UC-NRLF utility LIBRARY UNIVERSITY Of ^ CAIWORNIA ZARATHUSHTRA IN THE GATHAS. N ZARATHUSHTRA IN THE GATHAS AND IN THE GREEK AND ROMAN CLASSICS, from tlje ffiennan OP DES. GEIGER AND W1NDISCHMANN, WITH NOTES ON M. DARMESTETER'S THEORY EEGARDING THE DATE OF THE AVESTA, AND AN APPENDIX, BY DARAB DASTUR PESHOTAN SANJANA, B.A. LEIPZIG: OTTO HARRASSOWITZ. 1897. LOAN STACK ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. WO DO * 7G2 5 n s c v t i) e & TO THE PIOUS MEMORY OF THE LATE Mr. KHARSHEDJI MANECKJI KHARSHEDJI. 1 " When Faith and Love, which parted from thee never, Ripened thy youthful soul to dwell with God, Meekly thou didst resign this earthy load Of death, called life, which us from life doth sever. Thy works, and alms, and all thy good endeavour, Stayed not behind, nor in the kate were trod ; But, as Faith pointed with her golden rod, Followed thee up to joy and bliss for ever. Love led them on, and Faith, who knew them best Thy handmaids, 2 clad them o'er with purple beams And azure wings, that up they flew so drest, And spake the truth of thee on glorious themes Before the Judge ; who thenceforth bid thee rest, And drink thy fill of pure immortal 3 streams."* 1 The son of Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai, Bart., C. S. I., who, if ho had survived, would have become the Fourth Baronet of the Sir Jamshedji family. a C/r. Hadokht Nask II, 22, seq : /^/J* -)/ / &tcZ, II, 38. ** " * Cfr. Milton's Sonnet X-IV, K V CONTENTS ZARATHUSHTRA IN THE GATHA\S. PAGE Introduction ... . 1 I. The Authorship of the Gathas 9 II. The Religious and Social Reform of Zarathushtra... 28 III. Zarathwshtra's Monotheism ... ... ... 28 IV, The Theology of the Gathas 38 V. Zoroastrianism is not a Dualistic Religion ... ... 50 VIEWS OF THE CLASSICAL WRITE&S REGARDING ZOROASTER AND HIS DOCTRINE. Pythagoras... ... ... ... ... ... ... 65 Bemocritus ... ... ... .... ... ... .. 73 Xanthus the Lydia ... ... ... ... ... 74 Herodotus ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 81 Plato : ... 83 Diogenes of Laerte , 85 Eudoxus 86 Dino 86 Aristotle 91 Theopompus ... 92 Plutarch 93 Hermodorus ... ... ... ... ... ... 102 Sotion 104 Hermippus 106 Strabo 115 Agathias 120 Plinius 121 Berosus ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 125 Moses of Chorene ... ... ... ... ... ... 128 Cephalion ,. ... ... 129 Syncellus 131 Clementinian Recognitions ,. .,. 132 Clementiuian Homilies ... ... 134 U CONTENTS. Dio Chrysostom 135 THE ALLEGED PAHLAVI LETTER OF TANSAR TO THE KING OP TABARISTAN U3 OBSERVATIONS ON DARMESTETER'S THEORY. 153 THE GERMAN TEXT OF " ZARATHUSHTRA IN DN GATHAS." Einleitnng ... IDS' I. Die Autorsehaft des Gathas 164 II. Die religiose und soziale Reform Zarathushtra's ... 170 III. Zarathushtra's Monotheismus 177 IV. Die Theologie der Gathas 184 V. 1st die zoroastrische Religion erne dualistiache ? ... 192 APPENDIX 205-256 THE ALLEGED PRACTICE OF CONSANGUINEOUS MARRIAGES IN ANCIENT IRAN OPINIONS ... 257 PREFACE. It is now fully ten years since the Oxford Clarendon Press issued in two volumes my English translation of the German of Dr. Wilhelm Geiger's Ostirdnische Kultur im Altertum. This volume on Zarathushtra in ike Gath'ds and in the Western Classics was then intended to have been the third of that series. Bat owing to the precedence of publication which I have given to my editions of some of the important Pahlavi Texts, this volume had to be put off for several years. The essay on " Zara- thushtra in the Gathas" is the rendering of the German MS. text of Dr. Geiger, which is for the first time printed in this volume (vide pp. 159se^), It may be regarded as the first concise- and lucid discourse upon the authorship, theology, nnd mono- theism of the Avestic Gathas, the oldest and most sacred hymna of theZoroastrians. Herein Dr. Geiger is able to draw from his close research the following inferences : (1) The Iranians had in very olden time, and without any foreign influence, indepen-* dently acquired through the Zoroastrian Reform, the possession of a monotheistic religion, and its founders had attained to that stage in ethics to which only the best parts of the Old Testament rise. (2) The Iranians display an inclination towards that depth of moral intuition which is perceptible in Christianity ; at a very early period the Gathas knew about the ethical triad of the righteous thought, the righteous word, and the righteous deed, The second essay on Zoroastei* in the Classical Writers is selected and translated from the late Dr. F. Windischmann's posthumous worlc, tfororastrische Studien. The German heading under which this essay is given, is Stellcn der Alt en uler Zoroasirisclics, " References in Ancient Writings to Zoroaster nnd his Doctrine. J> It is highly interesting, giving as it does a comprehensive collection of the foreign views of classical authors regarding the Persian Zoroaster and his Revelation, il PREFACE. As a supplement or appendix to the latter I Lave inserted in this volume my refutatory discourse on the Alleged Practice of Consanguineous Marriages in Ancient Iran to which the classical writers allude, as will be noticed from my translation of Windischmann's German. As to the theory of the age of the A vesta, which I have here briefly touched upon, it is a pleasure to observe that those who imagine, like Darmefeteter, a later origin for the Avesta, are compelled to assume that they were written in a dead language with all the older forms of the names. But this explanation presupposes that Avesta scholars in the time of Vologeses were already acquainted with the philological arguments developed in the nineteenth century A. D., which is absurd. I must take this opportunity of acknowledging my deep gratitude to the learned friends who have kindly rendered me very prompt assistance in the course of my work. I have also to thank the Trustees of the Sir Jainshedjee Jeejeebhai Translation Fund for their kind patronage to this volume. DARAB DASTUR PESHOTAN SANJANA. Ibth December 1897. ZARATHTJSHTRA IN THE GATHAS. 1 GENERAL REMARKS. Every religion, wheresoever and whensoever it may have sprang up, has its history and its develop- ment. No religion appears of a sudden, as something perfectly novel and unexpected. The eye of the historical investigator who seeks to prove and understand every event in the history of mankind according to causes and effects, will perceive that every new form of religion is preceded by a period of time which we may call the period of preparation. At such a period there appear certain phenomena in the intellectual, moral, and economical life of the people which point to an imminent re volution of ideas. As these phenomena become more numerous and more power- ful the desire for a reformation of the whole system of life will become more and more powerful and vigorous, until, one might say, with a certain natural necessity, the personage appears who will be able to give an ex- pression to the wishes and hopes of all the people, and thus turn out to be the founder of a new doctrine. To the contemporary this doctrine may in sooth appear as something quite unexpected and unheard of ; because he cannot yet grasp the causes and effects of the events which he himself lives to behold. But the historical inquirer who is capable of doing it, will trace the phenomena which prepare such an important event, 1 Vide the German text. and be will disoove-r them everywhere and at all times, whether he turns his attention to the history of Chris- tianity or Islamism, of Buddhism or Zoroastrianism. As every religion has, however, its pre-history, so it has also its development. Not only do the natural religions of the wild Africans, Americans, and Austra- lians contain a continuous transformation and varia- tion, such is also the case, although in a smaller measure, with the so-called book -religions, ?, e., with the religions which depend upon sacred documents as compendia of their doctrines, as the rule and standard for the life of their adherents. 1 Even in the Jewish religion r so far as it is known to us in the Old Testa- ment, we discover traces of development and decay. It has not entered on its existence as something finished and complete from the beginning ; but it has also under- gone decay as well as- development and improvement. Now the investigator who has made the contents and the history of any of the religious systems the theme of his discourse, will have to face the task of never losing sight of the idea of development and of tracing the course of this development. He will have to give himself the trouble of establishing, if possible, the original or primitive form of the religion, and of dis- tinguishing the oldest form from what has been added to it in the course of time, and from what must indis- pensably have been added to it, 1 say " indispensably," because as the religion of a nation must be reckoned as one of its most important social advantages, so it will ex- perience, like all other social endowments, certain changes in the course of centuries. The general social standard 1 1 Comp. Prof. Max-Mailer's " Lectures on the Origin and Deve- lopment of Religion,' 1 pp. 149-150, of the people becomes altered, their economical condi- tions are changed, even their dwellings may be trans- planted ; therewith also ideas and views, thoughts and learning, undergo their changes, and even what man preserves as his highest and holiest good, his religion, will adapt itself to such transformations. The sub- stance, the nature, and the kernel of the thing remain the same, unless a people breaks entirely with customs and tradition, and endeavours to search out entirely new ways ; but the old contents are embodied into new forms, and this must be so if religion is not to lose that power in the social life of the people by which it moves and always animates afresh the intellect and the heart. It is self-evident that it is only then possible to find out or establish the original substance of any reli- gious doctrine, when literary materials are extant which either proceed from the founder of the doctrine itself or at least are traceable to his time, and which thereby bear the stamp of truth and authenticity. If we make an attempt in the following pages to trace back to its oldest and most primitive form the Zoroastrian doctrine which, after a duration of certainly twenty-five centuries, and after an eventful history of battles and triumphs, persecutions and successes, is professed even now-a-days by about 100,000 persons, the question arises whether this is altogether still possi- ble. Do we possess documents, the composition of which may be ascribed to the founder, or which had at least their origin in his time and perhaps belonged to the circle of his first adherents and friends ? We can answer this question in the affirmative ; for we are in fact still in the possession of such documents, and such documents are the GAthds, i..e., the holy hymns, which constitute the oldest portion of the Avesta, the Religious Book oj the Zoroastrians. It is here superfluous to characterize in detail the form and contents of the Gathas. They form, as is well known, a part of the Yasna, i.e, of the holy manual which is prescribed for recitation at the sacrificial ceremonies. However, they stand in no intimate connection with the Yasna; but they are inserted quite irregularly, and with- out coherence with the rest of the text, in that part of the Yasna where their recitation, corresponding to the ritual, has to be performed during the divine service. Conse- quently, the Gathas form for themselves an independent whole, just as the sacred law-book, theVendidad, the chap- ters of which are in a quite analogous manner inserted between the different sections of the Yasna in the manu- scripts of the so-called Vendidad-Sdde. From the rest of the Avesta, viz. 9 the Yasna, together with the Yisperad, the VendidAd) and the Yashts, the Gathas are already dis- tinguished externally by the metrical form in which they are composed which reminds us often of the metre of the hymns of the Rig-veda as well as by their language which differs materially from the ordinaryAvesta dialect. The extent of the Gathas is unfortunately scanty. From my calculations the following figures are given which might not be without interest : 1. Gatha Ahunavaiti, 300 lines; about 2,100 words. (Yasna, chaps. XXVIII-XXXIY). 2. Gatha Ushtavaiti, 330 lines; about 1,850 words. (Yasna, chaps. XLIII-XLVI). 3. Gatha Spentd-mainyzi, 164 lines; about 900 words. (Yasna, chaps. XLVII-L). 4. Gatha Vohu-khshathra, 6t> lines; about 450 words. (Yasna, chap. LI). 5. Gat ha Vahishto-ishti, 36 lines; about 260 words. (Yasna, chap. LIII). Hence these Gathas contain in all 896 lines and about 5,660 words. Now this is in itself scanty enough. - But the matter is rendered even more discouraging by the con- siderable difficulties which the interpretation of the Gathas offers in many passages. Several lines and stro- phes are so obscure that it is difficult to settle a definite translation. Very often we are compelled to admit that the one as well as the other rendering is possible ; however, none can be regarded as absolutely right, and none as absolutely false. Bat such obscure strophes and lines are either not at all, or only with the greatest reserve and caution, to be admitted as proofs for any essential exposition of the subject to be treated. Often enough, too, a translator will regard as certain and doubtless what others will dispute. Under all cir- cumstances the utmost precaution is urgently required in making use of the Gdthds for any material explanation of the Zoroastrian doctrine* While writing this discourse we have been well aware of all these difficulties. Nevertheless, we are able to assert that the original form of Zoroastrianism, the philosophical and religious ideas of its founder and of its first professors can be represented, at least in their general features, upon the basis of the Gatha texts, and that such a glimpse into the earliest ages of one of the purest and most sublime religions ivhich have ever existed^ must be considered as exceedingly instructive. * The Italics are marked by au asterisk when they are mine. Trans. note> 6 Regarding the Gathas, we directly meet with an objection in the beginning of our research, which must be refuted before we can enter into the subject before us. The points in question may be summed up as follows : Whether the Gathas proceed from Zarathushtra or his first adherents or disciples; whether they actually reach back to the primitive age of Zoroastrianism ; nay, whether they are in general older than the rest of the Avesta. Among the A vesta scholars in Europe there are many who dis- pute all these points, who want to make Zarathushtra a " mythical " person, and who take the differences be- tween the Gathas and the rest of the A vesta to be not of a temporal but of a local nature. Thus they assume that the Gathas were composed in other p^rts of Iran than, for example, the Yashtsandthe Vendidad, and especial- ly that the difference of the dialects is sufficiently explained from this circumstance. However, this idea seems to lose more and more ground in modern times, and the latest translator of the Gathas, the Rev. Dr. L. Ei. Mills, maintains their antiquity with great resolute- ness. The metrical fonn of the Gdth&s can scarcely bead' duced as proof for their higher antiquity * because in the rest of the Avesta we also find numerous pieces which were orginally composed in metre. In many passages the metre is still preserved intact. In other passages no doubt the text must first be cleared from the additions and interpolations made in the first redaction of the Avesta. Already of greater importance would be the circumstance that the majority of the verses in the Gathas is so well preserved, incomparably better than in the metrical fragments of the remaining Avesta. This certainly proves that in the redaction mentioned, above the G&thaa are looked upon as something holier and more inviolable [lit., " untouchable "] than the texts otherwise transmitted to us. The anomalous dialect of the Gdthds, too, does not prove to us that they are older than the rest of the Avesta.* The dialect of the former indeed shows many forms which are more antiquated, but also many which seem to be more polished and changed. All this is far better explained by a local than by a temporal difference of the two dialects. But what undoubtedly distinguishes the Gathas from all the other parts of the Avesta and marks them as far older, is their contents,* which evidently carry us into the period of the foundation of the new doctrine, into the time when Zarathushtra and his first adherents still lived and worked, while in the younger Avesta they are no doubt personalities of a remote past* This has already been set forth by me most decidedly on a former occasion in my " Ostiranische Kultur im Al- terthum," J and our exposition is yet in no way confuted. Lately Dr. Mills' 2 has ex pressed the same ideas : '* In the Gathas all is sober and real. The Kine^soul is indeed poet- ically described as wailing aloud, and the Deity with His Immortals is reported as speaking, hearing, and seeing; but with these rhetorical exceptions everything which occupies the attention is practical in the extreme. Greh- ma and Bendva, the Karpans, the Kavis, and the Usijs (-ks) are no mythical monsters. No dragon threa- 1 Compare the " Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times," by Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana, Oxford Edition, Vol. II., p. 116 seq. a The Zend Avesta, Parfc III, The Yasna, etc,, translated by L. H, Mills (The Sacred Books of the East, Vol. XXXI., Introduction, p. xxvi.). 8 tens the settlements, and no fabulous beings defend them. Zarathushtra, Jamaspa, Frashaoshtfa, and Maidhyo-mah, the Spitamas, Hvogvas, the Haecliat-aspas, are as real, and are alluded to with a simplicity as unconscious as any characters in history. Except inspiration, there are also no miracles." We shall still often have occasion to refer to this, I might say, realistic character of the Gathas, and the truth of the thesis established by us above, that the Gdthds belong to the epoch of the foundation of Zoroastrianism,* will then in due course appear to the reader himself. It will occur above all when we fix our eyes upon the parts played by Zarathushtra and the other characters in the Gathas, who in the traditional history of the Parsees are regarded as his contemporaries. The later legend regarding Zarathushtra, his life, and his works, furnishes us with the following details from which we have excluded all embellishments which can easily be recognised as such. 1 Zarathushtra is descended from a kingly family. His pedigree can be traced back to Minucheher. Among his forefathers are Spitamaand Haechat-aspa. Pourushaspa is his father. The holy religion is revealed to Zarathushtra by Ahura Mazda ; and by Zirathushtra first of all to Maidyo-mah, the son of Zarathushtra's uncle Arasti. At the command of God Zarathushtra goes to the court of King Gushtasp of Baktria, in order to promulgate his doctrine there. The wise Jamaspa is the King's minister. The prophet succeeds in winning him over to himself, as well as his brother Frashaoshtra, next the King himself and his 1 Cfr. Spiegel, Erdnisnhe Altertumskunde, Vol. I, p. 684 seq : " Gushtasp and Zoroaster, " translated from the German of Spiegel, by Darab Dastur Pcshotan Sanjana, vide Vol. II of the " Civilization of the Eastern Iranians," pp. 180192. 9 consort, and therewith he puts the new frith on a firm footing. Zarathushtra married Hvovi, a daughter of Janiaspa. He died at a mature age, having- been destined to live lono- enough to witness the first fruits of O O his announcement of the religion. CHAPTER I. THE AUTHORSHIP OF THE GATIIAS. Now we east a glance at the names of persons occurring in the Gat has. It is very remarkable that they all relate to the legend about Zarathushtra as we have already abridged it by excluding from it all exaggera- tions. We find mentioned the names of Zarathushtra, Vishtaspa, Jamaspa, Pourushaspa, besides Maidhyo- rpfiogh ; the family names of Hv6gya, Spitama, and Haechat-aspa ; and the families of Jamaspa and Zara- thushtra themselves. Lastly, the daughter of the prophet is mentioned. But, with a single exception, \ve find none of the names very often occurring in the well-known heroic legends of Iran and also in the remaining parts of the Avesta neither Thraetaona nor Keresaspa, neither Haoshyagha nor Kavi Htisrava nor Arjat-aspa, Yima only is named in a single passage. Is this a mere accident ? Or, rather, is not the assumption more probable that theGathas are descended from Zarathushtra himself and his companions, and delineate the experience, hopes, wishes, and fears of that narrow circle from which they have emanated ? It will be easy to ascertain the truth of this assumption, if we undertake to examine the passages where these names occur. 10 Zarathushtra is, to my knowledge, named altogether sixteen times in the entire Gathas ; in the Gatha Ahunavaiti three times, in the Gatha Uahtavaiti five times, in the Gatha Spenta-mainyu twice, in the Gatha Yohu-khshathra twice, and lastly, more often in proportion to its extent, four times in the Gatha Vahishto-ishti. Nevertheless, this last Gatha plainly appears to me to be the youngest of all. The introductory strophes in which Zarathushtra, Kavl Vishtaspa, Pouru-chishta, the daughter of Zarathushtra, and Frashaoshtra are mentioned, seem tome to compre- hend a retrospective view of the Zoroastrian epoch. I do not believe that these strophes have originated directly from any of these persons. Of greater importance are the passages wherein Zarathushtra speaks of himself in the first person. As for instance, Yasna XLVI, ]9, says : " He who in righteousness seeks to evince goodness to rne to me Zarathushtra for him the heavenly spirits will grant as a reward that which is most fit to strive for, namely, the eternal beatitude/' I mean, it is evident, that we have here before us words uttered by Zarathushtra himself. Such a passage is perfectly distinguished from the passages of the later A vesta, wherein the prophet does not speak himself, but is made to speak by the composer of the texts ; as for example, the beginning of Yasna IX (which undoubtedly contains an old hymn, but which at the first glance seems to have originated long after Zarathushtra) when it says: "At the time of morning Haoma came to Zarathushtra as he was consecrating the fire and reciting aloud the Gathas. And Zarathushtra asked Haoma : 'Who art thou then, man ! Who art of all the incarnate world the most II beautiful in thine own body of those whom I have seen, O glorious one ?' " We are certainly authorized from the entirely distinct manner in which Zarathushtra is mentioned in the former and the latter passage, to draw a con- clusion as to their relative age. In an analogous way Prof. Oldenberg has recently proved a remarkable dis- tinction between the older and the younger hymns of the Rig-vedd, according as the manner of the poet's expression is such and such, which may or may not demonstrate the fact of his having been synchronous with certain historical events. Thus Higveda VII, 18, is distinguished from the rest of the hymns of the same book as far older, because Its author speaks of the great battle which King Sudas fought as of something which had but just happened, while in other hymns mention is made of the same battle as an event of the past time. But if we accept the strophe, Tasna XLVI, 19, as the words of ZaiMthushtra, we might just as well assert the same undoubtedly for all the hymns contained in the same chapter. It is, however, uncommonly rich in personal allusions. In the 14th strophe Zarathushtra is accosted with the words : " O Zarathushtra, who is thy friend?" This, nevertheless, does not at all controvert our opinion that all these hymns originate from Zarathushtra himself. The poet in a purely poetical liveliness lets this question be put to himself, upon which he himself gives the answer :" It is he himself, Kavi Vishtaspa." Expressed in other words, the passage simply means : " I have found no better fiiend and adherent than Kavi Vishlaspa. " 12 Further on, the poet, i. e., Zarathushtra, alludes to his own family, the Spitamidse, and makes mention of Frasliaoslitra and De Jamas pa, and, at the end, in the ivords quoted above, speaks of himself in the first person. And he promises all those that joined him, paradise as the reward of the faithful. If we nest refer to the Gatha Ushtavaiti, we find in it another hymn, viz., Yasna XLII1, which vividly reminds us of what is described above. Here, too, the poet asks himself the question : Who art thou then, and whose son ? And ag.iin he gives the answer himself: "1 am Zarathushtra, an open enemy of all evil ; but to the pious I will be a powerful helper as long as I am able to do so/' And the poet concludes this time with a reference to himself in the third person : "Now Zarathushtra and with him all those who adhere to Ah ura Mazda, declare themselves for the world of the Good Spirit." This use of the third person, when the poet speaks of himself, should not surprise us. It is found exactly so in the Rig-veda. Here it is said : c So has the Vasishtha, i.e., I, the singer, who is descended from the race of the Vasishthn, praised the powerful Agni " (VII, 42, 6 ) ; and then again : " We, the Vasishthas, wish to be thy adorers" (VII, 37, 4 ) ; and so on expressed in one form or another. Evidently, it was thus quite usual in the ancient hymnology that the composer mentioned himself in the third person, and this use is also not quite unknown in our modern poetry. From the Gatha Ushtavaiti we pass on again to the Gatha Ahunavaiti. Here we light on a striking change. In Yasna XXVIII, 7-9, the poet 13 speaks of himself in the first person ; so there exists also no doubt that lie lived in the perioi of the foundation of the new doctrine ; however, I am inclined to think that Zarathushtra is not the author, but one of his friends and contemporaries In the three strophes mentioned above (Yasna XXVIII, 7-9), the same poet prays to God in the following manner: " Bestow (Thy) powerful spiritual help upon Zarathush- tra and upon all of us ;" in the next strophe : i( Grant power unto Vishtaspa and tome ; " and in the following verse : " I beseech Thee, grant the best good to the hero Frashaoshtra and to me/' The parallelism is so clear in these three stanzas that we can only assume that the poet here represents himself as somebody distinct from Zurathushtra, Vishtaspa, and Frashaoshtra. Hence he was not Zarathushtra himself. Just as the Gathic Yasna XXV III does not originate in my opinion from Z irathushtra, but from one of his disciples or adherents, so also does the Gathic Yasna XXIX. In the latter hymn the composer or the bard makes geush-urvan, " the kine-soul," implore the heavenly spirits for help and for salvation from the misery and embarrassment in this world, which be- fall her from, evil people. The heavenly spirits make her look for the mission of Zarathushtra as a prophet, by whose teaching or doctrine the remedy against that evil shall be procured. Geush-urvan, however, is not satisfied with this promise, since she does not wish to have a powerless mortal as helper and saviour. Now, according to my interpretation, this Gatha XXIX concludes with a strophe, wherein Ahura Mazda promises that He would help on the weak ones and replenish Zarathushtra with His grace and power, so that 14 He might bo capable of thereby carrying out His difficult commandment. But whatever may be the case, whether this Gatha concludes actually in the somewhat uncertain manner in which it does in its present surviving shape, or whether the strophe which formerly formed the end is lost, ir seems very probable that the original composer of these hymns was not Zarathushtra himself but one of his friends, who refers to the prophet as the man that was chosen and sent into this world by God for the purpose of annihilating the work of the evil people. The remaining chapters or hymns of the Gatha Ahunavaiti present no sure clue to its authorship. In Yasna XXXEIl, 14, Zarathushtra is only once mentioned in the third person : '' Thus, as an offering Zarathushtra gives the life of his very body," which does not enable us to form any opinion. But. it is certain that all these hymns belong to the life-time of Zarathushtra. They presuppose all the relations and conditions of life which, as we shall see further on, are characteristic of that period. But whether the prophet himself is their author, appears to be uncertain. Several times their tone and character are doctrinal, and the dogmas of the Zoroastrian religion are explained at large, which seems to speak more for the assumption that a disciple of the prophet had composed them, who had now clothed in a compact and definite form and transmitted to the people of the world whatever he had heard directly from the prophet's mouth. In the Gatha Spenta-mainyu (Yasna XLIX, 8) the poet mentions himself along with Frashaoshtra without even specifying his own name. In the 15 following stanza Jarnaspa is mentioned in connection with another professor of the new doctrine, who, might perhaps be understood to be Vishtaspa. (Vide Dr. Mill?, S. B. E., Vol XXXI, p. 1G6). 