Vendidad — Chapter 13
Exported from Holy-Writings.com on 2026-07-05 - 1 clipping

Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 13, translation: L.H. Mills / J. Darmesteter (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887), Avesta.org. License: Public domain (translation predates 1928).
──────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────────

AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 13.

Home

Contents

Prev

vd13sbe

Next

Avestan

Glossary

AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 13. The dog.

This digital edition pepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995; updated Mar 27, 2011.

Translated by James Darmesteter (From Sacred Books of the East,
American Edition, 1898.)

I (1-7). The dog of Ohrmazd and the dog of Ahriman.

(a. 1-4). Holiness of the dog Vanghapara ('the hedgehog').

(b. 5-7). Hatefulness of the dog Zairimyangura ('the tortoise').

II (8-16). The several kinds of dogs. Penalties for the murder
of a dog.

III (17-19) On the duties of the shepherd's dog and the house-dog.

IV (20-38). On the food due to the dog.

V (29-38). On the mad dog and the dog diseased; how they are to
be kept, and cured.

VI (39-40). On the excellence of the dog.

VII (41-43). On the wolf-dog.

VIII (44-48). On the virtues and vices of the dog.

IX (49-50). Praise of the dog.

X (51-54). The water-dog.

This Fargard is the only complete fragment, still in existence,
of a large canine literature: a whole section of the Ganba-sar-nijat
Nask [Duwasrud Nask] was dedicated to the dog (the so-called
Fargard Pasush-haurvastan;
West, Denkard (Pahlavi Texts, IV), VIII, 23; 24, 5;
33, &c.)

FARGARD 13. The dog.

Ia.

Notes:

1. Which is the good creature among the creatures of the Good
Spirit that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills
thousands of the creatures of the Evil Spirit?

2. Ahura Mazda answered: 'The dog with the prickly back, with
the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghapara1, which
evil-speaking people call the Duzaka2; this is the good creature
among the creatures of the Good Spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP] that from midnight till
the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the creatures of the
Evil Spirit.

1. The hedgehog. 'The hedgehog, according to the
Bund. 19.28,
is created in opposition to the ant that carries off grain,
as it says that the hedgehog, every time that it voids urine into
an ant's nest, will destroy a thousand ants, (Bund. 19.28;
cf. Saddar 57).
When the Arabs conquered Saistan, the inhabitants
submitted on the condition that hedgehogs should not be killed
nor hunted for, as they got rid of the vipers which swarm in that
country. Every house had its hedgehog (Yaqout, Dictionnaire de
la Perse, p. 303). Plutarch counts the hedgehog amongst the animals
sacred to the Magi (Quaestiones Conviviales, IV, 5, 2)

2. Dusaka is the popular name of the hedgehog (Pers. zuza). It is
not without importance which name is given to a being:
'When called by its high name, it is powerful' (Comm.); cf. §
6, and Vd18.15.

3. 'And whosoever, O Zarathushtra! shall kill the dog with the
prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the dog Vanghapara,
which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, kills his own soul
for nine generations, nor shall he find a way over the Chinwad
bridge3, unless he has, while alive, atoned for his sin4.'

3. The bridge leading to Paradise; see Vd19.30.

4. Cf. § 54. Framji translates: 'He cannot atone for it in his life
even by performing a sacrifice to Sraosha' (cf. Vd9.56,
text and note).

4. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man kill
the dog with the prickly back, with the long and thin muzzle, the
dog Vanghapara, which evil-speaking people call the Duzaka, what
is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'A thousand stripes with the
Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with the Sraosho-charana.

Ib.

5. Which is the evil creature among the creatures of the Evil
Spirit that from midnight till the sun is up goes and kills
thousands of the creatures of the Good Spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP]?

6. Ahura Mazda answered: 'The daeva Zairimyangura5, which
evil-speaking people call the Zairimyaka6, this is the evil
creature among the creatures of the Evil Spirit that from
midnight till the sun is up goes and kills thousands of the
creatures of the Good Spirit [Spenta Mainyu -JHP].

