Hubschm.,‘y« tr pa/daresa/ ashahya der sie abhalte vom Schauen des Asha (Casus. 241). So of XLVI, 4. So also indicated bv pao’ena mm nikSzirno t Ahariyih; evidence of a struggle, or at least of a desire on the part of a rival party to possess themselves of some rehgious privilege d precedence. See the previous verse; also XXXI, k,: Never, O Mazda! never shall the thriftless and eving one share the good doctrine. See still further XT. T V I5, where the two hosts meet in hostility ‘on account of the doctrinal vjnuuia appertains rpfpTTa,., "T uul 1S not me Particular „„ refemed to throughout. The Pahlavi translator indicates bribe: 1. meaning o the word. Possibly some impious chieftain TliwSi is difficult. -Or (see Y. XLIV, 14) ‘Thine unde -a read ahuthwdi, offering an important alternativ YASNA XXX1L plans. Their deeds 1 of power are but deceits' since they have come as an aid to the wicked 2, and since he has been (falsely) said (to be set) to conquer the Kine 3, he who shall kindle that (very) help of grace which removes our death afar, (and lightens Thy saving flame).
15. And therefore will I drive from hence 4 the Karpans 9 ' and Kavis disciples. And after these (have thus been driven hence and away) then these (my princely aiding saints) whom they (now) render no longer rulers at will over life, (and deprive of their absolute power), these shall be borne (at Read: In his dominion he has established the Kavis and their in- tended plans. Reading hdithoi, ‘ his G. is to be bound/ 1 The predecessors of the Pahlavi translator seem to have under- stood the word var(e)&zu as conveying the idea of power rather than that of brilliancy. He renders freely pavan zak 1 varzanan avaruno danakdno. Supposing the text to stand, and not supplying a forma- tion from var(e)z, we may hold that there existed a var(e)£ beside var(e)z, as there undoubtedly was a har(e)£ (see harek?) beside har(e)z. This casts light on the Vedic varias.
2 Amati£ parfir^nd valman darvandan aiyyarih [ ] amati£ avo Tora zanirnb g&fto. The sufferings of the sacred Kine form the central thought, of much that occurs.
3 Can gauj* be a genitive here? But if a nominative, must not ye refer to it? How then could the Kine ‘kindle’ the aid of grace? A genitive looks difficult. It is, however, accepted by Spiegel, although he renders differently from my translation. The Pahlavi may give us invaluable relief here by restoring the text. The ancient translator read vaoiaya t Reading with him, we might render: When the Kine which (ya?) caused a death-removing help to be declared, was said to be meet for subjection (or slaying, reading an infinitive from ^an). This rendering is more probable than that from sao^aya/. The Kine distinctly caused this help to be de- clared. See XXIX. But I make it a- matter of principle to follow the MSS. in a first translation, where that is at all possible.
4 The Pahlavi translator differs greatly here, having taken anau with adverbial force, and as possessing the a priv. (they being O] P 66 THE GATHAS.
last) by the (immortal 1 ) two to the home of (Thy) Good Mind (in Heaven) 2!
1 6. (And) this entire 3 (reward of the righteous) is from that Best O e who teaches 4 in the wide (mental) light of the pious *, ruling (as supreme), O Mazda Ahura 6! whose, are my woes and my doubtnot inclined). He also read somewhat as follows: anau avaunt (?) as y^= from his non-inclination he was blind who (belongs to the Karpan and to the Kavi). Whether a truer text is indicated by him here is doubtful on account of XLIV, 13, and its nasham&; but the unvarying explanation of the Kavis as blind probably derives Its origin from some such reading here, or elsewhere in lost documents.
Certainly if dir can be used as a particle, anau is not altogether impossible in some such sense.. Moreover, the Pahlavi translation. hex*e and elsewhere has afforded us such a multitude of valuable concretes, that we shall do well to think twice before we reject its most startling suggestions. Lit. trl. ‘what (things are) of the K.'
1 The Pahlavi translation gives a fine suggestion in the concrete sense here; seeing the dual abya, it explains it as referring to Haurvati/ and Ameretata/, which is very probably correct. So Spiegel also renders. It is very difficult to decide in which sense yeng daiati n6i/ jyafcur khshayaman^g vaso is to be taken. If in an evil sense (as vas*-khshaya*zt is sometimes elsewhere taken) one might think of such a rendering as this: I have driven the Karpans' and Kavis' disciples hence to those (evil rulers) whom they (my servants) render no longer wanton tyrants over life. But these (my champion saints) shall be borne by the two to the home of Thy Good Mind. But strict grammar demands of us that tdi should refer back to yeng. Accordingly I suggest as above first.
