Zarathushtra

Zarathushtra INTRODUCTION & FIRST SIX CHAPTERS by ARDESHIR MEHTA FEBRUARY 1999 Zarathushtra INTRODUCTION & FIRST SIX CHAPTERS CAVEAT There are some typographical mistakes in this draft, and it has been formatted for single-sided printing (the final book will be printed on both sides of the paper, with the margin notes along the outside edge of each page). Some page numbers may also be off in the draft. Each chapter begins with an odd-numbered page, regardless of the page on which the previous chapter ended—in order to preserve the same page numbering between double-sided and single-sided printing. In addition, some quotations will have to be checked against the originals, to make sure they are correct in content, reference and/or translation. (Hey—it’s only a draft, right?) ArdeshirMehta Zarathushtra INTRODUCTION & FIRST SIX CHAPTERS This book—including all its drafts—is copyright © Ardeshir D. Mehta, 1982, 1999. It is at present being distributed electronically in Shareware form. Anyone may freely download the electronic version of the book over the Internet, and read it, copy it, distribute it and even print it out. If the book is appreciated, and if the reader can afford it, I would request the reader to send me a Shareware Fee of $10 (U.S. currency) or its equivalent in any other currency. Subsequent downloads of updated editions are entirely free of charge. Commercial distribution of downloaded material is prohibited. The Shareware Fee (as a Money Order or as a cheque drawn on a US or Canadian bank) may be sent to the following address: Ardeshir D. Mehta 414 Kintyre Private Ottawa, Ontario Canada K2C 3M7 Tel: (613) 225 6208 Fax: (613) 225 0244 Zarathushtra INTRODUCTION he most ancient records we have of humanity having evolved 1 “Vedas: Ancient scriptures of India held to be ... the Ta culture, a religion, and even a language, are to be found in very revealed word of divinity. They go back to the early 1 centuries of Aryan migration into India, some of the the Vedas . The earliest of these Hymns go so far back in time as hymns doubtless having been in use before their ar- to seem to be almost contemporaneous with the beginnings of rival in India. There are four Vedas, the basic Rig-veda language itself: the first tentative attempts made by humans to upon which the remaining three depend to a consider- say something, to express themselves in words. We can observe able degree; the Sama-veda or Chant-veda; the Yajur- this process taking place before our very eyes and inside our veda and the late Atharva-veda. Theoretically the later Hindu sacred writings serve but to elucidate further very ears when we read and, more importantly, listen to the Vedas, the teachings of the Vedas.” (Note by Charles S. for in many cases, the very sound of Vedic words convey their Braden in An Encyclopedia of Religion edited by intended meaning: for this was, of course, the only way they Vergilius Ferm). What the learned scholar does not could gain acceptance in those early days when, in all probabil- say is perhaps more fascinating than what he does. ity, no other language existed—when speech itself began to He does not mention, for instance, that the Veda— considered as a whole—is the oldest book humanity evolve from undifferentiated sound. We also see in the Vedas possesses; or that its language is the first known form the process of a simple language acquiring greater and greater of the vast majority of languages of both Europe and complexity, as we observe words becoming linked to each other India, not excluding English, and far antedating Greek through what linguists call their “roots” or “elements”—simple and Latin; or that it contains among the most marvelous basic sounds which give rise to many different meanings, re- poetry ever uttered by man—or woman. It would be impossible to do justice to this, arguably the world’s lated in concept and yet distinct from each other. most magnificent literary work, in a short space; and The sound of the Vedas is one of the most fascinating fea- indeed we shall not even attempt it: for of this entire tures of this most ancient of ancient literatures, and of the lan- book the Vedas will be one of the principal leitmotifs; guage that gave rise to it. It is a language and a literature whose and the more you read here, the more, we hope, you very resonances, whose very sounds, have rich and vibrant mean- will be fascinated. ing. Indeed, this is one reason the Vedas are called ≈uit shruti, “that which is heard”. Not merely heard: the Vedas are chanted; 2 “Upanishads: the basic philosophic texts of Hindu- in fact, the English word “chant” is very probably derived, in ism, upon which all the orthodox schools of Hindu phi- the ultimate analysis, from the