Abstract

Abstract
Except in few cases,  The Pazand explanation and interpretation of Avesta texts is not very mass, and it has no high place in the existing corpus of Pazand texts. The connection between Pazand and Avesta mostly goes back to the Khorda-Avesta.The Khorda-Avesta is a text that has been prepared for the public. This folk characteristic of texts  has caused various forms and narratives to emerge according to the needs of users throughout the ages. Prayers and liturgies have been added or reduced in each manuscript. Additional or peripheral texts can be seen in Pahlavi, Pazand, Persian and even Gujarati and show the wide Diaspora of Khorda-Avesta users. This article It aims to identify and introduce the outlines of Pazand texts in Khorda-Avesta manuscripts.
Keywords: "Pazand, Khorda-Avesta, Avesta Manuscipts"

Introduction

Pazand by means changing Pahlavi script to Avesta script, is called the Pahlavi or Middle Persian texts in Avesta script . Apart from the apparent commonality, the important question is what is the connection between Pazand and Avesta texts? "Avesta" is the sacred text and the basic text of the Zoroastrian religion, and linguistically it belongs to the ancient period of the Iranian languages, while the Pahlavi and Pazand texts are known as the heritage of the middle period of the Iranian family. Therefore, linguistically, the two periods are separate from each other but along each other. The link between the religious texts of the middle period and the Avesta shows itself in the topic of interpretation and explanation of the sacred word of the Avesta, i.e. Zand. Also, we see the most pazands in the Khorda-Avesta, which is a more general text and  prayer. Below, according to the existing Manuscripts., the topic and volume of pazands in the Avesta, especially the Khorda-Avesta, will be discussed.

Materials & methods

Examining the existing manuscripts and numerous lithographic works of Khorda-Avesta shows their diversity, and rarely two identical manuscripts about this part of Avesta can be found. In the Zoroastrian tradition, both in Iran and India, we encounter two types of Avesta: A. What appeared before the edditios of linguists and researchers of the 19th century, which includes Iranian and Indian lithographic manuscripts and texts with Pahlavi, Pazand, Persian, Sanskrit and Gujarati translations, commentaries and additions. B. The modified texts, which are often based on the texts published by Iranologists from Anquetil-Duperron to Geldner in the late 19th century, are the result of modern academic schools and schools, and they are without margins and additions. In group "A" we are faced with a large volume of diverse material from the Zoroastrian tradition, especially that which was popular among the people. Pazand's contribution to the Khorda-Avesta and its numerous manuscripts goes back to these additions listed in group "A". Now, the question is, what volume of traditional texts of Khorda-Avesta constitutes pazand? To answer this question, by examining the texts of group A, manuscripts and lithographic works, pazands related to the Khorda-Avesta have been identified and studied.

Discussion &Result

In all the remaining texts of the Avesta, especially the Khorda-Avesta, we are faced with Nirangs and instructions on how to perform the ritual and read the text, Bajs and prefaces(dibacheh-ha), as well as prayers at the end of each text, and it seems that, except in limited cases, There is no a pazand for the Avesta texts. However, several Indian manuscripts have been mentioned under the title of Avesta and Pazand, which is the reason for the existence of Pazand and subsequent additions to the Indian tradition of Avesta.In the old and new Indian Avesta fragments that Geldner has examined and described, apart from the added texts and late prayers, independent and specific pazand texts are also reported among them: The Pazand Afringans  in manuscripts Mb1 and L18 and Jm4 and O3; Patets in manuscripts J9, Mb1 and K39; Nirangs are used in manuscripts J10, J9 and Mb1; and unknown Pazand  texts in manuscripts Mb2, Jm5, J17, H2, E1 and Kh2; are some cases that confirm the existence of Pazand in Indian Avesta verses.
Iranian Khorda-Avesta manuscripts are very important in terms of having and not having pazand text and they play a decisive role in the history of pazand writing. In Iran, where the ancient tradition was still popular in various centers and there were not few pahlavi-native  priests, what position and dignity did Pazand have, especially in the Avesta texts, including the Khorda-Avesta book? Pazand fragments, or the presence of pazand text in Iranian versions have been investigated, is very rare, as it is common in Indian manuscripts.
It is the 12th century of Yazdgirdi during the Qajar era, when the communictions between the Iranian Zoroastrian society and India increased and gradually the Iranian society lost its superiority over the Parsi society, the tradition of the Persian Avesta was influenced by the Indian Parsi, and additional texts in Pazand and Farsi entered khorda-avesta. The khorda- Avesta  of Mulla Iskandar Kermani and his son Molla Behrouz, as well as the khorda-Avesta  of Dastur Tirtanz in Yazd, are examples to show the evolution of khorda-Avesta  and additional texts around them in the period under discussion.
 

Conclusion

The Pazand additions of the khorda-avesta was most likely formed among the Parsis of India, and if such a tradition was common in Iran, as it turns out, it was an oral tradition in the Pahlavi language and was gradually mixed with New Persian until around the 11th-12th century of Yazdgardi. / Hijri, probably as a result of getting to know more about the heritage of the Parsis of India, Pazand often in Persian script, it entered the margins of the manuscript and then lithographic texts of khorda-avesta.