Principal author: Zarathustra
THE SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST
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Hon&on
HENRY FROWDE
OXFOBD UNIVEBSITY PBEB8 WABEHOUSE 1 PATEfiNOSTER EOW
TRANSLATED BY VARIOUS ORIENTAL SCHOLARS
AND EDITED BY F. MAX MULLER
VOL. IV
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1880
l A ll rights reserved ]
THE ZEND-AVESTA
ft
PART I
THE VENDIdAd
TRANSLATED BY
JAMES DARMESTETER
i
AT THE CLARENDON PRESS 1880
[All rights reserved^
CONTENTS.
16 IO
•S3
!/. M
INTRODUCTION.
FA<;r
Chapter I. The Discovery of the Zend-Avesta . xi
„ II. The Interpretation of the Zend-Avesta xxv
,, III. The Formation of the Zend-Avesta xxx
„ IV. The Origin of the Avesta Religion Ivi
„ V. The VendIdAd Ixxxiii
TRANSLATION OF THE VENDIDAD.
Fargard I. An enumeration of sixteen lands created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues
created in opposition by Angra Mainyu . . I
Fargard II. Myths of Yima 10
.Fargard III. The Earth 21
I (1-6). The five places where the Earth feels most joy . 22
II (7-1 1 ). The five places where the Earth feels most
sorrow 24
III (12-35). The five things which most rejoice the Earth 25
IV (36-42). Corpses ought not to be buried in the Earth 31
Fargard IV. Contracts and Outrages … 33
I (1) 34
II a (2). Classification of contracts 34
II b (3-4). Damages for breach of contract 35
lie (5-10). Kinsmen responsible 36
IId(n-i6). Penalties for breach of contract … 37
III (17-55)* Outrages 39
(18). Definitions 39
(18-21). Menaces 39
(22-25). Assaults 40
(26-29). Blows 41
(30-33)- Wounds 42
(34-36). Wounds causing blood to flow … 42
(37-39). Broken bones 43
(40-43). Manslaughter 44
(44-45). Contracts 45
(46, 49 [bis] -55). False oaths 45
(47-49). Praise of physical weal 46
Viii CONTENTS.
PAGE
Fargard V 48
I (1-7). If a man defile the fire or the earth involuntarily,
or unconsciously, it is no sin 49
II (8-9). Water and fire do not kill 1 …. 50
III (10-14). Disposal of the dead during winter . 51
IV (15-20). How the Dakhmas are cleansed by water from
the heavens 53
V (21-26). On the excellence of purity and of the law that
shows how to recover it, when lost 55
VI (27-38). On the defiling power of the Nasu being greater or less, according to the greater or less dignity
of the being that dies 57
VII (39-44). On the management of sacrificial implements
defiled by the dead 60
VIII (45-62). On the treatment of a woman who has been
delivered of a still-born child ; and what is to be done with her clothes . ' 61
Fargard VI 66
I (1-9). How long the earth remains unclean, when defiled
by the dead 66
II ( io-2 5). Penalties for defiling the ground with dead
matter' 67
III (26-41). Purification of the different sorts of water,
when defiled by the dead 69
IV (42-43). Purification of the Haoma …. 72
V (44-51). The place for corpses; the Dakhmas 72
Fargard VII 74
I (1-5). How long after death the Nasu falls upon the
dead 74
II (6-9). How far the defiling power of the Nasu extends 76
III (10-22). Cleansing of clothes defiled by the dead . 77
IV (23-24). Eating of corpses an abomination … 79
V (25-27). Bringing corpses to fire or water an abomina- tion 80
VI (28-35). Cleansing of wood and com defiled by the dead 81
VII a (36-40). Physicians; their probation … 83
VII b (41-44). Their fees 84
VIII ( 45 - 49 ). Purification of the earth, of the Dakhmas.
The Dakhmas and the Da£vas 86
IX (60-72). Treatment of a woman who has brought forth
a still-bom child 89
X ( 73 - 75 )- Cleansing of vessels defiled by the dead 91
XI (76). Cleansing of the cow 92
XII (77). Unclean libations 92
CONTENTS.
IX
PACK
Fargard VIII 93
I (1-3). Purification of the house where a' man has died 93
II (4-13). Funerals 94
III (14-22). Purification of the ways along which the
corpse has been carried 9 7
IV (23-25). No clothes to be wasted on a corpse . . 99
V (26-32). Unlawful lusts 100
VI (33-34). A corpse when dried up does not contaminate 103
VII (35-72). Purification of the man defiled by the dead 103
VIII (73-80). Purification of the fire defiled by the dead no
IX (81-96). The Bahr&m fire . .. .. . . .112
X (97-107). Purification in the wilderness. . . .116
Fargard IX. The Nine Nights' BarashnOm . . .119
la (1-11). Description of the place for cleansing, the un- clean (the Barashnfim-g&h) 119
I b (12-36). Description of the cleansing . . . .122
II (37-44). Fees of the cleanser 129
III (47-57). The false cleanser; his punishment . . 131
Fargard X. Spells recited during the process of
THE CLEANSING 133
Fargard XI. Special spells for the cleansing, of the
SEVERAL OBJECTS 1 38
Fargard XII. The Up am an: how long it lasts for
DIFFERENT RELATIVES 1 44
Fargard XIII. The Dog 151
I (1-7). The dog of Ormazcf and the dog of Ahriman . 152
I a (1-4). The dog VanghApara (the hedge-hog) . .152
I b ( 5 ^ 7 ). The dog Zairimyangura (the tortoise) . .153
II (8-16). Offences against the dog 153
III (17-19). On the several duties of the dog . . .156
IV (20-28). On the food due to the dog . . . .156
V (29-38). On the mad dog ; how he is to be kept, and cured 1 59
VI (39-40). On the excellence of the dog …. 160
VII (41-43). On the wolf-dog 161
VIII (44-48). On the virtues and vices of the dog . . 161
IX (49-50). Praise of the dog 163
X (50-54). The water dog 163
Fargard XIV. The atonement for the murder of a
water dog 165
Fargard XV. 172
I (1-8). On five sins the commission of which makes the sinner a Peshdtanu 172
X
CONTENTS.
PAGE
II (9-19). On unlawful unions and attempts to procure
abortion 174
III (20-45). On the treatment of a bitch big with young 175
IV (46-51). On the breeding of dogs . . . .180
Fargard XVI 181
I (1-11). On the uncleanness of women during their sick- ness 18 1
II (11-12). How it can be removed 183
III (13-18). Sundry laws relating to the same matter . 184
Fargard XVII. Hair and Nails 185
Fargard XVIII 189
I (1-13). On the unworthy priest and enticers to heresy. 189
II (14-29). The holiness of the cock 192
III (30-60). The four paramours of the Drug“ . . .196
IV (61-71). On unlawful lusts 200
Fargard XIX 203
I (1-10). Angra Mainyu attempts first to kill, then to seduce
Zarathurtra 204
II (11-42). Ahura Mazda reveals the law to Zarathurtra. 207
III (43-47). Angra Mainyu flees down to hell . . .217
Fargard XX. Thrita and the origin of medicine . 219
Fargard XXI. Waters and Light 223
I (1). Praise of the holy bull 224
II (2-3). Invocation addressed to hail as a healing power 224
III a (4-7). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and
to the light of the sun 225
III b (8-1 1). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the moon 226
III c (12-17). Joint invocation addressed to the waters
and to the light of the stars 227
IV (18-21). Spells against disease 228
Fargard XXII. Angra Mainyu creates 99,999 diseases : Ahura Mazda applies for healing to the Holy Word and to Airyaman 229
Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Transla- tions of the Sacred Books of the East …. 237
The Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the Parsis, that is to say, of the few remaining followers of that religion which reigned over Persia at the time when the . second successor of Mohammed overthrew the Sassanian dynasty \ and which has been called Dualism, or Mazdeism, or Ma- gism, or Zoroastrianism, or Fire-worship, according as its main tenet, or its supreme God 1 2 * , or its priests, or its sup- posed founder, or its apparent object of worship has been most kept in view. In less than a century after their defeat, nearly all the conquered people were brought over to the faith of their new rulers, either by force, or policy, or the attractive power of a simpler form of creed. But many of those who clung to the faith of their fathers, went and sought abroad for a new home, where they might freely worship their old gods, say their old prayers, and perform their old rites. That home they found at last among the tolerant Hindus, on the western coast of India and in the peninsula of Guzerat 8 . There they throve and there they live still, while the ranks of their co-religionists in Persia are daily thinning and dwindling away 4 * * .
As the Parsis are the ruins of a people, so are their
1 At the battle of Nihivand (64a a. c.) * Ahura Mazda.
* They settled first at Sang&n, not far from Dam&n ; thence they spread over Surat, Nowsari, Broach, and Kambay ; and within the last two centuries they have settled at Bombay, which now contains the bulk of the Farsi people,
nearly 150,000 souls.
4 A century ago, it is said, they still numbered nearly 100,000 souls ; but
there now remain no more than 8000 or 9000 souls, scattered in Yezd and the
surrounding villages (Dosabhoy Framjee, The Parsees).
Xll
vend!dad.
sacred books the ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief in the world that ever left such poor and meagre monuments of its past splendour. Yet great is the value which that small book, the Avesta, and the belief of that scanty people, the Parsis, have in the eyes of the his- torian and theologist, as they present to us the last reflex of the ideas which prevailed in Iran during the five cen- turies which preceded and the seven which followed the birth of Christ, a period which gave to the world the Gos- pels, the Talmud, and the Qur’&n. Persia, it is known, had much influence on each of the movements which produced, or proceeded from, those three books ; she lent much to the first heresiarchs, much to the Rabbis, much to Moham- med. By help of the Parsi religion and the Avesta, we are enabled to go back to the very heart of that most mo- mentous period in the history of religious thought, which saw the blending of the Aryan mind with the Semitic, and thus opened the second stage of Aryan thought.
Inquiries into the religion of ancient Persia began long ago, and it was the old foe of Persia, the Greek, who first studied it. Aristotle 1 , Hermippus 2 , and many others 3 wrote of it in books of which, unfortunately, nothing more than a few fragments or merely the titles have come down to us. We find much valuable information about it, scat- tered in the accounts of historians and travellers, extending over ten centuries, from Herodotus down to Agathias and Procopius. It was never more eagerly studied than in the first centuries of the Christian era ; but that study had no longer anything of the disinterested and almost scientific character it had in earlier times. Religious and philosophic sects, in search of new dogmas, eagerly received whatever came to them bearing the name of Zoroaster. As Xanthus the Lydian, who is said to have lived before Herodotus, had mentioned Zoroastrian Aoyia 4 , there came to light, in those later times, scores of oracles, styled Aoyia tov Zwpoia-
1 Diogenes Laertius, Prooemium 8.
* Pliny, Hist. Nat. XXX, i, 2. Cf. infra, in, 11.
8 Dinon, Theopompus, Hermodorus, Heraclides Cumanus.
4 See Nicolaus Damazcenus, Didot, Fragm. Hist. Ill, 409.
X1U
t) paw, or ' Oracula ChaldaYca sive Magica/ the work of Neo- Platonists who were but very remote disciples of the Median sage. As his name had become the very emblem of wisdom, they would cover with it the latest inventions of their ever- deepening theosophy. Zoroaster and Plato were treated as if they had been philosophers of the same school, and Hierocles expounded their doctrines in the same book. Proclus collected seventy Tetrads of Zoroaster and wrote commentaries on them 1 * * * * ; but we need hardly say that Zoroaster commented on by Proclus was nothing more or lqss than Proclus commented on by Proclus. Prodicus the Gnostic had secret books of Zoroaster a ; and upon the whole it may be said that in the first centuries of Chris- tianity, the religion of Persia was more studied and less understood than it had ever been before. The real object aimed at, in studying the old religion, was to form a new one.
Throughout the Middle Ages nothing was known of Mazdeism but the name of its founder, who from a Magus was converted into a magician and master of the hidden sciences. It was not until the Renaissance that real in- quiry was resumed. The first step was to collect all the information that could be gathered from Greek and Roman writers. That task was undertaken and successfully com- pleted by Bamab£ Brisson 8 . A nearer approach to the original source was made in the following century by Italian, English, and French travellers in Asia. Pietro della Valle, Henry Lord, Mandelslo, Ovington, Chardin, Gabriel du Chinon, and Tavernier found Zoroaster’s last followers in Persia and India, and made known their exist- ence, their manners, and the main features of their belief to Europe. Gabriel du Chinon saw their books and recog- nised that they were not all written in the same language, their original holy writ being no longer understood except
1 Fabrici us, Graeca Bibliotheca, fourth ed. p. 309 seq.
* Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata I. Cf. infra, III, 11, and Porphyrins, de
vita Plotini, $ 16.
• ‘De regio Persarum prindpatu libri tres,' Paris, 1590. The second book
is devoted to the religion and manners of the ancient Persians.
XIV
VENDfDAD.
by means of translations and commentaries in another tongue.
In the year 1700, a professor at Oxford, Thomas Hyde, the greatest Orientalist of his time in Europe, made the first systematic attempt to restore the history of the old Persian religion by combining the accounts of the Moham- medan writers with ‘ the true and genuine monuments of ancient Persia 1 .’ Unfortunately the so-called genuine monuments of ancient Persia were nothing more than recent compilations referring to the last stage of Parstism. But notwithstanding this defect, which could hardly be avoided then, and notwithstanding its still worse fault, a strange want of critical acumen 2 , the book of Thomas Hyde was the first complete and true picture of modem Parstism, and it made inquiry into jts history the order of the day. A warm appeal made by him to the zeal of travellers, to seek for and procure at any price the sacred books of the Parsis, did not remain ineffectual, and from that time scholars bethought themselves of studying Par- siism in its own home.
Eighteen years later, a countryman of Hyde, George Boucher, received from” the Parsis in Surat a copy of the Vendlddd S&dah, which was brought to England in 1723 by Richard Cobbe. But the old manuscript was a sealed book, and the most that could then be made of it was to hang it by an iron chain to the wall of the Bodleian Library, as a curiosity to be shown to foreigners. A few years later, a Scotchman, named Fraser, went to Surat, with the view of obtaining from the Parsis, not only their books, but also a knowledge of their contents. He was not very successful in the first undertaking, and utterly failed in the second.
In 1754 a young man, twenty years old, Anquetil Duperron, a scholar of the Ecole des Langues Orientales in Paris, happened to see a facsimile of four leaves of the
1 * Veterum Persarum et Parthorum et Medorum religionis historia,* Oxford, 1700.
• Thus he recognised in Abraham the first lawgiver of ancient Persia, in M agism a Sabean corruption of the primeval faith, and in Zoroaster a reformer, who had learnt the forgotten truth from the exiled Jews in Babylon.
INTRODUCTION, I.
XV
Oxford Vendld&d, which had been sent from England, a few years before, to Etienne Fourmont, the Orientalist. He determined at once to give to France both the books of Zoroaster and the first European translation of them. Impatient to set off, without waiting for a mission from the government which had been promised to him, he enlisted as a private soldier in the service of the French East India Company; he embarked at Lorient on the 24th of February 1 755, and after three years of endless adventures and dan- gers through the whole breadth of Hindustan, at the very time when war was raging between France and England, he arrived at last in Surat, where he stayed among the Parsis for three years more. Here began another struggle, not less hard, but more decisive, against that mistrust and ill-will of the Parsis which had disheartened Fraser; but he came out. of it victorious, and succeeded at last in winning from the Parsis both their books and their knowledge. He came back to Paris on the 14th of March 1764, and de- posited on the following day at the Biblioth&que Royale the whole of the Zend-Avesta and copies of most of the traditional books. He spent ten years in studying the material he had collected, and published in 1771 the first European translation of the Zend-Avesta 1 .
A violent dispute broke out at once, as half the learned world denied the authenticity of the Avesta, which it pro- nounced a forgery. It was the future founder of the Royal Asiatic Society, William Jones, a young Oxonian then, who opened the war. He had been wounded to the quick by the scornful tone adopted by Anquetil towards Hyde and a few other English scholars: the Zend-Avesta suf- fered for the fault of its introducer, Zoroaster for Anquetil. In a pamphlet written in French 2 , with a verve and in a style which showed him to be a good disciple of Voltaire, W. Jones pointed out, and dwelt upon, the oddities and
1 ‘ Zend-Avesta, ouvrage de Zoroastre, contenant les Id^es Th^ologiques, Physiques et Morales de ce L^gislateur. . . . Traduit en Francois sur l’Original Zend.’ Par M. Anquetil Du Perron, 3 vols. in 4 0 , Paris, 1771.
* 'Lettre k M. A* du P*, dans laquelle est compris l’examen de $a traduction des livres attribu& k Zoroastre.’
XVI
vendIdAd.
absurdities with which the so-called sacred books of Zo- roaster teemed. It is true that Anquetil had given full scope to satire by the style he had adopted : he cared very little for literary elegance, and did not mind writing Zend and Persian in French ; so the new and strange ideas he had to express looked stranger still in the outlandish garb he gave them. Yet it was less the style than the ideas that shocked the contemporary of Voltaire 1 . His main argu- ment was that books, full of such silly tales, of laws and rules so absurd, of descriptions of gods and demons so grotesque, could not be the work of a sage like Zoroaster, nor the code of a religion so much celebrated for its simpli- city, wisdom, and purity. His conclusion was that the Avesta was a rhapsody of some modern Guebre. In fact the only thing in which Jones succeeded was to prove in a decisive manner that the ancient Persians were not equal to the lumi&res of the eighteenth century, and that the authors of the Avesta had not read the Encyclopedic.
Jones’s censure was echoed in England by Sir John Chardin and Richardson, in Germany by Meiners. Richard- . son tried to give a scientific character to the attacks of Jones by founding them on philological grounds 2 . That the Avesta was a fabrication of modem times was shown, he argued, by the number of Arabic words he fancied he found both in the Zend and Pahlavi dialects, as no Arabic element was introduced into the Persian idioms earlier than the seventh century; also by the harsh texture of the Zend, contrasted with the rare euphony of the Persian ; and, lastly, by the radical difference between the Zend and Persian, both in words and grammar. To these objec- tions, drawn from the form, he added another derived from the uncommon stupidity of the matter.
In Germany, Meiners, to the charges brought against the new found books, added another of a new and unexpected kind, namely, that they spoke of ideas unheard of before, and made known new things. ‘Pray, who would dare
1 Cf. the article on Zoroaster in the Dictionnaire philosophique.
• * A Dissertation on the Languages, Literature, and Manners of Eastern Nations,’ Oxford, 1777.
INTRODUCTION, I.
XVII
ascribe to Zoroaster books in which are found numberless names of trees, animals, men, and demons unknown to the ancient Persians ; in which are invoked an incredible num- ber of pure animals and other things, which, as appears from the silence of ancient writers, were never known, or. at least never worshipped, in Persia ? What Greek ever spoke of Horn, of Jemshtd, and of such other personages as the fabricators of that rhapsody exalt with every kind of praise, as divine heroes 1 ? 1 Yet, in the midst of his Ciceronian nonsense, Meiners inadvertently made a remark which, if correctly interpreted, might have led to important dis- coveries. He noticed that many points of resemblance are to be found between the ideas of the Parsis and those of the Brahmans and Musulmans. He saw in this a proof that Parsiism is a medley of Brahmanical and Musulman tales. Modem scholarship, starting from the same point, came to that twofold conclusion, that, on the one hand, Parsiism was one of the elements out of which Mohammed formed his religion, and, on the other hand, that the old religions of India and Persia flowed from a common source.
4 Not only does the author of that rubbish tell the same tales of numberless demons of either sex as the Indian priests do, but he also prescribes the same remedies in order to drive them away, and to balk their attempts.* In these words there was something like the germ of compara- tive mythology ; seldom has a man approached the truth so closely and then departed from it so widely.
Anquetil and the Avesta found an eager champion in the person of Kleuker, professor in the University of Riga. As soon as the French version of the Avesta appeared, he published a German translation of it, and also of Anquetil's historical dissertations a . Then, in a series of dissertations of his own 3 , he vindicated the authenticity of the Zend books. Anquetil had already tried to show, in a memoir
1 ‘De Zoroastris vita, institute, doctrina et libris,’ in the Novi Com- mentarii Societatis Regiae, Goettingen, 1778-1779.
* * Zend-Avesta . . . nach dem Franzoesischen des Herm Anquetil Du Perron,* 3 vols. in 4 0 , 1776.
* 4 Anhang zum Zend-Avesta,’ 2 vols. in 4 0 , 1781.
[4] b
VENDfDAD.
,xviii
on Plutarch, that the data of the Avesta fully agree with the account of the Magian religion given in the treatise on * Isis and Osiris.’ Kleuker enlarged the circle of comparison to the whole of ancient literature. He tried also to appeal to internal evidence, an attempt in which he was less sue- cessful. The strength of his defence was seldom greater than the strength of the attack. Meiners had pointed out the mythical identity of the Mount Alborg* of the Parsis with the Mount Meru of the Hindus, as a proof that the Parsis had borrowed their mythology from the Hindus; the conclusion was incorrect, but the remark itself was not so. Kleuker fancied that he could remove the difficulty by stating that Mount Alborg* is a real mountain, nay, a doubly real mountain, since there are two mountains of that name, the one in Persia, the other in Armenia, whereas Mount Meru is only to be found in Fairyland. Seldom were worse arguments used in the service of a good cause. Meiners had said that the name of the Parsi demons was of Indian origin, as both languages knew them by the Latin name ‘ Deus.’ This was an incorrect statement, and yet an impor- tant observation. The word which means * a demon * in Persia means quite the contrary in India, and that radical difference is just a proof of the two systems being indepen- dent of one another. Kleuker pointed out the incorrectness of the statement ; but, being unable to account for the iden- tity of the words, he flatly denied it.
Kleuker was more successful in the field of philology : he showed, as Anquetil had done, that Zend has no Arabic ele- ments in it, and that Pahlavi itself, which is more modern than Zend, does not contain any Arabic, but only Semitic words of the Aramean dialect, which are easily accounted for by the dose rdations of Persia with Aramean lands in the time of the Sassanian kings. He showed, lastly, that Arabic words appear only in the very books which Parsi tradition itself considers modern.
Another stanch upholder of the Avesta was the numis- matologist Tychsen, who, having begun to read the book with a prejudice against its authenticity, quitted it with a conviction to the contrary. 1 There is nothing in it,’ he
INTRODUCTION, I.
XIX
writes, ‘but what befits remote ages, and a man philo- sophising in the infancy of the world. Such traces of a recent period as they fancy to have found in it, are either due to misunderstandings, or belong to its later portions. On the whole there is a marvellous accordance between the Zend-Avesta and the accounts of the ancients with regard to the doctrine and institutions of Zoroaster. Plutarch agrees so well with the Zend books that I think no one will deny the close resemblance of doctrines and identity of origin. Add to all this the incontrovertible argument to be drawn from the language, the antiquity of which is estab- lished by the fact that it was necessary to translate a part of the Zend books into Pahlavi, a language which was growing obsolete as early as the time of the Sassanides. Lastly, it cannot be denied that Zoroaster left books, which were, through centuries, the groundwork of the Magic reli- gion, and which were preserved by the Magi, as shown by a series of documents from the time of Hermippus. There- fore I am unable to see why we should not trust the Magi of our days when they ascribe to Zoroaster those traditional books of their ancestors, in which nothing is found to indi- cate fraud or a modem hand V
Two years afterwards, in 1793, was published in Paris a book which, without directly dealing with the Avesta, was the first step taken to make its authenticity incontrovertible. It was the masterly memoir by Sylvestre de Sacy, in which the Pahlavi inscriptions of the first Sassanides were deci- phered for the first time and in a decisive manner, De Sac y, in his researches, had chiefly relied on the Pahlavi lexicon published by Anquetil, whose work vindicated itself thus — better than by heaping up arguments — by promoting discoveries. The Pahlavi inscriptions gave the key, as is well known, to the Persian cuneiform inscriptions, which were in return to put beyond all doubt the genuineness of the Zend language.
Tychsen, in an appendix to his Commentaries, pointed
1 'Commentatio prior observationes historico-criticas de Zoroastre ejusque scriptis et placitis exhibens.* Goettingen, in the Novi Comment. Soc. Reg. 1791*
b 2
XX
vendJdad.
to the importance of the new discovery : 4 This,’ he writes, * is a proof that the Pahlavi was used during the reign of the Sassanides, for it was from them that these inscrip- tions emanated, as it was by them — nay, by the first of them, Ardeshir B£bag£n — that the doctrine of Zoroaster was revived. One can now understand why the Zend books were translated into Pahlavi. Here, too, everything agrees, and speaks loudly for their antiquity and genuineness/ About the same time Sir William Jones, then president of the Royal Asiatic Society, which he had just founded, resumed in a discourse delivered before that Society the same question he had solved in such an off-hand manner twenty years before. He was no longer the man to say, 4 Sied-il k un homme n 6 dans ce si£cle de s’infatuer de fables indiennes?* and although he had still a spite against Anquetil, he spoke of him with more reserve than in 1771. However, his judgment on the Avesta itself was not -altered on the whole, although, as he himself declared, he had not thought it necessary to study the text. But a glance at the Zend glossary published by Anquetil suggested to him a remark which makes Sir William Jones, in spite of himself, the creator of the comparative grammar of Sanskrit and Zend.
4 When I perused the Zend glossary,’ he writes, f I was inexpressibly surprised to find that six or seven words in ten are pure Sanscrit, and even some of their inflexions formed by the rules of the Vydcaran 1 , as yushmdcam, the geni- tive plural of yushmad. Now M. Anquetil most certainly, and the Persian compiler most probably, had no knowledge of Sanscrit, and could not, therefore, have invented a list of Sanscrit words ; it is, therefore, an authentic list of Zend words, which has been preserved in books or by tradition ; it follows that the language of the Zend was at least a dia- lect of the Sanscrit, approaching perhaps as nearly to it as the Prdcrit, or other popular idioms, which we know to have been spoken in India two thousand years ago V This con- clusion, that Zend is a Sanskrit dialect, was incorrect, the connection assumed being too close; but it was a great
1 The Sanskrit Grammar.
* Asiatic Researches, II, § 3.
INTRODUCTION, I.
xxi
thing that the near relationship of the two languages should have been brought to light
In 1798 Father Paulo de St. Barth&emy further developed Jones’s remark in an essay on the antiquity of the Zend language 1 . He showed its affinity with the Sanskrit by a list of such Zend and Sanskrit words as were least likely to be borrowed, viz. those that designate the degrees of rela- tionship, the limbs of the body, and the most general and essential ideas. Another list, intended to show, on a special topic, how closely connected the two languages are, contains eighteen words taken from the liturgic language used in India and Persia. This list was not very happily drawn up, as out of the eighteen instances there is not a single one that stands inquiry; yet it was a happy idea, and one which has not even yet yielded all that it promised. His conclu- sions were that in a far remote antiquity Sanskrit was spoken in Persia and Media, that it gave birth to the Zend language, and that the Zend-Avesta is authentic : * Were it but a recent compilation,* he writes, ‘ as Jones asserts, how is it that the oldest rites of the Parsis, that the old inscriptions of the Persians, the accounts of the Zoroastrian religion in the clas- sical writers, the liturgic prayers of the Parsis, and, lastly, even their books do not reveal the pure Sanskrit, as written in the land wherein the Parsis live, but a mixed language, which is as different from the other dialects of India as French is from Italian ? * This amounted, in fact, to say- ing that the Zend is not derived from the Sanskrit, but that both are derived from another and older language. The Carmelite had a dim notion of that truth, but, as he failed to express it distinctly, it was lost for years, and had to be re-discovered.
The first twenty-five years of this century were void of re- sults, but the old and sterile discussions as to the authenticity of the texts continued in England. In 1808 John Leyden regarded Zend as a Prakrit dialect, parallel to Pali ; Pali being identical with the Magadhi dialect and Zend with the
1 ' De antiqaitate et affinitate linguae samscredamicae et germanicae/ Rome, 1798.
vendIdAd.
xxii
Sauraseni \ In the eyes of Erskine Zend was a Sanskrit dialect, imported from India by the founders of Mazdeism, but never spoken in Persia 1 2 . His main argument was that Zend is not mentioned among the seven dialects which were current in ancient Persia according to the Farhang-i Jehangiri 3 , and that Pahlavi and Persian exhibit no close relationship with Zend.
In Germany, Meiners had found no followers. The theologians appealed to the Avesta in their polemics 4 , and Rhode sketched the religious history of Persia after the translations of Anquetil 5 .
Erskine’s essay provoked a decisive answer 6 from Em- manuel Rask, one of the most gifted minds in the new school of philology, who had the honour of being a pre- cursor of both Grimm and Burnouf. He showed that the list of the Jehangiri referred to an epoch later than that to which Zend must have belonged, and to parts of Persia different from those where it must have been spoken ; he showed further that modem Persian is not derived from Zend, but from a dialect closely connected with it ; and, lastly, he showed what was still more important, that Zend was not derived from Sanskrit. As to the system of its sounds, Zend approaches Persian rather than Sanskrit ; and as to its grammatical forms, if they often remind one of Sanskrit, they also often remind one of Greek and Latin, and frequently have a special character of their own. Rask also gave the paradigm of three Zend nouns, belonging to different declensions, as well as the right pronunciation of the Zend letters, several of which had been incorrectly given by Anquetil. This was the first essay on Zend grammar, and it was a masterly one.
1 Asiatic Researches, X. a Ibid. X.
* A large Persian dictionary compiled in India in the reign of Jehangir.
* * Erlauterungen zum Neuen Testament aus einer neueroffneten Morgenland-
ischen Quelle, 'I3ov fJtdyoi dv 6 dyaroXSjv ,’ Riga, 1775.
5 ‘ Die Heilige Sage . . . des Zend-Volks/ Francfort, 1820.
* * Ueber das Alter und die Echtheit der Zend-Sprache und des Zend Avesta ’ (Ubersetzt von F. H. von der Hagen), Berlin, 1826. Remarks on the Zend Language and the Zend-Avesta (Transactions of the Bombay branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, III, 524).
INTRODUCTION, I.
• •• xxm
The dssay published in 1831 by Peter von Bohlen on the origin of the Zend language threw the matter forty years back. According to him, Zend is a Prakrit dialect, as it had been pronounced by Jones, Leyden, and Erskine. His mistake consisted in taking Anquetil’s transcriptions of the words, which are often so incorrect as to make them look like corrupted forms when compared with Sanskrit* And, what was worse, he took the proper names in their modem Parsi forms, which often led him to comparisons that would have appalled Manage. Thus Ahriman became a Sanskrit word ariman, which would have meant ‘the fiend;* yet Bohlen might have seen in Anquetil’s work itself that Ahri- man is nothing but the modem form of Angra Mainyu, words which hardly remind one of the Sanskrit ariman. Again, the angel Vohu-mand, or ‘good thought,’ was reduced, by means of the Parsi form Bahman, to the San- skrit b&human, ‘ a long-armed god.’
At last came Buraouf. From the time when Anquetil had published his translation, that is to say, during seventy years, no real progress had been made in knowledge of the Avesta texts. The notion that Zend and Sanskrit are two kindred languages was the only new idea that had been acquired, but no practical advantage for the interpretation of the texts had resulted from it. Anquetil’s translation was still the only guide, and as the doubts about the authen- ticity of the texts grew fainter, the authority of the transla- tion became greater, the trust reposed in the Avesta being reflected on to the work of its interpreter. The Parsis had been the teachers of Anquetil ; and who could ever under- stand the holy writ of the Parsis better than the Parsis themselves? There was no one who even tried to read the texts by the light of Anquetil’s translation, to obtain a direct understanding of them.
About 1825 Eugfene Bumouf was engaged in a course of researches on the geographical extent of the Aryan lan- guages in India. After he had defined the limits which divide the races speaking Aryan languages from the native non-brahmanical tribes in the south, he wanted to know if a similar boundary had ever existed in the north-west ; and
XXIV
vend!dAd.
if it is outside of India that the origin of the Indian lan- guages and civilisation is to be sought for. He was thus led to study the languages of Persia, and, first of all, the oldest of them, the Zend. But as he tried to read the texts by help of Anquetil’s translation, he was surprised to find that this was not the clue he had expected. He saw that two causes had misled Anquetil : on the one hand, his teachers, the Parsi dasturs, either knew little themselves or taught him imperfectly, not only the Zend, but even the Pahlavi intended to explain the meaning of the Zend ; so that the tradition on which his work rested, being incorrect in itself, corrupted it from the very beginning ; on the other hand, as Sanskrit was unknown to him and comparative grammar did not as yet exist, he could not supply the defects of tradition by their aid. Burnouf, laying aside tradi- tion as found in Anquetil’s translation, consulted it as found in a much older and purer form, in a Sanskrit translation of the Yasna made in the fifteenth century by the Parsi Nerio- sengh in accordance with the old Pahlavi version. The information given by Neriosengh he tested, and either con- firmed or corrected, by a comparison of parallel passages and by the help of comparative grammar, which had just been founded by Bopp, and applied by him successfully to the explanation of Zend forms. Thus he succeeded in tracing the general outlines of the Zend lexicon and in fixing its grammatical forms, and founded the only correct method of interpreting the Avesta. He also gave the first notions of a comparative mythology of the Avesta and the Veda, by showing the identity of the Vedic Yama with the Avesta Yima, and of Trait&na with Thra£taona and Feridtin. Thus he made his ‘Commentaire sur le Yasna* a marvellous and unparalleled model of critical insight and steady good sense, equally opposed to the narrowness of mind which clings to matters of fact without rising to their cause and connecting them with the series of associated phenomena, and to the wild and uncontrolled spirit of com- parison, which, by comparing everything, confounds every- thing. Never sacrificing either tradition to comparison or comparison to tradition, he knew how to pass from the one
INTRODUCTION, II.
XXV
to the other, and was so enabled both to discover facts and to explain them.
At the same time the ancient Persian inscriptions at Persepolis and Behistun were deciphered by Burnouf in Paris, by Lassen in Bonn, and by Sir Henry Rawlinson in Persia. Thus was revealed the existence, at the time of the first Achaemenian kings, of a language closely con- nected with that of the Avesta, and the last doubts as to the authenticity of the Zend books were at length removed. It would have required more than an ordinary amount of scepticism to look still upon the Zend as an artificial language, of foreign importation, without root in the land where it was written, and in the conscience of the people for whom it was written, at the moment when a twin lan- guage, bearing a striking likeness to it in nearly every feature, was suddenly making itself heard from the mouth of Darius, and speaking from the very tomb of the first Achaemenian king. That unexpected voice silenced all controversies, and the last echoes of the loud discussion which had been opened in 1771 died away unheeded l .
The peace did not last long, and a year after the death of Burnouf a new controversy broke out, which still con- tinues, the battle of the methods, that is, the dispute between those who, to interpret the Avesta, rely chiefly or exclusively on tradition, and those who rely only on com- parison with the Vedas. The cause of the rupture was the rapid progress made in the knowledge of theVedic language and literature: the deeper one penetrated into that oldest form of Indian words and thoughts, the more striking appeared its close affinity with the Avesta words and thoughts. Many a mysterious line in the
1 The attacks of John Romer (‘ Zend : Is it an Original Language?' London, 1855) called forth a refutation only in Bombay (Dhanjibai Framji, ‘On the Origin and the Authenticity of the Aryan Family of Languages, the Zend* Avesta and the Huzvarash,’ 1861).
xxvi
VENDIDAD.
Avesta received an unlooked-for light from the poems of the Indian Rishis, and the long-forgotten past and the origin of many gods and heroes, whom the Parsi.worships and extols without knowing who they were and whence they came, were suddenly revealed by the Vedas. Em- boldened by its bright discoveries, the comparative method took pity on its slower and less brilliant rival, which was then making its first attempts to unravel the Pahlavi tradi- tional books. Is it worth while, said the Vedic scholars 1 , to try slowly and painfully to extract the secret of the old book from that uncouth literature ? Nay, is there any hope that its secret is there ? Translating the Avesta in accord- ance with the Pahlavi is not translating the Avesta, but only translating the Pahlavi version, which, wherever it has been deciphered, is found to wander strangely from the true meaning of the original text. Tradition, as a rule, is wont to enforce the ideas of its own ages into the books of past ages. From the time when the Avesta was written to the time when it was translated, many ideas had undergone great changes : such ideas, tradition must needs either mis- understand or not understand at all, and tradition is always either new sense or nonsense. The key to the Avesta is not the Pahlavi, but the Veda. The Avesta and the Veda
and the same thought : the Vedas, therefore, are both the best lexicon and the best commentary to the Avesta.
The traditional school 2 replied that translating Zend by. means of Sanskrit and the Avesta by means of the Vedas, because Zend and the Avesta are closely related to San- skrit and the Vedas, is forgetting that relationship is not identity, and that what interests the Zend scholar is not to know how far Zend agrees with Sanskrit, but what it is in itself : what he seeks for in the Avesta, is the Avesta, not the Veda. Both the Vedic language and the Vedas are quite unable to teach us what became in Persia of those elements, which are common to the two systems, a thing which tradition alone can teach us. By the comparative
1 Roth, Benfey, Haug. Cf. Revue Critique, 1877, 81. * Spiegel, Justi.
INTRODUCTION, II. XXVII
method, the Zend meregha, which means ‘a bird,’ would assume the meaning of ‘ gazelle ’ to accord with the San- skrit mriga ; ratu, ‘ a part of the da y,’ would be extended to ‘ a season’ out of regard for ritw ; mainyu, ‘ a spirit,’ and dahyu, ‘a province,’ would be degraded to ‘ anger ’ and to ‘a set of thieves,’ and ‘the demons,’ the Daevas, would ascend from their dwelling in hell up to heaven, to meet their philological brothers, the Indian Devas. The tradi- tional method, as it starts from matters of facts, moves always in the field of reality; the comparative method starts from an hypothesis, moves in a vacuum, and builds up a fanciful religion and a fanciful language.
Such being the methods of the two schools, it often hap- pened that a passage, translated by two scholars, one of each school, took so different an aspect that a layman would have been quite unable to suspect that it was one and the same passage he had read twice. Yet the di- vergence between the two methods is more apparent than real, and proceeds from an imperfect notion of the field in which each of them ought to work. They ought not to oppose, but assist one another, as they are not intended to instruct us about the same kind of facts, but about two kinds of facts quite different and independent. No lan- guage, no religion, that has lived long and changed much, can be understood at any moment of its development, unless we know what it became afterwards, and what it was before. The language and religion of the Avesta record but a moment in the long life of the Iranian language and thought, so that we are unable to understand them, unless we know what they became and whence they came. What they became we learn directly from tradition, since the tradi- tion arose from the very ideas which the Avesta expresses ; whence they came we learn indirectly from the Vedas, be- cause the Vedas come from the same source as the Avesta. Therefore it cannot happen that the tradition and the Veda will really contradict one another, if we take care to ask from each only what it knows, from one the present, and the past from the other. Each method is equally right and equally efficacious, at its proper time and in its right
XXV111
VENDtDAD.
place. The first place belongs to tradition, as it comes straight from the Avesta. The second inquiry, to be suc- cessful, requires infinite prudence and care : the Veda is not the past of the Avesta, as the Avesta is the past of tra- dition ; the Avesta and Veda are not derived from one another, but from one and the same original, diversely altered in each, and, therefore, there are two stages of variation between them, whereas from the Avesta to tradi- tion there is only one. The Veda, if first interrogated, gives no valuable evidence, as the words and gods, common to the two systems, may not have retained in both the same meaning they had in the Indo-Iranian period : they may have preserved it in one and lost it in the other, or they may have both altered it, but each in a different way. The Veda, generally speaking, cannot help in discovering matters of fact in the Avesta, but only in explaining them when discovered by tradition. If we review the discoveries made by the masters of the comparative school, it will be seen that they have in reality started, without noticing it, from facts formerly established by tradition. In fact tradi- tion gives the materials, and comparison puts them in order. It is not possible, either to know the Avesta without the former, or to understand it without the latter.
The traditional school, and especially its indefatigable and well-deserving leader, Spiegel, made us acquainted with the nature of the old Iranian religion by gathering together all its materials; the comparative school tried to explain its growth. The traditional school published the text and the traditional translations, and produced the first Parsi grammar, the first Pahlavi grammar, and the first transla- tion of the Avesta which had been made since Anquetil. The danger with it is that it shows itself too apt to stop at tradition, instead of going from it to comparison. When it undertakes to expound the history of the religion, it cannot but be misled by tradition. Any living people, although its existing state of mind is but the result of various and changing states through many successive ages, yet, at any particular moment of its life, keeps the remains of its former stages of thought in order, under the control of the
INTRODUCTION, II.
XXIX
principle that is then predominant. Thus it happens that their ideas are connected together in a way which seldom agrees with their historical sequence : chronological order is lost to sight and replaced by logical order, and the past is read into the present. Comparison alone can enable us to put things in their proper place, to trace their birth, their growth, their changes, their former relations, and lead us from the logical order, which is a shadow, to the historical order, which is the substance.
The comparative school developed Indo-Iranian mytho- logy. Roth showed after Burnouf how the epical history of Iran was derived from the same source as the myths of Vedic India, and pointed out the primitive identity of Ahura Mazda, the supreme god of Iran, with Varu#a, the supreme god of the Vedic age. In the same direction Windischmann, in his ‘ Zoroastrian Essays * and in his studies on Mithra and An&hita, displayed singular sagacity. But the dangers of the method came to light in the works of Haug, who, giving a definite form to a system still fluctuating, converted Mazdeism into a religious revolu- tion against Vedic polytheism, found historical allusions to that schism both in the Avesta and in the Veda, pointed out curses against Zoroaster in the Vedas, and, in short, transformed, as it were, the two books into historical pamphlets \
In the contest about the authenticity of the Avesta, one party must necessarily have been right and the other wrong ; but in the present struggle the issue is not so clear, as both parties are partly right and partly wrong. Both of them, by following their principles, have rendered such services to science as seem to give each a right to cling to its own method more firmly than ever. Yet it is to be hoped that they will see at last that they must be allies, not enemies, and that their common work must be begun by the one and completed by the other.
1 It would be unjust, when speaking of Hang; not to recall the invaluable services he rendered in the second part of his career, as a Pahlavi scholar. He was the hist who thought of illustrating the Pahlavi in the books by the Pahlavi in the inscriptions, and thus determined the reading of the principal elements in the manuscript Pahlavi.
XXX
vend!dAd.
§ i. The Collection of Zend fragments, known as the Zend-Avesta \ is divided, in its usual form, into two parts.
The first part, or the Avesta properly so called, contains the Vendid&d, the VispGrad, and the Yasna. The^Ten- did&d is a compilation of religious laws and of mythical tales ; the Visp£rad is a collection of litanies for the sacri- fice ; and the Yasna is composed of litanies of the same kind and of five hymns ^or G&thas written in a special dialect, older than., the general language of the Avesta.
These three books are found in manuscripts in two dif- ferent forms : either each by itself, in which case they are generally accompanied by a Pahlavi translation; or the three mingled together according to the requirements of the liturgy, as they are ndt each recited separately in their entirety, but the chapters of the different books are inter- mingled 5 and in this case the collection is called the Vendiddd S&dah or 'Vendid&d pure,* as it exhibits the original text alone, without a translation.
The secon d_-part, generally known as the Khorda Avesta or ‘ Small Avesta,' 1 is composed of short prayers which are recited not only by the priests, but by all the faithful, at certain moments of the day, month, or year, and in presence of the different elements; these prayers are the five G&h, the thirty formulas of the Slrdzah, the three Afrigdn, and the six N y&yis. But it is also usual to include in the Khorda Avesta, although forming no real part of it, the Yaxts or hymns of praise and glorification to the several
1 A very improper designation, as Zend means * a commentary or explana- tion,’ and was applied only to explanatory texts, to the translations of the Avesta. Avesta (from the old Persian abastd, * the law ;* see Oppert, Journal Asiatique, 1873, Mars) is the proper name of the original texts. What it is customary to call 1 the Zend language * ought to be named 1 the Avesta lan- guage ; * the Zend being no language at all ; and, if the word be used as the designation of one, it can be rightly applied only to the Pahlavi. The ex- pression * Avesta and Zend* is often used in the Pahlavi commentary to designate * the law with its traditional and revealed explanation.*
INTRODUCTION, III.
XXXI
Izads, and ^ number of fragments, the most important of which is the Hadhdkht Nosk.
§ 2. That the extent of the sacred literature of Mazdeism was formerly much greater than it is now, appears not only from internal evidence, that is, from the fragmentary cha- racter of the book, but is also proved by historical evidence. In the first place, the Arab conquest proved fatal to the religious literature of the Sassanian ages, a great part of whicn was either destroyed by the fanaticism of the con- querors and the new converts, or lost during the long exodus of the Parsis. Thus the Pahlavi translation of the Vendidcid, which was not finished before the latter end of the Sassanian dynasty, contains not a few Zend quotations from books which are no longer in existence ; other quotations, as remarkable in their importance as in their contents, are to be found in Pahlavi and Parsi tracts, like the Niran- gistAn and the AogemaidA. The Bundahlr contains much matter which is not spoken of in the existing Avesta, but which is very likely to have been taken from Zend books which were still in the hands of its compiler. It is a tradi- tion with the Parsis, that the Yarts were originally thirty in number, there having been one for each of the thirty Izads who preside over the thirty days of the month ; yet there are only eighteen still extant.
The cause that preserved the Avesta is obvious ; taken as a whole, it does not profess to be a religious encyclo- pedia, but only a liturgical collection, and it bears more likeness_ta-aLJPrayer Book than to the Bible. It can be readily conceived that the Vendidcid SAdah, which had to be recited every day, would be more carefully preserved than the Yasts, which are generally recited once a month ; and these again more carefully than other books, which, however sacred they might be, were not used in the per- formance of worship. Many texts, no doubt, were lost in consequence of the Arab conquest, but mostly such as would have more importance. in. the-ayes of the theologian than in those of the priest. We have a fair specimen of what these lost textT may have been in the few non-liturgical frag- ments which we still possess, such as the VLrtAsp Yart and
XXX 11
vendJdAd.
the blessing of Zoroaster upon King VLrtisp, which belong to the old epic cycle of Iran, and the Hadhdkht Nosk, which treats of the fate of the soul after death.
§ 3. But if we have lost much of the Sassanian sacred literature, Sassanian Persia herself, if we may trust Parsi tradition, had lost still more of the original books. The primitive Avesta, as revealed by Ormazd to Zoroaster and by Zoroaster to VLrt&sp, king of Bactria, was supposed to have been composed of twenty-one Nosks or Books, the greater part of which was burnt by Iskander the RQmi (Alexander the Great). After his death the priests of the Zoroastrian religion met together, and by collecting the various fragments that had escaped the ravages of the war and others that they knew by heart, they formed the present collection, which is a very small part of the original book, as out of the twenty-one Nosks there was only one that was preserved in its entirety, the Vendidid l .
This tradition is very old, and may be traced back from the present period even to Sassanian times 2 . It involves the assumption that the Avesta is the remnant of the sacred literature of Persia under the last Achsemenian kings. To ascertain whether this inference is correct, and to what extent it may be so, we must first try to define, as accu- rately as we can, the exact time at which the collection, now in existence, was formed.
§ 4. The Rav&et quoted above states that it was formed ‘after the death of Iskander/ which expression is rather vague, and may as well mean * centuries after his death’ as c immediately after his death.’ It is, in fact, hardly to be doubted that the latter was really what the writer meant ; yet, as the date of that Raviet is very recent, we had better look for older and more precise traditions. We find such a one in the Dlnkar/, a Pahlavi book which enjoys great authority with the Parsis of our days, and which, although it contains many things of late origin 3 , also comprises many
1 Rav&et ap. Anquetil, M^moires de l’Acad. des Inscr. et Belles-Lettres XXXVIII, a 16; Spiegel, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenlandischen Gesell- sch&ft IX, 1 74.
* J. Dannesteter, La tegende d’ Alexandre chez les Parses.
* We find in it a description of the four classes, which strikingly reminds
INTRODUCTION, III.
xxxiii
old and valuable traditions. According to a proclamation, ascribed to Khosrav Andsharv&n (531-579), the collection of the Avesta fragments was begun in the reign of the last “N Arsacides, and was finished under Shapfir II (309-380). King Valkash (Vologeses), it is said, first ordered all the ( fragments of the Avesta which might have escaped the ravages of Iskander, or been preserved by oral tradition, to be searched for and collected together. The first Sassanian king, Ardeshtr B&bag&n, made the Avesta the sacred book of Iran, and Mazdeism the state religion : at last, Adarb&d Mahraspand, under Shapfir II, purified the Avesta and fixed the number of the Nasks, and Shapftr proclaimed to the heterodox 1 : ‘ Now that we have recognised the law pf the world here below, they shall not allow the infidelity of any one whatever 2 , as I shall strive that it may be so V § 5. The authenticity of this record has been called in question, chiefly, I think, on account of the part that it ascribes to an Arsacide prince, which seems hardly to agree with the ideas generally entertained about the character of the Sassanian revolution 4 . Most Parsi and Muhammedan writers agree that it was the Sassanian dynasty which raised the Zoroastrian religion from the state of humiliation into which the Greek invasion had made it sink, and, while it gave the signal for a revival of the old national spirit, made Mazdeism one of the corner stones of the new establish- ment 6 . Therefore it seems strange to hear that the first step taken to make Mazdeism a state religion was taken by one of those very Philhellenic Parthian princes, who were so fully imbued with Greek ideas and manners. Yet this is the
one of the Brahmanic&l account of the origin of the castes (Chap. XLII ; cf. the first pages of the Shikan Gamin!), and which was certainly borrowed from India; whether at the time of the last Sassanians, when Persia learnt so much from India, or since the settlement of the Parsis in India, we are unable to decide : yet the former seems more probable.
1 Gv&i rastakin. We are indebted to Mr. West for the right translation of this word.
3 Thus translated by West (Glossary of the Book of Ardi VSrfi& p. 27).
* Hang, Essay on Pahlavi, p. 145 seq., 149 seq.
4 Spiegel, Eranische Alterthumskunde III, 78s, n. 1.
8 S. de Sacy, M&noires sur quelques antiquity de la Perse. Cf. Masudi,
II, 125.
xxxiv
vendJdAd,
very reason why we ought to feel some hesitation in rejecting this document, and its being at variance with the general Parsi view speaks rather for its authenticity ; for as it was the general post-Sassanian tradition that the restoration of Mazdeism was the work of the first Sassanian kings, no Parsi would ever have thought of making them share what was in his eyes their first and best title of honour with any of the despised princes of the Parthian dynasty.
§ 6. It is difficult, of course, to prove directly the authen- ticity of this record, the more so as we do not even know who was the king alluded to. There were, in fact, four kings at least 1 who bore the name of Valkhash : the most celebrated and best known of the four was Vologeses I, the contemporary of Nero. Now that Zoroastrianism prevailed with him, or at least with members of his family, we see from the conduct of his brother Tiridates, who was a Ma- gian (Magus) 2 ; and by this term we must not understand a magician 3 , but a priest, and one of the Zoroastrian religion. That he was a priest appears from Tacitus’ testimony 4 ; that he was a Zoroastrian is shown by his scruples about the worship of the elements. When he came from Asia to Rome to receive the crown of Armenia at the hands of Nero, he wanted not to come by sea, but rode along the coasts 5 * * , because the Magi were forbidden to defile the sea 8 . This is quite in the spirit of later Zoroastrianism, and savours much of Mazdeism. That Vologeses himself shared the reli- gious scruples of his brother appears from his answer to Nero,
1 Perhaps five (see de Longplrier, M&noire sur la Numismatique des Arsa- cides, p. hi).
* 4 Magas ad eum Tiridates venerat ’ (Pliny, Nat. Hist. XXX, 6 ).
* Pliny very often confounds Magism and Magia, Magians and Magicians. We know from Pliny, too, that Tiridates refused to initiate Nero into his art: but the cause was not, as he assumes, that it was • a detestable, frivolous, and vain art,* but because Mazdean law forbids the holy knowledge to be revealed to laymen, much more to foreigners (Yast IV, io; cf. Philostrati Vita Soph. I, io).
4 ‘Nec recusaturum Tiridatem accipiendo diademati in urbem venire, nisi
sacerdotii religione attineretur * ( Ann. XV, 24 ).
* He crossed only the Hellespont.
f * Navigare noluerat, quoniam inspuere in maria, aliisque mortalium necessi-
tatibus violare naturam earn fas non putant * (Pliny, 1.1. Cf. Introd. V, 8 seq.)
INTRODUCTION, III.
XXXV
who insisted upon his coming to Rome also : 4 Come your- self, it is easier for you to cross such immensity of sea V § 7. Thus we hear on one hand from the Parsis that the first collection of the Avesta was made by an Arsacide named Vologeses ; and we hear, on the other hand, from a quite independent source, that an Arsacide named Volo- geses behaved himself as a follower of the Avesta might have done. In all this there is no evidence that it is Volo- geses I who is mentioned in the Dinkar/, much less that he was really the first editor of the Avesta ; but it shows at all events that the first attempt to recover the sacred literature of Iran might very well have been made by an Arsacide, and that we may trust, in this matter, to a docu- ment which has been written perhaps by a Sassanian king, but, at any rate, in a Sassanian spirit. In fact, in the struggle between Ardavan and Ardeshir, there was no religious interest at stake, but only a political one ; and we are expressly told by Hamza that between Ardeshir and his adversaries there was perfect accordance in religious matters 2 . It can, therefore, be fairly admitted that even in the time and at the court of the Philhellenic Parthians a Zoroastrian movement may have originated, and that there came a time when they perceived that a national religion is a part of national life. It was the merit of the Sassa- nides that they saw the drift of this idea which they had the good fortune to carry out ; and this would not be the only instance, in the history of the world, of an idea being sown by one party and its advantages reaped by their adversaries.
1 Dio Cassius, LXIII, 4. The answer was mistaken for an insult by Nero, and, as it seems, by Dio himself. In fact Vologeses remained to the last faithful to the memory of Nero (Suet. Nero, 57). What we know moreover of his personal character qualifies him for taking the initiative in a religious work. He seems to have been a man of contemplative mind rather than a man of action, which often excited the anger or scorn of his people against him ; and he had the glory of breaking with the family policy of Parthian kings (Tacitus, Annales, XV, I, 2). It was under his reign that the first interference of religion with politics, of which the history of Persia speaks, took place, as he was called by the people of Adiabene against their king Izates, who had become a Jew (Josephus, Antiq. XX, 4, 2).
* Haxnzae Ispahensis Annales, ed. Gottwaldt, p. 31 (in the translation).
C 2
XXXVI
vendIdAd.
§ 8. Another presumptive evidence of the groundwork of the Avesta being anterior to the age of the Sassanians is given by the language in which it is written. That lan- guage not only was not, but had never been, the national language of Persia. It is indeed closely connected with the ancient Persian, as found in the cuneiform inscriptions of the Achaemenian kings, from which modem Persian is derived ; but the relations between ancient Persian and Zend are of such a kind that neither language can be con- ceived as being derived from the other ; they are not one and the same language in two different stages of its deve- lopment, but two independent dialects in nearly the same stage, which is a proof that they did not belong to the same country, and, therefore, that Zend was not the lan- guage of Persia. Now the language used in Persia after the death of Alexander, under the Arsacides and Sassa- nides, that is, during the period in which the Avesta must have been edited, was Pahlavi, which is not derived from Zend, but from ancient Persian, being the middle dialect between ancient and modem Persian. Therefore, if the Sassanian kings had conceived the project of having reli- gious books of their own written and composed, it is not likely that they would have had them written in an old foreign dialect, but in the old national language, the more so, because, owing both to their origin and their policy, they were bound to be the representatives of the genuine old Persian tradition. Therefore, if they adopted Zencf as the language of religion, it must have been because it was already so when they appeared, that is to say, because the only remnants of sacred literature then extant were written in Zend, and the editors of the Avesta had Zend writings before them.
This does not, of course, prove that all we find in the Avesta is pre-Sassanian, and that the editors did not com- pose new Zend texts. Although Zend was not only a dead language, but also a foreign one, it was not an unknown language: that it was well understood by the learned class, the priests, appears from the Pahlavi trans- lation, which was made by them, and which, the deeper
INTRODUCTION, III.
XXXVU
one enters into the meaning of the text, has the fuller justice done to its merits. The earliest date that can be ascribed to that translation, in its present form, is the last century of the Sassanian dynasty, as it contains an allusion to the death of the heresiarch Mazdak, the son of B&md&d *, who was put to death in the beginning of the reign of Khosrav Andsharvdn (about 531). Now the ability to translate a dead language is a good test of the ability to write in it, and in the question of the age of the Zend texts the possibility of new ones having been composed by the editors cannot be excluded k priori. Nay, we shall see further on that there are passages in these texts which look very modem, and may have been written at the time when the book took its last and definitive form. But whatever may be the proportion of the new texts to the old ones (which I believe to be very small), it is quite certain that the bulk of the Avesta is pre-Sassanian.
