Vendidad — Zoroaster
====================
Translation/edition: James Darmesteter, 1898
Language: English
Read in Plato Scroll: https://plato-scroll.com/s/vendidad/
This file: https://plato-scroll.com/text/vendidad.txt
Sources and licences: https://plato-scroll.com/attribution.html
Numbers in [brackets] are the edition's reference loci (Stephanus, Bekker, book.line, page...). Superscript numerals refer to the Notes at the end.


## Vendidad

[1.1] Translated by James Darmesteter, 1898
A Vendidad manuscript from Yazd, Iran, copied in 1647, British Library, London

## FARGARD 1. Sixteen perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda, and as many plagues created by Angra Mainyu.

[3.1] AHURA MAZDA spake unto Spitama¹ Zarathushtra, saying:
[3.1a] I have made every land dear (to its people), even though it had no charms whatever in it2: had I not made every land dear (to its people), even though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world would have invaded the Airyana Vaeja³.
[3.1b] 2.4 The first of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Airyana Vaeja⁵, by the Vanguhi Daitya⁶.
[3.1c] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the serpent in the river and Winter, a work of the Daevas⁸.
[3.3] There are ten winter months there, two summer months; and those are cold for the waters, cold for the earth, cold for the trees. Winter falls there, the worst of all plagues. (Hum 35: “Ten are there the winter months, two the summer months, and even then (in summer) the waters are freezing, the earth is freezing, the plants are freezing; there is the center of winter, there is the heart of winter, there winter rushes around, there (occur) most damages caused by storm.”)
[3.4] The second of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the plain which the Sughdhas inhabit.
[3.4a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the locust, which brings death unto cattle and plants.
[3.5] The third of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Mouru¹⁵.
[3.5a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created plunder and sin¹⁶.
[3.6] The fourth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful Bakhdhi¹⁷ with high-lifted banner.
[3.6a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the ants and the ant-hills.
[3.7] The fifth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Nisaya¹⁹, that lies between the Mouru and Bakhdhi.
[3.7a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the sin of unbelief.
[3.8] The sixth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the house-deserting Haroyu²¹.
[3.8a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created tears and wailing.
[3.9] The seventh of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Vaekereta²³, of the evil shadows.
[3.9a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the Pairika Knathaiti²⁴, who claves unto Keresaspa.
[3.10] The eighth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Urva of the rich pastures.
[3.10a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the sin of pride.
[3.11] The ninth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Khnenta which the Vehrkanas²⁷ inhabit.
[3.11a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created a sin for which there is no atonement, the unnatural sin²⁸.
[3.12] The tenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful Harahvaiti²⁹.
[3.12a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created a sin for which there is no atonement, the burying of the dead.
[3.13] The eleventh of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the bright, glorious Haetumant³¹.
[3.13a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the evil work of witchcraft.
[3.14] And this is the sign by which it is known, this is that by which it is seen at once: wheresoever they may go and raise a cry of sorcery, there the worst works of witchcraft go forth. From there they come to kill and strike at heart, and they bring locusts as many as they want.
[3.15] The twelfth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Ragha³⁴ of the three races.
[3.15a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the sin of utter unbelief.
[3.16] The thirteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Chakhra³⁷.
[3.16a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created a sin for which there is no atonement, the cooking of corpses.
[3.17] The fourteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the four-cornered Varena³⁹, for which was born Thraetaona, who smote Azi Dahaka (Zohak).
[3.17a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women, and barbarian oppression.
[3.18] The fifteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Seven Rivers⁴².
[3.18a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women, and excessive heat.
[3.19] The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the land by the sources (?) of the Rangha⁴³, where people live who have no chiefs.
[3.19a] Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created Winter⁴⁵, a work of the Daevas⁴⁶.
[3.20] There are still other lands and countries, beautiful and deep, longing and asking for the good, and bright. (Hum² 54: lands and regions, beautiful, deep, esteemed, brilliant and bright.)

## FARGARD 2. Myths of Yima (Jamshed)

[4.1a] I. ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda:
[4.1aa] O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!
[4.1b] Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zarathushtra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse, whom thou didst teach the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathushtra?
[4.2] Ahura Mazda answered: The fair Yima, the good shepherd, O holy Zarathushtra! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zarathushtra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathushtra. 3. Unto him, O Zarathushtra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying: ‘Well, fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer of my Religion!’ And the fair Yima, O Zarathushtra, replied unto me, saying: ‘I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy Religion.’
[4.4] Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathushtra: ‘Since thou dost not consent to be the preacher and the bearer of my Religion, then make thou my world increase, make my world grow: consent thou to nourish, to rule, and to watch over my world.’
[4.5] And the fair Yima replied unto me, O Zarathushtra, saying: ‘Yes! I will make thy world increase, I will make thy world grow. Yes! I will nourish, and rule, and watch over thy world. There shall be, while I am king, neither cold wind not hot wind, neither disease nor death.’
[4.5a] 6.3 Then I, Ahura Mazda, brought two implements unto him: a golden seal and a poniard inlaid with gold. Behold, here Yima bears the royal sway!
[4.7] (Obscure.)
[4.8] Thus, under the sway of Yima, three hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.
[4.9] Then I warned the fair Yima, saying: ‘O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and men.’
[4.10] Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun⁵⁴, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: ‘O Spenta Armaiti⁵⁵, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.’
[4.11] And Yima made the earth grow larger by one-third than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished.
[4.12] Thus, under the sway of Yima, six hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.
[4.13] And I warned the fair Yima, saying: ‘O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and men.’
[4.14] Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: ‘O Spenta Armaiti, kindly) open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.’
[4.15] And Yima made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished.
[4.16] Thus, under the sway of Yima, nine hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men.
[4.17] And I warned the fair Yima, saying: ‘O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and men.’
[4.18] Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: ‘O Spenta Armaiti, kindly) open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.’
[4.19] And Yima made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished.
[4.20] II. The Maker, Ahura Mazda, called together a meeting of the celestial Yazatas in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya⁵⁸.
[4.20a] The fair Yima, the good shepherd, called together a meeting of the best of the mortals, in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya.
[4.21] To that meeting came Ahura Mazda, in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya; he came together with the celestial Yazatas.
[4.21a] To that meeting came the fair Yima, the good shepherd, in the Airyana Vaejo of high renown, by the Vanguhi Daitya; he came together with the best of the mortals.
[4.22] And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying: ‘O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall bring the fierce, deadly frost; upon the material world the evil winters are about to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains.
[4.23] ‘And the beasts that live in the wilderness, and those that live on the tops of the mountains, and those that live in the bosom of the dale shall take shelter in underground abodes.
[4.24] ‘Before that winter, the country would bear plenty of grass for cattle, before the waters had flooded it. Now after the melting of the snow, O Yima, a place wherein the footprint of a sheep may be seen will be a wonder in the world.
[4.25] ‘Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, and thither bring the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for man; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, for oxen and sheep.
[4.26] ‘There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there thou shalt settle birds, on the green that never fades, with food that never fails. There thou shalt establish dwelling-places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and as gallery.
[4.27] ‘Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth.
[4.28] ‘Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of tree, of the highest of size and sweetest of odour on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of fruit, the best of savour and sweetest of odour. All those seeds shalt thou bring, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.
[4.29] ‘There shall be no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no malicious, no liar; no one spiteful, none jealous; no one with decayed tooth, no leprous to be pent up24, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
[4.30] ‘In the largest part of the place thou shalt make nine streets, six in the middle part, three in the smallest. To the streets of the largest part thou shalt bring a thousand seeds of men and women; to the streets of the middle part, six hundred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred. That Vara thou shalt seal up with thy golden seal, and thou shalt make a door, and a window self-shining within.’
[4.31] Then Yima said within himself: ‘How shall I manage to make that Vara which Ahura Mazda has commanded me to make?’ And Ahura Mazda said unto Yima: ‘O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Crush the earth with a stamp of thy heel, and then knead it with thy hands, as the potter does when kneading the potter’s clay.’
[4.32] (And Yima did as Ahura Mazda wished; he crushed the earth with a stamp of his heel, he kneaded it with his hands, as the potter does when kneading the potter’s clay.28)
[4.33] And Yima made a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square. There he brought the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. He made a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for men; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, for oxen and sheep.
[4.34] There he made waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there he settled birds, on the green that never fades, with food that never fails. There he established dwelling-places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery.
[4.35] There he brought the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest on this earth.
[4.36] There he brought the seeds of every kind of tree, of the highest of size and sweetest of odour on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of fruit, the best of savour and sweetest of odour. All those seeds he brought, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.
[4.37] And there were no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no one malicious, no liar; no one spiteful, none jealous; no one with decayed tooth, no leprous to be pent up, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
[4.38] In the largest part of the place he made nine streets, six in the middle part, three in the smallest. To the streets of the largest part he brought a thousand seeds of men and women; to the streets of the middle part, six hundred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred. That Vara he sealed up with the golden ring, and he made a door, and a window self-shining within.
[4.39] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What are the lights that give light in the Vara which Yima made?
[4.40] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘There are uncreated lights and created lights. The one thing missed there is the sight of the stars, the moon, and the sun⁷⁷, and a year seems only as a day⁷⁸.
[4.41] ‘Every fortieth year, to every couple two are born, a male and a female. And thus it is for every sort of cattle. And the men in the Vara which Yima made live the happiest life.’
[4.42] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is he who brought the Religion of Mazda into the Vara which Yima made? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It was the bird Karshipta⁸¹, O holy Zarathushtra!’
[4.43] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who are the Lord and the Master there? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Urvatat-nara, O Zarathushtra! and thyself, Zarathushtra.’

## FARGARD 3. The Earth

[5.1a] I. O MAKER of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the first place where the Earth 1 feels most happy?
[5.1aa] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place whereon one of the faithful steps forward, O Spitama Zarathushtra! with the log in his hand 2, the Baresma 3 in his hand, the milk 4 in his hand, the mortar 5 in his hand, lifting up his voice in good accord with religion, and beseeching Mithra 6, the lord of the rolling country-side, and Rama Hvastra 7.’
[5.1b] 2,3. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the second place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place whereon one of the faithful erects a house with a priest within, with cattle, with a wife, with children, and good herds within; and wherein afterwards the cattle continue to thrive, virtue to thrive, fodder to thrive, the dog to thrive, the wife to thrive, the child to thrive, the fire to thrive, and every blessing of life to thrive.’
[5.4] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the third place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place where one of the faithful sows most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathushtra! where he waters ground that is dry, or drains ground that is too wet⁹².’
[5.5] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the fourth place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place where there is most increase of flocks and herds.’
[5.6] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the fifth place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place where flocks and herds yield most dung.’
[5.7] II. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the first place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the neck of Arezura⁹³, whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth from the burrow of the Druj⁹⁴.’
[5.8] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the second place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place wherein most corpses of dogs and of men lie buried.’
[5.9] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the third place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place whereon stand most of those Dakhmas on which the corpses of men are deposited.’
[5.10] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the fourth place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place wherein are most burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu⁹⁷.
[5.11] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the fifth place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place whereon the wife and children of one of the faithful, O Spitama Zarathushtra! are driven along the way of captivity, the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing.’
[5.12] III. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the first that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is he who digs out of it most corpses of dogs and men 17.’
[5.13] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the second that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is he who pulls down most of those Dakhmas on which the corpses of men are deposited.’
[5.14] Let no man alone by himself carry a corpse. If a man alone by himself carry a corpse, the Nasu¹⁰³ rushes upon him, to defile him, from the nose of the dead, from the eye, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder parts. This Druj Nasu falls upon him, (stains him) even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.
[5.15] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! What shall be the place of that man who has carried a corpse (alone)22? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It shall be the place on this earth wherein is least water and fewest plants, whereof the ground is the cleanest and the dryest and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful.’
[5.16] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! How far from the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles of Baresma? How far from the faithful?
[5.17] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful.
[5.17a] 18,19. ‘There, on that place, shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure, and therein shall they establish him with food, therein shall they establish him with clothes, with the coarsest food and with the most worn-out clothes. That food he shall live on, those clothes he shall wear, and thus shall they let him live, until he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairishta-khshudra.
[5.17b] 20,21. ‘And when he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura¹⁰⁹, or of a Pairishta-khshudra, then the worshippers of Mazda shall order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful, to cut the head off his neck, in his enclosure on the top of the mountain: and they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the vultures, with these words: “The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds. If he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance: if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance, for ever and ever.”’
[5.22] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the third that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is he who fills up most burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu¹¹³.’
[5.23] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the fourth that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is he who sows most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathushtra! who waters ground that is dry, or drains ground that is too wet¹¹⁴.
[5.24] ‘Unhappy is the land that has long lain unsown with the seed of the sower and wants a good husbandman, like a well-shapen maiden who has long gone childless and wants a good husband.
[5.25] ‘He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him will she bring forth plenty of fruit: even as it were a lover sleeping with his bride on her bed; the bride will bring forth children, (the earth will bring forth) plenty of fruit.
[5.25a] 26,27. ‘He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth: “O thou man! who dost till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing corn first to thee.”
[5.25b] 28,29. ‘He who does not till the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth: “O thou man! who dost not till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, ever shalt thou stand at the door of the stranger, among those who beg for bread; the refuse and the crumbs of the bread are brought unto thee, brought by those who have profusion of wealth.”’
[5.30] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! What is the food that fills the Religion of Mazda¹¹⁸? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is sowing corn again and again, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
[5.31] ‘He who sows corn, sows righteousness: he makes the Religion of Mazda walk, he suckles the Religion of Mazda; as well as he could do with a hundred man’s feet, with a thousand woman’s breasts, with ten thousand sacrificial formulas.
[5.32] ‘When barley was created, the Daevas started up39; when it grew, then fainted the Daevas’ hearts; when the knots came, the Daevas groaned; when the ear came, the Daevas flew away. In that house the Daevas stay, wherein wheat perishes. It is as though red hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.
[5.33] ‘Then let people learn by heart this holy saying [manthra -JHP] “No one who does not eat, has strength to do heavy works of holiness, strength to do works of husbandry, strength to beget children. By eating every material creature lives, by not eating it dies away.”’
[5.34] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the fifth that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?
[5.34a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘[It is he who kindly and piously gives to one of the faithful who tills the earth,] O Spitama Zarathushtra!
[5.35] ‘He who would not kindly and piously give to one of the faithful who tills the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! Spenta Armaiti¹²⁹ will throw him down into darkness, down into the world of woe, the world of hell, down into the deep abyss.’
[5.36] IV. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! If a man shall bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall not disinter it within half a year, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[5.36a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Five hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, five hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[5.37] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! If a man shall bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall not disinter it within a year, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[5.37a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[5.38] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! If a man shall bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall not disinter it within the second year, what is the penalty for it? What is the atonement for it? What is the cleansing from it?
[5.39] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘For that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing that can atone, nothing that can cleanse from it; it is a trespass for which there is no atonement, for ever and ever.’
[5.40] When is it so?
[5.40a] ‘It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the Religion of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it50.
[5.40b] ‘But if he be not a professor of the Religion of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it51, then his sin is taken from him, if he makes confession of the Religion of Mazda and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.
[5.41] ‘The Religion of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! takes away from him who makes confession of it the bonds of his sin¹³⁵; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust; it takes away (the sin of) murdering one of the faithful; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse; it takes away (the sin of) deeds for which there is no atonement; it takes away the worst sin of usury; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.
[5.42] ‘In the same way the Religion of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathushtra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain.
[5.42a] ‘So let all the deeds he doeth be henceforth good, O Zarathushtra! a full atonement for his sin is effected by means of the Religion of Mazda.’

## FARGARD 4. Contracts and offenses

[6.2] I. 1. HE THAT does not restore a loan to the man who lent it, steals the thing and robs the man¹⁴¹. This he doeth every day, every night, as long as he keep in his house his neighbour’s property, as though it were his own¹⁴².
[6.3] Ia.
[6.4] 2. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How many in number are thy contracts, O Ahura Mazda? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They are six in number, O holy Zarathushtra¹⁴³. The first is the word-contract; the second is the hand-contract; the third is the contract to the amount of a sheep; the fourth is the contract to the amount of an ox7; the fifth is the contract to the amount of a man (person)8; the sixth is the contract to the amount of a field, a field in good land, a fruitful one, in good bearing.’
[6.5] 3. The word-contract is fulfilled by words of mouth. It is cancelled by the hand-contracct; he shall give as damages the amount of the hand-contract.
[6.6] 4. The hand-contract is cancelled by the sheep-contract; he shall give as damages the amount of the sheep-contract. The sheep-contract is cancelled by the ox-contract; he shall give as damages the amount of the ox-contract. The ox-contract is cancelled by the man-contract; he shall give as damages the amount of the man-contract. The man-contract is cancelled by the field-contract; he shall give as damages the amount of the field-contract.
[6.7] 5. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the word-contract, how many are involved in his sin¹⁵¹? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabanazdishtas¹⁵² answerable for three hundred (years)13.’
[6.8] 6. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the hand-contract, how many are involved in his sin? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabanazdishtas answerable for six hundred (years)14.’
[6.9] 7. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the sheep-contract, how many are involved in his sin? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabanazdishtas answerable for seven hundred (years)15.’
[6.10] 8. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the ox-contract, how many are involved in his sin? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabanazdishtas answerable for eight hundred (years).’
[6.11] 9. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the man-contract, how many are involved in his sin? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabanazdishtas answerable for nine hundred (years)16.’
[6.12] 10. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the field-contract, how many are involved in his sin? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabanazdishtas answerable for a thousand (years)17.’
[6.13] 11. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the word-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, three hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.14] 12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the hand-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.15] 13. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the sheep-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.16] 14. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the ox-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.17] 15. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the man-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Nine hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, Nine hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.18] 16. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the field-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.19] IIa.
[6.20] 17. If a man rise up with a weapon in his hand, it is an Agerepta¹⁶⁴. If he brandish it, it is an Avaoirishta. If he actually smite a man with malicious aforethought, it is an Aredush. Upon the fifth Aredush¹⁶⁵ he becomes a Peshotanu¹⁶⁶.
[6.21] 18. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He that committeth an Agerepta, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Five stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, five stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.22] ‘On the second Agerepta, ten stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ten stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.23] ‘On the third, fifteeen stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifteen stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.24] 19. ‘On the fourth, thirty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.25] ‘On the fifth, fifty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.26] ‘On the sixth, sixty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, sixty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.27] ‘On the seventh, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.28] 20. If a man commit an Agerepta for the eighth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay?
[6.29] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.30] 21. If a man commit an Agerepta¹⁶⁸, and refuse to atone for it29, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.31] 22. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Avaoirishta, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ten stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ten stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.32] ‘On the second Avaoirishta, fifteen stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifteen stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.33] 23. ‘On the third, thirty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.34] ‘On the fourth, fifty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.35] ‘On the fifth, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.36] ‘On the sixth, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.37] 24. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Avaoirishta for the seventh time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.38] 25. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Avaoirishta, and refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.39] 26. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredush, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifteen stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifteen stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.40] 27. ‘On the second Aredush, thirty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.41] ‘On the third, fifty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.42] ‘On the fourth, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.43] ‘On the fifth, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.44] 28. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredush for the sixth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.45] 29. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredush, and refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.46] 30. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another and hurt him sorely, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[6.47] 31. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.48] ‘The second time, fifty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.49] ‘The third time, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.50] ‘The fourth time, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.51] 32. If a man commit that deed for the fifth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.52] 33. If a man commit that deed and refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.53] 34. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that the blood come, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifty stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.54] ‘The second time, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.55] ‘The third time, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.56] 35. If a man commit that deed for the fourth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.57] 36. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that the blood come, and if he refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.58] 37. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he break a bone, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seventy stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.59] ‘The second time, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.60] 38. If he commit that deed for the third time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.61] 39. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he break a bone, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the penalty he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.62] 40. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he give up the ghost, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana;
[6.63] 41. If he commit that deed again, without having atoned for the preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.64] 42. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he give up the ghost, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the penalty he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[6.65] 43. And they shall thenceforth in their doings walk after the way of holiness, after the word (manthra) of holiness, after the ordinance of holiness.
[6.66] IIIa¹⁷⁰.
[6.67] 44. If men of the same faith, either friends or brothers, come to an agreement together, that one may obtain from the other, either goods, or a wife, or knowledge, let him who desires goods have them delivered to him; let him who desires a wife receive and wed her; let him who desires knowledge be taught the holy word (manthra spenta),
[6.68] 45. during the first part of the day and the last, during the first part of the night and the last, that his mind may be increased in intelligence and wax strong in holiness. So shall he sit up, in devotion and prayers, that he may be increased in intelligence: he shall rest during the middle part of the day, during the middle part of the night, and thus shall he continue until he can say all the words which former Aethrapaitis¹⁷⁵ have said.
[6.69] IVa.
[6.70] 46. Before¹⁷⁶ the boiling water publicly prepared, O Spitama Zarathushtra! let no one make bold to deny having received (from his neighbour) the ox or the garment in his possession.
[6.71] IIIb.
[6.72] 4737. Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the man who has a wife is far above him who lives in continence; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the childless man¹⁷⁹; he who has riches is far above him who has none.
[6.73] 48. And of two men, he who fills himself with meat receives in him Vohu Mano¹⁸⁰ much better than he who does not do so41; the latter is all but dead; the former is above him by the worth of an Asperena¹⁸², by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man¹⁸³.
[6.74] 49. This man can strive against the onsets of Asto-vidhotu; he can strive against the well-darted arrow; he can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest garment on; he can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head; he can strive against the ungodly fasting Ashemaogha¹⁸⁵.
[6.75] IVb.
[6.76] 49 (his). On the very first time when that deed has been done, without waiting until it is done again,
[6.77] 50. down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: even as if one should cut off the limbs from his perishable body with knives of iron, or still worse;
[6.78] 51. down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: even as if one should nail his perishable body with nails of iron, or still worse;
[6.79] 52. down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: even as if one should by force throw his perishable body headlong down a precipice a hundred times the height of a man, or still worse;
[6.80] 53. down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: even as if one should by force impale his perishable body, or still worse.
[6.81] 54. Down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: to wit, the deed of a man, who knowingly lying, confronts the brimstoned, golden, truth-knowing water with an appeal unto Rashnu¹⁹¹ and a lie unto Mithra¹⁹².
[6.82] 55. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He who, knowingly lying, confronts the brimstoned, golden, truth-knowing water with an appeal unto Rashnu and a lie unto Mithra, what is the penalty that he shall pay¹⁹³? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

## FARGARD 5. Purity laws

[7.2] I. 1. THERE DIES a man in the depths of the vale: a bird takes flight from the top of the mountain down into the depths of the vale, and it feeds on the corpse of the dead man there: then, up it flies from the depths of the vale to the top of the mountain: it flies to some one of the trees there, of the hard-wooded or the soft-wooded, and upon that tree it vomits and deposits dung.
[7.3] 2. Now, lo! here is a man coming up from the depths of the vale to the top of the mountain; he comes to the tree whereon the bird is sitting; from that tree he intends to take wood for the fire. He fells the tree, he hews the tree, he splits it into logs, and then he lights it in the fire, the son of Ahura Mazda. What is the penalty he shall pay 1?
[7.4] 3. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘There is no sin upon a man for any Nasu that has been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies.
[7.5] 4. ‘For were there sin upon a man for any Nasu that might have been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one Peshotanu¹⁹⁵, bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.’
[7.6] 5. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Here is a man watering a corn-field. The water streams down the field; it streams again; it streams a third time; and the fourth time, a dog, a fox, or a wolf carries some Nasu into the bed of the stream: what is the penalty that the man shall pay¹⁹⁷?
[7.7] 6. (Repeat st. 3.)
[7.8] 7. (Repeat st. 4.)
[7.9] IIa.
[7.10] 8. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Does water kill? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Water kills no man: Asto-vidhotu binds him, and, thus bound, Vayu²⁰⁰ carries him off; and the flood takes him up8, the flood takes him down, the flood throws him ashore; then birds feed upon him. When he goes away, it is by the will of Fate he goes.’
[7.11] IIb.
[7.12] 9. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Does fire kill? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fire kills no man: Asto-vidhotu binds him, and, thus bound, Vayu carries him off; and the fire burns up life and limb. When he goes away, it is by the will of Fate he goes.’
[7.14] III. 10. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the summer is past and the winter has come, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do 11? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In every house, in every borough, they shall raise three rooms for the dead 12.’
[7.15] 11. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large shall be those rooms for the dead? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Large enough not to strike the skull of the man, if he13 should stand erect, or his feet or his hands stretched out: such shall be, according to the law, the rooms for the dead.
[7.16] 12. ‘And they shall let the lifeless body lie there, for two nights, or for three nights, or a month long, until the birds begin to fly²⁰⁷, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth.
[7.17] 13. ‘And as soon as the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall lay down the dead (on the Dakhma), his eyes towards the sun.
[7.18] 14. ‘If the worshippers of Mazda have not, within a year, laid down the dead (on the Dakhma), his eyes towards the sun, thou shalt prescribe for that trespass the same penalty as for the murder of one of the faithful; until the corpse has heen rained on, until the Dakhma has heen rained on, until the unclean remains have been rained on, until the birds have eaten up the corpse.’
[7.20] IV. 15. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Is it true at thou, Ahura Mazda, seizest the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha with the wind and the clouds?
[7.21] 16. That thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the corpses? that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the Dakhmas? that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the unclean remains? that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the bones? and that then thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow back unseen? that thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow back to the sea Puitika²¹³?
[7.22] 17. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is even so as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathushtra! I, Ahura Mazda, seize the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha with the wind and the clouds.
[7.23] 18. ‘I, Ahura Mazda, take them to the corpses; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the Dakhmas; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the unclean remains; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the bones; then I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back unseen; I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back to the sea Puitika.
[7.24] 19. ‘The waters stand there boiling, boiling up in the heart of the sea Puitika, and, when cleansed there, they run back again from the sea Puitika to the sea Vouru-kasha, towards the well-watered tree, whereon grow the seeds of my plants of every kind by hundreds, by thousands, by hundreds of thousands.
[7.25] 20. ‘Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda, rain down upon the earth, to bring food to the faithful, and fodder to the beneficent cow; to bring food to my people that they may live on it, and fodder to the beneficent cow.’
[7.27] V. 21. ‘This²¹⁵ is the best, this is the fairest of all things, even as thou hast said, O pure (Zarathushtra)!’
[7.28] With these words the holy, Ahura Mazda rejoiced the holy Zarathushtra²¹⁶: ‘Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good, that purity, O Zarathushtra, that is in the Religion of Mazda for him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds.’
[7.29] 22. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! This Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra²¹⁹, by what greatness, goodness, and fairness is it great, good, and fair above all other utterances?
[7.30] 23. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘As much above all other floods as is the sea Vouru-kasha, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.
[7.31] 24. ‘As much as a great stream flows swifter than a slender rivulet, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.
[7.32] ‘As high as the great tree stands above the small plants it overshadows, so high above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.
[7.33] 25. ‘As high as heaven is above the earth that it compasses around, so high above all other utterances is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Mazda.
[7.34] ‘(Therefore), he will apply to the Ratu²²¹, he will apply to the Sraosha-varez; whether for a draona-service that should have been undertaken and has not been undertaken; or for a draona that should have been offered up and has not been offered up; or for a draona that should have been entrusted and has not been entrusted.
[7.35] 26. ‘The Ratu has power to remit him one-third of his penalty: if he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance; if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance for ever and ever.’
[7.37] VI. 27. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be a number of men resting in the same place, on the same carpet, on the same pillows, be there two men near one another, or five, or fifty, or a hundred, close by one another; and of those people one happens to die; how many of them does the Druj Nasu²²⁹ envelope with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[7.38] 28. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If the dead one be a priest, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the eleventh and defiles the ten²³¹.
[7.39] ‘If the dead one be a warrior, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the tenth and defiles the nine.
[7.40] ‘If the dead one be a husbandman, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the ninth and defiles the eight.
[7.41] 29. ‘If it be a shepherd’s dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the eighth and defiles the seven.
[7.42] ‘If it be a house-dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the seventh and defiles the six.
[7.43] 30. ‘If it be a Vohunazga dog²³², the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the sixth and defiles the five.
[7.44] ‘If it be a Tauruna dog²³³, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the fifth and defiles the four.
[7.45] 31. ‘If it be a porcupine dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the fourth and defiles the three.
[7.46] ‘If it be a Jazu dog²³⁴, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the third and defiles the two.
[7.47] 32. ‘If it be an Aiwizu dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the second and defiles the next.
[7.48] ‘If it be a Vizu dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the next, she defiles the next.’
[7.49] 33. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If it be a weasel, how many of the creatures of the good spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP) does it directly defile, how many does it indirectly defile?
[7.50] 34. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A weasel does neither directly nor indirectly defile any of the creatures of the good spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP), but him who smites and kills it; to him the uncleanness clings for ever and ever.’
[7.51] 3544. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the dead one be such a wicked, two-footed ruffian, as an ungodly Ashemaogha²³⁸, how many of the creatures of the good spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP) does he directly defile, how many does he indirectly defile?
[7.52] 36. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘No more than a frog does whose venom is dried up, and that has been dead more than a year. Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such a wicked, two-legged ruffian as an ungodly Ashemaogha, directly defiles the creatures of the good spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP), and indirectly defiles them.
[7.53] 37. ‘Whilst alive he smites the water; whilst alive he blows out the fire; whilst alive he carries off the cow²⁴²; whilst alive he smites the faithful man with a deadly blow, that parts the soul from the body; not so will he do when dead.
[7.54] 38. ‘Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such a wicked, two-legged ruffian as an ungodly Ashemaogha robs the faithful man of the full possession of his food, of his clothing, of his wood, of his bed, of his vessels; not so will he do when dead.’
[7.56] VII. 39. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When into our houses here below we have brought the fire, the Baresma, the cups, the Haoma, and the mortar, O holy Ahura Mazda! if it come to pass that either a dog or a man dies there, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[7.57] 40. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Out of the house, O Spitama Zarathushtra! shall they take the fire, the Baresma, the cups, the Haoma, and the mortar; they shall take the dead one out to the proper place whereto, according to the law, corpses must be brought, to be devoured there.’
[7.58] 41. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When shall they bring back the fire into the house wherein the man has died?
[7.59] 42. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall wait for nine nights in winter, for a month in summer, and then they shall bring back the fire to the house wherein the man has died.’
[7.60] 43. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! And if they shall bring back the fire to the house wherein the man iias died, within the nine nights, or within the month, what penalty shall they pay?
[7.61] 44. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall be Peshotanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[7.63] VIII. 4556. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If in the house of a worshipper of Mazda there be a woman with child, and if being a month gone, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or ten months gone, she bring forth a still-born child, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[7.64] 46. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that Mazdean house whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest, and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful;’
[7.65] 47. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from the fire? How far from the water? How tar fiom the consecrated bundles of Baresma? How far from the faithful?
[7.66] 48. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the faithful;-
[7.67] 49. ‘On that place shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure, and therein shall they establish her with food, therein shall they establish her with clothes.’
[7.68] 50. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the food that the woman shall first take?
[7.69] 51. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Gomez²⁵³ mixed with ashes, three draughts of it, or six, or nine, to send down the Dakhma within her womb.
[7.70] 52. ‘Afterwards she may drink boiling milk of mares, cows, sheep, or goats, with pap or without pap²⁵⁶; she may take cooked milk without water, meal without water, and wine without water.’
[7.71] 53. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so? How long shall she live thus on milk, meal, and wine?
[7.72] 54. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three nights long shall she remain so; three nights long shall she live thus on milk, meal, and wine. Then, when three nights have passed, she shall wash her body, she shall wash her clothes, with gomez and water, by the nine holes, and thus shall she be clean.’
[7.73] 55. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so? How long, after the three nights have gone, shall she sit confined, and live separated from the rest of the worshippers of Mazda, as to her seat, her food, and her clothing?
[7.74] 56. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Nine nights long shall she remain so: nine nights long, after the three nights have gone, shall she sit confined, and live separated from the rest of the worshippers of Mazda, as to her seat, her food, and her clothing. Then, when the nine nights have gone, she shall wash her body, and cleanse her clothes with gomez and water.’
[7.75] 5767. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can those clothes, when once washed and cleansed, ever be used either by a Zaotar, or by a Havanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Abered, or by an Asnatar, or by a Rathwiskar, or by a Sraosha-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman?
[7.76] 58. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Never can those clothes, even when washed and cleansed, be used either by a Zaotar, or by a Havanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Abered, or by an Asnatar, or by a Rathwiskar, or by a Sraosha-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman.
[7.77] 59. ‘But if there be in a Mazdean house a woman who is in her sickness, or a man who has become unfit for work, and who must sit in the place of infirmity, those clothes shall serve for their coverings and for their sheets, until they can withdraw their hands for prayer.
[7.78] 60. ‘Ahura Mazda, indeed, does not allow us to waste anything of value that we may have, not even so much as an Asperena’s²⁶⁷ weight of thread, not even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning.
[7.79] 61. ‘Whosoever throws any clothing on a dead body, even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning, is not a pious man whilst alive, nor shall he, when dead, have a place in Paradise.
[7.80] 62. ‘He makes himself a viaticum unto the world of the wicked, into that world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness, which is Darkness’ self. To that world, to the world of Hell, you are delivered by your own doings, by your own religion, O sinners!’

