£ihvary of Che t:heolo0ical ^emmarjc PRINCETON • NEW JERSEY PRESENTED BY Mrs. J. A., Fraire .A73 no3 I ^ ^ ( AUG Avest-1 (S- \ ^ '^LOi, ZARATHUSTRIAN GATHAS IN METRE AND RYTHM SECOND EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S VERSION OF 1892-94. WITH IMPORTANT ADDITIONS BY LAWRENCE H. MILLS D.D., HON. M. A., PROFESSOR OF ZEND PHILOSOPHY IN THE UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD CHICAGO THE OPEN COURT PUBLISHING COMPANY 1903 Dedicated to the memory of Bai Dinbai Nesserwanji Manockji Petit, late of Bombay, a generous contributor to the endowment of the Professorship of Zend Philology in the University of Oxford. Preface and Introduction. After all tliat I have written on this subject I will not waste many words upon a preface here. My object now is to reach a wider circle of intellectual readers, who may not, however, yet have become habituated to oriental literature. I by no means wish to minimise the difficulties of Zoroastrian science, 'though I present its interior in this popular manner. The questions which arise are exceedingly numerous and the problems are severe. Some of them are also not susceptible of (a positive) solution, while the materials necessary to a critical opinion have actually never been at all attempted in any serious spirit by any person whomsoever (since Spiegel) except to the extent of the Gathas: and the urgent requests which I have received for assistance from leading scholars have been based upon the exhaustive presentation of these materials made in my Study of them ^ As this Preface may be read by persons who hear for the first time of the subject I give a further account of my stewardship. Aside from the more extended at- tempts (S. B. E. XXXI, 1887, Gathas with Zend, Pahlavi, Sanskrit and Persian texts with Latin verbatims of the Zend, English of the Pahlavi and Sanskrit, together with Commen- tary 1892—94, (Dictionary now in the Press), other contri- butions to the subject have been very numerous, though each separate section of them has not extended beyond the ^ See the Five Zarathuslitrian Gathas. It is easy enough with absolately uo (enliglitened) public to crit- icise us, to offer tentative translation where others have preceded us; but to afford really exhaustive and not fictitious results on matters never yet even properly edited is quite another thing. - VI - dimeDsions of a magizine article (see Roth's Festgritss, Yasna 28, in the sister tongue Sanskrit, Acts of the Congress of Orientalists at London in 1892; and at Paris in 1897 ^The Sanskrit Equivalents of Yasna 44', (things of the utmost practical use), articles in the Zeitschrift of the German Oriental Society, in the American Journal of Philology, Journal of the American Oriental Society, of the Eoyal Asiatic Society, in the Critical Review, the Nineteenth Century Review, the Thinker, the Asiatic Quarterly Review, etc., etc. with dates spread over the last twelve years). But there seems to be no end to the questions involved, and masses of MSS. still remain awaiting space for printing or time for re-copying. No,-I do not wish to minimise the the difficulties as I am myself the chief sufferer from them. But in the meantime, a free rendering as a temporary help is an absolute necessity if we are ever to get them (more popularly) read. Professors and leading scholars ex- pressed themselves as pleased with my translations in the XXXIst volume of the Sacred Books of the East (1887); others however found them too roughly literal. (One of my pupils used to say that he could read the Gathas using them almost without a lexicon). But the penalty was a somewhat uncouth diction. I cannot of course attempt to remedy that defect here: that edition was the only literary one which I could offer then; and for such a series as the Sacred Books of the East I should not even now venture on rounding off the asperities. Notwithstanding a too little attractive exterior it was as Darmesteter wrote me (for I then dared not look myself) ^deja cite et apprecie par tons les specialistes' which was enough surely. And the chief fault which I find with it now is that it is at present some twelve years older than when it left its author's hand ^. ^ It was the report of a good bit of a lifetime's labour. (I apo- logise for miicli of tlie personal tone liere; it has been elicited by the ingratitude of a pupil, and of some so-called old friends who are greatly in my debt). - vn - It was one of the most exhaustively ^prepared' books that ever left a press; see its preface and that of the Gathas 1892-1894. The present attempt is a mere second edition of the metrical version which appeared opposite the Latin word-for-word's in those Five Zarathiishtrian Gathas, (which are now practically all disposed of ^). But as before, I by no means allow the free metrical to go out unguarded by a word-for-word. Even disinterested friends may in all good faith wish to know whether these striking thoughts 2 in the metrical can be justified by the actual words of their original, and they will see that I have done all that I could do to satisfy them. And on the other hand the usual groups of mendacious malignants will find it more difficult to mis- lead the public. If the word-for-word's are given here as well as in the Five Zarathushtrian Gathas no one can assail the freedom. Departing from custom, I put this verbatim now into English, translating and modifying it from my Latin in the larger book I Readers in India are more familiar with Sanskrit than with Latin and with English than with either; here they can read the actual terms with extensions and comments separated by brackets. I think the subject is worth the trouble which I have bestowed upon it. Said the Rev. James Hope Moulton, in the Critical Review: 'The Gathas or Hymns of Zoroaster are by far the most precious relic which we possess of oriental religion, the only sacred literature which in dignity, in profoundness, in purity of thought and absolute freedom from unworthy conceptions of the divine could for a moment be compared with the Hebrew scriptures' (Jan. '96). 1 I am generously offered another subvention from the British Gonvernraent toward a second edition. - Most striking' in view of their age and circumstances. 