> The Av. kata of Vend.V, 36-40; a special chamber. for the temporary reception of the corpse, when it was impossible to remove it at once to the dakhma, owing to the inclemency of the weather. It should be large enough for standing upright, and for stretching out the feet and hands, without touching either walls or ceiling; that is, not less than six feet cube. The text means that those times will be so distressing, that it will be considered lawful to perform the sacred ceremonies even in a place of such concentrated impurity as a dead-house not actually occupied by a corpse.
206 BAHMAN YAST.
37. Or, in those last times, it becomes allowable to
perform a ceremonial (yazisn) with two men, so that
this religion may not come to nothing and collapse’;
there w2// be only one in a hundred, in a thousand,
in a myriad, who believes in this religion, and even
he does nothing of it though z¢ de a duty; and the
fire of Vahram, which will come to nothing and
collapse, fad/s off from a thousand to one care-taker,
and even he does not supply it properly with fire-
wood and incense; or when a man, wo has per-
formed worship and does not know the Nirangistan ®
(‘code of religious formulas’), shall kindle z¢ with
good intentions, it is allowable.
38. ‘ Honourable‘ wealth will all proceed to those
of perverted faith (kévid-késh4n); it comes to the
_ transgressors, and virtuous doers of good works,
from the families of noblemen even unto the priests
(még-mardan), remain running about uncovered ;
the lower orders take in marriage the daughters
of nobles, grandees, avd priests; and the nobles,
grandees, and priests come to destitution azd bon-
dage. 39. The misfortunes of the ignoble will over-
take greatness and authority, and the helpless and
ignoble will come to the foremost place azd advance-
ment; the words of the upholders of religion, and
the seal and 5 sears of a just yeaRe will become the
’ The Paz, Mss. sda tid helplessness.’
* The Paz. MSS. add, ‘and the prayers and ceremonies that he orders of priests and disciples they do not fulfil.’
* The name of a work which treats of various ceremonial details, and appears to be a portion of the Pahlavi translation of the seven- teenth or Hfisparam Nask, containing many Avesta quotations which are not now to be found elsewhere.
* The Paz. MSS. have misread agfr damfk, ‘ underground,’ instead of 4zarmik.
Chapter Ii, 37-41. 207
words of random speakers (arndéz6-gékAn) among
the just avd even the righteous; and the words of
the ignoble and Slanderers, of the disreputable and
mockers, and of those of divers opinions they con-
sider true and credible, about which they take! an
oath, although with falsehood, and thereby give
false evidence, and speak falsely and irreverently
about me, Atharmazd. 40. They who bear the
title of priest and disciples wish evil concerning *
one another; he speaks vice and they look upon
vice; and the antagonism of Aharman and the
demons is much brought on by them; of the sin
which men commit, out of five * sins the priests and
disciples commit three sins, and they become ene-
mies of the good, so that they may thereby speak of
bad faults relating to one another; the ceremonies
they undertake they do not perform, and they have
no fear of hell.
41. ‘And in that tenth hundredth winter, w/zch is
the end of thy millennium, O righteous Zaratist!
all mankind will bind torn hair, disregarding reve-
lation *, so that a willingly-disposed cloud and a
1 Literally, ‘devour an oath,’ which Persian idiom was occasioned by the original form of oath consisting in drinking water prepared in a particular manner, after having invoked all the heavenly powers to bear witness to the truth of what had been asserted (see the Safigand-namah).
* Reading raf instead of 14, ‘not.’ The whole section is omitted by the Paz. MSS., possibly from politic motives, as the language is plain enough.
$ The Persian paraphrase has ‘ eight.’
