From Yashts (Hymns to Ahura Mazda, the Archangels, and the Angels)

passages 83 - 114 From Mihr Yasht (Hymn to Mithra)

83. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'Whom the lord of the country invokes for help, with hands uplifted; 'Whom the lord of the town invokes for help, with hands uplifted;

84. 'Whom the lord of the borough invokes for help, with hands uplifted; 'Whom the master of the house invokes for help, with hands uplifted; 'Whom the .... in danger of death invokes for help, with hands uplifted; 'Whom the poor man, who follows the good law, when wronged and deprived of his rights, invokes for help, with hands uplifted.

85. 'The voice of his wailing reaches up to the sky, it goes over the earth all around, it goes over the seven Karshuares, whether he utters his prayer in a low tone of voice or aloud.

86. 'The cow driven astray invokes him for help, longing for the stables: '"When will that bull, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, bring us back, and make us reach the stables? when wilt he turn us back to the right way from the den of the Druj where we were driven?"

87. 'And to him with whom Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, has been satisfied, he comes with help; and of him with whom Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, has been offended, he crushes down the house, the borough, tne town, the province, the country. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

88. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'To whom the enlivening, healing, fair, lordly golden-eyed Haoma offered up a sacrifice on the highest of the heights, on the Haraiti Bareza, he the undefiled to one undefiled, with undefiled baresma, undefiled libations, and undefiled words;

89. 'Whom the holy Ahura Mazda has established as a priest, quick in performing the sacrifice and loud in song. He performed the sacrifice with a loud voice, as a priest quick in sacrifice and loud in song, a priest to Ahura Mazda, a priest to the Amesha-Spentas. His voice reached up to the sky; went over the earth all around, went over the seven Karshvares.

90. 'Who first lifted up Haomas, in a mortar inlaid with stars and made of a heavenly substance. Ahura Mazda longed for him, the Amesha-Spentas longed for him, for the well-slapen body of him whom the swift-horsed sun awakes for prayer from afar.

91. 'Hail to Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who has a thousand ears and ten thousand eyes! Thou art worthy of sacrifice and prayer: mayest thou have sacrifice and prayer in the houses of men! Hail to the man who shall offer thee a sacrifice, with the holy wood in his hand, the baresma in his hand, the holy meat in his hand, the holy mortar in his hand, with his hands well-washed, with the mortar well-washed, with the bundles of baresma tied up, the Haoma uplifted, and the Ahuna Vairya sung through.

92. 'The holy Ahura Mazda confessed that religion and so did Vohu-Mano, so did Asha-Vahishta, so did Khshathra-Vairya, so did Spenta-Armaiti, so did Haurvatat and Ameretat; and all the Amesha-Spentas longed for and confessed his religion. The kind Mazda conferred upon him the mastership of the world; and [so did they] who saw thee amongst all creatures the right lord and master of the world, the best cleanser of these creatures.

93. 'So mayest thou in both worlds, mayest thou keep us in both worlds, O Mithra, lord of wide pastures! both in this material world and in the world of the spirit, from the fiend of Death, from the fiend Aeshma, from the fiendish hordes, that lift up the spear of havoc, and from the onsets of Aeshma, wherein the evil-doing Aeshma rushes along with Vidotu, made by the Daevas.

94. 'So mayest thou, O Mithra, lord of wide pastures! give swiftness to our teams, strength to our own bodies, and that we may watch with full success those who hate us, smite down our foes, and destroy at one stroke our adversaries, our enemies and those who hate us. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

95. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'Who goes over the earth, all her breadth over, after the setting of the sun, touches both ends of this wide, round earth, whose ends tie afar, and surveys everything that is between the earth and the heavens, 96. 'Swinging in his hands a club with a hundred knots, a hundred edges, that rushes forwards and fells men down; a club cast out of red brass, of strong, golden brass; the strongest of all weapons, the most victorious of all weapons;

97. 'From whom Angra Mainyu, who is all death, flees away in fear; from whom Aeshma, the evil-doing Peshotanu, flees away in fear; from whom the long-handed Bushyasta flees away in fear; from whom all the Daevas unseen and the Varenya fiends flee away in fear. 98. 'Oh! may we never fall across the rush of Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, when in anger! May Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, never smite us in his anger; he who stands up upon this earth as the strongest of all gods, the most valiant of all gods, the most energetic of all god , th swiftest of all gods, the most fiend-smiting of all gods, he, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures.

