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36-501: In the 9/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition, the Pahlavi books , Avestan fravashi continues as Middle Persian fravard (and -w- forms, fraward etc), fravahr , fravash or fravaksh . The last days of a year, called frawardigan (compare New Persian farvardin , first month within the Persian calendar), are dedicated to the fravashis . The first month of

72-863: A prestige dialect and thus also came to be used by non-Persian Iranians. Following the Arab conquest of the Sassanian Empire in the 7th century, shortly after which Middle Persian began to evolve into New Persian, Middle Persian continued to be used by the Zoroastrian priesthood for religious and secular compositions. These compositions, in the Aramaic -derived Book Pahlavi script, are traditionally known as "Pahlavi literature". The earliest texts in Zoroastrian Middle Persian were probably written down in late Sassanid times (6th–7th centuries), although they represent

108-534: A derivation from vart- "turn" hence "turning away, departing, death." The Epistles of Zadspram , a 10th century exegetical work, derives fravashi from fra-vaxsh "to grow forth." Like most other Zoroastrian yazata s , the fravashi s are not mentioned in the Gathas . The earliest mention of them is in the Old Avestan Yasna Haptanghaiti ( Y. 37) which includes an invocation of "the fravashi s of

144-677: A divinity, Dahman only appears thrice in the surviving texts of the Avesta (once in Siroza 33, and once each in fragments P31 and P32) and once in a Zend translation of the lost Sudgar Nask . In addition, Dahman appears several times in the Denkard , as the greatest saviour from the daeva s (815.4-815.8), a description also provided by the Shayest ne shayest supplementary (13.43). A Sassanid era commentary on Siroza 33 notes that property acquired honestly

180-520: A few are well known: A manuscript known as the "miscellaneous codex" or MK (after Mihraban Kaykhusrow, the Indian Zoroastrian (Parsi) copyist who created it), dated to 1322 but containing older material, is the only surviving source of several secular Middle Persian works from the Sassanian period. Among the texts included in the unique MK are: Especially important to cultural and law historians

216-472: Is also mentioned in the Vendidad as Ahura Mazda 's reward for a cure for disease ( Vendidad 22.5). It is also the payment a priest may give for medicinal services rendered unto him ( Vendidad 7.41, 9.37), which – a Zend commentary explains - is more valuable than any other form of payment. As the essence of the just man, dahman was eventually personified as the divinity Dahman Afrin , or just Dahman . As

252-469: Is no physical description of a fravashi in the Avesta , the faravahar , one of the best known symbols of Zoroastrianism, is commonly believed to be the depiction of one. The attribution of the name (which derives from the Middle Iranian word for fravashi ) to the symbol is probably a later development. In Avestan language grammar, the fravashi are unmistakably female, while the faravahar symbol

288-406: Is protected by Dahman Afrin . Boyce (1982) suggests that Dahman may once have had a dedication of the twenty-third day of the month of the Zoroastrian calendar , but was displaced when three additional days were assigned to Ahura Mazda . Dahman continues to be invoked with Apam Napat (middle Persian: Burz Yazad ) and Haoma ( Hom ) together with Anagra Raoca ( Aneran ), the divinity of

324-451: Is summoned to accept the soul of the deceased from Sarosh (under whose care it had remained for the previous four days) and accompany it until the soul's Fravashi is united with it. (Dhalla, 1938) Beyond these references, Dahman Afrin is of no great significance in modern Zoroastrianism, and is overshadowed by Sarosh , with whom Dahman is frequently associated. There is no Yasht dedicated to Dahman , but it has been suggested that

360-527: Is the Avestan language name of a Zoroastrian concept, later considered to be the embodiment of prayer, and ultimately (also) as a divinity, one of the yazata s . Dahman Afrin in its true sense literally translates to 'devout blessing(s)', and the divinity Dahman is the active principle and hypostasis of the Gathic Avestan Dahma Afriti invocation ( Yasna 60.2-7). Yasna 61 also refers to

396-565: Is the Madayan i Hazar Dadestan , "Book of a Thousand Judgements", a 7th-century compilation of actual and hypothetical case histories collected from Sassanian court records and transcripts. Only a single manuscript of this unique text survives. Scribes also created several glossaries for translating foreign languages. Of these, two have survived: Several other works, now lost, are known of from references to them in other languages. Works of this group include: Dahman Dahman or Dahman Afrin

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432-490: Is thus a frequently recited passage. In Yt. 13.65-68, the fravashi are associated with prosperity, and annually strive to ensure that "family, settlement, tribe, and country" has rain. Verses 149 and 155 are likewise related to the urvan of the dead, and offer worship to both urvan and fravashi as distinct parts of a mortal's immaterial nature. And while they are said to have martial prowess in some passages, elsewhere (13.49-52, 13.96-144), they are co-eval with