3 It is therefore practically a new edition of that rendering, but 1 could hardly repeat here all the rich alternatives there presented, which together with those in the Commentary (pp. 393—622 and the Dictionary still in press) include pretty nearly all conceivable opinions and possi- bilites. — VIII — Mr. Gladstone also mentioned in a private letter of October '91: ^I am sensible of the extraordinary interest attaching to Zoroastrianism^ and grateful to those who . . . afford us such help in understanding it'. With regard to my critical editions^ see below, note I, page ix. It is to be hoped that the public which I am endeavouring now to teach will not need to be informed that the rare value of these hymns arises from their importance in the history of thought and sentiment. If these pieces were indeed written yesterday tbey could not be considered contemptible, but they are to be valued chiefly for their rarity as the expression of religious sentiments at their early date, (as to which see S. B. E. XXXI, Introduction p. XXXIII— VIl), and as a specimen of the force of human thought in its influence upon the then coming future. If we have any respect for the religious ideas of the world and their growth, here are some of their mothers. Not that our own personal feelings are direct descendants from the sentiments expressed in these immortal fragments, but that they are most certainly the descendants of ideas that were cognate to them. It is needless to say more to those whom I hope will read this book. To the multitude who could mention the inferiority of these pieces to modern productions, I have nothing whatever to say (tnrpe pecus)^ except perhaps that there is a very large mass of modern anthology of which what they affirm could by no means be maintained. With regard to the other works I would add one word as to the matter of their dates for those who are not in the ^swim of it'. I would recall that they were begun so long ago as even 1881 when I had already tentatively printed some 300 odd pages of my Gathas (all the texts Zend, Pahlavi, Sanskrit and Persian with translation of the first three). These were imperatively demanded of me by the Pythagoras of Aryan orientalism, the sage of Tuebingen whose ^ipse dixit' could make or unmake a reputation. — IX Having put them into the hands of this most formi- dable of personalities. I gave them to the others, and in fact this led to the urgent invitation from Darmesteter to become his continuator on the Sacred Books of the East, which also put in train my connection with this University (Oxford). So, some years afterward, when the first sections of the Gatlias were ready, at the urgent request of some of my leading colleagues, I sent them copies, receiving grate- ful acknowledgments from them in private communications K The various expressions of opinion referred to were important enough to me at one period, for there was as usual a clique of mendacious pretenders (of a known type) who had control of some of the newspapers. And as to one particular they are important to me now, for they show that I have worked in a catholic spirit. Those distinguished gentlemen who have expressed themselves with much toler- ation of my well-meant labours belong to various schools. They prove by their sympathy that they do not regard my results as one-sided^. To my sorrow I must confess that I have spent more time and labour on this subject and its adjuncts than any one now living, or I might almost say than any one without the qualification: and on the whole with greater facilities. The XXXIst volume of the Sacred Books of the Enst was made after the only exhaustive effort ever even attempted by any one, for I had edited the Asiatic Commentaries, Pahlavi, with all the known MSS. collated, the Sanskrit with five MSS, and the Persian, and made the first attempt ever made by any one at a full 1 See Darmesteter's remarks even on the interrupted edition and so early as Nov. 26th 1883 in the Revue Critique, also another eminent person in the London Athenaeum April 12th 1884, the Academy of September 13th 1884 (long enough ago!), the Deutsche literaturzeitung September 24, 1887, of S. B. E. XXXI; then again of the fuller edit.on of the Gathas the Gottingische Gelehrte Anzeige^ of May 1893, Revue Critique of September 1893, etc. Pischel m Z. D. M G. 189b etc It is usual in issuing circulars for the purpose of promo mg the sale of a boo^ to cite vadous notices from reviews. But I allude to them here for a particular reason. , , - .^,. ^ Well may they hold to this, for I report almost every con- ceivable opinion ancient or modern, while I distinctly express my own preference. — X — critical exphanation of any of them in any of their parts (since Spiegel). I now desire to make the results of these exertions as accessible to the general public as may be. One very singular and most delicate duty meets me^ just here. No one indeed but a very ill-informed person would expect any two independent translators to agree m toto in their renderings of the Gathas^ or of any other ancient compositions^ of a difficult nature; but there is one modern translation which differs from all others by such marked peculiarities that it is quite necessary to pause for a moment upon it. It is none other than the French trans- lation of the Gathas in the work of my own colleague, the late Professor James Darmesteter. I will first premise what I have to say by the remark which may sound strange enough, but to which I would entreat uninitiated readers to give their closest attention. Among the higher circles of criticism, strange and reprehensible as it may at first sight ^ appear, specialists in orientalism, as well as in other branches of research, do not value works chiefly on account of their prac- tical accuracy as books for ordinary use. It is far too readily supposed that both the investigators and those who confide in them are already familiar with all that has been edited on the subject, so that vagaries and eccentricities on the part of any well-meaning expounder will not do so much harm, while their hazardous and even sometimes wild con- jectures at least stir up discussion. This well known fact may be even found printed. ^What helps' is valued, curiously enough, not on account of its correctness^ but on account ^ Witness the chaos in critical (?) opinions even on the Old Testament Scriptures (on the one side) and upon Homer (on the other), while with one sole exception opinions on the Gathas are drawing closer together, and may well be comprehended within easily found alternatives. - And also at 'second' sight; it is in my opinion an indictment against the learning of the epoch that it treats all non-specialists as if they were children, but scandalous as it may seem, it is, for the present, still the fact. ^ But why can we not keep our hazardous suggestions for our notes? Must we forever assume an air of bigoted conviction while we suggest innovations which we hardly believe ourselves? I, for one, have guarded mine (which are often as bold as anybody's) by distinct re- marks; see Zeitschrift der d. morgenlandischenGesellschaft, Oct. 1898, p.436. — XI - of its stirring qualities, its rerjsamskeit; and sometimes an author who has manifested the most of that, will really produce work which may be positively mischievous in the hands of an ordinary reader. Such was the case with the o-iftcd Hauff, for some of his translations as such are hardly fit to use at present. Now