History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

172) AISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. IV.

seems to have been prevalent among the Parsis at the time it was composed, that of confessing one’s sins and crimes before the head priest. The custom is now no longer observed.

Afrins are another set of prayers in the Pazand language. They are, as their names imply, prayers of blessing. They are recited by the priests at the conclusion of the Afringan ceremonies and prayers. In them the priest invokes blessings upon the person under whose instructions he recites the prayers.

Of these Afrin prayers the one best known is that of Spitaman Zarathosht, 2.e. of the Prophet himself, by whom it is said to have been composed when conferring blessings on the king of Persia, Shah Gushtasp, in whose reign he flourished, and who helped him, as we said before, to a great extent in propagating his new religion. This is the only Afrin in the Avesta language.

It may be mentioned here that the oldest manuscript copies now existing of the Vendidad and Yasna were deposited in the Royal Library at Copenhagen by Professor Erasmus Rask, who, in the year 1820, visited Bombay and passed through Persia. The copy of the first-named work bears date the 24th day -of the fourth month of the year of Yazdezard 692, z.e. A.D. 1823. The latter work is dated ten months later.

In India the oldest manuscript copy of the Vendidad is to be found in the library of the late Mulla