FARGARD XIX.

The Zend Avesta, Part I (SBE04), James Darmesteter, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com

I (1-11). Angra Mainyu attempts to kill Zarathustra, and, when he fails, tempts him. Zarathustra withstands both assaults with weapons both material and spiritual.

II (I1-43). Zarathustra applies to Ahura Mazda for a revelation of the law. He is taught how the fiend may be repelled, how the creation of Mazda is to be worshipped, how uncleanness is to be washed away, and what becomes of the soul after death.

III (43-47). Angra Mainyu and his host, driven to despair, and feeling themselves powerless, flee down into hell.

This chapter may be entitled 'The Revelation,' and considered as the frame-work of the Vendîdâd, the remainder of which should have its place between the first and the third part; as the first part

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shows the fiend's struggles to prevent the revelation, and the third shows the effects of it; the second being, as it were, an abstract of the law, an abridged Vendîdâd.

The text and the Pahlavi commentary of this Fargard are translated in Haug's Essays, p. 253 seq., p. 333 seq., and p. 379 seq.

I.

1. From the region of the north, from the regions of the north ¹, forth rushed Angra Mainyu, the deadly, the Daêva of the Daêvas ². And thus spake the guileful one, he the evil-doer Angra Mainyu, the deadly: 'Drug, rush down upon him! destroy the holy Zarathustra!' The Drug came rushing along, the demon Bûiti ³, the unseen death, the hell-born.

2 (5). Zarathustra chanted aloud the Ahuna-Vairya ⁴: 'The will of the Lord is the law of holiness; the riches of Vohu-manô shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.'

(He added): ‘Offer up prayers to the good waters of the good Dâitya ⁵!

'Profess the law of the worshippers of Mazda!'

The Drug dismayed, rushed away, the demon Bûiti, the unseen death, the hell-born.

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3 (7). And the Drug, the guileful one, said unto Angra Mainyu: 'O baneful Angra Mainyu! I see no way to kill him, so great is the glory of the holy Zarathustra.'

Zarathustra saw (all this) from within his soul: 'The evil-doing Daêvas and Drvants ¹ (thought he) take counsel together for my death.'

4 (11). Up started Zarathustra, forward went Zarathustra, unshaken by the evil spirit, by the hardness of his malignant riddles ², swinging stones in his hand, stones as big as a house ³, which he obtained from the Maker, Ahura Mazda, he the holy Zarathustra.

'At what on this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar, at what dost thou swing (those stones), thou who standest by the river Darega ⁴, upon the mountains, in the mansion of Pourusaspa ⁵?'

5 (16). Thus Zarathustra answered Angra Mainyu: 'O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! I will smite the creation of the Daêva; I will smite the Nasu, a creature of the Daêva; I will smite the Pairika Knãthaiti ⁶, till the fiend-smiter Saoshyant come up to life out

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of the lake Kãsava, from the region of the dawn, from the regions of the dawn ¹.'

6 (20). Again to him said the guileful one, the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: 'Do not destroy my creatures, O holy Zarathustra! Thou art the son of Pourusaspa ², just born of thy mother ³. Renounce the good law of the worshippers of Mazda, and thou shalt gain such a boon as the murderer ⁴ gained, the ruler of the nations.'

7 (24). Thus in answer to him said Spitama Zarathustra: 'No! never will I renounce the good law of the worshippers of Mazda, though my body, my life, my soul should burst!'

8 (27). Again to him said the guileful one, the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: 'By whose Word wilt thou strike, by whose Word wilt thou repel, by whose weapon will the good creatures (strike and repel) my creation who am Angra Mainyu?'

9 (29). Thus in answer to him said Spitama Zarathustra: 'The sacred mortar, the sacred cup, the Haoma, the Words taught by Mazda, these are my weapons, my best weapons! By this Word will I strike, by this Word will I repel, by this weapon the good creatures (will strike and repel thee), O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! To me Spenta Mainyu gave it, he gave it to me in the boundless Time ⁵;

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to me the Amesha Spentas, the all-ruling, the all-beneficent, gave it.'

10 (35). Zarathustra chanted aloud the Ahuna-Vairya. The holy Zarathustra said aloud 'This I ask thee: teach me the truth, O Lord ¹! . . .'

II.

