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Title: Sacred Books of the East

Author: Various

Release Date: July 12, 2004  [eBook #12894]

Language: English

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***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST***


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SACRED BOOKS OF THE EAST

Including Selections from the Vedic Hymns, Zend-Avesta, Dhammapada,
Upanishads, the Koran, and the Life of Buddha, with Critical and
Biographical Sketches by Epiphanius Wilson, A.M.

1900






CONTENTS

VEDIC HYMNS

Introduction
To the Unknown God
To the Maruts
To the Maruts and Indra
To Indra and the Maruts
To Agni and the Maruts
To Rudra
To Rudra
To Agní and the Maruts
To Vâyu
To Vâyu
Indra and Agastya: A Dialogue
To Soma and Rudra
To Rudra
To Vâta
To Vâta


THE ZEND-AVESTA

Introduction
Discovery of the Zend-Avesta
The Creation
Myth of Yima
The Earth
Contracts and Outrages
Uncleanness
Funerals and Purification
Cleansing the Unclean
Spells Recited During the Cleansing
To Fires, Waters, Plants
To the Earth and the Sacred Waters
Prayer for Helpers
A Prayer for Sanctity and its Benefits
To the Fire
To the Bountiful Immortals
Praise of the Holy Bull
To Rain as a Healing Power
To the Waters and Light of the Sun
To the Waters and Light of the Moon
To the Waters and Light of the Stars


THE DHAMMAPADA

Introduction
CHAPTER
      I.--The Twin-Verses
     II.--On Earnestness
    III.--Thought
     IV.--Flowers
      V.--The Fool
     VI.--The Wise Man
    VII.--The Venerable
   VIII.--The Thousands
     IX.--Evil
      X.--Punishment
     XI.--Old Age
    XII.--Self
   XIII.--The World
    XIV.--The Buddha--The Awakened
     XV.--Happiness
    XVI.--Pleasure
   XVII.--Anger
  XVIII.--Impurity
    XIX.--The Just
     XX.--The Way
    XXI.--Miscellaneous
   XXII.--The Downward Course
  XXIII.--The Elephant
   XXIV.--Thirst
    XXV.--The Bhikshu
   XXVI.--The Brâhmana

THE UPANISHADS

Introduction

KAUSHÍTAKI-UPANISHAD.--
  The Couch of Brahman
  Knowledge of the Living Spirit
  Life and Consciousness


SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN

Introduction
Mohammed and Mohammedanism
Chapter I.----Entitled, the Preface
Chapter II.---Entitled, the Cow
Chapter III.--Entitled, the Family of Imran
Chapter IV.---Entitled, Women
Chapter V.----Entitled, the Table


LIFE OF BUDDHA

Introduction

CHAPTER I.--
  The Birth
  Living in the Palace
  Disgust at Sorrow
  Putting Away Desire
  Leaving the City

CHAPTER II.--
  The Return of Kandaka
  Entering the Place of Austerities
  The General Grief of the Palace
  The Mission to Seek the Prince

CHAPTER III.--
  Bimbisara Râga Invites the Prince
  The Reply to Bimbisara Râga
  Visit to Ârada Udrarama
  Defeats Mara
  O-wei-san-pou-ti (Abhisambodhi)
  Turning the Law-wheel

CHAPTER IV.--
  Bimbisara Râga Becomes a Disciple
  The Great Disciple Becomes a Hermit
  Conversion of the "Supporter of the Orphans and Destitute"
  Interview Between Father and Son
  Receiving the Getavana Vihara
  Escaping the Drunken Elephant and Devadatta
  The Lady Âmra Sees Buddha

CHAPTER V.--
  By Spiritual Power Fixing His Term of Years
  The Differences of the Likkhavis
  Parinirvana
  Mahaparinirvana
  Praising Nirvana
  Division of the Sariras




VEDIC HYMNS


Translation by F. Max Müller.


INTRODUCTION


The Vedic Hymns are among the most interesting portions of Hindoo
literature. In form and spirit they resemble both the poems of the
Hebrew psalter and the lyrics of Pindar. They deal with the most
elemental religious conceptions and are full of the imagery of nature.
It would be absurd to deny to very many of them the possession of the
truest poetic inspiration. The scenery of the Himalayas, ice and snow,
storm and tempest, lend their majesty to the strains of the Vedic poet.
He describes the storm sweeping over the white-crested mountains till
the earth, like a hoary king, trembles with fear. The Maruts, or
storm-gods, are terrible, glorious, musical, riding on strong-hoofed,
never-wearying steeds. There is something Homeric, Pindaric in these
epithets. Yet Soma and Rudra are addressed, though they wield sharp
weapons; and sharp bolts, i.e., those of the lightning, are spoken of as
kind friends. "Deliver us," says the poet, "from the snare of Varuna,
and guard us, as kind-hearted gods." One of the most remarkable of these
hymns is that addressed to the Unknown God. The poet says: "In the
beginning there arose the Golden Child. As soon as he was born he alone
was the lord of all that is. He established the earth and this heaven."
The hymn consists of ten stanzas, in which the Deity is celebrated as
the maker of the snowy mountains, the sea and the distant river, who
made fast the awful heaven, He who alone is God above all gods, before
whom heaven and earth stand trembling in their mind. Each stanza
concludes with the refrain, "Who is the God to whom we shall offer
sacrifice?"

We have in this hymn a most sublime conception of the Supreme Being, and
while there are many Vedic hymns whose tone is pantheistic and seems to
imply that the wild forces of nature are Gods who rule the world, this
hymn to the Unknown God is as purely monotheistic as a psalm of David,
and shows a spirit of religious awe as profound as any we find in the
Hebrew Scriptures.

It is very difficult to arrive at the true date of the Vedas. The word
Veda means knowledge, and is applied to unwritten literature. The Vedas
are therefore the oldest Sanscrit writings which exist, and stand in the
same class with regard to Hindoo literature as Homer does with regard to
Greek literature. Probably the earliest Vedas were recited a thousand
years before Christ, while the more recent of the hymns date about five
hundred before Christ. We must therefore consider them to be the most
primitive form of Aryan poetry in existence.

There is in the West a misunderstanding as to the exact meaning of
"Vedic" and "Sanscrit"; for the latter is often used as if it were
synonymous with Indian; whereas, only the later Indian literature can be
classed under that head, and "Vedic" is often used to indicate only the
Vedic Hymns, whereas it really denotes Hymns, Bráhmanas, Upanishads, and
Sutras; in fact, all literature which orthodox Hindoos regard as sacred.
The correct distinction then between the Vedic and the Sanscrit writings
is that of holy writ and profane literature.

E.W.



VEDIC HYMNS


TO THE UNKNOWN GOD


In the beginning there arose the Golden Child. As soon as born, he alone
was the lord of all that is. He established the earth and this
heaven:--Who is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

He who gives breath, he who gives strength, whose command all the bright
gods revere, whose shadow is immortality, whose shadow is death:--Who is
the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

He who through his might became the sole king of the breathing and
twinkling world, who governs all this, man and beast:--Who is the God to
whom we shall offer sacrifice?

He through whose might these snowy mountains are, and the sea, they say,
with the distant river; he of whom these regions are indeed the two
arms:--Who is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

He through whom the awful heaven and the earth were made fast, he
through whom the ether was established, and the firmament; he who
measured the air in the sky:--Who is the God to whom we shall offer
sacrifice?

He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by his will, look up,
trembling in their mind; he over whom the risen sun shines forth:--Who
is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

When the great waters went everywhere, holding the germ, and generating
light, then there arose from them the breath of the gods:--Who is the
God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

He who by his might looked even over the waters which held power and
generated the sacrifice, he who alone is God above all gods:--Who is the
God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

May he not hurt us, he who is the begetter of the earth, or he, the
righteous, who begat the heaven; he who also begat the bright and mighty
waters:--Who is the God to whom we shall offer sacrifice?

Pragâpati, no other than thou embraces all these created things. May
that be ours which we desire when sacrificing to thee: may we be lords
of wealth!



TO THE MARUTS[1]


I

Come hither, Maruts, on your chariots charged with lightning, resounding
with beautiful songs, stored with spears, and winged with horses! Fly to
us like birds, with your best food, you mighty ones! They come
gloriously on their red, or, it may be, on their tawny horses which
hasten their chariots. He who holds the axe is brilliant like
gold;--with the tire of the chariot they have struck the earth. On your
bodies there are daggers for beauty; may they stir up our minds as they
stir up the forests. For yourselves, O well-born Maruts, the vigorous
among you shake the stone for distilling Soma. Days went round you and
came back, O hawks, back to this prayer, and to this sacred rite; the
Gotamas making prayer with songs, pushed up the lid of the cloud to
drink. No such hymn was ever known as this which Gotama sounded for you,
O Maruts, when he saw you on golden wheels, wild boars rushing about
with iron tusks. This comforting speech rushes sounding towards you,
like the speech of a suppliant: it rushed freely from our hands as our
speeches are wont to do.

II

Let us now proclaim for the robust host, for the herald of the powerful
Indra, their ancient greatness! O ye strong-voiced Maruts, you heroes,
prove your powers on your march, as with a torch, as with a sword! Like
parents bringing a dainty to their own son, the wild Maruts play
playfully at the sacrifices. The Rudras reach the worshipper with their
protection, strong in themselves, they do not fail the sacrificer. For
him to whom the immortal guardians have given fulness of wealth, and who
is himself a giver of oblations, the Maruts, who gladden men with the
milk of rain, pour out, like friends, many clouds. You who have stirred
up the clouds with might, your horses rushed forth, self-guided. All
beings who dwell in houses are afraid of you, your march is brilliant
with your spears thrust forth. When they whose march is terrible have
caused the rocks to tremble, or when the manly Maruts have shaken the
back of heaven, then every lord of the forest fears at your racing, each
shrub flies out of your way, whirling like chariot-wheels. You, O
terrible Maruts, whose ranks are never broken, favorably fulfil our
prayer! Wherever your glory-toothed lightning bites, it crunches cattle,
like a well-aimed bolt. The Maruts whose gifts are firm, whose bounties
are never ceasing, who do not revile, and who are highly praised at the
sacrifices, they sing their song for to drink the sweet juice: they know
the first manly deeds of the hero Indra. The man whom you have guarded,
O Maruts, shield him with hundredfold strongholds from injury and
mischief--the man whom you, O fearful, powerful singers, protect from
reproach in the prosperity of his children. On your chariots, O Maruts,
there are all good things, strong weapons are piled up clashing against
each other. When you are on your journeys, you carry the rings on your
shoulders, and your axle turns the two wheels at once. In their manly
arms there are many good things, on their chests golden chains, flaring
ornaments, on their shoulders speckled deer-skins, on their fellies
sharp edges; as birds spread their wings, they spread out splendors
behind. They, mighty by might, all-powerful powers, visible from afar
like the heavens with the stars, sweet-toned, soft-tongued singers with
their mouths, the Maruts, united with Indra, shout all around. This is
your greatness, O well-born Maruts!--your bounty extends far, as the
sway of Aditi. Not even Indra in his scorn can injure that bounty, on
whatever man you have bestowed it for his good deeds. This is your
kinship with us, O Maruts, that you, immortals, in former years have
often protected the singer. Having through this prayer granted a hearing
to man, all these heroes together have become well known by their
valiant deeds. That we may long flourish, O Maruts, with your wealth, O
ye racers, that our men may spread in the camp, therefore let me achieve
the rite with these offerings. May this praise, O Maruts, this song of
Mândârya, the son of Mâna, the poet, ask you with food for offspring for
ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain!

III

For the manly host, the joyful, the wise, for the Maruts bring thou, O
Nodhas, a pure offering. I prepare songs, like as a handy priest, wise
in his mind, prepares the water, mighty at sacrifices. They are born,
the tall bulls of heaven, the manly youths of Rudra, the divine, the
blameless, pure, and bright like suns; scattering raindrops, full of
terrible designs, like giants. The youthful Rudras, they who never grow
old, the slayers of the demon, have grown irresistible like mountains.
They throw down with their strength all beings, even the strongest, on
earth and in heaven. They deck themselves with glittering ornaments for
a marvellous show; on their chests they fastened gold chains for beauty;
the spears on their shoulders pound to pieces; they were born together
by themselves, the men of Dyu. They who confer power, the roarers, the
devourers of foes, they made winds and lightnings by their powers. The
shakers milk the heavenly udders, they sprinkle the earth all round with
milk. The bounteous Maruts pour forth water, mighty at sacrifices, the
fat milk of the clouds. They seem to lead about the powerful horse, the
cloud, to make it rain; they milk the thundering, unceasing spring.
Mighty they are, powerful, of beautiful splendor, strong in themselves
like mountains, yet swiftly gliding along;--you chew up forests, like
wild elephants, when you have assumed your powers among the red flames.
Like lions they roar, the wise Maruts, they are handsome like gazelles,
the all-knowing. By night with their spotted rain-clouds and with their
spears--lightnings--they rouse the companions together, they whose ire
through strength is like the ire of serpents. You who march in
companies, the friends of man, heroes, whose ire through strength is
like the ire of serpents, salute heaven and earth! On the seats on your
chariots, O Maruts, the lightning stands, visible like light.
All-knowing, surrounded with wealth, endowed with powers, singers, men
of endless prowess, armed with strong rings, they, the archers, have
taken the arrow in their fists. The Maruts who with the golden tires of
their wheels increase the rain, stir up the clouds like wanderers on the
road. They are brisk, indefatigable, they move by themselves; they throw
down what is firm, the Maruts with their brilliant spears make
everything to reel. We invoke with prayer the offspring of Rudra, the
brisk, the pure, the worshipful, the active. Cling for happiness-sake to
the strong company of the Maruts, the chasers of the sky, the powerful,
the impetuous. The mortal whom ye, Maruts, protected, he indeed
surpasses people in strength through your protection. He carries off
booty with his horses, treasures with his men; he acquires honorable
wisdom, and he prospers. Give, O Maruts, to our lords strength glorious,
invincible in battle, brilliant, wealth-acquiring, praiseworthy, known
to all men. Let us foster our kith and kin during a hundred winters.
Will you then, O Maruts, grant unto us wealth, durable, rich in men,
defying all onslaughts?--wealth a hundred and a thousand-fold, always
increasing?--May he who is rich in prayers come early and soon!

IV

Sing forth, O Kanvas, to the sportive host of your Maruts, brilliant on
their chariots, and unscathed,--they who were born together,
self-luminous, with the spotted deer, the spears, the daggers, the
glittering ornaments. I hear their whips, almost close by, when they
crack them in their hands; they gain splendor on their way. Sing forth
the god-given prayer to the wild host of your Maruts, endowed with
terrible vigor and strength. Celebrate the bull among the cows, for it
is the sportive host of the Maruts; he grew as he tasted the rain. Who,
O ye men, is the strongest among you here, ye shakers of heaven and
earth, when you shake them like the hem of a garment? At your approach
the son of man holds himself down; the gnarled cloud fled at your fierce
anger. They at whose racings the earth, like a hoary king, trembles for
fear on their ways, their birth is strong indeed: there is strength to
come forth from their mother, nay, there is vigor twice enough for it.
And these sons, the singers, stretched out the fences in their racings;
the cows had to walk knee-deep. They cause this long and broad unceasing
rain to fall on their ways. O Maruts, with such strength as yours, you
have caused men to tremble, you have caused the mountains to tremble. As
the Maruts pass along, they talk together on the way: does anyone hear
them? Come fast on your quick steeds! there are worshippers for you
among the Kanvas: may you well rejoice among them. Truly there is enough
for your rejoicing. We always are their servants, that we may live even
the whole of life.

V

To every sacrifice you hasten together, you accept prayer after prayer,
O quick Maruts! Let me therefore bring you hither by my prayers from
heaven and earth, for our welfare, and for our great protection; the
shakers who were born to bring food and light, self-born and
self-supported, like springs, like thousandfold waves of water, aye,
visibly like unto excellent bulls, those Maruts, like Soma-drops, which
squeezed from ripe stems dwell, when drunk, in the hearts of the
worshipper--see how on their shoulders there clings as if a clinging
wife; in their hands the quoit is held and the sword. Lightly they have
come down from heaven of their own accord: Immortals, stir yourselves
with the whip! The mighty Maruts on dustless paths, armed with brilliant
spears, have shaken down even the strong places. O ye Maruts, who are
armed with lightning-spears, who stirs you from within by himself, as
the jaws are stirred by the tongue? You shake the sky, as if on the
search for food; you are invoked by many, like the solar horse of the
day. Where, O Maruts, is the top, where the bottom of the mighty sky
where you came? When you throw down with the thunderbolt what is strong,
like brittle things, you fly across the terrible sea! As your conquest
is violent, splendid, terrible, full and crushing, so, O Maruts, is your
gift delightful, like the largess of a liberal worshipper,
wide-spreading, laughing like heavenly lightning. From the tires of
their chariot-wheels streams gush forth, when they send out the voice of
the clouds; the lightnings smiled upon the earth, when the Maruts shower
down fatness. Prisni brought forth for the great fight the terrible
train of the untiring Maruts: when fed they produced the dark cloud, and
then looked about for invigorating food. May this praise, O Maruts, this
song of Mândârya, the son of Mâna, the poet, ask you with food for
offspring for ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn, with
quickening rain!

VI

The Maruts charged with rain, endowed with fierce force, terrible like
wild beasts, blazing in their strength, brilliant like fires, and
impetuous, have uncovered the rain-giving cows by blowing away the
cloud. The Maruts with their rings appeared like the heavens with their
stars, they shone wide like streams from clouds as soon as Rudra, the
strong man, was born for you, O golden-breasted Maruts, in the bright
lap of Prisni. They wash their horses like racers in the courses, they
hasten with the points of the reed on their quick steeds. O golden-jawed
Maruts, violently shaking your jaws, you go quick with your spotted
deer, being friends of one mind. Those Maruts have grown to feed all
these beings, or, it may be, they have come hither for the sake of a
friend, they who always bring quickening rain. They have spotted horses,
their bounties cannot be taken away, they are like headlong charioteers
on their ways. O Maruts, wielding your brilliant spears, come hither on
smooth roads with your fiery cows whose udders are swelling; being of
one mind, like swans toward their nests, to enjoy the sweet offering. O
one-minded Maruts, come to our prayers, come to our libations like Indra
praised by men! Fulfil our prayer, like the udder of a barren cow, and
make the prayer glorious by booty to the singer. Grant us this strong
horse for our chariot, a draught that rouses our prayers, from day to
day, food to the singers, and to the poet in our homesteads luck,
wisdom, inviolable and invincible strength. When the gold-breasted
Maruts harness the horses to their chariots, bounteous in wealth, then
it is as if a cow in the folds poured out to her calf copious food, to
every man who has offered libations. Whatever mortal enemy may have
placed us among wolves, shield us from hurt, ye Vasus! Turn the wheels
with burning heat against him, and strike down the weapon of the impious
fiend, O Rudras! Your march, O Maruts, appears brilliant, whether even
friends have milked the udder of Prisni, or whether, O sons of Rudra,
you mean to blame him who praises you, and to weaken those who are
weakening Trita, O unbeguiled heroes. We invoke you, the great Maruts,
the constant wanderers, at the offering of the rapid Vishnu; holding
ladles and prayerful we ask the golden-colored and exalted Maruts for
glorious wealth. The Dasagvas carried on the sacrifice first; may they
rouse us at the break of dawn. Like the dawn, they uncover the dark
nights with the red rays, the strong ones, with their brilliant light,
as with a sea of milk. With the morning clouds, as if with glittering
red ornaments, these Maruts have grown great in the sacred places.
Streaming down with rushing splendor, they have assumed their bright and
brilliant color. Approaching them for their great protection to help us,
we invoke them with this worship, they whom Trita may bring near, like
the five Hotri priests for victory, descending on their chariot to help.
May that grace of yours by which you help the wretched across all
anguish, and by which you deliver the worshipper from the reviler, come
hither, O Maruts; may your favor approach us like a cow going to her
calf!

VII

I come to you with this adoration, with a hymn I implore the favor of
the quick Maruts. O Maruts, you have rejoiced in it clearly, put down
then all anger and unharness your horses! This reverent praise of yours,
O Maruts, fashioned in the heart, has been offered by the mind, O gods!
Come to it, pleased in your mind, for you give increase to our worship.
May the Maruts when they have been praised be gracious to us, and
likewise Indra, the best giver of happiness, when he has been praised.
May our lances through our valor stand always erect, O Maruts! I am
afraid of this powerful one, and trembling in fear of Indra. For you the
offerings were prepared--we have now put them away, forgive us! Thou
through whom the Mânas see the mornings, whenever the eternal dawns
flash forth with power, O Indra, O strong hero, grant thou glory to us
with the Maruts, terrible with the terrible ones, strong and a giver of
victory. O Indra, protect thou these bravest of men, let thy anger be
turned away from the Maruts, for thou hast become victorious together
with those brilliant heroes. May we have an invigorating autumn, with
quickening rain!

VIII

O Maruts, that man in whose dwelling you drink the Soma, ye mighty sons
of heaven, he indeed has the best guardians. You who are propitiated
either by sacrifices or from the prayers of the sage, hear the call, O
Maruts! Aye, the powerful man to whom you have granted a sage, he will
live in a stable rich in cattle. On the altar of this strong man Soma is
poured out in daily sacrifices; praise and joy are sung. To him let the
mighty Maruts listen, to him who surpasses all men, as the flowing
rain-clouds pass over the sun. For we, O Maruts, have sacrificed at many
harvests, through the mercies of the storm-gods. May that mortal be
blessed, O chasing Maruts, whose offerings you carry off. You take
notice either of the sweat of him who praises you, ye men of true
strength, or of the desire of the suppliant. O ye of true strength, make
this manifest with might! strike the fiend with your lightning! Hide the
hideous darkness, destroy every tusky fiend. Make the light which we
long for!

IX

Endowed with exceeding vigor and power, the singers, the never
flinching, the immovable, the impetuous, the most beloved and most
manly, have decked themselves with their glittering ornaments, a few
only, like the heavens with the stars. When you have seen your way
through the clefts, like birds, O Maruts, on whatever road it be, then
the clouds on your chariots trickle everywhere, and you pour out the
honey-like fatness for him who praises you. At their racings the earth
shakes, as if broken, when on the heavenly paths they harness their deer
for victory. They the sportive, the roaring, with bright spears, the
shakers of the clouds have themselves glorified their greatness. That
youthful company, with their spotted horses, moves by itself; hence it
exercises lordship, invested with powers. Thou indeed art true, thou
searchest out sin, thou art without blemish. Therefore the manly host
will help this prayer. We speak after the kind of our old father, our
tongue goes forth at the sight of the Soma: when the singers had joined
Indra in deed, then only they took their holy names;--these Maruts,
armed with beautiful rings, obtained splendors for their glory, they
obtained rays, and men to celebrate them; nay, armed with daggers,
speeding along, and fearless, they found the beloved domain of the
Maruts.

X

What then now? When will you take us as a dear father takes his son by
both hands, O ye gods, for whom the sacred grass has been trimmed? Where
now? On what errand of yours are you going, in heaven, not on earth?
Where are your cows sporting? Where are your newest favors, O Maruts?
Where the blessings? Where all delights? If you, sons of Prisni, were
mortals, and your praiser an immortal, then never should your praiser be
unwelcome, like a deer in pasture grass, nor should he go on the path of
Yama. Let not one sin after another, difficult to be conquered, overcome
us; may it depart together with greed. Truly they are terrible and
powerful; even to the desert the Rudriyas bring rain that is never dried
up. The lightning lows like a cow, it follows as a mother follows after
her young, when the shower of the Maruts has been let loose. Even by day
the Maruts create darkness with the water-bearing cloud, when they
drench the earth. Then from the shouting of the Maruts over the whole
space of the earth, men reeled forward. Maruts on your strong-hoofed,
never-wearying steeds go after those bright ones, which are still locked
up. May your fellies be strong, the chariots, and their horses, may your
reins be well-fashioned. Speak forth forever with thy voice to praise
the Lord of prayer, Agni, who is like a friend, the bright one. Fashion
a hymn in thy mouth! Expand like the cloud! Sing a song of praise.
Worship the host of the Maruts, the terrible, the glorious, the musical.
May they be magnified here among us.

XI

Let your voice-born prayers go forth to the great Vishnu, accompanied by
the Maruts, Evayâmarut, and to the chasing host, adorned with good
rings, the strong, in their jubilant throng, to the shouting power of
the Maruts. O Maruts, you who are born great, and proclaim it yourselves
by knowledge, Evayâmarut, that power of yours cannot be approached by
wisdom, that power of theirs cannot be approached by gift or might; they
are like unapproachable mountains. They who are heard with their voice
from the high heaven, the brilliant and strong, Evayâmarut, in whose
council no tyrant reigns, the rushing chariots of these roaring Maruts
come forth, like fires with their own lightning. The wide-striding
Vishnu strode forth from the great common seat, Evayâmarut. When he has
started by himself from his own place along the ridges, O ye striving,
mighty Maruts, he goes together with the heroes, conferring blessings.
Impetuous, like your own shout, the strong one made everything tremble,
the terrible, the wanderer, the mighty, Evayâmarut; strong with him you
advanced self-luminous, with firm reins, golden colored, well armed,
speeding along. Your greatness is infinite, ye Maruts, endowed with full
power, may that terrible power help, Evayâmarut. In your raid you are
indeed to be seen as charioteers; deliver us therefore from the enemy,
like shining fires. May then these Rudras, lively like fires and with
vigorous shine, help, Evayâmarut. The seat of the earth is stretched out
far and wide, when the hosts of these faultless Maruts come quickly to
the races. Come kindly on your path, O Maruts, listen to the call of him
who praises you, Evayâmarut. Confidants of the great Vishnu, may you
together, like charioteers, keep all hateful things far, by your
wonderful skill. Come zealously to our sacrifice, ye worshipful, hear
our guileless call, Evayâmarut. Like the oldest mountains in the sky, O
wise guardians, prove yourselves for him irresistible to the enemy.

XII

O Syâvâsva, sing boldly with the Maruts, the singers who, worthy
themselves of sacrifice, rejoice in their guileless glory according to
their nature. They are indeed boldly the friends of strong power; they
on their march protect all who by themselves are full of daring. Like
rushing bulls, these Maruts spring over the dark cows, and then we
perceive the might of the Maruts in heaven and on earth. Let us boldly
offer praise and sacrifice to your Maruts, to all them who protect the
generation of men, who protect the mortal from injury. They who are
worthy, bounteous, men of perfect strength, to those heavenly Maruts who
are worthy of sacrifice, praise the sacrifice! The tall men, coming near
with their bright chains, and their weapon, have hurled forth their
spears. Behind these Maruts there came by itself the splendor of heaven,
like laughing lightnings. Those who have grown up on earth, or in the
wide sky, or in the realm of the rivers, or in the abode of the great
heaven, praise that host of the Maruts, endowed with true strength and
boldness, whether those rushing heroes have by themselves harnessed
their horses for triumph, or whether these brilliant Maruts have in the
speckled cloud clothed themselves in wool, or whether by their strength
they cut the mountain asunder with the tire of their chariot; call them
comers, or goers, or enterers, or followers, under all these names, they
watch on the straw for my sacrifice. The men watch, and their steeds
watch. Then, so brilliant are their forms to be soon, that people say,
Look at the strangers! In measured steps and wildly shouting the gleemen
have danced towards the cloud. They who appeared one by one like
thieves, were helpers to me to see the light. Worship, therefore, O
seer, that host of Maruts, and keep and delight them with your voice,
they who are themselves wise poets, tall heroes armed with
lightning-spears. Approach, O seer, the host of Maruts, as a woman
approaches a friend, for a gift; and you, Maruts, bold in your strength,
hasten hither, even from heaven, when you have been praised by our
hymns. If he, after perceiving them, has approached them as gods with an
offering, then may he for a gift remain united with the brilliant
Maruts, who by their ornaments are glorious on their march. They, the
wise Maruts, the lords, who, when there was inquiry for their kindred,
told me of the cow, they told me of Prisni as their mother, and of the
strong Rudra as their father. The seven and seven heroes gave me each a
hundred. On the Yamunâ I clear off glorious wealth in cows, I clear
wealth in horses.

XIII

Those who glance forth like wives and yoke-fellows, the powerful sons of
Rudra on their way, they, the Maruts, have indeed made heaven and earth
to grow; they, the strong and wild, delight in the sacrifices. When
grown up, they attained to greatness; the Rudras have established their
seat in the sky. While singing their song and increasing their vigor,
the sons of Prisni have clothed themselves in beauty. When these sons of
the cow adorn themselves with glittering ornaments, the brilliant ones
put bright weapons on their bodies. They drive away every adversary;
fatness streams along their paths;--when you, the powerful, who shine
with your spears, shaking even what is unshakable by strength--when you,
O Maruts, the manly hosts, had yoked the spotted deer, swift as thought,
to your chariots;--when you had yoked the spotted deer before your
chariots, hurling thunderbolt in the fight, then the streams of the
red-horse rush forth: like a skin with water they water the earth. May
the swiftly-gliding, swift-winged horses carry you hither! Come forth
with your arms! Sit down on the grass-pile; a wide seat has been made
for you. Rejoice, O Maruts, in the sweet food. Strong in themselves,
they grew with might; they stepped to the firmament, they made their
seat wide. When Vishnu saved the enrapturing Soma, the Maruts sat down
like birds on their beloved altar. Like heroes indeed thirsting for
fight they rush about; like combatants eager for glory they have striven
in battles. All beings are afraid of the Maruts; they are men terrible
to behold, like kings. When the clever Tvashtar had turned the
well-made, golden, thousand-edged thunderbolt, Indra takes it to perform
his manly deeds; he slew Vritra, he forced out the stream of water. By
their power they pushed the well aloft, they clove asunder the rock,
however strong. Blowing forth their voice the bounteous Maruts
performed, while drunk of Soma, their glorious deeds. They pushed the
cloud athwart this way, they poured out the spring to the thirsty
Gotama. The Maruts with beautiful splendor approach him with help, they
in their own ways satisfied the desire of the sage. The shelters which
you have for him who praises you, grant them threefold to the man who
gives! Extend the same to us, O Maruts! Give us, ye heroes, wealth with
valiant offspring!

XIV

Who are these resplendent men, dwelling together, the boys of Rudra,
also with good horses? No one indeed knows their births, they alone know
each other's birthplace. They plucked each other with their beaks; the
hawks, rushing like the wind, strove together. A wise man understands
these secrets, that Prisni, the great, bore an udder. May that clan be
rich in heroes by the Maruts, always victorious, rich in manhood! They
are quickest to go, most splendid with splendor, endowed with beauty,
strong with strength. Strong is your strength, steadfast your powers,
and thus by the Maruts is this clan mighty. Resplendent is your breath,
furious are the minds of the wild host, like a shouting maniac. Keep
from us entirely your flame, let not your hatred reach us here. I call
on the dear names of your swift ones, so that the greedy should be
satisfied, O Maruts, the well-armed, the swift, decked with beautiful
chains, who themselves adorn their bodies. Bright are the libations for
you, the bright ones, O Maruts, a bright sacrifice I prepare for the
bright. In proper order came those who truly follow the order, the
bright born, the bright, the pure. On your shoulders, O Maruts, are the
rings, on your chests the golden chains are fastened; far-shining like
lightnings with showers, you wield your weapons, according to your wont.
Your hidden splendors come forth; spread out your powers, O racers!
Accept, O Maruts, this thousandfold, domestic share, as an offering for
the house-gods. If you thus listen, O Maruts, to this praise, at the
invocation of the powerful sage, give him quickly a share of wealth in
plentiful offspring, which no selfish enemy shall be able to hurt. The
Maruts, who are fleet like racers, the manly youths, shone like Yakshas;
they are beautiful like boys standing round the hearth, they play about
like calves who are still sucking. May the bounteous Maruts be gracious
to us, opening up to us the firm heaven and earth. May that bolt of
yours which kills cattle and men be far from us! Incline to us, O Vasus,
with your favors. The Hotri priest calls on you again and again, sitting
down and praising your common gift, O Maruts. O strong ones, he who is
the guardian of so much wealth, he calls on you with praises, free from
guile. These Maruts stop the swift, they bend strength by strength, they
ward off the curse of the plotter, and turn their heavy hatred on the
enemy. These Maruts stir up even the sluggard, even the vagrant, as the
gods pleased. O strong ones, drive away the darkness, and grant us all
our kith and kin. May we not fall away from your bounty, O Maruts, may
we not stay behind, O charioteers, in the distribution of your gifts.
Let us share in the brilliant wealth, the well-acquired, that belongs to
you, O strong ones. When valiant men fiercely fight together, for
rivers, plants, and houses, then, O Maruts, sons of Rudra, be in battles
our protectors from the enemy. O Maruts, you have valued the praises
which our fathers have formerly recited to you; with the Maruts the
victor is terrible in battle, with the Maruts alone the racer wins the
prize. O Maruts, may we have a strong son, who is lord among men, a
ruler, through whom we may cross the waters to dwell in safety, and then
obtain our own home for you. May Indra then, Varuna, Mitra, Agni, the
waters, the plants, the trees of the forest be pleased with us. Let us
be in the keeping, in the lap of the Maruts; protect us always with your
favors.

XV

Sing to the company of the Maruts, growing up together, the strong among
the divine host: they stir heaven and earth by their might, they mount
up to the firmament from the abyss of Nirriti. Even your birth was with
fire and fury, O Maruts! You, terrible, wrathful, never tiring! You who
stand forth with might and strength; everyone who sees the sun, fears at
your coming. Grant mighty strength to our lords, if the Maruts are
pleased with our praise. As a trodden path furthers a man, may they
further us; help us with your brilliant favors. Favored by you, O
Maruts, a wise man wins a hundred, favored by you a strong racer wins a
thousand, favored by you a king also kills his enemy: may that gift of
yours prevail, O ye shakers. I invite these bounteous sons of Rudra,
will these Maruts turn again to us? Whatever they hated secretly or
openly, that sin we pray the swift ones to forgive. This praise of our
lords has been spoken: may the Maruts be pleased with this hymn. Keep
far from us, O strong ones, all hatred, protect us always with your
favors!

XVI

Come hither, do not fail, when you march forward! Do not stay away, O
united friends, you who can bend even what is firm. O Maruts,
Ribhukshans, come hither on your flaming strong fellies, O Rudras, come
to us to-day with food, you much-desired ones, come to the sacrifice,
you friends of the Sobharis. For we know indeed the terrible strength of
the sons of Rudra, of the vigorous Maruts, the liberal givers of rain.
The clouds were scattered, but the monster remained, heaven and earth
were joined together. O you who are armed with bright rings, the tracts
of the sky expanded, whenever you stir, radiant with your own splendor.
Even things that cannot be thrown down resound at your race, the
mountains, the lord of the forest--the earth quivers on your marches.
The upper sky makes wide room, to let your violence pass, O Maruts, when
these strong-armed heroes display their energies in their own bodies.
According to their wont these men, exceeding terrible, impetuous, with
strong and unbending forms, bring with them beautiful light. The arrow
of the Sobharis is shot from the bowstrings at the golden chest on the
chariot of the Maruts. They, the kindred of the cow, the well-born,
should enjoy their food, the great ones should help us. Bring forward, O
strongly-anointed priests, your libations to the strong host of the
Maruts, the strongly advancing. O Maruts, O heroes, come quickly hither,
like winged hawks, on your chariot with strong horses, of strong shape,
with strong naves, to enjoy our libations. Their anointing is the same,
the golden chains shine on their arms, their spears sparkle. These
strong, manly, strong-armed Maruts, do not strive among themselves; firm
are the bows, the weapons on your chariot, and on your faces are
splendors. They whose terrible name, wide-spreading like the ocean, is
the one of all that is of use, whose strength is like the vigor of their
father, worship these Maruts, and praise them! Of these shouters, as of
moving spokes, no one is the last; this is theirs by gift, by greatness
is it theirs. Happy is he who was under your protection, O Maruts, in
former mornings, or who may be so even now. Or he, O men, whose
libations you went to enjoy; that mighty one, O shakers, will obtain
your favors with brilliant riches and booty. As the sons of Rudra, the
servants of the divine Dyu, will it, O youths, so shall it be. Whatever
liberal givers may worship the Maruts, and move about together as
generous benefactors, even from them turn towards us with a kinder
heart, you youths! O Sobhari, call loud with your newest song the young,
strong, and pure Maruts, as the plougher calls the cows. Worship the
Maruts with a song, they who are strong like a boxer, called in to
assist those who call for him in all fights; worship them the most
glorious, like bright-shining bulls. Yes, O united friends, kindred, O
Maruts, by a common birth, the oxen lick one another's humps. O ye
dancers, with golden ornaments on your chests, even a mortal comes to
ask for your brotherhood; take care of us, ye Maruts, for your
friendship lasts forever. O bounteous Maruts, bring us some of your
Marut-medicine, you friends, and steeds. With the favors whereby you
favor the Sindhu, whereby you save, whereby you help Krivi, with those
propitious favors be our delight, O delightful ones, ye who never hate
your followers. O Maruts, for whom we have prepared good altars,
whatever medicine there is on the Sindhu, on the Asiknî, in the seas, on
the mountains, seeing it, you carry it all on your bodies. Bless us with
it! Down to the earth, O Maruts, with what hurts our sick
one--straighten what is crooked!

XVII

Full of devotion like priests with their prayers, wealthy like pious
men, who please the gods with their offerings, beautiful to behold like
brilliant kings, without a blemish like the youths of our hamlets--they
who are gold-breasted like Agni with his splendor, quick to help like
self-harnessed winds, good leaders like the oldest experts, they are to
the righteous man like Somas, that yield the best protection. They who
are roaring and hasting like winds, brilliant like the tongues of fires,
powerful like mailed soldiers, full of blessings like the prayers of our
fathers, who hold together like the spokes of chariot-wheels, who glance
forward like victorious heroes, who scatter ghrita like wooing youths,
who chant beautifully like singers, intoning a hymn of praise, who are
swift like the best of horses, who are bounteous like lords of chariots
on a suit, who are hastening on like water with downward floods, who are
like the manifold Angiras with their numerous songs. These noble sons of
Sindhu are like grinding-stones, they are always like Soma-stones,
tearing everything to pieces; these sons of a good mother are like
playful children, they are by their glare like a great troop on its
march. Illumining the sacrifice like the rays of the dawn, they shone
forth in their ornaments like triumphant warriors; the Maruts with
bright spears seem like running rivers, from afar they measure many
miles. O gods, make us happy and rich, prospering us, your praisers, O
Maruts! Remember our praise and our friendship, for from of old there
are always with you gifts of treasures.

XVIII

O Indra, a thousand have been thy helps accorded to us, a thousand, O
driver of the bays, have been thy most delightful viands. May thousands
of treasures richly to enjoy, may goods come to us a thousandfold. May
the Maruts come towards us with their aids, the mighty ones, or with
their best aids from the great heaven, now that their furthest steeds
have rushed forth on the distant shore of the sea; there clings to the
Maruts one who moves in secret, like a man's wife,[2] and who is like a
spear carried behind, well grasped, resplendent, gold-adorned; there is
also with them Vâk,[3] like unto a courtly, eloquent woman. Far away the
brilliant, untiring Maruts cling to their young maid, as if she belonged
to them all; but the terrible ones did not drive away Rodasi, for they
wished her to grow their friend. When the divine Rodasi with dishevelled
locks, the manly-minded, wished to follow them, she went, like Sűryâ,[4]
to the chariot of her servant, with terrible look, as with the pace of a
cloud. As soon as the poet with the libations, O Maruts, had sung his
song at the sacrifice, pouring out Soma, the youthful men placed the
young maid in their chariot as their companion for victory, mighty in
assemblies. I praise what is the praiseworthy true greatness of those
Maruts, that the manly-minded, proud, and strong one drives with them
towards the blessed mothers. They protect Mitra and Varuna from the
unspeakable, and Aryaman also finds out the infamous. Even what is firm
and unshakable is being shaken; but he who dispenses treasures, O
Maruts, has grown in strength. No people indeed, whether near to us, or
from afar, have ever found the end of your strength, O Maruts! The
Maruts, strong in daring strength, have, like the sea, boldly surrounded
their haters. May we to-day, may we tomorrow in battle be called the
most beloved of Indra. We were so formerly, may we truly be so day by
day, and may the lord of the Maruts be with us. May this praise, O
Maruts, this song of Mândârya, the son of Mâna, the poet, ask you with
food for offspring for ourselves! May we have an invigorating autumn,
with quickening rain!

XIX

Who knows their birth? or who was of yore in the favor of the Maruts,
when they harnessed the spotted deer? Who has heard them when they had
mounted their chariots, how they went forth? For the sake of what
liberal giver did they run, and their comrades followed, as streams of
rain filled with food? They themselves said to me when day by day they
came to the feast with their birds: they are manly youths and blameless;
seeing them, praise them thus; they who shine by themselves in their
ornaments, their daggers, their garlands, their golden chains, their
rings, going on their chariots and on dry land. O Maruts, givers of
quickening rain, I am made to rejoice, following after your chariots, as
after days going with rain. The bucket which the bounteous heroes shook
down from heaven for their worshipper, that cloud they send along heaven
and earth, and showers follow on the dry land. The rivers having pierced
the air with a rush of water, went forth like milk-cows; when your
spotted deer roll about like horses that have hasted to the
resting-place on their road. Come hither, O Maruts, from heaven, from
the sky, even from near; do not go far away! Let not the Rasâ, the
Anitabhâ, the Kubhâ, the Krumu, let not the Sindhu delay you! Let not
the marshy Sarayu prevent you! May your favor be with us alone! The
showers come forth after the host of your chariots, after the terrible
Marut-host of the ever-youthful heroes. Let us then follow with our
praises and our prayers each host of yours, each troop, each company. To
what well-born generous worshipper have the Maruts gone to-day on that
march, on which you bring to kith and kin the never-failing seed of
corn? Give us that for which we ask you, wealth and everlasting
happiness! Let us safely pass through our revilers, leaving behind the
unspeakable and the enemies. Let us be with you when in the morning you
shower down health, wealth, water, and medicine, O Maruts! That mortal,
O men, O Maruts, whom you protect, may well be always beloved by the
gods, and rich in valiant offspring. May we be such! Praise the liberal
Maruts, and may they delight on the path of this man here who praises
them, like cows in fodder. When they go, call after them as for old
friends, praise them who love you, with your song!

XX

You have fashioned this speech for the brilliant Marut-host which shakes
the mountains: celebrate then the great manhood in honor of that host
who praises the warm milk of the sacrifice, and sacrifices on the height
of heaven, whose glory is brilliant. O Maruts, your powerful men came
forth searching for water, invigorating, harnessing their horses,
swarming around. When they aim with the lightning, Trita shouts, and the
waters murmur, running around on their course. These Maruts are men
brilliant with lightning, they shoot with thunderbolts, they blaze with
the wind, they shake the mountains, and suddenly, when wishing to give
water, they whirl the hail; they have thundering strength, they are
robust, they are ever-powerful. When you drive forth the nights, O
Rudras, the days, O powerful men, the sky, the mists, ye shakers, the
plains, like ships, and the strongholds, O Maruts, you suffer nowhere.
That strength of yours, O Maruts, that greatness extended as far as the
sun extends its daily course, when you, like your deer on their march,
went down to the western mountain with untouched splendor. Your host, O
Maruts, shone forth when, O sages, you strip, like a caterpillar, the
waving tree. Conduct then, O friends, our service to a good end, as the
eye conducts the man in walking. That man, O Maruts, is not overpowered,
he is not killed, he does not fail, he does not shake, he does not drop,
his goods do not perish, nor his protections, if you lead him rightly,
whether he be a seer or a king. The men with their steeds, like
conquerors of clans, like Aryaman, the Maruts, carrying waterskins, fill
the well; when the strong ones roar, they moisten the earth with the
juice of sweetness. When the Maruts come forth this earth bows, the
heaven bows, the paths in the sky bow, and the cloud-mountains with
their quickening rain. When you rejoice at sunrise, O Maruts, toiling
together, men of sunlight, men of heaven, your horses never tire in
running, and you quickly reach the end of your journey. On your
shoulders are the spears, on your feet rings, on your chests golden
chains, O Maruts, on your chariot gems; fiery lightnings in your fists,
and golden headbands tied round your heads. O Maruts, you shake the red
apple from the firmament, whose splendor no enemy can touch; the hamlets
bowed when the Maruts blazed, and the pious people intoned their
far-reaching shout. O wise Maruts, let us carry off the wealth of food
which you have bestowed on us; give us, O Maruts, such thousandfold
wealth as never fails, like the star Tishya from heaven! O Maruts, you
protect our wealth of excellent men, and the seer, clever in song; you
give to the warrior a strong horse, you make the king to be obeyed. O
you who are quickly ready to help, I implore you for wealth whereby we
may overshadow all men, like the sky. O Maruts, be pleased with this
word of mine, and let us speed by its speed over a hundred winters!

XXI

The chasing Maruts with gleaming spears, the golden-breasted, have
gained great strength, they move along on quick, well-broken
horses;--when they went in triumph, the chariots followed. You have
yourselves, you know, acquired power; you shine bright and wide, you
great ones. They have even measured the sky with their strength;--when
they went in triumph, the chariots followed. The strong heroes, born
together, and nourished together, have further grown to real beauty.
They shine brilliantly like the rays of the sun;--when they went in
triumph, the chariots followed. Your greatness, O Maruts, is to be
honored, it is to be yearned for like the sight of the sun. Place us
also in immortality;--when they went in triumph, the chariots followed.
O Maruts, you raise the rain from the sea, and rain it down, O yeomen!
Your milch-cows, O destroyers, are never destroyed;--when they went in
triumph, the chariots followed. When you have joined the deer as horses
to the shafts, and have clothed yourselves in golden garments, then, O
Maruts, you scatter all enemies;--when they went in triumph, the
chariots followed. Not mountains, not rivers have kept you back,
wherever you see, O Maruts, there you go. You go even round heaven and
earth;--when they went in triumph, the chariots followed. Be it old, O
Maruts, or be it new, be it spoken, O Vasus, or be it recited, you take
cognizance of it all;--when they went in triumph, the chariots followed.
Have mercy on us, O Maruts, do not strike us, extend to us your manifold
protection. Do remember the praise, the friendship;--when they went in
triumph, the chariots followed. Lead us, O Maruts, towards greater
wealth, and out of tribulations, when you have been praised. O
worshipful Maruts, accept our offering, and let us be lords of
treasures!

XXII

O Agni, on to the strong host of the Maruts, bedecked with golden chains
and ornaments. To-day I call the folk of the Maruts down from the light
of heaven. As thou, Agni, thinkest in thine heart, to the same object my
wishes have gone. Strengthen thou these Maruts, terrible to behold, who
have come nearest to thy invocations. Like a bountiful lady, the earth
comes towards us, staggering, yet rejoicing; for your onslaught, O
Maruts, is vigorous, like a bear, and fearful, like a wild bull. They
who by their strength disperse wildly like bulls, impatient of the yoke,
they by their marches make the heavenly stone, the rocky mountain cloud
to shake. Arise, for now I call with my hymns the troop of these Maruts,
grown strong together, the manifold, the incomparable, as if calling a
drove of bulls. Harness the red mares to the chariot, harness the ruddy
horses to the chariots, harness the two bays, ready to drive in the
yoke, most vehement to drive in the yoke. And this red stallion too,
loudly neighing, has been placed here, beautiful to behold; may it not
cause you delay on your marches, O Maruts; spur him forth on your
chariots.

We call towards us the glorious chariot of the Maruts, whereon there
stands also Rodasî, carrying delightful gifts, among the Maruts.

I call hither this your host, brilliant on chariots, terrible and
glorious, among which she, the well-born and fortunate, the bounteous
lady, is also magnified among the Maruts.

XXIII

O Rudras, joined by Indra, friends on golden chariots, come hither for
our welfare! This prayer from us is acceptable to you like the springs
of heaven to a thirsty soul longing for water. O you sons of Prisni, you
are armed with daggers and spears, you are wise, carrying good bows and
arrows and quivers, possessed of good horses and chariots. With your
good weapons, O Maruts, you go to triumph! You shake the sky and the
mountains for wealth to the liberal giver; the forests bend down out of
your way from fear. O sons of Prisni, you rouse the earth when you, O
terrible ones, have harnessed the spotted deer for triumph! The Maruts,
blazing with the wind, clothed in rain, are as like one another as
twins, and well adorned. They have tawny horses, and red horses, they
are faultless, endowed with exceeding vigor; they are in greatness wide
as the heaven. Rich in rain-drops, well adorned, bounteous, terrible to
behold, of inexhaustible wealth, noble by birth, golden-breasted, these
singers of the sky have obtained their immortal name. Spears are on your
two shoulders, in your arms are placed strength, power, and might. Manly
thoughts dwell in your heads, on your chariots are weapons, and every
beauty has been laid on your bodies. O Maruts, you have given us wealth
of cows, horses, chariots, and heroes, golden wealth! O men of Rudra,
bestow on us great praise, and may I enjoy your divine protection! Hark,
O heroes, O Maruts! Be gracious to us! You who are of great bounty,
immortal, righteous, truly listening to us, poets, young, dwelling on
mighty mountains, and grown mighty.

XXIV

I praise now the powerful company of these ever-young Maruts, who drive
violently along with quick horses; aye, the sovereigns are lords of
Amrita the immortal. The terrible company, the powerful, adorned with
quoits on their hands, given to roaring, potent, dispensing treasures,
they who are beneficent, infinite in greatness, praise, O poet, these
men of great wealth! May your water-carriers come here to-day, all the
Maruts who stir up the rain. That fire which has been lighted for you, O
Maruts, accept it, O young singers! O worshipful Maruts, you create for
man an active king, fashioned by Vibhvan; from you comes the man who can
fight with his fist, and is quick with his arm, from you the man with
good horses and valiant heroes. Like the spokes of a wheel, no one is
last, like the days they are born on and on, not deficient in might. The
very high sons of Prisni are full of fury, the Maruts cling firmly to
their own will. When you have come forth with your speckled deer as
horses on strong-fellied chariots, O Maruts, the waters gush, the
forests go asunder;--let Dyu roar down, the bull of the Dawn. At their
approach, even the earth opened wide, and they placed their own strength
as a husband the germ. Indeed they have harnessed the winds as horses to
the yoke, and the men of Rudra have changed their sweat into rain. Hark,
O heroes, O Maruts! Be gracious to us! You who are of great bounty,
immortal, righteous, truly listening to us, poets, young, dwelling on
mighty mountains, and grown mighty.

XXV

They truly tried to make you grant them welfare. Do thou sing praises to
Heaven, I offer sacrifice to the Earth. The Maruts wash their horses and
race to the air, they soften their splendor by waving mists. The earth
trembles with fear from their onset. She sways like a full ship, that
goes rolling. The heroes who appear on their marches, visible from afar,
strive together within the great sacrificial assembly. Your horn is
exalted for glory, as the horns of cows; your eye is like the sun, when
the mist is scattered. Like strong racers, you are beautiful, O heroes,
you think of glory, like manly youths. Who could reach, O Maruts, the
great wise thoughts, who the great manly deeds of you, great ones? You
shake the earth like a speck of dust, when you are carried forth for
granting welfare. These kinsmen are like red horses, like heroes eager
for battle, and they have rushed forward to fight. They are like
well-grown manly youths, and the men have grown strong, with streams of
rain they dim the eye of the sun. At their outbreak there is none among
them who is the eldest, or the youngest, or the middle: they have grown
by their own might, these sons of Prisni, noble by birth, the boys of
Dyaus; come hither to us!

Those who like birds flew with strength in rows from the ridge of the
mighty heaven to its ends, their horses shook the springs of the
mountain cloud, so that people on both sides knew it. May Dyaus Aditi
roar for our feast, may the dew-lighted Dawns come striving together;
these, the Maruts, O poet, the sons of Rudra, have shaken the heavenly
bucket cloud, when they had been praised.


