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The Zend Avesta, Part III (SBE31), L.H. Mills, tr. [1886], at sacred-texts.com
This Gâtha, consisting of Yasna XLIII-XLVI, is named from the word which begins it, like the three last collections. The fact that the word ustâ possesses special significance may have influenced the minds of the Parsis of a later age, inducing them to associate this first chapter with happy anticipations, but it was of course not owing to any such circumstance that the name was given to the Gâtha. The Gâtha, like its fellows, has its existence as a unit from the nature of its metre.
It has lines generally of eleven syllables, arranged in stanzas of five. It seemed convenient to chant all the hymns of one particular metre together. This hymn, from some unknown reason, or from pure accident, having stood first in the collection in this metre, the Gâtha was named from its first word.
The question naturally arises at this place whether this Gâtha, in its parts or as a whole, is older than the Ahunavaiti and the others. For supplementary statements on this subject, see the Introduction, page xxvii, also elsewhere. It is sufficient to recall here that the procedure of the Ahunavaiti, and the sequence of the other Gâthas in the MSS. of the Yasna, have little importance in determining the question of relative age. If originally grouped in the order of their age, they might easily become transposed for the purpose of liturgical recitation. (See the inserted Haptanghâiti, and Y. LII.) As to the metres present, they afford no indications as to relative age. The metre of the Ustavaiti, approaching as it does the Trishtup, may be as old as, or older than, that of the Ahunavaiti. The oldest Rishis sang in Trishtup. The sole remaining test of the relative age of pieces, is their contents. Do those of the Ahunavaiti show a priority to those in the Ustavaiti as regards the particular circumstances of which they treat? So far as I am able to
judge, no part of the Ahunavaiti is older than Y. XLVI. There we have the man before us at a period in his life before he had attained to his supreme position. He not only laments the unfavourable prospects of his cause, but he is full of vehement animosity, urging on his adherents to the overthrow of some powerful opposing leader, and anticipating an armed struggle so formidable that its partisans are elsewhere alluded to (in Y. XLIV) as 'hosts.' We see him also exhorting the various chiefs of his party as they are evidently standing before him in some large assembly, possibly as the army on the eve of an important encounter.
He refers intimately to the monarch, to his own family, the Spitâmas, and to the Hvôgvas, as represented by Frashaostra. He offers the rewards of Ahura, as he pronounces His threats and condemnations. Every feature bears the strongest evidence of originality. But have we not the same in the Gâthas Ahunavaiti, Spentâ-mainyu, and the others? Beyond a question. Those passages which express grief, fear, and passionate resentment, we should naturally refer to Zarathustra personally, and to the earlier portion of his career; and we can make no distinction between such passages when they occur in the Ahunavaiti, Ustavaiti, or elsewhere. As to chapter XXIX with its logical commencement, as expressing the sufferings to be remedied in the entire effort, together with the call of Zarathustra in immediate connection, and chapter XXX with its theosophical statements, we should say that they were composed later, during a period of success and reflection. But this would be a mere surmise. The time of the sage need not necessarily have been consumed in struggles even during the early years of his career.
Chapter LIII seems to belong to a period of mature age, but not necessarily to a period of advanced age. It celebrates the marriage of Zarathustra's daughter, but maidens were married early. With the exception of Y. LIII, I would say that the occurrence of a piece in this or that Gâtha has little, if anything, to do with determining the question of its relative age.
As, in every instance, it is probable that verses have fallen out here and there in this important piece, and some may have been inserted, not necessarily from another composer, but from other compositions. After certain limits, however, marked signs of at least external connection are present. After the first three verses, which are quite apart, then from the fourth and fifth on, every alternate verse has the formula Spentem at thwâ Mazdâ meNhî Ahurâ. It would indeed present no difficulty for a successor to add these words to stanzas otherwise also imitated, but whether from the leading sage or not, whether from him in one strain, or from him as collected from different fragments, the course of thought does not so fail in logical sequence as that it is either impossible, or displeasing, as a whole in a poetical composition.