1 Nothing prevents us from believing that Zarathushtia is the great speaker. It is, however, certain that the poet lived in the age of the prophet. The forty-ninth hymn ends with the words ; " What hast Thou as a help for Zarathu^htra who invokes Thee 1 " which does not speak quite against the authorship of the, prophet. Of still greater importance is the hymn that follows, Yasna L, 5-6, a passage the light sense of which has first been explained by Dr. Mills. ' 2 Here mention is made of Zarathushtra in the third person, as of one who declares the songs and sayings or the mdthras to Ahura Mzda and the heavenly beings, a lid then prays : " In good mind may he announce my laws." The author here evidently stands next to Zarathuslitra, just as we have already observed him 1 Yasna XLIX, 9 : " Laws let the zealous hear to help us fitted ; Let no true saint hold rule with the faithless, Souls should unite in blest reward ings only ; With Jamasp thus united is the brave (hero) ! " [Vide "The Sacred Books of the East," p. 167 seq. : " The mrst striking circumstance here, after the rhetorical and moral religious peculiarities have been observed, is the sixth verse ; nnd as to the question of Zarathushtrian authorship, it is the most striking in the Gathas or the Avesta. In that verse we have Zarathushtra, not named alone, which might easily be harmonized with his personal authorship, nor have we only such expressions as * to Zarathushtra and tons' (Yasna, XXVIII, 7) ; but we have Zarathushtra named as mahiyd rnzeng sdhit, ' miy he declare my regulations,' which could only be said without figure of speech, by some superior, if not by the prime mover himself. Were these verses then written by the prime mover 1 And was he other than Zarathushtra 1 Zarathushtra was mentally and personally the superior of all of them. In fact, he was the power behind both throne and home, and yet without a name ! " Trans, note]. 16 in Yasna XX VII I, Perhaps it is Vishtaspa who here speaks, perhaps Jamaspa. At all events he appears to be less a priest than a prince or a grandee in the land, \vho makes use of the important authority of Zarathushtra in order to introduce in league with C him all kinds of reforms in the political and social order of affairs* We will observe that Zarathushtra is in fact a great reformer in social as well as religious matters, therefore, such an idea is not absolutely impossible. That the Gatha Vahishto-i>hti belongs in my opinion to a later, perhaps even a post-Zarathustrian period, I have briefly stated beforehand. As to the still surviving hymn, Yasna LI., i. e. 9 the Gatha Vohu- khshathrem, I would again be inclined to ascribe it to Zarathushtra himself. This assumption is already confirmed by the fact th it this hymn bears unmistakeable resemblances to Yasna XL VI, which we likewise assume to be Zaratlmshtra's own. Dr. Mills has referred to it in the thirty-first volume of (< The Sacred Books of the East," p. 182. Just as in Yasna XLVI, IV so in Yasna LI, 11, the poet puts himself the question : " Who, Aluira ! is a loyal friend to the Spitama, to Zarath- ushtra?" He answers then for the first time in the negative : u Vicious heretics and false priests have never gained the approval of Zurathushtra " (see 12). 3 These are exposed to perdition, while Zarathushtra 1 f 1-1. " Whom hast thou Zirathushtra ! thus a holy friend for the great cause? Who is it who thus desires to speak it forth ? " (Zarathushtra answers.) u It is our Kavi Vishtaspa, the heroic." Trans. note~\. 2 " Paederast never gained his ear, nor kavi-follower/' (Mills> S. B. E.) 17 grants to his followers the prospect of paradise as their reward (see 13-15). And now he enumerates all his friends : In the first place he names Kavi Vishtaspa, then the livogvid Frashaoshlra and Jamaspa, and, lastly, the Spiiatriid Maidhyo-maogh. Characteristic are the words at the conclusion of strophe 18, which, however, seem to be suiuble only in the mouth of Zarathushh'a : " And grant me also, Mazda! that they, that is Vishtaspa and Frashaoshtra and Jamaspa, may adhere firmly to Thee." Accordingly, God is solicited to fortify and strengthen the belief of the first adherents, so that they would truly adhere to the doctrine of Zarathushtra, which they have already recognized as true and right. The results of our investigations upon the personal names occurring in the Gathas, and specially upon the references to Zarathushtra in them, are as follows : 1. The Gathas were all composed in the age of Zarathnshtra with the single exception of Yama LIU, and they are distinguished, therefore, essentially from the rest of the Avesta in which Zarathushtra is a personage of the past period. 2. Some of the Gathic by rnns, particularly Yasna XLVI, XLLX, and LT, were very probably composed by Zaratitushtra himself. 3. Other hymns do not directly proceed from Zarathushtra, but from one of his friends and followers or disciples, which m-iy be proved with s >rne certainty from Yasna XXVIII, XXIX, and L. 4. Under all circumstances we have here a collec- tion of hymns wherein the same spirit prevails throughout, and all of which give expression to the same wishes and hopes, sorrows and fears, to the same 18 joyfulness of the faith, and to the same trust in God. Our theme " Zarathushtra ID the Gathas " is, therefore, now to be treated more concisely as : THE REFORM OF ZARATHUSHTRA ACCORDING TO THE CONTEMPORARY DELINEATIONS OF THE GATHAS. CHAPTER II. THE RELIGIOUS AND SOCIAL REFORM OF ZARATHUSHTRA. As we have stated above, Zarathushtra was a reformer as much in the social as in the religious sphere. A glance at the contents of the Gathas, provides us uith sufficient information as to this. No groat reform can be achieved without the waging of battles, and in point of fact it is a period of embittered fighting which un- folds itself before our eyes, when we look at the scenes portrayed in the Gathas* We may represent the matter in the following manner. The Arian people, that is, the still united Indo-Iranians, in their migrations from the Oxus, had descended southward and settled themselves in the river valleys situated to the North and South of the Hirdu- kush. But here the habitable soil which was available, was insufficient for the accommodation of so great a num- ber of tribes and races. New masses pressed after them from the North, and so it happened that the tribes that had moved forward farthest to the South, had stretched far to the East and entered the valleys of the Indus. A remarkable schism had thereby taken place. Those of the Arians who remained behind in the earlier settle- ment on the Hindukush, formed the subsequent Iranian nation ; while those who emigrated towards the East, the subsequent Indian people. The latter were then pass- 19 ing through the Kig-veda epoch of civilization, whilst conquering the modern Panjab in their fight with Dasa and Dasyu. Now for the Iranians, too, an important period of their history began. The land which they had in their occupation, did not prove quite sufficient to maintain a larger number of nomadic races with their herds ; for such were the Iranians of that period. The land also was favourable to nomadic life in many parts where the mountains run towards the steppes and gradually subside into lower and broader ridges ; but in other parts where the ground is rough, rugged, and mountainous, it hindered the free and unlimited wandering of the nomads. Thus, naturally, one portion of the Iranian tribes Avas very soon compelled to take to a settled life and to practise agriculture. The Iranian people of the Gathic period were, in fact, sub-divided into husbandmen and nomads, and in the sharp opposition, which obtained between the two, the prophet Zarathushtra played a prominent part. In a number of Gathic passages we see him standing as an advocate of the settled husbandmen. He admonishes them not to be tired of their good work, to cultivate diligently the fields, and to devote to the cattle that fostering care which they deserved. And far and wide spreads the dominion of husbandmen and "the settlements of the pious people increase," in spite of all molestations^ all persecutions, arid violence, which they have to suffer from the nomads who attack their settlements in order to desolate their sown-fields and to deprive them of their herds. It may be sufficient to hint at this primitive condition here in a few words, since this social revolution, which the A vesta-people passed through in the Gathic period? 20 has already been described at length (in my stir An- ische Kullur im Alterthum'}^ and we may avoid repeat- ing the same in this place. What is hera of special interest to us is the spirit and the religious sentiments of Zarathushtra, and of hi> friends and first adherents as they appear in the great conflict, and as far as it can he understood from the Gathas. The conflict between the nomads and the agricul- o turists, between the followers of the prophet and his enemies , was bitter and of varying fortune. There were times of despair and extreme embarrass- ment, so that the prophet, disparagingly utters the words: " To what land shall I turn ; aye, wherein shall I enter." And he laments that even his friends and relations leave him beset with difficulties, arid the rulers of the bind refuse in give him their protection and support (Tiasna XLVI, 1). Yet such outbursts are proportionately rare in the Gathas. Zarathushtra arid his friends, indeed, know about a helper out of all difficulties. It is Ahura Mazda, Who has sent them, and Who guides them in all their ways ; unto Him they turn in times of distress, and on Him they look with a firm trust in~God. The poet Z imthushtra, therefore, continues after the opening words of the hymn, which are cited above : "Yen, I know that I am poor, that I possess scanty herds cr flocks, and scanty followers ; I cry to Thee, he- hold on me, Ahura I and bestow on me help even as a friend bestows help on his friend." (Yasna XLVT, 2.) 1 Dnrab Dastur Peshotan SSnnjana, 1*. A,, Civilization of the Eastern Iranian? in Ancient Times," Vol. II., pp. 119 seq. 21 The consciousness that Aliura Mazda Himself ha* sent Zarathushtra into this world for the purpose of announc- ing the new doctrine to mankind, and that God stands always by his side as hits adviser or guide, conies out pro- minently in the Gathas. The prophet directly express- es it (Yasna XLV, 5), when he says that God com- municated to him the Word which is the best for man. From the beginning he was chosen for that Revela- tion (Yasna XLIV, 11). He declares himself prepared to undertake the functions and duties of a prophet: " I will profess myself as Your adorer, and will continue so as long as I may be able through the support of Asha-^ and he prays only that Ahura Mazda may bestow success on his work (Yasna L , 1). With pride he styles himself the " friend" of Ahura (Yasna XLIV, I) 1 , who truly and firmly adheres to Him, and who on his part can rely on His help. In another passage (Yasna XXXII, 1) Zarathuslitra and his disciples call them- selves "the messengers" of Ahura Mazda, through whose mouth God revealed to the world Mis mysteries, that is, His Revelation that was unknown and unheard of till then. Here we are vividly reminded of the same expression ( maldk ) occurring in the Old Testament, which denotes principally angels who serve as *' the messengers of God," and who act as intermediaries between Jehovah and man. Then again it denotes the prophets and priests who serve as representatives of Jehovah on earth, and exercise his will ; and, lastly, even the whole Israelite nation which is sent by God among the heathens in order to convert them. Here as well as there, namely, among 1 Compare analogous passages in the Rigveda 2-33-10 ; 5-85-8 ; 7-? 9-8; etc. 22 the Israelites as well as among the Iranians, the consciousness is clearly manifest that the new religion is not the work of a man, but 'that God Himself speaks through His prophets, and that the latter are sent ou their mission hy Him, and that they are His servants, His heralds or His messengers. This confidence in God has its highest and surest support or confirmation in the belief that, earlier or later, every man has at least to share in, or submit himself to, the lot which is assigned to him by the divine justice, and which he deserves in consequence of his good or bad actions. If in this life the evil person seems oft enough to enjoy an undeserved happiness, the punishment which is his due will, however, befall him directly in the next world. A life in darkness and torment and torture of the soul awaits him yonder. But, on the other hand, the prophet is able to console and strengthen his faithful adherents in all their miseries, struggles, and persecutions, by alluding to the joys of paradise which God will bestow on them in the next life. ( Cfr. Yasna XXX, 4 ; XXXI, 20; XXXII, 15; XLV, 7 ; XLVI, 11 ; and XLIX, 11). In point of fact such a firm confidence in the divine dispensation, and in an adjustment between reward and punishment in the next world, is always indispensable when enemies abound, when the good cause is found in the highest danger and numbers only a few followers who adhere to it faithfully. The enemies of the new religion, in the first place, the nomadic tribes that feel disdain for settled life, the establishment of agriculture and careful tending of cuttle, still pray to the old nature-gods, the daevas. 23 the devas of the Indians. In the eyes of the ad- herents of Zarathtishtra, or the Gathic Zarathushtrians, these daevas become distinctly evil existences, deceitful idols, and demons. Those men or women who follow these daevas or demons, and offer to them sacrifices and reverence, are called friends of the daevas (daevd- zushtd t; dear to the daevas" in Yasna XXXII, 4), just as Zarathushtra and his followers are designated the friends of Ah lira. And still more in a strophe of the Gathas the authors say: "Among the unfaithful to Ahura are seen the demons themselves in bodily forms, and the name of daeva shall, likewise, be applicable to such men. " ( Yasna XXXII, 5, etc.) Another denomination for the unfaithful enemies is the word khrafstra (Yasna XXXIV, 9), which may mean perhaps "vipers." In another passage they are called khrafstrd-hizvd " having viperous tongues," (Yasna XXVIII, 6), and in a third strophe (Yasna XXXIV, 5) the khrafsfra-men are named imme- diately and synonymously with the daevas them- selves. The unfaithful have also their priests, the Usij t the Kavis, and the Karapans (compare Yasna XLIV, 20). The unfaithful are generally designated by the word dregvanio ; the pious on the contrary are called saoshyantd in certain passages (Yasna XXXIV, 13 ; XLVII1, 9; and especially in XLVIII, 12). They (viz., these priests) are naturally the most inveterate enemies of the new doctrine through which their gods are dethroned, and they themselves lose all their influ- ence on the people. The false priests, the Usij, the Kavis, arid'the Karapans, often succeeded in bringing the rulers over to their side. "With the princes have the Kavis and the Karapans united," so complains the holy 24 singer in Yasna XLVI, 11, in order to corrupt man by their evil deeds. Self-evidently it was of the highest importance lhat the rulers should come to a determina- tion as to the side they should take in such a matter ; for if the prince professed the new religion or stood opposed to it, his subject as a rule very likely followed him. Hence it is that Zarathushtra now and then praises the religious fidelity of Vishtaspa, and hence the reason why the poet prays to God: "May good princes reign over us, but not wicked princes ! ' Among the princes that stood against Zarathushtra as his enemies, the mighty Bendva might be included, who is mentioned in Yasna XLIX, 1-2. From the context of the passages we can of course conclude that he stood on the side of the infiuels. A family or a race of princely blood were probably the Grthma (Yasna XXXII, 12-14). Regarding them it is said that they, having allied with the Kavis and the Karapans, have established their power in order to overpower the prophet and his partisans ; but sneeringly it is said of them that they will attain in hell the sovereignty for winch they are striving. With all their adherents, the idolaters and false priests, they will go to eternal perdition. But the prophet, who is here in this world so much abused and distressed, will enter with his family, relations, and followers, into the joys of paradise. Now, it is interesting to observe how the composers of the Gathas place themselves in contrast with these their enemies, and what sorts of ideas and sentiments they set forth against them. First, it is regarded as a sacred obligation to convert the infidels by means of words and doctrine (Yasna XXVIII, 5). The religion as of Zarathusbtra is a religion of culture, of spiritual and moral progress and proficiency. It penetrates through all conditions of human life, and it considers every action of life, as for instance, the clearing of the soil, the careful tending of herds, and the cultivation of the fields, from the standpoint of religious duty. Hucli a religion, or such a philosophy, cannot be confined to a narrow circle; the propagation of it and the conver- sion of all men to it, are ideas which are at the basis of its very essence. We, accordingly, find complete hymns, as Yasna XXXand XLV, which were evidently intended to be delivered before a numerous audience, and in which Zar&thushtr*), or one of his friends, expounds the essential points of the new doctrine for the approval of the hearers. Such a position follows clearly from tiie beginning strophe of the forty- fifth Gat hie hyrnn : , 15), Whosoever deprives the liar and the false teacher of his power or of his life, can count upon Ahura's favour or grace ( Yasna XLVI, 4 ). In any case, however, the v/icked will not escape the eternal judgment, and if not already in this world, certainly in the next world, Ahura will inflict punishment upon them and dash them into the torments of hell and damnation ( Yasna XXXI, 20 ; XLV, 7; XLVI ? 6, 11 ; XLIX, 11 ). CHAPTER III. ZARATHUSHTRA'S MONOTHE[SM. That the Reform of Zarathushtra called forth a lively agitation of the mind, that it even gave occasion to bloody combats and wars, is easily understood from the contents of the Gathas. It brake away almost entirely from all ideas extant before the Gathic period, and offered in fact something quite new. It placed itself in a conscious opposition to the religion of nature which had been handed down from the old Arian times, and was still cherished by the people ; and whatever it took over from the nature- worship and retained in itself, was exalted into a far higher moral sphere and penetrated with its spirit ; and thus the form acquired a new substance. Here we speak of the Gathas and their contents, not of the entire A vesta, because it seems to me -and t!ie surviv- ing chapters will prove it that the Gathas plainly pre- serve Zoroastrianism in its purest and most original form, a* the founder of this sublime religion had thought out and imparted it. If the present Parsees, the modern professors 29 of the Zoroastrian religion, would learn to be familiar with its contents and spirit, as it originated directly from the prophet, they would always have to refer to the Ga- thas ; and they ought to endeavour to penetrate deep into the meaning which is indeed often obscure and difficult, I helieve that it will also have an important practical effect in increasing their love and esteem, and in preserving in a pure state this religion as a rare and valuable pos- session. The prophet, too, qualifies his religion as "unheard of words " ( Yasna XXXI, 1), or .as a " mystery " (Yasna XLVIII, 3), because he himself regards it as a religion quite distinct from the belief of the people hitherto. The revelation he announces, is to him no longer a mere matter of sentiments, no longer a merely undefined pre- sentiment and conception of the Godhead, but a matter of intellect, of spiritual perception and knowledge. * This is of great importance ; for there are probably not many religions of so high an antiquity in which this funda- mental doctrine, that religion is a knowledge or learning^ a science of what is true, * is so precisely declared as in the tenets of the Gathas. It is the unbelieving that are unknowing ; on the contrary, the believing are learned, because they have penetrated into this knowledge (Yasna XXX, 3). Every one that is able to distinguish even spiritually between what is true and what is untrue, will enlist himself on the side of the prophet (Yasna XL VI, 15). Between the truthful (adrujyanto, "not speaking lies" ) and the liars there is strictly the same antithesis as between the believers and the unbelievers, the adherents and the opponents of the new religion (Yasna XXXI, 15, etc.). It is thereby expected from every individual that he or she should take a place in the 30 great question, and come to a decision on the one or the other side. " Man for man " shall the people examine or test whatever the prophet has announced to them ( Yasna XXX, 2), and learn thereof the truth. Clearly enough it is an open hreach with the old national religion. To the follower of Zarathushtra the religion is no longer a e< reliance" on unknown and more or less c? unintelligible higher powers; it is to him rather a "freedom" of the spirit, an exempton from all super- stitions and false notions, an independent penetration into the perception of the divine truth which was to him a mystery before then* That the religion should develope from a feeling of dependence into that of freedom, is the most important step that could be taken generally in the sphere of religious life. We will again mention the Old Testament where belief and perception, unbelief and folly, are likewise regarded as identical ideas. I need only refer to the famous passage of Psalms 14, : "The fool speaketh in his heart. There is no God. Corrupt and abomi- nable are their works ; there is none among them, that doeth good. But Jehovah looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that seek God ; but ail are apostatized, all are corrupted; none is there that doeth good, no, not one," (Cfr. Psalms 53, 2.) But wherein consists the new doctrine " unknown till then " of the Zoroastrian religion, as it clearly emanates from the Gathas ? It exists in the prepon- derating monotheistic character of this religion. Its founder has got rid of the plurality in which the Godhead had been split up by the popular belief and naturalism, and elevated himself to the preemption SI of 'the divine unity which pervades nature in manifold ways. It is sufficiently known that in the Zoroastrian religious system Ahum Mazda is conceived as the Ruler and Commander in heaven and on earth, and as the Highest and the First of the Genii. This double name 4 in the given consecutive order, occurs in the later A vesta as the constant and established designation of God, Exceptions to this use are not found in it, or are certainly met with very seldom only. The case is different in the Gathas, and I come thereby to a most highly significant distinction between the old hymns and the younger fragments of the Zoroastrian religious documents Such a name as became afterwards stereotyped for the Godhead, does not yet exist in the Gathas. We find sometimes Ahura, sometimes Mazda, sometimes Ahura Mazda, and sometimes Mazda Ahura applied to the Deity. God can be designated by " Lord " (Ahura) as well as by "All-wisdom or Omniscience 1 ' (Mazdao*). It seems even that in the Gathas the appellative signi- fication of the two names had been felt still more than in the later writings. This is proved by the passages wherein Ahura Mazda (Yasna XXX, 9 ; XXXI, 4), or Mazda alone ( Yasna XXXIII, 1 ; XLV, 1), is used in the plural number. The Mazddongho then evidently form the totality of the heavenly spirits. If we further consider the fact that in tho old Persian Cuneiform Inscriptions of the Achaemenian dynasty occurs the name of God, Auramazda, as a single word which is only inflected at the end, it certainly follows hence that we have to deal here with the results of development in different historical epochs. Generally speaking, Zara- thushtra had not found out originally any exact proper 32 tiame for the Godhead. He designated Him sometimes by one, sometimes by another name, but we can trans* late mosfc of the different names, which are used in the Gatlias, simply by " God." Later on the name Ahura Mazda was strictly adhered to exactly in the same relation and succession of the two words, and therewith was now for the first time created a real or definite name of the Deity, the use of which corresponds to the name of Jehovah in the Old Testament. In a still later period the two names blended into one, because they were continually used in the same succession as though they formed a compound. Nevertheless, both the component parts are still discernible from the name Auramazdd, since they are both declined in one passage only of an Inscription of Xerxes. The last phase of development is represented by the forms of the name used in middle and modern Iranian dialects: Pahlavi Auhar- mazd, and modern Persian Ormazd. The blending of the two words is here so complete that they do no longer bear an independent meaning in the final form. Now the essence of polytheism consists in the religion in which man exalts the different powers of nature separately to individual godheads, and fixes the limit of their sphere of activity against each other. Generally speaking, we can, therefore, call the religion of the Rigveda a polytheistic doctrine. Indra is the god of weathers ; Agni rules over the fire ; the Maruts are the genii of storms. However, there exist already in the Vedic hymns ideas which lead us gradually upwards from polytheism to monotheism. We can observe how the virtue or efficiency of one or more gods is here and there transferred to an individual god. This is especially the case in many of the hymns 33 dedicated to Varuna. In those hymns Varuna is represented as the creator of the universe, as the giver of all ^ood thing?, as the warden of truth, and the avenger 'of sins. (Vide Rigveda I, 25,20 ; II, 27,10 ; VII, 86, 1 seq. ) In other sacred songs the same qualities and powers are transferred to other gods: thus Indra, Soma, and Agni may he occasionally regarded as the highest gods. Of the last mentioned god, Agni, it. is said directly in Rigveda V., 3, that he is the same as Indra, Vishnu, Savitri, Pushan, Rudra and Aditi ; accordingly he is identified with the whole body of the gods. Thus we can observe in the Rigveda how the singers and priests search after the conception of the divine unity, and how they are kept away from it for this reason only that they have not the moral courage to break with the notions, conceptions, and names, which are handed down since ages. In the Gathas the position. is different. The important step which the Vedic singers lingered to take, was adopted by the Gathic Iranians. The plurality of the nature-gods is set aside, and one God is selected in their place, who compre- hends all, and is as great and as powerful as the Jehovah of the Old Testament, and at any rate not more anthropomorphous than the latter. In the 104th Psalm, Jehovah is extolled as the creator and regent of the world. "Light is the garment which he puts on. He stretcheth out the heaven like a tent. He vaulteth his chamber with water. He maketh the clouds his chariot and ascendeth upon the wings of the wind. He maketh the winds his messengers and the fire-flame his ministers. He propeth the earth upon its foundations so that it quaketh not for ever. He 5 3,4 created the moon to regulate the seasons, the sun knovveth his going down. Thou makest darkness that there will be night, wherein all the beasts of the forest stirabout. The young lions roar after their prey and seek their meat from God. The sun riseth ; these beasts runaway and coucli themselves in their dens, when the man gotth out to his work and keepeth himself to his daily labour until the evening.'