Gathas

The Gathas describe as part of the Avesta, the holy scripture of Zoroastrianism, the teaching of Iranian religious leader Zarathustra, the five oldest anthems of the work, which are regarded as the person Zarathustra that were found sections and as such in linguistic and terms of content, the other of the younger different parts of the text. At the same time they form a part of the Yasna, the first book of the Avesta.

The word " Gatha " ( Gāθā ) means in Avestan " anthem" or "singing" and can be at the root " Gâ " ( " dense ", " sing " ) lead back. In the Middle and New Persian in this word appears as Gāh ( گاه ), in the plural as Gahan ( گاهان ), and also means "time" and "place".

The word Gāh meets us also in Iranian music, where it acts as a suffix is used in different terms, as in the Dastgahs " Sehgāh " and " Čahārgāh ".

The Gathas consist of a total of 17 hymns and form the sections 28-34, 43-46, 47-50, 51 and 53 of the Yasnas. They are divided into the following five sections:

This division of the Gathas is not carried out according to content, but in terms of the metric and according to formal criteria. Contents of the various parts of a Gatha are sometimes not in a common context. This is an indication counted that Zarathustra purpose of compaction and impressing a hymn appropriate content had an initially spoken in prose part of the liturgy to follow, which can be detected well in the later Persian literature, such as in Saadi ( Sa ' dī ) in " Golestan " ( Golestān ) or Jami ( Jami ) in " Baharestan " ( Baharestan ).

In terms of content, the Gathas partly to the Creator Ahura Mazda, but partly also addressed to obviously present audience. Do you have a significant temporal component in life recognize Zarathustra, occur within the framework of its internal, based on his beliefs and decision-making processes in the course of its path development as well as its external, biographical way in appearance.

In the Gathas of Zarathustra draw important ideas about the way of man in the universe and its possibilities, to live in harmony with the truth and the right order ( Asha ) and thus to tread a fulfilling life. Here distinct contours and contents of the old -Iranian philosophy, Zarathustra visible, some of which are in contrast to developments in the later Zoroastrian texts, such as the Vendidad of the Avesta, seen.