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The Hymns of Zoroaster PDF

195 Pages·2010·0.941 MB·English
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P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 M.L.WestisanEmeritusFellowofAllSoulsCollege,Oxford, 1974 1991 andaFellowoftheBritishAcademy.From to hewas Professor of Greek at Bedford and Royal Holloway Colleges, UniversityofLondon.HismanybooksincludeTheOrphicPoems 1983 1987 ( ),AnIntroductiontoGreekMetre( ),AncientGreekMusic 1992 1997 ( ), The East Face of Helicon ( ) and Indo-European Poetry 2007 andMyth( ). i P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 ‘Translating the words and comprehending the meaning of Zoroaster’sdevotionalpoemsisalwayschallenging.M.L.West has produceda lucidinterpretationofthose ancientwords.His renditions are filled with insights and empathy. This endeavour is an important contribution toward understanding more fully someoftheearliestpropheticwordsinhumanhistory.’ Jamsheed K. Choksy, Professor of Iranian Studies, History, and India Studies,IndianaUniversity ‘A thoroughly worthwhile and refreshingly readable translation oftheOlderAvesta,M.L.West’sbookwillbewidelywelcomed, bystudentsandgeneralreadersalike.’ Almut Hintze, Zartoshty Reader in Zoroastrianism, School of Oriental andAfricanStudies,London ‘InthisnewanddauntlesstranslationoftheGa¯tha¯s,M.L.West resuscitatesthenotionofZoroasterastheself-consciousfounder ofanewreligion.Inadvancingthisidea,hetakespositionagainst manymoderninterpretersoftheseextremelydifficulttexts.The clarity and beauty of his translation will be much welcomed by studentsofZoroastrianismandbyZoroastriansthemselves,while his bold interpretation will spark off welcome debate among specialists.’ AlbertdeJong,ProfessorofComparativeReligion,LeidenUniversity ii P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 T h e H y m n s o f Z o r o a s t e r A New Translation of the Most Ancient Sacred Texts of Iran WithIntroductionandCommentaryby M . L . W e s t iii P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 Publishedin2010byI.B.Tauris&CoLtd 6SalemRoad,LondonW24BU 175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010 www.ibtauris.com DistributedintheUnitedStatesandCanadaExclusivelybyPalgraveMacmillan 175FifthAvenue,NewYorkNY10010 Copyright©2010M.L.West TherightofM.L.Westtobeidentifiedastheauthor ofthisworkhasbeenassertedbytheauthorinaccordance withtheCopyright,DesignsandPatentAct1988. Allrightsreserved.Exceptforbriefquotationsinareview,thisbook,oranypart thereof,maynotbereproduced,storedinorintroducedintoaretrievalsystem,or transmitted,inanyformorbyanymeans,electronic,mechanical,photocopying, recordingorotherwise,withoutthepriorwrittenpermissionofthepublisher. isbn:9781848853478(HB) isbn:9781848855052(PB) AfullCIPrecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary AfullCIPrecordisavailablefromtheLibraryofCongress LibraryofCongressCatalogCardNumber:available TypesetinPerpetuabyAptaraInc.,NewDelhi PrintedandboundinIndiabyThomsonPressIndiaLtd iv P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 Contents Preface vii Noteonthepronunciation ofAvestanwordsandnames xi 1 Introduction 37 TheHymnsofZoroaster 28 34 38 TheFirstGa¯tha¯ (Yasna – ) 43 46 94 TheSecondGa¯tha¯(Yasna – ) 47 50 130 TheThirdGa¯tha¯ (Yasna – ) 51 152 TheFourthGa¯tha¯ (Yasna ) 53 164 TheFifthGa¯tha¯(Yasna ) 171 TheLiturgyinSevenChapters 179 NotesontheText 181 Bibliography v P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 vi P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 Preface IbecameacquaintedwiththepoemsofZoroastersomeyearsago while collecting materials for my Indo-European Poetry and Myth 2007 (Oxford ). I found that the available translations diverged considerablyfromoneanother,andthattheyallcontainedagood dealthatseemedtomenonsense.Ibegantoapplymyselftostudy oftheOldAvestanlanguageinwhichthepoemsarewrittenand, over time, to making a new translation for my own use. I soon becamefascinated,notonlywiththeproblemsofunderstanding thetext,butwiththepersonalityandachievementofZoroaster, arevolutionaryreligiousthinkerandleaderwhoappearedfrom nowhereinaremoteregionofcentralAsiaattheverydawnof Iranian history, or before it, and created a wonderful new faith thateventuallybecamethatoftheentirePersianempire. Here in these poems we have the very foundation texts of that religion and the authentic documentation of Zoroaster’s own convictions and message. If they had been discovered last month, they would be a sensation. As it is, while the name of Zoroaster is vaguely familiar to many people, his poems are practicallyunknown.Zoroastrianpriestshavecontinuedtorecite them in the liturgy, but with very limited comprehension of the highly archaic language in which they are composed. For vii P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 PREFACE somethingovertwocenturiesasmallnumberofWesternscholars have wrestled with them, achieving better understanding by degreesbutgenerallyfocusingonlinguisticdetailsratherthanon the sense of the whole, and debating among themselves rather than laying their results before a wider public in a digestible form.Toalargeextenttheyhavebeeninhibitedbytheirhonest awareness of the many uncertainties of interpretation that still remain.Atthesametimethefactthatthereadingofthesetexts calls for specialist linguistic knowledge has meant that those whohaveengagedwiththemhaveusuallybeenphilologistswho were more interested in the language than the content. Their translationshavetendedtobeinformedbyascrupulousconcern for grammar and lexicography, unmoderated by a like concern foranintelligibleandcoherenttrainofthought. In offering a new version I do not delude myself that all difficulties have been overcome and all obscurities resolved. I am conscious that many of them have not, so many indeed that ifeverythingwasnottobesnowedunderwithquestionmarks, only the most major uncertainties could be signalled as such. I believeneverthelessthatbycarefulapplicationIhavesucceeded more fully than my predecessors in penetrating to the sense of Zoroaster’s utterances and in producing a translation that, besides being (and in consequence of being) more correct than anypreviousone,willbefoundmorecontinuouslyintelligible, andhencemorereadableandmorelikelytoimpressthereader with the clarity and nobility of Zoroaster’s religion. He was no purveyorofesotericmumbo-jumbobutanoutstandingfigurein theworld’sintellectualhistorywhofullydeservestheattention of a modern public. The mists are thinning, and he can now be discernedincleareroutlines. As an appendix to Zoroaster’s own poems I have thought it appropriatetoaddtheprosetextthatistheonlyothersourcefor viii P1:PHB Trim:138mm×216mm Top:.75in Gutter:0.70833in IBBK013-FM IBBK013/West ISBN:9781848853478 May10,2010 16:5 PREFACE theearliestphaseofZoroastrianism:theLiturgyinSevenChapters. This too is a wonderful document, at once a profession of faith and a structured series of prayers and praises that have all the freshness of a young religion and give the impression of ringing outsomewhereinthemiddleofafreshandhopefulyoungworld. M.L.West ix

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