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Zoroastrian: The Zend-Avesta, Zarathustra, part 3a
The Spiritual Bookstore Online World Religion Library
THE ZEND-AVESTA
AVESTA: YASNA (Sacred Liturgy and Gathas/Hymns of Zarathushtra) Translated by L. H. Mills (from Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898) except as noted. CONTENT: - Introduction and dedications (0-8) - Hom Yasht (9-11) - The Zoroastrian Creed (12) - Chapters 13-18 - Commentary on Ahunwar (19) - Commentary on Ashem Vohu (20) - Commentary on Yenghe Hatam (21) - Chapter 22 - Invocation of the Fravashis (Guardian Angels) (23) - Presentations (24) - Chapter 25 - Sacrifice and praise to the Fravashis (26) - Prelude to the chief recital of the Ahunwar (27) - Ahunavaiti Gatha (28-34) - Yasna Haptanghaiti (35-42) - Ushtavaiti Gatha (43-46) - Spentamainyush Gatha (47-50) - Vohukhshathra Gatha (51) - Prayer for sanctity (52) - Vahishtoishti Gatha (53) - Airyema Ishyo formula (54) - Chapter 55 - Introduction to the Srosh Yasht (56) - Srosh Yasht (57) - Fshusho Mathra (58) - Mutual blessings (59) - Prayers for the dwelling of the sacrificer (60) - Chapter 61 - To the fire (62) - Chapters 63-64 - To Ardvi Sura Anahita and the Waters (65) - Chapters 66-69 - To the Amesha Spentas (70) - Conclusion (70-71) ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ AVESTA: YASNA (sacred liturgy) ============================== [Translated by L. H. Mills (from Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898) except as noted.] YASNA 0 - INTRODUCTION ---------------------- [Translation of y0.4-6 is from Dhalla, pp. 9 ff. They are in the Old Avesta dialect. = Y11.17 = Ny1.3 = Ny2.3.] (In the name of God) 1. Ashem Vohu (1 & 3). I profess myself a Mazda-worshipper and a Zoroastrian, opposing the Daevas, accepting the Ahuric doctrine. For Hawan.... 2. To Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda. To you, O Fire, son of Ahura Mazda. With propitiation, for worship, adoration, propitiation, and praise. 3. 'Yatha Ahu Vairyo', the zaotar should say to me 'Atha ratush ashatchit hacha', the knowing Ashavan should say. Ashem Vohu ...(3). Yatha Ahu Vairyo ...(2). 4. I praise good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and those that are to be thought, spoken, and done. I do accept all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. I do renounce all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. 5. I proffer to you, O Amesha Spentas, sacrifice and prayer, with thought, with word, with deed, with [my] being, with the very life of my body. 6. I praise Asha. Ashem Vohu ...(3). 7. [=y1.23 = y3.24 = y14.4 = y27.12 = y62.12.] 8. .... 9. [=y22.24 = y24.29.] 10. [=y22.25 = y24.30.] 11. [=y22.26 = y24.31.] 12. [=y24.32.] 13. .... 15. [=y27.13.] YASNA 1. -------- 1. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the creator Ahura Mazda, the radiant and glorious, the greatest and the best, the most beautiful (?) (to our conceptions), the most firm, the wisest, and the one of all whose body is the most perfect, who attains His ends the most infallibly, because of his Asha, to him who disposes our minds aright, who sends His joy- creating grace afar; who made us, and has fashioned us, and who has nourished and protected us, who is the most bounteous Spirit! 2. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) to Vohu Mano, and to the Highest Asha, and to Khshathra Vairya, and to Spenta Armaiti, and to the two, the Haurvatat and Ameretat, to the body of the Kine, and to the Kine's Soul, and to the Fire of Ahura Mazda, that one who more than (all) the Amesha Spentas has made most effort (for our succor)! 3. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for Asnya, the masters of Asha, to Hawan, Asha- sanctified, master of Asha; and I celebrate, and I carry out (this Yasna) for Savanghi and for Visya, Asha-sanctified, master(s) of Asha. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for Mithra of wide pastures, of the thousand ears, and of the myriad eyes, the Yazad of the spoken name, and for Raman Khwastra. 4. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for Rapithwin, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Fradat-fshu, and for Zangtuma, the holy master(s) of Asha; and I celebrate and carry out (this Yasna) to Asha the Best, and to the Fire of Ahura Mazda. 5. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for Uzerin the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Fradat-vira and Dakhyuma, the Asha-sanctified master(s) of Asha, and for that lofty Ahura Napat-apam (the son of waters), and for the waters which Ahura Mazda made. 6. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for Aiwisruthrem (and) Aibigaya, the Asha-sanctified master(s) of Asha, and for the Zarathushtrotema, and for him who possesses and who gives that prosperity in life which furthers all. And I celebrate and carry out (this Yasna) for the fravashis of the saints, and for those of the women who have many sons[FNOTE]'Men and herds?'[/FNOTE], and for a prosperous home life which continues without reverse throughout the year, and for that Might which is well-shaped and stately[FNOTE]'Well- grown'[/FNOTE], which strikes victoriously, Ahura-made, and for that Victorious Ascendency (which it secures). 7. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for Ushahin, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Berejya (and) Nmanya, the Asha-sanctified master(s) of Asha, and for Sraosha, companion of Ashi, possessing rewards, victorious, who furthers the world, and the very straight Rashnu and Arshtad, who further the world, who augment the world. 8. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the Mahya, the monthly festivals, masters of Asha, for the new and the later[FNOTE]Literally, 'the moon within,' showing little light.[/FNOTE] moon, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for the full moon which scatters night. 9. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the Yairya, yearly feasts, the Asha-sanctified masters of Asha. I celebrate and carry out (this Yasna) for Maidyozarem, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Maidyoshahem, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Paitishahem, and for Ayathrem the advancer, and the spender of the strength of males, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Maidyarem, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and for Hamaspathmaidyem, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha; yea, I celebrate and carry out this Yasna for the seasons, masters of Asha. 10. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for all those who are the thirty three masters of Asha, which, coming the nearest, are around about Hawan, and which (as in their festivals) were instituted by Ahura Mazda, and were promulgated by Zarathushtra, as the masters of Asha Vahishta. 11. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the two, for Ahura and Mithra, the lofty, and the everlasting, and the Asha-sanctified, and for all the stars which are Spenta Mainyu's creatures, and for the star Tishtrya, the resplendent and glorious, and for the Moon which contains the seed of the Kine, and for the resplendent Sun, the swift-horsed, the eye of Ahura Mazda, and for Mithra the province ruler. And I celebrate and carry out this Yasna for Ahura Mazda (once again, and as to him who rules the month), the radiant, the glorious, and for the Fravashis of the saints. 12. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for you, o Fire, son of Ahura Mazda, together with all the fires, and for the good waters, even for all the waters made by Mazda, and for all the plants which Mazda made. 13. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the Bounteous Manthra, the Asha-sanctified and effective, the revelation given against the Daevas; the Zoroastrian revelation, and for the long descent[FNOTE]'The long tradition;' so Spiegel.[/FNOTE] of the good Mazdayasnian Faith. 14. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the mountain Ushi-darena, the Mazda-made, with its sacred brilliance, and for all the mountains glorious with sanctity[FNOTE]Observe the impossibility of the meaning 'comfort,' or mere 'well-being' here.[/FNOTE], with their abundant Glory Mazda-made, and for that majestic Glory Mazda-made, the unconsumed[FNOTE]Or possibly 'the unseized,' the Pahlavi agrift(?); Ner. agrihitam; hvar, to eat, may have meant 'seize' originally.[/FNOTE] Glory which Mazda made. And I announce and carry out (this Yasna) for Ashi the good, the blessedness (of the reward), and for Chisti, the good religious Knowledge, for the good Erethe (Rectitude?), and for the good Rasastat (persisting zeal?), and to the Glory and the Benefit which are Mazda-made. 15. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the pious and good Blessing of the religious man, the Asha-sanctified, and for the curse of wisdom, the swift and redoubted Yazad of potency (to blight). 16. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for these places and these lands, and for these pastures, and these abodes with their springs of water(?)[FNOTE]The Pahlavi with its afkhvar points here perhaps to a better text. Recall awzhdatemja, awzhdaungho, awrem.[/FNOTE], and for the waters, land, and plants, and for this earth and for yon heaven, and for the Asha-sanctified wind, and for the stars, moon, and sun, and for the eternal stars without beginning, and self-disposing, and for all the Asha-sanctified creatures of Spenta Mainyu, male and female, the regulators of Asha.[COMMENT]Bailey, xxxviii (avO- xvarena): "hay-rack, manger"[/COMMENT] 17. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for that lofty lord who is the Asha (itself), and for the masters of the days in their duration, and of the days during daylight, for the moons, the years, and the seasons which are masters of Asha at the time of Hawan. 18. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for the fravashis of the saints, the redoubted, which overwhelm (the evil), for those of the saints of the ancient lore, for those of the next of kin, and for the fravashi of (my) own soul! 19. I announce (and) carry out (this Yasna) for all the masters of Asha, and for all the yazads, the beneficent, who dispose (of all) aright, for those both heavenly and earthly, who are (meet) for our sacrifice and homage because of Asha Vahishta. 20. O Hawan, Asha-sanctified master of Asha, and Savanghi, Rapithwin, and Uzerin, and Aiwisruthrem, (and) Aibigaya, (you who aids life!) if I have offended you, and you, o Ushahin, Asha-sanctified master of Asha! 21. If I have offended you, whether by thought, or word, or deed, whether by act of will, or without intent or wish, I earnestly make up the deficiency of this in praise to you. If I have caused decrease in that which is your Yasna, and your homage, I announce (and carry out) to you (the more for this)! 22. Yea, all ye masters, the greatest ones, Asha-sanctified masters of Asha, if I have offended you by thought, or word, or deed, whether with my will, or without intending error, I praise you (now the more) for this. I announce to you (the more) if I have caused decrease in this which is your Yasna, and your praise. 23. I would confess myself a Mazda-worshipper, of Zarathushtra's order, a foe to the Daevas, devoted to the lore of Ahura, for Hawan, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, for (his) sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise, for Savanghi and for Visya, the Asha-sanctified master of Asha, for (his) sacrifice, homage, propitiation and praise, and for the sacrifice, homage, propitiation and praise of the masters of the days in their duration, and of the days during daylight, for those of the monthly festivals, and for those of the yearly ones, and for those of the seasons! YASNA 2. -------- 1. I desire the libations for this Yasna; I desire the Baresman for this Yasna. I desire the Baresman for this Yasna; I desire the libations for this Yasna. I desire the libations together with Baresman for this Yasna; I desire the Baresman together with the libations for this Yasna. With this libation I desire this Baresman for this Yasna. With this Baresman I desire this libation for this Yasna. This Baresman with the libation I desire for this Yasna. I desire for this Yasna this Baresman with this libation and with its kusti, and spread with Asha. 2. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Ashawan Ahura Mazdah, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the well-ruling, judicious Amesha Spentas. 3. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Asnya, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Hawan, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Savanghi and the Asha-sanctified Visya, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna Mithra of the wide pastures, of the thousand ears, of the ten-thousand eyes, the Yazad of the spoken name. I desire for this Yasna Raman Khwastra. 4. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Rapithwin, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Fradat-fshav and the Asha-sanctified Zantuma, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna Asha Vahishta and Atar, the Son of Ahura Mazda. 5. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Uzerin, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Fradat-vira and the Asha-sanctified Dahyuma, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the high Lord, the kingly and brilliant Apam-Napat, of swift-horses, and likewise the water, Mazda-made and holy. 6. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Aiwisruthrem Aibigaya the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Fradat-vispam-hujyatay and the Asha-sanctified Zarathushtro-tema, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the good, mighty, bountiful Fravashis of the Asha-sanctified. I desire for this Yasna the women who have many sons. And I desire for this Yasna the Yairya Hushitay; and I desire for this Yasna the well-formed, stately Ama; and I desire for this Yasna the Ahura-given Verethraghna; and I desire for this Yasna the triumphing Uparatat. 7. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Ushahina, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Berejya and the Asha-sanctified Nmanya, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna Sraosha, companion of Ashi, fair of form, victorious, furthering the world, Asha-sanctified, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the straightest Rashnu, and I desire for this Yasna Arshtat, who furthers the settlements, and causes them to increase. 8. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Mahya (Monthly festivals), the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Antaremah, the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Pereno-mah and the Asha-sanctified Vishaptatha, the master of Asha. 9. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Yairya (Yearly festivals), the master of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Maidyozarem, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Maidyoshahem, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Paitishahem, the master of Asha. With this libation and Barasman I desire for this Yasna Ayathrem, the promoter, who spends the strength of males, Asha-sanctified, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Maidyarem, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Hamaspathmaidyem, the master of Asha. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the Asha-sanctified Yairya (Yearly festivals), the masters of Asha. 10. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna all of the masters of Asha, the thirty- three who come the nearest round about our Hawans, who are masters of Asha Vahishta, which were inculcated by Mazda, and spoken forth by Zarathushtra. 11. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna Ahura (and) Mithra, the lofty, eternal, and Asha-sanctified two. I desire for this Yasna the Stars and Moon and Sun (and) - with the Baresman-Plants - and Mithra, the governor of all the provinces. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the radiant and glorious Ahura Mazda. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the Asha-sanctified. 12. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna you, the Asha-sanctified Atar, the Son of Ahura Mazda, the master of Asha, with all Fires. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the good, best, Mazda-made, Asha-sanctified Water. I desire for this Yasna all the Mazda-made Asha-sanctified Waters. I desire for this Yasna all the Mazda- made, Asha-sanctified Plants. 13. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the bounteous Manthra, the most glorious. I desire for this Yasna the law instituted against the Daevas. I desire for this Yasna the Zoroastrian law. I desire for this Yasna the long tradition. I desire for this Yasna the good Mazdayasnian Religion. 14. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna Mount Ushi-darena, Mazda-made, the Yazad possessing the ease of Asha. I desire for this Yasna all mountains possessed of ease of Asha, full of ease, Mazda-made, Asha-sanctified, the masters of Asha. I desire for this Yasna the strong, Mazda-made khwarrah of the Kavis. I desire for this Yasna the strong, Mazda-made ungraspable khwarrah. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the good Ashi, the brilliant, tall, vigorous, fair of form, self-sufficient. I desire for this Yasna the Mazda-made khwarrah; I desire for this Yasna the Mazda-made prosperity. 15. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna the pious and good Blessing. I desire for this Yasna the pious, Asha-sanctified Man, and I desire for this Yasna the strong, brave Yazad Damoish Upamana. 16. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna these Waters and Lands and Plants; I desire for this Yasna these places, districts, and pastures, and these dwellings with their springs of water, and this land-ruler, who is Ahura Mazda. 17. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna all the greatest masters: the day-lords, the month-lords, those of the years, and of the seasons, and the good, mighty, beneficent Fravashis of the Asha-sanctified. 18. With this libation and Baresman I desire for this Yasna all the Asha-sanctified Yazatas. I desire for this Yasna all the masters of Asha: Hawan at his time, and Savanghi and Visya at their times, and all the greatest masters at their times. YASNA 3 - THE YASNA ADVANCES TO THE NAMING OF THE OBJECTS OF PROPITIATION. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. With a Baresman brought to its appointed place accompanied with the Zaothra at the time of Havani, I desire to approach the Myazda-offering with my praise, as it is consumed, and likewise Ameretat (as the guardian of plants and wood) and Haurvatat (who guards the water), with the (fresh) meat, for the propitiation of Ahura Mazda, and of the Bountiful Immortals, and for the propitiation of Sraosha (who is Obedience) the blessed, who is endowed with sanctity, and who smites with the blow of victory, and causes the settlements to advance. 2. And I desire to approach Haoma and Para-haoma with my praise for the propitiation of the Fravashi of Spitama Zarathushtra, the saint. And I desire to approach the (sacred) wood with my praise, with the perfume, for the propitiation of thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! 3. And I desire to approach the Haomas with my praise for the propitiation of the good waters which Mazda created; and I desire to approach the Haoma-water, and the fresh milk with my praise, and the plant Hadhanaepata, offered with sanctity for the propitiation of the waters which are Mazda-made. 4. And I desire to approach this Baresman with the Zaothra with my praise, with its binding and spread with sanctity for the propitiation of the Bountiful Immortals. And I desire with (?) my voice the thoughts well thought, and the words well spoken, and the deeds well done, and the recital of the Gathas as they are heard. And I desire to approach the well-said Mathras with my praise, and this (higher) lordship with this sanctity, and this exact regulation (of the Ratu), and the reverential prayer for blessings (spoken at the fitting hour); and I desire to approach them for the contentment and propitiation of the holy Yazads, heavenly and earthly, and for the contentment of each man's soul. 5. And I desire to approach the Asnya with my praise, the lords of the ritual order, and the Havani and Savanghi and Visya, the holy lords of the ritual order. And I desire to approach with the Yasht of Mithra of the wide pastures, of the thousand ears, of the myriad eyes, the Yazad of the spoken name, and with him Raman Hvastra. 6. And I desire to approach Rapithwina with my praise, the holy lord of the ritual order, and Fradat-fshu and Zantuma, and Righteousness the Best, and Ahura Mazda's Fire. 7. And I desire to approach Uzayeirina, and Fradat-vira and Dahvyuma* with my praise, with that lofty Ahura Napt-apam, and the waters Mazda-made, 8. And Aiwisruthrima, and Aibigaya, and Fradat-vispam-hujaiti, and Zarathushtrotema with the Yasht of the Fravashis of the saints, and of the women who have many sons, and the year long unchanged prosperity, and of Might, the well-shaped and stately, smiting victoriously, Ahura-made and of the Victorious Ascendency (which it secures). 9. And I desire to approach Ushahina, Berejya, and Nmanya with the Yasht of Sraosha (Obedience) the sacred, the holy, who smites with the blow of victory, and makes the settlements advance, and with that of Rashnu, the most just, and Arshtat who furthers the settlements, and causes them to increase. 10. And I desire to approach the monthly festivals, the lords of the ritual order, and the new moon and the waning moon, and the full moon which scatters night, 11. And the yearly festivals, Maidhyo-zaremaya, Maidhyo-shema, Paitishahya, and Ayathrima the breeder who spends the strength of males, and Maidhyairya, and Hamaspathmaedhaya, and the seasons, lords of the ritual order, (12) and all those lords who are the three and thirty, who approach the nearest at the time of Havani, who are the Lords of Asha called Vahishta (and whose services were) inculcated by Mazda, and pronounced by Zarathushtra, as the feasts of Righteousness, the Best. 13. And I desire to approach Ahura and Mithra, the lofty and imperishable two, the holy, and with the Yasht of those stars which are the creatures of Spenta Mainyu, and with the Yasht of the star Tistrya, the radiant, the glorious, and with that of the moon which contains the seed of cattle, and with that of the resplendent sun, the eye of Ahura Mazda, and of Mithra, province-lord of the provinces, and with that of Ahura Mazda (as He rules this day) the radiant, the glorious, and with that of the Fravashis of the saints, (who rule this month), 14. And with thy Yasht, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! with all the fires, and to the good waters with the Yasht of all the waters which are Mazda-made, and with that of all the plants which Mazda made. 15. And I desire to approach with the Yasht of the Mathra Spenta, the holy, the effective, the law composed against the Daevas, the Zarathushtrian, and with that of the long descent of the Religion which Mazda gave. 16. And I desire to approach with the Yasht of Mount Ushi-darena, Mazda-made, and of all, glorious with sanctity, and abundant in brilliance, and with that of the Kingly Glory, Mazda- made; yea, with that of the unconsumed glory which Mazda made, and with that of Ashi Vanguhi, and Chishti Vanguhi, and with that of the good Erethe, and the good Rasastat, and the good Glory, and of the Benefit which Mazda gave. 17. And I desire to approach with the Yasht of the good and pious Blessing of the pious man and of the saint, and with that of the awful and swift Curse of the wise, the Yazad-curse, (18) and to these places, regions, pastures, and abodes, with their water-springs, and with that of the waters, and the lands, and the plants, and with that of this earth and yon heaven, and with that of the holy wind and of the stars, moon, and sun, and with that of the stars without beginning, self-determined and self-moved, and with that of all the holy creatures which are those of Spenta Mainyu, male and female, regulators of the ritual order, (19) and with that of the lofty lord who is Righteousness (himself, the essence of the ritual), and with that of the days in their duration, and of the days during daylight, and with that of the monthly festivals, and the yearly festivals, and with those of the several seasons which are lords of the ritual at the time of Havani. 20. And I desire to approach the meat-offering with a Yasht, and Haurvatat (who guards the water), and Ameretatat (who guards the plants and wood), with the Yasht of the sacred flesh for the propitiation of Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the mighty, whose body is the Mathra, of him of the daring spear, the lordly, the Yazad of the spoken name. 21. And I desire to approach both Haoma and the Haoma-juice with a Yasht for the propitiation of the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama, the saint, the Yazad of the spoken name. And I desire to approach the wood-billets with a Yasht, with the perfume for the propitiation of thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! the Yazad of the spoken name. 22. And I desire to approach with a Yasht for the mighty Fravashis of the saints, the overwhelming, the Fravashis of those who held to the ancient lore, and of those of the next of kin. 23. And I desire to approach toward all the lords of the ritual order with a Yasht, toward all the good Yazads, heavenly and earthly, who are (set) for worship and for praise because of Asha Vahishta (of Righteousness the Best). 24. I will confess myself a Mazdayasnian, of Zarathushtra's order, a foe to the Daevas, devoted to the lore of the Lord for Havani, the holy lord of the ritual order, for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and for praise, and for Savanghi and Visya, the holy lord(s) of the ritual order, and for the sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise of the day-lords of the days in their duration, and of the days during daylight, and for the month-regulators, and the year- regulators, and for those of the (several) seasons, for their sacrifice, and homage, their propitiation, and their praise. (The Zaotar speaks): As the Ahu to be (revered and) chosen, let the priest speak forth to me. (The Ratu responds): As the Ahu to be (revered and) chosen, let him who is the Zaotar speak forth to me. (The Zaotar again): So let the Ratu from his Righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth! YASNA 4 - THE OFFERING TAKES PLACE. ----------------------------------- 1. These good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, these Haomas, meat-offerings, and Zaothras, this Baresman spread with sanctity, this flesh, and the two, Haurvatat (who guards the water) and Ameretatat (who guards the plants and wood), even the flesh, the Haoma and Haoma-juice, the wood-billets, and their perfume, this sacred lordship and chieftainship, and the timely prayer with blessing, and the heard recital of the Gathas, and the well-said Mathras, these all we offer, and make known with celebrations (here). 2. Yea, these do we announce with celebrations, and we present them to Ahura Mazda, and to Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, and to the Bountiful Immortals, and to the Fravashis of the saints, and to their souls, and to the Fire of Ahura Mazda, the lofty lord of the entire creation of the holy, for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise. 3. Yea, further, we present (them to the Bountiful Immortals with an especial gift) these thoughts well thought, these words well spoken, these deeds well done, these Haomas, Myazdas, Zaothras, and this Baresman spread with sanctity, the flesh, and Haurvatat (who guards the water), and Ameretatat (who guards the plants and wood), even the flesh, Haoma and Parahaoma, the wood-billets, the perfume, and this their lordship and their sanctity, and this chieftainship, this prayer for blessing, the heard recital of the Gathas, and the well-said Mathras. 4. We offer with our celebrations, and we announce them (of a verity) to the Bountiful Immortals, those who exercise their rule aright, and who dispose (of all) aright, the ever- living, ever-helpful, the male divinities among their number who dwell with the Good Mind, [and the female ones as well]. 5. And we announce them in our celebrations as more propitious for this house, and for the furtherance of this house, of its herds, and of its men, of those now born, and of those yet to be born, the holy, yea, for the furtherance of that house of which these (men) are thus. 6. And we present these offerings to the good Fravashis of the saints who are mighty and overwhelming for the succor of the saints. 7. Yea, we present these hereby to the Creator Ahura Mazda, the radiant, the glorious, and the heavenly spirit, for the sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise of the Bountiful Immortals (all). 8. And we present these hereby to the Day-lords of the ritual order, to Havani, to Savanghi, and to Visya, the holy lords of the ritual order, for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and for praise, and to Mithra of the wide pastures, and the thousand ears, and the myriad eyes, the Yazad of the spoken name, 9. And to Rapithwina, Fradat-fshu, and Zantuma, the holy lords of the ritual order, and to Righteousness the Best, and to Ahura Mazda's Fire, 10. And to Uzayeirina, Fradat-vira, and Dahvyuma, the holy lords of the ritual order, and to that lofty lord Napat-apam, and to the water Mazda-made, 11. And to Aiwisruthrima, the life-furtherer, and to Fradat-vispam-hujyaiti and Zarathushtrotema, the holy lords of the ritual order, and to the Fravashis of the saints, and to the women who bring forth many sons, and to the Prosperous home-life which endures without reverse throughout the year, and to Force, well-shaped and stately, and to the Blow of victory which Mazda gives, and to the Victorious Ascendency which it secures, for their sacrifice, homage, their propitiation, and their praise, 12. And to Ushahina, with Berejya and Nmanya, and Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, smiting with the blow of victory and furthering the settlements, and to Rashnu, the most just, and to Arstat, furthering the settlements, and causing them to increase. 13. And these we announce and we present hereby to the Month-lords of the ritual order, to the new moon and the waning moon (the moon within), and to the full moon which scatters night, the holy lord of the ritual order, for (their) sacrifice, homage, their propitiation, and their praise. 