________________
xxxiv
VENDIDAD.
The seven Gâtha Nasks, thus named because they are mostly a development of the Gâthas, are:
The Stôt Yast (Dk. VIII, 46);
The Sutkar (Dk. VIII, 2; IX, 2);
The Varst-mânsar (Dk. VIII, 3; IX, 24); The Bak (Dk. VIII, 4; IX, 47); The Vastag (Dk. VIII, 12); The Hâdhokht (Dk. VIII, 45); The Spand (Dk. VIII, 14).
We possess the Stôt Yast (in Zend Staota yêsnya) in its entirety: it is the core of the aggregate known as the Yasna, and the most holy part of the Avesta. It contains thirty-three chapters, of which twenty-two are metrical and written in an archaic style, these being the Gâthas, properly so called, and the three chief prayers (Ahuna Vairya, Ashem Vohu, and YêNhê hâtăm); eleven chapters are written in prose and in the common dialect 1.
The Sutkar, the Varst-mânsar, and the Bak contain each twenty-two chapters, answering to the twenty-two Gâthas, of which they are mere commentaries or paraphrases. We possess small fragments of the Sûtkar 2 and one chapter of the Varst-mânsar3. Three chapters of the Bak, which are commentaries to the three chief prayers aforesaid, have been incorporated in the Yasna1.
Nothing is left of the Vastag, of which the Dinkart gives no analysis, as the author had neither its Avesta, nor its Zend (neither its original text, nor its Pahlavi translation), in an authentic form before him.
Of the Hâdhokht we have three chapters counted as Yasts, and one inserted in the Yasna".
The Spand, which is dedicated to the story of Zoroaster, has been indirectly preserved, in a modern form, in the Zardust Nâma and in Ardâ Vîrâf's visit to hell.
1 Gâthas (Yasna XXVIII-LIV) and Yasna XIV-XVII, XXII-XXVII, LVI. * Fragments to Vd. II, 6; Tahmuras' Fragm. LXIV-LXVIII (?).
* Westergaard's Fragm. IV (= Farg. XXIII of the Varst-mânsar Nask). • Chapters XIX, XX, XXI.
Yasts XI and XXI, XXII.
The so-called Fshûsha-mathra (Yasna LVIII).
Digitized by
Google
