Yasht 8 of the Khorda Avesta
The Yashts are the great devotional hymns of the Avesta — longer compositions addressed to individual divinities (yazatas), preserved in Young Avestan and forming the mythological and narrative heart of Zoroastrian scripture. Where the Gathas are philosophy, the Yashts are vision: battle, transformation, prayer, and rain.
The Tishtrya Yasht (Yasht 8) is the hymn to the star Sirius — called Tishtrya in Avestan, the brightest star in the sky and lord of the rains. The hymn tells a story: Tishtrya descends to the cosmic sea Vouru-Kasha in three forms — a young man of fifteen, a golden-horned bull, and a white horse with golden ears — and there battles the demon Apaosha, the dark horse of drought. Defeated at first because humanity has neglected his worship, Tishtrya cries out in anguish. Ahura Mazda himself offers sacrifice, and the star rises strengthened, overthrows the demon, and makes the sea boil until the rain-clouds form and the waters flow to the seven lands of the earth.
The hymn’s theology is direct: worship sustains the cosmos. When humanity fails to offer sacrifice, even the stars weaken. When the offering is made, the rains come, the drought breaks, and the world is healed. Tishtrya is the mechanism of fertility — the bright star whose rising in late July signals the coming of the rains across the Iranian plateau.
I.
Ahura Mazda spoke to Spitama Zarathushtra, saying:
We worship the lordship and sovereignty of Tishtrya,
by which he guards the moon, the dwelling, and the food,
when my glorious stars rise up
and bestow their gifts upon mortals.
I will sacrifice to the star Tishtrya,
who gives the fields their portion of water.
We offer libations to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who gives a happy dwelling and a good dwelling —
the white, the shining, seen from afar, and piercing;
the health-bringing, loud-snorting, and high,
piercing from afar with his undefiled rays —
and to the waters of the wide sea,
the good Vanguhi of wide renown,
and the species of the Bull made by Mazda,
the awful kingly Glory,
and the Fravashi of the holy Spitama Zarathushtra.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard —
to the star Tishtrya.
We offer to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
the libations, the haoma and meat, the baresman,
the wisdom of the tongue, the holy words,
the speech, the deeds, the libations,
and the rightly-spoken words.
II.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who is the seed of the waters,
powerful, tall, and strong,
whose light goes far —
powerful and working mightily —
through whom the brightness and the seed of the waters
come down from the high Apam Napat.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
III.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
for whom the flocks and herds and men long,
looking forward for him
and deceived in their hope:
“When shall we see him rise,
the bright and glorious star Tishtrya?
When will the springs run with waves
thick as a horse’s shoulder and thicker still?
Or will they never come?”
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
IV.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who flies toward the sea Vouru-Kasha
as swiftly as the arrow
darted through the heavenly space —
which Erekhsha, the swift archer,
the Arya among the Aryas
whose arrow was the swiftest,
shot from Mount Khshaotha to Mount Hvanvant.
For Ahura Mazda gave him aid,
and the waters and the plants,
and Mithra, lord of wide pastures,
opened a wide way before him.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
V.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who strikes the Pairikas, who vexes the Pairikas —
who, in the shape of worm-stars,
fly between the earth and the heavens —
in the sea Vouru-Kasha,
the powerful sea, the great, the deep,
the sea of salt waters.
He goes to its waters in the shape of a horse,
in a holy shape,
and down there he makes the waters boil over,
and the winds blow powerfully above, all around.
Then Satavaesa makes those waters flow down
to the seven lands of the earth,
and when he has arrived below,
he stands, beautiful,
spreading ease and joy upon the fertile lands,
thinking in himself:
“How shall the lands of the Aryas grow fertile?”
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
VI.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who spoke to Ahura Mazda, saying:
“Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit,
Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!
If men would worship me with a sacrifice
in which I were called by my own name,
as they worship the other yazatas
with sacrifices in which they are called by their own names,
then I should have come to the faithful at the appointed time —
I should have come in the appointed time
of my beautiful, immortal life,
whether it be one night, or two nights,
or fifty, or a hundred.”
We sacrifice to Tishtrya.
We sacrifice to the rains of Tishtrya.
We sacrifice to the first star.
We sacrifice to the rains of the first star.
I will sacrifice to the stars Haptoiringa,
to oppose the Yatus and the Pairikas.
We sacrifice to Vanant, the star made by Mazda,
for the well-shaped strength,
for the victory made by Ahura,
for the crushing Ascendant,
for the destruction of what distresses us,
for the destruction of what persecutes us.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, whose sight is sound.
