For his splendour and his glory, for his might...VII.
1 5. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, who is the conqueror of the Kayadha, and the Kaidhya, who was the smiter of the Lie- demon of the Da&vas, the one veritably powerful, the destroyer of the world, who is the guardian and watchman over all the migrations (?) of the tribes.
16. Who sleeplessly and vigilant guards the crea- tures of Ahura, who sleeplessly and with vigilance 1 = kat-tare rtemem, comp, for form katpayam.
* Possibly an ancient interpolation. Repetitions ^ curtailed.
» This verse 14 may be an ancient extension of the Yart, 1 may of course be taken for granted that within a certain period at a very remote time, the Yart was altered and improved.
Verse 16 may have originally formed two sections; the formula * we worship,’ &c. having been omitted. _ YASNA LVII.
saves them, who with halberd raised on high guards all the corporeal world after setting of the sun, (i 7) who has never slept in quiet since the two Spirits made the worlds, [the bounteous and the evil one 1 ], who guards the homes of Asha, who battles all (?) the days long and the nights with all the Daevas [(Pizand) the Mazanian], (18) nor terror-stricken does he turn in affright before (their power); but before him all the Daevas turn in affright against their will, and rush to darkness in their fear.
For his splendour and his glory, for his might...VIII.
19. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, whom Haoma worshipped on the highest height of high Haraiti, he Haoma, the reviver 2, and the healer, the beautiful, the kingly 3, of the golden eye, (20) of the gracious words 4, of the warning and the guarding words, who intones our hymns on every side 5, who possesses understanding and of every brilliant form, which abounds in many an ex- planation 6 and revelation of the word, who has the first place in the Mathra.
For his splendour and his glory, for his' might...IX.
21. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, 1 This seems a gloss; its import is correct.
The renovator, as completing the progress which makes things fresh, frashokereti.
8 Possibly compare soma ra^an; but see the following adjective, and read as alternative * brilliant/ 4 Possibly ‘who excites to much speech/ 6 Having much ZancL YASNA LVII.
whose house stands with its thousand pillars, as vic- torious, on the highest height of high Haraiti, self- lighted from within, star-studded from without, (22) to whom the Ahuna-vairya has come, the axe of victory 1, and the Haptanghaiti. and the FshCtshd- mathra which smites with victory, and all the Yasna sections.
For his splendour and his glory, for his might...X.
23. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, by whose might and victorious power, and wise con- duct, and (full) knowledge, the Bountiful Immortals 2 descend upon this earth of seven quarters.
24. Who as teacher of the law will stride forth upon this earth with its dwellers in the body, and ruling as he will.
And in this Religion, Ahura Mazda has been con- fessed 3 with faith, and the Good Mind likewise with Him, and Righteousness the Best, and Khshathra- vairya, and Piety the Bounteous, and the Universal Weal and Immortality; and the question to the Lord is asked, and Mazda’s lore (is written).
25. O Sraosha (Obedience), thou blessed one, and stately! protect us for the lives; yea, for both, (for that) of this world which is corporeal, and for the world of mind, against unhappy 4 death, and the re- morseless Wrath of rapine, against the hosts with ill-intent, who lift their bloody spears 8 against us; • l Comp. Vend. XIX, 10. s They listen to Obedience, and so descend.
5 The meaning ‘ doth confess/ if correct, would show a very great degeneration from the lore of the G&thic period.
4 Lit *eviL’ ‘ Bannered spears; spears with streamers.
YASNA LVII.
yea, against their assaults whom 1 the Wrath-demon will set on, and Vldhitu, demon-made. 26. Therefore may’st thou, O Sraosha, the blessed and the stately! grant swiftness to our teams, soundness to our bodies, and abundant observation 2 of our foes, and their smiting (as we mark them), and their sudden death.
For his splendour and his glory, for his might...XI.
27. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, whom four racers draw in harness, white and shining, beautiful, and powerful 3, quick to learn, and fleet 4, obeying before speech, heeding orders from the mind, with their hoofs of horn gold-covered, (28) fleeter than (our) horses, swifter than the winds, more rapid than the rain(-drops as they fall); yea, fleeter than the clouds, or well- winged birds, or the well- shot arrow as it flies *,(29) which overtake these swift ones all, as they fly after 6 them pursuing, but which are never overtaken when they flee, which plunge away from both the weapons (hurled on this side and on that) and draw Sraosha with them, the good Sraosha and the blessed; which from both the weapons (those on this side and on that) bear the good Obedience the blessed, plunging forward in their zeal, when he takes his course from India on the East, and when he lights down in the West For his splendour and his glory, for his might...1 The hosts. 2 So the Pahlavi and Ner. See also Y. IX? 21.
