Avesta as "Fragments Tahmuras"; and the "Hadokht Nask" "volume of the scriptures" with two fragments of eschatological significance. Only texts preserved in the Avestan language count as scripture and are part of the Avesta. Several other secondary works are nonetheless crucial to Zoroastrian theology and scholarship. The most notable among the Middle Persian texts are the "Dēnkard" ("Acts of Religion"), dating from the ninth century; the "Bundahishn" ("Primordial Creation"), finished in the eleventh or twelfth century, but containing older material; the "Mainog-i-Khirad" ("Spirit of Wisdom"), a religious conference on questions of faith; and the "Book of Arda Viraf", which is especially
Avesta (locality) Avesta (locality) Avesta is a locality and the seat of Avesta Municipality in Dalarna County, Sweden, with 11,949 inhabitants in 2015. The name is first found in 1303 as "Aghastadhum". "Aghe" is of similar origin as the word å, meaning stream, in this case the Avestafors, a tributary of the river Dalälven. "Stadhum" was dative plural of a word of similar origin as stead, or farm. In the Scandinavian Middle Ages there was a blast furnace at the location. In 1636 the construction of a giant copper mine was initiated near the Avesta fors. The town Avesta received partial privileges