Dadestan-i Denig ('Religious Decisions')

Translated by E. W. West, from Sacred Books of the East, volume 24, Oxford University Press, 1880.

CHAPTER 34.

1.

As to the thirty-third question and reply, that which you ask is thus: In what manner is there one way of the righteous from the Daitih peak to heaven, and one of the wicked to hell; and what is their nature?

2.

The reply is this, that: one is for ascent, and one for descent; and on account of both being of one appearance I write thus much for understanding and full explanation, that is to say: (3) The righteous souls pass over on the Chinwad bridge by spiritual flight and the power of good works; and they step forth up to the star, or to the moon, or to the sun station, or to the endless light [Anagran]. 4. The soul of the wicked, owing to its falling from the bridge, its lying demon, and the pollution collected by its sin, they shall lead therefrom to the descent into the earth, as both ways lead from that bridge on the Daitih peak.

CHAPTER 35.

1.

The thirty-fourth question is that which you ask thus: Does this world become quite without men, so that there is no bodily existence in it what- ever, and then shall they produce the resurrection, or how is it?

2.

The reply is this, that this world, continuously from its immaturity even unto its pure renovation [Frashegird] has never been, and also will not be, without men; and in the evil spirit, the worthless (ashapir), no stirring desire of this arises. 3. And near to the time of the renovation the bodily existences desist from eating, and live without food (pavan akhurishnih); and the offspring who are born from them are those of an immortal, for they possess durable and blood-exhausted (khun-girai) bodies. 4. Such are they who are the bodily-existing men that are in the world when there are men, passed away, who rise again and live again.

CHAPTER 36.

1.

The thirty-fifth question is that which you ask thus: Who are they who are requisite in producing the renovation of the universe [Frashegird], who were they, and how are they?

2.

The reply is this, that of those assignable for that most perfect work the statements recited are lengthy, for even Gayomard, Yim the splendid [Jamshed], Zartosht the Spitaman, the spiritual chief (rado) of the righteous, and many great thanksgivers were appointed for completing the appliances of the renovation; and their great miracles and successful (avachiraganik) management have moved on, which works for the production of the renovation. 3. Likewise, on the approach of the renovation, Keresasp the Saman who smites Dahak [Zohak], Kai-Khusro who was made to pass away by Vae the long-continuing lord, Tus and Vevan [Giw] the allies (avakano), and many other mighty doers are aiding the production of the renovation.

4.

But those who are the producers of the renovation more renowned throughout the spheres (vaspoharakaniktar) are said to be seven, whose names are Roshano-chashm [Av. Raochas-chaeshman], Khur-chashm [Av. Hvare-chaeshman], Fradat-gadman [Fradat-hvareno], Varedat-gadman [Av. Varedat-hvareno], Kamak-vakhshishn [Av. Vouru-nemo], Kamak-sud [Av. Vouru-savo], and Soshans [Av. Saoshyas]. 5. As it is said that in the fifty-seven years, which are the period of the raising of the dead, Roshan-chashm in Arzah, Khur-chashm in Savah, Fradat-gadman in Fradatafsh, Varedat-gadman in Vidatafsh, Kamak-vakhshishn in Vorubarst, and Kamak-sud in Vorujarsht, while Soshans in the illustrious and pure Khwaniras is connected with them, are immortal. 6. The completely good sense, perfect hearing, and full glory of those seven producers of the renovation [Frashegird] are so miraculous that they converse from region unto region, every one together with the six others, just as now men at an interview utter words of conference and cooperation with the tongue, one to the other, and can hold a conversation.

7.

The same perfect deeds for six years in the six other regions, and for fifty years in the illustrious Khwaniras, prepare immortality, and set going everlasting life and everlasting weal (sudih) through the help and power and glory of the omniscient and beneficent spirit, the creator Ohrmazd.

CHAPTER 37.

1.

As to the thirty-sixth question and reply, that which you ask is thus: How shall they produce the resurrection, how do they prepare the dead, and when the dead are prepared by them, how are they? 2. When it is produced by them, is an increase in the brilliance of the stars, moon, and sun necessary, and does it arise, or not? are there seas, rivers, and mountains, or not? and is the world just as large as this, or does it become more so and wider?

3.

The reply is this, that the preparation and production of the resurrection are an achievement connected with miracle, a sublimity (rabaih), and, afterwards, also a wondrous appearance unto the creatures who are uninformed. 4. The secrets and affairs of the persistent creator are like every mystery and secret; excepting himself -- he who is capable of all knowledge, the fully-informed, and all in all (vispano vispo) -- no one of the worldly beings and imperfect spirits has known them.

5.

A true proverb (gobishno-go) of the intelligent and worldly, which is obvious, is that as it is easier in teaching to teach again learning already taught and forgotten than that which was untaught, and easier to repair again a well-built house, given gratuitously, than that which is not so given, so also the formation again of that which was formed is more excellent (hunirtar), and the wonder is less, than the creation of creatures. 6. And through the wisdom and glory of the omniscient and omnipotent creator, by whom the saddened (alikhto) creatures were created, that which was to perish is produced again anew, and that which was not to perish, except a little, is produced handsome even for a creation of the creator.

7.

