Sacred Texts  Zoroastrianism  Index  Previous  Next 
Buy this Book at Amazon.com

Pahlavi Texts, Part III (SBE24), E.W. West, tr. [1885], at sacred-texts.com


CHAPTER L 1.

1. The fiftieth subject is this, that, every day at dawn, when they rise up from sleep, it is not proper to wash the hands first with water.

2. The ceremonial ablution is to wash the hands, face, nose, eyes, and feet thoroughly, either with fruit (mîvah) 2 or some grass upon which no water has come; afterwards, to make them dry, and to wash them three times with water in such a manner that it becomes wet from the face as far as the ear 3. 3. It is necessary to keep the mouth closed, so that the water shall not go into the mouth; for if a drop, owing to not stopping, goes into the mouth, it is a sin of three hundred stîrs 4. 4. Afterwards, one is to wash the hands three times with water, as far as the upper arms; first the right hand, and afterwards the left hand; and, in like manner, he is to wash the right foot and left foot.

p. 313

5. Then they recite the Kem-nâ-mazdâ 1, for, every time that they wish to recite anything as an inward prayer, it is necessary that the hands be washed with ceremonial ablution 2, and, if they are not, the Avesta is not accepted, and the fiend of corruption (nasus) does not rush away, and it becomes a Tanâvar sin.


Footnotes

312:1 Omitted in La, Lp, though the former contains a portion of this chapter annexed to part of Chap. XLVIII, and most of its contents are repeated, in other words, in Chap. LXXIV.

312:2 Perhaps mîvah may be taken as an adjective from mîv, 'hair;' in which case we should have 'with something either hairy or grassy.' According to the long-metre Sad Dar, the liquid to be used for this first wetting is either goat's or bull's urine.

312:3 La has 'from ear to ear' (sec Chap. XLVIII, 1 n).

312:4 A Tanâvar or Tanâpûhar sin (see Sls. I, 2).

313:1 See Chap. XXXV, 2 n, which chapter, as well as Chap. LXXIV, treats of nearly the same subject.

313:2 As described in § 2-4.


Next: Chapter LI