Vendidad — Chapter 18
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Source: Avesta.org. The Vendidad, Chapter 18, translation: L.H. Mills / J. Darmesteter (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887), Avesta.org. License: Public domain (translation predates 1928).
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AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 18.

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AVESTA: VENDIDAD (English): Fargard 18.

This digital edition prepared by Joseph H. Peterson, 1995; updated Jun 14, 2001.

Translated by James Darmesteter, from Sacred Books of the
East, American edition, volume 3, New York, 1898.

I (1-13). On the unworthy priest and enticers to heresy.

II (14-29). The holiness of the cock, the bird of Sraosha, who
awakes the world for prayer and for the protection of Atar.

III (30-59). On the four sins, that make the Druj pregnant with
a brood of fiends.

IV (60-65). On the evil caused by the Jahi (the prostitute).

V (66-76). How intercourse with a Dasht&acirc;n woman is to be
atoned for.

FARGARD 18.

I.

Notes:

1. 'There is many a one, O holy Zarathushtra!' said Ahura Mazda,
'Who wears a wrong Paitidana1, and who has not girded his loins
with the Religion2; When such a man says, "I am an Athravan,"
he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!' thus
said Ahura Mazda.

1. See above, Vd14.8, note 19.

2. The word translated girded is the word used of the Kusti, the sacred
girdle which the Parsi must never part with (see § 54); the full
meaning, therefore, is, 'girded with the law as with a Kusti'
(cf. Yasna 9.26 [81]), that is to say,
'never forsaking the law,' or, as the Commentary expresses it,
'one whose thought is all on the law' (cf. § 5).

2. 'He holds a wrong Khrafstraghna3 in his hand and he has not
girded his loins with the Religion; when he says, "I am an
Athravan," he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!
thus said Ahura Mazda.

3. See above, Vd14.8, note 20.

3. 'He holds a wrong twig4 in his hand and he has not girded his
loins with the Religion; when he says, "I am an Athravan,"
he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!' thus
said Ahura Mazda.

4. The bundles of Baresma [barsom -JHP] or the urvaram
(see Vd3.1, note 3 and
Vd14.8, note 23).

4. 'He wields a wrong Ashtra mairya5 and he has not girded his
loins with the Religion; when he says, "I am an Athravan,"
he lies; do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!' thus
said Ahura Mazda.

5. The ashtra (Aspahe-ashtra) with which the priest, as a Sraosho-varez,
chastises the guilty.

5. 'He who sleeps on throughout the night, neither performing
the Yasna nor chanting the hymns, worshipping neither by word
nor by deed, neither learning nor teaching, with a longing for
(everlasting) life, he lies when he says, "I am an Athravan,"
do not call him an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra!' thus said Ahura
Mazda.

6. 'Him thou shalt call an Athravan, O holy Zarathushtra! who
throughout the night sits up and demands of the holy Wisdom6, which
makes man free from anxiety, and wide of heart, and easy of conscience
at the head of the Chinwad bridge7, and which makes him reach that
world, that holy world, that excellent world of Paradise.

6. That is to say, studies the law and learns from those who know
it.

7. See Vd19.30. 'It gives him a stout
heart, when standing before the Chinwad bridge' (Comm.)

7. '(Therefore) demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am
the Maker, the most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing,
the most pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me,
that thou mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.'

8. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: 'O Maker of the material world,
thou Holy One! What is it that brings in the unseen power of Death?'

9. Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is the man that teaches a wrong
Religion8; it is the man who continues for three springs9
without wearing the sacred girdle10, without chanting
the Gathas, without worshipping the Good Waters.

8. [akha da&ecirc;na, lit. 'bad religion' -JHP]
'The deceiver Ashemaogha' (Comm.); the heretic.
See Vd15.2

9. 'For three years' (Comm.)