'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

99. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'From whom all the Daevas unseen and the Varenya fiends flee away in fear. 'The lord of nations, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, drives forward at the right-hand side of this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar.

100. 'At his right hand drives the good, holy Sraosha; at his left hand drives the tall and strong Rashnu; on all sides around him drive the waters, the plants, and the Fravashis of the faithful.

101. 'In his might, he ever brings to them falcon-feathered arrows, and, when diiving, he himself comes there, where are nations, enemy to Mithra, he, first and foremost, strikes blows with his club on the horse and his rider; he throws fear and fright upon the horse and his rider. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

102. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'The warrior of the white horse, of the sharp spear, the tong spear, the quick arrows; foreseeing and clever;

103. 'Whom Ahura Mazda has established to maintain and look over all this moving world, and who maintains and looks over all this moving world; who, never sleeping, wakefully guards the creation of Mazda; who, never sleeping, wakefully maintains the creation of Mazda; 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

104. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'Whose long arms, strong with Mithra-strength, encompass what he seizes in the easternmost river and what he beats with the westernmost river, what is by the Sanaka of the Rangha and what is by the boundary of the earth.

105. 'And thou, O Mithra! encompassing all this around, do thou reach it, all over, with thy arms. 'The man without glory, led astray from the right way, grieves in his heart; the man without glory thinks thus in himself: "That careless Mithra does not see all the evil that is done, nor all the lies that are told."

106. 'But I think thus in my heart: '"Should the evil thoughts of the earthly man be a hundred times worse, they would not rise so high as the good thoughts of the heavenly Mithra; '"Should the evil words of the earthly man be a hundred times worse, they would not rise so high as the good words of the heavenly Mithra; '"Should the evil deeds of the earthly man be a hundred times worse, they would not rise so high as the good deeds of the heavenly Mithra;

107. '"Should the heavenly wisdom in the earthly man be a hundred times greater, it would not rise so high as the heavenly w'isdom in the heavenly Mithra; ''And thus, should the ears of the earthly man hear a hundred time better, he would not hear so well as the heavenly Mithra, whose ear hears well who has a thousand senses, and sees every man that tells a lie." 'Mithra stands up in his strength, he drives in the awfulness of royalty, and sends from his eyes beautiful looks that shine from afar, (saying):

108. '"Who will offer me a sacrifice? Who will lie unto me? Who thinks me a god worthy of a good sacrifice? Who thinks me worthy only of a bad sacrifice? To whom shall I, in my might, impart brightness and glory? To whom bodily health? To whom shall I, in my might, impart riches and full weal? Whom shall I bless by raising him a virtuous offspring?

109. '"To whom shall I give in return, without his thinking of it, the awful sovereignty, beautifully. arrayed, with many armies, and most perfect; the sovereignty of an all-powerful tyrant, who fells down heads, valiant, smiting, and unsmitten; who orders chastisement to be done and his order is done at once, which he has ordered in his anger?" 'O Mithra! when thou art offended and not satisfied, he soothes thy mind, and makes Mithra satisfied.

110. '"To whom shall I, in my might, impart sickness and death? To whom shall I impart poverty and sterility? Of whom shall I at one stroke cut off the offspring!

111. '"From whom shall I take away, without his thinking of it, the awful sovereignty, beautifully arrayed, with many armies, and most perfect; the sovereignty of an all-powerful tyrant, who fells down heads, valiant, smiting, and unsmitten; who orders chastisement to be done and his order is done at once, which he has ordered in his anger." 'O Mithra! while thou art satisfied and not angry, he moves thy heart to anger, and makes Mithra unsatisfied. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

112. 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, .... sleepless, and ever awake; 'A warrior with a silver helm, a golden cuirass, who kills with the poniard, strong, valiant, lord of the borough. Bright are the ways of Mithra, by which he goes towards the country, when, wishing well, he turns its plains and vales to pasture grounds,

113. 'And then cattle and males come to graze, as many as he wants.

'May Mithra and Ahura, the high gods, come to us for help, when the poniard lifts up its voice aloud, when the nostrils of the horses quiver, when the poniards ...., when the, strings of the bows whistle and shoot sharp arrows; then the brood of those whose libations are hated fall smitten to the ground, with their hair torn off.

114. 'So mayest thou, O Mithra, lord of wide pastures! give swiftness to our teams, strength to our own bodies, and that we may watch with full success those who hate us, smite down our foes, and destroy at one stroke our adversaries, our enemies, and those who hate us. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....