What Are the Yashts in Zoroastrianism? The Hymns to the Yazatas
The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns of the Zoroastrian Avesta in praise of the yazatas, the divine beings worthy of worship. Composed in Younger Avestan, the Yashts are a major source for Zoroastrian theology, mythology, and ritual, and several of them — the Mihr Yasht to Mithra, the Ardvisur Yasht to Anahita, the Bahman Yasht on eschatology — are major works of religious poetry by any standard. The cluster on Zoroastrianism treats the religious tradition in detail, and the cluster on Persian mythology and Ahura Mazda treats the pantheon in detail.
The place of the Yashts in the Avesta
The Yashts are conventionally one of the major divisions of the Zoroastrian Avesta, the canon of texts composed in Avestan, Old Persian, and Middle Persian. The other major divisions are the Yasna, the central liturgical text, which includes the Gathas of Zarathustra; the Visperad, a set of extensions to the Yasna used in the Gahambars, the seasonal festivals; the Vendidad, a code of ritual law, hygiene, and legal procedure; and the Khorda Avesta, a collection of smaller liturgical texts, including the Siroza, the Afrinagan, and the Gahs. The Yashts function, in the Avestan scheme, as the devotional section of the canon, and the hymns are used in the Zoroastrian ritual as praises of the divine beings.
The word yasht derives from the Avestan verb yaz, “to worship, to praise,” the same root as the word yasna. The Yashts function as the “worships” of the yazatas, the praises of the divine beings. The Yashts are distinguished from the Yasna, which is a fixed liturgical text, by the fact that the Yashts are individual hymns, each devoted to a specific yazata, and the Yashts can be recited individually or in combination.
The major Yashts
The twenty-one Yashts are conventionally numbered and named. The major Yashts include the following: the Mihr Yasht (Yasht 10), the hymn to Mithra, the yazata of the sun, of justice, and of contracts; the Aban Yasht (Yasht 5), the hymn to the waters, the yazatas of the rivers, lakes, and oceans; the Ardvisur Yasht (Yasht 5 in older numbering; the standard ordering now puts it as Yasht 5 or as a separate part of Yasht 5; consult the standard edition), the hymn to Anahita, the yazata of the river waters, of fertility, and of healing; the Tishtrya Yasht (Yasht 8), the hymn to Tishtrya, the yazata of the rain and the star Sirius; the Zam Yasht (Yasht 19), the hymn to Zam, the yazata of the earth; the Vayu Yasht (Yasht 22, sometimes counted as a separate baj rather than a Yasht proper), the hymn to Vayu, the yazata of the air; the Verethragna Yasht (Yasht 14), the hymn to Verethragna, the yazata of victory; the Rashnu Yasht (Yasht 12), the hymn to Rashnu, the yazata of justice; the Sraosha Yasht (Yasht 11), the hymn to Sraosha, the yazata of obedience; the Ashi Yasht (Yasht 17), the hymn to Ashi, the yazata of fortune; the Khvarenah Yasht (Yasht 19), the hymn to Khvarenah, the yazata of the royal glory; the Mah Yasht (Yasht 21), the hymn to Mah, the yazata of the moon; the Tir Yasht (Yasht 8, part of), the hymn to Tir, the yazata of the star Sirius; the Gosh Yasht or Sarosh Yasht (Yasht 14, part of), the hymn to Gosh, the yazata of the dog; the Bahman Yasht (Yasht 2), the hymn to Bahman, the yazata of the prediction of the prophet; and the Hom Yasht (Yasht 9), the hymn to Haoma, the yazata of the sacred drink.
The Mihr Yasht (Yasht 10), the hymn to Mithra, is the longest of the Yashts, with approximately 131–140 verses in the standard editions — the “more than 1,200 verses” that one sometimes sees cited is wrong, and the number is a confusion with the Videvdad (which is much longer). The Mihr Yasht describes Mithra as a warrior who rides through the sky on his chariot drawn by white horses, who watches over the world from his high watchtower, who smites the demons, who supports the righteous, who punishes the liar, and who brings the water from the cosmic ocean to the world. The Mihr Yasht is a major source for the Iranian cult of Mithra before the Hellenistic period; the relationship of the Iranian cult to the Roman cult of Mithras is treated in the cluster on Mithraism and the Cult of Mithras.
The Ardvisur Yasht, the hymn to Anahita, is among the more beautiful of the Yashts and is the major source for the cult of the river goddess Anahita in the Zoroastrian tradition. The Ardvisur Yasht describes Anahita as a beautiful maiden, dressed in a cloak of thirty beaver skins (Yasht 5.65–66; the “thirty-six” of some older translations is incorrect), who rides through the world in a chariot drawn by four white horses, who brings the water from the cosmic ocean, who gives fertility to the fields, who blesses the righteous, and who destroys the demons. The Ardvisur Yasht was a major source of the Sasanian cult of Anahita, and the goddess was worshipped in the great fire temples of the empire.
The Bahman Yasht (Yasht 2), the hymn to Bahman, is the most important of the Yashts for the Zoroastrian eschatology. The Bahman Yasht describes the vision of Zarathustra, in which the prophet sees the future of the world, the cycles of the metal and the rulers, the battles of the good and the evil, and the final renovation, the frashokereti. The Bahman Yasht is also one of the major sources of the Zurvanite doctrine of the cycles of time, and the Bundahishn, the Denkard, and the Zand-i Wahman Yasn, the Middle Persian commentaries on the Bahman Yasht, are major sources of the Zurvanite tradition.
The themes of the Yashts
The Yashts are not only praises of the yazatas but also major sources of the Zoroastrian theology, mythology, and ritual. The themes of the Yashts include the figure of the yazata, the divine being worthy of worship; the relationship of the yazata to Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, treated in the cluster on Persian mythology and Ahura Mazda; the cosmic battle between the yazata and the demons, the daevas; the role of the yazata in the creation, the maintenance, and the renovation of the world; the relationship of the yazata to the farr, the divine glory; and the relationship of the yazata to the human worshipper.
The Yashts are also major sources of the Zoroastrian mythology: the Saoshyant, the future saviour, who is described in several of the Yashts; the frawahar, the spiritual double, which is described in several of the Yashts; and the farr, the divine glory, which is described in the Khvarenah Yasht. The Chinvat Bridge, the bridge of judgement over which the soul crosses to the afterlife, is described mainly in the Videvdad (Vendidad) and in the Pahlavi texts, rather than in the Yashts themselves. The cluster on Zoroastrianism treats these themes in more detail, and the cluster on the Magi, the priests of ancient Media treats the priestly class in whose hands the Yashts were transmitted.