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Ramanuja List Archive: Message 00173 Oct 2006

 
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Dear all,
 
|| Ushta and Gavashva | Hom Namo Sarvebhyah: Yagnikebhyah: Agnihotribhyah: | Namo Gomata Gautama Govardhana Gopala Gopimanohar Gaugamelakar ||
 
In the following illuminating article, I have found many near-sanskrit words, which occur in songs by the bhaktas of India. Ofcourse, using Ervad Kavasji Edalji Kanga's "Gatha-va-Mani" we can come up with all the pahlavi-sanskrit words. I list some of the most strikingly close ones. I have used the Students Sanskrit-English dictionary by Devasthali, Joshi and Kulkarni eg.
 
1. Nazdbrahmiatar - Nada brahma?
2. Parishnik - Prishnik? (epithet of Yadava Krishna)
3. Zartuhshtroktom - Jarat + ushtra Uktam?
4. Sharm, Varm, Goft - Sharma, Varma, Gupta?
5. Aguman - A ghuman ?
6. Radh - Masculine gender of Radha?
7. Daxshak - Takshak (name of a snake and a fire)?
8. akasa - akasa (sky in skt)?
9. Aiyaranam - Ayariyanam, Ayaranam? (belonging to a vedic caste)
10. Raman - raman (noun root of Rama)?
11. Ravan - ravana (maybe similar to english raven)? (hungry soul). Historically, it refers to a King of Lanka-Ceylon who was half-brahmana half-blackcannibal by birth, due to his grandfather sage Pulastya who practised the ghora and aghora rites (black magic). He was killed by King RaghavaRama as recorded in the Ramayana history.
12. Ahiriman - Ahiri + manah. Ahiri = cowherd; a raga. Hir = snake, necklace, lion, thunderbolt, diamond
13. Pavan = pavana or pavan (holy; wind)
14. Ramishnih = Ram + ishnih?
 
Are there any Sanskrit translations of Pahlavi scriptures done before or after 700AD? Is there a Pahlavi-Sanskrit dictionary compilation?
 
Thanking you,
 
Sincerely,
Venkatayar Vedavasti
MA(Sanskrit) - I; University of Mumbai
Phone: 91-22-26702615
 
 
 
True Followers of Zarathushtra
by Dr. Pallan Ichaporia
 
I would like to share with dear members some of the real traditions of our religion.

We do not proscribe the photos of our prophet Zarthushtra or our departed loved ones as nowhere in the scriptures we find such tenet.On the contrary we find the rock carvings of the Achemenid and Sasanian Kings, Mithra and even Fravashi.

We do not find direction to north as evil but respect the belief of our ancestors who migrated from north due to extreem cold (nine months of winter) as Indo-Europeans and later as Indo-Europenas they lived in the Central Asia and finally moved towards Iranian lands while Indo-Aryans moved to the north India. This is the only reason we do not face North while praying. We also respect Vendidad when it describes in a poetical fashion that damoness of Decay (Druj Nasus) comes as a stinking fly from the north. It is the way of saying of our forefathers to get their message to the their people.

We do not believe in superstitious beliefs and invisible people of Demavand and hocus pocus coming from followers of such invisble demavandis, nor do we encourage any babas, dargahs, mandirs or other alien worship.

We treat women and men as equals and do not discriminate or segragate sexes in all walks of life. In doing so we follow the exact teachings of Zarthushtra who gave the equality to women at the grey dawn of history.

We do not believe that color of the cap should be only yellow, blue or white or whatever, as it is of of no importance.

We strongly believe in the Gathas and good sayings of the Later Avesta.

We do not have seven or seventy or seventy thousand pillars of religion as the scriptures do not say so.

We will discuss the Pahlavi literature from time to time.

We do not waste time in arguing about how a consecrated fire temple is built because every consecrated fire temple is holy.

We do not believe that video/audio tape recordings of our prayers or rituals are harmful, on the contrary we encourage as tools to pass the correct pronunciations of the avestan words and the way rituals are conducted They are the tools to teach our youngsters living in the west to gain religious knowledge.

This is for the time being.
Please if you know any further true traditions which we have, please post it.

