Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 23 — The Zend-Avesta, Part II / Yasts & Nyayis (Darmesteter, page scans)
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is described in §§ 85 seq. ; it reminds one of the Indian legend of the celestial Ganga.
This Yaxt contains much valuable information about the historical legends of Iran, as it enumerates the several heroes who worshipped Ardvi Sijra and asked for her help. First of all is Ahura himself (§ 16) ; then came Haoshyangha (§ 21), Yima (§ 25), A0i Dahaka (§ 29), Thraetaona (§ 33), Keresaspa (§ 37), Franghrasyan (§ 41), Kava Usa (§45), Husravah (§ 49), Tusa (§53), Vaesaka's sons (§ 57), Vafra Navaza (§ 61), G^amaspa (§ 68), Ashavazdah, the son of Pourudhakhjti, and Ashavazdah and Thrita, the sons of Sayuzdri (§ 72), Vistauru (§ 76), Yoijta (§81); the Hvovas and the Naotaras (§ 98), Zarathujtra (§103), Kava Vijtaspa (§ 107), Zairivairi (§ 112), Are^a/-aspa and Vandaremaini (§116).
This enumeration is interrupted by a description of the descent of Ardvi Sura from the heavens (§§ 85-89), and of certain rules for her sacrifice given by herself to Zarathu^rtra (§§90-97). This interruption may have been intentional, as it takes place just when
^ Who shall have sacrificed to Haurvata/.
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ihe course of the enumeration brings us to the times of Zarathujtra and of the institution of the new religion.
The Yajt is opened with a laudation of the benefits bestowed by Ardvi Sura (§§ 1-16), and it closes with a description of her garments and apparel.
The first record of the worship of Ardvi Sura is in a cuneiform inscription by Artaxerxes Mnemon (404-361), in which her name is corrupted into Anahata. Artaxerxes Mnemon appears to have been an eager promoter of her worship, as he is said 'to have first erected the statues of Venus-Anahita ('A(^/)o8it7J9, 'Ai/atViSos) in Babylon, Suza, and Ecbatana, and to have taught her worship to the Persians, the Bactrians, and the people of Damas and Sardes ' (Clemens Alexandrinus, Protrept. 5, on the authority of Berosus ; about 260 B.C.). My friend M. Halevy suggests to me that the detailed and circumstantial description of Anahita's appearance and costume (in §§ 1 26-1 31) shows that the writer must have described her from a consecrated type of statuary.
The principal data of the Greek writers on Anahita will be found in Windischmann's Essay (Die persische Anahita oder Anaitis, 1856). One must be cautious in the use of the Greek sources, as the Greeks, with the eclectic turn of their mind, were inclined to confound under the name of Anahita all the great female deities of Asia Minor, and her name became a common appellation for the Aphrodites as well as for the Artemides of the East. .
o.
as the Greeks, with the eclectic turn of their mind, were inclined to confound under the name of Anahita all the great female deities of Asia Minor, and her name became a common appellation for the Aphrodites as well as for the Artemides of the East. .
o. May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced ! . . . .
Ashem Vohu: Hohness is the best of all good ....
I confess myself a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathujtra, one who hates the Daevas and obeys the laws of Ahura ;
For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto [Havani], the holy and master of holiness ....
Unto the good Waters, made by Mazda ; unto the holy water-spring Ardvi Anahita ; unto all waters, made by Mazda; unto all plants, made by Mazda \
Be propitiation, with sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and orlorification.
Yatha ahu vairyo: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness ....
Sirozah I, 10.
54 YA5TS AND s{r6zAHS.
I.
1. Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathu-S"tra, saying : ' Offer up a sacrifice, O Spitama Zarathuj"tra I unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sura Anahita, the wide-expanding^ and heakh-giving, who hates the Daevas and obeys the laws of Ahura, who is worthy of sacrifice in the material world, worthy of prayer in the material world; the life-increasing ^ and holy, the herd-increasing and holy, the fold-increasing and holy, the wealth-increasing and holy, the countryincreasing and holy ;
2. ' Who makes the seed of all males pure^, who makes the womb of all females pure for bringing forth"*, who makes all females bring forth in safety, who puts milk into the breasts of all females in the right measure and the right quality ;
3. ' The large river, known afar, that is as large as the whole of the waters that run along the earth ; that runs powerfully from the height Hukairya^ down to the sea Vouru- Kasha ^.
4. ' All the shores of the sea Vouru-Kasha are
^ 'As she comes down to all places' (Phi. tr. ad Yasna LXV, i [LXVI, 2]).
^ Ad hu, translated ^an ; 'she makes life longer ' (Aspendiarji). Perhaps adhu will be better translated springs, rivers (reading ^uy instead of^an ; cf. Yt. VIII, 29).
^ ' Pure and sound, without blood and filth' (Phi. tr.).
* ' So that it may conceive again ' (Phi. tr.).
^ ' Hugar the lofty is that from which the water of Aredvivsur leaps down the height of a thousand men' (Bundahi^' XII, 5, tr. West); cf. infra, §§ 96, 121, 126; Yt. XIII, 24. The Hukairya is mentioned again § 25 and Yt. IX, 8; Yt. X, 88; Yt. XV, 15; Yt. XVII, 28.
he lofty is that from which the water of Aredvivsur leaps down the height of a thousand men' (Bundahi^' XII, 5, tr. West); cf. infra, §§ 96, 121, 126; Yt. XIII, 24. The Hukairya is mentioned again § 25 and Yt. IX, 8; Yt. X, 88; Yt. XV, 15; Yt. XVII, 28. It appears to be situated in the west (Bundahii' XXIV, 17; II, 7; Minokhired XLIV, 12).
^ The earth-surrounding Ocean; cf. Vendidad V, 15 (49) seq., text and notes.
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boiling over, all the middle of it is boiling over, when she runs down there, when she streams down there, she, Ardvi Sura Anahita, who has a thousand cells and a thousand channels ^ : the extent of each of those cells, of each of those channels is as much as a man can ride in forty days, riding on a good horse.
5. ' From this river of mine alone flow all the waters that spread all over the seven Karshvares ; this river of mine alone goes on bringing waters, both in summer and in winter. This river of mine purifies the seed in males, the womb in females, the milk in females' breasts.
6. ' I, Ahura Mazda, brought it down with mighty vigour, for the increase of the house, of the borough, of the town, of the country, to keep them, to maintain them, to look over them, to keep and maintain them close.
7. ' Then Ardvi Sura Anahita, O Spitama Zarathu^tra! proceeded forth from the Maker Mazda. Beautiful were her white arms, thick as a horse's shoulder or still thicker ; beautiful was her . . . . ^ and thus came she, strong, with thick arms, thinking thus in her heart :
8. ' " Who will praise me ? Who will offer me a sacrifice, with libations cleanly prepared and well-strained, together with the Haoma and meat ? To whom shall I cleave, who cleaves unto me, and thinks with me, and bestows gifts upon me, and is of good will unto me ? ^ "
9. ' For her brightness and glory, I will offer her
^ See the description §101 seq.
^ Zaoja or zui'a, an arra^ \ey6yievov, seems to designate a part of the body; of. § 126. » Cf. §§ II, 124.
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a sacrifice worth being heard ; I will offer up unto the holy Ardvi Sura Anahita a good sacrifice with an offering of libations ; — thus mayest thou advise us when thou art appealed to ! Mayest thou be most fully worshipped, O Ardvi Sura Anahita ! with the Haoma and meat, with the baresma, with the wisdom of the tongue, with the holy spells, with the words, with the deeds, with the libations, and with the rightly-spoken words.
'Ye^^he hatam^: All those beings of whom
Ahura Mazda ....
11.
lo.
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