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THIS chapter is an enumeration of sixteen 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[1]. But there is nothing in the text that would authorise us to look to it even for legendary records, much less for real history. We have here nothing more than a geographical description of Iran, such as might be expected in a religious work like the Vendīdād, that is to say, one that contains mythical lands as well as real countries. It is not easy to decide with perfect certainty, in every case, whether we have to do with a land of the former or of the latter kind, owing partly to our deficient knowledge of the geography of ancient Iran, partly to the fact that names, originally belonging to mythical lands, are often in later times attached to real ones.
Of these sixteen lands there are certainly nine which have really existed, and of which we know the geographical position, as we are able to follow their names from the records of the Achęmenian kings or the works of classical writers down to the map of modern Iran. They are the following:--
[1. Rhode, Die heilige Sage des Zendvolks, p. 61; Heeren, Ideen zur Geschichte, I, p. 498; Lassen, Indische Alterthumskunde I, p. 526; Haug in Bunsen's work, Aegypten's Stellung, V, 2nd part, p. 104; Kiepert, Monatsberichte der Berliner Akademie, 1856, p. 621.--New light was thrown on this record by M. Bréal in his paper 'De la géographie de l'Avesta' (in the Mźlanges de mythologie et de linguistique, p. 187 seq.)]
{p. 2}
|
ZEND NAME. |
OLD PERSIAN. |
GREEK. |
MODERN NAME. |
|
Sughdha(2) |
Suguda |
Sogdianh' |
(Samarkand) |
|
Mōuru (3) |
Margu |
Margianh' |
Merv |
|
Bākhdhi (4) |
Bākhtri |
Ba'ktra |
Balkh |
|
Harōyu (6) |
Haraiva |
A?'reia |
Hari-rūd |
|
Vehrkāna (9) |
Varkāna |
U!rkani'a |
Gorgān |
|
Harahvaiti (16) |
Harauvati |
A?ra'xwtos |
Harūt |
|
Haźtumant (11) |
|
E!tu'mandros |
Helmend |
|
Ragha (12) |
Raga |
R!agai' |
Raļ |
|
Hapta hindu (15) |
Hindavas |
I?ndoi' |
(Pańgāb) |
The real existence of Nisāya (5) is certain, although its position cannot be exactly determined (see the note to § 8).
For the other lands we are confined for information to the Pahlavi Commentary. Kakhra(13) is only transliterated, whether the name was then too much known to require any further explanation or too little to allow of any. Urva (8) is described as being Masān ('the land of Masān' or 'the land of the Great'), a name which applied, in the Sassanian ages, to the land around Ispahān (Firdausi, ed. Mohl, V, 270).
For 'Varena, the four-cornered' (14), the Commentary hesitates between the Padashkhvārgar mountains (the Elborz) and Kirmān, a hesitation easily accounted for by the fact that Varena is the seat of the struggle between Azis Dahāka and Thraźtaona, between the storm serpent and the storm god, and was formerly 'the four-sided Heaven' (see Introd. IV, 12, 23). Modern tradition decides in favour of Padashkhvārgar, probably because the serpent was at last bound to Demavand, the highest peak in that chain. The claims of Kirmān were probably founded on the popular etymology of its name, 'the land of snakes.'
'Vaźkereta, of the evil shadows' (8), is identified with Kapul (Cabul); whether rightly or wrongly, we are unable to decide; yet, as it is spoken of only as the seat of the adventures of Keresāspa (see Introd. IV, 2 1), it may be suspected that this assimilation rests merely on the fact that, in later tradition, the legend of Keresāspa was localised in the table-land of Peshyansāi, in Kabulistan (Bund. XXX).
In the enumeration there is no apparent order whatever, and Ormazd, in his creations, seems to travel all over the map, forward and backward, without the slightest regard to the cardinal points. Yet, the starting point and the final point have not been arbitrarily chosen: the first land created was 'the Airyana Vaźgō by the Vanguhi Dāitya,' and the last was the land by the Rangha. Now,
{p. 3}
the Vanguhi and the Rangha were originally the celestial rivers that came down from heaven (as two heavenly Ganggās) to surround the earth, the one in the east, the other in the west (Bund. XX); this is why the creation begins with a land by the Vanguhi and ends with a land by the Rangha.
In the Sassanian ages, when the Tigris was definitively the border of Iran in the west, the Rangha was identified with it, and the sixteenth land is accordingly described in the Commentary as being Arvastān-i-Rūm, or Roman Mesopotamia. But all the Avesta passages in which the Rangha is cited refer to its mythical nature, as the river in the far-off horizon, as the surrounding Okeanos, and, now and then, still resembling its Vedic homonym, the Rasa, as the river that divides the gods from the fiends.
The first land, the Airyana Vaźgō by the Vanguhi Dāitya, remained to the last a mythical region. It was originally the abode of Yima and of the righteous, that is to say, a particular-form of paradise (see Introd. IV, 38, and Farg. II). Later on, it was looked for in the countries north of Adarbaijan, probably in order that it should be as near as possible to the seat of the Zoroastrian religion, yet. without losing its supernatural character by the counter-evidence of facts. This brought about the division of the Vanguhi Dāitya into two rivers: as the Airyana Vaźgō was localised in the country north of Adarbaijan, the river in it must become identified with the Araxes (Aras); but, at the same time, it continued to surround the world eastward under the name of Veh (Vanguhi), which was the Sassanian name of the Oxus--Indus[1]. It seems that in the time of Herodotus, the Araxes and the Oxus were considered one and the same river[2], as the Oxus and the Indus were later on; this would account for his strange statement that the Araxes, which is confessedly with him the Oxus or Yaxartes, springs from the land of the Matianians, like the Gyndes, and flows eastwards (I, 202; IV, 40; cf. III, 36; IV, 11); and, at the same time, this would account both for how the Airyana Vaźgō could be localised in the basin of the Araxes and how the Oxus could flow eastwards to fall into the Arabian sea.
[1. The Oxus and the Indus were believed to be one and the same river (Bund. l.c.; see Garrez, journal Asiatique, 1869, II, 195 seq.)
2 Running under the Caspian sea, as Arethusa runs under the Sicilian sea and the Rangha itself under the Persian gulf (Bund. XX; cf. Garrez 1.c.)
3. Whether in the time when this Fargard was written, the Airyana {footnote p. 4} Vaźgō was still believed to be in the far-off lands of the rising sun, or already on the banks of the Aras, we leave undecided.]
{p. 4}
It follows hence that no historical conclusions can be drawn from this description: it was necessary that it should begin with the Vanguhi and end with the Rangha. To look to it for an account of geographical migrations, is converting cosmology into history.
Of the counter-creations of Angra Mainyu there is little to be said: they are different vices and plagues, which are generally unconnected with the country to the creation of which they answer. Some of them are expressed by {Greek a?'paks lego'mena}, the meaning of which is doubtful or unknown.
If we assume that only lands belonging to the Iranian world were admitted into the list, the mention of the Seven Rivers would indicate that the first Fargard was not composed earlier than the time when the basin of the Indus became a part of Iran, that is, not earlier than the reign of Darius the First.
1. Ahura Mazda[1] spake unto Spitama[2] Zarathustra[3], saying:
2. I have made every land dear to its dwellers, even though it had no charms whatever in it[4]: had I not made every land dear to its dwellers, even though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world would have invaded the Airyana Vaźgō[5].
3 (5). The first of the good lands and countries
[1. See Introd. IV, 4.
2. Literally 'the most beneficent,' an epithet of Zarathustra, which was later mistaken for a family name, 'the Spitamide.'
3. See Introd. IV, 40.
4. 'Every one fancies that the land where he is born and has been brought up is the best and fairest land that I have created.' (Comm.)
5. See following clause. Clause 2 belongs to the Commentary; it is composed of quotations that illustrate the alternative process of the 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.']
{p. 5}
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Airyana Vaźgō[1], by the good river Dāitya[2].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the serpent in the river[3] and winter, a work of the Daźvas[4].
4 (9). There are ten winter months there, two summer months[5]; and those are cold for the waters[6], cold for the earth, cold for the trees[7]. Winter falls there, with the worst of its plagues.
5 (13). The second of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the plains[8] in Sughdha[9].
[1. See the Introd. to the Fargard.
2. 'The good Dāitya.' 'The Dāitīk (Dāitya) comes from Irān Vźg (Airyana Vaźgō), it flows through the mountains of Gorgistān (Georgia,' Bund. p. 51, 19). It was therefore, in the time of the Sassanides, a name of the Araxes.
