1 Talking with God: the Zoroastrian intercalation ceremonies Alberto Cantera University of Salamanca acantera@usal.es http://ada.usal.es/pages/acantera_alberto Most Avestan manuscripts are complete guides for the celebration of the main Zoroastrian liturgy: the Yasna or the long liturgy. This ceremony is celebrated in two main variants: the standard daily ceremony or Yasna; and a more solemn celebration called Yašt ī Wisperad or (short) Wīsperad. The latter is the basis for the celebration of the intercalation ceremonies in which young Avestan dialogic texts are intercalated between the different Gāθās and the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti in the core of the long liturgy. The extant manuscripts include guides for the celebration of two such ceremonies: the Yašt ī Wisperad with Widewdād (or short Widewdad ceremony) in which a text called Widēwdād the law for repelling the daēuua is intercalated and the Yašt ī Wištāsp in which the intercalated text is the Wīstāsp Sāst. You might see in your hand-out the scheme of these intercalations (#1): Old Avestan Wisperad Wīdēwdād Wištāsp Yašt 1 Y27.6 Vr12 Y27.7-27.13 V1-4 Vyt1 2 Y.28-30 Vr13 V5-6 Vyt2 3 Y32-Y34.13 Vr14 V7-8 Vyt3 Vr15 4 Y35-42 Vr16-17 V9-10 Vyt4 5 Y43-46 Vr18 V11-12 Vyt5 6 Y47-50 Vr19 V13-14 Vyt6 7 Y51 Vr20 V15-16 Vr21 [repetition of Y35-42] Vr22 V17-18 Vyt7 8 Y52-53 Vr23 V19-20 Vyt8 9 Y54 Vr24 V21-22 These ceremonies are quite interesting since they insert in the core of the ritual a consultation with god presented to the sacrificial community, a peculiarity unknown in the same form in the related Vedic ritual. The representation of the encounter with God in the ritual is a useful tool for priests, for it makes possible to compose new text in Young Avestan and to introduce them in the ritual as sanctioned by god. Nevertheless, they have got very little attention, if any. Mostly they have been disregarded as a late and artificial priestly extension of the proper liturgy in which the intercalated texts have no relationship with the Old Avestan texts and with the ritual cursus. Today I ll try to argue against these positions and to show the antiquity of these ceremonies and its religious and ritual background. The antiquity of the ceremonies of intercalation Boyce (1992, 135) assumes that the first intercalation ceremony was the Widewdad ceremony, created in Sasanian times, encouraged by the success of the Widewdad as legal and purity treaty. The Vīštāsp Yašt ceremony would have been modelled after the Wīdēwdād and should accordingly been even later. Actually, this view has not a philological or historical basis. The Sasanian treaty Nerangestān does not mention the
2 Widewdad ceremony, but it attests the existence of other intercalation ceremonies, as the Bayān Yašt. Actually, we have evidence that the intercalation ceremonies are not late creations combining existing texts, but existed already at the time of the arrangement of the long liturgy. I ll present you four arguments of different character supporting this idea. The clearest evidence of the early existence of such ceremonies is offered by the list of the textual ratu of the Wisperad ceremony. In several passages of the long liturgy we find a list of the ratu a a the articulations of the Order. These lists consist of two main groups of ratu: the time ratu, that is, the ritual times and their corresponding divinities, and the textual ratu-, including the textual units that will appear during the ceremony. The list of the textual ratu of the standard Wisperad belongs, in fact, to an intercalation ceremony in which some Young Avestan texts (mainly Yašts) are intercalated between the Old Avestan texts, as I have some in a recent paper (Cantera 2009) (#2): staota yesniia Y27.13 Ahuna Vairiia Y27.14 Ašəm Vohū Y27.15 Yeŋ hē hātąm Ahunauuaitī gāϑā Ahumaṇt- ratumaṇt- ( ) Yasna haptaŋhāiti Uštauuaitī gāϑā Spəṇtā.mainiiū gāϑā Vohuxšaϑrā gāϑā Vahištōišti Gāϑā Y54.1 Ariiaman išiia Fšūšō mąϑra Ratu bərəz haδaoxta āhūiri frašna ahūiri t kaēša hadiš vāstrauuaṇt intercalations γənąnąm pouru.sarəδō.vīrō.vąϑβąm Yt5 Yt19 Yt14 Yt10 Dahmā Āfrīti This ceremony with intercalated Yašts is often mentioned in the Nērangestān as Bayān Yašt. The second argument is the existence of ceremony markers for each intercalation ceremony that substitute most of the mentions of ratu āuuani in a standard Wisperad ceremony: Widēwdād dātāi. haδa.dātāi. vīdaēuuāi. zaraθuštrāi. for the prescriptions as accompanying prescriptions that repeal the daēuua and belong to Zaraθuštra Wištāsp Yašt haδa.mąθrāi. zai i. arštāi. u airi. ātu ii. ərə tāi. mąθrāi. s ə tāi. For the Bounteous Mąθra as accompanying Mąθra, asked wisely and grasped on the thrones These ceremony markers were composed in correct Young Avestan (with the exception of the use of the Zaraθu tra instead of the adjective zaraθu ti) and appear in accusative, genitive and dative. This implies that, when theses ceremonies were performed for the first time, the celebrating priests were still able to compose at least short texts in Young Avestan.
