The Cambridge History of India, Vol. I: Ancient India v1.c24.131

v1.c24.131

¹ For a convenient presentation of the various views regarding the date of Zoroaster and the age of the Avestan Gāthās, as well as concerning the relative antiquity of other portions of the sacred canon, see J. H. Moulton, *Early Zoroastrianism*, London, 1913. Dr Moulton summarises his opinion as follows, on p. viii: ‘The traditional date [of Zoroaster] (660–583 B.C.) is a minimum, but there are strong reasons for placing Zarathushtra and his Gathas some generations earlier still. The Yashts may be placed in the later Achaemenian age, and the prose Avesta, in particular the ritual of the Vendidad, probably after Alexander.’ He elaborates this view further on pp. 8–22, 78, 87, 103, 198, 204, 240. It is important throughout to bear in mind the fact that the material may sometimes be very old even though the *form* is late, and that different chapters as well as sections of the Yashts, Vendīdād, and Yasna may vary considerably in age.