily worship, such as the ''
Ahuna Vairya
Ahuna Vairya (Avestan: π¬π¬΅π¬π¬₯π¬ π¬¬π¬π¬π¬π¬π¬π¬) is the first of Zoroastrianism's four Gathic Avestan formulas. The text, which appears in ''Yasna'' 27.13, is also known after its opening words yatha ahu vairyo. In Zoroas ...
'' and ''
Ashem Vohu
Ashem Vohu (, Avestan: π¬π¬΄π¬π¬¨ π¬¬π¬π¬΅π¬ aαΉ£ΜΙm vohΕ«) is a very important prayer in Zoroastrianism. The Ashem Vohu, after the Ahunavar is considered one of the most basic, yet meaningful and powerful mantras in the religion. I ...
''. The selection of texts is not fixed, and so publishers are free to include any text they choose. Several ''Khordeh Avesta'' editions are quite comprehensive, and include
Pazend
Pazend () or Pazand ( pal, π―π π°ππ£; ae, π¬π¬π¬π¬π¬ π¬°π¬π¬π¬₯π¬π¬) is one of the writing systems used for the Middle Persian language. It was based on the Avestan alphabet, a phonetic alphabet originally used to ...
prayers, modern devotional compositions such as the poetical or semi-poetical Gujarati language, Gujarati ''monagat''s, or glossaries and other reference lists such as dates of religious events.
References
{{Zoroastrian literature
Zoroastrian texts