CHAPTER V.
THE ZEND-AVESTA.

DERIVATION AND LANGUAGE—DIVISIONS—AGE OF THE ZEND-AVESTA—MANUSCRIPTS—ZARATHUSTRA—THE EARLY PARSIS—THE MODERN PARSIS.

We use the ordinary form of the word, Zend-Avesta, for though some Orientalists claim that it should be called the Avesta-Zend, it is an open question whether this is the original and only correct term. According to the Parsis, Avesta means the sacred text, and Zend its Pahlavi translation, but in the Pahlavi translations themselves, the original work is called the Avesta-Zend, although there is no reason given for this course. Neither the word Avesta nor Zend occurs in the original Zend texts. The word Avesta, however, seems to be the Sansk?it avastha, meaning “authorized text,” while Max MÜller^[145] claims that the name Zend was originally a corruption of the Sansk?it word Khandas, or “metrical language,” which is a name given by the Brahmans to the hymns of the Veda. The word Zend, or Zand, is also used to designate the language^[146] in which the greater part of the Avesta is written.

In relation to its antiquity, the Zend ranks next to the Sansk?it, and such authorities as Westergaard and Spiegel, while differing upon many points, agree in considering the Veda the safest key to an understanding of the Avesta. Many of the gods which are unknown to any of the Indo-European nations are worshipped under the same name in Sansk?it and in Zend, and indeed many of the gods of the Zoroastrians seem to be mere reflections of the more primitive gods of the Veda, but at times the tendency to monotheism in the Zoroastrian religions would appear to be a solemn protest against the worship of all the powers of nature which is found in the Veda. Although there is much kinship between the two tongues, and many striking similarities between the gods of the two mythologies, it does not necessarily prove that portions of the Zend-Avesta were borrowed from the Veda. It does prove, however, that the two works proceeded from a common source of Aryan tradition, and it also proves that the Sansk?it and the Zend continued to live side by side long after they were separated from the common stock of the Indo-European tongues.

There are decided differences between the themes of the Veda and the Avesta, but the link which binds them to a common source is never broken. Some Orientalists claim that there was a schism between the two and that the differences are the result of a religious revolution, while others argue that there was only a long and slow movement which led, by insensible degrees, the vague dualism of the Indo-Iranians onward to the sharply defined dualism of the Magi. It has been clearly shown that the mythologies of Europe and Asia have a common origin in the idolatry found the valley of the Euphrates; so also the Veda and the Zend-Avesta are two great literary productions flowing from the same fountain head, which is found in the Indo-Iranian period.

DIVISIONS.

The Zend-Avesta, or sacred books of the Parsis, is really a collection of various fragments. The first part, which may be called the Avesta proper, contains the Vendidad, the Visparad and the Yasna. The Vendidad is a compilation of religious lore and mythological tales, the Visparad is a collection of litanies for the sacrifice, while the Yasna, too, is composed of litanies, but it also contains five hymns or Gathas written in a different dialect, which is older than the language of the greater part of the Avesta.

These three books are found in manuscripts in two different forms. Sometimes either of them is found alone or accompanied by a Pahlavi translation, or the three are mingled together according to the requirements of the liturgy.

The second portion of this work is generally known as the Khorda-Avesta, and is composed of short prayers, which are recited not only by the priests but by all the faithful, at certain moments of the day, month or year, and in the presence of the different elements. It is also customary to include in the Khorda or small Avesta, the Yasts or hymns of praise to the several Izads or Yazatas.

The sacredness of the Avesta is to a certain extent reflected upon a work called the Bundehesh, which was written in Pahlavi, or mediÆval Persian, during the Sassanian age. According to the Parsi traditions the bulk of Zoroastrian literature was formerly much greater than now. It is claimed that the Vendidad is the only survivor of the twenty-one Nosks or books which formed the primitive Avesta revealed by Ormazd to Zoroaster, and also that the eighteen Yasts were originally thirty in number, there having been one for each of the Izads who preside over the thirty days of the month. The classic authors agree with the Parsis in the statement that the early books of the Zend-Avesta were much more extensive than at present, the sacred literature of the Zoroastrians having suffered heavy losses in consequence of the ravages of the Persian empire by Greeks and Arabians. It appears from the third book of the Dinkard that at the time of Alexander’s invasion there were only two complete copies of the sacred books, one of which was traced upon skins in golden letters and deposited in the royal archives at Persepolis, where it was burned by Alexander^[147] while the other having been placed in another treasury fell into the hands of the Greeks, and was translated into their language. The Ar?a-Viraf-namak mentions only one copy of the Avesta, which was deposited in the archives at Persepolis and burned by Alexander; it also mentions the fact that he killed many of the priests and nobles. Both of these accounts were written, it is true, long after the events they describe, so they merely represent the tradition which had been handed down from one generation to the next, but as they were written before the Arabian conquest^[148] they cannot have confounded the ravages of Alexander with those of the Mohammedans, and their accounts are freely confirmed by classic writers.^[149]

AGE OF THE ZEND-AVESTA.

There is no data by which the age of the Zend-Avesta may be definitely determined. It is certain, however, that as the Zend is later than the Sansk?it, so also the Avesta is later than the Vedas. It is also certain that this work is not the product of any one generation, as several centuries have intervened between the dates of the earliest and latest portions. The Gathas which form the earliest portion of the work, are writtenwritten in the old Aryan metre, but the favorite deities of the Hindus are absent from the Gathas, although they reappear in various forms in the later portions of the Avesta. It is evident that the migrating tribes, in consequence of their separation from their brethren in Iran, soon became estranged from them, and their most favored gods fell slowly into neglect or disfavor. Considerable time must have been required for the accomplishment of so great a change. The oldest portions of the Avesta may therefore fall a few centuries this side of the hymns of the ?ig-veda, while the oldest portions of the later Avesta may be placed at a period somewhat later than Darius.^[150] We have a right to suppose that the hymns and other portions of the Avesta which were then in existence were gathered together and committed to writing about the time of Darius, and according to Dr. Oppert’s rendering of the Behistun inscription, the Persian king says: “By the grace of Ormazd, I have made the writings for others in the Aryan language, which was not done before; and the text of the law and the collection.... I made and wrote, and I sent abroad; then the old writings among all countries I restored for the sake of the people.”^[151] Thus Darius claims to have restored the writings that had been destroyed or injured by the Magian revolt, but the word Avesta had not yet become a technical term;^[152] it was the care of Darius that gave it a fixed and restricted sense. Five centuries afterwards, during the Sassanian period, these books were again gathered, either from scattered manuscripts or from oral traditions, and the later Avesta took a definite form in the hands of Adarbad under King Shapur II,^[153] who, like another Diocletian, aimed at the extirpation of the Christian faith. Mazdeism having been shaken by the Manichean heresy, a definite form was thus given to the religious code of Iran, and it was then promulgated as the sacred law of the nation. We may conclude, therefore, that even the most modern portions of the Avesta cannot belong to a later date than the fourth century of the Christian era.

