Visparad XII

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

VISPARAD XII (SP. XIV) ³.

1. For the offered Haomas which have been offered in libation to that lofty Lord Ahura Mazda and to the holy Zarathustra Spitama (produce) abundance in cattle and in men; and this ⁴ abundance is (as) the good Sraosha, who accompanies (us) with the great

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splendour of sanctity, and may he ¹ be here with energetic effort (to aid us in our worship).

2. We offer the wise offerings of the Ahuna-vairya intoned with sanctity and yet to be intoned, possessing their many teachings of religious wisdom (as they do), and those of the two mortars which pour the Haomas out, and which are pushed forward with precision ², and are now in the course of being thus advanced once more ³. 3. (And so we teach as well the many teachings of the religious wisdom) contained in the words correctly spoken, in the Zarathustrian utterances ⁴, and in the ceremonies correctly practised, and the Baresmans spread exactly, and the Haomas pressed correctly, and the praise, Yasnas, and the doctrines of the Mazdayasnian Religion with their recitations, and their movements. 4. For thus they may become to us more full of devices and of wisdom, and so we offer these wise ritual deeds in the creation, so we impart them with their many points of meaning while we (ourselves) still ponder them as those which Ahura Mazda, the holy One, delivered, which have (as if) their nourishment from Vohu Manah ⁵ and their growth from the Righteous Order, which are the greatest of all beings, the best, and the most beautiful for thus shall these be to us the more full of wisest meaning, and more full of incitation ⁶, and may we be among those (who are) of Spenta Mainyu's world in that we are imparting (to the chosen) these

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precepts of the wisest meaning and these incitations which are contained therein. 5. And full of wisest meaning be ye two to us, O (thou) stone mortar, and (thou) the iron one, as ye are now turned, and as ye are now being advanced ¹, ye two mortars of the house, [and of the village, of the tribe, and of the province, and ye who are in this house (itself), this village, tribe, and province]; yea, in those which are ours, Mazdayasnians, who are steadfast in our worship, who appear with our wood-billets and our perfumes, and with our supplicated blessings [(Pâzand) for so may they be to us, the more full of wisest teaching].

Footnotes

353:3 Follows Y. XXVII.

353:4 Hâ seems to have a certain conjunctive force like sa in composition, 'And thereto the good Sraosha;' or is it an interjection?

354:1 Recall hekâ of Y. XLVI, I.

354:2 With punctilious sanctity.

354:3 The Parsi priests at present make appropriate manipulations here.

354:4 In the now ancient Gâthas, &c.

354:5 Compare gaêthau vîspau yau vohû thraostâ mananghâ.

354:6 Or, 'may we be more zealous than any who are in the creation of the bounteous spirit.'

355:1 Referring to manipulations.