' For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
^ He offers not a full sacrifice, being on horseback.
^ Not to be taken by surprise.
» Cf. Yt. X, II, 94, 114.
* Vaesaka was the head of the Vis ah family, whose foremost member was Pi ran Visah, the clever and upright minister of Afrasyab, the Turanian Nestor; but his counsels were despised for the common ruin, and himself perished with all his sons in the war against Iran.
^ Kangha was a town founded by Syavarshana, during his exile, in a part of the land of Khvarizm, which is described as an earthly paradise. This city was built on the top of a high mountain (Awtare-Kangha, Yt. XIX, 4). The Khshathro-saoka castle is called in the Shah Namah Kang dez, 'the fortress of Kangha;' and, possibly, Khshathro-saoka is a mere epithet of dvarem, ' the castle of kingly welfare.'
® According to the Shah Namah, Kang dez was stormed by Kai Khosrav himself.
68 YA5TS AND SIROZAHS.
56. ' Offer up a sacrifice, 0 Spitama Zarathujtra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Siira Anahita ....
57. ' To her did the gallant sons ofVaesaka offer
up a sacrifice in the castle Khshathro-saoka, that
stands high up on the lofty, holy Kangha, with a
hundred male horses, a thousand oxen, ten thousand
lambs.
58. 'They begged of her a boon, saying: "Grant
us this, O good, most beneficent Ardvi Sura Ana-
hita ! that we may overcome the valiant warrior
Tusa, and that we may smite of the Aryan people
their fifties and their hundreds, their hundreds and
their thousands, their thousands and their tens of
thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads
of myriads \"
59. *Ardvi Sura Anahita did not grant them that boon.
' For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
60. ' Offer up a sacrifice, 0 Spitama Zarathu^tra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sfara Anahita ....
61. 'The old^ Vafra Navaza worshipped her, when
the strong fiend-smiter, Thraetaona, flung him up in
the air in the shape of a bird, of a vulture ^
' Cf. §§ 53-54.
^ Doubtful (pourvo) ; perhaps 'the man of the primitive faith' (the paoiryo-Zkaesha; cf. Yt. XIII, o, note): the sacrifice he offers is quite a Zoroastrian one (cf. §§ 17, 104, and note 2 to the latter).
' An allusion is made here to a myth, belonging to the Thraetaona cyclus, of which no other trace is found in the Avesta (except in Yt. XXIII, 4). It referred most likely to the time when
Aban Ya5t. 69
62. 'He went on flying, for three days and three
nights, towards his own house; but he could not, he
could not turn down. At the end of the third nio-ht
when the beneficent dawn came dawning up, then he
prayed unto Ardvi Sura Anahita, saying :
63. ' "Ardvi Sura Anahita! do thou quickly hasten
helpfully and bring me assistance at once. I will
offer thee a thousand libations, cleanly prepared and
well strained, along with Haomas and meat, by the
brink of the river Rangha, if I reach alive the earth
made by Ahura and my own house."
64. 'Ardvi Sura Anahita hastened unto him in
the shape of a maid, fair of body, most strong, tall-
formed, high-girded, pure, nobly born of a glorious
race, wearing shoes up to the ankle, wearing a
golden . . . . ^, and radiant ^.
65. ' She seized him by the arm : quickly was it
done, nor was it long till, speeding, he arrived at the
earth made by Mazda and at his own house, safe,
unhurt, unwounded, just as he was before.
[66. 'Ardvi Sura Anahita granted him that boon, as
he was offering up libations, giving gifts, sacrificing,
entreating that she would grant him that boon^]
'For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
Thraetaona, on his march to Bawri, the capital of Asi (cf. § 29), arrived at the Tigris (the Rangha) ; an angel then came and taught him magic to enable him to baffle the sortileges of Asi (Shah Namah). We have in this passage an instance of his talents as a wizard, and one which helps us to understand why Thraetaona is considered as the inventor of magic, and his name is invoked in spells and incantations (Hamzah Ispahanensis, p. loi; Anquetil, II, pp. 135 seq.). Cf. Yt. XIV, 40 and note.
^ Urvikhi-na, a word of doubtful meaning.
^ Cf. Yt. V, 78, 126.
