FARGARD 5. Purity Laws.

Synopsis.

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 with dead matter (Nasu), involuntarily or unconsciously, it is no sin.

II (8-9). Water and fire do not kill.

III (10-14). Disposal of the dead during winter when it is not possible to take them to the Dakhma.

IV (15-20). Why Ahura, while forbidding man to defile water, sends water ftom the heavens down to the Dakhmas, covered with corpses. How he purifies that water.

V (21-26). On the excellence of purity and of the law that shows how to recover purity, 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 [alat] defiled with Nasu.

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.

Translation

I. 1. There dies a man in the depths of the vale: a bird takes flight from the top of the mountain down into the depths of the vale, and it feeds on the corpse of the dead man there: then, up it flies from the depths of the vale to the top of the mountain: it flies to some one of the trees there, of the hard-wooded or the soft-wooded, and upon that tree it vomits and deposits dung.

2. Now, lo! here is a man coming up from the depths of the vale to the top of the mountain; he comes to the tree whereon the bird is sitting; from that tree he intends to take wood for the fire. He fells the tree, he hews the tree, he splits it into logs, and then he lights it in the fire, the son of Ahura Mazda. What is the penalty he shall pay?207

207 For defiling the fire by bringing dead matter into it (see Vd7.25 seq. contrarily to the rule, ‘Put ye only proper and well-examined fuel (in the fire).’ For the purification of unclean wood, see Vd7.28 seq.

3. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘There is no sin upon a man for any Nasu that has been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies.

4. ‘For were there sin upon a man for any Nasu that might have been brought by dogs, by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one Peshotanu,208 bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will cry and wail!209 so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.’

5. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Here is a man watering a corn-field. The water streams down the field; it streams again; it streams a third time; and the fourth time, a dog, a fox, or a wolf carries some Nasu into the bed of the stream: what is the penalty that the man shall pay?210

6-7. [Repeat st. 3-4.]

IIa. 8. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Does water kill?211 Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Water kills no man: Asto-vidhotu binds him, and, thus bound,212 Vayu213 carries him off; and the flood takes him up,214 the flood takes him down,215 the flood throws him

208 ‘People guilty of death [i.e. a mortal sin -JHP]’ (Comm.) Cf. Yasna 53.9 b.

209 After their death, ‘When the soul, crying and beaten off, is driven far away from

Paradise’ (Comm.) This is imitated from the Gathas (Yasna 46.11c; 51.13b; cf. Vd13.8-9).

210 For defiling the earth and the water: ‘If a man wants to irrigate a field, he must first look after the water-channel, whether there is dead matter in it or not ..... If the water, unknown to him, comes upon a corpse, there is no sin upon him. If he has not looked after the rivulet and the stream, he is unclean’ (Saddar 75).

211 Water and fire belong to the holy part of the world, and come from God; how then is it that they kill? ‘Let a Gueber light a sacred fire for a hundred years, if he once fall into it, he shall be burnt.’ Even the Mobeds, if we may trust Elisaeus, complained that the fire would burn them without regard for their piety, when to adore it they came too near (Vartan’s War, p. 211 of the French translation by l’Abbé Garabed). The answer was that it is not the fire nor the water that kills, but the demon of Death and Fate. ‘Nothing whatever that I created in the world, said Ohrmazd, does harm to man; it is the bad Nāi (read Vāi) that kills the man’ (Gr. Riv. 124).

212 ‘Asti-vahat is the bad Vai who seizes the life (of man): when his hand strokes him, it is lethargy; when he casts his shadow upon him, it is fever; when he looks in his eyes, he destroys life and it is called Death’ (Bd28.35). Cf. Vd4.49; Vd19.29.

213 ‘The bad Vai’ (Comm.) Vai (Vayu) is the Genius of Destiny, good or evil.

214 To the surface.

215 To the bottom.

ashore; then birds feed upon him. When he goes away,216 it is by the will of Fate he goes.’

IIb.

9. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Does fire kill? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Fire kills no man: Asto-vidhotu binds him, and, thus bound, Vayu carries him off; and the fire burns up life and limb. When he goes away, it is by the will of Fate he goes.’

III. 10. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the summer is past and the winter has come, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?217 Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In every house, in every borough, they shall raise three rooms for the dead.’218

11. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large shall be those rooms for the dead? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Large enough not to strike the skull of the man, if he219 should stand erect, or his feet or his hands stretched out: such shall be, according to the law, the rooms for the dead.

