VI. Khôrshê<I>d</I> Ya<I>s</I>t

The Zend Avesta, Part II (SBE23), James Darmesteter, tr. [1882], at sacred-texts.com

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VI. KHÔRSHÊD YAST.

(YAST TO THE SUN.)

This Yast is recited at any time, but particularly on the days consecrated to the sun and to Khshathra-Vairya (Shahrîvar),Mithra (Mihir), Asman (Âsmân), and Anaghra raokau (Anîrân ¹): the last three, Mithra, Asman (the Heaven), Anaghra (the infinite Light), have a natural connection with the sun, but its connection with Khshathra-Vairya is not so clear.

Of this Yast we have a Pahlavi (East India Office, XII), a Persian (ibid. XXIV), and a Sanskrit translation (Fonds Burnouf V; all three edited in Études Iraniennes, II).

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0. May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced . . . .

Ashem Vohû: Holiness is the best of all good . . . .

I confess myself a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathustra, one who hates the Daêvas and obeys the laws of Ahura; For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto [Hâvani], the holy and master of holiness ² . . . .

Unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun ³;

Be propitiation, with sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification.

Yathâ ahû vairyô: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness ². . . .

1. We sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.

When the light of the sun waxes warmer ⁴, when the brightness of the sun waxes warmer, then up

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stand the heavenly Yazatas, by hundreds and thousands: they gather together its Glory, they make its Glory pass down, they pour its Glory upon the earth made by Ahura, for the increase of the world of holiness, for the increase of the creatures of holiness ¹, for the increase of the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.

2. And when the sun rises up, then the earth, made by Ahura, becomes clean ²; the running waters become clean, the waters of the wells become clean, the waters of the sea become clean, the standing waters become clean; all the holy creatures, the creatures of the Good Spirit, become clean.

3. Should not the sun rise up, then the Daêvas would destroy all the things that are in the seven Karshvares, nor would the heavenly Yazatas find any way of withstanding or repelling them in the material world.

4. He who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun—to withstand darkness, to withstand the Daêvas born of darkness, to withstand the robbers and bandits, to withstand the Yâtus and Pairikas, to withstand death that creeps in unseen—offers it up to Ahura Mazda, offers it up to the Amesha-Spentas, offers it up to his own soul ³. He rejoices all the heavenly and worldly Yazatas, who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.

5. I will sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide

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pastures, who has a thousand ears, ten thousand eyes.

I will sacrifice unto the club of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, well struck down ¹ upon the skulls of the Daêvas.

I will sacrifice unto that friendship, the best of all friendships, that reigns between the moon and the sun ².

6. For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard, namely, unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun. Unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun we offer up the libations, the Haoma and meat, the baresma, the wisdom of the tongue, the holy spells, the speech, the deeds, the libations, and the rightly-spoken words ³.

Yênhê hâtãm: All those beings of whom Ahura Mazda . . . .

7. Yathâ ahû vairyô: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness . . . .

I bless the sacrifice and the invocation, and the strength and vigour of the undying, shining, swift-horsed Sun.

Ashem Vohû: Holiness is the best of all good . . . .

Give unto that man brightness and glory, give him health of body, . . . . give him the bright, all-happy, blissful abode of the holy Ones.

Footnotes

85:1 Or the 11th, 16th, 27th, and 30th days of the month (Anquetil, II, 184).

85:2 As above, Yt. I, 0.

85:3 Sîrôzah I, 11.

85:4 'That is to say, rises up' (Phl. tr.).

86:1 Literally 'of the body of holiness,' that is to say, of the bodily creatures that incorporate holiness.

86:2 'From the uncleanness that the Daêvas mix with the earth during the night' (Phl. tr.).

86:3 As he benefits them and himself thereby.

87:1 Hunivikhtem: suniyuktam (Sansk. tr.); (Pers. tr.).

87:2 As they succeed one another in regular order.

87:3 Cf. Yt. III, 18.