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THE
PRIEST
PARSI,
IRANIAN, AND AVESTAN
(a)
THE PARSI MODE
The
Initiation as Nāvar and Martab
In
India, it is only the sons of priests or of the members of the priestly families
who can become priests. The right can he revived by any male member of the
priestly family, though his immediate ancestors may not actually have been
priests. The right can be revived by a descendant up to the fifth generation It
then dies and can no longer be exercised.
In
order to be a thoroughly qualified priest, one has to go through two grades of
initiations and their ceremonies. They are (1) the Nāvar and (2) the Martab.
1.
THE NAVAR
The first initiatory ceremony for priesthood is
that of Nāvar. The word means "one who is newly initiated in work of
offering prayers, rites and sacred things to the Deity."
To initiate a person into priesthood, several
stages of ceremonies have to be gone through. They are the following: (a) the Bareshnum;
(b) the Gewra; (c) the initiation proper. I give herein an illustration
which shows the initiate taking his Bareshnum.
(a)
The candidate for initiation into priesthood has to go through two Bareshnum
purifications [nine-night-and-day ritual of purifying by sipping consecrated
bovine urine and purifying the body with unconsecrated bovine urine, dust,
consecrated water (by adding drops of consecrated bovine urine), and prayers].
The first Bareshnum is said to be for the purification of his own body, the
second is for the person in whose memory he becomes a Navar. Between the first
Bareshnum and the second there may an interval of a few days if it is so
desired, or, candidate may begin the second Bareshnum on the same day when he
finishes the first. In that case, both the Bareshnums take 19 days in all.
During these days, the candidate is to say his prayers five times during
the day. He is expected to pass his time in a religious or pious mood. If,
during any of the days of the Bareshnums, he has a
"pollutis necturna [wet dream], that vitiates his Bareshnum. He must
begin the Bareshnum again. If the case happens in the second Bareshnum, he has
to repeat only the second Bareshnum. To avoid this risk, nowadays, the candidate
for priesthood goes through the initiation at a very early age, between 15 or
16, when he is likely to be free from such risk. The second Bareshnum is for the
"niyat" [in the name] of somebody. If that somebody is a lady,
he must take care that he goes through the second Bareshnum and the subsequent
ceremonies of Gewra, and initiation at a time, when there is no chance of that
lady's passing through her monthly course. If she has her monthly course, that
vitiates the ceremony which must be begun again when the lady has passed through
her course and purified herself. If the person, male or female, in whose "niyat"
the ceremony is gone through, dies during the period of those ceremonies, that
event also vitiates the whole thing.
(b)
On the candidate completing the Bareshnum, two qualified priests who "hold
the Bareshnum," who have to initiate the candidate, perform, what is known
as the "gewra" ceremony, which lasts for six days. This ceremony,
which qualified them to initiate the candidate, consists of reciting the Yasna
with its ritual for six consecutive days. Both the priests recite the whole
Yasna with the necessary ritual. One of the two priests who recites the whole
Yasna is called Joti. The other priest who assists him in going through
the ceremony is called Rathwi. The priest, who performs the ceremony as
Joti, is technically said to have "taken the gewra," i.e. has acquired
the qualification of continuing the ceremony.
The priest who takes the gewra on the first day, is said to taken the
first gewra. He is to pass a night of vigil and watchfulness. If he has
nocturnal pollution, he is said to have lost the efficacy or the qualification
of his gewra. The gewra must be repeated the next day. If the efficacy
continues, on the next day, in the morning, he gives the second gewra to his
colleague. The other priest recites the Yasna as Joti and the priest who gives
the gewra acts as Rathwi. He, now, in his turn has to pass the night in vigil.
Thus each of the two priests has to "take the gewra" on an alternate
day. These gewra ceremonies are to be performed for six days. To avoid the
chance of the gewras being vitiated by the failure of the vigil of the priest
holding the gewra for the particular day or by some other cause, at times, three
priests are made to take part in the gewra ceremonies. Instead of one taking the
gewra, two perform the ceremony, so that, if one fails to observe the required
vigil and is disqualified for some cause, the other may serve, and the candidate
may not be disappointed and the initiation not delayed. The candidate has,
during these six clays, to pass his time in prayers during the five Gahs [prayer
times in a day] and to observe all the observances of saying the grace at meals,
etc. He is not to come in contact with any non-Zoroastrian.