As the Parsis are the ruins of a people, so also their sacred books represent the ruins of a religion. There has been no other great belief in the world that left such poor monuments of its fallen splendor. Yet great is the value of the Avesta, and the belief of the few surviving Parsis, in the eyes of the historian, 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. By the help of the Parsi religion and the Avesta, we are enabled to go back to that momentous period in the history of literature which saw the blending of the Aryan mind with the Semitic, and thus opened the second stage of Aryan thought.^[154]

MANUSCRIPTS.

The recovery of the manuscripts of the Zend-Avesta, and the translation of them proved to be a herculean task for Orientalists, and more than one valuable life has been given largely to this work. For an hundred years this great problem has cost tireless effort, for its solution demanded as much pioneer work as the deciphering of the cuneiform inscriptions of the ancient kings.

We are largely indebted to Anquetil Duperron, the young Frenchman who was so fearless in his enthusiasm that he enlisted^[155] as a private soldier in order to secure a passage to India, and spent six years in that country collecting the manuscripts of the Avesta, and in trying to obtain from the Dasturs a knowledge of their contents. But his was pioneer work, and his translation of the Avesta, which was made with the assistance of Dastur Darab, was by no means trustworthy; it was in fact a French translation of a Persian rendering which had itself been made from a Pahlavi version of the Zend original.^[156]

Afterward Dr. Rask went to Bombay in the interests of the Danish government and after collecting many valuable manuscripts, wrote his essay “On the Age and Genuineness of the Zend Language.”

About the middle of the present century, Westergaard, who is also a Dane, and one of the most accomplished Zend scholars of Europe, published an edition of the sacred books of the Zoroastrians.

Burnouf, Spiegel and Bopp were also enthusiasticenthusiastic students of these books of the Magian literature, and after a time Dr. Haug, a young and enthusiastic German, was appointed to a professorship of Sansk?it in the Poona College; while here he availed himself of his opportunity to make a thorough study of the literature of the Parsis. He contributed a valuable collection of “Essays” on the subject.

There are at present five editions, more or less complete, of the Zend-Avesta. The first was lithographed and published^[157] under Burnouf’s direction in Paris, and the second was transcribed into Roman characters and published^[158] at Leipsic by Prof Brockhaus. The third edition was presented in Zend characters, and was prepared^[159] by Prof. Spiegel, and the fourth was published at Copenhagen,^[160] by Westergaard; there are also one or two editions of the Zend-Avesta published in India with Gujerati translations, which are sometimes quoted by native scholars.

The Yasna, being that portion of the Zend-Avesta containing the Gathas, which are supposed to be the original hymns of Zoroaster, is the oldest and most important part of the Magian literature. Early in the present century,^[161] Dr. Rask succeeded in bringing to Europe a celebrated manuscript of the Yasna with Pahlavi translation which is now in the University Library of Copenhagen,^[162] and this is the only document of the kind upon the continent of Europe.

Another priceless manuscript has for centuries been hereditary property in the family of a High Priest of the Parsis,^[163] who has now presented it to the University at Oxford, and through the courtesy of Prof. F. Max MÜller we are enabled to give our readers a fac simile representation^[164] of this famous Yasna manuscript which constitutes one of the fundamental documents of Zend philology. It contains nearly eight hundred pages,^[165] and was written by Mihirapan Kai-Khusro, the same copyist who transcribed the Copenhagen manuscript, but it is from a different original.

Zarathustra or Zoroaster^[166] is supposed to have been the prophet of Iran, and the author of the earliest hymns or Gathas, but the fact that the composition of the books of the Zend-Avesta, extended over a period of several centuries, precludes the possibility of their authorship by any one individual. There is no historic record of the birth, the life or the death of Zarathustra, and this fact, together with the vast amount of myth and legend which has grown up around his name, has led some Orientalists to question whether or not such a man ever lived at all.

Firdusi teaches in a mythical way that he belonged to the time of Darius. Hyde, Prideaux and several others claim that Zarathustra was the same as the Persian Zerdusht, the great patriarch of the Magi, who lived between the beginning of the reign of Cyrus and the end of that of Darius Hystaspes, while others still claim that the prophet of Iran belonged to an earlier date.^[167] It seems probable that he was a veritable personage, who, although not necessarily the author of any considerable portion of the Zend-Avesta, may have led the departure in this direction from the mythology of the Vedas, toward the simpler forms of Mazdeism, but whether he lived and first taught among the mountains of Media, or in the land of Baktriana, is an open question.

Indeed, the controversy which prevails among scholars upon the exegesis of the Zend-Avesta is one of unusual severity, and while the storm seems to center upon the value of the Asiatic translations, there are other questions which are involved; the personality of Zarathustra^[168] is not only questioned, but even amongst those who admit that he was an historical personage, the field of his early labors, the exact time to which he belonged, and many other points are subjects of spirited discussion.

In the Gathas, or earlier hymns, Zarathustra appears as a toiling prophet, and his sphere does not seem to have been greatly restricted. The objects of his concern were provinces as well as villages, and the masses as well as individuals. His circle was largely composed of the reigning prince and prominent chieftains—and these, together with a priesthood comparatively pure, were the greater part of his public. The king, the people, and the peers were all portions of it.

