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Yazata (𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀) is the Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying (or used as an epithet of) a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship or veneration", and is thus, in this more general sense, also applied to certain healing plants, primordial creatures, the fravashis of the dead, and to certain prayers that are themselves considered holy. The yazatas collectively are "the good powers under Ahura Mazda", who is "the greatest of the yazatas". Yazata is an Avestan-language passive adjectival participle derived from yaz-; "to worship, to honor, to venerate", from Proto-Indo-European *yeh2ǵ- (“to worship, revere, sacrifice”). The word yasna or yagna– "worship, sacrifice, oblation, prayer" – comes from the same root. A yaza+ ta is accordingly "a being worthy of worship", "an object of worship" or "a holy being". As the stem form, yazata- has the inflected nominative forms yazatō (𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬋), pl. yazatåŋhō (𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬂𐬢𐬵𐬋‎). These forms reflect Proto-Iranian *yazatah and pl. *yazatāhah. In Middle Persian the term became yazad or yazd (𐭩𐭦𐭲𐭩‎), pl. yazdān, continuing in New Persian as izad (ایزد). Related terms in other languages are Sanskrit यजति (yájati, meaning "he worships, he sacrifices"), यजत (yajatá-, "worthy of worship, holy"), यज्ञ (yajñá, "sacrifice"), and perhaps also Greek ἅγιος (hagios, "devoted to the gods, sacred, holy"). The term yazata is already used in the Gathas, the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and believed to have been composed by Zarathustra himself. In these hymns, yazata is used as a generic, applied to Ahura Mazda as well as to the "divine sparks" that are in later tradition the Amesha Spentas. In the Gathas, the yazatas are effectively what the daevas are not; that is, the yazatas are to be worshipped while the daevas are to be rejected. The Gathas also collectively invoke the yazatas without providing a clue as to which entities are being invoked, and—given the structure and language of the hymns—it is generally not possible to determine whether these yazatas are abstract concepts or are manifest entities.

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Related concepts (29)

Sraosha

Sraosha (𐬯𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬴𐬀 or 𐬯𐬆𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬴𐬀 'sroː.ʃa) is the Avestan name of the Zoroastrian yazata of "Conscience" and "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of his name. In the Middle Persian commentaries of the 9th-12th centuries, the divinity appears as 𐭮𐭫𐭥𐭱, S(a)rosh. This form appears in many variants in New Persian as well, for example سروش, Sorūsh.

Yasna

Yasna (ˈjʌsnə; ,) is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's principal act of worship. It is also the name of the primary liturgical collection of Avesta texts, recited during that yasna ceremony. The function of the yasna ceremony is, very roughly described, to strengthen the orderly spiritual and material creations of Ahura Mazda against the assault of the destructive forces of Angra Mainyu. The yasna service, that is, the recitation of the Yasna texts, culminates in the apæ zaothra, the "offering to the waters.

Aban

Apas (ˈɑːpəs,_æp-, āpas) is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which, in its innumerable aggregate states, is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters. Āb (plural Ābān) is the Middle Persian-language form. "To this day reverence for water is deeply ingrained in Zoroastrians, and in orthodox communities offerings are regularly made to the household well or nearby stream." The ape zaothra ceremony—the culminating rite of the Yasna service (which is in turn the principal act of worship)—is literally for the "strengthening of the waters.