This chapter, which has gi\Ten full scope to the ironical humour of many, is an invaluable document in the eyes of the mythologist, as he finds in it, if not the origin and explanation, at least the oldest record of world-wide superstitions. Not only in Bombay, but all over the world, people are found who believe that hair and nails are weapons in the hands of the evil one. The Esthonians, on the shores of the Baltic, take the utmost care not to drop the parings of their nails on the ground, lest the devil should pick them up, to make a visor to his cap, which will give him full power to injure men, unless the sign of the cross has been made over them1. The G audios in the Chilian pampas fear to throw their hair to the winds, but deposit it in holes dug in a wall2. In Li<%e good people are advised not to throw away their hair, nor to leave it in the teeth of the comb, lest a witch take hold of it and cast a spell over them I.
I.
1. Zarathurtra 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 increases most the baleful strength of the Daevas, as he would do by offering them a sacrifice?’
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is when a man here below combing his hair or shaving it off, or paring off his nails drops them4 in a hole or in a crack \ 9 Mdlusine, Recueil de Mythologie populaire, publid par H. Gaidoz et E. Rolland, Paris, 1878; pp. 79, 549, 583. To the same train of ideas seems to belong the Eddie myth of Naglfar, the fatal ship wrought out of the nails of the dead, which is to take the crew of the demon to the shore of the earth when the last day of the world is come (Gylfagiinning, 51).
4 Without performing the requisite^ ceremonies.
6 Doubtful.
FARGARD XVII.
3 (6). ‘ Then for want of the lawful rites being observed, Daevas are produced in the earth; for want of the lawful rites being observed, 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(10). ‘Therefore, O Zarathustra! 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 (13). ‘Then thou shalt dig a hole, a d i.v t i 1 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 fiend-smiting words: “ Out of him by his piety Mazda made the plants grow up2.”
6(17). ‘ 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 (19). ‘For the nails, thou shalt dig a hole, out 2 See above, XI, 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 was supposed to come from a similar element in nature, to which it was to return after death, and whence it was to come back again at the time of the resurrection: his bones from the earth, his blood from the water, his hair from the trees, his life from the fire (Bundahij XXXI, Ulamai Isldm); an old Aryan theory, traces of which are also to be found in India (Rig-veda X, 16, 3), in Greece (Ilias VII, 99; Empedocles, fr. 378; cf. Epicharmus ap. Plut. Consol, ad Apoll. 15), and in Scandinavia (Edda, Grimnismal 40).
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 fiend-smiting words: “ The words that are heard from the pious in holiness and good thought V’ 8 (24). ‘ 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 (26). ‘ And then: “ Look here, O Asho-ziuta bird1 2 3! here are the nails for thee: look at the nails here! May they be for thee so many spears, knives, bows, falcon-winged arrows, and sling-stones against the Mdzainya Daevas 10 (29). ‘ If those nails have not been dedicated (to the bird), they shall be in the hands of the Mazainya Daevas so many spears, knives, bows, falcon-winged arrows, and sling stones (against the Mazainya Daevas)4.
1 Yasna XXXIII, 7. There is here only a play upon the word sruye, ‘ is heard/ which chances to be homonymous with the dual of srva, ‘ nails of both hands/ a 4 The owl/ according to modern tradition. The word literally means 4 friend of holiness/ ‘ For the bird Ashozu.rta they recite the Avcsta 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 Ashozujta 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 ' (Bundahij XIX).
3 See above, p. 137, n. 1. 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, p. 75, n. 2). See Anquetil, Zend-Avesta II, 117; India Office Library, VIII, 80. ' 4 Repeated by mistake from § 10.
ii (30). ‘All such sinners, embodiments of the Druf, are scorners of the law: all scorners of the law are rebels against the Lord: all rebels against the Lord are ungodly men; and any ungodly man shall pay for it with his life V I (1-13). On the unworthy priest and enticers to heresy.
II (14-29). The holiness of the cock.
III (30-60). The four paramours of the Drug'.
IV (61-71). On unlawful lusts.
The text and the Palilavi commentary of this Fargard are translated in Haug’s Essays, 'pp. 243 seq., 364 scq.
I.
I. ‘There is many a one, O holy Zaratlnutra! ’ said Ahura Mazda, ‘who wears a Paitiddna but who has not girded his loins with the law:i; when such a man says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathuxtra!’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
2 (5). ‘ He holds a Khrafstraghna 1 in his hand, but he has not girded his loins with the law; when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zaratluutra! ’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
1 See preceding Fargard, § 18.
3 The word translated girded is the word used of the Kostt, the sacred girdle which the Parsi must never part with (see § 54); the full meaning, therefore, is, ‘ girded with the law as with a Kristi ’ (cf. Yasna IX, 26 [81]), that is to say, ‘ never forsaking the law,’ or, as the Commentary expresses it, 4 one whose thought is all on the VENDED.
3 (7). ‘ He holds a twig 1 in his hand, but he has not girded his loins with the law; when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathiwtra! ’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
4 (9). ‘He wields the A.vtra mairya2, but he has not girded his loins with the law; when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathiutra f’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
5 (11). ‘ He who sleeps on throughout the night, who does not perform the Yasna nor chant the hymns, who does not worship by word or by deed, who does neither learn nor teach, with a longing for (everlasting) life, he lies when he says, “ I am an Athravan,” do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathiutra! ’ thus said Ahura Mazda.
6 (14). ‘Him thou shalt call an Athravan, O holy Zarathiutra! who throughout the night sits up and demands of the holy Wisdom3, which makes man free from anxiety, with dilated heart, and cheerful at the head of the A'inva^ bridge 4, and which makes him reach that world, that holy world, that excellent world, the world of paradise.
7 (18). ‘(Therefore) demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me, that ' The bundles of baresma or the urvaran (see p. 22, n. 2; 3 The Aspah6-ar tra; see Introd. V, 19.
3 That is to say, studies the law and learns from those who know it (cf. Introd. V, 2).
* See Farg. XIX, 30. ‘ It gives him a stout heart, when standing before the A’inva/ bridge ’ (Comm.)
thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier V 8 (21). Zarathuitra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘ O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is it that makes the unseen power of Death increase?’
' 9(22). Ahura Mazda answered: 4 It is the man that teaches a wrong law2; it is the man who continues for three years 3 without wearing the sacred girdle4, without chanting the G&thas, without worshipping the good waters.
10 (25). ‘And he who should set that man at 1 See Introd. V, 2.
2 ‘The deceiver Ashemaogha* (Comm.); the heretic. Cf. Farg. XV, 2, and Introd. Ill, 10.
3 Doubtful.
4 The Kosti, which must be worn by every Farsi, man or woman, from their fifteenth year of age (see below, § 54 seq.); it is the badge of the faithful, the girdle by which he is united both with Ormazd and with his fellow believers. He who does not wear it must be refused water and bread by the members of the community; he who wears it becomes a participator in the merit of all the good deeds performed all over the Zarathustrian world (Saddar 10 and 46; Hyde 10 and 50). The K6sti consists 'of seventy-two interwoven filaments, and should three times circumvent the waist...Each of the threads is equal in value to one of the seventy-two Hahs of the Izashne; each of the twelve threads in the six lesser cords is equal in value to the dawazdih hamaist...; each of the lesser cords is equal in value to one of the six Gahanbars; each of the three circumventions of the loins is equal in value to humat,good thought, hukhat, good speech, huaresta, good work; the binding of each of the four knots upon it confers pleasure on each of the four elements, fire, air, water, and the earth 9 (Edal Daru, apud Wilson, The Parsi Religion Unfolded, p. 163). In the Brahmanical system also the faithful are bound to their god by means of a sacred girdle, the Mekhall Another piece of clothing which every Parsi is enjoined to wear is the Sadarah, or sacred shirt, a muslin shirt with short sleeves, that does not reach lower thfern the hips, with a small pocket at the opening in front of the shirt (see § 54 seq.)
liberty, when bound in prison *, does no better deed than if he should flay a man alive and cut off his head 2 *.
ii (27). ‘ The blessing uttered on a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha does not go past the mouth (of the blesser); the • blessing for two Ashemaoghas does not go past his tongue; the blessing for three is no word at all; the blessing for four is a curse against himself.
12(29). ‘Whosoever should give some Haoma juice to a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha, or some Myazda consecrated with blessings, does no better deed than if he should lead a thousand horse against the cities of the worshippers of Mazda, and should slaughter the men thereof, and drive off the cattle as plunder.
II.
13(32). ‘Demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me, that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.’