It is claimed that Zarathustra had three sons, and these were respectively the fathers and chiefs of the three classes, priests, warriors and herdsmen; they played little part, however, in the Mazdean system, and are possibly only three subdivisions of Zarathustra, who was “the first priest, the first warrior and the first husbandman.”

But when the student leaves the Gathas and turns to the Yasts or the Vendidad, he goes from ground which is apparently historic into a land of fable. He leaves behind him the toiling prophet, who is apparently real, and meets the Zarathustra of these latter productions in the form of a fantastic demi-god. He is no longer described as one who brings new truth and drives away error, but as one who overthrows demons—the valiant smiter of fiends, like Tistrya and Vayu. He smites them chiefly, it is true, with spiritual weapons, but he also repels the assaults of Ahriman with the stones which AhuraAhura gave him—stones which are as large as a house^[169]—missiles like those that were hurled at their foes by Indra, by Agni and by Thor. These are “the flames wherewith, as with a stone,^[170] the storm-god smites the fiend.” A singular incident of Zarathustra’s birth, according to Pliny, and later Parsi tradition, is that he alone of all mortals laughed while being born. This tradition would indicate that his nativity was in the region which was the birthplace of the Vedic Maruts—those storm genii which are “born of the laughter of the lightnings.”

Zarathustra is not the only lawgiver and prophet which the Avesta recognizes. Gayo Maratan, Yima and even the bird Karsipta,^[171] appear under different names, forms and functions, as god-like champions in the struggle for light, and they knew the law as well as Zarathustra. Many of the features of Zarathustra point to a god, but the mythology has probably grown up around a man, and the existing mythic elements have been woven into a halo to surround a human face. There has been much of individual genius in the formation of Mazdeism, but the system as a whole was probably produced by the elaboration of successive generations of the priesthood.

THE EARLY PARSIS.

It is evident to the historian that the Zend-Avesta should be carefully studied by all who value the records of the human race, but its influence for good or evil cannot be determined without understanding something of the character and habits of the people to whom it peculiarly belonged. There have been periods in the world’s history when the religion of the Parsis threatened to dominate over all others. If Persia had won the battles of Marathon and Salamis, and thus succeeded in the final conquest of Greece, the worship of Ormazd might have become the religion of the whole civilized world. Persia already ruled over the Assyrian and Babylonian empires; the Jews were under her power, and the sacred monuments of Egypt had been mutilated by the Persian soldiery.

Again, during the Sassanian dynasty, the national faith had revived to such an extent that Shapur II gathered the sacred books and issued their code of law to the people, while the sufferings of the persecuted Christians in the east were as terrible as they had ever been in the west—Rome herself being rivaled in the work of cruelty. But the power of Persia was broken by the Mohammedan conquest, and the war-cry of the Moslem was the herald of defeated tyranny; hence it is that Mazdeism, although once the fear of the world, has for a thousand years had but little interest except for the historian. It was once the state religion of a powerful empire, but it was virtually driven away from its native soil by the sons of the desert, and the star and crescent waved in triumph above its broken altars. Deprived of political influence, and without even the prestige of an enlightened priesthood, many of its votaries became exiles in a foreign land, while the few that remained on Persian soil almost disappeared under the iron hand of Mohammedan rule. In less than a century after their defeat, nearly all the conquered people who remained upon their native soil were brought over to the faith of their new rulers, either by persecution or policy, or by the attractive power of a simpler creed, while those who clung to the faith of their fathers sought a new home in the land of the Hindus, and found a refuge on the western coast of India and the peninsula of Gujarat. Here they could worship their old gods, repeat their old prayers, and perform their old rites; and here they still live, and thrive to a certain extent, while their co-religionists in Persia are daily becoming fewer in numbers.^[172]

The Parsis of the old school used mats for seats, and ate with their fingers from platters, but these and similar practices were cleanly and refined when compared to some of their revolting and loathsome ceremonies. Anthon says, “If the religion of Zoroaster was originally pure and sublime, it speedily degenerated and allied itself to many very gross and hideous forms of superstition; if we were to judge of its tendency by the practice of its votaries, we should be led to think of it more harshly than it may have deserved. The court manners were equally marked by luxury and cruelty—by luxury refined until it had killed all natural enjoyment, and by cruelty carried to the most loathsome excess that perverted ingenuity could suggest. It is above all the barbarity of the women that fills the Persian chronicles with their most horrible stories, and we learn from the same sources the dreadful depravity of their character, and the vast extent of their influence.”^[173] It is a well known fact in the world’s history that the influence of an unprincipled woman is much stronger over a man who yields to her power than is the influence of kindness and truth to win him to higher associations, and therefore we find that at a certain period, the men of Persia, cramped by the rigid power of ceremonials, and surrounded by the ministers to their artificial wants, became the slaves of their priests and concubines. It is probably true that even after the people had lost much of the original purity and simplicity of their manners, the noble youth of Persia were still educated in the severe discipline of their ancestors, which is represented as nearly resembling that of the Spartan, but gradually the ancient discipline became either wholly obsolete or degenerated into empty forms.

THE MODERN PARSIS.

The religion of the Parsis is sometimes called Dualism, on account of its main tenet; it is called Mazdeism, because Ahura Mazda is its supreme god; it is called Magism, because its priesthood are the Magi; it is called Zoroastrianism, as representing the doctrines of its supposed founder, and it is also called Fire Worship, because fire has for centuries apparently received the adoration^[174] of the people.

At present the number of the Parsis in western India is estimated at about one hundred thousand, while Yezd and Kerman together can claim only about fifty-five thousand. Hence, while the colonies upon the soil of India have retained their strength much better than the others, the grand total is very small, being only about one-tenth of one per cent. of the population of the world. They are still known as Fire-Worshippers, although they protest against the name, as indicating that they are mere idolators. It is doubtless true that at one time fire itself was worshipped, and Atar, the fire-god, held high rank among the Zoroastrians. The primitive Aryan hearth, upon which the sacred element blazed, was also an object of adoration, and the Parsis still admit that in their youth they are taught to face some luminous object while worshipping God, although they claim that they look upon fire as merely an emblem of divine power. There is certainly the existence of a strong national instinct—an indescribable one—which is felt by every Parsi in regard to both light and fire. They are the only Eastern people who abstain entirely from smoking, and they will not even blow out a candle unless compelled to do so.

The modern Parsis believe in monotheism, and use a table, as well as knives and forks at their meals. Their prayers are recited in the old Zend language, although neither he who repeats, nor they who listen can understand a word that is said. Every one goes to the fire temple when he chooses and recites his prayers himself, or pays the priest to recite them for him. Among the whole body of priests, there are perhaps not more than twenty who can lay any claim to a knowledge of the Zend-Avesta, and even these have only learned the meaning of the words they are taught, without knowing the language either philosophically or grammatically.

The modern Parsis are monogamists, and hence the manifold evils of the harem are abolished from among the people. They do not eat anything which is prepared by a cook belonging to another creed. They also object to beef and pork. Their priesthood is hereditary. None but the son of a priest can take the orders, and it is not obligatory upon him to do so. The high priest is called Dastur, while the others are called Mobed. They are greatly attached to their religion on account of its former glory, and it is felt that the relinquishment of it would be the giving up of all that was most sacred and precious to their forefathers. Still they have, in many essential points, unconsciously approached the doctrines of Christianity, and if they could but read the Zend-Avesta they would find that their faith is no longer the faith of the Yasna or the Vendidad.^[175] As historical relics these works will always be of value, but as the oracles of faith they lack the vitality of principle necessary for the building of human character.

THE GATHAS—THE WAIL OF THE KINE—THE LAST GATHA—THE MARRIAGE SONG—THE YASNA—COMMENTARY ON THE FORMULAS—THE YASNA HAPTANG-HAITI—THE SROSH YAST—THE YASNA CONCLUDING.

The teachings of the Zend-Avesta have been partially treated in the chapter devoted to Persian mythology, but other features of the work seem to demand attention here. Briefly presented, the present world is two-fold, being the work of two hostile beings—Ahura-Mazda, the good principle, and Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman, the evil principle. All that is good in the present state of things comes from the former, and all that is evil from the latter. The history of the world is the history of the conflict between these two powers, as Angra Mainyu invaded the world of Ahura Mazda, and marred its beauty and truth. Man is active in the conflict, his duty being revealed to him in the law which was given by Ahura Mazda to Zarathustra.

Although of later date, it is evident that the religion of the Parsis is derived from the same source as that of the Hindus—derived from the faith of the Aryan forefathers of the Hindus and the Iranians. We therefore find two strata in the mythology which is under discussion; the one comprises all the gods and myths which were already in existence during the Indo-Iranian period, and the other comprises the gods and myths which were only developed after the separation of the two mythologies.

There are two principal points in the Indo-Iranian religion. First, that there is a law in nature; and second, that there is also war in nature. There is law in nature, because day returns with its golden splendor and night with its eloquent mystery; seed-time and harvest, the planting and the fruiting, succeed each other with unfailing regularity. There is war in nature, because it contains powers that work for evil, as well as those that work for good. Hence the unceasing struggle goes on, and it is never more apparent to the human eye than in a storm, where a fiend seems to bear away the waters which the earth so sadly needs, and fights with the god who at last brings them to the thirsting plants. Amidst all the various myths of the Indo-Iranian system there is a monotheism and an unconscious dualism. But both of these disappeared in the further development of Hindu mythology. Mazdeism, however, lost neither of these two ideas; it clung strongly to them both.

Hence we have the Ahura-Mazda, “the lord of high knowledge,” “the all-embracing sky.” He was the Varu?a of the Hindus, but this name was lost in Iran, or remained only as the name of a mythical region—the Varena, which was the scene of a mythical fight between a storm-fiend and a storm-god.

Ahura, the heaven-god, is white, and his body is the fairest and greatest of bodies. He is wedded to the rivers, and the sun is his eye, while the lightnings are his children, and he wears the heavens as a star-spangled garment.

In the time of Herodotus, the Persians, while invoking Ahura-Mazda as the creator of heaven and earth, still called the whole vault of the sky the supreme god. This deity slowly brought everything under his sway, and the other gods finally became, not only his subjects, but also his creatures.

While the single elements of Mazdeism do not differ essentially from those of the Vedic and the Indo-European mythology generally, still the grouping of these elements in a new order presents them in a new form. Thus we find that in Mazdeism everything is referred either to Ahura Mazda or to Angra Mainyu as its source, and hence the world is divided into two parts, in each of which a strong unity prevails, representing the dualism of this system. Ahura is all light, truth, goodness and knowledge, while Angra Mainyu, or Ahriman, is all darkness, falsehood, wickedness and ignorance.

Man, according to his deeds, belongs to Ormazd or to Ahriman. He belongs to Ormazd if he sacrifices to him, and helps him by good thoughts, words and deeds; if he enlarges his dominion and makes the realm of Ahriman smaller by destroying his creatures; while the man who is a friend of Ahriman and represents evil thoughts and evil deeds, who slays the creatures of Ormazd, is classed as a demon. Even animals are classified as belonging to one spirit or the other, in accordance with the idea that they had been incarnations of either the god or the fiend.

Killing the Ahriman creatures is killing Ahriman himself, and many sins can thus be atoned for, while killing Ormazdean animals is an abomination like the killing of the god. The struggle between the good and evil, however, is limited, for the world is not to last forever, and Ahriman will be defeated at last.

There had been an old myth that the world would end in a fearful winter like that of the Eddic Fimbul, which would be succeeded by an eternal spring, but as a storm is the ordinary symbol of strife, the view which finally obtained in their mythology, is the prediction that the world will finally end in a battle of the elements.

The Parsis came at last to a pure monotheism, and to a certain extent this change may have been influenced by the creed of the Moslem that “there is one God, and Mohammed is his prophet,” but the difference in sentiment cannot be ascribed to any one generation, for it is really deeper and wider than the movement which, in earlier times, brought the Magi from an imperfect form of dualism to one which was much more decided in its presentations.^[176]

THE GATHAS.

