communion at all with us, receive no light, like these, from the re- flected glory of the truth, and who have moreover neither sought nor s har ed like these, the counsels of Thy Good Mind. Yea, how/ he reiterates, 4 can I deliver up that Lying Goddess, in the persons of her adherents, to the Holy Order, in the persons of the saints, into their hands, to slay her, not with the snaithir only, but to destroy her as a falsehood by the Mathras of Thy doctrine, not barely to withstand these wicked corrupters, as we now do, enduring the silence of these masses at their deeds (verse 12), their fear of them, or their connivance with their creeds, but to spread slaughter among them to their total overthrow? ' 15. He then presses on the coming collision, and prays to know to which of the hosts (compare asay^u, Y. XXXI, 2) that claim the urvata, Ahura will give the prize. 16. And who, he further asks, shall be the champion who shall lead the victors, the vere- threm-^an (compare sar^i, Y. XXIX, 3) who will thus take up the snaithir and the Mathra (verse 14), and so at once contend for 4 both the worlds/ And he wishes him not alone pointed out, but approached, as Zarathmtra was approached (Y. XLIII), by an obedient will, and moved to his holy work by the inspiring Good YASNA XLIV.
Ill Mind of Ahura, be that champion Ratu whosoever the Lord might wish. Salvation in the shape of success in his great attempt should be his portion (Y. XLIII, i ). 17. Half intimating that he himself may be the coming man, he begs to know when he can have that con- ference in which, as in the desired h^mpanti and darcti of Y. XXXIII, 6, he may communicate more closely with Ahura, and through the revelation which might be vouchsafed, may become a protecting leader to secure the ever-named ‘ abiding two/ ‘ Weal 9 and ‘Immortality/ which were the ‘better than the good/ the ‘ vahLta ’ of the saints.
18. A preliminary wish arising, he asks that he may receive the honorary gift of mated mares and a camel, as material for sacrifice before a battle (?), the highest interests of the people even, their lasting Welfare, demanding that he should receive this help. 19. For the monarch, or leading chief, who may withhold this justly deserved and needed help, or honour, he declares by the terms of his following question, that some instant judgment will be forth- coming, for the threats of the future condemnation seem for the moment only trite.
20. As a peroration, he appeals to the reason of the wavering groups, among the masses who still delay to call evil evil (verse 12), and he asks whether the Daevas, as represented by their adherents, had ever been good rulers, when they had the power. Were not robbery and violence then the law with them as now? And did not the Kine, as representing the sacred herds and people, lift up her wailing voice?
(The piece from verse 12 seems to constitute a religious war- song. These verses seem not to have been originally connected with the calm and thankful contemplations in verses i-iq, but later united with them. Verses 12-20 stand in the closest connec- tion with Y. XL VI, which has, however, preserved more of the ele- ments of sorrow and discouragement which influenced the leader and his followers at times. See also XLIII, n.)
Translation.
Translation.
1. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; when praise is to be offered, how (shall I complete) the praise of the One like You 1, O Mazda? Let 1 Some who seldom cite the Pahlavi follow it here; niyayimo zak mfin altfinft niyayimo i Lekftm [din6]. Otherwise one might THE GATHAS.
the One like Thee declare it earnestly to the friend who is such as I, thus through Thy Righteousness (within us) to offer friendly help 1 to us,’ so that tfie One like Thee 2 may draw near 3 us through Thy Good Mind (within the soul).
2, This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright, how, in pleasing Him, may we serve the supreme one of (Heaven) the better world 4; yea, how to serve that chief who may grant us those (blessings of His grace, and) who will seek for (grateful requitals at our hands); for He, bountiful (as He is) through the Righteous Order, (will hold off) ruin 6 from (us) all, guardian (as He is) for both the worlds, O Spirit 6 Mazda! and a friend.
read nem£ with B.V. S. (variation) in Y. LVIII, 3, and render, * how shall I bow myself in your worship? ' 1 The Pahl. hamkar<far is likewise followed.- The alteration to hdk6rena is very interesting, but, I think, hardly necessary.