3 Speata can hardly mean ‘holy’ here.
4 Asava for asaya (?); ‘y’ miswritten for ‘v.’ Comp, gatava (form).
* Reading anghamanayau for aidig tnanayau; otherwise, * swifter than one’s thought ’ (?).
* Lit. ‘ not those after overtake.’ Possibly ‘ these who all overtake those who fly with turned backs, yrho are not overtaken from behind.'
YASNA LVII.
XII.
30. We worship Obedience the blessed and the stately, who though lofty and so high, yea, even to the girdle, yet stoops to Mazda’s creatures, (31) who thrice within the day, and three times of a night, will drive on to that Karshvar Iivz. niratha, called the luminous, as he holds in both the hands 1 and poizes his knife-like battle-axe, which flies as of itself, and to cleave the Daevas’ skulls, (32) to hew down Angra Mainyu, the wicked, and to hew down Rapine of the bloody spear, to hew down the Daevas of Mazendran 2, and every Demon-god.
For his splendour and his glory, for his might XIII.
33. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, him who smites with victory, both here and not here, and on this entire earth. And we worship all the (gifts) of Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, the mighty, and the strong, whose body is the Mathra.
Yea, we worship (all the martial gifts) of Sraosha (Obedience) the mighty, both armed with shielding armour, and a warrior strong of hand, skull-cleaver of the Daevas, conquering the en- dowments 3 of the conqueror, the holy conqueror of the conqueror, and (his) victorious powers, and the Ascendency which it bestows, and we worship 1 Snaithij must designate a two-handed weapon.
* Observe how far West the word Daeva is applied; also, if Hindv6 is not in a gloss in verse 29, the fact proves that a vast geographical extent was familiar to the writers of the A vesta.
* Vanaittr, fens, as vtspau refers to attributes celebrated in the Yaxt.
X YASNA LVIII.
this Ascendency of Sraosha’s (the same which con- quers theirs); and that of Ami do we praise as well. 34. And every house by Sraosha guarded do we worship, wherein the blessed friendly Sraosha is befriended and made welcome, where the holy man is far advanced (?) in holy thoughts, and righteous words and deeds.
For his splendour and his glory, for his might, which smites with victory, I will worship him with the Yasna of the Yazads, with a Yasna ’loud-intoned, him Obedience the blessed, with the conse- crated waters, and the good blessedness, the lofty, and Nairya- sangha, the stately, and may he come to us to aid us, he who smites with victory, Obedience the blessed!
YASNA LVIII (Sr. LVII).
t. (Introduction.) (To the increase of our homage and praise of God) we offer this service 1 2 which, as our defence 3, may shield us, which is worship 4 with its beneficent results *, and Blessedness is with it of a verity®, and Piety as well. [(Pdzand) and of this worship the results here mentioned are the well- thought thought, the word well spoken, and the deed well done]; and let this our worship shelter us from the DaSva and from the evil-minded man. 2. And to- this worship do we confide** our settle- 1 This piece in the Gathic dialect has claims to an antiquity as high as Y. XII. It recalls the Gathas in many ways. The increaser of catde is identical with the thrifty tiller, and is the typical saint.
2 The Pahlavi has su^ a partial transcription, but the word is obsqure.
3.See nipatft. 4 Nem<? with Kn.
c Ha + ge/; comp. Indian sa + gha/; or possibly from ha£.
• ‘Make mention of/ YASNA LVIII.
ments and persons for protection and care, for guarding, and for oversight; (3) and in this worship will we abide, O Ahura Mazda! and with joy.
In this worship do we exercise our choices; and to it will we approach, and to it will we belong; yea, to revering worship will we confide our settle- ments and persons for protection, and for care, for guarding, and for oversight, to such worship as is the praise of such as You \ Mathra.
