Ushtavaiti Gatha


Ushtavaiti Gatha
First page of the Ushtavaiti Gatha in Geldner's edition of the Avesta
Information
ReligionZoroastrianism
AuthorZarathustra
LanguageOld Avestan
Chapters4
Verses330

The Ushtavaiti Gatha is the second of the five Gathas, the most important texts of Zoroastrianism. It is named after ushtâ (desire), the first word of the first verse, and with 66 stanzas grouped into four songs, it is the second longest of the Gathas.[1]

Overview

The name of the Ushtavaiti Gatha, also rendered as Gāθā uštavait[2] or Uštauuaitī Gāθā,[1] refers to the fist word of the first verse, namely ushtâ (desire).[3] With 330 verses it would be the longest among the Gathas according to verse count. However, each of the 300 verses of the Ahunavaiti Gatha is longer, which makes the Ushtavaiti Gatha only the second longest of all Gathic poems in terms of word count.

Within the Yasna

The Ushtavaiti Gatha never appears alone in the manuscripts but within the Long Liturgies, in particular the Yasna. All Gathas are, therefore, edited as part of the wider Yasna, and its chapters and stanzas are referenced using the notation of the Yasna.[4] Within this system, the 'Ushtavaiti Gatha covers chapters, called ha, 43-46 of the Yasna.[5] It does not directly follow the first Gatha, i.e., the Ahunavaiti Gatha (Y 28-34), but the Yasna Haptanghaiti (Y 35-42).[6] It is followed by the next two Gathas (Y 47-51),[7], which are then followed by the hymn to Ashi (Y 52) and finally by the fifth Gatha (Y 53).[8]

Structure

The Ushtavaiti Gatha consists of four hymns, each corresponding to a chapter (ha) of the Yasna.[3] While the number of stanzas per hymn varies between 11 and 20, each stanza consist of five verses.[9] Its first stanza (Y 43.1) is repeated at the end of each of the four has that compose it. As in the Ahunavaiti Gatha, this refrain is followed by three Ashem Vohu manthras, the invocation of the ha, and a Yenghe Hatam manthra.[10] The meter of each verse is a line with eleven syllables with a caesura resulting in two feet with four and seven syllables.[2]

To examplify the poetic structure of the Ushtavaiti Gatha, its first stanza reads as follows:


Transliteration
ushtâ ahmâi // ýahmâi ushtâ kahmâicît
vasê-xshayãs // mazdå dâyât ahurô
utayûitî // tevîshîm gat tôi vasemî
ashem deredyâi // tat môi då ârmaitê
râyô ashîsh // vanghêush gaêm mananghô

Meter:
x x x x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x
x x x x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x
x x x x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x
x x x x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x
x x x x // x x x x ᴗ ᴗ x

Translation:
I desire that stability and strenght
should come as desired, to whomsoever Ahura Mazda,
ruling as he desires may grant what is desired.
Oh right mindedness, grant me truth to keep it,
(grant me) rewards of wealth and a life of good thought.

— Yasna 43.1 (translated by Stanley Insler[11])

The Gathic meters have been analyzed in comparison with the Vedic metre and the meter of the Ushtavaiti Gatha shows a particular affinity to the Trishtubh meter. This comprises both the eleven-syllable verse count as well as (sometimes) a caesura after the fourth syllable.[12] On the other hand, the Gathic verses lack a clear qualitative structure, i.e., there is no recognicable pattern of stressed vs. unstressed syllables. Gippert, however, has noted a tendency of ᴗ ᴗ x for the end of a seven-syllable feet.[13]

Content

Like the other Gathas, the Ushtavaiti Gatha is composed in a very poetic style with no clearly defined narrative.[14] Its first hmyn (Y 43) is characterized by the phrase "I realise that Thou art prosperous, O Wise Ahura." This indicates that the text is relating a meeting of Mazda and Zarathustra.[15] The second hymn (Y 44) is characterized by the phrase "this I ask Thee, tell me plainly. O Ahura." This text is, therefore, widely regarded as relating the subsequent consulation of Mazda by Zarathustra.[16] The third hymn (Y 45) deals with a central theme of Zoroastrianism; the opposition between good and evil and the necessity to choose the former.[17] The last hymn (Y 46) seems to relate to events from Zarathustra's life, namely his early "search for rescue and support" and his eventual "acceptance by his patron, the nobleman Vishtaspa."[18]

