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Zend

Zend or Zand (Middle Persian: 𐭦𐭭𐭣) is a Zoroastrian term for the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) translations, interpretations, and commentaries on the Avesta, the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism.^[1] The word "zand" derives from Avestan *zainti-, meaning "explanation" or "interpretation."^[2] Composed primarily during the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), the Zand literature elucidates the Avestan texts through paraphrase, glosses, and theological elaboration, forming a key component of Zoroastrian exegesis.^[3] It was initially transmitted orally and later committed to writing, with surviving texts preserved in medieval manuscripts. The Zand plays a central role in the Zoroastrian tradition, bridging ancient rituals and doctrines with later interpretations.^[4]

Etymology and Terminology

Origin and Meaning of "Zand"

The term "Zand" originates from Middle Persian *zand, which denotes "interpretation," "explanation," or "commentary," particularly in the context of elucidating sacred texts.^[1] This usage reflects its role as a designation for exegetical literature in Zoroastrian tradition, where it refers to the body of Middle Persian writings that translate and interpret the Avestan scriptures.^[5] The word's primary meaning emphasizes understanding and exposition, distinguishing it as a tool for rendering archaic Avestan accessible to later Persian-speaking audiences. Etymologically, "zand" likely derives from an Old Iranian root related to knowledge, possibly connected to Avestan forms like *zā- or *zanda-, implying "to know" or "cognizance," with cognates in Indo-European languages such as Greek gnōsis (γνῶσις, "knowledge"). This linguistic heritage underscores the term's association with insightful comprehension rather than mere recitation. The earliest historical attestations of "zand" appear in Pahlavi texts from the Sasanian period (224–651 CE), where it designates supplementary explanations developed alongside the Avesta to aid priestly instruction and doctrinal preservation.^[1] During this era, "zand" became integral to Zoroastrian scholarship, formalized in oral and later written forms by religious authorities.^[5] In terms of spelling and pronunciation, the standard form is "Zand" in scholarly transliterations of Middle Persian, reflecting the phonetic /zand/ from ancient Iranian languages.^[1] A variant, "Zend," emerged in European orientalist literature, stemming from 18th-century French transcriptions like those by Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, who adapted the term phonetically as /zɛnd/ based on Persian pronunciation shifts.^[1] These variations highlight evolutionary phonetic adaptations from Old Iranian through Middle Persian to modern scholarly conventions, without altering the core semantic field of interpretive knowledge.

Distinction Between Avesta and Zand

The Avesta represents the core sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism, comprising ritualistic texts composed in the Old Avestan and Younger Avestan languages, which are ancient Eastern Iranian dialects.^[3] These texts originated as oral compositions, meticulously preserved through verbatim memorization by priestly traditions before their eventual transcription into a specialized script.^[3] Functionally, the Avesta serves as the liturgical foundation of the religion, emphasizing precise recitation in ceremonies to invoke divine principles and maintain ritual purity.^[6] The Zand, by contrast, encompasses the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) corpus that provides translations, glosses, and exegetical expansions of the Avesta, making its esoteric content comprehensible to subsequent generations of Persian speakers whose native tongue had evolved away from Avestan.^[1] Etymologically, "Zand" denotes interpretation or commentary, reflecting its primary role as an elucidatory framework rather than an independent scriptural authority.^[1] This literature functions to bridge linguistic and cultural gaps, ensuring the Avesta's relevance in everyday religious practice and scholarly discourse.^[6] The relationship between Avesta and Zand is inherently interdependent, with the Zand extending beyond literal translation to incorporate distinctive legal, theological, and ritual elucidations shaped by Zoroastrian thought in the post-Achaemenid era.^[1] While the Avesta remains the inviolable source of sacred pronouncements, the Zand enriches it through contextual adaptations that address evolving doctrinal needs, such as ethical applications and ceremonial protocols, without altering the original texts' sanctity.^[3] This symbiotic dynamic highlights the Zand's essential contribution to the interpretive tradition, transforming the Avesta's ritual essence into a living theological system.^[6]

