* Haptoiriwga (Ursa Major) is the leader of the stars in the north (Bund. II, 7). It is 'entrusted with the gate and passage of hell, to keep back those of the nine, and ninety, and nine hundred, and nine thousand and nine myriad demons, and demonesses, and fairies (Pairikas) and sorcerers (Yatus) who are in opposition to the celestial sphere and constellations' (INIinokhired XLIX, 15; tr. by West).

^ Yananf is the leader of the stars in the south (read west; Bund. II, 7). Cf Yt. XX.

® To obtain .... This invocation is brought about by the very name of Vana;//, which means ' who smites, who overcomes.' The peculiar office of Yananl is to keep the passes and gates of Mount Alborz, around which the sun, the moon, and the stars revolve, and to prevent the Paris and Daevas from cutting off and breaking the road of the sun (INIinokhired XLIX, 1 2).

■^ 'I sacrifice to Tijtar for (=to obtain) the soundness of the sight' (Khorshec/ Nyayij 8, Pahl. tr.).

98 YAi'TS AND SIROZAHS.

with light, moving in the shape of a man of fifteen
years of age^ bright, with clear eyes, tall, full of
strength, strong, and clever.

14. 'He is active as the first man ^ was; he goes
on with the strength of the first man ; he has the
virility^ of the first man.

15*. 'Here he calls for people to assemble, here he
asks, saying : " Who now will offer me the libations
with the Haoma and the holy meat ? To whom
shall I give wealth of male children, a troop of male
children, and the purification of his own soul? Now
I ought to receive sacrifice and prayer in the
material world, by the law of excellent holiness."

16. 'The next ten nights, O Spitama Zarathui-tra!
the bright and glorious Tii'trya mingles his shape
with light, moving in the shape of a golden-horned
bull I

17. 'Here he calls for people to assemble, here he
asks, saying : " Who now will offer me the libations
with the Haoma and the holy meat ? To whom
shall I give wealth of oxen, a herd of oxen, and the
purification of his own soul ? Now I ought to
receive sacrifice and prayer in the material world,
by the law of excellent holiness."

t8. ' The next ten nights, O Spitama Zarathui"tra!
the bright and glorious Ti^trya mingles his shape
with light, moving in the shape of a white, beautiful
horse, with golden ears and a golden caparison.

^ The age of fifteen is the paradisiacal age in the Avesta (YasnalX, 5 [18]).

^ Gayo maratan. But the translation is doubtful ; possibly ' as a first-rate man is.'

3 Doubtful ; of. ere zi, Yt. XIV, 29. ■* Cf. Yt. V, 8.

« Cf. Vend. XIX, 37(123).

Tir Yast. 99

19. * Here he calls for people to assemble, here he
asks, saying : " Who now will offer me the libations
with the Haoma and the holy meat ? To whom
shall I give wealth of horses, a troop of horses, and
the purification of his own soul ? Now I ought to
receive sacrifice and prayer in the material world, by
the law of excellent holiness."

20. * Then, O Spitama Zarathu^tra ! the bright
and glorious Tii'trya goes down to the sea Vouru-
Kasha in the shape of a white, beautiful horse, with
golden ears and a golden caparison \

21. 'But there rushes down to meet him the
Daeva Apaosha, in the shape of a dark horse, black
with black ears, black with a black back, black with
a black tail, stamped with brands of terror.

22. 'They meet together, hoof against hoof, O
Spitama Zarathu^tra! the bright and glorious Ti^-
trya and the Daeva Apaosha. They fight together,
O Spitama Zarathu^tra! for three days and three
nights. And then the Daeva Apaosha proves
stronger than the bright and glorious Ti^trya, he
overcomes him.