(c)
On the sixth day of the gewra ceremony, the priest who has taken the sixth gewra,
initiates the candidate. The candidate takes his bath [The "Nahn" bath
with consecrated and unconsecrated bovine urine, dust and consecrated water,
simpler than the Breshnum] in the morning with all its formalities and puts on a
new set of white clothes. He puts on a white turban which is a symbol or
insignia of priesthood. [He] is dressed in his full dress consisting of "Jama",
which is a loose gown-like dress of white linen, and "pichhori," a
kind of linen-belt, put round the waist. All the male of the gathering are
similarly dressed in their full dress. The candidate carries a shawl in his left
hand, it being insignia of an office or function which a person holds for life.
[He] carries in his right hand a "gurz" or a mace.
The
parents of the candidate invite a few friends, both male and female, to witness
the ceremony. In mofussil (smaller) towns a general invitation to males is
passed round in the whole town. So any Zoroastrian who chooses may attend.
At
the appointed hour, at about nine o'clock in the morning, a procession is formed
to take the candidate to the temple for initiation. On the procession arriving
at the Fire-temple, the candidate goes to the "Yazashna-gāh" where he
is to perform the Yasna ceremony. The assembled priests are generally seated on
carpets spread on the floor. The candidate removes his garments which form his
full dress, performs the "pādyāb kushti" and puts on the "padān"
(mouth-veil). Thus prepared, he is brought before the assembly by one of the two
priests, who asks for permission to initiate him. The Head-priest present, after
the interval of a few seconds, takes the silence of the assembly for its assent
and nods his head, or puts both his hands, to signify the acquiescence of the
gathering.
The
candidate must be free from leprosy or any wound from which blood oozes,
otherwise he would be rejected and the necessary permission refused. It is to
give the assembly an opportunity to see or examine him well, that he is
presented after the removal of the upper garments. The candidate returns to the
Yazashna-gah to go through the ceremonies of his initiation to recite the Yasna
with its ritual. On returning to the Yazashna-gah, the candidate recites the
Navar Yasna (Yasna without the Visparad) with its rituals, he acting as the Joti
and the priest who initiates him as the raspi [Rathwi]. In the afternoon, he
performs the "bāj" ceremony and takes his meals, after which he
performs the "afringān" ceremony.
On
the second and the third day, the candidate is permitted to have only one meal.
The above three ceremonies are repeated in honor of Sraosha, and the baj is
performed on the morning instead of in the afternoon as on the first day. On the
third day, the above three ceremonies are repeated in honor of Sirouza (the
Yazatas presiding over the thirty days of the month). On the fourth day the
Yasna is recited with the Visparad, the baj and afringan in honor of Ahura
Mazda. Thus qualified, the priest now called "herbad" (Avesta, "aethrapaiti,
teacher, [Gujarati "Ervad"]) can perform the afringan, Navjote,
marriage and such other ceremonies but not the Yasna, the Vendidad or the baj
ceremonies.
It
appears that the "Navar" has been from the first, a ceremony of trial,
of self-abnegation, self-denial, and self-renunciation.
A
good deal of the original lofty ideal seems to be losing its ground now. In
order to avoid the risk of failure in the pious meditation, self-abnegation, or
control of passions, candidates are made to go through the initiatory ceremony
in early boyhood before the age of fifteen or sixteen, when according to the
course of nature, they are expected to be free from "pollutis nocturna."
Again now-a-days, it is not only those who are really intended to be priests in
the future, go through the initiation, but many others who are intended by their
parents for other walks of life. The latter are to go through it with the idea,
that it is a religious ceremony worthy to be gone through. There are many
medical men, lawyers and merchants of the priestly class, who have been made to
go through it by their parents is their boyhood. That being the case, the whole
of the Yasna is not learned and not recited but only a part.