11 (37). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! [he was sitting by the Darega, on the mountain ², praying to Ahura Mazda, to the good Vohu-manô, to Asha Vahista, Khshathra Vairya, and Spenta. Ârmaiti;]

12 (39). 'How shall I make the world free from that Drug, from the evil-doer Angra Mainyu? How shall I drive away direct defilement? How indirect defilement? How shall I drive the Nasu from the house of the worshippers of Mazda? How shall I cleanse the faithful man? How shall I cleanse the faithful woman?'

13 (42). Ahura Mazda answered. ‘Invoke, O Zarathustra! the good law of Mazda.

‘Invoke, O Zarathustra! the Amesha Spentas who rule over the seven Karshvares of the earth ³.

‘Invoke, O Zarathustra! the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time ⁴, and Vayu ⁵, whose action is most high.

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‘Invoke, O Zarathustra! the powerful Wind, made by Mazda, and Spenta Ârmaiti ¹, the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.

14 (46). ‘Invoke, O Zarathustra! my Fravashi ², who am Ahura Mazda, the greatest, the best, the fairest of all beings, the most solid ³, the most intelligent, the best shapen, the highest in holiness, and whose soul is the holy Word ⁴!

'Invoke, O Zarathustra! this creation of mine, who am Ahura Mazda.'

15 (50). Zarathustra took those words from me, (and said): ‘I invoke the holy creation of Ahura Mazda.

‘I invoke Mithra ⁵, the lord of wide pastures, a god armed with beautiful weapons, with the most glorious of all weapons, with the most fiend-smiting of all weapons.

‘I invoke the holy, tall-formed Sraosha ⁶, who wields a club in his hand, to bear upon the heads of the fiends.

16 (54). ‘I invoke the most glorious holy Word.

‘I invoke the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time, and Vayu, whose action is most high.

‘I invoke the mighty Wind, made by Mazda, and Spenta (Ârmaiti), the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.

'I invoke the good law of Mazda, the fiend-destroying law of Zarathustra.'

17 (58). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O Maker of the good world, Ahura Mazda! With

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what manner of sacrifice shall I worship, with what manner of sacrifice shall I worship and forward this creation of Ahura Mazda?'

18 (60). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Go, O Spitama Zarathustra! towards that tree ¹ that is beautiful, high-growing, and mighty amongst the high-growing trees, and say thou these words: "Hail to thee! O good, holy tree, made by Mazda! Ashem, vohu ²!"

19 (63). 'Let the faithful man cut off a twig of baresma, long as a ploughshare, thick as a barley-corn ³. The faithful one, holding it in his left hand, shall not leave off keeping his eyes upon it ⁴, whilst he is offering up the sacrifice to Ahura Mazda and to the Amesha-Spentas, and to the high and beautiful golden Haomas, and to Vohu-manô ⁵ and to the good Râta ⁶, made by Mazda, holy and excellent ⁷.'

20 (67). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O thou, all-knowing Ahura Mazda! thou art never asleep, never intoxicated, thou Ahura Mazda! Vohu-manô ⁸ gets directly defiled: Vohu-manô gets indirectly defiled;

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the Daêvas defile him from the bodies smitten by the Daêvas ¹: let Vohu-manô be made clean.'

21 (70). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shalt take some gômêz from a bull ungelded and such as the law requires it ²; thou shalt take the man who is to be cleansed ³ to the field made by Ahura ⁴, and the man that is to cleanse him shall draw the furrows ⁵.

22 (73). ‘He shall recite a hundred Ashem vohu: "Holiness is the best of all good. Happy, happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness!"

‘He shall chant two hundred Ahuna-Vairya: "The will of the Lord is the law of holiness; the riches of Vohu-manô shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor."

‘He shall wash Vohu-manô four times with the gômêz from the ox, and twice with the water made by Mazda ⁶.

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23 (76). ‘Thus Vohu-manô shall be made clean, and clean shall be the man. Then he shall take up Vohu-manô ¹ with his left arm and his right, with his right arm and his left: and thou shalt lay down Vohu-manô under the mighty structure of the bright heavens, by the light of the stars made by the gods, until nine nights have passed away ².

24 (80). ‘When nine nights have passed away, thou shalt bring libations unto the fire, thou shalt bring hard wood unto the fire, thou shalt bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the fire, and thou shalt perfume Vohu-manô therewith.

