________________
326
SHẤYAST LÂ-SHAYAST.
gets up well; when he does so, every single drawing of the breath (vayo) becomes a good work of three Srôsho-karanams, that is, a weight of ten dirhams of the full weight of four mads ?.
25. The rule is this, that when an action or an opinion comes forward, and one does not know whether it be a sin or a good work, when possible it is to be abandoned and not executed by him ; as it says in the Sakadam Nask 2 that Zaratust has
I Reading i mad-4, instead of va maz-4; the word mad (see Pahl.-Påz. Glossary, p. 21) being Huz. for the dâng or quarterdirham. The amount of the Srôsho-karanám, as deduced from this statement, differs from those given in Chaps. XI, 2, XVI, 5, and must be awkwardly fractional, unless the sentence be altered into io gūgan sang nêm zis pûr sang yehevûnêd, 'a weight of ten dirhams and a half, which is its full weight;' in which case one Srôsho-karanam would be 31 dirhams, as in Chap. XVI, 5.
% This was the eighteenth nask or 'book' of the complete Mazdayasnian literature, according to the Dînkard; but according to the Dînî-vagarkard and the Rivâyats it was the nineteenth nask, called Askaram or Askâram. For its contents, as given by the Dini-vagarkard, see Haug's Essays, p. 133. The following is a brief summary of the account of it given in the eighth book of the Dinkard, where it occupies twenty quarto pages of that work :
of the first thirty sections of the Sakâdum one is a treatise on the necessity of obedience and understanding the laws, on newborn infants and their proper treatment, on the care of fire and sharp-pointed things, on race-courses, the use of water, salt and sweet, warm and cold, flowing and stagnant, &c. One section is the Hakidakânistân ('annoyances code'), a treatise on irritating words and ill-treatment of living creatures and trees, the finding of buried treasure at various depths and in different places, &c. And one section is the Ziyânakistan (damage code'), a treatise on damage to animate and inanimate objects. Of the last twenty-two sections, one is the Vakhshistân ('increase code'), a treatise on the progress of growth, breeding of cattle and other animals, pleadings regarding debts, growth of corn, &c. One section is the Varistân ('ordeal code'), a treatise on the detection of witchcraft by ordeal, by heat and cold, &c. One section on asking assistance
Digitized by Google
