Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft abnormal issues in women and excessive heat.
20 (76). The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the land by the floods of the Rangha 7, where people live without a head8.
' A land unknown. Asp.: China, which is certainly wrong. There was a town of that name in Khorasan (A’arkh).
2 See Farg. VIII, 73.
3 See the Introd. to the Farg. 4 Farg. XVI, 11 seq.
6 Possibly an allusion to Aaij Dahaka (Zohak), who, as a king, represents the foreign conqueror (in later tradition the Tazi or Arab; possibly in older tradition the Assyrian).
3 The basin of the affluents of the Indus, the modern Pafi^ab (=the Five Rivers).
7 ‘ Arvast&n-i-Rfim (Roman Mesopotamia),’ (Comm.; see the Introd. to the Farg.)
3 It is interpreted in a figurative sense as meaning ‘ people who VF.NDIDAD.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft winter, a work of the Daevas *.
21 (81). There are still other lands and countries, beautiful and deep, desirable and bright, and thriving.
Yima (Gamshed).
This Fargard may be divided into two parts.
First part (1-20). Aliura Mazda proposes to Yima, the son of Vivanghat, to receive the law from him and to bring it to men. On his refusal, he bids him keep his creatures and make them prosper. Yima accordingly makes them thrive and increase, keeps death and disease away from them, and three times enlarges the earth, which had become too narrow for its inhabitants.
Second part (2 1 to the end). On the approach of a dire winter, which is to destroy every living creature, Yima, being advised by Ahura, builds a Vara to keep there the seeds of every kind of animals and plants, and the blessed live there a most happy life under his rule.
The tale in the first part refers to Yima as the first man, the first king, and the founder of civilisation (sec Intiod.1V, 38); the talc in 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 in the Sassanian ages to the non-Mazdean people of Arvastan-i-Rum. I think we must adopt the literal meaning, and recognise in this passage the source, or at least the oldest form, of those tales about people without a head, with eyes on their shoulders, which Pliny received from the half-Persian Ctesias (Hist. N. VII, 2; V, 8; cf. Aul. Cell. IX, 4; Sanct. August. Dc Civit. Dei, XVI, 8). Persian geographers mention such people, they place them in the Oriental islands near China, whence they sent ambassadors to the Khan of the Tatars (Ouseley, Catalogue). The mythical origin of those tales may be traced in Indian and Greek mythology (Orm. Ahr, § 222; cf. Pausanias IX, 20).
1 Vendidad Sadah: ‘ And the oppression of the land that comes from taosa(?)/ II the second part is a combination of the myths of Yima, as the first dead and the king of the dead over whom he rules in a region of bliss, and of old myths about the end of the world. The world, lasting a long year of twelve millenniums, was to end by a dire winter, like the Eddie Fimbul winter, to be followed by an everlasting spring, when men, sent back to earth from the heavens, should enjoy, in an eternal earthly life, the same happiness that they had enjoyed after their death in the realm of Yima. Hut as in the definitive form which was taken by Mazdean cosmology the world was made to end by fire, its destruction by winter was no longer the last incident of its life, and therefore, the Var of Yima, instead of remaining, as it was originally, the paradise that gives back to earth its inhabitants, came to be nothing more than a sort of Noah’s ark (see Introd. IV, 39, and Orm. Ahr. §§ 94, 131, 184, 185).
I.
1. Zarathmtra asked Ahura Mazda: O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!
Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zaratluutra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse l, whom thou didst teach the law of Ahura, the law of Zarathustra?
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered: The fair Yima, the great shepherd, O holy Zarathiutra! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zaratlnutra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the law of Ahura, the law of Zarathu-stra.
3 (7). Unto him, O Zarathiutra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying: ‘Well, fair Yima, son of Vivanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer of my law! ’ And the fair Yima, O Zarathustra, replied unto me, saying: 1 ‘ On the law’ (Comm.)
‘ I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy law1.’
4(11). Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathiwtra: ‘ Since thou wantest not to be the preacher and the bearer of my law, then make thou my worlds thrive, make my worlds increase: undertake thou to nourish, to rule, and to watch over my world.’
5 (14). And the fair Yima replied unto me, O Zarathustra, saying: ‘Yes! I will make thy worlds thrive, I will make thy worlds increase. Yes! I will nourish, and rule, and watch over thy world. There shall be, while I am king, neither cold wind nor hot wind, neither disease nor death.’
7 (17)2 * 4 * * * 8. Then I, Ahura Mazda, brought two implements unto him: a golden ring and a poniard inlaid with gold*, behold, here Yima bears the royal sway 1 8 (20). Thus, under the sway of Yima, three hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and 1 In the Vedas, Yama, as the first man, is the first priest too; he brought worship here below as well as life, and ‘ first he stretched out the thread of sacrifice.’ Yima had once the same right as his Indian brother to the title of a founder of religion: he lost it as, in the course of the development of Mazdeism, Zaratlnutra became the titular law-giver (cf. Introd. IV, 40; Orm. Ahr. § 156).
4 The § 6 is composed of unconnected Zend quotations, that are no part of the text and are introduced by the commentator for the purpose of showing that ‘although Yima did not teach the law and train pupils, he was nevertheless a faithful and a holy man, and rendered men holy too (?).’
8 As the symbol and the instrument of sovereignty. ‘He reigned supreme by the strength of the ring and of the poniard ’ (Asp.)
dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was no more room for flocks, herds, and men.
9. Then I warned the fair Yima, saying: 4 O fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is no more room for flocks, herds, and men/ 10. Then Yima stepped forward, towards the luminous space, southwards, to meet the sun1, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: ‘ O Spe/Jta Armaiti 2, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men/ 11. And Yima made the earth grow larger by one-third than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will and wish, as many as he wished3.
1 Thence is derived the following tradition recorded by G. du Chinon: 1 Ils en nomment un qui s’allait tous les jours promener dans le Ciel du Soleil d’ou il aportait la sciance dcs Astrcs, aprez les avoir visites dc si prez. Ils nomment ce grand personnage Gemachid* (Relations nouvelles du Levant, Lyon, 1671, p. 478). There is no direct connexion, as it seems, between the two acts of Yima, namely, between his going to the heaven of the sun- and his enlarging the surface of the earth. The meaning of the first is given, perhaps, by the tale about the dream of Cyrus: 4 lie saw in a dream the sun at his feet: thrice he tried vainly to seize it with his hands, as the sun was rolling and sliding away. The Magi said to him that the threefold effort to seize the sun presaged to him a reign of thirty years5 (Dino ap. Cicero, De Divin. I, 23). Yima goes three times to the sun, to take thence royal power for three times three hundred years. In Aryan mythology, the sun is, as is well known, the symbol and source of royalty: Persian kings in particular are 4 the brothers of the sun.'
2 The genius of the earth (see Introd. IV, 33).
* The happiness which Yima made reign on the earth is also 12 (23). Thus, under the sway of Yima, six hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was no more room for flocks, herds, and men.
x 3. And I warned the fair Yima, saying: ‘ O fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is no more room for flocks, herds, and men.’
14. Then Yima stepped forward, towards the luminous space, southwards, to meet the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: ‘ O Spewta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.’
15. And Yima made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will and wish, as many as he wished.
16 (26). Thus, under the sway of Yima, nine hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and. birds and with red blazing fires, and there was no more room for flocks, herds, and men.
17(28). And I warned the fair Yima, saying: ‘ O fair Yima, son of Vlvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is no more room for flocks, herds, and men.’
described Ys. IX, 4; Yt. IX, 8 seq.; Yt. XV, 15. In the Shah Namah he is the founder of civilisation, of social order, of arts and sciences, and the first builder (cf. § 25 seq.)
18 (31). Then Yima stepped forward, towards the luminous space, southwards, to meet the sun, and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: ‘ O Spewta Armaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.’
19 (37). And Yima made the earth grow larger by three-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will and wish, as many as he wished.
II.
21 (42) h The Maker, Ahura Mazda, of high renown1 2 * in the Airyana Vae^o, by the good river Daitya:1, called together a meeting of the celestial gods.
The fair Yima, the good shepherd, of high renown2 in the Airyana Vae^o, by the good river Daitya, called together a meeting of the excellent mortals 4.
To that meeting came Ahura Mazda, of high renown in the Airyana V aef 6, by the good river Daitya; he came together with the celestial gods.
To that meeting came the fair Yima, the good shepherd, of high renown in the Airyana V ae^o, by the good river Dditya; he came together with the excellent mortals.
22 (46). And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying: ‘ O fair Yima, son of V Ivanghat! U pon the material 1 § 20 belongs to the Commentary.
2 Or perhaps, ‘ whose voice was loud,’ &c. (while proclaiming the law).
•' See Farg. I, Introd., and notes to § 2.
