XI. Srôsh Ya<I>s</I>t Hâdhôkht

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

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XI. SRÔSH YAST HÂDHÔKHT.

There are two Yasts dedicated to Sraosha, the angel of divine worship ¹: one is a part of the Yasna (LVII [LVI]), and this, the other, is called the Srôsh Yast Hâdhôkht. Whether it belonged to the so-called Hâdhôkht Nosk ², one of the twenty-one Nosks of which the original Avesta was formed ³, or whether it was recited in the Hâdhôkht sacrifice ⁴, a particular liturgy, is a matter on which we have no sufficient information.

The two Yasts have a few developments in common (see §§ 89, 10-13): the Hâdhôkht is more liturgical, the Yasna Yast is more descriptive, and has to a greater degree the poetical imagery of a Yast.

The Srôsh Yast Hâdhôkht is recited every day, during any gâh except the Rapitvîn. A Pahlavi translation of this Yast is extant (East India Office, XII, 102; Paris, Supplément Persan, XXXIII, 259; edited in Études Iraniennes, II), and Anquetil mentions a Sanskrit translation.

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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 . . . .

Unto the holy, strong Sraosha, who is the incarnate Word, a mighty-speared and lordly god,

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

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

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I.

1. We sacrifice unto the holy, tall-formed, fiend-smiting Sraosha, who makes the world increase, the holy and master of holiness.

Good prayer, excellent prayer to the worlds ¹, O Zarathustra!

2. This it is that takes away the friendship of the fiend and fiends, of the he-fiend and of the she-fiend; it turns away in giddiness their eyes, minds, ears ², hands, feet, mouths, and tongues ³; as good prayer, without deceit and without harm, is Manly Courage ⁴, and turns away the Drug ⁵.

3. The holy Sraosha, the best protector of the poor, is fiend-smiting; he is the best smiter of the Drug.

The faithful one who pronounces most words of blessing is the most victorious in victory; the Mãthra Spenta takes best the unseen Drug away. The Ahuna Vairya ⁶ is the best fiend-smiter among all spells; the word of truth is the fighter ⁷ that is the best of all fiend-smiters.

The Law of the worshippers of Mazda is the truest giver of all the good things, of all those that are the offspring of the good principle; and so is the Law of Zarathustra.

4. And he who should pronounce that word ⁸, O Zarathustra! either a man or a woman, with a mind all intent on holiness, with words all intent on

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holiness, with deeds all intent on holiness, when he is in fear either of high waters or of the darkness of a rainy night;

Or at the fords of a river, or at the branching-off of roads;

Or in the meeting together of the faithful, or the rushing together of the worshippers of the Daêvas ¹;

5. Whether on the road ² or in the law ³ he has to fear, not in that day nor in that night shall the tormenting fiend, who wants to torment him, prevail to throw upon him the look of his evil eye, and the malice of the thief ⁴ who carries off cattle shall not reach him.

6. Pronounce then that word, O Zarathustra! that word to be spoken ⁵, when thou fall upon the idolaters ⁶ and thieves and Daêvas rushing together. Then the malice of the wicked worshippers of the Daêvas, of the Yâtus and their followers, of the Pairikas and their followers, will be affrighted and rush away. Down are the Daêvas! Down are the Daêva-worshippers, and they take back their mouths from biting ⁷.

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7. And therefore we take around us the holy-natured Sraosha, the holy, the fiend-smiter, as one does with shepherds’ dogs; therefore we sacrifice unto the holy-natured Sraosha, the holy, the fiend-smiter, with good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.

8 ¹. For his brightness and glory, for his strength and victorious power, for his offering sacrifices unto the gods ², I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard. I will offer up libations unto the holy Sraosha, unto the great Ashi Vanguhi ³, and unto Nairyô-sangha ⁴, the tall-formed.

So may the holy Sraosha, the fiend-smiter, come to us for help!

9. We worship the holy Sraosha; we worship the great master, Ahura Mazda, who is supreme in holiness, who is the foremost to do deeds of holiness.

We worship all the words ⁵ of Zarathustra, and all the good deeds, those done and those to be done.

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

II.

