The core ritual of the Zoroastrian tradition is the Yasna. Its oldest verses date from the third millennium BCE and are conducted in languages that have been extinct for around two thousand years. To understand the meaning of the Yasna, we must not only delve through ancient manuscripts, but observe the sacred traditions that have survived by being passed down through generations. This has formed the research focus at the heart of The Multimedia Yasna (MUYA) Project, funded by the European Research Council and hosted at the Shapoorji Pallonji Institute of Zoroastrian Studies at SOAS. A diverse team of linguists, religious scholars, IT experts and language documentarians at MUYA, together with the filmmakers at Chouette Films, have been closely examining the Yasna ritual in both its visual and written forms. The vision throughout has been to bring the ancient traditions, intricate practices, and forgotten languages of Zoroastrianism into the public eye through an in-depth exhibition for everyone to enjoy.
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