* I would put side by side with this Psalrn some stan- zas from the Gatha XLIV, where Ahura Mazda appears as the almighty God, Who created the universe, Who maintains it, and rules over it. The resemblances be- tween the 44th Gatha and the 104th Psalm strike us Dt once, and we must concede without any hesitation that the author of the 44th Gatha has penetrated into the perception of God, the Creator of the \\orlcl, not less profoundly than the poet of the Psalms. In Yasna XLIV, 3-5 and 7, it is said: (3) ''This I ask Thee, give me the right answer, O Ahura! Who was the Generator and the first Father of the world-system f. Who showed the sun and stars their way ? Who established it, that the moon thereby waxes and wanes, if Thou doest not ? These things all, Mazda ! and others still I should like to know/' (4) "This 1 ask Thee, give me the right answer, O Ahura ! Who hath firmly sustained from beneath the earth and the atmosphere, That they do not fall down ? Who created the waters and the plants ? Who hath given their swiftness to the winds and the clouds ? Who hath created, O Mazda ! the pious thoughts (within our souls) ? " (5) "This I ask Thee, give me the right answer, O Ahura! Who hath created skilfully the li^ht and the darkness? Who hath made skilfully sleep and activity ? Who hath made the auroras, the midday, and the evening, Which remind the discerning man of his duties?'' (7) "This T ask Thee, give me the right answer, O Ahura! Who hath created the blus;cd earth together with the sky ? 35 Who hath through His wisdom made the son in the exact image of the father ? I will call Thee, Mazda! the judicious, As the Creator of the universe, the most Bountiful Spirit." The correspondence of the religious ideas mentioned above in the Gat hie hymns and the Psalms, is in point of facfc unique. The conformity to law in nature, such as the course of the stars, the waxing and the waning of the moon, and the succession of the day-time during which man's activity is fixed, attracted the attention of both the poets. In the Gdihds Ahara Mazda, in the Psalms Jehovah, is the Creator of the Order of the World. As such Mazda is freely and frequently mentioned in the Gatlias, He is " the essen- tial Creator of the Order of the World.'' H ait It yd ashahijd damish, in Yasna XXXI, 8, an appellation which we must emphasize, as it will hereafter be of importance for considering the relation in which Ahura Mazda stands o to the Amesha-spentas. If Ahura Mazla is the Creator of the world, He, too, deserves all those attributes which are ascribed to Jehovah in the Old Testament. As we have already re- marked Ahura Mazda is the Holy and All-just; He hales the evil or wicked, and punishes them in this world as well as in the next according to their due; but He takes the pious under His protection, and bestows etfiMal life upon them. He is the Immutable, Who is "also now the same' 1 (Yasna XXXI, 7) as He has been from eternity ; He is the Almiyhty, Who does what He wills (Vast-khshayas, Yasna XLIII, 1) ; He is the All- knowing Who looks down upon man from heaven (efr. 36 Psalms 14 quoted above), and watches all their projects and designs which are open or secret (Yasna XXXI, 13). Ahura JWazda isa Spirit] He is a Being, Who cannot be invested with human traits of character; He is the Spenishtd Mainyu, 1 u Most Bountiful Spirit " (Yasna XLI1I, 2), the Absolute Goodness or Bounty. In fact, anthropomorphist.ic ideas or representations are very rare in the Gathas, Where such ideas occur, they are to be interpreted as the simple result of poetical usage or license. To Zarathushtra Ahura Mazda was doubt* less as much a spiritual, supersensible, incomprehensible and indescribable Being, as Jehovah was to the poets of the Psalms. Ahura Mazda is certainly called in Yasna XXXI, 8 ; XLV,4;XLV1I, 2, the Father of Vohu-manft, Asha, and Armaiti;butitis to be remembered that Vohu-man6, Asha, and Armaiti are only abstract ideas: u the pious rnind, holiness, humility and devotion." Hence it positively follows that we have here not to deal with human ideas or conceptions such as are current in the Greek and Roman mythology; but simply with a poetical mode of expres- sion. It means nothing more than saying : God is the Father of all goodness, yea, He is "our Father." In Yasna XLIII, 4, mention is also made of the c hands" of Ahura Mazda. It would be ridiculous if we were to trace therein any anthropomorphism whatever. Such phrases Zarathushtra could use as naturally as the Christian does, when in his prayers he lays all his cares and wishes in the fatherly hands of God. his neither 1 la other Gathic passages Spentd-mainyti, seems to be a Ipeinf dUtinct from Ahura Mazda; it is perhaps a particular trait of His nature by which he becomes the giver of bounty in the creation (.Yasna XLV, 6 ; XLVIF, 1 ; etc.) 37 heathenish nor Muhammedan nor Zoroastrian nor Christian, but a common mode of human expression. However, any traits which would allow us to infer that Ah ura Mazda had been represented in a certain figurative form in the oldest period of Zoroast nanism, o 7 are certainly not to be derived from the Gathas. If we find in later times, as for example, in the monuments of the Achsemenian kings a figurative representation ofAhura Mazda, I think we ought not to lay much stress upon it. In the first place it is to be observed that the Persians of the Achsemenian period had obtained Zoroaslrianism as something foreign from without ; thus they may have added or changed many religious notions^- Secondly, has not also Michael Angelo drawn an image of the God Father and therewith given to the ecclesiastical artof the West a type forthe representation of theGodhead? We have seen that Zarathushtra has arrived at the idea of an Almighty, All- wise, and All-just God, of a Creator and Preserver of the world ; and he has thereby provided his people with the monotheism in the place of a poly- theistic nature-worship. Further, we have seen that the manner in which this sole Godhead is conceived, vivid-, ly reminds us of the representations of Jehovah in the Old Testament, and indeed so well in the general as in the many particular characteristic features. Never- theless, I declare it as an entirely mistaken assumption that Zarathushtra borrowed the Jehovah idea directly or indirectly from the Israelites. We find nowhere else in the entire A vesta any traces of actual contact between the Iranians and the Semites, which would justify a theory of a borrowing of religious notions or conceptions from one another. Again the cult of Ahura Mazda has yet its genuine national stamp in spite of all resemblances 38 with the Jehovah-worship. Let us only consider the close connection of the religions and economical life, which plays so prominent a part already in the Gat has, and forms a characteristic feature of the entire Avesta. Generally I regard it as most hazardous to assume a > borrowing on the basis of simple resemblances of religious ideas. If Ahura Mazda and Jehovah bear a certain affinity in idea and comprehension, that is plainly owing to the reason that we have to deal with a monotheism among the Iranians as well as among the Jews. But when monotheism is once firmly established, then certain similar ideas are sure to be forthcoming, which are peculiar to monotheism and form part of its essence. He who does not altogether deny that a people or a pre-eminent genius at. any time among a people, can attain independently to the idea of the unity of God he who does not dogmatically adjudge the monopoly of monotheism to the Jews will surely agree with me in the assertion that the Iranians iiad in a very olden time, and without any influence from without, independently acquired through the Zoroastrian Reform the possession of a monotheistic, religion. CHAPTER IV. THE THEOLOGY OF THE GATHAS, We now approach an objection which might possibly be raised against our comprehension of Zarathushtra's doctrine. It might be asked : Is then Zoroas- trianism, indeed, a positive monotheism ? Does not the Avesta extol and profess the existence of a complete list of good spirits such as the Amesha-spentas, Mithra, Sraosha, Verethraghna, Haoma, Ardvi-sura, and others ? Have not several of these good spirits, as for example 30 AJithra, forms which are derived from the pre-Zoro- astrian times and are also met with in the Indian Vedic hymns, and which consequently belong, no doubt, to the Avian nature-worship? We do not wish to misapprehend the importance of these objections. We are willing to concede to them even a certain justification and truth. But here is the point where we have surely to distinguish between the Gdthds and the rest of the Avesta, between the doctrine as it comes directly from Zarathushtra himself and as it developed among the people later in the course of time. If, indeed, we consider the Gabhas alone, we light on a far purer monotheism. In the later Avesta the doctrine appears confused and restricted in different ways. Even to-day the Parsee will have to prefer the Gathas, if he wishes to understand his religion not only in the oldest, but also in the purest form. How sharp and definite the representation of the genius Mithra appears in the later Avesta, especially in the Mihir Yasht dedicated to him. He is the genius of the morning-sun, who brings hither the light. As such he is the enemy and vanquisher of the demons of night. But he is also the yazata of truth, of rights and con- tracts. The sphere of his might ranges still further. He is prince and king of the earth, the helper in battles whom the warriors invoke at tho commencement of fighting, and who helps them onto victory. Lastly, lie takes vengeance on the wicked. He especially inflicts punishment on liars and violators of promise. 1 In a similar manner we can describe Tishtrya* from the later Avesta. He is the yazata of stars, in parti- 1 Compare Spiegel, Enhiische Alterthumskunde, Vol. IT., pp. 77; se%. 2 Comp. ibid, pp. 70 ; seq. 40 tmlar lie presides over the star Sirius. To him is attri- buted the power of distributing rain on dry fields. He fights against the demon of aridity and barrenness. That he has generally in his hands the dominion of the stars cannot be surprising. Also the Fravashis? the manes, allot the fertilizing water over the earth ; they distribute in general all sorts of good things, cause trees and plants to thrive, and are like Mithra helpers in war and fighting. In short, we have in the later Avesta to deal with genii who vividly remind us of the gods of the .Rigveda, of Varuna^ Indra, Mitra, and others. If we now turn again to the Gathas, the subject appears to us in quite a different light. Here the names of a Mithra or Tishtrya are not mentioned even once. The Fravashis, too, are never directly alluded to ; so also Haoma, or Verethraghna the angel of victorious battles, or Anahita the angel of the waters. In the Gatlias \ve fail to find the names of all those good spirits who in the later Avesta are especially drawn as plastic represen- tations, and who mostly appear exhibited with individual attributes. Are we to explain this as a simple accident ? I would regard such a supposition, of course, as an error, although I am convinced on the other side, however doubtful or critical every documentum e silent io is. There are sometimes circumstances under which we arrive at nothing by the assumption of an accident, and by which much obscurity and confusion is caused. If in the Gathas we could nowhere find a convenient occasion for mentioning Mithra or Tishtrya or the Fravashis generally, it might be explained as an accident when their names do not occur. But such opportunities of 3 Gomp. Spiegel ^Er&nische Altvrthumsltunde, Vol. II,, pp. 91 gey. 41 mentioning these good spirit?, occur sufficiently often in the Gathas. Why is Mithra, for example, not alluded to in the passages where the conflict against the unbelievers is mentioned 7 It is said of Mithra in Yasht X, 36 : - <( Mithra opens the battle, lie takes his place in the battle ; And standing in the midst of battle He breaks asunder the lines arrayed (for the battle)," Or, the Fravashis, too, would have been here fitly invoked ; for " They bring the greatest help in fearful battles." (Yasht XIII, 37). Besides, the Gathas speak very often of fields and herds ; but even with such an opportunity Tishtrya is never referred to. although he renders the fields pi blessed and the herds thriving. Similar is the case with regard to the other good spirits of whom, too, the Gathas make no mention. One cannot say that in general no occasion is found to name them ; but their non-mention is evidently the result of an object aimed aL The entire character of the Gathas is so philosophical, abstract, and transcendental, that such yazats or angels as are mentioned above would be quite unsuitable in their theology. I do not say that Zarathushtra and the other poets of the Gathas knew altogether nothing about Mithra or Tishtrya or Anahita. These yazats were, no doubt, much revered by the people ; but the prophet did not approve of such a cult. He wished to substitute higher and more philosophical ideas in the place of these good spirits, who in their entirety too much resembled the gods of the old Arian nature- xvorship. All those genii that are named in the Gathas along with Ahura Mazda, are in point of fact such abstract conceptions ; their position with reference to the 6 42 monotheistic doctrine of the Gathas as is set forth by me, will be indicated later on. Mithra, Tislitrya, and other yazats, who are not men- tioned in the Gathas, are in the later Avesta pretty strongly anthropomorphized. They are conceived and described quite in the same way as the godheads of the Rigveda. They are represented in human form, as man or woman (like Anahita), wearing armour and clothing, bearing weapons, driving in chariots, and dwell- ing in palaces. Sometimes they appear even in the shape of animals. Bat, as we have observed, such anthro- pomorphous conceptions are quite foreign to the Gathas. Those genii, on the contrary, who with Ah lira Mazda are mentioned in the Gathas, especially the Amesha- spentas, are very little, or properly speaking not at all, anthropomorphized even in the later Avesta. Sraosha perhaps forms only an exception. In the Gathas he is wholly an abstract figure ; but, in the later Avesta he is described as a jvenius whose attributes o exhibit many resemblances to those of Mithra. Hence, we are able to establish an authoritative distinc- tion between the theology of the Gathas and that of the later Avesta. In the former only such genii have their place near God as are principally nothing more than abstract ideas; in the latter, on the contrary, are also mentioned such genii as appear in more plastic forms and may be compared with the gods of the Indians who were originally of the same tribe as the Iranians. If from amongst the names of the genii who belong to the latter category, only one or two did not occur in the Gathas, we should be inclined to call it perhaps an accident ; but where the distinction is one so continuous and almost without an exception, cer- tainly we ought to recognize therein a systemand purpose* 43 Now, the question is: How did those genii who are more and more anthropomorphized like Mithra, etc., get into the Zoroastriau system in later times ? I believe that it is not at all difficult to explain this. The Zoroastriau Reform is an energetic opposition against the ancient Arian nature- worship. Consequently, not a single one of the genii that belong to the latter cult, occurs in the Gatbas. Every opposition naturally goes to the extreme point and seeks its success in the absolute annihilation of the existing system. In a passage of the Gathas (Yasna XLVIU, 10) the cult of Haoma, at least in the form in which it was at that time practised, is even put clown as something despicable and abominable. * But on such a practice must follow a reaction in due time. The results to which this reaction led, are placed before us in the theological system of the later A vesta. Here we light on a compromise with tho older national reli- gion. The gods, who were revered in the latter, are, notwithstanding their altered and spiritualized form, taken back into the new religious system, in order to form to a certain extent the holy retinue and court of Ahura Mazda. However, as we have said, the ideas undergo many transformations ; they are adapted to the new circumstances, and this is effected particularly by placing more in the foreground the moral side in the nature of an individual genius than the physical side. This corres- ponds with the essence of the Zoroastrian system in general, which is principally founded on an ethical basis. The modern Parsiisrn, according to the whole tendency of our a^e, will have again to embrace the form of his 55 j O religion, as it is given in the Gathas. It will place the philosophical element of his faith in the front just in the 1 [Doubtful. The Fahlavi seems to have understood "magic." Omp, S. B. K., Vol. XXX I. F.ny. Trftn* ] 44 same way as the Christian will more emphasize the moral power of his religion than its dogmatic doctrines. By giving prominence to what is common to the different religions, the connecting bridge bet ween them is directly found* To the development of the Zoroastrian religion, as I have described it, similar analogies are afeo found amongst us in the West. In Germany, too, the lirst pro- elaimers of Christianity proceeded with the object of extir- pating heathenish beliefs. Nevertheless, at thisday every intelligent and unprejudiced investigator concedes the fact that many a heathen element is still foand hidden in our national ideas and customs* It is well-known that in the saints as they are worshipped in many coun- tries of Germany, particularly by the country-people^ are revived old heathen gods, or rather they are pre- served in altered forms and designations. Thus T7wr, the god of tempest, the constant attendant of Wotan> has become Saint Peter and we can no longer be astonished if Peter has also taken upo himself, according- to popular belief, other functions too, which had belonged to his heathen predecessor, as for example,, the causing of rainy weather. The old conception of a god bringing down the rain has even been retained, but connected with the person of Peter, as Thor r s name had no lono-ep a place in the new church. As regards Par&iism the case was different. Herein the old appellation also came into n*e with the religious idea itself. We must here remark that Farsiism is y however, an outcome of the old Iranian nature-religion, while the old German national belief was something foreign to Christianity. Thus a compromise was entered into between Christendom and Heathendom by the former accepting many popular 45 ideas which are deeply rooted in the heathenish belief, but impregnating them with the Christian spirit. Now, the celestial beings whom the Gathas mention along w jth Ahura Mazda, are, as I have alieady stated, principally the six Amesha-spentas: Yahu-mano, Asha, Khshathra, Armaiti, Haurvatat and Ameretat, to whom I add Sraosha and Ashi. It is not my intention to explain in detail the conceptions that are connected with these Amesha-spentas. It would be an idle re- petition. 1 For our purpose it may only briefly be said that Asha is the genius of the cosmic and moral order as well as the warden of fire ; his mane signifies tc piety/' Vohn-mand is the good and pious mind ; he protects the herds, with the breeding of which is also united the nursing of the pious mind or feeling. Khshathra denotes the *' kingdom," the dominion of the pious and faithful here on earth, and the kingdom of heaven in the next world. Armaiti is the " humility" and ''devotion," the preserver of the earth. Haurvatat <\n(\ A meratdt denote "welfare" and ''immortality;" they rule over water and plants. Sraosha is "obedience," especially to the will of God and the precepts of the holy religion. Also Ashi appears to bear a similar meaning in the later Avesta. Now the question which here interests us is : In what relation do these Amesha-spentas stand to Ahura Mazda? Will the monotheism, admitted by us in the theology of the Gathas, be not impaired and restricted through them, or perhaps even be abandoned? If we take an external view of the matter, we must concede that the Amesha-spentas scarcely seem to play a part inferior to Ahura Mazda. The word Asha, for example, occurs in 1 Cfr. " Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times/* Vol. I., pp. XXXII; eq. 46 the Gafchas about 180 times ; the name Mazda about 200 times ; Vohii-manb (also V alii slit em- mano) perhaps 130 times; and the rest of the names, of course, not so often. It is not the number of times that a name is mentioned, which enables us to conclude from external evidences as to the varied value of the different ideas ; and still there exists such adislinct difference, that it is quite impossible to place Mazda and Asha in one and the same grade, nay, even to compare them with one another. Mazda has become, indeed, a proper name to designate the Highest and only One God, 110 less than Jehovah in the Old Testament, or Allah in the Muhammedan reli- gion. Asha, on the contrary, and even the other Arneslia- spentas named above, can only occasionally attain to a sort of personification, the original abstract signification being still clearly perceived. In the majority of passages the abstract idea is the only right meaning; in others we would hesitate to fix the correct import of the word, nay very often the double meaning is perhaps aimed at by the poets of the Gat lias. Similar personifications of abstract ideas are occasionally noticed also in the Psalws (vide 85,11-14) : "Near lieth Jehovah's help unto His adorers, so that glory will stay in the land. Mercy and truth have met together ; and righteousness and peace do kiss one another. Truth shall spring out of the earth ; and righteousness shall look down from heaven. Jehovah, too, shall grunt happiness, and our land shall yield her produce. Justice shall go before his sight and stalk forward upon her path. " * Strictly speaking, Asha and Yohu-mario, Khshathra and Armaiti, when they designate abstract conceptions, 1 [ Here I have followed the authorized English Version of the Bible. Eng. Trans.'] 47 are, in the first place, no special genii who stand in a line with Mazda ; but they represent certain powers and qualities of the Godhead, which are included in Mazda and in His Essence. Such is at all events the original idea; but we do not wish to argue that these Amesha- spentas never and nowhere arrived at a certain indepen- dence. This is particularly the case in those passages where the Amesha-spentas are named together with Mazda, and stand perfectly parallel to Him. In that case 1 might compare them with the angels of the Old Testament. The latter were, likewise originally, only phenomenal forms of Jehovah Himself, and later on I hey constituted to a certain extent His followers and companions or His court. Thus, for example, Mazda's narno appears amongst those of the first Amesha-spentas (Yasna XXVIII, 3): " You, O Asha ! will I praise and the Vohu-mano, the in- comparable, And the Mazda Ahura, with whom the eternal Khshathra is united, A And the blessing dispensing Armaiti : come hither to my call to help me ! " And quite similarly Yasna XXXIII, 11 (cfr. also 12 and 13). "Thou Who art the most beneficent Ahura Mazda, and Armaiti, And Asha who furthers on the settlements, and Vohu-mano and Khshathra, Hear me, have mercy upon me, have always kind regard for me for ever." That Asha and the other Amesha-spentas are, nevertheless, only an emanation from the Essence of Mazda, is poetically expressed in His designation as their Father and Progenitor as well as their Creator. Where God is regarded as the Creator of the spiiits existing by and outside of Himself, there can be no reference to any kind of polytheism. The question then Whether 48 there are any spiritual existences outside of God, who stand to a certain extent as intermediaries between Him and man has nothing to do with the definition of the idea of monotheism. In reference to the theology of the Gathas it is still to be fully maintained that the names of the Amesha-spentas are chiefly abstract conceptions. When Mazda is called the Father of Asha, it only signi- fies that He ha-s created the moral p,nd the cosmic order. Hence He is also designated Ashd hazaosli " of one will with Asha;" since what He does is in accord with the world ordained by Him. Or when He is called the Father of Vohu-mano and Annaiti, it signifies that all good inten- tions and all humble devotion, that is, every life which is agreeable to God, depends upon Him or emanates from Him. Consequently, the belief in the Amesha-spentas does not interfere with the monotheism of the Gatldc theology. In spits of all, Ahnra Mazda stands out as the Almighty Being (Yasna XXIX, 3). It is He Who gives decision upon all, since everything happens according to His will ( Yasna XX IX, 4). He is of one nature with them all, or, as the poet puts.it: He dwells together with Ahsa and Vohu-mano (Yasna XXXII, 2 ; XLIV, 9), that is, He has these powers at His disposal; they stand at His command. They issue from Him, and go back unto Him. Ahnra Mazda existed first of all. Khshathra and Armaiti, Vohu-mano and Asha are associated with Him as natural evolutions from His Being. Such powers only emanate from Him. He allots them unto men (Yasna XXXI, 21). He stands far above them: " This I ask thee, give me the right answer, Ahnra ! Who hath created the blessed Armaiti together with Khshathra? Who, through his wisdom, hath made the son in the im.ige >f the father ? 49 I will designate thee, Mazda ! to the intelligent, as The Creator of all, Thou Most Bountiful Spirit!" (Yasna XL1Y, 7) Lastly, I have still to add a few words with reference to Ashi and Sraosha. How much the theology of the Gathas differs from that of the later Avesta is plainly manifested by these yazats. In the former Ashi can scarcely be considered the name of a genius as in the latter. The word has in the Gathas rather its original abstract signification : reward, or recompense ; then blessing, or success (Yasna XXVIII, 4; XLIII, 1, 5, etc.