Vendidad — Chapter 17
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Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 17, 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 17.

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AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 17. Hair and nails.

This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995; updated Jul 4, 2001.

Translated by James Darmesteter, from Sacred Books of the
East, American edition, volume 3, New York, 1898.

Anything that has been separated from the body of man is considered
dead matter (nasu), and is accordingly unclean. As soon as hair
and nails are cut off, the demon takes hold of them and has to
he driven away from them by spells, in the same way as he is from
the bodies of the dead.

On similar views and customs in different countries, see Notes
and Queries, 3rd series, X, 146; Aulus Gellius, X, 15, 15;
M&eacute;usine, 1878, pp.79, 549, 583; L. de Rosny, Histoire des
dynasties divines, 308.

FARGARD 17. Hair and nails.

I.

Notes:

1. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent
Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the
most deadly deed whereby a man offers up a sacrifice to the Daevas1?'

1. Any offense to religion is considered an offering to the Daevas,
whose strength is thereby increased. See Yt5.95.

2. Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is when a man here below, combing
his hair or shaving it off, or paring off his nails, drops them2
in a hole or in a crack3.

2. Without performing the requisite ceremonies.

3. Doubtful.

3. 'Then by this transgression of the rites, Daevas are produced
in the earth; by this transgression of the rites, those Khrafstras
are produced in the earth which men call lice, and which eat up
the corn in the corn-field and the clothes in the wardrobe.

4. 'Therefore, thou, O Zarathushtra! whenever here below thou
shalt comb thy hair or shave it off, or pare off thy nails, thou
shalt take them away ten paces from the faithful, twenty paces
from the fire, thirty paces from the water, fifty paces from the
consecrated bundles of Baresma.

5. 'Then thou shalt dig a hole, a disti4 deep if the earth be
hard, a vitasti deep if it be soft; thou shalt take the hair down
there and thou shalt say aloud these victorious words:

"For him, as a reward, Mazda made the plants grow up5."

4. A dishti = ten fingers. A vitasti = twelve fingers.

5. [at ah'y&acirc;i ash&acirc; mazd&aring; urvar&aring; vaxshat.]

See above, Vd11.6; the choice of this line
was determined by the presence of the word plants in it: man
was considered a microcosm, and every element in him had its
counterpart in nature; the skin is like the sky, the flesh is
like the earth, the bones are like the mountains, the veins are
like the rivers, the blood in the body is like the water in the
sea, the hair is like the plants, the more hairy parts are like
the forests (Gr. Bund.) Cf. Rig-veda X, 16,3;
Ilias VII, 99; Empedocles, fr. 378; Epicharmus
ap. Plut. Consol. ad Apoll. 15; Edda, Grimnismal; 40.

6. 'Thereupon thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal
around the hole, or six furrows or nine, and thou shall chant
the Ahuna-Vairya three times, or six, or nine.

II.

7. 'For the nails, thou shalt dig a hole, out of the house, as
deep as the top joint of the little finger; thou shalt take the
nails down there and thou shalt say aloud these victorious words:

"The things that the pure proclaim through Asha and Vohu-mano6."

6. [ash&acirc; voh&ucirc; manangh&acirc; &yacute;&acirc;
sruy&ecirc; par&ecirc; magaon&ocirc;.]

Yasna 33.7; understood (with
a play upon the word sruy&ecirc; 'is heard,' and 'nails of both hands')
as: 'O Asha, with Vohu-mano, the nails of the pure [are for you].'

8. 'Then thou shalt draw three furrows with a knife of metal
around the hole, or six furrows or nine, and thou shalt chant
the Ahuna-Vairya three times, or six, or nine.

9. 'And then:

"O Asho-zushta bird7! these nails I announce
and consecrate unto thee. May they be for thee so many spears
and knives, so many bows and falcon-winged arrows and so many
sling-stones against the Mazainya Daevas8!"

7. [paiti: t&ecirc; merekha ash&ocirc;-zushta im&aring; srv&aring;
va&ecirc;dhayemi im&aring; srv&aring; &acirc;va&ecirc;dhayemi
im&aring;se-t&ecirc; srv&aring; merekha ash&ocirc;-zushta hy&acirc;re
arshtayasca karetayasca thanvareca ishavasca erezify&ocirc;-parena
asanasca fradaxshanya paiti da&ecirc;v&ocirc; m&acirc;zany&atilde;n.]

'The owl,' according to modern tradition. The word literally means
'friend of holiness.' 'For the bird Asho-zushta they recite the
Avesta formula; if they recite it, the fiends tremble and do not
take up the nails; but if the nails have had no spell uttered
over them, the fiends and wizards use them as arrows against the
bird Asho-zusta and kill him. Therefore, when the nails have had
a spell uttered over them, the bird takes and eats them up, that
the fiends may not do any harm by their means'
(Bundahishn XIX).
The bird Asho-zusta is also called Bird of Vohuman
(Saddar 14), both names
being taken from the first words of the line quoted above.

8. See above, Vd10.14, note 13;
Vd10.16, note 14.
The nails are cut in two and the fragments are put in the hole
with the point directed towards the north, that is to say,
against the breasts of the Devs
(see above, Vd7.2, note 1).
See Anquetil, Zend-Avesta II, 117; India Office Library, VIII, 80.

10. 'If those nails have not been consecrated (to the bird), they
shall be in the hands of the Mazainya Daevas so many spears and
knives so many bows and falcon-winged arrows, and so many sling-stones
(against the Mazainya Daevas)8.

8. Repeated by mistake from § 10.

11. '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 death9.'

9. See preceding Fargard, § 18.

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-- Vendidad — Chapter 17 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))