# Yashts — Yasht 8

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> Source: Avesta.org. The Yashts, Yasht 8, translation: L.H. Mills / J. Darmesteter (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887), Avesta.org. License: Public domain (translation predates 1928).
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> AVESTA: KHORDA AVESTA (English): Yasht 8 - Hymn to Sirius.
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> 8. TISHTAR YASHT (Hymn to Tishtrya)
> 
> This digital edition copyright © 1995 by
> Joseph H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
> 
> Translated by James Darmesteter, From Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898.
> 
> Tishtrya is the angel (Yazad) of the star Sirius. Tishtrya also presides over the
> fourth month and the thirteenth day of each month, and also directs the rain.
> 
> 0. May Ahura Mazda be rejoiced!....
> 
> Ashem Vohu: Holiness is the best of all good....
> 
> I confess myself a worshipper of Mazda, a follower of Zarathushtra,
> one who hates the Daevas and obeys the laws of Ahura;
> 
> For sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification unto [Havani],
> the holy and master of holiness....
> 
> Unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star, and unto the powerful
> Satavaesa, made by Mazda, who pushes waters forward,
> 
> Be propitiation, with sacrifice, prayer, propitiation, and glorification.
> 
> Yatha ahu vairyo: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness....
> 
> NOTES:
> 
> I.
> 
> 1. Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathushtra, saying: 'We worship
> the lordship and mastership [of Tishtrya], whereby he protects
> the Moon, the dwelling, the food, when my glorious stars come
> along and impart their gifts to men. I will sacrifice unto the
> star Tishtrya, that gives the fields their share [of waters].
> 
> 2.
> 'We offer up libations unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious
> star, that gives happy dwelling and good dwelling; the white,
> shining, seen afar, and piercing; the health-bringing, loud-snorting,
> and high, piercing from afar with its shining, undefiled rays;
> and unto the waters of the wide sea, the Vanguhi of wide renown,
> and the species of the Bull, made by Mazda, the awful kingly Glory,
> and the Fravashi of the holy Spitama Zarathushtra.
> 
> 3. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice
> worth being heard, namely, unto the star Tishtrya.
> 
> 'Unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star, we offer up the
> libations, the Haoma and meat, the baresma, the wisdom of the
> tongue, the holy spells, the speech, the deeds, the libations,
> and the rightly-spoken words.
> 
> 'Yenhe hatam: All those beings of whom Ahura Mazda....
> 
> II.
> 
> 4. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> who is the seed of the waters, powerful, tall, and strong, whose
> light goes afar; powerful and highly working, through whom the
> brightness and the seed of the waters come from the high Apam
> Napat.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> III.
> 
> 5.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star;
> for whom long flocks and herds and men, looking forward for him
> and deceived in their hope: "When shall we see him rise up,
> the bright and glorious star Tishtrya? When will the springs run
> with waves as thick as a horse's size and still thicker? Or will
> they never come?"
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> IV.
> 
> 6. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious
> star; who flies, towards the sea Vouru-Kasha,
> as swiftly as the arrow darted through the
> 
> heavenly space1, which Erekhsha, the swift archer,
> the Arya amongst the Aryas whose arrow was the swiftest, shot
> from Mount Khshaotha to Mount Hvanvant.
> 
> 1. Mainivasau = mainyu-asau (meaning pun mînôî
> jîvâkîh, svargasthânam, Yasna 57.27.
> 
> 7.
> 'For Ahura Mazda gave him assistance; so did the waters and
> the plants; and Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, opened a wide
> way unto him.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> V.
> 
> 8.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> that afflicts the Pairikas, that vexes the Pairikas, who, in the
> shape of worm-stars, fly between the earth and the heavens, in
> the sea Vouru-Kasha, the powerful sea, the large-sized, deep sea
> of salt waters. He goes to its lake in the shape of a horse, in
> a holy shape; and down there he makes the waters boil over, and
> the winds flow above powerfully all around.
> 
> 9.
> 'Then Satavaesa makes those waters flow down to the seven
> Karshvares of the earth, and when he has arrived down there, he
> stands, beautiful, spreading ease and joy on the fertile countries
> (thinking in himself): "How shall the countries of the Aryas
> grow fertile?"
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> VI.
> 
> 10.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> who spoke unto Ahura Mazda, saying: "Ahura Mazda, most beneficent
> Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!
> 
> 11.
> '"If men would worship me with a sacrifice in which I
> were invoked by my own name, as they worship the other Yazatas
> with sacrifices in which they are invoked by their own names,
> then I should have come to the faithful at the appointed time;
> I should have come in the appointed time of my beautiful, immortal
> life, should it be one night, or two nights, or fifty, or a hundred
> nights."
