“The Nirang is the urine of cow, ox, or she-goat, and the rubbing of it over the face and hands is the second thing a Parsee does after getting out of bed. Either before applying the Nirang to the face and hands, or while it remains on the hands after being applied, he should not touch anything directly with his hands; but, in order to wash out the Nirang, he either asks somebody else to pour water on his hands, or resorts to the device of taking hold of the pot through the intervention of a piece of cloth, such as a handkerchief, or his sudra, i. e., his blouse. He first pours water on his hand, then takes the pot in that hand and washes his other hand, face, and feet.” (Quoting from Dadabhai-Nadrosi’s Description of the Parsees.)
Continuing, Max Muller says: “Strange as this process of purification may appear, it becomes perfectly disgusting when we are told that women, after childbirth, have not only to undergo this sacred ablution, but actually to drink a little of the Nirang, and that the same rite is imposed on children at the time of their investiture with the Sudra and Koshti, the badges of the Zoroastrian faith.”
One hundred copies printed strictly for private circulation
Transcriber’s Note:
Archaic and variable spelling has been preserved.