Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/287

Rh ment and her evil brood to flee and perish in the region of the north and never more appear to defile the creation of righteousness.

Priestly functionaries who conducted the sacrificial ceremonies. The priestly hierarchy that was firmly established during this period was headed by the high priest, who was called Zarathushtrotema. He is invoked by this name. The Rig Veda speaks of about sixteen priests that performed ceremonies and we have in the Avestan texts eight different functionaries who were employed in the performance of the Yasna ceremony. These are zaotar, 'sacrificer,' hāvanān, 'the pounder of Haoma,' ātravakhsh, 'tender of the fire,' fraberetar, 'carrier of things,' āberetar, 'bringer of things,' āsnātar, ’cleanser,' raethwishkara, 'auxiliary priest,' and sraoshāvarez, 'master of rituals.'

Revival of the Indo-Iranian rituals. With the return of the Indo-Iranian divinities come also the ceremonies that their early votaries had celebrated before their separation. The Yasna Haptanghaiti already refers to the Haoma ceremony, the invocation of the souls of the dead, and their Fravashis. The chief ceremony is the Yasna corresponding to the Vedic Yajnya, the more important part among both being the preparation of the Haoma-Soma juice. The Haoma ceremony is shorn of its early gross element, yet the resemblance between it and the Soma cult is so great that they are spoken of in identical words. We shall quote a few of the more important passages to show the close parallelism between the Haoma-Soma cult. The celestial plant, it is said, was brought upon earth by birds. It is girishta or girijāta and parvatā vrddhah, say the Vedic texts, and the Avesta says it is bareshnush paiti gairinām and paurvatāhva vīraodha, that is, growing on mountains. It is Av. zairi, and Skt. hari, meaning green or golden. It is passed through a sieve of the hairs of the tail of the sacred bull among the Iranians and from that made of sheep wool among the Indians. The extracting process is called Av. havana, and Skt. savana. It is Av. haomahe madho, and Skt. somyam madhu, 'sweet juice of Haoma-Soma.'