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112
THE GÂTHAS.
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 near3 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 (Heaven) 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 6 from (us) all, guardian (as He is) for both the worlds, O Spirit Mazda! and a friend.
read nemê with B.V.S. (variation) in Y. LVIII, 3, and render, how shall I bow myself in your worship?'
1 The Pahl. hamkardâr is likewise followed. The alteration to hâkôrenâ is very interesting, but, I think, hardly necessary.
Observe the great difficulty in referring Khshmâvatô to a human subject. Here we have the homage of the One like You (of Yours?)' some would say); in Y. XXXIII, 8 we have Yasnem Mazda (Ahura) Khshmâvatô; in Y. XXXIV, 2 Khshmâvatô vahmê; in Y. XLIX, 6 Tãm daênãm ya Khshmavato Ahura. Khshmavatô is sometimes merely a way of saying of Thyself,' as mavaitê=to me.
: Observe also the emphasis on his drawing near'; otherwise " let Your one declare it to my friend '(?).
See Roth, Y.XXXI,8. See, however, also de Harlez's suggestion, perhaps after the hint of the Pahlavi : 'qu'elle a été l'origine ?' Here we have another instance where an entire verse seems to allude to Ahura in the third person with an address to Him thrown in, or at the close. In connection with angheus vahistahyâ Ahura must be the pourvya, as in Y. XXXI, 8, where Roth renders vornehmster. The guardian is also Ahura (see Y. XXXI, 13).
I cannot fully accept the hint of the Pahlavi here as others do who seldom heed it. I do not think that sin' is so much indicated as destruction.'
• Mainya is suspiciously expressive as a vocative; perhaps by spiritual power' would be safer.
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