The five Gathas which have been attributed to Zarathustra are doubtless the earliest portions of the Zend-Avesta. They comprise seventeen sections of poetical matter, equal in extent to twenty-five or thirty hymns of the ?ig-veda. They are composed in the ancient Aryan metre, and ascribe supreme power to Ahura Mazda, who is opposed constantly by the spirit of evil.

In these early songs, the kine, as the representative of the people, laments the burden which is laid upon Iranian life. The effort to win their bread by honest labor is opposed, although not entirely frustrated, by the Deva-worshipping tribes, who still struggle with the Zarathustrians for the control of the territory. The kine, therefore, lifts her wail to Ahura, who responds by the appointment of Zarathustra as the being who is entrusted with her redemption; and he, accepting his commission, begins his labors. We then have a series of lamentations and praises addressed by Zarathustra and his immediate associates to Ahura; also exhortations which are addressed to the people.

These hymns were composed amidst an agricultural people, many of whom were also herdsmen. Their land and their cattle being their most valuable property, the raids of the Deva-worshippers were looked upon as most terrible visitations. In the course of these invasions, we have also intimations of an organized effort on the part of the foe to overwhelm the Zarathustrians, and it appears that at times they very nearly accomplished their object, sanguinary conflicts being repeatedly alluded to. It may be inferred by the prevalence of the thankful tone in the Gathas, that the Zarathustrians were not conquered during the Gathic period, although at the time that the last hymns of the series were written, the struggle was by no means over.

There is an historical tone in the Gathas, which should be carefully observed. Their doctrines and exhortations concern an actual religious movement, which was taking place at the time of their composition, and that movement was apparently pure and earnest. Their tone is always serious, and nearly all the myths are dropped; even the old Aryan gods, who reappear in the later Avesta, being ignored with a single exception.

In the first Gatha, the soul of the kine, as representing the herds of the Iranian people, raises her voice in lamentation. She asks why and for whom she was made, since afflictions compass her and her life is constantly threatened by the incursions of predatory tribes. She also beseeches the Bountiful Immortals to instruct her as to the benefits of agriculture, and confirm her protectors in the science, as the only remedy for her sufferings.

THE WAIL OF THE KINE.

Ahura speaks:

Asha answers:

Zarathustra intercedes:

Ahura speaks:

Voice of the Kine:

Zarathustra:

Zarathustra, having entered upon the duties of his office, composes a liturgy for the benefit of his colleagues, which is given in the second hymn. The doctrine of dualism is next taught. The progress and struggles of the cause are presented. There is a song of thankfulness offered in gratitude for improved fortunes.

In the third Gatha, salvation is announced as universal for believers, and also contains the reflections of Zarathustra upon the sublimity and bountifulness of Ahura. There are also personal hopes and appeals.

THE LAST GATHA.

While the matter of this hymn is homogeneous with that of the other Gathas, it bears some evidence of having been composed in the latter portion of Zarathustra’s life. The subject is a marriage song of a political and religious character. The freshness and vigor of the style may indicate Zarathustrian influence, if not authorship. The marriage festival of the prophet’s daughter must have been a semi-political occasion, and the author would naturally express himself in reference to the struggle which was still going on.

THE MARRIAGE SONG.

The master of the feast then speaks as follows:

The bride answers:

Priestly master of the feast:

THE YASNA.

The word Yasna means worship including sacrifice. This was the principal liturgy of the Zarathustrians, in which confession, invocation, prayer, exhortation and praise are all combined. The Gathas are sung in the middle of it and in the Vendidad Sadah; the Visparad is interpolated within it. Like other compositions of its kind, it is largely made up of the fragments of different ages and modes of composition. We have no reason to suppose that the Yasna existed in its present form in the earlier periods of Zarathustranism, but the fragments of which it is composed, may, some of them, reach back to that era, and even its present arrangement is comparatively early in the history of Mazdean literature. The following extracts have been chosen as representing the finest specimens of poetic fervor to be found in the Yasna:

COMMENCEMENT OF THE SACRIFICE.

The sacrifice is long continued, and the gods are again approached with interminable ritual, and the naming of the objects of propitiation; the offerings are then made to each of the gods, the fire of earth receiving especial attention, as well as the stars of heaven and all the Bountiful Immortals.

At each presentation of the offering by the priest, the object of propitiation is named. There are invocations and dedications almost without number, Zarathustra being also mentioned as an object of worship.

COMMENTARY ON THE FORMULAS.

This commentary is written in the Zend language, and is valuable as a specimen of early exegesis. Zarathustra is here represented as holding a conversation with Ahura Mazda, and in reply to his questions Ahura says: “Whoever in this world of mine shall mentally recall a portion of the Ahuna-vairya (formulas), and having thus recalled it, shall undertone it, and then utter it aloud; whoever shall worship thus, then even with threefold safety and speed I will bring his soul over the bridge of Kinva? (Chinvat). I who am Ahura Mazda will help him to pass over it to heaven, the best life, and to the lights of heaven.”

“And whoever, O Zarathustra, while undertoning the parts of the Ahuna-vairya, takes aught therefrom, I who am Ahura Mazda will draw his soul off from the better world; yea, so far will I withdraw it as the earth is large and wide.

“And this word is the most emphatic of the words which have ever been pronounced, or which are now spoken, or which shall be spoken in the future, for this utterance is of such a nature that if all the living world should learn it, and learning, hold fast by it, they would be redeemed from their mortality.”^[182]

THE YASNA HAPTANG-HAITA.

This Yasna of the “Seven Chapters” appears to rank next in antiquity to the Gathas, but the tone is considerably changed, although the dialect remains the same. We have here a stronger personification of the Bountiful Immortals, while fire is still worshipped; also the earth and grass. We find here praise to Ahura and the Immortals, to fire, to the creation, to the earth and to sacred waters. The sacrifice to the “Soul of the Kine” is also given, and the sacrifices to both earth and heaven, to the stormy wind that Mazda made, also to the peaks of the beautiful mountain.