12. ‘And they shall let the lifeless body lie there, for two nights, or for three nights, or a month long, until the birds begin to fly,220 the plants to grow, the hidden floods221 to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth.222

13. ‘And as soon as the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall lay down the dead (on the Dakhma), his eyes towards the sun.

216 When he departs.

217 ‘In case a man dies during the snowy seasdon, while it is difficult or impossible to take the corpse to the Dakhma, which usually stands far from inhabited places. The same case is treated again in Vd8.4 seq.

218 One for men, another for women, a third for children. As not every house is considerable or rich enough to have these three accommodations, there will be a common Zad-marj for the village. The Zad-marj is a small mud house where the corpse is laid, to lie there till it can be taken to the Dakhma (Anquetil, Zend- Avesta II, 583). The Zad-marj is still used in Persia, and in the Gujarati provinces (where it is called Nasa-khana, ‘house for corpses’). In Bombay they use the simpler and more economical method given in Vd8.8.

219 ‘Being in life’ (Comm.)

220 To come back.

221 They were hidden under the earth.

222 ‘Until the winter is past’ (Comm.)

14. ‘If the worshippers of Mazda have not, within a year, laid down the dead (on the Dakhma), his eyes towards the sun, thou shalt prescribe for that trespass the same penalty as for the murder of one of the faithful;223 until the corpse has heen rained on, until the Dakhma has heen rained on, until the unclean remains have been rained on, until the birds have eaten up the corpse.’

IV. 15. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Is it true at thou, Ahura Mazda, seizest the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha224

with the wind and the clouds?

16. That thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the corpses?225 that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the Dakhmas? that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the unclean remains? that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the bones? and that then thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow back unseen? that thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow back to the sea Puitika?226

17. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is even so as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathushtra! I, Ahura Mazda, seize the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha with the wind and the clouds.

18. ‘I, Ahura Mazda, take them to the corpses; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the Dakhmas; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the unclean remains; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the bones; then I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back unseen; I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back to the sea Puitika.

19. ‘The waters stand there boiling, boiling up in the heart of the sea Puitika, and, when cleansed there, they run back again from the sea Puitika to the sea Vouru-kasha, towards the well-watered tree,227

223 See Vd3.41; note; cf. below, §§ 21-26.

224 Vouru-kasha or Frakh-kart, the Ocean, wherefrom all waters come and whereto they return (Vd21.4).

225 Zartosht wonders that Ohrmazd fears so little to infringe his own laws by defiling waters with the dead. In a Rivayat, he asks him bluntly why he forbids men to take corpses to the water, while he himself sends rain to the Dakhmas (Gr. Riv. 125).

226 The sea where waters are purified before going back to their gathering place, the sea Vouru-kasha (see § 19). ‘All the thickness, salt, and impurity of the sea Putik wishes to go to the Frakh-kart sea; but a mighty high wind, blowing from the Var Satves, drives it away: whatever is clean and movable passes to the Frakh-kart sea, and the rest (the unclean element) flows back to the Putik’ (Bd13.10).

227 The tree of all seeds (Harvisptokhm), which grows in the middle of the sea Vourukasha; the seeds of all plants are on it. There is a godlike bird, the Sinamru [simurgh], sitting on that tree; whenever he flies off the tree, there grow out of it a thousand boughs; whenever he alights on it, there break a thousand boughs, the seeds of which are scattered about, and rained down on the earth by Tishtar

whereon grow the seeds of my plants of every kind by hundreds, by thousands, by hundreds of thousands.

20. ‘Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda, rain down upon the earth, to bring food to the faithful, and fodder to the beneficent cow; to bring food to my people that they may live on it, and fodder to the beneficent cow.’

V. 21. ‘This228 is the best, this is the fairest of all things, even as thou hast said, O pure [Zarathushtra]!’

With these words the holy, Ahura Mazda rejoiced the holy Zarathushtra:229 ‘Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good,230 that purity, O Zarathushtra, that is in the Religion of Mazda for him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds.’231

22. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! This Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra,232 by what greatness, goodness, and fairness is it great, good, and fair above all other utterances?

23. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘As much above all other floods as is the sea Vouru-kasha, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.

24. ‘As much as a great stream flows swifter than a slender rivulet, so much above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.

‘As high as the great tree233 stands above the small plants it overshadows, so high above all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathushtra.

25. ‘As high as heaven is above the earth that it compasses around, so high above all other utterances is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of Mazda.

(Tishtrya), the rain-god (Yt12.17; MX62.37 seq.; Bd27; cf. Vd20.4 seq.)

