# Vendidad — Chapter 21

*Exported from [Holy-Writings.com](https://www.holy-writings.com/) on 2026-06-19 — 1 clipping.*

---

> Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 21, translation: L.H. Mills / J. Darmesteter (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887), Avesta.org. License: Public domain (translation predates 1928).
> ──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────
> 
> AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 21. Healing spells
> 
> Home
> 
> Contents
> 
> Prev
> 
> vd21sbe
> 
> Next
> 
> Avestan
> 
> Glossary
> 
> AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 21. Healing spells
> 
> This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995; updated Jul 7, 2001.
> 
> Translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East,
> American Edition, 1898.)
> 
> I (1). Praise of the holy bull.
> 
> II (2-3). Invocation addressed to rain as a healing power.
> 
> III a (4-7). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the
> light of the sun.
> 
> III b (8-11). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to
> the light of the moon.
> 
> III c (12-17). Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to
> the light of the stars.
> 
> IV (18-21), Spells against disease.
> 
> The largest part of this Fargard is filled with a uniform spell,
> intended, as it seems, for the protection of lying-in women (§§
> 6-7, 10-11, 14-15), who are under the special care of Ardvi Sura
> Anahita, the great goddess of the waters. That spell is repeated
> three times, in a joint invocation to the sun, to the moon, and
> to the stars respectively; that strange association is perhaps
> owing to the fact that both the light and the waters spring up
> from the Hara Berezaiti and return there (see &#167 4, note 1).
> 
> FARGARD 21.
> 
> I.
> 
> Notes:
> 
> 1. Hail, bounteous bull1! Hail to thee, beneficent bull! Hail
> to thee, who makest increase! Hail to thee, who makest growth!
> Hail to thee, who dost bestow his part2 upon the righteous
> faithful, and wilt bestow it on the faithful yet unborn! Hail to
> thee, whom the Jahi kills3, and the ungodly Ashemaogha, and the
> wicked tyrant4.
> 
> 1. The primeval bull who was created by Ohrmazd and killed by
> Ahriman with the help of the Jahi. -- Clause 1 is to be recited when
> one meets an ox or any kind of cattle, Gr. Riv. 386.
> 
> 2. Possibly, 'who dost kill the Jahi (by means of gomez).
> 
> 3. His daily food.
> 
> 4. The wicked kills animals, out of mere cruelty, beyond his needs
> (Yasna 29.1;
> Y32.12, 14;
> Y48.7).
> 
> II.
> 
> 2. 'Come, come on, O clouds, from up above, down on the earth,
> by thousands of drops, by myriads of drops:' thus say, O holy
> Zarathushtra! 'to destroy sickness, to destroy death, to destroy
> the sickness that kills5, to destroy death that kills, to destroy
> Gadha and Apagadha6.
> 
> 5. Cf. Bund. 3.3, 6, 4.
> 
> 6. Names of diseases.
> 
> 3. 'If death come after noon, may healing come at eve!
> 'If death come at eve, may healing come at night!
> 'If death come at night, may healing come at dawn!
> 'And showers shower down new water, new earth, new plants,
> new healing powers, and new healing.
> 
> IIIa.
> 
> 4. 'As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the
> waters7, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the
> earth, down the earth and up the aerial way8: thus rise up and
> roll along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the
> aerial way.
> 
> 7. Waters and light are believed to flow from the same spring and
> in the same bed: 'As the light comes in through Alburz (Hara Berezaiti)
> and goes out through Alburz, so water also comes out through
> Alburz and goes away through Alburz'
> (Bund. 20.4). Every day
> the sun, moon, and stars rise up from Alburz, and every day all
> the waters on the earth come back together to the sea Vouru-kasha,
> and there collected come down again to the earth from the peaks
> of Alburz (Gr. Riv. 43'). As light comes from three different
> sources (the sun, the moon, and the stars), the waters are invoked
> three times, first in company with the sun, then with the moon,
> lastly with the stars, as if there should be three different movements
> of the rain connected with the three movements or light.
> 
> 8. Waters come down from the sky to the earth and rise back from
> the earth to the sky (see Vd5.15 seq.)
> 
> 5. 'Up! rise up and roll along! thou swift-horsed Sun, above
> Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the world (and mayst thou
> [O man!] rise up there, if thou art to abide in Garo-nmanem9)10,
> along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the
> watery way they opened.
> 
> 9. 'If thou art a righteous man' (Comm.)
> 
> 10. The translation of this clause is doubtful.
> 
> 6. 'And the Holy Word [manthra spenta] shall keep away the evil11: Of thee [O
> child!] I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee [O woman!] I
> will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in
> children and rich in milk;
> 
> 11. The spell refers to the cleansing and generative power of the
> waters; cf. the invocation to Ardvi Sura, Vd7.16: the
> waters are supposed to make females fertile as they make the earth.
> This spell was probably pronounced to facilitate childbirth.
