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Pahlavi Texts, Part I (SBE05), E.W. West, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
1. The degrees of sin are these 2, such as a Farmân, Srôshô-karanâm, Âgerept, Aîvîrist, Aredûs, Khôr, Bâzâî, Yât, and Tanâpûhar, and I will mention each of them a second time. 2. A Farmân is the weight of three dirhams of four mads 3; a
[paragraph continues] Srôshô-karanâm is one dirham and two mads; three Srôshô-karanâms are the weight of four dirhams and two mads 1; an Âgerept is thirty-three stîrs 2; an Aîvîrist is the weight of thirty-three dirhams; an Aredûs is thirty stîrs 3; a Khôr is sixty stîrs; a Bâzâî is ninety stîrs; a Yât is a hundred and eighty stîrs, and a Tanâpûhar is three hundred stîrs.
3. Every one ought to be unhesitating and unanimous about this, that righteousness is the one thing, and heaven (garôdmân) 4 the one place, which is good, and contentment the one thing more comfortable.
4. When a sheep 5 is slaughtered and divided, its meat-offering (gâvûs-dâk) 6 is to be thus presented:—the tongue, jaw, and left eye are the
angel Hôm's 1 own; the neck is Ashavahist's 2 own; the head is the angel Vâê's 3 own; the right shoulder (arm) is Ardvîsûr's 4, the left is Drvâsp's 5; the right thigh (hakht) is for the guardian spirit 6 of Vistâsp, and the left for the guardian spirit of Gâmâsp 7; the back is for the supreme chief 8; the loin is the spirits' own; the belly is Spendarmad's 9; the testicles 10 are for the star Vanand 11 the kidneys are
[paragraph continues] Haptôîring's 1; the ventricle (naskadakŏ) 2 is for the guardian spirit of priests; the lungs are for the guardian spirit of warriors; the liver is for compassion and sustenance 3 of the poor; the spleen is Mânsarspend's 4; the fore-legs (bâzâî) are for the waters; the heart is for the fires; the entrail fat is Ardâî-fravard's 5; the tail-bone (dunb-gazakŏ) is for the guardian spirit of Zaratûst the Spîtâmân 6; the tail (dunbak) is for Vâd 7 the righteous; the right eye is in the share of the moon 8; and any 9 that may be left over from those is for the other archangels. 5. There have been those who may have spoken about protection, and there have been those who may have done so about meat-offerings; whoever has spoken about protection is such as has
spoken well, and whoever has spoken about meat-offerings has not spoken everything which is noteworthy 1. 6. When one shall offer up 2 what pertains to one (khadûkag) on account of another it is proper; except the tongue, jaw, and left eye, for that those are the angel Hôm's own is manifest from the passage: 'Hizvãm frerenaod 3,' &c.
334:1 This second part is evidently by another writer, for he not only repeats several passages (Chaps. XI, 1, 2, XII, 11, 13-16, 18, 20), which are given in the first part, but he also writes generally in a less simple style. In some MSS. of Sls. alone, such as M9, the second part immediately follows the first, as in this translation; indicating that it has been accepted as a part of the same work. But in M6 the two parts are separated by the Farh. Okh., occupying twenty folios; and in K20 there is an interval of ninety-two folios, containing the Farh. Okh., Bund., B. Yt., and several other texts.
334:2 §§ 1, 2 are a repetition of Chap. I, 1, 2, with a few variations. The number of degrees is here raised to nine by the addition of the Srôshô-karanâm (see Chap. X, 24), which is written Srôshakaranâm in both these sections.
334:3 Reading i mad-4, instead of va m-4; the mad being a quarter-dirham (see Chap. X, 24, note); or we can read 'weight and quantity (mâyah) of three dirhams.' The amount of the Farmân p. 335 here given appears to agree with that stated in Chap. XVI, 1, but differs very much from the sixteen dirhams mentioned in Chap. I, 2, and the twenty-eight dirhams quoted by Spiegel.
335:1 That is, one Srôshô-karanâm is one dirham and a half, and three of them, therefore, are four dirhams and a half; the mad being a quarter-dirham. This computation differs considerably from the amounts stated in Chaps. X, 24, XVI, 5, but corresponds better with the supposition (see Chap. IV, 14, note) that a Srôshô-karanâm is one-third of a Farmân.
335:2 Both this amount and the next are evidently wrong, and no doubt the Pahlavi ciphers have been corrupted. Chap. XVI, 5 gives 'sixteen' and 'twenty-five' stîrs, which are probably correct, though the computation in Chap. I, 2 is very different.
