In the Path of the Prophet: Sacred Narratives of the Life of Zarathustra in Medieval and Early Modern Zoroastrianism
77 West St. Apt. 2, Malden, MA 02148
Prods Oktor Skjærvø
This dissertation is a study of Zoroastrian religious history through its literature. Having edited and translated important texts from New Persian and Gujarati manuscripts, I look at the changing ways in which Zoroastrian communities thought about Zarathustra, whom they consider their prophet. In the process, I examine the construction of religious boundaries, the notion of syncretism, and the uses of cultural memory within Zoroastrian history. I argue that by contextualizing Zoroastrian intellectual history in the religious landscape of Iran and South Asia, one can see that Zoroastrians were very much involved in the pan-religious theological debates of their times.
A Thematic Introduction to Zoroastrianism Elementary Persian Intermediate Persian Visible Language: Writing Systems, Scripts, and Literacy Images of Alexander the Great
“The Wizirgerd ī Dēnīg and the Evil Spirit: Questions of Authenticity in Post-Classical Zoroastrianism.” In Iranian and Zoroastrian Studies in Honor of Prods Oktor Skjærvø, (Bulletin of the Asia Institute 19), 2009, pp. 181-189 "A Treasury of Zoroastrian Manuscripts: The First Dastoor Meherjirana Library, Navsari." In Hamazor 52.3, 2010, pp. 27-31. "The quest for a historical Zarathustra: the perception of the prophet in the thought of Friedrich Spiegel and Martin Haug and their collaborators Kharshedji Rustamji Cama and Dastur Hoshangji Jamasp.” Forthcoming in the Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute, 2011.
Fulbright-Hays Doctoral Dissertation Research Abroad Grant (2008-2009) Harvard South Asia Initiative Study Grant (Summer 2008, 2009, 2011) FLAS-Gujarati (2007)