Verses 1-3 are admirable as preliminary. Verses 4-6, with their lofty descriptions of power and benevolence in the Deity, prepare the way well, with their allusions to the final judgment, for the closer reflections in verses 7-15 upon the prophet's call, uttered at the instigation of Sraosha (his obedient will). Verse 16 is a closing strophe looking much like an addition from another hand, not at all because Zarathustra is mentioned in the third person, but from its general cast. It possesses, however, very great interest from these circumstances. If a later addition, it enables us to see how the principal features of the system were viewed at a period not identical with the earliest, but closely following it.
1. If we can accept the deeply interesting suggestion of the Pahlavi translator, which is, 'Salvation to him to whom there is salvation for every man,' we need then suppose no necessary loss of verses. Otherwise we are obliged to consider the loss of some laudatory verse, or verses, containing such matter as perhaps Y. XXXIV, 14, 'This princely priest has devoted all to Thee, therefore, salvation to him, whosoever he may be.' Whatever may be the actual truth, the main stress of the thoughts is clear and appropriate. Using the word vase-khshayãs in a good sense,
the composer beseeches Ahura to grant those two 'mighty and eternal ones,' which logically form the complement to each other, universal wholeness, welfare of soul and body, without which beatitude was inconceivable, and then the unlimited duration of that condition; for it is quite impossible that 'long life' alone was here meant by a term, the equivalent of which soon after designated the Bountiful Immortals. We have here again ample data for affirming the richness and depth of the religious conceptions.
The 'powerful and continuous two' are sought together with splendour as rewards, not for the gratification of any selfish sentiment, but in order to maintain Asha, the religious Order, on which the sacred polity, and the tribal, as well as the national wealth depended, but more than any general blessings, the individual sanctity of life. 2. And this is signalised as the highest good; and to this a prayer is added for the 'mâya,' which recalls the supernatural wisdom of the Indian Hercules, about which much phantastic and highly coloured myth is grouped; but here, with the ever-recurring contrast, the mâya is the mysterious wisdom of the Divine Benevolence, colourless and abstract indeed, but yet possessing how great religious depth!
3. The highest blessing, in another and more than once repeated phrase, is again besought, as 'the better than the good,' even the attainment of the one who guides to the 'straight paths,' which are the 'way, even the conceptions and revelations of the Saviours' (Y. XXXIV, 13; LIII, 2), in which the believer prospers, and Ahura dwells, as he dwells in his kingdom, and his 'chosen home' itself (Y. XLVI, 16). Whether 'this man who shows the paths' of 'the bodily and mental world' is the same as he who prays for the âyaptâ ahvau astvataskâ hyatkâ mananghô (the boons of the two worlds) in Y. XXVIII, 3, here referred to in the third person, there speaking in the first, and whether he is Zarathustra himself; are questions. It is only necessary to say that, if any relief is gained by the supposition, then beyond a doubt Zarathustra may have been the composer of both pieces or fragments, here, as in Y. XXVIII, 7, referring to himself as in the third person, there, in Y. XXVIII, also further representing another who prays, referring by name to him as in the third.
But was Zarathustra the only sacred singer, or was he the centre of a group only, of which he was the life? (Compare Yathrâ ve afsmâinî (?) senghânî—Gâmâspâ Hvôgvâ; Y. XLVI, 17; see also the Introduction.)
4. Proceeding as if the first three verses were absent from his
mind (as indeed they may have been only later brought together with what now follows), the composer begins his ascriptions of praise. He will regard Ahura as all-bountiful and mighty, since He has carefully nurtured, as with His very hand, the aids of grace which He will bestow, as gifts of forbearance on those now wicked, in the hope of penitence, and in the merciful threat of punishment, and to the devout disciple, whose piety is never ceremonial only. And these means of grace, although abounding in the inculcation of moral sanctity in thought, and word, and deed (see Vendîdâd VIII, 100 (Sp. 283) 1, where 'thought' clearly refers to intention in the strongest sense of the term), are yet profane, aside from the flame of that holy Fire which rallied the masses to a national worship, and which was strong for the holy order, as well as by means of it. For these reasons he adores their giver, but for still another. It was because the might of the Good Mind of Ahura approached him within them, and gave him strength for all that was before him. 5. Like the Semitic prophet, he poetically conceives himself as having beheld Ahura, as the chief of the two spirits, and as sovereign over all other powers when the world was born. And he regards Him as having also then established rewards and punishments by his holiness, so separate in its dualistic distinction from all complicity with evil either by infliction or permission. And these rewards and punishments were to have their issue not in time alone, but in 'the last turning of the creation' in its course.
