Traditional interpretation
The traditional conception of Zoroastrianism is biographical and prophetic. It is based on the following situation: a prophet preaches a monotheistic doctrine in which concern for ethics supersedes Indo-Iranian sacrificial ritualism. Depending on the specialist, each of these terms can be given a number of variants: a) monotheistic doctrine by reform or revolution? b) ethical concern (distinction between good and evil) has been analyzed as the source of the development of an eschatology, which would thus supplant ritualism.
Other analyses
Spiegel: the Avesta is a mythological book;
Darmesteter: the Avesta is interpreted as a storm mythology;
Geldner interprets it differently and considers the Avesta to be a prophetic biography;
Bartholomae goes in the same direction as Geldner, as shown by the title of his work Zarathushtra's Leben und Lehre, i.e. a man who lives life and its prophetic readings.
Hymnic character and connection with a specific ritual situation
Humbach's analysis of the Gāθās changes the view, since he no longer considers them as prophetic sermons, but as hymns (all. Lieder) analogous to those in the RigVeda. There are two reasons for this: 1. the gāthic I/we speaks to the gods; 2. the ritual perspective of the text calls into question the verbal system. Indeed, the injunctive has the characteristics of the past tense (despite the absence of augment), but it can be translated as either past, present or future (as Bartholomae tended to do, giving eschatology a prominent place in the Avesta). This system is linked to the liturgical situation where facts are mentioned and evoked. The gāthic text is a discourse parallel to the ritual acts.
Helmut Humbach, Die Gathas des Zarathustra (Band I: Einleitung, Text, Übersetzung, Paraphrase; Band II: Kommentar), Heidelberg, 1959.
Traditional vision compromised by this new perspective
Molé insists on the liturgical character of the gāthic text, in which he sees a sacrifice (without insisting on the haomic aspect or the aspect of bloody immolation). However, his Middle-Iranian reading of the Gāθās overlooked one aspect: a rite of renovation of the world is not defensible because all the ritual times envisaged in the Avesta are daily.
Marijan Molé, Culte, mythe et cosmologie dans l'Iran ancien : le problème zoroastrien et la tradition mazdéenne, Paris, 1963.
