Zoroastrianism

The Scriptures of Zoroastrian Mazdayasna

Zoroastrian literature is generally categorized by language and historical period. It begins with the Avestan corpus (the Avesta and related liturgical texts), followed by Middle Persian literature from the Sasanian and post-Sasanian periods, and later developments in New Persian and Gujarati, especially among Zoroastrian communities in Iran and India. These categories reflect both linguistic shifts and evolving religious, legal, and devotional traditions within Zoroastrianism.

c. 1500–1000 BCE — Old Avestan (Gathic stratum)

Date (approx.)	Name	Corpus	Description
c. 1500–1200 BCE	Ahuna Vairya	Old Avestan	The most sacred formula of Mazdayasnism; the lord acts according to Asha’s will, not as its author.
c. 1500–1200 BCE	Ashem Vohu	Old Avestan	Core three-line prayer: Asha is the best, and alignment with it is the path to uštā (Enlightenment).
c. 1500–1200 BCE	Yenghe Hatam	Old Avestan	Closing doxology venerating all beings worthy of worship by virtue of their Asha-alignment.
c. 1500–1200 BCE	Airyaman Ishya	Old Avestan	Blessing and healing prayer closing the Gathas; invokes communal solidarity as healer of body and soul.
c. 1400–1100 BCE	Ahunavaiti Gatha	Gatha — Old Avestan	First and longest Gatha (Y. 28–34); founding document of Zarathushtra’s reform — Asha precedes all action.
c. 1400–1100 BCE	Ushtavaiti Gatha	Gatha — Old Avestan	Second Gatha (Y. 43–46); named for uštā — the Enlightenment that comes to one genuinely aligned with Asha.
c. 1400–1100 BCE	Spenta Mainyu Gatha	Gatha — Old Avestan	Third Gatha (Y. 47–50); the Spenta Mainyu — Bounteous Spirit — is the Giver of all, not Mazda.
c. 1400–1100 BCE	Vohu Khshathra Gatha	Gatha — Old Avestan	Fourth Gatha (Y. 51); the good dominion is built from within by Ashavan action, not imposed by divine fiat.
c. 1400–1100 BCE	Vahishtoishti Gatha	Gatha — Old Avestan	Shortest Gatha (Y. 53); a wedding hymn — the Ashavan life is lived fully in the world, not apart from it.
c. 1300–1000 BCE	Yasna Haptanghaiti	Old Avestan	Oldest prose text in any Indo-Iranian language (Y. 35–41); communal praise to Mazda, fire, and water.

c. 1000–600 BCE — Early Young Avestan (Yasna frame & major Yashts)

Date (approx.)	Name	Corpus	Description
c. 1000–800 BCE	Yasna (liturgical frame)	Young Avestan — Yasna frame	The 72-chapter central liturgy enclosing the Gathas; recited daily in fire temples; base for Visperad and Vendidad.
c. 1000–700 BCE	Warharan Yasht (Yt. 14)	Yashts	Hymn to Verethragna, yazata of victory; among the most archaic Young Avestan texts, close to the Rigvedic Indra.
c. 1000–700 BCE	Frawardin Yasht (Yt. 13)	Yashts	Hymn to the Fravashis — pre-existing Ashavan guardian spirits of every righteous being, living and dead.
c. 1000–700 BCE	Aban Yasht (Yt. 5)	Yashts	Long hymn to Anahita, yazata of the cosmic waters; one of the mythologically richest texts in the corpus.
c. 900–700 BCE	Mihr Yasht (Yt. 10)	Yashts	Hymn to Mithra, thousand-eyed guardian of covenant; one of the longest and most important Yashts.
c. 900–700 BCE	Zamyad Yasht (Yt. 19)	Yashts	Hymn to the Earth and the Khvarenah — the divine glory that inhabits those who enact Asha in the world.
c. 900–700 BCE	Tishtar Yasht (Yt. 8)	Yashts	Hymn to Sirius (Tishtrya), bringer of rain; cosmic battle between Asha-aligned star and drought-demon Apaosha.

c. 800–400 BCE — Young Avestan (High liturgies & remaining Yashts)

