(spirit’s) wealth will I bestow on him through Thy Good Mind (which I give), but oppressions will I send on him who as oppressor will deliver us to anguish, O Mazda! desiring, as I do, to satisfy Your choice by righteous (vengeance). This is the decision of mine understanding and my will.
19. (Yea, this I earnestly announce.) He who from Righteousness (in mind and life) shall verily per- form for me, for Zarathuytra, that which is thus most, helpful (for my cause) according to my earnest wish (and through my words of urgent zeal) on him shall they bestow reward(s) beyond this earth, with all the mental 1 blessings gained through the sacred mother- kine 2. And these things (all) didst Thou (Thyself) command to me, O Mazda, Thou most wise 3!
shows us that some shade of sanctity ma*.inhere in that word. The Pahlavi renders more indefinitely by 1 yan *=a helpful blessing, 1 The Pahlavi translator, however, saw m^na, rendering avo li. His text may well have justified him.
* Bearing; or is it ‘ fit to drive? * 8 The Pahlavi here reports another text.
(Supplementary Notes. As£i/, in verse 18, may equal ‘verily indeed/ Vahuta, &c.=‘ the best things of my wealth will I assign to him through the Good Mind/ The meaning c wealth ’ seems much called for here, and if here, then in verse 2. Vasna in verse 19 may mean ‘through grace/) YASNA XLVII.
This G&tha, consisting of Yasna XLVII-L, takes its name from its commencing words. Like the other G&thas it owes its existence as a collection to the nature of its metre, as its matter is homogeneous with that of the others. Its metre may be said to be TrishAip, as its lines have each eleven syllables, and are arranged in stanzas of four.
A general view precedes each chapter. The grouping of hymns in this Gatha has, as usual, little or nothing to do with the question of their relative age.
YASNA XLVII.
The Bountifulness of Ahura.
As in every instance, we may have here only the fragments of a more extended piece; but also, as ever, the circumstance does not diminish the value of what remains. Although some signs of author- ship apart from Zarathujtra are present, the later verses are not at all remote, so far as the period of time which they indicate is con- cerned, from the Zarathurtrian verses, and are therefore of nearly equal interest, possessing the advantage moreover of affording data for estimating the progress of change.
i. The Spe/zta mainyft here is not identical with Ahura, but is, as so often, His spirit. It is more than possible that the memorable application of the word spe/rta to the seven, giving us the Ameshd- spends, the Amshaspands of literature, derives its origin from the first verse here before us, or from lost verses of a similar character. All the seven seem purposely and artificially grouped here, although * His Spirit ’ is of course not one of them. The commencing word spe#ta further attracted attention in so far as to form the theme for a sort of play upon words in the later epilogue of Visparad XIX. By means of this His indwelling Spirit (which idea, or expression, has probably no direct connection with the * Holy Spirit 7 of the Old and New Testaments, but which, as giving the designation ‘spirit? to the Ameshospends, may well have been the original of the £ seven spirits which are before the throne of God 7 ), by means of this THE GATHAS.
THE GATHAS.
blessed spirit, that is, in accordance with his inmost thoughts, Ahura bestows a gift upon the ideal saint (verses 4, 5), upon him who works the best results for Zarathurtra (Y. XLVI, 19), the Ratu, and the prophet (Y. XXIX, 6, 8). And this gift is declared to be the inseparable two, Happiness in every particular, and then both the prospect and realisation of the continuance of that Happiness in Immortality. And these He bestows, not through His immediate action, which no human intellect, or susceptibility, could take in unaided, but by His especially revealed Benevolence, His Best Mind, as His representative, in accordance with His plan of Order and Purity, pervading every moral as well as every spiritual regula- tion, and by the exercise of His Royal Power, sent forth as the '* archangel * Khshathra, and embodied in the polity of the sacred Zarathujtrian state, and this as influenced in all its relations, public and domestic, by practical piety called Aramaiti, Ahura’s daughter, (the ready mind). Such a revelation of the component parts of the mind and will of the Deity, the simplest labouring class could understand for the moment, and for some decades; but all was, as a matter of course, soon to be overgrown with the old weeds of superstition and of myth.