14. And these we announce hereby and we present to the Yearly festivals, to Maidhyo-zaremaya, Maidhyo-shema, Patishahya, and to Ayathrima, to Maidhyairya, Hamaspathmaedhaya, and to the Seasons as holy lords of the ritual order, for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and for praise. 15. And these we announce and we present hereby to all those lords who are the three and thirty lords of the ritual order, who approach the nearest around about our Havani, and which are the festivals of Righteousness the Best, inculcated by Mazda, and uttered forth by Zarathushtra for their sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise. 16. And these we announce and we present to Ahura and to Mithra, the lofty, and imperishable, and holy two, to the stars, the creatures of Spenta Mainyu, and to the star Tistrya, the radiant, the glorious, and to the Moon which contains the seed of cattle, and to the resplendent Sun, of the swift horses, Ahura Mazda's eye, and to Mithra, the lord of provinces, for their sacrifice, homage, their propitiation and their praise; yea, these we present hereby to Ahura Mazda (as he rules this day) and to the Fravashis of the saints (as they rule this month), for their sacrifice, homage, their propitiation and their praise. 17. And these we announce hereby to thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! with all the fires for thy sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise, and to the good waters for the sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and praise of all the waters Mazda-made, and to all the plants which Mazda made, 18. And to the Mathra Spenta, the holy, the effective, the law against the Daevas, the Zarathushtrian statute, and to the long descent of the good Mazdayasnian religion. 19. And these we announce and we present hereby to Mount Ushi-darena, Mazda-made, brilliant with sanctity, and to all the mountains shining with their holiness, abundantly luminous, and Mazda-made, and to the Kingly glory, the unconsumed glory Mazda-made, and to the good Blessedness, and the good Religious-knowledge, and the good Rectitude, and to the good Rasastat, and to the Glory and the Benefit which Mazda created. 20. And these we offer and present to the pious and good Blessing of the pious, and to the swift and dreadful Yazad, the Curse of wisdom. 21. And to these places, pastures, and dwellings with their springs of water, their rivers, to the lands and to the plants, to this earth and yon heaven, to the holy wind, to the stars, moon, and sun, to the stars without beginning, self-disposed, and to all the holy creatures of the Spenta Mainyu, male and female (the rulers as they are of the ritual order). 22. And these we announce and we present hereby to that lofty lord who is Asha, the ritual righteousness itself, to the Day-lords, and the Month-lords, the Year-lords, and the Seasons who are the lords of the ritual at the time of Havani, and for their sacrifice, homage, their propitiation and their praise. 23. Yea, these we announce and we present to Sraosha, the blessed and mighty, whose body is the Mathra, him of the daring spear, the lordly one, and to the holy Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama, the saint. And these we announce and we present to thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! for thy sacrifice, homage, thy propitiation, and thy praise. 24. And these we announce and we present to the Fravashis of the saints, the mighty and overwhelming, of the saints of the ancient lore, and of the next of kin. 25. And these we announce and we present hereby to all the good Yazads, earthly and heavenly, who are (meet) for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and for praise, because of Asha Vahishta (who is Righteousness the Best). We worship the Bountiful Immortals who rule aright, and who dispose of all aright. 26. And that one of beings (do we worship) whose superior (service) in the sacrifice Ahura Mazda knows, and from his righteousness (which he maintains, and those of all female beings do we worship) whose (higher service is thus likewise known; yea, all) male and female beings do we worship (who are such)! YASNA 5. -------- (This chapter is identical with Yasna 37. ) YASNA 6 - THE SACRIFICE CONTINUES WITH FULLER EXPRESSION. --------------------------------------------------------- 1. We worship the Creator Ahura Mazda with our sacrifice, and the Bountiful Immortals who rule aright, and who dispose of all aright. 2. And we worship the Asnya with our sacrifice, and Havani, Savanghi and Visya, the holy lords of the ritual order, and Mithra of the wide pastures, of the thousand ears, and myriad eyes, the Yazad of the spoken name, and we worship Raman Hvastra. 3. And we worship Rapithwina with our sacrifice, and Fradat-fshu, and the Zantuma, and Righteousness the Best, and the Fire, Ahura Mazda's son, holy lords of the ritual order. 4. And we worship Uzayeirina, and Fradat-vira, and Dahvyuma*, the holy lord of the ritual order, and that kingly Ahura, the radiant Napat-apam, of the fleet horses, and the water holy, and Mazda-made. 5. And we worship Aiwisruthrima and Aibigaya in our sacrifice, the holy lord of the ritual order, and Fradat-vispam-hujyaiti and the Zarathushtrotema, the holy lord of the ritual order, and the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the saints, and the women who bring forth many sons, and the Prosperous home-life which endures without reverse throughout the year, and Force which is well-shaped and stately, and the Blow which brings the victory, which is Ahura-given, and the Victorious Ascendency (which it secures). 6. And we worship Ushahina with our sacrifice, and Berejya, and Nmanya, and Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately who smites with victory, and makes the settlements advance, and Rashnu, the most just, and Arshtat who makes the settlements advance and causes them to increase, the holy lords of the ritual order. 7. And we worship the Mahya in our sacrifice, the new moon and the waning moon (the moon within) and the full moon which scatters night, the holy lord of the ritual order. 8. And we worship the Yearly festivals in our sacrifice, Maidhya-zaremaya, Maidhyo-shema, Paitishhahya, and Ayathrima, the furtherer (or breeder), the spender of virile strength, and Maidhyairya, the holy lord of the ritual order, and Hamaspathmaedhaya, and the Seasons (in which they are). 9. And we worship with our sacrifice all the lords of the ritual order, who are the thirty and three who approach the nearest around about us at Havani, who are the lords of Righteousness the Best, and whose observances were inculcated by Ahura Mazda, and uttered forth by Zarathushtra. 10. And we worship Ahura and Mithra with our sacrifice, the lofty, and imperishable, and holy two, and the stars, moon, and sun, among the plants of the Baresman, and Mithra, the province-lord of all the provinces, even Ahura Mazda, the radiant, the glorious, and the good, valiant, and bountiful Fravashis of the saints. 11. And we worship thee, the Fire, Ahura Mazda's son, together with all the fires, and the good waters, the best and Mazda-made, and holy, even all the waters which are Mazda-made and holy, and all the plants which Mazda made. 12. And we worship the Mathra Spenta with our sacrifice, the glorious and of a truth, the law revealed against the Daevas, the Zarathushtrian law, and we worship with our sacrifice its long descent, and the good Mazdayasnian Religion. 13. And we worship Mount Ushi-darena, the Mazda-made, the glorious Yazad, shining with holiness, and all the mountains that shine with holiness, with abundant brilliance, Mazda- made, the holy lords of the ritual order. And we worship the mighty Kingly glory Mazda- made, the mighty glory, unconsumed and Mazda-made, and the good Sanctity, the brilliant, the lofty, the powerful and the stately, delivering (men) with its inherent power. Yea, we worship the Glory, and the Benefit which are Mazda-made. 14. And we worship the pious and good Blessing with our sacrifice, and the pious man, the saint, and that Yazad, the mighty Curse of wisdom. 15. And we worship these waters, lands, and plants, these places, districts, pastures, and abodes with their springs of water, and we worship this lord of the district with our sacrifice, who is Ahura Mazda (Himself). 16. And we worship all the greatest lords, the Day-lords in the day's duration, and the Day-lords during daylight, and the Month-lords, and the Year-lords. 17. And we worship Haurvatat (who guards the water) and Ameretatat (who guards the plants and the wood), and Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, who smites with the blow of victory, and makes the settlements advance, the holy lord of the ritual order. 18. And we worship Haoma with our sacrifice and the Haoma-juice. And we worship the sacred Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama the saint. And we worship the wood-billets, and the perfume and thee, the Fire, Ahura Mazda's son, the holy lord of the ritual order. 19. And we worship the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the saints. 20. And we worship all the holy Yazads, and all the lords of the ritual order at the time of Havani, and Savanghi, and all the greatest lords at their (proper) time. (The Yenhe hatam follows.) 21. The Ratu. As an Ahu (revered and) to be chosen, the priest speaks forth to me. The Zaotar. So let the Ratu from his Righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth! YASNA 7 - PRESENTATION OF OFFERINGS BY THE PRIEST WITH THE OBJECT OF PROPITIATION NAMED. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. With a complete and sacred offering I offer and I give this meat-offering, and (with it) Haurvatat (who guards the water), and Ameretatat (who guards the plants and the wood), and the flesh of the Kine of blessed gift, for the propitiation of Ahura Mazda, and of the Bountiful Immortals (all, and) for the propitiation of Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, endowed with sanctity, who smites with the blow of victory, and who causes the settlements to advance. 2. And I offer the Haoma and Haoma-juice with a complete and sacred offering for the propitiation of the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama the saint, and I offer the wood-billets with the perfume for Thy propitiation, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! 3. And I offer the Haomas with a complete and sacred offering for propitiation [to the good waters] for the good waters Mazda-made. And I offer this Haoma-water with scrupulous exactness and with sanctity, and this fresh milk, and the plant Hadhanaepata uplifted with a complete and sacred offering for the propitiation of the waters which are Mazda-made. 4. And I offer this Baresman with its Zaothra (and with its binding) for a girdle spread with complete sanctity and order for the propitiation of the Bountiful Immortals, and I offer with my voice the thoughts well-thought, the words well-spoken, and the deeds well-done, and the heard recital of the Gathas, the Mathras well-composed and well-delivered, and this Lordship, and this Sanctity, and this ritual mastership, and the timely Prayer for blessings, with a complete and sacred offering for the propitiation of the holy Yazads, heavenly and earthly, and for the contentment of the individual soul! 5. And I offer to the Asnya with a complete and sacred offering, as lords of the ritual order, and to Havani, and to Savanghi and Visya, holy lords of the ritual order, and to Mithra of the wide pastures, of the thousand ears, and myriad eyes, the Yazad of the spoken name, and to Raman Hvastra. 6. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Rapithwina, the holy lord of the ritual order; and I offer to Fradat-fshu and to the Zantuma, and to Asha Vahishta (who is Righteousness the Best) and to Ahura Mazda's Fire. 7. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Uzayeirina, Fradat-vira, and to the Dahvyuma*, the holy lord of the ritual order, and to that lofty Ahura Napat-apam, and to the waters which Mazda created. 8. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Aiwisruthrima, the life-furtherer, and to Fradat-vispam-hujyaiti, and to the Zarathushtrotema, and to the Fravashis of the saints, and to the women who have many sons, and to the Prosperous home-life which endures (without reverse) throughout the year, and to Force, the well-shaped and stately, and to the Blow which smites with victory Ahura-given, and to the Victorious Ascendency (which it secures). 9. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Ushahina, the holy lord of the ritual order, and to Berejya, and Nmanya, and to Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, endowed with sanctity, who smites with the blow of victory, and makes the settlements advance, and to Rashnu the most just, and to Arshtat who furthers the settlements and causes them to increase. 10. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to the Mahya, lords of the ritual order, to the new and the waning moon (the moon within), and to the full moon which scatters night, holy lords of the ritual order. 11. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to the Yearly festivals, the lords of the ritual order, to Maidhyo-zaremaya, and Maidhyo-shema, to Paitishahya, and to Ayathrima the furtherer (the breeder), the spender of the strength of males, and to Maidhyairya and Hamaspathmaedhaya, holy lords of the ritual order, and I offer with sanctity to the several seasons, the lords of the ritual order. 12. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to all those lords who are the thirty and three, who approach the nearest round about our Havani, and who are the lords of Asha (the ritual by-eminence), of Righteousness who is (the Best), whose observances are inculcated as precepts by Mazda, and uttered forth by Zarathushtra. 13. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Ahura and Mithra, the lofty and imperishable, and holy two, and to the stars which are the creatures of Spenta Mainyu, and to the star Tishtrya, the radiant, the glorious, and to the Moon which contains the seed of cattle in its beams, and to the resplendent Sun of the fleet horses, the eye of Ahura Mazda, and to Mithra, the lord of the provinces. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Ahura Mazda, the resplendent, the glorious, (who rules this day), and to the Fravashis of the saints (who name the month). 14. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! together with all the fires, and to the good waters, even to the waters which are Mazda-made, and to all the plants which Mazda made. 15. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to the Mathra Spenta, the holy, the effective, revealed against the Daevas, the Zarathushtrian law, and to the long descent of the good Religion, of the Mazdayasnian faith. 16. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Mount Ushi-darena, the Mazda-made, brilliant with holiness, and to all the mountains shining with holiness, of abundant brightness, and which Mazda made, and to the Royal glory unconsumed and Mazda-made. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to Ashi Vanguhi, and to Chishti Vanguhi, and to Erethe, and to Rasastat, and to the Glory (and the) Benefit which Mazda made. 17. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to the good and pious Prayer for blessings of the pious man, and to that Yazad, the swift and dreadful Curse of the wise. 18. And I offer with a complete and sacred blessing to these places, districts, pastures, and abodes with their springs of water, and to the waters and the lands, and the plants, and to this earth and yon heaven, and to the holy wind, and to the stars, and the moon, even to the stars without beginning (to their course), the self-appointed, and to all the holy creatures of Spenta Mainyu, be they male or female, regulators (as they are) of the ritual order. 19. And I offer with a complete and sacred blessing to that lofty lord who is Righteousness (the Best) and the Day-lords, the lords of the days during their duration, and to those of the days during daylight, and to the Month-lords, and the Year-lords, and to those of the seasons, the lords who are lords of the ritual, and at the time of Havani. 20. And I offer the Myazda meat-offering with a complete and sacred offering, and Haurvatat (who guards the water), and Ameretatat (who guards the wood), and the flesh of the Kine of blessed gift, for the propitiation of Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, whose body is the Mathra, him of the daring spear, the lordly, the Yazad of the spoken name. 21. And I offer the Haoma and the Haoma-juice for the propitiation of the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama the saint, the Yazad of the spoken name. And I offer the wood-billets with the perfume for Thy propitiation, the Fire's, Ahura Mazda's son, the Yazad of the spoken name. 22. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to the Fravashis of the saints, the mighty and overwhelming, to those of the saints of the ancient lore, and to those of the next of kin. 23. And I offer with a complete and sacred offering to all the lords of the ritual order, and to all the good Yazads heavenly and earthly who are (meet) for sacrifice and homage because of Asha who is Vahishta (of Righteousness who is the Best). 24. May that approach to us, and with a sacred blessing (O Lord!) whose benefits the offerers are seeking for. Thy praisers and Mathra-speakers, O Ahura Mazda! may we be named; we desire it, and such may we be. What reward, O Ahura Mazda! adapted to myself Thou hast appointed unto souls, 25. Of this do Thou Thyself bestow upon us for this world and for that of mind; (yea, do Thou bestow) so much of this as that we may attain to Thy ruling protection and to that of Righteousness for ever. 26. We sacrifice to the Ahuna-vairya and to the veracious word correctly uttered, and to the good and pious prayer for blessings, and to the dreadful curse of the wise, the Yazad, and to Haurvatat and Ameretatat, and to the flesh of the Kine of blessed gift, and to the Haoma and Haoma-juice, and to the wood-billets, and the perfume, for the praise of the pious and good prayer for blessings. (The Yenghe hatam:) 27. (To that one) of beings do we sacrifice whose superior (fidelity) in the sacrifice Ahura Mazda knows through his Righteousness (within him, yea, even to those female saints do we sacrifice) whose (superior sanctity is thus known. We sacrifice to all) both males and females whose (superiority is such). (The Ratu speaks.) As an Ahu (revered and) to be chosen, he who is the Zaotar speaks forth to me. (The Zaotar.) So let the Ratu from his Righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth! YASNA 8 - OFFERING OF THE MEAT-OFFERING IN PARTICULAR. THE FAITHFUL PARTAKE. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. A blessing is Righteousness (called) the Best. It is weal; it is weal to this (man), When toward Righteousness Best there is right. I offer the Myazda (of the) meat-offering with a complete and sacred offering; and I offer Haurvatatat (who guards the water), and Ameretatat (who guards the plants and the wood), and the flesh of the blessed Kine; and I offer the Haoma and the Haoma-juice, the wood- billets and the perfume for the praise of Ahura Mazda, and of the Ahuna-vairya, the veracious word, and for that of the pious and beneficent Prayer for blessings, and for the redoubted Curse of the wise, and for the praise of the Haoma, and of the Mathra of the holy Zarathushtra; and may it come to us with sacred fullness (to accept and to recompense our gift). 2. (The Ratu speaks.) Eat, O ye men, of this Myazda, the meat-offering, ye who have deserved it by your righteousness and correctness. 3. O ye Bountiful Immortals, and thou, the Mazdayasnian law, ye just men and just women, and ye Zaothras, whoever among these Mazdayasnians would call himself a Mazdayasnian desiring to live in the practice of the liberality of Righteousness [for by sorcery the settlements of Righteousness are ruined], do ye cause (such an one) to be (still further) taught, (ye), who are the waters, the plants, and the Zaothras! 4. And whoever of these Mazdayasnians, adults, when he invokes with earnestness, does not adhere to these words, and (so) speaks, he approaches to that (word) of the magician; (but, as against that magician's word) 'a blessing is Righteousness (called) the Best.' 5. May'st Thou, O Ahura Mazda! reign at Thy will, and with a saving rule over Thine own creatures, and render Ye the holy (man) also a sovereign at his will over waters, and over plants, and over all the clean and sacred (creatures) which contain the seed of Righteousness. Strip ye the wicked of all power! 6. Absolute in power may the holy be, bereft of all free choice the wicked ! Gone (may he be), met as foe, carried out from the creatures of Spenta Mainyu, hemmed in without power over any wish! ---------- 7. I will incite, even I who am Zarathushtra, the heads of the houses, villages, Zantus, and provinces, to the careful following of this Religion which is that of Ahura, and according to Zarathushtra, in their thoughts, their words, and their deeds. 8. I pray for the freedom and glory of the entire existence of the holy (man) while I bless it, and I pray for the repression and shame of the entire existence of the wicked. 9. Propitiation to Haoma who brings righteousness (to us) for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and for praise. (The Zaotar?) As the Ahu to be (revered and) chosen, the Zaotar speaks forth to me. (The Ratu.) As an Ahu to be (revered and) chosen, the Zaotar speaks forth to me. (The Zaotar.) So let the Ratu from his Righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth! THE HOM YASHT ============= YASNA 9. -------- 1. At the hour of Havani. Haoma came to Zarathushtra, as he served the (sacred) Fire, and sanctified (its flame), while he sang aloud the Gathas. And Zarathushtra asked him: Who art thou, O man! who art of all the incarnate world the most beautiful in Thine own body of those whom I have, seen, (thou) glorious [immortal]? 2. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, the holy one who driveth death afar: I am, O Zarathushtra Haoma, the holy and driving death afar; pray to me, O Spitama, prepare me for the taste. Praise toward me in (Thy) praises as the other [Saoshyants] praise. 3. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Unto Haoma be the praise. What man, O Haoma! first prepared thee for the corporeal world? What blessedness was offered him? what gain did he acquire? 4. Thereupon did Haoma answer me, he the holy one, and driving death afar: Vivanghvant was the first of men who prepared me for the incarnate world. This blessedness was offered him; this gain did he acquire, that to him was born a son who was Yima, called the brilliant, (he of the many flocks, the most glorious of those yet born, the sunlike-one of men), that he made from his authority both herds and people free from dying, both plants and waters free from drought, and men could eat imperishable food. 5. In the reign of Yima swift of motion was there neither cold nor heat, there was neither age nor death, nor envy demon-made. Like fifteen-yearlings walked the two forth, son and father, in their stature and their form, so long as Yima, son of Vivanghvant ruled, he of the many herds! 6. Who was the second man, O Haoma! who prepared thee for the corporeal world? What sanctity was offered him? what gain did he acquire? 7. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, he the holy one, and driving death afar: Athwya was the second who prepared-me for the corporeal world. This blessedness was given him, this gain did he acquire, that to him a son was born, Thraetaona of the heroic tribe, 8. Who smote the dragon Dahaka, three-jawed and triple-headed, six-eyed, with thousand powers, and of mighty strength, a lie-demon of the Daevas, evil for our settlements, and wicked, whom the evil spirit Angra Mainyu made as the most mighty Druj [against the corporeal world], and for the murder of (our) settlements, and to slay the (homes) of Asha! 9. Who was the third man, O Haoma! who prepared thee for the corporeal world? What blessedness was given him? what gain did he acquire? 10. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, the holy one, and driving death afar: Thrita, [the most helpful of the Samas], was the third man who prepared me for the corporeal world. This blessedness was given him, this gain did he acquire, that to him two son were born, Urvakhshaya and Keresaspa, the one a judge confirming order, the other a youth of great ascendant, ringlet-headed, bludgeon-bearing. 11. He who smote the horny dragon swallowing men, and swallowing horses, poisonous, and green of color over which, as thick as thumbs are, greenish poison flowed aside, on whose back once Keresaspa cooked his meat in iron caldron at the noonday meal; and the deadly, scorched, upstarted, and springing off, dashed out the water as it boiled. Headlong fled affrighted manly- minded Keresaspa. 12. Who was the fourth man who prepared thee, O Haoma! for the corporeal world? What blessedness was given him? what gain did he acquire? 13. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, he the holy, and driving death afar: Pourushaspa was the fourth man who prepared me for the corporeal world. This blessedness was given him, this gain did he acquire, that thou, O Zarathushtra! wast born to him, the just, in Pourushaspa's house, the Daeva's foe, the friend of Mazda's lore, (14) famed in Airyana Vaejah; and thou, O Zarathushtra! didst recite the first the Ahuna-vairya, four times intoning it, and with verses kept apart [(Pazand) each time with louder and still louder voice]. 15. And thou didst cause, O Zarathushtra! all the demon-gods to vanish in the ground who aforetime flew about this earth in human shape (and power. This hast thou done), thou who hast been the strongest, and the staunchest, the most active, and the swiftest, and (in every deed) the most victorious in the two spirits' world. 16. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Praise to Haoma. Good is Haoma, and the well-endowed, exact and righteous in its nature, and good inherently, and healing, beautiful of form, and good in deed, and most successful in its working, golden-hued, with bending sprouts. As it is the best for drinking, so (through its sacred stimulus) is it the most nutritious for the soul. -------------------- 17. I make my claim on thee, O yellow one! for inspiration. I make my claim on thee for strength; I make my claim on thee for victory; I make my claim on thee for health and healing (when healing is my need); I make my claim on thee for progress and increased prosperity, and vigor of the entire frame, and for understanding, of each adorning kind, and for this, that I may have free course among our settlements, having power where I will, overwhelming angry malice, and a conqueror of lies. 18. Yea, I make my claim on thee that I may overwhelm the angry hate of haters, of the Daevas and of mortals, of the sorcerers and sirens, of the tyrants, and the Kavis, of the Karpans, murderous bipeds, of the sanctity-destroyers, the profane apostate bipeds, of the wolves four- footed monsters, of the invading host, wide-fronted, which with stratagems advance. -------------------- 19. This first blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! I beseech of thee for (heaven), the best life of the saints, the radiant, all-glorious. This second blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! this body's health (before that blest life is attained). This third blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! the long vitality of life. 20. This fourth blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! that I may stand forth on this earth with desires gained, and powerful, receiving satisfaction, overwhelming the assaults of hate, and conquering the lie. This fifth blessing, O Haoma, I beseech of thee, thou that drivest death afar! that I may stand victorious on earth, conquering in battles, overwhelming the assaults of hate, and conquering the lie. 21. This sixth blessing I ask of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! that we may get good warning of the thief, good warning of the murderer, see first the bludgeon-bearer, get first sight of the wolf. May no one whichsoever get first the sight of us. In the strife with each may we be they who get the first alarm! -------------------- 22. Haoma grants to racers who would run a course with span both speed and bottom (in their horses). Haoma grants to women come to bed with child a brilliant offspring and a righteous line. Haoma grants to those (how many!) who have long sat searching books, more knowledge and more wisdom. 23. Haoma grants to those long maidens, who sit at home unwed, good husbands, and that as soon as asked, he Haoma, the well-minded. 24. Haoma lowered Keresani, dethroned him from his throne, for he grew so fond of power, that he treacherously said: No priest behind (and watching) shall walk the lands for me, as a counselor to prosper them, he would rob everything of progress, he would crush the growth of all! -------------------- 25. Hail to thee, O Haoma, who hast power as thou wilt, and by thine inborn strength! Hail to thee, thou art well-versed in many sayings, and true and holy words. Hail to thee for thou dost ask no wily questions, but questionest direct. 26. Forth hath Mazda borne to thee, the star-bespangled girdle, the spirit-made, the ancient one, the Mazdayasnian Faith. So with this thou art begirt on the summits of the mountains, for the spreading of the precepts, and the headings of the Mathra, (and to help the Mathra's teacher), 27. O Haoma, thou house-lord, and thou clan-lord, thou tribe-lord, and chieftain of the land, and thou successful learned teacher, for aggressive strength I speak to thee, for that which smites with victory, and for my body's saving, and for manifold delight! 28. Bear off from us the torment and the malice of the hateful. Divert the angry foe's intent! What man soever in this house is violent and wicked, what man soever in this village, or this tribe, or province, seize thou away the fleetness from his feet; throw thou a veil of darkness o'er his mind; make thou his intellect (at once) a wreck! 