Date (approx.)	Name	Corpus	Description
c. 800–600 BCE	Ohrmazd Yasht (Yt. 1)	Yashts	Opening hymn of the Yasht collection; lists the 101 divine names of Ahura Mazda.
c. 800–600 BCE	Haft Amahraspand Yasht (Yt. 2)	Yashts	Hymn to the seven Amesha Spentas collectively — the co-eternal aspects of the Ashavan order.
c. 800–600 BCE	Ardwahisht Yasht (Yt. 3)	Yashts	Hymn to Asha Vahishta — “Best Asha” — guardian of fire as the material presence of Asha in the world.
c. 800–600 BCE	Khordad Yasht (Yt. 4)	Yashts	Hymn to Haurvatat (“wholeness”), Amesha Spenta of water; the goal-state of complete Asha-alignment.
c. 800–600 BCE	Khwarshed Yasht (Yt. 6)	Yashts	Solar hymn; the Sun as the eye of Ahura Mazda — the cosmic Asha-witness that perceives all action.
c. 800–600 BCE	Mah Yasht (Yt. 7)	Yashts	Lunar hymn; the Moon as regulator of the living world’s rhythms — Asha governing nature, not only ethics.
c. 800–600 BCE	Gosh Yasht / Drvasp Yasht (Yt. 9)	Yashts	Hymn to Drvaspa, protector of horses and cattle; right treatment of living creatures as Asha-alignment.
c. 800–600 BCE	Srosh Yasht Hadokht (Yt. 11)	Yashts	Hymn to Sraosha, yazata of attentive listening; guardian of the soul during the three nights after death.
c. 800–600 BCE	Rashn Yasht (Yt. 12)	Yashts	Hymn to Rashnu, “the most straight”; the angel of justice who weighs souls at the Chinvat Bridge.
c. 800–600 BCE	Ram Yasht (Yt. 15)	Yashts	Hymn to Vayu in his Asha-aligned aspect — the good wind absorbed selectively by the reform.
c. 800–600 BCE	Din Yasht (Yt. 16)	Yashts	Hymn to Daena — conscience and religious insight — who appears after death as the soul’s own moral reflection.
c. 800–600 BCE	Ard Yasht (Yt. 17)	Yashts	Hymn to Ashi, yazata of fortune; flourishing as the natural consequence of Asha-alignment, not luck.
c. 800–600 BCE	Ashtad Yasht (Yt. 18)	Yashts	Short hymn to Arshtad — rectitude, straightness — the physical and behavioural expression of Asha-alignment.
c. 800–600 BCE	Hom Yasht (Yt. 20)	Yashts	Hymn to Haoma — plant, divinity, and priest-figure; the Vedic Soma’s direct Iranian parallel, embedded also in Y. 9–11.
c. 800–600 BCE	Vanant Yasht (Yt. 21)	Yashts	Short hymn to the star-yazata Vanant; invocation for martial victory and repulsion of hostile forces.
c. 700–500 BCE	Visperad	High liturgy	Supplementary liturgy of 24–27 sections inserted into the Yasna during the six Gahanbar seasonal festivals.
c. 700–400 BCE	Vendidad (Videvdat)	High liturgy	The only fully surviving nask; 22 chapters of mythology and priestly purity law, recited in all-night vigil.
c. 600–400 BCE	Nirangestan	High liturgy	Legal-liturgical manual governing the correct performance of the Yasna; companion text to the Vendidad.
c. 600–400 BCE	Herbedestan	High liturgy	Text on the duties and training of the student-priest; the teacher-student bond as sacred Asha-covenant.

c. 600 BCE – 300 CE — Young Avestan (Khordeh Avesta & Minor Texts)