4. The owner of herds is the righteous (one), and he is victorious when he strikes, and thus he is the best; [ (Pazand) we therefore offer (this) service (for herd-owners 2 )] for the herd-owner is the father of the Kine by the help of him who follows the ritual order; and he is the father of the holy man as well, and of the sanctified creation 3. He is in verity the be- stower of blessings, and to him 4, O Ye Bountiful Immortals 5! we render, (and his do we make) Your greatness. Your goodness, and Your (spiritual) beauty, and let this man, the cattle-owner, approach to guard over us; and may he be our watchman together with the Righteous Order, and with store for our nourishment and full generous liberality, together with sharing of the goods 6, with gentle- ness 7, and with Ahura Ma2da’s sacred Fire!
1 Khshmavato is often Gathic for ‘ You/ 2 Pazand, as fshftsh* is a plural, and not Gathic. Or, 4 we make men cattle-owners (we invite them to be such)/ 3 The creation is mentioned in connection with the Kine. The typical saint stands at the head of the clean creation.
4 Whose? 5 See below, * Root vi-f-da (dhisha); so also the Pahl.'bara dahixnih/ 7 Akihih va itashii i Aftharmazd-da</. The wdrd is difficult.
YASNA LVIII.
5. O Ye Bountiful Immortals! as Ye have made us, so do Ye save us, holy men, and saintly women (as we are, and steadfast in the faith) 1. Save us, O Ye Bountiful Immortals! Ye who rule aright, and who dispose (of all) aright, for none other do I know, save You; then with Your Righteousness 2 * do Ye save us.
6. And we offer hereby our thoughts, and words, and actions, our herds, and men, to the Bountiful Spirit. And may the creative stars of Ahura Mazda, the Creator, shine down on us, and round about us s with full herds and healthy settlements, with healthy herds and healthy men, and with all in vigour, and endowed with the blessing of the Lord. 7. Praise to Thee, O Fire of Ahura Mazda! may’st thou come to (us in) the greatest one of the engrossing interests 4 for the help of the great (effort), for the joy-pro- ducing grace of the great (interest of our cause); grant us both Weal and Deathlessness!
8. We sacrifice to the entire collection of the Praises of the Yasna, with the careful structure of their language which has reached the most its object. And we offer (our homage) in our cele- brations to Thy body, O Ahura Mazda! the most beautiful of forms, these stars, and to that one, the highest of the high [ (Pazand) such as the sun was called]. Yea, we worship the Praises of the Yasna which were the production of the world of old.
1 Or, ‘ male and female holy ones, (the Amesha).'
* Y. XXXIV, 7.
s Lit. ‘ may we be closely beheld by the creative lights,’ &t.
4 Allusion to maz^-yaungho.
YASNA LIX.
YASNA LIX (Sp. LVIIIV Mutual Blessings Ahura-made, the victorious blow; and we worship the Saoshyawt, who smites with victory; and we sacri- fice to this Baresman with its Zaothra and its girdle (which is its band) and which is spread with sanctity. And we sacrifice to (our) own soul(s), and to (our) own Fravashi(s). 29. (See Y. XVII, 19.) 30. (The Ratu speaks): O thou good (servant of the Lord)! may that be thine which is better than the good; may’st thou acquire that which is (thine) own 1 in the Zaothra; may’st thou attain to that reward which the Zaotar has been obtaining 2, who is far advanced in his good thoughts, and words, and deeds.
31. (The Zaotar speaks): May that happen to you (likewise) which is better than the good, and may that not happen which is worse than the evil, and may that likewise not be my lot. 32. As (our) Ahfi (is) excellent, so (is. our) Ratu (one who rules) from his Righteousness, a creator of mental good- nefes, and of life’s actions done for Mazda, and the Kingdom (is) to Ahura which to the poor will offer a nurturer. A blessing is Asha called the Best, &e. We sacrifice to the Ahuna-vairya; we sacrifice to Asha Vahbta 3 the most beautiful, the Bountiful 1 A vo nafrman.
2 Hanayamno mingha, a periphrastic perfect.
• Asha Vahifta ocLs as immediately suggested by the Ashen 3io YASNA LX.
Immortal. And we sacrifice to the Fshushd-mathra, the by-spoken 1. And we sacrifice to the entire col- lection of the Praises of the Yasna; (yea), to the Yasna Praises which were instituted in the world of yore.
YASNA LX (Sp. LIX).