2. Falling into detail and varying expressions, the composer prays that Ahura may carry out His holy scheme into action by the busy hands and fingers of domestic piety, and by the preached and recited words of the Good Mind from the mouth and tongue of faithful priests. So, and so only, would He become the Father of Asha, the divine Order, and of moral and ritual regularity among men.
3. From discourse concerning God, he arises, as so often, to an address to Him. That Spirit (referred to in the verses 1, 2) is Ahura’s own, for He is the One who makes it bounteous; He is the bountiful One who has created the sacred symbolic Kine, the emblem and the substance of £ joy/ representing at once the possessions of the holy people, and those people themselves. And He it is who, in answer to her wail (Y. XXIX, 1, 9), has spread for her the meadows ‘of Piety" as arranged in the consultations (Y. XXXIII, 6) made on her behalf.
4. And this ‘ Spirit/ as might be expected, does not confine its attention to the inspiration of Piety alone. The justice of Mazda is vindicated. The wicked are afflicted under its influence with a long wounding (Y. XXX, 1 1) for their sins, and for their cynical prefer- ence for prosperous men of bad and dishonest character as well as of heretical faith.
YASNA XLVIL YASNA XLVIL 5. But he expresses his confidence that Ahura Mazda will, in the end, set all aright. He will, unlike the persons just mentioned, give unto the ashavan, not kasu alone, but paru, (not* a meagre share, but fulness) of whatever is the best, while the dregva^t and the aka (verse 4), the faithless and the wicked, although they may be isvano, prosperous, will only taste the enjoyment of their wealth aside from God, and therefore marred. So long as they pursue their usual course, they live in actions inspired not by the bountiful spirit, but by the Evil Mind, a mind as aka as the person alluded to in the words paraor (Mthfi) ako dregvaite in the previous verse.
6. But, as ever, the moral appeals, and ascriptions of praise, lofty as they are, are not left without the support and service of the ritual. God will give these gifts, and all which are the best, but in connection with His Fire imparted to these struggling sides (Y. XXXI, 2), the believing and the faithless (verses 4, 5), through the increase of His Piety and Order; for that piety, as ever the instructress, will convert all those who come to her, and seek her light (Y. XXX, 1; Y. XLV, 1). Nay, she will cause all the living to choose and believe in God (Y. XXXI, 3).
(If the first two verses here are more like the work of a disciple, the last four show again the original tone. It must never be for- gotten, however, that later and even interpolated portions are, in their sense, also original, and differ but slightly in their great age from pieces more directly from the first composer.)
Translation.
1. And to this 1 (man, His chosen saint), Ahura Mazda will give 2 * both the two (greatest gifts, His) 1 Or, 4 to us; J but in that case it w T ould be the Kine who 4 took counsel * as mentioned in the third verse. This is, however, far from impossible, as she is mentioned as uttering her wail, and being answered by her maker in Y. XXIX, i, 2. So understanding, 4 to us * becomes an admirable rendering for verse 1; but in verse 3, it is strained, as the Kine for whom (Y. XXIX, 9) Zarathurtra was appointed, could not so readily be declared to be the one which was given to 4 us, 5 * * 8 she representing 4 us ’ in that place to a great extent. There is a certain plausibility about the rendering 4 to us, f but I think ahmai refers to ashaonS understood (see verses 4 and 5).
The PahlavL moreover, is against a first person.
8 Dan (Geldn.) seems to be a 3rd plural aorist subjunctive; the THE GATHAS.
Universal Weal and Immortality, by means of His bountiful Spirit, and with His Best Mind, from (the desire to maintain His) Righteous moral Order in word and deed, and by the (strength and wisdom) of His Sovereign Power, (established) in Piety (among His folk). ■ 2. Aye, (that blessedness, which is. the) best 1 (creation) of this most bounteous spirit, Ahura Mazda will bring forth in action with words from the mouth and tongue of His Good Mind (within His seers), and by the two hands 2 of Aramaiti (His Piety as she lives within the soul). And by such 3 wise (beneficence is) He the father of the righteous Order (within our worship and our lives).
