Among the Avestan Fragments, attention might finally be called to one which we must be glad has not been lost.  It is an old metrical bit (Frag. 4, 1-3) in praise of the Airyama Ishya Prayer (Yt. 54, 1).  This is the prayer that shall be intoned by the Savior and his companions at the end of the world, when the resurrection will take place; and it will serve as a sort of last trump, at the sound of which the dead rise from their graves and evil is banished from the world.  Ormazd himself says to Zoroaster (Frag. 4, 1-3):—­

     The Airyama Ishya prayer, I tell thee,
     Upright, holy Zoroaster,
     Is the greatest of all prayers. 
     Verily among all prayers
     It is this one which I gifted
     With revivifying powers.

     This prayer shall the Saoshyants, Saviors,
     Chant, and at the chanting of it
     I shall rule over my creatures,
     I who am Ahura Mazda. 
     Not shall Ahriman have power,
     Anra Mainyu, o’er my creatures,
     He (the fiend) of foul religion. 
     In the earth shall Ahriman hide,
     In the earth the demons hide. 
     Up the dead again shall rise,
     And within their lifeless bodies
     Incorporate life shall be restored.

Inadequate as brief extracts must be to represent the sacred books of a people, the citations here given will serve to show that the Avesta which is still recited in solemn tones by the white-robed priests of Bombay, the modern representatives of Zoroaster, the Prophet of ancient days, is a survival not without value to those who appreciate whatever has been preserved for us of the world’s earlier literature.  For readers who are interested in the subject there are several translations of the Avesta.  The best (except for the Gathas, where the translation is weak) is the French version by Darmesteter, ‘Le Zend Avesta,’ published in the ‘Annales du Musee Guimet’ (Paris, 1892-93).  An English rendering by Darmesteter and Mills is contained in the ‘Sacred Books of the East,’ Vols. iv., xxiii., xxxi.

[Illustration:  Signature:  A.V.  Williams Jackson]

A PRAYER FOR KNOWLEDGE

This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright:  when praise is to be offered, how shall I complete the praise of the One like You, O Mazda?  Let the One like Thee declare it earnestly to the friend who is such as I, thus through Thy Righteousness within us to offer friendly help to us, so that the One like Thee may draw near us through Thy Good Mind within the Soul.

2.  This I ask Thee, O Ahura! tell me aright how, in pleasing Him, may we serve the Supreme One of the better world; yea, how to serve that chief who may grant us those blessings of his grace and who will seek for grateful requitals at our hands; for He, bountiful as He is through the Righteous Order, will hold off ruin from us all, guardian as He is for both the worlds, O Spirit Mazda! and a friend.