+ See pp. 415-423.
Iii. Meaning of Khvetok-Das. 429
At whatever period the practice of next-of-kin
marriage may have originated there were evidently
two reasons for its establishment and continuance;
one was the indispensable necessity of offspring},
unfettered by duties towards any other family, for
the purpose of maintaining the necessary periodical
ceremonies for the souls of those passed away; the
other was the wish of preventing any risk of reli-
gious perversion consequent upon marrying into
a family of strangers or infidels. Both of these
reasons must have become intensified as the
Mazda-worshippers diminished in numbers, hence
the increasing vehemence of priestly advocacy, until
the foreign conquerors probably interfered, and put
a stop to the practice.
That such marriages were not unusual among
other races, in ancient times, we learn from many
tales in Greek and Roman mythology, from the
usual practice of the Greek dynasty of the Ptolemies
in Egypt, and even from the laws prohibiting such
connections in Lev. xviii. 6-16, which, as laws are
not made to prohibit practices that do not exist,
would hardly have been written unless the children
of Israel had at one time adopted the custom to
some slight extent. That Parsis now deny the
existence of such marriages among their ancestors
proves that they no longer approve the custom, but
does not affect the historical evidence of its former
? The oriental feeling of such a necessity, for the mere purpose of perpetuating the family, is abundantly manifested in the story of Lot’s daughters (Gen. xix. 30-38), which is related without re- proval by its writer. Also by the exceptional law requiring a man to marry his brother’s wife, when the brother has died childless (Deut. xxv. 5-10).
430 APPENDIX,
existence. Christians no longer approve the perse-
cution and execution of women for the imaginary
crime of witchcraft, but it would be both childish
and useless for them to deny that their ancestors
committed hundreds of such judicial murders less
than two centuries ago.
Iv. THE BARESHNOM CEREMONY. 431
IV. Tue Baresunt CEREMONY.
THE great ceremony of purification for any Parsi
man or woman who has become unclean by contact
with the dead, or through any other serious de-
filement, lasts for nine nights, and is called the
Bareshniim, which is the Avesta name for the ‘top’ ©
of the head, the first part of the body appointed to
be washed in the ceremony, after the hands. The
description of this ceremony, given in Pahl. Vend.
IX, 1-145, which does not differ very materially
from the rite still in use, is as follows! :—
Pahl. Vend. IX, 1. Zaratdist enquired of Athar-
mazd thus: ‘O Athavmazd, propitious spirit! creator
of the material world! who art the righteous one [of
righteousness !’ that is, Adhavmazd is the righteous
creator through invocation, avd the rest through
praise]. 2. ‘How, when in the material existence
they see a [clean] man together with [that which is
polluted], (3) how shall they purify him clean who
? Observing that the passages in brackets do not occur in the Avesta text, but are added by the Pahlavi translators; and that the sections are numbered to correspond with the alternating Avesta and Pahlavi sections in the MSS., which is the division adopted in Spiegel’s edition of the texts. The readings adopted are those of L4, wherever they are not defective; this MS. was written about A.D. 1324, and differs occasionally from Spiegel’s printed text; it begins the ninth fargard with the following heading :—‘ May it be fortunate! may it destroy the corruption (nasfis) which rushes on from a dead dog and men on to the living! May the pure, good religion of the Mazda-worshippers be triumphant !’
432 APPENDIX.
is with chat fraught with corruption [together with
pollution] owing to that dead body? [that is, how
should they make 42m thoroughly clean ?]’
