Sacred numbers and cyclical time
Subtitle: the mathematical logic of Zarathushtra's Gāthā quatrains
By: Gernot Ludwig Windfuhr
Series: Bibliotheca Iranica : Zoroastrian studies series -- no. 4; Bibliotheca Iranica -- no. 4.
Publisher: Mazda Publishers, Inc.; Mazda Pub
Published: 2019
Place of publication: Costa Mesa, CA
Language: eng
Number of pages: 115
ISBN-13: 9781568593234
Subjects: Criticism, interpretation; Symbolism of numbers; Zoroastrianism; Time; Mathematische Logik; Parsismus; Avesta; Gathas
Description: "This study highlights the patterns of complex parameters in the Gāthās, defining their pervasive numerology. Fundamentally, conceptual pairings and distributional patterns of terms suggest that the composer of the Gāthās presented, and through them taught, the TRUTH of the WORLD to be re-created anew daily. In doing so, each WORD and WORD SET accompanying the ritual action is marked both for its specific frequency, its NUMBER, and for its relative POSITION along the time-line of the textual NET-WORK, as the words are "spun" and interwoven, in the process of building up the cycle of the most complex, yet ordered dynamic cosmic coordinate systems that culminate in the Coda. Most unexpected is the recognition that the cosmic vision of the Iranian Gāthās matches that of early Greek philosophy and science, in particular Pythagorean and Platonic, but also includes calendrical patterns datable to the early Christian era which suggests multiple layers of adjustments to advances in scientific knowledge, including the knowledge of planets and planetary conjunctions"--
Notes: Includes bibliographical references (pages 110-115).
Table of contents: title: The 4 quatrains and cyclical time; title: Cosmic harmony: Iranian and Greek; title: Ritual action; title: Topical subsets; title: Dating the Gāthās, planets, and textual patterns