References

Citations

  1. ^ a b Humbach 2000.
  2. ^ a b Gippert 1986, p. 257.
  3. ^ a b Humbach, Elfenbein & Skjaervo 1991a, p. 4.
  4. ^ West 2008, p. 121.
  5. ^ Geldner 1885, pp. 140-160.
  6. ^ Geldner 1885, pp. 128-140.
  7. ^ Geldner 1885, pp. 140-185.
  8. ^ Geldner 1885, pp. 187-191.
  9. ^ Darmesteter 1892, p. 277: "La Gâtha Ushtavaiti, ainsi nommé du Hâ qui l’ouvre (Hâ Ushtâ ahmâi), contient quatre Hàs, composés sur le rythme 5 (4 + 7) : c’està-dire que la strophe est formée de cinq vers et que chaque vers compte onze syllabes, divisées par la césure en deux hémistiches de quatre et de sept syllabes".
  10. ^ Darmesteter 1892, p. 277: "La première strophe de la Gâtha(XLIII, 1) est répétée à la fin de chacun des quatre Has qui la composent, comme pour l’Ahunavaiti : ce refrain est suivi de trois Ashem vohû, de l’invocation du Hâ et d’un Yênhê hâtâm; mais il ne contient pas l’Ahuna vairya qui est propre à l’Ahunavaiti".
  11. ^ Insler 1975, p. 61.
  12. ^ Gippert 1986, pp. 257-258.
  13. ^ Gippert 1986, pp. 274: "Entgegen bisheriger Ansicht zeigen die gath. Verse doch Überreste eines quantitierenden Metrums, und zwar in der bevorzugten Position von Wörtern der Struktur ∪∪× am Ende der siebensilbigen Halbverse, die allen überlieferten Verstypen gemeinsam sind".
  14. ^ Humbach 2000, "Only occasionally do the Gathas give an exact and clear picture of Zoroaster’s actual teachings, but in general they reflect them in a modified and elaborated form, many times marked by complexity and ornateness of style".
  15. ^ Humbach, Elfenbein & Skjaervo 1991b, p. 134.
  16. ^ Humbach, Elfenbein & Skjaervo 1991b, p. 145-146.
  17. ^ Insler 1975, p. 254.
  18. ^ Insler 1975, p. 262.

Bibliography

  • Darmesteter, James (1892). Le Zend-Avesta: Traduction nouvelle avec commentaire historique et philologique; Vol I: La liturgie (Yasna et Vispéred). Paris: E. Leroux.
  • Geldner, Karl F. (1885). Avesta: die heiligen Bücher der Parsen I: Prolegomena, Yasna. Stuttgart: Kohlhammer. doi:10.25673/100265.
  • Gippert, Jost (1986). "Zur Metrik der Gathas" (PDF). Die Sprache. 32: 257–275.
  • Humbach, Helmut; Elfenbein, Josef; Skjaervo, Prods O. (1991a), The Gathas of Zarathushtra and the Other Old Avestan Texts, Part I, Heidelberg: Winter
  • Humbach, Helmut; Elfenbein, Josef; Skjaervo, Prods O. (1991b), The Gathas of Zarathushtra and the Other Old Avestan Texts, Part II, Heidelberg: Winter
  • Humbach, Helmut (2000). "GATHAS i". Encyclopædia Iranica. Vol. X. New York: Routledge and Kegan Paul. pp. 321–327.
  • Insler, Stanley (1975). The Gāthās of Zarathustra. Acta Iranica. Vol. I. Leiden, Liege, Tehran: Brill.
  • West, M.L. (2008). "On Editing the Gāthās". Iran. 46 (1): 121–134. doi:10.1080/05786967.2008.11864740.
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