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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
1. This, too, Zaratûst asked of Aûharmazd, that is: 'Which is the time when one must not eat meat?'
2. Aûharmazd gave a reply thus: 'In a house when a person shall die, until three nights are completed, nothing whatever of meat is to be placed on a sacred cake (drôn) therein and in its vicinity 1; but these, such as milk, cheese, fruit, eggs, and preserves, are to be placed; and nothing whatever of meat is to be eaten by his relations 2. 3. In all the three days it is necessary to perform the ceremonial (yazisn) of Srôsh for this reason, because Srôsh will be able to save his soul from the hands of the demons for the three days 3; and when one constantly
performs a ceremonial at every period (gâs) 1 in the three days it is as good as though they should celebrate the whole religious ritual (hamâk dînô) at one time. 4. And after the third night, at dawn, one is to consecrate three sacred cakes (drôn), one for Rashnû and Âstâd, the second for Vâê the good 2, and the third for the righteous guardian spirit (ardâî fravard); and clothing 3 is to be placed upon the sacred cake of the righteous guardian spirit. 5. For the fourth day it is allowable to slaughter a sheep 4, and the fourth day the ceremonial (yazisn) of the righteous guardian spirit is to be performed; and afterwards are the tenth-day, the monthly, and, then, the annual ceremonies; and the first monthly is exactly on the thirtieth day, and the annual on the particular day 5. 6. When he
shall die at a place distant from that where the information arrives, when the three days’ ceremonies (satûîh) are celebrated at that place where he shall die it is well, when not, their celebration is to be at this place, and from the time when the information arrives, until three nights are completed, it is necessary to perform the ceremonial of Srôsh, and after three days and nights it is necessary to perform the ceremonial of the righteous guardian spirit.'
7. In one place it is declared, that of him whose begetting is owing to the demons, of him who commits sodomy, and of him who performs the religious rites (dînô) of apostasy, of none of the three do
they restore the dead 1, for this reason, because he whose begetting is owing to the demons is himself a demon 2, and the soul of him who commits sodomy will become a demon 3, and the soul of him who performs the religious rites of apostasy will become a darting snake 4.
8. This, too, is revealed by the Avesta 5, that Aûharmazd spoke thus: 'Give ye up the persons of all men, with the submissiveness of worshippers, to that man to whom the whole Avesta and Zand is easy 6, so that he may make you acquainted with duties and good works; because men go to hell for this reason, when they do not submit their persons to priestly control (aêrpatistân), and do not become acquainted with duties and good works.'
9. Query:—There is an action which, according to the Avesta 7, is not good for a person to do, and the sentence of 'worthy of death' is set upon it; for one's better preservation is one not to do that action,
or to accomplish and urge it on, for the advance of religion in a state of uncertainty (var-hômandîh)? 10. The answer is this, that when they act well for their better preservation there is no fear, on account of acting well, but one is not to forsake that 1, too, though it be not goodness; a forsaken duty is very bad, for a contempt of it enters into one.
11. This, too, is declared, that Zaratûst enquired of Aûharmazd thus: 'From what place do these people rise again? from that place where they first went into their mothers, or from that place where the mothers have given them birth, or from that place where their bodies happen to be (aûftêd)?' 12. Aûharmazd gave a reply thus: 'Not from that place where they have gone into their mothers, nor from that place where they have been born from their mothers, nor from that place where their bodies and flesh happen to be, for they rise from that place where the life went out from their bodies.' 13. And this, too, he asked, that is: 'Whence do they raise 2 him again who is suspended from anything, and shall die in the air?' 14. The reply was: 'From that place where his bones and flesh first fall to the ground; hence, except when he shall die on a divan (gâs) or a bed (vistarg), before they carry him away, whatever it
is, a fragment 1 is to be taken and to be laid across his limbs; for when the usage is not so, they raise him again from that place where his body arrives at the ground.'
15. Completed in peace, pleasure, and joy 2.
382:1 Reading va hamgôshak, the latter word being apparently used in a parallel passage in Pahl. Vend. VIII, 64 in old MSS.; this reading is, however, somewhat doubtful here, and perhaps we ought to read 'on a sacred cake in that roofed place (pavan zak vâmkînîh);' the last word being a possible term for 'roofing' as it stands, though it may be a miswriting of vâmpôs (Pers. bâmpôs, 'roofing').
382:2 The Parsis, nowadays (Dastûr Hoshangji says), do not cook for three days under a roof where a death has occurred, but obtain food from their neighbours and friends; but if the cookroom he under a separate roof, as often happens in India, they have no objection to cooking there.