He who is a pure, spiritual creature is made unblemished; he, also, who is a worldly creature is immortal and undecaying, hungerless and thirstless, undistressed and painless; while, though he moves (jundedo) in a gloomy, evil existence, the fiend is rightly judging from its arrangement (min nivardo) that it is not the place of a beneficent being, but the place of an existence which is deadly, ignorant, deceiving, full of malice, seducing, destroying, causing disgrace, making unobservant (aubengar), and full of envy. 8. And his existence is so full of malice, deceit, seductiveness, unobservance, destructiveness, and destruction that he has no voice except for accomplices (ham-budikan) and antagonists, except also for his own creatures and gossips when their hearts are desirous of evil, seducing, destroying, making unobservant, causing malice, and bearing envy. 9. And he is disclosed (vishad) from his own origin and abyss full of darkness, unto the limits of darkness and confines of the luminaries; and in his terribleness and demoniacal deliberation he gazes at the unblemished light and creatures of the beneficent Ohrmazd. 10. And through abundant envy and complete maliciousness is his lying; and he mounts (subaredo) to seize, destroy, render unobservant, and cause to perish these same well-formed creatures of the sacred beings. 11. And owing to his observance of falsehood he directed falsehood and lies with avidity (vareno), which were necessary for obtaining his success in his own rendering others unobservant (aubeno); even in the nine thousand winters (hazangrok zim) of falsehood that which is disregarded therein is his own falsity.

12.

He who is the most lordly of the lords of the pre-eminent luminaries, and the most spiritual of spirits, and all the beings of Ohrmazd the creator -- who was himself capable of an effectual (tubano) gain for every scheme of his -- do not allow that fiend into the interior, into the radiance (farogid) of the luminaries. 13. And they understood through their own universal wisdom that fiend's thoughts of vileness, and meditation of falsehood and lies, and became aware of them by themselves and through their own intuition, and shall not accept the perdition (aoshih) of the fiend, but are to be rightly listening to the commands of him [Ohrmazd] who is worthy. 14. For his [the fiend's] is not the nature of him who is good, nor the wisdom of him who is propitious; and he does not turn from the confines of the shining ones, and the developments pertaining to those of the good being, until he arrives at the creatures; and he struggles in an attempt (auzmano), spreads forth into the sky, is mobbed (garohagi-ait) in combats, is completely surrounded, and is tested with perfect appliances. 15. His resources, also, are destroyed, his internal vigor is subdued, his weapons of falsehood are disregarded, and his means of deceiving shall perish; and with completeness of experience, thorough painfulness, routed troops, broken battle-array, and disarranged means he enjoys on the outside the radiance of the luminaries with the impotence (anaiyyaragih) of a desire which again returns to him.

16.

And the same well-shining light of all kinds of the creator, when they shall not let in him who is Ahriman, shall remain an unlimited time, while the fiend is in household attendance on those of the frontier through not being let in, and constantly troubled at the everlasting creatures. 17. The household attendance of the fiend seemed to it [the light] perpetually afflicting; and also the previous struggle of the fiend when the celestial spirit (ahvo) pertaining to the luminaries was not contended with by him, his defeat (makhituntano) when the luminaries were not defeated by him, his infliction of punishment before sin, and his causing hatred before hatred exists are all recounted by it to the justice and judiciousness whose unchangeableness, will, persistence, and freedom from hatred -- which is the character of its faithful ones -- are not so, to him who is the primeval (peshako) creator.

18.

The fiend, after his falsity, the struggle -- on account of the fighting of the shining ones and the decreed keeping him away which was due to the fighter for the luminaries -- and the ill-success of the struggle of himself and army, ordered the beating back of the worthy fighter against destruction, the malicious avenging again of the causer of hatred, and the destroyer's internal vileness and disorganization anew of his own place. 19. He saw the beneficent actions by which, through the wisdom of Ohrmazd, the spiritual wisdom, within the allotted (burin-homond) time, the limited space, the restricted conflict, the moderate trouble, and the definite (farjam-homand) labor existing, struggles against the fiend, who is the unlawful establisher of the wizard; and he returned inside to fall disarmed (asamano) and alive, and until he shall be fully tormented (pur-dardag-hae) and shall be thoroughly experienced, they shall not let him out again in the allotted time that the fiend ordered for the success of falsehood and lies. 20. And the same fiend and the primeval (kadmon) demons are cast out confusedly, irreverently, sorrowfully, disconcertedly, fully afflicting their friends, thoroughly experienced, even with their falsehoods and not inordinate means, with lengthy slumbers, with broken-down (avasist) deceits and dissipated resources, confounded and impotent, into the perdition of Ahriman, the disappearance of the fiend, the annihilation of the demons, and the non-existence of antagonism.

21.

