Sacred Texts Zoroastrianism Index Previous Next
Buy this Book at Amazon.com
The Zend Avesta, Part I (SBE04), James Darmesteter, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
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
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 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 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 Mainyô-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,
the holy mortar 1 in his hand, fulfilling the law with love, and beseeching aloud Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, and Râma Hvâstra 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.'
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 Arezûra 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. (31). O Maker of the material world, thou
[paragraph continues] 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
[paragraph continues] 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.'
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 1, 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.
[paragraph continues] 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
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
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 Daêvas start up 2; when the corn is growing rank 3, then faint the Daêvas hearts; when the corn is being ground 4, the Daêvas groan; when wheat is coming forth, the Daêvas 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?
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 Ârmaiti 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 Aspahê-astra 3, five hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-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 Aspahê-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshô-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
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)
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.'
22:1 The wood for the fire altar.
22:2 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 p. 23 while reciting their hymns (τὰς δὴ ἐπῳδὰς ποιοῦνται πολὺν χρόνον ῥάβδων μυρικίνων λεπτῶν δέσμην κατέχουτες, XV, 3, 14).
23:1 The Hâvana or mortar used in crushing the Haoma or Hom (see Introd. IV, 28).
23:2 The god that gives good folds and good pastures to cattle (see Introd. IV, 16).
23:3 By the performance of worship.
24:1 The neck of Arezûra (Arezûrahê grîva) is 'a mount at the gate of hell, whence the demons rush forth' (Bund. 22, 16); it is also called 'the head of Arezûra' (Farg. XIX, 45), or, 'the back of Arezûra' (Bund. 21,17). Arezûra was first the name of a fiend who was killed by Gayômard (Mainyô-i-khard XXVII, 15); and mount Arezûra was most likely the mountain to which he was bound, as Azi Dahâka was to Demâvend (see Introd. IV, 18).
24:2 Hell.
24:3 See Introd. V, 9.
24:4 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 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. VII, 49 seq. and this Farg. § 13).
25:1 'Where there are most Khrafstras' (Comm.); cf. Introd. V, II.
25:2 Killed by an enemy.
25:3 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.)
26:1 No ceremony in general can be performed by one man alone. Two Mobeds are wanted to perform the Vendîdâd service, two priests for the Barashnûm, two persons for the Sag-dîd (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.
26:2 See Introd. V, 3.
26:3 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.
27:1 The Armest-gâh, the place for the unclean; see Introd. V, 15.
27:2 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.'
27:3 'Trained to operations of that sort' (Comm.); a headsman.
27:4 Cf. Farg. IX, 49, text and note.
28:1 The performance of the Patet. See Introd. V, 22.
28:2 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 margarzân (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 (Ardâ Vîrâf XXXVIII).
28:3 Cf. § 4.
29:1 From the Vendîdâd Sâdah.
29:2 Or 'bearing corn first for thee.' 'When something good grows up, it will grow up for thee first' (Comm.)
29:3 They take for themselves what is good and send to thee what is bad' (Comm.)
29:4 Literally, 'What is the stomach of the law?'
30:1 The translation 'acts of adoration' and 'oblations' is doubtful: the words in the text ἅπαξ λεγόμενα, 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.'
30:3 Doubtful; possibly, 'When sudhus (a sort of grain) is coming forth.'
30:4 Doubtful; possibly, 'When pistra (a sort of grain) is coming forth.'
30:5 Doubtful.
30:6 See Farg. IV, 47.
31:1 The Ashô-dâd or alms. The bracketed clause is from the Vendîdâd Sâdah.
31:2 The earth.
31:3 See Introd. V, 19.
32:1 As he must have known that he was committing sin.
32:2 If he did not know that he was committing sin.
32:3 If he makes Patet (see Introd. V, 22), and says to himself, 'I will never henceforth sin again' (Comm.)
32:4 If not knowingly committed; see § 40 and the following notes.
32:5 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.)
32:6 Or better, 'a Mazdean,' but one who has committed a capital crime; I he knows that it is allowed to kill the margarzân, but he does not know that it is not allowed to do so without an order from the judge! Cf. VIII, 74 note.
32:7 '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.
33:1 Or, possibly, 'the sin of usury.' He knows that it is lawful to take high interest' but 'he does not know that it is not lawful to do so from the faithful' (Comm.)
33:2 'From chaff' (Comm.)