Vishtasp Yasht
The Vishtasp Yasht was one of the variants of the Long Liturgy, the main ritual of Zoroastrianism. It is no longer performed, but its structure can be reconstructed from the Vishtasp Sast manuscripts, which contain the text once used in this ceremony.
Name
The name of the liturgy is given in the manuscripts in Pahlavi as wštʾsp yšt. This has been rendered by different authors as Vishtasp Yasht, Wishtasp Yasht, Vištāsp Yašt or Wištāsp Yašt. Here, the first term refers to Vishtaspa, an important figure in the history of Zoroastrianism. The second term, Yasht, is a Middle Persian term for a religious ceremony. It is derived from Avestan yašti.History
The history of the Vishtasp Yasht is unclear. On the one hand, it has been argued that text of the Vishtasp Sast, which is used in the ceremony, is a late and unoriginal text, compiled from other sources. This is based on the observation that the Avestan language of the extant manuscripts is grammatically very defective. On the other hand, Cantera has, for instance, argued that the arguments for a late date are rather weak and the Vishtasp Sast should be considered as an original text.Structure
The Vishtasp Yasht is no longer performed. However, its structure can be reconstructed from the surviving manuscripts. Based on liturgical instruction contained in these manuscripts, the Vishtasp Yasht was one of the variants of the Long Liturgy, which also comprises, e.g., the Yasna and Visperad liturgies. Within this framework, the Vishtasp Yasht is an intercalation ceremony, meaning that, like the Yasht i [Visperad abag Videvdad|Videvdad liturgy], the ceremony would be based on the Visperad liturgy into which the eight sections, called fragards, of the Vishtasp Sast text were intercalated at certain points.| Yasna | Visperad | Vishtasp Sast |
| Y. 27.6 | ||
| Vr. 12 | ||
| Y. 27.7-27.13 | ||
| Vyt. 1 | ||
| Y. 28-30 | ||
| Vr. 13 | ||
| Vyt. 2 | ||
| Y. 32 - 3413 | ||
| Vr. 14 | ||
| Vyt. 3 | ||
| Vr. 15 | ||
| Y. 35-42 | ||
| Vr. 16-17 | ||
| Vyt. 4 | ||
| Y. 43-46 | ||
| Vr. 18 | ||
| Vyt. 5 | ||
| Y. 47-50 | ||
| Vr. 19 | ||
| Vyt. 6 | ||
| Y. 51 | ||
| Vr. 20-21 | ||
| Y. 35-42 | ||
| Vr. 22 | ||
| Vyt. 7 | ||
| Y. 52-53 | ||
| Vr. 23 | ||
| Vyt. 8 | ||
| Y. 54 |
Apart from the intercalated fragards, the Sade manuscripts of the Vishtasp Yasht demonstrate that the underlying text of the Yasna is also modified. One example is the period of the day on which the liturgy is performed. Whereas the Yasna is performed on hāwan, i.e., the period from morning to noon, the Vishtasp Yasht, like the Vendidad, is performed on ušahin, i.e., the period from midnight to dawn. Another difference is the marker of intercalation. For example, in Y. 3.1, the text of the Yasna is modified in the Vishtasp Yasht such that it announces that it is drawn from the manthric nasks, i.e., the second group of nasks of the Sasanian Avesta. Moreover, the Vishtasp Yasht contains a number of dedications to the Fravashis, Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas.