430 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [November, 1913. 
catalogue, the first being Airyana-Vaéja, or the Iran Vej, the 
Tran proper of the early Iranians, or, what can be called the 
Hindus. India forms a part of the country of the Airyas named 
in the Farvardin Yasht. 
Coming to the question of the direct references to India 
itself in the Avesta, we find, in all, four references. They are . 
the following :— 
I. The Vendidad, Chap. I, 19. 
If. Yagna (Sarosh Yasht) |g 3 Bee's 
III. Meher Yasht, 104. 
IV. Tir Yasht, 32. 
{. Of these four, the first, viz. the reference in the 
Vendidad, seems to be the oldest and the most important. The 
passage runs thus :— 
anchadasem asanghamcha shdithranamcha vahishtem 
frathweresem, azem yo Ahuré Mazdao yO Hapta-Hindu, hacha 
Indus) up to the West of the Hindu. Then, th 
created therein, as a counter-act (against its excellence) exces- 
sive menstruation and excessive hea ‘ 
e learn from this passage of the Vendidad the follow- 
ing facts about India:— 
(1) That India was the fifteenth of the 16 Aryan countries, 
known to the early Iranians as created or blessed 
by God 
y : 
(2) It was known as Hapta Hindu. 
(3) The country watered by the Indus formed India, and 
its boundary latterly extended further both ways, 
towards the East and the West. 
(4) It had, as it were, two curses or miseries associated 
with it. Let us now examine these facts. 
1. Firstly, let us consi er, why is India spoken of in the 
Vendidad as the 15th country? The answer to this question 
the Vendidad, were those to which the ancient Aryan or the 
{ndo-Iranian race migrated one after another. Others, like Dr. 
