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--- Subramanian
> For information:
> ----------------------
> Request the Doctors and scholars in
> this list to share their opinions / views
> on this.
>http://www.avesta.org/ritual/nahn.htm
Zoroastrian rites of purification and
consecration
Nahn, the second form of purification.
>From J.J.Modi, The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of
the Parsees, Bombay, 1922.
Chapter 4.
Nahn is a higher form of purification. The Padyab is a
daily form of Purification.
The Nahn is gone through on certain occasions, and
therein, the help of a priest is
necessary. The word nahn is a contraction of a word
sn?n which, though we do not
find it in that form in the Avesta, is found in the
Sanskrit. Snan means
''ablution, bathing." The word comes from the Avesta
root sn? Sans. sn?, Latin
Nare, Fr. Nager, meaning 'to bathe.' So, while the
Padyab is a purification of only
the exposed portions of the body, the Nahn, being a
bath, is the purification of
the whole body. The process of this second and higher
form of purification consists
of several parts. They are the following: (1) The
ordinary Padyab-kusti. (2) The
symbolic eating of a pomegranate leaf and the drinking
of the consecrated gomez or
cow's urine. For the sake of convenience, we will call
this process "symbolic
communion." (3) The recital of the Patet or Prayer of
Repentance. (4) The final
bath. Thus the Nahn or Snan, i.e., the bath proper, is
preceded by three
preliminary processes. We will speak of them in their
order.
At first, the person who has to go through the Nahn
ceremony performs the
Padyab-kusti [1]. The priest, who officiates or makes
the person pass through the
ceremony, has also performed the Padyab-kusti. After
the performance of this, the
candidate for the ceremony is made to sit on a stool
generally made of stone. Wood
is generally avoided in these higher forms of
purification, because, being more
porous, it is supposed to be likely to contain some
germs of impurity. The priest
who officiates at this ceremony must be a
Bareshnumwala priest, i.e., a priest
holding the Bareshnum [2], and must be "with the Khub
[3].'' He takes with him, in
a metallic tray or vessel the following consecrated
things known as alat (lit.,
instruments or means) to the house of the person
undergoing the Nahn ceremony or to
the place of the ceremony in the Fire-Temple, if the
ceremony takes place there.
(a) Nirangdin, i.e., the consecrated gomez or cow's
urine. (b) Cow's urine for
application to the body. A small portion of both of
these is poured in small cups.
(c) Bhasam, i.e., the consecrated ash of the Atash
Bahram or the sacred Fire Temple
of the first grade. (d) A little sand. (e) A
pomegranate leaf.
After the Padyab, he makes the candidate "take the Baj
[4]," i.e., recite the
prayer of grace said before meals. After the recital
of this prayer of grace, the
candidate is made to eat or rather chew the leaf of
the pomegranate tree. The
candidate takes the leaf not directly in his hands but
on a paiwand, which, in
this case, is a handkerchief or the skirt of his
sacred shirt.
The pomegranate tree leaf, which is technically known
among the Parsi priests as
"urvaram," (Sanskrit urvara, Lat. 'arbor.' Fr. arbre,
a tree) or "the tree'' is
considered as the representative of the vegetable
world which supplies sustenance
to man. Among the ancients, the pomegranate symbolized
the 'arc,' the allegorical
story of which was compared with the various versions
about argus, Arguz, Aren,
Arene, Arne, Theba, Baris, Laris, Boutus, Boeotus, and
Cibotus of the ancients
(Vide. A New System or an Analysis of Ancient
Mythology by Jacob Bryant, Vol. III,
p. 73). The 'arc' had something like its parallel in
the "Damater or Demater" (i.e.
the mother) of several ancient nations, which word
typified "The womb of Nature."
The "arc" gave forth a number of men and living
creatures just as mother earth or
the womb of Nature gives them forth. The pomegranate
contains, within the area of
its small size, hundreds -- nay, thousands -- of
grains, and so typifies or
symbolizes the womb of Nature. It is a symbol of
fecundity and fertility. Again,
the pomegranate tree is almost ever green. It bears
leaves during the whole of the
year. So, it is a symbol of all everlasting life. It
was held to be sacred by the
ancient Babylonians. From all these facts, we can
understand why the leaves of a
pomegranate tree were given to a child or to an adult
at the Nahn or the sacred
bath ceremony. When used in the Navjote ceremony of a
child, its signification
reminds one of the words used by a Christian child's
god-parents in the baptism
ceremony, viz., "It (the child) may so pass the waves
of this troublesome world,
that finally it may come to the land of everlasting
life."
