FARGARD 8. Funerals and purification, unlawful

sex.

Synopsis.

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 thrown 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 Warharan 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.

Translation.

I. 1. If a dog or a man die under a hut of wood or a hut of felt382 what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?383

2. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall search for a Dakhma, they shall look for a Dakhma all around.384 If they find it easier to remove the dead, they shall take out the dead, they shall let the house stand, and shall perfume it with Urvasna or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant.385

382 A movable shelter, by contradistinction to a fixed abode, something like the oba of the Tartars, one of those huts made of boards or felt and called thāruma by the Arabs, which served as pavilions for princes as well as tents for nomads.

383 That sort of abode, having only one room, can have no chamber for the dead (Vd5.10).

384 If there is a Dakhma In the proximity, they remove the corpse at once. If there is no Dakhma or the season prevents its access, they purify the hut first.

385 ’so, when a dog or a man dies, the first thing to do is to take the corpse out (from the house), and to purify the house, inside and outside, with perfumes burnt on the fire’ (Comm.) See Vd11.4. Urvāsna is the rāsan plant, a sort of garlic; Vohūgaona, Vohū-kereti, and Haδā-naēpata are respectively (according to Framji) benzoin, aloe, and pomegranate.

3. ‘If they find it easier to remove the house, they shall take away the house, they shall let the dead lie on the spot, and shall perfume the house with Urvasna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadhanaepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant.’

II. 4. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a dog or a man happens to die, and it is raining,386 or snowing, or blowing6, or it is dark, or the day is at its end, when flocks and men lose their way, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?387

5. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that house whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest, and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful;’-

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

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

8. ‘On that place they shall dig a grave,388 half a foot deep if the earth be hard, half the height of a man if it be soft;389 [they shall cover the surface of the grave with ashes or cowdung];390 they shall cover the surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones, or of dry earth.391

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

386 ‘No corpse must be taken to the Daknma 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.)

387 If it is the season of rain or snow. See Vd5.10 seq.

388 This is the case when the house is too small for containing a special chamber for

the dead (as prescribed Vd5.10). Nowadays they dispense even with that grave: the corpse is laid on the floor, on a slab of marble, by which it is sufficiently isolated from the ground to prevent its being defiled.

389 Soft earth, being not impervious to liquids, lets contagion through more easily.

390 Vendidad Sada.

391 Substances more impervious.

392 §§ 9-10; see Vd5.12-13.

10. ‘And when the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall make a breach in the wall of the house,393 and two men, strong and skillful,394 having stripped their clothes off,395 shall take up the body from the clay or the stones, or from the plastered house,396 and they shall lay it down on a place where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds.

11. ‘Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three paces from the dead, and the holy Ratu397 shall proclaim to the worshippers of Mazda thus: “Worshippers of Mazda, let the urine be brought here wherewith the corpse-bearers there shall wash their hair and their bodies!” ‘

12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies? Is it of sheep or of oxen? Is it of man or of woman?

13. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is of sheep or of oxen; not of man nor of woman, except a man or a woman who has married the nextof-kin:398 these shall therefore procure the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies.’399

III.

14. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the way, whereon the carcasses of dogs or corpses of men have been carried, be passed through again by flocks and herds, by men and women, by the

393 ‘The master and mistress of the house are carried away through a breach (made in the wall of the house); others through the door’ (Comm.) — ‘The more scrupulous parties have it [the body] removed by a side, in preference to the usual general entrance’ (H. G. Briggs, The Parsis, 1852, p. 50).

394 The corpse-bearers or nasu-kasha (Khāndyas). ‘The corpse must be carried by two persons (see Vd3.13 seq.), no matter who they are; they may be a man and a woman, or two women’ (Comm.)

395 ‘As they are exchanged for the special clothes in which they carry corpses (Comm.), the so-called jāma-i dakhma, ‘the Dakhma clothes.’

