XIV. Bakân-Ya<I>s</I>t Nask

Pahlavi Texts, Part IV (SBE37), E.W. West, tr. [1892], at sacred-texts.com

XIV. BAKÂN-YAST NASK ¹.

No allusion to the following three passages, quoted from this Nask, could be expected in the very short account of it, given in Dk. VIII, Chap. XV; and they can hardly be traced, with any certainty, in the Avesta texts of the Yasts themselves:—

It is just possible that a commentary on Yt. I, 17 may have contained the Av.-Pahl. passage thus quoted in Vig. ² pp. 160, 161:—'By the Avesta of

p. 471

the Baghân-yast it is declared: Yad aêtê yô mazdayasnô aperenâyûkô avi hê hapta saredha fragasâiti, stehr-paêsanghô aiwyaunghânô paitis hê maidhyâi bûgyamanô, avi hê nara paskaiti nemanghenti: Whoever of those Mazda-worshippers is a child who attains unto the age of seven years, and ties the thread-girdle on his waist, upon that man there is thenceforth the maintenance of the obeisances.'

A Pahlavi commentary on Yt. VI, 2 may have formerly contained the passage thus mentioned in Sls. XII, 17:—'As in the Bâg-yasnô notice is given about the uncleanness of well-water at night.'

Perhaps one of the five Yasts, XI, XII, XIII, XV, XVIII, respectively dedicated to Srôsh, Rashnû, the guardian spirits, the good Vâê, and Âstâd—the sacred beings specially propitiated by the ceremonies after a death—may have included a commentary containing the passage thus quoted in Vig. pp. 157-158, about the necessity of appointing some one to provide such ceremonies for a man who dies without a son, and to administer his estate:—'By the Avesta of the Bagân-yast it is declared: Yêzi narô pankadasanghô saredhô irîraithyâd avi hê urvânem bûgyânem thrâyô ayara uzayarana rathwô hangamanem fragasôid, âad hê aputhra anghad puthra fradadhâiti yathaka nara irista vîspanãm avaretanãm shaêtavaitanãm avi hê frazaintîm fragasôid, paskaiti nemanguhaiti baoidhyêitaka urvâsnayau.'

Footnotes

470:1 The account of this Nask in Dk. VIII, though very short, is a fair description of the extant Yasts I-XX, and their general character is also indicated by the name of the Nask, which means 'the worship of the divinities.' The extent of these Yasts may be estimated at about 22,000 words of Avesta text, and, from the Pahlavi versions of the few Yasts that still possess one, it may be calculated that about 44,000 words of Pahlavi version would have been required for the whole collection.

470:2 Vigirkard-i Dînîk, ed. Peshotan, Bombay, 1848; printed in Pahlavi type from a copy, transcribed in 1754, from an Irânian MS. written in 1240, which the transcriber found in the Modî library at Surat. The Avesta quotations are here transliterated without any attempt at amendment.