4 SANSKRIT AND INDO-EUROPEAN prime importance for comparison with Vedic Sanskrit. A vesta is the name given to the ancient collection of sacred writings preserved by the adherents of the Zoroastrian religion, and it is after this that the language is named. It is an eastern Iranian dialect, the exact location of which has not been precisely determined. The oldest section of the A vesta, the Gd&ds are attributed to Zoroaster himself. Concerning his date there has been much dispute, and it seems that the traditional date of the Zoroastrians themselves, which places him around 600 b.c. can hardly be correct. The language of the Gddds is no less ancient than that of the Rgveda, and for this and other reasons the composition of the two texts must belong roughly to the same period. Old Persian, a south-western dialect, and one showing tendencies to modernisation in comparison with the earliest Avestan, is preserved in inscriptions of the Achaemenian kings in a special cuneiform alphabet invented for the purpose. The relations between this ancient Iranian and the language of the Veda are so close that it is not possible satisfactorily to study one without the other. Grammatically the differences are very small ; the chief differentiation in the earliest period lies in certain characteristic and well-defined phonetic changes which have affected Iranian on the one hand and lndo-Aryan on the other. It is quite possible to find verses in the oldest portion of the Avesta l which simply by phonetic substitutions according to established laws can be turned into intelligible Sanskrit. The greater part of the vocabulary is held in common and a large list could be provided of words shared between the two which are absent from the rest of Indo-European. This resemblance is particularly striking in the field of culture and religion, and may be illustrated by a few examples : Skt. hiranya Av. zaranya- 4 gold Skt. send, Av. haend, O. Pers. haind 'army', Skt. rsU-, Av., 0 . Pers. arsti- 'spear', Skt. ksatrd Av. xsadra - ‘ sovereignty Skt. dsura-, Av. ahum -
- lord Skt. yajhi- } Av. yasna- ' sacrifice Skt. hotar Av.
zaotar- ‘ sacrificing priest Skt. soma-, Av. haoma- i the sacred drink Soma Skt. dtharvan - ' a class of priest Av. adaurvan-, dOravan- 1 fire-priest Skt. aryamdn-, Av. airyaman- ‘ member of a religious sodality In the same way we find the names of divinities and mythological personages held in common, e.g,, vSkt. Mitrd Av. mi&ra Skt. Yatna -, son of Vivdsvant Av. Yirna, son of V ivahvant- , Skt. A pirn N dp at, Av. apqm napdt
