# Vendidad — Chapter 3

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> Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 3, 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 3: The Earth
> 
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> AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 3. the Earth
> 
> This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995.
> 
> Translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the
> East, American Edition, 1898.)
> 
> Compare this chapter with the ancient description given of it in
> the Denkard, Book 8, Chapter 44.
> 
> "Les Guèbres," says Chardin (ed. Langlês, VIII, 358), "regardent
> l'agriculture,non seulement comme une profession belle et innocente,
> mais aussi comme méritoire et noble, et ils croient que c'est la
> première de toutes les vocations, celle pour quoi le Dieu souverain
> et les dieux inférieurs, comme ils parlent, ont le plus de complaisance
> et qu'ils recompensent le plus largement. Cette opinion, tournée
> en créance parmi eux, fait qu'ils se portent naturellement à travailler
> à la terre et qu'ils s'y exercent le plus: leurs prêtres leur enseignent
> que la plus vertueuse activité est d'engendrer des enfants
> (cf. Farg. IV, 47) et aprés de cultiver
> une terre qui serait en friche (cf. infra,
> § 4), de planter un arbre soit fruitier, soit autre."
> 
> The classical writers (Xenophon, Oeconomica, IV, 4 seq.; Polybius,
> X, 28, quoted § 4, note) express themselves to the same effect,
> and their testimony has been lately corroborated, in a most unexpected
> way, by a Greek inscription
> (discovered at Deremendjik, near Magnesia, on the Maeander:
> by Cousin and Deschamps, Bullein de Correspondance hellénique,
> XIII: 529), emanating from no less an authority
> than King Darius himself, who congratulates his satrap in Asia
> Minor, Gadates, "for working well the King's earth and transplanting
> in lower Asia the fruits of the country beyond
> 
> Euphrates.
> 
> The third Fargard may serve as a Commentary to those texts. The
> principal subject is, as the Denkard
> has it:
> 
> What comforts most the Genius of the Earth (§§ 1-6)?
> 
> What discomforts most the Genius of the Earth (§§ 7-11)?
> 
> What rejoices the Earth most (§§ 12-35)?
> 
> In each of these three developments a series of five objects is
> considered. Series I and II, though expressed in symmetrical
> terms, do not answer one another: there is greater symmetry,
> as to the ideas, between the second series and the third. Series
> I and II are a dry enumeration. The third series contains two
> interesting digressions, one on the funeral laws (§§ 14-21),
> and the other on the sanctity of husbandry (§§ 24-33).
> 
> The Fargard ends with a development forbidding the burial of the
> dead (§§ 36-42); it is a sort of commentary to §
> 8.
> 
> The subject of this chapter has become a commonplace topic with
> the Parsis, who have treated it more or less antithetically in
> the Mainyai-khard (chaps. 5 and 6) and in
> the Rivayats [ch. 98] (Gr. Riv. pp. 434-437).
> 
> FARGARD 3. The Earth
> 
> I.
> 
> 1. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy
> one! Which is the first place where the Earth 1
> feels most happy?
> 
> Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is the place whereon
> one of the faithful steps forward, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> with the log in his hand 2, the Baresma 3 in
> his hand, the milk 4 in his hand, the mortar 5 in his
> 
> hand, lifting up his voice in good accord with religion,
> and beseeching Mithra 6, the lord of the rolling
> country-side, and Rama Hvastra 7.'
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 1. 'The Genius of the Earth' (Comm.)
> 
> 2. The wood for the fire altar.
> 
> 3. The Baresma (now called barsom) is a bundle of sacred
> twigs which the priest holds in his hand while reciting the
> prayers. (See Vd19.18 seq. and notes.)
> 
> 4. The so-called jîv or jîvâm, one of the elements of the
> Haoma sacrifice.
> 
> 5. The Havana [hawan] or mortar used in crushing the Haoma or
> Hom.
> 
> 6. Mithra, the Persian Apollo, sometimes like him identified with
> the Sun, is invoked here as making the earth fertile. 'Why do not
> you worship the Sun? King Yazdgard asked the Christians. Is he
> not the god who lights up with his rays all the world, and through
> whose warmth the food of men and cattle grows ripe?' (Elisaeus.)