14(33). Zarathiutra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Who is the Sraosha-varez 1 of Sraosha 4? the holy, strong Sraosha, who is the incarnate Word, a mightyspeared and lordly god.’
2 Doubtful. The Commentary seems to understand the sentence as follows: ‘ He who should free him from hell would thus perform no less a feat than if he should cut off the head of a man and then make him alive again.’
* ‘Who is he who sets the world in motion?’ (Comm.) See 4 See Introd. IV, 31.
15 (34). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the bird named Parddarr \ which ill-speaking people call Kahrkatfis2, O holy Zarathustra! the bird that lifts up his voice against the mighty dawn: 16(37). ‘“Arise, O men! recite the Ashem ya</ valmtem that smites down the Daevas3. Lo! here is BOshyasta, the long-handed4, coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world, as soon as it has awoke: ‘ Sleep! ’ she says, ‘ sleep on, O man! the time 6 is not yet come.’ ” 17 (41). ‘For the three excellent things be never slack, namely, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; for the three abominable things be ever slack, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds.’’
18 (43). ‘In the first part of the night, Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the master of the house for help, saying: 19 (43). Up! arise, thou master of the house! put on thy girdle on thy clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let me burn bright 1 ‘ He who foresees’ the coming dawn; the cock.
2 ‘When he is not called so, he is powerful’ (Comm.) Cf.XIII,2,6.
* The cock is called ‘the drum of the world.’ As crowing in the dawn that dazzles away the fiends, he shared with it the honour of the victory, and was believed to crow away the demons: ‘ The cock was created to fight against the fiends and wizards;...he is with the dog an ally of Srosh against demons’ (liundahir XIX).
‘ No demon can enter a house in which there is a cock; and, above all, should this bird come to the residence of a demon, and move his tongue to chaunt the praises of the glorious and exalted Creator, that instant the evil spirit takes to flight ’ (Mirkhond, History of the Early Kings of Persia, translated by Shea, p. 57 5 efi Saddar 3a, Hyde 35, and J. Ovington, A Voyage to Suratt,^i696, p. 371).
4 See Introd. IV, 24. * 0 ‘ To perform thy religious duties ’ (Comm.)
with the clean wood, carried by' thy well-washed hands \ Here comes Azi1 2, made by the Daevas, who is about to strive against me, and wants to put out my life.”
20(46). ‘In the second part of the night, Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the husbandman for help, saying: 21(46). ‘“Up! arise, thou husbandman! Put on thy girdle on thy clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let me burn bright with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed hands. Here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who is abput to strive against me, and wants to put out my life.”
22 (48). ‘ In the third part of the night, Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, calls the holy Sraosha for help, saying: “ Come thou, holy, tail-formed Sraosha, [then he brings unto me some clean wood with his well-washed hands]3: here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who is about to strive against me, and wants to put out my life.”
23 (51). ‘And then the holy Sraosha wakes up the bird named Parodar.?, which ill-speaking people call Kahrkatas, and the bird lifts up his voice against the mighty dawn: 24 (52). ‘“Arise, O men! recite the Ashem ya</ vahii'tem that smites down the Daevas. Lo! here is Bhshyasta, the long-handed, coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world as 1 The Parsi, as soon as he has risen, must put on the K6sti, wash his hands, and put wood on the fire.
2 See Introd. IV, 19.
8 The text seems to be corrupt: it must probably be emendated into ‘ bring into me.. / soon as it has awoke: ‘ Sleep! ’ she says, ‘ sleep on, O man! the time is not yet come.’ ” 25 (52). ‘ “ For the three excellent things be never slack, namely, good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; for the three abominable things be ever slack, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds.”
26 (53). ‘ And then bed-fellows address one another: “ Rise up, here is the cock calling me up.” Whichever of the two first gets up.shall first enter paradise: whichever of the two shall firgj, with well-washed hands, bring clean wood unto the Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, the Fire, well pleased with him and not angry, and fed as it required, will thus bless him: 27 (58). ‘ “ May herds of oxen grow for thee, and increase of sons: may thy mind be master of its vow, may thy soul be master of its vow, and mayst thou live on in the joy of the soul all the nights of thy life.”
‘ This is the blessing which the Fire speaks unto him who brings him dry wood, well examined by the light of the day, well cleansed with godly intent.
