The fifth Gahambar, named Mídyárím, begins on the Miher of the old month Ardí (November); God created from this day, in eighty days, all the animals.
The sixth Gahambar, Hamshpata mihdim,[516] beginning on the day of Ahnavad, the first of the five intercalary or surreptitious days, reckoning from which the Almighty terminated the creation of the human race in seventy-five days. Tradition thus ascribes to Jemshid the origin of the festival of the Gáhambár. In the Sad-Dár we find it recorded, that the demon one day came to Jemshid’s palace, and the king, as usual, sent him to the kitchen to satisfy his hunger. The demon having devoured all that was there, and also swallowed up whatever they brought him beside, was still unsatisfied. On beholding this, Jemshid cried out to the Lord, and the most righteous God sent the angel Behrám (or Jabrael) to say thus to the king: “Slaughter the red ox, on which pour vinegar, rue, and garlic; take it when boiled out of the cauldron, and serve it up to the demon.” When they had done thus, the demon having tasted one morsel of it, fled and disappeared, from which day they instituted the festival of the Gáhambár.
The Abádiyán say, with respect to the creation, that the actions of God are not circumscribed by time. It must however be acknowledged that Jemshid first established this festival. In the first Gáhambár, Jemshid, by the command of the Almighty, began to depict on the ceiling of his palace the representation of the heavens, which undertaking was finished in forty-five days. Secondly, on the Khúr of Tír he was commanded by the Lord to introduce water into his palace, gardens, city, and cultivated grounds, which work was completed in the course of sixty days. Thirdly, on the Ashtád of Shahrivár, by order of the Almighty (whose name be glorified!) he cleared the surface of the grounds and palace, and embellished them exceedingly; he levelled the place of exercise in front of his palace, built houses, and laid out in due order the city and its streets; all which was completed in seventy-five days. Fourthly, on the Ashtád of Mihr, he began to ascertain the properties of all vegetable productions, and completed the embellishment of his garden, and terminated the entire in thirty days. He next, on the day of Mihr in the month of Dáí, collected all species of animals in his garden and assigned their suitable employments to each: to the ox and the ass to carry burdens; to the horse to serve for riding, and so forth; which arrangements were completed in seventy days. Lastly, on the day of Ahnavad, he summoned mankind to appear in his presence, and assigned them their respective occupations; the details of which were finished in the course of seventy days. He then proclaimed: “The Lord has created all these things through me;” and commanded five days to be set apart for rejoicing at the beginning of each Gáhambár. As to the tradition of the demon’s appearing and eating up whatever he found, it is thus explained: by the demon is meant, the depraved sensual appetite, which loves to eat, sleep, shed blood, and such like, and is never satiated with such pursuits; but when the spiritual Jemshid prayed to the Lord, the Jabriel of intellect came with this divine communication: “Slay the sensual appetite (which is typified by the ox), that is, indulge it not in the excesses it demands; next apply to the cauldron of the body the vinegar of abstinence, the garlic of reflection, and the rue of silence; then serve up a portion of this food to the Satan-like propensities, that the demon may flee away.” On doing this, he was delivered from the presence of the evil one. Such was the enigma propounded to the people by Zardusht respecting the Gáhambár, and such the solution of it as given by the Abádián professors, who have interpreted in a similar manner the whole of Zardusht’s discourses, which were couched under this enigmatical form.
Gate the ninety-fifth. When any one does good to another, the latter should not forget his benefactor’s goodness.
Gate the ninety-sixth. The believers make Níyáyish to the sun three times every day: they also perform the same to the moon and to fire.
Gate the ninety-seventh. They weep not after the deceased, as the tears thus shed are collected and form a barrier before the bridge of Chinavad, or “of judgment,” and prevent the deceased from passing: but, on reading the Vasta and Zend, they can pass over.[517]
Gate the ninety-eighth. Whoever comes into the presence of the Dustúrs, Mobeds, or Kirbuds, listens to what they say, and rejects it not although painful to him.
Gate the ninety-ninth. The professor of the true religion ought to understand thoroughly the characters of the Avesta and the Zend.
Gate the hundredth. The Mobeds must not instruct a stranger in the Pehlevi language; for the Lord commanded Zardusht, saying: “Teach this science to thy children.”