6. And for Ahura's coming in this last changing he fervently beseeches, as well as for the appearance of the Sacred Kingdom, established aid guarded by the divine Benevolence. And this consummation, he implies, will take place when the settlements shall be furthered in the Righteous Order, and by means of it, the end of progress having been attained; for then the piety of men's souls will itself be their instructor, delivering the regulations which shall silence the controversy of the two sides (Y. XXXI, 3). And these regulations are as the wisdom of Ahura's understanding (Y. XXVIII, 2), so penetrating that all thoughts lie bare to it (Y. XXXI, 13).
7. He now declares the principles on which he accepted the divine call. Sraosha (verse 12), he says, drew near to question him. As he is called by Ahura, Obedience, the same who constitutes the way to Ahura (or finds His throne (Y. XXVIII, 6)), now draws near
him, (I say Sraosha (i.e. Obedience), for if he is not so described as drawing near in this verse, he assuredly is so described in a verse nearly following (the twelfth)). Beyond a question, the fine subjectivity here expressed was intended. As the seer cried: O Righteousness! when shall I see thee (in myself and within my people), so now he means that his obedient spirit listens to the call of God. 8. And as his personified conscience questions him as to his origin, and the principles on which he would proceed, it represents the obedient people, as well as the obedient sage (for the sense of Sraosha, while originally applied to the personal will, is not restricted to it). 'Loyalty' questions him, that 'loyalty' may report his answers. He therefore responds, speaking in his name as Zarathustra (or else one thoroughly in unison with him, here speaks in his name). And this is his statement as to the indications which shall determine his personality. His course will be without a compromise. The unbelieving opposers, as he declares, shall meet no favour at his hands, but detestation, while to the devout disciple he will be as powerful an aid. And this because his mind and thought are (as if blinded to the present) fixed upon the ideal Kingdom, while for the present he never ceases to toil on, making preparations for the Frashakard, and constructing hymn after hymn to set up the needed machinery of lore.
9. Again, his conscience and obedient will, as the angel of the Deity, questions him; and this time offers him that chief of wished for objects to him, religious knowledge. He mentions the holy Fire, with its proper offering, as the theme of his first inquiry.
10. And he beseeches Ahura to answer and to favour him, since he invokes such a complete endowment, going hand in hand with true Piety, and with no selfish interest in his prayer. He then, with a depth which I confess seems suspicious, asks of Mazda to put his petitions for him, recalling Y. XXVIII, 11, where he beseeches Ahura to fill up his desire with what not he, the speaker, but with what He, Ahura, knows to he the Good Mind's gifts. Or, with a conjectural improvement (?) of the text, he asks of Ahura to question him that he may be questioned indeed, saying as it were, 'search me, and know me.' But the other reading being retained as having superior point, and needing no conjectured text, we may see his further thought: 'Ask Thou our questions for us, and then we shall never fail; then we shall be no desireless (anaêsha) men, spurned by the wailing kine as flinching champions (Y. XXIX, 9), but we shall be indeed Thy rulers, "speaking our mighty wish."
[paragraph continues] Like the isha-khshathra, whom she sought (Y. XXIX, 9), our wish shall work our will; it will accord with the will of God.'
11. He is, however, not blind to all that lies before him in accepting this call. He worships the bounty and majesty of Ahura while he is impressing his soul with the import of this conference, and that notwithstanding, and none the less, because His will, when obeyed in actions, will bring on earthly sufferings.
