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Funerals And Purification

Books: Sacred Books Of The East

If a dog or a man die under a hut of wood or a hut of felt, what shall

the worshippers of Mazda do?



Ahura Mazda answered:--



"They shall search for a Dakhma, they shall look for a Dakhma all

around. If 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

Urvasna or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or Hadha-naepata, or any o
her

sweet-smelling plant. If 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 Urvasna, or Vohu-gaona, or Vohu-kereti, or

Hadha-naepata, or any other sweet-smelling plant."



O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If 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?



Ahura Mazda answered:--



"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."



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?



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;--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. And 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. And 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. Afterwards 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.'"



O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the urine

wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies? Is

it of sheep or of oxen? Is it of man or of woman?



Ahura Mazda answered:--



"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."



O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can 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?



Ahura Mazda answered:--



"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. They shall therefore cause a yellow dog

with four eyes,[13] or a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times

through that way. When 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. If 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. When 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. If 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. When 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. An Athravan shall first go along

the way and shall say aloud these victorious words: 'Yatha ahu

vairyo:--The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of

Vohu-mano 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 Atar and

Vohu-mano, 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-mano and help whomsoever thou

pleasest, O Mazda! Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Spenta Armaiti!

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 Aspahe-astra, four hundred stripes with

the Sraosho-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 Aspahe-astra, six hundred stripes with the

Sraosho-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 Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the

Sraosho-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 Aspahe-astra, eight hundred stripes with

the Sraosho-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

Peshotanu, 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."



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