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IV. THE BARESHNUM CEREMONY.
437
33. Then these words are to be murmured [by thee, that is]: "Praise to Spendarmad1, the propitious!" 34. And he who has been by the dead shall speak in reply to it thus: "Praise to Spendarmad, the propitious!" 35. Then the fiend becomes disabled by every word [of each repetition]; (36) the smiting of the evil spirit, the wicked one, is owing to it; (37) the smiting of Aeshm2, the impetuous assailant, is owing to it; (38) the smiting of the Mâzintkân demons3 is owing to it; (39) the smiting of all the demons is owing to it.
40. Afterwards, thou shalt sprinkle bull's urine upon him with an iron, or with a leaden, ladle. 41. If thou shalt sprinkle upon him with a leaden one, thou shalt strongly demand, O Zaratust! the stem of a reed whose nine customary parts (pisak) you have mentioned [as nine knots]; (42) and one should tie that leaden ladle strongly on its foremost part.
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43. He shall first wash over his hands [even to the elbows]. 44. When he does not wash over his hands, (45) he then makes all his own body impure [and polluted] 46. When he shall have washed over his hands for three times, (47) then, when thy hands
1 See p. 393, note 2. This exclamation is a Pahlavi version of a quotation from the Gâthas (Yas. XLVIII, 10, c).
The demon of wrath (see Dd. XXXVII, 44).
See Dd. XXXVII, 81. This passage (§§ 36-39) is quoted from Yas. XXVII, 2, LVI, xii, 5.
These words are omitted in the Pahlavi text, but occur in the Avesta.
"Or, perhaps, 'murmured over' with prayers.
• This nine-knotted reed, or stick, must be so long that the ladle, tied to its end, can easily reach the unclean person at the holes, when the stick is held by the priest who stands outside the furrows.
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