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| General introduction | |
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| Acknowledgements | |
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| Abbreviations | |
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| Foreword | |
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| Introduction | |
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| The textual sources | |
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| The religious background to Zoroastrianism | |
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| Zarathushtra and his teachings | |
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| Some reasons for diversity in modern studies of Zoroastrianism | |
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| The ancient Iranian world picture | |
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| The seven holy days of obligation | |
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| The Zoroastrian calendar | |
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| The Zoroastrian 'world year' | |
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| Chronological background to the texts | |
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| Tradition and doctrine | |
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| Ancient materials from the Yashts | |
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| Verses from the Gathas | |
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| Passages from the Zand of lost Avestan texts | |
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| Worship, prayer and confession | |
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| Selections from Yasna Haptanhaiti | |
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| Passages from the yasna liturgy accompanying the preparation of the haoma offering | |
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| The four great prayers | |
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| The creed (Fravarane) | |
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| The kusti prayers | |
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| The Hamazor | |
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| The benediction, or prayer for health (tan-dorosti) | |
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| From a general confession, Patet i Khwad | |
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| Rules and observances | |
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| The cult of fire | |
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| Concerning human 'nasa' and the proper disposal of the dead | |
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| On 'taking the baj' | |
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| Festivals | |
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| The life and legend of Zarathustra | |
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| Passages from Younger Avestan texts | |
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| Passages from the Zand of lost Avestan texts | |
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| Kavi Vishtaspa and the early wars of the faith | |
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| The fate of the soul at death, and a vision of heaven and hell | |
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| The fate of the soul, from Younger Avestan texts | |
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| The fate of the soul, from Pahlavi sources | |
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| A vision of heaven and hell, from Arda Viraz Namag | |
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| Apocalyptic texts | |
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| On the coming of the Saoshyant, from Yasht 19 | |
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| On the three World Saviours, from the Zand | |
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| On the seven ages of the world, and the coming of the Saviours, from the Zand of Vahman Yasht | |
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| On Yima's var, from Vendidad 2 | |
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| A Zoroastrian heresy: Zurvanism | |
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| A citation from Theopompus | |
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| Versions of the myth of Zurvan and his twin Sons | |
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| Dogmatic passages from ninth-century Pahlavi books | |
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| From 'Selected Precepts of the Ancient Sages' | |
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| From Shkand-gumanig Vizar, the 'Doubt-dispelling Exposition' | |
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| Historical texts | |
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| From the Achaemenian period | |
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| From the Parthian period | |
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| From the Sasanian period | |
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| Passages concerning the Arab conquest and the early centuries of Islam | |
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| Concerning the Irani and Parsi communities, fifteenth to eighteenth centuries A. C. | |
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| From the reports of Europeans, seventeenth to eighteenth centuries | |
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| The faith in modern times: the nineteenth and twentieth centuries | |
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| From nineteenth-century European writings on Zoroastrian dualism | |
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| Passages from Parsi theosophical writings | |
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| Writings by moderate and radical reformists | |
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| Tradition in belief and practice | |
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| Matters of controversy | |
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| Restatements and reappraisal | |
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| Bibliography | |
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| Glossarial index | |