Page:Origin of metallic currency and weight standards.djvu/166

 There are in the Shayast-la-Shayast various lists of sins and good works. These sins or good works are put in the golden balance and weighed, in which case the stir is a weight, whilst in other cases we have a money evaluation. As much confusion arises from variations in the lists, it will be best to tabulate the different lists, and thus get a synoptic view of the whole.

On looking at the table, we find that all our authorities are in complete harmony as to the amounts of the last five; Aredûs is 30 stirs, Khôr = 60, Bâzâî = 90, Yât = 180, and Tanâpûhar = 300 stirs. Let us first consider these. We must remember that on the third night after death the soul is judged by having its sins and good works weighed, and according as the one or other predominates, is the ultimate destiny of the soul foul or fair. It is thus essentially a scale of weights, not of coins. The arrangement of the numbers at once speaks for itself. 30 stirs = 1/2 mina on the Babylonian system, as will be seen on p. 251. 60 stirs (Khôr) = 1 mina, 90 stirs (Bâzâî) = 1-1/2 minae, 180 (Yât) = 3 minae, and finally we get 300 stirs (Tanâpûhar) = 5 minae. What then is the weight of the stir? It is none other than the light Babylonian shekel (130 grains Troy).

Now let us approach the bewildering tangle of the first four degrees. It is evident that there are mistakes of numerals in some cases, e.g. in Column, where the Agerept and Avoîrîst are made equal, both being only 1/16 of the first degree or Farmân, and also in Col. we have the Agerept greater than the Avoîrîst and Aredûs. But in Columns  and  we get some elements of regularity. Two of them at least introduce coined money, thus giving us an indication that it is owing to the constant effort to make the lower weight conform to the monetary units of the various periods at which the Commentaries were written that the confusion has in great part arisen. We find the Farmân = 3 dirhams of 4 mads, to 3 coins of 5 annas, and to 3-1/2 coins. Dr West, calculating the anna on the basis of the old rupee of Guzarat (Pt., p. 180), makes the coin of Col. = 50 grains Troy, the old rupee being less than its present weight (180 grains). The Farmân in this case is 150 grains. The 3 dirhams of 4 mads each probably