| rdfs:comment | - Ahuna Vairya (also known as Ahunavar, Ahunwar, and Yatha Ahu Vairyo) is the Avestan language name of the most sacred of the Gathic hymns of the Avesta, the revered texts of Zoroastrianism. The hymn, which appears in Yasna 27.13, is named after its opening words yatha ahu vairyo, which cannot be translated without significant loss of meaning. Humbach refers to the Ahuna Vairya and the Artem Vohu (Ashem Vohu, Yasna 27.14, the second most sacred invocation), as "very cryptic formulas, of a pronounced magical character." (Humbach, 1991:1) The Ahunavaiti Gatha (chapters 28-34 of the Yasna), is named after the Ahuna Vairya hymn.
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| abstract | - Ahuna Vairya (also known as Ahunavar, Ahunwar, and Yatha Ahu Vairyo) is the Avestan language name of the most sacred of the Gathic hymns of the Avesta, the revered texts of Zoroastrianism. The hymn, which appears in Yasna 27.13, is named after its opening words yatha ahu vairyo, which cannot be translated without significant loss of meaning. Humbach refers to the Ahuna Vairya and the Artem Vohu (Ashem Vohu, Yasna 27.14, the second most sacred invocation), as "very cryptic formulas, of a pronounced magical character." (Humbach, 1991:1) The Ahunavaiti Gatha (chapters 28-34 of the Yasna), is named after the Ahuna Vairya hymn. One interpretation captions the hymn as "The Principle of Choice", since the three lines of the invocation reflect the three choices that have to be made: ahu (frequently translated as 'lord', but is not in all translations a reference to Ahura Mazda), ratush (judgment), and kshathra (rule). The Denkard, a 9th century semi-religious work, records that each volume of the nasks (that today form a significant portion of the texts of the Avesta) was initially assigned its title from a word in the Ahuna Vairya prayer (Denkard intro, 6, 8, 17, 18, 9.1.4).
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