12. But notwithstanding all that may be in store for him, he hopes to make those doctrines treasures (Y. XXXIV, 7), that is, a spiritual wealth (compare also Ahura's îsti). One only qualification would he add: 'Wait only before Thou givest the word that I should go forth with Thy new truths (which bring such suffering to him who first pronounces them), wait till my obedient will, listening fully to all which Thou shalt say, shall come to me, and then shall that obedient reverence in me and my beloved, help on our effort, that we may spread abroad the tidings of Thy promised recompense to win the living to Thee (Y. XXXI, 3).' 13. 'And that I may know and make known (so he continues) the true aims and objects of desire to those to whom I am at Thy word to go, grant me for this long life within Thy Realm, although that life be full of bitterness (verse 11; and Y. XXXII, 10, 11; XLVI, 1), for those who propagate Thy cause.' 14. 'Yea, as a friend, both wise and powerful, gives to a friend, send to me not only Sraosha, an obedient listening will, but raf(e)nô frâkhshnenem, abundant grace. Then, and then only, shall I be flanked with a proper ally. Then with Thy Sovereign Power, like my Obedient will, as an angel sent forth from Thee, and inspired by Thy righteous Order in law and ritual in thought, and word, and deed, then I will go out to arouse and head the chiefs, gathering into spiritual hosts the many believing priests who even now would bear in mind and celebrate Thy mysteries.'
15. And as he began with fearless severity, so he would end without a compromise. 'My patient suffering (so he implies as he proceeds (Y. XLVI, 1)) reveals its lesson to me. My mind is long-enduring, but that patience, although it may seem to some the cowardice of a pusillanimous protector (Y. XXIX, 9), yet it is not such in truth, for it declares within me, and forces me to say: Let no man please the wicked; this is our only prospect of success.'
16. And casting back his thoughts he (or another in his name) sums all up well: 'Thus doth Zarathustra choose the spirit, that spirit which animates the faithful in their chiefs (Y. XXXIII, 9),
and by his side every true believer utters his sympathising prayer: Let the Order of life and of the ritual become incarnate in our tribes, and strong because it has the valiant power of faithful men to obey and to defend it. And let Piety prevail till it covers our land blest with the favours of the sacred sun, and as she lives in the lives of true adherents, may she in sympathy with the Good Mind, thus grant rewards for all our deeds!'
Translation.
1. Salvation to this man 1, salvation to him whosoever (he may be 2)! Let the absolutely ruling Great Creator grant (us, He) the living Lord, the two eternal powers. Yea, verily 3, I ask it of Thee (O Ahura) for the maintaining 4 Righteousness. And may’st Thou also give it to me, (O inspiring) Piety! splendour 5 (as it is), holy blessings, the Good Mind's life 6.
2. Yea, to this one 7 may the man endowed with
glory 1 give that best of all things, the (spiritual) glory. And do Thou likewise (Thyself) reveal 2 Thine own 3 (gifts) through Thy most bountiful spirit, O Mazda! (And do Thou teach us) Thy wonderful thoughts of wisdom 4, those of Thy Good Mind, which Thou hast revealed (to us) by Thy Righteousness (within us) with the happy increase of (our joy 5), and on a long life's every day 6.
3. And may that (holy man) approach toward that which is the better than the good 7, he who will show to us the straight paths of (spiritual) profit, (the blessings) of this corporeal life, and of that the mental 8, in those veritably real (eternal 9) worlds, where dwells Ahura; (that holy man) an offerer of Thine 10, O Mazda! a faithful citizen 11, and bountiful of (mind).
4. Yea, I will 1 regard Thee as mighty and likewise bountiful, O Ahura Mazda! when (I behold) those aids of grace (approach me), aids which Thou dost guard and nurture 2 as (Thy) just awards to the wicked (to hold him far from us), as well as to the righteous (for our help), Thy Fire's flame therewith so strong through the Holy Order 3, and when to me the Good Mind's power comes 4+ 5
5. (For) so I conceived of Thee as bountiful, O Great Giver, Mazda! when I beheld Thee as supreme 6 in the generation of life, when, as rewarding 7 deeds and words, Thou didst establish evil for the evil, and happy blessings for the good, by Thy (great) virtue 8 (to be adjudged to each) in the creation's final change.
