See chap. xxvinr

9. The Zôta is the chief officiating priest in all ceremonies, and the Râspt is the assistant priest,

LES ESCHATOLOGIES 235

termes semblables : 1° le Mauvais Esprit retourne dans les ténèbres et dans l'obscurité par le même passage par lequel il a fait autrefois irruption dans le ciel (v. 30 4). Le Seigneur met la caverne où il s’est enfui, dans le métal fondu, il ramène le pays de l'enfer pour l'élargissement de la terre (32 a). 2° Gôcihar brüle le serpent (mdr), c'est-à-dire, Az, dans lemétal

the Küsti in As hand; defeated by the Kûsti' formula the resources of the evil spirit and Az act most impotently, and by the passage through which he rushed into the sky * he runs back to gloom and darkness. 31. Gôkîhar * burns the serpent (mâr) * in the melted metal, and the stench and pollution which were in hell are burned in that metal, and it(hell) becomes quite pure. 32. He (Aüharmazd) sets the vault * into which the evil spirit fled, in that metal ; he brings the land of hell back for the enlargement of the world ‘ ; the renovaion arises in the universe by his will, and the world is immortal for ever and everlasting.

33. This, too, it says, that this earth becomes an iceless ?,

1. The words zak g, hâni, for àn gehâni, are probably a misreading of aîivyahân, « the küsti or sacred thread-girdle », which is tied round the waist in a peculiar manner, during the recital of a particular formula, in which Aûharmazd is blessed and Aharman andthe demons are cursed.