Zend Avesta Part 03

SR No.: 007673
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: L H Mills
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1887
Total Pages: 2618
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 229

178
THE GÂTHAS.
his identification with the people, he declares that the Archangels' are of one mind with Mazda in bestowing spiritual blessings, the chief of which are inspired words, the source of their discipline, and the guide of their hopes.
21. And with assurances as to the greatness of the spiritual blessings implied in all that he has said, he prays Ahura all the more earnestly to grant them to His elect. 22. And he declares that Ahura knows and observes the man who fulfils every command that he has uttered, as well as believes every doctrine which he has divulged, and that, knowing Him, He also marks Him as the object of His grace. And he ends by expressing once more his desire to approach the Bountiful Immortals, not as naming them alone, but naming them, as we may well suppose, with a full appreciation of all that is meant by the sacred words which belong to them as names.
Translation. 1. The good Government (of Ahura 1) is to be chosen (among all wished-for things.2) as that lot which most of all brings on (our happiness). Actions that oppress us it opposes 3, through the holy Order (which pervades it), and with the pious zeal (of its true servants). Therefore, O Great Creator I let me
1 It is far better to take Khshathra in its usual and often necessary sense. And it is especially desirable not to confound it with shồithra=kshetra.
2 The choice one.
s One is somewhat inclined to regard vîdushemnâis as a monstrous form of vid, which has crept into the text under the influence of the two words vîdushê in verse 8, and owing to an attempt to fill out the metre, the original word having been vîdemnâis. The Pahlavi gives no indication except for a form of dû=to give. Leaving the MSS. intact, I compare dush + vi.
I render as above on the principle that the text in the MSS. should not be violated where it is possible to translate it at all. Reading vîdemnâis we might render, 'that kingdom's privileges are shared (it is entered and penetrated) by men who act (by actions) in a manner to further its security, (by actions gaining it).
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