}. I cannot specify any Gathic passage where ashi may be conceived with some probability as a proper name. The progress of the development of an abstract idea into the name of a yazata is clearly perceptible as regards the word ashi in the period which intervenes between the epoch of the Gathas and the age of the later Avesta. Similar is the case with Sraosha. In the later Avesta the word denotes throughout a genius of a pretty fixed and permanent nature with distinct individual charac- teristics. In a still later time he is described as the messenger of God, who has to convey His orders unto man. However, no such traits are observable in the Gathas. Here we discover only the first beginnings of the personification of the word in such passages as Yasna XXXIII, 5 where the poet invokes the "mighty Sraosha, " and Yasna XLIY, 16 where the author implores the bestowal of a commander for protection against enemies, and wishes that " Sraosha with Vohu- mano" may accompany him, in other words obedience to the holy religion and pious mind. In the latter passage, I believe, a double sense is implied ; but in other passages where Sraosha occurs it has the etymological abstract 7 50 meaning of *' obedience," " devotion"; or the concrete meaning of " the obedient," " the devoted," "the pious." The contrary expression asrushti hence signifies the disobedient" in Yasna XXXIII, 4 and XLIY, 13. We can now sum up the results of this chapter in a series of propositions as follows : (1) The theology of the Gathas is more abstract and philosophical than that of the later A vesta. It represents the oldest and most primitive form of the Mazdayas- nian religion. (2) The veneration of the more popular divinities such as Mithra and Tishtrya, is unknown to the poets of the Gathas. The cult of these yazatas was first adopted in a later epoch by a sort of compromise with the popular religion. (3) The theology of the Gathas is monotheistic. Mazda Ahura is the Godhead per se. (4) This monotheism is in no way interfered with by the genii alluded to in the Gathas, since these Amesha- spentas and yazatas are only hypostases of abstract conceptions, they are everywhere comprehended in their original import, and stand, moreover, in conformity with their nature under Mazda, being themselves regarded as His creatures. CHAPTER V. ZOROASTRIANISM IS NOT A DOALISTIC RELIGION. The Zoroastrian religion has often been called a dualistic religion. This term we are, however, only then authorized to apply to it, when we understand under dualism a religious system wherein the existence of a power working in opposition to the good-creating and good-wishing Godhead, is also assumed besides 51 Him. In this sense the Old Testament religion may, likewise, be denoted a dualistic system. Strictly speak- ing-, we could only then point to a religion as a dualism when both the good and evil principles stand one against the other with equal rights, and are equally mighty; when both influence the world to an equal ex tent ; and when man feels himself equally dependent upon and acted on by both of them. But where man can, by the power of his moral freedom of choice, decide upon goodness, and turn himself away from evil or vice, as is conspicuously often manifest in the Gathas, the term " dualism " is no longer justified in my opinion. The existence of a dualism would, as I believe, require, among other things, that man should persevere in evincing the same veneration to the evil spirits as to the good spirits, that he should offer to the former sacrifices and prayers in order to propitiate them and to avert all sorts of mischief caused by them, as in (their) turn he offers them to the good spirits in order to share in their blessings. 1 need scarcely here empha- size that no traces of such ideas are found in the Avesta- The Avesta, of course even in its oldest parts, recog- nizes an evil spirit, who in every point stands opposed to the good spirit. The assumption of his existence should be the solution of the question, which every philosophic mind will naturally dwell upon, as to how evil comes into the world, if the Deity is essentially good and can, accordingly, produce only good things. Whence originate crimes and sins ; whence all the misery and imperfections, which cling unto man as well as to the whole creation ? Zarathushtra and the other poets of the Gathas have endeavoured to solve that question in a philosophical way, and I will make an attempt, 52 in the following pages, to expound briefly their system as it seems to unfold itself from the Gathas. I Bay " seems," because the Gathas have not at all in view the object of developing a system of philosophy. Their composers do not mean to address individuals from amongst the people, but the whole community ; because they chiefly take into their consideration the practical side of reli- gion, viz.y ethics, and not the philosophical form of its doctrine. We must, therefore, assay to construe from the brief indications and isolated passages of the hymns the ideas which may have presented themselves before the minds of these poets upon the question of evil. Naturally, these are distinct passages wherein the prophet is led by the context to speak of the nature of evil. But (in regard to this) we must at once renounce all claims to be able to represent clearly all the individual traits of the philosophical system which Zarathushtra may have established for himself. In reference also to the principal points, such as I shall attempt to describe, opinions might frequently differ. Others will very easily find out certain passages, of which the meaning has not been sufficiently established by me, or which appear to be not quite consistent with my own views. In the later Avesta, the opposition between the spirits of the good and the evil world is also carried through formally and most precisely. As Ahura Mazda stands at the head of the former, so Angra Mainyu stands at the head of the latter. As opponents of the six Amesha-^spentas or arch-angels stand the six arch- demons: Akem-manb is opposed to Vohu-mano ; Indra or Andra to Asha ; Sauru to Khshathra ; the demon of arrogance, Ndoghaithya, to Spenta-armaiti ; Taurn and 53 Zairicha to Haurvatat and Ameretat. Then follows the army of the good spirits oflight against the band of the daeva and druj. In the Gathas the system, as it appears to me, is no* so thoroughly developed. Agra Mainyu occurs here only once as the name of the evil spirit, and of course in a single passage (Yasna XLV, 2) where spanydo mainyush and not, as one would expect, Ahura Mazda, is mentioned as his opponent. Likewise, ako mainyush occurs only in one passage (Yasna XXXII, 5 ) ; ahem mano is found twice named (Yasna XLYII, 5 ; XXXII, 3), which, however, has in other passages the original abstract sense of " evil mind," and achishtem mano also twice (Yasna XXX, 6; XXXII, 13), which is employed as an appellative of the evil principle. Now at the first glance it might seem as though agra mainyush and ako mainyush were formally the adversaries of spenta mainyush, and akem mano and achishtem mano of vohu mano and vahishtem mano* However, such is not the case in the Gathas. All these names evidently denote, without any distinction, the evil spirit who is called simply Agra Mainyu in the later Avesta. Thus, for example, in Yasna XXXII, 3, the daeva, are designated as the brood (cithra) of Akem- mano who must be, in such a context, manifestly the highest and the head of the world of evil spirits. The same is probably the value of Achishtem-mano, when it is said in Yasna XXX, 6, that the demons flock together around him, while the good spirits are associated with, or collect around, Spenta Mainyu (Yasna XXX, 7, andcomp. 5). Nay, it even appears that in the same passage Aeshma, too, which is otherwise the name of a particular demon, serves only as the appellative of Agra Mainyu. 54 Now as regards the exposition of the relations in which the good spirits stand to the evil spirits, it is im- portant to note that there is no regular counterpart principally of the name Ahura Mazda. The names which serve as designations of the evil spirit, stand rather as counterparts of the name Spenta-mainyu or Vohu-mano. But where both the good and evil spirits are named together (Yasna XXX, 4-7 ; XLY, 2), the good spirit is not, denoted by Mazda, but Spenta- (spanydo, spenishta) mainyu. The essential function of Spenta-mainyu himself does not even seem fully clear in the Gathas. He is sometimes identified with Ahura Mazda (Yasna XLIII, 2), sometimes he is distinguished from Him (Yasna XLV, 6; XLVII, 1) ; he must hence be a divine being who sometimes rises to the level of the Highest Godhead ; sometimes he is distinct from Him, and leads a separate existence. If we were to compare all these data we should be able to characterize the philosophy of Zarathushtra approxitmately as follows : The Highest Being, the Godhead, is plainly Ahura Mazda. He is by nature good, and only goodness emanates from Him. Evil is the negation of goodness; it exists only in relation to the latter, just as darkness is only the negation of light. Now so far as Ahura Mazda is the positive, to whom evil forms the negative, He is called Spenta-mainyu, while evil or its personification is Agra-mainyu or Ako- mainyu. Both Spenta-mainyu and Ako-mainyu are hence represented as twins (Yasna XXX, 3); they do not exist alone for themselves, but each in relation to the other; both are absorbed in the higher Unity, Ahura Mazda. They existed before the beginning of the world ; their opposition is exhibited in the visible world. Ahura 55 Mazda is the Creator of the universe, but as He, in the form of Spenta-mainyu, creates anything, the negative counterpart of Him is given, i.e., as the poet expresses it in a popular form, Agra-mainyu, the evil spirit, who produces evil in opposition to goodness (Yasna XXX, 4 seq.*). The first thing which the twins produced, is life or death, or, as it may perhaps be philosophically expressed, the being and not being, wherein the double side of their nature is marked. Thus, if Spenta-mainyu creates light, the darkness, or the not being, or the absence of light, is the contrary creation of Agra-mainyu ; if the former gives warmth, the negation of warmth, viz.) cold, originates from the latter. All evil is, consequently, to the Zoroastrian not something properly realistic, existing in and for itself, but only the failure of goodness. Therefore, it is self-evident that good and evil throughout are not parallel ideas of equal value, but the latter has a purely relative existence. If we admit this, we must also assert that Zoroas- trianism cannot be called a dualism in the proper sense of the term. Now, as soon as we ask the question : How does man stand in relation to these two opposite principles ? we thereby directly touch upon the sphere of ethics. But when we interrogate : What is the final end (at the last judgment) of this opposition between good and evil? we come therewith to the subject of eschatology, the doctrine of the last things, the end of the world and the last judgment. Both ethics and eschatology are specially weighty points of the Zoroastrian religion. Both naturally stand in a close reciprocal relation. So early as in the Gathas we discover numerous and important hints upon ethics and eschatology. 56 It is a well-known fact that the entire system of Zoroastrian ethics is based upon the triad of u good thoughts, good words, and good actions, " the humata, hukhta, and hvarshta. This, indeed, presupposes a high standard of moral culture, when the sin in thought is placed on the same level with the sin in action, and, therefore, the root of all actions as well as the mea- sure of every moral discernment is perceived in the mind. We must hence aver that the founders of the Avesta religion at least attain to that stage in ethics to which only the best parts of the Old Testament rise, and that they display an inclination towards that depth of moral intuition which is perceptible in Christianity. Now, we must emphasize this fact that at a very early period the Gathas knew about this ethical triad which also sways over the entire later Avesta. There is no doubt, therefore, that the foundation of thjs ethical system had been laid by Zaratluishtra himself. The character of these ethics is thus in fact so personal and individual that we are involuntarily forced to as- sume that it is the product of an individual super- eminent spirit which, endowed with special moral gifts of nature, has attained to such a keenness and preciseness in the conception of the moral laws. That this doctrine developed out of a whole nation, so that it was to a certain extent the property of a community, and gradually took the form in which it is represented in the extant Avesta, seems to me quite incredible. The poet says in Yasna XXX, 3, that the two spirits that had existed from the beginning, the twins, had announced to him in a vision what is good and what is evil in thoughts, words, and actions. In like manner, Yasna LI, 21 designates piety as the fruit 57 of tli e thoughts, words, and deeds of an humble mind. On the contrary, evil thoughts, evil words, and evil works, emanate from the wicked spirit (Yasna XXXII, 5). In the service of God this ethical tripartition is manifested in the devout feeling which the adorer shall foster, in the good speech which he utters, and in the offering ceremony which he performs. But it would be- only a limitation which is not vindicated by the A vesta- texts, were we to regard this triple moral idea exclu- sively as ritual expressions. That the mind or thought settles the fundamental tone of this moral triad, so that speech and actions must be dependent upon it, and judged according to it, is clearly enough declared by; the prophet when he speaks of the words and deeds of a good mind (Yasna XLV, 8). Now as to the position of man in relation to good and evil, the most conspicuous point in the ethics of the Gathas is the complete free choice which belongs to every individual. According to the Zoroasfcrian stand- point, no man stands under any ban whatever of destiny, of a destiny originating from eternity, which binds him and oppresses his will. There is here no original sin for which he has to suffer as the result of the faults of his parents, and which cripples his strength in struggling against evil. The evil lies not in him but out of him. He can let evil approach him and admit it in himself, but at the same time he can keep it off from himself, and struggle with it. This is certainly a sound moral standpoint which places all responsibility upon man himself, and deprives him of the possibility of making any excuse for his laxity by saying that the matter did not lie in his power (or was a result of destiny). 8 58 That the determination in favour of good or evil is a matter of free choice, is typically signified by the fact that the demons, too, place themselves, out of a peculiar motive, on the side of the Evil Spirit. They are, therefore, not evil by nature, but they become so by foolishly declaring themselves in opposition to Ahura Mazda (Yasna XXX, 6). Nay, it is even a free voluntary act of the Evil Spirit himself that he chose sin as his sphere of action, while Spenta-mainyu made the choice of piety and truth for himself (Yasna XXX, 5), And, likewise, it is only the pious and faithful who make the right choice of the good thoughts, good words, and good deeds; but not the impious (Yasna XXX, 3). This doctrine of the free volition of man conforms with the opinion already expressed by me above that religion is a matter of understanding or judgment, and that righteousness and truth on the one hand, and impiety and falsehood on the other hand, naturally stand in the closest connection. According to the Zoroastrian idea, moreover, man is not fettered with a blind fate, nor prejudiced in his judgment by hereditary sins. God has given him his power of judgment, aud he who has ears may hear, and he who has intellect may choose, what is right and true. The sinner is a fool, and the fool a sinner. The Zoroastrian well understands how great the danger is for each individual, and in how many differ- ent ways evil manifests itself in the visible world arid threatens to cause the downfall of the pious. His life is, therefore, a constant and indefatigable struggle or combat against evil. It would be superfluous here to cite all the Gathic passages which touch upon this ear- nest conception of life as an everlasting combat in the 59 fulfilment of the true obligations. The exhortation that every one shall persevere in righteousness and devotion, and shall not get tired of it, forms rightly and precisely the fundamental tone of most of the Grathic hymns. Piety is the most ardent, wish of the poet (Yasna XXXII, 9). He implores Armaiti that she may let him firmly adhere to the faith (asha), and that she may grant him the blessing of a p.ious mind (Yasna XLHI, 1). The faith is the highest goodness (vahishtem) which he can acquire from God. He implores the Deity to obtain this highest good for himself as well as for his adherent Frashaoshtra (Yasna XXVIII, 9). The high- est goodness is the property of Mazda. From Him it reaches unto men when the Holy Word is announced to them (Yasna XXXI, 6; XLV, 4). In this respect the Gathic hymns stand far higher than those of the Eigveda. In the Gathas the gifts or possessions which the poet longs for, are almost exclusively spiritual and moral ones; it is ooly in isolated cases that material gifts form the object of his wish. The Vedic singers, on the contrary, pray for hore.es and cattle and splendid riches. The absence of cult and ceremonies is a conspicuous feature of the Gathas when contrasted with the later Avesta. In the latter, regularly recurring prayers, offerings, recitations, and purifications, which are under- gone daily or at certain occasions, play an important part; they form the very contents of the Vendid4d^ the religious code of the Zoroastrians. The guardians of these numerous precepts are the priests, who have to watch over their fulfilment, and to impose the due penance upon the negligent and tardy people who trans- gress them. The whole life of the Zoroastrian is governed by these precepts of purification and their minute obser- 60 vances. But if we glance at the Gathas, we discover no trace of all these precepts and customs. The reason of the absence of any such trace may be explained in two ways. Either we may assume that the context in the Gatha, the tendency and* object which their authors pursued, generally offered no occasion to speak of any ritual and ceremony; or we may account for this phenomenon by supposing .that in the epoch wherein the Gathas were composed, generally speaking no such detail of precepts had existed; but that the whole system gradually developed to perfection when the community became more and more established, and the new doctrine found wider and wider extension. I believe that we should feel no hesitation in following the latter explanation. The Gathas are, indeed, not completely silent as regards the external forms of the divine worship. They allude to the hymns of praise whereby the Deity is adored by man (Yasna XXXIV, 6; XLV, 6, 8 ; L, 4). According to Yasna XLV, 10, Ahura Mazda is exalted by offerings; and they are the deeds of the good mind whereby one approaches God {Yasna L, 9), and propitiates the holy spirits (Yasna XXXIV, 1). But these are quite general ideas. The ethics of the Gathas are in such a high degree internal or mental ; they recognize so decidedly or precisely the piety in a hnly course of life and in an energetic struggle against evil, that the idea seems to be hardly compatible with the belief that a reward can be gained by the conscientious observance of external ceremonies at any time. The expression which denotes in the later Avesta the fulfilment of the precepts of purification, is yaozhddo, which occurs only once in the Gathas (Yasna XLVIII, 5). The Gathas do not mention even Gl once a common name for the priesthood. They, of course, refer to the whole community of the believers, and particularly, as it seems, to the teachers and pro- claimers of the new religion, by a distinct word saoshyanto. This word, however, bears quite a different meaning in the later Avesta, in which the priest is denoted by dthravan, an expression which is entirely wanting in the Gathas. Without the existence of a priestly institution, however, the observance and manage- ment of a ritual entering so much into minute details, just as the Vendidad teaclies, is inconceivable. The absence of any reference to the priesthood as well as to a well -organized system of ritual and ceremonies can be quite easily explained by the general condition of civilization such as is described in the Gathas. Herein the Zoroastrian community is represented as a rising generation, the doctrine is still a new one, not long known to the people, nor spread among them. However, those two phenomena, viz., priesthood formed as a separate institution, and a developed system of religious usages and precepts, come into existence only under settled circumstances. They presuppose a certain tradition, a longer period of deve- lopment in which it became possible to place the system on a firm footing not merely as regards its general characteristic principles, but also its finish in details. The principal traits of Zoroastrianism are, nevertheless, presented in the Gathas, its detailed outward structure being found in the later Avesta. There seems to be no doubt that this outward structure certainly corresponds in all points to the spirit which permeates the Gathas. As we have already observed, the Gathas did originate in an epoch of ardent conflict. Very often we find the 62 believers in need and distress, while the godless and disbelievers in the doctrine rejoice and seem to claim the victory in the fight. When the thought naturally occurs: How are the righteous indemnified for the wrong which they endure here on earth, and how are the impious who appear to enjoy good luck and success, punished for their crimes ? Hence, in the earliest period of Zoroastrianism the conception of a com- pensating justice meted out in the next world, was already strong. It formed one of the ground-pillars of the entire system ; for without this hope the faithful adherents of the doctrine would scarcely have overcome triumphantly all the persecutions which they must have suffered at the beginning. Like the Christian martyrs of the first century, they forbore all the afflictions of this world in the hope of the joy and happiness which awaited them in the next world (Yasna XLV, 7) : "When they will receive the reward of their deeds, Those who are living now, those who have lived, and those who will live ; Then the soul of the pious will be happy in eternity. But never will end the torments of the disbeliever; Thus Mazda hath established according to His power." Thus merit and fate are adjusted in a divine court of justice. This judgment is twofold, one individual, and the other general. The individual judgment is administered to every individual soul after its separation from the body ; the general judgment, on the contrary, to the whole body of the souls at the end of the world, viz., the doom's day. With the latter follow, as it would seem, the perfect separation of the wicked from the good, and the abolition of the negative after which the positive, realistic, and the good alone will survive. So far s we can conclude from the indications in the Gathas regarding the fate of the souls after their separa- 63 fcion from the body, the ideas of this epoch correspond to those of the later A vesta. The judgment takes place at the Chinvat Bridge which connects this world with the next. The pious soul crosses this bridge in communion with the souls of all those who have zeal- ously striven for the good on earth (Yasna X.LVT, 1.0). It now enters into the 4< spiritual world" which in the Gathas is often contrasted with the visible and corporeal world (Yasna XXVIII, 3). Yonder it shares in the highest beatitude, which consists principally in the soul beholding Mazda and the heavenly spirits face to face, and dwelling with them together in Eternal Light. <4 Asha, when shall I see Thee," asks the poet in Yasna XXVIII, " and Vohu-mano, the possessor of knowledge, and the abode which belongs to Ahura in particular?" To the great discomfort of the evil souls, the righteous souls will be conducted in the future to the abode of the Blissful Spirit, according to Yasna XXXII, 15. Whosoever has overcome lying and deceit by dint of truth, will receive from Mazda the heavenly kingdom and the eternal bliss (Yasna XXX, 8); and whosoever has adhered firmly to the Veh-Din "Good Religion," will enter unhindered the dwelling of Vohu- mano, Asha, and Mazda (Yasna XXX, 10). God will bestow eternal life upon those who follow Zarathushtra (Yasna XLVI, 13), and this life is a life of bliss, for the Garodemdna y li the Abode of Hymns," is called in Yasna XLV, 8 the paradise in which the pious dwell. Further, we observe that the Gathas, consistently with their entire character, consider the blissfulness in the next world as an essentially spiritual one, just as in the Christian religion it rests in the " beholding of God " (schauen Gottes), in the close communion with the 64 Godhead. We hardly find any such traces among the Indians. Here Zoroastrianism exhibits a strong opposi- tion to the natural religions, which conceive the life after death as a continuation of the future life with all its joys, advantages, and habits; but without its sufferings and pa in ful ness. While the soul of the righteous joyfully crosses the Chinvat Bridge, which leads him to the Kingdom of Heaven, the soul of the sinful is stricken with fear and terror, in the presentiment of the penal retribution awaiting him (Yasna LI, 13). The Divine Judgment exiles the soul into Hell. Just as the Kingdom of Heaven is pure light, so is darkness the abode of the demons (Yasna XXXII, 10, achishtahyd demdne mananglw " in the abode of the evil spirit," is the formal and real antithesis to the vangheush d demdne manangho in strophe 16). It is in the abode of the demons that the sinful soul is received by the evil spirits with scoffing and disgrace, and entertained with loathsome food (Yasna XLIX, 11). But as pure spiritual joys make up the essential constituent of Paradise, so there are, likewise, essential spiritual torments under which the soul of the wicked has to pine after his death. Such a soul is severed from Mazda and the blessed spirits ; it dwells with the demons in eternity ; it is particularly tormented by its own conscience which accuses it and condemns it (Yasna XLVI, 11). Thus tranquillity and serene joy ful ness are for the blessed on the one side, and trouble and remorse and repentance for the damned on the other. Such is the compensation in the next world for the disproportion between reward and punish- ment which we so often perceive in the life of man here on earth. G5A Such a recompense or retribution is allotted to each individual immediately afrer death. The material work, however, is not destined to last for ever. It will in the future be annihilated. Thus the final judgment is united with the end of the world. Already in the Gathas this idea (of the next world) is clearly observable. The general judgment does not stand in contradiction to the individual judgment. The latter finds its solemn confirmation in the former, and we may probably assume that at the final judgment evil will be annihilated and banished from the world. The Gathas, nevertheless, do not speak definitely upon this subject, but the later Avesta contains this doctrine, and we dare say that without it the notion of a judgment at the end of the world would be almost without any object. In the hymns the final judgment is apparently not quite distinguished from the individual judgment. Mazda Who existed from the beginning of the world has laid it down that in His power evil shall be the retribution of the evil, and good the reward of the good at the end of the world. The pious will entf-r the heavenly kingdom of Mazda at the end of the world (Yasn;i XLIII, 5-6 ; LI, 6), that is, he will outlast the destruc- tion which evil and the evil people will be subject to. CONCLUSION. I now come to the end of my survey. It appeared to me indeed adapted to the spirit of the age, and worth my while to point at once to the Gathas as the oldest parts of the Avesta, and to treat the contents of their doctrine separately. The task itself may furnish us with the proof that such a treatment of the subject is practicable. It may prove at the same time to be a contribution to the argument that a deep cleft separates the Gathas from the other books of the Avesta, and that 66e the Parsees bave been led rightly and by important grounds to ascribe already in an early period a special sanctity to these old hymns. My task appeared to me the more useful as in the Gathas a particularly original and antique form of the Zoroastrian doctrine can be discovered ; and this form is the purest and sublimest that we know of. It is still free from many later additions, and permits us to observe in a favourable light the personality of Zarathushtra, his moral earnest and yet human intentions, and his philosophical system which ventures to solve the highest and most important pro- blem in religious philosophy. We recognize in Zara- thushtra a man who was far in advance of his times, who proclaimed already in a remote antiquity a monotheistic religion to the people, who conceived from a philoso- phical standpoint the Being of the Godhead, the rela- tion in which man stands to Him, and the origin of evil ; and who perceived the chief point not in offer- ings and external ceremonies, but in a pious mind, and in a life conforming to such a pious mind. This discourse is addressed to the Parsees of India on the one hand, and to those amongst Europeans on the other who take a warm interest in India and its inha- bitants. It will bring before them the oldest end to a certain extent the ideal form of the doctrine, as it was thought out and conceived principally by its founder and author himself. It will at the same time enable also the European who is himself not in a position to study the original texts of the Sacred Writings of the Parsees, to form a correct estimate and to give an un- biased criticism of the Parsee religion and its moral standard. May it prove a foundation stone in the Bridge which will unite the West and (he East with one another. VIEWS OF THE CLASSICAL WRITERS REGARD- ING ZOROASTER AND HIS DOCTRINE.