To make the good creatures again fresh and pure, and to keep them constant and forward in pure and virtuous conduct is to render them immortal; and the not letting in of the coexistent one, owing to the many new assaults (padjastoih) that occur in his perpetual household attendance of falsity -- through which there would have been a constant terror of light for the creatures of the sacred beings [Yazads] -- is to maintain a greater advantage. 22. And his (Ohrmazd's) means are not the not letting in of the fiend, but the triumph arranged for himself in the end -- the endless, unlimited light being also produced by him, and the constantly-beneficial space that is self-sustained -- which (triumph) is the resource of all natures, races, characters, powers, and duties from the beginning and maturing of those of the good religion and the rushing of the liar and destroyer on to the creatures, which are requisite for the final, legitimate triumph of the well-directing creator, and for the termination of the struggles of all by the protection and recompense of the praises and propitiation performed, which are the healing of the righteous and the restoration of the wicked at the renovation [Frashegird]. 23. Even these developments, even these established habits (dad-shaniha), even these emissions of strength, even these births, even these races, even these townspeople (dihikoiha), even these characters, even these sciences, even these manageable and managing ones, and even these other, many, special species and manners which at various periods (anbano) of time are in the hope that the quantity and nature of their auxiliaries may be complete, and their coming accomplished and not deficient in success (vakhto), are distributed and made happy by him.

24.

The sky is in three thirds, of which the one at the top is joined to the endless light, in which is the constantly-beneficial space; the one at the bottom reached to the gloomy abyss, in which is the fiend full of evil; and one is between those two thirds which are below and above. 25. And the uppermost third, which is called 'the rampart of the supreme heaven' (garothmano drupushto), was made by him with purity, all splendor, and every pleasure, and no access to it for the fiend. 26. And he provided that third for undisturbedly convoking the pure, the archangels [amahraspandan], and the righteous that have offered praises who, as it were unarmed (azenavar), struggle unprepared and thoroughly in contest with the champions of the coexistent one, and they smite the coexistent one and his own progeny (goharako) already described, and afford support to the imperishable state, through the help of the archangels [amahraspandan] and the glory of the creator. 27. And, again also, in their fearlessness they seek for the destruction of the demons and for the perfection of the creatures of the good beings; as one who is fearless, owing to some rampart which is inaccessible to arrows and blows, and shoots arrows at the expanse below, is troubled (bakhsedo) for friends below.

28.

And he made a distinction in the prescribed splendor and glory for the lowermost third of the sky; and the difference is that it is liable to injury (pavan resh), so that the fiend, who is void of goodness, comes and makes that third full of darkness and full of demons, and shall be able to perplex in that difficulty when the thousand winters occur, and the five detested (lakhsidako) kinds of the demons of life have also overwhelmed with sin those of the wicked who are deceived by the demons and have fled from the contest. 29. But they shall not let the fiend fully in, owing to the luminaries of the resplendent one, during the allotted time when the demons' punishing and the repentance of the wicked are accomplished.

30.

And he appointed for the middle third the creatures of the world separated from the world and the spiritual existence; and among those creatures were produced for them the managing man as a guardian of the creatures, and the deciding wisdom as an appliance of man; and the true religion, the best of knowledge was prepared by him. 31. And that third is for the place of combat and the contest of the two different natures; and in the uppermost part of the same third is stationed by him the light of the brilliant sun and moon and glorious stars, and they are provided by him that they may watch the coming of the adversary, and revolve around the creatures. 32. All the sacred ceremonies of the distant earth (bum), the light, the abundant rains, and the good angels vanquish and smite the wizards and witches who rush about below them, and struggle to perplex by injury to the creatures; they make all such assailants become fugitives. 33. And through their revolution the ascents and descents, the increase and diminution (narafsishno), of the creatures shall occur, the flow and ebb of the seas, and the increase of the dye-like blood of the inferior creatures; also owing to them and through them have elapsed the divisions of the days, nights, months, years, periods, and all the millenniums (hazagrok ziman) of time.

34.

He also appointed unto our forefathers the equipment which is their own, a material vesture, a sturdy bravery, and the guardian spirits of the righteous [asho farohar]; and he provided that they should remain at various times in their own nature, and come into worldly vesture. 35. And those for great hosts and many slaves are born, for the duties of the period, into some tribe; he who has plenty of offspring is like Fravak, he who is of the early law (peshdad) like Hoshang, he who is a smiter of the demon like Takhmorup, he who is full of glory like Yim [Jamshed], he who is full of healing like Feridoon, he who has both wisdoms like the righteous Manushchihar, he who is full of strength like Keresasp, he who is of a glorious race like Kai-Kavad, he who is full of wisdom like Aoshanar [Av. Aoshnara?]. 36. He who is noble is like Siyavash [Av. Kavi Syavarshan], he who is an eminent doer (avarkar) like Kai-Khusro, he who is exalted like Kai-Vishtasp, he who is completely good like the righteous Zartosht, he who arranges the world like Peshyotanu, he who is over the religion (dino-avarag) like Aturo-pad [Adurbad], he who is liturgical like Hushedar, he who is legal like Hushedar-mah, and he who is metrical and concluding like Soshans. 37. Among them are many illustrious ones, glorious doers, supporters of the religion, and good managers, who are completely (apur) for the smiting of the fiend and the will of the creator.

38.

He also produced the creatures as contenders, and granted assistance (vedvarih), through the great, in the struggle for the perfect happiness from heaven at the renovation [Frashegird] of the universe; and he made them universally (vaspoharakaniha) contented. 39. A vitiated thought of a living, well-disposed being is a stumble (nishivo) which is owing to evil; and these are even those contented with death, because they know their limit, and it shall be definite (burino-homond) and terminable; the evil of the world, in life, is definite, and they shall not make one exist unlimitedly and indefinitely in the evil of the world, through an eternal life with pain.

