Seeking explanations

I shall be grateful if our priests, scholars and other knowledgeable persons throw some light on the following.

The Yatha and Ashem Vohu prayers were revealed by Ahura Mazda before Zarathushtra (Prof Ervad Kavasji Kanga in Avesta Ba Maeni). To whom were they revealed? That person must have been the first Prophet of the Mazdayasni religion which Zarathushtra reformed. In the kusti prayer we declare that we are Mazdayasni Zarathushti. Why is the Prophet who preached Mazdayasni as opposed to Daevayasni not prominently mentioned in our scriptures?

In Iran there are a number of rock inscriptions, mostly by the kings, but there are two by the priest Kartir in the Kabah of Zartusht and Naqsh-i Rajab. He must have been a very powerful priest to make inscriptions of his work. Kartir’s inscriptions are fairly lengthy and mention the establishing of atash behrams and propagation of our religion. He repeatedly mentions Ahura Mazda and the Yazads as also Ahriman but does not mention Asho Zara-thushtra’s name anywhere in the inscriptions. In fact, I believe, none of the archeological inscriptions discovered in Iran so far mentions the Prophet’s name. Why? Kartir was Chief Mobed (Magupati) in Sasanian King Shahpur’s time. Before him, Dastur Tansar collected Avesta fragments in King Ardeshir’s time. Surely the prayers collected by Tansar would have contained our Prophet Zarathushtra’s name? Why has Kartir omitted it?

In our afringan and jashan ceremonies we remember the names of Gustasp Padshah, Jamasp Haboob, Ardaiviraf, Adarbad Maraspand, etc but omit the names of Tansar and Kartir (or Kerdar) who did so much to revive our religion. Why? Did they belong to a different sect? Dastur Adarbad Maraspand followed Kartir after some years under Sasanian Kings. He is credited with restructuring our prayers.

The Dinkard mentions contents of 21 nasks most of which are now lost. Presumably they existed when the Dinkard was written which was after the 651 AD defeat of the Sasanian Empire. How were they lost? Why could our forefathers not preserve them?

These instances are from my very limited layman’s knowledge. I would request explanations, if any, from knowledgeable scholars. I agree that hard evidence will be difficult to find, but there could be descriptions from folklore like the Shahnameh or from Greek writers.

PHIROZE J. KUTAR

pjekutar@hotmail.com