396 The Dahhma (see Vd6.50 seq.)

397 The priest who directs the funerals, ‘the chief of the Nasu-kashas’ (Comm.), the so-called Nasā-sālār.

398 The next-of-kin marriage or Hvaetvadatha (kwetodas) is one of the good works that Ahriman dreads most (Shayest-na shayast 18; West, Pahlavi Texts, I, 389). ‘Ahriman and the demons are less predominant in the body of him who practises khwetodas’ (West, II, 422). Therefore their maēsma is as powerful as the gomez.

399 ‘When back in the village they perform the regular Barashnum with consecrated gomez’ (Comm.)

fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful?

15. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It cannot be passed through again by flocks and herds, nor by men and women, nor by the fire of Ahura Mazda, nor by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, nor by the faithful.400

16. ‘They shall therefore cause a yellow dog with four eyes,401 or a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times through that way.402 When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, [in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.403]

17. ‘If the dog goes unwillingly, O Spitama Zarathushtra, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go six times404 through that way. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, [in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.]

18. ‘If the dog goes unwillingly, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go nine times through that way. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, has been brought there, then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, [in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.]

19. ‘An Athravan shall first go along the way and shall say aloud these victorious words:

400 The way by which the corpse has passed is haunted by the Druj Nasu: the Drug is

expelled from it by the same proceeding as it was expelled from the dead, by the Sag-did. The Sag-did for the purification of the way seems to have fallen into desuetude.

401 A dog with two spots above the eyes.

402 ‘Afrag says, the dog goes straight along the length of the way; Maidyo-mah says,

he goes across it from side to side’ (Comm.)

403 See Vd7.3.

404 ‘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).

“Yatha aha vairyo:405 - The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. “The gifts of Vohu-mano406 to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. “He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.

20. “Kem-na mazda:407 - What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom but thy Atar and Vohu-mano,408 through whose work I keep on the world of righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule!409

‘“Ke verethrem-ja:410 - Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-mano and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda!

21. ‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O creation of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!”

22. ‘Then the worshippers of Mazda may at their will bring by those ways sheep and oxen, men and women, and Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and the faithful.

‘The worshippers of Mazda may afterwards411 prepare meals with meat and wine in that house; it shall be clean, and there will be no sin, as before.’

405 A prayer in frequent use, and considered of great efficacy, generally known as the Ahuna Vairya or Ahunwar. It was by reciting it that Ohrmazd in his first conflict with Ahriman drove him back to hell (Bd1).

406 Of Paradise, as Vohu-mano (Good Thought) is the doorkeeper of heaven (see

Vd19.31).

407 Yasna 46.7.

408 I have no protection to expect but from my virtue (Vohu-mano, ‘Good Thought’)

and from thy fire, which in the fire ordeal (Var Nirang) will show my innocence.

409 That is to say, one must take Religion as one’s rule.

410 Yasna 44.16. This stanza, which in the original Gatha refers to the human incarnation of Sraosha, that is to say, to king Vishtaspa, the victorious, protector of the Prophet and his, Religion, is applied here to the god Sraosha, as a protector of the soul in its passage from this world to the other (Vd7.52).

411 On the fourth day. For three days and nights after the death it is forbidden to cook meat in the house (Comm.)

IV. 23. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body,412 enough to cover the feet, what is the penalty that he shall pay?413 Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

24. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover both legs, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Six hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

25. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the whole body, what is the penalty that he shall pay? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

V.

26. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man, by force, commits the unnatural sin [sodomy], what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Eight hundred stripes with the Aspaheastra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

27. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man voluntarily commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty for it? What is the atonement for it? What is the cleansing from it?

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.’

28.414 When is it so?

‘It is so if the sinner be a professor of the Religion of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it.

‘But if he be not a professor of the Religion of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it, then his sin is taken from him, if he makes confession of the Religion of Mazda and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.

412 The dead must be stripped of his clothes, and is exposed on the heights ‘clothed with the light of heaven’ (Vd6.51). — The modern use is to have him wrapped in a shroud as old and as much worn out as possible (Vd5.61).

413 See Vd5.60; Vd7.20.

414 See Vd3.38-42, text and notes.

29. ‘The Religion of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathushtra! takes away from him who makes confession of it the bonds of his sin; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust; it takes away (the sin of) murdering one of the faithful; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse; it takes away (the sin of) deeds for which there is no atonement; it takes away the worst sin of usury; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.

