10 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.61. 



called his son. " I sacrifice to thee, Fire, son of Ormuzcl, and to all 

 fires and all waters and to all plants, for they are all made by God." 

 The Parsee temple {dar-i-mihr or agiaris) is divided into two parts: 

 (1) the adaran^ or place of fire, is a small domed room where the fire 

 is kept burning in a metal urn resting on a stone stool {adasht), 

 with a metal tray hanging from the dome (taj) ; (2) the isishu-gah^ 

 a large quadrangular room, divided by small channels (pavls), which 

 is used for the celebration of ceremonies. According to the quality 

 of the fire kept within, three grades of temples are distinguished: 

 1, Attash-dagdah, in which the ordinary fire preserved in a fire 

 temple or even in houses and used in sacred ceremonies is kept; it 

 may be touched both by priests and laymen; 2, Attash-adaran. The 

 consecration of the fire requires great ceremonies ; the utmost care is 

 taken in watching it and keeping it perpetually burning ; it may not 

 be touched by any one but by priests ; 3, Attash-hahran, the highest of 

 all. The consecration of the fire entails heavy expenses and a long 

 series of ritual for a year or more. The sacred fire is constantly 

 watched by priests who have undergone the highest purifications. 

 Its extinction would be regarded by the Parsees as a great calamity. 

 Non-Zoroastrians are excluded from any fire temple. 



The fire in the fire temple is purified in the following manner: 

 Over a fire taken from various places of manufacture, to which, if 

 possible, fire caused by lightning is added, a perforated metal tray 

 containing small chips of fragrant sandal-wood is held until the 

 chips are kindled by the heat. After a new fire is in this manner 

 produced from the impure one, the latter is taken away, dispensed, 

 and extinguished. Again, by means of the heat of this first new fire, 

 another bundle of sandal-wood is ignited, and another fire is pro- 

 duced from it, and the first new fire is then taken way, dispersed, 

 and extinguished. Each of the new fires is treated in the same 

 manner until the ninth is reached, which, " being derived from the 

 impure one through seven intermediate fires, more and more distant) 

 from the original impurity, represents the fire in its native purity." 

 The fire in the t-cmple is guarded from every kind of pollution ; is fed 

 with scrupulously selected wood (the Parsees in Bombay use sandal- 

 wood) ; the priest wears a thick veil, called padcm, over his nose and 

 mouth that his breath may not fall on the fire, his hands are encased 

 in long gauntlets and the wood is handled with tongs. Five times a 

 day, at the canonical hours (gahs), the priest cleans the room, 

 washes the stone stools on which the fire urn rests, and puts fresh 

 wood on the fire. Height, 13^ inches ; diameters, 11^ and 7^, inches.— 

 Bombay, India. (Plate 2, fig. 2, Cat. No. 216051, U.S.N.M.)^^ 



" Fire altars, not nccessai-ily in temples, were erected all over ancient Iran. Early 

 reliefs and coins show tlie king standing before a fire altar under the open sky. But 

 from the Achaemenian times on there were shrines in which the sacred flre was kept 

 burning as at present. 



