Page:Sacred Books of the East - Volume 4.djvu/40

xxxiv The seven a Nasks, thus named because they are mostly a development of the Githas, are:—
 * The Stôt Yast (Dk. VIII, 46);
 * The Sûtkar (Dk. VIII, a; IX, 2);
 * The Varst-mânsar (Dk. VIII, 3; IX, 24);
 * The Bak (Dk. VIII, 4 ; IX, 47);
 * The Vastag (Dk. VIII, 12);
 * The Hâdhôkht (Dk. VIII, 45);
 * The Spand (Dk. VIII, 14).

We possess the t (in Zend  a) in its entirety: it is the core of the aggregate known as the Yasna, and the most holy part of the Avesta. It contains thirty-three chapters, of which twenty-two are metrical and written in an archaic style, these being the Gâthas, properly so called, and the three chief prayers (Ahuna Vairya, Ashem Vohû, and Yêhê hâtãm); eleven chapters are written in prose and in the common dialect. The r, the  t-, and the  k contain each twenty-two chapters, answering to the twenty-two Gâthas, of which they are mere commentaries or paraphrases. We possess small fragments of the Sûtkar and one chapter of the Varst-mânsar. Three chapters of the Bak, which are commentaries to the three chief prayers aforesaid, have been incorporated in the Yasna. Nothing is left of the Vastag, of which the Dînkart gives no analysis, as the author had neither its Avesta, nor its Zend (neither its original text, nor its Pahlavi translation), in an authentic form before him.

Of the t we have three chapters counted as Yasyts, and one inserted in the Yasna.

The d, which is dedicated to the story of Zoroaster, has been indirectly preserved, in a modem form, in the Zardust Nâma and in Ardâ Virâf's visit to hell.