Bagan yasht
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The Bagan yasht was, according to the Denkard, the fourteenth nask (volume) of the Sasanian Avesta.[1] The work itself is lost, but based on later references, several of the extant Yashts are considered to have originally been part of the nask.[2]
Name
There is some confusion regarding the name of this nask.[5] For instance Yasna 19-21 is also sometimes called Bagan yasht, even though these parts originally belonged to the Bag nask.[6] In the Rivayats, the name is given as Baḡān yašt and Bayān yašt. In the Denkard, however, it is given as Baḡān yašt or Baḡān yasn.[1] While yasht or yasn is derived from Avestan yaz, to sacrifice, the term bagan probably refers to Avestan baga, a generic term for god.[7]
In the Sasanian Avesta
The Sasanian Avesta was organized into 21 nasks, i.e., volumes, which were grouped into 3 divisions; the Gāhānīg (Gathic nasks), Hada mānsrīg (manthras connected with the ritual), and Dādīg (legal nasks).[8] Within this scheme, the Bagan yasht was part of the legal nasks despite its content not being concerned with the law.[9] According to the Rivayats, it consisted of 17 chapters, called fragards.[10] The term fragard here has been interpreted as insertion, indicating that the yashts of this nask were used as intercalations into other texts.[11] Edward William West estimates, that the Bagan yasht consisted of ca. 22,000 words of Avestan text accompanied by ca. 44,000 words of commentary in Pahlavi.[12]