Prayers for the Dwelling of the Sacrificer 2.
1. Thus that better than the good may he ap- proach, who shows to us straight paths of profit appertaining to this bodily life and to the mental likewise, in the eternal (?) realms where dwells Ahura; yea, may he approach it, who is Thy worthy servant, and good citizen, O Great giver Lord 3!
2. May these blessings approach this house, which are the wise perceptions of the saints, the sacred blessings bestowed through the ritual, their guile- less characteristics, together with their recognition of what is due,- and may the Righteous Order appear for this village, and the Divine Sovereign Power, together with the benefit and glorious welfare (which ensues), 3. And with these the long enduring prominence of this Religion of Ahura’s, the Zarathustrian Faith. And may the Kine 4 be now with greatest speed within (the farm-yard of) this house, most speedily Vohfi formula, Asha Vahirta seems therefore a proper name, both here and in the formula, if one place explains the other (?).
1 The ever-spoken (?). The Ye>jhe and Ahuna follow.
* Said on the visitation of farm-houses by the travelling priest.
* See Y. XLIII, 3.
4 Gaur seems feminine here, and used collectively, and ha&i has the Indian sense of sa4a.
YASNA LX.
may the rewarded sanctity and the strength of the holy man be here, most speedily as well Ahura’s lore.. 4. And may the good and heroic and boun- tiful Fravashis:of the saints come here, and may they go hand in hand with us with the healing virtues of (their) blessed gifts as wide-spread as the earth, as far-spread as the rivers, as high-reaching 1 as the sun, for the furtherance 2 of the better men, for the hindrance of the hostile, and for the abundant growth of riches and of glory.
5. May Sraosha (Obedience) conquer disobedi- ence 3 within this house, and may peace triumph over discord here, and generous giving over avarice, reverence 3 over contempt, speech with truthful words over lying utterance. May the Righteous Order gain the victory over the Demon of the Lie 4.
6. As in this (house) the Bountiful Immortals seek for good Yasnas and good praises from the blessed Sraosha (who governs here), and as they seek for (one) good sacrifice and act of homage (more especially their own) which is a good offering* (to them) for (our) salvation, and a good offering in praise, together with a long continued offering of the entire self 6, (7) let not then (their) brilliant glory 7 ever desert this house, nor the bright abundance, nor an illustrious 8 offspring legitimately 3 born, nor that long continued companionship which is the * The name Sraosha had not lost its original meaning; so of Ar(a)maiti.
B Pah!, benafrman.
• Tire PahL does not necessarily render ‘ heavenly the word elsewhere means ‘ original’ YASNA LXI.
furtherance of that good blessedness which teaches concerning glory 1. 8-10 ( = Y. VIII, 5-7).
ix. In order that our minds may be 2 delighted, and our souls the best, let our bodies be glorified as well, and let them, O Mazda! go likewise openly (unto Heaven) as the best world 3 of the saints as devoted to Ahura, (12) and accompanied by Asha Vahuta (who is Righteousness the Best), and the most beautiful! And may we see Thee, and may we, approaching, come around about Thee, and attain to entire companionship with Thee! And we sacrifice to the Righteous Order, the best, the most beautiful, the bounteous Immortal!
YASNA LXI (Sp. LX).
1. Let us peal 4 forth the Ahuna-vairya in our liturgy between the heaven and earth, and let us send forth the Asha Vahkta in our prayer the same, and the Y6n1i6 hatam. And let us send forth in our liturgies between the heaven and earth the pious and good prayer of the pious man for blessings, (2) for the encounter with, and for the displacement of Angra Mainyu with his creatures which are likewise evil as he is, for he is filled with death (for those whom he has made). Aye, let us send that petition forth for the encounter with, and for the dislodgment of the Ka^&aredhas and of the individual Ka/baredha 5 the male, and the female t\ e nom * * s difficult. The Ashem Vohu and Ahuna follow.
Be Harlez, ‘faisons retentir/ The Pahlavi perhaps * diminishers; ' Darmesteter, c causing to pine.
YASNA LXII.
