User:Shahour/Karšift

KARŠIFT (Av. Karšiptar), the mythical bird, appears once in the Avesta ( https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/avesta-parent ) (Vd. 2.42). In the Vidēvdād ( https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/vendidad-parent ), Ahura Mazdā describes to Yima how to build an “enclosure” (Av. vara-, MPers. war; on this word, see Cantera, pp. 55-62) as a refuge to keep samples of all his creatures (Vd. 2.27-28 and 35-36) alive during the great winter (Vd. 2.22 staxrō mrūrō ziiā) that was to ravage the world. It was Karšift that brought the Zoroastrian religion into the vara. The same information is told by Middle Persian texts (Bundahišn 17.10; 24g25). Furthermore, according to Bundahišn ( https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/bundahisn-primal-creation ) (24g25), karšift possesses the gift of speech, and according to Zādspram ( https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/zadspram ) (23.2) and the Pahlavi Visperad ( https://www.iranicaonline.org/articles/visperad ) (1.1) is the chief (MPers. rad) of birds.

Etymology
As regards to the meaning of Avestan karšiptar, a literal translation would be “the black-winged” from karši- “black” (the expected Avestan compound form of *kršna; cf. Sk. kṛṣṇa) and -ptar “wing”