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Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Vend. III, 48, which treats of Sag-did or dog-gaze, does not mention Méd6dk-mah or any of the details described here in the text ; these details, however, are to be found in Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. * Reading amat bar4 zér gan dad. This phrase occurs only in M6 (as a marginal note) and in the text of its descendants. Assuming that bar& may be a miswriting of pavan (see p. 176, note 5), we might read amat pavan zér shdy4d, ‘when he shall wash with holy-water.’ * The ‘corruption’ which is supposed to enter a corpse shortly after death, whence it issues in the form of a fiend and seizes upon any one who touches the corpse, unless it has been destroyed, or driven away, by the gaze of a dog, as mentioned in the text (compare Vend. VIII, 38-48). The carcase of a dog is considered equally contagious with the corpse of a human being, and when the fiend of corruption (Nasfs or Nas of Bund. XXVIII, 29) has seized upon any one, it can be driven out only by a long and troublesome form of purification described in Vend. VIII, r11- 228, IX, 4-117. * This statement is now to be found in Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. ® See Bund. XIV, 19. The Persian Rivayats of Kamah Bahrah and K4fs Kaman (quoted in B2g) describe these dogs as ‘the shepherd’s dog, the house-dog, the strange or tame (gharib) dog, and the puppy.’ ; * Probably the Av. sukuruna of Vend. V, 100, XIII, 48, which 246 SHAYAST LA-SHAYAST. and as to the rfikdntk there have been divers opinions, as Vand-Afiharmazd! asserted, from the teaching of Afarg, that it does not destroy 74. 3. The dog destroys the Nasfs at the time when it sees the flesh, and when it sees the hair or nails it does not destroy z¢*. 4. A blind dog also destroys z¢ at the time when it places a paw? on the corpse ; and when it places z¢ upon the hair or nails it does not destroy 7¢4. 5. The birds which destroy the Nasts are three: the mountain kite, the black crow, and the vulture®; the bird, moreover, destroys z¢ at the time when z¢s shadow falls upon it; when it sees it in the water, a mirror, or a looking-glass, it does not destroy z¢°, is translated by hfikar or hfikfr in the Pahlavi version. This fifth kind of dog is called ‘the blind (kfir) dog’ in the Persian Rivayats; but Pahl. Vend. VII, 4 asserts that ‘Sésh4ns said the rikuntk also destroys it, and then speaks of the blind dog as in § 4. ' See the note on Chap. I, 4. * This is also stated in Pahl. Vend. III, 138. 5 See Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. ‘ The Persian Rivayats say this is because the Nas@s is concealed beneath the hair and nails (compare Vend. VII, 70). ® These are the birds ‘created for devouring dead matter’ (see Bund. XIX, 25). Pahl. Vend. VII, 4 substitutes an eagle (dalman) for the vulture.
25 See Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. ‘ The Persian Rivayats say this is because the Nas@s is concealed beneath the hair and nails (compare Vend. VII, 70). ® These are the birds ‘created for devouring dead matter’ (see Bund. XIX, 25). Pahl. Vend. VII, 4 substitutes an eagle (dalman) for the vulture. ° This sentence is probably defective, as the last clause evidently refers to the dog’s gaze (see Pahl. Vend. III, 138), and not to the bird’s shadow; the rule, however, is applicable to both. Thus the Persian Rivayats state that if the bird’s shadow falls upon the hair or the nails of the corpse, or if the bird’s shadow, or the dog’s gaze falls upon a corpse in the water, or upon its reflection in a mirror, the Nasfs is not destroyed. Dastir Jamaspji is of opinion that the utility of the bird’s shadow is intended to apply only to. cases of death in uninhabited places, where a dog is not procurable. As all three birds are such as feed upon corpses, it seems probable that the rule as to their utility was intended to pre- CHAPTER II, 3-7. 247 6. Vand-Adharmazd said, where a pregnant woman is to be carried by two men’, both are to be cleansed by the Bareshnim ceremony*, and the head of the corpse, when they carry it away, is to be set towards the Dakhma’. 7. And on account of contamination vent any neglect of corpses found in wild places, where some of these birds would be sure to approach and let their shadows fall upon the dead, after which the finder of the corpse would suppose that the Nass was destroyed or driven away, and the corpse safer to approach. 1 This is an exceptional case, when not more than two men are available; the usual custom (see Chap. X, 10) is to employ four men and two dogs (double the usual number) in disposing of the corpse of a pregnant woman, on account of the double risk of contamination, owing to the Nas@s, or fiend of corruption, having seized upon two corpses at once. In consequence of the exceptional nature of the case, the mode of purification is also exceptional. 2 A long purification ceremony lasting nine nights, and described in Vend. IX, 1-145. Its name, according to Dastir Hoshangji, is derived from the first word of the instructions for sprinkling the unclean person, which commence (Vend. IX, 48) as follows: Bareshnfim hé vaghdhanem paourum paiti-hi#dis, ‘sprinkle in front on the top of his head.’ As it is usual to quote chapters by their initial words, the initial word of these instructions for the ceremony became a name for the ceremony itself.
