Book Title: Alphabet Key To History Of Mankind
Author(s): David Diringer
Publisher: Hutchinsons Scientific and Technical Publications
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NON-SEMITIC OFFSHOOTS OF ARAMAIC BRANCH 309 The Avesta literature was composed in a dialect now called "Avestic" or simply "Avesta." According to the Parsis, "nothing which was not written in this dialect can claim to be considered as part of the sacred literature." On the other hand, there is no other document extant, whether inscription or profane literature, written in "Avestic." The original home of this dialect is unknown. The Avesta literature is a complex collection of writings, containing the liturgies, the "law," solemn invocations, prayers, etc., and is still used amongst Parsis as "Bible" and "Prayer-book," in India (where there are about 90,000 Parsis) and in Persia (about 10,000 Parsis).
The manuscripts of the Avesta fall, therefore, into two classes, the Indian (the oldest dating from the thirteenth and early fourteenth century A.D.), and the Persiun MSS. (which do not go further back than the seventeenth century. but surpass their Indian contemporaries in point of correctness and carefulness of execution). The Iranian or Persian style of writing is a very vigorous cursive and oblique" hand, whereas the Indian style is "rather straight and pointed." (D. Mackichan).
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