396 APPENDIX.
virtue, has taught /zm to perform Khvéttk-das.
Virtue is its virtue even for this reason, because, for
the sake of maintaining a creature with propriety,
he reckons upon the proper disposition of the
multitude, that which is generated in the race by
innumerable Khvéttik-dasest. And this, too, that
Spendarmad is taught as deng in daughterhood to
Atiharymazd by him whose wisdom cozszsts in com-
plete mindfulness. Even on this account, because
wisdom axzd complete mindfulness? are within the
limits of Athaymazd and Spendarmad; wisdom is
that which is Atharmaza’s, complete mindfulness
is that which is Spendaymaa’s, and complete mind-
fulness is the progeny of wisdom, just as Spenday-
mad is of Atharmazd. And from this is expressly
the announcement that, by him who 4as connected
complete mindfulness with wisdom, Spendaymad is
taught as deng in daughterhood to Atharmazd.
And this, too, the existence of the formation of that
daughterhood, is taught by him whose righteousness.
consists in complete mindfulness.’ This quotation
merely shows that Khvétfik-das referred to con-
nections between near relations, but whether the
subsequent allusions to the daughterhood of Spen-
darmad had reference to the Khvétik-das of father
and daughter is less certain than in the case of Pahl.
Yas. XLIV, 4, previously quoted?®,
Third, regarding the middle of the twenty-first
* That is, the useful peculiarities ofa particular breed of domestic animals are maintained and intensified by keeping up the purity of the race.
* ‘Complete mindfulness’ is the usual Pahlavi explanation of Av. armaiti, ‘devotion,’ the latter component of the name Spendarmad.
* See pp. 392; 393.
Iii. Meaning of Khve£Tok-Das. 397
fargard of the Baké Nask:—‘ And this, too, that
a daughter is given in marriage (nésmanih) to a
father, even so as a woman to another man, by him
who teaches the daughter and the other woman the
reverence due unto father and husband.’ The refer-
ence here to the marriage of father and daughter
is too clear to admit of mistake, though the term
Khvéttik-das is not mentioned.
Next in age to the Pahlavi versions of the Avesta
we ought perhaps to place the Book of Arda-Viraf,
because we are told (AV. I, 35), regarding Viraf, that
‘there are some who call. hzm dy the name of Nikh-
shahpfr, and this may have been: the celebrated
commentator of that name, who was a councillor of
king Khtisré6 Néshirvan!, so that we cannot safely
assume that this book was written earlier than the
end of the sixth century. It gives an account of
heaven and hell, which Arda-Viraf is supposed to have
visited during the period of a week, while he seemed
to be inatrance. In the second grade of heaven,
counting upwards, he found the souls of those who
had ‘performed no ceremonies, chanted no sacred
hymns, and practised no Khvétik-das,’ but had come
there ‘through other good works; and it may be
noted that the two upper grades of heaven appear
to have been reserved for good sovereigns, chief-
tains, high-priests, and others specially famous. In
hell, also, he saw the soul of a woman suffering
grievous punishment because she had ‘violated
Khvétfik-das ;’ but this passage occurs in one MS.
only. We are also told (AV. II, 1-3, 7-10) that
‘Virdf had seven sisters, and all? those seven sisters
* See Ep. I, iv, 17. * The word translated ‘all’ is the ordinary Huz. ko/4, equivalent
398 APPENDIX.
were as wives of Viraf; revelation, also, was easy to
them, and the ritual had dcex performed .. . . they
stood up and bowed, and spoke thus: “Do not
this thing, ye Mazda-worshippers! for we are seven
sisters, and he is an only brother, and we are, all
seven sisters, as wives! of that brother.’”’ This
passage, supposing that it really refers to marriage,
seems to attribute an exaggerated form of the Khvé-
ttik-das of brother and sister to Viraf, as a proof of
his extraordinary sanctity; but it can hardly be con-
sidered as a literal statement of facts, any more than
the supposed case of a woman having married seven
brothers successively, mentioned in Mark xu. 20-22,
Luke xx. 29-32.
