THE STORM GOD.
The Persian myth of the struggle of Tiśtrya with Apaosha, the drouth fiend, in order to obtain rain, is merely another form of the battle of the elements in the Ṛig-veda, when Indra rides forth to the conflict and shoots his arrows into the gathering clouds.
The early idolaters worshipped the host of heaven, and from this doubtless arose the worship of the star Sirius as the storm god—Tiśtrya. The rising of this star to a prominent position marks the period of the ever welcome rains, when the parched earth drinks in the refreshing flood, and the flowers spring from the soil.
The dog-days are supposed to represent the time of Tiśtrya’s great conflict with Apaosha, and the battle is long and closely contested before he conquers his foe.
The storm god comes into the arena in three different forms; he first attacks the foe in the form of a beautiful youth, then as a bull with golden horns, and at last as a white horse with golden caparison and golden ears. The drouth fiend is represented as a black horse, and “They meet together hoof against hoof, they fight for three days and three nights, and then the Deva[[138]] proves too strong for bright and glorious Tiśtrya; he overcomes him.” Tiśtrya then flees from the sea and cries out: “Oh Ahūra-Mazda, men do not worship me with sacrifice and praise, invoking me by my own name; should they worship me with sacrifice and praise, invoking me by my own name as the other Yazatas are invoked, they would bring me the strength of ten horses, of ten camels, ten bulls, ten mountains and ten rivers.”
Ahūra then offers him a sacrifice, in which he is invoked by his own name, and which gives him the strength of ten horses, of ten camels, ten bulls, ten mountains and ten rivers, whereupon Tiśtrya returns to the conflict, and Apaosha flies before him. The white horse being victorious, the copious rains come down, glad brooks spring from the rocky hillsides—they come with pearly sandaled feet, laden with love and mercy to the sun-parched plain; hence the following hymn:
“We sacrifice unto Tiśtrya[Tiśtrya], the bright and glorious star,
For whom the longing flocks and herds and men are looking forward
When shall we see him rise up, the bright and glorious star Tiśtrya....
For whom long the standing waters and the running spring waters,
The stream waters and the rain waters?
When will the springs with a flow run to the beautiful places and fields?[[139]]
And to the roots of the plants that they may grow with a powerful growth?”