Consequences of the new representation (I)

1. Redefining tasks (editing, grammar, dictionary)

The major reference works were created around 1900:

Karl Geldner: Avesta, The Sacred Books of the Parsis, 3 volumes respectively 1886, 1889 and 1896, Stuttgart.
Christian Bartholomae, Grundriss der iranischen Philologie. Erster Band, II. Awestasprache und Altpersisch, Strasbourg, 1895-1901, pp. 152-248.
Christian Bartholomae: Altiranisches Wörterbuch[AiW], Strasbourg, 1904.

With Andreas's theory, the vision is modified. While Geldner reproduces the texts of the manuscripts we possess in the best possible way, it is now necessary, according to Benveniste (1935), to write a critical grammar of avestics, i.e. a grammar that takes false vocalizations into account. Jacque Duchesne-Guillemin's Les composés de l'Avesta (Paris, 1936) should also be seen in this light. The model is theAltindische Grammatik [AIGr] by Jakob Wackernagel and Albert Debrunner, which comprises several volumes (Old Indian phonetics, morphology, compounds, derivation), but unfortunately lacks a volume on the verb. Karl Hoffmann thought that the best Avestic grammar was theAIGr. TheALF is a small volume of Avestic phonetics and declension, in which the grammatical facts described in theAIGr are presented from the Avestic point of view:

Karl Hoffmann and Bernard Forssman: Avestische Laut- und Flexionslehre[ALF], Innsbruck, 1996 (^2nd ed. 2004).

At that time, the first rehabilitation emergency was Bartholomae's dictionary, and it is in this light that Kellens' book should be understood:

Jean Kellens: Les noms-racines de l'Avesta. Wiesbaden, 1974.

But the new perception of the Avesta changes the perspective once again: a new edition is needed. Grooming, as was once thought, is not enough, and it is not impossible to gather manuscripts for the job, as was long believed. It now appears that Geldner also made a poor choice in his editing. In fact, we have exegetical manuscripts with Pehlevian translations and liturgical manuscripts, which are practical manuscripts reproducing ceremonies used by priests. Geldner has given the advantage to the exegetical ones, but the liturgical ones are the most faithful translations of the two old liturgies. It will therefore be necessary to edit the text that corresponds to the oldest graphically attested elocution of the Iranian manuscripts.

Alberto Cantera, "La liturgie longue zoroastrienne: matériaux pour une nouvelle édition", unpublished lecture May 21, 2013 at the Collège de France, Paris, 2013.

2. Yasna has meaning

Once the new image of the Avesta is accepted, it becomes clear that if this liturgy is ancient and concerted, it must have a meaning. Indeed, the Avesta is not the haphazard scraps of a text. The results of the studies carried out in recent years at the Collège de France on the meaning of the Yasna can be found in the 5 volumes of Études avestiques et mazdéennes :

Jean Kellens: Études avestiques et mazdéennes, vol. I: LeRatauuōvīspemazišta (Yasna 1.1 to 7.23, with Visprad 1 and 2), Paris, 2006.
Jean Kellens: Etudes avestiques et mazdéennes, vol. II: LeHōmStōmet la zone des déclarations (Y7.24 - Y15.4, with intercalations from Vr3 to 6), Paris, 2007.
Jean Kellens: Études avestiques et mazdéennes, vol. III: Le long préambule du sacrifice (Yasna 16 to 27.12, with intercalations of Visprad 7 to 12), Paris, 2010.
Jean Kellens: Études avestiques et mazdéennes, vol. IV: L'acmé du sacrifice (les parties récentes des Staota Yesniia [Y 27.13-Y59] avec les intercalations de Visprad 13 à 24 et la Dahmā Āfriti [Y60-61]), Paris, 2011.
Céline Redard and Jean Kellens: Études avestiques et mazdéennes, vol. V: La liquidation du sacrifice (Y62 to Y72), Paris, 2013.

A table can summarize the situation (see table in the downloadable Abstract opposite). The Yasna is organized around a central core, the ancient Avesta, with an introductory section before and a concluding section after. The structure is thus as follows: 1. Announcement of the sacrifice (Y1-2); 2. Conditioning of the priestly body (Y8-13) with the ingestion of haoma and self-immolation; Praise of the Haoma as it is pressed (Y9-11); Choice of the sacrificial target (Y12) and reception of its daēnā; 3. The priest is fit for sacrifice and issues the solemn invitation to the deities to sacrifice (Y14-15); 4. Nominal list of invited gods (Y16-17 + Vr7), then justification of the order of the list (Y19-21); 5. Pressing duplication (moving part); 6. Recitation of ancient Avesta with Haoma offering (Y33), meat offering (Y34), desecration of fire (Y58); 7. Exchange of rewards (Y60) with the resignation of the priestly college from its sacrificial exercise; 8. Tribute to the fire that is to be extinguished (Y62) and tribute to the waters that are to be freed (Y63-70), ending with the dismissal of all those involved in the sacrifice (Y72).

Reappearance of the notion of Indo-Iranian sacrifice

There is an Indo-Iranian sacrifice, of which the Yasna is a variant, and we also have a variant on the Indian side with the Brahmanic sacrifice. The first parallel is the center of the sacrifice with the two offerings, but there are still others placed at the same point in the course of the sacrifice (cf. right-hand column of the table for the Brahmanic variant): the nivíd, the ^xvarǝtǝm miiazdǝm "eat this solid food" which appears at mealtime in the Brahmanic rite, the pravara-"multifaceted choice", the yājyā where the priests declare themselves ready for action and officially invite the deities, the homage to fire and stagnant waters. Some of these parallels have been highlighted by Xavier Tremblay, notably in his article: