236 SEAL CYLINDERS OF WESTERN ASIA. 
On the nature of plants it says in revelation. .... Ten thousand species among the species of 
principal plants, and a hundred thousand species among ordinary plants have grown from all these seeds of 
the tree opposed to harm, the many-sided, which has grown in the wide-formed ocean. When the seeds 
of all these plants, with those from the primeval ox, have arisen upon it, every year the bird strips the tree 
and mingles all the seeds in the water. Tishtar [star, probably Sirius] seizes them with the rainwater and 
rains them on to all regions. Near to that tree the white Hom, healing and wonderful, has grown at the 
source of the water Aridviosar [Anaitis]; every one who eats it becomes immortal, and they call it the 
Gokart tree, as it is said that Hom is expelling death. Also in the renovation of the universe they prepare 
its immortality therefrom ; and it is the chief of plants. (J4., Vendidad, xxvi, 1; tr. West.) 
And in its vicinity the tree was produced which is the white Hom [Gaokerena, or Gokart tree] 
the counteracter of decrepitude, the reviver of the dead, and the immortalizer of the living. (Jd., Zat- 
sparam, Appendix to Bundehesh, vir, 5; tr. West. ) 
From the Pahlavi literature we also have the following paragraph: 
The Hom, which is the preparer of the dead, is grown in the sea Varkash, in that which is the 
deepest place, and 99,999 guardian spirits of the righteous are appointed as its protection. The kar 
fish, too, ever circles around it, and always keeps the frog [lizard] and other noxious creatures away 
from it. 
The nest of the griffin bird [simurgh] is on the tree opposed to harm, the tree of all seeds, the 
white Hom, or Gokart tree of immortality. Whenever he rises aloft, a thousand twigs will shoot out from 
that tree ; and when he alights he breaks off the thousand twigs, and bites the seed from them. And the 
bird Cinamros alights likewise in the vicinity: and his work is this, that he collects those seeds that are 
bitten from the tree of many seeds which is opposed to harm, and he scatters them there where 'Tishtar 
[the star Sirius] seizes the water. So that while Tishtar shall seize the water, together with those seeds 
of all kinds, he shall rain them on the world with the rain. (Mainog-i-khirat, tr. West, «* Sacred Books 
OL the: Hast” 2 xxiv espseille) 
West adds the note: 
Originally the angel Amerodad (7. ¢., Immortality) is said to have mingled the plants with the 
rain, but afterwards this was done by the mythic bird. This legend was evidently intended to account 
for the rapid appearance of wild plants after rain in dry climates, when all traces of vegetation often disap- 
pear after the summer droughts. 
This tree, the Gaokerena, or the Gokart tree, tree of immortality, has a genetic 
relation with the tree of life of the Assyrian monuments. Like that, it is a mythic 
tree. It is covered with fruits. It is protected by guardian spirits and also by fish. 
Indeed, in the Avestan myth there are two trees, as in the Genesis story: one the 
tree of life, of immortality, and the other the tree of all seeds. ‘They both grew 
together, the first production of the waters, created by Ahura-mazda in the deepest 
part of the ocean or the sea Vouru-kash. One is the tree of life, of immortality, 
the Gaokerena, the Hom, from which is made the white haoma, Vedic soma, which 
in the resurrection will give immortality to the bodies of the dead. Ahriman tried 
to destroy it and for this purpose created a great lizard (or frog) which ever tries 
to get at its root. But Ahura-mazda created ten kar-fishes, which constantly circle 
about it so that their heads are always facing the lizard. Also 99,999 fravashis, 
righteous spirits, guard the tree. 
Near this tree is also the tree of all seeds, whose branches produce seeds of 
all sorts. On it sits the griffin, the great Simurgh bird, which strips the branches 
of the tree; and then another bird, the Camros, comes and gathers these seeds, 
dropped from the branches, and carries them to the sky where Tishtar pours out 
the rain. They mingle with the rain and fall on the earth and produce vegetation. 
