Some Remarks Regarding the aṣ̌əm vohū

This article attempts to show the eschatological horizon of the Avestan prayer aṣ̌əm vohū. Its placement in the Yasna at the threshold of the Old Avestan corpus and the virtues ascribed to it in other Avestan texts reveal its high stature in Zoroastrianism. The sense of the prayer remains obscure in...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Indo-Iranian journal
Main Author: Aḥmadī, Amīr (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Brill 2015
In: Indo-Iranian journal
Further subjects:B Eschatology Avesta Gāthās, aṣ̌a- ūšta
Online Access: Volltext (Verlag)
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Summary:This article attempts to show the eschatological horizon of the Avestan prayer aṣ̌əm vohū. Its placement in the Yasna at the threshold of the Old Avestan corpus and the virtues ascribed to it in other Avestan texts reveal its high stature in Zoroastrianism. The sense of the prayer remains obscure in its current translations. The problem is in part due to the fact that the text is syntactically defective. One must assume that the significance attributed to it in Avestan tradition is a reflection of what it says, its actual meaning. This is the guiding principle of its interpretation in this article. I critically consider the translations and interpretations of the prayer to date. Some of these are problematic even on the linguistic level. But the problem of sense remains even in those that are formally impeccable. The reason for this is that the translation reproduces the tautology that the original contains, instead of unfolding it. An attempt at unfolding the tautology can be seen in the Young Avestan exegesis of the prayer. Once the tautology is unfolded, the sense of the text becomes evident: those who support aṣ̌a (the primordial order of creation) will have their wish for a blissful afterlife in aṣ̌a (the divine sphere) fulfilled.
ISSN:1572-8536
Contains:In: Indo-Iranian journal
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1163/15728536-05800050