> 
> 7. The god that gives food its savour: he is an acolyte to
> Mithra.
> 
> 2,3. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> second place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place whereon one of the faithful erects a house with
> a priest within8, with cattle, with a wife, with children, and
> good herds within; and wherein afterwards the cattle continue
> to thrive, virtue to thrive9, fodder to thrive, the dog to thrive,
> the wife to thrive, the child to thrive, the fire to thrive, and
> every blessing of life to thrive.'
> 
> 8. With the domestic chaplain (the Panthaki).
> 
> 9. By the performance of worship.
> 
> 4. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> third place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place where one of the faithful sows most corn, grass,
> and fruit, O Spitama Zarathushtra! where he waters ground that
> is dry, or drains ground that is too wet10.'
> 
> 10. Under the Achaemanian kings countrymen who brought water to
> places naturally dry received the usufruct of the ground for five
> generations (Polybius, X, 28). But for those underground canals
> (called qanats), which bring water from the mountains all through
> the Iranian desert, Persia would starve.
> 
> 5. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> fourth place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place where there is most increase of flocks and herds.'
> 
> 6. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> fifth place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place where flocks and herds yield most dung.'
> 
> II.
> 
> 7. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> first place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the neck of Arezura11, whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth
> from the burrow of the Druj12.'
> 
> 11. The neck of Arezura (Arezurahe griva) is "a mount at the gate
> of hell, whence the demons rush forth"
> (Bund. 12.8
> Dadistan 33.5); it is also
> called "the head of Arezura" (Vd19.45),
> or 'the back of Arezura' (Bund. 12.2).
> Arezura was a fiend, son of Ahriman, who was killed by the first
> man, Gayomard (Menog-i Khrad 27.15). The
> mount named from him hes in the North (which is the seat of the demons):
> it seems to belong to the Alborz chain, like the Damavand
> (Bund. 12.8), where
> Azi Dahaka [Zohak] was bound (Vd1.18, notes).
> 
> 12. Hell, the Druj being assimilated to a burrowing Khrafstra.
> See Vd7.24.
> 
> 8. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> second place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place wherein most corpses of dogs and of men lie buried13.'
> 
> 13. 'It is declared in the good religion, that, when they conceal
> a corpse beneath the ground, Spendarmad, the archangel, shudders;
> it is just as severe as a serpent or scorpion would be to any
> one in a sleeping-garment, and it is also just like that to the
> ground. When thou makest a corpse beneath the ground as it were
> apparent, thou makest the ground liberated ftom that affliction'
> (Saddar 33, tr. by West, in
> the Sacred Books of the East, XXIV).
> See Vd. 6.51;
> Vd7.45.
> 
> 9. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> third place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place whereon stand most of those Dakhmas on which
> the corpses of men are deposited14.'
> 
> 14. With regard to Dakhmas, see Vd6.45.
> 'Nor is the Earth happy at that place whereon stands a Dakhma with corpses upon
> it; for that patch of ground will never be clean again till the
> day of resurrection' (Gr. Riv. 435, 437). Although the erection of
> Dakhmas is enjoined by the law, yet the Dakhma in itself is as
> unclean as any spot on the earth can be, since it is always in
> contact with the dead see (Vd7.55).
> The impurity which would otherwise be scattered over the whole world,
> is thus brought together to one and the same spot. Yet even that spot, in spite
> of the Rivayat, is not to lie defiled for ever, as every fifty
> years the Dakhmas ought to be pulled down, so that their sites
> may be restored to their natural purity (see
> Vd7.49 ff. and this Farg. verse 13).
> 
> 10. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> fourth place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place wherein are most burrows of the creatures of
> Angra Mainyu15.
> 
> 15. 'Where there are most Khrafstras' (noxious animals).
> 
> 11. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Which is the
> fifth place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is the place whereon
> 
> the wife and children of one of the faithful16,
> O Spitama Zarathushtra! are driven along the way of captivity,
> the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing.'
> 
> 16. Killed by an enemy.
> 
> III.
> 
> 12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the first
> that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is he who digs out of it most corpses of dogs and men 17.'