^ This clause is no doubt spurious here.
YA5TS AND SIROZAHS.
67. ' Offer up a sacrifice, O Spitama Zarathujtra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sura Anahita ....
68. ' To her did 6^amaspa^ offer up a sacrifice, with
a hundred horses, a thousand oxen, ten thousand
lambs, when he saw the army of the wicked, of the
worshippers of the Daevas, comin<^^ from afar in
battle array.
69. 'He asked of her a boon, saying : " Grant me
this, O o:ood, most beneficent Ardvi Sura Anahita !
that I may be as constantly victorious as any one of
all the Aryans ^."
70. ' Ardvi Sura Anahita granted him that boon,
as he was offering up libations, giving gifts, sacri-
ficing, and entreating that she would grant him that
boon.
' For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
7t. ' Offer up a sacrifice, O Spitama Zarathujtra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sura Anahita ....
72. ' To her did Ashavazdah, the son of Pouru-
^ (ramaspa, the prime minister of Vutaspa (Kai Gmtasp), appears here in the character of a warrior, though generally he is described as a sage and a prophet (Yasna XLIX [XLVIIl], 9 ; LI [L], 8 ; Zardmt Namah ; yet cf. Yt. XXIII, 2). The Shah Namah has an episode which recalls this one, although very different in its spirit, and more in accordance with the general character of (zamaspa. At the moment when the two armies meet together, Gu^tasp asks G^amasp to reveal to him the issue of the encounter : (?amasp obeys reluctantly, as the issue is to be fatal to the Iranians. G'amasp belonged to the Hvova family.
^ Or, • as all the rest of the Aryans together.'
A a
Aban Yast. 7 1
dhdkh^ti \ and Ashavazdah and Thrita, the sons of
Sayu^'dri^, offer up a sacrifice, with a hundred horses,
a thousand oxen, ten thousand lambs, by Apam
Napa/, the tall lord, the lord of the females, the
bright and swift-horsed \
yT,. 'They begged of her a boon, saying : " Grant
us this, O good, most beneficent Ardvi S<ira
Anahita ! that we may overcome the assemblers of
the Turanian Danus ^ Kara Asabana ^ and Vara
Asabana, and the most mighty Duraekaeta, in the
battles of this world ".
74. * Ardvi Stira Anahita granted them that
boon, as they were offering up libations, giving gifts,
sacrificing, and entreating that she would grant
them that boon.
' For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
75. ' Offer up a sacrifice, O Spitama Zarathujtra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sfira Anahita ....
76. ' Vistauru, the son of Naotara ^, worshipped
^ Cf Yt. XIII, 112. Ashavazdah, the son of Pourudhakhjti, is one of the immortals who will come forth to help Saoshya«/ in the final struggle (Bundahij XXIX, 6 ; Yt. XIX, 95).
2 Cf. Yt. XIII, 113. ^ Cf. above, p. 6, note i.
* A Turanian tribe, Yt. XIII, 37-38.
** Asabana is very likely an epithet; possibly, 'who kills with a stone ' (asan-ban) ; the sling was, as it seems, the favourite weapon of the Danus (Yt. XIII, 38).
* This section is the only fragment left of the legend of
Ashavazdah, which must have been an important one, since
Ashavazdah is one of the immortals (Yt. XIX, 95).
' Cf. Yt. XIII, 102. Vistauru, being the son of Naotara, is the brother of Tusa, which identifies him with the Gustahm ( ^ a •; ^ r) in the Shah Namah : Nodar had two sons, Tus and Gustahm.
•^2 YA^TS AND SIROZAHS.
her by the brink of the river Vitanghuhaiti \ with well-spoken words, speaking thus :
^']. "'This is true, this is truly spoken, that I
have smitten as many of the worshippers of the
Daevas as the hairs I bear on my head. Do thou
then, O Ardvi Sura Anahita ! leave me a dry pas-
sage, to pass over the good Vitanghuhaiti."