and then even our very great and endeared Koth would say things in translation which looked as if he were fully aware that they could not be correct, and such, as to the Gathas at least, was obviously the case with Darmesteter. Full as everywhere with brilliant suggestions taken from the Asiatic Commentaries, and therefore of great value to experts with correcter renderings before them, he seems almost to have translated at times without looking at anything beyond the Pahlavi, Sanskrit and Persian renderings. What has been so often asserted in criticisms cannot be denied; he seems to dis- regard the grammatical forms in a manner for which I can only account by supposing that the overwork as a popular writer of which he so much complained, at times actually blunted his faculties ^ But let us look at the results. This extraordinary procedure of Daramesteter's did, and is still doing its work, together with his sudden acceptance of a most unfortunate surmise that the Gathas were contemporaneous with Christ (circa) 2. He has roused us all up to new exertions, to save the confidence of the public. With the result that some of us, 1 A certain scholar, possibly stung at Darmester's previous criticisms, ^oes so far as to say (so 1 have heard) that his version m French of the Gathas is 'no translation at all'. I have not read this criticism, as I did not wish to give myself unnecessary pam, but that Darmesteter in treating the Gathas in his French version was regardless of the Gathic text as well as of the grammatical forms to a very extra- ordinary degree cannot be denied at all, and it would be a very talse friendship tS ignore or to garble the fact; and also the other fact that he follows 'tradition' in a manner which makes us really doubt whether it be not true that he once told a prominent pupil that the Avesta texts (some of them) were written after their supposed translations, and were based upon them' — a characteristically brilliant idea 2 I am deeply gratified to be able to point out that this was no original opinion of his; see his statements on the subject m the Preface to his Yasna. Tbey were adopted from a gifted friend who however, has never published any extended or exhaustive treatise on the Avesta. — XII — and among others, I for one, have gone elaborately into the question of the relations existing between Zoroastrian theologies, or theological philosophies, with the Jewish and the Greek. To be sure it is to be regretted that he should have given occasion to persons who dislike to see a school progress, and enabled them to note its divisions; but even these may be met by the unanimous verdict of all persons and some of them the most devoted to Darmesteter. Nobody any- where who has ever produced any extended or influential original work on the Avesta of any school, left, right or middle, has any regard whatever for the theories which Darmesteter at last so strangely adopted as to the age of the Avesta, eating his own previous weighty and brilliant words. In the Introduction to the Vendidad first edition pp. liii, liv, he wrote ^it is quite possible that Herodotus may have heard the Magi sing in the fifth century B. C. the very same Gat has which are sung noiv-a-days by the Mobeds in Bombay . . . One might feel inclined at first sight to assign to a very recent date, perhaps to the last revision of the Avesta, those long enumerations of gods so symmetrically elaborated in the Yasna, Visperad and Vendidad. But the account of Mazdeism given by Plutarch shows that the work of co- ordination was already terminated at the end of the Achae- menian period and there is no part of the Avesta which so far as matter is concerned, may not have been written in those times ^ Nay, the Greek accounts of that period present us in some measure with a later stage of thought, and they are pervaded with a stronger sense of symmetry . . . The theory of time and space as first principles of the world, of which only the germs are found in the Avesta was fully developed in the time of Eudemos, a disciple of Aristotle'. So Darmesteter in 1880 when he expected to finish the subject of the Avesta for the S.B.E. In his first edition he gave no indication of his future tergiversation. Nor did he give me any idea of his change of views at the date of ^ The italics are mine. - xm - his request for me to take up his unfinished work. And it is hard to resist the impression that the difficulties which he had previously found in the Gathas ^ turned his interest into a dislike. But that he made his interesting and piquant version of the Gathas in no bigoted spirit is certain from the language of his invitation to me. He had before his eyes these very renderings which I am offering now/ then in their first shape^ which was how- ever in 1883 in many essential respects the same as these which I am repeating now; and in spite of the fact that they differed in cast from what he himself even then would have written, he urged me to reproduce them in the version for the Sacred Books of the East (vol. XXXI), which he was entreating me to write: ^^vous n'avez qu'a detacher de votre travail (my Gathas in their originally printed form) la tra- duction rhythmique avee quelques notes explicatives et le mot a mot (Latin) quand vous ...(?) en ecartez trop. Cela vous prendrait infiuiment peu de temps puisque le travail est deja fait .... Je crois que la chose serait bonne et pour vous et pour la collection parce qu'elle aurait la version des Gathas la plus au courant possible .... Je le desire du fond du coeur; car a defaut de vous je ne vols pas qui pourrait faire la chose et la faire bien Dans Tespoir d'une reponse favorable, Je suis, Votre bien devoue James Darmesteter 2 " I reciprocate my greatly distinguished friend's most generous confidence. As he most certainly would even then have differed from the very versions which he at the same moment was honouring in such an extraordinary manner, so 1 See 'Ms preface to the Yasna', 'he shrank', he says, 'from the enigma. ^. ^, , , , , - This citation may serve as a correction to the remarks wliicli appeared in the Revue Bleue of Paris February 1895, and also m the Annuaire of the University of that year, which left the extraordinary impression that I sugg-ested!! the arrangement 'avec cet oubli de soi qui characterise le vrai merite . . . 