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8
VENDIDÂD.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the evil work of witchcraft.
15 (53). And this is the sign by which it is known, this is that by which it is seen at once : wheresoever they may go and raise a cry of sorcery, there I the worst works of witchcraft go forth. From there they come to kill and strike at heart, and they bring locusts as many as they want.
16 (59). The twelfth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Ragha 8 of the three races 4.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the sin of utter unbeliefs.
17 (63). The thirteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy Kakhra 6.
Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death,
1 In Haêtumant. The plague created against Saistân is abundance of witchcraft: and that character appears from this, that all people from that place practise astrology: those wizards produce ... snow, hail, spiders, and locusts' (Gr. Bd.) Saistân, like Kábul, was half Indian (Maçoudi, II, 79-82), and Brahmans and Buddhists have the credit of being proficient in the darker sciences.
* This clause seems to be a quotation in the Pahlavi Commentary.
• Ragha, transcribed Råk and identified by the Commentary with Adarbaigân and according to some' with Rai (the Greek 'Payal in Media). There were apparently two Raghas, one in Atropatene; another in Media.
• That means that the three classes, priests, warriors, and husbandmen, were well organised there' (Comm. and Gr. Bd.)
6.They doubt themselves and cause other people to doubt' (Comm.)
• There were two towns of that name (Karkh), one in Khorasan, and the other in Ghaznin.
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