3. There are many Khrafstras in the Dāitīk, as it is said, The Dāitīk full of Khrafstras' (Bund. p. 51, 20). The serpent in the river was originally the mythical Serpent, Azis, who overthrew and killed the king of Irān Vźg, Yima (see Introd. IV, 18); then it was identified, as appears from the Bundahis, with the snakes that abound on the banks of the Araxes (Morier, A Second journey, p. 250).
4 As Irān Vźg is a place of refuge for mankind and all life from the winter that is to destroy the world (see Farg. II, 21 seq.), winter was thought, by a mythical misunderstanding, to be the counter-creation of Irān Vźg: hence the glacial description of that strange paradise (see the following clause).
5. 'Vendīdād Sādah: 'It is known that [in the ordinary course of nature] there are seven months of summer and five of winter' (see Bund. XXV).
6. Some say: 'Even those two months of summer are cold for the waters . . .' (Comm.; cf. Mainyō-i-khard XLIV, 20, and above, n. 4).
7. Vend. Sādah: 'There reigns the core and heart of winter.'
8. Doubtful: possibly the name of a river (the Zarafshand).
9. Suguda; Sogdiana.]
{p. 6}
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the fly Skaitya[1], which brings death to the cattle.
6 (17). The third of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Mōuru[2].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft sinful lusts[3].
7 (21). The fourth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful Bākhdhi[4] with high-lifted banners.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the Bravara[5].
8 (25). The fifth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Nisāya[6], that lies between Mōuru and Bākhdhi.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the sin of unbelief[7].
9 (29). The sixth of the good lands and countries
[1. A word unknown: possibly 'the cattle fly.' It is a fly that hides itself among the corn and the fodder, and, thence stings with a venomous sting the ox that eats of it (Comm. and Asp.)
2. Margu; Margiana; Merv.
3. Translated according to the Comm. and Asp.
4. Bākhtri; Bactra; Balkh.
5. 'The corn-carrying ants' (Asp.; cf. Farg. XIV, 5).
6. 'There were several towns of this name, but none between Mōuru and Bākhdhi. But the sentence may be translated also., 'Nisāya between which and Bākhdhi Mōuru lies,' which would point to {Greek Nisai'a}, the capital of Parthia ({Greek Paršau'nisa} Isid. of Charax 12); cf. Pliny 6, 25 (29).
7 'One must believe in the law, and have no doubt whatever about it in the heart, and firmly believe that the good and right law that Ormazd sent to the world is the same law that was brought to us by Zardust' (Saddar I).]
{p. 7}
which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Harōyu[1] with its lake[2].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the stained mosquito[3].
10 (33). The seventh of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Vaźkereta[4], of the evil shadows.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the Pairika Knćthaiti, who clave unto Keresāspa[5].
11 (37). The eighth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Urva of the rich pastures[6].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the sin of pride[7].
12 (41). The ninth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda) created, was Khnenta in Vehrkāna[8].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft a sin for which there is no atonement, the unnatural sin[9].
13 (45). The tenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda created, was the beautiful Harahvaiti[10].
[1. Haraiva; Areia; the basin of the Hari river, or Herat.
2. Doubtful.
3. Doubtful.
4. 'Kapul' (Comm.; see the Introd. to the Fargard).
5. See Introd. IV, 21.
6. According to Asp. Tus (in Khorasan); more probably the land around Ispahan. See the Introd. to the Fargard.
7. Or better, tyranny: 'the great are proud there' (Comm.)
8. Varkāna; Hyrcania. 'Khnenta is a river in Vehrkāna' (Comm.); consequently the river Gorgān.
9. See Farg. VIII, 31.
10. Harauvati; {Greek A?ra'xwtos}; Harūt.]
{p. 8}
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft a sin for which there is no atonement, the burying of the dead[1].
14 (49). The eleventh of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the bright, glorious Haźtumant[2].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the evil witchcraft of the Yātus[3].
15 (53). And this is how the Yātu's nature shows itself: it shows itself by the look[4]; and then, whenever the wizard goes and howls forth his spells[5], most deadly works of witchcraft go forth[6].
16 (59). The twelfth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Ragha of the three races[7].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft the sin of utter unbelief[8].
17 (63). The thirteenth of the good lands and
[1. See Farg. III, 36 seq.
