Translated by E. W. West, from Sacred Books of the East, Oxford University Press, 1897.
1. One section of the first thirty of the Sagadum [1] contains particulars about reward by command of the religion, the bridge judgment of the destroyers of the well-commanding, and the provision for their destruction. 2. About the importance of a man, after fifteen years of age and when he has heard that there is a law [2] which is good, having sought that law [2] by having inquired about it. 3. About a man's scrutinizing an action before doing it, when he does not know whether it be a sin or a good work, and when it is possible for him to set it aside and not to do it.
4. About advice as to having entered into a house in the night by the light of a fire, or when one has noticed it in this place, though he goes elsewhere; also the watchful destruction of an injured person, or animal, or garment, and the retribution for the injury. 5. about the extent of any glitter of the sparks (zakhsh-1-î parkân), and the width and height of the doors. of the constructed work of that appointed place of the fire.
6. About a newborn child, as to how one has to provide its place, connected lawfully with illumination [3], more particularly for the first three nights. 7. About bringing a fire to drive away the over-powering fiend, and making the child taste first the hom-juice, so far as collected within its precincts (varân), and, secondly, the butter of Maidyozarem [4] which is to be brought forward for it; also the watchfulness of the father and mother over the child, and the extent of their retiring (navistanô) from the two sides of the newborn. 8. About lawfully-made places of several kinds for the child, the limits and manner of the mother's giving milk to the child, and whatever is on the same subject.
9. About carrying forth holy-water, or even a cooking pot, to a fire, where the hands are purified and thoroughly washed; and the sin owing to an unpurified hand, not thoroughly washed, carrying them forth. 10. About the preservation of the cooking-pot, and the rest of one's operations with the fire, from defilement; but when, through want of care, defilement occurs, by the inexperience of any one bringing it to the fire, he who is careless is thereby contaminated, and the cooking-pot is properly placed in its position.
11. Arranging about properly-made bed-places (gâsvârakô) in a house, those for children and those for adults; also a decision about a case when a carpenter (dûrgar) shall make a bed-place properly which one's own judgment considers improperly made, and when both consider it improperly, or when both consider it properly made; and more of whatever is on the same subject.
12. About what is the mode of producing seeing properly; and, when not seeing properly, the oculist (dîdpân) to entrust with it is he who informs people, who wish for it, how to extract the defect of sight; if not, the people go on and hurt, also the penalty for hurting, and whatever is on the same subject.
13. About the insubordination of those accustomed to work (kâr-khûgarân) to women and children; also that of a grown-up man who has been giving no food [5] three times in succession; he, too, it is who advanced the fourth time [6], because, owing to giving no food a fourth time, the man is he who has to accomplish work unrestrictedly; and whatever is on the same subject.
14. About the care of a pointed thing, that is, how it is to be carried to a dwelling in the world, how it is to be deposited, and the sin owing to keeping and depositing it otherwise. 15. And about every garment [7] and utensil, even including such as a scum-pot, an hour-glass, and a dining-tray; that is, how they are to be deposited in the dwelling, and the sin owing to variously [8] placing and taking care of them. 16. About a door which is properly made; how it is when it falls down, and a wound arises from it, the carpenter being innocent regarding it; and how it is when he is guilty.
17. About washing the head, the care of the water and the religious ritual therein, and whatever is on the same subject. 18. About the period for arranging the hair, in which they shave the hair. 19. About the shaving of a child the first time, and the ritual which is taught for it; the performance of shaving by an instructed barber and with a sharp razor, which is the appointed practice as regards the razor of adults, and that also for children with the children's razor, because it is settled healthfulness; his whetstone (shôn), and also the care of the razor. 20. About the number of the positions of a man, in which a barber can perform shaving, and that of the positions of the barber; and whatever is on the same subject.
21. About each one of those who are custodians (kîrûk-kârânô), and the rules of the market; also their abstaining from wounding each other with a pike (têkh), or other implement, with which they shall perform their duty; likewise the sin owing to heedlessness. 22. About giving forth a pointed thing lawfully, and a wound owing to not giving it forth lawfully; lawfully taking and giving away a plate of broken victuals (padkhûr), and a wound owing to doing it unlawfully; and whatever is on the same subject. 23. About the appointed place (dâd-gâh) of a horse-course and its distance from the middle of a town, the nature of the horse-course, the training (farhang) and masters of maneuvers (padân-i farhângânô) when in it, the shooting of arrows on the horse-course, and the wound which occurs to man or animal, how it is when culpable, and how it is when not culpable. 24. About admitting a listener ; where, why, and how he is to be admitted and the guilt or innocence as regards a wound owing to him.
25. About the mode of making a sacred thread-girdle [[kusti]] [9], and the harm from an unusual formation of it. 26. About lawfully tying it. without the culpability (vazhagîh) of unauthorized action; also when they do not tie it lawfully, but the girdling is knotted (viragî-aîtô) and twisted owing to culpability (vazhagânîh); and whatever is on the same subject.
27. About lawfully scratching with the nails, and the harm from unlawfully scratching. 28. About lawfully attending to a fire on the road: and, when one arrives at a ford through water, the sin which arises, as to fire, from not lawfully caring about the fire.