4 Primitively the souls of the righteous (sec Introd. IV, 38).
world the fatal winters are going to fall, that shall bring the fierce, foul frost; upon the material world the fatal winters 1 are going to fall, that shall make snow-flakes fall thick, even an aredvi deep on the highest tops of mountains 2.
23 (52). And all the three sorts of beasts shall perish, those that live in the wilderness, and those that live on the tops of the mountains, and those that live in the bosom of the dale, under the shelter of stables.
24 (57). Before that winter, those fields would bear plenty of grass for cattle: now with floods that stream, with snows that melt, it will seem a happy land in the world, the land wherein footprints even of sheep may still be seen 3.
25 (61). Therefore make thee a Vara4, long as a 1 The Commentary has here: Malkosan, which is the plural of the Hebrew Malkox, ‘rain;’ this seems to be an attempt to identify the Iranian legend with the biblical tradition of the deluge. The attempt was both a success and a failure; Malkoj entered the Iranian mythology and became naturalised there, but it was mistaken for a proper noun, and became the name of a demon, who by witchcraft will let loose a furious winter on the earth to destroy it (Saddar 9). What may be called the diluvial version of the myth is thus summed up in the Mainyd-i-khard: ‘ By him (Gamshid) the enclosure of Jam-kard was made; when there is that rain of Malakosan, as it is declared in the religion, that mankind and the remaining creatures and creations of Hormezd, the lord, will mostly perish; then they will open the gate of that enclosure of Jam-kard, and men and cattle and the remaining creatures and creation of the creator Hdrmezd will come from that enclosure and arrange the world again* (XXVII, 27 scq.; edited and translated by E. West).
2 ‘Even where it (the snow) is least, it will be one Vitasti two fingers deep’ (Comm.); that is, fourteen fingers deep.
8 Doubtful.
4 Literally, ‘ an enclosure.' This Vara is known in later mythology as the Var-Gam-kard, ‘ the Var made by Yima/ riding-ground on every side of the square ', and thither bring the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires.
Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a ridingground on every side of the square, to be an abode for men; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be a fold for flocks.
26 (65). There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there thou shalt settle birds, by the ever-green banks that bear never-failing food. There thou shalt establish dwelling places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery 1 2 3.
27 (70). Thither thou shalt bring the seeds2 of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth.
28 (74). Thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of tree, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; thither thou shalt bring the seeds of every kind of fruit, the fullest of food and sweetest of odour. All those seeds shalt thou bring, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.
29 (80). There shall be no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no poverty, no lying; no meanness, no jealousy; no 1 ‘Two hathras long on every side’ (Comm.) A hathra is about an English mile.
2 The last three words are una£ Xcyopcva of doubtful meaning.
3 To be sown in the ground, and to grow up into life in due time (? see § 41, text and note).
decayed tooth, no leprous to be confined1, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
30 (87). In the largest part of the place thou shalt make nine streets, six in the middle part, three in the smallest. To the streets of the largest part thou shalt bring a thousand seeds of men and women; to the streets of the middle part, six hundred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred. That Vara thou shalt seal up with the golden ring 2, and thou shalt make a door, and a window self-shining within.
31 (93). Then Yima said within himself: ‘How shall I manage to make that Vara which Ahura Mazda has commanded me to make?’
And Ahura Mazda said unto Yima: ‘ O fair Yima, son of Vivanghat! Crush the earth with a stamp of thy heel, and then knead it with thy hands, as the potter docs when kneading the potter’s clay3.’
[32. And Yima did as Ahura Mazda wished; he crushed the earth with a stamp of his heel, he kneaded it with his hands, as the potter does when kneading the potter’s clay4.]
33 (9 1)- And Yima made a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square. There he brought the seeds of sheep and oxen, of men, of * In the Shah Namah Gamshid teaches the Dtvs to make and knead clay; and they build palaces at his bidding. It was his renown, both as a wise king and a great builder, that caused the Musulmans to identify him with Solomon.
dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. He made a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for men; a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be a fold for flocks.
34 (101). There he made waters flow in a bed a hathra long; there he settled birds, by the evergreen banks that bear never-failing food. There he established dwelling places, consisting of a house with a balcony, a courtyard, and a gallery.
35 (106). Thcre he brought the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth.
36(110). There he brought the seeds of every kind of tree, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of fruit, the fullest of food and sweetest of odour. All those seeds he brought, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.
