angdin_, or cow's and bull's urine, being bathed, chewing
pomegranate leaves and rubbing the same urine and sand on his body
are leading features. Priests always dress in white and wear a full
beard. They must never shave the head or face, and never allow the head
to be bare nor wear coloured clothes. If a priest's turban happens to
fall off, or if he travels by rail or sea, his state of purity ends,
and he must go through the whole ceremony of purification again and
pass nine days in retreat at a temple. [366] The principal business
of a priest, as already seen, is the tending of the sacred fire in
the temples, and he also conducts marriage and other ceremonies.

15. The sacred shirt and cord.

Parsi boys and girls are received into the Zoroastrian faith between
the ages of seven and nine. The child is purified by being bathed,
sipping bull's urine and chewing a pomegranate leaf, and makes the
profession of belief in the faith. He or she is then invested with
the sacred shirt, _sadra_, and the sacred cord or thread called
_kusti_. The shirt is of thin muslin, with short sleeves and falling
a little below the hip. The sacred cord is of wool, and can be made
only by the wives and daughters of Parsi priests. [367]

16. Disposal of the dead.

The Parsi method of exposing the dead in Dakhmas or towers of
silence to be devoured by vultures has often been described. It has
objectionable features, and the smaller communities in the interior
of India do not as a rule erect towers of silence, and are content
simply to bury the dead. It seems probable that the original custom
was simply to expose the dead on waste land, the towers of silence
being a substitute which became necessary when the Parsis began to live
in towns. This hypothesis would explain some points in their funeral
customs recorded in the _Bombay Gazetteer_. The dead body is washed,
dressed in an old clean cloth and laid on the floor of the house,
the space being marked off. If the floor is of earth the surface of
this enclosed space is broken up. If the floor is of cement or stone
one or two stone slabs are set on it and the body laid on them; it
is never laid on a wooden floor, nor on stone slabs placed on such a
floor. The space where the body was laid is marked off, and is not used
for a month if the death occurs between the eighth and twelfth months
of the year, and for ten days if the death occurs between the first
and seventh months. The last