Vendidad — Chapter 1
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Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 1, 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 1.

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AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 1.

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.

For an analysis see
Mary Boyce, Zoroastrianism : Its Antiquity and Constant Vigour (Columbia Lectures on Iranian Studies, No 7)
(Costa Mesa, Mazda Pub, 1992, pp. 3 ff.)
and A. Christensen, Le premier chapitre du Vendidad (Copenhagen, 1943).

Synopsis:

This chapter is an enumeration of sixteen perfect
lands created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues created in
opposition by Angra Mainyu.

Many attempts have been made, not only to identify
these sixteen lands, but also to draw historical conclusions from
their order of succession, as representing the actual order of
the migrations and settlements of the old Iranian tribes.
But there is nothing in the text to support such wide inferences
We have here nothing more than a geographical description of Iran,
seen from the religious point of view.

Of these sixteen lands there are nine, as follows:--

AVESTAN NAME.OLD PERSIAN.GREEKMODERN NAME.
Sughdha (2) Suguda
SogdianhSoghd (Samarkand)
Mouru (3) Margu
MargianhMarv
Bakhdhi (4) B&acirc;khtri
BaktraBalkh
Haroyu (6) Haraiva
`AreiaHar&ecirc;(rud)
Vehrkana (9) Vark&acirc;na
'UrkaniaGurg&acirc;n, Jorg&acirc;n
Harahvaiti (10)Harauvati
`AracwsiaAv-rokhaj, Arghand-(&acirc;b)
Haetumant (11)
`EtumandoVHelmend
Ragha (12) Rag&acirc;
'RagaiRa&icirc;
Hapta hindu (15)Hindava
`IndoiHind (Punjab)

which can be identified with certainty, as we are
able to follow their

names from the records of the Achaemenian kings or the works of
classical writers down to the map of modern Iran.

For the other lands we are confined for information
to the Pahlavi Commentary, from which we get:

AVESTAN NAME. PAHLAVI NAME. MODERN NAME.
Vaekereta (7) K&acirc;p&ucirc;l Kabul
Urva (8) M&ecirc;shan Mesene
Varena (14) Patashkhv&acirc;rgar or DailamTabarist&acirc;n or G&icirc;l&acirc;n
Rangha (16) Arvast&acirc;ni R&ucirc;mEastern Mesopotamia

The identification of Nisaya (5) and Chakhra (13) remains an
open question, as there were several cities of that
name. We know, however, that Nisaya lay between Balkh and Marv.
The first province Airyanem Vaeja, or Eranwej, we identify with
the medieval Arr&acirc;n (nowadays known as Karabagh).

There must have been some systematical idea in the
order followed, though it is not apparent, except in the succession
of Sughdha, Mouru, Bakhdhi, Nisaya, Haroyu, Vaekereta (numbers
2-7), which form one compact group of north-eastern provinces;
the last two provinces, Hindu and Rangha (numbers 15-16), are
the two limitroph provinces, east and west (Indus and Tigris);
and the Rangha brings us back to the first province, Eranwej,
whose chief river, the Vanguhi Daitya, or Aras, springs from
the same mountains as the Rangha-Tigris.

The several plagues created by Angra Mainyu to mar
the native perfection of Ahura's creations give instructive information
on the religious condition of several of the Iranian countries
at the time when this Fargard was written. Harat seems to have
been the seat of puritan sects that pushed rigorism to the extreme
in the law of purification. Sorcery was prevalent in the basin
of the Helmend river, and the Paris were powerful in Cabul, which
is a Zoroastrian way of saying that the Hindu civilisation prevailed
in those parts, which in fact in the two centuries before and
after Christ were known as White India, and remained more Indian
than Iranian till the Moslem conquest.

FARGARD 1. Sixteen perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda, and
as many plagues created by Angra Mainyu.

1. Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama1 Zarathushtra,
saying:

I have made every land dear (to its people),
even though it had no charms whatever in it2: had
I not made every land dear (to its people), even
though it had no charms whatever in it, then the
whole living world would have invaded the Airyana
Vaeja3.

Notes:

1. Or Spitamide. Zarathushtra was descended from Spitama at the
fifth generation.

2. 'Everyone fancies that the land where he was born and has been
brought up is the best and fairest land that I have created' (Comm.)