228 The cleansing, the purification.

229 ‘When Zartosht saw that man is able to escape sin by performing good works, he was filled with joy’ (Comm.)

230 Quotation from the Gathas (Yasna 48.5c).

231 That is to say, ‘Who performs the rites of cleansing according to the prescriptions of the law.’

232 The Law (Datem), that part of the religious system of which the Vd. is the specimen, and the object of which is the purification of man.

233 ‘The royal cypress above small herbs’ (Comm.)

‘[Therefore], he will apply to the Ratu,234 he will apply to the Sraosha-varez;235 whether for a draona-service236 that should have been undertaken237 and has not been undertaken;238 or for a draona that should have been offered up and has not been offered up; or for a draona that should have been entrusted and has not been entrusted.239

26. ‘The Ratu has power to remit him one-third of his penalty:240 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.’241

VI. 27. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be a number of men resting in the same place, on the same carpet, on the same pillows, be there two men near one another, or five, or fifty, or a hundred, close by one another; and of those people one happens to die; how many of them does the Druj Nasu242 envelope with corruption, infection, and pollution?

234 ‘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.

235 ‘To weep for his crime’ (Comm.), which may mean, ‘to recite to him the Patet, or, to receive at his hand the proper number of stripes.’ The Sraosha-varez is the priest that superintends the sacrifice. He receives the confession of the guilty man and very likely wields the Sraosho-charana.

236 The Srosh-dron, a service in honour of any of the angels, or of deceased persons, in which small cakes, called draona, are consecrated in their names, and then given to those present to eat.

237 When it ought not to be.

238 When it ought to be.

239 The meaning of the sentence is not certain. The Commentary has: ‘Whether he has thought what he ought not to have thought, or has not thought what he ought to have thought; whether he has said what he ought not to have said, or has not said what he ought to have said; whether he has done what he ought not to have done, or has not done what he ought to have done.’

240 When the Ratu remits one-third of the sin, God remits the whole of it (Saddar

29).

241 Cf. Vd3.41.

242 Nasu [Nasa] (νεκυς) designates both the corpse and the corpse-demon (the Druj that produces the corruption and infection of the dead body).

28. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If the dead one be a priest, the Druj Nasu rushes forth,243 O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the eleventh and defiles the ten.244

‘If the dead one be a warrior, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the tenth and defiles the nine.

‘If the dead one be a husbandman, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the ninth and defiles the eight.

29. ‘If it be a shepherd’s dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the eighth and defiles the seven.

‘If it be a house-dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the seventh and defiles the six.

30. ‘If it be a Vohunazga dog,245 the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the sixth and defiles the five.

‘If it be a Tauruna dog,246 the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the fifth and defiles the four.

31. ‘If it be a porcupine dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the fourth and defiles the three.

‘If it be a Jazu dog,247 the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the third and defiles the two.

32. ‘If it be an Aiwizu dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the second and defiles the next.

‘If it be a Vizu dog, the Druj Nasu rushes forth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! she goes as far as the next, she defiles the next.’

243 In opposition to the case when the dead one is an Ashmogh (§ 35), as no Nasa issues then.

244 Literally, ‘If she goes as far as the eleventh, she defiles the tenth.’ That is to say, she stops at the eleventh and defiles the next ten. In the Rivayats, the Avesta distinctions are lost, and the defiling power of the Nasa is the same, whatever may have been the rank of the dead: ‘If there be a number of people sleeping in the same place, and if one of them happens to die, all those around him, in any direction, as far as the eleventh, become unclean if they have been in contact with one another’ (Gr. Riv. 470).

245 A dog without a master (Vd13.19).

246 A hunting-dog.

247 This name and the two following, Aiwizu and Vizu, are left untranslated in the Pahlavi translation.

33. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If it be a weasel,248 how many of the creatures of the good spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP] does it directly defile, how many does it indirectly defile?

34. Ahura Mazda answered : ‘A weasel does neither directly nor indirectly defile any of the creatures of the good spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP], but him who smites and kills it; to him the uncleanness clings for ever and ever.’249

35.250 O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the dead one be such a wicked, two-footed ruffian, as an ungodly Ashemaogha,251 how many of the creatures of the good spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP] does he directly defile, how many does he indirectly defile?

36. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘No more than a frog does whose venom is dried up, and that has been dead more than a year.252 Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such a wicked, two-legged ruffian as an ungodly Ashemaogha, directly defiles the creatures of the good spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP], and indirectly defiles them.

