FARGARD 19.

Synopsis.

I (§§ 1-3). Angra Mainyu sends the demon Buiti to kill Zarathushtra: Zarathushtra sings aloud the Ahunwar, and the demon flies away, confounded by the sacred words and by the glory of Zarathushtra.

Ia (§§ 4-10). Angra Mainyu himself attacks him and propounds riddles to be solved under pain of death. The Prophet rejects him with heavenly stones, given by Ahura, and announces to him that he will destroy his creation. The demon promises him the empire of the world if he adores him, as his ancestors have done, and abjures the religion of Mazda. Zarathushtra rejects his offers scornfully. He announces he will destroy him with the arms given by Ahura, namely, the sacrificial implements and the sacred words. Then he recites the Tat thwa peresa, that is to say, the Gatha in which he asks Ahura for instruction on all the mysteries of the material and spiritual world.

The rest of the Fargard contains specimens of the several questions asked by Zarathushtra and the answers given by Ahura. It is an abridgement of the Revelation (cf. HN).

II (11-17). How to destroy the uncleanness born from a contact with the dead? — By invoking the Mazdean Religion. A series of invocations taught by Ahura and developed by Zarathushtra (15-16)

III (18-19). How to promote the prosperity of the creation? — By the rites of the Baresman [barsom].

IV (20-25). How to purify man and clothes defiled by the dead? — With gomez, water, and perfume.

V (26-34). On the remuneration of deeds after death; on the fate of the wicked and the righteous; the Chinwad bridge.

IIa (34-42). Another series of invocations.

VI (43-47). The demons, dismayed by the birth of the Prophet, rush back into hell.

As may be seen from the preceding analysis, the essential part of this Fargard are sections I and VI, the rest being an indefinite development. It appears also from section VI, that the attacks of Buiti and Angra Mainyu against Zarathushtra and the attempts to seduce him are supposed to take place at the moment when he was born, which is confirmed by the testimony of the Warsht-mansr Nask (West, Pahlavi Texts, IV, 226 seq.)

Translation.

I.

1. From the region of the north, from the regions of the north,747 forth rushed Angra Mainyu, the deadly, the Daeva of the Daevas.748 And thus spake the evil-doer Angra Mainyu, the deadly: ‘Druj, rush down and kill him,’ O holy Zarathushtra! The Druj came rushing along, the demon Buiti,749 who is deceiving, unseen death.750

2. Zarathushtra chanted aloud the Ahuna-Vairya:751 ‘The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.’

He offered the sacrifice to the good waters of the good Daitya!752 He recited the profession of the worshippers of Mazda!753

The Druj dismayed, rushed away, the demon Buiti, who is deceiving, unseen death.

3. And the Druj said unto Angra Mainyu: ‘Thou, tormenter, Angra Mainyu! I see no way to kill Spitama Zarathushtra, so great is the glory of the holy Zarathushtra.’

Zarathushtra saw (all this) within his soul: ‘The wicked, the evildoing Daevas (thought he) take counsel together for my death.’

I a.

4. Up started Zarathushtra, forward went Zarathushtra, unabated by Akem-mano,754 by the hardness of his malignant riddles;755 he went

747 From hell; cf. II, 10n; III, 7 n; HN25; Bd15.19.

748 ‘The fiend of fiends,’ the arch-fiend.

749 Buiti is identified by the Gr. Bd. with the Būt, the idol, worshipped by Budasp (a corruption of Bodhisativa). Buiti [Buddha] would be therefore a personification of Buddhism, which was flourishing in Eastern Iran in the two centuries before and after Christ. Buidhi (Vd11.9 may be another and more correct pronunciation of Bodhi.

750 .Idolatry (see previous note) being the death of the soul.

751 [i.e. Ahunwar], a prayer in frequent use, and considered of great efficacy. It was by reciting it that Ohrmazd in his first conflict with Ahriman drove him back to hell (Bd1).