2 Observe that Vohu Manah equals heaven. Recall XXX, 4, *but for the holy Vahirta Manah; that is heaven.'
The Pahlavi has ham; Neryosangh has sarvam.
4 Reading sS£(a)y8s$/ (P u, skyasfii/; Pahlavi, fimfikhtmtf (sic); ISfer., rikshapawaaz). Otherwise syasil/, which may well mean ‘ reposing’ in the wide (mental) light of the pious (or of the offering). Geldner lately admirably suggests a 2nd sg.
5 Pavan farSkhft hftshih.
. * If this <best one ’ « the Ratu of XXXIII, 1, all is gramma- tically clear; but -the expressions are rather strong in view of YASNA XXXII.
67 kgs 1 (yea, they lie in His power to heal) -when 1 shall make (my prophets) men to be sougf|i: 2 for the harm of the wicked. And this 1 shall do by the word of my month (to defend and avenge my saints)!
XL' VIII, 9, where similar language is -certainly applied, to Ahura. If Ahura is here meant, 'we have only one instance more to add to the many in which Ahura is spoken of in the third person, with an address to Him thrown in. See the differing views of XLV, xi. Possibly the 4 Best One f was Ahura’s Spe^fca Mainyu.
1 Zak i pavan gumanikih. As to alibi, aithiva^t seems to prove that its meaning must be calamity also in this place. Otherwise one is strongly tempted to heed the vigorous indication of the Pahlavi translator. Here and in XLVIII, 9, he renders ‘ manifest/ * what is clear in the midst of my doubt/ The etymology would be far simpler. Alternatively dvaetha= terror (bi).
2 Valman i p&mman kh vaster. The Pahlavi sees 4 to be desired? in ishyeng. Otherwise one might render:' 1 will cause (verbal) missiles (comp, zasta-ijtaij) to be cast forth from the mouth for the harm of the wicked.
(Supplementary note. 4 Parch with drought 1 in verse xo may be regarded as having figurative application. The destruction of the means of irrigation, so often resorted to in the same regions later, would point also to a literal sense, but 4 waste our meadow’s like drought' is a safer expression. See further vivapa /, and vivapem = viyapa/, viyapem.)
68 THE GATHA$, YASNA XXXIII.
Prayers, Hopes, and Self-Consecration.
Brighter times seem to have arrived. The vengeance so confi- dently promised in the close of XXX 11 is described as near at hand, in fact the first three verses seem to belong as much to XXXII as to the present chapter. They remind one of the choruses of attending saints, or ‘ Immortals/ in XXIX, perfectly germane to the connection, but referring in the third person to a speaker who closes the last chapter with a first, and who begins again with a first in verse 4. The propriety of a divi- sion of chapters here rests upon the fact that the thought comes to a climax at XXXII, 16, beginning afresh at XXXIII, 4. Whether Zarathu^tra, or the chief composer, whatever his name may have been, composed these three verses relating, as they do, to himself, and put them into the mouth of another, or whether their grammatical form indicates another author, is difficult to determine. I doubt very greatly whether either the expressions £ I approach/ ‘I offer/ &c., or the words ‘he will act/ ‘ let him be in Asha's pastures/ are at all meant to express more than some modern hymns which use ‘ 1 7 and ‘ he. 7 Both are in constant employment in anthology with no change in the person indicated. ‘I 7 and ‘Thy servant 7 are merely verbal variations. Here, however, the change is somewhat marked by the allusion to the chastisement of the wicked just previously mentioned in XXXII, 16. 1. It is to be noticed that the strictest canon with the original, as indeed with the later, Zarathnrtrians of the Avesta was the "primeval law. 7 Unquestionably the precepts understood as following from the dualistic principle were intended; that is to say, no trifling with any form of evil, least of all with a foreign creed, was to be tolerated. Ahura has no share in the evolution of anything corrupt. We may even add that He had no power to prevent either sin or sorrow, although He possessed all conceivable power to oppose them. According to these fundamental laws, then, the Ratu is said to act, as sternly severe upon the evil as he is beneficent to the saint. 2. The fierce hostilities hitherto pursued are more than justified. The injury of the wicked by denouncing, planning, or by physical violence, is on a par with advising the good. They who pursue the enemies of Ahura are actually operating in love to God, and sacrificing to religion itself.
