as a secondary part of his function as the premier angel of Ahura Mazda. When Geush Urvan, as the genius of the sentient beings, living upon earth, complains of the wrath and rapine to which the animal kingdom is subjected, Vohu Manah consoles her with the gladsome news that the creator of the world was sending Zarathushtra, his messenger, to teach mankind to protect the cattle and kine.[1] In consultation with Vohu Manah, it is said, Ahura Mazda created cattle and pastures to feed them.[2] Vohu Manah is the protector of cattle.[3] They are a precious asset of Vohu Manah and give durability and endurance to mankind.[4] It is through the good understanding of Vohu Manah, that men are inspired to work for cattle.[5]
Asha
The Indo-Iranians recognize a universal order prevailing in the world. Life upon the earth reveals to man that a smooth and graceful and ordered movement goes on all around him in nature. Spring and summer, autumn and winter, with their ceaseless seasonal succession of changes, take their unvarying course. The tides rise and fall punctually. The dawn and morn and noon and evening and night go their uninterrupted daily round. The dying day gives birth to the night. The night hangs its myriad of silvery lamps to lighten the darkness. The dawn breaks to resurrect the day and the day goes the perennial round of its birth. The heavens and their glittering hosts, the sun and the moon and the stars and the planets march at a regulated space. Despite the casual freaks and caprices, the laws governing the movements of nature seem to be immutable. This unfailing regularity of nature led the Indo-Iranians to discern the fact that a stable order prevailed in the universe which ensured its existence. They called it ṛta. They emulated this universal order and introduced it in all their human activities. They offered prayers to gods, they sacrificed to them seasonal offerings. All this was to be done at fixed times, reciting specific formulas, chanted in a prescribed manner and with regulated movements of sacred implements. The ceremonials were thus to be per-
