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Pahlavi Texts, Part III (SBE24), E.W. West, tr. [1885], at sacred-texts.com
1. The sage asked the spirit of wisdom (2) thus: 'Which land is the unhappier 2?'
3. The spirit of wisdom answered (4) thus: 'That land is the more afflicted, in which hell is formed 3. 5. The second, when they slay in it a righteous man who is innocent. 6. The third, for whose sake 4
the demons and fiends work. 7. The fourth, in which they construct an idol-temple. 8. The fifth, when a wicked man, who is an evil-doer, makes an abode in it. 9. The sixth, when the interment of a corpse is performed below 1. 10. The seventh, in which a noxious creature has a burrow. 11. The eighth, when from the possession of the good it comes into the possession of the bad. 12. The ninth, when they make desolate that which was populous. 13. And the tenth, in which they make lamentation and weeping 2.'
28:2 This chapter is an imitation of Vend. III, 22-37, where it is stated that the five most unpleasing spots on the earth are, first, the ridge of Arezûra, on which the demons congregate from the pit of the fiend; second, where most dead dogs and men lie buried; third, where most depositories for the dead are constructed; fourth, where there are most burrows of the creatures of the evil spirit; and fifth, where the family of a righteous man is driven into captivity.
28:3 Bd. III, 27 states that 'hell is in the middle of the earth.'
28:4 Reading mûn . . . rûnŏ-î padas. Instead of drûgân rânŏ, p. 29 Nêr. has read drûg hanrûnŏ, and assumed the last word to be equivalent to Av. handvarena, 'concourse;' so as to obtain the meaning, 'in which the demons and the fiend form a congress.' But Av. handvarena is Pahl. ham-dûbârisnîh (see Pahl. Vend. VII, 237).
29:1 Or 'when much interment of corpses is performed,' as it is doubtful whether we ought to read avîr, 'much,' or azîr, 'below.'
29:2 That is, for the dead. Such outward manifestations of mourning being considered sinful by the Parsis, as they ought to be by all unselfish people who believe in a future existence of happiness.