3. And Thou art therein, O Ahura Mazda! the bountiful One who appertains to, and who possesses, that (most bounteous) spirit in that Thou art He who for this 4 (man, in whom this spirit works) hath made the joy-creating Kine. (And as to her), for her, as plural being owing to the fact that Ahura gives with the other Ameshdspends. Da might also be the relic of the proper word which represents the participle; comp, das (sic).
1 The idea of the summum bonum seems to have early de- veloped itself, and from this constant use of this word in the neut. singular and plural, and also with anghu.
* Notice once more the pronounced personification of both Vohu Manah and Aramaiti; see Y. XXX, 8, and Y. XLIV, 14, &c. The Pahlavi translation notices the dual form pavan kold II yadman.
* The Pahlavi seems to lead those, who regard 6ya as=a form of ava; it has zak i.
4 This is the ahmfii of the first verse, (but always possibly =‘ to us,’ if the verses are not to be brought into any kind of connection.) Otherwise it obviously refers to ash&unfe * in 4 and 5; so the Pahlavi throughout. See ^hm&i and h6i in LI, 6.
YASNA XLVIL joyful meadows 1 of her peace, wilt Thou bestow (Thine) Aramaiti (who is our Piety as earth con- sidered), since he 2 (for her) hath taken counsel with Thy Good Mind, Lord!
4. (But this Thy bounteous spirit doth not alone bestow rewards and blessings on the good) The' wicked (foemen of the Faith) are harmed, and from (the motives which move) that bounteous spirit (of Thine own), O Mazda 3! but not thus the saints. (And yet the rulers pride would ever slight the righteous.) The feeble man alone stands free to give in kindly obligation 4 to Thy saint, but having wealth and. ruling power, the evil (man) is (at the service) of the. wicked, and for much 5.
1 Many would say that we have here an instance in- which the identity of Aramaiti with the earth is recognised in the Gathas. I would say, on the contrary, that here we have an instance in which a poetical conception gave rise to a later error or fantastical association. Piety, with frugal virtue, induced a thorough hus- bandry;, and secured the hushiti, peaceful home-life. She gave meadows to the Kine; at the next step she poetically represents the meadows, and then the earth. If vastrai, it would be for ‘ nurture/ 2 Or ‘'she/ as she once bewailed in a colloquy. Otherwise the person who was appointed to care for her interests is meant. Com- pare Y. XXXIII, 6, where the righteous Zaotar speaks as desiring counsels (honparstSir) in the interest of the pastures, and the laws of the sacred agriculture. Cp. also the later reproduction of the idea in an extended form in the Vendidad. The zaotar of Y. XXXIII, 6, may have been the ashavan of verses 4 and 5.
a Voc. with K5 (Barth.).
4 The Pahlavi gives us, as usual, cur first surmise as to the meaning of ‘ kath€; * I follow Geldner with regard to it as against Haug. The expressions here are not literal.
6 Isva^i/ connects only indirectly with kas*ur£i/, as k&th§ inter- venes. I regard paraoj ako dregvaite as presenting the true antithesis to kaSd?iLr£i/ na ashaune. The isva may have merely from the influ- ence of jingle, being at the head of the line like kas^ur; isva means THE GATHAS.
5. But Thou wilt give these gifts, and through Thy (most blessed and most) bounteous spirit, O Ahura Mazda! to this 1 Thy holy saint, for they are what- soever is the best; but far 2 from Thy love the wicked has his portion, abiding in the actions of the Evil Mind.
