The Zarathushtra Gâthâs and the origins of Mazdaism (continued) (3)

So is there any indication of manipulative priests?

We must be alluding to Gǝ̄uš Tašan-"the carpenter of the Cow", because in the ancient Avesta, this could be the hypostasis of a liturgical function. "Carving the Cow" could mean "the one who killed it, immolated it and cut it up".

It is also interesting to note a point found in Y 45.11 and Y 46.1. Here, the speaking character is not accepted. The interest lies in the vocabulary: dǝ̄ṇg-pati- is close to the sāstar, which does not recognize the sacrificial dignity of the reciter. Yet on the Indian side, in the sacrificial college of the eight Brahman officiants, gr̥ha-pati-"householder" and pra-śāstar- are both sacrificial functions.

What can we say about the reciter?

The recitation is polyphonic because it's not always the same person speaking. As for Zaraθuštra, he speaks clearly in two stanzas: at Y 43.8 at̰ hōi aojī, zaraθuštrō paouruuīm "I say first that I am Zaraθuštra" and at Y 46.19: yǝ̄ mōi aṣ̌āt̰, haiθīm hacā varǝšaitī / zaraθuštrāi, ... where someone will do such and such for me Zaraθuštra. Y 50.6 is also very interesting since someone passes the floor to Zaraθuštra, who will recite the last five trophies of the Gāθā: "The colleague mąθrān who takes the floor according to the Arrangement and tribute is Zaraθuštra. May the founder of language aptitude teach him by good Thought to be the charioteer of my course!".

Who writes the text? Who is the poet?

In the context of the Gāθās, the question is intractable because there is no literary theory.

To what liturgical act is the enumeration of proper names linked in each Gāθā?

GA : it's a yāna "request". The gods are asked for a number of benefits: 1. help, which tends towards rescue and is expressed by derivatives of the root rap-"to help": rafǝδra-, rapaṇt-, rafǝnah-; 2. īš-(cf. Vedic íṣ-) "strength, power-īš ", which is that prior to the decisive power that is sauuah.

GS : is also a yāna "request". In this Gāθā, one asks for sar-"intimate union (with someone)", here with the Arrangement and good Thought.

GU: here, demands are made for the sacrificers. The dominant root is vī-cí-"to differentiate, to distinguish". The idea is to distinguish between, on the one hand, dāθa characters "those who act in a manner appropriate to a given situation" from adāθa, and, on the other hand, those who are ǝrǝθβa "those who act in accordance with the ratu (ritual time)" from those who are not: an-ǝrǝθβa-.

In the last two Gāθās, each with a single chapter, there is drama:

Y 51 : the enumeration of proper names would be a kind of evocation of the daēnā's appearance to the deceased at the third dawn following death.

Y 53 : tells of a marriage and sexual coupling, which is supposed to be that of the aurora with its father the sun.

Two other names could have been commented on, not least because they wouldn't necessarily be proper nouns: maiδiiōi.måŋha-(Y 51) "he who is born during the half-moon" is a calendar name referring to the ratu of his birth. This term could refer to a rite that requires the gathering of members of a social group who have in common that they were born at that time of the month. In Y 53, Pouru + cistā, Zaraθuštra's youngest daughter, is the one many people see appear, and could therefore refer to the dawn.

Real names or role names?

These names: the man with old camels, the man whose horses are deprived of harness, the man whose camels are in full health, etc., perhaps compose a parable about the difficulties of a long journey along the paths of rite that punctuate each Gāθā.