Then the candidate is asked to drink from a metallic
cup a few drops of the
Nirangdin or the consecrated urine of the bull. In
that consecrated urine [5], the
priest adds a pinch of the bhasam [6] or the
consecrated ash of the Fire-Temple.
Before drinking it, he is made to declare why he
drinks that. He says in Baj, i.e.,
in a suppressed tone: "In khuram paki-i-tan,
yaozdathra-i-ravan ra," i.e., "I drink
this for the purification of my body, for the
purification of my soul." The words
indicate that the few drops of the Nirang are drunk to
signify symbolically, that
the drinker undertakes to preserve during his life,
not only physical purity but
also mental purity, purity of life and action. He
recites these words three times,
and after each recital drinks a drop or two of the
Nirangdin. This finishes what
one may call, the symbolic communion. So, the person
now completes or finishes the
Baj, i.e., recites the prayers which follow a meal.
Having finished it, he performs
the Kusti.
Then the candidate says his Patet or the Repentance
Prayer. As he has to go through
a purifying or expiatory ceremony, he has to confess
before God his sins and to
repent for them. He purifies his body symbolically of
its impurities. This
purification is emblematic of the purification of the
mind. So, for that mental
purification, he must repent for all his sins. The
word Patet is the contracted
form of Avesta "paiti-ita," literally meaning "going
back'' (from paiti, Sanskrit,
prati, Lat., re, 'back' and 'i,' Lat. i-re, to go). So
the word Patet means 'going
back' or 'receding from the transgression of the Law.'
It corresponds to the Hebrew
word t'shubah which also means 'returning or going
back [7].' It is a formula of
confession, answering to the Buddhists' Patimokkha
which literally means "the
disbursement [8]."
After reciting the Patet, the person retires to the
bathroom. After reciting the
short prayer formula of Khshnaothra Ahurahe Mazdao
Ashem Vohu, he undresses
himself. Then placing his right hand over his head he
takes the Baj [9]. The priest
then hands him from outside, with a spoon tied at the
end of a long stick having
nine knots and called navgar or navgireh (i.e., a
stick with nine knots), the
following articles believed to have purifying effects.
At first, he hands him three
times the consecrated urine of the bull. It is rubbed
over the body thrice. Then he
gives him thrice a little sand. That also is rubbed
thrice over the body [10]. Then
lastly he gives him thrice a little consecrated water
called ?v (i.e. the water).
That also is rubbed over the body thrice. A few drops
of the consecrated water is
generally sprinkled over the new suit of clothes which
the candidate has to put on
after the bath. At times, for example, in the case of
female candidates, the priest
leaves in the bathroom the above three things
beforehand and gives instructions to
the candidate how to apply them to the body before the
bath.
After the application of these consecrated purifying
articles, the person bathes
with water which itself is consecrated. A few drops of
the water consecrated in the
Nirangdin ceremony, when added to a pot full of water,
consecrate the whole water.
Having finished his bath and having put on his
trousers, the sacred shirt and the
cap, placing kusti on his shoulders, he finishes the
Baj which he had commenced
before the bath. Then he puts on his kusti with the
recital of the necessary
formulae of prayers. This finishes the Nahn ceremony
of the sacred bath of
purification.
The following are the occasions on which a Parsi goes
through this form of sacred
bath. (1) The Navjote or the Investiture with the
sacred Shirt and Thread. (2) The
Marriage. (3) Woman at the end of their period of
accouchement, (4) The Frawardigan
holidays.
Of the above four occasions, the fourth was always
voluntary. The third is the one
with which women alone are concerned. The first two
occasions, being the occasions
of the two most important events in the life of a
Parsi, are very important, and so
all go through this form of the sacred bath. The
sacred bath at the Navjote of a
child is indispensable. The only difference in its
case is, that, as the child has
no sacred shirt and thread over its body before this
occasion, its preliminary
Padyab consists of simply reciting the introductory
formula and washing the face
and the other uncovered parts of the body. It does not
perform the kusti.
