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

168 AIISTORY OF THE PARSTS. [CHAP. IV.

the members of the family and the guests finally partake of a sumptuous feast. In the case of the rich it is usual to give a dinner-party on the same evening, when appropriate toasts are proposed and drunk.

The “sudra,” which is always worn next to the skin, is made of fine linen gauze or net, while the “kusti” is a thin woollen cord, or cincture of seventytwo threads ; these threads represent the seventy-two “has” or chapters of the sacred book of the Parsis, called Yazashne. The “sudra” means “the garment of the good and beneficial way.” The “ kusti” is passed round the waist three times and tied with four knots, two in front and two behind, during the chanting of a short hymn. At the first knot the person says, “There is only one God, and no other is to be compared with Him ;” at the second, ‘‘ The religion given by Zoroaster is true ;” at the third, “ Zoroaster is the true Prophet, who derived his mission from God ;” and at the fourth and last, “Perform good actions, and abstain from evil ones.”

Whether the Parsi religion sanctions proselytism is a question which the learned in that religion have not yet been able to decide; but, as Zoroaster came to convert the godless, the limit of his mission could hardly have been considered the first conversion of the Persian empire to the creed which he preached. It is said that many of the Persian exiles, when they came to India, took to themselves Hindu wives; these