Note 452 — Chapter I · (continued 2)

Kashti is a girdle commonly of wool or of camel’s hair, consisting of seventy-two threads, to go at least twice round the body, say, about ten feet in length. The breadth depends upon the thickness of the threads. It is tied about the saderé, which is a sort of white shirt, worn immediately upon the skin, with short sleeves, open above and commonly not passing the hips. This girdle was worn by the Parsees from time immemorial. They pretend that Jemshid, being instructed by Hom, the primitive legislator, invented the Kashti. Before the time of Zoroaster, it was worn indifferently as a scarf, or wrapped round the head. The monuments of Persepolis exhibit persons wearing the Kashti. Not to wear it in the fifteenth year is a great sin; the day on which it is taken for the first time is a festival, and daily prayers are prescribed before putting it on, and frequent ceremonies are connected with it (Zend-Av., t. II. pp. 529). Nothing can be right or good that is done without the Kashti: “ungirt, unblessed” (Hyde, p. 376). We have here a striking example how a custom originally suggested by simple convenience, to be girt, or to be ready, accingere se, acquires by religious prescription an importance far beyond its intended use and purpose.—A. T.