> 
> 7. 'Rich in seed, in milk12, in fat, in marrow, and in
> offspring. I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs,
> running towards the pastures that give food to the child.
> 
> 12. There are, in the text, two words for 'milk,' the one referring
> to the milk of women, the other to the milk of cows.
> 
> IIIb.
> 
> 8. 'As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the
> waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the
> earth, down the earth and up the aerial way:
> 'Thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and
> growing Ahura Mazda made the earth.
> 
> 9. 'Up! rise up, thou Moon, that dost keep in thee the seed of
> the bull13;
> 
> 'Rise up above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the
> world (and mayst thou [O man!] rise up there, if thou art to
> abide in Garo-nmanem), along the path made by Mazda, along the
> way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
> 
> 13. When the primeval bull died, 'what was bright and strong in
> his seed was brought to the sphere of the moon, and when it was
> cleansed there in the light of the astre, two creatures were shaped
> with it, a male and a female, from which came two hundred and
> seventy-two kinds of animals'
> (Bund. 4,
> Bund. 10).
> 
> 10. 'And the Holy Word [manthra spenta] shall keep away the evil: Of thee [O
> child!] I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee [O woman!] I
> will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in
> children and rich in milk;
> 
> 11. 'Rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring.
> I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs, running towards
> the pastures that give food to the child.
> 
> IIIc.
> 
> 12. 'As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the
> waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the
> earth, down the earth and up the aerial way:
> 
> 'Thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and
> growing Ahura Mazda made everything that grows14.
> 
> 14. The plants that grow under the action of 'those stars that have
> in them the seed of waters ' (cf. § 13).
> 
> 13. 'Up! rise up, ye deep Stars, that have in you the seed of
> waters15;
> 
> 'Rise up above Hara Berezaiti and produce light for the
> world (and mayst thou [O man!] rise up there, if thou art to
> abide in Gara-nmanem), along the path made by Mazda. along the
> way made by the gods, the watery way they opened.
> 
> 15. See Yt12.29.
> 
> 14. 'And the Holy Word [manthra spenta] shall keep away the evil: Of thee [O
> child!] I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee [O woman!] I
> will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in
> children and rich in milk;
> 
> 15. 'Rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and in offspring.
> I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs, running towards
> the pastures that will give food to the child.
> 
> 16. 'As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the
> waters, rising up and going down, up the aerial way and down the
> earth, down the earth and up the aerial way:
> 'Thus rise up and roll along! ye in whose rising and growing
> Ahura Mazda made everything that rises.
> 
> 17. 'In your rising away will the Kahvuzi16 fly and cry, away
> will the Ayehi17 fly and cry, away will the Jahi who follows the
> Yatu, fly and cry.
> 
> 16. 'He who diminishes glory, Ahriman' (Comm.)
> 
> 17. 'Sterility, Ahriman' (Comm.)
> 
> IV.
> 
> [1818. 'I drive away Ishire and I drive away Aghuire; I drive away
> Aghra and I drive away Ughra; I drive away sickness and I drive
> away death; I drive away pain and I drive away fever; I drive
> away Sarana and I drive away Sarastya. I drive away Azana and I
> drive away Azahva; I drive away Kurugha and I drive away
> Azhivaka; l drive away Duruka and I drive away Astairya; I drive
> away the evil eye, rottenness, and infection which Angra Mainyu
> has created against the bodies of mortals.
> 
> 18. §§ 18-23 = Vd20.9-13.
> 
> 19. 'I drive away all manner of sickness and death, all the
> Yatus and Pairikas, and all the wicked Jainis.
> 
> 20. 'A Airyema ishyo:-
> May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman come
> here, for the men and women of Zarathushtra to rejoice, for
> Vohu-mano to rejoice; with the desirable reward that Religion
> deserves. I solicit for holiness that boon that is vouchsafed by
> Ahura!
> 
> 21. 'May the vow-fulfilling Airyaman smite all manner of
> sickness and death, all the Yatus and Pairikas, and all the
> wicked Jainis.
> 
> 22. 'Yatha ahu vairyo:-
> The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness!
> 
> 'Kem-na mazda:-
> What protector hast thou given unto me ... ?
> 
> 'Ke verethrem-ja:- Who is the victorious who will protect
> thy teaching ... ?
> 
> 23. 'Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Armaiti Spenta!
> Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish,
> O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Druj! Perish away to the
> regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living
> world of Righteousness!]
> 
> Home
> 
> Contents
> 
> Prev
> 
> vd21sbe
> 
> Next
> 
> Avestan
> 
> Glossary
>
> — *Vendidad — Chapter 21 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))*