10. The Kusti, which must he worn by every Parsi, man or woman,
from their fifteenth year of age (see below, § 54 seq); it
is the badge of the faithful, the girdle by which he is united
both with Ohrmazd and with his fellow-believers. He who does not
wear it must be refused water and bread by the members of the
community; he who wears it becomes a participator in the merit
of all the good deeds performed all over the Zarathustrian world
(Saddar 10 and
Saddar 46).
The Kusti consists 'of seventy-two interwoven
filaments, and should three times circumvent the waist. ... Each
of the threads is equal in value to one of the seventy-two Has
of the Yasna; each of the
twelve threads in the six lesser cords is equal in value to the
dawazdih hamaist...; each of the lesser cords is equal in value
to one of the six Gahambars; each of the three circumventions
of the loins is equal in value to humat, good thought,
hukht, good speech, huaresta, good work; the
binding of each of the four knots upon it confers pleasure
on each of the four elements, fire, air, water, and the earth'
(Edal Daru, apud Wilson, The Parsi Religion Unfolded, p. 163).

Another piece of clothing which every Parsi is enjoined to wear
is the Sudre, or sacred shirt, a muslin shirt with short sleeves,
that does not reach lower than the hips, with a small pocket at
the opening in front of the shirt, the so-called giriban or kissai
karfa, 'the pocket for good deeds.' The faithful man must, while
putting on his Sudre, look at the giriban and ask himself
whether it is full of good deeds.

10. 'And he who should set that man at liberty, when bound in
prison11, does no better deed than if he should cut a man's head
off his neck12.

11. See Introd. III, 10. Cf. § 12.

12. Doubtful. The Commentary seems to understand the sentence as
follows: 'He who should free him from hell would thus perform no
less a feat than if he should cut off the head of a man
and then make him alive again.'

11. 'For the blessing uttered by a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha
does not go past the mouth (of the blesser); the blessing of two
Ashemaoghas13 does not go past the tongue; the blessing of three13
is nothing; the blessing of four13 turns to self-cursing.

13. Perhaps better: 'The second ..., the third ..., the fourth blessing
of an Ashemaogha.'

12. 'Whosoever should give to a wicked, ungodly Ashemaogha either
some Haoma prepared, or some Myazda consecrated with blessings,
does no better deed than if he should lead a thousand horse against
the boroughs of the worshippers of Mazda, and should slaughter
the men thereof, and drive off the cattle as plunder.

13. 'Demand of me, thou upright one! of me, who am the Maker,
the most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most
pleased in answering what is asked of me; demand of me, that thou
mayst be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.'

II.

14. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: 'Who is the Sraosha-varez14
of Sraosha? the holy, strong Sraosha, who is Obedience incarnate,
a Sovereign with an astounding weapon15.'

14. 'Who is he who sets the world in motion?' (Comm.)

15. Sraosha, Srosh, the Genius of Active Piety. He first tied
the Baresma [barsom], sacrificed to Ahura, and sang the Gathas.
Thrice in each day and night he descends upon the earth to smite
Angra Mainyu and his crew of demons. With his club uplifted he
protects the world from the demons of the night, and the dead
from the terrors of death and from the assaults of Angra Mainyu
and Asto-vidotu [Astwihad]. It is through a sacrifice performed by Ohrmazd,
as a Zoti, and Srosh, as a Raspi, that at the end of time Ahriman
will be forever vanquished and brought to nought
(Yasna 57,
Yt11, etc.)

15. Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is the bird named Parodarsh16, which
ill-speaking people call Kahrkatas17, O holy Zarathushtra! the bird
that lifts up his voice against the mighty Ushah18:

16. 'He who foreshows the coming dawn; the cock.'

17. 'When he is not called so, he is powerful' (Comm.)
See Vd13.2, 6.

18. Ushah, the second half of the night, from midnight to the dawn. [Ushahin -JHP]

16. '"Arise, O men! recite the Ashem yad
vahistem that smites down the Daevas19.
Lo! here is Bushyasta, the long-handed20,
coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world,
as soon as it has awoke: 'Sleep!' [she says,] 'O poor man! the
time21 is not yet come.'"