468-512: Is unmistakably male. In the Denkard 's myth of Zoroaster's conception ( Dk. , 7.2.15-47), his frawahr is sent down from heaven within a unique hom -plant to be united on earth with his mortal body ( tanu ) and appointed glory ( xwarrah ). In the Bundahishn 's creation myth narrates a fable in which the fravashis are given a choice of either remaining protected with Ahura Mazda, or being born into mortals, suffering but also helping bring about

504-528: The Amesha Spenta Haurvatat ( Middle Persian : Khordad ) of "Wholeness", whose special domain are "the Waters" (Avestan Apo , Middle Persian: Aban ). In the day-name dedications of the Zoroastrian calendar , the fravashi s preside over the 19th day of the month and the first month of the year, and both are named after the fraward s. The intersection of the month-name and day-name dedications are

540-508: The Avesta 's texts. Although such exegetical commentaries also exist in other languages (including Avestan itself), the Middle Persian zand is the only to survive fully, and is for this reason regarded as 'the' zand . With the notable exception of the Yasht s , almost all surviving Avestan texts have their Middle Persian zand , which in some manuscripts appear alongside (or interleaved with)

576-520: The Middle Iranian dialect of Persia proper , the region in the south-western corner of the Iranian plateau . Middle Persian was the prestige dialect during the era of Sasanian dynasty . It is the largest source of Zoroastrian literature . The rulers of the Sasanian Empire (224–654 CE) were natives of that south-western region, and through their political and cultural influence, Middle Persian became

612-1017: The Pahlavi Psalter (7th century); these were used until the beginning of the second millennium in many places in Central Asia, including Turfan (in present-day China) and even localities in Southern India. "Pahlavi literature traditionally defines the writings of the Zoroastrians in the Middle Persian language and Book Pahlavi script which were compiled in the 9th and the 10th centuries CE." The literary corpus in Middle Persian in Book Pahlavi consists of: These divisions are not mutually exclusive. Several different literary genres are represented in Pahlavi literature. The zand corpus include exegetical glosses, paraphrases, commentaries and translations of

648-402: The 'Manichaean Middle Persian' corpus, used for a sizable amount of Manichaean religious writings, including many theological texts, homilies and hymns (3rd–9th, possibly 13th century). Even less-well attested are the Middle Persian compositions of Nestorian Christians like [[Ma'na of Pars|Mar Ma[ʿ] Error: {{Transliteration}}: transliteration text not Latin script ( help ) na]], evidenced in

684-512: The codification of earlier oral tradition. However, most texts, including the Zend commentaries and translations of the Zoroastrian canon , date from the 9th to the 11th century, when Middle Persian had long ceased to be a spoken language, so they reflect the state of affairs in living Middle Persian only indirectly. The surviving manuscripts are usually 14th-century copies. Other, less abundantly attested varieties of Middle Persian literature include

720-416: The defeat of Angra Mainyu. The fravashi s are shown the future before the creation of the getik material world. Ohrmazd's offer of security with inaction is rejected and the fravashi consent to enter the material world as active allies in the battle against evil ( GBd. 34.12f). In another cosmological myth ( Zadspram 3.2-3), when Angra Mainyu breaks into the created world, the fravashi s draw together on

756-537: The function of the fravashi s in relation to the dead. There, the fravashi s of the dead are said to return to their (former) homes during the last days of the year (Hamaspathmaedaya, frawardigan ), hoping to be worshipped and receive gifts, in exchange for which they bless those who live there. This section ( karda ), known to priests by its opening words as the ya visatha , also appears in Siroza 1/2 and several Afrinagans , notably those of Arda Fravash (the 'righteous fravash') and Dahman (the yazata of prayer), and

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792-510: The good/pious'. However, according to Boyce (1982), the authors of the Zend were mistaken. According to her, dahm was not a (masculine plural) noun, but an (accusative singular feminine) adjective "used exclusively of Afriti among the divine beings." The mistranslation became the standard name of the prayer, and ultimately embodied as that of a yazata . The potency of the Dahma Afriti invocation

828-493: The hymn, and its literary quality is uneven; while some verses are rich in traditional poetic phrases, others are of dully imitative prose. The frequently repeated kshnuman (formulaic invocation) of Yasht 13 is "We worship the good, strong, bounteous fravašis of the righteous ( ashavan )." Yasht 13 begins with a cosmogonical chapter in which the Creator Ahura Mazda is portrayed as acknowledging that material creation

864-477: The name-day feast of the fraward s. This feast day of farvardin jashan is especially observed by Zoroastrians who have lost a relative in the preceding year. Additionally, the fourth watch ( gah ) of the twenty-four-hour day, from sunset to midnight, is under the protection of the fraward s. Pahlavi books Middle Persian literature is the corpus of written works composed in Middle Persian , that is,

900-494: The prayer as Dahma Vangui Afriti and considers it to be the fourth most potent incantation. The prayer is invoked as a blessing upon the house of the ashavan , which may be translated as 'just' or 'true' man. The concept has its origin in the more ancient Indo Iranian religion and is similar to Vedic concept of Dharma In Zoroastrian tradition, the divinity Dahman appears as Middle Persian Dahm . As used in Yasna 60 and 61,

936-515: The relatively helpless urvan . This co-identification also occurs elsewhere in the Avesta, such as in Yasna 16.7, where it is explicit. According to Mary Boyce, the perplexing anomalies of Yasht 13 are residual traces of fravashi cult, which she defines as a form of an ancestor worship and/or hero-cult that developed during (what she calls) the 'Iranian Heroic Age' ( c. 1500 BCE onwards). Although there

972-491: The righteous" ( ashavan ). In chapter 57 of the Yasna , the fravashi s are responsible for the course of the sun, moon, and stars (and will do so until the renovation of this world), and in nurturing waters and plants, and protecting the unborn in the womb. The principal source of information on the fravashis is Yasht 13 ( frawardin Yasht ), the hymn that is addressed to them and in which they appear as beings who inhabit

1008-402: The rim of the sky to imprison him. The Denkard , Shikand gumanic vichar , Menog i khrat , Zatspram , and several other works together include an extensive theological exegesis on the distinction between getik and menok (material and immaterial) aspects of creation, and between the fraward and urvan . In the hierarchy of the yazatas , the fravashi s are the assistants of

1044-470: The sense of "to choose/profess a faith," is found in the word fravarane , the name of the Zoroastrian credo . Other interpretations take other meanings of var- into consideration: Either as var- "to cover" that in a bahuvrihi with fra- "to ward" provides "protective valor," or a derivation from var- "to make/be pregnant" which gives "promoter of birth, birth-spirit." One interpretation considers

1080-420: The stratosphere, and aid and protect those who worship them, and in which the fravashi s are presented on the same level as the lesser yazata s. Yasht 13 is one of the eight "great" yashts , and at 158 verses the longest text in the collection, and one of the better preserved ones as well. It is also the second-most frequently recited Yasht (after Yasht 1 to Mazda). Several different authors contributed to

1116-426: The term dahma appears to mean 'pious' or 'good', but that it may have originally been used to refer to one who had been initiated into the Zoroastrian religion. Zend translations of Yasna 61 and middle Persian glossaries appear to have considered the term unfamiliar enough that it needed explanation. In these, dahm is considered the essence of the just man, and the name of the prayer is translated as 'blessings of

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1152-491: The text being glossed. These glosses and commentaries were not intended for use as theological texts by themselves but for religious instruction of the (by then) non-Avestan-speaking public. In contrast, the Avestan language texts remained sacrosanct and continued to be recited in the Avestan language, which was considered a sacred language . The corpus of medieval texts of Zoroastrian tradition include around 75 works, of which only

1188-409: The text, describe how the fravashi s continue to sustain the material world and mankind in the post-creation phase of the world. Verses 16-17, as also several other later verses, celebrate their military prowess and assistance in battle, where they are invoked. Verse 20 includes an injunction to memorize their invocation, so as to be able to call on them in times of need. In 13.49-52, the hymn turns to

1224-473: The thirtieth day of the month. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, Dahman was created though, and is associated with, the Amesha Spenta Shahrevar (Avestan: Kshathra [Vairya] ), the guardian of metals and minerals. ( Bundahishn 3.16) Dahman also plays a role as the yazata who receives the souls of the just/pious at sunrise on the fourth day after death. In that Afringan ('ritual of blessing'), Dahman

1260-493: The year as well as the 19th day of each month are considered under the protection of, and named after, the fravashi s. The winged-disc symbol of Zoroastrianism is traditionally interpreted as a depiction of a fravashi . The word fravashi is commonly perceived to have var- "to choose," as its root. From reconstructed *fravarti (/rt/ clusters in Avestan usually appear as /š/), fravashi could then mean "one who has been selected (for exaltation)." The same root, in

1296-422: Was brought about with the assistance of "many hundreds, many thousands, many tens of thousands" of "mighty, victorious fravashi s" (13.1-2). Moreover, Mazda is presented as acknowledging that without the help of the fravashi s, cattle and men would have been lost to Angra Mainyu . "This declaration is wholly unorthodox, and unsupported by any other text." Verses 14-15, as also several other verses scattered through

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