5. The tortoise (Framji and Rivayats
[218]).

6. 'When not so called it is less strong' (Comm.) Zairimy&acirc;ka
is a lucky name, and means, as it seems, who lives in verdure;
Zairimyangura seems to mean 'the verdure-devourer.'

7. 'And whosoever, O Zarathushtra! shall kill the daeva
Zairimyangura, which evil-speaking people call the Zairimyaka,
his sins in thought, word, and deed are redeemed as they would be
by a Patet; his sins in thought, word, and deed are atoned for7.

7. See Vd14.5

II.

8. 'Whosoever shall smite either a shepherd's dog, or a
house-dog, or a Vohunazga dog8, or a trained dog9,
his soul when passing to the other world, shall fly10
howling louder and more sorely grieved than the sheep does in the
lofty forest where the wolf ranges.

8. See § 19, note.

9. A hunting-dog.

10. 'From Paradise' (Comm.)

9. 'No soul will come and meet his departing soul and help it,
howling and grieved in the other world; nor will the dogs that
keep the [Chinwad] bridge11 help his departing soul howling and
grieved in the other world.

11. See Vd19.30.

10. 'If a man shall smite a shepherd's dog so that it becomes
unfit for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, and
thereupon a thief or a wolf break in and carry away [sheep] from
the fold, without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay
for the loss, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for
wilful wounding12.

12. Baodh&ocirc;-varshta; see Vd7.38 n.

11. 'If a man shall smite a house-dog so that it becomes unfit
for work, if he shall cut off its ear or its paw, and thereupon a
thief or a wolf break in and carry away [anything] from the
house, without the dog giving any warning, the man shall pay for
the loss, and he shall pay for the wound of the dog as for wilful
wounding.'

12. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall smite a shepherd's dog, so that it gives up the ghost and
the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall
pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'Eight hundred stripes with the
Aspahe-astra, eight hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'

13. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall smite a house-dog so that it gives up the ghost and the
soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?
Ahura Mazda answered; 'Seven hundred stripes with the
Aspahe-astra, seven hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'

14. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall smite a Vohunazga dog so that it gives up the ghost and
the soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall
pay?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'Six hundred stripes with the
Aspahe-astra, six hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'

15. O Maker of tlie material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall smite a Tauruna dog13 so that it gives up the ghost and the
soul parts from the body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'Five hundred stripes with the
Aspahe-astra, five hundred stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'

13. Tauruna seems to be another name of the trained or hunting-dog
(cf. § 8 compared with §§ 12-15), though tradition translates it
'a dog not older than four months.'

16. 'This is the penalty for the murder of a
Jazhu dog, of a Vizu dog14, of a porcupine dog15,
of a sharptoothed weasel16, of a swift-running fox; this
is the penalty for the murder of any of the creatures
of the Good Spirit [Spenta Mainyu] belonging to the dog kind,
except the water-dog17.'

14. Unknown. See Vd5.31, 32.

15. A porcupine. See Vd5.31.

16. A weasel. See Vd5.33.

17. The otter. 'For the penalty in that case is most heavy' (Comm.)
See § 52 seq. and Vd14.

III.

17. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the
place of the shepherd's dog?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He comes and goes a Yujyesti18 round
about the fold, watching for the thief and the wolf.'

18. A distance of sixteen Hathras (16,000 paces).

18. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the
place of the house-dog?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He comes and goes a Hathra round
about the house, watching for the thief and the wolf.'

19. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the
place of the Vohunazga dog?.

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He claims none of those talents, and
only seeks for his subsistence19.'

19. 'He cannot do the same as the shepherd's dog and the house dog
do, but he catches Khrafstras and smites the Nasu' (Comm.) It
is 'the dog without a master' (ghar&icirc;b), the vagrant dog; he is
held in great esteem (§ 22), and is one or the dogs which can
be used for the Sag-did.

IV.

20. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give
bad food to a shepherd's dog, of what sin does he make himself
guilty?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He makes himself guilty of the same
guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house
of the first rank.'

21. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give
bad food to a house-dog, of what sin does he make himself guilty?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He makes himself guilty of the same
guilt as though he should serve bad food to a master of a house
of middle rank.'

22. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give
bad food to a Vohunazga dog, of what sin does he make himself
guilty?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He makes himself guilty of the same
guilt as though he should serve bad food to a holy man, who
should come to his house in the character of a priest20.'

20. The Vohunazga dog has no domicile, therefore he is not compared
with the master of a house, but with a wandering friar, who lives
on charity.

23. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man give
bad food to a Tauruna dog, of what sin does he make himself
guilty?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He makes himself guilty of the same
guilt as though he should serve bad food to a young man, born of
pious parents, and who can already answer for his deeds21.'

21. Probably, 'Who has performed the nu-zud [navjote -JHP], fifteen years old.'
The young dog enters the community of the faithful at the age
of four months, when he is fit for the Sag-did and can expel the
Nasu.

24. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall give bad food to a shepherd's dog, what is the penalty that
he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'He is a Peshotanu: two hundred
stripes with the Aspahe-astra, two hundred stripes with the
Sraosho-charana22.'

22. 'I also saw the soul of a man, whom demons, just like dogs,
ever tear. That man gives bread to the dogs, and they eat it not;
but they ever devour the breast, legs, belly, and thighs of the
man. And I asked thus: What sin was committed by this body, whose
soul suffers so severe a punishment? Srosh the pious and Atar
the angel said thus: This is the soul of that wicked man who,
in the world, kept back the food of the dogs of shepherds and house-holders;
or beat and killed them' (Arda Viraf
48, translated by Haug).

25. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall give bad food to a house-dog, what is the penalty that he
shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'Ninety stripes with the Aspahe-astra,
ninety stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'

26. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall give bad food to a Vohunazga dog, what is the penalty that
he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'Seventy stripes with the
Aspahe-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraosho-charana.'

27. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man
shall give bad food to a Tauruna dog, what is the penalty that he
shall pay?

Ahura Mazda ansvvered: 'Fifty stripes with the Aspahe-astra,
fifty stripes with the Sraosho-charana.

28. 'For in this material world, O Spitama Zarathushtra! it is
the dog, of all the creatures of the Good Spirit [Spenta Mainyu], that most
quickly decays into age, while not eating near eating people, and
watching goods none of which it receives. Bring ye unto him milk
and fat with meat23; this is the right food for the dog24.'

23. The same food as recommended for the dog by Columella (Ordacea
farina cum sero, VII, 12; cf. Virgil, Pasce sero pingui, Georg.
III, 406).

24. 'Whenever one eats bread one must put aside three mouthfuls and
give them to the dog ... for among all the poor there is none
poorer than the dog' (Saddar 31).

V.

29. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be
in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a mad dog that bites
without barking, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

30. Ahura Mazda answered: 'They shall put a wooden collar around
his neck, and they shall tie thereto a muzzle, an asti25 thick if
the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that collar
they shall tie it; by the two sides26 of the collar they shall tie
it.

25. A measure of unknown amount. Framji reads ishti, 'a brick' thick.

26. By the left and the right side of it.

31. 'If they shall not do so, and the mad dog that bites without
barking, smite a sheep or wound a man, the dog shall pay for the
wound of the wounded as for wilful murder27.

27. According to Solon's law, the dog who had bitten a man was to
be delivered to him tied up to a block four cubits long (Plutarchus,
Solon 24). The Book of Deuteronomy orders the ox who has killed
a man to be put to death.

32. 'If the dog shall smite a sheep or wound a man, they shall
cut off his right ear.

'If he shall smite another sheep or wound another man, they
shall cut off his left ear.

33. 'If he shall smite a third sheep or wound a third man, they
shall make a cut in his right foot28. If he shall smite a fourth
sheep or wound a fourth man, they shall make a cut in his left
foot.

28. 'They only cut off a piece of flesh from the foot' (Brouillons
d'Anquetil).

34. 'If he shall for the fifth time smite a sheep or wound a
man, they shall cut off his tail.

'Therefore they shall tie a muzzle to the collar; by the two
sides of the collar they shall tie it. If they shall not do so,
and the mad dog that bites without barking, smite a sheep or
wound a man, he shall pay for the wound of the wounded as for
wilful murder.'

35. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If there be
in the house of a worshipper of Mazda a mad dog, who has no
scent, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?
Ahura Mazda answered: 'They shall attend him to heal him, in
the same manner as they would do for one of the faithful.'

36. O Maker oi the material world, thou Holy One! If they try
to heal him and fail, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

37. Ahura Mazda answered: 'They shall put a wooden collar around
his neck, and they shall tie thereto a muzzle, an asti thick if
the wood be hard, two astis thick if it be soft. To that collar
they shall tie it; by the two sides of the collar they shall tie
it.

38. 'If they shall not do so, the scentless dog may fall into a
hole, or a well, or a precipice, or a river, or a canal, and come
to grief: if he come to grief so, they shall be therefore
Peshotanus.

VI.

39. 'The dog, O Spitama Zarathushtra! I, Ahura Mazda, have made
self-clothed and self-shod; watchful and wakeful; and
sharp-toothed; born to take his food from man and to watch over
man's goods. I, Ahura Mazda, have made the dog strong of body
against the evil-doer, when sound of mind and watchful over your
goods.

40. 'And whosoever shall awake at his voice, O Spitama
Zarathushtra! neither shall the thief nor the wolf carry anything
from his house, without his being warned; the wolf shall be
smitten and torn to pieces; he is driven away, he melts away like
snow29.'

29. Doubtful.

VII.

41. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which of the
two wolves deserves more to be killed, the one that a he-dog
begets of a she-wolf, or the one that a he-wolf begets of a
she-dog?

Ahura Mazda answered: 'Of these two wolves, the one that a
he-dog begets of a she-wolf deserves more to be killed than the
one that a he-wolf begets of a she-dog.

42. 'For the dogs born therefrom fall on the shepherd's dog, on
the house-dog, on the Vohu-nazga dog, on the trained dog, and
destroy the folds; such dogs are more murderous, more
mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other dogs30.

30. 'Ultroque gravis succedere tigrim

Aura canis, majore tulit de sanguine foetum.

Sed praeceps virtus ipsa venabitur aula:

Ille tibi et pecudum multo cum sanguine crescet.'
- Gratius Faliscus, Cyneg. 165 seq.

43. 'And the wolves born therefrom fall on the shepherd's dog,
on the house-dog, on the Vohunazga dog, on the trained dog, and
destroy the folds; such wolves are more murderous, more
mischievous, more destructive to the folds than any other wolves.

VIII.

44. 'A dog has the characters of eight sorts of people:-
'He has the character of a priest,
'He has the character of a warrior,
'He has the character of a husbandman,
'He has the character of a strolling singer,
'He has the character of a thief,
'He has the character of a disu,
'He has the character of a courtezan,
'He has the character of a child.

45. 'He eats the refuse, like a priest31; he is easily
satisfied32, like a priest; he is patient, like a priest; he wants
only a small piece of bread, like a priest; in these things he is
like unto a priest.

'He marches in front, like a warrior; he fights for the
beneficent cow, like a warrior33; he goes first out of the house,
like a warrior34; in these things he is like unto a warrior.

31. A wandering priest (see above, note 20).

32. 'Good treatment makes him joyous' (Comm.)

33. 'He keeps away the wolf and the thief' (Comm.)

34. This clause is, as it seems, repeated here by mistake from § 46.

46. 'He is watchful and sleeps lightly, like a husbandman; he
goes first out of the house, like a husbandman35; he returns last
into the house, like a husbandman36; in these things he is like
unto a husbandman.

'He is fond of singing, like a strolling singer37; he wounds
him who gets too near38, like a strolling singer; he is
ill-trained, like a strolling singer; he is changeful, like a
strolling singer; in these things he is like unto a strolling
singer.

