SPACE AND TIME IN THE AVESTAN VIDEVDAT
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Abstract
The Avestan Videvdat is a collection of ritual and mythological texts, mainly connected with ideas about ritual purity. The Videvdat deals with rituals taking place in space and in time; these rituals are constantly correlated with the universal picture of the world and the dynamic movement of history. The first two Fragards of the Videvdat set forth mythological plots about the creation of Zoroastrian countries and myths about Yima – the legendary ancient ruler of Iran, in which the main topics of further exposition are present. Among them are the division of calendar time into summer and winter, day and night (and more fractional periods), triads in counting time, space and prayer, vertical and horizontal structuring of space, appeal to ritual time. A threefold increase of the earth made by Yima, performed at 300-year intervals, as well as the three-part structure of the Vara-shelter built by Yima before the beginning of the natural cataclysm (winter), open up a series of different space-time models. Textual parallels to the passages of the second Fragard of the Videvdat (Videvdat 14.14, Yashts 5 and 17) represent a variant of natural disaster (and, accordingly, a variant of the calendar period: winter in Videvdat 2, drought in Videvdat 14) and indicate the connection of Yima’s Var with the heavenly abodes of gods. In addition, Videvdat deals with ritual time that determines the course of the performance of rituals. It, in its turn, can be correlated with calendar time. Also, ritual time and space depend on the degree of ritual purity / ritual desecration (e.g. more time is required to perform purification rituals if the pollution is bigger; for the winter period, the rules are less stringent due to the complexity of their execution, etc.).
How to Cite
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Avesta, myth of Yima, seasons, space and time, Videvdat
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