OBJECTS OF RELIGIOUS CEREMONIAL 189 



All the elements, as the pure creatures of Ahura-Mazda, are invested 

 by the Zoroastrians with sanctity, but fire especially was considered 

 as the earthly form of the heavenly light, the eternal, infinite, divine, 

 the first creature of Ahura-Mazda, and in the Avestan scriptures, 

 called his son. "I sacrifice to thee. Fire, son of Ormuzd, 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 (adasJit), 

 with a metal tray hanging from the dome (taj); (2) the izishu-gah, 

 a large quadrangular room, divided by small channels (pavis), 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 lire 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 conse- 

 cration 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 anyone but by priests; 3, Attash-bahran, 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 extinc- 

 tion 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 w^hich, 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, dispersed, 

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

 another bundle of sandal wood is ignited, and another fire is produced 

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

 tinguished. 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 temple 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 padan, 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 stool on which the fire urn rests, and puts fresh wood on 