11 c6da a M. Mills I'honneur dachever la publication', etc. — XIV — I would with equal emphasis call attention to the great value of all his suggestions in the light of higher studies, even if I must except his French version from the list of profitable popular renderings. Its value is wholly interior, and ordinary readers who regard it as a complete report for the learned; but still not professional public, will be led astray. Surely it is enough for a great scholar to influence an entire school. With regard to the view which he reports, again de- riving it from a French friend i, that Vohu Manah was Philo's Logos, I would say briefly that Vohu Manah as Vasumanas, the name of a Vedic Kishi, shows that the idea was as familiar to India as Asha, Khshathra, Aramaiti, etc. were. These are all found in the Rig Veda, though some- what scattered, and are all 2 very old. Their forms were Rita, Vasumanas, Kshatra, Aramati, Sarvatati and Amritatva. If the Logos has any analagon in the Avesta it is Asha, and not Vohu Manah ^. But if Philo invented either he must have invented the Veda as well, for the reasons given. Moreover the concept of the Logos is radically heterogeneous from that of Vohu Manah. The Logos of Heraclitus, hardly recognisable inPlato^, was further perverted by Philo into an intermediary between God and matter, which latter was regarded as evil, an idea radically opposed to the Gathas, according to which God created nature animate and inanimate. It had absolutely nothing fundamentally to do with the Vohu Manah or Asha of the Gathas. Some of the detail in its treatment may, however, have been coloured by the Zoroastrian theology which leaked through the Hebrew liter- ature till the time of Philo. * So reported to me by the gentleman himself (this friend, not Darmesteter). "^ Except the actual form of vasumanas; the name is genuine but later vedic in the Rik. 3 Vohu Manah came to the front from a mistake in the traditional exegesis as to Y. 28, 2 or 3; see my G-rithas at the places. * Plato was once a close hearer (at Athens) of Cratylus the pupil of Heraclitus ; cp. Arist. Metaph. 1, 6. -^ XV As I hope to publish before long- an extended sttite- nicnt of the reasons for believing the Gathas to be old, (i. e. to date several centuries before Christ), I add only a sum- mary of the points, gathering up what I have said on vari- ous occasions ^ First, the Gathas are original, meaning by the term that they show evidence of having been composed by persons who expressed in them genuine feelings called into play by actual and contemporaneous events. The reasons for believ- ing this are, first, their excessive personality, second, the depth and fervid character of the convictions, desires, hopes, fears and aversions expressed in them, (a) These emo- tions reflect passing events, some of which are incidentally mentioned, (b) These events are totally unlike any fictitious occurrences such as are reflected in the later Avesta, as they depict long and tedious struggles and are often painful in their detail, (c) No reliance whatsoever is placed by me on any statements which occur in the Gathas as such. All conscious statements would be as worthless for literal proofs as the general run of historical statements are. But state- ments which occur in the course of the delineation depict in passing and without intention the state of the facts, as for instances the names of the chiefs, the prevailing warfare, etc. It being conceded that the Gathas are personal, they must have been composed at least 700 to 1200 years B. C, for all their colouring and the vital chord of their existence is associated with the Rig Veda, the Amshaspends them- selves being old ante-vedic ideas, (see above), and the lan- guage, even to the names, being in its ancient shape. Their forgery at the time of Christ is simply a ridiculous propo- ^ See the Introduction to the XXXIst volume of the Sacred Books of the East. I have been invited by the Trustees of the Sir J. Jejee- bhoy Translation Fund of Bombay to write an exhaustive treatise on the 'Antiquity of the Avesta'. Tliis work is now in manuscript, and I hope soon to print it. It has brought me back to familiar reading which first drew my attention to the Avesta, and I have liad an interval of rare gratification in reopening my old inquiries begun with fervour more than a quarter of a century ago. XVI — sition, as it would have been a literary miracle (requiring- a subtle hand in a blase age). That they were genuine and still written in Iran at the time of Christ scarcely needs an answer. These vivid supplications (in the first personal) and wrangling strophes could not possibly have been genu- inely produced at the time of Christ in Iran where the language had been Pahlavi for centuries, even to the proper names. No priestly schools could have so preserved the Zend as that persons could have written the fresh and passionate Gathas in its forms at that time. The later Sanskrit literature was composed in the dead language, but none of it corresponds closely to the Gathas, and it was a ^dead' language which had an immense extant literature surviving in it and continually increasing. It was no more 'dead' to the later periods than Latin was 'dead' among the schools of the mediaeval Church. In Zend there is nothing but the Avesta**, in Sanskrit there is a great literature which was possibly more extensive at the time of Christ than now. Parts of the later Avesta, as I stated in my Introduction to S.B.E. XXXI, might have been written yesterday, but only parts, and the later Avesta is not the animated Gatha, with its constant address to the Deity in the second personal. This leads me to another important matter. Nothing seems to me so silly as the discussion about the historical personality of Zarathushtra. The absence of all care which characterises statements with regard to Zoroastrianism makes it almost a hopeless task to make distinctions. Of course Zarathushtra in many later documents of Zoroastrianism is a mythical person as to the characteristics attributed to him, including his so-called history ^ He is a mythical demi-god even in the Avesta itself, that is to say in the genuine but later Avesta. In fact Zarathushtra is superhuman every- ^ And he appears in a list of Perso-Babylonian Kings, as reported by Berosus (so cited long since by Haug and others, though without reference; I am now also at this moment of writing accidentally sepa- rated from documents). XVII where, both in the hiter Zoroastrinnism, which corresp(MHls to the mediaeval period when viewing. Christianity, and in the very oldest parts of the New Avesta. Of the Zarathushtra as disclosed in the GMas alone can it be said that he is an historical person i : but what a per- son! As Professor Cheyne has justly remarked, his public was higher in tone than that appealed to in the majority of the Psalms 2. Let these self-obvious distinctions be borne clearly in mind (if it be possible that any distinction can be so held in mind while considering- this subject, so doomed to mis- conception); Zarathushtra is a living person solely in these original strophes. Like the heroes of early Greece he is divine in different degrees in all the remaining Avesta. To sum up in the briefest manner what I have now said here, the Hymns are ancient because they are closely allied to the ancient Indian Vedas, evident signs