YASNA XXXIII.
69 YASNA XXXIII.
69 3. And accordingly the reciter is made to pray in this immediate connection for a sincere and useful friend (a vahhta) to the believer, to whichever class he may belong, whether chief, allied peer, or villager, a friend spiritually enlightened (vidas), and, accord- ing to Ahura’s prescript (XXIX, 2), keen, persevering, and brave in the cultivation of cattle (thwakhshangha gavoi). 4 Let such an one as this, so asked for by the Lord himself, so needed by the Kine, let Mm/ he prays, 4 be supported in his holy toil for us. Let him till and tend, not in the pastures of our valleys only, but in the spirituaS pastures of the Divine Benevolence where the mystic kine is grazing. 5 4. Taking up the peculiar T who J of XXVIII, the composer returns to the first person, continuing in that form with little exception until the last verse, which, naming Zarathurtra in the third person, implies (if it is not an addition, which, however, it may be) that Zarathurtra had been the speaker throughout. As it is highly probable that the author who uses this 4 1 who ' is the same who uses it in XXVIII, and if we may take verse 14 as fair evidence that Zarathurtra is the speaker here, we acquire some additional grounds for believing that the person who wrote (if we can apply such an expression to the author) the words 4 to Zarathurtra and to us/ as well as 4 to Vutaspa and to me/ and 4 to Frashaojtra and to me/ was universally recognised to be Zarathurtra himself com- posing a piece to be recited by another. As if in response to the expression in verse 3, recalling that although a vahirta (a best one) to some of each class (verse 1) he was no contenter of the wicked (XLIII, 15), he begins a prayer which is only completed by its izya in verse 6, and which gathers force by each preceding profes- sion of fidelity. And true to a practical dualism, he first abjures the leading sin of disobedience to God, and of arrogance, dis- content, and dishonesty toward man, accompanied (as it seems to have been) with neglect of the all-important duties to the cattle who shared the sanctity of 4 the soul * of their representative. And perhaps it is this practical severity of dualism as opposed to the more facile 4 lying ' of the opposed religion, which was the cause of that high reputation of the Persians for veracity, which was grouped with avoiding debt by Herodotus among the virtues of the race.
5. I, he goes on to say, or to imply, I who not only abjure dis- obedience, insolence, complaint, and lying, but especially invoke the great genius who is Obedience himself, Obedience* toward God, (Thee), endeavouring as I do by this abjuration and prayer to attain, not to a 4 hundred autumns’ of booty and glory, but to a long life in the kingdom which was established In the spirit of 70 THE GATHAS.
the Divine Benevolence, and to paths not only for the war-cart, or for commerce, but to those rigidly straight paths of moral punty in which Ahura dwells, 6. I, he adds once more, who am thus Thine actually invoking (zbayS) invoker, ‘ straight ’ like the paths (er earn), I am seeking with longing (kayft) to know from that Best Spirit (Thy Spe«ta Mainyu?) animated once more by that best mind, to know-what? Shall we regard it as a bathos when we read that he thus with cumulative urgency prays to know what the Best Spirit thought should be done for the recovery and perfection of the fields? If we turn back to XXIX, i, we shall see that the identical word (v&stry£) describes the original want of the kine's soul. It was vohu vastrya which she implored as her salvation; and it was the sacred agriculturist who alone could afford it, and who as the « diligent tiller of the earth ’ always remained the typical saint. And as his useful deeds in reclaiming, irrigating, and cultivating land, were justly ranked among the first services of a human being, and as the last preparation of the gathered grain was perhaps humorously, but yet pungently, said to make the DaSvas start, and shriek, and fly (see Vendidad III, 32, Sp. 165), and as further, a life from the fruits of the earth to this day constitutes the main difference between those who live by murderous theft and those who live honestly in nearly the same regions, I think we may not only see no bathos here, but on the contrary admire the robust sense of this early religion 1, and say that a knowledge as to a true policy in the department of agriculture was one of the wisest possible desires, and the most of all things worthy of a 1 sight of Mazda and of consultation with Him.’ How the fields had better be worked, and how the people could best be kept from bloody freebooting as aggressors or as victims, this involved Ahura’s Righteous Order, Benevolence, Power, and Piety, the four energis- ing Immortals all at once. And this only could secure the other two rewarding personifications. Welfare and Immortality.
