Den Yasht
   HOME





Den Yasht
The Den Yasht is the sixteenth Yasht of the 21 Yasht collection. It is named after Daena, the Zoroastrian representation of ''conscience'' or ''religion'', but is actually dedicated to the veneration of Chista, the Zoroastrian divinity representing ''wisdom'' and ''insight''. Name The Den Yasht is named after Daena, a complex Zoroastrian concept, variably translated as ''vision'', ''conscience'' and ''religion''. It's content, however, make it clear that it is dedicated to Chista. It has been speculated that the similarity between the two concepts lead to a partial fusion of both, which may explain the apparent inconsistency. Structure and content The Den Yasht follows the structure established for other Yasht, such that the respective divinity is addressed by prominent people, known from the Zoroastrian tradition. There are however, also strong differences. In most Yashts, it is the legendary heroes from Iran's mythical history, which praise the gods in hope for boons related ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Yasht
A Yasht (, ) is a hymn of praise composed in the Young Avestan language and dedicated to specific Zoroastrian divinities. The term commonly applies to the collection of 21 Yashts, although it may also refer to other texts within the wider Avesta collection. Name The English word ''yasht'' is derived from Middle Persian 𐭩𐭱𐭲 (, "prayer, worship"). In the Pahlavi literature, the word is used interchangeably with ''yasn''. Yasht probably originated from Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬱𐬙𐬀‎ (, "honored") from 𐬫𐬀𐬰‎ (, "to worship, honor"). It may ultimately go back to Proto-Indo-European ''*yeh₂ǵ-'' or ''*Hyaǵ-''. Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬱𐬙𐬀‎ is also the origin of two other terms. First, Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬯𐬥𐬀 (, act of worship), which is a general Zoroastrian term for an act of worship or specifically the Yasna ritual, and, second, Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀 (, (being) worthy of worship), which is a general Zoroastrian term for divinity. The ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sasanian Avesta
The Sasanian Avesta or Great Avesta refers to the anthology of Zoroastrian literature produced during the Sasanian period. Most of this work is now lost, but its content and structure can be reconstructed from references found in a number of texts from the 9th century onward. Compared to the extant Avesta, the Sasanian Avesta was much larger and organized into 21 distinct volumes called ''nasks'' (Avestan: ''naska''; Middle Persian: ''nask'', 'bundle'). Of those, only one is preserved in its entirety, while others are either lost or only preserved in fragments. Sources The most important source on the Sasanian Avesta is the Denkard, a 9th-10th century compendium of Zoroastrianism. The 8th and 9th book of the Denkard give an overview of the Avesta as it was available at the time. Whereas the 8th book lists the content, the 9th book provides a lengthy summary on a number of its nasks In addition, the Rivayats, a series of epistles from the 15th - 17th century, also list its con ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Émile Benveniste
Émile Benveniste (; 27 May 1902 – 3 October 1976) was a French Structuralism, structural linguistics, linguist and semiotics, semiotician. He is best known for his work on Indo-European languages and his critical reformulation of the linguistic paradigm established by Ferdinand de Saussure. Biography Benveniste was born in Aleppo, Aleppo Vilayet, Ottoman Syria to a Sephardi Jews, Sephardi family. His father sent him to Paris to undertake rabbinical studies, but he left the Rabbinical School after receiving his baccalauréat, and enrolled in the École pratique des hautes études. There he studied under Antoine Meillet, a former student of Saussure, and Joseph Vendryes, completing his degree in 1920. He would return to the École pratique des hautes études in 1927 as a director of studies, and would receive his doctorate there in 1935, with his major thesis on the formation of noun roots, and his secondary thesis on the Avestan infinitive. Following Meillet's death in 1936, he ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Herman Lommel
Herman Lommel (7 July 1885 – 5 October 1968), born Hermann Lommel, was a German Indologist and Iranologist who was Chair of Indo-European Studies at the Goethe University Frankfurt from 1917 to 1950. Biography Herman Lommel was born in Erlangen, Germany on 7 July 1885, the son of physicist Eugen von Lommel (1837-1899). Since 1905, Lommel studied comparative philology, Indology and Iranian studies at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich and the University of Göttingen under Jacob Wackernagel (Indo-European), Hermann Oldenberg (Indology) and Friedrich Carl Andreas (Iranian studies). Lommel gained his Ph.D. at Göttingen in 1912 under the supervision of Wackernagel. He completed his habilitation at Göttingen in 1914, and subsequently lectured there. Lommel served in the German Army during World War I. From 1917 to 1950, Lommel was Chair of Indo-European Studies at the Goethe University Frankfurt. Lommel specialized in the study of Indo-Iranian languages and cultures. He wa ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




