________________
CHAPTER VII, 9-VIII, 3.
the soul is to be atoned for among the high-priests (raɗân), and when they do whatever the highpriests of the religion command the sin will depart, and the good works which they may thenceforth do will attain completion (avaspôrik). 2. The sin of him who is worthy of death (marg-argân) is to be confessed (garzisno) unto the high-priests, and he is to deliver up his body1; except to the high-priests he is not to deliver up his body.
3. On account of the dexterity (farhâng) of horsemen it is not their business to hunt (nakhkir kardano); and it is not allowable for any one else to hunt for game, except for him whose wealth is less than three hundred stirs 2.
301
murder, seduction, unnecessary slaughter of cattle, embezzlement, slander, seizing land by force, and a few other evil deeds are stated to be hamêmâl sins; while unnatural offences and intercourse with women of another race and religion are said to be rûbânîk sins. In the Pahlavi Vendidad these classes of sins are rarely mentioned, but hamêmâlân occurs in Pahl. Vend. III, 151, IV, 23, XIII, 38; hamêmâlîh in III, 119; and rûbânîk in XIII, 38; although, perhaps, not always in the sense of sin.
By committing a marg-argân or mortal sin, that is, a sin worthy of death, he has forfeited his life, and ought to place it at the disposal of the rad, or high-priest.
• This section, intended to preserve game for the poor, is evidently out of place here, as it has no connection with the context. -With reference to the property qualification for hunting, it appears, from a passage in the Persian MS. M5 about the proper dowry for a privileged wife, that 2000 dirhams of silver were worth 2300 rupîs, and that a dirhams were 2 tolas; this was written in A. D. 1723, when neither the rûpî nor the tola were of uniform amount, though now the rûpî is exactly a tola weight of silver. As the stîr was four dirhams (see Chap. I, 2), three hundred stîrs would have been 1380 rûpîs or 1350 tolas of silver, according to the standards mentioned in M5; so that hunting was intended to be confined to those whose property was less than 1350-1380 rûpîs; but how
Digitized by Google