Regards,
Pallan
Subject: (Mazd Yasna) Iranian Themes on Priests from Pahlavi Literature
Iranian Themes on Priests from Pahlavi Literature:
by Dr. Pallan R. Ichaporia
 
SOME IRANIAN THEMES ON PRIESTS FROM PAHLAVI LITERATURE
Dear Readers: Following is for your reading pleasure.
There is a craze in vogue for denigrating the Zoroastrian priesthood and priests under the semblance of the so called "institutional" Zoroastrianism as contrasting to the unblemished "pristine' purity" of "reflective religion" etc etc, based on the sordid unsubstantiated polemics rampantly churned out from time to time with the shrill "uproar" of deafening intensity to drown and inundate the voice of reason and truth. Zarathushtra' s place in the history of religions is unique, he is the only prophet who is also a priest. (Cf. Y.33.6). He proclaimed in no uncertain words in Y.45.3- Ushtavaiti Gatha:-

'yam moi vidvao mazdao vaochat ahuro
yoi im ve noit itha mathrem vareshenti
yatha im menaicha vaochacha
aeibiio angheus avoi anghat apemem'
'That which Mazda Ahura, the Knowing One, told me, (saying) "For those among you who will not practice these 'manthra' (holy words) in the way I think and pronounce it, for them 'woe' will be the last word of (their) existence" (Humbach-Ichaporia, The Heritage of Zarathushtra, 1994)
This is the clear and lucid direction to practice and strictly follow the "holy words/sayings" (manthra) as Zarathushtra conceived them as revelations from Ahura Mazda, Zarathushtra gives the strict warning of woe that will befall those who will disregard them. The question of so called, often heard "reflection" is nowhere in sight, here as well as in the whole corpus of the Gathas. The word 'reflection' does not even occur once.
As late as 800-900 CE the Pahlavi literature, testifies to the lofty qualities of the Zoroastrian priests who gave their lives to defend and preserve the religion of Zarathushtra thrice in the long checkered history of our faith, first against Alexander and then fronting the invading Arabs and much later after the fall of the Empire, facing the marauding tribes of Mongols and Tartars.
It is the historical fact that Zoroastrian scriptures came down to us from centuries of oral transmission through the 'dasturs'. Dinkard bears the witness to it. '...tak che uzvan-awasparishnik pat dastawar mand estat", "...including what had survived by oral transmission through dasturs" (Dinkard-Madon, 412.9).*
The memorizing of the sacred texts was a matter of great importance and 'priests' have phenomenal memory which makes all Zoroastrians proud. The trained memory is one the most important qualities of good 'dastawars" (dasturs).
The Pahlavi Texts (129 ff) give "Panch hem i asronan", 'the five virtues of the priests', as follows:
'as 5 hem:
1. fratom avinasih
2. ditikar vichin-kartarih i menishnan ut gowishnan ut kunishnan
3. sitikar dastawar-darih chegon an i rat i danaktar i rast-gowishntat ke den akasiha amoxtet ut rastiha amocet'
4. 'charom yazishn i yazdan rast-vachakiha [vachiha] varm-naskiha pat nirang yashtan'
5. 'panchom rochan shapan shnayishniha andar xveshkarih estan apak xvesh hamestar hoxshishn kartan zivandak dranadh hach astavanih i den be ne vashtan ut pat xveshkarih truxshak butan'.
"These are the five (moral) virtues:
1. First, impeccable honesty.
2. Second, pleasant in good thoughts, good words and good deeds.
3. Third to hold as a dastur (dastawar) he who must be the most wise leader, speaking truth, (and) who teaches according to the knowledge of the faith in true fashion."
4. "Fourth, who worships God (yazdan) with true words, memorize the 'nasks' and who worships according to rituals"
5. "Fifth, (he has) to be faithful in his duties to propitiate day and night, to encounter with his antagonists, not to turn away, in his whole life, from the confession of faith, and to be fervent in his own works."
The complete memorizing of the whole Avesta and Zand (exegesis) is the most ideal among all the virtues of the priests. In his first Epistle (1.4.11) to the Zoroastrians of Sirkan, Manushchir, the High Priest (of Sirkan) alludes to 'zartuhshtroktom' [Avesta: Zarathoshtrotema] , the highest of Dastwars (dasturs) who is the "one who had memorized the whole Apastak (Avesta) and Zand" (hamak apastak ut zand varm). The same ideal is mentioned in Dinkerd (Madon)588.11. : 'hach hamak apastak apak zand varm' .
The good physician of the soul is described in Dinkerd (Madon) 160.15ff as:- 'ruvan bizishk zaratushtroktom den dastawar ku apechak hem ut asnutak xrat ut den vaspuhrakan ut yazdan menitarih dashtar ut menok venishn varm apastak ut vichitar zand ut akas den ut aguman rastak'
"Physician of soul, "Zaraushtrokam" (the highest among all dasturs), an educator of the faith, of pure virtue, of benevolent intelligence, alleviator of the faith, with reverent thoughts of God (Yazdan) perceiving the spiritual unseen, and who has memorized the Avesta, studied the Zand being thus familiar with the faith and induct without doubt."