1 Observe the great difficulty in referring Khshmavato to a human subject Here we have * the homage of the One like You (of Yours (?)' some would say); in Y. XXXIII, 8 we have Yasnem Mazda (Ahuri) Kh s hm avato; in Y. XXXIV, 2 Khshmavatd vahme; in Y. XLIX, 6 Tam daSnarn ya Khshmavato Ahura. Khshmavato is sometimes merely a way of saying ‘ of Thyself/ as mavaite=to me.
9 Observe also the emphasis on his ‘drawing near’; otherwise ‘ let Your one declare it to my friend ’ (?).
4 See Roth, Y. XXXI, 8. See, however, also de Harlez’s suggestion, perhaps after the hint of the Pahlavi: ‘ qu'elle a 6 t 6 Forigine f Here we have another instance where an entire verse seems to allude to Ahura in the third person with an address to Him thrown in, or at the close. In connection with anghcur vahutahya Ahura must be the pourvya, as in Y. XXXI, 8, where Roth renders vornehmster. The guardian is also Ahura (see Y. XXXI, 13).
6 I cannot fully accept the hint of the Pahlavi here as others do who seldom heed it. I do not think that ‘ sin 9 is so much indicated as ‘destruction/ s Mainyft is suspiciously expressive as a vocative; perhaps ‘by spiritual power 9 would be safer.
YASNA XLIV.
3. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright: Who by generation 1 was the first father of the Righteous Order (within the world)? Who gave the (recurring) sun and stars 2 their (undeviating) way? Who established that whereby the moon waxes, and whereby she wanes 3, save Thee 4? These things, O Great Creator! would I know 5, and others likewise still.
4. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright, who from beneath hath sustained the earth and the clouds 0 above that they do not fall? Who made the waters and the plants? Who to the wind has yoked on the storm-clouds, the swift and fleetest two 7? Who, O Great Creator! is the inspirer of the good thoughts (within our souls)?
2 Bartholomae follows the Pahlavi here as rendered by Ner. putting hveng and starem (-am) in the genitive, which is in itself far better than to regard da/ as governing two accusatives. One would, however, rather expect hveng staram adhvanem da/.
8 All follow the Pahlavi here, which renders with allowable freedom. -Nerefsaiti (==Pahl n'erefs&f; Ner. nimilati; Persian Mhad) might possibly be explained as a nasalised form of an Aryan correspondent to arbha, as nar=ar.
4 Possibly from thine influence (?).
5 The infinitive viduy£ (=vidve) lies here in an unusual place, at the end of the sentence. It is because the word has no stress upon it. The emphasis rests on the objects which he desires to know about; the entire connection deals with £ knowing ’; it has no prominence.
0 This rendering is not supported by the Pahlavi, which seems to report a rendering from some text with an a privative, and a form of dar. The 'unsupported' object might mean the 'air-space/ See the suggestion of Bartholomae ‘ the earth and the air-space/ comparing the later Sanskrit* 7 Or £ for velocity/ adverbially. Velocity, however, in the abstract as the object yoked-on, is rather too finely drawn. I should prefer THE GATHAS.
5. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; who, as a skilful artisan, hath made the lights and the darkness 1? Who, as thus skilful, hath made sleep and the zest (of waking hours)? Who (spread) the Auroras, the noontides and midnight, monitors to discerning (man), duty’s true (guides) 2?
6. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright these things which I shall speak forth, if they are truly thus. Doth the Piety (which we cherish) in reality increase 3 the sacred orderliness within our actions? To these Thy true saints hath she given the Realm through the Good Mind. For whom hast Thou made the Mother-kine, the producer of joy 4?
7. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; who fashioned Aramaiti (our piety) the beloved, together with Thy Sovereign Power? Who, through his guiding wisdom 6, hath made the son revering the father? (Who made him beloved e?) With (questhe fleet ones, the lightnings. My rendering follows the indication of another, as a dual, but not as to full exegesis. One naturally supposes the yoking together of the winds and dark clouds to be meant.
