Dadestan-i Denig ('Religious Decisions')

Concerning this text, Dastur Firoze M. Kotwal and James Boyd (in their 1982 book A Guide to the Zoroastrian Religion) writes, "a Pahlavi work of the ninth century A.C. which contains answers given by Dastur Manushchihr i Goshnajaman of Pars and Kerman, Iran, to 92 queries put to him by his co-religionists."

SOME chapters of the inquiries which Mitro-khurshed, son of Aturo-mahan, and others of the good religion made of the glorified (anoshako-ruban) Manushchihar, son of Yudan-Yim, and the replies given by him in explanation.

• Chapter 1. Introductory
• Chapter 2. Why a righteous man is better than all creatures, spiritual or worldly
• Chapter 3. Why a righteous man is created, and how he should act
• Chapter 4. Why a righteous man is great
• Chapter 5. How temporal distress is to be regarded
• Chapter 6. Why the good suffer more than the bad in this world
• Chapter 7. Why we are created, and what we ought to do
• Chapter 8. Whether good works done for the dead differ in effect from those ordered or done by themselves
• Chapter 9. How far they differ
• Chapter 10. The growth of good works during life
• Chapter 11. Whether the growth of a good work be as commendable as the original good work
• Chapter 12. Whether it eradicates sin equally well
• Chapter 13. Whether one is made responsible for all his sins and good works separately at the last account, or only for their balance
• Chapter 14. The angels who take account of sin and good works, and how sinners are punished
• Chapter 15. The exposure of a corpse does not occasion the final departure of life, and is meritorious
• Chapter 16. Whether the soul be aware of, or disturbed by, the corpse being gnawed
• Chapter 17. Reasons for the exposure of corpses
• Chapter 18. How the corpse and bones are to be disposed of
• Chapter 19. Whether departed souls can see Ohrmazd and Ahriman
• Chapter 20. Where the souls of the righteous and wicked go
• Chapter 21. The Daitih peak, the Chinwad bridge, and the two paths of departed souls
• Chapter 22. Whether the spirits are distressed when a righteous man dies
• Chapter 23. How the life departs from the body
• Chapter 24. Where a righteous soul stays for the first three nights after death, and what it does next
• Chapter 25. Where a wicked soul stays for the first three nights after death, and what it does next
• Chapter 26. The nature of heaven and its pleasures
• Chapter 27. The nature of hell and its punishments
• Chapter 28. Why ceremonies in honor of Srosh are performed for the three days after a death
• Chapter 29. Why Srosh must be reverenced separately from other angels
• Chapter 30. Why three sacred cakes are consecrated at dawn after the third night from a death
• Chapter 31. How a righteous soul goes to heaven, and what it finds and does there
• Chapter 32. How a wicked soul goes to hell, and what it finds and suffers there
• Chapter 33. The position and subdivisions of hell
• Chapter 34. The two ways from the Daitih peak; that of the righteous to heaven, and that of the wicked to hell
• Chapter 35. The continuance of mankind in the world till the resurrection
• Chapter 36. The preparers of the renovation of the universe
• Chapter 37. The contest of the good and evil spirits from the creation till the resurrection, and the condition of creation after the resurrection, with references to Christianity and Judaism
• Chapter 38. The effect of doing more good works than are necessary for attaining to the supreme heaven
• Chapter 39. Reasons for wearing the sacred thread girdle [kusti]
• Chapter 40. On the sacred shirt [sudra] and thread-girdle, grace before and after eating, and cleansing the mouth before the after-grace
• Chapter 41. The sin of apostasy, and how to atone for it
• Chapter 42. The good works of him who saves others from apostasy
• Chapter 43. The distance at which the fire can be addressed, the use of a lamp, and the proper order of the propitiatory dedications, when consecrating a sacred cake [dron]
• Chapter 44. Whether a skillful priest who is employed to perform ceremonies, but is not officially the priest of the district, should be paid a regular stipend
• Chapter 45. The separate duties of priests and disciples
• Chapter 46. When a priest can abandon the priesthood to obtain a livelihood
• Chapter 47. Whether a priest who knows the Avesta, or one who understands the commentary, be more entitled to the foremost place at a sacred feast
• Chapter 48. The advantage and proper mode of celebrating the ceremonial
• Chapter 49. Whether it be lawful to buy corn and keep it long, so as to raise the price for the sake of profit
• Chapter 50. Whether it be lawful to sell wine to foreigners and infidels
• Chapter 51. The sin of drunkenness, and what constitutes immoderate drinking
• Chapter 52. Whether a man who bargains to deliver wheat in a month, and takes a deposit, is bound to deliver the wheat if its market-price has risen enormously
• Chapter 53. Whether it be lawful to sell cattle to those of a different religion
• Chapter 54. Whether a man without a son can give away his property to one daughter on his death-bed; the laws of inheritance, and when an adopted son must be appointed, in such a case
• Chapter 55. Whose duty it is to order the ceremonies after a death
• Chapter 56. The laws of adoption and family-guardianship
• Chapter 57. Those who are fit, or unfit, for adoption
• Chapter 58. The three kinds of adoption
• Chapter 59. The least amount of property that requites the appointment of an adopted son
• Chapter 60. The sin of not appointing an adopted son, or of appointing a dishonest one
• Chapter 61. The merit and demerit of family-guardianship
• Chapter 62. The laws of inheritance
• Chapter 63. Whether it be lawful to seize property from foreigners and infidels
• Chapter 64. The origin of Gayomard, Mashye, and Mashyane
• Chapter 65. The origin of next-of-kin marriage
• Chapter 66. Regarding the cost of religious rites, and whether a priest's fees can be reduced when others will take less
• Chapter 67. The cause of the rainbow
• Chapter 68. The cause of the phases of the moon
• Chapter 69. The cause of eclipses
• Chapter 70. The causes of river-beds
• Chapter 71. What things happen through destiny, and what through exertion
• Chapter 72. The seven heinous sinners, and the necessity of avoiding him who commits unnatural intercourse
• Chapter 73. Whether the stench of such intercourse reaches the sky
• Chapter 74. Whether that stench disturbs the archangels
• Chapter 75. Whether the angels raise such a sinner from the dead at the resurrection
• Chapter 76. Whether it be a good work to kill such a sinner
• Chapter 77. Why such intercourse is a heinous sin
• Chapter 78. Why adultery is heinous, and how one can atone for it
• Chapter 79. The sin of not repeating the full grace before drinking (when one is able to do so), and how one can atone for it
• Chapter 80. Regarding him who does not order ceremonies
• Chapter 81. About the ceremonies for the living soul
• Chapter 82. About him who pays for ceremonies and him who takes the money without performing them
• Chapter 83. Whether a priest must undertake all religious rites
• Chapter 84. Whether gifts to the priesthood for ceremonies can be diminished or increased
• Chapter 85. The advantages of increasing such gifts
• Chapter 86. The harm of diminishing such gifts
• Chapter 87. Why it is good to give such gifts
• Chapter 88. About the cost of religious rites in Pars
• Chapter 89. Whether when a man has once resolved to go into Pars, with gifts for the priesthood, it be lawful for him to send another man with the gifts
• Chapter 90. The seven immortal rulers in the region of Khwaniras before the coming of the good religion
• Chapter 91. The nature and material of the sky
• Chapter 92. The course and benefit of the water of Aredvisur
• Chapter 93. Tishtar's seizing of water from the ocean to rain it upon the earth, and his conflict with Apaosh
• Chapter 94. Conclusion

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