Yasna LVII. The Srôsh Ya<I>s</I>t

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

YASNA LVII (SP. LVI).

THE SRÔSH YAST ⁴.

1. A blessing is Righteousness (called) the Best, &c.

Propitiation be to Sraosha, Obedience the blessed, the mighty, the incarnate word of reason, whose body is the Mãthra, him of the daring spear, devoted to the Lord, for (his) sacrificial worship, homage, propitiation, and praise.

p. 298

I.

2. We worship Sraosha, (Obedience) the blessed, the stately, him who smites with the blow of victory, and who furthers the settlements, the holy, (ruling) as the ritual lord. Him do we worship, who in ¹ the creation of Mazda the first adored Ahura, with the Baresman spread, who worshipped the Bountiful Immortals ² (first), who worshipped both the protector and the Creator, who are ³ (both) creating all things in the creation.

3. For his splendour and his glory, for his might, and the blow which smites with victory, I will worship him with the Yasna of the Yazads, with a Yasna loud intoned, him Obedience the blessed, with the consecrated waters, and the good Blessedness, the lofty, and Nairya-sangha, the stately; and may he draw near to us to aid us, he who smites with victory, Obedience the blessed!

4. We worship Sraosha, Obedience the blessed, and that lofty Lord who is Ahura Mazda Himself, Him who has attained the most to this our ritual, Him who has approached the nearest to us in our celebrations. And we worship all the words of Zarathustra, and all the deeds well done (for him), both those that have been done (in times gone by),

p. 299

and those which are yet to be done (for him in times to come).

II.

5. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, him who smites with the blow of victory, who prospers the settlements, the holy ritual lord, (6) who first spread forth the Baresman, and the three bundles, and the five bundles, and the seven bundles, and the nine, till it was heaped for us knee-high, and to the middle of the thighs ¹, for the Bountiful Immortals, for their worship, and their homage, and their propitiation, and their praise.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might, and the blow which smites with victory, I will worship him with the Yasna of the Yazads, with a Yasna loud intoned, him Obedience the blessed, with the consecrated waters.

III.

7. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, the stately, who smites with the blow of victory, who furthers the settlements, the holy ritual chief.

8. Who first chanted the Gâthas, the five ² Gâthas of Zarathustra, the Spitâma, the holy (with the fashion) of their metres ³, and after the well-constructed order of their words, together with the Zand which they contain, and the questions ⁴ which they

p. 300

utter, and the answers which they give, for the Bountiful Immortals, for their sacrifice and homage, their propitiation, and their praise.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

IV.

9. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, who smites with the blow of victory, and who furthers the settlements, the holy ritual chief, (10) who for the poor among (our) men and women built a mighty house ¹, who after sunset, and with his levelled battle-axe, smites Aêshema bloody wounds, and having struck the head, casts him lightly (?) ² (to the earth), as the stronger (smites) the weaker.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

V.

11. We worship Sraosha, Obedience the blessed and the stately, him who smites with the blow of victory, who furthers the settlements, the holy ritual chief, as the energetic, and the swift, the strong, the daring (and redoubted) hero, (12) who comes back from all his battles (and comes from them) a conqueror, who amid the Bountiful Immortals sits as companion at their meeting ³.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

p. 301

VI.

13. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, who is the strongest and most persistent of the youths, the most energetic, and the swiftest, who of all the youths strikes most with terror ¹ from afar (?). [Be ye desirous, O ye Mazdayasnians! of the Yasna of Obedience the blessed ².]

14. Far from this house, this village, and this tribe, and from this country, the evil and destructive terrors (shall) depart. In the dwelling of that man in whose abode Obedience the blessed, who smites victoriously, is satisfied and welcomed, there is that holy man who thus contents him (most) forward in the thinking better thoughts, in the speaking truthful (ritual) words, and in the doing holy deeds ³.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

VII.

15. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, who is the conqueror of the Kayadha, and the Kâidhya, who was the smiter of the Lie-demon of the Daêvas, the one veritably powerful, the destroyer of the world, who is the guardian and watchman over all the migrations (?) of the tribes.

