Avesta-Pahlavi glossary

Avesta Glossary by Raham Asha. Published in 2009 by the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 136, Bombay Samachar Marg, Bombay 400023. Pp: 238. Price: Rs 400.

The Zoroastrian religion flourished in ancient Iran, and its scriptures are written in the Avesta language. When Alexander invaded Iran in about 330 BC, these scriptures were largely destroyed by him when he burned the Royal Library at Persepolis. The scriptures lay scattered for a long time until the Sasanian dynasty in the 3rd century AC. They were subsequently restored and translated into the court language (spoken language) of that time, Pahlavi. Pahlavi is also known as the Middle Persian, although it is just one of the several Middle Persian languages of that time. Pahlavi flourished not only during Sasanian times but even after its downfall until the 9th century AC.

At present Pahlavi literature is generally classified into different groups such as Pahlavi translations of the original Avesta texts, independent Pahlavi treatises on religious subjects and Pahlavi texts on other secular and academic subjects. Among these, there is a small group of texts called the Frahang which means "Dictionary or Glossary.” The text under review falls in this category. It was originally called Frahang-i-Oim-evak. It is a text of Avesta words conjointly with their equivalent Pahlavi meanings.

Raham Asha: researched work

The France-based author Raham Asha is an authority on the Pahlavi language. In this text, he uses the term "parsig” to denote Pahlavi, whereas in his previous works, he has used the term "Persic” for the same. This is a critical, scholastic and researched work, with the text given in Pahlavi and grammatical notes explained in English. Other books by Asha are Doctine of the Magi (1995), Medical Doctrine of the Magi (1999), The Persic – A Grammatical Precis (1998), Karnamak-i-Artakshir-i-Papakan (1999), The Cities of Eran Shahr – Memoir (1999) and Apar Chim -I-Kustig (Significance of the Sacred Girdle – 2005).

As mentioned in the Introductory Remarks, the text consists of 27 small chapters, generally classified according to the sounds recorded by the Avesta alphabet (chs 4-24) e.g. the fourth chapter consists of all words starting with ‘y,’ the fifth chapter with ‘sh,’ ‘k,’ ‘t,’ `kh,’ ‘p,’ ‘f,’ and so on. Surprisingly, words starting with the important letter ‘n’ are missing. As the author states: "The last word (of ch 5), ‘anahita,’ may belong to another (lost) chapter dealing with words beginning with ‘n’ or containing it.”

The 25th chapter interestingly enumerates various specified committed sins or crimes, the 26th chapter contains miscellaneous words and phrases, and the 27th one deals with units of length and distance and the measures of time.

But the most significant aspect of this text is the presence of nearly 100 quotations of the Avesta known as the "Fragments.” These quotations are remnants from the destroyed Avesta texts that are not to be found in extant Avesta texts.

The sources of the text under review in different manuscripts have also been enumerated in this book, as are previous works published about this particular text. Anquetil du Perron had first attempted to translate the text into French, but obviously his was a very preliminary work. Dastur Hoshangji Jamaspji and Prof Martin Haug prepared an edition of the Glossary with English translation in 1865. It is thus nearly 140 years old. Editions of this text by Hans Reichelt (1901) and Gert Klingenschmitt (1968) are available in German. This edition by Raham Asha in English therefore assumes importance in the present times.

ROOYINTAN PESHOTAN PEER