28 (64). ‘ And whosoever will kindly and piously present one of the faithful with a pair of these my Parodarf birds, a male and a female, it is as though he had given 1 a house with a hundred columns, a thousand beams, ten thousand large windows, ten thousand small windows.
29 (67). ‘ And whosoever shall give to mj* Parodarr bird his fill of meat, I, Ahura Mazda, need npt 1 ‘ In the day of recompense ' (Comm.); he shalj be rewarded as though he had given a house, &c...he shall receive such a house in paradise.
interrogate him any longer; he shall directly go to paradise.’
III.
30 (70). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Driif! Thou then, alone in the material world, dost bear offspring without any male coming unto thee? ’ 31 (74). Then the Drug demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! It is not so, nor do I, alone in the material world, bear offspring without any male coming unto me. ^ 32 (77). ‘ There are four males who are mine.
‘And they make me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
33 (78). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^! Who is the first of those males of thine?’
34 (79)' Then the Druf demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! He is the first of my males who, being entreated by one of the faithful, does not give him anything, be it ever so little, of the riches he has treasured up \ 35 (82). ‘ That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
36 (83). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Druf! What is the thing that can counteract that?’
37 (84). Then the Druf demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! This is IQ7 the thing that counteracts it, namely, when a man unasked, kindly and piously, gives to one of the faithful something, be it ever so little, of the riches he has treasured up.
38 (87). ‘ He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does, tvho tears the child out of a mother’s womb.’
39 (88). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Driif! Who is the second of those males of thine?’
40 (89). Then the Dru^ demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! He is the second of my males who, making water, lets it fall along the upper forepart of his foot.
41 (92). ‘ That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
42 (93). The holy Sraosha asked the Dru^, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^! What is the thing that can counteract that? ’ 43 (94)’ Then the Druf demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! This is the thing that counteracts it, namely, when the man rising up 1 and stepping three steps further off, shall say three Ahuna-Vairya, two humatanam, three hukhshathrotemam, and then chant the Ahuna-Vairya and offer up one Ye«he h&tam.
1 ‘ Nec stando mingens...facile visitur Persa ’ (Amm. Marc. XXIII, 6); An& Viraf XXIV; Mainyo-i-khard II, 39; Saddar 56, Hyde 60. Cf. Manu IV, 47 seq., and Polack, Persien I, 67: ‘ Von einem in Paris weilenden Perser hinterbrachte man dem Konig, urn seine Emancipation und Abtriinnigkeit vom Gesetz zu beweisen, dass er Schvveinefleisch esse und stehend die Function verrichte.'
44 (98). ‘ He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does, who tears the child out of a mothers womb.’
45 (99)- The holy Sraosha asked the Drug", with his club uplifted against her: ‘O thou wretched and wicked Dru^-! Who is the third of those males of thine?’
46 (100). Then the Dru^ demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! He is the third of my males who during his sleep emits seed.
47 (102). ‘That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their females.’
48 (103). The holy Sraosha asked the Dru^, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru^! What is the thing that can counteract that?’
49 (104). Then the Druf demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! this is the thing that counteracts it, namely, if the man, when he has risen from sleep, shall say three Ahuna-Vairya, two humatanam, three hukhshathrotemam, and then chant the Aluina-Vairya and offer up one Ye«he hdtam.
50(107). ‘He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb as a four-footed wolf does who tears the child out of a mother’s womb.’
51 (108). Then he shall speak unto Spewta Armaiti ’, saying: ‘ O Spewta Armaiti, this man do I deliver unto thee; this man deliver thou back unto me, against the mighty day of resurrection; deliver him back as one who knows the Gathas, who * The genius of the earth (cf. Farg. II, 10).
knows the Yasna, and the revealed law1, a wise and clever man, who is the Word incarnate.
52 (112). ‘Then thou shalt call his name “Firecreature, Fire-seed, Fire-offspring, Fire-land,” or any name wherein is the word Fire 2.’
53(113). The holy Sraosha asked the Druf, with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Dru/! Who is the fourth of those males of thine?’
54 ( 1 14). Then the Dru^- demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! This one is my fourth male who, either man or woman, being more than fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle and the sacred shirt 3.
55(115). ‘At the fourth step4 we Daevas, at once, wither him even to the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power to destroy the world of the holy spirit, and he destroys it like the Y&tus and the Zawdas 5 6.’