6. In which (last) changing Thou shalt come, and with Thy bounteous spirit, and Thy sovereign power,
[paragraph continues] O Ahura Mazda! by deeds of whom the settlements are furthered through the Righteous Order. And saving regulations 1 likewise unto these shall Âramaiti utter, (she, our Piety within us), yea, (laws) of Thine understanding which no man may deceive 2.
7. Yea, I conceived of Thee as bountiful, O Great Giver Mazda! when he (Thy messenger, Obedience) drew near me, and asked me thus: Who 3 art thou? And whose is thine allegiance? And how to-day shall I show the signs that give the light on this (our) question, (signs) as to the lands (from whence thou camest) and in thyself?
8. Then to him I, Zarathustra, as my first answer, said: To the wicked (would that I could be) in very truth a strong 4 tormentor and avenger, but to the
righteous may I be a mighty help and joy 1, since to preparations 2 for Thy Kingdom, and in desire (for its approach), I would devote myself so long as to Thee, O Mazda! I may praise, and weave my song.
9. Yea, I conceived of Thee as bountiful, O Ahura Mazda! when (Thine herald) with Thy Good Mind near approached me, and asked me thus: For what dost thou desire that thou may’st gain, and that thou may’st know it? Then for Thy Fire an offering of praise and holiness (I desired. And on that offering for myself) 3 as long as I have the power, will I meditate 4, (and for its holy power among Thy people will I plan 5).
10. And may’st Thou likewise grant 6 me (Thy) Righteousness (within me), since I earnestly invoke that perfect readiness (of mind), joining in my prayer with Âramaiti (our Piety toward Thee. Yea, pray Thou Thyself within me through these holy powers). Ask Thou (Thyself) our questions, those which shall be asked by us 7 of Thee; for a question asked by
[paragraph continues] Thee (as its inspirer), is as the question of the mighty, whene’er Thy (?) ruler speaks his potent wish.
II. Yea, I conceived of Thee as bountiful, O Ahura Mazda! when (Thy messenger) with Thy Good Mind near approached me, and with your words I 1 first impressed (my soul). Woes then 'midst men Thy heart-devoted one 2 declared 3 (to be) my (portion); but that will I do 4 which Thou did’st 5 say was best.
12. And since Thou, coming thus, Thy legal Righteousness in fulness 6 spakest, then declare not to me words as yet unheard (with faith or knowledge; command me not) to go forth (with these upon my task) before Thy Sraosha 7 (Obedience) comes to me, to go on hand in hand with me with holy recompense and mighty splendour 8, whereby to
give the contending 1 throngs(?), as a blessing 2, (Your) spiritual gifts (of certainty and peace).
13. Thus I conceived of Thee as bounteous, O Ahura Mazda! when with Thy Good Mind (Sraosha, Obedience) approached me. (And I would therefore pray thus of Thee, that bounteous one.) In order that I may make known to men the true and sacred aims of their desires (in the rite or daily toil), grant Ye me long life 3 for this, (that blessing 4) which none with daring may extort 5 from You, even this (gift) of that desired 6 place which has been declared to be within Thy Realm.
14. Yea, as the man enlightened 7 (in Thy law), and who has possessions, gives to his friend, (so give Ye) me, O Great Creator 8! Thy rejoicing and
abounding grace, when through Thy sovereign Power, and from (the motives of Thy cause of) Righteous Order, I stand forth 1 to go out to 2, or to arouse, the chiefs 3 of Thy (pure) proclamation, with all those (others) who recite Thy well-remembered 4 Mãthra word.