3. Greater Bundahish: 'It is said in the Sacred Book: had I not
created the Genius of the native place, all mankind would have
gone to Eran-Vej, on account of its pleasantness.' — On Airyanem
Vaeja or Eran-Vej, see following note.

2.4 The first of the good lands and countries
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Airyana
Vaeja5, by the Vanguhi Daitya6.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created the serpent in the river7 and
Winter, a work of the Daevas8.

4. Clause 2 in the Vendidad Sada is composed of
Zend quotations in the Commentary that illustrate the alternative
process of creation: 'First, Ahura Mazda would create a land of
such kind that its dwellers might like it, and there could be
nothing more delightful. Then he who is all death would bring
against it a counter-creation.'

5. Airyanem Vaeja, Iran-Vej, is the holy land of Zoroastrianism:
Zarathushtra was born and founded his religion there
(Bund. 20.32;
32.3):
the first animal couple appeared there
(Bund. 14.4;
Zadspram, 9.8).
From its name, 'the Iranian seed,' it seems to
have been considered as the original seat of the Iranian race. It has
been generally supposed to belong to Eastern Iran, like the provinces
which are enumerated after it, chiefly on account of the name
of its river, the Vanguhi Daitya, which was in the Sassanian
times (as Veh) the name of the Oxus. But the Bundahish distinctly
states that Iran-Vej is 'bordering upon Adarbajan'
(29.12);
now, Adarbaijan is bordered by the Caspian Sea on the east, by
the Rangha provinces on the west, by Media proper on the south,
and by Arran on the north. The Rangha provinces are out of question,
since they are mentioned at the end of the Fargard (verse 20), and
the climatic conditions of Iran-Vej with its long winter likewise
exclude Media and suit Arran, where the summer lasts hardly two
months (cf. § 4, note 6). The very name agrees, as the country
known as Arran seems to have been known to the Greeks as
`Ariania (Stephanus Byz.), which
brings it close to our Airyanem. On the Vanguhi Daitya, see following
note.

6. The Vanguhi Daitya, belonging to Arran, must be the modern
Aras (the classic Araxes). The Aras was named Vanguhi, like the
Oxus, but distinguished from it by the addition Daitya, which made
it 'the Vanguhi of the Law' (the Vanguhi by which Zarathushtra
received the Law).

7. 'There are many Khrafstras in the Daitik, as it is said, The
Daitik full of Khrafstras' (Bund. 20.13). Snakes abound on
the banks of the Araxes (Morier, A Second Journey, p. 250)
nowadays as much as in the time of Pompeius, to whom they
barred the way from Albania to Hyrcania (Plut.)

8. Arran (Karabagh) is celebrated for its cold winter as well as
for its beauty. At the Naoroz (first day of spring) the fields still lie
under the snow. The temperature does not become milder before
the second fortnight of April; no flower is seen before May.
Summer, which is marked by the migration of the nomads from
the plain to the mountains, begins about the 20th of June and
ends in the middle of August.

3. There are ten winter months there, two
summer months9; and those are cold for the waters10,
cold for the earth, cold for the trees11. Winter falls
there, the worst of all plagues. [Hum 35: "Ten are there the winter
months, two the summer months, and even then [in summer] the waters are
freezing, the earth is freezing, the plants are freezing; there is the
center of winter, there is the heart of winter, there winter rushes
around, there (occur) most damages caused by storm."]

9. Vendidad Sada: 'It is known that [in the ordinary course
of nature] there are seven months of summer and five of winter'
(see Bund. 25).

10. Some say: 'Even those two months of summer are cold for
the waters...' (Comm.; see Mainyo-i-khard 44.20).

11. Vend. Sada: 'There reigns the core and heart of winter.'

4. The second of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
plain12 which the Sughdhas inhabit13.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,

and he counter-created the locust14, which brings
death unto cattle and plants.

12. Doubtful.

13. Old P. Suguda; Sogdiana.

14. The plague that fell to that country was the bad locust: it
devours the plants and death comes to the cattle' (Gr. Bund.)

5. The third of the good lands and countries
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy
Mouru15.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created plunder and sin16.

15. Margu; Margianh; Marv.

16. Doubtful. The Gr. Bd. has: 'The plague that fell
to that country was the coming and going of troops: for there
is always there an evil concourse of horsemen, thieves, robbers,
and heretics, who speak untruth and oppress the righteous.' — Marv
continued to be the resort of Turanian plunderers till the recent
Russian annexation.

