Rules for Carrying a Corpse

It is he who digs out of it most corpses of dogs and men.

It is he who pulls down most of those Dakhmas on which corpses of men are deposited.

14 (44). Let no man alone by himself carry a corpse 1. If a man alone by himself carry a corpse, the Nasu 2 rushes upon him, to defile him, from the nose of the dead, from the eye, from the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organ, from the hinder parts. This Drug, this Nasu, falls upon him, stains him even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth, for ever and ever.

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 Fire, the son of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of baresma, and by the faithful.

17 (5 7) 30 paces from the fire, 30 paces from the water, 30 paces from the consecrated bundles of baresma, three paces from the faithful.

18, 19 (58-63). ‘There, on that place, shall the Worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure 1, 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

20, 21 (64-71). 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 3, to flay the skin off his body and cut the head off his neck 4, on the top of the mountain: and they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the corpse-eating creatures made by Ahura Mazda, to the greedy ravens, 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 1: if he has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance, for ever and ever 2.

It is he who fills up most burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu

It is he who cultivates most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama Zarathustra! who waters ground that is dry, or dries ground that is too wet

24 (79). ‘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.

25 (84). ‘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, like a loving bride on her bed, unto her beloved; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring forth plenty of fruit.

26, 27 (87-90). ‘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 hither shall people ever come and beg (for bread 1), here shall I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing forth profusion of corn”

28, 29 (91-95). ‘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 I 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; ever shalt thou wait there for the refuse that is brought unto thee 3, brought by those who have profusion of wealth.”’

It is sowing corn again and again, O Spitama Zarathustra!

31 (99). ‘He who sows corn, sows holiness: he makes the law of Mazda grow higher and higher: he makes the law of Mazda as fat as he can with a hundred acts of adoration, a thousand oblations, ten thousand sacrifices 1.

32 (105). ‘When barley is coming forth, the Daêvas start up 2; when the corn is growing rank 3, then faint the Daêvas hearts; when the corn is being ground 4, the Daêvas groan; when wheat is coming forth, the Daêvas are destroyed. In that house they can no longer stay, from that house they are beaten away, wherein wheat is thus coming forth 5. It is as though red hot iron were turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn.

33 (111). ‘Then let (the priest) teach people this holy saying: “No one who does not eat, has strength to do 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 6.”’

[It is he who tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! kindly and piously gives 1 to one of the faithful.]

35 (118). ‘He who tilling the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! would not kindly and piously give to one of the faithful, he shall fall down into the darkness of Spenta Ârmaiti 2, down into the world of woe, the dismal realm, down into the house of hell.’

500 stripes with the Aspahê-astra 3, five hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.

37 (126). O 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?

1,000 stripes with the Aspahê-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.'

39 (135). 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.'

‘It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the law of Mazda, or one who has been taught in it 1. But if he be not a professor of the law of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it 2, then this law of Mazda takes his sin from him, if he confesses it 3 and resolves never to commit again such forbidden deeds.

41 (142). ‘The law of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! takes away from him who confesses it the bonds of his sin 4; it takes away (the sin of) breach of trust 5.

It takes away (the sin of) murdering one of the faithful 6; it takes away (the sin of) burying a corpse 7; it takes away (the sin of) deeds for which, there is no atonement; it takes away the heaviest penalties of sin 1; it takes away any sin that may be sinned.

42 (149). ‘In the same way the law of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathustra! cleanses the faithful from every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind cleanses the plain 2.

‘So let all the deeds thou doest be henceforth good, O Zarathustra! a full atonement for thy sin is effected by means of the law of Mazda.’