> 
> 17. This joy answers the second grief of the earth (§ 8; cf.
> note). There is no counterpart given to the first grief (§
> 7), because, as the Commentary naively expresses it, "it is not
> possible now so to dig out hell," which will be done at the end
> of the world (Bund. 30.32).
> 
> 13. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the second
> that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is he who pulls down most of those Dakhmas on which the corpses
> of men are deposited18.'
> 
> 18. This answers the third grief (§ 9; cf. note).
> 
> 14. Let no man alone by himself19 carry a corpse20.
> If a man alone by himself carry a corpse,
> 
> the Nasu21 rushes upon him, to defile
> him, from the nose of the dead, from the eye, from the tongue,
> from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder parts.
> This Druj Nasu falls upon him, [stains him] even to the end of
> the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.
> 
> 19. No ceremony in general can be performed by one man alone. Two
> Mobeds are wanted to perform the Vendidad service, two priests
> for the Barashnum, two persons for the Sag-did (Anquetil, II,
> 584 n.) It is never good that the faithful should be alone, as
> the fiend is always lurking about, ready to take advantage of
> any moment of inattention. If the faithful be alone, there is
> no one to make up for any negligence and to prevent mischief arising
> from it. Never is the danger greater than in the present case,
> when the fiend is close at hand, and in direct contact with the
> faithful.
> 
> 20. A corpse from which the Nasu has not been expelled by the Sag-did
> ceremony (described Vd8.14-22).
> 
> 21. The word Nasu has two meanings: it means either the corpse (nasai),
> or the corpse-demon (the Druj Nasu, that is to say the demon who
> takes possession of the dead body and makes his presence felt
> by the decomposition of the body and infection).
> 
> 15. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! What shall be
> the place of that man who has carried a corpse [alone]22? Ahura
> Mazda answered: 'It shall be the place on this earth wherein is
> least water and fewest plants, whereof the ground is the cleanest
> and the dryest and the least passed through by flocks and herds,
> by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma,
> and by the faithful23.'
> 
> 22. He cannot purify himself like the Nasa-salar
> (Vd8.13).
> 'He who carries a man, knowing that the man is dead and that the
> Sag-did has not been performed, commits a sin worthy of death
> (margarzan).' As the absence of Sag-did makes the infection
> worse, it is the same crime as if a man were to introduce a plague
> into the country.
> 
> 23. To avoid any contact of that man with pure beings.
> 
> 16. 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?
> 
> 17. Ahura Mazda answered: 'Thirty paces24 from the fire, thirty
> paces from the water, thirty paces from the consecrated bundles
> of Baresma, three paces from the faithful.
> 
> 24. A pace (gâma) is as much as three feet (pâdha;
> Vd9.8).
> 
> 18,19. 'There, on that place, shall the worshippers of Mazda erect
> an enclosure25, and therein shall they establish him with food,
> therein shall they establish him with clothes, with the coarsest
> food and with the most worn-out clothes. That food he shall live
> on, those clothes he shall wear, and thus shall they let him live,
> until he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of
> a Pairishta-khshudra26.
> 
> 25. The Armesht-gâh, the place for the unclean; see Introd. V, 15.
> 
> 26. Hana means, literally, 'an old man;' Zaurura, 'a man broken
> down by age;' Pairishta-khshudra, 'one whose seed is dried up.'
> These words have acquired the technical meanings of 'fifty, sixty,
> and seventy years old.'
> 
> 20,21. 'And when he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura27,
> or of a Pairishta-khshudra, then the worshippers of Mazda shall
> order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful28, to cut the head
> off his neck29, in his enclosure on the top of the mountain: and
> they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating
> creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the vultures, with
> these words: "The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts,
> words, and deeds. If he has committed any other evil deed, it
> is remitted by his repentance30: if he has committed no other evil
> deed, he is absolved by his repentance, for ever and ever."'
> 
> 27. When he is near his death. The carrier alone (êvak-bar), being
> margarzân (see note 22 above), ought to have been put to death
> at once. The rigour of theory was abated in practice and delayed
> to the moment when the guilty man was to have paid to nature the
> debt due to religion.
