Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Tag: Zoroastrianism

  • Two priest-brothers

    Two priest-brothers

    Colditz, Iris. 2026. Two priest-brothers: Theological argumentation, linguistic expressions and style in the second Epistle of Manuščihr. Bulletin of SOAS, FirstView. 1–14.

    The Middle Persian Nāmagīhā ī Manuščihr “Epistles of Manuščihr”, the Zoroastrian high priest of Pārs and Kermān, written in 881 ce, are an important testimony of an inner-Zoroastrian dispute on orthopraxy in early Islamic Iran. They reflect Manuščihr’s efforts to preserve the extensive purification ritual Baršnūm against being substituted with a simplified ritual by his brother, the teacher-priest (Hērbed) Zādspram. Manuščihr wrote three letters to make his position clear. His second letter, addressed to Zādspram, is interesting not only for its theological debate but also for the personal relationship it reveals between two priest-brothers. Manuščihr argues on an elaborate scholarly level by quoting from the religious authoritative texts, and expresses his brotherly love and responsibility for leading his younger brother back to the correct path. This article focuses on his theological argumentation but also on the debate, how the family ties may have affected it and how he used linguistic expressions and style in this context.

    Abstract
  • The Zoroastrian World

    The Zoroastrian World

    Rose, Jenny, Albert De Jong & Sarah Stewart (eds.). 2026. The Zoroastrian World. New York: Routledge.

    Although Zoroastrians in the contemporary world are numerically few – estimated recently at less than 150,000 across the globe – their ancient Iranian ancestors ruled vast areas of the Near East for over a millennium. From the mid‑sixth century BCE to the mid‑seventh century CE, the historical contribution of the ‘Mazda-worshipping’ religion to the intellectual, cultural, and political development of the region was momentous. The migration of some Zoroastrians to north-western India also had a significant social and economic impact on early modern and modern India. From the mid-seventeenth century until the present, Zoroastrianism has also played an important role in European discourse.

    Written by a distinguished team of international contributors, including many Zoroastrians, The Zoroastrian World presents a global guide to Zoroastrianism from the earliest period to the modern day, offering original perspectives through substantial thematic contributions on the lived experience of Zoroastrian communities across the world. This volume is organised into five distinct sections:

    • Imagining Zoroastrianism
    • The Developing Zoroastrian World
    • Living Realities: Zoroastrian Narrative and Symbol in the Modern World
    • Contemporary Challenges in the Zoroastrian World
    • Creative Contributions from the Zoroastrian World

    The Zoroastrian World provides an authoritative and accessible source of information on topics relating to the Zoroastrian religion, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary connections. The volume is essential reading for students engaged in studies of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics; Ancient and Modern Iran; the Near and Middle East; Central Asia; South Asian Religions; and Cultural History. The Zoroastrian World is intended for all curious readers, who seek to know more about this ancient, enduring religion.

    The editors are excited to showcase the original artwork ‘The Garden of the Universe’ by Hormazd Narielwalla as the cover of this book.

    The Open Access version of this book is available at PDF.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Jenny Rose, Albert de Jong, and Sarah Stewart

    Part 1.  Imagining Zoroastrianism

    1. How Zoroastrianism imagined itself

    Albert de Jong

    2. Recasting Zoroastrian dualism within the Greek philosophical imagination

    Maria Cristina Mennuti

    3. Imagining Zoroastrianism in the light of the Maga Brahmanas and the Kambojas

    Antonio Panaino

    4. Zoroastrianism in the Chinese imagination

    Jeffrey Kotyk

    5. Zoroastrianism/Persian religion in the Hebrew Bible

    Jason M. Silverman

    6. Zoroastrianism in the Babylonian Talmud

    Geoffrey Herman

    7. Manichaean, Christian, and Mandaean Views of Zoroastrianism

    Jason D. BeDuhn and Paul C. Dilley

    8. Zoroastrianism in early Arabic sources

    Kayla Dang

    9. The European ‘rediscovery’ of the Ancient Persians and their worldview

    Olivia Ramble

    10. The history of the study of Zoroastrianism

    Albert de Jong

    11. Zoroastrianism and Freemasonry in colonial-era India and Britain: imagining Zoroastrianism and re-imagining Freemasonry