§ 9. The date assigned by the Dinkar/ to the final edition of the Avesta and to its promulgation as the sacred law of the nation, agrees with what we know of the reli- gious state of Iran in the times of Shapfir II. Mazdeism had just been threatened with destruction by a new religion sprung from itself, the religion of M&ni, which for a while numbered a king amongst its followers (Shapfir I, 240- 270). Mazdeism was shaken for a long time, and when M&nl was put to death, his work did not perish with him. In the Kissah-i San^ih, Zoroaster is introduced prophe- sying that the holy religion will be overthrown three times and restored three times; overthrown the first time by Iskander, it will be restored by Ardeshtr ; overthrown again, it will be restored by Shapfir II and Adarb&d Mah- raspand ; and, lastly, it will be overthrown by the Arabs and restored at the end of time by Soshyos. The Parsi traditions about Adarbld, although they are mixed with much fable, allow some historical truth to show itself. He was a holy man under Shapfir II, who, as there were many religions and heresies in Iran and the true religion
1 Vide infra, p. xli, note 3.
xxxviii
VENDtDAD.
was falling into oblivion, restored it through a miracle, as he gave a sign of its truth by allowing melted brass to be poured on his breast, without his being injured. Setting aside the miracle, which is most probably borrowed from the legend of Zoroaster, this account receives its true inter- pretation from the passages in the Kissah-i San£&h and the Dlnkar/, which imply that Adarb&d restored Mazdeism, which had been shaken by the Manichean heresy, and that in order to settle it upon a solid and lasting base, he gave a definitive form to the religious book of Iran and closed the Holy Writ. And even nowadays the Parsi, while reciting the Patet, acknowledges Adarb&d as the third founder of the Avesta ; the first being Zoroaster, who re- ceived it from Ormazd ; the second C&m&sp, who received it from Zoroaster ; and the third Adarb&d, who taught it and restored it to its purity.
Therefore, so far as we can trust to inferences that rest upon such scanty and vague testimonies, it seems likely that the Avesta took its definitive form from the hands of Adarbdd Mahraspand, under King Shapfir II, in conse- quence of the dangers with which Mini’s heresy had threatened the national religion. As the death of MAni and the first persecution of his followers took place some thirty years before Shapfir’s accession to the throne, it may be presumed that the last revision of the Avesta was made in the first years of the new reign, when the agitation aroused by M&nt’s doctrines and imperfectly allayed by the persecution of his disciples had not yet subsided, and the old religion was still shaking on its base \
§ io. It follows hence that Zend texts may have been composed even as late as the fourth century A. D. This is, of course, a mere theoretical possibility, for although the liturgical parts of the Yasna, theVisp£rad, the Slrdzah, and
1 Shapftr II ascended the throne about 309 (before being bom, as the tradi- tion goes) : and as he appears from the Dinkar/ to have taken a personal part in the work of Adarbad, the promulgation of the Avesta can hardly have taken place at an earlier date than 335-330. Adarb&d and the Fathers at Nicaea lived and worked in the same age, and the Zoroastrian threats of the king of Iran and the Catholic anathemas of the Kaisar of Rdm may have been issued on the same day.
INTRODUCTION, III.
XXXIX
the Khorda Avesta must be ascribed to a later time than the Githas, the Vendid&d, and the Yarts, and may belong to some period of revision, they certainly do not belong to the period of this last revision. Adarbid was only the last editor of the Avesta, and it is likely, nay, it is beyond all question, that the doctors of the law, before his time, had tried to put the fragments in order, to connect them, and to fill up the gaps as far as the practical purposes of liturgy required it. Therefore instead of saying that there are parts of the Avesta that may belong to so late a period as the fourth century, it is more correct to say that no part of it can belong to a later date.
There are two passages in the Vendid&d which seem to contain internal evidence of their date, and in both cases it points to Sassanian times, nay, the second of them points to the age of Manicheism. The first is found in the eighteenth Fargard (§ io) : Ahura Mazda, while cursing those who teach a wrong law, exclaims :
1 And he who would set that man at liberty, when bound in prison, does no better deed than if he should flay a man alive and cut off his head/
This anathema indicates a time when Mazdeism was a state religion and had to fight against heresy; it must, therefore, belong to Sassanian times. These lines are fully illustrated by a Parsi book of the same period 1 , the Mainyd-i-Khard :
f Good government is that which maintains and orders the true law and custom of the city people and poor un- troubled, and thrusts out improper law and custom ; . . . and keeps in progress the worship of God, and duties, and good works; . . . and will resign the body, and that also which [is] its own life, for the sake of the good religion of the Mazdayasnians. And if [there] be any one who shall stay [away] from the way of God, then it orders him to return thereto, and makes him a prisoner, and brings [him] back to the way of God ; and will bestow, from the wealth that is his, the share of God, and the worthy, and good works,
1 See the book of the Mainyd-i-Khard, ed. West ; Introduction, p. x seq.
xl
vendIdAd.
and the poor ; and will deliver up the body on account of the soul. A good king who [is] of that sort, is called like the Yazads and the AmeshAspends V
What doctrines are alluded to by the VendidAd is not explained : it appears from the context that it had in view such sects as released the faithful from the yoke of religious practices, as it anathematizes, at the same time, those who have continued for three years without wearing the sacred girdle. We know too little of the Manichean liturgy to guess if the Manicheans are here alluded to: that MAni should have rejected many Zoroastrian practices is not unlikely, as his aim was to found a universal religion. While he pushed to extremes several of the Zoroastrian tenets, espe- cially those which had taken, or might receive, a moral or metaphysical meaning, he must have been very regardless of practices which could not be ennobled into moral sym- bolism. However it may be with regard to the foregoing passage, it is difficult not to see a direct allusion to Manicheism in lines like the following. (IV, 47 seq.):
‘Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathartra! the - man who has a wife is far above him who begets no sons ; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none ; he who has children is far above the childless man ; he who has riches is far above him who has none.
4 And of two men, he who fills himself with meat is filled with the good spirit much more than he who does not so ; the latter is all but dead ; the former is above him by the worth of an Asperena, by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man.
4 It is this man that can strive against the onsets of Ast6- vldhdtu ; that can strive against the self-moving arrow ; that can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest gar- ment on ; that can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head; it is this man that can strive against the ungodly Ashemaogha 1 2 who does not eat V
1 Chap. XV, 16 seq. as translated by West.
* Ashemaogha, ‘the confounder of Asha* (see IV, 37), is the name of the fiends and of the heretics. The Parsis distinguish two sorts of Ashemao- ghas, the deceiver and the deceived; the deceiver, while alive, is mar-
INTRODUCTION, III.
xli
That this is a bit of religious polemics, and that it refers to definite doctrines and tenets which were held at the time when it was written, can hardly be doubted. It may remind one of the Christian doctrines ; and, in fact, it was nearly in the same tone, and with the same expressions, that in the fifth century King Yazdgard branded the Chris- tians in Armenia 4 . But however eager the Christian pro- paganda may have been for a time in Persia, they never endangered the state religion. The real enemy was the heresy sprung from Mazdeism itself; and Christianity, coming from abroad, was more of a political than a reli- gious foe. And, in point of fact, the description in the above passage agrees better with the Manichean doctrines than with the Christian 8 . Like M&nt, Christian teachers held the single life holier than the state of matrimony, yet they had not forbidden marriage, which M&nt did ; they put poor Lazarus above Dives, but they never forbade trade and husbandry, which McLni did ; and, lastly, they never prohibited the eating of flesh, which was one of the chief precepts of Mini 8 . We find, therefore, in this passage, an illustration, from the Avesta itself, of the celebrated doc- trine of the three seals with which McLni had sealed the bosom, the hand, and the mouth of his disciples (signa- culum sinus, manus, oris) 8 .
garzin, ' worthy of death/ and after death is a darvand (a fiend, or one of the damned) ; the deceived one is only margarzin.
8 The Pahlavi translation illustrates the words ' who does not eat * by the gloss, 'like Mazdak, son of Bimdid,’ which proves that this part of the com- mentary is posterior to, or contemporary with the crushing of the Mazdakian sect (in the first years of Khosrav Andsharvin, about 531). The words 'against the wicked tyrant' are explained by the gloss, 'like Zarv&nd&d ; ’ may it not be Kob&d, the heretic king, or 'Yazdgard the sinner,* the scomer of the Magi?
4 Elisaeus, pp. 29, 52, in the French translation by Garabed. .
8 At least with orthodox Christianity, which seems to have alone prevailed in Persia till the arrival of the Nestorians. The description would apply very well to certain gnostic sects, especially that of Cerdo and Marcio, which is no wonder, as it was through that channel that Christianity became known to Mint. Masudi makes Mint a disciple of Kardfin (ed. B. de Meynard, II, 167), and the care which his biographer (ap. Fliigel, Mint, pp. 51, 85) takes to determine the length of time which intervened between Marcio and Mint seems to betray some dim recollection of an historical connection between the two doctrines.
8 The patriarch of Alexandria, Timotheus, allowed the other patriarchs,
xlii
VENDfDAD.
§ ii. We must now go a step farther back, and try to solve the question whence came the original texts out of which the editors of the Avesta formed their collection. Setting aside the Dinkar/, we have no oriental document to help us in tracing them through the age of the Arsa- cides, a complete historical desert, and we are driven for information to the classical writers who are, on this point, neither very clear nor always credible. The mention of books ascribed to Zoroaster occurs not seldom during that period, but very often it applies to Alexandrian and Gnostic apocrypha 1 . Yet there are a few passages which make it pretty certain that there was a Mazdean literature in existence in those times. Pausanias, travelling through Lydia in the second century of our era, saw and heard Magian priests singing hymns from a book*; whether these hymns were the same as the GAthas, still extant, we cannot ascertain, but this shows that there were GAthas. The existence of a Zoroastrian literature might be traced back as far as the third century before Christ, if Pliny could be credited when he says that Hermippus 3 had given an analysis of the books of Zoroaster, which are said to have amounted to a, 000,000 lines 4 . For want of external evi- dence for ascertaining whether the original texts were already in existence in the later years of the Achaemenian dynasty, we must seek for internal evidence. A comparison between the ideas expressed in our texts and what we know of the ideas of Achaemenian Persia may perhaps lead to safer inferences.
§ 12. That all the Avesta ideas were already fully developed in the time, or, at least, at the end of the
bishops, and monks to eat meat on Sundays, in order to recognise those who belonged to the Manichean sect (Fliigel, Mint, p. 279).
1 * Those who follow the heresy of Prodicus boast of possessing secret books of Zoroaster,’ Clemens Alex. Stromata I. Cf. the dvoKa\vff/tit Zct ipo&arpov foiled by Adelphius or Aquilinus (ap. Porphyr. Vita Plotini, § 16).
* ’Erqfai 82 Ii n\ty6fitvos Ik f3t&?dov(V , 27, 3).
* See Windischmann, Zoroastrische Studien, 288.
4 'Hermippus, qui de tota arte ea (magia) diligentissime scripsit et viciens centiens milia versuum a Zoroastre condita indicibus quoque voluminum ejus positis explanavit.' . . . (Hist. Nat. XXX, 1, 2). He had written a book wt pi P&ycw (Diog. Laert. Prooem. 8),
INTRODUCTION, III.
xliii
Achaemenian dynasty, appears from the perfect accord- ance of the account of Mazdeism in Theopompos 1 with the data of the Zend books. All the main features of Mazdean belief, namely, the existence of two principles, a good and an evil one, Ormazd and Ahriman, the antithetical crea- tions of the two supreme powers, the division of all the beings in nature into two corresponding classes, the limited duration of the world, the end of the struggle between Ormazd and Ahriman by the defeat and destruction of the evil principle, the resurrection of the dead, and the ever- lasting life, all these tenets of the Avesta had already been established at the time of Philip and Aristotle. Therefore we must admit that the religious literature then in existence, if there were any, must have differed but little, so far as its contents were concerned, from the Avesta ; its extent was greater of course, and we have a proof of this in this very account of Theopompos, which gives us details nowhere to be found in the present texts, and yet the authenticity of which is made quite certain by comparative mythology 2 . Therefore there is nothing that forbids us to believe, with the Parsis, that the fragments of which the Avesta is com- posed were already in existence before the Greek invasion 3 .
§ 13. But it does not follow hence that the Achaemenian Avesta was the sacred book of the Achaemenians and of Persia, and it must not be forgotten that the account in Plutarch is not about the religion of Persia, but about the belief of the Magi and the lore of Zoroaster. Now if we consider that the two characteristic features of Avestean Magism are, so far as belief goes, the admission of two principles, and so far as practice is concerned, the prohibi- tion of burying the dead, we find that there is no evidence
1 In Plutarch, De Iside et Osiride, §§46-47.
* Men, when raised from the dead, shall have no shadow any longer tntukv ToioOmi). In India, gods have no shadows (Nalus); in Persia, Ra- shidaddtn was recognised to be a god from his producing no shadow (Guyard, Un grand maltre des Assassins, Journal Asiatique, 1877, I, 392); the plant of eternal life, Haoma, has no shadow (Henry Lord).
* Persian tradition cannot be much relied on, when it tries to go back beyond Alexander, and on that special point it seems to be more an inference of later ages, than a real tradition; but the inference happens to be right.
xliv
VENDED.
that Achaemenian Persia admitted the former, and there is evidence that she did not admit the latter. But, at the same time, it appears that both the belief and the practice were already in existence, though peculiar to one class, the sacerdotal class, the Magi.
The question whether the Achaemenian kings believed in dualism and knew of Ahriman, is not yet settled. Much stress has often been laid on the absence of the name of Ahriman in the religious formulae engraved by Darius and Xerxes on the rocks at Persepolis and Naq-r-i Rustam 1 . But it is never safe to draw wide conclusions from negative facts : Darius and Xerxes speak of Aur&mazda quite in the style of the Avesta, and their not speaking of Ahriman is no sufficient proof of their not knowing him ; they did not intend to publish a complete creed, nor had they to inscribe articles of faith.
The account of the Persian religion in Herodotus also leaves, or seems to leave, Ahriman unnoticed. But it must be borne in mind that he does not expound the religious conceptions of the Persians, but only their religious cus- toms ; he describes their worship more than their dogmas, and not a single tenet is mentioned. He seems even not to know anything of Ormazd, who was, however, most certainly the supreme god of Persia in his days ; yet, in fact, he clearly alludes to Ormazd, when he states that the Persians worship Zeus on the summits of mountains, and call by the name of Zeus the whole circle of the heavens, which exactly agrees with the character of Ormazd 2 . In the same way the existence of Ahriman is indirectly pointed to by the duty enforced upon the faithful to perse- cute and kill noxious animals, as it was only on account of
1 Professor Oppert thinks he has found in Darius* inscriptions an express mention of Ahriman (Le peuple et le langue des M&des, p. 199); yet the philological interpretation of the passage seems to me still too obscure to allow of any decisire opinion. Plutarch introduces Artaxerxes I speaking of ’Apct/Mforcot, but whether the king is made to speak the language of his own time, or that of Plutarch*s time, is led doubtful. As to the allusions in Isaiah (xlv), they do not necessarily refer to dualism in particular, but to all religions not monotheistic. (Cf. Ormazd et Ahriman, § 241.)
* Vide infra, IV, 5.
INTRODUCTION, III.
xlv
their being creatures of the evil principle and incarnations of it, that this custom was enjoined as a religious duty \ It appears, it is true, from the words of Herodotus, that it was only a custom peculiar to the Magi 1 2 ; but it shows, at least, that the belief in Ahriman was already then in existence, and that dualism was constituted, at least, as a Magian article of faith.
If we pass now from dogma to practice, we find that the most important practice of the Avesta law was either dis- regarded by the Achaemenian kings, or unknown to them. According to the Avesta burying corpses in the earth is one of the most heinous sins that can be committed 3 ; we know that under the Sassanians a prime minister, Seoses, paid with his life for an infraction of that law 4 * . Corpses were to be laid down on the summits of mountains, there to be devoured by birds and dogs; the exposure of corpses was the most striking practice of Mazdean profession, and its adoption was the sign of conversion *. Now under the Achaemenian rule, not only the burial of the dead was not forbidden, but it was the general practice. Persians, says Herodotus, bury their dead in the earth, after having coated them with wax 6 . But Herodotus, immediately after stating that the Persians inter their dead, adds that the Magi do not follow the general practice, but lay the corpses down on the ground, to be devoured by birds. So what became a law for all people, whether laymen or priests, under the rule of the Sassanians, was only the custom of the Magi, under the Achaemenians.
The obvious conclusion is that the ideas and customs which are found in the Avesta were already in existence under the Achaemenian kings ; but that taken as a whole, they were not the general ideas and customs of the whole of Persia, but only of the sacerdotal caste 7 . There were
1 Vide infra, IV, 35 ; cf. Fargard XIII, 5 seq. ; XIV, 5.
* Herod. I, 140. * Vide infra, V, 9.
4 Procopius, De Bello Persico, 1 , 11.
• Ibid. 1, 1 a. • Herod. 1 , 140.
T There are other features of the Avesta religion which appear to have
been foreign to Persia, but are attributed to the Magi. The AvaStvddatha,
the holiness of marriage between next of kin, even to incest, was unknown to
xlvi
VENDiDAD.
therefore, practically, two religions in Iran, the one for laymen and the other for priests. The Avesta was ori- ginally the sacred book only of the Magi, and the progress of the religious evolution was to extend to laymen what was the custom of the priests.
§ 14. We are now able to understand how it was that the sacred book of Persia was written in a non-Persian dialect : it had been written in the language of its composers, the I Magi, who were not Persians. Between the priests and the / people there was not only a difference of calling, but also a difference of race, as the sacerdotal caste came from a non-Persian province. What that province was we know both from Greek historians and from Parsi traditions.
All classical writers, from Herodotus down to Ammianus, agree in pointing to Media as the seat and native place of the Magi. ‘ In Media,’ says Marcellinus (XXIII, 6), ‘ are the fertile fields of the Magi . . . (having been taught in the magic science by King Hystaspes) they handed it down to their posterity, and thus from Hystaspes to the present age an immense family was developed, hereditarily devoted to the worship of the gods. … In former times their number was very scanty . . . , but they grew up by and by into the number and name of a nation, and inhabiting towns without walls they were allowed to live according to their own laws, protected by religious awe.* Putting aside the legendary ac- count of their origin, one sees from this passage that in the time of Marcellinus 1 (fourth cent, a.d.) there was in Media a tribe, called Magi, which had the hereditary privilege of pro- viding Iran with priests. Strabo, writing three centuries before Marcellinus, considered the Magi as a sacerdotal tribe spread over the land 8 . Lastly, we see in Herodotus (III, 65) that the usurpation of the Magian Smerdis was interpreted
Persia under Cambyses (Herod. Ill, 31), but it is highly praised in the Avesta, and was practised under the Sassanians (Agathias II, 31); in the times before the Sassanians it is mentioned only as a law of the Magi (Diog. Laert. Prooem. 6 ; Catullus, Carm. XC).
1 Or of the historians from whom he copies. Still he seems to speak from contemporary evidence. Sozomenus (Hist. Eccles. II, 9) states that the care of worship belonged hereditarily to the Magi * as to a sacerdotal race,’ cBovtp n fpvkoy UparutSv.
9 Tb rwv Vbkywv ipvkor (XV, 14),
INTRODUCTION, III.
xlvii
by Cambyses as an attempt of the Medes to recover the hegemony they had lost, and when we learn from Herodotus (I, ioi) that the Medes were divided into several tribes, Busae, Paraetakeni, Strouchates, Arizanti, Budii, and Magi, without his making any remark on the last name, we can hardly have any doubt that the priests known as Magi belonged to the tribe of the Magi, that they were named after their origin, and that the account of Marcellinus may be correct even for so early a period as that of Herodotus.
§ 15. Parsi traditions agree with Greek testimonies.
That the priesthood was hereditary, we see from the state- ment in the Bundahtr, that all the Maubeds are descend- ants from King Minochihr 1 , and even nowadays the priest- hood cannot extend beyond the priestly families ; the son of a Dastur is not obliged to be a Dastur, but no one that is not the son of a Dastur can become one 2 * .
That they came from Media, we see from the traditions about the native place of Zoroaster, their chief and the founder of their religion. Although epic legends place the cradle of Mazdean power in Bactria, at the court of King Vtrtdsp, Bactria was only the first conquest of Zoroaster, it was neither his native place, nor the cradle of his religion. Although there are two different traditions on this point, both agree in pointing to Media ; according to the one he was bom in Rai, that is in Media, properly so called ; according to the other he was born in Shiz, that is in Media Atropatene.
The former tradition seems to be the older ; it is ex- pressed directly in the Pahlavi Commentary to Vendid&d I, 16 8 ; and there is in the Avesta itself (Yasna XIX, 18 (50)) a passage that either alludes to it or shows how it originated.
1 How many masters are there ? ’
1 Bundahi* 79, 13.
* Dosabhoy Framjee, The Parsees, &c. p. 377.
9 'Ragha of the three races/ that is to say, Atropatene (vide infra); some
say it is * Rai.' It is * of the three races ’ because the three classes, priests,
warriors, husbandmen, 4 * * * were well organized there. Some say that Zartxut
was bom there …» those three classes were bora from him/ Cf. Bundahis
79, 13, and Faig. II, 43, n. 3. Rai is the Greek 'Fcryaf.
xlviii
VENdIdAd.
‘ There are the master of the house, the lord of the borough, the lord of the town, the lord of the province, and the Zarathurtra (the high-priest) as the fifth. So is it in all lands, except in the Zarathurtrian realm ; for there are there only four masters, in Ragha, the Zarathurtrian city V
‘Who are they?’
‘They are the master of the house, the lord of the borough, the lord of the town, and Zarathurtra is the fourth V
This amounts to saying that the high-priest, the Mau- bed&n Maubed, held in Rai the position of the daAz/yuma, or lord of the land, and was the chief magistrate. It may be suspected that this was the independent sacerdotal state which is spoken of in Marcellinus, and this suspicion is raised to a certain degree of probability by the following lines in Yaqfit :
‘ Usttin&wand, a celebrated fortress in the district of Dan- bawand, in the province of Rai. It is very old, and was strongly fortified. It is said to have been in existence for more than 3000 years, and to have been the stronghold of the Masmogh&n of the land during the times of paganism. This word, which designates the high-priest of the Zoroas- trian religion, is composed of mas, “ great,” and mogh&n, which means “magian.” Khaled besieged it, and destroyed the power of the last of them V
According to another tradition Zarathurtra was born in Atropatene. The very same commentary which describes Ragha as being identical with Rai, and the native place of Zarturt, also informs us that Ragha was thought by others
1 Or possibly, 4 in the Zarathurtrian Ragha.'
The Commentary has here : * that is to say, he was the fourth master in his own land.'
Their spreading and wandering over Mazdean lands appears from Yasna ’ ® (XLI, 34) : • We bless the coming of the Athravans, who come from afcr to bring holiness to countries c£ infra, p. lii, note i, and Farg. XIII, aa. Dictionnaire gdographique de la Perse, traduit par Barbier de Meynard, t « Sp,ege1 ’ Eranische Alterthumskunde III, 565. A dim recollection rpJT‘ dynasty !eems to snrT * ve m the account ap. Diog. Laert.
£™*m. 1) that Zoroaster was followed by a long series of Magi, Osthanae
Ate^T* 1 ’ “ ^ destruction of the Persian empire by
INTRODUCTION, III.
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to be Atropatene. Traditions, of which unfortunately we have only late records, make him a native of Shiz, the capital of Atropatene 1 : ‘ In Shiz is the fire temple of Azerekhsh, the most celebrated of the Pyraea of the Magi ; in the days of the fire worship, the kings always came on foot, upon pilgrimage. The temple of Azerekhsh is ascribed to Zeratusht, the founder of the Magian religion, who went, it is said, from Shiz to the mountain of Sebil&n, and, after remaining there some time in retirement, returned with the Zend-Avesta, which, although written in the old Persian language, could not be understood without a commentary. After this he declared himself to be a prophet V
Now we read in the BundahLr that Zartujt founded his religion by offering a sacrifice in Ir^nV^(AiryanemVae^6) 3 . Although this detail referred originally to the mythical cha- racter of Zoroaster, and Ir£n Vtg was primitively no real country, yet as it was afterwards identified with the basin of the Aras (Vanguhi D&itya) 4 , this identification is a proof that the cradle of the new religion was looked for on the banks of the Aras. In the Avesta itself we read that Zoro- aster was born and received the law from Ormazd on a mountain, by the river Dare^a 6 , a name which strikingly reminds one of the modern Darah river, which falls from the Seblkin mount into the Aras.
To decide which of the two places, Rai or Atropatene, had the better claim to be called the native place of Zoro- aster is of course impossible. The conflict of the two traditions must be interpreted as an indication that both places were important seats of the Magian worship. That both traditions may rely on the Avesta is perhaps a sign that the Avesta contains two series of documents, the one emanating from the Magi of Ragha, and the other from the
1 The Persian Gazn, the Byzantine Gaza, Ganzaka, the site of which was identified by Sir Henry Rawlinson with Takht i Suleiman (Memoir on the Site of the Atropatenian Ecbatana, in the Journal of the Royal Geographical Society,
X, 65).
* Kazwini, apud Rawlinson 1 . c. p. 69.
* Bund. 79, 12.
5 See Farg. XIX, 4, 11.
4 See Farg. I, p. 3.
w
d
1
vendIdAd.
Magi of Atropatene 1 . Which of the two places had the older claim is also a question hardly to be settled in the present state of our knowledge 2 .’
Whether Magism came from Ragha to Atropatene, or from Atropatene to Ragha, in either case it had its origin in Media 3 . That Persia should have submitted in religious matters to a foreign tribe will surprise no one who thinks of the influence of the Etruscan augurs in Rome. The Magi might be hated as Medes, but they were respected and feared as priests. When political revolutions gave vent to national hate, the Persian might willingly indulge it, and revel in the blood of the foreign priest 4 ; yet whenever he had to invoke the favour of the gods, he was obliged to acknowledge that he could not do without the detested tribe, and that they alone knew how to make themselves heard by heaven 6 . When and how the religious hegemony of Media arose we cannot say : it is but natural that Media 6 ,
1 This would be a principle of classification which unfortunately applies only to a small part of the Avesta.
• Still, if we follow the direction of the Zoroastrian legend, Magism must have spread from west to east, from Atropatene to Ragha, from Ragha to Bactria ; and Atropatene must thus have been the first cradle of Mazdeism. Its very name points to its sacred character ; oriental writers, starting from the modem form of the name, Adarbtgfin, interpret it as 'the seed of fire,’ with an allusion to the numerous fire springs to be found there. Modem scholars have generally followed the historical etymology given by Strabo, who states that, after the death of Alexander, the satrap Atropates made himself an independent sovereign in his satrapy, which was named after him Atropatene. This looks like a Greek etymology (scarcely more to be trusted than the etymology of ‘Payaf, from, ftyrvm), and it is hardly to be believed that the land should have lost its former name to take a new one from its king; it was not a new-fangled geographical division, like Lotharingia, and had lived a life of its own for a long time before. Its name Atarpatak&n seems to mean ' the land of the descent of fire/ as it was there that fire came down from heaven (cf. Ammianus 1 . c.)
9 The Pahlavi names of the cardinal points show that Media was the centre of orientation in Magian geography (Garrez, Journal Asiatique, 1869, II).
4 Magophonia (Herod. Ill, 79).
• *n« avrovt fwvout dxovofiivovt (Diog. Laert. Prooem.); cf. Herod. I, 13a ; Ammian. 1 . 1 .
• An echo of the old political history of Media seems to linger in Yast V, 39, which shows Azi Dah&ka reigning in Babylon (Bawru); as Azi, in his legendary character, represents the foreign invader, this passage can hardly be anything but a far remote echo of the struggles between Media and the Mesopotamian empires. The legend of Azi is localised only in Medic
INTRODUCTION, III.
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having risen sooner to a high degree of civilisation, should have given to religion and worship a more systematic and elaborate form, and in religion, as in politics, the best organ- ised power must sooner or later get the upper hand. It is likely that it began with the conquest of Media by Cyrus : Media capta ferum victorem cepit. . . . Cyrus is said to have introduced the Magian priesthood into Persia (Xenophon, Cyrop. VIII, i, 23), which agrees with the legend mentioned by Nikolaus that it was on the occasion of the miraculous escape of Croesus that the Persians remembered the old koyia of Zoroaster forbidding the dead to be burnt.
The Medic origin of the Magi accounts for a fact which perplexes at first sight, namely, the absence of the name of the Magi from the book written by themselves 1 ; which is natural enough if the word Magu was not the name of the priest as a priest, but as a member of the tribe of the Magi. The proper word for a priest in the Avesta is Athravan, literally, ‘ fire-man, 5 and that this was his name with the Persians too appears from the statement in Strabo (XV, 733) that the Magi are also called FI vpaiOot, It is easy to con- ceive that the Persians, especially in ordinary parlance, would rather designate their priests after their origin than after their functions 2 ; but the Magi themselves had no reason to follow the Persian custom, which was not always free from an implication of spite or scorn. The only passage into which the word found its way is just one that betrays the existence of this feeling : the enemy of the priests is
lands : he addresses his prayers to Ahriman by the banks of the Sipft rflt (Bundahis 52, 11), his adversary FertdAn is bom in Ghilan, he is bound to Mount Dam&vand (near Rai).
1 In their own language, the Zend ; of which the modem representatives, if there be any left, should therefore be looked for in Atropatene or on the banks of the Caspian sea. The research is complicated by the growing intrusion of Persian words into the modem dialects, but as far as I can see from a very inadequate study of the matter, the dialect which exhibits most Zend features is the Talis dialect, on the southern bank of the Aras.
* The Pahlavi has 'one who hates the Magu-men.’ In the passage LIII (LII), 7, mag<fns is not a Magian, and it is translated by mag!, 'holiness, godliness,' related to the Vedic magha. Afterwards the two words were con- founded, whence came the Greek statement that n&yot means at the same time 'a priest * and ' a god * (Apollon. Tyan. Ep. XVII).
d 2
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VENDfDAD.
not called, as would be expected, an Athrava-/bij, ‘ a hater of the Athravans ’ (cf. the Indian Brahma-dvish), but a Moghu-Zbij, 'a hater of the Magi 1 .* The name, it is true, became current in Pahlavi and modern Persian, but it was at a time when the old national quarrels between Media and Persia were quenched, and the word could no longer carry any offensive idea with it.
§ 16. The results of the foregoing research may be summed up as follows : —
The original texts of the Avesta were not written by Persians, as they are in a language which was not used in Persia, they prescribe certain customs which were unknown to Persia, and proscribe others which were current in Persia. They were written in Media, by the priests of Ragha and Atropatene, in the language of Media, and they exhibit the ideas of the sacerdotal class under the Achaemenian dynasty.
It does not necessarily follow from this, that the original fragments were already written at the time of Herodotus 2 .
1 A further echo of the anti-Magian feelings may be heard in Yasna IX, 24 ( 75 ) '• * Haoma overthrew Keresani, who rose up to seize royalty, and he said, “No longer shall henceforth the Athravans go through the lands and teach at thefr will.’* * This is a curious instance of how easily legendary history may turn myths to its advantage. The struggle of Haoma against Keresani is an old Indo-European myth, Keres&ni being the same as the Vedic Krisanu, who wants to keep away Soma from the hands of men. His name becomes in the Avesta the name of an anti-Magian king [it may be Darius, the usurper (?)], and ten centuries later it was turned into an appellation of the Christian Kaisars of Rfim (Kalasy&k = *4*#Xi7<rta[tf<$*] ; Tarsaka).
8 If the interpretation of the end of the Behistun inscription (preserved only in the Scythian version^ as given by Professor Oppert be correct, Darius must have made a collection of religious texts known as Avesta, whence it would follow, with great probability, that the present Avesta proceeded from Darius. The translation of the celebrated scholar is as follows: *J’ai fait une collection de. textes (dippimas) ailleurs cn langue arienne qui autrefois n'existait pas. Et j ai fait un texte de la Lei (de 1 * Avesta ; Haduk ukku) et un commentaire de la Loi, et la Benediction (la priere, le Zend) et les Traductions/ (Le peuple et la langue des Modes, pp. 155, 186.) The authority of Oppert is so great, and at the same time the passage is so obscure, that I hardly know if there be more temerity in rejecting his interpretation or in adopting it. Yet I beg to observe that the word dippimas is the usual Scythian transliteration of the Persian dipi, ‘ an inscription,’ and there is no apparent reason for departing from that meaning in this passage ; if the word translated * la Loi,’ ukku, really represents Here a Persian word Abaata, it need not denote the Avesta, the religious book,
INTRODUCTION, III.
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X
But as the Magi of that time sang songs of their gods during sacrifice, it is very likely that there was already a sacred literature in existence. The very fact that no sacri- fice could be performed without the assistance of the Magi makes it highly probable that they were in possession of rites, prayers, and hymns very well composed and arranged, and not unlike those of the Brahmans ; their authority can only be accounted for by the power of a strongly defined ritual and liturgy. There must, therefore, have been a collection of formulae and hymns, and it is quite possible that Herodotus may have heard the Magi sing, in the fifth century B. c., the very same G&thas which are sung nowa- days by the Mobeds in Bombay. A part of the Avesta, the liturgical part, would therefore have been* in fact, a sacred book for the Persians. It had not been written by them, but it was sung for their benefit. That Zend hymns should have been sung before a Persian-speaking people is not stranger than Latin words being sung by Frenchmen, Germans, and Italians ; the only difference being that, owing to the close affinity of Zend to Persian, the Persians may have been able to understand the prayers of their priests.
§ 17. It may, therefore, be fairly admitted that, on the whole, the present texts are derived from texts already existing under the Achaemenian kings. Some parts of the collection are undoubtedly older than others ; thus, the G&thas are certainly older than the rest of the Avesta, as they are often quoted and praised in the Yasna and the Vendid&d ; but it is scarcely possibly to go farther than a logical chronology. One might feel inclined, at first sight, to assign to a very recent date, perhaps to the last revision of the Avesta, those long enumerations of gods so symmetrically elaborated in the Yasna, Vispdrad, and Vendid&d, But the account of Mazdeism given by Plutarch shows that the
as in that case the word would most certainly not have been translated in. the Scythian version, but only transliterated ; the ideogram for * Benediction, prifere,' may refer to religious inscriptions like Persepolis I ; the import of the whole passage would therefore be that Darius caused other inscriptions to be engraved, and wrote other edicts and religious formulae (the word ‘ traductions * is only a guess).
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vendidAd.
work of co-ordination was already terminated at the end of the Achaemenian period, and there is no part of the Avesta which, so far as the matter is concerned, may not have been written in those times. Nay, the Greek accounts of that period present us, in some measure, with a later stage of thought, and are pervaded with a stronger sense of sym- metry, than the Avesta itself. Such passages as the latter end of the Zamy£d Yart and Vendidid X, 9 seq. prove that, when they were composed, the seven Arch-D6vs were not yet pointedly contrasted with the seven Amshaspands, and therefore those passages might have been written long before the time of Philip. The theory of time and space as first principles of the world, of which only the germs are found in the Avesta, was fully developed in the time of Eudemos, a disciple of Aristotle.
§ 18. To what extent the Magian dogmatical conceptions were admitted by the whole of the Iranian population, or how and by what process they spread among it, we cannot ascertain for want of documentary evidence. As regards their observances we are better instructed, and can form an idea of how far and in what particulars they differed from the other Iranians. The new principle they introduced, or, rather, developed into new consequences, was that of the purity of the elements. Fire, earth, and water had always been considered sacred things, and had received worship 1 : the Magi drew from that principle the conclusion that bury- ing the dead or burning the dead was defiling a god : as early as Herodotus they had already succeeded in preserving fire from that pollution, and cremation was a capital crime. The earth still continued to be defiled, notwithstanding the example they set ; and it was only under the Sassanians, when Mazdeism became the religion of the state, that they won this point also.
The religious difference between the Persians and their Medic priests was therefore chiefly in observances. Out of the principles upon which the popular religion rested, the sacerdotal class drew by dint of logic, in a puritan spirit,
1 Cf. V, 8.
INTRODUCTION, III.
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the necessity of strict observances, the yoke of which was not willingly endured by the mass of the people. Many acts, insignificant in the eyes of the people, became repug- nant-to their consciences and their more refined logic. The people resisted, and for a time Magian observances were observed only by the Magi. The slow triumph of Magism can be dimly traced through the Achaemenian period. Introduced by Cyrus, it reigned supreme for a time with the Pseudo-Smerdis, and was checked by Darius \ It seems to have resumed its progress under Xerxes ; at least, it was reported that it was to carry out Magian principles that he destroyed the Greek temples, and that the first who wrote on the Zoroastrian lore was a Magian, named Osthanes, who had accompanied him to Greece 1 2 . New progress marked the reign of Artaxerxes Longimanus. The epic history of Iran, as preserved in the Shah N&mah, passes suddenly from the field of mythology to that of history with the reign of that king, which makes it likely that it was in his time that the legends of Media became national in Persia, and that his reign was an epoch in the political history of Magism 3 . But the real victory was not won till six centuries later, when national interest required a national religion. Then, as happens in every revolution, the ultra party, that had pushed to the extreme the princi- ples common to all, took the lead ; the Magi ascended the throne with Ardeshir, one of their pupils 4 , and the Magian
1 Darios rebuilt the temples which the Magus Gaumata had destroyed (Behistun I, 63). The Magi, it is said, wanted the gods not to be imprisoned within four walls (Cic. de Legibus II, 10) : Xerxes behaved himself as their disciple, at least in Greece. Still the Magi seem to have at last given way on that point to the Perso- Assyrian customs, and there were temples even under the Sassanians.
• Pliny, Hist. Nat. XXX, 1. 8.
* Cf. Westergaard, Preface to the Zend-Avesta, p. 17. This agrees with what we know of the fondness of Artaxerxes for religious novelties. It was he who blended the worship of the Assyrian Anat-Mylitta with that of the Iranian Anihita (the ascription of that innovation to Artaxerxes Mnemon by Clemens Alexandrinus (Stromata I) must rest on a clerical error, as in the time of Herodotus, who wrote under Longimanus, the worship of Mylitta had already been introduced into Persia ( 1 , 131)).
4 Agathias II, 26.
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observances became the law of all Iran. But their triumph was not to be a long one ; their principles required an effort too continuous and too severe to be ever made by any but priests, who might concentrate all their faculties in watching whether they had not dropped a hair upon the ground. A working people could not be imprisoned in such a religion, though it might be pure and high in its ethics. The triumph of Islam was a deliverance for the consciences of many \ and Magism, by enforcing its observances upon the nation, brought about the ruin of its dogmas, which were swept away at the same time : its triumph was the cause and signal of its fall 1 2 .
§ i. What was the religion of the Magi which we find reflected in the Avesta ? and whence did it arise ?
Magism, in its general form, may be summed up as follows : —
The world, such as it is now, is twofold, being the work of two hostile beings, Ahura Mazda, the good principle, and Angra Mainyu, the evil principle ; all that is good in the world comes from the former, all that is bad in it comes from the latter. The history of the world is the history of their conflict, how Angra Mainyu invaded the world of Ahura Mazda and marred it, and how he shall be expelled from it at last. Man is active in the conflict, his duty in it being laid before him in the law revealed by Ahura Mazda to ZarathuJtra. When the appointed time is come, a son of the lawgiver, still unborn, named Saoshya^t, will appear, Angra Mainyu and hell will be destroyed, men will rise from the dead, and everlasting happiness will reign over the world.
1 De Gobineau, Histoire des Perses, II, 632 seq.
2 We ought to discuss here the Scythian theory of Magism ; but thus far we have been unable to find anywhere a clear and consistent account of its thesis and of its arguments. Nothing is known of any Scythian religion, and what is ascribed to a so-called Scythian influence, the worship of the elements, is one of the oldest and most essential features of the Aryan religions.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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We have tried in another book 1 to show that the religion of the Magi is derived from the same source as that of the Indian Rishis , that is, from the religion followed by the common forefathers of the Iranians and Indians, the Indo- Iranian religion. The Mazdean belief is, therefore, com- posed of two different strata ; the one comprises all the gods, myths, and ideas which were already in existence during the Indo-Iranian period, whatever changes they may have undergone during the actual Iranian period ; the j other comprises the gods, myths, and ideas which were only developed after the separation of the two religions.
§ 2. There were two general ideas at the bottom of the Indo-Iranian religion ; first, that there is a law in nature, and, secondly, that there is a war in nature.
There is a law in nature, because everything goes on in a serene and mighty order. Days after days, seasons after seasons, years after years come and come again ; there is a marvellous friendship between the sun and the moon, the dawn has never missed its appointed time and place, and the stars that shine in the night know where to go when the day is breaking. There is a God who fixed that never- failing law, and on whom it rests for ever 2 .
There is a war in nature, because it contains powers that work for good and powers that work for evil : there are such beings as benefit man, and such beings as injure him : there are gods and fiends. They struggle on, never and nowhere more apparent than in the storm, in which, under our very eyes, the fiend that carries off the light and streams of heaven fights with the god that gives them back to man and the thirsty earth.
There were, therefore, in the Indo-Iranian religion a ^ latent monotheism and an unconscious dualism 3 ; both of which, in the further development of Indian thought, slowly disappeared ; but Mazdeism lost neither of these two notions,
1 Ormazd et Ahriman, Paris, 1877. We beg, for the sake of brevity, to refer to that book for further demonstration.
* Cf. Max Muller, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion, p. 249.
1 J. Darmesteter, The Supreme God in the Indo-European Mythology, in the Contemporary Review, October, 1879, p. 283.
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nor did it add a new one, and its original action was to cling strongly and equally to both ideas and push them to an extreme.
§ 3. The God that has established the laws in nature is the Heaven God. He is the greatest of gods, since there is nothing above him nor outside of him ; he has made every- thing, since everything is produced or takes place in him ; he is the wisest of all gods, since with his eyes, the sun, moon, and stars, he sees everything 1 * .
This god was named either after his bodily nature Varana, * the all-embracing sky V or after his spiritual attributes Asura, ‘the Lord/ Asura yi^vavedas, ‘the all-knowing Lord/ Asura MazdhA, ‘the Lord of high knowledge 3 /
§ 4. The supreme Asura of the Indo-Iranian religion, the Heaven god, is called in the Avesta Ahura Mazda, ‘the all-knowing Lord 4 ;’ his concrete name Varana, which became his usual name in India (Varu«a), was lost in Iran, and remained only as the name of the material heaven, and then of a mythical region, the Varena, which was the seat of the mythical fight between a storm god and a storm fiend 5 .
§ 5. The spiritual attributes of the Heaven god were daily I more and more strongly defined, and his material attributes
though ever dimmer and dimmer, betray his former bodily or, rather, his sky nature. He is white, bright, seen afar, and his body is the greatest and fairest of all bodies ; he has the sun for his eye, the rivers above for his spouses, the fire of lightning for his son ; he wears the heaven as a star-spangled garment, he puts on the hard stone of heaven, he is the hardest of all gods 6 . He dwells in the infinite luminous space, and the infinite luminous space is his place,
1 Ibid.
■ Qupa* 6 s; or Dyaus, ‘the shining sky* [Z«u*, Jup-piter], or Svar.
* Or perhaps • the Lord who bestows intelligence * (Benfey, ‘ Asura Medha and Ahura Mazdio ’).
4 This is, at least, the meaning that attached to the name in the consciences of the composers of the Avesta.
5 Vide infra, §12.
• Orm. Ahr. §§ 27-36.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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his body 1 . In the time of Herodotus, Persians, while in- voking Aurdmazda, the creator of earth and heaven, still knew who he was, and called the whole vault of the sky Zeus, that is to say, called it the supreme god 2 .
§ 6. In the Indo-Iranian religion, the supreme Asura, although he was the supreme god, was not the only god. There were near him and within him many mighty beings, the sun, wind, lightning, thunder, rain, prayer, sacrifice, which as soon as they struck the eye or the fancy of man, were at once turned into gods. If the Heaven Asura, greater in time and space, eternal and universal, everlasting and ever present, was without effort raised to the supreme rank by his twofold infinitude, there were other gods, of shorter but mightier life, who maintained against him their right to independence. The progress of religious thought might as well have gone on to transfer power from him to any of these gods, as to make his authority unrivalled. The former was the case in India : in the middle of the Vedic period, Indra, the dazzling god of storm, rose to supremacy in the Indian Pantheon, and outshines Varuwa with the roar and splendour of his feats ; but soon to give way to a new and mystic king, Prayer or Brahman 3 .
Not so did Mazdeism, which struggled on towards unity. The Lord slowly brought everything under his unquestioned supremacy, and the other gods became not only his subjects, but his creatures. This movement was completed as early as the fourth century B.C. Nowhere can it be more clearly traced than in the Amesha Spewtas and Mithra.
§ 7. The Indo-Iranian Asura was often conceived as sevenfold : by the play of certain mythical formulae and the strength of certain mythical numbers, the ancestors of the Indo-Iranians had been led to speak of seven worlds, and the supreme god was often made sevenfold, as well as the worlds over which he ruled 4 . The names and the several
1 Bnndahis I, 7; Yasna LVIII, 8 (LVII, 22).
2 Herod. I, 131.
s Cf. ‘The Supreme God/ 1 . 1 . p. 387.
4 The seven worlds became in Persia the seven Karsh vare of the earth : the earth is divided into seven Karsh vare, only one of which is known and
Digitized^ Google
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attributes of the seven gods had not been as yet defined, nor could they be then ; after the separation of the two religions, these gods, named Aditya, ‘the infinite ones,* in India, were by and by identified there with the sun, and their number was afterwards raised to twelve, to correspond to the twelve successive aspects of the sun. In Persia, the seven gods are known as Amesha Spe«tas, ‘the undying and well-doing ones;’ they by and by, according to the new spirit that breathed in the religion, received the names of the deified abstractions 1 , Vohu-man6 (good thought), Asha VahLrta (excellent holiness), Khshathra vairya (per- fect sovereignty), Spe«ta Armaiti (divine piety), Haurvati/ and Ameret kt (health and immortality). The first of them all was and remained Ahura Mazda ; but whereas formerly he had been only the first of them, he was now their father. ‘ I invoke the glory of the Amesha Spe«tas, who all seven have one and the same thinking, one and the same speaking, one and the same doing, one and the same father and lord, Ahura Mazda 2 .’
§ 8. In the Indo-Iranian religion, the Asura of Heaven was often invoked in company with Mitra 3 , the god of the heavenly light, and he let him share with himself the universal sovereignty. In the Veda, they are invoked as a pair (Mitri-Varu«&), which enjoys the same powerand rights as Varu.a alone, as there is nothing more in Mitri-Varu«4 than in Varu^a alone, Mitra being the light of Heaven, that is, the light of Varu#a. But Ahura Mazda could no longer bear an equal, and Mithra became one of his
accessible to man, the one on which we live, namely, tfvaniratha; which amounts to saying that there are seven earths. Parsi mythology knows also of seven heavens, /fvaniratha itself was divided into seven climes (Orm. Ahr. § 72). An enumeration of the seven Karshvare is to be found in Farg. XIX, 39.
1 Most of which were already either divine or holy in the Indo-Iranian period: health and immortality are invoked in the Vedas as in the A vesta (see J. Darmesteter, Haurvata? et Amereta /, §§49 seq.); Asha Vahista is revered in the Vedas as .Rita (vide infra, § 30); Spewta Armaiti is the Vedic god- dess Aramati (§ 30); Khshathra vairya is the same as the Brahmanical Kshatra; Vohu-man6 is a personification of the Vedic sumati (Orm. Ahr. §§ 196-201).
3 Yast XJX, 16.
3 Mitra means literally ' a friend ; ’ it is the light as friendly to man (Orm. Ahr. §§ 59-61).
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creatures : * This Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, I have created as worthy of sacrifice, as worthy of glorification, as I, Ahura Mazda, am myself 1 .* But old formulae, no longer understood, in which Mithra and Ahura, or, rather, Mithra- Ahura, are invoked in an indivisible unity, dimly remind one that the Creator was formerly a brother to his creature.
§ 9. Thus came a time when Ahura was not only the maker of the world, the creator of the earth, water, trees, i mountains, roads, wind, sleep, and light, was not only he who gives to man life, shape, and food, but was also the father of TLrtrya, the rain-bestowing god, of Verethraghna, the fiend-smiting god, and of Haoma, the tree of eternal life, the father of the six Amesha Spe;/tas, the father of all gods 2 .
Yet, with all his might, he still needs the help of some god, of such as free the oppressed heavens from the grasp of the fiend. When storm rages in the atmosphere he offers up a sacrifice to Vayu, the bright storm god, who moves in the wind, he entreats him : * Grant me the favour, thou Vayu whose action is most high 3 , that I may smite the world of Angra Mainyu, and that he may not smite mine ! Vayu, whose action is most high, granted the asked-for favour to the creator Ahura Mazda 4 / And when Zoro- aster is born, Ahura entreats Ardvi Sfira Andhita that the 1 new-born hero may stand by him in the fight 5 (see § 40).
1 He preserved, however, a high situation, both in the concrete and in the abstract mythology. As the god of the heavenly light, the lord of vast luminous space, of the wide pastures above (cf. § 16), he became later the god of the sun (Deo invicto Soli Mithrae ; in Persian M i h r is the Sun). As light and truth are one and the same thing, viewed with the eyes of the body and of the mind, he became the god of truth and faith. He punishes the Mithra-dru^, ‘him who lies to Mithra 1 (or ‘who lies to the contract, 1 since Mithra as a neuter noun means * friendship, agreement, contract ’) ; he is a judge in hell, in company with Rashnu, * the true one,* the god of truth, a mere offshoot of Mithra in his moral character (Farg. IV, 54).
* Cf. Plut. de Iside, XLVII.
* Or, who workest in the heights above.
4 Yt. XV, 3.
* In the same way his Greek counterpart, Zeus, the god of heaven, the lord and father both of gods and men, when besieged by the Titans, calls Thetis, Prometheus, and the Hecatonchirs to help him.
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VEND 1 DAD.
§ io. Whereas in India the fiends were daily driven
valence of the metaphysical spirit gods and fiends came to be nothing more than changing and fleeting creatures of the everlasting, indifferent Being, Persia took her demons in real earnest ; she feared them, she hated them, and the vague and unconscious dualism that lay at the bottom of the Indo-Iranian religion has its unsteady outlines sharply defined, and became the very form and frame of Mazdeism. The conflict was no more seen and heard in the passing storm only, but it raged through all the avenues of space and time. The Evil became a power of itself, engaged in an open and never-ceasing warfare with the Good. The Good was centred in the supreme god, in Ahura Mazda, the bright god of Heaven, the all-knowing Lord, the Maker, who, as the author of every good thing, was ‘the good Spirit/ Spe/zta Mainyu. In front of him and opposed to him slowly rose the evil Spirit, Angra Mainyu.
We will briefly explain what became, in Mazdeism, of the several elements of the Indo-Iranian dualism, and then we will show how the whole system took a regular form.
§11. The war in nature was waged in the storm. The Vedas describe it as a battle fought by a god, Indra, armed with the lightning and thunder, against a serpent, A hi, who has carried off the dawns or the rivers, described as goddesses or as milch cows, and who keeps them captive in the folds of the cloud.
This myth appears in a still simpler form in the Avesta : it is a fight for the possession of the light of A^arend between Atar and Azi Dah&ka l .
A tar means ‘ fire he is both a thing and a person. He is sometimes described as the weapon of Ahura 2 , but usually as his son 3 , as the fire that springs from heaven can be conceived either as flung by it, or as born of it 4 .
Azi Dah&ka, ‘the fiendish snake/ is a three-headed
1 Yt. xix. 47-53.
a Yasna LI (L), 9.
• Farg. Ill, 15 ; V, 10; XV, 26, &c.
4 Cf. Clermont-Ganneau, in the Revue Critique, 1877, No. 53.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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dragon, who strives to seize and put out the Az/arend : he takes hold of it, but Atar frightens him away and recovers the light.
The scene of the fight is the sea Vouru-kasha, a sea from which all the waters on the earth fall down with the winds and the clouds ; in other words, they fight in the sea above \ in the atmospheric field of battle 1 2 .
§ 12. The same myth in the Vedas was described as a feat of Traitana or Trita Aptya, ‘Trita, the son of wraters,’ who killed the three-headed, six-eyed fiend, and let loose the cows 3 . ‘ The son of waters 4 ’ is both in the Vedas and in the Avesta a name of the fire-god, as bom -from the cloud, in the lightning. The same tale is told ^ in the same terms in the Avesta : ThraStaona Athwya killed A z\ Dah&ka (the fiendish snake), the three-mouthed, three-headed, six-eyed, . . . the most dreadful Dn^f created by Angra Mainyu 5 * * . The scene of the battle is ‘ the four- cornered Varena V which afterwards became a country on the earth, when Thra£taona himself and Azi became earthly kings, but which was formerly nothing less than ‘ the four- pointed Varu»aV that is, ‘the four-sided Ovpavos / the Heavens.
§ 13. The fight for the waters was described in a myth of later growth, a sort of refacimento, the myth of TLrtrya and Apaosha. . Apaosha 8 keeps away the rain : Tiitrya 9 , worsted at first, then strengthened by a sacrifice which has been offered to him by Mazda, knocks down Apaosha 10 with his club, the fire V 4 zLrta n , and the waters stream freely
1 The Avareno, Persian khurrah and farr, is properly the light of sove-
reignty, the glory from above which makes the king an earthly god. He who possesses it reigns, he who loses it falls down ; when Yima lost it he perished and Azi Dah&ka reigned ; as when light disappears, the fiend rules supreme. Vide infra, § 39 ; and cf. Yt. XIX, 3a seq.
* See Farg. V, 15 seq. 9 Rv. 1 , 158, 5 ; X, 99, 6.
4 Generally, ap&m napftt. 8 Yasna IX, 8 (25).
• Cathru-gaosho Varend; v. VendldAd 1 , 18.
7 Catur-asrir Varuno, Rv. 1 , 152, 2. Cf. Orm. Ahr. § 65.
I 'The extinguisher’ (?). • Cf. § 36.
10 Called also Spengaghra (Farg. XIX, 40).
II It is the groaning of the fiend under the stroke of that club that is heard in
thunder (Bundahis 17, 11 ; cf. Farg. XIX, 40).
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VENDIDAD.
down the seven Karshvare, led by the winds, by the son of the waters, and by the light that dwells in the waters 1 .
§ 14. The god that conquers light is chiefly praised in the Vedas under the name of Indra Vrftrahan, * Indra the fiend-smiter/ His Iranian brother is named Verethraghna, which became by and by the genius of Victory (Bahrain). Yet although he assumed a more abstract character than Indra, he retained the mythical features of the storm god 2 , and his original nature was so little forgotten that he was worshipped on earth as a fire, the Bahr&m fire, which was believed to be an emanation from the fire above 3 , and the most powerful protector of the land against foes and fiends.
§ 15. In the Indo-Iranian mythology, Vdyu was the word for both the atmosphere and the bright god who fights and conquers in it.
As a god, Vayu became in Mazdeism Vayu, * a god con- queror of light, a smiter of the fiends, all made of light, who moves in a golden car, with sonorous rings V Ahura Mazda invokes him for help against Angra Mainyu 6 .
§ 16. Another name of Vayu is R&ma hvk stra: this word meant originally ‘ the god of the resting-place with good pastures/ the clouds in the atmosphere being often viewed as a herd of -cows 6 , and the Indian V&yu as a good shepherd 7 . Hence came the connection of R£ma hvc Istra with Mithra, ‘the lord of the wide pastures 8 / In later times, chiefly owing to a mistake in language (Jiv astra being thought to be related to the root Az/arez, ‘ to taste ’), Rcima hv & stra became the god who gives a good flavour to aliments 9 .
§ 1 7. Considered as a thing, as the atmosphere, Vayu is the place where the god and the fiend meet : there is there- fore a part of it which belongs to the good and another part which belongs to the evil 10 . Hence came the later notion that between Ormazd and Ahriman there is a void space, Vai, in which their meeting takes place 11 .
1 Yt. VIII. 2 Yt. xiv. » Cf. v. 8.
4 Yt. XV. 5 Cf. above, p. Ixi. 6 See above, §11.
T Cf. Atharva-veda II, 36, 1 ; Rv. I, 134, 4.
8 Farg. HI, a ; Yasna I, 3 (9). • Neriosengh ad Yasna, 1 . 1 .
10 Yt. XV, 5. 11 Bundahi* 1,-15.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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Hence came also the distinction of two Vai 1 > the good one and the bad one, which, probably by the natural con- nection of Vayu, the atmosphere, with the heavens 2 whose movement is Destiny s , became at last the good Fate and the bad Fate, or Destiny bringing good and evil, life and death 4 .
§ 1 8. Ad is not always vanquished; he may also conquer; and it is just because the serpent has seized upon the sky and darkened the light, that the battle breaks out. Ad has carried off the sovereign light, the Avarend, from Yima Khsha£ta, t the shining Yima a .
In the course of time Thraetaona, Yima, and Ad Da- hika became historical : it was tpld how King Jemshld / (Yima Khshieta) had been overthrown and killed by the usurper Zohik (Dah&ka), a man with two snakes’ heads upon his shoulders, and how Zohik himself had been overthrown by a prince of the royal blood, Ferldfln (Thraetaona).
Yet Zohlk, though vanquished, could not be killed ; he 1 was bound to Mount Damlvand, there to lie in bonds till the end of the world, when he shall be let loose, and then killed by Keres&spa 6 . The fiend is as long-lifed as the world, since as often as he is vanquished he appears again, as dark and fearful as ever 7 .
§ 19. While the serpent passed thus from mythology into legend, he still continued under another name, or, more correctly, under another form of his name, &zi, a word which the Parsis converted into a pallid and lifeless abstrac- tion by identifying it with a similar word from the same root, meaning ‘want.’ But that he was the very same being as Ad, the snake, appears from his adversaries: like A^i, he fights against Atar, the fire, and strives to extinguish it 8 , and together with the Pairikas, he wants to carry off the rain-floods, like the Indian Ahi 9 .
§ 20. Mazdeism, as might be expected from its main
1 Mainyd i-Khard II, 115 ; cf. Farg. V, 8, n. 3.
• Cf. Farg. XIX, 16. * Onn. Ahr. § 257.
