What is Dinkard?

Parsiana had devoted its entire July 2001 issue to reprinting Rustam Paymas­ter’s translation of Qissa-I-Sanjan.

We often hear about Dinkard. What is Dinkard? Is it a separate scriptural text by itself?

BHIKHAJI M. ADENWALLA

The Editor replies

As mentioned in Zoroastrians — Their Religious Beliefs and Practices by Mary Boyce, the Dinkard or ‘Acts of the Religion’ is the longest extant Pahlavi work: "This great compilation was begun by the first known Hudinan peshobay, Adur­farnbag Farrokhzadan, and was re-edited and enlarged by his descendant Adurbad Emedan, who probably held the same office at the end of the ninth century. It contains a great variety of matter, and includes at the end a summary of the contents of 19 books of the Great Avesta, and a detailed analysis of three of them.”