[Footnote 1: The Maruts are the "Storm-Gods".]

[Footnote 2: The lightning.]

[Footnote 3: The voice of thunder.]

[Footnote 4: The dawn.]



TO THE MARUTS AND INDRA


The Prologue

The sacrificer speaks:

To what splendor do the Maruts all equally cling, they who are of the
same age, and dwell in the same nest? With what thoughts?--from whence
are they come? Do these heroes sing forth their own strength, wishing
for wealth? Whose prayers have the youths accepted? Who has turned the
Maruts to his own sacrifice? By what strong desire may we arrest them,
they who float through the air like hawks?


The Dialogue

The Maruts speak:

From whence, O Indra, dost thou come alone, thou who art mighty? O lord
of men, what has thus happened to thee? Thou greetest us when thou
comest together with us. Tell us then, thou with thy bay horses, what
thou hast against us!

Indra speaks:

The sacred songs are mine, the prayers; sweet are the libations! My
strength rises, my thunderbolt is hurled forth. They call for me, the
hymns yearn for me. Here are my horses, they carry me hither.

The Maruts speak:

From thence, in company with our strong friends, having adorned our
bodies, we now harness our fallow deer with all our might;--for, Indra,
according to custom, thou hast come to be with us.

Indra speaks:

Where, O Maruts, was that custom with you, when you left me alone in the
killing of Ahi? I indeed am terrible, powerful, strong,--I escaped from
the blows of every enemy.

The Maruts speak:

Thou hast achieved much with us as companions. With equal valor, O hero!
let us achieve then many things, O thou most powerful, O Indra! whatever
we, O Maruts, wish with our mind.

Indra speaks:

I slew Vritra, O Maruts, with Indra's might, having grown powerful
through my own vigor; I, who hold the thunderbolt in my arms, have made
these all-brilliant waters to flow freely for man.

The Maruts speak:

Nothing, O mighty lord, is strong before thee: no one is known among the
gods like unto thee. No one who is now born comes near, no one who has
been born. Do what thou wilt do, thou who art grown so strong.

Indra speaks:

Almighty strength be mine alone, whatever I may do, daring in my heart;
for I indeed, O Maruts, am known as terrible: of all that I threw down,
I, Indra, am the lord.

O Maruts, now your praise has pleased me, the glorious hymn which you
have made for me, ye men!--for me, for Indra, for the joyful hero, as
friends for a friend, for your own sake, and by your own efforts.

Truly, there they are, shining towards me, bringing blameless glory,
bringing food. O Maruts, wherever I have looked for you, you have
appeared to me in bright splendor: appear to me also now!


The Epilogue

The sacrificer speaks:

Who has magnified you here, O Maruts? Come hither, O friends, towards
your friends. Ye brilliant Maruts, welcoming these prayers, be mindful
of these my rites. The wisdom of Mânya has brought us hither, that he
should help as the poet helps the performer of a sacrifice: turn hither
quickly! Maruts, on to the sage! the singer has recited these prayers
for you. May this your praise, O Maruts, this song of Mândârya, the son
of Mâna, the poet, bring offspring for ourselves with food. May we have
an invigorating autumn, with quickening rain.



TO INDRA AND THE MARUTS


Those who stand around him while he moves on, harness the bright red
steed; the lights in heaven shine forth. They harness to the chariot on
each side his two favorite bays, the brown, the bold, who can carry the
hero. Thou who createst light where there was no light, and form, O men!
where there was no form, hast been born together with the dawns.
Thereupon they (the Maruts), according to their wont, assumed again the
form of new-born babes, taking their sacred name. Thou, O Indra, with
the swift Maruts, who break even through the stronghold, hast found even
in their hiding-place the bright ones. The pious singers have, after
their own mind, shouted towards the giver of wealth, the great, the
glorious Indra. Mayest thou, host of the Maruts, be verily seen coming
together with Indra, the fearless: you are both happy-making, and of
equal splendor. With the beloved hosts of Indra, with the blameless,
hasting (Maruts), the sacrificer cries aloud. From yonder, O traveller,
Indra, come hither, or from the light of heaven; the singers all yearn
for it;--or we ask Indra for help from here, or from heaven, or from
above the earth, or from the great sky.



TO AGNI[5] AND THE MARUTS


Thou art called forth to this fair sacrifice for a draught of milk; with
the Maruts come hither, O Agni! No god indeed, no mortal, is beyond the
might of thee, the mighty one; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni! They
who know of the great sky, the Visve Devas without guile; with those
Maruts come hither, O Agni! The strong ones who sing their song,
unconquerable by force; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni! They who
are brilliant, of terrible designs, powerful, and devourers of foes;
with the Maruts come hither, O Agni! They who in heaven are enthroned as
gods, in the light of the firmament; with the Maruts come hither, O
Agni! They who toss the clouds across the surging sea; with the Maruts
come hither, O Agni! They who shoot with their darts across the sea with
might; with the Maruts come hither, O Agni! I pour out to thee for the
early draught the sweet juice of Soma; with the Maruts come hither, O
Agni!


[Footnote 5: Agni is the "God of Fire."]



TO RUDRA[6]


We offer these prayers to Rudra, the strong, whose hair is braided, who
rules over heroes that he may be a blessing to man and beast, that
everything in this our village may be prosperous and free from disease.
Be gracious to us, O Rudra, and give us joy, and we shall honor thee,
the ruler of heroes, with worship. What health and wealth father Manu
acquired by his sacrifices, may we obtain the same, O Rudra, under thy
guidance. O bounteous Rudra, may we by sacrifice obtain the good-will of
thee, the ruler of heroes; come to our clans, well-disposed, and, with
unarmed men, we shall offer our libation to thee. We call down for our
help the fierce Rudra, who fulfils our sacrifice, the swift, the wise;
may he drive far away from us the anger of the gods; we desire his
good-will only. We call down with worship the red boar of the sky, the
god with braided hair, the blazing form; may he who carries in his hand
the best medicines grant us protection, shield, and shelter! This speech
is spoken for the father of the Maruts, sweeter than sweet, a joy to
Rudra; grant to us also, O immortal, the food of mortals, be gracious to
us and to our kith and kin! Do not slay our great or our small ones, our
growing or our grown ones, our father or our mother, and do not hurt our
own bodies, O Rudra! O Rudra, hurt us not in our kith and kin, nor in
our own life, not in our cows, nor in our horses! Do not slay our men in
thy wrath: carrying libations, we call on thee always. Like a shepherd,
I have driven these praises near to thee; O father of the Maruts, grant
us thy favor! For thy good-will is auspicious, and most gracious, hence
we desire thy protection alone. Let thy cow-slaying and thy man-slaying
be far away, and let thy favor be with us, O ruler of heroes! Be
gracious to us, and bless us, O god, and then give us twofold
protection. We have uttered our supplication to him, desiring his help;
may Rudra with the Maruts hear our call. May Mitra, Varuna, Aditi, the
River, Earth, and the Sky, grant us this!


[Footnote 6: Rudra is the "Father of the Maruts."]



TO RUDRA


O father of the Maruts, let thy favor come near, and do not deprive us
of the sight of the sun; may the hero (Rudra) be gracious to our horse,
and may we increase in offspring, O Rudra! May I attain to a hundred
winters through the most blissful medicines which thou hast given! Put
away far from us all hatred, put away anguish, put away sickness in all
directions! In beauty thou art the most beautiful of all that exists, O
Rudra, the strongest of the strong, thou wielder of the thunderbolt!
Carry us happily to the other shore of our anguish, and ward off all
assaults of mischief. Let us not incense thee, O Rudra, by our worship,
not by bad praise, O hero, and not by divided praise! Raise up our men
by thy medicines, for I hear thou art the best of all physicians. He who
is invoked by invocations and libations, may I pay off that Rudra with
my hymns of praise. Let not him who is kind-hearted, who readily hears
our call, the tawny, with beautiful cheeks, deliver us to this wrath!
The manly hero with the Maruts has gladdened me, the suppliant, with
more vigorous health. May I without mischief find shade, as if from
sunshine, may I gain the favor of Rudra! O Rudra, where is thy softly
stroking hand which cures and relieves? Thou, the remover of all
heaven-sent mischief, wilt thou, O strong hero, bear with me? I send
forth a great, great hymn of praise to the bright tawny bull. Let me
reverence the fiery god with prostrations; we celebrate the flaring name
of Rudra. He, the fierce god, with strong limbs, assuming many forms,
the tawny Rudra, decked himself with brilliant golden ornaments. From
Rudra, who is lord of this wide world, divine power will never depart.
Worthily thou bearest arrows and bow, worthily, O worshipful, the
golden, variegated chain; worthily thou cuttest every fiend here to
pieces, for there is nothing indeed stronger than thou, O Rudra. Praise
him, the famous, sitting in his chariot, the youthful, who is fierce and
attacks like a terrible lion. And when thou hast been praised, O Rudra,
be gracious to him who magnifies thee, and let thy armies mow down
others than us! O Rudra, a boy indeed makes obeisance to his father who
comes to greet him: I praise the lord of brave men, the giver of many
gifts, and thou, when thou hast been praised, wilt give us thy
medicines. O Maruts, those pure medicines of yours, the most beneficent
and delightful, O heroes, those which Manu, our father, chose, those I
crave from Rudra, as health and wealth. May the weapon of Rudra avoid
us, may the great anger of the flaring one pass us by. Unstring thy
strong bows for the sake of our liberal lords, O bounteous Rudra, be
gracious to our kith and kin. Thus, O tawny and manly god, showing
thyself, so as neither to be angry nor to kill, be mindful of our
invocations, and, rich in brave sons, we shall magnify thee in the
congregation.



TO AGNI AND THE MARUTS


I implore Agni, the gracious, with salutations, may he sit down here,
and gather what we have made. I offer him sacrifice as with racing
chariots; may I, turning to the right, accomplish this hymn to the
Maruts. Those who approached on their glorious deer, on their easy
chariots, the Rudras, the Maruts--through fear of you, ye terrible ones,
the forests even bend down, the earth shakes, and also the mountain
cloud. At your shouting, even the mountain cloud, grown large, fears,
and the ridge of heaven trembles. When you play together, O Maruts,
armed with spears, you run together like waters. Like rich suitors the
Maruts have themselves adorned their bodies with golden ornaments; more
glorious for glory, and powerful on their chariots, they have brought
together splendors on their bodies. As brothers, no one being the eldest
or the youngest, they have grown up together to happiness. Young is
their clever father Rudra, flowing with plenty is Prisni, always kind to
the Maruts. O happy Maruts, whether you are in the highest, or in the
middle, or in the lowest heaven, from thence, O Rudras, or thou also, O
Agni, take notice of this libation which we offer. When Agni, and you,
wealthy Maruts, drive down from the higher heaven over the ridges, give
then, if pleased, you roarers, O destroyers of enemies, wealth to the
sacrificer who prepares Soma-juice. Agni, be pleased to drink Soma with
the brilliant Maruts, the singers, approaching in companies, with the
men, who brighten and enliven everything; do this, Agni, thou who art
always endowed with splendor.



TO VÂYU


Come hither, O Vâyu, thou beautiful one! These Somas are ready, drink of
them, hear our call! O Vâyu, the praisers celebrate thee with hymns,
they who know the feast-days, and have prepared the Soma. O Vâyu, thy
satisfying stream goes to the worshipper, wide-reaching, to the
Soma-draught. O Indra and Vâyu, these libations of Soma are poured out;
come hither for the sake of our offerings, for the drops of Soma long
for you. O Indra and Vâyu, you perceive the libations, you who are rich
in booty; come then quickly hither! O Vâyu and Indra, come near to the
work of the sacrificer, quick, thus is my prayer, O ye men! I call
Mitra, endowed with holy strength, and Varuna, who destroys all enemies;
who both fulfil a prayer accompanied by fat offerings. On the right way,
O Mitra and Varuna, you have obtained great wisdom, you who increase the
right and adhere to the right; These two sages, Mitra and Varuna, the
mighty, wide-ruling, give us efficient strength.



TO VÂYU


O Vâyu, may the quick racers bring thee towards the offerings, to the
early drink here, to the early drink of Soma! May the Dawn stand erect,
approving thy mind! Come near on thy harnessed chariot to share, O Vâyu,
to share in the sacrifice! May the delightful drops of Soma delight
thee, the drops made by us, well-made, and heaven-directed, yes, made
with milk, and heaven-directed. When his performed aids assume strength
for achievement, our prayers implore the assembled steeds for gifts,
yes, the prayers implore them. Vâyu yokes the two ruddy, Vâyu yokes the
two red horses, Vâyu yokes to the chariot the two swift horses to draw
in the yoke, the strongest to draw in the yoke. Awake Purandhi (the
morning) as a lover wakes a sleeping maid, reveal heaven and earth,
brighten the dawn, yes, for glory brighten the dawn. For thee the bright
dawns spread out in the distance beautiful garments, in their houses, in
their rays, beautiful in their new rays. To thee the juice-yielding cow
pours out all treasures. Thou hast brought forth the Maruts from the
flanks, yes, from the flanks of heaven. For thee the white, bright,
rushing Somas, strong in raptures, have rushed to the whirl, they have
rushed to the whirl of the waters. The tired hunter asks luck of thee in
the chase; thou shieldest by thy power from every being, yes, thou
shieldest by thy power from powerful spirits. Thou, O Vâyu, art worthy
as the first before all others to drink these our Somas, thou art worthy
to drink these poured-out Somas. Among the people also who invoke thee
and have turned to thee, all the cows pour out the milk, they pour out
butter and milk for the Soma.



INDRA AND AGASTYA[7]: A DIALOGUE


Indra: There is no such thing to-day, nor will it be so to-morrow. Who
knows what strange thing this is? We must consult the thought of
another, for even what we once knew seems to vanish.

Agastya: Why dost thou wish to kill us, O Indra? the Maruts are thy
brothers; fare kindly with them, and do not strike us in battle.

The Maruts: O Brother Agastya, why, being a friend, dost thou despise
us? We know quite well what thy mind was. Dost thou not wish to give to
us?

Agastya: Let them prepare the altar, let them light the fire in front!
Here we two will spread for thee the sacrifice, to be seen by the
immortal.

Agastya: Thou rulest, O lord of treasures; thou, lord of friends, art
the most generous. Indra, speak again with the Maruts, and then consume
our offerings at the right season.


[Footnote 7: Agastya is a worshipper of Indra.]



TO SOMA AND RUDRA


Soma and Rudra, may you maintain your divine dominion, and may the
oblations reach you properly. Bringing the seven treasures to every
house, be kind to our children and our cattle. Soma and Rudra, draw far
away in every direction the disease which has entered our house. Drive
far away Nirriti, and may auspicious glories belong to us! Soma and
Rudra, bestow all these remedies on our bodies. Tear away and remove
from us whatever evil we have committed, which clings to our bodies.
Soma and Rudra, wielding sharp weapons and sharp bolts, kind friends, be
gracious unto us here! Deliver us from the snare of Varuna, and guard
us, as kind-hearted gods!



TO RUDRA


Offer ye these songs to Rudra whose bow is strong, whose arrows are
swift, the self-dependent god, the unconquered conqueror, the
intelligent, whose weapons are sharp--may he hear us! For, being the
lord, he looks after what is born on earth; being the universal ruler,
he looks after what is born in heaven. Protecting us, come to our
protecting doors, be without illness among our people, O Rudra! May that
thunderbolt of thine, which, sent from heaven, traverses the earth, pass
us by! A thousand medicines are thine, O thou who art freely accessible;
do not hurt us through our kith and kin! Do not strike us, O Rudra, do
not forsake us! May we not be in thy way when thou rushest forth
furiously. Let us have our altar and a good report among men--protect us
always with your favors!



TO VÂTA


Now for the greatness of the chariot of Vâta. Its roar goes crashing and
thundering. It moves touching the sky, and creating red sheens, or it
goes scattering the dust of the earth. Afterwards there rise the gusts
of Vâta, they go towards him, like women to a feast. The god goes with
them on the same chariot, he, the king of the whole of this world. When
he moves on his paths along the sky, he rests not even a single day; the
friend of the waters, the first-born, the holy, where was he born,
whence did he spring? The breath of the gods, the germ of the world,
that god moves wherever he listeth; his roars indeed are heard, not his
form--let us offer sacrifice to that Vâta!



TO VÂTA


May Vâta waft medicine, healthful, delightful to our heart; may he
prolong our lives! Thou, O Vâta, art our father, and our brother, and
our friend; do thou grant us to live! O Vâta, from that treasure of the
immortal which is placed in thy house yonder, give us to live!

I

I magnify Agni, the Purohita, the divine ministrant of the sacrifice,
the Hotri priest, the greatest bestower of treasures. Agni, worthy to be
magnified by the ancient Rishis and by the present ones--may he conduct
the gods hither. May one obtain through Agni wealth and welfare day by
day, which may bring glory and high bliss of valiant offspring. Agni,
whatever sacrifice and worship thou encompassest on every side, that
indeed goes to the gods. May Agni the thoughtful Hotri, he who is true
and most splendidly renowned, may the god come hither with the gods.
Whatever good thou wilt do to thy worshipper, O Agni, that work verily
is thine, O Angiras. Thee, O Agni, we approach day by day, O god who
shinest in the darkness; with our prayer, bringing adoration to thee who
art the king of all worship, the guardian of Rita, the shining one,
increasing in thy own house. Thus, O Agni, be easy of access to us, as a
father is to his son. Stay with us for our happiness.

II

We implore with well-spoken words the vigorous Agni who belongs to many
people, to the clans that worship the gods, whom other people also
magnify. Men have placed Agni on the altar as the augmenter of strength.
May we worship thee, rich in sacrificial food. Thus be thou here to-day
gracious to us, a helper in our striving for gain, O good one! We choose
thee, the all-possessor, as our messenger and as our Hotri. The flames
of thee, who art great, spread around; thy rays touch the heaven. The
gods, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, kindle thee, the ancient messenger. The
mortal, O Agni, who worships thee, gains through thee every prize. Thou
art the cheerful Hotri and householder, O Agni, the messenger of the
clans. In thee all the firm laws are comprised which the gods have made.
In thee, the blessed one, O Agni, youngest god, all sacrificial food is
offered. Sacrifice then thou who art gracious to us to-day and
afterwards, to the gods that we may be rich in valiant men. Him, the
king, verily the adorers approach reverentially. With oblations men
kindle Agni, having overcome all failures. Destroying the foe, they
victoriously got through Heaven and Earth and the waters; they have made
wide room for their dwelling. May the manly Agni, after he has received
the oblations, become brilliant at the side of Kanva; may he neigh as a
horse in battles. Take thy seat; thou art great. Shine forth, thou who
most excellently repairest to the gods. O Agni, holy god, emit thy red,
beautiful smoke, O glorious one! Thou whom the gods have placed here for
Manu as the best performer of the sacrifice, O carrier of oblations,
whom Kanva and Medhyâtithi, whom Vrishan and Upastuta have worshipped,
the winner of prizes. That Agni's nourishment has shone brightly whom
Medhyâtithi and Kanva have kindled on behalf of Rita. Him do these
hymns, him do we extol. Fill us with wealth, thou self-dependent one,
for thou, O Agni, hast companionship with the gods. Thou art lord over
glorious booty. Have mercy upon us; thou art great. Stand up straight
for blessing us, like the god Savitri, straight a winner of booty, when
we with our worshippers and with ointments call thee in emulation with
other people. Standing straight, protect us by thy splendor from evil;
burn down every ghoul. Let us stand straight that we may walk and live.
Find out our worship among the gods. Save us, O Agni, from the sorcerer,
save us from mischief, from the niggard. Save us from him who does us
harm or tries to kill us, O youngest god with bright splendor! As with a
club smite the niggards in all directions, and him who deceives us, O
god with fiery jaws. The mortal who makes his weapons very sharp by
night, may that impostor not rule over us. Agni has won abundance in
heroes. Agni and the two Mitras have blessed Medhyâtithi. Agni has
blessed Upastuta in the acquirement of wealth. Through Agni we call
hither from afar Turvasa, Yadu, and Ugradeva. May Agni, our strength
against the Dasyu, conduct hither Navavâstva, Brihadratha, and Turvîti.

Manu has established thee, O Agni, as a light for all people. Thou hast
shone forth with Kanva, born from Rita, grown strong, thou whom the
human races worship. Agni's flames are impetuous and violent; they are
terrible and not to be withstood. Always burn down the sorcerers, and
the allies of the Yâtus, every ghoul.

III

We choose Agni as our messenger, the all-possessor, as the Hotri of this
sacrifice, the highly wise. Agni and Agni! again they constantly invoked
with their invocations, the lord of the clans, the bearer of oblations,
the beloved of many. Agni, when born, conduct the gods hither for him
who has strewn the sacrificial grass; thou art our Hotri, worthy of
being magnified. Awaken them, the willing ones, when thou goest as
messenger, O Agni. Sit down with the gods on the Barhis. O thou to whom
Ghrita oblations are poured out, resplendent god, burn against the
mischievous, O Agni, against the sorcerers. By Agni Agni is kindled, the
sage, the master of the house, the young one, the bearer of oblations,
whose mouth is the sacrificial spoon. Praise Agni the sage, whose
ordinances for the sacrifice are true, the god who drives away sickness.
Be the protector, O Agni, of a master of sacrificial food who worships
thee, O god, as his messenger. Be merciful, O purifier, unto the man who
is rich in sacrificial food, and who invites Agni to the feast of the
gods. Thus, O Agni, resplendent purifier, conduct the gods hither to us,
to our sacrifice and to our food. Thus praised by us with our new
Gâyatra hymn, bring us wealth of valiant men and food. Agni with thy
bright splendor be pleased, through all our invocations of the gods,
with this our praise.

IV

With reverence I shall worship thee who art long-tailed like a horse,
Agni, king of worship. May he, our son of strength, proceeding on his
broad way, the propitious, become bountiful to us. Thus protect us
always, thou who hast a full life, from the mortal who seeks to do us
harm, whether near or afar. And mayest thou, O Agni, announce to the
gods this our newest efficient Gâyatra song. Let us partake of all booty
that is highest and that is middle; help us to the wealth that is
nearest. O god with bright splendor, thou art the distributor. Thou
instantly flowest for the liberal giver in the wave of the river, near
at hand. The mortal, O Agni, whom thou protectest in battles, whom thou
speedest in the races, he will command constant nourishment: Whosoever
he may be, no one will overtake him, O conqueror Agni! His strength is
glorious. May he, known among all tribes, win the race with his horses;
may he with the help of his priests become a gainer. O Garâbodha!
Accomplish this task for every house: a beautiful song of praise for
worshipful Rudra. May he, the great, the immeasurable, the
smoke-bannered, rich in splendor, incite us to pious thoughts and to
strength. May he hear us, like the rich lord of a clan, the banner of
the gods, on behalf of our hymns, Agni with bright light. Reverence to
the great ones, reverence to the lesser ones! Reverence to the young,
reverence to the old! Let us sacrifice to the gods, if we can. May I
not, O gods, fall as a victim to the curse of my better.

V

I press on for you with my prayer to the all-possessing messenger, the
immortal bearer of offerings, the best sacrificer. He, the great one,
knows indeed the place of wealth, the ascent to heaven; may he conduct
the gods hither. He, the god, knows how to direct the gods for the
righteous worshipper, in his house. He gives us wealth dear to us. He is
the Hotri; he who knows the office of a messenger, goes to and fro,
knowing the ascent to heaven. May we be of those who have worshipped
Agni with the gift of offerings, who cause him to thrive and kindle him.
The men who have brought worship to Agni, are renowned as successful by
wealth and by powerful offspring. May much-desired wealth come to us day
by day; may gains arise among us. He, the priest of the tribes, the
priest of men, pierces all hostile powers by his might as with a tossing
bow.

VI

He has brought down the wisdom of many a worshipper, he who holds in his
hand all manly power. Agni has become the lord of treasures, he who
brought together all powers of immortality. All the clever immortals
when seeking did not find the calf though sojourning round about us. The
attentive gods, wearying themselves, following his footsteps, stood at
the highest, beautiful standing-place of Agni. When the bright ones had
done service to thee, the bright one, Agni, with Ghrita through three
autumns, they assumed worshipful names; the well-born shaped their own
bodies. Acquiring for themselves the two great worlds, the worshipful
ones brought forward their Rudra-like powers. The mortal, when beings
were in discord, perceived and found out Agni standing in the highest
place. Being like-minded they reverentially approached him on their
knees. Together with their wives they venerated the venerable one.
Abandoning their bodies they made them their own, the one friend waking
when the other friend closed his eyes. When the worshipful gods have
discovered the thrice seven secret steps laid down in thee, they
concordantly guard with them immortality. Protect thou the cattle and
that which remains steadfast and that which moves. Knowing, O Agni, the
established orders of human dwellings, distribute in due order gifts
that they may live. Knowing the ways which the gods do, thou hast become
the unwearied messenger, the bearer of oblations. They who knew the
right way and were filled with good intentions, beheld from heaven the
seven young rivers and the doors of riches. Saramâ found the strong
stable of the cows from which human clans receive their nourishment. The
Earth has spread herself far and wide with them who are great in their
greatness, the mother Aditi, for the refreshment of the bird, with her
sons who have assumed all powers of their own dominion, preparing for
themselves the way to immortality. When the immortals created the two
eyes of heaven, they placed fair splendor in him. Then they rush down
like streams let loose. The red ones have recognized, O Agni, those
which are directed downwards.

VII

Forward goes your strength tending heavenward, rich in offerings, with
the ladle full of ghee. To the gods goes the worshipper desirous of
their favor. I magnify with prayer Agni who has knowledge of prayers,
the accomplisher of sacrifice, who hears us, and in whom manifold wealth
has been laid down. O Agni, may we be able to bridle thee the strong
god; may we overcome all hostile powers. Agni, inflamed at the
sacrifice, the purifier who should be magnified, whose hair is
flame--him we approach with prayers. With his broad stream of light the
immortal Agni, clothed in ghee, well served with oblations, is the
carrier of offerings at the sacrifice. Holding the sacrificial ladles,
performing the sacrifice they have with right thought, pressingly
brought Agni hither for help. The Hotri, the immortal god goes in front
with his secret power, instigating the sacrifices. The strong is set at
the races. He is led forth at the sacrifices, the priest, the
accomplisher of sacrifice. He has been produced by prayer, the excellent
one. I have established him, the germ of beings, forever the father of
Daksha. I have laid thee down, the excellent one, with the nourishment
of Daksha, O thou who art produced by power, O Agni, thee the
resplendent one, O Usig. The priests, eager to set to work the Rita,
kindle with quick strength Agni the governor, him who crosses the
waters. I magnify the child of vigor at this sacrifice, who shines under
the heaven, the thoughtful Agni. He who should be magnified and adored,
who is visible through the darkness, Agni, the manly, is kindled. Agni,
the manly, is kindled, he who draws hither the gods like a horse. The
worshippers rich in offerings magnify him. We the manly ones will kindle
thee the manly god, O manly Agni, who shinest mightily.

VIII

Produce thy stream of flames like a broad onslaught. Go forth impetuous
like a king with his elephant, thou art an archer; shoot the sorcerers
with thy hottest arrows. Thy whirls fly quickly. Fiercely flaming touch
them. O Agni, send forth with the ladle thy heat, thy winged flames;
send forth unfettered thy firebrands all around. Being the quickest,
send forth thy spies against all evildoers. Be an undeceivable guardian
of this clan. He who attacks us with evil spells, far or near, may no
such foe defy thy track. Rise up, O Agni! Spread out against all foes!
Burn down the foes, O god with the sharp weapon! When kindled, O Agni,
burn down like dry brushwood, the man who exercises malice against us.
Stand upright, strike the foes away from us! Make manifest thy divine
powers, O Agni! Unbend the strong bows of those who incite demons
against us. Crush all enemies, be they relations or strangers. He knows
thy favor, O youngest one, who makes a way for a sacred speech like
this. Mayest thou beam forth to his doors all auspicious days and the
wealth and the splendor of the niggard. Let him, O Agni, be fortunate
and blessed with good rain, who longs to gladden thee with constant
offerings and hymns through his life in his house. May such longing ever
bring auspicious days to him. I praise thy favor; it resounded here. May
this song, which is like a favorite wife, awaken for thee. Let us
brighten thee, being rich in horses and chariots. Mayest thou maintain
our knightly power day by day. May the worshipper here frequently of his
own accord approach thee, O god who shinest in darkness, resplendent day
by day. Let us worship thee sporting and joyous, surpassing the splendor
of other people. Whoever, rich in horses and rich in gold, approaches
thee, O Agni, with his chariot full of wealth--thou art the protector
and the friend of him who always delights in showing thee hospitality.
Through my kinship with thee I break down the great foes by my words.
That kinship has come down to me from my father Gotama. Be thou
attentive to this our word, O youngest, highly wise Hotri, as the friend
of our house. May those guardians of thine, infallible Agni, sitting
down together protect us, the never sleeping, onward-pressing, kind,
unwearied ones, who keep off the wolf, who never tire. Thy guardians, O
Agni, who seeing have saved the blind son of Mamatâ from distress--He
the possessor of all wealth has saved them who have done good deeds. The
impostors, though trying to deceive, could not deceive. In thy
companionship we dwell, protected by thee. Under thy guidance let us
acquire gain. Accomplish both praises, O thou who art the truth! Do so
by thy present power, O fearless one! May we worship thee, O Agni, with
this log of wood. Accept the hymn of praise which we recite. Burn down
those who curse us, the sorcerers. Protect us, O god who art great like
Mitra, from guile, from revilement, and from disgrace.

IX

Bright, flaming, like the lover of the Dawn,[8] he has, like the light
of the sky, filled the two worlds of Heaven and Earth which are turned
towards each other. As soon as thou wert born thou hast excelled by thy
power of mind; being the son of the gods thou hast become their father.
Agni is a worshipper of the gods, never foolish, always discriminating;
he is like the udder of the cows; he is the sweetness of food. Like a
kind friend to men, not to be led astray, sitting in the midst, the
lovely one, in the house; like a child when born, he is delightful in
the house; like a race-horse which is well cared for, he has wandered
across the clans. When I call to the sacrifice the clans who dwell in
the same nest with the heroes, may Agni then attain all divine powers.
When thou hast listened to these heroes, no one breaks those laws of
thine. That verily is thy wonderful deed that thou hast killed, with thy
companions, all foes; that, joined by the heroes, thou hast accomplished
thy works. Like the lover of the Dawn, resplendent and bright, of
familiar form: may he thus pay attention to this sacrificer. Carrying
him they opened by themselves the doors of heaven. They all shouted at
the aspect of the sun.

X

Like unto excellent wealth, like unto the shine of the sun, like unto
living breath, like unto one's own son, like unto a quick takvan Agni
holds the wood, like milk, like a milch cow, bright and shining. He
holds safety, pleasant like a homestead, like ripe barley, a conqueror
of men; like a Rishi uttering sacred shouts, praised among the clans;
like a well-cared-for race-horse, Agni bestows vigor. He to whose flame
men do not grow accustomed, who is like one's own mind, like a wife on a
couch, enough for all happiness. When the bright Agni has shone forth,
he is like a white horse among people, like a chariot with golden
ornaments, impetuous in fights. Like an army which is sent forward he
shows his vehemence, like an archer's shaft with sharp point. He who is
born is one twin; he who will be born is the other twin--the lover of
maidens, the husband of wives. As cows go to their stalls, all that
moves and we, for the sake of a dwelling, reach him who has been
kindled. Like the flood of the Sindhu he has driven forward the
downward-flowing waters. The cows lowed at the sight of the sun.

XI

The Hotri goes forward in order to fulfil his duty by his wonderful
power, directing upwards the brightly adorned prayer. He steps towards
the sacrificial ladles which are turned to the right, and which first
kiss his foundation. They have greeted with shouts the streams of Rita
which were hidden at the birthplace of the god, at his seat. When He
dwelt dispersed in the lap of the waters, he drank the draughts by the
power of which he moves. Two beings of the same age try to draw that
wonderful shape towards themselves, progressing in turns towards a
common aim. Then he is to be proclaimed by us like a winner in a
contest. The charioteer governs all things as if pulling in the reins of
a draught-horse. He whom two beings of the same age serve, two twins
dwelling together in one common abode, the gray one has been born as a
youth by night as by day, the ageless one who wanders through many
generations of men. The prayers, the ten fingers stir him up. We, the
mortals, call him, the god, for his protection. From the dry land he
hastens to the declivities. With those who approached him he has
established new rules. Thou indeed, O Agni, reignest by thy own nature
over the heavenly and over the terrestrial world as a shepherd takes
care of his cattle. These two variegated, great goddesses striving for
gloriousness, the golden ones who move crookedly, have approached thy
sacrificial grass. Agni! Be gratified and accept graciously this prayer,
O joy-giver, independent one, who art born in the Rita, good-willed one,
whose face is turned towards us from all sides, conspicuous one, gay in
thy aspect, like a dwelling-place rich in food.


[Footnote 8: The sun.]




SELECTIONS FROM THE ZEND-AVESTA

Translation by James Darmestetter



INTRODUCTION


The study of religion, like the study of poetry, brings us face to face
with the fundamental principles of human nature. Religion, whether it be
natural religion or that which is formulated in a book, is as universal
as poetry, and like poetry, existed before letters and writing. It is
only in a serious and sympathetic frame of mind that we should approach
the rudest forms of these two departments of human activity. A general
analysis of the "Zend-Avesta" suggests to us the mind of the Persian
sage Zarathustra, or Zoroaster, fixed upon the phenomena of nature and
life, and trying to give a systematized account of them. He sees good
and evil, life and death, sickness and health, right and wrong, engaged
in almost equal conflict. He sees in the sun the origin of light and
heat, the source of comfort and life to man. Thus he institutes the
doctrine of Dualism and the worship of Fire. The evil things that come
unexpectedly and irresistibly, he attributes to the Devas: the help and
comfort that man needs and often obtains by means which are beyond his
control, he attributes to the "Holy Immortal Ones," who stand around the
Presence of Ormuzd. As he watches the purity of the flame, of the limpid
stream, and of the sweet smelling ground, he connects it with the moral
purity which springs from innocence and rectitude, and in his code it is
as reprehensible to pollute the fire by burning the dead, or the stream
by committing the corpse to its waves, or the earth by making it a
burial-place, as it is to cheat or lie or commit an act of violence. The
wonders of Nature furnish abundant imagery for his hymns or his
litanies, and he relies for his cosmogony on the faint traditions of the
past gathered from whatever nation, and reduced into conformity with his
Dualistic creed.

"Zend-Avesta" is the religious book of the Persians who professed the
creed of Zarathustra, known in classic and modern times as Zoroaster.
Zoroaster is to be classed with such great religious leaders as Buddha
and Mohammed. He was the predecessor of Mohammed and the worship and
belief which he instituted were trampled out in Persia by the forces of
Islam in the seventh century of our era. The Persian Zoroastrians fled
to India, where they are still found as Parsis on the west coast of
Hindostan. The religion of Zoroaster was a Dualism. Two powerful and
creative beings, the one good the one evil, have control of the
universe. Thus, in the account of the creation, the two deities are said
to have equal though opposite share in the work. This is indicated by
the following passage--

    The third of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda
    (Ormuzd) created, was the strong, holy Môuru (Merv).

    Thereupon came Angra Mainyu (Ahriman), who is all death, and he
    counter-created plunder and sin.

This constant struggle of the two divinities with their armies of good
and bad spirits formed the background of Zoroastrian supernaturalism.
The worship of the Persians was the worship of the powers of Nature, and
especially of fire, although water, earth, and air, are also addressed
in the litanies of the "Zend-Avesta." The down-falling water and the
uprising mist are thus spoken of in one passage:--

    As the sea (Vouru-kasha) is the gathering place of the waters,
    rising up and going down, up the aërial way and down the earth,
    down the earth and up the aërial way: thus rise up and roll
    along! thou in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made the
    aërial way.

The sun is also invoked:--

    Up! rise up and roll along! thou swift-horsed Sun, above Hara
    Berezaiti, and produce light for the world.

The earth was considered to be polluted by the burial of the dead, who
are to be exposed in high places to be devoured by the birds of the air
and swept away by the streams into which the rain should wash their
remains. But the principal subjects of Zoroaster's teaching was the
struggle between Ormuzd and Ahriman and their hosts "The Holy Immortal
Ones" and the Devas, or evil spirits. This is the basis of all the
activities of the world and, according to Zoroaster, is to result in a
triumph of the good.

Zoroaster taught that the life of man has two parts, that on earth and
that beyond the grave. After his earthly life each one should be
punished or rewarded according to his deeds.

The "Zend-Avesta" cannot be dated earlier than the first century before
our era. It consists of four books, of which the chief one is the
Vendîdâd; the other three are the liturgical and devotional works,
consisting of hymns, litanies, and songs of praise, addressed to the
Deities and angels of Goodness.

The Vendîdâd contains an account of the creation and counter-creation of
Ormuzd and Ahriman, the author of the good things and of the evil things
in the world. After this follows what we may call a history of the
beginnings of civilization under Yima, the Persian Noah. The revelation
is described as being made directly to Zoroaster, who, like Moses,
talked with God. Thus, in the second fargard, or chapter, we read:--

    Zarathustra (Zoroaster) asked Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd):--

    "O Ahura Mazda (Ormuzd), most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the
    material world, thou Holy One! Who was the first mortal, before
    myself, Zarathustra, with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst
    converse, whom thou didst teach the religion of Ahura, the
    Religion of Zarathustra?"

    Ahura Mazda answered:--

    "The fair Yima, the good shepherd, O holy Zarathustra! he was
    the first mortal before thee, Zarathustra, with whom I, Ahura
    Mazda, did converse, whom I taught the Religion of Ahura, the
    Religion of Zarathustra. Unto him, O Zarathustra, I, Ahura
    Mazda, spake, saying: 'Well, fair Yima, son of Vîvanghat, be
    thou the Preacher and the bearer of my Religion!' And the fair
    Yima, O Zarathustra, replied unto me, saying: 'I was not born, I
    was not taught to be the preacher and the bearer of thy
    Religion.'"

The rest of the Vendîdâd is taken up with the praises of agriculture,
injunctions as to the care and pity due to the dog, the guardian of the
home and flock, the hunter and the scavenger. It includes an elaborate
code of ceremonial purification, resembling on this point the Leviticus
of the Bible, and it prescribes also the gradations of penance for sins
of various degrees of heinousness.

E.W.



DISCOVERY OF THE ZEND-AVESTA


The "Zend-Avesta" is the sacred book of the Parsis; that is to say, of
the few remaining followers of that religion which reigned over Persia
at the time when the second successor of Mohammed overthrew the
Sassanian dynasty (A.D. 642), and which has been called Dualism, or
Mazdeism, or Magism, or Zoroastrianism, or Fire-worship, according as
its main tenet, or its supreme God, or its priests, or its supposed
founder, or its apparent object of worship has been most kept in view.
In less than a century after their defeat, most of the conquered people
were brought over to the faith of their new rulers, either by force, or
policy, or the attractive power of a simpler form of creed. But many of
those who clung to the faith of their fathers, went and sought abroad
for a new home, where they might freely worship their old gods, say
their old prayers, and perform their old rites. That home they found at
last among the tolerant Hindoos, on the western coast of India and in
the peninsula of Guzerat. There they throve and there they live still,
while the ranks of their co-religionists in Persia are daily thinning
and dwindling away.[9]

As the Parsis are the ruins of a people, so are their sacred books the
ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief in the world
that ever left such poor and meagre monuments of its past splendor. Yet
great is the value which that small book, the "Avesta," and the belief
of that scanty people, the Parsis, have in the eyes of the historian and
theologian, as they present to us the last reflex of the ideas which
prevailed in Iran during the five centuries which preceded and the seven
which followed the birth of Christ, a period which gave to the world the
Gospels, the Talmud, and the Qur'ân. Persia, it is known, had much
influence on each of the movements which produced, or proceeded from,
those three books; she lent much to the first heresiarchs, much to the
Rabbis, much to Mohammed. By help of the Parsi religion and the
"Avesta," we are enabled to go back to the very heart of that most
momentous period in the history of religious thought, which saw the
blending of the Aryan mind with the Semitic, and thus opened the second
stage of Aryan thought.

Inquiries into the religion of ancient Persia began long ago, and it was
the old enemy of Persia, the Greek, who first studied it. Aristotle,
Hermippus, and many others wrote of it in books of which, unfortunately,
nothing more than a few fragments or merely the titles have come down to
us. We find much valuable information about it, scattered in the
accounts of historians and travellers, extending over ten centuries,
from Herodotos down to Agathias and Procopius (from B.C. 450 to A.D.
550). The clearest and most faithful account of the Dualist doctrine is
found in the treatise _De Iside et Osiride_, ascribed to Plutarch. But
Zoroastrianism was never more eagerly studied than in the first
centuries of the Christian era, though without anything of the
disinterested and almost scientific curiosity of the earlier times.
Religious and philosophic sects, in search of new dogmas, eagerly
received whatever came to them bearing the name of Zoroaster. As Xanthos
the Lydian, who is said to have lived before Herodotos, had mentioned
Zoroastrianism, there came to light, in those later times, scores of
oracles, styled "Oracula Chaldaďca sive Magica," the work of
Neo-Platonists who were but very remote disciples of the Median sage. As
his name had become the very emblem of wisdom, they would cover with it
the latest inventions of their ever-deepening theosophy. Zoroaster and
Plato were treated as if they had been philosophers of the same school,
and Hierocles expounded their doctrines in the same book. Proclus
collected seventy Tetrads of Zoroaster and wrote commentaries on them;
but we need hardly say that Zoroaster commented on by Proclus was
nothing more or less than Proclus commented on by himself. Prodicus, the
Gnostic, possessed secret books of Zoroaster; and, upon the whole, it
may be said that in the first centuries of Christianity, the religion of
Persia was more studied and less understood than it had ever been
before. The real object aimed at, in studying the old religion, was to
form a new one.

Throughout the Middle Ages nothing was known of Mazdeism but the name of
its founder, who from a Magus was converted into a magician and master
of the hidden sciences. It was not until the Renaissance that real
inquiry was resumed. The first step was to collect all the information
that could be gathered from Greek and Roman writers. That task was
undertaken and successfully completed by Barnabé Brisson. A nearer
approach to the original source was made in the following century by
Italian, English, and French travellers in Asia. Pietro della Valle,
Henry Lord, Mandelslo, Ovington, Chardin, Gabriel du Chinon, and
Tavernier, found Zoroaster's last followers in Persia and India, and
made known their existence, their manners, and the main features of
their belief to Europe. Gabriel du Chinon saw their books and recognized
that they were not all written in the same language, their original holy
writ being no longer understood except by means of translations and
commentaries in another tongue.

In the year 1700, a professor at Oxford, Thomas Hyde, the greatest
Orientalist of his time in Europe, made the first systematic attempt to
restore the history of the old Persian religion by combining the
accounts of the Mohammedan writers with "the true and genuine monuments
of ancient Persia." Unfortunately the so-called genuine monuments of
ancient Persia were nothing more than recent Persian compilations or
refacimenti. But notwithstanding this defect, which could hardly be
avoided then, and a distortion of critical acumen, the book of Thomas
Hyde was the first complete and true picture of modern Parsîism, and it
made inquiry into its history the order of the day. A warm appeal made
by him to the zeal of travellers, to seek for and procure at any price
the sacred books of the Parsis, did not remain ineffectual, and from
that time scholars bethought themselves of studying Parsîism in its own
home.

Eighteen years later, a countryman of Hyde, George Boucher, received
from the Parsis in Surat a copy of the Vendîdâd Sâda, which was brought
to England in 1723 by Richard Cobbe. But the old manuscript was a sealed
book, and the most that could then be made of it was to hang it by an
iron chain to the wall of the Bodleian Library, as a curiosity to be
shown to foreigners. A few years later, a Scotchman, named Fraser, went
to Surat, with the view of obtaining from the Parsis, not only their
books, but also a knowledge of their contents. He was not very
successful in the first undertaking, and utterly failed in the second.

In 1754 a young man, twenty years old, Anquetil Duperron, a scholar of
the _École des Langues Orientales_ in Paris, happened to see a
fac-simile of four leaves of the Oxford Vendîdâd, which had been sent
from England, a few years before, to Etienne Fourmont, the Orientalist.
He determined at once to give to France both the books of Zoroaster and
the first European translation of them. Too impatient to set off to wait
for a mission from the government which had been promised to him, he
enlisted as a private soldier in the service of the French East India
Company; he embarked at Lorient on February 24, 1755, and after three
years of endless adventures and dangers through the whole breadth of
Hindostan, at the very time when war was waging between France and
England, he arrived at last in Surat, where he stayed among the Parsis
for three years more. Here began another struggle, not less hard, but
more decisive, against the same mistrust and ill-will which had
disheartened Fraser; but he came out of it victorious, and prevailed at
last on the Parsis to part both with their books and their knowledge. He
came back to Paris on March 14, 1764, and deposited on the following day
at the _Bibliothčque Royale_ the whole of the "Zend-Avesta," and copies
of several traditional books. He spent ten years in studying the
material he had collected, and published in 1771 the first European
translation of the "Zend-Avesta."

A violent dispute broke out at once, as half the learned world denied
the authenticity of this "Avesta," which it pronounced a forgery. It was
the future founder of the Royal Asiatic Society, William Jones, a young
Oxonian then, who opened the war. He had been wounded to the quick by
the scornful tone adopted by Anquetil towards Hyde and a few other
English scholars: the "Zend-Avesta" suffered for the fault of its
introducer, Zoroaster for Anquetil. In a pamphlet written in French,
with a _verve_ and in a style which showed him to be a good disciple of
Voltaire, William Jones pointed out, and dwelt upon, the oddities and
absurdities with which the so-called sacred books of Zoroaster teemed.
It is true that Anquetil had given full scope to satire by the style he
had adopted: he cared very little for literary elegance, and did not
mind writing Zend and Persian in French; so the new and strange ideas he
had to express looked stranger still in the outlandish garb he gave
them. Yet it was less the style than the ideas that shocked the
contemporary of Voltaire. His main argument was that books, full of such
silly tales, of laws and rules so absurd, of descriptions of gods and
demons so grotesque, could not be the work of a sage like Zoroaster, nor
the code of a religion so much celebrated for its simplicity, wisdom,
and purity. His conclusion was that the "Avesta" was a rhapsody of some
modern Guebre. In fact, the only thing in which Jones succeeded was to
prove in a decisive manner that the ancient Persians were not equal to
the _lumičres_ of the eighteenth century, and that the authors of the
"Avesta" had not read the "Encyclopédie."

Jones's censure was echoed in England by Sir John Chardin and
Richardson, in Germany by Meiners. Richardson tried to give a scientific
character to the attacks of Jones by founding them on philological
grounds. That the "Avesta" was a fabrication of modern times was shown,
he argued, by the number of Arabic words he fancied he found both in the
Zend and Pahlavi dialects, as no Arabic element was introduced into the
Persian idioms earlier than the seventh century; also by the harsh
texture of the Zend, contrasted with the rare euphony of the Persian;
and, lastly, by the radical difference between the Zend and Persian,
both in words and grammar. To these objections, drawn from the form, he
added another derived from the uncommon stupidity of the matter.

In Germany, Meiners, to the charges brought against the newly-found
books, added another of a new and unexpected kind, namely, that they
spoke of ideas unheard of before, and made known new things. "Pray, who
would dare ascribe to Zoroaster books in which are found numberless
names of trees, animals, men, and demons, unknown to the ancient
Persians; in which are invoked an incredible number of pure animals and
other things, which, as appears from the silence of ancient writers,
were never known, or at least never worshipped, in Persia? What Greek
ever spoke of Hôm, of Jemshîd, and of such other personages as the
fabricators of that rhapsody exalt with every kind of praise, as divine
heroes?"

Anquetil and the "Avesta" found an eager champion in the person of
Kleuker, professor in the University of Riga. As soon as the French
version of the "Avesta" appeared, he published a German translation of
it, and also of Anquetil's historical dissertations. Then, in a series
of dissertations of his own, he vindicated the authenticity of the Zend
books. Anquetil had already tried to show, in a memoir on Plutarch, that
the data of the "Avesta" fully agree with the account of the Magian
religion given in the treatise on "Isis and Osiris." Kleuker enlarged
the circle of comparison to the whole of ancient literature.

In the field of philology, he showed, as Anquetil had already done, that
Zend has no Arabic elements in it, and that Pahlavi itself, which is
more modern than Zend, does not contain any Arabic, but only Semitic
words of the Aramean dialect, which are easily accounted for by the
close relations of Persia with Aramean lands in the time of the
Sassanian kings. He showed, lastly, that Arabic words appear only in the
very books which Parsi tradition itself considers modern.

Another stanch upholder of the "Avesta" was the numismatologist Tychsen,
who, having begun to read the book with a prejudice against its
authenticity, quitted it with a conviction to the contrary. "There is
nothing in it," he writes, "but what befits remote ages, and a man
philosophizing in the infancy of the world. Such traces of a recent
period as they fancy to have found in it, are either due to
misunderstandings, or belong to its later portions. On the whole there
is a marvellous accordance between the 'Zend-Avesta' and the accounts of
the ancients with regard to the doctrine and institutions of Zoroaster.
Plutarch agrees so well with the Zend books that I think no one will
deny the close resemblance of doctrines and identity of origin. Add to
all this the incontrovertible argument to be drawn from the language,
the antiquity of which is established by the fact that it was necessary
to translate a part of the Zend books into Pahlavi, a language which was
growing obsolete as early as the time of the Sassanides. Lastly, it
cannot be denied that Zoroaster left books which were, through
centuries, the groundwork of the Magic religion, and which were
preserved by the Magi, as shown by a series of documents from the time
of Hermippus. Therefore I am unable to see why we should not trust the
Magi of our days when they ascribe to Zoroaster those traditional books
of their ancestors, in which nothing is found to indicate fraud or a
modern hand."

Two years afterwards, in 1793, was published in Paris a book which,
without directly dealing with the "Avesta," was the first step taken to
make its authenticity incontrovertible. It was the masterly memoir by
Sylvestre de Sacy, in which the Pahlavi inscriptions of the first
Sassanides were deciphered for the first time and in a decisive manner.
De Sacy, in his researches, had chiefly relied on the Pahlavi lexicon
published by Anquetil, whose work vindicated itself thus--better than by
heaping up arguments--by promoting discoveries. The Pahlavi inscriptions
gave the key, as is well-known, to the Persian cuneiform inscriptions,
which were in return to put beyond all doubt the genuineness of the Zend
language.

Tychsen, in an appendix to his Commentaries, pointed to the importance
of the new discovery: "This," he writes, "is a proof that the Pahlavi
was used during the reign of the Sassanides, for it was from them that
these inscriptions emanated, as it was by them--nay, by the first of
them, Ardeshîr Bâbagân--that the doctrine of Zoroaster was revived. One
can now understand why the Zend books were translated into Pahlavi.
Here, too, everything agrees, and speaks loudly for their antiquity and
genuineness."

About the same time Sir William Jones, then president of the Royal
Asiatic Society, which he had just founded, resumed in a discourse
delivered before that society the same question he had solved in such an
off-hand manner twenty years before. He was no longer the man to say,
"_Sied-il ŕ un homme né dans ce sičcle de s'infatuer de fables
indiennes?_" and although he had still a spite against Anquetil, he
spoke of him with more reserve than in 1771. However, his judgment on
the "Avesta" itself was not altered on the whole, although, as he
himself declared, he had not thought it necessary to study the text. But
a glance at the Zend glossary published by Anquetil suggested to him a
remark which makes Sir William Jones, in spite of himself, the creator
of the comparative grammar of Sanscrit and Zend. "When I perused the
Zend glossary," he writes, "I was inexpressibly surprised to find that
six or seven words in ten are pure Sanscrit, and even some of their
inflexions formed by the rules of the Vyácaran, as yushmácam, the
genitive plural of yushmad. Now M. Anquetil most certainly, and the
Persian compiler most probably, had no knowledge of Sanscrit, and could
not, therefore, have invented a list of Sanscrit words; it is,
therefore, an authentic list of Zend words, which has been preserved in
books or by tradition; it follows that the language of the Zend was at
least a dialect of the Sanscrit, approaching perhaps as nearly to it as
the Prácrit, or other popular idioms, which we know to have been spoken
in India two thousand years ago." This conclusion, that Zend is a
Sanscrit dialect, was incorrect, the connection assumed being too close;
but it was a great thing that the near relationship of the two languages
should have been brought to light.

