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

cHaP. 1] ZHE AUSPICIOUSNESS OF DAYS. 133

in detail the peculiar virtues of each day of the Zoroastrian month, and is entitled Madegane-lak- Yom.

Great stress is laid in it upon the importance of each day in its bearing upon certain relations and transactions of life. Beginning with the first of the month, which is the proper one to choose for entering a new dwelling or garden, we find that every single day is set apart as the fittest and most auspicious for certain special works, of either devotion or worldly business. Some are best for beginning a journey or voyage, others for the regulation of matters of domestic economy, some again for social gatherings and festivities, and others again for the pursuit of learning, while not a few are reserved for rest and pious contemplation. We thus find from a glance at the list of days and their appropriate works that the Zoroastrian, in both his spiritual and his temporal life, should be guided, in the selection of a proper time for every new work, by a knowledge of the auspiciousness or otherwise of the several days of the month.

We therefore give an English translation’ of Dastur Adarbad’s description of each day’s significance as being highly interesting and as showing what an important part his teaching must have played in the regulation of a Zoroastrian’s life and conduct at that period.

1 Translated from Pehleyi for the author by Dastur Darasha Peshotanji Sanjana, B.A.