* The earliest contact between Grascism and Magism that we are informed of, is an intercourse between Pythagoras and the Magi, which lasted for several [years. Whilst ancient and modern writers vary as to the year of the birth of this sage, and place it at one time in 608 or 605, at another in 570 B. C. ; so much is, however, certain that the years of his active life fall under the reign of Cyrus, and that he left his native country before the death of the founder of the Persian Monarchy, in order to make scientific travels. If the statements of the chroniclers 1 were true, according to which Pythagoras is said to have served in the army of Assarhaddon, he might have had, already in his earliest youth, an opportunity of conversing with the Magi ; but that is evidently an anachronism. Others, 2 on the contrary, relate that the campaign of Cambyses in Egypt took place during his sojourn in that country ; * Vide Fr. Windischmann's Zoroastrische Studien, a posthumous German work edited by F, von Spiegel, Berlin, 1863, pp. 263 313 : Stellen der Alien uber Zoroastrisches. " References in Ancient Writings to Zoroaster and his Doctrine." 1 Chronic Eusebii, edited by Aucher of Abydenus, p. 26. Comp. M. Niebuhr, Assur, p. 497 and 501; B. G. Niebuhr, XI. Schriften, p. 206. 2 Theolog. Arithmet, ed., Ast. p. 40: "He is said to have been made prisoner by Cambyses, when he went to Egypt, and to have had intercourse with the priest; he came into Babylon and learnt the rites of the barbarians." Jambliehus, in his " Life of Pythagoras," p. 19, narrates the same facts, and adds : " There he liked to converse with the Magi, and learned their signs and the most perfect mode of serving the gods, and became accomplished in a high degree in the numbers, music, and other sciences. He stayed there for another 32 years and went afterwards to Samos, when he was about 56 years of age." 9 66 Pythagoras may have there been taken prisoner and brought with the Persian army to Babylon, where he may have had intercourse with the Chaldeans and the Magi for twelve years ; hence he may have returned at the age of 5G to Samos. The campaign of Cambyses in Egypt falls in the Olympiad 63,4 (525 B. C.)* and his death in Olympiad 64,4 (521 B. C.). During this interval, therefore, Pythagoras must have come to Babylon, where he remained until B. C. 513. That Pythagoras had been in Egypt is affirmed by Herodotus and I socrates ; but that a man so curious in religious matters should visit also Babylon, the metropolis of Asiatic knowledge, and should make acquaintance with the Chaldaeans and the Magi, is a fact so very evident in itself, that I cannot conceive how the very numerous statements of antiquity could be rejected for no other reason than their being found in writers of a later period. 1 But in making use of these statements it is very important to observe that the majority of the authors 1 Cicero de fin., V, 29: "Pythagoras had visited Egypt and conversed with the Persian Magi." Valerius Maximus VIII, 7 ex- tern, 2 : u Thence he went to the Persians and was taught the very exact wisdom of the Magi." Plinius, Hist. NaturoHs, XXX, 12 : "At least Pythagoras, Empedocles, Democritus and Plato sailed off to learn this art (of magic), really undertaking rather exile than travel." Apuleius, Floridus, p. 19 ed. Altib. : "There are writers who say that Pythagoras had been taught by the Persian Magi" (comp. infra the whole passage). Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata, I., p. 355 : " He conversed with the best of the Chaldeeans and Magi." Diogenes Laertes, VIII, 13 : "Having been still young and curious, he left his native country, and learnt all the rites of the Greek's and barbarians. He was in Egypt when Polycrates recommended him by letters to Amasis. He learned their language, as is stated by Antiphion in his book on those men who excelled in virtue, and afterwards he went to the Magi and Chaldseans." That Pythagoras himself had been in Persia or even in India, must be an ex aggeration a mistake resulting from his intercourse with the Magi. G7 distinguish between the Chaldaeans and the Magi. Porphyrius 1 says in his Life of Pythagoras : *' He has inculcated truth before all things ; this alone can render man God-like, since also in God (called by the Magi Oronmzes) the body, as he learnt from them, resembles light, whilst the soul is like unto truth." And further on : " He heard and accepted from the Magi the worship of the divinities and the other precepts of life," What is related here by Porphyrius about the Magi, is taken from pre-eminent sources. If we do not regard the high veneration of the Persians and the Magi for truth, a fact often confirmed elsewhere, the distinc- tion of a body and a soul in God is truly Zarathush- trian. In the Farvardin Yasht, 80 to 81, it is said of Ahura Mazda : " His genius is the most intelligent and the best-bodied ; His soul is Mathra-Spenta (the Holy Word), the bright, the shining, the foreseeing, and the bodies which He assumes, are the fine bodies of the Amesha- Spent as ('the Blissful Immortal 7 ), the solid ones of the Amesha -Speritas, let us venerate the strong- horsed Sun." The Holy Word is the very truth, and the Amesha- Spentas are the luminous creations, wherefore ifc is significant that the Sun is invoked immediately after them. Moreover, we are justified in thinking of Mithra as morally truth and physically light, and as a being who may be regarded as a likeness of Ahura. In the 1 Vita Pt/th. " Life of Pythagoras," 41 : "He gave these precepts; but before all he taught to speak the truth, For this alone can render man like unto God, since, as lie learnt from the Magi, in God too, Who is called by them Oromazes, the body is like unto light, and the soul unto truth," And in chapter 7: "As to the divine ceremonies and other things referring to the affairs of life, he is said to have been taught and instructed by the Magi," 68 Hormaad Yasht, 21 (see Yaslit Ft\ II, 38) are men- tioned the spirit, the intellect and the tongue of Ahtira as bearing, remembering and uttering the Holy Word, and in several passages the body of Ahura is mentioned along with His intellectual spirit (comp. Yasnal, 1) khrathwishtahe huJcereptemahe . Yasna LXXI, 4 7 speaks of vispem Jcerefsh Ahurahe, " the whole body of Ahura." The beginning of the Bundahish, too, completely harmonizes with the passage of Porphyrius. On the other hand, the same authority 1 relates other facts about the intercourse of Pythagoras and the Chaldeans : "He had intercourse not only with the other Chaldseans, but also with Zabratas, by whom he was purified from the sins of his earlier life, and was taught how zealous people must keep themselves pure ; there he had also heard the doctrine of the nature and the first principles of the universe." What Porphyrius here states, seems to have been taken from Aristoxenus (about 320 B. 0.) of whose writings a very large frag- ment has been preserved by Hippolytus (Reftit. Hasret. " Refutation of the Heretics," p. 8, Oxford edition. Cfr. Origenes, edition of Lammazsch, volume XXV y page 296 seq. ; Diodorus the Eretrian is also named as an authority). Aristoxenus narrates that Zaratas set forth his doctrine to Pythagoras : u There have been from the beginning two causes (or principles) of things, father and mother. The light is the father, the dark- ness is the mother ; the parts of light are the warm y * " Life of Pythagoras, ' y 12 : " But in Babylon he had intercourse with other Chaldseans as well as with Zabratas, by whom he was purified from the transgressions of his- former life, and instructed as to what the zealous must chiefly abstain from. He learnt there also his (Zabratas's) doctrine about nature and the first principles of the G9 the dry, the light and the swift ; but the parts of darkness are the cold, the wet, the heavy and the slow ; of all these is composed the world of male and female. But the world is a musical harmony, wherefore the sun has a harmonical circulation." Yet concerning the things that originate from the earth and the world, Zaratas gave an explanation, says Aristoxenus, in the following manner: "There are two demons, a celes- tial and a terrestrial one ; the latter takes his origin from the earth, and is water; but the celestial one is fire coupled with air, warm and cold." Then follows the reason why beans 1 should not be eaten on account of the bean having some reference to sexuality. In another passage, too, Hippolytus mentions Zaratas (B. 178) where he says: " Zaratas, the teacher of Pythagoras, has called the first one father, the second one mother. Thus Plutarch also relates. 3 It is clear that this doctrine of Zabratas or Zaratas, the Chaldsean, as described by Aristoxenus and Por- phyrius, 3 does not contain anything that is specifically Zarathushtrian ; but that, on the contrary, it is directly opposed to the system of the Magi in very important points. It is, therefore, not without meaning that Porphyrius distinguishes the doctrine of the Magi from 1 It is very remarkable that the prohibition of bean-eating, which Pythagoras is said to have learnt from the Chaldsean Zaratas, is found in the Old Babylonian or Chaldsean documents. Comp. Chwol- son, "The Remains of the Old Babylonian Literature," p. 93 aeq. 2 De animce procreation?, in Tiinaeo, chapter II, 2, " Zaratas, the teacher of Pythagoras, calls this (i.e., the dudda t( the Two") the mother of numbers, and the One he calls father." 3 Of course we must not imagine that the later writers have authentically made out the contents of the doctrine of Pythagoras. It is sufficient to state that they knew the difference between the Magian and the Chaldcean. 70 that of the Chaldeeans, and explicitly calls Zabratas, a Chaldaean, whilst Jamblichus evidently confounds the two doctrines in the passage cited above ( " Life of Pythagoras," 19). The same correct distinction bet- ween the Magi and the Chaldeans, Zoroaster and Zara- tas, is found also in Clemens of Alexandria, as well as in the passage already referred to, and also in Stromata, I, page 357, Potter's edition, 1 where he explicitly calls Zaratas, an Assyrian, whilst he says a few lines above 3 : " Pythagoras emulated Zoroaster, the Magian and Persian, whose secret writings the followers of the gnostic Prodikos boasted to possess/' by which must be understood the later gnostic productions under the name of Zoroaster. It is self-evident that " emulating" does not express any personal intercourse between Pythagoras and Zoroaster. It is consequently to be ascribed to want of accuracy ? if Suidas 3 speaks of some Magian Zaras, who was the 1 *' But Alexander, in his work on the Pythagorean creed, narrates that Pythagoras learnt from the Assyrian Nazaratas. Some fancy that this was Ezekiel (a prophet of the Old Testament): yet it is not so, as will soon be demonstrated." The commentators of Clemens have long since observed that we must read Zaratas instead of Naza- ratas. The above-mentioned Alexander is Alexander Polyhistor, as Cyrillus adu> Julianv.m asserts : " Alexander, surnamed Polyhistor, (lit. "a man of great learning") in his book on the Pythagorean creed, states that Pythagoras learnt from one Zara?, a native of Babylonia." 2 " Pythagoras emulated Zoroaster, the Magian and Persian, whose apocryphal writings those who followed the doctrine of Pro p. 19, ed. Altil).: " There are authors who say that when Pythagoras was brought among the prisoners of King Cam- byses into Egypt, he had at that time as teachers Persian Magi and specially Zoroaster, who was initiated into all divine mysteries. A more reliable statement, on the contrary, is that he had sought volun- tarily to learn the Egyptian mysteries, and that he had learnt in Egypt from the priest the incredible powers of ceremonies, the admirable sets of numbers, the ingenious formulae of geometry; but he had not been satisfied with these arts ; so he had soon turned to the Chaldseans and thence to the Brahmans (they are wise men, a tribe of India) and to the gymnosophists (/>., the sages that lived naked in India)." This is, therefore, the result of my investigation. It is very probable that Pythagoras came to Babylon, and that he had there come in contact not only with Chal- daGjans and their sage Zaratas, but also with the Magi properly so called, and became acquainted with the Zarathushtrian doctrine ; but no documental authority asserts that he had formed a personal acquaintance with Zoroaster, and it is a mere mistake of the moderns to confound Zaratas with Zoroaster. If Pythagoras came to Babylon at the latest under Cambyses (for those who antedate the year of his birth must likewise antedate his travels back to the beginning of the Persian Empire under Cyrus), it follows, hence, that the Zara- thushtrian Reform was not an institution which had just originated, for the authorities do not say a word about it, but only place the wisdom of the Magi, emulated by Pythagoras, directly on a level with the Egyptian and Chaldaean sciences renowned in antiquity. And if we might concede that the whole account of the acquaint- ance of Pythagoras with the Zarathushtrian system is a later amplification of his travels (though indeed it is already met with in Aristoxenus), still these amplifica- tors have supposed it as historically certain, that the Zarathushtrian Magisni had existed long before the period when Pythagoras was still in his prime of life, and thus they consequently ba.ir indirect testimony to the existence of Zarathushtra long before the father of Darius. The fact that Pythagoras became acquainted with the Magi at Babylon, and that there existed, no doubt, Zarathushtrian schools in this capital in conse- quence of the Persian conquest, induced the later writers to directly call Zoroaster and Ostanes, Baby 73 lonians. Thus the author ofTheolo/umsna Arithmetica (page 43, ed. Ast.), says that Ostanes and Zorois- ter, the most highly esteemed Babylonians, called the starry spheres agelas (herds), or in their holy say- ings ayelous, or, corrupted by the interpolation of a g, ajyelous " angels," for which reason they called also the stars and demons reigning over these aj;jeloi i angels and archangels, who were seven in number. This may be some transference from the Chaldtean to Zoroaster ; yet similar conceptions concerning the chief stars are also met with in the Bualahish, Chapter V. It is almost impracticable to determine whether there is anything Zarathushtrian, and, if so, what in the doctrines of Pythagoras, since what Pythagoras had taught himself and what his later disciples added, is quite obscure. Among the Pythagorean "beliefs" there are some which remind us of the Zarathuslitrian doctrine, for instance: "Not to make water towards the Sun" (which is known also to HesioJ) ; " not to make water towards, nor to stand upon cut-off finger nails." However, we need not attach any particular importance to it. Here I may add what is related about the travels of DemocrLtus (who was born about 460 B. C. and died 104 years old, in B. -C. 357). He wandered about, according to liis own testimony, until his eightieth year, and saw the greatest portion of the known world., and had intercourse with a large number of men (vide his Fragmenta in Clemens Alexandrinus, Stromata I., p. 304). So there cannot be the least doubt as to 10 74 the truth of what -/Elianus 1 affirms : u He had got to the Chaldseans and to Babylon, and to the Magi and to the sages of India." The time in which Demoeritus had intercourse with the Magi, falls under the reign of Artaxerxes I. Tatianus 2 says that he praised Ostanes the Magus. It might be supposed that the travels of Pythagoras w r ere fabricated in imitation of the indis- putable migrations of Demoeritus ; but with equal right we may also assume that Demoeritus had been induced by that very example of Pythagoras to search after the wisdom of all nations at its source. In general we have very little idea of the closeness of intercourse existing in earlier times between the Orient and the Occident, and, therefore, we can calculate little upon the active intermediaries between both, i.e., the Greeks of Asia Minor. But when, in consequence of the Per- sian wars, and still more of the conquests of Alexander the Great, more abundant and more faithful news re- ferring to Persian affairs came across to Europe, the attention of learned Greeks was more and more drawn also to Zarathushtra and his system. The earliest Greek writer who mentions Zoroaster, is Xanthus the Lydian, granting that the latter's age and authorship are accepted as fully established. For there are well-founded reasons to doubt especially the time in 1 Far. Hist. IV, 20 : " Then ' lie came to the Chaldseans and to Babylon, and to the Magi and to the sages, of India," Suidas s.v. Demoeritus : * According to some writers (he was) a disciple of Anaxagoras and Lencippus ; according to others also of the Magi, Chaldseans, and Persians. Clem. Alex., Stromata. I, p. 357, ed. hy Potter; "Became to Babylon, Persia, and Egypt, learning from tlie Mngi and priests." This has been quoted by Eusebius in Prepa- ratio Evangel^ X. 4. 2 Orat. ad. Graec., p. 47 ed. T>y Otto; " Boasting the Magian Ostaiies." (0 which Xanthus is said to have lived. As in his book a fact which happened under Artaxerxes I. is recounted, 1 we are to believe that he must have written it at least after Olympiad 78, 4 or 79, 1 (B. C. 465). If he was, as Suidas relates, gegonbs epi tes Jialoseos Sardeon i born at the time when Sardis was conquered," and if the conquest of Sardis took place under Croesus, B. C. 546, and if by the word gegonos is meant his c< birth" (Olympiad 58, S), 2 he must have been 80 years old just twenty Olympiads after, which is not at all impossible. But as Sardis was also taken under Darius Hystaspes in Olympiad 70, 2 (B. C. 499) by the lonians and Athenians, we have from that time to Olympiad 70, 2 only an interval of 35 years. Here we have to choose whether we should take gegonbs in the sense of "born," in which case Xanthus at the beginning of the reign of Artaxerxes might not yet have attained 40 years ; or in the sense of " flourishing," in which case he must have been about 30 years old at the time of the said conquest of Sardis, his birth in which city should be placed in B. C. 529, so that he must have been 64 years old during the reign of Artaxerxes, which is not improbable. The testimony of Dionysius of Halicarnassus 3 respecting Xanthus, that " he is one of those historians who were born some time before the Peloponnesian wars and lived to the 1 Strabo I, p. 49, cites a passage from Eratosthenes (flourished about 250 B. C.) who mentions Xanthus : "So saying he praised the doctrine of Straton the naturalist, and also of Xanthus the Lydian. According to Xanthus there was a great drought under Artaxerxes.'' 2 Niebuhr, Assur, p. 64, places this conquest of Sardis in Olymp. 58, 1, i.e., in 548 B. ., the Persians, the Medians, and the Magi) sacrifice, says Dinon, in the open air, believing that fire and water are the only im- ages of deities/' Clemens adds that ''after a long period of years" the im- age-worship of Anahita was introduced by A rtaxerxesMnemon. It is clear that this opinion presupposes the idea of a higher antiquity of Zarathushtra than the (short period of) two hundred years which intervened between llystaspes, the father of Darius, and Artaxeixe* Mnemon. 89 in the observing Greek the opinion that fire and water were considered by the Persians as symbols of the Deity. Two characteristic facts are preserved by Dino, 1 which prove that he drew his information from authen- tic sources. He says that amongst the heathens, too, there were heroic bards, and that such bards had predicted the valour of Cyrus and his future wars against Astyages. For, when Cyrus went to Persia and Astyages wassailed with his friends, the most cele- brated bard named Angares was called in, and he sang the common lays which he concluded with the words: "A huge beast will be set free in the swamps more formidable than a wild hoar ; no sooner shall he have sway over his country than he will easily fight against many." But when Astyages asked: " What animal ? '' He answered 3 : onacem,Ago- nsiscen, which sufficiently prove that the passage in ques- tion is corrupted. Since the Avesta texts and tradition know no other teacher of Zoroaster than Ahura- Mazda Himself, I assume that Hermippus rendered the name Oromazss or Gromasdes in some form corresponding to the Avesta, perhaps Agoramazdes, giving the Avesta A by the Greek edition of Dindorf) an alleged myth of the Magi, which is worthy of closer investiga- tion. I quote here this passage dropping what is not essential, or what is purely rhetorical ornamentation. After speaking of the Divine Empire over the Universe, Dio Chrysostom goes on to state : ''Another marvellous myth is sung in the mysterious consecrations of the Magi who praise this God as the first and perfect Con- ductor of the most perfect Wagon. For the car of Helios," he says, " is younger than this and visible to the whole world, its course being apparent. The strong and perfect team of Zeus has never been praised so worthily by the Greeks, neither by Homer nor by Hesiod ; but Zoroaster and the sons of the Magi that were his disciples, celebrated it (worthily). Zoroaster is said by the Persians to have left society owing to his love of justice and wisdom, and to have lived a solitary life on a mountain. Then this mountain had begun to burn on account of the huge quantity of fire falling from Heaven, and had continued so to burn ; wherefore the King with the chiefs of the Persians had approached thither, intending to adore the Deity. Then it was that Zoroaster had come forth unhurt from the fire and approached them gracefully, bidding them not to be afraid (of the awful prospect) ; but to offer some offer- ings unto God, since He had visited their territory. Then Zoroaster had intercourse not with all of them, but with those only who were most qualified for truth and most apt for an intercourse with God, and whom the Persians called Magi, i. e., such as understood how to 137 serve the Divine Being, 1 but not sorcerers, as the Greeks called them from their ignorance of the name. Beside other functions fixed by the holy ordinances, the Magi are to nourish for Zeus a team of Nisaeian horses (these are the finest and largest in Asia), and for Helios only one horse. But they developed the myth with great boldness saying : " It is only a conducting and car-driv- ing of the Universe, whic'i is executed with the greatest expertness and strength, always and unceasingly in the unceasing period of time. The courses of the Sun and Moon are only partial movements, and so more apparent, whilst the motion of the Universe is unknown to the com- mon people." Dio hesitatingly dares to sing the pagan song of the horses of this team along with the pleasant Hellenic songs, It appears to him so extravagant. The first horse is of extraordinary beauty, greatness and swiftness, winged and sacred to Zeus. He has the colour of purest light. Sun and Moon are his marks, the other stars including. The second horse, who is next to him and yoked with him, is called after Here. He is tame and soft and much inferior in strength and swiftness to the first, black by nature, only that part is shining which is illumined by Helios. The third is sacred to Poseidon, and slower than the second. Poets call him Pegasus. But the fourth and most improbable of all is stiff and immoveable, un winged and belonging to Hestia. Nevertheless, they (the Magi) do not dismiss the image, but they say that this horse, too, is yoked to the wain. He remains in his place champing a bit of diamond. He clings to his place with all his parts, and the two others near him bow towards him ; 1 The sam? definition is given ly Dio elsewhere, 18 138 whilst the first and most distant horse always moves round the remaining as round the goal of an arena. Commonly they are peaceable ; but now and then a strong pull of the first causes a conflagration of the world, like that of the Hellenic Phaethon, or some vast sweat of the third causes a flood like that of Deucalion. All this, however, is no fortuitous accident, as people fancy, but it is executed after f the design of the Wise Driver of the Wagon. Beside this movement of the Universe there is also a movement and transformation of these four that changed their form, until they all adopted one nature, vanquished by the stronger. This motion also is compared by them in a still bolder image with wagon-driving, as if a wonder-working man forms horses of wax, taking away and turning off from each one and adding to the other, until he combines all four into one, and works up one form of the whole mass. But it is not as though the demiurgi were working from outside on lifeless images, and changing the materials ; but they, as it were, themselves endured the same as in a struggle for victory in a great and true combat. This victory is naturally gained by the first, strongest, and swiftest horse which was at the beginning designated as the chosen one of Zeus. For this horse being the strongest of all, and naturally all fiery, devours the others in a very short time, as if they were indeed made of wax ; but they seem infinite according to our calcu- lation. The first horse takes into himself the whole essence of others. He appears much larger and brighter than before, having turned out the vanquisher in the greatest combat, not through any one of mortals or im- mortals, but through himself. Again he stands proud and haughty, glad at his victory aud needing larger 130 space on account of his strength and valour. Having arrived at this point of the narration the author is afraid of naming the real nature of the animal, which is simply the spirit of the Wain-driver and Lord, or rather His understanding and guiding essence. 