2 The Pahlavi translation may be rendered as follows: Thus, as a gift of generosity, I who am Zarturt (so freely, and with no error from ignorance (!)) give the life of my own body, as the advance [as the chieftainship] to Vohfiman and to Auharmazd, and to Asha- vahift, in actions [that is, I would do the deeds which Ahardyih ■ desires], and would give obedient attention to the word (literally the hearing of the word) to (i. e. of) Khshatraver.
go the gathas.
YASNA XXXIV.
A tone of thankfulness continues. As if in gratitude for better fortunes, the prophet declares that he will bestow upon Ahura with the foremost, according to the measure of the gifts which he has received. Those gifts were the secured Immortality (not mere temporal ‘ deathlessness’), the Righteous Order and the Sovereign Power established in holiness and bestowing the Universal Weal 2 The kind of gifts -which are proposed for offerings are not sacrificial beasts or fruits, but the actions of the truly pious citizen whose soul is intimately united with Righteousness, the homage of prayer and the songs of praise. As no piety could exist without strict ecclesiastical regularity, so no ceremonial punctuality was conceived of apart from honour and charity (see verse 5 and 3. Accordingly the meat-offering, the mention of which imme- diately follows, is spoken of as offered with homage to the Right- eous Order and. to the Divine Sovereignty for the benefit of all the sacred settlements, in order to equip the wise man fully, and as a helpful blessing among the Immortals' themselves and their adherents.
4. And the Fire is likewise mentioned, which: was worshipped not so much like Agni as the friendly god of the hearth.and the altar, but more and chiefly like Agni as the priest of the church.
Not unlike Agni, it is called upon both for inward spiritual strength and for temporal blessings in various forms, together with vengeance hurled very much as if in the form of a thunderbolt (zasta-btair dere,rta-aenanghem). 5. To explain what he means by his supplications for the coming of the Kingdom, and for holy actions (that is, to make it certain that he does not mean punc- tilious ritualism apart from the noblest charity), he rhetorically asks: « And what is Your Kingdom, that which Zarathuitra establishes and offers to You? (XXXIII, 14). What is the kind of prayer (comp. XLVIII, 8, and LIXI, 1) which I must use, so that I may become Yours (Your property) in my actions, not to load Your priesthood with sacrifices, nor to fatten Your princes with booty (as too often in the J?jks), nor yet to secure a heavy gift to the poet, but to ^nourish Your poor?' This was the essence of the desired Sanctity and the Sovereign Authority. The Kingdom of God, exalted YASNA XXXIV.
81 and personified as a separate intelligence, is positively said to be something more than a gaudy pageant of material display, even Tavi Khshathrem y& ereaigydi dsthi drigave vahyo (LIU, 9). (See also even Vendidad II [part i], where moral duties are lauded.)
And the composer himself seems to be so conscious of the sharply defined difference between such a kingdom and that of the rival religion, that he immediately adds an interdict: ‘ Such is Your King- dom, caring for the righteous poor, and therefore we declare You irreconcilably distinct from the Da&vas and their polluted followers. Ye are beyond them and before in the spirit of Your Reign! * 6. He then utters an impressive doubt, which only deepens our admiration at his expressions of faith: ‘ If it be really true/ he con- tinues (see XLIV, 6), 4 that Ye are thus with the Righteous Order and the Good Mind, the God who looks upon the goodness of the heart and’ the activity of the hands, then give me a sign of it, that I may nersevere and increase in the depth of my homage while life shall last.’ 7., For the struggle, though not without signs pf a favourable issue, was far from over yet. (Hence his misgivings.)
