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

CHAP. IV.] PRA VERS OF REPENTANCE. 171

Afringans are the only prayers of the KhordehAvesta that are required to be recited by the priests alone, and also with some rites and ceremonies different from those of the Yasna. They are recited on a carpet spread on the floor, on which are placed either in a metallic tray or on plantam leaves the choicest fruits and the most fragrant flowers of the season, while glasses are filled with fresh milk, pure water, wine, and sherbet. These prayers are recited either with the object of expressmg remembrance for the souls of the dear departed or with that of invoking the aid of guardian angels.

Besides all these different kinds of prayers in the books of Khordeh-Avesta now extant, we come across several compositions known as Patets and Afrins. They are written in the Pazand language, and seem unmistakably to be later additions.

Of these two the Patets are prayers of repentance or confession. They contain a very exhaustive list of all possible sins and crimes, whether moral or social, religious or political. The reciter of these prayers enumerates all these sins and crimes, and says: “If I have wittingly or unwittingly committed any of these sins or crimes through my thoughts, words, or actions, whether they refer to corporeal objects or mental, whether to heavenly objects or earthly, pardon, 0 God! I repent of all these sins.”

An allusion in this Patet refers to a custom which