7. Having prayed for that which is the first virtue of civilised existence, work (verezyeidyai), he proceeds to further petitions. ‘Come Ye,’ he beseeches in Vedic fashion. Come Ye, O Ahura, Asha, and Vohu Manah! and behold the attentive monarch, the leading Magavan, as he listens to my instructions with the other 1 In this particular. As to ceremonies it had at a later period more than its Share of absurdities; but as to honest work as against ‘ foraging on the enemy ’ there is a great difference between the Gathas, and some other ancient hymns, for instance the A*iks of the Veda. In fact these latter maybe regarded as representing the opposite extreme.
Yasna xxxixr chiefs, and the thronging masses. And let too the' sacrificial^iSs pour in for offering and worship.
8. He rests at no bare morality for the simple multitude. He knows too well the human foible, therefore he asks with vigour for sacrifice and hymn.
9. Encouraging the two pious chiefs whose souls go hand in hand, he prays that an' influence like that of the ‘eternal two* might bear their f spirit ' (sic) to the shining home of Paradise, it having attained to perfection by the help of the Best Mind of God within it (For mainyu in this sense compare XLIV, ir.)
10. Asking of Mazda to grant in His love (or ‘by His will') all the happy phases of life which have been, or which shall ever be experienced,- he prays that their bodies, that is, their persons, as separate accountable individuals (compare nar<?m narem /ivahy&i tanuyS) might flourish in the graces of the Good Mind, the Holy Sovereignty, and the Sacred Order, till they were blessed with the nrta, the summum bonum.
11. He here prays all the grand abstractions, Piety, the Righteous Order (which alone can ‘ push on * the settlements), the Good Mind of God within His people, and His kingdom, to turn their mental ears and listen, and listening to pardon.
12. And specifying the one central object of desire, the Thrift- law, the Avesfca of the Ratu, or Saoshya^t, he asks Ahura to arise to his help and give him spiritual strength by sustaining him. through the inspiring Righteousness and the Good Mind, in an effective Invocation.
13. With a spirituality still deeper than his Semitic colleague, he asks, not to see the person of God, but His nature, and especially to be able to comprehend and bring home to- his mind what the Sovereignty of God implies with its ‘ blessed rewards. 7 And he asks of Piety as first acquired, practised, and then speaking within him, to reveal the Gnosis, the Insight, that is, the Religion.
-14. After* the fervent language of the previous verses we may accept verse 14 as a legitimate continuation. Its 6 Zarathurtra * may mean c 1 7 just as ‘ David 7 is used by the Psalmist for c me. 5 And the language can mean nothing but a dedication of all that he is and has to God, his flesh, his body, his religious eminence, the obedience which he offers in word and deed, inspired by Righteous- ness, and the Kingdom which he has succeeded in saving and blessing. (I do not think that I have at all exaggerated the grasp and fervour of this section. Less could not be said, if the words are to be allowed their natural weight.) *■ 72 THE GATHAS.
Translation, 1. As by the laws of the primeval world, so will our spiritual chieftain act (that chief besought-for by the Kine \ and named as ZarathUrtra 2 by the Lord). Deeds most just he will do toward the wicked, as toward the righteous, and toward him whose deeds of fraud 3 and righteous deeds combine (in equal measure).
2. Yea, (he will act with justice but with ven- geance, for) he who does evil to the wicked by word, or with thought (and plan), and (who therein does not dally, but toils labouring as) with both the hands, or he (again) who admonishes one for his good 4, such as these are offering (a gift) to their religious 6 faith in the love (and with the approving view) of Ahura Mazda 6,- (they are offering to conscience.)
1 See XXIX, i.
2 See XXIX, 6, 8.
5 So the Pahl.; and so also Roth (Z. D. M. G.,vol. xxxvii. 5, 223) taking mithahya as a nom. pi. (comp, vaiahya). But I am strongly inclined to a former view of my own. Yehya-mithahyi look irresistibly like two genitives. I would render as an emphatic alternative ‘what fraud he may lay hold of (h^myasaite with the gen.), reach (of the one), and what (seem) to him the righteous deeds (of the other).’ But if Roth and the Pahlavi are right, we have here the origin of the later hamestaga, the souls in the inter- mediate place between Heaven and Hell,. whose sins and good works have been equal (West, Gloss, to M. i K.). The Persian manuscript of Haug 12 b. has: Kih ik (pro ham) & i an ham rasicf csted an i dur%^, kih \k (ham) u an i 'h&lu [kd, hamestan].
