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Introduction:
The Âbân Yasht, literally "Waters Veneration," is a collection of
hymns in praise of Aredvi Sûrâ Anâhita. It is one of the oldest,
longest, and most interesting yashts in the Avesta.
"Âbân" is the plural of Persian "âb - water." The term "yasht"
means "venerated/veneration" in Pahlavi. Its Avestan form "yashta"
from "yaz - to venerate, revere" has not survived. Originally
meaning any prayer, today it stands for a specific collection of several
hymns of varying sizes in praise of a single, favorite deity, a sure sign
of Indo-Iranian henotheism, so evident in the Rig Veda. The hymns are
linked to one another by one specific stanza of repetitive salutation or
recommendation, so much so that the entire chain appears to consist of one
long hymn of varying and occasionally out of context subjects concerning
one specific deity.
The yashts fall in four groups. (1) Those that have their origin in
pre-Zarathushtrian times. They are more epical in character and are highly
poetical. (2) Those that belong to the post-Zarathushtrian period and are
based, more or less, on the pre-Zarathushtrian patterns. (3) Those that
exclusively belong to the post-Zarathushtrian period and have hardly
anything in common with the other two. These are prosaic and are mostly
addressed to Ahura Mazda and certain abstract divine faculties personified
for the purpose. They recommend prescribed spells to be recited to drive
away evil beings. (4) Miscellaneous subjects of "Perception" standing for
the Good Conscience religion, Commemoration List of the Pioneers of Good
Conscience, and Eastern Iran Mountains and the Kayanian Glory.
The pre-Zarathushtrian yashts, as they stand today, were modified to suit
and 'blend' well with the evolving form of post Gathic Zoroastrianism. The
language, particularly the style, reveals the difference between the
original and the edited and added pieces. The Aban Yasht is one of these.
Originally, the yashts were listed in Dâtik, the legislative and
administrative part of the Sassanian collection of the Avesta because they
are more materialistic in character than the Gathic part (Gâhânik),
the fundamentally religious part of the scriptures. Furthermore, the
epical yashts were, it appears, favorite songs sung by warriors, another
reason they were classified as administrative material.
The Names and Meanings:
The Aban Yasht, mostly in a very epical in style, has its roots deep in
the pre-Zarathushtrian Aryan cult, which had, among other gods and
goddesses, its male and female water deities. It presents Aredvi
Sûrâ Anâhitâ, a specific river and a specific goddess.
Grammatically the first word "Aredvi" is the name and the two
following are the epithets. Again, since grammatically "water" is feminine
in gender, the name and the two epithets are also feminine.
Aredvi, if derived from the Indo-Iranian root 'rud/rudh,'
would mean "roaring," and if from "ared/rdh" would mean
"speeding," both appropriate roots for a river speeding with many roaring
waterfalls. "Sûrâ" means "brave, bold, valiant" and "an +
â + hitâ = 'an' prefix of negation + 'â'
prefix of motion and emphasis + 'hitâ' bound, stagnant = unbound,
not-stagnant," and therefore 'undefiled' and fresh." In simple words River
"Aredvi, the bold, the fresh," a befitting name and fame for a gushing
freshwater river. Stagnant water was, because of pollution, reasonably
considered impure and defiled. Running fresh water was, therefore, "anâhitâ
- definitely undefiled."
The secondary meaning of "anâhitâ" as "undefiled" has lately been
stretched to stand for "chaste and immaculate." This has been done under
the influence of the "virgin birth" and the "Immaculate Conception" tales,
first by Christian translators and now being emphasized by a few "Mithraists."
