Zend Avesta Part 01

SR No.: 007671
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Darmesteter
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1895
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 395

VI. THE ERPATISTÂN AND NIRANGISTÂN.
Of all the lost Nasks, the one of which the largest fragments have been preserved is the seventeenth one called the Huspâram. It was composed of sixty-four Fargards, of which two of the first thirty were called Erpatistân, the Sacerdotal Code,' and Nîrangistân, the Ritual Code;' the former dealing chiefly with clerical organisation, and the latter with a portion of the ritual. Their general contents are known from the analysis of the Nasks given in the Dînkart (VIII, ch. 28, 29; West, Pahlavi Texts, IV, 92-97).
These two Zend treatises were treated like the Vendidâd, that is to say, were translated and commented on in Pahlavi, at least partially. They have not come to us in any Sada manuscript, but are to be recovered from their Pahlavi expansion, the so-called Pahlavi Nîrangistân', which presents nearly the same aspect as the Pahlavi Vendidad, that is to say, it contains the Zend original text with a Pahlavi translation, and a lengthy commentary, in which latter many connected questions are treated and a considerable number of Zend quotations from other Nasks are adduced. The first thing to do is to distinguish what belongs to the principal text, which is the object of the commentary, and what are the Zend quotations adduced from elsewhere by the commentator. The distinction of the two components is easily seen, as the principal text is always accompanied by a translation, whereas the quotations are not. They are either formulas recited during the performance of the ceremonies, or texts adduced as demonstrative or explanatory of such or such statement'. These quotations once removed, there remains a continuous text which answers closely to the analysis in the Dinkart. But a comparison with that analysis, as well as internal evidence, shows that only a part of the original text is preserved, and that
It has been long known under that title, but ought to be called Erpatistan and Nîrangistân.'
They are adduced with the uniform words ... min ... padtak yahvůnêt, it appears from the passage : ...'
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