Artic Home of the Aryans by Lokamanya Bal ... - Mandhata Global

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to the Pitṛis of the يig-Veda. These ancient fathers are often
described, even in the يig-Veda, as taking part, along with the gods,
in the production of the cosmical phenomena. Thus the Pitṛis are said
to have adorned the sky with stars, and placed darkness in the night
and light in the day (X, 68, 11), or to have found the hidden light and
generated the dawn (VII, 76, 4; X, 107, 1). The Fravashis in the Parsi
scriptures are said to have achieved the same or similar exploits.
They are described (Yt. XIII, 53 and 54) as having “shown the
beautiful paths to the waters, which had stood, before for a long time
in the same place, without flowing”; and the waters are then said to
have commenced to flow “along the path made by Mazda, along the
way made by the gods, the watery way appointed to them.”
Immediately after (Yt. XIII, 57), the Fravashis are said to have
similarly showed “the paths to the stars, the moon, the sun and the
endless lights, that had stood before, for a long time, in the same
place, without moving forward, through the oppression of the Daevas
and the assaults of the Daevas.” Here we have the co-relation
between the flowing of waters and the moving forward of the sun
distinctly enunciated. It was the Fravashis, who caused to move
onwards the waters and the sun, both of which “had stood still for a
long time in the same place.” Prof. Darmesteter adds a note saying
that it was “in winter” that this cessation of motion occurred, (Cf.
Vend. V, 10-12; VIII, 4-10 cited and discussed (infra). The Fravashis
are further described (Yt. XIII, 78) as “destroying the malice of the
fiend Angra Mainyu (the Avestic representative of Vṛitra), so that the
waters did not stop flowing, nor did the plants stop growing.” In Yasna
LXV (Sp. LXIV), 6, the Fravashis, who had “borne the waters up
stream from the nearest ones,” are invoked to come to the
worshipper; and a little further on the waters are asked to “rest still
within their places while the Zaota (Sans. Hotâ) shall offer,” evidently
meaning that it is the sacrifice offered by the invoking priest that
eventually secures the release or the flow of waters. There are other
references to the flowing of waters (Yt. X, 61)