Pahlavi Texts, Part III (SBE 24) · 179 of 187

Chapter XCII

1.The ninety-second subject is this, that it is necessary to properly maintain the sacred fire and some one who will work with assiduity (kandân) to provide maintenance and sympathy for it. 2. And the supply of its firewood is entirely in such a manner that they burn this year the firewood of last year. 3. At midnight they make it blaze up, and put incense upon it in such a manner that the wind carries off its scent.

4.The demons and fiends rush away, because there is the glory of the sacred fire that we are able to make a living existence in the midst of this people. 5. For, if no fiend and the glory of the archangels and the day of the sacred fire had not existed, it would not have been possible to produce the living existence any day. 6. And, therefore, it makes it expedient that they supply a fire-attendant to maintain the firewood and fire, so that a seeking for its safety (’hâfiyat) may come into operation, and they may know a support and protection for it that would be acceptable.

355:4 Literally ‘the fire of Bahirâm.’ Compare Chap. XXXIX.

355:5 Lp, B29, J15 have ‘so that some one may keep watch over it, and is to provide proper.’

355:6 So that it may be quite dry, as to put anything damp into a fire would be considered sinful (see AV. X, 6-24).

356:1 That is, the absence of fiends. B29 has ‘if the splendour.’