THE
MARTAB
The
second degree for priest is known "Martab." The degree of "Navar"
does not entitle a priest to perform, what may be called, the ceremonies of the
inner circle of the Fire-temple. He cannot perform the Yasna, the Vendidad and
the Baj ceremonies. He cannot officiate at the purification ceremonies of "nahn"
and "bareshnum." In order to qualify himself to do so, he must go
through the Martab ceremony. Besides the Yasna and the Vispered, which he had to
read for his Navarhood, he has now to read the Vendidad.
For
this ceremony, the candidate has to go through one Bareshnum of 10 days. On the
11th day, he, in company with a qualified priest, performs the "khub"
ceremony and recites for it the Mino Navar Yasna with its ritual. On the second
day in the morning, he has to recite another Yasna in honour of Sarosh, and at
midnight he recites the Vendidad. This completes the "Martab" ceremony
and he is now entitled to perform and recite any of the Zoroastrian rituals and
prayers.
(Condensed
from pages 187 to 198, THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE PARSEES,
Ervad Shams-ul-Ulama Dr. Sir Jivanji Jamshedji Modi (1854-1933), 2nd ed.
(reprint), Bombay, 1986)
NOTE:
At present, there are two ways to become a priest among the Parsis:
(1)
Take the full school course of eleven years at the Athornan Madressa, Bombay, in
which the student is also taught the rituals in detail. It takes six years to
become a Navar in the Madressa, two years to be ordained as Martab, and a total
of eleven years to get the Secondary School Certificate.
(2)
The short cut by those, whose parents do not want them to become professional
priests and who join other walks of life in business or employment. They do not
join the Madressa for the purpose, and attend their respective primary and
secondary schools in their residential localities, in India or abroad. It takes
them between 18 to 28 days to be ordained as priests.
In this second way, the candidate does not recite,
as mentioned by the late Ervad Dr. J.J. Modi, the entire Yasna but a part of it.
There are some who recite only eleven sections (hās) and there are others who
do only seven "hās." One is called "Eleven-hā" Ervad and
the other "Seven-hā" Ervad. The remaining of the 61 or 65 sections of
72-ha Yasna are recited by the accompanying "gewra" priest. The
majority of the "non-professional" Parsi priests belong to the
category of "Eleven or Seven hā" class. Unless they pursue their
religious studies to a desirable height, they tag "Ervad" to their
names in name only.
The
entire course for initiation into priesthood, Navar or Martab, is to learn to
recite the Avesta and Pazand texts by rote and to perform the rituals by
practice. They are not taught the two scriptural languages, and they do not
understand the true significance of what they do. It is on the university level
that one learns the Avesta and Pahlavi languages and literature.
(b)
IRANIAN MODE
Initiation
("Nowzūdi") as Mobed
The
candidate for priesthood must have all the religious information and pass the
final examination in the Initiation ceremony, which in fact is a graduation
ceremony. The candidates who want
to join the spiritual fold and to practice as priests, must work for years under
the tutorship of expert and experienced mobeds. In addition to learning Avesta,
religious teachings, and the subtleties of rituals, they should also refine
their character and manners. The religious teachings include the Khordeh Avesta,
Darun, Fravashi, Yasna with the rituals of Gahanbar, annual, days, jashans, and
other ceremonies. They should also learn through these years about the
Zoroastrian Religion, its Founder, and other problems concerning the religion so
that when they practice mobedship, they can teach the behdins and answer their
questions.
A
meeting is arranged to test the candidate. It is presided by the Head Mobed and
attended by other mobeds. They test his religious knowledge and also see his
spiritual and physical soundness and his good manners. After passing the
examination, the candidate is allowed to go through his initiation and take up
the profession of mobedship.
A
number of mobeds meet at the house of the candidate one day before the
initiation. They prepare a crown and a "vars". The crown is a turban
wound to fit the candidate's head. It is decorated with gold and silver chains
with hanging coins and has other ornaments that make it look like a crown. It
has "panām" (mouth veil) hanging to cover the nose and mouth when
worn. The panam has also the chained coins attached to it. The "vars"
is made of six twigs of pomegranate, fig or willow tree.
Each twig is wrapped with colored wool to make the vars multicolored. The
twigs are made to make a circular pyramid in a plate. It is covered with a thin
net. Four mirrors, dry fruit, candies, and a pomegranate are also kept in the
plate. The "vars" is carried on head by the "vars-bearer,"
who is the person who teaches the candidate as how to go through the initiation
ceremony.
