CHAPTER 5. [The Chinwad bridge]

1. Afterward, the width of that Chinwad bridge became again nine javelin-lengths. (2) With the assistance of Srosh the pious, and Adar the angel, I passed over easily, happily, courageously, and triumphantly, on the Chinwad bridge. (3) I had much protection from Mihr the angel, and Rashn the just, and Vai the good, and the angel Warharan the powerful, and the angel Ashtad the world-increasing, and the glory of the good religion of the Mazdayasnians; (4) and the guardian angels (fravashis) of the pious, and the remaining spirits first bowed to me, Arda Viraf. (5) I also saw, I Arda Viraf, Rashn the just, who held in his hand the yellow golden balance, and weighed the pious and the wicked.

6. And afterward, Srosh the pious, and Adar the angel, took hold of my hand, (7) and said thus: 'Come on, so that we may show unto thee heaven and hell; and the splendor and glory and ease and comfort and pleasure and joy and delight and gladness and fragrance which are the reward of the pious in heaven. (8) We shall show thee the darkness and confinement and ingloriousness and misfortune and distress and evil and pain and sickness and dreadfulness and fearfulness and hurtfulness and stench in the punishments of hell, of various kinds, which the demons and sorcerers and sinners perform. (9) We shall show thee the place of the true and that of the false.

(10) We shall show thee the reward of the firm believers in Ohrmazd and the archangels, and the good which is in heaven, and the evil which is in hell; (11) and the reality of God and the archangels, and the non-reality of Ahriman and the demons; and the existence of the resurrection of the dead and the future body. (12) We shall show thee the reward of the pious, from Ohrmazd and the archangels, in the midst of heaven. (13) We shall show thee the torment and punishment of various kinds, which are for the wicked, in the midst of hell, from Ahriman and the molestations of the demons.'