SOURCE: “The Scriptures of Zoroastrianism” in Zoroastrianism, Epworth Press, 1934, pp. 42-56.

In the essay below, Waterhouse examines the process by which the Avesta, including Zoroaster's Gathas, was compiled and discusses the structure of each.

The discovery of the key to the understanding of the Avesta, the Bible of the Parsis, is a romantic story. In the year 1754, a young Frenchman, Anquetil du Perron, saw a few pages of a manuscript in an unknown Oriental tongue, in a library at Paris. His interest and curiosity were so awakened that he determined at all costs to decipher the writing. He thereupon joined the French East India Company as a ranker, and embarked on a ship bound for Bombay, the centre of the Parsi community in India. After a hazardous journey, he reached his destination, and the French authorities honoured his purpose by releasing him from duty, and by granting him...