The
Head Mobed and other priests are seated on a platform erected in the yard of the
candidate's house. Other guests are seated around and still others stand in the
balconies and on the rooftop. A large blazing fire-vase is kept in the middle of
the yard. The candidate stands next to the Head Mobed.
The
Head Mobed reads the Initiation Advice. The candidate is advised, among other
things, to repent for his past sins and to begin a new religious life of doing
good to people, always have God in mind, and remember the Sayings of the
Prophet.
Next,
all stand and the candidate is helped by the "vars-bearer" to go
around and shake hand with the Head Mobed and other mobeds and say: "Hama-zūr
bīm - Let us unite." Then, all of them join hands and go round the fire
three times as they recite the Atash Niyayesh. The candidate carries a T-shape
metallic object whose T is swirled by him with his finger. The "Village
Mobed" recites the Initiation Poem in praise of the occasion. Meanwhile the
guests shower the candidate with flowers, rice, and eleagnus and thyme leaves.
The
candidate and the vars-bearer enter the "Yazashn-gāh." They keep the
crown and the vars in a corner. They are joined by two other mobeds. These four
persons and the mobeds seated outside the "Yazashn-gah" are united by
a koshti. The group recites the Yasna from section one to nineteen.
The
entire Initiation ceremony with its intervals lasts for four days. The candidate
recites the Yasna on each of the four mornings and recites the Afaringan in the
afternoons. After the conclusion rite, the newly ordained mobed can now
participate with other mobeds in all the religious matters and rituals for one
year. After that, he is permitted is to practice on his own.
(Translated
and condensed from "Marāsem-e Mazhabi va Adab-e Zartoshtiān (Religious
Ceremonies and Customs of the Zoroastrians) by the late Mobed Ardeshir
Azargoshasb (President of the Mobeds Council, Tehran), Tehran, 2nd. Ed. 1979 (in
Persian).)
NOTE:
The Iranian mode has only one grade for its Mobedship as against the Parsi Navar
and Martab. The Iranian Mobeds are generally much more informed on the
Zoroastrian Religion. Compared to Parsi rituals, the Iranian mode is much
simple. Bareshnum is not practiced. Initiation is performed as an adult and at a
well-experienced and mature age. The hereditary condition has been relaxed and
the laity can become para-Mobeds and Mobeds. Although, to the best of knowledge,
no female has been initiated so far into Mobedship, the door has been opened for
them to enter, first a pre-para-Mobed, then para-Mobed, and then Mobed.
The recital of the Avesta and Pazand is by rote and rituals by practice.
Avesta
and Pahlavi are taught in all the universities of Iran and in certain
(associations) anjomans. Iran boasts of the largest number of Avesta, Pahlavi
and Zoroastrian Studies students and scholars--Zoroastrians and
non-Zoroastrians--in the world.
(c)
AVESTAN MODE
The
Gathic texts, particularly the Gathas and the Haptanghaiti, show that there was
no profession as priesthood under any name during the Gathic period.
In fact, Zarathushtra overthrew the professional priests who had plagued
the society. Zarathushtra himself was chosen as the "Ahu"
(Leading Lord), "Ratu," (Righteous Guide). He was the Divine Māńthran
(Thought-provoker). Others were chosen as "ratus" of house,
settlement, district, and land, strictly according to their qualifications.
Those engaged in teaching, preaching, and spreading the Message were "manthrans."
The
priestly profession and those of warriors, agriculturists, and artisans are a
later introduction or a reformed re-introduction into the Zoroastrian order.
