- Yasna Haptanghaiti
The "Yasna Haptanghaiti" (" _ae. Yasna Haptaŋhāiti"), Avestan for "Worship in Seven Chapters," is a set of 7 hymns within the greater "
Yasna " collection, that is, within the primary liturgical texts of the ZoroastrianAvesta .Age and importance
The "Yasna Haptanghaiti" is in Gathic Avestan, and is as old as the
Gathas , the most sacred hymns of Zoroastrianism and considered to have been composed byZoroaster himself. The seven hymns of the "Yasna Haptanghaiti" are generally considered to have been composed by the immediate disciples of Zoroaster, either during the prophet's lifetime or shortly after his death.In substance, the seven chapters are of great antiquity and contain allusions to the general (not necessarily Zoroaster-reformed) religious beliefs of the late
second millennium BCE . The texts are thus also of significance to scholars of religious history, and has a formative influence on the reconstruction of pre-Zoroastrian (Indo-)Iranian religion and in distinguishing Zoroaster's contributions from those of pre-existing ones.tructure and content
As represented within the greater "Yasna" liturgy, the "Yasna Haptanghaiti" are placed (and recited) between the first and second Gathas. Unlike the Gathas however, which are in verse, the "Yasna Haptanghaiti" is in prose. Analysis of the texts suggests that the hymns of the "Yasna Haptanghaiti" were composed as a discrete unit. The last verse of the last chapter suggests that the seven chapters represent the historical Yasna liturgy, around which the other chapters of the present-day "Yasna" were later organized. In that verse (41.6), the "Yasna Haptanghaiti" is personified as the "the brave "Yasna" and "the holy, the ritual chief."ref_label|pers|a|none
The seven chapters have been summarized by
Lawrence Heyworth Mills as follows:In the 19th century, "Yasna" 42 was considered to be a supplement to the "Yasna Haptanghaiti", but later discussions of the liturgy do not include it as such. "Yasna" 42 is younger than the "Yasna Haptanghaiti".
Notes
* a) note_label|pers|a|none A similar personification of the "Yasna Haptanghaiti" occurs in the Younger Avestan hymn of the "Hawan Gah", a text of the "Khordeh Avesta" collection.
Bibliography
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*Further reading
* " [http://www.avesta.org/yasna/y35to42s.htm Yasna Haptanghaiti] " in citation|last=Mills|first=L. H.|title=Sacred Books of the East|volume=31|year=1887|editor-last=Müller|editor-first=Max|location=Oxford|publisher=OUP
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