3 The Nērangestān (N43.8) attests further the existence of a ceremony marker for the Hādōxt ceremony ( a a āi a a n a a raϑβ ). Most likely, the Hādōxt Yašt was an intercalation ceremony in which HN1 was inserted after the Ašəm Vohu of Y27.14 and HN2 after the Vahištōišti Gāθā. So these Young Avestan markers give us evidence not only for the existence of the intercalation ceremonies of the Wīdēwdād and the Wīstāsp Yašt, but also of other intercalation ceremonies that, although were celebrated still in Sassanian times, disappeared from the ritual practice before the generalization of the copies of liturgical manuscripts. The third argument for the early existence of the intercalation ceremonies is the proper structure of the intercalated texts. I don t have time today to discuss this point, but let me just mention the main lines of the argumentation. In my view, the intercalated texts did not have an independent existence out of the ritual and were then intercalated in these peculiar ceremonies, but were composed for being intercalated between the Old Avestan texts. In fact, there are striking parallelisms between the structure of the Old Avestan texts and the intercalated texts. The intercalation reflects, indeed, an exegetical reading of the Old Avestan texts. The Wīdēwdād reads the Old Avestan texts as representing the universal and the individual salvation and is intercalated among the Old Avestan texts according to this pattern, so that there are obvious correspondences between the Old Avestan texts and the Wīdēwdād texts recited after them (#4): Ahuna Vairiia V1: the creation of the countries and the attack of Aŋra Mainiiu Y34 (sacrifice) V8: first mention of the baršnūm Yasna Haptaŋhāiti V9-10: the bar nūm purifications ceremony 2 nd Y. Haptaŋhāiti V18: Sraoša Vahištōištī Gāθā V19: Zaraθuštra s sacrifice and union of the soul with the daēnā Ariiaman Išiia V22: Airiiaman heals Ahura Mazdā Although the connections are less clear in the case of the Wištasp Yašt, some are, however, perceptible: Y34 (sacrifice) Vyt3.20-23: Zaraθuštra s sacrifice Yasna Haptaŋhāiti Vyt4.3: Sacrifice to the Fire Vyt4.8: purification Vyt6.5: the dog Y51 + 2 nd YH Vyt7.2: ištōiš. xšaϑrəm. ahurahe. daϑušō Y53 Vyt8: meeting with the daēnā V8: first mention of the baršnūm [V19.17-19] V9-10: baršnūm V13.31-32 But the definitive argument is that the intercalation ceremonies are probably mentioned explicitly in a the talk between the Vision (daēnā) and the soul (uruuan) of the deceased in the Hādōxt Nask (HN2.14) and the Wištāsp Sāst (Vyt8.8 [60]). The daēna is explaining to the soul (uruuan) that every time when he recited the gāθās (gāθåsca srāuuaii ), celebrated a sacrifice to the waters (apasca vaŋ v ī yazəmn ) or satisfied the fire of Ahura Mazdā or the man a auuan (ātarəmca ahurahe mazdå narəmca
4 a auuanəm ku nuuąn ), then he made the daēnā more beloved and put her in a more prominent position. Then the speaker changes and Ahura Mazdā speaks 1 (#5): āat mąm nar askāt yazəṇte. ahurəm. mazdąm darə ya tīmca ą m ar tīmca 2 yazəṇte] K20, W (+yazəṇte). yazente H6. yazəṇta F12b. yazəṇtəm K4, L5; F12a. yazaṇtəm 5000, Vyt- Yazd. ahurəm] ahurō F12. darəγō.yaštīmca] darəγō.yaštəmca K20, H6, F12b. darəɤō.