According
to Aerpatistān (Sacerdotal Code), which presents an older stage of post-Gathic
Zoroastrianism, a priest was generally not a priest by occupation. He or she
only officiated when called upon to do so. The Vendidad, a later composition,
states that an ordinary professional priest led a simple life. He was easily
satisfied, even with a piece of bread and was a contended person. (V 13.45)
A few wandered teaching and preaching. Others fed themselves at the laity
houses. (V 13.22) Some rich
homes had their own domestic priests. (V 3.1)
Members of a royal house were told to treat the priests as their own
children and give them good food, a sign that some were not treated well. (Yt
24.9) His usual implements for
rituals were ashtra (whip), milk-bowl, paitidāna (mouth-veil), khrafastraghna
(for killing noxious animals), sraosho-charana (flogging
instrument), strainer, standard mortar, haoma cups, and baresman twigs. (V 14.8)
One may take a careful note of the absence of some of the implements used
in modern rituals and vice versa, and how the Avestan priest went armed to
punish the faulty and kill the noxious.
The
Vendidad cautions that one should not recognize as an athravan a person who
pretends to wear paitidana, ceremoniously girdles a koshti, takes a flog, holds
baresman twigs, and carries a whip, and who sleeps throughout the night without
venerating and chanting and does not learn or teach anything. "He is a
liar."(18.1) Fakes, frauds and priests-in-name-only were busy too!
Teaching
and Learning
The
Gathas show that Zarathushtra was the first teacher who established a system to
teach, preach, maintain, and promote his divine doctrine. The foremost persons
he chose to train to teach at his school were Kavi Vishtaspa, brothers
Ferashaoshtra and Jamaspa, and his cousin Maidhyoimaha. (Song 14.14-17 -- Yasna
48) He composed his message in five
metric patterns and perhaps in as many or more tunes, and gave special training
to Jamaspa in mastering the message and passing it on to others. Jamaspa, who
according to a tradition, later became his son-in-law and still later his
successor.
The
purpose of condensing the Message in measured meters was to keep them compact
and intact, free from any possible interpolation; render them easy to be
memorized; maintain their original pronunciations within the meters and tunes;
present and preserve them in melodies which would encourage people to chant and
sing them repeatedly--a very effective method of teaching the thought-provoking
words. Time has proven that no one, until the invention of modern recording
appliances, could devise a better way than that of the Indo-Iranians to
"human-tape-record" the very words of the composer for a remote
future. The Gathas are intact in Zarathushtra's own words and dialect. They were
preserved, one must say, by the athravans who spoke a slightly different dialect
and later by the Parthian and Sassanian priests who did not know both the Gathic
dialect and the later Avestan variety. They spoke and wrote in Middle Persian.
Aethrapaiti,
the Teacher
During
the later part of the Gathic period, we see the "ratu" (Righteous
Guide) hold a new title--"aethrapaiti." It means the master of
an "aethra," and therefore teacher. No satisfactory etymology
has been found, but most likely, it is derived from "a+i," to
approach, to come near, with the agentive suffix of "thra."
Whatever the derivation, it means a school, a place of instruction. The term for
the pupil is "aethrya," belonging to school. The first person to carry
this title is Saena son of Ahumstuta, the sixth celebrity mentioned after
Zarathushtra in the Farvardin Yasht list. It
depicts his close association with the Prime Master Zarathushtra. "Aethrapaiti"
literally means "school-master, teacher, preceptor." It is "herbad"
in Pahlavi, "hīrbad" and "hīrbod" in
Persian, and "ervad" in Gujarati. Saena is said to have trained
"one hundred disciples who taught on this earth," a proof of the
universal missionary work of the early Gathic period after the passing away of
Zarathushtra. (Yasht 13.97) It is,
compared to today's religious teachers, a fairly large number for a small
growing community of the thinly populated world of those days.
In
the Avesta, an "aethrapaiti" is the teacher who teaches the Gathas and
its philosophy only. The disciple took at least three years to finish his or her
education. He or she worked hard from before dawn till late morning and again in
the afternoon till late in night, to learn the lesson.
Any
Zarathushtrian could become a religious teacher.
All it required was that the candidate should be the "most
aspirant" member of the family, that he or she did not deprive the family
of its income, that he or she was unanimously chosen to become an "aethrapaiti."