He then asks with some wistfulness after the c ar(e)dra/ the men that could help, who from the experience of the grace of God, could turn sorrow into blessing by establishing the holy religious system firmly, but with enlarged and not narrowed understanding. And, still a little dispirited, he declares, as so often: e None have I other than You; therefore I can wait for the ar(e)dra. Do ye save us alone by Your already offered means of grace/ 8. ‘ For Ye have given me already, as it were, a sign. The enemy are checked, and for the moment cowed, if they are not repelled. They among whom there was death for so many when they had the upper hand, and when their ruler persecuted the holy vows, are not only struck with terror by the action which we take, but their chief retribution is, as we hold it, spiritual, and therefore, in the eye of truth the more severe. They will not encourage righteous ' Order and righteous intentions, and accordingly, the personified Good Intention, grieved, will depart from them, 9. ‘Yea/ he reiterates, amplifying, ‘the unfortunate sinners who depart from Thy kindly and sacred Piety in this ignorance of all experience of Thy Good Mind, will suffer an equal desertion. The characteristics of righteousness will, in their turn, avoid them as the unclean creatures flee from us/ 10. ‘And this is/ thus he con- tinues, ‘ a sign or result which the All-wise declares to me to steady my soul as I waver/ ‘ And these are indeed the cheering proofs of Thy favour/ he adds, addressing Ahura, ‘ which terrify our enemies 82 THE GATHAS.
and advance us, giving 1 us a righteous eminence (XXXIII, 14) in Thy Kingdom/ ' 11. 4 Therefore that kindly Piety whom these desert in their judicial ignorance, will increase for us both the all-comprehensive blessings; spiritual Deathlessness begun in anticipation here, and its necessary conditio^ Welfare. And they shall be increased as food (sic) for Mazda’s straitened people, or better, to His glory as their monarch. And by their means Ahura may defend Himself efficiently from the persecuting and idolatrous foe/ 12. Taking into consideration all that depends on a correct understanding as to religious and political duties, he fervently prays to be guided aright in the establishment of a ceremonial and of praises, beseech- ing Mazda to speak, declaring the kind of worship which may - secure the ashis (which are the blessed rewards). And he asks to be taught those religious paths about which no error was possible, the paths which are the Good Mind’s own.
13.' After a fashion already known to us (as in XXIX), he answers his question himself. That way which Ahura had already' revealed as the Good Mind’s own, was made up of the revealed precepts of the Saoshya«ts. There, as in the paths where Ahura dwells (XXXIII, 5; XL VI, 16), the well-doer may prosper from his devotion to the religious truths, and gain a reward immediately from the hand of God. 14. As if never forgetting the original calamity, the woes of the Kine, he further declares that way to be the one of all to be chosen for this earthly life, as the vestibule to the heavenly one. And he asserts that they who toil for the Kine (who represents here, as generally, the holy settlements as well as their chief source of riches and support) are striving to further and demonstrate the wisdom of that way by every righteous contrivance.
Nay, he declares that the deeds of Piety are themselves the highest wisdom, ju^f as the words and righteous actions of the Saoshya»ts not only declare and make, but constitute, ‘ the way/ 15. Again, concluding with a climacteric and synoptical prayer, he beseeches Ahifra to speak and reveal to him all the most available statements, ceremonies, and praises. And never 3 for- getting that all ceremonies, hymns, and sacrifices, sacred as they are, are only means to a greater end; he prays the Deity that He may exert that Sovereign Power which is alone supremely efficient in relieving actual distress (LIII, 9), for by its holy laws and spiritual arms it can alone bring on the Frashakan/, and produce that condition in society in which all human progress shall- have become complete.
YASNA XXXIV.
