The Zend Avesta, Part I (SBE04): Vendîdâd: Fargard I

3:3 Whether in the time when this Fargard was written, the Airyana p. 4 Vaêgô was still believed to be in the far-off lands of the rising sun, or already on the banks of the Aras, we leave undecided. 4:1 See Introd. IV, 4. 4:2 Literally 'the most beneficent,' an epithet of Zarathustra, which was later mistaken for a family name, 'the Spitamide.' 4:3 See Introd. IV, 40. 4:4 'Every one fancies that the land where he is born and has been brought up is the best and fairest land that I have created.' (Comm.) 4:5 See following clause. Clause 2 belongs to the Commentary; it is composed of quotations that illustrate the alternative process of the creation: 'First, Ahura Mazda would create a land of such kind that its dwellers might like it, and there could be nothing more delightful. Then he who is all death would bring against it a counter-creation.' 5:1 See the Introd. to the Fargard. 5:2 'The good Dâitya.' 'The Dâitîk (Dâitya) comes from Irân Vêg (Airyana Vaêgô), it flows through the mountains of Gorgistân (Georgia,' Bund. p. 51, 19). It was therefore, in the time of the Sassanides, a name of the Araxes. 5:3 'There are many Khrafstras in the Dâitîk, as it is said, The Dâitîk full of Khrafstras' (Bund. p. 51, 20). The serpent in the river was originally the mythical Serpent, Azis, who overthrew and killed the king of Irân Vêg, Yima (see Introd. IV, 18); then it was identified, as appears from the Bundahis, with the snakes that abound on the banks of the Araxes (Morier, A Second Journey, p. 250).