4 Referring probably to the injunctions regarding cutting the hair and paring the nails, with all the proper precautions for pre- venting any fragments of the hair or nails from lying about, as given in Vend. XVII. One of the penalties for neglecting such precau- tions is supposed to be a failure of the necessary rains. The
208 BAHMAN YAST.
righteous wind are not able to produce rain in its
proper time and season. 42. And a dark cloud
makes the whole sky night, and the hot wind and
the cold wind arrive, and bring along fruit and seed.
of corn, even the rain in its proper time; and it does
not rain, azd that which rains also rains more
noxious creatures than water; and the water of
rivers and springs will diminish, and there will be
no increase. 43. And the beast of durden and ox
and sheep bring forth more painfully’ and awk-
wardly, and acquire less fruitfulness ; and ¢hezr hair
is coarser avd skin thinner; the milk does not in-
crease and has less cream (£arbist); the strength
of the labouring ox is less, and the agility of the
swift horse is less, and it carries less in a race.
44. ‘And on the men in that perplexing time,
O Zaratist the .Spitaman! who wear the sacred
thread-girdle on the waist, the evil-seeking of mis-
government and much of its false judgment have
come as a wind in which their living is not possible,
and they seek death as a boon; and youths and
children will be apprehensive, and gossiping chitchat
and gladness of heart do not arise among them.
45. And they practise the appointed feasts (gasn5)
of ¢hety ancestors, the propitiation (aisdfrid) of
angels, axd the prayers and ceremonies of the season
festivals and guardian spirits, in various places, yet
that which they practise they do not believe in un-
hesitatingly ; they do not give rewards lawfully, and
words andstak diné can also be translated by ‘despising the religion.’
' The word appears to be dardaktar, but is almost illegible in K2o; it may possibly be kftaktar, ‘more scantily,’ as the Paz. MSS. have ké6daktar bahdd, ‘become smaller,’ -
Chapter Ii, 42-49. 209
rls
bestow no gifts and alms, and even those [they
bestow]! they repent of again. 46. And even those
men of the good religion, who have reverenced the
good religion of the Mazdayasnians, proceed in con-
formity with (bar-hamaké rfibisn) those ways and
customs’, and do not believe their own religion.
47. And the noble, great, and charitable *, who are
the virtuous of their own country and locality, will
depart from their own original place and family‘ as
idolatrous; through want they beg something from
the ignoble and vile, and come to poverty and help-
lessness ; through them ® nine in ten of these men
will perish in the northern quarter.
48.‘ Through their way of misrule everything
comes to nothingness and destitution, levity and
infirmity; and the earth of Spendarmad opens #és
mouth wide, avd every jewel and metal becomes
exposed, such as gold and silver, brass, tin, and
lead. 49. And rule azd sovereignty come to slaves,
such as the Tark and non-Taranian (Atiir) of the
army®, and are turbulent as among the moun-
+ This verb is omitted in K2o.
* It is rather doubtful whether their own customs are meant, or those of their conquerors.
> Or dah&kan may mean ‘the skilful.’
* Reading dfidak instead of rfidak. At first sight the mis- writing of r for d seems to indicate copying from a text in the modern Persian character, in which those two letters are often much alike; but it happens that the compounds df and rf also resemble one another in some Pahlavi handwriting.
® Whether through poverty and helplessness, or through the conquerors, is not quite clear.
® Very little reliance can be placed upon the details of this sen- tence, but it is difficult to make any other complete and consistent translation. Darmesteter suggests the reading hén6, ‘army,’ but another possible reading is Khyén (Av. Hvyaona), the old name
210 BAHMAN YAST.
taineers!; and the Kini?, the KAvztli, the SdOfti, the
Raman (Arfimayak), and the white-clothed Kar-
mak then attain sovereignty in my countries of Iran,
and their will and pleasure will become current in the
world. 50. The sovereignty will come from those
leathern-belted ones* and Arabs (Tézigan) and
Rimans to them, azd they will be so misgoverning
that when they kill a righteous man who is virtuous
and a fly, it is all one® in their eyes. 51. And the
security, fame, and prosperity, the country and
families, the wealth and handiwork, the streams,
rivers, and springs of Iran, and of those of the good
religion, come to those non-Iranians; and the army
and standards of the frontiers come to them, and a
rule with a craving for wrath advances in the world.
