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DÂDISTÂN-I DİNİK.
CHAPTER LXVII.
1. As to the sixty-sixth question and reply, that which you ask is thus: What is this appearance1 which is girded on the sky?
2. The reply is this, that it is a mingling of the brilliance of the sun with mist and cloud that is seen, of which it is at all times and seasons, moreover, a characteristic appearance, whereby it has become their sign above from spiritual to earthly beings. 3. That which is earthly is the water above to which its brilliance is acceptable; and the many brilliant colours (gunakân) which are formed from that much mingling of brilliance and water, and are depicted (mânâki-aito), are the one portion for appearing3.
2
CHAPTER LXVIII.
1. As to the sixty-seventh question and reply, that which you ask is thus: What is this which, when the sun and moon have both come up, is something
4
1 Reading dîdanoîh; but the word can also be read sad-vanîh, which might stand for sad-gûnîh, 'a hundred-coloured existence,' a possible term for the rainbow, but the Persian dictionaries give no nearer term than sadkas, or sadkês.
M14 has 'that mingling of many portions and few portions.' * Reading didanoko; but it can also be read sad-vanakŏ, a similar alternative to that in § 1.
The only probable reading for this word is mindavam, 'a thing;' it occurs three times in this question, but is a very vague term for the phases of the moon, probably referring to a supposed body covering the dark part of the moon's disc.
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