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SRAOSHA.
259 heavens, and also into battle; who becomes a yazata of war. See the account of Mithraism, later, p. 276.
Vayu, another Vedic deity, is the storm yazata in the Avesta, and is appealed to by Ormuzd to grant him power to smite Ahriman. He is invoked as a strong warlike helper in every danger. Among other
Vayu. important yazatas are that of Fire, the messenger of the gods, sent down as lightning and sun-fire to the earth ; that of the waters, Ardvisura Anahita, Tistrya the rain-bestower, Verethragna the fiend smiter, and the Sun and Moon, etc. Many of these are identical in name and epithets with Vedic gods or spirits, and in reading the yasts we seem to hear again the strains of the Rig-Veda.
"He who offers up a sacrifice unto the undying, shining, swift-horsed sun, to withstand darkness, to withstand the daevas born of darkness, to withstand the robbers and bandits, to withstand death that creeps in unseen, offers it up to Ahura Mazda, offers it up to the AmeshaSpentas, offers it up to his own soul.
"We sacrifice unto Tistrya, the bright and glorious star, for whom long the standing waters, and the running spring-waters, the stream-waters and the rain-waters : ** When will the bright and glorious Tistrya rise up for us? When will the springs with a flow and overflow of waters, thick as a horse's shoulder, run to the beautiful places and fields, and to the pastures, even to the roots of the plants, that they may grow with a powerful growth ? :)
The spirit or god Sraosha must also be mentioned; his name signifies obedience, especially to the Holy Word. He it was who first tied together the Sraosha. baresma, the consecrated sacrificial branches; he first sang the sacred hymns; three times a day he descends on the world to smite Ahriman. Hence he has been termed the priest-god; the holy prayers are the weapons with which he smites. He requires a man to rise early that he may perform the due rites; he pities the poor and needy, and guards the sanctity of the covenants. Again Ashi or piety, moral order, the daughter
