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Avesta.
The Zend-Avesta
— : -3-^ E~_i£ -.^ :
The
Sacred Books of the East
Honlron
Henry Frowde
Oxfobd University Press Warehouse
7 Paternoster Row
The
Sacred Books of the East
Translated
By Various Oriental Scholars
And Edited by
F. MAX IVltJLLER
Vol. Xxiii
At the Clarendon Press
[All rights reserved ]
The Zend-Avesta
Part Ii
Translated by
James Darmesteter
(Bytovti
At the Clarendon Press
I A// rights reserved '\
CONTENTS.
Introduction
Page
TRANSLATIONS.
Preliminary Observations to the Yajts and Sirozahs
Sirozah I .
Sirozah II . . .
I. Ormazd Yajt . (Bahman Ya^t)
II. Haptan Ya^t .
III. Ardibehijt Ya^t
IV. Khordad Ya^t V. Aban Ya.yt .
VI. Khorshe^ Ya^t
VII. Mah Yajt .
VIII. Tir Yajt IX. Gos Ya^t
X. Mihir Ya^t . • XL Srosh Yajt Hadhokht
XII. Rashn Ya^t .
XIII. Farvardin Ya^t XIV. Bahram Yast .
XV. Ram Ya^t . XVI. Din Yajt
no
CONTENTS.
XVII. Ashi Ya^t ....
XVIII. Ajtad Yasl . XIX. Zamyad Ya^t
XX. Vanaw/ Yast
XXI. Yajt Fragment
XXII. Ya^t
XXIII. Afrin Paighambar Zartiut .
XXIV. Vutasp Ya^t
Preliminary Observations to the Nyaylj
I. Khorshe^ Nyayij
II. Mihir Nyayi^ .
III. Mah Nyayi^ IV. Aban Nyayij .
V. Ataj Nyayij-
Index to the Translations of the Vendidad, Sirozahs,
Yai'ts, and Nyayif , . . . . . . 363
Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Trans- lations of the Sacred Books of the East . . .381
INTRODUCTION.
The present volume contains a translation of the
Sirozahs and Yai'ts, and of the Nyayij-. This part of
the Avesta treats chiefly of the mythical and legendary
lore of Zoroastrianism.
For a satisfactory translation of these texts, the etymo- logical and comparative method is generally considered as the best or as the only possible one, on account of the entire absence of any traditional interpretation, I have tried, however, to reduce the sphere of etymological guess- work to its narrowest limits, with the help of different Pahlavi, Persian, and Sanskrit translations, which are as yet unpublished, and have been neglected by former trans- lators. I found such translations for the Sirozahs, for Ya^ts I, VI, VII, XI, XXIII, XXIV, and for the Nyayi^^ (besides the already published translations of Yaj-ts XXI and XXII).
Of the remaining Yaj-ts, which are mostly of an epical character, there is no direct translation available; but a close comparison of the legends in Firdausi's Shah Namah seems to throw some light, even as regards philological points, on not a (tw obscure and important passages. This has enabled me, I believe, to restore a few myths to their original form, and to frame a more correct idea of others''^.
In this volume, as in the preceding one, I have to thank Mr. West for his kind assistance in making my translation more readable, as well as for valuable hints in the inter- pretation of several passages.
JAMES DARMESTETER.
Paris,
13 December, 1882.
* These translations have been edited in our Etudes Iraniennes, II, 253 seq. (Paris, Vieweg, 1883). ^ See ibidem, II, 206 seq.
A a
Ya5ts and Sirozahs
YA5TS AND SIROZAHS.
The word ya^t, in Zend ye^ti, means properly 'the act of wor- shipping,' the performance of the yasna; and it is often used in Parsi tradition as synonymous with yasna. But it has also been particularly applied to a certain number of writings in which the several Izeds are praised and magnified. These writings are generally of a higher poetical and epical character than the rest of the Avesta, and are most valuable records of the old mythology and historical legends of Iran.
The Parsis believe that formerly every Amshaspand and every Ized had his particular Ya.st, but we now possess only twenty Yajts and fragments of another ^ The writings known as Yajt fragments, the Afrin Zartujt, and Vijtasp Yast (printed as Yajts XXI, XXII, XXIII, XXIV in Westergaard's edition), are not proper Yai'ts, and have no liturgical character ; they are not devoted to the praise of any Ized.
The order in which the Yajts have been arranged by the Parsis follows exactly the order of the Sirozah, which is the proper in- troduction to the Yajts.
s1r6zah.