    Simon Deschamps

    12. A ‘Persian history’? Achaemenid history and Zoroastrian reception in Gore Vidal’s Creation

    Charlotte Howley

    13. The fascination of the flame: Zoroastrianism and tourism

    Jenny Rose and Sarah Stewart

    Part 2. The Developing Zoroastrian World

    HISTORY

    14. Imagining Ahura Mazda: the earliest form of Zoroastrianism

    Almut Hintze

    15. Persian religion in the Achaemenid Empire

    Amirardalan Emami

    16. Zoroastrianism in the religious context of the Arsacid Empire

    Lucinda Dirven

    17. Zoroastrianism in the Sasanian Empire

    Albert de Jong

    18. Zoroastrianism in Iran from the Arab conquests to the mid-nineteenth century

    Kiyan Foroutan

    19. Zoroastrianism in India: from the migrations of the Parsis to the late eighteenth century

    Shervin Farridnejad

    SOURCES

    20. The developing Zoroastrian world and orality

    Philip G. Kreyenbroek

    21. The oldest sources for Zoroastrianism: Avestan and Old Persian

    Amir Ahmadi

    22. “A jewel of wisdom literature in the Pahlavi tradition of Zoroastrianism” 

    Alan Williams

    23. The meaning of Persian Zoroastrian literature

    Albert de Jong

    24. A historical overview of Parsi writing in Gujarati

    Meher Mistry

    25. Zoroastrian literature in English from the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries

    Jenny Rose

    MATERIAL EVIDENCE

    26. Central Asian expressions of Zoroastrianism

    Michael Shenkar

    27. Central Asian Zoroastrianism: can a case be made for Sogdiana?

    Pavel Lurje and Kersi B. Shroff

    28. Zoroastrianism in Anatolia and the Caucasus

    Matthew P. Canepa

    29. The ‘fire-worshippers’ of Georgia

    Sarah Stewart

    Part 3. Living Realities: Zoroastrian Narrative and Symbol in the Modern World

    30. The role of Parsi Zoroastrians in the evolution of British colonial India

    Omar Ralph

    31. Zoroastrian politics in the era of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran (1905-1911)

    Janet Kestenberg Amighi

    19. Reconciling Persianate and Western forms of knowledge: esotericism as Zoroastrian hermeneutics in colonial India

    Mariano Errichiello

    20. Calling on divine help: Parsi religious expressions in Mumbai, Navsari, and Surat

    Khojeste P. Mistree

    ZOROASTRIAN COMMUNITIES IN DIASPORA

    34. Zoroastrian communities outside India and Iran

    Rashna Writer

    35. A personal account of migrating to North America

    Tanya Hoshi

    36. Teach your children well: Zoroastrian religious education

    Jenny Rose and Sarah Stewart

    DIGITAL APPROACHES TO ZOROASTRIANISM

    37. The use of digital resources in studying the Zoroastrian religion

    Edward N. Surman

    38. Digital projects in Zoroastrianism

    Céline Redard

    39. The impact of the digital world on internal Zoroastrian discourse

    Nazneen Engineer

    Part 4. Contemporary Challenges in the Zoroastrian World

    INTERNAL CHALLENGES

    40. Demographic issues and identity in twenty-first-century India: Jiyo Parsi

    Shernaz Cama

    41. The reverberations of the dokhmenashini debate in Mumbai and Zoroastrian death rituals practiced in India

    Dorothea Lüddeckens and Ramiyar Karanjia

    PERSPECTIVES ON THE ZOROASTRIAN PRIESTHOOD

    42. Perspectives on the Parsi priesthood in India

    Kerman Daruwalla

    43. Perspectives on the Zoroastrian priesthood in Iran

    Mobed Ramin Shahzadi and Mobedyar Parva Namiranian

    44. Perspectives on the Parsi priesthood from the UK: an interview with Ervad Yazad T. Bhadha

    Sarah Stewart

    45. Perspectives on the Parsi priesthood from the United States: an interview with Zerkxis Bhandara

    Sarah Stewart

    46. Who speaks for Zoroastrianism today?

    Ruzbeh Hodiwala

    THE CHANGING ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN

    47. The changing roles of men and women within the Iranian Zoroastrian community

    Shahin Bekhradnia

    48. The changing roles of Parsi men and women in India

    Nazneen Engineer

    49. Care for the Zoroastrian elderly in India

    Dinshaw K. Tamboly

    50. A caring model for the elderly in the UK

    Zubin Sethna and Rozy Contractor

    EXTERNAL CHALLENGES

    51. Zoroastrianism and human rights

    Niaz Kasravi

    52. Zoroastrianism and the environment: reviving the forests of Doongerwadi in Mumbai, India

    Rashneh N. Pardiwala

    53. Zoroastrian approaches to business ethics and sustainable development in contemporary times

    Edul Daver

    Part 5. Creative Contributions from the Zoroastrian World

    54. ‘First Darling of the Morning’: an interview with Parsi novelist, Thrity Umrigar

