Den Yasht

{{see also|Daena|Chista}}

The Den Yasht is named after Daena, a complex Zoroastrian concept, variably translated as vision, conscience and religion.{{sfn|Shaki|1994|loc="DĒN [...] theological and metaphysical term with a variety of meanings: "the sum of man's spiritual attributes and individuality, vision, inner self, conscience, religion"}} It's content, however, make it clear that it is dedicated to Chista.{{sfn|Kellens|1991|loc="Čistā is [...] a minor goddess mentioned only in Yt. 16, which is dedicated to her although it is known as the Dēn yašt"}} It has been speculated that the similarity between the two concepts lead to a partial fusion of both, which may explain the apparent inconsistency.{{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934|loc=p. 57: "Cette absorption de Cista par Dainà était préparée par quelques traits communs et s'est opérée d'abord dans les fonctions qui les associaient"}}

The Den Yasht follows the structure established for other Yasht, such that the respective divinity is addressed by prominent people, known from the Zoroastrian tradition.{{sfn|Lommel|1927|loc=p. 156: "In unserm Text wird zu ihrem Preis das bewährte Schema von Yt. 5, 9, 15, 17 angewendet, demgemäß hervorragende Personen sie um bestimmte Gnadenerweise anrufen"}} There are however, also strong differences. In most Yashts, it is the legendary heroes from Iran's mythical history, which praise the gods in hope for boons related to success in war.{{sfn|Stewart|2007|loc=p. 142: "Worship offered by named individuals is confined to the offering of gifts and praises in return for specific, personal boons, usually to do with war. In the Yafts there are more prayers to the gods for such things [...] than there are for any other benefits"}} But in the Den Yasht it is Zarathustra, his late wife Huuōuuī as well as other unnamed dignitaries which offer praise to Chista in order to ask for peace and insight.{{sfn|Lommel|1927|loc=p. 156: "Es ist immerhin ein bemerkenswertes Festhalten an Ursprung, Sinn und Art dieser Genie, daß nicht die ganze Reihe von Kriegshelden und Königen die Einsicht anrufen, sondern nur Zarathustra, seine Gattin, die Priester und endlich noch der Herrscher, dieser aber nicht um kriegerische Erfolge, sondern um Frieden"}}

Overall, the Den Yasht is a comparably short Yasht consisting of only 20 stanzas, which are additionally divided into 7 sections called Kardes. These stanzas can be thematicall divided into three parts.{{sfn|Kellens|1994|loc="The text consists of three distinct parts"}} The first part is formed by stanzas 1-4. It contains the only original material, i.e., these verses are not found in other Yashts.{{sfn|Kellens|1994|loc="[S]trophes 1-4, containing the only original formulary material"}} The second part is formed by stanzas 5-13.{{sfn|Kellens|1994|loc="[S]trophes 5-13, with the continuation of Zarathustra's invocation, requesting from Čistā the visual power that characterizes the fish kara, the virile stallion, and the vulture"}} These verses are also found in the Bahram Yasht dedicated to Verethragna and have been adapted to accord with the praise of Chista.{{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934|loc=p. 60: "Les paragraphes 4-15 offrent, encadré dans les formules habituelles d'invocation, un décalque ou même la reproduction littérale de fragments du Yt XIV"}} The last part is formed by stanzas 14-20, describing how, in addition to Zarathustra, Chista is also worshipped by his late wife Huuōuuī, by the Athravans, i.e., the priests, as well as by the (unnamed) ruler of the land.{{sfn|Kellens|1994|loc="[S]trophes 14-20, with enumeration of three other archetypal worshipers: the woman Huuōuuī [...], the priest, and the leader of the nation"}}

Like the other Yashts, the material that make up the Den Yasht is the product of an oral tradition from the Old Iranian period.{{sfn|Hintze|2014|loc="[T]he Yašts were produced throughout the Old Iranian period in the oral culture of priestly composition, which was alive and productive as long as the priests were able to master the Avestan language"}} Its present form is assumed to be the result of a later redaction, where an older kernel was enlarged with material from other compositions like the Bahram Yasht.{{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934|loc=p. 57: "Court, visiblement incomplet, le Yasht XVI est en outre grossi de passages qui se retrouvent textuellement dans l'hymne à Vrfragna. Sous sa forme actuelle, il accuse une réfection qui ne saurait remonter très haut. Mais d'une manière générale on ne peut conclure de la date présumée d'un Yasht à l'âge de chacune de ses parties. Le fond des idées, les morceaux les plus marquants, et la structure métrique dénotent en fait l'existence d’une composition ancienne"}} The date of this redaction, however, cannot be determined.{{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934|loc=p. 57: "Nous ne souscrirons donc pas sans réserve à l'appréciation de M. Christensen : «La forme raccourcie, le style sec el l'absence apparente du mètre sont aulant d'indices de l'origine récente du Yt 16. I ne peut êlre, en lout cas, plus ancien que l'époque des Arsacides"}} During the Sasanian period, a comprehensive edition of Avestan literature was produced. Within this edition, the Den Yasht was part of the Bagan yasht, where it formed the 13th chapter.{{sfn|König|2017|loc=p. 21}} This work is now lost, but the Den Yasht survived as part of the collection of the 21 Yashts.{{sfn|Kotwal|Hintze|2008}}

The text of the Den Yasht was made available to modern scholarship through the editions of the Avesta by Westergaard{{sfn|Westergaard|1852}} and Geldner.{{sfn|Geldner|1889}} Translations were made by Darmesteter in 1883 into English{{sfn|Darmesteter|1883|loc=pp. 264-269}} and in 1892 into French,{{sfn|Darmesteter|1892|loc=pp. 503-507}} while Lommel published a translation into German in 1927.{{sfn|Lommel|1927|loc=pp. 154-158}} A comprehensive analysis was produced by Benveniste and Renou in 1934.{{sfn|Benveniste|Renou|1934|loc=pp. 56-64}}

{{Reflist|3}}

{{refbegin|30em|indent=yes}}

• {{Cite book|last1=Benveniste|first1=Émile|author1-link=Émile Benveniste|last2=Renou|first2=Louis|author2-link=Louis Renou|year=1934|title=Vṛtra et Vṛθragna. Étude de mythologie indo-iranienne|series=Cahiers de la Société asiatique|volume=3|location=Paris|publisher=Imprimerie nationale|url=https://archive.org/details/relig-ie-indo-serpe-vrtra-et-vroragna-benveniste-renou-livro/mode/2up}}

• {{Cite book|last=Darmesteter|first=James|author-link=James Darmesteter|editor-last=Müller|editor-first=Max|editor-link=Max Müller|year=1883|series=Sacred Books of the East|title=Zend-Avesta II: The Sirozahs, Yasts and Nyayis|volume=23|location=Dehli|publisher=Motilal Banarsidass Publishers|url=https://archive.org/details/mlbd.zendavestasacred0000vol-23.unse_e5w9/page/262/mode/2up}}
• {{Cite book|last=Darmesteter|first=James|author-link=James Darmesteter|year=1892|title=Le Zend-Avesta, Vol. 2: Traduction Nouvelle Avec Commentaire Historique Et Philologique; La Loi (Vendidad); L'Épopée (Yashts); Le Livre de Prière (Khorda Avesta) |location=Paris|publisher=E. Leroux|url=https://archive.org/details/lezendavestatrad02darm/page/592/mode/2up}}

• {{Cite book|last=Geldner|first=Karl F.|author-link=Karl Friedrich Geldner|year=1889|title=Avesta. The Sacred Books of the Parsis II: Vispered and Khorda Avesta|location=Stuttgart|publisher=Kohlhammer|url=https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.217560/mode/2up}}

• {{Cite book|last=Hintze|first=Almut |author-link=Almut Hintze|year=2014|chapter=YAŠTS|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|title-link=Encyclopædia Iranica|location=New York|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|chapter-url=https://iranicaonline.org/articles/yashts}}

• {{Cite book|last=Kellens|first=Jean |author-link=Jean Kellens|year=1991|chapter=ČISTĀ|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|title-link=Encyclopædia Iranica|location=New York|volume=VI|pages=601–602 |publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|chapter-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/cista-and-cisti-avestan-derivatives-of-the-verb-cit-to-notice-to-understand/}}
• {{Cite book|last=Kellens|first=Jean |author-link=Jean Kellens|year=1994|chapter=DĒN YAŠT|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|title-link=Encyclopædia Iranica|location=New York|volume=VII|pages=281–282|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|chapter-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/den-yast/}}
• {{Cite journal |last=König|first=Götz|year=2017|title=Bayān Yasn: State of the Art|journal=Iran and the Caucasus 2|pages=13–38|volume=21|doi=10.1163/1573384x-90000003}}
• {{Cite book |last1=Kotwal|first1=Firoze M.|last2=Hintze|first2=Almut|author-link2=Almut Hintze|url=https://www.harrassowitz-verlag.de/dzo/artikel/201/891_201.pdf |title=The Khorda Avesta and Yast Codex E1|year=2008 |publisher=Harrassowitz |isbn=978-3-447-05692-2}}

• {{Cite book|last=Lommel|first=Herman|author-link=Herman Lommel|year=1927|title=Die Yäšt's des Awesta|publisher=Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht|series=Quellen der Religionsgeschichte: Iran|volume=15}}

• {{Cite book|last=Shaki|first=Mansour|year=1994|chapter=DĒN|title=Encyclopædia Iranica|title-link=Encyclopædia Iranica|location=New York|volume=VII|pages=279–281|publisher=Routledge and Kegan Paul|chapter-url=https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/den/}}
• {{Cite journal |last=Stewart |first=Sarah |date=2007 |title=Worship According to the Yašts |journal=Journal of the British Institute of Persian Studies |volume=45 |issue=1 |pages=137–151 |doi=10.1080/05786967.2007.11864722}}

• {{Cite book|last=Westergaard|first=Niels L.|author-link=Niels Ludvig Westergaard|year=1852|title=Zendavesta: or The religious books of the Zoroastrians|publisher=Berling brothers}}

{{refend}}

• [https://www.avesta.org/ka/yt16.htm Avestan text of the Den Yasht] at Avesta.org based on the edition by Geldner
• [https://www.avesta.org/ka/yt16sbe.htm English translation of the Den Yasht] at Avesta.org based on the translation by Darmesteter

{{Zoroastrian literature}}

Category:Avesta