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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com


CHAPTER VII.

1. The morning sun it is necessary to reverence (yastanŏ) till midday, and that of midday it is necessary to reverence till the afternoon time, and that of the afternoon time it is necessary to reverence till night 3; whenever one is quite prepared

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for activity (khvêskârîh), and shall then do reverence, it is proper. 2. And when anything of that happens which indicates when it is not proper to wash the hands, and about this he considers that when he does not reverence the sun it will stop 1, at the time previous to that in which it occurs the sun is to be fully reverenced by him, and, afterwards, when his hands are washed, it is to be reverenced again; and when he does not reverence it, except when innocent through not reverencing it 2, then it becomes irreverence (lâ yast) of the sun for him 3.

3. As to the sun it is better when one reverences it every time at the proper period (pavan gâs-i nafsman); when he does not reverence it for once it is a sin of thirty stîrs 4. 4. Reverencing the sun is every time a good work of one Tanâpûhar 5; and so of the moon and fire in like manner 6. 5. When on account of cloudiness the sun is not visible (pêdâk), and one shall reverence it, it is proper.

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6. And while one does not reverence the sun, the good works which they do that day are not their own; some say that of the good works which they do within the law (dâd) of the good religion he has no share. 7. While they do not wash dirty hands any good work which they do is not their own, for while one does not utterly destroy corruption (nasûs1 there is no coming of the angels to his body, and when there is no coming of the angels to his body he has no steadfastness in the religion, and when he has no steadfastness in the religion no good work whatever reaches unto him.

8. When one wishes to perform the propitiation (shnûman) 2 of fire, it is allowable to perform one 'âthrô' by itself, and, when two and the 'mad vîspaêibyô âterebyô,' these three are thus the propitiation everywhere 3; some say that it would be proper to perform it while allowable, except that of the heterodox.

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9. Whoever shall extinguish 1 a fire, by him ten fires are to be gathered together, by him ten punishments are to be endured, by him ten ants are to be destroyed 2, and by him holy-water (zôhar) is to be presented to the sacred fire (âtâs-i Vâhrâm).


Footnotes

297:3 Referring to the recitation of the Khûrshêd Nyâyis, or 'salutation of the sun,' which should be performed thrice a day, in the Hâvan, Rapîtvîn, and Aûzêrîn Gâhs, or periods of the day (see p. 298 Bund. XXV, 9); a few sentences in the Nyâyis, or formula of salutation, are altered to suit the particular Gâh in which it is recited.

298:1 K20 has, 'it will protect it;' having read netrûnêd instead of ketrûnêd in its original. To pray with unwashed hands would be sinful (see Pahl. Vend. XIX, 84).

298:2 That is, except when the omission is to avoid a worse evil, as in the instance just mentioned.

298:3 Or, perhaps, 'it does not become a Khûrshêd Yast ("a formula of praise in honour of the sun") for him.' This Yast forms a part of the Nyâyis.

298:4 That is, an Aredûs sin (see Chap. I, 2). M6 has, 'when he does not reverence if again.'

298:5 That is, a good work sufficient to counterbalance a Tanâpûhar sin, which puts the performance of a Nyâyis on the same footing as the consecration of 9, sacred cake or drôn (see Chap. XVI, 6).

298:6 The moon and fire have each a separate Nyâyis.

299:1 That is, the demon of corruption, who is supposed to enter and reside in all filth of the nature of dead matter, until expelled or destroyed by cleansing.

299:2 A shnûman or khshnûmanŏ (Av. khshnûman) is a short formula of praise, reciting all the usual titles of the spirit intended to be propitiated by it, and is used for dedicating the prayers or ceremony specially to his service (see Chaps. III, 35, X, 2, XIV, 3). The propitiatory formulas for the thirty angels and archangels who preside over the days of the month constitute the Sîrôzah, or form of prayer 'relating to the thirty days.'

299:3 The propitiation of fire (as given in Sîrôz. I, 9, Âtâs Nyâyis 5, 6) consists of five sentences, each beginning with the word âthrô, 'of the fire,' and the last sentence also contains the words mad vîspaêibyô âterebyô, 'with all fires.' The meaning of the text appears to be that it is allowable to use only one of these sentences (probably the last), but if two are used besides the fast they are amply sufficient for practical purposes.

300:1 Literally, 'kill.'

300:2 The ant being a creature of the evil spirit, on account of its carrying away corn.


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