EXTRACTS
FROM THE
NARRTIVE OF       -3YONS. ANQUETIL
DU   'pETRO', TRAVELS             IN  JNDIA,
CHIEFLY THOSE
CONCERNING HIS RESEARCHES
IN THE
LIFE AND RELIGION OF ZOROASTER,
AND IN THE
CEREMONIAL AND ETHICAL SYSTEM OF THE SAME
RELIGION AS CONTAINED IN ZEND AND PEHLVI BOOKS,
TRANSLATED FROM THE FRENCH
BY
KAVASJI EDALjJI KANGA,
TRANSLATOR OF THE VENDIDAD INTO GUJERATI, &c.
HEAD MASTER, MOOLLA FEEROZ MADRESA.
BOMB AY:
PRINTED AT THE "COMMERCIAL PRESS,"'
BY DOSSABHOY EDULJEE.
1876.








PREFACE.
It may not be unknown to the reader that Mona
-ANQUETIL DU PERRON was the first European scholar to
come to India with the two-fold object of learning the
religion of Zoroaster from the followers of the prophet
themselves, and of acquainting the learned men of Europe
in general, and those of his own country in particular, with
the result of his studies. It is true that previows to his
time Dr. Hyde had sought to create an interest in Zoroastrian lore byr the publication of a learned work on it;
and that sice his time many eminent scholars have given
to the worlds the results of their researches in the same
direction. But from  one point of View-and that an important one-to him    alone belongs the credit of having
been the first, as be seems to have been hitherto the last,
European labourer in the field of Zoroastrian studies. He
came to India with the express object of learning all about
the religion and literature of the Parsis from  their 'own
lips, stayed there for several years. devoting them  to the
prosecution of this single purposeanja  on his return cartied with him to Europe a larger and valuable collection
of Zoroastrian manuscripts, depositing them with la Bibliotheqti de  Roi at Paris   Dr. Hyde, on the contrary, had
never travelled to India in the pursuit of the same object,
and had never seen a Zoroastrian in all his life. Profesor of Latin and Arabic at Oxford- he had no opportunities of learning Zend and Pehlvi, which Mons. Anquetil
had during his sojourn among the Parsi Dustoors at Surat.
And consequently his knowledge of the religion and literature of the Parsis was confined to a few smallbooks written in Persian. Therefore, even though   it was the accidental sight of a few pages of Dr. Hyde's publication
which first kindled the spirit of enterprise in the bosom of
the adventurous Frenchman, yet the debt due to him, compared with that due to Dr. Hyde, by the scholars of Europe
m  general and Zoroastrians in particular, is great beyond
measure. For not only did he, by means of his published
works, excite a warm interest in Zoroastrian literature
among numerous scholars, but by his thoughtful act of




iv


depositing in a large public library the precious collection
of Zoroastrian manuscripts he had carried with him from
Surat, he rendered  immense service -to students of that
literature.  These manuscripts enabled the savants of the
succeeding generations to study directly from  the originals
the sacred literature of the Parsis, and to throw, with the
aid of a superior scientific learning, an amount of light on
many a disputed and obscure question of Zoroastrian theology.   ll this debt of gratitude the Parsis have no means
of discharging beyond an 'humble but unfeigned tribute of
their admiration and praise.
Thanks, then, to his almost inspired devotion to the
cause of Zoroastrian literature, his indefatigable exertions,
his anxiety and foresight to preserve to posterity the fruits
of his labours, reaped under perils and struggles which
might have appalled any but a great enthusiast, his successors in the same path have availed themselves of his
manuscripts, and illumined to a great extent the obscurity
in which Zoroastrian lore was shrouded by lapse of ages.
It has been with the study of Zend as it has been with
the study of the inscriptions and architecture of the caves.
Philological light has in the former, as magnesium  light
in the latter, illumined 'many dark places in the structure
of Zend, and in the philosophy and ethics of Zoroaster.
For this we are indebted to European scholars who have
been and are the only expounders of the Zend Avesta.
The deep researches of Burnouf, Westergaard, Spiegel, and
Haug have given rise to a new school among the Parsis,
which during the last 16 years has read and interpreted
Zend and Pehlvi on the recognised principles laid down by
these scholars, and of which Mr. K. R. Cama may deservedly be called the founder. Under his kindly auspices and
fostering care it had made a considerable advance, when the
arrival of the late lamented Dr. Haug in Bombay, in 1860,
and his sojourn there for as many as seven years, gave it
that additional impetus which was so highly requisite for
the accomplishment of the great object, viz., a correct understanding of the Zend Avesta. The fruits of all this are
now being reaped, but, it must be regretfully confessed,
only to a slight extent. The Parsis ought by no means to
remain contented with them such as they are. It were
devoutly to be wished that they would have Anquetil for




their great model, and snatch a spark from  the fire of his
enthusiasm and zeal.  Let them  picture to their mind the
heroic French traveller of the past century, coming out to
India with the determination of exploring the vast -bvu
little known fields of Oriental literature, under overwhelming physical and political difficulties, and without any of
those facilities, conveniences and comforts which steam navigation, railways and telegraphs have made the generations
of the last half a century familiar with under British rule.
It would be highly desirable to have some adventurous
souls from among us Parsis to emulate his daring enterprise
-and undertake travels, with aspirations equally noble and
patriotic, to their ancestral land, and there to explore those
remains which yet proclaim the religion of Zoroaster-remains which ought to be examined and interpreted ere the
lords of the land complete their destruction, or the devouring tooth of time renders them valueless for all purposes
of archaeological investigations.
And here I trust to be pardoned a little digression.
The reader will observe that whatever knowledge Anquetil
derived was from Dustoor Darab, who belonged to the old
school which was ignorant of Zend Grammar or the labours
of modern philology. That science has enabled us to discover several errors into which Anquetil seems to have been
led by the said teacher. These errors I have humbly attempted to point out in foot-notes in the translation. But
I shall here refer to one of them which is important, and
into which the French savant has fallen. Anquetil says that
Zarvana Akarana, i. e., time without bounds-eternity-is
the First Cause.  He places Ahuramazda and Ahriman in
the chain of secondary causes. This view is entirely incorrect, and all the European authorities on the subject are
entirely opposed to it. I shall briefly state below how came
this erroneous dogma to be at all accepted by Dustoor Darab,
for, indeed, it would be wrong to accuse Anquetil of its invention. In that portion of the Zoroastrian scriptures, which,
even when put to the severest test of criticism, maintains
its reputation for genuineness and originality, as coming
direct from  Zoroaster himself, Ahuramazda is mentioned as
the First Creative Cause. He is held to be the Supreme
God, unequalled and without a rival. He existed before
eternity, if that could be conceived. And as a proof thereof




vi


it is related that the Word, the creative fiat, Yatha Ahi
Yairyo, was spoken in eternity by Him. Ahuramazda employed two agencies, one creative and one destroying, to
-ep the world agoing.    Each was indispensable to the
other. Both are said to be creating in the wide sense, for
the destroying was as much a creating agent, as without
his help the creating agency would stand still. The world
was not only destroyed in the natural cause by natural
decay and decrepitude, but it was observed that moral
and physical diseases, produced partly by nature, but mainly
by the miscomprehension, negligence and discarding of the
laws of nature by human beings, were also instrumental
in bringing the world to a hasty and premature depravity,
decay and death. These diseases were very naturally attributed to the natural destroying agency, to Ahriman.
Thus an adventitious additional attribute was given to
that agency which it had not at first. It was prominently noticed in relation to daily human life.  Its original attribute was in time lost sight of in the presence of
every day ever-recurring exemplification of his latterly conceived attribute. Ahuramazda being the Supreme God, the
creative agency was in course of time generally identified
with him, and men began to conceive two agencies at
work, Ahuramazda for good and Ahriman for evil. These
two being placed antagonistic to each other, the dogma of
Dualism was prominently brought into conception. It was
not forgotten, however, that Ahuramazda was the Supreme
God, and it puzzled the later interpreters and commentators to explain how He the Supreme God could possibly
have an antagonist. So the attributes themselves were unwarrantably made to represent two First Causes. Hence the
dogma of Dualism. Later interpreters and commentators
were more puzzled still to understand how He the Supreme God could possibly have an antagonist. Some one
seems to have deluded himself into the belief that Zarvana
Akarana-eternity-was above even Ahuramazda and Ahriman.   For a time this belief gained ground, and it was
complacently thought that the religion was saved from the
stigma of being condemned as dualistic. The disciples of
this school taught that Zarv3na Akarana was the Original
Cause, and Ahuramazda-and Ahriman were his two agencies,
the one creative and the other destroying. To this school
Dustoor Darab seems to have belonged. The orthodox sec



vii


tion of the Parsi community still believes in the two agencies
as represented by Ahuramazda and Ahriman respectively,
but they have no idea of Zarvana Akarana being at their
head. Thanks to the learned researches and impartial v-e
diets of Zend scholars in general, and the late lamented
Dr. Haug in particular, the meshes into which the errors
of one age after another had involved the original conception of the Supreme Deity have now been disentangled.
It is now a proved and ascertained fact that Ahuramazda
is the only One and Supreme God; Spento mainyus and
Angro mainyus (Ahriman) are merely His two agents, the
one creative and the 'other destroying; that all moral and
physical diseases are attributed to the latter agency: hence
Ahriman's agency is more known and widely felt, and
dreaded as inimical to the welfare and happiness of men.
And now a word as to the following translation itself.
Among the French Oriental works which I read some time
since with the valued assistance of my esteemed tutor, Mr. K.
R. Cama, was Mons.' Anquetil du Perron's elaborate account
of his Travels- in India together with his essays on the Zoroastrian religion. I found it very interesting, and persuaded
that some of the important extracts therefrom, chiefly those
relating to his researches in the religion of Zoroaster and his
precis of the ethics of the prophet,* would prove equally
interesting to my co-religionists who may be unable to read
the text in the original, I humbly attempted the task of
translating them.  By trying to adhere to too faithful a
translation, I fear I have made myself obscure here and
there, and have been betrayed in some places into inelegant
English. I beg to be excused for these faults-unavoidable
in a first attempt at translating from  a highly idiomatic
language into another equally so.
Of the chapters I have translated I would specially
commend the third to the study of all young Zoroastrians.
If not presumptuous, I would take the liberty of commending it also to the Heads of our Parsi schools, on
whom has now devolved the duty of imparting religious
instruction to the rising generation of Parsi youth under


% A portion of this essay was translated by the Rev. J. Murray
Mitchell and published in the Journal of B. B. B. A. Society in 1845.




viii
their charge. They will derive therefrom a fair and healthy
conception of the whole fabric of Zoroastrianism.
In conclusion I cannot refrain from acknowledging that
this translation would not have seen the light of day, but
for the encouragement so cordially and uniformly accorded
to it by our well-known Oriental scholar, Mr. K. R. Cama,
to whom in this instance, as in many others, I owe a
deep debt of gratitude.
Mr. Kanga, an intelligent and learned Mobed of the
Parsi Community of Bombay, has translated from French
into English the most interesting passages of the Narrative
of ANQUETIL DU PERRON of his voyage to India, and the
difficulties encountered by him in the acquisition and interpretation of the Zoroastrian manuscripts in the ancient
Parsi languages, on which his great work is founded. The
Mobed has executed his work with commendable accuracy
and good taste; and on this account, I think him entitled to the patronage of the Parsi Community.
Malabar Hill, 7th Azgust 1875.
JOHN WILSON, D. D.
This is to certify that the undersigned has compared
a number of passages in Mr. Cowasji Edulji Kanga's manuscript translations from the work of M. ANQUETIL DU
PERRON with the French text, and has found them  faithfully rendered into English.
Khetvadi, 26th July 1875.
EDWARD     REHATSEK.




EXTRACTS FROM THE
iARRATIVE OF V~ON. ANQUETIL DU
PERRON' TRAVELI IN JNDIA,
CHIEFLY THOSE
RELATING TO HIS RESEARCHES ON
THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTER.
The Religion and History of the Parsis are subjects,
which, beyond being interesting in themselves, merit moreover the attention of savants, on account of the connection
which this people had with the Hebrews, the Egyptians, the
Greeks, the Indians, and even with the Chinese. But to
trust solely to what the ancient writers tell us of that nation would be to run the risk of getting but an imperfect
idea of it. The works which treat thoroughly of its History and Religion exist no more;' and those that have escaped the ravages of time cannot give us a sure and satisfactory knowledge of it.
These reflexions induced the learned Dr. Hyde, at the
end of the last century, to go deeply into a subject, which,
up to then, had hardly been attended to. He perused the
Arabian and Persian authors, added to these monuments
the testimony of travellers and the letters which many of
his friends had written to him from India, and wrote his
famous work on the Religion of the Parsis.




2


This book can be taken to be the only one, which
gives a series of instructive details, extracted from Oriental
7-;rks about the Parsis. Unfortunately, the principal sources,
from which Dr. Hyde had drawn them, are not of the first
antiquity. The English doctor cites particularly the Farhang-e Jehangiri, a Persian Dictionary, commenced in the
16th century in the reign of Shah Akbar and completed in
the 17th century, in that of Jehanghir, and quotes several
passages from  the Virgf Nameh and Sadder-works, long
posterior to Zoroaster, of which he possessed only the translations made in modern Persian.   But as this doctor knew
neither Zend nor Pehlvi,* we do not find in his work any
passage from  the Yagna or from   the Niayesh, which naturally formed part of his Mss. He contents himself with
mentioning the- Zend Avesta,, without translating any passages from  it. With the English, his work could therefore
only pass for a Miere essay.
The surest way was to consult the Parsis themselves on
their religion; and there was nothing of impossibility in the
enterprise. Gujerat, in India, where they settled more than
900 years ago, offers q great number of their body. They
are, moreover, scattered to the north of the Malabar Coast,
where the love of commerce and industry, which characterise
them, has procured them  considerable establishments. They
are called in India Parsis or Parses; I shall, in the following pages, make use of this last name to designate this
precious remnant of the disciples of Zoroaster.
It was from the hands of the Parsis settled at Surat,
that George Bourchier, an Englishman, received in 1718 the
Vendidad Sadd.    This volume which contains three Zend
" This point has been convincingly proved by the learned
Frenchman at the end of his first volume.-T-ranslator.




3


works, viz., the Vendidad properly so called, the Yagna and
the,Vispered, was only brought into England in 1723. It
appeared in Europe for the first time, and no one coludt
then decipher its characters, although the Zend Alphabet
existed in one of the Mss. of Dr. Hyde. Long after, a
Councillor of Bombay, Mr. Frazer, a Scotchman, knowin
by the life which he had given of Tamaskoulikhan, wentI
to Surat in search of the works of Zoroaster, which he
thought he would be able to collect at that place.   He
succeeded in his efforts with regard to the purchase of two
Zend books, viz., the Yagna and the Yashts, and several
other Persian and Indian Mss.; but it was impossible for
him to induce the priests to teach him   either Zend or
Pehlvi, and to give him the key to the Zend-Avesta. Little satisfied with his voyage, he returned to England where
he died soon after.
Such were the attempts which the English made for
the acquisition and the understanding of the works attributed to Zoroaster.  The rest of Europe trusted to Dr.
Hyde, without thinking of learning the languages of which
the savants knew hardly the names. This general supineness for an object so interesting astonished me, and I conceived from that -time the idea of the voyage which I made
to India.
In 1754, I had an occasion to see at Paris four Zend
leaves copied from the Vendidad SadW, which is at Oxford.
Immediately I resolved to enrich my mother country with
this singular work.  I ventured to entertain the idea of
translating it, and of going with that view to Gujerat or
Kirman to learn the ancient Persian. This work could expand the ideas which I had formed on the origin of languages, and on the changes which they are subject to. It




4
was moreover very proper to throw light on the Antiquity
of the Orientals, which one would vainly search for among
le Greeks or the Latins.
I thought then that, I had no other means to succeed
than to go to and acquire from the Parsis themselves the
knowledge which I was in need of, instead of trusting to
conjectures, by following in the footsteps of the English savant (Dr. Hyde). Moreover, I knew that the four Vedas
(the sacred books of the Hindoos) were written in ancient
Sanscrit, and that la Bibliotheque du Roi was rich in Indian Mss., which no person understood. These reasons induced me to prefer India to Kirman, more especially as I
could there dive equally deep into ancient Persian and ancient Sanscrit.
I communicated my project to M. I'Abb6 Sallier, to M.
l'Abb4 Barthelemy, to M. le Comte de Caylus, to Messieurs
Falconner, de Bougainville and de Guignes. These savants
approved of it. They pointed out to me from a distance
t'Academie des Belles-Lettres as the goal of my labours;
they also promised to talk to the minister on my behalf
and to induce la Conmpagnie des Indes to countenance my
views. I had consequently the honor of conversing several
times on this subject with M. de Silhouette, Royal Commissioner to la Compragnie des Indes; and the manner in
which he listened to me showed him   as much a man ef
letters as a patron of incipient talents.
But the impatience to commence a career, which I
foresaw ought to be long and sown with difficulties, did not
permit me to expect that the promises of persons, who interested themselves in the execution of my plan, would be
realised. I had, moreover, resolved, in order that I might




5


not be exposed to reproaches in case of ill success to depend on myself alone in an enterprise of this nature; a3,
justice did not allow that I should exact from my farci-e?little favored as it was with the blessings of fortune, thie
assistance which could appear more than precarious.
Under these circumstances, confident in the strength of
my constitution, and inured as I was for many years to an
austere life, to night studies and sobriety, the calling of a
soldier to la Compagnie des Indes appeared to me to be
the only one which the state of things permitted me to
embrace. I went consequently to see M. Boucher, the officer charged with the enlistment of recruits for India, and
after some moments of conversation on the history of the
country and on the affairs of the Coromandel Coast, I declared to him  openly the object of my visit. My proposal
surprised him; he strongly represented me, but with a sort
of tenderness, the difficulty in which I should be involving
myself, and deferred me for four days, thinking this delay
would make me change my resolution.     It is difficult to
express what passed within myself during this interval. I
went again at the end of four days to see M. Boucher;
my courage triumphed over his objections: and seeing that
I was firm, he accepted my enlistment with a positive promise to speak of it only after my departure.
I employed the little time which preceded it in preparing, without the knowledge of my parents, my small
equipment, which consisted of two shirts, two handkerchiefs
and a pair of stockings. I swelled my packet with a box
of mathematical instruments, and with the Hebrew Bible
of Leusden, of Montagne, of Charron; and the day before
my departure from Paris, I sent for my brother who is at
present Chief of the French Factory at Surat. What an




6


interview! I cannot think of it without shuddering. The
note which I had written to him informed him of the busitiess in two words. I wanted more than human fortitude
to get over his chagrin and mine. M. Boucher left me in
his presence master of my fate. We stared at each other's
face. His tears were his expressions; mine suffocated me.
With that strength which a cool and thoughtful temper
gives, I proved to him that the resolution I had formed
was needful. He promised to keep my secret for two days,
and after having received from him some presents, I had
yet the strength to leave him first to rejoin the troops
with which I was to go to the East. The moment for departure having arrived, I distributed among my new comrades the outfits which la Compagnie des Indes had given to their soldiers; and we 'began to march on foot, commanded.by an inferior officer of the Invalids, on the 7th
November 1754, before day-break, to the lugubrious sound
of a badly mounted drum.
The road from  Paris to the East was for me an apprenticeship of fatigues, which I underwent with more firmness than I could have dared expect. The journey was of
ten days, partly on foot and partly on horseback, in the
midst of rains, cold, snow and accompanied with dangers of
more than one kind. Frequently, I found myself obliged to
carry my portmanteau for several leagues through cultivated
fields, to go to enjoy some hours of repose in a poor hut,
where I could hardly, even on payment, find the necessaries of a recruit. What occupied me usefully, and even in
some way, agreeably during this laborious march were the
new characters, whose different shades my situation enabled
me to observe.


I arrived at the East on the 16th November. M. Go



7


dehen d'Igoville, Director of the Company, had been informed of my object by M. Falconet, his friend. Wlhen
somebody went and told him that there was a soldief $-:'f
the Company who wished to talk to him, he said, coming,
out hastily from the room, certainly he must be M. Anqueo
til. "Is it-possible," addressing me, " that you have formed such a resolution?"  At the same time he wrote to the
Major of the troops to conduct me to the town, leaving me
at liberty to lodge at any place where I wished, and to
take what measures I found proper for the arrangement of
my affairs.
The next month he freed me from my enlistment by
order of the minister, and informed me that the King had
accorded me a pension of five hundred francs. This was a
series of good services by M. l'Abbd Barthelemy, whose
friends, M. le Comte de Caylus, M. Bignon and M. Lamoignon de Malesherbes had talked in my behalf to M. de
Silhouette and to M. le Contr61eur Gdndral. On the very
day of my departure, my enlistment had been carried to
the office of the Company; M. Saint-Ard, Director, being
informed by my kinsmen, had withdrawn it; and. immediately after, my-friends had worked to procure me a means
of living suitable to my plan, for the execution of which I
had in some measure forced the events.
On their part la 'Compaggnie des Indes gave me a
free passage on board one of their vessels, le Duc d'Aquitaine, the table of the captain and a cabin; and I got
ready to part for the East Indies with a resolution to bring
home thence the laws of Zoroaster and those of the Brahmins. I was at Port-Louis, when a gun, fired at 7 in the
morning, 24th February 1755, gave me notice that I should
go on board the ship.