> 
> 12.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya;
> 
> 'We sacrifice unto the rains of Tishtrya.
> 
> 'We sacrifice unto the first star; we sacrifice unto the rains
> of the first star.
> 
> 'I will sacrifice unto the stars Haptoiringa, to oppose the Yatus
> and Pairikas.
> 
> 'We sacrifice unto Vanant, the star made by Mazda; for the well-shapen
> strength, for the Victory, made by Ahura, for the crushing Ascendant,
> for the destruction of what distresses us, for the destruction
> of what persecutes us.
> 
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, whose eye-sight is sound.
> 
> 13.
> 'For ten nights, O Spitama Zarathushtra! Tishtrya, the bright
> and glorious star, mingles his shape with light, moving in the
> shape of a man of fifteen years of age, bright, with clear eyes,
> tall, full of strength, strong, and clever.
> 
> 14.
> 'He is active as the first man was; he goes on with the strength
> of the first man; he has the virility of the first man.
> 
> 15.
> 'Here he calls for people to assemble, here he asks, saying:
> "Who now will offer me the libations with the Haoma and the
> holy meat? To whom shall I give wealth of male children, a troop
> of male children, and the purification of his own soul? Now I
> ought to receive sacrifice and prayer in the material world, by
> the law of excellent holiness."
> 
> 16.
> 'The next ten nights, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the bright and
> glorious Tishtrya mingles his shape with light, moving in the
> shape of a golden-horned bull.
> 
> 17.
> 'Here he calls for people to assemble, here he asks, saying:
> "Who now will offer me the libations with the Haoma and the
> holy meat? To whom shall I give wealth of oxen, a herd of oxen,
> and the purification of his own soul? Now I ought to receive sacrifice
> and prayer in the material world, by the law of excellent holiness."
> 
> 18.
> 'The next ten nights, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the bright and
> glorious Tishtrya mingles his shape with light, moving in the
> shape of a white, beautiful horse, with golden ears and a golden
> caparison.
> 
> 19.
> 'Here he calls for people to assemble, here he asks, saying:
> "Who now will offer me the libations with the Haoma and the
> holy meat? To whom shall I give wealth of horses, a troop of horses,
> and the purification of his own soul? Now I ought to receive sacrifice
> and prayer in the material world, by the law of excellent holiness."
> 
> 20.
> 'Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the bright and glorious Tishtrya
> goes down to the sea Vouru-Kasha in the shape of a white, beautiful
> horse, with golden ears and a golden caparison.
> 
> 21.
> 'But there rushes down to meet him the Daeva Apaosha, in the
> shape of a dark horse, black with black ears, black with a black
> back, black with a black tail, stamped with brands of terror.
> 
> 22.
> 'They meet together, hoof against hoof, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> the bright and glorious Tishtrya and the Daeva Apaosha. They fight
> together, O Spitama Zarathushtra! for three days and three nights.
> And then the Daeva Apaosha proves stronger than the bright and
> glorious Tishtrya, he overcomes him.
> 
> 23.
> 'And Tishtrya flees from the sea Vouru-Kasha, as far as a
> Hathra's length. He cries out in woe and distress, the bright
> and glorious Tishtrya: "Woe is me, O Ahura Mazda! I am in
> distress, O Waters and Plants! O Fate and thou, Law of the worshippers
> of Mazda! Men do not worship me with a sacrifice in which I am
> invoked by my own name, as they worship the other Yazatas with
> sacrifices in which they are invoked by their own names.
> 
> 24.
> '"If men had worshipped me with a sacrifice in which
> I had been invoked by my own name, as they worship the other Yazatas
> with sacrifices in which they are invoked by their own names,
> I should have taken to me the strength of ten horses, the strength
> of ten camels, the strength of ten bulls, the strength of ten
> mountains, the strength of ten rivers."
> 
> 25.
> 'Then I, Ahura Mazda, offer up to the bright and glorious
> Tishtrya a sacrifice in which he is invoked by his own name, and
> I bring him the strength of ten horses, the strength of ten camels,
> the strength of ten bulls, the strength of ten mountains, the
> strength of ten rivers.
> 
> 26.
> 'Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the bright and glorious Tishtrya
> goes down to the sea Vouru-Kasha in the shape of a white, beautiful
> horse, with golden ears and golden caparison.
> 
> 27.
> 'But there rushes down to meet him the Daeva Apaosha in the
> shape of a dark horse, black with black ears, black with a black
> back, black with a black tail, stamped with brands of terror.
> 
> 28.