James Darmesteter
James Darmesteter (28 March 184919 October 1894) was a French author, orientalist, and antiquarian. Biography He was born of Jewish parents at Château-Salins, in Lorraine. The family name had originated in their earlier home of Darmstadt. He was educated in Paris, where, under the guidance of Michel Bréal and Abel Bergaigne, he imbibed a love for Oriental studies, to which for a time he entirely devoted himself. In 1875, he published a thesis on the mythology of the ''Avesta'', in which he advocated that the Persian religion of Zoroastrianism had been influenced by Judaism (and not that Zoroastrianism influenced Judaism as many scholars said). In 1877 became teacher of Persian language at the École des Hautes Études. He continued his research with his ''Études iraniennes'' (1883), and ten years later published a complete translation of the ''Avesta'' and associated ''Zend'' (lit. "commentary"), with historical and philological commentary of his own (''Zend Avesta'', 3 vols. ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Karl Friedrich Geldner
Karl Friedrich Geldner (17 December 1852 – 5 February 1929) was a German linguist best known for his analysis and synthesis of Avestan and Vedic Sanskrit texts. Biography Geldner was born in Saalfeld, Saxe-Meiningen, where his father was a Protestant clergyman. Geldner studied Sanskrit and Avestan at the University of Leipzig in 1871 before moving to the University of Tübingen in 1872. He received a doctorate in Indological studies in 1875, and became a ''privatdozent'' following his ''habilitation'' in 1876. In 1887, Gelder moved back to the north-east, this time to Halle, where he was appointed extraordinary professor in 1890, followed by an extraordinary faculty-chairmanship at the University of Berlin a few months later. Geldner lectured in Berlin for 17 years. In 1907, he moved to the University of Marburg where he had been appointed ordinary professor. He retired from active teaching in 1921, and remained in Marburg until his death in 1929. Academic achievements G ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Niels Ludvig Westergaard
Niels Ludvig Westergaard (27 October 1815 – 9 September 1878) was a Danish Orientalist and professor. Biography Westergaard was born in Copenhagen, Denmark. In 1833, he became a student at Borgerdivskolen in Copenhagen. Westergaard studied Old Norse as well as Sanskrit and continuing his studies at the University of Bonn (1838 with Christian Lassen 1800–1876), and also in London, Paris and Oxford. After returning to Denmark, he published "''Radices linguae sanscritae''". From 1841 to 1844 he journeyed throughout India and Persia, where he conducted important investigations in Bombay and at Persepolis. In 1844 he began deciphering ancient Elamite cuneiform using the 3-way parallel text of the 6th cent. BC Behistun Inscription, finding 96 syllabic signs, 16 ideograms, and 5 determinants. In 1845 he was appointed professor of Indo-Oriental philology at the University of Copenhagen. From 1867-68 he was rector of the University. Westergaard was married in 1845 to Christiane ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Avesta
The Avesta (, Book Pahlavi: (), Persian language, Persian: ()) is the text corpus of Zoroastrian literature, religious literature of Zoroastrianism. All its texts are composed in the Avestan language and written in the Avestan alphabet. Modern Edition (book), editions of the Avesta are based on the various manuscript traditions that have survived in Zoroastrianism in India, India and Zoroastrianism in Iran, Iran. The individual texts of the Avesta were originally Oral tradition, oral compositions. They were composed over a long period of several centuries during the Avestan period, Old Iranian period (possibly ranging from 15th century BCE – 4th century BCE). The written transmission began during the Sassanian empire, Sassanian period, with the creation of the Avestan alphabet. The resulting texts were then compiled into a comprehensive edition of the Sasanian Avesta, Avesta in 21 volumes. This edition was lost sometime after the 10th century CE and only a small part survi ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


