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.
rth being heard ....
XXII.
83. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' Whom the lord of the country invokes for help, with hands uplifted ;
'Whom the lord of the town invokes for help, with hands uplifted ;
84. ' Whom the lord of the borough invokes for help, with hands uplifted ;
' Whom the master of the house invokes for help, with hands uplifted ;
'Whom the . . . .- in danger of death ^ invokes" for help, with hands uplifted ;
' Whom the poor man, who follows the good law, when wronged and deprived of his rights, invokes for help, with hands uplifted.
85. ' The voice of his wailing reaches up to the sky, it goes over the earth all around, it goes over
^ Yaokhjti, the root of Persian ny6jidan, Pahlavi niyokhjitan, to hear; one might be inclined to translate 'a thousand ears,' or ' a thousand hearings ;' but the meaning of the word must have been rather more general, as Neriosengh translates it (prawidhi, IX, 8 [25]).
^ Dva/^ina?
3 Pithe : mrz'tyu (Yasna LIII [LII], 6).
p. 141
the seven Karshvares, whether he utters his prayer in a low tone of voice ^ or aloud.
86. ' The cow driven astray invokes him for help ^, longing for the stables :
'"When will that bull, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, bring us back, and make us reach the stables ? when will he turn us back to the right way from the den of the Dru^ where we were driven^?"
S"/. 'And to him with whom Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, has been satisfied, he comes with help; and of him with whom Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, has been offended, he crushes down the house, the borough, the town, the province, the country.
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
XXIII.
88. ' We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' To whom the enlivening, healing, fair, lordly, golden-eyed Haoma offered up a sacrifice on the highest of the heights, on the Haraiti Bareza*, he
^ Va^'em, the so-called va^.
^ Most manuscripts have added here, from the preceding clauses, ' with hands uplifted!'
^ An allusion to a myth in which Mithra was described as an
Indra delivering the cows carried away by a Vrz'tra : Firmicus
Maternus called him abactorem boum (De Errore Profan. Relig.
V) ; Commodianus compares him with Cacus :
'Vrtebatque boves alienos semper in antris
Sicut et Cacus Vulcani filius ille.'
(Apud Windischmann, Mithra, p. 64.)
* See above, p. 132, note 2.
142 YA5TS AND stROZAHS.
him abactorem boum (De Errore Profan. Relig. V) ; Commodianus compares him with Cacus :
'Vrtebatque boves alienos semper in antris
Sicut et Cacus Vulcani filius ille.'
(Apud Windischmann, Mithra, p. 64.)
* See above, p. 132, note 2.
142 YA5TS AND stROZAHS.
the undefiled to one undefiled, with undefiled baresma, undefiled Hbations, and undefiled words;
89. 'Whom^ the holy Ahura Mazda has established as a priest, quick in performing the sacrifice and loud in song. He performed the sacrifice with a loud voice, as a priest quick in sacrifice and loud in song, a priest to Ahura Mazda, a priest to the Amesha-Spe;^tas. His voice reached up to the sky, went over the earth all around, went over the seven Karshvares.
90. 'Who first lifted up Haomas, in a mortar inlaid with stars and made of a heavenly substance. Ahura Mazda longed for him, the Amesha-Spe;^tas longed for him, for the well-shapen body of him whom the swift-horsed sun awakes for prayer from afar ^.
91. 'Hail to Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who has a thousand ears and ten thousand eyes ! Thou art worthy of sacrifice and prayer : mayest thou have sacrifice and prayer in the houses of men ! Hail to the man who shall offer thee a sacrifice, with the holy wood in his hand, the baresma in his hand, the holy meat in his hand, the holy mortar in his hand ^ with his hands well-washed, with the mortar well-washed, with the bundles of baresma tied up, the Haoma uplifted, and the Ahuna Vairya sung through.
92. ' The holy Ahura Mazda confessed that religion and so did Vohu-Mano, so did Asha-Vahii-ta, so did Khshathra -Vairya, so did Spe;^ta-Armaiti, so
^ Haoma; cf. Yasna IX, 26 [81].
^ For the morning service in the Gah Ujahin.
=> Cf. Vend. Ill, i.
p. 143
did Haurvata/ and Amereta/ ; and all the Amesha- Spe;2tas longed for and confessed his religion. The kind Mazda conferred upon him the mastership of the world ; and [so did they'] who saw thee amongst all creatures the right lord and master of the world, the best cleanser of these creatures.
93. ' So mayest thou in both worlds, mayest thou keep us in both worlds, O Mithra, lord of wide pastures! both in this material world and in the world of the spirit, from the fiend of Death, from the fiend Aeshma -, from the fiendish hordes, that lift up the spear of havoc, and from the onsets of Aeshma, wherein the evil-doing Aeshma rushes along with Vidotu ^, made by the Daevas.
94.
rld and in the world of the spirit, from the fiend of Death, from the fiend Aeshma -, from the fiendish hordes, that lift up the spear of havoc, and from the onsets of Aeshma, wherein the evil-doing Aeshma rushes along with Vidotu ^, made by the Daevas.
94. ' So mayest thou, O Mithra, lord of wide pastures ! give swiftness to our teams, strength to our own bodies, and that we may watch with full success those who hate us, smite down our foes, and destroy at one stroke our adversaries, our enemies and those who hate us^.
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
XXIV.
95. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' Who goes over the earth, all her breadth over, after the setting of the sun ^, touches both ends of
' The Amesha-Spewtas.
"^ See Vend. Introd. IV, 22. ' See ibid.
* See Yt. V, 53; X, ri, 114; V, 53.
^ It should seem as if Mithra was supposed to retrace his steps during the night. The Hindus supposed that the sun had a bright face and a dark one, and that during the night it returned from the west to the east with its dark face turned towards the earth.
^„ ^ ,p. 144 this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar, and surveys everything that is between the earth and the heavens,
96. ' Swinging in his hands a club with a hundred knots, a hundred edges, that rushes forwards and fells men down ; a club cast out of red brass, of strong, golden brass ; the strongest of all weapons, the most victorious of all weapons ^ ;
97. ' From whom Angra Malnyu, who is all death, flees away in fear ; from whom Aeshma, the evildoing Peshotanu 2, flees away in fear ; from whom the long-handed Bushyasta^ flees away in fear; from whom all the Daevas unseen and the Varenya fiends flee away in fear *.
98. ' Oh ! may we never fall across the rush of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, when in anger ^l May Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, never smite us in his anger ; he who stands up upon this earth as the strongest of all gods, the most valiant of all gods, the most energetic of all gods, the swiftest of all gods, the most fiend-smiting of all gods, he, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures ^
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
XXV.
99. ' We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' From whom all the Daevas unseen and the
Varenya fiends flee away in fear^.
p. 3
Cf. § 132. '^ See Vend. Introd. V, 19.
See ibid. IV, 24.
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