25 (82). 'Thus shall Vohu-manô become clean, thus shall the man be clean ³: he shall take up Vohu-manô with the right arm and the left, with the left arm and the right, and Vohu-manô ⁴ shall say aloud: "Glory be to Ahura Mazda! Glory be to the Amesha-Spentas! Glory be to all the other holy beings."'

26 (85). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O thou all-knowing Ahura Mazda: Should I urge upon the godly man, should I urge upon the godly woman, should I urge upon the wicked Daêva-worshipper who lives in sin, that they have once to leave behind them the earth made by Ahura,

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that they have to leave the water that runs, the corn that grows, and all the rest of their wealth ¹?'

Ahura Mazda answered: 'Thou shouldst, O holy Zarathustra.'

27 (89). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are the rewards given? Where does the rewarding take place? Where is the rewarding fulfilled? Whereto do men come to take the reward that, in their life in the material world, they have won for their souls?

28 (90). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the hellish, evil-doing Daêvas assail him; and when the third night is gone, when the dawn appears and brightens up, and makes Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reach the all-happy mountains, and the sun is rising:

29 (94). ‘Then the fiend, named Vîzaresha, carries off in bonds ² the souls of the wicked Daêva-worshippers who live in sin. The soul enters the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and to the righteous. At the head of the Kinvad bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazda ³, they ask for their spirits and souls the

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reward for the worldly goods which they gave away here below ¹.

30 (98) ‘Then comes the well-shapen, strong and tall formed maid ², with the dogs at her sides ³, one who can distinguish ⁴, who is graceful ⁵, who does what she wants, and is of high understanding.

‘She makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Hara-berezati ⁶; above the Kinvad bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves.

31 (102). ‘Up rises Vohu-manô ⁷ from his golden seat: Vohu-manô exclaims: "How hast thou come to us, thou holy one, from that decaying world into this undecaying one ⁸?"

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32 (105). ‘Gladly pass the souls of the righteous to the golden seat of Ahura Mazda, to the golden seat of the Amesha-Spentas, to the Garô-nmânem ¹, the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha-Spentas, the abode of all the other holy beings.

33 (108). ‘As to the godly man that has been cleansed ², the wicked evil-doing Daêvas tremble in the perfume of his soul after death, as a sheep does on which a wolf is falling ³.

34 (110). ‘The souls of the righteous are gathered together there: Nairyô-sangha ⁴ is with them; a friend of Ahura Mazda is Nairyô-sangha.

'Do thou thyself invoke, O Zarathustra! this world of Ahura Mazda.'

35 (114). Zarathustra took those words from Ahura Mazda: ‘I invoke the holy world, made by Ahura Mazda.

‘I invoke the earth made by Ahura, the water made by Mazda, the holy trees.

‘I invoke the sea Vouru-kasha, ⁵

‘I invoke the shining sky.

‘I invoke the eternal and sovereign luminous space ⁶.

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36 (120). ‘I invoke the bright, all glorious, blissful abode of the holy ones.

‘I invoke the Garô-nmânem, the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode invoke of the Amesha-Spentas, the abode of all the other holy beings.

‘I invoke the sovereign place of eternal weal ¹, and the Kinvad bridge made by Mazda.

37 (123) ‘I invoke the good Saoka ², whose looks go far and wide.

‘I invoke the mighty Fravashis ³ of the righteous.

‘I invoke the whole creation of weal.

‘I invoke Verethraghna ⁴, made by Ahura, who, wears the glory made by Mazda ⁵.

‘I invoke Tistrya ⁶, the bright and glorious star, in the shape of a golden-horned bull.

38 (127). ‘I invoke the holy, beneficent Gâthas ⁷, who rule over the ratus ⁸:

‘I invoke the Ahunavaiti Gâtha;

‘I invoke the Ustavaiti Gâtha;

‘I invoke the Spenta-mainyu Gâtha;

‘I invoke the Vohu-khshathra Gâtha;

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‘I invoke the Vahistôisti Gâtha.

39 (129). ‘I invoke the Karshvares of Arzahê and Savahê;

‘I invoke the Karshvares of Fradadhafshu and Vidadhafshu;

‘I invoke the Karshvares of Vourubaresti and Vouruzaresti;

‘I invoke the bright Hvaniratha ¹;

‘I invoke the bright, glorious Haêtumant ²;

‘I invoke the good Ashi ³;

[‘I invoke the good Kisti ⁴]

‘I invoke the most right Kista ⁵;

‘I invoke the glory of the Aryan regions ⁶;

‘I invoke the glory of the bright Yima, the great shepherd ⁷.