In 1798 Father Paulo de St. Barthélemy further developed Jones's remark
in an essay on the antiquity of the Zend language. He showed its
affinity with the Sanscrit by a list of such Zend and Sanscrit words as
were least likely to have been borrowed, viz., those that designate the
degrees of relationship, the limbs of the body, and the most general and
essential ideas. Another list, intended to show, on a special topic, how
closely connected the two languages are, contains eighteen words taken
from the liturgic language used in India and Persia. This list was not
very happily drawn up, as out of the eighteen instances there is not a
single one that stands inquiry; yet it was a happy idea, and one which
has not even yet yielded all that it promised. His conclusions were that
in a far remote antiquity Sanscrit was spoken in Persia and Media, that
it gave birth to the Zend language, and that the "Zend-Avesta" is
authentic: "Were it but a recent compilation," he writes, "as Jones
asserts, how is it that the oldest rites of the Parsis, that the old
inscriptions of the Persians, the accounts of the Zoroastrian religion
by the classical writers, the liturgic prayers of the Parsis, and,
lastly, even their books do not reveal the pure Sanscrit, as written in
the land wherein the Parsis live, but a mixed language, which is as
different from the other dialects of India as French is from Italian?"
This amounted, in fact, to saying that the Zend is not derived from the
Sanscrit, but that both are derived from another and older language. The
Carmelite had a dim notion of that truth, but, as he failed to express
it distinctly, it was lost for years, and had to be rediscovered.

The first twenty-five years of this century were void of results, but
the old and sterile discussions as to the authenticity of the texts
continued in England. In 1808 John Leyden regarded Zend as a Prácrit
dialect, parallel to Pali; Pali being identical with the Magadhi dialect
and Zend with the Sauraseni. In the eyes of Erskine, Zend was a Sanscrit
dialect, imported from India by the founders of Mazdeism, but never
spoken in Persia. His main argument was that Zend is not mentioned among
the seven dialects which were current in ancient Persia according to the
Farhang-i Jehangiri, and that Pahlavi and Persian exhibit no close
relationship with Zend.

In Germany, Meiners had found no followers. The theologians appealed to
the "Avesta," in their polemics, and Rhode sketched the religious
history of Persia after the translations of Anquetil.

Erskine's essay provoked a decisive answer from Emmanuel Rask, one of
the most gifted minds in the new school of philology, who had the honor
of being a precursor of both Grimm and Burnouf. He showed that the list
of the Jehangiri referred to an epoch later than that to which Zend must
have belonged, and to parts of Persia different from those where it must
have been spoken; he showed further that modern Persian is not derived
from Zend, but from a dialect closely connected with it; and, lastly, he
showed what was still more important, that Zend was not derived from
Sanscrit. As to the system of its sounds, Zend approaches Persian rather
than Sanscrit; and as to its grammatical forms, if they often remind one
of Sanscrit, they also often remind one of Greek and Latin, and
frequently have a special character of their own. Rask also gave the
paradigm of three Zend nouns, belonging to different declensions, as
well as the right pronunciation of the Zend letters, several of which
had been incorrectly given by Anquetil. This was the first essay on Zend
grammar, and it was a masterly one.

The essay published in 1831 by Peter von Bohlen on the origin of the
Zend language threw the matter forty years back. According to him, Zend
is a Prácrit dialect, as it had been pronounced by Jones, Leyden, and
Erskine. His mistake consisted in taking Anquetil's transcriptions of
the words, which are often so incorrect as to make them look like
corrupted forms when compared with Sanscrit. And, what was worse, he
took the proper names in their modern Parsi forms, which often led him
to comparisons that would have appalled Ménage. Thus Ahriman became a
Sanscrit word ariman, which would have meant "the fiend"; yet Bohlen
might have seen in Anquetil's work itself that Ahriman is nothing but
the modern form of Angra Mainyu, words which hardly remind one of the
Sanscrit ariman. Again, the angel Vohu-manô, or "good thought," was
reduced, by means of the Parsi form Bahman, to the Sanscrit bâhumân, "a
long-armed god."

At length came Burnouf. From the time when Anquetil had published his
translation, that is to say during seventy years, no real progress had
been made in knowledge of the Avesta texts. The notion that Zend and
Sanscrit are two kindred languages was the only new idea that had been
acquired, but no practical advantage for the interpretation of the texts
had resulted from it. Anquetil's translation was still the only guide,
and as the doubts about the authenticity of the texts grew fainter, the
authority of the translation became greater, the trust reposed in the
"Avesta" being reflected on to the work of its interpreter. The Parsis
had been the teachers of Anquetil; and who could ever understand the
holy writ of the Parsis better than the Parsis themselves? There was no
one who even tried to read the texts by the light of Anquetil's
translation, to obtain a direct understanding of them.

About 1825 Eugčne Burnouf was engaged in a course of researches on the
geographical extent of the Aryan languages in India. After he had
defined the limits which divide the races speaking Aryan languages from
the native non-brahmanical tribes in the south, he wanted to know if a
similar boundary had ever existed in the northwest; and if it is outside
of India that the origin of the Indian languages and civilization is to
be sought for. He was thus led to study the languages of Persia, and,
first of all, the oldest of them, the Zend. But as he tried to read the
texts by help of Anquetil's translation, he was surprised to find that
this was not the clue he had expected. He saw that two causes had misled
Anquetil: on the one hand, his teachers, the Parsi dasturs, either knew
little themselves or taught him imperfectly, not only the Zend, but even
the Pahlavi intended to explain the meaning of the Zend; so that the
tradition on which his work rested, being incorrect in itself, corrupted
it from the very beginning; on the other hand, as Sanscrit was unknown
to him and comparative grammar did not as yet exist, he could not supply
the defects of tradition by their aid. Burnouf, laying aside tradition
as found in Anquetil's translation, consulted it as found in a much
older and purer form, in a Sanscrit translation of the Yasna made in the
fifteenth century by the Parsi Neriosengh in accordance with the old
Pahlavi version. The information given by Neriosengh he tested, and
either confirmed or corrected, by a comparison of parallel passages and
by the help of comparative grammar, which had just been founded by Bopp,
and applied by him successfully to the explanation of Zend forms. Thus
he succeeded in tracing the general outlines of the Zend lexicon and in
fixing its grammatical forms, and founded the only correct method of
interpreting the "Avesta." He also gave the first notions of a
comparative mythology of the "Avesta" and the "Veda," by showing the
identity of the "Vedic Yama" with the "Avesta Yima," and of Traitâna
with Thraętaona and Ferědűn. Thus he made his "Commentaire sur le Yasna"
a marvellous and unparalleled model of critical insight and steady good
sense, equally opposed to the narrowness of mind which clings to matters
of fact without rising to their cause and connecting them with the
series of associated phenomena, and to the wild and uncontrolled spirit
of comparison, which, by comparing everything, confounds everything.
Never sacrificing either tradition to comparison or comparison to
tradition he knew how to pass from the one to the other, and was so
enabled both to discover facts and to explain them.

At the same time the ancient Persian inscriptions at Persepolis and
Behistun were deciphered by Burnouf in Paris, by Lassen in Bonn, and by
Sir Henry Rawlinson in Persia. Thus was revealed the existence, at the
time of the first Achaemenian kings, of a language closely connected
with that of the "Avesta," and the last doubts as to the authenticity of
the Zend books were at length removed. It would have required more than
an ordinary amount of scepticism to look still upon the Zend as an
artificial language, of foreign importation, without root in the land
where it was written, and in the conscience of the people for whom it
was written, at the moment when a twin language, bearing a striking
likeness to it in nearly every feature, was suddenly making itself heard
from the mouth of Darius, and speaking from the very tomb of the first
Achaemenian king. That unexpected voice silenced all controversies, and
the last echoes of the loud discussion which had been opened in 1771
died away unheeded.


[Footnote 9: A century ago, it is said, they still numbered nearly
100,000 souls; but there now remain no more than 8,000 or 9,000,
scattered in Yazd and the surrounding villages. Houtum-Schindler gave
8,499 in 1879; of that number there were 6,483 in Yazd, 1,756 in Kirmân,
150 in Teherân.]



SELECTIONS FROM THE ZEND-AVESTA


THE CREATION[10]


Ahura Mazda spake unto Spitama Zarathustra, saying:--

"I have made every land dear to its people, even though it had no charms
whatever in it: had I not made every land dear to its people, even
though it had no charms whatever in it, then the whole living world
would have invaded the Airyana Vaęgô. The first of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the Airyana Vaęgô, by the
Vanguhi Dâitya. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created the serpent in the river and Winter, a work of the
Devas. There are ten winter months there, two summer months; and those
are cold for the waters, cold for the earth, cold for the trees. Winters
fall there, the worst of all plagues. The second of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the plain which the
Sughdhas inhabit. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created the locust, which brings death unto cattle and plants.
The third of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created,
was the strong, holy Môuru. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all
death, and he counter-created plunder and sin. The fourth of the good
lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the beautiful
Bâkhdhi with high-lifted banners. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is
all death, and he counter-created the ants and the ant-hills. The fifth
of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was
Nisâya, that lies between Môuru and Bâkhdhi. Thereupon came Angra
Mainyu, who is all death, and he counter-created the sin of unbelief.
The sixth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created,
was the house-deserting Harôyu. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all
death, and he counter-created tears and wailing. The seventh of the good
lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Vaękereta, of the
evil shadows. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created the Pairika Knâthaiti, who clave unto Keresâspa. The
eighth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created,
was Urva of the rich pastures. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all
death, and he counter-created the sin of pride. The ninth of the good
lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Khnenta which the
Vehrkânas inhabit. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created a sin for which there is no atonement, the unnatural
sin. The tenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda,
created, was the beautiful Harahvaiti. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who
is all death, and he counter-created a sin for which there is no
atonement, the burying of the dead. The eleventh of the good lands and
countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the bright, glorious
Haętumant. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created the evil work of witchcraft. 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 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. The twelfth of the good
lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was Ragha of the
three races. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created the sin of utter unbelief. The thirteenth of the good
lands and countries which I, Ahura Mazda, created, was the strong, holy
Kakhra. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all death, and he
counter-created a sin for which there is no atonement, the cooking of
corpses. The fourteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura
Mazda, created, was the four-cornered Varena, for which was born
Thraętaona, who smote Azi Dahâka. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is
all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women and barbarian
oppression. The fifteenth of the good lands and countries which I, Ahura
Mazda, created, was the Seven Rivers. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who
is all death, and he counter-created abnormal issues in women and
excessive heat. The sixteenth of the good lands and countries which I,
Ahura Mazda, created, was the land by the sources of the Rangha, where
people live who have no chiefs. Thereupon came Angra Mainyu, who is all
death, and he counter-created Winter, a work of the Devas. There are
still other lands and countries, beautiful and deep, longing and asking
for the good, and bright."


[Footnote 10: This chapter is an enumeration of sixteen perfect lands
created by Ahura Mazda, and of as many plagues created in opposition by
Angra Mainyu. Many attempts have been made, not only to identify these
sixteen lands, but also to draw historical conclusions from their order
of succession, as representing the actual order of the migrations and
settlements of the old Iranian tribes. But there is nothing in the text
to support such wide inferences. We have here nothing more than a
geographical description of Iran, seen from the religious point of
view.]



MYTH OF YIMA


Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--

"O Ahura Mazda, most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world,
thou Holy One! Who was the first mortal, before myself, Zarathustra,
with whom thou, Ahura Mazda, didst converse, whom thou didst teach the
Religion of Ahura, the Religion of Zarathustra?"

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"The fair Yima, the good shepherd, O holy Zarathustra! he was the first
mortal, before thee, Zarathustra, with whom I, Ahura Mazda, did
converse, whom I taught the Religion of Ahura, the Religion of
Zarathustra. Unto him, O Zarathustra, I, Ahura Mazda, spake, saying:
'Well, fair Yima, son of Vîvanghat, be thou the preacher and the bearer
of my Religion!' And the fair Yima, O Zarathustra, replied unto me,
saying: 'I was not born, I was not taught to be the preacher and the
bearer of thy Religion.' Then I, Ahura Mazda, said thus unto him, O
Zarathustra, 'Since thou dost not consent to be the preacher and the
bearer of my Religion, then make thou my world increase, make my world
grow: consent thou to nourish, to rule, and to watch over my world.' And
the fair Yima replied unto me, O Zarathustra, saying: 'Yes! I will make
thy world increase, I will make thy world grow. Yes! I will nourish, and
rule, and watch over thy world. There shall be, while I am king, neither
cold wind nor hot wind, neither disease nor death.' Then I, Ahura Mazda,
brought two implements unto him: a golden seal and a poniard inlaid with
gold. Behold, here Yima bears the royal sway! Thus, under the sway of
Yima, three hundred winters passed away, and the earth was replenished
with flocks and herds, with men and dogs and birds and with red blazing
fires, and there was room no more for flocks, herds, and men. Then I
warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair Yima, son of Vîvanghat, the earth
has become full of flocks and herds, of men and dogs and birds and of
red blazing fires, and there is room no more for flocks, herds, and
men.' Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the
sun, and afterwards he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored
it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Ârmaiti, kindly open
asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.' And
Yima made the earth grow larger by one-third than it was before, and
there came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as
he wished. Thus, under the sway of Yima, six hundred winters passed
away, and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and
dogs and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more
for flocks, herds, and men. And I warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair
Yima, son of Vîvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds,
of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no
more for flocks, herds, and men.'

"Then Yima stepped forward, in light, southwards, on the way of the sun,
and afterwards he pressed the earth with the golden seal, and bored it
with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O Spenta Ârmaiti, kindly open asunder
and stretch thyself afar, to bear flocks and herds and men.' And Yima
made the earth grow larger by two-thirds than it was before, and there
came flocks and herds and men, at their will and wish, as many as he
wished. Thus, under the sway of Yima, nine hundred winters passed away,
and the earth was replenished with flocks and herds, with men and dogs
and birds and with red blazing fires, and there was room no more for
flocks, herds, and men. And I warned the fair Yima, saying: 'O fair
Yima, son of Vîvanghat, the earth has become full of flocks and herds,
of men and dogs and birds and of red blazing fires, and there is room no
more for flocks, herds, and men.' Then Yima stepped forward, in light,
southwards, on the way of the sun, and afterwards he pressed the earth
with the golden seal, and bored it with the poniard, speaking thus: 'O
Spenta Ârmaiti, kindly open asunder and stretch thyself afar, to bear
flocks and herds and men.' And Yima made the earth grow larger by
three-thirds than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and
men, at their will and wish, as many as he wished."



THE EARTH


O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first place
where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place
whereon one of the faithful steps forward, O Spitama Zarathustra! with
the log in his hand, the Baresma in his hand, the milk in his hand, the
mortar in his hand, lifting up his voice in good accord with religion,
and beseeching Mithra, the lord of the rolling country-side, and Râma
Hvâstra." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the
second place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It
is the place whereon one of the faithful erects a house with a priest
within, with cattle, with a wife, with children, and good herds within;
and wherein afterwards the cattle continue to thrive, virtue to thrive,
fodder to thrive, the dog to thrive, the wife to thrive, the child to
thrive, the fire to thrive, and every blessing of life to thrive." O
Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the third place
where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place
where one of the faithful sows most corn, grass, and fruit, O Spitama
Zarathustra! where he waters ground that is dry, or drains ground that
is too wet." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the
fourth place where the Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It
is the place where there is most increase of flocks and herds." O Maker
of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the fifth place where the
Earth feels most happy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the place where
flocks and herds yield most dung."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the first place
where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the
neck of Arezűra, whereon the hosts of fiends rush forth from the burrow
of the Drug." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the
second place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered:
"It is the place wherein most corpses of dogs and of men lie buried." O
Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the third place
where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is the
place whereon stand most of those Dakhmas on which the corpses of men
are deposited." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is
the fourth place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda
answered: "It is the place wherein are most burrows of the creatures of
Angra Mainyu." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is
the fifth place where the Earth feels sorest grief? Ahura Mazda
answered: "It is the place whereon the wife and children of one of the
faithful, O Spitama Zarathustra! are driven along the way of captivity,
the dry, the dusty way, and lift up a voice of wailing."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the first that
rejoices the Earth with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he
who digs out of it most corpses of dogs and men." O Maker of the
material world, thou Holy One! Who is the second that rejoices the Earth
with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who pulls down most
of those Dakhmas on which the corpses of men are deposited. Let no man
alone by himself carry a corpse. If a man alone by himself carry a
corpse, the Nasu rushes upon him. This Drug Nasu falls upon and stains
him, even to the end of the nails, and he is unclean, thenceforth,
forever and ever." O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What
shall be the place of that man who has carried a corpse alone? Ahura
Mazda answered: "It shall be the place on this earth wherein is least
water and fewest plants, 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: "Thirty
paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, thirty paces from the
consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful. There, on
that place, shall the worshippers of Mazda erect an enclosure, and
therein shall they establish him with food, therein shall they establish
him with clothes, with the coarsest food and with the most worn-out
clothes. That food he shall live on, those clothes he shall wear, and
thus shall they let him live, until he has grown to the age of a Hana,
or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairista-khshudra. And when he has grown to the
age of a Hana, or of a Zaurura, or of a Pairista-khshudra, then the
worshippers of Mazda shall order a man strong, vigorous, and skilful, to
cut the head off his neck, in his enclosure on the top of the mountain:
and they shall deliver his corpse unto the greediest of the
corpse-eating creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the
vultures, with these words: 'The man here has repented of all his evil
thoughts, words, and deeds. If he has committed any other evil deed, it
is remitted by his repentance: if he has committed no other evil deed,
he is absolved by his repentance, forever and ever.'" O Maker of the
material world, thou Holy One! Who is the third that rejoices the Earth
with greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who fills up most
burrows of the creatures of Angra Mainyu." O Maker of the material
world, thou Holy One! Who is the fourth that rejoices the Earth with
greatest joy? Ahura Mazda answered: "It is he who sows most corn, grass,
and fruit, O Spitama Zarathustra! who waters ground that is dry, or
drains ground that is too wet. Unhappy is the land that has long lain
unsown with the seed of the sower and wants a good husbandman, like a
well-shapen maiden who has long gone childless and wants a good husband.
He who would till the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! with the left arm
and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto him will she bring
forth plenty of fruit: even as it were a lover sleeping with his bride
on her bed; the bride will bring forth children, the earth will bring
forth plenty of fruit. He who would till the earth, O Spitama
Zarathustra! with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the
left, unto him thus says the Earth: 'O thou man! who dost till me with
the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, here shall
I ever go on bearing, bringing forth all manner of food, bringing corn
first to thee.' He who does not till the Earth, O Spitama Zarathustra!
with the left arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, unto
him thus says the Earth: 'O thou man! who dost not till me with the left
arm and the right, with the right arm and the left, ever shalt thou
stand at the door of the stranger, among those who beg for bread; the
refuse and the crumbs of the bread are brought unto thee, brought by
those who have profusion of wealth.'"

O maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the food that
fills the Religion of Mazda?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It is sowing corn again and again, O Spitama Zarathustra! He who sows
corn, sows righteousness: he makes the Religion of Mazda walk, he
suckles the Religion of Mazda; as well as he could do with a hundred
man's feet, with a thousand woman's breasts, with ten thousand
sacrificial formulas. When barley was created, the Devas started up;
when it grew, then fainted the Devas' hearts; when the knots came, the
Devas groaned; when the ear came, the Devas flew away. In that house the
Devas stay, wherein wheat perishes. It is as though red hot iron were
turned about in their throats, when there is plenty of corn. Then let
people learn by heart this holy saying: 'No one who does not eat, has
strength to do heavy works of holiness, strength to do works of
husbandry, strength to beget children. By eating every material creature
lives, by not eating it dies away.'"

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the fifth that
rejoices the Earth with greatest joy?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It is he who kindly and piously gives to one of the faithful who tills
the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra! He who would not kindly and piously
give to one of the faithful who tills the earth, O Spitama Zarathustra!
Spenta Ârmaiti will throw him down into darkness, down into the world of
woe, the world of hell, down into the deep abyss."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall bury in the
earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall
not disinter it within half a year, what is the penalty that he shall
pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Five hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, five hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall bury in the
earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall
not disinter it within a year, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"A thousand stripes with the Aspahę-astra, a thousand stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall bury in the
earth either the corpse of a dog or the corpse of a man, and if he shall
not disinter it within the second year, what is the penalty for it? What
is the atonement for it? What is the cleansing from it?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"For that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing that can atone,
nothing that can cleanse from it; it is a trespass for which there is no
atonement, forever and ever."

When is it so?

"It is so, if the sinner be a professor of the Religion of Mazda, or one
who has been taught in it. But if he be not a professor of the Religion
of Mazda, nor one who has been taught in it, then his sin is taken from
him, if he makes confession of the Religion of Mazda and resolves never
to commit again such forbidden deeds.

"The Religion of Mazda indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! takes away from
him who makes confession of it the bonds of his sin; it takes away the
sin of breach of trust; it takes away the sin of murdering one of the
faithful; it takes away the sin of burying a corpse; it takes away the
sin of deeds for which there is no atonement; it takes away the worst
sin of usury; it takes away any sin that may be sinned. In the same way
the Religion of Mazda, O Spitama Zarathustra! cleanses the faithful from
every evil thought, word, and deed, as a swift-rushing mighty wind
cleanses the plain. So let all the deeds he doeth be henceforth good, O
Zarathustra! a full atonement for his sin is effected by means of the
Religion of Mazda."



CONTRACTS AND OUTRAGES[11]


"He that does not restore a loan to the man who lent it, steals the
thing and robs the man. This he doeth every day, every night, as long as
he keep in his house his neighbor's property, as though it were his
own."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How many in number are thy
contracts, O Ahura Mazda?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"They are six in number, O holy Zarathustra. The first is the
word-contract; the second is the hand-contract; the third is the
contract to the amount of a sheep; the fourth is the contract to the
amount of an ox; the fifth is the contract to the amount of a man; the
sixth is the contract to the amount of a field, a field in good land, a
fruitful one, in good bearing. The word-contract is fulfilled by words
of mouth. It is cancelled by the hand-contract; he shall give as damages
the amount of the hand-contract. The hand-contract is cancelled by the
sheep-contract; he shall give as damages the amount of the
sheep-contract. The sheep-contract is cancelled by the ox-contract; he
shall give as damages the amount of the ox-contract. The ox-contract is
cancelled by the man-contract; he shall give as damages the amount of
the man-contract. The man-contract is cancelled by the field-contract;
he shall give as damages the amount of the field-contract."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
word-contract, how many are involved in his sin?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"His sin makes his Nabânazdistas answerable for three hundred years."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
hand-contract, how many are involved in his sin?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"His sin makes his Nabânazdistas answerable for six hundred years."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
sheep-contract, how many are involved in his sin?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"His sin makes his Nabânazdistas answerable for seven hundred years."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
ox-contract, how many are involved in his sin?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"His sin makes his Nabânazdistas answerable for eight hundred years."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
man-contract, how many are involved in his sin?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"His sin makes his Nabânazdistas answerable for nine hundred years."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
field-contract, how many are involved in his sin?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"His sin makes his Nabânazdistas answerable for a thousand years."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
word-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Three hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, three hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
hand-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Six hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, six hundred stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
sheep-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, seven hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
ox-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, eight hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
man-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Nine hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, nine hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man break the
field-contract, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"A thousand stripes with the Aspahę-astra, a thousand stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

If a man rise up with a weapon in his hand, it is an Âgerepta. If he
brandish it, it is an Avaoirista. If he actually smite a man with
malicious aforethought, it is an Aredus. Upon the fifth Aredus he
becomes a Peshôtanu.

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He that committeth an
Âgerepta, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Five stripes with the Aspahę-astra, five stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana; on the second Âgerepta, ten stripes with the
Aspahę-astra, ten stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the third, fifteen
stripes with the Aspahę-astra, fifteen stripes with the Sraoshô-karana;
on the fourth, thirty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, thirty stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana; on the fifth, fifty stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
fifty stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the sixth, sixty stripes with
the Aspahę-astra, sixty stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the seventh,
ninety stripes with the Aspahę-astra, ninety stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

If a man commit an Âgerepta for the eighth time, without having atoned
for the preceding, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

If a man commit an Âgerepta, and refuse to atone for it, what penalty
shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an
Avaoirista, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Ten stripes with the Aspahę-astra, ten stripes with the Sraoshô-karana;
on the second Avaoirista, fifteen stripes with the Aspahę-astra, fifteen
stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the third, thirty stripes with the
Aspahę-astra, thirty stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the fourth,
fifty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, fifty stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana; on the fifth, seventy stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
seventy stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the sixth, ninety stripes
with the Aspahę-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an
Avaoirista for the seventh time, without having atoned for the
preceding, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an
Avaoirista, and refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredus,
what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Fifteen stripes with the Aspahę-astra, fifteen stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana.

"On the second Aredus, thirty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, thirty
stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the third, fifty stripes with the
Aspahę-astra, fifty stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; on the fourth,
seventy stripes with the Aspahę-astra, seventy stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana; on the fifth, ninety stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
ninety stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredus
for the sixth time, without having atoned for the preceding, what
penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man commit an Aredus,
and refuse to atone for it, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another and
hurt him sorely, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Thirty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, thirty stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana; the second time, fifty stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
fifty stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; the third time, seventy stripes
with the Aspahę-astra, seventy stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; the
fourth time, ninety stripes with the Aspahę-astra, ninety stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

If a man commit that deed for the fifth time, without having atoned for
the preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

If a man commit that deed and refuse to atone for it, what is the
penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so
that the blood come, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Fifty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, fifty stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana; the second time, seventy stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
seventy stripes with the Sraoshô-karana; the third time, ninety stripes
with the Aspahę-astra, ninety stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

If he commit that deed for the fourth time, without having atoned for
the preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so
that the blood come, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the
penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so
that he break a bone, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Seventy stripes with the Aspahę-astra, seventy stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana; the second time, ninety stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
ninety stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

If he commit that deed for the third time, without having atoned for the
preceding, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so
that he break a bone, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the
penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so
that he give up the ghost, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Ninety stripes with the Aspahę-astra, ninety stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

If he commit that deed again, without having atoned for the preceding,
what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man smite another so
that he give up the ghost, and if he refuse to atone for it, what is the
penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana.

"And they shall thenceforth in their doings walk after the way of
holiness, after the word of holiness, after the ordinance of holiness.

"If men of the same faith, either friends or brothers, come to an
agreement together, that one may obtain from the other either goods, or
a wife, or knowledge, let him who desires goods have them delivered to
him; let him who desires a wife receive and wed her; let him who desires
knowledge be taught the holy word, during the first part of the day and
the last, during the first part of the night and the last, that his mind
may be increased in intelligence and wax strong in holiness. So shall he
sit up, in devotion and prayers, that he may be increased in
intelligence: he shall rest during the middle part of the day, during
the middle part of the night, and thus shall he continue until he can
say all the words which former Aęthra-paitis have said.

"Before the boiling water publicly prepared, O Spitama Zarathustra! let
no one make bold to deny having received from his neighbor the ox or the
garment in his possession.

"Verily I say it unto thee, O Spitama Zarathustra! the man who has a
wife is far above him who lives in continence; he who keeps a house is
far above him who has none; he who has children is far above the
childless man; he who has riches is far above him who has none. And of
two men, he who fills himself with meat receives in him Vohu Manô much
better than he who does not do so; the latter is all but dead; the
former is above him by the worth of an Asperena, by the worth of a
sheep, by the worth of an ox, by the worth of a man. This man can strive
against the onsets of Astô-vidhôtu; he can strive against the
well-darted arrow; he can strive against the winter fiend, with thinnest
garment on; he can strive against the wicked tyrant and smite him on the
head; he can strive against the ungodly fasting Ashemaogha.

"On the very first time when that deed has been done, without waiting
until it is done again, down there the pain for that deed shall be as
hard as any in this world: even as if one should cut off the limbs from
his perishable body with knives of brass, or still worse; down there the
pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: even as if one
should nail his perishable body with nails of brass, or still worse;
down there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world:
even as if one should by force throw his perishable body headlong down a
precipice a hundred times the height of a man, or still worse; down
there the pain for that deed shall be as hard as any in this world: even
as if one should by force impale his perishable body, or still worse;
down there the pain for this deed shall be as hard as any in this world:
to-wit, the deed of a man, who, knowingly lying, confronts the
brimstoned, golden, truth-knowing water with an appeal unto Rashnu and a
lie unto Mithra."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! He who, knowingly lying,
confronts the brimstoned, golden, truth-knowing water with an appeal
unto Rashnu and a lie unto Mithra, what is the penalty that he shall
pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Seven hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, seven hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."


[Footnote 11: This chapter is the only one in the Vendîdâd that deals
with legal subjects.]



UNCLEANNESS[12]


O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Here is a man watering a
corn-field. The water streams down the field; it streams again; it
streams a third time; and the fourth time, a dog, a fox, or a wolf
carries some Nasu into the bed of the stream: what is the penalty that
this man shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"There is no sin upon a man for any Nasu that has been brought by dogs,
by birds, by wolves, by winds, or by flies. For were there sin upon a
man for any Nasu that might have been brought by dogs, by birds, by
wolves, by winds, or by flies, how soon all this material world of mine
would be only one Peshôtanu, bent on the destruction of righteousness,
and whose soul will cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die
upon the face of the earth."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Does water kill?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Water kills no man: Astô-vîdhôtu binds him, and, thus bound, Vayu
carries him off; and the flood takes him up, the flood takes him down,
the flood throws him ashore; then birds feed upon him. When he goes
away, it is by the will of Fate he goes."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Does fire kill?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Fire kills no man: Astô-vîdhôtu binds him, and, thus bound, Vayu
carries him off; and the fire burns up life and limb. When he goes away,
it is by the will of Fate he goes."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If the summer is past and
the winter has come, what shall the worshippers of Mazda do?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"In every house, in every borough, they shall raise three rooms for the
dead."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How large shall be those
rooms for the dead?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Large enough not to strike the skull of the man, if he should stand
erect, or his feet or his hands stretched out: such shall be, according
to the law, the rooms for the dead. And they shall let the lifeless body
lie there, for two nights, or for three nights, or a month long, until
the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow,
and the wind to dry up the earth. And as soon as the birds begin to fly,
the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up
the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall lay down the dead on the
Dakhma, his eyes towards the sun. If the worshippers of Mazda have not,
within a year, laid down the dead on the Dakhma, his eyes towards the
sun, thou shalt prescribe for that trespass the same penalty as for the
murder of one of the faithful; until the corpse has been rained on,
until the Dakhma has been rained on, until the unclean remains have been
rained on, until the birds have eaten up the corpse."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Is it true that thou,
Ahura Mazda, seizest the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha with the wind
and the clouds? That thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the corpses?
that thou, Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the Dakhmas? that thou,
Ahura Mazda, takest them down to the unclean remains? that thou, Ahura
Mazda, takest them down to the bones? and that then thou, Ahura Mazda,
makest them flow back unseen? that thou, Ahura Mazda, makest them flow
back to the sea Pűitika?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It is even so as thou hast said, O righteous Zarathustra! I, Ahura
Mazda, seize the waters from the sea Vouru-kasha with the wind and the
clouds. I, Ahura Mazda, take them to the corpses; I, Ahura Mazda, take
them down to the Dakhmas; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the unclean
remains; I, Ahura Mazda, take them down to the bones; then I, Ahura
Mazda, make them flow back unseen; I, Ahura Mazda, make them flow back
to the sea Pűitika. The waters stand there boiling, boiling up in the
heart of the sea Pűitika, and, when cleansed there, they run back again
from the sea Pűitika to the sea Vouru-kasha, towards the well-watered
tree, whereon grow the seeds of my plants of every kind by hundreds, by
thousands, by hundreds of thousands. Those plants, I, Ahura Mazda, rain
down upon the earth, to bring food to the faithful, and fodder to the
beneficent cow; to bring food to my people that they may live on it, and
fodder to the beneficent cow.

"This is the best, this is the fairest of all things, even as thou hast
said, O pure Zarathustra!"

With these words, the holy Ahura Mazda rejoiced the holy Zarathustra:
"Purity is for man, next to life, the greatest good, that purity, O
Zarathustra, that is in the Religion of Mazda for him who cleanses his
own self with good thoughts, words, and deeds."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! This Law, this
fiend-destroying Law of Zarathustra, by what greatness, goodness, and
fairness is it great, good, and fair above all other utterances?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"As much above all other floods as is the sea Vouru-kasha, so much above
all other utterances in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law,
this fiend-destroying Law of Zarathustra. As much as a great stream
flows swifter than a slender rivulet, so much above all other utterances
in greatness, goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying
Law of Zarathustra. As high as the great tree stands above the small
plants it overshadows, so high above all other utterances in greatness,
goodness, and fairness is this Law, this fiend-destroying Law of
Zarathustra. As high as heaven is above the earth that it compasses
around, so high above all other utterances is this Law, this
fiend-destroying Law of Mazda. Therefore, he will apply to the Ratu, he
will apply to the Srao-shâ-varez; whether for a draona-service that
should have been undertaken and has not been undertaken; or for a draona
that should have been offered up and has not been offered up; or for a
draona that should have been intrusted and has not been intrusted. The
Ratu has power to remit him one-third of his penalty: if he has
committed any other evil deed, it is remitted by his repentance; if he
has committed no other evil deed, he is absolved by his repentance
forever and ever."

How long shall the piece of ground lie fallow whereon dogs or men have
died?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"A year long shall the piece of ground lie fallow whereon dogs or men
have died, O holy Zarathustra! A year long shall no worshipper of Mazda
sow or water that piece of ground whereon dogs or men have died; he may
sow as he likes the rest of the ground; he may water it as he likes. If
within the year they shall sow or water the piece of ground whereon dogs
or men have died, they are guilty of the sin of 'burying the dead'
towards the water, towards the earth, and towards the plants."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda
shall sow or water, within the year, the piece of ground whereon dogs or
men have died, what is the penalty that they shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"They are Peshôtanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If worshippers of Mazda
want to till that piece of ground again, to water it, to sow it, and to
plough it, what shall they do?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"They shall look on the ground for any bones, hair, dung, urine, or
blood that may be there."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If they shall not look on
the ground for any bones, hair, dung, urine, or blood that may be there,
what is the penalty that they shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"They are Peshôtanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as the top
joint of the little finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to
the ground, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Thirty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, thirty stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as the top
joint of the fore-finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the
ground, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Fifty stripes with the Aspahę-astra, fifty stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as the top
joint of the middle finger, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to
the ground, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Seventy stripes with the Aspahę-astra, seventy stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as a finger
or as a rib, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what
penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Ninety stripes with the Aspahę-astra, ninety stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as two
fingers or as two ribs, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the
ground, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He is a Peshôtanu: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, two
hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as an
arm-bone or as a thigh-bone, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to
the ground, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Four hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, four hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground a bone of a dead dog, or of a dead man, as large as a man's
skull, and if grease or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what
penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Six hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, six hundred stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw on
the ground the whole body of a dead dog, or of a dead man, and if grease
or marrow flow from it on to the ground, what penalty shall he pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"A thousand stripes with the Aspahę-astra, a thousand stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a worshipper of Mazda,
walking, or running, or riding, or driving, come upon a corpse in a
stream of running water, what shall he do?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Taking off his shoes, putting off his clothes, while the others wait, O
Zarathustra! he shall enter the river, and take the dead out of the
water; he shall go down into the water ankle-deep, knee-deep,
waist-deep, or a man's full depth, till he can reach the dead body."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If, however, the body be
already falling to pieces and rotting, what shall the worshipper of
Mazda do?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He shall draw out of the water as much of the corpse as he can grasp
with both hands, and he shall lay it down on the dry ground; no sin
attaches to him for any bone, hair, grease, dung, urine, or blood, that
may drop back into the water."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water in
a pond does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and
pollution?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Six steps on each of the four sides. As long as the corpse has not been
taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and unfit to
drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the pond, and lay
it down on the dry ground. And of the water they shall draw off the
half, or the third, or the fourth, or the fifth part, according as they
are able or not; and after the corpse has been taken out and the water
has been drawn off, the rest of the water is clean, and both cattle and
men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water in
a well does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and
pollution?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so long
shall that water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall, therefore,
take the corpse out of the well, and lay it down on the dry ground. And
of the water in the well they shall draw off the half, or the third, or
the fourth, or the fifth part, according as they are able or not; and
after the corpse has been taken out and the water has been drawn off,
the rest of the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it
at their pleasure, as before."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of a sheet of
snow or hail does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection, and
pollution?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Three steps on each of the four sides. As long as the corpse has not
been taken out of the water, so long shall that water be unclean and
unfit to drink. They shall, therefore, take the corpse out of the water,
and lay it down on the dry ground. After the corpse has been taken out,
and the snow or the hail has melted, the water is clean, and both cattle
and men may drink of it at their pleasure, as before."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What part of the water of
a running stream does the Drug Nasu defile with corruption, infection,
and pollution?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Three steps down the stream, nine steps up the stream, six steps
across. As long as the corpse has not been taken out of the water, so
long shall the water be unclean and unfit to drink. They shall,
therefore, take the corpse out of the water, and lay it down on the dry
ground. After the corpse has been taken out and the stream has flowed
three times, the water is clean, and both cattle and men may drink of it
at their pleasure, as before."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the Haoma that has
been touched with Nasu from a dead dog, or from a dead man, be made
clean again?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It can, O holy Zarathustra! If it has been prepared for the sacrifice,
there is to it no corruption, no death, no touch of any Nasu. If it has
not been prepared for the sacrifice, the stem is defiled the length of
four fingers: it shall be laid down on the ground, in the middle of the
house, for a year long. When the year is past, the faithful may drink of
its juice at their pleasure, as before."

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

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"On the highest summits, where they know there are always corpse-eating
dogs and corpse-eating birds, O holy Zarathustra! There shall the
worshippers of Mazda fasten the corpse, by the feet and by the hair,
with brass, stones, or clay, lest the corpse-eating dogs and the
corpse-eating birds shall go and carry the bones to the water and to the
trees."

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 Peshôtanus: two hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra,
two hundred stripes with the Sraoshô-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
Urvâsna or Vohú-gaona, or Vohú-kereti, or Hadhâ-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 Urvâsna, or Vohú-gaona, or Vohú-kereti, or
Hadhâ-naępata, 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:--

"Thirty paces from the fire; thirty paces from the water; thirty paces
from the consecrated bundles of Baresma; three paces from the
faithful;--on that place they shall dig a grave, half a foot deep if the
earth be hard, half the height of a man if it be soft; they shall cover
the surface of the grave with ashes or cow-dung; they shall cover the
surface of it with dust of bricks, of stones, or of dry earth. And they
shall let the lifeless body lie there, for two nights, or three nights,
or a month long, until the birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the
hidden floods to flow, and the wind to dry up the earth. And when the
birds begin to fly, the plants to grow, the hidden floods to flow, and
the wind to dry up the earth, then the worshippers of Mazda shall make a
breach in the wall of the house, and two men, strong and skilful, having
stripped their clothes off, shall take up the body from the clay or the
stones, or from the plastered house, and they shall lay it down on a
place where they know there are always corpse-eating dogs and
corpse-eating birds. Afterwards the corpse-bearers shall sit down, three
paces from the dead, and the holy Ratu shall proclaim to the worshippers
of Mazda thus: 'Worshippers of Mazda, let the urine be brought here
wherewith the corpse-bearers there shall wash their hair and their
bodies.'"

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which is the urine
wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their bodies? Is
it of sheep or of oxen? Is it of man or of woman?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It is of sheep or of oxen; not of man nor of woman, except a man or a
woman who has married the next-of-kin: these shall therefore procure the
urine wherewith the corpse-bearers shall wash their hair and their
bodies."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Can the way, whereon the
carcasses of dogs or corpses of men have been carried, be passed through
again by flocks and herds, by men and women, by the fire of Ahura Mazda,
by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the faithful?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It cannot be passed through again by flocks and herds, nor by men and
women, nor by the fire of Ahura Mazda, nor by the consecrated bundles of
Baresma, nor by the faithful. They shall therefore cause a yellow dog
with four eyes,[13] or a white dog with yellow ears, to go three times
through that way. When either the yellow dog with four eyes, or the
white dog with yellow ears, is brought there, then the Drug Nasu flies
away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with
knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the
foulest Khrafstras. If the dog goes unwillingly, O Spitama Zarathustra,
they shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with
yellow ears, to go six times through that way. When either the yellow
dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, is brought there,
then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape
of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end,
and like unto the foulest Khrafstras. If the dog goes unwillingly, they
shall cause the yellow dog with four eyes, or the white dog with yellow
ears, to go nine times through that way. When either the yellow dog with
four eyes, or the white dog with yellow ears, has been brought there,
then the Drug Nasu flies away to the regions of the north, in the shape
of a raging fly, with knees and tail sticking out, droning without end,
and like unto the foulest Khrafstras. An Âthravan shall first go along
the way and shall say aloud these victorious words: 'Yathâ ahű
vairyô:--The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of
Vohu-manô to the deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the
poor makes Ahura king. What protector hast thou given unto me, O Mazda!
while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom but thy Âtar and
Vohu-manô, through whose work I keep on the world of righteousness?
Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule! Who is the victorious
who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for
both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-manô and help whomsoever thou
pleasest, O Mazda! Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Spenta Ârmaiti!
Perish, O fiendish Drug! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O
creation of the fiend! Perish, O world of the fiend! Perish away, O
Drug! Rush away, O Drug! Perish away, O Drug! Perish away to the regions
of the north, never more to give unto death the living world of
Righteousness!' Then the worshippers of Mazda may at their will bring by
those ways sheep and oxen, men and women, and Fire, the son of Ahura
Mazda, the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and the faithful. The
worshippers of Mazda may afterwards prepare meals with meat and wine in
that house; it shall be clean, and there will be no sin, as before."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw
clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the
feet, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Four hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, four hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw
clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover both
legs, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Six hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, six hundred stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man shall throw
clothes, either of skin or woven, upon a dead body, enough to cover the
whole body, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"A thousand stripes with the Aspahę-astra, a thousand stripes with the
Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man, by force,
commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty that he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Eight hundred stripes with the Aspahę-astra, eight hundred stripes with
the Sraoshô-karana."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man voluntarily
commits the unnatural sin, what is the penalty for it? What is the
atonement for it? What is the cleansing from it?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"For that deed there is nothing that can pay, nothing that can atone,
nothing that can cleanse from it; it is a trespass for which there is no
atonement, forever and ever."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Who is the man that is a
Deva? Who is he that is a worshipper of the Devas? that is a male
paramour of the Devas? that is a female paramour of the Devas? that is a
wife to the Deva? that is as bad as a Deva? that is in his whole being a
Deva? Who is he that is a Deva before he dies, and becomes one of the
unseen Devas after death?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"The man that lies with mankind as man lies with womankind, or as woman
lies with mankind, is the man that is a Deva; this one is the man that
is a worshipper of the Devas, that is a male paramour of the Devas, that
is a female paramour of the Devas, that is a wife to the Deva; this is
the man that is as bad as a Deva, that is in his whole being a Deva;
this is the man that is a Deva before he dies, and becomes one of the
unseen Devas after death: so is he, whether he has lain with mankind as
mankind, or as womankind."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Shall the man be clean who
has touched a corpse that has been dried up and dead more than a year?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"He shall. The dry mingles not with the dry. Should the dry mingle with
the dry, how soon all this material world of mine would be only one
Peshôtanu, bent on the destruction of righteousness, and whose soul will
cry and wail! so numberless are the beings that die upon the face of the
earth."


[Footnote 13: A dog with two spots above the eyes.]



CLEANSING THE UNCLEAN


Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--

O most beneficent Spirit, Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! To
whom shall they apply here below, who want to cleanse their body defiled
by the dead?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"To a pious man, O Spitama Zarathustra! who knows how to speak, who
speaks truth, who has learned the Holy Word, who is pious, and knows
best the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda. That man
shall fell the trees off the surface of the ground on a space of nine
Vibâzus square; in that part of the ground where there is least water
and where there are fewest trees, the part which is the cleanest and
driest, and the least passed through by sheep and oxen, and by the fire
of Ahura Mazda, by the consecrated bundles of Baresma, and by the
faithful."

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:--

"Thirty paces from the fire, thirty paces from the water, thirty paces
from the consecrated bundles of Baresma, three paces from the faithful.
Then thou shalt dig a hole, two fingers deep if the summer has come,
four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come." How far from one
another? "One pace." How much is the pace? "As much as three feet. Then
thou shalt dig three holes more, two fingers deep if the summer has
come, four fingers deep if the winter and ice have come." How far from
the former six? "Three paces." What sort of paces? "Such as are taken in
walking." How much are those three paces? "As much as nine feet. Then
thou shalt draw a furrow all around with a metal knife. Then thou shalt
draw twelve furrows; three of which thou shalt draw to surround and
divide from the rest the first three holes; three thou shalt draw to
surround and divide the first six holes; three thou shalt draw to
surround and divide the nine holes; three thou shalt draw around the
three inferior holes, outside the six other holes. At each of the three
times nine feet, thou shalt place stones as steps to the holes; or
potsherds, or stumps, or clods, or any hard matter. Then the man defiled
shall walk to the holes; thou, O Zarathustra! shalt stand outside by the
furrow, and thou shalt recite, 'Nemaskâ yâ ârmaitis izâkâ'; and the man
defiled shall repeat, 'Nemaskâ yâ ârmaitis izâkâ.' The Drug becomes
weaker and weaker at every one of those words which are a weapon to
smite the fiend Angra Mainyu, to smite Aeshma of the murderous spear, to
smite the Mâzainya fiends, to smite all the fiends. Then thou shalt take
for the gômęz a spoon of brass or of lead. When thou takest a stick with
nine knots, O Spitama Zarathustra! to sprinkle the gômęz from that
spoon, thou shalt fasten the spoon to the end of the stick. They shall
wash his hands first. If his hands be not washed first, he makes his
whole body unclean. When he has washed his hands three times, after his
hands have been washed, thou shalt sprinkle the forepart of his skull;
then the Drug Nasu rushes in front, between his brows. Thou shalt
sprinkle him in front between the brows; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon
the back part of the skull. Thou shalt sprinkle the back part of the
skull; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the jaws. Thou shalt sprinkle the
jaws; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right ear. Thou shalt sprinkle
the right ear; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left ear. Thou shalt
sprinkle the left ear; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right
shoulder. Thou shalt sprinkle the right shoulder; then the Drug Nasu
rushes upon the left shoulder. Thou shalt sprinkle the left shoulder;
then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right arm-pit. Thou shalt sprinkle
the right arm-pit; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left arm-pit. Thou
shalt sprinkle the left armpit; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
chest. Thou shalt sprinkle the chest; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
back. Thou shalt sprinkle the back; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
right nipple. Thou shalt sprinkle the right nipple; then the Drug Nasu
rushes upon the left nipple. Thou shalt sprinkle the left nippíe; then
the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right rib. Thou shalt sprinkle the right
rib; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left rib. Thou shalt sprinkle
the left rib; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right hip. Thou shalt
sprinkle the right hip; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left hip.
Thou shalt sprinkle the left hip; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
sexual parts. Thou shalt sprinkle the sexual parts. If the unclean one
be a man, thou shalt sprinkle him first behind, then before; if the
unclean one be a woman, thou shalt sprinkle her first before, then
behind; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right thigh. Thou shalt
sprinkle the right thigh; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left thigh.
Thou shalt sprinkle the left thigh; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
right knee. Thou shalt sprinkle the right knee; then the Drug Nasu
rushes upon the left knee. Thou shalt sprinkle the left knee; then the
Drug Nasu rushes upon the right leg. Thou shalt sprinkle the right leg;
then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left leg. Thou shalt sprinkle the
left leg; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the right ankle. Thou shalt
sprinkle the right ankle; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the left ankle.
Thou shalt sprinkle the left ankle; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
right instep. Thou shalt sprinkle the right instep; then the Drug Nasu
rushes upon the left instep. Thou shalt sprinkle the left instep; then
the Drug Nasu turns round under the sole of the foot; it looks like the
wing of a fly. He shall press his toes upon the ground and shall raise
up his heels; thou shalt sprinkle his right sole; then the Drug Nasu
rushes upon the left sole. Thou shalt sprinkle the left sole; then the
Drug Nasu turns round under the toes; it looks like the wing of a fly.
He shall press his heels upon the ground and shall raise up his toes;
thou shalt sprinkle his right toe; then the Drug Nasu rushes upon the
left toe. Thou shalt sprinkle the left toe; then the Drug Nasu flies
away to the regions of the north, in the shape of a raging fly, with
knees and tail sticking out, droning without end, and like unto the
foulest Khrafstras. And thou shalt say these victorious, most healing
words: 'The will of the Lord is the law of righteousness. The gifts of
Vohu-manô to deeds done in this world for Mazda. He who relieves the
poor makes Ahura king. What protector hadst thou given unto me, O Mazda!
while the hate of the wicked encompasses me? Whom, but thy Âtar and
Vohu-manô, through whose work I keep on the world of Righteousness?
Reveal therefore to me thy Religion as thy rule! Who is the victorious
who will protect thy teaching? Make it clear that I am the guide for
both worlds. May Sraosha come with Vohu-manô and help whomsoever thou
pleasest, O Mazda! Keep us from our hater, O Mazda and Spenta Ârmaiti!
Perish, O fiendish Drug! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Perish, O world
of the fiend! Perish away, O Drug! Rush away, O Drug! Perish away, O
Drug! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto
death the living world of Righteousness.'

"Afterwards the man defiled shall sit down, inside the furrows, outside
the furrows of the six holes, four fingers from those furrows. There he
shall cleanse his body with thick handfuls of dust. Fifteen times shall
they take up dust from the ground for him to rub his body, and they
shall wait there until he is dry even to the last hair on his head. When
his body is dry with dust, then he shall step over the holes containing
water. At the first hole he shall wash his body once with water; at the
second hole he shall wash his body twice with water; at the third hole
he shall wash his body thrice with water. Then he shall perfume his body
with Urvâsna, or Vohű-gaona, or Vohű-kereti, or Hadhâ-naępata, or any
other sweet-smelling plant; then he shall put on his clothes, and shall
go back to his house. He shall sit down there in the place of infirmity,
inside the house, apart from the other worshippers of Mazda. He shall
not go near the fire, nor near the water, nor near the earth, nor near
the cow, nor near the trees, nor near the faithful, either man or woman.
Thus shall he continue until three nights have passed. When three nights
have passed, he shall wash his body, he shall wash his clothes with
gômęz and water to make them clean. Then he shall sit down again in the
place of infirmity, inside the house, apart from the other worshippers
of Mazda. He shall not go near the fire, nor near the water, nor near
the earth, nor near the cow, nor near the trees, nor near the faithful,
either man or woman. Thus shall he continue until six nights have
passed. When six nights have passed, he shall wash his body, he shall
wash his clothes with gômęz and water to make them clean. Then he shall
sit down again in the place of infirmity, inside the house, apart from
the other worshippers of Mazda. He shall not go near the fire, nor near
the water, nor near the earth, nor near the cow, nor near the trees, nor
near the faithful, either man or woman. Thus shall he continue, until
nine nights have passed. When nine nights have passed, he shall wash his
body, he shall wash his clothes with gômęz and water to make them clean.
He may thenceforth go near the fire, near the water, near the earth,
near the cow, near the trees, and near the faithful, either man or
woman.