56 (1 17). The holy Sraosha asked the Drug) with his club uplifted against her: ‘ O thou wretched and wicked Drug; what is the thing that can counteract that?’
57 (118). Then the Drug* demon, the guileful one, answered: ‘ O holy, tail-formed Sraosha! There is no means of counteracting it; 1 Literally, ' the answers made to the questions (of Zarathurtra).’
* Cf. Introd. IV, go, and Orm. Ahr. § 205.
3 The Kdsti and the Sadarah; see above, p. 191, n. 4. It is the sin known as kushac/ duvarirni (Mainyo-i-khard II, 35; Ar</a VirdfXXV, 6).
4 ‘Going three steps without K6sti is only a three Sraoshoy&arana sin; from the fourth step, it is a tanaffthr* sin’ (Comm.)
6 For the Yatus, see Introd. IV, 20; the za»da is a hobgoblin.
vendJdAd.
58 (120). ‘ When a man or a woman, being more than fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle or the sacred shirt.
59 (120). ‘ At the fourth step we Daevas, at once, wither him even to the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power to destroy the world of the holy spirit, and he destroys it like the Ydtus and the Zawdas.’
IV.
60 (122). Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.
61(123). Zarathwtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘Who grieves thee with the sorest grief? Who pains thee with the sorest pain?’
62(124). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the Cahi1, O Spitama Zarathurtra! who goes a-whoring after the faithful and the unfaithful, after the worshippers of Mazda and the worshippers of the Daevas, after the wicked and the righteous 2.
63(125). ‘Her look dries up one third of the mighty floods that run from the mountains; her look withers one third of the beautiful, golden hued, growing plants; 64 (127). ‘ Her look withers one third of the grass 1 The courtezan, as an incarnation of the female demon (7ahi (see Introd. IV, 15).
a ‘ [Whether she gives up her body to the faithful or to the unfaithful], there is* no difference; when khe has been with three men, she is guilty of death ’ (Comm.)
wherewith Spewta Armaiti 1 is clad 2, and her touch withers in the faithful one third of his good thoughts, of his good words, of his good deeds, one third of his strength, of his fiend-killing power, and of his holiness 3.
65 (129). ‘Verily I say unto thee, O Spitama Zarathmtra! such creatures ought to be killed even more than gliding snakes4, than howling wolves, than the wild she-wolf that falls upon the fold, or than the she-frog that falls upon the waters with her thousandfold brood.’
66 (133). Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the best of all beings, the most knowing, the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.
67-68(133). Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘If a man shall come unto a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, and he does so wittingly and knowingly5 * * 8, and she allows it wilfully, wittingly, and 1 The earth.
4 Doubtful. The Pahlavi translation has, ‘ One third of the strength of Spewta Armaiti.’
3 ‘ If a Crahi (courtezan) look at running waters, they fall j if at trees, they are stunted; if she converse with a pious man, his intelligence and his holiness are withered by it’ (Saddar 67; Hyde 74).
Cf. Manu IV, 40 scq.
* ^ It is wrilteH’ lTT the law (the Avesta): ‘0 Zartart Isfitaman 1 with regard to woman, I*>ay to thee that any woman that has given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to be killed than a wolf, a lion, or a snake: any one who kills such a woman will gain as much merit by it as if he had provided with wood a thousand firetemples, or destroyed the dens of adders, scorpions, lions, wolves, or snakes ’ (Old Rav. 59 b).* 8 ‘ Knowing her state and knowing that it is a sin ’ (Comm.)
knowingly, what is the atonement for it, what is the penalty that he shall pay to atone for the deed they have done? ’ 69(136). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘If a man shall come unto a woman who has an issue of blood, either out of the ordinary course or at the usual period, and he does so wittingly and knowingly, and she allows it wilfully, wittingly, and knowingly; 7° {l * 37)' ‘He shall slay a thousand head of small cattle; he shall godly and piously offer up to the fire 1 the entrails - thereof together with Zaothralibations; he shall bring the shoulder bones to the good waters 3.
71 (140). ‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire a thousand loads of soft wood, of Urvdsna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, Hadhd-naepata, or of any sweet-scented plant 4 5.
72(142). ‘He shall tie and consecrate a thousand bundles of baresma; he shall godly and piously offer up to the good waters a thousand Zaothra-' libations, together with the Haoma and the meat, cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man, together with the roots of the’ tree known as Hadha-naepata i!.