40 (133). ‘Let him be worshipped with sacrifice, let him be gladdened, gratified, and satisfied, the holy Sraosha, the tall-formed, fiend-smiting, holy Sraosha ⁸.

‘Bring libations unto the Fire, bring hard wood unto the Fire, bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the Fire.

‘Offer up the sacrifice to the Vâzista fire, which

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smites the fiend Spengaghra ¹: bring unto it the cooked meat and the offerings of boiling milk ².

41 (137). ‘Offer up the sacrifice to the holy Sraosha, that the holy Sraosha may smite down the fiend Kunda ³, who is drunken without drinking. He will fall upon the men of the Drug, the slothful ones ⁴, the wicked, Daêva-worshippers, who live in sin.

[42 ⁵. ‘I invoke the Kara fish ⁶, who lives beneath waters in the bottom of the deep lakes.

‘I invoke the ancient and sovereign Merezu ⁷, the greatest seat of battle in the creation of the two spirits ⁸.

‘I invoke the seven bright Sravah ⁹ with their sons and their flocks.

III.

43. ‘They run about to and fro, their minds waver to and fro ¹⁰, Angra Mainyu the deadly, the

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[paragraph continues] Daêva of the Daêvas; Indra the Daêva, Sâuru the Daêva, Naunghaithya the Daêva, Taurvi and Zairi ¹, Aêshma of the wounding spear ², Akatasha the Daêva ³, Zaurva ⁴, baneful to the fathers, Bûiti the Daêva ⁵, Driwi ⁶ the Daêva, Daiwi ⁷ the Daêva, Kasvi ⁸ the Daêva, Paitisha ⁹ the most Daêva-like amongst the Daêvas.]

44 (140). ‘And he said, the guileful, the evildoing Daêva, Angra Mainyu the deadly: "What! let the wicked, evil-doing Daêvas gather together at the head of Arezûra ¹⁰."

45 (141). ‘They rush, they run away, the wicked, evil-doing Daêvas; they run away with shouts, the wicked, evil-doing Daêvas; they run away casting the evil eye, the wicked, evil-doing Daêvas: “Let us gather together at the head of Arezûra!

46 (143). ‘"For he is just born the holy Zarathustra, in the house of Pourushaspa. How can we procure his death? He is the stroke that fells the fiends: he is a counter-fiend to the fiends; he is a Drug to the Drug. Down are the Daêva-worshippers, the Nasu made by the Daêva, the false-speaking Lie!"

47 (147). ‘They run away, they rush away, the wicked, evil-doing Daêvas, into the depths of the dark, horrid world of hell.

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'Ashem vohu: Holiness is the best of all good.'

Footnotes

204:1 From hell; cf. p. 75, n. 2.

204:2 'The fiend of fiends,' the arch-fiend.

204:3 'How does death enter the body of man? There are several Druges from Ahriman, who come into the body and the soul of man: one of whom is a Drug known as Bût; she is the forerunner of death; when the time of the end is at hand, she produces in the body of man such excessive heat that he falls ill' (Dâdâr i Dâdûkht, British Museum, Add. 8994, 130 a).

204:4 See above, p. 98, n. 2.

204:5 The river in Airyana Vaêgô; see Farg. I, 3, and Introd. III, 15.

205:1 See Introd. IV, 22.

205:2 This is a fragment of an old myth in which Zarathustra and Angra Mainyu played respectively the parts of Oedipus and the Sphinx. See, for further explanation, Orm. Ahr. §§ 163-165.

205:3 See Introd. IV, 40. The Commentary has, 'Some say, those stones are the Ahuna-Vairya.' In another attempt to account for a mythical expression, which was no longer understood, those thunderbolts were turned into the nine-knotted stick used in the Barashnûm. (see Farg. IX, 14; Comm and Asp.)

205:4 See Introd. III, 15.

205:5 The father of Zarathustra.

205:6 Cf. Farg. I, 10, and Introd. IV, 21.

206:1 See Introd. IV, 39-40.

206:2 'I know thee' (Comm.)

206:3 Doubtful (cf. § 46); possibly, 'I was invoked by thy mother.' The Commentary has, 'Some explain thus: Thy forefathers worshipped me: worship me also.'

206:4 Ajis Dahâka or Zohâk, who, as a legendary king, is said to have ruled the world for a thousand years (Introd. IV, 11).

