Prof Stanley Insler (pictured), a giant in the field of Gatha studies (among other fields), departed this life on January 4, 2019 at 81 years of age. A world renowned scholar of ancient Indo-Iranian languages and texts (including Avestan), one of his insights concerning Pali, the oldest language of the Buddhist canon, is enshrined in Indo-Iranian linguistics as "Insler’s Law.” For his professional colleagues, his life is worth celebrating because of his awesome linguistic credentials which enabled pioneering contributions in understanding Indo-European languages, including Avestan.
His 1975 translation of the Gathas — widely recognized as a modern standard — opened......