752 The river in Eranwej; see Vd1.3.

753 The Fravarane (Y11.16).

754 See Vd10.10 n.

755 This is a fragment of an old legend in which Zarathushtra and Angra Mainyu played respectively the parts of Oedipus and the Sphinx. Cf. Yt5.81, where the same legend is told in nearly the same terms of the sorcerer Ahktya and Yavisht i

swinging stones in his hand, stones as big as a house,756 which he obtained from the Maker, Ahura Mazda, he the holy Zarathushtra.

‘Whereat on this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar, whereat dost thou swing (those stones), thou who standest by the upper bank of the river Dareja,757 in the mansion of Pourushaspa?’758

5. Thus Zarathushtra answered Angra Mainyu: ‘O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! I will smite the creation of the Daeva; I will smite the Nasu, a creature of the Daeva; I will smite the Pairika Knathaiti,759 till the victorious Saoshyant come up to life760 out of the lake Kasava [Kasaoya],761 from the region of the dawn, from the regions of the dawn.’

6. Again to him said the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: ‘Do not destroy my creatures, O holy Zarathushtra! Thou art the son of Pourushaspa;762 by thy mother I was invoked.763 Renounce the good Religion of the worshippers of Mazda, and thou shalt gain such a boon as Vadhaghna764 gained, the ruler of the nations.’

7. Spitama Zarathushtra said in answer: ‘No! never will I renounce the good Religion of the worshippers of Mazda, either for body or life, though they should tear away the breath!’

8. Again to him said the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: ‘By whose Word wilt thou strike, by whose Word wilt thou repel, by

Friyan. [See also the Pahlavi Text Yavisht i Friyan.]

756 The Commentary has, ‘Some say, those stones are the Ahunwar.’ If one keeps in mind how much the Moslem legend of Ibrahim owes to the legend of Zarathushtra, one may easily admit that this passage in our text is the origin of the story of how Iblis tempted Ibrahim, and was pelted away, whence he was named ‘the stoned One’ (ar-ragīmū).

757 ‘The Daraja is the chief of the rivers, because the house of Zartosht’s father stood on its bank and Zartosht was born there’ (Bd24.15.)

758 The father of Zarathushtra.

759 The incarnation of idolatry; cf. Vd1.9.

760 The unborn son of Zarathushtra, who, at the end of time, will destroy Ahriman and bring about the resurrection of the dead. See Yt13.62; Yt19.92, 94 seq.

761 The Zarah sea in Saistan. See Yt19.66.

762 ‘I know thee’ (Comm.)

763 The Commentary has, ‘Some explain thus: Thy forefathers worshipped me: worship me also.’ Zarathushtra’s forefathers must naturally have followed a false religion, since he announces the true one.

764 Azhi Dahaka or Zohak, who, as a legendary king, is said to have ruled the world for a thousand years. See Mx57.24-25: “Ahriman shouted to Zartosht thus: ‘If thou desist from this good religion of the Mazda-worshippers, then I will give thee a thousand years’ dominion of the worldly existence, as was given to the Vadakan monarch Dahak [Zohak].’”

whose weapon will the good creatures (strike and repel) my creation, who am Angra Mainyu?’

9. Spitama Zarathushtra said in answer: ‘The sacred mortar, the sacred cups, the Haoma, the Word taught by Mazda, these are my weapons, my best weapons! By this Word will I strike, by this Word will I repel, by this weapon will the good creatures (strike and repel thee), O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! The Good Spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP] made the creation;765 he made it in the boundless Time. The Amesha-Spentas made the creation, the good, the wise Sovereigns.’

10. Zarathushtra chanted aloud the Ahuna-Vairya.

The holy Zarathushtra said aloud: ‘This I ask thee: teach me the truth, O Lord! ...’766

II.

11. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! [he was sitting by the upper bank of the Dareja,767 before Ahura Mazda, before the good Vohu-mana, before Asha Vahishta, Khshathra Vairya, and Spenta Armaiti;]

12. ‘How shall I free the world from that Druj, from that evil-doer, Angra Mainyu? How shall I drive away direct defilement? How indirect defilement? How shall I drive the Nasu from the house of the worshippers of Mazda? How shall I cleanse the faithful man? How shall I cleanse the faithful woman?’

13. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! the good Religion of Mazda.

‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! though thou see them not, the Amesha- Spentas who rule over the seven Karshvares of the earth.768

‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time,769 and Vayu,770 whose action is most high.

765 The first duty of every good Mazda-worshipper is to think of Ohrmazd as the creator, and of Ahriman as the destroyer (Mx2.9).

766 This verse is the beginning of the Tat thwa peresa Gatha (Yasna 44); see the introduction to this Fargard.

767 See note 11 above.

768 See verse 39.

769 By contradistinction to the duration of the world, which is limited to 12,000 years (Bd34.1).

770 The Genius of Destiny; see Vd5.9.

‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! the powerful Wind, made by Mazda; and Spenta [Armaiti],771 the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.

14. ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! my Fravashi,772 who am Ahura Mazda, the greatest, the best, the fairest of all beings, the most solid, the most intelligent, the best shapen, the highest in holiness, and whose soul is the holy Word [manthra spenta]!773

‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! this creation of mine, who am Ahura Mazda.’

15. Zarathushtra imitated my words from me, (and said): ‘I invoke the holy creation of Ahura Mazda.

‘I invoke Mithra,774 the lord of the rolling countryside, a god armed with beautiful weapons, with the most glorious of all weapons, with the most victorious of all weapons.

‘I invoke the holy, well-formed Sraosha,775 who wields a club in his hand, to bear upon the heads of the fiends.776

16. ‘I invoke the most glorious Holy Word [manthra spenta].

‘I invoke the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time, and Vayu, whose action is most high.

‘I invoke the mighty Wind, made by Mazda, and Spenta (Armaiti), the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.

‘I invoke the good Religion of Mazda, the fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.’

III. 17. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Maker of the good world, Ahura Mazda! With what manner of sacrifice shall I worship, with what manner of sacrifice shall I make people worship this creation of Ahura Mazda?’777

771 The fourth Amesha-Spenta, who in her spiritual character is an incarnation of pious humility and in her material character the Genius of the Earth; see Vd2.10.

772 On the Fravashis, see Yt13.

773 See Yasna 1.1.

774 See Vd3.1 n 6.

775 See Vd18.14, note.

776 See Vd18.22 ff.; Yasna 57.19 ff; Yt11.

777 The sacrifice intended is a sacrifice to nature. The Baresman, as representative of the vegetal nature, receives the zaothra-libations, which are representative of the fertilizing rains.

18. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Go, O Spitama Zarathushtra! towards the high-growing trees,778 and before one of them that is beautiful, high-growing, and mighty, say thou these words: “Hail to thee! O good, holy tree, made by Mazda! Ashem vohu!” 779

19. ‘[The priest] shall cut off a twig of Baresma, long as an aesha, thick as a yava.780 The faithful one, holding it in his left hand, shall keep his eyes upon it without ceasing,781 whilst he is offering up to Ahura Mazda and to the Amesha-Spentas, the high and beautiful golden Haomas, and Good Thought and the good Rata,782 made by Mazda, holy and excellent.’

IV.

20. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O thou, all-knowing Ahura Mazda! thou art never asleep, never intoxicated, thou Ahura Mazda! Vohu-mano783 gets directly defiled: Vohu-mano gets indirectly defiled; the Daevas defile him from the bodies smitten by the Daevas:784 let Vohu-mano be made clean.’

21. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shalt take some gomez from a bull ungelded and such as the law requires it.785 Thou shalt take the

778 The tree, whatever it is, from which the Baresma is taken.

779 See verse 22.

780 Perhaps: ‘long as a ploughshare, thick as a barleycorn.’ See the English system of measures, in which three barleycorns = one inch. — See Nirangistan 90.

781 The Parsis are recommended to keep their eyes on the Barsom during the sacrifice: ‘A man is offering the Dron, he has said all the required Avesta, but he has not looked at the Barsom: what is the rule? It would have been better if he had looked at it; however he may proceed to the meal’ (Old Rav. 97 b). See Tahmuras Fragments, 30-31.

