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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com


p. 401

CHAPTER XXII 1.

1. May Aûharmazd give thee the august rank and throne of a champion 2!

2. May Vohûman give thee wisdom! may the benefit of knowing Vohûman 3 be good thought, and mayest thou be acting well, that is, saving the soul!

3. May Ardavahist, the beautiful, give thee understanding and intellect!

4. May Shatvaîrô grant thee wealth from every generous one!

5. May Spendarmad grant thee praise through the seed of thy body! may she give thee as wife a woman from the race of the great!

6. May Horvadad grant thee plenty and prosperity!

7. May Amerôdad grant thee herds of four-footed beasts!

p. 402

8. May Dînô always secure 1 thee the support of the creator Aûharmazd!

9. May the light of the sublime Âtarô 2 hold thy throne in heaven!

10. May Âvân grant thee wealth from every generous one!

11. May Khûr hold thee without mystery and doubt among the great and thy compeers (hambudîkân)!

12. May Mâh give thee an assistant, who is the assistant of champions!

13. May Tîstar hold thee a traveller in the countries of the seven regions!

14. Gôsûrvan the archangel 3 is the protection of four-footed beasts.

15. May Dînô always remain for thee as the support of the creator Aûharmazd!

16. May Mitrô be thy judge, who shall wish thy existence to be vigorous!

17. May Srôsh the righteous, the smiter of demons, keep greed, wrath, and want 4 far from thee! may he destroy them, and may he not seize thee as unjust!

18. May Rashnû be thy conductor 5 to the resplendent heaven!

p. 403

19. May Fravardîn give thee offspring, which may bear the name of thy race!

20. Vâhrâm the victorious is the stimulator of the warlike.

21. May Râm, applauding the life of a praiser of the persistent 1 lord, keep thee perfect (aspar), that is, living three hundred years 2, undying and undecaying unto the end of thy days!

22. May Vâd bring thee peace 3 from the resplendent heaven!

23. May Dînô always secure thee the support of the creator Aûharmazd!

24. May Dînô become thy guest in thy home and dwelling!

25. Arshisang, the beautiful, is the resplendent glory of the Kayâns.

26. May Âsd be thy helper, who is the assistant of champions!

27. May Âsmân bless thee with all skill and wealth!

p. 404

28. May Zamyâd destroy for thee the demon and fiend out of thy dwelling!

29. May Mâraspend hold thee a throne in the resplendent heaven!

30. May Anîrân the immortal, with every kind of all wealth, become thy desire! the horses of God (yazdân) 1 who shall come that he may go, and thou mayest obtain a victory.

31. May destiny give thee a helper! he is the guardian of the celestial sphere for all these archangels whose names I have brought forward; may he be thy helper at all times, in every good work and duty!

32. Homage to Srît 2 the teacher! may he live long! may he be prosperous in the land! may his be every pleasure and joy, and every glory of the Kayâns, through the will of the persistent Aûharmazd!


Footnotes

401:1 These last two chapters are found written upon some folios which have been added to the beginning of M6; but, though not belonging to that MS. originally, they are still very old. The first of these two chapters has not been found elsewhere; it is an elaborate benediction, in which the writer calls down, upon some one, a series of blessings from each of the thirty archangels and angels whose names are given to the days of the Parsi month in the order in which they here stand (compare the same names in Bund. XXVII, 24).

401:2 The meaning of the word pâdg or pâdrang (which occurs also in §§ 12, 26, and appears to be a title) may be guessed from the following passage in the Yâdkâr-i Zarîrân, or Vistâsp-shâh-nâmak: Pavan har razm va pâdrazm-i lak pîrôg va vêh pâdg sem yâîtûnî-ae, 'in every attack and counter-attack of thine mayest thou bring away the title of conqueror and good champion!'

401:3 The reading is uncertain.

402:1 This verb is doubtful; here and in § 23 it is netrûnâd, 'may she guard,' but in § 15 it is ketrûnâd, 'may she remain.'

402:2 Bûrz âtarô, 'the sublime fire,' seems to be a personification of the fire Berezi-savang of Bund. XVII, 1; 3, the Supremely-benefiting of SZS. XI, 1, 6.

402:3 She is usually called an angel. Either the verb is omitted in this section, or it is not a blessing; and the same may be said of §§ 20, 25.

402:4 These are the three fiends, Âz, Aeshm, and Nîyâz (see Bund. XXVIII, 15-17, 26, 27).

402:5 It is very possible that the verb should be yehabûnâd, p. 403 instead of yehevûnâd, in which case we should have 'give thee a passport.'

403:1 The meaning of khvâpar (Av. hvâpara) is by no means certain; it is an epithet of Aûharmazd, angels, and spirits, and is then often assumed to mean 'protecting;' but it is also a term applied to the earth and offspring; perhaps 'self-sustaining' would suit both its etymology and its various applications best, but the root par has many other meanings.

403:2 That is, two great cycles. It is usual for the copyists of Pahlavi MSS. to wish, in their colophons, that the persons for whom the MSS. are written, whether themselves or others, may retain the MSS. for a hundred and fifty years before leaving them to their children; which period is mentioned because it is supposed to constitute a great cycle of the moon and planets.

403:3 Written drûd instead of drûd.

404:1 Both nouns are in the plural, and both verbs in the singular. Anîrân is a personification of Av. anaghra raokau, 'the beginningless lights,' or fixed stars (which, however, are said to have been created by Aûharmazd in Bund. II, 1), and these stars appear to have been considered as horses of the angels (Bund. VI, 3, SZS. VI, 1). There are several uncertain phrases in §§ 30-32.

404:2 This would appear to be the name of the person to whom the benediction is addressed, as it can hardly be meant for the ancient hero Thrita, the Athrat of Bund. XXXI, 27, and the Srîtô of SZS. XI, 10, note.


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