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This digital edition copyright © 2001 by Joseph H. Peterson. All rights reserved.
Translation by E. W. West, Sacred Books of the East, XVIII, appendix V. (Oxford, 1882, p. 445-58.)
The controversy between Manushchihar and his brother Zadspram, of which the Epistles of Manushchihar are the only portion extant, turned chiefly upon the meaning to be attached to Vend. VIII, 97-103, and whether the mode of purification therein detailed was a sufficient substitute, or merely a preparation for, the Barashnom ceremony. The following is a translation of the Pahlavi version of this passage.
Observe that the passages in brackets do not occur in the Avesta text, but are added by the Pahlavi translators; and that the sections are numbered to correspond with the alternating Avesta and Pahlavi sections in the MSS., which is the division adopted in Spiegel's edition of the texts. The readings adopted are those of L4, wherever they are not defective; this MS. was written about A.D. 1324, and differs occasionally from Spiegel's printed text; it begins the ninth fargard with the following heading: --
May it be fortunate! may it destroy the corruption (nasûsh) which rushes on from a dead dog and men on to the living! May the pure, good religion of the Mazda-worshippers be triumphant!
| 271. 'O Creator! how are those men purified, O righteous Ohrmazd! who shall stand by the corpse, in a distant place, upon a wild spot1?' |
Notes:
1. Reading pavan vashker, but the MSS., by omitting a stroke, have pavan shikar, 'on the chase.' |
|
272. And Ohrmazd spoke thus: 'They are
purified, O righteous Zartosht!'
273. 'But when so? [that is, how will such a one become clean?]' | |
| 274. 'If a corpse-eating dog or a corpse-eating bird has attacked that corpse, (275) the man shall then purify over his own body with bull's urine, (276) thirty times by washing foorwards [with the bull's urine], and thirty times by washing over2, [and his hand shall rub over it.] | 2. So here, but 'washing backwards' in § 279; and in Ep. II, iv, 2 we find 'upwards' and 'downwards,' instead of 'forwards' and 'backwards.' The Pahlavi translators were evidently doubtful whether the Av. upasnâteê (see Ep. II, iii, 2) meant 'washing over, backwards, or downwards.' |
| 277. Of the topmost part of him is the washing over, [that is, the washing of his head is that regarding which there is a mention through this study-causing (hûshkar) exclamation.]3 | 3. Implying that the Pahlavi translators had found the use of Av. aghrya for 'head' rather perplexing. |
| 278. 'If a corpse-eating dog or a corpse-eating bird has not attacked that corpse, (279) he shall purify fifteen times by washing forwards, and fifteen times by washing backwards, [and his hand shall rub over it.] | |
| 280. 'He shall run the first mile (hasar)4. (281) He shall then run forwards, [when the Pañchadasa ("fifteen times") shall be performed by him.] (282) And when he shall thus stop opposite any one whomsoever of the material existence5, he shall be prepared with a loud issue of words (283) thus6: "I have thus stood close by the body of him who is dead; I am no wisher for it by thought, I am no wisher for it by word, I am no wisher for it by deed, [that is, it is not possible for me to be as though washed.] (284) It demands purification for me, [that is, wash me thoroughly!]" (285) When he runs, the first he shall reach, (286) if they do not grant him purification, share one-third of that deed of his, [that is, of all that sin, not possible for him to bear, except when they shall perform his purification, one part in three is theirs at its origin.] |
4. The hâsar was 'a thousand steps of the two feet' (see
Bd. 26.1, note), and was,
therefore, about an English mile.
5. That is, any human being. 6. See Ep. I, ii, 10. |
| 287. 'He runs the second mile [while he runs for it]. (288) He runs, and a second time he reaches people. (289) If the do not grant him purification, (290) they share a half7 of that deed of his, [that is, of all that sin, not possible for him to bear, except when they shall perform his purification, as it were a half is even for them at its origin.] | 7. Thst is, half of the two-thirds remaining with him, or one-third of the whole original trespass. |
| 291. 'He shall run the third mile [while he runs for it]. (292) When he runs, the third he shall reach, (293) if they do not grant him purification, share all8 that deed of his, [that is, all that sin which it is not possible for him to bear, except when they shall perform his purification, is ever theirs at its origin.] | 8. That is, all the remaining one-third of the original trespass. |
| 294. 'He shall then run forwards9. (295) He shall thus stop opposite some people of the next house, village, tribe, or district, and he shall be prepared with a loud issue of words, (296) thus: "I have thus stood close by the body of him who is dead; (297) I am no wisher for it by thought, I am no wisher for it by word, I am no wisher for it by deed, [that is, it is not possible for me to bear without washing.] (298) It demands purification for me, [that is, wash me thoroughly!]" (299) If they do not grant him purification, he shall then purift over his own body with bull's urine, and also with water; thus he shall be thoroughly purified over10.' |
9. See Ep. II, iii, 3.
10. What follows is a commentary, by the Pahlavi translators, on the whole passage. |
| [a. He shall go three miles; it is not allowable to walk back to his district, until he has fully striven with three persons, and all that sin, not possible for him to bear, except when they shall perform his purification, is theirs at its origin. | |
| b. When thus thoroughly washed by himself, his duty even then is the work frakairi frakerenaot, vâstrê verezyôit ('he should accomplish with perseverance, he should cultivate in the pastures11'); there are some who would say thus: 'He is always for the performance of work, and abstinence from the ceremonies of others is for him12.'] |
11. Quoted from Vd19.41
12. A person so purified by himself, after vainly seeking a proper purifier, is, therefore, only fit for the ordinary labours of life, and must avoid all religious celebrations till properly purified by the Barashnom ceremony. This was the opinion of Manushchihar, but it is based upon a Pahlavi commentary, and not upon the Avesta text, which is not clear upon this point. |
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