DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.22900#0197
CHAPTER IV.
THE Z0B0ASTBIA2TS IN INDIA—THEIR MANNERS
and customs (continued).
Parsi domestic life—Births and their attendant ceremonies—Present-giving
—Seclusion enforced after confinement—Sanitary objections to this—
Various improvements suggested by experience—Attempts to discover
the child's destiny—Mixture of good sense and superstition—"The book
of fate is sealed "—Choosing a name—Parsi system of giving names—
The "joshi"—List of Parsi names—Investiture with the "sudra" and
"kusti"—Question of making converts—AVhat the Panchayet decided—
Ceremony of marriage—Early marriages—Usual age of marriage—Custom
among the Zoroastrians in Persia—Professional match-makers—The de-
tails of the religious ceremony—The social rejoicings—The final shower of
rice—The number seven—The closing questions—And prayers—Healths
given at the banquet—That of the Queen-Empress—Families not broken
up by marriage—All reside together—Separations rare between parents
and children on this account—Mode of marriage in Persia—Widows per-
mitted to re-marry—Death ceremonies—The last prayers—The funeral
procession—Manner of nullifying evil influences—The seven "has"—
Early removal of the body—The " dokhma " or tower of silence—Various
erroneous suppositions concerning Parsi funerals—Belief as to the soul
not quitting the body for three days—Description of a tower of silence—
They vary in size, but are built on one plan—Ceremonies at its consecration
—Great merit in building "dokhmas"—Their inviolability preserved—Sir
Richard Temple's opinion—The whole question of Parsi burial reviewed
—Objections to it qualified on closer knowledge—Mr. Monier "Williams's
opinion—Visit of the Prince of "Wales to a "dokhma"—In Mcmoriani ser-
vices to the dead—Offerings in fruit and flowers—The prayer of repentance.
We now proceed to give an account of the domestic
life of the Parsis. We shall beein with the infant.
O
Before it is ushered into the world, the young lady
THE Z0B0ASTBIA2TS IN INDIA—THEIR MANNERS
and customs (continued).
Parsi domestic life—Births and their attendant ceremonies—Present-giving
—Seclusion enforced after confinement—Sanitary objections to this—
Various improvements suggested by experience—Attempts to discover
the child's destiny—Mixture of good sense and superstition—"The book
of fate is sealed "—Choosing a name—Parsi system of giving names—
The "joshi"—List of Parsi names—Investiture with the "sudra" and
"kusti"—Question of making converts—AVhat the Panchayet decided—
Ceremony of marriage—Early marriages—Usual age of marriage—Custom
among the Zoroastrians in Persia—Professional match-makers—The de-
tails of the religious ceremony—The social rejoicings—The final shower of
rice—The number seven—The closing questions—And prayers—Healths
given at the banquet—That of the Queen-Empress—Families not broken
up by marriage—All reside together—Separations rare between parents
and children on this account—Mode of marriage in Persia—Widows per-
mitted to re-marry—Death ceremonies—The last prayers—The funeral
procession—Manner of nullifying evil influences—The seven "has"—
Early removal of the body—The " dokhma " or tower of silence—Various
erroneous suppositions concerning Parsi funerals—Belief as to the soul
not quitting the body for three days—Description of a tower of silence—
They vary in size, but are built on one plan—Ceremonies at its consecration
—Great merit in building "dokhmas"—Their inviolability preserved—Sir
Richard Temple's opinion—The whole question of Parsi burial reviewed
—Objections to it qualified on closer knowledge—Mr. Monier "Williams's
opinion—Visit of the Prince of "Wales to a "dokhma"—In Mcmoriani ser-
vices to the dead—Offerings in fruit and flowers—The prayer of repentance.
We now proceed to give an account of the domestic
life of the Parsis. We shall beein with the infant.
O
Before it is ushered into the world, the young lady