71 So far, it seems, runs the description of the Magi in Dio Chrysostom. It is difficult to decide how much of this mythical discourse is drawn from a true Magian document, and how much has been added by the Greek panegyrist, as such additions are to be presumed on account of the occurence of the names of Zeus, Here, Poseidon, Hestia and Pegasus, and from the references to Phaethon and Deucalion. Or it may be that the whole matter has been invented by Dio, and ascribed to the Magi. The latter, however, does not seem probable. On the contrary, it is possible that Dio, who speaks of the mysterious initiations of the Magi, has drawn this matter from the " Mithraic mysteries " which prevailed at Rome in those times. The idea of a wagon with four horses being driven by God is not opposed to the Magian mode of belief. We find in the original Avesta texts that Andhita drives in a chariot with four white horses (Abdn Yt., 11, 13), which are afterwards desig- nated as Wind, Rain, Cloud, and Lightning (ibid 120). Mithra, too, has a team of four white horses, whose fore- hoofs are shod with gold, the hinder ones with silver. (Mihr Yt., 125). The same thing is mentioned of Sraosha (Yasna LVII, 27), though he is drawn by falcons of all surpassing swiftness. It is not, therefore, impossible that such a team of four horses was ascribed to Ahura Mazda, too ; in some Avesta text which is now lost. 140 The horses of the team are easily to be interpreted as light, air, water, and earth. The combination of light and air reminds us of the combination (so frequently found in the A vesta texts) of Mithra, the representative of light, and Bdma Qdstra (vayush uparo kairyo), the genius of air, who likewise appears personified in the Edm Yt., 54, seq. As they were so well represented under the image of mighty warriors, they might as well also be represented under the image of horses ; for we see Tishtrya and Verethraghna take the shape of horses in the Yashts dedicated to them (Tir TV., 18; BaJirdm Yt<, 9). Moreover; we have the description of the wain of Zeus, who is evidently identical with Ahura Mazda, in Xenophon's Cyropcedia, VIII, 3, 12, where a white wagon the colour refers to the horses of the wagon with golden yoke and sacred to Zeus, is conducted in a procession. "What is said by Dio Chrysostom of the bright horse reputed to be the soul of the chariot-driving God, this, too, is Magian in my opinion. It is the Fravashi of Ahura Mazda, that is spoken of in the Fravardin I?., 80, 81, as we have seen above. Most important is what Dio says about Zarathushtra. He had lived from love of justice and wisdom in solitude on a mountain burning with fire which fell from Heaven. Out of this burning mountain the prophet had made his appearance to the King 1 and commenced his Revelations. Whence has Dio drawn this ? The 1 By the bye, I remark that Dio, or his authority, does not mean to identify this king with the father of Darius. 141 life of Zoroaster in the solitude and on a mountain is I think, founded, as has been already presumed by me in my discourse onMithra, p. 63, on a statement of Vend. Farg. XIX, 4, compared with the Bundahish, p. 53, 1. 5, p. 58, 1. 5, and p. 79, 1. 10. Porphyrius in De antro nymph, c. 6., describes after Eubulus the Mithraic cavern which Zoroaster had consecrated on the mountain in the neighbourhood of Persia. The burning mountain from which Zoroaster came forth, reminds us of the burning thorn-bush of Moses ; I cannot Wcall any similar thing in the Avesta texts, though a jiassage in the Bundahish might be pointed at with regard to this allusion. 143 THE ALLEGED PAHLAVI LETTER OF TANSAR TO THE KING OF TABARISTlN. 1 In his disquisition upon a Pahlavi letter of Tansar said to have been addressed by him to the king of Tabaristan during the reign of Artakhshatar-i-Papakan, M. Darmes- teter gives very great prominence to a supposed Persian rendering of that Pahlavi letter, and attempts to point out from certain incongruous statements which are made in it, and interpreted by him according to his preconceived opinion, that the antiquity of the extant Avesta literature is not as remote as is established by most of his contem- poraries in science, viz* 9 Geiger, Geldner, Mills, etc. Darmesteter's observations on the Persian of the alleged letter of Tansar, run briefly as follows : > Tansar or T6sar, the Airpatdn Airpat, i.e., the head of the priests, has taken a very important part in the religious renaissance which characterised the epoch of Artakhshatar or Artakhshir, the founder of the Sasanian Empire. It is stated in the Dinkard, that this Tansar was not only authorized " to collect the sacred texts upon which Zoroastrism is based," but also de restituer V Avesta perdu ou mutile " to restore the lost or mutilated Avesta." This Tansar receives in the Dinkard the epithet of a poryotkesha. The statement of the Dinkard that Tansar was "also ordered to restore the lost or mutilated Avesta " 2 is not an isolated one, 1 Vide Journal Asiatiqne, Neuvieme Se'rie, Tome III, Lettre de Tansar au Roi de Tabaristdn, par M. J. Darmesteter, pp. 185-250, 502^ 555, Paris, 1894. Here I have rendered to a certain extent Darmes. teter's own views upon the authenticity of the Pahlavi letter. 8 The rendering seems to be inaccurate. 19 144 but it is confirmed and made clear by an independent Arabic authority. In bis " Prairies tfor" Masoudi alludes to the report that Ardashir was assisted at the commencement of his reign by a pious personage of royal blood, named Bishar j&*, who belonged to the Platonic sect. In the Kitdb et-tanbih, Masoudi refers again to this Bishar as the mobed or apostle of Ardashir. According to the Arab writer, Bishar or Tansar was one of the Muluk ut-tavdff, and reigned in the province of Persis or Fars. When he became an ad- herent of Platonism, he abdicated the princedom of Pars, and embraced a religious life. Afterwards he preached upon the advent of Ardashir, sent missionaries to do the same in different provinces, and facilitated thus the triumph of the prince over the Muluk ut-tavd/if. Masoudi adds that Tansar composed fine treatises on the adminis- tration and religion of the Sasanian kingdom, wherein the latter justified the political and religous innovations which Ardashir had introduced, and which the preceding monarchs had not been able to undertake. In support of this assertion the two letters of Tansar, one addressed to the king of Tabaristan and another to the king of India, are chiefly cited by Masoudi who has preserved a fragment of Tansar's letter to the king of Tabaristan. The (alleged) letter is not preserved in its primitive form, which was the Pahlavi; only the Persian translation is surviving, which is not made from the original Pahlavi text, but from an Arabic version which is now lost, and to which the quotations from Masoudi refer. This Arabic translation is supposed to be the work of Ibn al-Moqaffa,aZoroastrian convert to Moham- medanism, under the first Abbassides. He died about 145 the year 760 A. D. Ibn al-Moqaffa was entrusted with the task of rendering into Arabic, the language of the Mohammedan conquerors, the principal national works of Sasanian Persia. The Persian translation, which was pro- duced five centuries later, is the work of Mohammed bin ul-Iiassan bin Asfandyar, who wrote about A.D. 1210. This Mohammed bin ul-Hasan was a native of Tabaristari, who has written a history of his native country. One day having been at Khvarizam. then the grand centre of erudition and literature, he discovered ou the shelf of a library a letter translated by Ibn al-Moqaffa from Pahlaviinto Arabic, and originally written byTansar, " the Persian sage and high priest of Ardashir Baba- gan," in response to a letter from Jasnasf Shah, the then ruler of Tabaristaru Finding it full of edifying thoughts, he translated the Arabic letter into Persian, and inser- ted it in the introduction to his history of Tabaristan. If this letter is authentic, that is to say, if it really represents, throughout both the Arabic and Persian translations, a text which emanated from the chaplain of Ardashir, it constitutes (says Darmesteter) the most ancient monument of Persia after the inscriptions of Darius and the Avesta. It can be even more ancient than the Avesta in its last and complete form, if we ad- mit that a part of the Avesta was written out under the first successors of Ardashir. The principal question is: Is it authentic? (To this question the French savant's reply is) : It is not so in its present form, not only as to the language, but also as to the main points of thought. 1 It 1 See p. 189 : Elle ne Test pas dans sa forme presente, non point seulement quant a la langue, ce qui va de soi, mais aussi quaiit au fond. 146 does not appear that the Persian translatorhas added any- thing of his own to the principal facts that he found in his Arabic original, save perhaps the anecdote on the fatalist king Jihang, which is cited by him at the end of his translation for the purpose of throwing some light upon the relations between free will and destiny. It is, however, clear that the Arabic translator has inserted a number of new things in the original now lost, whatever the materials were which he had before him. Ibn al- Moqajfa had with the object, no doubt, of rendering the old Zoroastrian text more appreciable to his Musulruan readers, interpolated in the letter some quotations from the Koran and some from the Bible, which stand out from the context , and which were besides, not meant to form part of the Pahlavi original. 1 It is also to be re- membered that Ibn al-Moqaffa's mind was also occupied \vith the translation of the Pahlavi book entitled " Kalila and Dimna" and he has thereto added, in order to please its reader, a long fable which is found in the Pan- chatantra, and which undoubtedly appertained to his Pahlavi translation of the Kalila. Let us add to this list of interpolations the description of the anarchy, the history of the generation in the small chest, the explicative com- mentary of the judicial term abddl , the history of the fatalist king Jihang, and the Arabic quotations repro- duced and translated by Mohammed bin ul-Hasan. These interpolations having been deducted, there remains (according to Darmesteter) a text which, in reference to its fundamental ideas, is anterior to Ibn- 1 Ibn al-Moqaffa, sans doute pour rendre le vieux texte guebre plus respectable a ses lecteurs musulmans, y a glisse des citations du Goran et de la Bible qui se detachent d'ellesmemes du contexte et qui, d'ailleurs, n'ont jamais eu la pre'tention d'appartenir a 1'origiaal. 147 al-Moqaffa, and cannot be his original work. Its gene ral authenticity is as clear as daylight, because it i teeming with details of which the authenticity i guaranteed to us on the one hand by their conformir with what we know directly by means of the extan Pahlavi texts, and on the other hand by the new thing which instruct and throw their light on the obscuritie of those very Pahlavi texts. We do not see why Ibn al-Moqaffa, while writin for the Musulmans, should have forged such a text a had only a historical and archaeological interest. Ib al-Moqaffa is before all an antiquarian, who wishes t know what he can of the past and to familiarize th Musulmans with that past, in order to make his writing interesting to them if possible. Here he continues o what he has done in his translation of the Khudai-nama) the Kalila and Dimna, and other national old works ( the anti-Islamic period. Besides, we cannot ascertain that he had before h\ eyes the Pahlavi original of Tansar himself. 1 He give himself a statement of his authority in a line c which the sense is unfortunately somewhat ambiguoui According to Masoudi, the kolophon states That is to say: "According to Bahrain, son < Khurzad, and the latter according to his father Mani chihar, Mobed of Khorasan, and according to tl sages of Persia." In this indication of the source on thing only is absolutely clear, viz., that the Ara translator has worked upon a text which he discovei 1 Mais on ne peufc assurer pourtant en toute certitude qu'il e sous les yeux 1'origiual pehlvi de Tausar meme. 148 ed in a book belonging to a Zoroastrian named Bahrain, son of Khurzad Now the question arises : Whence Bah- ram himself got this text? According to the analogy of the kolophons which are found in same old Pahlavi MSS., and which give the genealogy of the copies, it seems probable that Ibn al-Moqaffa gives us here the kolophon abridged from the text of Bahram, that is to say, from the succes- sivecopies of the text. In other words Bahram copies a MS. emanating from his father Khurzad, and transcribed from a MS. written by Khurzad's father Manuchihr, a Mobed of Khorasan ; the last copy having been derived from a MS. emanating from the copyists of Farsistan. If this inter- pretation is the right one, the Arabic version of Ibn al- Moqaffa goes back to a Pahlavi M S. of the letter of Tansar. But the short Arabic kolophon, which is translated into Persian as above, is susceptible of another meaning. It can denote not only the successive originals of an anterior text, which from copy to copy came into the hands of Bahram and of Ibn al-Moqaffa; but an ensemble of the sources on the basis of which Bahram composed the Pahlavi that is rendered into Arabic by Ibn al-Moqaffa. In this case (as Darmesteter avers) our text is not the work of Tansar, but the work of Bahrdm, son of Khurz&d. 1 But even then (says he) the letter of Tansar is not less authentic although in a different sense; because the details, which it contains, bear so far the stamp of truth that it must be inferred that Bahram worked on some excellent historical sources. The epoch of Bahram is not known to us ; but, accord- ing to Darmesteter, that matter is of relatively secondary importance for the question of the authenticity of the text. 1 Dans ce cas, notre texte n'est plus 1'ceuvre de Tansar, inais I'oeuvre de Bahram, fils de Khurzud. 149 In fact, Ibn al-Moqaffa died at tlie commencement of the second century of the Hegir era, scarcely a century after the close of the national dynasty. Now, two centuries later, in the epoch of Masoudi, Pahlavi was flourishing as a written language, and whether Bahrain belonged to the Sasanian period or to the Arab period, he at least lived in a period when the old Pahlavi literature was yet intact. We now come to the analysis of the alleged Persian version of Tansar's letter (which is given by Darmesteter as follows) : After a historic preamble on the history of the conquest of Alexander, which describes the traditional legend about the origin of the provincial princes (Mul&k ut-tavdif^ Ibn al-Moqaffa relates that at the time when Ardashir overpowered Ardavan and re-established the unity of the Iranian Empire, Tabaristan was ruled by a prince, whose name was Jasnasf-Shah, whom Ardashir did not like to reduce by violence, bearing in mind that the ancestors ol Jasnasf-Shah had conquered their province of Tabaristan under the lieutenants of Alexander, and remained faithful to the dynasty of Persia. However, Jasnasf-Shah seeing his independence afterwards menaced, wrote to Tansar. the high-priest of Ardashir who had formerly served as an intimate adviser to his father a letter containing 3 u veritable act of accusation against Ardashir, against his cruelty, his practice of inquisition and espionage, his tyrannical laws, and his religious innovations." The Persian text of the letter is the reply of Tansar, whicl: was judged to be decisive, for Jasnasf-Shah sent in his submission, and thereby retained his province undei the suzerainty of the Sasanidse. 150 ( Darmesteter divides the Persian letter into the fol- lowing fourteen sections : ) I. Tansar commences his letter by explaining why he quitted the world, and embraced an ascetic life. It was to induce the kings and nations of his time, who seeing him detached from selfish interests might believe in his advice. He renounced everything in order to have greater authority for the purpose of reforming the world according to the true religion. II. The duty of Jasnasf-Shah is to surrender himself without any delay to the court of Ardashir, and to lay his crown at his feet. Thus only lately the king of Kirman and Qabus has done, who in return of his obeis- sance, has kept his royal title. The King of Kings allows the title and right of kingship to all those of the provincial kings who would recognize him as their head. III. Jasnasf-Shah remonstrates with Ardashir for wrongly representing himself as the restorer of the ancient law. Indeed, the sacred texts have been destroyed by Alexander, and there only remain of them a few traditions and legends, which are so much corrupted by the vice of men, by the taste of novelties and unauthenticated stories, that there survives nothing authentical in them. In order to revive religion, therefore, an upright and honest man was required. Is there a man who is so capable for the purpose as the Shahdn-Shdh ? IV. Jasnasf-Shah reproaches Ardashir with the rigid division of men into four classes, and the laws regarding handicrafts. Tansar enlarges upon the necessity of a hierarchy of classes and upon the evils arising from mixing up the ranks of society. The king besides 151 authorizes promotion in rank from an inferior class to a superior class, but that is done after the examina- tion and guarantee of individual merit. V. Jasnasf-Shah accuses Ardashir of cruelty. Upon which Tansar remarks: a king may be cruel although he executes only a few persons, and he may not be cruel even if he spilled floods of blood. The number of execu- tions only proves the public corruption and the extent of evil to be suppressed. Ardashir, on the contrary, is more merciful than the ancient kings in cases of crimes against God, against the king, or against particular individuals. Formerly immediate death was the punishment inflicted for crimes against religion ; but since Ardashir's time the heretics are imprisoned for one year, during which time some of the scholars daily preach to them and catechize them. It is only in those cases where they remain obstinately blind that capital punishment is inflicted upon them. Before Ardashir's reign, the rebels or fugitives were never treated with forbearance. At pre- sent the king is satisfied with decimating them in order to hold others in suspense batween terror and hope. In ancient times the delinquency against individuals was punished with mutilations which diminished public strength, without bringing any advantage to the indivi- dual accuser, to the people who wished to be compensated for it. In Ardashir's time punishment or fine takes the place of mutilation. VI. A justification of the sumptuary laws as distin- guished from the classes. VII. A justification of the laws of inheritance esta- blished by the king. 20 152 VIII. Ardashir is accused of sacrilege for having extinguished the sacred fires of the Maliik ut-tavdif. Not he but the fires were sacrilegious. IX. Ardashir is found fault with for the practice of espionage. But it is necessary that the king should know all about the conduct of his subjects, for which he ought only to choose honest informants. The honest people have simply to congratulate themselves upon this practice of espionage, which will cause their merit to be made known to the king, and render him favourable to them. X. Why has the king not appointed his heir? In reply to which Tansar states the laws concerning ths election of the king and the rules of sacerdotal consulta- tion in the matter. XL Virtue and grandeur of ancient Persia. The history of the fall of the dynasty. The legend of Dara. and Rastiu (related by the king of monkeys). XII. The place of Persia in the world. The supe- riority of the Persian race which united the merits of all other races. XIII. The preparations made by Ardashir against the Romans, the successors of Alexander, whom he attacked in order to conquer the provinces which the latter had formerly taken from his ancestors. XIV. The relationship of Jasuasf-Shah to Ardashir does not make him his equal. XV. The genius of Ardashir, the prodigious gran- deur of his work, would last for ever. Do we not know from religious sources that the abandonment of his laws one day will cause universal ruin? 153 OBSERVATIONS. The discovery of a Persian version of the so-called Pahlavi letter of Tansar, addressed to Jasnasf-Shah, by the late M. Darmesteter, is a subject of high in- terest to the student of Iranian antiquities. However, the light that has been thrown upon the question of its authenticity as well as the non-existence of the Pahlavi original, does not persuade us to regard the surviving Persian text of the letter as an indigenous authority for fixing the date of the Avesta. Darmesteter 's arguments, which are mostly derived from the extant Persian letter, may be summarized and replied to as follows :-. 1. Tansar, the writer of the alleged Pahlavi letter, had taken a very important part in the Sasanian renais- sance of the Zoroastrian religion, and he had been authorized not only "to collect the sacred texts," but " to restore the lost or mutilated Avesta," as is evidenced by the Pahlavi Dinkard and Masoudi. [According to.the passage of the Dinkard referred to by Darmesteter, and quoted and translated below, it cannot be proved that the high-priest was ordered u to restore the lost Avesta." No Pahlavi expression in the text points to such an idea or import. The original Pahlavi only indicates that he was entrusted with the task of collecting all the scattered fragments of the copy (ham nipik min pargandagih ol aevak jwdk ydityunt) which had fallen into the hands of the Greeks, and to compile (bundalnnidaii) the whole of the sacred work with the help of the Pahlavi version or tradition preserved by the people. At the same time, we cannot infer from the statement of Masoudi that Tansar, having belonged to the Platonic sect, must have introduced Platonic ideas into the Avesta. Do we not learn as to Greek philosophy that much of ifc was sug- gested by ideas borrowed from the East ? Plato is said to have been born B. 0. 429 at Athens and to have travelled for twelve years to Oyrene, Egypt, Sicily, and 154 Italy. He died in B. C. 347. So in Egypt he had good opportunity for learning much about Egyptian and Eastern philosophy ; and we know from historical testi- mony that the chief advances in Greek philosophy took place after the Greeks came in contact with Eastern nations, including the ancient Persians. Socrates lived in B. C. 468-399. Hence, undoubtedly, the resemblances in the Avestic and the Greek philosophy were to some extent the outcome of the close study of the ancient Iranian literature by the Greeks. The Ameshaspend-doctrine is certainly old and purely Zoroastrian, and not influenced by Philo the Jew.* Strabo may be quoted to show that the glorification of the Arneshaspends must have been recognized long before the beginning of the Christian era. The divinities whose elaborate worship is described by Plutarch, can be none other than Vohumano and Ameretdt, since the elaborate ceremony of their wor- ship in Cappadocia does not imply a historical develop- ment of any considerable time.] 2. Neither the Pahlavi original text ofTansar's letter nor its direct Arabic translation is surviving ; but only the Persian version of the Arabic of Ibn al- Moqafia. Besides this, the Persian rendering is not authentic in its present form, not only in respect of the language, but also of the main points of thought; and *Comp. Max Miiller, '-The Contemporary Review," Vol. LXIV, p. 870 seq : " We are told that Tansar was a Hatonist, and it is in order to account for the Neo-Platonist ideas which M. Darmesfceter discovers in the Gathas that he places the Gathas in the first century of our era, about the time of Philo Judseus. If so, why not place them in the third century or in the time of Clement of Alexandria and Origen ? Could Pars-i priests in the first century have composed in the ancient metre of the Gathas which existed nowhere but in the Gathas ? . . . If the ancient monotheistic religion had become dualistic as early as Aristotle, who knew the names of Oromasdes and Areimantos, what could have led Tansar to re-introduce Ahura-Mazda as the name of the one supreme deity ? How could he have discovered the very name of Ahura-Mazda, in two words, which even in the inscriptions of Darius, had dwindled down to one word, tv>., Auramazda?" 155 it contains many interpolations. However, after deducting these interpolations, there remains, according to Darmesteter, a text which is teeming with details of which the authenticity is guaranteed to us. [The latter statement is a mere sweeping assertion, made without proving by quotations and references, that there are some new things in Tansar's letter which throw light on certain obscure passages of the extant Pahlavi literature. In the absence of the Pahlavi original it is, of course, very difficult to distinguish Tansar's text from the later additions and interpolations. We do not, consequently, understand where to draw the line or what the extent is to which the letter is forged or true. Again, Ibn al-Moqaffa finds, as he alleges, the Pahlavi letter in some book or MS. belonging to a Zoroastrian, named Bahram, son of Khurzad. In that case, as Darmesteter himself avers, the text in Bahrain's MS. may not be the work of Tansar, but perhaps of Bahram himself. There are, therefore, no authentic grounds to indicate that the Pahlavi letter which is attributed to Tansar in Bahrain's book, is genealogically descended from the original in Tansar's own hand-writ- ing. In short, the Persian letter put forth in the name of Tansar by the French savant, seems to be entirely unauthentic. If we were to believe Ibn al-Moqaffa, and to grant that a Pahlavi letter had been discovered by him in the MS. belonging to Bahram, son of Khurzad, which Ibn al-Moqaffa translated into Arabic, still there exist no historical data for calling the alleged letter the genuine work of Tansar, the high -priest of the Sasanian monarch ArtakhshatarJ [To this I may be allowed to add that "the age of Gathic composition had so long passed away in the time of the earliest Sasanian monarchs, that the sages whom they appointed to collect and rearrange the sacred literature, were unable to fully understand many of the stanzas they had to translate into Pablavi, ranch less could they have added to their number/' (Vide S. B. E., Vol/XXXVII, int., p., 42).] 3. There is one important point which draws our attention. It is Darmesteter's argument that as " Haoma overthrew the usurping Keresdni who arose, longing for sovereignty, and said : ' Henceforth no priest will go at his wish through the country to teach the law,' and as the epithet Keresdni is transcribed in Pahlavi Kilisydk, the Keresani usurper was neither a dev nor a Turanian, he was a Greek, he could be no other than Alexander." [The name Keresdni occurs only once in the Avesta, FosnalX*, 24, where it is repre- sented that the usurper was dethroned by Haoma. Now there is nothing in the history of Alexander to prove that the latter had ever been dethroned by an Iranian prophet or monarch. It is true that owing to the scantiness of the Pahlavi alphabet the transcription of the proper name Keresdni quite resembles the spelling of the Pahlavi word kilisydk, but hence it does not follow that the signification of the kilisydk commonly used in Pahlavi literature ought to be attached to the Avesta proper name. The mythical idea connected with the Yedic Krishanu, archer and demi-god who guarded the heavenly Soma (Av. Haoma; Mills, p. 237), suggests to us some old Arian origin of this picture of Keresdni in the Avesta and the Vedas. Compare the Bigveda, HymnCLV. r 2: "Your Soma-drinker keeps afar your furious rush, Indra and Vishnu, when ye come with all your might. That which hath been directed well at mortal man, bow-armed Krishanu's arrow, ye turn far aside."] The Pahlavi statement regarding the state of the Avesta literature in the time of Artakhshatar i Pdpakdn, which is contained in the last chapter of the third book of the Dinkardy runs as follows : 157 [Vide chapter 420, page 450. of Dastur Peshotanji's forthcoming Edition of the Dinkard, Vol. IX.] J 10 >^ 3 J A5 & y [Transliteration] Fa to vazand i min mar i dush-gad man Aleksandar 61 Airdn shatro din Icliilddeih mat ; va zak i 61 Dez i Nipisht 61 siizishno, va zalc i pavan Ganj i Shapigdn 61 yedman i Arumdkdn mat ; avash olicli Yudandik huzudn vidhdrd pavan dkdsih i min pfohtnik gufid did. 6lm-ani i Artakhshatar i malMdn malkd i Pdpakdn mat 61 lakhvdr drdstdrih i Airdn, khilddeih, ham nipik min pargandagth 61 aevak jivdk ydityunt ; va poryotkesh aharob Tdsar i airpatdti airpat yehevunt madam mat, va levatrnan paetdkih min Avistdk lakh- anddkhtan va min zak paetdkih liindakinidan fra* 158 mud, va hamgtinaTc Icard\ angilsliidak min brdh min biin roshan, pavan Ganj i Shapijdn ddshtan, va pacliln pasi- jagihd frdkhnimdan frarmld dkdslh. [Translation] " And in the subversion which happen- ed to the religious sovereignty of the country of Iran (Pahl. Alrdn) that (literature) which was (deposited) in the Diz i Nipisht ' Fortress of Documents or Manu- scripts, ' came to ba burat, and that which was in the ' Treasury of Shapigan ' fell into the hands of the Aru- mdns or Greeks, and it was rendered in the Greek language, too, as the knowledge that was derived from the tradition and observation of the ancients; and (there- after) when he who was Artakshatar, King of Kings, son of Papak, came for the restoration of the (religious) monarchy of Iran, the same copy (which had fallen into the hands of the Greeks) was brought into one place from the different places where it (viz., the copy) was thrown loosely about ; and there happened to be (in his time) a poryothesh, the pious Tosar, the high-priest, who was ordered (by Artakhshatar) to rearrange it (viz., the copy) together with the (Pahlavi) exposition or interpretation of the Avesta, and to compile it (viz. 9 the sacred work) with the help of that exposition. This was accordingly done. And like unto the brilliance or flame of the Original Light the sacred intelligence was ordered (by the king) to be preserved in the 4 Treasury of Shapigan,' and to be propagated by means of true 2 copies of it." 3 1 In the MSS. i?)^ iy, va zimanak hard "and a certain time was appointed (for the task)." This expression occurs in the Bunda- hish, chap. I. a -Kx^eweJ pasijagihd, lit. "in a pure manner." IWN^O rnay mean lit. " to be developed," " to be extended." 3 Cfr. Dastur Dr. Peshotanji's Pahlavi Grammar, Introduction, p, 7 (Bombay Edition, 1871.) ZARATHUSIITRA IN DEN ElXLEITUXG. Jede Religion, wo und wann sie auch entstanden sein mag, bat ihre Geschichte und ihre Entwickelung. Ktine Religion tritt plotzlich als etwas vollkommen Neues urid Unerwartet.es in die Erscheinung. Das Auge dea Forschers, welcher jedes Ereignis in der Geschichte der Menschheit nach Ursachen und Wirkungen zu prtifen und zu verstehen sucht, wird erkennen, dass jeder neu gestifteten Religionsform eine Zeitperiode vorher geht, welche wir als die Zeit der Vorbereitung bezeichuen konnen. Es zeigen sich indieser Zeit- periode gewisse Erscheinungen auf dem Gebiete des geistigen, sitt- lichen und wir tschaft lichen Lebens des Volkes, welche auf eine bevor- stehende Umwalzung der Anschauungen hindeuten. Diese Erschei- nungen haufen sich und verstarken sich, das Bedurfnis nach einer Reformation des gesamten Lebens wird inimer starker und machtiger, bis, man mochte sagen : mit einer gewissen Naturnotwendigkeit, die Personlichkeit hervortritt, welche dem Verlangen und Hoft'en des gesamten Volkes Ausdruck zu verleihen verrnag und so zum Stiffcer einer neuen Lehre wird. Dem Zeitgenossen freilich mag diese Lehre als etwas ganz Unerwartetes, Unerhortes erscheinen, da er eben die Ereignisse, die er selber mit erlebfc, noch nicht nach Ursache und \Virkung erfassen kann ; der Geschichtsforsclier aber, der dies vermag, wird den Erscheinungen nachspiiren, welche ein eolch bedeut- sames Ereignis vorbereiten, und er wird sie iiberall und immer auf- finden, mag er seine Aufmerksamkeit der Gescliichte dos Christen- tumes oder dea Islam, des Euddhisrnus oder des Zoroastrianismus zu wenden. \Vie aber jede Religion ihre Vorgeschichte hat, so sie auch ihre Ent- wickelung. Nicht nur die Naturreligionen der Wilden Afrikas, Amerikas und Australiens sind in einer bestaudigen Urngestaltung nnd Veranderung begriifen, es ist dies auch, wenngleich in gerin- gerem Masse, bei den sogenannten Buchreligionen der Fall, d. h. bei den Religionen, welche auf heiligen Urkimden als K< mpendiiun ihrer Lehren, als Norm und Richtschnur far das Leben ihrer Bekenner * A Discoui'80 written by Di\ Willielm Goigor, oi' th-c Uuiversifcy of Erluugcu. 21 1GO beruhen. Selbst in der jmlisehen Religion, 1 so wie *ir sic aus dem altea Testament e kennen. fault n sieh Spnrcn von AYacbstnm nnd A'erfall, Audi sie ist nfrbt YOU Anfang an als etwas Fcrtiges und Vollea Jetes ins Leben gctreten, sonderu ist der Yerderbais ebensowobl wie auch der Butwickeluugund Yervollkommnung zuganglich gewesen. Der Forscber mm, welcher deu Inbalt und die Gescbichte einer der Beltgiousforiuen zum Gegen^tand seiner Darstellung gemacht bat, wird die Anfgabe habcn, die Idee der ntw:ckelung nie aus dem Ange zn verlieren uml dem Gaiute dieser Entwickelung nachzusptiren. Er vrirU sieh die Miihe geben miissen, wenn moglich die urspriinglicbe Form der Keligion festzustellen nnd das Altcste tu scheideu Ton dein, was im Verlanfe der Zeit hiuzugekommen ist, was not wendig biutu- kommen musste. Icb sage not weadig ; deun da diu Religion i Volkes zndessen wiebtigsten Knltnrgiiteru gerecbnet vreitlen, muss so winl sie itn Yerlauf der Jabrbunderte gleicb alien under rn Kultnr. gutern gowis^e YerSuderungen erfabren. Dio allgemeineu Lebensver- h<nisse des Volkes werden nmg$taltet, die wirtscbafUichen Zustaade veraaderu siob, selbst die \Vobnsitze kounen gewecbselt werden ; damii erfabren aber ancb Ideeu nnd Ansohaunngen, Denken nnd \Visseii ihre Umwandelungen, uud das, was der Meuscb als das boobste nnd beiligste Gui bewAbrt, seine Religion wird diesen Umwandelnngen sicb anpassen. Der Inbalt, das Wesen and der Kern der Sacbe, Ueibt der gleicbe, woferae uicht ein Volk uherbanpt mil Herkommen nnd Tradition bricbt nnd vollstandig neue AVege aufzusuebeu sicb beuiiibt ; aber der alte Inbalt wird in neue Formen ingeltigt, nnd os muss dies gescbeben, wenn die Religion nicbt ibre Bedeutuug aU treibende uud iuiiner wieder Geister and Herxen belebende Kraft im Kultnrleben dee Yolkes rerliereu soil. Selbstverstaudlicb idt es nur dann mo^licb, den urspriinglicheu Inbalt irgend einer Religiouslebre anfznfinden nnd festtustellen, wenn liiterarisohe Quellen vorbanden sind, welcbe entweder TOU dem Begriiuder der Lebre selbst berriihren, oder docb weuigsteiis in dessen Zeit zurackreicben nnd dabei den Stempel der AYabrbaftig- keit nnd Zurerl&sigkeh tmgen. AYcnn wir nun auf den folgenden Seiten den A'ersuob macben wollen, die zoroastriscbe Lebre, welcbe nacb einem Bestaude von sicberlieb i Jabrtau$enden nnd nacb einer reicben Gescbichte Ton Uilfr> Voricsungen Uber Urspmng mid Kot widwlung dwr RcligHm, s. lid isa 161 Kampfen und Siegen, Verfolgungen uud Erfolgen uoeh heutzutage von mud 100000 Personen bekannt wird, l auf ihre alteste und ur- spriinglichste Gestalt zuriiokzufuhren, so entsteht vor allern die Fragp, ob dies iiberhaupt noch inoglich 1st. Besitzen wir Dokumente, deren Veifassuiu ihrem Stifter zugeschrieben werden darf, oder welclie doch wenigstens seincm Zeitalter und etwa dem Kreise sciuer ersten Anhan- ger und Freunde entstammen ? Wir konnen diese Frage mil Ja beant- wovten ; denn wir sind in der That nooli im Besitze einer solchen Urkunde, und diese Urkunde sind die Gatlias, d. h. die heiligen Ifi/mnen, welclie den dltesten Teil des Awesta, des Religionsbuches der Zoroastrier ausmachen. Es 1st bier wohl iiberfliissig, Form und Inhalt der Gatha's eing;e- liender zu charakterisieren. Sie bilden > wie bekannt, einen Teil des Yasna, des zur Recitation bei der Opferhandlung bestimrnten Handbuclies. Sie stehen aber mit deinelben in keinem inneren Zu- sammenhange, sondern sind ganz lose und ohne- Verbindung mit dem iibrigen Texte an de/r Ste-lle in den Yasna eingefiigt, v^o ihr Vortrag \\ahrend des Gottesdienstes dem Ritual entsprechend stattznfinden hat. Somit biiden die Gatbas ein selbstandiges Gauzes fur sich, wie auch das sakrale Gesetzbuch, der Vendidad, dessen Abschnitte in durchaus analoger Weise in den Handscbriften des sog. Vendidad-S{ A ide zwischen die ein^elnen Stiieke des Yasna eingeschuben werden. Vom ganzen iibrigen Awesta aber, dem Yasna sowobl wie dem Visperad, Vendidad uud den Yashts, unter- scbeiden slcb die Gatbasscbon ansserlich durch die metrischeForm, in welcber sie verfasst sind, und welcbe vielfach an die Metrik de IJymnen des Rigveda uns erinnert, so wie durch ihre Sprache, die von dem gewohnlichen Awestu-Dialekte nicht unerheblich abweicht. Der Umfang der Gatha's ist leider nur ein geringer. Aus meinen Berechnungen ergeben sich folgende Zahlen, deren Mitteilung nicht ohne Interesse sein diirfte : 1. Gatha Ahunavaiti 300 Zeilen ? rand 2100 Worte (Ys. 28-34) 2. Gatha Ushtavaiti 330 1850 n (43^46) 3. Gatha Spenta-mainyu 164 >5 900 > (47-50) 4. Gatha Vnhii-khshathra 66 >? 450 ft (51) 5. Gatha Vahishto-ishtish 36 > 260 (53) Samtliche Gathas 896 Zeilen, rund 5 660 Worte, i i) t Jiiih/ia' k'ruttiji, History of the Tarsis, Vol. I > c^ 91, 92. 1G2 Dies 1st an sieh nun schon wenij? genug. Die Sache gestaltet sich aber noch ungiinstiger durch die erheblichen Schwierigkeiten, welche die Interpretation der Gatha's an vielen Stellen biet^n. Manche Yers- zeilen, manche Strophen sind so dnnkel, dass es schwer 1st eine definitive IJbersetzung aufznstellen, oft genug wird man zugeben tmissen, dass sowohl die eine als die andere IJbersetzung moglich 1st, keine nls uubedingt rich tig, keine als unbedingt falsch gelten kann. Solche Strophen und Zeilen diirfen aber nicht oder doch nur mil grosstem Vorbehalt als Beweise fur irgend eine sachliche Ausein- findersetzung beigezogen werden. Oft genug vviri auch ein tlbersetzer etwas fiir sioher und zweifellos ansehen, was nndrre bestreiten. Unter- allen Uinstanden ist ausserste Vorsicht in der sachliphen Verwertung der Gathas dringend geboten. Aller dieser Sclnvierigkeiten sind wir nns wohl bewusst gewesen. Nicht s desto weniger kann man behanpten, dass auf grund der Gatha-Texte die urspriingliche Form des Zoroastrianismus, die philoso- phische und religiose Anschauungsweise seines Begrtinders und seiner ersten Bekenner wenigstens in den allgemeinen Gruudziigen darge- stellt werden kann, und das ein solcher Blick in die frrihesfen Zeiten einer der reinsten nnd erhabensten Religionen, die es je gegeben, nls iiberaus lelirreich bezeichnet werden muss. Wir begegnen hier aber gleich im Beginne unserer Untersachung einem Einwande, welcher entkraftet sein muss, ehe wir ant' die Sache selbst eingehen konnen. Es handelt sich urn nichts Geringeres als um die Frage, ob denri die Gathas von Zarathushtra oder seinen ersten Jungem und Schiilern herriihren, ob sie Avirklich in die Urzeit des Zoroastrianismus zur-iickreichen, ja ob sie iiberhaupt alter sind als das iibrige Awesta, Es gibt unter den Awesta-Forschern in Europa manche, welche das bestreiten, welche Zarathushtra zu einer "mythischen" Personlichkeit machen mochten, welche die Verschiedenheiten zwischen den Gathas und clem iibrigen Awesta nicht als solche des Zeit sondern viclmehr des Ottes auffassen. Sie nehmen also an, das die Gathas in einem anderen Teile von Iran verfasst seien als etwa Yashts und Vendidacl und dass sich namentlich der Unterschied der Dialekte aus diesem Unistand zur Geniige erklare. Es scheint iibrigens doch, als ob in neuerer Zeit diese Auachauung piiehr und mehr an Boden verliere, und gerade der letzte tibersetzer der Gatha's, Mills, vertritt deren Altertiiailichkeit mit grosser Entsohiedenheit. 163 Die metrische Form der Gatha's darf man allerdings kaum alsBeweU fiir deren holieres Alter beibringen. Denn auch im iibrigen Awesta fiuden sich zahlreiche Stiicke, welche urspriinglich metrisch verfasst waren ; vielfach ist das Metrum aucli noch ungestort erhalten ; an anderen Stellen freilich muss der Text erst von den bei der schliesslichen Redaktion des Awesta gemachten Zusatzen und Einschiebungen gereinigt werden. Von grosserem Gewichte ware schon der Unistand, dass das Yersmass in den Gathas so gut erhalten ist, unvergleichlich besser als in den metrischen Stiicken des iibrigen Awesta. Dies be- weist sicherlich, dass man bei der ebenerwhanten Redaktion die Gatha's fiir etwas Heiligeres und Unantastbareres ansah als die sonst tiberlie- ferten Texte. Auch der abweichende Dialekt der Gatha's beweist uns nicht, dass sie alter sind, als das iibrige Awesta. Jener Dialekt zeigt allerdings manche altertiimlicheren Formen, daneben aber auch solche, die raehr abgeschliffen nnd verandert zu sein scheinen. Alles dies erklart sich weit besser dureh einen ortlichen als durch einen zeitlichen Unterschied beider Dialekte. Das w r as die Gathas aber un.zweifelhaft vo.m ganzen iibrigen Awesta scheidet und sie als weit iilter kennzeiehnet, ist ihr Inhalt ihr Inhalt, der uns deutlich hineinfijhrt in die Zeit der Grundung der neuen Lehre, in die Zeit, wo Zarathushtra und seine ersten Anhanger noch lebten und wirkten, wahrend sie fiir das jiingere Awesta ohne Zweifel Personlichkeiten einer fernen Vergangenheit sind, Dies wurde friiher schon aufs entschiedenste hervorgehoben 1 und un seres Wissens noch auf keine Weise widerlegt. Neuerdings spricht Mills 2 den namlichen Gedanken aus : " In the Gathas all is sober and real. The Kine's soul is indeed poetically described as wailing aloud, and the Deity with His Immortals is reported as speaking, hearing, and seeing, but, with these rhetorical exceptions, everything which occupies the attention is practical in extreme. Grehma and Bendva, the Karpans, the Kavis, and the Usij's are no mythical monsters. No dragon threatens the settlements, and no fabulous beings defend them. Zarathushtra, Jamaspa, Frashaoshtra, and Maidhyo-mah, the Spitarnas, 1 Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times, by Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana, B. A., Vol. JL, p. 316 ff. 2 The Zend-Avesta, Part III. : The Yasna, etc., translated by L. H. Mills (Sacred Books of tho East, Vol. XXXI.), p. Xxvi. 164 Hvogvas, the Haecat-aspas, are as real, and are alluded to with a simplicity as unconscious, as any characters in history. Except inspi- ration, there are also no miracles." Wir werden noch oft genug Gelegenlicit haben, auf diesen, ich moclite sagen, aktuellen Charakter der Gatha's hinzuweisen, und die Richtigkeit der von uns oben aufgestellte These, dass die Gathas in die Griindungsperiode des Zoroastrianismus gehoren, wird dann wohl jedem Leser sich von selbst ergeben. Sie ergibt sich namentlich dann, wenn wir die Rolle ins Auge fassen, welche Zarathushtra und die Per- sonlichkeiten in den Giithiis spielen, die in der Tradition der Parsen als dessen Zeitgenossen gelten. Die spatere Legende von Zarathushtra, seinem Leben und seinen Wirken hat ungefahr folgenden Inhalt, wobei ich von alien Aus- schmuckungen absehe, die sich alssolche sofort erkennen lassen. 1 Zara- thushtra stamnit aus koniglichem Geschlechte ; sein Starnmbaum fiihrt auf Minucheher zuriick ; zu seinen Ahnen gehoren Spitama und Haecat- aspa, Pourushaspa ist sein Vater. Yon Ahura Mazda wird ihm die heilige Religion geoffenbart, zu welcher als der erste von alien Maidhyo- rr,ah, der Sohn von Zarathushtra' s Oheim Arasti. Auf Gottes Befehl begibt sich Zarathushtra an den Hof des Konigs Gushtasp von Bak- trien, um hier seine Lehre zu verkiindigen. Minister des Konigs ist der weise Jamaspa. Esgelingt dem Propheten, diesen sowiedessen Bruder Frashaoshtra, dann auch den Konig selbst und dessen Gemahlin fiir sich zu gewinnen, und damit fasst der neue Glaube festen Boden. Zaratlmshtra vermahlc sich mit einer Tochter des Jamaspa, Hvovi. Hochbetagt stirbt er, nachdem es ihm beschieden war, die ersten Erfolge seiner Yerkiindigung zu erleben. I. DIE AUTOBSCHAFT DER GATflAS. Werfen wir nnn einen Blick auf die in den Gathas vorkommen- den Personennamen, so ist es an sich schon bemerkenswert, dass sic alle der Zarathushtralegende, wie wir sie kurz zusammengefasst haben, nngeboren. Es finden sich genannfc : ZarathushtrR, Yish- taspa, Jamaspa, Pourushaspa, ausserdem Maidhyo-maogh, von familiennamen Hvogva, Spitama und Haecat-aspa, die Geschlechter des Jamaspa und des Zarathushtra selber. Erwahnt wird endlich die Tochter des Propheten. Dagegen findet sich mit einer einzigen i F. von Spiegel, Eranische Altertumskuude, T. I. >S. 684 ff. 165 Ausnahme keiner der in der iranischen Heldensage wohl bekannten mid auch im librigen Awesta oft genug vorkommenden Namen, weder Thraetaona noch' Keresiispa, weder Haoshyagha noch Kavi Husrava noch Arjat-aspa. Nur Yima wird an einer einzigen Stelle gcnannt. 1st das ein blosser Zufall ? Oder isfc nicht doch die Annahme wahrscheinlicher, dass die Gatha's eben von Zaratlmshtra selbst und seiner Umgebung herstammen und die Erlebnisse, Hoffnungen, Wdnsche uud Befurchtungen des engen Kreises schildern, aus welchem sie hervorgegangen sind ? Diese Annahrne wird aber wohl dem Uiibefangenen zur Gewissheit, wenn man die Stellen, wo jene Namen vorkommen, eingehender priift. Zaratliushtra wircl, meines Wissens im ganzen sechzehnmal genannt und zwar in samtlichen Gathas, in der Gatha Ahnnavraiti dreimal, in der G. Ushtnvaiti funfmal, in der G. Spenta-mainju zweimal, ebenso oft in der G.Vohu-khshathia und endlich verhaltnis- mussig am oftesten, namlich viermal, in der G. Vahisbto-ishti. Gerade diese letzte Gatha jedoch scheint mir die jiingste zu sein. Die einleitenden Strophen in welchen Zarathushtra, Kavi Vishtaspa, des Zarathushtra Tochter Pouru-cista, und Frashaoshtra erwahnt \verden, scheinen mir einen Riickblick auf die zoroastrische Epoche zu enthalten ; dass sie unmittelbar aus der selben stammen, glaube ich nicht. Von grosser TVichtigkeit sind nun die Stt-llen, wo Zarathushtra von sich selbst in der ersten Person spricht. Wer mir in Frommiy- keit Gutes zu erweisen sucht, heisst es z. B. Ys. 46, 19, m?r, dem Zarathushtra, dem- werden die Jiimmlischen Geister das als Lohn gewahren, was das Lrstrebenswerttste ist, namlich die ewiye Selig- heit. Ich meine, es liegt am Tage, dass wir hier Worte des Zara- thuhtra selber vor uns haben. Eine solche Stelle unterscheidet sich vollkommen von Stellen des jiingeren Awesta, wo nicht der Prophet selber spricht, sondern der Verfasser ihn sprechen Jasst, Man vergegenvvartige sich nur unter anderem etwa den Anfang von Ys, 9, der oline Zweifel auch ein altes Lied enthalt, sich aber auf den ersten Blick als lange nach Zarathushtra entstanden ergibt, wenn es heisst : Um die Morgenzeit kam Haoma zu Zarathushtra, da dieser das Feuer weihte und die Gathas rezitierte. Und es fragte ihn dieser: Wer bist du denn ? u. s. w. Wir sind gewiss berechtigt, aus der ganz ver t chiedenen Art, weil Zarathushtra in dieser uud in jener Stelle erwalmt wird einen 166 Schluas auf ihr relatives Alter zu ziehen. In analoger Weise unter- scheidet Oldenberg neuerdiugs zwischen iiltoren mid jiingeren Hymn^ en irn Rigveda, je nach dem die Ausdrucksweise der Dichter eine solche ist, die ihn gleichzeitig zu gewissen geschichtlichen Ereig- uissen ersclieinen lasst oder nicht. So hebt sich Rv. VII. 18 aus deniibrigen Hymnen des niimlichen Buches als weit alter heraus, weil sein Verfasser von der grossen Schlacht, die Konig Sudas schlug, als von etwas eben erst geschehenen spricht, wahrend in anderen Liedern von der niimlichen Schlacht alseinem Ereignisse der vergang- enen Zeiten die Rede ist. Gilt aber die Strophe Ys. 46, 19 fur zarathushtrisch, so konnen wir das ohne Zweifel von dem ganzen Liede behaupten. Dasselbe ist aber ungeniein reich an personlichen Anspielungen. In der 14 Strophe wird Zarathushtra angeredet mit den Worten : O Zara- thushtra, wer ist dein Freund ? Dies steht jedoch unserer Annahme dass der Hyninus von ihm selber herriihrfc, keineswegs im Wege. Der Dichter lasst eben in echt dichterischer Lebhaftigkeit diese Frage aufgeworfen werden, anf die er selbst dann die Antwort gibt : Er selber ist es, Kavi Vishtaspa. Mit anderen Worten ausgedriickt bedeutet die Stelle also eben nur : Ich habe keinen besseren Freund und Anhanger gefunden, als den Vishtaspa. Ira weiteren Verlaufe wendet sich dann der Dichter, d. h. Zara- thushtra, an seine eigene Familie, die Spitamiden, er envahnt den Frashaoshtra und den De Jamaspa, urn eben zum Schluss in den oben angefuhrten Worten von sich selbst in der ersten Person zu reden und alien denen, die ihm sich anschliessen, das Paradies als Lohn ihrer Treue zu verheissen. Bleiben wir zunaehst bei der Gatha Ushtavaiti, so begegnet uns in derselben noch ein anderer Hymnus, der nns lebhaft an den eben besprochenen erinnert, namlich Ys. 43. Auch hier lasst der Dichter Bn sich selbst die Fra^e gcrichtet werden : Wer bist du denn nnd wessen Sohn ? Und er gibt wieder selbst die antwort : 4< Zarathushtra bin ich, ein offener Feind aller Bosen ; aber den Frommen will ich ein kraftiger Beistand sein, so lange ich es vermag." Und der Dichter gchliesst diesinal, indem er von sich in der dritten l*eron sagt : " Jetzt entscheidet sich fiir die Welt des Geistes Zarathushtra und (mit ihm entscheiden sich dafiir) alle die, welche deni Ahura Mazda anhangen" (Str. 16). 167 DIese anwendnng der dritten Person, wenm der Dichter von sich selbst spricht, darf uns Richt befremden. Sie findet sich gerade so xm Rigveda. Hver heisst s : " So hat der Vasishtha, d. h. ich der Danger tins dem Geschlechte der Vasishtha, den gewaltigeii Agni gepriesen" (VH. 42, 6) und dann wieder: " Wir, die Vasishtha' swollen deino Verehrr seiit" (VII, 37, 4) und so oft genug, bald in der emeu, bald in der anderen Ausdrucksweise. Offenbar war s also in der alten Hyiunendiehtung durch-aus gebrauchltctt, dass der Verfasser sich selbst in der dritten Person nannte, und dieser Gebraucla 1st auch in unserer moderneii Poesie durchaus uiclit unbekaant. Von der Gfitha Ushtavaiti gehen wir uber zur Gatha Almnavaiti* Hier begegnet uns nnn -eine anffallcnde Ersdieinung, Der Dicbter tspriicht Ys. 28, 7-9, von sicfi selbst in der ersten Person, es anterliegt auch keinem Zweifel, dass er zur Zeit der Stiftnng der newen Lehre Jebte; all-in ich niochte aun^hmen, dass nicht Ztiratlinshtra der Verfasser ist, sondern einer von seinen Freundcn und Zeitg'enossen. In den drei erwahnten Strophcn betet namlich der Siinger so der Reihe nach zu Gott : iratbusbtra, ganz so, 1 So nach Mills, Yasna, S 1HC. a Yasiia translated. S. 167 ff. 169 wiewir Ys. 28, dies schon gesehen haben. Vielleicht ist es Yishtaspa der hier spricht, vielieicht Jamaspa ; jedenfalls scheint es weniger ein Priester zu sein, als vielmehr ein Fiirst oder Grosser im Lande, der sich des gewichtigen Ansehens Zarathushtras bedient, um im Bunde rnit ill m in der politisehen und sozialen Ordnung der Dinge irgend vvel- che Neuerungeu einzufizbren. Wir werden sehen, dass Zarathushtra in der That ein ebenso grosser Reformator auf sozialein wie auf religiosem Gebiete ist, so dass eia soli-her Qedaake durchaus nieht feme lage. Dass die Gatha Vakishto-ishti naeh raeiner Meinitng einer spateren, vielleicht sogar iiachaarathushtrischea Zeit aiigehort, habe ich schon, kurz angcdenkt, den noch iibrig bleibenden Hymnus Ys. 51, die Giitha Voh-khshathrem ware ich wieder geneigt, dera Zarathushtra selbst zuzuschreiben. Fur dtese Annahrae spricht schon der Umstand f dass dieses Lied unverkeanbare Ahnlichkeiten mit dem Hymnus Ys. 46 besitzf., den wir gleichfalls als zarathiishtriseh annahuieii. Hierauf hat Mills (S. 182) hingewieseu. Ganz wie Ys. 46, 14 lusst auch Ys. 51, 12 der Dichter die Frage gestellt werden : " Welcher Mann ist des Spitarniden Zarathushtra Freund ? " Er antwortet dann zuerst negativ : " Nicht die lasterliaften Irrleiirer und falscheu Priester haben j.e des Zarathushtra Beifall gewonnen " ( Str. 12 ). Diese werden vieimekr dem Verderben preisgegeben, \vahrend Zarathushtra den Seinigen nls Lohn das Paradies in Aussicht stellt (13-15). Und nun zahlt er seine Freunde alle auf: an erster Stelle neniit er Kavi Vislnispa, dann die Hvogviden Frashaoshtra uiid Ja-uispa und endlich den Spitamiden maidhyo-maogh. Bezeichnend sind dabei die Worte am Schluss von Str. 18, die doch nur in Zarath- ushtra'sMund passend zusein scheinen. 