2. The basin of the {Greek E?tu'mandros} or Erymanthus; now Helmend. Cf. Farg. XIX, 39.
3. The wizards; see Introd. IV, 20. The evil eye.
4. As a {Greek Go'es}. Witchcraft is exercised either by the eye or by the voice (Asp.)
5. Vendīdād Sādah: 'Then they come forth to kill and to strike to the heart! A gloss cites, as productions of the wizard, I snow and hail' (cf. Hippocrates, De Morbo Sacro I, and Pausanias 2, 34, 4). To that gloss seems to belong the corrupt Zend sentence that follows, and that may mean 'they increase the plague of locusts' (cf. Farg. VII, 2 6).
6. Raļ. See Introd. III. 15.
7. They doubt themselves and cause other people to doubt' (Comm.)]
{p. 9}
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Kakhra[1].
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft a sin for which there is no atonement, the burning of corpses[2].
18 (67). The fourteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the four-cornered Varena[3], for which was born Thraźtaona, who smote Azis Dahāka.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft abnormal issues in women[4] and the oppression of foreign rulers[5].
19 (72). The fifteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Seven Rivers[6].
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 head[8].
[1. A land unknown. Asp.: China, which is certainly wrong. There was a town of that name in Khorasan (Karkh).
2. See Farg. VIII, 73.
3. See the Introd. to the Farg.
4. Farg. XVI, 11 seq.
5. Possibly an allusion to Azis Dahāka (Zohāk), who, as a king, represents the foreign conqueror (in later tradition the Tāzī or Arab; possibly in older tradition the Assyrian).
6. The basin of the affluents of the Indus, the modern Pańgāb (= the Five Rivers).
7. 'Arvastān-i-Rūm (Roman Mesopotamia),' (Comm.; see the Introd. to the Farg.)
8. It is interpreted in a figurative sense as meaning 'people who {footnote p. 10} 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 Arvastān-i-Rūm. 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. Gell. IX, 4; Sanct. August. De 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).]
{p. 10}
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created by his witchcraft winter, a work of the Daźvas[1].
21 (81). There are still other lands and countries, beautiful and deep, desirable and bright, and thriving.
This Fargard may be divided into two parts.
First part (1-20). Ahura Mazda proposes to Yima, the son of Vīvanghat, 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 bad become too narrow for its inhabitants.
Second part (21 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 (see Introd. IV, 38); the tale in
[1. Vendīdād Sādah: 'And the oppression of the land that comes from taoza(?).']
{p. 11}
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 Eddic 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. But 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).
1. Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:
O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!
Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zarathustra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse[1], 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 Zarathustra! he was the first mortal, before thee, Zarathustra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the law of Ahura, the law of Zarathustra.
3 (7) Unto him, O Zarathustra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying: 'Well, fair Yima, son of Vīvanghat, 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.)]
{p. 12}
was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy law[1].'
4 (11). Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O Zarathustra:
'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]. Then I, Ahura Mazda, brought two implements unto him: a golden ring and a poniard inlaid with gold[3]. Behold, here Yima bears the royal sway!
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, Zarathustra became the titular law-giver (cf. Introd. IV, 40; Orm. Ahr. § x56).
2. 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 (?).'
3. As the symbol and the instrument of sovereignty. 'He reigned supreme by the strength of the ring and of the poniard' (Asp.)]
{p. 13}
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: 'O fair Yima, son of Vīvanghat, 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 sun[1], and (afterwards) he pressed the earth with the golden ring, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus:
'O Spenta Ārmaiti[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 wished[3].
[1. Thence is derived the following tradition recorded by G. du Chinon: 'Ils en nomment un qui s'allait tous les jours promener dans le Ciel du Soleil d'oł il aportait la sciance des Astres, aprez les avoir visités de si prez. Ils nomment ce grand persormage 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: 'He 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 years' (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 'the brothers of the sun.'
2. The genius of the earth (see Introd. IV, 33).
3. The happiness which Yima made reign on the earth is also {footnote p. 14} described Ys. IX, 4; Yt. IX, 8 seq.; Yt. XV, 15. In the Shāh Nāmah he is the founder of civilisation, of social order, of arts and sciences, and the first builder (cf. § 25 seq.)]
{p. 14}
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.
13. And I warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vīvanghat, 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 Spenta Ārmaiti, 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 Vīvanghat, 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.'