19. The cock is 'the drum of the world.' As crowing in the dawn that
dazzles away the fiends, he crows away the demons: 'The cock was
created to fight against the fiends and wizards; ... he is with
the dog an ally of Srosh against demons'
(Bundahishn 19). 'No demon
can enter a house in which there is a cock; and, above all, should
this bird come to the residence of a demon, and move his tongue
to chant the praises of the glorious and exalted Creator, that
instant the evil spirit takes to flight' (Mirkhond, History of
the Early Kings of Persia, translated by Shea, p. 57; see
Saddar 32, and J. Ovington,
A Voyage to Suratt, 1696, p.371).

20. The demon of sleep, laziness, procrastination. She lulls back
to sleep the world as soon as awaked, and makes the faithful forget
in slumber the hour of prayer.

21. 'To perform thy religious duties' (Comm.)

17. '"On the three excellent things be never intent, namely,
good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; on the three abominable
things be ever intent, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad
deeds."

18. 'On the first part of the night, Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda,
calls the master of the house for help, saying:

19. '"Up! arise, thou master of the house! put on thy girdle [[kusti]]
on thy clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and
let me burn bright with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed
hands22. Here comes Azi23, made by the Daevas, who consumes me and
wants to put me out of the world."

22. The Parsi, as soon as he has risen, must put on the kusti, wash
his hands, and put wood on the fire.

23. &Acirc;zi, the demon of avidity; he extinguishes the fire, while he
devours the wood.

20. 'On the second part of the night, Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda,
calls the husbandman for help, saying;

21. '"Up! arise, thou husbandman! Put on thy girdle [[kusti]] on thy
clothes, wash thy hands, take wood, bring it unto me, and let
me burn bright with the clean wood, carried by thy well-washed
hands. Here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who consumes me and
wants to put me out of the world."

22. 'On the third part of the night, Atar, the son of Ahura Mazda,
calls the holy Sraosha for help, saying: "Come thou, holy,
well-formed Sraosha, [then he brings unto me some clean wood with
his well-washed hands24.] Here comes Azi, made by the Daevas, who
consumes me and wants to put me out of the world."

24. The text seems to be corrupt: it must probably be emended into
'bring into me...'

23. 'And then the holy Sraosha wakes up the bird named Parodarsh,
which ill-speaking people call Kahrkatas, and the bird lifts up
his voice against the mighty Ushah:

24. '"Arise, O men! recite the Ashem yad vahistem
[Ashem Vohu] and the Naismi daevo25.
Lo! here is Bushyasta, the long-handed,
coming upon you, who lulls to sleep again the whole living world
as soon as it has awoke: 'Sleep!' [she says,] 'O poor man! the time
is not yet come.'"

25. The prayer 'Righteousness is the best of all good...' (the Ashem
Vohu), and the profession of faith [creed]: 'I scorn the Daevas...'
(Yasna 12.1).

25. '"On the three excellent things be never intent, namely,
good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; on the three abominable
things be ever intent, namely, bad thoughts, bad words, and bad
deeds."

26. 'And then bed-fellows address one another: "Rise up,
here is the cock calling me up." Whichever of the two first
gets up shall first enter Paradise: whichever of the two shall
first, with well-washed hands, bring clean wood unto Atar, the
son of Ahura Mazda, Atar, well pleased with him and not angry,
and fed as it required, will thus bless him:

27. '"May herds of oxen and sons accrue to thee: may thy
mind be master of its vow, may thy soul be master of its vow,
and mayst thou live on in the joy of thy soul all the nights of
thy life."

'This is the blessing which Atar speaks unto him who brings him
dry wood, well examined by the light of the day, well cleansed
with godly intent.

28. 'And whosoever will kindly and piously present one of the
faithful with a pair of these my Parodarsh birds, a male and a
female, O Spitama Zarathushtra! it is as though he had given26 a
house with a hundred columns, a thousand beams, ten thousand large
windows, ten thousand small windows.