“And we worship the Good Mind and the spirits of the saints. And we sacrifice to the fish of fifty-five fins, and to the Unicorn which stands in Vourukasha, and to the sea where he stands, and to the Haoma, golden flowered, growing on the heights. We sacrifice to Haoma, that driveth death afar, and to the flood streams of the waters, and to the great flight of the birds, and to the approach of the Fire-priests as they approach us from afar,^[183] and seek to gain the provinces and spread the ritual law.”^[184]

The Yasna also includes several Yasts, or hymns of praise, some of which contain poetry as well as praise. As Sraosha is the only divinity of the later groups mentioned in the first four Gathas, the Yast which is dedicated to him appears to rank in antiquity next to those fragments which are found in the Gathic dialect. The name of Sraosha appears still to retain its meaning as the abstract quality of obedience although it is personified.

THE SRAOSHA YAST.

This Yasna, having been composed long after the supposed time of Zarathustra, can hardly be genuine in its present shape. It may, however, be an elaboration of an earlier document.

“Frashaostra the holy, asked the saintly Zarathustra, ‘What is, in very truth, the memorized recital of the rites? What is the completed delivery of the Gathas?’”

“Zarathustra said, ‘We worship Ahura Mazda with our sacrifice as the holy lord of the ritual order, and we sacrifice to Zarathustra likewise as the holy lord of the ritual order, and we sacrifice to the Fravisha of Zarathustra, the saint.

‘And we sacrifice to the Bountiful Immortals, the guardians of the saints, and we sacrifice to all the good, heroic and bounteous Fravishas of the saints.... And we worship all the five Gathas, the holy ones and the entire Yasna, and the sounding of its chants.

‘And we sacrifice to all the springs of water and to the water streams as well, and to growing plants and forest trees, and to the entire land and heaven, and to all the stars, and to the moon and sun, even to all the lights without beginning....

‘We sacrifice to the active man and to the man of good intent, for the hindrance of darkness, of wasting of the strength and life, and to health and healing.

‘We sacrifice to the Yasna’s ending words, and to them which end the Gathas, and we sacrifice to the bounteous hymns themselves, which rule in the ritual course, the holy ones....

‘And we sacrifice to the souls of the dead which are the Fravishas of the saints, and we sacrifice to that lofty Lord who is Ahura Mazda himself.’”

THE VENDIDAD—FARGARD II—THE VARA OF YIMA—THE LAWS OF PURIFICATION—DISPOSITION OF THE DEAD—PUNISHMENTS—THE PLACE OF REWARD—THE VISPARAD—TEACHING OF THE MODERN PARSIS.

This portion of the Zend-Avesta is also a collection of fragments, although the Parsi tradition claims that it has been preserved entire. The Vendidad has often been called the book of the laws of the Parsis, but the greater portion of the rules here given pertain to the laws of purification. The first two chapters deal largely with mythical matter, and are remnants of an old epic and cosmogonic literature—the first dealing with the creation of Ahura and the marring of his work by the evil principle, and the second treating of Yima as the founder of civilization. Three chapters of a mythical nature about the origin of medicine are placed at the end of the book, and the nineteenth Fargard or section treats of the revelation of the law by Ahura to Zarathustra. The other seventeen chapters deal largely with observances and ceremonies, although mythical fragments are occasionally met with, which have more or less connection with the text, many of them, perhaps, being interpolations of a later date. About eight chapters^[186] are devoted to the impurity of the dead and the method of dispelling it; this subject is also treated in other Fargards, while two long sections are devoted to the care of the dog, the food which is due him and the penalties for offenses against him.^[187] The apparent lack of order is, perhaps, largely due to the form of expression which was adopted by the first composers of the Vendidad. The law is revealed by Ahura in a series of answers, which are given in reply to the questions of Zarathustra, and as these queries are not of a general character, but refer to details, the matter is presented in fragments, each of which (consisting of a question with its answer) appears as an independent passage.

FARGARD II.

This is the most poetical chapter in the work, and is devoted to Yima. Ahura here proposes that Yima, the son of Vivanghat, shall receive the law from him and carry it to men. Yima, however, refuses to do so, whereupon Ahura gives him a commission, bidding him to keep his creatures and make them prosper. Yima, therefore, makes the creatures of Ahura to thrive and increase, keeps death and disease away from them, and three times enlarges the earth, which had become too small for its inhabitants. On the approach of a dreadful winter, which was to destroy every living thing, Yima, being advised by Ahura, built a Vara to preserve the seed of all animal and vegetable life,life, and there the blessed still live happily under his rule. The world, after lasting a long year of twelve millenniums, was to end in a dire winter, to be followed by an everlasting spring, when men, being sent back to earth from the heavens, should enjoy upon the earth the same happiness which they had found after death in the realms of Yima. But when a more definite form was taken by the Mazdean cosmology the world was made to end by fire, and therefore the Vara of Yima, instead of remaining the paradise from which the inhabitants of earth return, came to be a comparatively modern representative of Noah’s Ark. In the Vedas, Yama is the first man, the first priest and “the first of all who died”; he brought worship here below, as well as life, and “first he stretched out the thread of sacrifice.”

Yima had at first the same right as his Hindu prototype to the title of a founder of religion, but he lost it, as in the course of the development of Mazdeism, Zarathustra became the law-giver. Zarathustra asked of Ahura Mazda:

Ahura answered:

And Yima made the earth grow larger by one-third than it was before, and there came flocks and herds and men, at his will, as many as he wished.

THE VARA OF YIMA.

Ahura Mazda then called a council of the gods, and here he spake to Yima saying, “Upon the material earth the fatal winters are going to fall that shall make the snow-flakes thick and deep on the peaks of the highest mountains, and all the beasts shall perish that live in the wilderness, and those that live on the mountains, and those that live in the bosom of the vale. Therefore make thee a Vara, long as a riding-ground on every side of the square, to be an abode for men and a fold for flocks. There thou shalt make the waters flow, there thou shalt settle birds by the evergreen banks that bear the never-failing food. There shalt thou establish dwelling places and bring the greatest, the best and the finest of the earth, both men and women; thou shalt bring the animals, and the seeds of the trees, two of every kind to be kept there, so long as men shall stay in the Vara.”

