________________
288
SHAYAST LA-SHAYAST.
chatter1 arises after fifteen years of age. IO. The sin of running about uncovered, as far as three steps, is a Farmân each step; at the fourth step it is a Tanâpûhar3 sin.
11. A girdle to which there is no fringe is proper ; and when they shall tie a woman's ringlet (gurs)* it is not proper.
12. Walking with one boot' as far as four steps is
1 This sin is called drâyân-gayisnih, literally, 'eagerness for chattering,' and consists in talking while eating, praying, or at any other time when a prayer (vâg) has been taken inwardly and is not yet spoken out; many details regarding it are given in the next chapter. The sin consists in breaking the spell, or destroying the effect, of the våg.
This is modified by Chap. V, 1, 2.
See Chap. I, 1, 2. These particulars are deduced by the Pahlavi commentator from Vend. XVIII, 115, which refers, however, to a special case of going without girdle and shirt. He says (Pahl. Vend. XVIII, 116), 'so that as far as the fourth step it is not more than (aî) a Srôshô-karanâm, and at the fourth step it amounts to the root of a Tanâpûhar within him; some say that he is within what is allowed him in going three steps. When he walks on very many steps it is also not more than a Tanâpûhar, and when he stops again it is counted from the starting-point' (compare § 12).
• Probably referring to the possibility of tying the girdle over a woman's hair, when hanging loose down to her waist. The present custom among Parsi women in India is to cover up the whole of their hair with a white handkerchief tied closely over the head; but whether this is an ancient custom is uncertain.
This sin, which is mentioned in Bund. XXVIII, 13, is called aê-muk-dûbârisnîh or khadû-mûk-dûbârisnih, literally, 'running in one boot,' and is usually so understood, but how there can be any risk of the committal of so inconvenient an offence is not explained. Dastur Hoshangji thinks that aê-mûk, 'one boot,' was formerly written avî-mûk, without boots;' and no doubt avî is sometimes written exactly like khadů, 'one,' (indicating, possibly, a phonetic change of avî into agvi). Perhaps, however, the word alludes to the Persian practice of wearing an outer boot
"
Digitized by Google