29. About warriors who mingle together in panic (mazangîh) and darkness; injury happens to one from the other, and the statement of the account published is that there was a state of terror; also whatever is on the same subject. 30. About the march of an army which is in fear, and that which is in a state of fearlessness which is the distinction of the army of Iran from those of foreigners. 31. About lawfully and habitually requiring a share, and the harm from unlawfully and unhabitually requiring it.
32. About carrying firewood, brought away from the hills, into the house; depositing it at first by the tongs (dast-pânakô); watching, turning, and inspecting it, and carrying it away to the fire; that is, how to do it lawfully, the sin owing to unlawfully performing it, and whatever is on the same subject. 33. About lawfully warming bull's urine [[gomez]] [10] by the fire, and the sin when it is not lawfully done.
34. About selecting a pasture, one ranked above the others; that is, how to do it lawfully, the sin when one shall do it otherwise, and, owing to that, he is really injured, or occasions injury. 35. About what is the mode of construction of a lawfully-formed farm-house (dasht-kadakô), the dwelling of the people, and the place of the beasts of burden and cattle; also the sin when one shall construct it otherwise, and, owing to that, he is really injured, or occasions injury.
36. A decision about a case when one person has lawfully to force away a beast of burden from a control unlawfully exercised, and another person intrudes unauthorizedly, and vexes the district authorities (pad-dihânân). 37. Also when being done unlawfully, and the beast being away from its control unlawfully exercised, the other person intrudes lawfully; and when both persons act unlawfully, or when both act lawfully. 38 About lawfully tying, whereby things are hung up; and the sin when, through an unlawfully-tied fastening, anything is injured, or occasions injury. 39. About unlawfully keeping horses in a stable (âkhûr), and the sin owing to the unlawfulness. 40. And, as regards the cutting of trees and shrubs, where and how it is lawfully done, and the harm and sin owing to not lawfully cutting. 41. About the mode of washing clothing, and the sin owing to different modes. 42. About the mode of walking in, and the sin owing to unusual walking in. 43. About the custom of a man of the sagacious (dânâkvarân) on passing through water, and the harm and sin owing to acting otherwise.
44. About the kinds of canals (nâî) [11] and fords, from those for two men passing, up to those for many; the dimensions of those which are large, and how much they are each separately sunk into the ground, without collecting water, when the ground is hard, and how much when it is soft. 45. The extent of their outer [12] banks, and the inspection as to the banks when the water is brackish, warm, and flowing; how far when outside of the water, and how far when in the water. 46. When it is brackish, cold, and flowing; or brackish, warm, and stagnant; or sweet, warm, and flowing; how far when in the water, and how far when outside. 47. And, when brackish, cold, and stagnant; or sweet, cold, and flowing; or sweet, warm, and stagnant; how far when in the water, and how far when outside of the water. 48. What is the customary operation as regards the inspection of the banks; how is the stagnation (astintdanô) within a pool dammed up (zarêh-stânô-aê), and the stone-work inside, from the canal which is for ten men passing, up to that for many; and how is the damming up inside of the canal, the stagnation within the pool dammed up, or the reedy jungle (vêshakô) when distributed and it becomes tall.
49. What are the mode and means of maintaining the supervision of a canal; which is that which one should maintain over the water of the canal when half is distributed, or, when not, one-third; and which is that when one-third is distributed, or, when not, one-fourth; a supervision which is animate or inanimate, and after those which are inanimate means are provided [13], the former animate ones are then at rest; and the harm and sin when they shall act otherwise. 50. And, as regards the same, what is the mode of passage of animals of various species, by swimming across the water; and the sin, owing to acting otherwise, when harm occurs. 51. About the trampling down at a ford through water, when one is newly completing it, and when the water is brackish and flowing, when it is brackish and stagnant, when it is sweet and flowing, and when it is sweet and stagnant; the reason of passing through on it, and such and such ways for proceeding at will thereon; so, also, observation as to the water which has remained behind for flowing, and the harm and sin when one does not properly observe it, but walks on.
52. About two of the warriors who meet together on the road, which of them was busy about the protection of his horse, and which about the preparation of food; also the usage and other things in similar matters. 53. The sin of having eaten food for refreshment on the road, that is, how the custom is a sin when they can act otherwise.
54 About the remedies for sheep and beasts of burden which reinfuse fresh life; and the extent of keeping the sheep, goat, cow, mare, ass, pig [14], and woman with the male. 55. About beasts of burden, sheep (anûmâânô), and women, for whom, on account of contraction of orifice, there is a use of means for making it not painful (atûtakô). 56. About the extent of the distance of a male beast from the female when it is necessary to be watchful. 57. About the distance that a man has to remove an ox that has destroyed some concealed hay (barkasag giyah) which is the hay of others, when they quarrel with him; how it is when it is allowable to bring the ox back to his home; and whatever is on the same subject.
58. About the security of a man from the death (aôsh) of his fathers, and danger having arisen for him from a mouth of bad omen. 59. About the sin of a father owing to a child, when, being given by him to an ill-behaved person [15] he calls it and, when it comes, there may occur the sin of unlawfully terrifying sheep, and the beast of burden is beaten; and whatever is on the same subject. 60. About bringing [16] a plant which is a medicinal herb, and whatever is on the same subject.
