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IV. THE BARESHNUM CEREMONY.
433
with righteousness? how far from a man of the righteous ?'
12. And Adharmazd spoke thus : 'Thirty steps from the fire, thirty steps from the water, thirty steps from the sacred twigs spread forth with righteousness, and three steps from the men of the righteous. 13. The cutting out for the first hole (for bull's urine], after the coming on of summer, is two finger-breadths in excavation; after the coming on of hail-fraught (sôngagân-hômand) winter it is as it were a cup of four finger-breadths4. 14. So also for the second hole, for the third hole, for the fourth hole, the fifth, and the sixth.'
How much is one such hole from another hole ?' 'As much as one step onwards.'
* As the step is three feet (see $ 15), and the foot, being fourteen finger-breadths (see Bd. XXVI, 3 n), may be taken as 10 inches, these thirty steps would be nearly 79 English feet.
? That is, 7 feet 10 inches. This diminution of distance enables a purifying priest to stand near enough to an unclean person to hand him the purifying liquid in a ladle tied to a stick (see $8 40-42), without going within the furrows traced around the holes or ablution seats at the same distance of three steps (see $$ 21-23).
. That is, at which the unclean person is sprinkled with the urine (see $$ 48–116). The urine should be that of a bull, according to Vend. XIX, 70; but Vend. VIII, 35, 36 state that it may be that of cattle or draught oxen, generally, or even that of those who perform Khvêtûk-das (see p. 391). At the present time the term magh, which means ' a hole' in the Avesta, is applied to the stones which are used as ablution seats for squatting upon.
• The greater depth of the hole for catching the ablution droppings in the winter, would provide for the larger quantity of liquid that could not sink into the soil, or evaporate, during the tedious washing, owing to the soil and air being damper than in summer.
• The probable positions of these holes, and of the furrows enclosing them, are shown upon the plan of the Bareshnam Gah on p. 435, which differs but little from the plan still in use. [18]
Ff
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