īštīmca L5. hą m.parštīmca] hą m.parīštīmca Vyt-Yazd. hą m.parštəmca H6, F12b. hą m.parəštəmca K20 Henceforth men celebrate a long ya t and a ąm ar ti for Ahura Mazdā. Av. darəɤ ya ti the long ya ti refers to a longer variant of the ya ti-, a Young Avestan designation of the long liturgy. It means likely the Wisperad, which is also call in the Nerangestan the Greater Yast (m ya t). The second coordinated element is the ti-abstract of the verb ą m-fras- to make a consultation, to have an interview with, which is already attested for a consultation between men and god in the Veda and in the Old Avesta. In Pahlavi the etymologically related abstract noun am ursagī is the terminus technicus for the consultation of Zaraθuštra with Ahura Mazdā. In our passage ą m ar ti- appears as object of yaz- and coordinated with darəɤ ya ti-, the long variant of the Yašt. It must designate an act of worship which is celebrated together with a long ya ti. So the expression a long Yašt and a consultation (darəɤ ya tīmca ą m ar tīmca) don t designate but a long liturgy (the Wisperad) with an intercalated consultation, that is, an intercalation ceremony. The ceremonies of intercalation existed hence at the time of the composition of this text about the destiny of the soul and there was already an especial Young Avestan designation for them. The rituals of consultation in the Old Avesta The compound ąm ar ti is attested already in the Old Avesta (Y33.6) for the consultation beside other more frequent terms like fərasā question. Although our knowledge about the ritual for which the Old Avestan texts were composed is very limited 3, the consultation seems to play an important role in it. Several times, the speaker of the Gāθās announces that he is asking Ahura Mazdā: in Y31.14-16 and in the complete Y44 in which almost every stanza is introduced by the refrain tat ϑβā ərəsā ərə m i vaocā a urā This I ask you, tell me it right, oh Ahura. This refrain serves in V19.10 as introduction to the consultations between Zaraθuštra and Ahura Mazdā in the rest of V19. The imperative vaocā ( tell ) is also frequent in the Gāθās: Y31.3, 5, Y34.15, Y48.2. The importance of this consultation is stressed in Y43. This āiti is structured in ring composition and the central stanzas (Y43.7-10) contain a consultation (Hintze 2002: 41 ff.) highlighted by its central position. It seems to be a preamble of Y44, the hāiti of the consultation. In it, it is not Zaraθuštra who asks, but someone of Ahura Mazdā s circle and Zaraθuštra answers (Y43.7-10). Only after the right answers of Zaraθuštra the consultation of Y44 is possible: spəṇtəm at ϑβā mazdā mə ṇg ī a urā iiat mā vo ū airī asat manaŋ ā I realized that you are bounteous, Ahura, when one 4 surrounded me with God 1 A further possibility is to delete mąm and take it for an addition under the influence of the previous mąm. In this case would keep speaking the d ēn. 2 Piras edit the two terms as a-stems (ºy š əm, p rš əm) 3 Unfortunately we know only the ritual usage of the Gāθās and the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti in the long liturgy. The information about the Old Avestan ritual can be only inferred from the mentions in the Old Avestan texts. This work have been done admirably by J. Kellens in his lectures in the Collège de France 2011-2012. 4 The speaker of the questions is not mentioned. If we pay attention to the answer in Y43.9, in which the Fire is addressed in vocative, the first speaker should be the Fire. These questions can be