782 Rata impersonates the liberalities done by men to God (as offerings) and by God to men (as riches, etc.).

783 Vohu-mano is often used as a designation of the faithful one, literally, ‘the goodminded;’ this is the meaning which is given to it in this passage by the Commentary, and it certainly belongs to it in the second part of verse 24; but in the first part of the same clause it is translated ‘clothes,’ a meaning which is not unlikely in itself, as Vohu-mano, being the Amahraspand of cattle, may designate, and in fact did designate, the skins of cattle and leather (Comm. ad Farg. XVIII, 2). On the whole the description in the text applies to the cleansing both of the man and of the clothes, and Vohu-mano sometimes means the one, and sometimes the other. — From the first meaning is derived the modern use of Vahman, ‘Such a one,’ ‘N.’

784 From dead bodies.

785 The so-called Varasiō; ‘it must be or a white colour; if a single hair on its body be found other than white, the animal is rejected as unfit for the purpose’ (Sorabji Kavasji Khambata, in the Indian Antiquary, VII, 180). On the preparation of the gomez, see Wilson, Parsi Religion Unfolded, pp. 434-435.

man who is to be cleansed to the field made by Ahura,786 and the man that is to cleanse him shall draw the furrows.787

22. ‘He shall recite a hundred Ashem vohu: “Holiness is the best of all good: it is also happiness. Happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness!”

‘He shall chant two hundred Ahuna-Vairya: “The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda! He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.”

‘He shall wash himself four times with the gomez from the ox, and twice with the water made by Mazda.788

23. ‘Thus Vohu-mano shall be made clean, and clean shall be the man. The man shall take up Vohu-mano789 with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left: and thou shalt lay down Vohumano under the mighty light of the heavens by the light of the stars made by the gods, until nine nights have passed away.790

24. ‘When nine nights have passed away, thou shalt bring libations unto the fire, thou shalt bring hard wood unto the fire, thou shalt bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the fire, and thou shalt perfume Vohu-mano therewith.

25. ‘Thus shall Vohu-mano be made clean, and clean shall be the man.791 He shall take up Vohu-mano with the right arm and the left, with the left arm and the right, and Vohu-mano792 shall say aloud: “Glory be to Ahura Mazda! Glory be to the Amesha-Spentas! Glory be to all the other holy beings.” ‘

V.

26. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O thou all-knowing Ahura Mazda: Should I urge upon the godly man, should I urge upon the godly woman, should I urge upon the wicked Daeva-worshipper who

786 The place of the cleansing, the Barashnum-gāh (see Vd9.3). [Also see Modi, Funeral Ceremonies of the Parsees (Bombay, 1928)]

787 See Vd9.10.

788 ‘Or better six times with the gomez and thrice with the water’ (Comm.; see Vd8.37 ff.; Vd9.28 ff.)

789 ‘The clothes’ (Comm.).

790 The clothes of the unclean shall be exposed to the air for nine nights, all the time while be himself is confined in the Armesht-gah. The rules for the cleansing of clothes that have been worn by the dead himself are different (see Vd7.12 ff.)

791 ‘Thus Vohu-mano shall be clean — the clothes; thus the man shall be clean — he who wears those clothes’ (Comm.)

792 The faithful one.

lives in sin, to give the earth made by Ahura, the water that runs, the corn that grows, and all the rest of their wealth?’793

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shouldst, O holy Zarathushtra.’

27. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are the rewards given? Where does the rewarding take place? Where is the rewarding fulfilled? Whereto do men come to take the reward that, during their life in the material world, they have won for their souls?

28. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the wicked, evil-doing Daevas cut off his eyesight. On the third night, when the dawn appears and brightens up, when Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reaches the all-happy mountains, and the sun is rising:

29. ‘Then the fiend, named Vizaresha,794 O Spitama Zarathushtra, carries off in bonds795 the souls of the wicked Daeva-worshippers who live in sin. The soul enters the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and to the righteous. At the head of the Chinwad bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazda,796 they ask for their spirits and souls the reward for the worldly goods which they gave away here below.797

793 See verse 29 end.

794 The demon Vizaresh is he who, during that struggle of three days and three nights with the souls of the departed, carries terror on them and beats them: he sits at the gate of hell (Bd28.18).

