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PRAYERS AND RITUALS

enter Garotman, the perfect abode of Ormazd, Amshaspands, and the righteous dead, and may Vohuman rise from his golden throne and bestow upon the soul resplendent, golden garments.[1]

The Nirangs. The Avestan mānthra, Pahlavi mānsar, 'spell,' has nirang, for its Pazend equivalent. Several such formulas, often embodying Avestan passages, are composed in Pazend, to be recited to obtain various results. They are used to deprecate evil, to rout the malignant demons of disease, to remove barrenness in women, to ward off the fear of thieves and robbers, to put down sorcery and witchcraft, to preserve a child from the evil eye, to exorcise persons possessed of ghosts and goblins, to cure all kinds of sickness and to accomplish various other purposes. Charms inscribed with such spells and tied on the left hand of a child made it wise and dutiful. The same tied on the left hand of a refractory wife brought her on her knees before her husband. The faithful are believed to gain health and wealth and children and the good-will of great persons in this world and divine grace in the next world by the recital of these formulas.

The merit of prayers, rituals, and good deeds stored in the Place of Eternal Weal. We saw in the Gathas that the faithful prayed that their devotion and homage be placed in the Garonmana. The Avestan texts spoke of a place called misvāna gātu, 'the place of mixing,' without giving any information about it. The Pahlavi and Pazend works call it hameshak sut gās, 'the Place of Eternal Weal.' It is situated in the Endless Light of heaven.[2] It is the place where unbounded joy prevails.[3]

It is here that the good works of supererogation and the merit of prayers and rituals are stored in a treasury for the benefit of the souls whose credit is found to be inadequate at the Bridge of Judgment.[4] The Pazend texts call it: Ganj-i Dādār Ormazd, 'the Treasury of the Creator Ormazd,' Ganj-i Yazatān, 'the Treasury of the Angels,' or Ganj-i hamisha sud, 'the Treasury of Eternal Weal.'[5]

  1. ↑ Āfrin-i Ardāfarvash in Pāzend Texts, p. 84, 85.
  2. ↑ Dd. 37 24.
  3. ↑ Ib., 31 24; 37 22.
  4. ↑ Phl. Vd. 19. 36; SLS. 8. 4; Dd. 26. 3.
  5. ↑ Āfrin-i Ardāfarvash, Āfrin-i Gahanbār, Āfrin-i Rapithwin, Āfrin-i Gahanbār Chāshni, Sitāyish-i Depmihr in Pāzend Texts, p. 83, 91, 100, 106, 257; SLS. 8. 4.
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