40.

And through a great mystery, wholly miraculous, he produced a durable immortality for the living; a perplexity so long as the best and utmost of it is such an immortality of adversity, for it is ever living molested and eternally suffering. 41. And their development, the strength of lineage obtained, is ever young in succession, and the tender, well-destined ones, who are good, are in adversity and perpetuity of life, so that there is a succession of life through their own well-destined offspring. 42. They become eternally famous, so that they obtain, every one, an old age which is renewed, free from sickness and decay, visibly in their own offspring and family (goharako) whenever they become complete; and any one of the combative, whose struggle is through the smiting that his fellow-combatant obtains, is of a comfortable disposition at the balance. 43. This one, too, is for stepping forth to heaven, even as that pre-eminent one of the righteous, the greatest of the apostles and the most fortunate of those born, the chief of worldly beings, the righteous Zartosht the Spitaman, when the omniscient wisdom, as a trance (gip), came upon him from Ohrmazd, and he saw him who was immortal and childless, and also him who was mortal and provided with children; that perpetual life of the childless then seemed to him terrible, and that succession of mortals seemed commendable; so that the coming of his assured offspring, Hushedar, Hushedar-mah, and Soshans, became more longed for and more desired, and death more than the perpetual life of his own body.

44.

And when he who is all-watchful and all-knowing had arranged the means of opposing the fiend, there came for destroying, like a general leader (vispvar), that fiend of deceiving nature, the harassing, rushing, evil-wishing, primeval (pesh) contender, together with the demons Akomano ('evil thought'), Aeshm ('wrath'), Zarman ('decrepitude'), Bushasp ('lethargy'), craving distress, bygone luck, Vae, Vareno ('lust'), Asto-vidad, and Vizarash, and the original, innumerable demons and fiends of Mazendara. 45. And his darkness and gloom, scorpions (kadzuno), porcupines, and vermin, poison and venom, and the mischief originally in the lowermost third of the sky, issue upwards, astute in evil, into the middle third, in which are the agreeable creatures which Ohrmazd created.

46.

And he smote the ox, he made Gayomard mortal, and he shook the earth; and the land was shattered, creation became dark, and the demons rushed below, above, and on all sides, and they mounted even to the uppermost third of the sky. 47. And there the barricade (band) and rampart fortifying (vakhshiko) the spiritual world is approached, for which the safeguard (nigas) of all barricades, that is itself the great glory of the pure religion, solving doubts -- which is the safeguard of all barricades -- is arrayed. 48. And the splendid, belt-bearing Pleiades, like the star-studded girdle of the spirit-fashioned, good religion of the Mazda-worshippers, are so arrayed as luminaries of the fully-glorious ones. 49. And there was no possibility (aitokih) of any demon or fiend, nor yet even of the demon of demons, the mightiest (mazvantum) in valor, rushing up across that boundary; they are beaten back now, when they have not reached it from the gloom, at once and finally (yak-vayo akhar).

50.

And the fiend of gloomy race, accustomed to destruction (aosh-ayin), changed into causes of death the position (gas) of the brilliant, supreme heaven of the pure, heavenly angels -- which he ordained through the power of Mitokht ('falsehood') -- and the triumph of the glory of the world's creatures, as ordained through two decrees (ziko): one, the destruction of the living by the power of death; and one causing the manacling of souls by a course of wickedness. 51. And he made as leaders therein that one astute in evil who is already named, and Asto-vidad who is explained as 'the disintegration of material beings;' he also entrusted the demon Bushasp ('lethargy') with the weakening of the breath, the demon Tap ('fever') with stupefying and disordering the understanding, and the demon Az ('greediness') with suggesting cravings and causing drinking before having the thirst of a dog. 52. Also the demon Zarman ('decrepitude') for injuring the body and abstracting the strength; the bad Vae's tearing away the life by stupefying the body; the demon Aeshm ('wrath') for occasioning trouble by contests, and causing an increase of slaughter; the noxious creatures of gloomy places for producing stinging and causing injury; the demon Zairich for poisoning eatables and producing causes of death; with Niyaz ('want') the stealthily-moving and dreading the light, the fearfulness of Nihiv ('terror') chilling the warmth, and many injurious powers and demons of the destroyers were made by him constant assistants of Asto-vidad in causing death.

53.

Also, for rendering wicked and making fit for hell those whose souls are under the sway of falsehood (kadba), which in religious language is called Mitokht -- since it is said in revelation that that is as much an evil as all the demons with the demons of demons -- there is Akomano ('evil thought'), who is with the evil spirit owing to the speaking of Mitokht ('falsehood'). 54. And for his doctrine (dinoih) of falsehood, and winning the creatures, slander the deceiver, lust the selfish, hatred, and envy, besides the overpowering progress of disgrace (nang), the improper desires of the creatures, indolence in seeking wisdom, quarreling about that which is no indication of learning, disputing (sitoj) about the nature of a righteous one, and many other seductive powers and demons helping to win, were made auxiliary to the doctrine of falsehood in deceiving the creatures.

55.

