Topic: From the Avesta

[Yeshu]

Chapter 9.  THE HOM YASHT

1. At the hour of Havani, Haoma came to Zarathushtra, as he served the (sacred) Fire, and sanctified (its flame), while he sang aloud the Gathas. And Zarathushtra asked him: Who art thou, O honorable one! who art of all the incarnate world the most beautiful in Thine own body of those whom I have, seen, (thou) glorious [immortal]?

2. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, the holy one who driveth death afar: I am, O Zarathushtra Haoma, the holy and driving death afar; pray to me, O Spitama, prepare me for the taste. Praise me so that also the other Saoshyants may praise me

3. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Unto Haoma be the praise. What man, O Haoma! first prepared thee for the corporeal world? What blessing was offered him? what gain did he acquire?

4. Thereupon did Haoma answer me, he the holy one, and driving death afar: Vivanghvant was the first of men who prepared me for the incarnate world. This blessing was offered him; this gain did he acquire, that to him was born a son who was Yima, called the brilliant, (he of the many flocks, the most glorious of those yet born, the sunlike-one of men), that he made from his authority both herds and people free from dying, both plants and waters free from drought, and men could eat unending food.

5. In the reign of brave Yima was there neither cold nor heat, there was neither age nor death, nor envy demon-made. Like teenagers walked the two forth, son and father, in their stature and their form, so long as Yima, son of Vivanghvant ruled, he of the many herds!

6. Who was the second man, O Haoma! who prepared thee for the corporeal world? What blessing was offered him? what gain did he acquire?

7. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, he the holy one, and driving death afar: Athwya was the second who prepared-me for the corporeal world. This blessing was given him, this gain did he acquire, that to him a son was born, Thraetaona of the mighty clan,

8. Who smote the Azhi Dragon Dahaka, three-jawed and triple-headed, six-eyed, with thousand powers, and of mighty strength, a lie-demon [druj] of the Daevas, evil for our settlements, and wicked, whom the evil spirit Angra Mainyu made as the most mighty Druj, and for the murder of (our) settlements, and to slay the (homes) of Asha!

9. Who was the third man, O Haoma! who prepared thee for the corporeal world? What blessing was given him? what gain did he acquire?

10. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, the holy one, and driving death afar: Thrita, [the most helpful of the Samids], was the third man who prepared me for the corporeal world. This award was given him, this gain did he acquire, that to him two son were born, Urvakhshaya and Keresaspa, the one a judge confirming order, the other a youth of great ascendant, curly-haired, bludgeon-bearing.

11. He who smote the horny dragon swallowing men, and swallowing horses, poisonous, and green of color over which, as thick as thumbs are, greenish poison flowed aside, on whose back once Keresaspa cooked his meat in iron caldron at the noonday meal; and the deadly, scorched, upstarted, and springing off, dashed out the water as it boiled. Headlong fled affrighted manly-minded Keresaspa.

12. Who was the fourth man who prepared thee, O Haoma! for the corporeal world? What blessedness was given him? what gain did he acquire?

13. Thereupon gave Haoma answer, he the holy, and driving death afar: Pourushaspa was the fourth man who prepared me for the corporeal world. This blessedness was given him, this gain did he acquire, that thou, O Zarathushtra! wast born to him, the just, in Pourushaspa's house, the Daeva's foe, the friend of Mazda's lore,

14. famed in Airyana Vaejah; and thou, O Zarathushtra! didst recite the first the Ahuna-vairya, four times intoning it, and with verses kept apart [each time with louder and still louder voice].

15. And thou didst cause, O Zarathushtra! all the demon-gods to vanish in the ground who aforetime flew about this earth in human shape (and power. This hast thou done), thou who hast been the strongest, and the staunchest, the most active, and the swiftest, and (in every deed) the most victorious in the two spirits' world.

16. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Praise to Haoma. Good is Haoma, and the well-endowed, exact and righteous in its nature, and good inherently, and healing, beautiful of form, and good in deed, and most successful in its working, golden-hued, with bending sprouts. As it is the best for drinking, so (through its sacred stimulus) is it the most nutritious for the soul.

17. I make my claim on thee, O yellow one! for inspiration. I make my claim on thee for strength; I make my claim on thee for victory; I make my claim on thee for health and healing (when healing is my need); I make my claim on thee for progress and increased prosperity, and vigor of the entire frame, and for understanding, of each adorning kind, and for this, that I may have free course among our settlements, having power where I will, overwhelming angry malice, and a conqueror of lies.

18. Yea, I make my claim on thee that I may overwhelm the angry hate of haters, of the Daevas and of mortals, of the sorcerers and sirens, of the tyrants, and the Kavis, of the Karpans, murderous bipeds, of the sanctity-destroyers, the profane apostate bipeds, of the wolves four-footed monsters, of the invading host, wide-fronted, which with stratagems advance.

