The Ohrmazd Yasht is the first

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 Avest ...

of the Yasht collection. It is named after and dedicated to

Ahura Mazda Ahura Mazda (; ; or , ),The former is the New Persian rendering of the Avestan form, while the latter derives from Middle Persian. also known as Horomazes (),, is the only creator deity and Sky deity, god of the sky in the ancient Iranian ...

, the central divinity of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religions, Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zoroaster, Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, ...

Overview

''Ohrmazd'' is the

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

name of

as well as of the first day of the month on which the Yasht is celebrated. It consists of 33 stanzas. Within the Yasht collection of 21 Yashts, the Ohrmazd Yasht is the first hymn. Compard to the so called Great Yashts, it is assumed to be a later text. Regardless, it is by far the most popular of the hymns. The Ormazd Yasht does not contain any of the elements typical of the legendary or hymnic Yashts and is therefore categorized as a ''minor'' Yasht. It does, however, use the so called ''Frasna-formula'', where the texts is presented as a conversation between Zarathustra and Ahura Mazda.

Structure and content

The content of the Ohrmazd Yasht primarily covers the many names of Ahura Mazda. After the introductory stanzas 1-6, stanzas 7-11 contain a list of the 20 names of Ahura Mazda and a description of their efficacy. Stanzas 12-15 contain a second list of names, which is independent from the first list and seems to be a later insertion. Stanzas 16-19 continue the description from earlier part, i.e., they refer again to the first list. Stanzas 20-23 seeem to close off the Yasht thematically with stanza 23 in particuar containing the typical closing formula of the Yashts. This part is, therefore, considered to have been its original ending. It is unclear when and why the remaining stanzas 24-33 were added to the text.

Darmesteter Darmesteter is a surname. Notable people with the surname include: * Agnes Mary Frances Duclaux (once Darmesteter) (1857–1944), English writer and scholar *Arsène Darmesteter (1846–1888), French philologist *James Darmesteter James Darmeste ...

, for example, has opined that they are a fragment from the lost ''Bahman Yasht'' to

Vohu Manah Vohu Manah (Avestan: 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬎⸱𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬀𐬵 ''vohu manah'') is the Avestan language term for a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as "Good Purpose", "Good Mind", or "Good Thought", referring to the good state of mind th ...

Translations

Next to Yasht 11, the Ohrmazd Yasht is the only Yasht with an old translation in Middle Persian. In addition, the Yasht has translations into modern Persian as well as Sanskrit. The first translation of the Ohrmazd Yasht into English was published in 1883 by

. In 1892, he also published a translation into French. In 1927,

Lommel Lommel () is a municipality and city in the Belgian province of Limburg. Lying in the Kempen, it has about 34,000 inhabitants and is part of the arrondissement of Maaseik. Besides the residential town, Lommel also has a number of nature reserv ...

published a translation into German. More recently, Panaino published an translation into English dedicated to the Ohrmazd Yasht as well as the

Ram Yasht The Ram Yasht is the fifteenth Yasht of the 21 Yasht collection. It is named after Raman, a minor Zoroastrian deity, but it is actually dedicated to Vayu, the Zoroastrian divinity representing the Wind and Atmosphere. Name Ram is the Middle Per ...

References

Citations

Bibliography

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External links

Text of the Ohrmazd Yasht
at Avesta.org based on the edition by Geldner
English translation of the Ohrmazd Yasht
at Avesta.org based on the translation by

{{Zoroastrian literature Zoroastrian literature Zoroastrianism