73 (144). ‘ He shall kill a thousand snakes of 1 To the Bahrain fire.
a The omentum (afsman) or epipleon. Strabo XV, 13: roC fViriXoi) ti fwcpbv riBtaai, &>s \tyovai nvfs, (Vi to Mp. ‘ Ascending six steps they showed me in a Room adjoining to the temple, their Fire which they fed with Wood, and sometimes Burn on it the Fat of the Sheep’s Tail.’ AVoyage Round the World, Dr. J.F.Gemelli, 1698.
’ The meat is eaten by the faithful (Asp.); cf. Herod. 1, 132.
4 Cf. Farg. XiV, 3 seq.
those that go upon the belly, two thousand of the other kind 1: he shall kill a thousand land frogs and two thousand water frogs; he shall kill a thousand corn-carrying ants and two thousand of the other kind2 * 4.
74 (147). ‘ He shall throw thirty bridges over canals; he shall undergo a thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshd-£arana;i.
75 (149). ‘ This is the atonement, this is the penalty that he shall pay to atone for the deed that he has done.
76 (150). ‘If he shall pay it, he shall enter the world of the holy ones; if he shall not pay it, he shall fall down into the world of the wicked, into that dark world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness V I (1-11). Angra Mainyu attempts to kill Zaratlnutra, and, when he fails, tempts him. Zarathurtra withstands both assaults with weapons both material and spiritual.
II (11-43). Zarathujtra applies to Ahura Mazda for a revelation of the law. He is taught how the fiend may be repelled, how the creation of Mazda is to be worshipped, how unclcanncss is to be washed away, and what becomes of the soul after death.
III (43-47). Angra Mainyu and his host, driven to despair, and feeling themselves powerless, flee down into hell.
This chapter may be entitled ‘The Revelation,’ and considered as the frame-work ofthe Vendidad, the remainder of which should have its place between the first and the third part; as the first part 8 Five tanaffihrs, that is six thousand dirhems.
shows the fiend’s struggles to prevent the revelation, and the third shows the effects of it; the second being, as it were, an abstract of the law, an abridged Venditlad.
The text and the Pahlavi commentary of this Fargard are translated in Haug’s Essays, p. 253 seq., p. 333 seq., and p. 379 seq.
I.
i. From the region of the north, from the regions of the north ', forth rushed Angra Mainyu, the deadly, the Daeva of the Daevas1 2. And thus spake the guileful one, he the evil-doer Angra Mainyu, the deadly: ‘ Druf, rush down upon him! destroy the holy Zarathuxtra! ’ The Dr of came rushing along, the demon Bfiiti3 4, the unseen death, the hell-born.
2 (5). Zarathuxtra chanted aloud the Ahuna- Vairya *: ‘The will of the Lord is the law of holiness; the riches of Vohu-man6 shall be given to him who works in this world for Mazda, and wields according to the will of Ahura the power he gave to him to relieve the poor.’
(He added): ‘Offer up prayers to the good waters of the good Dfiitya5!
‘ Profess the law of the worshippers of Mazda!’
The Druf dismayed, rushed away, the demon Buiti, the unseen death, the hell-born.
s ‘ The fiend of fiends,’ the arch-fiend.
* ‘ How does death enter the body of man? There are several Drupes from Ahriman, who come into the body and the soul of man: one of whom is a Drug- known as Bftt; she is the forerunner of death; when the time of the end is at hand, she produces in the body of man such excessive heat that he falls ill ’ (Dadar i Dadfikht, British Museum, Add. 8994, 130 a).
5 The river in Airyaha Vaejo; see Farg. I, 3, and Introd. Ill, 15.
3 (7). And the Dru^-, the guileful one, said unto Angra Mainyii: ‘O baneful Angra Mainyu! I see no way to kill him, so great is the glory of the holy Zarathiutra.’
Zarathiutra saw (all this) from within his soul: ‘ The evil-doing Daevas and Drvawts1 (thought he) take counsel together for my death.’
4(11). Up started Zarathiutra, forward went Zarathiutra, unshaken by the evil spirit, by the hardness of his malignant riddles 2 3, swinging stones in his hand, stones as big as a house s, which he obtained from the Maker, Ahura Mazda, he the holy Zarathiutra.
