O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a worshipper of Mazda,
walking, or running, or riding, or driving, come upon a corpse in a
stream of running water, what shall he do?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"Taking off his shoes, putting off his clothes, while the others wait, O
Zarathustra! he shall enter the river, and take the dead out of the
water; he shall go down into the water ankle-deep, knee-deep,
waist-deep, or a man's full depth, till he can reach the dead body."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If, however, the body be
already falling to pieces and rotting, what shall the worshipper of
Mazda do?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"He shall draw out of the water as much of the corpse as he can grasp
with both hands, and he shall lay it down on the dry ground; no sin
attaches to him for any bone, hair, grease, dung, urine, or blood, that
may drop back into the water."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water in
a pond does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and
pollution?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"Six steps on each of the four sides. As long as the corpse has not been
taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and unfit to
drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the pond, and lay
it down on the dry ground. And of the water they shall draw off the
half, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth part, according as they
are able or not; and after the corpse has been taken out and the water
has been drawn off, the rest of the water is clean, and both cattle and
men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water in
a well does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and
pollution?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so long
shall that water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore,
take the corpse out of the well, and lay it down on the dry ground. And
of the water in the well they shall draw off the half, or the third, or
the fourth, or the fifth part, according as they are able or not; and
after the corpse has been taken out and the water has been drawn off,
the rest of the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it
at their pleasure, as before."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of a sheet of
snow or hail does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and
pollution?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"Three steps on each of the four sides. As long as the corpse has not
been taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and
unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the water,
and lay it down on the dry ground. After the corpse has been taken out,
and the snow or the hail has melted, the water is clean, and both cattle
and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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