Let me clear a point for good. "Anâhitâ," with its emphatic "â"
only and only means "(definitely) undefiled" in the extant
Avesta. It has no connection whatsoever with virginity and chastity. In
the Indo-Iranian lore getting married and bearing children is a great
merit and not the loss of "virginity" for the normal and natural
reproduction. A life of celibacy and virginity has not been prescribed in
the Avesta. Marriage and children are emphasized. The words "âhitâ/âsitâ"
and "hitâ/sitâ" have never been used to point to an
"unchaste" or married woman. The two sister Indo-Iranian languages have "kanyâ"
for virgin. We have a variant "kainin" in Avesta, used twice in the
Aban Yasht -- stanzas 64 and 87 -- once for Aredvi and the other for young
girls wanting to have good husbands. These are the only words, which mean
and have been used for "virgin."
"Anâhitâ" has never been used in the extant Avesta, including the Aban
Yasht, as the NAME of any deity. It is an epithet, generally the
second, of Aredvi only. The Pahlavi rendering does not give its "Anâhid"
for the epithet but translates it with "avinast -- uncorrupted,
undefiled." It reads: Ardvisûr i avinast (Yasna 65:1, 65:4), and
Ardvisûr i avinast i ahlav i ahlâyih rad = Ardvisûr, the
undefiled, the righteous, the leader (Avestan "ratu") of
righteousness. (Vispered 1:5).
The Pahlavi "Anâhid" alone as a proper name stands for the star
Venus and so does "Nâhid" in modern Persian. It has no connection
with water.
That makes the point quite clear: Anâhitâ is neither a goddess nor a
particular "virgin" woman in the extant Avesta, Pahlavi and the Persian
literatures. It is just an epithet and has been used to define Aredvi
better.
It may be noted that with the exception of a few, the Yashts and Neyâyeshes
are given the "first and real" names of their relevant deities: "Ardvisûr
Bânu Yasht, Ardvisûr Bânu Neyâyesh, Âtash Neyâyesh,
Bahrâm Yasht, Khorshid Yasht, Khorshid Neyâyesh,
Mehr Yasht, Mehr Neyâyesh, Mâh Yasht, Mâh Neyâyesh,
and Tir Yasht. Ardvisûr Bânu Yasht and Neyâyesh are popularly
known as "Âbân Yasht and Neyâyesh." No yasht or neyâyesh exists in
the name Anâhid/Nâhid simply because this is not the real name of the
river or the deity, and the star Venus has no yasht or neyâyesh in its
honor.
Aredvi has been described as "âpa - water" (Yasna 65:1-5; Vispered
1:5; Yasht 1:21; Vendidad 7:16). Aredvi apô anâhitâ (Aredvi
water, the undefiled) is among many waters/rivers created by Mazda (Âbân
Neyâyesh:1).
The yasht, the neyâyesh and the description in the Yasna 65 confirm her
as the Aredvi River, obviously deified in certain passages as the river
goddess only. There are other deities, both female and male in grammatical
genders, which are connected with waters. Tishtraya (Tîr),
male, is the rain deity and has a full Yasht in his honor to tell his
feats of fighting the Daeva of Drought and of flooding rivers. Apam-napât
(literally "the water- offspring"), male, an undefined Avestan/Vedic
deity, "divides the waters amongst the countries in the material world."
Ahurâni (literary "lady"), the name shows, presides as a "female
divinity" over certain waters. She has Yasna 68 to venerate her and "all
other waters upon the earth, whether standing, or running, or waters of
the well, or spring-waters which perennially flow, or the drippings of the
rains, or the irrigations of canals," and the Vouru-kasha Sea, in which,
although not mentioned, Aredvi is said to pour. Aredvi is absent in this
Yasna only because she has her own, Yasna 65. Again Rashnu (Truth
animated), male, strangely "lives in the stars that bear the seed of
waters." Aredvi is not mentioned. (Rashn Yasht, stanza 29).
Likewise, Aredvi is absent in the Mehr Yasht, dedicated to Mithra, and
Mithra is absent in the Aban Yasht. This is in spite of the fact that one
is "water/river" and the other is associated with pastures. In fact, in
his Yasht, "Mithra of wide pastures" independently makes "the waters to
flow, … makes the waters run and the plants to grow" (Stanza 61). When
on the warpath, Sraosha (Gathic Intuition animated), Rashnu, the Fravashis
(ancestral spirits), "waters and plants drive along his chariot." (Stanza
100).