16. Who sleeplessly and vigilant guards the creatures of Ahura, who sleeplessly and with vigilance

p. 302

saves them, who with halberd raised on high guards all the corporeal world after setting of the sun, (17) who has never slept in quiet since the two Spirits made the worlds, [the bounteous and the evil one ¹], who guards the homes of Asha, who battles all (?) the days long and the nights with all the Daêvas [(Pâzand) the Mâzanian], (18) nor terror-stricken does he turn in affright before (their power); but before him all the Daêvas turn in affright against their will, and rush to darkness is their fear.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

VIII.

19. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, whom Haoma worshipped on the highest height of high Haraiti, he Haoma, the reviver ², and the healer, the beautiful, the kingly ³, of the golden eye, (20) of the gracious words ⁴, of the warning and the guarding words, who intones our hymns on every side ⁵, who possesses understanding and of every brilliant form, which abounds in many an explanation ⁶ and revelation of the word, who has the first place in the Mãthra.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

IX.

21. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed,

p. 303

whose house stands with its thousand pillars, as victorious, on the highest height of high Haraiti, self-lighted from within, star-studded from without, (22) to whom the Ahuna-vairya has come, the axe of victory ¹, and the Haptanghâiti, and the Fshûshômãthra which smites with victory, and all the Yasna sections.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

X.

23. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, by whose might and victorious power, and wise conduct, and (full) knowledge, the Bountiful Immortals ² descend upon this earth of seven quarters.

24. Who as teacher of the law will stride forth upon this earth with its dwellers in the body, and ruling as he will.

And in this Religion, Ahura Mazda has been confessed ³ with faith, and the Good Mind likewise with Him, and Righteousness the Best, and Khshathra-vairya, and Piety the Bounteous, and the Universal Weal and Immortality; and the question to the Lord is asked, and Mazda's lore (is written).

25. O Sraosha (Obedience), thou blessed one, and stately! protect us for the lives; yea, for both, (for that) of this world which is corporeal, and for the world of mind, against unhappy ⁴ death, and the remorseless Wrath of rapine, against the hosts with ill-intent, who lift their bloody spears ⁵ against us;

p. 304

yea, against their assaults whom ¹ the Wrath-demon will set on, and Vîdhâtu, demon-made. 26. Therefore may’st thou, O Sraosha, the blessed and the stately! grant swiftness to our teams, soundness to our bodies, and abundant observation ² of our foes, and their smiting (as we mark them), and their sudden death.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

XI.

27. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, whom four racers draw in harness, white and shining, beautiful, and powerful ³, quick to learn, and fleet ⁴, obeying before speech, heeding orders from the mind, with their hoofs of horn gold-covered, (28) fleeter than (our) horses, swifter than the winds, more rapid than the rain(-drops as they fall); yea, fleeter than the clouds, or well-winged birds, or the well-shot arrow as it flies ⁵, (29) which overtake these swift ones all, as they fly after ⁶ them pursuing, but which are never overtaken when they flee, which plunge away from both the weapons (hurled on this side and on that) and draw Sraosha with them, the good Sraosha and the blessed; which from both the weapons (those on this side and on that) bear the good Obedience the blessed, plunging forward in their zeal, when he takes his course from India on the East, and when he lights down in the West.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

p. 305

XII.

30. We worship Obedience the blessed and the stately, who though lofty and so high, yea, even to the girdle, yet stoops to Mazda's creatures, (31) who thrice within the day, and three times of a night, will drive on to that Karshvar Hvaniratha, called the luminous, as he holds in both the hands ¹ and poizes his knife-like battle-axe, which flies as of itself, and to cleave the Daêvas’ skulls, (32) to hew down Angra Mainyu, the wicked, and to hew down Rapine of the bloody spear, to hew down the Daêvas of Mazendran ², and every Demon-god.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might . . . .

XIII.

33. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed and the stately, him who smites with victory, both here and not here, and on this entire earth. And we worship all the (gifts) of Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, the mighty, and the strong, whose body is the Mãthra.

Yea, we worship (all the martial gifts) of Sraosha (Obedience) the mighty, both armed with shielding armour, and a warrior strong of hand, skull-cleaver of the Daêvas, conquering the endowments ³ of the conqueror, the holy conqueror of the conqueror, and (his) victorious powers, and the Ascendency which it bestows, and we worship

p. 306

this Ascendency of Sraosha's (the same which conquers theirs); and that of Arsti do we praise as well. 34. And every house by Sraosha guarded do we worship, wherein the blessed friendly Sraosha is befriended and made welcome, where, the holy man is far advanced (?) in holy thoughts, and righteous words and deeds.