8


I arrived at Pondichery on the 10th of August 1755.
Seeing that modern Persian was the language most extensively used in Asia, and spoken in all the places where the
difference of idioms or rather of dialects rendered the
knowledge of Malabari of that part insufficient, I made it
the object of my study without neglecting the last.  The
teacher I took up for Persian knew neither French nor
Portuguese. The first lessons were learnt by signs; I pointed out to him  various objects; then I wrote down their
names as he gave them; I repeated these names. In this
manner I learned a jargon, which, in three months, made
me understand it, though sufficiently badly.  As for my
teacher he learned not from me twenty words of French.
My object, after having made myself familiar with Persian, was to go into the interior to acquaint myself with
the Malabarese language, to visit the Brahmins and learn
Sanscrit near some celebrated Pagoda. But after a mature
consideration I hastened the execution of this plan.
I arrived at Chandanagore on Maundy-Thursday, 22nd
April 1756, weakened by fever. I wished, however, during
the intervals of my illness to put my affairs in some order:
I went consequently to see the Director and requested him
to settle my salary.  My representations were useless.  I
reiterated them  many a time and the Director told rme
plainly that he had not the letters of M. de Leyrit who had
written to him  about me. As regards the interpreters of
the Company whom    I begged to engage to assist me in my
project, his answer was that they were not allowed to serve
private individuals. So I was obliged to apply to my friends
to get a Moor who would speak Persian with me, and to live
for two months at their expense. I thought it necessary to




9


inform  M. de Leyrit of the conduct of the Superintendent
of Chandanagore towards me. At last, whether the latter
had received some new orders or whether my demands h.d
appeared to him more just, he ordered my salary to be
paid at what I used to get at Pondichery. My youth, the
little reality which my projects represented, and the conduct
of some private person, who, almost under the same pretext,
had wasted, they said, 20 to 30 thousand Rupees of the
Company-these were likely the causes of the difficulties,
which I had experienced from the Director of the Company.
These proceedings absolutely disgusted me with the Colony of Chandanagore; I did not acquire any particular
knowledge there.  I hardly went to one or two families,
but passed my time in translating some Persian books, in
promenading in the outskirts of the town which were charming, and in conversing with the Bengalees. I went, especially, to the Pagodas and to the houses of artisans; I examined their tools and wrote down their names.
At last to neglect no means either near or distant,
tending to the execution of my plan, I sent to M. Le Verrier, Chief of the French Factory at Surat, two lines written in Zend characters, accompanied with the translation
which I had made.     *       *       *       *       *
I was confined to bed with fever and dysentery for
three months and was reduced to the last extremity. I was
expected every moment to breathe my last; delirium  and
death-rattle announced within me approaching dissolution.
Several persons even carried to the- Coast the news of my
death, by a vessel which set sail at that time. In this
state of prostration, I discharged some worms, and the dysentery ceased. By degrees, I was able to take some spoons



10


ful of soup. My strength recovered, and in less than twenty
days, I was in a state to leave my room.
Soon, the complete return of my strength made me
feel the 'uselessness of the life I led. Bengal was then in
combustion; the Nabob had driven out the English from
their establishments, and this revolution foreboded in this
province a future of troubles, which could only interfere with
some purely literary operations of mine. I resolved to leave
Chandanagore, but was uncertain whither to take my steps.
In the mean time, a letter, which I received from Surat,
fixed my destination. It was the answer of M. Le Verrier,
who informed me that the Parsis had read the lines which
I had sent to him; that they were written in moder Persian, but in Zend characters. He added that their Dustoors
had showed him the works of Zoroaster, and particularly,
the Zend and Pehlvi Vendidad, and that they had promised to explain that work to me and to teach me their
ancient languages. This news restored me to all my former
health, and my departure was resolved upon. I embarked
-my luggage on board a vessel which was to have descended
the Ganges; but the news of war between France and England compelled her to return and disconcert my project.
What a situation! the works of Zoroaster exist; his
followers are ready to  give and explain them  to me; I
was separated from that treasure which I held of great
value to enrich my native country; and it came to this
that I allowed it to slip for ever, and that without any
consideration from the Chief, without any other resource
but my badly paid salaries, I followed the fate of a caravan,
brave as it was no doubt, still in danger of falling under
the steel of the English, if they should attack it; exposed
thereby to be led as a prisoner to Europe, at the very mo



11


ment when I was about to reach the goal of my travels!
I felt this blow but concealed it.
I arrived at last at the port of Surat on the 1st of
May 1758, at 5 o'clock in the evening, extremely weakened
by dysentery. It was necessary to wait for some time for
a passport from the Nabob: afterwards a peon of the
French Consul came to take me; and within half an hour
I had the pleasure to embrace my brother at the French
Residency.
Before entering into the details of what passed at Surat during the three years that I remained there, I think
it proper to say something about the origin of this town.
Though it has suffered much by the invasion of the Moors
(Mahomedans) and the Marathas, and has been several times
pillaged, Surat is one of the largest and most populated
towns of India. Originally, it was only a collection of huts
belonging to fishermen, who used to muster together on the
southern bank of the Tapti. It was not known even in
the thirteenth century, though Cambay was then already celebrated. Here is what Nourbeg, librarian of the last Mahomedan Soubedar of Ahmedabad, tells me about the origin
of this town.
In the reign of Mahmoud Begada, fifth king of Ahmedabad, who flourished about the close of the fifteenth
century, there were (in the vicinity of a place where in
1760 stood the house of Fares Khan, second of the town),
several huts of fish-mongers, who had at their head a man
of their profession, named Suratji. This chief paid the dues
for his little village to the Hikem (i. e. to the governor)
of R&nder (a small town situate on the northern bank of




12


the Tapti), who ruled the country on behalf of the king of
Ahmedabad.    The Portuguese, in their incursions, having
pilndered the banks of that river, Suratji, whose people
were without any means of defence, and who had suffered
considerably, carried his complaints to the king of Ahmedabad. This prince, having inquired what the land of these
fishermen could produce, ordered Khodavand Khan, Governor of RAnder, to erect a fortress, which might place the
town of Suratji under shelter from every insult. Khodavand
Khan at first chose the site on the place where there now is
his tomb, near the house of 'Fares Khan and that, of Fakir
Kheirulla; but as it was at some distance from the river,
the choice of it was abandoned.    He then pitched upon
another site near BAgh Talao, where there now are Shroffs
(bankers) about half a coss* from the river. This was also
abandoned for the same reason, it being     found difficult
to carry water from the river to that distance, in order
to fill up the ditches with which he intended to surround
the  fortress. At last its foundations were laid in the
place where it now stands; and Khodavand Khan promised Suratji to give the latter's name to this city, as
a reward for the site which he ceded to him (Khodavand
Khan).   This city  was then   called Surat after  Suratji.
The inscription, which I have cited in the notef informs
us that the fortress was completed only in 931 Hijree
(1524 A. C.) The town rose with the times; in 1666 it
had yet only some walls of earth in very bad state. The
first erceinte was constructed some years after, and the se* A coss is a measure of distance about two miles in length.Translator.
t Sadd bu-ved bar sina-i jtn-e Ferangi in bend (Pers.)=
this fortress is built to check the progress of the Ferangees (the
Europeans).




13


cond some more than fifty years ago, under the Nabobship
of Hyder Kouli Khan: each has 12 gates, and is adorned
with round towers where some guns are to be seen.
I now recur to the course of my travels. Arrived at
Surat, I went to the French Residency where my brother
expected me. Every help, which I was in need of, was
given to me there; and some days of repose restored me
sufficiently from the fatigues which I had endured. I still
felt however some symptoms of dysentery, which the change
of food had produced. Seeing my illness increased, notwithstanding the strength of my constitution, and wearied
of the remedies and the visits of a European, who styled
himself a physician, I gave myself up to an unrestricted
diet; and by taking several doses of ipecacuanha which I
had brought with me from Mahi, I cured myself of the
complaint in about a month and a half.
The kind of life I led after my convalescence contributed not a little to the re-establishment of my health,
which required a strict regimen. Many reasons had induced
me to take a private lodging and to appear rarely at the
French Factory. The peevish, sarcastic and exacting nature
of the French Consul always found something or other to
quarrel for. These were the difficulties, especially, continued
delay and remissness which would allow no business which
could be done immediately to be finished. After a good
many communications, I saw the Parsi Dustoors, for whom
I had made the voyage to Surat, and from whom I had
to learn the religion of Zoroaster. They were Dustoors Darab and Kaous, High Priests of one of the two sections into  which  the Parsis of Surat are divided.  In the first
instance, there was the difficulty about the manuscript
which, they asserted, had been received from their Legislator.




14


They engaged to copy it out for me for Rs. 100: this involved some time; and being desirous to make up, for the
yars which I thought I had lost, I commenced without delay the study of their ancient languages. From that time
forward, I got a notion of the conduct of the people at the
French Factory. They attempted to keep up their importance, and feared lest I should too early engage myself in
this matter. I resolved to dispense with their aid and conduct my affairs myself. For this purpose I was obliged to
leave the French Residency, where I was in difficulties, and
where I already found myself greatly inconvenienced.
I felt these unfavorable circumstances less than the
conduct of my Dustoors; I despaired of their tardiness.
After a stay of three months in Surat, I received at last
the promised manuscript.   This was the Vendidad, the
twentieth work of their Legislator, a quarto volume, written
in Zend and Pehlvi. I did not discover till some time
after that it was mutilated and incorrect, and after having
paid them  its price, I thought to begin immediately the
study of this work. But the Dustoors, fearing to see me
quick at my studies, wished that I should commence with
the alphabet.  I wrote down what they dictated to me.
This enabled me to decipher the characters in which the
Vendidad was written.
These first steps did not please my Dustoors, who believed I was nearly escaping from their hands: their answers
to my questions were more reserved. They affected a mysterious tone, believing it gave importance to their lectures.
Long absence, under the pretext of the dangers they were
exposed to by coming to my place, intervened between their
visits. Once they talked to me of the offer of a considerable sum of money which Mr. Fraser had made to them




15


for obtaining some Pehlvi manuscripts, and of the remuneration which was reserved in England for any one, who
would translate their sacred books.
As long as M. Le Verrier remained at Surat, it was
not possible for me to obtain anything from the Parsi Dustoors, except the Zend and Pehlvi Vendidad and some general explanations on their religion. To have demanded of
them to keep their word would have been labour lost: perceiving also the little importance which the French Consul
attached to me, they imperceptibly retired.
I was then in a very sorry plight, and exposed to the
same treatment which I had experienced in Bengal. They
denied me the privilege of visiting the French Residency
with a hatred, which had the effect- of separating me from
the natives. I was obliged to make formal applications to
the French Consul, and to complain bitterly of his proceedings to the superior council and to the Governor of Pondichery; to send to the latter copies of the letters, which I
had received from M. le Comte de Caylus, and from   M.
Boutin, Royal Commissioner to the French East India Company, recommending me to the governor, and authorising
him to advance me 'some money. Whilst waiting for a reply to this request, I -was not in a position to repay what
I had borrowed at Goa in order to go 'to Surat.  I was
obliged to reduce myself to a repast of lentils and rice called by natives Khichri, so that I might be able to spare
from my income something to 'discharge a part of my debts,
and to buy the books which I was in need of,. and with
all that to work also.
What could have been the reasons of this whimsical
and harsh conduct of M. Le Verrier, otherwise a man of
sense and probity and even religious? They were probably




16


the rarity of my visits, my carelessness in making my respects, the distance which I always kept from the spirit of
partisanship, and no doubt the silence of the Governor of
Pondichery, who had not introduced me at Surat in the
manner I had been flattered he would. I draw a veil over
these inconsistencies, which /show the feebleness of humanity. Perhaps the reader will not pardon me for having inflicted this upon him. But I only bring to mind, with a
sort of compassion, these grievous and frequently prolonged
reflections during all the night, about the difficult position
in which I was, after having come from     the interior of
Bengal, to search and translate at Surat the books of Zoroaster.
In the midst of these difficulties, which I may call private, I pulled on sufficiently well with the members of the
European communities settled at Surat, and especially with
the Chief of the Dutch Factory, M. Taillefer, a gentleman
of letters and politeness. As Mancherji, his broker, was the
head of the Parsi communityat Surat, I thought that he
or his Dustoor must have a copy of the manuscript, which
the Dustoors of M. Le Verrier had copied for me. Besides,
as he was a personal enemy of my Dustoors, a comparison
of his manuscript with theirs would test the authenticity
of the copy of Dustoor Darab: that was the means of discovering the truth rather than the relation subsisting between the two parties.   My hopes were not futile: M.
Taillefer, at the end of November, sent me the Zend and
Pehlvi Vendidad of Mancherji, giving me to understand that
this Parsi had assured him, that it was the most authentic
and most correct copy which could be had at Surat. At the
same time he prayed me to take care that no pages were
lost, and to return it as soon as possible.


As soon as I found myself in possession of this treasure,




17


I compared it word by word with my copy; and finding a
considerable difference between the two, I wrote back to M.
Taillefer, praying him to induce Mancherji to leave me Lls
manuscript for some time more. My object was to note
from them, as I have done, the differences.
The answer (to this my request) from the head of the
Dutch Factory (M. Taillefer) was very polite: without granting me positively- what I required, he promised to talk
about this matter to his agent. As for me, resolved to profit by the occasion, I commenced my work. I wished that
my Dustoors had aided me in my revision: but I feared
that if I should speak to them  of it, the shame of finding
themselves baffled might make them divulge the service
which Mancherji had rendered to me; which, had it been
done, would have induced that Parsi (Mancherji) to have
asked for his book, before I had extracted from it that
part which I wanted. Besides, seeing me short of money,
they renderedc themselves scarce. They hardly appeared once
a fortnight.
At last, understanding how to reconcile these differences
which I had discovered in the two manuscripts, which were
given to me as being the same, I softly questioned my
Parsi teachers. It was also with this view, that I had paid
them handsomely for some Persian works which they wanted
to get rid of. I also induced them  to bring me a small
Pehlvi and Persian Dictionary, which they had promised me;
but the pretexts invented on the occasion prevented the
promise being fulfilled.
M. Le Verrier left Surat in the beginning of January
1759, and the French Factory in this city (Surat) to my brother, who after some time received charge of its management.




18


Towards the commencement of February, seeing my
business languish, I told Dustoor Kaous that his manuscript
di'fered from the other Vendidads (that is, other copies of
the Vendidad) of Gujerat, and showed him immediately the
one belonging to Mancherji. He grew pale at the opening
of the book, and at first feigned not to know this work,
adding that it was some other book: he wished afterwards
to maintain the authenticity of his copy (for he knew not
that I had had the patience to compare the two manuscripts, word by word), and went away in a very bad
humour. The next day, Darab, his father, who was more
clever and more sincere, and who saw besides that I could
no longer be deceived, brought me a copy perfectly similar
to that of Mancherji, assuring me, that all the copies of the
Vendidad resembled that which he had presented to me;
and that the copy, which he had given me at first, was
corrected in the Pehlvi translation; but that. in the one
in Zend, there were only a few transpositions and changes
of letters of little importance. He promised, at the same
time, to bring me a copy similar to that of Mancherji, and
also an entirely Zend copy without the Pehlvi translation.
These advances were accompanied by a Pehlvi and Persian
Vocabulary, of which I have already spoken above, and some
other manuscripts, some in modem Persian and some in ancient Persian (Zend and Pehlvi); and a small history in
verse of the emigration of the Persians to India.
This history leads us to the history of the present Parsis, and makes us acquainted with the remaining disciples of
Zoroaster, who have been the chief object of my researches
at Surat. I think it would not be out of place to give
an abridged account of it here.


It is known that Yezdegird, the last Persian king of




19
the  Sass.anian dynasty, was dethroned by Khalif Iazret
Omar Ketab and died in 651 A. D. It is from     the first
year of the reign of this king (that is, from  632 A. D.),
that the era- of the Parsis begins.
The religion of Zoroaster then ceased to be dominant
in Persia. Some months after the death of Yezdegird, the
Parsis, persecuted by the Mahomedans, retired to Kohestan,
where they remained one hundred years. Afterwards, they
came down to Ormaz on the Persian Gulf; and after having
settled fifteen years in that place, they set sail for India and
landed at Div.*
The Parsis, and almost all the Oriental — nations consult astrological books on important affairs. At first they
throw the dice, then make a reference to the books of
divination, which they call Pals, for the number indicated
by the dice, and act according to the purport contained
in that passage of the Fal, which corresponds to the number. The Parsis, at the end of nineteen years, believing
what they found in their Fal that the sojourn at Div
was not propitious to them, re-embarked on board ship;
and after encountering a violent tempest, landed in a pleasant and fertile place, situated about three coss south of
Nargor, which is seven coss from  Daman on the way to
Bassein.
When they landed ashore, one of their chiefs went to
salute JAdirah, an Indian Prince of that part of Gujerat,
and made him    some presents.  The RMaj   received them
very warmly, but, seeing afterwards that these foreigners
were numerous and well-armed, was apprehensive lest they


% A small Portuguese possession, situated to the north-west of
Bombay.-Translator.




20
should give some trouble to his dominions: this induced
him to propose to them five conditions capable, as he belived, to deter them  from  the design, which they had
formed of establishing themselves in his country. The first
condition was that they should disclose to him the mysteries
of their religion; the second, that they should lay aside
their arms; the third, that they should speak the Indian
language; the fourth, that their females should appear in
public without any veils on their face* like Indian females;
the fifth and last, that they should celebrate their marriages
in the evening according to the usage of the country.
As these five articles contained nothing contrary to the
spirit of the Zoroastrian religion, the Parsis subscribed to
them, and laid before the R6ja a precis of their religion.
"Do not fear us," they said to him, "we are friends to all
Indians. We worship God; and the love of our religion
"makes us flee from evil agents; we have abandoned every
thing for it (i. e. the religion). Descended from: King
"Jamsheed, we adore God and all that he has created.
"We honor the sun, the moon and fire. We gird round
' our waist the Koshti, which is composed of 72 threads.
"We maintain that females who are in their monthly course
"or in child-bed, ought to be kept apart from other per"sons."  The Raja, satisfied with this explanation, which was
also set forth in the religion of the Iindoos, permitted the
Parsis to take possession of any piece of ground which suited them; and these (the Parsis), approving of the choice
made by their chiefs, built in the place thus accorded to
them a town which they called Sanjan.
Some time after their peaceful settlement, the chief of


* So far as the translator knows, no such custom  prevailed
among the ancient Parsis.




21


the Dustoors reminded the Parsis of the vow     they had
made to erect in their new colony a great Fire-temple
(Atash-Behram), if they were saved from the tempest which
had overtaken them  at sea while starting from  Div. They
all consented to do so: consequently, the Dustoors went
to the Raja asking for a piece of land three farsangs* all
round, so that the voice of the profane might not be heard
in the sanctuary. The Raja complied with their request;
and the Parsis, full of zeal, contributed, with all their might,
to make their new settlement flourish.
Three hundred years, more or less after Yezdegird,
passed without any remarkable events, after which the Parsis separated. Some went to settle at Bankanir (9 or 10
coss from Bansdah); others in Broach (12 leagues to the
north of Surat); some in   Unklesur (between Surat and
Broach); while others in Cambay (16 leagues to the north
of Broach); many in Bariao, a village at the distance then
of a small coss from  the place, where there is the fortress
of Surat, and which now forms in the north one of the
suburbs of that city (Surat); others at last to Nowsaree
(10 coss to the south of Surat.)
The two centuries which followed this dispersion presented nothing of any importance. In course of time Sanjan became depopulated; the Dustoors disappeared; Khoshest (Khorshed?), a young Mobed and his son were the only
true observers of their religion, of whom history makes mention up to 700 years after Yezdegird.
It was more than 500 years that the Parsis had settled in India, when the Mahomedans (for the first time)
" A farsang is a measure of distance, equal to about three miles.
-Translator.




