ninety-nine.
60. We worship the good, strong, beneficent
Fravashis of the faithful, who watch over the stars
Hapt6iri;^ga^, to the number of ninety thousand,
and nine thousand, and nine hundred, and ninety-
nine.
61. We worship the good, strong, beneficent Fravashis of the faithful, who watch over the body
^ Bundahij VI, 3.
2 To keep the white Horn there from the evil beings that try-
to destroy it (Minokhirad LXII, 28).
^ See above, p. 97, note 4.
FARVARDtN VAST. I95
of Keresaspa, the son of Sama^ the club-bearer
with plaited hair, to the number of ninety thousand,
and nine thousand, and nine hundred, and ninety-
nine.
62. We worship the good, strong, beneficent
Fravashis of the faithful, who watch over the seed
of the holy Zarathui'tra ^, to the number of ninety
thousand, and nine thousand, and nine hundred, and
ninety-nine.
62,. We worship the good, strong, beneficent
Fravashis of the faithful, who fio^ht at the rio-ht
hand of the reigning lord, if he rejoices the faithful ^
and if the awful Fravashis of the faithful are not
hurt by him, if they are rejoiced by him, unharmed
and unoffended.
64. We worship the good, strong, beneficent Fravashis of the faithful, who are greater, who are
^ Keresaspa lies asleep in the plain of Pe^yansai ; ' the glory (far) of heaven stands over him for the purpose that, when Az-i- Dahak becomes unfettered, he may arise and slay him; and a myriad guardian spirits of the righteous are as a protection to him ' (Bundahij XXIX, 8 ; tr. West).
^ ' ZaratiiJt went near unto Hvov (Hvogvi, his wife) three times, and each time the seed went to the ground; the angel Neryosang received the brilliance and strength of that seed, delivered it with care to the angel Anahid, and in time will blend it with a mother' (Bundahij XXXII, 8). A maid, EredaZ-fedhri, bathing in Lake Kasava, will conceive by that seed and bring forth the Saviour Saoshyaw/; his two fore-runners, UkhshyaZ-ereta and UkhshyaZ-nemah, will be born in the same way of SrutaZ-fedhri and Vanghu-fedhri (Yt. XIII, 141-142).
» With alms.
Stronger, who are swifter, who are more powerful,
who are more victorious, who are more heaHng, who
are more effective than can be expressed by words ;
who run by tens of thousands into the midst of the
Myazdas.
65. And when the waters come up from the sea
Vouru-Kasha, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! along with
the Glory made by Mazda \ then forwards come
the awful Fravashis of the faithful, many and many
hundreds, many and many thousands, many and
many tens of thousands,
66. Seeking water for their own kindred, for
their own borough, for their own town, for their
own country, and saying thus : ' May our own
country have a good store and full joy!'
67. They fight in the battles that are fought in
their own place and land, each according to the
place and house where he dwelt (of yore) - : they
look like a gallant warrior who, girded up and
watchful, fights for the hoard he has treasured up.
68. And those of them who win bring waters to
their own kindred, to their own borough, to their
own town, to their own country, saying thus : ' May
my country grow and increase ! '
69. And when the all-powerful sovereign of a
country has been surprised by his foes and haters,
he invokes them, the awful Fravashis of the faithful.
70. And they come to his help, if they have not
been hurt by him, if they have been rejoiced by him,
if they have not been harmed nor offended, the
awful Fravashis of the faithful : they come flying
unto him, it seems as if they were well-winged birds.
1 Cf. Yt. XIX, 56 seq.; VIII, 34. « Doubtful.
Farvardin Yast. 1 97
71. They come in as a weapon and as a shield,
to keep him behind and to keep him in front, from
the Dru^ unseen, from the female Varenya fiend,
from the evil-doer bent on mischief, and from that
fiend who is all death, Angra Mainyu. It will be
as if there were a thousand men watching over
one man^;
72. So that neither the sword well-thrust, neither
the club well-falling, nor the arrow well-shot, nor the
spear well-darted, nor the stones flung from the
arm shall destroy him.
yT,. They come on this side, they come on that
side, never resting, the good, powerful, beneficent
Fravashis of the faithful, asking for help thus :
'Who will praise us? Who will offer us a sacrifice?