61. About a sociable feast (ham-myâzdîh) with idolaters, that is, how it is when held authorizedly, and how it is when it is not; and, when one gives the sociable feast, how it is when they are to be considered unhonored, and how it is when they are to be considered more honored even than the Iranians. 62. And about the broken victuals which the idolaters have eaten and drunk therein.
63. About the proportion of meat with the bread in atonement for deprival of food [17]. 64. About an ordeal which is severe, and one which is not severe; and the evidence of acquittal from the achievement thereof. 65. About the secrets of the religion, and the sin owing to their being disposed (gushûftô).
66. About the sin of speaking evil words to the wives of others. 67. About the extent of the most inferior house, village, community, and province; and that of the most superior. 68. And about what was the mode of residence of Frashostar and Jamasp [18] in a plundering (lâîshkar) army, and their habits.
NOTES:
[1] Corresponding to the eighteenth word, yim, in the Ahunwar, according to B. P. Riv.; but it is the nineteenth Nask in other Rivayats. This name, which is here written like Zakî-hat-min, should probably be Zîk-aît-tûm, meaning 'the most intimate concerns,' as the Nask refers chiefly to personal and family law; but it is called Askâram, or Sakadâm, in the Rivayats, which also state that it contained fifty-two kardah, fargards, or vechast; thus agreeing with the total of the sections mentioned in Chaps. 38, 41.
[2] It is possible to read yêdatô, 'sacred being,' instead of dâdô, 'law.'
[3] To protect it from the demons who are supposed to be specially dangerous during the first three nights.
[4] Equivalent to 'mid-spring butter,' the Av. maidhyo-zaremaya, 'mid-verdure,' being the season corresponding to the middle of the second Parsi month, which was early in May when the year commenced at the vernal equinox (see Bd. 25.6, 21).
[5] See Chap. 17.6.
[6] This passage appears to refer to that quoted in Farh. Oim, p. 38, ll. 8, 9; though the latter part of Chap. 41.19 is more applicable to ll. 4-8 of the same page.
[7] Or jâmak may mean 'a cup.'
[8] Reading min gûnagîha.
[9] See Dd. 39.1 n.
[10] Intended for ceremonial purification.
[11] For irrigation.
[12] Reading vîrûnag, but the word is miswritten nîrang-î.
[13] In the shape of sluices for regulating the supply of water for irrigation.
[14] Instead of khar va-khazûrâ, the MS. has khôr va-zak-î ras.
[15] Assuming that minênamakô-l stands for apênamakô-l; the copyist having mistaken ap for az, and substituted the Zvarish equivalent min for the latter which he supposed was a separate word.
[16] Or 'abstracting.'
[17] See Chaps. 17.6, 37.11.
[18] Two brothers who were contemporaries of Zartosht. Frashostar was his father-in-law, and Jamasp was prime minister of king Vishtasp.
1. One section is the Hachidakânistân ('code of sequestrations'), particulars about a statement of seized property, the retention thereof, and how was the confinement of that which was animate; how it is when one keeps it in a shepherd's dog's care, and how it is when in the sequestrator's care (hachidakô-dârîh). 2. And when it is a seized horse of the warriors, how to keep it when it is not possible to retain it in confinement of any kind, and the damage which has arisen therefrom; what is the danger to occasion by it, how it is when the shelter (srâyishnô) [1] is on all sides, and how it is when on one side; while the trust, when there is shelter, is in the extent of the shelter, how much and of what kind is the shelter. 3. When it is a seized beast of burden, after its coming into the possession of the sequestrator (hachîdak-dâr), for how long he has to order work for the reasoning thought of the herdsman, and how is that of the sequestrator, in like manner, before he quite attains to his share; even through his own reasoning thought the work is authorizedly ordered, and how and in what manner is the ordering of his work. 4. and when the seized animal has offspring, in what mode he has to milk it, as well as the nourishment of young, and whatever is on the same subject; also the sin owing to doing it unlawfully.
5. About the sequestrator when the beast of burden seized comes into his possession, how it is when its special reputation is altered, and how it is when it comes with utility and advantage for him. 6. About the seizer's keeping a sheep, which is seized, in his flock; that is, how the custom is produced, owing to its milk being for the sacred feast, and the notification of the feasts is owing to the seized [2] sheep; when, too, it is not possible to keep it in the flock, what is the mode of confining it; and when it is not possible to keep it in confinement, what he has to do with it. 7. About the wool of a sheep which is seized; that is, how it is when the shearing, is even before the various times specified, and the sin of shearing when it is before the time specified, or one shears when there is no reason for shearing. 8. About the lambing (gurûshîdô) of the sheep seized, and the sin owing to its not lambing.
9. About sheltering (srudanô) [3] the seized animal in the most public place in a house, village, community, or province. 10. About the sin of the shepherd when, without saving it for the sequestrator, and through the guilelessness of the sequestrator, he shall carry away a female; and the sin which is owing to the offense as regards unlawfully beating and wounding it, before it is seized for the buyers of meat (khûr-kharânô), and other offenses regarding it. 11. About the time appointed, between the shepherd and the sequestrator, for leading and bringing the female, belonging to the sequestrator, to the place for which the time is appointed; in the case when the shepherd arrives and the sequestrator does not, how that which belongs to the sequestrator is to come into the possession of the sequestrator, and when; when it is the sheep or beast of burden of a sequestrator [4], how it is to come into the possession of that sequestrator; when the sheep or beast of burden which is seized dies in the possession of the sequestrator, how and how long he has to shelter (srûdan) the young ones (gurûsh) and wool of the same several sheep; and the sin when he does not shelter them, or does it otherwise.
