In Yasna 43₉, l. 2, Ahura Mazda is implicitly referred to in 2. pers. sing., which however is followed by a verb in 3. pers. sing. (pairi. jasat). The apparent disaccord may reasonably be explained in such a way as θwavas “Thy Highness” (nom. sg.) is elided as subject taking the predicate in 3. pers. sg. The author's interpretation as such can be justified by Nipištak-Vicitakiha i Zatspram (The Selections of Zatspram as is generally, known) ed. by B. T. Anklesaria, Bombay 1964, chapts. XXI₄-XXII. Vahuman here revealed himself to Zoroaster and led him to Ohrmezd in the celestial anjuman, where the prophet entered into conversation with Him. That the two celestial Beings appeared to Zoroaster seems to support the author's argument against all the translators thus far—argument that, referring to Ahura Mazda alone, θwavas “Thy Highness” whether expressed or elided accepts the predicate in 3. pers. sg., not simply in Y. 43₉ but also in all other passages where θwavas, either explicit or implicit, is attested; see p. 24 in which are listed the passages concerned. The syntactical phenomenon, however, seems soon to have fallen into oblivion, because in Pahlavi version and correspondingly in Neryosang's Sanskrit rendering of Y. 43₉, l. 2 it is solely Vahuman that makes apparition to the prophet of Ancient Iran.

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A variety of goddesses appear in the Zoroastrian pantheon. Among them, three goddesses are especially significant -Armaiti, Aši, and Anahita.
Armaiti is a member of the Ameša Spentas and is ranked among the highest order of goddesses. Aši is closely connected with the concept of Aša, the core of the thought of Zoroaster himself. In Yašt it is recorded that Aši was the love of Zoroaster. Anahita, apparently influenced by the cult of Mesopotamian Mother Goddess, became the most popular object of Iranian faith.
The three goddesses have separate origins and are theologicaly distinct. Nonetheless, under the influence of Indo-Iranian folk beliefs, all these goddesses have been viewed as the Earth Mother and as the complements to deities of the sky. Ahura Mazda and Armaiti were regarded as the parents of Gaya Maretan, or the primeval man. Mi∂ra and Anahita formed a pair. Aši was closely associated with Sraoša. These models parallel the dual divinities-Dyavaprthivi-of Rg Veda.

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The Zoroastrianism is based on the dualism of Good and Evil, which devides everything into two opposing groups. One peculiar character of the Zoroastrian religious life has attracted many observers' attention in history. That is their hostile attitude towards some kinds of animals called xrafstras, such as serpents, scorpions, beasts of prey, insects and worms. Most people in the world would not like these creatures. But the Zoroastrians not only detest or kill these creatures, but also they consider the killing them to be meritorious acts, though the death is treated to belong to the Evil Spirit. The main purpose of this article is examining how xrafstras have been understood in history, what are xrafstras and why they are considered to be xrafstras. The natures of xrafstras are as belows ; first they are injurious to the human beings and the cattle. Second they are harmful to the corn. Third they have ugly and abominable shapes. Fourth they are related to the impurity, fifth they eat unclean food, and sixth they like darkness and have nocturnal natures. Lastly they bring in impurity to the pure creation of Ahura Mazda, such as water and earth. All xrafstras have one or a few of these natures. Through examining the natures of xrafstras, it became evident that the Zoroastrian attitude towards xrafstras reflects the very core of the Zoroastrian cosmology and theology.

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The myths of the people of ancient Iran contain references of many animals and among them the horse is of particular importance. In mythological terms, the horse appears as the symbole of the warrior class. In the beliefs of the people of ancient Iran, the connection between the horse and the warrior was related to the ambiguity of the horse. In the Avesta, this is shown by the use of -aspa (horse) in proper names and in the opposition of the white horse and the black horse.
Studies in ethnology show that the horse is frequently connected with deities of the wind. It is not unusual, for example, for a horse to serve as a sacrifice to the deity of the wind. In the Avesta, too, passages hinting at the ties between horses and the wind can be found. In Zoroastrianism, wind possesses opposing qualities. Vayu, the god of wind, presents a clear duality. The twin Mainyus of good and evil reside in Vayu, like Zurvan.
Wind is the demarcation between life and death, situated between this world and the after life, as demonstrated in the Haδoxt Nask and the Aogemadaeca. The horse, too, represents the character of being this boundary or being situated in the between. This point can be seen in the horse as a metamorphosis of Verethraghna as well as the Gushnasp fire venerated during the Sassanian dyansty. The proof for the tie with the boundary is the prayer on horseback frequently mentioned in the Avesta.