795 ‘Every one has a noose cast around his neck: when a man dies, if he has been a righteous man, the noose falls from his neck; if a wicked, they drag him with that noose down into hell’ (Comm.; see Vd5.8).

796 The Chinwad bridge extends over hell and leads to Paradise; for the souls of the righteous it widens to the length of nine javelins; for the souls of the wicked it narrows to a thread, and they fall down into hell (see Arda Viraf 5.1; Dk. Book 9, chapter 20.3). The Chinwad bridge has become the Sirath bridge of the Moslems. Not long ago they sang in Yorkshire of ‘the Brig o’ Dread, na brader than a thread’ (Thorns, Anecdotes, 89), and even nowadays the peasants in Nièvre tells of a little board— ‘Pas pu longue, pas pu large / Qu’un ch’veu de la Sainte Viarge,’ which was put by Saint Jean d’Archange between the earth and Paradise: ‘Ceux qu’saront la raison (=l’oraison?) d’Dieu / Par dessus passeront. / Ceux qu’la sauront pas / Au bout mourront.’ (Mélusine, p. 70.)

797 See verse 26, and Vd3.34-5; Vd18.33 ff.

30. ‘Then comes the beautiful, well-shapen, strong and wellformed maid,798 with the dogs at her sides,799 one who can distinguish,800 who has many children,801 happy, and of high understanding.

’she makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Haraberezaiti;802 above the Chinwad bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves.

31. ‘Up rises Vohu-mano803 from his golden seat; Vohu-mano exclaims: “How hast thou come to us, thou Holy One, from that decaying world into this undecaying one?” 804

32. ‘Gladly pass the souls of the righteous to the golden seat of Ahura Mazda, to the golden seat of the Amesha-Spentas, to the Garonmanem,805 the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha- Spentas, the abode of all the other holy beings.

33. ‘As to the godly man that has been cleansed,806 the wicked evildoing Daevas tremble at the perfume of his soul after death, as doth a sheep on which a wolf is pouncing.807

34. ‘The souls of the righteous are gathered together there: Nairyosangha808 is with them; a messenger of Ahura Mazda is Nairyosangha.

798 The soul of the dead, on the fourth day, finds itself in the presence of a maid, of divine beauty or fiendish ugliness, according as he himself was good or bad, and she leads him into heaven or hell: this maid is his own Daena, his Religion [daena also means conscience], that is the sum of his religious deeds, good or evil (HN, section 2.9). [See also Dd21.]

799 The dogs that keep the Chinwad bridge (see Vd13.9).

800 The good from the wicked.

801 Doubtful. Those children would he the righteous, as the sons of the Druj are the wicked (Vd18.30 ff.)

802 The Chinwad bridge rests by one end on the Alborz (Hara-berezaiti) and by the

other on the Chikad Daitik in Eranwej (Comm. ad 101 ed. Sp.; Dk. IX, 20, 3).

803 The doorkeeper of Paradise; a Zoroastrian Saint-Pierre [St. Peter].

804 See Vd7.52; Hadhokht Nask, part 2.16.

805 The Garothman of the Parsis; literally, ‘the house of songs;’ it is the highest

Paradise.

806 That has performed the Barashnum.

807 Ohrmazd is all perfume, Ahriman is infection and stench (Bd1; Eznig, Refutatio Haeresiarum II); the souls of their followers partake of the same qualities; and by the performance of the Barashnum both the body and the soul are perfumed and sweetened.

808 See Vd22.7.

Ila.

‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! this very creation of Ahura Mazda.’

35. Zarathushtra imitated those words of mine: ‘I invoke the holy world, made by Ahura Mazda.

‘I invoke the earth made by Ahura, the water made by Mazda, the holy trees.

‘I invoke the sea Vouru-kasha.809

‘I invoke the beautiful Heaven.810

‘I invoke the endless and sovereign Light.’811

36. ‘I invoke the bright, blissful Paradise of the Holy Ones.