1 Recall svkr yad Irmann adhipa u dndho. — i?v. VII, 88, 2.
2 Ner.: ‘ Who gave us the lights with his keen discrimination? And who the darkness? Who, in his keen discrimination, gave (us our) sleep and waking; [that is, our diligence and activity?] Who is he who gave us the time, of hiuaina, and the time of rapithvana [ ], and the method and calculation of him who* discerns by means of the just rule [ ] V 2 So also the Pahlavi indicates by f stavar/ 4 So I prefer; but the indication of the Pahlavi deserves an alternative 'giver of bounty'; skar=kar.
‘Gens zzyau ’ was later a common expression for a mature animal, but possibly vulgarised from its older special use here.
5 Root nt (?).
e I thus add as the Pahlavi translator indicates such an element in uzemem.
YASNA XLIV.. 1 15 tions such as) these, so abundant I, O Mazda! I press. Thee, O bountiful Spirit, (Thou) maker of all!
8. This I ask Thee, 0 Ahura! tell me aright, that I may ponder 2 these which are Thy revelations; O Mazda! and the words which were asked (of Thee) by Thy Good Mind (within us), and that whereby we may attain 2, through Thine Order, to this life’s per- fection. Yea, how may my soul with joyfulness 4 increase in goodness? Let it thus 5 be 6.
9. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright, how to myself shall I hallow 7 the Faith of Thy people, 1 Frakhshni=in abundance (Pahl. kabed; Ner. pra^uram; Persian MS. bisyar). The thought refers back to anya£a viduy& 2 Haug sagaciously renders as if m^daidyai were a miswriting for p^zdaidyai,.which is in itself very possible, as an ‘m ’ e looks much like an inverted e) in.MSS. So the. Pahlavi records the irregularity also, from which Haug derived his idea. But Haug explains the word as an allusion to the five prayer-hours of the day. I doubt very greatly whether the five prayer-hours existed at the date of the composition of this passage. Such regulations grew up . much later. The Pahlavi translator indicates elsewhere an accusative (m^2g=mam) with an.infinitive ‘that I should give forth/ which is in itself far from impossible.. He was aware (!) that m eng could also equal man; see Y. LIH, 5.
3 Vaedyai is infinitively used for vdizdyai.
4 I do think that it is necessary on the whole to postulate two similar words here (although Geldner s suggestion is most keen and interesting). Urvakhxanguha and urvakhmkhti do not favour a comparison with vra^ here. The Pahlavi is indifferent: JRg&n denman 1 li rubano zak 1 japtr hu-ravakh-manih? So Ner. uttam- ananda^. Barth, begliickend.
e K£-t&=k£na-t&ia.
8 Or, ‘let those things happen to me;’ gam means ‘come* more frequently than ‘ go/ here. Lit. c let it thus advance.’
7 Ajgfin denman i li dino yos-dasar 1 ave^ak yo-f-dasaryom? Ner.: Katham ida m ahaw yat* dinh# paviftataram pavitrayaml; [kila, dinitfz katham pravartamanaz;/ karomi]? As Zarathuftra is x x 6 the gathas. ' which the beneficent kingdom’s lord hath taught me, even the admonitions which He called Thine equal, hath taught me through His lofty (and most righteous Sovereignty and) Power, as He dwells in like abode 1 with Thine Order, and Thy Good Mind?
10. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright that holy Faith which is of all things best, and which, going on hand in hand with Thy people, shall further my lands in Asha, Thine order, and, through the words of Aramaiti (our piety), shall render actions just. The prayers of mine understanding will seek 2 for Thee, O Ahura!
11. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; how to these your (worshippers) may (that Piety once again and evermore) approach, to them to whom O Lord, Thy Faith is uttered? Yea, I beseech of Thee to tell me this, I who am known to Thee as Thy foremost 3 of (servants); all other (Gods, with their represented as sanctifying the Fire (in Y. IX, x), so here he would doubly sanctify the Faith itself. He would ‘hallow its name’ and meaning.