Sirozah means 'thirty days:' it is the name of a prayer com- posed of thirty invocations addressed to the several Izeds who preside over the thirty days of the month.
There are two Sirozahs, but the only difference between them is that the formulas in the former are shorter '', and there is also, occasionally, some difference in the epithets, which are fuller in the latter.
* The Bahman Yajt (see Yt. I, §§ 24 and following).
^ In the greater Sirozah the names of the gods invoked are introduced with the word yazamaide, ' we sacrifice to;' in the lesser Sirozah there is no introductory word, the word khshnao- thra, ' propitiation,' being understood, as can be seen from the introductory formulas to the several Ya^ts.
YAS'TS AND siROZAHS.
In India the Sirozah is recited in honour of the dead, on the thirtieth day after the death, on the thirtieth day of the sixth month, on the thirtieth day of the twelfth month, and then every year on the thirtieth day from the anniversary day (Anquetil, Zend- Avesta, II, 315). ^
The correspondence between the formulas of the Sirozah and the Ya^ts is as follows :
Ormazd.
Ormazd Yaj't (I, 1-23).
Bahman,
Bahman Yajt (I, 24-33).
ArdibeheJt.
Ardibehe^t Ya^t (III).
Shahrevar.
Sapendarmad.
Khordad.
Khorddd Ya^t (IV).
Murdad.
Dai pa Adar.
Adar.
Aban.
Aban Yaj-t (V).
Khorshed.
Khorshgd Yast (VI).
Mah.
Mah Yajt (VII).
Tir.
Tir Yajt (VIII)'.
Goi-.
G6^ Ya^t (IX).
Dai pa Mihir.
Mihir.
Mihir Yajt (X).
Srosh.
Srosh Yajrt (XI).
Rashn.
Rashn Ya^t (XII).
Farvardin.
Farvardin Yajt (XIII).
Bahram.
Bahram Ya^t (XIV).
Ram.
RamYart(XV).
Bad.
Dai pa Din.
Din.
Din Ya^t (XVI).
Ard.
Ashi Yast (XVII).
A^tad.
A^ytad Ya^t (XVIII).
Asman.
Zemyad.
Zemyad Ya^t (XIX).
Mahraspand.
Aneran.
The Yajts that have been lost are, therefore, those of Khsha-
thra-vairya.
, Spewta-Armaiti,
Amereta/, Atar, Vata, Asman, Mathra-
Sp.e;2ta, ar
id Anaghra rnokau. The second Ya^'t, or Yai-t of the
seven Amshaspands, appean
5 to have been no independent Yast :
it was common to all the
seven Ya^ts devoted to the several
stR6zAH T. ^
Amshaspands, and, accordingly, it is recited on the first seven days of the month. One might suppose that it was originally a part of the Ormazd Yajt, as the Amesha-Spewtas are invoked in company with Ahura Mazda (Sirozah i, 8, 15, 23). There may, indeed, have been several Yajts for one and the same formula of the Sirozah, as in all of these formulas more than one Ized are invoked : this would apply not only to the Yajt of the seven Amshaspands, but also to the Vana«/ Yast {Yzst XX), which, in that case, ought to follow the Tir Ya^-t (see Sirozah 13).
Not every Yajt, however, is devoted to the Ized whose name it bears : thus the Ardibehejt Ya^t is mostly devoted to Airyaman ; the Ram-Yaj-t and the Zemyad-YaJt are devoted to Vayu and to the ^z'areno : but Airyaman, Vayu, and the I/varend are invoked in the same Sirozah formulas as Ardibehe^t, Ram, and Zemyad, and a Yajt is named from the opening name in the correspondent Sirozah formula.
The systematic order so apparent in the Sirozah pervades the rest of the liturgy to a great extent : the enumeration of Izeds in Yasna XVII, 12-42 (XVI, 3-6) follows exactly the order of the Sirozah, except that it gives only the first name of each formula; and the question may be raised whether this passage in the Yasna is taken from the Sirozah, or whether the Sirozah is developed from the Yasna.
The very idea of the Sirozah, that is to say the attribution of each of the thirty days of the month to certain gods, seems to have been borrowed from the Semites : the tablets found in the^brary of Assurbanipal contain an Assyrian Sirozah, that is, a complete list of the Assyrian gods that preside over the thirty days of the month ^.
s1r6zah I.
I. Ormazd.
To Ahura Mazda, bright and glorious ^ and to the Amesha-Spe;7tas ^
^ J. Halevy, Revue des Etudes Juives, 188 1, October, p. 188. 2 SeeYt. I, 1-23. » See Yt. II.