For his splendour and his glory, for his might, which smites with victory, I will worship him with the Yasna of the Yazads, with a Yasna loud-intoned, him Obedience the blessed, with the consecrated waters, and the good Blessedness, the lofty, and Nairya-sangha, the stately, and may he come to us to aid us, he who smites with victory, Obedience the blessed!

Footnotes

297:4 As Sraosha is the only divinity of the later groups mentioned in the first four Gâthas, this Yast would seem to have claims to antiquity next after the pieces in the Gâthic dialect. The name Sraosha does not appear to have lost its meaning as an abstract quality, notwithstanding the materialistic imagery. With Y. XXVIII, 6 in view, where Sraosha 'finds the way' to Ahura, or 'finds His throne,' we may understand that the worshippers, who first heard this Yast, praised listening obedience, or repentance, as they did nearly all the remaining abstract qualities, together with their principal prayers, and hymns themselves. The rhythm of the original has been somewhat imitated in the rendering given, as it is difficult to avoid doing so, and to avoid other objectionable features at the same time.

298:1 So 'tradition.'

298:2 Sraosha was not reckoned as one of the Ameshôspends at the time of the composition of this verse.

298:3 Comp. Y. XXX, 4; but Ahura and some one of the Immortals, or possibly Zarathustra (see Y. XLII, 2), must be meant here. Angra Mainyu could not have been worshipped as either protector or creator. Observe the present tense.

299:1 Le Barsom est de cinq branches dans les Darouns ordinaires. Il est de sept branches pour le Daroun No naber, pour le Freoueschi, et pour le Gâhânbâr. Il est de neuf branches pour le Daroun des Rois, et pour celui du Mobed des Mobeds (Anquetil).

299:2 This proves that the Gâthas were greatly older than this Yast. That the Gâthas were originally five seems improbable; yet they had become reduced to that number at this time.

299:3 Nom. sing.?

299:4 Comp. tat thwâ peresâ, &c.; 'questions back and forth.'

300:1 One of the earliest notices of the kind.

300:2 Hu + angh, or can sas = to be inactive, indicate a change?

300:3 This is possibly the origin of a later view which established Sraosha as one of the Immortals, to fill up the number seven without including Ahura. The original 'seven spirits' included Ahura.

301:1 = kat-tarestemem, comp. for form katpayâ´m.

301:2 Possibly an ancient interpolation. Repetitions are curtailed.

301:3 This verse 14 may be an ancient extension of the Yast; it may of course be taken for granted that within a certain period at a very remote time, the Yast was altered and improved.

Verse 16 may have originally formed two sections; the formula 'we worship,' &c. having been omitted.

302:1 This seems a gloss; its import is correct.

302:2 The renovator, as completing the progress which makes things fresh, frashôkereti.

302:3 Possibly compare soma râ´gan; but see the following adjective, and read as alternative 'brilliant.'

302:4 Possibly 'who excites to much speech.'

302:5 Comp. pair gaêthê, Y. XXXIV, 2.

302:6 Having much Zand.

303:1 Comp. Vend. XIX, 10.

303:2 They listen to Obedience, and so descend.

303:3 The meaning 'doth confess,' if correct, would show a very great degeneration from the lore of the Gâthic period.

303:4 Lit. 'evil.'

303:5 Bannered spears; spears with streamers.

304:1 The hosts.

304:2 So the Pahlavi and Ner. See also Y. IX, 21.

304:3 Spenta can hardly mean 'holy' here.

304:4 Âsava for asaya(?); 'y' miswritten for 'v.' Comp. gâtava (form).

304:5 Reading anghamanayau for aNhê manayau; otherwise, 'swifter than one's thought' (?).

304:6 Lit. 'not those after overtake.' Possibly 'these who all overtake those who fly with turned backs, who are not overtaken from behind.'

305:1 Snaithis must designate a two-handed weapon.

305:2 Observe how far West the word Daêva is applied; also, if Hindvô is not in a gloss in verse 29, the fact proves that a vast geographical extent was familiar to the writers of the Avesta.

305:3 Vanaitîs, fem. as vîspau refers to attributes celebrated in the Yast.