of contact between Ahnra-worshippers and Daeva-worshippers abounding in both the Old and the New Avesta. There is no direct historical connection whatsoever between either Vohu Manah or Asha and the platonic-philonian Logos because Vohu Manah fwith Asha and the rest) belonged to the Vedas as well as to the Avesta under the modified names cited (see above) hundreds of years before the Philonian Logos ivas thought of These rough poems in metres ^ identical witli Vedic ^ I do not say that he is here the Munr persou who is Sd ofteu alluded to in so-called history and in acknowledged myth: we even have the name among- a list of ancient kings (see p. XVI); and of course it must have been often rei)roduced, for it became, at least in the Avesta itself, one of the titles of a Governor of a province and is even used in the superlative form 'the most Zarathushtra'. We do however claim that the fictitious importance attributed to all the Zara- thushtras scattered up and down the pre-christian ages, was borrowed from the singular man whose personality, together with that of his col- leagues, is so strikingly revealed in these early pieces, - See the Origin of the Psalter, also his, article in answer to Mr. Gladstone in the Nineteenth Century Review of Dec. '91. ^ Do people remember that the ancestors of the Aryau-indians were once identical with the ancestors of the man or men who wrote the Gathas, and that the territory on whicii these hymns were first sung was approximately the same as that on which the ancestors of — xviir - oneS; are the genuine expression of men deeply moved by a religious crisis in some country in contact with ancient India. What we now call Afghanistan may have been pretty nearly the scene, though some think it more likely to have been further West. To say a single word on a subordinate but by no means unimportant item. Some attempt at a metrical version is needed to give an idea of the original rhythm of the pieces, but of course only an approximate idea, none other can be obtained. I have certainly toned up the strings, and used both ad- dition and omission, as is universal in such reproductions. It is impossible, or unprofitable, to represent metrical matter in a tongue foreign to its original without this. And without some attempt at the representation of the metrial matter we lose even more than aesthetic effect: some reproduction of the rhythm is needed to express the emotional sentiment as well : for this is, as always, dependent to some extent upon the melody of the verse; and even the moral tone is some- times aided by it. But my chief motive is facility. I find in my own case that I can get a bird's eye view of a subject most rapidly and easily from a metrical version; and I suppose that the same may be the case with others; only (let me emphatically repeat it), / disavow all respons- ibility for the literal terms of the metrical version, except when read together with the word-for-word. Indian Risliis once lived before their descendants migrated, and that the finest metre in the Gathas is practically the same as the Indian trishtup (or rather that the Indian trishtup is certainly the mere repro- duction of immensely older Iranian metres used when Indians and Iranians were one people, or more properly speaking, before any Indians existed) ? Oxford, Feb. 1900. Lawrence Mills. — XfX — PS. Readers of the Sacred Books of the East may notice that several of the introductory summaries to the chapters in this work are condensed from the corresponding summaries in the XXXIst volume of the S.B.E., of whicli 1 am the author. I take this opportunity U) express my in- debtedness to the Delegates of the Clarendon Press, and also to the Right Honourable Max Milller, the Editor of the ►Series, for their courtesy in according me this privilege. This book in no sense interferes with that literary rendering which is addressed to a different public. The intelligent reader will not need to be reminded that in dealing with subjects of this kind an author makes an especial effort to re-cast former presentations in the light of fresh discoveries. It should never be forgotten that no changes in wording can alter that which we most value in these hymns, which is their moral and religious-philosophical tone: and this is wholly unique in view of their age and circumstances. L. H. M. YASNA XLIII. preliminary Benedictions are uttered with regard to an eminent leader who opens the paths to temporal and eternal wel- fare; - the majesty of Ahura as final Jiidg-e is considered; - searching- questions are asked and ennobling- prayers uttered. I place this valuable piece in this position because it seems to me to answer the purpose of a prologue or symphony, giving a certain survey of the gathic situation. As in every section it is possible that strophes may have fallen out here and there, and some may have been inserted, not necessarily from another composer but from other compositions; or more properly, the constituent parts of this piece may have been originally composed at different times with intervals of a few years between. After certain limits however marked signs of connection are present; after tlie first three strophes, which are rjuite apart, then from the fourth and fifth on every alternate stanza has the formula ^I conceived of thee as bountiful, Ahura Mazda'. It would indeed present no difficulty to a successor to add these words to stanzas otherwise also imitated; but there is no particular reason why we should think of a second hand ; the whole composition as it is here produced, or reproduced, beats with the life of a single personality; and even if collected from fragments of the composer's earlier works, the course of tliought does not so fail in logical sec[uence as that it is either impossible or displeas- ing as a whole in a poetical composition. Strophes 1 — 3 are ad- mirable as preliminary; and they may having been placed hero by the composer or his succes'sors, he, or they, having taken them from some other one of his compositions. Strophes 4 — 6 with their lofty descriptions of power and benevolence in the Deity prepare _ 2 — the way well^ with their allusions to the fiual judgment^ for the closer reflections in strophes 7 — 13 upon the prophet's call, uttered at the instigation of the ^obedient will' as inspiring some loyal representative of the acquiescing element in the population of friends, foes and the indifferent. Strophe 16 is a noble stanza looking to a critical eye much like a later addition by the composer himself, as he cast his mind's eye over this and other works in view of the entire course of the connected events. (I insert the digest and paraphrase of the whole after the metrical version; the above remarks should leave us absolutely free to enjoy a rare personal fragment, rewritten in approximate imitation of its original rhythm). YASNA XLIII. Greeting to an expected champion. Salvation's hail be his, whosoe'er he may be i : May the all-ruling* send it, He supreme o'er^ strifc.2 Long lasting strength be ours: ot'Thee I ask it; For the upholding Eight,^ this, holy zeal/ vouchsafe us, Kich power/ blest rewards, the Good Mind's life! And for this saint that best of all things. Glory, 6 the glorious one"^ shall gain^ who^ may.