37 ( 1 16). And there were no humpbacked, none bulged forward there; no impotent, no lunatic; no poverty, no lying; no meanness, no jealousy; no decayed tooth, no leprous to be confined, nor any of the brands wherewith Angra Mainyu stamps the bodies of mortals.
38 (123). In the largest part of the place he made nine streets, six in the middle part, three in the smallest. To the streets of the largest part he brought a thousand seeds of men and women; to the streets of the middle part, six hundred; to the streets of the smallest part, three hundred. That Vara he sealed up with the golden ring, and he made a door, and a window self-shining within.
39 (I29)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What [lights are there to give light1] in the Vara which Yima made?
40(131). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ There are uncreated lights and created lights 2. There the stars, the moon, and the sun are only once (a year) seen to rise and set 3, and a year seems only as a day.
41 (I33)- ‘Every fortieth year, to every couple two are born, a male and a female4. And thus it is for every sort of cattle. And the men in the Vara which Yima made live the happiest life5/ 1 From the Vcndiddd Sadah.
2 Heavenly lights and material lights. The Commentary has here the following Zend quotation: ‘ All uncreated light shines from above; all the created lights shine from below/ We give here the description of Iran-ve^ according to a later source, the Mainy6-i-khard (as translated by West): * Hdrmezd created Ara-ves better than the remaining places and districts; and its goodness was this, that men's life is three hundred years; and cattle and sheep, one hundred and fifty years; and their pain and sickness are little, and they do not circulate falsehood, and they make no lamentation and weeping; and the sovereignty of the demon of Avarice, in their body, is little, and in ten men, if they eat one loaf, they are satisfied; and in every forty years, from one woman and one man, one child is born; and their law is goodness, and religion the primeval religion, and when they die, they are righteous (= blessed); and their chief is Gopatsh&h, and the ruler and king is Srosh* (XLIV, 24).
3 Doubtful.
4 From the seeds deposited in the Vara (see §§ 27 seq., 35 seq.); in the same way as the first human couple grew up, after forty years, in the shape of a Reivas shrub, from the seed of Gay6mar</ received by Spewta Armaiti (the Earth. See Bund. XV).
5 ‘They live there. for 150 years; some say, they never die/ (Comm.) The lattSr are right, that is to say, are nearer the mythical 42 (137). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is he who brought the law of Mazda into the Vara which Yima made?
Ahura Mazda answered: * It was the bird Karshipta1, O holy ZarathurtraP 43 (140). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the lord and ruler there?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Urvatarf-nara2, O Zarathuitra! and thyself, Zarathustra.'
Fargard IIL The Earth.
I (1-6). The five places where the Earth feels most joy.
II (7-1 1). The five places where the Earth feels most sorrow.
III ( 1 2-35). The five things which most rejoice the Earth.
IV (36-42). Corpses ought not to be buried in the Earth.
There is a resemblance as to words between the first and truth, as the inhabitants of the Vara were primitively the departed and therefore immortal.
1 ‘ The bird Karshipta dwells in the heavens: were he living on the earth, he would be the king of birds, lie brought the law into the Var of Yima, and recites the Avesta in the language of birds' (Bund. XIX and XXIV). As the bird, because of the swiftness of his flight, was often considered an incarnation of lightning, and as thunder was supposed to be the voice of a god speaking from above, the song of the bird was often thought to be the utterance of a god and a revelation (see Orm. Ahr. § 157).
2 Zarathwtra had three sons during his lifetime (cf. Introd. IV, 40), Isar/-vastra, Hvare-Z’ithra, and Urvatar/-nara, who were respectively the fathers and chiefs of the three classes, priests, warriors, and husbandmen. They play no great part in Mazdean mythology, and are little more than three subdivisions of Zarathu^tra himself, who was * the first priest, the first warrior, the first husbandman ' (Yt. XIII, 88). ZarathusLra, as a heavenly priest, was, by right, the ratu in Air) ina Vae^o, wfrpt»jy fenrritdj^e religion by a sacrifice (Bund. XXXIII library second parts, but there is none as to matter; no clause in the ‘former has its counterpart in the latter. There is more resemblance between the second part and the third; as the first three clauses of the third part (§§ 12, 13, 22) relate to the same things as the second, third, and fourth clauses of the second part (§§ 8, Parts I and II are nothing more than dry enumerations. Part III is more interesting, as it contains two long digressions, the one (§§ 14-21) on funeral laws, the other (§§ 24-33) on holiness of husbandry. The fourth part of the chapter may be considered as a digression relating to the first clause of the third part (§ 12).
The things which rejoice or grieve the Earth are those that produce fertility and life or sterility and death, either in it or on it.
The subject of this chapter has become a commonplace topic with the Parsis, who have treated it more or less antithetically in the Mainyo-i-khard (chaps. V and VI) and in the Ravaets (Gr.
The second digression (§§ 24-33) translated in Haug’s Essays, p. 235 seq.
I.
1. 0 Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first place where the Earth feels most happy?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is the place whereon one of the faithful steps forward, O Spitama Zarathuitra! with the holy wood in his hand l, the baresma2 in his hand, the holy meat in his hand, 1 The wood for the fire altar.
2 The baresma (now called barsom) is a bundle of sacred twigs which the priest holds in his hand while reciting the prayers. They were formerly twigs of the pomegranate, date, or tamarind tree, or of any tree that had no thorns, and were plucked with particular ceremonies, which alone made them fit to be used for liturgic purposes (cf. Farg. XIX, 18 seq.) The Parsis in India found it convenient to replace them by brass wires, which, when once consecrated, can be used for an indefinite period. It is the baresma which is alluded to by Strabo, when speaking of the bundle of thin twigs of heath, which the Magi hold in their hand the holy mortar 1 in his hand, fulfilling the law with love, and beseeching aloud Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, and Rcima Hvk stra2.’
2, 3 (6-10). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One 1 Which is the second place where the Earth feels most happy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is the place whereon one of the faithful erects a house with a priest within, with cattle, with a wife, with children, and good herds within; and wherein afterwards the cattle go on thriving, holiness is thriving 3, fodder is thriving, the dog is thriving, the wife is thriving, the child is thriving, the fire is thriving, and every blessing of life is thriving.’
4(11). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the third place where the Earth feels most happy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place where one of the faithful cultivates most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zaratluutra! where he waters ground that is dry, or dries ground that is too wet.’
5 (15). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fourth place where the Earth feels most happy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is the place where there is most increase of flocks and herds.’
while reciting their hymns (ray mafias 7roiovvrai tto\vp 1 The Havana or mortar used in crushing the Haoma or Horn (see Introd. IV, 28).
2 The god that gives good folds and good pastures to cattle (see Introd. IV, 16).
3 By the performance of worship.
'H 6 (18). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fifth place where the Earth feels most happy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place where flocks and herds yield most dung.’
II.
7 (21). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first place where the Earth feels sorest grief?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is the neck of Arczflra1, whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth from the burrow of the Druf V 8 (25). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the second place where the Earth feels sorest grief?
Ahura Mazda answered: * It is the place wherein most corpses of dogs and of men lie buried 3.
9 (28). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the third place where the Earth feels sorest grief?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place whereon stand most of those Dakhmas on which corpses of men are deposited4.’
10 (31). O Maker of the material world, thou 1 The neck of Arezflra (A r e z u r a h e griva) is ‘a mount at the gate of hell, whence the demons rush forth ’ (Bund. 22, 16); it is also called ‘ the head of Arezflra’ (Farg. XIX, 45), or ‘ the back of Arezflra ’ (Bund. 21,17). Arezfira was first the name of a fiend who was killed by Gayotnarr/ (Mainyo-i-khard XXVII, 15); and mount Arezflra was most likely the mountain to which he was bound, as Azi Dahaka was to Demavend (see Introd. IV, 18).
4 With regard to Dakhmas, see Introd. V, ro. ‘ Nor is the Earth happy at that place whereon stands a Dakhma with corpses upon it; for that patch of ground will never be clean again till the day of Holy One! Which is the fourth place where the Earth feels sorest grief?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is the place wherein are most burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu V 11 (34). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fifth place where the Earth feels sorest grief?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is the place whereon the wife and children of one of the faithful 2, O Spitama Zaratlnutra! are driven along the way of captivity, the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing.’
III.
12 (38). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the first that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is he who digs out of it most corpses of dogs and men V 13 (41). O Maker of the material world, thou resurrection’ (Gr. Rav. 435, 437). Although the erection of Dakhmas is enjoined by the law, yet the Dakhma in itself is as unclean as any spot on the earth can be, since it is always in contact with the dead (cf. Farg.VII, 55). The impurity which would otherwise be scattered over the whole world, is thus brought together to one and the same spot. Yet even that spot, in spite of the Ravaet, is not to lie defiled for ever, as every fifty years the Dakhmas ought to be pulled down, so that their sites may be restored to their natural purity (V. i. Farg. VII, 49 seq. and this Farg. § 13).
