their verdict of being guilty on a soul than Vizaresha pounces upon his victim and mercilessly drags the wretched soul into the bottomless hell.[1]
Kunda
A demon at the gate of hell. Sraosha is invoked to smite this demon. The fire of Ahura Mazda routs him.[2] He is drunken without drinking, and hurls the souls of the wicked into hell.[3] There are spells to rout the fiend and his evil progeny. The name occures in its feminine form as Kundi.[4]
Bushyansta
Sloth personified. Idleness and inactivity tend to strengthen the Kingdom of Evil. The demoness Bushyansta, or sloth personified, literally 'procrastination,' is commissioned by Angra Mainyu to inculcate the habit of sleep and procrastination among mankind. She, the long-handed, as she is called,[5] lulls the whole living world to inordinate slumber. Timely sleep as such is of Ahura Mazda's making and it receives even adoration;[6] but Bushyansta, the inordinate, tempts the idle to be unduly long in bed,[7] and thus prevents the practice of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.[8] At dawn the cock Parodarsh, whose name literally means 'one who sees ahead,' flapping his wings and crowing aloud, warns slumbering humanity of the stratagem of Bushyansta, and informs the faithful that it is time to wake up and proceed to work.[9] When Mithra comes in his chariot, he puts the fiend to flight;[10] the Aryan Glory and the holy spells join hands as well to render powerless this demoness of laziness.[11]
- ↑ Vd. 19. 29.
- ↑ Yt. 24. 26.
- ↑ Vd. 19. 41.
- ↑ Vd. 11. 9, 12.
- ↑ Vd. 11. 9; 18. 16, 24.
- ↑ Vsp. 7. 3.
- ↑ Yt. 22. 42.
- ↑ Vd. 18. 17, 25.
- ↑ Vd. 18. 16, 24. For general information about the cock among the ancient Iranians, see Jackson, Proceedings, JAOS. 13. lix-lxi, cf. also Peters, The Cock, in JAOS. 33. 377-380.
- ↑ Yt. 10. 97, 134.
- ↑ Yt. 18. 2; Vd. 11. 9, 12.