^ Reveal Thou, Lord, to us with spirit bounteous ^ What truths by right^Thou givest with good^o mind'sio wisd(jm With life's rejoicing increase and on every day. Yes, that better than the goodie may he gain 12 surer 12 Who hath for us straight paths of grace explored ^^ Of this life bodily the use, of that the mental In the eternal^* Realms w^here dwells Ahura, Like^^ Thee, 15 noble and august, Mazda Lord! ^ hardly ' to everyone ' ; 'tons' would be bad grammar; see my Gathas, pp. 154, 509 — 522; some preceding verses have evidently been lost; for introduction, see S. B. E. xxxi., pp. 91 to 106. ^ words added from other gathic places to complete the rhythm. 3 asha, the holy order of the law. * aramaiti, the 'alert' or 'ready' mind; but possibly meaning the alert and holy public enthusiasm in the tribes and in himself. ^ if 'riches' were meant, then they were consecrated offerings fur 'the holy Cause,' see Y. 46, 2, etc. ^ 'glorious beatitude,' 'god-sent welfare.' ' the Deity, in frequently recurring passages is called the 'glorious,' in the later Avesta. ^ cf, Comm., p. 510. » others render 'holy'; the above is safer; yet it must be remem- bered that gathic holiness was practical; the one who 'bountifully in- creased' good things was 'holier' than the talker or the ritualist. ^" so, literally, but, as so often in the use of these impressive ab- stracts, meaning 'the orthodox saint inspired by the good mind,' the first, or more properly, the second Ameshaspend. " the 'summum bonum.' " so rhythmically, for 'attain to.' ^^ literally 'given.' '* so for 'safety,' literally the 'real,' 'really existing. . '' an oblique way of saymg ' Thee', or perhaps meaning the samt of line a, 'like Thee,' 'Thy servant,' 'worthy of Thee.' _ 4 — means of grace Yea, I conceive Thee mighty, Ahura Mazda, When aids Thine hand hath nurtured close ^ appear i, Aids which as rewards Thou'lt give for good or evil, Thy Fire's flame therewith, the strong in justice. And when to me Thy Good Mind's strength draws near. judgment So, 2 in creation's birth when first I saw^ Thee Bounteous 2 in vision* later* things portend,* When deeds, most just, rewarding and words Thou givest 111 to the evil, pure blessing to the good By Thy just wisdom* in this world's last end; advent In which last changing* Thou a spirit bounteous ^ Comest with Thy pure Realm which wrong* retrieves*. By deeds of whom the settlements in Eight '^ are furthered ; Laws unto these to teach devotion ^ striveth. Laws of Thy wisdom which no man deceives! S lisp 67186 r Yea, I conceived Thee bounteous, Ahura Mazda, When the true-hearted searched^ my spirit's^ inner self^ Asking ^who art thou then?, and whence thy coming? How for their questions now signs shall I show them. Signs in thy settlements and in thyself?' ^ rhythmically supplied from line e. ^ the recurring- formula 'yea, I conceived . . .' shortened for space. ' retrospective; cf. the vision of creation in Genesis. * rhythmically supplied to fill out the sense. ^ literally, 'Tby good manhood' or 'honour,' but later use renders the above idea more probable. ^ see note above on 'bounteous,' strophe 2nd, line c. ' asha, the sanctity of the law inspiring the holy communities. ^ the prophet especially inspired with aramaiti, the 'alert' or 'ready mind.' ^ to point the sense ; ' when inspired by Thy Good Mind the questioner approached me.' see the word-for-word below. — 5 — the .signs To liim I, Zarathiislitra, tlieii answered foromotJt: ^Torments in very deed the faithless will J send, But to our saints would be a joyous power', Since with full care I toil, Thy Kealm awaitin^;! While I my woven 2 praise 2 to Thee shall blend. Yea, I conceive Thee bounteous, Ahura Mazda, When the true loyal came, my mission's ^ call to ask\ Saying- Svhat aim hast thou? what wilt thou g-ain in this?' Then for Thy Fire praise-offering I besought him. Planning Thy Law's advance 3; this be my task^! 'search me' Do Thou Thy Holiness revealing teach me, Since with the zealous* joined to rise* I seek.* Ask Thou yet questions, such that Thou ^ may'st ^ search* us, For questions Thine are thus as of the mighty. As when their mighty wish Thy rulers speak. '2^repared' Yea, I conceived Thee bounteous, Ahura Mazda, When the true Loyal came with spirit^' blest '^, And with your words my soul I first instructed; Woes that devoted one"^ 'midst foes forewarned me. Yet will I that fulfil named by Thee best ! 1 rhythmically supplied to fill out the sense. 2 see the word-for-word. 3 rhythmical and explanatory, see the word-for-word. * see tlie word-for-word. 5 literally, 'that we may be asked of Thee'; or it may mean, ask Thou the questions which are to be asked by us'; 'inspire our prayers : see the word for word and Comm., p. 517. « 'with the Good Mind' (for 'good-minded one'), the orthodox, holy and 'well-affected' citizen inspired by the good mmd. ' so more safely, but the original will bear the finer sense my heart s devotion,' so, perhaps even more literally. — 6 — fears And since Thou saidest: ^Come for light to Asha'; Command me not yet to speak ^veiled truths abroad', Nor to go forth; e'er he, that friend approach me, Obedience^ hand-joined with richest blessing ^ Whereby, for strivers'^ help, he gives reward. success Yea, I conceived Thee bounteous,* Ahura Mazda, When the Faith's messenger ^ my spirit neared; Aims of my will to gain, this gift then give me Long life, that boon by man | yet never wrested, Gifts in Thy Kealm give too, most choice^ declared. light As the possessor gifts on friend bestows So give to me, Lord, rejoicing^ liglif^; When in Thy kingdom, righteousness my motive. Forth to approach I rise 'mid chiefs of doctrine. With all whose memories Thy words recite. stauncJmess Yea, 1 conceived Thee bounteous, Ahura Mazda, When the obedient came with Faith's accord^. And through his wisdom best with patience showed me, 'Never your chieftain be of foes the pleaser': Yea, saints should hold at worth yon faithless horde! ^ the loyal messenger from the tribes ; see nbove, ^ the splendour of consecrated riches (?). The analogous Vedic word is supposed to mean 'riches'; the Iranian may have both meanings. ^ see Commentary, p. 518. * see note above, on * bounteous'. " explanatory; see above. " literally, 'tlie best' which might pass also as rhythmical. ' grace-giving instruction, etymologically 'ravishing,' but this would be exaggerated. * varied for rhythm; see the word-for-word. - 7 - result Thus