Historical Development

Composition and Authorship

The Zand texts, comprising Middle Persian commentaries and interpretations of the Avestan scriptures, were primarily authored by Zoroastrian priests known as herbeds or dasturs during the Sasanian Empire (224–651 CE), often under royal patronage to standardize and preserve the faith.^[7] These priestly scholars, operating within a structured ecclesiastical hierarchy, collaborated to compile and expand the religious corpus, with notable contributions from figures like Tansar, the chief priest (hērbed) under Ardašīr I (r. 224–240 CE), who is traditionally credited with initiating a canonical compilation that purged heterodox elements and promoted theological uniformity across the empire.^[7] This process reflected a broader Sasanian effort to centralize Zoroastrian doctrine, supported by monarchs such as Ḵosrow I Anōšīravān (r. 531–579 CE), who oversaw the final canonization of the Avesta and its accompanying Zand.^[8] The composition of the Zand involved a transition from oral traditions to written forms, where priests translated Avestan texts into Middle Persian (Pahlavi), added explanatory glosses (zand proper), and incorporated interpretations influenced by local customs and evolving theological debates.^[8] This method preserved the ritualistic and doctrinal essence of the Avesta while adapting it for contemporary understanding, resulting in layered texts that blended literal translation with exegetical commentary to address ambiguities in the ancient language.^[3] The work was inherently collaborative, drawing on generations of anonymous scholarly input rather than individual attribution to the prophet Zoroaster himself, emphasizing the Zand's role as a living interpretive tradition rather than prophetic revelation.^[7] Certain Zand-related compilations, such as the Dēnkard, stand out for their named authors amid this collective effort; it was initially assembled in the early 9th century CE by Ādurfarnbag ī Farroxzādān, a leading Zoroastrian authority who drew from Sasanian-era sources, before being edited and expanded in the 10th century by Ādurbād Ēmēdān into a comprehensive nine-book summary of Mazdean knowledge.^[9] This text exemplifies how post-Sasanian priests continued the Zand tradition by reconstructing and systematizing earlier materials, ensuring the survival of priestly interpretations through structured digests that included glosses on lost Avestan sections.^[9]

Dating the Zand Texts

The dating of the Zand texts, which constitute the Middle Persian translations and commentaries on the Avesta, remains a subject of scholarly reconstruction based on internal textual evidence and historical contexts, as no original manuscripts survive from antiquity. Proto-Zand interpretations may trace back to the Achaemenid period (550–330 BCE), where rudimentary explanations of Avestan rituals appear in inscriptions invoking Ahura Mazda, though these are not formalized commentaries. More substantial proto-Zand activity likely occurred during the Parthian era (247 BCE–224 CE), when Zoroastrian priests maintained oral and possibly written glosses on sacred texts amid regional diversity in practice, as suggested by later references to efforts by Parthian kings like Vologases I (r. 51–80 CE) to collect dispersed Avestan materials. However, systematic composition of the Zand began in the early Sasanian period under Ardashir I (r. 224–240 CE), who commissioned the high priest Tansar to standardize Zoroastrian doctrine, including the collation of Avestan texts with their Pahlavi explications to unify imperial religious authority.^[10]^[11] The peak period of Zand development spanned the 3rd to 6th centuries CE, during the height of Sasanian power, when major redactions and expansions occurred under royal patronage. Kings such as Shapur II (r. 309–379 CE) supported scholarly efforts to organize the Avesta into 21 nasks (books) and develop scripts for Avestan, facilitating more precise Zand annotations that integrated exegesis with ritual law. This era saw the Zand evolve from ad hoc interpretations into a comprehensive corpus, with priestly scholars in Sasanian academies like those in Ctesiphon contributing layered commentaries that addressed theological and legal questions. By the reign of Khosrow I (r. 531–579 CE), the canonization of the Avesta and its Zand was largely complete, marking the culmination of centuries of accretion.^[10]^[12] Post-Sasanian extensions of the Zand continued into the 9th century CE under early Islamic rule, as Zoroastrian communities in Iran and Iraq preserved and compiled remaining materials amid persecution and cultural shifts. During this time, priestly redactors produced digests and supplements to the Zand, adapting it to address contemporary challenges while drawing on Sasanian antecedents. This phase extended the textual tradition for over two centuries after the Arab conquest in 651 CE, ensuring its survival through manuscript copying in regions like Fars and Khorasan.^[13]^[11] Evidence for this extended timeline derives primarily from colophons—scribal notes in surviving Pahlavi manuscripts—and cross-references within key texts like the Dēnkard, a 9th–10th-century encyclopedia of Zoroastrian knowledge. Colophons in Dēnkard manuscripts, such as the 1020 CE copy from Baghdad, attest to ongoing redactions and cite earlier Sasanian sources, while internal cross-references to "ancient sages" (pōryōtkēšān) reveal layered accretions spanning more than 600 years, from Parthian collections to Islamic-era compilations. These elements underscore the Zand's gradual formation through successive priestly contributions rather than a single composition event.^[11]^[14]

Textual Corpus

Principal Zand Works

The principal Zand works are Middle Persian (Pahlavi) texts that serve as commentaries and interpretations of the Avestan scriptures, preserving Zoroastrian doctrines through translation and explication.^[1] These texts, compiled primarily during the Sasanian era and later, form the core of the surviving Zoroastrian exegetical literature. Among the key surviving Zand works, the Hērbedestān addresses laws concerning priestly education and duties.^[1]^[15] The Nērangestān outlines procedures for religious rituals and ceremonies.^[1]^[15] The Škand-gumānīg Wizār functions as a theological defense against non-Zoroastrian critiques.^[1]^[15] The Dēnkard stands as an encyclopedic summary of Zoroastrian knowledge, including theology, history, and exegesis.^[1]^[15] The Bundahišn provides accounts of cosmogony and eschatology.^[1]^[15] Additionally, the Pahlavi Rivāyat compiles legal rulings and traditions.^[1]^[15] Zand texts are broadly classified into rivāyats—narrative traditions such as the Pahlavi Rivāyat that record priestly teachings and judgments—and systematic commentaries that offer detailed explanations of specific Avestan sections, exemplified by the Hērbedestān and Nērangestān.^[5] The Sasanian canon originally encompassed about 21 planned sections, known as the 21 Nasks, which structured the commentaries across legal, ritual, and doctrinal categories.^[5] Several Zand works are lost or survive only in fragments, such as those commenting on the complete Yasna or Vendidad, which are attested through references in the Dēnkard.^[5]^[11]

