Here are two examples of the Avestan wisdom translated by Sorabjee Pestonjee Kanga in his collection entitled: The Metrical Version of the Gathas in English, Bombay, 1934.
"The man whose heart is pure uplifts the world
By strength of his good thought, good word, good deed,
He holds up high the flag of faith unfurled,
He spares no pains in preaching Mazda’s creed,
Of peaceful brotherhood he sows the seed.
Spiritual truth, the source of every bliss,
Leads him onward, and he must needs succeed,
Let all right-thinking men remember this
No chance of doing good they ever miss."
Avesta, Gatha Vohukhshathra v. 20
"Now offer up to Him your solemn songs
To the Omnipotent Lord, Who loveth all,
To Whom alone the universe belongs.
Good thought, good word, good deed, these words recall,
Their potent charm will thrive you here below;
Hereafter give you joys that never pall.
To gain His grace divine do not be slow,
Adhere to truth, the rest He will bestow."
Avesta, Gatha Ushtavaiti v.8.
"The man whose heart is pure uplifts the world
By strength of his good thought, good word, good deed,
He holds up high the flag of faith unfurled,
He spares no pains in preaching Mazda’s creed,
Of peaceful brotherhood he sows the seed.
Spiritual truth, the source of every bliss,
Leads him onward, and he must needs succeed,
Let all right-thinking men remember this
No chance of doing good they ever miss."
Avesta, Gatha Vohukhshathra v. 20
"Now offer up to Him your solemn songs
To the Omnipotent Lord, Who loveth all,
To Whom alone the universe belongs.
Good thought, good word, good deed, these words recall,
Their potent charm will thrive you here below;
Hereafter give you joys that never pall.
To gain His grace divine do not be slow,
Adhere to truth, the rest He will bestow."
Avesta, Gatha Ushtavaiti v.8.
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 8:01 AMI really like the stanzas rhyming in the Metrical version. -
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Wed, March 19, 2008 - 12:41 PMI know nothing about poetry but is there something significant about the rhyming? It seems to go:
a
b
a
b
c
b
c
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Thu, March 20, 2008 - 2:57 PMThere probably is some term in poetry that would identify the type of rhyme but I don't know the term. The rhyme seems simple, every other line -
world - unfurled
deed - creed
seed - succeed
bliss - this
miss - (the last one rhymes again)
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songs - belongs
all - recall
below - slow
pall - bestow
(bestow rhymes with slow and pall with recall)
These are the only two portions I have of the metrical form. The rhymes make them special to me, like more to thier original forms like Manthras. -
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Fri, April 4, 2008 - 4:09 PMwernt a lot of ancient writings ment to be spoken/chanted....
rhyming is common in a lot of old writings.
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Fri, April 4, 2008 - 6:28 PMFrom my understanding the rhyme of the Gathas in its original language, Old Avestan, is complete. If this was not so it would be obvious the text had been tampered with by inserting other words or portions, the accuracy of the rhyme signifies thier authenticity. -
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Mon, April 7, 2008 - 11:06 AMI also don't know much about poetry. The metrical scheme is iambic pentameter, the rhythm most natural to the English language, occurring orgranically in common speech. And the poem's in translation *really* adhere to iambic, almost gratingly so. The stressed first syllables of "Spritual" and "Lead" save the first poem, in my opinion.
I don't know if there's a name for the rhyme sheme. -
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Re: Metrical Gathas
Tue, April 8, 2008 - 4:11 PMThanks for giving some idea about the metrical scheme - iambic pentameter. I like the compact wording of this form of translation, sometimes a translation will have more than twice the volume of English for the Old Avestan. The balance of the right word that conveys the meaning and rhymes in another language is an accomplishment in itself.
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