The Multimedia Yasna

Project Information

MUYA

Grant agreement ID: 694612

DOI

10.3030/694612

Project closed

EC signature date 15 September 2016

Start date 1 October 2016

End date 31 March 2023

Funded under

• EXCELLENT SCIENCE - European Research Council (ERC)

Total cost

€ 2 499 618,00

EU contribution

€ 2 499 618,00

Coordinated by

SCHOOL OF ORIENTAL AND AFRICAN STUDIES ROYAL CHARTER
United Kingdom

Periodic Reporting for period 4 - MUYA (The Multimedia Yasna)

Reporting period: 2021-04-01 to 2023-03-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

The Multimedia Yasna (MUYA) examines the performance and written transmission of the core ritual of the Zoroastrian tradition, the Yasna, whose oldest parts date from the second millennium BCE. Composed in an ancient Iranian language, Avestan, the texts were transmitted orally and not written down until the sixth century C.E. The oral tradition continues to be central to the religion and the daily Yasna ceremony, the most important of all the rituals, is recited from memory by Zoroastrian priests. The interpretation of the Yasna has long been hampered by out-dated editions and translations of the text and until now there has been no documentation and study of the performance of the full ritual. The project MUYA examines both the oral and written traditions. It has filmed a performance of the Yasna ritual and created a critical edition of the recitation text examining the Yasna both as a performance and as a text attested in manuscripts. The two approaches are integrated to answer questions about the meaning and function of the Yasna in a historical perspective.
Combining models and methodologies from digital humanities, philology, and linguistics, the project has produced a subtitled, interactive film of the Yasna ritual, an online platform of transcribed manuscripts and editing tools together with print editions, translations and commentaries of the Avestan Yasna. The Information which was formerly restricted to students of Iranian philology and practising Zoroastrians has now become accessible to a worldwide audience through digital humanities.
The project, based at SOAS, University of London, and funded by the European Research Council, ran from October 2016 to March 2023. It was headed by Professor Almut Hintze and includes an international team of researchers in the UK, Germany, India and Iran.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

1. Film. In November 2017, the MUYA team made two films of the Yasna ritual. The ritual was performed by two Zoroastrian ritual experts from Mumbai, Ervad Asphandiarji Dadachanji and Ervad Adil Bhesania, for MUYA at the Dadar Athornan Institute in Mumbai and was filmed by MUYA's film team, Chouette films. The ritual was filmed in two-dimensional format with two cameras and in Virtual Reality using a spherical camera. The film is available on the MUYA website here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/film-multimedia/
2. In addition, MUYA has published a 360-degree film here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/360video/ and a 4-minute taster of it is available here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/film-360/
3. Editing tools. The adaptation of the Online Transcription Editor (OTE) to transcribe liturgical manuscripts of the Avesta has been completed and has been used by the MUYA team to transcribe manuscripts. The code is available on GitHub https://github.com/Multimedia-Avesta
4. Online editions. MUYA's online editions, manuscript transcriptions and critical apparatus are now available on MUYA's website here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/transcriptions-editions/
5. Print publication. The print publications are published by the publisher Brill. Supported by MUYA team member Dr Martin Sievers (Trier), MUYA's SOAS team has produced camera-ready copies using the software LaTeX, which is the software used by Brill. Martin Sievers developed the tools in LaTeX, including macros and a Zotero database. The details of typesetting are provided here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/typesetting-with-latex/

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

1. Film. The full-length two-dimensional and interactive film has been published online at https://muya-film.soas.hasdai.org/yasna/ in fully edited form and with fixed time codes. It lasts almost 5 hours and has a volume of 27GB. Using ELAN, the MUYA team segmented the film into clauses and words, and each segment was translated and commented on. This created the database which was then used to supply the multimedia platform and create the subtitles for the publication of the video. Objects and agents have been tracked throughout the film. When clicking one of them at any point while the film is running, a window opens and users can obtain encyclopaedic information on the properties and function of the object or agent in the ritual. The completed, sub-titled video was published in July 2022. The video is available both online and as a static stand-alone output in order to ensure that it can be used and watched for many years to come. The video is hosted by the company Data Futures on an InvenioRDM platform, which has the institutional guarantee of CERN. The coding is standards-based and capable of long-term preservation.
2. The Yasna ritual in 360-degree Virtual Reality (VR). The film of the Yasna ritual in Virtual Reality is an additional output produced by MUYA. Like the two-dimensional interactive film, the 360-degree film was made in November 2017. It has a length of just under three hours. The difference in length in comparison to the two-dimensional film is due to the fact that the priests recited faster when performing the ritual for the 360-degree film. The film was published in July 2022 on the MUYA website https://muya.soas.ac.uk/360video/. It can be watched on a screen and the user is able to move around within the video by using the computer curser. In addition, the video can be watched by using special VR glasses to create a Virtual Reality experience by full immersion into the world of the ritual. A taster of the VR film has also been published (https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/film-360/). The VR film provides a wealth of data not previously available and, like the two-dimensional film (above no.1) it will be useful for both scholars, the general public, and for the Zoroastrian community.
3. MUYA's film team Chouette Films has also produced a documentary on Zoroastrianism and priestly education in National Geographic style for greater outreach and impact, using footage produced during the team's stay in Mumbai in November 2017.
4. Electronic editing tools. The MUYA team has developed and used a suite of electronic editing tools suitable for the edition of Avestan texts. MUYA's editing tools are available here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/ote-collation/ together with instructions on how to use them. The Online (and Offline) Transcription Editor (OTE) produces XML-TEI transcriptions, which are collated in MUYA's Collation Editor developed by MUYA's project partner Dr Catherine Smith (University of Birmingham). The collation editor has a function that allows the collation to be exported into the software LaTeX. This enables the editor to combine the collation and critical apparatus with the commentary, which is also written in LaTeX. The resulting editions are suitable for publication online and in print. All editing tools are open source and their codes are available on GitHub https://github.com/Multimedia-Avesta.
5. Online editions. MUYA's transcriptions of ca. 30 manuscripts and online editions of the Yasna have been published on MUYA's website https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/transcriptions-editions/.
6. Print editions. In collaboration with MUYA partner Martin Sievers (Trier), the SOAS team has published print editions of parts of the Avestan Yasna using the software LaTeX. The print publications are published by the publisher Brill. Martin Sievers developed the tools in LaTeX, including macros and a Zotero database. The details of the work in LaTeX and of the typesetting are provided here: https://muya.soas.ac.uk/tool/typesetting-with-latex/

2022-the-first-three-hymns-of-the-ahunauuaiti-gatha-cover-image.jpg

MUYA 3D filming

MUYA 3D filming

MUYA book output 2021 Redard and Daruwalla

MUYA book output 2021 Redard

MUYA exhibition

MUYA exhibition