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| Ramsar, Ravansar, Siyavar and Lankaran are present-day city names in Persia |
The Zend-Avesta is the collection of Seven Primary Texts books of 'Zoroastrianism' the ancient religion of Iran, then called Persia. Their language Persian stems from the Avestan language which is a distortion or derivation of Sanskrit. Zend is a Zoroastrian term for translations of the Avestan texts. 'Zend' is a contraction of the Avestan language word zainti meaning 'understood' derived from Sanskrit (जानति) janati.
So why is there such a close affinity between Sanskrit and Persian. Scholars such as Professor Arnold Heeren have made note of this similarity in their writings. Heeren stated in his work 'Historical Researches', “In point of fact, the Zend is derived from Sanskrit, and a passage in Manu (Chapter X, Slokas 43-45) makes the Persians to have descended from the Hindus of the warrior caste (kshatriya)." (page 220)
Sir William Jones, scholar of Ancient Indian Studies, made the observation that Sanskrit is ultimately the mother of Persian via Avesten Zend. He states in his 'Works', “I was not a little surprised to find that out of ten words in Du Perron’s Zend Dictionary, six or seven were pure Sanskrit." Many similarities exist between the ancient Vedic texts and the Zend Avesta. For example:
1. Book I of the Avesta is called 'Yasna'. 'Yasna' is derived from the Sanskrit Yagya (यज्ञ), which means the 'Holy Fire Worship'. The Yasna also includes the 'gathas'. The word 'Gatha' comes from the Sanskrit 'gatha' (गाथा), which means 'hymns' or 'verses'.
2. Book II is the 'Visperad' and is a supplement to the 'Yasna'. It contains the rituals and the liturgical code of the Yagna. The Avestan word 'Visperad' has been decoded as 'Visspe Ratavo', meaning 'prayer to all patrons'.
The Yasna and the Visperad, like the Hindu Yajur-Veda, encode the 'vidhi' (विधि) or the method of the ritualistic ceremony and fire worship The 'Visperad' is never recited without the 'Yasna' which points to the fact that the 'Visperad' were the hymns that were chanted as the 'Yasna' (Avestan) or Yagna (Sanskrit), or 'Offerings to the Holy Fire' (English), were made.
Visperad' may be decoded with the help of Sanskrit as follows: 'Perad' is a distortion of Sanskrit 'Parida' (परिदा) which means 'an offering of devotion'. The first syllable 'Vis' may have entered into Avestan from Sanskrit 'Vidh' (विध्), which means 'Honour a God with'. The Sanskrit 'Vidh-Parida' would then translate as 'Honour a God with offering of Devotion".
3. The IIIrd Book is the 'Vendidad' and is generally accepted to be a corruption of the Avestan 'Vi-Daevo-Data', which if decoded with the help of Sanskrit means 'Given Against the Demons'. In Sanskrit 'Videva' (विदेव) means 'those who are not Devas or Gods' that is equivalent to 'Demons'. 'DatA' means 'giver' in Sanskrit.
The name 'Vendidad' is therefore interpreted as a 'method to confound the demons'. But that has a negative connotation (which may originate from the fact that the Rig Vedic 'Sura' or Devas' were considered as 'Demons' in the kingdoms of Central Asia). Besides, in Sanskrit, 'Vedeva' (विदेव) does mean 'hostile to Gods'. However, unlike the 'Yasna', the 'Vendidad text is not universally revered, and some have argued that the 'Vendidad' was either written much later than the 'Yasna' or else distortions were introduced into the original 'Vendidad' texts.
It is also said that though the language of Vendidad is Old Avestan, the religious concepts enumerated in it are not. The original meaning of the name 'Vendidad' may then have had much more to do with Sanskrit 'Vandana' (वन्दना), which means 'the act of praising', or with 'Vandita' (वन्दित), which means 'One who is praised or revered like God' to the rather dark 'Vi-deavo-data' meaning 'Given against the Demons'.
4. The IVth book is the 'Yasht', the name derives from Avestan 'yesti', which means 'to venerate', and is a book of 21 hymns. 'Yasht' may be derived from any of these Sanskrit words - 'Yachati' (यच्छति), which means 'offer' or to 'give', Yacha (याच्) 'to ask for' or 'request', 'Yacha' (याच्य) 'making a humble request' and so on.
5. The Vth book is the 'Sriroza', which means 'Thirty Days' in Avestan. In the Hindu tradition, the concept of Thirty Gods exists as 'TridashGuru' (त्रिदशगुरु). The 'Sri' in 'Sriroza' is a distortion of Sanskrit (त्रिंश) 'trinsh' or 'Trinshat' (त्रिंशत्), both meaning 'thirty'.
6. The VIth Book is the 'Khordeh Avestan', which means 'Small Avestan'. 'Khordeh' is derived from Sanskrit 'Kriduh' (कृधु) meaning 'small'.
