Note 488 — Chapter I · (continued 3)

For yarshanom, which is in the manuscripts and in the edition of Calcutta, read Barashnom. This is the name of one of the four sorts of purifications prescribed to the Parsees; that called the Barashnom of nine nights, is believed the most efficacious. It is performed in a garden or in a retired place, where a piece of ground 90 feet in length and 16 feet in breadth is chosen for it, and, after having been cleaned and surrounded by a narrow ditch and a hedge, covered with sand. Therein, after the celebration of ceremonies during one or three days, a Mobed traces a number of furrows or trenches, called Keishs, and forms several heaps of stones according to prescribed rules; he prepares a beverage of ox’s urine and water mixed with other sacred liquids: this the person to be purified drinks in sacred vases, then enters into the Keishs, accompanied by Mobeds and a dog; there he strips, and receives on his body wine poured over him, and washes himself with that given him by the Mobed. During prayers recited by the purificator and himself, he passes over several heaps of stones, his right hand on his head and his left upon the dog, and is then rubbed with dust; in his progress over other heaps of stones, he washes himself several times with water. This done, the purified person goes out of the trenches, and performs other ablutions with water before he dresses and puts on the Koshti, or “girdle.” The individual who takes the Barashnom remains separated from other men during nine days, and at the end of the third, sixth, and ninth night, he washes himself with a prescribed quantity of wine and water, and is subject to other ceremonies. This is a very short abstract of the ceremonies practised in our days; in the Vendidad Sadé, other very minute particulars and prayers are given for the performance of purification, the usages of which have in the course of time undergone some changes. See a completely detailed account of these rites of purification in Anquetil’s elaborate work, Zend-Avesta, t. I. 2. P. pp. 353-367, and t. II. pp. 545-548, with a plan of the place upon which the Barashnom is performed.—A. T.