THE ZEND-AVESTA PART I THE VENDIDAD

THE Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the Parsis, the few remaining followers of that religion which has been called Dualism, or Mazdeism, or Magism, or Zoroastrianism, or Fire-worship. In less than a century after their defeat, nearly all the conquered people were brought over to the faith of their new rulers, either by force, or policy, or the attractive power of a simpler form of creed. But many of those who clung to the faith of their fathers, went and sought abroad for a new home, where they might freely worship their old gods, say their old prayers, and perform their old rites. That home they found at last among the tolerant Hindus, on the western coast of India and in the peninsula of Guzerat 3. There they throve and there they live still, while the ranks of their co-religionists in Persia are daily thinning and dwindling away.

As the Parsis are the ruins of a people, so are their sacred books the ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief in the world that ever left such poor and meagre monuments of its past splendour. Yet great is the value which that small book, the Avesta, and the belief of that scanty people, the Parsis, have in the eyes of the historian and theologist, as they present to us the last reflex of the ideas which prevailed in Iran during the five centuries which preceded and the seven which followed the birth of Christ, a period which gave to the world the Gospels, the Talmud, and the Qur’ân. Persia, it is known, had much influence on each of the movements which produced, or proceeded from, those three books; she lent much to the first heresiarchs, much to the Rabbis, much to Mohammed. By help of the Parsi religion and the Avesta, we are enabled to go back to the very heart of that most momentous period in the history of religious thought, which saw the blending of the Aryan mind with the Semitic, and thus opened the second stage of Aryan thought.

CONTENTS

 