30. In the same way the Religion of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathushtra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain.

‘So let all the deeds he doeth be henceforth good, O Zarathushtra! a full atonement for his sin is effected by means of the Religion of Mazda.’

31. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the man that is a Daeva? Who is he that is a worshipper of the Daevas? that is a male paramour of the Daevas? that is a female paramour of the Daevas? that is a wife to the Daeva?415 that is as bad as a Daeva: that is in his whole being a Daeva? Who is he that is a Daeva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Daevas after death?416

32. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The man that lies with mankind as man lies with womankind, or as woman lies with mankind, is the man that is a Daeva; this one is the man that is a worshipper of the Daevas, that is a male paramour of the Daevas, that is a female paramour of the Daevas, that is a wife to the Daeva; this is the man that is as bad as a Daeva, that is in his whole being a Daeva; this is the man that is a Daeva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Daevas after death: so is he, whether he has lain with mankind as mankind, or as womankind.’417

VI. 33. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Shall the man be clean who has touched a corpse that has been dried up and dead more than a year?418

415 ‘As a wife is obedient to her husband, so is he to the Daevas’ (Comm.)

416 Demons are often the restless souls of the wicked, excluded from heaven. The Persian sect of the Mahabadians, believed that the soul that had not spoken and done good became an Ahriman or jinn (Dabestan).

417 [i.e. the recipient is equally guilty. -JHP] The guilty may be killed by any one, without an order from the Dastur (see § 74 n.), and by this execution an ordinary capital crime may be redeemed (Comm. ad Vd7.52).

418 The corpse, dried up, contains no longer any of the solid and liquid elements that generate corruption and infection (see above, Vd6.50, note 16).

34. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He shall. The dry mingles not with the dry.419 Should the dry mingle with the dry, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one Peshotanu, bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth.’420

VII.

35. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the man be made clean that has touched the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man?

36. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He can, O holy Zarathushtra!’ How so?

‘If the Nasu has already been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds, he shall cleanse his body with gomez and water, and he shall be clean.421

37. ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds,422 then the worshippers of Mazda shall dig three holes in the ground,423 and he shall thereupon wash his body with gomez, not with water. They shall then lift and bring my dog,424 they shall bring him (thus shall it be done and not otherwise) in front [of the man].425

419 ‘This principle still prevails even with Moslem Persians: ‘Pour encourir leur immondicité; dans l’attouchement des Chrétiens et autres idolatres, il est nécessaire que s’ils les touchent, leurs vētements soient mouillés. C’est à cause, disent-ils, qu’étans secs l’immondicité ne s’attache pas; . . . . ce qui est cause que dans les villes où leurs Mullas et Docteurs ont plus d’autorité, ils font parfois défendre par leurs Kans que lorsqu’il pleut, les Chrétiens ne sortent pas de leurs maisons, de crainte que par accident, venans à les heurter, ils, ne soient rendus immondes’ (G. da Chinon, p. 88 seq.; cf. Chardin). Still nowadays, in Persia, the Jews are not allowed to go out of their house on a rainy day, lest the religious impurity, conducted through the rain, should pass from the Jew to the Moslem.

420 See Vd5.4.

421 If the Sag-did has been performed, a simple ghosel is enough. See Vd7.29, notes 27 and 31.

422 If the Sag-did has not been performed, the Barashnum is necessary.

423 The first three holes, which contain gomez. For the disposition of the holes, see the following Fargard.

424 Three times; every time that the unclean one passes from one hole to another (Comm. ad IX, 32).

425 To look at him, or, rather, at the Nasu in him, whilst the priest sings the spells that drive the Nasu.

38. ‘The worshippers of Mazda shall dig three other holes426 in the ground, and he shall thereupon wash his body with gomez, not with water. They shall then lift and bring my dog, they shall bring him (thus shall it be done and not otherwise) in front [of the man]. Then shall they wait until he is dried427 even to the last hair on the top of his head.

