THE REV. W. ST. CLAIR TISDALL, D.D._, ON MITHRAISM. 2Gl 



them " Holy Word." Bufc mCdhro coiiiiected with the San- 

 skrit mantra, " a hymn " ; it does not mean " word," and the 

 context shows that it denotes simply the text of the Avesta. 

 The latter is connected with Ahura Mazda, " whose spirit is 

 the sacred* text " itself. Mithra is nowhere identified, directly 

 or indirectly, with this sacred text." Another mistake is 

 responsible for the fancy that Mithra is called the Incarnatef 

 Word." The vocable thus rendered, tamt-mdthrd, is an adjective, 

 and means either " having the Text as his body," or, more 

 probably, " subjecting his bodyj to the Text " in obedience. 

 It is never applied to Mithra, but it is applied to inferior and 

 merely human persons, such as the hero Karesna,§ and even to 

 the priest|| who offers prayer for a worshipper. The term 

 cannot possibly therefore mean " Incarnate Woi d." Inac- 

 curacies such as these cannot be too carefully avoided by all 

 who wish to form a true conception of the doctrines of 

 Mithraism or of any other faith. 



Western Mithraism, instead of the belief in Paradise and 

 Hell, and ultimately in a Eesurrectionll brought about by three 



* Yenhe ttrva mathrO sjuento : Vend., Farg. XJX, 14. 



+ This is West's rendering (c/. Yasht xi, 23 : xi, 18 : xxiv, 85). 



I From tanu, "body," and mdthro, "text": cf. tayiu-druj, "subjecting 

 one's body to a driij.^'^ 



% Yasht xiii, 106 :— 



Karsnahe zbaurvaitliinahe, 

 ashaonO fravashira yazamaide, 

 takhm ah e, tanu- m a thrahe^ 

 darshi-draos, ahuiryehe. 

 " We worship the Genius of Karesna, son of Zbaurvaiit, the pious, the 

 strong, body-texted (or subjecting his body to the Text), mighty-speared, 

 godly." 



II Yasht X, 137 : 



Usta ahmai naire mainyai, 



(uiti mraot Ahuro Mazdw), 



ai ashaum Zarathustra, 



y ahmai zaota ashava 



anheus dahmo, tanu-mdthro^ 



frasteretat paiti baresmen, 

 " Hail to that spiritual man," 



(thus spake Ahura Mazda), 

 " O pious Zoroaster, 



for whom a pious priest 



good of (~in) the world, body-texted, 



did spread forth [an offering] 



with the pomegranate-twigs." 

 1" The word " Eesurrection " {ristdkhtz in the Patet, a very late Pahlavi 

 work : from irista "deceased" and Mz2=:Avestic hvis, " to rise") does not 

 occur in the Avesta at all. There however in late passages, we find the 



