"Thou shalt cleanse a priest for a blessing of the just. Thou shalt
cleanse the lord of a province for the value of a camel of high value.
Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a town for the value of a stallion of
high value. Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a borough for the value of a
bull of high value. Thou shalt cleanse the master of a house for the
value of a cow three years old. Thou shalt cleanse the wife of the
master of a house for the value of a ploughing cow. Thou shalt cleanse a
menial for the value of a draught cow. Thou shalt cleanse a young child
for the value of a lamb. These are the heads of cattle--flocks or
herds--that the worshippers of Mazda shall give to the man who has
cleansed them, if they can afford it; if they cannot afford it, they
shall give him any other value that may make him leave their houses well
pleased with them, and free from anger. For if the man who has cleansed
them leave their houses displeased with them, and full of anger, then
the Drug Nasu enters them from the nose of the dead, from the eyes, from
the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder
parts. And the Drug Nasu rushes upon them even to the end of the nails,
and they are unclean thenceforth forever and ever. It grieves the sun
indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! to shine upon a man defiled by the dead;
it grieves the moon, it grieves the stars. That man delights them, O
Spitama Zarathustra! who cleanses from the Nasu the man defiled by the
dead; he delights the fire, he delights the water, he delights the
earth, he delights the cow, he delights the trees, he delights the
faithful, both men and women."
Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What shall be his reward,
after his soul has parted from his body, who has cleansed from the Nasu
the man defiled by the dead?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"The welfare of Paradise thou canst promise to that man, for his reward
in the other world."
Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I fight against
that Drug who from the dead rushes upon the living? How shall I fight
against that Nasu who from the dead defiles the living?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
"Say aloud those words in the Gâthas that are to be said twice. Say
aloud those words in the Gâthas that are to be said thrice. Say aloud
those words in the Gâthas that are to be said four times. And the Drug
shall fly away like the well-darted arrow, like the felt of last year,
like the annual garment of the earth."
O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man who does not know
the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda, offers to cleanse
the unclean, how shall I then fight against that Drug who from the dead
rushes upon the living? How shall I fight against that Drug who from the
dead defiles the living?
Ahura Mazda answered:--
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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