10 ⁶. We sacrifice unto the holy, tall-formed, fiend-smiting Sraosha, who makes the world increase, the holy and master of holiness;

Who strikes the evil-doing ⁷ man, who strikes the evil-doing woman; who smites the fiendish

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[paragraph continues] Drug, and is most strong and world-destroying; who maintains and looks over all this moving ¹ world;

11. Who, never sleeping, wakefully guards the creation of Mazda; who, never sleeping, wakefully maintains the creation of Mazda; who protects all the material world with his club uplifted, from the hour when the sun is down;

12. Who never more did enjoy sleep from the time when the two Spirits made the world, namely, the good Spirit and the evil One; who every day, every night, fights with the Mâzainya Daêvas.

13. He bows not for fear and fright before the Daêvas: before him all the Daêvas bow for fear and fright reluctantly, and rush away to darkness ².

For his brightness and glory, for his strength and victorious power . . . . ³

III.

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

We sacrifice unto the holy, tall-formed, fiend-smiting Sraosha, who makes the world increase, the holy and master of holiness;

Who with peace and friendship ⁴ watches the Drug and the most beneficent Spirit: so that the Amesha-Spentas may go along the seven Karshvares of the earth ⁵; who is the teacher of the

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[paragraph continues] Law ¹: he himself was taught it by Ahura Mazda, the holy One.

For his brightness and glory, for his strength and victorious power . . . .

IV.

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

We sacrifice unto the holy, tall-formed, fiend-smiting Sraosha, who makes the world increase, the holy and master of holiness;

Whom the holy Ahura Mazda has created to withstand Aêshma, the fiend of the wounding spear; we sacrifice unto Peace, whose breath is friendly, and unto the two withstanders of sin and guilt ²,

16. The friends of the holy Sraosha;

The friends of Rashnu Razista ³;

The friends of the good Law of the worshippers of Mazda;

The friends of Arstât ⁴, who makes the world grow, who makes the world increase, who makes the world prosper;

The friends of Ashi Vanguhi ⁵;

The friends of the good Kisti ⁶;

The friends of the most right Kista ⁷;

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17. The friends of all gods;

The friends of the Mãthra Spenta;

The friends of the fiend-destroying Law;

The friends of the long-traditional teaching;

The friends of the Amesha-Spentas;

The friends of ourselves, the Saoshyants ¹, the two-footed part of the holy creation;

The friends of all the beings of the holy world.

For his brightness and glory, for his strength and victorious power. . . .

V.

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

We sacrifice unto the holy, tall-formed, fiend-smiting Sraosha, who makes the world increase, the holy and master of holiness;

The first [Sraosha], the next, the middle, and the highest; with the first sacrifice, with the next, with the middle, and with the highest ². We sacrifice unto all [the moments] ³ of the holy and strong Sraosha, who is the incarnate Word;

19. The strong Sraosha, of the manly courage, the warrior of the strong arms, who breaks the skulls of the Daêvas; who smites with heavy blows ⁴ and is strong to smite; the holy Sraosha, who smites

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with heavy blows; we sacrifice unto the crushing Ascendant of both the holy Sraosha and Arsti ¹.

20. We sacrifice for all the houses protected by Sraosha, where the holy Sraosha is dear and friendly treated and satisfied, as well as the faithful man ², rich in good thoughts, rich in good words, rich in good deeds.

21. We sacrifice unto the body of the holy Sraosha;

We sacrifice unto the body of Rashnu Razista;

We sacrifice unto the body of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures;

We sacrifice unto the body of the holy wind;

We sacrifice unto the body of the good Law of the worshippers of Mazda;

We sacrifice unto the body of Arstât, who makes the world grow, who makes the world increase, who makes the world prosper;

We sacrifice unto the body of Ashi Vanguhi;

We sacrifice unto the body of the good Kisti;

We sacrifice unto the body of the most right Kista;

We sacrifice unto the bodies of all the gods;

22. We sacrifice unto the body of the Mãthra Spenta;

We sacrifice unto the body of the fiend-destroying Law;

We sacrifice unto the body of the long-traditional teaching;

We sacrifice unto the bodies of the Amesha-Spentas;

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We sacrifice unto the bodies of ourselves, the Saoshyants, the two-footed part of the holy creation;

We sacrifice unto the bodies of all the beings of the holy world ¹.

For his brightness and glory, for his strength and victorious power . . . . .

