Thesis Title: The ritual practice of animal sacrifice in ancient India and Iran

Abstract: Avestan and Middle Persian - among those the priestly treatise Nērangestān - , as well as a few non-Indo-Iranian sources confirm the performance of animal sacrifices in ancient Iran. My PhD project aims to deliver the first comprehensive study of this ritual practice in Iran based on the available sources and a systematic comparison with the Vedic animal sacrifice. The slaughtering, consecration, offering and consumption of an animal and its parts are to be described and analyzed within the larger Zoroastrian and Vedic liturgical settings.