    Jenny Rose

    55. A larger laughter: the unique legacy of Parsi theatre

    Meher Marfatia

    56. The house of song

    Raiomond Mirza

    57. Devotional poetry and songs of the Zoroastrians of Iran

    Farzaneh Goshtasb

    58. “I yam what I yam”: a conversation with screenwriter, director and photographer, Sooni Taraporevala

    Jenny Rose

    59. The Garden of the Universe: an interview with artist Hormazd Narielwalla

    Sarah Stewart

    60. Identity and silk: the emergence and re-emergence of Sino-Parsi trade textiles

    Firoza Punthakey Mistree

    61. “You have to crack a few eggs to make a Parsi omelette”: an interview with chef and culinary author, Farokh Talati

    Jenny Rose

    62. Memories of growing up in Iran, Persian food, Zoroastrian festivals, and life as an author and cookery writer: an interview with Shirin Simmons

    Sarah Stewart

    63. How Parsis helped make India a cricketing nation

    Mihir Bose

  • Iran and the Caucasus 30 (1)

    Iran and the Caucasus 30 (1)

    Volume 30, issue 1, of Iran and the Caucasus has now been published.

    As always, we are grateful to the staff at Yale Classics Library (@yaleclassicslib.bsky.social) for sharing this publication information with us.

  • Gāthās of Zarathuštra

    Gāthās of Zarathuštra

    Kellens, Jean. 2026. Les Gâthâs attribuées à Zarathuštra. Aux origines de l’Avesta et de la religion zoroastrienne. Paris: Les Belles Lettres.

    At the source of the Avesta, the collection of the oldest sacrificial recitations of the Zoroastrian religion, one finds a small corpus of poems, the Gāthās—“songs” composed in a particularly archaic language. These venerable chants are regarded by the faithful as the very work of the founding prophet, Zarathustra, and this act of faith is largely endorsed by many representatives of contemporary scholarship. These are difficult texts, with complex grammar and sophisticated rhetoric, which have inspired many learned interpretations but only rare attempts at popularization, often driven by the desire to turn them into distant mirrors in which our own image is reflected. The translation offered in this volume, and the clarifications that accompany it, aim to make this corpus readable while preserving the originality of a voice that comes from the depths of time and is not addressed to us.

    The translator, Jean Kellens, is a leading scholar in Avestan studies. Professor emeritus at the Collège de France, he held the Chair of Indo-Iranian Languages and Religions from 1993 to 2014. In his work, he seeks to shed light, through comparison, on the earliest literatures of India and Iran.

  • Kleines Gatha-Lesebuch

    Kleines Gatha-Lesebuch

    Hoffmann, Karl. 2025. Kleines Gatha-Lesebuch: Aus dem Nachlass herausgegeben von Bernhard Forssman, unter Mitwirkung von Jürgen Habisreitinger. Mit einem Beitrag von Almut Hintze. (Ed.) Bernhard Forssman. Heidelberg: Heidelberg Asian Studies Publishing.

    This book is open access and can be downloaded here.

    Dieses Buch enthält Stücke aus den “Gathas”: poetischen Texten, als deren Verfasser Zarathustra angesehen wird, der Stifter der Parsen-Religion. Die Sprache dieser Dichtungen ist eine frühe Stufe des Avestischen, einer Schwestersprache des Altpersischen im alten Iran. Die sprachliche und inhaltliche Deutung der Gathas stößt auf zahlreiche Schwierigkeiten. Der bedeutende Avesta-Forscher Prof. Karl Hoffmann (1915 – 1996) legte sich für seinen Unterricht eine Sammlung von verhältnismäßig einfachen Textstücken mit eigenen Übersetzungen an. Diese Sammlung wird nunmehr aus seinem Nachlass herausgegeben, erweitert um verschiedene Beigaben, u.a. um einen Beitrag von Prof. Almut Hintze (London) über die Gathas und um ein vollständiges Vokabular.

  • Le livre de Yōišta Friiāna

    Le livre de Yōišta Friiāna

    Pirart, Éric. 2025. Le livre de Yōišta Friiāna. Introduction, édition, traduction et commentaire (Publications d’Études Indo-Iraniennes 5). Strasbourg: Université de Strasbourg.