5 pərəsat cā mā ci a ī ka iiā a ī kaϑā aiiārə da ārā fərasaiiāi dī ā aibī ϑβā ū gaēϑā ū x tanu ucā at i ao ī zaraϑu tr aouruuīm haiϑii duuaē å iiat is iiā drəguuāitē at a āunē rafən iiə m ao ṇg uuat iiat ābū tī vasasə aϑra iiā diiā yauuat ā ϑβā mazdā stāumī ufiiācā spəṇtəm at ϑβā mazdā mə ṇg ī a urā iiat mā vo ū airī asat manaŋ ā a iiā fərasə m ka māi vīuuīduiiē va ī at ā ϑβa māi āϑrē rātąm nəmaŋ a a iiā mā yauuat isāi maniiāi at tū m i dais a əm iiat mā zaozaomī ārmaitī acimn īt ārəm pərəsācā nå yā t i ə mā ar tā ar tə m zī ϑβā yaϑanā tat ə mauuatąm iiat ϑβā aiiąs aē əm diiāt ə mauuaṇtəm Thought and asked me: Who are you? Whose are you? How do you whish to get a date for the consultation in the presence of the flocks and the bodies Thus I declared: First, I am Zaraθuštra. (Then) I wish to be a real enemy for the supporter of Lie. I could be a strong support for the supporter of Order, if I would get the adornments of one who commands at his will as far as I am praising you and weaving you. I realized that you are bounteous, Ahura, when one surrounded me with God Thought (asking): For whom do yo wish to known perfectly his question (?)? For You, the Fire, (I wish to known) the gift of the homage for understanding Order, as far as I can. Show me the Order which I, accompanied by Compliancy, am invoking rightly. Ask us (the questions) that are to be asked by us of You. For (the question) asked by you belongs through (their) effort to the forceful, if one who can might have made you vigorous and forceful. The questions of Ahura Mazda seem to be asked in order to determine if the consultant is worthy to be allowed in the consultation. It reminds to the questions asked to the uruuan of the deceased in V19.31 and HN2.16, before access to Ahura Mazdā is granted to him. A certain parallelism seems to be established between the access of Zaraθuštra to the consultation with Ahura Mazdā and of the soul (uruuan) of the deceased to the Paradise. This parallelism is understandable since the context of the consultation is the sacrifice, in which the soul (uruuan) of Zaraθuštra, the sacrificer, cover the same route than the soul (uruuan) of the deceased. Some elements in Y43.7-10 point out, indeed, the ritual context of the consultation. Zaraθuštra is praising (stāumī) Mazdā, weaving hymns (ufiiā) for him and invoking (zaozaomī) the Order (a a), when the consultation takes place. The aim of the consultation is to know the Order (a a) and it appears as a gift of the homage, a sacrificial act. Furthermore, the flocks and bodies are probably a reference to the sacrificial victims and the sacrificers whose presence at the consultation is granted by the u tana life animation of the sacrificer accompanying the soul (uruuan) of the sacrificial victim 5. The consultation appears thus in a clear sacrificial context. compared with the questions in the account of the destiny of the soul in Wīdēwdād and Hadōxt Nask. In these accounts the uruuan is asked a series of questions before the final Access to Ahura Mazdā. The questions are asked by Good Thought in V19.31 (cf. Y437 &9 vohū p r m n ŋh ) and by a earlier deceased in HN2.16. In any case, the questions seem to posed by some one closet o Ahura Mazdā and Good Thought. 5 For the correction nuš c in nušuc vid. Humbach (1991: 2.129). For the interpretation of g ēθ as the sacrificial victim vid. Humbach (1964); Pirart (1992: 237 f.); Kellens (2011: 111).
