# Vendidad — Chapter 8

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> Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 8, 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): Chapter 8: Funerals and purification, unlawful sex
> 
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> AVESTA: Vendidad: FARGARD 8. Funerals and purification, unlawful sex
> 
> 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 44.42ff
> 
> 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.
> 
> FARGARD 8. Funerals and purification, unlawful sex
> 
> I
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 1. If a dog or a man die under a hut of wood or a hut of felt1
> what shall the worshippers of Mazda do2?
> 
> 1. 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 thâruma by the Arabs, which served as pavilions
> for princes as well as tents for nomads.
> 
> 2. That sort of abode, having only one room, can have no chamber
> for the dead (Vd5.10).
> 
> 2. Ahura Mazda answered: 'They shall search for a Dakhma, they
> shall look for a Dakhma all around3. 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
> plant4.
> 
> 3. 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.
> 
> 4. '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. Urvâsna
> is the râsan plant, a sort of garlic; Vohû-gaona, Vohû-kereti,
> and Hadh&acircl;-naêpata are respectively (according to Frâmjî)
> 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 Hadha-naepata, 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 raining5, 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 do6?
> 
> 5. 'No corpse must be taken to the Dakhma 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.)
> 
> 6. If it is the season of rain or snow.
> See Vd5.10 seq.
> 
> 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 grave7, half a foot deep if
> the earth be hard, half the height of a man if it be soft8; [they
> shall cover the surface of the grave with ashes or cowdung]9; they
> shall cover the surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones,
> or of dry earth10.
> 
> 7. 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.
> 
> 8. Soft earth, being not impervious to liquids, lets contagion
> through more easily.
> 
> 9. Vendidad Sada.
> 
> 10. Substances more impervious.
> 
> 911. '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.
> 
> 11. §§ 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
> house12, and two men, strong and skillful13,
> having stripped their clothes off14, shall take up the body from the
> clay or the stones, or from the plastered house15,
> and they shall lay it down on a place where they
> know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating
> birds.
> 
> 12. '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).
> 
> 13. The corpse-bearers or nasu-kasha (Khândyas). '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.)
> 
> 14. 'As they are exchanged for the special clothes in which they
> carry corpses (Comm.), the so-called jâma-i dakhma, 'the
> Dakhma clothes.'
> 
> 15. The Dahhma (see Vd6.50 seq.)
> 
> 11. 'Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three paces
> from the dead, and the holy Ratu16 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!"'
> 
> 16. The priest who directs the funerals, 'the chief of the Nasu-kashas'
> (Comm.), the so-called Nasâ-sâlâr.
> 
> 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 next-of-kin17:
> these shall therefore procure the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers
> shall wash their hair and their bodies18.'
> 
> 17. 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 maêsma is as powerful as the gomez.
> 
> 18. 'When back in the village they perform the regular Barashnum
> with consecrated gomez' (Comm.)
> 
> 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 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 faithful19.
> 
> 19. 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.
> 
> 16. 'They shall therefore cause a yellow dog with four eyes20, or
> a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times through that way21.
> 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 Khrafstras22.]
> 
> 20. A dog with two spots above the eyes.
> 
> 21. 'Afrag says, the dog goes straight along the length of the
> way; Maidyo-mah says, he goes across it from side to side' (Comm.)
> 
> 22. See Vd7.3.
> 
> 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 times23 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.]
> 
> 23. '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).
> 
> 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: "Yatha aha vairyo24: - The will of
> the Lord is the law of righteousness.
> 
> '"The gifts of Vohu-mano25 to the deeds done in this world
> for Mazda.
> 
> '"He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.
> 
> 24. 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 (Bund. I).
> 
> 25. Of Paradise, as Vohu-mano (Good Thought) is the doorkeeper of
> heaven (see Vd19.31).
> 
> 20. '"Kem-na mazda26:
> - What protector hast thou given unto
> me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom
> but thy Atar and Vohu-mano27, through whose work I keep on the world
> of righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule28!
> 
> '"Ke verethrem-ja29: - 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!
> 
> 26. Yasna 46.7.
> 
> 27. 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.
> 
> 28. That is to say, one must take Religion as one's rule.
> 
> 29. 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).
> 
> 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 afterwards30 prepare meals with meat
> and wine in that house; it shall be clean, and there will be no
> sin, as before.'
> 
> 30. 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 body31, enough
> to cover the feet, what is the penalty that he shall pay32? Ahura
> Mazda answered: 'Four hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, four
> hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'
> 
> 31. 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).
> 
> 32. See Vd5.60; Vd7.20.
> 
> 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 Aspahe-astra,
> 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.'
> 
> 2833. 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.
> 
> 33. 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 Daeva34? 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
> death35?
> 
> 34. 'As a wife is obedient to her husband, so is he to the Daevas'
> (Comm.)
> 
> 35. 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).
> 
> 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 womankind36.'
> 
> 36. [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).
> 
> 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 year37?
> 
> 37. 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 dry38. 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 earth39.'
> 
> 38. '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 vêtements 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.
> 
> 39. See Vd5.4.
> 
> 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 clean40.
> 
> 40. If the Sag-did has been performed, a simple ghosel is enough.
> See Vd7.29, notes 27 and 31.