4 Farg. V, 8-9, text and notes.
• See above, p. lxiii, n. 1, and Yast XIX. 9 Cf. § 39.
7 Cf. Roth, Zeitschrift der Deutschen Morgenl. Gesellschaft II, 216.
9 Farg. XVIII, 19 seq.
• Yasna LXVIII, 7 (LXVU, 18).
[ 4 ]
e
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vend{dAd.
\
principle, is very rich in demons. There are whole classes of them which belong to the Indo-Iranian mythology.
The Vedic Y&tus are found unaltered in the Avesta. The Y&tu in the Vedas is the demon taking any form he pleases, the fiend as a wizard : so he is in the Avesta also, where the name is likewise extended to the Y&tu-man, the sorcerer.
§ a i. With the Yitus are often associated the Pairikas (the Paris) 1 .
The Pairika corresponds in her origin (and perhaps as to her name) to the Indian Apsaras 2 .
The light for which the storm god struggled was often compared, as is well known, to a fair maid or bride carried off by the fiend. There was a class of myths, in which, instead of being carried off, she was supposed to have given herself up, of her own free will, to the demon, and to have betrayed the god, her lover. In another form of myth, still more distant from the naturalistic origin, the Pairikas were ‘ nymphs of a fair, but erring line,’ who seduced the heroes to lead them to their ruin. Afterwards the Pari became at length the seduction of idolatry 8 .
In their oldest Avesta form they are still demoniac nymphs, who rob the gods and men of the heavenly waters: they hover between heaven and earth, in the midst of the sea Vouru-kasha, to keep off the rain-floods, and they work together with Azi and Apaosha 4 .
Then we see the Pairika, under the name of Knathaiti, cleave to Keres&spa 5 . Keresispa, like ThraGtaona, is a great smiter of demons, who killed the snake Srvara, a twin- brother of Az\ Dah&ka c . It was related in later tales that he was bom immortal, but that having despised the holy religion he was killed, during his sleep, by a Turk, NiyAz 7 , which, being translated into old myth, would mean that he
1 Fa rg. VIII, 80. * Orm. Ahr. $ 142.
* Ibid, p 176, n. 6. Then pairikam, the accusative of pairika, was inter- preted as a Pahlavi compound, pari -k ft m, • love of the Paris * (Comm, ad Farg. XIX. 5).
4 Yart Vm, 8, 39, 49-56 ; Yasna XVI, 8 (XVII, 46).
» Farg. 1 , 10. • Yasna IX, 11 (34); Yast XIX, 40.
1 Bundahis 69, 13. On Niy&z, see Orm. Ahr. p. 216, n* 9.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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gave himself up to the Pairika Khnathaiti, who delivered him asleep to the fiend. Yet he must rise from his sleep, at the end of time, to kill Asi, and Khnathaiti will be killed at the same time by Saoshyaw/ 1 , the son of Zarathurtra, which shows her to be a genuine sister of Asi.
§ 22. Then come the host of storm fiends, .the Drva nts 9 the Dvaratf /is, the Dregva«/s, all names meaning ‘ the run- ning ones/ and referring to the headlong course of the fiends in storm, * the onsets of the wounding crew/
One of the foremost amongst the Drva nts, their leader in their onsets, is A£shma, ‘ the raving/ ‘ a fiend with the wounding spear/ Originally a mere epithet of the storm fiend, Adshma was afterwards converted into an abstract, the demon of rage and anger, and became an expression for all moral wickedness, a mere name of Ahriman.
§ 23. A class of demons particularly interesting are the Varenya da£vas 2 . The phrase, an old one belonging to the Indo-European mythology, meant originally ‘ the gods in heaven/ ovp&vtoi OcoC; when the daSvas were converted into demons (see § 41), they became * the fiends in the heavens/ the fiends who assail the sky ; and later on, as the meaning of the word Varena was lost, ‘the fiends of the Varena land and finally, nowadays, as their relation to Varena is lost to sight, they are turned by popular ety- mology, now into demons of lust, and now into demons of doubt 3 .
§ 24. To the Pairika is closely related Bfishyasta the yellow, the long-handed 4 . She lulls back to sleep the world as soon as awaked, and makes the faithful forget in slumber the hour of prayer 5 * . But as at the same time she is said to have fallen upon KeresAspa 8 , one sees that she belonged before to a more concrete sort of mythology, and was a sister to Khnathaiti and to the Pairikas.
§ 25. A member of the same family is Gahi, who was
1 Faig. XIX, 5.
■ Farg. X, 14. The M£zainya daSva (see Farg. X, 16 n.) are often invoked
with them (Yast V, aa ; XIII, 37 ; XX, 8).
* Aspendi&iji. 4 Farg. XI, 9.
* Farg. XVin, 16 seq. • Bundahis 69, 15.
e 2
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VENDiDAD.
originally the god’s bride giving herself up to the demon, and became then, by the progress of abstraction, the demon of unlawful love and unchastity 1 - The courtezan is her incarnation, as the sorcerer is that of the Yitu.
§ 26 . Death gave rise to several personations.
Sauru, which in our texts is only the proper name of a demon*, was probably identical in meaning, as he is in name, with the Vedic Saru, ‘ the arrow/ a personification of the arrow of death as a godlike being s .
The same idea seems to be conveyed by Ishuj hvSi- thakhtd, ‘the self-moving arrow 4 / a designation to be accounted for by the fact that 5 aru, in India, before becoming the arrow of death, was the arrow of lightning with which the god killed his foe.
A more abstract personification is Ithyqg-6 marshaonem 6 ,
‘ the unseen death/ death which creeps unawares.
Ast6 vlddtuj, ‘the bone-divider 6 / who, like the Yama of the Sanskrit epic, holds a noose around the neck of all living creatures 7 .
§ 27. In the 'Conflict between gods and fiends man is active : he takes a part in it through the sacrifice.
The sacrifice is more than an act of worship, it is an act of assistance to the gods. Gods, like men, need drink and food to be strong ; like men, they need praise and encourage- ment to be of good cheer 8 . When not strengthened by the sacrifice, they fly helpless before their foes. TLrtrya, worsted by Apaosha, cries to Ahura : ‘ O Ahura Mazda ! men do not worship me with sacrifice and praise : should they wor- ship me with sacrifice and praise, they would bring me the strength of ten horses, ten bulls, ten mountains, ten rivers/ Ahura offers him a sacrifice, he brings him thereby the
1 Orm. Ahr. § 145. Cf. Farg. XXI, 1.
• Vide infra, § 41 ; Farg. X, 9 ; Bundahis 5, 19.
• Orm. Ahr. § aia. 4 Farg. IV, 49. * Farg. XIX, 1.
• Farg. IV, 49. His mythical description might probably be completed by the Rabbinical and Arabian tales about the Breaking of the Sepulchre and the angels Monkir and Nakir (Sale, the Coran, Introd. p. 60, and Bargfes, Journal Asiatique, 1843).
T See Farg. XIX, 39, n. a. Closely related to Astfcvtddtu is Vlzaresha (ibid.) ; on Bfiiti, see Farg. XIX, 1, n. 3.
8 See Orm. Ahr. §§ 87-88.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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strength of ten horses, ten bulls, ten mountains, ten rivers, Tirtrya runs back to the battle-field and Apaosha flies before him \
§ 28. The sacrifice is composed of two elements, offerings 1 and spells.
The offerings are libations of holy water (zaothra) 2 3 , holy meat (myazda) s , and Haoma. The last offering is the most sacred and powerful of all.
Haoma, the Indian Soma, is an intoxicating plant, the juice of which is drunk by the faithful for their own benefit and for the benefit of their gods. It comprises in it the powers of life of all the vegetable kingdom.
There are two Haomas : one is the yellow or golden Haoma, which is the earthly Haoma, and which, when pre- pared for the sacrifice, is the king of healing plants 4 ; the other is the white Haoma or Gaokerena, which grows up / in the middle of the sea Vouru-kasha, surrounded by the . ten thousand healing plants 5 . It is by the drinking of / Gaokerena that men, on the day of the resurrection, will become immortal 6 .
§ 29. Spell or prayer is not less powerful than the offer- ' ings. In the beginning of the world, it was by reciting the Honover (Ahuna Vairya) that Ormazd confounded Ahri- man 7 . Man, too, sends his prayer between the earth and the heavens, there to smite the fiends, the Ka^aredhas and the KaAraredhis, the Kayadhas and the Kayadhis, the Zaada s and the Y 4 tus 8 .
§ 30. A number of divinities sprang from the hearth of the altar, most of which were already in existence during the Indo-Iranian period.
Piety, which every day brings offerings and prayers to f the fire of the altar, was worshipped in the Vedas as Aramati, the goddess who every day, morning and evening,
1 Yt. VIII, 23 seq.
3 Prepared with certain riles and prayers ; it is the Vedic hotri.
* A piece of meat placed on the draona (Farg. V, 25, n. 3).
* Bundahis 58, 10. 5 Farg. XX, 4.
* Bundahis 42, 12 ; 59, 4.
3 Bundahis. Cf. Farg. XIX, 9, 43 ; Yasna XIX.
3 Yasna LXI (LX).
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vend!dAd.
streaming with the sacred butter, goes and gives up her- self t© Agni \ She was praised in the Avesta in a more sober manner as the abstract genius of piety ; yet a few practices preserved evident traces of old myths on her union with Atar, the fire-god 1 2 * .
Agni, as a messenger between gods and men, was known to the Vedas as Nar&-jansa ; hence came the Avesta mes- senger of Ahura, Nairy6-sangha 8 .
The riches that go up from earth to heaven in the offerings of man and come down from heaven to earth in the gifts of the gods were deified as Rita 4 * , the gift, Ashi, the felicity 6 , and more vividly in Pdrewdi 6 , the keeper of treasures, who comes on a sounding chariot, a sister to the Vedic Puramdhi.
The order of the world, the Vedic /?*ta, the Zend Asha, was deified as Asha Valmta, ‘ the excellent Asha 7 .*
§31. Sraosha is the priest god 8 : he first tied the Baresma into bundles, and offered up sacrifice to Ahura ; he first sang the holy hymns : his weapons are the Ahuna- Vairya and the Yasna, and thrice in each day, in each night, he descends upon this Karshvare to smite Angra Mainyu and his crew of demons. It is he who, with his club uplifted, protects the living world from the terrors of the night, when the fiends rush upon the earth ; it is he who protects the dead from the terrors of death, from the assaults of Angra Mainyu and Viddtuj 9 . It is through a sacrifice performed by Ormazd, as a Z6ti, and Sraosha, as a Rasp! 10 , that at the end of time Ahriman will be for ever vanquished and brought to nought u .
§ 32. Thus far, the single elements of Mazdeism do not essentially differ from those of the Vedic and Indo- European mythologies generally. Yet Mazdeism, as a whole, took an aspect of its own by grouping these ele- ments in a new order, since by referring everything either
1 Orm. Ahr. $ 205.
* Farg. XXII. 7.
8 Neriosengh.
T Farsi Ardibeh&t.
• Farg.VII, 52, n.4; XIX, 46,11.8.
10 Cf. Faig. V, 57, n.
* Farg. XVIII, 51 seq. 8 Farg. XIX, 19.
8 Orm. Ahr. $ 200.
8 Yasna LVI.
u BundahU 76, 11.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
lxxi
to Ahura Mazda or Angra Mainyu as its source, it came to divide the world into two symmetrical halves, in both of which a strong unity prevailed. The change was summed up in the rising of Angra Mainyu, a being of mixed nature, ^ who was produced by abstract speculation from the old Indo-European storm fiend, and who borrowed his form from the supreme god himself. On the one hand, as the f world battle is only an enlarged form of the mythical storm •' fight, Angra Mainyu, the fiend of fiends and the leader of the evil powers, is partly an abstract embodiment of their energies and feats ; on the other hand, as the antagonist of Ahura, he is modelled after him, and is partly, as it were, a negative projection of Ahura 1 .
Ahura is all light, truth, goodness, .and knowledge; Angra Mainyu is all darkness, falsehood, wickedness, and ignorance 2 .
Ahura dwells in the infinite light ; Angra Mainyu dwells in the infinite night.
Whatever the good Spirit makes, the evil Spirit mars. When the world was created, Angra Mainyu broke into it 8 , \ opposed every creation of Ahura’s with a plague of his j own 4 , killed the first-born bull that had been the first | offspring and source of life on earth 5 , he mixed poison with plants, smoke with fire, sin with man, and death with life.
§ 33, Under Ahura were ranged the six Amesha Spewtas. They were at first mere personifications of virtues and moral or liturgical powers 6 ; but as their lord and father ruled over the whole of the world, they took by and by each a part of the world under their care. The choice was not altogether artificial, but partly natural and spontaneous. The empire of waters and trees was vested in Haurvat&l and Ameret&/, health and immortality, through the influence of old Indo-Iranian formulae, in which waters and trees were invoked as the springs of health and life. More complex trains of ideas and partly the influence of analogy fixed the
* Bundahis I ; cf. Yasna XXX. « Cf. Farg. I.
* See above, p. ix.
1 Orm. Ahr. $ 85.
* Yast XIII, 77.
• Cf. Farg. XXI, 1.
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field of action of the others. Khshathra Vairya, the perfect sovereignty, had molten brass for its emblem, as the god in the storm established his empire by means of that 1 molten brass,’ the fire of lightning ; he thus became the king of metals in general. Asha VahLrta, the holy order of the world, as maintained chiefly by the sacrificial fire, became the genius of fire. Armaiti seems to have become a goddess of the earth as early as the Indo-Iranian period, and Vohu- man6 had the living creation left to his superintendence \
§ 34. The Amesha Spe«tas projected, as it were, out of themselves, as many Daevas or demons, who, either in their being or functions, were, most of them, hardly more than dim inverted images of the very gods they were to oppose, and whom they followed through all their successive evolu- tions. Haurvati/ and Amereti/, health and life, were opposed by Tauru and Zairi, sickness and decay, who changed into rulers of thirst and hunger when HaurvatA/ and Ameretd/ had become the Amshaspands of waters and trees.
Vohu-man6, or good thought, was reflected in Ak6- man6, evil thought. Sauru, the arrow of death 2 , Indra, a name or epithet of fire as destructive 3 , Niunhaithya, an old Indo-Iranian divinity whose meaning was forgotten in Iran and misinterpreted by popular etymology 4 , were opposed, respectively, to Khshathra Vairya, Asha Vahirta, and Spe«ta Armaiti, and became the demons of tyranny, corruption, and impiety.
Then came the symmetrical armies of the numberless gods and fiends, Yazatas and Drva#/s.
§ 35. Everything in the world was engaged in the conflict. Whatever works, or is fancied to work, for the good of man or for his harm, for the wider spread of life or against it, comes from, and strives for, either Ahura or Angra Mainyu.
Animals are enlisted under the standards of either the one spirit or the other \ In the eyes of the Parsis, they
1 Orm. Ahr. §§ 202-206.
* See above, p. lxviii. 1 See § 41. 4 Ibid.
5 A strict discipline prevails among them. Every class of animals has a chief
Or r a t u above it ^Bund. XXIV). The same organisation extends to all the beings
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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belong either to Orrnazd or Ahriman according as they are useful or hurtful to man ; but, in fact, they belonged origin- / ally to either the one or the other, according as they had j been incarnations of the god or of the fiend, that is, as they chanced to have lent their forms to either in the storm tales \ In a few cases, of course, the habits of the animal had not been without influence upon its mythic destiny: but the determinative cause was different. The fiend was not described as a serpent because the serpent is a subtle and crafty reptile, but because the storm fiend envelops the goddess of light, or the milch cows of the raining heavens, with the coils of the cloud as with a snake’s folds. It was not animal psychology that disguised gods and fiends as dogs, otters, hedge-hogs, and cocks, or as snakes, tortoises, frogs, and ants, but the accidents of physical qualities and the caprice of popular fancy, as both the god and the fiend might be compared with, and transformed into, any object, the idea of which was suggested by the uproar of the storm, the blazing of the lightning, the streaming of the water, or the hue and shape of the clouds.
Killing the Ahrimanian creatures, the Khrafstras 2 , is killing Ahriman himself, and sin may be atoned for by this > means 8 . Killing an Ormazdean animal is an abomination, it is killing God himself. Persia was on the brink of zoolatry, and escaped it only by misunderstanding the principle she followed 4 .
in nature: stars, men, gods have their respective rat us, Tistrya, Zoroaster, Ahura.
1 Orm. Ahr. §§ 227-231.
* Faig. Ill, 10; XIV, 5 seq., 8, n. 8 ; XVIII, 70, &c.
* There is scarcely any religious custom that can be followed through so con- tinuous a series of historical evidence : fifth century b.c., Herodotus 1 , 140 ; first century a. d., Plutarch, De Isid.XLVI ; Quaest Conviv. IV, 5, 2 ; sixth century, Agathias II, 24 ; seventeenth century, G. du Chinon.
4 Thus arose a classification which was often at variance with its supposed principle. As the god who rushes in the lightning was said to move on a raven’s wings, with a hawk’s flight, birds of prey belonged to the realm of Orrnazd. The Parsi theologians were puzzled at this fact, but their ingenuity proved equal to the emergency : Orrnazd, while creating the hunting hawk, said to him : ' O thou hunting hawk ! I have created thee ; but I ought rather to be sorry than glad of it : for thou doest the will of Ahriman much more than mine : like a wicked man who never has money enough, thou art never satisfied with killing birds.
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vend!dad.
§ 36. The fulgurating conqueror of Apaosha, TLrtrya, was described in mythic tales sometimes as a boar with golden horns, sometimes as a horse with yellow ears, some- times as a beautiful youth. But as he had been compared to a shining star on account of the gleaming of lightning, the stars joined in the fray, where they stood with TLrtrya on Ahura’s side; and partly for the sake of symmetry, partly owing to Chaldaean influences, the planets passed into the army of Ahriman.
§ 37. Man, according to his deeds, belongs to Ormazd or j to Ahriman. He belongs to Ormazd, he is a man of Asha, a holy one, if he offers sacrifice to Ormazd and the gods, if he helps them by good thoughts, words, and deeds, if he enlarges the world of Ormazd by spreading life over the world, and if he makes the realm of Ahriman narrower by destroying his creatures. A man of Asha is the Athravan (priest) who drives away fiends and diseases by spells, the Rathaejta (warrior) who with his club crushes the head of the impious, the V&stryd (husbandman) who makes good and plentiful harvests grow Up out of the earth. He who does the contrary is a Drva nt, i demon,* an Anashavan, * foe of Asha/ an Ashemaogha, 4 confounder of Asha.*
The man of Asha who has lived for Ahura Mazda will have a seat near him in heaven, in the same way as in India the man of j?/ta, the faithful one, goes to the palace of VaruTia, there to live with the forefathers, the Pitr/s, a life of everlasting happiness l . Thence he will go out, at the ,, end of time, when the dead shall rise, and live a new and all-happy life on the earth freed from evil and death.
But hadst thou not been made by me, Ahriman, bloody Ahriman, would have made thee with the size of a man, and there would no more be any small creature left alive* (Bundahis XIV). Inversely Ahriman created a lovely bird, the peacock, to show that he did not do evil from any incapacity of doing well, but through wilful wickedness (Eznik); Satan is still nowadays invoked by the Yezidis as Melek Taus (‘ angel peacock’).
1 From the worship of the Pitris was developed in Iran the worship of the Fravashis, who being at first identical with the Pitn's, with the souls of the departed, became by and by a distinct principle. The Fravashi was independent of the circumstances of life or death, an immortal part of the individual which existed before man and outlived him. Not only man was endowed with a Fravashi, but gods too, and the sky, fire, waters, and plants (Orm. Ahr. §§112-113).
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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§ 38. This brings us to speak of a series of myths which have done much towards obscuring the close connection between the Avesta and the Vedic mythologies: I mean the myths about the heavenly life of Yima.
In the Veda Yama, the son of Vivasvat, is the first man and, therefore, the first of the dead, the king of the dead. As such he is the centre of gathering for the departed, and he presides over them in heaven, in the Yamasddanam, as king of men, near Vanwa the king of gods.
His Avesta twin-brother, Yima, the son of Vivanghat, is no longer the first man, as this character had been trans- ferred to another hero, of later growth, Gay6 Maratan ; yet he has kept nearly all the attributes which were derived from his former character : on the one hand he is the first king, and the founder of civilisation ; on the other hand,
* the best mortals’ gather around him in a marvellous palace, in Airyanem Va^d, which appears to be identical with the Yamas&danam from Yama meeting there with Ahura and the gods, and making his people live there a blessed life l . But, by and by, as it was forgotten that Yima was the first man and the first of the dead, it was also forgotten that his people were nothing else than the dead going to their common ancestor above and to the king of heaven : the people in the Vara were no longer recognised as the human race, but became a race of a supernatural character, dif- ferent from those who continued going, day by day, from earth to heaven to join Ahura Mazda 2 .
§ 39. But the life of the world is limited, the struggle is £ not to last for ever, and Ahriman will be defeated at last.
The world was imagined as lasting a long year of twelve millenniums. There had been an old myth, connected with that notion, which made the world end in a frightful winter 3 , to be succeeded by an eternal spring, when the blessed would come down from the Vara of Yima to repeople the earth. But as storm was the ordinary and more dramatic form of the strife, there was another version, according to
* Farg. XIX, a 8 seq.
1 See Farg. II.
9 Cf. Farg. II, Introd. and § 21 seq.
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VENDiDAD.
which the world ended in a storm, and this version became the definitive one.
* The serpent, Ari Dahdka, let loose, takes hold of the world again. As the temporary disappearance of the light was often mythically described either as the sleeping of the god, or as his absence, or death, its reappearance was indi- cative of the awakening of the hero, or his return, or the arrival of a son born to him. Hence came the tales about Keres&spa awakening from his sleep to kill the snake finally 1 ; the tales about Peshdtanu, Aghra£ratha, Khumbya, and others living in remote countries till the day of the last fight is come 2 ; and, lastly, the tales about Saoshyarc/, the son who is to be born to Zarathujtra at the end of time, and to bring eternal light and life to mankind, as his father brought them the law and the truth. This brings us to the question whether any historical reality underlies the legend of Zarathujtra or Zoroaster.
§ 40. Mazdeism has often been called Zoroaster' s religion in the same sense as Islam is called Muhammed's religion, that is, as being the work of a man named Zoroaster, a view which was favoured, not only by the Parsi and Greek accounts, but by the strong unity and symmetry of the whole system. Moreover, as the moral and abstract spirit which pervades Mazdeism is different from the Vedic spirit, and as the word dev a, which means a god in Sanskrit, means a demon in the Avesta, it was thought that Zoro- aster’s work had been a work of reaction against Indian polytheism, in fact, a religious schism. When he lived no one knows, and every one agrees that all that the Parsis and the Greeks tell of him is mere legend, through which no solid historical facts can be arrived at. The question is whether Zoroaster was a man converted into a god, or a god converted into a man. No one who reads, with a mind free from the yoke of classical recollections, I do not say the Book of Zoroaster (which may be charged with being a modern romance of recent invention), but the Avesta itself, will have any doubt that Zoroaster is no less an essential
1 Sec above, p. lxv.
* Bundahis XXX.
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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part of the Mazdean mythology than the son expected to be born to him, at the end of time, to destroy Ahriman
Zoroaster is not described as one who brings new truth and drives away error, but as one who overthrows the demons : he is a smiter of fiends, like Verethraghna, Ap4m Nap4/, Tirtrya, Vayu, or Keresispa, and he is stronger and more valiant than Keresdspa himself 2 ; the difference between him and them is that, whereas they smite the fiend with material weapons, he smites them chiefly with a spiritual one, the word or prayer. We say ‘ chiefly* because the holy word is not his only weapon; he repels the assaults of Ahriman with stones as big as a house which Ahura has given to him s , and which were furnished, no doubt, from the same quarry as the stones which are cast at their enemies by Indra, by Agni, by the Maruts, or by Thor, and which are * the flame, wherewith, as with a stone V the storm god aims at the fiend. Therefore his birth 5 , like the birth of every storm god, is longed for and hailed with joy as the signal of its deliverance by the whole living creation, because it is the end of the dark and arid reign of tfie demon : * In his birth, in his growth did the floods and trees rejoice ; in his birth, in his growth the floods and trees did grow up ; in his birth, in his growth the floods and trees exclaimed with joy V Ahura himself longs for him and fears lest the hero about to be bom may not stand by him : 4 He offered up a sacrifice to Ardvt Sfira An&hita, he, the Maker, Ahura Mazda ; he offered up the Haoma, the Myazda, the Bares- ma, the holy words, he besought her, saying: Vouchsafe me that boon, O high, mighty, undefiled goddess, that I may bring about the son of Pourushaspa, the holy Zara-
1 The same view as to the mythological character of Zoroaster was main- tained. although with different arguments, by Professor Kem in an essay ‘ Over het woord Zarathustra,’ as I see from a short abstract of it which Professor Max Muller kindly wrote for me.
* Yast XIX, 38. 8 Farg. XIX, 4. * Rig-veda II, 30, 4.
0 A singular trait of his birth, according to Pliny, who is on this point in perfect accordance with later Parsi tradition, is that, alone of mortals, he laughed while being bora ; this shows that his native place is in the very same regions where the Vedic Maruts are born, those storm genii ‘ born of the langhter of the lightning * (' I laugh as I pass in thunder ' says the Cloud in Shelley; cf. the Persian Khandah i barq, 'the laughter of the lightning').
• Ya*t XIII, 93.
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vendIdAd.
thurtra, to think according to the law, to speak according to the law, to work according to the law I* Ardvi Suri An&hita granted that boon to him who was offering up libations, sacrificing and beseeching 1 .
Zarathurtra stands by Ahura. The fiends come rushing along from hell to kill him, and fly away terrified by his Az/aren6: Angra Mainyu himself is driven away by the stones he hurls at him 2 . But the great weapon of Zara- thurtra is neither the thunder-stones he hurls, nor the glory with which he is surrounded, it is the Word 2 .
In the voice of the thunder the Greeks recognised the warning of a god which the wise understand, and they worshipped it as *0<raa Aibs iyycAoy, c the Word, messenger of Zeus;* the Romans worshipped it as a goddess, Fama; India adores it as ‘the Voice in the cloud,* Wkk Ambhr*>*i, which issues from the waters, from the forehead of the father, and hurls the deadly arrow against the foe of Brahman. So the word from above is either a weapon that kills, or a revelation that teaches: in the mouth of Zarathurtra it is both : now ‘ he smites down Angra Mainyu with the Ahuna vairya (Honover) as he would do with stones as big as a house, and he burns him up with the Ashem vohu as with melted brass 3 ;* now he converses with Ahura, on the mountain of the holy questions, in the forest of the holy questions 4 . Any storm god, whose voice descends from above to the earth, may become a godlike messenger, a lawgiver, a Zarathurtra. Nor is Zarathurtra the only lawgiver, the only prophet, of whom the Avesta knows : Gay6 Maratan, Yima, the bird Karriptan 6 , each of whom, under different names, forms, and functions, are one and the same being with Zarathurtra, that is to say, the godlike champion in the struggle for light, knew the law as well as Zarathurtra. But as mythology, like language and life, likes to reduce every organ to one function, Zara- thurtra became the titulary lawgiver 6 .
1 Yast V. 18. * Orm. Ahr. § 16a seq. * Yast XVII, 18.
* Farg. XXII, 19. 8 Farg. II, 3, 4a ; Yast XIII, 87.
8 The law is generally known as D&tem vtdaSvo-datem (cf. V, 1); as emanating from Ahura it is Mathra Spenta, * the holy word,' which is the soul of Ahura (Farg. XIX, 14).
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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As he overwhelmed Angra Mainyu during his lifetime by his spell, he is to overwhelm him at the end of time by the hands of a -son yet unborn. ‘ Three times he came near unto his wife Hr6gvi, and three times the seed fell upon the ground. The Ized Neriosengh took what was bright and strong in it and intrusted it to the Ized An&hita.
At the appointed time, it will be united again with a ma- ternal womb : 99,999 Fravashis of the faithful watch over it, lest the fiends destroy it V A maid bathing in the lake Kisava will conceive by it and bring forth the victorious I 1 Saoshya^ / (S6shy6s), who will come from the region of the dawn to free the world from death and decay, from cor- ruption and rottenness, ever living and ever thriving, when the dead shall rise and immortality commence a .
All the features in Zarathurtra point to a god : that the god may have grown up from a man, that pre-existent mythic elements may have gathered around the name of a man, born on earth, and by and by suyrounded the human face with the aureole of a god, may of course be maintained, but only on condition that one may distinctly express what was the real work of Zoroaster. That he raised a new religion against the Vedic religion, and cast down into hell the gods of older days can no longer be maintained, since the gods, the ideas, and the worship of Mazdeism are shown to emanate directly from the old religion, and have nothing more of a reaction against it than Zend has against Sanskrit.
§ 41. The only evidence in favour of the old hypothesis of a religious schism is reduced to the evidence of a few words which might k priori be challenged, as the life of words is not the same as the life of the things they express, the nature of things does not change with the meaning of the syllables which were attached to them for a while, and the history of the world is not a chapter of grammar. And, in fact, the evidence appealed to, when more closely con- sidered, proves to speak against the very theory it is meant
1 Bond. XXXin ; Eznik. The whole of the myth belongs to the Avesta period, as appears from Yast XIII, 61 ; Vendid&d XIX, 5.
* Vast XIX, 89 seq.
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to support. The word Asura, which in the Avesta means 1 the Lord/ and is the name of the supreme God, means ‘ a demon * in the Brahmanical literature ; but in the older religion of the Vedas it is quite as august as in the Avesta, and is applied to the highest deities, and particularly to Varu/za, the Indian brother of Ahura. This shows that when the Iranians and Indians sallied forth from their common native land, the Asura continued for a long time to be the Lord in India as well as in Persia; and the change took place, not in Iran, but in India. The descent of the word da£va from ‘a god* to ‘a demon’ is a mere accident of language. There were in the Indo-Iranian language three words expressive of divinity : Asura, c the Lord/ Ya^ata, ‘ the one who is worthy of sacrifice/ Da£va, ‘ the shining one/ Asura became the name of the supreme God, Ya^ata was the general name of all gods. Now as there were old Indo-Iranian formulae which deprecated the wrath of both men and devas (gods), or invoked the aid of some god against the hate and oppression of both men and devas 1 , that word da£va, which had become obsolete (because Asura and Ya^ata met all the wants of religious language), took by and by from formulae of this kind a dark and fiendish meaning. What favoured the change was the want of a technical word for expressing the general notion of a fiend, a want the more felt as the dualistic idea acquired greater strength and distinctness. Etymology was unable to preserve the Daevas from this degradation, as the root div, ‘to shine/ was lost in Zend, and thus the primitive meaning being forgotten, the word was ready to take any new meaning which chance or necessity should give to it. But only the word descended into hell, not the beings it denoted ; neither Varu^a, nor Mitra, nor the Adityas, nor Agni, nor Soma, in fact none of the old Aryan deities fell or tottered. Though the word Indra is the name of a fiend in the Avesta, the Vedic god it denotes was as bright and as mighty in Iran as in India under the name of Vere- thraghna : and as we do not know the etymological mean-
i
Rig-veda VI, 6a, 8 ; VII, 52,1; VIII, 19, 6 ; Yart X, 34 ; Yasna IX (60).
INTRODUCTION, IV.
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ing of the name, it may have been such epithet as could be applied to a fiend as well as to a god. The same can be said of Nminghaithya. Moreover, both Indra and Nmmghaithya are in the Avesta mere names : neither the AvestS nor old tradition knows .anything about them, which would look very strange, had they been vanquished in a religious struggle, as they should have played the foremost part at the head of the fiends. As to the third comparison estab- lished between the Iranian demon Sauru and the Indian god *Sarva, it fails utterly, as Sauru is the Vedic 5 aru, a symbol of death, and both are therefore beings of the same nature.
§ 42. Therefore, so far as the Vedic religion and the Avesta religion are concerned, there is not the abyss of 1 a schism between them. They are quite different, and must be so, since each of them lived its own life, and living is changing; but nowhere is the link broken that binds both to their common source. Nowhere in the Avesta is the effort of any man felt who, standing against the belief of his people, enforces upon them a new creed, by the ascendancy of his genius, and turns the stream of their thoughts from the bed wherein it had flowed for centuries. There was no religious revolution : there was only a long and slow movement which led, by insensible degrees, the vague and unconscious dualism of the Indo-Iranian religion onwards to the sharply defined dualism of the Magi.
It does not follow hence, of course, that there was nothing left to individual genius in the formation of Mazdeism ; the contrary is evident & priori from the fact that Mazdeism expresses the ideas of a sacerdotal caste. It sprang from the long elaboration of successive generations of priests, and that elaboration is so far from having been the work of one day and of one man that the exact symmetry which is the chief characteristic of Mazdeism is still imperfect in the Avesta on certain most important points. For instance, the opposition of six arch-fiends to the six arch-gods which we find in Plutarch and in the BundahLr was still unknown when the Xth Fargard of the Vendid&d and the XIXth Yart were composed, and the stars were not yet members
[ 4 ]
f
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of the Ormazdean army when the bulk of the VUIth Yart was written.
The reflective spirit that had given rise to Mazdeism never rested, but continued to produce new systems ; and there is hardly any religion in which slow growth and con- tinual change is more apparent. When the Magi had accounted for the existence of evil by the existence of two principles, there arose the question how there could be two principles, and a longing for unity was felt, which found its satisfaction in the assumption that both are derived from one and the same principle. This principle was, according to divers sects, either Space, or Infinite Light, or Boundless Time, or Fate 1 . Of most. of these systems no direct trace is found in the Avesta 2 , yet they existed already in the time of Aristotle 3 .
I They came at last to pure monotheism. Some forty years ago when the Rev. Dr. Wilson was engaged in his controversy with the Parsis, some of his opponents repelled the charge of dualism by denying to Ahriman any real existence, and making him a symbolical personification of bad instincts in man. It was not difficult for the Doctor to show that they were at variance with their sacred books, and critics in Europe occasionally wondered at the progress made by the Parsis in rationalism of the school of Voltaire and Gibbon. Yet there was no European influence at the bottom ; and long before the Parsis had heard of Europe and Christianity, commentators, explaining the myth of Tahmurath, who rode for thirty years on Ahriman as a horse, interpreted the feat of the old legendary king as the
1 AU these four principles are only abstract forms of Ormazd himself, at least in his first naturalistic character of the Heaven God. Heaven is Infinite Space, it is Infinite Light, and by its movement it gives rise to Time and to Fate (Orm. Ahr. §§ 244-359). Time is twofold : there is the limited time that measures the duration of the world (see above, § 39) and lasts 12,000 years, which is Zrvan dareghd-Avad&ta, * the Sovereign Time of the long period and there is * the Boundless Time/ Zrvan akarana (Farg. XIX, 9).
* When Vendtd&d XIX, 9 was written, the Zervanitic system seems to have been, if not fully developed, at least already existent.
* Eudemos (ap. Damascius, ed. Kopp, 384) knows of \p 6 vo» and r 6 vot as the first principles of the Magi; Boundless Time is already transformed into a legendary hero in Berosus (third century b. c.)
INTRODUCTION, V.
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curbing of evil passion and restraining the Ahriman in the heart of man 1 . That idealistic interpretation was current as early as the fifteenth century, and is prevalent now with most of the Dasturs 2 * . To what extent that alteration may have been influenced by Islamism, can hardly be decided ; there are even some faint signs that it began at a time when the old religion was still flourishing ; at any rate, no one can think of ascribing to one man, or to one time, that slow change from dualism to monotheism, which is, however, really deeper and wider than the movement which, in pre- historic times, brought the Magi from an imperfect form of dualism to one more perfect
§ i. According to Parsi tradition the Vendld&d 8 is the only Nosk, out of the twenty-one, that was preserved in its entirety 4 * . This is a statement to which it is difficult to trust ; for, if there is anything that shows how right the Parsis are in admitting that the Avesta is only a collection of fragments, it is just the fragmentary character of the Vendfdad.
The Vendtd&d has often been described as the book of the laws of the Parsis ; it may be more exactly called the code of purification, a description, however, which is itself only so far correct that the laws of purification are the object of the largest part of the book.
1 AogemaidS, ed. Geiger, p. 36, § 92 ; Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, tr. Shea, p. 98. Cf. Revue Critique, 1879, II, 163.
* • The Parsis are now strict monotheists, and whatever may have been the views of former philosophical writings, their one supreme deity is Ahura Mazda. Their views of Angra Mainyu seem to differ in no respect from what is supposed to be the orthodox Christian view of the devil.’ Haug's Essays, and ed. p. 53. Mandelslo, in the seventeenth century, speaks of Parsiism as a monotheistic religion.
8 The word Vendtd&d is a corruption of Vlda6v8-d&tem (d&tem), ‘the anti- demoniac law.' It is sometimes applied to the whole of the law (Vendldfid S&dah).
4 See above, p. xxxii.
f 2
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vendIdad.
The first two chapters deal with mythical matter, with- out any direct connection with the general object of the Vendid&d, and are remnants of an old epic and cosmogonic literature. The first deals with the creations and counter- creations of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu ; the second speaks of Yima, the founder of civilisation. Although there was no particular reason for placing them in the Vendid4d, as soon as they were admitted into it they were put at the beginning, because they referred to the first ages of the world. Three chapters of a mythical character, about the origin of medicine, were put at the end of the book, for want of any better place, but might as well have been kept apart *, as was the so-called Had- hokht Nosk fragment. There is also another mythical Fargard, the nineteenth, which, as it treats of the revelation of the law by Ahura to Zarathurtra, would have been more suitably placed at the beginning of the VendidAd proper, that is, as the third Fatgard.
The other seventeen chapters deal chiefly with religious observances, although mythical fragments, or moral digres- sions, are met with here and there, which are more or less artificially connected with the text, and which were most probably not written along with the passages which they follow 2 .
§ 2 . A rough attempt at regular order appears in these seventeen chapters : nearly all the matter contained in the eight chapters from V to XII deals chiefly with impurity from the dead and the way of dispelling it ; but the subject is again treated, here and there, in other Fargards 3 , and matter irrelevant to the subject has also found its way into these same eight Fargards 4 . Fargards XIII and XIV are devoted to the dog, but must be completed with a part of the XVth. Fargards XVI, XVII, and most part of XVIII deal with several sorts of uncleanness, and their proper
1 As an introduction to a code of laws on physicians ; see Farg. VII, 36-44.
* For instance, Faig. V. 15-30; III, 34-39; 30-33; 33; IV, 47-49.
5 HI, 14-2 » ; 36seq.; XIX, 11-35.
* T 1 ' P«Mges on medicine (VII, 36-44), and on the sea Vouru-kasha (V, 15-30).
INTRODUCTION, V.
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place should rather have been after the Xllth Fargard. Fargard III is devoted to the earth 1 ; Fargard IV stands by itself, as it deals with a matter which is treated only there, namely, civil and penal laws 2 * .
No better order prevails within these several parts: prescriptions on one and the same subject are scattered about through several Fargards, without any subject being treated at once in a full and exhaustive way; and this occasions needless repetitions 9 .
The main cause of this disorder was, of course, that the advantage of order is rarely felt by Orientals ; but it was further promoted by the very form of exposition adopted by the first composers of the Vendfdid. The law is revealed by Ahura in a series of answers to questions put to him by Zarathortra 4 * * * * ; and as these questions are not of a general character, but refer to details, the matter is much broken into fragments, each of which, consisting of a question with its answer, stands by itself, as an independent passage.
We shall treat in the following pages, first of the laws of purification, then of the civil laws, and, lastly, of the penalties both religious and civil.
A.
§ 3. The first object of man is purity, yaosdau : ‘ purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good V
Purity and impurity have not in the VendidAd the exclusively spiritual meaning which they have in our languages: they do not refer to an inward state of the
1 It contains two digressions, the one on funeral laws, the other on hus- bandry. See Farg. Ill, Introd.
1 It contains one digression on physical weal, which must have belonged originally to Farg. III. See Farg. IV, Introd.
* V, 27-30-VII, 6-9 ; V, 45-54 “ VII, 60-69; V, 57-62 VII, 17-22.
4 The outward form of the Vendtd&d has been often compared with that of
the Books of Moses. But in reality, in the Bible, there is no conversation
between God and the lawgiver : the law comes down unasked, and God gives
commands, but gives no answers. In the Vendtdfid, on the contrary, it is the
wish of man, not the will of God, that is the first cause of the revelation. Man must ask of Ahura, who knows everything, and is pleased to answer (XVIII, 13 seq.) ; the law is • the question to Ahura,' &huri frasnd.
4 Farg. V, ai f from Yasna XLVIII (XLVII), 5.
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vexd!dad.
person, but chiefly to a physical state of the body. Im- purity or uncleanness may be^Hescribed as the state of a person or thing that is possessed of the demon ; and the object of purification is to expel the demon.
The principal means by which uncleanness enters man is death, as death is the triumph of the demon.
When a man dies, as soon as the soul has parted from the body, the Dn^f Nasu or Corpse-Dn^ falls upon the dead from the regions of hell, and whoever thenceforth touches the corpse becomes unclean, and makes unclean whomsoever he touches 1 .
The Drqf is expelled from the dead by means of the Sag-did, ‘ the look of the dog : * ‘ a four-eyed dog ’ or 4 a white one with yellow ears’ is brought near the body and is made to look at the dead ; as soon as he has done so, the flees back to hell 2 .
The Dru^f is expelled from the living, whom she has seized through their contact with the dead, by a process of washings with ox’s urine (g6m£z or nlrang) and with water, combined with the Sag-did 3 .
The real import of these ceremonies is shown by the spells which accompany their performance : ‘ Perish, O fiendish Dri^f! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Dn^I Rush away, O Dn^! Perish away, O Dru^ ! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit ! ’
Thus, in the death of a man, there is more involved than the death of one man : the power of death, called forth from hell, threatens from the corpse, as from a stronghold, the whole world of the living, ready to seize whatever may fall within his reach, and ‘ from the dead defiles the living, from the living rushes upon the living.’ When a man dies in a house, there is danger for three days lest somebody else should die in that house 4 .
1 Farg. VII, i seq.
1 In the shape of a fly. * The fly that came to the smell of the dead body was thought to be the corpse-spirit that came to take possession of the dead in the name of Ahriman ’ (Justi, Persien, p. 88).
* Farg. VIII, 35-73 ; IX, 13-36. 4 Saddar 78.
INTRODUCTION, V.
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The notion or feeling, out of which these ceremonies grew, was far from unknown to the other Indo-European peoples : what was peculiar to Mazdeism was that it carried it to an extreme, and preserved a clearer sense of it, while elsewhere it grew dimmer and dimmer, and faded away. In fact, when the Greek, going out of a house where a dead man lay, sprinkled himself with water from the dpbavCov at the door, it was death that he drove away from himself. The Vedic Indian, too, although his rites were intended chiefly for the benefit of the dead, considered himself in danger and, while burning the corpse, cried aloud : 'Away, go away, O Death! injure not our sons and our men !’ (Rig-veda X, 18, i.)
§ 4. As to the rites by means of which the Dr \}g is expelled, they are the performance of myths. There is nothing in worship but what existed before in mythology. What we call a practice is only an imitation of gods, an SpoCaxTis 0c<j>, as man fancies he can bring about the things he wants, by performing the acts which are supposed to have brought about things of the same kind when practised by the gods.
The Parsis, being at a loss to find four-eyed dogs, inter- pret the name as meaning a dog with two spots above the eyes 1 : but it is clear that the two-spotted dog's services are only accepted for want of a four-eyed one, or of a white one with yellow ears, which amounts to saying that there were myths, according to which the death-fiend was driven away by dogs of that description. This reminds one at once of the three-headed Kerberos, watching at the doors of hell, and, still more, of the two brown, four-eyed dogs of Yama, who guard the ways to the realm of death 2 .
The identity of the four-eyed dog of the Parsi with Kerberos and Yama’s dogs appears, moreover, from the Parsi tradition that the yellow-eared dog watches at the
1 In practice they are still less particular : * the Sag-dtd may be performed by a shepherd’s dog, by a house dog, by a Vohunazga dog (see Farg. XIII, 19, n.)» or by a young dog (a dog four months old), Comm, ad Farg. VII, a. As birds of prey are as fiend-smiting as the dog (see above, p. lxxiii, n. 4), they are Nasu-smiters like him, and one may appeal to their services, when there is no dog at hand (see Farg. VII, 3, n. 5).
* Rig-veda X, 14, 10 seq. *
lxxxviii
vend!dAd.
head of the ATinva/ bridge, which leads from this to the next world, and with his barking drives away the fiend from the souls of the holy ones, lest he should drag them to hell 1 .
Wherever the corpse passes by, death walks with it ; all along the way it has gone, from the house to its last resting-place, a spirit of death is breathing and threatening the living. Therefore, no man, no flock, no being whatever that belongs to the world of Ahura, is allowed to pass by that way until the deadly breath, that blows through it, has been blown away to hell 2 . The four-eyed dog is made to go through the way three times, or six times, or nine times, while the priest helps the look of the dog with his spells, dreaded by the Dru£\
§ 5. The use of gdm6z in cleansing the unclean is also derived from old mythic conceptions 3 . The storm floods that cleanse the sky of the dark fiends in it were described in a class of myths as the urine of a gigantic animal in the heavens. As the floods from the bull above drive away the fiend from the god, so they do from man here below, they make him ‘free from the death-demon* (fr&nasu), and the death-fiend flees away hellwards, pursued by the fiend-smiting spell : ‘ Perish thou, O Dru^* . . . , never more to give over to Death the living world of the good spirit I*
§ 6. As uncleanness is nothing else than the contagion of death, it is at its greatest intensity when life is just departing. The Nasu at that moment defiles ten persons around the
1 Gr. Rav. p. 592. Allusions to this myth are found in Farg. XIII, 9, and XIX, 30. The Commentary ad Farg. XIII, 17 has: ‘There are dogs who watch over the earthly regions ; there are others who watch over the fourteen heavenly regions.’ The birth of ihe yellow-eared dog is described in the Rav£ct ( 1 . c.) as follows : * Ormazd, wishing to keep the body of the first man, Gaydmart, from the assaults of Ahriman, who tried to kill him, cried out: “ O thou yellow-eared dog, arise ! ” and directly the dog barked and shook his two ears ; and the unclean Satan and the fiends, when they saw the dreadful looks of the yellow-eared dog, and heard his barking, were sore afraid and fled down to hell.'
* Farg. VIII, 14-22.
* Orm. Ahr. § 124. The use of g&mez has been lately found to be known in Basse-Bretagne (Luzel, Le Nirang des Parsis en Basse-Bretagne, M&usine, 493).
INTRODUCTION, V.
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corpse 1 : when a year is over, the corpse defiles no longer 2 . Thus the notion of uncleanness is quite the reverse of what is thought elsewhere : the corpse, when rotten, is less unclean than the body still all but warm with life ; death defiles least when it looks most hideous, and defiles most when it might look majestic. The cause is that in the latter case the death-demon has just arrived in the fulness of his strength, whereas in the former case time has exhausted his power.
§ 7. As the focus of the contagion is in the corpse, it must be disposed of so that death may not spread abroad. On this point the old Indo-European customs have been completely changed by Mazdeism. The Indo-Europeans either burnt the corpse or buried it : both customs are held to be sacrilegious in the Avesta.
§ 8. This view originated from the notion of the holiness of the elements being pushed to an extreme. The elements, fire, earth, and water are holy, and during the Indo-Iranian period they were already considered so, and in the Vedas ^ they are worshipped as godlike beings. Yet this did not prevent the Indian from burning his dead ; death did not appear to him so decidedly a work of the demon, and the dead man was a traveller to the other world, whom the fire kindly carried to his heavenly abode ‘ on his undecay- ing, flying pinions, wherewith he killed the demons/ The fire was in that, as in the sacrifice, the god that goes from earth to heaven, from man to god, the mediator, the god most friendly to man. In Persia it remains more distant from him ; being an earthly form of the eternal, infinite, godly light 3 , no death, no uncleanness can be allowed to enter it, as it is here below the purest offspring of the good spirit, the purest part of his pure creation. Its only function is to repel the fiends with its bright blazing. In every place where Parsis are settled, an everlasting fire is kept, the Bahr&m fire, which, ‘ preserved by a more than Vestal
J Farg. V, 27 ; cf. n. 5.
* Farg. VIII. 33-34.
• Ignem coelitus delapsum (Ammian. Marcel. XXVII, 6); Cedrenus; Elisaeus j Recogn. Clement. IV, 29 ; Clem. Homil. IX, 6 ; Henry Lord.
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care 1 / and ever fed with perfumes and dry well-blazing wood, whichever side its flames are brought by the wind, it goes and kills thousands and thousands of fiends, as BahrAm does in heaven 2 . If the necessities of life oblige us to
an exile on our hearth, or in the oven of the potter, and it must go thence to the Right-Place of the fire (DAity6 GAtu), the altar of the BahrAm fire, there to be restored to the dignity and rights of its nature 3 .
inflicted upon it : even blowing it with the breath of the £ mouth is a crime 4 ; burning the dead is the most heinous of sins : in the times of Strabo it was a capital crime 5 , and the Avesta expresses the same, when putting it in the number of those sins for which there is no atonement 6 .
Water was looked upon in the same light. Bringing dead matter to it is as bad as bringing it to the fire 7 . The Magi are said to have overthrown a king for having built bath-houses, as they cared more for the cleanness of water than for their own 8 .
§ 9. Not less holy was the earth, or, at least, it became so. There was a goddess who lived in her, Spe/rta Ar- maiti 9 ; no corpse ought to defile her sacred breast : burying the dead is, like burning the dead, a deed for which there is no atonement 10 . It was not always so in Persia : the burning of the dead had been forbidden for
1 J. Fiyer, A New Account of East India and Persia, 1698, p. 265.
* Farg. VIII, 81-96 ; 79-80. Cf. above, p. lxiv.
■ Extinguishing it is a mortal sin (Rav&ets ; Elisaeus; cf. Strabo XV, 14).
4 A custom still existing with the T&zfk, an Iranian tribe in Eastern Peisia (de Khanikoff, Ethnographic de la Perse). Strabo XV, 14. Manu has the same prescription (IV, 53). Cf. Farg. XIV, 8, n. 7.
4 Strabo XV, 14; cf. Herod. HI, 16.
* Farg. 1 , 17; cf. Farg. VIII, 74.
T Farg. VII, 25-27 ; Strabo XV, 14 ; Herod. I, 138.
* King Balash (Josu6 le Stylite, traduction Martin, § xx). It seems as if there were a confusion between Balash and Kav&t ; at any rate, it shows that bathing smacked of heresy. Jews were forbidden to perform the legal ablutions (Fiirst, Culturgeschichte der Juden, 9).
9 See above, p. lxxii.
10 Farg. 1 , 13.
INTRODUCTION, V.
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years 1 , while the burying was still general 2 . Cambyses had roused the indignation of the Persians by burning the corpse of Amasis: yet, years later, Persians still buried their dead. But the priests already felt scruples, and feared to defile a god. Later on, with the ascendancy of the Magian religion, the sacerdotal observances became the general law 3 .
§ io. Therefore the corpse is laid on the summit of a mountain, far from man, from water, from tree, from fire, and from the earth itself, as it is separated from it by a layer of stones or bricks 4 . Special buildings, the Dakhmas, were erected for this purpose 5 . There far from the world the dead were left to lie, beholding the sun 6 .
§ ii. Not every corpse defiles man, but only those of such beings as belong to the world of Ahura. They are the only ones in whose death the demon triumphs. The corpse of an Ahrimanian creature does not defile ; as its life was incarnate death, the spring of death that was in it is dried up with its last breath : it killed while alive, it can
1 From the reign of Cyrus (cf. above, p. li). * Cf. above, p. xlv.
3 Still the worship of the earth seems not to have so deeply penetrated the general religion as the worship of fire. The laws about the disposal of the dead were interpreted by many, it would seem, as intended only to secure the purity of water and fire, and they thought that they might be at peace with religion if they had taken care to buiy the corpse, so that no part of it might be taken by animals to fire or water (Farg. Ill, 41, n. 7).
4 Faig. VI, 44 seq. ; VIII, 10 seq. Cf. IX, n, n. 4. Moreover, the Dakhma is ideally separated from the ground by means of a golden thread, which is supposed to keep it suspended in the air (Rav&et, ap. Spiegel, Uebersetzung des Avesta II, XXXVI).
s ‘ The Dakhma is a round building, and is designated by some writers, '* The Tower of Silence.” A round pit, about six feet deep, is surrounded by an annular stone pavement, about seven feet wide, on which the dead bodies are placed. This place is enclosed all round by a stone wall some twenty feet high, with a small door on one side for taking the body in. The whole is built up of and paved with stone. The pit has communication with three or more closed pits, at some distance into which the rain washes out the liquids and the remains of the dead bodies' (Dadabhai Naoroji, The Manners and Customs of the Parsees, Bombay, 1864, p. 16). Cf. Farg. VI, 50. A Dakhma is the first building the Parsis erect when settling on a new place (Dosabhoy Framjee).
* The Avesta and the Commentator attach great importance to that point : it is as if the dead man's life were thus prolonged, since he can still behold the sun. * Grant us that we may long behold the sun,’ said the Indian Rishi.
VENDtDAD.
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do so no more when dead ; it becomes clean by dying K None of the faithful are defiled by the corpse of an Ashe- maogha or of a Khrafstra. Nay, killing them is a pious work, as it is killing Ahriman himself 2 ,
§ i %. Not only real death makes one unclean, but partial death too. Everything that goes out of the body of man is dead, and becomes the property of the demon. The going breath is unclean, it is forbidden to blow the fire with it 3 , and even to approach the fire without screening it from the contagion with a Pendm 4 . Parings of nails And cut- tings or shavings of hair are unclean, and become weapons in the hands of the demons unless they have been protected by certain rites and spells 5 . Any phenomenon by which the bodily nature is altered, whether accompanied with danger to health or not, was viewed as a work of the demon, and made the person unclean in whom it took place. One of these phenomena, which is a special object of attention in the VendidAd, is the uncleanness of women during their menses. The menses are sent by Ahriman 6 , especially when they last beyond the usual time : therefore a woman, as long as they last, is unclean and possessed of the demon: she must be kept confined, apart from the faithful whom her touch would defile, and from the fire which her very look would injure ; she is not allowed to eat as much as she wishes, as the strength she might acquire would accrue to the fiends. Her food is not given to her from hand to hand, but is passed to her from a distance 7 , in a long leaden spoon. The origin of all these notions is in certain physical instincts, in physiological psychology, which is the reason why they are found among peoples very far removed from one another by race or religion 8 . But they took in Persia a new meaning as they were made a logical part of the whole religious system.
§ 13. A woman that has been just delivered of a child
1 Farg. V, 35 seq.
* See above, p. xc. 5 Farg. XVII.
7 Farg XVI, 15.
* See above, p. lxxiii.
* See Farg. XIV, 8, n. 7.
• Farg. I, 18-19; XVI, n. Cf. Bund. III.
• Cf. Leviticus. See Pliny VII, 13.
INTRODUCTION, V.
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is also unclean \ although it would seem that she ought to be considered pure amongst the pure, since life has been increased by her in the world, and she has enlarged the realm of Ormazd. But the strength of old instincts over- came the drift of new principles. Only the case when the woman has been delivered of a still-born child is examined in the Vendid&d. She is unclean as having been in contact with a dead creature ; and she must first drink g6m£z to wash over the grave in her womb. So utterly unclean is she, that she is not even allowed to drink water, unless she is in danger of death ; and even then, as the sacred element has been defiled, she is liable to the penalty of a Peshd- tanu 1 2 * . It appears from modern customs that the treatment is the same when the child is bom alive : the reason of which is that, in any case, during the first three days after delivery she is in danger of death 8 . A great fire is lighted to keep away the fiends, who use then their utmost efforts to kill her and her child 4 . She is unclean only because the death-fiend is in her.
§ 14. Logic required that the sick man should be treated as an unclean one, that is, as one possessed. Sickness, being sent by Ahriman, ought to be cured like all his other works, by washings and spells. In fact, the medicine of spells was considered the most powerful of all 5 , and although it did not oust the medicine of the lancet and that of drugs, yet it was more highly esteemed and less mistrusted. The commentator on the Vend!d&d very sensibly observes that if it does not relieve, it will surely do no harm 6 , which seems not to have been a matter of course with those who heal by the knife and physic. It
1 Faig. V, 45 seq. * Farg. VII, 70 seq.
9 * When there is a pregnant woman in a house, one must take care that there be (ire continually in it ; when the child is brought forth, one must bum a candle, or, better still, a fire, for three days and three nights, to render the Devs and Drugs unable to harm the child ; for there is great danger during those three days and nights after the birth of the child * (Saddar 16).
* * When the child is being bom, one brapdishes a sword on the four sides, lest fairy Aal kill it* (Polack, Persien I, 233). In Rome, three gods, Interd- dona, Pilumnus, and Deverra, keep her threshold, lest Sylvanus come in and harm her (Augustinus, De Civ. D. VI, 9).
4 Farg. VII, 44. • Ibid. p. 86, n. 1.
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VEND&DAD.
appears from the last Faigard that all or, at least, many diseases might be cured by spells and Barashnfim washing. It appears from Herodotus and Agathias that contagious diseases required the same treatment as uncleanness : the sick man was excluded from the community of the faithful \ until cured and cleansed according to the rites 2 .