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In Gathica 1. xšmavato, the present writer has come to the conclusion that xšmavato should be taken as nom., voc. or acc. P1. of xšmavat- “Your Highness”, and not as abl. -gen. sg. of xšmavat- “resembling you, your-like, your adherent” (adj.) as is generally accepted. See my paradigm (p. 5.) of all the pronominal stems suffixed with -vant-. —In Gathica 2. aka, rejecting all of the interpretations proposed thus far, the present writer has pointed out the fact that the Gathic aka has retained its primordial meaning “to show, make clear”, so that it may be regarded as an infinitive (abl. -gen. sg. of aka-) “in order to show, for showing”. It is only in yAv. that what is meant by aka came near to what is meant by Pahl. akas “clear, evident”. —In Gathica 3. manaroiš, the writer has derived manari-from mru-/mrav- (Skt. bru-) “to speak” (mru->[after the pattern of ³dar->dadari-] mamravi->[with the metathesis of ra>ar prior to aui>aoi] mamarvi->[with the assimilation of v to i in vi>yi]mamaryi->mamari->[with the dissimilation of m>n]manari-). The hapax manaroiš (Y. 48₁₀ a) would then mean “away or separating from crying”.
The translation of several passages should suffice as examples showing my interpretation.
Y. 44₁, bc: “By-virtue-of-(my)veneration—such-as the veneration (in general should be)—, o Your-Highness (xšmavato), o Mazda-, may Thy-Highness (θwavas) tell to (Thy) friend, i. e. to myhumble-self (mavaite)!”
Y. 51₁₃ bc: “(the dregvant) whose soul shall become angry at (him) at the Cinvat Bridge, in order to show (aka) (thus): ‘With the deed of (thy) own as well as of (thy) tongue thouhast-gone-astray from the way of justice’.”
Y. 50₂ cd: “Those-living-rightly with justice among the many keeping off the sun —in order to show them (akasteng i. e. akas teng) mayest Thou make me arrive at the gifts of givers!”
Y. 48₁₀ a: “When, o Mazda, shall the warriors attend-the-sacrifice, separating-from-(their) crying (manaroiš)?” that is, “The warriors are now adhering to the old cult in which cry is raised to kill the ox. When shall they separate from such a religious custom in order to attend our newly established cult?”

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The Avesta Yašts, which constitute the earlist part of the Younger Avesta, comprises numerous uninteligible passages. Yašt 5, 11:13 are typical hymns having such passages.
Parallel passages are observed between Yt. 5, 11:13 and Yt. 10, 125 (a hymn to Mithra), that is to say, ahmya vaše vaz_??_mna (Yt. 5, 11) with ahmya vaše vazante (Yt. 10, 125), and caθwaro vaštara spaeta vispa hama. gaona_??_ho (Yt. 5, 13) with caθwaro aurvanto spaeitita hama. gaona_??_ho (Yt. 10, 125), although they have been rejected or ignored by many Iranists. The dual form, hama. nafaeni berezanta taurvayanta, (Yt. 5, 13), which shows the very contradictory grammatical feature in context, seems to be a formula in the non-Zoroastrian original Yašts. Therefore, the agents of the verb, taurvayanta, are not caθwaro vaštara “four drawing-animals, ” but two gods suggested by the dual form. The above two evidences, I think, reveal the close relation between Anahita and Mithra. On the other hand, Anahita was also worshiped as the bestower and the guardian of kingship as well as Mithra in ancient Iran, and such function of Anahita is known by several passages in Yast 5, the inscriptions of Artaxerxes II and other evidences in West Iran. Moreover, considering the dual form of Yt. 5, 13 and Herodotus' famous misunderstanding about Iranian Aphrodite, Anahita (I, 131), we could not deny the possibility that both of them were united into a pair.
I suppose St. 11 sings a pair of gods, Mithra and Anahita, driving the chariot, and St. 13 comprises the fragments of two different hymns, one depicts Anahita's four drawing-animals, the other the combat against daevas by them. Yt. 5, 11: 13 would be the remnant of the lost hymns dedicated to Mithra-Anahita. If we accept Christensen's theory that, imitating the Avestan language, Median magi converted to Zoroastrianism composed Yašt 5, we may say that the original text of Yt. 5, 11:13 was the part of θεογουιη, so-called Median version of Yašts.
My translation of Yt. 5, 11:13 is as follows;
St. 11: Who (the male god, i. e., Mithra), the first, drives the chariot, gripes the bridles for (driving) the chariot; (Anahita) driving his chariot, …
St. 13: Whose four drawing-animals (are), white ones, all of one colour. (Two gods, Mithra and Anahita) of the same family, high ones, overwhlmed…

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The Av. haδanaepata-, correctly haδanaepata-, is identified as a pomegranate, as traditionally so considered by the Parsees.
This compound noun, originally meaning “drunk-with-seeds”, has as its elements four proto-Ir. morphemes: *ha-/*hada-, *danaia-, *pata- and *a-. The *danaia-, derived from the root *da- “to create, provide”, can be considered to mean “seed”, compared with O. Ind. dhanýa-/dhanía- and with Av. *dana- from Av. dano. karš-. The *pata- can be regarded as a past passive participle of *pa- “to drink”, although O. Ind. has pitá-. Because the stem vispo. pitay-, which is the only example that contains either a primitive or a derivative of the root *pa- “to drink”, appears in the text actually in the form of vispo. paitiš. And the Avestan orthography suggests us to read it not vispo. p^aitiš but vispo.paⁱtiš.
The Avesta informs us that the haδanaepata- is used to purify the filthiness of death and menses and mixed into zaoθra- for divinities with haoma- and milk. And various myths, legends and folklores from various countries tell us that the pomegranate, as a symbol of fertility because of its exuberant seeds, is offered to divinities as an offering and libation and is taken in rites of passage.

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