Perhaps, the Aredvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ River was not watering the region
where Mithra had his wide pastures. Or there were many rivers and
rivulets and Aredvi was one of the "waters" and the composer/s of the
Yasht did not see the necessity to mention any by its name. Aredivi and
Mithra are not mentioned together in the late Yasna and Vispered sections
where many of the deities are stereotypically venerated by name. The two
stand apart in different stanzas. No connection whatsoever! The same holds
true about her in the Tir Yasht, dedicated to the rain deity Tishtrya.
None of these has any connection with Aredvi. Henotheistic hymns seldom
mix homogenous deities.
The ÃBÃN Yasht:
The Yasht has 30 Sections and 132 stanzas. Sections are made up of two to
10 stanzas, mostly of 4 stanzas. A closer study divides it into three
parts: (a) the River, (b) the Goddess and (c) an appendix:
(a) The Aredvi River:
"The water Ardvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ, … with a volume sounding from afar,
which is alone equal in its bulk to all the waters which flow forth upon
earth, which flows down with mighty volume from Mount Hukairya to the
Vouru-kasha Sea. All the shores of the Vouru-kasha are boiling over, all
the middle of it is boiling over when Aredvi, the brave, the undefiled
runs down into it, when she plunges foaming into them; she, whose are a
thousand tributaries, and a thousand streams, and each as it flows in, or
rushes out, is as long as a man can ride for 40 days on a good horse.
And of all these waters of mine that flow in the seven climes, this river
flows always the same in summer and in winter. She, of my waters, purifies
the seed of men, the wombs of housewives and the milk of housewives.
I, who am Ahura Mazda, brought it out with power (?) so that the house,
the community, the district, and the country is protected, nourished,
guarded, preserved, and sheltered. (Stanzas 3-6)
She has 1000 lakes and 1000 tributaries. Each lake and each tributary is
as long as a galloping horse would take its rider for 40 days. Each
tributary has a well-built house with 100 bright windows, 1,000 well-cut
pillars, and 10,000 strong supports. A clean, perfumed bed lies in the
palace hall.
Aredvi, the brave, the undefiled falls from a height of 1000 men."
(Stanzas 101-102)
"Ahura Mazda has created four male horses for her -- the wind, rain, cloud
and sleet. For me, it rains, snows, hails and sleets on her.
I venerate the all-glory golden Mount Hukairya from which for me Aredvi,
the brave, the undefiled falls down a height of 1000 men."
(Stanzas120-121).
In short, Aredvi is a mighty river, the largest on the earth. It drops
down into a waterfall of almost 5,555 feet from Mount Hukairya, 33 times
higher than the Niagara Falls! It flows even in summer and winter. A
thousand lakes are formed by it in the long course. It has a thousand
tributaries. Each lake or tributary is about 300 miles. The rich have
built large houses with many windows, stone pillars, and supports on the
banks of its tributaries. They have luxurious furniture. The great river
waters the lands for miles and miles and then splashes into the
"broad-shore" sea.
Several rivers of the Central Asia could be Aredvi. It could be Oxus,
modern Amu Darya. It rises from the Pamirs and today flows into Lake Ural.
But once, it poured into the Caspian Sea. It could be Harakhvati
(Sanskrit Sarasvati) meaning "abounding in lakes" another
appropriate name for the river forming "1000 lakes." The Achaemenian "Harahuvati"
(Arachosia) province was situated between Zranka (Drangiana), modern
Sistan in Iran and Gandara (Gandhara), modern Punjab in Pakistan. This
means southern part of Afghanistan and northern part of Baluchistan, at
present divided between Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan. This has made
some scholars to think that the river is modern Arghandab, in Afghanistan,
which begins north of Kabul and ends almost close to the Pakistani border.