22


made their appearance at Chapanir (eight coss on that side
of Cambay on the way to Ahmedabad). The name of the
]Rja' of Sanjgn was well-known all over the country. Sultan Mahmoud (Mahomed Shah), at that time being on the
throne of Gujerat, wished to render this prince tributary
and ordered Alaf Khan, his prime minister, to march against
him. Alaf Khan soon set out with 60,000 horse. The Raja, seized with fear at the view of the storm which menaced him, sent for the Parsi Dustoors, reminded them of the
favours which he had heaped on them as well as on their
ancestors, and thus induced them to assist him in this fray.
A review being held, 1,400 Parsis were found capable
of bearing arms; they by a solemn promise devoted their
lives to the Raja. The first action was bloody.  On one
side the Parsis fought for life and liberty, on the other,
the Mahomedans for glory. The Hindoos fell under the
sword of the Mahomedans.    Then Ardeshir, one of the
chiefs of the Parsis, proposed to his brethren to fight in a
body against the enemy. The Parsis, animated by his example, presented themselves in good order and spread terror in the army of Alaf Khan. They lost only one of their
chiefs, named Kaous, who was killed by being stabbed with
a spear. The camp, the tents and the baggage of the Mahomedans became the prey of the victorious Parsis.
The defeat was, however, not so general as to disable
Alaf Khan from promptly raising a new army and collecting the remains of the first. Some days after he appeared
at the head of a formidable corps of the Mahomedans.
Though enfeebled by the preceding actions, the Raja refused not the combat. The two armies stood face to face.
Ardeshir, who saw  the superiority of the army of Alaf
Khan, demanded of the Raja permission to go personally to




23


confront the enemy, and went forth immediately equipped
with all kinds of arms and a noose hanging from the saddie of his horse.
At the words of contempt which accompanied Ardeshir's defiance, a hero of Alaf Khan's army came forth. The
two warriors, like tigers thirsty for blood, rushed at each
other: but the Valour of Ardeshir decided the victory; he
dismounted his adversary, and after girding him with a
snare, cut off his head. Alaf Khan, furious at seeing his
hero vanquished, swore the destruction, both of the Parsis
and of the Raja. Immediately the two armies began to
fight; the carnage on both sides was dreadful; Ardeshir,
the bulwark of the Parsis, fell pierced with an arrow; many
distinguished chiefs and the Raja himself fell on the field
of battle. The death of this prince terminated the fight.
Sanjan was given up to pillage and reduced to Mahomedan subjection.
The Parsis, being obliged to quit Sanjan, took refuge
in the mountains of Bahrout (near Chapanir), where they
passed 12 years. They retired afterwards to Bansdah, a
town situated 8 or 10 coss on this side of Aurangabad,
carrying with them the Atash-Behram. Their former friends
went before them  to receive them with great pomp. In a
short time there was a general concourse at Bansdah. The
Parsis of the surrounding places came to worship the AtashBehram; this kindled fresh zeal in their hearts.
It was about this time that' Dustoor Ardeshir arrived
in Gujerat from  Sistan. He gave the Parsis a copy of the
Vendidad with its Pehlvi translation. As the copy which
the Parsis had brought with them to India was lost, two
copies were made from Ardeshir's Vendidad; and it is from




24


these two copies, that other copies of the Zend and Pehlvi
Vendidad of Gujerat have been made.
Fourteen years passed without any important event.
There appeared afterwards at Nowsaree a rich Parsi named
Changah ShAh, a faithful observer of the, Zoroastrian law.
He distributed his wealth among the poor, provided the
Parsis with Koshtis and Sudras, and endeavoured to bring
back those whom ignorance and troubles had led into many
errors to the exact practice of the Zoroastrian law. To
succeed in this, he applied to the Dustoors of Kirman, consulting them on different points of the Zoroastrian religion,
neglected in Gujerat.  In course of time when something
doubtful presented itself, the Dustoors of India, following the
example of Changah Shah, wrote to those of Iran, and the
answers of the latter form the works which are known by
the name of Ravaets, that is, histories, traditions, reports.
Changah Shah represented to his fellow-citizens, that it
was difficult to go to adore the Atash-Behram at Bansdah,
for the feast connected with its worship came on the 9th
day of the month Ader, which was the time of the rainy
season.  He afterwards made them    alive to the benefit
of having the Atash-Behram   in their town and induced
them  to bring it there. The people applauded his proposal,
and the Atash-Behram was brought with great pomp from
Bansdah to Nowsaree in the year 785 of Yezdegird (of Jesus 1415). The three Mobeds of Sanjan, who accompanied
it, were charged to keep a watch over it in their turn with
other Mobeds.
Here is the end of this small poetical work, which
contains the history of the retreat of the Parsis in India.
What I have said of the Vendidad brought by Ardeshir,
of the letters written by Chang&h Shah to the Dustoors of




25


Kirman, and what I am now     going to report about the
quarrels which arose among the Parsis of India-these I
have got from the Parsi Dustoors with whom I had conversed.
In order not to frighten away Darab, who thought to
detain me one year at the Zend alphabet, I begged him
to show me rare and valuable Zend works, with a promise
to buy two Persian Mss. which he wanted to get rid of.
When I was master of these books, I threatened to abandon him and Kaous (his father) to Mancherji,* their chief
enemy, if he refused to aid me in translating the Vendidad in modern Persian. The stratagem succeeded: however, when he saw-me write to his dictation, and question
him  about everything and hear him  only with wrapt attention, fear seized him, for he felt that I was going to
know thoroughly the dogmas of his religion. I was more
than a month without seeing him back. He pretended
that his death was certain, if the other Dustoors knew
what he did at my place. Kaous maintained that I required information which their conscience would not permit
them to give, and for which they were not bound. But the
Mss. which I had, let them to make these reflections; the
fear of losing them  prevailed over the scruple, and Darab
consented to what I desired.
Their fears were not ill-founded.  Mancherji himself,
knowing the use which I had made of his manuscript, was
no more tranquil than Darab. He feared lest Dustoor Bikh
(Bhicaji?) his teacher should have been informed of it.
Seeing that I kept it many months; he demanded it from
" A rich and influential Mobed and an agent at the Dutch Factory.-Translator.




26


me through the head of the Dutch Factory to whom he
had lent it. My answer was polite and steady. I stated to
M. Taillefer that having commenced to note down the differences, which existed in the manuscript of Mancherji and
that of my Dustoors, it was not natural that I would leave
the work imperfect. My reasons did not please the Dutch,
with whom   I had not been much in contact for the last
month or two.   They came almost to menaces.    I even
knew that a member of their council, a mischievous head,
was instigated to come to my house with a band of soldiers
to carry away the book in question. The Chief of the
Dutch Factory (M. Taillefer), being more prudent, did not
wish to descend to practical matters. He was a man of
letters, and I am  sure 'that at the bottom, he blamed not
my firmness, though he was obliged to show to his broker,
that he was prepared to render such service as was required of him. The only precaution which I took was to have
upon my table two charged pistols; I continued my work
which lasted four months, after which I returned the Ms.
in good state.
The scruple of the Parsi Dustoors being surmounted,
and their little tricks having ended, there remained with
me nothing to overcome but the peculiar difficulties attendant on the kind of study which I had commenced, and
the unavoidable embarrassment of a civil war. The English
then laid siege to the fortress: it was necessary to put in
security their own effects and those of the factory-being
always in a state of diffidence and distrust. These troubles
made my Dustoors more distant from me. They reappeared
after some time.
Finding myself sufficiently strong to commence the study
of the Zend books, and impatient to regain the months,




27


which I had seen glide away in the midst of these troubles, without making any tangible progress, I spent some
days in the practice of reading the Vendidad, and to translate
from the Persian interlineary translation the Pehlvi and
Persian vocabulary of which I have spoken above.
The work, the first of the kind which a European had
ever attempted, appeared to me to be a notable event in
the history of literature; and I marked its date which was
the 24th  March 1759 of the era of Jesus Christ, Amerdad, the seventh day of the month of Meher, 1128 of the
era of Yezdegird, 1172 of the Hijra, and 1813 of the
reign of Raja Vikramajit.  The commencement was sufficiently discouraging; but I had learned at much cost to
keep patience.  Hoping to succeed in the work which I
had undertaken, I informed the Governor of Pondichery of
the success of my attempts.
After having obtained some Zend and Sanscrit books,
I commenced the translation of the Vendidad, on the 30th of
March 1759. Modern Persian served me as an intermediate
language, because Darab, for fear of being heard by my
domestics, did not wish to unfold to me the mysteries of
his religion in the vulgar language. I wrote everything; I
was also particular in marking the reading of Zend and of
Pehlvi in European characters. I compared afterwards the
pieces, which appeared to be the same, in order to assure
myself of the correctness of his (Darab's) readings. The most
grievous accidents and sickness, howsoever long it might be,
had nothing to frighten me. I was always in a state to
take up again my studies at the point where I had last left
them; and being assured against the fear of forgetting them,
the tranquillity of my mind could only hasten my recovery.
These precautions were only too necessary; and they




28
had the desired effect. My health was many times the victim of close application to my study and to the kind of
lif  I led. A dish of rice and lentils was all my nourishment. The time, which was not engaged with my Dustoor,
I spent in revising what I had read with him, and preparing the work for the next day.  I could not take even
a nap after dinner, as is generally done in warm   countries: for, one time it had served as an excuse for the absence of parab, who pretended that I did not open the
door when he knocked it. In the evening I refreshed myself an hour or two with an airing on my terrace, the mind
always occupied with the uncertainty of the success of my
researches, and the manner in which they would be received in Europe.
In the midst of this stiff work, I did not neglect to
augment my knowledge of those countries in which I could
not then penetrate, viz., the north of India and Egypt:
but a sad accident checked me at the commencement of
my career.
While assisting one day the lifting up of a trunk
which contained all my luggage, I saw one of the coolies
employed in the work miss his footing and on the point
of being crushed. I seized immediately one of its handles,
and held it suspended for a moment whilst the coolie rose
up. I did not then feel any derangement in my system,
but after some time, close study, coupled with great heat (it
being the month of June), made the malady burst outthe cause being the exertion I had made: it was what they
called at Surat the derangement of the navel.
This complaint consists in the looseness of the umbilical yessels, whose extremities form the knot which is in the
middle of the belly.  If this looseness make the arteries




29


rise above the knot, one is subjected to continual vomit'
ings; and when the derangement is below or towards the
side, it is followed by frequent purging which, in a few
days, brings the patient to the last extremity.  *  *   *
It appeared that I could foresee the state in which I
would soon be, if I endeavoured to prosecute my work, the
most insipid imaginable. In the morning I collated Mancherji's Ms. with Darab's copy; and during the afternoon,
when the heat was greatest, I translated the Vendidad from
the last Ms.   These two works were finished on the 16th
June 1759.    I announced this event to M. de Leyrit in
my letter of the 11th June, while requesting him to procure
for me a copy of the four Vedas (the sacred books of the
Hindoos) through the medium   of Aranga Poulley or Arombale. But no sooner had I commenced translating the additional passages I had found in Mancherji's Ms. than I
was again attacked with a more severe bowel complaint.
After two days of acute griping, it became necessary to send
for the Parsi,* who had already given me an experience of
the force of his muscles............I passed the end of July
in a state of forced inaction, which grieved me more than
the fear of having to recall the aid of the Parsi. Some
letters to M. de Leyrit and the revision of my works were
all I did.  As I had only to write the translation and
read Zend and Pehlvi books, my mind was sufficiently at
ease.                      *             *             *
While I was among the English, I engaged Nanabh6i,
their Modi, to procure from  Nowsaree a copy of the Nirengastdn brought to India by Dustoor Jamasp. On the
* A quack adept at curing this particular complaint. Men of
the sort are even now to be found practising in Surat and also in
Bombay, but they are not necessarily Parsis.-Translator.




30


7th October, this Parsi showed me the answer which he
had received, stating that it was not known what had be'come of that work.
Finding my strength recovered, I made search for a
house where I might resume my occupation freely; and
they found me one in which I went to live, still remaining under the English protection. My wounds* were entirely healed on the 20th November; and I applied myself at once to the translation of the Zend books with
Darab. I commenced with the additional passages discovered in Mancherji's Ms. The translation of these passages
was followed by that of Yagna, of Vispered, of Nyaesh
and Yashts and some Pehlvi collections, which contained,
among other curious pieces, the Bundehesh, the Si-rozah,
the Vajerkerd, several Ravaets and other Persian Mss. which
Darab had given me. A sustained application to these gave
me, at the end of some months, so true a notion of the languages and of the ancient history, religion and usages of the
Parsis, that Darab dared not and even could not impose upon me; and by the time that he had ceased his readings,
I was in a state to translate myself the few works which
yet remained to be translated.  He was now regular, and
ventured not to refuse me the explanations I demanded
from him.
The departure of Mr. Spencer, and the state. in which
I knew our factories were, contributed much to the rapidity
of my progress. I did not stir out, because I feared that
the taking of Pondichery would arrest the progress of my
studies; I pushed on my work in some way.
$ The author-refers here to the wounds he had received in a
duel with a Frenchman, which arose from a petty cause.-]Translator.




31


I had derived some advantage from my sojourn among
the English by attracting to myself a part of the credit
which they had in the city (Surat). Fares Khan lent n.e,
at the recommendation of Mr. Spencer, his copy of the Barzo-Nameh, the only one which was at Surat; and I made
a copy from  it.  Mr. Spencer, before leaving Surat, was
kind enough to undertake to send from Delhi to the Vakeel of the English East India Company the list of books
which I required. These were the four Vedas in Sanscrit,
the latter part of the Barzo-Nameh, a series of well-preserved coins of Rupees, struck by the order of Nour Jehan Begum, wife of Jehanghir, bearing each a mark of one of
the signs of the Zodiac, some historical books on India and
(Independent) Tartary, and especially the Persian translation
of the four Vedas, made by Feize, brother of Abulfazel, secretary to Akbar. I had also requested, in November, Mr. Erskine, a member of the council of Surat, who spoke the Moorish
(Mahomedan) language very well, and who went to command
at Tattah in Sinde, to buy on my account some natural
curiosities which that country could offer him. He was also
requested to copy out for me the inscriptions which were
said to be engraved on the walls of a famous temple near
Tattah, built, according to the opinion of its inhabitants,
by Alexander; to search for me some charts of the mountains of Candahar; and to send me some Sanscrit, Sindee,
and Patani books if they fell in his hands. I had no news
of my commission till September 1760, when Mr. Erskine
wrote to me from  Sinde that there were neither temples,
nor ancient monuments, nor Hindoo inscriptions about the
environs of Tattah; but that there were some tombs of the
kings of Sinde with some Arabic or Persian inscriptions almost effaced.  He promised tod send me afterwards some
books and charts.  Though this short answer of his could
not satisfy me much, I availed myself of the offer made at




32
the end of his letter, and wrote to him for the books I
wanted. These were (independent of those which Mr. SpenceL had written  to me about from    Delhi) Madar uld
Afazel-a Persian Dictionary highly esteemed, the complete
Rozot-ossafd, some memoirs of the Rajas Jessing and Jessonsing, on Cashmere and Candahar, the Nadershd6h Ndmeh
(history of Tamas Kouli Khan), a list of Indian kings
from Gengiskhan, with their details, and also that of the
Rajas of Delhi whom they have succeeded; the Tatar alphabet, the SerAd Ndmeh, a treatise on vocal and instrumental
music, composed by Abou Aloufah; the Tasvir Nd4meh, a
Persian translation of a work on perspective and painting
made by Ebn Hossein.
All these requests excited the surprise and procured for
me the friendship of the persons to whom I had applied
for the aforesaid books. They procured me many 'promises,
but not one of them produced the desired effect. Mr. Erskine wrote to me, on the 8th November of the same year,
from Mahim, near Bombay, where he had gone to recruit
his health, that he had thought on his return from Sinde,
to procure me the books I wanted; and that though he believed that the inscriptions, of which he had spoken to me,
were only passages of the KorAn, he would try to take
copies of those, which were inscribed on two or three tombs
of the ancient kings of Sinde and send them on to me.
The death of this gallant gentleman deprived me of tie
fruit of his promises.
At last I received, in the middle of April, a letter
from the Governor of Pondichery, dated 24th February 1760,
which permitted me to return to the French Residency.
I thanked the English councils of Surat and Bombay for




33


the protection which they had so obligingly accorded me,
and placed myself again under the protection of the banner
of my nation, without quitting the mansion which I had inhabited, and which was more commodious than the French
Residency.
I rapidly advanced in the knowledge of the mysteries
of the language, and of the history of the Parsis. I found
from day to day that I ought to buy some new book or
other. Backed with the authority of M. de Leyrit, my brother supported with all his influence the propositions which
I made to my Dustoors. Besides, as they were aware that
I was soon to depart from them, they dared no longer refuse me anything.  They employed a thousand means to
render themselves useful to me, to protract my departure
and to increase the price of the manuscripts.
*,*              *            *            *
- The reading of the liturgical books had made me familiar with some minor ceremonies of the Zoroastrian religion;
I had bought some copper instruments used in their sacred
rites by-the Parsis, some Koshtis, a Sudra and a Padan
but my curiosity was not satisfied. I wished to enter their
Fire-temple and to attend their service.  Being aware of
the strict severity of their religion, I believed the thing
impossible: my presence, according to the Zend books, would
defile the temple and tend to nullify the efficacy of their
prayers. Besides, no foreigner had ever entered the Derdmdhers* of the Parsis, except the Mogul Emperor, Akbar.
However, a small present and the promise to take a short


* For the explanation of this term, see Mr. K. R. Cama's "'-Discourse on the Mithraic worship and the rites and mysteries connected
with it", pp.22 —23.-Translator.




34


excursion through the town in my palanquin, induced Darab
to satisfy my curiosity. He took for this purpose a rainy
day, the 20th June, 1760. I was dressed as a Parsi, accompanied by only one peon, who was made to stand at a short
distance from the gate of the Derdmdher, and who guided
me from a sufficient distance for fear I should be recognised-the environs of the Fire-temple being inhabited by
a number of Parsis. The water was knee-deep in several
places; it was all dark, and as I was not sufficiently acquainted with all the streets of Surat, I was on the point
of losing my way and of being nearly drowned.
When I arrived at the Derdmdher, there were 'very few
people in it. Darab came to receive me, and led me to
the fire-altar where his son officiated: it was half past six
in the evening, in the Aivifruthrem Geh.
Old Darab, notwithstanding the objections which I had
sometimes raised  against what I had    found to be unreasonable in his religion, had seen me study his books with
so much care, and occupy myself so seriously with the smallest minutee, instead of despising them, as is generally the
case with foreigners, that he believed me almost a proselyte,
wanting only the ceremonies of initiation; and I think that
this idea consoled his conscience a little. Several times he
had persuaded me to give up smoking my Hookka, saying,
that I had read in the Parsi books that what came out
from the body, as saliva, breath, defiled the fire. Instead
of contradicting him boldly-which would have displeased
him —I cotented myself with the reply that I was a
Christian.  When I was in presence of the sacred fire,
which I saw like all lay Parsis across the rails, which enclosed the chapel on the north side, Darab asked me if
I would make some offering to it.- I said I could not, as




35


a Christian, comply with his request. Darab retorted, but
with an embarrassed air which had something sinister about
it, that some Musulmans, without having had the priiilege of seeing the sacred fire, had made some presents to
the Deremdher.   The position was delicate: I was alone,
without any arms except my sabre and a pocket-pistol; and
if the devotees, who performed their prayers in the Derdmdher, had suspected me who I was, I should have fallen
a victim to the zeal of the worshippers of the Fire-temple. Without appearing in any way moved, I answered Darab in a loud voice, that I was come to see the Derdm4her
and nothing more.   My firmness shut up his mouth; he
requested me to speak in a lower tone; he feared more
than myself that the people of the Derdmeher might recognise me. He explained to me afterwards, in a whisper,
the use made of the different parts of the Deremeher. I
examined everything minutely. I entered everywhere; and I
imprinted very clearly in my mind all that I saw, in order
to be able to prepare on my return the plan and the description which will be seen hereafter in the second volume,
pp. 568-572.
After having attentively inspected the divisions of the
Derdmeher, I approached, with a view to satisfy my curiosity, the place reserved for the recital of Izeshnd (Ya9na).
Darab made some difficulty to allow me to enter it, protesting that he would afterwards be obliged to purify the
place; but I went further on and found in a corner of
the Izeshrn-gih his Zend, Pehlvi and Persian books, and
among others, some Mss. which he had told me he had not
with him. I knew that his library was in the Derdmdher,
and this was one of the reasons which had induced me to
enter this temple with the view to an inquiry in reference
thereto.




