There are four kinds of h6mAst recited by priests for the atone- ment of any sin that may have been committed by a woman during pre tor after her purification :—
. HémAst consists of prayers recited for 144 days, in honour of i twelve following angels: Afharmazd, Tistar, Khfrshéd, Mah, Abén, Adar, Khurdad, Amerdad, Spendarmad, Bad, Srésh, and Arda-fravash. Each angel, in turn, is reverenced for twelve days successively, with one Yasna each day.
2. Khadfik-hémAst, ‘ one hdmst,’ differs from the last merely in adding a Vendidad every twelfth day, to be recited in the Ush-
Chapter Ii, 58-62. 213
ae
whomever prayer is offered up, azd the Gatha-
hymns are chanted, z/ 7s as though the whole ritual
had been recited, and the Gatha-hymns consecrated
by him zz the reign of King Vistasp. 61. The most
perfectly righteous of the righteous is he who
remains in the good religion of the Mazdayasnians,
and continues the religious practice of next-of-kin
marriage in his family.’
62. Atharmazd said to the righteous Zarattist:
‘In these nine thousand years which I, Adharmazd,
created, mankind become most perplexed in that
perplexing time; for in the evil reigns of Az-i
Dahak and Frasty4v of Tar mankind, in those per-
plexing times, were living better and living more
ahin Gah (12 p.m. to 6 a.m.) in honour of the angel whose propi- tiation ends that day.
3. Dah-hémast,‘ ten hémists,’ differs from the preceding merely in having a Vendidad, in addition to the Yasna, every day.
4. Dvazdah-hémist, ‘ twelve hémiasts,’ are prayers recited for 264 days in honour of twenty-two angels, namely, the twelve afore- said and the following ten: Bahman, Ardibahist, Shahrivar, Mihir, Bahram, Rim, Din, Rashnf, Gés, and Astad. Each angel, in turn, is reverenced as in the last.
The amount of merit attaching to such recitations is variously stated in different books, and when recited with holy-water (that is, with all their ceremonial rites) they are said to be usually a hundred times as meritorious as when recited without it.
214 BAHMAN YAST.
numerously, and their disturbance by Aharman and
the demons was less. 63. For in their evil reigns,
within the countries of Iran, there were not seven!
towns which weve desolate as they w2// de when it is
the end of thy millennium, O Zaratdist the Spita-
man! for all the towns of Iran wz// be ploughed up
by their horses’ hoofs, and their banners will reach
unto Padashkhvargar*, and they we// carry away
the sovereignty of the seat of the religion I approve
from there; and their destruction comes from that
place, O Zaratist the Spitiman! this is what I
foretell.’
64. Whoever ° of those existing, thus, with rever-
ence unto the good, performs much worship for
Atharmazd, Atharmazd, aware of 2¢ through right-
eousness, gives Az whatsoever Attharmazd is aware
‘of through righteousness, as remuneration azd re-
ward of duty avd good works, and sack members of
And it may be translated in the following manner :—
‘Of whatever male of the existences, therefore, Ahuramazda was better cognizant, through righteousness in worship, and of what- ever females, both those males and those females we reverence.’
Chafter Ii, 63—Iii, 3. 215
-_- -_o + ee ee
the congregation, males and females, | reverence ;
and the archangels, who are also male and female,
they are good.
Cuapter III.
1. Zaratist enquired of Adharmazd thus: ‘O
Atharmazd, propitious spirit! creator of the mate-
rial world, righteous ove / whence do they restore
this good religion of the Mazdayasnians? and by
what means will they destroy these demons with
dishevelled hair’, of the race of Wrath? 2. O
creator! grant me death! and grant my favoured
ones death! that they may not live in that per-
plexing time; grant /4emt exemplary living! that
they may not prepare wickedness and the way to
hell.’
3. Adharmazd spoke thus: ‘O Zarattist the Spita-
man! after the ill-omened? sovereignty of those of
the race of Wrath®* there is a fiend, Shédaspih * of
the Kilisyakih, from the countries of Salman*;’ Mah-
1 The Paz. MSS. insert, ‘and black clothing’ here.
2 Literally, ‘ black-marked,’ or possibly, ‘ black standard.’
® The Paz. MSS. add, ‘ the leathern-belted Tiirks,’ that is, people of Turkistan.