6, Aye, these things wilt Thou give (to him), 0 Thou Ahura Mazda! and through Thy bounteous spirit, (and) by Thy Fire as in a good bestowal to of itself * possessing means/ Parao.r may depend on kathS under- stood, as kzseus depends on it expressed. Moreover, has in all the instances in which it is used ends the sense, and here is separated by the caesura from parao^, which, however, is of no great import-' ance. The discourse is of the wicked; the holy are incidentally mentioned, and here their ill-treatment is signalised. Ako cannot well mean ‘hostile' here; see also aka/ in the following verse. Isva kit, if understood with na, alters nothing. ‘ A man was desirous of little for the service of the saint, but even when he himself was rich, (in the desire) of much was the evil for the evil/ Or, taking kasai^i/ as governed by isvaii/ understood with kathe as before understood in the last line: * Only a man (men) (possessed) of little was at the service of the righteous, while an evil man (men) possessed of much (was at the service) of the wicked/ The other translation is: * Even a man of little means stands to the willing service of the saint, but a man even of large means is hostile (?) to the wicked/ This is very glib and so attractive, but I cannot accept it in view of the context. Gathic expression is often un- fortunately far from glib; but cramped, awkward, and apt to con- tain more thought than could be conveniently expressed within the .counted number of syllables. The glib rendering needs other language than that in the MSS. See the following verse, which directly contrasts the treatment of the good and evil by Ahura Himself.
1 See ahm&i in verse i, and ashaune in verse 4. Ahura treats the saint in a manner the reverse from that practised by the n& kasmr* and ak6, not giving sparingly to the good, nor much to the wicked.
5 The Pahlavi gives us our first surmise here, as usual, by^avfc? min hana 1 lak doshlmih.
YASNA XLVXII.
the two striving 1 (throngs) through the prosperous increase of our Piety, and of the Righteous ritual and moral Truth; for that (Piety of ours instructing) doth teach 2 * the many coming ones who seek her (face)!
YASNA XLVIII.
Anticipated Struggles and Prayers for Champions and Defenders.
This chapter divides itself quite naturally into sections, x-* belong together, then 5 and 6, 7 seems less closely connected; then follows 8-1 2.
1, A struggle is evidently at hand, whether the same as that to which allusion is more than once made, by incitation, as in Y. XXXI, x8; with anxious expectation, as in Y. XLIV, 15, 16; or as if in a sense of victory, as in Y. XLV, 1; or of defeat, as in Y. XLIX, is difficult, or rather impossible to determine. But with the verses 10, xx, 12 in view, together with the dispirited, Y. XLIX, 1, we shall say at once that, if this verse was intended to connect with them, an armed struggle had been expected, whether the decisive one or not, we need not say.
The saint, that is, the pious adherent to the Holy Order, what- ever may be the result of the preliminary struggles, is encouraged by a view of the end. 2. But the burdened worshipper craves still further reassurance before the storms of battle came once more upon him. 3. For little as the assurances of Ahura are valued 1 Or, 4 by the two ara/zi; 1 but compare the asayuu in Y, XXXI, 2 just preceding ranoibya; so here the ashavan and dregvazzt are mentioned in a preceding verse. The Pahlavi is unvaryingwith patkarddrdno. I will not positively decide as to this point; generally, however, the preferred rendering is in the text, while on very many questions there is nearly an even balance of probabilities.
2 Or, 1 chooses to herself; * but a causative sense may be expressed by an intensive form; the Pahlavi also here bears evidence in the same sense to a causative by h£mnun&/, itself, however, mean- ing only the object caused; namely, the belief* THE GATHAS.
by the heretic, to the man who understands the true relations, what Ahura declares by means of His inspired prophets, the secret announcers, this is, of all things, best; (he need not ask as else- where, Y. XXXI, iy). 4* And whoever would hope for spiritual growth and purity must turn his mind to that word of the Deity, and pursue its teachings faithfully, and so at last his fears will vanish, for his doubts will disappear. He will understand as the Lord has taught. A 5. This verse seems a prayer to Aramaiti; when the long struggles shall have found their issues, and the one party or the other wins the day, let not that party be the evil alliance with its monarch. For, if the government is set up, and carried on with all the prescribed ceremonial and moral exactness of the wise jTisti; if men who toil for the sacred Kine, and with the virtue of those who cultivate her, hold the reins of power, and can so suppress the predatory raids on defenceless, as well as unoffending victims, then no gift of Ahura, since the tribes became a nation, could be looked upon as a greater, or as so great a blessing, as the correct Authority, and the Order of the Faith.