39. ‘They shall dig three more holes428 in the ground, three paces away from the preceding, and he shall thereupon wash his body with water,429 not with gomez.

40. ‘He shall first wash his hands; if his hands be not first washed, he makes the whole of his body unclean. When he has washed his hands three times, after his hands have been washed, thou shalt sprinkle with water430 the forepart of his skull.’431

41. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the forepart of the skull, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush?432

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In front, between the brows, the Druj Nasu rushes.’

42. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach in front, between the brows, whereon does the Druj Nasu

rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘On the back part of the skull the Druj Nasu rushes.’

43. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the back part of the skull, whereon does the Druj Nasu

426 Containing gomez too.

427 He rubs himself dry with handfuls of dust (see Vd9.29 seq.)

428 Containing water.

429 As a master does not take away the dunghill from his house with his own hands, but has it taken away by his servants, so the water, being of higher dignity than the gomez, has the worst of the impurity taken by the gomez, and intervenes only when there is nothing left that can attain it (Abalish, tr. Barthelemy, ch. V and note 29).

430 The water is shed from a spoon, tied to a long stick, ‘the stick with nine knots’ (Vd9.14).

431 Bareshnum; from which word the whole of the operation has taken its name.

432 The Nasu is expelled symmetrically, from limb to limb, from the right side of the body to the left, from the forepart to the back parts, and she flies, thus pursued, downwards from the top of the head to the tips of the toes. The retreating order of the Nasu is just the reverse of the order in which she invaded the different members of the first man: she entered Gayomard by the little toe of the left foot, then went up to the heart, then to the shoulder, at last to the summit of the head (Gr. Bd.) Death still seizes the foot first.

rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In front, on the jaws, the Druj Nasu rushes.’

44. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach in front, on the jaws, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right ear the Druj Nasu rushes.’

45. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right ear, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left ear the Druj Nasu rushes.’

46. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left ear, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right shoulder the Druj Nasu rushes.’

47. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right shoulder, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left shoulder the Druj Nasu rushes.’

48. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left shoulder, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right arm-pit the Druj Nasu rushes.’

49. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right arm-pit, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left arm-pit the Druj Nasu rushes.’

50. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left arm-pit, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘In front, upon the chest, the Druj Nasu rushes.’

51. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the chest in front, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the back the Druj Nasu rushes.’

52. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the back, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right nipple the Druj Nasu rushes.’

53. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right nipple, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left nipple the Druj Nasu rushes.’

54. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left nipple, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right rib the Druj Nasu rushes.’

55. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right rib, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left rib the Druj Nasu rushes.’

56. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left rib, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right hip the Druj Nasu rushes.’

57. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right hip, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left hip the Druj Nasu rushes.’

58. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left hip, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the sexual parts the Druj Nasu rushes. If the unclean one be a man, thou shalt sprinkle him first behind, then before; if the unclean one be a woman, thou shalt sprinkle her first before, then behind.’

59. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the sexual parts, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right thigh the Druj Nasu rushes.’

60. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right thigh, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left thigh the Druj Nasu rushes.’

61. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left thigh, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right knee the Druj Nasu rushes.’

62. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right knee, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left knee the Druj Nasu rushes.’

63. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left knee, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right leg the Druj Nasu rushes.’

64. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right leg, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left leg the Druj Nasu rushes.’

65. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left leg, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right ankle the Druj Nasu rushes.’

66. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right ankle, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left ankle the Druj Nasu rushes.’

67. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left ankle, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the right instep the Druj Nasu rushes.’

68. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the right instep, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Upon the left instep the Druj Nasu rushes.’

69. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When the good waters reach the left instep, whereon does the Druj Nasu rush? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She turns round under the sole of the foot; it looks like the wing of a fly.

70. ‘He shall press his toes upon the ground, and shall raise up his heels; thou shalt sprinkle his right sole with water; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left sole. Thou shalt sprinkle the left sole with water; then the Druj Nasu turns round under the toes; it looks like the wing of a fly.

71. ‘He shall press his heels upon the ground, and shall raise up his toes; thou shalt sprinkle his right toe with water; then the Druj Nasu rushes upon the left toe. Thou shalt sprinkle the left toe with water; then the Druj Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.

