# Vendidad — Chapter 10

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-18 — 1 clipping.*

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> Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 10, translation: L.H. Mills / J. Darmesteter (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887), Avesta.org. License: Public domain (translation predates 1928).
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> 
> AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 10.
> 
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> AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 10. Formulas recited during the process of cleansing.
> 
> This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995; updated Jun 15, 2001.
> 
> Translated by James Darmesteter, from Sacred Books of the East,
> American Edition, (New York, The Christian Literature Company, 1898.)
> 
> Comments in [] by JHP.
> 
> Compare this chapter with the ancient description given of it in
> the Denkard, Dk Book 8 chap. 44:
> 
> Nowadays, before laying the dead in the coffin, two priests recite
> the Ahunavaiti Gatha (Yasna 28-34):
> it is the so-called Gâh sârnâ (chanting of the Gathas:
> gâthâo srâvayêiti).
> From the following Fargard
> it appears that formerly all the five
> Gathas and the Yasna Haptanghaiti
> were recited. Certain stanzas
> were recited several times and with a certain emphasis (framrava):
> and they were followed with certain spells. The object of this
> Fargard is to show which are those stanza; how many times each
> was recited, and to give the corresponding spells.
> 
> FARGARD 10. Formulas recited during the process of cleansing
> 
> 1. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O Ahura Mazda! most beneficent
> Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall
> I fight against that Druj who from the dead rushes upon the living?
> How shall I fight against that Druj who from the dead defiles
> the living?'
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 2. Ahura Mazda answered: 'Say aloud those words in the Gathas
> that are to be said twice 1.
> 
> 'Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice2.
> 
> 'Say aloud those words in the Gathas that are to be said four
> times3.'
> 
> 1. The so-called Bish-âmrûta.
> 
> 2. The Thrish-âmrûta.
> 
> 3. The Chathrush-âmrûta.
> 
> 3. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those
> words in the Gathas that are to be said twice?
> 
> 4. Ahura Mazda answered: 'These are the words in the Gathas that
> are to be said twice, and thou shalt twice say them aloud4:-
> 
> ahya yasa ... urvanem (Y28.2).
> 
> -----
> 
> humatenam ... mahi (Y35.2),
> 
> ashahya aad saire ... ahubya (Y35.8),
> 
> yatha tu i ... ahura (Y39.4),
> 
> humaim thwa ... hudaustema (Y41.3),
> 
> thwoi staotaraska ... ahura (Y41.5).
> 
> -----
> 
> usta ahmai ... manangho (Y43.1),
> 
> spenta mainyu ... ahuro (Y47.1),
> 
> vohu khshathrem ... vareshane (Y51.1),
> 
> vahista istis ... skyaothanaka (Y53.1).
> 
> 4. The Bish-âmrûta are the opening stanzas of the five Gathas
> and five stanzas in the Yasna Haptanghaiti.
> 
> 5. 'And after thou hast twice said those Bis-amrutas, thou shalt
> say aloud these victorious, most healing words:-
> 
> '"I drive away Angra Mainyu5 from this house, from this borough,
> from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man
> defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by
> the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough,
> from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the
> whole of the world of Righteousness.
> 
> 5. The chief demon, the Daeva of the Daevas.
> 
> 6. '"I drive away the Nasu6, I drive away direct defilement,
> I drive away indirect defilement, from this house, from this borough,
> from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man
> defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by
> the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough,
> from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the
> whole of the world of Righteousness."'
> 
> 6. The very demon with whom one has to do in the present case.
> 
> 7. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those
> words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice?
> 8.
> Ahura Mazda answered: 'These are the words in the Gathas that
> are to be said thrice, and thou shalt thrice say them aloud:-
> 
> ashem vohu ... (Y27.14),
> 
> ye sevisto ... paitî (Y33.11),
> 
> hukhshathrotemai ... vahistai (Y35.5),
> 
> duzvarenais ... vahyo (Y53.9).
> 
> 9. 'After thou hast thrice said those Thris-amrutas, thou shalt
> say aloud these victorious, most healing words:-
> 
> '"I drive away Indra, I drive away Sauru, I drive away
> the daeva Naunghaithya,7 from this house, from this borough, from
> this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled
> by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead;
> from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from
> the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole
> of the world of Righteousness.