(to the last individual of each), (3) and for the en- counter with, and the dislodgment of the Kayadhas, and of the individual Kayadhians, male and female 1, and of the thieves and robbers, of the Zandas 2, and the sorcerers, of the covenant breakers, and of those who tamper with the covenants. 4. Yea, we send it forth for the encounter with, and for the overthrow of the murderers of the saints, and of those who hate and torment us for our Faith, and of those who persecute the ritual, and the tyrant full of death. Yea, let us peal them forth for the en- counter with, and the overthrow of the wicked, O Zarathuitra Spitama! whoever they may be, whose thoughts, and words, and works are not congenial to the holy ritual laws.
5. And how shall we drive the Demon of the Lie from hence from us 3? Aye, how shall we, the pro- phets who are yet to serve and save (thy people), drive the Dn^ from hence, so that we, having power over her as being utterly without power, may drive her hence with blow from the seven Karshvars, for the encounter with, and for the dislodgment of the entire evil world 4?
YASNA LXII (Sr. LXI).
To the Fire.
1. I offer my sacrifice and homage to thee, the Fire, as a good offering, and an offering with our hail 1 f Cannibals ' has been suggested as the meaning here.
2 The later Zendiks are of course not meanly unless we have an interpolation.
s Citation from the Gathas, Y. XLV.6.
* Citations follow.
314 YASNA LXII.
of salvation, even as an offering of praise with benedic- tions, to thee, the Fire, 0 Ahura Mazda’s son! Meet for sacrifice art thou, and worthy of (our) homage. A.nd as meet for sacrifice, and thus worthy of our homage, may’st thou be in the houses of men (who worship Mazda). Salvation be to this. man who worships thee in verity and truth, with wood in hand, and Baresman ready, with flesh in hand, and holding too the mortar. 2. And may’st thou be (ever) fed with wood as the prescription orders. Yea, may’st thou have thy perfume justly, and thy sacred butter without fail, and thine andirons regu- larly placed. Be of full-age as to thy nourishment, of the canon’s age as to the measure of thy food, O Fire, Ahura Mazda’s son! 3. Be now aflame 1 within this house; be ever without fail in flame; be all ashine within this house; be on thy growth 2 within this house; for long time be thou thus to the further- ance of the heroic (renovation), to the completion of (all) progress, yea, even till the good heroic (millennial) time when that renovation shall have become com- plete. 4. Give me, O Fire, Ahura Mazda’s son! a speedy glory, speedy nourishment, and speedy booty, and abundant glory, abundant nourishment, abun- dant booty, an expanded mind, and nimbleness of tongue for soul and understanding, even an understanding continually growing in its largeness, and that never wanders 3, and long enduring virile power, (5) an offspring sure of foot, that never sleeps on watch [not for a third part of the day, or night], and that rises quick from bed 4, and 1 Or, ‘ For giving light.’
1 Or, ‘to give light'? comp, ukhshano and ukhsha.
* Read apairyathrem. * Or, ‘ has the quickest place.'
YASNA LXII.
likewise a wakeful offspring, helpful to nurture, or reclaim, legitimate, keeping order in men’s meet- ings, (yea,) drawing men to assemblies through their influence and word, grown to power, skilful, redeeming others from oppression, served by many followers, which may advance my line (in pros- perity and fame), and (my) Vis, and my Zawtu, and (my) province, (yea, an offspring) which may deliver orders to the Province as (firm and righteous rulers). 6. And may’st thou grant me, 0 Fire, Ahura Mazda’s Son! that whereby instructors may be (given) me, now and for evermore, (giving light to me of Heaven) the best life of the saints, brilliant, all glorious. And may I have experience 1 of the good reward, and the good renown, and of the long fore- casting preparation of the soul. 7. The Fire of Ahura Mazda addresses this admonition to all for whom he cooks the night and morning (meal). From all these, O Spitama! he wishes 2 to secure good care, and healthful care (as guarding for salvation), the care of a true praiser. 8. At both the hands of all who come by me, I, the Fire, keenly look: What brings the mate to his.mate (thus I say to him), the one who walks at large, to him who sits at home? (We worship the bounteous Fire, the swift-driving charioteer 3.]
9. And if this man who passes brings him wood brought (with good measure that is) with sacred care, or if he brings the Baresman spread with sanctity, or 1 Bartholomae follows tradition boldly here, rendering ‘ aushalten, festhalten an; giriftar yehvftnlni(i).’