1 Pavanaj-hamdem£mih-ketrftn&? [pavan hamkhadhkih].
3 I cannot regard the caesura in this verse as possessing ordinary importance, the maAsynu (mahyau) ^istdir is especially dependent on the following words. The Pahlavi translator hints at an impor- tant solution, which is, that a pause should be made before usm; ‘ the wish of mine understanding wishes, and I wish (am wishing); Khursand homanam— I am content. If we can accept a break (a possibility far too little recognised), the urm, as representing a nom. sing, would refer back to the meaning in maJivyau (mahyau). But reading utw (as irregular for iftayd on account of the metre) we might regard usan as a third pi. Or shall we take it as a quasi-third singular, usm being usam (<?n=the nasal vowel; comp. MSm as a third sing, imper. after Barth.)? Let ‘ the wish (fcrtu) of my enlightened understanding wish for Thee.’
YASKA XUV. II$r polluted worshippers), I look upon with (my) spirit’s 1 hate 2.
1 2. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; who is the righteous one in that regard- in which 8 I ask Thee my question? And who is evil? For which is the wicked? Or which is himself the (fore- most) wicked one? And the vile man who stands against me (in this gain of) Thy blessing, wherefore 4 is he not held and believed to be the sinner that he is?
13. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright, how shall I banish this Demon-of-th e-Lie from us hence to those beneath who are filled 5 with rebellion? The friends of Righteousness (as it lives in Thy saints) gain no light (from their teachings), nor have they loved the questions which Thy Good Mind (asks in the soul 6 )!
Auserkoren is a line but a bold rendering. Election is, however, included in all divine prescience.
1 I have no doubt, whatever, but that mainy^ir and dva£shangh& belong together/ 2 The Pahlavi translation is as follows: ‘Thatwhich I ask of Thee, tell me aright^ O A&harmazd! when shall the perfect.mind come to those persons' [that is, when does the mind of my disciples become perfect]? When shall it come to those who declare this Thy Reli- gion, 0 Auharmazd? Grant to me before these the proclamation of the truth. Against every other spirit which is malevolent I keep my guard/ 3 Y&is adverbially, or possibly, * with whom I question/ 4 ATya#gha/ is, I think, simply the equivalent for ki (?) anghai =qui fiti how does it happen that? 4 Stands ' free for ‘ comes/ 8 The Pahlavi on the contrary takes perenjunghd in the sense of combating, pa van anyokhshn/arih patkarend= f 1 (who) are opposing you through disobedience/ It is far from certain that he does not indicate some improvement in text, or rendering.
6 Or, * the counsels of holy men/ jjg THE GATHAS.
14. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; how shall I deliver that Demon-of-the-Lie into the two hands of Thine Order 1 (as he lives in our hosts) to cast her down to death through Thy Mathras of doctrine, and to send mighty destruction 2 among her evil believers, to keep those deceitful and harsh oppressors from reaching their (fell) aims 3?
15. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright. If through Thy Righteousness (within our souls) Thou hast the power over this for my 4 protection, when the two hosts shall meet in hate 5 (as they strive) for those vows which Thou dost desire to maintain, how, O Mazda! and to which of both wilt Thou give 6 the day 6?
16. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright, 1 Ashai with Geldner.
2 The Pahlavi anticipates us in the correct general sense here. It has naSjhonimo. The Persian MS. renders the Pahlavi, hama- vandi nlst dehand i darwand.
5 Anaish§ seems regarded as an infinitive by the Pahlavi translator, anaydtfinirno. £ For the destruction of those deceivers ' is an obvious alternative to the rendering above (a nasM?).
4 Geldner and Roth render ma/= Sanskrit mad; otherwise ‘with complete protection/ Or is ma/ ablative for genitive: If. thou rulest over me to afford me protection? The Pahlavi affords no indi- cation.
5 The Pahjavi translator erred widely in his attempt to render the word anao^angha. As it is certain that his MSS. differed from ours often, they probably did so here. The verse alludes beyond a question to some expected battle in a religious war, and perhaps in a religious civil war. It is the most positive allusion to the. ‘ strife of the two parties ’ (Y. XXXI, 2 ) which has come down to us. It was a struggle concerning the religious vows, or doctrines; av&ir urv&t&ir y& tfi Mazdi didereghsd.
