* Literally ‘as the reason of it is declared.’ This is another allusion to the missing chapter mentioned in Chap. XVII, 20.
* The MSS. have mfinam, ‘ which by me.’
* The MSS. have min madam, ‘from above.’
* Whether khadfik6-sagak6 means ‘solid rock’ or ‘solid ashlar’ is doubtful.
A4 DApISTAN-1 DINfK.
construct also of a single stone which is cut perfo-
rated (stil4k-hémand), and around it ove is to fill in
with stone and mortar ?.
CHAPTER XIX.
1. The eighteenth question is that which you ask
thus: When the souls of the righteous azd the souls
of the wicked go out to the spirits, will it then be
possible for them to see Aftharmazd and Aharman?,
or not?
2. The reply is this, that concerning Aharman it
is said that his is no material existence (stis); aud
Athaymazd, as a spirit among the spirits, is to be
heard by those who are material and those also who
are spiritual, du¢ zs form (kerpS) is not completely
visible except through wisdom. 3. And a sem-
blance of 42s power is seen, as was told unto Zara-
tist the Spitam4n when he saw the result (zah) of
his handiwork, and he (Atharvmazd) spoke thus:
‘Grasp the hand of a righteous man! for the kindly
Operation of my religion through® thee thyself is as
‘ Perhaps the single stone is not to cover the whole space, but merely to contain the opening for light, and to be set in a vaulted roof of ashlar or rubble; otherwise it is not clear where the filling with stone and mortar is to be placed. This bone-receptacle was to be provided for the bones of those corpses which were deposited on the open ground. In the enclosed depositories, used in India, the bone-receptacle is a circular well in the centre, from which the rain does not appear to be excluded (see Sls. II, 6, note).
* The evil spirit (see Chap. II, 11), whose nature and powers differ very little from those ascribed to the devil by most Christian writers.
* Or ‘on;’ or, perhaps, it ‘is as much as he shall grasp at thee thyself.’
Chapter Xix, I-7. 45
much as he shall grasp, and thou mayst see him
whose reception (mahmanih) of my wisdom and
glory is the most.’
1 The word ‘glory’ is always to be understood in its material sense of ‘ radiance, effulgence.’
2 That is, from Aflharmazd, The epithet khvapar, here trans- lated ‘ persistent,’ appears to mean ‘self-sustaining’ in the Avesta (see Sls. XXII, 21); traditionally it is supposed to mean ‘pro- tecting, cherishing,’ but this is merely a guess, though it seems related to Pers. khapdrah, ‘active,’ and may, therefore, often mean ‘ persevering.’
A6 pApISTAN-i DINIK.
CHAPTER XX.
1. The nineteenth question is that you ask thus: To what place do the righteous and wicked! go ?
2. The reply is this, that it is thus said that the
souls of those passed away and of the dead? are
three nights on earth; and the first night satisfaction
comes to them from ¢hezy good thoughts axzd vexa-
tion from ¢her evil thoughts, the second night come
pleasure from ¢hezr good words and discomfort and
punishment* from ¢heer evil words, and the third
night come exaltation from ¢hezr good deeds and
punishment from ¢hezr evil deeds*. 3. And that
third night, in the dawn, they go to the place of
account oz Albirz®; the account decng rendered they
proceed to the bridge’, and he who is righteous
* As K35 inserts the relative i here, some such phrase as ‘ who are dead’ has probably dropped out of the Pahlavi text.
* The Parsi books speak of the righteous dead as ‘ departed,’ a term very rarely applied to the wicked (see Chap. XXXII, 4), who are nearly always said ‘to die;’ the latter verb is, however, occasionally used when speaking of the righteous. This distinc- tion is made even in the Huzvaris logograms, which express the death of the righteous by forms allied to Chald. 1AY ‘he passed over, and the death of the wicked by forms allied to Chald. n% ‘he died.’
* So in all MSS., but the ‘ punishment’ seems superfluous here.
