English Zoroastrian Library : Avesta

Avesta - Hymn to Mithra

Based on AVESTA – Hymn to Mithra (1 to 21)

1) Lord Wisdom spake unto Spitama Zarathustra, saying: 'Verily, when I created Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, O Spitama! I created him as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy of prayer as myself Lord Wisdom.

2) 'The ruffian who lies unto Mithra brings death unto the whole country, injuring as much the faithful world as a hundred evil-doers could do. Break not the contract, O Spitama! neither the one that thou hadst entered into with one of the unfaithful, nor the one that thou hadst entered into with one of the faithful who is one of thy own faith. For Mithra stands for both the faithful and the unfaithful.

3) 'Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, gives swiftness to the horses of those who lie not unto Mithra. 'Fire, the son of Lord Wisdom, gives the straightest way to those who lie not unto Mithra. The good, strong, beneficent Fravashi spirits of the faithful give a virtuous offspring to those who lie not unto Mithra.

4) 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer unto him a sacrifice worth being heard, namely, unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures. 'We offer up libations unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who gives a happy dwelling and a good dwelling to the nations.

5) 'May he come to us for help! May he come to us for ease! May he come to us for joy! May he come to us for mercy! May he come to us for health! May he come to us for victory! May he come to us for good conscience! May he come to us for bliss! He, the awful and overpowering, worthy of sacrifice and prayer, not to be deceived anywhere in the whole of the material world, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures.

6) 'I will offer up libations unto him, the strong Yazata god, the powerful Mithra, most beneficent to the creatures: I will apply unto him with charity and prayers: I will offer up a sacrifice worth being heard unto him, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures,with the Soma drink and meat, with the baresma sticks, with the wisdom of the tongue, with the holy spells, with the speech, with the deeds, with the libations, and with the rightly-spoken words.

7) We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, who is truth-speaking, a chief in assemblies, with a thousand ears, well-shapen, with ten thousand eyes, high, with full knowledge, strong, sleepless, and ever awake.

8 ) To whom the chiefs of nations offer up sacrifices, as they go to the field, against havocking hosts, against enemies coming in battle array, in the strife of conflicting nations.

9) 'On whichever side he has been worshipped first in the fullness of faith of a devoted heart, to that side turns Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, with the fiend-smiting wind, with the cursing thought of the wise. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

10) 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, ....sleepless, and ever awake.

11) 'Whom the horsemen worship on the back of their horses, begging swiftness for their teams, health for their own bodies, and that they may watch with full success those who hate them, smite down their foes, and destroy at one stroke their adversaries, their enemies, and those who hate them, 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

12) We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, ....sleepless, and ever awake;

13) Who first of the heavenly gods reaches over the Hara, before the undying, swift-horsed sun; who, foremost in a golden array, takes hold of the beautiful summits, and from thence looks over the abode of the nations with a beneficent eye.

14) 'Where the valiant chiefs draw up their many troops in array; where the high mountains, rich in pastures and waters, yield plenty of the cattle; where the deep lakes, with salt waters, stand; where wide-flowing rivers swell and hurry towards Ishkata and Pouruta…..

15) 'On ……..,the abode of cattle, the dwelling of cattle, the powerful Mithra looks with a health-bringing eye;

16) 'He who moves along all the Karshvares, a Yazata god unseen, and brings glory; he who moves along all the Karshvares, a Yazata god unseen, and brings sovereignty; and increases strength for victory to those who, with a pious intent, holily offer him libations.'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....

17) 'We sacrifice unto Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, ....sleepless, and ever awake;'Unto whom nobody must lie, neither the house-lord, nor the clan-lord , nor the tribe-lord, nor the chieftain of the land,

18) 'If the master of a house lies unto him, or the clan-lord, or the tribe-lord , or the chieftain of the land, then comes Mithra, angry and offended, and he breaks asunder the house, the clan, the district, the land; and the masters of the houses, the lords of the clan, the lords of the tribe, the chieftains of the land, and the foremost men of the land.

19) 'On whatever side there is one who has lied unto Mithra, on that side Mithra stands forth, angry and offended, and his wrath is slow to relent.

20) 'Those who lie unto Mithra, however swift they may be running, cannot overtake; riding, cannot ....; driving, cannot ..... The spear that the foe of Mithra flings, darts backwards, for the number of the evil spells that the foe of Mithra works out.

21) 'And even though the spear be flung well, even though it reach the body, it makes no wound, for the number of the evil spells that the foe of Mithra works out. The wind drives away the spear that the foe of Mithra flings, for the number of the evil spells that the foe of Mithra works out. 'For his brightness and glory, I will offer him a sacrifice worth being heard....