Possibly these arrows in the sky are bringing 'fire' to their targets.

"... it was said of Ishtar that it is 'she who stirs up the apsu before Ea'.⁶

⁶ 'Descent of Ishtar to the Nether World', obv. I. 27, ANET, p. 107; see also W. F. Albright, 'The Mouth of the Rivers', AJSL 35 (1919), p. 184.

A strange pastime for the heavenly queen, but it seems to have been a rather celestial sport. The eight Yasht of the Avesta⁷,

⁷ Yasht 8.6 and 8.37 (H. Lommel, Die Yasts des Awesta {1927}.

dedicated to Sirius-Tishtriya, says of this star: 'We worship the splendid, brilliant Tishtriya, which soars rapidly to Lake Vurukasha, like the arrow quick-as-lightning, which Urxsa the archer, the best archer among the Aryans, shot from Mount Aryioxsutha to Mount Huyanvant'.⁸

⁸ See for the feat of this unpronounceable archer (Rkhsha) the report given by Al-Biruni, who spells him simply Arish (The Chronology of Ancient Nations, trans. E. Sachau {1879}, p. 205). The background of the tale: Afrosiyab had promised to restore to Minôcihr a part of Erânshar (which had been conquered by him) as long and as broad as an arrow shot. Arish shot the arrow on the 13th day of the month Tir-Mâh, after having announced: 'I know that when I shoot with this bow and arrow I shall fall to pieces and my life will be gone.' Accordingly, when he shot, he 'fell asunder into pieces. By order of God the wind bore the arrow away from the mountain of Rûyân and brought it to the utmost frontier of Khurâsân between Farghâna and Tabaristân; there it hit the trunk of a nut-tree that was so large that there had never been a tree like it in the world. The distance between the place where the arrow was shot and that where it fell was 1,000 Farsahk.' (See also S. H. Taqizadeh, Old Iranian Calendars {1938}, p. 44.) Tîr or Tîra is the name for Mercury (see T. Hyde, Veterum Persarum et Parthorum Religionis historia {1760}, p. 24: 'Tîr, i.e., Sagitta ..., quo etiam nomine appellatur Mercurius Planeta propter veociorem motum'), but it is also, along with Tishtriya, the name for Sirius (see A. Scherer, Gestirnnamen bei den indogermanischen Völkern {1953}, pp. 113f.), and the 13th day of every month is dedicated to Sirius-Tishtriya (see Lommel, p. 5). We must leave it at that: Sirius-the-arrow has made more mythical 'noise' than any other star, and also its connection with the ominous number 13 appears to be no Iranian monopoly.

And what does Sirius do to this sea? It causes 'Lake Vurukasha to surge up, to flood asunder, to spread out; at all shores surges Lake Vurukasha, the whole center surges up.' (Yt. 8.31; see also 5.4). Whereas Pliny⁹

⁹ 9.58. Cf. Aristotle, Historia Animalium 8.15.599B-600.

wants to assure us that 'the whole sea is conscious of the rise of that star, as is most clearly seen in the Dardanelles, for sea-weed and fishes float on the surface, and everything is turned up from the bottom.' He also remarks that at the rising of the Dog-Star the wine in the cellars begins to stir up and that the still waters move (2.107) - and the Avesta offers as explanation (Yt. 8.41) that it is Tishtriya, indeed, 'by whom count the waters, the still and the flowing ones, those in springs and in rivers, those in channels and in ponds'.¹⁰

¹⁰ Trans. E. Herzfeld, Zoroaster and His World (1947), p. 587.

This is, however, no Iranian invention: the ritual text of the Babylonian New Year addresses Sirius as '^mulKAK.SI.DI. who measures the depth of the Sea'. ^mul is the prefix announcing the star, KAK.SI.DI means 'arrow', and it is this particular arrow which is behind most of the bewildering tales of archery. The bow from which it is sent on its way is a constellation, built from stars of Argo and Canis Major, which is common to the spheres of Mesopotamia, Egypt and China.¹¹

¹¹ There is strong circumstantial evidence of this bow and arrow in Mexico also: the bow of Chichimeca, the Dog-people.

And since the name Ishtar is shared by both Venus and Sirus, one may guess who 'stirs up the apsu before Ea'.

And here is what the 'fire' accomplished, according to a Finnish rune of origin,¹²

¹² K. Krohn, Magische Ursprungsrunen der Finnen (1924), pp. 115ff. See also F. Ohrt, The Spark in the Water (1926), pp. 3f.

after it had been 'cradled ... over there on the navel of the sky, on the peak of the famous mountain', when it rushed straightaway through the seven or nine skies and fell into the sea: 'The spark ... rolled ... to the bottom of Lake Aloe, roaring it rushed to the bottom of the sea, down into the narrow depression (?). This Lake Aloe then, thrice in the summernight, rose foaming to the height of its firs, driven in fury beyond its banks. Thereupon again Lake Aloe thrice in the summernight dried up its waters to the bottom, its perch on the rocks, its popo {small fishes} on the skerries'.

A violent spark this seems to have been; yet - is it not also said of the old Sage: 'Väinömöinen in the mouth of the whirlpool boils like fire in the water'? Which goes to say that mythical 'fire' means more that meets the eye'." (Hamlet's Mill)

It seems that 'fire' is a longitudinal matter, sun (or Sirius etc) will rise all over the surface of the earth - the impression is - at the same time for a given longitude. We leave this matter now. I have checked GD41 and GD37, but find no reason to change anything of substance there.