University of Toronto
Miguel Ángel Andrés-Toledo is the FEZANA Professor in Zoroastrian Languages and Literatures in the Department of Near & Middle Eastern Civilizations at the University of Toronto. He has previously held academic positions at the Free University of Berlin, University of Copenhagen, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and University of Salamanca. Among other publications, he is the author of the monograph The Zoroastrian Law to Expel the Demons: Wīdēwdād 10-15. Critical Edition, Translation and Glossary of the Avestan and Pahlavi Texts. Iranica 23. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. He has worked on ten international projects in the fields of Old and Middle Iranian languages and literatures, Zoroastrianism and Indo-Iranian linguistics.
Research related to commentary
My research interest in the Zoroastrian commentaries spans four millennia, starting from the first Young Avestan commentaries of Old Avestan texts, followed by the Pahlavi translations with commentaries of the Avestan literature known as Zand, up to the Sanskrit and New Persian versions thereof. I try to understand the exegetical processes that guided the Zoroastrian priests in their interpretations, and the influence of such processes on the oral and written transmission of the Zoroastrian literature.
Publications related to commentary
(2012). “Parallel Versions of Vīdēvdād 11”. Iranian Studies 45.2: 181-201. ISSN: 0021-0862.
(2012). “Yamaśeda and Astiguhādayama”. In: S. Azarnouche & C. Redard (eds.). Yama / Yima: variations indo-iraniennes sur la geste mythique. Institut de civilisation indienne, Collège de France, Paris: 17-27. ISBN 978-2-86803-081-8.
(2013). “The Dog(s) of the Zoroastrian Afterlife”. In: E. Pirart (ed.). Le sort des Gâthâs. Études iraniennes in memoriam Jacques Duchesne-Guillemin. Acta Iranica 54, Peeters, Leuven – Paris – Walpole: 13-23. ISBN: 978-90-429-2733-9.
(2017). “Sasanian Exegesis of Avestan Textile Terms.” In: S. Gaspa, C. Michel & M.-L. Nosch (eds.). Textile Terminologies from the Orient to the Mediterranean and Europe, 1000 BC – 1000 AD. Zea Books, University of Nebraska–Lincoln: 397 – 403. ISBN-13: 978-1-60962-112-4.
(2022). “Explaining the Avesta: Commentaries in historical perspective.” Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Institute76: 12–41. ISSN: 0970-0609.
Other publications
(2010). El hilo de la vida y el lazo de la muerte en la tradición indoirania. Institució Alfons el Magnànim, Valencia. ISBN 978-84-7822-588-0.
(2015). “Ceremonies in the Xorde Avesta Manuscripts: the Drōn Frawardīn Yašt”. In: A. Cantera & J. J. Ferrer-Losilla (eds.). Estudios Iranios y Turanios 2. at̰cit̰ bā nəmō haomāi. Homenaje a Éric Pirart en su 65º aniversario. Sociedad de Estudios Iranios y Turanios (SEIT), Girona: 29-41. ISSN: 2386-7833.
(2016). The Zoroastrian Law to Expel the Demons: Wīdēwdād 10-15. Critical Edition, Translation and Glossary of the Avestan and Pahlavi Texts. Iranica 23. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden. ISBN: 978-3-447-10604-7.
(2017). “The description of Anāhitā’s attire in the Yašt 5.” In: C. Brøns & M.-L. Nosch (eds.). Textiles and Cult in the ancient Mediterranean. Ancient Textile Series 31, Oxbow Books, Oxford: 179 – 188. ISBN:978-1-78570-672-1
(2019). “Ritual Competence and Liability of Minors in ancient Zoroastrianism: on Av. dahmō.kərəta- and śiiaoϑnāuuarəz-”. In: A. Hintze, D. Durkin-Meisterernst & C. Naumann (eds.). A Thousand Judgements: Festschrift for Maria Macuch. Harrassowitz, Wiesbaden: 1–12. ISBN: 978-3-447-11094-5.