YA^TS AND SIROZAHS.
2. Bahman.
To Vohii-Mano^; to Peace ^, whose breath is
friendly ^, and who is more powerful to destroy than
all other creatures^; to the heavenly Wisdom^, made
by Mazda ; and to the Wisdom acquired through the
ear ^, made by Mazda,
3. Ardibehej-t.
To Asha-Vahi^ta, the fairest^; to the much-
desired Airyaman, made by Mazda "^ ; to the instru-
ment made by Mazda ^ ; and to the good Saoka ^
with eyes of love ^°, made by Mazda and holy.
^ SeeYt. I, 24-33.
^ Akh^ti does not so much mean Peace as the power that secures peace ; see note 4.
^ Ham-vai«ti, from ham-va (Yt. X, 141); possibly from van, to strike : ' Peace that smites.'
* Taradhatem anyaij' daman, interpreted : tarvinitartftm
min zaki Sn daman pun anashtih akar kartan (Phi. Comm.),
' more destroying than other creatures, to make Non-peace (Ana-
khjti) powerless.'
^ Asnya khratu, the inborn intellect, intuition, contrasted with gaosho-sriita khratu, the knowledge acquired by hearing and learning. There is between the two nearly the same relation as between the paravidya and aparavidya in Brahmanism, the former reaching Brahma in se (parabrahma), the latter jabda- brahma, the word-Brahma (Brahma as taught and revealed). The Mobeds of later times interpreted their name Maguj, i^jJ^^, as meaning, ' men without ears,' (_Py\.*, ' pour insinuer que leur Docteur avait puisd toute sa science dans le ciel et qu'il ne I'avait pas apprise par I'ouie comme les autres hommes ' (Chardin, III, 1 30 ; ed. Amsterdam).
' See Yt. III. ' See Vend. XXII.
* The 'golden instrument' mentioned in Nyayii- I, 8.
® A personification of the Ormazdean \veal; cf. Vend. XXII, 3 [8], andYt. XIII, 42.
^° Vouru-doithra, kamak doisr; she is 'the genius of the good
Sirozah I. 5
4. Shahrevar.
To Khshathra-vairya; to the metals^; to Mercy and Charity.
5, Sapendarmad.
To the good Spe;^ta-Armaiti ^, and to the good Rata ^, with eyes of love, made by Mazda and holy.
6. Khordad.
To Haurvata/^ the master; to the prosperity
of the seasons and to the years, the masters of
holiness.
7. Murdad.
To Amereta/f ^, the master ; to fatness and flocks ;
to the plenty of corn ; and to the powerful Gaoke-
rena ^ made by Mazda.
(At the gah^ Havan) : to Mithra ^ the lord of wide pastures and to Rama //it'astra '\
(At the gah Rapithwin) : to Asha-Vahi^ta and to Atar^'\ the son of Ahura Mazda".
eye, minoi hu/Ja^'mih' (Vend. XIX, 56 [123]), the reverse of the evil eye (Yasna LXVII, 62 [LXVIII, 22]; of. :fitudes Iraniennes, II, 182).
^ Vend. Introd. IV, 33; Ormazd et Ahriman, §§ 202-206.
2 Ibid. ' Vend. Introd. IV, 30.
* See Yt. IV. ^ See Vend. Introd. IV, 34.
^ The white Horn, or plant of immortality ; see Vend. Introd. IV, 28.
' SeeGahs. ' See Yt. X.
'' See Yt. XV. Cf. Yasna I, 3 (7-9), where Mithra and Rama are invoked in company with the genius of the Havani period of the day.
^° The Genius of Fire.
" Cf. Yasna I, 4 (10-12), where Asha-Vahi^ta and Atar are invoked in company with the genius of the Rapithwin period of the day.
YA,STS AND SIROZAHS.
(At the gah Uziren) : to Apam Napa/\ the tall lord, and to the water made by Mazda ^.
(At the gah Aiwisruthrem) : to the Fravashis '^
of the faithful, and to the females that bring forth
flocks of males "* ; to the prosperity of the seasons ;
to the well-shapen and tall-formed Strength, to
Verethraghna ^ made by Ahura, and to the crushing
Ascendant ^.
(At the gah Ushahin) : to the holy, devout, fiend-
smiting Sraosha '^, who makes the world grow ; to
Rashnu Razii-ta ^ and to Arsidit ^ who makes the
world grow, who makes the world increase ^°.
8. Dai pa Adar ^^
To the Maker Ahura Mazda, bright and glorious, and to the Amesha-Spe/ztas.