Makaranda Madhukar Anand Mahendale Festshrift

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 242

Notes on Avestic Asha "Truth'
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incompetence in matters of Avesta grammar. In his Sanskrit version of the Pahlavi Neriosangh simply renders aswahist by asawahišta-. More notable is his rendering of ahlayih 'truthfulness' by the expected dharma- or, alternatively, by the unexpected punya- 'religious merit'.
Also surprising is Neriosangh's rendering of Phl. ahlaw 'truthful' by punyātman- 'whose soul has religious merit, of meritorious soul' or muktātman- 'of emancipated soul', and of Phl. druwand 'deceitful' by durgatimant 'unfortunate, distressful'. On this occasion he breaks the stereotype of the Pahlavi translation, obviously describing așa- as a condition that is enjoyed by pious people in both this world and the afterworld.
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Av. ašauuan- 'truthful' describes the condition of a pious person in this world in V 5, 61 juuascit nõit buuat așauua, mošascit noit baxšait<e> vahistahe anhduš = PhlT. ziwandag ne bawēd ahlaw [ku bē ne wizārēd ā-š] murd ně baxšēnd än i pahlom axwan) 'when living he cannot become truthful [i.e. he cannot expiate his soul], when he has died they will not allot to him the best existence'. In contrast, Old Persian ṛtāwān- is said of a person in the afterworld in Xerxes Ph 47-48 šiyāta ahaniy jīva utā mṛta ṛtāvā ahaniy 'happy may I be when living, and when dead may I be truthful (=blessed)', and ibidem 5456 hauv utā jīva šiyāta bavatiy utā mṛta ṛtāwā bavatiy 'he becomes happy while living, and becomes truthful (=blessed) when dead'.
A parallel of the Old Persian interpretation of the term is obvious in Mēnōy i Xrad 44, 34, which says of the inhabitants of Erän Wez ka mirend ahlaw hend 'when they die they are truthful (=blessed)' which in Neriosangh's Sanskrit reads yadi (*yadā) mriyante muktā bhavanti 'when they die they become emancipated'.