Yasna 30, 44, and 51
The Scythian shelf needs the Gathas because the strongest reading of Scythian religion cannot be built from Greek ethnography alone. The steppe belongs to the Iranian world, and the oldest Iranian sacred poetry gives the language of Ahura Mazda, Truth, the Lie, choice, creation, and dominion.
These passages do not make the Scythians Zoroastrians by decree. They give the deep religious grammar against which Saka, Achaemenid, and Scythian evidence must be read.
The translation below is from selected Old Avestan transliterations in the local Zoroastrian shelf.
Translation
I will speak to those who seek, to those who understand, of the things that belong to Mazda. I will speak of praise for Ahura, of worship, of Good Mind, of Truth, and of the light in which joy is seen.
Hear with your ears what is best. Look with a bright mind. Let each man and each woman choose, person by person, before the great reckoning comes upon us.
In the beginning those two spirits appeared as twins in thought, word, and deed: the better and the worse. Between them the wise chose rightly; not so the foolish.
When those two spirits came together, they established life and not-life. At the end, the worst existence belongs to the follower of the Lie, but the best mind belongs to the follower of Truth.
This I ask you; tell me truly, O Ahura. Who was the first father of Truth? Who set the path of the sun and the stars? Who makes the moon wax and wane? These things, O Mazda, and others too, I wish to know.
This I ask you; tell me truly, O Ahura. Who holds the earth below and the sky from falling? Who made the waters and the plants? Who yoked speed to wind and cloud? Who, O Mazda, is the maker of Good Mind?
Good Dominion is the chosen portion, the most precious gift. Through Truth it moves among those who serve with deeds. O Mazda, what is best is won by good works; therefore I will labor now.
Colophon
This Good Works Translation was prepared for the Scythian shelf by the New Tianmu Anglican Church from the source text printed below. The English is an independent rendering from the source-language transliteration or Greek text, with existing public translations used only as controls for damaged or conventional passages.
Compiled and formatted for the Good Work Library by the New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text: Yasna 30, Yasna 44, and Yasna 51
Old Avestan source text in romanized transliteration from the Gathas. Presented here for reference, study, and verification alongside the English translation above.
Yasna 30.1: at ta vaxshya ishento ya mazdatha hyatcit vidushe staotaca ahurai yesnyaca vangheush manangho humazdra asha yeca ya raocebish daresata urvaza.
Yasna 30.2: sraota geushaish vahishta avaenata suca manangha avareno vicithahya narem narem hvahyai tanuye para maze yangho ahmai ne sazdyai baodanto paiti.
Yasna 30.3: at ta mainyu pouruye ya yema hvafena asrvatem manahica vacahica shyaothanoi hi vahyo akemca osca hudangho eresh vishyata noit duzhdangho.
Yasna 30.4: atca hyat ta hem mainyu jasaetem paourvim dazde gaemca ajyaitimca yathaca anghat apemem anghush acishto dregvatam at ashaune vahishtem mano.
Yasna 44.3: tat thwa peresa eresh-moi vaoca ahura, kasna zatha pata ashahya pouruyo kasna hveng staremca dat advanem ke ya ma uxshyeiti nerefsaiti thwat tacit mazda vasemi anyaca viduye.
Yasna 44.4: tat thwa peresa eresh-moi vaoca ahura, kasna dereta zamca ade nabasca avapastoish ke apo urvarasca ke vatai dvanmaiby asca yaoget asu kasna vangheush mazda damish manangho.
Yasna 51.1: vohu xshathrem vairim bagem aibi-bairishtem vidishemnaish izhacit asha antare-caraiti shyaothanaish mazda vahishtem tat ne nucit vareshane.
Source Colophon
Old Avestan source inspected from the local Good Work Library Gathas pages for Yasna 30, Yasna 44, and Yasna 51, whose source appendices follow avesta.org and Karl Friedrich Geldner, Avesta: The Sacred Books of the Parsis (Stuttgart, 1886-1896). The English rendering above is newly prepared from the transliterations, with the existing local English used only as a control.
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