* This fiend appears to be a personification of Christianity or ‘ecclesiasticism’ (Kilisyakih, see Chap. II, 19), and the writer seems to place his appearance some time in the middle ages, probably before the end of the thirteenth century (see the note on § 44). Darmesteter suggests that Sh€disp may have been intended as a modern counterpart of Bévarasp (Az-i Dahak), the ancient tyrant; and that this Christian invasion may be a reminiscence of the crusades.
® IT have formerly read Miaisulman instead of min Salman, and hence concluded that the text must have been written long
216 BAHMAN YAST.
vand-dad said that these people are Riman (Arf-
mAayik), and Réshan! said that they have red
weapons, red banners, avd red hats(k(lah). 4. ‘It is
when a symptom of them appears, as they advance,
O Zaratist the Spitaman! the sun and the dark
show signs, and the moon becomes manifest of
various colours; earthquakes (biim-guzand), too,
become numerous, and the wind comes more vio-
lently; in the world want, distress, and discomfort
come more into view; and Mercury and Jupiter
advance the sovereignty for the vile*, azd they are
2x hundreds and thousands and myriads. 5. They
have the red banner of the fiend Shédaspih of Kili-
syakih, and they hasten much their progress to these
countries of Iran wAzch 1, Atharmazd, created, up
to the bank of the Arvand3, some have said * the
Frat® river, ‘unto the Greeks (YOQnan) dwelling in
Astristan;’ they are Greeks by strict reckoning °,
after the Muhammadan conquest of Persia; but this reading is irreconcileable with the context. The position of Salman (Av. Sairima) is defined by Bund. XX, 12, which places the sources of the Tigris in that country.
* The name of a commentator, or commentary, often quoted
in the Pahlavi Vendidad, and other texts. M4&hvand-déd is men-
tioned in the Pahlavi Yasna (see Sls. I, 4).
* The Paz. MSS. state that ‘Mercury and Jupiter beat down the strength of Venus.’
* Here written Arang, Arand, or Arvad, but as it is Arvand in §§ 21, 38, that reading seems preferable, the difference between the two names in Pahlavi being merely a single stroke. The Arvand is the Tigris, and the Arang probably the Araxes (see SZS. VI, 20, Bund, XX, 8),
* Literally, ‘there are and were some who said;’ this phrase occurs several times in the latter part of this text.
° The Euphrates,
* Or, ‘of strict reckoning,’ reading sA4kht amar, but both reading and meaning are very uncertain. As it stands in K2o it
Chapter Iii, 4 9- 217
and pees Assyrian ae is this, that om sew the
Assyrian people therein, and thus they will destroy
their abode, some have said the /urking-holes
(gréstak) of the demons.
6. ‘ They turn back those of the race of Wrath* in
hundreds and thousands and myriads; axd the ban-
ners, standards, and an innumerable army of those
demons with dishevelled hair will come to these
countries of Iran which I, Afttharmazd, created. 7.
And the army of the invader® is an extending enemy
of the Tark* and even the Karm‘, be it with ban-
ners aloft when he shall set up a banner, be it
through the excessive multitude which will remain—
like Aatrs in the mane of a horse—in the countries
of Iran which I, Adharmazd, created.
8. ‘The leathern-belted Tark azd the Raman
Shéd@aspih of Kilisyakih come forth with simul-
taneous movement’, and in three places, with
similar strife, there was and w7// be three times
a great contest (ardih), O Zaratist the Spitaman!
9. One in the reign of Kai-Kads*, when through
may be sakht gumAl, ‘ extreme beauty,’ or Sakhtimar (the name of a place), or this may stand for sakht timdar, ‘ severe misfor- tune ;’ and other readings are possible.
* It is not quite clear which party will turn the other back.
* Literally, ‘extender,’ that is, one engaged in extending his own dominions.
* The remainder of this § (except the verb ‘remain.’) is Pazand written in Persian characters in K20.
* Possibly the Karmak of Chap. II, 49. In § 20 the Kurd and Karman (or Karms) may refer to the Tark and Karm of this §, so it is doubtful whether Tark or Kurd is meant.
* Or, ‘ for the encounter,’ pavan ham-rasisnth.
