CONTENTS.

	INTRODUCTION.
1.	General Remarks	xiii
2.	The Dâdistân-î Dînîk	xxii
3.	The Epistles of Mânûskîhar	xxv
4.	The Appendix	xxviii
	Abbreviations used in this volume	xxxi
	TRANSLATIONS.
	DÂDISTÂN-Î DÎNÎK	2
1.	Introductory	3
2.	Why a righteous man is better than all creatures, spiritual or worldly	11
3.	Why a righteous man is created, and how he should act	15
4.	Why a righteous man is great	20
5.	How temporal distress is to be regarded	22
6.	Why the good suffer more than the bad in this world	23
7.	Why we are created, and what we ought to do	25
8.	Whether good works done for the dead differ in effect from those ordered or done by themselves	26
9.	How far they differ	28
10.	The growth of good works during life	29
11.	Whether the growth of a good work be as commendable as the original good work	30
12.	Whether it eradicates sin equally well	30
13.	Whether one is made responsible for all his sins and good works separately at the last account, or only for their balance	31
14.	The angels who take account of sin and good works, and how sinners are punished	32
15.	The exposure of a corpse does not occasion the final departure of life, and is meritorious	34
16.	Whether the soul be aware of, or disturbed by, the corpse being gnawed	36
	p. viii
CHAP.		PAGE
17.	Reasons for the exposure of corpses	38
18.	How the corpse and bones are to be disposed of	43
19.	Whether departed souls can see Aûharmazd and Aharman	44
20.	Where the souls of the righteous and wicked go	46
21.	The Dâîtih peak, the Kinvad bridge, and the two paths of departed souls	47
22.	Whether the spirits are distressed when a righteous man dies	50
23.	How the life departs from the body	51
24.	Where a righteous soul stays for the first three nights after death, and what it does next	53
25.	Where a wicked soul stays for the first three nights after death, and what it does next	55
26.	The nature of heaven and its pleasures	56
27.	The nature of hell and its punishments	57
28.	Why ceremonies in honour of Srôsh are performed for the three days after a death	58
29.	Why Srôsh must be reverenced separately from other angels	60
30.	Why three sacred cakes are consecrated at dawn after the third night from a death	61
31.	How a righteous soul goes to heaven, and what it finds and does there	63
32.	How a wicked soul goes to hell, and what it finds and suffers there	70
33.	The position and subdivisions of hell	74
84.	The two ways from the Dâîtih peak; that of the righteous to heaven, and that of the wicked to hell	76
35.	The continuance of mankind in the world till the resurrection	76
36.	The preparers of the renovation of the universe	77
37.	The contest of the good and evil spirits from the creation till the resurrection, and the condition of creation after the resurrection	80
38.	The effect of doing more good works than are necessary for attaining to the supreme heaven	120
39.	Reasons for wearing the sacred thread-girdle	122
40.	On the sacred shirt and thread-girdle, grace before and after eating, and cleansing the mouth before the after-'grace	133
41.	The sin of apostasy, and how to atone for it	136
42.	The good works of him who saves others from apostasy	139
	p. ix
CHAP.		PAGE
43.	The distance at which the fire can be addressed, the use of a lamp, and the proper order of the propitiatory dedications, when consecrating a sacred cake	141
44.	Whether a skilful priest who is employed to perform ceremonies, but is not officially the priest of the district, should be paid a regular stipend	145
45.	The separate duties of priests and disciples	151
46.	When a priest can abandon the priesthood to obtain a livelihood	153
47.	Whether a priest who knows the Avesta, or one who understands the commentary, be more entitled to the foremost place at a sacred feast	155
48.	The advantage and proper mode of celebrating the ceremonial	159
49.	Whether it be lawful to buy corn and keep it long, so as to raise the price for the sake of profit	174
50.	Whether it be lawful to sell wine to foreigners and infidels	176
51.	The sin of drunkenness, and what constitutes immoderate drinking	178
52.	Whether a man who bargains to deliver wheat in a month, and takes a deposit, is bound to deliver the wheat if its market-price has risen enormously	180
53.	Whether it be lawful to sell cattle to those of a different religion	182
54.	Whether a man without a son can give away his property to one daughter on his death-bed; the laws of inheritance, and when an adopted son must be appointed, in such a case	183
55.	Whose duty it is to order the ceremonies after a death	187
56.	The laws of adoption and family-guardianship	188
57.	Those who are fit, or unfit, for adoption	190
58.	The three kinds of adoption	191
59.	The least amount of property that requires the appointment of an adopted son	192
60.	The sin of not appointing an adopted son, or of appointing a dishonest one	192
61.	The merit and demerit of family-guardianship	193
62.	The laws of inheritance	194
63.	Whether it be lawful to seize property from foreigners and infidels	196
	p. x
CHAP.		PAGE
64.	The origin of Gâyômard, Mashyâîh, and Mashyayôîh	197