6. For that sacred Kine, as so often already implied or stated, was all in all to the pious worshipper. It was she, representing, as she did, all wealth in herds, who alone could sustain the home- life of happy industry. And this is the reason why Ahura had originally caused the herbage to grow for her support.
y. Urging the overthrow of the spirit of Rapine in accordance with the Kine’s complaint, he exhorts the armed masses to energetic and offensive valour.
8. He then vehemently, although only rhetorically, asks how he may use the proper prayers to rally the needed coadjutors among the chiefs (Y. XLYI, 9) to carry on the struggle. 9. Again he utters a cry for relief in his suspense, and of entreaty for light as to the rewards, which did not concern this life for its own sake (verse 1) merely or chiefly; but which were spiritual blessings received here in preparation for the spiritual world. 10. 4 When/ he repeats as one among similar questions four times repeated, 4 when shall the ideal men appear whose thoughtful plans (Y. XLYI, 3) shall drive hence the polluted schemes of the false priests and of the tyrants (Y. XLVI, 1)? 11. And when shall Aramaiti, the kindly piety of home, appear, she who, like the earth, spreads pastures for the peaceful kine, when shall she appear with holy Khshathra (later well called an angel, or archangel) the personified Authority of God over home and state, without which YASNA XLVIIL an anarchy as bad as that of the Evil Authority (verse 5) might continue or recur; and who was the champion-chief who would give them peace through blood (Y. XLVI, 4; LIII, 9)? In a word, to whom, as to the coadjutors of such a leader, would the light of reason, and the true faith come to inspire and to guide them? * 12. There is but one only class of human combatants whom he would thus match against that Demon of furious Rapine (v, 6), toward whom the evil on their part at their first creation rushed as to their leader (Y. XXX, 6), and these are the saving Saoshya^ts, the vicegerents of the Immortals upon earth, the religious princes Vutaspa, Gamaspa, Frashaortra, and with them, as the greatest among all, he who was, with much probability, the speaker in the passage, that is, the Ratu appointed by Ahura for the.kine and for men, Zarathurtra Spitama elsewhere and later called, with hyperbole, the first tiller, warrior, and priest.
Translation.
Translation.
1. If through his action 1 2 in the offering of gifts in accordance with the Righteous Order, (Thy saint ®) shall smite the Demon-of-th e-Lie (the inspiring spirit of our foes), when that in very truth shall come 3, which has been (and is still yet) proclaimed as a deceit* (when it shall come) in the Immortal life, regarding (as it does both) men (to bless), and Daevas 6 (to afflict them), then shall (Thy faithful worshipper) increase thereby the celebration of Thy praise, O Lord! and with it blessings 0 (for Thy folk).
2. Tell me then, Lord! (the end), for Thou dost 1 The Pahlavi has also pavan zak dahirno; but a false gloss gives an erroneous concrete [pavan tanfi i pasinoj. Recall adai paitfc 3 Read 4 * as asMta ’=has been pushed on, enacted. I correct here as seems so evidently necessary; but the Pahlavi anticipates with its amat zak yamtune<f.
4 Pavan friftarih.
6 See Y. XXIX, 4.
I 54 THE GATHAS.
know it. (Tell me to grant me strength and courage) before those conflicts come which shall encounter me 1 (as leader of Thy tribes); shall the champion of Thy holy Order, O Ahura! smite (at last) the evil heretic, and when? (I ask Thee this); for this if.it be gained (is known) to be the (one) good consummation 2 of (our) life.
3. (Yea, tell me then this), for to the enlightened 3 man is that the best of teachings which the beneficent Ahura doth proclaim, and through (the revelations of) His holy Order, bounteous as he and wise with His intelligence, as well as they 4 who declare to us (still other) secret sayings (in His name). The one like Thee (their chieftain 5 ) is, O Mazda! endowed with Thy Good Mind’s understanding thoughts.
1 M«*g=mam or man; -eng is the nasalised vowel. Man is suspiciously significant here; ‘mental battles’ is rather advanced for the circumstances. It is, however, not impossible. The Pahlavi favours mam (?) here; it has avo li. We might even read men& on its evidence. The Pahlavi indicates the meaning £ crises ' under the figure of the ‘ Bridge/ which was the last great crisis to every man in the eye of the earlier, as well as of the later, Faith; so also in Y. LI, 12. The ‘straits of life ’ would be an admirable meaning; I differ with hesitation.
