> [[schwartz]]. "Gathic Compositional History, Y 29, and Bovine Symbolism". Article in [[adhami2003]]. > [pdf](a/schwartz2003.pdf) ??ex ## Excerpts ### :241-243 Section titled "POST-GATHIC REFLECTIONS OF BOVINE SYMBOLISM" > [pdf](a/schwartz2003-ex.pdf) > References [[schmidt1975]] alot. > For the symbolism of the Cow as the good **dayanā**, evidence is found in the development of the latter term as YAv. *daēnā*, designating the form which appears to the soul after death and represents an individual's earthly conscience and outlook. The usual post-Gathic description of the form which the daēnā of the righteous person assumes is first attested in the Avestan Haδōxt Nask 2.7. According to this text, at the end of the third night after death, the soul of the righteous appears admist plants and receives fragrances; after the soul wonders about the marvelously perfumed breeze it is smelling, the *daēnā* of the righteous man appears to him in the form of a beautiful fifteen year old maiden. Prof. Schmidt (1975: 22) has pointed to the Vedic parallels: "a bridge to be crossed and the reception of the departed soul by a maiden or maidens", and the celestial nymphs who receive the soul, Mānasī 'consisting in thought' and Cākṣuṣī 'consisting in sight' )in the late Vedic Kauṣītakī-Upaniṣad) have names reminiscent of that of Daēnā '(en)visionment' and Cista 'cognition', who is the 'likeness' (*upamana-*) of Daēnā; cf. also the Vedic nymph Pratirūpā 'likeness'. > MORE > MORE #finish