ABSTRACT
The following is a description of the manuscripts of the Avestan and Pahlavi Sh-rzag used for this work, classified by their libraries of origin.
2.1.1 Library of the Cama Oriental Institute1
2.1.1.1 Manuscripts containing the Sh-rzag
D2,2 a manuscript containing a Pzand text and the Avestan Sih-rzag. As indicated by the colophons, the two texts were both copied in 1205 A. Y. (the transcription of the Sh-rzag was completed on the day Wahman in the month Spandarmad of that year). The two texts fill 13 folios each and are separated by three blank folios; the manuscript measures 198 × 147 mm. The Sh-rzag is written on 12/13 lines per page; S. 1 is found on ff. 1r-6v of the second part of the manuscript, S. 2 on ff. 6v-13r. S. 1 is introduced by a title concluded by Srzahe xvurd avista (written in Avestan characters), while S. 2 is introduced by a title in Persian. In both S. 1 and S. 2, of the five invocations of the ghs, only the first one is given,3 and §§ 17 and 19 are omitted.4 In the concluding formula of S. 1, the sequence aoxt.nman
1 I consulted the manuscripts described below during my research visit to Mumbai in 2000. 2 This and the other manuscripts described below marked “D” + cardinal number belong to the col-
lection of the Mulla Firoze Library. 3 The presence in the two versions of the Sh-rzag of only the first invocation of the ghs, or of
only the invocations of ghs 1-3, is encountered in the majority of the manuscripts. This is due primarily to the fact that in the ritual recitation of the Sh-rzag, only the invocation of the current gh is recited. Generally, in fact, the text was (and is) recited before sunset, both as an independent prayer and also as part of other rituals. The absence in the manuscripts of some of the invocations of the ghs may also be attributed to the intention of saving space (these were in fact well known to the ritualists from their various occurrences in the texts).