4 So the Pahlavi also indicates: Val valman i $apir — iashim. Ner. uttamasya va asvadayanti dehina^.
5 Literally, ‘ they are offering a gift to their own choice ' (var= varena; comp, yavarena).
c They are holding fast by the holy cause, and their vehemence in vengeance does not negative the fact that they are toiling in the love of Ahura. Pahlavi: Pavan zak 1 lak doshuno, Adharmazd t VASNA XXXIII.
73 3. (And so may it be), O Ahura! Let the man who is the best toward the righteous saint, whether lord's kinsman 1,or as village labourer, with the allied 2 peer (of the master), having light, and endowed with energy for the cattle (a Ratu such as Ahura sought to satisfy their wail), let such an one be (for us) 3 in the work-field of the Righteous Order, in the pas- tures of Thy Good Mind 4.
4. (And I beseech for Thine instruction), I who will abjure 5 all disobedience (toward Thee, praying that others likewise may withhold it) from Thee; I who abjure the Evil Mind as well, the lordly kins- man's arrogance 6, and that lying sin which is (alas!) the next thing to the people 7 (their most familiar fault), and the blaming ally's falsehood, and from the Kine the worst care of her meadows 8 (the crime of stint in labour 9 ), 3 Literally, c with, or. as, the kinsman.'
3 See XXIX, 2: c Let that pasture-giver whom ye would appoint for us, teaching by example and precept vohft vastrya, let him be on our sacred pastures, and on our side.’
4 The Pahiavl may be rendered as follows: He who affords increase to the righteous on account of the relationship [that is, something is given to him?] does so also on account of the labourer’s duty, or class [that is, the labourer is to be considered as his own]. Through the loyalty; that is, the loyal class, that which adheres to Ahharmazd, he has a thorough understanding as to what is (true) energy toward the herds. Thus Yohuman (a good mind) is a workman with him to whom Righteousness also belongs.
5 Hiibschm. Casuslehre, 4 der ich von dir den Ungehorsam und schlechten Sinn durch Gebet abwenden will ’ (s. 1 80).
6 Observe that &?aetu certainly designates an upper class. Why else arrogance?
7 Possibly this severity was the cause of the later high reputation v of the Zarathmtrians for veracity.
3 Literally, 4 from the pasture of the Kine/ 9 The Pahlavi may be rendered: Him who will not listen to 74 THE GATHAS.
5, I, who (abjuring these sins), call earnestly on Thine Obedience of all (assisting guardians) the greatest one for our help \ gaining (thereby 2 ) long life in the Realm of (Thy) Good Mind (incarnate in our tribes), and paths that are straight from their Righteous Order, wherein Ahura Mazda dwells 3, 6. (Yea), I who, as this Thy faithful priest, invoke Thee through (my) Righteousness, (now) seek 4 with longing from (Thy) Best Spirit, and with that 5 (best) intention of mind, (to know) what 6 he himself thought of the working of (our) fields 7. Therefore (because I abjure the Evil Mind, and all disobedience, Thee, O.Auharmazd! will I abjure, and Akdman also, for by him there is the despising of relations, and the deception of the labouring men who live close at hand [that is, of neighbours]. And he is ever bringing censure upon the clients. And he holds to the lowest measure of duty toward the Herd.
1 Avangha n^, or avanghane, an infinitive (see Wilhelm, de Infin. p. 1 6). The Pahlavi has avo aiyy&rih.
s Sraosha ( = listening obedience) is the greatest for help, because by a Mathra which appeals to him the way to Ahura is found out (XXVIII, 6) and the Demon defeated. If apano is read, so strictly. The Pahlavi translator seems to have understood apa ne; baram ayafinai pavan der-ziviraih, zak i pavan khMayih i Vohuman.
Ner.: Avapaya dirghe ^ivitatve. This may well restore for us the proper text Reading apa m we should render ‘obtain for us/ s Ahura Mazda dwells as in His abode amid the paths where His saints walk (see XL VI, 16).
4 So also indicated by bavih&n&f. Kaya properly refers to ye.
3 The Pahlavi translator seems to have seen an imperative in ava, rendering it freely aiyyarin&$>.
6 Y£ may be an instr. sing, or an acc. pi. neut. ‘ I ask what he thought meet to be done; ' yi does not necessarily equal ydna in every instance.