3IX, 48) as follows: Bareshnfim hé vaghdhanem paourum paiti-hi#dis, ‘sprinkle in front on the top of his head.’ As it is usual to quote chapters by their initial words, the initial word of these instructions for the ceremony became a name for the ceremony itself. 5 The building in which the dead are finally deposited; here called by its Huzvaris name, khazin. The Dakhmas used by the Parsis in India are like low circular towers in external appearance, and consist of a high wall enclosing a larger or smaller circular space which is open to the sky. The only opening in the wall is a small doorway, closed with an-iron door. In the centre of the circular area is a circular well a few feet in depth, and the space around it is paved so as to slope gently downwards from the enclosing wall to the brink of the well. This paved annular area is divided (by shallow gutters grooved into its surface) into spaces, each large enough for one corpse to be laid upon it, with the head towards the wall and the feet towards the well. These spaces are arranged in two or more concentric rings around the well, and the gutters (which isolate each space on all four sides) drain into the 248 SHAYAST LA-SHAYAST. (padvishak)! two are not to be carried at one time, and two by one person are not proper; one dog and one person are proper*®. 8. Every one who understands the care of a corpse is proper; two boys of eight years old, who understand the care, are proper; a woman free from menstruation, or free from dead well. After a sufficient time has elapsed the dry bones are said to be thrown into the well, and when the well is full the Dakhma ought to be finally closed, and another one brought into use. These Dakhmas are erected upon some dry and barren spot, remote from habitations and water; upon the summit of a hill, if possible, as prescribed in Vend. VI, 93, and usually more than a mile from the town. In Bombay the town has gradually approached the Dakhmas, and to some extent surrounded them, but has been kept away from their immediate vicinity by the judicious measures of influential Parsis, who have acquired all the neighbouring land, and refrain from building on it. The reason for thus exposing their dead to the sun and carnivorous birds is that the Parsis consider fire, water, and earth too sacred to be defiled by corpses; and they have less consideration for the air. Next to burning, the Parsi mode of disposing of the dead is the most rapid and effectual, as it avoids most of the concentrated evils which must accumulate in crowded cemeteries in the course of time, and which require ages to dissipate. As it is, most of the offensive effluvium in the immediate vicinity of a Dakhma arises not from direct contamination of the air, but indirectly through the ground, which becomes polluted, in the course of time, by impure filtrations.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
Romanised transliteration as printed by the translator, not the original script. This is what we hold.
1Vend. III, 48, which treats of Sag-did or dog-gaze, does not mention Méd6dk-mah or any of the details described here in the text ; these details, however, are to be found in Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. * Reading amat bar4 zér gan dad. This phrase occurs only in M6 (as a marginal note) and in the text of its descendants. Assuming that bar& may be a miswriting of pavan (see p. 176, note 5), we might read amat pavan zér shdy4d, ‘when he shall wash with holy-water.’ * The ‘corruption’ which is supposed to enter a corpse shortly after death, whence it issues in the form of a fiend and seizes upon any one who touches the corpse, unless it has been destroyed, or driven away, by the gaze of a dog, as mentioned in the text (compare Vend. VIII, 38-48). The carcase of a dog is considered equally contagious with the corpse of a human being, and when the fiend of corruption (Nasfs or Nas of Bund. XXVIII, 29) has seized upon any one, it can be driven out only by a long and troublesome form of purification described in Vend. VIII, r11- 228, IX, 4-117. * This statement is now to be found in Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. ® See Bund. XIV, 19. The Persian Rivayats of Kamah Bahrah and K4fs Kaman (quoted in B2g) describe these dogs as ‘the shepherd’s dog, the house-dog, the strange or tame (gharib) dog, and the puppy.’ ; * Probably the Av. sukuruna of Vend. V, 100, XIII, 48, which 246 SHAYAST LA-SHAYAST. and as to the rfikdntk there have been divers opinions, as Vand-Afiharmazd! asserted, from the teaching of Afarg, that it does not destroy 74. 3. The dog destroys the Nasfs at the time when it sees the flesh, and when it sees the hair or nails it does not destroy z¢*. 4. A blind dog also destroys z¢ at the time when it places a paw? on the corpse ; and when it places z¢ upon the hair or nails it does not destroy 7¢4. 5. The birds which destroy the Nasts are three: the mountain kite, the black crow, and the vulture®; the bird, moreover, destroys z¢ at the time when z¢s shadow falls upon it; when it sees it in the water, a mirror, or a looking-glass, it does not destroy z¢°, is translated by hfikar or hfikfr in the Pahlavi version. This fifth kind of dog is called ‘the blind (kfir) dog’ in the Persian Rivayats; but Pahl. Vend. VII, 4 asserts that ‘Sésh4ns said the rikuntk also destroys it, and then speaks of the blind dog as in § 4. ' See the note on Chap. I, 4. * This is also stated in Pahl. Vend. III, 138. 5 See Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. ‘ The Persian Rivayats say this is because the Nas@s is concealed beneath the hair and nails (compare Vend. VII, 70). ® These are the birds ‘created for devouring dead matter’ (see Bund. XIX, 25). Pahl. Vend. VII, 4 substitutes an eagle (dalman) for the vulture.