Zanitliusbtra, Lord, adores the s])irit. And every mau most bounteous prays ])eside; Be the just Law life-strong, yea, clotlied with hody;^ In sun-blest land of ours be there Devotion, In deeds to Holy Eight may she be guide! ^ incarnate in the faithful. — 8 — Y. 43. Literal translation with paraphrase. (In speaking of the substantial agreement among experts as to the literal wording of the Gathas, I exclude the views of extreme traditionalists and those of any writer who translates without considering the force of the gram- matical forms). It would be quite trivial to refrain from ex- planatory words and phrases^ but they are carefully included within brackets. '■ In-the-wished-for-blessing [be he (an idiomatic ex- pression; such as ^hailtohim': ^hosanna to him'); for our guiding deliverer let it be so said], in-the-wished-for-blessing [be he] ; for [the faithful man], whosoever [he may be, let it be said] ; (b) may Ahura Mazda, the-one-ruling-at-his-will grant (c) the two-abiding mighty-ones [healthful-weal and deathlessness] : let-it thus-come [or ^happen'; (or the word may mean merely ^ verily'^ and ^let it thus happen ' would then be superfluous)], of Thee I desire it (d) for-the- maintaining asha [the law in the holy state] ; this may'st-Thou-grant me, 0-one-endowed-with-alert-and-ready-attention (0 Aramaiti), (e) [consecrated] riches [or distinctions'] blest-rewards, the life of-the- good-mind (so literally, but perhaps meaning ^tho life of the good man', ^of the one-endowed with a good mind')'. Such pos- sible differences in the cast of translations as might be offered here are of trifling importance to comparative religion ; the literal mea- nings, save as to one unimportant word, are not contested; ^tliere is one word however Avhich may mean either to him' (our deliverer), or 'to us', but the beatitude has reference to both 'him' or 'us' in sympathy with the fervent enthusiasm for the holy Cause. 2. 'Yea for him- (or possibly 'for us(?)') may the beatified man obtain the best of all [things], (b) tlie beatific-glory [in the holy commonweal til]', [or simply 'may he give it . . . to us', or 'to this one', referring to a typical representative of the people] ; (c) With-Thy most-beneficent (others 'with Thy holiest') spirit reveal*, 0- Mazda, (d) the- mysteries -of- wisdom which Thou dost-maintain through the - sanctity -of- Thy - ritual - and - moral - law [= simply asha] (e) for-the-blest-prosperity of -a -long- life on- every-day'. There is one difference in opinion here which is rather awkward; instead of 'reveal'; some prefer 'perceive' 'recognise what is already known'. -^ 9 — 3. ^ Yea, let this man himself approach* that wliich is the better thau-the-good (b) who may- teach us [that is to say, ^indicate to us'] straight paths of-proht, (c) of this bodily life and of-the-meii- tal; (d) in-those-eternal [or ^ real '] -worlds where dwells Ahura, (e) a- generous-helper, Thine-own [^worthy of or 'like-Thee', lit. ^pro- vided with Thee (sic)] ', the beneficeut-good-citizen [or ^uoble-one'], 0-Mazda'. No differences in opinion can alter this deeply impres- sive stanza; all is clear. 4. ^Yea, I would regard Thee as powerful and beneficent [others more boldly as ^holy'], O-Ahura-Mazda, (b) when those suc- courS; which Thou dost-cherish [aids as] with-hand- [put forth^ come upon me (see the last line), (c) those rewards (or 'holy regula- tions of justice')] for-the-evil and for-the-holy, [that is to say ^for the true Zoroastrian' and ^for ihe infidel enemy'], (d) together with-the-flaming-heat of-Thy-fire mighty through asha [the-sanc- tity-of-the-ritual-service (and through the honest fidelity of the true believer*)], (e) and when to me the strength of the good mind shall-come '. Such is the fine sentiment Av^hich lies in the literal terms as they stand; but to be critical, we must endeavour to lower it to the level of the commonplace, and in our first explanation err, if at all, on the side of safety. ^ The strength of the good mind ', as we learn from other places 7nay have been intended to convey only the more realistic idea of ^ the spiritual strength of the good-minded man', although nothing whatsoever in the original indicates this, but quite the contrary: and, as I contend, even if the ^good-mind' is intended to convey the idea of ^the good -minded man', the loyal, or ^well-affected' citizen, still the deeply interesting meaning conveyed by the literal force of the words cannot be excluded as a sort of echo, or after-thought at the least. While various shades of difference may be noticed in opinions as to this passage, they are not such as affect our views in the present discussion; the terms are all absolutely simple; (I again do not take into conside- ration the views of any writer who disregards the laws of grammar, or follows the traditional exegesis in a slavish manner). 5. ^Yea, bounteous [-in-Thy-holiness (so, to meet the views of those who render 'holy')] I-thought Thee, Ahura-Mazda, (b) when I-saw Thee first in-the-generation of-the- world, (c) when Thou did'st-render [or ^make') actions provided- with-re wards [by esta- 2 — 10 — blishiug tlie universal laws wliicli were to govern the thus neNN'ly g;enerated world*], (d) evil to the evil, a good blest-recompense to the good, (e) by Thy good-virtue [so, originally and literally ^good-manhood' (sic), but perhaps ^by Thy good intelligence'] in the last turning (or 'ending') of the creation'. Doing his best (as is proper) to degrade the ideas to the level of the commonplace, I can conceive that some critic might suggest that the composer referred to the inauguration of some new phase of civic life of which he was the witness, but the ^generation of the world', unless we understood it ^as the actual regeneration of the people' an idea too advanced for the document, is too strong a term to bear the interpretation referred to. Particularly in view of the last line and the first of the next strophe; the ^last turning [the end] of the creation' proves that the ^generation' spoken of was 4ts beginning', for the ^creation' here could hardly mean the organisation of the State. But much as we might twist the meanings, there is absolutely no choice in our first report of the literal terms, and a doctrine of final judgment is plainly foreshadowed in the last words: ^tlie judgment is (practically) set, and the books are open; see Vendidad 19,27 fig. where the scene is portrayed: also Y. 49,11 where the evil souls come to mee.^ the condemned as they do in the memo- rable Yasht. 22 ; but this judgment like that predicted in the Xew Testament does not seem to have been regarded as remotely distant. 