In another Pahlavi book of about the same age,
which is best known by its Pazand name, Mainy6-i
Khard?, we find Khvétik-das placed second among
to Pers. har, but a Parsi critic has suggested that it ought to be read kanik, ‘virgin,’ so as to get rid of the idea that the sisters were married to Viraf. This suggestion is ingenious, because the dif- ference between ko/a and kanik is very slight, when written in Pahlavi characters ; but it is not very ingenuous, because the substi- tution of kantk for ko/a, both here and in the similar phrase at the end of the passage quoted in our text, would render the sentences quite ungrammatical, as would be easily seen by any well-educated Parsi who would translate the phrases literally into modern Persian words, which would give him the following text: 4n har haft ‘Avaharan Viraf #fin zan bid and for the first phrase, and har haft ‘Avahar an birddar zani ém for the second. To substitute any Persian word for ‘ virgin’ in place of the pronoun har, in these two phrases, would evidently produce nonsense. The really doubtful point in these phrases is whether zan and zan? are to be understood as ‘wife’ and ‘ wifehood,’ or merely as ‘ woman’ and ‘ womankind ;’ but it would be unusual to use such terms for the unmarried female members of a family.
? Or ‘the womankind
* From a facsimile of the only known MS. of the original Pahlavi _
Iii. Meaning of Khvetok-Das. 399
seven classes of good works (Mkh. IV, 4), and
ninth among thirty-three classes of the same (Mkh.
XX XVII, 12);'and the dissolution of Khvétik-das
is mentioned as the fourth in point of heinousness
among thirty classes of sin (Mkh. XXXVI, 7).
In the Bahman Yast, which may have existed in
its original Pahlavi form before the Muhammadan
conquest of Persia!, it is stated that, even in the
perplexing time of foreign conquest, the righteous
man ‘continues the religious practice of Khvétik-das —
in his family 2.’ |
The third book of the Dinkard, which appears to
have been compiled by the last editor® of that work,
contains a long defence of the practice of Khvétik-
das, forming its eighty-second* chapter, which may
be translated as follows :—
‘On a grave attack (hd-girdyisnd) of a Jew upon
text of tnis work, recently published by Dr. Andreas, it appears that its Pahlavi name was Dina-i Minavad-i Khard (or Mainég-i Khird), ‘the opinions of the spirit of wisdom,’
? See Sacred Books of the East, vol. v, pp. liii-lvi.
2 See Byt. II, 57, 61.
® The name of this editor was Atfir-pAd, son of Hém{d, as appears from the last chapter (chap. 413) of the same book. He was a contemporary of the author of the Déadistan-i Dinik (see Bd. XXXII, 11).
* Chap. 80 in the recent edition of Dasttir Peshotanji Behramji, because his numbers do not commence at the beginning of the book. His translation of this chapter (see pp. go—102 of the English trans- lation of his edition) differs considerably from that given in our text. This difference may be partly owing to its being translated from the Gugar4ti translation, and not direct from the original Pahlavi; but it is chiefly due to the inevitable result of attempting a free transla- tion of difficult Pahlavi, without preparing a literal version in the first place. The translation here given is as literal as possible, but the Pahlavi text is too obscure to’be yet understood with absolute cer- tainty in some places.
400 APPENDIX.
a priest, which was owing to asking the reason of
the custom (Ahank6) as to Khvétik-das; and the
reply of the priest to him from the exposition of the
Mazda-worshipping religion.
1 Literally ‘bearer’ (bfirdar), which is not the usual word for ‘mother, but equivalent to the Av. baretar that is used in that sense.