206:5 See Introd. IV, 42. The Ahuna-Vairya was revealed before p. 207 the creation of the world (Yasna XIX), and consequently in the boundless Time.

207:1 This verse is the beginning of a Gâtha (Yasna XLIV), in which Zarathustra applies to Ahura Mazda to be taught the mysteries of the world and of the law.

207:2 See § 4 and Introd. III, 15.

207:3 See Introd. IV, 7.

207:4 See Introd. IV, 42.

207:5 See Introd, IV, 15.

208:1 See Introd. IV, 30.

208:2 See Introd. IV, 37.

208:3 See Introd. IV, 5.

208:4 Mãthra Spenta; see Introd. IV, 40.

208:5 See Introd. IV, 8.

208:6 See Introd. IV, 31, and cf. Farg. XVIII, 22 seq.

209:1 The tree, whatever it is, from which the baresma is taken. See p. 22, n. 2.

209:2 See § 22.

209:3 Doubtful.

209:4 The Parsis are recommended to keep their eyes on the baresma during the sacrifice: 'A man is offering the Darûn, he has said all the required Avesta, but be has not looked at the baresma: what is the rule? It would have been better if he had looked at it: however he may proceed to the meal' (Old Rav. 97 b).

209:5 See Introd. IV, 7.

209:6 See Introd. IV, 30.

209:7 Doubtful. Possibly, 'While he is offering up the high and beautiful Haomas, and Vohu-manô (good thoughts) and the good Râta (sacrificial presents).'

209:8 Vohu-manô is often used as a designation of the faithful one, literally, 'the good-minded;' this is the meaning which is given to it in this passage by the Commentary, and it certainly belongs p. 210 to it in the second part of § 25; but in the first part of the same clause it is translated 'clothes,' a meaning which is not unlikely in itself, as Vohu-manô, being the Amshaspand of cattle, may designate, and in fact did designate, the skins of cattle and leather (Comm. ad Farg. XVIII, 2). On the whole the description in the text applies to the cleansing both of the man and of the clothes, and Vohu-manô sometimes means the one, and sometimes the other.

210:1 From dead bodies.

210:2 The so-called Varasiô: 'it must be of a white colour; if a single hair on its body be found other than white, the animal is rejected as unfit for the purpose' (Sorâbji Kâvasji Khambâtâ, in the Indian Antiquary, VII, 180).

210:3 Or better, 'the things that are to be cleansed.'

210:4 The place of the cleansing, the Barashnûm-gâh (see Farg. IX, 3).

210:5 See Farg. IX, 10.

210:6 This can hardly refer to the cleansing of the man, as the man p. 211 ought to be washed six times with gômêz and three times with water (see Farg. VIII, 37 seq.; IX, 28 seq.)

211:1 'The clothes' (Comm.)

211:2 The clothes of the unclean shall be exposed to the air for nine nights, all the time while he himself is confined in the Armêst-gâh. The rules for the cleansing of clothes that have been worn by the dead himself are different (see Farg. VII, 12 seq.)

211:3 'Thus Vohu-manô shall be clean--the clothes; thus the man shall be clean--he who wears those clothes' (Comm.)

211:4 The faithful one.

212:1

'Linquenda tellus, et domus et placens
Uxor, nec harum, quas colis arborum. . . .'

[paragraph continues] The translation is doubtful in its details; yet there is little doubt that the sentence refers to future life (cf. § 227). Aspendiârji translates, 'Shall the godly man . . . arise (from the dead) . . .?' which seems to be the meaning of the Pahlavi Commentary too.

212:2 'Every one has a noose cast around his neck: when a man dies, if he has been a righteous man, the noose falls from his neck; if a wicked, they drag him with that noose down into hell' (Comm.; cf. Farg. V, 8, and Introd. IV, 26).

212:3 The Kinvad bridge extends over hell and leads to paradise: for the souls of the righteous it widens to the length of nine javelins; p. 213 for the souls of the wicked it narrows to a thread, and they fall down into hell (cf. Ardâ Vîrâf V, 1). This bridge is known in many mythologies; it is the Sirath bridge of the Musulmans; not long ago they sang in Yorkshire of 'the Brig o’ Dread, na brader than a thread' (Thoms, Anecdotes, 89), and even nowadays the peasant in Nièvre tells of a little board--

'Pas pu longue, pas pu large
Qu’un ch’veu de la Sainte Viarge,'

which was put by Saint Jean d’Archange between the earth and paradise:

'Ceux qu’saront la raison (= l’oraison?) d’Dieu
Par dessus passeront.
Ceux qu’la sauront pas
An bout mourront.' (Mélusine, p. 70.)