6 The ritual context of the consultation is also obvious in other passages. In the Old Avestan attestation of ąm ar ti (Y33.6) one of the interlocutors is the zaotar, the officiating priest in a sacrifice and notice that this is the only attestation of zaotar in the Old Avestan texts (7#): yə zaotā a ā ərəzū uu maniiə u ā va i tāt kaiiā a māt auuā manaŋ ā yā vərəzii idiiāi maṇtā vāstriiā tā t i iziiāi 6 a urā mazdā dar t i cā ə m ar t i cā I, the zaotar, who (has reached) the straight (paths leading to Ahura Mazdā) 7, I m pleased in accordance with this best spirit with the thought through which he (?) conceives (the idea of) performing the pastoral works 8. I ll strive for contemplating you and for consulting with you. The contemplation of and the consultation with Ahura Mazdā appears here as the target of the sacrifice that the zaotar intend to reach through the right paths. Furthermore, it is a consequence of the idea of performing pastoral works, an antiphrasis for the sacrifice of the animal victim. The sacrificial context of the consultation is confirmed by Y45.6, where the consultation is explicitly located in the vahma- praise, laudation, one of the constitutive parts of the animal sacrifice 9 (Y45.6) (#8): at frauua iiā vīs anąm mazi təm. stauuas a ā yə udå y i əṇtī spəṇtā mainiiū sraotū mazdå a ur yehiiā. vahmē. vo ū fra ī manaŋ ā a iiā ratū fr mā sāstū va i tā I will proclaim the greatest (word) of all, praising the generous among those who are in accordance with Order. Let Ahura Mazdā hear thanks to the benefic spirit. Let him teach me the best (words), he at whose praise I make a consultation with Good Thought. The straight paths of the sacrifice lead to the union with god that makes possible the consultation 10. The Vision (daēnā) section of Vahištōištī Gāθā adds a new essential element in the way to the consultation: the participation of the Vision: va i tā ī ti srāuuī zaraϑu tra ē s itāma iiā y zī i dāt āiia tā a āt acā a ur mazdå yauu i vīs āi ā uuaŋ əuuīm yaēcā i dabən sa əṇcā daēnaiiå vaŋ uiiå u ā iiaoϑanācā at cā i scaṇtū manaŋ ā u āi iiaoϑanāi cā nūm mazdå va māi ā fraorət yasnąscā 6 The Reading iz is to be preferred, cf. Ved. sam ihase. 7 Cf. Y33.5 apānō. darəgō.jiiāitīm. ā.x aϑ rəm. vaŋhəuš. manaŋhō. a ā. ā.9 ərəzūš.10 paϑ ō. yaē ū. mazdå. ahurō.11 šaētī. having reached long life and the power of Good Thought and the right paths according to the Order in which, o Mazdā, lives Ahura. Cf. Y43.3b-d 8 Tabuistic expression for the sacrifice? 9 As it appears from Y34.2 p r g ēθē v hmē (Humbach 1964). 10 In fact, a parallel between Y33.6c and Y49.3c lets appear the visión and consultation with Ahura Mazdā as equivalent of the union with the Good Thought (Y49.3c v ŋh uš sarə z m n ŋhō I strive for the union with the Good Thought ).
7 kauuacā vī tās zaraϑu tri s itām fəra ao trascā dåŋ ərəzū aϑ yąm daēnąm a ur sao iiaṇt dadāt tə mcā tū ourucistā aēcat as ānā s itāmī y ziuuī dugədrąm zaraϑu tra ē vaŋ ə u aitiiāstīm manaŋ a a iiā mazdåscā taibii dāt sarəm. aϑā ə m. fəra uuā ϑβā raϑβā s ə ni tā ārmat i udānu varə uuā Famous is the sacrifice of the Spitāma Zaraθuštra, since Ahura Mazdā will grant him the grant of a good existence for all time in accordance with Order and also to these who practise and master the utterances and the actions of the Vision. Let Kauui Vīštāspa Spitāma, the son of Zaraθuštra, and Fərašaoštra, devote through thought, utterances and actions to the satisfaction and to the sacrifices of Mazdā for his praise. Ahura has established the right paths of the offering as the Vision of the (sacrificer) who will get the opulence. Might Pourucistā Haēcat.aspānā, the youngest daughter of Zaraθuštra, keep still. She gives you the launch of the Good Thought as union with the Order and Mazdā. Thus take you the consultation thanks to your capacity and perform the most beneficial and generous (actions) of Ārmaiti. In the Old Avesta the consultation appears then as a ritual moment, the final target of the sacrifice. It is obtained through the sacrificial practice with the assistance of the Vision that helps on the straights paths to Mazdā. But there is a fundamental difference with the intercalation ceremonies: in the Old Avesta we find questions (fərasā) and consultations (hə m ar ti), but the answers of Ahura Mazdā are scarcely reported 11. In the intercalation ceremonies the focus is, in contrast, on the answers of Ahura Mazdā. They take the main place and create doctrine. The consultation in the long liturgy In the intercalation ceremonies we find the same elements that appears in the Old Avesan consultations, but