Original Magic: The Rituals and Initiations of the Persian Magi - Stephen E. Flowers Ph.D. 2017

Hymns/Manthras
The History of Iranian Magic

The Avestan literature that survives today consists entirely of formulas used in rituals. Much of this literature was lost over the centuries, but the core texts have survived for the continued practice of the Zoroastrian religion. This body of literature fills about three volumes of texts in both the Older Avestan and Younger Avestan dialects. The Older Avestan texts are works that were actually composed by the prophet Zarathustra sometime in the middle of the second millennium BCE. These texts are commonly referred to as the Gathas. The Younger Avestan texts come from the time of the Achaemenids, in the middle of the first millennium BCE. Over this span of about one thousand years the language changed, but not radically. Ritual texts are found in these two dialects along with admixed sections that make use of Pahlavi, or Middle Persian, which was the common language of the Persian court at the time of the Sasanians. The hymns obviously presuppose knowledge of the myths and formulas of the system, so they are not composed to explain the system to those without knowledge, but rather they are purely practical formulas intended to invoke the called-upon powers. They are often not addressed to humans but to the yazatas themselves and to the priesthood of Ahura Mazda, the Magians. The Older Avestan texts in particular are often very difficult to translate. Scholars have noted that a text can be translated several times by the same person with several different meanings. Technically, this is due to the ambiguity of the grammar and syntax, but in point of esoteric fact it is because the manthras have been composed as much for their sonic formulaic power as for their grammatical meaning. Certain sounds in certain combinations have certain effects. These effects are preserved in the manthras, and this is why they were memorized.