6 The Pahlavi renders vananam by 1 good thing/ explaining 4 the sovereign power/ f YASNA XLIVa who smites with victory 1 in the protection (of all) who exist, and for the sake of, and by means of Thy doc- trine? Yea, clearly reveal a lord having power 2 (to save us) for both lives. Then let (our) Obedience 3 with Thy Good Mind draw near to that (leader), O Mazda! yea, to him to whomsoever 4 Thou (shalt) wish that he should come.
17. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; how, O Mazda! shall I proceed to that (great) con- ference 5 with You, to that consummation of Your own, when my spoken wish 6 shall be (effected) unto me, (the desire) to be in the chieftainship 7 * (and sup- ported) by (the hope of) Weal and Immortality (those saving powers of Thy grace), and by that (holy) Mathra (Thy word of thought) which fully guides our way through Righteousness (within).
1 Verethrem-^a thwa, following the Pahlavi with Westergaard, Geldner, and Bartholomae.
2 Compare Y. XXIX, 2 and Y. XXVIII, 3; or it may mean * promise to establish ’ (Barth.), Ausdi, however, hardly seems to need an infinitive with it; it may mean ‘appoint/ Compare da^su(patni) for a better sense than ‘house-lord/ also for deng patois*.
8 This casts additional light on the ‘ one that should come ' in 5 The comparison with ^ar has long circulated among Zendists. Many adopt it. It agrees admirably with the Pahlavi as to sense: Aimat, Auharmazdl damano kan/arih i Lekftra, when is 'Your appointment of the time?
6 The Pahlavi va muni£ zak i li gobimo homand khvastar.
7 Va sardar yehevunimih madam Haurvadazfva Ameroda^; Ner.
Svamino bhavishyanti upari Avirdade Amirdade; comp, also Y. XLIX, 8 fra&rtoungho aunghama. Professor Jolly compares bhzdyai with <j>vea 6 ai (Inf. s. 194). The long since circulated comparison with bfau^ seems to me hardly so probable. It may, however, deserve an alternative; 1 to enjoy Weal and Immortality 9; but accusatives THE GATHAS.
1 8. (And, having gained Thine audience and Thine Order’s sacred chieftainship), then I ask of Thee O Ahura! and tell me aright, how shall I acquire that Thy Righteous Order’s prize, ten (costly) mares male-mated, and with them the camel 1 (those signs of honour and blessing for Thy chief. I ask Thee for these gifts for sacrifice). F or it was told me for the sake of our Welfare (in our salvation), and of our Immortality, in what manner Thou 2 shalt give 3 to these (Thy conquering hosts) both of these Thy (gifts 4 of grace).
ig. This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright; (in the case of the recreant, of him) who does not give this (honoured) gift to him who hath earned it; yea, who does not give it to this (veracious tiller of the earth, to him who in no respect shows favour to the Demon-of-the-Lie, even to the) correct speaker 6 (of Thy sacrificial word), what shall be his sentence at do not fall so naturally to the end of the sentence in Gathic or Vedic, without preceding related or qualifying words.
1 Those suspected of no partisanship for the Pahlavi translation follow it here as against Haug, who translated the words urtrem/ta by et amplius! It means a camel; so the Pahlavi translator ren- dered many centuries ago before Europeans even knew what the Indian ush/ra meant, which simple analogy Neryosangh first drew. Horses were material for sacrifice among the Persians accord- ing to Herodotus. The reasons for the prayer are not fully expressed.
So better than as a first person aorist subjunctive, if taeiby6 is to be read. The Pahlavi, however, read taibyo, which is not lightly to be passed over.
" The rendering ‘ take ’ has long circulated. I do not, however, prefer it here.
Weal and Immortality, but hi might refer to the two objects, the mares ’ and the ‘ camel.’
