CHAPTER XXII
YAZATAS
The Zoroastrian angels. Next in rank to the Amesha Spentas come the Yazatas, literally meaning the 'adorable ones.' We find the corresponding Skt. word Yajata in the Rig Veda, but it does not play any conspicuous part there. If the Amesha Spentas are the archangels in Zoroastrian theology, the Yazatas are the angels. They are numbered by hundreds and by thousands,[1] by tens of thousands and by hundreds of thousands, nay even more.[2] About forty only, however, are mentioned in the extant Avestan text. Plutarch refers to twenty-four.[3] The prominent Yazatas mentioned by name in Ys. 16. 4-6; Sr. 1. 8-30; 2. 8-30, closely correspond to the number mentioned by the Greek writer. Several of the Yazatas have individually consecrated to them a Yasht, or hymn of praise, which narrates the doings and functions of its respective genius. Besides the Yashts that form a special biographical literature of these minor divinities, the whole Iranian literature is filled with the record of their achievements. Ahura Mazda himself is a Yazata,[4] even as he is an Amesha Spenta. He is the greatest and the best Yazata.[5] Zarathushtra himself is spoken of as a Yazata.[6]
History of the Yazatas. Some of these Yazatas are, as we have already seen, pre-Zoroastrian and go back to the Indo-Iranian period; but with the exception of Sraosha, Atar, and Ashi, they do not appear in the Gathas, though frequent enough in the Later Avesta. In fact, they permeate all the later texts, and form an indissoluble part of the Zoroastrian pantheon. We shall group them under two headings and distinguish those that are common to the Indians and the Iranians from those that are purely Iranian.
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