36


Satisfied with my visit which lasted nearly an hour,
1 rejoined my peon, who was waiting for me within gunshot from the Der4mdher. Darab, deceived in his expectations, had no occasion to be equally satisfied. He had calculated on extracting from me something as an offering to
the sacred fire; and' the discovery which I had made put
him to the necessity, if he did not wish to fall out with
me, to sell the books which he had up to then denied me,
or refused to make copies of for me.
Some time after I went out of Surat to see the Dakhmas (towers of silence).   These are a   species of round
towers whose walls are built of square stones, and which
are about ninety feet in diameter. While I walked round
these towers, whose walls were assailed by an army of vultures, ravens and other carnivorous birds, several Parsis, who
saw me from   a distance, grumbled at my curiosity. In the
mean time a funeral procession arrived, which obliged me
to remain at a distance. From the place where I stood,
I saw the Nasdsdtdrs perform the Sagdid (that is to say,
the ceremony of presenting the dog to the dead), and carry
the dead body into the Dakhma.     Afterwards the procession, which stood at more than eighty paces from the spot,
returned, praying two by two, each holding the other by
his sleeve,t as they had done while going. On my return
their murmurs increased: in the streets of Surat many Parsis loudly clamoured that I had profaned their towers of
silence; but these complaints had no other consequences,
" It is not the Nasasalars who perform the ceremony above referred to, but the Zoroastrian, who is the resident guardian of the
Dakhma.-Translator.
t Now-a-days it is usual to hold a handkerchief between two
persons.-Translator.




37
and whilst I felt myself in good spirits, I went to see the
place where the Hindoos burnt their dead.
*            *             *             X*
I finished, in September 1760, what concerned the Parsis and the translation of their sacred books, and then went
to the French Residency, in order to prepare myself for a
journey which I had contemplated long since, and which
had connection with Parsis and Hindoos alike.
I started from Surat on the 18th November 1760, at
2 o'clock in the afternoon, accompanied with four sepoys
and one servant (who, with the coolies formed a cortege of
thirteen men) and furnished with paper, a pair of compasses,
some pistols and two pass-ports, one from the Nabob, and
the other from the Marathas.
With this retinue I passed through LMjpore, Nowstree,
Gand4vi, Bulsar, Oodwara, Colek, Daman,- Nrgor, Sanjan,
Tarapore and Bassein.   This journey occupied about ten
days. Thence I came down to Kendry to make a minute
survey of its caves and copy out its inscriptions.  This
work, which kept me engaged till the 6th December, being finished I came to TUna, where I felt myself indisposed. Fever came over me on the 9th December with
cold fits and lasted three days, which I passed on my bed
drinking nothing but tea. When I was in a state to sit
on the chair, I occupied myself in fairly copying out the
Keniry inscriptions and a part of the diary of-my journey
written briefly, while the different objects were yet fresh
in my memory. After having finished this business, I waited for two days to see if my health would recover; but a




38


fresh attack of fever and the shortness of my funds obliged
me to quit Tana.
I set out on the 16th December 1760, and followed
the same route which I had taken while coming from
Surat. Only beyond Bassein I took my way a little to the
east, and went below the Ghauts in search of the seeds of
the teak and champa trees. This last effort exhausted me;
I was seized with a burning fever, which forced me to take
some hours of repose at AgAsi.
The fever took me back beyond Agasi; and, whilst fully perspiring, I had the folly to cause some cold water to
be thrown on my head, and my men had the simplicity
to obey me. This imprudence had no effect: the fever continued, and I arrived at Bulsar, without having eaten anything since my departure from Agasi. There, seeing my
palanquin-bearers eat some large horse-raddishes, I felt a
desire to taste them.  They brought me one of an inch
and a half in diameter, which I ate with salt with sufficient appetite and without being incommoded in any way.
At Gandevi the fever quitted me after a light repast of
lentils and rice, and I then slept for two or three hours,
which I had not done since eight days.
When I arrived at Nowsiree, I begged Dustoor Jamsheed to come and see me in the garden where I wanted to pass the night. My reputation had already spread
all over that town. The Dustoor came to me at ten o'clock
in the night. We talked in Persian and Pehlvi; he avowed to me that Darab, whose conduct he otherwise blamed,
was the most clever Dustoor in India, and also assured me
that he had not the Nirengastdn which was brought from
Kirman by Dustoor Jamasp.,The conversation ended in
reciprocal marks of amity, and he promised to write to me




39


at Surat, which he did, after some months, 'in Persian and
Pehlvi.
I arrived at Surat after eight days' march,'enfeebled
and almost without consciousness.  My return gave my
brother evident pleasure: the length of my journey had
disquieted him. As for me, in a moment of calmness, the
dangers I had run and the fatigues I had endured, presenting themselves vividly and en masse to my mind, drew
tears from my eyes; my friends wiped them off, and four
days of repose and good' nourishment made all the symptoms of fever disappear.
But this appearance of health made only some moments bright for me. In the first days of January 1761,
frightful colics, accompanied with pains in the fingers and
the right cheek, which was believed to be caused by the
gout, obliged me, after vain efforts, to confine myself to
bed. Patience was my physician; the diet, and, without
doubt, the remaining strength of my youth overcame the
disease; but I was in a state of weakness, which determined me to renounce my journey to Benares and China. Besides, the state of our affairs would have frustrated all my
plans, even if my strength had yielded to my desire. Pondichery being besieged, succour of every kind missed us;
for several years the Residency of Surat had not received
any funds from the chief Factory (at Pondichery); my brother had difficulty in supporting himself, and could not absolutely take upon himself any expense on my account.
What means to adopt in this extremity?
I possessed more than   180 Mss. in nearly all the
languages of India; among others two copies of the works
of Zoroaster and a part of Pehlvi books; seven dictionaries of modern Persian, and three most famous Sanscrit




40


dictionaries of India.  I had some HIindoo   characters of
an extremely remote time in the Kendry inscriptions, some
Sanscrit -letters, very ancient, in the first pages of the extracts of the Vedas, some others 300 years old in the translations of some works of Zoroaster, and also some Tamoul
letters a thousand years old in the characters used by the
Jews of Cochin. I shall not talk of the seeds, flowers and
leaves of trees which I had collected for myself at great
expense; several other natural curiosities, some instruments
connected with the ceremonies of the Parsi religion, and a
collection, sufficiently considerable, of the coins of India.
The peril to which all these literary treasures as well
as my own labours were about to be exposed, and the
languishing state in which I was, determined me to return
to France, deferring to some more favourable opportunity
the translation of the Vedas, the explication of Indian Antiquities and the series of researches, which I had intended
to make on the different religions of these countries.
But it was decreed that my departure from       India
should be of the same stamp as that from    Paris: that it
must be beset with as many difficulties as the rest of my
works, which had detained me nearly for six years in this
country.
All my affairs being arranged, as far as the critical position in which we were at Surat could permit, I prepared myself to quit this city,' and already my luggage and
effects were on board ship, which was to carry me to Bombay, when I learned that a question had been raised to
disembark them, and that I had been accused before the
English Consul with carrying away Mss. for which I had




41


not paid. The affair went to deprive me of the fruit of
a hard work, at a time when I was on the point of enjoying it.  This stroke- astonished, but did not disconcert
me. I guessed the hand which had wrought it. Dustoor
Kaous had never approved of the complaisance of his son
Darab, who, in despair of seeing me part so soon, flattered
himself to be able, by means of the English on 'whom he
then relied, to arrest my effects or at least to oblige me
to pay him   a considerable sum  of money, as damages for
the period for which he had made an engagement with
me.   The taking of Pondichery emboldened them: the
French name appeared annihilated in India. It then became necessary to prove that all that I was about to carry
to Europe belonged legitimately to me.   The altercation
took place in the presence of the English Consul; it was
sharp; I threatened the Consul with carrying the affair to
Bombay, and summoning him there in person. I was in
such moments of despair, when one does not respect anything. The English easily discovered that the Parsi Dustoors sought only to check the transport of their books to
Europe or at least to take advantage of the predicament in
which they found us. To cut their prosecution short, my
brother stood bail for me; and when they saw that the
English were satisfied with his word, they disappeared.
These annoyances brought on a complaint of gout, and I
passed in bed the little time which elapsed before the departure of the ship.
It was on the 15th March 1761, that I left Surat in
an enfeebled state' which the sea-voyage only increased,
with no other resource but the kindness of our enemies,
and the credit bill which my brother had passed me; and
moved to find that it was impossible for me to recognise
the services of my domestics, of the people of the French




42
Residency and of the interpreter Maneckji, and even to remunerate, as I believed they merited, Dustoors-Darab and
Kaous, whose ill proceedings I had already forgotten.
The voyage was short and tranquil; I was with a gallant man, Captain Purling; I always tried not to be trou4
blesome. We anchored in Bombay harbour on the 16th -of
March, and I soon came ashore with the captain.
I shall not stop here to give a description of Bombay;
this island is sufficiently known by the accounts given of it
by English travellers. It has a length of about two hours'
walk from the end of the harbour of Mahim, which is connected on thee side of Salsette with Bandora; and one and
a half hours' walk in breadth. The length is from   north
to south-west. On the side of the open sea Bombay was
formerly covered with cocoa-trees and bamboo-trees, which
formed a part of its revenue and gave the most beautiful
umbrage: but at the same time the rotten fish and shellfish, which the people made use of to manure the ground
and the trunks of these trees, rendered the air of this
island very unhealthy. Before the last war, the fear of the
French obliged them  to cut these trees to clear the environs of the town which is otherwise very badly fortified.
The castle' is not of any use for defence. The only
strength of Bombay against the invasion of Europeans is
in its harbour.  It is there also that the English show
themselves off. Every thing'there is in an admirable order.
The house of the commissioner of the navy is the first
which one sees on that side: it is beautiful and commodious, and communicates with the harbour by a back-door.
The magazines and the arsenal are a little distant and
above the sea.




43


On the other side is the gate of the custom-house,
presided over by a councillor who has his mansion in the
compound there. The wealth of the people and the bulk
of merchandise which lie in the yards and the store-houses,
characterise well a people whose element is commerce.
These are the two places which form Bombay Proper,
together with all the other. English establishments.  The
Governor, who has only to sanction the acts which emanate
from- him  and to preside from time to time at the council, has a palace in the black town where he seldom resides.
He lives more at Parell in  a magnificent country-house,
converted from an old church in the shape of a cross, having terraces and gardens. Several councillors have also their
country-houses out of town, in sandy and open places. The
one then best situated was that of Mr. Bysill, the second
man in Bombay. It is built on a roqk, commanding the
sea, on the side of the mark of the steerage, on which
the vessels direct their course whilst entering the harbour.
In the afternoon this mansion was the rendezvous of the
principal men of the colony who went there for tea.
Bombay, lying between Mocha, Basrah, Surat and the
Malabar side, would be nothing but for its situation and
its harbour. But were the English to find means to make
the Marathas cede Salsette to them, the island of Bombay,
independent of its revenue, would become one of the finest
establishments in India, on account of all the pleasures of
life which one finds in Salsette, and which would compensate for the dryness and sterility of this important island.
I had no other lodging at Bombay than the house of
Mr. Spencer, the then commissioner of the navy; this added
to the services which he had rendered me at Surat. He
conferred this new favour by contriving to render my stay




44


supportable in a town which I saw filled up with French
prisoners. The arrival of the squadron, commanded by Admiral Stevens, was the occasion of feastings in the mansions
of the Governor Crommelin and Mr. Spencer. I was several
times at these feasts where they treated me with every
regard which politeness and humanity could prescribe towards an enemy whom they wished to oblige.
During the last days which I passed at Bombay, I
had several conversations with Mr. Spencer on the settlements of Europeans in India. If ever a man was qualified(
to reconcile parties animated against each other, it was
this generous Englishman. I told him that if the Companies entrusted their interests to these two gentlemen of recognised probity, viz., to himself and M. de Leyrit, one
would see perhaps the quarrels subside. Mr. Spencer sincerely wished to see amity between the two nations; but
he always recurred to the large possessions of the French
and their conquests; this made me think that he disapproved of these operations. Notwithstanding the moderation
and strict honesty which guarded his conversation, I believed he was of opinion that the pre-eminence and even
the extension of commerce, in a nation different from.his
own, was a sort of crime.
Mr. Spencer had kindly wished to give me a large
map of the interior and of the south coasts of the peninsula, made by the Brahmins; I succeeded in making a
copy of it, and being ready to leave India, I felt inclined
to open my heart to him, as to the doubt which I had
regarding the genuineness of the Mss. I was carrying to
Europe. I told him then, that having lost in Bengal the
copy of the first lines of the Zend Ms. of Oxford which I
had brought from  Europe, I: knew not if my Mss. contain



45


ed similar lines to them. Mr. Spencer tranquillized me fully on this subject, by pointing out a means which he asked me to keep secret. He himself afterwards made some
arrangement about my passage, with the Captain of the
Bristol which was ready to set sail to Europe, and paid
him for that one thousand rupees, and gave me twelve
hundred rupees in cash and in bills on Mr. Hough, his
correspondent in London. These sums were in advance of
the amount of the letter of which I have talked above.*
I endorsed this letter, remitted it to him, and he undertook to get it cashed after my departure. I gave my word
that there was nothing in my papers which treated on
what they call state affairs, relative to the quarrels which
then divided the two nations; and he put the seal of the
Company on my effects, which were delivered over in that
state' to the Captain of'the Bristol.
I left Bombay on the 28th April 1761, heaped with
the obliging attentions of Mr. Spencer, of the -Governor
Crommelin, of every Englishman, and especially of those
whom I had known at Surat.    The vessel set sail on the
same day that I went on. board of it; it carried to England many French officers as captives, whom the squadron
had brought from the Coromandel Coast.
Let one portray to himself cold and deliberate cruelty,
coupled with baseness of soul with a sordid interest, and
he will have the picture of Captain Quicke with whom
I voyaged to Europe.   The voyage was analogous to his
character. He went to the length of giving us salted meat
and crumbs of biscuits, which formed all our nourishment.


This refers to a promissory note, which his brother had received from one of his countrymen in consideration of a sum of money,
which the former had advanced to the latter;-Translator.




46


We anchored at the port of Portsmouth on the 17th
November 1761. Before the vessel entered it, several sailors
of the Royal Navy, who had returned from- India, fled in
a small boat to escape the Laws of the Press, according to
which they would be forced, after having passed ten years
out of their country, to go back immediately in other vessels and to recommence the service, without having the liberty to embrace their wives and children.
On the 20th November, I started for Wickham, a large
borough 12 miles from  Portsmouth, where several of my
friends, Irish officers in the service of France, had kept a bed
for me. Here, after some days, finding myself short of money,
I sent to Mr. Hough at London the bill of Mr. Spencer,
and passed the days in my little habitation, occupied in
preparing a list of the Mss. which I had intended for la
Bibliotheque du1 Roi, and in putting in order a brief account of my literary works. Some solitary promenades and
one or two visits to two Englishmen of rank, whose splendid country-mansions were near Wickham, were all my relaxation from work. Inquietude, together with my retired
habits and perhaps the change of climate, brought on me
tertian fever, from which two bleedings freed me.
During this time I received a letter from Mr. Thomas
Birch, Secretary to the Royal Society, dated London 7th
January, 1762. I had written to him on the 27th November and 23rd December, praying him to take an interest
as a man of letters in my situation, and especially to send
me the copy of the first leaves of the Ms. of Zoroaster
which was at Oxford, if it was not permitted to me to go




47


there personally to consult this work.  After some excuses for the delay in answer, caused by my first letter
not having reached him, Mr. Birch wrote to me, that the
Royal Society had no power over the University of Oxford,
which would not allow  any of its Mss. to be carried to
such a distance (viz., to London or Wickham). He added
that if I would write to him more in detail the circumstances of my detention, he would do all in his power to
obtain me the permission to go to Oxford.
This very obliging offer came too late, but it gave me
a favourable idea of the savants to whom I was ready to
pay a visit.
WMy journey being determined upon, I took from Mr.
Garnier* letters of recommendation to Dr. Swinton, Principal of the Winchester College and to Dr. Barton, Canon
of Christ College at Oxford. I had received, on the 13th
January, from Mr. Eddowes, to whom I had given information
of the change of my place, his most flattering compliments.
He assured me at the same time that he would transmit
me on his part a letter to Dr. Warton, Professor of Poesy;
and that generally I would be recommended to all the
savants of the University. Furnished with these pass-ports,
more necessary in one way for the success of my journey
than the pass-port of the Board for sick sailors &c., I parted from Wickham, on the 14th January, carrying with me
some Hindoo   works and  three best Zend Mss. intended
for la -Bibliotheque du Roi, namely, the Vendidad Sad6,
the Zend and Pehlvi Vendidad and the volume which contained the Zend and Sanscrit Ya9na and Yashts Sade. I
thought it would be fair -to show a part of my riches to
f A friend who had assisted Mon. Anquetil in many ways.Translator.




48


persons whose aid I was about to solicit for opening their
treasures to me.
Arrived at Oxford, my first care was to know where
Dr. Swinton lived. I was shown his residence, and I delivered to him the letter, which procured me a very gracious
reception, and which also announced the object of my journey. Having offered a cup of tea, he conducted me to Dr.
Barton, who we found was not at his place.
Thence we went to the Bodleian Library, where they
showed me the Vendidad SaWd, attached to a chain, in a
particular place. The weather was very cold; and I wished
to carry the Ms. to my inn in order to compare it with
my copy. The proposition was not accepted; Dr. Browne,
Vice-Chancellor of the University and custodian of the Library, told me that I would be allowed to examine it at
ease in the- Library only. I promised to go there the next
day, and cast a glance at the building which was oblong,
a little high and sufficiently sombre, and the interior of
which formed an inverted A.
The next day, the 18th January, I went to the Bodleian Library, at 9 o'clock, where, notwithstanding the cold
which was very biting, I passed an hour in examining the
Vendidad SAde, taking a copy of the notice of it, written
in the Zend characters, which one can see in the list of
the Zend Mss. deposited at la  Bibliotheque du Roi.  I
gave this information to the librarian, who had another
copy of it less exact, in which the name of the Jid dgv
ddd (which is the same as the Vendidad) was substituted
for that of the author.
After having assured myself that the best of my Mss.
was the same as the Zend Ms. of the Bodleian Library, I




expressed to Dr. Swinton my desire to see the Mss. of Dr.
Hyde and those of Mr. Fraser. These were in the hands
of Dr. Hunt, Professor of Arabic, who was then charged
with putting them in order for the Radcliffe Library. I
went, then, conducted by Dr. Swinton to this Doctor, who
offered politely to show them to me at 3 o'clock. I accepted the offer and went to Dr. Barton, who waited for me
at dinner, with my cicerone, Dr. Swinton. The repast was
homely; but I observed with sorrow the humble manner in
which Dr. Swinton sat in the presence of Dr. Bartcn, who
was in the enjoyment of an income in benefices more than
30,000 francs.  We drank to the good success of the works
of Zoroaster, and I strongly induced these gentlemen to renew the connection, which the savants of England formerly
had with those of France. These words pleased them: they
told me that I was the first Frenchman, whom they remembered to have seen at Oxford for an object purely relating to the progress of human knowledge; they exhorted
me at the same time to make known their sentiments to
my compatriots; and Mrs. and Miss Barton supported what
the doctors said, After taking coffee, Dr. Barton, who was
a member of the Society of Antiquaries, wished to give me
a specimen of his work. He then carried us to his study
and showed to Dr. Swinton, the Apollo of rich doctors, a
drawer full of medals, on which he asked his opinion. This
occasioned some impromptus on antiquity, after which we
went to Dr. Hunt, whom we found muffled up in his robe.
As there was no time at hand, after the first compliments,
he went to search the Mss. of Dr. Hyde, referred to in
the list already cited, and told me that he knew the ancient Persian language.  But without insisting upon the
fact I made him  understand that the Mss. (viz., the Viraf
N~meh and the Sadder), which he read by means of a
Zend and Persian alphabet, found by him in the Ms. of