5 The ideal ZaratKurtrian; comp. Y. XXXI, 15; XL1X, 9.
YASNA XLIV.
the first (now at this time, and because of this false 4 ealing? I ask it), knowing well his doom at last 1.
20. (And how as to our deluded foes?) Have Daeva-(worshippers) e’er reigned as worthy kings? (This verily I ask of Thee, the Daeva-worshippers) who fight 2 for these (who act amiss? Have they well reigned) by whom the Karpan and the Usi^(k) gave the (sacred) Kine to Rapine 3, whence, too, the Kavian in persistent strength 4 has flourished? (And these have also never given us tribal wealth nor blessings), nor for the Kine have they brought waters to the fields for the sake of the Righteous Order (in our hosts), to further on their growth (and welfare)!
1 So also the Pahlavi followed by all. Kadar valman pavan zak vinasimo aito fratfim; [aigaj* pavan-vinaskarih padafras fratfim maman]? Akas homanam zak mfin valman aito afdfim [mamana^ darvandih]? Ner. (with regard to him) who does not give the re- ward which has come for the one fitted for, or deserving of, it [to Gkrathustra’s equal], (the reward) which the truthful man; [that is, the good man] is giving to him, what is the first thing which happens through this sin of his? [that is, what is his first chastise- ment in consequence of this fault?] (For) I am aware of what his punishment shall be in the end [ ].
2 The Pahlavi translator either had a text with some form of pi, or was otherwise misled. He renders mfin netrfind, but gives the word the adverse sense of 4 hindering 5 in the gloss. Ner., however, has pratiskhalanti which points to peshyfiiwti, and also tends to show that other MSS. of the Pahlavi (and among them the one used by Ner.) read differently from our three, K5, D. J. } and the Persian transliteration. Kam=Ved. kim with dat.
3 See Y. XXIX, 1.
THE GATHAS.
YASNA XLV.
The Doctrine of Dualism. Homage to Ahura.
This hymn bears fewer traces of a fragmentary condition than others. It recalls Y. XXX, and, like it, appears to belong to a period, or to an interval, of political repose and theological activity. It is smoother and more artificial than is usual, and it goes straight on its way from beginning to end. A powerful adversary had just been crushed. It was the dursasti of Y. XXXII, 9. This may well have been the result of the conflict alluded to in Y. XLIV, 15, 16, and possibly in Y. LI, 9, 10, also urged on by the fierce Y. XXXI, 1 8 probably often repeated in lost hymns.
An assembly is addressed as in Y. XXX, 1, but this time as coming ‘ from near and from far.’ It may very possibly have been the winning side in a late struggle. The first verse sounds like a con- gratulation.
It might be said to be intended to be sung, if not shouted, to a multitude whose outskirts were by no means within easy reach with the voice. At all events attention is summoned with three differing expressions. ‘Awake your ears to the sound) literally ‘sound ye,’ in a receptive sense; (‘ let the sound peal in your ears ’), then listen (sraota); and then ‘ ponder ’ (mazdaunghodfim). ‘ The Antizarathurtra, the evil teacher par eminence, has been defeated,’ he declares, ‘ and he will never again destroy the peace of our lives (Y. XXXII, 9, 11). His evil creed has been silenced, and his tongue can no longer shout out its periods of persuasion or invective (Y. XXXI, 12) beside our preachers.’
2. He then reiterates the chief doctrine for which the parties had bem at war, and which they should now see clearly in the light of their victory. ‘ The foul evils of society do not lie within the con- trol of the hbly Ahura in such a manner as that he either originates, or tolerates them. They are, on the contrary, the product of the personified Anger of the Daevas, the Mainyu in its evil sense, the Angra (angry?) Spirit. Between this being, or personified abstrac- tion, and Ahura, there is a gulf fixed. (Never do we see any aspersions upon Mura’s name, or a suspicion of His purity as s own by complicity with cruelty, or the toleration of evil passions.) It is also to be noted that the defeated dursasti may have possibly been a Dagva-worshipper chiefly as being a heretic from this Faith YASNA XLV, YASNA XLV, of Ahura,. believing Him to be implicated in the creation, or permis- sion of sin and suffering, or, if the burial or burning of the dead w^s forbidden at this time, then possibly a heretic on these ques- tions also. But yet, as a recreant Mazda- worshipper he may have claimed a rightful allegiance to the urvata, and the future blessings, as well as temporal advantages, involved in a correct discipleship; and so he may have used the name of the sacred tenets of the Re- ligion itself to help on a nefarious warfare. In fact he may have been a self-styled Mazda-worshipper, but not of ‘ Zarathurtra’s order/ not owned at all in any degree by the genuine adherents, and met as a -real, if not an open, DaSva-worshipper.