Who will meditate upon us ? Who will bless us ?
Who will receive us with meat and clothes in his
hand and with a prayer worthy of bliss ? Of which
of us will the name be taken for invocation ? Of
which of you will the soul be worshipped by you
with a sacrifice ? To whom will that gift of ours be
given, that he may have never-failing food for ever
and ever 2?'
74. We worship the perception^; we worship the
intellect ; we worship the conscience ; we worship
those of the Saoshya;//s^;
We worship the souls; those of the tame animals;
those of the wild animals ; those of the animals that
live in the waters ; those of the animals that live
under the ground ; those of the flying ones ; those
of the running ones ; those of the grazing ones ^.
' Cf. Yt. I, 19. 2 Cf. § 50.
' Asna=azana (?). * Cf. p. 165, note 1.
' Cf.Yt. XIII, 10.
We worship their Fravashis ^.
75. We worship the Fravashis. We worship them, the hberal ;
We worship them, the vaHant ; we worship them, the most vaHant ;
We worship them, the beneficent ; we worship them, the most beneficent ;
We worship them, the powerful ;
We worship them, the most strong ;
We worship them, the Hght ; we worship them, the most hght ;
We worship them, the effective ; we worship them, the most effective.
76. They are the most effective amongst the
creatures of the two Spirits, they the good, strong,
beneficent Fravashis of the faithful, who stood
holding fast when the two Spirits created the world,
the Good Spirit and the Evil One ^.
77. When Angra Mainyu broke into the creation
of the good holiness, then came in across Vohu
Mano and Atar ^
78. They destroyed the malice of the fiend
Angra Mainyu, so that the waters did not stop
flowing nor did the plants stop growing ; but at
once the most beneficent waters of the creator and
* There seems to be in this paragraph a distinction of five faculties of the soul, asna, mana, daena, urvan, fravashi. The usual classification, as given in this Yast, § 149, and in later Parsism (Spiegel, Die traditionelle Literatur der Parsen, p. 172), is: ahu, spirit of life (?); daena, conscience; b aodh 6, perception ; urvan, the soul; fravashi.
^ The Fravashis, ' on war horses and spear in hand, were
around the sky .... and no passage was found by the evil spirit,
who rushed back ' (Bund. VI, 3-4 ; tr. West).
^ Cf Ormazd et Ahriman, § 107.
FARVARDiN VAST. I 99
ruler, Ahura Mazda, flowed forward and his plants went on growing.
79. We worship all the waters ; We worship all the plants ;
We worship all the good, strong, beneficent Fravashis of the faithful.
We worship the waters by their names ^ ;
We worship the plants by their names ^ ;
We worship the good, strong, beneficent Frava- shis of the faithful by their names.
80. Of all those ancient Fravashis, we worship
the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda ; who is the greatest,
the best, the fairest, the most solid, the wisest, the
finest of body and supreme in holiness ^ ;
81. Whose soul is the Mathra Spe;^ta, who is
white, shining, seen afar ; and we worship the beau-
tiful forms, the active forms wherewith he clothes
the Amesha-Spe;^tas ; we worship the swift-horsed
sun.
82. We worship the good, strong, beneficent
Fravashis of the Amesha-Spe;^tas, the bright ones,
whose looks perform what they wish, the tall, quickly
coming to do, strong, and lordly, who are undecaying
and holy ;
8^. Who are all seven of one thought, who are
all seven of one speech, who are all seven of one
deed ; whose thought is the same, whose speech is
the same, whose deed is the same, whose father and
^ That is to say, after their different kinds (described in Yasna
XXXVIII, 3, 5 [7-9, 13-14]; LXVIII, 8 [LXVII, 15]; and
Bund. XXI).
2 After their kinds (Bund. XXVII). " Cf. Yasna I, i.
200 YA^TS AND siROZAHS.
commander is the same, namely, the Maker, Ahura Mazda ;
84. Who see one another's soul thinking of good
thoughts, thinking of good words, thinking of good
deeds, thinking of Garo-nmana, and whose ways ^
are shining as they go down towards the libations^.