50


the NyAesh belonging to Dr. Hyde, and which he had
shown to me and taken for the ancient Persian, were nothing more than modern Persian clothed in the characters
of the old Persian (Zend) language.  The science of Dr.
Hunt was at a loss before the book of the NyAesh of this
Doctor; and in order to convince him, I opened the three
folio-books which I had brought with me.    He admired
the character in which they were written and the state in
which they were preserved, but could absolutely read nothing.  I showed him in one of these three books the
NyAesh, a copy of which he had before him, and added
that Mr. Fraser had brought with him other works of a
similar character of' which I mentioned to him the names.
It was Dustoor Shapoor who had informed me of these
particulars, when I was at Surat, and who had assured me
that this Englishman (Mr. Fraser) knew neither Zend nor
Pehlvi, but that he spoke a little Persian. Surprised to see
me so well instructed, Dr. Hunt went to search the Mss. of
Mr. Fraser, which were in the character which I had spoken
to him about, and from which I copied the notices in Persian.
Much satisfied with the complaisance and civilities of
Dr. Hunt, I left him for my inn; but Dr. Swinton induced me to pass a minute at his house.   There I found a
bachelor who had applied himself to the history of Bactria.
Mrs. Swinton, a young Genevese lady, talking French very
well, gave me a most gracious reception, and her husband
presented me a medal of one of the Kings of Persia, of a
type similar to the several copies represented at its commencement in the work of Dr. Hyde on the religion of the
Parsis: on one side of it is to be seen the head of a king,
and on the other a censer of fire put on a pedestal resembling an altar. Willing or unwilling it was necessary that I
should tell him what I could read thereon. In vain did I




51


declare that the characters engraved on it were partly effaced
and partly different from  Zend letters: it was all taken for
a shift. Then, sorry at not being able to recognise otherwise the trouble which Dr. Swinton had taken for me, I
tried to decipher the legend and acquaint him with what I
for the moment believed to be its true signification. This
good Doctor conducted me back to my inn.    He had had
the complaisance to accompany me everywhere the two days
that I passed at Oxford. I felt in embracing him a real
sorrow that he was not more opulent.
I arrived in London on the 31st January. After having made necessary arrangements for my passage to France,
I occupied myself in London, till the day of my departure,
with seeing such sights as could excite the curiosity of a
stranger.
While returning from the Museum, I went up to Dr.
Morton. This Doctor has acquired a reputation by the publication of Tables of Hebrew, Greek and Arabic alphabets
of different ages. He made me present of a copy of those
published, and showed me a draft of different Sanscrit alphabets, very defective, which he was getting engraved.  He
pretended having in his possession the Zend alphabet, because he had in his collection some characters which resembled Zend letters; I removed this misimpression from his
mind, for which he appeared to be pleased with me, by
informing him that the value he put on these characters was
absolutely different from that of the real in the Zend alphabet.  In fact, if it were enough that the two characters
should resemble, because one came from the other, or be
identical, one would trace-the Roman, Hebrew and Indian
letters even to Mexican Hieroglyphics.  I left Dr. Morton
much satisfied with his politeness as well as with that of




52


other savants of the Museum, with whom    I could have
wished that my affairs had permitted me to converse for a
longer time, as well as with the Doctors of Oxford.
I arrived at Paris on the 14th March 1762, and soon
forgot in the embrace of a father nearly seventy years old,
and of brothers whom I loved- tenderly, the fatigues of a
journey as long as it was perilous. On the next day, the
15th  March, I deposited  with la Bibliotheque du Roi
the works of Zoroaster and other Mss. which I had destined for this precious treasury.  Gratitude conducted me afterwards to the persons who had interested themselves in
my   journey  and  had patronised it.   I found in M.
l'Abbd Barthelemy an obliging savant and, what touched
me most, a friend. M. le Comte de Caylus, M. Lamoignon
de Malesherbes and M. Bignon received me with a sort of
tenderness. The minister (M, le Comte de Saint-Florentin)
willingly paid me the homage due to my works and showered on me the graces of the King. The savants whom I
had seen at Paris before my departure, and those, to whom
M. l'Abbd Barthelemy introduced me, were eager to testify
to me the joy which my return had caused them.     Soon
the noise of my travels, and the importance of the Mss.
which I had deposited with la Bibliotheque du Roi, fixed
on me the attention of persons of the first rank. M.!e
Due de Choiseul, M. le Comte de la Guiche and M. de
Saint Simon, bishop of Agde, gave me the most favourable
reception. Encouraged by these flattering marks of a general approbation, and -yielding to the earnestness of the public, and even of strangers whose curiosity had been excited
by the announcement of the works which I had brought,
I thought since then to put in order the translations and




53


the literary researches, which had occupied me in the course
of my travels.
I had passed nearly eight years out of my native
country and nearly sixin India. I returned in 1762, poorer
than when I parted from    Paris in 1754, my inheritance
having gone in my- travels to add to the smallness of my
salary. But I was rich in, rare and ancient records and
learning, which my youth (I was hardly thirty years old)
gave me time to edit at- leisure; and this was all the fortune in search of which I had gone to India.
India is a fertile country which will always offer to
the real savant, as well as to the ordinary spectator, abundant harvest of objects of researches, equally useful and interesting. I have gleaned information in an age in which
the resources did not.always correspond to my courage, and
at a time in which the fury of war had devastated the best
provinces.  Let us admit in good faith, (that is a result
which my feeble efforts can lead to)-let us admit that
whilst we move continually some leagues of ground thousand times searched, the largest part of the globe is yet
left unknown to us. Ye learned and daring travellers! let
us take no more the reach of our view for the measure of
the universe; let us venture to cross the Ghauts, the Cordilleras, in order to know where we are on our way: the
summits of these lofty mountains will show us an immense
space which yet remains to us to run over.




EXTRACTS
FROM THE
LIFE OF ZOROASTER.
Before reading the works of a Personage so celebrated
as, Zoroaster, we can only view with pleasure the details
regarding his life and legislation; and even considered in
this respect, the circumstances, which otherwise /appear most
immaterial, present to the reader a degree of importance
which renders them interesting; they excite a sort of curiosity which it is just to satisfy.
The Greeks, Latins and Orientals concur in representing Zoroaster as a genius of the first order, an extraordinary
man; but all of them do not enter into details regarding
him. My object is to relate here what the books of the
Parsis have informed me of their Legislator, but without
guaranteeing the testimony, always suspicious, of the people
whose interest it is to extol him whose laws they follow:
and in order not to omit anything that might serve to
make him better known, I shall take care to compare the
traits, which the Greeks and Latins furnish us.  The reflections which I shall indulge in will ordinarily depend on
these different authorities.  Such is the course which criticism  would prescribe to itself on a subject, in which for
many considerations, there are just as good reasons for rejecting as for accepting any testimony.
-                                 *              -


t Here the learned Frenchman has cited the different meanings
as given by ancient writers of the word Zarathushtra (the Zend for




55


I shall not repeat what I have said of the native
country of Zoroaster, in my first Memoire* on the ancient
languages of Persia.  It is most frequently the lot of extraordinary men, to leave to posterity only a vague sound
of their names. Fortunate even, if the empty title of their
first splendour is not swept off by barbarity which succeeds
them, or by those even who trust to perpetuating their
glory. These names pass through a hundred foreign tongues,
whose different pronunciations make the original disappear.
At the end of a few centuries, the noise, which their actions or their books continually make, leads historians to
adorn with their names those who are distinguished in the
same manner, or to identify them      with some personages
more ancient than those whom they resemble. Thus new
sources of difficulties and even errors arise, when one wishes
to determine the time in which they-flourished.
The same remarks apply to the places which have
given them   birth-the clouds which it is nearly impossible
to disperse. Twenty different places claim the honour of his
birth.  Were Zoroaster, for example, to revisit the earth,
would he recognise the portraits which people have given
of him?
*             *       '      *             *           * 4
Zoroaster.) According to his opinion Zarathushtra literally means
"' the golden or bright star." But the true sense of this very ancient
word has not as yet been settled by oriental scholars. For further
particulars, see Mr. K. R. Cama's Zertosht Ndmeh, pp. 17-28.Translator.
f Mem. de l'Acad. des Bel.-Lett. T. XXXI. pag. 370 et suiv.
+ Mon. Anquetil here gives an account, on the authority of the
Zertosht Nfmeh, of a strange dream seen by Zoroaster's mother
Dogdo during the 6th month of her pregnancy, and the interpretation thereof by a well-known astrologer of the time, which was that




56
A  young man such as Zoroaster, little concerned about
the happiness of this world and the pleasures of his age,
could not relish the society of the inhabitants of Urmi,*
who, for the most part, were given up to magicians. The
study of wisdom formed his happiness at the age of 20 or 25.
Being within reach of consultation with the Chaldean sages,
there was no doubt then that he took lessons from them;
and the sublime learning, which he drew from their writings,
was the germ of the truths which he afterwards announced
to the whole of Persia.
*              *             *              *.       *
If from all that has been ascribed to him    we deduct
the marvels inseparable from the position which he was going to enjoy, and the predictions made by him which relate
her son would be a great prophet, and that he would destroy Devs,
magicians and evil doers on the surface of the earth, and that he
would preach morality to men and show them the path to heaven.Translator.
M Mon. Anquetil believes that Zoroaster was born about 550B.C.
in Urmi (a town in Azerbejan). But it is not so. According to the
most recent researches, the prophet was born in the city of Rai (Zend
Ragha) in Iran Vej about 2300 B. C. The late lamented Dr. Haug,
at the end of his " Lecture on an original speech of Zoroaster (Ya9na
45), with remarks on his age," writes as follows:",       According to this investigation we cannot assign to
Zarathustra Spitama a later date than about 2300 B. C. Thus he
lived not only before Moses, but even, perhaps, before Abraham. If
we consider the early age in which he lived, it is not surprising that
the high and lofty ideas which he proclaimed were early misunderstood and misinterpreted;- for he stood far above his age. So he was
the first prophet of truth who appeared in the world, and kindled a
fire which thousands of years could not entirely extinguish."
From the 19th Fargard of the Vendidad we find that his father
Poroshasp's house was situated on the bank of the Derjic (Zend Dare'a), a river which flowed from the ZabAr Mountain into Iran Vej.
For further particulars see Mr. K. R. Cama's Zertoshti Abhyds, pp.
11-15 and pp. 69-74, and Zertosht Ndwmeh, pp. 32-41.-Transltor.




57


to Aderbad, and-which have been very lately added, it presents nothing which does not correspond with what the
ancient writers inform  us of this Legislator.  According to
Parsi books, Zoroaster consulted Ormazd on the mountains;
and we are assured, from the time of Dion Chrysostome,
that on a principle of love for wisdom and justice, this
Legislator withdrew  himself from  the intercourse of men
and lived alone on the mountain.
The mountain to which Zoroaster retired was probably
that of which Eubulus has spoken. Zoroaster, according to
this writer, cited by Porphyre, was the first who had consecrated in the neighbouring mountains of Persia (Alborj
or the mountains of Balkh) a cavern to Mithra,* the King
and the Father of all that exists.   He wished that that
cavern would represent him   as the image of the world,
created by Mithra, and that the things which it contained,
put at fixed distances from one another, would represent the
symbols or figures of the elements and climates.
This spectacle was very proper to remind him   of the
brilliancy of His system, by putting before his eyes the
constant order of the universe, its different parts, the elements of which it is composed-this whole harmony protected by Mithra, companion of the sun and the moon.
It is probably from  these symbols that the 'Parsis, according to-COelse, represent, in the ceremonies of Mithra, the
double movement of stars, fixed stars and planets, as well
as the passage of souls through these celestial bodies. In
order to mark some of the properties of the planets, they
" For the explanation of this, see Mr. K. R. Cama's "Discourse
on the Mithraic worship, and the rites and mysteries connected with
it.'"-Translator.




58


erect a ladder; along the length thereof there are seven
gates, and an eighth one at the top. The first of lead denoted Saturn; the second of tin, Venus; the third of copper, Jupiter; the fourth of iron, Mercury; the fifth of divers metals, Mars; the sixth of silver, the moon; and the
seventh of gold, the sun.     The Parsis actually recognise
different Heavens in which the souls of the dead enjoy,
up to the Resurrection, felicity proportionate to the sanctity
of their past life; that of the sun (Khorshed-pae) is the
most exalted.   Above it is the Garothman, the abode of
Ormazd and other celestial spirits, and which corresponds
to the eighth gate to which Celse has alluded.*
We have yet to give an account of the time which
Zoroaster passed on the mountains and of the ten years
which preceded it, of which we read in Pliny: it is related,
says this naturalist, that Zoroaster passed twenty years in
desert places, having for nourishment cheese only made in
a manner not liable to be spoiled during all that time.
* See Mr. K. R. Cama's "Discourse on the Mithraic worship,
&c." pp. 23-25.-RTranslator.
t Mon. Anquetil here gives a narrative of the miracles wrought
by Zoroaster at the court of King Gushtasp. In reference to these he
says:-" I thought it better to omit them. Two considerations have
made me change my opinion.- 1.-The ancient writers, Greek as well
as Latin, little interested in extolling Zoroaster, have related some of
his miracles. 2.-These facts, cited at divers times by writers belonging to nationalities and religions absolutely different, acquaint us
with the genius of a large portion of mankind. Besides, a man like
Zoroaster ought neither to be born, nor to live nor die like ordinary
mortals. One would better judge Zoroaster by omitting the miracles
which (in the works I have cited, viz., the Zertosht Nameh and the
Changraghach Nameh) accompany all his acts than trust to criticism, which would do me honor without satisfying the curiosity of the
reader with regard to what I would have omitted."




59


The zeal of King Gushtasp fully supported the enthusiasm  of his Prophet.   He evinced it at first by elevating
Atash-Gahs (Fire-temples). He consecrated one (Atash-Gah)
to the Fire Farpa, honoured by Jamsheed on the Kharesom
mountain, near Kasbin in Verjamkerd; another to the Fire
Goshasp to which Kaikhosru had elevated an Atash-Gah on
the Asndvand mountain in Azerbejan; a third to the 'Fire
Bourzin-Meher and to the Fire Beherdm, which he formed
out of different fires put together.  He appointed Mobeds
and Dustoors everywhere.
There was in Cashmere, a village of Khorasan, a celebrated Atash-Gah, near the gate of which Zoroaster planted a cypress and engraved on the bark of its trunk the
fact of King Gushtasp having embraced his religion. Many
years after, this cypress having grown great and thickly overspread with branches, a palace 40 cubits in height was
built over it in the form  of a square.   It contained two
halls, the roof of which was of gold, the floor of silver and
the walls of amber, adorned with precious stones.     Likenesses of Jamsheed and Feridoon were sculptured therein.
Gushtasp retired to that palace to go thence to heaven
when his hour came.
This prince despatched afterwards his messengers to
the extremities of his empire, and desired the governors to
As for the Zertosht Nameh, a poetical work written in Persian,
the learned Frenchman gives the following note:"Zertosht Behram, author of the Zertosht Nameh, informs us
in the last chapter of that work, that he has translated it from the
Pehlvi text, read out to him by a Mobed proficient in that language;
and in the same chapter where he states his name, he says that he
wrote the Zertosht Nfmeh in the year of Yezdegird 647, corresponding with the Christian year 1278. If there be no error in the text,
the Zertosht Nameh (in Persian) would be 500 years old. I have followed the opinion of the Dustoors of India."




60


come on foot to visit the cypress, to pay attention to Zoroaster and to abandon the worship of the idols of Touran
and China.
Then not content with seeing his religion carried to the
confines of Hindostan, and received in many provinces of
Persia, Zoroaster wished the Chaldeans themselves, from whom
he had received his early lessons, to submit to his religion.
At Babylon, Pythagoras was initiated into his mysteries
in the same manner as the Brahmins of India; and no
doubt, the example of this philosopher was followed by a
great number of inhabitants and foreigners,. especially by
the Medes who had settled in that town.
The Legislator of Persia had also accompanied Gushtasp
to Istakhr; and he, who called himself messenger from God
sent to. the whole world, had' visited at least the regions of
Serman, Saenan and Dahou,* in which were the Fravashis
of the pure whose eulogy he sings.
His different journeys, his miracles, such as the recovery of Lohrasp at Balkh, the composition of several works
and the exercise of the office of the first Dustoor of Iran
+ Here the learned Frenchman gives an account of the Changraghach NMmeh, a small poetical work written in Persian about 300
years ago. Changraghach, a very learned and accomplished Brahmin
metaphysician, was called from India by King Gushtasp at his court
to discuss with Zoroaster the doctrines of the religion founded by
him.- Tradition says that the discussion, which was conducted for
several days in the presence of a very learned assembly, resulted in
the conviction of the Hindoo philosopher of the morality preached by
Zoroaster.-Translator.
" In Zend Fairima, fdini and ddhi, see Farvardin Yasht, 31st
chapter.- Translator.




61


-these are all that we know of the doings of Zoroaster
during the twenty years which followed his conference with
Changraghach, the Hindoo philosopher.
*             *             *   -*                     *
The English authors of Universal History find nothing
in Zoroaster,. which presents either enthusiasm, sorcery or
imposture. The glorious testimonies which the ancient writers bear to him, his sublime doctrine, his pure ethics, his
learning-all these conspire to show that he was a philosopher animated with a love of wisdom.   "The Magi," they
say, "clad in coarse garments and living with the great" est frugality, resemble rather the precursors of Messiah
"than the courtiers who flatter the pride of kings and who
make use of their religion for their particular views."
What these disinterested writers speak of the cave of
Zoroaster appears to me to be very just.  Is it not ridiculous to impute crime to a philosopher and speculator, because he chose, remote from the tumult of men, the silence
of the retreat of a cave, to contemplate the sublime truths
of nature?
Moreover, I agree with these learned historians that it
is incredible that Zoroaster could have been inspired by the
father of falsehood, since his doctrine was not calculated to
countenance the views of the Demon, who, obeying the decision of the Eternal Wisdom, does not guard against the
destruction of his own empire.
It is true that I shall accuse him  neither of sorcery
nor magic, because I regard all the prodigies which his life
makes mention 'of as invented by his disciples; and I observe at the same time that the supposition,- partly at least,
is anterior to Mahomedanism, and even to the Sassanian




62


dynasty, since Pliny and Solon give an account of some of
them.
If, however, we understand by magic the invocation of
good spirits, which has for its special object the good of
men, or rather the recital of certain formulae to which God
Himself is supposed to have attached some special graceI willingly admit that Zoroaster has exercised it.  It appears from the list of treatises which the Ravaets attribute to him, that many of his works related to the art of
working miracles. He positively says that the most perfect
cure is that which is effected by the divine Word. Zend
books show us a Legislator in communion with the Supreme
Being, and thereby master of good and evil. The Magi,
his disciples, employed for curing maladies means different
from  natural ones.  But the magic, taken in this sense,
presents nothing which wounds the attributes of the Deity
or degrades the creature: it is only a question of not extending it too far; so I do not believe that we can make
a crime of it on the part of Zoroaster.
This Legislator probably passed his youth in contemplating the most sublime truths: his genius called to his aid
all the materials for meditation. Retired to the mountains,
he had learnt to despise the riches and conveniences of
life. Milk was the only nourishment which he always took,
if what has been said since the time of Plutarch be true.
A  right sense dictated to him  the purest morality.   He
saw that sin against nature depopulated the earth; that
the doctrine regarding the two principles existing by themselves, and that of the two lives, appeared to deprive some
of the most atrocious crimes of their proper punishment;
that the intercourse with the magicians multiplied  them,
supported ignorance and idleness, and rendered arts and




63


agriculture useless, by perpetuating the idea, which the people had, that evil spirits could give the people all which
they stood in need of. How to reclaim men, how to check
them in their slippery path of passions, if it be not by religion? At first, Zoroaster collects what his genius suggests to
him, and all the learning which he had acquired in his travels, such as astronomy, agriculture, natural history, &c.
This new knowledge rendered the invocation of the aid of evil
spirits useless: men enriched with their own works, and having witnessed.the order which reigns in Nature, went up
easily to their Creator and became more qualified to receive
the truths which this Legislator wished to impart to them.
In a journey which Zoroaster makes to Chaldea or to
the north of Iran, he is instructed in the dogmas which
are attributed to the famous Hom. Transported with these
which show him the origin of mankind and the cause of
evils which overpower them, -he studies them attentively,
and believes himself instructed by Hom  himself.  Perhaps
some singular event, which happened at the time of his
birth, persuaded him that, descended from  the blood of the
ancient Kings of Persia, he was destined to give laws to
his native country.
The new prophet consequently takes his way to Balkh,
and explains there his law. At Babylon, the seat of the
sages of the East, he expounds his ethics, developes his system, and begets conviction by his teachings.
We ought not then to look on Zoroaster as a mere
philosopher, who writes out coldly the system of the universe, and composes a body of doctrines which his shrewd
disciples undertake to sustain by argument.  The ancient
Legislators have not followed this course.




64
* *, *                  *
Zoroaster traces this religion which he seeks to establish as anterior to Jamsheed. Horn, according to him, at
first proclaimed it on the mountains. The Parsi Legislator
knew that the people reasoned little, and that they were
more impressed with the outward show of ceremonies, and
by the confident tone of him who proposed them rather
than  with  the abstract spirit of religion: so he   gives
himself out boldly as the Minister of God.    He presents
his books as the Word of Ormazd, the most' minute practices as emanating from  the throne of the Supreme Being.