83 Translation.
1. As to those (three gifts of blessings), Immor- tality, the Righteous Order/ and the (established) Kingdom of Welfare, which Thou, O Mazda! hast given through (holy) deeds, words, and the sacrifice unto these (Thy servants here in my sight 1 ), gifts (shall) be offered 2 by us in return to Thee, O Ahura! and with the foremost of them all 2. Yea, and all those gifts of the Good Spirit 3 have been given (back in gratitude) to Thee by the mind and the dded of the bountiful man, whose soul goes hand in hand 4 with the Righteous Order in the settlement, in homage toward the One like You 5, 1 The hymns seem to be ali composed for public declamation, as is evident from, various passages. Similar indications often occur in the Veda. I formerly connected aSsfaam with Ameretata/, &c., f a thank-offering for these (gifts)/ 2 I am very sorry to oppose progress on such a subject as daste, but- 1 do not think that it is an infinitive, nor that aite or mrffitS are such. -Te, or what it represents, I regard as seldom or never a Gathic suffix, and especially not, as here, where dastS falls to the end of the sentence. Too little attention has been paid to the Githic sentence. The infinitive seldom falls to the end of it; vidvanoi vao^a; ta/ m6i vi£idy&i vaoia; viduye (vidv6) voM manangM; menkk daidyai yehya ma rishis; asha fradathai as- perezata; kgoi (?) hadroya; ye astern vaenanghe aogeda; but zbaya; avangh&n& (?) ya verezy6idyai ma«ta vastrya; sr&idyai Mazda fravaoia; kahmai vividuye (-v§) vashi; ta/ verezy&dyai hya / m6i mraota vahistem; arethsl voizhdyai kamahya ton mo! data; dazdyai hakerena; but vasmi anya£a viduye (-ve); men- ddidyii yi To i Mazda Mirtii*, &c. The Pahlavi renders here with admirable freedom as a first person, yehabfinSm.
8 Observe this expression. It is the $pe?/ta mainyu which, like the c Holy Spirit of God/ is sometimes identical with Him. # • 4 Souls are elsewhere said to go hand in hand; see Y« XXXIII, 9.
s I suppose that it is. possible that khshmavato, here and else- where, may refer to the human subject, € to the praise of your wor- 84 THE GATHAS.
O Mazda! and with the chants of the (thankful) praisers 1.
3. And unto Thee, O Ahura! will we offer the (thankful) meat-offering with self-humbling praise, and to Thy Righteousness (like Thee a person), and for all the settlements in Thy kingdom which are guarded 2 by Thy Good Mind. For in the perfect preparation of the justly acting (has that offering its power), O Mazda! together with all (others of its kind). Among those like You and worthy of Your- selves, it is a blessing 3.
4. And we pray likewise for Thy Fire, O Ahura! strong through Righteousness (as it is), most swift, (most) powerful, to the house with joy receiving it, in many wonderful ways our help, but to the hater, O Mazda! it is a steadfast 4 harm as if with weapons hurled from the hands 6.
shipper/ but it does not sound at all natural. I think that khshm&- vat 6 is merely another way of saying c of you/ as mavawt=me. So the Pahiavi also seems to render here: Avd zak • 1 lekum va niyiyimo. Ner. also: Samaga^Mami yushmakam namaskritaye, Mah^/zanin.
1 This recalls the daseme-stutam of Y. XXVIII, 10.
The Pahiavi renders freely and not uncritically, regarding the spercta nar as Zarathustra himself: Aftano den Garo^mano st&yem, Ner.: Garothmane staumi te.
* So also the translations: Afghan parvamn va min frarfinih. Ner.: Uttamena pratipilya manasa. Compare Y. XXXII, 2: saremano khshathra/. The singular verb is difficult.
3 Or, 'for as those justly acting, and in preparation will we offer it as a blessing together with all who are among a Your own/'/ Here khshmavazzt equals ' Your own rather than ' Yourselves/* 4 Or ( visible ' as fire, but this seems too feeble a conception for the place. The Pahiavi translator read dere.sta-as a participle from dar(e)z, which is quite as possible as that it should be from dar(e)s. He renders yakhsenune^/ kino; Ner., vidadhati nigraham. That he so translated because he was not aware that dere^ta could be also a participle from dar(e)s, is no longer tenable, * ^ no I3leans a partially' selected specimen, let the reader YASNA XXXIV.
8S 5. What is 1 then Your Kingdom, O Mazda? What are Your riches? that I may become 2 Your own in my actions, with the Righteous Order, and (Thy) Good Mind, to care for Your poor (in their suffering 3 ). Apart from all would we declare You, yea, apart from Daevas *, and Khrafstra-polluted mortals!
consider the following from the Pahlavi: Thus, 0 Auharmazd I this which is Thy Fire, which is so powerful, fe a satisfaction to him whose is Aharayih [-when my chieftain (the glossist seeming to have a text with a first pronoun: otherwise the first translator who never saw? us(e)mahi) becomes one by whom duty and charity are fulfilled], for it is quick and powerful [the Fire], and remains con- tinually in friendship with him, and makes joy manifest to him. And therefore, O Afiharmazd! on him who is the tormentor it takes revenge as if with a mighty wish.