§ 15. The unclean are confined in a particular place, apart from all clean persons and objects, the Arm&rt-g&h 3 , which may be described, therefore, as the Dakhma for the living. All the unclean, all those struck with temporary death, the man who has touched dead matter, the woman in her menses, or just delivered of child, the leper 4 , or the man who has made himself unclean for ever by carrying a corpse alone 6 , stay there all the time of their un- cleanness.
§ 16. Thus far for general principles. From the diversity of circumstances arises a system of casuistry, the develop- ment of which may be followed first through the glosses to the Vendid&d, in which the labours of several generations of theologians are embodied, and, later on, through the Rav&ets. We will give a few instances of it, as found in the Vendtdid itself.
The process of the cleansing varies according to the degree of uncleanness ; and, again, the degree of unclean- ness depends on the state of the thing that defiles and the nature of the thing that is defiled.
The uncleanness from the dead is the worst of all, and it is at its utmost when contracted before the Nasu has been expelled from the corpse by the Sag-did 6 : it can- be cured only by means of the most complicated system of cleansing, the nine nights’ Barashnfim 7 .
1 Herod. 1 , 138. 2 Agathias II, 23.
8 The Armest-g&h for women in their menses is called Dasht&nist&n.
4 Herod. 1 . 1 . ; Farg. II, 29.
• Farg. Ill, 21, n. 2.
• Farg. VIII, 35-36 ; 98-99 ; cf. VII, 29-30, and n. 1 to 30.
T Farg. IX. The Barashntim, originally meant to remove the uncleanness from the dead, became a general instrument of holiness. Children when putting on the K6st! (Farg. XVIII, 9, n. 4) perform it to be cleansed from the natural uncleanness they have contracted in the womb of their mothers. It is good for every one to perform it once a year.
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If the Nasu has already been expelled from the corpse, as the defiling power was less, a simple washing once made, the Ghosel, is enough 1 .
The defiling power of the Nasu reaches farther, if the death has just taken place, and if the dying creature occu- pied a higher rank in the scale of beings 2 ; for the more recent the victory of the demon, or the higher the being he has overcome, the stronger he must have been himself.
Menstruous women are cleansed by the Ghosel 3 .
As for things they are more or less deeply defiled ac- cording to their degree of penetrability : metal vessels can be cleansed, earthen vessels cannot 4 * ; leather is more easily cleansed than woven cloth 6 ; dry wood than soft wood 6 . Wet matter is a better conductor of uncleanness than dry matter, and corpses cease to defile after a year 7 .
B.
§ 17. In the cases heretofore reviewed, only religious purposes are concerned. There is another order of laws, in which, although religion interferes, yet it is not at the root; namely, the laws about contracts and assaults, to which the fourth Fargard is devoted, and which are the only remains extant of the civil and penal legislation of Zoroastrianism.
The contracts were divided into two classes, according to their mode of being entered into, and according to the value of their object 8 . As to their mode they are word- contracts or hand-contracts: as to their object, they are sheep-contracts, ox-contracts, man-contracts, or field-con- tracts, which being estimated in money value are contracts to the amount of 3, 13, 500 isttrs, and upwards 9 .
No contract can be made void by the will of one party
1 Farg. VIII, 36. * Farg. V, 37 seq.; VII, 1 seq.
* Farg. XVI, I a. 4 Farg. VII, 73 seq.
5 Farg. VII, 14 seq. • Farg. VII, 38 seq.
7 Farg. VIII, 33 - 34 - * See p. 34, n. 3.
9 An istir (ffrar^p) is as much as four dirhems {ppa^jufj). The dirhem is
estimated by modem tradition a little more than a rupee.
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alone ; he who breaks a contract is obliged to pay the value of the contract next higher in value.
The family and the next of kin are, it would seem, answerable for the fulfilment of a contract, a principle of the old Indo-European civil law K
§ 18. Assaults are of seven degrees : igerepta, avaoiruta®, stroke, sore wound, bloody wound, broken bone, and man- slaughter. The gravity of the guilt does not depend on the gravity of the deed only, but also on its frequency. Each of these seven crimes amounts, by its being repeated with- out having been atoned for, to the crime that immediately follows in the scale, so that an igerepta seven times repeated amounts to manslaughter.
C.
§ 19. Every crime makes the guilty man liable to two penalties, one here below, and another in the next world.
The penalty here below consists of a certain number of stripes with the Aspah£-aJtra or the Sraoshd-£arana 3 .
The unit for heavy penalties is two hundred stripes ; the crime and the criminal thus punished are called Peshd-tanu orTanu-peretha(Parsi: TanAffihr). The two words literally mean, ‘one who pays with his own body,* and ‘payment with one’s body/ and seem to have originally amounted to
1 Farg. IV, 5 seq. * Two different sorts of menaces ; see IV, 54.
* The general formula is literally, 4 Let (the priest ; probably, the Sraosha- varez) strike so many strokes with the Aspah£-astra, so many strokes with the Sraosho-forana.' Astra means in Sanskrit 4 a goad,’ so that Aspahe-astra may mean 4 a horse-goad ; * but Aspendiarji translates it by durra, 4 a thong,' which suits the sense better, and agrees with etymology too ( 4 an instrument to drive a horse, a whip;' a«tra, from the root az, 4 to drive it is the AspahS-astra which is referred to by Sozomenos II, 13; Ifi&atw wpott xaAcrot abrbv ifiatrd- vioay ol ft&yoi (the Sraoshi-varez), 0 ia( 6 fi€voi vpowanfijoai rbw fktov), Sraoshd- Aarana is translated by J&buk, • a whip,* which agrees with the Sanskrit trans- lation of the sf-srdshitaran&m sin, ‘yat tribhir go£armas&sagh&t&is prayas- Jityam bhavati t&vanmatram, a sin to be punished with three strokes with a whip.' It seems to follow that Aspahe-astra and Sraosh 64 arana are one and the same instrument, designated with two names, first in reference to its shape, and then to its use (Sraosh6-£arana meaning 4 the instrument for penalty/ or 4 the instrument of the Sraosh&-varez ? ’). The AspahS-astra is once called as t ra mairya, 4 the astra for the account to be given,* that is, 4 for the payment of the penalty’ (Faig. XVIII, 4),
INTRODUCTION, V.
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'worthy of death, worthiness of death and in effect the word Peshd-tanu is often interpreted in the Pahlavi Com- mentary by margarzin, 'worthy of death.’ But, on the whole, it was attached to the technical meaning of ‘ one who has to receive two hundred strokes with the horse-whip V The lowest penalty in the Vendid&d is five stripes, and the degrees from five stripes to Peshdtanu are ten, fifteen, thirty, fifty, seventy, ninety, two hundred. For instance, Agerepta is punished with five stripes, avaoirirta with ten, stroke with fifteen, sore wound with thirty, bloody wound with fifty, broken bone with seventy, manslaughter with ninety; a second manslaughter, committed without the former being atoned for, is punished with the Peshdtanu penalty. In the same way the six other crimes, repeated eight, or seven, or six, or five, or four, or three times make the committer go through the whole series of penalties up to the Peshdtanu penalty.
§ 20. If one reviews the different crimes described in the Vendidctd, and the respective penalties prescribed for them, one cannot but wonder at first sight at the strange inequality between crime and penalty. Beccaria would have felt un- comfortable while reading the Vendld&d. It is safer to kill a man than to serve bad food to a shepherd’s dog, for the manslayer gets off with ninety stripes, whereas the bad master is at once a Peshdtanu a , and will receive two hun- dred stripes. Two hundred stripes are awarded if one tills land in which a corpse has been buried within the year 1 * 3 , if a woman just delivered of child drinks water 4 S , if one suppresses the menses of a woman 9 , if one performs a sacrifice in a house where a man has just died e , if one neglects fastening the corpse of a dead man so that birds or dogs may not take dead matter to trees and rivers 7 . Two hundred stripes if one throws on the ground a bone of a man’s corpse, of a dog’s carcase as big as two ribs, four
1 Farg. IV, ao. si, 34, 35, a8, 39, 3». 33. 35. 3<5. 38, 39, 41.4a; V, 44; VI,
$, 9, 19, 48, Ac.
• Farg. IV, 40, and XIII, 34.
• Farg.Vn, 70 seq.
• Farg. V, 39.
[4]
* Farg. VI, 5.
• Farg. XVI, 13 »eq. 7 Farg. VI, 47 seq.
S
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hundred if one throws a bone as big as a breast bone, six hundred if one throws a skull, one thousand if the whole corpse 1 . Four hundred stripes if one, being in a state of uncleanness, touches water or trees 2 , four hundred if one covers with cloth a dead man’s feet, six hundred if one covers his legs, eight hundred if the whole body 3 . Five hundred stripes for killing a whelp, six hundred for killing a stray dog, seven hundred for a house dog, eight hundred for a shepherd’s dog 4 , one thousand stripes for killing a Vanh¶ dog, ten thousand stripes for killing a water dog 5 .
Capital punishment is expressly pronounced only against the false cleanser 0 and the 1 carrier alone V
Yet any one who bethinks himself of the spirit of the old Aiyan legislation will easily conceive that there may be in its eyes many crimes more heinous, and to be punished more severely, than manslaughter: offences against man injure only one man ; offences against gods endanger all mankind. No one should wonder at the unqualified cleanser being put to death who reads Demosthenes’ Neaera ; the Persians who defiled the ground by burying a cqrpse were not more severely punished than the Greeks were for de- filing with corpses the holy ground of Delos 8 , or than the conquerors at Arginousae ; nor would the Athenians, who put to death Atarbes 9 , have much stared at the awful revenge taken for the murder of the sacred dog. There is hardly any prescription in the Vendid&d, however odd and absurd it may seem, but has its counterpart or its explana- tion in other Aryan legislations : if we had a Latin or a Greek Vendid&d, I doubt whether it would look more rational.
§ a i. Yet, if theoretically the very absurdity of its prin- ciples is nothing peculiar to the Mazdean law, nay, is a proof of its authenticity, it may be doubted whether it could
1 Farg. VI. 10 seq. a Farg. VIII, 104 seq.
* Farg. VIII, 33 seq. 4 Farg. XIII, 8 seq.
8 Farg. XIV, 1 seq. 8 Farg. IX, 47 seq.
T Farg- in, 14 seq. Yet there were other capital crimes. See below, § 33.
1 Diodor. XII, 58. 9 Aelianus, Hist. Var. V, 1 7.
INTRODUCTION, V.
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ever have been actually applied in the form stated in the texts. It may be doubted whether the murder of a shepherd’s dog could have been actually punished with eight hundred stripes, much more whether the murder of a water dog could have been really punished with ten thousand stripes, unless we suppose that human endurance was different in ancient Persia from what it is elsewhere, or even in modern Persia herself 1 . Now as we see that in modem tradition bodily punishment is estimated in money value, that is to say, converted into fines, a conversion which is alluded to in the Pahlavi translation 2 , it may readily be admitted that as early as the time of the last edition of the Vendld&d, that conversion had already been made. In the Rav&ets, two hundred stripes, or a TaneLftihr, are estimated as equal to three hundred istirs or twelve hundred dirhems, or thirteen hundred and fifty rupees ; a stripe is therefore about equal to six rupees 8 . How far that system prevailed in practice, whether the guilty might take advantage of this commuta- tion of his own accord, or only with the assent of the judge, we cannot decide. It is very likely that the riches of the fire-temples came for the most part from that source, and that the sound of the dirhems often made the Sraoshd- £arana fall from the hands of the Mobeds. That the system of financial penalties did not, however, suppress the system of bodily penalties, appears from the customs of the Parsis who apply both, and from the Pahlavi Commentary which expressly distinguishes three sorts of atonement : the atone- ment by money (khv&stak), the atonement by the Sra- oshd-forana, and the atonement by cleansing.
§ 22 . This third element of atonement is strictly religious. It consists in repentance, which is manifested by avowal of the guilt and by the recital of a formula of repentance,
1 In the time of Chardin, the number of stripes inflicted on the guilty never exceeded three hundred ; in the old German law, two hundred ; in the Hebrew law, forty.
* Ad Farg. XIV, a.
* In later Pars! ism every sin (and every good deed) has its value in money ' fixed, and may thus be weighed in the scales of Rashnu. If the number of sin dirhems outweigh the number of the good deed dirhems, the soul is saved. Herodotus noticed the same principle of compensation in the Persian law of his time ( 1 , 137 ; cf. VII, 194).
s 2
c
vend!dad.
the Patet. The performance of the Patet has only a religious effect : it saves the sinner from penalties in the other world, but not from those here below : it delivers him before God, but not before man. When the sacrilegious cleanser has repented his sin, he is not the less flayed and beheaded, but his soul is saved 1 . Yet, although it has no efficacy in causing the sin to be remitted, the absence of it has power to cause it to be aggravated 2 .
§ 23. Thus far for sins that can be atoned for. There are some that are an&peretha, ‘inexpiable,* which means, as it seems, that they are punished with death here below, and with torments in the other world.
Amongst the an&peretha sins are named the burning of the dead, the burying of the dead 3 , the eating dead matter 4 , unnatural sin 5 , and self-pollution 8 . Although it is not expressly declared that these sins were punished with death, yet we know it of several of them, either from Greek accounts or from Parsi tradition. There are also whole classes of sinners whose life, it would seem, can be taken by any one who detects them in the act, such as the courtezan, the highwayman, the Sodomite, and the corpse- burner 7 .
§ 24. Such are the most important principles of the Maz- dean law that can be gathered from the Vendid&d. These details, incomplete as they are, may give us an idea, if not of the Sassanian practice, at least of the Sassanian ideal. That it was an ideal which intended to pass into practice, we know from the religious wars against Armenia, and from the fact that very often the superintendence of jus- tice and the highest offices of the state were committed to Mobeds.
We must now add a few words on the plan of the fol- lowing translation. As to our method we beg to refer to the second chapter above. It rests on the Parsi tradition, corrected or confirmed by the comparative method. The
1 Farg. IX, 49, n. ; cf. Ill, ao seq. * Farg. IV, ao, *4, a8, 3a, 35, &c.
1 Farg. I, 13, 17 ; Strabo XV, 14. 4 Farg. VII, 33 seq.
* Farg. I, ia ; cf. VIII, 33. • Farg. VIII, 37.
1 See p. hi, n. 1 ; Farg. XVIII, 64.
INTRODUCTION, V.
Cl
Parsi tradition is found in the Pahlavi Commentary \ the understanding of which was facilitated to us first by the Gujarathi translation and paraphrase of Aspendi&iji a , and by a Persian transliteration and translation belonging to the Haug collection in Munich 1 * 3 , for the use of which we were indebted to the obliging kindness of the Director of the State Library in Munich, Professor von Halm. The Raviets and the Saddar 4 5 frequently gave us valuable information as to the traditional meaning of doubtful pas- sages. As for the works of European scholars, we are much indebted to the Commentary on the Avesta by Pro- fessor Spiegel, and to the translations in the second edition of Martin Haug*s Essays.
We have followed the text of the 'Avesta as given by Westergaard ; the division into paragraphs is according to Westergaard; but we have given in brackets the corre- sponding divisions of Professor Spiegel's edition.
Many passages in the Vendfdid S&dah are mere quota- tions from the Pahlavi Commentary which have crept into the SSdah text : we have not admitted them into the text. They are generally known to be spurious from their not being translated in the Commentary 6 : yet the absence of a Pahlavi translation is not always an unmistakable sign of such spuriousness. Sometimes the translation has been lost in our manuscripts, or omitted as having already been given in identical or nearly identical terms. When we thought
1 Our quotations refer to the text given in Spiegel’s edition, but corrected after the London manuscript.
1 Bombay, 184a, a vols. in 8°.
* Unfortunately the copy is incomplete : there are two lacunae, one from I, 1 1 to the end of the chapter ; the other, more extensive, from VI, 26 to IX. The perfect accordance of this Persian translation with the Gujarathi of Aspen- di&iji shows that both are derived from one and the same source. Their accordance is striking even in mistakes; for instance, the Pahlavi av&st&r a transliteration of the Zend a-v&stra, ‘ without pastures* (VII, 28), is misread by the Persian translator ‘he who wishes,’
owing to the ambiguity of the Pahlavi letter /-o (av or kv), and it is translated by Aspendi&iji JTihinar, • the wisher.’
4 The prose Saddar (as found in the Great Rav&et), which differs considerably from the Saddar in verse, as translated by Hyde.
5 Without speaking of their not being connected with the context. See
Farg. I, 4, 15, 20 ; II, 6, 20 ; V, 1 ; VII, 53-54.
Cll
vendIdAd.
that this was the case, we have admitted the untranslated passages into the text, but in brackets \
We have divided the principal Fargards into several sections according to the matter they contain : this divi- sion, which is meant as an attempt to resolve the Vendidid into its primitive fragments, has, of course, no traditional authority, the divisions into paragraphs being the only ones that rest upon the authority of the manuscripts.
The translation will be found, in many passages, to differ greatly from the translations published heretofore 2 . The nature of this series of translations did not allow us to give full justificatory notes, but we have endeavoured in most cases to make the explanatory notes account to scholars for the new meanings we have adopted, and, in some cases, we hope that the original text, read anew, will by itself justify our translation 3 .
We must not conclude this introduction without ten- dering our warmest thanks to Mr. E. W. West, who kindly revised the MS. of the translation before it went to press, and who has, we hope, succeeded in making our often imperfect English more acceptable to English readers.
Paris,
November, 1879.
JAMES DARMESTETER.
1 Faig. VII, 3 ; VIII, 95. Formulae and enumerations are often left untrans- lated, although they must be considered part of the text (VIII, 7a; XI, 9, ia ; XX, 6, &c.)
2 Complete translations of the Vendidad have been published by Anquetil Dluperron in France (Paris, 1771), by Professor Spiegel in Germany (Leipzig, 1852), by Canon de Harlez in Belgium (Louvain, 187 7). The translation of Professor Spiegel was translated into English by Professor Bleeck, who added useful information frominedited Gujarathi translations (Hertford, 1864V
8 The following is a list of the principal abbreviations used in this volume : —
Asp. = Aspendi&iji’s translation.
Bund. = Bundahis ; Arabic numbers refer to the chapter (according to Justi’s edition) ; Roman numbers refer to the page and line.
Comm. = The Pahlavi Commentary.
Gr. Rav. = Le Grand Ravaet (in the Biblioth&que Nationale in Paris, Supple- ment Persan, No. 47).
Orm. Ahr. = Ormazd et Ahriman, Paris, Vieweg, 1877.
vendIdAd.
vendIdAd.
Fargard I.
This chapter is an enumeration of sixteen lands created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues created in opposition by Angra Mainyu.
Many attempts have been made, not only to identify these six- teen lands, but also to draw historical conclusions from their order of succession, as representing the actual order of the migrations and settlements of the old Iranian tribes \ But there is nothing in the text that would authorise us to look to it even for legendary records, much less for real history. We have here nothing more than a geographical description of Iran, such as might be expected in a religious work like the Vendfd&d, that is to say, one that contains mythical lands as well as real countries. It is not easy to decide with perfect certainty, in every case, whether we have to do with a land of the former or of the latter kind, owing partly to our deficient knowledge of the geography of ancient Iran, partly to the fact that names, originally belonging to mythical lands, are often in later times attached to real ones.
Of these sixteen lands there are certainly nine which have really existed, and of which we know the geographical position, as we are able to follow their names from the records of the Achaemenian kings or the works of classical writers down to the map of modern Iran. They are the following : —
1 Rhode, Die heilige Sage des Zendvolks, p. 6 1 ; Heeren, Ideen zur Geschichte, I, p. 498 ; Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde I, p. 526 ; Haug in Bunsen's work, Aegypten's Stellung, V, and part, p. 104; Kiepert, Monatsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1856, p. 621. — New light was thrown on this record by M. Br£al in his paper ‘De la g^ographie de 1 ' A vesta' (in the Melanges de mytho- logie et de linguistique, p. 187 seq.)
[4] B
2
vendIdAd.
ZEND NAME.
OLD PERSIAN.
GREEK.
MODERN NAME.
Sughdha (2)
Suguda
IZoydiavT)
(Samarkand)
Mduru (3)
Margu
Mapyiavrj
Merv
Bikhdhi (4)
Bakhtri
Barer pa
Balkh
Hardyu (6)
Haraiva
“Aptta
Hari-rfid ^
Vehrkdna(9)
Vark&na
' Y pKavla
Gorgin
Harahvaiti (10)
Harauvati
*A pax<oro£
Harfit
Ha6tuma#t (1 1)
’ETVfiavdpos
Helmend
Ragha(i2)
Raga
*Payai
Rai*
Hapta hittdu (15)
Hi/idavas
*1 vdol
(Pafi^b)
The real existence of Nis&ya (5) is certain, although its position cannot be exactly determined (see the note to § 8).
For the other lands we are confined for information to the Pahlavi Commentary. Aakhra( 1 3) is only transliterated, whether the name was then too much known to require any further explana- tion or too little to allow of any. Urva (8) is described as being Masdn (‘the land of Masdn* or ‘the land of the Great*), a name which applied, in the Sassanian ages, to the land around Ispahan (Firdausi, ed. Mohl,V, 270).
For ‘Varena, the four-cornered* (14), the Commentary hesitates between the Padashkhv&rgar mountains (the Elborz) and Kirm&n, a hesitation easily accounted for by the fact that Varena is the seat of the struggle between A zis Dah&ka and ThraStaona, between the storm serpent and the storm god, and was formerly ‘the four- sided Heaven* (see Introd. IV, 12,23). Modern tradition decides in favour of Padashkhvdrgar, probably because the serpent was at last bound to Demavand, the highest peak in that chain. The claims of Kirm&n were probably founded on the popular etymology of its name, 4 the land of snakes.’
‘ VaSkereta, of the evil shadows* (8), is identified with Kapul (Cabul) ; whether rightly or wrongly, we are unable to decide ; yet, as it is spoken of only as the seat of the adventures of Kere- saspa (see Introd. IV, 2 1), it may be suspected that this assimilation rests merely on the fact that, in later tradition, the legend of Kere- s&spa was localised in the table-land of Peshyans&i, in Kabulistan (Bund. XXX).
In the enumeration there is no apparent order whatever, and Ormazd, in his creations, seems to travel all over the map, forward and backward, without the slightest regard to the cardinal points. Yet, the starting point and the final point have not been arbitrarily chosen: the first land created was ‘the Aiiyana Va^d by the Vanguhi Daitya/ and the last was the land by the Rangha. Now,
FARGARD I.
3
the Vanguhi and the Rangha were originally the celestial rivers that came down from heaven (as two heavenly Ganges) to surround the earth, the one in the east, the other in the west (Bund. XX) ; this is why the creation begins with a land by the Vanguhi and ends with a land by the Rangha.
In the Sassanian ages, when the Tigris was definitively the border of Iran in the west, the Rangha was identified with it, and the sixteenth land is accordingly described in the Commentary as being Arvast&n-i-Rflm, or Roman Mesopotamia. But all the Avesta passages in which the Rangha is cited refer to its mythical nature, as the river in the far-off horizon, as the surrounding Okeanos, and, now and then, still resembling its Vedic homonym, the Rasfi, as the river that divides the gods from the fiends.
The first land, the Airyana Va 6^6 by the Vanguhi D&itya, remained to the last a mythical region. It was originally the abode of Yima and of the righteous, that is to say, a particular form of paradise (see Introd. IV, 38, and Farg. II). Later on, it was looked for in the countries north of Adarbaijan, probably in order that it should be as near as possible to the seat of the Zoroastrian religion, yet without losing its supernatural character by the counter-evidence of facts. This brought about the division of the Vanguhi Dfiitya into two rivers: as the Airyana Va££6 was localised in the country north of Adarbaijan, the river in it must become identified with the Araxes (Aras ) ; but, at the same time, it continued to surround the world eastward under the name of Veh (Vanguhi), which was the Sassanian name of the Oxus — Indus 1 * * * * * * . It seems that in the time of Herodotus, the Araxes and the Oxus were considered one and the same river*, as the Oxus and the Indus were later on; this would account for his strange statement that the Araxes, which is con- fessedly with him the Oxus or Yaxartes, springs from the land of the Matianians, like the Gyndes, and flows eastwards (I, 202 ; IV, 40; cf. Ill, 36; IV, 1 1) ; and, at the same time, this would account both for how the Airyana Va6^6 could be localised in the basin of the Araxes and how the Oxus could flow eastwards to fall into the Arabian sea 8 .
1 The Oxus and the Indus were believed to be one and the same
river (Bund. 1 . c.; see Garrez, Journal Asiatique, 1869, II, 195 seq.)
* Running under the Caspian sea, as Arethusa runs under the
Sicilian sea and the Rangha itself under the Persian gulf (Bund.
XX ; cf. Garrez 1 . c.)
8 Whether in the time when this Fargard was written, the Airyana
B 2
4
vendJdAd.
It follows hence that no historical conclusions can be drawn from this description : it was necessary that it should begin with the Vanguhi and end with the Rangha. To look to it for an account of geographical migrations, is converting cosmology into history.
Of the counter-creations of Angra Mainyu there is little to be said: they are different vices and plagues, which are generally unconnected with the country to the creation of which they answer. Some of them are expressed by &ra£ \ry ty*va 9 the meaning of which is doubtful or unknown.
If we assume that only lands beldnging to the Iranian world were admitted into the list, the mention of die Seven Rivers would indicate that the first Fargard was not composed earlier than the time when the basin of the Indus became a part of Iran, that is, not earlier than the reign of Darius the First
1. Ahura Mazda 1 spake unto Spitama* Zara- thujtra 8 , saying :
2. I have made every land dear to its dwellers, even though it had no charms whatever in it 4 : had I not made every land dear to its dwellers, even though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world would have invaded the Airyana Va^*6 5 .
3 (5). The first of the good lands and countries
Va6^6 was still believed to be in the far-off lands of the rising sun, or already on the banks of the Aras, we leave undecided.
1 See Introd. IV, 4.
* Literally ‘the most beneficent,' an epithet of Zarathurtra, which was later mistaken for a family name, ‘ the Spitamide.’
8 See Introd. IV, 40.
4 ‘Every one fancies that the land where he is bom and has been brought up is the best and fairest land that I have created. 1 (Comm.)
5 See following clause. Clause 2 belongs to the Commentary ;
it is composed of quotations that illustrate the alternative process of the 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.’ ' '
FARGARD I.
5
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Airyana Va^fd 1 , by the good river Diitya 2 .
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the serpent in the river 3 and winter, a work of the Dadvas 4 .
4 (9). There are ten winter months there, two summer months * ; and those are cold for the waters # , cold for the earth, cold for the trees 7 . Winter falls there, with the worst of its plagues.
5 (13). The second of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the plains* in Sughdha*.
1 See the Introd. to the Fargard.
* ‘ The good D&itya.’ ‘ The Diittk (Diitya) comes from IrSn V^f (Airyana Va6^6), it flows through the mountains of GoiyistSn (Georgia,’ Bund. p. 51, 19). It was therefore, in the time of the Sassanides, a name of the Araxes.
* ‘There are many Khrafstras in the Dfiitfk, as it is said. The Diittk fall of Khrafstras ’ (Bund. p. 51, 20). The serpent in the river was originally the mythical Serpent, Arif, who overthrew and killed the king of Irin V&g, Yima (see Introd. IV, 18) ; then it was identified, as appears from the Bundahif, with the snakes that abound on the banks of the Araxes (Morier, A Second Journey, p. 250).
4 As Irin V6^ is a place of refuge for mankind and all life from the winter that is to destroy the world (see Farg. II, 2 1 seq.), winter was thought, by a mythical misunderstanding, to be the counter-creation of Irin V&g : hence the glacial description of that strange paradise (see the following clause).
5 Vendidid Sidah : * It is known that [in the ordinary course of nature] there are seven months of summer and five of winter’ (see Bund. XXV).
6 Some say : ‘Even those two months of summer are cold for the waters . • (Comm.; cf. Mainy6-i-khard XLIV, 20, and above, n. 4).
7 Vend. S&dah : ‘There reigns the core and heart of winter.’
8 Doubtful : possibly the name of a river (the Zarafshand).
9 Suguda; Sogdiana.
6
vendIdad.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the fly Skaitya \ which brings death to the cattle.
6(17). The third of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Mduru *.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft sinful lusts s .
7 (21). The fourth of the good lands and coun- tries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful B&khdhi 1 * * 4 * * with high-lifted banners.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the Bravara ®.
8 (25). The fifth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Nis&ya®, that lies between M6uru and B&khdhi.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the sin of unbelief 7 .
9 (29). The sixth of the good lands and countries
1 A word unknown : possibly * the cattle fly.’ It is a fly that hides itself among the com and the fodder, and thence stings with a venomous sting the ox that eats of it (Comm, and Asp.)
* Margu; Margiana; Merv.
* Translated according to the Comm, and Asp.
4 Bakhtri ; Bactra ; Balkh.
' ‘ The corn-carrying ants ’ (Asp. ; cf. Farg. XIV, 5).
* There were several towns of this name, but none between Mduru and Bakhdhi. But the sentence may be translated also : ‘ Nisaya between which and Bakhdhi Mduru lies,’ which would point to Nurata, the capital of Parthia (Uapdavvura ap. Isid. of Charax 12); cf. Pliny 6, 25 (29).
7 ‘ One must believe in the law, and have no doubt whatever about it in the heart, and firmly believe that the good and right law that Ormazd sent to the world is the same law that was brought to us by Zardmt ’ (Saddar 1).
FARGARD I.
7
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Hardy u 1 with its lake *.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the stained mosquito ®.
10 (33)* The seventh of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Vadkereta 4 , of the evil shadows.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the Pairika Knathaiti, who clave unto Keres&spa 6 .
11 (37). The eighth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Urva of the rich pastures ®.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the sin of pride 7 .
12 (41). The ninth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Khne«ta in Vehrkina 8 .
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft a sin for which there is no atonement, the unnatural sin ®.
T 3 (45)' The tenth of the good lands and . countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful Harahvaiti 10 .
1 Haraiva; Areia; the basin of the Hari river, or Herat.
* Doubtful. * Doubtful.
4 ‘ Kapul ’ (Comm. ; see the Introd. to the Fargard).
* See Introd. IV, ar.
* According to Asp. Tus (in Khorasan); more probably the land around Ispahan. See the Introd. to the Fargard.
7 Or better, tyranny : 4 the great are proud there ’ (Comm.)
8 Vark&na; Hyrcania. *Khne»ta is a river in Vehrk&na’ (Comm.); consequently the river Gorg&n.
8 See Farg. VIII, 31. 10 Harauvati; ’A p&xvnf, Harfit.
8
vend!dad.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft a sin for which there is no atonement, the burying of the dead x .
14 (49). The eleventh of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the bright, glorious Ha£tuma«t 1 2 .
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the evil witchcraft of the Y dtus 3 .
15 (53). And this is how the Yitu’s nature shows itself : it shows itself by the look 4 * ; and then, when- ever the wizard goes and howls forth his spells 6 , most deadly works of witchcraft go forth •.
16 (59). The twelfth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Ragha of the three races 7 8 .
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the sin of utter unbelief®.
1 7 (63). The thirteenth of the good lands and
1 See Farg. Ill, 36 seq.
* The basin of the ’Erv/uivfyor or Erymanthus ; now Helmend. Cf. Farg. XIX, 39.
* The wizards ; see Introd. IV, 20. 4 The evil eye.
8 As a rrfijt. Witchcraft is exercised either by the eye or by the voice (Asp.)
* Vendidid Sadah : ‘Then they come forth to kill and to strike to the heart.’ A gloss cites, as productions of the wizard, ‘ snow and hail’ (cf. Hippocrates, De Morbo Sacro 1, and Pausanias 2,
34, 4). To that gloss seems to belong the corrupt Zend sentence that follows, and that may mean 'they increase the plague of locusts’ (cf. Farg. VII, 26).
7 Rai'. See Introd. Ill, 15.
8 ‘ They doubt themselves and cause other people to doubt ’ (Comm.)
FARGARD I.
9
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Aakhra 1 .
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft a sin for which there is no atonement, the burning of corpses 2 .
18 (67). The fourteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the four-cornered Varena 3 , for which was born Thra£- taona, who smote Am Dahika.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft abnormal issues in women 4 and the oppression of foreign rulers *.
19 (72). The fifteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda,' created, was the Seven Rivers*.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft abnormal issues in women and excessive heat.
20 (76). The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the land by the floods of the Rangha 7 , where people live without a head 8 .
1 A land unknown. Asp.: China, which is certainly wrong. There was a town of that name in Khorasan (ATarkh).
2 See Farg. VIII, 73.
* See the Introd. to the Farg. 4 Farg. XVI, 1 1 seq.
5 Possibly an allusion to Azis Dahdka (Zohak), who, as a king, represents the foreign conqueror (in later tradition the T&zi or Arab ; possibly in older tradition the Assyrian).
6 The basin of the affluents of the Indus, the modern Pafi£&b (=the Five Rivers).
7 ‘ Arvastdn-i-RGm (Roman Mesopotamia)/ (Comm.; see the Introd. to the Farg.)
8 It is interpreted in a figurative sense as meaning * people who
IO
VENDIDAD.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft winter, a work of the Daevas 1 .
21 (81). There are still other lands and coun- tries, beautiful and deep, desirable and bright, and thriving.
Fargard II.
Yima (Gamshdd).
This Fargard may be divided into two parts.
First part (1-20). Ahura Mazda proposes to Yima, the son of Vivanghat, to receive the law from him and to bring it to men. On his refusal, he bids him keep his creatures and make them prosper. Yima accordingly makes them thrive and increase, keeps death and disease away from them, and three times enlarges the earth, which had become* too narrow for its inhabitants.
Second part (2 1 to the end). On the approach of a dire winter, which is to destroy every living creature, Yima, being advised by Ahura, builds a Vara to keep there the seeds of every kind of animals and plants, and the blessed live there a most happy life under his rule.
The tale in the first part refers to Yima as the first man, the first king, and the founder of civilisation (see Introd. IV, 38); the tale in
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 in the Sassanian ages to the non-Mazdean people of Arvastdn-i-ROm. I think we must adopt the literal meaning, and recognise in this passage the source, or at least the oldest form, of those tales about people without a head, with eyes on their shoulders, which Pliny received from the half-Persian Ctesias (Hist. N. VII, 2 ; V, 8; cf. Aul. Gell. IX, 4; Sanct. August. De Civit. Dei, XVI, 8). Persian geographers mention such people, they place them in the Oriental islands near China, whence they sent ambassadors to the Khan of the Tatars (Ouseley, Catalogue). The mythical origin of those tales may be traced in Indian and Greek mythology (Orm. Ahr. § 222 ; cf. Pausanias IX, 20).
1 Vendtd&d Sddah : * And the oppression of the land that comes from taoaa(?).’
FARGARD II.
II
the second part is a combination of the myths of Yima, as the first dead and the king of the dead over whom he rules in a region of bliss, and of old myths about the end of the world. The world, lasting a long year of twelve millenniums, was to end by a dire winter, like the Eddie Fimbul winter, to be followed by an everlast- ing spring, when men, sent back to earth from the heavens, should enjoy, in an eternal earthly life, the same happiness that they had enjoyed after their death in the realm of Yima. But as in the definitive form which was taken by Mazdean cosmology the world was made to end by fire, its destruction by winter was no longer the last incident of its life, and therefore, the Var of Yima, instead of remaining, as it was originally, the paradise that gives back to earth its inhabitants, came to be nothing more than a sort of Noah's ark (see Introd. IV, 39, and Orm. Ahr. §§ 94, 131, 184, 185).
1.
1. Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda :
O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One !
Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zara- thurtra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse l , whom thou didst teach the law of Ahura, the law of Zarathurtra ?
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered :
The fair Yima, the great shepherd, O holy Zara- thartra ! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zarathurtra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the law of Ahura, the law of Zarathurtra.
3 (7). Unto him, O Zarathurtra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying : ‘ Well, fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer of my law ! ’
And the fair Yima, O Zarathurtra, replied unto me, saying :
1 ‘ On the law ’ (Comm.)
12
vendIdAd.
‘ I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy law V
4 (i i). Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathurtra :
4 Since thou wantest not to be the preacher and the bearer of my law, then make thou my worlds thrive, make my worlds increase : undertake thou to nourish, to rule, and to watch over my world.’
5 (14). And the fair Yima replied unto me, O ZarathuJtra, saying:
‘Yes! I will make thy worlds thrive, I will make thy worlds increase. Yes! I will nourish, and rule, and watch over thy world. There shall be, while I am king, neither cold wind nor hot wind, neither disease nor death.’
7 (17)*. Then I, Ahura Mazda, brought two implements unto him : a golden ring and a poniard inlaid with gold®. Behold, here Yima bears the royal sway!
8 (20). Thus, under the sway of Yima, three hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and
1 In the Vedas, Yama, as the first man, is the first priest too ; he brought worship here below as well as life, and ‘ first he stretched out the thread of sacrifice.’ Yima had once the same right as his Indian brother to the title of a founder of religion : he lost it as, in the course of the development of Mazdeism, Zarathurtra became the titular law-giver (cf. Introd. IV, 40; Orm. Ahr. § 156).
* The § 6 is composed of unconnected Zend quotations, that 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 (?).’
* As the symbol and the instrument of sovereignty. ‘He reigned supreme by die strength of the ring and of the poniard ’ (Asp.)
FARGARD II.
13
dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was no more room for flocks, herds, and men.
9. Then I warned the fair Yima, saying : 4 O fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is no more room for flocks, herds, and men/
10. Then Yima stepped forward, towards the luminous space, southwards, to meet the sun \ and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus :
4 O Spe/zta Armaiti 2 , kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men/
11. And Yima made the earth grow larger by one-third than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will and wish, as many as he wished 3 .
1 Thence is derived the following tradition recorded by G. du Chinon : 1 Ils en nomment un qui s’allait tous les jours promener dans le Ciel du Soleil d’oh il aportait la sciance des Astres, aprez les avoir visits de si prez. Ils nomment ce grand personnage Gemachid’ (Relations nouvelles du Levant, Lyon, 1671, p. 478). There is no direct connexion, as it seems, between the two acts of Yima, namely, between his going to the heaven of the sun and his enlarging the surface of the earth. The meaning of the first is given, perhaps, by the tale about the dream of Cyrus : ‘ He saw in a dream the sun at his feet : thrice he tried vainly to seize it with his hands, as the sun was rolling and sliding away. The Magi said to him that the threefold effort to seize the sun presaged to him a reign of thirty years' (Dino ap. Cicero, De Divin. I, 23). Yima goes three times to the sun, to take thence royal power for three times three hundred years. In Aryan mythology, the sun is, as is well known, the symbol and source of royalty: Persian kings in particular are * the brothers of the sun/
* The genius of the earth (see Introd. IV, 33).
* The happiness which Yima made reign on the earth is also
14
vendIdad.
12 (23). 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 no more room for flocks, herds, and men.
13. And I warned the fair Yima, saying : ‘ O fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is no more room for flocks, herds, and men.’
14. Then Yima stepped forward, towards the luminous space, southwards, to meet the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus :
‘O Spewta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men/
15. And Yima made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will and wish, as many as he wished.
16 (26). 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 no more room for flocks, herds, and men.
17(28). And I warned the fair Yima, saying: ‘O fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, the earth has be- come full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is no more room for flocks, herds, and men/
described Ys. IX, 4; Yt. IX, 8 seq. ; Yt. XV, 15. In the Shih Nfimah he is the founder of civilisation, of social order, of arts and sciences, and the first builder (cf. § 25 seq.)
FARGARD II.
15
18 (31). Then Yima stepped forward, towards the luminous space, southwards, to meet the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus :
‘ O Spe«ta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.’
19 (37). And Yima made the earth grow larger by three-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will and wish, as many as he wished.
II.
21 (42) *. The Maker, Ahura Mazda, of high renown 1 2 in the Airyana Va 6 g 6 , by the good river Dlitya 3 , called together a meeting of the celestial gods.
The fair Yima, the good shepherd, of high renown 2 in the Airyana Va^6, by the good river D&itya, called together a meeting of the excellent mortals 4 .
To that meeting came Ahura Mazda, of high renown in the Airyana Va6fd, by the good river Diitya ; he came together with the celestial gods.
To that meeting came the fair Yima, the good shepherd, of high renown in the Airyana Va.tg 6 , by the good river Diitya ; he came together with the excellent mortals.
22 (46). And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying :
‘ O fair Yima, son of V ivanghat ! U pon the material
1 § 20 belongs to the Commentary.
* Or perhaps, ‘ whose voice was loud,’ &c. (while proclaiming the law).
* See Farg. I, Introd., and notes to § 2.
4 Primitively the souls of the righteous (see Introd. IV, 38).
i6
vendIdAd.
world the fatal winters are going to fall, that shall bring the fierce, foul frost ; upon the material world the fatal winters 1 are going to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvl deep on the highest tops of mountains 2 .
23 (52). And all the three sorts of beasts shall perish, those 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, under the shelter of stables.
24 (57). Before that winter, those fields would bear plenty of grass for cattle : now with floods that stream, with snows that melt, it will seem a happy land in the world, the land wherein footprints even of sheep may still be seen 8 .
25 (61). Therefore make thee a Vara 4 , long as a
1 The Commentary has here : Malkdrin, which is the plural of the Hebrew Malkdj, ‘rain;* this seems to be an attempt to identify the Iranian legend with the biblical tradition of the deluge. The attempt was both a success and a failure; Malkoj entered the Iranian mythology and became naturalised there, but it was mistaken for a proper noun, and became the name of a demon, who by witchcraft will let loose a furious winter on the earth to destroy it (Saddar 9). What may be called the diluvial version of the myth is thus summed up in the Mainyd-i-khard : ‘ By him (Gamshfd) the enclosure of Jam-kard was made ; when there is that rain of MalakosSn, as it is declared in the religion, that mankind and the remaining creatures and creations of Hdrmezd, the lord, will mostly perish ; then they, will open the gate of that enclosure of Jam-kard, and men and cattle and the remaining creatures and creation of the creator Hdrmezd will come from that enclosure and arrange the world again’ (XXVII, 27 seq. ; edited and translated by KWest).
* * Even where it (the snow) is least, it will be one Vitasti two fingers deep ’ (Comm.) ; that is, fourteen fingers deep.
# Doubtful.
4 Literally, * an enclosure.' This Vara is known in later mytho- logy as the Var-Cram-kard, * the Var made by Yima.*
FARGARD II.
17
riding-ground on every side of the square 1 , 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 men; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be a fold for flocks.
26 (65). There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hithra long ; there thou shalt settle birds, by the ever-green banks that bear never-failing food. There thou shalt establish dwelling places, con- sisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery*.
2 7 (7°)- Thither thou shalt bring the seeds® of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth ; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth.
28 (74). Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of tree, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of fruit, the fullest of food 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.
29 (80). There shall be no humpbacked, none bulged forward there ; no impotent, no lunatic ; no poverty, no lying; no meanness, no jealousy; no
1 ‘Two hithras long on every side’ (Comm.) A hithra is about an English mile.
1 The last three words are &ra£ Acy optva of doubtful meaning.
* To be sown in the ground, and to grow up into life in due time (? see § 41, text and note).
[ 4 ]
C
i8
vendIdad.
decayed tooth, no leprous to be confined 1 , nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
30 (87). 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 hun- dred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred. That Vara thou shalt seal up with the golden ring 2 * , and thou shalt make a door, and a window self-shining within.
31 (93). 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 Vlvanghat ! 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 8 .’
[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 4 .]
33 (97)- 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
1 See Introd. V, 1 4. f Doubtful.
* In the Shih Nimah Cramshtd teaches the Divs to make and knead clay ; and they build palaces at his bidding. It was his renown, both as a wise king and a great builder, that caused the
Musulmans to identify him with Solomon.
4 From the VendfdSd S&dah.
FARGARD II.
19
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, to be a fold for flocks.
34 (101). There he made waters flow in a bed a h&thra long; there he settled birds, by the ever- green banks that bear never-failing food. There he established dwelling places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery.
35 (106). There he brought the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth ; there he brought the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth.
36 (no). There he brought the seeds of every kind of tree, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth ; there he brought the seeds of every kind of fruit, the fullest of food 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.
37 (116). And there were no humpbacked, none bulged forward there ; no impotent, no lunatic ; no poverty, no lying ; no meanness, no jealousy ; no decayed tooth, no leprous to be confined, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
38 (123). 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
c 2
20
VEND$DAD.
Vara he sealed up with the golden ring, and he made a door, and a window self-shining within.
39 (129). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What [lights are there to give light 1 ] in the Vara which Yima made ?
40(131). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘There are uncreated lights and created lights 2 . There the stars, the moon, and the sun are only once (a year) seen to rise and set 3 , and a year seems only as a day.
4 1 ( I 33)- ‘Every fortieth year, to every couple two are bom, a male and a female 4 . And thus it is for every sort of cattle. And the men in the Vara which Yima made live the happiest life 6 /
1 From the Vendidad Sadah.
* Heavenly lights and material lights. The Commentary has here the following Zend quotation : ‘ All uncreated light shines from above ; all the created lights shine from below.’
We give here the description of Ir&n -veg according to a later source, the Mainy6-i-khard (as translated by West) : * Hdrmezd created Ex £-vSs 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 bom ; and their law is goodness, and religion the primeval religion, and when they die, they are righteous (= blessed); and their chief is G6patsh£h, and the ruler and king is Sr6sh' (XLIV, 24).
8 Doubtful.
4 From the seeds deposited in the Vara (see §§27 seq., 35 seq.) ; in the same way as the first human couple grew up, after forty years, in the shape of a Reivas shrub, from the seed of Gay6mar</ received by Spewta Armaiti (the Earth. See Bund. XV).
5 ‘They live there for 150 years; some say, they never die.' (Comm.) The latter are right, that is to say, are nearer the mythical
FARGARD III.
21
42 (137). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Who is he who brought the law of Mazda into the Vara which Yima made ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It was the bird Kar- shipta. 1 , O holy ZarathuitraP
43 (140). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Who is the lord and ruler there ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ Urvata^-nara 2 , O Zara- thurtra ! and thyself, Zarathortra/
Fargard III.
The Earth.
I (1-6). The five places where the Earth feels most joy.
II (7-1 1). The five places where the Earth feels most sorrow.
III (12-35). The five things which most rejoice the Earth.
IV (35-42). Corpses ought not to be buried in the Earth. There is a resemblance as to words between the first and
truth, as the inhabitants of the Vara were primitively the departed and therefore immortal.
1 * The bird Karshipta dwells in the heavens : were he living on the earth, he would be the king of birds. He brought the law into the Var of Yima, and recites the Avesta in the language of birds' (Bund. XIX and XXIV). As the bird, because of the j swiftness of his flight, was often considered an incarnation of lightning, and as thunder was supposed to be the voice of a god speaking from above, the song of the bird was often thought to be the utterance of a god and a revelation (see Orm. Ahr. § 157).
8 Zarathurtra had three sons during his lifetime (cf. Introd. IV, 40), Isa</-vastra, Hvare-^ithra, and Urvata^-nara, who were respec- tively the fathers and chiefs of the three classes, priests, warriors, and husbandmen. They play no great part in Mazdean mytho- logy, and are little more than three subdivisions of Zarathurtra himself, who was * the first priest, the first warrior, the first hus- bandman' (Yt. XIII, 88). Zarathurtra, as a heavenly priest, was, by right, the ratu in Airyana Va6^6, where he founded the religion by a sacrifice (Bund. XXXIII and Introd. Ill, 15).
22
vendIdAd.
second parts, but there is none as to matter; no clause in the former has its counterpart in the latter. There is more resem- blance between the second part and the third ; as the first three clauses of the third part (§§ 12, 13, 22) relate to the same things as the second, third, and fourth clauses of the second part (§§ 8, 9, 10).
Parts I and II are nothing more than dry enumerations. Part III is more interesting, as it contains two long digressions, the one (§§ 14-21) on funeral laws, the other (§§ 24-33) on holiness of husbandry. The fourth part of the chapter may be considered as a digression relating to the first clause of the third part (§ 12).
The things which rejoice or grieve the Earth are those that pro- duce fertility and life or sterility and death, either in it or on it.
The subject of this chapter has become; a commonplace topic with the Parsis, who have treated it more or less antithetically in the Mainy6-i-khard (chaps. V and VI) and in the Ravaets (Gr. Rav. pp. 434-437)-
The second digression (§§ 24-33) is translated in Hang’s Essays, p. 235 seq.
I.
1. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which is the first place where the Earth feels most happy ?
Ahura Mazda answered: 1 It is the place whereon one of the faithful steps forward, O Spitama Zara- thurtra ! with the holy wood in his hand \ the baresma 2 in his hand, the holy meat in his hand,
1 The wood for the fire altar.
3 The baresma (now called barsom) is a bundle of sacred twigs which the priest holds in his hand while reciting the prayers. They were formerly twigs of the pomegranate, date, or tamarind tree, or of any tree that had no thorns, and were plucked with particular ceremonies, which alone made them fit to be used for liturgic purposes (cf. Farg. XIX, 18 seq.) The Parsis in India found it convenient to replace them by brass wires, which, when once consecrated, can be used for an indefinite period. It is the baresma which is alluded to by Strabo, when speaking of the bundle of thin twigs of heath, which the Magi hold in their hand
FARGARD in.
23
the holy mortar 1 in his hand, fulfilling the law with love, and beseeching aloud Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, and R&ma z 4 stra*.’
2, 3 (6-10). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 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 go on thriving, holiness is thriving 8 , fodder is thriving, the dog is thriving, the wife is thriving, the child is thriving, the fire is thriving, and every blessing of life is thriving.’
4(11). O Maker of the material world, thbu 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 cultivates most com, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! where he waters ground that is dry, or dries ground that is too wet.’
5 (15). 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.’
while reciting their hymns (Tat dr) faybas iroiovprat no\vv \p6vov paftbvv ftvpucuwy Xtirr&v bcajiqv Karc^on-is, XV, 3, 1 4).
1 The H&vana or mortar used in crushing the Haoma or Horn (see Introd. IV, 28).
* The god that gives good folds and good pastures to cattle (see Introd. IV, 16).
9 By the performance of worship.
24
vendIdAd.
6 (18). 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.’
II.
7(21). 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 Are- zfira 1 , whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth from the burrow of the Dru^V
8 (25). 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 *.
9 (28). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which is the third place where the Earth feels sorest grief?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It i^ the place whereon stand most of those Dakhmas on which corpses of men are deposited 4 .’
10(31). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 The neck of Arezftra (Arezftrahfi grtva) is ‘a mount at the gate of hell, whence the demons rush forth ’ (Bund. 22, 16); it is also called ‘ the head of Arezflra ' (Farg. XIX, 45), or ‘ the back of Arezftra 1 (Bund. 21, 17). Areztira was first the name of a fiend who was killed by Gaydman/ (Mainy6-i-khard XXVII, 15); and mount Arezfira was most likely the mountain to which he was bound, as Azi Dahaka was to Demivend (see Introd. IV, 18).
‘Hell. ’ See Introd. V, 9.
4 With regard to Dakhmas, see Introd. V, 10. ‘ 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
FARGARD III.
25
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 Mainyu V
11 (34). 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 Zarath astral are driven along th'e way of captivity, the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing.’
III.
12 (38). 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 3 .’
13 (41). O Maker of the material world, thou
resurrection’ (Gr. Rav. 435, 437). Although the erection of Dakh- mas 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 (cf. Farg.VII, 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 Ravaet, 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 (V. i. Farg. VII, 49 seq. and this Farg. § 13).
1 ‘Where there are most Khrafstras’ (Comm.) : cf. Introd. V, 11.
* Killed by an enemy.
* There is no counterpart given to the first grief (§ 7), because, as the Commentary naively expresses it, ‘it is not possible so to' dig out hell, which will be done at the end of the world’ (Bund. XXXI, sub fin.)
26
vend! DAD.
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 corpses of men are deposited/
14 (44). Let no man alone by himself carry a corpse l * * * * * * . If a man alone by himself carry a corpse, the Nasu * rushes upon him, to defile him, from the nose of the dead, from the eye, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organ, from the hinder parts. This Dru^, this Nasu, falls upon him, stains him even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.
15 (49). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What shall be the place of that man who has carried a corpse alone 8 ?
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 driest and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the con- secrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful.’
1 No ceremony in general can be performed by one man alone.
Two Mobeds are wanted to perform the Vendidad service, two
priests for the Barashn&m, 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.
* See Introd. V, 3.
* As the Nasu has taken hold of him, he has become a Nasu incarnate, and must no longer be allowed to come into contact with men, whom he would defile.
FARGARD III.
27
16 (55). 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 ?
17 (57). 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.
18, 19 (58-63). ‘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 Pairi-rta-khshudra *.
20, 21 (64-71). ‘And when he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairista- khshudra, then the worshippers of Mazda shall order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful 1 * 3 4 , to flay the skin off his body and cut the head off his neck *, on the top of the mountain : and they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by Ahura Mazda, to the greedy ravens, with these words : “ The man here has re- pented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds.
1 The ArmeJt-gSh, the place for the unclean; see Introd. V, 15.
* Hana means, literally, ‘an old man;’ Zaurura, ‘a man broken down by age;’ Pairi-rta-khshudra, ‘one whose seed is dried up.’ These words seem to have acquired the technical meanings of ‘ fifty, sixty, and seventy years old.’
* ‘Trained to operations of that sort' (Comm.); a headsman.
4 Cf. Farg. IX, 49, text and note.
28
vendIdad.
If he has committed any other evil deed, it is . re- mitted by his repentance 1 : if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance, for ever and ever 2 .’”
22 (72). 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 Mainyu.’
2 3 ( 75 )- 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 cultivates most com, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathustra ! who waters ground that is dry, or dries ground that is too wet 8 .
24 (79). ‘ 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.
25 (84). ‘He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him will she bring
1 The performance of the Patet. See Introd. V, 22.
2 It seems as if the law had formerly directed that he should be immediately put to death ; but that afterwards, when the rigour of the law had abated, the object which had previously been fulfilled by his death, was then attained by his confinement He was allowed to live in confinement till he was old and all but dead, and he was put to death by the law, just before he would have died in the usual course of nature (see §§ 19, 20). Certain Ravaets put the ‘carrier alone’ among the number of the margarzan (East India Office Library, Zend MSS. VIII, 144); he is not only to be punished in this world, but in the other too ; he is condemned to feed in hell on corpses of men (Ar di VSraf XXXVIII).
5 Cf. § 4 .
FARGARD III.
29
forth plenty, like a loving bride on her bed, unto her beloved ; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring forth plenty of fruit.
26, 27 (87-90). ‘ He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! 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 [hither shall people ever come and beg (for bread 1 )], here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn 2 3 4 .”
28, 29 (91-95). ‘ He who does not till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! 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 ; ever shalt thou wait there for the refuse that is brought unto thee 8 , brought by those who have profusion of wealth.”’
30 (96). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What is the food that fills the law of Mazda * ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘It is sowing corn again and again, O Spitama Zarathustra !
3 1 (99)* ‘He who sows com, sows holiness: he
1 From the Vendidfid S&dah.
* Or ‘bearing corn first for thee.' ‘When something good grows up, it will grow up for thee first ' (Comm.)
3 ‘ They take for themselves what is good and send to thee what is bad’ (Comm.)
4 Literally, ‘ What is the stomach of the law ?’
30
VENdIdAD.
makes the law of Mazda grow higher and higher : he makes the law of Mazda as fat as he can with a hundred acts of adoration, a thousand oblations, ten thousand sacrifices 1 * * .
32 (105). ‘When barley is coming forth, the Dafivas start up * ; when the com is growing rank 8 > then faint the Daevas’ hearts; when the corn is being ground 4 * , the Daevas groan; when wheat is coming forth, the Daevas are destroyed. In that house they can no longer stay, from that house they are beaten away, wherein wheat is thus coming forth 6 . It is as though red hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.
33 (1 1 1). * Then let (the priest) teach people this holy saying: “No one who does not eat, has strength to do 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®.’”
34(116). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Who is the fifth that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy ?
1 The translation ‘acts of adoration’ and ‘oblations' is doubt- ful : the words in the text are \tyAptva, which are traditionally translated ‘ feet’ and ‘ breasts.’ The Commentary has as follows : ‘ He makes the law 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 ; of ten thousand sacrifices performed for his weal.’
* John Barleycorn got up again,
And sore surpris’d them all.
* Doubtful; possibly, ‘ When sudhus (a sort of grain) is coming forth.’
4 Doubtful; possibly, * When pirtra (a sort of grain) is coming
forth.’
* Doubtful. • See Farg. IV, 47.
FARGARD III.
31
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ [It is he who tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathuitra ! kindly and piously gives 1 to one of the faithful.]
35 (118). * He who tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! would not kindly and piously give* to one of the faithful, he shall fall down into the dark- ness of Spewta Armaiti 2 , down into the world of woe, the dismal realm, down into the house of hell.’
IV.
36 (122). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Five hundred stripes with the Aspahd-artra 3 , five hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-y£arana.’
37 (126). 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?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ A thousand stripes with the Aspah£-artra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
38 (130). 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
1 The Ashd-dSd or alms. The bracketed clause is from the
Vendid&d SSdah.
* The earth. * See Introd. V, 19.
32
vendJdAd.
is the penalty for it ? What is the atonement for it ? What is the cleansing from it ?
39 (135)- 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.’
40 (137). When is it so ?
‘ It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the law of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it 1 . But if he be not a professor of the law of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it 2 , then this law of Mazda takes his sin from him, if he confesses it 3 and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.
41 (142). ‘The law of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! takes away from him who confesses it the bonds of his sin 4 ; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust 5 ; it takes away (the sin of) mur- dering one of the faithful 6 ; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse 7 ; it takes away (the sin of)
1 As he must have known that he was committing sin.
* If he did not know .that he was committing sin.