Also, to turn his disturbance to creatures of even other kinds, there are demons and fiends of further descriptions (freh-aitan); and for the assistance of those combatants he established also those afflictions (nivakan) of many, the witches of natures for gloomy places, whose vesture is the radiance of the lights that fall [meteors], and rush, and turn below the luminaries which have to soar (vazishnikano) in stopping the way of any little concealment of the spirits and worldly beings. 56. And they (the witches) overspread the light and glory of those luminaries, of whose bestowal of glory and their own diminution of it, moreover, for seizing the creatures, consist the pain, death, and original evil of the abode for the demon of demons.

57.

And those demons and original fiends, who are the heads and mighty ones of the demons, injudiciously, prematurely moving, prematurely speaking, not for their own disciplined advantage, but with unbecoming hatred, lawless manner, envy, and spears exposing the body, undesirably struggle together -- a perplexing contention of troublers -- about the destruction of the luminaries. 58. The army of angels, judiciously and leisurely fighting for the good creatures of the sacred beings, not with premature hatred and forward spears (pesh-nizahih), but by keeping harm away from themselves -- the champions' customary mode of wounding -- valiantly, strongly, properly, and completely triumphantly struggle for a victory triumphantly fought. 59. For Ahriman the demons are procurers (vashikano) of success in the contests till the end, when the fiend becomes invisible and the creatures become pure.

60.

Since worldly beings observe, explain, and declare among worldly beings the work of the spirits and knowledge of customs (ristako), by true observation, through wisdom, that that life (zik) is proper when it is in the similitude of the true power of wisdom, and the visible life is undiscerning of that which is to come and that which is provided, so also the evidence of a knowledge of the end of the contention is certain and clearly visible. 61. And tokens are discernible and signs apparent which, to the wisdom of the ancients -- if it extended, indeed, to a knowledge about this pre-eminent subject -- were hidden by the fiends, who are concealers of them from the perception (hazishno) of worldly beings, and also from their coming to the perception of worldly beings.

62.

The learned high-priests who were founders (payinikano) of the religion knew it (the evidence), and those portions of it were transmitted by them to the ancients which the successive realizers of it, for the ages before me (levinam), have possessed. 63. The deceivers [unorthodox] of the transmitters, who have existed at various times, even among those who are blessed, have remained a mass of knowledge for me, by being my reminder of the mature and proper duty of those truly wise (hu-chiraganiko), through the directions issuable by even worldly decision, and of so many of which I have a remembrance, for the writing of which there would be no end. 64. Then the manifest power of the fiend among us below, and the way provided by the creator for his becoming invisible and his impotence are clear; so also the full power of the creator of the army of angels, assuredly the procurers of success in the end, and the accomplishment all-powerfully -- which is his own advantage -- of the completely-happy progress, forever, of all creations which are his creatures, are thereby visible and manifest; and many tokens and signs thereof are manifestly clear.

65.

One is this, that the creator is in his own predestined (bagdadako) abode, and the fiend is advancing and has rushed in, and his advancing is for the subjugation of the creation.

66.

One, that the creatures of Ohrmazd are spiritual and also worldly, and that is no world of the fiend, but he gathers an evil spiritual state into the world; and as among so many the greed of success is only in one, so the triumph is manifest of the good spirits and worldly beings over the evil spirits.

67.

One is this, that his defeat in the end is manifest from his contention and aggression (pesh-zadarih); for the fiend is an aggressor in an unlawful struggle, and leaving the army of Ohrmazd -- subsequently the lawful defender (lakhvar-zadar) -- the fiend of violence is a cause of power among those wholly unrequiting the creator in the world. 68. If, also, every time that he smites the creatures he is equally and lawfully beaten once again, it is assuredly evident therefrom that, when their beating and being beaten are on an equality together, at first he whose hand was foremost was the smiter, and the backward fighter was beaten; but at last that backward fighter is the smiter, and the foremost fighter becomes beaten; for when he is beaten in the former combat, there is then a combat again, and his enemy is beaten.

69.

One is this, that when the supply of weapons, the fighting, and the ability of the contenders are equal, the supply of weapons of him who is the beginner (peshidar) has always sooner disappeared, and, at last, he is unarmed and his opponent remains armed; and an armed man is known to be victorious over him who is unarmed, just as one fighting is triumphant over one not fighting. 70. And a similitude of it, which is derived from the world, is even such as when each one of two furious ones (ardo) of equal strength, in a fight together, has an arrow, and each one is in fear of the other's possession of an arrow; and one of them alone shoots his arrow, and makes it reach his opponent; then he is without an arrow, and his opponent, fully mindful of it, has an arrow, and becomes fearless through possession of the arrow, his own intrepidity, and the lack of arrows and complete terror of that earlier shooter. 71. And as regards mighty deeds he is successful; and though there be as much strength for the earlier fighter a successful termination is undiscoverable for him; despoiled of possession by him who is later, and ruined in that which is all-powerful, his end and disappearance are undoubted, clear, and manifest.

72.