## FARGARD 6. Purity laws

[8.1a] I. HOW LONG shall the piece of ground he fallow whereon dogs or men have died? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A year long shall the piece of ground he fallow whereon dogs or men have died, O holy Zarathustra!
[8.2] ‘A year long shall no worshipper of Mazda sow or water that piece of ground whereon dogs or men have died; he may sow as he likes the rest of the ground; he may water it as he likes.
[8.3] ‘If within the year they shall sow or water the piece of ground whereon dogs or men have died, they are guilty of the sin of “burying the dead” towards the water, towards the earth, and towards the plants.’
[8.4] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda shall sow or water, within the year, the piece of ground whereon dogs or men have died, what is the penalty that they shall pay?
[8.5] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They are Peshotanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.6] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda want to till that piece of ground again, to water it, to sow it, and to plough it, what shall they do?
[8.7] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall look on the ground for any bones, hair, dung, urine, or blood that may be there.’
[8.8] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If they shall not look on the ground for any bones, hair, dung, urine, or blood that may be there, what is the penalty that they shall pay?
[8.9] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They are Peshotanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.10] II. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as the top joint of the little finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.11] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty stripes with the Aspahe-astra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.12] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as the top joint of the fore-finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.13] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifty stripes with the Aspahe-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.14] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as the top joint of the middle finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.15] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seventy stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.16] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as a finger or as a rib, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.17] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.18] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as two fingers or as two ribs, and if grease or marrow flow from it on the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.19] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.20] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as an arm-bone or as a thigh-bone, and if grease or marrow flow from it on the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.21] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.22] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as a man’s skull, and if grease or marrow flow from it on the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.23] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.24] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on the ground the whole body of a dead dog, or of a dead man, and if grease or marrow flow from it on the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
[8.25] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.26] III. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a worshipper of Mazda, walking, or running, or riding, or driving, come upon a corpse in a stream of running water, what shall he do?
[8.27] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Taking off his shoes, putting off his clothes, while the others wait, O Zarathushtra! he shall enter the river, and take the dead out of the water; he shall go down into the water ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep, or a man’s full depth, till he can reach the dead body.’
[8.28] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If, however, the body be already falling to pieces and rotting, what shall the worshipper of Mazda do?
[8.29] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He shall draw out of the water as much of the corpse as he can grasp with both hands, and he shall lay it down on the dry ground; no sin attaches to him for any bone, hair, grease, dung, urine, or blood that may drop back into the water.’
[8.30] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water in a pond does the Druj Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[8.31] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Six steps on each of the four sides. As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the pond, and lay it down on the dry ground.
[8.32] ‘And of the water they shall draw off the half, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth part, according as they are able or not; and after the corpse has been taken out and the water has been drawn off, the rest of the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before.’
[8.33] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water in a well does the Druj Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[8.34] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the well, and lay it down on the dry ground.
[8.35] ‘And of the water in the well they shall draw off the half, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth part, according as they are able or not; and after the corpse has been taken out and the water has been drawn off, the rest of the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before.’
[8.36] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of a sheet of snow or hail does the Druj Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[8.37] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three steps on each of the four sides. As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the pond, and lay it down on the dry ground.
[8.38] ‘After the corpse has been taken out, and the snow or the hail has melted, the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before.’
[8.39] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water of a running stream does the Druj Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[8.40] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three steps down the stream, nine steps up the stream, six steps across. As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the pond, and lay it down on the dry ground.
[8.41] ‘After the corpse has been taken out and the stream has flowed three times, the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before.’
[8.42] IV. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the Haoma that has been touched with Nasu from a dead dog, or from a dead man, be made clean again?
[8.43] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It can, O holy Zarathushtra! If it has been prepared for the sacrifice, there is to it no corruption, no death, no touch of any Nasu²⁸¹. If it has not been prepared for the sacrifice, (the stem) is defiled the length of four fingers: it12 shall be laid down on13 the ground, in the middle of the house, for a year long. When the year is passed, the faithful may drink of its juice at their pleasure, as before.’
[8.44] V. O Maker of the material world, thou holy One! Whither shall we bring, where shall we lay the bodies of the dead, O Ahura Mazda?
[8.45] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘On the highest summits, where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds, O holy Zarathushtra!
[8.46] ‘There shall the worshippers of Mazda fasten the corpse, by the feet and by the hair, with iron, stones, or clay, lest the corpse-eating dogs and the corpse-eating birds shall go and carry the bones to the water and to the trees.
[8.47] ‘If they shall not fasten the corpse, so that the corpse-eating dogs and the corpse-eating birds may go and carry the bones to the water and to the trees, what is the penalty that they shall pay?’
[8.48] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall be Peshotanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[8.49] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Whither shall we bring, where shall we lay the bones of the dead, O Ahura Mazda?
[8.50] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The worshippers of Mazda shall make a receptacle out of the reach of the dog, of the fox, and of the wolf, and wherein rain-water cannot stay.
[8.51] ‘They shall make it, if they can afford it, with stones, plaster, or earth; if they cannot afford it, they shall lay down the dead man on the ground, on his carpet and his pillow, clothed with the light of heaven, and beholding the sun²⁸⁹.’

## FARGARD 7. Purity laws

[9.2] I. 1. ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When a man dies, at what moment does the Druj Nasu rush upon him?’
[9.3] 2. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Directly after death, as soon as the soul has left the body, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the Druj Nasu comes and rushes upon him, from the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras²⁹¹.
[9.4] (3. ‘On him she stays until the dog has seen the corpse or eaten it up, or until the flesh-eating birds have taken flight towards it4. When the dog has seen it or eaten it up, or when the flesh-eating birds have taken flight towards it, then the Druj Nasu rushes away to the regions of the north in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.’)
[9.5] 4. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the man has been killed by a dog, or by a wolf, or by witchcraft, or by the artifices of hatred, or by falling down a precipice, or by the law²⁹⁵, or by calumny, or by the noose, how long after death does the Druj Nasu come and rush upon the dead?
[9.6] 5. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘At the next watch after death, the Druj Nasu comes and rushes upon the dead, from the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.’
[9.7] II10.
[9.8] 6. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be a number of men resting in the same place, on the same carpet, on the same pillows, be there two men near one another, or five, or fifty, or a hundred, close by one another; and of those people one happens to die; how many of them does the Druj Nasu envelope with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[9.9] 7. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If the dead one be a priest, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the eleventh and defiles the ten.
[9.10] ‘If the dead one he a warrior, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the tenth and defiles the nine.
[9.11] ‘If the dead one be a husbandman, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the ninth and defiles the eight.
[9.12] 8. ‘If it be a shepherd’s dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the eighth and defiles the seven.
[9.13] ‘If it be a house dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the seventh and defiles the six.
[9.14] 9. ‘If it he a Vohunazga dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the sixth and defiles the five.
[9.15] ‘If it be a Tauruna dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the fifth and defiles the four.’
[9.16] ... ‘Those clothes shall serve for their coverings and for their sheets.’...
[9.18] III. 10. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of his bedding and pillow does the Druj Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and pollution?
[9.19] 11. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The Druj Nasu defiles with corruption, infection, and pollution the upper sheet and the inner garment.’
[9.20] 12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can that garment be made clean, O holy Ahura Mazda! that has been touched by the carcass of a dog or the corpse of a man?
[9.21] 13. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It can, O holy Zarathushtra!’
[9.22] How so?
[9.23] ‘If there be on the garment seed, or blood, or dirt, or vomit, the worshippers of Mazda shall rend it to pieces, and bury it under the ground.
[9.24] 14. ‘But if there be no seed (on the garment), nor blood, nor dirt, nor vomit, then the worshippers of Mazda shall wash it with gomez.
[9.25] 15. ‘If it be leather, they shall wash it with gomez three times, they shall rub it with earth three times, they shall wash it with water three times, and afterwards they shall expose it to the air for three months at the window of the house.
[9.26] ‘If it be woven cloth, they shall wash it with gomez six times, they shall rub it with earth six times, they shall wash it with water six times, and afterwards they shall expose it to the air for six months at the window of the house.
[9.27] 16. ‘The spring named Ardvi Sura, O Spitama Zarathushtra! that spring of mine, purifies the seed of males, the womb of females, the milk of females.’
[9.28] 1718. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can those clothes, when once washed and cleansed, ever be used either by a Zaotar, or by a Havanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Abered, or by an Asnatar, or by a Rathwiskar, or by a Sraosha-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman?
[9.29] 18. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Never can those clothes, even when washed and cleansed, be used either by a Zaotar, or by a Havanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Abered, or by an Asnatar, or by a Rathwiskar, or by a Sraosha-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman.
[9.30] 19. ‘But if there be in a Mazdean house a woman who is in her sickness, or a man who has become unfit for work, and who must sit in the place of infirmity, those clothes shall serve for their coverings and for their sheets, until they can withdraw their hands for prayer.
[9.31] 20. ‘Ahura Mazda, indeed, does not allow us to waste anything of value that we may have, not even so much as an Asperena’s weight of thread, not even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning.
[9.32] 21. ‘Whosoever throws any clothing on a dead body, even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning, is not a pious man whilst alive, nor shall he, when dead, have a place in Paradise.
[9.33] 22. ‘He makes himself a viaticum unto the world of the wicked, into that world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness, which is Darkness’ self. To that world, to the world of Hell, you are delivered by your own doings, by your own religion, O sinners!’
[9.35] IV. 23. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can he be clean again who has eaten of the carcass of a dog or of the corpse of a man³⁰⁸?
[9.36] 24. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He cannot, O holy Zarathushtra! His burrow shall be dug out, his heart shall be torn out, his bright eyes shall be put out; the Druj Nasu falls upon him, takes hold of him even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean thenceforth, for ever and ever.’
[9.38] V. 25. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can he be clean again, O holy Ahura Mazda! who has brought a corpse with filth into the waters, or unto the fire, and made either unclean?
[9.39] 26. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He cannot, O holy Zarathushtra! Those wicked ones it is, those Nasu-cutters, that most increase spiders and locusts; those wicked ones it is, those Nasu-cutters, that most increase the grass-destroying drought.
[9.40] 27. ‘Those wicked ones it is, those Nasu-cutters, that increase most the power of the winter, produced by the fiends, the cattle-killing, thick-snowing, overflowing, the piercing, fierce, mischievous winter. Upon them comes and rushes the Druj Nasu she takes hold of them even to the end of the nails, and they are unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.’
[9.42] VI. 28. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the wood be made clean, O holy Ahura Mazda! whereunto Nasu has been brought from a dead dog, or from a dead man?
[9.43] 29. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It can, O holy Zarathushtra!’
[9.44] How so?
[9.45] ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, they shall lay down, apart on the ground, all the wood on a Vitasti³¹⁸ a all around, if the wood be dry; on a Frarathni³¹⁹ all around, if it be wet; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
[9.46] 30. ‘But if the Nasu has already been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, they shall lay down, apart on the ground, all the wood on a Frarathni all around, if the wood be dry; on a Frabazu³²² all around, if it be wet; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
[9.47] 31. ‘Thus much of the wood around the dead shall they lay down, apart on the ground, according as the wood is dry or wet; as it is hard or soft; they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.’
[9.48] 32. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the corn or the fodder be made clean O holy Ahura Mazda! whereunto Nasu has been brought from a dead dog, or from a dead man?
[9.49] 33. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It can, O holy Zarathushtra!’ How so?
[9.50] ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds they shall lay down, apart on the ground, all the corn on a Frarathni all around, if the corn be dry on a Frabazu all around, if it be wet; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
[9.51] 34. ‘But if the Nasu has already been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, they shall lay down, apart on the ground, all the corn on a Frabazu all around, if the corn be dry; on a Vibazu³²⁵ all around, if it be wet then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
[9.52] 35. ‘Thus much of the corn around the dead shall they lay down, apart on the ground, according as the corn is dry or wet; as it is sown or not sown; as it is reaped or not reaped; (as it is beaten or not beaten)37; as it is winnowed or not winnowed; (as it is ground or not ground); as it is kneaded (or not kneaded)39; they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.’
[9.53] VIIa.
[9.54] 36. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a worshipper of Mazda want to practice the art of healing, on whom shall he first prove his skill? on worshippers of Mazda or on worshippers of the Daevas³²⁹?
[9.55] 37. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘On worshippers of the Daevas shall he first prove himself, rather than on worshippers of Mazda. If he treat with the knife a worshipper of the Daevas and he die; if he treat with the knife a second worshipper of the Daevas and he die; if he treat with the knife for the third time a worshipper of the Daevas and he die, he is unfit for ever and ever.
[9.56] 38. ‘Let him therefore never attend any worshipper of Mazda; let him never treat with the knife and worshipper of Mazda, nor wound him with the knife. If he shall ever attend any worshipper of Mazda, if he shall ever treat with the knife any worshipper of Mazda, and wound him with the knife, he shall pay for his wound the penalty for willful murder.
[9.57] 39. ‘If he treat with the knife a worshipper of the Daevas and he recover; if he treat with the knife a second worshipper of the Daevas and he recover; if for the third time he treat with the knife a worshipper of the Daevas and he recover; then he is fit for ever and ever.
[9.58] 40. ‘He may henceforth at his will attend worshippers of Mazda; he may at his will treat with the knife worshippers of Mazda, and heal them with the knife.
[9.59] VIIb.
[9.60] 41. ‘A healer shall heal a priest for a blessing of the just; he shall heal the master of a house for the value of an ox of low value; he shall heal the lord of a borough for the value of an ox of average value; he shall heal the lord of a town for the value of an ox of high value; he shall heal the lord of a province for the value of a chariot and four.
[9.61] 42. ‘He shall heal the wife of the master of a house for the value of a she-ass; he shall heal the wife of the lord of a borough for the value of a cow; he shall heal the wife of the lord of a town for the value of a mare; he shall heal the wife of the lord of a province for the value of a she-camel.
[9.62] 43. ‘He shall heal the heir of a great house for the value of an ox of high value; he shall heal an ox of high value for the value of an ox of average value; he shall heal an ox of average value for the value of an ox of low value; he shall heal an ox of low value for the value of a sheep; he shall heal a sheep for the value of a piece of meat.
[9.63] 44. ‘If several healers offer themselves together, O Spitama Zarathushtra! namely, one who heals with the knife, one who heals with herbs, and one who heals with the Holy Word (manthra)47, let one apply to the healing by the Holy Word: for this one is the best-healing of all healers who heals with the Holy Word; he will best drive away sickness from the body of the faithful.’
[9.65] VIII. 45. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long after the corpse of a dead man has been laid down on the ground, clothed with the light of heaven and beholding the sun, is the ground clean again?
[9.66] 46. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the corpse of a dead man has lain on the ground for a year, clothed with the light of heaven, and beholding the sun, then the ground is clean again, O holy Zarathushtra³³⁹!’
[9.67] 47. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long after the corpse of a dead man has been buried in the earth, is the earth clean again?
[9.68] 48. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the corpse of a dead man has lain buried in the earth for fifty years, O Spitama Zarathushtra! then the earth is clean again.’
[9.69] 49. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long after the corpse of a dead man has been laid down on a Dakhma, is the ground, whereon the Dakhma stands, clean again?
[9.70] 50. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Not until the dust of the corpse, O Spitama Zarathushtra! has mingled with the dust of the earth. Urge every one in the material world, O Spitama Zarathushtra! to pull down Dakhmas³⁴³.
[9.71] 51. ‘He who should pull down Dakhmas, even so much thereof as the size of his own body, his sins in thought, word, and deed are remitted as they would be by a Patet; his sins in thought, word, and deed are undone.
[9.72] 52. ‘Not for his soul shall the two spirits wage war with one another; and when he enters Paradise, the stars, the moon, and the sun shall rejoice in him; and I, Ahura Mazda, shall rejoice in him, saying: “ Hail, O man! thou who hast just passed from the decaying world into the undecaying one³⁴⁶!”’
[9.73] 5558. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are there Daevas: Where is it they offer worship to the Daevas: What is the place whereon troops of Daevas rush together, whereon troops of Daevas come rushing along? What is the place whereon they rush together to kill their fifties and their hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thousands and their tens of thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads?
[9.74] 56. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Those Dakhmas that are built upon the face of the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! and whereon are laid the corpses of dead men, that is the place where there are Daevas, that is the place whereon troops of Daevas rush together; whereon troops of Daevas come rushing along; whereon they rush together to kill their fifties and their hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thousands and their tens of thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads.
[9.75] 57. ‘On those Dakhmas, O Spitama Zarathushtra! those Daevas take food and void filth. As you, men, in the material world, you cook meal and eat cooked meat, so do they. It is, as it were, the smell of their feeding that you smell there, O men!
[9.76] 58. ‘For thus they go on reveling, until that stench is rooted in the Dakhmas. In those Dakhmas arise the infection of diseases, itch, hot fever, naeza, cold fever, rickets, and hair untimely white. On those Dakhmas meet the worst murderers, from the hour when the sun is down.
[9.77] 59. ‘And people of small understanding who do not seek for better understanding, the Jainis³⁵² make those diseases grow stronger by a third, on their thighs, on their hands, on their three-plaited hair.’
[9.79] IX. 6066. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If in the house of a worshipper of Mazda there be a woman with child, and if being a month gone, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or ten months gone, she bring forth a still-born child, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[9.80] 61. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that Mazdean house whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest, and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful;’
[9.81] 62. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles of baresma? How far from the faithful?
[9.82] 63. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the faithful;-
[9.83] 64. ‘On that place shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure, and therein shall they establish her with food, therein shall they establish her with clothes.’
[9.84] 65. O Maker of the material word, thou Holy One! What is the food that the woman shall first take?
[9.85] 66. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Gomez mixed with ashes, three draughts of it, or six, or nine, to send down the Dakhma within her womb.
[9.86] 67. ‘Afterwards she may drink boiling milk of mares, cows, sheep, or goats, with pap or without pap; she may take cooked milk without water, meal without water, and wine without water.’ 68. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so? How long shall she live thus on milk, meal, and wine?
[9.87] 69. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three nights long shall she remain so; three nights long shall she live thus on milk, meal, and wine. Then, when three nights have passed, she shall wash her body, she shall wash her clothes, with gomez and water, by the nine holes, and thus shall she be clean.’
[9.88] 70. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! But if fever befall her unclean body, if these two worst pains, hunger and thirst, befall her, may she be allowed to drink water?
[9.89] 71. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She may; the first thing for her is to have her life saved. From the hands of one of the holy men, a holy faithful man, who knows the holy knowledge, she shall drink of the strength-giving water. But you, worshippers of Mazda, fix ye the penalty for it. The Ratu being applied to, the Sraosha-varez being applied to69, shall prescribe the penalty to be paid.’
[9.90] 72. What is the penalty to be paid?
[9.91] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The deed is that of a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[9.93] X. 73. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the eating-vessels be made clean that have been touched by Nasu from a dog, or Nasu from a man?
[9.94] 74. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They can, O holy Zarathushtra!’
[9.95] How so?
[9.96] ‘If they be of gold, you shall wash them once with gomez, you shall rub them once with earth, you shall wash them once with water, and they shall be clean.
[9.97] ‘If they be of silver, you shall wash them twice with gomez, you shall rub them twice with earth, you shall wash them twice with water, and they shall be clean.
[9.98] (75. ‘If they be of iron, you shall wash them thrice with gomez, you shall rub them thrice with earth, you shall wash them thrice with water, and they shall be clean.
[9.99] ‘If they be of steel, you shall wash them four times with gomez, you shall rub them four times with earth, you shall wash them four times with water, and they shall be clean.
[9.100] ‘If they be of stone, you shall wash them six times with gomez, you shall rub them six times with earth, you shall wash them six times with water, and they shall be clean.)
[9.101] ‘If they be of earth, of wood, or of clay, they are unclean for ever and ever.’
[9.103] XI. 76. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the cow be made clean that has eaten of the carcass of a dog, or of the corpse of a man?
[9.104] 77. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She can, O holy Zarathushtra! The priest shall not, within a year, take from her either milk or cheese for the libation, nor meat for the libation and the Baresma³⁶³. When a year has passed, then the faithful may eat of her as before.’
[9.106] XII. 78. Who is he, O holy Ahura Mazda! who, meaning well and desiring righteousness, prevents righteousness? Who is he who, meaning well, falls into the ways of the Druj³⁶⁵?
[9.107] 79. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘This one, meaning well and desiring righteousness, prevents righteousness; this one, meaning well, falls into the ways of the Druj, who offers up water defiled by the dead and unfit for libation; or who offers up in the dead of the night water unfit for libation.’

## FARGARD 8. Funerals and purification, unlawful sex

[10.2] I 1. IF A dog or a man die under a hut of wood or a hut of felt what shall the worshippers of Mazda do2?
[10.3] 2. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall search for a Dakhma, they shall look for a Dakhma all around. If they find it easier to remove the dead, they shall take out the dead, they shall let the house stand, and shall perfume it with Urvasna or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant.
[10.4] 3. ‘If they find it easier to remove the house, they shall take away the house, they shall let the dead lie on the spot, and shall perfume the house with Urvasna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant.’
[10.6] II 4. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a dog or a man happens to die, and it is raining, or snowing, or blowing, or it is dark, or the day is at its end, when flocks and men lose their way, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do6?
[10.7] 5. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that house whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest, and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful;’-
[10.8] 6. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles of Baresma? How far from the faithful?
[10.9] 7. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the faithful;-
[10.10] 8. ‘On that place they shall dig a grave, half a foot deep if the earth be hard, half the height of a man if it be soft; (they shall cover the surface of the grave with ashes or cowdung)9; they shall cover the surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones, or of dry earth.
[10.11] 911. ‘And they shall let the lifeless body lie there, for two nights, or three nights, or a month long, until the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth.
[10.12] 10. ‘And when the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall make a breach in the wall of the house, and two men, strong and skillful, having stripped their clothes off³⁸⁰, shall take up the body from the clay or the stones, or from the plastered house, and they shall lay it down on a place where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds.
[10.13] 11. ‘Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three paces from the dead, and the holy Ratu³⁸² shall proclaim to the worshippers of Mazda thus: “Worshippers of Mazda, let the urine be brought here wherewith the corpse-bearers there shall wash their hair and their bodies!”’
[10.14] 12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies? Is it of sheep or of oxen? Is it of man or of woman?
[10.15] 13. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is of sheep or of oxen; not of man nor of woman, except a man or a woman who has married the next-of-kin: these shall therefore procure the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies.’
[10.17] III 14. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the way, whereon the carcasses of dogs or corpses of men have been carried, be passed through again by flocks and herds, by men and women, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful?
[10.18] 15. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It cannot be passed through again by flocks and herds, nor by men and women, nor by the fire of Ahura Mazda, nor by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, nor by the faithful.
[10.19] 16. ‘They shall therefore cause a yellow dog with four eyes, or a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times through that way³⁸⁷. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, (in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras³⁸⁸.)
[10.20] 17. ‘If the dog goes unwillingly, O Spitama Zarathushtra, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go six times through that way. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, (in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.)
[10.21] 18. ‘If the dog goes unwillingly, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go nine times through that way. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, has been brought there, then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, (in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.)
[10.22] 19. ‘An Athravan shall first go along the way and shall say aloud these victorious words: “Yatha aha vairyo: - The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness.
‘“The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda.
‘“He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.
[10.23] 20. ‘“Kem-na mazda: - What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom but thy Atar and Vohu-mano, through whose work I keep on the world of righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule!
‘“Ke verethrem-ja: - Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-mano and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda!
[10.24] 21. ‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O creation of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!”
[10.25] 22. ‘Then the worshippers of Mazda may at their will bring by those ways sheep and oxen, men and women, and Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and the faithful.
[10.26] ‘The worshippers of Mazda may afterwards prepare meals with meat and wine in that house; it shall be clean, and there will be no sin, as before.’
[10.28] IV 23. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the feet, what is the penalty that he shall pay³⁹⁸? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[10.29] 24. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover both legs, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[10.30] 25. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the whole body, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[10.32] V 26. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man, by force, commits the unnatural sin (sodomy), what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[10.33] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[10.34] 27. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man voluntarily commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty for it? What is the atonement for it? What is the cleansing from it?
[10.35] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘For that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing that can atone, nothing that can cleanse from it; it is a trespass for which there is no atonement, for ever and ever.’
[10.36] 2833. When is it so?
[10.37] ‘It is so if the sinner be a professor of the Religion of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it.
‘But if he be not a professor of the Religion of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it, then his sin is taken from him, if he makes confession of the Religion of Mazda and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.
[10.38] 29. ‘The Religion of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! takes away from him who makes confession of it the bonds of his sin; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust; it takes away (the sin of) murdering one of the faithful; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse; it takes away (the sin of) deeds for which there is no atonement; it takes away the worst sin of usury; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.
[10.39] 30. In the same way the Religion of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathushtra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain.
‘So let all the deeds he doeth be henceforth good, O Zarathushtra! a full atonement for his sin is effected by means of the Religion of Mazda.’
[10.40] 31. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the man that is a Daeva? Who is he that is a worshipper of the Daevas? that is a male paramour of the Daevas? that is a female paramour of the Daevas? that is a wife to the Daeva⁴⁰⁰? that is as bad as a Daeva: that is in his whole being a Daeva? Who is he that is a Daeva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Daevas after death?
[10.41] 32. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The man that lies with mankind as man lies with womankind, or as woman lies with mankind, is the man that is a Daeva; this one is the man that is a worshipper of the Daevas, that is a male paramour of the Daevas, that is a female paramour of the Daevas, that is a wife to the Daeva; this is the man that is as bad as a Daeva, that is in his whole being a Daeva; this is the man that is a Daeva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Daevas after death: so is he, whether he has lain with mankind as mankind, or as womankind.’
[10.43] VI 33. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Shall the man be clean who has touched a corpse that has been dried up and dead more than a year?
[10.44] 34. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He shall. The dry mingles not with the dry⁴⁰⁴. Should the dry mingle with the dry, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one Peshotanu, bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.’
[10.46] VII 35. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the man be made clean that has touched the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man?
[10.47] 36. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He can, O holy Zarathushtra!’
How so?
[10.48] ‘If the Nasu has already been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, he shall cleanse his body with gomez and water, and he shall be clean.
[10.49] 37. ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, then the worshippers of Mazda shall dig three holes in the ground, and he shall thereupon wash his body with gomez, not with water. They shall then lift and bring my dog⁴⁰⁹, they shall bring him (thus shall it be done and not otherwise) in front (of the man)44.
[10.50] 38. ‘The worshippers of Mazda shall dig three other holes in the ground, and he shall thereupon wash his body with gomez, not with water. They shall then lift and bring my dog, they shall bring him (thus shall it be done and not otherwise) in front (of the man). Then shall they wait until he is dried even to the last hair on the top of his head.
[10.51] 39. ‘They shall dig three more holes in the ground, three paces away from the preceding, and he shall thereupon wash his body with water, not with gomez.
[10.52] 40. ‘He shall first wash his hands; if his hands be not first washed, he makes the whole of his body unclean. When he has washed his hands three times, after his hands have been washed, thou shalt sprinkle with water the forepart of his skull.’
[10.53] 41. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the forepart of the skull, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
[10.54] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In front, between the brows, the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.55] 42. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach in front, between the brows, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘On the back part of the skull the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.56] 43. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the back part of the skull, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In front, on the jaws, the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.57] 44. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach in front, on the jaws, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right ear the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.58] 45. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right ear, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left ear the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.59] 46. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left ear, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right shoulder the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.60] 47. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right shoulder, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left shoulder the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.61] 48. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left shoulder, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right arm-pit the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.62] 49. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right arm-pit, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left arm-pit the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.63] 50. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left arm-pit, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In front, upon the chest, the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.64] 51. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the chest in front, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the back the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.65] 52. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the back, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right nipple the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.66] 53. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right nipple, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left nipple the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.67] 54. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left nipple, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right rib the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.68] 55. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right rib, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left rib the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.69] 56. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left rib, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right hip the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.70] 57. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right hip, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left hip the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.71] 58. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left hip, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the sexual parts the Druj Nasu rushes. If the unclean one be a man, thou shalt sprinkle him first behind, then before; if the unclean one be a woman, thou shalt sprinkle her first before, then behind.’
[10.72] 59. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the sexual parts, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right thigh the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.73] 60. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right thigh, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left thigh the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.74] 61. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left thigh, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right knee the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.75] 62. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right knee, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left knee the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.76] 63. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left knee, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right leg the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.77] 64. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right leg, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left leg the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.78] 65. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left leg, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right ankle the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.79] 66. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right ankle, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left ankle the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.80] 67. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left ankle, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right instep the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.81] 68. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right instep, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left instep the Druj Nasu rushes.’
[10.82] 69. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left instep, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She turns round under the sole of the foot; it looks like the wing of a fly.
[10.83] 70. ‘He shall press his toes upon the ground, and shall raise up his heels; thou shalt sprinkle his right sole with water; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left sole. Thou shalt sprinkle the left sole with water; then the Druj Nasu turns round under the toes; it looks like the wing of a fly.
[10.84] 71. ‘He shall press his heels upon the ground, and shall raise up his toes; thou shalt sprinkle his right toe with water; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left toe. Thou shalt sprinkle the left toe with water; then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.
[10.85] (72. ‘And thou shalt say aloud these victorious, most healing words:
[10.86] ‘“The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” etc.
[10.87] ((Exorcism:))
[10.88] ‘“What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me?” &c.
[10.89] ‘“Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching?” &c.52
[10.90] ‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta!
[10.91] Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish,
[10.92] O creation of the fiend! Perish O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness⁴¹⁹!”’)
[10.94] VIII 73. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda, walking, or running, or riding, or driving, come upon a Nasu-burning fire, whereon Nasu is being burnt or cooked, what shall they do?
[10.95] 74. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall kill the man that cooks the Nasu; surely they shall kill him⁴²¹. They shall take off the cauldron, they shall take off the tripod.
[10.96] 75. ‘Then they shall kindle wood from that fire; either wood of those trees that have the seed of fire in them, or bundles of the very wood that was prepared for that fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
[10.97] 76. ‘Thus they shall lay a first bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
[10.98] 77. ‘They shall lay down a second bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire: then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
‘They shall lay down a third bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
‘They shall lay down a fourth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
‘They shall lay down a fifth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
‘They shall lay down a sixth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
‘They shall lay down a seventh bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
They shall lay down an eighth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
[10.99] 78. ‘They shall lay down a ninth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
[10.100] 79. ‘If a man shall then piously bring unto the fire, O Spitama Zarathushtra! wood of Urvasna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling wood;
[10.101] 80. ‘Wheresoever the wind shall bring the perfume of the fire, thereunto the fire of Ahura Mazda shall go and kill thousands of unseen Daevas, thousands of fiends, the brood of darkness, thousands of couples of Yatus and Pairikas⁴²⁴.’
[10.103] IX 81. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring a Nasu-burning fire to the Daityo-gatu, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.104] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought ten thousand fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.105] 82. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire wherein impure liquid has been burnt, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.106] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought a thousand fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.
[10.107] 83. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire wherein dung has been burnt, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.108] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought five hundred fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.109] 84. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from the kiln of a potter, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.110] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought four hundred fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.111] 85. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from a glazier’s kiln, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.112] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought to the Daityo-gatu as many fire-brands as there were glasses (brought to that fire)62.’
[10.113] 86. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from the aonya paro-berejya, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.114] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought to the Daityo-gatu as many fire-brands as there were plants.’
[10.115] 87. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a goldsmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought a hundred fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.116] 88. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a silversmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought ninety fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.117] 89. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a blacksmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.118] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought eighty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.119] 90. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! It a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a worker in steel, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.120] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought seventy fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.121] 91. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire of an oven, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted from his body?
[10.122] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought sixty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.123] 92. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under a cauldron, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.124] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as it he had, here below, brought fifty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.125] 93. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from an aonya takhairya, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.126] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought forty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.127] 94. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring a herdsman’s fire to the Daityo-gatu, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.128] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought thirty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.129] (9567. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire of the field, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.130] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought twenty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’)
[10.131] 96. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire of his own hearth, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?
[10.132] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought ten fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’
[10.134] X 97. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can a man be made clean, O holy Ahura Mazda! who has touched a corpse in a distant place in the wilderness?
[10.135] 98. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He can, O holy Zarathushtra.’
[10.136] How so?
[10.137] ‘If the Nasu has already been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs or the corpse-eating birds, he shall wash his body with gomez; he shall wash it thirty times, he shall rub it dry with the hand thirty times, beginning every time with the head.
[10.138] 99. ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs or the corpse-eating birds, he shall wash his body with gomez; he shall wash it fifteen times, he shall rub it dry with the hand fifteen times.
[10.139] 100. ‘Then he shall run a distance of a Hathra⁴³⁸. He shall run until he meets some man on his way, and he shall cry out aloud: “Here am I, one who has touched the corpse of a man, and who is powerless in mind, powerless in tongue, powerless in hand. Do make me clean.” Thus shall he run until he overtakes the man. If the man will not cleanse him, he remits him the third of his trespass.
[10.140] 101. ‘Then he shall run another Hathra, he shall run off again until he overtakes a man; if the man will not cleanse him, he remits him the half of his trespass.
[10.141] 102. ‘Then he shall run a third Hathra, he shall run off a third time until he overtakes a man; if the man will not cleanse him, he remits him the whole of his trespass.
[10.142] 103. ‘Thus shall he run forwards until he comes near a house, a borough, a town, an inhabited district, and he shall cry out with a loud voice: “Here am I, one who has touched the corpse of a man, and who is powerless in mind, powerless in tongue, powerless in hand. Do make me clean.” If they will not cleanse him, he shall cleanse his body with gomez and water; thus shall he be clean.’
[10.143] 104. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If he find water on his way and the water make him subject to a penalty, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[10.144] 105. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[10.145] 106. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If he find trees on his way and the fire make him subject to a penalty, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[10.146] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[10.147] 107. ‘This is the penalty, this is the atonement which saves the faithful man who submits to it, not him who does not submit to it.
[10.148] Such a one shall surely be an inhabitant in the mansion of the Druj⁴⁴⁵.’