developed to a complex ritual in which the answers of Ahura Mazdā get the greatest attention. In them the role of the of the Vision for the consultations continues to be essential. Especially the role of the union of the soul (uruuan) of the sacrificer with the own Vision is highlighted and the Vahištōištī Gāθā, the hāiti in which this union takes place, gets a very especial position which is stressed through the celebration of second Yasna Haptaŋhāiti before its recitation. For understanding the especial importance of this ritual moment, a short survey of the ritual cursus of the long liturgy is suitable. The sacrificer makes in the Frauuarāne the right choice of the correct ritual articulation (ratu-) and of the consequent ritual power ( aθra-) 12. This choice of the right ritual articulation consists in choosing to perform the sacrifice to Mazdā in the way as Zaraθuštra did. The model for this sacrifice is the Ahuna Vairiia that was shown by Ahura Mazdā to Zaraθuštra before the creation of the 11 There are, however, some exception in which teh speach of Ahura Mazdā is reported like Y29.6 following a stanza in which the quiestions are mentioned or Y32.2. 12 The Ahuna Vairiia affirms at the very beginning of the Old Avestan texts the desirable character of these two elements (variia-).
8 world. Now the zaotar, acting as Zaraθuštra, is in condition of offering the animation of the own body (Y11.18 tanuuascit v a iia u tānəm, cf. Y33.14) that will accompany the sacrificial victim through the right paths. The sacrificer offers the animation of the own body and gets into a state of self-induced and revertible death during which his soul (uruuan) will accompany the soul (uruuan) of the sacrificial victim and go into the presence of Ahura Mazdā. The crucial point is the union of the soul (uruuan) with its Vision. During the recitation of the Vahištōištī Gāθā the uruuan of the sacrificer gets married with his own Vision (daēnā) in the same way as Ahura Mazdā married his own daughter daēnā. Through this union he reaches the view of Ahura Mazdā. This union happens exactly at sunrise emphasizing the aurarale character of the Vision and the rising of the sun appears as a symbolic illumination. Accordingly, this is right moment for the consultation ( ąm ar ti-) and we can easily imagine that at that point a Young Avestan fra na, that is, the text reproducing a consultation between Zaraθuštra and Ahura Mazdā, could be recited. Some facts could confirm that this probably the original place for the intercalation of the fra na. In the Wīdēwdād ceremony, V19 is inserted after the recitation of Y53. Even there we find the account of the first historical consultation. The introduction of V19 (V19.1-10 contextualizes the following fra na. It is the only place in the Avesta where the consultation between Zaraθuštra is put in context. Aŋra Mainiiu has tried to kill Zaraθuštra and then to persuade him of abjuring from the good vision got through the sacrifice to Mazdā (V19.6 a a stauuaŋ v ha vaŋ v īm daēnąm māzdaiiasnīm). He did not abjure and declare his intention to destroy the creatures of Aŋra Mainiiu through the pressing of the Haoma and through the words announced by Ahura Mazdā. Then (V19.10), Zaraθuštra recites the Ahuna Vairiia and the beginning verse of almost every stanza of Y44: tat ϑβā ərəsā ar mē vaoca a ura This I ask Thee, tell me right, o Ahura. It follows a series of consultations. V19 reproduces indeed the structure of a ceremony of intercalation. In fact, V19.1-10 shares many elements with the consecration of the priests in the long liturgy: the choice of the good Vision which is obtained through the sacrifice to Mazdā, the abjuration from the daēuua and the pressing of the haoma and, above all, the Ahuna Vairiia, the right ratu for the sacrifice that ensures the ritual power. These are the elements which make possible the following fra na in V19 and also in the intercalation ceremonies. The introduction of this aetiology of the intercalation ceremonies after the Vahištōištī Gāθā is not incidental. Furthermore, the thematic agreement in the accounts of the destiny of the soul after death in the different intercalation ceremonies is unparalleled in the rest of intercalations 13 and points out to the antiquity of the intercalation after the Vahištōištī G. The account of the destiny of soul of the deceased is intercalated after Y53 in the three ceremonies of intercalation we know: Widewdad, Wištāsp Yašt and Hādōxt. This text is the fra na par excellence, repeated three times in the extant corpus of the Avesta. There are so many versions of no other text of the Avesta. The union of the soul (uruuan) of the officiating priest with his Vision in Y53 makes possible the consultation in which the keys for the individual salvation are given and transmitted to the community. Hence it does not surprises that the already mentioned parallel text of Vyt (8.8 [60]) and HN2.14 sees in the encounter with the own Vision the reason why men have started to celebrate the long liturgies with consultations (darəɤ ya ti and ąm ar ti). 