"Thou shalt cleanse a priest for a blessing of the just. Thou shalt
cleanse the lord of a province for the value of a camel of high value.
Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a town for the value of a stallion of
high value. Thou shalt cleanse the lord of a borough for the value of a
bull of high value. Thou shalt cleanse the master of a house for the
value of a cow three years old. Thou shalt cleanse the wife of the
master of a house for the value of a ploughing cow. Thou shalt cleanse a
menial for the value of a draught cow. Thou shalt cleanse a young child
for the value of a lamb. These are the heads of cattle--flocks or
herds--that the worshippers of Mazda shall give to the man who has
cleansed them, if they can afford it; if they cannot afford it, they
shall give him any other value that may make him leave their houses well
pleased with them, and free from anger. For if the man who has cleansed
them leave their houses displeased with them, and full of anger, then
the Drug Nasu enters them from the nose of the dead, from the eyes, from
the tongue, from the jaws, from the sexual organs, from the hinder
parts. And the Drug Nasu rushes upon them even to the end of the nails,
and they are unclean thenceforth forever and ever. It grieves the sun
indeed, O Spitama Zarathustra! to shine upon a man defiled by the dead;
it grieves the moon, it grieves the stars. That man delights them, O
Spitama Zarathustra! who cleanses from the Nasu the man defiled by the
dead; he delights the fire, he delights the water, he delights the
earth, he delights the cow, he delights the trees, he delights the
faithful, both men and women."

Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What shall be his reward,
after his soul has parted from his body, who has cleansed from the Nasu
the man defiled by the dead?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"The welfare of Paradise thou canst promise to that man, for his reward
in the other world."

Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! How shall I fight against
that Drug who from the dead rushes upon the living? How shall I fight
against that Nasu who from the dead defiles the living?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Say aloud those words in the Gâthas that are to be said twice. Say
aloud those words in the Gâthas that are to be said thrice. Say aloud
those words in the Gâthas that are to be said four times. And the Drug
shall fly away like the well-darted arrow, like the felt of last year,
like the annual garment of the earth."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! If a man who does not know
the rites of cleansing according to the law of Mazda, offers to cleanse
the unclean, how shall I then fight against that Drug who from the dead
rushes upon the living? How shall I fight against that Drug who from the
dead defiles the living?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Then, O Spitama Zarathustra! the Drug Nasu appears to wax stronger than
she was before. Stronger then are sickness and death and the working of
the fiend than they were before."

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! What is the penalty that
he shall pay?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"The worshippers of Mazda shall bind him; they shall bind his hands
first; then they shall strip him of his clothes, they shall cut the head
off his neck, and they shall give over his corpse unto the greediest of
the corpse-eating creatures made by the beneficent Spirit, unto the
vultures, with these words: 'The man here has repented of all his evil
thoughts, words, and deeds. If he has committed any other evil deed, it
is remitted by his repentance; if he has committed no other evil deed,
he is absolved by his repentance forever and ever.'"

Who is he, O Ahura Mazda! who threatens to take away fulness and
increase from the world, and to bring in sickness and death?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"It is the ungodly Ashemaogha, O Spitama Zarathustra! who in this
material world cleanses the unclean without knowing the rites of
cleansing according to the law of Mazda. For until then, O Spitama
Zarathustra! 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."

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?

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 that ungodly Ashemaogha
has been smitten to death on the spot, and the holy Sraosha of that
place has been offered up a sacrifice for three days and three nights,
with fire blazing, with Baresma tied up, and with Haoma prepared. 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 grass."



SPELLS RECITED DURING THE CLEANSING


Zarathustra asked Ahura Mazda:--

O Ahura Mazda! most beneficent Spirit, maker of the material world, thou
Holy One! How shall I fight against that Drug who from the dead rushes
upon the living? How shall I fight against that Drug who from the dead
defiles the living?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"Say aloud those words in the Gâthas that are to be said twice. 'I drive
away Angra Mainyu from this house, from this borough, from this town,
from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from
the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the
house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the
lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness. I drive
away the Nasu, I drive away direct defilement, I drive away indirect
defilement, from this house, from this borough, from this town, from
this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the
very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the
house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the
lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.'"

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those words in
the Gâthas that are to be said thrice?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"'I drive away Indra, I drive away Sauru, I drive away the Deva
Naunghaithya from this house, from this borough, from this town, from
this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the
very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the
house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the
lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness. I drive
away Tauru, I drive away Zairi, from this house, from this borough, from
this town, from this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the
dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the
master of the house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the
town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of the holy world.'"

O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Which are those words in
the Gâthas that are to be said four times?

Ahura Mazda answered:--

"These are the words in the Gâthas that are to be said four times, and
thou shalt four times say them aloud: 'I drive away Aęshma, the fiend of
the murderous spear, I drive away the Deva Akatasha, from this house,
from this borough, from this town, from this land; from the very body of
the man defiled by the dead, from the very body of the woman defiled by
the dead; from the master of the house, from the lord of the borough,
from the lord of the town, from the lord of the land; from the whole of
the world of Righteousness. I drive away the Varenya Devas, I drive away
the Wind-Deva, from this house, from this borough, from this town, from
this land; from the very body of the man defiled by the dead, from the
very body of the woman defiled by the dead; from the master of the
house, from the lord of the borough, from the lord of the town, from the
lord of the land; from the whole of the world of Righteousness.'"



TO FIRES, WATERS, PLANTS


We worship thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! We worship the fire
Berezi-savangha (of the lofty use), and the fire Vohu-fryâna (the good
and friendly), and the fire Urvâ-zista (the most beneficial and most
helpful), and the fire Vâzista (the most supporting), and the fire
Spenista (the most bountiful), and Nairya-sangha the Yazad of the royal
lineage, and that fire which is the house-lord of all houses and
Mazda-made, even the son of Ahura Mazda, the holy lord of the ritual
order, with all the fires. And we worship the good and best waters
Mazda-made, holy, all the waters Mazda-made and holy, and all the plants
which Mazda made, and which are holy. And we worship the Mâthra-spenta
(the bounteous word-of-reason), the Zarathustrian law against the Devas,
and its long descent. And we worship Mount Ushi-darena which is
Mazda-made and shining with its holiness, and all the mountains shining
with holiness, and of abundant glory, and which Mazda made. And we
worship the good and pious prayer for blessings, and these waters and
these lands, and all the greatest chieftains, lords of the ritual order;
and I praise, invoke, and glorify the good, heroic, bountiful Fravashis
of the saints, those of the house, the Vîs, the Zantuma, the Dahvyuma,
and the Zarathustrôtema, and all the holy Yazads!



TO THE EARTH AND THE SACRED WATERS


And now we worship this earth which bears us, together with Thy wives, O
Ahura Mazda! yea, those Thy wives do we worship which are so desired
from their sanctity. We sacrifice to their zealous wishes, and their
capabilities, their inquiries, and their wise acts of pious reverence,
and with these their blessedness, their full vigor and good portions,
their good fame and ample wealth. O ye waters! now we worship you, you
that are showered down, and you that stand in pools and vats, and you
that bear forth our loaded vessels, ye female Ahuras of Ahura, you that
serve us in helpful ways, well forded and full-flowing, and effective
for the bathings, we will seek you and for both the worlds! Therefore
did Ahura Mazda give you names, O ye beneficent ones! when He who made
the good bestowed you. And by these names we worship you, and by them we
would ingratiate ourselves with you, and with them would we bow before
you, and direct our prayers to you with free confessions of our debt. O
waters, ye who are productive, and ye maternal ones, ye with heat that
suckles the frail and needy before birth, ye waters that have once been
rulers of us all, we will now address you as the best, and the most
bountiful; those are yours, those good objects of our offerings, ye long
of arm to reach our sickness, or misfortune, ye mothers of our life!



PRAYER FOR HELPERS


And now in these Thy dispensations, O Ahura Mazda! do Thou wisely act
for us, and with abundance with Thy bounty and Thy tenderness as
touching us; and grant that reward which Thou hast appointed to our
souls, O Ahura Mazda! Of this do Thou Thyself bestow upon us for this
world and the spiritual; and now as part thereof do Thou grant that we
may attain to fellowship with Thee, and Thy Righteousness for all
duration. And do Thou grant us, O Ahura! men who are righteous, and both
lovers and producers of the Right as well. And give us trained beasts
for the pastures, broken in for riding, and for bearing, that they may
be in helpful companionship with us, and as a source of long enduring
vigor, and a means of rejoicing grace to us for this. So let there be a
kinsman lord for us, with the laborers of the village, and so likewise
let there be the clients. And by the help of those may we arise. So may
we be to You, O Ahura Mazda! holy and true, and with free giving of our
gifts.




A PRAYER FOR SANCTITY AND ITS BENEFITS


I pray with benedictions for a benefit, and for the good, even for the
entire creation of the holy and the clean; I beseech for them the
generation which is now alive, for that which is just coming into life,
and for that which shall be hereafter. And I pray for that sanctity
which leads to prosperity, and which has long afforded shelter, which
goes on hand in hand with it, which joins it in its walk, and of itself
becoming its close companion as it delivers forth its precepts, bearing
every form of healing virtue which comes to us in waters, appertains to
cattle, or is found in plants, and overwhelming all the harmful malice
of the Devas, and their servants who might harm this dwelling and its
lord, bringing good gifts, and better blessings, given very early, and
later gifts, leading to successes, and for a long time giving shelter.
And so the greatest, and the best, and most beautiful benefits of
sanctity fall likewise to our lot for the sacrifice, homage,
propitiation, and the praise of the Bountiful Immortals, for the
bringing prosperity to this abode, and for the prosperity of the entire
creation of the holy, and the clean, and as for this, so for the
opposition of the entire evil creation. And I pray for this as I praise
through Righteousness, I who am beneficent, those who are likewise of a
better mind.



TO THE FIRE


I offer my sacrifice and homage to thee, the Fire, as a good offering,
and an offering with our hail of salvation, even as an offering of
praise with benedictions, to thee, the Fire, O Ahura Mazda's son! Meet
for sacrifice art thou, and worthy of our homage. And as meet for
sacrifice, and thus worthy of our homage, mayest thou be in the houses
of men who worship Mazda. Salvation be to this man who worships thee in
verity and truth, with wood in hand, and Baresma ready, with flesh in
hand, and holding too the mortar. And mayest thou be ever fed with wood
as the prescription orders. Yea, mayest thou have thy perfume justly,
and thy sacred butter without fail, and thine andirons regularly placed.
Be of full-age as to thy nourishment, of the canon's age as to the
measure of thy food, O Fire, Ahura Mazda's son! Be now aflame within
this house; be ever without fail in flame; be all a-shine within this
house; be on thy growth within this house; for long time be thou thus to
the furtherance of the heroic renovation, to the completion of all
progress, yea, even till the good heroic millennial time when that
renovation shall have become complete. Give me, O Fire, Ahura Mazda's
son! a speedy glory, speedy nourishment, and speedy booty, and abundant
glory, abundant nourishment, abundant booty, an expanded mind, and
nimbleness of tongue for soul and understanding, even an understanding
continually growing in its largeness, and that never wanders, and long
enduring virile power, an offspring sure of foot, that never sleeps on
watch, and that rises quick from bed, and likewise a wakeful offspring,
helpful to nurture, or reclaim, legitimate, keeping order in men's
meetings, yea, drawing men to assemblies through their influence and
word, grown to power, skilful, redeeming others from oppression, served
by many followers, which may advance my line in prosperity and fame, and
my Vîs, and my Bantu, and my province, yea, an offering which may
deliver orders to the Province as firm and righteous rulers. And mayest
thou grant me, O Fire, Ahura Mazda's Son! that whereby instructors may
be given me, now and for evermore, giving light to me of Heaven, the
best life of the saints, brilliant, all glorious. And may I have
experience of the good reward, and the good renown, and of the long
forecasting preparation of the soul. The Fire of Ahura Mazda addresses
this admonition to all for whom he cooks the night and morning meal.
From all these, O Spitama! he wishes to secure good care, and healthful
care as guarding for salvation, the care of a true praiser. At both the
hands of all who come by me, I, the Fire, keenly look: What brings the
mate to his mate, the one who walks at large, to him who sits at home?
We worship the bounteous Fire, the swift-driving charioteer. And if this
man who passes brings him wood brought with sacred care, or if he brings
the Baresma spread with sanctity, or the Hadhâ-naępata plant, then
afterwards Ahura Mazda's Fire will bless him, contented, not offended,
and in its satisfaction saying thus: May a herd of kine be with thee,
and a multitude of men, may an active mind go with thee, and an active
soul as well. As a blest soul mayest thou live through thy life, the
nights which thou shall live. This is the blessing of the Fire for him
who brings it wood well dried, sought out for flaming, purified with the
earnest blessing of the sacred ritual truth. We strive after the flowing
on of the good waters, and their ebb as well, and the sounding of their
waves, desiring their propitiation; I desire to approach them with my
praise.



TO THE BOUNTIFUL IMMORTALS


I would worship these with my sacrifice, those who rule aright, and who
dispose of all aright, and this one especially I would approach with my
praise (Ahura Mazda). He is thus hymned in our praise-songs. Yea, we
worship in our sacrifice that deity and lord, who is Ahura Mazda, the
Creator, the gracious helper, the maker of all good things; and we
worship in our sacrifice Spitama Zarathustra, that chieftain of the
rite. And we would declare those institutions established for us, exact
and undeviating as they are. And I would declare forth those of Ahura
Mazda, those of the Good Mind, and of Asha Vahista, and those of
Khshatra-vairya, and those of the Bountiful Âramaiti, and those of Weal
and Immortality, and those which appertain to the body of the Kine, and
to the Kine's soul, and those which appertain to Ahura Mazda's Fire, and
those of Sraosha the blessed, and of Rashnu the most just, and those of
Mithra of the wide pastures, and of the good and holy Wind, and of the
good Mazdayasnian Religion, and of the good and pious Prayer for
blessings, and those of the good and pious Prayer which frees one from
belying, and the good and pious Prayer for blessing against unbelieving
words. And these we would declare in order that we may attain unto that
speech which is uttered with true religious zeal, or that we may be as
prophets of the provinces, that we may succor him who lifts his voice
for Mazda, that we may be as prophets who smite with victory, the
befriended of Ahura Mazda, and persons the most useful to him, holy men
who think good thoughts, and speak good words, and do good deeds. That
he may approach us with the Good Mind, and that our souls may advance in
good, let it thus come; yea, "how may my soul advance in good? let it
thus advance."



PRAISE OF THE HOLY BULL


Hail, bounteous bull! Hail to thee, beneficent bull! Hail to thee, who
makest increase! Hail to thee, who makest growth! Hail to thee, who dost
bestow his part upon the righteous faithful, and wilt bestow it on the
faithful yet unborn! Hail to thee, whom the Gahi kills, and the ungodly
Ashemaogha, and the wicked tyrant.



TO RAIN AS A HEALING POWER


"Come, come on, O clouds, from up above, down on the earth, by thousands
of drops, by myriads of drops"--thus say, O holy Zarathustra! "to
destroy sickness, to destroy death, to destroy the sickness that kills,
to destroy death that kills, to destroy Gadha and Apagadha. If death
come after noon, may healing come at eve! If death come at eve, may
healing come at night! If death come at night, may healing come at dawn!
And showers shower down new water, new earth, new plants, new healing
powers, and new healing."



TO THE WATERS AND LIGHT OF THE SUN


"As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up
and going down, up the aërial way and down the earth, down the earth and
up the aerial way: thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and
growing Ahura Mazda made the aerial way. Up! rise up and roll along!
thou swift-horsed Sun, above Hara Berezaiti, and produce light for the
world, and mayest thou, O man! rise up there, if thou art to abide in
Garô-nmânem, along the path made by Mazda, along the way made by the
gods, the watery way they opened. And the Holy Word shall keep away the
evil. Of thee, O child! I will cleanse the birth and growth; of thee, O
woman! I will make the body and the strength pure; I make thee rich in
children and rich in milk; rich in seed, in milk, in fat, in marrow, and
in offspring. I shall bring to thee a thousand pure springs, running
towards the pastures that give food to the child."



TO THE WATERS AND LIGHT OF THE MOON


As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up
and going down, up the aërial way and down the earth, down the earth and
up the aërial way: Thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and
growing Ahura Mazda made the earth. Up! rise up, thou Moon, that dost
keep in thee the seed of the bull; rise up above Hara Berezaiti, and
produce light for the world, and mayest thou, O man! rise up there, if
thou art to abide in Garô-nmânem, along the path made by Mazda, along
the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened. And the Holy Word
shall keep away the evil: Of thee, O child! I will cleanse the birth and
growth; of thee, O woman! I will make the body and the strength pure; I
make thee rich in children and rich in milk; rich in seed, in milk, in
fat, in marrow, and in offspring. I shall bring to thee a thousand pure
springs, running towards the pastures that give food to the child.



TO THE WATERS AND LIGHT OF THE STARS


As the sea Vouru-kasha is the gathering place of the waters, rising up
and going down, up the aërial way and down the earth, down the earth and
up the aërial way: Thus rise up and roll along! thou in whose rising and
growing Ahura Mazda made everything that grows. Up! rise up, ye deep
Stars, that have in you the seed of waters; rise up above Hara
Berezaiti, and produce light for the world, and mayest thou, O man! rise
up there, if thou art to abide in Garô-nmânem, along the path made by
Mazda, along the way made by the gods, the watery way they opened. Thus
rise up and roll along! ye in whose rising and growing Ahura Mazda made
everything that rises. In your rising, away will the Kahvuzi fly and
cry; away will the Ayęhi fly and cry; away will the Gahi, who follows
the Yâtu, fly and cry.




THE DHAMMAPADA


Translation by F. Max Müller



INTRODUCTION


The "Dhammapada," or "Path to Virtue," is one of the most practical
ethical hand-books of Buddhism. It is included in the canon of
Buddhistic Scriptures, and is one of the Eastern books which can be read
with delight to-day by those who are classed as general readers. It is
divided into twenty-six chapters, and the keynote of it is struck by the
sentence "The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is happy in
the next; he is happy in both. He is happy when he thinks of the good he
has done; he is still more happy when going on the good path." The first
step in the "good path" is earnestness, for as the writer says,
"Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvana), thoughtlessness the
path of death; those who are in earnest do not die, those who are
thoughtless are as if dead already." Earnestness, in this connection,
evidently means the power of reflection, and of abstracting the mind
from mundane things. There is something very inspiring in the sentence,
"When the learned man drives away vanity by earnestness, he, the wise,
climbing the terraced heights of wisdom, looks down upon the fools: free
from sorrow he looks upon the sorrowing crowd, as one that stands on a
mountain looks down upon them that stand upon the plain." This reminds
us of Lucretius,

  "How sweet to stand, when tempests tear the main,
  On the firm cliff, and mark the seaman's toil!
  Not that another's danger soothes the soul,
  But from such toil how sweet to feel secure!
  How sweet, at distance from the strife, to view
  Contending hosts, and hear the clash of war!
  But sweeter far on Wisdom's height serene,
  Upheld by Truth, to fix our firm abode;
  To watch the giddy crowd that, deep below,
  Forever wander in pursuit of bliss;
  To mark the strife for honors, and renown,
  For wit and wealth, insatiate, ceaseless urged,
  Day after day, with labor unrestrained."

It is curious to see the atheistic Epicurean and the devout Buddhist
meeting on a common ground. But the beauties of the "Dhammapada" can
only be realized by a careful study of this charming work. We would
point out, for instance, in the chapter on Flowers, what is a piece of
golden advice to all readers of books: "The disciple will find out the
plainly shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds the right flower."

Neither the date nor the authorship of the "Dhammapada" is known, but
there is conclusive evidence that this canon existed before the
Christian era. Many scholars agree in ascribing its utterances to Buddha
himself, while others are of the opinion that it is a compilation made
by Buddhist monks from various sources.

E.W.




THE DHAMMAPADA



CHAPTER I

THE TWIN-VERSES


All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on
our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts
with an evil thought, pain follows him, as the wheel follows the foot of
the ox that draws the carriage.

All that we are is the result of what we have thought: it is founded on
our thoughts, it is made up of our thoughts. If a man speaks or acts
with a pure thought, happiness follows him, like a shadow that never
leaves him.

"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me"--in those who
harbor such thoughts hatred will never cease.

"He abused me, he beat me, he defeated me, he robbed me"--in those who
do not harbor such thoughts hatred will cease.

For hatred does not cease by hatred at any time: hatred ceases by
love--this is an old rule.

The world does not know that we must all come to an end here; but those
who know it, their quarrels cease at once.

He who lives looking for pleasures only, his senses uncontrolled,
immoderate in his food, idle, and weak, Mâra (the tempter) will
certainly overthrow him, as the wind throws down a weak tree.

He who lives without looking for pleasures, his senses well controlled,
moderate in his food, faithful and strong, him Mâra will certainly not
overthrow, any more than the wind throws down a rocky mountain.

He who wishes to put on the yellow dress without having cleansed himself
from sin, who disregards also temperance and truth, is unworthy of the
yellow dress.

But he who has cleansed himself from sin, is well grounded in all
virtues, and endowed also with temperance and truth: he is indeed worthy
of the yellow dress.

They who imagine truth in untruth, and see untruth in truth, never
arrive at truth, but follow vain desires.

They who know truth in truth, and untruth in untruth, arrive at truth,
and follow true desires.

As rain breaks through an ill-thatched house, passion will break through
an unreflecting mind.

As rain does not break through a well-thatched house, passion will not
break through a well-reflecting mind.

The evil-doer mourns in this world, and he mourns in the next; he mourns
in both. He mourns and suffers when he sees the evil result of his own
work.

The virtuous man delights in this world, and he delights in the next; he
delights in both. He delights and rejoices, when he sees the purity of
his own work.

The evil-doer suffers in this world, and he suffers in the next; he
suffers in both. He suffers when he thinks of the evil he has done; he
suffers more when going on the evil path.

The virtuous man is happy in this world, and he is happy in the next; he
is happy in both. He is happy when he thinks of the good he has done; he
is still more happy when going on the good path.

The thoughtless man, even if he can recite a large portion of the law,
but is not a doer of it, has no share in the priesthood, but is like a
cow-herd counting the cows of others.

The follower of the law, even if he can recite only a small portion of
the law, but, having forsaken passion and hatred and foolishness,
possesses true knowledge and serenity of mind, he, caring for nothing in
this world or that to come, has indeed a share in the priesthood.



CHAPTER II

ON EARNESTNESS


Earnestness is the path of immortality (Nirvâna), thoughtlessness the
path of death. Those who are in earnest do not die, those who are
thoughtless are as if dead already.

Having understood this clearly, those who are advanced in earnestness
delight in earnestness, and rejoice in the knowledge of the elect.

These wise people, meditative, steady, always possessed of strong
powers, attain to Nirvâna, the highest happiness.

If an earnest person has roused himself, if he is not forgetful, if his
deeds are pure, if he acts with consideration, if he restrains himself,
and lives according to law--then his glory will increase.

By rousing himself, by earnestness, by restraint and control, the wise
man may make for himself an island which no flood can overwhelm.

Fools follow after vanity. The wise man keeps earnestness as his best
jewel.

Follow not after vanity, nor after the enjoyment of love and lust! He
who is earnest and meditative, obtains ample joy.

When the learned man drives away vanity by earnestness, he, the wise,
climbing the terraced heights of wisdom, looks down upon the fools: free
from sorrow he looks upon the sorrowing crowd, as one that stands on a
mountain looks down upon them that stand upon the plain.

Earnest among the thoughtless, awake among the sleepers, the wise man
advances like a racer, leaving behind the hack.

By earnestness did Maghavan (Indra) rise to the lordship of the gods.
People praise earnestness; thoughtlessness is always blamed.

A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in earnestness, who looks with fear
on thoughtlessness, moves about like fire, burning all his fetters,
small or large.

A Bhikshu (mendicant) who delights in reflection, who looks with fear on
thoughtlessness, cannot fall away from his perfect state--he is close
upon Nirvâna.



CHAPTER III

THOUGHT


As a fletcher makes straight his arrow, a wise man makes straight his
trembling and unsteady thought, which is difficult to guard, difficult
to hold back.

As a fish taken from his watery home and thrown on the dry ground, our
thought trembles all over in order to escape the dominion of Mâra, the
tempter.

It is good to tame the mind, which is difficult to hold in and flighty,
rushing wherever it listeth; a tamed mind brings happiness.

Let the wise man guard his thoughts, for they are difficult to perceive,
very artful, and they rush wherever they list: thoughts well guarded
bring happiness.

Those who bridle their mind which travels far, moves about alone, is
without a body, and hides in the chamber of the heart, will be free from
the bonds of Mâra, the tempter.

If a man's faith is unsteady, if he does not know the true law, if his
peace of mind is troubled, his knowledge will never be perfect.

If a man's thoughts are not dissipated, if his mind is not perplexed, if
he has ceased to think of good or evil, then there is no fear for him
while he is watchful.

Knowing that this body is fragile like a jar, and making his thought
firm like a fortress, one should attack Mâra, the tempter, with the
weapon of knowledge, one should watch him when conquered, and should
never rest.

Before long, alas! this body will lie on the earth, despised, without
understanding, like a useless log.

Whatever a hater may do to a hater, or an enemy to an enemy, a
wrongly-directed mind will do him greater mischief.

Not a mother, not a father, will do so much, nor any other relatives; a
well-directed mind will do us greater service.



CHAPTER IV

FLOWERS


Who shall overcome this earth, and the world of Yama, the lord of the
departed, and the world of the gods? Who shall find out the plainly
shown path of virtue, as a clever man finds the right flower?

The disciple will overcome the earth, and the world of Yama, and the
world of the gods. The disciple will find out the plainly shown path of
virtue, as a clever man finds the right flower.

He who knows that this body is like froth, and has learnt that it is as
unsubstantial as a mirage, will break the flower-pointed arrow of Mâra,
and never see the king of death.

Death carries off a man who is gathering flowers, and whose mind is
distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

Death subdues a man who is gathering flowers, and whose mind is
distracted, before he is satiated in his pleasures.

As the bee collects nectar and departs without injuring the flower, or
its color or scent, so let a sage dwell in his village.

Not the perversities of others, not their sins of commission or
omission, but his own misdeeds and negligences should a sage take notice
of.

Like a beautiful flower, full of color, but without scent, are the fine
but fruitless words of him who does not act accordingly.

But, like a beautiful flower, full of color and full of scent, are the
fine and fruitful words of him who acts accordingly.

As many kinds of wreaths can be made from a heap of flowers, so many
good things may be achieved by a mortal when once he is born.

The scent of flowers does not travel against the wind, nor that of
sandal-wood, or of Tagara and Mallikâ flowers; but the odor of good
people travels even against the wind; a good man pervades every place.

Sandal-wood or Tagara, a lotus-flower, or a Vassikî, among these sorts
of perfumes, the perfume of virtue is unsurpassed.

Mean is the scent that comes from Tagara and sandal-wood; the perfume of
those who possess virtue rises up to the gods as the highest.

Of the people who possess these virtues, who live without
thoughtlessness, and who are emancipated through true knowledge, Mâra,
the tempter, never finds the way.

As on a heap of rubbish cast upon the highway the lily will grow full of
sweet perfume and delight, thus among those who are mere rubbish the
disciple of the truly enlightened Buddha shines forth by his knowledge
above the blinded worldling.



CHAPTER V

THE FOOL


Long is the night to him who is awake; long is a mile to him who is
tired; long is life to the foolish who do not know the true law.

If a traveller does not meet with one who is his better, or his equal,
let him firmly keep to his solitary journey; there is no companionship
with a fool.

"These sons belong to me, and this wealth belongs to me," with such
thoughts a fool is tormented. He himself does not belong to himself; how
much less sons and wealth?

The fool who knows his foolishness, is wise at least so far. But a fool
who thinks himself wise, he is called a fool indeed.

If a fool be associated with a wise man even all his life, he will
perceive the truth as little as a spoon perceives the taste of soup.

If an intelligent man be associated for one minute only with a wise man,
he will soon perceive the truth, as the tongue perceives the taste of
soup.

Fools of poor understanding have themselves for their greatest enemies,
for they do evil deeds which bear bitter fruits.

That deed is not well done of which a man must repent, and the reward of
which he receives crying and with a tearful face.

No, that deed is well done of which a man does not repent, and the
reward of which he receives gladly and cheerfully.

As long as the evil deed done does not bear fruit, the fool thinks it is
like honey; but when it ripens, then the fool suffers grief.

Let a fool month after month eat his food (like an ascetic) with the tip
of a blade of Ku['s]a-grass, yet is he not worth the sixteenth particle
of those who have well weighed the law.

An evil deed, like newly-drawn milk, does not turn suddenly;
smouldering, like fire covered by ashes, it follows the fool.

And when the evil deed, after it has become known, turns to sorrow for
the fool, then it destroys his bright lot, nay, it cleaves his head.

Let the fool wish for a false reputation, for precedence among the
Bhikshus, for lordship in the convents, for worship among other people!

"May both the layman and he who has left the world think that this is
done by me; may they be subject to me in everything which is to be done
or is not to be done," thus is the mind of the fool, and his desire and
pride increase.

"One is the road that leads to wealth, another the road that leads to
Nirvâna"--if the Bhikshu, the disciple of Buddha, has learnt this, he
will not yearn for honor, he will strive after separation from the
world.



CHAPTER VI

THE WISE MAN


If you see a man who shows you what is to be avoided, who administers
reproofs, and is intelligent, follow that wise man as you would one who
tells of hidden treasures; it will be better, not worse, for him who
follows him.

Let him admonish, let him teach, let him forbid what is improper!--he
will be beloved of the good, by the bad he will be hated.

Do not have evil-doers for friends, do not have low people for friends:
have virtuous people for friends, have for friends the best of men.

He who drinks in the law lives happily with a serene mind: the sage
rejoices always in the law, as preached by the elect.

Well-makers lead the water wherever they like; fletchers bend the arrow;
carpenters bend a log of wood; wise people fashion themselves.

As a solid rock is not shaken by the wind, wise people falter not amidst
blame and praise.

Wise people, after they have listened to the laws, become serene, like a
deep, smooth, and still lake.

Good men indeed walk warily under all circumstances; good men speak not
out of a desire for sensual gratification; whether touched by happiness
or sorrow wise people never appear elated or depressed.

If, whether for his own sake, or for the sake of others, a man wishes
neither for a son, nor for wealth, nor for lordship, and if he does not
wish for his own success by unfair means, then he is good, wise, and
virtuous.

Few are there among men who arrive at the other shore (become Arhats);
the other people here run up and down the shore.

But those who, when the law has been well preached to them, follow the
law, will pass over the dominion of death, however difficult to cross.

A wise man should leave the dark state of ordinary life, and follow the
bright state of the Bhikshu. After going from his home to a homeless
state, he should in his retirement look for enjoyment where enjoyment
seemed difficult. Leaving all pleasures behind, and calling nothing his
own, the wise man should purge himself from all the troubles of the
mind.

Those whose mind is well grounded in the seven elements of knowledge,
who without clinging to anything, rejoice in freedom from attachment,
whose appetites have been conquered, and who are full of light, they are
free even in this world.



CHAPTER VII

THE VENERABLE


There is no suffering for him who has finished his journey, and
abandoned grief, who has freed himself on all sides, and thrown off all
fetters.

They exert themselves with their thoughts well-collected, they do not
tarry in their abode; like swans who have left their lake, they leave
their house and home.

Men who have no riches, who live on recognized food, who have perceived
void and unconditioned freedom (Nirvâna), their path is difficult to
understand, like that of birds in the air.

He whose appetites are stilled, who is not absorbed in enjoyment, who
has perceived void and unconditioned freedom (Nirvâna), his path is
difficult to understand, like that of birds in the air.

The gods even envy him whose senses, like horses well broken in by the
driver, have been subdued, who is free from pride, and free from
appetites; such a one who does his duty is tolerant like the earth, or
like a threshold; he is like a lake without mud; no new births are in
store for him.

His thought is quiet, quiet are his word and deed, when he has obtained
freedom by true knowledge, when he has thus become a quiet man.

The man who is free from credulity, but knows the uncreated, who has cut
all ties, removed all temptations, renounced all desires, he is the
greatest of men.

In a hamlet or in a forest, on sea or on dry land, wherever venerable
persons (Arahanta) dwell, that place is delightful.

Forests are delightful; where the world finds no delight, there the
passionless will find delight, for they look not for pleasures.



CHAPTER VIII

THE THOUSANDS


Even though a speech be a thousand (of words), but made up of senseless
words, one word of sense is better, which if a man hears, he becomes
quiet.

Even though a Gâthâ (poem) be a thousand (of words), but made up of
senseless words, one word of a Gâthâ is better, which if a man hears, he
becomes quiet.

Though a man recite a hundred Gâthâs made up of senseless words, one
word of the law is better, which if a man hears, he becomes quiet.

If one man conquer in battle a thousand times a thousand men, and if
another conquer himself, he is the greatest of conquerors.

One's own self conquered is better than all other people; not even a
god, a Gandharva, not Mâra (with Brâhman) could change into defeat the
victory of a man who has vanquished himself, and always lives under
restraint.

If a man for a hundred years sacrifice month by month with a thousand,
and if he but for one moment pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded
in true knowledge, better is that homage than a sacrifice for a hundred
years.

If a man for a hundred years worship Agni (fire) in the forest, and if
he but for one moment pay homage to a man whose soul is grounded in true
knowledge, better is that homage than sacrifice for a hundred years.

Whatever a man sacrifice in this world as an offering or as an oblation
for a whole year in order to gain merit, the whole of it is not worth a
quarter a farthing; reverence shown to the righteous is better.

He who always greets and constantly reveres the aged, four things will
increase to him: life, beauty, happiness, power.

But he who lives a hundred years, vicious and unrestrained, a life of
one day is better if a man is virtuous and reflecting.

And he who lives a hundred years, ignorant and unrestrained, a life of
one day is better if a man is wise and reflecting.

And he who lives a hundred years, idle and weak, a life of one day is
better if a man has attained firm strength.

And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing beginning and end, a life
of one day is better if a man sees beginning and end.

And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the immortal place, a life
of one day is better if a man sees the immortal place.

And he who lives a hundred years, not seeing the highest law, a life of
one day is better if a man sees the highest law.



CHAPTER IX

EVIL


A man should hasten towards the good, and should keep his thought away
from evil; if a man does what is good slothfully, his mind delights in
evil.

If a man commits a sin, let him not do it again; let him not delight in
sin: the accumulation of evil is painful.

If a man does what is good, let him do it again; let him delight in it:
the accumulation of good is delightful.

Even an evil-doer sees happiness so long as his evil deed does not
ripen; but when his evil deed ripens, then does the evil-doer see evil.

Even a good man sees evil days so long as his good deed does not ripen;
but when his good deed ripens, then does the good man see good things.

Let no man think lightly of evil, saying in his heart, It will not come
nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled;
the fool becomes full of evil, even if he gather it little by little.

Let no man think lightly of good, saying in his heart, It will not come
nigh unto me. Even by the falling of water-drops a water-pot is filled;
the wise man becomes full of good, even if he gather it little by
little.

Let a man avoid evil deeds, as a merchant, if he has few companions and
carries much wealth, avoids a dangerous road; as a man who loves life
avoids poison.

He who has no wound on his hand, may touch poison with his hand; poison
does not affect one who has no wound; nor is there evil for one who does
not commit evil.

If a man offend a harmless, pure, and innocent person, the evil falls
back upon that fool, like light dust thrown up against the wind.

Some people are born again; evil-doers go to hell; righteous people go
to heaven; those who are free from all worldly desires attain Nirvâna.

Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the
clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where
a man might be freed from an evil deed.

Not in the sky, not in the midst of the sea, not if we enter into the
clefts of the mountains, is there known a spot in the whole world where
death could not overcome the mortal.



CHAPTER X

PUNISHMENT


All men tremble at punishment, all men fear death; remember that you are
like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.

All men tremble at punishment, all men love life; remember that thou art
like unto them, and do not kill, nor cause slaughter.

He who, seeking his own happiness, punishes or kills beings who also
long for happiness, will not find happiness after death.

He who, seeking his own happiness, does not punish or kill beings who
also long for happiness, will find happiness after death.

Do not speak harshly to anyone; those who are spoken to will answer thee
in the same way. Angry speech is painful: blows for blows will touch
thee.

If, like a shattered metal plate (gong), thou utter nothing, then thou
hast reached Nirvâna; anger is not known to thee.

As a cow-herd with his staff drives his cows into the stable, so do Age
and Death drive the life of men.

A fool does not know when he commits his evil deeds: but the wicked man
burns by his own deeds, as if burnt by fire.

He who inflicts pain on innocent and harmless persons, will soon come to
one of these ten states:--

He will have cruel suffering, loss, injury of the body, heavy
affliction, or loss of mind.

A misfortune coming from the king, or a fearful accusation, or loss of
relations, or destruction of treasures.

Lightning-fire will burn his houses; and when his body is destroyed, the
fool will go to hell.

Not nakedness, not platted hair, not dirt, not fasting, or lying on the
earth, not rubbing with dust, not sitting motionless, can purify a
mortal who has not overcome desires.

He who, though dressed in fine apparel, exercises tranquillity, is
quiet, subdued, restrained, chaste, and has ceased to find fault with
all other beings, he indeed is a Brâhmana, an ascetic (Sramana), a friar
(Bhikshu).

Is there in this world any man so restrained by shame that he does not
provoke reproof, as a noble horse the whip?

Like a noble horse when touched by the whip, be ye strenuous and eager,
and by faith, by virtue, by energy, by meditation, by discernment of the
law, you will overcome this great pain, perfect in knowledge and in
behavior, and never forgetful.

Well-makers lead the water wherever they like; fletchers bend the arrow;
carpenters bend a log of wood; good people fashion themselves.



CHAPTER XI

OLD AGE


How is there laughter, how is there joy, as this world is always
burning? Do you not seek a light, ye who are surrounded by darkness?

Look at this dressed-up lump, covered with wounds, joined together,
sickly, full of many schemes, but which has no strength, no hold!

This body is wasted, full of sickness, and frail; this heap of
corruption breaks to pieces, life indeed ends in death.

After one has looked at those gray bones, thrown away like gourds in the
autumn, what pleasure is there left in life!

After a stronghold has been made of the bones, it is covered with flesh
and blood, and there dwell in it old age and death, pride and deceit.

The brilliant chariots of kings are destroyed, the body also approaches
destruction, but the virtue of good people never approaches
destruction--thus do the good say to the good.

A man who has learnt little, grows old like an ox; his flesh grows, but
his knowledge does not grow.

Looking for the maker of this tabernacle, I have run through a course of
many births, not finding him; and painful is birth again and again. But
now, maker of the tabernacle, thou hast been seen; thou shalt not make
up this tabernacle again. All thy rafters are broken, thy ridge-pole is
sundered; the mind, approaching the Eternal (Visankhâra, Nirvâna), has
attained to the extinction of all desires.

Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained wealth
in their youth, perish like old herons in a lake without fish.

Men who have not observed proper discipline, and have not gained wealth
in their youth, lie, like broken bows, sighing after the past.



CHAPTER XII

SELF


If a man hold himself dear, let him watch himself carefully; during one
at least out of the three watches a wise man should be watchful.

Let each man direct himself first to what is proper, then let him teach
others; thus a wise man will not suffer.

If a man make himself as he teaches others to be, then, being himself
well subdued, he may subdue others; for one's own self is difficult to
subdue.

Self is the lord of self, who else could be the lord? With self well
subdued, a man finds a lord such as few can find.

The evil done by one's self, self-forgotten, self-bred, crushes the
foolish, as a diamond breaks even a precious stone.

He whose wickedness is very great brings himself down to that state
where his enemy wishes him to be, as a creeper does with the tree which
it surrounds.

Bad deeds, and deeds hurtful to ourselves, are easy to do; what is
beneficial and good, that is very difficult to do.

The foolish man who scorns the rule of the venerable (Arhat), of the
elect (Ariya), of the virtuous, and follows a false doctrine, he bears
fruit to his own destruction, like the fruits of the Katthaka reed.

By one's self the evil is done, by one's self one suffers; by one's self
evil is left undone, by one's self one is purified. The pure and the
impure stand and fall by themselves, no one can purify another.

Let no one forget his own duty for the sake of another's, however great;
let a man, after he has discerned his own duty, be always attentive to
his duty.



CHAPTER XIII

THE WORLD


Do not follow the evil law! Do not live on in thoughtlessness! Do not
follow false doctrine! Be not a friend of the world.

Rouse thyself! do not be idle! Follow the law of virtue! The virtuous
rest in bliss in this world and in the next.

Follow the law of virtue; do not follow that of sin. The virtuous rest
in bliss in this world and in the next.

Look upon the world as you would on a bubble, look upon it as you would
on a mirage: the king of death does not see him who thus looks down upon
the world.

Come, look at this world, glittering like a royal chariot; the foolish
are immersed in it, but the wise do not touch it.

He who formerly was reckless and afterwards became sober brightens up
this world, like the moon when freed from clouds.

He whose evil deeds are covered by good deeds, brightens up this world,
like the moon when freed from clouds.

This world is dark, few only can see here; a few only go to heaven, like
birds escaped from the net.

The swans go on the path of the sun, they go miraculously through the
ether; the wise are led out of this world, when they have conquered Mâra
and his train.

If a man has transgressed the one law, and speaks lies, and scoffs at
another world, there is no evil he will not do.

The uncharitable do not go to the world of the gods; fools only do not
praise liberality; a wise man rejoices in liberality, and through it
becomes blessed in the other world.

Better than sovereignty over the earth, better than going to heaven,
better than lordship over all worlds, is the reward of Sotâpatti, the
first step in holiness.



CHAPTER XIV

THE BUDDHA--THE AWAKENED


He whose conquest cannot be conquered again, into whose conquest no one
in this world enters, by what track can you lead him, the Awakened, the
Omniscient, the trackless?

He whom no desire with its snares and poisons can lead astray, by what
track can you lead him, the Awakened, the Omniscient, the trackless?

Even the gods envy those who are awakened and not forgetful, who are
given to meditation, who are wise, and who delight in the repose of
retirement from the world.

Difficult to obtain is the conception of men, difficult is the life of
mortals, difficult is the hearing of the True Law, difficult is the
birth of the Awakened (the attainment of Buddhahood).

Not to commit any sin, to do good, and to purify one's mind, that is the
teaching of all the Awakened.

The Awakened call patience the highest penance, long-suffering the
highest Nirvâna; for he is not an anchorite (Pravra-gita) who strikes
others, he is not an ascetic (Sramana) who insults others.

Not to blame, not to strike, to live restrained under the law, to be
moderate in eating, to sleep and sit alone, and to dwell on the highest
thoughts--this is the teaching of the Awakened.

There is no satisfying lusts, even by a shower of gold pieces; he who
knows that lusts have a short taste and cause pain, he is wise; even in
heavenly pleasures he finds no satisfaction, the disciple who is fully
awakened delights only in the destruction of all desires.

Men, driven by fear, go to many a refuge, to mountains and forests, to
groves and sacred trees.

But that is not a safe refuge, that is not the best refuge; a man is not
delivered from all pains after having gone to that refuge.

He who takes refuge with Buddha, the Law, and the Church; he who, with
clear understanding, sees the four holy truths: pain, the origin of
pain, the destruction of pain, and the eightfold holy way that leads to
the quieting of pain;--that is the safe refuge, that is the best refuge;
having gone to that refuge, a man is delivered from all pain.

A supernatural person (a Buddha) is not easily found: he is not born
everywhere. Wherever such a sage is born, that race prospers.

Happy is the arising of the Awakened, happy is the teaching of the True
Law, happy is peace in the church, happy is the devotion of those who
are at peace.

He who pays homage to those who deserve homage, whether the awakened
(Buddha) or their disciples, those who have overcome the host of evils,
and crossed the flood of sorrow, he who pays homage to such as have
found deliverance and know no fear, his merit can never be measured by
anyone.



CHAPTER XV

HAPPINESS


We live happily indeed, not hating those who hate us! among men who hate
us we dwell free from hatred! We live happily indeed, free from ailments
among the ailing! among men who are ailing let us dwell free from
ailments!

We live happily indeed, free from greed among the greedy! among men who
are greedy let us dwell free from greed!

We live happily indeed, though we call nothing our own! We shall be like
the bright gods, feeding on happiness!

Victory breeds hatred, for the conquered is unhappy. He who has given up
both victory and defeat, he, the contented, is happy.

There is no fire like passion; there is no losing throw like hatred;
there is no pain like this body; there is no happiness higher than rest.

Hunger is the worst of diseases, the elements of the body the greatest
evil; if one knows this truly, that is Nirvâna, the highest happiness.

Health is the greatest of gifts, contentedness the best riches; trust is
the best of relationships, Nirvâna the highest happiness.

He who has tasted the sweetness of solitude and tranquillity, is free
from fear and free from sin, while he tastes the sweetness of drinking
in the law.

The sight of the elect (Ariya) is good, to live with them is always
happiness; if a man does not see fools, he will be truly happy.

He who walks in the company of fools suffers a long way; company with
fools, as with an enemy, is always painful; company with the wise is
pleasure, like meeting with kinsfolk.

Therefore, one ought to follow the wise, the intelligent, the learned,
the much enduring, the dutiful, the elect; one ought to follow such a
good and wise man, as the moon follows the path of the stars.



CHAPTER XVI

PLEASURE


He who gives himself to vanity, and does not give himself to meditation,
forgetting the real aim of life and grasping at pleasure, will in time
envy him who has exerted himself in meditation.

Let no man ever cling to what is pleasant, or to what is unpleasant. Not
to see what is pleasant is pain, and it is pain to see what is
unpleasant.

Let, therefore, no man love anything; loss of the beloved is evil. Those
who love nothing, and hate nothing, have no fetters.

From pleasure comes grief, from pleasure comes fear; he who is free from
pleasure knows neither grief nor fear.

From affection comes grief, from affection comes fear; he who is free
from affection knows neither grief nor fear.

From lust comes grief, from lust comes fear; he who is free from lust
knows neither grief nor fear.

From love comes grief, from love comes fear; he who is free from love
knows neither grief nor fear.

From greed comes grief, from greed comes fear; he who is free from greed
knows neither grief nor fear.

He who possesses virtue and intelligence, who is just, speaks the truth,
and does what is his own business, him the world will hold dear.

He in whom a desire for the Ineffable (Nirvâna) has sprung up, who in
his mind is satisfied, and whose thoughts are not bewildered by love, he
is called űrdhvamsrotas (carried upwards by the stream).

Kinsmen, friends, and lovers salute a man who has been long away, and
returns safe from afar.

In like manner his good works receive him who has done good, and has
gone from this world to the other;--as kinsmen receive a friend on his
return.



CHAPTER XVII

ANGER


Let a man leave anger, let him forsake pride, let him overcome all
bondage! No sufferings befall the man who is not attached to name and
form, and who calls nothing his own.

He who holds back rising anger like a rolling chariot, him I call a real
driver; other people are but holding the reins.

Let a man overcome anger by love, let him overcome evil by good; let him
overcome the greedy by liberality, the liar by truth!

Speak the truth, do not yield to anger; give, if thou art asked for
little; by these three steps thou wilt go near the gods.

The sages who injure nobody, and who always control their body, they
will go to the unchangeable place (Nirvâna), where, if they have gone,
they will suffer no more.

Those who are ever watchful, who study day and night, and who strive
after Nirvâna, their passions will come to an end.

This is an old saying, O Atula, this is not as if of to-day: "They blame
him who sits silent, they blame him who speaks much, they also blame him
who says little; there is no one on earth who is not blamed."

There never was, there never will be, nor is there now, a man who is
always blamed, or a man who is always praised.

But he whom those who discriminate praise continually day after day, as
without blemish, wise, rich in knowledge and virtue, who would dare to
blame him, like a coin made of gold from the Gambű river? Even the gods
praise him, he is praised even by Brâhman.

Beware of bodily anger, and control thy body! Leave the sins of the
body, and with thy body practise virtue!

Beware of the anger of the tongue, and control thy tongue! Leave the
sins of the tongue, and practise virtue with thy tongue!

Beware of the anger of the mind, and control thy mind! Leave the sins of
the mind, and practise virtue with thy mind!

The wise who control their body, who control their tongue, the wise who
control their mind, are indeed well controlled.



CHAPTER XVIII

IMPURITY


Thou art now like a sear leaf, the messengers of death (Yama) have come
near to thee; thou standest at the door of thy departure, and thou hast
no provision for thy journey.

Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are
blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt enter into the
heavenly world of the elect (Ariya).

Thy life has come to an end, thou art come near to death (Yama), there
is no resting-place for thee on the road, and thou hast no provision for
thy journey.

Make thyself an island, work hard, be wise! When thy impurities are
blown away, and thou art free from guilt, thou wilt not enter again into
birth and decay.

Let a wise man blow off the impurities of himself, as a smith blows off
the impurities of silver, one by one, little by little, and from time to
time.

As the impurity which springs from the iron, when it springs from it,
destroys it; thus do a transgressor's own works lead him to the evil
path.

The taint of prayers is non-repetition; the taint of houses, non-repair;
the taint of complexion is sloth; the taint of a watchman,
thoughtlessness.

Bad conduct is the taint of woman, niggardliness the taint of a
benefactor; tainted are all evil ways, in this world and in the next.

But there is a taint worse than all taints--ignorance is the greatest
taint. O mendicants! throw off that taint, and become taintless!

Life is easy to live for a man who is without shame: a crow hero, a
mischief-maker, an insulting, bold, and wretched fellow.

But life is hard to live for a modest man, who always looks for what is
pure, who is disinterested, quiet, spotless, and intelligent.

He who destroys life, who speaks untruth, who in the world takes what is
not given him, who goes to another man's wife; and the man who gives
himself to drinking intoxicating liquors, he, even in this world, digs
up his own root.

O man, know this, that the unrestrained are in a bad state; take care
that greediness and vice do not bring thee to grief for a long time!

The world gives according to their faith or according to their pleasure:
if a man frets about the food and the drink given to others, he will
find no rest either by day or by night.

He in whom that feeling is destroyed, and taken out with the very root,
finds rest by day and by night.

There is no fire like passion, there is no shark like hatred, there is
no snare like folly, there is no torrent like greed.

The fault of others is easily perceived, but that of one's self is
difficult to perceive; a man winnows his neighbor's faults like chaff,
but his own fault he hides, as a cheat hides the bad die from the
player.

If a man looks after the faults of others, and is always inclined to be
offended, his own passions will grow, and he is far from the destruction
of passions.

There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana outwardly. The
world delights in vanity, the Tathâgatas (the Buddhas) are free from
vanity.

There is no path through the air, a man is not a Samana outwardly. No
creatures are eternal; but the awakened (Buddha) are never shaken.



CHAPTER XIX

THE JUST


A man is not just if he carries a matter by violence; no, he who
distinguishes both right and wrong, who is learned and guides others,
not by violence, but by the same law, being a guardian of the law and
intelligent, he is called just.

A man is not learned because he talks much; he who is patient, free from
hatred and fear, he is called learned.

A man is not a supporter of the law because he talks much; even if a man
has learnt little, but sees the law bodily, he is a supporter of the
law, a man who never neglects the law.

A man is not an elder because his head is gray; his age may be ripe, but
he is called "Old-in-vain."

He in whom there is truth, virtue, pity, restraint, moderation, he who
is free from impurity and is wise, he is called an elder.

An envious, stingy, dishonest man does not become respectable by means
of much talking only, or by the beauty of his complexion.

