Visperad

Visperad, also spelled Visparad, is a liturgical text of the Zoroastrian tradition contained in the Avesta. It is a collection of invocations and blessings composed in the Avestan language and is closely associated with a specific ritual context known as the Visparad ceremony. The term is typically used to reference the set of prayers that are recited to invoke divine powers during worship.

The Visperad consists of invocations directed to Ahura Mazda and a range of divine beings, including the Amesha Spentas and various Yazatas. The text serves to frame and support the central Yasna liturgy by providing a sequence of benedictions and petitions that accompany ritual actions, offerings, and blessings performed by the priesthood. Its structure is designed to be integrated into formal worship, with recitations often performed by multiple priests working in concert.

Linguistically, the Visperad is preserved in the Avestan language and is transmitted within the broader Avesta tradition. In later manuscript traditions, including Pahlavi commentaries, the Visperad appears alongside other liturgical texts and provides a key link between the ritual acts and the cosmological framework of Zoroastrian worship. Scholars generally place its composition and redaction in late antiquity to the early medieval period, though precise dating remains a matter of scholarly debate.

Significance: The Visperad represents a core element of traditional Zoroastrian liturgy, reflecting the hierarchy of divine beings in Zoroastrian cosmology and the communal prayer of the priesthood. It continues to be studied for its liturgical function, linguistic features, and its role within the wider Avesta corpus.