And Yima made a Vara, and brought into it all the varieties of cattle and of plants, and the men in the Vara which Yima made, live the happiest life,^[190] and he who brought the law of Ahura into the Vara was the bird Karsipta. And Yima sealed up the Vara with the golden ring, and he made a door and a window which was self-shining within. And Ahura Mazda said “There the stars, the moon and the sun, only once a year seem to rise and set, and the year seems only a day.”

THE LAWS OF PURIFICATION.

The larger portion of the Vendidad is devoted to a description, with numberless repetitions, of the Mazdean laws of purification and the long ceremonies pertaining to them. Impurity or uncleanness may be described as the condition of a person or thing that is possessed of a demon, and the process of purification is for the purpose of expelling the evil presence. Death is the triumph of the demon, and therefore it is the principal cause of uncleanness; when a man dies, as soon as the soul has left the body, the Druj Nasu, or Corpse-Druj, comes from the regions of hell, and falls upon the body, and whoever thereafter touches the corpse is not only unclean himself, but every one whom he touches is also unclean.

The Druj is expelled from the dead by the Sag-did, or “the look of the dog;” “a four-eyed dog,” or “a white one with yellow ears,” must be brought near the body, and made to look upon the dead, and as soon as he has done so the Druj hastens back to hell.^[191] The Druj is expelled from the living by a process which is too revolting for description. The ceremonies are accompanied by the constant repetition of spells like the following: “Perish, O fiendish Druj! Perish, O brood of the fiend! Rush away, O Druj! Perish away to the regions of the north, never more to give unto death the living world.”

The feeling out of which these ceremonies grew was not original with Mazdeism; the Hindu also considered himself in danger while burning the corpse, and he cried aloud, “Away, go away, O Death! injure not our sons and our men.”^[192]

The Parsis, not being able to find a four-eyed dog, interpreted the law to mean a dog with two spots above the eyes, while in practice they are still less particular, and the Sag-did may be performed by a house-dog, or by a dog four months old. As birds of prey are fiend-smiters as well as the dog, the devotee may claim their services when there is no dog at hand. The four-eyed dog, which the ceremony originally called for, is doubtless a reproduction of “the four-eyed dogs of the tawny breed of Sarama,” belonging to Yama,^[193] which guard the realms of death in Hindu mythology. The identity of the four-eyed dog of the Parsis with the dogs of Yama is confirmed by the tradition that the yellow-eared dog watches at the head of the Chinvat bridge, and, as the souls of the faithful pass over, he barks to drive away the fiend who would drag them down to hell. Wherever a corpse is carried, death walks beside it all the way, from the house to the last resting-place, and the fatal presence constantly threatens the living who are near the path-way.

DISPOSITION OF THE DEAD.

As the centre of contagion is in the corpse, it must be disposed of in such a way that death may not be spread abroad. The old Indo-European customs have in this respect been completely changed by Mazdeism. The corpse was formerly either burned or buried; both of these customs, however, are held to be sacreligious in the Avesta. The elements, fire, earth, and water, are holy, and even during the Indo-Iranian period they were already so considered, being represented in the Vedas as objects of worship. But this did not prevent the Hindus from burning their dead, and the dead man was really considered as a traveler to the other world, while the kindly fire was supposed to carry him on flashing pinions to his heavenly abode. The funeral fire, like that of the sacrifice, was the god that goes from earth to heaven, the mediator most friendly to man.

In Persia, however, it remained more distant from him and represented the purest offspring of the good spirit; therefore no uncleanness could be allowed to enter it. Its only function appears to be the repelling of the fiends by its blaze. In every place where the Parsis are settled, an everlasting fire is still kept, which is always fed by perfumes and costly woods, and wherever its flames are carried by the wind, it kills thousand of fiends. No degradation must be inflicted upon this sacred element, even blowing it with the human breath is a crime, because the outgoing breath is unclean; burning the dead is therefore the most criminal act; in the time of Strabo^[194] it was a capital crime, and the Avesta places it in the list of sins for which there is no atonement.

Water was looked upon in the same light, and throwing dead matter into it was as unpardonable as to pollute the sacred flame with its presence. The Magi are said to have overthrown a king for having built bath-houses, and the Jews were forbidden to practice their ablutions; in some cases the sick were even forbidden to drink it, unless it was decided that death would be caused by longer abstinence. The earth was equally holy, for in her bosom there dwelt Spenta Armaiti, the goddess of the earth, and to defile her sacred dwelling by burying the dead was also a deed for which there was no atonement.

In earlier times the Persians practiced burial even after burning had been forbidden. Cambyses aroused the national indignation by cremating the body of Amasis, and years later the Persians were still burying their dead. Afterward, however, when the Mazdean law became dominant, the worship of the earth was included, although it was sometime before it was considered as sacred as fire and water. In later times the Persians builded Dakhmas, or “Towers of Silence” for the bodies of their dead; these towers were about twenty feet high, and they enclosed an annular stone pavement on which the bodies were placed. These towers were usually built on the summit of a mountain far from the haunts of men. A barren cliff was chosen, free from trees or water, and the tower was even separated from the earth herself, for it was isolated by a layer of stones and bricks, while it was claimed that a golden thread ran between the tower and the earth. Here, afar from the world of men, the dead were left to lie “beholding the sun.” The Avesta and commentary are especially emphatic upon this point, for “it is as if the dead man’s life were thus prolonged, since he can still behold the sun.”

The penalties for the violation of the Persian law were very severe, and human life was considered of very little value, capital punishment being inflicted even for the killing of a dog. Their laws were far more barbarous than those of England in Sir William Blackstone’s time, when one hundred and sixty offenses^[195] were declared by act of Parliament to be worthy of instant death;^[196] and death was the most humane of the Persian punishments, when it was promptly inflicted, for their methods were too terrible for description. Two hundred stripes were awarded if one tilled land in which a corpse had been buried within a year, or if the mother of a very young child drank water. Four hundred stripes were the penalty if one covered with a cloth a dead man’s feet, and eight hundred if he covered the whole body. The penalty for killing a puppy was five hundred stripes, six hundred for killing a stray dog, eight hundred for a shepherd’s dog, and ten thousand stripes for killing a water-dog.^[197]

In the old Aryan legislation there were many crimes which were considered more criminal than murder, and Persians who defiled the earth were not more severely punished than were the Greeks who defiled the ground of Delos, nor would the Athenians, who put Atarbes to death, have wondered at the awful punishment inflicted for the killing of the Persian water-dog. There are but few laws in the Vendidad, however absurd, that may not find a counterpart in the legislation of the Greeks or Latins.

