Text of Confucianism Part 02

SR No.: 007676
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Legge
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1882
Total Pages: 2405
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 43 MB

Page 1043

62
DÂDISTÂN-I DÎNÎK.
the light of dawn and the period of Aûshahin', because the mountain Aûshdâstâr is mentioned
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in the propitiation of the angel Âstâd. 3. With Âstâd is the propitiation of the period of Aûshahin 3, and she is the ruler of glory of that time when the account occurs; the souls are in the light of the dawn of Aushahin when they go to the account; their passage (vidâr) is through the bright dawn.
4. One sacred cake, which is in propitiation of the good Vâê, is, moreover, on this account: whereas the bad Vâê is a despoiler and destroyer, even so the good Vâê is a resister (kûkhshidâr), and likewise encountering the bad Vâê; he is also a diminisher (vizûdâr) of his abstraction of life,
'One of the five periods of the day and night, extending from midnight until the stars disappear in the dawn, or, as some say, until all the fixed stars disappear except four of the first magnitude (see Bd. XXV, 9, Sls. XIV, 4-6).
2 Called Ushi-darena in the Avesta, and identified with some mountain in Sagastân in Bd. XII, 15. It is mentioned in the dedicatory formula of Âstâd (see Sir. 26), and its name is evidently here supposed to mean 'the holder of dawn,' an appropriate term for a lofty mountain to the eastward.
Both Rashnu and Âstâd are blessed in the prayers appointed for the Aûshahîn period of the day.
The 'glory of the Aryans' is lauded in the Âstâd Yast.
The spirit of air, or angel Râm, who receives and protects the good soul on its way to the other world (see Chap. XXVIII, 2, 5). Identified with Astô-vîdâd, the demon of death, in Bd. XXVIII, 35, but Pahl. Vend. V, 25, 31 makes him a separate demon, who conveys away the bound soul, which would identify him with the demon Vîzarêsh of Vend. XIX, 94, Bd. XXVIII, 18. There is very little doubt, however, that the Pahlavi translator of Vend. V misunderstood the Avesta, which merely says that 'Astô-vidhôtu binds him, Vayô conveys him bound,' referring probably to the good Vâê who receives the parting soul; and Pahl. Vend. V, 31 admits that this was the opinion of some.
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