Bagan Yasht
The Bagan yasht was, according to the Denkard, the fourteenth ''nask'' (volume) of the Sasanian Avesta. The work itself is lost, but based on later references, several of the extant Yashts are considered to have originally been part of the nask. Sources The nask itself is no longer extant. Some information on its content are given in Book 8 of the Denkard, a 9th-10th century compendium of Zoroastrianism. In addition, the Rivayats, a series of epistles from the 15th - 17th century, give a short overview on the content of the Bagan yasht. Name There is some confusion regarding the name of this nask. For instance Yasna 19-21 is also sometimes called Bagan yasht, even though these parts originally belonged to the Bag nask. In the Rivayats, the name is given as ''Baḡān yašt'' and ''Bayān yašt''. In the Denkard, however, it is given as ''Baḡān yašt'' or ''Baḡān yasn''. While ''Yasht'' or ''Yasn'' is derived from Avestan ''Yaz'', to sacrifice, the term ''Bagan'' probably ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Sasanian Empire
The Sasanian Empire (), officially Eranshahr ( , "Empire of the Iranian peoples, Iranians"), was an List of monarchs of Iran, Iranian empire that was founded and ruled by the House of Sasan from 224 to 651. Enduring for over four centuries, the length of the Sasanian dynasty's reign over ancient Iran was second only to the directly preceding Arsacid dynasty of Parthia. Founded by Ardashir I, whose rise coincided with the decline of Arsacid influence in the face of both internal and external strife, the House of Sasan was highly determined to restore the legacy of the Achaemenid Empire by expanding and consolidating the Iranian nation's dominions. Most notably, after defeating Artabanus IV of Parthia during the Battle of Hormozdgan in 224, it began competing far more zealously with the neighbouring Roman Empire than the Arsacids had, thus sparking a new phase of the Roman–Iranian Wars. This effort by Ardashir's dynasty ultimately re-established Iran as a major power of late an ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  




Daena
Daēnā () is a Zoroastrian concept representing insight and revelation, hence "conscience" or "religion." Alternately, ''Daena'' is considered to be a divinity, counted among the ''yazata''s. Nomenclature Daena is a feminine noun which translates to "that which is seen or observed". In ''Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith'', Peter Clark suggests that the term might also be tied to the Avestan root "deh" or "di-" to gain understanding.Clark, Peter (1998), ''Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith'', 1, Sussex: Sussex Academic Press: 69-70. The Avestan term – trisyllabic ' in Gathic Avestan and bisyllabic ' in Younger Avestan – continues into Middle Persian as ''dēn'' () (origin of New Persian دین), which preserves the Avestan meanings. For comparison, it has a Sanskrit cognate ''dhénā'' which means thought, but thought in its higher and spiritual reaches. The word ''Zen'', as used in the name of the religious sect of Zen Buddhism, ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]  


picture info

Avestan Period
The Avestan period () is the period in the history of the Arya (Iran), Iranians when the Avesta was produced. It saw important contributions to both the Zoroastrianism, religious sphere, as well as to Persian mythology, Iranian mythology and its Shahnameh, epic tradition. Scholars can reliably distinguish between two different linguistic strata in the Avesta; Old Avestan and Young Avestan, which are interpreted as belonging to two different stages in the development of the Avestan language and society. The Old Avestan society is the one to which Zarathustra himself and his immediate followers belonged. The Young Avestan society is less clearly delineated and reflects a larger time span. There is a varying level of agreement on the chronological and geographical boundaries of the Avestan period. Regarding the geographical extent of the Avesta, modern scholarship agrees that it reflects the eastern portion of Greater Iran. Regarding the chronological extent, scholarship initially ...
[...More Info...]      
[...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]