Age did not matter. He or she could be the oldest or the youngest in the
family. If he was a partner in a
property with another person, he had to be chosen by the people concerned to
take up the task. He could accept the new profession only if he did not harm the
economics of the partnership. Both man and woman could assume the office of
"zoatar" or any of the assistants. When called upon to perform a
ritual, a husband and wife engaged in earning their livelihood from their
regular occupation, had to decide which one of the two could economically be
spared to attend to the task. A wife, if required, could help another male
officiant even without the consent of her husband. One could even take a
competent child to assist one in the performance. A rare example of equality of
sexes, a high regard for competency, and a great sense of priorities, indeed. (Aerpatistan
& Nirangistan 1-37; Vendidad 4.45)
The
Aerpatistan calls the person thief, even a robber, who takes a woman to assist
him in a ritual but with an ultimate intention of seducing her.
Sexual harassment is nothing new. It also gives details on how far one
can take a child without the consent of the parent, but it has no words on
barring a woman from officiating during menses, pregnancy, or immediately after
birth, or of a male becoming polluted through wet dream. In fact, with the
exception of the Vendidad, no other text speaks of such "pollutions,"
not even the Yashts that prohibit specific persons from partaking their
oblations. Evidently, the non-Vendidad school did not consider these natural
occurrences to be polluting.
When
did the education start? The Aerpatistan and the Vendidad would welcome it at
any age. However, the assistance of a competent child in a ritual shows that
there were people who started early with their education. Greek sources on the
education of the royal young say that it began at the age of seven and continued
until the age of seventeen. (Zoroastrian Civilization p.225)
This could also be a clue for an early start. The teacher (aethrapaiti))
or the pupil (aethrya) could be a male or female. (Aerpatistan and Y 26.7-8,
68.12) The teacher was loved and respected. (FrD.4)
A
person had to study for three years under the guidance of a competent teacher in
order to acquire the proper knowledge and understanding of the texts. The pupil
had to study hard during the first and last parts of the day, and again during
the first and last parts of the night. He could only rest during the middle
parts of the day and the night. He followed the routine "until he can say
all the words which former teachers (aethrapaitis) have said."(V 4.5) The
texts to learn thoroughly were the Gathas and the Haptanghaiti. They comprise
only.069 (1/14th) of the bulk of the extant Avestan texts and .024 (1/41st) of
the estimated bulk of the twenty-one nasks of the Sassanian canon.
It
shows how long it took to master a short but very valuable volume. The teaching
consisted of understanding, memorizing, reciting, chanting, singing, discussing,
deliberating, and practicing the Gathic Message. The three-year time shows how
deep one had to learn the thought-provoking Message of Zarathushtra. That is why
Aban Yasht describes a competent priest as "a person of debate and
discussion, thoughtful, artful, indeed the thought-provoking message
personified."(Yt. 5.91)
It
may be kept in view that in those days, the Avestan language was the mother
tongue of the teacher and the taught. The pupil fully understood what was taught
and discussed. Furthermore, there was a question and answer period to encourage
a pupil to be a debater.
The
Avesta or the relevant Pahlavi commentaries have no data on the initiation of a
pupil into a priest. But such an important task could not be completed without
an initiation. There was definitely one, most probably a simple and solemn one
performed between the teacher and the initiate/initiates. Unless one accepts the
traditional initiation to be an elaborated form of a simpler ceremony, one
should come down a number of centuries to turn to Greek sources to give us a
description of the initiation of a west Iranian Magi in the year 160 CE
It
commenced, according to Lucian (Greek "Lukianos") in Necymantia, on a
new moon day and continued for full twenty-nine days. Each day, the initiate
took a morning bath while the teacher, facing the rising sun, recited holy
texts. He looked into the face of the pupil thrice during his recitation. The
two ate nothing but fruit and drank nothing but milk, honey, and water. They
slept outside in open. The last bath was by the master in a running stream. The
initiate was perfumed, and then given the priestly robes. (Aerpatastan and
Nirangastan, Introduction page xxxi)
Ritual
Prayers
The
Gathas and their supplements in the same dialect have hardly any elaborate
rituals. They show that the
faithful, individually or collectively, faced a fire-altar and chanted from the
Gathas and the Haptanghaiti in a devotional posture.
As far as the Later Avesta is concerned, the only ritual mentioned in the
Nirangistan and alluded to in other parts, is a prototype of the present "Yasna"
ceremony of preparing the haoma drink along with its sacrificial meat and
baresman twigs. The only difference
is that then the prayer texts were the Gathas and Haptanghaiti and now we have
the entire 72-sections of the Yasna and more.