29. Let not the man who harms us, mind or body, have power to go forth on both his legs, or hold with both his hands, or see with both his eyes, not the land (beneath his feet), or the herd before his face. -------------------- 30. At the aroused and fearful Dragon, green, and belching forth his poison, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace! At the (murderous) bludgeon-bearer, committing deeds unheard of, blood-thirsty, (drunk) with fury, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace! 31. Against the wicked human tyrant, hurling weapons at the head, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace! Against the righteousness-disturber, the unholy life-destroyer, thoughts and words of our religion well-delivering, yet in actions never reaching, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace! 32. Against the body of the harlot, with her magic minds o'erthrowing with (intoxicating) pleasures, to the lusts her person offering, whose mind as vapor wavers as it flies before the wind, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace! YASNA 10. --------- 1. Let the Demon-gods and Goddesses fly far away from hence, and let the good Sraosha make here his home! [And may the good Blessedness here likewise dwell], and may she here spread delight and peace within this house, Ahura's, which is sanctified by Haoma, bringing righteousness (to all). 2. At the first force of thy pressure, O intelligent! I praise thee with my voice, while I grasp at first thy shoots. At thy next pressure, O intelligent! I praise thee with my voice, when as with full force of a man I crush thee down. 3. I praise the cloud that waters thee, and the rains which make thee grow on the summits of the mountains; and I praise thy lofty mountains where the Haoma branches spread. 4. This wide earth do I praise, expanded far (with paths), the productive, the full bearing, thy mother, holy plant! Yea, I praise the lands where thou dost grow, sweet-scented, swiftly spreading, the good growth of the Lord. O Haoma, thou growest on the mountains, apart on many paths, and there still may'st thou flourish. The springs of Righteousness most verily thou art, (and the fountains of the ritual find their source in thee)! 5. Grow (then) because I pray to thee on all thy stems and branches, in all thy shoots (and tendrils) increase thou through my word! 6. Haoma grows while he is praised, and the man who praises him is therewith more victorious. The lightest pressure of thee, Haoma, thy feeblest praise, the slightest tasting of thy juice, avails to the thousand-smiting of the Daevas. 7. Wasting doth vanish from that house, and-with it foulness, whither in verity they bear thee, and where thy praise in truth is sung, the drink of Haoma, famed, health-bringing (as thou art). [(Pazand) to his village and abode they bear him.] 8. All other toxicants go hand in hand with Rapine of the bloody spear, but Haoma's stirring power goes hand in hand with friendship. [Light is the drunkenness of Haoma (Pazand).] Who as a tender son caresses Haoma, forth to the bodies of such persons Haoma comes to heal. 9. Of all the healing virtues, Haoma, whereby thou art a healer, grant me some. Of all the victorious powers, whereby thou art a victor, grant me some. A faithful praiser will I be to thee, O Haoma, and a faithful praiser (is) a better (thing) than Righteousness the Best; so hath the Lord, declaring (it), decreed. 10. Swift and wise hath the well-skilled Deity created thee; swift and wise on high Haraiti did He, the well-skilled, plant thee. 11. And taught (by implanted instinct) on every side, the bounteous birds have carried thee to the Peaks-above-the-eagles, to the mount's extremest summit, to the gorges and abysses, to the heights of many pathways, to the snow-peaks ever whitened. 12. There, Haoma, on the ranges dost thou grow of many kinds. Now thou growest of milky whiteness, and now thou growest golden; and forth thine healing liquors flow for the inspiring of the pious. So terrify away from me the (death's) aim of the curser. So terrify and crush his thought who stands as my maligner. 13. Praise be to thee, O Haoma, (for he makes the poor man's thoughts as great as any of the richest whomsoever.) Praise be to Haoma, (for he makes the poor man's thoughts as great as when mind reacheth culmination.) With manifold retainers dost thou, O Haoma, endow the man who drinks thee mixed with milk; yea, more prosperous thou makest him, and more endowed with mind. 14. Do not vanish from me suddenly like milk-drops in the rain; let thine exhilarations go forth ever vigorous and fresh; and let them come to me with strong effect. Before thee, holy Haoma, thou bearer of the ritual truth, and around thee would I cast this body, a body which (as all) may see (is fit for gift and) grown. 15. I renounce with vehemence the murderous woman's emptiness, the Jaini's, hers, with intellect dethroned. She vainly thinks to foil us, and would beguile both Fire-priest and Haoma; but she herself, deceived therein, shall perish. And when she sits at home, and wrongly eats of Haoma's offering, priest's mother will that never make her, nor give her holy sons! -------------------- 16. To five do I belong, to five others do I not; of the good thought am I, of the evil am I not; of the good word am I, of the evil am I not; of the good deed am I, and of the evil, not. To Obedience am I given, and to deaf disobedience, not; to the saint do I belong, and to the wicked, not; and so from this on till the ending shall be the spirits' parting. (The two shall here divide.) -------------------- 17. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Praise to Haoma, Mazda-made. Good is Haoma, Mazda-made. All the plants of Haoma praise I, on the heights of lofty mountains, in the gorges of the valleys, in the clefts (of sundered hill-sides) cut for the bundles bound by women. From the silver cup I pour Thee to the golden chalice over. Let me not thy (sacred) liquor spill to earth, of precious cost. 18. These are thy Gathas, holy Haoma, these thy songs, and these thy teachings, and these thy truthful ritual words, health-imparting, victory-giving, from harmful hatred healing giving. 19. These and thou art mine, and forth let thine exhilarations flow; bright and sparkling let them hold on their (steadfast) way; for light are thine exhilaration(s), and flying lightly come they here. Victory-giving smiteth Haoma, victory-giving is it worshipped; with this Gathic word we praise it. -------------------- 20. Praise to the Kine; praise and victory (be) spoken to her! Food for the Kine, and pasture! 'For the Kine let thrift use toil; yield thou us food.' 21. We worship the yellow lofty one; we worship Haoma who causes progress, who makes the settlements advance; we worship Haoma who drives death afar; yea, we worship all the Haoma plants. And we worship (their) blessedness, and the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama, the saint. YASNA 11 - PRELUDE TO THE HAOMA-OFFERING. ----------------------------------------- 1. Three clean creatures (full of blessings) curse betimes while yet invoking, the cow, the horse, and then Haoma. The cow cries to her driver thus: Childless be thou, shorn of offspring evil- famed, and slander-followed, who foddered fairly dost not use me, but fattenest me for wife or children, and for thy niggard selfish meal. 2. The horse cries to his rider thus: Be not spanner of the racers; stretch no coursers to full- speed; do not stride across the fleetest, thou, who dost not pray me swiftness in the meeting thick with numbers, in the circuit thronged with men. 3. Haoma speaks his drinker thus: Childless be thou, shorn of offspring, evil-famed, and slander- followed, who holdest me from full outpouring, as a robber, skulls in-crushing. No head-smiter am I ever, holy Haoma, far from death. 4. Forth my father gave an offering, tongue and left eye chose Ahura, set apart for Haoma's meal. 5. Who this offering would deny me, eats himself, or prays it from me, this which Mazda gave to bless me, tongue with left eye (as my portion). 6. In his house is born no fire-priest, warrior ne'er in chariot standing, never more the thrifty tiller. In his home be born Dahakas, Murakas of evil practice, doing deeds of double nature. 7. Quick, cut off then Haoma's portion, gift of flesh for doughty Haoma! Heed lest Haoma bind thee fettered, as he bound the fell Turanian Frangrasyan (the murderous robber) fast in iron close-surrounded in the mid-third of this earth! 8. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Praise to Haoma made by Mazda, good is Haoma Mazda- made. -------------------- 9. Who to us is one hereupon to thee (becomes) two, to be made to three, for the five-making of the four, for the seven-making of the sixth, who are your nine in the decade (?), who serve you and with zeal. -------------------- 10. To thee, O holy Haoma! bearer of the ritual sanctity, I offer this my person which is seen (by all to be) mature, (and fit for gift); to Haoma the effective do I offer it, and to the sacred exhilaration which he bestows; and do thou grant to me (for this), O holy Haoma! thou that drivest death afar, (Heaven) the best world of the saints, shining, all brilliant. 11. (The Ashem Vohu, &c.) 12-15. May'st Thou rule at Thy will, O Lord....(Repeat Y8.5-7)! 16. I confess myself a Mazdayasnian of Zarathushtra's order. 17. I celebrate my praises for good thoughts, good words, and good deeds for my thoughts, my speeches, and (my) actions. With chanting praises I present all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, and with rejection I repudiate all evil thoughts, and words, and deeds. 18. Here I give to you, O ye Bountiful Immortals! sacrifice and homage with the mind, with words, deeds, and my entire person; yea, (I offer) to you the flesh of my very body (as your own). And I praise Righteousness. A blessing is Righteousness (called) the Best, &c. YASNA 12 - The Zoroastrian Creed -------------------------------- [Translation by J. H. Peterson, 1996. This creed probably dates to the earliest days of the faith, but seems to have undergone some linguistic shift and subsequent recasting in the Old Avestan dialect. It was probably intended to be recited before an open assembly. See discussion in Boyce, Zoroastrianism - Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour, p. 84 and 104 ff. The last phrase of verse 7, plus all of verses 8 and 9, are incorporated into the daily Kusti ritual.] 1. I curse the Daevas. I declare myself a Mazda-worshipper, a supporter of Zarathushtra, hostile to the Daevas, fond of Ahura's teaching, a praiser of the Amesha Spentas, a worshipper of the Amesha Spentas. I ascribe all good to Ahura Mazda, 'and all the best,' the Asha-owning one, splendid, xwarena-owning, whose is the cow, whose is Asha, whose is the light, 'may whose blissful areas be filled with light'. 2. I choose the good Spenta Armaiti for myself; let her be mine. I renounce the theft and robbery of the cow, and the damaging and plundering of the Mazdayasnian settlements. 3. I want freedom of movement and freedom of dwelling for those with homesteads, to those who dwell upon this earth with their cattle. With reverence for Asha, and (offerings) offered up, I vow this: I shall nevermore damage or plunder the Mazdayasnian settlements, even if I have to risk life and limb. 4. I reject the authority of the Daevas, the wicked, no-good, lawless, evil-knowing, the most druj-like of beings, the foulest of beings, the most damaging of beings. I reject the Daevas and their comrades, I reject the demons (yatu) and their comrades; I reject any who harm beings. I reject them with my thoughts, words, and deeds. I reject them publicly. Even as I reject the head (authorities), so too do I reject the hostile followers of the druj. 5. As Ahura Mazda taught Zarathushtra at all discussions, at all meetings, at which Mazda and Zarathushtra conversed; 6. as Ahura Mazda taught Zarathushtra at all discussions, at all meetings, at which Mazda and Zarathushtra conversed -- even as Zarathushtra rejected the authority of the Daevas, so I also reject, as Mazda-worshipper and supporter of Zarathushtra, the authority of the Daevas, even as he, the Asha-owning Zarathushtra, has rejected them. 7. As the belief of the waters, the belief of the plants, the belief of the well-made (Original) Cow; as the belief of Ahura Mazda who created the cow and the Asha-owning Man; as the belief of Zarathushtra, the belief of Kavi Vishtaspa, the belief of both Frashaostra and Jamaspa; as the belief of each of the Saoshyants (saviors) -- fulfilling destiny and Asha-owning -- so I am a Mazda-worshipper of this belief and teaching. 8. I profess myself a Mazda-worshipper, a Zoroastrian, having vowed it and professed it. I pledge myself to the well-thought thought, I pledge myself to the well-spoken word, I pledge myself to the well-done action. 9. I pledge myself to the Mazdayasnian religion, which causes the attack to be put off and weapons put down; which upholds khvaetvadatha (kin-marriage), which possesses Asha; which of all religions that exist or shall be, is the greatest, the best, and the most beautiful: Ahuric, Zoroastrian. I ascribe all good to Ahura Mazda. This is the creed of the Mazdayasnian religion. YASNA 13. --------- [Translated by L. H. Mills (From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898.) Y13.1-6 and the beginning of 7 is in the Old Avesta dialect.] 1. I address (my invocation to) Ahura Mazda. And I invoke (among guardian beings) the chief of the house-lord, and the chief of the Vis-lord, and the chief of the Zantu-lord. And I invoke the chief of the province-lord. And the chief of women I invoke, the Mazdayasnian Faith, the blessed and good Parendi, her who is the holy one of human-kind. And I invoke this (holy) earth which bears us. 2. And I invoke the friendly and most helpful person's lord, the Fire of Ahura Mazda, and also the most energetic lords of holy men, those who are most strenuous in their care of cattle and the fields, and the chief of the thrifty tiller of the earth. And I invoke the steady settler of sanctity, (and) the chief of the charioteer. 3. And I invoke the chief of the fire-priest by means of the most imposing sciences of the Mazdayasnian Faith. And I invoke the chief of the Atharvan, and his pupils I invoke; yea, the lords of each of them. I invoke these lords, and I summon the Bountiful Immortals here, and the Prophets who shall serve us, the wisest as they are, the most scrupulous in their exactness (as) they utter words (of doctrine and of service), the most devoted (to their duties likewise), and the most glorious in their thoughts(?). And I invoke the most imposing forces of the Mazdayasnian Faith, and the fire-priests I invoke, and the charioteers, the warriors, and the thrifty tillers of the soil. 4. And to You, O Ye Bountiful Immortals! Ye who rule aright, and dispose (of all) aright, I offer the flesh of my very frame, and all the blessings of my life. ------- Thus the two spirits thought, thus they spoke, and thus they did; 5. And therefore as Thou, O Ahura Mazda! didst think, speak, dispose, and do all things good (for us), so to Thee would we give, so would we assign to Thee our homage; so would we worship Thee with our sacrifices. So would we bow before Thee with these gifts, and so direct our prayers to Thee with confessions of our debt. 6. By the kinship of the good kindred, by that of Righteousness the good (Thy righteous servant's nature) would we approach Thee, and by that of the good thrift-law, and of Piety the good. 7. And we would worship the Fravashi of the Kine of blessed gift, and that of the holy Gaya Mareyan, and we would worship the holy Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama, the saint. Yea, that one of beings do we worship whose better (service) in the sacrifice Ahura Mazda knows; (even those women do we worship) whose (better service thus is known). Yea, both (holy) men and women (do we worship whom Ahura Mazda knows). As the Ahu is excelling.... A blessing is the Right called the best.... 8. We worship the Ahuna-vairya; and we worship Asha Vahishta the best(?), the bountiful Immortal. And we sacrifice to the Ha fraoreti, even to the confession and laudation of the Mazdayasnian Faith! YASNA 14 - DEDICATIONS. ----------------------- 1. I will come to You, O Ye Bountiful Immortals! as a praiser and a priest, and an invoker and sacrificer, as a memorizing reciter and a chanter, for Your sacrifice and homage, which are to be offered to You, the Bountiful Immortals, and for our dedication and sanctification; (yea, for ours) who are the holy prophets (destined to benefit the saints). 