37. ‘Whilst alive he smites the water;253 whilst alive he blows out the fire;254 whilst alive he carries off the cow;255 whilst alive he smites the faithful man with a deadly blow, that parts the soul from the body;256 not so will he do when dead.

38. ‘Whilst alive, indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such a wicked, two-legged ruffian as an ungodly Ashemaogha robs the faithful man of the full possession of his food, of his clothing, of his wood, of his bed, of his vessels;257 not so will he do when dead.’258

248 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’ (Bd19.27).

249 Not that the unclean one cannot be cleansed, but that his uncleanness does not pass from him to another.

250 §§ 35-38; cf. Vd12.21-24.

251 Ashemaogha, a heretic.

252 The frog is a creature of Ahriman’s, and one of the most hateful. Cf. Vd14.5.

253 By defiling it (a capital crime; see Vd7.25).

254 He extinguishes the Warharan fire (a capital crime; cf. Vd7.25.)

255 As a cattle-lifter.

256 As an assassin.

257 By defiling them, he deprives the faithful of their use.

258 ‘When a wicked man dies, the Druj who was with him during his lifetime, seizes him and drags him down to Ahriman; therefore, his body, as the Druj is no longer

VII. 39. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When into our houses here below we have brought the fire, the Baresma, the cups, the Haoma, and the mortar,259 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. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Out of the house, O Spitama Zarathushtra! shall they take the fire, the Baresma, the cups, the Haoma, and the mortar; they shall take the dead one out to the proper place260 whereto, according to the law, corpses must be brought, to be devoured there.’

41. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When shall they bring back the fire into the house wherein the man has died?

42. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall wait for nine nights in winter, for a month in summer,261 and then they shall bring back the fire to the house wherein the man has died.’

43. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! And if they shall bring back the fire to the house wherein the man iias died, within the nine nights, or within the month, what penalty shall they pay?

44. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall be Peshotanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

VIII. 45.262 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,263 she bring forth a still-born child, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

46. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that Mazdean house whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest, and the least passed

with it, becomes pure. On the contrary, when it is a righteous man that dies, the Amahraspands take his soul to Ohrmazd and the Druj settles in the house of the body and makes it impure’ (Gujastak Abalish).

259 In order to perform a sacrifice.

260 The Dakhma.

261 Corruption being worse in summer.

262 §§ 45-54 = Vd7.60-69.

263 The pregnancy, without lasting more than nine calendar months (9 times 30 days), generally extends along ten months on the calendar (for instance from January 10 to October 10).

through by flocks and herds, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful;’

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

48. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the faithful;264-

49. ‘On that place shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure,265 and therein shall they establish her with food, therein shall they establish her with clothes.’

50. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the food that the woman shall first take?

51. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Gomez266 mixed with ashes, three draughts of it, or six, or nine, to send down the Dakhma within her womb.267

52. ‘Afterwards she may drink boiling268 milk of mares, cows, sheep, or goats, with pap or without pap;269 she may take cooked milk without water, meal without water, and wine without water.’270

53. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so? How long shall she live thus on milk, meal, and wine?

54. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three nights long shall she remain so; three nights long shall she live thus on milk, meal, and wine. Then, when three nights have passed, she shall wash her body, she shall wash her clothes, with gomez and water, by the nine holes,271 and thus shall she be clean.’

264 The carrier alone is kept thirty feet from the faithful (Vd3.18), as he is cut off from the community: his food is not brought to him, he has a store prepared for him. The woman, when armesht, is only temporarily isolated; she stays in the house and her food is brought to her all but from hand to hand (Vd16.6).

265 The place for the man or woman in state of uncleanness, or Armesht-gah.

266 Urine of the ox: the so-called Nirang-din; cf. Vd8.37; Vd19.21. ‘Three cups, or six, or nine, according to her strength’ (Asp.)

267 Her womb is a Dakhma, as it contained a dead body. — These nine draughts of gomez mixed with ashes are like an interior barashnom, as the Barashnom consists of nine successive purifications with gomez and dust.

268 Doubtful.

269 Doubtful.

270 ‘The water would be defiled;’ cf. Vd7.70 seq.

271 She shall perform the nine nights’ Barashnom, for the details of which see Vd9. That Barashnom is taken forty days after the delivery.

55. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so? How long, after the three nights have gone, shall she sit confined, and live separated from the rest of the worshippers of Mazda, as to her seat, her food, and her clothing?

56. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Nine nights long shall she remain so: nine nights long, after the three nights have gone, shall she sit confined, and live separated from the rest of the worshippers of Mazda, as to her seat, her food, and her clothing. Then, when the nine nights have gone, she shall wash her body, and cleanse her clothes with gomez and water.’272

57.273 O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can those clothes, when once washed and cleansed, ever be used either by a Zaotar, or by a Havanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Abered, or by an Asnatar, or by a Rathwiskar, or by a Sraosha-varez,274 or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman?275

58. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Never can those clothes, even when washed and cleansed, be used either by a Zaotar, or by a Havanan, or by an Atare-vakhsha, or by a Frabaretar, or by an Abered, or by an Asnatar, or by a Rathwiskar, or by a Sraosha-varez, or by any priest, warrior, or husbandman.

59. ‘But if there be in a Mazdean house a woman who is in her sickness, or a man who has become unfit for work,276 and who must sit in the place of infirmity,277 those clothes shall serve for their coverings

272 ‘If a woman brings forth a still-born child, after a pregnancy of one month to ten months, the first food she shall take is nirang (= gomez) ... fire and ashes; and she is not allowed until the fourth day to take water or salt, or any food that is cooked with water or salt: on the fourth day they give her nirang, that she may cleanse herself and wash her clothes with it, and she is not allowed to wash herself and her clothes with water until the forty-first day’ (Gr. Riv. 568).

273 §§57-62 = Vd7.17-22.

274 These are the names of the different priests who were engaged in the sacrifices. The Havanan strains the Haoma; the Atarevakhsha kindles the fire; the Frabaretar brings to the Zaotar all that he needs; the Aberet brings the water; the Asnatar washes and strains the Haoma; the Rathwishkar mixes the Haoma and the milk; the Zaotar chants the hymns and says the prayers; the Sraosh-varez superintends the sacrifice. Nowadays there are only two priests, the Zaotar (Zot) and the Rathwishkar (Raspi), the latter performing all the accessory services formerly performed by several priests. Cf. Nirangistan, 71 sq.

275 In short, by any of the faithful, when in state of purity.

276 An Armesht; literally, ‘an infirm person,’ that is to say, one who is unclean, during the time of his uncleanness (Vd9.33 seq.), when all work is forbidden to him.

277 The Armesht-gah, the place of seclusion of the Armesht.

and for their sheets,278 until they can withdraw their hands for prayer.279

60. ‘Ahura Mazda, indeed, does not allow us to waste anything of value that we may have, not even so much as an Asperena’s 280 weight of thread, not even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning.

61. ‘Whosoever throws any clothing on a dead body,281 even so much as a maid lets fall in spinning, is not a pious man whilst alive, nor shall he, when dead, have a place in Paradise.

62. ‘He makes himself a viaticum unto the world of the wicked, into that world,282 made of darkness, the offspring of darkness,283 which is Darkness’ self. To that world, to the world of Hell, you are delivered by your own doings, by your own religion, O sinners!’284

278 The clothing defiled by the dead can only serve for Dashtan women, even after it has been washed and exposed for six months to the light of the sun and of the moon (Saddar 91; cf. Vd7.10 seq.).

279 Until they are clean. The unclean must have their hands wrapped in an old piece of linen, lest they should touch and defile anything clean.

280 See Vd4.48, note 4.

281 Cf. Vd8.23 seq. It appears from those passages that the dead must lie on the mountain naked, or ‘clothed only with the light of heaven’ (Vd6.51). The modern custom is to clothe them with old clothing (Dadabhai Naoroji, Manners and Customs of the Parsis, p. 15). ‘When a man dies and receives the order (to depart), the older the shroud they make for him, the better. It must be old, worn out, but well washed: they must not lay anything new on the dead. For it is said in the Zand Vendidad, If they put on the dead even so much as a thread from the distaff more than is necessary, every thread shall become in the other world a black snake clinging to the heart of him who made that shroud, and even the dead shall rise against him and seize him by the skirt, and say, That shroud which thou madest for me has become food for worms and vermin’ (Saddar 12). After the fourth day, when the soul is in heaven, then rich garments are offered up to it, which it will wear in its celestial life (Saddar 87).

282 ‘Where darkness can be seized with the hand’ (Comm.; cf. Aogemadaeca 28); something more than the ‘visible darkness.’

283 The Commentary has, ‘the place of those who impregnate darkness, for the Druj who conceives seed from the sinner comes from that place’ (cf. Vd18.30 seq.).

284 Quotation from the Gathas (Yasna 31.20).