6. The fourth of the good lands and countries
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful
Bakhdhi17 with high-lifted banner.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created
the ants and the ant-hills18.

17. Bakhtri; Baktra; Balkh.

18. 'The corn-carrying ants' (Asp.; cf. Farg. 14.5).

7. The fifth of the good lands and countries
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Nisaya19, that
lies between the Mouru and Bakhdhi.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created the sin of unbelief20.

19. By contradistinction to other places of the same name. There
was a Nisaya, in Media, where Darius put to death the Mage
Gaumata (Behishtun I, 58). There was also a Nis&acirc;
in Fars, another in Kirman, a third again on the way from Amol
to Marv (Tabari, tr. Noeldeke, p.101, 2), which may be the same
as Nisaia, the capital of Parthia
(Parqaunisa ap. Isid. of Charax 12); cf. Pliny
VI, 25 (29). One may therefore he tempted to translate, 'Nisaya
between which and Bakhdhi Mouru lies;' but the text hardly admits of that
construction, and we must suppose the existence of another Nisaya
on the way from Balkh to Marv.

20. There are people there 'who doubt the existence of God (Comm.)

8. The sixth of the good lands and countries
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the house-deserting
Haroyu21.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created tears and wailing22.

21. Har&ocirc;yu, Old P. Haraiva (transcribed in Greek and Latin
'Areia Aria instead of `Areia
Haria, by a confusion with the name of the Aryans); P. Har&ecirc;
(in Firdausi and in Har&ecirc;-r&ucirc;d; Har&acirc;t is an Arabicised
form. — 'The house-deserting Har&ecirc;: because there, when a
man dies in a house, the people of the house leave it and go.
We keep the ordinances for nine days or a month: they leave
the house and absent themselves from it for nine days or a month'
(Gr. Bd.) See Vd5.42.

22. 'The tears and wailing for the dead,' the voceros. The
tears shed over a dead man grow to a river that prevents his
crossing the Chinwad bridge
(Saddar 96;
Arda Viraf 16.7, 10).

9. The seventh of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was
Vaekereta23, of the evil shadows.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created the Pairika Knathaiti24, who
claves unto Keresaspa.

23. Va&ecirc;kereta, an older name of Kabul (K&acirc;p&ucirc;l: Comm.
and Gr. Bd.); perhaps the Ptolemeian Bagarda
in Paropanisus (Ptol. VI, 18).

24. The Pairika, in Zoroastrian mythology, symbolises
idolatry (uzdes-parastih). The land of Kubul, till the Moslem
invasion, belonged to the Indian civilisation and was mostly of
Brahmanical and Buddhist religion. The Pairika Khnathaiti will
be destroyed at the end of the world by Saoshyant, the unborn
son of Zarathushtra (when all false religions vanish before the
true one; Vd19.5). — Sama Keresaspa,
the Garshasp of later tradition, is the type of impious heroism:
he let himself be seduced to the Daeva-worship, and Zarathushtra
saw him punished in hell for his contempt of Zoroastrian observances.

10. The eighth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Urva
of the rich pastures25.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created the sin of pride26.

25. Urva, according to Gr. Bd. M&ecirc;shan, that is to say
Mesene (Meshnh) the region of lower
Euphrates, famous for its fertility
(Herod. I, 193 [?]): it was for four centuries (from about 150 B.C. to 225 A.D.) the
seat of a flourishing commercial state.

26. 'The people of Meshan are proud: there are no people worse
than they' (Gr. Bd.)

11. The ninth of the good lands and countries
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Khnenta which
the Vehrkanas27 inhabit.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created a sin for which there is no
atonement, the unnatural sin28.

27. 'Khnenta is a river in Vehrk&acirc;na (Hyrcania)'
(Comm.); consequently the river Jorjan.

28. See Vd8.31-2.
[Hum2 228 (shyaothna y&acirc;na&ocirc;-vaeipya): "pederasty"]

12. The tenth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
beautiful Harahvaiti29.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created a sin for which there is no
atonement, the burying of the dead30.

