FARGARD XIV.
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The Zend Avesta, Part I (SBE04), James Darmesteter, tr. [1880], at sacred-texts.com
This Fargard is nothing more than an appendix to the last clauses in the preceding Fargard (§ 50 seq.) How the murder of a water dog may be atoned for is described in it at full length. As the water dog is the holiest of all dogs 3, and, as it were, a link between the dog and God, the process of atonement must be one of an extraordinary character. It is this chapter, more than any other, which may make it doubtful whether the legislation of the Vendîdâd has ever existed as real and living law. See, however, Introduction V, 20.
1. Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He who smites one of those water dogs that are born one from a thousand dogs and a thousand she-dogs 4, so that he gives up the ghost and the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?'
2 (4). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘He shall pay ten thousand stripes with the Aspahê-astra, ten thousand stripes with the Sraoshô-karana 5.
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‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda 1 ten thousand loads of hard, well dried, well examined 2 wood, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
3 (6). ‘He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire of Ahura Mazda ten thousand loads of soft wood, of Urvâsna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, Hadhâ-naêpata 3, or any sweet-scented plant, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
4 (7). ‘He shall godly and piously tie and consecrate ten thousand bundles of baresma; he shall offer up to the good waters ten thousand Zaothra libations with the Haoma and the sacred meat 4, cleanly prepared and well strained, cleanly prepared and well strained by a pious man 5, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
5 (9). ‘He shall kill ten thousand snakes of those that go upon the belly; he shall kill ten thousand
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snakes of those that have the shape of a dog 1; he shall kill ten thousand tortoises; he shall kill ten thousand land frogs 2; he shall kill ten thousand water frogs; he shall kill ten thousand corn-carrying ants 3; he shall kill ten thousand ants of those that bite and dig holes and work mischief 4.
6 (16). ‘He shall kill ten thousand earth worms; he shall kill ten thousand horrid flies 5.
‘He shall fill up ten thousand holes for the unclean 6.
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‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men twice seven sets of implements for the fire, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog), namely:
7 (20). ‘Two (loads of the) proper materials for fire 1; a broom 2; a pair of tongs; a pair of round bellows 3 extended at the bottom, contracted at the top; an adze with a sharp edge and a sharp-pointed handle 4, a saw with sharp teeth and a sharp-pointed handle, by means of which the worshippers of Mazda procure wood for the fire of Ahura Mazda.
8 (26). ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of the priestly instruments of which the priests make use, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog), namely: The Astra 5, the meat-vessel 6, the Paitidâna 7, the Khrafstraghna 8, the
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[paragraph continues] Sraoshô-karana 1, the cup for the Myazda 2, the cups for the juice 3, the mortar made according to the rules, the Haoma cups 4, and the baresma.
9 (32). ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of all the war implements of which the warriors make use 5, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog); the first being a javelin 6, the second a knife 7, the third a club, the fourth a bow 8, the fifth a quiver 9 with shoulder-belt and thirty brass-headed arrows 10, the sixth a sling with arm-string and with thirty sling stones, the seventh a cuirass 11, the eighth a hauberk 12, the ninth a tunic 13, the tenth a helmet, the eleventh a girdle, the twelfth a pair of greaves 14.
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10 (41). ‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men a set of all the implements of which the husbandmen make use, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog), namely: A plough with share and yoke 1, an ox whip 2, a mortar of stone, a hand-mill for grinding corn,
11 (48). 'A spade for digging and tilling; one measure of silver and one measure of gold.'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How much silver?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'The price of a stallion:'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How much gold?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The price of a camel.
12 (54). 'He shall godly and piously procure a rill of running water for godly husbandmen, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large is the rill?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The depth of a dog, and the breadth of a dog 3.
13 (57). 'He shall godly and piously give a piece of arable land to godly men, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large is the piece of land?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘As much as can be watered with such a rill on both sides 4.
14 (60). 'He shall godly and piously procure for godly men a house with ox-stalls, with nine
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hâthras and nine nematas 1, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog) 2.'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One I How large is the house?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Twelve Vîtâras 3 in the largest part of the house, nine Vîtâras in the middle part, six Vîtâras in the smallest part.
‘He shall godly and piously give to godly men godly beds with cushions, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog),
15 (64). 'He shall godly and piously give to a godly man a virgin maid, whom no man has known, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).'
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What maid?
Ahura Mazda answered: ‘A sister or a daughter of his, at the age of puberty, with ear-rings in her ears, and past her fifteenth year.
16 (67). ‘He shall godly and piously give to holy men twice seven head of small cattle, as an atonement unto the soul (of the water dog).
‘He shall bring up twice seven whelps.
‘He shall throw twice seven bridges over canals.
17 (70). ‘He shall put into repair twice nine stables that are out of repair.
‘He shall cleanse twice nine dogs from skin humours, hair wax, vermin 4, and all the diseases that are produced on the body of a dog.
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‘He shall treat twice nine godly men to their fill of meat, bread, strong, drink, and wine.
18 (73). ‘This is the atonement, this is the penalty that he shall undergo to atone for the deed that he has done.
'If he shall undergo it, he shall enter the world of the holy ones: if he shall not undergo it, he shall fall down into the world of the wicked, into that dark world, made of darkness, the offspring of darkness 1.'
Footnotes
165:3 See preceding page; cf. Introd. IV, 35, and Orm. Ahr. § 230.
165:4 See preceding Fargard, § 51.
165:5 He shall pay 50 tanâfûhrs (= 15000 istîrs = 60000 dirhems; p. 166 see Introd. V, 2 1). 'If he can afford it, he will alone in the manner stated in the Avesta; if he cannot afford it, it will be sufficient to perform a complete Izasnê (sacrifice),' (Comm.)
