ٸŌ (Mid. Pers. ō, Bk. Pahl. dlwn < Av. draonah- “portion of food”; Gujarati Parsi 岹ū), Zoroastrian ritual term originally meaning “sacred portion” and designating a ritual offering to divine beings (Y. 33.8), for example, the portion of a sacrificial animal presented to the yazata Haoma (Hōm; Y. 11.4). In later Zoroastrian tradition, as reflected in the Pahlavi books and contemporary Parsi practice, however, ō denotes only the flat, round unleavened wheat bread that constitutes the regular offering. According to stipulations preserved in ŧԲ (1.8.A-C), ō must be prepared from dry, ritually clean, unleavened wheat flour moistened with pure water and kneaded only by priests or their wives (ŧ貹ٲ, pp. 86-104; Ē徱, fols. 28r-34r; ŧԲ, fols. 39v-47v, 48v-49v). During preparation each ō is marked on one side with nine shallow incisions, arranged three by three, while the words humata, ūٲ, and hvaršta are recited thrice each. Frasast, unmarked wheat bread of the same type, is also made and consecrated with the ō by the ō “officiating priest” (Y. 8.1; Modi, pp. 279-80, 335). Zoroastrians in Persia now make ō from leavened dough (Boyce, Stronghold, p. 38).
As one of the myazd, or votive offerings, ō is a ritual requisite for the yasna, yašt ī ō, ŧ, visperad, and ڰīԲ ceremonies. Because yašt ī ō “service [for consecration] of the ō” (Y. 3-8), a ceremony of worship and thanksgiving with a &Dz;ū, or dedication, in Avestan to any Zoroastrian divinity, may also be performed as a , or consecration, before eating, Parsis have come to call it by that term and know it as the of panj tāy (Modi, p. 340). Zoroastrians in Persia, on the other hand, have abbreviated the name of the service simply to ō (Boyce and Kotwal, p. 65). One ō is requiredfor consecration during the yasna, ŧ, visperad, and ڰīԲ ceremonies. Yašt ī ō services usually require consecration of two ōs and two frasasts. One exception is the service in honor of Sraoša (Srōš), which requires three ōs and three frasasts.
Parsi priests place clarified butter, representing the ō&Dz;ǻ岵 (< Av. gaoš.huδå), in the center of the ō and consecrate them together. The bread is believed to represent the vegetable kingdom and to have been made for protection of the body and is also compared to the material world (K. J. Jamasp-Asa, p. 203), whereas ō&Dz;ǻ岵 is thought to symbolize the animal kingdom (Boyce and Kotwal, p. 63). Consecration of the ō and ō&Dz;ǻ岵 consists of the recitation of Yasna 3-8, which takes place as part of the yasna service; the ō, while reciting Yasna 8.4, ritually tastes (makes č&Dz;ī of) both (Boyce and Kotwal, p. 63; Modi, p. 281). In a separate yašt ī ō service, for which the text is the same, the frasast is also tasted (Modi, pp. 340-41). Afterward members of the congregation may partake of these consecrated foods. Four yašt ī ō are performed, in honor of Vayu (Wāy), Rašnu (Rašn) and Arštāt (Aštād), Sraoša, and the fravašis just before the dawn following the third night after a Zoroastrian’s death and during each of the ten days of ڰɲī. The service is a basic preliminary for all other high ceremonies as well (K. M. Jamasp-Asa).
Bibliography: (For cited works not found in this bibliography and for abbreviations found here, see “Short References.”)
ŧ貹ٲ and Nīranga-stān, tr. S. J. Bulsara, Bombay, 1915.
M. Boyce and F. M. Kotwal, “Zoroastrian and ō,” BSOAS 34, 1971, pp. 56-73, 298-313.
Ē徱 ud Nīrangistān, ed. F. M. Kotwal and J. W. Boyd, Cambridge, Mass., 1980 (ms. no. TD).
K. J. Jamasp-Asa, “On the Symbolism of the Darun,” in The Dastur Hoshang Memorial Volume, Bombay, 1918, pp. 201-05.
K. M. Jamasp-Asa, “On the Drôn in Zoroastrianism,” Acta Iranica 24, 1985, pp. 335-56.
J. J. Modi, The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees, 2nd ed., Bombay, 1937; repr., Bombay, 1986.
ŧԲ, ed. P. Sanjana as Nirangistan, Bombay, 1894 (ms. no. HJ).
(Jamsheed K. Choksy)
Originally Published: December 15, 1995
Last Updated: December 1, 2011
This article is available in print.
Vol. VII, Fasc. 5, pp. 554-555