Such are the finest qualities of the Highest of the High Priests of Zoroastrian faith commencing from the ancient times. Dinkerd (Madon) 720.13-14, asserts for the Zoroastrian priests to: 'gasan ut hadoxt varm kartam' memeorize the Gathas and the Hadokht. Hence prior to deprecating and maligning the Priests and Priesthood one must give thoughts to their outstanding achievements of keeping the religion of Zarathushtra alive through the trials and tribulations.
The defending of the faith against the onslaughts of alien religions, fell on the shoulders of the learned high priests, and the following outstanding example is worth noting:
A Christian (Pahlavi: tarsak) priest 'Boxt-m'l' (Boxt-mahray) raised a very critical question among the several others as alluded in Dinkerd (Madon) 455.100ff :-
Question:- 'yazd en den che radh pat evach-e i anashnak i nihuftak i apastak nam guft ut ave radh pat nipishtak ne bavandak hangart be pat gowishn varm kartan framut'
(Question from Boxt-m'l. a Christian priest): "Why did God proclaim this faith in the unknown mysterious language known as Avesta, for it did not excogitate a complete written text, but ordained to memorize by oral tradition?"
(Ans): (Henceforth Dinkard Madon is DkM, 459 8ff) 'en mansr ut den apastak harvisp-akasih veh menoken nazdbrahmiatar. ....'.
"These 'manthras' (mansr) and the Avesta of faith are entirely (harvisp), spiritual knowledge... ..."
(cont) '......apastak vazurk daxshak hast pat awurt i Zartusht hach Ohrmazd ech drog ut halakih ut devan-kamakih patish ne hamak rast mas-datastaniha ut yazdan inayenitarih guft estet'.
"The Avesta itself is a great portent brought by Zarathushtra from Ohrmazd. (Ahura Mazda). In these (i.e.Avesta) there is neither falsehood nor folly, nor delight for demons (devan). It is wholly truth, expressing great opinions proclaimed for propitiation (gratification) of God."
'andar ech avach i druzan ne dast estet kas-ich ne vasht ut ne devan ech adhmet awish ne darend ut harv chegon gowihet druz hachish sizdikih ut yazdan patis urvahmanih bavet'
"Within (Avesta) there is no utterance of the "druj" (falsehood/evil) . It has perverted no one. There is no hope for demons in it. From whatever said (in Avesta) the "druz" (lie and deceit) have anguish but God (Ahura Mazda) has veneration."
'..... den mansr ut hamak i uzvanik nipistan ogon framut o bunik nipishtak nun-ich frahist pat-ich nipetkiha pat estet chegon andar akasan paidhakbe varm kartan sut vas ut-ash sutakih pat izishn stayishn akasenishn i ave raman evak tak-ash danast i cishan hachish oh-ich ogon zufriha saxvan ut adhven rastiha ut avasht-rangiha awspartan shyast i datastan ut afrin bun-gowishnih freh hach nipesishnik vasiha ut patich aparik vas chim zivandak gowishnik saxvan hach an i pat nipist matakvartar hangartan chimik'
"These (Holy words/sayings) 'manthras' of faith (den mansr) and all the oral matters were organized by His will (i.e.God's will) to be written in a basic text. Indeed now mostly it is preserved in actual books as is known among the those knowing the facts. But to memorize is a great advantage. Its advantage lies in passing the knowledge of worship and praise to the people, so the people know how to benefit (from these manthras- to live good life). In this way it is possible to transmit profound words and true customs, unperverted. Such are the ways to transmitt basic utterances, decisions and blessings far beyond the written form, for the living spoken words are more alive than the written texts."
Although one witnesses pervading baneful, alien and adverse forces waiting anxiously to write a final requiem of our faith, the learned Zoroastrian priests and scholars are there in flesh and blood to confront such 'ahremanic' forces of destruction and despair, ever eager to shelter the religion in the community of the faithful. Our learned scholar priests are the living encyclopedia of our faith, having memorized the whole corpus of Avesta. An average 'Martab' priest generally memorizes 72 chapters (Has) of Yasna needed for Ijishne (yasna) ceremony, they are known as "(Gj) Bohateria". These are the proficient ones who have kept and will keep the flame of Zoroastrianism burning for all time.
I hope I have given sufficient references and citations so that the Mazdayasnians can truly appreciate their priests and priesthood.
"frajaft pavan darut ut shatih ut ramishnih" Accomplished with peace and delight and tranquillity.
Regards,
Dr. Pallan R. Ichaporia.
(P.S. *All the cited translations of the Pahlavi Dinkard are from the forthcoming book: "The New Translation of Dinkard -Book II to V" by H. Humbach & P.Ichaporia, Germany. -the text is from Dinkard-Madon. )


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