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92
YASTS AND SÎRÔZAHS.
VIII. TÎR YAST. Tistrya is the leader of the stars against the planets, as stars and planets belong, respectively, to the worlds of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu (Vend. Introd. IV, 36; Bund. II, 5 seq.).
This Yast is a description of the production of the rain through the agency of the star Tistrya. It has to struggle against the Daêva of Drought, Apaosha, is first overcome and conquers at last. This seems to be a refacimento of the old storm myths, which have been in so far renewed as the role of the hero in the original myth has been transferred to a star. It is to be noticed, however, that Apaosha is not described as a planet.
Tistrya is Sirius! It presides over the first month of summer (21 June-21 July). This Yast appears thus to have been written in a part of Iran where the dog-days must have fallen in July, and the rainy season began in the last days of July, unless the place of Tistrya in the calendar has been changed at some later period.
This Yast is recited on the days of Tistrya, Haurvatât (as the Genius of Waters), Farvardîn (as the Fravashis are his allies in the struggle; $ 34), and Bâd (the wind; $ 32).
The struggle between Tistrya and Apaosha is described in the Bundahis (VII), but it has there a cosmological character : it has not for its object the annual and regular return of the rains after the dog-days, but the production of the seas and lakes in the first ages of the world.
o. May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced 1.... Ashem Vohû: Holiness is the best of all good ....
I confess myself a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathustra, one who hates the Daêvas and obeys the laws of Ahura;
For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto (Hâvani), the holy and master of holiness .....
Unto Tistrya, the bright and glorious star, and unto the powerful Satavaêsa, made by Mazda, who pushes waters forward ?,
1 “Ένα δ' αστέρα προ πάντων, οίον φύλακα και προόπτην εγκατέστησε, τον Leipcov (Plutarchus, de Iside et Osiride, $ 47; cf. infra, $ 48).
2 Sirôzah I, 13.
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| SR No. | 007677 |
| Book Title | Saddharma Pundarika |
| Original Sutra Author | N/A |
| Author | H Kern |
| Publisher | Oxford |
| Publication Year | 1884 |
| Total Pages | 2546 |
| Language | English |
| Classification | Book_English |
| File Size | 46 MB |