2. And to You, O Ye Bountiful Immortals! would I dedicate the flesh of my very body, and all the blessings of a prospered life. 3. In this Zaothra with this Baresman, I desire to approach the holy Yazads with my praise, and all the holy lords of the ritual order at their times, Havani at his time, and Savanghi and Visya at their times. 4. I confess myself a Mazdayasnian, and of Zarathushtra's order. 5. The Zaotar speaks: As an Ahu (revered and) chosen, the Zaotar (?) speaks forth to me (?). The Ratu speaks: As an Ahu (revered and) to be chosen, the Zaotar speaks forth to me. The Zaotar: So let the Ratu from his Righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth! YASNA 15 - THE SACRIFICE CONTINUES. ----------------------------------- 1. With precept, praise, and with delight produced by grace, I call upon the Bountiful Immortals the good, and also therewith the beautiful by name; and I sacrifice to them with the blessing of the good ritual, with the earnest blessings of the good Mazdayasnian Faith. 2. Whose best gift from his Righteousness is mine in the offering Ahura this knoweth; who have lived, and live ever, by their names these I worship, while I draw near with praises. The Good Kingdom is to be chosen, that lot which most of all bears on (our blessings). 3. Let Sraosha (Obedience) be here present for the sacrifice of Ahura Mazda, the most beneficent, the holy, who is so dear to us as at the first, so at the last; yea, let him be present here. 4. As the Ahu (revered and) to be chosen, the Atarevakhsha thus speaks forth to me. (Response): So let the Ratu from his righteousness, holy and learned, speak forth! YASNA 16 - THE SACRIFICE CONTINUES WITH INCREASED FULLNESS OF EXPRESSION. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. We worship Ahura Mazda, the holy lord of the ritual order, who disposes (all) aright, the greatest Yazad, who is also the most beneficent, and the one who causes the settlements to advance, the creator of good creatures; yea, we worship Him with these offered Zaothras and with truthfully and scrupulously delivered words; and we worship every holy Yazad of the heaven (as well)! 2. And we worship Zarathushtra Spitama in our sacrifice, the holy lord of the ritual order with these Zaothras and with faithfully delivered words; and we worship every holy earthly Yazad as we worship him; and we worship also the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama, the saint. And we worship the utterances of Zarathushtra and his religion, his faith and his lore. 3. And we worship the former religions of the world devoted to Righteousness which were instituted at the creation, the holy religions of the Creator Ahura Mazda, the resplendent and glorious. And we worship Vohu Manah (the Good Mind), and Asha Vahishta (who is Righteousness the Best), and Khshathra-vairya, the Kingdom to be desired, and the good and bountiful Armaiti (true piety in the believers), and Haurvatat and Ameretat (our Weal and Immortality). 4. Yea, we worship the Creator Ahura Mazda and the Fire, Ahura Mazda's son, and the good waters which are Mazda-made and holy, and the resplendent sun of the swift horses, and the moon with the seed of cattle (in his beams); and we worship the star Tishtrya, the lustrous and glorious; and we worship the soul of the Kine of blessed endowment, (5) and its Creator Ahura Mazda; and we worship Mithra of the wide pastures, and Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, and Rashnu the most just, and the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the saints, and the Blow-of-victory Ahura-given (as it is). And we worship Raman Hvastra, and the bounteous Wind of blessed gift, (6) and (its) Creator Ahura Mazda, and the good Mazdayasnian Religion, and the good Blessedness and Arshtat. And we worship the heaven and the earth of blessed gift, and the bounteous Mathra, and the stars without beginning (to their course), self-disposing as they are. 7. And we worship the glorious works of Righteousness in which the souls of the dead find satisfaction and delight [(Pazand) which are the Fravashis of the saints], and we worship (Heaven) the best world of the saints, shining, all glorious. 8. And we worship the two, the milk-offering and the libation, the two which cause the waters to flow forth, and the plants to flourish, the two foes who meet the Dragon demon-made; and who are set to meet, to defeat, and to put to flight, that cheat, the Pairika, and to contradict the insulting malice of the Ashemaogha (the persecuting heretic) and that of the unholy tyrant full of death. 9. And we worship all waters and all plants, and all good men and all good women. And we worship all these Yazads, heavenly and earthly, who are beneficent and holy. 10. And we worship thee (our) dwelling-place who art the (earth, our) bounteous Armaiti, and Thee, O Ahura Mazda, O holy Lord of this abode! which is the home of healthy herds and healthy men, and of those who are both endowed with health and lover(s) of the ritual right. (Response of the individual worshipper (?).) Wherefore whichever of persons, or whatever of bodily influences, is most helpful and preserving in that abode (thus owned by Mazda) let this meet me in mine abode, and there may it abide for summer and for winter. (Or let that one meet me in all my house, in whom are what of influences are the most mighty power for the body and the person's life; yea, let that one meet me there, and there abide for summer and for winter (for my help)!) YASNA 17 - TO THE FIRES, WATERS, PLANTS, &C. -------------------------------------------- 1-10. (See Y6, which is nearly identical with verses 1-10.) 11. We worship thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! We worship the fire Berezi-savangha (of the lofty use), and the fire Vohu-fryana (the good and friendly), and the fire Urvazishta (the most beneficial and most helpful), and the fire Vazishta (the most supporting), and the fire Spenishta (the most bountiful), and Nairya-sangha the Yazad of the royal lineage, and that fire which is the house-lord of all houses and Mazda-made, even the son of Ahura Mazda, the holy lord of the ritual order, with all the fires. 12. And we worship the good and best waters Mazda-made, holy, all the waters Mazda-made and holy, and all the plants which Mazda made, and which are holy. 13. And we worship the Mathra-spenta (the bounteous word-of-reason), the Zarathushtrian law against the Daevas, and its long descent. 14. And we worship Mount Ushi-darena which is Mazda-made and shining with its holiness, and all the mountains shining with holiness, and of abundant glory, and which Mazda made ---. 15. And we worship the good and pious prayer for blessings, (16) and these waters and (these lands), (17) and all the greatest chieftains, lords of the ritual order; 18. And I praise, invoke, and glorify the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the saints, those of the house, the Vis, the Zantuma, the Dahvyuma, and the Zarathushtrotema, and all the holy Yazads! YASNA 18. --------- 1. Grant me, Thou who art maker of the Kine, plants and waters, Immortality, Mazda! Grant, too, Weal, Spirit bounteous.... (See Y51.7 and Y59.1-17). YASNA 19 - ZAND OR COMMENTARY ON THE AHUNWAR. --------------------------------------------- (As the Ahu is excellent, so (is) the Ratu (one who rules) from the righteous Order, a creator of mental goodness and of life's actions done for Mazda; and the Kingdom (is) for Ahura which to the poor shall offer a nurturer.) 1. Zarathushtra asked of Ahura Mazda: O Ahura Mazda, Thou most bounteous Spirit! maker of the corporeal worlds, the holy One! which was that word which Thou did'st declare to me, (2) which was before the sky, and before the water, before the earth, and before the cattle, before the plants, and before the fire, and before the holy man, and the Demon-gods (the Daevas), before the Khrafstra-men, and before all the incarnate world; even before all the good creatures made by Mazda, and which contain (and are) the seed of righteousness? 3. Thereupon Ahura Mazda said: It was this piece, the Ahuna-vairya, O Spitama Zarathushtra! which I pronounced as thine (4) before the sky, and before the waters, before the land, and before the cattle and the plants, and before the fire, Ahura Mazda's son, before the holy man, and before the Daevas, and Khrafstra-men, and before the entire corporeal world, even before the good creatures made by Mazda, which contain (and are) the seed of righteousness. 5. It was these part(s) of the Ahuna-vairya, O Spitama Zarathushtra! which especially belongs to me, and when each is intoned aloud without the (needless) repetition of verses and of words, and without their omission, it is worth a hundred of their other stanzas, even although they are prominent in the ritual, and likewise equally as well recited without additions or omissions; nay, further, when it is intoned imperfectly but added to, and with omissions, it is even then in effect equivalent (not to a hundred indeed, but) to ten other (stanzas) that are prominent. 6. And whoever in this world of mine which is corporeal shall mentally recall, O Spitama* Zarathushtra! a portion of the Ahuna-vairya, and having thus recalled it, shall undertone it, or beginning to recite it with the undertone, shall then utter it aloud, or chanting it with intoning voice, shall worship thus, then with even threefold (safety and with speed) I will bring his soul over the Bridge of Chinvat, I who am Ahura Mazda (I will help him to pass over it) to Heaven (the best life), and to Righteousness the Best, and to the lights of heaven. 7. And whoever, O Spitama Zarathushtra! while undertoning the part(s) of the Ahuna-vairya (or this piece the Ahuna-vairya), takes ought therefrom, whether the half, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth, I who am Ahura Mazda will draw his soul off from the better world; yea, so far off will I withdraw it as the earth is large and wide; [and this earth is as long as it is broad]. 8. And I pronounced this saying which contains its Ahu and its Ratu before the creation of this heaven, before the making of the waters, and the plants, and the four-footed kine, before the birth of the holy biped man, before this sun with its body made for the acquisition of the creation of the Bountiful Immortals. 9. And the more bountiful of the two Spirits (Ahura) declared to me (Zarathushtra) the entire creation of the pure, that which exists at present, that which is in the course of emerging into existence, and that which shall be, with reference to the performance and realization 'of the actions of a life devoted to Mazda.' 10. And this word is the most emphatic of the words which have ever been pronounced, or which are now spoken, or which shall be spoken in future; for (the eminence of) this utterance is a thing of such a nature, that if all the corporeal and living world should learn it, and learning should hold fast by it, they would be redeemed from their mortality! 11. And this our word I have proclaimed as a symbol to be learned, and to be recited, as it were, to every one of the beings under the influence of and for the sake of Righteousness the Best. 12. And 'as' (the worshipper has) here spoken it forth, when he has thus 'appointed' the 'Lord and regulator,' so (by thus reciting these authoritative words), he acknowledges Ahura Mazda (as prior to, and supreme) over, those creatures who have 'the mind' as their first. 'As' he acknowledges Him as the greatest of them all, 'so' he assigns the creatures to Him (as to their originator). 13. As he undertones the third sentence, he thereby announces that 'all the amenities of life appertain to the 'good' Mazda, (and come) from Him. As he recites 'dazda manangho,' 'the creator of mind,' he acknowledges Him as superior and prior to mind; and as he makes Him the one who indicates (the truth) to mind, (saying) 'manangho of mind,' which means that by this much he makes Him (its director), and then he makes Him 'the lord of actions.' 14. And when he acknowledges Him for the creatures thus, 'O Mazda!' he acknowledges Him (as their ruler) when he assigns the creatures to Him thus. He then assigns the Kingdom to Ahura, saying: 'Thine, O Mazda! is the Kingdom.' And he assigns a nourisher and protector to the poor, saying: Yim drigubyo dadat vastarem; that is, as a friend to Spitama. This is the fifth sentence, (and it concludes) the entire recital and word, (even) the whole of this word of Ahura Mazda. 15. He who is the best (of all) Ahura Mazda, pronounced the Ahuna-vairya, and as He pronounced it as the best, so He caused it to have its effect, (He, ever) the same, (as He is). The evil one at once arose (to oppose Him), but He (Ahura) repelled that wicked one with His interdict, and with this repelling renunciation: Neither our minds are in harmony, nor our precepts, nor our comprehensions, nor our beliefs, nor our words, nor our actions, nor our consciences, nor our souls! CATECHETICAL ZAND. ------------------ 16. And this saying, uttered by Mazda, has three stages, or measures, and belongs to four classes (of men as its supporters), and to five chiefs (in the political world, without whom its efficiency is marred), and it has a conclusion ending with a gift. (Question.) How are its measures (constituted)? (Answer.) The good thought, the good word, and the good deed. 17. (Question.) With what classes of men? (Answer.) The priest, the charioteer (as the chief of warriors), the systematic tiller of the ground, and the artisan. These classes therefore accompany the religious man throughout his entire duty with the correct thought, the truthful word, and the righteous action. These are the classes and states in life which give attention to the rulers, and fulfill the (laws) of religion; (yea, they are the guides and companions of that religious man) through whose actions the settlements are furthered in righteousness. 18. (Question.) How are the chiefs (constituted)? (Answer.) They are the house-chief, the village-chief, and the tribe-chief, the chief of the province, and the Zarathushtra as the fifth. That is, so far as those provinces are concerned which are different from, and outside of the Zarathushtrian regency, or domain. [Ragha which has four chiefs (only) is the Zarathushtrian (district)] (Question.) How are the chiefs of this one constituted? (Answer.) They (are) the house-chief, the village-chief, the tribe-chief, and the Zarathushtra as the fourth. 