The Tishtar Yasht, also known as Tir Yasht, is the eighth hymn of the 21 Yashts. It is named after and dedicated to the praise of Tishtrya, a Zoroastrian divinity associated with rainfall and the star Sirius.: "Tištrya (Pahl. Tištar, NPers. Teštar), an important Old Iranian astral divine being (yazata-), to whom the eighth hymn (Tištar Yašt) of the Later Avestan corpus was dedicated."

Within the Yasht collection

Within the collection of 21 Yashts, the Tishtar Yasht is the eight hymn. According to the Zoroastrian tradition, its text is divided into 16 sections called kardas. To better reference specific verses, modern scholarship divides the yashts into stanzas, and within this scheme, the Tishtar Yasht consists of 61 stanzas.: "The eighth Yasht is divided into sixteen karde-s (chapters) comprising a total of 61 paragraphs or stanzas." Together with Yasht 10, 11, 12, 13 and 14, it is classified as a Hymnic Yasht.: "The second, 'hymnic' group comprises the six hymns Yt. 8 [..], 10 [..], 11 [..], 12 [..], 13 [..] and 14." This means that its content focusses on the properties and actions of the divinity, which are perceived as ongoing.: "[T]he 'hymnic' Yašts predominantly describe features and functions of the deity praised in each hymn." Like the other yashts, the Tishtar Yasht has a special day dedicated in the Zoroastrian calendar, namely the thirteenth day.

Name

Tishtar is the Middle Persian name of Sirius.: "Tištar [...] astr. Sirius" Its Avestan name is Tishtrya, the Zoroastrian divinity personifying Sirius. The word is assumed to be cognate with Vedic Tishya.: "It is also very probable that Vedic Tiṣya (RV V.54.13; X.64.8) corresponds to Av. Tištrya." It would, therefore, go back to the common Indo-Iranian period.: "Somit ist mit gewisser Wahrscheinlichkeit ein indo-iranischer Gestirnname *tištriia ermittelt". Its original meaning is not certain, but it may have meant belonging to the Three-Star, i.e., Orion's Belt.: "Am nächsten liegt [...] zum Dreigestirn Gehörige"

Tishtrya is sometimes equated with Tir, the Middle Persian name of the planet Mercury.: "Tir [tyl] the name of the planet Mercury" As a result, the Tistar Yasht is sometimes called Tir Yasht.: "Daneben Tir-Yast, infolge der mittelpers. Identifikation Tistar = Tir" Likewise, the forth month in the Zoroastrian calendar is named both Tir and Tishtar.: "[D]afür spricht zum Beispiel die Tatsache, daß derselbe Monat den Namen des einen wie des anderen tragen konnte" The identification of Tishtar with Tir happened probably early on during the Achaemenid period, however, it may not be original.

Structure and content

Like all yashts, the Tishtar Yasht begins with an introductory verse (Stanza 0) in Pazend, which announces the yazata to be worshiped and, when performed, the time of the day. "All Yašts share the similar introductory (stanza 0) [..] in Pāzand[.] The appropriate formula from the Gāhs depends on the time of the day at which the hymn is recited." It also closes with the common formula found in other yashts, containing the Yenghe hatam and Ashem vohu manthras.

Excluding the introductory and closing formulas, the text of the yasht itself can be divided into three parts.: "This brief outline shows the three main parts the structure falls into" The first part is formed by kardas 1–5 (stanzas 1–9). It serves to introduce the myth related in the hymn.: "[T]he first part (karde-s 1–5, sts 1–9) serves as an introduction to the myth" Here, Tishtrya is connected to the arrow shot by the legendary Iranian archer Erekhsha from Mount Airyokhshaotha to Mount Khvanvant.: "The Avesta (Yašt 8.6) refers to what was apparently a familiar episode in the epic tradition: Ǝrəxša "of the swift arrow, having the swiftest arrow among the Aryans" shot an arrow from Mount Airyō.xšaoθa to Mount Xᵛanvant."

The second part is formed by karda 6 (stanzas 10–34). It describes the myth of how Tishtrya fights with Apaosha, the demon of drought.: "[T]he second part (karde 6, sts 10–34) relates to the myth itself." The fight initially goes in favor of Apaosha until Tishtrya is finally provided with proper worship, thus, receiving the strength to overcome his adversary. This victory causes the rain to fall again, a feat which shows similarities with the Vedic story of Indra's fight against Vritra.: "Tištrya is the Iranian protagonist of the myth of the liberation of the waters, which, at least to a certain extent, could be structurally and functionally compared with that of Vedic Indra." The connection of Tishtrya with Sirius, the end of July, and the onset of rainfall has been linked to the Dog days in an attempt to infer the original location, where the myth was composed. There is, however, no consensus on the topic.

The third part is formed by kardas 7–16 (stanzas 35–61) and can be further subdivided into two parts.: "[T]he third part (karde-s 7–16, sts 35–61) [...] and falls into two subdivisions" Kardas 7–15 are devoted to the praise of Tishtrya,: "karde-s 7–15: strictly evocative and eulogistic" whereas karda 16 describes how the sacrifice to Tishtrya is to be performed.: "karde 16: liturgical, containing the regulation for sacrifice degreed by Ahura Mazda" The hymn closes with Ahura Mazda reminding the Iranians of the calamities that might befall them if the worship was to be performed improperly.

Editions and translations The written history of the Tishtar Yasht probably began during the Sasanian Empire, when a comprehensive edition of the Avestan corpus was compiled. Within this edition, it was part of the Bagan yasht where it may have formed its fifth chapter. This work is now lost and the oldest manuscript containing the text of the Tishtar Yasht is the F1 manuscript (ms. 6550) written in 1591 by Asdin Kaka Dhanpal Laxmidar of the Homajiar Ramyar family in Navsari.: "The manuscript F1, ms. 6550 [...] was completed [...] by Āsdīn Kākā Dhanpāl Laxmīdar Homajiār Rāmyār in Navsari, [on] January 1591 AD." The orthographic variants present in F1 make it very likely that the text for the Tishtar Yasht was drawn from a now lost manuscript authored by Rostam Mihraban in the 13th century.: "Analyzing the whole data, it appears that, at least the Yašts 8, [etc.] collect a huge number of orthographic variants, that can be traced back to Rōstām Mihrābān, i.e. an Iranian source of the 13 th century."

The first modern edition of the Tishtar Yasht was published in 1852 as part of Niels Ludvig Westergaard's edition of the whole Avesta. It was superseded by Karl Friedrich Geldner's edition of the Avesta in 1889. In 1883, James Darmesteter published a translation of the yasht into English and in 1892 a translation into French. In 1927, Herman Lommel published a translation into German. More recently, Malandra published a new translation into English in 1983. Finally in 1990, Panaino published an edition of the Tishtar Yasht, including a critical apparatus of the different manuscripts and a translation of the text into English.

References Citations

Bibliography

External links Avestan text of the Tishtar Yasht at Avesta.org based on the edition by Geldner English translation of the Tishtar Yasht at Avesta.org based on the translation by Darmesteter