The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees
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THE RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS OF THE PARSEES BY JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI MODI, B.A., PH.D., C.I.E., FELLOW OF THE UNIVERSITY OF BOMBAY (1887), DIPL. LITTERIS ET ARTIBUS (SWEDEN, 1889), SHUMS-UL-ULMA (INDIA, 1893), OFFICIER D’ACADÉMIE (FRANCE, 1898), OFFICIÉR DE L’INSTRUCTION PUBLIQUE (FRANCE, 1902), CAMPBELL MEDALLIST, B. B. R. ASIATIC SOCIETY (1918). ─────────── 2nd Edition. ─────────── 1937. ─────────── JEHANGIR B. KARANI’S SONS BOOK-SELLERS & PUBLISHERS “BEHRANJI MANSION” SIR PHEEROZSHAW MEHTA ROAD, FORT, BOMBAY. Edited by Joseph H. Peterson, 2011, avesta.org, Kasson, MN. Last updated June 9, 2021: Corrected typos, redid artwork, and filled in missing Gujarati, Sanskrit, Persian, Pahlavi, and Arabic passages in appropriate fonts; photo of mah-rui also added. For search-ability, spelling of Zoroastrian technical terms has been altered to conform with F.M. Kotwal and J. Boyd, A Guide to the Zoroastrian Religion, Scholars Press, 1982. Library of Congress Catatoging in Publication Data Modi, Jivanji Jamshedji, Sir, 1854-1933. The religious ceremonies and customs of the Parsees. Includes bibliographical references. 1. Parsees. 2. Zoroastrianism. 3. Zoroastrians – Rites and ceremonies. 4. Iran-- Religion. 5. India – Religion. I. Title. BL1570.M57 2011 ISBN 13: 978-1-xxxxx-xxx-x TO THE TRUSTEES — PAST AND PRESENT OF THE FUNDS AND PROPERTIES OF THE PARSEE PANCHÂYET Whom — and through them the Parsee Community — I have tried to serve, to the best of my poor abilities, For a long period of nearly 30 years, As a Souvenir Of my long connection with their Board as their Secretary, And as a Token of Gratitude For all that they have been pleased to do to help me in my Duties and to encourage me in my Studies. JIVANJI JAMSHEDJI MODI. FOREWORD Dr. Modi’s monumental text has been so valuable to me over the years, that I decided to undertake the job of making an electronic edi- tion, if only for my own use. Especially wanting in the original edition is consistent spelling of the technical terms. I have also incorporated Modi’s corrigenda, expanded citations when I could find them, and fixed many problems with misplaced footnotes. A table of abbrevi- ations has also been added. Unfortunately I have undoubtedly introduced my own set of er- rors; I can only apologize in advance and hope readers will point them out so I can fix them. J. Peterson, October 2011 i ABBREVIATIONS Av. Avesta, Avestan B.B.R.A.S. Bombay Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society C. chapter Cf. confer Fr. French Ger. German Guj. Gujarati Pahl. Pahlavi Pers. Persian Sans. Sanskrit S.B.E. Sacred Books of the East, ed. by F Max Müller, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1879-1910. Sls. Shayest Ne-Shayest Vd. Vendidad Y. Yasna Yt. Yasht ii Contents FOREWORD.................................................................................i ABBREVIATIONS.......................................................................ii PREFACE.....................................................................................v By the Same Author.....................................................................x PART I. SOCIO-RELIGIOUS CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS.......1 CHAPTER I. BIRTH CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS...............1 CHAPTER II. MARRIAGE CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS...12 CHAPTER III. FUNERAL CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS....42 I. Ceremonies that relate to the disposal of the body...............42 II. Ceremonies that relate to the soul of the deceased..............61 PART II. PURIFICATORY CEREMONIES, RITES, AND CUSTOMS.......................................................................................70 CHAPTER IV. The padyab and the nahn..................................70 I. Padyab, the first form of purification.....................................73 II. Nahn, the second form of purification.................................76 CHAPTER V. The Barashnom and the Riman..........................82 IV. Riman, The Fourth Form of Purification...........................123 CHAPTER VI. PURIFACTORY PROCESSES AND CUSTOMS IN DAILY LIFE........................................................................133 PART III. INITIATION CEREMONIES AND CUSTOMS............142 CHAPTER VII. (I) THE NAOJOTE [NAVJOTE]. THE INITIATION OF A ZOROASTRIAN CHILD INTO THE FOLD. ..................................................................................................142 CHAPTER VIII. (II) THE NAWAR AND THE MARTAB........157 2. THE MARTAB......................................................................165 PART IV. THE CONSECRATION CEREMONIES.......................167 CHAPTER IX. (I) CONSECRATION OF THE SACRED FIRES AND THE