Harahuvati/Sarasvati divided the Indo-Iranians into two camps -- the
Avestan and the Vedic. In Rig Veda, Sarasvati, is a celebrated river and
also a "beautiful, fair" river Goddess. To the Vedics who moved further
and further into the Indian sub-continent, Sarasvati became a faint
recollection, and the name was transferred to a small river, close to the
great Yamuna. Later, she became the goddess of 'Speech.' Or, Aredvi/Harahuvati
could be the Indus, flowing from the Himalayas to the sea. Both Aredvi and
Sarasvati are said to be coming down the sky. It either indicates the
"sky-high" mountain from which it poured down or the clouds that watered
her.
The odds are in favor of the Amu Darya, a river where the Indo-Iranians
lived together before moving southward to split into two. There is a
possibility that the upper roaring part of the river was called Aredvi and
the lower lake-full as Harakhvaiti. The Avestan people, moving in almost
the same terrain, retained the memory better and later applied her names
to other prominent rivers along which they settled in due course. And for
the early inland Aryan settlers, the Caspian was "Vouru-kasha," quite the
"broad-shore" sea.
Aredvi is called the healer; promoter of herd, home, country and the
world; purifier of the male seed and the female womb; facilitator of
childbirth, and the increaser of milk in breasts. It simply reveals the
belief the Avestan people had about the vital part played by water in
their life.
(b) The Boon-Bestowing Chariteer Goddess:
There is a total of 23 sections in this part, 2 to 20 (mostly relating to
pre-Zarathushtrians) and 24 to 27 (relating to Zarathushtra, his
contemporaries and the following generation). This part relates in a
stereotype style the events in which Aredvi Sura Anahita, a goddess, is
begged for boons. A chain of 23 dignitaries, all male -- Ahura Mazda,
Zarathushtra and kings and heroes of pre-and-post-Zarathushtrian Iran --
each in his relevant age and place, approach her with libation and huge
animal sacrificial rituals and a request to vanquish their foes,
accomplish a supernatural feat or win a favor. Those whom she likes, she
grants the boons they beg for but those she despises, she refuses in spite
of the bloody sacrifices made by them in her honor. She is the favorite
deity of both -- the ones she likes and the ones she dislikes! It shows
that all of them shared a common belief in her proficient power. Both
belonged to the same creed. It may be noted that none of the boons have
anything to do with water or its bounties. She is not approached as the
river/water deity at all.
Here is how she is approached:
The following is an example of five boons, four granted and one rejected:
(1) "She was venerated by the Creator Ahura Mazda in Airyana Vaejah, by
the good river Dâitya, with Haoma juice, milk, baresman twigs, wisdom of
the tongue, provoking thoughts, words, deeds, libations, and
rightly-spoken words.
He begged her: 'Grant me this boon, O good, most beneficent Ardvi Sûrâ
Anâhitâ so that I may bring the son of Pourushaspa, the Righteous
Zarathushtra, to think according to the Religion, speak according to the
Religion and to act according to the Religion.' Ardvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ
granted him the boon during the time he was busy with the libations,
offering, veneration, and begging that the boon be granted." (Stanzas
17-19)
(2) 'She was venerated by Righteous Zarathushtra in the Airyana Vaejah, by
the good river Dâitya; with Haoma juice, milk and baresman twigs, wisdom
of the tongue, provoking thoughts, words, deeds, libations, and with the
rightly-spoken words.
He begged her: 'Grant me this boon, O good, most beneficent Ardvi Sûrâ
Anâhitâ so that I may bring the son of Aurvataspa, the valiant Kavi
Vistaspa, to think according to the Religion, speak according to the
Religion and to act according to the Religion.' Ardvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ
granted him that boon during the time he was busy with the libations,
offering, veneration, and begging that the boon be granted." (Stanzas
104-106)
(3) "She was venerated by Yima Khshaeta, the good shepherd, on top of
Mount Hukairya with one hundred horses, one thousand bulls, and ten
thousand sheep.