Content and Structure of Zands

The Zand texts, as Middle Persian commentaries on the Avesta, typically follow an interlinear format that interweaves the original Avestan verses with a word-for-word Pahlavi translation, followed by extended exegetical commentary.^[8] This structure preserves the sacred Avestan phrasing while rendering it accessible in Pahlavi, often expanding into detailed explanations that include etymological analyses of terms, analogical comparisons to clarify ambiguities, and practical rulings on ritual application.^[9] For instance, the commentary layers elucidate linguistic nuances by breaking down Avestan roots and providing Pahlavi equivalents, ensuring doctrinal fidelity across linguistic shifts from Old to Middle Iranian.^[8] Core themes in Zand literature revolve around the exegesis of rituals, theological principles, cosmological frameworks, and defensive apologetics. Ritual exegesis dominates, particularly in discussions of purity laws, as seen in texts like the Nērangestān, which interprets Avestan prescriptions for maintaining ritual cleanliness through detailed procedural rulings on contamination and purification.^[8] Theologically, the Zand elaborates the cosmic dualism between Ahura Mazda, the benevolent creator, and Angra Mainyu, the destructive adversary, framing human actions as participatory in this eternal struggle.^[9] Cosmological themes explore the structure of existence, such as the division of world history into successive ages or millennia, detailed in the Bundahišn as cycles of creation, affliction, and renovation spanning 12,000 years.^[16] Apologetics address rival faiths, critiquing monotheistic and dualistic competitors like Christianity, Judaism, and Manichaeism to affirm Zoroastrian orthodoxy.^[8] Interpretive methods in the Zand emphasize scholarly rigor, employing analogical reasoning to resolve textual ambiguities by drawing parallels from Avestan verses or natural phenomena.^[5] Dialogic formats, such as question-and-answer structures, facilitate exploration of complex issues, simulating priestly debates to derive authoritative interpretations.^[8] Additionally, the Zand integrates non-Avestan Iranian folklore, weaving in mythological motifs and oral traditions to enrich commentaries, as evident in visionary narratives that blend scriptural exegesis with cultural lore.^[8] Some Zand elements survive in Pāzand texts used in contemporary Zoroastrian rituals, bridging ancient exegesis with modern observance.^[1] The Dēnkard exemplifies this approach in its midrashic-style glosses on Gathic texts, combining etymology, analogy, and dialogue to unify ritual, theology, and cosmology.^[9]

Confusions and Misnomers

The Term "Zend-Avesta"

The term "Zend-Avesta" emerged as a misnomer through an 18th-century scholarly error that popularized an inverted form of the original Pahlavi designation for Zoroastrian scriptures. French orientalist Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron, after acquiring manuscripts during his travels in India from 1754 to 1761, published the first European edition and translation in 1771 under the title Zend-Avesta, ouvrage de Zoroastre. He reversed the Pahlavi phrase "Avesta u Zand"—"Avesta and Zand," denoting the sacred text (Avesta) and its accompanying commentary (Zand)—into "Zend-Avesta," thereby presenting the commentary as preceding or equaling the primary text in prominence. This inversion created significant confusion in Western scholarship and literature, where "Zend" came to be erroneously viewed as the core or even the original language of the scriptures, diminishing recognition of the Avesta as the foundational corpus composed in Avestan. The misnomer suggested a unified work with "Zend" as the dominant element, leading to distorted interpretations of the texts' hierarchical relationship and historical layering. Nineteenth-century philologists, including James Darmesteter in his critical translations and analyses, rectified this error by restoring the proper distinction between the Avesta and Zand, underscoring that "Zand" specifically refers to interpretive traditions rather than the scriptures themselves.^[17] Although corrected in scholarly circles, "Zend-Avesta" endures in informal references to the collective Zoroastrian sacred writings, but contemporary academic and Zoroastrian sources reject it as imprecise, preferring "Avesta" to denote the original texts exclusively.^[18]

Zend as a Supposed Language

The misconception of "Zend" as a distinct language originated among early European Orientalists in the 18th century, who misinterpreted the term as denoting a separate tongue used for the Zoroastrian scriptures, rather than recognizing it as referring to the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) commentaries on the Avestan texts. This error stemmed from the unfamiliarity with Pahlavi script and literature, leading scholars to assume the commentaries represented a unique "Zend" language independent of Avestan, the actual liturgical language of the Avesta. For instance, Abraham-Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron's 1771 publication of the Zend-Avesta perpetuated this view by presenting the texts as written in "Zend," influencing initial European understandings of Zoroastrian sacred literature.^[19] The clarification came in the 1820s and 1830s through the philological work of Rasmus Rask and Eugène Burnouf, who demonstrated via comparative linguistics that "Zend" solely signified the explanatory tradition in Pahlavi, not a standalone language. Rask's 1826 analysis, including the first grammar of the language, established its close affinity to Persian rather than Sanskrit or another independent Iranian dialect, while Burnouf's studies from 1829 onward used Sanskrit parallels to affirm Avestan as the primary sacred language and relegate "Zend" to its role as commentary.^[1]^[19] This linguistic misclassification had lasting repercussions, as it inspired flawed grammars and translations that treated "Zend" as a primary source, thereby hindering precise Avestan scholarship and contributing to a half-century of debate over the authenticity of Zoroastrian texts until the mid-19th century advancements.^[19]