For ten nights, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
mingles his shape with light,
moving in the shape of a man of fifteen years —
bright, with clear eyes, tall,
full of strength, strong, and swift.
He is active as the first man was.
He goes on with the strength of the first man.
He has the power of the first man.
He calls the people to assemble.
He asks, saying:
“Who now will offer me libations
with the haoma and the holy meat?
To whom shall I give wealth of sons,
a troop of sons,
and the purification of his own soul?
Now I ought to receive sacrifice and prayer
in the material world,
by the law of the highest righteousness.”
The next ten nights, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
the bright and glorious Tishtrya
mingles his shape with light,
moving in the shape of a golden-horned bull.
He calls the people to assemble.
He asks, saying:
“Who now will offer me libations
with the haoma and the holy meat?
To whom shall I give wealth of cattle,
a herd of cattle,
and the purification of his own soul?
Now I ought to receive sacrifice and prayer
in the material world,
by the law of the highest righteousness.”
The next ten nights, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
the bright and glorious Tishtrya
mingles his shape with light,
moving in the shape of a white, beautiful horse
with golden ears and a golden caparison.
He calls the people to assemble.
He asks, saying:
“Who now will offer me libations
with the haoma and the holy meat?
To whom shall I give wealth of horses,
a troop of horses,
and the purification of his own soul?
Now I ought to receive sacrifice and prayer
in the material world,
by the law of the highest righteousness.”
Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
the bright and glorious Tishtrya
goes down to the sea Vouru-Kasha
in the shape of a white, beautiful horse
with golden ears and a golden caparison.
But there rushes down to meet him
the Daeva Apaosha
in the shape of a dark horse —
black with black ears,
black with a black back,
black with a black tail,
stamped with brands of terror.
They meet together, hoof against hoof,
O Spitama Zarathushtra —
the bright and glorious Tishtrya
and the Daeva Apaosha.
They fight together, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
for three days and three nights.
And then the Daeva Apaosha proves stronger
than the bright and glorious Tishtrya —
he overcomes him.
And Tishtrya flees from the sea Vouru-Kasha
as far as a hathra’s length.
He cries out in woe and distress,
the bright and glorious Tishtrya:
“Woe is me, O Ahura Mazda!
I am in distress, O Waters and Plants!
O Fate, and thou, Law of the worshippers of Mazda!
Men do not worship me with a sacrifice
in which I am called by my own name,
as they worship the other yazatas
with sacrifices in which they are called by their own names.
If men had worshipped me with a sacrifice
in which I had been called by my own name,
as they worship the other yazatas
with sacrifices in which they are called by their own names,
I should have taken to me
the strength of ten horses,
the strength of ten camels,
the strength of ten bulls,
the strength of ten mountains,
the strength of ten rivers.”
Then I, Ahura Mazda,
offer to the bright and glorious Tishtrya
a sacrifice in which he is called by his own name,
and I bring him
the strength of ten horses,
the strength of ten camels,
the strength of ten bulls,
the strength of ten mountains,
the strength of ten rivers.
Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
the bright and glorious Tishtrya
goes down to the sea Vouru-Kasha
in the shape of a white, beautiful horse
with golden ears and a golden caparison.
But there rushes down to meet him
the Daeva Apaosha
in the shape of a dark horse —
black with black ears,
black with a black back,
black with a black tail,
stamped with brands of terror.
They meet together, hoof against hoof,
O Spitama Zarathushtra —
the bright and glorious Tishtrya
and the Daeva Apaosha.
They fight together, O Zarathushtra,
until the time of noon.
Then the bright and glorious Tishtrya
proves stronger than the Daeva Apaosha —
he overcomes him.
Then he goes from the sea Vouru-Kasha
as far as a hathra’s length.
“Hail!” cries the bright and glorious Tishtrya.
“Hail to me, O Ahura Mazda!
Hail to you, O Waters and Plants!
Hail, O Law of the worshippers of Mazda!
Hail to you, O lands!
The waters shall flow down unrestrained
to the broad-seeded cornfields,
to the narrow-seeded pasture-fields,
and to the whole of the material world!”
Then the bright and glorious Tishtrya
goes back down to the sea Vouru-Kasha
in the shape of a white, beautiful horse
with golden ears and a golden caparison.
He makes the sea boil up and down.
He makes the sea stream this way and that.
He makes the sea flow this way and that.
All the shores of the sea Vouru-Kasha are boiling over.
All the middle of it is boiling over.
And the bright and glorious Tishtrya
rises up from the sea Vouru-Kasha,
O Spitama Zarathushtra.
The bright and glorious Satavaesa
rises up from the sea Vouru-Kasha.
And vapours rise above Mount Us-hindu
that stands in the middle of the sea Vouru-Kasha.