12. About a sheep [5] which is mingled among the flock of any one that is in sequestration, how it is when the shepherd, and how it is when the shepherd's dog, is its own; and when it is mingled among any flock owing to sequestration, how it is when the shepherd, and how it is when the shepherd's dog, [who is its own] [6] goes to another flock; how it is when the first flock-owner, and how it is when the second, is its own. 13. About the killing of a seized sheep by a shepherd's dog for necessary provisions; that is, how it is allowable, and in what mode it is to be done.
14. About him unto whom the sheep or beast of burden which is seized is delivered when it comes into a district; and the sequestrator's informing the governor of the district, in whose herd the sheep or beast of burden which is seized remains, as to the species, color, and form of it [7]. 15. Watching over a man with sheep, who is in a disabled state of illness owing to a wound received in his duty as regards slaughtering; the case when he is concealed from a passer-by (amat nîhân min vidâr) and there is protection, when he is an eater and there is no protection, when he is not eating and there is protection, and when he is not eating and there is no protection.
16. About the distraction [8] of a sequestrator as regards a sheep or beast of burden which is seized, when it is one out of four varieties [9], and when one out of three; when he nourishes it for half a year, and when for the duration of a year; when that which he obtains is a young one, and when that which he obtains is large, where and what is a shelter for it, and, as to the care of it, how it is when in a grain vault (chigârakô-l), and when it is under a tree; how it is when in a damaged cellar (varkhô-l-î kûshtakô), and how it is when in a cage (panjar-l) which is not incomplete, but is broken, or is not incomplete and is sound, or is complete and sound.
17. About treasure which they find in the surroundings of a dwelling, and that which they find within the limits of the dwelling of any one. 18. About buried treasure when it is found by the side of a road, and the ground is hard, how it is when it is one finger-breadth below, and how it is when it is two finger-breadths; as well as (ham-gûn) when the ground is soft, how it is when it is two finger-breadths below, and how it is when it is three finger-breadths. 19. When it is found within the road, and the ground is hard, how it is when it is two finger-breadths below, and how it is when it is three finger-breadths; and when the ground is soft, how it is when it is three finger-breadths below, and how it is when it is four finger-breadths. 20. When it is in an ascent or descent, there where one turns out from the road, and the ground is hard, how it is when it is below up to the instep [10], and how it is when it is up to the middle of the leg (patîshtan) [11]; and if soft, how it is when it is below up to the middle of the leg, and how it is when it is up to the knee. 21. when it is in a stream of water, and the ground is hard, how it is when it is below up to the knee, and how it is when it is up to mid-thigh; and when the ground is soft, how it is when it is below up to mid-thigh, and how it is when it is up to the testicles. 22. When it is in a ford through the water, and the ground is hard, how it is when it is below up to the testicles, and how it is when it is up to the navel; and when the ground is soft, how it is when it is below up to the navel, and how it is when it is up to the mouth. 23. And when it is in a kitchen (âshkhânô), the middle of a garden (van), or a sheep-fold (pâh-hastô); that is, how it is when it is not a permanent residence (afrâz-mânishnô) of anybody, and how it is when it is a permanent residence [12].
24. About him who nourishes a sheep which is seized; that is, how it is when it is out of his store, and how it is when he nourishes it as it arrives. 25. About a dispute as regards a sheep that is seized, when one person says it was born of the color of the mother, and another one says it was of her form [13], both being true; or one person mentions a single characteristic truly, and another one mentions many characteristics of it untruly; the cases when they mention its peculiarities otherwise, and in what manner; and whatever is on the same subject. 26. About a sheep [14] seized, which has to pass on through the loftiest places in which there is lawfully shelter; and how there are three years, three existences (ahvôn), three places, nine occasions, and also many other regulations on the same subject.
NOTES:
[1] Av. thrâ.
[2] Instead of hachîdakô, 'seized,' the MS. has the very similarly written word avêzakô, 'pure.'
[3] Compare srâyishnô in § 2, and srûdan in § 11.
[4] Perhaps another sequestrator is meant.
[5] The first case seems to be that of an unseized sheep in a seized flock, and the second that of a seized sheep in an unseized flock.
[6] The words in brackets are supplied by guess, to fill up a blank space left by the repairer of the MS. on one of his patches.
[7] Reading va-darand-î denman.
[8] Reading hâzhakô, but it is possibly a contracted form of ayâvakô, 'gain.'
[9] If it were allowable to omit this word, âyûînakô, 'variety,' and to substitute 'gain' for 'distraction,' the sentence would stand as follows: 'About the gain of a sequestrator as regards a sheep or beast of burden which is seized, when he nourishes it for one-fourth, when for one-third, when for half a year, and when for the duration of a whole year.' This seems more intelligible than the text as it stands in the MS.
[10] Supposing that Paz. âavad is intended for âfrapad.
[11] That is, up to the shin.
[12] The utility of these minute details was probably to determine how long the treasure had been buried, and for what purpose, and whether there was any possibility of the rightful owner being still alive.
[13] Reading darand-î denman.
[14] Supposing that pês stands for pâh.