15. Yea, I conceived of Thee as bounteous, O Ahura Mazda! when with the Good Mind's grace Thy Sraosha (Obedience) approached me, (and said): Let the quiet and long-enduring better mind with understanding teach (thee); let not a foremost 5 man
conciliate the wicked (as sycophant desiring aid), for with that (quiet mind of faith), Thy saints have brought full many a sinner unto Thee (as convert, and in penitence 1).
16. Thus, O Ahura Mazda! this Zarathustra loves 2 the Spirit 3, and every man most bounteous prays 4 (beside him): Be Righteousness life-strong, and clothed with body. In that (holy) Realm which shines (with splendour) as the sun, let Piety be present; and may she through the indwelling of Thy Good Mind give us blessings in reward for deeds 5!
95:1 Anaêshem manô, anaêshem vakô, anaêshem skyaothnem prove that the thought, word, and deed referred to were not limited to a ritual meaning.
98:1 Ahmâi as = to us, does not seem to be good grammar here, as it necessitates a forced separation between it and yahmâikahmâikît. Cp. ahmâi yahmâi-kahmâikît in Y. XLIV, 16.
98:2 I turn from the fine rendering of the Pahlavi with the greatest reluctance: Nadûk valman mûn zak î valman nadûkîh kadârzâî [aîgh kadârzâî ansutâ min nadûkîh î valman nadûkîh], happy is he whose benefit is for every one; [that is, for every man there is happiness from his benefit]; Ner. follows.
98:3 There is a question whether the particle gat (ghat?) may not have originated from gât. Barth. here follows the Pahlavi, reading gatôi (?) = pavan yâmtûnisnŏ. Lak may have been added, as often, to serve as an alternative rendering.
98:4 Or 'I will,' so Prof. Jolly (infinitive for imper.).
98:5 So also the Pahl. rayê-hômand, not as a rendering merely, but as a philological analagon. Otherwise 'riches.'
98:6 Gaêm recalls sraêsta gaya g(i)vainti.
98:7 As ahmâi would more naturally mean 'to this one' in the previous verse, it is desirable to render it in the same way here.
99:1 It is to the last degree improbable that hvâthrôyâ (hvâthravâ; 'y' miswritten for 'v') indicates a condition of ease and comfort here. The 'easy man' is the farthest possible from the thoughts of the composer. The 'best of all things' makes a word kindred to hveng (hvan) appropriate here.
99:2 Kîkî (?), if an imperative (?), may mean guard over; but the Pahlavi translator gives us the better view; he has lak pêdâkînŏ; Ner. tvam prakâsaya. Geldner's kîkîthwâ is important.
99:3 Thwâ = thy properties.
99:4 The Pahl. has merely padmânŏ.
99:5 This shade of meaning is expressed by the Pahlavi.
99:6 Ayâre, acc. pl.
99:7 This expression seems to equal the summum bonum; so also 'worse than the evil' is the ultimate of woe.
99:8 Cp. Y. XXVIII, 3.
99:9 Does haithyeng mean 'eternal,' with every passage in which it occurs considered?
99:10 Thwâvant may, however, like mavant, simply express the personal pronoun here. The position of aredrô, &c. is awkward if thwâvant = thy: 'Where dwells Ahura, Thyself, O Mazda! beneficent, wise, and bountiful.' But aredra is almost a special term for a zealous partisan.
99:11 The Pahl. has khûp-dânâkîh, indicating a meaning which would p. 100 better apply to Ahura than the one given, which cannot be applied to Him.
100:1 Subjunctive (see Prof. Jolly, V.S. p. 28).
100:2 'By Thy hand.'
100:3 The holy Fire of the altar.
100:4 Gimat may be regarded as an improper subjunctive here.
100:5 The Pahlavi: 'and that too which renders justice to the wicked and also to the righteous. And this Thy Fire is burning, since by it the strength of him who lives in Righteousness is (maintained) when that violence which approaches with a good intention comes to me.'
100:6 See Y. XXXI, 8, where the word is also rendered as = vornehmster.
100:7 Literally, 'When Thou didst render deeds provided with rewards.' We are forced to put the action in the past on account of zãthôi, but the influences originally set in motion were to have their issue in the end of the world.
