FARGARD

16.

Purity

laws

regarding menstruation

Synopsis.

I (1-7). On the uncleanness of women during their sickness.

II (8-12). What is to be done if that state lasts too long.

III (13-18). Sundry laws relating to the same matter. See Introd. V,

12.

Translation.

I. 1. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a woman who has the whites or sees blood, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

2. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall clear the way662 of the wood there, both plants and trees;663 they shall strew dry dust on the ground;664 and they shall isolate a half, or a third, or a fourth, or a fifth part of the house,665 lest her look should fall upon the fire.’

3. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from the fire? How far from the water? How far from the consecrated bundles of Baresma? How far from the faithful?

4. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fifteen paces from the fire, fifteen paces from the water, fifteen paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful.’

5. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How far from her shall he stay, who brings food to a woman who has the whites or sees the blood?

6. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three paces666 from her shall he stay, who brings food to a woman who has the whites or sees the blood.’

In what kind of vessels shall he bring her bread? In what kind of vessels shall he bring her barley-drink?

‘In vessels of iron,667 or of lead, or of any common metal.’668

662 The way of the Dashtānistān.

663 Lest the wood shall be touched and defiled by the woman on her way to the Dashtanistan.

664 Lest the earth shall be touched and defiled by her. Cf. Farg. 9.11.

665 Nowadays a room on the ground-floor is reserved for that use.Nowadays a room on the ground-floor is reserved for that use.

666 The food is held out to her from a distance in a metal spoon.

7. How much bread shall he bring to her? How much barley-drink shall he bring?

‘Two danares669 of dry bread, and one danare of liquor, lest she should get too weak.670

‘If a child has just touched her, they shall first wash his hands and then his body.671

II.

8. ‘If she still see blood after three nights 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.672

667 Dar: brass. -JHP

668 Earthen vessels, when defiled, cannot be made clean; but metal vessels can. See Farg. 7.73 seq.)

669 A danare is, according to Anquetil, as much as four tolas; a tola is from 105 to 175 grains.

670 ’soshyos says: For three nights cooked meat is not allowed to her, lest the issue shall grow stronger.

671 A child whom she suckles. The meaning is, Even a child, if he has touched her, must undergo the rites of cleansing. The general rule is given in the Commentary: ‘Whoever has touched a Dashtan woman must wash his body and his clothes with gomez and water.’ The ceremony in question is the simple Ghosel, not the Barashnum, since the woman herself performs the former only (see below, § 11 seq.)

672 Abnormal issues are a creation of Ahriman’s (Farg. 1.18).

‘The worshippers of Mazda shall clear the way673 of the wood there, both plants and trees;674

12. ‘They shall dig three holes in the earth, and they shall wash the woman with gomez by two of those holes and with water by the third.

‘They shall kill Khrafstras, to wit: two hundred corn-carrying ants,675 if it be summer; two hundred of any other sort of the Khrafstras made by Angra Mainyu, if it be winter.’

III.

13. If a worshipper of Mazda shall suppress the issue of a woman who has the whites or sees blood, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He is a Peshotanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshocharana.’

14. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall again and again lasciviously touch the body of a woman who has the whites or sees blood, so that the wlutes turn to the blood or the blood turns to the whites, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

15. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘For the first time he comes near unto her, for the first time he lies by her, thirty stripes with the Aspaheastra, thirty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.

‘For the second time he comes near unto her, for the second time he lies by her, fifty stripes with the Aspahe-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.

‘For the third time he comes near unto her, for the third time he lies by her, seventy stripes with the Aspahe-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

16. For the fourth time he comes near unto her, for the fourth time he lies by her, if he shall press the body under her clothes, if he shall go in between the unclean thighs, but without sexual intercourse, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Ninety stripes with the Aspahe-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.

17. ‘Whosover shall lie in sexual intercourse with a woman who has the whites or sees blood does no better deed than if he should burn

673 The way of the Barashnum-gah, where the cleansing takes place.

674 See Farg 9.3 seq.

675 Cf. Farg. 14.5.

the corpse of his own son, born of his own body and dead of naeza,676 and drop its fat into the fire.677

18. ‘All wicked, embodiments of the Druj, are scorners of the judge: all scorners of the judge are rebels against the Sovereign: all rebels against the Sovereign are ungodly men; and all ungodly men are worthy of death.’678

676 A disease (Vd7.58). There is another word neza, ‘a spear,’ so that one may translate also ‘killed by the spear’ (Asp.)

677 ‘Not that the two deeds are equal, but neither is good’ (Comm.) The sin in question is a simple tanapuhr (Vd15.7), and therefore can be atoned for by punishment and repentance, whereas the burning of a corpse is a crime for which there is no atonement (Vd1.17; Vd8.73 seq.)

678 Literally, ‘is a Peshotanu;’ ‘he is a tanapuhr sinner, that is to say, margarzan (worthy of death),’ Comm.