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CHAPTER XLV, 2-XLVI, I.
153
more infallible (asaktar) of these is the powerful skill of the priest (aêrpato) put forth through the ritual and Visparad', and his skill in the commentary (zand); the skill of disciples in the Avesta is, further, fully understood, and sin recognised as oppressive, through the formulas (nirang) of the sacred ceremony, ablution and non-ablution, purity and pollution.
7. And both professions are the indispensable preservers of great decisions as to that which the priestly disposition has taught, done, and considered about the perpetual existence of every being, the complete goodness and final success of the nonexistent evil and entire good of the sacred beings, the annihilation of the demons, and the complete understanding of the friends of the sacred beings.
CHAPTER XLVI.
1. The forty-fifth question is that which you ask thus: Is it allowable that those of the priesthood, when there is no daily livelihood for them from the life of the priesthood, should abandon the priesthood, and that other work be done, or not?
1 The term yastô, 'ritual,' means any form of prayer with ceremony, and appears to include the Yasna or chief ceremonial ritual. The Visparad (here written Vispôrêdo) is a particular form of ceremonial prayer, the various sections of which are interspersed among those of the Yasna and Vendidâd in the full liturgy of the Mazda-worshippers; it is called Visparad, 'all chiefs,' because it commences with an invocation of all the spiritual chiefs of the
universe.
K35 has khasând, which might stand for khasânŏ, 'reptiles,' but is more probably a slight alteration of sê dânŏ, 'demons,' which would correspond to the more modern form, sêdââno, in M14.
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