Date (approx.)	Name	Corpus	Description
c. 600–300 BCE	Khwarshed Niyayesh	Khordeh Avesta	Lay litany to the Sun as cosmic Asha-witness; recited facing the sun at dawn and midday.
c. 600–300 BCE	Mihr Niyayesh	Khordeh Avesta	Lay litany to Mithra as guardian of covenant; recitation as recommitment to truth-in-relationship.
c. 600–300 BCE	Mah Niyayesh	Khordeh Avesta	Lay litany to the Moon; honouring the cosmic pulse of Asha in the rhythms of nature.
c. 600–300 BCE	Aban Niyayesh	Khordeh Avesta	Lay litany to the waters as a sacred Ashavan force; recited near rivers, wells, or any body of water.
c. 600–300 BCE	Atash Niyayesh	Khordeh Avesta	Most widely recited Niyayesh; praise to fire as the luminous material presence of Asha; recited in fire temples.
c. 600–300 BCE	Hawan Gah	Khordeh Avesta	Prayer for the first daily watch (sunrise to midday); the day as continuous Asha-ordered time.
c. 600–300 BCE	Rapithwin Gah	Khordeh Avesta	Prayer for the second daily watch (midday to mid-afternoon); Rapithwin as the spirit of summer and noon.
c. 600–300 BCE	Uzerin Gah	Khordeh Avesta	Prayer for the third daily watch (mid-afternoon to sunset); transition toward evening and heightened alertness.
c. 600–300 BCE	Aiwisruthrem Gah	Khordeh Avesta	Prayer for the fourth daily watch (sunset to midnight); the watch of Sraosha, guardian against the Druj of darkness.
c. 600–300 BCE	Ushahin Gah	Khordeh Avesta	Prayer for the fifth daily watch (midnight to dawn); the watch of Zarathushtra — stillness before the returning light.
c. 600–300 BCE	Sih-Rozag (short form)	Khordeh Avesta	Brief enumeration of the 30 divine presiders over the calendar month; recited on the appropriate day.
c. 600–300 BCE	Sih-Rozag (long form)	Khordeh Avesta	Expanded calendar invocation addressing each of the 30 day-presiders in full; used in formal ceremonies.
c. 600–300 BCE	Afrinagan Dahman	Khordeh Avesta	Blessing ceremony for the souls of the righteous departed; the community’s ongoing bond with the Ashavan dead.
c. 600–300 BCE	Afrinagan Gahanbar	Khordeh Avesta	Blessing ceremony for the six Gahanbar festivals celebrating the six domains of the good creation.
c. 600–300 BCE	Afrinagan Rapithwin	Khordeh Avesta	Blessing for the opening and closing of summer; the seasonal cycle as living Asha-ordered theology.
c. 600–300 BCE	Afrinagan Ardafrawash	Khordeh Avesta	Blessing for Fravardigan — the ten-day feast when the Fravashis return to visit the living.
c. 600–300 BCE	Hoshbam	Khordeh Avesta	Pre-dawn prayer opening the daily ritual cycle; the first conscious orientation toward Asha before the Hawan Gah.
c. 600–300 BCE	Srosh Baj	Khordeh Avesta	Ritual formula of consecrated silence in honour of Sraosha; recited before meals and at transitional moments.
c. 600–300 BCE	Vispa Humata	Khordeh Avesta	Doxology of the Ashavan triad: all good thoughts (humata), good words (huxta), good deeds (hvarshta).
c. 600–300 BCE	Nam Stayishn	Khordeh Avesta	Short prayer of glorification naming Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas; opening or closing devotional act.
c. 500–200 BCE	Aogemadaeca	Khordeh Avesta	“We accept death” — a philosophical treatise on mortality and the urgency of Asha-alignment; read at funerary observances.
c. 500–200 BCE	Hadokht Nask (fragments)	High liturgy	Surviving fragments of a lost nask; the soul’s journey after death — three nights, the Chinvat Bridge, the encounter with Daena.
c. 500–200 BCE	Pursishniha	Khordeh Avesta	Catechetical question-and-answer text on religious duties; Asha-alignment as conscious choice, not blind obedience.
c. 400–100 BCE	Nirangs (various)	Khordeh Avesta	Ritual incantations accompanying specific physical acts — tying the kusti, purifying the hands, consecrating water.

3rd – 10th century CE — Sasanian & early Islamic period (Pahlavi scripture)

Date (approx.)	Name	Corpus	Description
3rd–7th c. CE	Zand (commentaries)	Pahlavi	Pahlavi translation and exegetical commentary on the Avestan texts; what European scholars called the “Zend-Avesta.”
3rd–7th c. CE	Sasanian Avesta (lost)	Pahlavi	The canonical 21-nask edition — the complete sacred library of Mazdayasnism — largely destroyed after 651 CE.
6th–7th c. CE	Bundahishn	Pahlavi	“Original Creation” — Pahlavi cosmogonic encyclopaedia covering the creation, Angra Mainyu’s assault, and the Frashokərəti.
6th–9th c. CE	Denkard	Pahlavi	“Acts of the Religion” — nine-volume encyclopaedia containing summaries of all 21 nasks; the primary window into the lost canon.
6th–9th c. CE	Wizidagiha i Zadspram	Pahlavi	“Selections of Zadspram” — cosmology, life of Zarathushtra, and eschatology drawn from Zand sources.
7th–9th c. CE	Dadestan i Denig	Pahlavi	“Religious Decisions” — 92 questions on theology and law answered by high priest Manushchihr under Islamic rule.
7th–9th c. CE	Shayast na-Shayast	Pahlavi	“Proper and Improper” — detailed legal-ritual text on purity, sin, and expiation; expands on the Vendidad’s purity laws.
7th–9th c. CE	Ardawiraf Namag	Pahlavi	“Book of Arda Wiraz” — visionary journey through heaven and hell; the most vivid Mazdayasnian account of the afterlife.
8th–10th c. CE	Rivayats (early)	Pahlavi	Religious correspondence between Iranian and Indian (Parsi) Zoroastrian communities on questions of practice and doctrine.
9th–10th c. CE	Shkand-Gumanik Vazar	Pahlavi	“Doubt-Dispelling Exposition” — philosophical defence of Mazdayasnism against Islam, Christianity, Judaism, and Manichaeism.
9th–10th c. CE	Menog i Khrad	Pahlavi	“Spirit of Wisdom” — dialogue with the personified Spirit of Wisdom on cosmology, ethics, and the fate of the soul.