So, what is the degree of similarity between Zend Avesta and its source language Sanskrit? In his book 'Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture', the author Douglas Q. Adams states, "The close similarity of the earliest attested Indo-Iranian languages is clearly evident if we extract several lines from the Avestan hymn to the Iranian god Mitra, and provide it with an inter-linear translation in the language of the Rigveda of ancient India....".
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| A page from 'Encyclopedia of Indo-European Culture by Douglas Adams |
Here is a look at Avestan hymn that Douglas Adams is referring to. The Avestan hymn says: "tem amavantem yazatem, surem damohu scviatem, mitram yazai zaotrabayo". It the same as the Sanskrit "tam amavantam yajatam, suram dhamasu savistham, mitram yajai hotrabyah" with a few phonological changes. It means "this powerful deity, strong among the strongest, Mitra, I offer my libations to...". The Iranian god Mitra is the same as the Rig Vedic god Mitra.
Says Douglas Adams, ".... Linguistics remark that the similarity between Iranian and Indic is not only one of grammar and general lexicon but even the references to the means of ritual offering in the two languages derive from a common ancestor, which speaks for a common cultural background. This common background is also reflected in the sharing of names for rivers and common deities, albeit some of the earlier deities common to both were demonized in the later religious reforms of Zaratustera..."
For example, the Greeks called what is today known as Mazandaran in Iran by the name Hyrcania - a distortion of its earlier name 'Verkana'. The name Verkana is recorded in the inscription of Behistun, dated somewhere between 522 - 468 BC.
The word 'Verkana' is itself a distortion of the Sanskrit 'Vrka' (वृक) which means 'wolf'. The Sanskrit 'Vrka' distorts in Avestan (ancient language of Iran) to 'vehrko', also meaning 'wolf'. Therefore. Hyrcania is translated as 'Wolfland'.
But why did the name Verkana change to Mazandaran. And what does Mazandaran mean? The etymology of Mazandaran is traced to Persian 'mazandaran', literally 'the gate or the valley of the giants'. Persian itself derives from Avestan. In Avestan, the word for giant is 'mazainya'. Now Avestan is phonologically very close to Sanskrit and can be easily decoded with it. 'Maza' is a distortion of Sanskrit 'maha' which means huge, large or giant. The Persian 'dara' meaning 'door' is the same as the Sanskrit 'dwar' with a dropped syllable, also meaning 'door'.
Hence, what was once known as 'Verkana', the land where the wolves roamed, at some point saw the advent of an organized culture, the influence of the Vedic gods, such as Mitra, Varuna and Indra, saw its name change to the more ancient form of Mazendaran.
Thomas Burrow, in his book 'The Indo Aryans' stated that the name Mazandaran contained the name of Indra, he said that 'daran' was a distortion of 'Indra' and that since Ahura Mazda, the Zoroastrian god is actually 'Asura Mitra', the first part of the name Mazandaran refers to Zoroastrian god Mitra who is the same as the Vedic god Mitra and that the second part of the word had more to do with Indra, rather than 'dara' or 'door'.
This point has been debated much. Any which way it is fairly clear that at some point Indians descended on what is today known as Iran along with their Indic culture. What is of note is that even before this wave, Sanskrit 'vrika' was already known in Iran, suggesting that the language was universal.
Nevertheless the Indic culture, as a part of the Mittani rush, reached Mesopotamia. Burrow states in his book 'The Indo Aryans' that though some Indians moved to Mesopotamia along with the Mittani, a group stayed back in Iran or were already well established in Iran. He was of the view that the many sites with Sanskrit names especially of mountains, rivers and lakes of Iran attest to this fact. More than cities and kingdoms and cities, the mountains, rivers and lakes tend to retain in their ancient names.
The Zagros Mountains for example gets its name from a group of people who came from the sea into Iran. They called themselves 'Sagara' (सागर) or 'sea'. Zagros is distorted 'Sagara'. That name is undisputabaly Indian. Burrow also says that Lake Urmia, the largest lake in Iran, is named after Sanskrit urmi (ऊर्मि) or 'wave'. This lake has had many names of which the most ancient is Urmia, which translates as 'puddle' in Assyrian.
The etymological origins of the word 'Persia' lie in the word 'Parsa'. The name is of Indian coinage, and of Sanskrit origins. In India, 'Persia' was known as 'Parasa' (परस), which means 'further', 'away' or 'beyond'. stemming from the root word para (पार).
1. Encyclopedia of Indo European Culture by Douglas Q. Adams
2, The Sanskrit Language by Thoms Burrow
3. The Avestan Dictionary
4. Handbook of classical antiquity: by Richard Nelson Frye
5. A Textbook of Urdu: In the Roman Script by J. Williat
6. Ancient Indian Colonies of the Far East - Dr. R. C Mazumdar