CEREMONIAL AND ETHICAL SYSTEM
OF
ZEND AND PEHLVI BOOKS,
CONSIDERED      BY   ITSELF, AND     IN  RELATION      TO
THE THEOLOGICAL SYSTEM OF THE
SAME BOOKS.
I. The theological dogmas, on which the religion of the
Parsis is founded, are so dispersed in their ancient books,
and appear in such a form that even those who are most
familiar with the works of the Orientals will find them undoubtedly strange. Without wishing to anticipate the judgment which may be formed of these dogmas, and of the
manner in which they are presented, I venture to place
them  here in the proper order of their relations to one
another. These dogmas form a system, of which the principal points, as I have shown in a work already mentioned,'
are the following:(1.) Time without Bounds, the First,,rinciple2 which.
1 Exposition du systgme thdologique des Perses, tire des Livres
Zends, Pehlvis et Parsis.
2 The theory that Zarvdna Akarana (Time without Bounds) is
the First Cause which created Ormazd and Ahriman is entirely dissonant from the original spirit of the Zoroastrian religion. Scholars
like Drs. Spiegel and Haug have convincingly shown that the First
Cause which created the whole universe is Ahura-Mazda (the name of
God throughout the Zend-Avesta). For full particulars see Dr. Spiegel's discourse on ZarvAna Akarana in Zeitschr. der Deutsch morgenl.
Ges. V., and Dr. Haug's "Essays on the sacred language, writings
and religion of the Parsis," pp. 20-21 and pp. 263-264.-Translator.




66


crates the first light, the first water, the original fire, Ormazd and Ahriman; the Word which preceded all created
beings, and by which the production of these beings was
effected: Ormazd and Ahriman, secondary principles, active
and productive, the first, good by essence, and the source of
all good; the second, corrupt and the cause of all evil.
(2.) The duration of the time with bounds fixed, by
Time without Bounds, to twelve thousand years, and divided
between Ormazd and Ahriman; the war of these two principles and the victories which they achieve alternately over
each other, terminating in the triumph of Ormazd.3
(3.) The Farohers, or first models of beings, which Ormazd creates to fight against Ahriman, and of which the
most precious to his eyes are the Faroher of the Religion,
and that of Zoroaster, charged to re-establish, by publishing
that Religion, the glory of the Master of Nature: the successive production in favour of these Farohers, of different
beings, spiritual and corporeal, who form the world of Ormazd, and particularly of Iran Vej-a world which Ahriman opposes with evil spirits, and a world wicked and corrupt as himself.
(4.) The distribution of the universe of which all the
parts are submitted to the action of the good spirits, created by Ormazd, and which resort to this Principle of Good;
3 Ormazd and Ahriman are not, as Mon. Anquetil supposes them
to be, the two rivals acting in opposition to each other. The theology
of Zoroaster is not based on these two principles, but on monotheism.
Ormazd is the sole Creator and Master of the whole universe. This
fact is easily ascertained from the Gathas. For full particulars see
Dr. Haug's "Essays on the sacred language, writings and religion of
the Parsis," pp. 256-259; Dr. Haug's " Lecture on an original speech
of Zoroaster (Yacna 45), with remarks on his age," pp. 6-8; Mr. K.
R. Cama's Zertosht NMmeh, pp. 106-120; Mr. K. R. Cama's "Discourse on Zoroastrians and Freemasonry," pp. 20-22.- Translator.




67


these form 'a line of agents who ascend to Time without
Bounds:4 the creation of the first Bull, from which -the
whole human race, animals and vegetables, are sprung; that
of Gayomard, of the soul, pure and immortal, of man created just and free; the sin of Mashya and Mashyani, parents
of human kind: the cause of the mixture of good and
evil which  appears in   Nature-a mixture which      results
from the contrary actions of the people of Ormazd and
those of Ahriman.5
(5.) Lastly, the deliverance of man unto    death, the
abode destined for the just, and that which is reserved for
the sinful; the Resurrection6 of bodies preceded by the conversion of the whole world to the Law of Zoroaster, and
followed, according to the order established by Time without
Bounds, by new punishments which ought to open to the
sinner the gates of Garothman; sinners purified by the punishments of Hell, by the fire of metals and happy afterwards eternally along with the just; the general re-establishment of -Nature, hell itself renewed; the world of Ahriman destroyed, and Ormazd on one side with his seven
primary Izeds (angels); Ahriman, on the other, accompanied
with his seven primary Devs (devils), offering together a sacrifice of praise to the First Being.5
It is on this system, the harmony of which few of the
Dustoors conceive properly, for the most instructed    even
4 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 65, note 1.
-Translator.
5 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 66, note 3.
-Translalor.
6 In order to have an idea of the Zoroastrian doctrine for the
Resurrection the reader's attention is directed to Dr. Haug's " Essays
on the sacred language, writings and religion of the Parsis," pp. 6-7,
196, 266-268. —Translator.




68


understand it superficially only-without searching for its
allegorical sense to which the Parsi works give no clueit is on this system  that the religion of the Parsis rests.
The whole may properly be reduced to two points.
The first, to begin with, is to recognise and adore the
Master of all that is good, the Principle of Justice, Ormazd,7
according to the religious worship which He has prescribed,
with  purity of thought, of word and of action-a purity
which should always be accompanied with the indication
and preservation of the purity of the body, in conformity
with the Law of Zoroaster. In the second place, to revere
with thankfulness the Intelligences (or heavenly spirits)
whom   Ormazd has charged with the care of Nature,8 to
take up as models for action their attributes, to take for
guidance in conduct the harmony which reigns between the
different parts of the universe, and generally to adore Ormazd in all that He has created.
The second point of the religion of the Parsis consists
in detesting Ahrimarn, the author of every evil, moral and
physical, his productions and his works; and to contribute
as much as possible to extol the glory of Ormazd, by enfeebling the tyranny which the Evil Principle exercises over
the world created by the Good Principle.
It is with. these two points that the prayers, the religious practices, the civil usages and the precepts of morality,
which the Zend and Pehlvi books present, are connected;
7 See YaSna, chapter I, para. 1,; chapter 16, para. l.-Tr.
8 See Zamyad Yasht, chapter'3; Yagna, chapter 14, para 1; Yagna, chapter 16, paras. 3-6. —Translator.
9 See Vendidad, Fargard 10, para. 5; Khorshed Nyeesh, para. 2;
Yagna, chapter 12, paras. 4-7.-Translator.




69
and these different subjects originate, as we shall see, with
the theological speculations of the Legislator of the Parsis.
II. At first, as the religion, so to speak, is the embodiment of the manifestation of the First Word, which has
created the world, so the reading of the books which contain it is an homage rendered to that Word, and becomes
thereby of an absolute necessity.   Moreover, these books,
when read in a proper spirit, ought to have here an efficacy which corresponds in some measure with that which
the primitive Word has operated on the origin- of beings.
Prayer is one of the duties most recommended, because
man, being the butt of the continual attacks of Ahriman,
has need of the succour which it (the prayer) procures, and
because it gives occasion to the Intelligences (or heavenly
spirits) to whom  it is addressed, to perform  the functions
for which they are created.
The priest prays for himself, for all Parsis, and in particular, as from  the time of Herodotus, for the king whom
Ormazd has placed over His people; and in order to give
greater efficacy to them, he unites his prayers with those of
all Parsis, of all the souls acceptable to  Ormazd, which
have existed or which are to exist up to the day of the
Resurrection. He declares likewise that he takes part in
all the good works of the just and that he joins his action to theirs. This communion of prayers and actions appears in all the formulae, in all the offices which compose
the liturgical books of the Parsis, and is very proper for
entertaining the spirit of peace and union which ought to
characterise a people, who profess to adore the Author of
every good.
The   Parsis commence   their prayers with   a sincere




70
avowal of the sins they have committed, and address them
to Time without Bounds,'0 to Ormazd, to the numerous body
created in the beginning, that is to say, the Amshaspands
and other celestial spirits who take care of the different eler
ments composing the universe. The prayers offered to them
relate to their respective functions; and if they are addressed to the stars, they must be done at the time when they
are visible.  The Parsis pray to the sun during day-time,
and to the moon both by day and night. Mithra is praised
because he fights against the creatures of Ahriman, and
because he renders the fields fruitful; one spirit presides
over the waters and another protects the soul ready to depart from the body.
Next to the celestial spirits, the entire Nature, exposed
to our eyes, merits, say the Parsis, our adoration, because
she takes her birth from  Ormazd.    She does not contain
any species of being, of which the Zend and Pehlvi books
make no mention.    Some of these are employed to celebrate others: wood and fragrant drugs enter into the offerings made to the elements, the stars, &c.
Among the number of the elements is the material fire
which represents, though imperfectly, the original fire, which
animates all beings, forms their connections and works since
the commencement. The original fire was, and still is, manifested on earth, in trees, animals and man, in different
manners which are called sons of Ormazd, either because
there exists a more intimate relation of Nature between
Ormazd and firell than between other creatures and Him
from  whom  they received their existence; or because that


10 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 65, note 1.
-Translator.
1 See Mr. K. R. Cama's " Discourse on the Mithraic worship,
&o.," p. 12, note 1.-Translator.




element is, like Ormazd, the most universal principle of life
and motion.12
It was therefore natural that Zoroaster, regarding fire as
the purest symbol of the ever-working Divinity, recommended its special worship: and as, of all the elements, fire is
the only one which would not be visible unless it was
lighted, this Legislator ordained to have altars (or Firetemples) raised, on which it might be preserved.
Hence, fire became the most ordinary and striking object of the worship of the Parsis. Hence, the remark of
Strabo that to whatever Ized the Persians might give offerings, they first invoked fire. We see in fact Cyrus sacrificing first to Vesta (fire) and afterwards to Jupiter; and
the Parsis recite the greatest number of their prayers in
the presence of that element: the Nyaesh of fire is celebrated day and night, and it is ordained to the Mobed to
put wood and fragrant drugs on fire during the five Gdhs
(watches) of the day.13
One ought not, after this, to be surprised that he who
defiles that element is punished severely. It is prohibited,
as from the time of Clitarchus, cited by Diogenes Laertius, toburn dead bodies,14 because they are impure. The same
reason leads the Parsis to remove corpses away from      the
fire. 15
12 See Yaqna, chapter 17, para. 11; chapter 36.-Translator.
13 The five Gehs or Gahs are:-1, Ushahina; 2, Havani; 3, Rapithwina; 4, Uzay~irina; 5, AiwiQruthrema. For the explanation of
these Zend terms see Zertoshti Abhyds, No. 7, pp. 371-376.Translator.
14 See Vendidad, Fargard 1, para. 17; Fargard 7, paras.25-26.
-Translator.
15 See Vendidad, Fargard 8, paras. 73-74.-Translator.




72
The detail of ceremonies necessary to perform     for restoring  fire to its first state, whern it has been defiled,16
marks its extreme purity. The sap, while nourishing the
tree, makes it grow, changes in some sort its body, and
thus purifies it when it has been defiled.   Such is not the
case with fire: and now    to supply the place of the successive alteration which Nature produces in the vegetable
kingdom, the Zend books ordain that the fire in which a
dead body had been burnt should, in some sort, be made,to pass through nine different fires, before it could be used
for the purpose of veneration by the Parsis in the DMd-gah.17
The Atash-BehrAm, protector of countries and states, is the
extract of 1001 fires taken from 1518 different kinds of fire.
But the worship, which the Parsis render to fire, as
well as to other creatures, is subordinate to that of Ormazd,
whose praise commences and finishes all offices of religion.
These offices cannot please the Divinity unless they flow
from a pure heart; and purity of heart supposes purity of
body. The first is the rule of thoughts, words and deeds:
it is accompanied with the knowledge of the religion, and
sustained by good works done with conscious intelligence.,The priest, who tends to this purity, ought to do good like
the first of the AmshAspands:- he must be learned, true in
his words, grown-up and full of intelligence:i9 these are in
1l See Vendidad, Fargard 8, paras. 73-78.-Translator.
17 Dad-gah (the Zend equivalent for which is ddityo-gdtu) literally means a proper place; (see Vendidad, Fargard 13, paras, 17,
18, 19; Fargard 8, paras. 81-96); here it means the proper place for
the fire. —Translator.
18 Not fifteen, but sixteen different kinds of fire (see Vendidad,
Fargard 8, paras. 81-96. —Translator.
19 See Vendidad, Farg. 9, para. 2; Farg. 13, para. 4-5; Farg. 18,
paras. 1-6.-Translator.




73


fact the qualities with which Zoroaster presents himself before the Supreme Being. Purity of body, is necessary, because it arrests the efforts of evil spirits, and obliging the
Parsi to a continual circumspection, it renders him more
attentive to the practices of the religion, the principal object of which is to annihilate the empire of Ahriman.20
The obligation to preserve purity of body has given
birth to a number of usages in the religion of the Parsis.
For instance, as the offspring of Mashya and Mashyani, man
is born impure, because the body of his first parents came
from  that of Gayomard21 which Ahriman had defiled; and
ablutions can well purify the outside of the body, but not
the inside- consequently what comes-out from it is impure.
Hence, the obligation, when one prays or eats to have
the Padan22 on the face in order to check the saliva from
defiling the things on which it would fall. Hence, as from
the time of Herodotus, the prohibition against throwing
into water anything which comes from the body of man.
During prayers, meals and the performance of natural functions it is prohibited to speak; one can emit inarticulate
sounds almost as dumb persons do    this is what is called
speaking in Bdj.  The same principle obliges the Parsis to
remove from inhabited places, as was the usage among them
from  the time of Herodotus, lepers23 and those who are
afflicted with contagious diseases. These evils come -from
Ahriman.   The same principle obliges them    to render to
20 See Vendidad, Farg. 19, paras. 5-10.  Arshashang Yasht,
paras. 19-20.-Translator.
21 See Farvardin Yasht, paras. 87 and 145; Yapna, chapter 26,
para. 10.-Translator.
22 This is an erroneous impression. No layman or priest ever
puts on PadAn whilst taking his meals.- Translator.
2 See Vendidad, Farg. 2, paras. 29 and 37.-Translator.




74


the dead the last ceremonies, the ceremonies which     they
use in driving away the Devs who attack dead bodies and
who defile all those who surround them.
But the feebleness of man not permitting him to keep
so scrupulous an attention upon himself, it was necessary to
give means to recover that purity, when one should have
lost it: such is the object of the purifications prescribed by
the law of Zoroaster. Water, which forms the principal material24 for these, drives away all evils and gives every
good; and the juice of the Horn is in this life an element
of strength against the attacks of evil spirits.25
Even involuntary pollutions can only be washed away
by purifications.  Hence arises the necessity  of ablutions
before and after natural functions;26 the injunction to wash
the new-born infant; the purifications ordained to females
after child-birth, menses,27 &c.  But when it is impossible
for one, who is defiled, to practise what the religion prescribes on this matter, a sincere repentance, and prayers
offered with an humble and pure heart, supply the place
of outward ceremonies: and, if the punishment of death is
adjudged for certain voluntary legal impurities, it is because
man, to whom the law is given, being a free agent and
master consequently of his own actions, is the real cause of
his own suffering; he is the follower of a religion, in which
everything is directed against the author of evil: that is
24 See 'Vendidad, Farg. 8, paras. 40-72; Farg. 9, para. 31;
Farg. 19, para. 22.-Translator.
25 See Yagna, chapters 9-10.-Translator.
2 There are no ablutions practised by the Parsis before natural
functions.-Translator.
27 See Vendidad, Farg. 5, paras. 45-56; Farg. 16, paras. 1-12.
-Translator.




75


to say, a Parsi ought to know that errors of this kind, by
thus tending to the superiority of Ahriman and the humiliation (so to speak) of Ormazd,28 become capital crimes. On
the other hand, the Dustoors believe, that, by exercise of
this severity, they render the greatest service to the transgressor: by suffering this punishment, the man exhausts
on himself the malice of the impure spirits, triumphs over
them, and becomes eligible, by his submission, to be admitted into the abode of the happy.
Up to here we have seen Zoroaster prescribing observances, connected with his theological ideas and calculated
to render man worthy of the favours of Ormazd; but this
Legislator, in the enforcement of such precepts, had still another aim in view, viz., the general good of Nature.29 These
observances ought then to be directed, as his ethics, towards
the particular advantage of the Parsi; and then these would
be so many laws of police, often relative to the country
which the Parsi Legislator inhabited. I stop to notice some
of these observances.
In including venomous creatures, reptiles, insects, voracious and ferocious animals, such as the wolf, in the number of the productions of Ahriman, Zoroaster has likewise
had in view the special good of the Parsis: hence he enjoins them  to destroy these animals,30 and interdicts them
at the same time from the use of their flesh which is
naturally very unwholesome.
Of all known religions, that of the Parsis is perhaps
28 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 66, note 3.
-Translator.
29 See Mr. K. R. Cama's Zertosht Ndmeh, pp. 216-218.-Tr.
30 See Vend. Farg. 14, paras. 5-6; Farg. 16, para. 12; Farg. 18,
para. 73.-Tr.




76


the only one in which fasting is neither considered meritorious nor permitted.31 The Parsi, on the contrary, believes
to honour Ormazd by nourishing himself well: because the
body, when fresh and vigorous, renders the soul more powerful to resist the attacks of evil spiritif; and because man,
feeling himself less in need of food, reads the Word with
greater attention and has more courage to perform    good
actions; consequently, several celestial spirits are charged
specially to' watch over the comforts of man: Ramashnd
Kh&rom, Khord&d and Amerdad give him       abundance and
pleasures, and it is the last-mentioned Ized who produces
taste in fruits-the savour which contributes to their employment for the purpose for which Ormazd has created them.
Purifications, in warm or moist and marshy countries,
contribute to health; and such is the climate of Persia: the
provinces of Ghil&n and' Mazenderan, situated to the north,
are full of unhealthy exhalations, while a burning sun parches the provinces towards the south. And, if the most
efficacious purifications are at first made with'the ox's urine,
it is on account of the virtue which the cure of Jamsheed
has caused to be observed in that liquid, or rather, because the bull gave 'birth to the human race.     But the
purifications are always concluded with water, preceded by
dry earth which must dry up the last drop of the urine,
which, so to speak, becomes impregnated with all that
is nauseous in the impurities.32
Besides, whatever may have been the motive of this
institution, it always follows from this, that the Parsi is


31 See Vend. Farg. 3, para. 33; and Mr. K. R. Cama's Zertosht
Ndmeh, pp. 216-228.-Tr.
82 See Vend. Farg. 8, paras. 35-72; Farg. 9, paras. 14-36.-Tr.




77


obliged to have an ox and a cow in his house.   It is still
necessary, on account of the Sag-did, that he must have at
least a dog; and the qualities of the cock, who is the Vizir
of Serosh on earth, and defends men against the snares of
evil spirits,33 put him to the necessity of having that animal
also. Now these three animals are the most necessary to
a Parsi; they supply likewise all his wants: the ox serves
for tillage34 and for drawing carts, the cow supplies milk,85
the dog watches flocks and herds by day, and the house by
night;6 the hen lays eggs; at the crowing of the cuck, at
day-break, prayers, the labours of the field, and other occupations of men commence.37
The place to which   dead bodies are conveyed ought
to be on mountains,38 or at a fixed distance from    main
roads, cultivated fields, and inhabited places; and we know
that independent of the legal impurity which the portions
of the dead body, carried away by carnivorous animals,
could produce, the atmosphere near these sorts of places is
usually very unhealthy.
Even the feasts of the Parsis, at least the most solemn
of them, appear only to recall the grand events of Nature,
which personally interest the Parsi, or to mark the approach of
different seasons. I have spoken of the Gdhdmbdrs,39 which
33 See Vend. Farg. 18, paras. 14-16.-Tr.
See Vend. Farg. 3, paras. 23-32. —Tr.
3 5 See Vend. Farg. 5, para. 52; Farg. 7, para. 77.-Tr.
36 See Vend. Farg. 13, paras. 10-11, 17-18, 39-40, 45-46, 49.
-Translator.
37 See Vend. Farg. 18, paras. 22-24. —Tr.
38 See Vend. Farg. 6, paras. 44-45.-Tr.
9 For the explanation of this term see Mr. K. R. Cama's Zertoshti Abhyds, No. 7, pp. 403-412 and pp. 433-453, and No. 11.Translator.




78
are celebrated at different periods of the year, and which
correspond to those in which Ormazd, at the beginning of
the world, created the beings that compose the universe.
Next to these feasts, the most solemn are the Nowroz and
the Mehergd&.40   The first of these two, since the time of Zoroaster, has corresponded to the Spring, and the second, which
comes six months after, to the Autumn-the seasons in which
the birth of Nature and her fecundity announce the triumph
of Ormazd. It was probably for the same reason that marriages among the Parsis are celebrated at the Vernal Equinox.
Finally, the ceremonies attendant on funerals, the prayers recited at the time, those which precede and those
which follow-all these tend to show    the Parsis that, to
the righteous alone death is the passage to a happy life;
but to the wicked the commencement of punishments which
expiate their sins, and from    which the prayers of the
living can deliver them. The love which they bear for
their kinsmen, their masters and their friends, who are separated from  them  only for a time, is manifested by these
prayers. Their religion still goes further; when a man has
committed certain faults, it ordains to his kinsmen 'and
friends, after his death, to perform pious deeds, and 'give
alms in expiation of those crimes.   These actions shorten
the period which the deceased sinner has to pass in hell.41
40 See Mr. K. R. Cama's "Discourse on the Mithraic worship,
Ac." pp. 7-8; pp. 20-21.- Translator.
41 From the Zend books we find that a man, after his death,
gets a higher or a lower place in the next world according to his good
or bad actions whilst living. Whatever good a man does during his
life-time becomes of great use to him in after life. The doctrine that
prayers and religious rites for the sinful dead tend in some measure
to mitigate their punishment in the next world is to be found in later
works written on the Zoroastrian religion. For particulars see Vendidad, Fargard 19, paras. 27-33; Ardibehesht Yasht, para. 4; HA



79


It was worthy of him who regarded created Intelligences as the Ministers of the Eternal, and the death of
man as a temporary separation of the parts which make
up his being, and which ought one day to be re-united,it was worthy of him, who, as I shall show further below,
considered the essence of his religion to consist in what
Nature herself inspires, and connects with the purest and
most tender pleasure, viz., the respect of the creature for
his Creator, and for all that He 'has made, the reciprocal
affection of parents and children, of husband and wife, of
king and his subjects, of master and pupil,-it was worthy
of such a Legislator to break off the barrier which death
but too frequently puts to affections so lawful, and to render thereby the bond with which he wished to unite all
parts of the universe as his eternal principle.
III.  The ethics of Zoroaster, as well as the practices
which it prescribes, has for its end the glory of Ormazd,
the general good of Nature, of society in general, and of
the Parsi in particular.   I understand by ethics the    precepts relative to the good and the evil of actions; for the
Parsis know not indifferent works:, a thing is either agreeable to Ormazd or to Ahriman, as Nature is divided between these two Principles.42
In their religion there is no place either for, sanctity
purely speculative, or for those spiritualities, which, under
pretext of uniting more the creature with the Creator, authorise idleness and  gratify  self-love.  Everything  in the
religion of the Parsi is in actions, and ought to conspire to
dokht Yasht; Mr. K. R. Cama's "Discourse on Zoroastrians and
Freemasonry," pp. 7-9.-Translator.
42 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 66, note 3.
-Translator.




80


promote the good of the human        race.  Zoroaster himself
shows the example: he demands immortality; Ormazd answers him that if He would accord that grace, the Resurrection would not arrive, and the Legislator consents to die.
The ethics of Zoroaster may be divided into two parts.
The first includes the duties of the creature towards the
Creator.  These are expressed in a few words, and comprehend all the duties of man.    There are, says Ormazd, three
rules of 'conduct. These are purity of thought, purity of
word and purity of deed;43 and he who possesses this
purity ought to exert himself to cultivate it. The Parsi
Dustoors add that a good work should not be put off to
another day. In these peculiarities we recognise the justice,
of which the Magi spoke as reported by Clitarque. Without these essentials, all offerings and preparations enjoined
by the religion are useless.
The second part of the ethics of Zoroaster relates to
society and may be called his sociology. This Legislator
having found the Parsis divided into four classes, as from the
time of King Jamsheed,44 confirms such divisions.     He as43 Do not turn yourselves away from the three best things, viz.,
good thoughts, good words and good deeds. Turn yourselves away
from the three worst things, viz., evil thoughts, evil words and evil
deeds (see Vendidad, Fargard 18, paras. 17 and '25).  All good
thoughts, good words and good deeds lead to Paradise; all evil
thoughts, evil words and evil deeds lead to hell (see the prayer VRiaHumata).   I praise the well-thought, well-spoken, well-performed
thoughts, words and deeds. I lay hold on all good thoughts, good
words and good deeds. I abandon all evil thoughts, evil words and
evil deeds. (See Yagna, chapter 11, para. 17).-Translator.
44 The four classes are as follow:-1, priests (Zend Athravan);
2, kings and warriors (Zend Rathaestar); 3, agriculturists (Zend
Vdctrya Fshuyant); 4, artisans (Zend Haiti) (see Yacna, chapter XIX,
para. 17). In the Shfh-Nameh we read to the same effect, viz., that
King Jamsheed divided his subjects into four classes, called respec



81


signs particular duties to these classes; he even enters into
the details of the instruments or the utensils necessary to each
profession:45 and as he does not lose sight of the good of
man, he insists on the possession of those qualities which
those, to whose care life and body are particularly entrusted,
ought to have.    Let the physician, says he, improve and
render himself more skilful:4 6 his business is to give health.
The sanctity, learning and other qualities which this Legislator demands from the priest,47 correspond perfectly with the
description which the ancient writers give us of the Magi.
Afterwards, always occupied with the form of govern-.
ment which Ormazd has established in Nature, Zoroaster enjoins that professions should have their chiefs, and that he,
who is elevated to that dignity, must have eminently the
qualifications of the profession to which he belongs.  Thus
the chief of priests ought to be one who knows best the
Mazdayagni religion; the   chief of husbandmen one who
takes the greatest care of his herds, and who furnishes
many things for the fire; the chief of military men must
be a man pure and distinguished in his qualifications of
body and mind.
In a government somewhat religious, the chief of priests
ought to be at the head' of the chiefs of all the other professions: and such is the prerogative of the office of Dustooran Dustoor, a dignity which is given only to him   who
is most abundant in good works. But generally, learning,
tively, 1, Kltidzydn; 2, Nisdrydn; 3, Naswdi; 4, AhnilkhMsi. But
the Vefndidad and the Gathas only mention the first three classes,Translalor.
4 See Vendidad, Farg. 14, paras. 6-11.-Tr.
46 See Yendidad, Farg. 7, paras. 36-38.-Tr.
7 See Vendidad, Farg. 18, paras. 1-6; Farg. 13, para. 45. —Tr.




82


good deeds, nobleness of sentiments, truth in words-these
are what Zoroaster demands from    the chiefs.  He desires
that they should, if possible, excel the Amshaspands themselves, who take for their model Ormazd, whom (i. e., the
Amshaspands) Time without Bounds48 has clothed with his
attributes.
It is particularly from  the Dustooran Dustoor that Zoroaster requires these qualifications. As he is the chief of
the religion, he ought to be an example to the people;
and if he sins voluntarily, the Parsis believe that he should
be made to undergo, in the assembly of priests and laymen,
a punishment proportionate to his crime and to.his absence
of temptation to commit it; for it is said in the Zend
books, that he who is without sin shall reclaimn him  who
has committed sin; the Dustoor shall reclaim the layman,
and the layman the Dustoor.
The authority of this sovereign Pontiff is properly spiritual. If we except some remuneration, it now consists only
in pre-eminence of regard and outward respect, since the
religion of Zoroaster has ceased to be dominant.
But when the Persian empire was in a flourishing
state, the authority of this Pontiff did not extend over the
priests only, of whom  he was naturally the chief; but the
civil usages having been connected with religious obligations,
it ought to have swayed the laity, as from the time -of
Zoroaster, by reason of the respect and deference which the
princes had for the chief of their religion.
The respect which the Parsis ought to have for the
Dustooran Dustoor and for the inferior ministers of the re

48 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 65, note 2.
-Translator.




83


ligion is a consequence of the system  of their Legislator.49
They are obliged to respect the priests as mediators between Ormazd and his people, to maintain them     and perform what they ordain when they (laymen) have sinned.
The refractory are punished with death, as those who disobeyed the king were punished, from the time of Strabo,
because. to oppose the Minister of Ormazd is the same as
to oppose Ormazd Himself.
The Parsis ought' to have the same respect, the same
submission to the other civil chiefs who are above them,
relative to the places which they inhabit, to the states in
which they live; it is this which    forms the second species of jurisdiction, established by the law  of Zoroaster.
These chiefs are particularly kings, governors of provinces
and towns, and the heads of streets and houses.50  Each of
them is respectively subordinate to him, whose rank precedes
his own immediately; and the Parsis are obliged to     obey
them as their legitimate chiefs, whom Bahman, the angel of
peace and the first of the Amshaspands next to Ormazd,
has placed over society in general, and over each division
of society.
This subordination does not apply to men alone;, women are also ordained to obey the chief of their sex:51
and the qualities of this chief ought to be such as a woman ought to possess. It is necessary that she should be
of the Mazdayagni religion, pure, marriageable and fruitful:
the models which the religion puts before this chief are
Sapandomad, Ashis-Vang and Parendi, the female angels.52
49 Henry Lord, lib. cit. p. 189.
50 See Vendidad, Farg. 7, paras. 41-42; Farg. 9, para. 37;
Farg. 10, paras. 5-6, 9-10, &c., Meher Yasht, paras. 17-18. —Tr.
51 See Yagna, chapter 13, para. 1.-Tr.
52 See Arshashang Yasht, paras. 1-22.-Tr.




84


But of all the chiefs, those on whom  the Zend books
expatiate most are the kings. They have a particular fire
which animates them, the same which is in the presence
of Ormazd; they are on the earth, what Bahman Amshaspand is in heaven.   It is from  Ormazd that they derive
the authority which they enjoy. " 0 Ormazd!" says Zoroaster, "Establish him  king who comforts and nourishes
the poor."
If the Parsi Legislator traces to God Himself the authority of kings, he prescribes to them  at the same time
the duties which they owe to the office they occupy.    It
is necessary that the chief be pure of thought, of word and
of deed: Ormazd gives the empire to him, who comforts
and nourishes the poor.   Strictness against the oppressor,
and kindness towards the weak and the indigent ought to
be, consequently, the essential qualities of kings.53
On the other hand, the religion of Zoroaster ought to
be the constant rule of their conduct, the motto for their
deliberations; and as when the Persian empire existed, it
was the Dustooran Dustoor (Arch-Bishop) who explained it
to the prince, one could say that the legislative power resided really in the chief of the religion. The Daver, the
chief of the Parsis, under the empire of the Mahomedans
or the Hindoos, is only a feeble shadow of these ancient
priestly kings.
After having regulated the general order of society by
the distinction of ranks, by the necessary subordination of
these ranks, and by the relations which unite the inhabitants of a place with the chief of that place, the subjects
5 See Farvardin Yasht, chapter 29. —Tr.




85


with the king, Zoroaster fixes the different degrees of connections, which men ought to have between them. The
number of these degrees, as well as the number of prayers
which the living are obliged to have recited for the dead,
depends on the distinction of ranks, which this Legislator
has established as above mentioned, and is proportionate to
the relations more or less near, which men have with one
another.54
The closest connections are those of the state to its
chief who represents Ormazd, and those which man contracts from his birth, viz., the reciprocal relation of the
father to the son, of brothers among themselves. Afterwards,
come the relationships which exist between religion and
instruction; they are those which ought to be between the
chiefs of Mobeds, between him   who is about to be Herbed
and the Herbed who instructs him, between the master
and the disciple. Then comes a question of the connections
which are formed by nature, but which man forms' accidentally; such is the union of man and woman, which is
followed, always by a proportionate diminution of degrees,
by that of the just of the earth between themselves, the
great of a profession, the good beings in general, the chiefs
in particular:55 and it is Mithra, the spirit who presides
over the fertility of land, the Ized of good-will, the enemy
of the serpent which sows envy and death-it is this Ized56
who is charged with the creation and maintenance of this
harmony among the divers races of humanity.
54 See Vendidad, Fargard 12.-Tr.
55 See M6her Yasht, chapter 29.-Tr.
56 The other functions of Mithra are as follow:
"Mithra or M6her Ized is represented in Zoroastrian scriptures
as watching over our actions in this world, and encouraging us into,
and rewarding us for, good actions, warning and punishing us for evil
ones. He is the judge-Mlher Daver at the Chinvat bridge-of the




86


I believe it was this gradation of relationship that led
Herodotus to say, that the persons, for whom       the Parsis
had the greatest regard, the greatest respect, were those who
lived nearest to them; that they had less of it for those
who lived next to these persons; thus diminishing their
marks of respect in proportion as the distance increased.
Having drawn quite close the bonds of society, it was
natural to insist upon the means of augmenting and enriching it, viz., population and agriculture.  These objects have
at all times fixed the attention of the most celebrated
Legislators; Zoroaster is not content with merely recommending them to the Parsis: he makes them matters of
religion; he ordains them in expiation of crimes.
The hand of the      cultivator produces every good; it
is the gold poniard of King Jamsheed which cleaves the
earth.57, The earth itself expresses its satisfaction58 to man
by loading him with its gifts, when after levelling it he
sows seeds of herbs and trees and especially fruitful trees;5
departed souls."-See Mr. K. R. Cama's "Discourse on the Mithraic
worship, &c.," p. 23.
"Mithra being the Ized of truth and light, our Daver at the
Chinvat bridge, oaths were taken and administered in his name, and
hence his name was appropriately attached to the process of the passage of the sojourner through the scenes of reward and punishment of
those who had followed or rejected Mithra, i. e., light and truth, of
those who had not or had broken Mithra, i. e., an oath, or had not
or had become Mithradruj by their not regarding their oaths."-Id.
pp. 26-27.
57 See Vendidad, Farg. 2, paras. 4-19.-Tr.
58 See Vendidad, Farg. 3, paras& 3 and 23-32.-Tr.
59 The Tartars of Daghestan, a country bordering on Georgia
and Iran have a custom which they observe carefully, viz., that no
person can marry in their tribe before having planted in a marked
place 100 fruitful trees; so that one finds especially in the Mountains
of Daghestan large forests of fruitful trees.-Hist. Geneolog. des Tartars, p. 313, suite de la note a.




87


then he waters the land which has no water, and drains
that which is inundated.  The earth brings forth all sorts
of fruits, when it is turned up and cultivated with care.
To sow grains with purity is to fulfil to its full extent
the Mlazdayagni law. Hence he deserves merit who thus
obeys the law; the man is also great in the estimation of
Ormazd, as if he had given life to a hundred, to a thousand
created things, or celebrated ten thousand Yagnas;60 hence
the obligation, when one has committed certain crimes, to
give a righteous man a piece of well-irrigated ground,61
to kill snakes which cause injury in low and marshy places,
to destroy the insects which eat away the roots of trees and
the seeds of grains,62 and to build sheds to shelter men
and beasts.
This last act has connection with the care of animalsthe second part of the work in the fields which is not less
dear to Zoroaster than the first, viz., the cultivation of lands.
What pleases the earth is the multiplication and propagation of domestic animals and beasts by coupling.63  And
it is necessary to treat these animals with humanity, to
nourish them,64 to give them shelter, and finally to bestow
every care, which one ought to bestow on the productions
of the Good Principle, made for the benefit of the created
beings of the Good Principle.
The Legislator, who recommends with so much care the
cultivation of land and the multiplication of useful animals,
60 See Vendidad, Farg. 3, para. 31.-Tr.
61 See Vendidad, Farg. 14, para. 13.- Tr.
62' See Vendidad, Farg. 14, paras. 5-6; Farg. 18, para. 73. —Tr.
63 See Vendidad, Farg. 3, para. 5.-Tr.
64 See Yagna, chapter 10, para. 20; chapter 11, paras. 1-2;
Vendidad, Farg. 5, para. 20.-Tr.




88


ought not to be less solicitous for the institution of marriage.65  Herodotus and Strabo inform   us that the kings of
Persia made annual presents to those of their subjects who
had  many children.    Now   then, fecundity is considered
equally honorable among 'the Parsis.   They regard him    a
favourite of heaven, who has children of merit and in great
number.   Zoroaster addresses his prayer to such persons.
Consequently, the day of birth is considered holy, and the
Parsis celebrate it by feasts as from  the time of Herodotus.
It is ordained to make Daroon in the name of Hom-the
Ized who gives good and pious children, the Ized who gives
a sprightly and prudent husband to a long-time unmarried
girl.66  Marriage being of so great an importance, Zoroaster
ought to proscribe all that can help to check or retard it.
Hence, debauchery is put under the category of works which
encourage the multiplication  of Devs.67   Hence, criminal
intercourse with any female, whoever she may be, Parsi or
foreign, is represented as one of the sources of physical and
moral evil which desolates the world;68 rape, as an irremissible crime; sodomy, as the doctrine of Devs;6 9 and all
these crimes are attended with capital punishment.
But it was to be feared lest the Parsis, by marrying
foreigners, should lose Ormazd insensibly out of sight; or
that these marriages, by transferring the wealth of families
to strangers, should impoverish them. To remedy these inconveniences, to tighten the conjugal bond by a love bQrn,
65 See Vendidad, Farg. 4, paras. 44 and 47-49; Ran Yasht,
chapter 10.-Tr.
66 See Yagna, chapter 9, paras. 1-23.-Tr.
67 See Vendidad, Farg. 18, paras. 54-55.-Tr.
68 See Vendidad, Farg. 18, paras. 61-65. —Tr.
69 See Yendidad, Farg. 1, para. 12; Farg. 8, paras. 26-27, 31 -32.- Tr.




89


as it were, from infancy, that is, a natural love, and to form
thereby more tender and durable unions, Zoroaster recommends marriage between cousin-germans as an action meriting heaven.
Herodotus and Strabo inform    us that the Parsis had
many wives and concubines, and the last-named writer adds
that the object was to have a great number of children.
These wives and concubines probably refer to the five species
of women whom a Parsi is permitted to marry and eavn to
take during the life-time of his first wife, when she is
barren. Except in this last case, one ought not to have at
a time more than    one wife: and in fact nothing     more
hinders multiplication than a plurality of wives.
Finally, Zoroaster takes notice of even the temper and
good constitution of children. In order that they may be
healthy and vigorous, he prohibits men, under the greatest
punishment, from keeping company with their wives during
their suckling period or their monthly course;70 he appears
to hold the same view, when prescribing the circumspection, with which females ought to be conducted to the
Armesht-gh. 71
Society is established, ranks are regulated, kingdoms
70 See Vendidad, Farg. 15, para. 7; Farg. 16, paras. 14-17;
Farg. 18, paras. 67-76.-Tr.
7 1 Armesht-gdh is a Pehlvi word, the Zend equivalent for which
is armaeshta gdtu. It signifies " a place set apart, a spot where other
men, women, children, &c., cannot go"; as for instance the place set
apart for unwell females, the place where Mobeds undergo the barashnIim ceremony in the Agiary.  Armaeshta in Zend originally means
"still, calm, retired, undisturbed," as armaeshta dp meaning "still
water, undisturbed or stagnant water" (see Vendidad, Farg. 6, para.
30;'Aban Yasht, chap. 19; Khorshed Yasht, para. 2; Tir Yasht,
chap. 11; Yajna, chap. 68, para. 6).-Translator.




90


are formed, fields are covered with trees and cattle, mankind are increased by well-assorted marriages; it is now
necessary, that a general bond should maintain that harmony, which ought to subsist between all parts of this great
body. This is formed by good faith and mutual confidence,
founded on verity and justice, and nourished by a spirit of
moderation. This good faith renders it obligatory that what
is borrowed72 should be returned even though the lender
be rich, and, consequently, in a position to give up his
claim.
One is reminded in connection with this subject of what
the ancients say of the manners of the Parsis. According
to Herodotus, it was among them an ignominious thing to
tell an untruth73 and to incur debt: and we see, in Zenophon and Ammien-Marcellin, that their laws punished ingratitude with severity.
Zoroaster enters afterwards into the details of actions
which  are opposed   to good  faith, justice and humanity;
and determines the immorality of these actions, the punishment which they deserve in proportion to the consequences
they bring on society, and the degree to which distributive
justice is affected.
It is a   crime in   general not to keep   one's word,
though it may not have been given on oath; it is a greater
crime when one has, as it were, assured the fulfilment of a
promise by an outward sign, such as putting his hand on
72 See Vendidad, Farg. 4, para. 1.-Tr.
73 Righteousness is the best thing for man after his birth. O
Zertosht! this righteousness is the Magdayagni religion; any man can
purify his soul by means of good thoughts, good words and good deeds
(see Vendidad, Farg. 5, para. 21; Farg. 10, para. 18).-Translator.