19. This first blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! I beseech of thee for (heaven), the best life of the saints, the radiant, all-glorious.
This second blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! this body's health (before that blest life is attained).
This third blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! the long vitality of life.

20. This fourth blessing I beseech of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! that I may stand forth on this earth with desires gained, and powerful, receiving satisfaction, overwhelming the assaults of hate, and conquering the lie.
This fifth blessing, O Haoma, I beseech of thee, thou that drivest death afar! that I may stand victorious on earth, conquering in battles, overwhelming the assaults of hate, and conquering the lie.

21. This sixth blessing I ask of thee, O Haoma, thou that drivest death afar! that we may get good warning of the thief, good warning of the murderer, see first the bludgeon-bearer, get first sight of the wolf. May no one whichsoever get first the sight of us. In the strife with each may we be they who get the first alarm!

22. Haoma grants to racers who would run a course with span both speed and bottom (in their horses). Haoma grants to women come to bed with child a brilliant offspring and a righteous line.
Haoma grants to those (how many!) who have long sat searching books, more knowledge and more wisdom.

23. Haoma grants to those long maidens, who sit at home unwed, good husbands, and that as soon as asked, he Haoma, the well-minded.

24. Haoma lowered Keresani, dethroned him from his throne, for he grew so fond of power, that he treacherously said: No priest behind (and watching) shall walk the lands for me, as a counselor to prosper them, he would rob everything of progress, he would crush the growth of all!

25. Hail to thee, O Haoma, who hast power as thou wilt, and by thine inborn strength! Hail to thee, thou art well-versed in many sayings, and true and holy words. Hail to thee for thou dost ask no wily questions, but questionest direct.

26. Forth hath Mazda borne to thee, the star-bespangled girdle, the spirit-made, the ancient one, the Mazdayasnian Faith.
So with this thou art begirt on the summits of the mountains, for the spreading of the precepts, and the headings of the Mathra, (and to help the Mathra's teacher),

27. O Haoma, thou house-lord, and thou clan-lord, thou tribe-lord, and chieftain of the land, and thou successful learned teacher, for aggressive strength I speak to thee, for that which smites with victory, and for my body's saving, and for manifold delight!

28. Bear off from us the torment and the malice of the hateful. Divert the angry foe's intent!
What man soever in this house is violent and wicked, what man soever in this village, or this tribe, or province, seize thou away the fleetness from his feet; throw thou a veil of darkness o'er his mind; make thou his intellect (at once) a wreck!

29. Let not the man who harms us, mind or body, have power to go forth on both his legs, or hold with both his hands, or see with both his eyes, not the land (beneath his feet), or the herd before his face.

30. At the aroused and fearful Dragon, green, and belching forth his poison, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace!
At the (murderous) bludgeon-bearer, committing deeds unheard of, blood-thirsty, (drunk) with fury, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace!

31. Against the wicked human tyrant, hurling weapons at the head, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace!
Against the righteousness-disturber, the unholy life-destroyer, thoughts and words of our religion well-delivering, yet in actions never reaching, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace!

32. Against the body of the harlot, with her magic minds o'erthrowing with (intoxicating) pleasures, to the lusts her person offering, whose mind as vapor wavers as it flies before the wind, for the righteous saint that perishes, yellow Haoma, hurl thy mace!

[Yeshu]

Chapter 11. PRELUDE TO THE HAOMA-OFFERING.

1. Three clean creatures (full of blessings) curse betimes while yet invoking, the cow, the horse, and then Haoma. The cow cries to her driver thus: Childless be thou, shorn of offspring evil-famed, and slander-followed, who foddered fairly dost not use me, but fattenest me for wife or children, and for thy niggard selfish meal.

2. The horse cries to his rider thus: Be not spanner of the racers; stretch no coursers to full-speed; do not stride across the fleetest, thou, who dost not pray me swiftness in the meeting thick with numbers, in the circuit thronged with men.

3. Haoma speaks his drinker thus: Childless be thou, shorn of offspring, evil-famed, and slander-followed, who holdest me from full outpouring, as a robber, skulls in-crushing. No head-smiter am I ever, holy Haoma, far from death.

4. Forth my father gave an offering, tongue and left eye chose Ahura, set apart for Haoma's meal.

5. Who this offering would deny me, eats himself, or prays it from me, this which Mazda gave to bless me, tongue with left eye (as my portion).

6. In his house is born no fire-priest, warrior never in chariot standing, never more the thrifty tiller. In his home be born Dahakas, Murakas of evil practice, doing deeds of double nature.