100:8 I render hunarâ literally, and bring its Pahlavi translation to the same sense as necessarily. Otherwise hûmar would generally mean 'skill.' Ner. has tava guneshu. The Pahlavi would here be recognised by all reasonable scholars as striking in its closeness.
101:1 The word ratûs reminds one of the work of the Ratu for the afflicted kine. In the last changing, which shall complete the Frashakard, he, or his representatives, will appear as the last Saoshyant, introducing 'millennial' blessedness.
101:2 I render the Pahlavi here as in evidence: 'Through Thee, O (?) bountiful Spirit! the changing comes [(later (?) gloss) from wickedness to goodness]. And it comes likewise through Aûharmazd's supremacy within a good mind, through whose action the progress of Aharâyîh's settlements is furthered, those which the master is instructing with a perfect mind [ ], and in which this Thy wisdom shall in no wise be deceived thereby.'
101:3 As the kine thought little of her deliverer (see Y. XXIX, 9), so Sraosha, the obedient host, is here represented as inquiring as to the antecedents of the newly-appointed prophet. But he asks more properly concerning the settlements from which he comes than the lands. Gaêtha is not dahv(h)yu. An origin external to that of other chieftains is not at all necessarily indicated by the question.
101:4 The Pahlavi sees a denominative in isôyâ (isôvâ; y for v); it is denom. in the Altiranisches Verbum. It differs, however, as to root. I offer an alternative in its sense. An open tormentor; [that is, I openly torment the wicked] even as much as I desire, do I torment (them) [(later (?) gloss) Ganrâk mînavad].
102:1 We must be cautious in accepting the statement that the Pahlavi translations attempt to be literal. Here is one which is free and far from erroneous: Aêtûnŏ avŏ aharûbŏ min valman î aôg-hômand aîtŏ; [aîghas, râmînam].
102:2 The Pahlavi here shows only the correct root.
102:3 Mâ = smâ?
102:4 'So long as I can, will I be of this mind,' seems hardly expressed here. Observe the nearly parallel construction in verse 8.
102:5 The Pahlavi, Sanskrit, and Persian translations would here be regarded once more as extremely close even by opponents, if reasonable in their estimates. Manayâî seems to me hardly an infinitive, as it is comparatively seldom that an infinitive falls to the end of a sentence either in Gâthic or Vedic. I prefer the indication of the Pahlavi with Justi and Bartholomae (in the Altiranisches Verbum).
102:6 Read perhaps daidhîs (later shortened to suit the metre).
102:7 Or, 'ask us that we may be questioned by Thee.'
103:1 The Pahlavi translation bears evidence to a less subtle, and therefore more probable sense here, but at the same time to a rarer grammatical form. It renders dîdaiNhê as a third person, indicating an instance of a third person in ê, and not in the perfect. It also recognises a reduplicated form by its pavan nikêzisnŏ nikêzêdŏ.
103:2 The Pahlavi translator with a curious error, or still more curious freedom, has rûbâk-dahisnîh here and elsewhere. Possibly the Gâthic text before the last compiler differed from ours.
103:3 I still prefer Professor Bartholomae's earlier rendering, after the Pahlavi, as more in harmony with mraotâ and mraos.
103:4 Professor Jolly has the important rendering 'das will ich thun;' the infinitive in a future or imperative sense.
103:5 'Ye said.'
103:6 The Pahlavi unvaryingly kabed.
103:7 Here we probably have the missing subject in the other verses.
103:8 Reading mãzâ rayâ. (Rayâ cannot well mean 'riches' here.) The Pahlavi also indicates the division by its free or erroneous mas ratû (rad). Sraosha, an obedient will personified, guides the soul as in the later Parsism. Cp. the Ardâ Vîrâf.
104:1 Here we have the important reading rânôibyô as against the dual of K4, &c. (see Geldner). No mention of the fire occurs; and as the form does not agree with arani, we may well doubt that comparison in view of ãsayau in Y. XXXI, 2, and the unvarying and uniform patkardârânŏ of the Pahlavi. The rendering 'with the sticks' is, however, admirably adapted, and must be considered as an emphatic alternative.