23. 'And Ti^trya flees from the sea Vouru-Kasha,
as far as a Hathra's ^ length. He cries out in woe
and distress, the bright and glorious Ti^trya : " Woe
is me, O Ahura Mazda! I am in distress, O Waters
and Plants. ! O Fate and thou. Law of the worship-
pers of Mazda ! Men do not worship me with a

^ ' Tijtar was converted into three forms, the form of a man and the form of a horse and the form of a bull .... as the astrologers say that every constellation has three forms ' (Bund. VII, 4 ; tr. West). Tijtrya promises his worshippers children (§ 15), oxen (§ 17), or horses (§ 19), according as he appears in the form of a man (§ 13), of a bull (§ 16), or of a horse (§ 18).

2 A mile (Bundahij- XXVI, i ; tr. West, note i).

lOO YA^TS AND SIROZAHS,

sacrifice in which I am invoked by my own name, as
they worship the other Yazatas with sacrifices in
which they are invoked by their own names \

24. ' " If men had worshipped me with a sacrifice
in which I had been invoked by my own name, as they
worship the other Yazatas with sacrifices in which
they are invoked by their own names, I should have
taken to me the strength of ten horses, the strength
of ten camels, the strength of ten bulls, the strength
of ten mountains, the strength of ten rivers ^."

25. 'Then I, Ahura Mazda, offer up to the bright
and glorious Tii'trya a sacrifice in which he is in-
voked by his own name, and I bring him the
strength of ten horses, the strength of ten camels,
the strength of ten bulls, the strength of ten
mountains, the strength of ten rivers.

26 ^ ' Then, O Spitama Zarathujtra ! the bright
and glorious Tii'trya goes down to the sea Vouru-
Kasha in the shape of a white, beautiful horse, with
golden ears and golden caparison.

27. 'But there rushes down to meet him the
Daeva Apaosha in the shape of a dark horse, black
with black ears, black with a black back, black with
a black tail, stamped with brands of terror.

28. 'They meet together, hoof against hoof, O
Spitama Zarathuj^tra ! the bright and glorious Ti^-
trya, and the Daeva Apaosha ; they fight together,
O Zarathui-tra ! till the time of noon. Then the
bright and glorious Tii'trya proves stronger than the
Daeva Apaosha, he overcomes him.

29. ' Then he goes from the sea Vouru-Kasha as far as a Hathra's length: "Hail!" cries the

^ Cf. § 10 and Yt. X, 54 seq., 74.

^ Cf. Vend. Introd. IV, 27. ^ §§ 2 6-2 7 = §§ 20-21.

TIR YAST. lOr

bright and glorious Ti^trya. "Hail unto me,0 Ahura
Mazda ! Hail unto you, O waters and plants ! Hail,
O Law of the worshippers of Mazda ! Hail will it
be unto you, O lands ! The life^ of the waters will
flow down unrestrained to the big-seeded ^ corn-
fields, to the small-seeded ^ pasture-fields, and to the
whole of the material world!"

30. ' Then the bright and glorious Ti^trya goes
back down to the sea Vouru-Kasha, in the shape
of a white, beautiful horse, with golden ears and a
golden caparison *.

31. 'He makes the sea boil up and down; he
makes the sea stream this and that way ; he makes
the sea flow this and that way : all the shores
of the sea Vouru-Kasha are boiling over, all the
middle of it is boiling over.

32. ' And the bright and glorious Ti^trya rises up
from the sea Vouru-Kasha, O Spitama Zarathu5tra !
the bright and glorious Satavaesa rises up from the
sea Vouru-Kasha ; and vapours rise up above Mount
Us-hindu, that stands in the middle of the sea
Vouru-Kasha^.

' Adhavo; possibly 'the streams;' cf. Yt. V, i, note 2. A month in the ancient Persian calendar, supposed to correspond to September-October, was called adukani, which might, on that hypothesis, mean '(the month) that makes streams spring up.'

^ Of which the representative is wheat (Bundahij- XXIV, 19).

' Of which the representative is the summer vetch (ibid. 21).

* Cf. § i8.

^ ' The Ausindom mountain is that which, being of ruby, of the substance of the sky, is in the midst of the wide-formed ocean (the sea Vouru-Kasha),' (Bund. XII, 6; tr.West). Blount Ausindom receives ils waters through a golden channel from the height Hukairya (cf Yt. V, 3); 'from there one portion flows forth to the ocean for the purification of the sea, and one portion drizzles in moisture upon the whole of this earth, and all the creations cf

I02 YASTS AND SIROZAHS.

