Questions of King Milinda Part 02

SR No.: 007682
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: T W Rhys Davids
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1894
Total Pages: 2240
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 38 MB

Page 927

446
OTHER DETAILS OF NASKS.
of which is Askaram, and is of fifty-two stanzas (vêkastihâ), about the giving of orders, exercise of authority, and practising wisdom in everything ; producing the resurrection, by which every person passed away is made living again, and the malformations of Aharman and the demons are withered away; and such-like.
20. The twentieth Nask is that which is Dadad, that they call by its name of Vendidâd, where the meaning of this is the law against the demons,' which is of twenty-two fargards. The topic of it is what preserves mankind from evil and pollution, and will restrain them from the menstruous, dead matter, pestilence, and running sores. Of all the twenty-one Nasks the Nask of 'the law against the demons' has alone remained entire; while several remain scattered by the wickedness (samih) of the accursed Alexander, this Nask of the Vendidad remained in hand, and owing to its elucidation the religion of Mazda-worship exists now.
21. The twenty-first Nask is Västarem, whose name one calls Hâdôkht, and its fargards are said to be thirty. In it are much excellence and many miracles, and the vile Aharman becomes far from every one who recites this Hâdôkht, and it makes him extinct, and the reciter comes near unto Adharmazd and becomes purified from sin.
22. Now, alas! if all these Nasks do not remain, so that one is not able to solemnize them, that is for this reason, that the accursed Alexander, the Arûman, took several transcripts-in the Ardman language and characters (hurafo)of any among those twenty-one Nasks which were about the stars and medicine, and burnt up the other Nasks; and
Digitized by Google