BABYLON AND PERSIA

136 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.the corpse has been taken to the Dakhma beforemen or flocks are allowed to tread the same way.As for those who have been compelled to toucha corpse, (whether of a dog or a man, the dog beingan eminently sacred animal), they have to undergoa thorough process of purification, by means ofrepeated ablutions. As the " good waters " reachthis or that part of the body, the Druj Nasu is sup¬posed to leave that part and rush to the next nearest,until from spot to spot, beginning with the forepartof the skull, the left toe is reached, from which theNasu at length flies off " to the regions of the north "in her proper shape as a hideous fly. The enumera¬tion of these different. spots of the . human' body,together with the repetition of the formula of ex¬pulsion, all in the usual dialogue form, continuesthrough several pages, and strikes one, it must beconfessed, as the most ludicrous and puerile piece ofabsurdity. It is in reading such passages as this thatone understands the objections raised by AnquetilDupeiTon's enemies (see pp. 12-13). The purificationsprescribed and regulated in the Avesta, and still ob¬served by the Parsis, are very peculiar and exceed¬ingly disgusting. Their essential feature is the ablu¬tion W\t\\ gdmi:z, the urine of cows or steers, a liquidequally held sacred and cleansing by the BrahmanicHindus. The person to be purified washes his or herentire body ^^'I'Ca.gomh, then rubs it dry with handfulsof earth or dust, and lastly washes it again, thistime with water. The performance is repeated sev¬eral times. The great purification takes nine nights(the Barashmhii). Of course these ceremonies are