19. (Question.) What is the thought well thought? (Answer.) (It is that which the holy man thinks), the one who holds the holy thought to be before all other things (Question.) What is the word well spoken? (Answer.) It is the Mathra Spenta, the bounteous word of reason. (Question.) What is the deed well done? (Answer.) It is that done with praises, and by the creatures who regard Righteousness as before all other things. 20. (Question.) Mazda made a proclamation, whom did He announce? (Answer.) Some one who was holy, and yet both heavenly and mundane. (Question.) What was His character, He who made this sacred enunciation? (Answer.) He who is the best (of all), the ruling one. (Question.) Of what character (did He proclaim him the coming one)? (Answer.) As holy and the best, a ruler who exercises no wanton or despotic power. 21. We sacrifice to the (several) part(s) of the Ahuna-vairya. We sacrifice to the memorized recital of the Ahuna-vairya, and its regular chanting and its use in the full Yasna. YASNA 20 - ZAND, OR COMMENTARY, ON THE ASHEM VOHU. -------------------------------------------------- 1. A blessing is Righteousness (called) the best; there is weal, there is weal to this man when the Right (helps) the Righteousness best, (when the pious man serves it in truth). Ahura Mazda spake forth: Ashem vohu vahishtem asti. To this Asha, the holy ritual sanctity, one attributes the qualities of 'good' and 'best,' as one attributes property to an owner; thus this sentence vohu vahishtem asti is substantiated (at once). 2. Ushta asti ushta ahmai; by this attribution of blessedness (the praiser) assigns every person (or thing) of a sacred nature to every holy person, and as one usually (?) and regularly (?) assigns every person or thing (?) that is holy to every holy man. 3. Hyat ashai vahishtai; by these words the worshipper ascribes the entire Mathra (to Asha Vahishta), and ascribes all to the Mathra, as one ascribes the kingdom to Righteousness, and as one ascribes righteousness to the invoking saint; yea, as one ascribes righteousness to us who are the prophets (who shall help and bless the people). The three maxims of the sentences (are thus fulfilled). And every word (in its detail), and the entire utterance in its proclamation, is the word of Ahura Mazda. CATECHETICAL ADDITION. ---------------------- 4. Mazda has made a proclamation. (Question.) Whom did He announce? (Answer.) That holy one who is both heavenly and earthly. (Question.) Of what character is He who has thus announced Him? (Answer.) He is the best, and the one who is exercising sovereign power. (Question.) Of what character is the man whom He announced? (Answer.) The holy and the best, the one who rules with no capricious tyranny. We sacrifice to the (several) part(s) of the Asha Vahishta (prayer). We sacrifice to the heard- recital of the Asha Vahishta, to its memorizing, its chanting, and its sacrificial use! YASNA 21 - CATECHETICAL ZAND, OR COMMENTARY UPON THE YENHE HATAM. ----------------------------------------------------------------- (The Yenhe. (To that one) of beings do we offer, whose superior (fidelity) in the sacrifice Ahura Mazda recognizes by reason of the sanctity (within him; yea, even to those female saints also do we sacrifice) whose (superior fidelity is thus likewise known; thus) we sacrifice to (all, to both) the males and females (of the saints)!) 1. A word for the Yasna by Zarathushtra, the saint, Yenhe, &c. Here the worshipper indicates and offers the Yasna (which is the sacrificial worship) of Mazda as by the command (or as the institution) of Ahura. Hatam. Here the worshipper offers the sacrificial worship as if with the beings who are among those who are destined to live. 2. Yaungham. Here he indicates and offers the sacrificial worship of those holy females who have Aramaiti at their head, as homage to the Immortals. These are the three sentences which comprehend all the Yasnian speech. (Question.) To whom is this Yasna addressed? (Answer.) To the Bountiful Immortals (in the course of the Yasna). 3. Thereupon spake Mazda: Salvation to this one, whosoever he may be! May the absolute ruler Ahura grant it. (Question.) 4. Whom did He answer with this answer? (Answer.) He answered: The state of salvation; and with this answer, 'the state of salvation,' he answered every saint who exists, every one who is coming into existence, and every one who shall exist in the future. (Question. Who answered thus? Answer.) The best One. (Question. What did He answer?) (Answer.) The best thing. (That is,) the best One, Mazda, answered the best and the holy (answer) for the better and the holy man. 5. We sacrifice to this piece, the Yenhe hatam, the prominent and holy Yasht. YASNA 22 - THE SACRIFICE CONTINUES. ----------------------------------- 1. With the Baresman brought hither together with the Zaothra, for the worship of the Creator Ahura Mazda, the resplendent, the glorious, and for that of the Bountiful Immortals, I desire to approach this Haoma with my praise, offered (as it is) with punctilious sanctity (or, for a blessing), and this fresh milk, and this plant Hadhanaepata. 2. And, as an act of worship to the beneficent waters, I desire to approach these Zaothras with (my) praise offered (as they are) with punctilious sanctity, having the Haoma with them, and the flesh, with the Hadhanaepata. And I desire to approach the Haoma-water with my praise for the beneficent waters; and I desire to approach the stone mortar and the iron mortar with my praise. 3. And I desire to approach this plant for the Baresman with my praise, and the well-timed prayer for blessings, that which has approached (to accept our homage), and the memorized recital and the fulfillment of the good Mazdayasnian Faith, and the heard recital of the Gathas, and the well-timed and successful prayer for blessings, that of the holy lord of the ritual order. And I desire to approach these wood-billets and their perfume with my praise, - thine, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! Yea, I desire to approach all good things with my praise, those which Mazda made, and which have the seed of sanctity (within them), (4) for the propitiation of Ahura Mazda and of the Bountiful Immortals, and of Sraosha the blessed, and of Ahura Mazda's Fire, the lofty ritual lord! 5- 19. (=Y3.5-19; 20-23=Y3.1-4) 20. And I desire to approach this Haoma with (my) praise, that which is thus lifted up with sanctity, and this milk (fresh as it is, and as if) living and lifted up with sanctity, and this plant the Hadhanaepata lifted up with sanctity. 21. And I desire to approach these Zaothras with (my) praise for the beneficial waters, these Zaothras which have the Haoma with them and the milk with them, and the Hadhanaepata, and which are lifted up with sanctity. And I desire to approach the Haoma-water with (my) praise for the beneficial waters, and the two mortars, the stone one and the iron one, (22) and I desire to, approach this branch for the Baresman with my praise, and the memorized recital and fulfillment of the Mazdayasnian law, and the heard recital of the Gathas, and the well-timed and persistent prayer for blessings(uttered) by the holy lords of the ritual order, and this wood and perfume, even thine, O Fire, Ahura Mazda's son, and all good objects Mazda-made (23) for the propitiation of Ahura Mazda, the resplendent, the glorious, and of the Bountiful Immortals, and of Mithra of the wide pastures, and of Raman Hvastra, (24) and of the resplendent sun, immortal, radiant, of the fleet horses, and of Vayu, (of predominant influence and) working on high, set over the other beings in the creation [(Pazand); that is for thee thus (O Vayu) when thine influence is that which appertains to Spenta Mainyu], and for the propitiation of the most just knowledge Mazda-given, and of the holy and good Religion, the Mazdayasnian Faith; (25) for the propitiation of the Mathra Spenta, (the bounteous) and holy, and the effective, instituted against the Daevas, the Zarathushtrian law, and of the long descent of the good Mazdayasnian Faith [the holding in mind and devotion to the Mathra Spenta, and knowledge of the Mazdayasnian Religion] for the propitiation of the understanding which is innate and Mazda-made, and of that which is heard by the ear; (26) and for thy propitiation, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! [(Pazand); (yea) thine, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son] with all the fires, and for the propitiation of Mount Ushi-darena, the Mazda-made, radiant with sanctity; (27) and of all the holy Yazads, spiritual and earthly, and of the holy Fravashis, the redoubted and overwhelming, those of the ancient lore, and those of the next of kin and of the Yazad of the spoken name! YASNA 23 - THE FRAVASHIS OF THE SAINTS; PRAYERS FOR THEIR APPROACH. ------------------------------------------------------------------- 1. I desire to approach with my praise those Fravashis which have existed from of old, the Fravashis of the houses, and of the villages, of the communities, and of the provinces, which hold the heaven in its place apart, and the water, land, and cattle, which hold the children in the wombs safely enclosed apart so that they do not miscarry. 2. And I desire to approach toward the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda, and with my praise, and for those of the Bountiful Immortals, with all the holy Fravashis which are those of the heavenly Yazads. And I desire to approach the Fravashi of Gaya Maretan (the life-man) in my worship with my praise, and for that of Zarathushtra Spitama, and for those of Kavi Vishtaspa, and of Isat-vastra, the Zarathushtrian, with all the holy Fravashis of the other ancient counselors as well. 3. And I desire in my worship to approach toward every holy Fravashi whosesoever it may be, and wheresoever dead upon this earth (its possessor may have lain), the pious woman, or the girl of tender years, the maiden diligent (among the cattle) in the field (who) may have dwelt (here; yea, all) which are now worshipped from this house, which are attentive to, and which attain to (our) good Yasnas and (our) homage. 4. Yea, I desire to approach the Fravashis of the saints with my praise redoubted (as they are) and overwhelming, the Fravashis of those who held to the ancient lore, and the Fravashis of the next-of-kin; and I desire to approach toward the Fravashi of mine own soul in my worship with my praise; and I desire therewith to approach toward all the lords of the ritual, and with praise; and I desire to approach all the good Yazads with my praise, the heavenly and the earthly, who are meet for sacrifice and homage, because of Righteousness the Best! YASNA 24 - PRESENTATIONS. ------------------------- 1. (And having approached these Haomas with our worship), we present them to Ahura Mazda; (yea, we present) these Haomas, Myazdas, Zaothras, and the Baresman spread with punctilious sanctity, and the flesh, and the milk, fresh as if living, and lifted up with punctilious sanctity, and this branch the Hadhanaepata likewise lifted up with-sanctity. 2. (And having approached these Zaothras in our worship), we present them to the good waters having the Haoma with them, and the milk, and the Hadhanaepata, and lifted up with scrupulous sanctity; and (with them) we present the Haoma-water to the good waters, and both the stone and the iron mortar. 3. And we present this plant of the Baresman! and the timely prayer for blessings, which has approached in the due course of the ritual, and the recollection and practice of the good Mazdayasnian Religion, and the heard recital of the Gathas, and the timely prayer for blessings which has approached as the prayer of the holy lord of the ritual order; and these wood-billets, and the perfume, (even) thine, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! and all good objects Mazda-made, which have the seed of righteousness, we offer and present. 4. And these we present hereby to Ahura Mazda, and to Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed (and Righteous), and to the Bountiful Immortals; and to the Fravashis of the saints, even to the souls of the saints, and to the Fire of Ahura Mazda, the lofty lord of entire holy creation, for sacrifice, homage, propitiation, and for praise. 5. And these we present hereby to the Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama, the saint, for sacrifice, propitiation, and for praise, and to that of the people who love Righteousness, with all the holy Fravashis of the saints who are dead and who are living, and to those of men who are as yet unborn, and to those of the prophets who will serve us, and will labor to complete the progress and renovation of the world. 6. And we present these Haomas, Myazdas, Zaothras, and the Baresman spread with sanctity, and the flesh, and the milk (fresh as if) living, and lifted up with sanctity, and the Hadhanaepata branch. 7. And we present these Zaothras to the beneficial waters having the Haoma with them, and the flesh, and the Hadhanaepata lifted up with sanctity, and the Haoma-water, to the good waters, with the stone and iron mortars, (8) and this plant of the Baresman, (and) the tirnely Prayer and the recollection and practice of the good Mazdayasnian Faith, and these wood- billets, and the perfume, thine, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! and all objects which are Mazda-made, and which have, and are, the seed of Righteousness, these we offer and present. 9. (Yea,) we present these hereby to the Bountiful Immortals who rule aright, and who dispose of all aright, the ever-living, ever-helpful, who abide with the Good Mind (of the Lord and of His folk)! YASNA 25 -------- 1. And we worship the Bountiful Immortals with our sacrifice, who rule aright, and who dispose of all aright; and we worship this Haoma, this flesh and branch, (2) and these Zaothras for the good waters, having the Haoma with them, and the flesh with them, and Hadhanaepata, and lifted up with sanctity, and we worship the Haoma-water for the beneficial waters; and we worship the two, the stone mortar and the iron mortar; (3) and we worship this plant for the Baresman and the well-timed prayer for blessings which has approached (in its proper place within the ritual course), and also both the remembrance and the practice of the good Mazdayasnian Religion, and the heard recital of the Gathas, and the well-timed prayer for blessings of the holy lord of the ritual order which has approached, and these wood-billets with the perfume, (even) thine, the Fire's, O Ahura Mazda's son! and we worship all good objects which are Mazda-made, and which contain (and are) the seed of Righteousness. 4. And we worship Ahura Mazda with our sacrifice, the resplendent, the glorious, and the Bountiful Immortals who rule aright, and who dispose (of all) aright, and Mithra of the wide pastures and Raman Hvastra; and we worship the shining sun, the resplendent, the immortal, of the fleet horses. 5. And we worship the holy wind which works on high, placed higher than the other creatures in the creation; and we worship this which is thine, O Vayu! and which appertains to the Spenta Mainyu within thee; and we worship the most true religious Knowledge, Mazda-made and holy, and the good Mazdayasnian law. 6. And we worship the Mathra Spenta verily glorious (as it is), even the law pronounced against the Daevas, the Zarathushtrian law, and its long descent; yea, we worship the good Mazdayasnian Religion, and the Mathra which is heart-devoted and bounteous (imparting heart's devotion to the saint); yea, we worship the Mazdayasnian Religion maintained in the understanding of the saint; and we honor that science which is the Mathra Spenta, and the innate understanding Mazda-made, and the derived understanding, heard with ear, and Mazda- made. 7. Yea, we worship thee, the Fire, Ahura Mazda's son I the holy lord of the ritual order; and we worship all the Fires, and Mount Ushi-darena (which holds the light) Mazda-made and holy, the Yazad mount, brilliant with sanctity. 