52. And their eyes of avarice are not sated with
wealth, and they form hoards of the world’s wealth,
and conceal /Aem underground; and through wicked-
ness they commit sodomy, hold much intercourse
with menstruous women, and practise many unna-
tural lusts.
of some country probably in Turkistaén, as Argdsp, the opponent of Vistasp, is called ‘lord or king of Khyén’ in the Yadk4r-i Zarfran (see also Gés Yt. 30, 31, Ashi Yt. 50, 51, Zamyad Yt. 87).
* Or, ‘as the mountain-holding Khidarak.’ Darmesteter suggests that Khfidarak may be an ‘inhabitant of Khazar.’
* Probably the people of Samarkand, which place was formerly called Ain according to a passage in some MSS. of Tabart’s Chronicle, quoted in Ouseley’s Oriental Geography, p. 298. See also Bund. XII, 22.
* The Kabuli and Byzantine Riman are plain enough; not so the Soft? and Karmak (Kalmak or Krimak),
* That is, the Tfrks, as appears more clearly from Chap. III, 8,9. The Arabs are mentioned here, incidently, for the first time, and again in Chap. ILI, 9, 51.
* Literally, ‘ both are one,’
Chapter Hi, 50-57. 211
53. “And in that perplexing time the night is
brighter !, and the year, month, and day will di-
minish one-third; the earth of Spendarmad arises,
and suffering, death, and destitution become more
severe in the world.’
54. Adharmazd said to Zaratfist the Spitaman :
‘This is what I foretell: that wicked evil spirit,
when it shall be necessary for Aim to perish, be-
comes more oppressive and more tyrannical.’
55. So Adharmazd spoke to Zaratfst the Spita-
man thus: ‘Enquire fully and learn by heart?
thoroughly! teach 7¢ by Zand, Pazand, and explana-
tion! tell z¢ to the priests and disciples who speak
forth in the world, avd those who are not aware of
the hundred winters, tell 74 then to them! so that,
for the hope of a future existence, avd for the pre-
servation of their own souls, they may remove the
trouble, evil, and oppression which those of other
religions cause in the ceremonies of religion (diné
yésnan). 56. And, moreover, I tell thee this, O
Zarattist the Spitiman! that whoever, in that time,
appeals for the body is not able to save the soul,
for Ae zs as it were fat, and zs soul is hungry and
Jean in hell; whoever appeals for the soul, zs body
is hungry azd lean through the misery of the world,
and destitute, and his soul is fat in heaven.’
57. Zaratist enquired of Adharmazd thus: ‘O
Attharmazd, propitious spirit! creator of the mate-
rial world who art righteous !’—He is Atharmazd
through righteous invocation, and the rest through
’ The Paz. version adds, ‘the motion of the sun is quicker.’ ? Literally, ‘make easy.’
BY BAHMAN YAST.
praise; some say ‘righteous creator!!’—‘O creator !
in that perplexing time are they righteous ? and are
there religious people who wear the sacred thread-
girdle (kdstik) on the waist, and celebrate religious
rites (dind)? with the sacred twigs (bares6m)? and
does the religious practice of next-of-kin marriage
(khvétik-das) continue in their families ?’
58. Adharmazd said to Zarattist thus: ‘Of the
best men is he who, in that perplexing time, wears
the sacred thread-girdle on the waist, and celebrates
religious rites with the sacred twigs, ‘hough not as in
the reign of King Vistaésp. 59. Whoever in that
perplexing time recites Ita-4d-yazam (Av. itha ad
yazamaidé, Yas. Vand XX XVII)* azd one Ashem-
vohti*, azd has learned z¢ by heart, is as though,
in the reign of King Vistasp, 24 were a Dvazdah-
hémast® with holy-water (zéhar). 60. And by
' This interpolated commentary is a pretty clear indication that the writer is translating from an Avesta text.
* Both Paz. and Pers. have dréné, ‘ sacred cakes.’
* The third ha or chapter of the Yasna of seven chapters. It worships Aftharmazd as the creator of all good things.
* See Bund. XX, 2.
* For the following explanation of the various kinds of hémast I am indebted to DastQr Jamaspji Minochiharji Jam4sp- -AsA-na of Bombay :—
