Prayers in four scripts

Mini Edition of Pak Khordéh Avesta — Daily prayers (in four scripts) by Bejon N. Desai. Published in 2005 by Navaz Publication, ‘De Sai’ 111-Shivgiri Colony, Desouza Marg, College Road, Nashik 422005. Pp: VIII + 272. Price: Rs 60.

In the Preface Bejon N. Desai states the publication of the Mini Edition of Pak Khordéh Avesta — Daily Prayers (in four scripts — Avesta, Roman, Nagari and Gujarati) is a fulfillment of a "promise that I gave to my great gurus.” It is a unique book with a beautiful getup. The book impresses and dazzles one with its gold embossed leather jacket and gilded edges.

Apart from the basic prayers, this book contains the five Gahs and three Nyaishnas — Khurshed, Meher and Atash. Though the book is meant to be a daily prayer book, it is not very convenient or practical for that purpose. The Avestan script runs from right to left and the other three scripts from left to right. However the prayers in the book in all the four scripts are arranged from right to left, as in the Avestan. Hence praying from the book becomes inconvenient for those who want to pray in the other three scripts. Moreover, anybody using the book, has to continually skip three lines and read every fourth line, which is a cumbersome and tiring exercise.

Bejon Desai: popularizing the study of Avesta

Desai is very respected in the Parsi community with more than a dozen books to his credit. He has done yeoman service in the field of education and popularizing the study of Avestan language. With some more effort, especially to prayers in the Avestan script, this book could prove valuable to a student of the Avestan language.

The Avesta alphabet given at the beginning needs some clarifications. The letter for the special vowel ‘ao’ does not appear in the list of the alphabets, though it is frequently used throughout the book. The two different ‘n’ which have different phonetic functions are regarded as one. The letter ‘l’ does not occur in the Avestan script but is used in the book for Pazand words, and hence should have been mentioned at the end of the Aves-tan alphabet.

Spellings of some Avestan words are incorrect which may lead to errors in prayers. Further the rules of orthography (use of particular letters at particular places) should have been meticulously observed.

The numerals listed in the book on page 209 are actually Arabic numerals. Since Avesta does not have numerals, Arabic numerals are used to mark paragraphs and pages in Avestan books. The numerals enumerated on page 243 are Arabic numerals. Avesta has two different sets of words for cardinal and ordinal numbers. Out of the 10 numerals given in this book, seven are in their ordinal forms, one in both the forms and only two in their cardinal forms. All of them, however, have been translated as cardinal numbers. Moreover the first six of these numerals are in the nominative singular form whereas the rest are in their crude forms.

This 272-page book is available at a very concessional price of Rs 60, thanks mainly to the largesse of noted architect Hafeez Contractor and broking wizard Keki D. B. Mehta.

Ervad (Dr) Ramiyar Parvez Karanjia