* The Avesta merely states that the soul remains three nights near the body, chanting a particular hymn, and experiencing as much pleasure or uneasiness as it had in the world (see Hn. II, 3-17, III, 3-16); and much the same account is given in AV. IV, 9-14, XVII, 2-9, Mkh. II, 114, 158-160.
* The mountain chain which is supposed to surround the world (see Bd. XII, 3); the Av. Hara-berezaiti.
* The Ainvad bridge (see Chap. XXI, 2-7), which is said to
Chapter -Xx, 1-Xxi, I. 47
CHAPTER X XI.
1. The twentieth question is that which you ask
thus: How are the Ainvad bridge, the Daitih peak
(kakAd), and the path of the righteous and wicked ;
rest upon the Daitih (‘judicial’) peak, and to pass over to Albarz (see Bd. XII, 7). According to the Avesta (Vend. XIX, 100, 1o1, trans. D.) his conscience, in the form of a maiden, ‘ makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Hara-berezaiti (Albiarz) ; above the Xinvad bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods (angels) themselves.’ See also AV.V,1, 2, Mkh. Il, 115.
1 The intermediate place for those not good enough for heaven and not bad enough for hell, where such souls remain in a passive, immovable state till the resurrection (see Sls. VI, 2). It is divided into two parts, according to the author, one for those nearly righteous (see Chap. XXIV, 6), and one for those nearly wicked (see Chap. XXXIII, 2).
2 Four grades of heaven and four of hell are mentioned in AV. and Mkh. (see Sls. V1, 3, note).
48 DApISTAN-! DiNiK.
how ave they when one is righteous, and how when one is wicked ?
2. The reply is this, that thus the high-priests
have said, that the Daitih peak! is in Atran-vég?, in
the middle of the world; reaching unto the vicinity
of that peak, is that beam-shaped (dar-kerp6) spirit,
the Kinvad bridge*, which is thrown across from
the Albfirz enclosure (var) back to the Daitih peak.
3. As zé were that bridge is like a beam of many
sides, of whose edges (pést6) there arc somz which
are broad, and there are some which are thin and
sharp; its broad sides (sikihda) are so large that
its width is twenty-seven reeds (nai), and its sharp
sides are so contracted (tang) that in thinness z¢ is
just like the edge of a razor. 4. And when the
souls of the righteous and wicked arrive it turns to
that side which is suztad/e ¢o their necessities, through
the great glory of the creator and the command of
him who Zages the just account *.
5. Moreover,.the bridge becomes a broad bridge
for the righteous, as much as the height of nine
spears (nizak6)—and the length of those which
they carry is each separately three reeds’—; and
1 The Kakaéd-i Daitik of Bd. XII, 7.
2 The primeval home of Mazda-worship (see Vend. I, 5, 6), which the Bundahis places ‘in the direction of Adarbigan ;’ it is also stated to contain the Daitik or Daitih river (which must not be confounded with the Daitih peak) and the Daraga river (on whose bank Zaratfist’s father is said to have dwelt), and to have been the scene of Zarattist’s first promulgation of the religion (Bd. XX, 13, 32, XXIX, 12, XXXII, 3). Its winter is likewise described as both long and cold (Vend. I, 8-12, Bd. XXV, 11, 16), which is the case in Adarbigan.
® See Chap. XX, 2: ' £ The angel Rashnfi.