29. Harauvati; `Aracwsia;
corrupted into Ar-rokhag (name of the country in the
Arabic literature) and Arghand (in the modern name
of the river Arghand-&acirc;b).

30. See Vd3.36 ff.

13. The eleventh of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
bright, glorious Haetumant31.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all
death, and he counter-created the evil work of witchcraft.

31. The basin of the EtumandroV or Erymanthus,
now Hermend, Helmend, that is to say, the region of Saist&acirc;n.

14. And this is the sign by which it is known,
this is that by which it is seen at once: wheresoever
they may go and raise a cry of sorcery, there32 the
worst works of witchcraft go forth. From there they
come to kill and strike at heart, and they bring
locusts as many as they want33.

32. In Haetumant. — 'The plague created against Saistan is
abundance of witchcraft: and that character appears from this,
that all people from that place practise astrology: those
wizards produce ... snow, hail, spiders, and locusts ' (Gr Bd.)
Saistan, like Kabul, was half Indian (Maçoudi, II, 79-82),
and Brahmans and Buddhists have the credit of being proficient in
the darker sciences.

33. This clause seems to be a quotation in the Pahlavi
Commentary.

15. The twelfth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was
Ragha34 of the three races35.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created
the sin of utter unbelief36.

34. Ragha, transcribed R&acirc;k and identified by the
Commentary with Adarbaijan and 'according to some' with Rai (the
Greek 'Ragai in Media). There were
apparently two Raghas, one in Atropatene, another in Media.

35. 'That means that the three classes, priests, warriors,
and husbandmen, were well organised there' (Comm. and Gr. Bd.)

36. 'They doubt themselves and cause other people to
doubt' (Comm.)

16. The thirteenth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
strong, holy Chakhra37.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,

and he counter-created a sin for which there is no
atonement, the cooking of corpses38.

37. There were two towns of that name (Charkh), one in
Khorasan, and the other in Ghaznin.

38. 'Cooking a corpse and eating it. They cook foxes
and weasels and eat them' (Gr. Bd.) See Vd8.73-4.

17. The fourteenth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
four-cornered Varena39, for which was born
Thraetaona, who smote Azi Dahaka [Zohak].

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created abnormal issues in women40,
and barbarian oppression41.

39. Varn, identified by the Comm. either with Patashkhv&acirc;rgar
or with Dailam (that is to say Tabaristan or Gilan). The Gr.
Bd. identifies it with Mount Damavand (which belongs to
Patashkhvargar): this is the mountain where Azi Dahaka [Zohak] was bound
with iron bonds by Thraetaona [Faridoon]. — 'Four-cornered:'
Tabaristan has rudely the shape of a quadrilateral.

40. Vd16.11 ff.

41. The aborigines of the Caspian littoral were Anarian
savages, the so-called 'Demons of Mazana [Mazendaran].'

18. The fifteenth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
Seven Rivers42.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created abnormal issues in women,
and excessive heat.

42. Hapta hindava, the basin of the affluents of the
Indus, the modern Panjab (= the Five Rivers), formerly called Hind,
by contradistinction to Sindh, the basin of the lower river.
[Hum34: "the PhlT of V1.18 quotes the fragment
haca ushastara hinduua auui daosha<s>tarem hindum
'from the eastern river to the western river'.]

19. The sixteenth of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the
land by the sources (?) of the Rangha43, where people
live who have no chiefs44.

Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
and he counter-created Winter45, a work of the
Daevas46.

43. 'Arvastin-i-Rum (Roman Mesopotamia)' (Comm.), that is to
say, the basin of the upper Tigris (Rangha = Arvand = Tigris).

44. 'People who do not hold the chief for a chief' (Comm.), which
is the translation for asraosha (Comm. ad XVI, 18), 'rebel
against the law,' and would well apply to the non-Mazdean people
of Arvast&acirc;n-i-R&ucirc;m.

45. The severe winters in the upper valleys of the Tigris.

46. The Vendidad Sada has here: taozy&acirc;ka danheush
aiwisht&acirc;ra, which the Gr. Bd. understands as:
'and the Tajik (the Arabs) are oppressive there.'

20. There are still other lands and countries47,
beautiful and deep, longing and asking for the good,
and bright. [Hum2 54: lands and regions, beautiful,­deep, esteemed, brilliant and bright.]

47. 'Some say: Persis' (Comm.)

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