85. We worship the good, strong, beneficent
Fravashis : that of the most rejoicing ^ fire, the
beneficent and assembly-making^; and that of the
holy, strong Sraosha ^, who is the incarnate Word,
a mighty-speared and lordly god ; and that of
Nairyo-sangha ^
86. And that of Rashnu Razii'ta'';
That of Mithra ^, the lord of wide pastures ;
That of the Mathra-Spe;/ta ^ ;
That of the sky ;
That of the waters ;
That of the earth ;
That of the plants ;
That of the Bull '';
That of the living man";
That of the holy creation ^^.
87. We worship the Fravashi of Gaya Maretan^^,
' The Vedic devayana. ^ q^ yt. XIX, 15, 17.
^ Urvazii-ta. As a proper name Urvazijta is the name of the fire in plants (Yasna XVII, 11 [65], and Bund. XVII, i).
* At the hearth and the altar. ^ See Yt. XI.
« See Vend. XXII, 7. ' See Yt. XII.
' See Yt. X. » The Holy Word. "^ See Sirozah I, 12.
" Of mankind ; possibly, of Gaya (Maretan).
12 Doubtful.
^^ The first man. On the myths of Gaya Maretan, see Ormazd et Ahriman, §§ 129-135.
who first listened unto the thought and teaching of
Ahura Mazda ; of whom Ahura formed the race of
the Aryan nations, the seed of the Aryan nations.
We worship the piety and the Fravashi of the holy Zarathui^tra ; \
88. Who first thought what is good, who first
spoke what is good, who first did what is good ; who
was the first Priest, the first Warrior, the first
Plougher of the ground ^ ; who first knew and first
taught ; who first possessed ^ and first took pos-
session of the BulP, of Holiness*, of the Word, the
obedience to the Word, and dominion, and all the
good things made by Mazda, that are the offspring
of the good Principle ;
89. Who was the first Priest, the first Warrior,
the first Plougher of the ground ; who first took the
turning of the wheel ^ from the hands of the Daeva
and of the cold-hearted man; who first in the material
world pronounced the praise of Asha*', thus bringing
the Daevas to naught, and confessed himself a
worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathui'tra, one
who hates the Daevas, and obeys the laws of
Ahura. -^
90. Who first in the material world said the
word that destroys the Daevas, the law of Ahura ;
who first in the material world proclaimed the word
that destroys the Daevas, the law of Ahura ; who
^ As having established those three classes. His three earthly sons, Isa/-vastra, Urvata/-nara, and //z'are-X'ithra (§ 98), were the chiefs of the three classes. Cf.Vend. Introd. Ill, 15, note 3.
2 Doubtful. 3 cf^ Yasna XXIX, 8.
^ The divine Order, Ash a,
^ The wheel of sovereignty (?) ; cf. Yt X, 67 ; this expression smacks of Buddhism.
® Who first pronounced the Ashem Vohii ; cf. Yt. XXI.
202 YA^-TS AND SIROZAHS.
first in the material world declared all the creation
of the Daevas unworthy of sacrifice and prayer ;
who was strong, giving all the good things of life,
the first bearer of the Law amongst the nations ;
91. In whom was heard the whole Mathra, the
word of holiness ; who was the lord and master of
the world \ the pralser of the most great, most good
and most fair Asha^; who had a revelation of the
Law, that most excellent of all beings ;
92. For whom the Amesha-Spe/ztas longed, in
one accord with the sun, in the fulness of faith of a
devoted heart ; they longed for him, as the lord and
master of the world, as the praiser of the most great,
most good, and most fair As ha, as having a revela-
tion of the Law, that most excellent of all beings ;
93. In whose birth and growth the waters and
the plants rejoiced ; In whose birth and growth the
waters and the plants grew; in whose birth and
growth all the creatures of the good creations cried
out, HaiP!
94. ' Hail to us ! for he Is born, the Athravan,
Spltama Zarathui'tra. Zarathu^tra will offer us
sacrifices with libations and bundles of baresma ;
and there will the good Law of the worshippers of
Mazda come and spread through all the seven
Karshvares of the earth.
95. ' There will Mithra, the lord of wide pastures,
increase all the excellences of our countries, and
allay their troubles ; there will the powerful Apam-
Napa/^ increase all the excellences of our countries,
and allay their troubles.'