He in whom all this is destroyed, and taken out with the very root, he,
when freed from hatred, is called respectable.

Not by tonsure does an undisciplined man who speaks falsehood become a
Samana; can a man be a Samana who is still held captive by desire and
greediness?

He who always quiets the evil, whether small or large, he is called a
Samana (a quiet man), because he has quieted all evil.

A man is not a mendicant (Bhikshu) simply because he asks others for
alms; he who adopts the whole law is a Bhikshu, not he who only begs.

He who is above good and evil, who is chaste, who with care passes
through the world, he indeed is called a Bhikshu.

A man is not a Muni because he observes silence if he is foolish and
ignorant; but the wise who, as with the balance, chooses the good and
avoids evil, he is a Muni, and is a Muni thereby; he who in this world
weighs both sides is called a Muni.

A man is not an elect (Ariya) because he injures living creatures;
because he has pity on all living creatures, therefore is a man called
Ariya.

Not only by discipline and vows, not only by much learning, not by
entering into a trance, not by sleeping alone, do I earn the happiness
of release which no worldling can know. O Bhikshu, he who has obtained
the extinction of desires has obtained confidence.



CHAPTER XX

THE WAY


The best of ways is the eightfold; the best of truths the four words;
the best of virtues passionlessness; the best of men he who has eyes to
see.

This is the way, there is no other that leads to the purifying of
intelligence. Go on this path! This is the confusion of Mâra, the
tempter.

If you go on this way, you will make an end of pain! The way preached by
me, when I had understood the removal of the thorns in the flesh.

You yourself must make an effort. The Tathâgatas (Buddhas) are only
preachers. The thoughtful who enter the way are freed from the bondage
of Mâra.

"All created things perish," he who knows and sees this becomes passive
in pain; this is the way to purity.

"All created things are grief and pain," he who knows and sees this
becomes passive in pain; this is the way that leads to purity.

"All forms are unreal," he who knows and sees this becomes passive in
pain; this is the way that leads to purity.

He who does not rouse himself when it is time to rise, who, though young
and strong, is full of sloth, whose will and thought are weak, that lazy
and idle man never finds the way to knowledge.

Watching his speech, well restrained in mind, let a man never commit any
wrong with his body! Let a man but keep these three roads of action
clear, and he will achieve the way which is taught by the wise.

Through zeal knowledge is gained, through lack of zeal knowledge is
lost; let a man who knows this double path of gain and loss thus place
himself that knowledge may grow.

Cut down the whole forest of desires, not a tree only! Danger comes out
of the forest of desires. When you have cut down both the forest of
desires and its undergrowth, then, Bhikshus, you will be rid of the
forest and of desires!

So long as the desire of man towards women, even the smallest, is not
destroyed, so long is his mind in bondage, as the calf that drinks milk
is to its mother.

Cut out the love of self, like an autumn lotus, with thy hand! Cherish
the road of peace. Nirvâna has been shown by Sugata (Buddha).

"Here I shall dwell in the rain, here in winter and summer," thus the
fool meditates, and does not think of death.

Death comes and carries off that man, honored for his children and
flocks, his mind distracted, as a flood carries off a sleeping village.

Sons are no help, nor a father, nor relations; there is no help from
kinsfolk for one whom death has seized.

A wise and well-behaved man who knows the meaning of this should quickly
clear the way that leads to Nirvâna.



CHAPTER XXI

MISCELLANEOUS


If by leaving a small pleasure one sees a great pleasure, let a wise man
leave the small pleasure, and look to the great.

He who, by causing pain to others, wishes to obtain pleasure for
himself, he, entangled in the bonds of hatred, will never be free from
hatred.

What ought to be done is neglected, what ought not to be done is done;
the desires of unruly, thoughtless people are always increasing.

But they whose whole watchfulness is always directed to their body, who
do not follow what ought not to be done, and who steadfastly do what
ought to be done, the desires of such watchful and wise people will come
to an end.

A true Brâhmana goes scathless, though he have killed father and mother,
and two valiant kings, though he has destroyed a kingdom with all its
subjects.

A true Brâhmana goes scathless, though he have killed father and mother,
and two holy kings, and an eminent man besides.

The disciples of Gotama (Buddha) are always well awake, and their
thoughts day and night are always set on Buddha.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day
and night are always set on the law.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day
and night are always set on the church.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their thoughts day
and night are always set on their body.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and
night always delights in compassion.

The disciples of Gotama are always well awake, and their mind day and
night always delights in meditation.

It is hard to leave the world to become a friar, it is hard to enjoy the
world; hard is the monastery, painful are the houses; painful it is to
dwell with equals to share everything in common, and the itinerant
mendicant is beset with pain. Therefore let no man be an itinerant
mendicant, and he will not be beset with pain.

A man full of faith, if endowed with virtue and glory, is respected,
whatever place he may choose.

Good people shine from afar, like the snowy mountains; bad people are
not seen, like arrows shot by night.

Sitting alone, lying down alone, walking alone without ceasing, and
alone subduing himself, let a man be happy near the edge of a forest.



CHAPTER XXII

THE DOWNWARD COURSE


He who says what is not goes to hell; he also who, having done a thing,
says I have not done it. After death both are equal: they are men with
evil deeds in the next world.

Many men whose shoulders are covered with the yellow gown are
ill-conditioned and unrestrained; such evil-doers by their evil deeds go
to hell.

Better it would be to swallow a heated iron ball, like flaring fire,
than that a bad unrestrained fellow should live on the charity of the
land.

Four things does a reckless man gain who covets his neighbor's
wife--demerit, an uncomfortable bed, thirdly, punishment, and lastly,
hell.

There is demerit, and the evil way to hell: there is the short pleasure
of the frightened in the arms of the frightened, and the king imposes
heavy punishment; therefore let no man think of his neighbor's wife.

As a grass-blade, if badly grasped, cuts the arm, badly-practised
asceticism leads to hell.

An act carelessly performed, a broken vow, and hesitating obedience to
discipline (Brâhma-kariyam), all these bring no great reward.

If anything is to be done, let a man do it, let him attack it
vigorously! A careless pilgrim only scatters the dust of his passions
more widely.

An evil deed is better left undone, for a man repents of it afterwards;
a good deed is better done, for having done it, one does not repent.

Like a well-guarded frontier fort, with defences within and without, so
let a man guard himself. Not a moment should escape, for they who allow
the right moment to pass, suffer pain when they are in hell.

They who are ashamed of what they ought not to be ashamed of, and are
not ashamed of what they ought to be ashamed of, such men, embracing
false doctrines, enter the evil path.

They who fear when they ought not to fear, and fear not when they ought
to fear, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.

They who see sin where there is no sin, and see no sin where there is
sin, such men, embracing false doctrines, enter the evil path.

They who see sin where there is sin, and no sin where there is no sin,
such men, embracing the true doctrine, enter the good path.



CHAPTER XXIII

THE ELEPHANT


Silently I endured abuse as the elephant in battle endures the arrow
sent from the bow: for the world is ill-natured.

They lead a tamed elephant to battle, the king mounts a tamed elephant;
the tamed is the best among men, he who silently endures abuse.

Mules are good, if tamed, and noble Sindhu horses, and elephants with
large tusks; but he who tames himself is better still.

For with these animals does no man reach the untrodden country
(Nirvâna), where a tamed man goes on a tamed animal--on his own
well-tamed self.

The elephant called Dhanapâlaka, his temples running with pungent sap,
and who is difficult to hold, does not eat a morsel when bound; the
elephant longs for the elephant grove.

If a man becomes fat and a great eater, if he is sleepy and rolls
himself about, that fool, like a hog fed on grains, is born again and
again.

This mind of mine went formerly wandering about as it liked, as it
listed, as it pleased; but I shall now hold it in thoroughly, as the
rider who holds the hook holds in the furious elephant.

Be not thoughtless, watch your thoughts! Draw yourself out of the evil
way, like an elephant sunk in mud.

If a man find a prudent companion who walks with him, is wise, and lives
soberly, he may walk with him, overcoming all dangers, happy, but
considerate.

If a man find no prudent companion who walks with him, is wise, and
lives soberly, let him walk alone, like a king who has left his
conquered country behind--like an elephant in the forest.

It is better to live alone: there is no companionship with a fool; let a
man walk alone, let him commit no sin, with few wishes, like an elephant
in the forest.

If the occasion arises, friends are pleasant; enjoyment is pleasant,
whatever be the cause; a good work is pleasant in the hour of death; the
giving up of all grief is pleasant.

Pleasant in the world is the state of a mother, pleasant the state of a
father, pleasant the state of a Samana, pleasant the state of a
Brâhmana.

Pleasant is virtue lasting to old age, pleasant is a faith firmly
rooted; pleasant is attainment of intelligence, pleasant is avoiding of
sins.



CHAPTER XXIV

THIRST


The thirst of a thoughtless man grows like a creeper; he runs from life
to life, like a monkey seeking fruit in the forest.

Whomsoever this fierce poisonous thirst overcomes, in this world, his
sufferings increase like the abounding Bîrana grass.

But from him who overcomes this fierce thirst, difficult to be conquered
in this world, sufferings fall off, like water-drops from a lotus leaf.

This salutary word I tell you, "Do ye, as many as are here assembled,
dig up the root of thirst, as he who wants the sweet-scented Usîra root
must dig up the Bîrana grass, that Mâra, the tempter, may not crush you
again and again, as the stream crushes the reeds."

As a tree, even though it has been cut down, is firm so long as its root
is safe, and grows again, thus, unless the feeders of thirst are
destroyed, this pain of life will return again and again.

He whose thirty-six streams are strongly flowing in the channels of
pleasure, the waves--his desires which are set on passion--will carry
away that misguided man.

The channels run everywhere, the creeper of passion stands sprouting; if
you see the creeper springing up, cut its root by means of knowledge.

A creature's pleasures are extravagant and luxurious; given up to
pleasure and deriving happiness, men undergo again and again birth and
decay.

Beset with lust, men run about like a snared hare; held in fetters and
bonds, they undergo pain for a long time, again and again.

Beset with lust, men run about like a snared hare; let therefore the
mendicant drive out thirst, by striving after passionlessness for
himself.

He who, having got rid of the forest of lust (after having reached
Nirvâna), gives himself over to forest-life (to lust), and who, when
free from the forest (from lust), runs to the forest (to lust), look at
that man! though free, he runs into bondage.

Wise people do not call that a strong fetter which is made of iron,
wood, or hemp; passionately strong is the care for precious stones and
rings, for sons and a wife.

That fetter wise people call strong which drags down, yields, but is
difficult to undo; after having cut this at last, people leave the
world, free from cares, and leaving the pleasures of love behind.

Those who are slaves to passions, run down the stream of desires, as a
spider runs down the web which he has made himself; when they have cut
this, at last, wise people go onwards, free from cares, leaving all pain
behind.

Give up what is before, give up what is behind, give up what is between,
when thou goest to the other shore of existence; if thy mind is
altogether free, thou wilt not again enter into birth and decay.

If a man is tossed about by doubts, full of strong passions, and
yearning only for what is delightful, his thirst will grow more and
more, and he will indeed make his fetters strong.

If a man delights in quieting doubts, and, always reflecting, dwells on
what is not delightful, he certainly will remove, nay, he will cut the
fetter of Mâra.

He who has reached the consummation, who does not tremble, who is
without thirst and without sin, he has broken all the thorns of life:
this will be his last body.

He who is without thirst and without affection, who understands the
words and their interpretation, who knows the order of letters (those
which are before and which are after), he has received his last body, he
is called the great sage, the great man.

"I have conquered all, I know all, in all conditions of life I am free
from taint; I have left all, and through the destruction of thirst I am
free; having learnt myself, whom should I indicate as my teacher?"

The gift of the law exceeds all gifts; the sweetness of the law exceeds
all sweetness; the delight in the law exceeds all delights; the
extinction of thirst overcomes all pain.

Riches destroy the foolish, if they look not for the other shore; the
foolish by his thirst for riches destroys himself, as if he were
destroying others.

The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is damaged by passion:
therefore a gift bestowed on the passionless brings great reward.

The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is damaged by hatred: therefore
a gift bestowed on those who do not hate brings great reward.

The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is damaged by vanity: therefore
a gift bestowed on those who are free from vanity brings great reward.

The fields are damaged by weeds, mankind is damaged by lust: therefore a
gift bestowed on those who are free from lust brings great reward.



CHAPTER XXV

THE BHIKSHU


Restraint in the eye is good, good is restraint in the ear, in the nose
restraint is good, good is restraint in the tongue.

In the body restraint is good, good is restraint in speech, in thought
restraint is good, good is restraint in all things. A Bhikshu,
restrained in all things, is freed from all pain.

He who controls his hand, he who controls his feet, he who controls his
speech, he who is well controlled, he who delights inwardly, who is
collected, who is solitary and content, him they call Bhikshu.

The Bhikshu who controls his mouth, who speaks wisely and calmly, who
teaches the meaning and the law, his word is sweet.

He who dwells in the law, delights in the law, meditates on the law,
recollects the law: that Bhikshu will never fall away from the true law.

Let him not despise what he has received, nor ever envy others: a
mendicant who envies others does not obtain peace of mind.

A Bhikshu who, though he receives little, does not despise what he has
received, even the gods will praise him, if his life is pure, and if he
is not slothful.

He who never identifies himself with name and form, and does not grieve
over what is no more, he indeed is called a Bhikshu.

The Bhikshu who behaves with kindness, who is happy in the doctrine of
Buddha, will reach the quiet place (Nirvâna), happiness arising from the
cessation of natural inclinations.

O Bhikshu, empty this boat! if emptied, it will go quickly; having cut
off passion and hatred, thou wilt go to Nirvâna.

Cut off the five fetters, leave the five, rise above the five. A
Bhikshu, who has escaped from the five fetters, he is called
Oghatinna--"saved from the flood."

Meditate, O Bhikshu, and be not heedless! Do not direct thy thought to
what gives pleasure, that thou mayest not for thy heedlessness have to
swallow the iron ball in hell, and that thou mayest not cry out when
burning, "This is pain."

Without knowledge there is no meditation, without meditation there is no
knowledge: he who has knowledge and meditation is near unto Nirvâna.

A Bhikshu who has entered his empty house, and whose mind is tranquil,
feels a more than human delight when he sees the law clearly.

As soon as he has considered the origin and destruction of the elements
of the body, he finds happiness and joy which belong to those who know
the immortal (Nirvâna).

And this is the beginning here for a wise Bhikshu: watchfulness over the
senses, contentedness, restraint under the law; keep noble friends whose
life is pure, and who are not slothful.

Let him live in charity, let him be perfect in his duties; then in the
fulness of delight he will make an end of suffering.

As the Vassikâ plant sheds its withered flowers, men should shed passion
and hatred, O ye Bhikshus!

The Bhikshu whose body and tongue and mind are quieted, who is
collected, and has rejected the baits of the world, he is called quiet.

Rouse thyself by thyself, examine thyself by thyself, thus
self-protected and attentive wilt thou live happily, O Bhikshu!

For self is the lord of self, self is the refuge of self; therefore curb
thyself as the merchant curbs a noble horse.

The Bhikshu, full of delight, who is happy in the doctrine of Buddha
will reach the quiet place (Nirvâna), happiness consisting in the
cessation of natural inclinations.

He who, even as a young Bhikshu, applies himself to the doctrine of
Buddha, brightens up this world, like the moon when free from clouds.



CHAPTER XXVI

THE BRÂHMANA


Stop the stream valiantly, drive away the desires, O Brâhmana! When you
have understood the destruction of all that was made, you will
understand that which was not made.

If the Brâhmana has reached the other shore in both laws, in restraint
and contemplation, all bonds vanish from him who has obtained knowledge.

He for whom there is neither the hither nor the further shore, nor both,
him, the fearless and unshackled, I call indeed a Brâhmana.

He who is thoughtful, blameless, settled, dutiful, without passions, and
who has attained the highest end, him I call indeed a Brâhmana.

The sun is bright by day, the moon shines by night, the warrior is
bright in his armor, the Brâhmana is bright in his meditation; but
Buddha, the Awakened, is bright with splendor day and night.

Because a man is rid of evil, therefore he is called Brâhmana; because
he walks quietly, therefore he is called Samana; because he has sent
away his own impurities, therefore he is called Pravragita (Pabbagita, a
pilgrim).

No one should attack a Brâhmana, but no Brâhmana, if attacked, should
let himself fly at his aggressor! Woe to him who strikes a Brâhmana,
more woe to him who flies at his aggressor!

It advantages a Brâhmana not a little if he holds his mind back from the
pleasures of life; the more all wish to injure has vanished, the more
all pain will cease.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who does not offend by body, word, or
thought, and is controlled on these three points.

He from whom he may learn the law, as taught by the Well-awakened
(Buddha), him let him worship assiduously, as the Brâhmana worships the
sacrificial fire.

A man does not become a Brâhmana by his plaited hair, by his family, or
by birth; in whom there is truth and righteousness, he is blessed, he is
a Brâhmana.

What is the use of plaited hair, O fool! what of the raiment of
goat-skins? Within thee there is ravening, but the outside thou makest
clean.

The man who wears dirty raiments, who is emaciated and covered with
veins, who meditates alone in the forest, him I call indeed a Brâhmana.

I do not call a man a Brâhmana because of his origin or of his mother.
He is indeed arrogant, and he is wealthy: but the poor, who is free from
all attachments, him I call indeed a Brâhmana.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, after cutting all fetters, never
trembles, is free from bonds and unshackled.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, after cutting the strap and the thong,
the rope with all that pertains to it, has destroyed all obstacles, and
is awakened.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, though he has committed no offence,
endures reproach, stripes, and bonds: who has endurance for his force,
and strength for his army.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is free from anger, dutiful, virtuous,
without appetites, who is subdued, and has received his last body.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who does not cling to sensual pleasures,
like water on a lotus leaf, like a mustard seed on the point of a
needle.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, even here, knows the end of his own
suffering, has put down his burden, and is unshackled.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana whose knowledge is deep, who possesses
wisdom, who knows the right way and the wrong, and has attained the
highest end.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who keeps aloof both from laymen and from
mendicants, who frequents no houses, and has but few desires.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who without hurting any creatures, whether
feeble or strong, does not kill nor cause slaughter.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is tolerant with the intolerant, mild
with the violent, and free from greed among the greedy.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana from whom anger and hatred, pride and
hypocrisy have dropped like a mustard seed from the point of a needle.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who utters true speech, instructive and
free from harshness, so that he offend no one.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who takes nothing in the world that is not
given him, be it long or short, small or large, good or bad.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who fosters no desires for this world or
for the next, has no inclinations, and is unshackled.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who has no interests, and when he has
understood the truth, does not say How, how? and who has reached the
depth of the Immortal.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who in this world has risen above both
ties, good and evil, who is free from grief, from sin, and from
impurity.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who is bright like the moon, pure, serene,
undisturbed, and in whom all gayety is extinct.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who has traversed this miry road, the
impassable world, difficult to pass, and its vanity, who has gone
through, and reached the other shore, is thoughtful, steadfast, free
from doubts, free from attachment, and content.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who in this world, having abandoned all
desires, travels about without a home, and in whom all concupiscence is
extinct.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, having abandoned all longings, travels
about without a home, and in whom all covetousness is extinct.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who, after leaving all bondage to men, has
risen above all bondage to the gods, and is free from all and every
bondage.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who has left what gives pleasure and what
gives pain, who is cold, and free from all germs of renewed life: the
hero who has conquered all the worlds.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who knows the destruction and the return of
beings everywhere, who is free from bondage, welfaring (Sugata), and
awakened (Buddha).

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana whose path the gods do not know, nor
spirits (Gandharvas), nor men, whose passions are extinct, and who is an
Arhat.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who calls nothing his own, whether it be
before, behind, or between; who is poor, and free from the love of the
world.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana, the manly, the noble, the hero, the great
sage, the conqueror, the indifferent, the accomplished, the awakened.

Him I call indeed a Brâhmana who knows his former abodes, who sees
heaven and hell, has reached the end of births, is perfect in knowledge,
a sage, and whose perfections are all perfect.




THE UPANISHADS

Translation by F. Max Müller



INTRODUCTION


The "Upanishads" are reckoned to be from a hundred and fifty to a
hundred and seventy in number. The date of the earliest of them is about
B.C. 600; that is an age anterior to the rise of Buddha. They consist of
various disquisitions on the nature of man, the Supreme Being, the human
soul, and immortality. They are part of Sanscrit Brahmanic literature,
and have the authority of revealed, in contradistinction to traditional
truth. We see in these books the struggle of the human mind to attain to
a knowledge of God and the destiny of man. The result is the formulation
of a definite theosophy, in which we find the Brahman in his meditation
trusting to the intuitions of his own spirit, the promptings of his own
reason, or the combinations of his own fancy, for a revelation of the
truth. The result is given us in these wonderful books. We call them
wonderful, because the unaided mind of man never attained, in any other
literature, to a profounder insight into spiritual things. The Western
reader may find in an "Upanishad" many things that seem to him trifling
and absurd, many things obscure and apparently meaningless. It is very
easy to ridicule this kind of literature. But as a matter of fact these
ancient writings well repay study, as the most astounding productions of
the human intellect. In them we see the human mind wrestling with the
greatest thoughts that had ever yet dawned upon it, and trying to grasp
and to measure the mighty vision before which it was humbled to the
dust. The seer, in order to communicate to the world the result of his
meditations, seems to catch at every symbol and every word hallowed by
familiar usage, in order to set out in concrete shape the color and
dimensions of mystic verities; he is employing an old language for the
expression of new truths; he is putting new wine into old wine-skins,
which burst and the wine is spilt; words fail, and the meaning is lost.
It is not lost, however, to those who will try to study the "Upanishads"
from within, and not from without: who will try to put himself in the
attitude of those earnest and patient explorers who brought so much
light into the human life of the East, and so much joy and tranquillity
to the perturbed spirit of their fellow-men. Those who thus study these
ancient writings will find in them the fundamental principles of a
definite theology, and, more wonderful still, the beginnings of that
which became afterwards known to the Greeks, and has been known ever
since, as metaphysics: that is, scientific transcendentalism. This much
will be apparent to anyone who will read and study the "Kaushîtaki-
Upanishad," which is one of the most wonderful of the religious books of
the East. Laying aside the doctrine of metempsychosis and the idea of
reincarnation, there is something sublime and inspiring in the imagery
with which the destiny of the soul after death is described, while in
the metaphysical subtlety of this book we find an argument against
materialism which is just as fresh now as when it was first stated.

E.W.




THE UPANISHADS



KAUSHÎTAKI-UPANISHAD

THE COUCH OF BRAHMAN


Kitra Gângyâyani, wishing to perform a sacrifice, chose Âruni Uddâlaka,
to be his chief priest. But Âruni sent his son, Svetaketu, and said:
"Perform the sacrifice for him." When Svetaketu had arrived, Kitra asked
him: "Son of Gautama, is there a hidden place in the world where you are
able to place me, or is it the other way, and are you going to place me
in the world to which that other way leads?"[14]

He answered and said: "I do not know this. But, let me ask the master."
Having approached his father, he asked: "Thus has Kitra asked me; how
shall I answer?"

Âruni said: "I also do not know this. Only after having learnt the
proper portion of the Veda in Kitra's own dwelling, shall we obtain what
others give us, i.e., knowledge. Come, we will both go."

Having said this he took fuel in his hand, like a pupil, and approached
Kitra Gângyâyani, saying: "May I come near to you?" He replied: "You are
worthy of Brahman, O Gautama, because you were not led away by pride.
Come hither, I shall make you know clearly."

And Kitra said: "All who depart from this world go to the moon. In the
former, the bright half, the moon delights in their spirits; in the
other, the dark half, the moon sends them on to be born again. Verily,
the moon is the door of the Svarga, i.e., the heavenly world. Now, if a
man objects to the moon and is not satisfied with life there, the moon
sets him free. But if a man does not object, then the moon sends him
down as rain upon this earth. And according to his deeds and according
to his knowledge he is born again here as a worm, or as an insect, or as
a fish, or as a bird, or as a lion, or as a boar, or as a serpent, or as
a tiger, or as a man, or as something else in different places. When he
has thus returned to the earth, someone, a sage, asks: 'Who art thou?'
And he should answer: 'From the wise moon, who orders the seasons, when
it is born consisting of fifteen parts, from the moon who is the home of
our ancestors, the seed was brought. This seed, even me, they, the gods,
mentioned in the Pańkâgnividyâ, gathered up in an active man, and
through an active man they brought me to a mother. Then I, growing up to
be born, a being living by months, whether twelve or thirteen, was
together with my father, who also lived by years of twelve or thirteen
months, that I might either know the true Brahman or not know it.
Therefore, O ye seasons, grant that I may attain immortality, i.e.,
knowledge of Brahman. By this my true saying, by this my toil, beginning
with the dwelling in the moon and ending with my birth on earth, I am
like a season, and the child of the seasons.' 'Who art thou?' the sage
asks again. 'I am thou,' he replies. Then he sets him free to proceed
onward.

"He, at the time of death, having reached the path of the gods, comes to
the world of Agni, or fire, to the world of Vâyu, or air, to the world
of Varuna, to the world of Indra, to the world of Pragâpati, to the
world of Brahman. In that world there is the lake Âra, the moments
called Yeshtiha, the river Vigarâ, i.e., age-less, the tree Ilyâ, the
city Sâlagya, the palace Aparâgita, i.e., unconquerable, the
door-keepers Indra and Pragâpati, the hall of Brahman, called Vibhu
(built by vibhu, egoism), the throne Vikakshanâ, i.e., perception, the
couch Amitaugas or endless splendor, and the beloved Mânasî, i.e., mind,
and her image Kâkshushî, the eye, who, as if taking flowers, are weaving
the worlds, and the Apsaras, the Ambâs, or sacred scriptures, and
Ambâyavîs, or understanding, and the rivers Ambayâs leading to the
knowledge of Brahman. To this world he who knows the Paryanka-vidyâ
approaches. Brahman says to him: 'Run towards him, servants, with such
worship as is due to myself. He has reached the river Vigarâ, the
age-less, he will never age.'

"Then five hundred Apsaras go towards him, one hundred with garlands in
their hands, one hundred with ointments in their hands, one hundred with
perfumes in their hands, one hundred with garments in their hands, one
hundred with fruit in their hands. They adorn him with an adornment
worthy of Brahman, and when thus adorned with the adornment of Brahman,
the knower of Brahman moves towards Brahman. He comes to the lake Âra,
and he crosses it by the mind, while those who come to it without
knowing the truth, are drowned. He comes to the moments called Yeshtiha,
they flee from him. He comes to the river Vigarâ, and crosses it by the
mind alone, and there shakes off his good and evil deeds. His beloved
relatives obtain the good, his unbeloved relatives the evil he has done.
And as a man, driving in a chariot, might look at the two wheels without
being touched by them, thus he will look at day and night, thus at good
and evil deeds, and at all pairs, all correlative things, such as light
and darkness, heat and cold. Being freed from good and freed from evil,
he, the knower of Brahman, moves towards Brahman.

"He approaches the tree Ilya, and the odor of Brahman reaches him. He
approaches the city Sâlagya, and the flavor of Brahman reaches him. He
approaches the palace Aparâgita, and the splendor of Brahman reaches
him. He approaches the door-keepers Indra and Pragâpati, and they run
away from him. He approaches the hall Vibhu, and the glory of Brahman
reaches him and he thinks, 'I am Brahman.' He approaches the throne
Vikakshanâ. The Sâman verses, Brihad and Rathantara, are the eastern
feet of that throne; the Sâman verses, Syaita and Naudhasa, its western
feet; the Sâman verses, Vairűpa and Vairâga, its sides lengthways, south
and north; the Sâman verses, Sâkvara and Raivata, its sides crossways,
east and west. That throne is Pragńâ, knowledge, for by knowledge,
self-knowledge, he sees clearly. He approaches the couch Amitaugas. That
is Prâna, i.e., speech. The past and the future are its eastern feet;
prosperity and earth its western feet; the Sâman verses, Brihad and
Rathantara, are the two sides lengthways of the couch, south and north;
the Sâman verses, Bhadra and Yagńâyagńiya, are its cross-sides at the
head and feet, east and west; the Rik and Sâman are the long sheets,
east and west; the Yagus the cross-sheets, south and north; the
moon-beam the cushion; the Udgîtha the white coverlet; prosperity the
pillow. On this couch sits Brahman, and he who knows himself one with
Brahman, sitting on the couch, mounts it first with one foot only. Then
Brahman says to him: 'Who art thou?' and he shall answer: 'I am like a
season, and the child of the seasons, sprung from the womb of endless
space, from the light, from the luminous Brahman. The light, the origin
of the year, which is the past, which is the present, which is all
living things, and all elements, is the Self. Thou art the Self. What
thou art, that am I.' Brahman says to him: 'Who am I?' He shall answer:
'That which is, the true.' Brahman asks: 'What is the true?' He says to
him: 'What is different from the gods and from the senses that is Sat,
but the gods and the senses are Tyam. Therefore, by that name Sattya, or
true, is called all this whatever there is. All this thou art.' This is
also declared by a verse: 'This great Rishi, whose belly is the Yagus,
the head the Sâman, the form the Rik, is to be known as being
imperishable, as being Brahman.'

"Brahman says to him: 'How dost thou obtain my male names?' He should
answer: 'By breath.' Brahman asks: 'How my female names?' He should
answer: 'By speech.' Brahman asks: 'How my neuter names?' He should
answer: 'By mind.' 'How smells?' 'By the nose.' 'How forms?' 'By the
eye.' 'How sounds?' 'By the ear.' 'How flavors of food?' 'By the
tongue.' 'How actions?' 'By the hands.' 'How pleasures and pain?' 'By
the body.' 'How joy, delight, and offspring?' 'By the organ.' 'How
journeyings?' 'By the feet.' 'How thoughts, and what is to be known and
desired?' 'By knowledge alone.'

"Brahman says to him: 'Water indeed is this my world, the whole Brahman
world, and it is thine.'

"Whatever victory, whatever might belongs to Brahman, that victory and
that might he obtains who knows this, yea, who knows this."[15]



KNOWLEDGE OF THE LIVING SPIRIT


"Prâna, or breath,[16] is Brahman," thus says Kaushîtaki. "Of this
prâna, which is Brahman, the mind is the messenger, speech the
housekeeper, the eye the guard, the ear the informant. He who knows mind
as the messenger of prâna, which is Brahman, becomes possessed of the
messenger. He who knows speech as the housekeeper, becomes possessed of
the housekeeper. He who knows the eye as the guard, becomes possessed of
the guard. He who knows the ear as the informant, becomes possessed of
the informant.

"Now to that prâna, which is Brahman, all these deities, mind, speech,
eye, ear, bring an offering, though he asks not for it, and thus to him
who knows this all creatures bring an offering, though he asks not for
it. For him who knows this, there is this Upanishad, or secret vow, 'Beg
not!' As a man who has begged through a village and got nothing sits
down and says, 'I shall never eat anything given by those people,' and
as then those who formerly refused him press him to accept their alms,
thus is the rule for him who begs not, but the charitable will press him
and say, 'Let us give to thee.'"

"Prâna, or breath, is Brahman," thus says Paingya. "And in that prâna,
which is Brahman, the eye stands firm behind speech, the ear stands firm
behind the eye, the mind stands firm behind the ear, and the spirit
stands firm behind the mind.[17] To that prâna, which is Brahman, all
these deities bring an offering, though he asks not for it, and thus to
him who knows this, all creatures bring an offering, though he asks not
for it. For him who knows this, there is this Upanishad, or secret vow,
'Beg not!' As a man who has begged through a village and got nothing
sits down and says, 'I shall never eat anything given by those people,'
and as then those who formerly refused him press him to accept their
alms, thus is the rule for him who begs not, but the charitable will
press him and say, 'Let us give to thee.'

"Now follows the attainment of the highest treasure, i.e., spirit.[18]
If a man meditates on that highest treasure, let him on a full moon or a
new moon, or in the bright fortnight, under an auspicious Nakshatra, at
one of these proper times, bending his right knee, offer oblations of
ghee with a ladle, after having placed the fire, swept the ground,
strewn the sacred grass, and sprinkled water. Let him say: 'The deity
called Speech is the attainer, may it attain this for me from him who
possesses and can bestow what I wish for. Svâhâ to it!' 'The deity
called prâna, or breath, is the attainer, may it attain this for me from
him. Svâhâ to it!' 'The deity called the eye is the attainer, may it
attain this for me from him. Svâhâ to it!' 'The deity called the ear is
the attainer, may it attain this for me from him. Svâhâ to it!' 'The
deity called mind is the attainer of it, may it attain this for me from
him. Svâhâ to it!' 'The deity called knowledge is the attainer of it,
may it attain this for me from him. Svâhâ to it!'

"Then having inhaled the smell of the smoke, and having rubbed his limbs
with the ointment of ghee, walking on in silence, let him declare his
wish, or let him send a messenger. He will surely obtain his wish.

"Now follows the Daiva Smara, the desire to be accomplished by the gods.
If a man desires to become dear to any man or woman, or to any men or
women, then at one of the fore-mentioned proper times he offers, in
exactly the same manner as before, oblations of ghee, saying: 'I offer
thy speech in myself, I this one here, Svâhâ.' 'I offer thy ear in
myself, I this one here, Svâhâ.' 'I offer thy mind in myself, I this one
here, Svâhâ.' 'I offer thy knowledge in myself, I this one here, Svâhâ.'
Then having inhaled the smell of the smoke, and having rubbed his limbs
with the ointment of ghee, walking on in silence, let him try to come in
contact or let him stand speaking in the wind, so that the wind may
carry his words to the person by whom he desires to be loved. Surely he
becomes dear, and they think of him.

"Now follows the restraint instituted by Pratardana, the son of
Divodâsa: they call it the inner Agni-hotri. So long as a man speaks, he
cannot breathe, he offers all the while his breath in his speech. And so
long as a man breathes, he cannot speak, he offers all the while his
speech in his breath. These two endless and immortal oblations he offers
always, whether waking or sleeping. Whatever other oblations there are
(those, e.g., of the ordinary Agni-hotri, consisting of milk and other
things), they have an end, for they consist of works which, like all
works, have an end. The ancients, knowing this the best Agni-hotri, did
not offer the ordinary Agni-hotri.

"Uktha is Brahman, thus said Sushkabhringâra. Let him meditate on the
uktha as the same with the Rik, and all beings will praise him as the
best. Let him meditate on it as the same with the Yagus, and all beings
will join before him as the best. Let him meditate on it as the same
with the Sâman, and all beings will bow before him as the best. Let him
meditate on it as the same with might, let him meditate on it as the
same with glory, let him meditate on it as the same with splendor. For
as the bow is among weapons the mightiest, the most glorious, the most
splendid, thus is he who knows this among all beings the mightiest, the
most glorious, the most splendid. The Adhvaryu conceives the fire of the
altar, which is used for the sacrifice, to be himself. In it he the
Adhvaryu weaves the Yagus portion of the sacrifice. And in the Yagus
portion the Hotri weaves the Rik portion of the sacrifice. And in the
Rik portion the Udgâtri weaves the Sâman portion of the sacrifice. He,
the Adhvaryu, or prâna, is the self of the threefold knowledge; he
indeed is the self of prâna. He who knows this is the self of it, i.e.,
becomes prâna.

"Next follow the three kinds of meditation of the all-conquering
Kaushîtaki. The all-conquering Kaushîtaki adores the sun when rising,
having put on the sacrificial cord,[19] having brought water, and having
thrice sprinkled the water-cup, saying: 'Thou art the deliverer, deliver
me from sin.' In the same manner he adores the sun when in the zenith,
saying: 'Thou art the highest deliverer, deliver me highly from sin.' In
the same manner he adores the sun when setting, saying: 'Thou art the
full deliverer, deliver me fully from sin.' Thus he fully removes
whatever sin he committed by day and by night. And in the same manner he
who knows this, likewise adores the sun, and fully removes whatever sin
he committed by day and by night.

"Then, secondly, let him worship every month in the year at the time of
the new moon, the moon as it is seen in the west in the same manner as
before described with regard to the sun, or let him send forth his
speech towards the moon with two green blades of grass, saying: 'O thou
who art mistress of immortal joy, through that gentle heart of mine
which abides in the moon, may I never weep for misfortune concerning my
children.'

"The children of him who thus adores the moon do not indeed die before
him. Thus it is with a man to whom a son is already born.

"Now for one to whom no son is born as yet. He mutters the three Rik
verses. 'Increase, O Soma! may vigor come to thee.' 'May milk, may food
go to thee.' 'That ray which the Âdityas gladden.'

"Having muttered these three Rik verses, he says: 'Do not increase by
our breath, by our offspring, by our cattle; he who hates us and whom we
hate, increase by his breath, by his offspring, by his cattle. Thus I
turn the turn of the god, I return the turn of Âditya.' After these
words, having raised the right arm towards Soma, he lets it go again.

"Then, thirdly, let him worship on the day of the full moon the moon as
it is seen in the east in the same manner, saying: 'Thou art Soma, the
king, the wise, the five-mouthed, the lord of creatures. The Brahmana is
one of thy mouths; with that mouth thou eatest the kings; make me an
eater of food by that mouth! The king is one of thy mouths; with that
mouth thou eatest the people; make me an eater of food by that mouth!
The hawk is one of thy mouths; with that mouth thou eatest the birds;
make me an eater of food by that mouth! Fire is one of thy mouths; with
that mouth thou eatest this world; make me an eater of food by that
mouth! In thee there is the fifth mouth; with that mouth thou eatest all
beings; make me an eater of food by that mouth! Do not decrease by our
life, by our offspring, by our cattle; he who hates us and whom we hate,
decrease by his life, by his offspring, by his cattle. Thus I turn the
turn of the god, I return the turn of Âditya.' After these words, having
raised the right arm, he lets it go again.

"Next, having addressed these prayers to Soma, when being with his wife,
let him stroke her heart, saying: 'O fair one, who hast obtained
immortal joy by that which has entered thy heart through Pragâpati,
mayest thou never fall into sorrow about thy children.' Her children
then do not die before her.

"Next, if a man has been absent and returns home, let him kiss his son's
head, saying: 'Thou springest from every limb, thou art born from the
heart, thou, my son, art my self indeed: live thou a hundred harvests.'
He gives him his name, saying: 'Be thou a stone, be thou an axe, be thou
solid gold; thou, my son, art light indeed: live thou a hundred
harvests.' He pronounces his name. Then he embraces him, saying: 'As
Pragâpati the lord of creatures embraced his creatures for their
welfare, thus I embrace thee,' (pronouncing his name). Then he mutters
into his right ear, saying: 'O thou, quick Maghavan, give to him.' 'O
Indra, bestow thy best wishes'--thus he whispers into his left ear. Let
him then thrice kiss his head, saying: 'Do not cut off the line of our
race, do not suffer. Live a hundred harvests of life; I kiss thy head, O
son, with thy name.' He then thrice makes a lowing sound over his head,
saying: 'I low over thee with the lowing sound of cows.'

"Next follows the Daiva Parimara, the dying around of the gods, the
absorption of the two classes of gods, mentioned before, into prâna or
Brahman. This Brahman shines forth indeed when the fire burns, and it
dies when it burns not. Its splendor goes to the sun alone, the life
prâna, the moving principle, to the air.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when the sun is seen, and it dies when
it is not seen. Its splendor goes to the moon alone, the life to the
air.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when the moon is seen, and it dies
when it is not seen. Its splendor goes to the lightning alone, its life
to the air.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when the lightning flashes, and it
dies when it flashes not. Its splendor goes to the air, and the life to
the air.

"Thus all these deities (fire, sun, moon, lightning), having entered the
air, though dead, do not vanish; and out of the very air they rise
again. So much with reference to the deities. Now then, with reference
to the body.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when one speaks with speech, and it
dies when one does not speak. His splendor goes to the eye alone, the
life to breath.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when one sees with the eye, and it
dies when one does not see. Its splendor goes to the ear alone, the life
to breath.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when one hears with the ear, and it
dies when one does not hear. Its splendor goes to the mind alone, the
life to breath.

"This Brahman shines forth indeed when one thinks with the mind, and it
dies when one does not think. Its splendor goes to the breath alone, and
the life to breath.

"Thus all these deities (the senses, etc.), having entered breath or
life alone, though dead, do not vanish; and out of very breath they rise
again. And if two mountains, the southern and northern, were to move
forward trying to crush him who knows this, they would not crush him.
But those who hate him and those whom he hates, they die around him.

"Next follows the Nihsreyasâdâna, i.e., the accepting of the preeminence
of breath or life by the other gods. The deities, speech, eye, ear,
mind, contending with each for who was the best, went out of this body,
and the body lay without breathing, withered, like a log of wood. Then
speech went into it, but speaking by speech, it lay still. Then the eye
went into it, but speaking by speech, and seeing by the eye, it lay
still. Then the ear went into it, but speaking by speech, seeing by the
eye, hearing by the ear, it lay still. Then mind went into it, but
speaking by speech, seeing by the eye, hearing by the ear, thinking by
the mind, it lay still. Then breath went into it, and thence it rose at
once. All these deities, having recognized the preeminence in life, and
having comprehended life alone as the conscious self, went out of this
body with all these five different kinds of life, and resting in the
air, knowing that life had entered the air and merged in the ether, they
went to heaven. And in the same manner he who knows this, having
recognized the preëminence in prâna, and having comprehended life alone
as the conscious self, goes out of this body with all these, does no
longer believe in this body, and resting in the air, and merged in the
ether, he goes to heaven: he goes to where those gods are. And having
reached this heaven, he, who knows this, becomes immortal with that
immortality which those gods enjoy.

"Next follows the father's tradition to the son, and thus they explain
it. The father, when going to depart, calls his son, after having strewn
the house with fresh grass, and having laid the sacrificial fire, and
having placed near it a pot of water with a jug, full of rice, himself
covered with a new cloth, and dressed in white. He places himself above
his son, touching his organs with his own organs, or he may deliver the
tradition to him while he sits before him. Then he delivers it to him.
The father says: 'Let me place my speech in thee.' The son says: 'I take
thy speech in me.' The father says: 'Let me place my scent in thee.' The
son says: 'I take thy scent in me.' The father says: 'Let me place my
eye in thee.' The son says: 'I take thy eye in me.' The father says:
'Let me place my ear in thee.' The son says: 'I take thy ear in me.' The
father says: 'Let me place my tastes of food in thee.' The son says: 'I
take thy tastes of food in me.' The father says: 'Let me place my
actions in thee.' The son says: 'I take thy actions in me.' The father
says: 'Let me place my pleasure and pain in thee.' The son says: 'I take
thy pleasure and pain in me.' The father says: 'Let me place happiness,
joy, and offspring in thee.' The son says: 'I take thy happiness, joy,
and offspring in me.' The father says: 'Let me place my walking in
thee.' The son says: 'I take thy walking in me.' The father says: 'Let
me place my mind in thee.' The son says: 'I take thy mind in me.' The
father says: 'Let me place my knowledge in thee.' The son says: 'I take
thy knowledge in me.' But if the father is very ill, he may say shortly:
Let me place my spirits in thee,' and the son: 'I take thy spirits in
me.'

"Then the son walks round his father, keeping his right side towards
him, and goes away. The father calls after him: 'May fame, glory of
countenance, and honor always follow thee.' Then the other looks back
over his left shoulder, covering himself with his hand or the hem of his
garment, saying: 'Obtain the heavenly worlds and all desires.'

"If the father recovers, let him be under the authority of his son, or
let him wander about as an ascetic. But if he departs, then let them
despatch him, as he ought to be despatched, yea, as he ought to be
despatched."



LIFE AND CONSCIOUSNESS


Pratardana, the son of Divodâsa, King of Kâsî, came by means of fighting
and strength to the beloved abode of Indra. Indra said to him:
"Pratardana, let me give you a boon to choose." And Pratardana answered:
"Do you yourself choose that boon for me which you deem most beneficial
for a man." Indra said to him: "No one who chooses, chooses for another;
choose thyself." Then Pratardana replied: "Then that boon to choose is
no boon for me."

Then, however, Indra did not swerve from the truth, for Indra is truth.
Indra said to him: "Know me only; that is what I deem most beneficial
for man, that he should know me. I slew the three-headed son of
Tvashtri; I delivered the Arunmukhas, the devotees, to the wolves;
breaking many treaties, I killed the people of Prahlâda in heaven, the
people of Puloma in the sky, the people of Kâlakańga on earth. And not
one hair of me was harmed there. And he who knows me thus, by no deed of
his is his life harmed: not by the murder of his mother, not by the
murder of his father, not by theft, not by the killing of a Brahman. If
he is going to commit a sin, the bloom does not depart from his face. I
am prâna, meditate on me as the conscious self, as life, as immortality.
Life is prâna, prâna is life. Immortality is prâna, prâna is
immortality. As long as prâna dwells in this body, so long surely there
is life. By prâna he obtains immortality in the other world, by
knowledge true conception. He who meditates on me as life and
immortality, gains his full life in this world, and obtains in the
Svarga world immortality and indestructibility."

Pratardana said: "Some maintain here, that the prânas become one, for
otherwise no one could at the same time make known a name by speech, see
a form with the eye, hear a sound with the ear, think a thought with the
mind. After having become one, the prânas perceive all these together,
one by one. While speech speaks, all prânas speak after it. While the
eye sees, all prânas see after it. While the ear hears, all prânas hear
after it. While the mind thinks, all prânas think after it. While the
prâna breathes, all prânas breathe after it."

"Thus it is indeed," said Indra, "but nevertheless there is a
preëminence among the prânas. Man lives deprived of speech, for we see
dumb people. Man lives deprived of sight, for we see blind people. Man
lives deprived of hearing, for we see deaf people. Man lives deprived of
mind, for we see infants. Man lives deprived of his arms, deprived of
his legs, for we see it thus. But prâna alone is the conscious self, and
having laid hold of this body, it makes it rise up. Therefore it is
said, 'Let man worship it alone as uktha.' What is prâna, that is
pragńâ, or self-consciousness; what is pragńâ (self-consciousness), that
is prâna, for together they live in this body, and together they go out
of it. Of that, this is the evidence, this is the understanding. When a
man, being thus asleep, sees no dream whatever, he becomes one with that
prâna alone. Then speech goes to him, when he is absorbed in prâna, with
all names, the eye with all forms, the ear with all sounds, the mind
with all thoughts. And when he awakes, then, as from a burning fire
sparks proceed in all directions; thus from that self the prânas
proceed, each towards its place: from the prânas the gods, from the gods
the worlds.

"Of this, this is the proof, this is the understanding. When a man is
thus sick, going to die, falling into weakness and faintness, they say:
'His thought has departed, he hears not, he sees not, he speaks not, he
thinks not.' Then he becomes one with that prâna alone. Then speech goes
to him who is absorbed in prâna, with all names, the eye with all forms,
the ear with all sounds, the mind with all thoughts. And when he departs
from this body, he departs together with all these.

"Speech gives up to him who is absorbed in prâna all names, so that by
speech he obtains all names. The nose gives up to him all odors, so that
by scent he obtains all odors. The eye gives up to him all forms, so
that by the eye he obtains all forms. The ear gives up to him all
sounds, so that by the ear he obtains all sounds. The mind gives up to
him all thoughts, so that by the mind he obtains all thoughts. This is
the complete absorption in prâna. And what is prâna is pragńâ, or
self-consciousness; what is pragńâ, is prâna. For together do these two
live in the body, and together do they depart.

"Now we shall explain how all things become one in that
self-consciousness. Speech is one portion taken out of pragńâ, or
self-conscious knowledge: the word is its object, placed outside. The
nose is one portion taken out of it, the odor is its object, placed
outside. The eye is one portion taken out of it, the form is its object,
placed outside. The ear is one portion taken out of it, the sound is its
object, placed outside. The tongue is one portion taken out of it, the
taste of food is its object, placed outside. The two hands are one
portion taken out of it, their action is their object, placed outside.
The body is one portion taken out of it, its pleasure and pain are its
object, placed outside. The organ is one portion taken out of it,
happiness, joy, and offspring are its object, placed outside. The two
feet are one portion taken out of it, movements are their object, placed
outside. Mind is one portion taken out of it, thoughts and desires are
its object, placed outside.

"Having by self-conscious knowledge taken possession of speech, he
obtains by speech all words. Having taken possession of the nose, he
obtains all odors. Having taken possession of the eye, he obtains all
forms. Having taken possession of the ear, he obtains all sounds. Having
taken possession of the tongue, he obtains all tastes of food. Having
taken possession of the two hands, he obtains all actions. Having taken
possession of the body, he obtains pleasure and pain. Having taken
possession of the organ, he obtains happiness, joy, and offspring.
Having taken possession of the two feet, he obtains all movements.
Having taken possession of mind, he obtains all thoughts.

"For without self-consciousness speech does not make known to the self
any word.[20] 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that
word.' Without self-consciousness the nose does not make known any odor.
'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that odor.' Without
self-consciousness the eye does not make known any form. 'My mind was
absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that form.' Without
self-consciousness the ear does not make known any sound. 'My mind was
absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that sound.' Without
self-consciousness the tongue does not make known any taste. 'My mind
was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that taste.' Without
self-consciousness the two hands do not make known any act. 'Our mind
was absent,' they say, 'we did not perceive any act.' Without
self-consciousness the body does not make known pleasure or pain. 'My
mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that pleasure or pain.'
Without self-consciousness the organ does not make known happiness, joy,
or offspring. 'My mind was absent,' he says, 'I did not perceive that
happiness, joy, or offspring.' Without self-consciousness the two feet
do not make known any movement. 'Our mind was absent,' they say, 'we did
not perceive that movement.' Without self-consciousness no thought
succeeds, nothing can be known that is to be known.

"Let no man try to find out what speech is, let him know the speaker.
Let no man try to find out what odor is, let him know him who smells.
Let no man try to find out what form is, let him know the seer. Let no
man try to find out what sound is, let him know the hearer. Let no man
try to find out the tastes of food, let him know the knower of tastes.
Let no man try to find out what action is, let him know the agent. Let
no man try to find out what pleasure and pain are, let him know the
knower of pleasure and pain. Let no man try to find out what happiness,
joy, and offspring are, let him knew the knower of happiness, joy, and
offspring. Let no man try to find out what movement is, let him know the
mover. Let no man try to find out what mind is, let him know the
thinker. These ten objects (what is spoken, smelled, seen, felt) have
reference to self-consciousness; the ten subjects (speech, the senses,
mind) have reference to objects. If there were no objects, there would
be no subjects; and if there were no subjects, there would be no
objects. For on either side alone nothing could be achieved. But the
self of pragńâ, consciousness, and prâna, life, is not many, but one.
For as in a car the circumference of a wheel is placed on the spokes,
and the spokes on the nave, thus are these objects, as a circumference,
placed on the subjects as spokes, and the subjects on the prâna. And
that prâna, the living and breathing power, indeed is the self of
pragńâ, the self-conscious self: blessed, imperishable, immortal. He
does not increase by a good action, nor decrease by a bad action. For
the self of prâna and pragńâ makes him, whom he wishes to lead up from
these worlds, do a good deed; and the same makes him, whom he wishes to
lead down from these worlds, do a bad deed. And he is the guardian of
the world, he is the king of the world, he is the lord of the
universe--and he is my (Indra's) self; thus let it be known, yea, thus
let it be known!"