The ardent prophet therefore declares the utter severance between the good and the evil, the God and the Demon. It is a popular corollary to Y. XXX, 3-6. The* two spirits came together indeed at first to make life, and its negation, and they co-operate, if such a term can be applied to an irreconcilable antagonism out of whose antitheses and friction sentient "existence alone becomes possible. Their union.consists in opposition, for if they blend, they each cease to be what they are. They are, while upholders of exist- ence, yet separate for ever, and that as to every attribute and interest..
3. And the sage goes on to assert that in this he is proclaiming the first Mathra of this life which the all-wise Mazda had revealed to him. And, whether sure of the victorious masses before him, or whether on the contrary perfectly aware that many a group among them had been more convinced by the snaithw than by reason, he presses at once upon them that one terrible doctrine which seems unfortunately too needful for all successful and sudden propa- gandism, and he declares that they who do not. act in a manner accordant with what he speaks, and even thinks, (having formerly announced it), to such delinquents this life should end in woe.
4. Proceeding in a happier vein, he then dwells upon the father- hood of God. He will declare this world's best being who is Mazda Himself. He is the father of the Good Mind within His people, when that Good Mind is active in good works. So our piety, when it is practical, is His daughter, for no pretended good intention can claim relationship with Him, nor can any idle sentiment. He needs the ‘ready mind' within His servant, and He is not to be deceived (compare Y. XLIII, 6).
5» Returning once more to the Mathra, and this time to hold out rewards rather than to utter threats, he declares that Happiness and Immortality would be the portion of those who listened to, and THE GATHAS, pondered his revelation, and that Ahura Himself would likewise approach them with the rewarding actions of His Good Mind for Ahura was also in all good actions on the one.hand, just as His Immortal Archangels on the other had their objective existence like- wise in the believer’s soul.
6. Turning from admonition to worship, he announces, not what he terms the * first (verse 3), nor the ‘best’ (verses 4 and 5), but the fi greatest/ element of all, implying that praise, which he now expresses, includes both prayer and doctrinal confessions, and he calls on Ahura both to listen and to teach. 7. It is the 'greatest’ element indeed, for it concerns those spiritual blessings which not only the offerers who are now living will seek after, but those also who shall live in future; nay, even the spirits of the just desire them in the eternal Immortality. And these blessings are, according to a well-remembered law, woe to the wicked, and that, not only from outward discipline, but from inward grief. And Ahura had esta- blished, so he adds, the beneficent, but, as regards the wicked, still solemn regulations by the exercise of His Sovereign Power as the controller of all (Y. XXIX, 4). 8. Zarathujtra (or his substitute) then professes his eagerness to serve the Lord ‘with these words which he had called the ' greatest/ and because he had seen Him with his very eyes, which he explains as meaning that he had known Him through the Righteous Order in his soul, and therefore he prays and hopes to pronounce these greatest praises, not in the assembly (Y. LI, 3) alone, but in the ‘ Home of sublimity or song’ 9. And he desires all the more fervently to do homage to Ahura, because He approaches him with the Power of His divine Authority in weal or woe, blessing both men and herds so long as they multiplied under the influences of Piety. 10. As the praises were the 'greatest/ so he seeks to 'magnify’ the Lord in the Yasnas of Aramaiti, Ahura being renowned by His unchanging purpose, for He will bestow the ' eternal two * in His holy Kingdom, when it shall have been made firm! 11. Yea, he would seek to magnify Him who contemns the Daevas and their party as much as they, in their turn, profess to make little of Him and His religious Kingdom, contrasted as they were with Ahura’s prophet, who honoured Him in the holy Insight, the Daena of the Saoshya^t. And this Saoshya^t. is declared to be the controlling master of every faithful wojshipper, and he, or the faithful venerator of the reviled Ahura, is also as our friend, brother, nay, like Ahura Himself (verse 4), our very Father in the Faith. r YASNA XLV.