7 1 need hardly remind the reader that agriculture was the great question of orderly and religious life with the Zarathurtrians. Without it there was of course no resource but wandering and plunder for them.
YASKA XXXIII.
75 arrogance, falsehood), O Mazda! would 1 beseech of Thee for a sight of Thee, and for consultation with Thee! (What is Thy will and mind?)
7. Come Ye, then, to my best (regulations. Come to my men, and my laws 2 ), my very own, O Mazda! and let them see through the Righteous Order and (Thy) Good Mind (which Thou wilt bestow in Thy drawing near) how I am heard before the rich giver 2 (in the assembly of Thy worshippers). Yea, (come Ye); and let the manifold offerings of worship be manifest among us 3. (Arouse Ye, and help our zeal 4!)
1 So I render from the context. Otherwise see ta toi izya in the previous verse.
2 I was formerly inclined to understand Ahora here, Indian usage permitting. (India and other Gods are maghavan.) But modem authority, aided by the ancient Pahlavi translator, brings me to a better mind. The Pahlavi has pavan fravon magih. It is better to refer the word to the disciple. The more prominent members of the congregation are meant.
3 Ner. renders the last line thus: And may these offerings be manifest in the midst of us, and accompanied with (sincerest) worship.
4 There are certain cases where allowance for an ancient scholar working under great disadvantages becomes a critical necessity. Here the Pahlavi translator was clearly the victim of a manuscript. The word 4 didum 9 (sic) stood, as similar words so often stand, in his MS. as ‘ai. dumd Deeply imbued with a superstitious regard for every letter, and with a public equally scrupulous, he saw no course before him but to translate each as best he could. He chose to render 4 ai * by an inhnitive, preserving the root, and could only think of a form of 4 da ’ for dftm (so also modems in another case). Many writers, seeing such a step, cast away his paper, regarding themselves as absolved by such a s blunder 3 from mastering his translations. But a little honest labour will always bring one back to sounder exegesis. In the next following verse we have identically the same form in another word, which he renders awkwardly but correctly, using da again, but as a proper auxiliary.
y6 THE GATHAS.
8. (Come Ye) and show me the worthy aims of our faith, so that I may approach and fulfil them with (Thy) Good Mind, the offering, O Mazda! of the One like You \ or the words of praises offered with Righteousness. And give Ye as Y our offering 2 (of grace to me) the abiding gifts of Your Immor- tality and Welfare!
9. And let (one like those 3 ), O Mazda! bear on to Thee the spirit of the two leaders who cause the holy ritual Truth to flourish; let him 4 bear them to (Thy) brilliant home 5 with 6 preternatural insight, and with the Better Mind. Yea, let him bear that spirit on as a fellow-help 7 in (furthering) the readi- 1 To approach the offering of a praiser seems* certainly an un- natural expression. I think that we are obliged* to regard khshma- vat6 as another way of saying Yourself rather than ‘ of Yours 1; and if it equals ‘Yourself 7 here, it may elsewhere; see XXXIV, 2, khshmavato vahme, also XLIV,.i, nem^ khshmavatd. All acknow- ledge mavaite to mean ‘ to me/ Hiibschmann, Casuslehre, s. 200: ‘ dass ich mit fromraem sinne an cure Vefrehrung, Mazda, gehen kann/ 2 It is curious that draond seems to be in apposition here. • “The word is used merely in the sense of offering in the later Avesta. It might possibly mean ‘possessions’ here.
8 See XXXII, 15. There helping princes are spoken of ‘as borne by the two (Haurvata/ and Ameretad/)/. Here in immediate connection with the same two it is said: Let one bear the spirit of the two united chiefs. By the term ‘ spirit/ which sounds so sus- piciously modern, we must nevertheless understand very nearly what the word would mean in a modern phrase. By these two leaders we may understand either (ramaspa and Virtaspa (XLIX, 9) or Gamaspa and Frashaortra. (Compare yavarena Frashaortia (ramaspa.)
4 ‘ Let one bear them/ 5 Khvarih maninimo.
The Pahiavi gives its evidence for an instrumental and for a less pronounced meaning than the one above.
Hamkan/arih. If thesecond kar is the root, the sense is figurative* YASNA XXXIII.
77 ness 1 of those (in their holy work) whose souls go hand in hand 2.