2 Pahlavi kan/arih.
3 See Y. XLIII, 14.
4 Ya&£i/ guzra-s^ghaunghd. Or, ‘ knowing also those who are the teachers of secret doctrines.’
5 We may, with some effort, connect thwavas with vaedemnai. Spe#t6 vidvau, however, must refer to 'the immediately foregoing Ahur6, especially in view of the tvmi vidwra, Ahura, of verse 2. ‘The one like Thee’ might even, as in other cases, be only an oblique way of rendering ‘ Thyself; * but the expression ‘ with the understanding of Yohu Manah ' induces me to refer the word Thwavas to the servant of Ahura; in this case, however, this last line must of course be drawn to verse 4, although not mechanically separated from verse 3.
YASNA XLVIII.
4. (Yea, tell me the secret of the future struggle 1; for that enlightened man) must 2 follow close 3 the holy Faith (for which that struggle had its toil and effort). Yea, O Mazda! he who would bend his mind (till it attains to) that which is the better and more holy, must pursue the Daena close in word and action. His will and wish must be consistent with his chosen creed and fealty, and in Thine Under- standing (which discerneth all) shall he in many ways 4 be (versed) at last!
5. (But while I as yet know not the issue, 1 can yet hope and pray.) Let the good kings obtain the rule. Let not the evil monarchs govern us 6, (but let the righteous gain the day and rule us), with deeds done in a good discernment, O thou pious wisdom, Aramaiti! sanctifying to mens minds the best of blessings for (their) offspring 7. Yea, for the Kine, (O Aramaiti 5!)
1 See verse 2.
2 Present for imperative, as sometimes in modem languages in giving directions.
8 The words are anticipated from the third line.
4 I follow the Indian sense here with great reluctance. Nand may well be, In Iranian, equivalent to s each several one/ and in fact may not impossibly teach us the origin of the word ( f man, man*/ comp, namn,* narnn*). The Pahl. trlr. is so decided for a personal sense, that he renders gabra n6mian=man and woman. Did he suppose ‘ woman ’ to be literally (1) expressed in the text?
5 Aramaiti is addressed, unless indeed an instrumental is read without MSS. An instrumental is of course preferable.
6 The Pahlavi has, with admirable freedom, zakato hft-kh&/ai pad/akh shay i n bn, va al lanman zak 1 d&r-kh£u/ai salita yehav&n&^fo. I read hukhshathra khshaye/ztam, mi ne dfo-khshathr&, to bring the metre somewhat into order, as some gross irregularity is present; the caesura only, not the sense, is affected by the change.
7 Or, ‘ from the birth-hour on;’ so the Pahlavi. Its gloss reads fakhar min zerkhhnuno avinasih p&hltai].
THE GATHAS.
let (Thy) toil be given l, and may’st Thou cause her to prosper for our life.
6. For she will grant us pleasing homes 2 3, arid, (while we live) in this Thy Good Mind’s longing 8 prayer (to gain her welfare), she grants us likewise lasting strength (for every deed which that Thy Good Mind moves us to perform), and therefore hath Mazda caused the plants 4 * to flourish for her (nurture), He, Ahura, in the generation of primeval life.
7. (Then in our coming strife 6 let both her mortal foes be slain.) Let the Wrath-demon of rapine be cast down. Smite ye against the envy (which would plot against our Throne 8 ), O ye who, abiding by the Good Mind, and in accordance with our holy Order, desire to hold that refuge 7 fast, to whose sacred bond the bounteous man belongs. And therefore, 1 So Bartholomae, who now holds to a third singular here, leaving the text undisturbed, and explaining as an optative.
2 The Pahlavi seems to render ‘ comfort ' here, using khv&rih in that sense.
3 So the Pahlavi correctly indicates by its arzftk; Ner. priyataram.
4 Compare Y. LI, 7. Are the plants here mentioned as in connection with Aramaiti in her figurative association with the earth?
