Part 1 — From the Avesta. Part I.
Reading edition
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda, the Good Principle, answered: "It is the place whereon one of the faithful steps forward, O Zoroaster, with the holy wood in his hand,[1] the baresma in his hand,[2] the holy meat in his hand,[3] the holy mortar in his hand,[4] fulfilling the law with love, and beseeching aloud Mithra.[5]"
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the second place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place whereon one of the faithful erects a house with a priest therein, with cattle, with a wife, with children, and good herds within; and wherein afterwards the cattle go on thriving, holiness is thriving, fodder is thriving, the dog is thriving, the wife is thriving, the child is thriving, the fire is thriving, and every blessing of life is thriving."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the third place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where one of the faithful cultivates most corn, grass and fruit, O Zoroaster! where he waters ground that is too dry, and dries ground that is too wet."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fourth place where the Earth feels most happy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where there is most increase of flocks and herds."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first place where the Earth feels sorest grief?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the neck of Arezura,[6] whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth to the burrow of the Drug.[7]"
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the second place where the Earth feels sorest grief?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where most corpses of dogs and of men lie buried."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fifth place where the Earth feels sorest grief?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place whereon the wife and children of the faithful, O Zoroaster, are driven along the way of captivity, the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing."
"O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the first that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?"
Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who digs out of it most corpses of dogs and men."
Ancient Hymn from the Avesta.
"I am the Keeper; I am the Creator and the Maintainer; I am the Discerner; I am the most beneficent Spirit.
My name is the bestower of health; my name is the best bestower of health.
My name is the Holy; my name is the most Holy.
My name is the Glorious; my name is the most Glorious.
My name is the far-seeing; my name is the Farthest-seeing.
My name is Holiness; my name is the Great one; my name is the good Sovereign; my name is the best of Sovereigns.
My name is the Wise One; my name is the Wisest of the Wise; my name is He who does good for a long time.
These are my names.
And he who in this material world, O Zoroaster! shall recite and pronounce these names of mine either by day or by night;
He who shall pronounce them when he rises up or when he lays him down; when he lays him down or when he rises up; when he binds on the sacred girdle, or when he unbinds the sacred girdle; when he goes out of his dwelling-place, or when he goes out of his town, or when he goes out of his country and comes into another country;
That man, neither in that day nor in that night shall be wounded by the weapons of the foe...; not the knife, not the cross-bow, not the arrow, not the sword, not the club, not the sling-stone shall reach him and wound him.
But these names shall come in to keep him from behind and to keep him in front ... from the evil ones, bent on mischief, and from that fiend which is all death—Angra Mainyu.
It will be as if there were a thousand men watching over one man."
—Trans. Zend-Avesta: Sacred Books of the East. Max Muller, ed. V. 4, 23, 31.
PART OF ARCHER'S FRIEZE IN AN ANCIENT PERSIAN PALACE.