10. (And not for these alone do I pray, but for us 3 as well.) All prosperous states 4 * in being which have been enjoyed in the past, which men are now enjoying, and which shall be known in the future, do Thou grant (me) these in Thy love 6. (Yea), cause (our) bodily and personal life to be blest with sal- vation 6 through (Thy) Good Mind, (Thy) Sovereign Power, and (Thy) Sanctity 7.
11. And, O Thou who art the most beneficent Ahiira Mazda! and thou who art Aramaiti (our piety), and also the Righteous Order who dost further on the settlements; and Thou, the Good Mind, and the Sovereign Power! hear ye me all, and have mercy 8 for every deed which I do what- soever 9!
1 Bundako. 2 Pavan akvmo rubano.
3 So more probably. See the first person inverses 8 and ii.
4 So the Pahlavi also, hii-zivi,mih.
5 So the Pahlavi also: Pavan hana i lak doshtmo. c In Thy will ’ is here very weak.
6 Nadukihi/fc i avo tanfi [am yehabfin]; Ner. mbhara tanau.
7 Neryosangh: Let them continue to live well, and be prosperous in all things [ ] those females (yiA most curiously) who are bom thus [that is, come from elsewhere (and not from us)], and who are [gained over by myself]. Those, O Great Wise One! who shall exist [(or) come in the future], let them render these persons thine own through friendship to thee. Cause thou the Best Mind to increase within me, O Lord! [that is, make my mind ever the more piously zealous]. And in view of my righteousness grant me a benefit in my body, or person [ ].
8 So the Pahlavi also: Am bara &m&rz&£ 9 Observe that all the Ameshdspends, except the two mentioned in verse 8, are here bidden as persons to listen and be merciful. These recurring instances (recall the two hands of Asha &c.) necessitate the view that the idea of personality is never lost in that THE GATHAS.
78 12. And Thou, O Ahura! do Thou (Thyself) arise 1 to me! Through Aramaiti give me power, O most bountiful Spirit Mazda! through (my) faithful appeals and offerings 2; and for (my) Right- eousness grant me mighty strength, and (Thy) thrift-law 8 through (Thy) Good Mind 4.
13. (Arise to give me power), and then for grace in a wide perception 5 (that I may view its depth and extent), do Thou reveal to me Thy 6 nature (?), Q Ahura! (the power of Thine attributes), and those of Thy (holy) kingdom, and by these, the blessed gifts 7 of (Thy) Good Mind! And do Thou, O bountiful Piety 8 show forth the religious truths through (Thy) Righteous Order.
of the abstract quality; and vice versa; (the latter especially in the Gathas where the names always retain touch, if not all of their original force). As to idii; see vanghuya (sic) zav6-adi in the next verse.
1 We seem obliged to suppose that Ahura was poetically con- ceived of as sitting (like Voh Oman in Vendidad XIX, 31 (Wg.)) upon an ornamented throne, or we may take the expression as pure metaphor equalling ‘ exert Thy power.’ Aramaiti may be a voc.
2 See Sdai in verse 11.
3 Pavanzaki Vohuman sardSrih. The ‘ thrift-law ’ is the regula- tion established by the Ratu demanded in Y. XXIX for the redemp- tion of the Kine. It expresses the entire polity and theology of the Zarathujtrian people as summed up in the original Avesta.° 1 Neryosangh: Up! 0 Lord! purify me [that is, make me pure, or free, from the influence of that tormentor, the Evil Mind]; and grant me perfect spirituality and zeal. For we are recipients of Gvahmana, 0 more mighty spirit [that is, let him be as a guest arrived within my body]! And let sanctity have power over the murderer (?) [ ], and through the lordship of the Best Mind.
6 The Pahlavi has here pavan kamak -fcashimo, on which see Darmesteter, Etudes Iraniennes, vol. ii, as per index.
sacred regularity, ‘extfctness’ in religious duties.
* 80 the Pafalavi also; As Pavan Ahariylh din6 friz dakh- YASNA XXXIII.
79 14. Thus, as an offering, Zarathurtra gives the life 1 of his very body. And he offers, likewise, O Mazda! the priority of the Good Mind, (his emi- nence gained) by his holiness (with Thy folk); and he offers (above all his) Obedience (to Thee) in deed and in speech, and with these (Thine established) Sovereign Power 2!
shakino; Ner.: Puwyena dinim pra£ihnaya. Possibly, ‘ give light to our consciences through Asha’ would be better.
1 The tissues; the word seems contrasted with bones elsewhere. The Pahlavi has khaya, and Ner. g\vzm (sic).