## FARGARD 9. The Nine Nights’ Barashnum.

[11.1] Ia.
[11.2] 1. ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: O most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! To whom shall they apply here below, who want to cleanse their body defiled by the dead?’
[11.3] 2. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘To a pious man⁴⁴⁶, O Spitama Zarathushtra! who knows how to speak, who speaks truth, who has learned the Holy Word (manthra), who is pious, and knows best the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda. That man shall fell the trees off the surface of the ground on a space of nine Vibazus⁴⁴⁷ square;
[11.4] 3. ‘in that part of the ground where there is least water and where there are fewest trees, the part which is the cleanest and driest, and the least passed through by sheep and oxen, and by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful.’
[11.5] 4. How far from the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles of Baresma? How far from the faithful?
[11.6] 5. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful.
[11.7] 6. ‘Then thou shalt dig a hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.
[11.8] 7. ‘Thou shalt dig a second hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter end ice have come.
‘Thou shalt dig a third hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.
‘Thou shalt dig a fourth hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.
‘Thou shalt dig a fifth hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.
‘Thou shalt dig a sixth hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.’
[11.9] 8. How far from one another?
‘One pace.’
How much is the pace?
‘As much as three feet.
[11.10] 9. ‘Then thou shalt dig three holes more, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.’
How far from the former six?
‘Three paces.’
What sort of paces?
‘Such as are taken in walking.’
How much are those (three) paces?
‘As much as nine feet.
[11.11] 10. ‘Then thou shalt draw a furrow all around with a metal knife.’
How far from the holes?
‘Three paces.’
What sort of paces?
‘Such as are taken in walking.’
How much are those (three) paces?
‘As much as nine feet.
[11.12] 11. ‘Then thou shalt draw twelve furrows; three of which thou shalt draw to surround and divided (from the rest) (the first) three holes; three thou shalt draw to surround and divide (the first) six holes; three thou shalt draw to surround and divide the nine holes; three thou shalt draw around the (three) inferior holes, outside the (six other) holes. At each of the three times nine feet, thou shalt place stones as steps to the holes; or potsherds, or stumps, or clods, or any hard matter.’
[11.13] Ib.
[11.14] 12. ‘Then the man defiled shall walk to the holes; thou, O Zarathushtra! shalt stand outside by the furrow, and thou shalt recite, Nemascha ya armaitish izhacha11; and the man defiled shall repeat, Nemascha ya armaitish izhacha.
[11.15] 13. ‘The Druj becomes weaker and weaker at every one of those words which are a weapon to smite the fiend Angra Mainyu, to smite Aeshma of the murderous spear, to smite the Mazainya fiends, to smite all the fiends.
[11.16] 14. ‘Then thou shalt take for the gomez a spoon of iron or of lead. When thou takest a stick with nine knots, O Spitama Zarathushtra! to sprinkle (the gomez) from that spoon, thou shalt fasten the spoon to the end of the stick.
[11.17] 15. ‘They shall wash his hands first. If his hands be not washed first, he makes his whole body unclean. When he has washed his hands three times, after his hands have been washed, thou shalt sprinkle the forepart of his skull; then the Druj Nasu rushes in front, between his brows.
[11.18] 16. Thou shalt sprinkle him in front between the brows; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the back part of the skull.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the back part of the skull; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the jaws.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the jaws; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right ear.
[11.19] 17. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right ear; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left ear.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left ear; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right shoulder.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right shoulder; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left shoulder.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left shoulder; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right arm-pit.
[11.20] 18. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right arm-pit; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left arm-pit.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left arm-pit; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the chest.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the chest; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the back.
[11.21] 19. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the back; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right nipple.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right nipple; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left nipple.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left nipple; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right rib.
[11.22] 20. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right rib; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left rib.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left rib; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right hip.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right hip; then the Druj Nasu rushes ‘upon the left hip.
[11.23] 21. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left hip; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the sexual parts.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the sexual parts. If the unclean one be a man, thou shalt sprinkle him first behind, then before; if the unclean one be a woman, thou shalt sprinkle her first before, then behind; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right thigh.
[11.24] 22. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right thigh; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left thigh.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left thigh; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right knee.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right knee; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left knee.
[11.25] 23. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left knee; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right leg.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right leg; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left leg.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left leg; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right ankle.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right ankle; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left ankle.
[11.26] 24. ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left ankle; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the right instep.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right instep; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left instep.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left instep; then the Druj Nasu turns round under the sole of the foot; it looks like the wing of a fly.
[11.27] 25. ‘He shall press his toes upon the ground and shall raise up his heels; thou shalt sprinkle his right sole; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left sole.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left sole; then the Druj Nasu turns round under the toes; it looks like the wing of a fly.
[11.28] 26. ‘He shall press his heels upon the ground and shall raise up his toes; thou shalt sprinkle his right toe; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left toe.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left toe; then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.
[11.29] 27. ‘And thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words: ‘“Yatha ahu vairyo: - The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness.
‘“The gifts of Vohu-mano to deeds done in this world for Mazda.
‘“He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.
[11.30] ‘“Kem-na mazda: - What protector hadst thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom, but thy Atar and Vohu-mano, through whose work I keep on the world of Righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule!
[11.31] ‘“Ke verethrem-ja: - Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-mano and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda!
[11.32] ‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness⁴⁶²“
[11.33] 28. ‘At the first hole the man becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those victorious, most healing words: - “Yatha ahu vairyo.” &c.18
[11.34] ‘At the second hole he becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those victorious, most healing words: - “Yatha ahu vairyo,” &c.
[11.35] ‘At the third hole he becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those victorious, most healing words: - “Yatha ahu vairyo,” &c.
[11.36] ‘At the fourth hole he becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those victorious, most healing words: - “Yatha ahu vairyo,” &c.
[11.37] ‘At the fifth hole he becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those victorious, most healing words: - “Yatha ahu vairyo,” &c.
[11.38] ‘At the sixth hole he becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those victorious, most healing words: - “Yatha ahu vairyo,” &c.
[11.39] 29. ‘Afterwards the man defiled shall sit down, inside the furrows, outside the furrows of the six holes, four fingers from those furrows. There he shall cleanse his body with thick handfuls of dust.
[11.40] 30. ‘Fifteen times shall they take up dust from the ground for him to rub his body, and they shall wait there until he is dry even to the last hair on his head.
[11.41] 31. ‘When his body is dry with dust, then he shall step over the holes (containing water). At the first hole he shall wash his body once with water; at the second hole he shall wash his body twice with water; at the third hole he shall wash his body thrice with water.
[11.42] 32. ‘Then he shall perfume (his body) with Urvasna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant; then he shall put on his clothes, and shall go back to his house.
[11.43] 33. ‘He shall sit down there in the place of infirmity, inside the house, apart from the other worshippers of Mazda. He shall not go near the fire, nor near the water, nor near the earth, nor near the cow, nor near the trees, nor near the faithful, either man or woman. Thus shall he continue until three nights have passed. When three nights have passed, he shall wash his body, he shall wash his clothes with gomez and water to make them clean.
[11.44] 34. ‘Then he shall sit down again in the place of infirmity, inside the house, apart from the other worshippers of Mazda. He shall not go near the fire, nor near the water, nor near the earth, nor near the cow, nor near the trees, nor near the faithful, either man or woman. Thus shall he continue until six nights have passed. When six nights have passed, he shall wash his body, he shall wash his clothes with gomez and water to make them clean.
[11.45] 35. ‘Then he shall sit down again in the place of infirmity, inside the house, apart from the other worshippers of Mazda. He shall not go near the fire, nor near the water, nor near the earth, nor near the cow, nor near the trees, nor near the faithful, either man or woman. Thus shall he continue, until nine nights have passed. When nine nights have passed, he shall wash his body, he shall wash his clothes with gomez and water to make them clean.
[11.46] 36. ‘He may thenceforth go near the fire, near the water, near the earth, near the cow, near the trees, and near the faithful, either man or woman.
[11.47] II21
[11.48] 37. ‘Thou shalt cleanse a priest for a blessing of the just.
[11.49] ‘Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a province for the value of a camel of high value.
[11.50] ‘Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a town for the value of a stallion of high value.
[11.51] ‘Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a borough for the value of a bull of high value.
[11.52] ‘Thou shalt cleanse the master of a house for the value of a cow three years old.
[11.53] 38. ‘Thou shalt cleanse the wife of the master of a house for the value of a ploughing cow.
[11.54] ‘Thou shalt cleanse a menial for the value of a draught cow.
[11.55] ‘Thou shalt cleanse a young child for the value of a lamb.
[11.56] 39. ‘These are the heads of cattle — flocks or herds — that the worshippers of Mazda shall give to the man who has cleansed them, if they can afford it; if they cannot afford it, they shall give him any other value that may make him leave their houses well pleased with them, and free from anger.
[11.57] 40. ‘For if the man who has cleansed them leave their houses displeased with them, and full of anger, then the Druj Nasu enters them from the nose (of the dead), from the eyes, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder parts.
[11.58] 41. ‘And the Druj Nasu rushes upon them even to the end of the nails, and they are unclean thenceforth for ever and ever.
‘It grieves the sun indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! to shine upon a man defiled by the dead; it grieves the moon, it grieves the stars.
[11.59] 42. ‘That man delights them, O Spitama Zarathushtra! who cleanses from the Nasu the man defiled by the dead; he delights the fire, he delights the water, he delights the earth, he delights the cow, he delights the trees, he delights the faithful, both men and women.’
[11.60] 43. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What shall be his reward, after his soul has parted from his body, who has cleansed from the Nasu the man defiled by the dead?’
[11.61] 44. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The welfare of Paradise thou canst promise to that man, for his reward in the other world.’
[11.62] 4525. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I fight against that Druj who from the dead rushes upon the living? How shall I fight against that Nasu who from the dead defiles the living?’
[11.63] 46. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said twice.
[11.64] ‘Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice.
[11.65] ‘Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said four times.
[11.66] ‘And the Druj shall fly away like the well-darted arrow, like the felt of last year, like the annual garment of the earth.’
[11.68] III. 47. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man who does not know the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda, offers to cleanse the unclean, how shall I then fight against that Druj who from the dead rushes upon the living? How shall I fight against that Druj who from the dead defiles the living?
[11.69] 48. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! the Druj Nasu appears to wax stronger than she was before. Stronger then are sickness and death and the working of the fiend than they were before.’
[11.70] 49. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the penalty that he shall pay?
[11.71] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The worshippers of Mazda shall bind him; they shall bind his hands first; then they shall strip him of his clothes, they shall cut the head off his neck, and they shall give over his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the vultures, with these words: -
[11.72] ‘“The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds.
[11.73] 50. ‘“If he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance; if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance for ever and ever.”’
[11.74] 51. Who is he, O Ahura Mazda! who threatens to take away fullness and increase from the world, and to bring in sickness and death?
[11.75] 52. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the ungodly Ashemaogha⁴⁷⁷, O Spitama Zarathushtra! who in this material world cleanses the unclean without knowing the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda.
[11.76] 53. ‘For until then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! sweetness and fatness would flow out from that land and from those fields, with health and healing, with fullness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass.’
[11.77] 54. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When are sweetness and fatness to come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fullness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass?
[11.78] 55, 56. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Sweetness and fatness will never come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fullness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass, until that ungodly Ashemaogha has been smitten to death on the spot, and the holy Sraosha of that place has been offered up a sacrifice, for three days and three nights, with fire blazing, with Baresma tied up, and with Haoma prepared.
[11.79] 57. ‘Then sweetness and fatness will come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fullness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass.’

## FARGARD 10. Formulas recited during the process of cleansing

[12.1] ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda! most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I fight against that Druj who from the dead rushes upon the living? How shall I fight against that Druj who from the dead defiles the living?’
[12.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said twice 1.
‘Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice.
‘Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said four times.’
[12.3] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those words in the Gathas that are to be said twice?
[12.4] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘These are the words in the Gathas that are to be said twice, and thou shalt twice say them aloud:-
ahya yasa... urvanem (Y28.2).
 ——
humatenam... mahi (Y35.2),
ashahya aad saire... ahubya (Y35.8),
yatha tu i... ahura (Y39.4),
humaim thwa... hudaustema (Y41.3),
thwoi staotaraska... ahura (Y41.5).
 ——
usta ahmai... manangho (Y43.1),
spenta mainyu... ahuro (Y47.1),
vohu khshathrem... vareshane (Y51.1),
vahista istis... skyaothanaka (Y53.1).
[12.5] ‘And after thou hast twice said those Bis-amrutas, thou shalt say aloud these victorious, most healing words:-
[12.5a] ‘“I drive away Angra Mainyu⁴⁸⁴ from this house, from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.
[12.6] ‘“I drive away the Nasu⁴⁸⁵, I drive away direct defilement, I drive away indirect defilement, from this house, from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.”’
[12.7] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice?
[12.8] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘These are the words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice, and thou shalt thrice say them aloud:-
ashem vohu... (Y27.14),
ye sevisto... paitî (Y33.11),
hukhshathrotemai... vahistai (Y35.5),
duzvarenais... vahyo (Y53.9).
[12.9] ‘After thou hast thrice said those Thris-amrutas, thou shalt say aloud these victorious, most healing words:-
[12.9a] ‘“I drive away Indra, I drive away Sauru, I drive away the daeva Naunghaithya,7 from this house, from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.
[12.10] ‘“I drive away Tauru, I drive away Zairi, from this house, from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the holy world.”’
[12.11] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those words in the Gathas that are to be said four times?
[12.12] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘These are the words in the Gathas that are to be said four times, and thou shalt four times say them aloud:-
[12.12a] yatha ahu vairyo...8 (Y27.13),
mazda ad moi... dau ahum (Y34.15),
a airyama ishyo... masata mazdau (Y54.1).
[12.13] ‘After thou hast said those Chathrus-amrutas four times, thou shalt say aloud these victorious, most healing words:-
[12.13a] ‘“I drive away Aeshma, the fiend of the murderous spear, I drive away the daeva Akatasha⁴⁹¹, from this house, from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.
[12.14] ‘“I drive away the Varenya daevas, I drive away the wind-daeva, from this house, from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.”
[12.15] ‘These are the words in the Gathas that are to be said twice; these are the words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice; these are the words in the Gathas that are to be said four times.
[12.16] ‘These are the words that smite down Angra Mainyu; these are the words that smite down Aeshma, the fiend of the murderous spear; these are the words that smite down the daevas of Mazana⁴⁹³; these are the words that smite down all the daevas.
[12.17] ‘These are the words that stand, against that Druj, against that Nasu, who from the dead rushes upon the living, who from the dead defiles the living.
[12.18] ‘Therefore, O Zarathushtra! thou shalt dig nine holes in the part of the ground where there is least water and where there are fewest trees; where there is nothing that may be food either for man or beast; “for purity is for man, next to life, the, greatest good, that purity, O Zarathushtra, that is in the Religion of Mazda for him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds.”
[12.19] ‘Make thy own self pure, O righteous man! any one in the world here below can win purity for his own self, namely, when he cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds.
[12.20] ‘“Yatha ahu vairyo: - The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness,” &c.17
‘“Kem-na mazda: - What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me?” &c.
‘“Ke verethrem-ja: - Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching?” &c.
‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj!... Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!”’

## FARGARD 11. Special formulas for cleansing several objects 1

[13.1] ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda! most beneficent spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? how the fire? how the water? how the earth? how the cow? how the tree? how the faithful man and the faithful woman: how the stars? how the moon? how the sun? how the boundless light? how all good things, made by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle?’
[13.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shalt chant the cleansing words, and the house shall be clean; clean shall be the fire, clean the water, clean the earth, clean the cow, clean the tree, clean the faithful man and the faithful woman, clean the stars, clean the moon, clean the sun, clean the boundless light, clean all good things, made by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle.
[13.3] (‘So thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words); thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya five times: “The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness,” &c.
‘The Ahuna-Vairya preserves the person of man:
‘“Yatha ahu vairyo: - The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness,” &c.
‘“Kem-na mazda: - What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me?” &c.
‘“Ke verethrem-ja: - Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching?” &c.
‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta!” &c.1
[13.4] ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the house, say these words aloud: “As long as the sickness lasts my great protector (is he who teaches virtue to the perverse)2.”
[13.4a] ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the fire, say these words aloud: “Thy fire, first of all, do we approach with worship, O Ahura Mazda⁴⁹⁹!”
[13.5] ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the water, say these words aloud: “ Waters we worship, the Maekainti waters, the Hebvainti waters, the Fravazah waters.4“
‘If thou wantest to cleanse the earth, say these words aloud: “This earth we worship, this earth with the women, this earth which bears us and those women who are thine, O Ahura⁵⁰¹!”
[13.6] ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the cow, say these words aloud: “The best of all works we will fulfil while we order both the learned and the unlearned, both masters and servants to secure for the cattle a good resting-place and fodder.”
[13.6a] ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the trees, say these words aloud: “For him⁵⁰³, as a reward, Mazda made the plants grow up8.”
[13.7] ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the faithful man or the faithful woman, say these words aloud: “May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman come hither, for the men and women of Zarathushtra to rejoice, for Vohu-mano to rejoice; with the desirable reward that Religion deserves. I solicit for holiness that boon that is vouchsafed by Ahura⁵⁰⁵!”
[13.8] ‘Then thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words. Thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya eight times:-
‘“Yatha ahu vairya:- The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness,” &c.
‘“Kem-na mazda:- Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda?” &c.
‘“Ke verethrem-ga:- What protector hast thou given unto me?” &c.
‘“Who is the victorious?” &c.
‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda!” &c.10
[13.9] ‘I drive away Aeshma⁵⁰⁷, I drive away the Nasu, I drive away direct defilement, I drive away indirect defilement.
(‘I drive away Khru, I drive away Khruighni⁵⁰⁸.
‘I drive away Buidhi, I drive away the offspring of Buidhi⁵⁰⁹.
‘I drive away Kundi, I drive away tle offspring of Kundi⁵¹⁰.)
‘I drive away the gaunt Bushyasta, I drive away the long-handed Bushyasta⁵¹¹; (I drive away Muidhi⁵¹², I drive away Kapasti⁵¹³.)
‘I drive away the Pairika⁵¹⁴ that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree. I drive away the uncleanness that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree.
[13.10] ‘I drive thee away, O mischievous Angra Mainyu! from the fire, from the water, from the earth, from the cow, from the tree, from the faithful man and from the faithful woman, from the stars, from the moon, from the sun, from the boundless light, from all good things, made by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle.
[13.11] ‘Then thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words; thou shalt chant four Ahuna-Vairyas:-
‘“Yatha aha vairyo:- The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness,” &c.
‘“Kem-na mazda:- What protector hast thou given unto me?” &c.
‘“Ke verethrem-ja:- Who is the victorious?” &c.
‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda!” &c.19
[13.12] ‘Aeshma is driven away; away the Nasu; away direct defilement, away indirect defilement.
(‘Khru is driven away, away Khruighni; away Buidhi, away the offspring of Buidhi; away Kundi, away the offspring of Kundi.)
‘The gaunt Bushyasta is driven away; away Bushyasta, the long-handed; (away Muidhi, away Kapasti.)
‘The Pairika is driven away that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree. The uncleanness is driven away that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree.
[13.13] ‘Thou art driven away, O mischievous Angra Mainyu! from the fire, from the water, from the earth, from the cow, from the tree, from the faithful man and from the faithful woman, from the stars, from the moon, from the sun, from the boundless light, from all good things, made by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle.
[13.14] ‘Then thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words; thou shalt chant “Mazda ad moi” four times: “O Mazda! say unto me the excellent words and the excellent works, that through the good thought and the holiness of him who offers thee the due meed of praise, thou mayest, O Lord! make the world of Resurrection appear, at thy will, under thy sovereign rule.”
[13.15] ‘I drive away Aeshma, I drive away the Nasu,’ &c.21
[13.16] ‘I drive thee away, O mischievous Angra Mainyu! from the fire, from the water,’ &c.22
[13.17] ‘Then thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words; thou shalt chant the Airyama Ishyo four times: “May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman come hither!”’&c.23
[13.18] ‘Aeshma is driven away; away the Nasu,’ &c.24
[13.19] ‘Thou art driven away, O mischievous Angra Mainyu! from the fire, from the water,’ &c.25
[13.20] ‘Then thou shalt say these victorious, most healing words; thou shalt chant five Ahuna-Vairyas:-
‘“Yatha ahu vairyo:- The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness,” &c.
‘“Kem-na mazda:- Whom hast thou placed to protect me?” &c.
‘“Ke verethrem-ja:- Who is he who will smite the fiend?” &c.26
‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!”’

## FARGARD 12. The Upaman, how long it lasts for different relatives

[14.1] 1. IF ONE’S father or mother dies, how long shall they stay (in mourning), the son for his father, the daughter for her mother? How long for the righeous? How long for the sinners?
[14.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay thirty days for the righteous, sixty days for the sinners.’
[14.3] 2. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.4] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.5] 3. If one’s son or daughter dies, how long shall they stay, the father for his son, the mother for her daughter? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.6] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay thirty days for the righteous, sixty days for the sinners.’
[14.7] 4. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.8] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.9] 5. If one’s brother or sister dies, how long shall they stay, the brother for his brother, the sister for her sister? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.10] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay thirty days for the righteous, sixty days for the sinners.’
[14.11] 6. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.12] 7. If the master of the house dies, or if the mistress of the house dies, how long shall they stay? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.13] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They⁵²⁷ shall stay six months for the righteous, a year for the sinners.’
[14.14] 8. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.15] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘you shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.16] 9. If one’s grandfather or grandmother dies, how long shall they stay, the grandson for his grandfather, the granddaughter for her grandmother? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.17] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay twenty-five days for the righteous, fifty days for the sinners.’
[14.18] 10. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.19] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.20] 11. If one’s grandson or granddaughter dies, how long shall they stay, the grandfather for his grandson, the grandmother for her granddaughter? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.21] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay twenty-five days for the righteous, fifty days for the sinners.’
[14.22] 12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.23] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.24] 13. If one’s uncle or aunt dies, how long shall they stay, the nephew for his uncle, the niece for her aunt? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.25] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay twenty days for the righteous, forty days for the sinners.’
[14.26] 14. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.27] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.28] 15. If one’s male cousin or female cousin dies, how long shall they stay? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.29] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay fifteen days for the righteous, thirty days for the sinners.’
[14.30] 16. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.31] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.32] 17. If the son or the daughter of a cousin dies, how long shall they stay? How long for the righteous: How long for the sinners?
[14.33] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay ten days for the righteous, twenty days for the sinners.’
[14.34] 18. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.35] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.36] 19. If the grandson of a cousin or the granddaughter of a cousin dies, how long shall they stay? How long for the righteous? How long for the sinners?
[14.37] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay five days for the righteous, ten days for the sinners.’
[14.38] 20. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again?
[14.39] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘You shall wash your bodies three times, you shall wash your clothes three times, you shall chant the Gathas three times; you shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, you shall bind up the bundles of Baresma, you shall bring libations to the good waters; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then the fire may euter, and then the Amesha-Spentas may enter, O Spitama Zarathushtra!’
[14.40] 21. If a man dies, of whatever race he is, who does not belong to the true faith, or the true law⁵²⁸, what part of the creation of the good spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP) does he directly defile? What part does he indirectly defile?
[14.41] 227. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘No more than a frog does whose venom is dried up, and that has been dead more than a year. Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such wicked, two-legged ruffian as an ungodly Ashemaogha, directly defiles the creatures of the Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP), and indirectly defiles them.
[14.42] 23. ‘Whilst alive he smites the water; whilst alive he blows out the fire; whilst alive he carries off the cow; whilst alive he smites the faithful man with a deadly blow, that parts the soul from the body; not so will he do when dead.
[14.43] 24. ‘Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such wicked, two-legged ruffian as an ungodly Ashemaogha, robs the faithful man of the full possession of his food, of his clothing, of his wood, of his bed, of his vessels; not so will he do when dead.’

## FARGARD 13. The dog.

[15.1] Ia.
[15.1a] WHICH IS the good creature among the creatures of the Good Spirit that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the creatures of the Evil Spirit?
[15.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghapara⁵³⁰, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka⁵³¹; this is the good creature among the creatures of the Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP) that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the creatures of the Evil Spirit.
[15.3] ‘And whosoever, O Zarathushtra! shall kill the dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghapara, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, kills his own soul for nine generations, nor shall he find a way over the Chinwad bridge, unless he has, while alive, atoned for his sin⁵³³.’
[15.4] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man kill the dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghapara, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.4a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[15.4b] Ib.
[15.5] Which is the evil creature among the creatures of the Evil Spirit that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the creatures of the Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP)?
[15.6] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The daeva Zairimyangura⁵³⁴, which evil-speaking people call the Zairimyaka⁵³⁵, this is the evil creature among the creatures of the Evil Spirit that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the creatures of the Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP).
[15.7] ‘And whosoever, O Zarathushtra! shall kill the daeva Zairimyangura, which evil-speaking people call the Zairimyaka, his sins in thought, word, and deed are redeemed as they would be by a Patet; his sins in thought, word, and deed are atoned for⁵³⁶.
[15.8] II. ‘Whosoever shall smite either a shepherd’s dog, or a house-dog, or a Vohunazga dog⁵³⁷, or a trained dog⁵³⁸, his soul when passing to the other world, shall fly⁵³⁹ howling louder and more sorely grieved than the sheep does in the lofty forest where the wolf ranges.
[15.9] ‘No soul will come and meet his departing soul and help it, howling and grieved in the other world; nor will the dogs that keep the (Chinwad) bridge help his departing soul howling and grieved in the other world.
[15.10] ‘If a man shall smite a shepherd’s dog so that it becomes unfit for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, and thereupon a thief or a wolf break in and carry away (sheep) from the fold, without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for the loss, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for wilful wounding.
[15.11] ‘If a man shall smite a house-dog so that it becomes unfit for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, and thereupon a thief or a wolf break in and carry away (anything) from the house, without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for the loss, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for wilful wounding.’
[15.12] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall smite a shepherd’s dog, so that it gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.12a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.13] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall smite a house-dog so that it gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.13a] Ahura Mazda answered; ‘Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.14] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall smite a Vohunazga dog so that it gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.14a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.15] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall smite a Tauruna dog⁵⁴² so that it gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.15a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Five hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, five hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.16] ‘This is the penalty for the murder of a Jazhu dog, of a Vizu dog⁵⁴³, of a porcupine dog⁵⁴⁴, of a sharptoothed weasel, of a swift-running fox; this is the penalty for the murder of any of the creatures of the Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu) belonging to the dog kind, except the water-dog.’
[15.17] III. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the place of the shepherd’s dog?
[15.17a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He comes and goes a Yujyesti⁵⁴⁷ round about the fold, watching for the thief and the wolf.’
[15.18] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the place of the house-dog?
[15.18a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He comes and goes a Hathra round about the house, watching for the thief and the wolf.’
[15.19] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the place of the Vohunazga dog?.
[15.19a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He claims none of those talents, and only seeks for his subsistence.’
[15.20] IV. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give bad food to a shepherd’s dog, of what sin does he make himself guilty?
[15.20a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He makes himself guilty of the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house of the first rank.’
[15.21] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give bad food to a house-dog, of what sin does he make himself guilty?
[15.21a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He makes himself guilty of the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house of middle rank.’
[15.22] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give bad food to a Vohunazga dog, of what sin does he make himself guilty?
[15.22a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He makes himself guilty of the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a holy man, who should come to his house in the character of a priest.’
[15.23] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give bad food to a Tauruna dog, of what sin does he make himself guilty?
[15.23a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He makes himself guilty of the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a young man, born of pious parents, and who can already answer for his deeds.’
[15.24] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall give bad food to a shepherd’s dog, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.24a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.25] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall give bad food to a house-dog, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.25a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.26] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall give bad food to a Vohunazga dog, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.26a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seventy stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[15.27] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall give bad food to a Tauruna dog, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[15.27a] Ahura Mazda ansvvered: ‘Fifty stripes with the Aspahe-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[15.28] ‘For in this material world, O Spitama Zarathushtra! it is the dog, of all the creatures of the Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu), that most quickly decays into age, while not eating near eating people, and watching goods none of which it receives. Bring ye unto him milk and fat with meat; this is the right food for the dog⁵⁵³.’
[15.29] V. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a mad dog that bites without barking, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[15.30] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall put a wooden collar around his neck, and they shall tie thereto a muzzle, an asti thick if the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that collar they shall tie it; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie it.
[15.31] ‘If they shall not do so, and the mad dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, the dog shall pay for the wound of the wounded as for wilful murder.
[15.32] ‘If the dog shall smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall cut off his right ear.
[15.32a] ‘If he shall smite another sheep or wound another man, they shall cut off his left ear.
[15.33] ‘If he shall smite a third sheep or wound a third man, they shall make a cut in his right foot. If he shall smite a fourth sheep or wound a fourth man, they shall make a cut in his left foot.
[15.34] ‘If he shall for the fifth time smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall cut off his tail.
[15.34a] ‘Therefore they shall tie a muzzle to the collar; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie it. If they shall not do so, and the mad dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, he shall pay for the wound of the wounded as for wilful murder.’
[15.35] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a mad dog, who has no scent, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[15.35a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall attend him to heal him, in the same manner as they would do for one of the faithful.’
[15.36] O Maker oi the material world, thou Holy One! If they try to heal him and fail, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[15.37] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall put a wooden collar around his neck, and they shall tie thereto a muzzle, an asti thick if the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that collar they shall tie it; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie it.
[15.38] ‘If they shall not do so, the scentless dog may fall into a hole, or a well, or a precipice, or a river, or a canal, and come to grief: if he come to grief so, they shall be therefore Peshotanus.
[15.39] VI. ‘The dog, O Spitama Zarathushtra! I, Ahura Mazda, have made self-clothed and self-shod; watchful and wakeful; and sharp-toothed; born to take his food from man and to watch over man’s goods. I, Ahura Mazda, have made the dog strong of body against the evil-doer, when sound of mind and watchful over your goods.
[15.40] ‘And whosoever shall awake at his voice, O Spitama Zarathushtra! neither shall the thief nor the wolf carry anything from his house, without his being warned; the wolf shall be smitten and torn to pieces; he is driven away, he melts away like snow.’
[15.41] VII. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which of the two wolves deserves more to be killed, the one that a he-dog begets of a she-wolf, or the one that a he-wolf begets of a she-dog?
[15.41a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Of these two wolves, the one that a he-dog begets of a she-wolf deserves more to be killed than the one that a he-wolf begets of a she-dog.
[15.42] ‘For the dogs born therefrom fall on the shepherd’s dog, on the house-dog, on the Vohu-nazga dog, on the trained dog, and destroy the folds; such dogs are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other dogs.
[15.43] ‘And the wolves born therefrom fall on the shepherd’s dog, on the house-dog, on the Vohunazga dog, on the trained dog, and destroy the folds; such wolves are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other wolves.
[15.44] VIII. ‘A dog has the characters of eight sorts of people:-
[15.44a] ‘He has the character of a priest,
[15.44b] ‘He has the character of a warrior,
[15.44c] ‘He has the character of a husbandman,
[15.44d] ‘He has the character of a strolling singer,
[15.44e] ‘He has the character of a thief,
[15.44f] ‘He has the character of a disu,
[15.44g] ‘He has the character of a courtezan,
[15.44h] ‘He has the character of a child.
[15.45] ‘He eats the refuse, like a priest; he is easily satisfied, like a priest; he is patient, like a priest; he wants only a small piece of bread, like a priest; in these things he is like unto a priest.
[15.45a] ‘He marches in front, like a warrior; he fights for the beneficent cow, like a warrior; he goes first out of the house, like a warrior; in these things he is like unto a warrior.
[15.46] ‘He is watchful and sleeps lightly, like a husbandman; he goes first out of the house, like a husbandman; he returns last into the house, like a husbandman; in these things he is like unto a husbandman.
[15.46a] ‘He is fond of singing, like a strolling singer; he wounds him who gets too near, like a strolling singer; he is ill-trained, like a strolling singer; he is changeful, like a strolling singer; in these things he is like unto a strolling singer.
[15.47] ‘He is fond of darkness, like a thief; he prowls about in darkness, like a thief; he is a shameless eater, like a thief; he is therefore an unfaithful keeper, like a thief; in these things he is like unto a thief.
[15.47a] ‘He is fond of darkness, like a disu; he prowls about in darkness, like a disu; he is a shameless eater, like a disu; he is therefore an unfaithful keeper, like a disu; in these things he is like unto a disu.
[15.48] ‘He is fond of singing, like a courtezan; he wounds him who gets too near, like a courtezan; he roams along the roads, like a courtezan; he is ill-trained, like a courtezan; he is changeful, like a courtezan; in these things he is like unto a courtezan.
[15.48a] ‘He is fond of sleep, like a child; he is tender like snow, like a child; he is full of tongue, like a child; he digs the earth with his paws, like a child; in these things he is like unto a child.
[15.49] IX. ‘If those two dogs of mine, the shepherd’s dog and the house-dog, pass by any of my houses, let them never be kept away from it.
[15.49a] ‘For no house could subsist on the earth made by Ahura, but for those two dogs of mine, the shepherd’s dog and the house-dog.’
[15.50] X. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When a dog dies, with marrow and seed dried up, whereto does his ghost go?
[15.51] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It passes to the spring of the waters, O Spitama Zarathushtra! and there out of them two water-dogs are formed: out of every thousand dogs and every thousand she-dogs, a couple is formed, a water-dog and a water she-dog.
[15.52] ‘He who kills a water-dog brings about a drought that dries up pastures.
[15.52a] ‘Until then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! sweetness and fatness would flow out from that land and from those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass.’
[15.53] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When are sweetness and fatness to come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass?
[15.53a] 54, 55. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Sweetness and fatness will never come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass, until the murderer of the water-dog has been smitten to death on the spot, and the holy soul of the dog has been offered up a sacrifice, for three days and three nights, with fire blazing, with Baresma tied up, and with Haoma prepared.
[15.56] (‘Then sweetness and fatness will come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass.’)