1. One section is the ziyanakistan ('code of the injured'), about anything which is animate -- and that which is inanimate -- injured through lawfully living, giving, receiving, or delivering back; the duty of protection and care for both kinds; the nourishment, extension, sustentation, stimulation, establishment, consolation, and also gratification of an animate being; and the retribution for sin due to unlawfulness as regards the same matters.
2. About an example of a damaged gift, in the case when one gives the thing to a poor (gadâk) person at an appointed time, and when at one unappointed; and in the case when one gives him an increase, where and what is the increase. 3. A decision about a shepherd when they shall bring him back an animal [1], when damaged, before its subdivision; what he obtains for the damaged animal when not delivered back at the time of subdivision; when the duty about it is dictated by a religious man, and when he keeps it in his own possession.
4. About property which is inanimate, whose subdivisions, each separately, when one keeps them in use [2], and when in reserve (armêshtô), are greater and less in value; that is, through so much effecting of penance (avâkanjishnô) worthily, or through so much bringing of interest; and the capital is the same in value, the increase being the growth of dividends.
5. About the reason why the sin of an injured person becomes innocent through not delivering back a damaged article [3]; and many opinions, on the same subject, are provided for our benefit.
NOTES:
[1] Probably one sold by him to a butcher.
[2] For trading, or pious purposes.
[3] Suffering wrongs without complaint being meritorious.
1. One section of the last twenty-two is the Vakhshistan ('increase code'), particulars about the progress of increase. 2. About atonement, surrender, and compensation for anything, through dispelling it by compensating, atoning, and surrender mg to him whose own it is; the period thereof not being appointed. 3. When he, whose origination of compensation, atonement, and surrender is his own, has appointed the period thereof, the growing of the sin actively, after the appointed time, is increase.
4. About increase [1] which is active (kardakô), and that which is existent (zîstakô); how it is when the existent becomes quite active, and how it is when both are suppressed (armêshtî-aît). 5. About the extraction of increase upon increases which they may occasion up to an equality; where and which it is. 6. About a righteous gift; that is, how it is when overwhelmed by impoverishment, and how it is when its increase still proceeds.
7. About the progress of interest (vakhsh) upon effective wealth, when there is interest for it, and the interest thereon accumulates; also that which does not progress; how it is when the debtor (âvâm-hômônd), even on bringing back the wealth, is opulent, and the lender (âvâm nafshman) is opulent on asking for it; how it is when each is not opulent, and the debtor was not opulent on asking for it; and how it is when the lender (âvâm khvêsh) is opulent on asking for it and the debtor is not opulent through the wealth.
8. About where and when the life (zîstanô) of the lender has once passed away, how it is when the loan is to be issued anew at the end of the issue (zihîshnô), and how it is when it has existed in force, through the one issue by the deceased, and the interest accrues. 9. When the debtor passes away, how it is when he puts the interest into the property of anyone through adoption, and how it is when it is the interest of the possessor of the wealth in both worlds.
10. About the peculiarity of retribution, the self-retribution of one liable to retribution for others, and the limit of one's own retribution. 11. About the penalty (tâvân) of him who, purchasing animals for impregnation, gives each a bad male; when they are not pregnant, and when they may produce; and whatever is on the same subject. 12. About the time of allowing the admission of the male to the beast of burden, sheep, and camel, and the time of consignment to each separate male for whom reception remains; the case when it is the time for admission of the male (gûshn-hilîh), and the case when it is such a consignment as when the period, which is really originating with the admission of the male, has continued. 13. When, on account of no consignment to the male at the proper time, the female goes on unimpregnated, and there is no pregnancy of the cow, mare, camel, sheep, goat, or pig, each separately, how much the penalty is; also the sin they commit.
14. About the camel, mare, cow, or sheep, unto whom there is damaged milk, void of butter (akarag), owing to the appointed time one postpones; also the average and least milk of the mare, cow, goat, and sheep, that is, the measure of their one milking, each separately. 15. About the camel, that is, how much is its production of hair in a year, and the extent that the camel is surpassing therein among cattle; of them is also the ass that they allow to be seized upon for as much value as that of the oxen, and the mode of beating them up. 16. Where and how it is when the females of the camel and horse are a multiplying (afzûnô) tending to dissatisfaction; the increase even of increases of the ox, sheep, and goat progresses, and of them how much less is the multiplying of the female -- which is an increase of in-creases tending to dissatisfaction, where it is extending over them -- to be produced than that of the male.
17. The camel which is injured on the road, beyond the end of the appointed time, when they keep it at work unlawfully and the road is bad, when at work unlawfully and the road is good, and when comfortable at pasture, where seizing upon it becomes tending to dissatisfaction in several ways, and they are severally buying it when really invigorated [2], or at a price.
18. For how much increase of increases he stands up who is buying also an invigorated dog, or pig, at a price; and when it is that the increase and increase of increases remain undeveloped in them, as it does whenever property, an which the interest of the residue and income accumulates, is still for the children of the well-destined.
19. About him whose supplies some one is silently (agôpô) buying up, and the seller and important holder is quite bereaved, so that the bereaver has plenty for one deprived of food on a summer's day, and plenty for him who is so also on a winter's day (dim-ichîk); also the supplying of mankind and fire lawfully, in the beginning, for a summer's day and night and that for a winter's one [3]. 20. About clothing when it is that which one strips off for donation. 21. About the penalty for a first deprival of food, and the sin of it; also the penalty of the second and third, up to the tenth.
22. About a plaint and defense as regards a debt and its interest, and the decision thereon; also how it is when, for keeping up the repayment, debts upon debts are canceled so far as the continuance of interest; and whatever is on the same subject. 23. About the uselessness of supplies which are not authorized by the religion. 24. About buying a slaughtered [4] sheep when the seller is bereaved by the delivery; also to how many sheep, in the two previous years, the increase and increase of increases thereof had specially to attain. 25. About where and what is that which would not conduce to increase, and what is that which would. 26. About the special sin and offense, the use of the milk, heart [5], and wool, the spreading about which tends to dissatisfaction, the increase of increases, and the good figure of any one sheep, and the regulation of every one.
27. About how the debtor has to announce the nature of the loan, which the lender, through irritation, does not approve; and, when the debtor has provided for a triple issue, when for a double issue, and even when he has for a single issue, the first year is free from begging his own time. 28. About the debtor and what [6] he repays, when each year is announced and he does not assent; and how it happens, as regards the debtor, through many repayments, and all the postponements of the lender [7].
29. About causing the confiscation (pâdîrângarîh) of a human being (gerpîh) [8], and its cessation [9] owing to worldly work, where it is for one month, or, thence onwards, for a second, a third, a sixth, a ninth, or a year at worldly work, and where ii is regarding several human beings; the production of gain which accrues upon that single human being; and what-ever is on the same subject. 30. About the confiscation of a cloak (gudâd) in the winter, and of a skin-bag for holding water (mashkô-î âvdânô) in the summer; about whom they are appertaining to, on the passing by of the first ten nights, where it is after the bringing out of the cloak at the beginning of winter, and of the water-skin at the beginning of summer; or prior to the length of a month previous, severally, to the end of the winter as regards the cloak, and to the end of the summer as regards the water-skin; that is, for how much gain upon that one cloak, or water-skin, is the retribution of the confiscator to whom it is appertaining [10]; and whatever is on the same subject.
31. About the increase of grains, and that of sheep with the progeny, milk, and wool that they may severally produce. 32. About the confiscation of clothes and implements by delivering them back to him who specially reckons many as his own [11]; that is, how the produce (vakhsh) increases when he orders their use imperfectly, how it does when he does so not imperfectly, and how it does when he keeps them in inactivity. 33. About the produce of land on which grain is cast, and of that on which it is not cast (va-zak-î an-madam ramîtuntô) [12], when by delivery thereof it is self-exhausted. 34. And so also the produce of ornaments of gold and silver, and of red-colored things, with many regulations on the same subject and what is connected therewith.
NOTES:
[1] As this word is written vakhs (= nâs) it is doubtful whether vakhsh, 'increase,' or vinâs, 'sin,' is intended; and the context is insufficient to solve the doubt.
[2] Paz. aôaanghen, both here and in § 18, no doubt for Av. aoganghem, as in Chap. 20.58, the Av. g and s being much alike.
[3] See Farh. Oim, p. 38, ll. 4-8, and compare Chap. 38.13.
[4] Reading barâ-zegtalûntakô, which word has been corrupted by the repairer of the MS.
[5] Reading dîl, but the word can also be read sar, 'head.'
[6] Supposing that madam stands for maman; the two words being sometimes confounded.
[7] Who allows the debtor a longer time for repayment.
[8] Literally 'bodily form.' The seizure of a slave of the debtor to work off the amount of the debt is evidently meant.
[9] Reading va-sachishnô instead of the very similarly written nikêzhishnô, 'explanation,' of the MS.
[10] This seems the more probable meaning if we are to understand that the confiscation has been actually carried out at an improper season; but, if we suppose that it is avoided on account of the season, it would be better to translate as follows: 'For how much gain upon that one cloak, or water-skin, is the confiscator, to whom it is appertaining, to be compensated.'
[11] Possibly referring to the seizure of articles sold by a dealer, but not paid for.
[12] The form an of the negative prefix is here used because the Zvarish an-madam is replaced by the Paz. an-avar in pronunciation.
1. One section, the Varistan ('ordeal code'), contains particulars of that which, when it becomes manifest in any one, is indicative as to witchcraft; the bringing of remedies for the person who is rendered sickly by a wizard; the execution of the wizard, what the religious rite is in the legal proceedings, and the case when there is a religious rite in the legal proceedings. 2. About the case when, for want of legal proceedings, he is executed without the religious rite; and what it is when [1] he dies through his own destruction of someone.
3. About the accomplishment of an ordeal by which, through the power of the spirit, there arises a manifestation of acquittal or incrimination of those maintaining inconsistencies as to witchcraft, destroying a righteous man, or other concealed instigations of sin [2]; the time of its performance, and the place of hurtfulness of its continuance. 4. About the place of accomplishment; in what manner is the selection (fragârdanô), limitation, and preparation of the abode in which the ordeal is performed; that which is to be carried forth to that abode, and that of which the carrying thereto is to be avoided; who is to be admitted to that abode, and who is not to be admitted; and that which, when it occurs there, is a disturbance of the work, they separate (vanjend) therefrom.
