THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL. D.D.^ OJ^ MlTffRAISM. 255 



In any case the slaying of the bull by Mifclira is borrowed from 

 Phrygia and not from Persia. In the Avesta and later 

 Zoroastrian writings there is not the slightest trace of any 

 sacrifice of a bull by Alithra. It is true that we are told that 

 the first creature of Ahura Mazda was a bull, and that this was 

 killed, but its death was due to a wasting disease caused* by 

 Ahro Mainyus. The second Gatha, probably by Zoroaster 

 himself, contains the lament uttered by the bull's soul because 

 of the cruel treatment it had received. This bull most probably 

 represented the earth (as in Sanskrit and Avestic the words 

 Gaus and Gdu,s-\ respectively do, being cognate with yalay 7/} as 

 well as with l3ov^ and hos). Hence the Bilnclahi^hnik tells us 

 that in the originalj creation men passed from region to region 

 upon it," and that the vegetable§ principle proceeding from its 

 limbs and marrow caused grain and medicinal plants to spring 

 up wliere it fell. It is true that the same book proceeds to 

 state that, when SaoshyansH comes to produce the renovation of 

 the world, he will raise to life again this ox, called Hadhayos 

 and Sarsaok. He![ will then slaughter it as part of a sacrificial 

 rite** (yazisn), and from its fat, mingled with the juice of the 

 haoma j)lant, heft and his assistants will prepare the beverage 



BAud, ch. iii, § 14, § 18 : ch. iv^, § 1, etc. The bull's seed was said to 

 be preserved in the Moon, and the bull was the cause of the upspringing 

 of some 280 species of plants, according to Sirozah I., 12 : Vend, xxi, i, 1 : 

 Bt\nd xi, § 3 : etc. 



t In Yasna Ixiv^, 61, Gmis^ the bull, is evidently the earth. There we 

 read : " Give me, O thou who didst make the bull {gam, cf. 7//1') and the 

 waters and the plants, immortalitv, health — O most bountiful Spirit, 

 Mazia — strength, might, through Vohu Mano, I say." 



X Bund, ch. xix, 3, cf. xv, 27. 



§ Bt\nd, ch. X, § I : ch. xiv, §§ 1, 2. 



II Vide Yasht xix, § 88, 89-94: Yasht xiii, 128, 142 : BCind, cap. 75. 



IF Note that the killing of the bull is not done by Mithra^ but by 

 ^aoshyans, quite a different person in every way. 



BCmd, ch. xix, § 3 {cf. Dadhistan i Dinak, Part II, answer no. 89) : 

 €h. XXX (xxxi), § 25 : cf. ch. Ixxv. 



ft Saoshyaiis is the third of the three great delivevers wlio were to be 

 born of Zoroaster's seed. His mother's name was to be Vlspa-taurva. 

 De hoc Horomazae nuntio fucuro, ilio in libro qui Cicatio {Biindahishnili) 

 appellatur, dicitur fore ut, saeculi iam appropinquante tine, haec puella, 

 in eo lacu, cui nomen Kdsuvl, corpus abluens, e Zoroastris seniine ibi 

 servato gravida facta filiura pariat. Nostri temporis scriptores saepe 

 "affirmant, in libris Persicis sci iptum esse hunc vatem virgine nascenduni. 

 At quaeritur, num j^uella virili semine gravida virgo appellari pos-^it. 

 The account of the conception of the other two prophets is similar. Vide 

 Vendidad xix, 4-6 : Yasht xiii, 128, 142 : Bund, xxxii, 8, 9. 



