Martin Schwartz, Revelations, Theology, and Poetics in the Gathas
In a series of passages in his Gathas, Zarathushtra reports the relevatory
experiences on which he grounds his teachings. It will be shown that these
accounts attempt to replicate aspects of the relevelations through a variety
of interrelated structurings of poetic form. These attest to overlapping templates,
one for the dream, and one for the vision, containing a basic series of details.
The analysis provides new insight into Zarathusthra’s dualistic cosmology,
theology, and eschatology; his linguistic mysticism; and his recyclings of
the Indo-Iranian figures Aramati and Yama.