{p. 15}
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 Spenta Ārmaiti, 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.
21 (42)[1]. The Maker, Ahura Mazda, of high renown[2] in the Airyana Vaźgō, by the good river Dāitya[3], called together a meeting of the celestial gods.
The fair Yima, the good shepherd, of high renown[2] in the Airyana Vaźgō, by the good river Dāitya, called together a meeting of the excellent mortals[4].
To that meeting came Ahura Mazda, of high renown in the Airyana Vaźgō, by the good river Dāitya; he came together with the celestial gods.
To that meeting came, the fair Yima, the good shepherd, of high renown in the Airyana Vaźgō, by the good river Dāitya; he came together with the excellent mortals.
22 (46). And Ahura Mazda spake unto Yima, saying:
'O fair Yima, son of Vīvanghat! Upon the material
[1. § 20 belongs to the Commentary.
2. Or perhaps, 'whose voice was loud,' &c. (while proclaiming the law).
3. See Farg. I, Introd., and notes to § 2.
4. Primitively the souls of the righteous (see Introd. IV, 38).]
{p. 16}
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 aredvī 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 Vara[4], long as a
[1. The Commentary has here: Malkōsān, which is the plural of the Hebrew Malkōs, '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; Malkōs 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 Mainyō-i-khard: 'By him (Gamshīd) the enclosure of Jam-kard was made; when there is that rain of Malakosćn, as it is declared in the religion, that mankind and the remaining creatures and creations of Hōrmezd, 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 Hōrmezd will come from that enclosure and arrange the world again' (XXVII, 27 seq.; edited and translated by E. West).
2. Even where it (the snow) is least, it will be one Vītasti two fingers deep' (Comm.); that is, fourteen fingers deep.
3. Doubtful.
4. Literally, 'an enclosure.' This Vara is known in later mythology as the Var-Gam-kard, 'the Var made by Yima.']
{p. 17}
riding-ground on every side of the square[1], 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 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.
26 (65). There thou shalt make waters flow in a bed a hāthra 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[2].
27 (70). Thither thou shalt bring the seeds[3] 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 ever), 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 hāthras long on every side' (Comm.) A hāthra is about an English mile.
2. The last three words are {Greek a!'paks lego'mena} of doubtful meaning.
3. To be sown in the ground, and to grow up into life in due time (?see § 41, text and note).]
{p. 18}
decayed tooth, no leprous to be confined[1], 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 Vīvanghat! Crush the earth with a stamp of thy heel, and then knead it with thy hands, as the potter does when kneading the potter's clay[3].'
[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 clay[4].]
33 (97). 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
[1. See Introd, V, 14.
2. Doubtful.
3. In the Shah Nāmah Gamshīd teaches the Dīvs 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.
4. From the Vendīdād Sādah.]
{p. 19}
dogs, of birds, and of red blazing fires. He made 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 hāthra 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). There 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 (116) 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
{p. 20}
Vara he sealed up with the golden ring, and he made a door, and a window self-shining within.
39 (129). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What [lights are there to give light[1]] 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 (33). 'Every fortieth year, to every couple two are born, a male and a female[4]. And thus it is for every sort of cattle. And the men in the Vara which Yima made live the happiest life[5].'
[1. From the Vendīdād Sādah.
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 Irān-vźg according to a later source, the Mainyō-i-khard (as translated by West): 'Hōrmezd created Erć-vźz 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 Gōpatshāh, and the ruler and king is Srōsh' (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 Gayōmard received by Spenta Ārmaiti (the Earth. See Bund. XV).
5. 'They live there for 150 years; some say, they never die.' (Comm.) The latter are right, that is to say, are nearer the mythical {footnote p. 21} truth, as the inhabitants of the Vara were primitively the departed and therefore immortal.]
{p. 21}
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 Karshipta[1], O holy Zarathustra!'
43 (140). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the lord and ruler there?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'Urvatad-nara[2], O Zarathustra! and thyself, Zarathustra.'
I (1-6). The five places where the Earth feels most joy.
II (7-11). The five places where the Earth feels most sorrow.