## FARGARD 14. Atoning for the murder of a water-dog

[16.1] ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He who smites one of those water-dogs that are born one from a thousand dogs and a thousand she-dogs, so that he gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?’
[16.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He shall pay ten thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ten thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[16.2a] ‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda⁵⁸⁰ ten thousand loads of hard, well dried, well examined wood, to redeem his own soul.
[16.3] ‘He shall godly and piously, bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda ten thousand loads of soft wood, of Urvasna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, Hadha-naepata, or any sweet-scented plant, to redeem his own soul.
[16.4] ‘He shall godly and piously tie ten thousand bundles of Baresma, to redeem his own soul.
[16.4a] ‘He shall offer up to the Good Waters ten thousand Zaothra libations with the Haoma and the milk, cleanly prepared and well strained, cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man, and mixed with the roots of the tree known as Hadha-naepata, to redeem his own soul.
[16.5] ‘He shall kill ten thousand snakes of those that go upon the belly. He shall kill ten thousand Kahrpus, who are snakes with the shape of a dog⁵⁸³. He shall hill ten thousand tortoises. He shall kill ten thousand land-frogs; he shall kill ten thousand water-frogs. He shall kill ten thousand corn-carrying ants; he shall kill ten thousand ants of the small, venomous mischievous kind.
[16.6] ‘He shall kill ten thousand worms of those that live on dirt; he shall kill ten thousand raging flies.
[16.6a] ‘He shall fill up ten thousand holes for the unclean.
[16.6b] ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men⁵⁹⁰ twice the set of seven implements for the fire, to redeem his own soul, namely:-
[16.7] ‘The two answering implements for fire; a broom; a pair of tongs; a pair of round bellows extended at the bottom, contracted at the top; a sharp-edged sharp-pointed adze; a sharp-toothed sharp-pointed saw; by means of which the worshippers of Mazda procure wood for the fire of Ahura Mazda.
[16.8] ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of the priestly instruments of which the priests make use, to redeem his own soul, namely: The Astra⁵⁹⁵; the meat-vessel; the Paitidana⁵⁹⁶; the Khrafstraghna⁵⁹⁷; the Sraosho-charana; the cup for the Myazda⁵⁹⁹; the cups for mixing and dividing; the regular mortar; the Haoma cups; and the Baresma.
[16.9] ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of all the war implements of which the warriors make use, to redeem his own soul;
[16.9a] ‘The first being a javelin, the second a sword, the third a club, the fourth a bow, the fifth a saddle with a quiver and thirty iron-headed arrows, the sixth a sling with arm-string and with thirty sling stones;
[16.9b] ‘The seventh a cuirass, the eighth a hauberk, the ninth a tunic, the tenth a helmet, the eleventh a girdle, the twelfth a pair of greaves.
[16.10] ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of all the implements of which the husbandmen make use, to redeem his own soul, namely: A plough with yoke and...29; a goad for ox; a mortar of stone; a round-headed hand-mill for grinding corn;
[16.11] ‘A spade for digging and tilling; one measure of silver and one measure of gold.’
[16.11a] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How much silver?
[16.11b] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The price of a stallion.’
[16.11c] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How much gold?
[16.11d] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The price of a he-camel.
[16.12] ‘He shall godly and piously procure a rill of running water for godly husbandmen, to redeem his own soul.’
[16.12a] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large is the rill?
[16.12b] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The depth of a dog, and the breadth of a dog⁶⁰⁸.
[16.13] ‘He shall godly and piously give a piece of arable land to godly men, to redeem his own soul.’
[16.13a] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large is the piece of land?
[16.13b] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘As much as can be watered with such a rill divided into two canals.
[16.14] ‘He shall godly and piously procure for godly men a stable for oxen, with nine hathras and nine nematas, to redeem his own soul.’
[16.14a] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large is the stable?
[16.14b] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It shall have twelve alleys in the largest part of the house, nine alleys in the middle part, six alleys in the smallest part.
[16.14c] ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men goodly beds with Sheets and cushions, to redeem his own soul.
[16.15] ‘He shall godly and piously give in marriage to a godly man a virgin maid, whom no man has known, to redeem his own soul.’
[16.15a] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What sort of maid?
[16.15b] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A sister or a daughter of his, at the age of puberty, with ear-rings in her ears and past her fifteenth year.
[16.16] ‘He shall godly and piously give to holy men twice seven head of small cattle, to redeem his own soul.’
[16.16a] ‘He shall bring up twice seven whelps.
[16.16b] ‘He shall throw twice seven bridges over canal.
[16.17] ‘He shall put into repair twice nine stables that are out of repair.
[16.17a] ‘He shall cleanse twice nine dogs from stipti, anairiti, and vyangura, and all the diseases that are produced on the body of a dog.
[16.17b] ‘He shall treat twice nine godly men to their fill of meat, bread, strong drink, and wine.
[16.18] ‘This is the penalty, this is the atonement which saves the faithful man who submits to it not him who does not submit to it. Such a one shall surely be an inhabitant in the mansion of the Druj⁶¹⁴.’

## FARGARD 15. Regarding certain sins and obligations

[17.1a] I. HOW MANY are the sins that men commit and that, being committed and not confessed, nor atoned for, make their committer a Peshotanu⁶¹⁵?
[17.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘There are five such sins, O holy Zarathushtra! It is the first of these sins that men commit when a man teaches one of the faithful another faith, another law⁶¹⁶, a lower doctrine, and he leads him astray with a full knowledge and conscience of the sin: the man who has done the deed becomes a Peshotanu.
[17.3] ‘It is the second of these sins when a man gives bones too hard or food too hot to a shepherd’s dog or to a house-dog;
[17.4] ‘If the bones stick in the dog’s teeth or stop in his throat; or if the food too hot burn his mouth or his tongue, he may come to grief thereby; if he come to grief thereby, the man who has done the deed becomes a Peshotanu⁶¹⁷.
[17.5] ‘It is the third of these sins when a man smites a bitch big with young or affrights her by running after her, or shouting or clapping with the hands;
[17.6] ‘If the bitch fall into a hole, or a well, or a precipice, or a river, or a canal, she may come to grief thereby; if she come to grief thereby, the man who has done the deed becomes a Peshotanu⁶¹⁸.
[17.7] ‘It is the fourth of these sins when a man has intercourse with a woman who has the whites or sees the blood, the man that has done the deed becomes a Peshotanu⁶¹⁹.
[17.8] ‘It is the fifth of these sins when a man has intercourse with a woman quick with child, whether the milk has already come to her breasts or has not yet come: she may come to grief thereby; if she come to grief thereby, the man who has done the deed becomes a Peshotanu.
[17.8a] IIa.
[17.9] ‘If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered (unto a husband) or not delivered, and she conceives by him, let her not, being ashamed of the people, produce in herself the menses, against the course of nature, by means of water and plants.
[17.10] ‘And if the damsel, being ashamed of the people, shall produce in herself the menses gainst the course of nature, by means of water and plants, it is a fresh sin as heavy (as the first)10.
[17.11] ‘If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered (unto a husband) or not delivered, and she conceives by him, let her not, being ashamed of the people, destroy the fruit in her womb.
[17.12] ‘And if the damsel, being ashamed of the people, shall destroy the fruit in her womb, the sin is on both the father and herself, the murder is on both the father and herself; both the father and herself shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.
[17.12a] IIb.
[17.13] ‘If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered (unto a husband) or not delivered, and she conceives by him, and she says, “I have conceived by thee;” and he replies, “Go then to the old woman and apply to her for one of her drugs, that she may procure thee miscarriage;”
[17.14] ‘And the damsel goes to the old woman and applies to her for one of her drugs, that she may procure her miscarriage; and the old woman brings her some Banga, or Shaeta, a drug that kills in the womb or one that expels out of the womb, or some other of the drugs that produce miscarriage and (the man says), “Cause thy fruit to perish!” and she causes her fruit to perish; the sin is on the head of all three, the man, the damsel, and the old woman.
[17.15] ‘If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered (unto a husband) or not delivered, and she conceives by him, so long shall he support her, until the child be born.
[17.16] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the child comes to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.17] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If she be near her time, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.18] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not dependent, either delivered (unto a husband) or not delivered, and she conceives by him, so long shall he support her, until the child be born.
[17.19] ‘If he shall not support her⁶³⁰....
‘It lies with the faithful to look in the same way after every pregnant female, either two-footed or four-footed, two-footed woman or four-footed bitch.’
[17.20] III. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If (a bitch) be near her time, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.21] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He whose house stands nearest, the care of supporting her is his⁶³²; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.22] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support; he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.23] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in a stable for camels, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.24] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who built the stable for camels or whoso holds it19, the care of supporting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.25] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.26] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in a stable for horses, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.27] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who built the stable for horses or whoso holds it, the care of supporting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.28] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.29] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in a stable for oxen, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.30] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who built the stable for oxen or whoso holds it, the care of supporting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.31] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.32] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in a sheep-fold, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.33] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who built the sheepfold or whoso holds it, the care of supporting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.34] ‘If he shall not support her so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.35] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying on the earth-wall, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.36] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who erected the wall or whoso holds it, the care of supporting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.37] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.38] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in the moat, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.39] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who dug the moat or whoso holds it, the care of supporting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps be born.
[17.40] ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.’
[17.41] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in the middle of a pasture-field, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
[17.42] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who sowed the pasture-field or whoso holds it, the care of supporting her is his; (so long shall he support her, until the whelps be bo If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to grief, for want of proper support, he shall pay for it the penalty for wilful murder.)
[17.43] ‘He shall take her to rest upon a litter of nemovanta or of any foliage fit for a litter; so long shall he support her, until the young dogs are capable of self-defence and self-subsistence.’
[17.44] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When are the dogs capable of self-defence and self-subsistence?
[17.45] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When they are able to run about in a circuit of twice seven houses around. Then they may be let loose, whether it be winter or summer.
[17.45a] ‘Young dogs ought to be supported for six months, children for seven years.
[17.45b] ‘Atar⁶³⁹, the son of Ahura Mazda, watches as well (over a pregnant bitch) as he does over a woman.’
[17.46] IV. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda want to have a bitch so covered that the offspring shall be one of a strong nature, what shall they do?
[17.47] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall dig a hole in the earth, in the middle of the fold half a foot deep if the earth be hard, half the height of a man if the earth be soft.
[17.48] ‘They shall first tie up (the bitch) there, far from children and from the Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda⁶⁴⁰, and they shall watch by her until a dog comes there from anywhere; then another again, and then a third again, each being kept apart from the former, lest they should assail one another.
[17.48a] 49.28 ‘The bitch being thus covered by three dogs, grows big with young, and the milk comes to her teats and she brings forth a young one that is born from several dogs.’
[17.50] If a man smite a bitch who has been covered by three dogs, and who has already milk, and who shall bring forth a young one born from several dogs, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[17.51] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

## FARGARD 16. Purity laws regarding menstruation

[18.1a] I. O MAKER of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a woman who has the whites or sees blood, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
[18.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall clear the way⁶⁴³ of the wood there, both plants and trees; they shall strew dry dust on the ground; and they shall isolate a half, or a third, or a fourth, or a fifth part of the house, lest her look should fall upon the fire.’
[18.3] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles of Baresma? How far from the faithful?
[18.4] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifteen paces from the fire, fifteen paces from the water, fifteen paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful.’
[18.5] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from her shall he stay, who brings food to a woman who has the whites or sees the blood?
[18.6] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three paces from her shall he stay, who brings food to a woman who has the whites or sees the blood.’
[18.6a] In what kind of vessels shall he bring her bread? In what kind of vessels shall he bring her barley-drink?
[18.6b] ‘In vessels of iron, or of lead, or of any common metal.’
[18.7] How much bread shall he bring to her? How much barley-drink shall he bring?
[18.7a] ‘Two danares of dry bread, and one danare of liquor, lest she should get too weak.
[18.7b] ‘If a child has just touched her, they shall first wash his hands and then his body.
[18.8] II. ‘If she still see blood after three nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until four nights have passed.
[18.8a] ‘If she still see blood after four nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until five nights have passed.
[18.9] ‘If she still see blood after five nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until six nights have passed.
[18.9a] ‘If she still see blood after six nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until seven nights have passed.
[18.10] ‘If she still see blood after seven nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until eight nights have passed.
[18.10a] ‘If she still see blood after eight nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until nine nights have passed.
[18.11] ‘If she still see blood after nine nights have passed, this is a work of the Daevas which they have performed for the worship and glorification of the Daevas⁶⁵².
[18.11a] ‘The worshippers of Mazda shall clear the way⁶⁵³ of the wood there, both plants and trees;
[18.12] ‘They shall dig three holes in the earth, and they shall wash the woman with gomez by two of those holes and with water by the third.
[18.12a] ‘They shall kill Khrafstras, to wit: two hundred corn-carrying ants, if it be summer; two hundred of any other sort of the Khrafstras made by Angra Mainyu, if it be winter.’
[18.13] III. If a worshipper of Mazda shall suppress the issue of a woman who has the whites or sees blood, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[18.13a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[18.14] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall again and again lasciviously touch the body of a woman who has the whites or sees blood, so that the wlutes turn to the blood or the blood turns to the whites, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[18.15] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘For the first time he comes near unto her, for the first time he lies by her, thirty stripes with the Aspahe-astra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[18.15a] ‘For the second time he comes near unto her, for the second time he lies by her, fifty stripes with the Aspahe-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[18.15b] ‘For the third time he comes near unto her, for the third time he lies by her, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’
[18.16] For the fourth time he comes near unto her, for the fourth time he lies by her, if he shall press the body under her clothes, if he shall go in between the unclean thighs, but without sexual intercourse, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
[18.16a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[18.17] ‘Whosover shall lie in sexual intercourse with a woman who has the whites or sees blood does no better deed than if he should burn the corpse of his own son, born of his own body and dead of naeza, and drop its fat into the fire.
[18.18] ‘All wicked, embodiments of the Druj, are scorners of the judge: all scorners of the judge are rebels against the Sovereign: all rebels against the Sovereign are ungodly men; and all ungodly men are worthy of death.’

## FARGARD 17. Hair and nails.

[19.1a] I. ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the most deadly deed whereby a man offers up a sacrifice to the Daevas⁶⁵⁹?’
[19.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is when a man here below, combing his hair or shaving it off, or paring off his nails, drops them in a hole or in a crack.
[19.3] ‘Then by this transgression of the rites, Daevas are produced in the earth; by this transgression of the rites, those Khrafstras are produced in the earth which men call lice, and which eat up the corn in the corn-field and the clothes in the wardrobe.
[19.4] ‘Therefore, thou, O Zarathushtra! whenever here below thou shalt comb thy hair or shave it off, or pare off thy nails, thou shalt take them away ten paces from the faithful, twenty paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, fifty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma.
[19.5] ‘Then thou shalt dig a hole, a disti deep if the earth be hard, a vitasti deep if it be soft; thou shalt take the hair down there and thou shalt say aloud these victorious words:
[19.5a] “For him, as a reward, Mazda made the plants grow up5.”
[19.6] ‘Thereupon thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal around the hole, or six furrows or nine, and thou shall chant the Ahuna-Vairya three times, or six, or nine.
[19.7] II. ‘For the nails, thou shalt dig a hole, out of the house, as deep as the top joint of the little finger; thou shalt take the nails down there and thou shalt say aloud these victorious words:
[19.7a] “The things that the pure proclaim through Asha and Vohu-mano.”
[19.8] ‘Then thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal around the hole, or six furrows or nine, and thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya three times, or six, or nine.
[19.9] ‘And then:
[19.9a] “O Asho-zushta bird! these nails I announce and consecrate unto thee. May they be for thee so many spears and knives, so many bows and falcon-winged arrows and so many sling-stones against the Mazainya Daevas⁶⁶⁶!”
[19.10] ‘If those nails have not been consecrated (to the bird), they shall be in the hands of the Mazainya Daevas so many spears and knives so many bows and falcon-winged arrows, and so many sling-stones (against the Mazainya Daevas).
[19.11] ‘All wicked, embodiments of the Druj, are scorners of the judge: all scorners of the judge are rebels against the Sovereign: all rebels against the Sovereign are ungodly men; and all ungodly men are worthy of death.’

## FARGARD 18.

[20.1a] I. ‘THERE IS many a one, O holy Zarathushtra!’ said Ahura Mazda, ‘Who wears a wrong Paitidana⁶⁶⁸, and who has not girded his loins with the Religion⁶⁶⁹; When such a man says, “I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
[20.2] ‘He holds a wrong Khrafstraghna⁶⁷⁰ in his hand and he has not girded his loins with the Religion; when he says, “I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra! thus said Ahura Mazda.
[20.3] ‘He holds a wrong twig in his hand and he has not girded his loins with the Religion; when he says, “I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
[20.4] ‘He wields a wrong Ashtra mairya and he has not girded his loins with the Religion; when he says, “I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
[20.5] ‘He who sleeps on throughout the night, neither performing the Yasna nor chanting the hymns, worshipping neither by word nor by deed, neither learning nor teaching, with a longing for (everlasting) life, he lies when he says, “I am an Athravan,” do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
[20.6] ‘Him thou shalt call an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra! who throughout the night sits up and demands of the holy Wisdom⁶⁷³, which makes man free from anxiety, and wide of heart, and easy of conscience at the head of the Chinwad bridge, and which makes him reach that world, that holy world, that excellent world of Paradise.
[20.7] ‘(Therefore) demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am the Maker, the most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me, that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.’
[20.8] Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is it that brings in the unseen power of Death?’
[20.9] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the man that teaches a wrong Religion⁶⁷⁵; it is the man who continues for three springs without wearing the sacred girdle, without chanting the Gathas, without worshipping the Good Waters.
[20.10] ‘And he who should set that man at liberty, when bound in prison, does no better deed than if he should cut a man’s head off his neck.
[20.11] ‘For the blessing uttered by a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha does not go past the mouth (of the blesser); the blessing of two Ashemaoghas⁶⁸⁰ does not go past the tongue; the blessing of three is nothing; the blessing of four turns to self-cursing.
[20.12] ‘Whosoever should give to a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha either some Haoma prepared, or some Myazda consecrated with blessings, does no better deed than if he should lead a thousand horse against the boroughs of the worshippers of Mazda, and should slaughter the men thereof, and drive off the cattle as plunder.
[20.13] ‘Demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am the Maker, the most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me, that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.’
[20.14] II. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Who is the Sraosha-varez of Sraosha? the holy, strong Sraosha, who is Obedience incarnate, a Sovereign with an astounding weapon.’
[20.15] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the bird named Parodarsh⁶⁸³, which ill-speaking people call Kahrkatas⁶⁸⁴, O holy Zarathushtra! the bird that lifts up his voice against the mighty Ushah⁶⁸⁵:
[20.16] ‘“Arise, O men! recite the Ashem yad vahistem that smites down the Daevas⁶⁸⁶. Lo! here is Bushyasta, the long-handed, coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world, as soon as it has awoke: ‘Sleep!’ (she says,) ‘O poor man! the time is not yet come.’”
[20.17] ‘“On the three excellent things be never intent, namely, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; on the three abominable things be ever intent, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds.”
[20.18] ‘On the first part of the night, Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the master of the house for help, saying:
[20.19] ‘“Up! arise, thou master of the house! put on thy girdle ((kusti)) on thy clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let me burn bright with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed hands. Here comes Azi⁶⁹⁰, made by the Daevas, who consumes me and wants to put me out of the world.”
[20.20] ‘On the second part of the night, Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the husbandman for help, saying;
[20.21] ‘“Up! arise, thou husbandman! Put on thy girdle ((kusti)) on thy clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let me burn bright with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed hands. Here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who consumes me and wants to put me out of the world.”
[20.22] ‘On the third part of the night, Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the holy Sraosha for help, saying: “Come thou, holy, well-formed Sraosha, (then he brings unto me some clean wood with his well-washed hands.) Here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who consumes me and wants to put me out of the world.”
[20.23] ‘And then the holy Sraosha wakes up the bird named Parodarsh, which ill-speaking people call Kahrkatas, and the bird lifts up his voice against the mighty Ushah:
[20.24] ‘“Arise, O men! recite the Ashem yad vahistem (Ashem Vohu) and the Naismi daevo25. Lo! here is Bushyasta, the long-handed, coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world as soon as it has awoke: ‘Sleep!’ (she says,) ‘O poor man! the time is not yet come.’”
[20.25] ‘“On the three excellent things be never intent, namely, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; on the three abominable things be ever intent, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds.”
[20.26] ‘And then bed-fellows address one another: “Rise up, here is the cock calling me up.” Whichever of the two first gets up shall first enter Paradise: whichever of the two shall first, with well-washed hands, bring clean wood unto Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda, Atar, well pleased with him and not angry, and fed as it required, will thus bless him:
[20.27] ‘“May herds of oxen and sons accrue to thee: may thy mind be master of its vow, may thy soul be master of its vow, and mayst thou live on in the joy of thy soul all the nights of thy life.”
[20.27a] ‘This is the blessing which Atar speaks unto him who brings him dry wood, well examined by the light of the day, well cleansed with godly intent.
[20.28] ‘And whosoever will kindly and piously present one of the faithful with a pair of these my Parodarsh birds, a male and a female, O Spitama Zarathushtra! it is as though he had given a house with a hundred columns, a thousand beams, ten thousand large windows, ten thousand small windows.
[20.29] ‘And whosoever shall give meat to one of the faithful, as much of it as the body of this Parodarsh bird of mine, I, Ahura Mazda, need not interrogate him twice; he shall directly go to Paradise.’
[20.30] III. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Thou then, alone in the material world, dost bear offspring without any male coming unto thee?’
[20.31] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! It is not so, nor do I, alone in the material world, bear offspring without any male coming unto me.
[20.32] ‘For there are four males of mine; and they make me conceive progeny as other males make their females conceive by their seed.’
[20.33] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the first of those males of thine?’
[20.34] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! He is the first of my males who, being entreated by one of the faithful, does not give him anything, be it ever so little, of the riches he has treasured up28.
[20.35] ‘That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females conceive by their seed.’
[20.36] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! What is the thing that can undo that?’
[20.37] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! This is the thing that undoes it, namely, when a man unasked, kindly and piously, gives to one of the faithful something, be it ever so little, of the riches he has treasured up.
[20.38] ‘He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does, who tears the child out of a mother’s womb.’
[20.39] The holy Sraosha, letting down his club upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the second of those males of thine?’
[20.40] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! He is the second of my males who, making water, lets it fall along the upper forepart of his foot.
[20.41] ‘That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females conceive by their seed.’
[20.42] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! What is the thing that can undo that?’
[20.43] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, wall-formed Sraosha! This is the thing that undoes it, namely, when the man rising up29 and stepping three steps further off, shall say three Ahuna-Vairya⁶⁹⁷, two humatanam, three hukhshathrotemam, and then chant the Ahuna-Vairya⁷⁰⁰ and offer up one Yenhe hatam.
[20.44] ‘He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does, ‘who tears the child out of a mother’s womb.’
[20.45] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the third of those males of thine?’
[20.46] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! He is the third of my males who during his sleep emits seed.
[20.47] ‘That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females conceive progeny by their seed.’
[20.48] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! What is the thing that can undo that?’
[20.49] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! this is the thing that undoes it, namely, if the man, when he has risen from sleep, shall say three Ahuna-Vairya, two humatanam, three hukhshathrotemam, and then chant the Ahuna-Vairya and offer up one Yenhe hatam.35
[20.50] ‘He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does who tears the child out of a mother’s womb.’
[20.51] Then he shall speak unto Spenta Armaiti⁷⁰³, saying: ‘O Spenta Armaiti, this man do I deliver unto thee; this man deliver thou back unto me, against the happy day of resurrection; deliver him back as one who knows the Gathas, who knows the Yasna⁷⁰⁵, and the revealed Law⁷⁰⁶, a wise and clever man, who is Obedience incarnate.
[20.52] ‘Then thou shalt call his name “Fire-creature, Fire-seed, Fire-offspring, Fire-land,” or any name wherein is the word Fire.’
[20.53] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the fourth of those males of thine?’
[20.54] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! This one is my fourth male who, either man or woman, being more than fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle and the sacred shirt.
[20.55] ‘At the fourth step we Daevas, at once, wither him even to the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power to destroy the world of Righteousness, and he destroys it like the Yatus and the Zandas⁷⁰⁸.’
[20.56] The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the Druj: ‘O thou wretched, worthless Druj, what is the thing that can undo that?’
[20.57] The Druj demon answered: ‘O holy, well-formed Sraosha! There is no means of undoing it;
[20.58] ‘When a man or a woman, being more than fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle or the sacred shirt ((kusti and sudre)).
[20.59] ‘At the fourth step we Daevas, at once, wither him even to the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power to destroy the world of Righteousness, and he destroys it like the Yatus and the Zandas.’
[20.60] IV. Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.
[20.61] Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Who grieves thee with the sorest grief? Who pains thee with the sorest pain?’
[20.62] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the Jahi⁷⁰⁹, O Spitama Zarathushtra! who mixes in her the seed of the faithful and the unfaithful, of the worshippers of Mazda and the worshippers of the Daevas, of the wicked and the righteous.
[20.63] ‘Her look dries up one-third of the mighty floods that run from the mountains, O Zarathushtra; her look withers one-third of the beautiful, golden-hued, growing plants, O Zarathushtra;
[20.64] ‘Her look withers one-third of the strength of Spenta Armaiti⁷¹¹; and her touch withers in the faithful one-third of his good thoughts, of his good words, of his good deeds, one-third of his strength, of his victorious power, and of his holiness.
[20.65] ‘Verily I say unto thee, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such creatures ought to be killed even more than gliding snakes, than howling wolves, than the wild she-wolf that falls upon the fold, or than the she-frog that falls upon the waters with her thousandfold brood.’
[20.66] V. Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.
[20.66a] 67-68. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘If a man shall come unto a woman who has the whites or sees blood, and he does so wittingly and knowingly, and she allows it willfully, wittingly, and knowingly, what is the atonement for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay to atone for the deed they have done?’
[20.69] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If a man shall come unto a woman who has the whites or sees blood, and he does so wittingly and knowingly, and she allows it willfully, wittingly, and knowingly;
[20.70] ‘He shall slay a thousand head of small cattle; he shall godly and piously offer up to the fire the entrails thereof together with Zaothra-libations; he shall bring the shoulder bones to the Good Waters⁷¹⁸.
[20.71] ‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire a thousand loads of soft wood, of Urvasna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, Hadha-naepata, or of any sweet-scented plant.
[20.72] ‘He shall tie and consecrate a thousand bundles of Baresma; he shall godly and piously offer up to the Good Waters a thousand Zaothra-libations, together with the Haoma and the milk, cleanly prepared and well strained, — cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man, and mixed with the roots of the tree known as Hadha-naepata.
[20.73] ‘He shall kill a thousand snakes of those that go upon the belly, two thousand of the other kind; he shall kill a thousand land-frogs and two thousand water-frogs; he shall kill a thousand corn-carrying ants and two thousand of the other kind.
[20.74] ‘He shall throw thirty bridges over canals; he shall undergo a thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
[20.75] ‘This is the atonement, this is the penalty that he shall pay to atone for the deed that he has done.
[20.76] ‘If he shall pay it, he makes himself a viaticum into the world of the holy ones; if he shall not pay it, he makes himself a viaticum into the world of the wicked, into that world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness, which is Darkness’ self.’

## FARGARD 19.

[21.1a] I. FROM THE region of the north, from the regions of the north 1, forth rushed Angra Mainyu, the deadly, the Daeva of the Daevas 2. And thus spake the evil-doer Angra Mainyu, the deadly: ‘Druj, rush down and kill him,’ O holy Zarathushtra! The Druj came rushing along, the demon Buiti 3, who is deceiving, unseen death 4.
[21.2] Zarathushtra chanted aloud the Ahuna-Vairya 5: ‘The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.’
[21.2a] He offered the sacrifice to the good waters of the good Daitya 6! He recited the profession of the worshippers of Mazda 7!
[21.2b] The Druj dismayed, rushed away, the demon Buiti, who is deceiving, unseen death.
[21.3] And the Druj said unto Angra Mainyu: ‘Thou, tormenter, Angra Mainyu! I see no way to kill Spitama Zarathushtra, so great is the glory of the holy Zarathushtra.’
[21.3a] Zarathushtra saw (all this) within his soul: ‘The wicked, the evil-doing Daevas (thought he) take counsel together for my death.’
[21.3b] I a.
[21.4] Up started Zarathushtra, forward went Zarathushtra, unabated by Akem-mano 8, by the hardness of his malignant riddles 9; he went swinging stones in his hand, stones as big as a house 10, which he obtained from the Maker, Ahura Mazda, he the holy Zarathushtra.
[21.4a] ‘Whereat on this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar, whereat dost thou swing (those stones), thou who standest by the upper bank of the river Dareja 11, in the mansion of Pourushaspa 12?’
[21.5] Thus Zarathushtra answered Angra Mainyu: ‘O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! I will smite the creation of the Daeva; I will smite the Nasu, a creature of the Daeva; I will smite the Pairika Knathaiti 13, till the victorious Saoshyant come up to life 14 out of the lake Kasava (Kasaoya) 15, from the region of the dawn, from the regions of the dawn.’
[21.6] Again to him said the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: ‘Do not destroy my creatures, O holy Zarathushtra! Thou art the son of Pourushaspa;16 by thy mother I was invoked.17 Renounce the good Religion of the worshippers of Mazda, and thou shalt gain such a boon as Vadhaghna⁷⁴¹ gained, the ruler of the nations.’
[21.7] Spitama Zarathushtra said in answer: ‘No! never will I renounce the good Religion of the worshippers of Mazda, either for body or life, though they should tear away the breath!’
[21.8] Again to him said the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: ‘By whose Word wilt thou strike, by whose Word wilt thou repel, by whose weapon will the good creatures (strike and repel) my creation, who am Angra Mainyu?’
[21.9] Spitama Zarathushtra said in answer: ‘The sacred mortar, the sacred cups, the Haoma, the Word taught by Mazda, these are my weapons, my best weapons! By this Word will I strike, by this Word will I repel, by this weapon will the good creatures (strike and repel thee), O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! The Good Spirit (Spenta Mainyu -JHP) made the creation 19; he made it in the boundless Time. The Amesha-Spentas made the creation, the good, the wise Sovereigns.’
[21.10] Zarathushtra chanted aloud the Ahuna-Vairya.
[21.10a] The holy Zarathushtra said aloud: ‘This I ask thee: teach me the truth, O Lord 20!...’
[21.11] II. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! (he was sitting by the upper bank of the Dareja 21, before Ahura Mazda, before the good Vohu-mana, before Asha Vahishta, Khshathra Vairya, and Spenta Armaiti;)
[21.12] ‘How shall I free the world from that Druj, from that evil-doer, Angra Mainyu? How shall I drive away direct defilement? How indirect defilement? How shall I drive the Nasu from the house of the worshippers of Mazda? How shall I cleanse the faithful man? How shall I cleanse the faithful woman?’
[21.13] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! the good Religion of Mazda.
[21.13a] ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! though thou see them not, the Amesha-Spentas who rule over the seven Karshvares of the earth 22.
[21.13b] ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time 23, and Vayu 24, whose action is most high.
[21.13c] ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! the powerful Wind, made by Mazda; and Spenta (Armaiti)25, the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.
[21.14] ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! my Fravashi 26, who am Ahura Mazda, the greatest, the best, the fairest of all beings, the most solid, the most intelligent, the best shapen, the highest in holiness, and whose soul is the holy Word (manthra spenta)27!
[21.14a] ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! this creation of mine, who am Ahura Mazda.’
[21.15] Zarathushtra imitated my words from me, (and said): ‘I invoke the holy creation of Ahura Mazda.
[21.15a] ‘I invoke Mithra 28, the lord of the rolling countryside, a god armed with beautiful weapons, with the most glorious of all weapons, with the most victorious of all weapons.
[21.15b] ‘I invoke the holy, well-formed Sraosha 29, who wields a club in his hand, to bear upon the heads of the fiends 30.
[21.16] ‘I invoke the most glorious Holy Word (manthra spenta).
[21.16a] ‘I invoke the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time, and Vayu, whose action is most high.
[21.16b] ‘I invoke the mighty Wind, made by Mazda, and Spenta (Armaiti), the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.
[21.16c] ‘I invoke the good Religion of Mazda, the fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.’
[21.17] III. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Maker of the good world, Ahura Mazda! With what manner of sacrifice shall I worship, with what manner of sacrifice shall I make people worship this creation of Ahura Mazda⁷⁵⁴?’
[21.18] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Go, O Spitama Zarathushtra! towards the high-growing trees 32, and before one of them that is beautiful, high-growing, and mighty, say thou these words: “Hail to thee! O good, holy tree, made by Mazda! Ashem vohu!”
[21.19] ‘(The priest) shall cut off a twig of Baresma, long as an aesha, thick as a yava. The faithful one, holding it in his left hand, shall keep his eyes upon it without ceasing, whilst he is offering up to Ahura Mazda and to the Amesha-Spentas, the high and beautiful golden Haomas, and Good Thought and the good Rata⁷⁵⁹, made by Mazda, holy and excellent.’
[21.20] IV. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O thou, all-knowing Ahura Mazda! thou art never asleep, never intoxicated, thou Ahura Mazda! Vohu-mano gets directly defiled: Vohu-mano gets indirectly defiled; the Daevas defile him from the bodies smitten by the Daevas⁷⁶¹: let Vohu-mano be made clean.’
[21.21] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shalt take some gomez from a bull ungelded and such as the law requires it39. Thou shalt take the man who is to be cleansed to the field made by Ahura⁷⁶³, and the man that is to cleanse him shall draw the furrows.
[21.22] ‘He shall recite a hundred Ashem vohu: “Holiness is the best of all good: it is also happiness. Happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness!”
[21.22a] ‘He shall chant two hundred Ahuna-Vairya: “The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda! He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.”
[21.22b] ‘He shall wash himself four times with the gomez from the ox, and twice with the water made by Mazda⁷⁶⁵.
[21.23] ‘Thus Vohu-mano shall be made clean, and clean shall be the man. The man shall take up Vohu-mano with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left: and thou shalt lay down Vohu-mano under the mighty light of the heavens by the light of the stars made by the gods, until nine nights have passed away.
[21.24] ‘When nine nights have passed away, thou shalt bring libations unto the fire, thou shalt bring hard wood unto the fire, thou shalt bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the fire, and thou shalt perfume Vohu-mano therewith.
[21.25] ‘Thus shall Vohu-mano be made clean, and clean shall be the man⁷⁶⁸. He shall take up Vohu-mano with the right arm and the left, with the left arm and the right, and Vohu-mano shall say aloud: “Glory be to Ahura Mazda! Glory be to the Amesha-Spentas! Glory be to all the other holy beings.”’
[21.26] V. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O thou all-knowing Ahura Mazda: Should I urge upon the godly man, should I urge upon the godly woman, should I urge upon the wicked Daeva-worshipper who lives in sin, to give the earth made by Ahura, the water that runs, the corn that grows, and all the rest of their wealth?’
[21.26a] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shouldst, O holy Zarathushtra.’
[21.27] O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are the rewards given? Where does the rewarding take place? Where is the rewarding fulfilled? Whereto do men come to take the reward that, during their life in the material world, they have won for their souls?
[21.28] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the wicked, evil-doing Daevas cut off his eyesight. On the third night, when the dawn appears and brightens up, when Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reaches the all-happy mountains, and the sun is rising:
[21.29] ‘Then the fiend, named Vizaresha⁷⁷¹, O Spitama Zarathushtra, carries off in bonds the souls of the wicked Daeva-worshippers who live in sin. The soul enters the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and to the righteous. At the head of the Chinwad bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazda⁷⁷³, they ask for their spirits and souls the reward for the worldly goods which they gave away here below.
[21.30] ‘Then comes the beautiful, well-shapen, strong and well-formed maid, with the dogs at her sides, one who can distinguish, who has many children, happy, and of high understanding.
[21.30a] ‘She makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Hara-berezaiti; above the Chinwad bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves.
[21.31] ‘Up rises Vohu-mano from his golden seat; Vohu-mano exclaims: “How hast thou come to us, thou Holy One, from that decaying world into this undecaying one⁷⁸¹?”
[21.32] ‘Gladly pass the souls of the righteous to the golden seat of Ahura Mazda, to the golden seat of the Amesha-Spentas, to the Garo-nmanem, the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha-Spentas, the abode of all the other holy beings.
[21.33] ‘As to the godly man that has been cleansed, the wicked evil-doing Daevas tremble at the perfume of his soul after death, as doth a sheep on which a wolf is pouncing.
[21.34] ‘The souls of the righteous are gathered together there: Nairyo-sangha is with them; a messenger of Ahura Mazda is Nairyo-sangha.
[21.34a] Ila.
[21.34b] ‘Invoke, O Zarathushtra! this very creation of Ahura Mazda.’
[21.35] Zarathushtra imitated those words of mine: ‘I invoke the holy world, made by Ahura Mazda.
[21.35a] ‘I invoke the earth made by Ahura, the water made by Mazda, the holy trees.
[21.35b] ‘I invoke the sea Vouru-kasha.
[21.35c] ‘I invoke the beautiful Heaven⁷⁸⁷.
[21.35d] ‘I invoke the endless and sovereign Light⁷⁸⁸.’
[21.36] ‘I invoke the bright, blissful Paradise of the Holy Ones.
[21.36a] ‘I invoke the Garo-nmanem, the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha-Spentas, the abode of all the other holy beings.
[21.36b] ‘I invoke the sovereign Place of Eternal Weal⁷⁸⁹, and the Chinwad bridge made by Mazda.
[21.37] ‘I invoke the good Saoka⁷⁹⁰, who has the good eye.
[21.37a] ‘I invoke the whole creation of weal.
[21.37b] ‘I invoke the mighty Fravashis⁷⁹¹ of the righteous.
[21.37c] ‘I invoke Verethraghna⁷⁹², made by Ahura, who wears the Glory made by Mazda⁷⁹³.
[21.37d] ‘I invoke Tishtrya⁷⁹⁴, the bright and glorious star, in the shape of a golden-horned bull.
[21.38] ‘I invoke the holy, beneficent Gathas⁷⁹⁶, who rule over the Ratus⁷⁹⁷:
[21.38a] ‘I invoke the Ahunavaiti Gatha;
[21.38b] ‘I invoke the Ustavaiti Gatha;
[21.38c] ‘I invoke the Spentamainyush Gatha;
[21.38d] ‘I invoke the Vohukhshathra Gatha;
[21.38e] ‘I invoke the Vahishtoishti Gatha.
[21.39] ‘I invoke the Karshvares of Arzahe and Savahe;
[21.39a] ‘I invoke the Karshvares of Fradadhafshu and Vidadhafshu;
[21.39b] ‘I invoke the Karshvares of Vourubaresti and Vouruzaresti;
[21.39c] ‘I invoke the bright Hvaniratha⁷⁹⁸;
[21.39d] ‘I invoke the bright, glorious Haetumant⁷⁹⁹;
[21.39e] ‘I invoke the good Ashi⁸⁰⁰;
[21.39f] (‘I invoke the good Chisti⁸⁰¹;)
[21.39g] ‘I invoke the most pure Chista⁸⁰²;
[21.39h] ‘I invoke the Glory of the Aryan regions;
[21.39i] ‘I invoke the Glory of the bright Yima, the good shepherd.
[21.40] ‘Let him be worshipped with sacrifice, let him be gladdened, gratified, and satisfied, the holy Sraosha, the well-formed, victorious, holy Sraosha⁸⁰⁵.
[21.40a] ‘Bring libations unto the Fire, bring hard wood unto the Fire, bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the Fire.
[21.40b] ‘Offer up the sacrifice to the Vazishta fire, which smites the fiend Spenjaghra⁸⁰⁷: bring unto it the cooked meat and full overflowing libations.
[21.41] ‘Offer up the sacrifice to the holy Sraosha, that the holy Sraosha may smite down the fiend Kunda⁸⁰⁹, who is drunken without drinking, and throws down into the Hell of the Druj the wicked Daeva-worshippers, who live in sin.
[21.42] 88 ‘I invoke the Kara fish 89, who lives beneath waters in the bottom of the deep lakes.
[21.42a] ‘I invoke the ancient and sovereign Merezu⁸¹³, the most warlike of the creatures of the two Spirits⁸¹⁴.
[21.42b] ‘I invoke the seven bright Sru⁸¹⁵...’
[21.43] VI. ‘They cried about, their minds wavered to and fro9393, Angra Mainyu the deadly, the Daeva of the Daevas; Indra the Daeva, Sauru the Daeva, Naunghaithya the Daeva, Taurvi and Zairi⁸¹⁶; Aeshma of the murderous spear; Akatasha the Daeva⁸¹⁸; Winter, made by the Daevas; the deceiving, unseen Death; Zaurva⁸¹⁹, baneful to the fathers; Buiti the Daeva⁸²⁰; Driwi⁸²¹ the Daeva; Daiwi⁸²² the Daeva; Kasvi⁸²³ the Daeva; Paitisha⁸²⁴ the most Daeva-like amongst the Daevas.)
[21.44] ‘And the evil-doing Daeva, Angra Mainyu, the deadly, said: “‘What! let the wicked, evil-doing Daevas gather together at the head of Arezura⁸²⁵!”
[21.45] ‘They rush away shouting, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas; they run away shouting, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas; they run away casting the Evil Eye, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas: “Let us gather together at the head of Arezura!
[21.46] ‘“For he is just born the holy Zarathushtra, in the house of Pourushaspa. How can we procure his death? He is the weapon that fells the fiends: he is a counter-fiend to the fiends; he is a Druj to the Druj. Vanished are the Daeva-worshippers, the Nasu made by the Daeva, the false-speaking Lie!”
[21.47] ‘They rush away shouting, the wicked, evil-doing Daevas, into the depths of the dark, raging world of hell.
[21.47a] ‘Ashem vohu: Holiness is the best of all good.’