1 Ka / is often a mere interrogative particle, so modem inter- rogatives are also often merely formal.
3 • Bartholomae admirably follows K 4 here with its hakhmi; it gives a more common explanation of vao, which I am obliged to take in a possessive sense beside n^. The manuscript used by the Pahlavi writer had, however, ahmi, as many others now extant.
8 Note the recurrence of this care for the poor, showing what the frequent mention of righteousness, the good mind, &c. meant.
4 Observe that daevah must mean the Demon-gods and not their worshippers here; pare vao indicates this, and also mashyaix=^ men, who are separately mentioned. The Pahlavi translator is finely critical* here, ' giving us our first hint as to the meaning: P 6 sh Lekum min harvisp-gun 6 levino guft homan ed [aigh tuban- kar^ar homane^, &c.]. So with antare-mruyS (-v£), he was the pioneer also. I render with impartiality: Which (of what kind) is your sovereignty? [that is, what thing can I do, whereby your sovereignty may be increased through my instrumentality? ] And which is your wealth? [that is, what thing shall I do whereby riches may be kept in your possession by my means?] How thus - in the actions of Auharmazd shall I become yours? [That is, I (?) shall do that thing through which, by my means, your sovereignty is extended; and also wealth is kept in your possession by. me.] For whenever I (?) shall do righteous deeds, [that is, when I (?) shall do duty ^nd good works], V ohfiman "gives nourishment to our poor. Belore all - of every kind,! even before them ye* are 86 THE GATHAS.
86 THE GATHAS.
6, If thus Ye are in verity, O Mazda! with the Righteous Order and Thy Good Mind, then grant Ye me a sign 1 of this in this worlds entire abiding 2 (while I live amid its scenes), how offering sacrifice and praising 3 You the more devoutly 4, I may approach’ You (in my worship)!
7 * Where 5 are Thine offerers, O Mazda! Thy helpers, who as the enlightened of the Good Mind are producing the doctrines with wide mental light as inherited treasures, (delivering them as Thy word) in misfortune and in woe 6? I know none other than Y ou; then do Ye save us through Your righteousness!
8. Through these our deeds (of sacrifice and zeal 7 ), they are terrified 8 among whom there was (once) destruction, and for many (at the time) when the declared; [that is, ye are.more capable] than the demons, for their (?) intellect is perverted, (and ye are also before) men.
3 So also the Pahlavi dakhrak.
% So indicated by keirhoani. 1 have no doubt whatever that maetha should have this sense. See also Y. XXX, 9.
3 So also the Pahlavi: Pavan afrinagano dahirno va st&ykno satftnam madam.
4 Urv&idyao, if in its original form, looks like a comparative. One naturally thinks of a * vrad (?) equivalent to ‘ vn'dh/ 5 Rhetorically interrogative as often in English, or indeed a mere particle. (Compare XL VI, 9.)
6 So also the Pahlavi indicates with its amfikhtwno (sic) i M~ yaiimo [1 avo kar va kirfak], milmk pavan &s&nih va irJXmk pavan tangih vadteyen frakh-hushih. Ner.: AS’jksham satyaya jzk sama- dhanatve, sas^ka/atve * J pi kurate vipula^aitanyaA [kila, y&k Mryaw punyzm yat samrzddhataya kurate] tai^a yat sawka/atayd, *pi kurate, tasya vi^Eanaiaitanya^ tasmad bhavati.
7 Nio being taken in a possessive sense.
8 But the Pahlavi has: t Min zak i valmam&n maman kflnuno lanmaB^feim’; possibly ‘by these actions they terrify us'; the middle in the sense of the active.