4. And Athavmazd spoke thus: ‘A righteous
man, O Zarattist the Spitaman! [a purifier], (5) who
is a speaker [that is, it is possible for him to speak]
a true-speaker [that is, falsehood is little spoken by
him], an enquirer of the liturgy [that is, the ritual
is performed by him], azd righteous, (6) he who
specially understands the purification of the religion
of the Mazda-worshippers [that is, he knows the rite],
(7) such a one shall cut up the plants on the fruitful
earth, (8) for a length of nine separate reeds? in
every one of the four directions, (9) a¢ a place on
this earth which is most devoid of water, most
devoid of trees, land most purified [from bodily
refuse]?, azd with the driest ground [that is, there
is no damp in that extent of it}, 310. Even where
least upon the paths do cattle and beasts of burden
step forth, and the fire of Atharmazd, the sacred
twigs’ spread forth with righteousness, and the
righteous man‘ do least exist,’
11. ‘Creator of the material world! ¢hou righteous
one! how far from the fire? how far from the
water ? how far from the sacred twigs spread forth
? Which would be 42 feet (see Dd. XLIII, 5 n); but the phrase gvid nai (which, in Pahl. Vend.VII, 90, has become gvid hana by misreading gvid6-aé, and then substituting Huz. hana for Paz. aé) is merely an attempted translation of Av. vib4zu, which latter appears to mean the ‘two arms’ outstretched, or a fathom. So the ‘separate reed’ should be understood as a longer kind of reed, equal to a fathom, instead of 4 feet 8 inches.
2 See Dd. XLVIII, 19 n. L4 omits this clause altogether.
§ See Dd..XLIII, 5 n-
* Any priest not engaged in the purification.
Iv. the Bareshnum Ceremony. 433
with righteousness? how far from a man of the righteous ?’
12. And Atthavmazd spoke thus: ‘ Thirty steps!
from the fire, thirty steps from the water, thirty steps
from the sacred twigs spread forth with righteous-
ness, and three steps? from the men of the righteous.
13. The cutting out for the first hole [for bull’s
urine]’, after the coming on of summer, is two
finger-readths in excavation; after the coming on
of hail-fraught (s6ngag4n-hémand) winter z¢ is as
zt were a cup of four finger-drveadths*. 14. So also.
for the second hole, for the third hole, for the fourth
hole, the fifth, azd the sixth.’
‘How much is ove such hole from another hole? ?’
‘As much as one step onwards.’
1 As the step is three feet (see § 15), and the foot, being four- teen finger-breadths (see Bd. XXVI, 3 n), may be taken as 10} inches, these thirty steps would be nearly 79 English feet.
2 That is, 7 feet 104 inches. This diminution of distance enables a purifying priest to stand near enough to an unclean person to hand him the purifying liquid ina ladle tied to a stick (see §§ 40-42), without going within the furrows traced around the holes or ablu- tion seats at the same distance of three steps (see §§ 21-23).
* That is, at which the unclean person is sprinkled with the urine (see §§ 48-116). The urine should be that of a bull, accord- ing to Vend. XIX, 70; but Vend. VIII, 35, 36 state that it may be that of cattle or draught oxen, generally, or even that of those who perform Khvétfik-das (see p. 391). At the present time the term magh, which means ‘a hole’ in the Avesta, is applied to the stones which rre used as ablution seats for squatting upon.
* The greater depth of the hole for catching the ablution drop- pings in the winter, would provide for the larger quantity of liquid that could not sink into the soil, or evaporate, during the tedious washing, owing to the soil and air being damper than in summer.
*’ The probable positions of these holes, and of the furrows enclosing them are shown upon the plan of the Bareshnfim Gah on p. 435, which differs but little from the plan still in use.
[18] F f
434 APPENDIX.
15. ‘What kind of one step ?’
‘Just like three feet.’
16. ‘The cutting out of the three other holes
[which are for water], (17) after the coming on of
summer, is as much as two finger-dreadihs in exca-
vation; after the coming on of hail-fraught winter ©
z¢ is as much as four finger-dreadths.’
18. ‘How much from those former ozes [for bull’s urine] ?’
‘As much as three steps.’
19. ‘What kind of three steps ?’
‘As much as the steps ove plants in walking with the steps he would take.’
20. ‘What kind of walking with steps ?’
‘Just like nine feet.’
21. ‘Thou shalt also plough up a furrow with the blade due to Shatryévair1.’
22. ‘How much from the holes ?’
‘As much as three steps.’
‘What kind of three steps ?’
‘As much as zz walking with the steps oze would take and plant.
23. ‘How much is the walking with steps ?'
‘As much as nine feet.’
