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YASNA LVII.
297
4. And so again may Sraosha, (Obedience) the good, be present here for the worship of the good waters, and of the good and bountiful Immortals, and of Blessedness the good who is closely knit with the Righteous Order to perfect and to incite us ?. Yea, we worship Sraosha the blessed and the stately, who smites with victory, and who furthers the settlements in their advance, the holy lord of the ritual orders
YASNA LVII (Sp. LVI).
THE SRôsh YAST": 1. A blessing is Righteousness (called) the Best,
&c.
Propitiation be to Sraosha, Obedience the blessed, the mighty, the incarnate word of reason, whose body is the Mãthra, him of the daring spear, devoted to the Lord, for (his) sacrificial worship, homage, propitiation, and praise.
Of the female (feminine) names. ? Or, give to us. The Ahuna and Ashem Voha follow here. * The Yênhê hâtām, &c. follows.
• As Sraosha is the only divinity of the later groups mentioned in the first four Gathas, this Yast would seem to have claims to antiquity next after the pieces in the Gathic dialect. The name Sraosha does not appear to have lost its meaning as an abstract quality, notwithstanding the materialistic imagery. With Y. XXVIII, 6 in view, where Sraosha finds the way' to Ahura, or
finds His throne,' we may understand that the worshippers, who first heard this Yast, praised listening obedience, or repentance, as they did nearly all the remaining abstract qualities, together with their principal prayers, and hymns themselves. The rhythm of the original has been somewhat imitated in the rendering given, as it is difficult to avoid doing so, and to avoid other objectionable features at the same time.
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