    Yōišta Friiāna est un héros mythologique présent dans toutes les strates de la littérature zoroastrienne ancienne et médiévale, l’archaïque Uštauuaitī Gāθā, deux Yašt de l’Avesta récent, le Dēnkard et d’autres livres pehlevis. Sa confrontation avec un démon, contée dans le petit livre pehlevi qui porte son nom, rappelle fortement le mythe grec d’Œdipe et de la Sphinx.

    Résumé

  • The Achaemenid-Zoroastrian Background of the Burning Bush Pericope

    Barena, Gad. 2025. ʾAhyh ʾAšr ʾAhyh: The Achaemenid-Zoroastrian Background of the Burning Bush Pericope. Revista Pistis & Praxis 17(3), 384–402.

    Various types of impact, assimilation, and engagement of certain redactional layers of the Hebrew Bible with Achaemenid-era Zoroastrianism have long been noted by biblical scholars and by researchers of ancient Iranian cultic practices. Both disciplines, however, are facing similar challenges regarding the problem of the transmission history of their sacred texts, which is complex, perplexing, and vigorously debated. Thus, due caution must be taken when considering latent echoes of one tradition within the corpus of the other. The following article focuses on one particular, intricate, and very well-known biblical story often associated to various degrees with the so-called “P(riestly) source”—namely, the “Call of Moses” (CoM) in the initial portions of the famous scene at the “Burning Bush” on Mt. Horeb (here defined as Exod 2:23–3:15)—examined in relation to Achaemenid-era Zoroastrianism. I begin with an assessment of the relevant cultic elements that can be securely dated to that timeframe or to its later evolution—especially those that can be shown to have impacted Yahwists at the time. This preliminary study then serves as a foundation to examine the passage in question in a more systematic manner. The conclusion points to a deep familiarity and assimilation of Zoroastrian fire veneration practices by the Priestly author/redactor.

  • The Academic Research Segment

    The Academic Research Segment

    The Society of Scholars of Zoroastrianism presents The Academic Research Segment.

    The Academic Research Edition of the Society of Scholars of Zoroastrianism presents ‘a deep dive into the newest discoveries in the world of Zoroastrianism’. This is an online event taking place on 15 November 2025 from 3:30 to 6:30pm GMT.

    Please visit this link for further details.

    The participants are:

    • Dr. Michael Shenkar: The Cult of Fire in Sogdiana; New Evidence from Sanjar Shah
    • Dr. Miguel Andres Toledo: The Poetry of Ahura Mazdā’s Creation: Metrical Philosophy in Dēnkard 3
    • Dr. Henkelman: The Achaemenids and Central Asia. The Evidence from the Persepolis Fortification Archive
    • Dr. Garrison: The Zoroastrian Question in Achaemenid Fārs. Insights from the Persepolis Fortification Archive

  • The Zoroastrian funeral ritual for living souls

    Nayebossadrian, Zhaleh. 2025. The Zoroastrian funeral ritual for living souls. Culture and Religion. 1-14.

    This study presents a comprehensive investigation into a Zoroastrian funerary rite, ‘Zīnda-ruwān-yaštan’, performed during their lifetime for the well-being of their living soul. The research draws on Zoroastrian scriptures and ethnographic sources to trace the origins and eventual decline of the ‘Zīnda-ruwāni’ ritual through a combination of historical, textual, and epigraphic analysis. The finding emphasises the ritual’s adaptability in response to evolving socio-political circumstances. Concentrating on ‘Srōš Yazata’, the divine entity believed to guide souls following death, the ceremonial practice underscores its profound spiritual import in assuaging death anxieties. The study makes a significant contribution to our understanding of the evolution of Zoroastrian funerary customs within various historical contexts. It demonstrates how Zīnda-ruwāni functioned to alleviate death-related anxieties within a dynamic socio-religious milieu, providing reassurance amid political and economic instability.

  • Zoroastrianism and contemporary philosophy

    Zoroastrianism and contemporary philosophy

    Nolan, Daniel. 2025. Zoroastrianism and contemporary philosophy (Elements in Global Philosophy of Religion). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

    Zoroastrianism is a religion with a long history, but it has been comparatively neglected by contemporary philosophers. This Element aims to bring aspects of its long intellectual history into conversation with contemporary Anglo-American philosophy. Section 1 provides an introduction to Zoroastrianism and its history, some of the important texts, and some contemporary philosophy engaged with Zoroastrian themes. Section 2 discusses distinctive contributions Zoroastrian thought can make to the problems of evil and suffering. And Section 3 discusses a ‘quasi-universalist’ approach to puzzles about heaven and salvation, inspired by Zoroastrian theological texts.

    Summary

    For those with access,this title is also available as open access on Cambridge Core.