> 
> 7. Indra, Sauru, Naunghaithya, Tauru, and Zairi are (with Akemmano [Akoman],
> here replaced by the Nasu), the six chief demons, and stand to
> the Amesha Spentas in the same relation as Angra Mainyu to Spenta
> Mainyu. Indra opposes Asha Vahishta and turns men's hearts from
> good works; Sauru opposes Khshathra Vairya, he presides over bad
> government; Naunghaithya opposes Spenta Armaiti, he is the demon
> of discontent; Tauru and Zairi oppose Haurvatat and Ameretat and
> poison the waters and the plants. -- Akem-mano, Bad Thought, opposes
> Vohu-mano, Good Thought.
> 
> 10.
> '"I drive away Tauru 7, I drive away Zairi7, 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."'
> 
> 11. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those
> words in the Gathas that are to be said four times?
> 
> 12. 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 ahu vairyo ...8 (Y27.13),
> 
> mazda ad moi ... dau ahum9 (Y34.15),
> 
> a airyama ishyo ... masata mazdau10 (Y54.1).
> 
> 8. Translated in Vd8.19.
> 
> 9. Translated in Vd11.14.
> 
> 10. Translated in Vd20.11;
> see Vd11.7.
> 
> 13. 'After thou hast said those Chathrus-amrutas four times, thou
> shalt say aloud these victorious, most healing words:-
> 
> '"I drive away Aeshma, the fiend of the murderous spear11,
> I drive away the daeva Akatasha12, from this house, from this borough,
> from this town, from this land; from the very body of the man
> defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by
> the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough,
> from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the
> whole of the world of Righteousness.
> 
> 11. Aeshma, Khishm [Eshm], the incarnation of anger: he sows quarrel and
> war. 'He is the chief source of evil for the creatures of Ohrmazd,
> and the Kayanian heroes mostly perished through him'
> (Bund. 28.17).
> [Aeshma appears as Asmoday or Asmodeus in Christian and Jewish writings in the
> apocryphal Book of Tobit
> 3.8. -JHP]
> 
> 12. The fiend who corrupts and perverts men.
> 
> 14. '"I drive away the Varenya daevas13, I drive away the
> wind-daeva, from this house, from this borough, from this town,
> from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead,
> from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the
> master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord
> of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the
> world of Righteousness."
> 
> 13. The fiendish inhabitants of Varena (Gilan). Varena, like the
> neighhouring Mazana (Mazandaran), was peopled with savage, non-Aryan
> natives, who were considered men-demons. See Vd1.18 and
> notes.
> 
> 15. 'These are the words in the Gathas that are to be said twice;
> these are the words in the Gathas that are to be said thrice;
> these are the words in the Gathas that are to be said four times.
> 
> 16. 'These are the words that smite down Angra Mainyu; these are
> the words that smite down Aeshma, the fiend of the murderous spear;
> these are the words that smite down the daevas of Mazana14; these
> are the words that smite down all the daevas.
> 
> 14. The demoniac races of Mazandaran; Mazandaran was known in popular
> tradition as a land of fiends and sorcerers.
> 
> 17. 'These are the words that stand, against that Druj, against
> that Nasu, who from the dead rushes upon the living, who from
> the dead defiles the living.
> 
> 18. 'Therefore, O Zarathushtra! thou shalt dig nine holes15 in
> the part of the ground where there is least water and where there
> are fewest trees; where there is nothing that may be food either
> for man or beast; "for purity is for man, next to life, the,
> greatest good, that purity, O Zarathushtra, that is in the Religion
> of Mazda for him who cleanses his own self with good thoughts,
> words, and deeds16."
> 
> 15. The nine holes for the Barashnom; see above,
> Vd9.6 seq.
> 
> 16. See Vd5.21.
> 
> 19. 'Make thy own self pure, O righteous man! any one in the world
> here below can win purity for his own self, namely, when he cleanses
> his own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds.
> 
> 20. '"Yatha ahu vairyo: - The will of the Lord is the law
> of righteousness," &c.17
> 
> '"Kem-na mazda: - What protector hast thou given unto me,
> O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me?" &c.
> 
> '"Ke verethrem-ja: - Who is the victorious who will protect
> thy teaching?" &c.
> 
> '"Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta! Perish,
> O fiendish Druj! ... Perish away to the regions of the north,
> never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!"'
> 
> 17. The rest as in Vd8.19-20.
> 
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> — *Vendidad — Chapter 10 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))*