Zend Avesta Part 01

SR No.: 007671
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Darmesteter
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1895
Total Pages: 2695
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 49 MB

Page 285

190
VENDIDAD.
FARGARD XVII.
Hair and Nails. Anything that has been separated from the body of man is considered dead matter (nasu), and is accordingly unclean. As soon as hair and nails are cut off, the demon takes hold of them and has to be driven away from them by spells, in the same way as he is from the bodies of the dead!.
I. Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda : 0 Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the most deadly deed whereby a man offers up a sacrifice to the Daêvas ??'
2 (3). Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is when a man here below, combing his hair or shaving it off, or paring off his nails, drops them in a hole or in a crack 4
3 (6). “Then by this transgression of the rites, Daêvas are produced in the earth; by this transgression of the rites, those Khrafstras are produced in the earth which men call lice, and which eat up the corn in the corn-field and the clothes in the wardrobe.
4 (10). “Therefore, thou, O Zarathustra! whenever here below thou shalt comb thy hair or shave
? On similar views and customs in different countries, see Notes and Queries, 3rd series, X, 146; Aulus Gellius, X, 15, 15; Mélusine, 1878, pp. 79, 549, 583 ; L. de Rosny, Histoire des dynasties divines, 308.
* Any offence to religion is considered an offering to the Daêvas, whose strength is thereby increased. Cf. Yt. V, 95.
• Without performing the requisite ceremonies. • Doubtful.
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