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.
ifice to the holy Vayu ....
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
. IV.
14. I will sacrifice to the Waters and to Him who divides them ....
To this Vayu do we sacrifice, this Vayu do we invoke ....
15. Unto him did the bright Yima, the good shep-
^ Takhma Urupa (in later legend Tahmiaraf) was a brother to Yima. He reigned for thirty years and rode Ahriman, turned into a horse. But at last his wife, deceived by Ahriman, revealed to him the secret of her husband's power, and Tahmuraf was swallowed up by his horse. But Yima managed to take back his brother's body from the body of Ahriman and recovered thereby the arts and civilisation which had disappeared along with Tahmuraf (see Minokhired XXVII, 32 ; Ravaet apud Spiegel, Einleitung in die traditionelle Literatur, pp. 317 seq.; Ormazd et Ahriman, § 137 seq.; cf above, p. 60, note i).
2 Azinava^z/ or zaenahvaw/: he kept that epithet in later tradition : Zinavend, ' quod cognomen virum significat armis probe instructum' (Hamza Ispahensis, p. 20, tr. Gottwaldt).
' As told Yt. XIX, 29.
p. 253
herd, sacrifice from the height Hukairya, the all-shining and golden, on a golden throne, under golden beams and a golden canopy, with bundles of baresma and offerings of full-boiling [milk].
16. He begged of him a boon, saying : ' Grant me this, O Vayu ! who dost work highly, that I may become the most glorious of the men born to behold the sun : that I may make in my reign both animals and men undying, waters and plants undrying, and the food for eating creatures never-failing\'
In the reign of the valiant Yima there was neither cold wind nor hot wind, neither old age nor death, nor envy made by the Daevas^
17. Vayu, who works highly, granted him that boon, as the Maker, Ahura Mazda, did pursue it.
We sacrifice to the holy Vayu ....
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
V.
18. I will sacrifice to the Waters and to Him who divides them ....
To this Vayu do we sacrifice, this Vayu do we invoke ....
19. Unto him did the three-mouthed Kz\ Dahaka offer up a sacrifice in his accursed palace of Kviri;/ta^,
^ Cf. Yasna IX, 4-5 (11-20) and Yt. XIX, 31 seq.
"^ This passage is interpolated from Yasna IX, 5 (17-19).
' Or, 'his accursed palace of the Stork' (upa kviri«tem duzitem). 'Azi Dahaka,' says Hamza (p. 32 in the text, p. 22 in the translation), 'used to live in Babylon (cf.
(11-20) and Yt. XIX, 31 seq.
"^ This passage is interpolated from Yasna IX, 5 (17-19).
' Or, 'his accursed palace of the Stork' (upa kviri«tem duzitem). 'Azi Dahaka,' says Hamza (p. 32 in the text, p. 22 in the translation), 'used to live in Babylon (cf. Yt.V, 29), where he had built a palace in the form of a stork; he called it Kuleng Dis ((_^j dli^, the fortress of the Stork; the inhabitants called it Dis Het (o^ ^j-^.^)' Kuleng Dis was in Zend Kviriwta daeza and Dis Het is nothing else than Duzita. One may doubt
254 YA^-TS AND stR6zAHS.
on a golden throne, under golden beams and a golden canopy, with bundles of baresma and offerings of full-boiling [milk],
20. He begged of him a boon, saying : ' Grant me this, O Vayu ! who dost work highly, that I may make all the seven Karshvares of the earth empty of men\'
21. In vain did he sacrifice, in vain did he beg, in vain did he invoke, in vain did he give gifts, in vain did he bring libations ; Vayu did not grant him that boon.
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
VI.
22. I will sacrifice to the Waters and to Him who divides them ....
To this Vayu do we sacrifice, this Vayu do we invoke ....
23. Unto him did Thraetaona, the heir of the valiant Athwya clan, offer up a sacrifice in the four-cornered Varena, on a golden throne, under golden beams and a golden canopy, with bundles of baresma and offerings of full-boiling [milk].
24. He begged of him a boon, saying : ' Grant me this, O Vayu ! who dost work highly, that I may overcome A^i Dahaka, the three -mouthed, the three-headed, the six-eyed, who has a thousand senses, that most powerful, fiendish Dru^, that
whether Kviri;2ta is the name of a place or the Zend form of
Kuleng, a stork : in any case it was a palace in Bawri (Babylon).
In the Shah Namah it is called Di3ukht(dus-ukhta for duz-ita;
see Etudes Iraniennes, II, 211).
1 Cf Yt.V, 30 seq.
p. 255
demon baleful to the world, the strongest Druc^ that Angra Mainyu created against the material world, to destroy the world of the good principle ; and that I may deliver his two wives, Savanghava./^ and Erenavak, who are the fairest of body amongst women, and the most wonderful creatures in the world \'
25. Vayu, who works highly, granted him that boon, as the Maker, Ahura Mazda, did pursue it.
We sacrifice to the holy Vayu ....
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
VII.
26. I will sacrifice to the Waters and to Him who divides them ....
ed him that boon, as the Maker, Ahura Mazda, did pursue it.
We sacrifice to the holy Vayu ....
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
VII.
26. I will sacrifice to the Waters and to Him who divides them ....
To this Vayu do we sacrifice, this Vayu do we invoke ....
27. To him did the manly-hearted Keresaspa^ offer up a sacrifice by the Gudha^, a channel of the Rangha, made by Mazda, upon a golden throne, under golden beams and a golden canopy, with bundles of baresma and offerings of full-boiling [milk].
28. He begged of him a boon, saying : 'Grant me this, O Vayu ! who dost work highly, that I may succeed in avenging my brother Urvakhshaya*, that I may smite Hitaspa and yoke him to my chariot.'
The Ga;^darewa, who lives beneath the waters.
^ Yt.V,34; IX, 14; XVII, 34.
2 Cf.Yt.V, 37 seq.
^ An unknown affluent of the Rangha (Tigris).
* Sama had two sons, Keresaspa, a warrior, and Urvakhshaya, a judge and law-giver (Yasna IX, 10 [29 seq.]). We have no further details about Urvakhshaya's legend than that he was killed by ' Hitaspa, the golden-crowned' (cf. Yt. XIX, 41), and avenged by Keresaspa.
p. 256
is the son of Ahura in the deep, he is the only master of the deep\
29. Vayu, who works highly, granted him that boon, as the Maker, Ahura Mazda, did pursue it.
We sacrifice to the holy Vayu ....
For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
VIII.
30. I will sacrifice to the Waters and to Him who divides them ....
To this Vayu do we sacrifice, this Vayu do we invoke ....
31. To him did Aurvasara2,the lord of the country, offer up a sacrifice, towards the White Forest ^ by the White Forest, on the border of the White Forest, on a golden throne, under golden beams and a golden canopy, with bundles of baresma and offerings of full-boiling [milk].
32. He begged of him a boon, saying : 'Grant me this, O Vayu ! who dost work highly, that the gallant Husravah, he who unites the Aryan nations into one kingdom*, may not smite us; that I may flee from king Husravah^ ; . . . .
^ A disconnected allusion to the struggle of Keresaspa with the Gawdarewa (Yt.V, 38, text and notes; XIX, 41). On the words ' the son of Ahura , . . . ' cf. Ormazd et Ahriman, p. 215, note i.
^ No other mention is made of Aurvasara in the Avesta, unless he is alluded to in Yt.V, 50. He does not appear to have been known to Firdausi.
2 Spaetinij razura is called 'the chief of forests' (Bund. XXIV, 16).
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