Iii. Meaning of Khvetok-Das. 401
‘On the same subject the exposition: of the ob-
scure statements of the good religion, by a wise
high-priest of the religion, is this:—‘“I assert that
God (yédat6) is the being, as regards the creatures,
who created azy of the creatures there are which
are male, and azy there are which are female; and
that which is male is a son, and, similarly, a daughter
is that which is female. The daughter of himself,
the father of all, was Spendaymad', the earth, a
female being of the creation; and from her he
created the male Gayémard?, which is explained as
the name for him who was specially the first man,
since it is Gayémard living who is speaking aud
mortal, a limitation which was specially his, because
of these three words—which are ‘living, speaking,
and mortal ’—two of the limitations, which are ‘ living
and speaking, were through the provision of zs
father, the creator, and one, which is ‘mortal, was
proceeding from the destroyer; the same limitation
is upon all mankind, who are connected with that
man’s lineage, until the renovation of the universe.
And now I say, if the aid of the father Zas produced
a male from the daughter, it is named a Khvétik-das
of father aud daughter *.”
‘This, too, is from the exposition of the religion,
that the semen of GAyé6mard—which is called seed—
when he passed away, fell 4o Spendarmad‘, the earth,
which was his own mother ; and, from its being united
1 Se p. 393, note 2.
* See Dd. Il, 10, XXXVII, 82, LXIV, 5.
* It is uncertain whether the high-priest’s statement continues beyond this point, or not.
* See Bd. XV,1, 2, Dd. LXIV, 6.
[18] pd
402 APPENDIX.
therewith, Mashya avd Mashiydi! were the son and
daughter of Gayémard and Spendaymad, and it is
named the Khvétik-das of son and mother. And
Mashya and Mashtyédi, as male and female, practised
the quest of offspring, one with the other, and it is
named the Khvétfik-das of brother and sister. And
many couples were begotten by them, azd the couples
became continually? wife and husband? ; and all men,
who have been, are, and w2// be, are from origin the
seed of Khvétfik-das. And this is the reason which
is essential for z¢s fulfilment by law, ¢at where z¢s
contemplation (andAgisn6) exists z¢ is manifest
from the increase of the people of all regions.
‘And I assert that the demons are enemies of
man, and a non-existence of desire for them consists
zm striving for it when Khvéttk-das is practised ; it
then becomes their * reminder of that original prac-
tice of contemplation which is the complete gratitude
of men, and as become his® who is inimical to them.
Grievous fear, distress, and anguish also come upon
them, ¢hezr power diminishes, and they less under-
stand the purpose of causing the disturbance ‘axd
ruin of men. And z¢ is certain that making the
demons distressed, suffering, frightened, azad weak-
ened is thus a good work, and this way of having
reward and of recompense is the property of the
practisers of such good works.
‘And I assert that the goodness of appearance and growth of body, the display of wisdom, temper,
1 See Dd. XXXVII, 82, LXIV, 2, LXV, 2, LXXVII, 4, where these names are spelt differently.
2 Literally ‘have become and have become.’
3 See Bd. XV, 22, 24~26. * The demons’.
> Atharmaza’s. |
Ill. MEANING OF KHVETOK-DAS. 403
and modesty, the excellence of skill avd strength,
and also the other qualities of children are so much
the more as they are nearer to the original race of
the begetter, and they shall receive ¢iem more per-
fectly azd more gladly. An example is seen zz
those who spriug from a religious woman who is
gentle, believing the spiritual evzstence, acting mo-
destly, of scanty strength, who is a forgiver and
reverential, and from a mail-clad (gapar) warrior of
worldly religion, who is large-bodied axd possessing
strength which is stimulating (Agar) zs stout heart _
while he begets. They! are not completely for war—
which is a continuance of lamentation (nas-ravan-
dih)—and not for carefulness and affection for the
soul; as from the dog and wolf—and not the ruin
(seg) of the sheep—arises the fox, like the-wolf, dz
not wes the strength of the wolf like the dog, and it
does not even possess z¢s perfect shape, nor that of
the dog. And ¢hey are like those which are born
from a swift Arab horse and a native dam, and are
not galloping like the Arab, and not kicking (pada-
yak) like the native. And ¢hey have not even the
same perfect characteristics’, just as the mule that
springs from the horse and the ass, which is not like
unto either of them, and even z¢s seed is cut off
thereby, ad z/s lineage is not propagated forwards.
‘And this is the advantage from the pure preser-
vation of race. I assert that ¢here are three® species
