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

A Note on the Languages and Texts of the Mazdan Tradition
Introduction

In the long history of Iranian magical tradition, many languages and dialects were used to convey the sacred words of texts, all of which make up the corpus of material studied by Mazdans today. This long history and complex textual body often leads to confusion. Here I will try to clarify the picture.

The major languages of the ancient Mazdan tradition are Avestan, Old Persian, and Pahlavi (Middle Persian). Avestan was a dialect spoken in Bactria, the far eastern part of the Iranian world (now in Central Asia). It was the language of Zarathustra in which he composed the manthras known as the Gathas. This language is known as Old Avestan. Those who came after Zarathustra composed a vast corpus of material (recorded orally for centuries) in a later form of Avestan (Younger Avestan). These works, together with the Gathas, form what is known as the Avesta.

The Avesta is made up of the Yasnas (which include the Gathas), Yashts, Visperad, Vendidad, and Khorda Avesta. The Yasnas consist of seventy-two chapters of text used in the recitation of ritual. The Yashts are mythological hymns devoted to individual yazatas. The Visperad consists of supplements to the Yasnas. The Vendidad (literally “antidemon-law”) is a collection of laws, purifications, and other religious lore. The Khorda Avesta (Short Avesta) is a corpus of ritual manthras used in ceremonial work. It contains the sîrôzahs. Additionally, there are some Avestan fragments.

Also of great antiquity is the dialect known as Old Persian, which is only recorded in cuneiform inscriptions from the Achaemenid Empire (530—330 BCE).

In the Sasanian period (224—651 CE) the dominant language was Pahlavi, a direct descendant of Old Persian. Works in this language are often translations of older Avestan material now otherwise lost, but there is also a vast body of original Pahlavi works. Pahlavi texts of major importance include the cosmological treatise Bundahishn (Creation), the Menog-i-Khrad (Spirit of Wisdom), and the voluminous and eclectic Denkard (Religion-Work). The Bundahishn exists in two renditions: a “greater” (longer) one of Iranian provenance and a “lesser” (shorter) version from India. Both are in Pahlavi. Confusion often arises over the terms Zand and Pazand. These are not languages or texts, per se, but rather modalities of scripts used to represent the Pahlavi-language texts.

English translations of most of the texts are found in the Sacred Books of the East series (1879—1910), which is now in the public domain and easily accessible online.