I.—­YASNAS, OR SACRIFICIAL PRAYERS AND SONGS

[This section of the Avesta constitutes the principal liturgical text-book of the great Yasna ceremony, which is made up chiefly of the preparation and offering of the Parahoma (the juice of the homa or soma plant mixed with milk and aromatic ingredients).  There are seventy-two chapters in the Yasnas, though they contain a good number of repetitions.  It is in this main part of the Avesta that the five metrical Gathas are to be found, these being the oldest and by far the most important of the Avesta.]

CHAPTER I. THE PROCLAMATION OF SALVATION.  I (Zarathustra) make known to Ahura-Mazda the Great God, that I am about to offer him my prayers and sacrifices. (Yasnas.) He is the greatest and best, the most powerful and wise.  I pay homage, also, to the bountiful immortals (the Amensha-Spentas), the guardians of the world.  And to the body of the sacred cow and its soul; (i) to Ahura (Jupiter), Mithra the sun, to the star Sirius; and to the Fravashis (guardian angels of the saints).  If I have offended thee, oh thou greatest one, Ahura-Mazda, or if I have diminished ought of the sacrifices (Yasnas) due to thee, forgive me, O forgive me, thou unerring one.  I declare myself to be a Mazdaist, a Zarathustrian, a sworn foe to the Daevas (2) and a worshipper of Ahura-Mazda.

CHAPTER 4.  We present as offerings, pure thoughts, kind words, beneficent works, the Homa (Soma) flesh-offerings, zaothras (3), the holy veresma (4), suitable prayers, Gatha hymns, and mathra (the Vedic mantra) sacred songs—­these all we present as sacrifices to Ahura-Mazda, the holy Srosh (5), to the bountiful immortals, to the Fravashis, and souls of the pure, and also to the sacred fire of Ahura-Mazda.

CHAPTER 8.  I offer to thee, O Ahura-Mazda, sacrifices of all kinds.  Mayest thou, O all-powerful, all-wise one, rule over thy creatures, over all waters and trees, all empires and dominions, causing fertility, happiness, and universal justice to abound in the world.  In all conflicts between light and darkness, between the good and the bad, let the right prevail, O thou king of righteousness.  I, Zarathustra, urge heads of families, chiefs of clans, and rulers of states, to follow the true religion, that revealed by Ahura-Mazda and proclaimed by his prophet Zarathustra.

CHAPTERS 9 AND 10. [In some manuscripts these chapters are designated Homa-Yashts, because they celebrate the praises of Homa and have the form of Yashts.  In these chapters Homa is personified, as, also, in the Vedas, is the Sanscrit Soma.  In the period before the separation of the Iranians and Indians the worship of the Homa plant (the god of inspiration, etc.) bulked largely.  It died out, however, among the Iranians at an early period, perhaps owing to its prevalence among their Indian rivals, who traced to it that very courage with which they contended against the Iranians.  The present chapters belong to the period of the revival of the Homa cult among the Mazdaists or Zarathustrians.  This comparatively late date is confirmed by the vocabulary and style of the chapters.]