> 'They meet together, hoof against hoof, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> the bright and glorious Tishtrya, and the Daeva Apaosha; they
> fight together, O Zarathushtra! till the time of noon. Then the
> bright and glorious Tishtrya proves stronger than the Daeva Apaosha,
> he overcomes him.
> 
> 29.
> 'Then he goes from the sea Vouru-Kasha as far as a Hathra's
> length: "Hail!" cries the bright and glorious Tishtrya.
> "Hail unto me, O Ahura Mazda! Hail unto you, O waters and
> plants! Hail, O Law of the worshippers of Mazda! Hail will it
> be unto you, O lands! The life of the waters will flow down unrestrained
> to the big-seeded corn fields, to the small-seeded pasture-fields,
> and to the whole of the material world!"
> 
> 30.
> Then the bright and glorious Tishtrya goes back down to the
> sea Vouru-Kasha, in the shape of a white, beautiful horse, with
> golden ears and a golden caparison.
> 
> 31.
> 'He makes the sea boil up and down; he makes the sea stream
> this and that way; he makes the sea flow this and that way: all
> the shores of the sea Vouru-Kasha are boiling over, all the middle
> of it is boiling over.
> 
> 32.
> 'And the bright and glorious Tishtrya rises up from the sea
> Vouru-Kasha, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the bright and glorious Satavaesa
> rises up from the sea Vouru-Kasha; and vapours rise up above Mount
> Us-hindu, that stands in the middle of the sea Vouru-Kasha.
> 
> 33.
> 'Then the vapours push forward, in the regular shape of clouds;
> they go following the wind, along the ways which Haoma traverses,
> the increaser of the world. Behind him travels the mighty wind,
> made by Mazda, and the rain, and the cloud, and the sleet, down
> to the several places, down to the fields, down to the seven Karshvares
> of the earth.
> 
> 34.
> 'Apam Napat, O Spitama Zarathushtra! divides the waters amongst
> the countries in the material world, in company with the mighty
> wind, the Glory, made by the waters, and the Fravashis of the
> faithful.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> VII.
> 
> 35.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> who from the shining east, moves along his long winding course,
> along the path made by the gods, along the way appointed for him
> the watery way, at the will of Ahura Mazda, at the will of the
> Amesha-Spentas.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> VIII.
> 
> 36.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> whose rising is watched by men who live on the fruits of the year,
> by the chiefs of deep understanding; by the wild beasts in the
> mountains, by the tame beasts that run in the plains; they watch
> him, as he comes up to the country for a bad year, or for a good
> year, (thinking in themselves): "How shall the Aryan countries
> be fertile?"
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> IX.
> 
> 37.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> swift-flying and swift-moving, who flies towards the sea Vouru-Kasha,
> as swiftly as the arrow darted through the heavenly space, which
> Erekhsha, the swift archer, the Arya amongst the Aryas whose arrow
> was the swiftest, shot from Mount Khshaotha to Mount Hvanvant.
> 
> 38.
> 'Ahura Mazda gave him assistance, and the Amesha-Spentas and
> Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, pointed him the way: behind
> him went the tall Ashish Vanguhi and Parendi on her light chariot:
> always till, in his course, he reached Mount Hvanvant on the shining
> waters.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> X.
> 
> 39.
> 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> who afflicts the Pairikas, who destroys the Pairikas, that Angra
> Mainyus flung to stop all the stars that have in them the seed
> of the waters.
> 
> 40.
> 'Tishtrya afflicts them, he blows them away from the sea Vouru-Kasha;
> then the wind blows the clouds forward, bearing the waters of
> fertility, so that the friendly showers spread wide over, they
> spread helpingly and friendly over the seven Karshvares.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> XI.
> 
> 41. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> for whom long the standing waters, and the running spring-waters,
> the stream-waters, and the rain-waters:
> 
> 42.
> '"When will the bright and glorious Tishtrya 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?"
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> XII.
> 
> 43. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> who washes away all things of fear, who stunts the growth of all
> ...., and brings health to all these creations, being most beneficent,
> when he has been worshipped with a sacrifice and propitiated,
> rejoiced, and satisfied.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> XIII.
> 
> 44. 'I will sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> whom Ahura Mazda has established as a lord and overseer above
> all stars, in the same way as he has established Zarathushtra
> above men; whom neither Angra Mainyu, nor the Yatus and the Pairikas,
> nor the men Yatus can deliver unto death, nor can all the Daevas
> together prevail for his death.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> XIV.