[Footnote 14: The question put by Kitra to Svetaketu is very obscure,
and was probably from the first intended to be obscure in its very
wording. Kitra wished to ask, doubtless, concerning the future life.
That future life is reached by two roads; one leading to the world of
Brahman (the conditioned), beyond which there lies one other stage only,
represented by knowledge of, and identity with the unconditioned
Brahman; the other leading to the world of the fathers, and from thence,
after the reward of good works has been consumed, back to a new round of
mundane existence. There is a third road for creatures which live and
die, worms, insects, and creeping things, but they are of little
consequence. Now it is quite clear that the knowledge which King Kitra
possesses, and which Svetaketu does not possess, is that of the two
roads after death, sometimes called the right and the left, or the
southern and northern roads. The northern or left road, called also the
path of the Devas, passes on from light and day to the bright half of
the moon; the southern or right road, called also the path of the
fathers, passes on from smoke and night to the dark half of the moon.
Both roads therefore meet in the moon, but diverge afterwards. While the
northern road passes by the six months when the sun moves towards the
north, through the sun, moon, and the lightning to the world of Brahman,
the southern passes by the six months when the sun moves towards the
south, to the world of the fathers, the ether, and the moon. The great
difference, however, between the two roads is, that while those who
travel on the former do not return again to a new life on earth, but
reach in the end a true knowledge of the unconditioned Brahman, those
who pass on to the world of the fathers and the moon return to earth to
be born again and again. The speculations on the fate of the soul after
death seem to have been peculiar to the royal families of India, while
the Brahmans dwelt more on what may be called the shorter cut, a
knowledge of Brahman as the true Self. To know, with them, was to be,
and, after the dissolution of the body, they looked forward to immediate
emancipation, without any further wanderings.]

[Footnote 15: Who knows the conditioned and mythological form of Brahman
as here described, sitting on the couch.]

[Footnote 16: In the first chapter it was said, "He approaches the couch
Amitaugas, that is prâna" (breath, spirit, life). Therefore having
explained in the first chapter the knowledge of the couch (of Brahman),
the next subject to be explained is the knowledge of prâna, the living
spirit, taken for a time as Brahman, or the last cause of everything.]

[Footnote 17: Speech is uncertain, and has to be checked by the eye. The
eye is uncertain, taking mother of pearl for silver, and must be checked
by the ear. The ear is uncertain, and must be checked by the mind, for
unless the mind is attentive, the ear hears not. The mind, lastly,
depends on the spirit, for without spirit there is no mind.]

[Footnote 18: The vital spirits are called the highest treasure, because
a man surrenders everything to preserve his vital spirits or his life.]

[Footnote 19: This is one of the earliest, if not the earliest mention
of the yagńopavîta, the sacred cord as worn over the left shoulder for
sacrificial purposes.]

[Footnote 20: Professor Cowell has translated a passage from the
commentary which is interesting as showing that its author and the
author of the Upanishads too had a clear conception of the correlative
nature of knowledge. "The organ of sense," he says, "cannot exist
without pragńâ (self-consciousness), nor the objects of sense be
obtained without the organ, therefore--on the principle, that when one
thing cannot exist without another, that thing is said to be identical
with the other--as the cloth, for instance, being never perceived
without the threads, is identical with them, or the (false perception
of) silver being never found without the mother of pearl is identical
with it, so the objects of sense being never found without the organs
are identical with them, and the organs being never found without pragńâ
(self-consciousness) are identical with it."]




SELECTIONS FROM THE KORAN

Translation by George Sale



INTRODUCTION


The importance of the "Koran" lies in the fact that it is a religious
book of the East, read and stored in the memory of a hundred millions of
people of different races and civilizations, inhabiting countries
extending from the western borders of China to the pillars of Hercules.
It is considered by the Mohammedan to contain all the knowledge and all
the literature necessary for men. When it was demanded of Mohammed to
confirm the authority of his mission by some work of wonder, he pointed
to the "Koran," and exclaimed, "Behold the greatest miracle of all." The
learned men of Alexandria asked the Caliph Omar to give to them the vast
library at Alexandria. "If those books," he replied, "contain anything
which is contrary to the 'Koran' they deserve to be destroyed. If they
contain what is written in the 'Koran,' they are unnecessary." He
ordered them to be distributed among the baths of the city, to serve as
fuel for their furnaces.

The composition of the "Koran" is all the work of Mohammed. He himself
claimed that he spoke merely as the oracle of God. The commands and
injunctions are in the first person, as if spoken by the Divine Being.
The passionate enthusiasm and religious earnestness of the prophet are
plainly seen in these strange writings. Sometimes, however, he sinks
into the mere Arabian story-teller, whose object is the amusement of his
people. He is not a poet, but when he deals with the unity of God, with
the beneficence of the Divine Being, with the wonders of Nature, with
the beauty of resignation, he exhibits a glowing rhetoric, a power of
gorgeous imagery, of pathos, and religious devotion, that make the
"Koran" the first written work in the Arabian tongue.

If we take Mohammed's own account of the composition of the volume, we
must believe that the completed "Koran" existed from all eternity, on a
tablet preserved in the upper heavens. Once a year, during the period of
the prophet's active work, fragments of this tablet were brought down by
the angel Gabriel to the lower heavens of the moon, and imparted to the
prophet, who was periodically transported to that celestial sphere. The
words were recited by the angel, and dictated by the prophet to his
scribe. These detached scraps were written on the ribs of palm leaves,
or the shoulder-blades of sheep, or parchment, and were stored in a
chest, in which they were kept until the caliphat of Abu Bekr, in the
seventh century, when they were collected in one volume. Such marvels of
revelation were made at different periods to the prophet, and were
called Surahs, and formed separate chapters in the Koran as we have it
to-day. Some of these Surahs contradict what had previously been uttered
by the prophet, but this discrepancy is obviated by the expedient of
what is called "abrogation," and the more recent utterances were held to
supersede and rescind those which were contradictory to it in the
earlier revelation.

It may well be believed that these sibylline leaves of Mohammedanism
make up a heterogeneous jumble of varied elements. Some of the chapters
are long, others are short; now the prophet seems to be caught up by a
whirlwind, and is brought face to face with ineffable mysteries, of
which he speaks in the language of rhapsody. At other times he is dry
and prosaic, indulging in wearisome iterations, and childish
trivialities. Now he assumes the plain, clear voice of the law-giver, or
raises his accents into the angry threatenings of the relentless and
bloodthirsty fanatic. Yet throughout the whole volume there is a strain
of religious resignation, of trust in God, of hopefulness under
adversity, of kindliness towards men, which reveal a nobility of ideal,
a simplicity and purity in the conception of the Divine Being, and the
relations of human life, which make the work not without inspiration,
even to the thoughtful man of the nineteenth century. The Koran must
always be considered one of the most potent of religious books, one of
the greatest documents which reveal the struggle of the human heart
after a knowledge of God, and of faithful accomplishment of the Divine
will. Perhaps the essence of the work as furnishing a philosophy of
life, is contained in the axioms of Abu Bekr, one of the most exalted in
character of Mohammed's successors. "Good actions," he says, "are a
guard against the blows of adversity." And again, "Death is the easiest
of all things after it, and the hardest of all things before it." To
which we may add the sentence of Ali, "Riches without God are the
greatest poverty and misery."

There are twenty-nine chapters of the "Koran," which begin with certain
letters of the alphabet: some with a single one, others with more. These
letters the Mohammedans believe to be the peculiar marks of the "Koran,"
and to conceal several profound mysteries, the certain understanding of
which, the more intelligent confess, has not been communicated to any
mortal, their prophet only excepted. Notwithstanding which, some will
take the liberty of guessing at their meaning by that species of Cabbala
called by the Jews, Notarikon, and suppose the letters to stand for as
many words expressing the names and attributes of God, his works,
ordinances, and decrees; and therefore these mysterious letters, as well
as the verses themselves, seem in the "Koran" to be called signs. Others
explain the intent of these letters from their nature or organ, or else
from their value in numbers, according to another species of the Jewish
Cabbala called Gematria; the uncertainty of these conjectures
sufficiently appears from their disagreement. Thus, for example, five
chapters, one of which is the second, begin with the letters A.L.M.,
which some imagine to stand for _Allah latîf magîd_--"God is gracious
and to be glorified"--or, _Ana li minni_--"to me and from me"--belongs
all perfection, and proceeds all good; or else for _Ana Allah âlam_--"I
am the most wise God"--taking the first letter to mark the beginning of
the first word, the second the middle of the second word, and the third
the last of the third word: or for "Allah, Gabriel, Mohammed," the
author, revealer, and preacher of the "Koran." Others say that as the
letter A belongs to the lower part of the throat, the first of the
organs of speech; L to the palate, the middle organ: and M to the lips,
which are the last organs; so these letters signify that God is the
beginning, middle, and end, or ought to be praised in the beginning,
middle, and end of all our words and actions; or, as the total value of
those three letters in numbers is seventy-one, they signify that in the
space of so many years, the religion preached in the "Koran" should be
fully established. The conjecture of a learned Christian is, at least,
as certain as any of the former, who supposes those letters were set
there by the amanuensis, for _Amar li Mohammed_--"at the command of
Mohammed"--as the five letters prefixed to the nineteenth chapter seem
to be there written by a Jewish scribe, for _Cob yaas_--"thus he
commanded."

The general contents of the "Koran" may be divided under three heads:
First, precepts and laws in matters of religion, such as prayer,
fasting, pilgrimage; there are laws also given in the affairs of the
civil life, such as marriage, the possession and bequeathing of
property, and the administration of justice. The second division would
include histories, which consist in a great part of incidents from the
Bible, as Christians know it. Mohammed probably picked up a good deal of
hearsay knowledge in this department from Jews and Christians. Some of
his historical incidents are purely fabulous, others are perversions or
falsifications of the Scriptural narrative. This portion of the "Koran,"
interesting and anecdotic as it is, is the least satisfactory of the
work, and shows the writer in his true ignorance, and disregard for
historic verification. When, for instance, he confounds Miriam, the
sister of Moses, with Mary the Mother of Christ, he shows himself lost
in truly Oriental clouds of mystic error. The third element in the
"Koran" is a large body of admonitions, many of them addressed to the
outside world, and to unbelievers who are exhorted to accept the creed
that there is one God and Mohammed is His prophet. War is put forth as a
legitimate method of propagating the faith. The duties of life, such as
justice, temperance, resignation and industry, are enforced. Hell is
threatened to infidels and immoral people; and from whatever sources the
writer derived his materials there can be no doubt that the moral scheme
he promulgated was in every sense a revelation to the degraded idolaters
and fire-worshippers, amongst whom he discharged the mission of his
life. Mohammed preached what he called the truth, with the sword in one
hand and the "Koran" in the other. But the empire established by the
sword would long since have crumbled into dust like that of Alexander or
Augustus, unless the "Koran" had fixed its teaching in the minds of the
conquered, had regulated by its precepts their social and political
life, had supported and exalted their faith with the doctrine of one
Almighty and beneficent God; had cheered them with the hope of a
Resurrection, and illuminated their minds with the vision of a Paradise,
the grossest of whose delights were afterwards to be interpreted by
Arabic commentators in accordance with the highest spiritual
capabilities of the human race.

E.W.



MOHAMMED AND MOHAMMEDANISM

By Thomas Carlyle


From the first rude times of Paganism among the Scandinavians in the
North, we advance to a very different epoch of religion, among a very
different people: Mohammedanism among the Arabs. A great change; what a
change and progress is indicated here, in the universal condition and
thoughts of men!

The Hero is not now regarded as a God among his fellow-men; but as one
God-inspired, as a Prophet. It is the second phasis of Hero-worship: the
first or oldest, we may say, has passed away without return; in the
history of the world there will not again be any man, never so great,
whom his fellow-men will take for a god. Nay we might rationally ask,
Did any set of human beings ever really think the man they _saw_ there
standing beside them a god, the maker of this world? Perhaps not: it was
usually some man they remembered, or _had_ seen. But neither can this
any more be. The Great Man is not recognized henceforth as a god any
more.

It was a rude gross error, that of counting the Great Man a god. Yet let
us say that it is at all times difficult to know _what_ he is, or how to
account of him and receive him! The most significant feature in the
history of an epoch is the manner it has of welcoming a Great Man. Ever,
to the true instincts of men, there is something godlike in him. Whether
they shall take him to be a god, to be a prophet, or what they shall
take him to be? that is ever a grand question; by their way of answering
that, we shall see, as through a little window, into the very heart of
these men's spiritual condition. For at bottom the Great Man, as he
comes from the hand of Nature, is ever the same kind of thing: Odin,
Luther, Johnson, Burns; I hope to make it appear that these are all
originally of one stuff; that only by the world's reception of them, and
the shapes they assume, are they so immeasurably diverse. The worship of
Odin astonishes us,--to fall prostrate before the Great Man, into
_deliquium_ of love and wonder over him, and feel in their hearts that
he was a denizen of the skies, a god! This was imperfect enough: but to
welcome, for example, a Burns as we did, was that what we can call
perfect? The most precious gift that Heaven can give to the Earth; a man
of "genius" as we call it; the Soul of a Man actually sent down from the
skies with a God's-message to us,--this we waste away as an idle
artificial firework, sent to amuse us a little, and sink it into ashes,
wreck, and ineffectuality: _such_ reception of a Great Man I do not call
very perfect either! Looking into the heart of the thing, one may
perhaps call that of Burns a still uglier phenomenon, betokening still
sadder imperfections in mankind's ways, than the Scandinavian method
itself! To fall into mere unreasoning _deliquium_ of love and
admiration, was not good; but such unreasoning, nay irrational
supercilious no-love at all is perhaps still worse!--It is a thing
forever changing, this of Hero-worship: different in each age, difficult
to do well in any age. Indeed, the heart of the whole business of the
age, one may say, is to do it well.

We have chosen Mohammed not as the most eminent Prophet; but as the one
we are freest to speak of. He is by no means the truest of Prophets; but
I do esteem him a true one. Further, as there is no danger of our
becoming, any of us, Mohammedans, I mean to say all the good of him I
justly can. It is the way to get at his secret: let us try to understand
what _he_ meant with the world; what the world meant and means with him,
will then be a more answerable question. Our current hypothesis about
Mohammed, that he was a scheming Impostor, a Falsehood incarnate, that
his religion is a mere mass of quackery and fatuity, begins really to be
now untenable to any one. The lies, which well-meaning zeal has heaped
round this man, are disgraceful to ourselves only. When Pococke inquired
of Grotius where the proof was of that story of the pigeon, trained to
pick peas from Mohammed's ear, and pass for an angel dictating to him,
Grotius answered that there was no proof! It is really time to dismiss
all that. The word this man spoke has been the life-guidance now of a
hundred-and-eighty millions of men these twelve-hundred years. These
hundred-and-eighty millions were made by God as well as we. A greater
number of God's creatures believe in Mohammed's word at this hour than
in any other word whatever. Are we to suppose that it was a miserable
piece of spiritual legerdemain, this which so many creatures of the
Almighty have lived by and died by? I, for my part, cannot form any such
supposition. I will believe most things sooner than that. One would be
entirely at a loss what to think of this world at all, if quackery so
grew and were sanctioned here.

Alas, such theories are very lamentable. If we would attain to knowledge
of anything in God's true Creation, let us disbelieve them wholly! They
are the product of an Age of Scepticism; they indicate the saddest
spiritual paralysis, and mere death-life of the souls of men: more
godless theory, I think, was never promulgated in this Earth. A false
man found a religion? Why, a false man cannot build a brick house! If he
do not know and follow _truly_ the properties of mortar, burnt clay and
what else he works in, it is no house that he makes, but a rubbish-heap.
It will not stand for twelve centuries, to lodge a hundred-and-eighty
millions; it will fall straightway. A man must conform himself to
Nature's laws, _be_ verily in communion with Nature and the truth of
things, or Nature will answer him, No, not at all! Speciosities are
specious--ah me!--a Cagliostro, many Cagliostros, prominent
world-leaders, do prosper by their quackery, for a day. It is like a
forged bank-note; they get it passed out of _their_ worthless hands:
others, not they, have to smart for it. Nature bursts-up in fire-flames,
French Revolutions and suchlike, proclaiming with terrible veracity that
forged notes are forged.

But of a Great Man especially, of him I will venture to assert that it
is incredible he should have been other than true. It seems to me the
primary foundation of him, and of all that can lie in him, this. No
Mirabeau, Napoleon, Burns, Cromwell, no man adequate to do anything, but
is first of all in right earnest about it; what I call a sincere man. I
should say _sincerity_, a deep, great, genuine sincerity, is the first
characteristic of all men in any way heroic. Not the sincerity that
calls itself sincere; ah no, that is a very poor matter indeed;--a
shallow braggart conscious sincerity; oftenest self-conceit mainly. The
Great Man's sincerity is of the kind he cannot speak of, is not
conscious of; nay, I suppose, he is conscious rather of _in_sincerity;
for what man can walk accurately by the law of truth for one day? No,
the Great Man does not boast himself sincere, far from that; perhaps
does not ask himself if he is so: I would say rather, his sincerity does
not depend on himself; he cannot help being sincere! The great Fact of
Existence is great to him. Fly as he will, he cannot get out of the
awful presence of this Reality. His mind is so made; he is great by
that, first of all. Fearful and wonderful, real as Life, real as Death,
is this Universe to him. Though all men should forget its truth, and
walk in a vain show, he cannot. At all moments the Flame-image glares-in
upon him; undeniable, there, there!--I wish you to take this as my
primary definition of a Great Man. A little man may have this, it is
competent to all men that God has made: but a Great Man cannot be
without it.

Such a man is what we call an _original_ man; he comes to us at
first-hand. A messenger he, sent from the Infinite Unknown with tidings
to us. We may call him Poet, Prophet, God;--in one way or other, we all
feel that the words he utters are as no other man's words. Direct from
the Inner Fact of things:--he lives, and has to live, in daily communion
with that. Hearsays cannot hide it from him; he is blind, homeless,
miserable, following hearsays; _it_ glares-in upon him. Really his
utterances, are they not a kind of "revelation";--what we must call such
for want of other name? It is from the heart of the world that he comes;
he is portion of the primal reality of things. God has made many
revelations: but this man too, has not God made him, the latest and
newest of all? The "inspiration of the Almighty giveth _him_
understanding": we must listen before all to him.

This Mohammed, then, we will in no wise consider as an Inanity and
Theatricality, a poor conscious ambitious schemer; we cannot conceive
him so. The rude message he delivered was a real one withal; an earnest
confused voice from the unknown Deep. The man's words were not false,
nor his workings here below; no Inanity and Simulacrum; a fiery mass of
Life cast-up from the great bosom of Nature herself. To _kindle_ the
world; the world's Maker had ordered it so. Neither can the faults,
imperfections, insincerities even, of Mohammed, if such were never so
well proved against him, shake this primary fact about him.

On the whole, we make too much of faults; the details of the business
hide the real centre of it. Faults? The greatest of faults, I should
say, is to be conscious of none. Readers of the Bible above all, one
would think, might know better. Who is called there "the man according
to God's own heart"? David, the Hebrew King, had fallen into sins
enough; blackest crimes; there was no want of sins. And thereupon the
unbelievers sneer and ask, Is this your man according to God's heart?
The sneer, I must say, seems to me but a shallow one. What are faults,
what are the outward details of a life; if the inner secret of it, the
remorse, temptations, true, often-baffled, never-ended struggle of it,
be forgotten? "It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps." Of
all acts, is not, for a man, _repentance_ the most divine? The deadliest
sin, I say, were that same supercilious consciousness of no sin;--that
is death; the heart so conscious is divorced from sincerity, humility,
and fact; is dead: it is "pure" as dead dry sand is pure. David's life
and history, as written for us in those Psalms of his, I consider to be
the truest emblem ever given of a man's moral progress and warfare here
below. All earnest souls will ever discern in it the faithful struggle
of an earnest human soul towards what is good and best. Struggle often
baffled, sore baffled, down as into entire wreck; yet a struggle never
ended; ever, with tears, repentance, true unconquerable purpose, begun
anew. Poor human nature! Is not a man's walking, in truth, always that:
"a succession of falls"? Man can do no other. In this wild element of a
Life, he has to struggle onwards; now fallen, deep-abased; and ever,
with tears, repentance, with bleeding heart, he has to rise again,
struggle again still onwards. That his struggle _be_ a faithful
unconquerable one: that is the question of questions. We will put-up
with many sad details, if the soul of it were true. Details by
themselves will never teach us what it is. I believe we misestimate
Mohammed's faults even as faults: but the secret of him will never be
got by dwelling there. We will leave all this behind us; and assuring
ourselves that he did mean some true thing, ask candidly what it was or
might be.

These Arabs Mohammed was born among are certainly a notable people.
Their country itself is notable; the fit habitation for such a race.
Savage inaccessible rock-mountains, great grim deserts, alternating with
beautiful strips of verdure: wherever water is, there is greenness,
beauty; odoriferous balm-shrubs, date-trees, frankincense-trees.
Consider that wide waste horizon of sand, empty, silent, like a
sand-sea, dividing habitable place from habitable. You are all alone
there, left alone with the Universe; by day a fierce sun blazing down on
it with intolerable radiance; by night the great deep Heaven with its
stars. Such a country is fit for a swift-handed, deep-hearted race of
men. There is something most agile, active, and yet most meditative,
enthusiastic in the Arab character. The Persians are called the French
of the East; we will call the Arabs Oriental Italians. A gifted noble
people; a people of wild strong feelings, and of iron restraint over
these: the characteristic of noblemindedness, of genius. The wild
Bedouin welcomes the stranger to his tent, as one having right to all
that is there; were it his worst enemy, he will slay his foal to treat
him, will serve him with sacred hospitality for three days, will set him
fairly on his way;--and then, by another law as sacred, kill him if he
can. In words too, as in action. They are not a loquacious people,
taciturn rather; but eloquent, gifted when they do speak. An earnest,
truthful kind of men. They are, as we know, of Jewish kindred: but with
that deadly terrible earnestness of the Jews they seem to combine
something graceful, brilliant, which is not Jewish. They had "poetic
contests" among them before the time of Mohammed. Sale says, at Ocadh,
in the South of Arabia, there were yearly fairs, and there, when the
merchandising was done, Poets sang for prizes:--the wild people gathered
to hear that.

One Jewish quality these Arabs manifest; the outcome of many or of all
high qualities: what we may call religiosity. From of old they had been
zealous worshippers, according to their light. They worshipped the
stars, as Sabeans; worshipped many natural objects--recognized them as
symbols, immediate manifestations, of the Maker of Nature. It was wrong;
and yet not wholly wrong. All God's works are still in a sense symbols
of God. Do we not, as I urged, still account it a merit to recognize a
certain inexhaustible significance, "poetic beauty" as we name it, in
all natural objects whatsoever? A man is a poet, and honored, for doing
that, and speaking or singing it--a kind of diluted worship. They had
many Prophets, these Arabs; Teachers each to his tribe, each according
to the light he had. But indeed, have we not from of old the noblest of
proofs, still palpable to every one of us, of what devoutness and
noblemindedness had dwelt in these rustic thoughtful peoples? Biblical
critics seem agreed that our own _Book of Job_ was written in that
region of the world. I call that, apart from all theories about it, one
of the grandest things ever written with pen. One feels, indeed, as if
it were not Hebrew; such a noble universality, different from noble
patriotism or sectarianism, reigns in it. A noble Book; all men's Book!
It is our first, oldest statement of the never-ending Problem,--man's
destiny, and God's ways with him here in this earth. And all in such
free flowing outlines; grand in its sincerity, in its simplicity; in its
epic melody, and repose of reconcilement. There is the seeing eye, the
mildly understanding heart. So _true_ everyway; true eyesight and vision
for all things; material things no less than spiritual: the Horse--"hast
thou clothed his neck with _thunder_?"--he "_laughs_ at the shaking of
the spear!" Such living likenesses were never since drawn. Sublime
sorrow, sublime reconciliation; oldest choral melody as of the heart of
mankind;--so soft, and great; as the summer midnight, as the world with
its seas and stars! There is nothing written, I think, in the Bible or
out of it, of equal literary merit.--

To the idolatrous Arabs one of the most ancient universal objects of
worship was that Black Stone, still kept in the building called Caabah
at Mecca. Diodorus Siculus mentions this Caabah in a way not to be
mistaken, as the oldest, most honored temple in his time; that is, some
half-century before our Era. Silvestre de Sacy says there is some
likelihood that the Black Stone is an aerolite. In that case, some man
might _see_ it fall out of Heaven! It stands now beside the Well Zemzem;
the Caabah is built over both. A Well is in all places a beautiful
affecting object, gushing out like life from the hard earth;--still more
so in those hot dry countries, where it is the first condition of being.
The Well Zemzem has its name from the bubbling sound of the waters,
_zem-zem_; they think it is the Well which Hagar found with her little
Ishmael in the wilderness: the aerolite and it have been sacred now, and
had a Caabah over them, for thousands of years. A curious object, that
Caabah! There it stands at this hour, in the black cloth-covering the
Sultan sends it yearly; "twenty-seven cubits high;" with circuit, with
double circuit of pillars, with festoon rows of lamps and quaint
ornaments: the lamps will be lighted again _this_ night--to glitter
again under the stars. An authentic fragment of the oldest Past. It is
the _Keblah_ of all Moslem: from Delhi all onwards to Morocco, the eyes
of innumerable praying men are turned towards _it_, five times, this day
and all days: one of the notablest centres in the Habitation of Men.

It had been from the sacredness attached to this Caabah Stone and
Hagar's Well, from the pilgrimings of all tribes of Arabs thither, that
Mecca took its rise as a Town. A great town once, though much decayed
now. It has no natural advantage for a town; stands in a sandy hollow
amid bare barren hills, at a distance from the sea; its provisions, its
very bread, have to be imported. But so many pilgrims needed lodgings:
and then all places of pilgrimage do, from the first, become places of
trade. The first day pilgrims meet, merchants have also met: where men
see themselves assembled for one object, they find that they can
accomplish other objects which depend on meeting together. Mecca became
the Fair of all Arabia. And thereby indeed the chief staple and
warehouse of whatever Commerce there was between the Indian and the
Western countries, Syria, Egypt, even Italy. It had at one time a
population of 100,000; buyers, forwarders of those Eastern and Western
products; importers for their own behoof of provisions and corn. The
government was a kind of irregular aristocratic republic, not without a
touch of theocracy. Ten Men of a chief tribe, chosen in some rough way,
were Governors of Mecca, and Keepers of the Caabah. The Koreish were the
chief tribe in Mohammed's time; his own family was of that tribe. The
rest of the Nation, fractioned and cut-asunder by deserts, lived under
similar rude patriarchal governments by one or several: herdsmen,
carriers, traders, generally robbers too; being oftenest at war one with
another, or with all: held together by no open bond, if it were not this
meeting at the Caabah, where all forms of Arab Idolatry assembled in
common adoration;--held mainly by the _inward_ indissoluble bond of a
common blood and language. In this way had the Arabs lived for long
ages, unnoticed by the world; a people of great qualities, unconsciously
waiting for the day when they should become notable to all the world.
Their Idolatries appear to have been in a tottering state; much was
getting into confusion and fermentation among them. Obscure tidings of
the most important Event ever transacted in this world, the Life and
Death of the Divine Man in Judea, at once the symptom and cause of
immeasurable change to all people in the world, had in the course of
centuries reached into Arabia too; and could not but, of itself, have
produced fermentation there.

It was among this Arab people, so circumstanced, in the year 570 of our
Era, that the man Mohammed was born. He was of the family of Hashem, of
the Koreish tribe as we said; though poor, connected with the chief
persons of his country. Almost at his birth he lost his Father; at the
age of six years his Mother too, a woman noted for her beauty, her worth
and sense: he fell to the charge of his Grandfather, an old man, a
hundred years old. A good old man: Mohammed's Father, Abdallah, had been
his youngest favorite son. He saw in Mohammed, with his old life-worn
eyes, a century old, the lost Abdallah come back again, all that was
left of Abdallah. He loved the little orphan Boy greatly; used to say
they must take care of that beautiful little Boy, nothing in their
kindred was more precious than he. At his death, while the boy was still
but two years old, he left him in charge to Abu Thaleb the eldest of the
Uncles, as to him that now was head of the house. By this Uncle, a just
and rational man as everything betokens, Mohammed was brought-up in the
best Arab way.

Mohammed, as he grew up, accompanied his Uncle on trading journeys and
suchlike; in his eighteenth year one finds him a fighter following his
Uncle in war. But perhaps the most significant of all his journeys is
one we find noted as of some years' earlier date: a journey to the Fairs
of Syria. The young man here first came in contact with a quite foreign
world,--with one foreign element of endless moment to him: the Christian
Religion. I know not what to make of that "Sergius, the Nestorian Monk,"
whom Abu Thaleb and he are said to have lodged with; or how much any
monk could have taught one still so young. Probably enough it is greatly
exaggerated, this of the Nestorian Monk. Mohammed was only fourteen; had
no language but his own: much in Syria must have been a strange
unintelligible whirlpool to him. But the eyes of the lad were open;
glimpses of many things would doubtless be taken-in, and lie very
enigmatic as yet, which were to ripen in a strange way into views, into
beliefs and insights one day. These journeys to Syria were probably the
beginning of much to Mohammed.

One other circumstance we must not forget: that he had no
school-learning; of the thing we call school-learning none at all. The
art of writing was but just introduced into Arabia; it seems to be the
true opinion that Mohammed never could write! Life in the Desert, with
its experiences, was all his education. What of this infinite Universe
he, from his dim place, with his own eyes and thoughts, could take in,
so much and no more of it was he to know. Curious, if we will reflect on
it, this of having no books. Except by what he could see for himself, or
hear of by uncertain rumor of speech in the obscure Arabian Desert, he
could know nothing. The wisdom that had been before him or at a distance
from him in the world, was in a manner as good as not there for him. Of
the great brother souls, flame-beacons through so many lands and times,
no one directly communicates with this great soul. He is alone there,
deep down in the bosom of the Wilderness; has to grow up so,--alone with
Nature and his own Thoughts.

But, from an early age, he had been remarked as a thoughtful man. His
companions named him "_Al Amin_, the Faithful." A man of truth and
fidelity; true in what he did, in what he spake and thought. They noted
that _he_ always meant something. A man rather taciturn in speech;
silent when there was nothing to be said; but pertinent, wise, sincere,
when he did speak; always throwing light on the matter. This is the only
sort of speech _worth_ speaking! Through life we find him to have been
regarded as an altogether solid, brotherly, genuine man. A serious,
sincere character; yet amiable, cordial, companionable, jocose even;--a
good laugh in him withal: there are men whose laugh is as untrue as
anything about them; who cannot laugh. One hears of Mohammed's beauty:
his fine sagacious honest face, brown florid complexion, beaming black
eyes;--I somehow like too that vein on the brow, which swelled-up black
when he was in anger: like the "horse-shoe vein" in Scott's
_Red-gauntlet_. It was a kind of feature in the Hashem family, this
black swelling vein in the brow; Mahomet had it prominent, as would
appear. A spontaneous, passionate, yet just, true-meaning man! Full of
wild faculty, fire and light; of wild worth, all uncultured; working out
his life-task in the depths of the Desert there.

How he was placed with Kadijah, a rich Widow, as her Steward, and
travelled in her business, again to the Fairs of Syria; how he managed
all, as one can well understand, with fidelity, adroitness; how her
gratitude, her regard for him grew: the story of their marriage is
altogether a graceful intelligible one, as told us by the Arab authors.
He was twenty-five; she forty, though still beautiful. He seems to have
lived in a most affectionate, peaceable, wholesome way with this wedded
benefactress; loving her truly, and her alone. It goes greatly against
the impostor theory, the fact that he lived in this entirely
unexceptionable, entirely quiet and commonplace way, till the heat of
his years was done. He was forty before he talked of any mission from
Heaven. All his irregularities, real and supposed, date from after his
fiftieth year, when the good Kadijah died. All his "ambition,"
seemingly, had been, hitherto, to live an honest life; his "fame," the
mere good opinion of neighbors that knew him, had been sufficient
hitherto. Not till he was already getting old, the prurient heat of his
life all burnt out, and _peace_ growing to be the chief thing this world
could give him, did he start on the "career of ambition"; and, belying
all his past character and existence, set-up as a wretched empty
charlatan to acquire what he could now no longer enjoy! For my share, I
have no faith whatever in that.

Ah no: this deep-hearted Son of the Wilderness, with his beaming black
eyes and open social deep soul, had other thoughts in him than ambition.
A silent great soul; he was one of those who cannot _but_ be in earnest;
whom Nature herself has appointed to be sincere. While others walk in
formulas and hearsays, contented enough to dwell there, this man could
not screen himself in formulas; he was alone with his own soul and the
reality of things. The great Mystery of Existence, as I said, glared-in
upon him, with its terrors, with its splendors; no hearsays could hide
that unspeakable fact, "Here am I!" Such _sincerity_, as we named it,
has in very truth something of divine. The word of such a man is a Voice
direct from Nature's own Heart. Men do and must listen to that as to
nothing else;--all else is wind in comparison. From of old, a thousand
thoughts, in his pilgrimings and wanderings, had been in this man: What
am I? What _is_ this unfathomable Thing I live in, which men name
Universe? What is Life; what is Death? What am I to believe? What am I
to do? The grim rocks of Mount Hara, of Mount Sinai, the stern sandy
solitudes answered not. The great Heaven rolling silent overhead, with
its blue-glancing stars, answered not. There was no answer. The man's
own soul, and what of God's inspiration dwelt there, had to answer!

It is the thing which all men have to ask themselves; which we too have
to ask, and answer. This wild man felt it to be of _infinite_ moment;
all other things of no moment whatever in comparison. The jargon of
argumentative Greek Sects, vague traditions of Jews, the stupid routine
of Arab Idolatry: there was no answer in these. A Hero, as I repeat, has
this first distinction, which indeed we may call first and last, the
Alpha and Omega of his whole Heroism, that he looks through the shows of
things into _things_. Use and wont, respectable hearsay, respectable
formula: all these are good, or are not good. There is something behind
and beyond all these, which all these must correspond with, be the image
of, or they are--_Idolatries_; "bits of black wood pretending to be
God"; to the earnest soul a mockery and abomination. Idolatries never so
gilded waited on by heads of the Koreish, will do nothing for this man.
Though all men walk by them, what good is it? The great Reality stands
glaring there upon _him_. He there has to answer it, or perish
miserably. Now, even now, or else through all Eternity never! Answer it;
_thou_ must find an answer.--Ambition? What could all Arabia do for this
man; with the crown of Greek Heraclius, of Persian Chosroes, and all
crowns in the Earth;--what could they all do for him? It was not of the
Earth he wanted to hear tell; it was of the Heaven above and of the Hell
beneath. All crowns and sovereignties whatsoever, where would _they_ in
a few brief years be? To be Sheik of Mecca or Arabia, and have a bit of
gilt wood put into your hand,--will that be one's salvation? I decidedly
think, not. We will leave it altogether, this impostor hypothesis, as
not credible; not very tolerable even, worthy chiefly of dismissal by
us.

Mohammed had been wont to retire yearly, during the month Ramadhan, into
solitude and silence; as indeed was the Arab custom; a praiseworthy
custom, which such a man, above all, would find natural and useful.
Communing with his own heart, in the silence of the mountains; himself
silent; open to the "small still voices": it was a right natural custom!
Mohammed was in his fortieth year, when having withdrawn to a cavern in
Mount Hara, near Mecca, during this Ramadhan, to pass the month in
prayer, and meditation on those great questions, he one day told his
wife Kadijah, who with his household was with him or near him this year,
that by the unspeakable special favor of Heaven he had now found it all
out; was in doubt and darkness no longer, but saw it all. That all these
Idols and Formulas were nothing, miserable bits of wood; that there was
One God in and over all; and we must leave all idols, and look to Him.
That God is great; and that there is nothing else great! He is the
Reality. Wooden Idols are not real; He is real. He made us at first,
sustains us yet; we and all things are but the shadow of Him; a
transitory garment veiling the Eternal Splendor. "_Allah akbar_," God is
great;--and then also "_Islam_," that we must _submit_ to God. That our
whole strength lies in resigned submission to Him, whatsoever He do to
us. For this world, and for the other! The thing He sends to us, were it
death and worse than death, shall be good, shall be best; we resign
ourselves to God.--"If this be _Islam_," says Goethe, "do we not all
live in _Islam_?" Yes, all of us that have any moral life; we all live
so. It has ever been held the highest wisdom for a man not merely to
submit to Necessity,--Necessity will make him submit,--but to know and
believe well that the stern thing which Necessity had ordered was the
wisest, the best, the thing wanted there. To cease his frantic
pretension of scanning this great God's-World in his small fraction of a
brain; to know that it _had_ verily, though deep beyond his soundings, a
Just Law, that the soul of it was Good;--that his part in it was to
conform to the Law of the Whole, and in devout silence follow that; not
questioning it, obeying it as unquestionable.

I say, this is yet the only true morality known. A man is right and
invincible, virtuous and on the road towards sure conquest, precisely
while he joins himself to the great deep Law of the World, in spite of
all superficial laws, temporary appearances, profit-and-loss
calculations; he is victorious while he coöperates with that great
central Law, not victorious otherwise:--and surely his first chance of
coöperating with it, or getting into the course of it, is to know with
his whole soul that it _is_; that it is good, and alone good! This is
the soul of Islam; it is properly the soul of Christianity;--for Islam
is definable as a confused form of Christianity; had Christianity not
been, neither had it been. Christianity also commands us, before all, to
be resigned to God. We are to take no counsel with flesh-and-blood; give
ear to no vain cavils, vain sorrows and wishes: to know that we know
nothing; that the worst and crudest to our eyes is not what it seems;
that we have to receive whatsoever befalls us as sent from God above,
and say, It is good and wise, God is great! "Though He slay me, yet will
I trust in Him." Islam means in its way Denial of Self, Annihilation of
Self. This is yet the highest Wisdom that Heaven has revealed to our
Earth.

Such light had come, as it could, to illuminate the darkness of this
wild Arab soul. A confused dazzling splendor as of life and Heaven, in
the great darkness which threatened to be death: he called it revelation
and the angel Gabriel;--who of us yet can know what to call it? It is
the "inspiration of the Almighty that giveth us understanding." To
_know_; to get into the truth of anything, is ever a mystic act,--of
which the best Logics can but babble on the surface. "Is not Belief the
true god-announcing Miracle?" says Novalis.--That Mohammed's whole soul,
set in flame with this grand Truth vouchsafed him, should feel as if it
were important and the only important thing, was very natural. That
Providence had unspeakably honored _him_ by revealing it, saving him
from death and darkness; that he therefore was bound to make known the
same to all creatures: this is what was meant by "Mohammed is the
Prophet of God"; this too is not without its true meaning.--

The good Kadijah, we can fancy, listened to him with wonder, with doubt:
at length she answered: Yes, it was _true_ this that he said. One can
fancy too the boundless gratitude of Mohammed; and how of all the
kindnesses she had done him, this of believing the earnest struggling
word he now spoke was the greatest. "It is certain," says Novalis, "my
Conviction gains infinitely, the moment another soul will believe in
it." It is a boundless favor.--He never forgot this good Kadijah. Long
afterwards, Ayesha his young favorite wife, a woman who indeed
distinguished herself among the Moslem, by all manner of qualities,
through her whole long life; this young brilliant Ayesha was, one day,
questioning him: "Now am not I better than Kadijah? She was a widow;
old, and had lost her looks: you love me better than you did her?"--"No,
by Allah!" answered Mohammed: "No, by Allah! She believed in me when
none else would believe. In the whole world I had but one friend, and
she was that!"--Seid, his Slave, also belie ed in him; these with his
young Cousin Ali, Abu Thaleb's son, were his first converts.

He spoke of his Doctrine to this man and that; but the most treated it
with ridicule, with indifference; in three years, I think, he had gained
but thirteen followers. His progress was slow enough. His encouragement
to go on, was altogether the usual encouragement that such a man in such
a case meets. After some three years of small success, he invited forty
of his chief kindred to an entertainment; and there stood-up and told
them what his pretension was: that he had this thing to promulgate
abroad to all men; that it was the highest thing, the one thing: which
of them would second him in that? Amid the doubt and silence of all,
young Ali, as yet a lad of sixteen, impatient of the silence,
started-up, and exclaimed in passionate fierce language that he would!
The assembly, among whom was Abu Thaleb, Ali's Father, could not be
unfriendly to Mohammed; yet the sight there, of one unlettered elderly
man, with a lad of sixteen, deciding on such an enterprise against all
mankind, appeared ridiculous to them; the assembly broke-up in laughter.
Nevertheless it proved not a laughable thing; it was a very serious
thing! As for this young Ali, one cannot but like him. A noble-minded
creature, as he shows himself, now and always afterwards; full of
affection, of fiery daring. Something chivalrous in him; brave as a
lion; yet with a grace, a truth and affection worthy of Christian
knighthood. He died by assassination in the Mosque at Bagdad; a death
occasioned by his own generous fairness, confidence in the fairness of
others: he said if the wound proved not unto death, they must pardon the
Assassin; but if it did, then they must slay him straightway, that so
they two in the same hour might appear before God, and see which side of
that quarrel was the just one!

Mohammed naturally gave offence to the Koreish, Keepers of the Caabah,
superintendents of the Idols. One or two men of influence had joined
him: the thing spread slowly, but it was spreading. Naturally he gave
offence to everybody: Who is this that pretends to be wiser than we all;
that rebukes us all, as mere fools and worshippers of wood! Abu Thaleb
the good Uncle spoke with him: Could he not be silent about all that;
believe it all for himself, and not trouble others, anger the chief men,
endanger himself and them all, talking of it? Mohammed answered: If the
Sun stood on his right hand and the Moon on his left, ordering him to
hold his peace, he could not obey! No: there was something in this Truth
he had got which was of Nature herself; equal in rank to Sun, or Moon,
or whatsoever thing Nature had made. It would speak itself there, so
long as the Almighty allowed it, in spite of Sun and Moon, and all
Koreish and all men and things. It must do that, and could do no other.
Mohammed answered so; and, they say, "burst into tears." Burst into
tears: he felt that Abu Thaleb was good to him; that the task he had got
was no soft, but a stern and great one.

He went on speaking to who would listen to him; publishing his Doctrine
among the pilgrims as they came to Mecca; gaining adherents in this
place and that. Continual contradiction, hatred, open or secret danger
attended him. His powerful relations protected Mohammed himself; but by
and by, on his own advice, all his adherents had to quit Mecca, and seek
refuge in Abyssinia over the sea. The Koreish grew ever angrier; laid
plots, and swore oaths among them, to put Mohammed to death with their
own hands. Abu Thaleb was dead, the good Kadijah was dead. Mohammed is
not solicitous of sympathy from us; but his outlook at this time was one
of the dismallest. He had to hide in caverns, escape in disguise; fly
hither and thither; homeless, in continual peril of his life. More than
once it seemed all-over with him; more than once it turned on a straw,
some rider's horse taking fright or the like, whether Mohammed and his
Doctrine had not ended there, and not been heard of at all. But it was
not to end so.

In the thirteenth year of his mission, finding his enemies all banded
against him, forty sworn men, one out of every tribe, waiting to take
his life, and no continuance possible at Mecca for him any longer,
Mohammed fled to the place then called Yathreb, where he had gained some
adherents; the place they now call Medina, or "_Medinat al Nabi_, the
City of the Prophet," from that circumstance. It lay some 200 miles off,
through rocks and deserts; not without great difficulty, in such mood as
we may fancy, he escaped thither, and found welcome. The whole East
dates its era from this Flight, _Hegira_ as they name it: the Year 1 of
this Hegira is 622 of our Era, the fifty-third of Mohammed's life. He
was now becoming an old man; his friends sinking round him one by one;
his path desolate, encompassed with danger: unless he could find hope in
his own heart, the outward face of things was but hopeless for him. It
is so with all men in the like case. Hitherto Mohammed had professed to
publish his Religion by the way of preaching and persuasion alone. But
now, driven foully out of his native country, since unjust men had not
only given no ear to his earnest Heaven's-message, the deep cry of his
heart, but would not even let him live if he kept speaking it,--the wild
Son of the Desert resolved to defend himself, like a man and Arab. If
the Koreish will have it so, they shall have it. Tidings, felt to be of
infinite moment to them and all men, they would not listen to these;
would trample them down by sheer violence, steel and murder: well, let
steel try it then! Ten years more this Mohammed had; all of fighting, of
breathless impetuous toil and struggle; with what result we know.

Much has been said of Mohammed's propagating his Religion by the sword.
It is no doubt far nobler what we have to boast of the Christian
Religion, that it propagated itself peaceably in the way of preaching
and conviction. Yet withal, if we take this for an argument of the truth
or falsehood of a religion, there is a radical mistake in it. The sword
indeed: but where will you get your sword! Every new opinion, at its
starting, is precisely in a _minority of one_. In one man's head alone,
there it dwells as yet. One man alone of the whole world believes it;
there is one man against all men. That _he_ take a sword, and try to
propagate with that, will do little for him. You must first get your
sword! On the whole, a thing will propagate itself as it can. We do not
find, of the Christian Religion either, that it always disdained the
sword, when once it had got one. Charlemagne's conversion of the Saxons
was not by preaching. I care little about the sword: I will allow a
thing to struggle for itself in this world, with any sword or tongue or
implement it has, or can lay hold of. We will let it preach, and
pamphleteer, and fight, and to the uttermost bestir itself, and do, beak
and claws, whatsoever is in it; very sure that it will, in the long-run,
conquer nothing which does not deserve to be conquered. What is better
than itself, it cannot put away, but only what is worse. In this great
Duel, Nature herself is umpire, and can do no wrong: the thing which is
deepest-rooted in Nature, what we call _truest_, that thing and not the
other will be found growing at last.

Here however, in reference to much that there is in Mohammed and his
success, we are to remember what an umpire Nature is; what a greatness,
composure of depth and tolerance there is in her. You take wheat to cast
into the Earth's bosom: your wheat may be mixed with chaff, chopped
straw, barn-sweepings, dust and all imaginable rubbish; no matter: you
cast it into the kind just Earth; she grows the wheat,--the whole
rubbish she silently absorbs, shrouds _it_ in, says nothing of the
rubbish. The yellow wheat is growing there; the good Earth is silent
about all the rest,--has silently turned all the rest to some benefit
too, and makes no complaint about it! So everywhere in Nature! She is
true and not a lie; and yet so great, and just, and motherly in her
truth. She requires of a thing only that it _be_ genuine of heart; she
will protect it if so; will not, if not so. There is a soul of truth in
all the things she ever gave harbor to. Alas, is not this the history of
all highest Truth that comes or ever came into the world? The _body_ of
them all is imperfection, an element of light _in_ darkness: to us they
have to come embodied in mere Logic, in some merely _scientific_ Theorem
of the Universe; which _cannot_ be complete; which cannot but be found,
one day, incomplete, erroneous, and so die and disappear. The body of
all Truth dies; and yet in all, I say, there is a soul which never dies;
which in new and ever-nobler embodiment lives immortal as man himself!
It is the way with Nature. The genuine essence of Truth never dies. That
it be genuine, a voice from the great Deep of Nature, there is the point
at Nature's judgment-seat. What _we_ call pure or impure, is not with
her the final question. Not how much chaff is in you; but whether you
have any wheat. Pure? I might say to many a man: Yes, you are pure; pure
enough; but you are chaff,--insincere hypothesis, hearsay, formality;
you never were in contact with the great heart of the Universe at all;
you are properly neither pure nor impure; you _are_ nothing, Nature has
no business with you.

Mohammed's Creed we called a kind of Christianity; and really, if we
look at the wild rapt earnestness with which it was believed and laid to
heart, I should say a better kind than that of those miserable Syrian
Sects, with their vain janglings about _Homoiousion_ and _Homoousion_,
the head full of worthless noise, the heart empty and dead! The truth of
it is imbedded in portentous error and falsehood; but the truth of it
makes it be believed, not the falsehood: it succeeded by its truth. A
bastard kind of Christianity, but a living kind; with a heartlife in it;
not dead, chopping barren logic merely! Out of all that rubbish of Arab
idolatries, argumentative theologies, traditions, subtleties, rumors and
hypotheses of Greeks and Jews, with their idle wiredrawings, this wild
man of the Desert, with his wild sincere heart, earnest as death and
life, with his great flashing natural eyesight, had seen into the kernel
of the matter. Idolatry is nothing: these Wooden Idols of yours, "ye rub
them with oil and wax, and the flies stick on them,"--these are wood, I
tell you! They can do nothing for you; they are an impotent blasphemous
pretence; a horror and abomination, if ye knew them. God alone is; God
alone has power; He made us, He can kill us and keep us alive: "_Allah
akbar_, God is great." Understand that His will is the best for you;
that howsoever sore to flesh-and-blood, you will find it the wisest,
best: you are bound to take it so; in this world and in the next, you
have no other thing that you can do!

And now if the wild idolatrous men did believe this, and with their
fiery hearts lay hold of it to do it, in what form soever it came to
them, I say it was well worthy of being believed. In one form or the
other, I say it is still the one thing worthy of being believed by all
men. Man does hereby become the high-priest of this Temple of a World.
He is in harmony with the Decrees of the Author of this World;
cooperating with them, not vainly withstanding them: I know, to this
day, no better definition of Duty than that same. All that is _right_
includes itself in this of cooperating with the real Tendency of the
World: you succeed by this (the World's Tendency will succeed), you are
good, and in the right course there. _Homoiousion, Homoousion_, vain
logical jangle, then or before or at any time, may jangle itself out,
and go whither and how it likes: this is the _thing_ it all struggles to
mean, if it would mean anything. If it do not succeed in meaning this,
it means nothing. Not that Abstractions, logical Propositions, be
correctly worded or incorrectly; but that living concrete Sons of Adam
do lay this to heart: that is the important point. Islam devoured all
these vain jangling Sects; and I think had right to do so. It was a
Reality, direct from the great Heart of Nature once more. Arab
idolatries, Syrian formulas, whatsoever was not equally real, had to go
up in flame,--mere dead _fuel_, in various senses, for this which was
_fire_.

It was during these wild warfarings and strugglings, especially after
the Flight to Mecca, that Mohammed dictated at intervals his Sacred
Book, which they name _Koran_, or _Reading_, "Thing to be read." This is
the Work he and his disciples made so much of, asking all the world, Is
not that a miracle? The Mohammedans regard their Koran with a reverence
which few Christians pay even to their Bible. It is admitted everywhere
as the standard of all law and all practice; the thing to be gone-upon
in speculation and life: the message sent direct out of Heaven, which
this earth has to conform to, and walk by; the thing to be read. Their
Judges decide by it; all Moslem are bound to study it, seek in it for
the light of their life. They have mosques where it is all read daily;
thirty relays of priests take it up in succession, get through the whole
each day. There, for twelve-hundred years, has the voice of this Book,
at all moments, kept sounding through the ears and the hearts of so many
men. We hear of Mohammedan Doctors that had read it seventy-thousand
times!

Very curious: if one sought for "discrepancies of national taste," here
surely were the most eminent instance of that! We also can read the
Koran; our Translation of it, by Sale, is known to be a very fair one. I
must say, it is as toilsome reading as I ever undertook. A wearisome
confused jumble, crude, incondite; endless iterations, long-windedness,
entanglement; most crude, incondite;--insupportable stupidity, in short!
Nothing but a sense of duty could carry any European through the Koran.
We read in it, as we might in the State-Paper Office, unreadable masses
of lumber, that perhaps we may get some glimpses of a remarkable man. It
is true we have it under disadvantages: the Arabs see more method in it
than we. Mohammed's followers found the Koran lying all in fractions, as
it had been written-down at first promulgation; much of it, they say, on
shoulder-blades of mutton flung pell-mell into a chest; and they
published it, without any discoverable order as to time or
otherwise;--merely trying, as would seem, and this not very strictly, to
put the longest chapters first. The real beginning of it, in that way,
lies almost at the end: for the earliest portions were the shortest.
Read in its historical sequence it perhaps would not be so bad. Much of
it, too, they say, is rhythmic; a kind of wild chanting song, in the
original. This may be a great point; much perhaps has been lost in the
Translation here. Yet with every allowance, one feels it difficult to
see how any mortal ever could consider this Koran as a Book written in
Heaven, too good for the Earth; as a well-written book, or indeed as a
_book_ at all; and not a bewildered rhapsody; _written_, so far as
writing goes, as badly as almost any book ever was! So much for national
discrepancies, and the standard of taste.