> 
> 37. 'If the Nasu has not yet been expelled by the corpse-eating
> dogs, or by the corpse-eating birds41, then the worshippers of Mazda
> shall dig three holes in the ground42, and he shall thereupon wash
> his body with gomez, not with water. They shall then lift and
> bring my dog43, they shall bring him (thus shall it be done and
> not otherwise) in front [of the man]44.
> 
> 41. If the Sag-did has not been performed, the Barashnum is necessary.
> 
> 42. The first three holes, which contain gomez. For the disposition
> of the holes, see the following Fargard.
> 
> 43. Three times; every time that the unclean one passes from one hole
> to another (Comm. ad IX, 32).
> 
> 44. 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 holes45 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 dried46 even to the last
> hair on the top of his head.
> 
> 45. Containing gomez too.
> 
> 46. He rubs himself dry with handfuls of dust
> (see Vd9.29 seq.)
> 
> 39. 'They shall dig three more holes47 in the ground, three paces
> away from the preceding, and he shall thereupon wash his body
> with water48, not with gomez.
> 
> 47. Containing water.
> 
> 48. 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).
> 
> 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 water49 the forepart of his skull50.'
> 
> 49. The water is shed from a spoon, tied to a long stick, 'the stick
> with nine knots' (Vd9.14).
> 
> 50. Bareshnum; from which word the whole of the operation has taken
> its name.
> 
> 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 rush51?
> 
> Ahura Mazda answered: 'In front, between the brows, the Druj Nasu
> rushes.'
> 
> 51. 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. Bund.) Death
> still seizes the foot first.
> 
> 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 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?" &c.
> 
> '"Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching?"
> &c.52
> 
> '"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 Righteousness53!"']
> 
> 52. As in §§ 19, 20.
> 
> 53. From the Vendidad Sada; cf. § 21.
> 
> 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 Nasu-burning fire, whereon Nasu is being burnt or cooked54, what
> shall they do?
> 
> 54. For food. See Vd7.23-24. [Cannibalism -JHP]
> 
> 74. Ahura Mazda answered: 'They shall kill the man that cooks
> the Nasu; surely they shall kill him55. They shall take off the
> cauldron, they shall take off the tripod.
> 
> 55. '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.)
> 
> 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 sooner56.
> 
> 56. 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.
> 
> 76. 'Thus they shall lay a first bundle on the ground57, a Vitasti58
> away from the Nasu-burning fire; then they shall take it farther
> and disperse it, that it may die out the sooner.
> 
> 57. 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.
> 
> 58. A span of twelve fingers.
> 
> 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.
> 
> '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 Pairikas58.'
> 
> 58. It will have all the power of the Warharan fire.
> 
> IX
> 
> 81. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring
> a Nasu-burning fire to the Daityo-gatu59, 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.'
> 
> 59. 'The proper abode,' the Warharan fire. The Warharan fire is
> composed of a thousand and one fires belonging to sixteen different
> classes (ninety-one corpse-burning fires,' eighty dyers' fires,
> &c.) 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.
> 
> 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 burnt60,
> 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.
> 
> 60. The hêhr, 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 burnt61, 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.'
> 
> 61. '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.
> 
> 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]62.'
> 
> 62. Doubtful.
> 
> 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 plants63.'
> 
> 63. Meaning unknown. Perhaps a fire for burning weeds.
> 
> 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.'
> 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 oven64, 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.'
> 
> 64. A baker's fire.
> 
> 92. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring
> to the Daityo-gatu the fire from under a cauldron65, 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.'
> 
> 65. The kitchen-fire.
> 
> 93. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring
> to the Daityo-gatu the fire from an aonya takhairya66, 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.'
> 
> 66. Meaning unknown.
> 
> 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.'
> 
> [9567. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring
> to the Daityo-gatu the fire of the field68, 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 twenty fire-brands to the Daityo-gatu.']
> 
> 67. From the Vendidad Sada.
> 
> 68. The hunter's fire, an encampment's fire.
> 
> 96. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man bring
> to the Daityo-gatu the fire of his own hearth69, 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.'
> 
> 69. By which one warms one's self; the fire least exposed to uncleanness.
> 
> 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 wilderness70?
> 
> 70. 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.
> 
> 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 head71.
> 
> 71. 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 Sî-shû (thirty-fold washing) is enough. Cf. above,
> §§ 35, 36.
> 
> 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 times72.
> 
> 72. 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.
> 
> 100. 'Then he shall run a distance of a Hathra72. 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 hand73. 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 trespass74.
> 
> 72. See Bund. 26, note 1.
> 
> 73. On account of my uncleanness, I am armêsht, excluded from active
> life and unfit for any work.
> 
> 74. 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 trespass75.
> 
> 75. The half of the remnant, that is the second third.
> 
> 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 clean76.'
> 
> 76. '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.)
> 
> 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 penalty77, what is
> the penalty that he shall pay?
> 
> 77. As he defiled it by crossing it.
> 
> 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 trees78
> 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 Aspahe-astra,
> four hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.
> 
> 78. 'Trees fit for the fire' (Comm.) If he touches those trees,
> the fire to which they are brought becomes unclean by his fault.
> 
> 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
> Druj79.'
> 
> 79. Hell. Imitated from Yasna 49.11d.
> See Vd14.18.
> 
> Home
> 
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> — *Vendidad — Chapter 8 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))*