^ The western Karshvare (see above, p. 123, note 5); this seems to refer to the career of Mithra during the night ; cf. § 95. " And rolling upon it. '' Cf. Yt. XIII, 89, note.
» And uplifted. ' Doubtful.
^" See above, p. 95, note i. " See Vend. Introd. IV, 23.
Mihir Ya-S-T. 137
never fall across the rush of the angry lord\ who
goes and rushes from a thousand sides against his
foe, he, of the ten thousand spies, the powerful,
all-knowing, undeceivable god,
' For his brightness and glory, I will oflfer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
70. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
* Before whom Verethraghna, made by Ahura, runs
opposing the foes in the shape of a boar ^, a sharp-
toothed he-boar, a sharp-jawed boar, that kills at
one stroke, pursuing^, wrathful, with a dripping face;
strong, with iron feet, iron fore-paws*, iron weapons,
an iron tail, and iron jaws ;
71. * Who, eagerly clinging to the fleeing foe, along
with Manly Courage, smites the foe in battle, and
does not think he has smitten him, nor does he
consider it a blow till he has smitten away the
marrow '" and the column of life ^, the marrow ^ and
the spring of existence,
72. .'He cuts all the limbs to pieces, and mingles,
together with the earth, the bones, hair, brains, and
blood of the men who have lied unto Mithra'^.
' For his brightness and glory, we offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
^ Cf. § 98.
2 See Yt. XIV, 15; cf. Yt. X, 127.
8 Anupoithwa; cf. poithwa (Vend. XIV [ii4]) = raninijn.
* Literally, hands. ^ Doubtful.
» The spine. ' Cf. § 80.
138 Yasts and Sirozahs
73. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
'Who, with hands lifted up, rejoicing, cries out, speaking thus :
74. ' " O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent spirit ! Maker of the material world, thou Holy One !
' " If men would worship me^ with a sacrifice in
which I were invoked by my own name, as they
worship the other gods with sacrifices in which they
are invoked by their own names, then I should
come to the faithful at the appointed time ; I should
come in the appointed time of my beautiful, im-
mortal life ^."
75. 'May we keep our field; may we never be
exiles^ from our field, exiles from our house, exiles
from our borough, exiles from our town, exiles from
our country.
76. ' Thou dashest in pieces the malice of the
malicious, the malice of the men of malice : dash
thou in pieces the killers of faithful men !
' Thou hast good horses, thou hast a good
chariot: thou art bringing help at every appeal, and
art powerful.
77. ' I will pray unto thee for help, with many
consecrations, with good consecrations of libations ;
with many offerings, with good offerings of libations,
that we, abiding in thee, may long inhabit a good
abode, full of all the riches that can be wished for.
^ They have worshipped him and he has consequently over-
come the Mithradru^es j this accounts for the word rejoicing.
2 Cf. Yt. X, 55. ' Iric; cf. linquo.
Mihir Vast. 139
yS. * Thou keepest those nations that tender a
good worship to Mithra, the lord of wide pastures ;
thou dashest in pieces those that dehght in havoc.
Unto thee will I pray for help : may he come to us
for help, the awful, most powerful Mithra, the
worshipful and praiseworthy, the glorious lord of
nations.
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
79. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' Who made a dwelling for Rashnu \ and to whom Rashnu gave all his soul for long friendship ;
80. ' Thou art a keeper and protector of the dwell-
ing of those who lie not: thou art the maintainer of
those who lie not. With thee hath Verethraghna,
made by Ahura, contracted the best of all friend-
ships ^, and thus it is how so many men who have
lied unto Mithra, even privily^, lie smitten down on
the ground.
' For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
81. 'We sacrifice unto IMithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;
' Who made a dwelling for Rashnu, and to whom Rashnu gave all his soul for long friendship ;
82. 'To whom Ahura Mazda gave a thousand
^ The Genius of Truth (Yt. XII) ; Mithra gives a dwelling to the truthful man in the same way as he destroys the dwelling of the liar (§ 80).
2 Cf. § 70.
' Aipi vithiji; Vedic api vyathis (VIII, 45, 19).
140 YA5TS AND stROZAHS.
senses ^ and ten thousand eyes to see. With those
eyes and those senses, he watches the man who
injures Mithra, the man who Hes unto Mithra,
Through those eyes and those senses, he is unde-
ceivable, 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 ....
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 niyokh- jitan, 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).
Mihir Yast. 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 ....
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.
the undefiled to one undefiled, with undefiled baresma, undefiled Hbations, and undefiled words;
89. 'Whom^ the holy Ahura Mazda has estab-
lished 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 reli-
gion 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.
Miiiir Ya^T. 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 pas-
tures! 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. ' So mayest thou, O Mithra, lord of wide pas-
tures ! give swiftness to our teams, strength to our
own bodies, and that we may watch with full suc-
cess 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 ....
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.
144 Ya5ts and Sirozahs
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 evil-
doing 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 ....
99. ' We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake ;