Policies on Healing

7a

36 (94). O Maker of the material world! If a worshipper of Mazda want to practice the art of healing, on whom shall he first his skill? on worshippers of Mazda or on worshippers of the Daêvas?

37 (96). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘On worshippers of the Daêvas shall he first prove himself, rather than on worshippers of Mazda. If he treat with the knife a worshipper of the Daêvas and he die; if he treat with the knife a second worshipper of the Daêvas and he die; if he treat with the knife for the third time a worshipper of the Daêvas and he die, he is unfit to practise the art of healing for ever and ever.

38 (99). ‘Let him therefore never attend any worshipper of Mazda; let him never treat with the knife any worshipper of Mazda, nor wound him with the knife. If he shall ever attend any worshipper of Mazda, if he shall ever treat with the knife any worshipper of Mazda, and wound him with the knife, he shall pay for it the same penalty as is paid for wilful murder 1.

39 (102). ‘If he treat with the knife a worshipper of the Daêvas and he recover; if he treat with the knife a second worshipper of the Daêvas and he recover; if for the third time he treat with the knife a worshipper of the Daêvas and he recover; then he is fit to practise the art of healing for ever and ever 2.

40 (104). ‘He may henceforth at his will, attend worshippers of Mazda; he may at his will treat with the knife worshippers of Mazda, and heal them with the knife.

7b

41 (105). ‘A healer shall heal a priest for a holy blessing 1; he shall heal the master of a house for the value of an ox of low value; he shall heal the lord of a borough 2 for the value of an ox of average value; he shall heal the lord of a town for the value of an ox of high value; he shall heal the lord of a province for the value of a chariot and four 3.

42 (110). ‘He shall heal the wife of the master of a house for the value of a she-ass; he shall heal the wife of the lord of a borough for the value of a cow; he shall heal the wife of the lord of a town for the value of a mare; he shall heal the wife of the lord of a province for the value of a she-camel.

43 (114) ‘He shall heal the son of the lord of a borough for the value of an ox of high value; he shall heal an ox of high value for the value of an ox of average value; he shall heal an ox of average value for that of an ox of low value; he shall heal an ox of low value for the value of a sheep; he shall heal a sheep for the value of a meal of meat 4.

44 (118). ‘If several healers offer themselves together, O Spitama Zarathustra! namely, one who heals with the knife, one who heals with herbs, and one who heals with the holy word 5, it is this one who will best drive away sickness from the body of the faithful 1.’

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45 (122). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long after the corpse of a dead man has been laid down on the ground, clothed with the light of heaven and beholding the sun, is the ground itself again 2?

46 (123). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the corpse of a dead man has lain on the ground for a year, clothed with the light of heaven, and beholding the sun, then the ground is itself again, O holy Zarathustra 3!’

47 (124). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long after the corpse of a dead man has been buried in the earth, is the earth itself again?

48 (125). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘When the corpse of a dead man has lain buried in the earth for fifty years, O Spitama Zarathustra! then the earth is itself again 4.’

49 (126). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long after the corpse of a dead man has been laid down on a Dakhma, is the ground, whereon the Dakhma stands, itself again?

50 (127). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Not until the dust of the corpse, O Spitama Zarathustra! has mingled with the dust of the earth 1. Urge every one in the material world, O Spitama Zarathustra! to pull down Dakhmas 2.

51 (129). ‘He who should pull down Dakhmas, even so much thereof as the size of his own body, his sins in thought, word, and deed are remitted as they would be by a Patet; his sins in thought, word, and deed are atoned for 3

52 (132). ‘Not for his soul shall the two spirits wage war with one another 4; and when he enters the blissful world, the stars, the moon, and the sun shall rejoice in him; and I, Ahura Mazda, shall rejoice in him, saying: “Hail, O man! thou who hast just passed from the decaying world into the undecaying one!”’

55 5 (137). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are the fiends? Where are the worshippers of the fiends? What is the place whereon the troops of fiends rush together? What is the place whereon the troops of fiends come rushing along? What is the place whereon they rush together to kill their fifties and their hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thousands and their tens of thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads?

56 (138). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Those Dakhmas that are built upon the face of the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! and whereon are laid the corpses Of dead men, that is the place where the fiends are, that is the place whereon the troops of fiends rush together, that is the place whereon the troops of fiends come rushing along, that is the place whereon they rush together to kill their fifties and their hundreds, their hundreds and their thousands, their thousands and their tens of thousands, their tens of thousands and their myriads of myriads.