## FARGARD 20. Thrita, the first healer.

[22.1] ZARATHUSHTRA ASKED Ahura Mazda: ‘Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who was he who first of the healers⁸²⁶, of the wise, the happy, the wealthy, the glorious, the strong, the Paradhatas⁸²⁷, drove back sickness to sickness, drove back death to death⁸²⁸; and first turned away the point of the sword and the fire of fever from the bodies of mortals?’
[22.2] Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thrita it was who first of the healers, of the wise, the happy, the wealthy, the glorious, the strong, the Paradhatas, drove back sickness to sickness, drove back death to death, and first turned away the point of the sword and the fire of fever from the bodies of mortals.
[22.3] ‘He asked for a source of remedies; he obtained it from Khshathra-Vairya⁸²⁹, to withstand sickness and to withstand death; to withstand pain and to withstand fever; to withstand Sarana and to withstand Sarastya⁸³⁰; to withstand Azana and to withstand Azahva; to withstand Kurugha and. to withstand Azivaka; to withstand Duruka and to ‘withstand Astairya; to withstand the evil eye, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu had created against the bodies of mortals.
[22.4] ‘And I Ahura Mazda brought down the healing plants that, by many hundreds, by many thousands, by many myriads, grow up all around the one Gaokerena⁸³¹.
[22.5] ‘All this do we achieve; all this do we order; all these prayers do we utter, for the benefit of the bodies of mortals⁸³²;
[22.6] ‘To withstand sickness and to withstand death; to withstand pain and to withstand fever; to withstand Sarana and to withstand Sarastya; to withstand Azana and to withstand Azahva; to withstand Kurugha and to withstand Azivaka; to withstand Duruka and to withstand Astairya; to withstand the evil eye, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu has created against the bodies of mortals.
[22.7] ‘To thee, O Sickness, I say avaunt! to thee, O Death, I say avaunt! to thee, O Pain, I say avaunt! to thee, O Fever, I say avaunt! to thee, O Evil Eye, I say avaunt! to thee, O Sarana, I say avaunt! and to thee, O Sarastya, I say avaunt! to thee, O Azana, I say avaunt! and to thee, O Azahva, I say avaunt! to thee, O Kurugha, I say avaunt! and to thee, O Azivaka, I say avaunt! to thee, O Duruka, I say avaunt! and to thee, O Astairya, I say avaunt!
[22.8] ‘Give us, O Ahura, that powerful sovereignty, by the strength of which we may smite down the Druj! By its might may we smite the Druj⁸³³!
[22.9] ‘I drive away Ishire and I drive away Aghuire; I drive away Aghra and I drive away Ughra; I drive away sickness and I drive away death; I drive away pain and I drive away fever; I drive away Sarana and I drive away Sarastya; I drive away Azana and I drive away Azahva; I drive away Kurugha and I drive away Azivaka; I drive away Duruka and I drive away Astairya; I drive away the evil eye, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu has created against the bodies of mortals.
[22.10] ‘I drive away all manner of sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas⁸³⁴, and all the wicked Jainis⁸³⁵.
[22.11] ‘A Airyema ishyo. May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman⁸³⁶ come here, for the men and women of Zarathushtra to rejoice, for Vohu-mano to rejoice; with the desirable reward that Religion deserves. I solicit for holiness that boon that is vouchsafed by Ahura!
[22.12] ‘May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman smite all manner of sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Jainis.’
[22.12a] (13. Yatha ahu vairyo:- The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.
[22.12b] Kem-na mazda:- What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom but thy Atar and Vohu-mano, through whose work I keep on the world of Righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule!
[22.12c] Ke verethrem-ja:- Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-mano and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda!
[22.12d] Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness⁸³⁷!)

## FARGARD 21.

[23.1a] I. HAIL, BOUNTEOUS bull! Hail to thee, beneficent bull! Hail to thee, who makest increase! Hail to thee, who makest growth! Hail to thee, who dost bestow his part upon the righteous faithful, and wilt bestow it on the faithful yet unborn! Hail to thee, whom the Jahi kills, and the ungodly Ashemaogha, and the wicked tyrant.
[23.2] II. ‘Come, come on, O clouds, from up above, down on the earth, by thousands of drops, by myriads of drops:’ thus say, O holy Zarathushtra! ‘to destroy sickness, to destroy death, to destroy the sickness that kills, to destroy death that kills, to destroy Gadha and Apagadha⁸⁴³.
[23.3] ‘If death come after noon, may healing come at eve!
[23.3a] ‘If death come at eve, may healing come at night!
[23.3b] ‘If death come at night, may healing come at dawn!
[23.3c] ‘And showers shower down new water, new earth, new plants, new healing powers, and new healing.
[23.3d] IIIa.
[23.4] ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the earth, down the earth and up the aerial way⁸⁴⁵: thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the aerial way.
[23.5] ‘Up! rise up and roll along! thou swift-horsed Sun, above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the world (and mayst thou (O man!) rise up there, if thou art to abide in Garo-nmanem), along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened. 10
[23.6] ‘And the Holy Word (manthra spenta) shall keep away the evil: Of thee (O child!) I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee (O woman!) I will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in children and rich in milk;
[23.7] ‘Rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs, running towards the pastures that give food to the child.
[23.7a] IIIb.
[23.8] ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the earth, down the earth and up the aerial way:
[23.8a] ‘Thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the earth.
[23.9] ‘Up! rise up, thou Moon, that dost keep in thee the seed of the bull;
[23.9a] ‘Rise up above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the world (and mayst thou (O man!) rise up there, if thou art to abide in Garo-nmanem), along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
[23.10] ‘And the Holy Word (manthra spenta) shall keep away the evil: Of thee (O child!) I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee (O woman!) I will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in children and rich in milk;
[23.11] ‘Rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs, running towards the pastures that give food to the child.
[23.11a] IIIc.
[23.12] ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the earth, down the earth and up the aerial way:
[23.12a] ‘Thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made everything that grows.
[23.13] ‘Up! rise up, ye deep Stars, that have in you the seed of waters;
[23.13a] ‘Rise up above Hara Berezaiti and produce light for the world (and mayst thou (O man!) rise up there, if thou art to abide in Gara-nmanem), along the path made by Mazda. along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
[23.14] ‘And the Holy Word (manthra spenta) shall keep away the evil: Of thee (O child!) I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee (O woman!) I will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in children and rich in milk;
[23.15] ‘Rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs, running towards the pastures that will give food to the child.
[23.16] ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the earth, down the earth and up the aerial way:
[23.16a] ‘Thus rise up and roll along! ye in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made everything that rises.
[23.17] ‘In your rising away will the Kahvuzi⁸⁵³ fly and cry, away will the Ayehi⁸⁵⁴ fly and cry, away will the Jahi who follows the Yatu, fly and cry.
[23.17b] IV. (1818. ‘I drive away Ishire and I drive away Aghuire; I drive away Aghra and I drive away Ughra; I drive away sickness and I drive away death; I drive away pain and I drive away fever; I drive away Sarana and I drive away Sarastya. I drive away Azana and I drive away Azahva; I drive away Kurugha and I drive away Azhivaka; l drive away Duruka and I drive away Astairya; I drive away the evil eye, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu has created against the bodies of mortals.
[23.19] ‘I drive away all manner of sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Jainis.
[23.20] ‘A Airyema ishyo:- May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman come here, for the men and women of Zarathushtra to rejoice, for Vohu-mano to rejoice; with the desirable reward that Religion deserves. I solicit for holiness that boon that is vouchsafed by Ahura!
[23.21] ‘May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman smite all manner of sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Jainis.
[23.22] ‘Yatha ahu vairyo:- The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness!
[23.22a] ‘Kem-na mazda:- What protector hast thou given unto me...?
[23.22b] ‘Ke verethrem-ja:- Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching...?
[23.23] ‘Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!)

## FARGARD 22. Angra Mainyu creates 99,999 diseases; Ahura Mazda counters with the Holy Manthra and with Airyaman

[24.1a] I. AHURA MAZDA spake unto Spitama Zarathushtra, saying: ‘I, Ahura Mazda, the Maker of all good things, when I made this mansion, the beautiful, the shining, seen afar (there may I go up, there may I arrive!)
[24.2] ‘Then the ruffian looked at me2; the ruffian Angra Mainyu, the deadly, wrought against me nine diseases, and ninety, and nine hundred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thousand diseases. So mayst thou heal me, thou most glorious Manthra Spenta!
[24.3] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, swift-running steeds; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka⁸⁵⁸, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.3a] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, high-humped camels; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.4] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand brown oxen that do not push; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.4a] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand females big with young, of all species of small cattle; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.5] ‘And I will bless thee with the fair blessing-spell of the righteous, the friendly blessing-spell of the righteous, that makes the empty swell to fulness and the full to overflowing, that comes to help him who was sickening, and makes the sick man sound again.
[24.6] ‘Manthra Spenta, the all-glorious, replied unto me: “How shall I heal thee? How shall I drive away from thee those nine diseases, and those ninety, those nine hundred, those nine thousand, and those nine times ten thousand diseases?”’
[24.7] II. The Maker Ahura Mazda called for Nairyo-sangha: Go thou, Nairyo-sangha, the herald, and drive towards the mansion of Airyaman, and speak thus unto him:
[24.8] Thus speaks Ahura Mazda, the Holy One, unto thee:
[24.8a] ‘I, Ahura Mazda, the Maker of all good things, when I made this mansion, the beautiful, the shining, seen afar (there may I ascend, there may I arrive!)
[24.9] ‘Then the ruffian looked at me; the ruffian Angra Mainyu, the deadly, wrought against me nine diseases, and ninety, and nine hundred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thousand diseases. So mayst thou heal me, O Airyaman, the vow-fulfiller!
[24.10] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, swift-running steeds; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy,
[24.10a] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, high-humped camels; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy,
[24.11] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand brown oxen that do not push; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.11a] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand females big with young, of all species of small cattle. I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.12] ‘And I will bless thee with the fair blessing-spell of the righteous, the friendly blessing-spell of the righteous, that make, the empty swell to fulness and the full to overflowing, that comes to help him who was sickening, and makes the sick man sound again.’
[24.13] III. In obedience to Ahura’s words he went, Nairyo-sangha, the herald; he drove towards the mansion of Airyaman, he spake unto Airyaman, saying:
[24.14] Thus speaks Ahura Mazda, the Holy One, unto thee: ‘I, Ahura Mazda, the Maker of all good things, when I made this mansion, the beautiful, the shining, seen afar (there may I go up, there may I arrive!)
[24.15] ‘Then the ruffian looked at me; the ruffian Angra Mainyu, the deadly, wrought against me nine diseases, and ninety, and nine hundred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thousand diseases. So mayst thou heal me, O Airyaman, the vow-fulfiller!
[24.16] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, swift-running steeds; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.16a] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, high-humped camels; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.17] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand brown oxen that do not push; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.17a] ‘Unto thee will I give in return a thousand females, big with young, of all species of small cattle; I offer thee up a sacrifice, O good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
[24.18] ‘And I will bless thee with the fair blessing-spell of the righteous, the friendly blessing-spell of the righteous, that makes the empty swell to fulness and the full to overflowing, that comes to help him who was sickening, and makes the sick man sound again.’
[24.19] IV. Quickly was it done, nor was it long, eagerly set off the vow-fulfilling Airyaman, towards the mountain of the holy Questions⁸⁶⁰, towards the forest of the holy Questions.
[24.20] Nine kinds of stallions brought he with him, the vow-fulfilling Airyaman⁸⁶¹.
[24.20a] Nine kinds of camels brought he with him, the vow-fulfilling Airyaman.
[24.20b] Nine kinds of bulls brought he with him, the vow-fulfilling Airyaman.
[24.20c] Nine kinds of small cattle brought he with him, the vow-fulfilling Airyaman.
[24.20d] He brought with him the nine twigs; he drew along nine furrows.
[24.20e] (219. ‘I drive away Ishire and I drive away Aghuire; I drive away Aghra and I drive away Ughra; I drive away sickness and I drive away death; I drive away pain and I drive away fever; I drive away Sarana and I drive away Sarastya; I drive away Azhana and I drive away Azhahva; I drive away Kurugha and I drive away Azhivaka; I drive away Duruka and I drive away Astairya. I drive away the evil eye, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu has created against the bodies of mortals.
[24.22] ‘I drive away all manner of sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Jainis.
[24.23] ‘A Airyema Ishyo:- May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman come here, for the men and women of Zarathushtra to rejoice, for Vohu-mano to rejoice; with the desirable reward that Religion deserves. I solicit for holiness that boon that is vouchsafed by Ahura.
[24.24] ‘May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman smite all manner of sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Jainis.
[24.25] ‘Yatha ahu vairyo:- The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-mano to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.
[24.25a] ‘Kem-na mazda:- What protector hast thou given unto me O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom but thy Atar and Vohu-mano, through whose work I keep on the world of righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule!
[24.25b] ‘Ke verethrem-ja:- Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-mano and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda!
[24.25c] ‘Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!’)

