Zoroastrian News – اخبار زرتشتیان

“In the past 100 years, only a few have done a complete and comprehensive translation of the divine hymns of Zarathustra.”
Farid Shoulizadeh, an Iranian scholar, gave a lecture in the weekly sessions in Bonyad jamshid, and referring to the above statement, added that the efforts of Iranians for a comprehensive translation of the Gathas, in comparison with the Parsis of India, in some cases, has been very poor. “In my personal opinion, Dastoor Firooz Azargoshasp, Dr Abteen Sassanfar and Prof. Ebrahim Pourdavood are the only ones whose translations are fully in line with academic principals and university research methodology.
Shoulizadeh continued: “There have been three types of translation of the Gathas: free translation of the text and the stanzas of Gathas, free translation along with explanations, and the 3rd type is translation based on academic order with specifications of free translation, explanation and interpretation, description of the terms and segregate terminology.”
He explained that in free translation, Iranian translators, like Rashid Shahmardan, Farhang Mehr, Kourosh Niknam, and . . . have worked extensively in this field. According to the belief of this Iranian scholar, in the second type of translation the work done by Iranians, compared to Parsis of India, has been poor.

Translation by Rowshan Lohrasbpour