The second most important event in the life of a
Parsi, when he goes through this
form of the sacred bath, is his or her marriage. Both
the bride and the bridegroom
go through this on the marriage-day, either in the
morning or in the evening,
before the celebration of the marriage itself. This
Parsi custom of having a sacred
bath on the occasion of the marriage reminds us of the
sacred bath among the
ancient Greeks. Among them, among the ceremonies
bearing religious character which
preceded the wedding, an important part was played by
the bath. Both bride and
bridegroom took a bath either in the morning of the
wedding day or the day before,
for which the water was brought from a river or from
some spring regarded as
specially sacred, as at Athens, the spring of
Callirhoe (or Enneacrnous), at
Thebes, the Ismenus [11]. The Hindus also have a
ceremonial bath before marriage
[12]. We learn from Firdausi that this custom of
having the sacred bath at marriage
is an old Iranian custom. King Behram Gour had taken
his Indian wife Sepinoud to
the Fire-emple of Adar Gushnasp for the purpose [13].
The women at the end of the period of 40 [14] days of
their accouchement, go
through this purification. Before doing so, they do
not touch the domestic fire or
go to the Fire-Temples or attend ceremonial
gatherings. Not only do those who have
been in child-birth, but others who have come into
contact with them, also go
through this purification. Women among the ancient
Greeks [15] and Hebrews, and the
early Christians [16] had such purifications [17].
The ten days of the Frawardigan Holidays fall at the
end of the of the Zoroastrian
year. On any one of these days, and especially on any
one of the last five days, a
Parsi went through this ceremony of purification Up to
a few years ago, these
holidays were generally the occasions for this
ceremony of purification; but
now-a-days it is a custom more honored in the breach
than in its observance. Very
few practice it in Bombay, but in the Mofussil towns,
there are still some who go
through this form of purification every year. These
annual general occasions remind
us of the general occasion for lustration (Lat.
lustrare to purify) or purification
among the ancient Romans.
NOTES:
[1] Vide above, p. 176.
[2] We will speak of this later on. Vide below p.148.
[3] A liturgical qualification.
[4] Vide Spiegel, translated by Bleeck. Khordeh
Avesta, p.185.
[5] Vide Haug's Essays, 2nd Ed., p. 400, n.
[6] Vide Ibid., pp. 570-71.
[7] The Origin and Religious Contents of the Psalter,
by Rev. Cheyne, p. 369.
[8] Vide Buddhism by Rhys Davids (1882), pp. 162-63.
[9] i.e., recites the Srosh Baj, beginning with three
Ashem Vohu and fravarane
prayers. A Parsi was enjoined not to speak when
bare-headed. Hence the necessity of
covering the head with the hand while reciting the
formula.
[10] It is believed that, at first, sand was used only
as a substitute for water
where water cannot be found. The Mahommedans are
permitted to use sand for their
"Wuzu.'' That sand is known as khak. The Parsis also
use the same word khak for the
sand. Sale, in his Koran, say that the early
Christians also used sand in Baptism
when water was not procurable. (Sale's Koran (1891)
Preliminary Discourse, p. 75.)
[11] "The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks" by Prof.
Blmner, translated by Alice
Zimmern, p. 137.
[12] Journal of the Anthropological Society of Bombay,
Vol. IX, p.219.
[13] "Le Livre des Rois" par M. Mohl, VI, p. 65.
[14] The Hindus also have a bath for women at the end
of 40 days after delivery
(Jour. Anthr. Sty. of Bombay, IX, p. 218).
[15] Vide, ''The Home Life of the Ancient Greeks" by
Prof. Blmner. Among the
Greeks, both the mother and those who had come into
contact with her, went through
a solemn sacred bath.
[16] Luke 2.22.
[17] Vide, Dalton's Ethnology of India (Bengal, the
Meshmites) for a similar
custom. Vide also A. Featherman's "Social history of
the Races of Mankind," 2nd
division, p.87.
=====
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