‘At what on this wide, round earth, whose ends lie afar, at what dost thou swing (those stones), thou who standest by the river Dare^a 4 *, upon the mountains, in the mansion of Pourusaspa fl?’
5 (16). Thus Zarathiutra answered Angra Mainyu: ‘ O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! I will smite the creation of the Daeva; I will smite the Nasu, a creature of the Daeva; I will smite the Pairika Knathaiti 6, till the fiend-smiter Saoshyawt come up to life out 1 See Introd. IV, 22.
2 This is a fragment of an old myth in which Zarathurtra and Angra Mainyu played respectively the parts of Oedipus and the Sphinx. See, for further explanation, Orm. Ahr. §§ 163-165.
3 See Introd. IV, 40. The Commentary has, ‘ Some say, those stones are the Ahuna^Vairya.’ In another attempt to account for a mythical expression, which was no longer understood, those thunderbolts were turned into the nine-knotted stick used in the Barashnftm (see Farg. IX, 14; Comm, and Asp.)
* See Introd. Ill, 15.
* The father of Zarathurtra.
* Cf. Farg. 1, 10, and Introd. IV, 21.
of the lake Kasava, from the region of the dawn, from the regions of the dawn V 6 (20). Again to him said the guileful one, the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: ‘ Do not destroy my creatures, O holy Zarathmtra! Thou art the son of Pourmaspa1 2, just born of thy mother3. Renounce the good law of the worshippers of Mazda, and thou shalt gain such a boon as the murderer 4 * * gained, the ruler of the nations/ 7 (24). Thus in answer to him said Spitama Zarathmtra: ‘No! never will I renounce the good law of the worshippers of Mazda, though my body, my life, my soul should burst! ’ 8 (27). Again to him said the guileful one, the Maker of the evil world, Angra Mainyu: ‘ By whose Word wilt thou strike, by whose Word wilt thou repel, by whose weapon will the good creatures (strike and repel) my creation who am Angra Mainyu? ’ 9 (29). Thus in answer to him said Spitama Zarathmtra: ‘ The sacred mortar, the sacred cup, the Haoma, the Words taught by Mazda, these are my weapons, my best weapons! By this Word will I strike, by this Word will I repel, by this weapon the good creatures (will strike and repel thee), O evil-doer, Angra Mainyu! To me Spewta Mainyu gave it, he gave it to me in the boundless Time 8; 1 See Introd. IV, 39-40. 2 ‘ I krfow thee ’ (Comm.)
3 Doubtful (cf. § 46); possibly, ‘ I was invoked by thy mother.’ The Commentary has, ‘ Some explain thus: Thy forefathers worshipped me: worship me also.’
4 Ajis Dahaka or Zohak, who, as a legendary king, is said to have ruled the world for a thousand years (Introd. IV, 1 1).
* See Introd. IV, 42. The Ahuna -Vairya was revealed before to me the Amesha Spewtas, the all-ruling, the allbeneficent, gave it.’
10 (35). Zarathuitra chanted aloud the Ahuna- Vairya. The holy Zarathiutra said aloud: ‘ This I ask thee: teach me the truth, O Lord1!..
II.
11(37). Zarathurtra asked Ahura Mazda: ‘O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! [he was sitting by the T)are^a, on the mountain2, praying to Ahura Mazda, to the good Vohu-man6, to Asha Vahwta, Khshathra Vairya, and Spewta Armaiti;] 1 2 (39). ‘ How shall I make the world free from that Druf, from the evil-doer Angra Mainyu? How shall I drive away direct defilement? How indirect defilement? How shall I drive the Nasu from the house of the worshippers of Mazda? How shall I cleanse the faithful man? How shall I cleanse the faithful woman?’
13(42). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Invoke, O Zarathartra! the good law of Mazda.
‘ Invoke, O Zarathustra! the Amesha Spe«tas who rule over the seven Karshvares of the earth 8_ ‘ Invoke, 0 Zarathuxtra! the sovereign Heaven, the boundless Time4, and Vayu5, whose action is most high.
the creation of the world (Yasna XIX), and consequently in the boundless Time.
1 This verse is the beginning of a Gatha (Yasna XLIV), in which Zarathurtra applies to Ahura Mazda to be taught the mysteries of the world and of the law.
2 See § 4 and Introd. Ill, 15. 8 See Introd. IV, 7.
4 See Introd. IV, 42. 6 See Introd. IV, 15.