Vendidad

Created by Jijith Nadumuri at 10 Sep 2011 11:11 and updated at 07 Oct 2011 12:21

>Under Development<

The Vendidad or Videvdaat, a corruption of Avestan Vi-Daevo-Daata. It means Given Against the Daevas which in Sanskrit can be termed as Vi-Deva-Datta or as Prati-Deva-Datta. The whole of Vendidad is a dialog between Ahura Mazda and Zarathushtra who was descended from Spitama (Pitamaha, the Grandsire) at the fifth generation. The first chapter of Vendidad describes the creation like in the Puranas of Vedic tradition. The second chapter describes the Great Frost, similar to the Great Flood described in the Epics and Puranas of Vedic tradition, with Yima (vedic Yama) as its hero rather than Manu. Chapter 3 to 19 describes various Laws and rules that people need to follow, the punishment if rules are not followed or if they are broken, penances for the sins etc. This portion is equivalent to the Law books like Manu Smriti and the Dharmasastras of Indic tradition. Chapter 20 describes about medicine, and Chapter 21 describes about healing spells much like in Atharva Veda. Chapter 22 describes Ahura Mazda's opposition to Angra-Mainyu (vedic Angira Manyu) where the former is assisted by Airyaman (vedic Aryaman).

Contents of Vendidad

Chapter 1: Creation of Sixteen Lands

The first chapter of Vendidad describe the creation like in a Purana of Indian tradition. However the creation does not contain any mention of how the whole Universe with its stars, planets, Earth and land masses are created, like in Mahabharata or in the Puranas. It contains only the mention of 16 lands or domains created by Ahura Mazda.

This chapter gives us clue to the geographical spread of the Ahuras / Asuras. The sixteen lands in the order by which Ahura Mazda mention them is as follows:- 1. Airyana Vaeja near the river Daitya, 2. the plane of Sughdhas, 3. Mouru , 4. Bakhdhi, 5. Nisaya, 6. Haroyu, 7. Vaekereta, 8. Urva, 9. Khnenta inhabited by Vehrkanas, 10. Harahvaiti, 11. Haetumant, 12. Ragha, 13. Chakra , 14. the Four cornered Varena, 15. Hapta Hendu and 16. the land by the sources of the Rangha. For more details see the article on the Sixteen Lands of Ahuras.

Chapter 2: The Great Frost

Chapter 3 to 19: The Laws

Chapter 20, 21: Medicine and Spells

Chapter 22: The Conflict

Further Reading

Internal Sources

  1. Avesta - An Introductory Article on Avesta
  2. Vendidad - An Introductory Article on Vendidad
  3. Sixteen Lands of Ahuras described in Vendidad
  4. Vendidad Wiki - A Wiki for Vendidad
  5. Alphabetical List of Nouns in Vendidad
  6. Frequency Analysis of Nouns in Vendidad
  7. Yasna - An Introductory Article on Yasna
  8. Yashts - An Introductory Article on Yasht
  9. Visperad - An Introductory Article on Visperad
  10. Siroza - An Introductory Article on Siroza
  11. Iliad - An Introductory Article on Iliad

External Sources

Share:- Facebook