religion, with which both angels avd also worldlings have become belted and diligent.
' The precise meaning is not very clear.
2 Alluding probably to the Brahmanical thread which is worn by the higher castes of Hindus diagonally, over one shoulder and below the other arm, and is so far analogous to the Parsi thread- girdle that it is a religious symbol put on with a religious rite.
® Reading varéyisn6 ahi gas, but K35 has réyisné, ‘growth,’ instead of ‘ faith,’
* Reading kafiha, or kafagih. Perhaps the allusion is to a rosary which is held in the hands, or worn on the wrists, by people of many religions.
Chapter. Xxxix, 29-Xl, 3. 133
which they shall tie on account of the superior beings
(pashim4n) with the proper formula, more particu-
larly weth that which ove utters when ¢here zs reliance
upon the scripture itself.
CHAPTER XL,
1. As ¢o the thirty-ninth question avd reply, that
which you ask is thus: What kind of goodness and
want of goodness can there be zz the sacred thread-
girdle and shirt; avd what are the sin of running
about uncovered, of prayer offered and prayer not
offered, and the purpose of cleansing (misn)?
2. The reply is this, that it (the shirt)! is needful
to be perfectly pure white azd single, which one fold
is because Vohfiman also is thus the one creature
who was first®, and afterwards from him the gar-
ment which is innermost and concealed is called in
revelation’,
3. Proper girdling is double‘, which two folds are
because he also who is in the course of the twofold
religious wisdom is intelligent, and the duties due ¢o
the sacred beings are themselves zz two divisions
1 The sacred shirt, constantly worn by Parsis of both sexes (young children excepted), is a very loose tunic of white muslin, with very short loose sleeves covering part of the upper arm (see Sls. IV, 4-8).
* The archangel Vohfiman (see Chap. III, 13) is said to have been the first creation of the creator (see Bd. I, 23).
* The garment of Vohfiman (see Chap. XXXIX, 19).
* That is, it is passed twice round the waist before it is tied the first time, but then it is passed a third time round the waist (see Chap. XXXIX, r).
134 pDApISTAN-! DINIK.
which are called the instinctive azd that heard Ly the ears}.
4. After a man is in the girding they shall tie on,
the symptoms of azy sins of the belted body are free
from sin which is condemned (vigirinidd); and
when he walks uncovered, or naked, or with a two-
fold garment, there is then no root of the sin of
running about uncovered? in him. 5. Moreover, on
hymns dezug chanted during a meal an zxward prayer
is not also necessary*.
6. The purpose‘ of a cleansing (misn-aé) is this,
that the suitableness of men for eating is due to
worship of the sacred beings and glorification of the
sacred beings. 7. And as ¢o their necessary recom-
mendation (sipdrih)® of any food for eating, the
1 The twofold wisdom of the Avesta comprises the two intellects, the 4sn6 khratus, ‘the durable or instinctive wisdom,’ and the gaoshé-srfit6 khratus, ‘the ear-heard or acquired wisdom,’ which are the terms used here.
2 The sin of vishad-dfibarisnth, which would have been in- curred in any of these cases if no girdle had been worn, is a venial sin of one Farman for each of the three first steps, but becomes a Tanapfihar sin (equivalent to 75 or 400 Faim@ns) at the fourth step (see Sls. IV, 8-10).
* This is mentioned as a further illustration of a greater religious duty superseding a lesser one. When the Gathas, or hymns, are being chanted, the reciter is already under the protection of the inward prayer (vag) with which all acts of worship must commence; it is, therefore, unnecessary to take another prayer inwardly before eating. Inward prayer is a short formula which is said to be ‘taken’ and ‘retained’ inwardly, as a protective spell, by muttering its commencement before certain necessary acts, and after the completion of the act the remainder of the formula is ‘spoken out’ aloud, and the spell is dissipated, before the person can converse (see Sls. III, 6).
* The MSS. have pém, ‘milk,’ instead of 4im, ‘ purpose,’ but see § 1; the Pahl. letters p and & are often much alike.
° Mrq has sip@sih, ‘praise ;’ but this and several other emenda-
Chapter Xl, 4—Ii. 135
glorifying of the sacred beings, and the true usages
about recounting 2z/, it is commanded, before eating,
when the mouth is not soiled with food, ¢ha¢ the
mouth (dah4n) should proceed with the utterance of
the pure glorification’, 8. Being thereupon suitably
seated, and having properly eaten the food, ove is to
make the mouth clean with a tooth-pick and water ;
and after eating, before all words, the praise of the
sacred beings is glorified by the mouth cleansed by
washing. 9. And between the glorifying before
eating and the after glorification ove is not? to speak
other words, and when during a meal a word is
spoken by the mouth, that kind of glorification which
zt is the custom to utter before and after eating is
offered by its own organ (andam)%.
to. And every single organ as one function, du¢
two special functions are connected with the mouth,
which are speaking aud eating; and because they
are together ¢hey are mutually opposed, for speaking
connects that which is an inward possession with
outside teachings (£ashiha), azd through eating,
the outside food comes for the inward further vitality
of life. 311. As the ancients ave said, where one
operation is appointed unto two operators, z¢ zs more
tions in the same MS. are probably nothing but unsuccessful attempts to render an obscure text intelligible, without taking the trouble to understand it.
* This glorification (stayisn6) must refer to the inward prayer of § 5, which commences by praising Aflharmazd (see Chap. LXXIX, 2, note).
* Reading 14, ‘not,’ instead of rai, ‘on account of.” Mrq has altered the passage.
* That is, when the spell of the inward prayer is broken by speaking before the proper time (see § 5, note), the spell must be renewed before proceeding with the meal.
136 pApISTAN-I DINIK.
expressly so that during eating two operations may
not both at once (ayag-i#-gtin) be produced, by
speaking azd by eating.
