THE NEW SCHAFF-HERZOG
though embodying unquestionably early material. According to the account which is being cited, a Parthian king Valkhash (Vologeses I., a contemporary of Nero) ordered the collection of the fragments still remaining in various quarters. Then in the Sassanian dynasty, so the story runs, Ardashir (226-240 A.D.) commissioned the high-priest Tansar* to collect the fragments and complete an edition of the Avesta, and by a decree made the resulting work canonical. This indicates the reaffirmation or establishment of a certain type of Zoroastrianism as the state religion, with a definite redaction of the scriptures as sacred, possibly in opposition to some other redaction. Ardashir’s son and successor, Shahpur I. (241-272 a.p.), is said to have ordered the collection of scattered documents on the sciences and their incorporation in the Avesta. And under Shahpur II. (309-379), after a final revision, the ordeal of fire (molten brass) established the true religion as dominant and inclusive (c. 350 A.D.).
This account, when one reads between the lines with the aid of the Tansar letter and other historical allusions, is luminous. It indicates the Gathas
as the kernel of Zoroastrian literature
3. Signifi- and the most sacred portion. There cance of is also suggested a considerable anthis tiquity for parts of the extant books,
Account. with a series of misfortunes to the relig-
ion and its literature which the history of Persia bears out (see in part Mmepo-Prrsia; Sz- LEUCIDZ). The area of this religion was full of unrest for a millennium, continuing till the Tatar and Arab invasions, and there was security for neither religion nor people, for sacred writings nor continuous rule. Accordingly the literature suffered, and even in the religion itself there were sects and divisions, as is common in the history of every great faith. Then came the attempts to save the rest and to stamp it as authoritative. Successive canons are indicated, with accretions from foreign sources. After that came the use of a new language (the Pahlavi), in which were written translations of the sacred books, and also studies and commentaries (see below), and these came also to have high value among Zoroastrians. How close a parallel to this history is furnished by the Hebrew religion with its threefold canon (see CANON or ScRIPTURE) and its Talmud (q.v.) is apparent at once. It will be recalled that a Jewish saying regards Yahweh himself as engaging on the Sabbath in the study of the Talmud.
Interest in this literature was for modern times first aroused by Thomas Hyde, author of Historia religionis veterum Persarum eorumque magorum ubi . . . Zoroastris vita, ejusque et aliorwm vaticinia . . . eruuntur ... (Oxford, 1700, 2d ed., 1760, with somewhat changed title), in which he appealed to travelers in the East to procure the sacred books of the Parsees. In 1723 a manuscript copy (made 1680-81) of the Vendidad Sada (the Vendidad with-
out commentary) was brought by Richard Cobbe ee ees * A letter from this Tansar, interpolated but easily purified by critical methods, is extant and is given in JA, 1894, i. 185-250, 502-555. This is the earliest extant document throwing native light on the history of Zoroastrianism.
to England and deposited in the Bodleian Library, but was, of course, entirely useless in the state of knowledge then existing. In 1754 the
4. Dis- sight of four leaves of this manuscript covery and fired’the imagination of Anquetil Du- Early Study perron, a young French student in the
of the Ecole des langues orientales at Paris, Avesta. and he determined to secure for France the Zoroastrian books and the honor
attaching to the first translation of them. To achieve
this end he enlisted in 1755 with the French East India Company’s forces, and finally in 1758 reached Surat and the Parsees. It took him several years to win the confidence of the community, and to obtain their books and such knowledge of them as was then possible to gain, so that not until 1764 could he return to Paris. In 1771 he published Zend-Avesta, ouvrage de Zoroastre, contenant les idées theologiques, physiques et morales de ce législateur, traduit en fran- ¢ois sur Voriginal Zend (3 vols., Paris). A violent controversy at once broke out, the book was pronounced a modern production, and the contents were denounced as impossible from the standpoint of what was known of the religion. William Jones, afterward Sir William, the noted orientalist and pioneer in Sanskrit, led the attack, which continued till the end of the century. Yet it was due to this scholar that the relations of the language of the Avesta to the Sanskrit were first seen. A step forward was taken by Sylvestre de Sacy in 1793 through the decipherment of Sassanian Pahlavi inscriptions, using Duperron’s Pahlavi dictionary. Eugene Burnouf made the next advance about 1825-30 by the use of a Sanskrit translation of the Yasna and established thoroughly the relationship of the Old Persian and Sanskrit tongues and even began a comparative mythology. While Duperron’s translation was found defective and misleading, the decipherment of the Persepolis and Behistun inscriptions made clear the fact of a language closely related to that of the Avesta in use under the Achemenians. And so, for more than a century investigation has been applied to the elucidation of the Avesta, and still many problems remain unsolved. And in connection with this literature it may still be said that few fields offer so alluring opportunities for original and profitable research as the Zoroastrian sacred books. Especial need exists for the thoroughgoing application of textual and historical
criticism. The name Zend-Avesta, by which the principal work is generally known in the West, is a mistake in terminology fastened upon it by
5. The Hyde and Duperron. Parsees unaf- Name _ fected by European influence call their “Zend- sacred books “ Avesta and Zend,” the Avesta.” equivalent of which is very nearly
“ Avesta with (Pahlavi) translation and commentary.”’ These two words, “ Avesta’ and “ Zend,” though coming from different roots, are each almost equivalent to “ knowledge,’’ Avesta signifying perhaps knowledge that is revealed (or divine law) and Zend that which is acquired by study of the books and is written in Pahlavi. The combination is due to the fact that in very many cases the Avesta and the commentary accompany each