‘I invoke the Garo-nmanem, the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha-Spentas, the abode of all the other holy beings.

‘I invoke the sovereign Place of Eternal Weal,812 and the Chinwad bridge made by Mazda.

37. ‘I invoke the good Saoka,813 who has the good eye.

‘I invoke the whole creation of weal.

‘I invoke the mighty Fravashis814 of the righteous.

‘I invoke Verethraghna,815 made by Ahura, who wears the Glory made by Mazda.816

‘I invoke Tishtrya,817 the bright and glorious star, in the shape of a golden-horned bull.818

809 See Vd5.15 ff.

810 Asman, the highest heaven, as distinguished from the firmament (thwasha) that lies nearer the earth.

811 The endless Light is ‘the place of Ormazd’ (Bd1); it is Infinite Space conceived as luminous.

812 Misvāna gātva, another name of the heavenly spaces; it designates heaven as the abode and source of all blessings, of all savah, or saoka.

813 A Genius defined, ‘Genius of the good eye,’ by opposition to ‘the bad eye.’ Saoka (Sōk) is an auxiliary to Mithra (Mihr); she receives first, from above, all the good destined to man, and transmits it to the lower sky or firmament. (which is the seat of Destiny) through the moon and Ardvisur (Gr. Bd.)

814 See Yt13.

815 The Genius of Victory (Warharan). See Yt14.

816 The hvareno (Khurra or Farr) or light of sovereignty. See verse 39 and see Yt19.

817 Tishtrya (Tir), the star of rain. See Yt8.

818 Tishtrya appears successively under three forms, during the month named from him (the first month of summer, 21 June-21 July): ten days as a man, ten days as

38. ‘I invoke the holy, beneficent Gathas,819 who rule over the Ratus:820

‘I invoke the Ahunavaiti Gatha;

‘I invoke the Ustavaiti Gatha;

‘I invoke the Spentamainyush Gatha;

‘I invoke the Vohukhshathra Gatha;

‘I invoke the Vahishtoishti Gatha.

39. ‘I invoke the Karshvares of Arzahe and Savahe;

‘I invoke the Karshvares of Fradadhafshu and Vidadhafshu;

‘I invoke the Karshvares of Vourubaresti and Vouruzaresti;

‘I invoke the bright Hvaniratha;821

‘I invoke the bright, glorious Haetumant;822

‘I invoke the good Ashi;823

[‘I invoke the good Chisti;824]

‘I invoke the most pure Chista;825

‘I invoke the Glory of the Aryan regions;826

‘I invoke the Glory of the bright Yima, the good shepherd.827

40. ‘Let him be worshipped with sacrifice, let him be gladdened, gratified, and satisfied, the holy Sraosha, the well-formed, victorious, holy Sraosha.828

a bull, ten days as a horse. ‘As a bull he is most to be invoked’ (Comm.), to prepare his final victory over the demon of Drought, Apaosha.

819 The five collections of hymns which form the oldest and holiest part of the Yasna and of the Avesta (Yasna 28-34; Yasna 43-46; Yasna 47-50; Yasna 51; Yasna 53); they are named after their initial words.

820 The chiefs of creation; ‘they rule over the Ratus inasmuch as it is by their means

that these other Ratus are invoked’ (Comm.)

821 The earth is divided into seven Karshwars [(Pah.) (Arezahi, Sawahi, Fradadhafshu, Widadhafshu, Wouru-bareshti, Wourujareshti, and Xwaniratha)], of which the central one, Xwaniratha, is the finest and contains Iran.

822 See Vd1.14.

823 Ashi (Ashishvang), the Genius that imparts riches to the righteous: see Yt17.

824 An angel of religious knowledge.

825 Religious knowledge: invoked with Daena (Religion; Siroza, 24)

826 The light of sovereignty, khwarrah (Phl.) (Av. ‘khwarenah’) , which if secured by the Aryans makes them rule over their enemies (see verse 37 and Yt19.56-93).