78. 'Ardvi Sura Anahita hastened unto him in
the shape of a maid, fair of body, most strong, tall-
formed, high-girded, pure, nobly born of a glorious
race, wearing shoes up to the ankle, with all sorts of
ornaments and radiant ^. A part of the waters she
made stand still, a part of the waters she made flow
forward, and she left him a dry passage to pass
over the good Vitanghuhaiti ^
[79. 'Ardvi Sura Anahita granted him that boon,
as he was offering up libations, giving gifts, sacri-
ficing, and entreating that she would grant him that
boon ^]
* For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
80. ' Offer up a sacrifice, O Spitama Zarathujtra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sura Anahita ....
81. 'To her did Yoina, one of the Fryanas^,
^ A river not mentioned elsewhere. ^ Cf.§§64, 126.
* Firdausi has no mention of this episode.
* Spurious.
^ This legend is fully told in the Pahlavi tale of Gojti Fryan (edited and translated by West) : a sorcerer, named Akht, comes with an immense army to the city of the enigma-expounders, threatening to make it a beaten track for elephants, if his enigmas are not solved. A Mazdayasnian, named Gojti FrySn, guesses the
Aban Ya^T. J^
offer up a sacrifice with a hundred horses, a thou-
sand oxen, ten thousand lambs on the P^dvaepa^ of
the Rangha.
82. * He begged of her a boon, saying: "Grant
me this, O good, most beneficent Ardvi Sura Ana-
hita ! that I may overcome the evil-doing Akhtya,
the offspring of darkness, and that I may answer the
ninety-nine hard riddles that he asks me maliciously,
the evil-doing Akhtya, the offspring of darkness. "
^T,. 'Ardvi Sura Anahita granted him that boon,
as he was offering up libations, giving gifts, sacri-
ficing, and entreating that she would grant him that
boon.
' For her brightness and glory, I will offer her a sacrifice ....
84. ' Offer up a sacrifice, O Spitama Zarathu^tra ! unto this spring of mine, Ardvi Sura Anahita ....
85. 'Whom Ahura Mazda the merciful ordered
thus, saying : " Come, O Ardvi Sura Anahita, come
from those stars ^ down to the earth made by Ahura,
thirty-three riddles proposed by Akht; then, in his turn, he proposes him three riddles which the sorcerer is unable to guess, and, in the end, he destroys him by the strength of a Nirang. Cf. Yt. XIII, 120. This tale, which belongs to the same wide- spread cycle as the myth of Oedipus and the Germanic legend of the Wartburg battle, is found in the Zarathujtra legend too (Vendidad XIX, 4).
' Perhaps an affluent of the Rangha (cf Yt. XIII, 1 9, 1 9 ; X V, 2 7).
^ Between the earth and the region of infinite light there are three intermediate regions, the star region, the moon region, and the sun region. The star region is the nearest to the earth, and the sun region is the remotest from it. Ardvi Sura has her seat in the star region (Yasna LXV [LXIV], i ; Phi. tr.) ; cf. Yt.V, 132.
74 YAS-TS AND SIROZAHS.
that the great lords may worship thee, the masters of the countries, and their sons.
86. ' " The men of strength^ will beg of thee swift horses and supremacy of Glory.
' " The Athravans who read ^ and the pupils of the
Athravans will beg of thee knowledge and pros-
perity, the Victory made by Ahura, and the crushing
Ascendant.
87. '"The maids of barren womb ^ longing for a lord ^ will beg of thee a strong husband ;
' "Women, on the point of bringing forth, will beg of thee a good delivery.
' "All this wilt thou grant unto them, as it lies in thy power, O Ardvi Sdra. Anihita \"
88. 'Then Ardvi Siara Anahita came forth, O
Zarathu5tra! down from those stars to the earth
made by Mazda; and Ardvi Silra Anahita spake
thus :
89. '"O pure, holy Zarathu^tra ! Ahura Mazda
has established thee as the master of the material
world : Ahura Mazda has established me to keep
the whole of the holy creation.
' " Through my brightness and glory flocks and
herds and two-legged men go on, upon the earth : I,
forsooth, keep all good things, made by Mazda, the
offspring of the holy principle, just as a shepherd
keeps his flock.''
90. ' Zarathu^tra asked Ardvi Sura Anahita : " O
Ardvi Sura Anahita ! With what manner of sacrifice
shall I worship thee ? With what manner of sacri-
fice shall I worship and forward thee ? So that
Mazda may make thee run down (to the earth), that