33. 'Then the vapours push forward, in the regular
shape of clouds i; they go following the wind, along
the ways which Haoma traverses, the increaser of
the world ^. Behind him travels the mighty wind,
made by Mazda, and the rain, and the cloud, and the
sleet, down to the several places, down to the fields,
down to the seven Karshvares of the earth.

34. ' Apam Napa/ ^, O Spitama Zarathu^tra !

divides the waters amongst the countries in the

material world, in company with the mighty wind,

the Glory, made by the waters *, and the Fravashis

of the faithful ^

' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....

35. 'We sacrifice unto Ti^trya, the bright and
glorious star, who from the shining east, moves
along his long winding course, along the path made
by the gods, along the way appointed for him the

Auharmazd acquire health from it, and it dispels the dryness of the atmosphere ' (ibid. XIII, 5).

^ Haoma opens the way for the waters from heaven, as being the foremost element in sacrifice (cf. § 24). For the same reason the Bundahi^ numbers Vohu-Mano, * Good Mind,' amongst the co- operators of Tij-trya.

^ See p. 6, note i.

* Or better, 'seated in the waters;' see Yt. XIX, 56 seq. and Yt. XIII, 65.

^ The Fravashis are active in the world struggle ; cf Yt. XIII, 43. 'Co-operators with Tutar were Vohuman and the angel Horn, with the assistance of the angel Bur^ (the same as Apam Napa/; see p. 94, note 2) and the righteous guardian spirits in orderly arrangement ' (Bundahij- VII, 3, tr. West).

TfR YA^T. 103

watery way, at the will of Ahura Mazda, at the will of the Amesha-Spe7ztas.

* For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....

36. 'We sacrifice unto Ti^-trya, the bright and
glorious star, whose rising is watched by men who
live on the fruits of the year, by the chiefs of deep^
understanding 2; by the wild beasts in the mountains,
by the tame beasts that run in the plains ; they
watch him, as he comes up to the country for a
bad year, or for a good year ^, (thinking in them-
selves): "How shall the Aryan countries be
fertile ?"

* For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....

^'j'^. *We sacrifice unto Ti-?trya, the bright and
glorious star, swift-flying and swift-moving, who flies
towards the sea Vouru-Kasha, as swiftly as the
arrow darted through the heavenly space, which
Erekhsha, the swift archer, the Arya amongst the
Aryas whose arrow was the swiftest, shot from
Mount Khshaotha to Mount Hvd.xs.vdJit.

2,'^. 'Ahura Mazda gave him assistance, and the
Amesha-Spe;^tas and Mithra, the lord of wide pas-
tures, pointed him the way : behind him went the

^ Doubtful. ' ^ The chiefs of the state.

^ For good or bad harvest. * § 37=§ 6.

I04 YAS-TS AND SIROZAHS.

tall Ashi^ Vanguhi ^ and Pare;/di - on her light

chariot : always till, in his course, he reached Mount

Hv2iX\w2int on the shining waters^.

' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....

39. ' We sacrifice unto Tii'trya, the bright and
glorious star, who afflicts the Pairikas, who destroys
the Pairikas, that Angra Mainyus flung to stop all
the stars that have in them the seed of the waters*.

40. ' Tii-trya afflicts them, he blows them away

from the sea Vouru-Kasha ; then the wind blows the

clouds forward, bearing the waters of fertility, so

that the friendly showers spread wide over, they

spread helpingly and friendly over the seven

Karshvares.

' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....

41. * We sacrifice unto Ti^'trya, the bright and
glorious star, for whom long the standing waters,
and the running spring-waters, the stream-waters,
and the rain-waters :

42. ' " When will the bright and glorious Ti^-trya
rise up for us ? When will the springs with a flow
and overflow of waters, thick as a horse's shoulder,
run to the beautiful places and fields, and to the