Gatha colloquium in June

"Gatha Perceptions: from Past to Future” is the theme of the Gatha Colloquium where a number of outstanding scholars of Zoroastrianism are expected to participate. To be held at the Double-tree Hotel in Lexington, New York, the two-day event, June 27 and 28, 2009 is being sponsored by the World Zoroastrian Organi­sation (WZO) in association with the Firuz Madon Foundation and the Zoroastrian Association of Greater New York (ZAGNY).

Billed as "a unique chance to learn about the fundamentals of the Zoroastrian religion as expressed in the Gathas, the nuances of many concepts as well as the relationship of some of the later Zoroastrian literature with the Gathas,” the organizers invite audience participation from the Zoroastrians of the world.

The list of topics and speakers includes "The multi-dimensional significance of Free-will in the Gathas” to be addressed by ordained priest and practicing psychologist Dr Kersey Antia; "Perceptions of the Yasna Haptanhaiti” by Almut Hintze who is the Zartoshty Brothers Reader in Zoroastrianism at London University’s School of Oriental and African Studies; and "Law and Order” by Stanley Insler, Salisbury Professor of Sanskrit and Comparative Philology at Yale who is best known to Zoroastrians for his publication in 1975 of the Text, Translation and Commentary of The Gathas of Zarathustra.

Clockwise from top left: Almut Hintze, Dina McIntyre, Kaikhosrov Irani, Farrokh Vajifdar, Kersey Antia, Stanley Insler and Ali Jafarey

"The Gathic vision and its unfolding” by the iconic Kaikhosrov Irani, Emeritus Professor of Philosophy at New York’s City College; "The Gathas of Zarathushtra Spitama: their Order and Sequence” by the erudite but much-maligned co-founder of the Zarathush­trian Assembly Ali Jafarey; "Citations of the Gathas in the Denkard and their relation to the Pahlavi Yasna” by Wil-liam Malan­dra, Professor Emeritus, University of Minnesota, where he taught Sanskrit, Indology and Iranistics, including a regular course on Zoroastrianism for 30 years; "The Puzzle of the Singular and the Plural” by Dina McIntyre whose 12-instalment course An Introduction to the Gathas of Zarathushtra had attained world-wide distribution, are other topics on offer.

"The Theology of the Gathas – New Perspectives” by Martin Schwartz, Professor of Iranian Studies, Iranology, History and Literature of Ancient Iran, Old and Middle Iranian at the University of California, Berkeley; "Liturgical Functions of the Gathas” by Oktor Skjaervo, Old Iranian Languages, Literature, and Religions Professor at Harvard; "How well did later Avestan composers understand the language of the Gathas?” by Elizabeth Tucker, a Senior Research Fellow in the Oxford Faculty of Oriental Studies; "Changed Perspectives; Channeled Perceptions” by Farrokh Vajifdar, a Fellow of the Royal Asiatic Society; and "Cosmic Cycles in the Gathas?” by Gernot Windfuhr, Professor of Iranian Studies at the University of Michigan are other offers in this intellectual feast.