## Notes

[1] Or Spitamide. Zarathushtra was descended from Spitama at the fifth generation.
[2] ‘Everyone fancies that the land where he was born and has been brought up is the best and fairest land that I have created’ (Comm.)
[3] Greater Bundahish: ‘It is said in the Sacred Book: had I not created the Genius of the native place, all mankind would have gone to Eran-Vej, on account of its pleasantness.’ — On Airyanem Vaeja or Eran-Vej, see following note.
[4] Clause 2 in the Vendidad Sada is composed of Zend quotations in the Commentary that illustrate the alternative process of creation: ‘First, Ahura Mazda would create a land of such kind that its dwellers might like it, and there could be nothing more delightful. Then he who is all death would bring against it a counter-creation.’
[5] Airyanem Vaeja, Iran-Vej, is the holy land of Zoroastrianism: Zarathushtra was born and founded his religion there (Bund. 20.32; 32.3): the first animal couple appeared there (Bund. 14.4; Zadspram, 9.8). From its name, ‘the Iranian seed,’ it seems to have been considered as the original seat of the Iranian race. It has been generally supposed to belong to Eastern Iran, like the provinces which are enumerated after it, chiefly on account of the name of its river, the Vanguhi Daitya, which was in the Sassanian times (as Veh) the name of the Oxus. But the Bundahish distinctly states that Iran-Vej is ‘bordering upon Adarbajan’ (29.12); now, Adarbaijan is bordered by the Caspian Sea on the east, by the Rangha provinces on the west, by Media proper on the south, and by Arran on the north. The Rangha provinces are out of question, since they are mentioned at the end of the Fargard (verse 20), and the climatic conditions of Iran-Vej with its long winter likewise exclude Media and suit Arran, where the summer lasts hardly two months (cf. § 4, note 6). The very name agrees, as the country known as Arran seems to have been known to the Greeks as ῾Αριανια (Stephanus Byz.), which brings it close to our Airyanem. On the Vanguhi Daitya, see following note.
[6] The Vanguhi Daitya, belonging to Arran, must be the modern Aras (the classic Araxes). The Aras was named Vanguhi, like the Oxus, but distinguished from it by the addition Daitya, which made it ‘the Vanguhi of the Law’ (the Vanguhi by which Zarathushtra received the Law).
[7] ‘There are many Khrafstras in the Daitik, as it is said, The Daitik full of Khrafstras’ (Bund. 20.13). Snakes abound on the banks of the Araxes (Morier, A Second Journey, p. 250) nowadays as much as in the time of Pompeius, to whom they barred the way from Albania to Hyrcania (Plut.)
[8] Arran (Karabagh) is celebrated for its cold winter as well as for its beauty. At the Naoroz (first day of spring) the fields still lie under the snow. The temperature does not become milder before the second fortnight of April; no flower is seen before May. Summer, which is marked by the migration of the nomads from the plain to the mountains, begins about the 20th of June and ends in the middle of August.
[9] Vendidad Sada: ‘It is known that [in the ordinary course of nature] there are seven months of summer and five of winter’ (see Bund. 25).
[10] Some say: ‘Even those two months of summer are cold for the waters...’ (Comm.; see Mainyo-i-khard 44.20).
[11] Vend. Sada: ‘There reigns the core and heart of winter.’
[12] Doubtful.
[13] Old P. Suguda; Sogdiana.
[14] The plague that fell to that country was the bad locust: it devours the plants and death comes to the cattle’ (Gr. Bund.)
[15] Margu; Μαργιανη; Marv.
[16] Doubtful. The Gr. Bd. has: ‘The plague that fell to that country was the coming and going of troops: for there is always there an evil concourse of horsemen, thieves, robbers, and heretics, who speak untruth and oppress the righteous.’ — Marv continued to be the resort of Turanian plunderers till the recent Russian annexation.
[17] Bakhtri; Βακτρα; Balkh.
[18] ‘The corn-carrying ants’ (Asp.; cf. Farg. 14.5).
[19] By contradistinction to other places of the same name. There was a Nisaya, in Media, where Darius put to death the Mage Gaumata (Behishtun I, 58). There was also a Nisâ in Fars, another in Kirman, a third again on the way from Amol to Marv (Tabari, tr. Noeldeke, p.101, 2), which may be the same as Νισαια, the capital of Parthia (Παρθαυνισα ap. Isid. of Charax 12); cf. Pliny VI, 25 (29). One may therefore he tempted to translate, ‘Nisaya between which and Bakhdhi Mouru lies;’ but the text hardly admits of that construction, and we must suppose the existence of another Nisaya on the way from Balkh to Marv.
[20] There are people there ‘who doubt the existence of God (Comm.)
[21] Harôyu, Old P. Haraiva (transcribed in Greek and Latin ᾿Αρεια Aria instead of ῾Αρεια Haria, by a confusion with the name of the Aryans); P. Harê (in Firdausi and in Harê-rûd; Harât is an Arabicised form.— ‘The house-deserting Harê: because there, when a man dies in a house, the people of the house leave it and go. We keep the ordinances for nine days or a month: they leave the house and absent themselves from it for nine days or a month’ (Gr. Bd.) See Vd5.42.
[22] ‘The tears and wailing for the dead,’ the voceros. The tears shed over a dead man grow to a river that prevents his crossing the Chinwad bridge (Saddar 96; Arda Viraf 16.7, 10).
[23] Vaêkereta, an older name of Kabul (Kâpûl: Comm. and Gr. Bd.); perhaps the Ptolemeian Βαγαρδα in Paropanisus (Ptol. VI, 18).
[24] The Pairika, in Zoroastrian mythology, symbolises idolatry (uzdes-parastih). The land of Kubul, till the Moslem invasion, belonged to the Indian civilisation and was mostly of Brahmanical and Buddhist religion. The Pairika Khnathaiti will be destroyed at the end of the world by Saoshyant, the unborn son of Zarathushtra (when all false religions vanish before the true one; Vd19.5). — Sama Keresaspa, the Garshasp of later tradition, is the type of impious heroism: he let himself be seduced to the Daeva-worship, and Zarathushtra saw him punished in hell for his contempt of Zoroastrian observances.
[25] Urva, according to Gr. Bd. Mêshan, that is to say Mesene (Μεσηνη) the region of lower Euphrates, famous for its fertility (Herod. I, 193 [?]): it was for four centuries (from about 150 B.C. to 225 A.D.) the seat of a flourishing commercial state.
[26] ‘The people of Meshan are proud: there are no people worse than they’ (Gr. Bd.)
[27] ‘Khnenta is a river in Vehrkâna (Hyrcania)’ (Comm.); consequently the river Jorjan.
[28] See Vd8.31-2. [Hum2 228 (shyaothna yânaô-vaeipya): “pederasty”]
[29] Harauvati; ῾Αραχωσια; corrupted into Ar-rokhag (name of the country in the Arabic literature) and Arghand (in the modern name of the river Arghand-âb).
[30] See Vd3.36 ff.
[31] The basin of the ΕτυμανδροV or Erymanthus, now Hermend, Helmend, that is to say, the region of Saistân.
[32] In Haetumant.— ‘The plague created against Saistan is abundance of witchcraft: and that character appears from this, that all people from that place practise astrology: those wizards produce... snow, hail, spiders, and locusts ‘ (Gr Bd.) Saistan, like Kabul, was half Indian (Maçoudi, II, 79-82), and Brahmans and Buddhists have the credit of being proficient in the darker sciences.
[33] This clause seems to be a quotation in the Pahlavi Commentary.
[34] Ragha, transcribed Râk and identified by the Commentary with Adarbaijan and ‘according to some’ with Rai (the Greek ‘Ραγαι in Media). There were apparently two Raghas, one in Atropatene, another in Media.
[35] ‘That means that the three classes, priests, warriors, and husbandmen, were well organised there’ (Comm. and Gr. Bd.)
[36] ‘They doubt themselves and cause other people to doubt’ (Comm.)
[37] There were two towns of that name (Charkh), one in Khorasan, and the other in Ghaznin.
[38] ‘Cooking a corpse and eating it. They cook foxes and weasels and eat them’ (Gr. Bd.) See Vd8.73-4.
[39] Varn, identified by the Comm. either with Patashkhvârgar or with Dailam (that is to say Tabaristan or Gilan). The Gr. Bd. identifies it with Mount Damavand (which belongs to Patashkhvargar): this is the mountain where Azi Dahaka [Zohak] was bound with iron bonds by Thraetaona [Faridoon].— ‘Four-cornered:’ Tabaristan has rudely the shape of a quadrilateral.
[40] Vd16.11 ff.
[41] The aborigines of the Caspian littoral were Anarian savages, the so-called ‘Demons of Mazana [Mazendaran].’
[42] Hapta hindava, the basin of the affluents of the Indus, the modern Panjab (= the Five Rivers), formerly called Hind, by contradistinction to Sindh, the basin of the lower river. [Hum34: “the PhlT of V1.18 quotes the fragment haca ushastara hinduua auui daosha⟨s⟩tarem hindum ‘from the eastern river to the western river’.]
[43] ‘Arvastin-i-Rum (Roman Mesopotamia)’ (Comm.), that is to say, the basin of the upper Tigris (Rangha = Arvand = Tigris).
[44] ‘People who do not hold the chief for a chief’ (Comm.), which is the translation for asraosha (Comm. ad XVI, 18), ‘rebel against the law,’ and would well apply to the non-Mazdean people of Arvastân-i-Rûm.
[45] The severe winters in the upper valleys of the Tigris.
[46] The Vendidad Sada has here: taozyâka danheush aiwishtâra, which the Gr. Bd. understands as: ‘and the Tajik (the Arabs) are oppressive there.’
[47] ‘Some say: Persis’ (Comm.)
[48] ‘On the Religion’ (Comm.)
[49] His being a good shepherd means that he held in good condition herds of men and herds of animals’ (Comm.)
[50] Vd2.6 is composed of unconnected Avesta quotations, which are no part of the text and are introduced by the commentator for the purpose of showing that ‘although Yima did not teach the law and train pupils, he was nevertheless a faithful and a holy man, and rendered men holy too (?).’ See Fragments of the Vendidad.
[51] As the symbol and the instrument of sovereignty. ‘He reigned supreme by the strength of the ring and of the poniard’ (Asp.) Thus Faridoon gives royal investiture to Iraj ‘with the sword and the seal, the ring and the crown’ (Firdausi). — The king is master ‘of the sword, the throne, and the ring.’
[52] That is to say, his body being all resplendent with light. See Albiruni’s Chronology (tr. by Sachau, p. 202): ‘Jam rose on that day (Noruz) like the sun, the light beaming forth from him, as though he shone like the sun.’
[53] The warm South is the region of Paradise (Hadhokht Nask, section 2.7): the North is the seat of the cold winds, of the demons and hell (Vd19.1; Vd7.2).
[54] Thence is derived the following tradition recorded by G. du Chinon: ‘Ils en nomment un qui s’allait tous les jours promener dans le Ciel du Soleil d’où il aportait la sciance des Astres, aprez les avoir visités de si prez. Ils nomment ce grand personnage Gemachid’ (Relations nouvelles du Levant, Lyon, 1671, p. 478).
[55] The Genius of the Earth.
[56] ‘Do this out of kindness to the creatures’ (Comm.)
[57] Yima, according to Yt9.10, made immortality reign on the earth for a thousand years. The remaining century was spent in the Vara (‘for a hundred years, Jim was in the Var,’ says the Gr. Bund.) On Yima’s fall, see Yt19.34; see Yt5.25-31.
[58] See Vd1, notes to verse 2.
[59] The best types of mankind, chosen to live in the Var during the Malkôshân and repeople the earth when the Var opens.
[60] The Commentary has here Malkosan, a word wrongly identified with the Hebrew Malqôsh, which designates the beneficent autumn rains. Malkosan are the winters let loose by a demon or wizard named Malkôsh, in Avestan Mahrkûsha ‘the death-causing’ (see Westergaard’s Fragments, VIII).
[61] ‘Even where it (the snow) is least, it will be one Vitasti two fingers deep’ (Comm.); that is, fourteen fingers deep.
[62] The Comm. has, strangely enough, ‘for instance, Ispahan.’
[63] ‘For instance, Aparsen (the Upairisaena or Hindu-Kush).’
[64] ‘For instance, Khorastan (the plain of Khorasan).’
[65] ‘Two hathras long on every side’ (Comm.) A hathra is about an English mile.
[66] That is to say, specimens of each species.
[67] The last three words are απαξ λεγομενα of doubtful meaning.
[68] The best specimens of mankind, to be the origin of the more perfect races of the latter days.
[69] ‘The highest of size, like the cypress and the plane-tree; the sweetest of odour, like the rose and the jessamine’ (Comm.)
[70] ‘The best of savour, like the date; the sweetest of odour, like the citron’ (Comm.)
[71] ‘A man, afflicted with leprosy, is not allowed to enter a town and mix with the other Persians’ (Herod. I, 139); he was supposed to have sinned against the sun). Ctesias has a tale or how Megabyzes escaped his enemies by simulating leprosy.
[72] In order that the new mankind may be exempt from all moral and physical deformities.
[73] This division of the Var into three quarters very likely answers the distinction of the three classes.
[74] In the Shah Namah Jamshid teaches the Divs to make and knead clay ‘by mixing the earth with water;’ and they build palaces at his bidding. It was his renown, both as a wise king and a great builder, that caused the Moslems to identify him with Solomon.
[75] From the Vendidad Sada.
[76] The endless light, which is eternal, and artificial lights. The Commentary has here the following Avestan quotation: ‘The uncreated light shines from above; all the created lights shine from below.’
[77] The people in the Var cannot see them, since the Var is underground. That is why the Var has lights of its own.
[78] As there is no daily revolution of the sun.
[79] See the description of Eranwej according to a later source, the Mainyo-i-khard (as translated by West); ‘Ohrmazd created Eranwej better than the remaining places and districts; and its goodness was this, that men’s life is three hundred years; and cattle and sheep, one hundred and fifty years; and their pain and sickness are little, and they do not circulate falsehood, and they make no lamentation and weeping; and the sovereignty of the demon of Avarice, in their body, is little, and in ten men, if they eat one loaf, they are satisfied; and in every forty years, from one woman and one man, one child is born; and their law is goodness, and religion the primeval religion, and when they die, they are righteous (= blessed); and their chief is Gopatshah, and the ruler and king is Srosh’ (44.24).
[80] ‘They live there for 150 years; some say, they never die’ (Comm.)
[81] ‘The bird Karshipta dwells in the heavens: were he living on the earth, he would be the king of birds. He brought the Religion into the Var of Vima, and recites the Avesta in the language of birds’ (Bund. 19 and Bund. 24). The Comm. identifies the Karshiptan with the Chakhravak, that is the Chakravaka of poetical reputation in India.
[82] Zarathushtra had three sons during his lifetime, Isat-vastra, Hvare-chithra, and Urvatat-nara, who were respectively the fathers and chiefs of the three classes, priests, warriors, and husbandmen. Urvatat-nara, as a husbandman, was chosen to be the ahu or temporal Lord of the Var, on account of the Var being underground. Zarathushtra, as a heavenly priest, was, by right, the ratu or Spiritual Lord in Airyana Vaejah, where he founded the Religion by a sacrifice (Bund. 33 and Introd. III, 15).
[83] ‘The Genius of the Earth’ (Comm.)
[84] The wood for the fire altar.
[85] The Baresma (now called barsom) is a bundle of sacred twigs which the priest holds in his hand while reciting the prayers. (See Vd19.18 seq. and notes.)
[86] The so-called jîv or jîvâm, one of the elements of the Haoma sacrifice.
[87] The Havana [hawan] or mortar used in crushing the Haoma or Hom.
[88] Mithra, the Persian Apollo, sometimes like him identified with the Sun, is invoked here as making the earth fertile. ‘Why do not you worship the Sun? King Yazdgard asked the Christians. Is he not the god who lights up with his rays all the world, and through whose warmth the food of men and cattle grows ripe?’ (Elisaeus.)
[89] The god that gives food its savour: he is an acolyte to Mithra.
[90] With the domestic chaplain (the Panthaki).
[91] By the performance of worship.
[92] Under the Achaemanian kings countrymen who brought water to places naturally dry received the usufruct of the ground for five generations (Polybius, X, 28). But for those underground canals (called qanats), which bring water from the mountains all through the Iranian desert, Persia would starve.
[93] The neck of Arezura (Arezurahe griva) is “a mount at the gate of hell, whence the demons rush forth” (Bund. 12.8 Dadistan 33.5); it is also called “the head of Arezura” (Vd19.45), or ‘the back of Arezura’ (Bund. 12.2). Arezura was a fiend, son of Ahriman, who was killed by the first man, Gayomard (Menog-i Khrad 27.15). The mount named from him hes in the North (which is the seat of the demons): it seems to belong to the Alborz chain, like the Damavand (Bund. 12.8), where Azi Dahaka [Zohak] was bound (Vd1.18, notes).
[94] Hell, the Druj being assimilated to a burrowing Khrafstra. See Vd7.24.
[95] ‘It is declared in the good religion, that, when they conceal a corpse beneath the ground, Spendarmad, the archangel, shudders; it is just as severe as a serpent or scorpion would be to any one in a sleeping-garment, and it is also just like that to the ground. When thou makest a corpse beneath the ground as it were apparent, thou makest the ground liberated ftom that affliction’ (Saddar 33, tr. by West, in the Sacred Books of the East, XXIV). See Vd. 6.51; Vd7.45.
[96] With regard to Dakhmas, see Vd6.45. ‘Nor is the Earth happy at that place whereon stands a Dakhma with corpses upon it; for that patch of ground will never be clean again till the day of resurrection’ (Gr. Riv. 435, 437). Although the erection of Dakhmas is enjoined by the law, yet the Dakhma in itself is as unclean as any spot on the earth can be, since it is always in contact with the dead see (Vd7.55). The impurity which would otherwise be scattered over the whole world, is thus brought together to one and the same spot. Yet even that spot, in spite of the Rivayat, is not to lie defiled for ever, as every fifty years the Dakhmas ought to be pulled down, so that their sites may be restored to their natural purity (see Vd7.49 ff. and this Farg. verse 13).
[97] ‘Where there are most Khrafstras’ (noxious animals).
[98] Killed by an enemy.
[99] This joy answers the second grief of the earth (§ 8; cf. note). There is no counterpart given to the first grief (§ 7), because, as the Commentary naively expresses it, “it is not possible now so to dig out hell,” which will be done at the end of the world (Bund. 30.32).
[100] This answers the third grief (§ 9; cf. note).
[101] No ceremony in general can be performed by one man alone. Two Mobeds are wanted to perform the Vendidad service, two priests for the Barashnum, two persons for the Sag-did (Anquetil, II, 584 n.) It is never good that the faithful should be alone, as the fiend is always lurking about, ready to take advantage of any moment of inattention. If the faithful be alone, there is no one to make up for any negligence and to prevent mischief arising from it. Never is the danger greater than in the present case, when the fiend is close at hand, and in direct contact with the faithful.
[102] A corpse from which the Nasu has not been expelled by the Sag-did ceremony (described Vd8.14-22).
[103] The word Nasu has two meanings: it means either the corpse (nasai), or the corpse-demon (the Druj Nasu, that is to say the demon who takes possession of the dead body and makes his presence felt by the decomposition of the body and infection).
[104] He cannot purify himself like the Nasa-salar (Vd8.13). ‘He who carries a man, knowing that the man is dead and that the Sag-did has not been performed, commits a sin worthy of death (margarzan).’ As the absence of Sag-did makes the infection worse, it is the same crime as if a man were to introduce a plague into the country.
[105] To avoid any contact of that man with pure beings
[106] A pace (gâma) is as much as three feet (pâdha; Vd9.8).
[107] The Armesht-gâh, the place for the unclean; see Introd. V, 15.
[108] Hana means, literally, ‘an old man;’ Zaurura, ‘a man broken down by age;’ Pairishta-khshudra, ‘one whose seed is dried up.’ These words have acquired the technical meanings of ‘fifty, sixty, and seventy years old.’
[109] When he is near his death. The carrier alone (êvak-bar), being margarzân (see note 22 above), ought to have been put to death at once. The rigour of theory was abated in practice and delayed to the moment when the guilty man was to have paid to nature the debt due to religion.
[110] ‘Trained to operations of that sort’ (Comm.); a headsman.
[111] Perhaps: ‘to flay him alive and cut off his head.’ See Vd9.49, text and note.
[112] By the performance or the Patet.
[113] This joy answers the fourth grief or the earth (§ 10).
[114] This is identical with § 4, which is developed in the following clauses (§§ 24-34).
[115] The text has: ‘she brings either a son or plenty of fruit,’ she being either the woman or the earth.
[116] ‘When something good grows up, it will grow up for thee first’ (Comm.) Perhaps: ‘bringing to thee profusion of corn’ (‘some say, she will bring to thee 15 for 10;’ Comm.)
[117] ‘They take for themselves what is good and send to thee what is bad’ (Comm.)
[118] Literally, ‘what is the stomach of the law?’
[119] ‘He makes the Religion of Mazda as fat as a child could be made by means of a hundred feet, that is to say, of fifty servants walking to rock him; of a thousand breasts, that is, of five hundred nurses’ (Comm.)
[120] With the recitation of 10,000 Yenghe hatam, that is to say, as if one had performed for his weal as many sacrifices as contain 10,000 Yenghe hatam.
[121] John Barleycorn got up again / And sore surpris’d them all.
[122] Doubtful.
[123] Doubtful.
[124] The general meaning of the sentence is how the Devs are broken down ‘by the growing, the increasing, and the ripening of the corn’ (Denkard, 1.1. § 10 [Dk8 44.10]).
[125] Doubtful.
[126] Doubtful. Wolff: “When the grain is rightly placed (for threshing), then the Daevas perspire (with fear);. when the mill is rightly placed (to grind the grain), then lose the Daevas lose their composure, if the flour is rightly placed (for making dough), then the Daevas cry, if the dough is rightly placed (for baking), then the Daevas perish (Av. paredhen; Wolff follows AirWb 869 in reading farzen) (with fear); kept permanently in the house, flour dough is effectual for striking down the Daevas, in the mouth, it is very hot (to them)? you see them turn to flee. Thus grain grows abundantly, so one should recite the Mãthra...”
[127] ‘Like the performance of the dvâzda hômâst’ (the longest and most cumbersome of all Zoroastrian ceremonies).
[128] The Asho-dad or alms. The bracketed clause is from the Vendidad Sada.
[129] The Genius of the Earth offended.
[130] Conjectural translation.
[131] See Introduction.
[132] A born Zoroastrian or a catechist: in both cases, he must have known that he was committing sin.
[133] He did not know that he was committing sin.
[134] He makes Patet and says to himself; ‘I will never henceforth sin again’ (Comm.)
[135] If not knowingly committed; see § 40 and the following notes.
[136] Doubtful. From the commentary it appears that draosha must have meant a different sort of robbery: ‘He knows that it is forbidden to steal, but he fancies that robbing the rich to give to the poor is a pious deed’ (Comm.)
[137] Or better, ‘a Mazdean,’ but one who has committed a capital crime; ‘he knows that it is allowed to kill the margarzân, but he does not know that it is not allowed to do so without an order from the judge.’ See Vd8.74 note.
[138] ‘He knows that it is forbidden to bury a corpse; but he fancies that if one manages so that dogs or foxes may not take it to the fire and to the water, he behaves piously (Comm.) — He fancies that the prohibition of burying the dead is meant only for the protection of the fire and the water, not of the earth herself.
[139] Or, possibly, ‘the sin of usury.’ ‘He knows that it is lawful to take high interest, but he does not know that it is not lawful to do so from the faithful’ (Comm.)
[140] ‘From chaff’ (Comm.)
[141] He is a thief when he takes a view not to restore; he is a robber when, being asked to restore, he answers, I will not” (Comm.)
[142] Every moment that he holds it unlawfully, he steals it anew. ‘The basest thing with Persians is to lie; the next to it is to be in debt, for this reason among many others, that he who is so, must needs sink to lying at last’ (Herod. I, 139) The debtor in question is of course the debtor of bad faith, ‘he who says to a man, Give me this, I will restore it to thee at the proper time, and he says to himself; I will not restore it’ (Comm.)
[143] At first view it seems as if the classification were twofold, the contracts being defined in the first two clauses by their mode of being entered into, and in the last four by their amount. Yet it appears from the following clauses that even the word-contract and the hand-contract are indicative of a certain amount, which, however, the commentators did not, or were unable to, determine.
[144] The word-contract may be a contract of which the object are words: the contract of jâdangôi (ukhdhô-vachah), by which one offers to speak and intervene for some one’s benefit, or the contract between master and pupil (for teaching the sacred texts).
[145] The contract for hiring labour (?).
[146] ‘Viz. to the amount of 3 istîrs [in weight],’ (Comm.) An istîr (στατηρ) is as much as 4 dirhems (δραχμη).
[147] ‘To the amount of 12 istîrs (=48 dirhems),’ (Comm.)
[148] ‘To the amount of 500 dirhems.’ The exact translation would be rather, ‘The contract to the amount of a human being’ (promise of marriage).
[149] ‘Upwards of 500 istîrs.’
[150] A sort of gloss added to define more accurately the value of the object, and to indicate that it is greater than that of the preceding one.
[151] Literally, how much is involved? The joint responsibility of the family was a principle in the Persian law: ‘Leges apud eos impendio formidatae, et abominandae aliae, per quas ob noxam unius omnis propinquitas perit’ (Am. Marcellinus XXIII, 6).
[152] The next of kin to the ninth degree.
[153] See § 11. This passage seems to have puzzled tradition. The Commentary says, ‘How long, how many years, has one to fear for the breach of a word-contract? — the Nabanazdishtas have to fear for three hundred years;’ but it does not explain farther the nature of that fear; it only tries to reduce the circle of that liability to narrower limits: ‘only the son born after the breach is liable for it; the righteous are not liable for it; when the father dies, the son, if righteous, has nothing to fear from it.’ And finally, the Rivayats leave the kinsmen wholly aside; the penalty falling entirely upon the real offender, and the number denoting only the duration of his punishment in hell: ‘He who breaks a word-contract, his soul shall abide for three hundred years in hell’ (Gr. Riv. 94).
[154] See § 12. ‘His soul shall abide for six hundred years in hell’ (Gr. Riv. 1.1.)
[155] See § 13. ‘His soul shall abide for seven hundred years in hell’ (Gr. Riv. 1.1.)
[156] See § 14. ‘His soul shall abide for eight hundred years in hell.’
[157] See § 16. ‘His soul shall abide for a thousand years in hell.’
[158] One tanapuhr and a half, that is 1800 dirhems. See Introd.
[159] Three tanapuhrs, or 3600 dirhems.
[160] Three tanapuhrs and a half or 4200 dirhems.
[161] Four tanapuhrs, or 4800 dirhems.
[162] Four tanapuhrs and a half, or 5400 dirhems.
[163] Five tanapuhrs, or 6000 dirhems.
[164] In this paragraph are defined the first three of the eight outrages with which the rest of the Fargard deals. Only these three are defined, because they are designated by technical terms. We subjoin the definitions of them found in a Sanskrit translation of a Patet (Paris, Bibl. Nat. f. B. 5, 154), in which their etymological meanings are better preserved than in the Zend definition itself: — Agerepta, ‘seizing,’ is when a man seizes a weapon with a view to smite another. Avaoirishta, ‘brandishing,’ is when a man brandishes, a weapon with a view to smite another. Aredush is when a man actually smites another with a weapon, but without wounding him, or inflicts a wound which is healed within three days.
[165] Viz. on the sixth commission of it, as appears from § 28.
[166] He shall receive two hundred stripes, or shall pay 1200 dirhems (see Introd.)
[167] Literally, ‘without having undone the preceding.’
[168] Even though the Agerepta has been committed for the first time.
[169] Literally, ‘and does not undo it.’ If he do’s not offer himself to hear the penalty, and does not perform the Patet (see Introd.)
[170] We return here to contracts; the logical place of §§ 44-45 would be after § 16.
[171] The analysis of the Vendidad in the Denkard has here: ‘a proof that one professes the Religion well is to grant bountifully to the brethren in the faith any benefit they may ask for.’
[172] Woman is an object of contract, like cattle or fields: she is disposed of by contracts of the fifth sort, being more valuable than cattle and less so than fields. She is sold by her father or her guardian, often from the cradle. ‘Instances are not wanting of the betrothal of a boy of three years of age to a girl of two’ (see Dosabhoy Framjee’s work on The Parsees, p. 77; cf. ‘A Bill to Define and Amend the Law relating to Succession, Inheritance, Marriage, &c.’ Bombay, 1864).
[173] On the holiness of the contract between pupil and teacher, see Yt10.116. Cf. above, p.35, n. 4.
[174] He sleeps ‘the third part of the day and the third part of the night’ (Yasna 62.5).
[175] A teaching priest (Parsi Herbad).
[176] This clause is intended against false oaths taken in the so-called Var-ordeal (see § 54 n.) It ought to be placed before § 49 his, where the penalty for a false oath is given.
[177] §§ 47-49 are a Sort of commentary to the beginning of § 44.
[178] What king Yazdgard found most offensive in Christianity was ‘that the Christians praise death and despise life, set no value upon fecundity and extol sterility, so that if their disciples would listen to them, they would no longer have any intercourse with women and the world would end’ (Elisaeus).
[179] ‘In Persia there are prizes given by the king to those who have most children’ (Herod. I, 136). He who has no child, the bridge (of Paradise) shall be barred to him. The first question the angels there will ask him is, whether he has left in this world a substitute for himself; if the answer be, No, they will pass by and he will stay at the head of the bridge, full of grief and sorrow’ (Saddar 18; Hyde 19). The primitive meaning of this belief is explained by Brahmanical doctrine; the man without a son falls into hell, because there is nobody to pay him the family worship.
[180] Vohu Mano is at the same time the god of good thoughts and the god of cattle.
[181] ‘There are people who strive to pass a day without eating, and who abstain from any meat; we strive too and abstain, namely, from any sin in deed, thought, or word:... in other religions, they fast from bread; in ours, we fast from sin’ (Saddar 83).—’ The Zoroastrians have no fasting at all. He who fasts commits a sin, and must, by way of expiation, give food to a number of poor people’ (Albiruni, Chronology, p. 217).
[182] A dirhem.
[183] Or: ’is worth an Asperena, worth a sheep, worth an ox, worth a man,’ which means, according to the Commentary: ‘deserves the gift of an Asperena, of a sheep’s value, an ox’s value, a man’s value.’
[184] Asto-vidhotu, the demon of death (Vd5.8). The man who eats well has greater vitality.
[185] The Commentary has: ‘like Mazdak, son of Bâmdât [Bamdat],’ the communistic heresiarch who flourished under Kobad (488-531) and was put to death under Noshirvan.
[186] The taking of a false oath. Cf. § 46.
[187] In hell.
[188] Doubtful.
[189] Doubtful.
[190] The water before which the oath is taken contains some incense, brimstone, and one danak of molten gold (Gr. Riv. 101).
[191] The god of truth (Yt12). The formula is as follows: ‘Before the Amshaspand Vohuman, before the Amshaspand Ardwahisht, here lighted up... &c. I swear that I have nothing of what is thine, N. son of N. neither gold, nor silver, nor brass, nor clothes, nor any of the things created by Ohrmazd’ (l.l.96). Cf. above, § 46.
[192] He is a Mithra-druj, ‘one who lies to Mithra.’
[193] In this world.
[194] For defiling the fire by bringing dead matter into it (see Vd7.25 seq.) contrarily to the rule, ‘Put ye only proper and well-examined fuel (in the fire).’ For the purification of unclean wood, see Vd7.28 seq.
[195] ‘People guilty of death [i.e. a mortal sin -JHP]’ (Comm.) Cf. Yasna 53.9 b.
[196] After their death, ‘When the soul, crying and beaten off, is driven far away from Paradise’ (Comm.) This is imitated from the Gathas (Yasna 46.11c; 51.13b; cf. Vd13.8-9).
[197] For defiling the earth and the water: ‘If a man wants to irrigate a field, he must first look after the water-channel, whether there is dead matter in it or not..... If the water, unknown to him, comes upon a corpse, there is no sin upon him. If he has not looked after the rivulet and the stream, he is unclean’ (Saddar 75).
[198] Water and fire belong to the holy part of the world, and come from God; how then is it that they kill? ‘Let a Gueber light a sacred fire for a hundred years, if he once fall into it, he shall be burnt.’ Even the Mobeds, if we may trust Elisaeus, complained that the fire would burn them without regard for their piety, when to adore it they came too near (Vartan’s War, p. 211 of the French translation by l’Abbé Garabed). The answer was that it is not the fire nor the water that kills, but the demon of Death and Fate. ‘Nothing whatever that I created in the world, said Ohrmazd, does harm to man; it is the bad Nâi (read Vâi) that kills the man’ (Gr. Riv. 124).
[199] ‘Asti-vahat is the bad Vai who seizes the life (of man): when his hand strokes him, it is lethargy; when he casts his shadow upon him, it is fever; when he looks in his eyes, he destroys life and it is called Death’ (Bund. 28.35). Cf. Vd4.49; Vd19.29.
[200] ‘The bad Vai’ (Comm.) Vai (Vayu) is the Genius of Destiny, good or evil.
[201] To the surface.
[202] To the bottom.
[203] When he departs.
[204] ‘In case a man dies during the snowy seasdon, while it is difficult or impossible to take the corpse to the Dakhma, which usually stands far from inhabited places. The same case is treated again in Vd8.4 seq.
[205] One for men, another for women, a third for children. As not every house is considerable or rich enough to have these three accommodations, there will be a common Zad-marj for the village. The Zad-marj is a small mud house where the corpse is laid, to lie there till it can be taken to the Dakhma (Anquetil, Zend-Avesta II, 583). The Zad-marj is still used in Persia, and in the Gujarati provinces (where it is called Nasa-khana, ‘house for corpses’). In Bombay they use the simpler and more economical method given in Vd8.8.
[206] ‘Being in life’ (Comm.)
[207] To come back.
[208] They were hidden under the earth.
[209] ‘Until the winter is past’ (Comm.)
[210] See Vd3.41; note; cf. below, §§ 21-26.
[211] Vouru-kasha or Frakh-kart, the Ocean, wherefrom all waters come and whereto they return (Vd21.4).
[212] Zartosht wonders that Ohrmazd fears so little to infringe his own laws by defiling waters with the dead. In a Rivayat, he asks him bluntly why he forbids men to take corpses to the water, while he himself sends rain to the Dakhmas (Gr. Riv. 125).
[213] The sea where waters are purified before going back to their gathering place, the sea Vouru-kasha (see § 19). ‘All the thickness, salt, and impurity of the sea Putik wishes to go to the Frakh-kart sea; but a mighty high wind, blowing from the Var Satves, drives it away: whatever is clean and movable passes to the Frakh-kart sea, and the rest (the unclean element) flows back to the Putik’ (Bund. 13.10).
[214] The tree of all seeds (Harvisptokhm), which grows in the middle of the sea Vouru-kasha; the seeds of all plants are on it. There is a godlike bird, the Sinamru [simurgh], sitting on that tree; whenever he flies off the tree, there grow out of it a thousand boughs; whenever he alights on it, there break a thousand boughs, the seeds of which are scattered about, and rained down on the earth by Tishtar (Tishtrya), the rain-god (Yt12.17; Menog-i Khrad 62.37 seq.; Bundahishn 27; cf. Vd20.4 seq.)
[215] The cleansing, the purification.
[216] ‘When Zartosht saw that man is able to escape sin by performing good works, he was filled with joy’ (Comm.)
[217] Quotation from the Gathas (Yasna 48.5c).
[218] That is to say, ‘Who performs the rites of cleansing according to the prescriptions of the law.’
[219] The Law (Datem), that part of the religious system of which the Vendidad is the specimen, and the object of which is the purification of man.
[220] ‘The royal cypress above small herbs’ (Comm.)
[221] ‘To take the rule’ (Comm.), which probably means, ‘to know what sort of penance he must undergo;’ as, when a man has sinned with the tongue or with the hand, the Dastur (or Ratu) must prescribe for him the expiation that the sin requires. The Ratu is the chief priest, the spiritual head of the community.
[222] ‘To weep for his crime’ (Comm.), which may mean, ‘to recite to him the Patet, or, to receive at his hand the proper number of stripes.’ The Sraosha-varez is the priest that superintends the sacrifice. He receives the confession of the guilty man and very likely wields the Sraosho-charana.
[223] The Srosh-dron, a service in honour of any of the angels, or of deceased persons, in which small cakes, called draona, are consecrated in their names, and then given to those present to eat.
[224] When it ought not to be.
[225] When it ought to be.
[226] The meaning of the sentence is not certain. The Commentary has: ‘Whether he has thought what he ought not to have thought, or has not thought what he ought to have thought; whether he has said what he ought not to have said, or has not said what he ought to have said; whether he has done what he ought not to have done, or has not done what he ought to have done.’
[227] When the Ratu remits one-third of the sin, God remits the whole of it (Saddar 29).
[228] Cf. Vd3.41.
[229] Nasu [Nasa] (νεκυV) designates both the corpse and the corpse-demon (the Druj that produces the corruption and infection of the dead body).
[230] In opposition to the case when the dead one is an Ashmogh (§ 35), as no Nasa issues then.
[231] Literally, ‘If she goes as far as the eleventh, she defiles the tenth.’ That is to say, she stops at the eleventh and defiles the next ten. In the Rivayats, the Avesta distinctions are lost, and the defiling power of the Nasa is the same, whatever may have been the rank of the dead: ‘If there be a number of people sleeping in the same place, and if one of them happens to die, all those around him, in any direction, as far as the eleventh, become unclean if they have been in contact with one another’ (Gr. Riv. 470).
[232] A dog without a master (Vd13.19).
[233] A hunting-dog.
[234] This name and the two following, Aiwizu and Vizu, are left untranslated in the Pahlavi translation.
[235] A weasel. The weasel is one of the creatures of Ahura, for ‘it has been created to fight against the serpent garza and the other khrafstras that live in holes’ (Bund. 19.27).
[236] Not that the unclean one cannot be cleansed, but that his uncleanness does not pass from him to another.
[237] §§ 35-38; cf. Vd12.21-24.
[238] Ashemaogha, a heretic.
[239] The frog is a creature of Ahriman’s, and one of the most hateful. Cf. Vd14.5.
[240] By defiling it (a capital crime; see Vd7.25).
[241] He extinguishes the Warharan fire (a capital crime; cf. Vd7.25.)
[242] As a cattle-lifter.
[243] As an assassin.
[244] By defiling them, he deprives the faithful of their use.