> 
> 45. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> to whom Ahura Mazda has given a thousand senses, and who is the
> most beneficent amongst the stars that have in them the seed of
> the waters:
> 
> 46. 'Who moves in light with the stars that have in them the seed
> of the waters: he, from the sea Vouru-Kasha, the powerful sea,
> the large-sized, deep, and salt of waters, goes to all the lakes,
> and to all the beautiful caves, and to all the beautiful channels,
> in the shape of a white, beautiful horse, with golden ears and
> a golden caparison.
> 
> 47.
> 'Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the waters flow down from the
> sea Vouru-Kasha, mother-like, friendly, and healing: he divides
> them amongst these countries, being most beneficent, when he has
> been worshipped with a sacrifice and propitiated rejoiced, and
> satisfied. 'For his brigbtness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice
> worth being heard....
> 
> XV.
> 
> 48. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> for whom long all the creatures of Spenta-Mainyu, those that live
> under the ground, and those that live above the ground; those
> that live in the waters, and those that live on dry land; those
> that fly, and those that run in the plains; and all those that
> live within this boundless and endless world of the holy Spirit.
> 
> 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth
> being heard....
> 
> XVI.
> 
> 49. 'We sacrifice unto Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
> the healthful, wise, happy, and powerful, who is the lord of a
> thousand boons, and grants many boons to that man who has pleased
> him, whether begging or not begging for them.
> 
> 50. 'I, O Spitama Zarathushtra! have created that star Tishtrya
> as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy of prayer, as worthy of propitiation,
> as worthy of glorification as myself, Ahura Mazda;
> 
> 51.
> 'In order to withstand, to break asunder, to afflict, to drive
> back the malice of that Pairika Duzyairya, whom evil-speaking
> people call Huyairya.
> 
> 52.
> 'Had I not created that star Tishtrya as worthy of sacrifice,
> as worthy of prayer, as worthy of propitiation, as worthy of glorification
> as myself, Ahura Mazda;
> 
> 53.
> 'In order to withstand, to break asunder, to afflict, to drive
> back the malice of that Pairika Duzyairya, whom evil-speaking
> people call Huyairya;
> 
> 54.
> 'Then all day long, all night long, that Pairika Duzyairya
> would wage war against this material world of mine, wanting to
> extinguish its life, and she goes on, rushing upon and around
> it.
> 
> 55.
> 'But the bright and glorious Tishtrya keeps that Pairika in
> bonds, with twofold bonds, with threefold bonds, that cannot be
> overcome, with bonds all over the body: it is as if there were
> a thousand men keeping one man in bonds, a thousand men of those
> who are the strongest in strength.
> 
> 56.
> 'If the Aryan countries, O Spitama Zarathushtra! would perform
> in honour of the bright and glorious Tishtrya the due sacrifice
> and invocation, just as that sacrifice and invocation ought to
> be performed in the perfection of holiness; never should a hostile
> horde enter these Aryan countries, nor any plague, nor leprosy,
> nor venomous plants, nor the chariot of a foe, nor the uplifted
> spear of a foe.'
> 
> 57.
> Zarathushtra asked: 'What is then, O Ahura Mazda! the sacrifice
> and invocation in honour of the bright and glorious Tishtrya,
> as it ought to be performed in the perfection of holiness?'
> 
> 58.
> Ahura Mazda answered: 'Let the Aryan nations bring libations
> unto him; let the Aryan nations tie bundles of baresma for him;
> let the Aryan nations cook for him a head of cattle, either white,
> or black, or of any other colour, but all of one and the same
> colour.
> 
> 59.
> 'Let not a murderer take of these offerings, nor a whore,
> nor a .... who does not sing the Gathas, who spreads death in
> the world and withstands the law of Mazda, the law of Zarathushtra.
> 
> 60.
> 'If a murderer take of these offerings, or a whore, or a ....
> who does not sing the Gathas, who spreads death in the world and
> withstands the law of Mazda, the law of Zarathushtra, then the
> bright and glorious Tishtrya takes back his healing virtues.
> 
> 61.
> 'Plagues will ever pour upon the Aryan nations; hostile hordes
> will ever fall upon the Aryan nations; the Aryans will be smitten,
> by their fifties and their hundreds, by their hundreds and their
> thousands, by thetr thousands and their tens of thousands, by
> their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads.
> 
> 62. 'Yatha ahu vairyo: The will of the Lord is the law of holiness....
> 
> 'I bless the sacrifice and prayer, and the strength and vigour
> of Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star, and of the powerful
> Satavaesa, made by Mazda, who pushes waters forward.
> 
> 'Ashem Vohu: Holiness is the best of all good....
> 
> '[Give] unto that man brightness and glory, .... give him the
> bright, all-happy, blissful abode of the holy Ones.'
> 
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> — *Yashts — Yasht 8 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))*