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DINKARD, BOOK IX.
at that time, become aware of their own wickedness, when their bodies are dissipated. 24. About the destruction of the good works of the wicked, also that of their own souls, that of their spiritual existences, and that of their material bodies 1. 25. And this, too, that at the time of the renovation of the universe occurs the approach of the wisdom of our sovereignty to that of the best of mankind, and that glory put on by it through which the destruction of the bad and the development of the good arise; also the sagacity which exists in Vohuman extends to those who are its friends 2.
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26. This, too, that there are those who are extenders of the days, and they are beneficial in the country; and their custom, where they have arisen, is an opponent of him who is a wrathful person. 27. And this, too, that they shall thereupon excite (lâlâ vadidunâñd) a brother and sister with mutual desire, so that they shall form a next-of-kin marriage with unanimity; and before midday they generate a sublime radiance, centred in the face, and trembling passion, and they make the radiance grow up, openly manifest, to an altitude of the height of three spears of the length of three reeds each; and
8 Ibid. 12 a.
1 See Pahl. Yas. XLVII, 11 c. Ibid. 11 d. 4 Ibid. 12 d. Reading as follows:-lâlâ zerkhûnd rôshanô pavan mîyân rôd bûland navêndako khrôs, but some of the words can be read otherwise, as in S. B. E., vol. xviii, p. 395, or with further variations; and it is doubtful if the verb is to be construed with the words that follow it, contrary to the usual Pahlavi rule, as there is no other trace of Avesta construction in this section. Neither the Avesta, nor the Pahlavi, version of this chapter of the Gâthas makes any allusion to the subjects mentioned in §§ 27, 28.
It appears from Dd. XLIII, 5 that this total of nine reeds would be about forty-eight human feet of fourteen finger-breadths
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