The Gāthās
The oldest layer — 17 hymns composed by Zarathustra (~1200 BCE), in the archaic Gathic dialect, embedded within the Yasna. Grouped into five Gāthās by metre. All public-domain via Mills (SBE 31); only the modern verse retranslations are ©.
The Five Gāthās · 17 hymnswithin Yasna 28–536
Ahunavaitī Gāthā (Yasna 28–34)Uštavaitī Gāthā (Yasna 43–46)Spentā-Mainyū Gāthā (Yasna 47–50)Vohu-Khšathrā Gāthā (Yasna 51)Vahištōišti Gāthā (Yasna 53)Modern verse translations
The Yasna & Visperad
The Yasna is the primary act of worship, recited at the Yajishn ceremony; the Visperad extends it for the high feasts. The Yasna Haptaŋhāiti is an archaic prose core nearly as old as the Gāthās.
The liturgical core3
The Yasna · 72 chapters (hā)The Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (Yasna 35–41)The Visperad · ~24 sections
The Yašts
Hymns of praise to the yazatas (divine beings) — among the most poetic and mythologically rich Avestan texts. All translated by Darmesteter (SBE 23).
The 21 Yašts21
1. Hormazd Yašt (Ahura Mazdā)2. Haptān Yašt (the Amesha Spentas)3. Ardvahišt Yašt (Aša Vahišta)4. Hordād Yašt (Haurvatāt)5. Ābān Yašt (Arədvī Sūrā Anāhitā)6. Khoršēd Yašt (the Sun)7. Māh Yašt (the Moon)8. Tīr / Tištar Yašt (Sirius)9. Gōš / Drvāsp Yašt10. Mihr Yašt (Mithra)11. Sraoš Yašt (Sraoša)12. Rašn Yašt (Rašnu)13. Frawardīn Yašt (the Fravašis)14. Bahrām Yašt (Vərəθraγna)15. Rām Yašt (Vayu)16. Dēn Yašt (Čistā)17. Ard / Aši Yašt (Aši Vanguhī)18. Aštād Yašt (Arštāt)19. Zamyād Yašt (the Earth & the Khvarənah)20. Hōm Yašt (Haoma)21. Vanant Yašt (the star Vanant)
The Vendidād
The Vidēvdād ("law against the demons") — the priestly code of purity and its mythic frame, including the tale of Yima and the vara (an ark-like refuge). The only Avestan book preserved complete with its Zand.
The 22 fargards3
Fargard 1 — the sixteen landsFargard 2 — Yima and the varaFargards 3–22 — purity law, penances, medicine, praise
The Khordeh Avesta
The book of common prayer — the litanies, watches, and blessings of daily Zoroastrian devotion. From Darmesteter (SBE 23) and the traditional Parsi Khordeh Avesta (Kanga).
Niyāyišn (litanies) · 51
Khoršēd · Mihr · Māh · Ābān · Ātaš Niyāyišn
Gāhs, Sīrōzas & Āfrīnagāns3
The 5 Gāhs (watches of the day)The 2 Sīrōzas (the 30 day-divinities)The Āfrīnagāns (blessings)
The Pahlavi Books
The great Middle-Persian theological literature, written as Islam rose — the systematic doctrine, cosmology, law, and apocalyptic of Zoroastrianism. E.W. West translated nearly all of it across five SBE volumes (all PD).
Cosmology & doctrine6
Bundahišn (Creation)Dēnkard (Acts of the Religion, bks 3–9)Selections of ZādspramMēnōg-ī Khrad (Spirit of Wisdom)Dādestān-ī Dēnīg (Religious Judgements)Škand-gumānīg Wizār (Doubt-dispelling Exposition)
Law, vision & epistles6
Šāyest nē Šāyest (Proper & Improper)Ardā Wirāz Nāmag (the vision of heaven & hell)Epistles of ManuščihrSad Dar (the Hundred Subjects)Bahman Yašt (Zand-ī Wahman Yasn, apocalyptic)Jāmāsp Nāmag (the Jāmāspi)
Later & living tradition
The medieval Persian tradition and the modern scholarly layer.
Persian & modern4
The Zand (Middle-Persian commentary on the Avesta)The Persian RivāyatsṢad-dar Bundahiš · later Rivāyat literatureThe Dasātīrspurious 16th-c. text — of doubtful authenticity