Yet I should say, it was not unintelligible how the Arabs might so love
it. When once you get this confused coil of a Koran fairly off your
hands, and have it behind you at a distance, the essential type of it
begins to disclose itself; and in this there is a merit quite other than
the literary one. If a book come from the heart, it will contrive to
reach other hearts; all art and authorcraft are of small amount to that.
One would say the primary character of the Koran is this of its
_genuineness_, of its being a _bona-fide_ book. Prideaux, I know, and
others, have represented it as a mere bundle of juggleries; chapter
after chapter got-up to excuse and varnish the author's successive sins,
forward his ambitions and quackeries: but really it is time to dismiss
all that. I do not assert Mohammed's continual sincerity: who is
continually sincere? But I confess I can make nothing of the critic, in
these times, who would accuse him of deceit _prepense_; of conscious
deceit generally, or perhaps at all;--still more, of living in a mere
element of conscious deceit, and writing this Koran as a forger and
juggler would have done! Every candid eye, I think, will read the Koran
far otherwise than so. It is the confused ferment of a great rude human
soul; rude, untutored, that cannot even read; but fervent, earnest,
struggling vehemently to utter itself in words. With a kind of
breathless intensity he strives to utter himself; the thoughts crowd on
him pell-mell: for very multitude of things to say, he can get nothing
said. The meaning that is in him shapes itself into no form of
composition, is stated in no sequence, method, or coherence;--they are
not _shaped_ at all, these thoughts of his; flung-out unshaped, as they
struggle and tumble there, in their chaotic inarticulate state. We said
"stupid": yet natural stupidity is by no means the character of
Mohammed's Book; it is natural un-cultivation rather. The man has not
studied speaking; in the haste and pressure of continual fighting, has
not time to mature himself into fit speech. The panting breathless haste
and vehemence of a man struggling in the thick of battle for life and
salvation; this is the mood he is in! A headlong haste; for very
magnitude of meaning, he cannot get himself articulated into words. The
successive utterances of a soul in that mood, colored by the various
vicissitudes of three-and-twenty years; now well uttered, now worse:
this is the Koran.

For we are to consider Mohammed, through these three-and-twenty years,
as the centre of a world wholly in conflict, Battles with the Koreish
and Heathen, quarrels among his own people, backslidings of his own wild
heart; all this kept him in a perpetual whirl, his soul knowing rest no
more. In wakeful nights, as one may fancy, the wild soul of the man,
tossing amid these vortices, would hail any light of a decision for them
as a veritable light from Heaven; _any_ making-up of his mind, so
blessed, indispensable for him there, would seem the inspiration of a
Gabriel. Forger and juggler? No, no! This great fiery heart, seething,
simmering like a great furnace of thoughts, was not a juggler's. His
life was a Fact to him; this God's Universe an awful Fact and Reality.
He has faults enough. The man was an uncultured semi-barbarous Son of
Nature, much of the Bedouin still clinging to him: we must take him for
that. But for a wretched Simulacrum, a hungry Impostor without eyes or
heart, practising for a mess of pottage such blasphemous swindlery,
forgery of celestial documents, continual high-treason against his Maker
and Self, we will not and cannot take him.

Sincerity, in all senses, seems to me the merit of the Koran; what had
rendered it precious to the wild Arab men. It is, after all, the first
and last merit in a book; gives rise to merits of all kinds,--nay, at
bottom, it alone can give rise to merit of any kind. Curiously, through
these incondite masses of tradition, vituperation, complaint,
ejaculation in the Koran, a vein of true direct insight, of what we
might almost call poetry, is found straggling. The body of the Book is
made up of mere tradition, and as it were vehement enthusiastic
extempore preaching. He returns forever to the old stories of the
Prophets as they went current in the Arab memory: how Prophet after
Prophet, the Prophet Abraham, the Prophet Hud, the Prophet Moses,
Christian and other real and fabulous Prophets, had come to this Tribe
and to that, warning men of their sin; and been received by them even as
he Mohammed was,--which is a great solace to him. These things he
repeats ten, perhaps twenty times; again and ever again, with wearisome
iteration; has never done repeating them. A brave Samuel Johnson, in his
forlorn garret, might con-over the Biographies of Authors in that way!
This is the great staple of the Koran. But curiously, through all this,
comes ever and anon some glance as of the real thinker and seer. He has
actually an eye for the world, this Mohammed: with a certain directness
and rugged vigour, he brings home still, to our heart, the thing his own
heart has been opened to. I make but little of his praises of Allah,
which many praise; they are borrowed I suppose mainly from the Hebrew,
at least they are far surpassed there. But the eye that flashes direct
into the heart of things, and _sees_ the truth of them; this is to me a
highly interesting object. Great Nature's own gift; which she bestows on
all; but which only one in the thousand does not cast sorrowfully away:
it is what I call sincerity of vision; the test of a sincere heart.

Mohammed can work no miracles; he often answers impatiently: I can work
no miracles. I? "I am a Public Preacher"; appointed to preach this
doctrine to all creatures. Yet the world, as we can see, had really from
of old been all one great miracle to him. Look over the world, says he;
is it not wonderful, the work of Allah; wholly "a sign to you," if your
eyes were open! This Earth, God made it for you; "appointed paths in
it"; you can live in it, go to and fro on it.--The clouds in the dry
country of Arabia, to Mohammed they are very wonderful: Great clouds, he
says, born in the deep bosom of the Upper Immensity, where do they come
from! They hang there, the great black monsters; pour-down their
rain-deluges "to revive a dead earth," and grass springs, and "tall
leafy palm-trees with their date-clusters hanging round. Is not that a
sign?" Your cattle too,--Allah made them; serviceable dumb creatures;
they change the grass into milk; you have your clothing from them, very
strange creatures; they come ranking home at evening-time, "and," adds
he, "and are a credit to you"! Ships also,--he talks often about ships:
Huge moving mountains, they spread-out their cloth wings, go bounding
through the water there, Heaven's wind driving them; anon they lie
motionless, God has withdrawn the wind, they lie dead, and cannot stir!
Miracles? cries he; What miracle would you have? Are not you yourselves
there? God made _you_, "shaped you out of a little clay." Ye were small
once; a few years ago ye were not at all. Ye have beauty, strength,
thoughts, "ye have compassion on one another." Old age comes-on you, and
gray hairs; your strength fades into feebleness; ye sink down, and again
are not. "Ye have compassion on one another": this struck me much: Allah
might have made you having no compassion on one another,--how had it
been then! This is a great direct thought, a glance at first-hand into
the very fact of things. Rude vestiges of poetic genius, of whatsoever
is best and truest, are visible in this man. A strong untutored
intellect; eyesight, heart: a strong wild man,--might have shaped
himself into Poet, King, Priest, any kind of Hero.

To his eyes it is forever clear that this world wholly is miraculous. He
sees what, as we said once before, all great thinkers, the rude
Scandinavians themselves, in one way or other, have contrived to see:
That this so solid-looking material world is, at bottom, in very deed,
Nothing; is a visual and tactual Manifestation of God's-power and
presence,--a shadow hung-out by Him on the bosom of the void Infinite;
nothing more. The mountains, he says, these great rock-mountains, they
shall dissipate themselves "like clouds"; melt into the Blue as clouds
do, and not be! He figures the Earth, in the Arab fashion, Sale tells
us, as an immense Plain or flat Plate of ground, the mountains are set
on that to _steady_ it. At the Last Day they shall disappear "like
clouds"; the whole Earth shall go spinning, whirl itself off into wreck,
and as dust and vapor vanish in the Inane. Allah withdraws his hand from
it, and it ceases to be. The universal empire of Allah, presence
everywhere of an unspeakable Power, a Splendor, and a Terror not to be
named, as the true force, essence and reality, in all things whatsoever,
was continually clear to this man. What a modern talks-of by the name,
Forces of Nature, Laws of Nature; and does not figure as a divine thing;
not even as one thing at all, but as a set of things, undivine
enough,--saleable, curious, good for propelling steamships! With our
Sciences and Cyclopaedias, we are apt to forget the _divineness_, in
those laboratories of ours. We ought not to forget it! That once well
forgotten, I know not what else were worth remembering. Most sciences, I
think, were then a very dead thing; withered, contentious, empty;--a
thistle in late autumn. The best science, without this, is but as the
dead _timber_; it is not the growing tree and forest,--which gives
ever-new timber, among other things! Man cannot _know_ either, unless he
can _worship_ in some way. His knowledge is a pedantry, and dead
thistle, otherwise.

Much has been said and written about the sensuality of Mohammed's
Religion; more than was just. The indulgences, criminal to us, which he
permitted, were not of his appointment; he found them practised,
unquestioned from immemorial time in Arabia; what he did was to curtail
them, restrict them, not on one but on many sides. His Religion is not
an easy one: with rigorous fasts, lavations, strict complex formulas,
prayers five times a day, and abstinence from wine, it did not "succeed
by being an easy religion." As if indeed any religion, or cause holding
of religion, could succeed by that! It is a calumny on men to say that
they are roused to heroic action by ease, hope of pleasure,
recompense,--sugar-plums of any kind, in this world or the next! In the
meanest mortal there lies something nobler. The poor swearing soldier,
hired to be shot, has his "honor of a soldier," different from
drill-regulations and the shilling a day. It is not to taste sweet
things, but to do noble and true things, and vindicate himself under
God's Heaven as a god-made Man, that the poorest son of Adam dimly
longs. Show him the way of doing that, the dullest daydrudge kindles
into a hero. They wrong man greatly who say he is to be seduced by ease.
Difficulty, abnegation, martyrdom, death are the _allurements_ that act
on the heart of man. Kindle the inner genial life of him, you have a
flame that burns-up all lower considerations. Not happiness, but
something higher: one sees this even in the frivolous classes, with
their "point of honor" and the like. Not by flattering our appetites;
no, by awakening the Heroic that slumbers in every heart, can any
Religion gain followers.

Mohammed himself, after all that can be said about him, was not a
sensual man. We shall err widely if we consider this man as a common
voluptuary, intent mainly on base enjoyments,--nay on enjoyments of any
kind. His household was of the frugalest; his common diet barley-bread
and water: sometimes for months there was not a fire once lighted on his
hearth. They record with just pride that he would mend his own shoes,
patch his own cloak. A poor, hard-toiling, ill-provided man; careless of
what vulgar men toil for. Not a bad man, I should say; something better
in him than _hunger_ of any sort,--or these wild Arab men, fighting and
jostling three-and-twenty years at his hand, in close contact with him
always, would not have reverenced him so! They were wild men, bursting
ever and anon into quarrel, into all kinds of fierce sincerity; without
right worth and manhood, no man could have commanded them. They called
him Prophet, you say? Why, he stood there face to face with them; bare,
not enshrined in any mystery; visibly clouting his own cloak, cobbling
his own shoes; fighting, counselling, ordering in the midst of them:
they must have seen what kind of a man he _was_, let him be _called_
what you like! No emperor with his tiara was obeyed as this man in a
cloak of his own clouting during three-and-twenty years of rough actual
trial. I find something of a veritable Hero necessary for that, of
itself.

His last words are a prayer; broken ejaculations of a heart struggling
up, in trembling hope, towards its Maker. We cannot say that his
religion made him _worse_; it made him better; good, not bad. Generous
things are recorded of him: when he lost his Daughter, the thing he
answers is, in his own dialect, everyway sincere, and yet equivalent to
that of Christians, "The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away; blessed
be the name of the Lord." He answered in like manner of Seid, his
emancipated well-beloved Slave, the second of the believers. Seid had
fallen in the War of Tabűc, the first of Mohammed's fightings with the
Greeks. Mohammed said, It was well; Seid had done his Master's work,
Seid had now gone to his Master: it was all well with Seid. Yet Seid's
daughter found him weeping over the body;--the old gray-haired man
melting in tears! "What do I see?" said she.--"You see a friend weeping
over his friend."--He went out for the last time into the mosque, two
days before his death; asked, If he had injured any man? Let his own
back bear the stripes. If he owed any man? A voice answered, "Yes, me
three drachms," borrowed on such an occasion. Mohammed ordered them to
be paid: "Better be in shame now," said he, "than at the Day of
Judgment."--You remember Kadijah, and the "No, by Allah!" Traits of that
kind show us the genuine man, the brother of us all, brought visible
through twelve centuries,--the veritable Son of our common Mother.

Withal I like Mohammed for his total freedom from cant. He is a rough
self-helping son of the wilderness; does not pretend to be what he is
not. There is no ostentatious pride in him; but neither does he go much
upon humility: he is there as he can be, in cloak and shoes of his own
clouting; speaks plainly to all manner of Persian Kings, Greek Emperors,
what it is they are bound to do; knows well enough, about himself, "the
respect due unto thee." In a life-and-death war with Bedouins, cruel
things could not fail; but neither are acts of mercy, of noble natural
pity and generosity, wanting. Mohammed makes no apology for the one, no
boast of the other. They were each the free dictate of his heart; each
called-for, there and then. Not a mealy-mouthed man! A candid ferocity,
if the case call for it, is in him; he does not mince matters! The War
of Tabűc is a thing he often speaks of: his men refused, many of them,
to march on that occasion; pleaded the heat of the weather, the harvest,
and so forth; he can never forget that. Your harvest? It lasts for a
day. What will become of your harvest through all Eternity? Hot weather?
Yes, it was hot; "but Hell will be hotter!" Sometimes a rough sarcasm
turns-up: He says to the unbelievers, Ye shall have the just measure of
your deeds at that Great Day. They will be weighed-out to you; ye shall
not have short weight!--Everywhere he fixes the matter in his eye; he
_sees_ it: his heart, now and then, is as if struck dumb by the
greatness of it. "Assuredly," he says; that word, in the Koran, is
written-down sometimes as a sentence by itself: "Assuredly."

No _Dilettanteism_ in this Mohammed; it is a business of Reprobation and
Salvation with him, of Time and Eternity: he is in deadly earnest about
it! Dilettanteism, hypothesis, speculation, a kind of amateur-search for
Truth, toying and coquetting with Truth: this is the sorest sin. The
root of all other imaginable sins. It consists in the heart and soul of
the man never having been _open_ to Truth;--"living in a vain show."
Such a man not only utters and produces falsehoods, but _is_ himself a
falsehood. The rational moral principle, spark of the Divinity, is sunk
deep in him, in quiet paralysis of life-death. The very falsehoods of
Mohammed are truer than the truths of such a man. He is the insincere
man: smooth-polished, respectable in some times and places; inoffensive,
says nothing harsh to anybody; most _cleanly_,--just as carbonic acid
is, which is death and poison.

We will not praise Mohammed's moral precepts as always of the
superfinest sort; yet it can be said that there is always a tendency to
good in them; that they are the true dictates of a heart aiming towards
what is just and true. The sublime forgiveness of Christianity, turning
of the other cheek when the one has been smitten, is not here: you _are_
to revenge yourself, but it is to be in measure, not overmuch, or beyond
justice. On the other hand, Islam, like any great Faith, and insight
into the essence of man, is a perfect equalizer of men: the soul of one
believer outweighs all earthly kingships; all men, according to Islam
too, are equal. Mohammed insists not on the propriety of giving alms,
but on the necessity of it: he marks-down by law how much you are to
give, and it is at your peril if you neglect. The tenth part of a man's
annual income, whatever that may be, is the _property_ of the poor, of
those that are afflicted and need help. Good all this: the natural voice
of humanity, of pity and equity dwelling in the heart of this wild Son
of Nature speaks _so_.

Mohammed's Paradise is sensual, his Hell sensual: true; in the one and
the other there is enough that shocks all spiritual feeling in us. But
we are to recollect that the Arabs already had it so; that Mohammed, in
whatever he changed of it, softened and diminished all this. The worst
sensualities, too, are the work of doctors, followers of his, not his
work. In the Koran there is really very little said about the joys of
Paradise; they are intimated rather than insisted on. Nor is it
forgotten that the highest joys even there shall be spiritual; the pure
Presence of the Highest, this shall infinitely transcend all other joys.
He says, "Your salutation shall be, Peace." _Salam_, Have Peace!--the
thing that all rational souls long for, and seek, vainly here below, as
the one blessing. "Ye shall sit on seats, facing one another: all
grudges shall be taken away out of your hearts." All grudges! Ye shall
love one another freely; for each of you, in the eyes of his brothers,
there will be Heaven enough!

In reference to this of the sensual Paradise and Mohammed's sensuality,
the sorest chapter of all for us, there were many things to be said;
which it is not convenient to enter upon here. Two remarks only I shall
make, and therewith leave it to your candor. The first is furnished me
by Goethe; it is a casual hint of his which seems well worth taking note
of. In one of his Delineations, in _Meister's Travels_ it is, the hero
comes-upon a Society of men with very strange ways, one of which was
this: "We require," says the Master, "that each of our people shall
restrict himself in one direction," shall go right against his desire in
one matter, and _make_ himself do the thing he does not wish, "should we
allow him the greater latitude on all other sides." There seems to me a
great justness in this. Enjoying things which are pleasant; that is not
the evil: it is the reducing of our moral self to slavery by them that
is. Let a man assert withal that he is king over his habitudes; that he
could and would shake them off, on cause shown: this is an excellent
law. The Month Ramadhan for the Moslem, much in Mohammed's Religion,
much in his own Life, bears in that direction; if not by forethought, or
clear purpose of moral improvement on his part, then by a certain
healthy manful instinct, which is as good.

But there is another thing to be said about the Mohammedan Heaven and
Hell. This namely, that, however gross and material they may be, they
are an emblem of an everlasting truth, not always so well remembered
elsewhere. That gross sensual Paradise of his; that horrible flaming
Hell; the great enormous Day of Judgment he perpetually insists on: what
is all this but a rude shadow, in the rude Bedouin imagination, of that
grand spiritual Fact, and Beginning of Facts, which it is ill for us too
if we do not all know and feel: the Infinite Nature of Duty? That man's
actions here are of _infinite_ moment to him, and never die or end at
all; that man, with his little life, reaches upwards high as Heaven,
downwards low as Hell, and in his threescore years of Time holds an
Eternity fearfully and wonderfully hidden: all this had burnt itself, as
in flame-characters, into the wild Arab soul. As in flame and lightning,
it stands written there; awful, unspeakable, ever present to him. With
bursting earnestness, with a fierce savage sincerity, halt,
articulating, not able to articulate, he strives to speak it, bodies it
forth in that Heaven and that Hell. Bodied forth in what way you will,
it is the first of all truths. It is venerable under all embodiments.
What is the chief end of man here below? Mohammed has answered this
question, in a way that might put some of _us_ to shame! He does not,
like a Bentham, a Paley, take Right and Wrong, and calculate the profit
and loss, ultimate pleasure of the one and of the other; and summing all
up by addition and subtraction into a net result, ask you, Whether on
the whole the Right does not preponderate considerably? No; it is not
_better_ to do the one than the other; the one is to the other as life
is to death,--as Heaven is to Hell. The one must in nowise be done, the
other in nowise left undone. You shall not measure them; they are
incommensurable: the one is death eternal to a man, the other is life
eternal. Benthamee Utility, virtue by Profit and Loss; reducing this
God's-world to a dead brute Steam-engine, the infinite celestial Soul of
Man to a kind of Hay-balance for weighing hay and thistles on, pleasures
and pains on:--if you ask me which gives, Mohammed or they, the
beggarlier and falser view of Man and his Destinies in this Universe, I
will answer, It is not Mohammed!--

On the whole, we will repeat that this Religion of Mohammed's is a kind
of Christianity; has a genuine element of what is spiritually highest
looking through it, not to be hidden by all its imperfections. The
Scandinavian God _Wish_, the god of all rude men,--this has been
enlarged into a Heaven by Mohammed; but a Heaven symbolical of sacred
Duty, and to be earned by faith and well-doing, by valiant action, and a
divine patience which is still more valiant. It is Scandinavian
Paganism, and a truly celestial element super-added to that. Call it not
false; look not at the falsehood of it, look at the truth of it. For
these twelve centuries, it has been the religion and life-guidance of
the fifth part of the whole kindred of Mankind. Above all things, it has
been a religion heartily _believed_. These Arabs believe their religion,
and try to live by it! No Christians, since the early ages, or only
perhaps the English Puritans in modern times, have ever stood by their
Faith as the Moslem do by theirs,--believing it wholly, fronting Time
with it, and Eternity with it. This night the watchman on the streets of
Cairo when he cries, "Who goes?" will hear from the passenger, along
with his answer, "There is no God but God." _Allah akbar, Islam_, sounds
through the souls, and whole daily existence, of these dusky millions.
Zealous missionaries preach it abroad among Malays, black Papuans,
brutal Idolaters;--displacing what is worse, nothing that is better or
good.

To the Arab Nation it was as a birth from darkness into light; Arabia
first became alive by means of it. A poor shepherd people, roaming
unnoticed in its deserts since the creation of the world: a Hero-Prophet
was sent down to them with a word they could believe: see, the unnoticed
becomes world-notable, the small has grown world-great; within one
century afterwards, Arabia is at Grenada on this hand, at Delhi on
that;--glancing in valor and splendor and the light of genius, Arabia
shines through long ages over a great section of the world. Belief is
great, life-giving. The history of a Nation becomes fruitful,
soul-elevating, great, so soon as it believes. These Arabs, the man
Mohammed, and that one century,--is it not as if a spark had fallen, one
spark, on a world of what seemed black unnoticeable sand; but lo, the
sand proves explosive powder, blazes heaven-high from Delhi to Grenada!
I said, the Great Man was always as lightning out of Heaven; the rest of
men waited for him like fuel, and then they too would flame.




THE KORAN



CHAPTER I

Entitled, the Preface, or Introduction--Revealed at Mecca

_In the Name of the Most Merciful God_.


Praise be to God, the Lord of all creatures, the most merciful, the king
of the day of judgment. Thee do we worship, and of thee do we beg
assistance. Direct us in the right way, in the way of those to whom thou
hast been gracious; not of those against whom thou art incensed, nor of
those who go astray.[21]


[Footnote 21: This chapter is a prayer, and held in great veneration by
the Mohammedans, who give it several other honorable titles; as the
chapter of prayer, of praise, of thanksgiving, of treasure. They esteem
it as the quintessence of the whole Koran, and often repeat it in their
devotions both public and private, as the Christians do the Lord's
Prayer.]



CHAPTER II

Entitled, the Cow[22]--Revealed Partly at Mecca, and Partly at Medina

_In the Name of the Most Merciful God_,


A.L.M. There is no doubt in this book; it is a direction to the pious,
who believe in the mysteries of faith, who observe the appointed times
of prayer, and distribute alms out of what we have bestowed on them; and
who believe in that revelation, which hath been sent down unto thee, and
that which hath been sent down unto the prophets before thee, and have
firm assurance in the life to come: these are directed by their Lord,
and they shall prosper. As for the unbelievers, it will be equal to them
whether thou admonish them, or do not admonish them; they will not
believe. God hath sealed up their hearts and their hearing; a dimness
covereth their sight, and they shall suffer a grievous punishment. There
are some who say, We believe in God and the last day, but are not really
believers; they seek to deceive God, and those who do believe, but they
deceive themselves only, and are not sensible thereof. There is an
infirmity in their hearts, and God hath increased that infirmity; and
they shall suffer a most painful punishment because they have
disbelieved. When one saith unto them, Act not corruptly in the earth,
they reply, Verily, we are men of integrity. Are not they themselves
corrupt doers? but they are not sensible thereof. And when one saith
unto them, Believe ye as others believe; they answer, Shall we believe
as fools believe? Are not they themselves fools? but they know it not.
When they meet those who believe, they say, We do believe: but when they
retire privately to their devils, they say, We really hold with you, and
only mock at those people: God shall mock at them, and continue them in
their impiety; they shall wander in confusion. These are the men who
have purchased error at the price of true direction: but their traffic
hath not been gainful, neither have they been rightly directed. They are
like unto one who kindleth a fire, and when it hath enlightened all
around him, God taketh away their light and leaveth them in darkness,
they shall not see; they are deaf, dumb, and blind, therefore will they
not repent. Or like a stormy cloud from heaven, fraught with darkness,
thunder, and lightning, they put their fingers in their ears, because of
the noise of the thunder, for fear of death; God encompasseth the
infidels: the lightning wanteth but little of taking away their sight;
so often as it enlighteneth them, they walk therein, but when darkness
cometh on them, they stand still; and if God so pleased, He would
certainly deprive them of their hearing and their sight, for God is
almighty. O men of Mecca! serve your Lord who hath created you, and
those who have been before you: peradventure ye will fear him; who hath
spread the earth as a bed for you, and the heaven as a covering, and
hath caused water to descend from heaven, and thereby produced fruits
for your sustenance. Set not up therefore any equals unto God, against
your own knowledge. If ye be in doubt concerning that revelation which
we have sent down unto our servant, produce a chapter like unto it, and
call upon your witnesses, besides God, if ye say truth. But if ye do it
not, nor shall ever be able to do it, justly fear the fire whose fuel is
men and stones, prepared for the unbelievers. But bear good tidings unto
those who believe, and do good works, that they shall have gardens
watered by rivers; so often as they eat of the fruit thereof for
sustenance, they shall say, This is what we have formerly eaten of; and
they shall be supplied with several sorts of fruit having a mutual
resemblance to one another. There shall they enjoy wives subject to no
impurity, and there shall they continue forever. Moreover God will not
be ashamed to propound in a parable a gnat, or even a more despicable
thing: for they who believe will know it to be the truth from their
Lord; but the unbelievers will say, What meaneth God by this parable? he
will thereby mislead many, and will direct many thereby: but he will not
mislead any thereby, except the transgressors, who make void the
covenant of God after the establishing thereof, and cut in sunder that
which God hath commanded to be joined, and act corruptly in the earth;
they shall perish. How is it that ye believe not in God? Since ye were
dead, and he gave you life; he will hereafter cause you to die, and will
again restore you to life; then shall ye return unto him. It is he who
hath created for you whatsoever is on earth, and then set his mind to
the creation of heaven, and formed it into seven heavens; he knoweth all
things. When thy Lord said unto the angels, I am going to place a
substitute on earth,[23] they said, Wilt thou place there one who will
do evil therein, and shed blood? but we celebrate thy praise, and
sanctify thee. God answered, Verily I know that which ye know not; and
he taught Adam the names of all things, and then proposed them to the
angels, and said, Declare unto me the names of these things if ye say
truth. They answered, Praise be unto thee, we have no knowledge but what
thou teachest us, for thou art knowing and wise. God said, O Adam, tell
them their names. And when he had told them their names, God said, Did I
not tell you that I know the secrets of heaven and earth, and know that
which ye discover, and that which ye conceal? And when we said unto the
angels, Worship Adam, they all worshipped him, except Eblis, who
refused, and was puffed up with pride, and became of the number of
unbelievers.[24] And we said, O Adam, dwell thou and thy wife in the
garden, and eat of the fruit thereof plentifully wherever ye will; but
approach not this tree, lest ye become of the number of the
transgressors. But Satan caused them to forfeit paradise, and turned
them out of the state of happiness wherein they had been; whereupon we
said, Get ye down, the one of you an enemy unto the other; and there
shall be a dwelling-place for you on earth, and a provision for a
season. And Adam learned words of prayer from his Lord, and God turned
unto him, for he is easy to be reconciled and merciful. We said, Get ye
all down from hence; hereafter shall there come unto you a direction
from me, and whoever shall follow my direction, on them shall no fear
come, neither shall they be grieved; but they who shall be unbelievers,
and accuse our signs of falsehood, they shall be the companions of hell
fire, therein shall they remain forever. O children of Israel,[25]
remember my favor wherewith I have favored you; and perform your
covenant with me and I will perform my covenant with you; and revere me;
and believe in the revelation which I have sent down, confirming that
which is with you, and be not the first who believe not therein, neither
exchange my signs for a small price; and fear me. Clothe not the truth
with vanity, neither conceal the truth against your own knowledge;
observe the stated times of prayer, and pay your legal alms, and bow
down yourselves with those who bow down. Will ye command men to do
justice, and forget your own souls? yet ye read the book of the law: do
ye not therefore understand? Ask help with perseverance and prayer; this
indeed is grievous, unless to the humble, who seriously think they shall
meet their Lord, and that to him they shall return. O children of
Israel, remember my favor wherewith I have favored you, and that I have
preferred you above all nations: dread the day wherein one soul shall
not make satisfaction for another soul, neither shall any intercession
be accepted from them, nor shall any compensation be received, neither
shall they be helped. Remember when we delivered you from the people of
Pharaoh, who grievously oppressed you, they slew your male children, and
let your females live: therein was a great trial from your Lord. And
when we divided the sea for you and delivered you, and drowned Pharaoh's
people while ye looked on. And when we treated with Moses forty nights;
then ye took the calf[26] for your God, and did evil; yet afterwards we
forgave you, that peradventure ye might give thanks. And when we gave
Moses the book of the law, and the distinction between good and evil,
that peradventure ye might be directed. And when Moses said unto his
people, O my people, verily ye have injured your own souls, by your
taking the calf for your God; therefore be turned unto your Creator, and
slay those among you who have been guilty of that crime; this will be
better for you in the sight of your Creator; and thereupon he turned
unto you, for he is easy to be reconciled, and merciful. And when ye
said, O Moses, we will not believe thee, until we see God manifestly;
therefore a punishment came upon you, while ye looked on; then we raised
you to life after ye had been dead, that peradventure ye might give
thanks. And we caused clouds to overshadow you, and manna and quails[27]
to descend upon you, saying, Eat of the good things which we have given
you for food: and they injured not us, but injured their own souls. And
when we said, Enter into this city, and eat of the provisions thereof
plentifully as ye will; and enter the gate worshipping, and say,
Forgiveness! we will pardon you your sins, and give increase unto the
well-doers. But the ungodly changed the expression into another,
different from what had been spoken unto them; and we sent down upon the
ungodly indignation from heaven, because they had transgressed. And when
Moses asked drink for his people, we said, Strike the rock with thy rod;
and there gushed thereout twelve fountains according to the number of
the tribes, and all men knew their respective drinking-place. Eat and
drink of the bounty of God, and commit not evil in the earth, acting
unjustly. And when ye said, O Moses, we will by no means be satisfied
with one kind of food; pray unto thy Lord therefore for us, that he
would produce for us of that which the earth bringeth forth, herbs, and
cucumbers, and garlic, and lentils, and onions; Moses answered, Will ye
exchange that which is better, for that which is worse? Get ye down into
Egypt, for there shall ye find what ye desire; and they were smitten
with vileness and misery, and drew on themselves indignation from God.
This they suffered, because they believed not in the signs of God, and
killed the prophets unjustly; this, because they rebelled and
transgressed. Surely those who believe, and those who Judaize, and
Christians, and Sabeans, whoever believeth in God, and the last day, and
doth that which is right, they shall have their reward with their Lord;
there shall come no fear on them, neither shall they be grieved. Call to
mind also when we accepted your covenant, and lifted up the mountain of
Sinai over you, saying, Receive the law which we have given you, with a
resolution to keep it, and remember that which is contained therein,
that ye may beware. After this ye again turned back, so that if it had
not been for God's indulgence and mercy towards you, ye had certainly
been destroyed. Moreover, ye know what befell those of your nation who
transgressed on the Sabbath day: We said unto them, Be ye changed into
apes, driven away from the society of men. And we made them an example
unto those who were contemporary with them, and unto those who came
after them, and a warning to the pious. And when Moses said unto his
people, Verily God commandeth you to sacrifice a cow;[28] they answered,
Dost thou make a jest of us? Moses said, God forbid that I should be one
of the foolish. They said, Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would show
us what cow it is. Moses answered, He saith, She is neither an old cow,
nor a young heifer, but of a middle-age between both: do ye therefore
that which ye are commanded. They said, Pray for us unto the Lord, that
he would show us what color she is of. Moses answered, He saith, She is
a red cow, intensely red, her color rejoiceth the beholders. They said,
Pray for us unto thy Lord, that he would further show us what cow it is,
for several cows with us are like one another, and we, if God please,
will be directed. Moses answered, He saith, She is a cow not broken to
plough the earth, or water the field: a sound one, there is no blemish
in her. They said, Now hast thou brought the truth. Then they sacrificed
her; yet they wanted little of leaving it undone. And when ye slew a
man, and contended among yourselves concerning him, God brought forth to
light that which ye concealed. For we said, Strike the dead body with
part of the sacrificed cow; so God raiseth the dead to life, and showeth
you his signs, that peradventure ye may understand. Then were your
hearts hardened after this, even as stones, or exceeding them in
hardness: for from some stones have rivers burst forth, others have been
rent in sunder, and water hath issued from them, and others have fallen
down for fear of God. But God is not regardless of that which ye do. Do
ye therefore desire that the Jews should believe you? yet a part of them
heard the word of God, and then perverted it, after they had understood
it, against their own conscience. And when they meet the true believers,
they say, We believe: but when they are privately assembled together,
they say, Will ye acquaint them with what God hath revealed unto you,
that they may dispute with you concerning it in the presence of your
Lord? Do ye not therefore understand? Do not they know that God knoweth
that which they conceal as well as that which they publish? But there
are illiterate men among them, who know not the book of the law, but
only lying stories, although they think otherwise. And woe unto them who
transcribe corruptly the book of the law with their hands, and then say,
This is from God: that they may sell it for a small price. Therefore woe
unto them because of that which their hands have written; and woe unto
them for that which they have gained. They say, The fire of hell shall
not touch us but for a certain number of days. Answer, Have ye received
any promise from God to that purpose? for God will not act contrary to
his promise: or do ye speak concerning God that which ye know not?
Verily whoso doth evil, and is encompassed by his iniquity, they shall
be the companions of hell fire, they shall remain therein forever: but
they who believe and do good works, they shall be the companions of
paradise, they shall continue therein forever. Remember also, when we
accepted the covenant of the children of Israel, saying, Ye shall not
worship any other except God, and ye shall show kindness to your parents
and kindred, and to orphans, and to the poor, and speak that which is
good unto men, and be constant at prayer, and give alms. Afterwards ye
turned back, except a few of you, and retired afar-off. And when we
accepted your covenant, saying, Ye shall not shed your brother's blood,
nor dispossess one another of your habitations, then ye confirmed it,
and were witnesses thereto. Afterwards ye were they who slew one
another, and turned several of your brethren out of their houses,
mutually assisting each other against them with injustice and enmity;
but if they come captives unto you, ye redeem them: yet it is equally
unlawful for you to dispossess them. Do ye therefore believe in part of
the book of the law, and reject other parts thereof? But whoso among you
doth this, shall have no other reward than shame in this life, and on
the day of resurrection they shall be sent to a most grievous
punishment; for God is not regardless of that which ye do. These are
they who have purchased this present life, at the price of that which is
to come; wherefore their punishment shall not be mitigated, neither
shall they be helped. We formerly delivered the book of the law unto
Moses, and caused apostles to succeed him, and gave evident miracles to
Jesus the son of Mary, and strengthened him with the holy spirit. Do ye
therefore, whenever an apostle cometh unto you with that which your
souls desire not, proudly reject him, and accuse some of imposture, and
slay others? The Jews say, Our hearts are uncircumcised: but God hath
cursed them with their infidelity, therefore few shall believe. And when
a book came unto them from God, confirming the scriptures which were
with them, although they had before prayed for assistance against those
who believed not, yet when that came unto them which they knew to be
from God, they would not believe therein: therefore the curse of God
shall be on the infidels. For a vile price have they sold their souls,
that they should not believe in that which God hath sent down; out of
envy, because God sendeth down his favors to such of his servants as he
pleaseth: therefore they brought on themselves indignation on
indignation; and the unbelievers shall suffer an ignominious punishment.
When one saith unto them, Believe in that which God hath sent down; they
answer, We believe in that which hath been sent down unto us: and they
reject what hath been revealed since, although it be the truth,
confirming that which is with them. Say, Why therefore have ye slain the
prophets of God in times past, if ye be true believers? Moses formerly
came unto you with evident signs, but ye afterwards took the calf for
your god and did wickedly. And when we accepted your covenant, and
lifted the mountain of Sinai over you, saying, Receive the law which we
have given you, with a resolution to perform it, and hear; they said, We
have heard, and have rebelled: and they were made to drink down the calf
into their hearts for their unbelief. Say, A grievous thing hath your
faith commanded you, if ye be true believers. Say, If the future mansion
with God be prepared peculiarly for you, exclusive of the rest of
mankind, wish for death, if ye say truth: but they will never wish for
it, because of that which their hands have sent before them; God knoweth
the wicked doers; and thou shalt surely find them of all men the most
covetous of life, even more than the idolaters: one of them would desire
his life to be prolonged a thousand years, but none shall reprieve
himself from punishment, that his life may be prolonged: God seeth that
which they do. Say, Whoever is an enemy to Gabriel (for he hath caused
the Koran to descend on thy heart, by the permission of God, confirming
that which was before revealed, a direction, and good tidings to the
faithful); whosoever is an enemy to God, or his angels, or his apostles,
or to Gabriel, or Michael, verily God is an enemy to the unbelievers.
And now we have sent down unto thee evident signs, and none will
disbelieve them but the evil-doers. Whenever they make a covenant, will
some of them reject it? yea, the greater part of them do not believe.
And when there came unto them an apostle from God, confirming that
scripture which was with them, some of those to whom the scriptures were
given, cast the book of God behind their backs, as if they knew it not:
and they followed the device which the devils devised against the
kingdom of Solomon; and Solomon was not an unbeliever; but the devils
believed not, they taught men sorcery, and that which was sent down to
the two angels at Babel, Harűt, and Marűt: yet those who taught no man
until they had said, Verily we are a temptation, therefore be not an
unbeliever. So men learned from those two a charm by which they might
cause division between a man and his wife; but they hurt none thereby,
unless by God's permission; and they learned that which would hurt them,
and not profit them; and yet they knew that he who bought that art
should have no part in the life to come, and woful is the price for
which they have sold their souls, if they knew it. But if they had
believed and feared God, verily the reward they would have had from God
would have been better, if they had known it. O true believers, say not
to our apostle, Raina; but say, Ondhorna;[29] and hearken: the infidels
shall suffer a grievous punishment. It is not the desire of the
unbelievers, either among those unto whom the scriptures have been
given, or among the idolaters, that any good should be sent down unto
you from your Lord: but God will appropriate his mercy unto whom he
pleaseth; for God is exceeding beneficent. Whatever verse we shall
abrogate, or cause thee to forget, we will bring a better than it, or
one like unto it. Dost thou not know that God is almighty? Dost thou not
know that unto God belongeth the kingdom of heaven and earth? neither
have ye any protector or helper except God. Will ye require of your
apostle according to that which was formerly required of Moses? but he
that hath exchanged faith for infidelity, hath already erred from the
straight way. Many of those unto whom the scriptures have been given,
desire to render you again unbelievers, after ye have believed; out of
envy from their souls, even after the truth is become manifest unto
them; but forgive them, and avoid them, till God shall send his command;
for God is omnipotent. Be constant in prayer, and give alms; and what
good ye have sent before for your souls, ye shall find it with God;
surely God seeth that which ye do. They say, Verily none shall enter
paradise, except they who are Jews or Christians: this is their wish.
Say, Produce your proof of this, if ye speak truth. Nay, but he who
resigneth himself to God, and doth that which is right, he shall have
his reward with his Lord; there shall come no fear on them, neither
shall they be grieved. The Jews say, The Christians are grounded on
nothing; and the Christians say, The Jews are grounded on nothing; yet
they both read the scriptures. So likewise say they who know not the
scripture, according to their saying. But God shall judge between them
on the day of the resurrection, concerning that about which they now
disagree. Who is more unjust than he who prohibiteth the temples of God,
that his name should be remembered therein, and who hasteth to destroy
them? Those men cannot enter therein, but with fear: they shall have
shame in this world, and in the next a grievous punishment. To God
belongeth the east and the west; therefore, whithersoever ye turn
yourselves to pray, there is the face of God; for God is omnipresent and
omniscient. They say God hath begotten children. God forbid! To him
belongeth whatever is in heaven, and on earth; all is possessed by him,
the Creator of heaven and earth; and when he decreeth a thing, he only
saith unto it, Be, and it is. And they who know not the scriptures say,
Unless God speak unto us, or thou show us a sign, we will not believe.
So said those before them, according to their saying: their hearts
resemble each other. We have already shown manifest signs unto people
who firmly believe; we have sent thee in truth, a bearer of good
tidings, and a preacher; and thou shalt not be questioned concerning the
companions of hell. But the Jews will not be pleased with thee, neither
the Christians, until thou follow their religion; say, The direction of
God is the true direction. And verily if thou follow their desires,
after the knowledge which hath been given thee, thou shalt find no
patron or protector against God. They to whom we have given the book of
the Koran, and who read it with its true reading, they believe therein;
and whoever believeth not therein, they shall perish. O children of
Israel, remember my favor wherewith I have favored you, and that I have
preferred you before all nations; and dread the day wherein one soul
shall not make satisfaction for another soul, neither shall any
compensation be accepted from them, nor shall any intercession avail,
neither shall they be helped. Remember when the Lord tried Abraham by
certain words, which he fulfilled: God said, Verily I will constitute
thee a model of religion unto mankind; he answered, And also of my
posterity; God said, My covenant doth not comprehend the ungodly. And
when we appointed the holy house of Mecca to be the place of resort for
mankind, and a place of security; and said, Take the station of Abraham
for a place of prayer; and we covenanted with Abraham and Ismael, that
they should cleanse my house for those who should compass it, and those
who should be devoutly assiduous there, and those who should bow down
and worship. And when Abraham said, Lord, make this a territory of
security, and bounteously bestow fruits on its inhabitants, such of them
as believe in God and the last day; God answered, And whoever believeth
not, I will bestow on him little: afterwards I will drive him to the
punishment of hell fire; an ill journey shall it be! And when Abraham
and Ismael raised the foundations of the house, saying, Lord, accept it
from us, for thou art he who heareth and knoweth: Lord, make us also
resigned unto thee, and of our posterity a people resigned unto thee,
and show us our holy ceremonies, and be turned unto us, for thou art
easy to be reconciled, and merciful; Lord, send them likewise an apostle
from among them, who may declare thy signs unto them, and teach them the
book of the Koran and wisdom, and may purify them; for thou art mighty
and wise. Who will be averse to the religion of Abraham, but he whose
mind is infatuated? Surely we have chosen him in this world, and in that
which is to come he shall be one of the righteous. When his Lord said
unto him, Resign thyself unto me, he answered, I have resigned myself
unto the Lord of all creatures. And Abraham bequeathed this religion to
his children, and Jacob did the same, saying, My children, verily, God
hath chosen this religion for you, therefore die not, unless ye also be
resigned. Were ye present when Jacob was at the point of death? when he
said to his sons, Whom will ye worship after me? They answered, We will
worship thy God, and the God of thy fathers, Abraham and Ismael, and
Isaac, one God, and to him will we be resigned. That people are now
passed away, they have what they have gained, and ye shall have what ye
gain; and ye shall not be questioned concerning that which they have
done. They say, Become Jews or Christians that ye may be directed. Say,
Nay, we follow the religion of Abraham the orthodox, who was no
idolater. Say, We believe in God, and that which hath been sent down
unto us, and that which hath been sent down unto Abraham, and Ismael,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which was delivered unto
Moses, and Jesus, and that which was delivered unto the prophets from
their Lord: We make no distinction between any of them, and to God are
we resigned. Now if they believe according to what ye believe, they are
surely directed, but if they turn back, they are in schism. God shall
support thee against them, for he is the hearer, the wise. The baptism
of God[30] have we received, and who is better than God to baptize? him
do we worship. Say, Will ye dispute with us concerning God, who is our
Lord, and your Lord? we have our works, and ye have your works, and unto
him are we sincerely devoted. Will ye say, Truly Abraham, and Ismael,
and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes were Jews or Christians? Say, Are
ye wiser, or God? And who is more unjust than he who hideth the
testimony which he hath received from God? But God is not regardless of
that which ye do. That people are passed away, they have what they have
gained, and ye shall have what ye gain, nor shall ye be questioned
concerning that which they have done. The foolish men will say, What
hath turned them from their Keblah, towards which they formerly
prayed?[31] Say, Unto God belongeth the east and the west: he directeth
whom he pleaseth into the right way. Thus have we placed you, O
Arabians, an intermediate nation, that ye may be witnesses against the
rest of mankind, and that the apostle may be a witness against you. We
appointed the Keblah towards which thou didst formerly pray, only that
we might know him who followeth the apostle, from him who turneth back
on his heels; though this change seem a great matter, unless unto those
whom God hath directed. But God will not render your faith of no effect;
for God is gracious and merciful unto man. We have seen thee turn about
thy face towards heaven with uncertainty, but we will cause thee to turn
thyself towards a Keblah that will please thee. Turn, therefore, thy
face towards the holy temple of Mecca; and wherever ye be, turn your
faces towards that place. They to whom the scripture hath been given,
know this to be truth from their Lord. God is not regardless of that
which ye do. Verily although thou shouldst show unto those to whom the
scripture hath been given all kinds of signs, yet they will not follow
thy Keblah, neither shalt thou follow their Keblah; nor will one part of
them follow the Keblah of the other. And if thou follow their desires,
after the knowledge which hath been given thee, verily thou wilt become
one of the ungodly. They to whom we have given the scripture know our
apostle, even as they know their own children; but some of them hide the
truth, against their own knowledge. Truth is from thy Lord, therefore
thou shalt not doubt. Every sect hath a certain tract of heaven to which
they turn themselves in prayer; but do ye strive to run after good
things: wherever ye be, God will bring you all back at the resurrection,
for God is almighty. And from what place soever thou comest forth, turn
thy face towards the holy temple; for this is truth from thy Lord;
neither is God regardless of that which ye do. From what place soever
thou comest forth, turn thy face towards the holy temple; and wherever
ye be, thitherward turn your faces, lest men have matter of dispute
against you; but as for those among them who are unjust doers, fear them
not, but fear me, that I may accomplish my grace upon you, and that ye
may be directed. As we have sent unto you an apostle from among you, to
rehearse our signs unto you, and to purify you, and to teach you the
book of the Koran and wisdom, and to teach you that which ye knew not:
therefore remember me, and I will remember you, and give thanks unto me,
and be not unbelievers. O true believers, beg assistance with patience
and prayer, for God is with the patient. And say not of those who are
slain in fight for the religion of God, that they are dead; yea, they
are living: but ye do not understand. We will surely prove you by
afflicting you in some measure with fear, and hunger, and decrease of
wealth, and loss of lives, and scarcity of fruits; but bear good tidings
unto the patient, who when a misfortune befalleth them, say, We are
God's, and unto him shall we surely return. Upon them shall be blessings
from their Lord and mercy, and they are the rightly directed. Moreover
Safa and Merwah are two of the monuments of God: whoever therefore goeth
on pilgrimage to the temple of Mecca or visiteth it, it shall be no
crime in him if he compass them both. And as for him who voluntarily
performeth a good work; verily God is grateful and knowing. They who
conceal any of the evident signs, or the direction which we have sent
down, after what we have manifested unto men in the scripture, God shall
curse them; and they who curse shall curse them. But as for those who
repent and amend, and make known what they concealed, I will be turned
unto them, for I am easy to be reconciled and merciful. Surely they who
believe not, and die in their unbelief, upon them shall be the curse of
God, and of the angels, and of all men; they shall remain under it
forever, their punishment shall not be alleviated, neither shall they be
regarded. Your God is one God, there is no God but He, the most
merciful. Now in the creation of heaven and earth, and the vicissitude
of night and day, and in the ship which saileth in the sea, laden with
what is profitable for mankind, and in the rain-water which God sendeth
from heaven, quickening thereby the dead earth, and replenishing the
same with all sorts of cattle, and in the change of winds, and the
clouds that are compelled to do service between heaven and earth, are
signs to people of understanding: yet some men take idols beside God,
and love them as with the love due to God; but the true believers are
more fervent in love towards God. Oh that they who act unjustly did
perceive, when they behold their punishment, that all power belongeth
unto God, and that he is severe in punishing! When those who have been
followed, shall separate themselves from their followers, and shall see
the punishment, and the cords of relation between them shall be cut
asunder; the followers shall say, If we could return to life, we would
separate ourselves from them, as they have now separated themselves from
us. So God will show them their works; they shall sigh grievously, and
shall not come forth from the fire of hell. O men, eat of that which is
lawful and good on the earth; and tread not in the steps of the devil,
for he is your open enemy. Verily he commandeth you evil and wickedness,
and that ye should say that of God which ye know not. And when it is
said unto them who believe not, Follow that which God hath sent down;
they answer, Nay, but we will follow that which we found our fathers
practised. What? though their fathers knew nothing, and were not rightly
directed? The unbelievers are like unto one who crieth aloud to that
which heareth not so much as his calling, or the sound of his voice.
They are deaf, dumb, and blind, therefore they do not understand. O true
believers, eat of the good things which we have bestowed on you for
food, and return thanks unto God, if ye serve him. Verily he hath
forbidden you to eat that which dieth of itself, and blood, and swine's
flesh, and that on which any other name but God's hath been
invocated.[32] But he who is forced by necessity, not lusting, nor
returning to transgress, it shall be no crime in him if he eat of those
things, for God is gracious and merciful. Moreover they who conceal any
part of the scripture which God hath sent down unto them, and sell it
for a small price, they shall swallow into their bellies nothing but
fire; God shall not speak unto them on the day of resurrection, neither
shall he purify them, and they shall suffer a grievous punishment. These
are they who have sold direction for error, and pardon for punishment:
but how great will their suffering be in the fire! This they shall
endure, because God sent down the book of the Koran with truth, and they
who disagree concerning that book, are certainly in a wide mistake. It
is not righteousness that ye turn your faces in prayer towards the east
and the west, but righteousness is of him who believeth in God and the
last day, and the angels, and the scriptures, and the prophets; who
giveth money for God's sake unto his kindred, and unto orphans, and the
needy, and the stranger, and those who ask, and for redemption of
captives; who is constant at prayer, and giveth alms; and of those who
perform their covenant, when they have covenanted, and who behave
themselves patiently in adversity, and hardships, and in time of
violence: these are they who are true, and these are they who fear God.
O true believers, the law of retaliation is ordained you for the slain:
the free shall die for the free, and the servant for the servant, and a
woman for a woman; but he whom his brother shall forgive, may be
prosecuted, and obliged to make satisfaction according to what is just,
and a fine shall be set on him[33] with humanity. This is indulgence
from your Lord, and mercy. And he who shall transgress after this, by
killing the murderer, shall suffer a grievous punishment. And in this
law of retaliation ye have life, O ye of understanding, that
peradventure ye may fear. It is ordained you, when any of you is at the
point of death, if he leave any goods, that he bequeath a legacy to his
parents and kindred, according to what shall be reasonable.[34] This is
a duty incumbent on those who fear God. But he who shall change the
legacy, after he hath heard it bequeathed by the dying person, surely
the sin thereof shall be on those who change it, for God is he who
heareth and knoweth. Howbeit he who apprehendeth from the testator any
mistake or injustice, and shall compose the matter between them, that
shall be no crime in him, for God is gracious and merciful. O true
believers, a fast is ordained you, as it was ordained unto those before
you, that ye may fear God. A certain number of days shall ye fast: but
he among you who shall be sick, or on a journey, shall fast an equal
number of other days. And those who can keep it, and do not, must redeem
their neglect by maintaining of a poor man. And he who voluntarily
dealeth better with the poor man than he is obliged, this shall be
better for him. But if ye fast it will be better for you, if ye knew it.
The month of Ramadhan shall ye fast, in which the Koran was sent down
from heaven, a direction unto men, and declarations of direction, and
the distinction between good and evil. Therefore let him among you who
shall be present in this month, fast the same month; but he who shall be
sick, or on a journey, shall fast the like number of other days. God
would make this an ease unto you, and would not make it a difficulty
unto you; that ye may fulfil the number of days, and glorify God, for
that he hath directed you, and that ye may give thanks. When my servants
ask thee concerning me, Verily I am near; I will hear the prayer of him
that prayeth, when he prayeth unto me: but let them hearken unto me, and
believe in me, that they may be rightly directed. It is lawful for you
on the night of the fast to go in unto your wives: they are a garment
unto you, and ye are a garment unto them. God knoweth that ye defraud
yourselves therein, wherefore he turneth unto you and forgiveth you. Now
therefore go in unto them; and earnestly desire that which God ordaineth
you, and eat and drink, until ye can plainly distinguish a white thread
from a black thread by the daybreak: then keep the fast until night, and
go not in unto them, but be constantly present in the places of worship.
These are the prescribed bounds of God, therefore draw not near them to
transgress them. Thus God declareth his signs unto men, that ye may fear
him. Consume not your wealth among yourselves in vain; nor present it
unto judges, that ye may devour part of men's substance unjustly,
against your own consciences. They will ask thee concerning the phases
of the moon. Answer, They are times appointed unto men, and to show the
season of the pilgrimage to Mecca. It is not righteousness that ye enter
your houses by the back part thereof, but righteousness is of him who
feareth God. Therefore enter your houses by their doors; and fear God,
that ye may be happy. And fight for the religion of God against those
who fight against you, but transgress not by attacking them first, for
God loveth not the transgressors. And kill them wherever ye find them,
and turn them out of that whereof they have dispossessed you; for
temptation to idolatry is more grievous than slaughter: yet fight not
against them in the holy temple, until they attack you therein; but if
they attack you, slay them there. This shall be the reward of the
infidels. But if they desist, God is gracious and merciful. Fight
therefore against them, until there be no temptation to idolatry, and
the religion be God's: but if they desist, then let there be no
hostility, except against the ungodly. A sacred month for a sacred
month, and the holy limits of Mecca, if they attack you therein, do ye
also attack them therein in retaliation; and whoever transgresseth
against you by so doing, do ye transgress against him in like manner as
he hath transgressed against you, and fear God, and know that God is
with those who fear him. Contribute out of your substance towards the
defence of the religion of God, and throw not yourselves with your own
hands into perdition; and do good, for God loveth those who do good.
Perform the pilgrimage of Mecca, and the visitation of God; if ye be
besieged, send that offering which shall be the easiest; and shave not
your heads, until your offering reacheth the place of sacrifice. But
whoever among you is sick, or is troubled with any distemper of the
head, must redeem the shaving his head by fasting, or alms, or some
offering. When ye are secure from enemies, he who tarrieth in the
visitation of the temple of Mecca until the pilgrimage, shall bring that
offering which shall be the easiest. But he who findeth not anything to
offer, shall fast three days in the pilgrimage, and seven when ye are
returned: they shall be ten days complete. This is incumbent on him
whose family shall not be present at the holy temple. And fear God, and
know that God is severe in punishing. The pilgrimage must be performed
in the known months; whosoever therefore purposeth to go on pilgrimage
therein, let him not know a woman, nor transgress, nor quarrel in the
pilgrimage. The good which ye do, God knoweth it. Make provision for
your journey; but the best provision is piety: and fear me, O ye of
understanding. It shall be no crime in you, if ye seek an increase from
your Lord, by trading during the pilgrimage. And when ye go in
procession from Arafat, remember God near the holy monument; and
remember him for that he hath directed you, although ye were before this
of the number of those who go astray. Therefore go in procession from
whence the people go in procession, and ask pardon of God, for God is
gracious and merciful. And when ye have finished your holy ceremonies,
remember God, according as ye remember your fathers, or with a more
reverent commemoration. There are some men who say, O Lord, give us our
portion in this world; but such shall have no portion in the next life:
and there are others who say, O Lord, give us good in this world, and
also good in the next world, and deliver us from the torment of hell
fire. They shall have a portion of that which they have gained: God is
swift in taking an account. Remember God the appointed number of days;
but if any haste to depart from the valley of Mina in two days, it shall
be no crime in him. And if any tarry longer, it shall be no crime in
him, in him who feareth God. Therefore fear God, and know that unto him
ye shall be gathered. There is a man who causeth thee to marvel[35] by
his speech concerning this present life, and calleth God to witness that
which is in his heart, yet he is most intent in opposing thee; and when
he turneth away from thee, he hasteth to act corruptly in the earth, and
to destroy that which is sown, and springeth up;[36] but God loveth not
corrupt doing. And if one say unto him, Fear God; pride seizeth him,
together with wickedness; but hell shall be his reward, and an unhappy
couch shall it be. There is also a man who selleth his soul for the sake
of those things which are pleasing unto God;[37] and God is gracious
unto his servants. O true believers, enter into the true religion
wholly, and follow not the steps of Satan, for he is your open enemy. If
ye have slipped after the declarations of our will have come unto you,
know that God is mighty and wise. Do the infidels expect less than that
God should come down to them overshadowed with clouds, and the angels
also? but the thing is decreed, and to God shall all things return. Ask
the children of Israel how many evident signs we have showed them; and
whoever shall change the grace of God, after it shall have come unto
him, verily God will be severe in punishing him. The present life was
ordained for those who believe not, and they laugh the faithful to
scorn; but they who fear God shall be above them, on the day of the
resurrection: for God is bountiful unto whom he pleaseth without
measure. Mankind was of one faith, and God sent prophets bearing good
tidings, and denouncing threats; and sent down with them the scripture
in truth, that it might judge between men of that concerning which they
disagreed: and none disagreed concerning it, except those to whom the
same scriptures were delivered, after the declarations of God's will had
come unto them, out of envy among themselves. And God directed those who
believed, to that truth concerning which they disagreed, by his will:
for God directeth whom he pleaseth into the right way. Did ye think ye
should enter paradise, when as yet no such thing had happened unto you,
as hath happened unto those who have been before you? They suffered
calamity and tribulation, and were afflicted; so that the apostle, and
they who believed with him, said, When will the help of God come? Is not
the help of God nigh? They will ask thee what they shall bestow in alms:
Answer, The good which ye bestow, let it be given to parents, and
kindred, and orphans, and the poor, and the stranger. Whatsoever good ye
do, God knoweth it. War is enjoined you against the Infidels; but this
is hateful unto you: yet perchance ye hate a thing which is better for
you, and perchance ye love a thing which is worse for you: but God
knoweth and ye know not. They will ask thee concerning the sacred month,
whether they may war therein: Answer, To war therein is grievous; but to
obstruct the way of God, and infidelity towards him, and to keep men
from the holy temple, and to drive out his people from thence, is more
grievous in the sight of God, and the temptation to idolatry is more
grievous than to kill in the sacred months. They will not cease to war
against you, until they turn you from your religion, if they be able:
but whoever among you shall turn back from his religion, and die an
infidel, their works shall be vain in this world and the next; they
shall be the companions of hell fire, they shall remain therein forever.
But they who believe, and who fly for the sake of religion, and fight in
God's cause, they shall hope for the mercy of God; for God is gracious
and merciful. They will ask thee concerning wine[38] and lots:[39]
Answer, In both there is great sin, and also some things of use unto
men, but their sinfulness is greater than their use. They will ask thee
also what they shall bestow in alms: Answer, What ye have to spare. Thus
God showeth his signs unto you, that peradventure ye might seriously
think of this present world, and of the next. They will also ask thee
concerning orphans: Answer, To deal righteously with them is best; and
if ye intermeddle with the management of what belongs to them, do them
no wrong; they are your brethren: God knoweth the corrupt dealer from
the righteous; and if God please, he will surely distress you, for God
is mighty and wise. Marry not women who are idolaters, until they
believe: verily a maid-servant who believeth is better than an
idolatress, although she please you more. And give not women who believe
in marriage to the idolaters, until they believe; for verily a servant
who is a true believer, is better than an idolater, though he please you
more. They invite into hell fire, but God inviteth unto paradise and
pardon through his will, and declareth his signs unto men, that they may
remember. They will ask thee also concerning the courses of women:
Answer, They are a pollution: therefore separate yourselves from women
in their courses, and go not near them until they be cleansed. But when
they are cleansed, go in unto them as God hath commanded you, for God
loveth those who repent, and loveth those who are clean. Your wives are
your tillage; go in therefore unto your tillage in what manner soever ye
will: and do first some act that may be profitable unto your souls; and
fear God, and know that ye must meet him; and bear good tidings unto the
faithful. Make not God the object of your oaths, that ye may deal
justly, and be devout, and make peace among men;[40] for God is he who
heareth and knoweth. God will not punish you for an inconsiderate word
in your oaths; but he will punish you for that which your hearts have
assented unto: God is merciful and gracious. They who vow to abstain
from their wives, are allowed to wait four months: but if they go back
from their vow, verily God is gracious and merciful; and if they resolve
on a divorce, God is he who heareth and knoweth. The women who are
divorced shall wait concerning themselves until they have their courses
thrice, and it shall not be lawful for them to conceal that which God
hath created in their wombs, if they believe in God and the last day;
and their husbands will act more justly to bring them back at this time,
if they desire a reconciliation. The women ought also to behave towards
their husbands in like manner as their husbands should behave towards
them, according to what is just: but the men ought to have a superiority
over them. God is mighty and wise. Ye may divorce your wives twice; and
then either retain them with humanity, or dismiss them with kindness.
But it is not lawful for you to take away anything of what ye have given
them, unless both fear that they cannot observe the ordinances of God.
And if ye fear that they cannot observe the ordinances of God, it shall
be no crime in either of them on account of that for which the wife
shall redeem herself. These are the ordinances of God; therefore
transgress them not; for whoever transgresseth the ordinances of God,
they are unjust doers. But if the husband divorce her a third time, she
shall not be lawful for him again, until she marry another husband. But
if he also divorce her, it shall be no crime in them, if they return to
each other, if they think they can observe the ordinances of God; and
these are the ordinances of God: he declareth them to people of
understanding. But when ye divorce women, and they have fulfilled their
prescribed time, either retain them with humanity, or dismiss them with
kindness; and retain them not by violence, so that ye transgress; for he
who doth this, surely injureth his own soul. And make not the signs of
God a jest: but remember God's favor towards you, and that he hath sent
down unto you the book of the Koran, and wisdom, admonishing you
thereby; and fear God, and know that God is omniscient. But when ye have
divorced your wives, and they have fulfilled their prescribed time,
hinder them not from marrying their husbands, when they have agreed
among themselves according to what is honorable. This is given in
admonition unto him among you who believeth in God, and the last day.
This is most righteous for you, and most pure. God knoweth, but ye know
not. Mothers, after they are divorced, shall give suck unto their
children two full years, to him who desireth the time of giving suck to
be completed; and the father shall be obliged to maintain them and
clothe them in the meantime, according to that which shall be
reasonable. No person shall be obliged beyond his ability. A mother
shall not be compelled to what is unreasonable on account of her child,
nor a father on account of his child. And the heir of the father shall
be obliged to do in like manner. But if they choose to wean the child
before the end of two years, by common consent and on mutual
consideration, it shall be no crime in them. And if ye have a mind to
provide a nurse for your children, it shall be no crime in you, in case
ye fully pay what ye offer her, according to that which is just. And
fear God, and know that God seeth whatever ye do. Such of you as die,
and leave wives, their wives must wait concerning themselves four months
and ten days, and when they shall have fulfilled their term, it shall be
no crime in you, for that which they shall do with themselves, according
to what is reasonable. God well knoweth that which ye do. And it shall
be no crime in you, whether ye make public overtures of marriage unto
such women, within the said four months and ten days, or whether ye
conceal such your designs in your minds: God knoweth that ye will
remember them. But make no promise unto them privately, unless ye speak
honorable words; and resolve not on the knot of marriage, until the
prescribed time be accomplished; and know that God knoweth that which is
in your minds, therefore beware of him, and know that God is gracious
and merciful. It shall be no crime in you, if ye divorce your wives, so
long as ye have not touched them, nor settled any dowry on them. And
provide for them (he who is at his ease must provide according to his
circumstances, and he who is straitened according to his circumstances)
necessaries, according to what shall be reasonable. This is a duty
incumbent on the righteous. But if ye divorce them before ye have
touched them, and have already settled a dowry on them, ye shall give
them half of what ye have settled, unless they release any part, or he
release part in whose hand the knot of marriage is; and if ye release
the whole, it will approach nearer unto piety. And forget not liberality
among you, for God seeth that which ye do. Carefully observe the
appointed prayers, and the middle prayer,[41] and be assiduous therein,
with devotion towards God. But if ye fear any danger, pray on foot or on
horseback; and when ye are safe, remember God, how he hath taught you
what as yet ye knew not. And such of you as shall die and leave wives,
ought to bequeath their wives a year's maintenance, without putting them
out of their houses: but if they go out voluntarily, it shall be no
crime in you, for that which they shall do with themselves, according to
what shall be reasonable; God is mighty and wise. And unto those who are
divorced, a reasonable provision is also due; this is a duty incumbent
on those who fear God. Thus God declareth his signs unto you, that ye
may understand. Hast thou not considered those who left their
habitations (and they were thousands) for fear of death? And God said
unto them, Die; then he restored them to life, for God is gracious
towards mankind; but the greater part of men do not give thanks. Fight
for the religion of God, and know that God is he who heareth and
knoweth. Who is he that will lend unto God on good usury? verily he will
double it unto him manifold; for God contracteth and extendeth his hand
as he pleaseth, and to him shall ye return. Hast thou not considered the
assembly of the children of Israel, after the time of Moses; when they
said unto their prophet Samuel, Set a king over us, that we may fight
for the religion of God? The prophet answered, If ye are enjoined to go
to war, will ye be near refusing to fight? They answered, And what
should ail us that we should not fight for the religion of God, seeing
we are dispossessed of our habitations, and deprived of our children?
But when they were enjoined to go to war, they turned back, except a few
of them: and God knew the ungodly. And their prophet said unto them,
Verily God hath set Talűt king over you: they answered, How shall he
reign over us, seeing we are more worthy of the kingdom than he, neither
is he possessed of great riches? Samuel said, Verily God hath chosen him
before you, and hath caused him to increase in knowledge and stature,
for God giveth his kingdom unto whom he pleaseth; God is bounteous and
wise. And their prophet said unto them, Verily the sign of his kingdom
shall be, that the ark shall come unto you: therein shall be
tranquillity from your Lord, and the relics which have been left by the
family of Moses, and the family of Aaron; the angels shall bring it.
Verily this shall be a sign unto you, if ye believe. And when Talűt
departed with his soldiers, he said, Verily God will prove you by the
river: for he who drinketh thereof, shall not be on my side (but he who
shall not taste thereof he shall be on my side) except he who drinketh a
draught out of his hand. And they drank thereof, except a few of them.
And when they had passed the river, he and those who believed with him,
they said, We have no strength to-day against Jalut and his forces. But
they who considered that they should meet God at the resurrection, said,
How often hath a small army discomfited a great army, by the will of
God? and God is with those who patiently persevere. And when they went
forth to battle against Jalut and his forces, they said, O Lord, pour on
us patience, and confirm our feet, and help us against the unbelieving
people. Therefore they discomfited them, by the will of God, and David
slew Jalut. And God gave him the kingdom and wisdom, and taught him his
will; and if God had not prevented men, the one by the other, verily the
earth had been corrupted: but God is beneficent towards his creatures.
These are the signs of God: we rehearse them unto thee with truth, and
thou art surely one of those who have been sent by God. These are the
apostles; we have preferred some of them before others: some of them
hath God spoken unto, and hath exalted the degree of others of them. And
we gave unto Jesus the son of Mary manifest signs, and strengthened him
with the holy spirit. And if God had pleased, they who came after those
apostles would not have contended among themselves, after manifest signs
had been shown unto them. But they fell to variance; therefore some of
them believed, and some of them believed not; and if God had so pleased,
they would not have contended among themselves, but God doeth what he
will. O true believers, give alms of that which we have bestowed on you,
before the day cometh wherein there shall be no merchandising, nor
friendship, nor intercession. The infidels are unjust doers. God! there
is no God but he;[42] the living, the self-subsisting: neither slumber
nor sleep seizeth him; to him belongeth whatsoever is in heaven, and on
earth. Who is he that can intercede with him, but through his good
pleasure! He knoweth that which is past, and that which is to come unto
them, and they shall not comprehend anything of his knowledge, but so
far as he pleaseth. His throne is extended over heaven and earth,[43]
and the preservation of both is no burden unto him. He is the high, the
mighty. Let there be no violence in religion. Now is right direction
manifestly distinguished from deceit: whoever therefore shall deny
Tagut, and believe in God, he shall surely take hold on a strong handle,
which shall not be broken; God is he who heareth and seeth. God is the
patron of those who believe; he shall lead them out of darkness into
light: but as to those who believe not, their patrons are Tagut; they
shall lead them from the light into darkness; they shall be the
companions of hell fire, they shall remain therein forever. Hast thou
not considered him who disputed with Abraham concerning his Lord,
because God had given him the kingdom? When Abraham said, My Lord is he
who giveth life, and killeth: he answered, I give life, and I kill.
Abraham said, Verily God bringeth the sun from the east, now do thou
bring it from the west. Whereupon the infidel was confounded; for God
directeth not the ungodly people. Or hast thou not considered how he
behaved who passed by a city which had been destroyed, even to her
foundations? He said, How shall God quicken this city, after she hath
been dead? And God caused him to die for a hundred years, and afterwards
raised him to life. And God said, How long hast thou tarried here? He
answered, A day, or part of a day. God said, Nay, thou hast tarried here
a hundred years. Now look on thy food and the drink, they are not yet
corrupted; and look on thine ass: and this have we done that we might
make thee a sign unto men. And look on the bones of thine ass, how we
raise them, and afterwards clothe them with flesh. And when this was
shown unto him, he said, I know that God is able to do all things. And
when Abraham said, O Lord, show me how thou wilt raise the dead; God
said, Dost thou not yet believe? He answered, Yea; but I ask this that
my heart may rest at ease. God said, take therefore four birds, and
divide them; then lay a part of them on every mountain; then call them,
and they shall come swiftly unto thee: and know that God is mighty and
wise. The similitude of those who lay out their substance for advancing
the religion of God, is as a grain of corn which produceth seven ears,
and in every ear a hundred grains; for God giveth twofold unto whom he
pleaseth: God is bounteous and wise. They who lay out their substance
for the religion of God, and afterwards follow not what they have so
laid out by reproaches or mischief, they shall have their reward with
their Lord; upon them shall no fear come, neither shall they be grieved.
A fair speech, and to forgive, is better than alms followed by mischief.
God is rich and merciful. O true believers, make not your alms of no
effect by reproaching, or mischief, as he who layeth out what he hath to
appear unto men to give alms, and believeth not in God and the last day.
The likeness of such a one is as a flint covered with earth, on which a
violent rain falleth, and leaveth it hard. They cannot prosper in
anything which they have gained, for God directeth not the unbelieving
people. And the likeness of those who lay out their substance from a
desire to please God, and for an establishment for their souls, is as a
garden on a hill, on which a violent rain falleth, and it bringeth forth
its fruits twofold; and if a violent rain falleth not on it, yet the dew
falleth thereon: and God seeth that which ye do. Doth any of you desire
to have a garden of palm-trees and vines, through which rivers flow,
wherein he may have all kinds of fruits, and that he may attain to old
age, and have a weak offspring? then a violent fiery wind shall strike
it, so that it shall be burned. Thus God declareth his signs unto you,
that ye may consider. O true believers, bestow alms of the good things
which ye have gained, and of that which we have produced for you out of
the earth, and choose not the bad thereof, to give it in alms, such as
ye would not accept yourselves, otherwise than by connivance: and know
that God is rich and worthy to be praised. The devil threateneth you
with poverty, and commandeth you filthy covetousness; but God promiseth
you pardon from himself and abundance: God is bounteous and wise. He
giveth wisdom unto whom he pleaseth; and he unto whom wisdom is given,
hath received much good: but none will consider, except the wise of
heart. And whatever alms ye shall give, or whatever vow ye shall vow,
verily God knoweth it; but the ungodly shall have none to help them. If
ye make your alms to appear, it is well; but if ye conceal them, and
give them unto the poor, this will be better for you, and will atone for
your sins: and God is well informed of that which ye do. The direction
of them belongeth not unto thee; but God directeth whom he pleaseth. The
good that ye shall give in alms shall redound unto yourselves; and ye
shall not give unless out of desire of seeing the face of God. And what
good thing ye shall give in alms, it shall be repaid you, and ye shall
not be treated unjustly; unto the poor who are wholly employed in
fighting for the religion of God, and cannot go to and fro in the earth;
whom the ignorant man thinketh rich, because of their modesty: thou
shalt know them by this mark, they ask not men with importunity; and
what good ye shall give in alms, verily God knoweth it. They who
distribute alms of their substance night and day, in private and in
public, shall have their reward with the Lord; on them shall no fear
come, neither shall they be grieved. They who devour usury shall not
arise from the dead, but as he ariseth whom Satan hath infected by a
touch: this shall happen to them because they say, Truly selling is but
as usury: and yet God hath permitted selling and forbidden usury. He
therefore who, when there cometh unto him an admonition from his Lord,
abstaineth from usury for the future, shall have what is past forgiven
him, and his affair belongeth unto God. But whoever returneth to usury,
they shall be the companions of hell fire, they shall continue therein
forever. God shall take his blessing from usury, and shall increase
alms: for God loveth no infidel, or ungodly person. But they who believe
and do that which is right, and observe the stated times of prayer, and
pay their legal alms, they shall have their reward with their Lord:
there shall come no fear on them, neither shall they be grieved. O true
believers, fear God, and remit that which remaineth of usury, if ye
really believe; but if ye do it not, hearken unto war, which is declared
against you from God and his apostle: yet if ye repent, ye shall have
the capital of your money. Deal not unjustly with others, and ye shall
not be dealt with unjustly. If there be any debtor under a difficulty of
paying his debt, let his creditor wait till it be easy for him to do it;
but if ye remit it as alms, it will be better for you, if ye knew it.
And fear the day wherein ye shall return unto God; then shall every soul
be paid what it hath gained, and they shall not be treated unjustly. O
true believers, when ye bind yourselves one to the other in a debt for a
certain time, write it down; and let a writer write between you
according to justice, and let not the writer refuse writing according to
what God hath taught him; but let him write, and let him who oweth the
debt dictate, and let him fear God his Lord, and not diminish aught
thereof. But if he who oweth the debt be foolish, or weak, or be not
able to dictate himself, let his agent dictate according to equity; and
call to witness two witnesses of your neighboring men; but if there be
not two men, let there be a man and two women of those whom ye shall
choose for witnesses: if one of those women should mistake, the other of
them will cause her to recollect. And the witnesses shall not refuse,
whensoever they shall be called. And disdain not to write it down, be it
a large debt, or be it a small one, until its time of payment: this will
be more just in the sight of God, and more right for bearing witness,
and more easy, that ye may not doubt. But if it be a present bargain
which ye transact between yourselves, it shall be no crime in you, if ye
write it not down. And take witnesses when ye sell one to the other, and
let no harm be done to the writer, nor to the witness; which if ye do,
it will surely be injustice in you: and fear God, and God will instruct
you, for God knoweth all things. And if ye be on a journey, and find no
writer, let pledges be taken: but if one of you trust the other, let him
who is trusted return what he is trusted with, and fear God his Lord.
And conceal not the testimony, for he who concealeth it hath surely a
wicked heart: God knoweth that which ye do. Whatever is in heaven and on
earth is God's; and whether ye manifest that which is in your minds, or
conceal it, God will call you to account for it, and will forgive whom
he pleaseth, and will punish whom he pleaseth; for God is almighty. The
apostle believeth in that which hath been sent down unto him from his
Lord, and the faithful also. Every one of them believeth in God, and his
angels, and his scriptures, and his apostles: we make no distinction at
all between his apostles.[44] And they say, We have heard, and do obey:
we implore thy mercy, O Lord, for unto thee must we return. God will not
force any soul beyond its capacity: it shall have the good which it
gaineth, and it shall suffer the evil which it gaineth. O Lord, punish
us not, if we forget, or act sinfully: O Lord, lay not on us a burden
like that which thou hast laid on those who have been before us;[45]
neither make us, O Lord, to bear what we have not strength to bear, but
be favorable unto us, and spare us, and be merciful unto us. Thou art
our patron, help us therefore against the unbelieving nations.