827 See Vd2.2.

‘Bring libations unto the Fire, bring hard wood unto the Fire, bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the Fire.

‘Offer up the sacrifice to the Vazishta fire,829 which smites the fiend Spenjaghra:830 bring unto it the cooked meat and full overflowing libations.831

41. ‘Offer up the sacrifice to the holy Sraosha, that the holy Sraosha may smite down the fiend Kunda,832 who is drunken without drinking,833 and throws down into the Hell of the Druj the wicked Daeva-worshippers, who live in sin.

[42.834 ‘I invoke the Kara fish,835 who lives beneath waters in the bottom of the deep lakes.

‘I invoke the ancient and sovereign Merezu,836 the most warlike of the creatures of the two Spirits.837

‘I invoke the seven bright Sru838 ...’

VI.

43. ‘They cried about, their minds wavered to and fro,839 Angra Mainyu the deadly, the Daeva of the Daevas; Indra the Daeva, Sauru

828 That he may smite Aeshma and the other fiends.

829 The fire of lightning.

830 The demon that prevents the fall of rain; a companion in arms of Apaosha.

831 Doubtful.

832 The same as Kundi; see Vd11.9.

833 Whereas Aeshma, the other arch-enemy of Sraosha, borrows part of his strength from drunkenness (Yasna 10.8).

834 From the Vendidad Sada. The clause may have belonged to the original text; it is preceded by another clause which certainly did not belong to it, and part of which is cited in the commentary ad Farg. VIII, 103, where it would have been more suitably placed: ‘When he has been cleansed in the next inhabited place, he may then sow and till the pasture fields, as food for the sheep and as food for the ox.’

835 The Kar-māhī, the Ratu or chief of the creatures that live in water. See Vd20.4, note; Yt14.29.

836 A άπαξ λεγόμενον. From its two epithets, ‘ancient’ and ‘sovereign,’ it appears that it must designate one of the first principles, that is to say, some form of Heaven, Light, Space, or Time.

837 Doubtful.

838 Hapta sravō bāmya.... [Wolff: “ich rufe herab die strahlenden sieben Hörner

[Srū’s] [Ebenfalls ein Sternbild?] — ihre Kinder ... [pusa-?] werden [?]” (I call down the radiating seven horns (Sru)...(also a constellation?) — their children ... [pusa-? perhaps ‘flock’] become (?))]

839 Up and down, in hope and despair.

the Daeva, Naunghaithya the Daeva, Taurvi and Zairi;840 Aeshma of the murderous spear;841 Akatasha the Daeva;842 Winter, made by the Daevas; the deceiving, unseen Death; Zaurva,843 baneful to the fathers; Buiti the Daeva;844 Driwi845 the Daeva; Daiwi846 the Daeva; Kasvi847 the Daeva; Paitisha848 the most Daeva-like amongst the Daevas.]

44. ‘And the evil-doing Daeva, Angra Mainyu, the deadly, said: “‘What! let the wicked, evil-doing Daevas gather together at the head of Arezura!” 849

45. ‘They rush away shouting, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas; they run away shouting, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas; they run away casting the Evil Eye, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas: “Let us gather together at the head of Arezura!

46. ‘“For he is just born the holy Zarathushtra, in the house of Pourushaspa. How can we procure his death? He is the weapon that fells the fiends: he is a counter-fiend to the fiends; he is a Druj to the Druj. Vanished are the Daeva-worshippers, the Nasu made by the Daeva, the false-speaking Lie!”

47. ‘They rush away shouting, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas, into the depths of the dark, raging world of hell.

‘Ashem vohu: Holiness is the best of all good.’

840 See Vd10.9-10.

841 See Vd10.13.

842 Vd10.13.

843 Old age.

844 See above, verse 1 and note.

845 Malice; see above, Vd2.29.

846 Lying; see above, Vd2.29.

847 Spite; see above, Vd2.29.

848 Opposition, or counter-action, the same as Paityāra; a personification of the

doings of Ahriman and of his marring power.

849 At the gate of hell; see above, Vd3.7 and note.