6 See verses 1, 2.
6 Or, £ against the blow/ Y. XXIX, 1. The Pahlavi translator here renders paiirak 1 areshak, while in Y. XXIX, 1 he renders i r&shk&n. The variations are probably- not real; the renderings referring to some forgotten differences of text; or, as often, he may have anticipated modem freedom, and ‘changed his text; 1 that is, rendered it as if changed to a seemingly more intelligible form; so in a throng of similar cases. This is the only rational explanation of some of his errors. (He was able to render, and has rendered, most grammatical forms in different places.)
7 The Pahlavi has, however, navidih. Did he read vidhyam, in itself a very possible text?
YASNA XLVIII.
0 Ahura! (to save Thy struggling saint who toils with changing lot) will I place (that refuge) for him in Thy world.
8. (And how shall I beseech Thee for this victory and gift?) What is the (potent 7 ) prayer to bring on that Thy holy Reign 1 2? What for Thy sacred reward and blessing for my (soul)? How shall I seek the open helpers for (the spread and maintenance of) Thy (great) Order 3, while I myself live 4 * on in Thy Good Spirit’s deeds?
9. (Aye, when shall faith be changed to sight 6 7 ); and when shall I in verity discern if Ye indeed have power over aught, O Lord! and through Thy Righteous Order (guarding here on earth), O Thou within whose (power lie) my griefs 6 and doubts? Let then Thy saving prophet find and gain aright (for) my delight 7 Thy Good Mind’s wonder- 1 Compare raiavaretem aeshem, also peresa nau ya t6i dima parjti. Observe that the Pahlavi translator distinguishes the two senses of fiti. In Y. XLVI, 2 he transcribes the Gathic word, the Persian rendering 'hezSnah; Ner. puwyalakshmlm; here, however, he has: Karfar lak, Afiharmazd, zak i fapir khvahirn i khiWayih.
4 Compare verse 5.
s Asha, might certainly equal ikhi here (so Bartholomae) if the constant and intentional repetition of the name and idea of Asha,= the personified Order, would not have caused confusion.
4 The Pahlavi translator renders a word which occupied the place of ^avaro by yakhsenunirfanh; Ner. following as to root (freely as to form). As he, however, renders related forms elsewhere by ‘ living,’ ‘ live,’ our only safe conclusion is that he had a different word from ^avar6 (givaro) before him in his MS.
* I am very far from certain that we do not seriously blunder in not following the indication of the Pahlavi here. See remarks Y. XXXII, 16. _ 7 Or, ‘let me enjoy as my own;’ but mdi is difficult. tJ£am might otherwise be a first personal form in the sense of the Yedic ui.
THE GATHAS.
working grace 1; yea, let Thy Saoshya/zt see how gifts of recompense may be his own.
10. When, Mazda! shall the men of minds perfec- tion come 2? And when shall they drive 3 from hence, the soil of this (polluted) drunken joy 4, whereby the Karpans with (their) angry zeal would crush us 5, and by whose inspiration the tyrants of the provinces (hold on) their evil rule 6?
11. Yea, when shall our perfected Piety appear Bartholomae’s third sing, imper. is also of course well possible; but were not the originally abnormal third singulars in -am, duh&n jaydm, vidam, taken over from third pi. subj. ‘-am * really equalling the nasal vowel merely *? Comp, also Indian admram, dbudhram, dsrzgram, Zend vavazirem, -am=an. ‘Tradition* has, Pahl. zivimih; Ner. ^ivitam; Pers. zistan, for A£am, as if rendering ‘enjoyment/ ‘experience of life/ * (am = tarn is more difficult.)
1 Comparing v&pus; otherwise, with the Pahlavi, ‘ knowing the destruction (of the evil) which Vohftman works; * see Y. XXIX, 6, where the rendering of the Pahlavi is supported by the previous verse.