382:3 The soul is supposed to hover about the body for the first three nights after death, during which time it has to rely upon the angel Srôsh (see Bund. XXX, 29) for protection from the demons, which the angel, it is presumed, will afford more efficiently if properly propitiated by the surviving relatives. At the third dawn after death (that is, the dawn of the fourth day inclusive of the day of death) the soul is supposed to depart finally for the other world (see AV. IV, 8-36, XVII, 5-27).
383:1 These periods of the day are five in summer, and four in winter (see Bund. XXV, 9, 10).
383:2 The usual name of the angel Râm (the Vayu of Râm Yt.) who, with the angels Rashnû and Âstâd, is supposed to be stationed at the Kinvad bridge, where the soul has to give an account of its actions during life shortly after the dawn following the third night after death (see AV. V. 3, CI, 21, note, Mkh. II, 115).
383:3 This clothing must be new and good, and is supposed to be supplied to the spirit to prevent its appearing unclothed in the other world, where the clothing of the soul is said to be formed 'out of almsgivings' (Chap. XII, 4); to fulfil which condition the clothes provided are presented to the officiating priests (see Saddar Bundahis LXXXVII).
383:4 Or 'goat.'
383:5 That is, on the exact anniversary of the death; the sentence is rather obscure, but this appears to be the meaning. With regard to the ceremonies after a death, the Persian Rivâyats give more details, which may be summarized as follows:—On each of the first three days a Srôsh Yast is performed and a Srôsh Drôn consecrated (see Chap. III, 32, note). On the third night, in the middle of the Aiwisrûthrem Gâh (dusk to midnight), a renunciation p. 384 of sin is performed in the house of the deceased; and in the Ushahin Gâh (midnight to dawn) four Drôns are consecrated, one dedicated to the good Vâê (Nâ-î veh), one to Rashn and Âstâd, one to Srôsh, and one to the righteous (ashôân), and in front of the last are placed new and clean clothes with fruit, but without an egg. On the fourth day, at sunrise, the Dahmân Âfrîngân (Yas. LIX) is recited, and then the Khûrshêd and Mihir Nyâyis, after which the people in the house can first eat fresh-cooked meat. During the fourth day also the Yast of the righteous is performed, and the Drôn of the righteous is consecrated; and the same again on the tenth day, together with the recitation of the Dahmân Âfrîngân. On the thirtieth day the Sîrôzah (praise of the thirty days) is to be celebrated, with the dedication to the thirty days; thirty-three beans (lûvak) and thirty-three eggs, with fruit, being placed in front of the Drôn, which is consecrated in the presence of fire; and, afterwards, the assistant priest consecrates a Drôn for Srôsh. The next day the chief priest consecrates a Drôn for the righteous; a suit of clothes and fruit being placed in front of the Drôn. And each day a Yast of the righteous is performed, a Drôn of the righteous is consecrated, and an Âfrîngân recited. On the same day every month the same Yast, Drôn, and, Âfrîngân are celebrated; a priest also undergoes the Bareshnûm for the deceased, a Gêtî-kharîd (see Bund. XXX, 28) is performed, and three Vendidads dedicated to Srôsh. On each day at the end of a year the Sîrôzah Yast is performed, and a Drôn p. 385 dedicated to the thirty days is consecrated, thirty-three beans being placed, with one Drôn, one Frasast (see Chap. III, 32, note), one pentagonal Drôn as the sun, one crescent-shaped as the moon, thirty-three eggs, and fruit, in front of the Drôn, which is consecrated in the presence of fire; afterwards, the assistant priest consecrates a Drôn for Srôsh, and recites the Dahmân Âfrîngân, and the next day the chief priest consecrates a Drôn for the righteous, a suit of clothes being placed before the Drôn, and recites the Dahmân Âfrîngân.
385:1 That is, there is no resurrection for them.
385:2 And, therefore, not immortal according to the Parsi faith.
385:3 Compare Vend. VIII, 98-106.
385:4 Which being a creature of the evil spirit is doomed to destruction.
385:5 But it is doubtful if the passage be extant.
385:6 That is, the man who knows the whole scripture and commentary by heart.
385:7 Reading pavan Avistâk, instead of Avistâk pavan.
386:1 The religion in a position of difficulty appears to be the meaning, but the reply to this question of casuistry is by no means clear.
386:2 Literally, 'they rise,' both here and in the next section, but the change to the plural number is perplexing, unless it refers to those who prepare the resurrection of the dead (Bund. XXX, 4, 7, 17), as here assumed by reading 'they raise.'
387:1 Apparently a fragment of the place whereon the death took place is meant by kadâm-1 pârak.
387:2 The miscellaneous passages which follow Sls. in M6 terminate at this point, which is the end of the first volume of that MS. The next three chapters are taken from the latter end of the other volume of M6.