YASNA XXXIV.
°PP ressor Thy holy vows was as- the stronger oppressing the weaker 1. They who have not thought (in consonance) with Thy Righteous Order, from these Thy Good Mind 2 abideth afar.
9. Aye, they who desert Thy bountiful Piety, O Mazda! that one desired of Thee 3, O Thou omnis- cient! and who ' thus abandon her by reason of the evil-doer, and in their ignorance of (Thy) Good Mind, from such as these (Aramaiti) w r ith her holiness utterly departs 4 as the red Khrafstras (who destroy and pollute all life, flee) from us 5 (Thy faithful servants).
10. Through the action of this (His) Good Mind (as he works his grace within us) the benevolently wise 6 One declared a result as its fruit, He knowing the bountiful Piety, the creatrix of righteous beings 7. These all, O Mazda Ahura! in Thy Kingdom (are 1 It is a mistake to suppose that the Pahlavi translator and his followers, Ner. and the -Persian MS. (of Hang's Collection), refer ndidyaunghem and nadewto to the same Sanskrit word. They translate them as if referring the first to nadh, and the last to nid.
2 Min valtnanrim- hara rakhik aito Voh&man. Asmano seems an impossible reading, and cannot be reconciled with Vohfi.
3 The hint of the' Pahlavi points, as usual, to the general sense, leaving us the task of discovering the grammatical structure.
Here I do not follow the indication of sedkhnyen; Ner. parikshi- pyanti. The voc. 4 O Thou ’ is free.
4 So also in general the Pahlavi: Min valmaman kabed Ahard- yih se^dak; Ner. tebhya^* prabhuto dharmaA* prabhraryati.
5 So if ahma/ is read, but the MS. before the Pahlavi translator read ahmat; Ner. etebhyaA (freely). A simpler rendering results; 4 as from him dee away/ 6 Observe the evidence of the Zend to the prevalent meaning of 4 khratu/ 7 Or reading hitham, and in -the sense of 4 bond/ we coincide with Ner. sukhanivdsam. Haitham=the true; hatam?= of beings. Lit 4 the true, creatrix of Asha (the holy)/ 88 THE GATHAS.
‘ helps to our progress’) for they smite (our tyrants) with fear \ A xi. And for Thee hath Aramaiti (who is Our Piety) increased both the Universal Weal and (its continuance in) Immortality, and (with them as ever united) the Righteous (ritual and moral) Ordei (established and made firm) in the Kingdom of (Thy Good Mind). Those powerful lasting two (hath she increased) to (give us the needful) food 2. And through these, O Mazda! art Thou with Thy perfect expellers of hate 3. (Thou removest Thy foes afar *!)
12. What then are Thy regulations 5? And what; wilt Thou? What of praise, or of (fuller) offering? Speak forth that we hear it, O Mazda! what will establish the blessed rewards of Thine ordinance 6!
1 The word voyathra is difficult to place; the Pahlavi translator divided, reading avo-yathra (possibly avoi athra), and rendered fr dd Mshi~ait=is smitten down; the Persian better: Frod zadar, is smiting down. We may well hesitate before rejecting this indica- tion, which may point to a better text. Like vafnr, it may indicate the severity of the influences of the righteous system, in the midst of genial allusion. The ta vispa might refer quite naturally to dux-jkayasthani in the previous verse. The form, voyathra (cor- rected) may represent some derivative from the root bi=tG fear. Compare bya72t6 in verse 8.
2 So likewise the, Pahlavi with its khhrirno; otherwise e for glory; 9 £z/ar=svar. Lit. c To Thee (are) both Weal and Immor- tality.’
s Gwid besh min lak homanih; Ner. -vitakash/as tva m asi 4 Ner.: Thus both are (to be derived) from thee, Avirdada's food, and that of Amirdada also, [the (food) of the Lord-of- water, and of the Lord-of-wood* (so the later Avesta and Parsism)], and in the kingdom of the best mind, righteousness is making a revelation together with the perfect mind. Do thou also bestow zeal and power upon this one, 0 Great Wise One, the Lord! From torment art thou exempt.