25 See Pahl. Vend. VII, 4. ‘ The Persian Rivayats say this is because the Nas@s is concealed beneath the hair and nails (compare Vend. VII, 70). ® These are the birds ‘created for devouring dead matter’ (see Bund. XIX, 25). Pahl. Vend. VII, 4 substitutes an eagle (dalman) for the vulture. ° This sentence is probably defective, as the last clause evidently refers to the dog’s gaze (see Pahl. Vend. III, 138), and not to the bird’s shadow; the rule, however, is applicable to both. Thus the Persian Rivayats state that if the bird’s shadow falls upon the hair or the nails of the corpse, or if the bird’s shadow, or the dog’s gaze falls upon a corpse in the water, or upon its reflection in a mirror, the Nasfs is not destroyed. Dastir Jamaspji is of opinion that the utility of the bird’s shadow is intended to apply only to. cases of death in uninhabited places, where a dog is not procurable. As all three birds are such as feed upon corpses, it seems probable that the rule as to their utility was intended to pre- CHAPTER II, 3-7. 247 6. Vand-Adharmazd said, where a pregnant woman is to be carried by two men’, both are to be cleansed by the Bareshnim ceremony*, and the head of the corpse, when they carry it away, is to be set towards the Dakhma’. 7. And on account of contamination vent any neglect of corpses found in wild places, where some of these birds would be sure to approach and let their shadows fall upon the dead, after which the finder of the corpse would suppose that the Nass was destroyed or driven away, and the corpse safer to approach. 1 This is an exceptional case, when not more than two men are available; the usual custom (see Chap. X, 10) is to employ four men and two dogs (double the usual number) in disposing of the corpse of a pregnant woman, on account of the double risk of contamination, owing to the Nas@s, or fiend of corruption, having seized upon two corpses at once. In consequence of the exceptional nature of the case, the mode of purification is also exceptional. 2 A long purification ceremony lasting nine nights, and described in Vend. IX, 1-145. Its name, according to Dastir Hoshangji, is derived from the first word of the instructions for sprinkling the unclean person, which commence (Vend. IX, 48) as follows: Bareshnfim hé vaghdhanem paourum paiti-hi#dis, ‘sprinkle in front on the top of his head.’ As it is usual to quote chapters by their initial words, the initial word of these instructions for the ceremony became a name for the ceremony itself.
3IX, 48) as follows: Bareshnfim hé vaghdhanem paourum paiti-hi#dis, ‘sprinkle in front on the top of his head.’ As it is usual to quote chapters by their initial words, the initial word of these instructions for the ceremony became a name for the ceremony itself. 5 The building in which the dead are finally deposited; here called by its Huzvaris name, khazin. The Dakhmas used by the Parsis in India are like low circular towers in external appearance, and consist of a high wall enclosing a larger or smaller circular space which is open to the sky. The only opening in the wall is a small doorway, closed with an-iron door. In the centre of the circular area is a circular well a few feet in depth, and the space around it is paved so as to slope gently downwards from the enclosing wall to the brink of the well. This paved annular area is divided (by shallow gutters grooved into its surface) into spaces, each large enough for one corpse to be laid upon it, with the head towards the wall and the feet towards the well. These spaces are arranged in two or more concentric rings around the well, and the gutters (which isolate each space on all four sides) drain into the 248 SHAYAST LA-SHAYAST. (padvishak)! two are not to be carried at one time, and two by one person are not proper; one dog and one person are proper*®. 8. Every one who understands the care of a corpse is proper; two boys of eight years old, who understand the care, are proper; a woman free from menstruation, or free from dead well. After a sufficient time has elapsed the dry bones are said to be thrown into the well, and when the well is full the Dakhma ought to be finally closed, and another one brought into use. These Dakhmas are erected upon some dry and barren spot, remote from habitations and water; upon the summit of a hill, if possible, as prescribed in Vend. VI, 93, and usually more than a mile from the town. In Bombay the town has gradually approached the Dakhmas, and to some extent surrounded them, but has been kept away from their immediate vicinity by the judicious measures of influential Parsis, who have acquired all the neighbouring land, and refrain from building on it. The reason for thus exposing their dead to the sun and carnivorous birds is that the Parsis consider fire, water, and earth too sacred to be defiled by corpses; and they have less consideration for the air. Next to burning, the Parsi mode of disposing of the dead is the most rapid and effectual, as it avoids most of the concentrated evils which must accumulate in crowded cemeteries in the course of time, and which require ages to dissipate. As it is, most of the offensive effluvium in the immediate vicinity of a Dakhma arises not from direct contamination of the air, but indirectly through the ground, which becomes polluted, in the course of time, by impure filtrations.
The source text as printed, transcribed diplomatically. Where the source language uses a non-Latin script that reaches us only through a Victorian romanisation, this layer is labelled transliteration, because that is what we hold.
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