26. 'In the day of recompense' (Comm.); he shall he rewarded as
though he had given a house, &c.... he shall receive such a house
in Paradise.

29. 'And whosoever shall give meat to one of the faithful, as
much of it as the body of this Parodarsh bird of mine, I, Ahura
Mazda, need not interrogate him twice; he shall directly go to
Paradise.'

III.

30. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Thou then, alone in the
material world, dost bear offspring without any male coming unto
thee?'

31. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! It
is not so, nor do I, alone in the material world, bear offspring
without any male coming unto me.

32. 'For there are four males of mine; and they make me conceive
progeny as other males make their females conceive by their seed27.'

27. Sin makes the Druj mother of a spontaneous progeny, as the sinner
is 'the brood of the Druj' (Yasna 61.10).

33. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the first of those
males of thine?'

34. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! He
is the first of my males who, being entreated by one of the faithful,
does not give him anything, be it ever so little, of the riches
he has treasured up28.

28. See Vd3.34.

35. 'That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their
females conceive by their seed.'

36. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! What is the thing that
can undo that?'

37. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! This
is the thing that undoes it, namely, when a man unasked, kindly
and piously, gives to one of the faithful something, be it ever
so little, of the riches he has treasured up.

38. 'He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb
as a four-footed wolf does, who tears the child out of a mother's
womb.'

39. The holy Sraosha, letting down his club upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the second of those
males of thine?'

40. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! He
is the second of my males who, making water, lets it fall along
the upper forepart of his foot.

41. 'That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make
their females conceive by their seed.'

42. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked
the Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! What is the thing
that can undo that?'

43. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, wall-formed Sraosha! This
is the thing that undoes it, namely, when the man rising up29 and
stepping three steps further off, shall say three
Ahuna-Vairya30,
two humatanam31, three hukhshathrotemam32,
and then chant the Ahuna-Vairya33
and offer up one Yenhe hatam34.

29. 'Nec stando mingens ... facile visitur Persa' (Amm. Marc.
XXIII, 6); Arda Viraf 24;
Menog i Khrad 2.39;
Saddar 56.
Cf. Manu IV, 47 seq., and Polack, Persien I, 67: 'Von einem in
Paris weilenden Perser hinterbrachte man dem K&ouml;nig, um seine
Emancipation und Abtr&uuml;nnigkeit vom Gesetz za beweisen, dass
er Schweinefleisch esse und stehend die Function verrichte.'

30. See Vd8.19.

31. Yasna 35.2: one of the Bish-amruta
(Vd10.4).

32. Yasna 35.5: one of the
Thrish-amruta (Vd10.8).

33. Making four Ahunwars in all; see Vd10.12.

34. See Yasna 21.

44. 'He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb
as a four-footed wolf does, 'who tears the child out of a mother's
womb.'

45. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the third of those
males of thine?'

46. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! He
is the third of my males who during his sleep emits seed.

47. 'That man makes me conceive progeny as other males make their
females conceive progeny by their seed.'

48. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! What is the thing that
can undo that?'

49. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! this
is the thing that undoes it, namely, if the man, when he has risen
from sleep, shall say three Ahuna-Vairya, two humatanam, three
hukhshathrotemam, and then chant the Ahuna-Vairya and offer up
one Yenhe hatam.35

35. See § 43 and notes.

50. 'He does thereby as thoroughly destroy the fruit of my womb
as a four-footed wolf does who tears the child out of a mother's
womb.'

51. Then he shall speak unto Spenta Armaiti36, saying: 'O Spenta
Armaiti, this man do I deliver unto thee37; this man deliver thou
back unto me, against the happy day of resurrection; deliver him
back as one who knows the Gathas, who knows the Yasna38, and the
revealed Law39, a wise and clever man, who is Obedience incarnate.

36. The Genius of the Earth (see Vd2.10).

37. In the same way as she received the seed of the dying Gayomard,
from which she let grow, in the shape of a plant, the first human
couple, Mashye and Mashyane (Bund. 15.1-2).

