nation by tens of thousands and myriads; Arejat-aspa and Vandaremainish craved for the defeat of King Vishtaspa, Zairivairi, and the Aryan nation; but Ardvi Sura Anahita refused to grant the evil wishes to these national foes of Iran.[1]
The offerings of libations. Ardvi Sura Anahita desires that men invoke her with libations and Haoma;[2] these libations are to be drunk by the priest who is well versed in religious lore, and not by any wicked and deformed person.[3] The faithful are to bring libations unto her at any time between the rising and the setting of the sun. Those brought to her after sunset do not reach her; on the contrary, they go to the demons, who revel in these misdirected offerings.[4] We are informed that the man who dedicates these libations before sunrise or after sunset does no better deed than if he should pour them down into the jaws of a venomous snake.[5]
Besides invoking Ardvi Sura Anahita as the Yazata of water, the waters themselves are collectively invoked to grant boons. Zarathushtra is asked to offer a libation to the waters and to ask from them riches, power, and worthy offspring,[6] a happy and a joyful abode in this world and the next, accompanied by riches and glory.[7] The faithful pray that these waters may not be for those of evil thoughts, evil words, evil deeds, and evil religion, neither for the tormentors of their friends, neighbours, relatives, and priests.[8] Nor may they be for their evil-wishers,[9] nor for thieves and robbers, murderers and sorcerers, buriers of the dead, jealous and niggard, and heretics and wicked persons.[10]
Animal sacrifices to Anahita. Strabo relates the mode of sacrificing to the waters. The sacrificial animal, we are told, is taken to the bank of a river or a lake; a ditch is formed into which the animal is killed. The pieces of meat are then placed on myrtle or laurel, and holding tamarisk twigs in his hands, the priest pours oil mixed with honey and milk on the ground and chants the sacred formulas. Great care is taken that no drop