*.Otherwise simply « water and tree.’
YASNA XXXIV.
89 Teach Thou us the paths through Righteousness, those verily trod by (Thy) Good Mind 1 as he lives within Thy saints 2.
1 3. (Do I ask what is that path?) That way which Thou declares! to me as the path of the Good Mind, 0 Ahura! (is made 3 in its parts by) the religious precepts and laws of the Saviours, wherein the well- doer thrives 4 from (his) Righteousness 5. And it marks for the good a reward of which Thou art Thyself the bestower.
14. For that (reward), O Mazda! ye have given as the one to be chosen for (our) bodily 6 life through 1 The Pahlavi has the gloss: Teach us the way of the original religion.
2 Neryosangh: Kim te sa^mar^anam [kila, karyaz^, te Mm mahanyayitaratfz?] Kah kama$? Ka£a yushmaka^ stuti^? Kaia yushmakazra igisnih? Srinomi, Mahag'wanin! ‘ prakrzsh/aw brubi 1 yat ietsi* dharmasya saOTmar^-anatfz, [aho vheshezza pa^ya I tasmat maMnyayitarat kura!] Yikshapaya* asmakazzi- dharmasya maigam uttamena svadhinazrc manasi. [Margazzz yam pfirvanyayavantazrc asmabhyazzz br&hi] 8 Observe the certainty of a subtle meaning, ‘ the way is the con- sciences or laws/ 4 Geldner has admirably suggested a comparison with Yiag on account of the connection 4 way/ But as this necessitates two urvaz=vraz, and as Ahura is spoken of as ‘ dwelling ' in * paths/ 1 do not think that 4 thriving in paths 5 is very difficult. The pro- minent thought is not the going, but the 4 right going/ That path indicates a reward (so also ' the Pahlavi £ashido, Ner. asvadayai). But we must be thankful for the keen and vigorous discussion. Compare urvakhshanguha gaya gigha&sa. The Pahlavi has hft- ravakh-mamh* and in Y. XLIV, 8. If vra^ is compared, the idea must be happy progress; but varh (Justi) seems the more obvious correspondent.
5 Asha, very often personified, is a stronger expression than 4 correctly/ 6 Of course our life on earth, merely in the bodily state. Comp, Y. XXVIII, 3, There astavatasM evidently means £ of earth/ mananghd, 4 of heaven J ( — of corporeal — of mind, without body).
THE GATHAS.
the deeds of Thy Good Mind (in us). They who work in the toil of the mother 1 Kine, these further 2 Your merciful care through the understandings action 3, and (taught) by Thine Orders (word) 4.
15. Yea, (show me, O Mazda! that path and its reward); tell me the best (of truths); reveal the best words and best actions, and the confessing 5 prayer of the praiser through Thy Good Mind (living within us); and through the Righteous Order, O Ahura! And by Your Sovereign Power and grace may’st Thou make life really progressive 6 (till perfection shall have been reached)!
1 Or the k ' mature/ ‘ drivable ' (?) cow. She ‘ goes on her path ' of toil 2 So fraz yehabflmf.
8 Observe that verezma cannot well mean ‘ stall ' in this line. The Pahlavi likewise sees varzt-ait in it; Ner. vidhiyate, both free as to form.
4 Neryosangh: Sa yato, Maha^anin! kamo 'smaka^ yat tanu- mate ^ivamate dtyate [aMryaya'], uttamena karma^e manasa [khshatriyaya], yask a gava* a^arayitre* A^inamnyi, [ku/umbine], yo yushmaka^z sunirvazia^anatay^, Svamin! buddhya&t, pu»ya- pradattaya vidhiyate [dinL6].
5 1 concede this shade of meaning to the constant and unvary- ing evidence of the Pahlavi translator. He translates uniformly by avcLm yehabfin&f or its equivalents.
8 Bring on ‘millennial* perfection when progress shall have been completed.
The Pahlavi translation is as follows: Pavan zak t lek&m khfWayih- Afcharmazd l frashakar^o pavan kamako ashkarako den ahvano yehabtini-ait.