Every crime, according to the Persian law, makes the guilty man^[198] liable to two penalties, one here on earth and another in the next world, but in ancient Persia, as in modern legislation, there was a money value attached to many crimes, and the rich criminal escaped by paying his fine, so far as this present world was concerned. In the next, however, his money is of no value to him; when he comes to the head of Chinvat bridge, his conscience becomes a maiden, either of divine beauty, or of fiendish deformity, according to his merits. The bridge itself, which reaches over the awful chasm of hell to the heavenly shore on the other side, widens, if he be a good man, to the width of nine javelins; but for the souls of the wicked it narrows to a thread and they fall down into hell.

THE PLACE OF REWARD.

“O, Maker of the material world! where are the rewards given? where does the rewarding take place?”

Ahura Mazda answered: “When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the hellish evil-doing Daevas assail him; and when the third night is gone—when the dawn appears and brightens up, and makes Mithra, the god with the beautiful weapons, reach the all-happy mountains, and the sun is rising. Then the fiend carries off in bonds^[199] the souls of the wicked, who live in sin. The soul enters the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and the righteous. At the head of the Chinvat bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazda, they ask for the reward for the goods which they have given away here below. Then comes the well-shapen, strong and noble maiden, with the dogs (that keep the Chinvat bridge) at her side—she is graceful and of high understanding.

“She“She makes the soul of the righteous one to go up above the Hara-berezaita; above the Chinvat bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves; Vohu-mano from his golden seat exclaims, ‘How hast thou come to us, thou holy one, from that decaying world into this undecaying one? Gladly pass the souls of the righteous to the golden seat of Ahura Mazda—to the abode of all the other holy beings.”^[200]

THE VISPARAD.

The word Visparad means “all the chiefs,” referring to “the lords of the ritual,” therefore the various chapters are merely used in the course of the sacrifice. The following extracts will give the reader a definite idea concerning the literary merit of this portion of the Zend-Avesta:

This rÉsumÉ of the ancient books will be closed by a brief explanation of their faith in Dualism, as given by some learned Indian Parsis of Bombay to Sir M. Monier-Williams during his stay in India. In speaking of the Dualism of Zoroaster, as understood in modern times, Prof. Williams says:

“The explanation given to me was that Zoroaster, although a believer in one Supreme Being, and a teacher of Monotheism, set himself to account for the existence of evil, which could not have its source in an all-wise Creator.

He therefore taught that two opposite—but not opposing, forces, which he calls ‘twins,’ were inherent in the nature of the Supreme Being, called by him Ahura Mazda (or in Persian Ormazd), and emanated from that Being, just as in Hinduism, Vish?u and Siva emanate from the Supreme Brahma. These two forces were set in motion by Ahura Mazda, as his appointed mode of maintaining the continuity of the Universe.

The one was constructive, the other destructive.

One created and composed. The other disintegrated and decomposed, but only to co-operate with the creative principle by providing fresh material for the work of re-composition.

Hence there could be no new life without death, no existence without non-existence.

Hence, also, according to Zoroaster, there was originally no really antagonistic force of evil opposed to good.

The creative energy was called Ahura Mazda’s beneficent spirit (Spento-Mainyus), and the destructive force was called his maleficent spirit (Angro-Mainyus, afterwards corrupted into Ahriman), but only because the idea of evil is connected with dissolution.

The two spirits were merely antagonistic in name.

They were in reality co-operative and mutually helpful.

They were essential to the alternating processes of construction and dissolution, through which the cosmical being was perpetuated.

The only real antagonism was that alternately brought about by the free agent, man, who could hasten the work of destruction, or retard the work of construction by his own acts.

It is therefore held, that the so-called dualistic doctrines of Zoroaster were compatible with the absolute unity of the one God (symbolized especially by fire).

Ultimately, however, Zoroastrianism crystallized into a hard and uncompromising dualism. That is to say, in process of time, Spento-Mainyus became merely another name for Ahura Mazda, as the eternal principle of good, while Angro-Mainyus or Ahriman became altogether dissociated from Ahura Mazda, and converted into an eternal principle of evil.

These two principles are believed to be the sources of two opposite creations which were incessantly at war.

On the one side is a celestial hierarchy, at the head of which is Ormazd; on the other side, a demoniacal, at the head of which is Ahriman. They are opposed to each other as light to darkness—as falsehood to truth.

The whole energy of a religious Indian Parsi is concentrated on the endeavor to make himself—so to speak—demon-proof, and this can only be accomplished by absolute purity (in thought, word and deed), symbolized by whiteness. He is ever on his guard against bodily defilement, and never goes out to his daily occupation, without first putting on a sacred white shirt and a sacred white girdle. Even the most highly educated and Anglicized Parsis are most rigorous observers of this custom, though it is probable that their real creed has little in common with the old and superstitious belief in demons and evil spirits, but rather consists in a kind of cold and monotheistic pantheism.

How far Zoroastrian dualism had affected the religion of the Babylonians at the time of the Jewish captivity is doubtful, but that the Hebrew prophets of those days had to contend with dualistic ideas seems probable from these words: ‘I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light and create darkness; I make peace and create evil. I the Lord do all these things.’^[202] The New Testament, on the other hand, might be thought by a superficial reader to lend some support to dualistic doctrines.... I need scarcely point out, however, that the Bible account of the origin, nature, and destiny of Satan and his angels differs, toto cÆlo from the Zoroastrian description of Ahriman and his host. Nor need I add that the various monistic, pantheistic, and dualistic theories, briefly alluded to in this paper, are utterly at variance with the Christian doctrine of a Personal, Eternal and Infinite Being, existing and working outside man, and outside the material universe, which He has Himself created, and controlling both, and in the case of human beings, working not only outside man, but in and through him.”^[203]