91


that of him  whom he promises;74 the crime is still greater,
when one refuses payment of a due or salary; for instance,
when one does not render what is due to the domestics
and beasts, that is to say, when one does not take care of
them; when one does not give to the master, who instructs
him, the remuneration promised,, to villages and to the
people of the country, the salary which is agreed upon.
Zoroaster likewise ordains what one ought to give, according to his rank and power, to the doctor75 whv      has
restored him to health, or to the priest,76 who, by purifications, has reconciled him with the Supreme Being: and
if prayers are the sole reward to which the Athornans are
bound, it is because according to the system   of the Persian Legislator, they have an efficacy of which the price
cannot be determined.
The Parsi doctors of divinity expatiate on many of
these points of morality; and, entering into the spirit of
their Legislator, they prohibit, under pain of sin, the charge
of compound interest on the money lent.
According to their interpretation there is not a greater
crime than the buying of corn, in the expectation of selling it afterwards with profit when the market gets dear:77
for it is said in the law, that he, who acts and accustoms
himself to act in this manner, renders himself culpable
for every misery, for every famine, and every distress caused
in the  vorld.
74 See Vendidad, Farg. 4, paras. 2-16; Meher Yasht, paras. 2-3,
19-20, 23, 38, 82; B6herfim Yasht, para. 63.-Tr.
75 See Vendidad, Farg. 7, paras. 41-43.-Tr.
76 See Vendidad, Farg. 9, paras. 37-42.-Tr.
77 See Sadder Biln-dehesh in the old Ravaet, p. 141.




92


The ethics of Zoroaster goes still further. This Legislator speaks praise of him  who is beneficent and liberal,
of him who well supports mankind; and for greater inducement to assist the poor, he represents this action, that of
giving even a few grains of corn, as accomplishing greater
affliction on the Devs.   The man, on the contrary, who
does not give a portion of his wealth to the deserving,
augments the productions of Ahriman;78 the abode of those
who do not give in charity is in hell.,Having firmly established for society the laws of distributive justice, it is expedient to prevent or check what
could disturb it.  Consequently, the mere thought of evil
is sin; envy is represented as excited by Devs; the resolution to strike some one deserves punishment.79    Violence
is repressed by punishment proportionate to the injury inflicted on the person attacked;80 and if Zoroaster, in the
eulogy which he sings of the warriors and kings of Iran, extols their strength and courage, it is always on account of
the good results to mankind which these qualities have produced, such as the destruction of the wicked and the defence
of the poor and the oppressed. He exhorts, at the same
time, that his heroes be humble of heart as Kaikhosru; he
recommends meekness and good-nature to the people, intelligence in the good itself which they do. The man, who
endeavours to increase the welfare of the people, is one of
the beings to whom   this Legislator addresses his prayer.
After all this, there still remains a precept of morality
to be inculcated equally for the good of man and for the
glory of the Good Principle, viz., to control those prompt

7 8 See Vendidad, Farg. 18,. paras. 30-38. —Tr.
79 See Vendidad, Farg. 4, paras. 18-21.-Tr.
80 See Vendidad, Farg. 4, paras, 22-43. —Tr.




93


ings, which offences against us would legitimately excite;
but which   offences, without making  amends, are a real
evil to society and to our fellow-creatures, made already
sufficiently unhappy by being left to go to degrading excesses. At first, man has before his eyes the example of the
Master of'Nature; after the Resurrection, Ormazd, touched
with the repentance of sinners, will pardon them, and they
shall be eternally happy with the righteous;81 then, the
Persian Legislator, by referring to what he himself does,
prescribes pardon for injuries, even voluntary, and a sincere
reconciliation with him from whom one has received offence.
" Pardon the repenting sinner," says he, addressing Ormazd,
"even if the man irritates me by his thoughts, by his
"words or by his actions, carried away or not carried away
"by passion, and if he humbles himself before me and
"addresses his prayer, I am from that time friend of him,
"who invokes me thus by Izeshne and Ny~esh."
Such is then the precis of the instructions which Zoroaster gives to the Persians in his works. This Legislator
recommends, to princes and chiefs, kindness, justice and firmness; to subjects, submission and respect; to priests, purity
and learning; to laymen, perfect obedience to the precepts of
the religion: and this religion regards, without any distinction, all men- whom  it ordains to be in peace with, one
another, to nourish the poor, to take care of the ward, to
be as good as one's word, to pay the workman, the doctor
and the instructor what is their due, to plough uncultivated lands, to water them, to sink wells, to render the
flocks numerous, and to kill noxious animals. We see that
81 See Sadder BMn-dehesh in the old Rav'et.




94


all these precepts tend to the good of mankind, and to the
special advantage of him who conforms himself to them.
IV. The Zend and Pehlvi books present, on one side,
the world created by Ormazd, and corrupted by Ahriman;82
on the other, the re-establishment of Nature; Zoroaster appears in the field; the law  which he announces contains
the measures which were intended to produce this grand
event.
The Parsi, instructed by this Legislator, regards himself
as a soldier whom    Ormazd sends under 'the direction of
the good spirits to combat the author of evil. The prayer,
which he recites after waking from sleep, puts before his
mind the aim   and the reward of the fights he is going to
fight, the Resurrection and the glory of the saints in heaven;
the water Zor, and the branches of the tree over which
RIom  presides, pounded in a mortar, furnish him   with a
juice, from which he draws his strength, while remembering
the first apostle of the religion.
The girdle and, a kind of shirt,83 which mark him as
the true follower of Zoroaster, are his habiliments of combat. The prayer by which he conciliates the protection of
heavenly spirits; the Word which has created the world;
the legal ceremonies which tend to keep. the purity of his
body; his absolute submission to Him from   whom   he has
received his existence and the purity of soul-these are
his arms. The precepts which he obeys render the country
he inhabits fertile, cause propagation of the human race,
82 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 66, note 3.
-Translator.
83 The author refers to Koshti and Sudra, outward symbols of
the Zoroastrian religion.-Translator.




"95
and multiplication of trees and animals, augment riches and
welfare and maintain peace and public safety. Prepared for
all events, he encounters evils without being beaten down
by them; it would be to sin against Ormazd, and to render
himself unworthy of the title of the soldier of the Good
Principle,' to exhibit at that time marks of excessive grief.
On one side, he enjoys without scruple, but always with
moderation, what Nature legitimately offers him, and believes to enter thereby in the plan of Ormazd. To deviate
from  this design is to augment the strength of Ah,;man
and to multiply his productions.  *     *      *       *
Adultery, sodomy, rape, fornication, murder, violence, theft,
falsehood, bad faith, voluntary infractions of the religionthese crimes are visited by punishments and sometimes by
deathl itself.  The chastisements are rigorous, because sin
is the cause of evils which afflict the Parsis, of corruption
which is prevalent among them; because they attack, as I
have already said, the Divine Majesty, by diminishing the
glory of Ormazd, and furnishing to His enemy84 the means
of overthrowing the world.  But in the midst of this extreme severity, we always discover the second object of
Zoroaster: he ordains punishments to secure the good of
society; he wishes at the same time that Nature should
enjoy her rights.


84 In refutation of this opinion of the author see p. 66, note 3.
-Translator.




A LIST OF THE BOOKS AND MANUSCRIPTS
RELATING TO.THE PARSI RELIGION,
TAKEN WITH HIM TO EUROPE
BY
payON. A5NQUETIL DU PERRON.
Zend, 1Pehlvi and ]Pazend.
1. Zend and -Pehlvi Vendidad, copied from   the copy of
Dustoor Jamasp.-4to, oblong.
2. Zend and Sanscrit Yagna-4to.
3. Zend Vispered-4to.
4. Yashts Sdd —large 8vo.
5. A collection in three parts. The first written by Darab,
containing!the Khorshed NyOesh, the Mah Nyaesh,
and the Atash Nyaesh, the Afringan Dahman, the
Afringan Gaihlnmb6r, the prayers of Gahs, all in Zend
and Pehlvi; the original of the Pehlvi and Pazend
Farhang and Hormazd Yasht in Zend and Pehlvi.
The second written by Mobed Shapoor, containing
the Zend and Pehlvi Vispered, Serosh Yasht in Zend,
in Sanscrit and in ancient Parsi derived from Pazend,
and written in Zend characters. The third containing
the 9th, 10th, and 11th Has of Yagna in Zend and
Pazend; the Sirozah in Zend and Pazend; the same




97


in Zend and Pehlvi, written by Dustoor Shapoor;
the Khorshed Nyaesh (Zend and Pazend) written in
Persian characters by Kika, an inhabitant of the village of Mehder, in the Paragnah of Partchoul, situated to the east, and dependent then on Surat; and the
same Nyaesh in the same languages, followed by
several Nirengs and Bajs in Gujerati, the whole
written in Persian characters-8vo.
6. A collection containing (1) in Pazend (Zend characters)
the Afrin Gahambar, the NAm   Setaeshn6, the Afrin
Zartosht; (2) in Zend, the Ardibdhesht Yasht and
the Venant Yasht; (3) in Pazend (Zend characters)
a portion of the Ravaet, which treats, among other
things, of the Atash Behram, of King Jamsheed and
of the origin of the G6ahambars, &c.; (4) in Pazend
(Persian characters) the Eulma Eslam and two prefaces to the Shah Nameh-4to.
7. A small Ravaet which contains the Sirozah in Zend;
some details on the ceremonies and practices of the
Zoroastrian religion, some prayers, &c.-all- mixed up in
Zend and Pazend, followed by several letters of the Dustoors of Kirman and of India, relative to the religion,
among which is one treating of the NTowro, —12mo.
'Persian.
1. Farhang-e Jehangiri-An excellent Persian Dictionary,
finished in the reign of Jehangir-folio.
2. Bouran-e Kte —A comprehensive and accurate Persian
Dictionary, compiled by Mohamed Hossein who flou



98


rished in 1651 A. C.-folio, ruled, perfectly well-written; the only copy in Europe, copied    at Surat,
in 1730 A. C.
3. An epitome of Farhang-e Serouri-A dictionary in five
parts, of which the fourth contains some words said
to have been derived from Zend and Pazend.
4. Sadder-A treatise in verse on the moral and ceremonial
theology of the Parsis-8vo.
5. Mino-Khered, in verse-12mo.
6. Shah-Nameh-A     Poem  of sixty-four thousand verses,
composed at the end of the tenth century by Firdosi
Tusy, comprising the history of the Parsis from
Gayomard to Yezdegird, their last king of the Sassanian dynasty in the seventh century after Christ
-folio, with illustrations.
7. Kdrshasp Nameh-A history in verse of Kershasp and
many other Iranian heroes of the time of Zohak
and the first kings of the Kyanian dynasty-8vo.
8. Barzo Nameh-A     Persian poem   of more than sixty
thousand verses, composed by Atai, a celebrated poet,
but inferior to Firdosi. It contains the history of
Rustom, Sohrab, Barzo, &c.-2 vols. with illustrations,
the only copy in Europe.
9. A precious collection containing the Faramarz Nameh,
the Jehangir Nameh and the Bgnoo Gushasp Nameh,
that is to say, the history of Faramarz, Jehangir (son
of Rustom) and Banoo Gushasp (daughter of Rustom)
-8vo.




99


10. A collection containing the Zertosht Nameh, preceded
by the history of the Retreat of the Parsis in India
-12mo.
11. A collection containing the Changraghach Nameh and
the Jamaspi, in verse-8vo.
12. Bahman Nameh-A history in verse of Bahman (son of
Aspandiar, son of Gushtasp, a king of the Kyanian
dynasty) composed at the end of the eleventh century-4to.
13. Darab Nameh —A work containing an account of the
last years of Bahman, son of Aspandiar, a part of the
lives of Homai, Darab, the last Darab, and a fragment
of the expeditions of Alexander-folio, copied  in
1584 A. C.
14. A collection containing the history in verse of the
amours of Azad Bakht, king of Persia, of Firooz
Bakht, king of Egypt and of Ershad, son of the king
of Katay-12mo.
Viraf Namet (in Gujerati)-4to, with illustrations.*


" Besides these, the French author carried with him to Europe
93 other Mss. as follow:-66 Mss. in Persian; 7, in Arabic; 2, in
Turkish; 3, in Moorish (in Persian characters); 2, in Gujerati; 6, in
Sanscrit; 6, in Tamil and 1, in Canarese.-TIranslator.




100


BOOKS WHICH        MONS. ANQUETIL      DU   PERRON
COULD NOT OBTAIN.
1. The Nyaeshs of Fire, the Moon and the Sun, in Sanscrit.*
2. The Nyzeshs of Water and Mithra, in Pehlvi and
Sanscrit.
3. The Hormazd' Yasht in Sanscrit.
4. The Tarif Sirozah in Pehlvi, from the 17th day to the
30th. This book, it was believed, was to be found
entire in the hands of the sons of Bahmanji Shett.t
5. The Pehlvi Ya9na.
6. The Nirengastan —A work in 4to from 20 to 25 cahiers
treating principally of the ceremonies of the Parsi
religion, in the commencement whereof is described,
the Vars.
7. The first six Fargards of the Vendidad in Sanscrit.
8. The Gushtasp Yasht, brought from Kirman (according
to what the Parsis of Surat say) 400 years ago by
Mehriar Marzbn; the Sam     Nameh, the Taimoor
Nameh, and the Faramarz Nameh.


* I was told that this book could be'had at Nowsaree.-Anquetil
du Perron.
+ Afterwards I was assured that they had not got it.-Anfuetil
duz Perron.




APPENDIX.
IExtracts from. Dr. M. Haug's "Essays on the sacred
language, writings and religion of the Parsis" in
support of the Zoroastrian doctrine that the First
Cause which created the whole universe is Ahuramazda (the name of God throughout the Zend-Avesta)
and not Zarvdna Akarana.
The   real doctrines of Zarathustra, untouched by the
speculations of later ages, can be learnt only from the
old Yagna, chiefly from the GAthas. The leading idea of
his theology was Monotheism, i. e., that there are not many
gods, but only one, and the principle of his speculative
philosophy Dualism, i. e., the supposition of two primeval
causes of the real world and of the intellectual, while his
moral philosophy was moving in the Triad of thought,
word and deed. His predecessors, the Soshyanto, seem  to
have been worshipping a plurality-of good spirits, whom
they called Ahuras, i. e., the living ones who were opposed
to the Devas. Spitama, not satisfied with this indistinct expression of the -Divine Being, 'reduced this plurality to an
unity. The new   name, by which he called the Supreme
Being, was Ahuro4 Mazddo which means "the living Creator
of the universe"...... In the Sassanian times the name was
changed to Ahzurnazd, and in modern Persian to Hormazd
or Orrazd which form is used by the Parsis now-a-days.
Zarathustra Spitama's conception of Ahuramazda as the
Supreme Being is perfectly identical with the notion of
Elohitm or Jehovah, which we find in the books of the Old
Testament. Ahuramazda is called by him   "the Creator of
the earthly and spiritual life, the Lord of the whole universe
at whose hands are all the creatures."  He is the light and
the source of light; he is the wisdom and intellect. He is
in possession of all good things, spiritual and worldly, such




102


as the good mind (vohu man4), immortality (ameretdt),
wholesomeness (haurvatdt), the best truth (asha vahista), devotion and piety (armaiti), and abundance of every earthly
good* (khshathra vairya). All these gifts he grants to the
righteous pious man, who is pure in thoughts, words and
deeds. But he, as the ruler of the whole universe, does not
only reward the good, but he is a punisher of the wicked at the same time (see Ya9na 45, 5). All that is created
good or evil, fortune or misfortune, is his work (see Yagna
48, 4; 51, 6). A  separate evil spirit of equal power with
Ahuramazda, and always opposed to him is entirely strange
to Zaiathustra's theology, though the existence of such an
opinion among the ancient Zoroastrians can be gathered
from some later books.
The opinion, so generally believed now, that Zarathustra was preaching Dualism, that is to say, the supposition of
two original independent spirits, a good and a bad one, utterly distinct from each other, and one counteracting the creation of the other, is owing to a confusion of his philosophy
with his theology. Having arrived at the grand idea of the
unity, and indivisibility of the Supreme Being, he undertook to solve the great problem, on which so many -a wise
man of antiquity and even of modern times was engaged, viz.,
how are the imperfections discoverable in the world, the
various kinds of evils, wickedness and baseness, compatible
with the goodness, holiness and justice of God? The
great thinker of so remote an antiquity solved the difficult question philosophically by the supposition of two primeval causes, which, though   different, were united, and
produced the world of the material things, as well as that
of the spirit, which doctrine may best be learnt from
Ya~na 30.
The two primeval principles are Spernto mainyu~. aand
Angrd maiznyus; these spirits are united in one and the
same being, viz., Ahuramazda, and represent only both sides
of the divine nature, the creative and life-giving, as well
as the destructive  and life-taking powers.  That Angrd
maizyus is no separate being opposed to Ahuramazda, is


" See chiefly Yagna 47, 1.




103


unmistakeably to be gathered    from  YaGna 19, 9, where
Ahuramazda is mentioning his "two spirits," who are inherent to his own nature, and in other passages (Yagna
57) distinctly called the "two Creators" " the two masters"
(pdy4). And, indeed, we never find mentioned in the Gathas, Angro mainyus as a constant opponent to Ahuramazda
as is the case in later writings. Spento mainyus was regarded as the author of all that is bright and shining, of all
that is good and useful in nature, while Angro mainyus
called into existence all that is dark, and apparently noxious. Both are inseparable, as day and night, and though
opposed to each other, are indispensable for the preservation of creation.....Life is produced by Spento mainyus,
but extinguished by Angro mainyus.
Such is the original Zoroastrian notion of the two
creative spirits, who form only two sides of the Divine
Being. But in the course of time, this doctrine of the
great founder was, in consequence of misunderstandings, and
false interpretations, changed and corrupted.  Spento mainyus was taken as a name of Ahuramazda himself; then,
of course Angro mainyus, by becoming entirely separated
from  Ahuramazda, was regarded as the constant adversary
of Ahuramazda, and thus the Dualism, God and Devil, was
called forth. Either was an independent ruler, one endeavouring to destroy the creation of the other, and thus both
waging constantly war......In consequence of this entire separation of the two sides of Ahuramazda and the substitution of two independent rulers, governing the universe,
the unity and oneness of the Supreme Being was lost,
Monotheism was superceded by Dualism. But this deviation from, and entire change of, the prophet's doctrine could
not satisfy the minds of all the divines and philosophers
in a-nnient Persia. It very likely was only the innovation
of -a  influential party. or sect, probably that one which
is called Zendik, i. e., followers of the interpretation (Zend),
and which was opposed by that of the Magi.*     That Dual The Magi were chiefly spread in the West, in Media and
Persia; the Zendiks in the East, in Bactria. The former seem to
have acknowledged only the Avesta or original texts of the sacred
writings; the latter followed the traditional explanation, called
Zend.




104


lism was actually the doctrine of the Zendiks, we best learn
from  the commencement of the Bundehesh, which     book
purports to expound the lore of this party. The Magi
seem still to have clung to the prophet's doctrine of the
Oneness -of the Supreme Being. But to refute the heretical
opinions of the Zendiks, which were founded on interpretations of passages from  the sacred texts, a new   and
fresh proof of the Unity of the Supreme Being was required. This was found in the term "Zarvdna alcarana," i. e.,
time without bounds, which we meet occasionally in the
Zend Avesta. The chief passage, no doubt; was Vend. 19, 9;
but the interpretation for proving that Zarvd(na akarana
means the Supreme Being, out of whom Ahuramazda and
Angro mainyus are said to have sprung    up, rests on a
grammatical misunderstanding of the words Zruni akarane.
Anquetil, according to the teaching of his masters, the Dustoors, translates them  as nominative case, whilst a very
superficial knowledge of Zend and Sanscrit grammars suffices to recognise both the forms as so called locatives
they are therefore to be translated only "in the boundless
time," the subject of the sentence being Spent6 mainyus,
i. e., the white spirit (a name of Ormazd); were it the
nominative case, and the subject of the sentence, then we
should have to expect " Zarva akaranem."  The right translation is as follows:"Oh evil-knowing Angro mainyus (Ahri.man)! Ahuramnazda made these good weapons in the boundless time,
the immortal holy Saints, the rulers and masters of the
good creation, assisted Him in making them."
The true meaning of the expression, that " Ahuramazda created in the boundless time," is, that God (Ahuramazda) is from  eternity, self-existing, neither born wr
created. Only an eternal being call be independent cfY'uie
bounds of time to which all mortals are subject.