* If he makes Patet (see Introd. V, 22), and says to himself, ‘ I will never henceforth sin again’ (Comm.)
* If not knowingly committed ; see § 40 and the following notes.
* Draosha: refusing to give back a deposit (Comm, ad IV, 1): ‘ 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.)
8 Or better, ‘ a Mazdean,’ but one who has committed a capital crime ; ‘ he knows that it is allowed to kill the margarzan, but he does not know that it is not allowed to do so without an order from the judge.’ Cf. VIII, 74 note. *
7 ‘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.) See Introd. V, 9.
FARGARD IV.
33
deeds for which there is no atonement ; it takes away the heaviest penalties of sin 1 ; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.
42 (149). 1 In the same way the law of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathiutra ! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain 2 .
‘So let all the deeds thou doest be henceforth good, O Zarathurtra ! a full atonement for thy sin is effected by means of the law of Mazda/
Fargard IV.
Contracts and Outrages.
I- 16. Contracts (see Introd. V, 17) : —
2. Classification of contracts ;
3-4. Damages for breach of contract ;
5-10. Kinsmen responsible;
II- 16. Penalties for breach of contract
17— 55- Outrages (see Introd. V, 18) : —
18- 21. Menaces;
22-25. Assaults;
26-29. Blows;
30-33. Wounds;
34-36. Wounds causing blood to flow ;
37-39. Broken bones ;
40-43, Manslaughter;
46, 49 (bis)-55. False oaths.
Clauses 44-45 re fer to contracts, and ought to be placed after §16. Clauses 47-49, which are in praise of physical weal, have been probably misplaced here from the preceding Fargard (see Farg. Ill, 33). The right order of this chapter would, therefore, seem to be as follows: 1-16; 44-45; 17-43; 46; 49(bis)-55.
1 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.)
2 ‘From chaff' (Comm.)
[ 4 ]
D
34
vendIdad.
I.
i. He that does not restore (a thing lent), when it is asked for back again, steals the thing ; he robs the man \ So he does every day, every night, as long as he keeps in his house his neighbour s pro- perty, as though it were his own 2 .
II a.
2 (4). 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 num- ber 3 . The first is the word-contract 4 ; the second
1 * He is a thief when he takes with a view not to restore ; he is a robber when, being asked to restore, he answers, I will not’ (Comm.)
2 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, 183). The debtor in ques- tion 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.)
8 The following classification is in fact 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 became at last, or were misunderstood as, indicative of a certain amount. The commentators, however, were unable to determine that amount, or, at least, they do not state how much it was, which they do with regard to the last four.
4 The contract entered into by simple word of mouth. ‘The immortal Zarturt Isfitaman asked of the good, beneficent Hormazd, “ Which is the worst of the sins that men commit ? ” The good, beneficent Hormazd answered, “There is no sin worse than when a man, having given his word to another, there being no witness but myself, Hormazd, one of them breaks his word and says, I don't know anything about it . . . there is no sin worse than this ” ' (Gr. Rav. 94),
FARGARD IV.
35
is the hand-contract 1 ; the third is the contract to the amount of a sheep 2 ; the fourth is the contract to the amount of an ox 3 ; the fifth is the contract to the amount of a man 4 * 6 ; the sixth is the contract to the amount of a field®, a field in good land, a fruitful one, in good bearing®.’
II b.
3 (13). If a man make the word-contract a mere word 7 , it shall be redeemed by the hand-contract ; he shall give in pledge 8 the amount of the hand- contract.
4 (16). The hand-contract 9 shall be redeemed by the sheep-contract; he shall give in pledge the amount of the sheep-contract. The sheep-contract shall be redeemed by the ox-contract ; he shall give in pledge the amount of the ox-contract The ox- contract shall be redeemed by the man-contract ; he
1 ‘When they strike hand in hand and make then agreement by word’ (Gr. Rav. LI.) It would be of interest to know whether word and hand are to be taken in the strict meaning or if they allude to certain formulas and gestures like those in the Roman stipulatio.
2 ‘Viz. to the amount of 3 i stirs [in weight]/ (Comm.) An istir (ararrip) is as much as 4 dirhems (fya*/^). On the value of the dirhem, see Introd. V, 22.
8 ‘To the amount of 12 istirs (=48 dirhems)/ (Comm.)
4 * To the amount of 500 istirs (=2000 dirhems)/ The exact
translation would be rather, ‘The contract to the amount of a human being/ as the term is applied to promises of marriage and to the contract between teacher and pupil.
6 ‘Upwards of 500 istirs/
8 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 pre- ceding one.
7 If he fail to fulfil it 8 Or, ‘ as damages (?)/
• The breach of the hand-contract.
D 2
36
vendIdad.
shall give in pledge the amount of the man-contract The man-contract shall be redeemed by the field- contract ; he shall give in pledge the amount of the field-contract.
lie.
5 (24). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man break the word-contract, how many are involved in his sin 1 ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His sin makes his Nabinazdirtas 2 answerable for the 3 three hundred- fold atonement/
6 (26). 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 Nabinazdistas answerable for the six hundred-fold atonement 4 /
1 Literally, how much is involved? The joint responsibility of the family was a principle in the Persian law, as it was in the old German law, which agrees with the statement in Am. Marcellinus : * Leges apud eos impendio formidatae, et abominandae aliae, per quas ob noxam unius omnis propinquitas perit' (XXIII, 6).
9 The next of kin to the ninth degree.
3 See § ii. 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 Nabanazdirtas 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 Ravaets 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. Rav. 94).
4 See § 1 2. * His soul shall abide for six hundred years in hell ' (Gr. Rav. 1. 1.)
FARGARD IV.
37
7 (28). 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 NabS.nazdi.stas answerable for the seven hundred- fold atonement 1 .’
8 (30). 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 NabS.nazdi.stas answerable for the eight hundred- fold atonement 2 .’
9 (32). 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 NabSnazdLstas answerable for the nine hundred-fold atonement 3 4 .’
10 (34). 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 N abinazdLstas answerable for the thousand-fold atonement
II d.
11 (36). 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
1 See § 13. ‘His soul shall abide for seven hundred years in hell’ (Gr. Rav. 1 . 1.)
8 See § 1 4. ‘ His soul shall abide for eight hundred years in hell.’
* See § 15. ‘ His soul shall abide for nine hundred years in hell.’
4 See § 16. ‘ His soul shall abide for a thousand years in hell.'
38
VENdIdaD.
with the Aspah£-a_stra, three hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana V
12 (39). 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-aitra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana V
13 (42). 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 Aspah£-&rtra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana V
14 (45). 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 Aspahd-a^tra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana V
15 (48). 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 Aspah£-astra, nine hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana V
16 (51). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man break the field-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
1 One tanaffihr and a half, that is 1800 dirhems. * Three tanlfhhrs, or 3600 dirhems.
‘ Three tanaffthrs and a half, or 4200 dirhems.
4 Four tanafflhrs, or 4800 dirhems.
4 Four tanifhhrs and a half, or 5400 dirhems.
FARGARD IV.
39
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana V
III a.
r 7 (54)* If a man rise up to smite a man, it is an Agerepta 1 2 * . If a man come upon a man to smite him, it is an Avaoiri^ta. If a man actually smite a man with evil aforethought, it is an Aredus. Upon the fiftlr Aredus 8 he becomes a Peshdtanu 4 * .
18 (58). 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-astra, five stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; on the second Agerepta, ten stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ten stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana ; on the third, fifteen stripes with the Aspahe-astra, fifteen stripes with the Sraosho-^arana.
19 (63). ‘ On the fourth, thirty stripes with the
1 Five taniffthrs, or 6000 dirhems.
* In this paragraph are defined the first three of the eight out- rages 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.
Avaoirirta, ‘brandishing,’ is when a man brandishes a weapon with a view to smite another.
Areduj is when a man actually smites another with a weapon, but without wounding him, or inflicts a wound which is healed within three days.
s Viz. on the sixth commission of it, as appears from § 28.
4 He shall receive two hundred stripes, or shall pay 1200 dir-
hems (see Introd.V, 19).
40
VENDED.
Aspah£-astra, thirty stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana ; on the fifth, fifty stripes with the Aspah£-artra, fifty stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; on the sixth, sixty stripes with the Aspahe-aitra, sixty stripes with the Sraosh6-/6arana ; on the seventh, ninety stripes with the Aspah^-artra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshd- -£arana.’
20 (67). If a man commit an Agerepta for the eighth time, without having atoned for the pre- ceding, what penalty shall he pay?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is aPeshdtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspah£-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-/£arana.’
21 (70). If a man commit an Agerepta 1 and refuse to atone for it 2 , what penalty shall he pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * He is a Pesh6tanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-aitra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana.’
22 (73). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man commit an Avaoirirta, what penalty shall he pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ten stripes with the Aspah^-artra, ten stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; on the second Avaoimta, fifteen stripes with the Aspah£-ajtra, fifteen stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.
23 (75). ‘ On the third, thirty stripes with the Aspah£-aJtra, thirty stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana; on the fourth, fifty stripes with the Aspah£-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; on the fifth, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-axtra, seventy
1 Even though the Agerepta has been committed for the first time.
* If he does not offer himself to bear the penalty, and does not perform the Patet (see Introd. V, 22).
FARGARD IV.
41
stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana ; on the sixth, ninety stripes with the Aspahe-artra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-^arana.’
24 (76). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man commit an AvaoirLrta for the seventh time, without having atoned for the pre- ceding, what penalty shall he pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Pesh6tanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspah&-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
25 (77). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Avaoirista, and refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘He is a Pesh6tanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspah£-ajtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6- Parana.’
26 (79). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredus, what penalty shall he pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Fifteen stripes with the Aspah£-aJtra, fifteen stripes with the Sraosho- £arana.
27(81). ‘On the second Areduj, thirty stripes with the Aspah£-artra, thirty stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana ; on the third, fifty stripes with the Aspah£-aitra, fifty stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; on the fourth, seventy stripes with the Aspah£-artra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-^arana ; on the fifth, ninety stripes with the Aspah£-artra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.’
28. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man commit an Aredoy for the sixth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay?
42
vendIdAd.
Ahura Mazda answered : * He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-<£arana.’
29 (82). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man commit an Areduj, and re- fuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshdtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-/£arana. ’
30 (85). 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?
31(87). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Thirty stripes with the Aspahd-astra, thirty stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana ; the second time, fifty stripes with the Aspahd-artra, fifty stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana ; the third time, seventy stripes with the Aspahd-artra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana ; the fourth time, ninety stripes with the Aspahd-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana.’
32 (89). If a man commit that deed for the fifth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-artra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
33 (9°)* If a man commit that deed and refuse to atone for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : * He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-artra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
34 (93)* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man smite another so that the
FARGARD IV.
43
blood comes, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Fifty stripes with the Aspahd-aJtra, fifty stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana ; the second time, seventy stripes with the Aspahd- artra, seventy stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; the third time, ninety stripes with the Aspahd-artra, ninety stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana.’
35 (95)- If he commit that deed for the fourth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Pesh6tanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
36 (96). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that the blood comes, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
37 (99)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he breaks a bone, what is the penalty that he shall
pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Seventy stripes with the Aspahd-artra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana ; the second time, ninety stripes with the Aspahd-aJtra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana.’
38 (102). If he commit that deed for the third time, without having atoned for the preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Peshdtanu :
44
vendJdad.
two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-<6arana.’
39 (104). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he breaks a bone, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-axtra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
40 (106). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he gives up the ghost, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahd-a-stra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho- -£arana.’
41 (109). 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 Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-artra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.’
42 (112). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so that he gives up the ghost, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahd-artra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.’
43 ( 1I 5)* And they shall thenceforth in their doings walk after the way of holiness, after the word of holiness, after the ordinance of holiness.
FARGARD IV.
45
lie 1 .
44 (iiB). If men of the same faith, either friends or brothers, come to an agreement together, that one may obtain from the other, either goods 2 , or a wife 8 , or knowledge *, let him who wants to have goods have them delivered to him; let him who wants to have a wife receive and wed her ; let him who wants to have knowledge be taught the holy word.
45 (123). He shall learn on, 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 knowledge and wax strong in holiness : so shall he sit up, giving thanks and praying to the gods, that he may be increased in knowledge : 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 A£thra- paitis 6 have said.
Ill b.
46 (128). Before the water and the blazing fire 6 ,
1 We return here to contracts; the proper place of §§ 44-45 is after § 16.
8 The goods-contract is a general expression for the sheep, ox, and field-contracts (see above, § 2).
* 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).
4 The contract between pupil and teacher falls into the same class (the man-contract, see p. 35, n. 4).
* A teaching priest (Parsi HSrbad).
* Doubtful. This clause is intended, as it seems, against false
46
vendSdAd.
O Spitama Zarathurtra ! let no one make bold to deny having received from his neighbour the ox or the garment (he has received from him).
47 ( I 3°)* • . • Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! the man who has a wife is far above him who begets no sons 1 ; he who keeps a house is far above him who has none ; he who has children is far above the childless man ; he who has riches is far above him who has none.
48 (134). And of two men, he who fills himself with meat is filled with the good spirit 2 much more than he who does not do so 3 ; the latter is all but dead ; the former is above him by the worth of an Asperena 4 , by the worth of a sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man.
49 ( I 37)« It ls this man that can strive against the onsets of Ast6-vidh6tu 6 ; that can strive against
oaths. The water and the blazing fire are the water and the fire before which the oath is taken (see § 54 n.); putting aside §§ 47-49, which are misplaced from Farg. Ill, 34, one comes to § 50, in which the penalty for a false oath is described.
1 * 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 sub- stitute for himself ; if he answers, 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.
2 Or, * with V6hu Man6,* who is at the same time the god of good thoughts and the god of cattle (see Introd. IV, 33).
8 1 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 ; Hyde 85).
* A dirhem, 8 See Introd. IV, 26,
FARGARD IV.
47
the self-moving arrow 1 ; that can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest garment on ; that can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the head ; it is this man that can strive against the ungodly Ashemaogha who does not eat 2 .
49 (bis). . . . The very first time when that deed 3 has been done, without waiting until it is done again 4 * .
50(143). Down there 6 the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world : should one cut off the limbs from his perishable body with knives of brass, yet still worse shall it be.
51 (146). Down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world : should one nail 6 his perishable body with nails of brass, yet still worse shall it be.
52 (149). Down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world : should one by force throw his perishable body headlong down a precipice a hundred times the height of a man, yet still worse shall it be.
53 (152). Down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world : should one by force impale 7 his perishable body, yet still worse shall it be.
54(154). Down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world : to wit, that deed which is done, when a man, knowingly lying, confronts the brimstoned, golden 8 , truth-knowing 9
1 See Introd. IV, 26. * See Introd. Ill, 10.
* The taking of a false oath. 4 See Introd. V, 18.
* In hell. • Doubtful. 7 Doubtful.
* The water before which the oath is taken contains some incense,
brimstone, and one danak of molten gold (Gr. Rav. 101).
* Doubtful. Possibly ‘bright.’
48
vendSdAd.
water with an appeal unto Rashnu 1 and a lie unto Mithra 2 .
55 ( r 56). 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 pay 3 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahd-artra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-iarana/
Fargard V.
This chapter and the following ones, to the end of the twelfth, deal chiefly with uncleanness arising from the dead, and with the means of removing it from men and things.
The subjects treated in this Fargard are as follows : —
I (1-7). If a man defile the fire or the earth involuntarily, or unconsciously, it is no sin.
II (8-9). Water and fire do not kill.
III (10-14). Disposal of thexlead during winter.
IV (15-20). How the Dakhmas are cleansed by water from the heavens.
V (2 1-26). On the excellence of purity and of the law that shows how to recover it, when lost.
VI (27-38). On the defiling power of the Nasu being greater or less, according to the greater or less dignity of the being that dies.
VII (39-44). On the management of sacrificial implements defiled by the dead.
1 The god of truth. The formula is as follows : ‘ Before the Amshaspand Bahman, before the Amshaspand Ardibehesht, 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 Ormazd ' ( 1 . 1 . 96).
2 See Introd. IV, 8, He is a Mithra- dru^, ‘one who lies to Mithra.'
3 In this world.
►
FARGARD V.
49
VIII (45-62). On the treatment of a woman who has been delivered of a still-bom child ; and what is to be done with her clothes.
I a.
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 eats up 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, it deposits dung, it drops pieces from the corpse.
2 (7). 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 wants 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 that he shall pay 1 ?
3(11). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘There is no sin upon a man for any dead matter that has been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies.
4 (12). ‘ For were there sin upon a man for any dead matter that might have been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies, how soon this material world of mine would have in it only Peshdtanus 2 , shut out from the way of holiness,
1 For defiling the fire by bringing dead matter into it, see Farg. VII, 25 seq. The Vendid&d S&dah has here, ‘ Put ye only proper and well-examined fuel (in the fire).’ For the purification of un- clean wood, see Farg. VII, 28 seq.
* ‘People guilty of death’ (Comm.; cf. Introd. V, 19).
W E
50
vendIdad.
whose souls will cry and wail 1 1 so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.'
. Ib.
5 (15). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Here is a man watering a com 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 a corpse into the bed of the stream : what is the penalty that the man shall pay 2 * * * * * ?
6 (19). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ There is no sin upon a man for any dead matter that has been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies.
7 (20). * For were there sin upon a man for any dead matter that might have been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies, how soon this material world of mine would have in it only Pesh6tanus, shut out from the way of holiness, whose souls will cry and waill so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.’
II a.
8 (23). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Does water kill 8 ?
1 After their death, * When the soul, crying and beaten off, is
driven far away from paradise’ (Comm.) Possibly, ‘Whose soul shall fly (from paradise) amid howls ’ (cf. Farg. XIII, 8).
* For defiling the earth and the water : * If a man wants to irri- gate 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 to a corpse, there is no sin upon him. If he has not
looked after the rivulet and the stream, he is unclean’ (Saddar.7g ;
Hyde 85).
* Water and fire belong to the holy part of the world, and come
FARGARD V.
51
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Water kills no man : Ast6-vidhdtu 1 ties the noose around his neck, and, thus tied, Vaya 1 carries him off : then the flood takes him up 8 , the flood takes him down 4 , the flood throws him ashore ; then birds feed upon him, and chance brings him here, or brings him there®.’
II b.
9 (29). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Does fire kill ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Fire kills no man : Ast6-vldh6tu ties the noose around his neck, and, thus tied, Vaya carries him off. The fire burns up life and limb, and then chance brings him here, or brings him there 8 .’
III.
10 (34). 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 7 ?
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 bum them without regard for their piety, when to adore it they came too near (Vartan’s War, p. 21 1 of the French translation by l’Abbd 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 Ormazd, does harm to man ; it is the bad Nfii (lege V&i) that kills the man ' (Gr. Rav. 124).
1 Literally, 'binds him;’ see Introd. IV, 26; cf. Farg. XIX, 29.
* ‘The bad V&i ’ (Comm.); see Introd. IV, 17.
* To the surface. * To the bottom.
6 Or perhaps, ‘ When he departs, it is by the will of Destiny that he departs ’ (Comm.)
* See preceding note.
7 In case a man dies during the snowy season, while it is diffi-
E 2
52
vendIdad.
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘In every house, in every borough 1 , they shall raise three small houses for the dead 2 .’
11 (37). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large shall be those houses for the dead ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Large enough not to strike the skull, or the feet, or the hands of the man, if he 3 should stand erect, and hold out his feet, and stretch out his hands : such shall be, according to the law, the houses for the dead.
12 (41). ‘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 fly 4 , the plants to grow, the floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the waters from off the earth 6 .
13 (44). ‘And as soon as the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the waters from off the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall lay down the dead (on the Dakhma) his eyes towards the sun.
14 (46). ‘If the worshippers of Mazda have not, within a year, laid down the dead (on the Dakhma),
cult or impossible to take the corpse to the Dakhma, which usually stands far from inhabited places. The same case is treated more clearly and fully in Farg.VIII, 4 seq.
1 In every isolated house, in every group of houses.
* Thence is derived the modern usage of the Zad-marg, 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 object of that provision is to remove the uncleanness of the dead from the place of the living. An older form of the same provision is found in Farg.VIII, 8.
* ‘ Being in life ’ (Comm.) 4 To come back.
* ‘ Until the winter is past ’ (Comm.)
FARGARD V.
53
his eyes towards the sun, thou shalt prescribe for that trespass the same penalty as for the murder of one of the faithful. [And there shall it lie] until the corpse has been rained on, until the Dakhma has been rained on, until the unclean remains have been rained on, until the birds have eaten up the corpse.’
IV.
15 (49). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Is it true that thou, Ahura Mazda, sendest the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha 1 down with the wind and with the clouds ?
16 (51). That thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow down to the corpses 2 ? that thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow down to the Dakhmas ? that thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow down to the un- clean remains ? that thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow 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 Pftitika 3 ?
17 (53). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is even so
1 The sea above, the clouds. See Introd. IV, 1 1.
* Zoroaster seems to wonder that Ormazd fears so little to in- fringe his own laws by defiling waters with the dead. In a Ravaet, he asks him bluntly why he forbids men to take corpses to the water, while he himself sends rain to the Dakhmas (Gr. Rav. 125).
* The sea where waters are purified before going back to their heavenly seat, the sea Vouru-kasha (see § 19). Pfiitika, ‘the clean,’ is very likely to have been originally a name or epithet of the sea Vouru-kasha. When the mythic geography of Mazdeism was reduced into a system, the epithet took a separate existence, as it gave a ready answer to that question, which, it may be, was raised first by the name itself : ‘ Where are the waters cleansed which have been defiled here below, and which we see falling again to us pure and clean ? ’
54
VENdIdAd.
as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathurtra ! I, Ahura Mazda, send the waters from the sea Vouru- kasha down with the wind and with the clouds.
1 8 (55). ‘I, Ahura Mazda, make them stream down to the corpses; I, Ahura Mazda, make them stream down to the Dakhmas; I, Ahura Mazda, make them stream down to the unclean remains; I, Ahura Mazda, make them stream down to the bones ; then. I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back unseen; I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back to the sea Ptiitika 1 .
19 (56). ‘The waters stand there boiling, boiling up in the heart of the sea PAitika, and, when cleansed there, they run back again from the sea Pditika to the sea Vouru-kasha, towards the well- watered tree 8 , whereon grow the seeds of my plants of every kind [by hundreds, by thousands, by hundreds of thousands].
20 (60). ‘ Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda, rain down upon the earth 2 , 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.’
1 In later mythology, the sea Vouru-kasha and the sea Pflitika were assimilated to the Arabian sea and to the gulf of Oman : the moving to and fro of the waters from heaven to earth and from the earth to heaven was interpreted as the coming and going of the tide (Bund. XIII).
a 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, sitting on that tree ; when- ever 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 Tutar (Tutrya), the rain-god (Yt. XII, 17; Minokhired LXII, 37 seq. ; Bundahw XXVII; cf. Farg. XX, 4 seq.)
FARGARD V.
55
V.
2 1 (63). ‘ This 1 * * 4 * is the best of all things, this is the fairest of all things, even as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathuxtra ! ’
With these words the holy Ahura Mazda rejoiced the holy Zarathuxtra * : ‘ Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good 8 , that purity that is procured by the law of Mazda to him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds V
22 (68). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! This law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathuxtra, by what greatness, goodness, and fairness is it great, good, and fair above all other utterances ?
23 (69). 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 Zarathuxtra.
24 (71). ‘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 Zarathuxtra.
‘As high as the great tree 6 stands above the small plants it overshadows, so high above all other
1 The cleansing, the purification.
* ‘ When Zoroaster saw that man is able to escape sin by per- forming good works, he was filled with joy ' (Comm.)
9 As uncleanness is nothing less than a form of death (see Introd. V, 3).
4 That is to say, ‘Who performs the rites of cleansing according
to the prescriptions of the law.’
“ ‘ The royal cypress above small herbs ’ (Comm.)
56
vend!dAd.
utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this law, this fiend-destroying law of Zarathuftra.
25, 26 (73-81). ‘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.
‘ [Therefore], when the Ratu has been applied to \ when the Sraoshd-varez has been applied to 2 ; whether for a draona-service 8 that has been under- taken 4 , or for one that has not been undertaken 6 ; whether for a draona that has been offered up, or for one that has not been offered up ; whether for a draona that has been shared, or for one that has not been shared 6 ; the Ratu has power to remit him
1 ‘ 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.
3 * 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/ It is difficult to say exactly what were the functions of the Sraosha-varez, which seem to have been twofold. The cock is compared to him, as being * the one who sets the world in motion/ and wakes men for prayer (Farg. XVIII, 14, text and note), which would make him a sort of Zoroastrian Muezzin ; at the same time he is the priest of penance. His name may refer to either of his functions, according as it is translated, ( the one who causes hearing/ or ‘the executor of punishment;' in the first case he would be the priest who pronounces the favete linguis, the jr£usha/; in the other case he would be the priest who wields the Sraosh6-£arana (see Introd. V, 19).
5 A service in honour of any of the angels, or of deceased per- sons, in which small cakes, called draona, are consecrated in their names, and then given to those present to eat.
4 When it ought not to be.
* When it ought to be.
6 The meaning of the sentence is not certain; it alludes to
FARGARD V.
57
one-third of the penalty he had to pay 1 : 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 3 /
VI.
27 (82). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be a number of men resting in the same place, on adjoining carpets, on adjoining 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 Dru^ - Nasu envelope with infection, pollution, and uncleanness 3 ?
28 (86). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ If* the dead one be a priest, the Dru^ Nasu rushes forth 4 , O Spitama Zarathurtra ! she falls on the eleventh and defiles the ten ®.
religious customs which are not well known. The Commentary interprets it as amounting to, * 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/
1 When the Ratu remits one-third of the sin, God remits the whole of it (Saddar 29).
* Cf. Farg. Ill, 21. 8 See Introd. V, 3.
4 In opposition to the case when the dead one is an Ashe- maogha (§ 35), as no Nasu issues then.
5 Literally, ‘ If she falls on the eleventh, she defiles the tenth/ The word if refers to the supposition that there are eleven persons at least, and the words * she defiles the tenth * must be understood to mean 1 she defiles to the tenth/ In the Ravaets, the Avesta dis- tinctions are lost, and the defiling power of the Nasu is the same, whatever may have been the rank of the dead : ‘ If there be a
58
vendIdAd.
‘ If the dead one be a warrior, the Dru g Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! she falls on the tenth and defiles the nine.
‘ If the dead one be a husbandman, the Drug - Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathortra ! she falls on the ninth and defiles the eight.
2 9 (9 2 )- ‘If it be a shepherd’s dog, the Drug' Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra ! she falls on the eighth and defiles the seven.
‘If it be a house dog, the Drug - Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra! she falls on the seventh and defiles the six.
30(96). ‘If it be a Vohunazga dog 1 , the Drug Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra! she falls on the sixth and defiles the five.
‘If it be a young dog 2 , the Drug Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra! she falls on the fifth and defiles the four.
31 (100). ‘If it be a Sukuruna dog 8 , the Dn\g Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra! she falls on the fourth and defiles the three.
‘ If it be a 6usu dog 4 , the Drug Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra ! she falls on the third and defiles the two.
32 (104). * If it be an Aiwizu dog, the Drug
number of people sleeping in the same place, and if one of them happen 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. Rav. 470).
1 A dog without a master (see Farg. XIII, 19).
* A dog not more than four months old.
* According to Aspendiarji, a siyd-gosh, or ‘black-eared’ lynx, the messenger of the lion.
4 This name and the two following, Aiwizu and Vtzu, are left untranslated, not being clear, in the Fahlavi translation.
FARGARD V.
59
Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathujtra! she falls on the second and defiles the next.
‘ If it be a Vlzu dog, the Druf Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! she falls on the next, she defiles the next.’
33 (108). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If it be an Urupi dog 1 * , how many of the creatures of the good spirit does it directly defile, how many does it indirectly defile in dying ?
34(110). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘An Urupi dog does neither directly nor indirectly defile any of the creatures of the good spirit, but him who smites and kills it ; to him the uncleanness clings for ever and ever V
35 (113). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the dead one be a wicked, two- footed ruffian, an ungodly Ashemaogha 3 , how many of the creatures of the good spirit does he directly defile, how many does he indirectly defile in dying ?
36(115). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘No more than a frog does whose venom is dried up, and that has been dead more than a year 4 . Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathortra ! that wicked, two-
1 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. 47, 8).
* Not that the unclean one cannot be cleansed, but that his uncleanness does not pass from him to another.
’ See Introd. IV, 10; V, 11.
4 The frog is a creature of Ahriman’s, and one of the most hateful ; for, in the seaVouru-kasha, it goes swimming around the white Horn, the tree of everlasting life, and would gnaw it down, but for the godlike fish Kar-mdht, that keeps watch and guards the tree wherever the frog would slip in (Bund. XVIII ; cf. Orm. Ahr. § 146).
6o
vend{dad.
legged ruffian, that ungodly Ashemaogha, directly defiles the creatures of the good spirit, and indi- rectly defiles them.
37(119). ‘Whilst alive he smites the water 1 ; whilst alive he blows out the fire 2 ; whilst alive he carries off the cow 3 ; whilst alive he smites the faithful man with a deadly blow, that parts the soul from the body 4 ; not so will he do when dead.
38 (120). ‘ Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zara- thurtra! that wicked, two-legged ruffian, that un- godly Ashemaogha, never ceases depriving the faithful man of his food, of his clothing, of his house, of his bed, of his vessels 5 * ; not so will he do when dead.’
VII.
39 (122). 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 8 , 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 ?
40(125). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Out of the house, O Spitama Zarathustra ! 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 7 whereto, according to the law, corpses must be brought, to be devoured there.’
41 (128). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 By defiling it (a capital crime ; see Introd. V, 8, and Farg.
VII, 25).
* He extinguishes the Bahr&m fire (a capital crime; Introd. V, 8).
* As a cattle-lifter. * As an assassin.
* By defiling or by stealing them.
* In order to perform a sacrifice. 7 The Dakhma.
FARGARD V.
6 1
Holy Onel When shall they bring back the fire into the house wherein the man has died ?
42 (129). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall wait for nine nights in winter, for a month in sum- mer, and then they shall bring back the fire to the house wherein the man has died/
43 ( I 3 1 )* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! And if they shall bring back the fire to the house wherein the man has died, within the nine nights, or within the month, what penalty shall they pay?
44 (134). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall be Peshdtanus : two hundred stripes with the Aspahe- astra., two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-/6arana/
VIII.
45 (135) 1 . O Maker of the material world, thou Holy Onel 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 wor- shippers of Mazda do ?
46 (139). 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 Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful;’ —
47 ( I 43 )- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 How far from the fire ? How far from the water ? How far from the consecrated bundles of baresma ? How far from the faithful ?
1 §§ 45~54=Farg. VII, 60-69.
62
VENdIdAD.
48 (144). 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 ; —
49 (145). ‘ 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.’
50(147). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 What is the food that the woman shall first take ?
51(148). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She shall drink g6m£z 2 * mixed with ashes, three cups of it, or six, or nine, to wash over the grave within her womb.
52 (151). ‘Afterwards she may drink boiling® milk of mares, cows, sheep, or goats, with pap or without pap 4 ; she may take cooked meat without water, bread without water, and wine without water
53 ( 1 54)* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How long shall she remain so ? How long shall she live only on that sort of meat, bread, and wine ?
54 C 1 55)- Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three nights
1 The ArmSrt-g&h (cf. Farg. Ill, 15 seq., and Introd. V, 15).
* Urine of the ox : it destroys the Nasu in her womb (Introd. V, 5). The ashes work to the same end, as they are taken from the Bahr&m fire (Comm.), the earthly representative of the fire of lightning, and the most powerful destroyer of fiends (see Introd. V, 8, and Farg. VIII, 80 seq.) ‘Three cups, or six, or nine, according to her strength ' (Asp.)
* Doubtful. 4 Doubtful.
* See Introd. V, 13. ‘ The water would be defiled;’ cf. Farg. VII, 70 seq.
FARGARD V.
63
long shall she remain so ; three nights long shall she live on that sort of meat, bread, and wine. Then, when three nights have passed, she shall wash her body, she shall wash her clothes, with gdmSz and water, by the nine holes 1 , and thus shall she be clean.’
55 (157). 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 ?
56 (158). 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 gdm£z and water •
57 (160) 3 . 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 H&vanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Fra- baretar, or by an Aberet/, or by an Asndtar, or by a
1 She shall perform the nine nights’ Barashnfim, for the details of which see Farg. IX.
1 The modem custom is somewhat different: ‘If a woman brings forth a still-bom child, after a pregnancy of one month to ten months, the first food she shall take is nirang (=gdm£z) . . . 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 nfrang, 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. Rav. 568).
* §§ 57-62= Farg. VII, 17-22.
6 4
vendSdAd.
Rathwiricar, or by a SraoshcL-varez \ or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman a ?
58(162). 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 Abere^, or by an Asn&tar, or by a Rathwiricar, or by a SraoshcL-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husband- man.
59 (164). 1 But if there be in a Mazdean house a woman who is in her sickness, or a man who has become unfit for work 3 , and who must sit in the place of infirmity 4 , those clothes shall serve for their coverings and for their sheets 6 , until they can with- draw and move their hands 6 .
1 These are the names of the different priests who were engaged in the sacrifices. The Havanan strains the Haoma ; the Atare- vakhsha kindles the fire ; the Frabaretar brings all that is necessaiy for the sacrifice (Anquetil) ; the Abere<f brings the water (Anquetil and Zand-Pahlavi Glossary, 21); the Asndtar cleanses the vessels. Those are the priests who are entrusted with the preparatory or accessory proceedings ; the essential duties are performed by the Zaotar and the Rathwirkar, the former chanting the hymns and saying the prayers, the latter performing the various operations during the sacrifice. Nowadays there are only two priests, the Zaotar (Zfitt) and the Rathwirkar (Raspt), the latter performing all the accessory services formerly performed by several priests. As to the SraoshA-varez, see above, § 25, note 2.
8 In short, by any of the faithful, when in state of purity.
3 An Arm6rt; literally, ‘an infirm person/ that is to say, one who is unclean, during the time of his uncleanness (Farg. IX, 33 seq.), when all work is forbidden to him (cf. Introd. V, 15).
4 The Arm6rt-gAh (cf. Introd. V, 15).
5 The clothing defiled by the dead can only serve for Dasht&n 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. Farg. VII, 10 seq.)
3 Until they are clean. The unclean must have their hands
FARGARD V.
65
60(168). ‘Ahura Mazda, indeed, does not allow us to waste anything of value that we may have, not even so much as an Asperenas 1 weight of thread, not even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning.
61 (171). ‘Whosoever throws any clothing on a dead body 2 , 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 the happy realm 3 .
62 ( 1 74). ‘ He shall go away into the world of the fiends, into that dark world 4 , made of darkness, the offspring of darkness®. To that world, to the
wrapped in an old piece of linen, lest they should touch and defile anything clean.
1 See Farg. IV, 48, note 4.
* Cf. Farg. VIII, 23 seq. It appears from those passages that the dead must lie on the mountain naked, or * clothed only with the light of heaven* (Farg. VI, 51). The modem custom is to clothe them with old clothing (Dadabhai Naoroji, Manners and Customs of the Parsis, p. 1 5). 1 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 Zend Vendtd&d, 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 1 2). The Greeks entertained quite different ideas, and dressed the dead in their gayest attire, as if for a feast. Yet the difference is only in appear- ance ; for, 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, Hyde 64).
s The Behesht or paradise.
4 * Where darkness can be seized with the hand * (Comm. ; cf. AogemaidS 28); something more than the ‘visible darkness.'
4 The Commentary has, ‘the place of those who impregnate
[4] F
66
VENDtDAD.
dismal realm, you are delivered by your own doings, by your own souls, O sinners ! ’
Fargard VI.
1 (1-9). How long the earth remains unclean, when defiled by the dead.
II (10-25). Penalties for defiling the ground with dead matter.
III (26-41). Purification of the different sorts of water, when defiled by the dead.
IV (42-43). Purification of the Haoma.
V (44-51). The place for corpses ; the Dakhmas.
I.
i. How long shall the ground lie fallow whereon dogs or men have died ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * A year long shall the ground lie fallow whereon dogs or men have died, O holy Zarathustra !
2 (3). ‘A year long shall no worshipper of Mazda sow or water that part of the 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 1 .
3 (5). * If within the year they shall sow or water the ground whereon dogs or men have died, the sin is the same as if they had brought dead matter to the water, to the earth, and to the plants
4 (7). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy Onel If worshippers of Mazda shall sow or water,
darkness, for the Dru^ who conceives seed from the sinner comes from that place’ (cf. Farg. XVIII, 30 seq.)
1 Cf. Farg. VII, 45 seq.
* ‘To the water which they pour out, to the earth which they plough, to the plants which they sow’ (Comm.)
FARGARD VI.
67
within the year, the ground whereon dogs or men have died, what is the penalty that they shall pay?
5 (9). Ahura Mazda answered : ' They are Peshd- tanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspah6-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-iarana V
6 (10). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If worshippers of Mazda want to make the ground fit to be tilled again 2 , that they may water it, sow it, and plough it, what shall they do ?
7 (12). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall look on the ground for any bones, hair, flesh, dung, or blood that may be there.’
8 (13). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If they shall not look on the ground for any bones, hair, flesh, dung, or blood that may be there, what is the penalty that they shall pay?
9 (15). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They are Pesh6- tanus : two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
II.
10 (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 the top joint of the little finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay ?
11 (18). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty stripes with the Aspah6-artra, thirty stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
1 ‘ If they plough and sow it, one tanaftlhr (see Introd. V, 19); if they pour water on it, one tanSfdhr; if they plough, sow, and water it, two tanifhhrs ’ (Comm.)
* Even when a year’s space is past, the ground is not free ipso facto.
F 2
68
VENdIdaD.
12 (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 the top joint of the fore-finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
13 (24). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifty stripes with the Aspah6-aJtra, fifty stripes with the Sraosh6- £arana.’
14(25). 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?
15(29). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Seventy stripes with the Aspahe-ajtra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshd-/6arana.’
16 (30). 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?
17 (34). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspah£-artra, ninety stripes with the Sraosh6-/£arana.’
18 (35). 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 to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
19 (39). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ He is a Peshd- tanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspah6-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.’
FARGARD VI.
69
20 (40). 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 to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?
2 1 (44). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-aJtra, four hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
22 (45). 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 to the ground, what penalty shall he pay ?
23 (49). Ahura Mazda answered : * Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana.’
24 (50). 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 to the ground, what penalty shall he pay ?
25 (53). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahd-artra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.’
III.
26 (54). 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 ?
27 (56). Ahura Mazda answered : * Taking off his shoes, putting off his clothes, boldly, O Zara- thuJtra ! he shall enter the river, and take the dead out of the water ; he shall go down into the water
70
vendIdAd.
ankle-deep, knee-deep, waist-deep, or a man’s full depth, till he can reach the dead body V
28 (61). 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 ?
29 (63). 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, flesh, dung, or blood that may drop back into the water.’
30 (65). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What part of the water in a pond does the Druf Nasu defile with infection, pollution, and uncleanness ?
31 (66). 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.
32 (69). ‘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 ; 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.'
33 (72). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 ‘ If he is able to draw out the corpse and does so, it is a pious deed worth a tan&fhhr (that is, one by which a taniffihr sin can be cancelled) ; if he is able to draw it out and does not do so, it is a tanifdhr sin. Gftgdrasp says, It is a margarz&n sin (a capital crime),' (Comm.)
FARGARD VI.
71
Holy One ! What part of the water in a well does the Dn \g Nasu defile with infection, pollution, and uncleanness ?
34 (73)* 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.
35 (73)* ‘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 ; 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.’
36 (74). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What part of a sheet of snow or hail does the Drug’ - Nasu defile with infection, pollution, and uncleanness ?
37 (75)* 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 water, and lay it down on the dry ground.
38 (78). ‘ 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.’
39 (79)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What part of the water of a running
1 All the water in the well is unclean, * as the well has the length and breadth of a man's stature* (Brouillons d’Anquetil, Vendic&d, p. 206).
72
VENDfDAD.
stream does the Drug” Nasu defile with infection, pollution, and uncleanness ?
40 (80). 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 the water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the water, and lay it down on the dry ground.
41 (83). ‘After the corpse has been taken out and the stream has flowed three times 1 , the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before.’
IV.
42 (84). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Can the Haoma that has been touched by the corpse of a dead dog, or the corpse of a dead man, be made clean again ?
43 (85). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It can, O holy Zarathorlra ! If it has been strained for the sacrifice, no corpse that has been brought unto it, makes corruption or death enter it a . If it has not been strained for the sacrifice, the stem is defiled the length of four fingers. That length of stem shall be buried in 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.’
V.
44 (92). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 When three waves have passed.
2 Because the Haoma is the plant of life ; when strained for the sacrifice, it is the king of healing plants (Bund. XXIV); the dead shall become immortal by tasting of the white Haoma (ib. XXXI).
FARGARD VI.
73
Holy One ! Whither shall we bring, where shall we lay the bodies of the dead, O Ahura Mazda ?
45 (93)- Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ On the high- est summits *, where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds, O holy Zarathurtra !
46 (95). ‘ There shall the worshippers of Mazda fasten the corpse, by the feet and by the hair, with brass, stones, or lead, lest the corpse-eating dogs and the corpse-eating birds shall go and carry the bones to the water and to the trees.
47 (98). ‘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 V
48(100). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall be Peshdtanus : two hundred stripes with the
Aspah£-artra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho- £arana.’
49 (101). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 2 ! Whither shall we bring, where shall we lay the bones of the dead, O Ahura Mazda ?
50 (102). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ The wor- shippers of Mazda shall erect a building 3 out of the reach of the dog, of the fox, and of the wolf, and wherein rain-water cannot stay 4 .
1 ‘On the top of a mountain’ (Comm.) See Introd. V, 10; cf. VIII, 10.
* The foregoing clauses (§§ 44-47) refer to the place where the corpse must be laid; the following (49-51) refer to the building, which must be erected on that place, if possible, to receive the corpse.
* The Dakhma.
4 The rain-water that washes away the remains of corpses (V, 16 seq.) must not remain on the Dakhmas (cf. Comm, ad VIII, 7),
74
vendIdAd.
51 (105). ‘Such a building shall they erect, if they can afford it, with stones, mortar, and earth 1 ; 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 sun/
Fargard VII.
I (1-5). How long after death the Nasu falls upon the dead.
II (6-9). How far the defiling power of the Nasu extends.
III (10-22). Cleansing of clothes defiled by the dead.
IV (23-24). Eating of corpses an abomination.
V (25-27). Bringing corpses to fire or water an abomination.
VI (28-35). Cleansing of wood and corn defiled by the dead.
VII a (36-40). Physicians ; their probation.
VII b (40-44). Their fees.
VIII (45-59). Purification of the earth, of the Dakhmas. The Dakhmas and the DaSvas.
IX (60-72). Treatment of a woman who has brought forth a still-born child.
X (73-75). Cleansing of vessels defiled by the dead.
XI (76). Cleansing of the cow.
XII (77). Unclean libations.
This chapter would offer tolerable unity, but for a digression on medicine, which would be better placed as an introduction to the last three chapters. Sections II and IX, parts of which have already been found in Fargard V, are more suitably placed here. This chapter, as a whole, deals with the action of the Drc^ Nasu, from the moment she takes hold of the corpse, and shows how and when the several objects she has defiled become clean, namely, clothes, wood, corn, earth, women, vessels, and cows.
I.
i. Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘ O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material
but is brought out through trenches dug for that purpose (cf. Introd.V, 10).
1 This word is doubtful.
FARGARD VII.
75
world, thou Holy One ! When a man dies, at what moment does the Drug - Nasu rush upon him 1 ? ’
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Directly after death, as soon as the soul has left the body, O Spitama Zarathartra ! the Drug” Nasu comes and rushes upon him, from the regions of the north 2 * , in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras 8 .
[3. ‘On him she stays until the dog has seen the corpse 4 * * or eaten it up, or until the flesh-eating birds have taken flight towards it®. When the dog has seen it or eaten it up, or when the flesh-eating birds have taken flight towards it, then the Drug - Nasu rushes away to the regions of the north in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.’]
4 (5). 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 law 7 , or by a murderer, or by the noose 8 , how long after death does the Drug' Nasu come and rush upon the dead?
1 See Introd. V, 3.
* Hell lies in the north; cf. XIX, 1 ; Yt.XXII, 25; Bundahif 36, 12.
* See Introd. V, 3.
* Until the Sag-did has been performed (see Introd. V, 4).
* The Sag-did may be performed by birds of prey as well as
by dogs (see Introd. V, 4). 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. § 2 9)- § 3 is from the Vendidad Sadah.
* ‘ By poison ’ (Comm.)
7 Literally, ‘by men;’ that is to say, put to death by the com- munity according to law (Comm.)
8 If he has strangled himself. Or possibly, ‘ by want.'
76
VENDIdaD.
5 (6). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ At the next watch after death \ the Dru^f 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, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.’
II 1 2 .
6 (7). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be a number of men resting in the same place, on adjoining carpets, on adjoining 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 Dru g Nasu envelope with infection, pollution, and uncleanness ?
7(11). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If the dead one be a priest, the Dru g Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathortra ! she falls on the eleventh and defiles the ten.
* If the dead one be a warrior, the Dru g Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathustra ! she falls on the tenth and defiles the nine.
‘ If the dead one be a husbandman, the Dru g Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathurtra! she falls on the ninth and defiles the eight.
8(17). ‘If it be a shepherd’s dog, the Dru^ Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathuitra ! she falls on the eighth and defiles the seven.
1 The day is divided into five watches or ratu. If the man dies a natural death, the Dru^ comes directly; if the death be violent and unlooked for, the Dru^ is taken unawares, and it requires time for her to be warned of it and to come.
* §§ 6~9=Farg. V, 27-30.
FARGARD VII.
77
‘ If it be a house dog, the Druf Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathortra! she falls on the seventh and defiles the six.
9(21). ‘If it be a Vohunazga dog, the Dru^ - Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathartra ! 6he falls on the sixth and defiles the five.
‘ If it be a young dog, the Druf Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathurtra! she falls on the fifth and defiles the four V
. . . ‘ those clothes shall serve for their coverings and for their sheets V . . .
III.
10 (26). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What part of his bedding 1 * 3 4 and pillow does the Druf Nasu defile with infection, unclean- ness, and pollution ?
11(27). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The Dru^“ Nasu defiles with infection, uncleanness, and pollu- tion the upper sheet and the inner garment V
12 (28). 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 carcase of a dog or the corpse of a man ?
13 (29). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It can, O holy Zarathartra ! '
How so ?
1 This enumeration is less complete than that in the fifth Fargard, as it comprises only the first four sorts of dogs, viz. only those that can perform the Sag-did (Comm, ad § 2).
* This phrase, which forms part of § 19, is wrongly inserted here.
’ The bedding on which he has died.
4 That is to say, only those clothes which have been in direct contact with the dead.
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VENDED.
* If, indeed, the garment has been defiled with seed, or sweat, or dirt, or vomit, the worshippers of Mazda shall rend it to pieces, and bury it under the ground \
14 (33). ‘ But if it has not been defiled with seed, or sweat, or dirt, or vomit, then the worshippers of Mazda shall wash it with g6m£z.
15 (35). * If it be leather, they shall wash it with g6m£z 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.
‘If it be woven cloth, they shall wash it with gdm£z 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.
16 (37). ‘ The spring named Ardvl Sfira, O Spi- tama ZarathuJtra ! that spring of mine, purifies the seed in man, the fruit in a woman’s womb, the milk in a woman’s breast V
17 4 (41). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One I 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 Fra- baretar, or by an Abere*/, or by an Asnitar, or by a Rathwidcar, or by a SraoshA-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman ?
1 According to the Commentary only that part which has been defiled is rent off ; the rest may still be used.
2 See Introd. V, 16.
8 This clause is a quotation from Yasna LXV, 5, intended to illustrate the cleansing power of water. Ardvi Sdra is the goddess of the waters.
* §§ 17-22 =Farg.V, 57-62.
FARGARD VII.
79
1 8 (43). Ahura Mazda answered : * Never can those clothes, even when washed and cleansed, be used either by a Zaotar, or by a H&vanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Aberer/, or by an Asn&tar, or by a Rathwukar, or by a Sraoshi-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or hus- bandman.
19 (45). ‘ 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 with- draw and move their hands.
20 (49). * 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.
21 (52). ‘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 the happy realm.
22 (55). ‘He shall go away into the world of the fiends, into that dark world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness. To that world, to the dismal realm, you are delivered by your own doings, by your own souls, O sinners ! ’
IV.
2 3 ( 59 )- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Can he be clean again who has eaten of the carcase of a dog or of the carcase of a man 1 ?
1 The carcase-eater lodges the Nasu in himself ; he becomes a Nasu, and therefore must be destroyed ; cf. infra § 76 seq.
8o
vendIdad.
24(60). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He cannot, O holy ZarathuJtra ! His burrow 1 * * shall be dag out, his life shall be torn out, his bright eyes shall be put out ; the Druf Nasu falls upon him, takes hold of him even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever V
V.
25 (65). 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 ?
26 (66). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘He cannot, O holy ZarathuJtra ! Those wicked ones it is, those men turned to Nasus s , that most increase gnats and locusts 4 ; those wicked ones it is, those men turned to Nasus, that most increase the grass-destroying drought.
27(69). ‘Those wicked ones it is, those men turned to Nasus, that increase most the power of the winter, produced by the fiends, the cattle- killing, thick-snowing, overflowing, the piercing,
1 His house, as he is assimilated to a devouring Khrafstra.
* Till the resurrection. * It is prescribed in the Vendidad that if a man shall eat of a carcase, his house and family shall be 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, Hyde 79). ‘He who eats of a carcase with sinful intent is both unclean and margarz&n ; Barashnfim and Nireng 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 g6m€z (Comm.); he is unclean, he is not margarzin’ (Old Rav. 1 15 b).
* Doubtful ; possibly, ‘ those Nasu-makers.’
4 * It is said in the A vesta that when there are many gnats and locusts it is owing to corpses having been brought to water and to fire’ (Saddar 7a, Hyde 80).
FARGARD VII.
8l
fierce, mischievous winter 1 * . Upon them comes and rushes the Dru^ - Nasu, she takes hold of them even to the end of the nails, and they are unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever
VI.
28 (72). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 Can the wood be made clean, O holy Ahura Mazda! whereunto dead matter has been brought from a dead dog, or from a dead man ?
29 (73). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘It can, O holy Zarathastra !’
How so ?
‘ If the Nasu has not yet been smitten 3 by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds 4 5 , they shall lay down, apart on the ground, the wood on the length of a Vitasti 6 all around the dead matter, if the wood be dry; on the length of a F r&rithni 8 all around, if it be wet ; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean 7 .
1 ‘ In the same way (by the bringing of corpses to water and to fire), winter grows colder, and summer grows warmer’ (Saddar 72, Hyde 80).
* 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 as- sembly, 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 dfivs (Gr. Rav. P- « 3 )>
8 That is to say, if the Sag -did has not yet been performed.
4 See above, p. 75, n. 5.
5 Twelve fingers.
8 The Fr£r£thni is, as it seems, as much as one foot (fourteen fingers, Vd. II, 22, Comm.)
7 ‘ After a year/ according to the Commentary.
[4] G
82
VENdIdAD.
30 (78). ‘ But if the Nasu has already been smitten 1 by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse- eating birds, they shall lay down, apart on the ground, the wood on the length of a Fr&r&thni all around the dead matter, if the wood be dry ; on the length of a Frdbdzu 2 all around, if it be wet ; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
31 (81). ‘This is the quantity of wood around the dead matter, that they shall lay down, apart on the ground, according as the wood is dry or wet ; according as it is hard or soft; they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.’
32 (83). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Can the corn or the fodder be made clean, O holy Ahura Mazda ! whereunto dead mat- ter has been brought from a dead dog, or from a dead man?
33 (84). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It can, O holy ZarathuJtra !’
How so?
‘ If the Nasu has not yet been smitten by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, they shall lay down, apart on the ground, the com on the length of a Fririthni all around the dead matter, if the corn be dry ; on the length of a Fr&bcLzu all
1 It appears from the similar passages (VIII, 35, 36, and 98, 99) and from the general principles of uncleanness (see Introd.V, 16) that the words * If the Nasu has not yet been smitten,’ 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.
2 A measure of unknown extent ; ‘ an arm’s length,’ it would seem.
FARGARD VII.
83
around, if it be wet; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
34 (89). ‘ But if the Nasu has already been smitten 1 by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse- eating birds, they shall lay down, apart on the ground, the corn on the length of a Fr&b&zu all around the dead matter, if the corn be dry ; on the length of a Vlb&zu 2 * all around, if it be wet ; then they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.
35 (92). ‘ This is the quantity of corn around the dead matter, that they shall lay down, apart on the ground, according as the com is dry or wet; accord- ing as it is sown or not sown ; according as it is reaped or not reaped ; according as it is ground or not ground 8 ; according as it is (kneaded) 4 * * or not kneaded; they shall sprinkle it once over with water, and it shall be clean.’
Vila.
36 (94). 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 Daevas ?
37 (96)- Ahura Mazda answered; ‘On worship- pers of the Daevas shall he first prove himself,
1 The same observation applies to the first words of §§ 33, 34, as was observed of §§ 29, 30.
* A measure of unknown extent ; * an ell,’ it would seem.
* This clause is preceded and followed, in the Vendidad S&dah, by clauses which seem to refer to the process of grinding being more or less advanced.
4 This word is supplied, as it appears, from the context, and
from the Pahlavi translation, to be wanting.
G 2
8 4
vendIdAd.
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 DaSvas and he die ; if he treat with the knife for the third time a worshipper of the DaSvas and he die, he is unfit to practise the art of healing for ever and ever.
38 (99). * Let him therefore never attend any worshipper of Mazda ; let him never treat with the knife any 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 it the same penalty as is paid for wilful murder 1 .
39 (102). ‘ 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 to practise the art of healing for ever and ever 2 .
40 (104). ‘ 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.
VII b.
41 (105). ‘ A healer shall heal a priest for a holy
1 For baodhd-varrta, which word is wrongly understood by the Parsis as the designation of a penalty, consisting in the amputation of six fingers (Asp.)
2 ‘ Some say, One who has been qualified may become dis- qualified; one who has been disqualified shall never become qualified ’ (Comm, ad § 43).
FARGARD VII.
«5
blessing 1 ; 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 2 * 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 *
42 (no). ‘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.
43 (114). ‘He shall heal the son of the lord of a borough 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 that 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 meal of meat 4 .
44 (118). ‘If several healers offer themselves to- gether, O Spitama Zarathu.stra ! namely, one who heals with the knife, one who heals with herbs, and one who heals with the holy word®, it is this one
1 ' Thus he will become holy (i. e. he will go to paradise) ; there is no equivalent in money. Some say, It is given when the priest has not 3000 stirs ’ (Comm.)
2 A group of several houses ; Aspendi&rji and Anquetil say, ‘ a street.'
* ‘ A value of seventy stirs ’ (Comm.)
4 Cf. the tariff of fees for the cleanser, Farg. IX, 37 seq.
• ‘By spells’ (Comm.; cf. Odyssea XIX, 457). This classifi- cation 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. Ill, 51).
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vendJdad.
who will best drive away sickness from the body of the faithful V
VIII.
45 (122). 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 itself again * ?
46(123). 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 itself again, O holy Zarathartra * ! ’
47 (124). 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 itself again ?
48(125). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the corpse of a dead man has lain buried in the earth for fifty years, O Spitama Zarathuxtra ! then the earth is itself again 4 .’
49 (126). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How long after the corpse of a dead
1 * It may be that he may not relieve, but he will not harm ’ (Comm.) The VendicMd Sadah, instead of ‘it is this one,’ &c., reads as follows : ‘ Let them address themselves to the one who heals with the holy word ; for he is the best healer among all healers, who heals by the holy word ; this one it is who will drive away sickness from the body of the faithful.’ 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 Ba- rash n ft m (see Farg. XXII and Introd.V, 14).
* Restored to the purity of its nature, and fit to till; as it remains Nasu till that time.
3 See Farg. YI, 1 seq. 4 Cf. Farg. Ill, 36 seq.
FARGARD VII.
«7
man has been laid down on a Dakhma, is the ground, whereon the Dakhma stands, itself again ?
50 (127). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Not until the dust of the corpse, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! has mingled with the dust of the earth l . Urge every one in the material world, O Spitama Zara- thurtra! to pull down Dakhmas 2 .
51 (129). ‘ 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 atoned for 3 .
52 (132). ‘ Not for his soul shall the two spirits wage war with one another 4 ; and when he enters the blissful world, 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 one ! ” ’
55® 37)- O Maker of the material world, thou
1 A space of time estimated at fifty years (Comm.) Cf. Farg. Ill, 13-
* Cf. Farg. Ill, 9, text and note, and § 13.
* ‘ A tan&ffihr sin is remitted thereby ' (Comm.)
4 When a man dies, hell and paradise, fiends and gods struggle for the possession of his soul : Astdvldhdtur,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 Farg. XIX, 29 seq. ; Yt. XXII ; Mainyd-i-khard II). 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 (cf. IX, 56).
* §§ 53, 54 belong to the Commentary ; they are composed of disconnected quotations, part of which refers to the different deeds by which a tanfifhhr 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.
88
vendIdad.
Holy One ! Where are the fiends ? Where are the worshippers of the fiends ? What is the place whereon the troops of fiends rush together ? What is the place whereon the troops of fiends 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 ?