13 Only the coincidence in the mention purification rituals after the recitation of the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti in the Wīdēwdād ceremony and the Wīstāsp Yašt is comparable, but this parallel
9 Thus, although we lack positive evidence, the ritual logic and some indications make likely that the original places for the intercalations was after the recitation of Y53, the union of the soul (uruuan) of the officiating priest with his Vision, simultaneous with sunrise. The journey of the soul (uruuan) of the officiating priest leads him to Ahura Mazda and gives him the opportunity of a consultation with the divinity. At this moment, the consultation was performed perhaps by two different priests acting as Zaraθuštra and Ahura Mazdā. To this performance of the Vision refers likely the expression mərəθrəmca varəzīmca daēnaiiå vaŋ v iiå māzsdaiiasn i the narration and performance of the good Vision obtained through the sacrifice to Mazdā (Y22.3, Y22.22, Y24.3, Y24.8, Y25.3, Vr11.5). In fact, in this passage the narration and performance of the Vision appears in contrast to the recitation of the Gāθās (gāθąmca sra θrəm). Both together build the centre of the long liturgy. Probably, from this original place, the intercalations extended to all the traditional divisions of the Old Avestan texts. Through this ritual technic it was possible to offer new exegetical readings of the Old Avestan texts, to include in the long liturgy new doctrinal contents and to develop new variants of the long liturgy with different specific purposes. Through the intercalation of the fra na at the very heart of the long liturgy, the contents of the Yasna were made known to other members of the ritual community, especially the organizer of the sacrifice (the Vedic yajamana and the Avestan nar- a auuan-). The ritual community watch life the performance of the consultation and so they hear the contents of the consultation from the officiating priest. The officiating priest brings, through this ritual technic of the union with his Vision during the temporary selfinduced death, the Vision of the world of the gods and the instruction for the individual or universal salvation. He has to memorize and recite (mar-) the wording of the consultation with the god and so he can bring the Vision to the mortals. These are precisely the two functions concerning the Vision that are requested from Yima 14 : to be the momorizer/reciter of the Vision and the bearer of the Vision ( x mərəta bərətaca daēnaiiāi). Unfortunately, he is not able to accept this proposition, since he lacks the tools for it: the right sacrifice based on the Ahuna Vairiia. The rituals in which the Vision in the form of fra na can be recited and brought to the community appear as a peculiarity of the sacrifice to Mazdā performed in the way of Zaraθuštra. Accordingly, the intercalation ceremonies would not be a late creation, but represent and old peculiarity of the Zoroastrian ritual, a peculiarity attributed by the tradition to the sacrificer par excellence: Zaraθuštra. He was the first to have a consultation with Ahura Mazdā using the ritual technic of the Vision (daēnā). The Vision is recited and brought to the community and it becomes the doctrine, for it comes directly from Ahura Mazdā. Hence daēnā seems to mean metonymically the texts and contents of the consultations between Ahura Mazdā and Zaraθuštra, doctrine 15. It can be then assimilated to terms like dāta- prescription, t kaē a- doctrine or srauuah- text, hymn. This is the meaning of the Middle Persian equivalent dēn that it is usually translated as Religion. However, we must observe that in the very common expression ad dēn aydāg the old meaning Vision is still perfectly recognizable: it is revealed in the Vision. Actually, the translation Vision can be kept in all or most of the Middle Persian passages. 14 For a discussion and alternative interpretations s. Cantera (2012). 15 Lankarany (1985, 149 ff.) lists the passages in which according to him d ēn means religion or something similar. This list must, however, be shorten drastically.
