Sacred Books of the East, Vol. 23 — The Zend-Avesta, Part II / Yasts & Nyayis (Darmesteter, page scans)
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The translator’s English as printed. The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
Visperad VIII (IX, i), Phi. tr.
2 Their Hvz.xend. ^ Doubtful.
* Aithya; cf. Lat. antae (Brugmann).
p. 27
nations ; thou, O Mithra ! art both bad and good to men ; thou, O Mithra ! keepest in thy hands both peace and trouble for nations.
30. ' Thou makest houses large, beautiful with women, beautiful with chariots, with well-laid foundations ^ and high above their groundwork 2; thou makest that house lofty, beautiful with women, beautiful with chariots, with well-laid foundations, and high above its groundwork, of which the master, pious and holding libations in his hand, offers thee a sacrifice, in which thou art invoked by thy own name and with the proper words.
31. 'With a sacrifice, in which thou art invoked by thy own name, with the proper words will I offer thee libations, O powerful Mithra !
' With a sacrifice, in which thou art invoked by thy own name, with the proper words will I offer thee libations, O most beneficent Mithra !
' With a sacrifice, in which thou art invoked by thy own name, with the proper words will I offer thee libations, O thou undeceivable Mithra !
32. 'Listen unto our sacrifice^, O Mithra! Be thou pleased with our sacrifice, O Mithra ! Come and sit at our sacrifice ! Accept our libations ! Accept them as they have been consecrated*! Gather them together with love and lay them in the Garo-nmana !
33. ' Grant us these boons which we beg of thee, O powerful god! in accordance^ with the words of revelation, namely, riches, strength, and victory, good conscience and bliss", good fame and a good
1 Doubtful. 2 Doubtful. =* Cf. Yt. Ill, 18.
* By the proper prayers (yasiau). ^ Doubtful.
' Cf. § 5.
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soul ; wisdom and the knowledge that gives happiness ^ the victorious strength given by Ahura, the crushing Ascendant of Asha Vahi^ta, and conversation (with God) on the Holy Word 2.
34. 'Grant that we, in a good spirit and high spirit, exalted in joy and a good spirit, may smite all our foes ; that we, in a good spirit and high spirit, exalted in joy and a good spirit, may smite all our enemies ; that we, in a good spirit and high spirit, exalted in joy and a good spirit, may smite all the malice of Daevas and Men, of the Yatus and Pairikas, of the oppressors, the blind, and the deaf ^
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
IX.
35. ' We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, ....
the malice of Daevas and Men, of the Yatus and Pairikas, of the oppressors, the blind, and the deaf ^
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
IX.
35. ' We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
'Victory-making^, army-governing, endowed with a thousand senses^ ; power-wielding, power-possessing, and all-knowing ;
36. ' Who sets the battle a going, who stands against (armies) in battle, who, standing against (armies) in battle, breaks asunder the lines arrayed. The wings of the columns gone to battle shake, and he throws terror upon the centre of the havocking host.
37. 'He can bring and does bring down upon them distress and fear ; he throws down the heads of those who lie unto Mithra, he takes off the heads of those who He unto Mithra.
^ Spiritual happiness, bliss. ^ Vend. XVIII, 51 [m].
^ See above, p. 26, note 2. §§ 3^-34 =§§ 56-59-
* Doubtful (reading arenaZ-^aSsha?).
^ See § 82, note.
MiniR VAST. 129
;^S. 'Sad is the abode, unpeopled with children, where abide men who lie unto Mithra, and, verily, the fiendish killer of faithful men. The grazing cow goes a sad straying way, driven along the vales ^ of the Mithradru^es : they ^ stand on the road, letting tears run over their chins ^
39. ' Their falcon-feathered arrows, shot from the string of the well-bent bow, fly towards the mark, and hit it not, as Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, angry, offended, and unsatisfied, comes and meets them.
* Their spears, well whetted and sharp, their long spears fly from their hands towards the mark, and hit it not, as Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, angry, offended, and unsatisfied, comes and meets them.
40. * Their swords, well thrust and striking at the heads of men, hit not the mark, as Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, angry, off"ended, and unsatisfied, comes and meets them.
* Their clubs, well falling and striking at the heads of men, hit not the mark, as Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, angry, offended, and unsatisfied, comes and meets them.
41. 'Mithra strikes fear into them; Rashnu * strikes a counter-fear into theni'^- the holy Sraosha blows them away from every side towards the two Yazatas, the maintainers of the world ^. They make the ranks of the army melt away, as Mithra, the lord
^ Doubtful. 2 The cattle.
' The meaning is, that the cattle of the INIithradru^es do not thrive, and that their pasture-fields are waste.
* See Yt. XII.
^ As they flee from INIithra, they fall into the hands of Rashnu.
rmy melt away, as Mithra, the lord
^ Doubtful. 2 The cattle.
' The meaning is, that the cattle of the INIithradru^es do not thrive, and that their pasture-fields are waste.
* See Yt. XII.
^ As they flee from INIithra, they fall into the hands of Rashnu.
® Thratara; one might feel inclined to read thrastara, 'the fear-striking;' cf. § 36.
[23] K
I30 YA5TS AND SIROZAHS.
of wide pastures, angry, offended, and unsatisfied, comes and meets them^.
42. ' They cry unto MIthra, the lord of wide pastures, saying : " O Mithra, thou lord of wide pastures ! here are our fiery horses taking us away, as they flee from Mithra ; here are our sturdy arms cut to pieces by the sword, O Mithra!"
43. ' And then Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, throw^s them to the ground, killing their fifties and their hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thousands and their tens of thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads ; as Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, is angry and offended.
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
«
X.
44. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, . . . . sleepless, and ever awake ;
* Whose dwelling, wide as the earth, extends over the material world, large-, unconfined^, and bright, a far-and-wlde-extending abode.
45. 'Whose eight friends^ sit as spies for Mithra, on all the heights, at all the watching-places, observing the man who lies unto Mithra, looking at those, rememberinor those who have lied unto Mithra, but guarding the ways of those whose life Is sought by
1 Cf.§§ 99-101.
2 Doubtful. The text is corrupt.
^ Doubtful. The number eight has probably an astronomical signification, each of the eight ratis of Mithra occupying one of the eight points of the compass.
p. 131
men who lie unto Mithra, and, verily, by the fiendish killers of faithful men.
46. * Helping and guarding, guarding behind and guarding in front, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, proves an undeceivable spy and watcher for the man to whom he comes to help with all the strength of his soul, he of the ten thousand spies, the powerful, all-knowing, undeceivable god.
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
XI.
47. *We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' A god of high renown and old age ^ whom widehoofed horses carry against havocking hosts, against enemies coming in battle array, in the strife of conflicting nations^,
48.
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