3 Comp. Y. XL VI, 3. Kada Mazda fr£r#zt$* — saoshyawtam khratavo?
4 Is Soma-intoxication here referred to? And was the Haoma- worship in abeyance at the time? The Pahlavi seems to have understood ‘ magic * here, and in the evil sense, that is, judging from the perhaps later gloss. Aside from the gloss, however, the Pahlavi may well have been, nay, more probably was, intended to be read madih as=madahysL 8 As to this word, we cannot do better than follow Justi (although his work is now a score of years old). The Indian varpas, in the sense of deceit, has also been compared. The last Pahlavi trans- lator was probably confused by finding this word, as so often, divided in his MS. He rendered as best he could, or rather he handed down the shattered documents, or oral teachings, of his predecessors with his own too often lame additions, the whole mass being rich in the relics of the truth.
6 See verse 5.
YASNA XLIX.
together with 1 Thy Righteousness? When shall she come, as having the amenities of home for us, and provided (like our land) with pastures 2 (for the kine)? And who shall give us quiet 3 from the cruel (men) of evil life and faith? To whom shall Thy Good Mind’s sacred wisdom come (to guide them in their toil to rescue and avenge us)?
12. (To whom? The answer lieth near.) Such shall be the Saviours of the Provinces, and they who, through Thy Good Mind’s grace, shall go on hand in hand with mental keenness 4 (as it spreads among Thy saints) by the doing every deed of Thy commandment, O Ahura! through the help of, and in accordance with, Thy Holy Order; for such as these are set (for us), as steadfast foes of hate!
YASNA XLIX.
Reverses and Hopes. Honour to Frashaostra AND OTHER CHIEFS.
The chapter divides itself naturally into sections 1-5, 6-1 1. Verse 12 belongs with chapter L. One of the struggles in the holy cause seems to have gone against the party of Asha. I say ‘ one 1 Ma/ following Asha shows that we may also have the pre- position in poi ma/.
2 As Aramaiti is here spoken of as ‘ having pasture,’ that is, as inspiring the thrifty' husbandmen who cultivate the meadows by irrigation, or drainage, she became associated herself with those meadows, and so later with the earth; see Y. XL VII, 2.
* The Pahlavi sees in ram am enforced quiet not ‘from.’ but ‘to’ the wicked; ‘who shall deal the finishing blow to the wicked?’
4 So also the Pahlavi, shn&sinit&rih.
i6o THE GATHAS.
of the struggles/ for from the account of a reverse which we have here, and from that of a success which meets us in chapter XLV, i, and again from reverses in XLVI, i, 2, &c., we naturally conclude that * the cause ’ saw many vicissitudes, in which the last Gsltha still leaves us. Whether Y. XLV, 1 records a victory which was subsequent to the reverse before us, referring to a battle alluded to in Y. XLIV, 14, 15, also possibly anticipated in Y. XXXI, can never be decided; the order of the statements in the sequence of our present MSS. has little or nothing to do with the possible order of the events.
1 a border chief, B^dva by name, had proved himself too formidable (mazirtfi) for the moment, and the holy Faith knows how to beg for vengeance on the armed Drfi^-worshipper. The weapons of Ahura were not spiritual only, any more than those of Israel were, or those of Mohammed. The death of an armed religious enemy was devoutly to be desired for every moral and political, as well as for every personal reason. 2. For judicial as well as priestly decisions hung on the issue. And this B*»dva had his functionaries and a system, and they were in full and active operation. And this was, beyond a doubt, a rival and settled system, and not merely an upstart and insurrectionary one. It had caused the true prophet many an hour of thought as well as anger. Its functionaries gave him pause (manayeiti). Falsity in religion was as ever his opportunity; and invective follows. ‘ The priestly judge himself who served the Drfi^-worshippers was a cheat/ ‘ The holy Order was his foe, and not his helper/ And he did not con- tribute at all to the spread of Piety as the Zarathmtrians conceived of it, nor indeed really in another sense for the reason that he even repudiated the source of pious wisdom, which is holy counsel. 3. But, however, the evil functionaries might resort to subterfuge and strategy, the opposing powers themselves, the Righteous Order on the one side, and the power of the Lie-demon on the other, were planted in the opposing systems with dualistic clearness, to