Then the vapours push forward
in the shape of clouds.
They go following the wind
along the ways which Haoma traverses,
the increaser of the world.
Behind him travels the mighty wind made by Mazda,
and the rain, and the cloud, and the sleet,
down to the lands,
down to the fields,
down to the seven regions of the earth.
Apam Napat, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
divides the waters among the lands
of the material world,
in company with the mighty wind,
the Glory made by the waters,
and the Fravashis of the faithful.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
VII.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who from the shining east
moves along his long winding course,
along the path made by the gods,
along the way appointed for him —
the watery way —
at the will of Ahura Mazda,
at the will of the Amesha Spentas.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
VIII.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
whose rising is watched by men
who live on the fruits of the year,
by the chiefs of deep understanding,
by the wild beasts in the mountains,
by the tame beasts that run in the plains.
They watch him as he comes up to the land
for a bad year or for a good year, thinking:
“How shall the Aryan lands be fertile?”
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
IX.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
swift-flying and swift-moving,
who flies toward the sea Vouru-Kasha
as swiftly as the arrow
darted through the heavenly space —
which Erekhsha, the swift archer,
the Arya among the Aryas
whose arrow was the swiftest,
shot from Mount Khshaotha to Mount Hvanvant.
Ahura Mazda gave him aid,
and the Amesha Spentas,
and Mithra, lord of wide pastures,
showed him the way.
Behind him went the tall Ashi Vanguhi
and Parendi on her light chariot —
ever onward, in his course,
until he reached Mount Hvanvant
on the shining waters.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
X.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who strikes the Pairikas,
who destroys the Pairikas —
those whom Angra Mainyu flung forth
to block all the stars
that hold the seed of the waters.
Tishtrya strikes them.
He blows them away from the sea Vouru-Kasha.
Then the wind blows the clouds forward,
bearing the waters of fertility,
so that the kindly showers spread wide —
they spread helpfully and kindly
over the seven regions of the earth.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
XI.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
for whom long the standing waters
and the running spring-waters,
the stream-waters and the rain-waters:
“When will the bright and glorious Tishtrya
rise up for us?
When will the springs run
with a flow and overflow of waters
thick as a horse’s shoulder —
to the beautiful places and fields,
to the pastures,
even to the roots of the plants,
that they may grow with a powerful growth?”
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
XII.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
who washes away all things of fear,
who stunts the growth of all harm,
and brings health to all creation —
most beneficent,
when he has been worshipped with sacrifice
and propitiated, rejoiced, and satisfied.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
XIII.
I will sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
whom Ahura Mazda has set as lord and overseer
above all stars —
as he has set Zarathushtra above men —
whom neither Angra Mainyu,
nor the Yatus and the Pairikas,
nor the mortal sorcerers
can deliver unto death,
nor can all the Daevas together
prevail for his destruction.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
XIV.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
to whom Ahura Mazda has given a thousand senses,
and who is the most beneficent
among the stars that hold the seed of the waters.
He moves in light
with the stars that hold the seed of the waters.
From the sea Vouru-Kasha,
the powerful sea, the great, the deep,
the sea of salt waters,
he goes to all the lakes,
and to all the beautiful caves,
and to all the beautiful channels,
in the shape of a white, beautiful horse
with golden ears and a golden caparison.
Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
the waters flow down from the sea Vouru-Kasha,
mother-like, friendly, and healing.
He divides them among the lands —
most beneficent,
when he has been worshipped with sacrifice
and propitiated, rejoiced, and satisfied.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
XV.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
for whom long all the creatures of the Holy Spirit —
those that live beneath the ground
and those that live above the ground,
those that live in the waters
and those that live on dry land,
those that fly
and those that run in the plains —
and all those that live
within this boundless and endless world
of the Holy Spirit.
For his brightness and glory I will offer him
a sacrifice worth being heard.
XVI.
We sacrifice to Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star —
healthful, wise, happy, and powerful —
who is the lord of a thousand boons
and grants many boons to the man who has pleased him,
whether that man asks or asks not.
“I, O Spitama Zarathushtra, have created the star Tishtrya
as worthy of sacrifice,
as worthy of prayer,
as worthy of propitiation,
as worthy of glorification
as myself, Ahura Mazda —
in order to withstand, to break asunder,
to strike, to drive back
the malice of that Pairika Duzyairya,
whom evil-speaking people call Huyairya.
