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: Asto-vidhotu 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.
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