III (12-35). 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
[1. 'The bird Karshipta dwells in the heavens: were he living on the earth, he would be the king of birds. He 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 lighting, 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 Zarathustra had three sons during his lifetime (cf. Introd. IV, 40), Isad-vāstra, Hvare-kithra, and Urvatad-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 Zarathustra himself, who was I the first priest, the first warrior, the first husbandman' (Yt. XIII, 88). Zarathustra, as a heavenly priest, was, by right, the ratu in Airyana Vaźgō, where he founded the religion by a sacrifice (Bund. XXXIII and Introd. III, 15).]
{p. 22}
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, 9, 10).
Parts I and 11 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 the holiness of husbandry. The fourth part of the chapter may he 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 Mainyō-i-khard (chaps. V and VI) and in the Ravaets (Gr. Rav. pp. 434-437).
The second digression (§§ 24-33) is translated in Haug's Essays, p. 235 seq.
1. O 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 Zarathustra! with the holy wood in his hand[1], the baresma[2] 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 {footnote p. 23} while reciting their hymns ({Greek ta`s dh` e?pfa`s poiou^ntai polu`n xro'non r!a'bdwn muriki'nwn leptw^n de'smhn kate'xoutes, XV, 3, 14).]
{p. 23}
the holy mortar[1] in his hand, fulfilling the law with love, and beseeching aloud Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, and Rāma Hvāstra[2].'
2, 3 (6-10). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! 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 Zarathustra! 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.'
[1. The Hāvana or mortar used in crushing the Haoma or Hom (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.]
{p. 24}
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.'
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 Arezūra[1], whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth from the burrow of the Drug[2].'
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 deposited[4].'
10. (3 1). O Maker of the material world, thou
[1. The neck of Arezūra (Arezūrahź grīva) is 'a mount at the gate of hell, whence the demons rush forth' (Bund. 22, 16); it is also called I the head of Arezūra' (Farg. XIX, 45), or , the back of Arezūra' (Bund. 21,17). Arezūra was first the name of a fiend who was killed by Gayōmard (Mainyō-i-khard XXVII, 15); and mount Arezūra was most likely the mountain to which he was bound, as Azi Dahāka was to Demāvend (see Introd. IV, 18).
2. Hell.
3. See Introd. V, 9.
4. With regard to Dakhmas, see Introd. V, 10. '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 fill the day of {footnote p. 25} 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. V11, 49 seq. and this Farg. § 13).]
{p. 25}
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[1].'
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 Zarathustra! are driven along the way of captivity, the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing.'
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[3].'
13 (41). O Maker of the material world, thou
[1. 'Where there are most Khrafstras' (Comm.); cf. Introd. V, II.
2. Killed by an enemy.
3. There is no counterpart given 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.)]
{p. 26}
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[1]. 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 Drug, 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]?
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 Vendīdād service, two priests for the Barashnūm, two persons for the Sag-dīd (Anquetil, 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.
2. See Introd. V, 3.
3. As the Nasu has taken hold of him, he has become a Nasu incarnate, and must no longer be allowed to come into contact with men, whom he would defile.]
{p. 27}
6 (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 (5 7). 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', 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 Pairista-khshudra[2].
20, 21 (64-71). 'And when he has grown to the age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairista-khshudra, then the worshippers of Mazda shall order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful[3], 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 Armest-gāh, the place for the unclean; see Introd. V, 15.
2. Hana means, literally, 'an old man;' Zaurura, 'a man broken down by age;' Pairista-khshudra, 'one whose seed is dried up.' These words seem to have acquired the technical meanings of 'fifty, sixty, and seventy years old.'
3. 'Trained to operations of that sort' (Comm.); a headsman.
4. Cf. Farg. IX, 49, text and note.]
{p. 28}
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 ever[2]."'
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.'
23 (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 Zarathustra! 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 well-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 margarzān (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 (Ardā Vīrāf XXXVIII).
3. Cf. § 4.]
{p. 29}
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 Zarathustra! 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 bread[1])], here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn[2]. "
28, 29 (91-95). 'He who does not till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him thus says the Earth: "O thou man I who dost not till me with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, ever shalt thou stand at the door of the stranger, among those who beg for bread; ever shalt thou wait there for the refuse that is brought unto thee[3], brought by those who have profusion of wealth."'
30 (96). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the food that fills the law of Mazda[4]?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is sowing corn again and again, O Spitama Zarathustra!
31 (99). 'He who sows corn, sows holiness: he
[1. From the Vendīdād Sādah.