* The nine spears of three reeds each, in length, making up the
Chapter Xxi, 2-9. 49
it becomes a narrow bridge for the wicked, even
unto a resemblance to the edge ofa razor. 6. And
he who is of the righteous passes over the bridge,
and a worldly similitude of the pleasantness of his
path upon it is when thou shalt eagerly and un-
weariedly walk in the golden-coloured spring, and
with the gallant (hd-#ir') body and sweet-scented
blossom in the pleasant skin of that maiden? spirit,
the price of goodness. 7. He who is of the wicked,
as he places a footstep oz to the bridge, on account,
of affliction (siparih) and z¢s sharpness, falls from
the middle of the bridge, and rolls over head-
foremost. 8. And the unpleasantness of his path
to hell is in similitude such as the worldly ove in the
midst of that stinking azd dying existence (hastan),
there where numbers of the sharp-pointed darts
(téz6 mak dfg6) are planted* out inverted
and point upwards, and they come unwillingly
running; they shall not allow ¢em to stay behind,
or to make delay. 9. So much greater ¢han the
worldly similitude is that pleasantness and unplea-
santness unto the souls, as such as is fit for the
spirit is greater than ¢/ad fit for the world.
twenty-seven reeds mentioned in § 3. As the reed appears to have been about 4 feet 8 inches (see Chap. XLIII, 5, note), the width of the bridge is supposed to be about 126 feet, and the length of a spear is taken as 14 feet.
? So in the MSS., but hfi-4ihar, ‘handsome,’ is more probable.
* Reading kanik6, instead of the kanak6o of the MSS., as there can be no allusion to the evil spirit here. The reference is to a good conscience, which is symbolised by the handsome maiden who is supposed to meet the righteous soul on its way to heaven (see Chap. XXIV, 5).
* Assuming that 4gzast is equivalent to Pers, agast. The allusion seems to be to a form of torturing punishment (running upon ground studded with sharp points) well known to the author.
50 DApISTAN-{ DINIK.
nnn nme
CHAPTER XXII.
1. The twenty-first question is that which you
ask thus: When he who is righteous passes away,
who has performed much worship of the sacred
beings, and many duties and good works, do the
spirit of creation, the spirit of the sacred ceremony
(yazisnd) and religion of the Mazda-worshippers,
the water, earth, plants, and animals, make complaint
unto Athavmazd, owing to the passing away of him
who is righteous, and is it distressing to them when
he goes out from the world, or how is it ?
2. The reply is this, that as ¢o him who is of the
righteous, in Azs transit of worldly pain in passing
away, and also after passing away to the passage
onwards! which is his limit (star) still in the per-
plexing account, and, after the account, in his own
joy, and in what occurs when his gossips (ham-
vaan) in the world—by whom the spiritual beings
are also not unrecognised, zor his position unknown
—are in worldly demeanour downcast and grieving,
on all these occasions* his thoughts, procuring for-
giveness, are about the sacred beings. 3. And the
spirit of creation, azd the good spirit of the religion
of the Mazda-worshippers, which are in the worldly
existence—of which ® also, in the world, that righteous
one is a praiser, an employer, a manager, a protection,
and a forbearing friend—shall make an outcry to
1 The Xinvad bridge, near which the soul’s account is rendered.
* The sentence is clear enough in Pahlavi, but too involved to be readily understood in English without these extra words.
* The worldly existences which those spirits represent.
Chapter Xxii, I—Xxiii, 2. 51
the creator about him who is righteous, who is away
from worldly protection, a/so for the granting of
a promoter of forbearance, and for a restorer
(avérdar) of what is extorted’; /zkewzse a petition
about the compensatory concomitants as to his new
protection and disposer.
4. And the almighty creator responds, azd allots
a teacher? for smiting the fiend, for the satisfaction
of the righteous, azd for the protection of the good
creatures. 5. As it is said, that in every age a high-
priest of the religion and zs managing of the
creatures are made manifest, in whom, in that age,
the protection of the creatures and the will of the
sacred beings are progressing.
CHAPTER XXIII.
1. The twenty-second question is that which you
ask thus: When they shall snatch forth the life from
the body of man how does it depart ?
2. The reply is this, that z¢ is said ¢o de in
resemblance such as when the redness is drawn up
out of a fire; for when the inflammable materzal of
a fire is burnt, awd has remained without glowing °,
* These latter clauses of the outcry refer to their own wants, and the necessity of providing some one to take the place of the deceased; but the final petition seems to be for the deceased himself.