[72. ‘And thou shalt say aloud these victorious, most healing words:

‘“The will of the Lord is the law of holiness,” etc.

[(Exorcism:)]

‘“What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me?” etc.

‘“Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching?” etc.433

‘“Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta!

Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish,

O creation of the fiend! Perish O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!” ‘434]

VIII. 73. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda, walking, or running, or riding, or driving, come upon a

433 As in §§ 19, 20.

434 From the Vendidad Sada; cf. § 21.

Nasu-burning fire, whereon Nasu is being burnt or cooked,435 what shall they do?

74. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They shall kill the man that cooks the Nasu; surely they shall kill him.436 They shall take off the cauldron, they shall take off the tripod.

75. ‘Then they shall kindle wood from that fire; either wood of those trees that have the seed of fire in them, or bundles of the very wood that was prepared for that fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.437

76. ‘Thus they shall lay a first bundle on the ground,438 a Vitasti439

away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

77. ‘They shall lay down a second bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire: then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

‘They shall lay down a third bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

‘They shall lay down a fourth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

‘They shall lay down a fifth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

435 For food. See Vd7.23-24. [Cannibalism -JHP]

436 ‘He who burns Nasu (dead matter) must be killed. Burning or cooking Nasu from the dead is a capital crime. . . . Four men can be put to death by any one without an order from the Dastur: the Nasu-burner, the highwayman, the Sodomite, and the criminal taken in the deed’ (Comm.)

437 A new fire is kindled from the Nasu-burning fire: this new fire is disposed in such a way that it should die out soon: before it has died out, they kindle a new fire from it and so on for nine times: the ninth fire, derived from the one impure, through seven intermediate fires, more and more distant from the original impurity, will represent the fire in its native purity and can enter into the composition of a Warharan fire. — On the modern process, see Dosabhoy Framji, History of the Parsis, II, 113.

438 In a hole dug for that purpose; such is at least the custom nowadays. The ceremony is thus made an imitation of the barashnom. The unclean fire, represented by the nine bundles, passes through the nine holes, as the unclean man does (see above, § 37 seq. and Vd9.12 seq.), and leaves at each of them some of the uncleanness it has contracted.

439 A span of twelve fingers.

‘They shall lay down a sixth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

‘They shall lay down a seventh bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

They shall lay down an eighth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

78. ‘They shall lay down a ninth bundle on the ground, a Vitasti away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.

79. ‘If a man shall then piously bring unto the fire, O Spitama Zarathushtra! wood of Urvasna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling wood;

80. ‘Wheresoever the wind shall bring the perfume of the fire, thereunto the fire of Ahura Mazda shall go and kill thousands of unseen Daevas, thousands of fiends, the brood of darkness, thousands of couples of Yatus and Pairikas.’440

IX. 81. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring a Nasu-burning fire to the Daityo-gatu,441 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 thousand fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

82. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire wherein impure liquid has been burnt,442 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 thousand fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.

440 It will have all the power of the Warharan fire.

441 ‘The proper abode,’ the Warharan fire. The Warharan fire is composed of a thousand and one fires belonging to sixteen different classes (ninety-one corpseburning fires,’ eighty dyers’ fires, etc.) 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.

442 The hēhr, that is to say all sort of impurity that comes from the body.

83. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire wherein dung has been burnt,443 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 Daityo-gatu.’

84. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from the kiln of a potter, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought four hundred fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

85. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from a glazier’s kiln, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought to the Daityo-gatu as many fire-brands as there were glasses [brought to that fire].’444

86. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from the aonya paro-berejya, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought to the Daityo-gatu as many fire-brands as there were plants.’445

87. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a goldsmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought a hundred fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

88. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a silversmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body? Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought ninety fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

443 ‘The fire of a bath,’ according to Framji; the use of the bath was prohibited; according to Josuah the Stylite (ch. XX, tr. Martin), king Balash (484-488) was overthrown by the Magi for having built bath houses. The reason of this prohibition was probably that it entailed the defilement of the fire, as they were warmed with cow dung.

