Sad Dar. Chapter Xxxvi
*
"Pahlavi Texts, Part Iii (sbe24)\", E.W. West, tr. [1885],
Chapter Xxxvi.
1. The thirty-sixth subject is this, that it is strictly incumbent on mankind, on man 6 and woman, to perform the Bareshnm "ceremony" 7, because mankind feed on menstruous "matter" in the womb of the mother. 2. For that reason it is necessary to perform the Bareshnm once, so that "one may" become pure from that pollution. 3. For if "one" becomes fifteen years "of age", and does not perform the Bareshnm, whatever he puts a hand on, the glory and purity of that thing will diminish; and it
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is not proper that they put a hand on a sacred cake "or" any "thing" washed "with ceremony".
4. In revelation it says, if any one "who has" not performed the Bareshnm shall die, the demons make "him" 1 as though "he were" a corpse "kept" one month in the hot season. 5. And, when the soul arrives at the head of the "K"inva"d" bridge, the archangels and angels complain of the stench of that soul, "and" are not able to make "up" its account and reckoning. 6. It remains at the "K"inva"d" bridge "and" is not able to pass; it experiences much repentance and has no advantage from it.
7. If it be necessary for any one to perform the Bareshnm of the head, and he be able to do "it, but" does not do "it", if he performs the "ceremonial" ablution of the head a thousand times, it does not become pure from that pollution 2, and that is the pollution of Nasru"s"t 3, which is amid the veins and sinews, and the flesh and bones; it does not become pure "through" any other thing except through "the liquid consecrated by" the religious formula 4.
8. And "as to" that person, also, who performs the Bareshnm "for" mankind 5, it is necessary that he be a man, a friend of the soul, a truthful speaker, "and" an abstainer, because through chastity and modesty (mastr) he becomes employed. 9. If complaint of any perfidy in him is publicly diffused 6, in that disgrace (malmat) it is necessary that the high-priests
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\"should" dislocate his joints one by one, and it is requisite that they give him as food to the dogs. 10. So that by this action they "may" make a man observe more chastely and continently, that this result (hil) of sin "may" not occur.
Footnotes
296:6 B29 omits 'on man.'
296:7 A tedious ceremony of purification that lasts nine nights (see SBE, vol. xviii, pp. 437-453). Its name is Av. (acc.) bareshnm, 'top' of the head, the first part of the body to be washed.
297:1 B29 has 'it makes his soul.'
297:2 Lp omits 'pollution.'
297:3 See Chap. Xxxv, 2. B29 has 'that is bodily refuse (hhar) and pollution.'
297:4 That is, bull's urine, the liquid that is first used, in a consecrated state, for sprinkling the body in the Bareshnm purification. Compare Chap. Lxxvii, 9, 10.
297:5 That is, the purifying priest.
297:6 B29 has 'publicly comes on.'
"Pahlavi Texts, Part Iii (sbe24)\", E.W. West, tr. [1885],
Chapter Xxxvi.
1. The thirty-sixth subject is this, that it is strictly incumbent on mankind, on man 6 and woman, to perform the Bareshnm "ceremony" 7, because mankind feed on menstruous "matter" in the womb of the mother. 2. For that reason it is necessary to perform the Bareshnm once, so that "one may" become pure from that pollution. 3. For if "one" becomes fifteen years "of age", and does not perform the Bareshnm, whatever he puts a hand on, the glory and purity of that thing will diminish; and it
p. 297
is not proper that they put a hand on a sacred cake "or" any "thing" washed "with ceremony".
4. In revelation it says, if any one "who has" not performed the Bareshnm shall die, the demons make "him" 1 as though "he were" a corpse "kept" one month in the hot season. 5. And, when the soul arrives at the head of the "K"inva"d" bridge, the archangels and angels complain of the stench of that soul, "and" are not able to make "up" its account and reckoning. 6. It remains at the "K"inva"d" bridge "and" is not able to pass; it experiences much repentance and has no advantage from it.
7. If it be necessary for any one to perform the Bareshnm of the head, and he be able to do "it, but" does not do "it", if he performs the "ceremonial" ablution of the head a thousand times, it does not become pure from that pollution 2, and that is the pollution of Nasru"s"t 3, which is amid the veins and sinews, and the flesh and bones; it does not become pure "through" any other thing except through "the liquid consecrated by" the religious formula 4.
8. And "as to" that person, also, who performs the Bareshnm "for" mankind 5, it is necessary that he be a man, a friend of the soul, a truthful speaker, "and" an abstainer, because through chastity and modesty (mastr) he becomes employed. 9. If complaint of any perfidy in him is publicly diffused 6, in that disgrace (malmat) it is necessary that the high-priests
p. 298
\"should" dislocate his joints one by one, and it is requisite that they give him as food to the dogs. 10. So that by this action they "may" make a man observe more chastely and continently, that this result (hil) of sin "may" not occur.
Footnotes
296:6 B29 omits 'on man.'
296:7 A tedious ceremony of purification that lasts nine nights (see SBE, vol. xviii, pp. 437-453). Its name is Av. (acc.) bareshnm, 'top' of the head, the first part of the body to be washed.
297:1 B29 has 'it makes his soul.'
297:2 Lp omits 'pollution.'
297:3 See Chap. Xxxv, 2. B29 has 'that is bodily refuse (hhar) and pollution.'
297:4 That is, bull's urine, the liquid that is first used, in a consecrated state, for sprinkling the body in the Bareshnm purification. Compare Chap. Lxxvii, 9, 10.
297:5 That is, the purifying priest.
297:6 B29 has 'publicly comes on.'
