E.W. West (tr.) - Pahlavi Texts, Part 2

INTRODUCTION.

General Remarks

The Dadistan-i Dinik

The Epistles of Manuskihar

The Appendix

Abbreviations used in this volume

TRANSLATIONS.

DADISTAN-I DINIK

Introductory

Why a righteous man is better than all creatures, spiritual or worldly

Why a righteous man is created, and how he should act

Why a righteous man is great

How temporal distress is to be regarded

Why the good suffer more than the bad in this world

Why we are created, and what we ought to do

Whether good works done for the dead differ in effect from those ordered or done by themselves

How far they differ

The growth of good works during life

Whether the growth of a good work be as commendable as the original good work

Whether it eradicates sin equally well

Whether one is made responsible for all his sins and good works separately at the last account, or only for their balance

The angels who take account of sin and good works, and how sinners are punished

The exposure of a corpse does not occasion the final departure of life, and is meritorious

Whether the soul be aware of, or disturbed by, the corpse being gnawed

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Reasons for the exposure of corpses

How the corpse and bones are to be disposed of

Whether departed souls can see Auharmazd and Aharman

Where the souls of the righteous and wicked go

The Daitih peak, the Kinvad bridge, and the two paths of departed souls

Whether the spirits are distressed when a righteous man dies

How the life departs from the body

Where a righteous soul stays for the first three nights after death, and what it does next

Where a wicked soul stays for the first three nights after death, and what it does next

The nature of heaven and its pleasures

The nature of hell and its punishments

Why ceremonies in honour of Srosh are performed for the three days after a death

Why Srosh must be reverenced separately from other angels

Why three sacred cakes are consecrated at dawn after the third night from a death

How a righteous soul goes to heaven, and what it finds and does there

How a wicked soul goes to hell, and what it finds and suffers there

The position and subdivisions of hell

The two ways from the Daitih peak; that of the righteous to heaven, and that of the wicked to hell

The continuance of mankind in the world till the resurrection

The preparers of the renovation of the universe

The contest of the good and evil spirits from the creation till the resurrection, and the condition of creation after the resurrection

The effect of doing more good works than are necessary for attaining to the supreme heaven

Reasons for wearing the sacred thread-girdle

On the sacred shirt and thread-girdle, grace before and after eating, and cleansing the mouth before the after-'grace

The sin of apostasy, and how to atone for it

The good works of him who saves others from apostasy

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The distance at which the fire can be addressed, the use of a lamp, and the proper order of the propitiatory dedications, when consecrating a sacred cake

Whether a skilful priest who is employed to perform ceremonies, but is not officially the priest of the district, should be paid a regular stipend