213:1 Cf. Farg. III, 34, 35; XVIII, 33 seq.

213:2 The soul of the dead, on the fourth day, finds itself in the presence of a maid, of divine beauty or fiendish ugliness, according as he himself was good or bad, and she leads him into heaven or hell: this maid is his own conscience (Yasht XXII).

213:3 The dogs that keep the Kinvad bridge (see Farg. XIII, 9).

213:4 The good from the wicked.

213:5 Doubtful.

213:6 The heavenly mountain, whence the sun rises, and upon which the abode of the gods rests.

213:7 The door-keeper of paradise; a Zoroastrian Saint-Pierre.

213:8 Cf. Farg. VII, 52.

214:1 The Garothmân of the Parsis; literally, 'the house of songs.'

214:2 That has performed the Barashnûm.

214:3 Ormazd is all perfume, Ahriman is infection and stench (Bundahis I; Eznig, Refutatio Haeresiarum II); the souls of their followers partake of the same qualities, and by the performance of the Barashnûm both the body and the soul are perfumed and sweetened.

214:4 The messenger of Ahura Mazda (cf. Farg. XXII, 7).

214:5 See Introd. IV, 11.

214:6 See Introd. IV, 42.

215:1 Misvâna gâtva, another name of the heavenly spaces; it designates heaven as the abode and source of all blessings, of all savah, or saoka.

215:2 A personification of the Ormazdean weal.

215:3 See Introd. IV, 37.

215:4 See Introd. IV, 14, and Yasht XIV.

215:5 The hvarenô or light of sovereignty (Introd. IV, 11).

215:6 See Introd. IV, 13, and Yasht VIII.

215:7 The five collections of hymns which form the oldest and holiest part of the Yasna and of the Avesta (Yasna XXVIII-XXXIV; XLIII-XLVI; XLVII-L; LI; LIII); they are named after their first words.

215:8 The chiefs of creation (Introd. IV, 35); 'they rule over the their means that other beings are ratus insomuch as it is by invoked' (Comm.)

216:1 See Introd. IV, 7.

216:2 See Farg. I, 14.

216:3 See Introd. IV, 30.

216:4 An angel of knowledge; the clause is found only in the Vendîdâd Sâdah.

216:5 Religious knowledge.

216:6 The light of sovereignty, hvarenô, which if secured by the Aryans makes them rule over their enemies (cf. Introd. IV, 11).

216:7 See Introd. IV, 18, and Farg. II.

216:8 This praise of Sraosha was probably introduced here with reference to the great part he plays in the fate of the soul after death, and to the performance of the sadis ritual (see above, p. 87, n. 4).

217:1 See Introd. IV. 13.

217:2 Doubtful.

217:3 The same as Kundi; see Farg. XI, 9.

217:4 Those who neglect their religious duties. The translation is doubtful.

217:5 From the Vendîdâd Sâdah. The clause may have belonged to the original text; it, is preceded by another clause which certainly did not belong to it, and part of which is cited in the Commentary ad Farg. VIII, 103, where it would have been more suitably placed: 'When he has been cleansed in the next inhabited place, he may then sow and till the pasture fields, as food for the sheep and as food for the ox.'

217:6 The Kar-mâhî (see above, p. 59, n. 4).

217:7 According to Professor Justi, 'the milky way' (Handbuch der Zendsprache s.v.), an Iranian representative of the Eddic Bifrost. There is much probability in that translation.

217:8 Doubtful.

217:9 A word of unknown meaning.

217:10 Up and down, in hope and despair.

218:1 See Introd. IV, 34.

218:2 See Introd. IV, 22.

218:3 See above, p. 136, n. 5.

218:4 Old age.

218:5 See above, p. 204, n. ³.

218:6 Poverty; see above, Farg. II, 29.

218:7 Lying; see above, Farg. II, 29.

218:8 Meanness; see above, Farg. II, 29.

218:9 'Opposition, or counter-action,' a personification of the doings of Ahriman and of his marring power.

218:10 At the gate of hell; see above, p. 24, n. 1.