5. About those belonging to the place of ordeal (varistânîkân) and other officials there, the rites and customs therein, the ceremonial to be celebrated in the abode, and the invocation of the sacred beings for assistance. 6. What is the mode of performing the hot and cold ordeal; how is the leading forth of the accomplishers thereto, and of what Avesta is their uplifted recitation; how is the accomplishment of the hot and cold ordeal, and the manifestation of the acquitted and incriminated thereby; and many statements (gôkân) on the same subject.
NOTES:
[1] We should probably read 'and about the case when,' supposing that maman stands for madam, the reverse of what occurs in Chap. 41.28.
[2] That is, while there is no evidence of the crime beyond the suspicions, real or assumed, of the accusers.
1. One section is miscellaneous: about having sought an assistant who is brought, that is, in what mode it is proper; and the payment of an assistant who is a member of the community (dâhm) [1], and also that of a foreigner (an-Aîr), in the same affair. 2. About how the coming of a man to confinement and fettering is through his own wealth, and whatever is on the same subject. 3. About confession through one, two, and three statements; and whatever is about it. 4. About the contempt of a disciple for a priestly master, which is an annoyance to him; the property belonging to the master, and the squandering that occurs in it.
5. The sin that is its own penalty through being liable to penalty, and the transgressor whose penalty is owing thereto; when they would unlawfully bring a penalty upon one liable to penalty, or one thereby inflicts a penalty upon him, of which one is aware that he is not capable (patûkô); and the time which one liable to penalty has for the payment of that penalty of his is until his attaining to opulence, when, after the appointment about the penalty, he becomes capable of an atonement. 6. About the accumulation (ganjîh) of sin through the expedients of the wrathful (garmakân), which are connected with much destruction of the righteous. 7. About the sin owing to which, among those that are wrathful, he who has drunk from a well on a road, or path, conceals the water for the sake of concealment.
8. About the sin of a judge who pronounces the sinner to be in innocence, and the innocent to be in some sinfulness. 9. About a judge acquainted with the law [2] for ten years, him who is for eleven, him who is for twelve, him who is for thirteen, him who is for fourteen, and him who is for fifteen that is, their decisions, each separately, on several specially prominent objects of acquaintance with the law, as regards decision and judgment.
10. About a daughter whose religious control, during the life of her father, resides in her mother for the joint life of the mother, but for [3] the authorized giving her away there is the father. 11. About a daughter who is unprovided with a husband, and who has no father and no mother, nor yet any of the brothers of the departed parents, and it is not even allowable to give herself away into guardianship by a husband.
12. About property which is bequeathed by will on passing away; that is, how it is when given and how it is when it does not exist. 13. About the privilege of a father; in giving property to his children according to his wish, and a son who is irreverent towards his father, so that [4] some of the property of the father goes to the worthy mother; also when they would make irreverence towards the father the imputed characteristic (bâkht nîshânô), where a decree about the property of the father is decided upon; and whatever is on the same subject as regards the extent of irreverence of the son towards the father, and the sin of it.
14. About the sin of a son [5] who is accepted, when he recoils from that acceptance; the accepter of a living, or even a departed, father is so because it is the will of the people, and also for the worldly fame of a soul of the departed; and the ceremonial and obeisance are, moreover, for those of them within their own dwelling, owing to letting forth their generosity, and they shall provide them.
15. About the production and arising of even that property which a liberal person has not seen, if there be any one who [6] has not lived liberally.
16. About the production and arising of something of the property of a damsel, even when she gives it by design only to him who is worthy.
17. About a damsel whom an idolater (deviyast) carries off from her own master, and would give to a Mazda-worshipper; that is, how it is justifiable for the Mazda-worshipper, having had that damsel in his possession, to seek a son, by her, so long as the guardianship of the woman is with that man. 18. About a mother being guardian over a living father, owing to their having a son. 19. About the proper completion of a provision -- that was for the decision of the supreme judge, on various statements, and was never otherwise -- which is the provision of him who is a high-priest of the religion.
20. About the sin of a father through not satisfying the menstrual excitement of a daughter who has attained the capability of having a son (berman radîh); what it is when, through not satisfying the menstrual excitement of the daughter, he is sinful; and how it is when the daughter herself is sinful; also the symptoms of attaining the capability of having a son.
21. About where and which is that sin on the committal of which inadvertently one attains to deliverance thus, when it comes to his knowledge it is through a determined renunciation it goes away from its source; also which is that committal inadvertently which does not occur through him who is intelligent. 22. About the four more heinous forms of demon-service (shêdâ-yazhakîh), and the three worst sins wherein they shall perform them; the ten existences that are furtherances, and the nine that are destroyers, of the world.
23. About a true statement through which, when one utters it he is wicked and worthy of death. 24. About driving the bestowable benefit of the spiritual existence away from the world, when he who is destroying a righteous man walks openly in the world; how one section of the spirit's earth is that of a people [7] destroying the righteous man, and the complaint of the spirits of fire, water, and plants, owing thereto: also how the bestowal of the allotment of a leading man is upon his inferiors. 25 About the three kinds of righteous men; one that is greater than water and earth, animals and plants, one that is equal to them, and one that is less; and what is the arrangement of -- as it were -- the conjoined formation of those who are somewhat outside of the three kinds.