FIRE-TEMPLES.....................................................167 (B) Consecration of the Sacred Fire of the second grade, the Atash Adaran...........................................................................189 (c) Consecration of the Sacred Fire of the Third Grade: The Atash Dadgah...........................................................................192 iii iv CONTENTS CHAPTER X. (II) CONSECRATION OF THE TOWERS OF SILENCE..................................................................................193 CHAPTER XI. (III) CONSECRATION OF THE ÂLÂT OR RELIGIOUS REQUISITES......................................................202 PART V. THE LITURGICAL CEREMONIES...............................208 CHAPTER XII. THE INNER LITURGICAL CEREMONIES. (I) THE YASNA: ITS LITURGICAL APPARATUS......................208 I. THE PARAGNA....................................................................212 II. THE YASNA PROPER........................................................255 CHAPTER XIII. (II) THE VISPERAD CEREMONY...............262 CHAPTER XIV. (III) THE VENDIDAD CEREMONY............277 CHAPTER XV. (IV) The Baj Ceremony...................................279 CHAPTER XVI. THE OUTER LITURGICAL SERVICES. (I) THE AFRINAGAN CEREMONY.............................................297 CHAPTER XVII. (II) THE FAROKHSHI................................321 CHAPTER XVIII. (III) THE SATÛM......................................335 CHAPTER XIX. COMBINED GROUPS OF LITURGICAL CEREMONIES.........................................................................338 1. HAMÂYASHT OR HOMÂSHT............................................338 2. THE GETI-KHARÎD............................................................339 3. SAROSH..............................................................................340 4. ZINDA-RAWAN..................................................................348 5. THE NIRANGDIN...............................................................349 6. THE GAHAMBAR CEREMONY.........................................349 7. JASHAN...............................................................................357 8. FRAWARDIGAN OR MUKHTAD CEREMONIES.............365 IX. FIRESHTE [FARESTÂ].....................................................376 PREFACE This book has grown out of the work of study, undertaken for the Dictionary of Religion and Ethics published by Dr. Hastings. In his letter dated 26th December 1905, Dr. Hastings, invited me to be a contributor to his Dictionary on the subject of Parsee Religious Ceremonies and customs. A complete compendium of all the Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsees was wanting. So, on receiving the above invitation, I proposed to go thoroughly into the study of whole subject, and this book is the result. Here and there, I have re-cast the subjects as originally written. My name was kindly submitted to Dr. Hastings by the late Dr. Mills, Professor of Iranian Languages at the University of Oxford. So, Dr. Hastings, at his suggestion, asked me to give “the closest possible description” of the ceremonies and customs. Dr. Mills also had written to me direct, to “be absolutely exhaustive as to details.” Ere this, I had found, that a detailed description of the ceremonies and customs was wanted by scholars, especially foreign, as it would help them their elucidation of some Avesta and Pahlavi texts. For I found that my paper on the Funeral Ceremonies of the Parsees, read before the Anthropological Society of Bombay, had been of some use to the late Prof. James Darmesteter in his translation of the Vendidad.1 Prof. A. V. W. Jackson, when he was in Bombay in 1901, had drawn my attention to the want of a detailed description of religious ceremonies, especially the Purification Ceremonies of the barashnom. Then, in a letter dated 8th March, he wrote: “May I not urge you to write a detailed monograph of the barashnom I spoke to you on the subject that morning when I was at Colaba? Such a treatise giving an the Ceremonies would be important.” I know, that the want of such a book was felt, at times, in Courts of Justice, when there were cases [vi] in the matter of the Wills of Testators who directed certain religious ceremonies to be performed, and when there was the question of the proper significations of the ceremonies. I knew of a case, in which the learned Judge had to refer to Dr. Haug’s Essays on the Parsees2 for the explanation of certain Ceremonies. In another case, the present Parsee Advocate General studied with some interest, for an explanation of some ceremonies, my rough copy of the manuscript sent to Dr. Hastings. So, bearing all the above suggestions and matters in mind, I have tried to be somewhat exhaustive, and hope, 1 In his Appendix A, to the eighth chapter of the Vendidad, entitled “Cérémonies fun- èbres chez les Parses,” he thus refers to it: “Nous grand usage dans cet exposé d’une excellente êtude de M. Jivanji Modi” (Le Zend Avesta, Vol. II, p. 146