. . . . the pure, the chiefs who walk in dignity in this world!
I make Khushnuman; I address my prayer to Ormuzd, to the Amshaspands, to the pure Surúsh, to the Fire of Ormuzd, the great, the exalted, the holy!
I pray to the holy, pure, and great Vendidad given to Zoroaster!
. . . . . . . . Gahs.
. . . . . . . . Gahanbars, or the six periods of creation.—
. . . . . . . . Years and laud them.”
Darun yeshté also signifies “Festival Darúns,” or banquets preceded by the recitation of the Izeshné, the Vendidad, and the Darun, for which the officiating priest receives a new dress. This bears out Hyde’s translation.—D. S.
[500] The forms Jethá ahú viríyo, Eshem Vehu, and Jetha âúd Jezmídé have been given under Gate 22.—The Homoctenaum is a short prayer: “To think with purity, to act with purity, to perform and execute it, to teach others the same, such is my undertaking. I teach the same to men: may it turn to my good!” The Hockhshéthrôtemâé: “The king who is pure and elevated as I am, I will give him his desires; of him I, Ormuzd the holy and heavenly, will take peculiar care.—” The printed copy reads for Jétha âad Jezmédé, the words اهم بريم يزمندی ايتا اهو. But as one manuscript reads Jétha âád Jezmédé, it has been retained. The Hemoctaum and Hokhshéthrôtemâé are also conjectural, as the two manuscripts and printed copy present different readings. In the latter these are read Homesham and Hochastar.—D. S.
[501] In the Vendidad Sadé (Zend-Avesta, t. I. 2. P. p. 386) we find: “The world is engendered from water; and at present there are in the water two primeval aquatic dogs and thousands of their females which produce by copulation thousands of their species. To smite these aquatic dogs causes all good things to be parched up; from that city or place shall depart all that is sweet to the taste: wholesome viands, health, longevity, abundance, rain, the source of good, the profusion of temporal blessings; also whatever grows on the earth, such as grain and pasturage.”—D. S.
[502] In page 564, Zend-Avesta, t. II. we find: “The Parsees who are desirous of leading happy lives, and of having children who do them honor, must employ four priests to repeat the Izeshné during three consecutive days and nights: this rite is called the Zindeh Ravan, or ‘verifier of the soul (at the moment of death).’”