The Vendîdâd is a book of purity law, and its own table of contents is the fastest way to see that. Fargard III asks "What comforts most the Genius of the Earth?" and answers across four sections, one of which forbids the burial of the dead. Fargard VII sets out "How long after death the Drug Nasu takes possession of the corpse", "How far the defiling power of the Drug Nasu extends", and the cleansing of clothes, wood and corn defiled by it. This is not a devotional text and does not read like one.
The Zend-Avesta, Part I: The Vendîdâd — SBE Vol. 4 (trans. James Darmesteter, 1880)
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The translator’s English as printed (James Darmesteter). The original-language text is not held; names are romanised as the translator printed them.
MYTHS OF YIMA . . . : . .
FARGARD III. THE EARTH . . .
I (1-6). What comforts most the Genius of the Earth?
II (7-11). What discomforts most the Genius of the Earth?
_ III (12-35). What rejoices the Earth most? ..
IV (36-42). Adevelopment forbidding the burialofthe dead
FARGARD IV. CONTRACTS AND OUTRAGES Ia (2). Classification of the contracts according to the value of their object. . . (3-4). A-contract is cancelled by paying the amount of the contract higher by one degree . (5-10). Religious responsibility of the family for the breach of a contract by one of its members. . (11-16). Punishment of the Mibir- Drug (ones who breaks a contract) . . . . . . . Ila(17). Definition of the outrages known as 5 Agerepta (threatening attitude), avaoirista (assault), aredus
(blows) . . . . . . . . .
(18-21). Penalties for menaces . -
(22-25). Assaults . . . : . : . .
xxxi xlvii li lvii Ix Ixiv Ixvii Ixx
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CONTENTS. ix
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(26-29). Blows . + 7 + ee G2
(30-33). Wounds . . . : - 42
(34-36). Wounds causing blood to flow ee 43
(37-39). Broken bones. . . . . - . 44
(40-43). Manslaughter. . . - 44
III a (44-45). Contract of charity to coreligonsts . 45 IV a (46). Heinousness of false oath . . 46
— II] b (47-49 a). Dignity of wealth; of marrage of physical weal . . . . 46 —
IV b (49 b-55). Heinousness of false oath. " Ordeal : - 48p. 49
I (1-7). If a man defile the fire or the earth with dead matter (Nasu) involuntarily or unconsciously, it isno sin. 50
II (8-9). Water and fire do not kill . . . 52 III (10-14). Disposal of the dead during winter, when it is not possible to take them to the Dakhma . . 53
IV (15-20). Why Ahura, while forbidding man to defile water, sends water from the heavens down to the Dakhmas, covered with corpses. How he purifies that water . . 54 V (21-26). On the excellence of purity and of the law that shows how to recover purity, when lost. 56
VI (27-38). On the defiling power of the Nasu being greater or less, according to the greater or less dignity of the being that dies . 58 VII (39-44). On the management of sacrificial implements defiled with Nasu . . 61
VIII (45-62). On the treatment of a woman n who has been delivered of a still-born child ; and what is to be done with her clothes . . . : . . . - 62 p. 67: I (1-9). How long the earth remains unclean, when defiled by the dead . 67
II (10-25). Penalties for ‘defiling the ground with dead matter 68
III (26-41). Purification of the different sorts of water,
when defiled by the dead . . . . . . - 71
IV (42-43). Purification of the Haoma : - 73
L V (44-51). The place for corpses; the Dakhmas : - 74
p. 76I (1-5). How long after death the Drug Nasu takes possession of the corpse . 76
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MYTHS OF YIMA . . . : . .
FARGARD III. THE EARTH . . .
I (1-6). What comforts most the Genius of the Earth?
II (7-11). What discomforts most the Genius of the Earth?
_ III (12-35). What rejoices the Earth most? ..
IV (36-42). Adevelopment forbidding the burialofthe dead
FARGARD IV. CONTRACTS AND OUTRAGES Ia (2). Classification of the contracts according to the value of their object. . . (3-4). A-contract is cancelled by paying the amount of the contract higher by one degree . (5-10). Religious responsibility of the family for the breach of a contract by one of its members. . (11-16). Punishment of the Mibir- Drug (ones who breaks a contract) . . . . . . . Ila(17). Definition of the outrages known as 5 Agerepta (threatening attitude), avaoirista (assault), aredus
(blows) . . . . . . . . .
(18-21). Penalties for menaces . -
(22-25). Assaults . . . : . : . .
xxxi xlvii li lvii Ix Ixiv Ixvii Ixx
1o
21
22
24
26
32
34
35
35
36
36
38
39
40
41
CONTENTS. ix
PAGE
(26-29). Blows . + 7 + ee G2
(30-33). Wounds . . . : - 42
(34-36). Wounds causing blood to flow ee 43
(37-39). Broken bones. . . . . - . 44
(40-43). Manslaughter. . . - 44
III a (44-45). Contract of charity to coreligonsts . 45 IV a (46). Heinousness of false oath . . 46
— II] b (47-49 a). Dignity of wealth; of marrage of physical weal . . . . 46 —
IV b (49 b-55). Heinousness of false oath. " Ordeal : - 48
FARGARD V. . . . . . . . . . - 49
I (1-7). If a man defile the fire or the earth with dead matter (Nasu) involuntarily or unconsciously, it isno sin. 50
II (8-9). Water and fire do not kill . . . 52 III (10-14). Disposal of the dead during winter, when it is not possible to take them to the Dakhma . . 53
IV (15-20). Why Ahura, while forbidding man to defile water, sends water from the heavens down to the Dakhmas, covered with corpses. How he purifies that water . . 54 V (21-26). On the excellence of purity and of the law that shows how to recover purity, when lost. 56
VI (27-38). On the defiling power of the Nasu being greater or less, according to the greater or less dignity of the being that dies . 58 VII (39-44). On the management of sacrificial implements defiled with Nasu . . 61
VIII (45-62). On the treatment of a woman n who has been delivered of a still-born child ; and what is to be done with her clothes . . . : . . . - 62 FARGARD VI. . . 67 : I (1-9). How long the earth remains unclean, when defiled by the dead . 67
II (10-25). Penalties for ‘defiling the ground with dead matter 68
III (26-41). Purification of the different sorts of water,
when defiled by the dead . . . . . . - 71
IV (42-43). Purification of the Haoma : - 73
L V (44-51). The place for corpses; the Dakhmas : - 74
FARGARD VII. . . 76 I (1-5). How long after death the Drug Nasu takes possession of the corpse . 76
Then there are the dogs, and no summary of this text is honest without them. Fargard XIII carries "Praise of the dog" and a section on "the water-dog"; Fargard XIV is titled, in full, "THE ATONEMENT FOR THE MURDER OF A WATER-DOG"; Fargard XV includes "On the treatment of a bitch big with young" and "On the breeding of dogs". An entire chapter of a scripture given to the penalty for killing one animal. It is the feature every first reader remembers, and it is a real index of what the tradition held sacred rather than a curiosity.
Fargard IV is a legal chapter of a kind rarely found in scripture: contracts classified "according to the value of their object", the rule that "a contract is cancelled by paying the amount of the contract higher by one degree", and the "religious responsibility of the family for the breach of a contract by one of its members". Breach is not merely civil here — the family carries it, and the punishment of the Mithra-Drug follows. Read this before treating the Avesta as a book of hymns.
Several Fargards treat matters a modern reader meets with difficulty — "On unlawful unions and attempts to procure miscarriage", "On the uncleanness of women during their sickness", the obligations of an illegitimate father. They are carried here in full and unsoftened, which is the rule this archive keeps and the one Müller set out in his preface to the series: publish what is there and say what it is.
exemplifies The Upanishads, Part I — SBE Vol. 1 (trans. F. Max Müller, 1879)