444 Doubtful.

445 Meaning unknown. Perhaps a fire for burning weeds.

89. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a blacksmith, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought eighty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

90. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! It a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under the puncheon of a worker in steel, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought seventy fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

91. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire of an oven,446 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 Daityo-gatu.’

92. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under a cauldron,447 what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as it he had, here below, brought fifty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

93. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire from an aonya takhairya,448 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 Daityo-gatu.’

94. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring a herdsman’s fire to the Daityo-gatu, what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought thirty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’

[95.449 O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire of the field,450 what shall be his reward when his soul has parted with his body?

446 A baker’s fire.

447 The kitchen-fire.

448 Meaning unknown.

449 From the Vendidad Sada.

450 The hunter’s fire, an encampment’s fire.

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘His reward shall be the same as if he had, here below, brought twenty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.’]

96. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring to the Daityo-gatu the fire of his own hearth,451 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 Daityo-gatu.’

X. 97. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can a man be made clean, O holy Ahura Mazda! who has touched a corpse in a distant place in the wilderness?452

98. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He can, O holy Zarathushtra.’

How so?

‘If the Nasu has already been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs or the corpse-eating birds, he shall wash his body with gomez; he shall wash it thirty times, he shall rub it dry with the hand thirty times, beginning every time with the head.453

99. ‘If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating dogs or the corpse-eating birds, he shall wash his body with gomez; he shall wash it fifteen times, he shall rub it dry with the hand fifteen times.454

100. ‘Then he shall run a distance of a Hathra.455 He shall run until he meets some man on his way, and he shall cry out aloud: “Here am I, one who has touched the corpse of a man, and who is powerless in mind, powerless in tongue, powerless in hand.456 Do make me clean.” Thus shall he run until he overtakes the man. If the man will not cleanse him, he remits him the third of his trespass.457

451 By which one warms one’s self; the fire least exposed to uncleanness.

452 Where the regular process or purification cannot be performed. — The Pahlavi Commentary to this chapter will be found in West, Pahlavi Texts, II, p. 455.

453 Perhaps better: ‘this is as good as the chief purification’ (that is to say as a regular Barashnom). — If the Sag-did has been ‘performed, the Sī-shū (thirty-fold washing) is enough. Cf. above, §§ 35, 36.

454 If the Sag-did has not been performed, he cleanses himself in a summary way till he comes to a place where the Barashnom can be performed.

455 See Bd26, note 1.

456 On account of my uncleanness, I am armēsht, excluded from active life and unfit for any work.

457 As he takes it upon his own head.

101. ‘Then he shall run another Hathra, he shall run off again until he overtakes a man; if the man will not cleanse him, he remits him the half of his trespass.458

102. ‘Then he shall run a third Hathra, he shall run off a third time until he overtakes a man; if the man will not cleanse him, he remits him the whole of his trespass.

103. ‘Thus shall he run forwards until he comes near a house, a borough, a town, an inhabited district, and he shall cry out with a loud voice: “Here am I, one who has touched the corpse of a man, and who is powerless in mind, powerless in tongue, powerless in hand. Do make me clean.” If they will not cleanse him, he shall cleanse his body with gomez and water; thus shall he be clean.’459

104. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If he find water on his way and the water make him subject to a penalty,460 what is the penalty that he shall pay?

105. Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.’

106. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If he find trees461 on his way and the fire make him subject to a penalty, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Four hundred stripes with the Aspaheastra, four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.

107. ‘This is the penalty, this is the atonement which saves the faithful man who submits to it, not him who does not submit to it.

Such a one shall surely be an inhabitant in the mansion of the Druj.’462

458 The half of the remnant, that is the second third.

459 ‘He may then attend to his business; he may work and fill; some say he must abstain from sacrifice (till he has undergone the Barashnom)’ (Comm.)

460 As he defiled it by crossing it.

461 ‘Trees fit for the fire’ (Comm.) If he touches those trees, the fire to which they are brought becomes unclean by his fault.

462 Hell. Imitated from Yasna 49.11d. See Vd14.18.