[245] ‘When a wicked man dies, the Druj who was with him during his lifetime, seizes him and drags him down to Ahriman; therefore, his body, as the Druj is no longer with it, becomes pure. On the contrary, when it is a righteous man that dies, the Amahraspands take his soul to Ohrmazd and the Druj settles in the house of the body and makes it impure’ (Gujastak Abalish).
[246] In order to perform a sacrifice.
[247] The Dakhma.
[248] Corruption being worse in summer.
[249] §§ 45-54 = Vd7.60-69.
[250] The pregnancy, without lasting more than nine calendar months (9 times 30 days), generally extends along ten months on the calendar (for instance from January 10 to October 10).
[251] The carrier alone is kept thirty feet from the faithful (Vd3.18), as he is cut off from the community: his food is not brought to him, he has a store prepared for him. The woman, when armesht, is only temporarily isolated; she stays in the house and her food is brought to her all but from hand to hand (Vd16.6).
[252] The place for the man or woman in state of uncleanness, or Armesht-gah.
[253] Urine of the ox: the so-called Nirang-din; cf. Vd8.37; Vd19.21. ‘Three cups, or six, or nine, according to her strength’ (Asp.)
[254] Her womb is a Dakhma, as it contained a dead body. — These nine draughts of gomez mixed with ashes are like an interior barashnom, as the Barashnom consists of nine successive purifications with gomez and dust.
[255] Doubtful.
[256] Doubtful.
[257] ‘The water would be defiled;’ cf. Vd7.70 seq.
[258] She shall perform the nine nights’ Barashnom, for the details of which see Vd9. That Barashnom is taken forty days after the delivery.
[259] ‘If a woman brings forth a still-born child, after a pregnancy of one month to ten months, the first food she shall take is nirang (= gomez)... fire and ashes; and she is not allowed until the fourth day to take water or salt, or any food that is cooked with water or salt: on the fourth day they give her nirang, that she may cleanse herself and wash her clothes with it, and she is not allowed to wash herself and her clothes with water until the forty-first day’ (Gr. Riv. 568).
[260] # 57-62 = Vd7.17-22.
[261] These are the names of the different priests who were engaged in the sacrifices. The Havanan strains the Haoma; the Atarevakhsha kindles the fire; the Frabaretar brings to the Zaotar all that he needs; the Aberet brings the water; the Asnatar washes and strains the Haoma; the Rathwishkar mixes the Haoma and the milk; the Zaotar chants the hymns and says the prayers; the Sraosh-varez superintends the sacrifice. Nowadays there are only two priests, the Zaotar (Zot) and the Rathwishkar (Raspi), the latter performing all the accessory services formerly performed by several priests. Cf. Nirangistan, 71 sq.
[262] In short, by any of the faithful, when in state of purity.
[263] An Armesht; literally, ‘an infirm person,’ that is to say, one who is unclean, during the time of his uncleanness (Vd9.33 seq.), when all work is forbidden to him.
[264] The Armesht-gah, the place of seclusion of the Armesht.
[265] The clothing defiled by the dead can only serve for Dashtan women, even after it has been washed and exposed for six months to the light of the sun and of the moon (Saddar 91; cf. Vd7.10 seq.)
[266] Until they are clean. The unclean must have their hands wrapped in an old piece of linen, lest they should touch and defile anything clean.
[267] See Vd4.48, note 4.
[268] Cf. Vd8.23 seq. It appears from those passages that the dead must lie on the mountain naked, or ‘clothed only with the light of heaven’ (Vd6.51). The modern custom is to clothe them with old clothing (Dadabhai Naoroji, Manners and Customs of the Parsis, p. 15). ‘When a man dies and receives the order (to depart), the older the shroud they make for him, the better. It must be old, worn out, but well washed: they must not lay anything new on the dead. For it is said in the Zand Vendidad, If they put on the dead even so much as a thread from the distaff more than is necessary, every thread shall become in the other world a black snake clinging to the heart of him who made that shroud, and even the dead shall rise against him and seize him by the skirt, and say, That shroud which thou madest for me has become food for worms and vermin’ (Saddar 12). After the fourth day, when the soul is in heaven, then rich garments are offered up to it, which it will wear in its celestial life (Saddar 87).
[269] ‘Where darkness can be seized with the hand’ (Comm.; cf. Aogemadaeca 28); something more than the ‘visible darkness.’
[270] The Commentary has, ‘the place of those who impregnate darkness, for the Druj who conceives seed from the sinner comes from that place’ (cf. Vd18.30 seq.)
[271] Quotation from the Gathas (Yasna 31.20).
[272] Cf. Vd7.45 seq.
[273] ‘To the water which they pour out, to the earth which they plough. to the plants which they sow’ (Comm.)
[274] ‘If they plough and sow it, one tanapuhr (see Introd. V, 19); if they pour water on it, one tanapuhr; if they plough, sow, and water it, two tanapuhrs’ (Comm.)
[275] Even when a year’s space is past, the ground is not free ipso facto.
[276] Ready to help him in case of need.
[277] ‘If he is able to draw out the corpse and does so, it is a pious deed worth a tanapuhr (that is, one by which a tanapuhr sin can be cancelled); if he is able to draw it out and does not do so, it is a tanapuhr sin. Gugoshasp says, It is a margarzan sin (a capital crime)’ (Comm.)
[278] Nine feet on the four sides.
[279] Three times the measure up the stream (that is nine feet).
[280] Pounded and strained.
[281] Because the Haoma is the plant of life; when strained for the sacrifice, it is the king of healing plants (Bund. 24); the dead shall become immortal by tasting of the white Haoma (ibid. Bund. 31).
[282] Four fingers from the point touched by the Nasau. That part of the stem shall be cut off (Framji): the rest can be made clean.
[283] What is left of the stem.
[284] In places where there are no Dakhmas; for instance, in the country.
[285] ‘On the top of a mountain’ (Comm.) Cf. Vd8.10.
[286] When the flesh has been stripped off the bones, thay may be. collected in a stone ossuary. See following note.
[287] “When the corpse-eating birds have eaten the fat, that fat which, when it is not possible to eat it, becomes rotten, offensive, and fraught with noxious creatures, then men shall properly convey the bones away to the bonne-receptacle (astôdân), which one is to elevate so from the ground, and over which a roof so stands, that in no way does the rain fall upon the dead matter, nor the water reach up to it therein, nor are the dog and fox able to go to it, and for the sake of light coming to it a hole is made therein” (Dadistan 18.3; tr. West).
[288] Such stone ossuaries have been found at Bushir, by Mr. Malcolm; earth ossuaries, found at Susa, were brought to the Louvre by M. Dieulafoy.
[289] The dead must see the sun: that is why the astodan has holes for letting the light in (see note 16 above).
[290] Hell lies in the north; see Vd2.10 n.; Vd3.7 n.; Vd19.1; Hadokht Nask, section 3.25; Bundahishn 15.19.
[291] Khrafstra is a general denomination for noxious animals.
[292] Until the Sag-did has been performed (see Vd8.16 seq.)
[293] The Sag-did may be performed by birds of prey as well as by dogs. The dog smites the Nasu when it brings its muzzle near to the dead, the bird (mountain hawk, sparrow (?), or eagle) when its shadow passes over the body (Comm. ad § 2; cf. § 29). § 3 is from the Vendidad Sada.
[294] ‘By poison’ (Comm.)
[295] Literally, ‘by men;’ that is to say, put to death by the community according to law (Comm.)
[296] If he has been condemned unjustly.
[297] If he has strangled himself.
[298] The day is divided into five watches or ratu. If the man dies a natural death, the Druj comes directly; if the death be violent and unlooked for, the Druj comes later (as the corruption does not set in so quickly).
[299] §§ 6-9 = Vd5.27-30.
[300] This enumeration is less complete than that in ‘the fifth Fargard, as it comprises only the first four sorts of dogs; the rest is to be supplied as in Farg. V, 31-38.
[301] This phrase, which forms part of § 19, is wrongly inserted here.
[302] The bedding on which he has died.
[303] The upper sheet of the bed and the inner garment of the body, that is to say, only those clothes which have been in direct contact with the dead.
[304] According to the Commentary only that part which has been defiled is rent off; the rest may still be used.
[305] See Vd19.21.
[306] This clause is a quotation from Yasna 65.5, intended to illustrate the cleansing power of water. Ardvi Sura is the goddess of the waters. See Vd21.6 notes.
[307] §§ 17-22 = Vd5.57-62.
[308] The carcase-eater lodges the Nasu in himself; he becomes a Nasu, and therefore must be destroyed; cf. below, § 76 seq. [Cannibalism. See Vd8.73-74. -JHP]
[309] His house, as he is assimilated to a devouring Khrafstra; see Vd3.7.
[310] Till the resurrection. ‘It is prescribed in the Vendidad that if a man shall eat of a carcase, his house and family shall he destroyed, his heart shall be torn out of his body, his eyes shall be put out, and his soul shall abide in hell till the resurrection’ (Saddar 71). ‘He who eats of a carcase with sinful intent is both unclean and margarzan; Barashnum and Nirang are of no avail for him, he must die. If there has been no sinful intent, he may wash himself; one may give him the ashes and the gomez (Comm.); he is unclean, he is not margarzan’ (Old Riv. 115 b).
[311] ‘It is said in the Avesta that when there are many gnats and locusts it is owing to corpses having been brought to water and to fire’ (Saddar 72).
[312] § 26 refers chiefly to the damage produced by the defilement of the waters, and § 27 to that produced by the defilement of the fire.
[313] See note 23 above.
[314] In the same way (by the bringing of corpses to water and to fire), winter grows colder, and summer grows warmer’ (Saddar 72).
[315] Whoever shall do that deed, shall pay for it in this world and in the next; they shall flay his body in the presence of the assembly, they shall tear him limb from limb, and his corpse shall be thrown away to dogs and ravens,.. and when his soul comes to the other world, he shall suffer tortures from the Devs. If he has not made his Patet [confession], his soul shall remain in hell till the day of resurrection’ (Gr. Riv. p. 123).
[316] That is to say, if the Sag-did has not yet been performed. Read: ‘If the Nasu has been expelled...’ (that, is to say, if the Sag-did has been performed). See note 6.
[317] See above, verse 3, note 3.
[318] Twelve fingers; a span.
[319] The Frârâthni is, as it seems, as much as a forearm.
[320] ‘After a year,’ according to the Commentary.
[321] Read: ‘But if the Nasu has not yet been expelled.’ It appears from the similar passages (Vd8.35, 36, and 98, 99) and from the general principles of uncleanness that the words ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled,’ in § 29, have been misplaced there from § 30, and that the corresponding words in § 30 belong to § 29; because uncleanness spreads less far, when the Sag-did has taken place.
[322] A measure of unknown extent; ‘an arm’s length,’ it would seem.
[323] Read: ‘If the Nasu has already been expelled...’ See § 29 note.
[324] Read: ‘If the Nasu has already been expelled...’ See § 30 note.
[325] A measure of unknown extent; ‘an ell,’ it would seem.
[326] From the Vendidad Sada.
[327] Doubtful.
[328] This is supplied, as it seems to be required by the context and by the Pahlavi translation.
[329] On Zoroastrians or on idolaters (or, what is tantamount, on Iranians or on non-Iranians).
[330] For baodhô-varshta, literally, ‘done with full conscience.’
[331] ‘Some say, One who has been qualified may become disqualified; one who has been disqualified shall never become qualified’ (Comm. ad § 43).
[332] The priest will say to him: Be holy! (that is to say, be one of the blest!) ‘Thus he will become holy (i.e. be will go to Paradise); there is no equivalent in money. Some say, It is given when the priest has not 3000 stirs’ (Comm.)
[333] A group of several houses; Aspendiˆrji and Anquetil say, ‘a street.’
[334] ‘A value of seventy stirs’ (Comm.)
[335] Cf. the tariff of fees for the cleanser, Vd9.37 seq.
[336] ‘By spells’ (Comm.; cf. Odyssea XIX, 457). This classification was not unknown to Asclepios: he relieved the sick ‘now with caressing spells, now with soothing drink or balsam, now with the knife’ (Pindaros, Pyth. III, 5 I).
[337] Cf. Yt3.6. The treatment by the Holy Word seems not to consist only in the recitation of spells, but the spells must be accompanied by the ceremony of the Barashnum (see Vd22).
[338] Restored to the purity of its nature, and fit to till; as it remains Nasu till that time.
[339] See Vd6.1 seq.
[340] The time necessary to consume the corpse to its last particle.
[341] Cf. Vd3.36 seq.
[342] A space of time estimated at fifty years (Comm.) See Vd3.13.
[343] See Vd3.9, text and note, and § 13.
[344] ‘A tanapuhr sin is remitted thereby’ (Comm.)
[345] When a man dies, hell and Paradise, fiends and gods struggle for the possession of his soul: Astovidhotush, Vizaresha, and the bad Vayu drag the souls of the wicked to hell; Mithra, Sraosha, Rashnu, and the good Vayu take the souls of the good to Paradise (see Vd19.29 seq.; Hadhokht Nask; Menog-i Khrad 2). The struggle lasts for three days and three nights (the sadis), during which time the relatives of the dead offer up prayers and sacrifices to Sraosha, Rashnu, and Vayu, to assure him their protection (See Vd9.56).
[346] Hadhokht Nask 16 and Vd19.31.
[347] §§ 53, 54 belong to the Commentary; they are composed of disconnected quotations, part of which refers to the different deeds by which a tanapuhr sin may be redeemed, while the other part refers to the rules of what may be called the book-keeping of good actions and sins.
[348] Doubtful.
[349] Albinism was regarded as sent by the demons. When Zâl was born with white hair, his father Sâm exposed on the Alburz ‘that child of Dev, with an old man’s head’ (Firdausi).
[350] Cemeteries are the meeting-place of robbers and murderers.
[351] ‘Who do not seek for instruction.’
[352] [i.e. Genie, jinn, djinn -JHP] ‘The Jahi’ (Comm.) The Jaini seems to be the Jahi as ‘killing,’ as bringing sickness.
[353] The general meaning of the sentence seems to be that, for want of hygiene, diseaes grow worse through the infection from the Dakhmas.
[354] Doubtful.
[355] §§ 60-69 = Vd5.45-54. See the Commentary there.
[356] Before those three days have passed.
[357] If there is near her a pious and intelligent man, who recognises that her life would be endangered by too strict an adherence to the rule, he will let her depart from it.
[358] See Vd5.25.
[359] For the water having been defiled.
[360] A penalty to be undergone by the husband, at least in modern practice: ‘If through fear of death or of serious illness she has drunk water before the appointed time, her husband shall make Patet for her fault before the Dastur’ (Old Riv. 98 b).
[361] From the Vendidad Sada.
[362] The power of resistance to uncleanness follows the value of the materials: gold, silver, iron, steel, stone, earth, wood, clay.
[363] [barsom -JHP] The libation waters (Zaothra) are mixed with milk (jîv). The cheese (or butter) and the meat are elements of the dron as gôshôdâ.
[364] ‘Whatever comes from her, if dropped, is clean; if taken, unclean. If she he big with young [pregnant -JHP], the young is born clean, if conceived before her eating of the corpse; if conceived afterwards, it is born unclean’ (Comm.)
[365] Possibly, ‘works for the Druj.’
[366] ‘From what hour may sacrifice to the Good Waters be offered? From sunrise to sunset... He who offers up libations to the Good Waters after sunset, before sunrise, does no better deed than if he should throw them downright into the jaws of a venomous snake’ (Nirangistan, § 48).
[367] A movable shelter, by contradistinction to a fixed abode, something like the oba of the Tartars, one of those huts made of boards or felt and called thâruma by the Arabs, which served as pavilions for princes as well as tents for nomads.
[368] That sort of abode, having only one room, can have no chamber for the dead (Vd5.10).
[369] If there is a Dakhma In the proximity, they remove the corpse at once. If there is no Dakhma or the season prevents its access, they purify the hut first.
[370] ‘So, when a dog or a man dies, the first thing to do is to take the corpse out (from the house), and to purify the house, inside and outside, with perfumes burnt on the fire’ (Comm.) See Vd11.4. Urvâsna is the râsan plant, a sort of garlic; Vohû-gaona, Vohû-kereti, and Hadhâl;-naêpata are respectively (according to Frâmjî) benzoin, aloe, and pomegranate.
[371] ‘No corpse must be taken to the Dakhma when rain is falling, or threatening. If one is overtaken by rain on the way, if there be a place to lay it down, they shall lay it down; if there be none, they must go on and take it to the Dakhma, they must not retrace their steps.... When arrived at the Dakhma, if they find it full of water, they may nevertheless lay down the corpse’ (Comm.)
[372] If it is the season of rain or snow. See Vd5.10 seq.
[373] This is the case when the house is too small for containing a special chamber for the dead (as prescribed Vd5.10). Nowadays they dispense even with that grave: the corpse is laid on the floor, on a slab of marble, by which it is sufficiently isolated from the ground to prevent its being defiled.
[374] Soft earth, being not impervious to liquids, lets contagion through more easily.
[375] Vendidad Sada.
[376] Substances more impervious.
[377] §§ 9-10; see Vd5.12-13.
[378] ‘The master and mistress of the house are carried away through a breach (made in the wall of the house); others through the door’ (Comm.)— ‘The more scrupulous parties have it [the body] removed by a side, in preference to the usual general entrance’ (H. G. Briggs, The Parsis, 1852, p. 50).
[379] The corpse-bearers or nasu-kasha (Khândyas). ‘The corpse must be carried by two persons (see Vd3.13 seq.), no matter who they are; they may be a man and a woman, or two women’ (Comm.)
[380] ‘As they are exchanged for the special clothes in which they carry corpses (Comm.), the so-called jâma-i dakhma, ‘the Dakhma clothes.’
[381] The Dahhma (see Vd6.50 seq.)
[382] The priest who directs the funerals, ‘the chief of the Nasu-kashas’ (Comm.), the so-called Nasâ-sâlâr.
[383] The next-of-kin marriage or Hvaetvadatha (kwetodas) is one of the good works that Ahriman dreads most (Shayest-na shayast 18; West, Pahlavi Texts, I, 389). ‘Ahriman and the demons are less predominant in the body of him who practises khwetodas’ (West, II, 422). Therefore their maêsma is as powerful as the gomez.
[384] ‘When back in the village they perform the regular Barashnum with consecrated gomez’ (Comm.)
[385] The way by which the corpse has passed is haunted by the Druj Nasu: the Drug is expelled from it by the same proceeding as it was expelled from the dead, by the Sag-did. The Sag-did for the purification of the way seems to have fallen into desuetude.
[386] A dog with two spots above the eyes.
[387] ‘Afrag says, the dog goes straight along the length of the way; Maidyo-mah says, he goes across it from side to side’ (Comm.)
[388] See Vd7.3.
[389] ‘Three times suffice if the dog goes of his, own accord; if he goes by force, it counts as nothing; if he goes but with reluctance, that shall suffice’ (Comm. ad § 18).
[390] A prayer in frequent use, and considered of great efficacy, generally known as the Ahuna Vairya or Ahunwar. It was by reciting it that Ohrmazd in his first conflict with Ahriman drove him back to hell (Bund. I).
[391] Of Paradise, as Vohu-mano (Good Thought) is the doorkeeper of heaven (see Vd19.31).
[392] Yasna 46.7.
[393] I have no protection to expect but from my virtue (Vohu-mano, ‘Good Thought’) and from thy fire, which in the fire ordeal (Var Nirang) will show my innocence.
[394] That is to say, one must take Religion as one’s rule.
[395] Yasna 44.16. This stanza, which in the original Gatha refers to the human incarnation of Sraosha, that is to say, to king Vishtaspa, the victorious, protector of the Prophet and his, Religion, is applied here to the god Sraosha, as a protector of the soul in its passage from this world to the other (Vd7.52).
[396] On the fourth day. For three days and nights after the death it is forbidden to cook meat in the house (Comm.)
[397] The dead must be stripped of his clothes, and is exposed on the heights ‘clothed with the light of heaven’ (Vd6.51). — The modern use is to have him wrapped in a shroud as old and as much worn out as possible (Vd5.61).
[398] See Vd5.60; Vd7.20.
[399] See Vd3.38-42, text and notes.
[400] ‘As a wife is obedient to her husband, so is he to the Daevas’ (Comm.)
[401] Demons are often the restless souls of the wicked, excluded from heaven. The Persian sect of the Mahabadians, believed that the soul that had not spoken and done good became an Ahriman or jinn (Dabestan).
[402] [i.e. the recipient is equally guilty. -JHP] The guilty may be killed by any one, without an order from the Dastur (see § 74 n.), and by this execution an ordinary capital crime may be redeemed (Comm. ad Vd7.52).
[403] The corpse, dried up, contains no longer any of the solid and liquid elements that generate corruption and infection (see above, Vd6.50, note 16).
[404] ‘This principle still prevails even with Moslem Persians: ‘Pour encourir leur immondicité dans l’attouchement des Chrétiens et autres idolatres, il est nécessaire que s’ils les touchent, leurs vêtements soient mouillés. C’est à cause, disent-ils, qu’étans secs l’immondicité ne s’attache pas;.... ce qui est cause que dans les villes où leurs Mullas et Docteurs out plus d’autorité, ils font parfois défendre par leurs Kans que lorsqu’il pleut, les Chrétiens ne sortent pas de leurs maisons, de crainte que par accident, venans à les heurter, ils, ne soient rendus immondes’ (G. da Chinon, p. 88 seq.; cf. Chardin). Still nowadays, in Persia, the Jews are not allowed to go out of their house on a rainy day, lest the religious impurity, conducted through the rain, should pass from the Jew to the Moslem.
[405] See Vd5.4.
[406] If the Sag-did has been performed, a simple ghosel is enough. See Vd7.29, notes 27 and 31.
[407] If the Sag-did has not been performed, the Barashnum is necessary.
[408] The first three holes, which contain gomez. For the disposition of the holes, see the following Fargard.
[409] Three times; every time that the unclean one passes from one hole to another (Comm. ad IX, 32).
[410] To look at him, or, rather, at the Nasu in him, whilst the priest sings the spells that drive the Nasu.
[411] Containing gomez too.
[412] He rubs himself dry with handfuls of dust (see Vd9.29 seq.)
[413] Containing water.
[414] As a master does not take away the dunghill from his house with his own hands, but has it taken away by his servants, so the water, being of higher dignity than the gomez, has the worst of the impurity taken by the gomez, and intervenes only when there is nothing left that can attain it (Abalish, tr. Barthelemy, ch. V and note 29).
[415] The water is shed from a spoon, tied to a long stick, ‘the stick with nine knots’ (Vd9.14).
[416] Bareshnum; from which word the whole of the operation has taken its name.
[417] The Nasu is expelled symmetrically, from limb to limb, from the right side of the body to the left, from the forepart to the back parts, and she flies, thus pursued, downwards from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. The retreating order of the Nasu is just the reverse of the order in which she invaded the different members of the first man: she entered Gayomard by the little toe of the left foot, then went up to the heart, then to the shoulder, at last to the summit of the head (Gr. Bund.) Death still seizes the foot first.
[418] As in §§ 19, 20.
[419] From the Vendidad Sada; cf. § 21.
[420] For food. See Vd7.23-24. [Cannibalism -JHP]
[421] ‘He who burns Nasu (dead matter) must be killed. Burning or cooking Nasu from the dead is a capital crime.... Four men can be put to death by any one without an order from the Dastur: the Nasu-burner, the highwayman, the Sodomite, and the criminal taken in the deed’ (Comm.)
[422] A new fire is kindled from the Nasu-burning fire: this new fire is disposed in such a way that it should die out soon: before it has died out, they kindle a new fire from it and so on for nine times: the ninth fire, derived from the one impure, through seven intermediate fires, more and more distant from the original impurity, will represent the fire in its native purity and can enter into the composition of a Warharan fire. — On the modern process, see Dosabhoy Framji, History of the Parsis, II, 113.
[423] In a hole dug for that purpose; such is at least the custom nowadays. The ceremony is thus made an imitation of the barashnom. The unclean fire, represented by the nine bundles, passes through the nine holes, as the unclean man does (see above, § 37 seq. and Vd9.12 seq.), and leaves at each of them some of the uncleanness it has contracted.
[424] A span of twelve fingers.
[425] ‘The proper abode,’ the Warharan fire. The Warharan fire is composed of a thousand and one fires belonging to sixteen different classes (ninety-one corpse-burning fires,’ eighty dyers’ fires, &c.) As the earthly representative of the heavenly fire, it is the sacred centre to which every earthly fire longs to return, in order to be united again, as much as possible, with its native abode. The more it has been defiled by worldly uses, the greater is the merit acquired by freeing it from defilement.
[426] The hêhr, that is to say all sort of impurity that comes from the body.
[427] ‘The fire of a bath,’ according to Framji; the use of the bath was prohibited; according to Josuah the Stylite (ch. XX, tr. Martin), king Balash (484-488) was overthrown by the Magi for having built bath houses. The reason of this prohibition was probably that it entailed the defilement of the fire, as they were warmed with cow dung.
[428] Doubtful.
[429] Meaning unknown. Perhaps a fire for burning weeds.
[430] A baker’s fire.
[431] The kitchen-fire.
[432] Meaning unknown.
[433] From the Vendidad Sada.
[434] The hunter’s fire, an encampment’s fire.
[435] By which one warms one’s self; the fire least exposed to uncleanness.
[436] Where the regular process or purification cannot be performed. — The Pahlavi Commentary to this chapter will be found in West, Pahlavi Texts, II, p. 455.
[437] Perhaps better: ‘this is as good as the chief purification’ (that is to say as a regular Barashnom). — If the Sag-did has been ‘performed, the Sî-shû (thirty-fold washing) is enough. Cf. above, §§ 35, 36.
[438] If the Sag-did has not been performed, he cleanses himself in a summary way till he comes to a place where the Barashnom can be performed.
[439] On account of my uncleanness, I am armêsht, excluded from active life and unfit for any work.
[440] As he takes it upon his own head.
[441] The half of the remnant, that is the second third.
[442] ‘He may then attend to his business; he may work and fill; some say he must abstain from sacrifice (till he has undergone the Barashnom)’ (Comm.)
[443] As he defiled it by crossing it.
[444] ‘Trees fit for the fire’ (Comm.) If he touches those trees, the fire to which they are brought becomes unclean by his fault.
[445] Hell. Imitated from Yasna 49.11d. See Vd14.18.
[446] A priest.
[447] Nine ells (?). See Vd7.34.
[448] Those holes are intended to receive the liquid trickling from the body. In summer, the air and the earth being dry the hole may be less deep, as it is certain that it will be empty and will have room enough for that liquid.
[449] These six holes contain gomez. ‘The holes must be dug from the north to the south’ (Comm.)
[450] The three holes to contain water.
[451] ‘The furrows must be drawn during the day; they must be drawn with a knife; they must be drawn with recitation of spells. While drawing the furrows the cleanser recites three Ashem vohus (“holiness is the best of all good,” &c.), the Fravarânê (“I declare myself a worshipper of Mazda, a follower or Zarathushtra, a foe of the fiend,” &c.), the Khshnuman of Srosh, and the Srosh Baj; they must be drawn from the north’ (Comm. ad § 32). The furrow, or kesh, plays a greater part in the Mazdean liturgy than in any other. By means of the furrow, drawn with proper spells, and according to the laws of spiritual war, man either besieges the fiend or intrenches himself against him (See Vd17.5) In the present case the Druj, being shut up inside the kesh and thus excluded from the world outside, and being driven back, step by step, by the strength of the holy water and spells, finds at last no place of refuge but hell.
[452] ‘The three holes for water, the six holes for gomez’ (Comm.)
[453] The nine feet between the holes containing gomez and those containing water, the nine feet between the first holes and the furrows; and the nine feet between the last hole and the furrows.
[454] Dâdara.
[455] That the foot of the unclean one may not touch the earth.
[456] Yasna 49.10c.
[457] See Vd10.13.
[458] See Vd10.16.
[459] So long that the cleanser may take gomez or water from the holes and sprinkle the unclean one, without touching him and without going inside the furrows.
[460] With gomez at the first six holes, with water at the next three.
[461] See Vd8.40-71.
[462] See Vd8.19-21.
[463] As in preceding clause.
[464] Between the furrows of the six holes containing gomez and the furrows of the holes containing water.
[465] The Armêsht-gah (see Vd5.59, note 70).
[466] Cf. the tariff for the fees or physicians, Vd7.41-43.
[467] See Vd7.41, note 43.
[468] Doubtful.
[469] Literally, ‘the grease.’
[470] This clause and the following one as far as ‘and the Druj shall fly away’ are further developed in the following Fargard.
[471] The Bish-âmrûta formulas, the Thrish-âmrûta formulas, and the Chathrush-âmrûta formulas respectively. These are enumerated in the following Fargard.
[472] The felt of an oba made for a season (?). See Vd8.1.
[473] The grass.
[474] The plague and contagion are stronger than ever.
[475] ‘The cleanser who has not performed the cleansing according to the rites, shall he taken to a desert place; there they shall nail him with four nails, they shall take off the skin from his body, and cut off his head. If he has performed Patet for his sin, he shall be holy (that is, he shall go to Paradise); if he has not performed Patet, he shall stay in hell till the day of resurrection’ (Fraser Ravâet, p. 398). See Vd3.20-21 and note 29.
[476] See Vd3.20 seq.
[477] [Ashmogh. -JHP] See Vd5.35.
[478] See Vd13.52 seq. The false cleanser is punished as would be a man who would introduce an epidemic. He undergoes the same penalty as the êvak-bar, but with none of the mitigation allowed in the case of the latter, on account of the sacrilegious character of his usurpation.
[479] The sadis sacrifice, that is to say, the sacrifice that is offered up to Sraosha for three days and three nights after the death of a man for the salvation of his soul.
[480] The so-called Bish-âmrûta.
[481] The Thrish-âmrûta.
[482] The Chathrush-âmrûta.
[483] The Bish-âmrûta are the opening stanzas of the five Gathas and five stanzas in the Yasna Haptanghaiti.
[484] The chief demon, the Daeva of the Daevas.
[485] The very demon with whom one has to do in the present case.
[486] Indra, Sauru, Naunghaithya, Tauru, and Zairi are (with Akemmano [Akoman], here replaced by the Nasu), the six chief demons, and stand to the Amesha Spentas in the same relation as Angra Mainyu to Spenta Mainyu. Indra opposes Asha Vahishta and turns men’s hearts from good works; Sauru opposes Khshathra Vairya, he presides over bad government; Naunghaithya opposes Spenta Armaiti, he is the demon of discontent; Tauru and Zairi oppose Haurvatat and Ameretat and poison the waters and the plants. — Akem-mano, Bad Thought, opposes Vohu-mano, Good Thought.
[487] Translated in Vd8.19.
[488] Translated in Vd11.14.
[489] Translated in Vd20.11; see Vd11.7.
[490] Aeshma, Khishm [Eshm], the incarnation of anger: he sows quarrel and war. ‘He is the chief source of evil for the creatures of Ohrmazd, and the Kayanian heroes mostly perished through him’ (Bund. 28.17). [Aeshma appears as Asmoday or Asmodeus in Christian and Jewish writings in the apocryphal Book of Tobit 3.8. -JHP]
[491] The fiend who corrupts and perverts men.
[492] The fiendish inhabitants of Varena (Gilan). Varena, like the neighhouring Mazana (Mazandaran), was peopled with savage, non-Aryan natives, who were considered men-demons. See Vd1.18 and notes.
[493] The demoniac races of Mazandaran; Mazandaran was known in popular tradition as a land of fiends and sorcerers.
[494] The nine holes for the Barashnom; see above, Vd9.6 seq.
[495] See Vd5.21.
[496] The rest as in Vd8.19-20.
[497] As in Vd8.19, 20.
[498] Yasna 49.1. The allusion is not quite clear. This line was recited by the Genius of the sky at the moment when Ahriman was invading the sky (Gr. Bd.) Perhaps the small house of man is compared here with that large house, the world.
[499] Yasna 36.1.
[500] Yasna 38.3.
[501] Yasna 38.1. ‘Who are thine,’ that is, ‘who are thy wives?
[502] Yasna 35.4. ‘Let those excellent deeds be done for the behoof of cattle, that is to say, let stables be made, and water and fodder he given’ (Comm.)
[503] ‘For him,’ that is to say, to feed him; also ‘out of him;’ for it was from the body of the first-horn bull that, after his death, grew up all kinds of plants (Bund. 4).
[504] Yasna 48.6. See Vd17.5.
[505] Yasna 54.1. See Vd20.11. There is no special spell for the cleansing of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the boundless light (see §§ 1, 2), because they are not defiled by the unclean one, they are only pained by seeing him (Vd9.41); as soon as he is clean, they are freed from the pain.
[506] As in Vd8.19, 20.
[507] See Vd10.13.
[508] Khrû and Khrûighni are not met with elsewhere; their names mean, apparently, ‘wound’ and ‘the wounding one.’ They may have been mere names or epithets of Aeshma khruidru, ‘Aeshma of the murderous spear.’
[509] Bûidhi may be another pronunciation of Bûiti (see Vd19.1).
[510] Kuñdi is very likely the same as Kuñda (Vd19.41) who is the riding-stock of the sorcerers (Bd. 28.42).
[511] See Vd18.16.
[512] A demon unknown. Perhaps Intoxication.
[513] Unknown. Perhaps Colocynth, the type of the bitter plants.
[514] A female demon, the modern Parî [fairy -JHP], often associated with Yatu, ‘the wizard.’
[515] As in Vd8.19, 20.
[516] Yasna 34.15.
[517] The rest as in § 9.
[518] The rest as in § 10.
[519] As in § 7.
[520] As in § 12.
[521] As in § 13.
[522] See Vd8.19, 20.
[523] How long if the dead person died in a state of holiness (a dahma)? How long if in the state of a Peshotanu [mortal sin -JHP]?
[524] This refers probably to the sacrifice that is offered on each of the three days that follow the death of a Zoroastrian for the salvation of his soul.
[525] All the other objects over which the Amesha-Spentas preside (such as the cow, the metals, &c.)
[526] The chief of the family, the paterfamilias. The Zoroastrian family is organised on the patriarchal system.
[527] All the familia, both relatives and servants.
[528] An infidel, whether he is a relation or not.
[529] §§ 22-24 = Vd5.36-38, text and notes.
[530] The hedgehog. ‘The hedgehog, according to the Bund. 19.28, is created in opposition to the ant that carries off grain, as it says that the hedgehog, every time that it voids urine into an ant’s nest, will destroy a thousand ants, (Bund. 19.28; cf. Saddar 57). When the Arabs conquered Saistan, the inhabitants submitted on the condition that hedgehogs should not be killed nor hunted for, as they got rid of the vipers which swarm in that country. Every house had its hedgehog (Yaqout, Dictionnaire de la Perse, p. 303). Plutarch counts the hedgehog amongst the animals sacred to the Magi (Quaestiones Conviviales, IV, 5, 2)
[531] Dusaka is the popular name of the hedgehog (Pers. zuza). It is not without importance which name is given to a being: ‘When called by its high name, it is powerful’ (Comm.); cf. § 6, and Vd18.15.
[532] The bridge leading to Paradise; see Vd19.30.
[533] Cf. § 54. Framji translates: ‘He cannot atone for it in his life even by performing a sacrifice to Sraosha’ (cf. Vd9.56, text and note).
[534] The tortoise (Framji and Rivayats 4949).
[535] ‘When not so called it is less strong’ (Comm.) Zairimyâka is a lucky name, and means, as it seems, who lives in verdure; Zairimyangura seems to mean ‘the verdure-devourer.’
[536] See Vd14.5
[537] See § 19, note.
[538] A hunting-dog.
[539] ‘From Paradise’ (Comm.)
[540] See Vd19.30.
[541] Baodhô-varshta; see Vd7.38 n.
[542] Tauruna seems to be another name of the trained or hunting-dog (cf. § 8 compared with §§ 12-15), though tradition translates it ‘a dog not older than four months.’
[543] Unknown. See Vd5.31, 32.
[544] A porcupine. See Vd5.31.
[545] A weasel. See Vd5.33.
[546] The otter. ‘For the penalty in that case is most heavy’ (Comm.) See § 52 seq. and Vd14.
[547] A distance of sixteen Hathras (16,000 paces).
[548] ‘He cannot do the same as the shepherd’s dog and the house dog do, but he catches Khrafstras and smites the Nasu’ (Comm.) It is ‘the dog without a master’ (gharîb), the vagrant dog; he is held in great esteem (§ 22), and is one or the dogs which can be used for the Sag-did.
[549] The Vohunazga dog has no domicile, therefore he is not compared with the master of a house, but with a wandering friar, who lives on charity.
[550] Probably, ‘Who has performed the nu-zud [navjote -JHP], fifteen years old.’ The young dog enters the community of the faithful at the age of four months, when he is fit for the Sag-did and can expel the Nasu.
[551] ‘I also saw the soul of a man, whom demons, just like dogs, ever tear. That man gives bread to the dogs, and they eat it not; but they ever devour the breast, legs, belly, and thighs of the man. And I asked thus: What sin was committed by this body, whose soul suffers so severe a punishment? Srosh the pious and Atar the angel said thus: This is the soul of that wicked man who, in the world, kept back the food of the dogs of shepherds and house-holders; or beat and killed them’ (Arda Viraf 48, translated by Haug).
[552] The same food as recommended for the dog by Columella (Ordacea farina cum sero, VII, 12; cf. Virgil, Pasce sero pingui, Georg. III, 406).
[553] ‘Whenever one eats bread one must put aside three mouthfuls and give them to the dog... for among all the poor there is none poorer than the dog’ (Saddar 31).
[554] A measure of unknown amount. Framji reads ishti, ‘a brick’ thick.
[555] By the left and the right side of it.
[556] According to Solon’s law, the dog who had bitten a man was to be delivered to him tied up to a block four cubits long (Plutarchus, Solon 24). The Book of Deuteronomy orders the ox who has killed a man to be put to death.
[557] ‘They only cut off a piece of flesh from the foot’ (Brouillons d’Anquetil).
[558] Doubtful.
[559] ‘Ultroque gravis succedere tigrimAura canis, majore tulit de sanguine foetum.Sed praeceps virtus ipsa venabitur aula:Ille tibi et pecudum multo cum sanguine crescet.’ - Gratius Faliscus, Cyneg. 165 seq.
[560] A wandering priest (see above, note 20).
[561] ‘Good treatment makes him joyous’ (Comm.)
[562] ‘He keeps away the wolf and the thief’ (Comm.)
[563] This clause is, as it seems, repeated here by mistake from § 46.
[564] When taking the cattle out of the stables.
[565] When bringing the cattle back to the stables.
[566] The so-called Looris of nowadays.
[567] He insults or robs the passer by, like a Loori.-’ The Looris wander in the world, seeking their life, bed-fellows and fellow-travelers of the dogs and the wolves, ever on the roads to rob day and night’ (Firdausi).