One is this, that owing to the previous non-appearance of the fiend, the coming forward of sickness and death unto the creatures of the sacred beings occurred when the fiend rushed in, and he rendered the existence of men sickly; he also destroyed and put to death the progeny of animals. 73. Afterwards, through lawfully driving him away, sickness and death come in turn (barikiha) unto the demons, and the healthiness of the righteous and perfect life unto the creatures of the sacred beings, as its counterpart is the great healthiness which comes, more rightly rising, unto the creatures advised by the sacred beings, through united arrangement. 74. And, in the end, a worldly similitude of the sickness and grievous, complete death for the fiends, and of the healthiness and intrinsic (benafshman-chigunih) life for the creatures of the sacred beings, is that which occurs when one of two litigants (ham-patkar), prematurely revengeful, gives to his fellow-litigant an irritating [ordeal?] poison, and himself eats wholesome flour before the later litigant gives a poison, as an antidote, to the earlier litigant, and himself eats the poison-subduing flour; after which he is cured by the poison, and his enemy is dead through the poison of the later flour.

75.

One is this, that Ohrmazd the creator, is a manager with omniscient wisdom, and the contention of the fiend of scornful looks (tar nigirishn) is through lust of defilement; of united power is the management of that creator, as existing with (hamzik) all the vigilance in the wisdom which is in everything; and that united power is the strength of the management of heaven. 76. And of much power is the contention of the fiend, as his manifold changing of will -- which is hostile to the will of even his own creatures, and is through the weakness and exhausted strength of an evil nature -- is the contending power which forms his visible strength.

77.

One is this, that is, on account of the fiend's contending ill-advisedly, however strongly the contest is adapted for the damage of his own fiendishness, and regret and bad consequences therefrom are perceptible. 78. Such as the very paralyzing affliction which was appointed (nihado) by him for the creatures of the world in putting the living to death, which he ordered with violence and the hope that it would be his greatest triumph. 79. Even that is what is so self-damaging to the same fiend that, when he puts to death him who is wicked, and he who is wicked, who is performing what is desirable for him (the fiend) -- that performance of what is desirable being the practice of sin -- is useless and goes thither where he is penitent of that seduction, the spirit of the owner (shah) of the sin, whose soul is wicked, is righteous, in whose worldly body exist the fetters of pain and darkness; and owing to the unfettering of its hands from that pain it (the spirit) is far away, and goes to heaven, which is the most fortified of fortresses. 80. Fearlessly it fights for it, even as the guardian spirit [Farohar] of Yim the splendid [Jamshed] kept away all trouble (vesham), the guardian spirit [Farohar] of Faridoon kept away even those active in vexing, and other guardian spirits of those passed away are enumerated as engaged in the defeat of many fiends.

81.

One is this, that the most grievous severance that is owing to him (the fiend) is the production of the mortality of the creatures, in which the afflicting (nizgun) demon Asto-vidad is the head of the many Mazainya demons. 82. And the propitious creator's developers were thus unprovoked (anargond) when the only person, who is called Gayomard, was destroyed by him, and came back to the world as a man and a woman whose names were Marhaya and Marhiyoih [Mashye and Mashyane]; and the propagation and connection of races were through their next-of-kin marriage [kwetodas] of a sister. 83. The unlucky fiend, while he increased offspring and fortune for them through death, so uplifted his voice in their presence, about the death of the living ones of their offspring and lineage, that together with the unmeasured destructiveness of the deadly evil spirit, and the unjust contention of his through death and the conveyer of death [Asto-vidad], the sting also of birth was owing to death. 84. The repetitions of the cry were many, so that the issue (bar) of thousands and thousands of myriads from those two persons, and the multitude passed away, from a number which is limited and a counterpart (aedunoih) of the living people in the world, are apparent; and for the annihilation of many fiends, through death, the propitiousness of the contending power of the creator is clear and manifest.

85.

One is this, that the most steadfast quality of the demon himself is darkness, the evil of which is so complete that they shall call the demons also those of a gloomy race. 86. But such is the power in the arms and resources of the angels [Yazads], that even the first gloomy darkness in the world is perpetually subdued by the one power really originating with the sun and suitable thereto, and the world is illuminated.

87.

One is this, that the most mischievous weapon of the demons is the habit of self-deception which, on account of rendering the soul wicked thereby, seemed to them as the greatest triumph for themselves, and a complete disaster for the angels [Yazads]. 88. In the great glory of the pure, true religion of the sacred beings is as much strength as is adapted to the full power of the lawlessness and much opposition of falsehood, and also to the fully accurate (arshido) speaking which is in itself an evidence of the true speaking of every proper truth; and no truth whatever is perverted by it. 89. And the false sayings are many, and good sayings -- their opponents through good statement -- do not escape from their imperfect truth; since a similitude of them is that which occurs when, concerning that which is white-colored, the whole of the truthful speak about its white color, but as to the liars there are some who speak of its black color, some of its mud color, some of its blue color, some of its bran color, some of its red color, and some of its yellow color. 90. And every single statement of each of the truthful is as much evidence, about those several colors of those who are liars, as even the compiled sayings of the Abraham of the Christians, which are the word of him who is also called their Messiah, about the Son of the Supreme Being; thus, they recount that the Son, who is not less than the Father, is himself He, the Being whom they consider undying. 91. One falsehood they tell about the same Messiah is that he died, and one falsehood they tell is that he did not die; it is a falsehood for those who say he did not die, and for those who say he did die; wherefore did he not die, when he is not dead? and wherefore is it said he did not die, when he is mentioned as dead? 92. Even the compilation itself is an opponent to its own words, for, though it said he is dead, it spoke unto one not dead; and though he is not dead, it spoke unto one dead. 93. The proper office (gas) of a compiler and mutilator -- through whose complete attainments the demons of like power as to the force of truth are strengthened, and the pure, good religion of the Mazda-worshippers is itself dissipated and rendered useless for itself -- is a habit (dado) growing with the fiend; and, as he is seen to be victorious who overturns reliance on changeableness and similar powers, the final disruption of forces is a disruption of peculiarities (khudih vishopishno).