7. Quick, cut off then Haoma's portion, gift of flesh for doughty Haoma! Heed lest Haoma bind thee fettered, as he bound the fell Turanian Frangrasyan (the murderous robber) fast in iron close-surrounded in the mid-third of this earth!

8. Thereupon spake Zarathushtra: Praise to Haoma made by Mazda, good is Haoma Mazda-made.

9. Who to us is one hereupon to thee (becomes) two, to be made to three, for the five-making of the four, for the seven-making of the sixth, who are your nine in the decade, who serve you and with zeal.

10. To thee, O holy Haoma! bearer of the ritual sanctity, I offer this my person which is seen (by all to be) mature, (and fit for gift); to Haoma the effective do I offer it, and to the sacred exhilaration which he bestows; and do thou grant to me (for this), O holy Haoma! thou that drivest death afar, (Heaven) the best world of the saints, shining, all brilliant.

11. (The Ashem Vohu,)

12-15. May'st Thou rule at Thy will, O Lord...

16. I confess myself a Mazdayasnian of Zarathushtra's order.

17. I celebrate my praises for good thoughts, good words, and good deeds for my thoughts, my speeches, and (my) actions. With chanting praises I present all good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, and with rejection I repudiate all evil thoughts, and words, and deeds.

18. Here I give to you, O ye Bountiful Immortals! sacrifice and homage with the mind, with words, deeds, and my entire person; yea, (I offer) to you the flesh of my very body (as your own). And I praise Righteousness. A blessing is Righteousness (called) the Best.

[Yeshu]

Chapter 57. THE SROSH YASHT.

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

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 the creation of Mazda the first adored Ahura, with the Baresman spread, who worshipped the Bountiful Immortals (first), who worshipped both the protector and the Creator, who are (both) creating all things in the creation.

3. For his splendor 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 Zarathushtra, and all the deeds well done (for him), both those that have been done (in times gone by), 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, for the Bountiful Immortals, for their worship, and their homage, and their propitiation, and their praise.
For his splendor 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 Gathas, the five Gathas of Zarathushtra, the Spitama, the holy (with the fashion) of their metres, and after the well-constructed order of their words, together with the Zand which they contain, and the questions which they utter, and the answers which they give, for the Bountiful Immortals, for their sacrifice and homage, their propitiation, and their praise.
For his splendor 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, who after sunset, and with his leveled battle-ax, smites Aeshema bloody wounds, and having struck the head, casts him lightly (?) (to the earth), as the stronger (smites) the weaker.
For his splendor 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 ImmortaIs sits as companion at their meeting.
For his splendor and his glory, for his might....

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 I from afar (?). [Be ye desirous, O ye Mazdayasnians! of the Yasna of Obedience the blessed.]

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.
For his splendor 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 Kaidhya, who was the smiter of the Lie-demon of the Daevas, 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 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] who guards the homes of Asha, who battles all (?) the days long and the nights with all the Daevas [(Pazand) the Mazanian], (18) nor terror-stricken does he turn in affright before (their power); but before him all the Daevas turn in affright against their will, and rush to darkness in their fear.
For his splendor 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, and the healer, the beautiful, the kingly, of the golden eye, (20) of the gracious words, of the warning and the guarding words, who intones our hymns on every side, who possesses understanding and of every brilliant form, which abounds in many an explanation and revelation of the word, who has the first place in the Mathra.
For his splendor and his glory, for his might....

IX.

21. We worship Sraosha (Obedience) the blessed, 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 ax of victory, and the Haptanghaiti, and the Fshusho-mathra which smites with victory, and all the Yasna sections.
For his splendor 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 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 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 death, and the remorseless Wrath of rapine, against the hosts with ill-intent, who lift their bloody spears against us; yea, against their assaults whom the Wrath-demon will set on, and Vidhatu, 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 of our foes, and their smiting (as we mark them), and their sudden death.
For his splendor 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, quick to learn, and fleet, 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 we shot arrow as it flies, (29) which overtake these swift ones all, as they fly after 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 splendor and his glory, for his might....

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 and poizes his knife-like battle-ax, which flies as of itself, and to cleave the Daevas' skulls, (32) to hew down Angra Mainyu, the wicked, and to hew down Rapine of the bloody spear, to hew down the Daevas of Mazendran, and every Demon-god.
For his splendor 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 Mathra.
Yea, we worship (all the martial gifts) of Sraosha (Obedience) the mighty, both armed with shielding armor, and a warrior strong of hand, skull-cleaver of the Daevas, conquering the endowments of the conqueror, the holy conqueror of the conqueror, and (his) victorious powers, and he Ascendancy which it bestows, and we worship this Ascendancy of Sraosha's (the same which conquers theirs); and that of Arshti 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 splendor 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!