104:2 The Pahlavi supports the reading vî for ve; it has barâ. Ashî might also mean merely 'holy,' as adjective.
104:3 In Y. XXVIII, 7, he asks for it that he may crush the malice of the foe.
104:4 Justi admirably suggested yânem understood.
104:5 The Pahlavi divides dârstaitê, and, as I hold, mistakes the root as was inevitable. The ancient scribe feared to restore the severed fragments, which appeared, as so often, in the MSS. before him. I would read darsaitê with Spiegel's c(?) (so Bartholomae, later, however, recurring to a division, with Geldner after the Pahlavi, for the sake of bringing out an infinitive).
104:6 Vairyau contracted from vairyayau by a corrupting improvement to regulate the metre.
104:7 So the Pahlavi indicates, Bartholomae following as against the rendering 'possessing.'
104:8 With regard to Mazdau and medhâ, I should perhaps long p. 105since have stated that I object to the comparison, not only because medhâ´ is a feminine, and, as Grassmann has supposed, possibly represented by the Zend madh, Greek math, but because 'wisdom' is an abstract (while su-medhâ´s, as a compound, does not apply so directly). I hold, however, that mazdâ, the fem. noun in Y. XL, 1 = medhâ´. It is also not impossible that this word may be represented (with differing shades of meaning) by both madh and mazdãm (fem.) in Zend.
105:1 Read, perhaps, frâkhstâ; or frâstâ, 'with Thine advancing kingdom I (am) to go forth to'; (frâ + as, participle.)
105:2 Prof. Jolly has the important rendering, 'Ich will mich erheben;' the infinitive in a a future or imperative sense.
105:3 Chieftainships. Compare (not with exactness, however) sárdhâmsi.
105:4 The idea of reciting from memory seems to be included in marentê.
105:5 The rendering pourûs (?) as=pl. of pûrús is attractive, but dregvatô hardly needs, and seldom has, a substantive. The wicked = wicked men; and, on the other hand, nâ constantly claims an accompanying word; (nâ ismanô; nâ vaêdemnô; hvô nâ-erethwô; nâ spentô, ye-nâ, ke vâ-nâ, &c.) Also it is improbable that the words nâ and pourûs, as = pûrávas, should come together; 'let not a man men evil ingratiate (?).' Compare for sense here purviâs in one or more of its applications. Possibly the meaning is, 'let not a man be foremost in conciliating the wicked.' The Pahlavi likewise has kabed (freely). Ner. has: Mâ narah* prakuram durgatinâm bhûyât* yathâ kathamkit satkartâ. An important rendering is that of Professor p. 106 Jolly, V.S. s. 47, 'möchte es wenige Verehrer des Lügners geben.' Cp. Y. XLVI, 1, where the composer speaks of the chefs as on their side, 'not contenting' him.
106:1 Or, with the Pahl.: Mûn aêtûnŏ lak harvisp-gûnŏ aharûbânŏ pavan anâk yakhsenund, for they consider all Thy saints as wicked. The rendering above is less natural as conveying the idea of a conversion (comp., however, yâ g(i)vantô vîspeng vaurayâ), but it renders the grammatical forms more simply. It is bad policy to force a text to express what we happen to believe to be a more natural idea. Using the hint of the Pahlavi here in an understanding manner, we might then render 'for they hold all sinners as holy.'
106:2 I had long since compared verentê with vrinîte (-devâ´nâm ávas); and am now sustained by Bartholomae's view.
106:3 Possibly the Spenista mainyu of Ahura. (See also Y. XLIV, 2.)
106:4 The Pahlavi, on the contrary, bears evidence to the meaning 'comes,' which I cannot accept as 'tradition' in view of the following precatives.
106:5 Ner.: 'The kingdom becomes established (in a manner completely manifest) in sun-publicity through mental perfection [ ]; and upon the workers of righteousness the Good Mind bestows it.'