8 This curious gloss ^eems thrown in as,a solace to the FireJ the expression preceding. It savours of the Rik.
YASNA I.XV.
the Hadh&naepata plant, then afterwards Ahura Mazda’s Fire will bless him, contented, not offended, and in (its) satisfaction (saying thus), io. May a herd of kine be with thee, and a multitude of men, may an active mind go with thee, and an active soul as well. As a blest soul may’st thou live through thy life, the nights which thou shall live. This is the blessing of the Fire for him who brings it wood (well) dried, sought out for flaming, purified with the earnest blessing of the sacred ritual truth 1, n. We strive after the flowing on of the good waters, and their ebb 2 as well, and the sounding of their waves, desiring their propitiation; I desire to approach them with my praise 3. 12 = Y. Ill, 24, 25.
YASNA LXIII 4 (Sp. LX 1 1 ).
YASNA LXIV (Sp. LXIII).
YASNA LXV (Sp. LXIV).
To Ardvi SOra Anahita, and the Waters.
1. I will praise the water Ardvi Sftra Anahita, the wide-flowing (as it is) and healing in its influence, ’ The Ashem Vohfi occurs here. 2 Or, ‘ falling.’
3 See as alternative Darmesteter’s masterly rendering of the A tar NyayLr, 7-18.
4 This chapter is composed of short passages from other portions of the Yasna collected together possibly for the purpose of filling out the number of sections to some figure no longer known.
YASNA LXV.
efficacious against the Daevas, devoted to Ahura’s lore, and to be worshipped with sacrifice within the corporeal world, furthering all living things^?) and holy, helping on the increase and improvement of our herds and settlements, holy, and increasing our wealth, holy, and helping on the progress of the Province, holy (as she is)? 2. (Ardvi Sura Anahita) who purifies the seed of all male beings, who sanctifies the wombs of all women to the birth, who makes all women fortu- nate in. labour, who brings all women a regular and timely flow of milk, (3) (Ardvi Sura Anahita) with a volume sounding from afar 1 2, which is alone equal in its bulk to all the waters which flow forth upon earth, which flows down with mighty volume from high Hukairya to the sea Vouru-kasha. 4. And all the gulfs 3 in Vouru-kasha are stirred (when it falls down), all the middle doth well up when Ardvi Sftra Anahita rushes in, when she plunges foaming into them, she, whose are a thousand tributaries, and a thousand outlets, and each as it flows in, or rushes out, is a forty days’ ride in length to a rider mounted well.
5. And the (chief) outlet to this one water (Ardvi Sfira Anahita) goes apart, dividing to all the seven Karshvars. And this outlet to my river, Ardvi Stira Anahita, bears off its waters always in summer and in winter. This my river purifies the seed of men, and wombs of women, and women’s milk 4.
6. Let the saints’ Fravashis now draw near, those of the saints who live, or have lived, of those born, or yet to be born; yea, let them come near which 1 The Pahlavi has gin, or g&y, in -which latter case the meaning ‘ springs ’ would be better.
YASNA LXV.
have borne these waters up stream from the nearest ones (that lie below as the outlet pours away *).
7. Let not our waters be for the man of ill intent, of evil speech, or deeds, or conscience; let them not be for the offender of a friend, not for an insulter of a Magian 1 2, nor for one who harms the workmen, nor for one who hates his kindred. And let not our good waters (which are not only good, but) best, and Mazda-made, help on the man who strives to mar our settlements which are not to be corrupted, nor him who would mar our bodies, (our) uncorrupted (selves), (8) nor the thief, or bludgeon-bearing ruffian who would slaughter the disciples, nor a sorcerer, nor a burier of dead bodies, nor the jealous, nor the niggard, ’nor the godless heretic who slays disciples, nor the evil tyrant among men. Against these may our waters come as torments. As destructive may these come (?), may they come to him who has done those first (foul evils), as to him who does the last 3.
9. O waters'! rest 4 still within your places while the invoking priest shall offer.
Shall not the invoker make offering to these good waters, and with the inculcated words? (And how shall this be done?) Shall he not be tongue-fettered, if he offers else than with the ritual? Shall (not) the words be so delivered as the Aethrapaiti teaches? Where shall the blessings be (inserted)? Where the supplications with confessions? Where the gifts of those that offer? io*. (It shall be only thus) as Ahura Mazda showed before to Zarathurtra, and as Zara- 1 Or, ‘ drawn up in vapours for the supply of the waters by the rain/ 2 So the indication of the Pahlavi.