He begged her: 'Grant me this boon, O good, most beneficent Aredvi Sûrâ
Anâhitâ, that I may become the sovereign lord of all lands, Daevas, men,
sorcerers, fairies, priests and the princes; and that I may take from the
Daevas both riches and welfare, both prosperity and herds, both weal and
fame.' Ardvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ granted him that boon during the time he was
busy with the libations, offering, veneration, and begging that the boon
be granted." (Stanzas 25-27)
(4) "She was venerated by Azhi Dahâka, the three-mouth, in the land of
Bawri, with one hundred horses, one thousand bulls, and ten thousand
sheep. He begged her: 'Grant me this boon, O good, most beneficent Aredvi
Sûrâ Anâhitâ, that I may make all the seven regions of the earth empty
of mankind.'
Aredvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ did not grant him the boon." (Stanzas 29-31)
(5) "She was venerated by the valiant warrior Tusa on the back of his
horse. He begged her swiftness for his teams, health for his own body, and
that he might watch with full success those who hated him, smite down his
foes, and destroy at one stroke his adversaries, his enemies, and those
who hated him.
He begged of her a boon, saying: 'Grant me this, O good, most beneficent
Ardvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ, that I may overcome the gallant sons of Vaesaka,
by the castle Khshathro-saoka, that stands high up on the lofty, holy
Kangha; that I may smite of the Turanian people in their fifties, their
hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thousands and their
tens of thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads.'
Ardvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ granted him that boon as he was with the libations,
offering, veneration, and begging that the boon be granted." (Stanzas
53-55)
The three types of cattle offered for sacrifice add into a total of 1300
horses, 13,000 bulls, and 130,000 sheep. Ahura Mazda and Zarathushtra
offered only libations. No animals. Those up in the air, on horseback or
in other similar positions were spared the offerings before they begged
for boons. Whether they did it after they got their boons is not made
clear.
Here is how the deity is portrayed:
Aredvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ stands for herself
Appearing in shape of a virgin,
tall, upright, well-shaped and beautiful;
her lovely fair arms resemble the forelegs of a mare;
she wears a crown of gold
with hundred stars, octagon in shape, a shining circle,
with ribbons flowing and flying.
She has square-shaped golden earrings.
Her lovely neck is adorned by a gold necklace.
Her breasts, made more prominent by her tight belt,
has glittering with ornaments.
She wears a costly gold-embroidered gown with many folds.
She adorns a fur coat made of the skins of thirty female beavers,
who have borne four young ones and live in water.
Such beavers have the skin that, if treated well at the right time,
shines like gold and silver woven together.
Thus attired, she rides a chariot with reins in her hands.
Her chariot is drawn by four white horses of the same breed.
They are the wind, the rain, the cloud, and the hail.
(Stanzas 126-129)
(c) The Appendix:
It divides in three parts:
(1) The repetitive command:
The command that Zarathushtra should venerate Aredvi Sûrâ Anâhitâ,
given in stanza 2 of section 1, is repeated at the beginning of every
section, making it said for 30 times and the stereotyped observance of it
with "audible" veneration with Haoma juice, milk and baresman twig
offerings is repeated at the end of each section. The command and its
observance are repeated both while relating the offerings made by Ahura
Mazda, pre-Zarathushtrians, Zarathushtra and the contemporaries.
This strange and other similar instances in the epical Yashts clearly show
the great extent of efforts made by the Âthravan priests in command to
bring back, in their elaborate rituals, the names of the
pre-Zarathushtrian deities, whom Zarathushtra does not give even a casual
mention in his Sublime Songs, although the Songs are punctuated throughout
with the names of Mazda and the abstract Primal Principles of Life. He has
enough room to mention the sky, earth, sun, moon, wind, cloud, waters, and
trees as part of the universal nature, created by Mazda, but he does not
personify or deify any of them. They are what science tells and not what
one may fancy.
