A Formula That Closes Worship

The Yenghe Hatam is the third of the short sacred formulas of Zoroastrianism, after the Ahuna Vairya and the Ashem Vohu, recited to close acts of worship and following the recitation of other prayers. Composed in the ancient Avestan language, its words honour those beings, male and female, whom Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, knows to be worthy of worship on account of their righteousness, and it thus directs reverence toward the whole company of holy beings recognised in the tradition.

The formula is drawn from the oldest layer of the Avesta and is closely connected in the liturgy with the Gathas, the hymns ascribed to Zarathustra himself. Like the other short formulas it is valued as sacred sound in the original tongue, its potency bound to the preserved Avestan words, and its recitation forms a fixed part of the daily prayers and the temple liturgy, marking the close of worship with an act of homage to the righteous.