.
Although
the Vendidad speaks in details on purification baths and rites for pollution
through dead matter and the disposal of the dead, neither it, nor any other
text, defines any ceremonies or the functions of a priest at birth, initiation,
marriage, or death. Relevant
Pahlavi commentaries also do not elaborate.
Tradition is the only guide, and it surely has changed and changes with
the passage of time.
The
reason may be as simple as this: Other parts of prayers were either still not
composed, or if composed (which is much more probable), were not incorporated
into a formalized form of rituals. In
fact, the Sassanian division of the nasks places the Vendidad and the Yashts,
some forming a part of daily prayers at present, in the Datik category of the
administrative wing of the state. The
Vispered and non-Gathic parts of the Yasna were evidently parts of the
Hadhamanthrik category which contained supplements to the Gathic and Datik
categories. This gives us a clue as
to where other texts stood vis-a-vis the Gathic texts placed together in one
volume under the name of Stot Yasn.
A
Hereditary Office?
There
are no indications in the Avesta that show the office was hereditary and that
people of other professions could not join this particular profession.
Had it been so, there would have been a prohibition to accept a warrior
or an agriculturist in the rigid circle. To
draw a parallel, Hinduism is very explicit on this point.
The very absence of a commandment making priesthood a closed circuit is
proof enough to make the profession an open one.
There are a number of Avestan passages, which show that one was free to
choose to become a priest. The
Vendidad says: Should a person of the same faith, friend or brother, approach
another for goods, wife or knowledge, he should be given what he requests for.
"Let him who wants knowledge, be taught the holy word ... (during
regular parts of day and night) ... until he learns all the words taught by
former teachers (aethrapaitis)." (Vd 4.44-45).
As already cited from the Aerpatistan, the office was not confined to any
sex or age. The only recommendation
made was that the most aspiring person of a house becomes a priest and that too
without jeopardizing the economic position of the house.
Zarathushtra is shown in two late yashts as praying for King Vishtaspa, a
warrior by profession, to have ten sons-three to become athravans, three
warriors, three prospering settlers, and only one to succeed the father as a
king (Afarin-e Peighambar Zartosht.5 and Vishtasp Yasht.3).
Haoma's curse on a fraudulent woman not to bear an athravan child makes
the profession a general one. The
Vendidad says that a person, who chants certain Gathic stanzas early in the
morning, would eventually advance to know "the Gathas, the Haptanghaiti,
and the discussions about them," and grow into a thoughtful and artful
personification of the thought-provoking message (Vd 18.51), the very
qualifications of a good teacher. The priest is called "dahma,"
meaning "wondrous, genius," a title that warranted one to be a real
scholar of the lore. Rote and parrot-wise recitation is unknown in the Avesta.
The
Zarathushtrian Assembly's Position
The
Zarathushtrian Assembly recognizes that every profession, which promotes human
society and which does not monopolize the office and/or does not exploit the
people, is good and noble. It respects all scholars, priests or not, of other
orders, Zoroastrians and non-Zoroastrians, for their mature knowledge of their
respective and other faiths. What
it does not recognize is the murmuring priest who goes by rote
alone and does not know and understand what he recites and performs, and yet
demands obedience and blind following from the simple, kept-in-the-dark laity.
And
true to the Gathic tradition, the Assembly does not entertain a priestly class
or division. It has proficient persons who officiate at religious ceremonies
from birth through initiation to memorial; act as chief witnesses at, for
instance, wedding solemnization; lead congregational prayers; and convey the
Divine Message by practicing it for their own selves, teaching it to those who
want to learn, and spreading it around the world. Any able person, male or
female, may qualify on the concrete basis of his/her knowledge to be chosen and
recognized as a "ratu", a leader, "aethrapaiti,"
a teacher, or "hamidhpaiti," an assembly head.
(See
"The Zoroastrian Priest in the Avesta" by Ali A. Jafarey, SPENTA
periodical - Vol. 2, Nos. 5-6, Vol. 3, Nos. 1 and 2 - August 1992-May 1993,
published by the Zarathushtrian Assembly, for full details)
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