Book Title: Sacred Laws of Aryas
Author(s): Gorge Buhler
Publisher: Oxford

Previous | Next

Page 1843
________________ II. THE NÍRANG-I KUSTI. 387 good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, and avoid all evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds; the double knot being completed behind as the last word of the formula is uttered. Afterwards, bending forward and holding the front knot of the Kusti with both hands, the person recites the following Avesta formula : 'Come for my protection, O Mazda?! A Mazda-worshipper am I, a Zarathustrian Mazda-worshipper will I profess myself, both praising and preferring it. I praise a wellconsidered thought, I praise a well-spoken word, I praise a well-performed deed. I praise the Mazdaworshipping religion, expelling controversy? and putting down attack, and the righteous union of kinsfolks, which is the greatest and best and most excellent of things that exist and will exist, which is Ahurian and Zarathustrian. I ascribe all good to Ahura-mazda. Let this be the eulogy of the Mazdaworshipping religion. And the reciter then repeats the formula, 'Righteousness is the best good,' &c., as before, bowing reverently, which completes the rite. 1 What follows is from Yas. XIII, 25-29, and is the conclusion of the Mazda-worshipper's creed. 2 The meaning of the original term fraspâ yao khedhram is rather uncertain, and the Pahlavi version is not easy to understand clearly; it translates this sentence, as far as the next epithet, as follows: 'I praise the good religion of the Masda-worshippers, from which the disunion cast forth and the assault put down are manifest (this is manifest from it, that it is not desirable to go to others without controversy, and with that which arises without controversy it is quite requisite to occasion controversy).' % This is one of the earliest references to hvaêtvadatha, or marriage among next-of-kin; the passage being written in the later Gâtha dialect. CC 2 Digitized by Google

Loading...

Page Navigation
1 ... 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979