Namaeh Farhangistan

Namaeh Farhangistan

The Necessity of Observing an Axiomatic Principle of Logic in the Study of Nāhīd Yašt

Document Type : Original Article

Abstract
 
In the study of Yašt 5, Nāhīd Yašt, J. Darmesteter and consequently, a number of researchers, have come to the conclusion that the author of several final verses of Yašt, has contemplated a human-shaped icon of Anāhīd in temple, the way it has been described and attached to the hymn. The preliminaries that led the researchers to draw such  a conclusion are: 1. The final verses of the hymn show typical characteristic features of the idolatry tradition; indeed, the poet described the idol that he saw, for nowhere else in Vedic or Avestan literature we have not ever seen a detailed description of a deity’s garments and ornaments, as Anāhīd’s; 2. According to Berossus, Ardashir II, introduced and spread a heretical iconolatry cult throughout the Achaemenid Empire. But in the inference that is based upon these two premises, an obvious principle of logic has not been observed. Therefore, in this case, since the minor and major premises do not have the basic characteristics of a theorem, it is fundamentally impossible to substantiate or refute its hypothesis.
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  • Receive Date 26 February 2022