> 
> 28. 'Trained to operations of that sort' (Comm.); a headsman.
> 
> 29. Perhaps: 'to flay him alive and cut off his head.'
> See Vd9.49, text and note.
> 
> 30. By the performance or the Patet.
> 
> 22. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the third
> that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is he who fills up most burrows of the creatures of Angra
> Mainyu31.'
> 
> 31. This joy answers the fourth grief or the earth (§ 10).
> 
> 23. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the fourth
> that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered:
> 'It is he who sows most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> who waters ground that is dry, or drains ground that is too wet32.
> 
> 32. This is identical with § 4, which is developed in the
> following clauses (§§ 24-34).
> 
> 24. 'Unhappy is the land that has long lain unsown with the seed
> of the sower and wants a good husbandman, like a well-shapen maiden
> who has long gone childless and wants a good husband.
> 
> 25. 'He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! with
> the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto
> him will she bring forth plenty of fruit: even as it were a lover
> sleeping with his bride on her bed; the bride will bring forth
> children, (the earth will bring forth) plenty of fruit33.
> 
> 33. The text has: 'she brings either a son or plenty of fruit,' she
> being either the woman or the earth.
> 
> 26,27. 'He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra! with
> the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto
> him thus says the Earth: "O thou man! who dost till me with
> the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, here
> shall I ever go on bearing, bringing
> 
> forth all manner of food, bringing corn first to thee34."
> 
> 34. 'When something good grows up, it will grow up
> for thee first' (Comm.) Perhaps: 'bringing to thee profusion of
> corn' ('some say, she will bring to thee 15 for 10;' Comm.)
> 
> 28,29. 'He who does not till the earth, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left,
> unto him thus says the Earth: "O thou man! who dost not till
> me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the
> left, ever shalt thou stand at the door of the stranger, among
> those who beg for bread; the refuse and the crumbs of the bread
> are brought unto thee35, brought by those who have profusion
> of wealth."'
> 
> 35. 'They take for themselves what is good and send
> to thee what is bad' (Comm.)
> 
> 30. O Maker of the material world, thou
> Holy one! What is the food that fills the Religion
> of Mazda36? Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is sowing corn again
> and again, O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> 
> 36. Literally, 'what is the stomach of the law?'
> 
> 31. 'He who sows corn, sows righteousness: he makes the Religion
> of Mazda walk, he suckles the Religion of Mazda; as well as he
> could do with a hundred man's feet, with a thousand woman's breasts37,
> with ten thousand sacrificial formulas38.
> 
> 37. 'He makes the Religion of Mazda as fat as a child
> could be made by means of a hundred feet, that is to say, of fifty
> servants walking to rock him; of a thousand breasts, that is,
> of five hundred nurses' (Comm.)
> 
> 38. With the recitation of 10,000 Yenghe hatam,
> that is to say, as if one had performed for his weal as many sacrifices as contain
> 10,000 Yenghe hatam.
> 
> 32. 'When barley was created, the Daevas
> 
> started up39; when it grew40, then fainted the Daevas'
> hearts; when the knots came41, the Daevas groaned;
> when the ear came, the Daevas flew away42. In that
> house the Daevas stay, wherein wheat perishes43. It is
> as though red hot iron were turned about in their throats, when
> there is plenty of corn44.
> 
> 39. John Barleycorn got up again / And sore surpris'd them all.
> 
> 40. Doubtful.
> 
> 41. Doubtful.
> 
> 42. The general meaning of the sentence is how the Devs are broken
> down 'by the growing, the increasing, and the ripening of the
> corn' (Denkard, 1.1. § 10
> [Dk8 44.10]).
> 
> 43. Doubtful.
> 
> 44. Doubtful. Wolff: "When the grain is rightly placed (for threshing),
> then the Daevas perspire (with fear);. when the mill is rightly placed (to grind the
> grain), then lose the Daevas lose their composure, if the flour is rightly placed (for
> making dough), then the Daevas cry, if the dough is rightly placed (for baking), then
> the Daevas perish (Av. paredhen; Wolff follows AirWb 869 in reading farzen) (with fear); kept
> permanently in the house, flour dough is effectual for striking down the
> Daevas, in the mouth, it is very hot (to them) ? you see them turn to
> flee. Thus grain grows abundantly, so one should recite the Mãthra..."
