The History of Antiquity, Vol. 5 (of 6)Duncker, Max
History
The History of Antiquity, Vol. 5 (of 6)
Duncker, Max
History, Ancient
In the Avesta the god Haoma says, Vivanghana was the first who crushed
out the juice of the Haoma. As a reward there was born to him the
brilliant Yima, the lord of the nations, the most famous of all who
have seen the sun. While Yima Kshaeta (Yima the king) reigned there was
neither cold nor excessive heat, neither age nor death, nor envy, caused
by the evil spirits: fathers and sons equally had the vigour of men
of fifty years. Yima caused the means of support for mankind to be
inexhaustible; he liberated the waters and trees from drought, and the
herds from death.[53] In an invocation to the goddess Ardviçura, the
giver of water, to whom Yima sacrifices a hundred horses, a thousand
oxen, and ten thousand head of small cattle on Hukairya, the summit of
the divine mountain, he prays, "Grant to me, Saviour Ardviçura, that I
may be the sovereign of all lands, that I may carry away from the Daevas
(the evil spirits) increase and health, fodder and herds, joy and
glory." To the goddess Ashi vanguhi, Yima also offers a prayer "that he
may bring food and flocks to the creatures of Mazda, and immortality,
and may remove hunger and thirst, age and death, the hot wind and the
cold from the creatures of Mazda for a thousand years." And the morning
wind, Vayu, is entreated that "Yima may be the most merciful of all
creatures, and that under his dominion he may make cattle and mankind
immortal, that the waters and trees may never dry up and wither." In the
fragments of the book of the law in the Avesta, Zarathrustra inquires of
Auramazda to whom he (the god) had first revealed the true doctrine.
Auramazda answers, "I spoke first with Yima, the excellent one. I said
to him, Yima, thou beautiful son of Vivanghana, be thou the preacher and
bearer of my doctrine. But Yima answered, I am not fitted to be the
preacher of the doctrine. Then I, Auramazda, spoke and said, If thou
wilt not obey me, Yima, to be the bearer of my law, yet make my world
fruitful; be the keeper of my earthly creatures, their protector and
lord. And Yima, the excellent one, answered, I will cause thy creatures
to prosper and increase; I will be the keeper, protector, and lord of
them. Therefore I, Auramazda, gave to him two instruments, a golden
staff and an ox goad adorned with gold, and three hundred years passed
by. And the land was full of herds and beasts of draught, of men, and
dogs, and birds, and red flaming fires. And there was no more any room
for the flocks, and men, and beasts of draught. Then I warned Yima: O
Yima, excellent one, son of Vivanghana, there is no more any room for
the herds, and beasts of draught, and men. And Yima went forth to meet
the stars and the path of the sun (_i.e._ towards the east). He struck
with the golden staff upon the earth, and smote it with the goad, and
said, Çpenta Armaiti (O holy earth), arise, part thyself asunder, thou
bearer of animals and of men. And Yima pushed the earth asunder so that
it was a third part greater than before.
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