1 ‘Where there are most Khrafstras’ (Comm.); cf. Introd. V, xi.
9 Killed by an enemy.
9 There is no counterpart give!! to the first grief (§ 7), because, as the Commentary naively expresses it, ‘ it is not possible so to dig out hell, which will be done at the end of the world’ (Bund. XXXI, sub fin.)
YEN D{ DAD.
Holy One! Who is the second that rejoices the -Earth with greatest joy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is he who pulls down most of those Dakhmas on which corpses of men are deposited/ 14 (44). Let no man alone by himself carry a corpse l. If a man alone by himself carry a corpse, the Nasu 2 rushes upon him, to defile him, from the nose of the dead, from the eye, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organ, from the hinder parts. This Dru^, this Nasu, falls upon him, stains him even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.
15 (49). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What shall be the place of that man who has carried a corpse alone 3 4?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It shall be the place on this earth wherein is least water and fewest plants, whereof the ground is the cleanest and the driest and the least passed through by flocks and herds, by Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful.’
1 No ceremony in general can be performed by one man alone.
Two Mobeds are wanted to perform the Vendid&d service, two priests for the Barash num, two persons for the Sag-did (Anquctil, II, 584 n.) It is never good that the faithful should be alone, as the fiend is always lurking about, ready to take advantage of any moment of inattention. If the faithful be alone, there is no one to make up for any negligence and to prevent mischief arising from it. Never is the danger greater than in the present case, when the fiend is close at hand, and in direct contact with the faithful.
4 See Introd. V, 3.
8 As the Nasu has taken hold of him, he has become a Nasu incarnate, aud must no longer be allowed to come into contact with men, whom he would defile.
16 (55). 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?
17 (57). 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.
18, 19 (58-63). ‘There, on that place, shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure l, and therein shall they establish him with food, therein shall they establish him with clothes, with the coarsest food and with the most worn-out clothes. That food he shall live on, those clothes he shall wear, and thus shall they let him live, until he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Paimta-khshudra 2 *.
20, 21 (64-71). ‘And when he has grown to the age of a 1 lana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairbtakhshudra, then the worshippers of Mazda shall order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful*, to flay the skin off his body and cut the head off his neck 4, on the top of the mountain: and they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by Ahura Mazda, to the greedy ravens, with these words: “ The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds.
1 The Armert-g&h, the place for the unclean; scclntrod. V, 15.
2 Hana means, literally, ‘an old man;’ Zaurura, ‘a man broken down by age;’ Pairirta-khshudra, ‘one whose seed is dried up.’ These words seem to have acquired the technical meanings of ‘ fifty, sixty, and seventy years old.’
* ‘ Trained to operations of that sort’ (Comm.); a headsman.
4 Cf. Farg. IX, 49, text and note.
If he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance 1: if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance, for ever and ever2.”’
22 (72). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the third that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘It is he who fills up most burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu.’
2 3 (75)- O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the fourth that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘ It is he who cultivates most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathiutra! who waters ground that is dry, or dries ground that is too wet 3.
24 (79). ‘ Unhappy is the land that has long lain unsown with the seed of the sower and wants a good husbandman, like a Avell-shapen maiden who has long gone childless and wants a good husband.
25 (84). ‘He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him will she bring 1 The performance of the Patet. See Introd. V, 22.
2 It seems as if the law had formerly directed that he should be immediately put to death; but that afterwards, when the rigour of the law had abated, the object which had previously been fulfilled by his death, was then attained by his confinement. He was allowed to live in confinement till he was old and all but dead, and he was put to death by the law, just before he would have died in the usual course of nature (see §§ 19, 20). Certain Ravaets put the ‘carrier alone' among the number of the margarz&n (East India Office Library, Zend MSS. VIII, 144); he is not only to be punished in this world, but in the other too; he is condemned to feed in hell on corpses of men (Ar<& Viraf XXXVIII).
forth plenty, like a loving bride on her bed, unto her beloved; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring forth plenty of fruit.
26, 27 (87-90). ‘ He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathu^tra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth: “ O thou man! who dost till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left [hither shall people ever come and beg (for bread1)], here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn2.”