Page:The World's Parliament of Religions Vol 1.djvu/240

 212 INTRODUCTION TO PARLIAMENT PAPERS. into the Yasna, the Visparad, the Vendidad, and the Khordeh- Avesta, and the work shows priestly hands putting to priestly use the original Zoroastrian revelation. The Yasna is a book, in seventy-two chapters, of liturgical compositions, into which the five Gathas have been wrought. The Visparad is a priestly book of invocations, in twenty-three chapters, designed for incorporation in the Yasna during recitation of the liturgy. The Vendidad is a collection of laws against the dosvas, in twenty fargards, or chapters. Much of it relates to purifica- tion, expiation, and punishments. The Khordeh-Avesta is the smaller or inferior Holy Text, containing several kinds of pieces, as twenty-two yashts, or invocations of holy beings, five nyaeshes, six afrigans and some others. WILLIAM PIPE. PK1VATK SKCUKTAKY ANP ASSISTANT TO TIIK IIIAIKMAN