# Vendidad — Chapter 16

*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 16, 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 16. Purity laws regarding menstruation
> 
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> AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 16. Purity laws regarding menstruation.
> 
> This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995; updated Jun 16, 2001.
> 
> Translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East,
> American Edition, 1898.)
> 
> 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.
> 
> FARGARD 16. Purity laws regarding menstruation
> 
> I.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 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 way1 of the wood
> there, both plants and trees2; they shall strew dry dust on the
> ground3; and they shall isolate a half, or a third, or a fourth,
> or a fifth part of the house4, lest her look should fall upon the
> fire.'
> 
> 1. The way of the Dashtânistân.
> 
> 2. Lest the wood shall be touched and defiled by the woman on
> her way to the Dashtanistan.
> 
> 3. Lest the earth shall be touched and defiled by her.
> Cf. Farg. 9.11.
> 
> 4. Nowadays a room on the ground-floor is reserved for that use.
> 
> 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 paces5 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,5b or of lead, or of any common metal6.'
> 
> 5. The food is held out to her from a distance in a metal spoon.
> 
> 5b. Dar: brass. -JHP
> 
> 6. Earthen vessels, when defiled, cannot be made clean; but metal
> vessels can. See Farg. 7.73 seq.)
> 
> 7. How much bread shall he bring to her? How much barley-drink
> shall he bring?
> 
> 'Two danares7 of dry bread, and one danare of liquor, lest
> she should get too weak8.
> 
> 'If a child has just touched her, they shall first wash his
> hands and then his body9.
> 
> 7. A danare is, according to Anquetil, as much as four tolas;
> a tola is from 105 to 175 grains.
> 
> 8. 'Soshyos says: For three nights cooked meat is not allowed
> to her, lest the issue shall grow stronger.
> 
> 9. 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.)
> 
> 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 Daevas10.
> 
> 'The worshippers of Mazda shall clear the way11 of the wood
> there, both plants and trees12;
> 
> 10. Abnormal issues are a creation of Ahriman's
> (Farg. 1.18).
> 
> 11. The way of the Barashnum-gah, where the cleansing takes place.
> 
> 12. See Farg 9.3 seq.
> 
> 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 ants13, if it be summer; two hundred of any other
> sort of the Khrafstras made by Angra Mainyu, if it be winter.'
> 
> 13. Cf. Farg. 14.5.
> 
> 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
> Sraosho-charana.'
> 
> 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
> Aspahe-astra, 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 the corpse of his own son, born of his own body and
> dead of naeza14, and drop its fat into the fire15.
> 
> 14. A disease (Vd7.58).
> There is another word nâeza, 'a spear,' so that one
> may translate also 'killed by the spear' (Asp.)
> 
> 15. '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.)
> 
> 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 death16.'
> 
> 16. Literally, 'is a Peshotanu;' 'he is a tanapuhr sinner, that
> is to say, margarzan (worthy of death),' Comm.
> 
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> — *Vendidad — Chapter 16 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))*