56 (138). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Those Dakh- mas that are built upon the face of the earth, O Spi- tama Zarathurtra ! and whereon are laid the corpses of dead men, that is the place where the fiends are, that is the place whereon the troops of fiends rush together, that is the place whereon the troops of fiends come rushing along, that 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.
57 (140). ‘On those Dakhmas, O Spitama Zara- thortra ! those fiends take food and void filth, (eating up corpses) in the same way as you, men, in the material world, eat cooked meal and cooked meat. It is, as it were, the smell of their feeding that you smell there, O men !
58 (143). ‘ Thus the fiends revel on there, until that stench is rooted in the Dakhmas. Thus from the Dakhmas arise the infection of diseases, itch, hot fever, humours 1 , cold fever, rickets, and hair untimely white. There death has most power on man, from the hour when the sun is down.
1 Doubtful (na6za).
FARGARD VII.
89
59 (148). ‘ And if there be people of evil spirit who do not seek for better spirit, the Cainis 1 * * make those diseases grow stronger by a third *, on their thighs, on their hands, on their plaited hair V
IX.
60 4 ( 1 5 1 ). 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 ?
61 ( 1 5 5). 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 Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful —
62 (158). 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 ?
63 (159)- 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 ; —
1 ‘ The (rahi ’ (Comm.) The Gaini seems to be the Crahi as bringing sickness (cf. Farg. XXI, 2).
* The general meaning of the sentence is that the Dakhmas are seats of infection, of which the action becomes worse and stronger when people live in impiety and vices.
* Doubtful.
4 §§ 60-69= Farg. V, 45-54-
90
vendIdad.
64 (160). ‘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.’
65 (162). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What is the food that the woman shall first take ?
66(163). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She shall drink gdm£z mixed with ashes, three cups of it, or six, or nine, to wash over the grave in her womb.
67(166). ‘Afterwards she may drink boiling milk of mares, cows, sheep, or goats, with pap or without pap; she may take cooked meat without water, bread without water, and wine without water.’
68 (169). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so ? How long shall she live only on that sort of meat, bread, and wine ?
69 (170). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Three nights long shall she remain so ; three nights long shall she live on that sort of meat, bread, and wine. Then, when three nights have passed, she shall wash her body, she shall wash her clothes, with gom£z and water, by the nine holes, and thus shall she be clean.’
70(172). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! But if fever befall her unclean body, if that twofold plague, hunger and thirst, befall her, may she be allowed to drink water ?
71(175). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She may; the first thing for her is to have her life saved. Having been allowed by one of the holy men, by a holy faithful man, who knows the holy know-
FARGARD VII.
91
ledge 1 , 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 SraoshcL- varez being applied to 2 ,‘ shall prescribe the penalty to be paid V
72 (181). What is the penalty to be paid?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ The deed is that of a
Pesh6tanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspah£- astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana V
X.
73 (183). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Can the eating vessels be made clean that have been touched by the carcase of a dog, or by the corpse of a man ?
74 (184). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They can, O holy Zarathu-ytra ! ’
How so ?
‘ If they be of gold, you shall wash them once with gdm£z, you shall rub them once with earth, you shall wash them once with water, and they shall be clean.
* If they be of silver, you shall wash them twice with g6m£z, you shall rub them twice with earth, you shall wash them twice with water, and they shall be clean.
[75. ‘ If they be of brass, you shall wash them thrice with g6m£z, you shall rub them thrice with
1 The Dastur. * See Farg. V, 35.
5 For the water having been defiled.
* 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 Rav. 98 b).
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vendIdAd.
earth, you shall wash them thrice with water, and they shall be clean.
‘ If they be of steel, you shall wash them four times with g6m£z, you shall rub them four times with earth, you shall wash them four times with water, and they shall be clean.
‘ If they be of stone, you shall wash them six times with g6m£z, you shall rub them six times with earth, you shall wash them six times with water, and they shall be clean x .]
‘ If they be of earth, of wood, or of clay, they are unclean for ever and ever 2 .’
XI.
76 (189). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Can the cow be made clean that has eaten of the carcase of a dog, or of the corpse of a man ?
77 (190). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She can, O holy Zarathu^tra ! The priest shall not, within a year, take from her to the baresma neither the milk and cheese that accompany the libation, nor the meat that accompanies the libation 3 . When a year has passed, then the faithful may eat of her as before V
XII.
78 (193). Who is he, O holy Ahura Mazda! who,
1 From the Vendld&d Sidah. * See Introd. V, 1 6 .
* The offering of the libation waters (Zaothra) is accompanied with offerings of milk, cheese, and meat, which the priest eats holding the baresma in his hand.
* ‘ Whatever comes from her, if dropped, is clean ; if taken, unclean. If she be big with young, 4he young is born clean, if conceived before her eating of the corpse ; if conceived afterwards, it is bom unclean ’ (Comm.)
FARGARD VIII.
93
with a godly intent, with a godly wish, goes astray from the ways of God ? Who is he who, with a godly intent, falls into the ways of the Drug 1 ?
79(194). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The one who, with a godly intent, with a godly wish, goes astray from the ways of God ; the one who with a godly intent falls into the ways of the Dru^, is he who offers up for libation water defiled by the dead ; or who offers up libations in the dead of the night V
Fargard VIII.
I (1-3). Purification of the house where a man has died.
II (4-13). Funerals.
III (14-22). Purification of the ways along which the corpse has been carried.
IV (23-25). No clothes to be wasted on a corpse.
V (26-32). Unlawful lusts.
VI (33-34). A corpse when dried up does not contaminate.
VII (35-72). Purification of the man defiled by the dead.
VIII (73-80). Purification of the fire defiled by the dead.
IX (81-96). The Bahram fire.
X (97-107). Purification in the wilderness.
This chapter, putting aside section V, may be entitled : Funerals and Purification. Logical order may easily be introduced into it, by arranging the sections as follows: I, IV, II, III, VI, VII, X, VIII, IX.
I.
i. If a dog or a man die under the timber- work of a house or the wattlings of a hut, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do ?
1 Possibly, works for the Dru^.
9 * From what hour may the good waters be offered up ? From sunrise to sunset. He who offers up the good waters after sunset, before sunrise, does no better deed than if he should shed them downright into the jaws of the venomous snake* (Nirangistdn, in the Zand-Pahlavi Glossary, p. 76).
94
VENdIdAd.
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall look for a Dakhma, they shall look for a Dakhma all around. If they find it easier to remove the dead than to remove the house, they shall take out the dead, they shall let the house stand, and shall per- fume it with UrvAsni, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or H adh£-na£pata, or any other sweet-smelling plant \
3 (8). ‘ If they find it easier to remove the house than to remove the dead 1 2 , they shall take away the house, they shall let the dead lie on the spot, and shall perfume the house with Urvisni, or Vohu- gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-na£pata, or any other sweet-smelling plant.’
II.
4 (11). 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 3 , or snowing, or blowing 4 , or the darkness is coming on, when flocks and men lose their way, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do * ?
1 ‘ 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.) Cf. XI, 4. Urvisni is the risan plant, a sort of garlic; Vohu-gaona, Vohu- kereti, and Hadhi-naepata are respectively (according to Aspen- diirji) benzoin, aloe, and pomegranate.
2 If the house is simply a hut or a tent
9 ' 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.)
* If it is the season of rain or snow. Cf. V, 10 seq.
FARGARD VIII.
95
5 (14). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that house whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest, and the least passed through by flocks apd herds, by Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful —
6 (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?
7(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 ; —
8(18). ‘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] 1 ; they shall cover the surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones, or of dry earth 2 .
9 (21). ‘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 floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the waters from off the earth.
10 (23). ‘ And when the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the waters from off the earth, then the wor- shippers of Mazda shall make a breach in the wall
1 Vendiddd Sadah.
2 In the similar case in V, 10, it is prescribed to isolate the corpse in a permanent dead house (the Zad-marg) ; the rule pre- scribed here seems to be older, as it is now obsolete; it was besides less convenient.
96
VENdIdAd.
of the house 1 , and they shall call for two men, strong and skilful 2 , and those, having stripped their clothes off 3 , shall take the body to the building of clay, stones, and mortar 4 5 , raised on a place where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds.
11 (29). ‘Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three paces from the dead; then the holy Ratu 6 shall proclaim to the worshippers of Mazda thus : “ Let the worshippers of Mazda here bring the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers there shall wash their hair and their bodies!”’
12 (32). 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 ?
13 ( 35 )’ Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is of sheep or of oxen ; not of man nor of woman, except these two : the nearest kinsman (of the dead) or his nearest kinswoman. The worshippers of Mazda
1 ‘ 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.) In some parts of Germany the dead must not be carried away through the usual house-door, as the dead and the living must not pass through the same door.
2 The corpse-bearers or nasu-kasha. ‘The corpse must be carried by two persons (see Farg. Ill, 13 seq.), no matter who they are ; they may be a man and a woman, or two women ’ (Comm.)
8 ‘As they are exchanged for the special clothes in which they carry corpses ’ (Comm.), the so-called ^amah-i dakhma, ‘the Dakhma clothes.’
4 The Dakhma (see Farg. VI, 50 seq.)
5 The priest who directs the funerals, ‘ the chief of the Nasu-
kashas’ (Comm.)
FARGARD VIII.
97
shall therefore procure the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies V
III.
14 (38). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Can the way, whereon the carcases of dogs or corpses of men have been carried, be passed through again by flocks and herds, by men and women, by Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful ?
15 (40). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It cannot be passed through again by flocks and herds, nor by men and women, nor by Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, nor by the consecrated bundles of baresma, nor by the faithful.
16 (41). ‘ You shall therefore cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears 1 2 * , to go three times through that way s . When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Dru^ - Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras 4 .
17 (45). * If the dog goes unwillingly, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white
1 When back in the village they perform the regular Barash- nftm with consecrated gdm£z (Comm.)
1 See Introd. V, 4.
* ‘Afrag says, the dog goes straight along the length of the way; Maidyd-m&h says, he goes across it from side to side' (Comm.)
4 Cf. Farg. VII, 3.
[4] H
H
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dog with yellow ears, to go six times 1 through that way. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the T)rug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.
18 (47). ‘ 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 Dru g Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.
19 (49). * An Athravan shall first go along the way and shall say aloud these fiend-smiting words : “YathA ahft vairyd 2 * * * * * : — the will of the Lord is the law of holiness ; the riches of Vohu-man6 8 shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.
20(52). “‘K*m nA mazdA: — whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda I while the hate of
1 1 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).
a A prayer in frequent use, and considered of great efficacy,
generally known as the Ahuna Vairya or Hon over. It was by
reciting it that Ormazd in his first conflict with Ahriman drove
him back to hell (Bund. I).
8 Of paradise, as Vohu-mand (Good Thought) is the door- keeper of heaven (cf. Farg. XIX, 31).
FARGARD VIII.
99
the fiend is grasping me ? Whom but thy Atar and Vohu-mand 1 , by whose work the holy world goes on ? Reveal to me the rules of thy law !
K* verethrem g &: — who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances ? Teach me clearly thy rules for this world and for the next, that Sraosha * may come with Vohu-mand and help whomsoever thou pleasest
2 1 (60). * “ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spe»ta! Perish, O fiendish Dnif! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend ! Perish away, O Dru^ ! Rush away, O Druf ! Perish away, O Dru^! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living work! of the holy spirit!”
22 (63). ‘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, die consecrated bundles of baresma, and the faithful.
‘ The worshippers of Mazda may afterwards * pre- pare meals with meat and wine in that house ; it shall be clean, and there will be no sin, as before.’
IV.
23 (65)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man shall throw clothes, either of
1 When Ahriman broke into the world he was repelled by Atar and Vohu-mand (Yasht XIII, 77; cf. Orm. Ahr. § 107).
* Sraosha fights for the soul of the good after death (see p. 87, note 4). K<m n£ mazdfi and k; verethrem are lines taken from the GSthas (Yasna XLVI, 7 ; XLIV, 16) and diverted from their primitive meaning to suit the present case.
* On the fourth day. For three days and nights after the death it is forbidden to cook meat in the house (Comm.)
H 2
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skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the feet, what is the penalty that he shall pay 1 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Four hundred stripes with the Aspah£-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana.’
24 (68). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 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-aitra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-iarana.’
25 (7 1 ). 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 Aspah6-astra, a thousand stripes with the S raosh6-/£arana.’
V.
26 (74). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man involuntarily emits his seed, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahe-artra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-y£arana.’
27 (77). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man voluntarily emits his seed, what is the penalty for it ? What is the atonement for it ? What is the cleansing from it ?
1 See Farg.V, 60; VII, 20.
FARGARD VIII.
IOI
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.'
28 (83). When is it so ?
* It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the law of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it. But if he be not a professor of the law of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it, then this law of Mazda takes his sin from him, if he confesses it and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.
29 (88). ‘ The law of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! takes away from him who confesses it the bonds of his sin; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust ; it takes away (the sin of) mur- dering 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 heaviest penalties of sin ; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.
3 ° (95)- ‘ In the same way the law of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathuitra ! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift- rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain.
‘ So let all the deeds thou doest be henceforth good, O Zarathujtra ! a full atonement for thy sin is effected by means of the law of Mazda V
31 (98). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy Onel Who is the man that is a Dadva ? Who is he that is a worshipper of the Daevas ? that is a male paramour of the Da£vas ? that is a female paramour of the Daevas ? that is a she-Da£va ?
1 See Farg. Ill, 38-42, text and notes.
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that is in his inmost self a Da£va ? that is in his whole being a Dafeva 1 ? Who is he that is a Da6va before he dies, and becomes one of the un- seen Daevas after death 2 ?
32 (102). 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 Da£va; this one is the man that is a worshipper of the Da&vas, that is a male paramour of the Daevas, that is a female paramour of the Da&vas, that is a she-Da£va ; this is the man that is in his inmost self a Da£va, that is in his whole being a Da£va ; 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 3 * * * * 8 /
1 The text has a Visp6-da£va, a curious expression which comes from the time when da6va still meant ‘ a god ' (see Introd. IV, 41). In the time of the Indo-Iranian, nay, as early as the time of the Indo-European religion, it was the custom, beside special invoca- tions to the several gods, to address one to all the gods, for fear of the resentment of those who might have been forgotten or ignored; thus the Greeks never failed to invoke all gods and goddesses (Otois iracn kcu nao-ais); in the same way the Indian invoked visv6 dev&s, ‘ all the gods/ which, in course of time, gave rise to a special class of gods. Hence, in Mazdeism, arose a class
of fiends, the visp6 daSva; but tradition lost the meaning of the
word, and the vtsp6 daevd became ‘one who is entirely a Da€va
by his wickedness * (Comm.)
a Demons are often the restless souls of the wicked, excluded
from heaven. The Persian sect of the Mah£b£dians believed that the soul that had not spoken and done good became an Ahriman
or ^in (Dabist&n).
8 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 VII, 52),
FARGARD VIII.
103
VI.
33 (107). 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 mpre than a year?
34(108). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He shall. The dry mingles not with the dry 1 . Should the dry mingle with the dry, how soon this material world of mine would have in it only Peshdtanus, shut out from the way of holiness, and whose souls will cry and wail ! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth V
VII. •
35 (m). 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 ?
36 (113). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He can, O holy Zarathuitra ! ’
How so ?
‘ If the Nasu has already been smitten by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds,
1 See Introd. V. This principle still prevails even with Musul- man Persians: ‘Pour encourir leur immondicitd dans l’attouche- ment des Chretiens et autres idolatres, il est ndcessaire que s’ils les touchent, leurs vfitements soient mouillds. C’est h cause, disent-ils, qu’dtans secs l’immondicitd ne s’attache pas; . . . . ce qui est cause que dans les villes oh leurs Mullas et Docteurs ont plus d’autorit£, ils font par fois ddfendre par leurs Kans que lorsqu'il pleut, les Chrdtiens ne sortent pas de leurs maisons, de crainte que par accident, venans h les heurter, ils ne soient rendus im- mondes ’ (G. du Chinon, p. 88 seq. ; cf. Chardin).
* See Farg. V, 4.
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VENdIdaD.
he shall cleanse his body with g6m£z and water, and he shall be clean 1 .
37 ( 1 1 7). ‘If the Nasu has not yet been smitten by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds 2 , then the worshippers of Mazda shall dig three holes in the ground 3 , and he shall thereupon wash his body with g6m£z, not with water. They shall then lift and bring my dog 4 * * , they shall bring him (thus shall it be done and not otherwise) in front of the man 8 .
38(121). ‘The worshippers of Mazda shall dig three other holes * in the ground, and he shall there- upon wash his body with g6m6z, not with water. The)^ 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 they shall wait until he is dried 7 . even to the last hair on the top of his head.
39 (125). ‘They shall dig three more holes 8 in the ground, and he shall thereupon wash his body with water, not with g6m6z.
40 (127). ‘He shall first wash his hands; if his
1 If the Sag-dtd has been performed, a simple ghosel is enough (see Introd. V, 16).
8 If the Sag-dtd has not been performed, the Barashnflm is necessary (see Introd. V, 16).
3 The first three holes, which contain g6m£z. For the dis- position of the holes, see the following Fargard.
4 Three times ; every time that the unclean one passes from one hole to another (Comm, ad IX, 3 a).
3 To look at him, or, rather, at the Nasu in him, whilst the priest sings the ‘ fiend-smiting spells.’
4 Containing gdm£z too.
7 He rubs himself dry with handfuls of dust (see IX, 29 seq.)
3 Containing water.
FARGARD Vlll.
*°5
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/
41 (131). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 When the good waters reach the fore- part of the skull, whereon does the Drug NasU rush x ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ In front, between the brows, the Dru^ Nasu rushes/
42 (134). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach in front between the brows, whereon does the Dru^ Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘On the back part of the skull the Dru g Nasu rushes/
43(137). O Maker of the material world, thoil Holy One ! When the good waters reach the back part of the skull, whereon does the Druf Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ In front, on the jaws, the Dru£” Nasu rushes.’
44 (140). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach in front, on the jaws, whereon does the Dru g Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Upon the right ear the Drug Nasu rushes/
45 ( I 43 )* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right ear, whereon does the Dru^“ Nasu rush ?
1 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.
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Ahura Mazda answered : * Upon the left ear the Drug - Nasu rushes.’
46 (146). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One I When the good waters reach the left ear, whereon does the Dru^ - Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right shoulder the Drug Nasu rushes.’
47 (149). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right shoulder, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the left shoulder the Druf Nasu rushes.’
48 (152). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left shoulder, whereon does the Dru g Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the right arm-pit the Druf Nasu rushes.'
49 ( I 55). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right arm-pit, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ Upon the left arm-pit the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
50(158). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left arm-pit, whereon does the Dru^ - Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘In front, upon the chest, the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
51 (161). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the chest in front, whereon does the Dru g Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the back the Drug Nasu rushes.’
52 (164). O Maker of the material world, thou
FARGARD VIII.
107
Holy One ! When the good waters reach the back, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the right nipple the Dru^ Nasu rushes.’
53 (167). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right nipple, whereon does the Druf Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the left nipple the Dru^- Nasu rushes.' N
54(170). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left nipple, whereon does the Dru^ - Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right rib the Drug Nasu rushes.’
55 ( 1 73 )- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right rib, whereon does the Dru^ Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the left rib the Drug Nasu rushes.’
56(176). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When' the good waters reach the left rib, whereon does the Dru^ Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Upon the right hip the Dru£” Nasu rushes.’
57 ( x 79 )* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 When the good waters reach the right hip, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the left hip the Drug Nasu rushes.’
58 (182). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left hip, whereon does the Dn\f Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the sexual parts the Dru^ Nasu rushes. If the unclean one be a
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man, thou shalt sprinkle him first behind, then before ; if the unclean one be a woman, thou shalt sprinkle her first before, then behind.
59 (187). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the sexual parts, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right thigh the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
60 (190). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right thigh, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the left thigh the Druf Nasu rushes.’
61 (193). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left thigh, whereon does the Dru^ Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ Upon the right knee the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
62 (196). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right knee, whereon does the Dru g Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the left knee the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
63 (199). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left knee, whereon does the Drug Nasu rush ?
* Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the right leg the Dru^- Nasu rushes.’
64 (202). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right leg, whereon does the Dru g Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Upon the left leg the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
. 65 (205). O Maker of the material world, thou
FARGARD VIII.
109
Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left leg, whereon does the Dru \g Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered ; ‘ Upon the right ankle the Dru^ Nasu rushes.’
66 (208). O Maker of the ' material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right ankle, whereon does the Dru§“ Nasu rush?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Upon the left ankle the Nasu rushes.’
67 (211). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 When the good waters reach the left ankle, whereon does the Dru*f Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Upon the right instep the Dru g Nasu rushes.’
68 (214). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the right instep, whereon does the Druf Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Upon the left instep the Druf Nasu rushes.’
69 (2×7). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! When the good waters reach the left instep, whereon does the Dru^ Nasu rush ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ She is driven to the sole of the foot, where what is seen of her is like the wing of a fly.
70 (220). ‘ He shall press his toes upon the ground, and shall raise up his heels; thou shalt sprinkle his right sole with water ; then the Dru^ Nasu rushes upon the left sole. Thou shalt sprinkle the left sole with water; then the Druf Nasu is driven to the toes, where what is seen of her is like the wing of a fly.
71 (225). ‘He shall press his heels upon the ground and shall raise up his toes; thou shalt
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sprinkle his right toe with water; then the Druf Nasu rushes upon the left toe. Thou shalt sprinkle the left toe with water; then the Dru^ Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.
[72. ‘And thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting and most-healing words :
‘ “ The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” &c.
‘ “ Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda ! while the hate of the fiend is grasping me ? ” &c.
‘ “ Who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances ? ” &c. 1
‘ “ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spe«ta! Perish, O fiendish Dru^! Perish, O brood of the fiend ! Perish, O world of the fiend ! Perish away, O Druf! Rush away, O Drug”! Perish away, O Druf ! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit *!’*’]
VIII.
73 (229). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If worshippers of Mazda, walking, or running, or riding, or driving, come upon a corpse- burning fire, whereon a corpse is being cooked or roasted, what shall they do ?
74 (233). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall kill the man that bums the corpse; surely they shall
1 As in §5 19, 20. * From the Vendtd&d S&dah.
FARGARD VIII.
Ill
kill him J . They shall take off the cauldron, they shall take off the tripod.
75 (237). ‘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 ; and they shall separate and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
76 (242). ‘ Thus they shall lay a first bundle on the ground 1 2 * * * * * , a Vitasti 8 away from the corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
77 (245). ‘ They shall lay down a second bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the corpse- burning fire, and they shall separate 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 corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate 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 corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
1 ‘ He who burns Nasi (dead matter) must be killed. Burning
or roasting Nasi from the dead is a capital crime. . . . Four men
can be put to death by any one without an order from the Dastur :
the Nasi-burner, the highwayman, the Sodomite, and the criminal
taken in the deed ’ (Comm.)
* In a hole dug for that purpose ; such is at least the custom
nowadays. The ceremony seems to be an imitation of the Ba- rashn&m. The unclean fire, represented by the nine bundles, passes through the nine holes, as die unclean man does (see above, § 37 seq. and Farg. IX, 12 seq.), and leaves at each of them some of the uncleanness it has contracted.
8 A span of twelve fingers.
1 1 2
VENdIdaD.
‘ They shall lay down a fifth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate 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 corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate 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 corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate 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 corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
78 (245). ‘ They shall lay down a ninth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the corpse-burning fire, and they shall separate and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
79, 80 (246). ‘ If a man .shall then piously bring unto the fire, O Spitama Zarathurtra! wood of Urv&sna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadhi- naepata, or any other sweet-smelling wood, whereso- ever the wind shall bring the perfume of the fire, thereunto Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, shall go and kill thousands of unseen Daevas, thousands of fiends, the brood of darkness, thousands of couples of Y&tus and Pairikas 1 .’
IX.
81 (251). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring a corpse-burning fire
1 See Introd. IV, 20-21.
FARGARD VIII.
1*3
to the D4ity6-g4tu 1 , 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 ten thou- sand fire-brands to the D4ityd-g4tu.’
82 (254). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the Diityd-gitu the fire wherein excrement has been burnt®, 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 thou- sand fire-brands to the D4ity6-g4tu/
83 (257). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D4ity6-g4tu the fire wherein cowdung has been burnt®, 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 five hundred fire-brands to the D4ity6-g4tu/
84 (258). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D4ity6-g4tu the fire from the kiln of a brick-maker 4 , what shall be
1 ‘ The proper abode,’ the Bahr&m fire (see Introd. V, 8 ). The Bahrim 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.
* ‘ The fire of the lac-makers and of the dyers ’ (Asp. and Gr. Rav. 120).
* * The fire of a bath,’ according to Aspendiarji ; but see Introd. V, 8 .
4 Or, * from a lime-kiln ’ (Comm.)
[ 4 ]
I
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114
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 four hundred fire-brands to the D4ity6-gitu/
85 (259). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D&ityo-gitu the fire from a potter’s kiln, 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 to the D4ity6-g4tu as many fire-brands as there were pots baked in that fire V
86 (260). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D4ity6-gitu the fire of the reapers \ 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 to the Diity 6-git u as many fire-brands as there were plants in the crop 1 /
87 (261). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the Diity6-gitu the fire 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 Diity6-gitu/
88 (262). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the Diity6-gitu the fire of a silversmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body ?
1 Doubtful
FARGARD VIII.
115
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought ninety fire-brands to the Diity6-gitu.’
89 (263). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D4ity6-g4tu the fire of a worker in brass, 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 eighty fire-brands to the Diityd-g&tu.’
90 (264). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D4ityd-g4tu the fire of a blacksmith, 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 seventy fire-brands to the Diityd-gitu.’
91 (265). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the D4ity6-g4tu the fire of an oven *, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted from his body ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought sixty fire-brands to the D4ity6-gitu.'
92 (266). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the D4ity6-gitu the fire from under a cauldron 2 , 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 fifty fire-brands to the D4ity6-gitu.’
93 (267). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 A baker’s fire.
I 2
* The kitchen-fire.
vendIdAd.
i 16
Holy One ! If a man bring to the DAity6-gAtu the fire from an encampment *, 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 forty fire-brands to the DAity6-gAtu.’
94 (268). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring a herdsman’s fire to the DAityd-gAtu, 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 thirty fire-brands to the DAity6-gAtu.’
[95 (269)®. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the DAity6-gAtu the fire of the field 3 , 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 twenty fire-brands to the DAityd-gAtu.’]
96 (270). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man bring to the DAityd-gAtu the fire of his own hearth, 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 ten fire-brands to the DAityd-gAtu.’
X.
97 (271). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can a man be made clean, O holy
1 Doubtful.
* From the Vendidfid Sadah. * The hunter's fire.
FARGARD VIII.
H7
Ahura Mazda ! who has touched a corpse in a distant place in the fields 1 * ?
98(272). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He can, O holy Zarathastra.’
How so?
‘ If the Nasu has already been smitten by the corpse-eating dogs or the corpse-eating birds, he shall wash his body with g6m£z ; he shall wash it thirty times, he shall rub it dry with the hand thirty times, beginning every time with the head *.
99 (278). ‘ If the Nasu has not yet been smitten 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 3 4 .
100 (280). ‘ Then he shall run a distance of a Hithra *. He shall run until he meets some man on his way, then he shall cry out aloud : “ Here am I, one who has touched the corpse of a man, without any wilful sin of mind, tongue, or hand, and who wishes to be made clean.” Thus shall he run until he overtakes the man. If the man will not cleanse him, he takes upon his own head the third of his trespass.
101 (287). ‘Then he shall run another Hdthra, he shall run off again until he overtakes a man ; if
1 Where the regular process of purification cannot be per- formed.
1 If the Sag-did has been performed, the Si-shfi (thirtyfold washing) is enough. Cf. above, §§ 35, 36.
1 If the Sag-d!d has not been performed, he cleanses himself in a summary way till he comes to a place where the Barashnfim can be performed.
4 See p. 17, n. 1.
1 18
vendIdAd.
the man will not cleanse him, he takes upon his own head the half of his trespass.
102 (291). ‘Then he shall run a third HAthra, he shall run off a third time until he overtak es a man ; if the man will not cleanse him, he takes upon his own head the whole of his trespass.
103 (294). ‘ 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, without any wilful sin of mind, tongue, or hand, and who wishes to be made clean.” If they will not cleanse him, he shall cleanse his body with g6m£z and water; thus shall he be clean 1 .’
104 (300). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If he found water on his way, the water requires an atonement 2 ; what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
105 (303). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hun- dred stripes with the AspahA-artra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-^arana.’
106 (304). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If he found trees 3 on his way, the fire requires an atonement ; what is the penalty he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-artra, four hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.
1 * He may then attend to his business ; he may work and till ; some say he must abstain .from sacrifice (till he has undergone the Barashnfim)/ (Comm.)
* As he defiled it by crossing it.
8 1 Trees fit for the fire ' (Comm.) If he touches those trees, the fire to which they are brought becomes unclean by his fault.
FARGARD IX.
119
107 (308). ' This is the penalty, this is the atone- ment, which saves him who submits to it ; he who does not submit to it, shall surely be an inhabitant in the mansion of the Drug' 1 .’
Fargard IX.
The nine nights’ Barashn&m.
Ia(i-n). Description of the place for cleansing the unclean (the Barashnfim-gfih).
I b (12-36). Description of the cleansing.
II (37-44). Fees of the cleanser.
III (47-57). The false cleanser; his punishment
§§ 45, 46 belong better to the following Fargard.
The ceremony described in this Fargard is known among the Parsis as Barashnfim nfi shaba, or ‘nine nights' Barashnfim/ because it lasts for nine nights (see § 35)*. It is the great purifi- cation, the most efficacious of all ; it not only makes the defiled man clean, but it opens to him the heavens (see Farg. XIX, 33 ; cf. Introd. V, 16). So, although it was formerly intended only for the man defiled by the dead, it became, during the Parsi period, a pious work which might be performed without any corpse having been touched; nay, its performance was prescribed, once at least, at the time of the Nft ztidi (at the age of fifteen, when the young Parsi becomes a member of the community), in order to wash away the natural uncleanness that has been contracted in the maternal womb (Saddar 36, Hyde 40) \
I a.
1. Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda : ‘ O most
1 Hell. Cf. Farg. XIV, 18,
* As to the word Barashnilm, it seems not to refer to the cere- mony itself, and to be nothing more than the Zend word baresh- nftm, ‘ the top of the head, the skull,’ the part of the body that is first to be washed (§ 15).
8 For the plan of the Barashnfim-gah, see Anquetil II, p. 456. .
] 20
vendAdad.
beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How shall they manage here below, who want to cleanse the body of one defiled by the dead ?’
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘A godly man, O Spitama Zarathu-stra ! who speaks truth, who learns the Holy Word, and who knows best the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda 1 * , such a man shall fell the trees off the surface of the ground on a space of nine Vib&zus* square.
3 (9). ‘ It should be the 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 Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful.’
4 (11). How far from the fire? How far from the water ? How far from the consecrated bundles of baresma ? How far from the faithful ?
5(12). 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.
6 (13). ‘Then thou shalt dig a hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come 3 .
7 (14). ‘Thou shalt dig a second hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come.
‘ Thou shalt dig a third hole, two fingers deep if
1 A priest.
* The Vib&zu seems to have been as much as ten paces.
* See Introd. V, 16.
FARGARD IX.
1 2 1
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.’
8 (14). How far from one another ?
‘ One pace.’
How much is the pace ?
‘ As much as three feet
9 (16). ‘Then thou shalt dig three holes more 1 2 , 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
10 (22). ‘ 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.’
1 These six holes contain g6m£z. ‘The holes must be dug from the north to the south ' (Comm.)
2 The three holes to contain water.
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How much are those (three) paces ?
‘ As much as nine feet
1 1 (24). ‘ Thou shalt draw twelve furrows l ; three of which thou shalt draw around (the first) three holes ; three thou shalt draw around (the first) six holes ; three thou shalt draw around the nine holes; three thou shalt draw around the three holes, out- side the six holes 2 . At each of the three times nine feet 8 , thou shalt place stones as steps to the holes ; or potsherds, or stumps, or clods, or any hard matter V
1 b -
12 (31). ‘ Then the unclean one shall walk to the holes ; thou, O Zarathurtra ! shalt stand outside by the furrow, and thou shalt recite, Nemas^d y&
1 * 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 Fravar&n6 (“ I declare myself a worshipper of Mazdaj a follower of Zarathurtra, a foe of the fiend,” &c.), the Khshnfiman of Serosh, and the B&g of Serosh ; 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 (cf. Farg. XVII, 5). In the present case the Drug, being shut up inside the kesh and thus excluded from the worlpl 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, and the world is freed from her presence.
2 1 The three holes for water, the six holes for g6m6z * (Comm.)
3 The nine feet between the holes containing g6m6z and those containing water, the nine feet between the first holes and the fur- rows, and the nine feet between the last hole and the furrows.
4 That the foot of the unclean one may not touch the earth (see Introd. V, 10).
FARGARD IX.
123
irmaiti^ 1 z&kk x \ and the unclean one shall repeat, NemasM yi clrmaiti^ 1 zkkk.
13 (35). * The Drug becomes weaker and weaker at every one of those words which are to smite the fiend Angra Mainyu, to smite Aeshma of the bloody spear 1 2 , to smite the M&zainya fiends 3 , to smite all the fiends.
14 (40). ‘ Then thou shalt sprinkle him with g6m£z from a spoon of brass or of lead ; thou shalt take a stick with nine knots 4 * , O Spitama Zarathuxtra ! and thou shalt fasten the leaden spoon to the upper part of the stick.
J 5 (43). * 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 Dru^ Nasu rushes in front, between his brows 6 .
16 (50). ‘ Thou shalt sprinkle him in front be- tween the brows ; then the Dru g Nasu rushes upon the back part of the skull.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the back part of the skull ; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the jaws.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the jaws ; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right ear.
1 7 (5b). ‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right ear ; then the Dru£“ Nasu rushes upon the left ear.
* Thou shalt sprinkle the left ear ; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right shoulder.
1 Yasna XLIX, 10. * See Introd. IV, 22. * See Introd. IV, 23.
4 So long that the cleanser may take g6mez or water from the
holes and sprinkle the unclean one, without touching him and with-
out going inside the furrows.
8 Cf. Farg. VIII, 40-71.
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vendJdAd.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right shoulder ; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the left shoulder.
' Thou shalt sprinkle the left shoulder ; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the right arm-pit.
1 8 (64). ‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right arm- pit; then the Drug' Nasu rushes upon the left arm-pit.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left arm-pit; then the Dru g- Nasu rushes upon the chest
* Thou shalt sprinkle the chest ; then the Dru g- Nasu rushes upon the back.
1 9 (70). ‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the back ; then the Drug” Nasu rushes upon the right nipple.
* Thou shalt sprinkle the right nipple ; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the left nipple.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left nipple; then the Dru g“ Nasu rushes upon the right rib.
20(76). ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right rib; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the left rib.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left rib ; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the right hip.
‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right hip; then the Drug' Nasu rushes upon the left hip.
21 (82). ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left hip; then the Drug - Nasu rushes upon the sexual parts.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the sexual parts. If the un- clean 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 Dru g- Nasu rushes upon the right thigh.
22(88). ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the right thigh; then the Dru g- Nasu rushes upon the left thigh.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left thigh ; then the Dru g- Nasu rushes upon the right knee.
FARGARD IX.
125
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right knee ; then the Drug- Nasu rushes upon the left knee.
23 (94). ‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left knee ; then the Drug - Nasu rushes upon the right leg.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right leg; then the Drug” . Nasu rushes upon the left leg.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left leg ; then the Drug - Nasu rushes upon the right ankle.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right ankle ; then the Drug - Nasu rushes upon the left ankle.
24 (102). ‘Thou shalt sprinkle the left ankle; then the Drug - Nasu rushes upon the right instep.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the right instep ; then the Drug“ Nasu rushes upon the left instep.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left instep ; then the Drug - Nasu is driven to the sole of the foot, where what is seen of her is like the wing of a fly.
25 (108). ‘ He shall press his toes upon the ground and shall raise up his heels ; thou shalt sprinkle his right sole ; then the Drug' Nasu rushes upon the left sole.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left sole ; then the Drug - Nasu is driven to the toes, where what is seen of her is like the wing of a fly.
26(113). ‘He shall press his heels upon the ground and shall raise up his toes; thou shalt sprinkle his right toe ; then the Drug - Nasu rushes upon the left toe.
‘ Thou shalt sprinkle the left toe ; then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, all stained with stains, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.
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vendJdAd.
27 (118). ‘And thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words : —
* “ YathA ah A vairy6: — The will of the Lord is the law of holiness; the riches ofVohu-mand shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.
‘ “ Kem nA mazdA : — Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda ! while the hate of the fiend is grasping me ? Whom, but thy Atar and Vohu-mand, by whose work the holy world goes oh ? Reveal to me the rules of thy law !
* “Ke verethrem g A: — Who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances? Teach me clearly thy rules' for this world and for the next, that Sraosha may come with Vohu-man6 and help whomsoever thou pleasest.
* “ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spe«ta! Perish, O fiendish Drug”! Perish, O brood of the fiend ! Perish, O world of the fiend ! Perish away, O Drug! Rush away, O Dru^! Perish away, O Dru g! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit 1 * !”
28(119). ‘At the first hole the man becomes freer from the Nasu; then thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words: — “YathA ah A vairyd,” &c. 8
‘ At the second hole he becomes freer from the Nasu ; then thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words: — “YathA ah A vairyA,” &c.
1 Cf. Farg. VIII, 19-21.
* As in preceding clause.
FARGARD IX.
127 .
‘At the third hole he becomes freer from the Nasu ; then thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words:— “Yathft ahft vairyd,”&c.
‘At the fourth hole he becomes freer from the Nasu ; then thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words: — “Yathcl ah ft vairyft,” &c.
‘At the fifth hole he becomes freer from the Nasu ; then thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words: — “Yathft ahft vairyft,” &c.
‘ At the sixth hole he becomes freer from the Nasu ; then thou shalt say those fiend-smiting and most-healing words: — “Yathi ahft vairyft,” &c.
29(120). ‘Afterwards the unclean one 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
30 (123). * 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.
31 (125). ‘When his body- is dry, 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.
32(130). ‘Then he shall perfume (his body) 1 2 with perfumes from Urvftsna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadhi-naftpata, or from any sweet-
1 Between the furrows of the six holes containing gdm£z and the furrows of the holes containing water.
* Or, possibly, * his clothes ’ (see Farg. XIX, 24).
128
VENdIdAD.
smelling plant ; then he shall put on his clothes, and shall go back to his house.
33 ( I 33)- ‘ He shall sit down there in the place of infirmity 1 , 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 g6m£z and water to make them clean.
34(137). ‘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 g6m£z and water to make them clean.
35 (141). ‘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 con- tinue, until nine nights have passed. When nine nights have passed, he shall wash his body, he shall wash his clothes with g6m£z and water to make them clean.
36 (145). ‘ He may thenceforth go near the fire, near the water, near the earth, near the cow, near
1 The ArmSjt-gdh (see Introd.V, 15).
FARGARD IX.
129
the trees, and near the faithful, either man or woman.
II. 1
37 (146). ‘ Thou shalt cleanse a priest for a holy blessing 2 * ; thou shalt cleanse the lord of a province for the value of a camel of high value ; thou shalt cleanse the lord of a town for the value of a stallion ; thou shalt cleanse the lord of a borough for the value of a bull ; thou shalt cleanse the master of a house for the value of a cow three years old.
38(151). ‘Thou shalt cleanse the wife of the master of a house for the value of a ploughing 8 cow; thou shalt cleanse a menial for the value of a draught cow 4 ; thou shalt cleanse a young child for the value of a lamb.
39 ( I 54)- ‘ These are the different cattle that the worshippers of Mazda shall give to him who has cleansed them, if they can afford it ; if they cannot afford it, they shall give him any other reward that may make him leave their houses well-pleased with them, and free from anger.
40 (157). ‘For if the man who has cleansed them leave their houses displeased with them, and full of anger, then the Dru^ Nasu enters them by the nose, by the eyes, by the tongue, by the jaws, by the sexual organs, by the hinder parts.
41 (159). ‘And the Dru^“ 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 Zarathu-rtra!
1 Cf. the tariff for the fees of physicians, Farg.VII, 41-43.
* See Farg.VII, 41, note.
* Doubtful. * Doubtful.
[4]
K
130
vendIdAd.
to shine upon a man defiled by the dead ; it grieves the moon, it grieves the stars.
42 (162). ‘That man delights them, O Spitama Zarathustra ! who cleanses from the Nasu those whom she has defiled ; he delights the fire, he de- lights the water, he delights the earth, he delights the cow, he delights the trees, he delights the faithful, both men and women.’
43 (164). Zarathustra 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 any one defiled by her ?’
44 (166). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The welfare of the blessed abode thou canst promise to that man, for his reward in the other world.’
45 1 (16 7). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda : ‘ O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I fight against that Dru^ - who from the dead rushes upon the living ? How shall I fight against that Nasu who from the dead defiles the living?’
46 ( 1 69). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Say aloud those words in the GAthas that are to be said twice ; 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 ; and the Druf shall fade away like the self-moving arrow 1 2 , like the carpet of the earth 8 when the year is over, like its garment 3 which lasts a season.’
1 This clause and the following one as far as * and the Dru^ ’
are further developed in the following Fargard.
* See Introd. IV, 26. * The grass.
FARGARD IX.
131
III.
47 (172). 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, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do ? How shall I then fight against that Dru£” who from the dead rushes upon the living ? How shall I fight against that Dru^ who from the dead defiles the living ?
48(175). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Then, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! the Dru g Nasu waxes stronger than she was before. Stronger then are sickness and death and the working of the fiend than they were before/
49 ( I 77)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What is the penalty that he shall pay?
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 flay him alive, they shall cut off his head, and they shall give over his corpse unto the greediest of the birds of the beneficent spirit, unto the corpse- eating birds, unto the ravens, with these words 1 : —
‘ “ The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds.
50 (183). ‘ “ If he has committed any other evil
1 * The cleanser who has not performed the cleansing according to the rites, shall be 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 Ravaet, p. 398). Cf. Farg. Ill, 20 seq.
K 2
132
vendIdAd.
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 V’ ’
51 (187). Who is he, O Ahura Mazda! who threatens to take away fulness and increase from the world, and to bring in sickness and death?
52 (188). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is the un- godly Ashemaogha 1 2 * , O Spitama Zarathu-rtra ! who in this material world cleanses the unclean without knowing the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda.
53 (190)- ‘For until then, O Spitama Zarathortra! 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 V
54 (191). 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 ?
55, 56(192, 193). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Sweet- ness 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 that ungodly Ashemaogha has been put to death, and- the holy Sraosha has been in that place, offered up a sacrifice 4 , for three
1 See Farg. Ill, 20 seq., and Introd. V.
* See Introd. IV. * Cf. XIII, 5a seq.
4 The so-called zanda ravin, ‘ the sacrifice that makes the soul living,’ that is to say, that makes it enter heaven. It is pro-
bably to be performed only in case the sinner has performed the Patet (see the note to § 49).
FARGARD X.
133
days and three nights, with fire blazing, with baresma tied up, and with Haoma uplifted.
57 (196). 4 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 X.
During the process of cleansing, the voice works with the hand. The spells which must be recited while the unclean one is cleansing himself have already been mentioned in the preceding Fargard, but we find here a detailed list of spells which are to be spoken twice, or thrice, or four times. The exact time when they are to be uttered is not mentioned, and we do not know whether they are to accompany those prescribed in the last Fargard, and are, therefore, to be repeated as often as the unclean one is washed, or whether they are only intended to close the whole ceremony.
These spells, like the former ones, are taken from the hymns or Githas, the oldest and holiest part of the Avesta. They were not written for this particular purpose, but, as happens in all religions, advantage was taken of whatever there might be in the old sacred hymns which could be more or less easily applied to the special circumstances of the case. The recitation of these lines is followed by an exorcism, written in the ordinary language of the Avesta, which has been expressly composed for the occasion.
i. Zarathartra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda! most beneficent spirit, Maker of the ma- terial world, thou Holy One! How shall I fight against that Druf who from the dead rushes upon the living ? How shall I fight against that Dru^ who from the dead defiles the living ?’
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered : * Say aloud those words in the GAthas that are to be said twice 1 ; say
1 The so-called bLr-Smrfita.
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aloud those words in the Githas that are to be said thrice *; say aloud those words in the Githas that are to be said four times 2 /
3 (7). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which are those words in the Githas that are to be said twice ?
4 (10). Ahura Mazda answered : * These are the words in the Githas that are to be said twice, and thou shalt twice say them aloud : —
ahyi yisi . . . urvinem (Yasna XXVIII, 2), humatenSm . . . mahi (Yas. XXXV, 2), ashahyi ia d, sairi . . . ahubyi (Yas. XXXV, 8), yathi ti i . . . ahuri (Yas. XXXIX, 4), humiim thwi . . . hudaustemi (Yas. XLI, 3), thw6i staotaras£i . . . ahuri (Yas. XLI, 5), u.rti ahmii . . . mananghi (Yas. XLI 1 1 , 1), spe»ti mainyti . . . ahurd (Yas. XLVII, 1), vohu khshathrem . . . vareshine (Yas. LI, 1), vahfati fatly . . . ykyaothaniii (Yas. LI 1 1 , 1).
5 (10). ‘And after thou hast twice said those words, thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting and most-healing words : —
‘ “ I drive away Angra Mainyu 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.
6 (12). ‘“I drive away the Nasu, I drive away direct defilement, I drive away indirect defilement, from this house, from this borough, from this town,
1 The thru-imrfita. * The kathruj-Smrfita.
FARGARD X.
T 35
from this land; from the very body of the man de- filed 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.” ’
7 (13). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 Which are those words in the G&thas that are to be said thrice ?
8 (16). Ahura Mazda answered : * These are the words in the G&thas that are to be said thrice, and thou shalt thrice say them aloud:—
ashem vohu . . . (Yas. XXVII, 14), ye sevLrtd . . . paid (Yas. XXXIII, 11), hukhshathrdtemii . . . vahlstdi (Yas. XXXV, 5), doavarenALr . . . vahy6 (Yas. LI 1 1 , 9).
9 (16). ‘After thou hast thrice said those words, thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting and most- healing words : —
“‘I drive away Indra 1 , I drive away Sauru *, I drive away the daeva Naunghaithya \ 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.
10(18). ‘“I drive away Tauru 2 , I drive away Zairi 2 , 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
1 See Introd. IV, 41. * See Introd. IV, 34.
vendIdAd.
136
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.” ’
11 (19). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which are those words in the GAthas that are to be said four times ?
12 (22). 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 : —
yathA ahfi vairy6 . . . 1 * (Yas. XXVII, 13),
mazdA a d mdi . . . dau ahhm* (Yas. XXXIV, 15),
A airyamA ishy6 . . . masatA mazdau 3 (Yas. LIV, 1).
13 (22). ‘After thou hast said those words four times, thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting and most-healing words : —
‘ “ I drive away Adshma, the fiend of the wounding spear 4 * , I drive away the dadva Akatasha 6 , 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.
14 (24). ‘ “I drive away the Varenya daevas # , I drive away the wind-daAva 7 , from this house, from
1 Translated Farg. VIII, 19. * Translated Farg. XI, 14.
• Translated Farg. XX, 11.
4 See Introd. IV, 22.
• ‘ The worker of evil,’ a personification of the evil powers, it
may be a mere name of Ahriman.
• See Introd. IV, 23.
7 The demon Vftteh, who raises storms (Brouillons d’Anquetil).
FARGARD X.
137
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.”
15 (25). ‘These are the words in the Githas that are to be said twice ; these are the words in the Githas that are to be said thrice ; these are the words in the Githas that are to be said four times.
16 (26). ‘ These are the words that smite down Angra Mainyu ; these are the words that smite down Aishma, the fiend of the wounding spear; these are the words that smite down the Mizainya daivas 1 ; these are the words that smite down all the daivas.
1 7 (3°)- ‘ These are the words that stand against that Dru^“, against that Nasu, who from the dead rushes upon the living, who from the dead defiles the living.
18(32). ‘Therefore, O Zarathurtra ! thou shalt dig nine holes 2 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 that is pro-
1 According to tradition, ‘the Divs in Mazanderan;' Mazan- deran is known, in fact, as a land of fiends and sorcerers; a reputa- tion for which it is very likely indebted to the neighbouring mount Damivand, to which Azir Dahika is said to be bound. Yet one may doubt whether it gave its name to the Mizainya daivas, or if it took its name from them. Mizainya was, most probably, like Varenya, an epithet of the Divs, which, in course of time, became the name of a class of demons.
* The nine holes for the Barashnfim; see above, p. 120, § 6 seq.
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cured by the law of Mazda for him who cleanses himself with good thoughts, words, and deeds.
19(38). ‘Make thyself pure, O righteous man! any one in the world here below can win purity for himself, namely, when he cleanses himself with good thoughts, words, and deeds.
20. ‘ The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,’ &c. 1
‘Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda! while the hate of the fiend is grasping me?’ &c.
‘ Who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances?’ &c.
‘ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spewta! Perish, O fiendish Drug”! . . . Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit !’
Fargard XI.
This chapter, like the preceding, is composed of spells intended to drive away the Nasu. But they are of a more special character, as they refer to the particular objects to be cleansed, such as the house, the fire, the water, &c. Each incantation consists of two parts, a line from the Githas which alludes, or rather is made to allude, to the particular object, and a general exorcism, in the usual dialect, which is the same for all the objects.
i. Zarathujtra 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?
1 The rest as in Farg. VIII, 19, 20.
FARGARD XI.
139
how all good things, made by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle ?’
2 (4). 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.
3(7). ‘ So thou shalt say these fiend-smiting and most-healing words; thou shalt chant the Ahuna- Vairya five times : “ The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” &c.
‘ The Ahuna-Vairya preserves the person of man: “ The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” &c.
‘ “ Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda ! while the hate of the fiend is grasping me ?” &c.
‘ “ Who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances?” &c.
* “ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spe«ta!” &C . 1 * * * *
4 (9). ‘ If thou wantest to cleanse the house, say these words aloud: “He is my greatest support as long as lasts this dreary world
‘ If thou wantest to cleanse the fire, say these words aloud : “ Thy fire, first of all, do we approach with worship, O Ahura Mazda 8 !”
1 As in Farg.VIII, 19, 20.
* Yasna XLIX, 1. The allusion is not quite clear, but there
seems to be a comparison between the small house of man and
that great house the world.
* Yasna XXXVI, 1.
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VEND! DAD.
5 (13). ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the water, say these words aloud : “Waters we worship, the waters in the tree, the waters in the stream, the waters in the rain I .”
‘ 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 Ahura 2 !”
6 (17). ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the cow, say these words aloud : “ For the cow we order thee to do these most excellent deeds, that she may have a resting place and fodder 8 .”
‘ If thou wantest to cleanse the trees, say these words aloud: “Out of him 4 , through his holiness Mazda made the plants grow up 6 .”
7(21). ‘If thou wantest to cleanse the faithful man or the faithful woman, say these words aloud : “ May the beloved Airyaman come hither, for the men and women of Zarathurtra to rejoice, for the faithful to rejoice; with the desirable reward that is won by means of the law, and with that boon for holiness that is vouchsafed by Ahura 6 !”
1 Yasna XXXVIII, 3.
* Yasna XXXVIII, x. ‘ Who are thine,’ that is, ‘ who are thy wives these women are, or rather were, the rivers in heaven, which were considered as the wives of the heaven-god ; the rain waters are called * Ahura’s spouses,’ Ahurstnts (Yasna LXVIII) ; cf. Orm. Ahr. § 3 a and Introd. IV. Tradition wrongly recognises in these women the Faroers of godly men.
* Yasna XXXV, 4. ‘ Let those excellent deeds be done for the behoof of cattle, that is to say, let stables be made, and water and fodder be given ' (Comm.)
* The first-born bull from whose body, after his death, grew up all kinds of plants (Bund. IV; cf. Orm. Ahr. § 129 seq.)
* Yasna XLVIII, 6. Cf. Farg. XVII, 5.
* Yasna LIV, x. Cf. Farg. XX, 11. There is no special spell for the cleansing of the sun, the moon, the stars, and the boundless
FARGARD XI.
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8 (25). ‘ Then thou shalt say these fiend-smiting and most-healing words. Thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya eight times : —
‘“The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” &c.
* “ Whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda?” &c.
‘ “ Who is he who will smite the fiend ?” &c.
Keep us from our hater, O Mazda!” &C . 1
9 (26). ‘ I drive away A£shma a , I drive away the Nasu, I drive away direct defilement, I drive away indirect defilement.
[I drive away KhrA, I drive away KhrAighni 8 ; I drive away BAidhi, I drive away BAidhLza 4 ; I drive away Ku«di, I drive away KuwdLsa. 8 ]
‘ I drive away the yellow BAshy&sta, I drive away the long-handed BAshySsta*; [I drive away MAidhi 7 , I drive away Kapasti. 8 ]
light (see §§ r, 2), because they are not defiled by the unclean one, they are only pained by seeing him (Farg. IX, 41) ; as soon as he is clean, they are freed from the pain.
* As in Farg. VIII, 19, 20. * See Introd. IV, 22.
* Khrfi and KhrAighni are not met with elsewhere ; their names mean, apparently, ‘ wound ’ and ‘ the wounding one whether they belonged to concrete mythology, or were mere abstractions, is dif- ficult to decide. They may have been mere names or epithets of Afishma khrfiidru, ‘ ASshma of the wounding spear.’
4 BAidhisa is ‘the offspring of BAidhi,’ but the meaning of BAidhi is unknown.
* Kuadisa is ‘the offspring of Kuwdi ; ’ Kundi is contracted from Kava«di or Kavanda; the Indian homonym kavandha means literally ‘ a tub,' and by a mythical metaphor ‘ a raining cloud’ (Rig-veda V, 85, 3; IX, 74, 7); he becomes then the demon in the cloud (Farg. XIX, 41). He is known in Greek mythology under the name of Kdavdot (Kuhn, Herabkunft des Feuers, p. 134).
* See Introd. IV, 24; cf. Farg. XVIII, 16.
7 A demon unknown. Aspendi&rji translates it by * Destruction/
8 Unknown. AspendiSrji calls it ‘ Revenge/
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vendJdAd.
* I drive away the Pairika 1 that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree. I drive away the demon of unclean- ness that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree.
10 (32). ‘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.
1 1 (33). ‘ Then thou shalt say these fiend-smiting and most-healing words ; thou shalt chant four Ahuna -Vairyas : —
‘“The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” &c.
‘ “ Whom hast thou placed to protect me ?” &c.
‘ “ Who is he who will smite the fiend?” &c.
‘ “ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda!” &c. 8
12 (34). ‘Away is A£shma driven; away is the Nasu driven ; away is direct defilement ; away is indirect defilement driven.
[‘ Away is KhrA, away is KhrAighni driven ; away is Bftidhi, away is BAidhLza driven ; away is Ku«di, away is Kuwdi^a driven.]
‘ Away is BAshyasta driven, the yellow ; away is BAshyasta driven, the long-handed; [away is MAidhi, away is Kapasti driven.]
‘ Away is the Pairika driven that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree. Away is the demon of uncleanness driven that comes upon the fire, upon the water, upon the earth, upon the cow, upon the tree.
1 See Introd. IV, 21. * As in Farg. VIII, 19, 20.
FARGARD XI.
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1 3 (40). ‘ Away art thou driven, 0 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 bound- less light, from all good things, made by Mazda, the offspring of the holy principle.
14 (41). ‘ Then thou shalt say these fiend-smiting and most-healing words; thou shalt chant “ Mazdi a d mdi” four times: “O Mazda! teach me excellent words and excellent works, that through the good thought and the holiness of him who offers thee due praise, thou mayest, O Lord ! make the world thrive for ever and ever, at thy will, under thy sovereign rule V’
15. ‘I drive away A£shma, I drive away the Nasu,’ &c. a
16. ‘I drive thee away, O mischievous Angra Mainyu ! from the fire, from the water,’ &c. s
1 7. ‘ Then thou shalt say these fiend-smiting and most-healing words ; thou shalt chant the Airyama- ishyd four times : “ May the beloved Airyaman come hither!” &c. 4
18. ‘Away is A6shma driven; away is the Nasu driven,’ &c.®
19. ‘Away art thou driven, O mischievous Angra Mainyu ! from the fire, from the water,’ &c. e
20. ‘ Then thou shalt say these fiend-smiting and most-healing words; thou shalt chant five Ahuna- Vairyas : —
‘ “The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” &c.
4 The rest as in § 9.
4 As in § 7.
* As in § 13.
1 Yasna XXXIV, 15.
* The rest as in § 10.
* As in § 12.
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vendIdad.
‘ “ Whom hast thou placed to protect me?” &c.
4 “ Who is he who will smite the fiend ?” &C . 1 4 “ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spercta ! Perish, O fiendish Dri\f ! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druf! Rush away, O Dru^! Perish away, O Dru^! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit ! ” *
Fargard XII.
This chapter is found only in the Vendiddd Sddah ; it is missing in the Zend-Pahlavi Vendid&d. This is owing, as it seems, only to the accidental loss of some folios in the one manuscript from which all the copies as yet known have been derived ; and, in fact, even in the most ancient manuscripts the following Fargard is numbered the thirteenth (Westergaard, Zend-Avesta, preface, p. 5).