94.

One is this, that is, even that prodigious devastation of which it is declared that it happens through the rain of Malkos, when, through snow, immoderate cold, and the unproductiveness of the world, most mortals die; and even the things attainable by mortals are attended with threatenings of scarcity. 95. Afterwards -- as among the all-wise, preconcerted remedies (pesh charih) of the beneficent spirit such a remedy was established (and nihad char) that there is one of the species of lands, that is called 'the enclosure formed by Yim [Jamshed],' through which, by orders issued by Yim the splendid and rich in flocks, the son of Vivangha, the world is again filled men of the best races, animals of good breeds, the loftiest trees, and most savory (kharejistano) foods, in that manner came back miraculously for the restoration of the world; which new men are substituted for the former created beings, which is an upraising of the dead. 96. Likewise from that miracle is manifested the non-attainment of the evil spirit to the universal control of the glory of the creator for every purpose.

97.

One is this, that -- when the heterodox (dush-dino) Dahak [Zohak], on whom most powerful demons and fiends in the shape of serpents are winged, escapes from the fetters of Faridoon, and, through witchcraft, remains a demon even to the demons and a destroyer -- a mighty man who is roused up beforehand from the dead, and is called Keresasp the Saman, crushes that fiendishness with a club consisting of a cypress tree, and brings that Dahak through wholesome fear to the just law of the sacred beings.

98.

One is this, that these, which are distinct from those born and the men who have labored together, Asto-vidad has not obtained, nor even will obtain, for death; and through the power of immortals, and the action of the good discourses (hu-sakhunaganih), they urge on to the sacred beings those who are inquiring (kav-homand), even to the immortality which is the renovation of the other creatures. 99. One, which is where the mingled conflict of the meeting of good and evil occurs, is the glorious good-yielding one of the creator which is guarded by purity, so that the fiend has not attained to injuring it, since it is pronounced to be the uninjured ox which is called Hadhayas. 100. Also the long life which is through its all-controlling power until they cause the end to occur, and the devourers of fires are subdued by it -- besides the whole strength of the unboasting (achum) creatures of the beneficent spirit, after they live even without eating -- is because of the Hom that is white and the promoter (frashm) of perfect glory, which possesses the wholesomeness of the elixir of immortality, and through it the living become ever-living. 101. And also as many more specially pure glorious ones whose enumeration would be tedious.

102.

One is this, that the struggle of the evil one and the demons with the creatures is not precisely the existence of various kinds of contest, but by natural operation and through desire of deceit. 103. And the demon of slander (Spazg), whose nature it is to make the indignation (zohar) of the creatures pour out, one upon the other, about nothing, as he does not succeed in making it pour out among the righteous, he makes the wicked even pour it out upon the wicked; and as he does not succeed even in making it pour out among the wicked, he makes a demon pour it out upon a demon. 104. The impetuous assailant, Wrath (Aeshm), as he does not succeed in causing strife among the righteous, flings discord and strife amid the wicked; and when he does not succeed as to the strife even of the wicked, he makes the demons and fiends fight together. 105. So also the demon of greediness (Az), when he does not attain, in devouring, to that of the good, mounts by his own nature unto devouring that of the demons. 106. So also the deadly Asto-vidad is ever an antagonistic operator; when there is no righteous one who is mortal, nor any creatures in the world, the wicked dying one (mirak) rides to the fiends through a death which is an antagonism of himself.

107.

The means of the united forces are means such as the wise and the high-priests have proclaimed, that is, at the time of the renovation of the universe [Frashegird] being nigh, when completion has come to generation -- those who were provided being born -- and after they occasion freedom from generation (azerkhunishnih), they cause men and animals to exist, though passed away and dead. 108. All men, righteous and wicked, who continue in the world become immortal, the men are righteous whom Asto-vidad does not obtain for death by evil noosing (dush-vadishno) from behind, and who have completely attained to the rules of the sacred beings (yang-i yazdan); and the soul of the wicked, which is repentant of deceit, turns back upon the demons and fiends themselves all that previous violence of destruction and perversion, contention and blinding which is natural to a demon, and they fight, and strike, and tear, and cause to tear, and destroy among themselves (benafshman val benafshman) so long as they are in hell and numerous.

109.

The wicked who are penitent become courageous anew as to the demon who perverts, the living occasion strength, and the retribution of the hellish existence of the wicked is completed, because the increase of sins, owing to the sin which they committed, ceases. 110. They are let out from hell, though their sins are thus accumulated by the demons; they have also prepared the spirit of sin by the three days in molten metal, which drives away tears, as its name is owing to the lessening of tears, which is all in that which occurs when all the doers of actions for the demon of falsehood pass through that preparation. 111. And he who, for three days, thus bathes (vushakedo) his sins which are owing to the fiend, and has destroyed the filth (chakhu) of the accumulated sins, is like those who have passed off and turned over a burden.

112.