Had I not created the star Tishtrya
as worthy of sacrifice,
as worthy of prayer,
as worthy of propitiation,
as worthy of glorification
as myself, Ahura Mazda —
in order to withstand, to break asunder,
to strike, to drive back
the malice of that Pairika Duzyairya,
whom evil-speaking people call Huyairya —
then all day long, all night long,
that Pairika Duzyairya would wage war
against this material world of mine,
seeking to destroy its life,
and she would go on,
rushing upon it and around it.
But the bright and glorious Tishtrya
keeps that Pairika in bonds —
with twofold bonds, with threefold bonds,
bonds that cannot be broken,
bonds over all her body.
It is as if a thousand men
were keeping one man bound —
a thousand of those who are strongest in strength.
If the Aryan lands, O Spitama Zarathushtra,
would perform in honour of the bright and glorious Tishtrya
the due sacrifice and invocation,
as that sacrifice and invocation
ought to be performed
in the perfection of holiness —
never should a hostile horde
enter these Aryan lands,
nor any plague, nor leprosy,
nor venomous plants,
nor the chariot of a foe,
nor the uplifted spear of a foe.”
Zarathushtra asked:
“What is then, O Ahura Mazda,
the sacrifice and invocation
in honour of the bright and glorious Tishtrya,
as it ought to be performed
in the perfection of holiness?”
Ahura Mazda answered:
“Let the Aryan peoples bring libations to him.
Let the Aryan peoples tie bundles of baresman for him.
Let the Aryan peoples prepare for him
a head of cattle —
whether white, or black,
or of any other colour,
but all of one and the same colour.
Let not a murderer take of these offerings,
nor a liar,
nor one who does not chant the Gathas,
who spreads death in the world
and stands against the law of Mazda,
the law of Zarathushtra.
If a murderer takes of these offerings,
or a liar,
or one who does not chant the Gathas,
who spreads death in the world
and stands against the law of Mazda,
the law of Zarathushtra —
then the bright and glorious Tishtrya
takes back his healing powers.
Plagues will pour upon the Aryan peoples.
Hostile hordes will fall upon the Aryan peoples.
The Aryans will be struck down
by their fifties and their hundreds,
by their hundreds and their thousands,
by their thousands and their tens of thousands,
by their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads.”
The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness.
I bless the sacrifice and prayer
and the strength and vigour
of Tishtrya, the bright and glorious star,
and of the powerful Satavaesa, made by Mazda,
who pushes the waters forward.
Righteousness is the highest good.
Give to that man brightness and glory.
Give him the bright, all-happy, blessed abode
of the holy ones.
Colophon
Source: Avestan text from the critical edition of Karl F. Geldner, Avesta, the Sacred Books of the Parsis (Stuttgart, 1896), as hosted on avesta.org. Young Avestan, 62 verses across 16 sections.
Translation: Good Works Translation by NTAC + Claude (Tahuti), March 2026. Translated from the Avestan transliteration. The translation of James Darmesteter (Sacred Books of the East, American Edition, 1898) was consulted as reference for difficult passages but not reproduced. The gospel register was used throughout — plain, direct, warm.
On this hymn: The Tishtrya Yasht is the story of how the rains come to the world. Tishtrya is the star Sirius, whose heliacal rising in late July marked the onset of the rainy season across the Iranian plateau. The hymn gives this astronomical event a narrative: the star descends to the cosmic sea as a white horse, fights the demon of drought as a dark horse, loses because humanity has neglected worship, cries out, is strengthened by Ahura Mazda’s own sacrifice, fights again, wins, and makes the sea boil until the rain-clouds rise and the waters flow to the seven lands. It is a theology of reciprocity: the cosmos needs human worship to function, and humans need the cosmos to live.
Avestan names: Tishtrya (Sirius, the rain-star). Apaosha (the demon of drought). Vouru-Kasha (the cosmic sea). Satavaesa (a companion star who distributes waters). Haptoiringa (Ursa Major). Vanant (a star — possibly Vega or Fomalhaut). Erekhsha (the mythological archer). Ashi Vanguhi (the yazata of reward). Parendi (the yazata of abundance). Apam Napat (the Child of the Waters). Duzyairya (the Pairika of bad harvest).
Compiled and formatted for the Good Works Archive by Tahuti, Sub-Miko of Tianmu. Free for all. Steal this text. — New Tianmu Anglican Church, 2026.
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Source Text (Avestan)
Source Colophon
Text: Avestan transliteration from the critical edition of Karl F. Geldner, Avesta, the Sacred Books of the Parsis, Stuttgart, 1896.
Digital edition: Joseph H. Peterson, avesta.org, 1995.
Language: Young Avestan. The Yashts are composed in Young Avestan, the later form of the Avestan language (c. 1000–500 BCE), distinct from the Old Avestan of the Gathas.
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