5 Response.
YASNA LXV.
thu^tra taught the corporeal worlds (the men on earth)! Thou shalt pray the first petition to the waters, O Zarathurtra, and after that thou shalt offer the Zaothras to the waters, sanctified, and sought out with pious care; and thou shalt pronounce these words (as follows, thus): (1 1) O ye waters, I beseech of you this favour; and grant ye me this great one in whose bestowal ye flow down to me for the bettering (of my state), with a never-failing truth. O ye waters, I beseech of you for wealth of many kinds (which gives) power (to its holder J ), and for an off- spring self-dependent whom multitudes will bless, and for whose wasting, or defeat, or death, or vengeful punishment, or overtaking, no one prays. 12. And this do I beseech of you, O waters, this, O ye lands, and this, ye plants! This wealth and •offspring I beseech of You, O Ye Bountiful Immor: tals, who rule aright, who dispose (of all) aright, O Ye good beings, male and female 2, givers of good things; and this I beseech of you, O ye beneficent, mighty, and overwhelming Fravashis of the saints, and this (of thee), O Mithra of the wide pastures, and this of thee, O blest and stately Sraosha; and of thee, O Rashnu the most just, and of thee, O Fire, Ahura Mazda’s son; and of thee, O lofty lord, the royal Apam-napa/, of the fleet horses; aye, of You all, ye Yazads, bestowers of the better gifts and holy. 13. And this do ye therefore grant me, O ye holy waters, and ye lands 3!
14. And grant me likewise what is still greater than this all, and still better than this all, and more > Powerful. * Some of the names are in the feminine.
* Here repeat as above from ‘ O ye plants to ‘ givers of the better thing and holy.’
320 VASNA LXVII.
beautiful, and more exceeding precious (and that is, Immortality and Welfare 1 ), O Ye Yazads, holy and ruling mightily, and powerful at once, and grant it speedily according to this Gathic (?) word: (Yea), by veritable grace let that be done 2 (?) for us which is most promotive of our weal. 1 5. And according to this further word again: Grant me, Thou who art maker of the Kine, the plants, and the waters, Immortality and likewise Weal, O Ahura Mazda, Thou most bounteous Spirit. And grant me these two eternal gifts through Thy Good Mind in the doctrine 3.
YASNA LXVI (Sp. LXV).
To the Ahurian One 5.
1. I am now offering this Zaothra here with sanc- tity 6, together with the Haoma and the flesh, and the Hadhanaepata lifted up with sacred regularity as to thee, O Ahurian One, for the propitiation of Ahura Mazda, of the Bountiful Immortals, of Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, and of the. Fire of Ahura Mazda, the ritual’s lofty lord. 2. Y.VII, 5 —I 9 * 3 - Y. XXII, XXVIII, 24-27.
YASNA LXVII (Sp. LXVI).
1-4. (See Y. XXIII, 1-4, replacing 4 1 desire to ap- proach with sanctity ’ by ‘ I offer with sanctity; see also Y.VII, 24.) 5-7. (See Y. XXXVIII, 3-5.)
4 The Ahuna and Ashem.Vohfi follow.
5 I should say Ardvi Sfira Anahita'; see Y. LXVIII, 10, where the good waters are addressed as Ahurian Ones of Ahura.
yasna lxviii. 321 YASNA LXVIII (St. LX VI I).
To the Ahurian One, and the Waters.
1. We offer this to thee, O Ahurian (daughter) of Ahura! as a help 1 (?) for life. If we have offended thee, let this Zaothra then attain to thee (for satis- faction), for it is thine with its Haoma, and its milk, and its Hadhanaepata. 2. And may’st thou approach to me for milk and for libation, O Zaothra! as health, for healing, and for progress, for growth and in preparation for ceremonial merit, for good renown, for equanimity 2, and for that victory which makes the settlements advance.
3. Yea, we worship thee with sacrifice, O thou Ahurian (daughter) of Ahura with the Zaothras of the good thought; and we worship, O Ahura, one with the Zaothras of the good word and deed (4) for the enlightenment of the thoughts, and words, and actions, for preparation for the soul, for the settle- ment’s advance, and to prepare the saints endowed with ritual merit