Yasna XII. The Mazdayasnian Confession

The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31), L.H. Mills, tr. [1886], at sacred-texts.com

YASNA XII (SP. XIII).

THE MAZDAYASNIAN CONFESSION ⁴.

1. I drive ⁵ the Daêvas hence; I confess as a Mazda-worshipper of the order of Zarathustra, estranged from the Daêvas, devoted to the lore of

p. 248

the Lord, a praiser ¹ of the Bountiful Immortals; and to Ahura Mazda, the good and endowed with good possessions, I attribute all things good, to the holy One, the resplendent, to the glorious, whose are all things whatsoever which are good; whose is the Kine, whose is Asha (the righteous order pervading all things pure), whose are the stars, in whose lights the glorious beings and objects are clothed ².

2. And I choose Piety, the bounteous and the good, mine may she be ³. And therefore I loudly (deprecate all robbery ⁴ and violence against the sacred) Kine, and all drought ⁵ to the wasting of the Mazdayasnian villages.

3. Away from (?) their thoughts do I wish to lead (the thought of) wandering at will, (away the thought of) free nomadic pitching of the tent, for I wish to remove (?) all wandering from ⁶ (their) Kine which abide in steadfastness upon this land; and bowing down in worship to Righteousness I dedicate my offerings with praise so far as that. Never may I stand as a source of wasting, never as a source of withering to the Mazdayasnian villages, not for the love ⁷ of body or of life.

4. Away do I abjure the shelter and headship of the

p. 249

[paragraph continues] Daêvas, evil as they are; aye, utterly bereft of good, and void of virtue, deceitful in their wickedness, of (all) beings those most like the Demon-of-the-Lie, the most loathsome of existing things, and the ones the most of all bereft of good.

5. Off, off, do I abjure the Daêvas and all possessed by them, the sorcerers and all that hold to their devices, and every existing being of the sort; their thoughts do I abjure, their words and actions, and their seed (that propagate their sin); away do I abjure their shelter and their headship, and the iniquitous of every kind who act as Rakhshas act!

Thus and so in very deed might Ahura Mazda have indicated ¹ to Zarathustra in every question which Zarathustra asked, and in all the consultations in the which they two conversed together. 6. Thus and so might Zarathustra have abjured the shelter and the headship of the Daêvas in all the questions, and in all the consultations with which they two conversed together, Zarathustra and the Lord.

And so I myself, in whatsoever circumstances I may be placed, as a worshipper of Mazda, and of Zarathustra's order, would so abjure the Daêvas and their shelter, as he who ² was the holy Zarathustra abjured them (once of old).

7. To that religious sanctity ³ to which the waters appertain, do I belong, to that sanctity to which the plants, to that sanctity to which the Kine of blessed gift ⁴, to that religious sanctity to which Ahura Mazda, who made both Kine and holy men, belongs,

p. 250

to that sanctity do I. Of that creed which Zarathustra held, which Kavi Vîstâspa, and those two, Frashaostra and Gâmâspa; yea, of that religious faith which every Saoshyant who shall (yet come to) save (us), the holy ones who do the deeds of real significance, of that creed, and of that lore, am I.

8. A Mazda-worshipper I am, of Zarathustra's order; (so) do I confess, as a praiser and confessor, and I therefore praise aloud the well-thought thought, the word well spoken, and the deed well done;

9. Yea, I praise at once the Faith of Mazda, the Faith which has no faltering utterance ¹, the Faith that wields the felling halbert ², the Faith of kindred marriage, the holy (Creed), which is the most imposing, best, and most beautiful of all religions which exist, and of all that shall in future come to knowledge, Ahura's Faith, the Zarathustrian creed. Yea, to Ahura Mazda do I ascribe all good, and such shall be the worship of the Mazdayasnian belief!

Footnotes

247:4 This piece in the Gâthic dialect has claims to higher antiquity next after the Haptanghâiti. Its retrospective cast shows that it is later than the original period. Verse 7 savours of a later date with its reference to the plants and waters. That Zarathustra, Kavi Vîstâspa, Frashaostra, and Gâmâspa are named by no means proves that they were still living. Still, they are not mentioned with any fanciful or superstitious exaggeration; they are not yet demi-gods.

247:5 As a partial explanation of nâismî* from nas, compare the aorist nesat. Possibly also from nad, 'I curse the demons.'

248:1 And sacrificer.

248:2 A genuine citation from the Gâthas (see Y. XXXI, 7).

248:3 A genuine allusion to the Gâthas (Y. XXXII, 2).

248:4 This preserves the proper reading of tâyuska (so the Pahlavi) in Y. XXIX, 1.

248:5 Viyâpat as beyond a doubt; so viyâpem in verse 3.

248:6 Frâ has the same force as in fra perenaoiti (?), to fill forth, to empty. Otherwise, 'forth to their thoughts I offer in my prayer free ranging at their choice, and a lodging where they will, together with their cattle which dwell upon this land.'

248:7 Comp. nâiri-kinanghô, khratu-kinanghô, and shaêtô-kinanghô.

249:1 Reading adakhshayaêtâ; otherwise khshayaêtâ, commanded.

249:2 The Pahlavi structure 'he who' foreshadowed, as often.

249:3 Not in the sense of recompense here.

249:4 Observe this original meaning; 'butter' is here impossible.

250:1 Fraspâvaokhedhrãm; 'y' miswritten for 'v.' Fra seems to be prohibitive 'speech without falling, or hesitation;' better as adj.

250:2 Comp. Y. XXXI, 18.