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

I bless the sacrifice and prayer, the strength and vigour of the holy, strong Sraosha, who is the incarnate Word, a mighty-speared and lordly god.

[Give] unto that man ² brightness and glory, . . . . give him the bright, all-happy, blissful abode of the holy Ones!

Footnotes

159:1 Cf. Vend. Introd. IV, 31.

159:2 Ibid. III, 3.

159:3 See an account of the Hâdhôkht Nosk in the Dînkart (West, Pahlavi Texts, I, 225, note); cf. Introd. to Yt. XXI.

159:4 Cf. § 18, note.

160:1 'Has been taught to the world, namely, the Law' (Pahl. Comm.).

160:2 Doubtful.

160:3 Derezvã: Pahl. hûzvân; cf. Yt. I, 28.

160:4 Is the same with it, is as powerful.

160:5 Doubtful (vârethrem dârestâ . . . . zak drûg vartî dâstârtûm).

160:6 See p. 23.

160:7 Or, 'is the best of all fiend-smiters in battle.'

160:8 This chapter (Pahl. Comm.).

161:1 Different words are used, as usual, to express the same conflict, according as it refers to the faithful or to the idolaters.

161:2 Aipi-ayanãm: madam râs.

161:3 Arethyanãm: dâdistân (from aretha, meaning dînâ, dâdistân).

161:4 Gadha: nrisamsa (Neriosengh); the Pahlavi has , a Saka, a Scythe.

161:5 The praise of Sraosha.

161:6 Keresaska: krasîâk; cf. Neriosengh ad Yasna IX, 24 [75]; that name was in the later periods applied to Christians, as if keresa were the name of Christ; cf. Bahman Yast II, 19; III, 2.

161:7 Doubtful.

162:1 §§ 8-9 = Yasna LVII, 3-4 [LVI, 1, 6-12].

162:2 See Vend. Introd. IV, 31.

162:3 See Yt. XVII.

162:4 See Vend. XXII, 7 [22] and Sîrôzah I, 9.

162:5 The words of the law.

162:6 §§ 10-13 = Yasna LVII, 15-18 [LVI, 7].

162:7 Cf. Yt. I, 19.

163:1 Cf. above, p. 145, note 1.

163:2 To hell.

163:3 As above, §§ 8-9.

163:4 To the creation of Ormazd.

163:5 Doubtful. The Yasna has: 'Through whose strength, victorious power, wisdom, and knowledge the Amesha-Spentas go (avãn; Phl. sâtûnand) along the seven Karshvares of the earth' (LVII, 23 [LVI, 10, 2]).

164:1 He teaches the law to the three saviours to come, Oshêdar Bâmî, Oshêdar Mâh, and Soshyôs (Yasna LVII, 24 [LVI, 10, 2]; Phl. tr.).

164:2 Parestaska mravayâoska, to be corrected, according to various readings, into staretaska mavayâoska or something like it; the two genii here alluded to are Anâstareta and Amuyamna, Sinlessness and Innocence, who are invoked in company with Akhsti hamvaiñti in Vispêrad VIII, 4.

164:3 See Yt. XII.

164:4 See Yt. XVII.

164:5 See Vend. XIX, 39.

164:6 See ibid.

164:7 See Yt. XVI, 1.

165:1 The faithful, as helping through their good deeds in the work of final restoration, to be performed by Saoshyant (cf. Yt. XIII, 17).

165:2 The first sacrifice is the Yasna sacrifice; the next (literally, superior) is the Vispêrad; the middle sacrifice is the Hâdhôkht [and] êvak hômâst; the highest sacrifice is the Dvâzdah hômâst (Pahl. Comm.). Sraosha is called the first, next, middle, and highest, accordingly as he presides over one or the other of those sacrifices. For a definition of the êvak hômâst and Dvâzdah hômâst, see West, Pahlavi Texts, I, 212, note 5.

165:3 Vîspãn, translated harvisp zamân.

165:4 Literally, the smiter who smites with smitings.

166:1 The same as Arstât. Cf. Yasna LVII, 34-35 [LVI, 13, 3-7].

166:2 He receives alms (the ashô-dâd).

167:1 Cf. §§ 16-17.

167:2 Who sacrifices to Sraosha.