Saddharma Pundarika

SR No.: 007677
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

Page 1039

TÎR YAST.
95
space?, which Erekhsha?, the swift archer, the Arya amongst the Aryas whose arrow was the swiftest, shot from Mount Khshaotha to Mount Hvanvant 3.
7. For Ahura Mazda gave him assistance; so did the waters and the plants; and Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, opened a wide way unto him.
*For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard ....
8. 'We sacrifice unto Tistrya, the bright and glorious star, that afflicts the Pairikas, that vexes the Pairikas, who, in the shape of worm-stars 4, fly
· Mainivasau=mainyu-asau (meaning pun mînổi gîvâkîh, svargasthanam, Yasna LVII, 27 [LVI, 11, 3]).
* Erekhsha khshviwi-ishus, in Pahlavi Aris Shivâtir (see Etudes Iraniennes, II, 220), or 'Aris of the swift arrow, was the best archer in the Iranian army. When Minokihr and Afrâsyab determined to make peace and to fix the boundary between Irân and Turân, it was stipulated that Aris should ascend Mount Damâvand, and from thence discharge an arrow towards the east; and that the place in which the arrow fell should form the boundary between the two kingdoms. Aris thereupon ascended the mountain, and discharged towards the east an arrow, the flight of which continued from the dawn of day until noon, when it fell on the banks of the Gihûn (the Oxus);' (Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, trans. by David Shea, p. 175; cf. Noeldeke, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenländischen Gesellschaft, 1881, p. 445.)
s Mount Khshaotha seems to be the same as Mount Damavand (see preceding note); Mount Hvanvant may be the same as Mount Bâmîân, from which the Balkh river springs, as according to Tabari (trans. by Noeldeke, 1. 1.), Aris' arrow stopped at the Balkh river (an affluent of the Oxus). But it may be that the limits given refer to the course of Tistrya; cf. $ 38, text and note.
• Doubtful. Shooting stars are alluded to. Mr. Geiger remarks that there is a swarm of shooting stars falling every year just at the time when Tistrya, in the European climate, is supposed to be most active, on the roth of August.
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