And the impotence of sin is owing to the destroyer of the fiend by the perception of light, who was their creator they (men) all see all, they all forgive, and they all are powerful as regards all things for the creator. 113. And, moreover, after the three days, when they occur, all the creatures of the good creator are purified and pure by the perfect washing passed through, by the most amazing preparation ordained (bakhto), and by the most complete account they render complete. 114. And they are triumphant over the fiend through their own weapons, through their own driving away of their own littleness (kasvidarih), and the glory of the creator and that of the angels; and since he becomes exhausted in resources (den char) they make him become extinct.

115.

But previously they are attacked, and dispersed, and subdued, and this even fully painfully and with complete experience; and they aid, through backward goodness, in the antagonism of means which are separated divergently, through scattered resources and subdued strength, like the life from the body of worldly mortals, and this, moreover, confusedly, uselessly, and unmovingly. 116. But the abode for the essential material existence (sti-i chihariko), about which there is a seeking for interment, is not powerless, and on inquiring the wishes of such numbers they have cast him out; and no share whatever, nor fragment of a share, of fiendishness, nor even so much as some morsel of unpardonableness sent by fiendishness, remains in this light.

117.

Those who are righteous, intelligent through their own glory of religion (Den) which is a spirit in the form of light are scattered (parvandag-aito) equally around the sky of skies, when from every single side of it there arises, for the sake of margin, three times as much space as the earth created by Ohrmazd, in the preparation of the creatures which were created by him. 118. Through his own will he again constructs the bodies of the evil creation, unlaboriously, easily, and full-gloriously, though their construction is even from the clay of [Mount] Aushdashtar, and their moisture is from the purified water of Areduisur the undefiled [Av. Ardvi Sura Anahita]. 119. And from that which is a good protector through him, and which is also connected with him, even from the Hadhayas ox, is the strength of everlasting welfare (vehgarih) and immortality; and the living are again produced for the body, they have immortal life, and they become hungerless and thirstless, undecaying and undying, undistressed and undiseased, ever-living and ever-beneficial.

120.

After the renovation of the universe there is no demon, because there is no deceit; and no fiend, because there is no falsity; there is no evil spirit (angramino), because there is no destruction; there is no hell, because there is no wickedness; there is no strife, because there is no anger; there is no hatred, because there is no ill-temper (dazih); there is no pain, because there is no disease. 121. There is also no Dahak [Zohak], because there is no fear; there is no want, because there is no greediness; there is no shame, because there is no deformity; there is no falsehood, because there is no desire of falsehood; there is no heterodoxy, because there are no false statements; and there is no tardiness, because it speaks of a dilatory (shusto) race in that which is said thus: 'They are all those of evil thoughts, of evil words, of evil deeds, a race of all evils to be made to tear by the evil spirit.'

122.

And on his (the demon's) disappearance every evil has disappeared, on the disappearance of evil every good is perfected, and in the time of complete goodness it is not possible to occasion (andakhtano) any pain or distress whatever, by any means, to any creature. 123. Those who are present (nunak) sufferers, when there is a blow of a fist on the body, or the point of a nail (tekh burak) is driven into a limb, are pained on account of the combination (ham-dadakih) of a different nature for the purposes of the fiend in the body. 124. But at that time of no complication (ahamyakhtih), when a limb is struck upon a limb, or even such a thing as a knife, or sword, or club, or stone, or arrow reaches the body, there is no pain or discomfort whatever corresponding to that present pain. 125. And at that time one consideration (vushid-ae) occurs, for now the pain from that beating and striking is always owing to that different nature, and on account of their being suitable to it, but at that time everything being of like nature and like formation there is never any distress.

126.

And in that most happy time they let the sun, moon, and luminaries exist, but there is no need for a return of the day and a removal of its going forth (frashm), for the world is a dispenser (vakhtar) of all light, and all creatures, too, are brilliant, those luminaries also become as it were perfectly splendid for them. 127. And every creature, too, is of like will and like power; whichever were mortals, unenvious of the welfare of all creatures, are alike joyous, and that share of their position and pleasure rejoices them which has come to them from the glory of all the existences and capabilities of him, the all-good, who is aware of all of everything through his own perfect persistence and complete resources.

128.

And he allots, to the doers of good works and the suitable ranks, the power of a judge (dadako), wealthiness, goodness, and the directorship (radih) of what is intended. 129. He is the designer of what is intended, as it is said about his creatures and capability that fire is producing wind, fire is producing water, and fire is producing earth; wind is producing fire, wind is producing water, and wind is producing earth; water is producing fire, water is producing wind, and water is producing earth; earth is producing fire, earth is producing wind, and earth is producing water. 130. The spirit is both the cause of spirit and the cause of matter (stish); and the cause of matter, too, is also the cause of spirit, through that perpetual capability.

131.

And, moreover, all the angels, the souls, and the guardian spirits [Farohars] are attending to the wishes of the glory of the creator and the commands of the creator, without trouble and fully rejoicing, in likeness unto the forms of seas, rivers, mountains, trees, and waters; and they have comforted and decorated the creation. 132. And the angels, souls, and guardian spirits, themselves also the constituted spirits of a former contact with life, are thereby pleased and rejoiced; eternal and thoroughly prepared they are naturalized in that complete joy.