38. The Yasna Haptanhaiti.

37. Literally, 'the answers made to the questions (of Zarathushtra).'

52. 'Then thou shalt call his name "Fire-creature, Fire-seed,
Fire-offspring, Fire-land," or any name wherein is the word
Fire38.'

38. Atar, the Fire, is the ideal father of the son to be born, as
Spenta Armaiti, the Earth, is his ideal mother. The fire is considered
male (Denkard, apud West, Pahlavi Texts, II, 410) and (as Apam
Napat) has made and shaped man (Yt19.52).

53. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj! Who is the fourth of those
males of thine?'

54. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha!
This one is my fourth male who, either man or woman, being more
than fifteen years of age, walks without wearing the sacred girdle
and the sacred shirt39.

39. The kusti and the sudre; see above, § 9, note 10. It is the
sin known as kush&acirc;d duv&acirc;rishn&icirc;
(Menog i Khrad 2.35;
Arda Viraf 25.6).

55. 'At the fourth step40 we Daevas, at once, wither him even to
the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power
to destroy the world of Righteousness, and he destroys it like
the Yatus and the Zandas41.'

40. 'Going three steps without kusti is only a three Sraosho-charana
sin; from the fourth step, it is a tanapuhr sin' (Comm.)

41. The Yatu is a sorcerer; the Zanda is an apostle of Ahriman.
[i.e. zandiks (heretics) -JHP]

56. The holy Sraosha, letting his club down upon her, asked the
Druj: 'O thou wretched, worthless Druj, what is the thing that
can undo that?'

57. The Druj demon answered: 'O holy, well-formed Sraosha! There
is no means of undoing it;
58.
'When a man or a woman, being more than fifteen years of age,
walks without wearing the sacred girdle or the sacred shirt [[kusti and sudre]].
59.
'At the fourth step we Daevas, at once, wither him even to
the tongue and the marrow, and he goes thenceforth with power
to destroy the world of Righteousness, and he destroys it like
the Yatus and the Zandas.'

IV.

60.
Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the
most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most pleased
in answering what is asked of me; demand of me that thou mayst
be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.
61.
Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: 'Who grieves thee with the
sorest grief? Who pains thee with the sorest pain?'

62. Ahura Mazda answered: 'It is the Jahi42, O Spitama
Zarathushtra! who mixes in her the seed of the faithful and the
unfaithful, of the worshippers of Mazda and the worshippers of
the Daevas, of the wicked and the righteous43.

42. The courtesan, as an incarnation of the female demon Jahi.
[i.e. prostitute. Pahlavi equivalent is "jeh"
(see Bundahishn 1
and Denkard Book 9, chapter 11)
Kanga, in his Avestan Dictionary says that a Jahi is
a rake, a libertine, one who leads a licentious life (p. 191) -JHP].

43. '[Whether she gives up her body to the faithful or to the unfaithful],
there is no difference; when she has been with three men, she
is guilty of death' (Comm.)

63. 'Her look dries up one-third of the mighty floods that run
from the mountains, O Zarathushtra; her look withers one-third
of the beautiful, golden-hued, growing plants, O Zarathushtra;

64. 'Her look withers one-third of the strength of Spenta Armaiti44;
and her touch withers in the faithful one-third of his good thoughts,
of his good words, of his good deeds, one-third of his strength,
of his victorious power, and of his holiness45.

44. The earth.

45. 'If a Jahi (courtesan) look at running waters, they fall; if
at trees, they are stunted; if she converse with a pious man,
his intelligence and his holiness are withered by it'
(Saddar 67). Cf. Manu IV, 40 seq.

65. 'Verily I say unto thee, O Spitama Zarathushtra! such creatures
ought to be killed even more than gliding snakes46, than howling
wolves, than the wild she-wolf that falls upon the fold, or than
the she-frog that falls upon the waters with her thousandfold
brood.'

