Damdad nask
The Damdad nask is one of the lost nasks of the Sasanian Avesta. Although no texts in the extant Avesta can be clearly identified as having belonged to it, its content can be reconstructed to some degree from references in later Zoroastrian writings.
Name
provides two possible derivations of the name. First, it may be derived from a hypothetical Avestan *dāmi.dāti, meaning "the creating of the creation". Alternatively, it may be derived fromMiddle Persian dām dād, meaning "he created the creation". Regardless, the meaning of the name has been connected to the meaning of the name of the Chihrdad nask.
In the Sasanian Avesta
The Sasanian Avesta was organized into 21 nasks, i.e., volumes, which were grouped into 3 divisions; the Gāhānīg, Hada Mānsrīg, and Dādīg. Within this scheme, the Damdad nask was part of the ritual nasks and its content has been described as concerning matters of Zoroastrian cosmogony and eschatology.According to the Denkard, the Damdad nask was the fourth of the nasks of the Sasanian Avesta. However, the Rivayats place it as the fifth. They also state that it consisted of 32 chapters. According to the estimate by Edward William West, the Damdad nask consisted of ca. 8,900 words of Avestan text, accompanied by ca. 29,300 words of commentary in Middle Persian.