Summing up, the intercalation ceremonies in which a consultation between Ahura Mazda and Zaraθuštra is intercalated among the Old Avestan text in the heart of the long liturgy are not a late creation of the Sasanian times. It is a peculiar ritual technic of the Zoroastrian sacrifice that allows the transmission to the men of knowledge from the world of the gods. The journey to the Paradise of the soul (uruuan) of the sacrificer accompanying the soul (uruuan) of the sacrificial victim reaches the presence of god through the assistance of his own Vision (daana). Thus a consultation with god is possible. Since the consultation takes place during the sacrifice, the organizers of the sacrifice can participate of the contents of the consultation. Hence new Young Avestan texts can be composed that are sanctioned by Ahura Mazdā himself, since they reproduce a consultation with him. In fact, all fra na texts of the Avestan corpus, the most frequent genre, were probably composed for intercalation ceremonies. Thus, daēnā, the individual capacity of getting a Vision from the world of gods obtained through the sacrifice, is transformed in the contents of the Vision, the doctrine and prescriptions of Ahura Mazdā. For understanding the polysemy of daēnā is essential to understand the ritual technic associated with this capacity and especially the rituals of intercalation. 10
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Cantera, A. 2009. Die Staota Yesniia der textuellen ratu des Visparad. In Zarathushtra entre l'inde et l'iran. Études indo-iraniennes et indo-européennes offertes à Jean Kellens à l'ocasion de son 65e anniversaire, edited by É. Pirart and X. Tremblay. Wiesbaden: L. Reichelt.. 2012. Yima, son vara- et la daēnā- mazdéenne. In Yama/Yima. Variations indoiraniennes sur la geste mytique, edited by S. Azarnouche and C. Redard. Paris: Collège de France. Darmesteter, J. 1892. Le Zend-Avesta. 3 vols. Paris. Dhabhar, B. N. 1932. The persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz and others. Their version with introduction and notes. Bombay. Kellens, J. 1996. Commentaire sur les premiers chapitres du Yasna. Journal Asiatique 284:697-705.. 2010. Études avestiques et mazdéennes vol. 3. Le long préambule du sacrifice (Y16 à 27.12 avec les intercalations de Visprad 7 à 12). Edited by P. Briant, Persika. Paris: De Boccard. Kreyenbroek, G. 2004. Ritual and rituals in the Nerangestan. In Zoroastrian Rituals in Context, edited by M. Stausberg. Leiden - Boston: Brill. Kreyenbroek, P. 2008. The Term Bâgân Yasn and the Function of the Yashts in the Zoroastrian Ritual. In One for the Earth: Prof. Dr. Mahyar Nawabi, Memorial Volume, edited by M. Jaafari-Dehaghi. Tehran. Lankarany, F.-T. 1985. Daēnā im Avesta. Eine semantische Untersuchung. Vol. 10, Studien zir Indologie und Iranistik. Monographie. Reinbek: Verlag für Orientalistische Fachpublikationen. Molé, M. 1963. Culte, mythe et cosmologie dans l'iran ancien. Paris. Piras, A. 2000. Hadoxt Nask 2 : il racconto zoroastriano della sorte dell'anima : edizione critica del testo avestico e pahlavi, traduzione e commento, Serie orientale Roma / Istituto italiano per l'africa e l'oriente ; 88. Roma: Istituto italiano per l'africa e l'oriente. Skjærvø, P. O. 2007. The Videvdad: its Ritual-Mythical significance. In The Videvdad: its Ritual- Mythical significance. London: I.B. tauris. 12