At the heart of Zoroastrian tradition stands the Avesta, regarded as the core sacred corpus that preserves the revealed word and liturgy. Its central section is the Yasna, a set of liturgical texts used in the main act of worship; within the Yasna are the Gathas, seventeen hymns attributed directly to Zarathustra and revered as the most authoritative doctrinal core. Alongside the Yasna stand the Visperad, which expands and supplements the liturgy, and the Yashts, hymns that praise various yazatas or divine beings and preserve much of the religion’s mythic and devotional tone. The Vendidad (or Videvdad) offers a different register: legal provisions and ritual purity codes, together with guidance on maintaining spiritual and physical order. The Khorda Avesta, the “little Avesta,” gathers shorter prayers and texts for more frequent, often daily, recitation, making the scriptural tradition accessible beyond the formal ritual setting.

Around this revealed core grew a substantial body of Middle Persian (Pahlavi) literature that, while not scripture in the same sense as the Avesta, became indispensable for understanding doctrine, practice, and cosmology. Works such as the Bundahishn set out a grand vision of creation and the structure of the cosmos, while the Denkard functions as an encyclopedic compendium of theology, ethics, and summaries of earlier, often lost, materials. Texts like the Dadestan-i Denig present religious questions and answers, reflecting a community engaged in interpreting its inheritance in changing circumstances. The Rivayats, collections of legal and theological rulings and guidance, further illustrate how the tradition sought to apply its ancient revelation to concrete matters of ritual and conduct. Through this layered scriptural and interpretive heritage, Zoroastrianism reveals a continuous effort to safeguard the words attributed to Zarathustra while elaborating their implications for worship, law, and the shape of a righteous life.