Vendidad

The Vendidad /ˈvendi'dæd/, also known as Videvdad or Juddevdad, is the only volume of the Sasanian Avesta to be still present in the extant Avesta collection.^[1] It is assumed that its use within the Videvdad liturgy guaranteed its survival to this day.^[2]

Name

In the sources, the text is variously referred to as Videvdad, Vendidad or Juddewdad.^[3] All these forms are assumed to derive from an unattested Avestan 𐬬𐬍𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬬𐬋𐬛𐬁𐬙𐬀, (vī-daēvō-dāta).^[4] Here, daēuua (Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀) refers to the daevas;^[5] dāta (Avestan: 𐬛𐬁𐬙𐬀) is an Avestan term for rule, norm or law;^[6] and vī (Avestan: 𐬬𐬍) has a wide range of meaning like against or away.^[7] Using the interpretation of vī as against, the name was originally interpreted as the law against the deavas. Nowadays, however, Avestan vī is interpreted as away and the name of the text as the law for pushing the deavas away.^[8]

Text

History

The Vendidad's different parts vary widely in character and in age. Although some portions are relatively recent in origin, the subject matter of the greater part is very old. In 1877, Karl Friedrich Geldner identified the texts as being linguistically distinct from both the Old Avestan language texts as well as from the Yashts of the younger Avesta. Today, there is controversy over historical development of the Vendidad. The Vendidad is classified by some as an artificial, young Avestan text. Its language resembles Old Avestan. The Vendidad is thought to be a Magi (Magi-influenced) composition.^[9] It has also been suggested that the Vendidad belongs to a particular school, but "no linguistic or textual argument allows us to attain any degree of certainty in these matters."^[10]

Some consider the Vendidad a link to ancient early oral traditions, later written as a book of laws for the Zoroastrian community. ^[11] The writing of the Vendidad began - perhaps substantially - before the formation of the Median and Persian Empires, before the 8th century B.C.E..

In addition, as with the Yashts, the date of composition of the final version does not exclude the possibility that some parts of the Vendidad may consist of very old material. Even in this modern age, Zoroastrians are continually rewriting old spiritual material.^[12]

Content

The first chapter is dualistic creation myth, followed by the description of a destructive winter. The second chapter recounts the legend of Yima (Jamshid). Chapter 19 relates the temptation of Zoroaster, who, when urged by Angra Mainyu to turn from the good religion, turns instead towards Ahura Mazda. The remaining chapters cover diverse rules and regulations, through the adherence of which evil spirits may be confounded. Broken down by subject, these fargards deal with the following topics (chapters where a topic is covered are in brackets):

• hygiene (in particular care of the dead) [3, 5, 6, 7, 8, 16, 17, 19] and cleansing [9,10];
• disease, its origin, and spells against it [7, 10, 11, 13, 20, 21, 22];
• mourning for the dead [12], the Towers of Silence [6], and the remuneration of deeds after death [19];
• the sanctity of, and invocations to, Atar (fire) [8], Zam (earth) [3,6], Apas (water) [6, 8, 21] and the light of the stars [21];
• the dignity of wealth and charity [4], of marriage [4, 15] and of physical effort [4]
• statutes on unacceptable social behaviour [15] such as breach of contract [4] and assault [4];
• on the worthiness of priests [18];
• praise and care of the bull [21], the dog [13, 15], the otter [14], the Sraosha bird [18], and the Haoma tree [6].

There is a degree of moral relativism apparent in the Vendidad, and the diverse rules and regulations are not always expressed as being mystical, absolute, universal or mandatory. The Vendidad is mainly about social laws, mores, customs and culture. In some instances, the description of prescribed behaviour is accompanied by a description of the penances that have to be made to atone for violations thereof. Such penances include:

• payment in cash or kind to the aggrieved;
• corporal punishment such as whipping;
• repeated recitations of certain parts of the liturgy such as the Ahuna Vairya invocation.

Value of the Vendidad among Zoroastrians

Most of the Zoroastrians continue to use the Vendidad as a valued and fundamental cultural and ethical moral guide, viewing their teachings as essential to Zoroastrian tradition and see it as part of Zoroastrianism original perspectives about the truth of spiritual existence. They argue that it has origins on early oral tradition, being only later written.^[13][14][15]

The emergent reformist Zoroastrian movement reject the later writings in the Avesta as being corruptions of Zarathustra's original teachings and thus do not consider the Vendidad as an original Zoroastrian scripture. They argue that it was written nearly 700 years after the death of Zarathustra and interpret the writing as different from the other parts of the Avesta.^[16]

An article by Hannah M. G. Shapero sums up the reformist perspective:^[17]

"How do Zoroastrians view the Vendidad today? And how many of the laws of the Vendidad are still followed? This depends, as so many other Zoroastrian beliefs and practices do, on whether you are a "reformist" or a "traditionalist." The reformists, following the Gathas as their prime guide, judge the Vendidad harshly as being a deviation from the non-prescriptive, abstract teachings of the Gathas. For them, few if any of the laws or practices in the Vendidad are either in the spirit or the letter of the Gathas, and so they are not to be followed. The reformists prefer to regard the Vendidad as a document which has no religious value but is only of historic or anthropological interest. Many Zoroastrians, in Iran, India, and the world diaspora, inspired by reformists, have chosen to dispense with the Vendidad prescriptions entirely or only to follow those which they believe are not against the original spirit of the Gathas."

Liturgical use

Yasht i Visperad abag Videvdad

Main article: Yasht i Visperad abag Videvdad

The Vendidad text is used within the Yasht i Visperad abag Videvdad, or simply Videvdad, one of the main variants of the Zoroastrian Long Liturgy. As the name implies, this liturgy consists of a Yasht i Visperad into which the chapters of the Vendidad are intercalated. This intercalation happens during the Old Avestan text in the Staota Yesnya.^[18] Its use is connected to purification rituals like the Barashnom or the establishment of an Atash Behram.^[19] Nowadays, the Videvdad liturgy is only performed in India.^[20]

Videvdad Sade

The Videvdad liturgy has to be distinguished from another performance of the text of the Videvdad, namely the Videvdad Sade performance. This performance is different from the liturgy since it is only performed by a single priest, instead of two in the Videvdad liturgy, and there is no ritual activity. Instead, the priest simply reads the text as given in the Videvdad Sade manuscripts. The performance also does not require the typical levels of ritual purity. Due to this lack of ritual actions, the Videvdad Sade performance has been described as a lenghty prayer.^[21]

See also

• Avesta
• Avestan geography