[Footnote 22: This title was occasioned by the story of the red heifer,
mentioned p. 217.]

[Footnote 23: Concerning the creation of Adam, here intimated, the
Mohammedans have several peculiar traditions. They say the angels,
Gabriel, Michael, and Israfil, were sent by God, one after another, to
fetch for that purpose seven handfuls of earth from different depths,
and of different colors (whence some account for the various complexion
of mankind); but the earth being apprehensive of the consequence, and
desiring them to represent her fear to God that the creature he designed
to form would rebel against him, and draw down his curse upon her, they
returned without performing God's command; whereupon he sent Azraďl on
the same errand, who executed his commission without remorse, for which
reason God appointed that angel to separate the souls from the bodies,
being therefore called the angel of death. The earth he had taken was
carried into Arabia, to a place between Mecca and Tayef, where, being
first kneaded by the angels, it was afterwards fashioned by God himself
into a human form, and left to dry for the space of forty days, or, as
others say, as many years, the angels in the meantime often visiting it,
and Eblis (then one of the angels who are nearest to God's presence,
afterwards the devil) among the rest; but he, not contented with looking
on it, kicked it with his foot, and knowing God designed that creature
to be his superior, took a secret resolution never to acknowledge him as
such. After this, God animated the figure of clay and endued it with an
intelligent soul, and when he had placed him in paradise, formed Eve out
of his left side.]

[Footnote 24: This occasion of the devil's fall has some affinity with
an opinion which has been pretty much entertained among Christians,
viz., that the angels being informed of God's intention to create man
after his own image, and to dignify human nature by Christ's assuming
it, some of them, thinking their glory to be eclipsed thereby, envied
man's happiness, and so revolted.]

[Footnote 25: The Jews are here called upon to receive the Koran, as
verifying and confirming the Pentateuch, particularly with respect to
the unity of God, and the mission of Mohammed. And they are exhorted not
to conceal the passages of their law which bear witness to those truths,
nor to corrupt them by publishing false copies of the Pentateuch, for
which the writers were but poorly paid.]

[Footnote 26: The person who cast this calf, the Mohammedans say, was
(not Aaron but) al Sâmeri, one of the principal men among the children
of Israel, some of whose descendants it is pretended still inhabit an
island of that name in the Arabian Gulf. It was made of the rings and
bracelets of gold, silver, and other materials, which the Israelites had
borrowed of the Egyptians; for Aaron, who commanded in his brother's
absence, having ordered al Sâmeri to collect those ornaments from the
people, who carried on a wicked commerce with them, and to keep them
together till the return of Moses; al Sâmeri, understanding the
founder's art, put them into a furnace to melt them down into one mass,
which came out in the form of a calf.]

[Footnote 27: The eastern writers say these quails were of a peculiar
kind, to be found nowhere but in Yaman, from whence they were brought by
a south wind in great numbers to the Israelites' camp in the desert. The
Arabs call these birds Salwä, which is plainly the same with the Hebrew
Salwim, and say they have no bones, but are eaten whole.]

[Footnote 28: The occasion of this sacrifice is thus related: A certain
man at his death left his son, then a child, a cow-calf, which wandered
in the desert till he came to age; at which time his mother told him the
heifer was his, and bid him fetch her, and sell her for three pieces of
gold. When the young man came to the market with his heifer, an angel in
the shape of a man accosted him, and bid him six pieces of gold for her;
but he would not take the money till he had asked his mother's consent;
which when he had obtained, he returned to the market-place, and met the
angel, who now offered him twice as much for the heifer, provided he
would say nothing of it to his mother; but the young man refusing, went
and acquainted her with the additional offer. The woman perceiving it
was an angel, bid her son go back and ask him what must be done with the
heifer; whereupon the angel told the young man that in a little time the
children of Israel would buy that heifer of him at any price. And soon
after it happened that an Israelite, named Hammiel, was killed by a
relation of his, who, to prevent discovery, conveyed the body to a place
considerably distant from that where the act was committed. The friends
of the slain man accused some other persons of the murder before Moses;
but they denying the fact, and there being no evidence to convict them,
God commanded a cow, of such and such particular marks, to be killed;
but there being no other which answered the description except the
orphan's heifer, they were obliged to buy her for as much gold as her
hide would hold; according to some, for her full weight in gold, and as
others say, for ten times as much. This heifer they sacrificed, and the
dead body being, by divine direction, struck with a part of it, revived,
and standing up, named the person who had killed Him; after which it
immediately fell down dead again. The whole story seems to be borrowed
from the red heifer which was ordered by the Jewish law to be burnt, and
the ashes kept for purifying those who happened to touch a dead corpse;
and from the heifer directed to be slain for the expiation of an
uncertain murder. See Deut. xxi. 1-9.]

[Footnote 29: Those two Arabic words have both the same signification,
viz., Look on us; and are a kind of salutation. Mohammed had a great
aversion to the first, because the Jews frequently used it in derision,
it being a word of reproach in their tongue. They alluded, it seems, to
the Hebrew verb _ruá_, which signifies to be bad or mischievous.]

[Footnote 30: By baptism is to be understood the religion which God
instituted in the beginning; because the signs of it appear in the
person who professes it, as the signs of water appear in the clothes of
him that is baptized.]

[Footnote 31: At first, Mohammed and his followers observed no
particular rite in turning their faces towards any certain place, or
quarter, of the world, when they prayed; it being declared to be
perfectly indifferent.]

[Footnote 32: For this reason, whenever the Mohammedans kill any animal
for food, they always say, _Bismi allah_, or "In the name of God";
which, if it be neglected, they think it not lawful to eat of it.]

[Footnote 33: This is the common practice in Mohammedan countries,
particularly in Persia, where the relations of the deceased may take
their choice, either to have the murderer put into their hands to be put
to death, or else to accept of a pecuniary satisfaction.]

[Footnote 34: That is, the legacy was not to exceed a third part of the
testator's substance, nor to be given where there was no necessity. But
this injunction is abrogated by the law concerning inheritances.]

[Footnote 35: This person was al Akhnas Ebn Shoraik, a fair-spoken
dissembler, who swore that he believed in Mohammed, and pretended to be
one of his friends, and to contemn this world. But God here reveals to
the prophet his hypocrisy and wickedness.]

[Footnote 36: Setting fire to his neighbor's corn, and killing his asses
by night.]

[Footnote 37: The person here meant was one Soheib, who being persecuted
by the idolaters of Mecca forsook all he had and fled to Medina.]

[Footnote 38: Under the name of wine all sorts of strong and inebriating
liquors are comprehended.]

[Footnote 39: The original word, _al Meiser_, properly signifies a
particular game performed with arrows, and much in use with the pagan
Arabs. But by lots we are here to understand all games whatsoever, which
are subject to chance or hazard, as dice and cards.]

[Footnote 40: Some commentators expound this negatively, "That ye will
not deal justly, nor be devout ..." For such wicked oaths, they say,
were customary among the idolatrous inhabitants of Mecca; which gave
occasion to the following saying of Mohammed: "When you swear to do a
thing, and afterwards find it better to do otherwise, do that which is
better, and make void your oath."]

[Footnote 41: Yahya interprets this from a tradition of Mohammed, who,
being asked which was the middle prayer, answered, The evening prayer,
which was instituted by the prophet Solomon.]

[Footnote 42: The following seven lines contain a magnificent
description of the divine majesty and providence; but it must not be
supposed the translation comes up to the dignity of the original. This
passage is justly admired by the Mohammedans, who recite it in their
prayers; and some of them wear it about them, engraved on an agate or
other precious stone.]

[Footnote 43: This throne, in Arabic called Corsi, is by the Mohammedans
supposed to be God's tribunal, or seat of justice.]

[Footnote 44: But this, say the Mohammedans, the Jews do, who receive
Moses but reject Jesus; and the Christians, who receive both those
prophets, but reject Mohammed.]

[Footnote 45: That is, on the Jews, who, as the commentators tell us,
were ordered to kill a man by way of atonement, to give one-fourth of
their substance in alms, and to cut off an unclean ulcerous part, and
were forbidden to eat fat, or animals that divided the hoof, and were
obliged to observe the Sabbath, and other particulars wherein the
Mohammedans are at liberty.]



CHAPTER III

Entitled, the Family of Imran[46]--Revealed at Medina

_In the Name of the Most Merciful God_.


A.L.M.[47] There is no God but God, the living, self-subsisting: He hath
sent down unto thee the book of the Koran with truth, confirming that
which was revealed before it; for he had formerly sent down the law and
the gospel, a direction unto men; and he had also sent down the
distinction between good and evil. Verily those who believe not the
signs of God, shall suffer a grievous punishment; for God is mighty,
able to revenge. Surely nothing is hidden from God, of that which is on
earth, or in heaven: it is he who formeth you in the wombs, as he
pleaseth; there is no God but he, the mighty, the wise. It is he who
hath sent down unto thee the book, wherein are some verses clear to be
understood, they are the foundation of the book; and others are
parabolical. But they whose hearts are perverse will follow that which
is parabolical therein, out of love of schism, and a desire of the
interpretation thereof; yet none knoweth the interpretation thereof,
except God. But they who are well grounded in knowledge say, We believe
therein, the whole is from our Lord; and none will consider except the
prudent. O Lord, cause not our hearts to swerve from truth, after thou
hast directed us: and give us from thee mercy, for thou art he who
giveth. O Lord, thou shalt surely gather mankind together, unto a day of
resurrection: there is no doubt of it, for God will not be contrary to
the promise. As for the infidels, their wealth shall not profit them
anything, nor their children, against God: they shall be the fuel of
hell fire. According to the wont of the people of Pharaoh, and of those
who went before them, they charged our signs with a lie; but God caught
them in their wickedness, and God is severe in punishing. Say unto those
who believe not, Ye shall be overcome, and thrown together into hell; an
unhappy couch shall it be. Ye have already had a miracle shown you in
two armies, which attacked each other:[48] one army fought for God's
true religion, but the other were infidels; they saw the faithful twice
as many as themselves in their eyesight; for God strengthened with his
help whom he pleaseth. Surely herein was an example unto men of
understanding. The love and eager desire of wives, and children, and
sums heaped up of gold and silver, and excellent horses, and cattle, and
land, is prepared for men: this is the provision of the present life;
but unto God shall be the most excellent return. Say, Shall I declare
unto you better things than this? For those who are devout are prepared
with their Lord, gardens through which rivers flow; therein shall they
continue forever: and they shall enjoy wives free from impurity, and the
favor of God; for God regardeth his servants; who say, O Lord, we do
sincerely believe; forgive us therefore our sins, and deliver us from
the pain of hell fire: the patient, and the lovers of truth, and the
devout, and the alms-givers, and those who ask pardon early in the
morning. God hath borne witness that there is no God but he; and the
angels, and those who are endowed with wisdom, profess the same; who
executed righteousness; there is no God but he; the mighty, the wise.
Verily the true religion in the sight of God, is Islam;[49] and they who
had received the scriptures dissented not therefrom, until after the
knowledge of God's unity had come unto them, out of envy among
themselves; but whosoever believeth not in the signs of God, verily God
will be swift in bringing him to account. If they dispute with thee,
say, I have resigned myself unto God, and he who followeth me doth the
same: and say unto them who have received the scriptures, and to the
ignorant, Do ye profess the religion of Islam? Now if they embrace
Islam, they are surely directed; but if they turn their backs, verily
unto thee belongeth preaching only; for God regardeth his servants. And
unto those who believe not in the signs of God, and slay the prophets
without a cause, and put those men to death who teach justice; denounce
unto them a painful punishment. These are they whose works perish in
this world, and in that which is to come; and they shall have none to
help them. Hast thou not observed those unto whom part of the scripture
was given? They were called unto the book of God, that it might judge
between them; then some of them turned their backs, and retired
afar-off. This they did because they said, The fire of hell shall by no
means touch us, but for a certain number of days: and that which they
had falsely devised, hath deceived them in their religion. How then will
it be with them, when we shall gather them together at the day of
judgment,[50] of which there is no doubt; and every soul shall be paid
that which it hath gained, neither shall they be treated unjustly? Say,
O God, who possessest the kingdom; thou givest the kingdom unto whom
thou wilt, and thou takest away the kingdom from whom thou wilt: thou
exaltest whom thou wilt, and thou humblest whom thou wilt: in thy hand
is good, for thou art almighty. Thou makest the night to succeed the
day: thou bringest forth the living out of the dead, and thou bringest
forth the dead out of the living; and providest food for whom thou wilt
without measure. Let not the faithful take the infidels for their
protectors, rather than the faithful: he who doth this shall not be
protected of God at all; unless ye fear any danger from them: but God
warneth you to beware of himself; for unto God must ye return. Say,
Whether ye conceal that which is in your breasts, or whether ye declare
it, God knoweth it: for he knoweth whatever is in heaven, and whatever
is on earth: God is almighty. On the last day every soul shall find the
good which it hath wrought, present; and the evil which it hath wrought,
it shall wish that between itself and that were a wide distance: but God
warneth you to beware of himself; for God is gracious unto his servants.
Say, If ye love God, follow me: then God shall love you, and forgive you
your sins; for God is gracious and merciful. Say, Obey God, and his
apostle: but if ye go back, verily God loveth not the unbelievers. God
hath surely chosen Adam, and Noah, and the family of Abraham, and the
family of Imran above the rest of the world; a race descending the one
from the other: God is he who heareth and knoweth. Remember when the
wife of Imran said, Lord, verily I have vowed unto thee that which is in
my womb, to be dedicated to thy service: accept it therefore of me; for
thou art he who heareth and knoweth. And when she was delivered of it,
she said, Lord, verily I have brought forth a female (and God well knew
what she had brought forth), and a male is not as a female: I have
called her Mary; and I commend her to thy protection, and also her
issue, against Satan driven away with stones. Therefore the Lord
accepted her with a gracious acceptance, and caused her to bear an
excellent offspring. And Zacharias took care of the child; whenever
Zacharias went into the chamber to her, he found provisions with her;
and he said, O Mary, whence hadst thou this? she answered, This is from
God: for God provideth for whom he pleaseth without measure. There
Zacharias called on his Lord, and said, Lord, give me from thee a good
offspring, for thou art the hearer of prayer. And the angels called to
him, while he stood praying in the chamber, saying, Verily God promiseth
thee a son named John, who shall bear witness to the Word which cometh
from God; an honorable person, chaste, and one of the righteous
prophets. He answered, Lord, how shall I have a son, when old age hath
overtaken me, and my wife is barren? The angel said, So God doth that
which he pleaseth. Zacharias answered, Lord, give me a sign. The angel
said, Thy sign shall be, that thou shalt speak unto no man for three
days, otherwise than by gesture: remember thy Lord often, and praise him
evening and morning. And when the angels said, O Mary, verily God hath
chosen thee, and hath purified thee, and hath chosen thee above all the
women of the world: O Mary, be devout towards thy Lord, and worship, and
bow down with those who bow down. This is a secret history: we reveal it
unto thee, although thou wast not present with them when they threw in
their rods to cast lots which of them should have the education of Mary:
neither wast thou with them, when they strove among themselves. When the
angels said, O Mary, verily God sendeth thee good tidings, that thou
shalt bear the Word, proceeding from himself; his name shall be Christ
Jesus the son of Mary, honorable in this world and in the world to come,
and one of those who approach near to the presence of God; and he shall
speak unto men in the cradle, and when he is grown up;[51] and he shall
be one of the righteous: she answered, Lord, how shall I have a son,
since a man hath not touched me? the angel said, So God createth that
which he pleaseth: when he decreeth a thing, he only saith unto it, Be,
and it is: God shall teach him the scripture, and wisdom, and the law,
and the gospel; and shall appoint him his apostle to the children of
Israel; and he shall say, Verily I come unto you with a sign from your
Lord; for I will make before you, of clay, as it were the figure of a
bird; then I will breathe thereon, and it shall become a bird, by the
permission of God: and I will heal him that hath been blind from his
birth, and the leper: and I will raise the dead by the permission of
God: and I will prophesy unto you what ye eat, and what ye lay up for
store in your houses. Verily herein will be a sign unto you, if ye
believe. And I come to confirm the Law which was revealed before me, and
to allow unto you as lawful, part of that which hath been forbidden
you:[52] and I come unto you with a sign from your Lord; therefore fear
God, and obey me. Verily God is my Lord, and your Lord: therefore serve
him. This is the right way. But when Jesus perceived their unbelief, he
said, Who will be my helpers towards God? The apostles[53] answered, We
will be the helpers of God; we believe in God, and do thou bear witness
that we are true believers. O Lord, we believe in that which thou has
sent down, and we have followed thy apostle; write us down therefore
with those who bear witness of him. And the Jews devised a stratagem
against him; but God devised a stratagem against them; and God is the
best deviser of stratagems. When God said, O Jesus, verily I will cause
thee to die, and I will take thee up unto me,[54] and I will deliver
thee from the unbelievers; and I will place those who follow thee above
the unbelievers, until the day of resurrection: then unto me shall ye
return, and I will judge between you of that concerning which ye
disagree. Moreover, as for the infidels, I will punish them with a
grievous punishment in this world, and in that which is to come; and
there shall be none to help them. But they who believe, and do that
which is right, he shall give them their reward; for God loveth not the
wicked doers. These signs and this prudent admonition do we rehearse
unto thee. Verily the likeness of Jesus in the sight of God is as the
likeness of Adam: he created him out of the dust, and then said unto
him, Be; and he was. This is the truth from thy Lord; be not therefore
one of those who doubt: and whoever shall dispute with thee concerning
him, after the knowledge which hath been given thee, say unto them,
Come, let us call together our sons, and your sons, and our wives, and
your wives, and ourselves, and yourselves; then let us make
imprecations, and lay the curse of God on those who lie. Verily this is
a true history: and there is no God but God; and God is most mighty, and
wise. If they turn back, God well knoweth the evil-doers. Say, O ye who
have received the scripture, come to a just determination between us and
you; that we worship not any except God, and associate no creature with
him; and that the one of us take not the other for lords, beside God.
But if they turn back, say, Bear witness that we are true believers. O
ye to whom the scriptures have been given, why do ye dispute concerning
Abraham, since the Law and the Gospel were not sent down until after
him? Do ye not therefore understand? Behold ye are they who dispute
concerning that which ye have some knowledge in; why therefore do ye
dispute concerning that which ye have no knowledge of? God knoweth, but
ye know not. Abraham was neither a Jew, nor a Christian; but he was of
the true religion, one resigned unto God, and was not of the number of
the idolaters. Verily the men who are the nearest of kin unto Abraham,
are they who follow him; and this prophet, and they who believe on him:
God is the patron of the faithful. Some of those who have received the
scriptures desire to seduce you; but they seduce themselves only, and
they perceive it not. O ye who have received the scriptures, why do ye
not believe in the signs of God, since ye are witnesses of them? O ye
who have received the scriptures, why do ye clothe truth with vanity,
and knowingly hide the truth? And some of those to whom the scriptures
were given, say, Believe in that which hath been sent down unto those
who believe, in the beginning of the day, and deny it in the end
thereof; that they may go back from their faith: and believe him only
who followeth your religion. Say, Verily the true direction is the
direction of God, that there may be given unto some other a revelation
like unto what hath been given unto you. Will they dispute with you
before your Lord? Say, Surely excellence is in the hand of God, he
giveth it unto whom he pleaseth; God is bounteous and wise: he will
confer peculiar mercy on whom he pleaseth; for God is endued with great
beneficence. There is of those who have received the scriptures, unto
whom if thou trust a talent, he will restore it unto thee; and there is
also of them, unto whom if thou trust a dinar,[55] he will not restore
it unto thee, unless thou stand over him continually with great urgency.
This they do because they say, We are not obliged to observe justice
with the heathen: but they utter a lie against God, knowingly. Yea;
whoso keepeth his covenant, and feareth God, God surely loveth those who
fear him. But they who make merchandise of God's covenant, and of their
oaths, for a small price, shall have no portion in the next life,
neither shall God speak to them or regard them on the day of
resurrection, nor shall he cleanse them; but they shall suffer a
grievous punishment. And there are certainly some of them, who read the
scriptures perversely, that ye may think what they read to be really in
the scriptures, yet it is not in the scripture; and they say, This is
from God; but it is not from God: and they speak that which is false
concerning God, against their own knowledge. It is not fit for a man,
that God should give him a book of revelations, and wisdom, and
prophecy; and then he should say unto men, Be ye worshippers of me,
besides God; but he ought to say, Be ye perfect in knowledge and in
works, since ye know the scriptures, and exercise yourselves therein.
God hath not commanded you to take the angels and the prophets for your
Lords: Will he command you to become infidels, after ye have been true
believers? And remember when God accepted the covenant of the prophets,
saying, This verily is the scripture and the wisdom which I have given
you: hereafter shall an apostle come unto you, confirming the truth of
that scripture which is with you; ye shall surely believe on him, and ye
shall assist him. God said, Are ye firmly resolved, and do ye accept my
covenant on this condition? They answered, We are firmly resolved: God
said, Be ye therefore witnesses; and I also bear witness with you: and
whosoever turneth back after this, they are surely the transgressors. Do
they therefore seek any other religion but God's? since to him is
resigned whosoever is in heaven or on earth, voluntarily, or of force:
and to him shall they return. Say, We believe in God, and that which
hath been sent down unto us, and that which was sent down unto Abraham,
and Ismael, and Isaac, and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which was
delivered to Moses, and Jesus, and the prophets from their Lord; we make
no distinction between any of them; and to him are we resigned. Whoever
followeth any other religion than Islam, it shall not be accepted of
him: and in the next life he shall be of those who perish. How shall God
direct men who have become infidels after they had believed, and borne
witness that the apostle was true, and manifest declarations of the
divine will had come unto them? for God directeth not the ungodly
people. Their reward shall be, that on them shall fall the curse of God,
and of angels, and of all mankind: they shall remain under the same
forever; their torment shall not be mitigated, neither shall they be
regarded; except those who repent after this, and amend; for God is
gracious and merciful. Moreover they who become infidels after they have
believed, and yet increase in infidelity, their repentance shall in no
wise be accepted, and they are those who go astray. Verily they who
believe not, and die in their unbelief, the world full of gold shall in
no wise be accepted from any of them, even though he should give it for
his ransom; they shall suffer a grievous punishment, and they shall have
none to help them. Ye will never attain unto righteousness, until ye
give in alms of that which ye love: and whatever ye give, God knoweth
it. All food was permitted unto the children of Israel, except what
Israel forbade unto himself before the Pentateuch was sent down. Say
unto the Jews, Bring hither the Pentateuch and read it, if ye speak
truth. Whoever therefore contriveth a lie against God after this, they
will be evil-doers. Say, God is true: follow ye therefore the religion
of Abraham the orthodox; for he was no idolater. Verily the first house
appointed unto men to worship in was that which is in Becca;[56]
blessed, and a direction to all creatures. Therein are manifest signs:
the place where Abraham stood; and whoever entereth therein, shall be
safe. And it is a duty towards God, incumbent on those who are able to
go thither, to visit this house; but whosoever disbelieveth, verily God
needeth not the service of any creature. Say, O ye who have received the
scriptures, why do ye not believe in the signs of God? Say, O ye who
have received the scriptures, why do ye keep back from the way of God
him who believeth? Ye seek to make it crooked, and yet are witnesses
that it is the right: but God will not be unmindful of what ye do. O
true believers, if ye obey some of those who have received the
scripture, they will render you infidels, after ye have believed: and
how can ye be infidels, when the signs of God are read unto you, and his
apostle is among you? But he who cleaveth firmly unto God, is already
directed into the right way. O believers, fear God with his true fear;
and die not unless ye also be true believers. And cleave all of you unto
the covenant of God, and depart not from it, and remember the favor of
God towards you: since ye were enemies, and he reconciled your hearts,
and ye became companions and brethren by his favor: and ye were on the
brink of a pit of fire, and he delivered you thence. Thus God declareth
unto you his signs, that ye may be directed. Let there be people among
you, who invite to the best religion; and command that which is just,
and forbid that which is evil; and they shall be happy. And be not as
they who are divided, and disagree in matters of religion, after
manifest proofs have been brought unto them: they shall suffer a great
torment. On the day of resurrection some faces shall become white, and
other faces shall become black. And unto them whose faces shall become
black, God will say, Have ye returned unto your unbelief, after ye had
believed? therefore taste the punishment, for that ye have been
unbelievers: but they whose faces shall become white shall be in the
mercy of God, therein shall they remain forever. These are the signs of
God: we recite them unto thee with truth. God will not deal unjustly
with his creatures. And to God belongeth whatever is in heaven and on
earth; and to God shall all things return. Ye are the best nation that
hath been raised up unto mankind: ye command that which is just, and ye
forbid that which is unjust, and ye believe in God. And if they who have
received the scriptures had believed, it had surely been the better for
them: there are believers among them, but the greater part of them are
transgressors. They shall not hurt you, unless with a slight hurt; and
if they fight against you, they shall turn their backs to you, and they
shall not be helped. They are smitten with vileness wheresoever they are
found; unless they obtain security by entering into a treaty with God,
and a treaty with men: and they draw on themselves indignation from God,
and they are afflicted with poverty. This they suffer, because they
disbelieved the signs of God, and slew the prophets unjustly; this,
because they were rebellious, and transgressed. Yet they are not all
alike: there are of those who have received the scriptures, upright
people; they meditate on the signs of God in the night season, and
worship; they believe in God and the last day; and command that which is
just, and forbid that which is unjust, and zealously strive to excel in
good works: these are of the righteous. And ye shall not be denied the
reward of the good which ye do; for God knoweth the pious. As for the
unbelievers, their wealth shall not profit them at all, neither their
children, against God: they shall be the companions of hell fire; they
shall continue therein forever. The likeness of that which they lay out
in this present life, is as a wind wherein there is a scorching cold: it
falleth on the standing corn of those men who have injured their own
souls, and destroyeth it. And God dealeth not unjustly with them; but
they injure their own souls. O true believers, contract not an intimate
friendship with any besides yourselves: they will not fail to corrupt
you. They wish for that which may cause you to perish: their hatred hath
already appeared from out of their mouths; but what their breasts
conceal is yet more inveterate. We have already shown you signs of their
ill-will towards you, if ye understand. Behold, ye love them, and they
do not love you: ye believe in all the scriptures, and when they meet
you, they say, We believe; but when they assemble privately together,
they bite their fingers' ends out of wrath against you. Say unto them,
Die in your wrath: verily God knoweth the innermost part of your
breasts. If good happen unto you, it grieveth them; and if evil befall
you, they rejoice at it. But if ye be patient, and fear God, their
subtlety shall not hurt you at all; for God comprehendeth whatever they
do. Call to mind when thou wentest forth early from thy family, that
thou mightest prepare the faithful a camp for war; and God heard and
knew it; when two companies of you were anxiously thoughtful, so that ye
became faint-hearted; but God was the supporter of them both; and in God
let the faithful trust. And God had already given you the victory at
Bedr, when ye were inferior in number; therefore fear God, that ye may
be thankful. When thou saidst unto the faithful, Is it not enough for
you, that your Lord should assist you with three thousand angels, sent
down from heaven? Verily if ye persevere, and fear God, and your enemies
come upon you suddenly, your Lord will assist you with five thousand
angels, distinguished by their horses and attire. And this God designed
only as good tidings for you that your hearts might rest secure: for
victory is from God alone, the mighty, the wise. That he should cut off
the uttermost part of the unbelievers, or cast them down, or that they
should be overthrown and unsuccessful, is nothing to thee. It is no
business of thine; whether God be turned unto them, or whether he punish
the