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Early Indo-European Texts
Avestan
Scott L. Harvey and Jonathan Slocum
This page contains a text in Avestan with a modern English translation. This particular text and its translation are extracted from a lesson in the Early Indo-European Online series, where one may find detailed information about this text (see the Table of Contents page for Old Iranian Online in EIEOL), and general information about the Avestan language and its speakers' culture.
Old Avestan: Yasna 29, the Cow's Lament
1 xshmaibyâ gêush urvâ gerezhdâ kahmâi mâ thwarôzhdûm kê mâ tashat
â mâ aêshemô hazas-câ remô âhishâyâ deresh-câ tevish-câ
nôit môi vâstâ xshmat anyô athâ môi sãstâ vohû vâstryâ
2 adâ tashâ gêush peresat ashem kathâ tôi gavôi ratush
hyat hîm dâtâ xshayantô hadâ vâstrâ gaodâyô thwaxshô
kêm hôi ushtâ ahurem yê dregvôdebîsh aêshemem vâdâyôit
3 ahmâi ashâ nôit sarejâ advaêshô gavôi paitî-mravat
avaêshãm nôit vîduyê yâ shavaitê âdrêng ereshvånghô
hâtãm hvô aojishtô yahmâi zavêng jimâ keredushâ
4 mazdå saxvârê mairishtô yâ zî vâverezôi pairî-cithît
daêvâish-câ mashyâish-câ yâ-câ vareshaitê aipî-cithît
hvô vîcirô ahurô athâ nê anghat yathâ hvô vasat
5 at vâ ustânâish ahvâ zastâish frînemnâ ahurâi â
mê urvâ gêush-câ azyå hyat mazdãm dvaidî frasåbyô
nôit erezhejyôi frajyâitish nôit fshuyentê dregvasû pairî
Translation
| 1 | The cow's soul lamented to you, [the gods]: "For whom did you create me? | |
|---|---|---|
| Who fashioned me? | ||
| Cruelty, oppression, bloodlust, rage, and violence have fettered me, | ||
| [And] there is no herdsman for me other than you. | ||
| Therefore, you must all show me [the way to] good pastures." | ||
| 2 | Then the cow's Fashioner asked Truth: "What [was] your allotment for the cow | |
| when, ruling [the earth], you all gave her cow-tending nourishment | ||
| together with pasturage? | ||
| Whom do all of you desire as the Lord who would destroy the cruelty [wielded] by the | ||
| Possessor of the Lie?" | ||
| 3 | [The one who is] not a slayer of the alliance with Truth | |
| [and is] free from hatred for the cow would reply to him: | ||
| "[One] is not to know of those [things] by which He drives the lowly to lofty [heights]. | ||
| [But] he to whom I shall go, on account of [his] having sent out requests [for aid?], | ||
| [will be] the strongest of beings. | ||
| 4 | [Zarathustra:] "The Wise One [is he] remembering best the pacts | |
| that, indeed, he has made with daevas and men sometime before [now] | ||
| And [those also] that he will make sometime later. | ||
| He is the discerning Lord; it will be for us just as he would wish." | ||
| 5 | [Zarathustra: And] so, then, do we two -- my soul and the fertile cow's -- | |
| devote ourselves with zeal, with hands stretched out to the Lord, | ||
| So [that] we may dispose the Wise One to [answer our] inquiries. | ||
| Is there no prospect for the cattle-breeder living justly among the Possessors of the Lie?" |