Preservation and Significance

Transmission and Survival

The bulk of the Sasanian-era Zand texts, originally comprising commentaries on the 21 Nasks (books) of the Avesta, was destroyed following the Arab conquest of Iran in 651 CE, with Zoroastrian communities facing forced conversions, enslavement, and the burning of sacred scriptures as penalties for non-payment of tribute.^[20] Further devastation occurred during the Mongol invasions of the 13th century, when Turkic and Mongol forces demolished remaining Zoroastrian temples and texts in Iran, reducing the Zand corpus to scattered fragments—only about 10-20% of the original survives, primarily as interlinear commentaries on portions of Avestan works like the Vendidad and Yasna.^[20]^[3] Preservation efforts began in earnest among exiled Zoroastrian communities, particularly the Parsis who migrated to India around the 10th century CE, where priests systematically copied surviving manuscripts to safeguard the tradition amid persecution in Iran.^[21] Notable examples include the Kopenhagen Codex (K5), a 1323 CE manuscript of the Yasna with Pahlavi commentary copied by Mihrābān Kay-Khusraw in Navsari, Gujarat, and fragments held in the India Office Library, such as those acquired from 18th-century collections of Zoroastrian liturgies.^[3] European rediscovery of these texts occurred in the 18th century through access granted by Parsi priests in India, notably when Abraham Hyacinthe Anquetil-Duperron obtained manuscripts in 1758, leading to the first Western translations published in 1771.^[3] In modern times, institutions like the Avesta.org archive have digitized surviving Zand and Avestan manuscripts, facilitating global scholarly access and preservation against further loss.^[22]

Role in Zoroastrian Tradition

In Zoroastrian liturgy, the Zand serves as an essential scholarly companion to the Avestan texts, particularly for rituals performed in fire temples, where priests recite Avestan prayers such as those in the Yasna. The Pahlavi Zand provides translation and explication for study and preparation, rooted in Sasanian traditions, to render the archaic Avestan language accessible in Middle Persian and ensure accurate ritual execution and spiritual comprehension. This facilitates the daily Yasna ceremony that forms the core of worship and takes approximately two and a half hours to complete. The Zand's role underscores its importance in maintaining ritual purity and efficacy, as priests must master both the sacred verses and their commentaries to invoke divine presence effectively.^[23] The Zand profoundly shapes Zoroastrian doctrine, providing interpretive frameworks for core ethical principles like the triad of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds (humata, hukhta, hvarshta), which guide moral conduct and communal harmony in both Parsi and Iranian Zoroastrian communities. Through detailed exegeses in texts such as the Pahlavi Yasna, it elaborates on eschatological concepts, including the final renovation (frashokereti) and individual judgment, transforming Avestan allusions into systematic theological narratives that emphasize cosmic renewal and ethical accountability. These interpretations, preserved in Pahlavi literature, continue to inform religious education and legal customs, reinforcing Zoroastrian identity amid diverse cultural contexts.^[24]^[8] The Zand's cultural legacy extends beyond ritual and doctrine, influencing Persian literary traditions, notably Firdausi's Shahnameh, which draws from Pahlavi sources like the Khwaday-Namag to weave Zoroastrian motifs of heroism, divine order, and ethical struggle into epic narratives that preserve pre-Islamic Iranian heritage. In modern revivals, the Zand remains central to priestly training, where young priests study its commentaries alongside Avestan texts to sustain Zoroastrian practices, particularly within Parsi communities that have safeguarded these traditions. This enduring study highlights the Zand's vitality in fostering cultural continuity and scholarly engagement today.^[25]

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