46. It is written in the law (the Avesta): 'O Zartosht Spitaman!
with regard to woman, I say to thee that any woman that has
given up her body to two men in one day is sooner to he killed
than a wolf, a lion, or a snake: any one who kills such a woman
will gain as much merit by it as if he had provided with wood
a thousand fire-temples, or destroyed the dens of adders, scorpions,
lions, wolves, or snakes' (Old Riv. 59 b).

V.

66.
Demand of me, thou upright one! of me who am the Maker, the
most beneficent of all beings, the best knowing, the most pleased
in answering what is asked of me; demand of me that thou mayst
be the better, that thou mayst be the happier.

67-68. Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazda: 'If a man shall come unto
a woman who has the whites or sees blood, and he does so wittingly
and knowingly47, and she allows it willfully, wittingly, and knowingly,
what is the atonement for it, what is the penalty that he shall
pay to atone for the deed they have done?'

47. [i.e. while menstruating -JHP]
'Knowing her state and knowing that it is a sin' (Comm.)

69. Ahura Mazda answered: 'If a man shall come unto a woman who
has the whites or sees blood, and he does so wittingly and knowingly,
and she allows it willfully, wittingly, and knowingly;

70. 'He shall slay a thousand head of small cattle; he shall godly
and piously offer up to the fire48 the entrails49 thereof together
with Zaothra-libations50; he shall bring the shoulder bones to the
Good Waters51.

48. To the Warharan fire.

49. The omentum (afsman) or epipleon. Catullus, describing
the sacrifice of the Magi, has: '... Accepto veneretur carmine divos /
Omentum in flamma pingue liquefaciens'
(LXXXIX [i.e. Carmen 90].
Strabo XV, 13: tou epiplou ti mikron tiqeasi,
wV legousi tineV, epi to pur.
'Ascending six steps they showed me in a Room adjoining to
the temple, their Fire which they fed with Wood, and sometimes
Burn on it the Fat of the Sheep's Tail.' A Voyage Round the World,
Dr. J. F. Gemelli, 1698.

50. The ceremony here described is nearly fallen into desuetude:
it is the so-called Zohr-atash (zaothra for the fire), which is
for the fire what the Zohr-ab is for the waters.

51. This is the Zohr-ab. According to the
Shayest (11.4), when an animal
is immolated, the heart is offered to the fire and the
shoulder is offered to the waters.

71. 'He shall godly and piously bring unto the fire a thousand
loads of soft wood, of Urvasna, Vohu-gaona, Vohu-kereti, Hadha-naepata,
or of any sweet-scented plant52.

52. See Vd14.3 seq.

72. 'He shall tie and consecrate a thousand bundles of Baresma;
he shall godly and piously offer up to the Good Waters a thousand
Zaothra-libations, together with the Haoma and the milk, cleanly
prepared and well strained, — cleanly prepared and well strained
by a pious man, and mixed with the roots of the tree known as
Hadha-naepata53.

53. See Vd14.4, and
Vd14.8, n. 23.

73. 'He shall kill a thousand snakes of those that go upon the
belly, two thousand of the other kind; he shall kill a thousand
land-frogs and two thousand water-frogs; he shall kill a thousand
corn-carrying ants and two thousand of the other kind54.

54. See Vd14.5.

74. 'He shall throw thirty bridges over canals; he shall undergo
a thousand stripes with the Aspahe-astra, a thousand stripes with
the Sraosho-charana55.

55. Five tanapuhrs, that is six thousand dirhems.

75. 'This is the atonement, this is the penalty that he shall
pay to atone for the deed that he has done.

76. 'If he shall pay it, he makes himself a viaticum into the
world of the holy ones; if he shall not pay it, he makes himself
a viaticum into the world of the wicked, into that world, made
of darkness, the offspring of darkness, which is Darkness' self56.'

56. See Vd5.62.

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-- Vendidad — Chapter 18 — L.H. Mills / James Darmesteter (1880-1887) (Public domain (Sacred Books of the East, 1880-1887))