Page 441 - Lokmanya Tilak Samagra (khand 2)

222 SAMAGRA TILAK - 2 • THE ARCTIC HOME
with the moving forward of the sun and the moon, that had stood
still, or without moving, in the same place for a long time. In
other words, the waters, as well as the sun, ceased to move during
winter; and the worshipper of Mazda is ordered not to dispose
of the corpse until the floods began to flow and the sun to move,
be it for two nights, three nights, or a month long. The Mazda-
worshippers believed that the corpse was cleansed by its exposure
to the sun, and dead bodies could not, therefore, be disposed of
during night. The passage from the Vendidad, above referred to,
therefore, clearly indicates that the season of winter was once
marked by long darkness extending over two nights, three nights
or a month; and that during the period, the floods ceased to flow and
the plants to grow. It was during such a winter that the difficulty
of disposing the corpse arose, and Ahura Mazda is asked what
the faithful should do in such cases. The question has no meaning
otherwise, for, if in the ancient home of the Mazdayasnians the
sun shone every day during winter, as he does with us in the
tropical regions, there would have been no difficulty in the disposal
of the corpse by exposing it to the sun the next morning; and it
would be absurd to ask the faithful to keep the uncleanly dead
body in his house for two nights, three nights, or a month long,
until the winter passed away. The passage from Fargard quoted
above makes no mention of darkness, though it can be easily
inferred from the statement that the body is, at last, to be taken
out and laid down on the Dakhma with its eyes towards the sun,
evidently meaning that this ceremony was impossible to be per-
formed during the time the dead body was kept up in the house.
But Fargard vm 4 ( 11 ), where the same subject is again taken
up, mentions darkness distinctly. Thus Ahura Mazda i asked
" If in the house of the worshipper of Mazda a dog or a man
happens to die, and it is raining, or snowing, or blowing, or the
darkness is coming on, when the :flocks and the men lose their
way, what shall the worshipper of Mazda do ? " To this Ahura
Mazda gives the same reply as in Fargard V. The faithful is directed,
VIII, 9, ( 21 ), to dig a grave in the house, and there" let the lifeless
body lie for two nights, three nights, or a month long, until the
birds begin to :fly, the plants to grow, the floods to flow, and the
wind to dry up the waters from off the earth." Here in the question
asked to Ahura Mazda darkness is distinctly mentioned along
with snowing and blowing; and in the Farvardin Yasht we have