The directions in the preceding chapter are general, and do not depend on the relationship of the faithful with the deceased person ; but those in this Fargard are of a special character, and apply only to the near relatives of the dead. Their object is to determine how long the time of ‘staying' (upaman) should last for different relatives. What is meant by this word is not explained; but, as the word upa- man is usually employed to indicate the staying of the unclean in the Armert-gah, apart from the faithful and from every clean object, it seems to follow that the relatives of a dead person were considered unclean from the mere fact of being related to him, and were, on this account, shut out of the frequented parts of the house. So, besides the general uncleanness arising from actual contact with a corpse, there was another form of uncleanness arising from rela- tionship with the dead. The natural link that connects the mem- bers of one and the same family is of such a kind that no one can die without death entering all of them. Whether this is the pri- mitive form of mourning, or only a later form of it, we will not discuss here.
1 See Farg.VIII, 19, 20.
FARGARD XII.
H5
On the other hand, the house is unclean too, at least with regard to the relatives ; for the time of ‘ staying ' is followed by a purifica- tion of the house, that is not to be confounded with that described in the eighth Fargard, which takes place directly after the death and, as it appears, opens the house again only to those who were not connected with the dead man. Even nowadays, in Persia, the house where a relative has died is unlucky, and is looked upon with even more repugnance than is shown in the Avesta. The son deserts the house where his father has died ; he could not live and walk in it, ‘the unlucky step,’ the bad qadtm is in it; ‘every man’s house must die with him;’ therefore, he lets it fall into ruin, and builds another house farther off 1 ; a custom to which there seems to be some allusion in the Pahlavi Commentary (ad I, 9).
i. If one’s father or mother dies, how long shall they stay 2 , the son for his father, the daughter for her mother ? How long for the righteous ? How long for the sinners * ?
Ahura Mazda answered: * They shall stay thirty days for the righteous, sixty days for the sinners.’
2 (5). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the G&thas three times ; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spewtas may enter 4 , O Spitama Zarathustra ! ’
1 Chardin, Voyages, III, p. 7, 33 (ed. d’Amsterdam, 1711). Cf. Polack, Persien (I, p. 5a). * See the Introd. to the Farg.
* How long if the dead person died in a state of holiness ? How long if in the state of a Peshdtanu ?
* All the other objects over which the Amesha-Spewtas preside (such as the cow, the metals, &c.)
[4] L
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3 (9). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall stay thirty days for the righteous, sixty days for the sinners.’
4(13). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the GAthas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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- Spetttas may enter, O Spitama Zarathartra ! ’
5 (17). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall stay thirty days for the righteous, sixty days for the sinners.’
6 (21). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How shall I cleanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the GAthas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they shall bring libations to the good waters ; then the house shall be clean, and then the waters may enter, then
FARGARD XII.
147
the fire may enter, and then the Amesha-Spe»tas may enter, O Spitama Zarathiutra !’
7 (25). If the master of the house 1 dies, or if the mistress of the house dies, how long shall they stay? How long for the righteous ? How long for the sinners ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They* shall stay six months for the righteous, a year for the sinners.’
8 (28). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One I How shall I cleanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : 4 They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the G&thas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spe»tas may enter, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! ’
9 (31). If one’s grandfather or grandmother dies, how long shall they stay, the grandson for his grand- father, the granddaughter for her grandmother? How long for the righteous ? How long for the sinners ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay twenty- five days for the righteous, fifty days for the sinners.’
10 (34). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How shall I cleanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * They shall wash their
1 The chief of the family, the paterfamilias.
* All the familia, both relatives and servants.
L 2
VEND! DAD.
I48
bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the G£thas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spe«tas may enter, O Spitama Zarathurtra V
11(37). ^ one’s grandson or granddaughter dies, how long shall they stay, the grandfather for his grandson, the grandmother for her grand- daughter ? How long for the righteous ? How long for the sinners ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay twenty- five days for the righteous, fifty days for the sinners.’
12 (40). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How shall I cieanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the Githas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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- Spewtas may enter, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! ’
13 (43). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall stay twenty days for the righteous, forty days for the sinners.’
14 (45). O Maker of the material world, thou
FARGARD XII.
149
Holy One ! How shall I cleanse the house ? “ How shall it be clean again?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the G&thas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spe»tas may enter, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! ’
15 (48). If one’s male cousin or female cousin dies, how long shall they stay ? How long for the righteous ? How long for the sinners ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * They shall stay fifteen days for the righteous, thirty days for the sinners.’
16 (50). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the Githas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spe»tas may enter, O Spitama Zarathortra ! ’
17 (53). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay ten days for the righteous, twenty days for the sinners.’
18 (55). O Maker of the material world, thou
VENDED.
150
Holy One! How shall I cleanse the house? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the G&thas three times ; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spe«tas may enter, O Spitama Zarathurtra !’
19 (58). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall stay five days for the righteous, ten days for the sinners.’
20 (60). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How shall I cleanse the house ? How shall it be clean again ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * They shall wash their bodies three times, they shall wash their clothes three times, they shall chant the G&thas three times; they shall offer up a sacrifice to my Fire, they shall offer up the bundles of baresma, they 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-Spewtas may enter, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! ’
21 (63). If a stranger dies who does not profess the true faith, or the true law 1 , what part of the
1 The case of a stranger (no relative) who professes the true faith is not provided for here, because it has been sufficiently con- sidered in the preceding chapters.
FARGARD Xtll.
151
creation of the good spirit does he directly defile (in dying) ? What part does he indirectly defile ?
22 1 (65). 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 Zarathurtra ! that wicked, two-legged ruffian, that ungodly Ashemaogha, directly defiles the creatures of the good spirit, and indirectly defiles them.
23 (70). ‘ 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 faith- ful man with a deadly blow, that parts the soul from the body; not so will he do when dead.
24 (71). ‘Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zara- thurtra ! that wicked, two-legged ruffian, that ungodly Ashemaogha, never ceases depriving the faithful man of his food, of his clothing, of his house, of his bed, of his vessels ; not so will he do when dead.’
Fargard XIII. '
The Dog.
I (1-7). The dog of Ormazd and the dog of Ahriman.
(a. 1-4). The dog Vangh¶ (‘ the hedge-hog').
(b. 4-7). The dog Zairimyangura (* the tortoise’).
II (8-16). Offences against the dog.
III (17-19). On the several duties of the dog.
IV (20-28). On the food due to the dog.
V (29-38). On the mad dog; how he is to be kept, and cured.
VI (39-40). On the excellence of the dog.
VII (41-43). On the wolf-dog.
1 §§ 22-24 are the same as Farg.V, 36-38.
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VENdIdAD.
VIII (44-48). On the virtues and vices of the dog.
IX (49-50). Praise of the dog.
X (50-54). The water dog.
See Introd. IV, 35.
Ia.
1. 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 ?
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered : ' The dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghclpara 1 , which evil-speaking people call the Du^raka 2 ; this 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 crea- tures of the evil spirit.
3 (6). ‘And whosoever, O Zarathujtra ! shall kill the dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog V angh¶, which evil-speaking people call the Dusaka, kills his own soul for nine generations, nor shall he find a way over the Alnva^ bridge 3 , unless he has, while alive, atoned for his sin by offering up a sacrifice to Sraosha 4 .
1 The hedge-hog. As it struggles from midnight till the dawn, this supposes the existence of a myth, in which the rays of the sun, beginning from midnight to pierce the veil of darkness, were com- pared to the prickles of a heavenly hedge-hog.
* Dusaka is the popular name of the hedge-hog (Pers. suaah). The name Vanghdpara must have referred to its mythical quali- ties. It is not without importance which name is given to it : ‘ When called by its high name, it is powerful’ (Comm.) ; cf. § 6, and Farg. XVIII, 15. The nature of every being lies partly in its name.
s The bridge leading to paradise ; see Farg. XIX, 30.
4 Cf. § 54. Aspendi&rji translates : ‘ He cannot atone for it in his life even by performing a sacrifice to Sraosha.’
FARGARD XIII.
153
4 (10). 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 Van- ghipara, which evil-speaking people call the Dusaka, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspah6-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
I b.
5 (13). 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 crea- tures of the good spirit?
6 (15). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘The da6va Zai- rimyangura *, which evil-speaking people call the Zairimyika 2 , 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 crea- tures of the good spirit.
7 (18). ‘And whosoever, O Zarathurtra ! shall kill the da6va Zairimyangura, which evil-speaking people call the Zairimyika, 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 for.
II.
8(21). ‘Whosoever shall smite either a shep- herd’s dog, or a house dog, or a Vohunazga dog 3 , or
* The tortoise (Asp.)
* * When not so called it is less strong’ (Comm.) Zairimydka is a lucky name, as. it is connected with a word (zairimya) which denotes the freshness of water and verdure ; and it seems to desig- nate the tortoise as ‘ the fresh-water creature’ (Asp.) ; therefore the name is corrected into * the injurer (?) of fresh water.’
* See § 19 n.
154
vendIdAd.
a trained dog 1 , his soul when passing to the other world, shall fly 2 * amid louder howling and fiercer pursuing than the sheep does when the wolf rushes upon it in the lofty forest.
9 (24). ‘No soul will come and meet his departing soul and help it through the howls and pursuit * in the other world ; nor will the dogs that keep the Alnva^ bridge 4 help his departing soul through the howls and pursuit in the other world.
10 (26). ‘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 lost sheep, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for wilful wounding ®.
11 (31). ‘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 goods from the house, without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for the lost goods, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for wilful wounding.’
12 (36). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Eight hundred stripes with the Aspah6-&?tra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-iarana.’
1 A hunting dog (?). 1 ‘ From paradise’ (Comm.)
* Of the Divs. 4 See Introd. V, 4.
• Baodhfi-varrta ; see Farg. VII, 38 n.
FARGARD XIII.
155
13 (39)* 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?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Seven hundred stripes with the Aspah6-&rtra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana.’
14 (42). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-artra, six hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-/6arana.’
15 ( 45 )* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man shall smite a young dog 1 so that it gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Five hundred stripes with the Aspah£-artra, five hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana.’
16 (48). ‘ This is the penalty for the murder of a Gasu dog, of a Vtsoi dog 2 , of a Sukuruna dog 3 , of a sharp-toothed Urupi dog 4 * , of a swift-running Raopi 6 dog ; this is the penalty for the murder of any kind of dog but the water dog*.’
1 A dog not older than four months.
2 Unknown. Cf.V, 31, 3a. * A lynx. Cf. V, 31.
4 A weazel. Cf.V, 33.
* A fox. The fox belongs to the good creation, as he fights against the demon Khava (Bond. XIX; cf. Orm. Ahr. § 228).
* The beaver. 'For the penalty in that case is most heavy’
(Comm.) Cf. § 52 seq. and Farg. XIV.
vendIdAd.
156
III.
1 7 (49). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which is the dog that must be called a shepherd’s dog?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is the dog who goes a Y ufy£sti 1 round about the fold, watching for the thief and the wolf.’
18 (51). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which is the dog that must be called a house dog ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘It is the dog who goes a Hithra round about the house, watching for the thief and the wolf.’
19 ( 53 )’ O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which is the dog that must be called a Vohunazga dog ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is the dog who claims none of those talents, and only seeks for his subsistence V
IV.
20 ( 55 )* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man give bad food to a shepherd’s dog, of what sin is he guilty?
Ahura Mazda answered : * It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house of the first rank
1 A measure unknown ; it seems to have been the average dis- tance of fourteen houses (see the gloss ad § 17 in the Introd. V, 4, Farg. XV, 45, and Bund. p. 31, 7).
* 1 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’ (ghartb), the vagrant dog; he is held in great esteem (§ 22) and is one of the dogs who can be used for the Sag-did (Introd. V, 4).
* Invited as a guest.
FARGARD XIII.
157
21 (57)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man give bad food to a house dog, of what sin is he guilty ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the same guilt . as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house of middle rank.’
22 (59). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man give bad food to aVohunazga dog, of what sin is he guilty?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a holy man, in the character of a priest 1 , who should come to his house.’
23 (61). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give bad food to a young dog, of what sin is he guilty?
Ahura Mazda answered : * It is the same guilt as though he should serve bad food to a young man, born of pious parents, and who can answer for himself 2 * * * * * .’
24 (63). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man shall give bad food to a shep- herd’s dog, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspah£-a$tra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana 8 .’
1 The Vohunazga dog has no domicile, therefore he is not com-
pared with the master of a house; as he smites the Nasu, he is
like a holy man, of the wandering class, a sort of begging friar.
* Probably, ‘ Who has performed the nft-zftd, fifteen years old.’
The young dog enters the community of the faithful at the age of
four months, when he can smite the Nasu.
* * 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 ;
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vendIdAd.
2 5 (66). 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 ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspah£-artra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshd- i£arana.’
26 (69). 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?
Ahura Mazda answered : * Seventy stripes with the Aspah6-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshd- iarana.’
27 (72). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall give bad food to a young dog, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Fifty stripes with the Aspah6-artra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-^arana.
2 8 (75). ‘ For it is the dog, of all the creatures of the good spirit, 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 dog 1 .’
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 ? Srdsh the pious and Atard 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’ (Ardai Vir&f XLVIII, translated by Haug).
1 ‘ 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; Hyde 35).
FARGARD XIII.
159
V.
29 (80). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be in the house of a wor- shipper of Mazda a mad dog, or one that bites without barking, what shall the -worshippers of Mazda do?
30 (82). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall put a wooden collar around his neck, and they shall tie him to a post, an a^ti 1 thick if the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that post they shall tie him; by the two sides 2 of the collar they shall tie him.
3 1 (86). ‘ If they shall not do so, and the mad dog, or the dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, the dog shall pay for it as
. for wilful murder 3 .
32 (88). * If the dog shall smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall cut off his right ear. If he shall smite another sheep or wound another man, they shall cut off his left ear.
33 (9°)* ‘If he shall smite a third sheep or wound a third man, they shall cut off his right foot 4 . If he shall smite a fourth sheep or wound a fourth man, they shall cut off his left foot
1 A measure of unknown amount. Aspendiarji reads irti, ‘a brick’ thick.
2 By the forepart and the back part of it.
* As there is no essential difference between man and beast, the beast must answer for its guilt. According to Solon’s law, the dog who has bitten any one must be delivered to him tied up to a block four cubits long (Plutarchus, Solon 24); the horse who has killed a man is put to death (Eusebius, Prep. Evang. g).
* * They only cut off a piece of flesh from the foot’ (Brouillons d’Anquetil).
i6o
VENDfDAD.
34 (92). ‘ If he shall for the fifth time smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall cut off his tail.
‘ Therefore they shall tie him to the post ; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie him. If they shall not do so, and the mad dog, or the dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, he shall pay for it as for wilful murder.’
35 ( 97 )* O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be in the house of a wor- shipper of Mazda a scentless dog, or a mad dog, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall attend him to heal him, in the same manner as they would do for one of the faithful.’
36 (100). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If they try to heal him and fail, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do ?
37 (102). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall put a wooden collar around his neck, and they shall tie him to a post, an asti thick if the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft To that post they shall tie him ; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie him.
38 (102). ‘ If they shall, not do so, and the scent- less dog fall into a hole, or a well, or a precipice, or a river, or a canal, and he be wounded and die thereof, they shall be Peshdtanus.
VI.
39(106). ‘The dog, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! I, Ahura Mazda, have made self-clothed and self-shod, watchful, wakeful, and sharp-toothed, bom to take his food from man and to watch over man’s goods. I, Ahura Mazda, have made the dog strong of body
FARGARD XIII.
161
against the evil-doer, and watchful over your goods, when he is of sound mind.
40(112). ‘And whosoever shall awake at his voice, neither shall the thief nor the wolf steal any- thing from his house, without his being warned ; the wolf shall be smitten and torn to pieces; he is driven away, he flees away.’
VII.
41 ( 1 1 5). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Which of the two wolves deserves more to be killed, the one that is born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf, or the one that is born of a she- dog and of a he-wolf ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Of these two wolves, the one that is born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf deserves more to be killed than the one that is born of a she-dog and of a he-wolf.
42 (1 1 7). ‘For there are born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf such dogs as fall on the shepherd’s dog, on the house dog, on the Vohunazga dog, on the trained dog, and destroy the folds; such dogs are born as are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other dogs.
43 (121). ‘And there are born of a he-dog and of a she-wolf such wolves as 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 born as are more murderous, more mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other wolves.
VIII.
44 (124). ‘A dog has the characters of eight different sorts of people: —
* He has the character of a priest,
[4] M
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vendIdAd.
‘ He has the character of a warrior,
‘ He has the character of a husbandman,
‘ He has the character of a strolling singer,
‘ He has the character of a thief,
* He has the character of a wild beast,
‘ He has the character of a courtezan,
‘ He has the character of a child.
45 (126). ‘He eats broken food, like a priest 1 * * ; he is grateful, like a priest ; he is easily satisfied *, like a priest; he wants only a small piece of bread, like a priest; in these things he is like unto a priest
* He marches in front, like a warrior ; he fights for the beneficent cow, like a warrior 8 ; he goes first out of the house, like a warrior 4 * ; in these things he is like unto a warrior.
46 (135). ‘ He is watchful and sleeps lightly, like a husbandman ; he goes first out of the house, like a husbandman 6 ; he returns last into the house, like a husbandman * ; in these things he is like unto a husbandman.
‘ He sings like a strolling singer; he is intrusive 7 , like a strolling singer ; he is meagre, like a strolling singer ; he is poor, like a strolling singer ; in these things he is like unto a strolling singer.
47 (143). ‘He likes darkness, like a thief; he prowls about in darkness, like a thief; he is a shame-
1 A wandering priest (see p. 157, n. 1).
* Doubtful.
* ‘ He keeps away the wolf and the thief’ (Comm.)
* This clause is, as it seems, repeated here by mistake from § 4 6 .
* When taking the cattle out of the stables.
* When bringing the cattle back to the stables.
7 Doubtful.
FARGARD XIII.
163
less eater, like a thief ; he is an unfaithful keeper, like a thief 1 * ; in these things he is like unto a thief.
‘ He likes darkness, like a wild beast *; he prowls about in darkness, like a wild beast ; he is a shame- less eater, like a wild beast; he is an unfaithful keeper, like a wild beast ; in these things he is like unto a wild beast.
48 (153). ‘He sings, like a courtezan; he is in- trusive, like a courtezan ; he walks about the roads, like a courtezan ; he is meagre, like a courtezan ; he is poor, like a courtezan ; in these things he is like unto a courtezan.
* He likes sleeping, like a child ; he is apt to run away 3 , like a child ; he is full of tongue, like a child; he goes on all fours 4 , like a child ; in these things he is like unto a child.
IX.
49 (163). * If those two dogs of mine, the shep- herd’s dog and the house dog, pass by the house of any of my faithful people, let them never be kept away from it.
‘ For no house could subsist on the earth made by Ahura, but for those two dogs of mine, the shep- herd’s dog and the house dog
X.
50 (166). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 ‘ When one trusts him with something, he eats it' (Comm.)
* According to Asp.
* He is fearful. * Doubtful.
6 ‘ But for the dog not a single head of cattle would remaiu in existence’ (Saddar 31; Hyde 35).
. M 2
VENDfDAD.
164
Holy One! When a dog dies, with marrow and seed 1 dried up, whereto does his ghost go ?
51 (167). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘It passes to the spring of the waters 2 * , O Spitama ZarathuStra! and there out of every thousand dogs and every thousand she-dogs, two water dogs are formed, a water dog and a water she-dog 8 .
52 (1 70). ‘ He who kills a water dog brings about a drought that dries up pastures. Before that time, O Spitama Zarathurtra ! sweetness and fat- ness would flow out from that land and from those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of com and grass.’
53 (171). 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 ?
54,55(172). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Sweet- ness 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 and the holy soul of the dog has been offered up a sacrifice, for three days
1 Marrow is the seat of life, the spine is * the column and the
spring of life' (Yt. X, 71); the sperm comes from it (Bundahfr
XVI). The same theory prevailed in India, where the sperm is
called ma^i-samudbhava, 4 * * * what is bom from marrow;' it was
followed by Plato (Timaeus 74, 91 ; cf. Plut. De Plac. Philos. V, 3, 4), and disproved by Aristotle (De Part. Anim. Ill, 7).
# To the spring of Ardvf Sftra, the goddess of waters.
9 There is- therefore in a single water dog as much life and holi-
ness as in a thousand dogs. This accounts for the following.
FARGARD XIV.
165
and three nights with fire blazing, with baresma tied up, and with Haoma uplifted \
56 (174). [‘ 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 XIV.
This Fargard is nothing more than an appendix to the last clauses in the preceding Fargard (§ 50 seq.) How the murder of a water dog may be atoned for is described in it at full length. As the water dog is the holiest of all dogs *, and, as it were, a link between the dog and God, the process of atonement must be one of an extraordinary character. It is this chapter, more than any other, which may make it doubtful whether the legislation of the Vendidad has ever existed as real and living law. See, however, Introduction V, 20.
i . Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda : ‘ O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the mate- rial 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 ?’
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘He shall pay ten thousand stripes with the Aspah^-artra, ten thousand stripes with the Sraoshd-^arana 8 .
1 The zanda ravin, the same sacrifice as is offered up for three days and three nights after the death of a man for the salvation of his soul. Cf. p. 132, n. 4. s Cf. Farg. IX, 53-57.
* See preceding page; cf. Introd. IV, 35, and Orm. Ahr. § 230.
4 See preceding Fargard, § 51.
* He shall pay 50 tanaffihrs (=15000 istirs= 60000 dirhems;
1 66
vendIdAd.
* He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda 1 ten thousand loads of hard, well dried, well examined 2 wood, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
3 (6). ‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda ten thousand loads of soft wood, of Urvctsna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, HadhA- na£pata *, or any sweet-scented plant, as an atone- ment unto the soul (of the water dog).
4 (7). ‘He shall godly and piously tie and con- secrate ten thousand bundles of baresma ; he shall offer up to the good waters ten thousand Zaothra libations with the Haoma and the sacred meat 4 , cleanly prepared and well strained, cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man®, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
5 (9). ‘He shall kill ten thousand snakes of those that go upon the belly; he shall kill ten thousand
see Introd. V, 21). ‘If he can afford it, he will atone in the manner stated in the Avesta ; if he cannot afford it, it will be sufficient to perform a complete Iz&rni (sacrifice),’ (Comm.)
1 To the altar of the Bahr&m fire.
* ‘ It is forbidden to take any ill-smelling thing to the fire and to kindle it on it ; 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. Rav.) Although the pious Ar<& Vfrif 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, shewed him reproachfully a large tank full of the water which that wood had exuded (see Ar<£ Vfrif X).
* See above, p. 94, n. 1.
4 Possibly, milk.
* A Mobed called sardar, ‘chief,’ who prepares, cleanses, and disposes everything for the performance of the Yasna (Comm, and Anquetil, Brouillons ad Farg. XVIII, 7a).
FARGARD XIV.
I67
snakes of those that have the shape of a dog 1 ; he shall kill ten thousand tortoises; he shall kill ten thousand land frogs 2 ; he shall kill ten thousand water frogs; he shall kill ten thousand corn-carrying ants 3 ; he shall kill ten thousand ants of those that bite and dig holes and work mischief 4 .
6(16). ‘He shall kill ten thousand earth worms ; he shall kill ten thousand horrid flies 5 .
‘ He shall fill up ten thousand holes for the un- clean
1 ‘M&r bSnak snakes: they are dog-like, because they sit on their hindparts' (Comm.) The cat seems to be the animal intended by this name. In a paraphrase of this passage in a Parsi Raviet, 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 Chinon, p. 46 a: ‘Les animaux que les Gaures ont en horreur sont les serpents, les couleuvres, les lezars, et autres de cette espece, les crapaux, les grenoul'lles, les £crevisses, les rats et souris, et sur tout le chat/
* * Those that can go out of water and live on the dry ground' (Comm.) * Pour les grenoullles et crapaux, ils disent que ce sont ceux (eux ?) qui sont cause de ce que les hommes meurent, g£tans les eaus oh ils habitent continuellement, et que d'autant plus qu'il y en a dans le pals, d’autant plus les eaus causent-elles des maladies et enfin la mort/ G. du Chinon, p. 465.
8 ‘ Un jour que j’&ois 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'&oit nlcessaire pour leur nourriture/ G. du Chinon, p. 464. Firdusi 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 N&mah, which may be- token better days for this wise and careful creature.
4 Doubtful. The Commentary has, ‘that is, dirak ants (wood ants; termites?)/
• Corpse flies.
6 ‘The holes at which the unclean are washed 1 (Comm.; cf. Farg. IX, 6 seq.)
vendIdad.
i 68
4 He shall godly and piously give to godly men twice seven sets of implements for the fire, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog), namely :
7 (20). ‘Two (loads of the) proper materials for fire 1 ; a broom 2 ; a pair of tongs ; a pair of round bellows 3 extended at the bottom, contracted at the top ; an adze with a sharp edge and a sharp-pointed handle 4 , a saw with sharp teeth and a sharp-pointed handle, by means of which the worshippers of Mazda procure wood for the fire of Ahura Mazda.
8 (26). 4 He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of the priestly instruments of which the priests make use, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog), namely : The Astra . 6 , the meat- vessel®, the Paitid&na 7 , the Khrafstraghna 8 , the
1 Doubtful : the intended materials would be two loads of wood, and two loads of incense to bum upon the wood (Asp.)
a To cleanse the Atash-d&n or fire-vessel (Yasna IX, 1).
5 Or, a fan.
4 Asp. ; literally, * sharp-kneed/
8 The AspahS-ajtra ; see Introd. V, 19.
4 Possibly, the milk-vessel.
7 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 Paitidana (Parsi Pen6m), 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 Farg. XVIII, 1, and Anquetil II, 530). This principle appears not to have been peculiar to the Zoroastrian Aryans, for the Sla- vonian priest in Arkona was enjoined to go out of the temple, whenever he wanted to draw breath, ‘ lest the presence of the god should be defiled by contact with mortal breath ' (ne dei presentia mortalis spiritus contagio pollueretur, Saxo Grammaticus, ap. Klek, Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur, p. 105). Cf. Introd. V, 8.
8 The ‘ Khrafstra-kiUer;* an instrument for killing snakes, Ac.
FARGARD XIV.
169
Sraosh6-£arana l , the cup for the Myazda 2 , the cups for the juice 3 , the mortar made according to the rules, the Haoma cups 4 , and the baresma.
9 (32). ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of all the war implements of which the warriors make use 5 , as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog) ; the first being a javelin 6 , the second a knife 7 , the third a club, the fourth a bow 8 , the fifth a quiver 9 with shoulder-belt and thirty brass-headed arrows 10 , the sixth a sling with arm- string and with thirty sling stones, the seventh a cuirass u , the eighth a hauberk 12 , the ninth a tunic 13 , the tenth a helmet, the eleventh a girdle, the twelfth a pair of greaves 14 .
1 See Introd. V, 19.
2 Doubtful.
8 The cup in which the juice of the hom and of the urvardn (the twigs of hadhi-naSpata which are pounded together with the hom) is received from the mortar (Comm.)
4 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.
5 The armament detailed in the text agrees partly with that of the Persians and Medians described by Herodotos (VII, 61,62). It would be desirable for archaeologists to ascertain to what time and, if possible, to what province this description refers, as such information might throw some light upon the age of this part of the Avesta at least.
- 6 Aixpas be @pax*as cf^ov,
7 *E yxctptika irapa rbv be£ibv prjpbp napcumpfvpepa c* rrjs C&prjs.
8 Tc$£a be peyaXa.
• Doubtful. *YirA be <f>aperpe&pes enpepavro .
10 *0 ifTToifs be Kakapivcw.
11 Aeiribos (rtbrjperjs Syfnp Ix&voeibeos.
12 1 Going from the helm to the cuirass ' (Comm.)
18 * Under the cuirass ' (Comm.) ; nepl be t 6 <ru>pa tufovas x ei P 4 * bwrovs Troueikovs.
14 He pi be tq (TKcXea. avafcvplbas.
vendIdAd.
170
10(41). ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of all the implements of which the husbandmen make use, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog), namely-: A plough with share and yoke \ an ox whip 1 2 , a mortar of stone, a hand-mill for grinding corn,
1 1 (48). ‘ A spade for digging and tilling ; one measure of silver and one measure of gold.'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How much silver ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘The price of a stallion/
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How much gold ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ The price of a camel.
12 (54). ‘He shall godly and piously procure a rill of running water for godly husbandmen, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog)/
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How large is the rill ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ The depth of a dog, and the breadth of a dog 3 .
1 3 (57)- ‘He shall godly and piously give a piece of arable land to godly men, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog)/
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How large is the piece of land ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ As much as can be watered with such a rill on both sides 4 .
14 (60). ‘ He shall godly and piously procure for godly men a house with ox-stalls, with nine
1 Doubtful * Doubtful.
* Which is estimated ‘ a foot deep, a foot broad ’ (Comm.)
4 Doubtful.
FARGARD XIV.
171
hithras and nine nematas 1 * * , as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog) V . O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How large is the house ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ Twelve Vltiras* in the largest part of the house, nine Vlt&ras in the middle part, six Vltiras in the smallest part
* He shall godly and piously give to godly men goodly beds with cushions, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
1 5 (64). ‘ He shall godly and piously give to a godly man a virgin maid, whom -no man has known, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).’
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What maid ?
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(67). ‘He shall godly and piously give to holy men twice seven head of small cattle, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
* He shall bring up twice seven whelps.
‘ He shall throw twice seven bridges over canals.
17 (70). ‘He sJiall put into repair twice nine stables that are out of repair.
‘ He shall cleanse twice nine dogs from skin humours, hair wax, vermin 4 , and all the diseases that are produced on the body of a dog.
1 Meaning unknown.
* He shall build a caravansary, which is considered a pious work (Mainy6-i-khard IV, 6 ; XXXVII, 36).
* A word of unknown meaning ; probably a measure, but pos- sibly ‘ a passage or alley.’
4 Those three words are doubtful.
172
vendIdAd.
‘ He shall treat twice nine godly men to their fill of meat, bread, strong drink, and wine.
18 (73). ‘This is the atonement, this is the penalty that he shall undergo to atone for the deed that he has done.
‘ If he shall undergo it, he shall enter the world of the holy ones : if he shall not undergo it, he shall fall down into the world of the wicked, into that dark world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness V
Fargard XV.
1 (1-8). On five sins the commission of which makes the sinner a Peshdtanu.
II (9-19)- On unlawful unions and attempts to procure mis- carriage.
III (20-45). On the treatment of a bitch big with young.
IV (46-51). On the breeding of dogs.
I.
I. How many are the sins that men commit and that, being committed and not confessed, nor atoned for, make their committer a Peshdtanu 1 2 * * ?
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ There are five such sins, O holy Zarathurtra ! It is the first of these sins that men commit when a man teaches one of the faithful a foreign, wrong creed 8 , a foreign, wrong law, and he does so with a full knowledge and conscience of the sin : this is a sin that makes him a Peshdtanu.
1 Cf. Farg. V, 62.
2 See Introd. V, 19.
* Literally, ‘another wrong creed;’ the Commentary has, ‘that
is, a creed that is not ours.’ See Introd. Ill, 10.
FARGARD XV.
173
3 ( 9 ). ‘It is the second of these sins that men commit when a man gives too hard bones or too hot food to a shepherd’s dog or to a house dog ;
4 (11). ‘If the bones stick in the dog’s teeth or stop in his throat, or if the hot food burn his mouth or his tongue, so that mischief follows therefrom, and the dog dies, this is a sin that makes the man a Peshdtanu 1 .
5 (16). ‘It is the third of these sins that men commit when a man smites a bitch big with young or affrights her by running after her, with shouting or with clapping of hands 2 ;
6 (18). ‘ If the bitch fall into a hole, or a well, or a precipice, or a river, or a canal, so that mischief follows therefrom, and she dies, this is a sin that makes the man a Peshdtanu 3 .
7 (22). ‘ It is the fourth of these sins that men commit when a man has intercourse with a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period : this is a sin that makes him a Peshdtanu 4 .
8 (25). * It is the fifth of these sins that men commit when a man has intercourse with a woman quick with child*, whether the milk has already
1 He who gives too hot food to a dog so as to bum his throat is margarz&n (guilty of death); he who gives bones to a dog so as to tear his throat is margarz&n (Gr. Rav. 639).
* Or, ‘with stamping on the ground ’ (? Saddar 31).
5 If a bitch is big with young and a man shouts or throws stones at her, so that the whelps come to mischief and die, he is margarz&n (Gr. Rav. 639).
4 See Farg. XVI, 14 seq.
* 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).
*74
VENDIDAD.
come to her breasts or has not yet come : if mis- chief follow therefrom, and she die, this is a sin that makes the man a Peshotanu *.
II.
9 (30). ‘If a man come near unto a damsel, either dependent on the chief of the family or not depend- ent, either delivered unto a husband or not deli- vered*, and she conceives by him, let her not, from dread of the people, produce in herself the menses, against the course of nature, by means of water and plants 3 .
10 (34). ‘ And if the damsel, from dread of the people, shall produce in herself the menses against the course of nature, by means of water and plants, there is a sin upon her head 4 .
1 1 (36). ‘ 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,
1 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-bom child, he is margarzin’ (Old Rav. 115 b).
* 1 * 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 has not’ (Comm.)
* By means of drugs.
4 ‘It is a taniffthr 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.)
FARGARD XV.
175
from dread of the people, destroy the fruit in her womb.
12 (38). ‘And if the damsel, from dread 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 *.
13 (40). ‘ 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 1 2 and apply to her that she may procure thee miscarriage ; ”
14 (43). ‘ And the damsel goes to the old woman and applies to her that she may procure her mis- carriage ; and the old woman brings her some Banga, or Shasta, or Ghn&na, or Frasp&ta 3 , 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.
III.
15 (49). ‘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
1 For baodhd-varrta; see above, p. 84, § 38, and n. 1.
* The nurse (Asp.)
* Banga is bang or mang, a narcotic made from hempseed; sha&ta means literally gold, and must have been some yellow plant or liquor; ghn&na is ‘that which kills [the fruit in the womb];’ fraspita is 'that which expels [the fruit] so that it perishes’ (Comm.)
176
vendJdad.
delivered, and she conceives by him, so long shall he support her, until the child is born.
16 (51). ' If he shall not support her, so that the child comes to mischief 1 , for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
1 7 (54). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If she be near her time and be lying on the high road, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her ?
18 (56). 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 is born 2 * .
19 (58). ‘ If he shall not support her * . . . .
* It lies with the faithful to look in the same way after every pregnant female, either two-footed or four-footed, either woman or bitch.’
20 (61). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If (a bitch 4 ) be hear her time and be lying on the high road, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
21 (63). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He whose house stands nearest, the care of supporting her is
1 And dies. * § 18 =§ 15.
* The sentence is left unfinished: Aspendiirji fills it with the words in § 16, ‘ so that the child,’ &c. It seems as if §§ 17, 18 were no 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.
4 The subject is wanting in the text: it is supplied from the Commentary as the sense requires it. .
FARGARD XV.
177
his 1 ; so long shall he support her until the whelps are born.
22 (65). ‘ If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
23 (68). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in a camel-stall, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her ?
24 (70). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ He who built the camel-stall or who holds it 2 , the care of sup- porting her is his ; so long shall he support her, until the whelps are born.
25 (76). ‘ If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
26 ( 77 )' O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in a horse-stall, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
27 (78). Ahura Mazda answered : * He who built the horse-stall or who holds it, the care of supporting her is his ; so long shall he support her, until the whelps are born.
28 (81). ‘ If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
29 (84). O Maker of the material world, thou
1 ‘ 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 intrusts her to a richer man’ (Comm, and Asp.)
* ‘In pledge or for rent* (Asp.; cf. Comm, ad § 42).
W N
1 7 8
vendIdAd.
Holy One ! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in an ox-stall, which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her?
30 (86). Ahura Mazda answered : * He who built the ox-stall or who holds it, the care of supporting her is his ; so long shall he support her, until the whelps are bom.
31 (89). ‘ If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
32 (92). 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?
33 (94)- Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He who built the sheep-fold or who holds it, the care of supporting her is his ; so long shall he support her, until the whelps are born.
34 (97)* ‘ If he shall not support her so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
35 (100). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a bitch be near her time and be lying on the earth-wall 1 , which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her ?
36(102). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who erected the wall or who holds it, the care of sup- porting her is his; so long shall he support her, until the whelps are born.
37 (105). ‘ If h e shall not support her, so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
1 The wall around the house.
FARGARD XV.
1.79
38 (108). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a bitch be near her time and be lying in the moat 1 , which is the worshipper of Mazda that shall support her ?
39 (1 10). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He who dug the moat or who holds it, the care of supporting her is his ; so long shall he support her, until the whelps are born.
. 40 (1 12). ‘If he shall not support her, so that the whelps come to mischief, for want of proper support, he shall pay the penalty for wilful murder.’
41 (113). 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 ?
42 (115). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He who
sowed the pasture-field or who holds it, the care of supporting her is his.
43 ( 1 1 7). ‘He shall with kind charity* take her to rest upon a litter 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.’
44 (122). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When are the dogs capable of self- defence and self-subsistence ?
45 (123)- Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When they are able to run about in a circuit of twice seven houses around 8 . Then they may be let loose, whether it be winter or summer.
‘Young dogs ought to be supported for six months, children for seven years.
1 The moat before the earth-wall.
* Doubtful.
* Probably the distance of one yu^y&rti; cf. Farg. XIII, 17.
N 2
i8o
vendJdAd.
‘ Atar 1 , the son of Ahura Mazda, watches as well (over a pregnant bitch) as he does over a woman.’
IV.
46 (127). 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 ?
47(129). 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
48 (131). ‘They shall first tie up the bitch there, far from children and from the Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda 2 * * * * * , and they shall watch by her until a dog comes there from anywhere. They shall after- wards let another dog come near her, and then a third besides 8 , each being kept apart from the former, lest they should assail one another.
49(134)*. ‘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 (three) dogs.’
5° ( 1 35)- He who smites a bitch who has been covered by three dogs, and who has already milk, and who shall bring forth a young one bom from (three) dogs, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
1 The fire : when a woman is in labour, one lights up a great fire
in order to protect her and her child from the fiends (Introd. V, 13).
1 ‘From children, lest she shall bite them; from the fire, lest
it shall hurt her ’ (Comm.)
* Cf. Justinus III, 4 : maturiorem futuram conceptionem rati, si
earn singulae per plures viros experirentur.
* The text of this and the following clause is corrupt, and the
meaning doubtfuL
FARGARD XVI.
181
51 (137). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Seven hun- dred stripes with the Aspah6-artra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraoshd-iarana/
Fargard XVI.
I (1-11). On the uncleanness of women during their sickness.
II ( 1 1-12). How it can be removed.
III (13-18). Sundry laws relating to the same matter. See Introd.V, 12.
I.
i. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One I If there be in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do ?
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ They shall clear the way 1 of the wood there, both in growing trees and in logs 2 ; they shall strew dry dust on the ground 3 ; and they shall erect a building there 4 , higher than the house by a half, or a third, or a fourth, or a fifth part, lest her look should fall upon the fire V
3 (9). 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 ?
4(10). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifteen paces from the fire, fifteen paces from the water, fifteen
1 The way to the DashtSnist&n (see Introd. V, 1 a).
1 Lest the wood shall be touched and defiled by the woman on her way to the Dasht&nist£n.
* Lest the earth shall be touched and defiled by her. Cf. Farg. IX, 11, and Introd. V, 10.
4 The Dashtinistin. 8 See Introd. V, 12.
vendJdAd.
182
paces from the consecrated bundles of baresma, three paces from the faithful.’
5(11). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! How far from her shall he stay, who brings food to a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period ?
6(12). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three paces 1 from her shall he stay, who brings food to a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period.’
In what kind of vessels shall he bring the food ? In what kind of vessels shall he bring the bread ?
‘ In vessels of brass, or of lead, or of any common metal 2 .’
7(15). How much food shall he bring to her? How much bread shall he bring ?
‘(Only) two danares 3 of long bread, and one da- nare of milk pap, lest she should gather strength 4 * .
‘ If a child has just touched her, they shall first wash his hands and then his body 6 .
8 (21). ‘If she still see blood after three nights
1 The food is held out to her from a distance in a metal spoon.
* Earthen vessels, when defiled, cannot be made clean; but metal vessels can (see Farg. VII, 73 seq.)
1 A danare is, according to Anquetil, as much as four tolas; a tola is from 105 to 175 grains.
4 ‘ Sdshyds says : For three nights cooked meat is not allowed to her, lest the issue shall grow stronger.’ As the fiend is in her, any strength she may gain accrues to Ahriman.
8 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 Dashtfin woman must wash his body and his clothes with gdmfiz and water.' The ceremony in question is the simple Ghosel, not the Barashnfim, since the woman herself performs the former only (vide infra, $ 11 seq.; cf. Introd. V, 16).
FARGARD XVI.
183
have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until four nights have passed.
‘ If she still see blood after four nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until five nights have passed.
9. ‘ If she still see blood after five nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until six nights have passed.
‘ If she still see blood after six nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until seven nights have passed.
10. ‘If she still see blood after seven nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until eight nights have passed.
* If she still see blood after eight nights have passed, she shall sit in the place of infirmity until nine nights have passed.
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 Daevas K
II.
* The worshippers of Mazda shall clear the way* of the wood there, both in growing trees and in logs ;
12 (26). ‘ They shall dig three holes in the earth, and they shall wash the woman with gdm£z by two of those holes and with water by the third.
' They shall kill Khrafstras, to wit : two hundred corn-carrying ants, if it be summer ; two hundred of
1 See Introd. V, 12.
* The way to the Barashnftm-gSh, where the cleansing takes place.
184
vendIdAd.
any other sort of the Khrafstras made by Angra Mainyu, if it be winter 1 .’
III.
1 3 (3°)- If a worshipper of Mazda shall suppress the issue of a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ He is a Peshdtanu : two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-a^tra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana.’
14 (33)' O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! If a man shall again and again wilfully touch the body of a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, so that the ordinary issue turns to the dye of the unusual one, or the unusual issue to the dye of the ordinary one, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
15 (36). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘For the first time he comes near unto her, for the first time he lies by her, thirty stripes with the Aspah£-aytra, thirty stripes with the Sraoshd -Parana; for the second time he comes near unto her, for the second time he lies by her, fifty stripes with the Aspah6- artra, fifty stripes with the Sraosh6-£arana ; for the third time he comes near unto her, for the third time he lies by her, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-artra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshd- iarana.’
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 press the
1 See Introd. IV, 35.
FARGARD XVII.
185
unclean thigh, but without sexual intercourse, what is the penalty that he shall pay ?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspah^-axtra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana.
1 7 (3 9). ‘Whosoever shall lie in sexual inter- course with a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, does no better deed than if he should burn the corpse of his own son, born of his own body and dead of na6za\ and drop its fat into the fire 1 2 * * * * * 8 .
18 (41). ‘ All such sinners, embodiments of the Dru^f, are scomers of the law : all scomers of the law are rebels against the Lord: all rebels against the Lord are ungodly men ; and any ungodly man shall pay for it with his life * ’
Fargard XVII.
Hair and Nails.
Anything that has been separated from the body of man is con- sidered dead matter (Introd. V, 1 2), and is accordingly supposed to fall into the possession of the demon and to become the abode of death and uncleanness. Therefore, hair and nails, as soon as cut off, are at once the property of Ahriman, and the demon has to be driven away from them by spells, in the same way as he is from the bodies of the dead. They are withdrawn from his power by
1 A disease (Farg. VII, 58). There is another word na^za/a
spear,' so that one may translate also ‘ killed by the spear * (Asp.)
* * Not that the two deeds are equal, but neither is good '
(Comm.) The sin in question is a simple tandftihr (Farg. XV, 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 (Farg. I, 17; VIII, 73 seq . ; Introd. V, 8).
8 Literally, ‘ is a Peshdtanu;' ‘he is a tan&fQhr sinner, that is to say, margarzfin (worthy of death),' Comm,
i86
vendIdAd.
the recital of certain prayers, and by being deposited in the earth inside consecrated circles, which are drawn around them as an intrenchment against the fiend (see above, p. 122, n. 1).
This chapter, which has given full scope to the ironical humour of many, is an invaluable document in the eyes of the mythologist, as he finds in it, if not the origin and explanation, at least the oldest record of world-wide superstitions. Not only in Bombay, but all over the world, people are found who believe that hair and nails are weapons in the hands of the evil one. The Esthonians, on the shores of the Baltic, take the utmost care not to drop the parings of their nails on the ground, lest the devil should pick them up, to make a visor to his cap, which will give him full power to injure men, unless the sign of the cross has been made over them 1 . The Gauchos in the Chilian pampas fear to throw their hair to the winds, but deposit it in holes dug in a wall 1 . In Li£ge good people are advised not to throw away their hair, nor to leave it in the teeth of the comb, lest a witch take hold of it and cast a spell over them *.
1.
1. Zarathastra 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 increases most the baleful strength of the Daevas, as he would do by offering them a sacrifice ?’
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is when a man here below combing his hair or shaving it off, or paring off his nails drops them 4 in a hole of in a crack \
1 Cf. infra, ‘Thou shalt chant the Ahuna-Vairya,’ &c., §§ 6, 8, 9.
* Cf. infra, §§ 5, 7.
* M&usine, Recueil de Mythologie populaire, publid par H. Gaidoz et £. Rolland, Paris, 1878; pp. 79, 549, 583. To the same train of ideas seems to belong the Eddie myth of Naglfar, the fatal ship wrought out of the nails of the dead, which is to take the crew of the demon to the shore of the earth when the last day of the world is come (Gylfaginning, 51).
4 Without performing the requisite ceremonies.
® Doubtful.
FARGARD XVII.
187
3 (6). ‘ Then for want of the lawful rites being observed, Daevas are produced in the earth ; for want of the lawful rites being observed, those Khraf- stras are produced in the earth which men call lice, and which eat up the com in the corn-field and the clothes in the wardrobe.
4(10). ‘Therefore, O Zarathurtra! 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.
5 (13). ‘Then thou shalt dig a hole, a disti 1 deep if the earth be hard, a vltasti deep if it be soft; thou shalt take the hair down there and thou shalt say aloud these fiend-smiting words : “ Out of him by his piety Mazda made the plants grow up 2 .”
6 (17). ‘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.
II.
7 (19). ‘For the nails, thou shalt dig a hole, out
1 A dirti=ten fingers. A vltasti = twelve fingers.
* See above, XI, 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 was sapposed to come from a similar element in nature, to which it was to return after death, and whence it was to come back again at the time of the resur- rection: his bones from the earth, his blood from the water, his hair from the trees, his life from the fire (Bundahir XXXI, U lam Si Islim); an old Aryan theory, traces of which are also to be found in India (Rig-veda X, 16, 3), in Greece (Ilias VII, 99 ; Empedocles, fr. 378 ; cf. Epicharmus ap. Plut. Consol, ad Apoll. 15), and in Scandinavia (Edda, Grimnismal 40).
vendIdAd.
188
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 fiend-smiting words : “ The words that are heard from the pious in holi- ness and good thought Y*
8 (24). ‘ 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.
9 (26). ‘ And then : “ Look here, O Ash6-zusta bird 1 2 * ! here are the nails for thee : look at the nails here! May they be for thee so many spears, knives, bows, falcon-winged arrows, and sling-stones against the MAzainya Dafevas 8 !”
10 (29). ‘ If those nails have not been dedicated (to the bird), they shall be in the hands of the MAzainya Da6vas so many spears, knives, bows, falcon-winged arrows, and sling stones (against the MAzainya Daevas) 4 * * * .
1 Yasna XXXIII, 7. There is here only a play upon the word
sruyS, * is heard,’ which chances to be homonymous with the dual of srva, ‘ nails of both hands.’
* ‘ The owl,’ according to modem tradition. The word literally means ‘ friend of holiness.’ ‘ For the bird Ashfizurta 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
Ashdzorta 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 ’ (BundahLr XIX).
8 See above, p. 137, n. 1. The nails are cut in two and the frag- ments are put in the hole with the point directed towards the north, that is to say, against the breasts of the Devs (see above, p. 75, n. a). See Anquetil, Zend-Avesta II, 117; India Office Library, VIII, 80.
* Repeated by mistake from $ 10.
FARGARD XVIII.
189
ii (30). 'All such sinners, embodiments of the Druf, are scomers of the law : all scorners of the law are rebels against the Lord : all rebels against the Lord are ungodly men ; and any ungodly man shall pay for it with his life V
Fargard XVIII.
I (1-13)- On the unworthy priest and enticers to heresy.
II (14-29). The holiness of the cock.
III (30-60). The four paramours of the Dru^.
IV (61-71). On unlawful lusts.
The text and the Pahlavi commentary of this Fargard are trans- lated in Haug’s Essays, pp. 243 seq., 364 seq.
I.
I. ‘There is many a one, O holy Zarathustra !’ said Ahura Mazda, ‘who wears a PaitidAna 1 2 , but who has not girded his loins with the law 3 ; when such a man says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies ; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathustra !’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
2 (5). * He holds a Khrafstraghna 4 in his hand, but he has not girded his loins with the law ; when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies ; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathustra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
1 See preceding Fargard, § 18.
* See above, p. 168, n. 7.
9 The word translated girded is the word used of the K6stt, the sacred girdle which the Parsi must never part with (see § 54) ; the full meaning, therefore, is, ‘ girded with the law as with a Kdstf (cf. Yasna IX, 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).
4 See above, p. 168, n. 8.
190
vendIdad.
3 (7). ‘ He holds a twig 1 in his hand, but he has not girded his loins with the law; when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies ; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathustra ! ’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
4 (9). ‘ He wields the Astra mairya 2 , but he has not girded his loins with the law; when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies ; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathustra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
5 (11). ‘ He who sleeps on throughout the night, who does not perform the Yasna nor chant the hymns, who does not worship by word or by deed, who does neither learn nor teach, with a longing for (everlasting) life, he lies when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathustra ! ’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
6 (14). ‘Him thou shalt call an Athravan, O holy Zarathustra ! who throughout the night sits up and demands of the holy Wisdom®, which makes man free from anxiety, with dilated heart, and cheerful at the head of the Alnva/ bridge *, and which makes him reach that world, that holy world, that excellent world, the world of paradise.
7 (18). ‘(Therefore) demand of me, thou upright one ! of me, who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most knowing, the most pleased in an- swering what is asked of me ; demand of me, that
1 The bundles of baiesma or the urvar&n (see p. aa, n. a; p. 169, n. 3).
* The Aspahg-artra; see Introd. V, 19.
* That is to say, studies the law and learns from those who know it (cf. Introd. V, a).
* See Farg. XIX, 30. ‘ It gives him a stout heart, when standing before the A’inva/ bridge’ (Comm.)
FARGARD XVIII.
191
thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier \ f
8 (2 1). Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘ O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! What is it that makes the unseen power of Death increase ?’
9 (22). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is the man that teaches a wrong law 2 ; it is the man who con- tinues for three years 3 without wearing the sacred girdle 4 , without chanting the G£thas, without wor- shipping the good waters.
10 (25). ‘And he who should set that man at
1 See Introd. V, 2.
2 * The deceiver Ashemaogha * (Comm .) ; the heretic. Cf. Farg. XV, 2, and Introd. Ill, 10.
8 Doubtful.
4 The K6stf, which must be 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 Ormazd 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 per- formed all over the Zarathustrian world (Saddar 10 and 46 ; Hyde 10 and 50). The K6stf consists 'of seventy-two interwoven fila- ments, and should three times circumvent the waist. . . . Each of the threads is equal in value to one of the seventy-two H&hs of the IzashnS ; each of the twelve threads in the six lesser cords is equal in value to the dawdzdih hamdist . . .; each of the lesser cords is equal in value to one of the six Gahanb&rs ; each of the three cir- cumventions of the loins is equal in value to hum at, good thought, hukhat, 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 Darn, apud Wilson, The Parsi Religion Unfolded, p. 163). In the Brahmanical system also the faithful are bound to their god by means of a sacred girdle, the Mekhald.
Another piece of clothing which every Parsi is enjoined to wear is the Sadarah, 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 (see § 54 seq.)
192
vendIdAd.
liberty, when bound in prison \ does no better deed than if he should flay a man alive and cut off his head®.
11 (27). ‘ The blessing uttered on a wicked, un- godly Ashemaogha does not go past the mouth (of the blesser); the blessing for two Ashemaoghas does not go past his tongue ; the blessing for three is no word at all; the blessing for four is a curse against himself.
1 2 (29). ‘ Whosoever should give some Haoma juice to a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha, or some Myazda consecrated with blessings, does no better deed than if he should lead a thousand horse against the cities of the worshippers of Mazda, and should slaughter the men thereof, and drive off the cattle as plunder.
II.
13 (32). ‘Demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most 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.’
x 4 (33)* Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Who is the SraoshA-varez 8 of Sraosha 1 * * 4 ? the holy, strong Sraosha, who is the incarnate Word, a mighty- speared and lordly god.’
1 See Introd. Ill, 10. Cf. § 12.
* 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.’
* ‘ Who is he who sets the world in motion?’ (Comm.) See above, p. 56, n. a.
* See Introd. IV, 31.
FARGARD XVIII.
193
15 (34)* Ahura Mazda answered : ‘ It is the bird named Parddanr *, which ill-speaking people call Kahrkat&s 8 , O holy Zarathurtra ! the bird that lifts up his voice against the mighty dawn :
16 ( 37 )- ‘ “Arise, O men ! recite the Ashem ya d vahutem that smites down the Daevas 8 . Lo! here is BAshy&sta, the long-handed 1 * * 4 , coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world, as soon as it has awoke : ‘ Sleep ! * she says, * sleep on, O man ! the time 5 * * 8 is not yet come.’ ”
17 (41). 4 For the three excellent things be never slack, namely, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds ; for the three abominable things be ever slack, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds.”
18 (43). 4 In the first part of the night, Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the master of the house for help, saying :
19 (43). 4 44 Up I arise, thou master of the house ! put on thy girdle on thy dothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let me bum bright
1 ‘ He who foresees' the coining dawn; the cock.
* 4 When he is not called so, he is powerful' (Comm.) Cf.XIII, 2,6.
8 The cock is called 4 the drum of the world/ As crowing in the dawn that dazzles away the fiends, he shared with it the honour of the victory, and was believed to crow away the demons : 4 The cock was created to fight against the fiends and wizards ; he is with the dog an ally of Srdsh against demons' (Bundahir XIX).
4 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 chaunt the praises of the glorious and exalted Creator,
that instant the evil spirit takes to flight ' (Mirkhond, Histoiy of the Early Kings of Persia, translated by Shea, p. 57 ; cf. Saddar 3a, Hyde 33, and J. Ovington, A Voyage to Suratt, 1696, p. 371).
4 See Introd. IV, 14.
8 4 To perform thy religious duties * (Comm.)
W
O
194
vendIdAd.
with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed hands \ Here comes Azi *, made by the Daevas, who is about to strive against me, and wants to put out my life.“
20(46). ‘In the second part of the night, Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the husbandman for help, saying :
21(46). “‘Up! arise, thou husbandman! Put on thy girdle on thy clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let me bum bright with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed hands. Here comes Azi, made by the Da&vas, who is about to strive against me, and wants to put out my life.”
22 (48). ‘ In the third part of the night. Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the holy Sraosha for help, saying: “Come thou, holy, tail-formed Sraosha, [then he brings unto me some clean wood with his well-washed hands]® : here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who is about to strive against me, and wants to put out my life.”
23 (51). ‘And then the holy Sraosha wakes up the bird named Parddaw, which ill-speaking people call Kahrkatfis, and the bird lifts up his voice against the mighty dawn :
24 (52). ‘“Arise, O men ! recite the Ashem ya d, vah intern that smites down the Daevas. Lo ! here is Bflshyasta, the long-handed, coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world as
1 The Parsi, as soon as he has risen, must put on the K6sti, wash his hands, and put wood on the fire.
* See Introd. IV, 19.
* The text seems to be corrupt : it must probably be emendated into ‘ bring into me . .
FARGARD XVIII.
*95
soon as it has awoke : ‘ Sleep ! ’ she says, ‘ sleep on, O man! the time is not yet come.”’
25 (52). * “ For the three excellent things be never slack, namely, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds ; for the three abominable things be ever slack, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds.”
26 (53). ‘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 the Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, the Fire, well pleased with him and not angry, and fed as it required, will thus bless him :
27 (58). ‘ “ May herds of oxen grow for thee, and increase of sons : 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 the soul all the nights of thy life.”
‘ This is the blessing which the Fire speaks unto him who brings him dry wood, well examined by the light of the day, well cleansed with godly intent.
28 (64). ‘ And whosoever will kindly and piously present one of the faithful with a pair of these my Parddarr birds, a male and a female, it is as though he had given 1 a house with a hundred columns, a thousand beams, ten thousand large windows, ten thousand small windows.
29 (67). ‘And whosoever shall give to my Par6- dars bird his fill of meat, I, Ahura Mazda, need not
1 ‘ In the day of recompense ’ (Comm.) ; he shall be rewarded as though he had given a house, &c. … he shall receive such a house in paradise.
O 2
vendIdAd.
196
interrogate him any longer ; he shall directly go to paradise.’
III.
30 (70). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her : ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Druf ! Thou then, alone in the material world, dost bear offspring without any male coming unto thee ? ’
31 (74). Then the Dru^ - demon, the guileful one, answered : ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! It is not so, nor do I, alone in the material world, bear offspring without any male coming unto me.
3 2 ( 77 )* ‘ There are four males who are mine.
‘And they make me conceive progeny as other
males make their females.’
33 (78). The holy Sraosha asked the Dru^, with his club uplifted against her : ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^l Who is the first of those males of thine ?’
