Book Title: Sacred Laws of Aryas
Author(s): Gorge Buhler
Publisher: Oxford


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Page 911
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PAHLAVI TEXTS.
To understand the relationship between these two classes of Parsi sacred writings, it must be observed that the Avesta and Pahlavi of the same scripture, taken together, form its Avesta and Zand, terms which are nearly synonymous with
revelation and commentary. Both words are derived from verbal roots implying' knowledge;'Avesta being the Pahlavi avistâk, which may most probably be traced to the past participle of a, 'to,' + vid, 'to know,' with the meaning of what is announced' or 'declaration ;' and Zand, being the Pahlavi form of Av. zainti (traceable in the word âzaintis), must be referred to the root zan,' to know,' with the meaning of knowledge, understanding?' European scholars, misled probably by Muhammadan writers, have converted the phrase “Avesta and Zand' into • Zend-Avesta,' and have further identified Zand with the language of the Avesta. This use of the word Zand is, however, quite at variance with the practice of all Parsi writers who have been independent of European influence, as they apply the term Zand only to the Pahlavi translations and explanations of their sacred books, the original text of which they call Avesta. So that when they use the phrase 'Avesta and Zand' they mean the whole of any scripture, both the Avesta text and Pahlavi translation and commentary. And the latter, being often their only means of understanding the former, has now become of nearly equal authority with the Avesta itself. It is probable, indeed, that the first Zand was really written in the Avesta language, as we find many traces of such Avesta commentaries interpolated both in the Avesta and Pahlavi texts of the Parsi scriptures; but this is rather a matter of European inference than of Parsi belief. The later (or Pahlavi) Zand appears also, in many places, to be merely a translation of this earlier (or Avesta) Zand, with additional explanations offered by the Pahlavi translators.
Regarding the sacredness of these Pahlavi translations, in the eyes of the Parsis, there can be no manner of doubt, so far as they cannot be shown to be inconsistent with the
See Haug's Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis, second edition, London, 1878; pp. 121, 122.
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