(2) Asking for Veneration:
Several stanzas are devoted in which Aredvi asks that she should be
approached with proper libations and veneration. In addition to these,
rulers and warriors are told to pray for power, Âthravan priests for
knowledge and success, young women for husbands, and pregnant women for
easy delivery. She says "O Spitama, Ahura Mazda appointed you as the
Ratu (Leader) of the material world and appointed me as the
guardian of all the righteous creation. It is through my splendor and
glory that flocks and herds and two-legged men walk upon the earth. I
maintain all good things made by Mazda, the products of Asha just as a
shepherd keeps his flock." (Stanzas 85-90) This should make her the
mistress of all and deprive many a deity of his/her domain, particularly
Mithra of the wide pastures. But so are all henotheistic praises in many
lores, especially the Indo-Iranian ones.
(3) Barring Persons from Participation:
In addition to WOMEN and the person "who does not chant the
Gathas," she gives a list of persons with known and 'unknown' diseases and
physical deformations, from crooked teeth to hunchback, who are all barred
from participating in her libations. (Stanzas 92-93)
This makes one wonder why a female deity is so much devoted to male heroes
and bars her own kind. But one can guess that it is not she but the
composer of the "Boon-Begging" part who, although a devotee to a female
deity, appears to be a male chauvinist.
It may be repeated that Zarathushtra does not mention any of the gods and
goddesses of the Aryan cult in his sublime songs, not even casually, and
this includes the deity Aredvi. In fact, he rejects all other deities and
recognizes only Ahura Mazda, the Wise God (Gathas: Songs 7.5, 9.11 &
10.11; and Fravarti 10 [Yasna 12.6]). Nevertheless the yashts and other
parts of the Avesta have preserved their pre-Zarathushtrian
characteristics and the post-Zarathushtrian transformations when they were
reincorporated into Zoroastrianism.
Conclusion
The perusal has shown that the collection known as the "Âbân Yasht," has
two distinct parts: A river by the name of Aredvi with the epithets of
"sûrâ - brave" and "anâhitâ - undefiled," and a goddess
of the same name that bestows boons who beg her with simple libation and
or huge animal sacrifice. The two have hardly anything in common,
except the name. It is very difficult to answer whether it is a
co-incident or not. The description of the river is a beautiful example of
poetic imagination, a very good example of the Iranian descriptive
literary heritage. The story of the boons by the charioteer beauty also
shows how kings and heroes sacrificed to beg for boons before undertaking
an expedition. Aredvi is not the sole deity begged for boons. We have a
few more and the story is repeated almost in the same stereotype words.
Only the names of the deities are substituted. Another deity approached
with similar animal sacrifices is Drvaspâ (Mare-health) female
deity, who is defined as the guardian of small and large cattle and adults
and children in only one stanza and other 31 stanza are devoted to her
boons granted to those begging with the same number of animal offerings (Yasht
9). And yet another female deity approached for boons by the same kings
and heroes is Ashi, the Gathic term for "reward," personified in
her Yasht 17. It is a post-Gathic composition; therefore she is offered
only simple libations and no animal sacrifice. In Yasht 15, Vayu,
the Wind deity, male, is approached by Ahura Mazda, Kings and heroes for
boons and they are granted without any offerings except the "praise' while
begging.
Although monotonous, the epical yashts speak of the easily memorized
popular songs. Again a good example of the Iranian heritage.
Then we have the clear signs that some person/s successfully synchronized
the two separate entities into a long poem and added Ahura Mazda,
Zarathushtra and other late personalities into the stereotyped begging for
boons. The repetitive insistence that Zarathushtra should also venerate
her here and again similar commands and recommendations in case of other
deities and rituals, reveal how certain persons were working hard to
institutionalize the Good Conscience Religion of Zarathushtra into an
elaborate ritualistic system. And looking at the post-Gathic Avestan
literature, we see that they succeeded. But there are signs that show that
the pristine pure Gathic movement lasted even after the fall of the
Sassanians. That, however, requires a separate essay to prove it. |