° See Bund. XXXI, 25, XXXIV, 7. The letters are here joined together, so as to become Kai-gaiis, and this form of the name is
218 BAHMAN YAST.
the assistance of demons z¢ was with the archangels;
and the second when thou, O Zaratfist the Spita-
man! receivedst the religion and fadst thy con-
ference, and King Vistasp and Argdsp'!, miscreated
by wrath, were, through the war of the religion, in
the combat of Spéd-raztir (“ the hoary forest?”),’
some have said z¢ was in Pars; ‘and the third when
it is the end of thy millennium, O Zaratdst the Spita-
man! when all the three, Tairk, Arab, and Raman,
come to this* place,’ some have said the plain of
Nisinak* ro. ‘And all ¢hose of the countries of
Iran, which I, Atharmazd, created, come from their
own place unto Padashkhvargar*, owing to those
of the race of Wrath, O Zaratist the Spitaman! so
that a report of something of the cave dwellings,
mountain dwellings, and river dwellings of these
people will remain at Padashkhvargar and Pars;
some have sazd the fire Visndsp*, on the deep Lake
Kékast which has medicinal water opposed to the
demons, is there (in Padashkhvargar ?) as it were
conspicuous, some have said ‘originating’, ‘so that
often read K4hfs or Kahds in Pazand (see Mkh. VIII, 27, XXVII, 54, LVI, 21). The Paz. MSS. omit § 9.
* See Bund. XII, 32, 33.
* See Bund. XXIV, 16.
* Perhaps ‘one’ is meant, as hanA, ‘this,’ is sometimes substi- tuted for a@, ‘one,’ both being read e in Pazand.
* The reading of this name is quite uncertain.
* See Chap. II, 63. The whole of the final clause of this section, about the fire Visndsp, is inserted parenthetically at this point in the Pahlavi text.
° Elsewhere called Gfisnasp, Gisnasp, or Gisasp (see SZS. Vi,.#4).
‘ The most obvious reading of this word is mahfk, ‘ fish,’ which can hardly be reconciled with the context. The view here taken is that the writer was translating from an Avesta text, and met
Chapter Iii, 10, Ii. 219
_- Oe ee
they may use z¢ anew, and the fire may become
shining in these countries of Iran which I, Adhar-
mazd, created.’ 11. For when one shall be able to
save his own life, he has then no recollection of
wife, child, and wealth, that they may not live, 7
that perplexing time, O Zaratist! yet the day when
the hundredth winter becomes the end of thy mil-
lennium, which is ¢Aat of Zaratfist, is so that
nothing wicked may go from this millennium into
that millennium '.’
ne aa ae ee
with the word 4ithra, which means both pédak, ‘clear,’ and tékhmak, ‘ originating,’ but to express the latter meaning he used the synonym mayakik, which can be written exactly like m4hik. Owing to the involved character of this section it is not very clear in English, but it is still more obscure in the Pahlavi text, in which the whole of this clause about the fire is inserted parenthetically after the first mention of Padashkhvargar.
' This last clause may be read several ways, and it is by no means easy to ascertain clearly the chronological order of the events which are jumbled together in this last chapter. But it would appear that Zaratist’s millennium was to end at a time when the religion was undisturbed, and just before the incursion of the demons or idolators, the details of which have been given in Chap. II, 22-III, 11, and which is the first event of Hfiishédar’s millennium (see § 13). Now according to Bund. XXXIV, 7-9, the interval from ‘the coming of the religion,’ in the reign of Kai- Vistasp, to the end of the Sasanian monarchy was 90+ 112+ 30 +12+14+14+284+460=1016 years. If by ‘the coming of the religion’ be meant the time when Zaratist received it, as he was then thirty years old, he must have been born 1046 years before the end of the Sasanian monarchy (a. D. 651), and the end of his millennium must have been in a. p. 605, the sixteenth year of Khisré Parviz, when the Sasanian power was near its maximum, and only a score of years before it began suddenly to collapse. This close coincidence indicates that the writer of the Bahman Yast must have adopted the same incorrect chronology as is found in the Bundahis. If, however, ‘the coming of the religion’ mean its acceptance by Vistasp, which occurred in Zarattist’s fortieth or
