Istuja
From Almeopedia
Istuja [i ˈstu dʒa] is the concept of uncleanliness in Jippirasti, which includes both physical dirtiness, moral corruption, and sin. As the metaphor for sin is dirt, the metaphor for dealing with sin is cleansing, both literal and spiritual.
Etymology: Nominalization of stuja ‘unclean’, from negative -ja added to stutu ‘clean’, from soti ‘clean, purify’, cognate to Old Skourene salt-.
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The 35 istujau
In the Baburkunim Babur named 35 sources of istuja:
- Blood
- Excrement
- Huj: phlegm, snot, vomit, discharges from disease, etc.
- Contact with a corpse, including its clothes; eating one, of course, was right out
- Sleeping in a room where animals are kept
- Eating the intestines, bones, or feet of animals
- Eating insects, shellfish, frogs, or animals which eat carrion (e.g. crows, coyotes)
- Killing an animal or a human “slowly enough to cause pain” (the killing blow or stroke must be quick and smooth)
- Malformed animals or children (e.g. multiple limbs, hermaphrodites)
- Indecent language
- Rudeness
- Ingratitude
- Attending a pagan ceremony, or entering a pagan temple
- Eating food sacrificed to pagan gods
- Magic
- Tattoos, earrings, body paint, and other bodily modification (abominable because the Munkhâshi favored these)
- Betraying a comrade, or running away in battle
- Dropping one’s weapon
- Fighting with a fsava member
- Theft
- Disinheriting one’s sister
- Drunkenness
- Rape (literally igejruda, sex with a woman outside her bed, thus, uninvited)
- Sex with children (defined as under 12) or animals
- Sex with more than one woman at once
- Sex with a woman in one’s own fsava
- Sex between men, except during war, or as part of an expiation
- Sex with a pagan
- Mixed-sex nudity, except in the course of licit sex
- Bigamy
- Gossip
- Causing division in the Tej
- Violating a fast
- Blasphemy
- The entire period of expiation (that is, a person undertaking an igosota is unclean)
Extending the list
There is nothing in Babur’s list to indicate that it is exhaustive, but the Jippirasti have always taken it to be so. Anything evil has to be classified somehow among these 35 categories.
This list of sins was suited to nomadism, and was somewhat annoying for town life (e.g. no pets, a consequence of the taboo on bringing herd animals into one’s tent; or no eating of shellfish, a much greater inconvenience in a fishing town than on the steppes).
More importantly, Jippirasti morality simply did not foresee whole categories of offenses important in city life: murder, brawling, land theft, tax evasion, commercial fraud, violation of contracts, prostitution, pornography, public health hazards, etc.
After a period of confusion, the Tžuro took the logical path of adapting and sanctifying Skourene law (in particular, that of Engidori, now Jippirim, their capital). Each of these new evils, however, had to be assigned a place under one of the 35 sources of istuja.
Teachers (anebe) also worked out the characteristics of each sin in exhaustive detail— the Čelepa s Atej, indeed, included 35 subclassifications within each of the 35 evils.
The power to judge belonged to the atej, but this could be delegated to adepe (judges); their role has been continued even where there is no formal tej. There has been frequent conflict between judges and teachers over fine points of interpretation; the teachers maintain that only they can say what the law is; the judges maintain that they retain the sovereignty of the atej.
Ruling pagans
Jippirasti makes no distinction between law and morality (isota). However, the Tžuro have to rule pagans as well as Jippirasti, and pagans did not have to follow Jippirasti notions of cleanliness. Nonetheless, they couldn’t be allowed to lead Jippirasutum astray, e.g. by bringing animals into a Jippirasti home, or exposing themselves, or blaspheming Jippir.
The teachers worked out a set of rules, the isota si jos, which pagans had to follow. Some types of istuja applied to pagans directly (e.g. they could not steal, rape, or blaspheme), some were modified (e.g. they could not speak indecently when speaking Tžuro); some they must follow only if Jippirasti were around (e.g. they could not handle corpses and then touch a Jippirasutu). There were also rules that applied only to pagans— e.g. pagans could not attent a jenčim, nor could they serve as officers in the army except in all-pagan units.
Cleansing
There was no idea of forgiveness in Jippirasti; instead, sins must be cleansed. With the literal types of istuja the cleansing was literal, and washing before the jenčim (weekly celebration) was deemed also to address some of the minor sins, such as indecent language, fast-breaking, or contact with an expiator. Some sins could be cleansed by confessing them during the jenčim or to a teacher, or with special rituals— e.g. drunkenness, gossip, or sex with a pagan.
Sins against a fellow Jippirasutu required igosota or expiation. There were simple rituals for the simplest of these— e.g. if you fight with your brother, you may simply give him a gift. But the normal course was to serve the person injured, in a form of temporary slavery.
The bondholder (gust) had almost unlimited power over the expiator (gostu). The ordinary rules of uncleanness were waived; indeed, the idea was that expiation required discomfort, humiliation, and pain. Only killing and permanent maiming were forbidden. Often the humiliation involved was sexual.
Could a man submit to a woman or vice versa? Certainly; but due to the nature of the sins and Tžuro society, it was less common than same-sex igosota. For instance, if a woman was raped, the rapist could expiate by becoming her gostu; but it was more likely that the violation was taken as offending her entire fsava, so that he would be gostu to her uncle (asev).
The gust was contaminated by mere contact with the gostu, but this was a minor form of uncleanness, which could be removed by ritual cleansing.