Ner,: Yushmakam r%yena, Svamin! akhshayatvaxn sveM^aya parisphuto dasyate bhuvane.
YASNA XLIII.
91 This Gatha, consisting of Yasna XLIII-XLVI, is named from the word which begins it, like the three last collec- tions. The fact that the word luta possesses special signi- ficance may have Influenced the minds of the Parsis of a later age, inducing them to associate this first chapter with happy anticipations, but it was of course not owing to any such circumstance that the name was given to the Gatha. The Gatha, like its fellows, has its existence as a unit from the nature of its metre.
It has lines generally of eleven syllables, arranged in stanzas of five. It seemed convenient to chant all the hymns of one particular metre together. This hymn, from some unknown reason, or from pure accident, having stood first in the collection in this metre, the Gatha was named from its first word.
The question naturally arises at this place whether this Gatha, in its parts or as a whole, is older than the Ahuna- vaiti and the others. For supplementary statements on this subject, see the Introduction, page xxvii, also elsewhere. It is sufficient to recall here that the procedure of the Ahunavaiti, and the sequence of the other Gathas in the MSS. of the Yasna, have little importance in determining the question of relative age. If originally grouped in the order of their age, they might easily become transposed for the purpose of liturgical recitation. (See the inserted Hapta- ngh&iti, and Y. LII.) As to the metres present, they afford no indications as to relative age. The metre of the Uktavaiti, approaching as it does the Trish/up, may be as old as, or older than, that of.the Ahunavaiti. The oldest Rishis sang In Trish/up. The sole remaining test of the relative age of pieces, is their contents. Do those of the Ahunavaiti show a priority to those in the Uktavaiti as regards the particular circumstances of which they treat? St> far as I am able to 92 THE GATHAS.
92 THE GATHAS.
judge, no part of the Ahunavaiti is older than Y. XLVI. There we have the man before us at a period in his" life before he had attained to his supreme position. He riot only laments the unfavourable prospects of his cause, but he is full of vehement animosity, urging on his adherents to the overthrow of some powerful opposing leader, and anti- cipating an armed struggle so formidable that its partisans are elsewhere alluded to (in Y. XL IV) as ‘ hosts/ We see him also exhorting the various chiefs of his party as they are evidently standing before him in some large assembly, possibly as the army on the eve of an important encounter.
He refers intimately to the monarch, to his own family, .the Spitdmas, and to the Hvogvas, as represented by Frashaoitra. He offers the rewards of Ahura, as he pro- nounces His threats and condemnations. Every feature bears the strongest evidence of originality. But have we not the same in the Gdthas Ahunavaiti, Spe^ta-mainyu, and the others? Beyond a question. Those passages which express grief, fear, and passionate resentment, we should naturally refer to Zarathmstra personally, and to the earlier portion of his career; and we can make no distinc-. tion between such passages when they occur in the Ahun- avaifci, LLtavaiti, or elsewhere. As to chapter XXIX with its logical commencement, as expressing the sufferings to be remedied in. the -entire effort, together with the call of • Zarathurtra in immediate connection, and chapter XXX with its theosophical statements, we should say that they were composed later, during a period of success and reiec- tion. But this would be a mere surmise. The time of the sage need not necessarily have been consumed in struggles even during the early years of his career.
Chapter LIII seems to belong to a period of mature age, but not necessarily to a period of advanced age. It cele-* brates the marriage of Zarathujtra’s daughter, but maidens were married early. With the exception of Y. LIII, I would say that the occurrence of a piece in this or that Gatha has little, if “anything, to do with determining the question of its relative age. • * • YASNA XLIXL 93 YASNA XLIII.
