If they shall not fasten the corpse, so that the corpse-eating dogs and the corpse-eating birds may go and carry the bones to the water and to the trees, what is the penalty that they shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“They shall be Peshotanus:  two hundred stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the Sraosho-karana.”

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One!  Whither shall we bring, where shall we lay the bones of the dead, O Ahura Mazda?

Ahura Mazda answered:—­

“The worshippers of Mazda shall make a receptacle out of the reach of the dog, of the fox, and of the wolf, and wherein rain-water cannot stay.  They shall make it, if they can afford it, with stones, plaster, or earth; if they cannot afford it, they shall lay down the dead man on the ground, on his carpet and his pillow, clothed with the light of heaven, and beholding the sun.”

[Footnote 12:  This chapter deals chiefly with uncleanness arising from the dead, and with the means of removing it from men and things.]

FUNERALS AND PURIFICATION

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 other 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:—­