12. To keep those two operations distinct, one
from the other, the custom of uttering the praise of
sacred beings azd the glorification of sacred beings
when the mouth remains in the act of eating, until
the mouth becomes clean from food, is decreed as
inconsistent with goodness (aham-véhih). 13. And
that whzch remains from the outpouring (rikh) at the
time of a cleansing is called ‘a cleansing (misn-aé),’
14. One means for the retention of knowledge is
through not having that retention of knowledge
exhausted, but when ome thus speaks during that
cleansing the words are really originating with the
mouth, for he does not retain ¢hem; and whenever
(maman) he does not speak anything whatever
with the tongue, that religious glorification which
zé is the custom to utter before and after eating
is then offered by him from his own limited resources
(sdman6-i vimdénd), and it will be offered from his
own limited resources.
CHAPTER XLI.
1. As to the fortieth question and reply, that
which you ask is thus: Of those whose decision is
this, that it is not necessary to be steadfast in the
religion of the Mazda-worshippers—by wich deci-
sion this is asserted, ¢#a¢ they should abandon the
religion of the Mazda-worshippers—some one dis-
parages the religion avd goes over to a foreign
faith (an-airth), then of what nature is his sin
Chapter Xl, I2—Xli, 5. [27
owing thereto, aza what does the sin owing thereto,
as regards those of the same foreign religion,
amount to? 2. Or order some one then to tell us
clearly concerning it, how it is, and how is the
disobedience due to this sin.
3. The reply is this, that an adult is worthy of
death! on account of the good religion they? would
abandon, on account also of the adopted law of the
foreign faith Ze is worthy of death, in whose reliance
upon the improper law is also the sin which they
maintain azd practise by law, and through Jdeng
in the same law fe is equally sinful with them.
4. And also when any one is on that course, and
his wish is for the same protection, of which a
similitude is zz the enduring words of that good law
they would forsake, and he adopts that which is
vile +, even through that impropriety e is equally
sinful.
5. When he dies, without renunciation® of that
sim and impenitently, in that improperly-constituted
law, the position of his soul is then in the worst
1 That is, he commits a mortal sin, for which he could have formerly been condemned to death by the high-priest (see Sls. VIII, 2, 5-7, 21).
* The teachers of infidelity. 3 The foreigners.
* The probable meaning is that if he conforms to the foreign faith merely from politic motives, while retaining a belief in his own religion, he is still equally sinful.
® This renunciation is effected by the recitation of a particular formula called the Patit, in which every imaginable sin is mentioned with a declaration of repentance of any such sins as the reciter may have committed. But this formal renunciation must be accompanied by atonement and true repentance ; and in order to ascertain the proper atonement all serious sins must be confessed to the high-priest (see Sls. IV, 14, VIII, 1, 2, 8-10).
A__a
138 DADISTAN-{i DINIK.
existence 1, and his punishment is that of many szzs
worthy of death; from the demons also there come
grievously, hand in hand, pain and suffering, gnaw-
ing and stench of many kinds, stinging, tearing, and
lacerating, primary evil and discomfort. 6. And
through their? law and faith his distress in that
worst existence is thus until the last change of
existence, when the renovation of the universe is
produced by will among living beings.
7. But reality (aitéih), as regards living, arises
from renunciation of that disobedience; it makes
those attract to the good law who seduced him to
that evil law, that which established him improperly
in the law it eradicates from 42s conduct (ribakih),
advancing sins it again restrains, and whatever Aas
advanced it repairs again anew through the religion
of the Mazda-worshippers, avd he becomes thought-
ful, constant, and steadfast. 8. The sin which he
set going he restrains and atones for by wealth,
trouble, and authorising * commands; even in the
body he also undergoes punishment in the three
nights (sattih)*; he then obtains forgiveness, and
his soul is saved,
9. And as z¢ is said in the persistent law of the
sacred beings®, that ‘the good religion of the sacred
beings, who are the Mazda-worshipping superiors,
1. See: Chap. XAXIIE (3: * The foreigners’.
® Or, tfiibankar may mean ‘lavish. The ordering of religious ceremonies, as good works in atonement for sin, is probably in- tended; and these always imply a lavish expenditure upon the priesthood.
* Referring to the three nights’ punishment after the resurrection of the body, which is specially reserved for mortal sinners (see Bd. XXX, 16).
° Quoting, with some alteration, from Pahl. Vend, III, 151.
Chapter Xli, 6—Xlii, I. 139
ordains zf as retribution, so that the sin it takes
away (spayéiti)' may not exist in him, his retri-
bution is declared by revelation. 10. And by the
same witness 7¢ is said, that all of the primitive faith
have been quite of the same opinion about this, that
from the good religion except by*® the way of
renunciation of szz there is none unless to hell; but
that renunciation shouw/d be during life, for it is said
that ‘whoever when living does not become right-
eous, that is, does not fully atone for sin, for him
when dead there is no grant of? the best existence.’
11. To commit no sin is better than retribution and
renunciation of sin. ;
CuapTer XLII.
1. As ¢o the forty-first question and reply, that
which you ask is thus: 4s Zo him who remains in the
good religion of the Mazda-worshippers, whom men
shall make the protection and assistance of the good
religion’, who shall save men from a foreign faith
and irreligion (akdindéih), and then holds back some
of those who have the idea that they should go over
to a foreign faith and irreligion, azd they do not go
over to the foreign faith, du¢ become steadfast in the
religion of the Mazda-worshippers, what is then® the
1 The Avesta verb spayéiti, here used as a technical term, occurs frequently in Vend. III, 142-148.
* Assuming that bard, ‘indeed,’ stands for pavan, ‘by,’ (see Chap. VII, 2 n.)
