________________
152
SELECTIONS OF ZÂD-SPARAM.
that there was a river, and from them the body of a naked woman floated, for the reason that, on account of the strength and swiftness of the river, a woman, except when she was quite naked while she was in it, was not able to pass; and an old person, such as he who is of seventy years and is called in revelation a Hânô 1, for want of power (a pâdiyâvandih râi), was not able to go back through it by his own strength. 5. Zaratūst came on to the bank of the water, and of women and old people seven persons had come, and are passed on by him, in the manner of a bridge ?; it was an emblem of the spiritual performers 8 of bridging work, that is, of those providing a passage to heaven.
6. About his liberal disposition it is declared, that the fodder of Pôrůshaspô, which was stored for the beasts of burden, was not only for the beasts of Pôrůshaspô in a scarcity, but also for distribution among the beasts of others, which, owing to their hunger on account of the scarcity, then constantly ate off the tails of each other; and it was given to them plentifully.
7. About his abandoning worldly desire, and his laying hold of righteousness of way, this, too, is declared, that when he became twenty years old, without the consent (bên akâmakih) of his father and mother, he wandered forth and departed from
one of the two mythical rivers which were supposed to bound the Irânian world, and seems to represent the Aras as a northern and the Nile as a western boundary. Arang often becomes Arag in Pahlavi, just as sang becomes sag.
1 Av. hano in Vd. III, 19, 20; &c. ? Probably holding each other's hands.
& The sacred beings who assist the righteous souls to pass over the Kinvad bridge.
Digitized by Google
