1Ahura Mazda answered:—

1If a dog or a man die under a hut of wood or a hut of felt, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

2"Four hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, four hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

2Ahura Mazda answered:—

3O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

3"They shall search for a Dakhma, they shall look for a Dakhma all around.

4If 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?

4If they find it easier to remove the dead, they shall take out the dead, they shall let the house stand, and shall perfume it with Urvâsna or Vohú-gaona, or Vohú-kereti, or Hadhâ-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant.

5If they find it easier to remove the house, they shall take away the house, they shall let the dead lie on the spot, and shall perfume the house with Urvâsna, or Vohú-gaona, or Vohú-kereti, or Hadhâ-naêpata, or any other sweet-smelling plant."

5Ahura Mazda answered:—

6O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

6"Six hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

7If in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a dog or a man happens to die, and it is raining, or snowing, or blowing, or it is dark, or the day is at its end, when flocks and men lose their way, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

7O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

8Ahura Mazda answered:—

8If 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?

9"The place in that house 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."

9Ahura Mazda answered:—

10O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

10"A thousand stripes with the Aspahê-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

11How far from the fire?

11O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

12How far from the water?

12If a man, by force, commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

13How far from the consecrated bundles of Baresma?

13Ahura Mazda answered:—

14How far from the faithful?

14"Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

15Ahura Mazda answered:—

15O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

16"Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the faithful;—on that place they shall dig a grave, half a foot deep if the earth be hard, half the height of a man if it be soft; they shall cover the surface of the grave with ashes or cow-dung; they shall cover the surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones, or of dry earth.

16If a man voluntarily commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty for it?

17And they shall let the lifeless body lie there, for two nights, or three nights, or a month long, until the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth.

17What is the atonement for it?

18And when the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall make a breach in the wall of the house, and two men, strong and skilful, having stripped their clothes off, shall take up the body from the clay or the stones, or from the plastered house, and they shall lay it down on a place where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and corpse-eating birds.

18What is the cleansing from it?

19Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three paces from the dead, and the holy Ratu shall proclaim to the worshippers of Mazda thus: 'Worshippers of Mazda, let the urine be brought here wherewith the corpse-bearers there shall wash their hair and their bodies.'"

19Ahura Mazda answered:—

20O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

20"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."

21Which is the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies?

21O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

22Is it of sheep or of oxen?

22Who is the man that is a Deva?

23Is it of man or of woman?

23Who is he that is a worshipper of the Devas?

24Ahura Mazda answered:—

24that is a male paramour of the Devas?

25"It is of sheep or of oxen; not of man nor of woman, except a man or a woman who has married the next-of-kin: these shall therefore procure the urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies."

25that is a female paramour of the Devas?

26O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

26that is a wife to the Deva?

27Can the way, whereon the carcasses of dogs or corpses of men have been carried, be passed through again by flocks and herds, by men and women, by the fire of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful?

27that is as bad as a Deva?

28Ahura Mazda answered:—

28that is in his whole being a Deva?

29Who is he that is a Deva before he dies, and becomes one of the unseen Devas after death?

29"It cannot be passed through again by flocks and herds, nor by men and women, nor by the fire of Ahura Mazda, nor by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, nor by the faithful.

30They shall therefore cause a yellow dog with four eyes,13 or a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times through that way.

30Ahura Mazda answered:—

31When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.

31"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."

32If the dog goes unwillingly, O Spitama Zarathustra, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go six times through that way.

32O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

33When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.

33Shall the man be clean who has touched a corpse that has been dried up and dead more than a year?

34If the dog goes unwillingly, they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, to go nine times through that way.

34Ahura Mazda answered:—

35When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, has been brought there, then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the foulest Khrafstras.

35"He shall.

36An 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.

36The dry mingles not with the dry.

37The gifts of Vohu-manô to the deeds done in this world for Mazda.

37Should 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!

38He who relieves the poor makes Ahura king.

38so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the earth."

39What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda!

40while the hate of the wicked encompasses me?

41Whom but thy Âtar and Vohu-manô, through whose work I keep on the world of righteousness?

42Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule!

43Who is the victorious who will protect thy teaching?

44Make it clear that I am the guide for both worlds.

45May Sraosha come with Vohu-manô and help whomsoever thou pleasest, O Mazda!

46Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Spenta Ârmaiti!

47Perish, O fiendish Drug!

48Perish, O brood of the fiend!

49Perish, O creation of the fiend!

50Perish, O world of the fiend!

51Perish away, O Drug!

52Rush away, O Drug!

53Perish away, O Drug!

54Perish 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.

55The 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."

56O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!

57If 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?