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

CHAP. IV.] THE GAZE OF A DOG. 197

people of other religious persuasions entertain most incorrect ideas. The face of a deceased Zoroastrian is exposed to the gaze of a dog three or four times during the recitation of the funeral sermon or oration. This seems to have led to the erroneous supposition, caused doubtless through ignorance, that before the dead body is removed from the house a dog is made to lick it or to eat some portion of its flesh. Itis scarcely necessary to say that this belief has no foundation whatever. The exact object and meaning of the ceremony has not been properly ascertained ; but, according to common belief, dogs are considered sacred animals. They are supposed to guide the souls of the dead towards heaven, and to ward off on their way the bad influence of evil spirits to which they may be exposed. This belief, however, is not generally shared in by the educated Parsis of the present day.

Another supposition also prevails on the subject to the effect that the eyes of a particular kind of dog possess peculiar magnetic power in annihilating impurities surrounding a dead body. ‘This theory is referred to at page 240 of Dr. Haug’s Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of the Parsis, edited by Dr. West. He says :—

“A man who touches a dead body, the contagious impurity of which has not been previously checked by holding towards the corpse a peculiar kind of dog, is said to be at once visited

by a spectre representing death itself; this is called ‘drukhsh nasush,’ or the destructive corruption.”