335:3 Written Aredûs 30 sî, 'an Aredûs is 30 (thirty),' as in Chap. I, 2; with which also all the remaining amounts correspond.
335:4 See note on pâhlûm ahvân in Chap. VI, 3.
335:5 Or 'goat.'
335:6 Av. gâus hudhau, which is generally represented by a small piece of butter placed upon one of the sacred cakes; but on certain occasions small pieces of meat are used. The object of this section is to point out what part of the animal is suitable for use in a ceremony dedicated to any one of the angels, or spirits, mentioned.
336:1 Av. haoma, the angel of the Hôm plant (see Yas. IX-XI, Bund. XVIII, 1-3, XXVII, 4, 24), the juice of which is used in ceremonial worship by the Parsis.
336:2 The same as Ardavahist (see Bund. I, 216).
336:3 M6 has 'Râm' as a gloss; he is the Vayô of the Râm Yt., 'the good Vaê' of Mkh. II, 115, who assists the righteous souls in their progress to the other world; his name, Râm, is given to the twenty-first day of the Parsi month (see Chap. XXII, 21).
336:4 Av. Ardvî sûra of the Âbân Yt., a title of Anâhita, the female angel of the waters (see Bund. XXXII, 8). This title is written Arêdvîvsûr in the Bundahis, and applied to the source of pure water (Bund. XIII); while the name Âvân, 'waters,' is given to the eighth month and the tenth day of each month in the Parsi year.
336:5 Av. Drvâspa of the Gôs Yt., the name of the female angel of cattle, called Gôsûrvan in Bund. IV; her alternative name, Gôs, is given to the fourteenth day of the Parsi month.
336:6 The word fravash-i, 'the guardian spirit of,' is evidently omitted here, as it occurs with the next name. For Vistâsp, see Bund. XXXI, 29, XXXIV, 7.
336:7 Av. Gâmâspa of Yas. XIII, 24, XLV, 17, XLVIII, 9, L, 18, Âbân Yt. 68, &c., the prime minister of Vistâsp.
336:8 Ratpôk berêzad stands for the Av. rathwô berezatô of Yas. I, 46, &c., a 'supreme chief' who is often associated with the chiefs of the various subdivisions of time, and seems to be Aûharmazd himself (see Yas. LVI, i, 10).
336:9 The female archangel who has charge of the earth (see Chap. XV, 5, 20-24, and Bund. I, 26).
336:10 The word gûnd has here, in most MSS., the usual Persian gloss dahân, 'mouth' (see Bund. XIX, 1), which is a very improbable meaning in this place.
336:11 Probably Fomalhaut (see Bund. II, 7, note).
337:1 Ursa Major, called Haptôk-ring in Bund. II, 7.
337:2 Translating in accordance with the Persian gloss kustah, given in the modern MS. M9; but nas-kadakŏ may perhaps mean 'the womb.'
337:3 Reading sar-âyisnŏ, 'maturity,' the usual equivalent of Av. thraosta (see Yas. XXXIV, 3), and not srâyisnŏ, 'chanting.'
337:4 Av. mãthra spenta, 'the beneficent sayings, or holy word,' of which this angel is a personification; his name is often corrupted into Mahraspend or Mâraspend, and is given to the twenty-ninth day of the Parsi month (see Chap. XXII, 29).
337:5 A personification of the Av. ashaonãm fravashayô, 'guardian angels of the righteous' (see Fravardîn Yt. I, &c.), whence the first month, and the nineteenth day of each month, in the Parsi year, are called Fravardîn.
337:6 This clause and the next are omitted in K20.
337:7 The angel of the wind, whose name is given to the twenty-second day of the Parsi month (see Chap. XXII, 22).
337:8 Or its angel, Mâh, whose name is given to the twelfth day of the Parsi month.
337:9 M6 has va aê-maman = va aêk (Pers. îk, 'any'); K20 has kolâ maman, 'whatever,' and omits the words 'may be left over' and 'other.'
338:1 Meaning, apparently, that to pray for protection as a favour is better than to pray for it as a return for an offering.
338:2 K20 has 'shall give up.'
338:3 It is doubtful if this passage can be found in the extant Avesta; but a passage of similar meaning, and containing the words frerenaod and hizvô, occurs in Yas. XI, 16, which states that 'the righteous father, Ahuramazda, produced for me, Haoma, as a Draona, the two jaws, with the tongue and the left eye;' and it then proceeds (Yas. XI, 17-19) to curse any one 'who shall deprive me of that Draona, or shalt himself enjoy, or shall give away what the righteous Ahuramazda gave me, the two jaws, with the tongue and the left eye.'