34 ( 79 )* Then the Dru^ demon, the guileful one, answered : ‘O holy, tail-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 up 1 .
35 (82). ‘ That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
36 (83). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her : ‘ O thou wretched and wicked T)rug ! What is the thing that can counter- act that?’
37 (84). Then the Dru^ - demon, the guileful one, answered : * O holy, tail-formed Sraosha ! This is
1 Cf. Farg. Ill, 34.
FARGARD XVIII.
197
the thing that counteracts 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.
38 (87). ‘ 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.’
39 (88). The holy Sraosha asked the Dru^, with his club uplifted against her : * O thou wretched and wicked Dru^I Who is the second of those males of thine ?’
40 (89). Then the Drug demon, the guileful one, answered : * O holy, tail-formed Sraosha ! He is the second of my males who, making water, lets it fall along the upper forepart of his foot.
41 (92). ‘ That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
42 (93)* The holy Sraosha asked the Drug, with his club uplifted against her : ‘O thou wretched and wicked Drug 1 What is the thing that can counter- act that ?’
43 (94)* Then the Drug demon, the guileful one, answered : ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha ! This is the thing that counteracts it, namely, when the man rising up 1 and stepping three steps further off, shall say three Ahuna-Vairya, two humatan$m, three hukhshathrdtem£m, and then chant the Ahuna- Vairya and offer up one Y£«h6 hitam.
1 * Nec stando mingens . . . facile visitur Perea ’ (Amra. Marc. XXIII, 6) ; Anfc Virif XXIV; Mainy6-i-khard II, 39 ; Saddar 56, Hyde 60. Cf. Manu IV, 47 seq., and Polack, Pereien I, 67 : ‘Von einem in Paris weilenden Pereer hinterbrachte man dem Kdnig, um seine Emancipation und Abtrttnnigkeit vom Gesetz zu beweisen, dass er Schweinefleisch esse und stehend die Function verrichte.’
198
vendIdAd.
44 (98). ‘ He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does, who tears the child out of a mothers womb.’
45 (99)‘ The holy Sraosha asked the Dru g, with his club uplifted against her: ‘O thou wretched and wicked Dru^ ! Who is the third of those males of thine ?’
46 (100). Then the Dru^ demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘O holy, tail-formed Sraosha 1 He is the third of my males who during his sleep emits seed.
47 (102). ‘That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
48 (103). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her : ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^! What is the thing that can counter- act that?’
49 (104). Then the Druf demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! this is the thing that counteracts it, namely, if the man, when he has risen from sleep, shall say three Ahuna- Vairya, two humatanam, three hukhshathrd- temam, and then chant the Ahuna-Vairya and offer up one Y6#h6 hitam.
50 (107). ‘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.’
51 (108). Then he shall speak unto Spewta Ar- maiti \ saying : ‘ O Spe»ta Armaiti, this man do I deliver unto thee; this man deliver thou back unto me, against the mighty day of resurrection; deliver him back as one who knows the GAthas, who
‘ The genius of the earth (cf. Farg. II, 10).
FARGARD XVIII.
199
knows the Yasna, and the revealed law 1 * * , a wise and clever man, who is the Word incarnate.
52 (112). ‘Then thou shalt call his name “Fire- creature, Fire-seed, Fire-offspring, Fire-land,” or any name wherein is the word Fire V
53 (113). The holy Sraosha asked the Dru^, with his club uplifted against her : ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^ ! Who is the fourth of those males of thine ?’
54 ( 1 14). Then the Dru/ demon, the guileful one, answered : ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha 1 This one is my fourth male who, either man or woman, being more than fifteen years of age, walks without wear- ing the sacred girdle and the sacred shirt 8 .
55 ( II 5 )- ‘At the fourth step 4 * * we Dadvas, at once, wither him even to the tongue and the mar- row, and he goes thenceforth with power to destroy the world of the holy spirit, and he destroys it like the Yitus and the Za#das V
56 (1 17). The holy Sraosha asked the Dru^, with his club uplifted against her : ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^, what is the thing that can counteract that ? ’
57 (118). Then the Dru^- demon, the guileful one, answered : ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha ! There is no means of counteracting it ;
1 Literally, * the answers made to the questions (of Zarathurtra).’
* Cf. Introd. IV, 30, and Orm. Ahr. § 205.
* The Kdstl and the Sadarah ; see above, p. 191, n. 4. It is the sin known as kush&d duv&rirnl (Mainy6-i-khard II, 35 ; Arda Vlrdf XXV, 6).
4 ‘Going three steps without Kdstt is only a three Sraoshd-
Parana sin ; from the fourth step, it is a tan&fbhr sin ’ (Comm.)
* For the Yitus, see Introd. IV, 20 ; the zanda is a hobgoblin.
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vendIdAd.
58 (120). ‘ When a man or a woman, being more than fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle or the sacred shirt.
59 ( 1 20). ‘At the fourth step we Da£vas, at once, wither him even to the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power to destroy the world of the holy spirit, and he destroys it like the Y&tus and the Zawdas.’
IV.
60 (122). Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most 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.
61 (123). Zarathurtia asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Who grieves thee with the sorest grief ? Who pains thee with the sorest pain ?'
62(124). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the Gahi 1 , O Spitama Zarathurtra! who goes a-whoring after the faithful and the unfaithful, after the wor- shippers of Mazda and the worshippers of the Da6vas, after the wicked and the righteous *.
63(125). ‘Her look dries up one third of the mighty floods that run from the mountains; her look withers one third of the beautiful, golden hued, growing plants ;
64 (127). * Her look withers one third of the grass
1 The courtezan, as an incarnation of the female demon (Tahi (see Introd. IV, 15).
* ‘ [Whether she gives up her body to the faithful or to the un- faithful], there is no difference ; when she has been with three men, she is guilty of death ' (Comm.)
FARGARD XVIII.
201
wherewith Spewta Armaiti 1 is clad 2 * , 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 fiend-killing power, and of his holiness 8 .
65 (129). ‘Verily I say unto thee, O Spitama Zarathu.stra ! such creatures ought to be killed even more than gliding snakes 4 * * * , 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.’
66 (133)- Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most 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.
67-68 (133). Zarathu.rtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘ If a man shall come unto a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, and he does so wittingly and know- ingly®, and she allows it wilfully, wittingly, and
1 The earth.
* Doubtful. The Pahlavi translation has, ‘One third of the strength of Spe#ta Armaiti.*
8 ‘ If a (rahi (courtezan) look at running waters, they fall ; if at trees, they are stunted ; if she converse with a pious man, his intel- ligence and his holiness are withered by it’ (Saddar 67; Hyde 74). Cf. Manu IV, 40 seq.
4 It is written in the law (the Avesta) : ‘O Zarturt Isfitamin ! 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 be 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 Rav. 59 b).
* ‘ Knowing her state and knowing that it is a sin * (Comm.)
202
vendIdAd.
knowingly, what is the atonement for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay to atone for the deed they have done ? ’
69(136). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If a man shall come unto a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, and he does so wittingly and know- ingly, and. she allows it wilfully, wittingly, and knowingly ;
70 ( r 37)* ‘ He shall slay a thousand head of small cattle ; he shall godly and piously offer up to the fire 1 the entrails 2 * thereof together with Zaothra- libations; he shall bring the shoulder bones to the good waters 8 .
71 (140). ‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire a thousand loads of soft wood, of U rvisna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, HadhA-na£pata, or of any sweet-scented plant 4 .
72(142). ‘He shall tie and consecrate a thou- sand bundles of baresma; he shall godly and piously offer up to the good waters a thousand Zaothra- libations, together with the Haoma and the meat, cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man, together with the roots of the tree known as Hadhd-na£pata 5 .
73 (144). ‘ He shall kill a thousand snakes of
1 To the Bahr&m fire.
* The omentum (afsman) or epipleon. Strabo XV, 13 : rov mtmtXov ri ftiKp&v TtOiaai, its Xfyowri r tvtt, f»ri ro trip. ‘ Ascending six steps they showed me in a Room adjoining to the temple, their Fire which they fed with Wood, and sometimes Bum on it the Fat of the Sheep’s Tail.’ A Voyage Round the World, Dr. J. F.Gemelli, 1698.
* The meat is eaten by the faithful (Asp.); cf. Herod. 1 , 13a.
4 Cf. Farg. XIV, 3 seq.
8 See above, p. 94, n. 1.
FARGARD XIX.
203
those that go upon the belly, two thousand of the other kind 1 : 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 *.
74 (147). ‘ He shall throw thirty bridges over canals; he shall undergo a thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshd- £arana 3 .
75 (149). ‘ This is the atonement, this is the penalty that he shall pay to atone for the deed that he has done.
76 (150). * If he shall pay it, he shall enter the world of the holy ones ; if he shall not pay it, he shall fall down into the world of the wicked, into that dark world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness 4 .’
Fargard XIX.
I (i-ii). Angra Mainyu attempts to kill Zarathtutra, and, when he Ms, tempts him. Zarathtutra withstands both assaults with weapons both material and spiritual.
II (11-43). Zarathurtra applies to Ahura Mazda for a revelation of the law. He is taught how the fiend may be repelled, how the creation of Mazda is to be worshipped, how uncleanness is to be washed away, and what becomes of the soul after death.
III (43-47). Angra Mainyu and his host, driven to despair, and feeling themselves powerless, flee down into hell.
This chapter may be entitled * The Revelation,’ and considered as the frame- work of the Vendidad, the remainder of which should have its place between the first and the third part ; as the first part
1 ‘Two thousand mfir banak’ (Comm.) See above, p. 157, n. 1.
* ‘Two thousand dfirak’ (Comm.) See above, p. 157, n. 4.
* Five tan&ffihrs, that is six thousand dirhems.
4 §§ 75 . 7 <>= Far g- XIV, l8 *
204
vendIdad.
shows the fiend’s struggles to prevent the revelation, and the third shows the effects of it ; the second being, as it were, an abstract of the law, an abridged Vendidfid.
The text and the Pahlavi commentary of this Fargard are translated in Haag’s Essays, p. 353 seq., p. 333 seq., and p. 379 seq.
I.
i. From the region of the north, from the regions of the north \ forth rushed Angra Mainyu, the deadly, the Daeva of the Da£vas*. And thus spake the guileful one, he the evil-doer Angra Mainyu, the deadly : ‘ Druf, rush down upon him ! destroy the holy Zarathurtra ! ’ The Druf came rushing along, the demon Bftiti*, the unseen death, the hell-born.
2 (5). Zarathurtra chanted aloud the Ahuna- Vairya 4 : ‘The will of the Lord is the law of holiness ; the riches of Vohu-man6 shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.’
(He added): ‘Offer up prayers to the good waters of the good DAitya* !
‘ Profess the law of the worshippers of Mazda!’
The Drug” dismayed, rushed away, the demon B&iti, the unseen death, the hell-born.
* From hell; cf. p. 75, n. 2.
2 * The fiend of fiends,’ the arch-fiend.
* * How does death enter the body of man ? There are several Drqges from Ahriman, who come into the body and the soul of man : one of whom is a Dru^ known as Bftt ; she is the forerunner of death ; when the time of the end is at hand, she produces in the body of man such excessive heat that he Ms ill ’ (D&dfir i D&dfikht, British Museum, Add. 8994, 130 a).
4 See above, p. 98, n. 2.
* The river in Airyana Va%6 ; see Farg. I, 3, and Introd. Ill, 15.
FARGARD XIX.
205
3 (7). And the Dru^ - , the guileful one, said unto Angra Mainyu: * O baneful Angra Mainyu! I see no way to kill him, so great is the glory of the holy Zarathu-stra/
Zarathuitra saw (all this) from within his soul: ‘ The evil-doing Daevas and Drvawts 1 * * (thought he) take counsel together for my death/
4(11). Up started Zarathurtra, forward went Zarathu-rtra, unshaken by the evil spirit, by the hardness of his malignant riddles a , swinging stones in his hand, stones as big as a house ®, which he obtained from the Maker, Ahura Mazda, he the holy Zarathu.rtra.
‘At what on this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar, at what dost thou swing (those stones), thou who standest by the river Dare^a 4 , upon the mountains, in the mansion of Poururaspa® ?’
5 (16). Thus Zarathurtra answered Angra Mainyu: ‘ O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu I I will smite the crea- tion of the Da6va ; I will smite the Nasu, a creature of the Da6va ; I will smite the Pairika KnSthaiti ®, till the fiend-smiter Saoshyawt come up to life out
1 See Introd. IV, 22.
1 This is a fragment of an old myth in which Zarathuxtra and Angra Mainyu played respectively the parts of Oedipus and the Sphinx. See, for further explanation, Orm. Ahr. §§ 163-165.
* See Introd. IV, 40. The Commentary has, * Some say, those stones are the Ahuna-Vairya.’ In another attempt to account for a mythical expression, which was no longer understood, those thunder- bolts were turned into the nine-knotted stick used in the Barashnfim (see Farg. IX, 14 ; Comm, and Asp.)
4 See Introd. Ill, 15.
1 The father of Zarathuxtra.
* Cf. Farg. 1 , 10, and Introd. IV, 21.
206
vendJdAd.
of the lake K&sava, from the region of the dawn, from the regions of the dawn V
6 (20). Again to him said the guileful one, the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu : ‘ Do not destroy my creatures, O holy Zarathurtra ! Thou art the son of Pourusaspa 1 2 , just bom of thy mother 3 . Renounce the good law of the worshippers of Mazda, and thou shalt gain such a boon as the
' murderer 4 * gained, the ruler of the nations/
7 (24). Thus in answer to him said Spitama Zarathurtra : ‘ No ! never will I renounce the good
I law of the worshippers of Mazda, though my body,
' my life, my soul should burst ! ’
8 (27). Again to him said the guileful one, 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 ? ’
9 (29). Thus in answer to him said Spitama Zarathurtra : ‘ The sacred mortar, the sacred cup, the Haoma, the Words 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 the good creatures (will strike and repel thee), O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu ! To me Spe»ta Mainyu gave it, he gave it to me in the boundless Time 6 ;
1 See Introd. IV, 39-40. * * I know thee ’ (Comm.)
* Doubtful (c£ § 46) ; possibly, ‘ I was invoked by thy mother.’
The Commentary has, * Some explain thus : Thy forefathers wor- shipped me : worship me also.’
4 Ajis Dahlka or Zoh&k, who, as a legendary king, is said to
have ruled the world for a thousand years (Introd. IV, 1 1).
4 See Introd. IV, 4a. The Ahuna -Vairya was revealed before
FARGARD XIX.
207
to me the Amesha Spe/rtas, the all-ruling, the all- beneficent, gave it.’
10 (35). Zarathustra chanted aloud the Ahuna- Vairya. The holy Zarathustra said aloud : 4 This I 1 / ask thee : teach me the truth, O Lord 1 ! . . .’
II.
11(37). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: 4 0 Ahura Mazda, most beneficent spirit. Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! [he was sitting by the Dare^a, on the mountain 2 , praying to Ahura Mazda, to the good Vohu-mand, to Asha Vahista, Khshathra Vairya, and Spe#ta Armaiti ;]
12 (39). 4 How shall I make the world free from that Drujr t from the 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 ?’
13 (42). Ahura Mazda answered : 4 Invoke, O Zarathustra ! the good law of Mazda.
4 Invoke, O Zarathustra ! the Amesha Spe»tas who rule over the seven Karshvares of the earth 8 .
4 Invoke, O Zarathustra ! the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time 4 , and Vayu®, whose action is most high.
the creation of the world (Yasna XIX), and consequently in the boundless Time.
1 This verse is the beginning of a G&tha (Yasna XLIV), in which Zarathurtra applies to Ahura Mazda to be taught the mysteries of the world and of the law.
* See § 4 and Introd. Ill, 15. * See Introd. IV, 7.
4 See Introd. IV, 42. • See Introd. IV, 15.
208
VENDtDAD.
‘ Invoke, O Zarathurtra ! the powerful Wind, made by Mazda, and Spe#ta [Armaiti] 1 * * , the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.
14(46). ‘Invoke, O Zarathurtra! myFravashi* who am Ahura Mazda, the greatest, the best, the fairest of all beings, the most solid ®, the most intel- ligent, the best shapen, the highest in holiness, and whose soul is the holy Word 4 !
1 Invoke, O Zarathujtra ! this creation of mine, who am Ahura Mazda.’
15 ( 5 °)* Zarathortra took those words from me, (and said) : ‘ I invoke the holy creation of Ahura Mazda.
‘ I invoke Mithra ®, the lord of wide pastures, a god armed with beautiful weapons, with the most glorious of all weapons, with the most fiend-smiting of all weapons.
‘ I invoke the holy, tail-formed Sraosha *, who wields a club in his hand, to bear upon the heads of the fiends.
16 (54). ‘ I invoke the most glorious holy Word.
‘I invoke the sovereign Heaven, the boundless
Time, and Vayu, whose action is most high.
' I invoke the mighty Wind, made by Mazda, and Spe#ta (Armaiti), the fair daughter of Ahura Mazda.
‘ I invoke the good law of Mazda, the fiend- destroying law of Zarathujtra.’
17(58). Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Maker of the good world, Ahura Mazda! With
1 See Introd. IV, 30. * See Introd. IV, 37.
• See Introd. IV, 5. * M&thra Spewta; see Introd. IV, 40.
• See Introd. IV, 8.
• See Introd. IV, 31, and cf. Farg. XVIII, 22 seq.
FARGARD XIX.
209
what manner of sacrifice shall I worship, with what manner of sacrifice shall I worship and forward this creation of Ahura Mazda ?’
18 (60). Ahura Mazda answered : ‘Go, O Spitama Zarathmtra ! towards that tree 1 * * 4 that is beautiful, high-growing, and mighty amongst the high-growing trees, and say thou these words : “ Hail to thee ! O good, holy tree, made by Mazda ! Ashem vohu*!”
19 (63). ‘Let the faithful man cut off a twig of baresma, long as a ploughshare, thick as a barley- corn *. The faithful one, holding it in his left hand, shall not leave off keeping his eyes upon it *, whilst he is offering up the sacrifice to Ahura Mazda and to the Amesha-Spe#tas, and to the high and beau- tiful golden Haomas, and to Vohu-mand 5 * 7 and to the good Rita *, made by Mazda, holy and excellent V
20(67). Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Othou, all-knowing Ahura Mazda! thou art never asleep, never intoxicated, thou Ahura Mazda ! Vohu-mand 8 gets directly defiled : Vohu-mand gets indirectly de-
1 The tree, whatever it is, from which the baresma is taken.
See p. 22, n. 2.
* See § 22. * Doubtful.
4 The Parsis are recommended to keep their eyes on the baresma
during the sacrifice : * A man is offering the Dartin, he has said all the required Avesta, but he has not looked at the baresma : 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 Introd. IV, 7. * See Introd. IV, 30.
7 Doubtful. Possibly, ‘While he is offering up the high and beautiful Haomas, and Vohu-mand (good thoughts) and the good Rita (sacrificial presents).’
* Vohu-mand 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
[4] P
210
VENdIdAd.
filed; the Daevas defile him from the bodies smitten by the Daevas 1 : let Vohu-man6 be made clean.’
21(70). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thou shalt take some g6m£z from a bull ungelded and such as the law requires it*; thou shalt take the man who is to be cleansed 3 to the field made by Ahura 4 , and the man that is to cleanse him shall draw the furrows ®.
22 (73). ‘He shall recite a hundred Ashem 1 vohu : “Holiness is the best of all good. Happy, happy the man who is holy with perfect holiness ! ”
‘He shall chant two hundred Ahuna-Vairya : “ The will of the Lord is the law of holiness ; the riches of Vohu-man6 shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.”
‘ He shall wash Vohu-man6 four times with the g6m£z from the ox, and twice with the water made by Mazda *.
to it in the second part of § 25 ; but in the first part of the same clause it is translated * clothes,’ a meaning which is not unlikely in itself, as Vohu-mand, being the Amshaspand 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-man6 sometimes means the one, and sometimes the other.
1 From dead bodies.
* The so-called Varasifi; * it must be of a white colour; if a single hair on its body be found other than white, the animal is rejected as unfit for the purpose' (Sorfibji Kavasji Khamb&tS, in the Indian Antiquary, VII, 180).
* Or better, 1 the things that are to be cleansed.'
4 The place of the cleansing, the Barashn&m-g&h (see Farg.
IX, 3).
5 See Farg. IX, io.
* This can hardly refer to the cleansing of the man, as the man
FARGARD XIX.
21 1
2 3 (76). ‘ Thus Vohu-man6 shall be made clean, and clean shall be the man. Then he shall take up Vohu-mand 1 with his left arm and his right, with his right arm and his left: and thou shalt lay down Vohu-mand under the mighty structure of the bright heavens, by the light of the stars made by the gods, until nine nights have passed away 2 .
24 (80). ‘ 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-man6 therewith.
25 (82). ‘Thus shall Vohu-man6 become clean, thus shall the man be clean 3 : he shall take up Vohu-man6 with the right arm and the left, with the left arm and the right, and Vohu-man6 4 shall say aloud : “ Glory be to Ahura Mazda ! Glory be to the Amesha-Spe#tas ! Glory be to all the other holy beings.”’
26 (85). Zarathurtra 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 Da6va- worshipper who lives in sin, that they have once to leave behind them the earth made by Ahura,
ought to be washed six times with gdm&z and three times with water (see Farg. VIII, 37 seq. ; IX, 28 seq.)
1 * The clothes ’ (Comm.)
* The clothes of the unclean shall be exposed to the air for nine nights, all the time while he himself is confined in the Arm&rt-gah. The rules for the cleansing of clothes that have been worn by the dead himself are different (see Farg. VII, ia seq.)
’ ‘ThusVohu-man6 shall be clean— the clothes; thus the man shall be clean — he who wears those clothes’ (Comm.)
4 The iaithful one.
r 2
212
vendIdAd.
that they have to leave the water that runs, the corn that grows, and all the rest of their wealth 1 * * ?’
Ahura Mazda answered : 4 Thou shouldst, O holy Zarathurtra.’
27 (89). 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, in their life in the material world, they have won for their souls ?
28 (90). Ahura Mazda answered : 1 When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the hellish, evil-doing Da&vas assail him; and when the third night is gone, when the dawn appears and brightens up, and makes Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reach the all-happy mountains, and the sun is rising :
29 (94). 4 * Then the fiend, named Vlzaresha, carries off in bonds 2 the souls of the wicked Da^va- 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 Kvnvad bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazda 8 , they ask for their spirits and souls the
1 ‘ Linquenda tellus, et domus et placens
Uxor, nec harum, quas colis arboram. . . .’
The translation is doubtful in its details ; yet there is little doubt
that the sentence refers to future life (cf. § 37). Aspendiiiji trans-
lates, ‘ Shall the godly man . . . arise (from the dead) . . . ? ’ which seems to be the meaning of the Pahlavi Commentary too.
* ‘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. ;
cf. Farg. V, 8, and Introd. IV, 26).
* The Krnnd bridge extends over hell and leads to paradise : for the souls of the righteous it widens to the length of nine javelins ;
FARGARD XIX.
213
reward for the worldly goods which they gave away here below 1 .
30 (98). 1 Then comes the well : shapen, strong and tail-formed maid a , with the dogs at her sides 3 , one who can distinguish 4 , who is graceful *, who does what she wants, and is of high understanding.
‘She makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Hara-berezaiti 6 ; above the Alnva d bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves.
31 (102). ‘Up rises Vohu-mand 7 from his golden seat; Vohu-mand exclaims : “How hast thou come to us, thou holy one, from that decaying world into this undecaying one 8 ? ”
for the souls of the wicked it narrows to a thread, and they fall down into hell (cf. Ar dk VMf V, 1). This bridge is known in many mythologies; it is the Sir&th bridge of the Musulmans ; not long ago they sang in Yorkshire of ‘ the Brig o’ Dread, na brader than a thread' (Thoms, Anecdotes, 89), and even nowadays the peasant in Nifcvre tells of a little board —
* Pas pu longue, pas pu large Qu'un ch’veu de la Sainte Viarge,’
which was put by Saint Jean d’Arcbange between the earth and paradise :
* Ceux qu'saront la raison (rrl’oraison?) cfDieu Par dessus passeront.
Ceux qu’la sauront pas
Au bout mourront/ (M&usine, p. 70.)
1 Cf. Farg. Ill, 34, 35 ; XVIII, 33 seq.
* 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 conscience (Yasht XXII).
8 The dogs that keep the ATinva*/ bridge (see Farg. XIII, 9).
4 The good from the wicked. 5 Doubtful.
8 The heavenly mountain, whence the sun rises, and upon which the abode of the gods rests.
7 The door-keeper of paradise ; a Zoroastrian Saint-Pierre.
• Cf. Farg. VII, 5a.
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vendIdAd.
32 (105). ‘ Gladly pass the souls of the righteous to the .golden seat of Ahura Mazda, to the golden seat of the Amesha-Spe»tas, to the Gard-nmAnem \ the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha-Spe»tas, the abode of all the other holy beings.
33 (108). ‘As to the godly man that has been cleansed 1 2 * , the wicked evil-doing Dafivas tremble at the perfume of his soul after death, as a sheep does on which a wolf is falling s .
34 ( 1 10). ‘The souls of the righteous are gathered together there: Nairyd-sangha 4 is with them; a friend of Ahura Mazda is Nairyd-sangha.
‘Do thou thyself invoke, O Zarathurtra! this world of Ahura Mazda.’
35 (114). Zarathurtra took those words from Ahura Mazda : ‘ I invoke the holy world, made by Ahura Mazda.
‘ I invoke the earth made by Ahura, the water made by Mazda, the holy trees.
‘ I invoke the sea Vouru-kasha®.
* I invoke the shining sky.
‘ I invoke the eternal and sovereign luminous space •.
1 The Garothm&n of the Parsis; literally, ‘the house of 9ongs.’
* That has performed the Barashnfim.
’ Ormazd is all perfume, Ahriman is infection and stench (Bun- dahir I ; Eznig, Refutatio Haeresiarum II) ; the souls of their fol- lowers partake of the same qualities, and by the performance of the Barashnfim both the body and the soul are perfumed and sweetened.
4 The messenger of Ahura Mazda (cf. Farg. XXII, 7).
8 See Introd. IV, 1 1.
* See Introd. IV, 4a.
FARGARD XIX.
215
36 (120). ‘ I invoke the bright, all glorious, bliss- ful abode of the holy ones.
‘ I invoke the Gar6-nminem, the abode of Ahura Mazda, the abode of the Amesha-Spe«tas, the abode of all the other holy beings.
‘ I invoke the sovereign place of eternal weal \ and the K'mv&d bridge made by Mazda.
37 (123). ‘I invoke the good Saoka 1 2 * , whose looks go far and wide.
‘ I invoke the mighty Fravashis* of the righteous.
‘ I invoke the whole creation of weal.
‘I invoke Verethraghna 4 * * , made by Ahura, who wears the glory made by Mazda®.
‘ I invoke Ti-rtrya *, the bright and glorious star, in the shape of a golden-horned bull.
38 (127). ‘I invoke the holy, beneficent Gctthas 7 , who rule over the ratus®:
* I invoke the Ahunavaiti G&tha ;
‘ I invoke the Urtavaiti G&tha ;
‘ I invoke the Spe»ta-mainyu Githa ;
‘ I invoke the Vohu-khshathra Gcltha ;
1 Misvina g&tva, another name of the heavenly spaces; it designates heaven as the abode and source of all blessings, of all savah, or saoka.
1 A personification of the Ormazdean weal.
* See Introd. IV, 37.
4 See Introd. IV, 1 4, and Yasht XIV.
• The hvaxznb or light of sovereignty (Introd. IV, 11).
• See Introd. IV, 13, and Yasht VIII.
T The five collections of hymns which form the oldest and holiest part of the Yasna and of the Avesta (Yasna XXVTII-XXXIV ; XLIII-XLVI ; XLVII-L ; LI ; LIII) ; they are named after their first words.
* The chiefs of creation (Introd. IV, 35) ; ‘ they rule over the ratus insomuch as it is by their means that other beings are invoked’ (Comm.)
2l6
VENDi DAD.
‘ I invoke the Vahi.rt6i.rti G&tha.
39(129). ‘I invoke the Karsh vares of Arzahe and Savah£ ;
‘ I invoke the Karsh vares of Fradadhafshu and Vidadhafsho ;
‘ I invoke the Karsh vares of Vourubarerti and Vouruzarerti;
‘ I invoke the bright Hv aniratha 1 ;
* I invoke the bright, glorious Ha6tuma#t 2 3 ;
1 1 invoke the good Ashi 8 ;
[‘ I invoke the good ATisti 4 ;]
* I invoke the most right ATista 5 * ;
‘ I invoke the glory of the Aryan regions*;
‘ I invoke the glory of the bright Yima, the great shepherd 7 .
40 (133). ‘ Let him be worshipped with sacrifice, let him be gladdened, gratified, and satisfied, the holy Sraosha, the tail-formed, fiend-smiting, holy Sraosha*.
‘ Bring libations unto the Fire, bring hard wood unto the Fire, bring incense of Vohu-gaona unto the Fire.
* Offer up the sacrifice to the Vizirta fire, which
1 See Introd. IV, 7. * See Farg. I, 14.
3 See Introd. IV, 30.
* An angel of knowledge ; the clause is' found only in the Ven- didSd Sadah.
3 Religious knowledge.
* The light of sovereignty, -izarend, which if secured by the
Aryans makes them rule over their enemies (cf. Introd. IV, 11).
7 See Introd. IV, 18, and Farg. II.
3 This praise of Sraosha was probably introduced here with reference to the great part he plays in the fate of the soul after
death, and to the performance of the sadis ritual (see above, p. 87, n. 4).
FARGARD XIX.
2I7
smites the fiend Spen^aghra 1 * * * * * : bring unto it the cooked meat and the offerings of boiling milk *
41(137). ‘Offer up the sacrifice to the holy Sraosha, that the holy Sraosha may smite down the fiend Ku«da 8 * 10 , who is drunken without drink- ing. He will fall upon the men of the Druf, the slothful ones *, the wicked Da£va-worshippers, who live in sin.
[42®. ‘ I invoke the Kara fish®, who lives beneath waters in the bottom of the deep lakes.
‘ I invoke the ancient and sovereign Merezu 7 , the greatest seat of battle in the creation of the two spirits *.
‘ I invoke the seven bright Sravah * with their sons and their flocks.
III.
43. ‘ They run about to and fro, their minds waver to and fro 1 *, Angra Mainyu the deadly, the
1 Seelntrod. IV, 13. * Doubtful.
* The same as Kundi ; see Farg. XI, 9.
4 Those who neglect their religious duties. The translation is doubtful.
* From the Vendfdid Sldah. 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 Commen-
tary 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.’
* The Kar-mfiht (see above, p. 59, n. 4).
7 According to Professor Justi, ‘ the milky way’ (Handbuch der Zendsprache s. v.), an Iranian representative of the Eddie Bifrost. There is much probability in that translation.
* Doubtful
* A word of unknown meaning.
10 Up and down, in hope and despair.
218
vend!dAd.
Da£va of the Da&vas ; I«dra the Daeva, SAuru the DaAva, Naanghaithya the DaAva, Taurvi and Zairi 1 * , AAshma of the wounding spear*, Akatasha the DaAva 3 , Zaurva 4 * * , baneful to the fathers, Btiiti the DaAva®, Driwi* the Da£va, Daiwi 7 * * the Da£va, Kasvi® the Da6va, Paitisha * the most Daeva-like amongst the Daevas.]
44 (140). ‘And he said, the guileful, the evil- doing Daeva, Angra Mainyu the deadly : “ What ! let the wicked, evil-doing Daevas gather together at the head of Arezfira 10 .”
45 (141). ‘ They rush, they run away, the wicked, evil-doing Da£vas ; they run away with shouts, the wicked, evil-doing DaAvas ; they run away casting the evil eye, the wicked, evil-doing DaAvas : “ Let us gather together at the head of ArezAra !
46 (143). ‘ “ For he is just born the holy Zara- thu-rtra, in the house of Pourushaspa. How can we procure his death ? He is the stroke that fells the fiends : he is a counter-fiend to the fiends ; he is a Dru^ - to the Dru^. Down are the DaAva-wor- shippers, the Nasu made by the DaAva, the false- speaking Lie!”
47 (147). ‘ They run away, they rush away, the wicked, evil-doing DaAvas, into the depths of the dark, horrid world of hell.
1 See Introd. IV, 34. * See Introd. IV, aa.
* See above, p. 136, n. 5. 4 Old age.
* See above, p. 204, n. 3.
* Poverty; see above, Farg. II, 29.
7 Lying ; see above, Farg. II, 29.
‘ Meanness ; see above, Farg. II, 29.
' ‘ Opposition, or counter-action/ a personification of the doings
of Ahriman and of his marring power.
10 At the gate of hell; see above, p. 24, n. 1.
FARGARD XX.
219
‘ Ashem vohu : Holiness is the best of all good.’
Fargard XX.
Thrita, the First Healer.
Thrita was the first who drove back death and disease, as Ahura Mazda had brought to him down from heaven ten thousand healing plants that had been growing up around the tree of eternal life, the white Hdm or Gaokerena.
This Thrita is mentioned only once again in the Avesta, in Yasna IX, 7, where he appears to have been one of the first priests of Haoma. This accounts for his medical skill ; as Haoma is a source of life and health, his first priests must have been the first healers.
Thrita was originally the same as ThraStaona 1 * * . On one hand, we see that in the Rig-veda the great feat of Thraetaona is ascribed to Trita as well as to Traitdna, and Trita Aptya, c the son of the waters/ was as well the celestial priest who pours Haoma into rain as the celestial hero who kills the snake in storms. On the other hand, we see that Thraetaona fulfilled the same functions as Thrita : according to Hamza he was the inventor of medicine * ; the Tavids* against sickness are inscribed with his name, and we find in the Avesta itself the Fravashi of Thraetaona invoked ‘ against itch, hot fever, humours, cold fever 4 * , vdvareshi, against the plagues created by the serpent V We see from this passage that disease was under- stood as coming from the serpent; in other words, that it was considered a sort of poisoning 6 , and this is the reason why the
1 See Introd. IV, 14.
1 Ed. Gottwaldt, p. 23 ; cf. Mirkhond, Early Kings of Persia, Shea, p. 152.
5 Formules of exorcism.
4 Cf. Farg.VII, 58.
4 Yasht XIII, 131.
4 This theory, which modem science would not utterly reject, accounts for the great part which the serpent plays in the worship of Asklepios ; as sickness comes from him, from him too must or may come the healing.
220
vend!dAd.
killer of the serpent was invoked to act against it Thus Thrita- Thra&taona had a double right to the title of the first of the healers, both as a priest of Haoma and as the conqueror of the serpent
Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! Who was he who first of the healthful*, the wise, the happy, the wealthy, the glorious, the strong men of yore *, drove back sickness to sickness, drove back death to death 1 * * 4 * * , and first turned away the point of the poniard and the fire of fever from the bodies of mortals.’
2. (it). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thrita it was who first of the healthful, the wise, the happy, the wealthy, the glorious, the strong man of yore, drove back sickness to sickness, drove back death to death, and first turned away the point of the poniard and the fire of fever from the bodies of mortals.
3 (12). * He asked for a source of remedies®; he obtained it from Khshathra -Vairya •, to withstand sickness and to withstand death, to withstand pain and fever, to withstand the disease 7 , rottenness and
1 It seems as if in the Vedas, too, Trita had been a healing god (Rig-veda VIII, 47, 13 seq.)
* Whom no weapon could wound, like Isfendiar (Comm.)
* Or better, Paradh&ta (or PSshdSd), * the kings of yore,’ which became the name of the first Iranian dynasty.
4 * That is to say, who kept sickness in bonds, who kept death in bonds ’ (Comm.)
* Doubtful.
* As Khshathra -Vairya presides over metals, it was a knife be received, * of which the point and the base were set in gold.’ He was therefore the first who healed with the knife (cf. Farg.VII, 44) ; and it appears from § 4 that he was also the first who healed with herbs. As for the healing with the holy word, see Farg. XXII.
7 Doubtful.
FARGARD XX.
221
infection which Angra Mainyu had created by his witchcraft against the bodies of mortals 1 .
4 (15). 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 Gaokerena 2 .
5 (18). 4 All this (health) do we call by our blessing-spells, by our prayers, by our praises, upon the bodies of mortals 8 .
7 (19) 4 . ‘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 Disease, I say avaunt 6 !
1 The Vendfd&d S&dah has here eight names of diseases : to withstand S£rana (head-ache), to withstand S&rastya (cold fever), to withstand Aaana, to withstand Asahva, to withstand Kuril* gha, to withstand Asiv&ka, to withstand Duruka, and to withstand Astairya.
* The white H6m, which is the king of healing plants (see Introd. IV, 28). The healing plants are said to have been created ten thousand in number, in order to oppose so many diseases that had been created by Ahriman (Bundahlr IX ; cf. Farg. XXII, 2). In India also, healing plants are said to have Soma for their king, and to have come down from heaven : * Whilst coming down from heaven, the plants said : He will never suffer any wound, the mortal whom we touch ' (Rig-veda X, 97, 17 ; cf. Haurvati/ et Amereta/, §§ 46 - 47 )-
8 Or possibly, All those (plants) do we bless, fell those (plants) do we pray, all those (plants) do we praise, for (the weal of) the bodies of mortals.
4 Vendfddd Sidah : 6. To withstand sickness, to withstand death, to withstand pain, to withstand fever, to withstand Sdrana, to with- stand Sdrastya, to withstand Asana, to withstand Asahva, to with- stand Kurugha, to withstand Asivika, to withstand Duruka, to withstand Astairya, to withstand the disease, rottenness, and infec- tion which Angra Mainyu has created by his witchcraft against the bodies of mortals.
8 Vendidid S&dah: To thee, O S&rana, I say avaunt I to thee,
222
vendIdAd.
8(21). ‘By their might may ' we smite down the Dru£\* By their might may we smite the Dru^! May they give to us strength and power, O Ahura 1 !
9 2 (23). ‘I drive away sickness, I drive away death, I drive away pain and fever®, I drive away the disease, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu has created by his witchcraft against the bodies of mortals.
10 (25). * I drive away all manner of diseases and deaths, all the Yitus and Pairikas 4 , and all the wicked Gainis *. f
1 1 (26). ‘ May the much-desired Airyaman 6 come here, for the men and women of Zarathurtra to rejoice, for the faithful to rejoice; with the desirable reward that is won by means of the law, and with that boon for holiness that is vouchsafed by Ahura!
12 (29). ‘May the much-desired Airyaman smite
O Strastya, I say avaunt! to thee, O Azana, I say avaunt! to thee, O Azahva, I say avaunt I to thee, O Kurugha, I say avaunt ! to thee, O Azivdka, I say avaunt! to thee, O Duruka, I say avaunt! to thee, O Astairya, I say avaunt!
1 This clause is borrowed, with some alteration, from Yasna XXXI, 4 ; the original text is, ‘ May the strong power come to me, by the might of which we may smite down the Drug- ! ’
* The Vendidad S&dah has, ‘I drive away I shir 6 , 1 drive away AghOirfi, I drive away Aghra, I drive away Ughra.’
* The VendidSd SSdah has, ‘I drive away S&rana, I drive away S&rastya, I drive away Azana, I drive away Azahva, I drive away Kurugha, I drive away Azivika, I drive away Duruka, I drive away Astairya.'
4 See Introd. IV, 20-21.
* * (Sai ’ (Comm.), that is (?ahi (see Introd. IV, 5) ; cf. p. 89, note 1, and Farg. XXII, 2, note.
* Or better, ‘ Airyaman, the bestower of good.’ On Airyaman, see Farg. XXII. Clauses 11-12 are borrowed from Yasna LIV, 1, and form the prayer known as Airyama-ishyd.
FARGARD XXI.
223
all manner of diseases and deaths, all the Y&tus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Gainis.’
[13. Yathd ahd vairyd : — the will of the Lord is the law of holiness; the riches of Vohu-mand shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.
K*m n& mazdd : — whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda! while the hate of the fiend is grasping me ? Whom but thy Atar and Vohu- mand, by whose work the holy world goes on ? Reveal to me the rules of thy law !
Ke verethrem g'd : — who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances ? Teach me clearly thy rules for this world and for the next, that Sraosha may come with Vohu-mand and help whomsoever thou pleasest
Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spettta ! Perish, O fiendish Drug' ! Perish, O brood of the fiend ! Perish, O world of the fiend ! Perish away, O Drug - ! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit !] 1
Fargard XXI.
Waters and Light
I (1). Praise of the holy bull.
II (2-3). Invocation addressed to rain as a healing power.
III a (4-7). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the sun.
Ill b (8-1 1). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the moon.
1 From the VendidSd S&dah.
224
VENDtDAD.
Illc (12-17). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the stars.
IV (18-21). Spells against disease.
L .
1. Hail, holy bull 1 ! Hail to thee, beneficent bull ! Hail to thee, who makest increase ! Hail to thee, who makest growth I Hail to thee, who dost bestow thy gifts upon the excellent faithful, and who wilt bestow them on the faithful yet unborn ! Hail to thee, whom the Gahi kills 8 , and the ungodly Ashemaogha, and the wicked tyrant.
II.
2 (3). ‘ Come, come on, O clouds, along the sky, through the air, down on the earth, by thousands of drops, by myriads of drops:’ thus say, O holy Zarathustra 1 ‘to destroy sickness altogether, to destroy death altogether, to destroy altogether the sickness made by the Gaini 8 , to destroy altogether the death made by the Gaini, to destroy altogether Gadha and Apagadha 4 .
3 (9). ‘If death come at eve, may healing come at daybreak !
‘ If death come at daybreak, may healing come at night !
1 The primeval bull who was created by Ormazd and killed by Ahriman with the help of the Gahi. The praise of the holy bull serves as an introduction to the praise of the waters. There were old myths in which a cloud was compared to a bull in the atmo- sphere, from whom rain was supposed to come. (See Orm. Ahr. §122 seq. ; cf. Introd. V, 5. Clause 1 is to be recited when one meets an ox or any kind of cattle, Gr. Rav. 386.)
* Possibly, ‘who dost kill the (Jahi* (by means of g6m£z).
8 The Gahi (see Farg. XX, 10) as bringing sickness (c£ Farg.
vn, 59).
4 Names of diseases.
FARGARD XXI.
225
‘ If death come at night, may healing come at dawn!
‘ Let showers shower down new waters, new earth, new trees, new health, and new healing powers.
Ilia.
4 (15). ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of waters \ rise up, go up the aerial way and go down on the earth; go down on the earth and go up the aerial way*. Rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the aerial way 3 .
5(20). ‘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 Gar6-nminem 4 )®, along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
1 Waters and light are believed to flow from the same spring and in the same bed : As light rises up from Hara Berezaiti [Alborz, the mountain by which the earth is surrounded], so waters spring up from it and come back to it ’ (Bund. XX) ; every day the sun, moon, and stars rise up from Alborz, 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 Alborz (Bund. VII, Gr. Rav. 431 ; cf. Farg. V, 15 seq.) 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 of light.
* Waters come down from the sky to the earth and come up back from the earth to the sky (see Farg. V, 15 seq.)
* Doubtful.
4 * If thou art a righteous man' (Comm.)
5 The translation of this clause is doubtful.
W Q
226
vendIdAd.
6 (23). ‘And thou shalt keep away the evil by this holy spell 1 : Of thee [O child !] I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee [O woman I] I will make the body and the strength pure ; I make thee a woman rich in children and rich in milk ;
7 (27). ‘A woman 2 3 rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall make for thee a thousand springs flow and run towards the pastures that will- give food to the child.
Ill b.
8 (30). ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of waters, rise up, go up the aerial way, and go down on the earth,; go down on the earth and go up the aerial way. Rise up and roll along ! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the earth 8 .
9 (31). ‘Up! rise up, thou moon, that dost keep in thee the seed of the bull 4 * * * rise up above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the world (and mayst thou [O man !] rise up there, if thou art to
1 Doubtful ; the text is corrupt. The spell refers to the cleansing and generative power of the waters; cf. the invocation to Ardvt
Sfira, Farg. VII, 16 : the waters are supposed to make females fertile as they make the earth. This spell was probably pronounced to facilitate childbirth.
3 Or better, ‘ a female there are, in the text, two words for • milk,’ the one referring to the milk of women, the other to the milk of cows.
* Doubtful.
4 When the 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. IV, X; cf. Orm. Ahr. §§125 and
127).
FARGARD XXI.
227
abide in Gar6-nm&nem), along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
10(32). ‘And thou shalt keep away the evil by this holy spell : 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 a woman rich in children and rich in milk ;
11 (32). ‘A woman rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall make for thee a thousand springs flow and run towards the pastures that will give food to the child.
Ill c.
12 (32). ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of waters, rise up, go up the aerial way, and go down on the earth ; go down on the earth and go up the aerial way. Rise up and roll along ! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made everything grow 1 .
13 (33). ‘Up! rise up, ye stars, that have in you the seed of waters *, 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 Gar6- nminem), along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
14 (34). ‘And thou shalt keep away the evil by this holy spell : Of thee [O child !] I will cleanse the birth and growth ; of thee [O woman !] I will make
1 Doubtful.
* When Tlrtrya, the storm god who gives rain, became a star (see Introd. IV, 36), it was thought that there was a relation between the stars and rain,
Q 2
228
vend! DAD.
the body and the strength pure; I make thee a woman rich in children and rich in milk;
15 (34). ‘A woman rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall make for thee a thousand springs flow and run towards the pastures that will give food to the child.
16 (34). ‘As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of waters, rise up and gather together, go up the aerial way and go down on the earth ; go down on the earth and go up the aerial way. Rise up and roll along!
17(35). ‘Up! rise up! away will the KaAvuzi 1 fly and cry, away will Ay£hi 2 fly and cry, away will the fPahi, who is addicted to the Y 4 tu, fly and cry.
IV.
[18. ‘I drive away Ishir£, I drive away Aghhire, I drive away Aghra, I drive away Ughra; I drive away sickness, I drive away death, I drive away pain and fever ; I drive away S&rana, I drive away Sirasti, I drive away A^ana, I drive away Asahva, I drive away Kurugha, I drive away A^ivika, I drive away Duruka, I drive away Astairya ; I drive away the disease, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu has created by his witchcraft against the bodies of mortals.
19. ‘I drive away all manner of diseases and deaths, all the Y&tus and Pairikas, and all the wicked < 7 ainis.
20. ‘ May the much-desired Airyaman come here, for the men and women of Zarathurtra to rejoice, for the faithful to rejoice; with the desirable reward
1 ‘ He who diminishes light, Ahriman ' (Comm.)
* * Sterility, Ahriman ' (Comm.)
FARGARD XXII.
229
that is won by means of the law, and with that boon for holiness that is vouchsafed by Ahura !
21. ‘May the much-desired Airyaman smite all manner of diseases and deaths, all the YAtus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Gainis.
22. ‘YathA ah A vairy6: — the will of the Lord . . . '.
‘ K*m nA mazdA: — whom hast thou placed to protect me … x ?
‘ Ke verethrem g§. : — who is he who will smite the fiend . . . 1 ?
23. ‘ Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spewta! Perish, O fiendish Drug - ! Perish, O brood of the fiend ! Perish, O world of the fiend ! Perish away, O Drug'! Perish, away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of the holy spirit!’
Fargard XXII.
Angra Mainyu creates 99,999 diseases: Ahura Mazda applies for healing to the holy word and to Airyaman.
Airyaman is an old Indo-Iranian god : in the Rig-veda he is an Aditya (Aryaman), who is seldom invoked alone, but nearly always in company with Mitra and Varuaa. His name, like Mitra' s, means , i the friend/ and, like Mitra, he is the god of heavenly light, kind, beneficent, and helpful to man.
In the Avesta the word Airyaman has the same meaning as in the Veda; but the character of the god is more fully developed, and whereas he has no distinct personality in the Vedic hymns, he appears here in the character of a healing god, which is derived in a very natural manner from his primitive and general character.
Airyaman abides in a mansion called the mansion of Airyaman (Airyamnd nmanern), which is the same as ‘ the bright mansion in
1 As in preceding Fargard, § 13.
230
vendJdad.
which Mitra, Aryaman, Varuoa abide/ according to the Vedas, that is to say, the sky. In later Parsism, Airyaman appears as ‘ the Ized of Heaven V
This Fargard is unfinished or, more correctly, the end of it is understood. Airyaman, called out from his mansion, comes and digs nine furrows. It is no doubt in order to perform the Bara- shnfim 8 or some ceremony of that kind, in order to cleanse the unclean, that is to say, the sick man 8 , and to restore him to health by virtue of the Nirang and of the holy word. The Fargard ends therefore with spells against sickness and against death.
I.
i. Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathurtra, saying: ‘I, Ahura Mazda, the Maker of all good things, when I x made this mansion 1 * * 4 * , the beautiful, the shining, seen afar (there may I go up, there may I pass!)
2 (5). ‘ Then the ruffian looked at me 6 ; the ruffian Angra Mainyu, the deadly, wrought by his witchcraft nine diseases, and ninety, and nine hun- dred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thou- sand diseases. So mayst thou heal me, O Mathra Spe^ta 6 , thou most glorious one !
3 (8). ‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thou- sand fleet, swift-running steeds; offer them up 7 as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka 8 , made by Mazda and holy.
‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet,
1 Aspendi&rji. * See Farg. IX ; cf. infra, § 20, n.
* See Introd. V, 14.
4 * The Garotman * (Comm.), paradise.
0 And cast on me the evil eye ; * it was by casting the evil eye
on the good creatures of Ormazd that Ahriman corrupted them' (Eznig, Refutatio Haeresiarum II).
6 The holy word.
7 Possibly, * I offer them up as a sacrifice.'
0 An incarnation of weal; here invoked as procuring health.
FARGARD XXII.
231
high-humped camels ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
4 (12). ‘Unto thee -will I give in return a thou- sand brown oxen that do not push 1 ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thousand young of all species of small cattle ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
5 (16). ‘And I will bless thee with the fair, holy blessing-spell, the friendly, holy blessing-spell, 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.
6 (20). * M&thra Spe»ta, 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?”’
*
IT.
7 (22). The Maker Ahura Mazda called for
Nairyd-sangha 2 : Go thou, Nairyd-sangha, the
herald, and drive towards the mansion of Airya- man, and speak thus unto him :
8 (23). Thus speaks Ahura Mazda, the Holy One, unto thee: ‘I, Ahura Mazda, the Maker of all good things, when I made this mansion, the
1 Possibly, ‘in which there is no blemish.’
1 The messenger of Ahura Mazda. He was originally the same as the Vedic NarS-.ra.nsa, a name of Agni, chiefly as the sacrificial fire, that is, as the messenger that goes from the heavens to the earth, and from the earth to the heavens. Mazdeism still knows that he is a form of Atar, the Fire (Yasna XVII, n [68]).
232
vendJdAd.
beautiful, the shining, seen afar (there may I go up, there may I pass !)
9 (24). ‘ Then the ruffian looked at me ; the ruffian Angra Mainyu, the deadly, wrought by his witchcraft nine diseases, and ninety, and nine hundred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thousand diseases. So mayst thou heal me, O Airyaman, the much-desired 1
10 (26). ‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, swift-running steeds; offer them up as a sacrifice unto, the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, high-humped camels; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
1.1 (30). ‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thou- sand brown oxen that do not push ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
‘ Unto thee will l give in return a thousand young of all species of small cattle ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
12 (34). ‘And I will bless thee with the fair, holy blessing-spell, the friendly, holy blessing-spell, 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.’
III.
13 (38). In obedience to Ahura's words he went, Nairyd-sangha, the herald; he drove towards the mansion of Airyaman, he spake unto Airyaman, saying :
FARGARD XXII.
233
14 (38). 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 pass !)
1 5 (39)- ‘ Then the ruffian looked at me ; the ruffian Angra Mainyu, the deadly, wrought by his witchcraft nine diseases, and ninety, and nine hun- dred, and nine thousand, and nine times ten thousand diseases. So mayst thou heal me, O Airyaman, the much-desired!
16 (40). ‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thou- sand fleet, swift-running steeds ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thousand fleet, high-humped camels; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
17 (44). ‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thou- sand brown oxen that do not push ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
‘ Unto thee will I give in return a thousand young of all species of small cattle ; offer them up as a sacrifice unto the good Saoka, made by Mazda and holy.
18 (48). ‘And I will bless thee with the fair, holy blessing-spell, the friendly, holy blessing-spell, 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.’
IV.
19 (52). Quickly was it done, nor was it long, eagerly set off the much-desired Airyaman, towards
*34
vendIdad.
the mountain of the holy questions \ towards the forest of the holy questions.
20 (54). Nine stallions brought he with him, the much-desired Airyaman 1 2 .
Nine camels brought he with him, the much- desired Airyaman.
Nine bulls brought he with him, the much- desired Airyaman.
Nine head of small cattle brought he with him, the much-desired Airyaman.
He brought with him the nine twigs 3 ; he drew along nine furrows 4 .
[21 ®. ‘I drive away I shir6, I drive away Aghtiirfi, I drive away Aghra, I drive away Ughra ; I drive away sickness, I drive away death, I drive away pain and fever ; I drive away Sirana, I drive away Sirastya, I drive away Aaana, I drive away A-zahva, I drive away Kurugha, I drive away A-siv&ka, I drive away Duruka, I drive away Astairya ; I drive away the disease, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu .has created by 'his witchcraft against the bodies of mortals.
■22. ‘I drive away all manner of diseases and deaths, all the Y&tus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Cainis.
1 The mountain where ‘ the holy conversations ’ between Ormazd and Zoroaster took place (cf. Farg. XIX, 1 1, and In trod. 40).
4 According to Aspendiirji, 4 He brought with him the strength of nine stallions/ to infuse it into the sick man(cf. Yasht VIII, 34).
* That is to say, 4 the nine-knotted stick ’ (Asp.; cf. Farg. IX, 14).
4 To perform the Barashn&m, 4 the great service of the Nirang-
Dtn, through which all evil, moral and natural, including evil passions, disease, and death will be removed ’ (Wilson, The Parsi Religion, p. 341).
* From the Vendidad Sadah.
FARGARD XXII.
235
23. * May the much-desired Airyaman come here for the men and women of Zarathurtra to rejoice, for the faithful to rejoice ; with the desirable reward that is won by means of the law, and with that boon for holiness that is vouchsafed by Ahura.
24. * May the much-desired Airyaman smite all manner of diseases and deaths, all the Y&tus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Gainis.
25. ‘Yathi ahh vairyd: — the will of the Lord is the law of holiness ; the riches ofVohu-man6 shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave him to relieve the poor.
‘Kem n 4 mazdd : — whom hast thou placed to protect me, O Mazda! while the hate of the fiend is grasping me ? “Whom but thy Atar and Vohu- man6, by whose work the holy world goes on ? Reveal to me the rules of thy law!
‘Ke verethrem gk \ — who is he who will smite the fiend in order to maintain thy ordinances ? Teach me clearly thy rules for this world and for the next, that Sraosha may come with Vohu-man6 and help whomsoever thou pleasest.
* Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spe«ta! Perish, O fiendish Drugl Perish, O brood of the fiend ! Perish, O world of the fiend ! Perish away, O Drug ! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto -death the living world of the holy spirit ! ’]
Transliteration of Oriental Alphabets adopted for the Translations of the Sacred Books of the East.
TRANSLITERATION OF ORIENTAL ALPHABETS. 237
!
<.
)
… . JQ • • • • • …
Hebrew.
n n ^ n n. . r: % c •
j
D • • • *0 • *• — |J oJ*U • • • •
• • • • • •• •
Persian.
■3) .\) . *3 . »• — UoJ U • fc) . u*o^> •
Pchleri.
.. ••••• J* *v •
S| ^ €1* mi •
• • ••••• • w •
Zend.
. • •
*w<Kt : 2/ : : : : : ^ ^ :
• oi » ^ • • • ■ • • • •
Sanskrit.
Is N ir w ' is I*'!’!!*. plsPiPtr
• • • t • •
MISSIONARY ALPHABET.
III Class.
• •••■ • …… •••••
• •• + + • «•#§•• • • • * * • •••« • •••••• • • • • •
1
• • • • • •
• • • • • • ^ ^ ^ * • ••••••••• #
I Class.
• • • • * *
<3 • • ….
0
5
s
3
S
4
t
Gutturales.
1 Tenuis
2 „ aspirata
3 Media
4 „ aspirata
5 Gutturo-labialis
6 Nasalis
7 Spiritus asper
8 „ ienis
9 i, asper faucalis ….
10 „ Ienis faucalis ….
11 „ asper fricatus ….
12 „ Ienis fricatus ….
Gutturales modiflcatae (palatales, &o.)
13 Tenuis
14 „ aspirata
15 Media
16 ,, aspirate
17 „ Nasalis
238 TRANSLITERATION OF ORIENTAL ALPHABETS
FOR THE SACRED BOOKS OF TIIE EAST.
239
• • • •
• • • •
• • • ■
• •
• « k
• •
: ” •
* H • • • •
• a *
•
•
• •
• • •
9 • • •
• • •
• •
. r •
• •
id m n n
• •
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• •
• •
r~
mSk ^
•
• •
. ^ . • •
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• •
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• •
.
• • A • •
• •
• •
• •
3. : > :
• •
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•
•
•
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:
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• n;
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i-'s
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OO 05 O H
00 co ^ ^
*0 CO *0 40
N 00 O) 40 40 40
Zend. PehlevL Persian. Arabic Hebrew. Chinese.
240 TRANSLITERATION OF ORIENTAL ALPHAEETS.
September , 1883.
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