2. Or 'bearing corn first for thee.' 'When something good grows up, it will grow up for thee first' (Comm.)
3. They take for themselves what is good and send to thee what is bad' (Comm.)
4. Literally, 'What is the stomach of the law?']
{p. 30}
makes the law of Mazda grow higher and higher: he makes the law of Mazda as fat as he can with a hundred acts of adoration, a thousand oblations, ten thousand sacrifices[1].
32 (105). 'When barley is coming forth, the Daźvas start up[2]; when the corn is growing rank[3], then faint the Daźvas hearts; when the corn is being ground[4], the Daźvas groan; when wheat is coming forth, the Daźvas are destroyed. In that house they can no longer stay, from that house they are beaten away, wherein wheat is thus coming forth[5]. It is as though red hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.
33 (111). 'Then let (the priest) teach people this holy saying: "No one who does not eat, has strength to do works of holiness, strength to do works of husbandry, strength to beget children. By eating every material creature lives, by not eating it dies away[6]."'
34 (116). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the fifth that rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?
[1. The translation 'acts of adoration' and 'oblations' is doubtful: the words in the text {Greek a?'paks lego'mena}, which are traditionally translated 'feet' and 'breasts.' The Commentary has as follows: 'He makes the law of Mazda as fat as a child could be made by means of a hundred feet, that is to say, of fifty servants walking to rock him; of a thousand breasts, that is, of five hundred nurses; of ten thousand sacrifices performed for his weal.'
2. John Barleycorn got
up again,
And
sore surpris'd them all.
3. Doubtful; possibly, 'When sudhus (a sort of grain) is coming forth.'
4. Doubtful; possibly, 'When pistra (a sort of grain) is coming forth.'
5. Doubtful.
6. See Farg. IV, 47.]
{p. 31}
Ahura Mazda answered: '[It is he who tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! kindly and piously gives[1] to one of the faithful.]
35 (118). 'He who tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! would not kindly and piously give to one of the faithful, he shall fall down into the darkness of Spenta Ārmaiti[2], down into the world of woe, the dismal realm, down into the house of hell.'
36 (122). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall not disinter it within half a year, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'Five hundred stripes with the Aspahź-astra[3], five hundred stripes with the Sraoshō-karana.'
37 (126). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall not disinter it within a year, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'A thousand stripes with the Aspahź-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshō-karana.'
38 (130). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall bury in the earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall not disinter it within the second year, what
[1. The Ashō-dād or alms. The bracketed clause is from the Vendīdād Sādah.
2. The earth.
3. See Introd. V, 19.]
{p. 32}
is the penalty for it? What is the atonement for it? What is the cleansing from it?
39 (135). Ahura Mazda answered: 'For that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing that can atone, nothing that can cleanse from it; it is a trespass for which there is no atonement, for ever and ever.'
40 (137). When is it so?
'It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the law of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it[1]. But if he be not a professor of the law of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it[2], then this law of Mazda takes his sin from him, if he confesses it[3] and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.
41 (142). 'The law of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! takes away from him who confesses it the bonds of his sin[4]; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust[5]; it takes away (the sin of) murdering one of the faithful[6]; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse[7]; it takes away (the sin of)
[1. As he must have known that he was committing sin.
2. If he did not know that he was committing sin.
3. If he makes Patet (see Introd. V, 22), and says to himself, 'I will never henceforth sin again' (Comm.)
4. If not knowingly committed; see § 40 and the following notes.
5. Draosha: refusing to give back a deposit (Comm. ad IV, x): 'He knows that it is forbidden to steal, but he fancies that robbing the rich to give to the poor is a pious deed' (Comm.)
6. Or better, 'a Mazdean,' but one who has committed a capital crime; I he knows that it is allowed to kill the margarzān, but he does not know that it is not allowed to do so without an order from the judge! Cf. VIII, 74 note.
7. 'He knows that it is forbidden to bury a corpse; but he fancies that if one manages so that dogs or foxes may not take it to the fire and to the water, he behaves piously' (Comm.) See Introd. V, 9.]
{p. 33}
deeds for which, there is no atonement; it takes away the heaviest -penalties of sin[1]; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.
42 (149). 'In the same way the law of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathustra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain[2].
'So let all the deeds thou doest be henceforth good, O Zarathustra! a full atonement for thy sin is effected by means of the-law of Mazda.'
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