Sanskrit term çNd chhanda, losophy are supposed to rest. They are writings which record the speculations of the Hindu sages upon the which denotes the “metre” according to which Vedic Hymns are nature of the world and of ultimate reality, and how to be recited aloud. In fact, the word çNds\ chhandas was an- man may find salvation.” (Charles S. Braden again, in other name for the Hymns of the Vedas themselves; for it is with the same Encyclopedia of Religion quoted above.) this meaning that the word is at times used in the Upanishads2: The word ]pinqd\ Upanishad itself is derived, it is ]p-in they are referred to as “The Chants”. thought, from the terms upa-ni “near to” and qdqd\ shad “[to] sit”; for these were treatises—or so it is If this word çNdchhanda has found its way even into Eng- conjectured—expounded to disciples who sat near lish (via Latin) as “chant”, it would be strange indeed if it were their teachers, most probably in forest glades, in order not found in languages which were spoken in lands far closer to to learn the wisdom contained in them. (The word India. And, as a matter of fact, so it is: it is the word Zend, found ved Veda, on the other hand, comes from an ancient in the language of ancient Iran. root vid meaning “knowledge”, and from which the Eng- lish term “wit”—as in “wit and wisdom”—is also de- The Zend Avesta—the sacred scripture of the followers of rived). It would be as unnecessary to explain these 3 Zarathushtra —is the most ancient book of Iran. In fact the San- terms to Hindus as to explain what the Old and the 1 Zarathushtra INTRODUCTION skrit word puStkpustaka or “book” is itself thought by some New Testaments are to Christians; but since generally to be derived from the term Avesta, which word, by application speaking the votaries of each religion believe theirs to be superior (and others’, moreover, to be inferior), few of the phonetic rules of transposition from Iranian into Indian Christians know even the names of the texts of Hindu- pronunciation, becomes at first ]ps†a upasthâ and thence ism, much less bother to study them. That, of course, AipStk apistaka in Sanskrit. The word—or rather, a deriva- is their own loss; but in a way it is everyone’s, for the tive of it—was so important to Pânîni4, the foremost grammar- world of wisdom is the more impoverished thereby. ian of ancient India, that he singled it out for special emphasis: 3 “Zarathushtra, founder of the religion known as Zo- he says ]paNmN≠kr¬eupan mantrakarane, i.e., “Upân means roastrianism or Mazdaism (from Mazda or Ahura ‘to compose mantras (or hymns)’” (Pânîni 1.3.25). The term Mazda, the name of the god prophesied by Zarathush- Zend Avesta, then, can be translated as “A Book of Vedic tra). The etymology and history of Zarathushtra, the Hymns”; and indeed the core of the Avesta are Zarathushtra’s Avestan and oldest form of the name, is uncertain ... The form Zoroaster, derived from the Greek Zoroastres, own Hymns, his Gathas or Songs. was used traditionally in European culture until the It is hardly appreciated, whether by the Hindus or the Zoro- eighteenth century, when Zarathustra, closer to the astrians of today, how close to one another the Gathas and the original (and as found in Nietzsche) came into com- Vedas are. Their relationship is so intimate that entire passages mon use after the rediscovery [in the West] of the from the Gathas can be rendered into the purest Vedic Sanskrit Avesta, the collection of sacred books of Zoroastrian- ism, and the resulting studies in Iranian philology.” by the mere application of phonetic rules—that is, by merely (Note by Gherardo Gnoli, writing in The Encyclope- exchanging some sounds for others; for instance, the Sanskrit dia of Religion—not the same Encyclopedia as the word Ahm\ aham “I” is pronounced ajem in the Gatha, while one quoted earlier though: a far more comprehensive the Sanskrit jIVha jîvhâ “tongue” becomes the Iranian hijva. one in fact, edited by the redoubtable Prof. Mircea Not only are the words of both languages derived from the same Eliade). At one time one of the most widely-spread of all religions—mainly during the epochs of the great roots, but it is very likely that both versions of this common Persian Empires, the first of which was the first great tongue were understood by people on either side of the Indus; empire of human history—it has now dwindled to very for not only the words, but the grammar and syntax of the two few formal adherents indeed; and yet, as we shall idioms are virtually the same: in fact, some of the rules enunci- show, its impact on your own religion, dear reader, was ated by Pânîni for Sanskrit5 grammar apply far more often to the so phenomenal as to leave almost no facet of it un- touched.

Load more