24. ‘Then, afterwards, is the ploughing up of the
twelve furrows. 25. Sy the ploughing up of three
from among ¢hem three holes are separated within
them, 26. Thou shalt plough up three from among
them with six holes separated within. 27. Thou
shalt plough up three from among ¢hem with nine
holes separated within. 28. Azd thou shalt plough
' That is, made of metal, which is under the special protection of the archangel Shatry6vair or Shatvaird (see Dd. XLVIII, 17 n).
IV. THE BARESHNOM CEREMONY.
PLAN OF BaresuntmM GAH.
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‘sdojs 9214} JO sodeds a14} BY} UO saUO}s JO spLOT 9214} ‘S ‘Ss ‘S
*s19Y}O 34} wor sdo}s 9914} pue jrede dajs auO ‘19]eM AOJ ‘saToY WIDYINOS 9914} ‘O ‘OO +yzede dajs auo ‘QuIIN SJ[Nq Joj ‘sazoy uIsyzI0U XxIs yomenenenene
436 APPENDIX.
up three, within which are the [three] holes that
are apart, [which are for water, and] beyond [those
within, which are for bull’s urine]?.
29. ‘Thou shalt carry three loads of stones on to
those spaces of nine feet”, as an approach Zo the
holes; (30) ov potsherds, or knotty azd massive
blocks, or a clod cf the earth of VistAsp, or [a pot or
something of] any hard earth whatever.
31. ‘Afterwards, he who has dbcen by the dead
shall come to that approach, which is the approach
to the holes. 32. Thereupon thou, O Zarattst!
hast to stand up more aside, by the furrows®*.
* The arrangement, here described, is that of six holes in a row, one step apart; then an interval of three steps, followed by three more holes, one step apart, in the same line. This row of nine holes, from north to south (see § 132, e), is surrounded by three furrows, the first six holes and the last three are both surrounded by a second series of three furrows, and the first three holes are surrounded by a third series of three furrows. And these furrows are not less than three steps from the holes in any place, except where they separate the three series of holes from each other. The object of the furrows, which are scored during the recitation of certain formulas (see § 132, % g), is to prevent the fiend of cor- ruption from forcing its way from the unclean person within the furrows to any other person outside them. And, as the fiend is supposed to be strongest at first, and to become gradually weak- ened by the progress of the purification (see § 119), the first three holes are surrounded by the strongest barrier of nine furrows.
* There were three such spaces, one between the furrows and the first hole, one between the sixth and seventh holes, and one between the last hole and the furrows (see the plan). It is not dis- tinctly stated that these stones were to be distributed, as ablution seats, to each of the nine stations, as at present; but this was probably intended. At the present time an additional group of stones is placed outside the furrows, at the entrance to the north, as a station for the preliminary washing.
* That is, the priest is to stand outside, to the right (see § 132, 2), but close to the furrows.
Iv. the Bareshnom Ceremony. 437
33. Then these words are to be murmured [4y ‘hee,
that is]: “ Praise to Spendavmad', the propitious!”
34. And he who has been by the dead shall speak in
reply to it thus: “ Praise to Spendaymad, the propi-
tious!” 35. Then the fiend becomes disabled by
every word [of each repetition]; (36) the smiting of
the evil spirit, the wicked one, is owing to it; (37) the
smiting of Aeshm?, the impetuous assailant, is owing
to it; (38) the smiting of the MAzinikan demons’
is Owing to it; (39) the smiting of all the demons is
owing to it.
40. ‘Afterwards, thou shalt sprinkle bull’s urine
upon Az with an iron, or with a leaden, /ad/e. 41. Lf
thou shalt sprinkle upon 22m wth a leaden one*, thou
shalt strongly demand, O Zaratist! the stem of a
reed whose nine customary parts (pisak) you have
mentioned * [as nine knots]; (42) axd one should tie
that leaden /ad/e strongly on z¢s foremost part ®.
43. ‘He shall first wash over his hands [even to
the elbows]. 44. When he does not wash over his
hands, (45) he then makes all his own body impure
[and polluted]. 46. When he shall have washed over
his hands for three times, (47) then, when ¢/y hands