Salvation is announced as universal for be- lievers. Reflections of Zarathustra upon THE SUBLIMITY AND BOUNTIFULNESS OF' AhURA* As, in every instance, it is probable that verses have fallen out here and there in this important piece, and some may have been inserted, not necessarily from another composer, but from other compositions. After certain limits, however, marked signs of at least external connection are present. After the first three verses, which are quite apart, then from the fourth and fifth on, every alter- nate verse has the formula Spewtem a / thwa Mazdsf mwhi AhursL It would indeed present no difficulty for a successor to add these words to stanzas otherwise also imitated, but whether from the leading sage or not, whether from him in one strain, or from him as collected from different fragments, the course of thought does not so fail in logical sequence as that it is either impossible, or displeasing, as a whole in a poetical composition.
Verses 1-3 are admirable as preliminary. Verses 4-6, with their lofty descriptions of power and benevolence in the Deity, prepare the way well, with their allusions to the final judgment, for the closer reflections in verses 7-1 5 upon the prophet's call, uttered at the instigation of Sraosha (his obedient will). Verse 16 is a closing strophe looking much like an addition from another hand, not at all because Zarathmtra is mentioned in the third person, but from its general cast. It possesses, however, very great interest from these circumstances. If a later addition, it enables us to see how the principal features of the system were viewed at a period not identical with the earliest, but closely following it.
1. If we can accept the deeply interesting suggestion of the Pahlavi translator, which is, ‘ Salvation to him to whom there is salvation for every man/ we need then suppose no necessary loss of verses. Otherwise we are obliged to consider the loss of some laudatory verse, or verses, containing such ' matter as perhaps Y. XXXIV, 14, ‘This princely priest has devoted all to Thee, therefore, salvation to him, whosoever he may be,? Whatever may be the actual truth, the main stress of the thoughts is clear and appropriate. Using the word vas<?~khsKayas in a good sense, 94 THE GATHAS.
94 THE GATHAS.
the composer beseeches Ahura to grant those two ‘mightf and eternal ones/ which logically form the complement to each other, universal wholeness, welfare of soul and body, without which beati- tude was inconceivable, and then the unlimited duration of that condition; for it is quite impossible that 4 long life' alone was here meant by a term, the equivalent of which soon after designated the Bountiful Immortals. We have here again ample data for affirming the richness and depth of the religious conceptions.
The 'powerful and continuous two' are sought together with splendour as rewards, not for the gratification of any selfish senti- ment, but in order to maintain Asha, the religious Order, on which the sacred polity, and the tribal, as well as the national wealth depended, but more than any general blessings, the individual sanc- tity of life. 2. And this is signalised as the highest good; and to this a prayer is added for the 4 maya/ which recalls the super- natural wisdom of the Indian Hercules, about which much phantastic and highly coloured myth is grouped; but here, with the ever- recufring contrast, the m&ya is the mysterious wisdom of the Divine Benevolence, colourless and abstract indeed, but yet possessing how great religious depth!
3. The highest blessing, in another and more than once repeated phrase, is again besought, as 4 the better than the good/ even the attainment of the one who guides to the 'straight paths/ which are the 4 way, even the conceptions and revelations of the Saviours' (Y. XXXIV, 13; LIII, 2), in which the believer prospers, and Ahura dwells, as he dwells in his kingdom, and his 4 chosen home' itself (Y. XLVI, 16). Whether 4 4 his man who shows the paths ' of 4 the bodily and mental world 9 is the same as he who prays for the ayapta ahvau astvatasM hya iki manangho (the boons of the two worlds) in Y. XXVIII, 3, here referred to in the third person, there speaking in the first, and whether he is Zarathujtra himself, are questions. It is only necessary to say that, if any relief is * gained by the supposition, then beyond a doubt Zarathmtra may have been the composer of both pieces or fragments,' 1, here, as in- Y. XXVIII, 7, referring to himself as in the third person, there, in Y. XXVIII, also further representing another who prays, referring by name to him as in the third.
But was Zarathujitra the only sacred singer, or was he the centre of a group only, of which he was the life? (Compare Yathra ve afsmaini (?) smgMni-(?am&spa Hv6gva; Y. XLVI, 17; see also the Introduction.)
4. Proceeding as if the first three verses were absent from his YASNA XLIII.
95