166:1 To the altar of the Bahrâm fire.
166:2 'It is forbidden to take any ill-smelling thing to the fire and to kindle it on it; it is forbidden to kindle green wood, and even though the wood were hard and dry, one must examine it three times, lest there may be any hair or any unclean matter upon it' (Gr. Rav.) Although the pious Ardâ Vîrâf had always taken the utmost care never to put on the fire any wood but such as was seven years old, yet, when he entered paradise, Atar, the genius of fire, shewed him reproachfully a large tank full of the water which that wood had exuded (see Ardâ Vîrâf X).
166:5 A Mobed called sardâr, 'chief,' who prepares, cleanses, and disposes everything for the performance of the Yasna (Comm. and Anquetil, Brouillons ad Farg. XVIII, 72).
167:1 'Mâr bânak snakes: they are dog-like, because they sit on their hindparts' (Comm.) The cat seems to be the animal intended by this name. In a paraphrase of this passage in a Parsi Ravaet, the cat is numbered amongst the Khrafstras which it is enjoined to kill to redeem a sin (India Office Library, VIII, 13); cf. G. du Chinon, p. 462: 'Les animaux que les Gaures ont en horreur sont les serpents, les couleuvres, les lezars, et autres de cette espece, les crapaux, les grenouïlles, les écrevisses, les rats et souris, et sur tout le chat.'
167:2 'Those that can go out of water and live on the dry ground' (Comm.) 'Pour les grenouïlles et crapaux, ils disent que ce sont ceux (eux?) qui sont cause de ce que les hommes meurent, gâtans les eaus où ils habitent continuellement, et que d'autant plus qu'il y en a dans le païs, d'autant plus les eaus causent-elles des maladies et enfin la mort,' G. du Chinon, p. 465.
167:3 'Un jour que j’étois surpris de la guerre qu’ils font aux fourmis, ils me dirent que ces animaux ne faisaient que voler par des amas des grains plus qu’il n’étoit nécessaire pour leur nourriture,' G. du Chinon, p. 464. Firdusi protested against the proscription: 'Do no harm to the corn-carrying ant; a living thing it is, and its life is dear to it.' The celebrated high-priest of the Parsis, the late Moola Firooz, entered those lines into his Pand Nâmah, which may be token better days for this wise and careful creature.
167:4 Doubtful. The Commentary has, 'that is, dârak ants (wood ants; termites?).'
167:6 'The holes at which the unclean are washed' (Comm.; cf. IX, 6 seq.)
168:1 Doubtful: the intended materials would be two loads of wood, and two loads of incense to burn upon the wood (Asp.)
168:2 To cleanse the Atash-dân or fire-vessel (Yasna IX, 1).
168:4 Asp.; literally, 'sharp-kneed.'
168:5 The Aspahê-astra; see Introd. V, 19.
168:6 Possibly, the milk-vessel.
168:7 As everything that goes out of man is unclean, his breath defiles all that it touches; priests, therefore, while on duty, and even laymen, while praying or eating, must wear a mouth-veil, the Paitidâna (Parsi Penôm), consisting 'of two pieces of white cotton cloth, hanging loosely from the bridge of the nose to, at least, two inches below the mouth, and tied with two strings at the back of the head' (Haug, Essays, 2nd ed. p. 243, n. 1; cf. Comm. ad Farg. XVIII, 1, and Anquetil II, 530). This principle appears not to have been peculiar to the Zoroastrian Aryans, for the Slavonian priest in Arkona was enjoined to go out of the temple, whenever he wanted to draw breath, 'lest the presence of the god should be defiled by contact with mortal breath' (ne dei presentia mortalis spiritus contagio pollueretur, Saxo Grammaticus, ap. Klek, Einleitung in die Slavische Literatur, p. 105). Cf. Introd. V, 8.
168:8 The 'Khrafstra-killer;' an instrument for killing snakes, &c.
169:3 The cup in which the juice of the hom and of the urvarân (the twigs of hadhâ-naêpata which are pounded together with the hom) is received from the mortar (Comm.)
169:4 The cup on which twigs of Haoma are laid before being pounded, the so-called tashtah (Anquetil II, 533); 'some say, the hom-strainer' a saucer with nine holes, Comm.
169:5 The armament detailed in the text agrees partly with that of the Persians and Medians described by Herodotos (VII, 61, 62). It would be desirable for archaeologists to ascertain to what time and, if possible, to what province this description refers, as such information might throw some light upon the age of this part of the Avesta at least.
169:6 Αἰχμὰς δὲ Βραχέας εῖ᾽χον.
169:7 Ἐγχειρίδια παρὰ τὸν δεξιὸν μηρὸν παραιωρεύμενα ἐκ τῆσ ζώνης.
169:11 Λεπίδος σιδηρέησ ὄψιν ἰχθυοειδέος.
169:12 'Going from the helm to the cuirass' (Comm.)
169:13 'Under the cuirass' (Comm.); περὶ δὲ τὸ σῶμα κιθῶνας χειριδωτοὺς ποικίλους.
169:14 Περὶ δὲ τὰ σκέλεα ἀναξυρίδας.
170:3 Which is estimated 'a foot deep, a foot broad' (Comm.)
171:2 He shall build a caravansary, which is considered a pious work (Mainyô-i-khard IV, 6; XXXVII, 36).
171:3 A word of unknown meaning; probably a measure, but possibly 'a passage or alley.'
171:4 Those three words are doubtful.
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