57 (140). ‘On those Dakhmas, O Spitama Zarathustra! those fiends take food and void filth, (eating up corpses) in the same way as you, men, in the material world, eat cooked meal and cooked meat. It is, as it were, the smell of their feeding that you smell there, O men!

58 (143). ‘Thus the fiends revel on there, until that stench is rooted in the Dakhmas. Thus from the Dakhmas arise the infection of diseases, itch, hot fever, humours 1, cold fever, rickets, and hair untimely white. There death has most power on man, from the hour when the sun is down.

59 (148). ‘And if there be people of evil spirit who do not seek for better spirit, the Gainis 1 make those diseases grow stronger by a third 2, on their thighs, on their hands, on their plaited hair 3.’

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60 4 (151). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If in the house of a worshipper of Mazda there be a woman with child, and if being a month gone, or two, or three, or four, or five, or six, or seven, or eight, or nine, or ten months gone, she bring forth a still-born child, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

61 (155). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The place in that Mazdean house 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;’–

62 (158). 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?

63 (159). 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;’–

64 (160). ‘On that place shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure, and therein shall they establish her with food, therein shall they establish her with clothes.’

65 (162). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the food that the woman shall first take?

66 (163). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She shall drink gômêz mixed with ashes, three cups of it, or six, or nine, to wash over the grave in her womb.

67 (166). ‘Afterwards she may drink boiling milk of mares, cows, sheep, or goats, with pap or without pap; she may take cooked meat without water, bread without water, and wine without water.’

68 (169). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How long shall she remain so? How long shall she live only on that sort of meat, bread, and wine?

69 (170). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘Three nights long shall she remain so; three nights long shall she live on that sort of meat, bread, and wine. Then, when three nights have passed, she shall wash her body, she shall wash her clothes, with gômêz and water, by the nine holes, and thus shall she be clean.’

70 O 72). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! But if fever befall her unclean body, if that twofold plague, hunger and thirst, befall her, may she be allowed to drink water?

71 (175). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She may; the first thing for her is to have her life saved. Having been allowed by one of the holy men, by a holy faithful man, who knows the holy knowledge 1, she shall drink of the strength-giving water. But you, worshippers of Mazda, fix ye the penalty for it. The Ratu being applied to, the Sraoshâ-varez being applied to 2, shall prescribe the penalty to be paid 3.’

72 (181). What is the penalty to be paid?

Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The deed is that of a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahê-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana 4.’

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73 (183). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the eating vessels be made clean that have been touched by the carcase of a dog, or by the corpse of a man?

74 (184). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘They can, O holy Zarathustra!’

How so?

‘If they be of gold, you shall wash them once with gômêz, you shall rub them once with earth, you shall wash them once with water, and they shall be clean.

‘If they be of silver, you shall wash them twice with gômêz, you shall rub them twice with earth, you shall wash them twice with water, and they shall be clean.

75. ‘If they be of brass, you shall wash them thrice with gômêz, you shall rub them thrice with earth, you shall wash them thrice with water, and they shall be clean.

‘If they be of steel, you shall wash them four times with gômêz, you shall rub them four times with earth, you shall wash them four times with water, and they shall be clean.

‘If they be of stone, you shall wash them six times with gômêz, you shall rub them six times with earth, you shall wash them six times with water, and they shall be clean 1.

‘If they be of earth, of wood, or of clay, they are unclean for ever and ever 2.’

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76 (189). O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the cow be made clean that has eaten of the carcase of a dog, or of the corpse of a man?

77 (190). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘She can, O holy Zarathustra! The priest shall not, within a year, take from her to the baresma neither the milk and cheese that accompany the libation, nor the meat that accompanies the libation 3. When a year has passed, then the faithful may eat of her as before 4.’

XII. 78 (193), Who is he, O holy Ahura Mazda! who, with a godly intent, with a godly wish, goes astray from the ways of God? Who is he who, with a godly intent, falls into the ways of the Drug 1?

79 (194). Ahura Mazda answered: ‘The one who, with a godly intent, with a godly wish, goes astray from the ways of God; the one who with a godly intent falls into the ways of the Drug, is he who offers up for libation water defiled by the dead; or who offers up libations in the dead of the night 2.’