35. When taking the cattle out of the stables.

36. When bringing the cattle back to the stables.

37. The so-called Looris of nowadays.

38. He insults or robs the passer by, like a Loori.-' The Looris
wander in the world, seeking their life, bed-fellows and fellow-travelers
of the dogs and the wolves, ever on the roads to rob day and night'
(Firdausi).

47. 'He is fond of darkness, like a thief; he prowls about in
darkness, like a thief; he is a shameless eater, like a thief; he
is therefore an unfaithful keeper, like a thief39; in these things
he is like unto a thief.

'He is fond of darkness, like a disu40; he prowls about in
darkness, like a disu; he is a shameless eater, like a disu; he
is therefore an unfaithful keeper, like a disu; in these things
he is like unto a disu.

39. 'When one trusts him with something, he eats it up' (Comm.)

40. According to Framji, 'a wild beast.'

48. 'He is fond of singing, like a courtezan; he wounds him who
gets too near, like a courtezan; he roams along the roads, like a
courtezan; he is ill-trained, like a courtezan; he is changeful,
like a courtezan41; in these things he is like unto a courtezan.

'He is fond of sleep, like a child; he is tender like snow42,
like a child; he is full of tongue, like a child; he digs the
earth with his paws42, like a child; in these things he is like
unto a child.

41. The description of the courtesan follows closely that of the
singer: in the East a public songstress is generally a prostitute.
Loori means both a singer and a prostitute.

42. Doubtful.

IX.

49. 'If those two dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and the
house-dog, pass by any of my houses, let them never be kept away
from it.

'For no house could subsist on the earth made by Ahura, but
for those two dogs of mine, the shepherd's dog and the
house-dog43.'

43. 'But for the dog not a single head of cattle would remain in
existence' (Saddar 31).

X.

50. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When a dog
dies, with marrow and seed44 dried up, whereto does his ghost go?

44. Marrow is the seat of life, the spine is 'the column and the
spring of life' (Yt10.71);
the sperm comes from it
(Bundahishn 16).
The same theory prevailed in India, where the sperm is called
majj&acirc;-samudbhava, 'what is born from marrow;' it was
followed by Plato (Timaeus 74, 91; cf. Censorinus, De die natali,
5), and disproved by Aristotle (De Part. Anim. III, 7).

51. Ahura Mazda answered: 'It passes to the spring of the
waters45, O Spitama Zarathushtra! and there out of them two
water-dogs are formed: out of every thousand dogs and every
thousand she-dogs, a couple is formed, a water-dog and a water
she-dog46.

45. To the spring of Ardvi Sura, the goddess of waters.

46. There is therefore in a single water-dog as much life and holiness
as in a thousand dogs. This accounts for the following. -- The water-dog
(udra up&acirc;pa; Persian sag-&icirc;&acirc;b&icirc;) is the otter.

52. 'He who kills a water-dog brings about a drought that dries
up pastures.

'Until then, O Spitama Zarathushtra! sweetness and fatness
would flow out from that land and from those fields, with health
and healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing
of corn and grass.'

53. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! When are
sweetness and fatness to come back again to that land and to
those fields, with health and healing, with fulness and increase
and growth, and a growing of corn and grass?

54, 55. Ahura Mazda answered: 'Sweetness and fatness will never
come back again to that land and to those fields, with health and
healing, with fulness and increase and growth, and a growing of
corn and grass, until the murderer of the water-dog has been
smitten to death on the spot, and the holy soul of the dog has
been offered up a sacrifice, for three days and three nights,
with fire blazing, with Baresma tied up, and with Haoma
prepared47.

47. See Vd9.55, 56, note 34.

56. ['Then sweetness and fatness will come back again to that
land and to those fields, with health and healing, with fulness
and increase and growth, and a growing of corn and grass48.']

48. See Vd9.53-57.

Home

Contents

Prev

vd13sbe

Next

Avestan

Glossary
-- Vendidad — Chapter 13 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))