[568] ‘When one trusts him with something, he eats it up’ (Comm.)
[569] According to Framji, ‘a wild beast.’
[570] The description of the courtesan follows closely that of the singer: in the East a public songstress is generally a prostitute. Loori means both a singer and a prostitute.
[571] Doubtful.
[572] ‘But for the dog not a single head of cattle would remain in existence’ (Saddar 31).
[573] Marrow is the seat of life, the spine is ‘the column and the spring of life’ (Yt10.71); the sperm comes from it (Bundahishn 16). The same theory prevailed in India, where the sperm is called majjâ-samudbhava, ‘what is born from marrow;’ it was followed by Plato (Timaeus 74, 91; cf. Censorinus, De die natali, 5), and disproved by Aristotle (De Part. Anim. III, 7).
[574] To the spring of Ardvi Sura, the goddess of waters.
[575] There is therefore in a single water-dog as much life and holiness as in a thousand dogs. This accounts for the following. — The water-dog (udra upâpa; Persian sag-îâbî) is the otter.
[576] See Vd9.55, 56, note 34.
[577] See Vd9.53-57.
[578] See preceding Fargard § 51.
[579] He shall pay 50 tanapuhrs (= 15,000 istirs = 60,000 dirhems). If he can afford it, he will alone in the manner stated in the Avesta; if he cannot afford it, it will be sufficient to perform a complete Izashne [Yasna -JHP] (sacrifice),’ (Comm.)
[580] To the altar of the Warharan fire.
[581] It is forbidden to take any ill-smelling thing to the fire and to kindle it thereon; it is forbidden to kindle green wood, and even though the wood were hard and dry, one must examine it three times, lest there may be any hair or any unclean matter upon it, (Gr. Riv.) Although the pious Arda Viraf had always taken the utmost care never to put on the fire any wood but such as was seven years old, yet, when he entered Paradise, Atar, the genius of fire, showed him reproachfully a large tank full of the water which that wood had exuded (see Arda Viraf 10).
[582] See above, Vd8.2, note 4.
[583] ‘Mâr bânak snakes: they are dog-like, because they sit on their hindparts’ (Comm.) The cat (gurba = Kahrpu) seems to be the animal intended. In a paraphrase of this passage in a Parsi Rivayat, the cat is numbered amongst the Khrafstras which it is enjoined to kill to redeem a sin (India Office Library, VIII, 13); cf. G. du Chinozi, p. 462: ‘Les animaux que les Gaures out en horreur sont les serpents, les couleuvres, les lezars, et autres de cette espece, les crapaux, lea grenouilles, lea écrevisses, les rats et souris, et sur tout le chat.’
[584] See Vd8.6-7.
[585] ‘Those that can go out of water and live on the dry ground’ (Comm.) ‘Pour les grenouilles et crapaux, ils disent que ce sont ceux (eux?) qui sont cause de ce que les hommes meurent, gâtans les eaus où ils habitent continuellement, et que d’autant plus qu’il y en a dans le païs, d’autant plus lea caus causent-elles des maladies et enfin la mort,’ G. du Chinon, p.465.
[586] Herodotus already mentions the war waged by the Magi against snakes and ants (I, 140).— ‘Un jour que j’étois surpris de la guerre qu’ils font aux fourmis, ils me dirent que ces animaux ne faisaient que voler par des amas des grains plus qu’il n’étoit nécessaire pour leur nourriture,’ G. du Chinon, p.464. Firdausi protested against the proscription: ‘Do no harm to the corn-carrying ant; a living thing it is, and its life is dear to it.’ The celebrated high-priest of the Parsis, the late Moola Firooz, entered those lines into his Pand Nâmah, which may betoken better days for the wise little creature.
[587] Perhaps: ‘of the small, venomous kind, with a mischievous track’ (Bund. 19.28: when the grain-carrier travels over the earth, it produces a hollow track: when the hedgehog travels over it, the track goes away from it and it becomes level:’ cf. Vd13.2, note).
[588] Corpse-flies; see Vd7.2.
[589] ‘The holes at which the unclean are washed’ (Comm.; see Vd9.6 seq.)
[590] To priests.
[591] For the sacred fire.
[592] Two receptacles, one for the wood, another for the incense.
[593] To cleanse the Atash-dân or fire-vessel (Yasna 9.1).
[594] Literally, ‘sharp-kneed.’
[595] The Aspahê-ashtra.
[596] As everything that goes out of man is unclean, his breath defiles all that it touches; priests, therefore, while on duty, and even laymen, while praying or eating, must wear a mouth-veil, the Paitidâna (Parsi Penom), consisting ‘of two pieces of white cotton cloth, hanging loosely from the bridge of the nose to, at least, two inches below the mouth, and tied with two strings at the back of the head’ (Haug, Essays, 2nd ed. P.243, n. 1; cf. Comm. ad Vd18.1, and Anquetil II, 530).
[597] The ‘Khrafstra-killer;’ an instrument for killing snakes, &c. It is a stick with a leather thong at its end, something like the Indian fly-flap.
[598] See General Introduction.
[599] Doubtful.
[600] The cup in which the juice of the hom and or the urvarâm (the twigs of hadha-naepata which are pounded together with the hom) is received from the mortar (Comm.)
[601] The mortar with its pestle.
[602] The cup on which twigs of Haoma are laid before being pounded, the so-called tashtah (Anquetil II, 533); ‘some say, the hom-strainer’ [a saucer with nine holes], Comm.
[603] These are six offensive arms: the next six are defensive arms. — Cf. W. Jackson: Herodotus VII, 61, or The Arms of the Ancient Persians illustrated from Iranian Sources; New York, 1894.
[604] ‘Going from the helm to the cuirass’ (Comm.)
[605] ‘Under the cuirass’ (Comm.)
[606] Yuyô-semi ayazhâna pairi-darezâna.
[607] The most precious of all gifts in such a dry place as Iran. Water is obtained either through canals of derivation or through underground canals (kârêz, kanât).
[608] Which is estimated ‘a foot deep, a foot broad’ (Comm.)
[609] Doubtful.
[610] Meaning unknown.
[611] Twelve ranks of stalls (?).
[612] Match-making is a good work (Vd4.44).
[613] Meaning unknown.
[614] See Vd8.107.
[615] That is to say: he shall receive two hundred strokes with the Aspahe-ashtra or the Sraosho-charana; or pay three hundred istirs.
[616] The Commentary has, ‘that is, a creed that is not ours.’
[617] He who gives too hot food to a dog so as to burn his throat is margarzan (guilty of death); he who gives bones to a dog so as to tear his throat is margarzan (Gr. Riv. 639).
[618] If a bitch is big with young [pregnant -JHP] and a man shouts or throws stones at her, so that the whelps come to mischief and die, he is margarzan (Gr. Riv. 639).
[619] [i.e. during menstruation. -JHP] See Vd16.14 seq.
[620] When she has been pregnant for four months and ten days, as it is then that the child is formed and a soul is added to its body (Anquetil II, 563).
[621] Or better; ‘if the child die.’ ‘If a man come to his wife [during her pregnancy] so that she is injured and bring forth a still-born child, he is margarzan’ (Old Riv. 115 b).
[622] ‘Whether she has a husband in the house of her own parents or has none; whether she has entered from the house of her own parents into the house of a husband [depending on another chief of family] or as not’ (Comm.)
[623] By means of drugs. [i.e. abortion -JHP]
[624] ‘It is a tanapuhr sin for her: it is sin on sin’ (the first sin being to have allowed herself to be seduced), Comm. ‘If there has been no sin in her (if she has been forced), and if a man, knowing her shame, wants to take it off her, he shall call together her father, mother, sisters, brothers, husband, the servants, the menials, and the master and the mistress of the house, and he shall say, “This woman is with child by me, and I rejoice in it;” and they shall answer, “We know it, and we are glad that her shame is taken off her;” and he shall support her as a husband does’ (Comm.)
[625] For baodhô-varshta; see Vd7.38.
[626] The nurse (Framji) or the midwife.
[627] Banga is bang or mang, a narcotic made from hempseed, ahaêta is another sort of narcotic.
[628] And dies.
[629] §18 = § 15.
[630] The sentence is left unfinished: Framji fills it with the words in § 16, ‘so that the child,’ &c. It seems as if §§ 17, 18 were not part of the original text, and as if § 17 were a mere repetition of § 20, which being wrongly interpreted as referring to a woman would have brought about the repetition of § 15 as an answer. See § 20.
[631] The subject is wanting in the text: it is supplied from the Commentary and from the sense. [i.e. in heat -JHP]
[632] The bitch is lying on the high road: the man whose house has its door nearest shall take care of her. If she dies, he shall carry her off [to dispose of the body according to the law]. One must support her for at least three nights: if one cannot support her any longer, one entrusts her to a richer man’ (Comm. and Framji).
[633] ‘In pledge or for rent’ (Framji).
[634] The wall around the house.
[635] The moat before the earth-wall.
[636] Probably the distance of one yujyeshti; see Vd8.17.
[637] Catulos sex mensibus primis dum corrohorentur emitti non oportet... (Columella, De re agraria, VII, 12).
[638] The age when they are invested with the kusti and sudre, and become members of the Zoroastrian community.
[639] ‘When a woman becomes pregnant in a house, it is necessary to make an endeavor so that there may be a continual fire in that house, and to maintain a good watch over it. And, when the child becomes separate from the mother, it is necessary to burn a lamp for three nights and days — if they burn a fire it would be better — so that the demons and fiends may not be able to do any damage and harm; because, when a child is born, it is exceedingly delicate for those three days’ (Saddar 16; West, Pahlavi Texts, III, 277).
[640] ‘From children, lest she shall bite them; from the fire, lest it shall hurt her’ (Comm.)
[641] Cf. Justinus III, 4: maturiorem futuram conceptionem rati, si eam singulae per plures viros experirentur.
[642] The text of this and the following clause is corrupt, and the meaning is doubtful.
[643] The way of the Dashtânistân.
[644] Lest the wood shall be touched and defiled by the woman on her way to the Dashtanistan.
[645] Lest the earth shall be touched and defiled by her. Cf. Farg. 9.11.
[646] Nowadays a room on the ground-floor is reserved for that use.
[647] The food is held out to her from a distance in a metal spoon.
[648] Earthen vessels, when defiled, cannot be made clean; but metal vessels can. See Farg. 7.73 seq.)
[649] A danare is, according to Anquetil, as much as four tolas; a tola is from 105 to 175 grains.
[650] ‘Soshyos says: For three nights cooked meat is not allowed to her, lest the issue shall grow stronger.
[651] A child whom she suckles. The meaning is, Even a child, if he has touched her, must undergo the rites of cleansing. The general rule is given in the Commentary: ‘Whoever has touched a Dashtan woman must wash his body and his clothes with gomez and water.’ The ceremony in question is the simple Ghosel, not the Barashnum, since the woman herself performs the former only (see below, § 11 seq.)
[652] Abnormal issues are a creation of Ahriman’s (Farg. 1.18).
[653] The way of the Barashnum-gah, where the cleansing takes place.
[654] See Farg 9.3 seq.
[655] Cf. Farg. 14.5.
[656] A disease (Vd7.58). There is another word nâeza, ‘a spear,’ so that one may translate also ‘killed by the spear’ (Asp.)
[657] ‘Not that the two deeds are equal, but neither is good’ (Comm.) The sin in question is a simple tanapuhr (Vd15.7), and therefore can be atoned for by punishment and repentance, whereas the burning of a corpse is a crime for which there is no atonement (Vd1.17; Vd8.73 seq.)
[658] Literally, ’is a Peshotanu;’ ‘he is a tanapuhr sinner, that is to say, margarzan (worthy of death),’ Comm.
[659] Any offense to religion is considered an offering to the Daevas, whose strength is thereby increased. See Yt5.95.
[660] Without performing the requisite ceremonies.
[661] Doubtful.
[662] A dishti = ten fingers. A vitasti = twelve fingers.
[663] [at ah’yâi ashâ mazdå urvarå vaxshat.] See above, Vd11.6; the choice of this line was determined by the presence of the word plants in it: man was considered a microcosm, and every element in him had its counterpart in nature; the skin is like the sky, the flesh is like the earth, the bones are like the mountains, the veins are like the rivers, the blood in the body is like the water in the sea, the hair is like the plants, the more hairy parts are like the forests (Gr. Bund.) Cf. Rig-veda X, 16,3; Ilias VII, 99; Empedocles, fr. 378; Epicharmus ap. Plut. Consol. ad Apoll. 15; Edda, Grimnismal; 40.
[664] [ashâ vohû mananghâ ýâ sruyê parê magaonô.] Yasna 33.7; understood (with a play upon the word sruyê ’is heard,’ and ‘nails of both hands’) as: ‘O Asha, with Vohu-mano, the nails of the pure [are for you].’
[665] [paiti: tê merekha ashô-zushta imå srvå vaêdhayemi imå srvå âvaêdhayemi imåse-tê srvå merekha ashô-zushta hyâre arshtayasca karetayasca thanvareca ishavasca erezifyô-parena asanasca fradaxshanya paiti daêvô mâzanyãn.] ‘The owl,’ according to modern tradition. The word literally means ‘friend of holiness.’ ‘For the bird Asho-zushta they recite the Avesta formula; if they recite it, the fiends tremble and do not take up the nails; but if the nails have had no spell uttered over them, the fiends and wizards use them as arrows against the bird Asho-zusta and kill him. Therefore, when the nails have had a spell uttered over them, the bird takes and eats them up, that the fiends may not do any harm by their means’ (Bundahishn XIX). The bird Asho-zusta is also called Bird of Vohuman (Saddar 14), both names being taken from the first words of the line quoted above.
[666] See above, Vd10.14, note 13; Vd10.16, note 14. The nails are cut in two and the fragments are put in the hole with the point directed towards the north, that is to say, against the breasts of the Devs (see above, Vd7.2, note 1). See Anquetil, Zend-Avesta II, 117; India Office Library, VIII, 80.
[667] See preceding Fargard, § 18.
[668] See above, Vd14.8, note 19.
[669] The word translated girded is the word used of the Kusti, the sacred girdle which the Parsi must never part with (see § 54); the full meaning, therefore, is, ‘girded with the law as with a Kusti’ (cf. Yasna 9.26.81), that is to say, ‘never forsaking the law,’ or, as the Commentary expresses it, ‘one whose thought is all on the law’ (cf. § 5).
[670] See above, Vd14.8, note 20.
[671] The bundles of Baresma [barsom -JHP] or the urvaram (see Vd3.1, note 3 and Vd14.8, note 23).
[672] The ashtra (Aspahe-ashtra) with which the priest, as a Sraosho-varez, chastises the guilty.
[673] That is to say, studies the law and learns from those who know it.
[674] See Vd19.30. ‘It gives him a stout heart, when standing before the Chinwad bridge’ (Comm.)
[675] [akha daêna, lit. ‘bad religion’ -JHP] ‘The deceiver Ashemaogha’ (Comm.); the heretic. See Vd15.2
[676] ‘For three years’ (Comm.)
[677] The Kusti, which must he worn by every Parsi, man or woman, from their fifteenth year of age (see below, § 54 seq); it is the badge of the faithful, the girdle by which he is united both with Ohrmazd and with his fellow-believers. He who does not wear it must be refused water and bread by the members of the community; he who wears it becomes a participator in the merit of all the good deeds performed all over the Zarathustrian world (Saddar 10 and Saddar 46). The Kusti consists ‘of seventy-two interwoven filaments, and should three times circumvent the waist.... Each of the threads is equal in value to one of the seventy-two Has of the Yasna; each of the twelve threads in the six lesser cords is equal in value to the dawazdih hamaist...; each of the lesser cords is equal in value to one of the six Gahambars; each of the three circumventions of the loins is equal in value to humat, good thought, hukht, good speech, huaresta, good work; the binding of each of the four knots upon it confers pleasure on each of the four elements, fire, air, water, and the earth’ (Edal Daru, apud Wilson, The Parsi Religion Unfolded, p. 163). Another piece of clothing which every Parsi is enjoined to wear is the Sudre, or sacred shirt, a muslin shirt with short sleeves, that does not reach lower than the hips, with a small pocket at the opening in front of the shirt, the so-called giriban or kissai karfa, ‘the pocket for good deeds.’ The faithful man must, while putting on his Sudre, look at the giriban and ask himself whether it is full of good deeds.
[678] See Introd. III, 10. Cf. § 12.
[679] Doubtful. The Commentary seems to understand the sentence as follows: ‘He who should free him from hell would thus perform no less a feat than if he should cut off the head of a man and then make him alive again.’
[680] Perhaps better: ‘The second... the third... the fourth blessing of an Ashemaogha.’
[681] ‘Who is he who sets the world in motion?’ (Comm.)
[682] Sraosha, Srosh, the Genius of Active Piety. He first tied the Baresma [barsom], sacrificed to Ahura, and sang the Gathas. Thrice in each day and night he descends upon the earth to smite Angra Mainyu and his crew of demons. With his club uplifted he protects the world from the demons of the night, and the dead from the terrors of death and from the assaults of Angra Mainyu and Asto-vidotu [Astwihad]. It is through a sacrifice performed by Ohrmazd, as a Zoti, and Srosh, as a Raspi, that at the end of time Ahriman will be forever vanquished and brought to nought (Yasna 57, Yt11, etc.)
[683] ‘He who foreshows the coming dawn; the cock.’
[684] ‘When he is not called so, he is powerful’ (Comm.) See Vd13.2, 6.
[685] Ushah, the second half of the night, from midnight to the dawn. [Ushahin -JHP]
[686] The cock is ‘the drum of the world.’ As crowing in the dawn that dazzles away the fiends, he crows away the demons: ‘The cock was created to fight against the fiends and wizards;... he is with the dog an ally of Srosh against demons’ (Bundahishn 19). ‘No demon can enter a house in which there is a cock; and, above all, should this bird come to the residence of a demon, and move his tongue to chant the praises of the glorious and exalted Creator, that instant the evil spirit takes to flight’ (Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, translated by Shea, p. 57; see Saddar 32, and J. Ovington, A Voyage to Suratt, 1696, p.371).
[687] The demon of sleep, laziness, procrastination. She lulls back to sleep the world as soon as awaked, and makes the faithful forget in slumber the hour of prayer.
[688] ‘To perform thy religious duties’ (Comm.)
[689] The Parsi, as soon as he has risen, must put on the kusti, wash his hands, and put wood on the fire.
[690] Âzi, the demon of avidity; he extinguishes the fire, while he devours the wood.
[691] The text seems to be corrupt: it must probably be emended into ‘bring into me...’
[692] The prayer ‘Righteousness is the best of all good...’ (the Ashem Vohu), and the profession of faith [creed] ‘I scorn the Daevas...’ (Yasna 12.1).
[693] ‘In the day of recompense’ (Comm.); he shall he rewarded as though he had given a house, &c.... he shall receive such a house in Paradise.
[694] Sin makes the Druj mother of a spontaneous progeny, as the sinner is ‘the brood of the Druj’ (Yasna 61.10).
[695] See Vd3.34.
[696] ‘Nec stando mingens... facile visitur Persa’ (Amm. Marc. XXIII, 6); Arda Viraf 24; Menog i Khrad 2.39; Saddar 56. Cf. Manu IV, 47 seq. and Polack, Persien I, 67: ‘Von einem in Paris weilenden Perser hinterbrachte man dem König, um seine Emancipation und Abtrünnigkeit vom Gesetz za beweisen, dass er Schweinefleisch esse und stehend die Function verrichte.’
[697] See Vd8.19.
[698] Yasna 35.2: one of the Bish-amruta (Vd10.4).
[699] Yasna 35.5: one of the Thrish-amruta (Vd10.8).
[700] Making four Ahunwars in all; see Vd10.12.
[701] See Yasna 21.
[702] See § 43 and notes.
[703] The Genius of the Earth (see Vd2.10).
[704] In the same way as she received the seed of the dying Gayomard, from which she let grow, in the shape of a plant, the first human couple, Mashye and Mashyane (Bund. 15.1-2).
[705] The Yasna Haptanhaiti.
[706] The kusti and the sudre; see above, § 9, note 10. It is the sin known as kushâd duvârishnî (Menog i Khrad 2.35; Arda Viraf 25.6).
[707] ‘Going three steps without kusti is only a three Sraosho-charana sin; from the fourth step, it is a tanapuhr sin’ (Comm.)
[708] The Yatu is a sorcerer; the Zanda is an apostle of Ahriman. [i.e. zandiks (heretics) -JHP]
[709] The courtesan, as an incarnation of the female demon Jahi. [i.e. prostitute. Pahlavi equivalent is “jeh” (see Bundahishn 1 and Denkard Book 9, chapter 11) Kanga, in his Avestan Dictionary says that a Jahi is a rake, a libertine, one who leads a licentious life (p. 191) -JHP].
[710] ‘[Whether she gives up her body to the faithful or to the unfaithful], there is no difference; when she has been with three men, she is guilty of death’ (Comm.)
[711] The earth.
[712] ‘If a Jahi (courtesan) look at running waters, they fall; if at trees, they are stunted; if she converse with a pious man, his intelligence and his holiness are withered by it’ (Saddar 67). Cf. Manu IV, 40 seq.
[713] It is written in the law (the Avesta): ‘O Zartosht Spitaman! with regard to woman, I say to thee that any woman that has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to he killed than a wolf, a lion, or a snake: any one who kills such a woman will gain as much merit by it as if he had provided with wood a thousand fire-temples, or destroyed the dens of adders, scorpions, lions, wolves, or snakes’ (Old Riv. 59 b).
[714] [i.e. while menstruating -JHP] ‘Knowing her state and knowing that it is a sin’ (Comm.)
[715] To the Warharan fire.
[716] The omentum (afsman) or epipleon. Catullus, describing the sacrifice of the Magi, has: ‘... Accepto veneretur carmine divos / Omentum in flamma pingue liquefaciens’ (LXXXIX [i.e. Carmen 90]. Strabo XV, 13: του επιπλου τι μικρον τιθεασι, ωV λεγουσι τινεV, επι το πυρ. ‘Ascending six steps they showed me in a Room adjoining to the temple, their Fire which they fed with Wood, and sometimes Burn on it the Fat of the Sheep’s Tail.’ A Voyage Round the World, Dr. J. F. Gemelli, 1698.
[717] The ceremony here described is nearly fallen into desuetude: it is the so-called Zohr-atash (zaothra for the fire), which is for the fire what the Zohr-ab is for the waters.
[718] This is the Zohr-ab. According to the Shayest (11.4), when an animal is immolated, the heart is offered to the fire and the shoulder is offered to the waters.
[719] See Vd14.3 seq.
[720] See Vd14.4, and Vd14.8, n. 23.
[721] See Vd14.5.
[722] Five tanapuhrs, that is six thousand dirhems.
[723] See Vd5.62.
[724] From hell; cf. II, 10n; III, 7 n; Hadokht Nask 25; Bundahishn 15.19.
[725] ‘The fiend of fiends,’ the arch-fiend.
[726] Buiti is identified by the Greater Bundahishn with the Bût, the idol, worshipped by Budasp (a corruption of Bodhisativa). Buiti [Buddha] would be therefore a personification of Buddhism, which was flourishing in Eastern Iran in the two centuries before and after Christ. Buidhi (Vd11.9 may be another and more correct pronunciation of Bodhi.
[727] Idolatry (cf. note 3) being the death of the soul.
[728] [i.e. Ahunwar], a prayer in frequent use, and considered of great efficacy. It was by reciting it that Ohrmazd in his first conflict with Ahriman drove him back to hell (Bund 1).
[729] The river in Eranwej; see Vd1.3.
[730] The Fravarane (Y11.16).
[731] See Vd10.10 n.
[732] This is a fragment of an old legend in which Zarathushtra and Angra Mainyu played respectively the parts of Oedipus and the Sphinx. Cf. Yt5.81, where the same legend is told in nearly the same terms of the sorcerer Ahktya and Yavisht i Friyan.
[733] The Commentary has, ‘Some say, those stones are the Ahunwar.’ If one keeps in mind how much the Moslem legend of Ibrahim owes to the legend of Zarathushtra, one may easily admit that this passage in our text is the origin of the story of how Iblis tempted Ibrahim, and was pelted away, whence he was named ‘the stoned One’ (ar-ragîmû).
[734] ‘The Daraja is the chief of the rivers, because the house of Zartosht’s father stood on its bank and Zartosht was born there’ (Bund24.15.)
[735] The father of Zarathushtra.
[736] The incarnation of idolatry; cf. Vd1.9.
[737] The unborn son of Zarathushtra, who, at the end of time, will destroy Ahriman and bring about the resurrection of the dead. See Yt13.62; Yt19.92, 94 seq.
[738] The Zarah sea in Saistan. See Yt19.66.
[739] ‘I know thee’ (Comm.)
[740] The Commentary has, ‘Some explain thus: Thy forefathers worshipped me: worship me also.’ Zarathushtra’s forefathers must naturally have followed a false religion, since he announces the true one.
[741] Azhi Dahaka or Zohak, who, as a legendary king, is said to have ruled the world for a thousand years. See Mx57.24-25: “Ahriman shouted to Zartosht thus: “If thou desist from this good religion of the Mazda-worshippers, then I will give thee a thousand years’ dominion of the worldly existence, as was given to the Vadakan monarch Dahak [Zohak].”“
[742] The first duty of every good Mazda-worshipper is to think of Ohrmazd as the creator, and of Ahriman as the destroyer (Mx2.9).
[743] This verse is the beginning of the Tat thwa peresa Gatha (Yasna 44); see the introduction to this Fargard.
[744] See note 11 above.
[745] See verse 39.
[746] By contradistinction to the duration of the world, which is limited to 12,000 years (Bund34.1).
[747] The Genius of Destiny; see Vd5.9.
[748] The fourth Amesha-Spenta, who in her spiritual character is an incarnation of pious humility and in her material character the Genius of the Earth; see Vd2.10.
[749] On the Fravashis, see Yt13.
[750] See Yasna 1.1.
[751] See Vd3.1 n 6.
[752] See Vd18.14, note.
[753] See Vd18.22 ff.; Yasna 57.19 ff; Yt11.
[754] The sacrifice intended is a sacrifice to nature. The Baresman, as representative of the vegetal nature, receives the zaothra-libations, which are representative of the fertilizing rains.
[755] The tree, whatever it is, from which the Baresma is taken.
[756] See verse 22.
[757] Perhaps: ‘long as a ploughshare, thick as a barleycorn.’ See the English system of measures, in which three barleycorns = one inch. — See Nirangistan 90.
[758] The Parsis are recommended to keep their eyes on the Barsom during the sacrifice: ‘A man is offering the Dron, he has said all the required Avesta, but he has not looked at the Barsom: what is the rule? It would have been better if he had looked at it; however he may proceed to the meal’ (Old Rav. 97 b). See Tahmuras Fragments, 30-31.
[759] Rata impersonates the liberalities done by men to God (as offerings) and by God to men (as riches, etc.)
[760] Vohu-mano is often used as a designation of the faithful one, literally, ‘the good-minded;’ this is the meaning which is given to it in this passage by the Commentary, and it certainly belongs to it in the second part of verse 24; but in the first part of the same clause it is translated ‘clothes,’ a meaning which is not unlikely in itself, as Vohu-mano, being the Amahraspand of cattle, may designate, and in fact did designate, the skins of cattle and leather (Comm. ad Farg. XVIII, 2). On the whole the description in the text applies to the cleansing both of the man and of the clothes, and Vohu-mano sometimes means the one, and sometimes the other. — From the first meaning is derived the modern use of Vahman, ‘Such a one,’ ‘N.’
[761] From dead bodies.
[762] The so-called Varasiô; ‘it must be or a white colour; if a single hair on its body be found other than white, the animal is rejected as unfit for the purpose’ (Sorabji Kavasji Khambata, in the Indian Antiquary, VII, 180). On the preparation of the gomez, see Wilson, Parsi Religion Unfolded, pp. 434-435.
[763] The place of the cleansing, the Barashnum-gâh (see Vd9.3). [Also see Modi, Funeral Ceremonies of the Parsees (Bombay, 1928)]
[764] See Vd9.10.
[765] ‘Or better six times with the gomez and thrice with the water’ (Comm.; see Vd8.37 ff.; Vd9.28 ff.)
[766] ‘The clothes’ (Comm.)
[767] The clothes of the unclean shall be exposed to the air for nine nights, all the time while be himself is confined in the Armesht-gah. The rules for the cleansing of clothes that have been worn by the dead himself are different (see Vd7.12 ff.)
[768] ‘Thus Vohu-mano shall be clean — the clothes; thus the man shall be clean — he who wears those clothes’ (Comm.)
[769] The faithful one.
[770] See verse 29 end.
[771] The demon Vizaresh is he who, during that struggle of three days and three nights with the souls of the departed, carries terror on them and beats them: he sits at the gate of hell (Bund. 28.18).
[772] ‘Every one has a noose cast around his neck: when a man dies, if he has been a righteous man, the noose falls from his neck; if a wicked, they drag him with that noose down into hell’ (Comm.; see Vd5.8).
[773] The Chinwad bridge extends over hell and leads to Paradise; for the souls of the righteous it widens to the length of nine javelins; for the souls of the wicked it narrows to a thread, and they fall down into hell (see Arda Viraf 5.1; Denkard Book 9, chapter 20.3). The Chinwad bridge has become the Sirath bridge of the Moslems. Not long ago they sang in Yorkshire of ‘the Brig o’ Dread, na brader than a thread’ (Thorns, Anecdotes, 89), and even nowadays the peasants in Nièvre tells of a little board — ‘Pas pu longue, pas pu largeQu’un ch’veu de la Sainte Viarge,’ which was put by Saint Jean d’Archange between the earth and Paradise: ‘Ceux qu’saront la raison (=l’oraison?) d’DieuPar dessus passeront.Ceux qu’la sauront pasAu bout mourront.’ (Mélusine, p. 70.)
[774] See verse 26, and Vd3.34-5; Vd18.33 ff.
[775] The soul of the dead, on the fourth day, finds itself in the presence of a maid, of divine beauty or fiendish ugliness, according as he himself was good or bad, and she leads him into heaven or hell: this maid is his own Daena, his Religion [daena also means conscience], that is the sum of his religious deeds, good or evil (Hadokht Nask, section 2.9).
[776] The dogs that keep the Chinwad bridge (see Vd13.9).
[777] the good from the wicked.
[778] Doubtful. Those children would he the righteous, as the sons of the Druj are the wicked (Vd18.30 ff.)
[779] The Chinwad bridge rests by one end on the Alborz (Hara-berezaiti) and by the other on the Chikad Daitik in Eranwej (Comm. ad 101 ed. Sp.; Denkard IX, 20, 3).
[780] The doorkeeper of Paradise; a Zoroastrian Saint-Pierre [St. Peter].
[781] See Vd7.52; Hadhokht Nask, part 2.16.
[782] The Garothman of the Parsis; literally, ‘the house of songs;’ it is the highest Paradise.
[783] That has performed the Barashnum.
[784] Ohrmazd is all perfume, Ahriman is infection and stench (Bundahishn 1; Eznig, Refutatio Haeresiarum II); the souls of their followers partake of the same qualities; and by the performance of the Barashnum both the body and the soul are perfumed and sweetened.
[785] See Vd22.7.
[786] See Vd5.15 ff.
[787] Asman, the highest heaven, as distinguished from the firmament (thwasha) that lies nearer the earth.
[788] The endless Light is ‘the place of Ormazd’ (Bund. 1); it is Infinite Space conceived as luminous.
[789] Misvâna gâtva, another name of the heavenly spaces; it designates heaven as the abode and source of all blessings, of all savah, or saoka.
[790] A Genius defined, ‘Genius of the good eye,’ by opposition to ‘the bad eye.’ Saoka (Sôk) is an auxiliary to Mithra (Mihr); she receives first, from above, all the good destined to man, and transmits it to the lower sky or firmament. (which is the seat of Destiny) through the moon and Ardvisur (Gr. Bund.)
[791] See Yt13.
[792] The Genius of Victory (Warharan). See Yt14.
[793] The hvareno (Khurra or Farr) or light of sovereignty. See verse 39 and see Yt19.
[794] Tishtrya (Tir), the star of rain. See Yt8.
[795] Tishtrya appears successively under three forms, during the month named from him (the first month of summer, 21 June-21 July): ten days as a man, ten days as a bull, ten days as a horse. ‘As a bull he is most to be invoked’ (Comm.), to prepare his final victory over the demon of Drought, Apaosha.
[796] The five collections of hymns which form the oldest and holiest part of the Yasna and of the Avesta (Yasna 28-34; Yasna 43-46; Yasna 47-50; Yasna 51; Yasna 53); they are named after their initial words.
[797] The chiefs of creation; ‘they rule over the Ratus inasmuch as it is by their means that these other Ratus are invoked’ (Comm.)
[798] The earth is divided into seven Karshwars [(Pah.) (Arezahi, Sawahi, Fradadhafshu, Widadhafshu, Wouru-bareshti, Wourujareshti, and Xwaniratha)], of which the central one, Xwaniratha, is the finest and contains Iran.
[799] See Vd1.14.
[800] Ashi (Ashishvang), the Genius that imparts riches to the righteous: see Yt17.
[801] An angel of religious knowledge.
[802] Religious knowledge: invoked with Daena (Religion; Siroza, 24)
[803] The light of sovereignty, khwarrah (Phl.) (Av. ‘khwarenah’), which if secured by the Aryans makes them rule over their enemies (see verse 37 and Yt19.56-93).
[804] See Vd2.2.
[805] That he may smite Aeshma and the other fiends.
[806] The fire of lightning.
[807] The demon that prevents the fall of rain; a companion in arms of Apaosha.
[808] Doubtful.
[809] The same as Kundi; see Vd11.9.
[810] Whereas Aeshma, the other arch-enemy of Sraosha, borrows part of his strength from drunkenness (Yasna 10.8).
[811] From the Vendidad Sada. The clause may have belonged to the original text; it is preceded by another clause which certainly did not belong to it, and part of which is cited in the commentary ad Farg. VIII, 103, where it would have been more suitably placed: ‘When he has been cleansed in the next inhabited place, he may then sow and till the pasture fields, as food for the sheep and as food for the ox.’
[812] The Kar-mâhî, the Ratu or chief of the creatures that live in water. See Vd20.4, note; Yt14.29.
[813] A αποξ λεχομενον. From its two epithets, ‘ancient’ and ‘sovereign,’ it appears that it must designate one of the first principles, that is to say, some form of Heaven, Light, Space, or Time.
[814] Doubtful.
[815] Hapta sravô bâmya.... [Wolff: “ich rufe herab die strahlenden sieben Hörner [Srû’s] [Ebenfalls ein Sternbild?] — ihre Kinder... [pusa-?] werden [?]” (I call down the radiating seven horns (Sru)...(also a constellation?) — their children... [pusa-? perhaps ‘flock’] become (?))] Up and down, in hope and despair.
[816] See Vd10.9-10.
[817] See Vd10.13.
[818] Vd10.13.
[819] Old age.
[820] See above, verse 1 and note 3.
[821] Malice; see above, Vd2.29.
[822] Lying; see above, Vd2.29.
[823] Spite; see above, Vd2.29.
[824] Opposition, or counter-action, the same as Paityâra; a personification of the doings of Ahriman and of his marring power.
[825] At the gate of hell; see above, Vd3.7 and note.
[826] Those who knew how to take care or their own bodies, like Isfandyar: some say that no sword could wound him’ (Comm.)
[827] The Paradhata or Peshdad, the kings of the first Iranian dynasty.
[828] That is to say, who kept sickness in bonds, who kept death in bonds’ (Comm.)
[829] As Khshathra-Vairya presides over metals, it was a knife he received, ‘of which the point and the base were set in gold.’ He was therefore the first who healed with the knife, as well as the first who healed with herbs. As for the healing with the holy word, see § 5 and seq.
[830] Headache and cold fever.
[831] There are two Haomas: one is the yellow or golden Haoma, which is the earthly Haoma, and which, when prepared for the sacrifice, is the king of healing plants; the other is the white Haoma or Gaokerena, which grows up in the middle of the sea Vouru-Kasha, where it is surrounded by the ten thousand healing plants, created by Ohrmazd in order to oppose so many diseases that had been created by Ahriman (Bundahishn 9; see Vd22.2). A frog goes swimming around the Gaokerena to gnaw it down: but two Kar Mahi (Vd19.42) keep watch and circle around the tree, so that the head of one of them is continually towards the frog (Bund. 18).
[832] We do all that is necessary for healing; we give, as Dastobar (Dastur), the necessary prescriptions; we recite the needed prayers. — This section is a transition to the spell-medicine.
[833] This clause is borrowed, with some alteration, from Yasna 31.4; the original text is, ‘May that strong power come to me, by the might of which we may smite down the Druj!’
[834] See Vd11.9.
[835] [i.e. genie, jinn, djinn -JHP] ‘Jai’ (Comm.), that is Jahi; cf. Vd18.62, and Vd22.2, note. — Clause 10 is imitated from clause 12.
[836] On Airyaman, see Vd22. Clauses 15-12 are borrowed from Yasna 54.1, and form the prayer known as Airyema ishyo.
[837] See Vd8.19-20.
[838] The primeval bull who was created by Ohrmazd and killed by Ahriman with the help of the Jahi. — Clause 1 is to be recited when one meets an ox or any kind of cattle, Gr. Riv. 386.
[839] Possibly, ‘who dost kill the Jahi (by means of gomez).
[840] His daily food.
[841] The wicked kills animals, out of mere cruelty, beyond his needs (Yasna 29.1; Y32.12, 14; Y48.7).
[842] Cf. Bund. 3.3, 6, 4.
[843] Names of diseases.
[844] Waters and light are believed to flow from the same spring and in the same bed: ‘As the light comes in through Alburz (Hara Berezaiti) and goes out through Alburz, so water also comes out through Alburz and goes away through Alburz’ (Bund. 20.4). Every day the sun, moon, and stars rise up from Alburz, and every day all the waters on the earth come back together to the sea Vouru-kasha, and there collected come down again to the earth from the peaks of Alburz (Gr. Riv. 43’). As light comes from three different sources (the sun, the moon, and the stars), the waters are invoked three times, first in company with the sun, then with the moon, lastly with the stars, as if there should be three different movements of the rain connected with the three movements or light.
[845] Waters come down from the sky to the earth and rise back from the earth to the sky (see Vd5.15 seq.)
[846] ‘If thou art a righteous man’ (Comm.)
[847] The translation of this clause is doubtful.
[848] The spell refers to the cleansing and generative power of the waters; cf. the invocation to Ardvi Sura, Vd7.16: the waters are supposed to make females fertile as they make the earth. This spell was probably pronounced to facilitate childbirth.
[849] There are, in the text, two words for ‘milk,’ the one referring to the milk of women, the other to the milk of cows.
[850] When the primeval bull died, ‘what was bright and strong in his seed was brought to the sphere of the moon, and when it was cleansed there in the light of the astre, two creatures were shaped with it, a male and a female, from which came two hundred and seventy-two kinds of animals’ (Bund. 4, Bund. 10).
[851] The plants that grow under the action of ‘those stars that have in them the seed of waters ‘ (cf. § 13).
[852] See Yt12.29.
[853] ‘He who diminishes glory, Ahriman’ (Comm.)
[854] ‘Sterility, Ahriman’ (Comm.)
[855] §§ 18-23 = Vd20.9-13.
[856] ‘The Garothman’ (Comm.), Paradise.
[857] And cast on me the evil eye; ‘it was by casting the evil eye on the good creatures of Ohrmazd that Ahriman corrupted them’ (Eznig, Refutatio Haeresiarum II). See Vd20.3.
[858] The Genius of the good eye; see Vd19.37, and note.
[859] The messenger of Ahura Mazda. He is a form of Atar, the Fire (Yasna 17.11).
[860] The mountain where ‘the holy conversations’ between Ohrmazd and Zarathushtra took place (cf. Vd19.11).
[861] According to Framji, ‘He brought with him the strength of nine stallions,’ to infuse it into the sick man (cf. Yasht 8.24).
[862] That is to say, ‘the nine-knotted stick’ (Framji; cf. Vd9.14).
[863] To perform the Barashnom, ‘the great service of the Nirang Din, through which all evil, moral and natural, including evil passions, disease, and death will be removed’ (Wilson, The Parsi Religion, p. 341).
[864] From the Vendidad Sada; as Vd20.9-13.