> 
> 33. 'Then let people learn by heart this holy
> saying [manthra -JHP]: "No one who does not eat, has strength to
> do heavy works of holiness45, strength to
> do works of husbandry, strength to beget children.
> By eating every material creature lives, by not eating it dies
> away."'
> 
> 45. 'Like the performance of the dvâzda hômâst'
> (the longest and most cumbersome of all Zoroastrian ceremonies).
> 
> 34. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! Who is the fifth
> that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?
> 
> Ahura Mazda answered: '[It is he who kindly and piously gives46
> to one of the faithful who tills the earth,] O Spitama Zarathushtra!
> 
> 46. The Asho-dad or alms. The bracketed clause is from the Vendidad Sada.
> 
> 35. 'He who would not kindly and piously
> give to one of the faithful who tills the earth, O
> Spitama Zarathushtra! Spenta Armaiti47 will
> throw him down into darkness, down into the world of woe, the
> world of hell, down into the deep abyss48.'
> 
> 47. The Genius of the Earth offended.
> 
> 48. Conjectural translation.
> 
> IV.
> 
> 36. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! If a man shall
> bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of
> a man, and if he shall not disinter it within half a year, what
> is the penalty that he shall pay?
> 
> Ahura Mazda answered: 'Five hundred stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra49,
> five hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana49.'
> 
> 49. See Introduction.
> 
> 37. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! If a man shall
> bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of
> a man, and if he shall not disinter it within a year, what is
> the penalty that he shall pay?
> 
> Ahura Mazda answered: 'A thousand stripes with the Aspahe-ashtra,
> a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'
> 
> 38. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy one! If a man shall
> bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of
> a man, and if he shall not disinter it within the second year,
> what is the penalty for it? What is the atonement for it? What
> is the cleansing from it?
> 
> 39. 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.'
> 
> 40. 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 it50.
> 
> 'But if he be not a professor of the Religion of Mazda, nor one
> who has been taught in it51, then his sin is taken from him, if
> he makes confession of the Religion of Mazda and resolves never
> to commit again such forbidden deeds52.
> 
> 50. A born Zoroastrian or a catechist: in both cases, he must have
> known that he was committing sin.
> 
> 51. He did not know that he was committing sin.
> 
> 52. He makes Patet and says to himself; 'I will never henceforth
> sin again' (Comm.)
> 
> 41. 'The Religion of Mazda indeed, O
> Spitama Zarathushtra! takes away from him who
> makes confession of it the bonds of his sin53; it takes
> away (the sin of) breach of trust54; it takes away (the
> sin of) murdering one of the faithful55; it takes away
> (the sin of) burying a corpse56; it takes away (the
> sin of) deeds for which there is no atonement; it
> takes away the worst sin of usury56; it takes away
> any sin that may be sinned.
> 
> 53. If not knowingly committed; see § 40 and the following notes.
> 
> 54. Doubtful. From the commentary it appears that
> draosha must have meant a different sort of robbery: 'He knows
> that it is forbidden to steal, but he fancies that robbing the
> rich to give to the poor is a pious deed' (Comm.)
> 
> 55. Or better, 'a Mazdean,' but one who has committed a capital crime;
> 'he knows that it is allowed to kill the margarzân, but he
> does not know that it is not allowed to do so without an order
> from the judge.' See Vd8.74 note.
> 
> 56. 'He knows that it is forbidden to bury a corpse; but he fancies
> that if one manages so that dogs or foxes may not take it to the
> fire and to the water, he behaves piously (Comm.) -- He fancies that
> the prohibition of burying the dead is meant only for the protection
> of the fire and the water, not of the earth herself.
> 
> 57. Or, possibly, 'the sin of usury.' 'He knows that it is lawful
> to take high interest, but he does not know that it is not lawful
> to do so from the faithful' (Comm.)
> 
> 42. '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 plain58.
> 
> '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.'
> 
> 58. 'From chaff' (Comm.)
> 
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> — *Vendidad — Chapter 3 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))*