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Four More Popular Yaksinis
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supreme god Ahura Mazda says: "Worship for me, O Spitāma Zarathustra, the heroic pure Aradvi (Arədvi Sură Anāhitā), who extends herself widely, who is health-giving ... holy, who furthers waterchannels, the holy, who furthers herds, the holy, who furthers fields, the holy, who furthers possessions, the holy, who furthers the land, who prepares the seeds of all males, who makes ready for birth the offspring of all males, (who) makes all females deliver easily, who provides milk for all females at the proper time, the great, far-famed, who is of the magnitude of all the waters that flow on this earth ..."180
Anahita has another aspeet as well; in this Yasht V (7) reads: "O Zarathustra, Arədvi Sură Anāhitā came forth from the Creator, the wise; beautiful were her white arms, as strong as horses ... (Anahitā) who flows ( ? hastens) with her strong arms..." Again, in Yasht V (11) we find, Anāhitā is she “who drives the chariot ahead, holding the reins of the chariot as she travels on this chariot ... who has four steeds to draw (her), all uniformly white, equally fast and tall, who vanquish the hostility of all enemies, of the devil and of men, of sorcerers and witches, of tyrants, of obdurant princes and priests ... It is she who grants boons to the Iranian heroes that they may smite the daevas and their mortal enemies ..."
"Thus we see in this Yasht that Anihită is worshipped both as a fertility and water-goddess and as a war goddess, ... a protectress who assures victory to the Iranian heroes who worship her and denies it to their enemies."181
We have records of Anahità cult in Iran from Achaemenian times to the present day. It is recorded that Aratexerxes II (404-359 B.C.) caused the cult of Anahitå to flourish along with other cults. He established shrines to Anihità in Susa, Ecbatana, and elsewhere. Once the cult was established it spread widely beyond the borders of Iran, and took root strongly in Armenia and Asia Minor. 182
A temple or sanctuary of Anahitä near Persepolis was known since the time of Artexerxes II and a fire temple of Anahiti at Istakhr is mentioned in the third century inscription of Kartir at Naqsh-eRostam. The cult of Anahitá as a war-goddess attained widespread popularity during the Parthian period and continued even during the reign of Ardashir I (A.D. 226 ?-240). After defeating Ardavan. Ardashir sent the severed heads of his enemies to an Anāhitā temple. Shapur 1 (A.D. 309-379) did the same with the heads of Christians executed in Pars. Chaumont states that Anahita was the only one amongst the gods to whom heads were offered in the temple. 183
Hanaway notes that "an important element in the iconography of Anahiti is her frequent association with the bird. She is often depicted on Sassanian vessels and trays of silver and bronze as accompanied by doves and peacocks. 181
A coin from the collection of Narendra Sinhji Singhi of Calcutta shows on the obverse the figure of Kuşāna King Kaniska I with the legend in Greek script reading Kaneshko Koshano. B.N. Mukherjee discussed this coin elaborately and described the female figure on its reverse as "facing to front, and seated on a lion, standing (or walking) to left. She has a crescent above her shoulders. Locks of hair, along two sides of her head, hang down to the shoulders ... Another crescent is seen above her head. She wears a chiton reaching near her feet, which rest on a lotus (?). She holds a sceptre in her left hand, and a fillet in the right."185 The blundered legend on the right, in Greek script, is deciphered by B.N. Mukherjee as NWNA CAO, i.e., NwNa SAO 'which reminds one of the legend NANA SHAO appearing along with a female deity on a number of Kusana coins. 186 Mukherjee writes: "Apparently the goddess (with sceptre and patera), described as Nana Shao in certain coin legends is referred to as Nana (or Nanaia, or Nano or Shao Nano) in some others."187 The female figure on lion on the coin under discussion is called NANA SHAO in the legend, and the name judged against the background of our knowledge of the appearance of the West and Central Asian deities on Kusa na coins, 188 connects or identifies her with Nana, 189 the Babylonian (Sumerian) goddess. The latter was considered to be the same as the Akkadian as well as the Assyrian deity Ishtar." Ishtar is also conceived as a mother-goddess. Lion was sacred to her, and is a symbol emphasising her war-like character. In Mesopotamian glyptic art and statuary she is shown as war-goddess armed with a bow, quivers, arrows and a sword (or a sceptre) and standing on a lion. Mukherjee has shown that Ishtar and Nani were also connected with the Persian Anahita, a common link having been their supposed identity with the planet Venus. 190
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