Introduction	INTRODUCTION	PAGE
Chapter I	THE DISCOVERY OF THE ZEND-AVESTA	xi
Chapter II	THE INTERPRETATION OF THE ZEND-AVESTA	xxv
Chapter III	THE FORMATION OF THE ZEND-AVESTA	xxx
Chapter IV	THE ORIGIN OF THE AVESTA RELIGION	lvi
Chapter V	THE VENDÎDÂD	lxxxiii
	TRANSLATION OF THE VENDIDAD.
Fargard I	AN ENUMERATION OF SIXTEEN LANDS CREATED BY AHURA MAZDA, AND OF AS MANY PLAGUES CREATED IN OPPOSITION BY ANGRA MAINYU	1
Fargard II.	MYTHS OF YIMA	10
Fargard III	THE EARTH	21
I (1-6).	The five places where the Earth feels most joy	22
II (7-11).	The five places where the Earth feels most sorrow	24
III (12-35).	The five things which most rejoice the Earth	25
IV (36-42).	Corpses ought not to be buried in the Earth	31
Fargard IV	CONTRACTS AND OUTRAGES	33
I (1)		34
II a (2).	Classification of contracts	34
II b (3-4).	Damages for breach of contract	35
II c (5-10).	Kinsmen responsible	36
II d (11-16).	Penalties for breach of Contract	37
III (17-55).	Outrages	39
(18).	Definitions	39
(18-21).	Menaces	39
(22-25).	Assaults	40
(26-29).	Blows	41
(30-33).	Wounds	42
(34-36).	Wounds causing blood to flow	42
(37-39).	Broken bones	43
(40-43).	Manslaughter	44
(44-45).	Contracts	45
(46, 49 [bis]-55).	False oaths	45
(47-49).	Praise of physical weal	46
{p. viii}
Fargard V		48
I (1-7).	If a man defile the fire or the earth involuntarily, or unconsciously, it is no sin	49
II (8-9).	Water and fire do not kill	50
III (10-14)	Disposal of the dead during winter	51
IV (15-20).	How the Dakhmas are cleansed by water from the heavens	53
V (21-26).	On the excellence of purity and of the law that shows how to recover it, when lost	55
VI (27-38).	On the defiling power of the Nasu being greater or less, according to the greater or less dignity of the being that dies	57
VII (39-44).	On the management of sacrificial implements defiled by the dead	60
VIII (45-62).	On the treatment of a woman who has been delivered of a still-born child and what is to be done with her clothes	61
Fargard VI		66
I (1-9).	How long the earth remains unclean, when defiled by the dead	66
II (10-25).	Penalties for defiling the ground with dead matter	67
III (26-41).	Purification of the different sorts of water, when defiled by the dead	69
IV (42-43).	Purification of the Haoma	72
V (44-51).	The place for corpses; the Dakhmas	74
Fargard VII		74
I (1-5).	How long after death the Nasu falls upon the dead	74
II (6-9).	How far the defiling power of the Nasu extends	76
III (10-22).	Cleansing of clothes defiled by the dead	77
IV (23-24).	Eating of corpses an abomination	79
V (25-27).	Bringing corpses to fire or water an abomination	80
VI (28-35).	Cleansing of wood and corn defiled by the dead	81
VII a (36-40).	Physicians; their probation	83
VII b (41-44).	Their fees	84
VIII (45-49).	Purification of the earth, of the Dakhmas. The Dakhmas and the Daêvas	86
IX (60-72).	Treatment of a woman who has brought forth a still-born child	89
X (73-75).	Cleansing of vessels defiled by the dead	911
XI (76).	Cleansing of the cow	92
XII (77).	Unclean libations	92
{p. ix}
Fargard VIII		93
I (1-3).	Purification of the house where a man has died	93
II (4-13).	Funerals	94
III (14-22).	Purification of the ways along which the corpse has been carried	97
IV (23-25).	No clothes to be wasted on a corpse	99
V (26-32).	Unlawful lusts	100
VI (33-34).	A corpse when dried up does not contaminate	103
VII (35-72).	Purification of the man defiled by the dead	103
VIII (73-80).	Purification of the fire defiled by the dead	110
IX (81-96).	The Bahrâm fire	112
X (97-107).	Purification in the wilderness	116
Fargard IX.	THE NINE NIGHTS' BARASHNÛM	119
I a (1-11).	Description of the place for cleansing the unclean (the Barashnûm-gâh)	119
I b (12-36).	Description of the cleansing	122
II (37-44).	Fees of the cleanser	129
III (47-57).	The false cleanser; his punishment	131
Fargard X	SPELLS RECITED DURING THE PROCESS OF THE CLEANSING	138
Fargard XI	SPECIAL SPELLS FOR THE CLEANSING OF THE SEVERAL OBJECTS	144
Fargard XII	THE UPAMAN: HOW LONG IT LASTS FOR DIFFERENT RELATIVES	151
Fargard XiII	THE DOG	152
I (1-7).	The dog of Ormazd and the dog of Ahriman	152
I a (1-4).	The dog Vanghâpara (the hedge-hog)	152
I b (5-77).	The dog Zairimyangura (the tortoise)	153
II (8-16).	Offences against the dog	153
III (17-19).	On the several duties of the dog	156
IV (20-28).	On the food due to the dog	156
V (29-38).	On the mad dog; how he is to be kept, and cured	159
VI (39-40).	On the excellence of the dog	160
VII (41-43).	On the wolf-dog	161
VIII (44-48).	On the virtues and vices of the dog	161
IX (49-50).	Praise of the dog	163
X (50-54).	The water dog	163
Fargard XIV	THE ATONEMENT FOR THE MURDER OF A WATER DOG	165
Fargard XV		172
I (1-8).	On five sins the commission of which makes the sinner a Peshôtanu	172
{p. x}
II (9-19).	On unlawful unions and attempts to procure abortion	174
III (20-45).	On the treatment of a bitch big with young	175
IV (46-51).	On the breeding of dogs	180
Fargard XVI		181
I (1-11).	On the uncleanness of women during their sickness	181
II (11-12).	How it can be removed	183
III (13-18).	Sundry laws relating to the same matter	184
Fargard XVII	HAIR AND NAILS	185
Fargard XVIII		189
I (1-13).	On the unworthy priest and enticers to heresy	1189
II (14-29).	The holiness of the cock	192
III (30-60).	The four paramours of the Drug	196
IV (61-71).	On unlawful lusts	200
Fargard XIX		219
I (1-10).	Angra Mainyu attempts first to kill, then to seduce Zarathustra	217
II (11-42).	Ahura Mazda reveals the law to Zarathustra	207
III (43-47).	Angra Mainyu flees down to hell	217
Fargard XX.	THRITA AND THE ORIGIN OF MEDICINE	219
Fargard XXI.	WATERS AND LIGHT	223
I (1).	Praise of the holy bull	224
II (2-3).	Invocation addressed to hail as a healing power	225
III a (4-7).	Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the sun	226
III b (8-11).	Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the moon	227
III c (12-17).	Joint invocation addressed to the waters and to the light of the stars	228
IV (18-21).	Spells against disease	229
Fargard XXII	ANGRA MAINYU CREATES 99,999 DISEASES: AHURA MAZDA APPLIES FOR HEALING TO THE HOLY WORD AND TO AIRYAMAN