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11. THE NÍRANG-I KUSTI.
II.. THE NIRANG-I Kusti. The Nirang-i Kusti, or girdle formula, is a religious rite which a Parsi man or woman ought to perform every time the hands have been washed, whether for the sake of cleanliness, or in preparation for prayer ; but it is not always strictly performed in all its details. · The Kusti, or sacred thread-girdle, is a string about the size of a stay-lace, and long enough to pass three times very loosely round the waist, to be tied twice in a double knot, and to leave the short ends hanging behind. It is composed of seventy-two very fine, white, woollen threads, as described in Dd. XXXIX, 1, note, and is tied in the manner there mentioned, but with the actions and ritual detailed below.
The ceremonial ablution having been performed, and the Kusti taken off, the person stands facing the sun by day, or a lamp or the moon at night; when there is no light he should face the south, as he should also at midday, even when the sun is northerly? The Kusti is then doubled, and the loop thus formed is held in the right hand, with the thumb in the loop; while the left hand holds the two parts of the string together, some twenty inches horizontally from the other hand; and the ends hang loosely from the left hand.
* For most of the details which follow I am indebted to Dastûr Jamâspji Minochiharji Jamâsp-Asa-na.
? As it is, in Bombay, for about two months in the summer.
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