65.	The origin of next-of-kin marriage	199
66.	Regarding the cost of religious rites, and whether a priest's tot fees can be reduced when others will take less	201
67.	The cause of the rainbow	210
68.	The cause of the phases of the moon	210
69.	The cause of eclipses	212
70.	The causes of river-beds	213
71.	What things happen through destiny, and what through exertion	214
72.	The seven heinous sinners, and the necessity of avoiding him who commits unnatural intercourse	216
73.	Whether the stench of such intercourse reaches the sky	220
74.	Whether that stench disturbs the archangels	221
75.	Whether the angels raise such a sinner from the dead at the resurrection	222
76.	Whether it be a good work to kill such a sinner	223
77.	Why such intercourse is a heinous sin	224
78.	Why adultery is heinous, and how one can atone for it	227
79.	The sin of not repeating the full grace before drinking (when one is able to do so), and how one can atone for it	233
80.	Regarding him who does not order ceremonies	237
81.	About the ceremonies for the living soul	237
82.	About him who pays for ceremonies and him who takes the money without performing them	242
83.	Whether a priest must undertake all religious rites	244
84.	Whether gifts to the priesthood for ceremonies can be diminished or increased	245
85.	The advantages of increasing such gifts	246
86.	The harm of diminishing such gifts	248
87.	Why it is good to give such gifts	249
88.	About the cost of religious rites in Pârs	250
89.	Whether when a man has once resolved to go into Pârs, with gifts for the priesthood, it be lawful for him to send another man with the gifts	254
90.	The seven immortal rulers in the region of Khvanîras before the coming of the good religion	255
91.	The nature and material of the sky	259
92.	The course and benefit of the water of Arekdvisûr	262
	p. xi
CHAP.		PAGE
93.	Tîstar's seizing of water from the ocean to rain it upon the earth, and his conflict with Apâôsh	264
94.	Conclusion	269
	EPISTLES OF MÂNÛSKÎHAR	277
	EPISTLE I. To the good people of Sîrkân.
1.	Introductory compliments, acknowledging receipt of a complaining epistle	279
2.	Deploring the false opinions in circulation, owing to the fiend, about the purification ceremonies	282
3.	Excusing any defects in this epistle for various reasons detailed	286
4.	Deprecating the disuse of the Bareshnûm ceremony, as decreed by his brother; such disuse being contrary to scripture and the commentaries	292
5.	Alluding to the one-sided view of the opinions of the commentators adopted by the decree they had sent	298
6.	Discussing the different statements of the commentators as to the number of purifiers and washings	301
7.	Discussing the proper quantities of liquids to be used, and the 300 pebbles	304
8.	Regarding the stirring up of the bull's urine when fetid, as mentioned in the Sakâdûm Nask	309
9.	Deciding that the commentary which teaches the most efficient mode of purification is to be followed, when there are no special reasons for acting otherwise	312
10.	Reserving other matters for special instructions to the priests, but warning them not to obey the decree now denounced	316
11.	Arranging for the enforcement of his decision, until he can write further, or come himself; and concluding with benediction and date	320
	EPISTLE II. To his brother, Zâd-sparam.
1.	Acknowledging receipt of a former epistle, and announcing the arrival of complaints about his brother's reprehensible decree	324
2.	Disapproving of the decree and its mode of dealing with the commentaries, whose exact agreement is as unlikely as the simultaneous occurrence of several particular conjunctions of the planets	331
	p. xii
CHAP.		PAGE
3.	Exhorting him not to seek for new rules, but to adhere strictly to the old customs	336
4.	Reasserting his opinions, and protesting against the notion that the decree was in accordance with the practice of all the purifiers in Irân	341
5.	Commenting upon the secrecy with which the decree had been prepared, and the evil consequences resulting from it	343
6.	Persuading him to remain steadfast in the faith, and threatening him if he should not	348
7.	Explaining that he had previously written to Sîrkân, and would shortly come there himself; but ordering the appointment of proper purifiers	350
8.	Mentioning his general epistle to all of the good religion in Irân, and describing the evil consequences of continued disobedience, including the possibility of his own retreat to foreign lands	352
9.	Giving further instructions for satisfying the discontented, and opposing the heterodox; and concluding without date	354
	EPISTLE III. To all of the good religion in Irân. Forbidding the substitution of a fifteenfold washing for the Bareshnûm ceremony; and dated A.Y. 250 (A.D. 881)	359
	APPENDIX	367
I.	Legends relating to Keresâsp	369
II.	The Nîrang-i Kustî	383
III.	The meaning of Khvêtûk-das	389
IV.	The Bareshnûm ceremony	431
V.	Finding a corpse in the wilderness	455
	INDEX	459
	CORRECTIONS	479
	Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East	481

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