6. ^ In- which ending may' st Thou come Avdth Thy most boun- tiful [or 'most holy'] spirit, (b) Mazda, with Thy sovereign power in this [ending], [and] with [Thy] good mind, (c) by whose deeds the settlements are furthered through asha [the efficiency of the holy constitution]; (d) laws unto these aramaiti, [the alert- activity of mind', or Hhe one endowed with it' (possibly masc.)] teaches, (e) [laws] of Thine understanding which [(accusative) under- standing] no man deceives'. The roots and forms of the words as well as their literal point are all perfectly obvious in this interesting strophe ; and we see from it that the rewnrd spoken of in strophe 5 must have been thought possible in a near future with the result of the further inculcation of saving regulations. This in no respect removes the supernatural aspect of the expected assize to which Ahura would come; recal also Y. 30,9 where the saint hopes that he, Avitli his — 11 — associates, might take a personal part iu bringing on the Frashakard or ^conipletion-of-progress', meaning the restoration of ^millennial' (sic) happiness; the ^two lives' seem to liave been regarded as being practically unbroken by the crisis of judgment and the set- tlement by rewards and punishments ; the life of the saints continued in a ^refresher scene with all holier forces reinvigorated. In the later Avesta this future life was depicted as wholly supernatural. 7. ^Yea, bounteous [with-holiness] I-thought Thee, 0-Ahura-Mazda (b) when [/?^-]-with-the-good-mind [the representative of the reli- gious community] came to-me, (c) and asked me ^who art-thou': ^vhose art-thou'?: (d) ^ how to-day shall-I-show manifest- indications for- [that] -questioning; (e) signs in-thy-settlements and in-thy-person [or still more literally 4n thy body']. The prophet is naturally questioned closely as to his origin and the source of his authority. In several strophes the subject to the verb ^came' is not directly expressed: some translators might suppose this subject to be involv- ed in the words ^with-the-good-mind'; thus 'he-who-is-endowed- with-the-good mind', that is to say 'a representative of the political- religious party', a Hrue member of the community'; otherwise strophe 12 gives us the clue: there ^Obedience' is spoken of as ^coming' to the composer; to this the objection might be made that in strophe 12 the approach of Sraosha (lit. obedience) was especially expected, and in that case his presence in the previous strophes does not look so natural. There is force in this, yet in strophe 12 he is not expected alone and unaccompanied, but coming hand-in- hand with ^the giver of the blest recompense and great riches' (or ^ glory')'. However the question is in no sense vital; the subject to the verb is either '[he-]-with-the-good-mind', meaning a represen- tative of the people, or it is sraosha (obedience) understood but probably meaning ^obedience in the acquiescing ally', or ^in some especially loyal person or party' among the Zoroastrians as contrasted with others who may have been hike- warm; (it is safest to regard all these remarkable abstracts, good minrl, sanctity, alertness-of- the ready-mind, obedience, and even ^ the sovereign power' as having been intended to be understood as the characteristics of particular persons or parties; if we really dared to understand them just as they were written in their literal force, the Gathas would surpass all other compositions in moral sublimity: and this latter hypothe- tical, or merely limited fact is one of much importance). — 12 — 8. ^Thereupon to him I Zarathiislitra said at first; (b) ^ [would that I might be] a veritable and powerful castigator to the evil- heretic', [or the word rendered ^powerful' may be in its verbal, rather than in its adjective, form, %ould-that '-I-might-have-power as a veritable castigator'], (c) but to-the-saint I- would-be a-strong joy-giving-help, (d) since to diligent-cares of-the-sovereignty-at-will, [i. e. Your absolute sovereignty in the holy commonwealth] I-am- giving-myself, (e) as-much-as 1-praise Thee, 0-Mazda, and weave- [-my-song] to-Thee '. There is a difference of opinion with refer- ence to the word rendered ^diligent cares'; my venerated friend Professor E. von Roth once preferred ^enjoyments'; ^ since I take the enjoyments of Thy kingdom': see my Gathas at the place with commentary, p. 514, and dictionary (which may be issued by the time that this meets the eye of some readers) ; the main drift of the strophe however is not materially affected. My own view seems to me to be less sentimental and therefore safer than those of others where we differ: but I offer the others as alternatives; still other differences in opinion merely concern the grammatical form of a word, although the ancient Pahlavi translation suggests a different root to it; the result in either case is not materially affected in the light of our present purpose. 9. Tea, I conceived Thee bounteous[-with-holiness] 0-Ahura Mazda, (b) when [he-]-with-Thy-good mind came to-me, (c) bis question [this] ^ for" what to -obtain (or ^ to -know') dost-thou-wish', (d) thereupon, for-Thy fire an offering of-self-humbling-praise [in the spirit] (e) of asha [holiness], [for]-me as-much-as I-may-be- able I-will-think'. There is no difference in opinion here as to the roots present, or as to most of the forms ; some might render ^(c) for what dost Thou wish me to decide', and in the last line ^so lono" as I am able to think'; but such variations have no im- portance for us here. 10. Tea, wilt Thou show me, or ^'provide for me', the ritual- sanctity, since I earnestly-invoke it for myself (b) going-on-hand-in- hand with-aramaiti the alert-readiuess-of-the-mind [or ^vith the one- inspired with it' (masculine (■?))] ; yea-verily, alert-readiness [do-I- invoke, (or ^verily I-would-move-in-active-devotedness ')] : (c) and ask us what questions of-Thee are-asked by-us (^question us as we question Thee' (•?), or ^ teach us how to ask'), (d) for Thy ques- tion[is] as this [question] of-the-mighty-oues, (e) when^to [or 'by'] — 13 — Thee tlie-ruling-[-priestly-king] shall-presont [his] mi-hty prayor- ful-wisli '. Some would give the idea ^may'st Tlioii look upon mv righteousness since I call it here' (?). Then line c is difficult only because its syntax is s.. spare; ^and ask us what to Thee are questions by us', i. e. 'our (jMcstioTm'! it is dangerous to read too much meaning into the pin in words in such a case as this: we should therefore not cite this lino to prove any isolated doctrine or theory. 11. ^Yea, I thought Thee bounteous [with-holiness], O Ahura Mazda, (b) when [he who was endowed] with-the-good mind [tin* loyal citisen] approached me, (c) when with Your words I-first- incited-myself: (d) woes to-me among-men the-heart-devoted-ono announced to-me: (e) this [am I devoted] to -fulfil which 'I'hou- did'st-declare to-me [to be] the-best'. There is a difference in opinion on line (I, ^trusting in men appeared to me to be destruction' has been suggesfe-l by some: see my Comm. p. 516: but this is more sentimental and tiicr«.'f