26. About the grievous bridge-judgment for carrying forth dead matter to water, or to fire, with which there is evidence; and the heaviness of the spirit due to dead matter in the water. 27. The good work of him who brings the dead matter [8] of man or dog, or that of the serpent or frog, out of the water. 28. About the destruction of the serpent and frog, and other aquatic noxious creatures, in the water when it is only thus possible, and carrying them out from it when it is possible. 29. About the gratification of the spirit of the world, and the vexation of the demons, owing to the destruction of them.
30. Where and what are the tokens of the good [9] management and well-operating drinking-party (tôsh-tîh) of a neighbor not of the same district (ahamshatrô nazd). 31. About the sin of him who, after joining a drinking-party from sunset (hû-frâshmôk-dâdô), pulverizes the road (râh tekhnunêdô), keeps the door opened, and would unlawfully make an uproar.
32. About Ohrmazd having produced the bodies and members of animals -- through having created the body of the sole-created ox with satisfaction, as assistance for mankind -- because they are repeated for protection, and also for the ceremonial for sacred beings specially declared 33. About the reason of making offerings (aûstôfrîdô) to the sacred beings. for the increase of power of the allottcrs of destiny in the allotment of destiny; the connection of that acknowledgment (padîrishnô) and of the benefit and advantage of the recompense thereof; the proper maintenance of that acknowledgment. through the means and efficacy of the spiritual bridge-judgment of sin, and the fear of worldly disaster and harm from not properly maintaining the perpetual acknowledgment in force (dên patûkîh), and from the setting up even of ruin thereby; the reasonable control of the offering to each one of the sacred beings therein is for the skillful member of the community (hûnarîk dâhm) of whatever kind, and is not produced by entrusting the consecration to the violent, more particularly to those whom one specially enumerates; the sin and retribution owing to having given it to those who are of that class; and more upon the same subject.
34. About the damage and injury of the world owing to greed (âzhô) and its fellow-miscreations, and him who is their supporter and abettor, the idolater (deviyastô), also the wolf of many kinds and noxious creatures of various species; because the occurrence of their fiendishness is due to the original fiend, and the means for strengthening their fiendishness are derived from the destruction of all mankind and the other primary worldly creations which are aiding mankind. 35. Advice to mankind about smiting and destroying the evil domination (dûsh-khshasarînîdanô) of the world by those injurers, and the merit manifest for themselves therein; the object and spiritual reward for smiting and killing each one of the wolves and noxious creatures, and, as regards the same reward, the perfection of that for destroying a two-legged wolf [10]; and whatever is on the same subject.
36. About advice as to not reverencing the evil spirit and demons, whereby the observing (var'zhô) of the several ceremonies and gratifications of the sacred beings would be more particularly irregular in any manner whatever, and the damage and harm owing to those who are irregular and ill-observant, through being inclined for that irregularity and ill-observance, would become an oppressive presidency (padgahîh) of the demons over the creatures; also the vice of clamorous talking (drâyân gôgîh) [11] and the damage owing thereto, and the pleasure of the demons due to the same and other things which are irregular. 37. Advice about the reason, habit, and primitive practice of not chattering, and other good customs, during eating and drinking; the gratification of the sacred beings owing to that primitive practice of good customs by mankind, and the unself-devoting (a-khvêsh-dâk) is he who is not maintaining it.
38. Through the ceremonial of which sacred being is the greater welcome (mâhmânôtarîh) of a high-priest and of any good work of each one of the five periods [[gahs]] of the day and night; the reward and advantage owing to celebrating the ceremony of each of them separately in its own period, and also other means and regulations in the same statement.
39. It is righteousness that is perfect excellence.
NOTES:
[1] The contradistinction here indicated between dâhm and an-Aîr is an important confirmation of Geldner's definition of Av. dahma as 'Vollbürger oder Mitgliedcr (see Studien zum Avesta. 1882, p. 14).
[2] See Chaps. 20.74, 22.21.
[3] Reading râî instead of lâ, 'not.'
[4] As aêgh also means 'where,' it is rather uncertain whether the irreverence is supposed to be the cause, or the effect, of the special provision for the mother which afterwards becomes a source of litigation.
[5] An adopted son must be meant.
[6] Supposing that min stands for mûn.
[7] Some neighboring nation of unbelievers is probably meant, such as the Byzantines; as we must always recollect that the compiler is summarizing the contents of the Pahlavi commentary written in Sasanian times (see Chap. 1.3).
[8] See Chap 27.4. It appears from this section that the dead matter of an evil creature, such as a snake or frog, was considered to pollute the water as much as that of a good creature. § 28, however, admits the expediency of killing noxious creatures in the water when it is impossible to take them out beforehand; and this is in accordance with Vd. 5.35-38 (W.) which teaches that an apostate defiles no one when dead (any more than a dried-up frog that has been dead a year), because he defiles while living. This rule was evidently intended to remove all scruples as to killing such creatures, but it applies to them only when recently killed; hence the necessity of removing them, from any place liable to pollution, as soon as possible after death, common sense being preferable to logical consistency.
[9] Supposing that vûp stands for khûp.
[10] A term applied to an idolater.
[11] Whereby the devotions are disturbed, or rendered ineffectual.
Go to [Avesta -- Zoroastrian Archives | Denkard, Book 8: Contents | Prev | 38-43 | Next]