Translation.
1. Yea, I will speak forth; hear ye; now listen, ye who from near, and ye who from afar have come seeking 1 (the knowledge). Now ponder 2 ye clearly all 3 (that concerns) him 4. Not for a second time shall the false teacher slay our life (of the mind, or the body). The wicked is hemmed in with his faith and his tongue! 6 2. Yea, I will declare the world’s two first 6 spirits, of whom the more bountiful thus spake to the harm- ful 7: Neither our thoughts, nor commands, nor our 1 Ish means £ to come seeking/ The bavihftn&f of the Pahlavi, followed by many, is by no means incorrect.
2 The reading mazdaunghodfim was suggested to me by Dr. Aurel Stein previously (as I believe) to its announcement elsewhere. Before this the indication of the Pahlavi (which always hesitates to change a MS. regarded at the time as sacred) had been followed by all with its necessary error.
8 The ( e* in kithre must represent a nasalised vowel, as in mdimaidi.
4 1m may be merely a particle.
5 I would here strongly insist upon an alternative rendering in the sense of the Pahlavi. The rendering above is given on prin- ciple. A text should never be changed, if it is possible to render it as it is. Read, £ the wicked confessing (varetd, active sense) evil beliefs with his tongue/ The Pahlavi has zakaj saritar kamako va zakay darvandih pavan hfizvano hemnune^. Many, with this view, would at once read vareta, without MSS.
6 Observe the peculiar pouruyd (pourviy$, if not a locative), the two first things, principles, forces; so in Y. XXX, 3.
7 Notice that vahyo akemfca (in Y. XXX, 3) necessarily apply to the mainyu, and not only because, as nominatives, the words fall to the end of the sentence. Here we have analogous adjectives applied unmistakably to the two. The neuters correspond with vahhtem maud and a^htem xnand, and are of capital importance as v THE GATHAS.
understandings, nor our beliefs, nor our deeds, nor our consciences, nor our souls, are at one 1.
3. Thus I will declare this world’s first 2 (teaching), that which the all-wise Mazda Ahura hath told me. And they among you who will not so fulfil and obey this Mathra, as I now shall conceive and declare it, to these shall the end of life (issue) in woe.
4. Thus I will declare forth this world’s best (being). From (the insight of His) Righteousness Mazda, who hath appointed these (things) 3, hath known (what He utters to be true; yea, I will declare) Him the father of the toiling Good Mind (within us). So is His expressing that abstract conception which renders the Gathas so much more impressive as the earliest documents of their kind., 1 The Pahlavi thus glosses: I do not think what thou thinkest, [for I think what is pious, and thou thinkest what is impious]; nor our teachings, [for I teach what is pious, and thou, what is impious] — nor our religions, for mine is the Gathic, and thine that of the sorcerer; nor our souls, [for he who takes his stand on my religion, and he who takes his stand on thy religion, are apart; their souls do not occupy th« same position]. Ner.: na£a dini^ [yato me diniA gathabhavi te£a rakshasi*].
2 1 tie c first teaching 7 was a prominent idea with the Zarathu- rtrians. Z. is called in the later Avesta the paoiry$/ka6sha (sic). He hardly plays the role of a reformer in the Avesta. He is mentioned after others chronologically, not as repudiating them. He might better be termed reviver. Yam is difficult; perhaps daenam is to be understood, or yem (mathrem) read; see verse 4, anghm^ ahya vahirtem. Neither pourvim nor vahirtem are adverbs.