8. And we worship every holy spiritual Yazad; and every holy earthly Yazad (who exists)! YASNA 26 - THE FRAVASHIS; SACRIFICE AND PRAISE TO THEM. ------------------------------------------------------- 1. I praise, invoke, and weave my hymn to the good, heroic, and bountiful Fravashis of the saints; (and having invoked these, then) we worship the Nmanyas, and the Visyas, and the Zantumas, and the Dahvyumas, and the Zarathushtrotemas. 2. And of all these prior Fravashis, we worship here the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda, which is the greatest and the best, the most beautiful and the firmest, the most wise and the best in form, and the one that attains the most its ends because of Righteousness. 3. And (having invoked them) hither, we worship the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the holy ones, those of the Bountiful Immortals, the brilliant, of effective glance, the lofty, the devoted, the swift ones of the creatures of Ahura who are imperishable and holy. 4. And (having invoked them) hither, we worship the spirit and conscience, the intelligence and soul and Fravashi of those holy men and women who early heard the lore and commands (of God), and loved and strove after Righteousness, the ritual truth; and we worship the soul of the Kine of blessed gift. 5. And (having invoked it) hither, we worship the Fravashi of Gaya Maretan the holy, and the sanctity and Fravashi of Zarathushtra Spitama the saint; and we worship the Fravashi of Kavi Vishtasp the holy, and that of Isat-vastra the Zarathushtrian, the saint. 6. And (having invoked them) hither, we worship the life, conscience, intelligence, soul and Fravashi of the next of kin, of the saints male and female who have striven after the ritual truth, which are those of the dead and living saints, and which are those also of men as yet unborn, of the future prophets who will help on the renovation, and complete the human progress, with them all. 7. And (having invoked them) hither, we worship the souls of the dead [(Pazand) which are the Fravashis of the saints]; and of all the next of kin who have passed away in this house, of the Aethra-paitis (the teachers) and of the disciples; yea, of all holy men and women; (8) and we worship the Fravashis of all the holy teachers and disciples; and of all the saints both male and female. 9. (And having invoked them) hither we worship the Fravashis of all the holy children who fulfill the deeds of piety; and we worship the Fravashis of the saints within the province; and those of the saints without the province. 10. We worship the Fravashis of (those) holy men and holy women; we worship all the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis of the saints from Gaya Maretan (the first created) to the Saoshyant, the victorious. 11. Yea, we worship all the Fravashis of the saints, and we worship the souls of the dead [(Pazand) which are the Fravashis of the saints]! YASNA 27 - PRELUDE TO THE CHIEF RECITAL OF THE AHUNWAR. ------------------------------------------------------- 1. This is to render Him who is of all the greatest, our lord and master (even) Ahura Mazda. And this to smite the wicked Angra Mainyu, and to smite Aeshma of the bloody spear, and the Mazainya Daevas, and to smite all the wicked Varenya Daevas. 2. And this is to further Ahura Mazda, the resplendent, the glorious, to further the Bountiful Immortals, and the influences of the star Tishtrya, the resplendent, the glorious, (and) to the furtherance of the holy man, and of all the (bountiful and) holy creatures of the Bounteous Spirit. 3-5. (The Ahunwar appears here with Y34.5, the A Airyema, and the Ashem Vohu.) 6. The Haomas are crushed, O Mazda, Khshathra, and Asha, O ye Lords! Good is Sraosha who accompanies the sacrifice with the great glory,' and may he be present affording strenuous help. 7. We are offering saving acts of wisdom and of worship with the sacred gift of the Ahuna- Vairya intoned with sanctity, and of the two mortars here brought forward with holy act, and with that of the correctly uttered words likewise; and therefore may they be to us the more saving in their wise significance. 8-12. (See Y33.11-14; and Y1.23, and Y12.) 13. As the Ahu is excellent, so is the Ratu (one who rules) from (his) sanctity, a creator of mental goodness, and of life's actions done for Mazda; and the Kingdom (is) for Ahura, which to the poor may offer a nurturer. 14. (What is Your Kingdom, Your riches; how may I be Your own in my actions, to nourish Your poor, O Mazda? Beyond; yea, beyond all we declare You, far from Daevas and Khrafstra-accursed mortals!) 15. We worship the Ahuna-vairya. We worship Asha Vahishta, the most beautiful, the Bountiful Immortal. Ahunavaiti Gatha ================ [Translation by C. Bartholomae, from I.J.S. Taraporewala, The Divine Songs of Zarathushtra. YASNA 28. --------- 1. With outspread hands in petition for that help, O Mazda, I will pray for the works of the holy spirit, O thou the Right, whereby I may please the will of Good Thought and the Ox- Soul. 2. I who would serve you, O Mazda Ahura and Vohu Mano, do ye give through Asha the blessings of both worlds, the bodily and that of the Spirit, which set the faithful in felicity. 3. I who would praise ye as never before, Right and Good Thought and Mazda Ahura, and those for whom Piety makes an imperishable Dominion to grow; come ye to me help at my call. 4. I who have set my heart on watching over the soul, in union with Good Thought, and as knowing the rewards of Mazda Ahura for our works, will, while I have power and strength, teach men to seek after Right. 5. O Asha, shall I see thee and Good Thought, as one that knows? (Shall I see) the throne of the mightiest Ahura and the following of Mazda? Through this word (of promise) on our tongue will we turn the robber horde unto the Greatest. 6. Come thou with Good Thought, give through Asha, O Mazda, as the gift to Zarathushtra, according to thy sure words, long enduring mighty help, and to us, O Ahura, whereby we may overcome the enmity of our foes. 7. Grant, O thou Asha, the reward, the blessing of Good Thought; O Piety, give our desire to Vishtaspa and to me; O thou Mazda and King, grant that your Prophet may command a hearing. 8. The best I ask of Thee, O Best, Ahura (Lord) of one will with the Best Asha, desiring (it) for the hero Frashaostra and for those (others) to whom thou wilt give (it), (the best gift) of Good Mind through all time. 9. With these bounties, O Ahura, may we never provoke your wrath, O Mazda and Right and Best Thought, we who have been eager in bringing you songs of praise. Ye are they that are the mightiest to advance desire and the Dominion of Blessings. 10. The wise whom thou knowest as worthy, for their right (doing) and their good thought, for them do thou fulfill their longing for attainment. For I know words of prayer are effective with Ye, which tend to a good object. 11. I would thereby preserve Right and Good Thought for evermore, that I may instruct, do thou teach me, O Mazda Ahura, from thy spirit by thy mouth how it will be with the First Life. YASNA 29. --------- 1. Unto you wailed the Ox-soul, "For whom did ye fashion me? Who created me? Violence and rapine (and) savagery hath oppressed me, and outrage and might. I have no other herdsman than you; prepare for me then the blessings of pasture." 2. Then the Ox-Creator asked of the Right: "Hast thou a judge for the Ox, that ye may be able to appoint him zealous tendance as well as fodder? Whom do ye will to be his lord, who may drive off violence together with the followers of the Lie?" 3. To him the Right replied: "There is for the Ox no helper that can keep him away. Those yonder have no knowledge how right-doers act towards the lowly". (The Ox-Creator): "Strongest of beings is he to whose help I come at call". 4. (Asha) "Mazda knoweth best the purposes that have been wrought already by demons and by mortals, and that shall be wrought hereafter. He, Ahura, is the decider. So shall it be as he shall will." 5. (The Ox-Creator) "To Ahura with outspread hands we twain would pray, my soul and that of the pregnant cow, so that we twain urge Mazda with entreaties. Destruction is not for the right-living, nor for the cattle-tender at the hands of Liars." 6. Then spake Ahura Mazda himself, who knows the law with wisdom: "There is found no lord or judge according to the Right Order for the Creator hath formed thee for the cattle-tender and the farmer." 7. This ordinance about the fat hath Ahura Mazda, one in will with Right, created for cattle, and the milk for them that crave nourishment, by his command, the holy one. (The Ox and Cow:) "Whom hast thou, O Good Thought, among men, who may care for us twain?" 8. (Vohu Manah:) He is known to me here who alone hath heard our commands, even Zarathushtra Spitama; he willeth to make known our thoughts, O Mazda, and those of the Right. So let us bestow on him charm of speech. 9. Then the Ox-Soul lamented: "That I must be content with the ineffectual word of an impotent man for my protector, when I wish for one that commands mightily! When ever shall there be one who shall give him (the Ox) effective help?" 10. (Zarathushtra:) Do ye, O Ahura, grant them strength, and O Asha, and O Good Thought, that dominion, whereby he (the Savior) could produce good dwellings and peace. I also have realized thee, Mazda, as the first to accomplish this. 11. "Where are Right and Good Thought and Dominion? So, ye men, acknowledge me, for instruction, Mazda, for the great society." (The Ox and Cow:) "O Ahura, now is help ours, we will be ready to serve those that are of you." YASNA 30. --------- 1. Now I will proclaim to those who will hear the things that the understanding man should remember, for hymns unto Ahura and prayers to Good Thought; also the felicity that is with the heavenly lights, which through Right shall be beheld by him who wisely thinks. 2. Hear with your ears the best things; look upon them with clear-seeing thought, for decision between the two Beliefs, each man for himself before the Great consummation, bethinking you that it be accomplished to our pleasure. 3. Now the two primal Spirits, who reveal themselves in vision as Twins, are the Better and the Bad, in thought and word and action. And between these two the wise ones chose aright, the foolish not so. 4. And when these twain Spirits came together in the beginning, they created Life and Not-Life, and that at the last Worst Existence shall be to the followers of the Lie, but the Best Existence to him that follows Right. 5. Of these twain Spirits he that followed the Lie chose doing the worst things; the holiest Spirit chose Right, he that clothes him with the massy heavens as a garment. So likewise they that are fain to please Ahura Mazda by dutiful actions. 6. Between these twain the Daevas also chose not aright, for infatuation came upon them as they took counsel together, so that they chose the Worst Thought. Then they rushed together to Violence, that they might enfeeble the world of men. 7. And to him (i.e. mankind) came Dominion, and Good Mind, and Right and Piety gave continued life to their bodies and indestructibility, so that by thy retributions through (molten) metal he may gain the prize over the others. 8. So when there cometh their punishment for their sins, then, O Mazda, at Thy command shall Good Thought establish the Dominion in the Consummation, for those who deliver the Lie, O Ahura, into the hands of Right. 9. So may we be those that make this world advance, O Mazda and ye other Ahuras, come hither, vouchsafing (to us) admission into your company and Asha, in order that (our) thought may gather together while reason is still shaky. 10. Then truly on the (world of) Lie shall come the destruction of delight; but they who get themselves good name shall be partakers in the promised reward in the fair abode of Good Thought, of Mazda, and of Right. 11. If, O ye mortals, ye mark those commandments which Mazda hath ordained -- of happiness and pain, the long punishment for the follower of the Druj, and blessings for the followers of the Right -- then hereafter shall it be well. YASNA 31. --------- 1. Mindful of your commands, we proclaim words unpleasant for them to hear that after the commands of the Lie destroy the creatures of Right, but most welcome to those that give their heart to Mazda. 2. If by reason of these things the better path is not in sight for choosing, then will I come to you all as judge of the parties twain whom Ahura Mazda knoweth, that we may live according to the Right. 3. What award Thou givest through the (holy) Spirit and through the Fire and hast taught through Asha, to both the parties, and what the decision is for the wise, this do Thou tell us, Mazda, that we may know, even with the tongue of Thine own mouth, that I may convert all living men. 4. If Asha is to be invoked and Mazda and the other Ahuras and Ashi and Armaiti, do thou seek for me, O Vohu Manah, the mighty Dominion, by the increase of which we might vanquish the Lie. 5. Tell me therefore what ye, O thou Right, have appointed me as the better portion, for me to determine, to know and to keep in mind, O thou Good Thought -- which portion they envy me. Tell me of all these things. O Mazda Ahura, that shall not or shall be. 6. To him shall the best befall, who, as one that knows, speaks to me Right's truthful word of Welfare and of Immortality; even the Dominion of Mazda which Good Thought shall increase for him. 7. About which he in the beginning thus thought, "let the blessed realms be filled with Light", he it is that by his wisdom created Right. (Those realms) that the Best Thought shall possess those dost Thou exalt, O Mazda, through the Spirit, which, O Ahura, is ever the same. 8. I recognize Thee, O Mazda, in my thought, that Thou the First art (also) the Last -- that Thou art Father of Vohu Manah; -- when I apprehend Thee with mine eye, that Thou art the true Creator of Right, and art the Lord to judge the actions of life. 9. Thine was Armaiti, Thine the Ox-Creator, (namely) the Wisdom of the Spirit, O Mazda Ahura, because Thou didst give (the cattle) choice whether to depend on a husbandman or one who is no husbandman. 10. So she chose for herself out of the two the cattle-tending husbandman as her lord to guard the Right, the man that advances Good Thought. He that is no-husbandman, O Mazda, however eager he be, has no part in this good message. 11. When Thou, O Mazda, in the beginning didst create the Individual and the Individuality, through Thy Spirit, and powers of understanding - when Thou didst make life clothed with the body, when (Thou madest) actions and teachings, whereby one may exercise one's convictions at one's free-will; 12. Then lifts up his voice the false speaker or the true speaker, he that knows or he that knows not, (each) according to his own heart and mind. Passing from one to another Armaiti confers with the spirit in whom there is wavering. 13. Whatever open or whatever secret (ac