and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras. An Âthravan shall first go along the way and shall say aloud these victorious words: 'Yathâ ahû vairyô:—The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of Vohu-manô to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king. What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda! while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom but thy Âtar and Vohu-manô, through whose work I keep on the world of righteousness? Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule! Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-manô and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda! Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Spenta Ârmaiti! Perish, O fiendish Drug! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O creation of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O Drug! Rush away, O Drug! Perish away, O Drug! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of Righteousness!' Then the worshippers of Mazda may at their will bring by those ways sheep and oxen, men and women, and Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and the faithful. The worshippers of Mazda may afterwards prepare meals with meat and wine in that house; it shall be clean, and there will be no sin, as before."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the feet, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered:—
"Four hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover both legs, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered:—
"Six hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the whole body, 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, by force, commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered:—
"Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man voluntarily commits the unnatural sin, 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, forever and ever."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the man that is a Deva? Who is he that is a worshipper of the Devas? that is a male paramour of the Devas? that is a female paramour of the Devas? that is a wife to the Deva? that is as bad as a Deva? that is in his whole being a Deva? Who is he that is a Deva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Devas after death?
Ahura Mazda answered:—
"The man that lies with mankind as man lies with womankind, or as woman lies with mankind, is the man that is a Deva; this one is the man that is a worshipper of the Devas, that is a male paramour of the Devas, that is a female paramour of the Devas, that is a wife to the Deva; this is the man that is as bad as a Deva, that is in his whole being a Deva; this is the man that is a Deva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Devas after death: so is he, whether he has lain with mankind as mankind, or as womankind."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Shall the man be clean who has touched a corpse that has been dried up and dead more than a year?
Ahura Mazda answered:—
"He shall. The dry mingles not with the dry. Should the dry mingle with the dry, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one Peshôtanu, bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth."
CLEANSING THE UNCLEAN
Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:—
O most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! To whom shall they apply here below, who want to cleanse their body defiled by the dead?
Ahura Mazda answered:—
"To a pious man, O Spitama Zarathustra! who knows how to speak, who speaks truth, who has learned the Holy Word, who is pious, and knows best the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda. That man shall fell the trees off the surface of the ground on a space of nine Vibâzus square; in that part of the ground where there is least water and where there are fewest trees, the part which is the cleanest and driest, and the least passed through by sheep and oxen, and by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful."
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. Then thou shalt dig a hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come." How far from one another? "One pace." How much is the pace? "As much as three feet. Then thou shalt dig three holes more, two fingers deep if the summer has come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come." How far from the former six? "Three paces." What sort of paces? "Such as are taken in walking." How much are those three paces? "As much as nine feet. Then thou shalt draw a furrow all around with a metal knife. Then thou shalt draw twelve furrows; three of which thou shalt draw to surround and divide from the rest the first three holes; three thou shalt draw to surround and divide the first six holes; three thou shalt draw to surround and divide the nine holes; three thou shalt draw around the three inferior holes, outside the six other holes. At each of the three times nine feet, thou shalt place stones as steps to the holes; or potsherds, or stumps, or clods, or any hard matter. Then the man defiled shall walk to the holes; thou, O Zarathustra! shalt stand outside by the furrow, and thou shalt recite, 'Nemaskâ yâ ârmaitis izâkâ'; and the man defiled shall repeat, 'Nemaskâ yâ ârmaitis izâkâ.' The Drug becomes weaker and weaker at every one of those words which are a weapon to smite the fiend Angra Mainyu, to smite Aeshma of the murderous spear, to smite the Mâzainya fiends, to smite all the fiends. Then thou shalt take for the gômêz a spoon of brass or of lead. When thou takest a stick with nine knots, O Spitama Zarathustra! to sprinkle the gômêz from that spoon, thou shalt fasten the spoon to the end of the stick. They shall wash his hands first. If his hands be not washed first, he makes his whole body unclean. When he has washed his hands three times, after his hands have been washed, thou shalt sprinkle the forepart of his skull; then the Drug Nasu rushes in front, between his brows. Thou shalt sprinkle him in front between the brows; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the back part of the skull. Thou shalt sprinkle the back part of the skull; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the jaws. Thou shalt sprinkle the jaws; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right ear. Thou shalt sprinkle the right ear; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left ear. Thou shalt sprinkle the left ear; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right shoulder. Thou shalt sprinkle the right shoulder; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left shoulder. Thou shalt
