Vendidad 3

The Earth

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 log in his hand, the Baresma in his hand, the milk in his hand, the mortar in his hand, lifting up his voice in good accord with religion, and beseeching Mithra, the lord of the rolling country-side, and Râma Hvâstra.'

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 continue to thrive, virtue to thrive, fodder to thrive, the dog to thrive, the wife to thrive, the child to thrive, the fire to thrive, and every blessing of life to thrive.'

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 sows most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathustra! where he waters ground that is dry, or drains ground that is too wet.'

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.'

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.'

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, whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth from the burrow of the Drug.'

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.'

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 the corpses of men are deposited.'

O Maker of the material world, thou 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.'

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, O Spitama Zarathustra! are driven along the way of captivity, the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing.'

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.'

O Maker of the material world, thou 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 the corpses of men are deposited.'

Let no man alone by himself carry a corpse. If a man alone by himself carry a corpse, the Nasu rushes upon him, to defile him, from the nose of the dead, from the eye, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder parts. This Drug Nasu falls upon him, [stains him] even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What shall be the place of that man who has carried a corpse [alone]? 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 the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful.'

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?

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.

'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.

'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, to cut the head off his neck, in his enclosure on the top of the mountain: and they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the vultures, with these words: "The man here has repented of all his evil thoughts, words, and deeds. If he has committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance: if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance, for ever and ever."'

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.'

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 sows most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathustra! who waters ground that is dry, or drains ground that is too wet.

'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.

'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 of fruit: even as it were a lover sleeping with his bride on her bed; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring forth plenty of fruit.

'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, here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing corn first to thee."

'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! 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; the refuse and the crumbs of the bread are brought unto thee brought by those who have profusion of wealth."'

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the food that fills the Religion of Mazda? Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is sowing corn again and again, O Spitama Zarathustra!

'He who sows com, sows righteousness: he makes the Religion of Mazda walk, he suckles the Religion of Mazda; as well as he could do with a hundred man's feet, with a thousand woman's breasts, with ten thousand sacrificial formulas.

'When barley was created, the Daêvas started up; when it grew, then fainted the Daêvas' hearts; when the knots came, the Daêvas groaned; when the ear came, the Daêvas flew away. In that house the Daêvas stay, wherein wheat perishes. It is as though red hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.

'Then let people learn by heart this holy saying: "No one who does not eat, has strength to do heavy 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."'

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 kindly and piously gives to one of the faithful who tills the earth,] O Spitama Zarathustra!

'He who would not kindly and piously give to one of the faithful who tills the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! Spenta Ârmaiti will throw him down into darkness, down into the world of woe, the world of hell, down into the deep abyss.'

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, five hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.'

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.'

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?

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.'

When is it so? 'It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the Religion of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it. 'But if he be not a professor of the Religion of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it, then his sin is taken from him, if he makes confession of the Religion of Mazda and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.

'The Religion of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! takes away from him who makes confession of it the bonds of his sin; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust; it takes away (the sin of) murdering one of the faithful; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse; it takes away (the sin of) deeds for which there is no atonement; it takes away the worst sin of usury; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.

'In the same way the Religion of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathustra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain. 'So let all the deeds he doeth be henceforth good, O Zarathustra! a full atonement for his sin is effected by means of the Religion of Mazda.'