'Verleihe mir t o Masda, dass sie d. h. Vishtftspa und Frashaoshtra und Jamaspa an dtr festhalten." Gott wird also gebeten, den Glaubeu der ersten An hanger zu star- ken and zu befestigen, dass sie treu festhalten an der Lehre Zara- thushtra's, die sie einmal als wahr und richtig erkannt haben. Die Resultate unserer Un'ersuchung iiber die in den Gathaa vorkommenden Persouennamen undinsbesondere iiber die Erwahnung des Zarathushtra in denselben sind folgende : (1) Die Gathas stammen, vielleicht mifc einziger Ausnahme von Ys. 52, sanitlich aus der Zeit des Zarathushtra, und unterscheiden sich dadurch weseutlieh vom iibrigen Awesta, welchem Zarathushtra eine Fersoulichkeit der Vergangeaheit ist. 170 (2) Einfge Stucke aus den Gfitha's bcsonders wahrscheinlich ist dies ron Ys. 46, 49, 51 haben vermutlich den Zarathushtra selbsfc zam Verfasser. (3) Antfere Lieder rifhren nichfc von Zarathusbtra selber her, sondern von einern seiner Freunde und Anhiinger; dies liisst sich mit einiger Sicherheit erweisen bei Ys. 28, 2& und 50. (4) Unter alien Umsiauden aber haben wir es mit einer Samm- lung von Hymnen zu thun, in denen alien der gleiche Geist went, die alle der gleiehen Zeitperiode sr?gehc-re, die alls den ztamlichen Wirnschen uud Hoffnungen, Sorgen und 1 BefiirehtungeD, der namli- chen Glanbensfreudigkeit und dem mimliehen- Gottvertrauen Ausdruck geben. Unser Thema " Zarafehushtra in den Gathas " wird nun genauer so gefasst werden miissen : Die Reform Zarathushtrn's naeh den gleiclizeitigen Schilderunyen der Gatlta's. II. DIE RELIGIOSE UND SOZIALE EEFORM ZARATHLTSHTRA'S. Zarathushtra ist, so satzen wir, ebenso sehr ein Reformator auf sozialem wie auf religiosem Gebiet gewesen. Ein Blick auf den Inhalfc der Gathas belehrt ans darlrber zur Geniige. Keine Beform vollzieht sich ohne KSmpfe, nnd eine Zeit erbitterter Kampfe ist es in der That, was vor unserem Auge sich entroMt, vyenn wir die in den Gathr\9 geschilderten Zustande betraehten. Wir konnen uns die Sache migefahr foigendermassen vorstellen-. Das Volk der Arier, d. h. die noch vereinigten Indo-Iranier, waren rora Oxas herkommend naeh Siiden gewandert and hatten die Flussthaler nordlich und siidlich des Hmdukusch inBesitz genommen. Allein hier war nicht genug Boden vorhanden fur eine so grosse Mengo von Sta-nmen und Geschlechtern. Neue Massen drangten rom Norden iiach und so geschah es dass die am weitesten naeh Siiden vorge- ruckten Sta.nme ost\\Srts weiterzogen und in die Ebenen am Indus einriickten. Darait vollzog sich eine bedeutsame Scheidung. Ans dem Teile dea Volkes, welcher in den friiheren Wohnsitzen am Hindukusch zuriickblieb, gingen die nachmaligen Iranier hervor, aus dem, welcher naeh Osten gewandert war, die nachmaligen Inder. Letztere durchlebten, walirend sie im Kampfe mit Dasa und Dasyu das heutige Pendschab eroberten, die Kulturepoclie des Rigveda. Aber auch fiir die Iranier brach nun eine wichtige Periode ihrer Geschichte an. Koch immer erwies sicli das Land, das sie im Besitze hatten, uicht als ausreichend, um eine grossere Auzahl von Nomadenstanamen 171 derm das waren die Iranier der damaligen Zeit mit ihren Herden zu ernahren. Auch war das Land wohl in manchen Teilen, wo die Gebirge gegen die Steppen Lin auslaufen und allmahlich in niedrigere und breitere Hohenriicken iibergehen, eincm nomadischen Leben giinstig ; in anderen Teilen aber, wo das Terrain rauLer, zerrissener, gebirgiger ist, Linderte es die freien nngebundenen Wanderungen. So musste naturgemass ein Teil des iranischen Volkes selir bald zu sessbaftem Leben nnd Ackerbau iibergehen. In Nomaden und Ackerbauern zerfallt nun auch wirklich das Volk der Gatlia's, und in dem scharfen Gegen- satze, welcLer zwischen beiden bestebt, spielt Zarathushtra eine bervorragende Rolle. Wir seben in zablreicben Stellen, wie er in den Gatbas sich auf die Seite der sessbaften Bevolkerung stellfc. Er ermahnt sie, in ibrer Arbeit nicbfc zu ermiiden, fleissig den Acker zu bebauen und dem " Rinde " die Pflege zn teil werden zu lassen, welcbe es verdient. Und weiter und weiter breitet das Gebiet der Ackerbauern sicb aus und " meliren sich die Siedlungen der Fromrnen," trotz aller Anfecbtungen, aller Verfolgungen und Gewalttbaten, welcbe sie von Seite der Nomaden zu erdulden haben, die ihre Niederlassungen lib erf alien, ihre Saatfelder verbeeren, ibre Herden ihnen rauben. Es mag geniigen, dies bier mit wenigen Worten anzudeuten, da diese soziale Umwalzung, welche das Awesta-Volk in der Gat ha. Epocbe durcblebte, scbnn an auderer Stelle ausfuhrlich gescbildert wtirde 1 und wir Wiederbolungen vermeiden mochten. Was uns bier im besonderen von Infceresse ist, das ist der Geist und die Gesin-* nung Zarathushtrcis und seiner Freunde und ersten Anbanger, wie sie dieselbe in jenem grossen Kampfe, soweit sich aus den Gatlia's entnehmen lasst, betbatigen. Der Kampf zwischen den Nomaden und den Ackerbauern, zwischen den Anbangern des Propheten und seinen Feinden war ein erbitterter und ein wecbselnder. Es kamen Zeiten der Mutlosigkeit und der aussersten Bedrangnis, so dass der Prophet in die Worte aus- bricbt : " In welches Land sol ich micb wenden, wohin soil ich gehen ? " Und er beklagfc sich, dass selbst Freunde und Verwandte ihn im Stiche lassen und die Beherrscber des Landes ihm ihren Scbutz und ihre Unterstiifczung versagen (Ys. 46, 1). Allein solche Stimmungen 1 Daralt Dastur Feshotan Sanjana, B. A., Civilization of the Eastern IrAnians in Ancient Times, T. II, S. 119 ff. 172 sind doch verhaltmsmiissig selten in den Gathas. Zarathushtra und seine Freunde kennen ja einen Heifer aus aller Not, das 1st Ahura Mazda, der sie gesandt hat und der sie auf alien Wegen leitet. An ibn wenden sie sicli in Zeiten der Bedrangnis und auf ihn blicken sie mit festem Gottvertrauen. Darum fahrt der Dicliter nacli den eben angefiihrten Eingangs- worten seines Hymnus fort ; " Icli weiss ja, dass ich arm bin, dnss icli weiiig Herden und wenig Gesinde besitze ; dir klage ich das, sich auf inicli, o Ahura, und schenke mir Hilfe, wie der Freund dem Freunde siebringt." (Ys. 46, 2.) Das Bewusstsein, der Ahura Mazda selbst den Zarathushtra gesendet hat, um tier Menschheit die neue Lehre zu verkiiudigen, und ihm als Berater allezeit zur Seite steht, tritt iiberall in den Gathas hervor. Der Prophet spricht es (Ys. 45, 5) geradezu aus, dass Gott ihm das Wort mitgeteilt habe, welches das beste ist fiir die Menschen. Von An fang an ist er zu dessen Verkuiidigung auserlesen (Ys. 44, 11). Er erklart sich bereit das Amt ernes Propheten zu iibernehmen : Als curen Verehrer will ich mich bekennen und will es auch bleiben, so lange ich es vermag durch den Beistand des Ascha; und er bittet nur, dass Ahura seinem Werke auch das Gelingen schenken moge (Ys. 50, 1). Mit Stolz nennt er sich den " Freund " des Ahura (Ys. 44, I), 1 der treu an ihm festhalt, aber auch seinerseits auf seine Hilfe bauen kann. An andrer Stclle (Ys. 32, 1) wieder bezeichnen sich Zarathush- tra und seine Anhaiger als die " Boten " des Ahura Mazda, duich cleren Mund dieser seine " Geheimnisse," d. h. seine bis dahin unbe- kannten und ungehorten Lehren. der Welt verkundigt. Wir werden cl;il)ei lebhaft erinnert an den gleichen Ausdruck (mcdak) im alten Testarnente, womit in erster Linie die Engel gemeint sind als die " Boten Gottes," die den Verkehrt zwischen Jehovah und den Menschen vcrmitteln, dann auch die Propheten und Priester, die Jehovah's Stellvertreter auf Erden siiid und seinen Willen ausiiben, endlich aber s 'gar das ganze Volk Israel, welches von Gott unter die Heiden ge- sandt ist, sie zu bekehren. Hier wie dort, bei Israeliten wie bei Iranicrn, zcigt &ich deutlich das Bewusstsein, dass die neue Lehre nicht das Werk von Menschen ist, sondern dass Gott selbst durch seine Pro- pheten redet, dass sie von ihm ausgehen, dass sie seine Diener, seine U oroide, seine Gesandten sind. 1 Vgl. ahnliches im Iligveda 2, 38, 10 j 5, 85, 8; 7, 19, 8j u. a. m. 173. Dieses Got.tvertrauen hat seinen letzten und sicliersten RiickhaH in der Uberzeugung, dass friiher oder spater jeden JMenschen durch die gottliche Gerechtigkeit doch das Loos zu teil wird, das er vermoge seiner HandluDgen verdient. M'enn aucli im cliesseitigen Leben oft genug d:r Uose eincs unverdienten Gliickes sich zu erfreuen scheint, so wird ihm doch die Strafe, die irn gebuhrt, im Jenseits ereilen. Eiu Leben in Finsternis, Qual und Seelenpein wartct ihrer dort. Andrer- scits aber kann der Prophet seine getreuen Anhanger in all ihrer Nofc, in Kampfen und Yerfolgungen trosten und gtarkcn durch den Hinweia auf die Freuden des Faradieses, die ihnen Gott im anderen Leben bereiten wird (Ys. 30, 4 ; 3J, 20 ; 32, 15 ; 45, 7 ; 46, 11 ; 49, 11). In der That war ein solches festes Yertrauen auf die gottliche Gerechtigkeit und auf einen Ausgleich zwiscben Yerdienst und S chick- sal im Jenseits notwendig zu jener Zeit, wo es allerdings der Feinde genug gab and wo oft genug die gute Sache in hochster Gefahr sich befand und nur wcnigc Anhanger zault, die treu zu ilir hielten. Die Feinde des neuen Glaubens,inersterLinie die Nomadenstiimme, \relche sesshaftes Leben, Bestellung des ackers und sorgsame Pflege des Rindviehs verschmahen, beten rioch zu den alten Naturgottern, den daeoa, den deuas der indischen Stiimme. In den Augen der Anhang o r Zarathushtra's werden diese dacva selbstverstiindlich zu bosen "NYesen, zu Liigengotzen, zu Diimonen. Die Menschen nun, welche diesen Diimonen anhiingen und ihnen Opfer und Verehrung darbringeu, wt-rden als "Freunde" der daeva bezeichnet (daeva-zushta, Ys. 32, 4, von den daeoa geliebt), wie andrerseits Zarathushtra und die Seinigen sich Ahura's Freunde nennen. Und noch einen Schrift weiter gehen die Yerfasser der Gathii's : sie sehen in den Ungliiubigen die Diimonen selbst verkb'rpert und legen auch den Menschen den Namen daeva bei (Ys. 32, 5, und so oft). Eine andere Bezeichnung fiir die ungliinbigen Feinde ist das Wort Ithmfsti'd (Ys. 34, 9) ; dasselbe mag etwa "Schlangenbrut, Otternge- ziicht " bedeuten. An anderer Stelle heissen sie die *'schlangenziinig- en " \khrafstrd-hizvd Ys. 28,6) und in einer dritten Strophe (Ys. 34, 5) werden die Mrtf/sfr-j-Menschen unmittelbar und gleichbedeutend neben den Daeva selber genannt. Die Ungliiubigen haben auch ilire Priester: die Usij, die Kavis, und die Karapans* Sie sind natiirlich die erbittertsten Gegner der neuen Lehre, durch welche ihre Goiter 1 Vgl. Ys. 44, CO. Die UnglanbifTen werden im allgf-meiuen a's die, dreavanto bezeiohnet, die Frommen dagegen an Stellen wie Ys. 34, 13 j 48, 9 und iiamentlich, Ys. 48, 12, ale 174 entthront werden und sie selbst alien Einfluss auf das Volk verlieren nmssen. Oft gelingt es diesen LiigenpriesterD, die F'drsten auf ihre Seite zu bringen. Mit den Fiirsten haben sich verbundet die Kavi's und die Karapan's, so klagt daher Ys. 46, 11, der fromme Siinger, urn durch Ubelthateu die Menschen zu verderben. Selbstverstandlioh war es von der hochsten Wichtigkeit, fiir welcbe Sacbe die Fiirsten eich entschieden ; denn wo der Fiirsfc zuder nenen Lebre sicb bekannte oder derselben feindlich gegeniiber trat, da mag wohi das Volk in der Regel ihrn gefolgt sein. Daber preist Zaratbusbtra die Glaubenstreue des Visbtaspa immer wieder, daher betet der Dicbter zu Gott : "Gute Fiirsten mo'gen iiber uns herrscben, aber kerne bosen Fiirsten!" Zu den Fiirsten, welcbe Zarathushtra feindlicb gegeniiber traten, diirfte der ma;htige Eendva gehorthaben, welchen Ys. 49,1-2, erwahnt wird. Jedenfalls ergibt sich aus dem Zusammenbange der Stelle, dass er auf der Seite der Unglaubigen stand. Eine Fainilie oder ein Stamm endlich von fiirstlichem Gebliite \varen vermutlich die Grehma (Ys. 32, 12-14). Yon ihnen heisst es, dass sie im Bunde mit Kavi's und Karapan's ihre Macht einsetzen, um den Propheten und seine Anhanger zu iiberwaltigen ; aber hohnend wird ihnen entgegen gerufen, dass sie die Herrschaft, nach welcber sie streben, erst in der Holle erlangen werden. Mit alien ihren Anhiingcrn den Gotzendienern und Afterpriestern, werden sie dem ewigen Verderben verf alien; der Prophet aber, der bier so viel geschmaht wird, wird dereinst mit den Seinigen in die Freuden des Paradieses eingeben. Es ist nun von Interesse, wie die Verfasser der Gatha's diesen ihren Feinden sich gegeniiber ptellen, welche Gesinnungen sie ihnen gegeniiber an den Tag legen. Zunachsfc wird es als heilige Pflicht angesehen, durch Wort und Lebre die Ungliiubigen zu bekehren (Ys. 28, 5). Die Religion Zarathushtra's ist eine Religion der Kultur, des geistigen und sittlichen Fortschritts, Sie durchdringt alle Lebeasverbaltnisse, indem sie jede Tbabigkeit, so z. B. die Urbarmacbung des Bodens, die sorgsame I'flege der Herden, die Bestellung des Ackers, unter den Gesicbtspunkt der religib'sen Pflicht bringt. Eine solche Religion oder eine solcbe Philosophic kann sich nicht auf einen engen Kreis beschriinken ; die Ausbreitung derselben, die Bekehrung aller Menschen zu ihr liegt in ihrem AVeseii selber begriindet. \Vir finden daher auch ganze Lieder, \vie Ys. 30 und 45, die offenbar bestimmfc waren, vor einer grosseren Versammlung vorgetragen zu werden, und in welcher Zarathushtra oder chier 175 seiner Freunde die \vesen tlichen Pimkte der neuen Lehre den Zuborern darlegt. Diesa Situation crgibt sich deutlich aus der Eingangsstrophe des letztgenftnnten Hyinnus : VerkSndigea "will ioh's; nun horfc und vernehmet, Die ihr von nalie und von ferae herbeigeeilt seid 1 Jetzfc hast du alles offeabar gemaohfc, o Mazda ! Damit nicht abermals ein Irrlehrer das Leben ertose Durch falschen Q-lauben, ein Bb'ser, der Schlimmes redefc. Offenbar hat Vishtaspa oder sonst einer der Gaufursten sein Volk zu einer grossen Versammlung geladen. In dieser Versammlung mogen die Kavi's und Karapan's ibre Gesange vorgetragen haben, in \*elcben sie die daeva, die Gutter des Sturmes und Gewitters, der Sonne und der Gestirne verehrten. Sie brachten wohl aucli Opfer Jar, ihren Beistand zu gewinnen ftir irgend eine Unternebmung oder ihren Zorn zu versohn- en. Nun aber tritt Zarathnshtra auf. Seiner siegreicben Bered- samkeit miissen die alten Priesfcer der N^aturreligion weichen, und dem lauschenden Volke rings umher seine bis dahin "ungeborte" Lehre von Ahura Mazda ala dem erhabenen Schopfer der Welt und von der finsteren Macht des Bosen, dessen stete Bekiimpfung Pflicht aller Menschen isfc. Nicht in blutigen Opfern oder sinnlosen Braucheu besteht der wahre Gottesdienst, sondern in der sittlichen Reinheit der Gesinnung, in eifriger Erfirllung der rnenschlichen Berufspflichten in Frominigkeit und Arbeitsamkeit. Wo nun aber der Prophet auf offenen Widerstand stosst, wo alle Reden alle Vorstellungen fruchtlos geblieben, da tritt er nun auf mit der vollen Wuchfc eiues heiligen Zornes. Der Gute hasst das Bose ; da gibt es keine Versohnung, keine Daldung, keine Nachsiclit. Jede Duldsamkeit ware eine Siinde, weil sie dem Bosen Raum schafft, sfcatt es zu vernichten. In den Gatha's tritt uns derselbe Geist energischen Hasses gegen das Bose entgegen, wie etwa im alten Testament. Anch hier fordert Moses die Leviten auf, zum Schwerte zu greifen und die Abtriinnigen zu toten, die statt am Dienste Jehovah's festzuhalten, sich ein goldenes Bildnis machten und es anbeteten (2 Mos. 32, 25ff,). Jehovah ist ein ^eifervoller " Gott, ein zurnender Gott, der die Gotzenbilder der Heiden zu zertriinimern und ihre Altiire umzustiirzen gebietet. *' Gott der Rache, Jehovah, Gott der Rache, erscheine," so raft der Psalmensanger (Ps. 94); " erhebe dich, da Richter der Erde, zahle Vergeltung den Stolzen ! Wie lange sollen die Frevler frohlocken, Jehovah ? .... Sie versammeln sich, zu bedrohen das Leben des 23 176 Gerechten und verurteilen unschuldiges Bint. Doch Jehovah ist meine Burg, und mein Gott der Felsen, wo ichZuflucht finde. Er wild ihnen ihr Unrecht heimzahlen und um ihrer Bosheit willen sie ver- tilgen. Vertilgen wird sie Jehovah, unser Gott I Jehovah rettet nllc, die ihn lieben, die Frevler aber verniehtet er r ' (Ps. 145, 20). Durch Widerspenstigkeit wird Jehovah's Zorn gereizt ; nun erziirnfc er sich und gibt dern Schwerte preis die. welche von ihm abfallen (Pa. 78, 56 if.). Wie die Sohne Koran's gegen Moses sich emporen, da spaltet Jehovah die Erde und Korah mit alien den Seinigen samt Hausern und Habe werden von ihr verschlungen (4 Mos. 16, 1 ff.). Diese Stellen aus dem alten Testamente sind ohne Wahl herausge- griffen. Es wiire ein leiclites, sie um das zehnfache zu vermehren. Der Hass, der den Sunder nicht nachsichtig duldet sondern seine sofortige Bestrafung ja sogar seine ganzliche Vernichtung von tier gottlichen Gerechtigkeit fordert und erwartet, ist eben ein Grundzug des altisraelitischen Geistes. Wir konnen ihin unsere Bewundernng nicht versagen : das ist Kraft und Energie, frei von aller schwach- lichen Nachsicht, sich steigernd bis zu Gewaltthatigkeit und Fanatismus. Und wenn nun Zarathushtra ausruft : " Ein Peiniger will ich sein fur die Bo'sen, ein Freund aber und ein Heifer fur die Frommen " (Ys. 43, 8) oder wenn er das Volk auffordert : Keiner soil auf des Frevlers Lehren und Gebote achten ; denn dadnrch bringt er Leiden und Tod in sein Hans und Dorf, in sein Land und Volk ! Nein, greift zum Schwert ur;d schlagt sie nieder ! " (Ys. 31,18) oder wenn er denen, die sich ihm nicht anschliessen, Tod und Verderben ankiindigt (Ys. 45, 3) : so erinnert uns das lebhaft an den Geist des alten Testamentes. In der That scheint der Gegensatz zwischen Frommen und Unfrommen, Glaubigen und Unglaubigen oft genug zu offenem Kampfe gefiihrt zu haben. Der Prophet bittet zu Ahura, er nioge den Seinigen, " wenn die beiden Heere zusammenstossen " den Sieg verleihen, damit sie eine Niederlage anrichten konnen unterden Bosen und Leid und Not ihnen bereiten (Ys. 44, 14-15). Wer den Liigner^ den Irrlehrer, seiner Macht oder seines Lebens beraubt, der darf auf Ahura's Gnade rechnen (Ys. 46, 4). Jedenfalls aber werden die Frevler dem ewigen Gericht nicht entgehen, und wenn nicht schon im Diesseits, so wird doch im Jenseits Ahura sie strafen und sie in die Qualen der Holle und der Verdammnis sfcossen (Ys, 31, 20 j 45, 7 j 46, 6 und 11 ; 49, 11). 177 III. ZARATHUSHTRA'S MONOTHE18MUS. \Vcnn die Reform Zarathushtra's eine lebhafte Bewegnng der Geister hervorrief, wenn sie selbst zu blutigen Kampfen und Kriegen Veranlassung gab, so begreift sich das sehr wolil durch ihren Inhalt. Sie bricht nahezu vollsta idig rait alien vorbandenen Anschauungeu und bietet in der That etwas vollkornmen Neues. 'Sie stellt sich in bewussten Gegensatz zu der aus arischcr Vorzeit iiberlieferten und noch vom Volke gepflegten Naturreligioa, und was sie etwa von derselben lieriibernimmt und beibebalt, das erbebt sie in eine weit hohere sittlicbe Sphare, durcbdringt es mit ibrem Geiste und verleibt so der Form einen neuen Inbalt. Wir sprecben bier von den Gatha's und deren Inbalt, nicbt vom ganzen Awesta ; denn mir sclieint und die spiiteren AusfUbrungen werden dafiir Beweise erbringen, dass gerade die Gatbas den Zoroas trianismus in seiner reinsten und ursprtiiiglichsten Gestalt enthalten, so wie der Stifter dieser crhabenen Lebre sie selber erdacbt und mitgeteilt hat. Wolien die jctzigen Bekenner des zoroastrischeu Glaubens dessen Inhalt und Tendenz kennen lernen, so wie er von ihrern Propbeten selber herstammt, so wrrden sie immer wieder zu den Gatha's greifen und in deren freiiicb oft dunklen und scbwierigen Sinn einzudr'mgen versuchen miisseti. Ich glaube, dass dies auch praktisch von Bedeutung sein wird, um diesen Glauben als em seltenes Gut wertzuscbatzen und rein zu erhalten. Der Pro})bet selbst bezeicbnet seine Lehre als " nngehorte Worte" (Ys. 31,1), oder als ein " Geheimnia" (Ys. 48, 3), weil er selber empfindet, wie sebr sich dieselbe von dem bisherigen Glauben des Volkes unterscheidet. Die Religion, die er verkiindigt, ist ilim nicht mehr bloss Sache des GerUhles, nicbt mehr bloss ein unbestimmt- es Ahnen und Empfinden der Gottheit, sondern Sache des Ver- standee, des geistigen Erfassens und Erkennens. Dies ist von Bedeu- tung; denn es gibt wohl nicht viele Religionen von so hohem Alfer, in denen dieser Grundsatz, dass der Glaube ein Wissen, eine Erkenntnis des Wahren sei, niit soloher Bestinimtheit aus gesprochen wird, Tvie in der Lebre der Gatba's. Die Unglaubigen, das sind die Ilnweisen, die Glaubigen dagegen die Wissenden (Ys. 30, 3), eben weil sie za jener Erkenutnis durcbgedrungen sind. Jeder der eben geistig zu unterscheiden vermag zwiscben dem was wahr und dem was uriwahr ist, wird sich auf die Seite des Propbeten stellfn (Ya. 4fi, 1 5). Die Nichtliigenden (adrujyantfy und die Lugner : das ist genau 178 der gleiche Gegensatz \vie zwischen GKiubigen und Ungliiubigen, Anhangern und Gegnern des neuen Glaubens (Ys. 31, 15 und ofters), Es wird dabei aber jedem eiuzelnen zugernutet, dass er Stellung nehrae in der grossen Frage und sich entscheide fiir die eine oder die andere Partei. "Mann fiir Mann" soil das Volk priifen, was der Prophet ihm verkiindet (Ys. 30. 2), und dessen Wahrheit erkennen. Dies ist deutlieh genug ein ofTe Bruch mifc der Volksreligion. Dem Anbanger des Zarathushtra ist die Religion nicht mehr eine " Abhan- gigkeit ' r von unbekannten und mehr oder weni^er unverstandenen boheren Machten; sie i&t ihm vielmehr eine " Freiheit " des Geistes, eine Befreiung von allein Aberglauben und Irrwahn, ein selbstiindiges D.urchdjringeii zu der Erkenntnis d?r gottlichen Wahrheit, die ihm zuvor ein Geheimnis war. Damit aber dass die Religion aus einem Gefiihl der Abhangigkeifc ein solches der Freiheit wird, ist der bedeutendste Schritt gethan, der auf dem Gebiete religiosen Lebens iiberhaupt gethan werden kann. Wir werden wieder an das alte Testament erinnert, wo eben falls Glaube und Erkenntnis, Unglaube undThorheit als identische Begriffe gelten. Ich brauehe nur auf die beriihmte Stelle Ps. 14, I, hinzu- weisen : " Der Thor spricht in seinem Herzen : es ist kein Gott. Verderbt, abscheulich ist ihre Handlong ; keiner ist da, der Gutes thut. Jehovah aber blickt vom Himmel h&rab auf die Menschen- kinder, um zu sehen, ob ein Kluger da ist, der Gott sncht ; aber alle sind abgefallen, alle verdorben ; keiner ist da, der Gutes thut, auch nicht eiuer." (Vgl. Ps. 53, 2.) Worin aber besteht nun das Neue, das bis dahin Unbekannte der zoroastrischen Lehre, wie sie aus den Gatha's uns entgegen tritt ? Es besteht in dem vorhemfthe&d monotheistisclien Character diesei" Religion. Ihr Stifter hat sich losgemacht von der Vielheit, in welche die Gottheit durch den Volk s -und Naturglauben zerspalten hat, und gich erhoben zu der Erkenntnis der gottlichen Einheit, welche in der Natur in vielgestaltiger Weise waltet. Es ist bekannt genug, t dass im zoroastrischen Religionssystem Ahura Mazda als der Herrscher und Gebieter im Iliminel und auf Erden, als der hojhste und erste der Genien gilt. Dieser Doppelname, und zwar in der gegebenen Aufeinanderfolge, kommt im spateren Awesta als die standige feste Bezeichnung vor ; Ausnahmen von die- setn Gebrauche finden sich nicht, oder sicherlich nur sebr selten. In den Gatha'fl liegt die Sache ganz aaders, nnd ich komme damit awf 179 einen hochst bedeutsanien Unterschied zwischen den alten Hymnen und den jiingeren Stiicken der zoroastrischen Urkunden. Ein solcher stereotyp gewordener Name fur die Gottheit existiert dort noch nicht. Wir finden bald Ahura, bald Mazda, bald Ahura Mazda, bald Mazda Ahura verwendet. Gott kann ebenso wohl als " Herr " (Ahura) schlecht- liin vvie als '' Allweisheit " (dies bedeutet vermutlich Mazdad) bezeich- net werden. Es scheint eben, dass in den Gatha's die appellativische Bedeutung beider Namen noch rnehr gefiihlt wurde, als in spateren Schriften. 1 Bedenken wir nun noch, dass in den altpersischen Keilin- schriften der Acluimenidendynastie der Gottesname Auramazda als ein einziges Wort, das nur am Ende fiektiert wird, vorkommt, so ergibt sich gewiss, dass wir es hier mit den Ergebnissen Yerschiedener Zeitepochen zu thun haben. 2 Urspriinglich erfand Zarathushtra iiberhaupt keinen eigentlichen Eigennamen fiir die Gottheit ; er bezeich- net diese bald mit diesem, bald mit jenem Worte, und wir konnen die verschiedenen Bezeichnungen, die in den Gatha's gebraucht \verden, zumeist einfach mit " Gott " iibersetzen. Spater wurde dann die Benennung Ahura Mazda, in dieser Yerbindung gerade und in dieser Reihenfolge der beiden Worter, festgehalten, und damit war nun erst ein wirklicher Gottesname geschaffen, dessen Gebrauch etwa dem des alttestamentlichen Jehovah entspricht. In noch jungerer Zeit verschmolzen dann die beiden Namen zu einem Ganzen, eben weil sie stets in der namlichen Reihenfolge ge- braucht wurden. Immerhin fiililte man aus dem Namen Aurarnazda noch beide Bestandteile heraus, weil sie in einer einzigen Stelle einer Inschrift des Xerxes beide dekliniert erscheinen. Die letzte Entwickel- ungsphase repraesentieren dann die Formen des TSTamens in den mittel-und neuiranischen Dialekten : Pahlavi Auharmazd und Np. Ormazd. Die Vergchmelzung beider Worter ist hier endgiltig vollzogen derart, dass keines mehr eine selbstiindige Bedeutung besitzt. Das Wesen des Polytheismus besteht nun darin, dass der Mensch die verschiedenen Krafte der Natur einzeln zu Gottheiten erhebt und die Wirkungskreise dieser Gottheiten gegen einander abgrenzt. Wir konnen also die Religion des Rigveda itn allgemeinen eine polytheist- ische nennen. Indra ist der Gott des Gewitters, Agni herrscht iiber das Feuer, die Maruts sind die Genien des Sturmes. Es finden sich i Dies beweisen u. a. auch die Stellen wo Ahura Mazda (Ys. 30,9 ; 31,4) ocler inazda alloin (Ys. 33, 11; 45, 1; im Plural gebraucht wird. Die masddongko sind dann offenbar die Gesamtheit der himmlisoheu Geister. \ r gl. Hauy and West : Essays on the Parsis, sec. ed., pp. 301-302, 180 abcr auch in den vedischen Ilymnen schon Vorstellungen, welche all- mahlich vom Polytheismus zum Monotheisnms hiniiber leiten. Wir konnen beobachten, wie da und dort auf einen Gott die Wirksam- keifc eines anderen oder der anderen iibertragen wird. Dies 1st namentlicb bei manchen von den Varuna-Hymnen der Fall. Varuna gilt in ibnen als Schopfer des Alls, als Geber alles Gutcn, ab der H liter der Wahrheit und Racher der Siinde (Rv. I, 25, 20 ; II., 27, 10; VII., 86, 1 ff.) In anderen Liedern werden die niimlichen Eigenschaften und Krafte anderen Gottern iibertragen: auch Indra Soma, Agni konnen gelegentlich fiir die hochsten Gottheiten gel- ten. Von dem letzt genanuten beisst es Rv. 3 geradezu, er sei der namliche wie Indra, Vishnu, Savitri, Pilshan, Rudra und Aditi ; er wird also uiit der Gesanitheit der Gotter identifiziert. Wir konnen so auch im Rigveda beobachten, wie die Sanger und Priester nach dem Erfa'ssen der gottlichen Einheit suchen und nur eben dadurch davon abgehalten werden, dass sie uicht den Mut haben, mit den seit alters uberlieferten Vorstellungen, Begriffen und Namen zu brechen. In den Gfitba's liegt die Sache anders. Der bedeutsame Schrift, den die vedischen Saager zu thun zauderteu ist da gethan : die Vielheit der Naturgottheiten ist beseitigt, an ihre Stelle ist ein Gott gesetzt, ebenso alles umfassend, ebenso gross und gewaltig, wie der Jehovah des alten Testamentes, und jedenfalls nicht mehr als dieser anthropomorphisiert. Im 104 Psalm wird Jehovah als der Schopfer und Regent der Welt gepriesen : " Licht ist sein Kleid, das er tragt, er spannt den Hiinmel aus wie ein Zelt; er wolbt mit Wasser sein Gemach, die Wolken macht er zu seinem Wagen und fahrt auf den Fliigeln des Windes. Die Winde macht er zu seinen Boten und zu seinen Die- nern die Feuerflammen. Er stiitzte die Erde auf ihre Fundamente, dass sie nicht wankt immer und ewig .... Den Mond erschuf er, die Zeiten zu ordnen, die Sonne kennt die Statte ihres Unterganges. Du machtest die Finsternis, dass es Nacht wird : in ihr regen sich die Tiere des Waldes. Die jungen L6\ven briillen nach Raub und verlangen von Gott ihre Speise. Die Sonne geht auf ; da entfliehen sie und lagern sich in ihren Hohlen. Es gehet der Mensch an seine Arbeit und an sein Tagewerk bis an den Abend." Ich will neben diesen Psalm cinige Strophen aus der Gatlia Ys. 44 stellen, wo Ahura Mazda erscheint als der allmachtige Gott, der das All ersclinf und es erhalt und regiert. Die Aehnlichkeiten der 181 beiden Stellen springen sofort ins Auge, und man wird ohne Zogern zugeben, dass der Verfasser der Gatha nicht weniger gut Erkenntnis des gottlichen Weltscbopfers durchgedrungen ist, \vie der Dichter des Psalmes. In Ys. 44, 3-5, und 7 heisst es : Darnach frage ich dich, gib mir richtige antwort, o Ahura : "Wer war der Erzeuger und der Urvater der Weltordnung ? Wer zeigte der Sonne und den Sternen ihre Bahn ? Wer schuf es, dass der Mond zunimmt und abnimmt, wenn nicht du ? Dies a lies, o Mazda, und noch anderes mochte ich erfahren, Darnach frage ich dicb, gib mir richtige antwort, o Ahura : Wer hieit fest die Erde und den Luftraurn dariiber, Dass er nicht herabfallt ? Wer schuf Wasser und Pflanzen ? Wer schirrte Winden und Wolken ihre Schnelligkeit ? Wer schuf, o Mazda, die fromme Gesinnung ? Darnach frage ich dich, gib mir richtige Antwort, o Ahura : Wer schuf kunstvoll das Licht und die Dunkelheit ? Wer schuf kunstvoll den Schlaf und die Thatigkeit ? Wer schuf die Morgenroten, die Mittage und die Abende, Welche den Achtsamen an seine Pflichten erinnern ? Darnach frage ich dich, gib mir richtige Antwort, o Ahura : Wer hat die gesegnete Erde samt dem Himmel geschaffen ? Wer machte durch seine Weisheit den Sohn zum Ebenbilde des Vaters ? Ich will dich, o Mazda, dem Verstandigen nennen Als den Schopfer des Alls, du segens reichster Geist!" Die TJbereinstimmung der Gedanken geht in beiden Hymnen in der That bis ins einzelne. Es ist das Gesetzmasaige in der Natur, so der Lauf der Gestirne, der Wechsel des Mondes, die Aufeinander- folge der Tageszeiten, durch welche die Thatigkeit der Menschen bestimmt wird, was die Aufmerksamkeit beider Sanger anregt. Hier ist Ahura Mazda, dort Jehovah der Schopfer der Weltordnung. Als solcher wird iibrigens Mazda mehrfach in den Gatha' s geradezu bezeichnet. Er ist haithyo ashaliyd dfonish (Ys. 31, 8), eine Be- nennung, die wir fest halten miissen, da sie in der Folge von Wichtig- keit ist fiir das Verbal tnis des Ahura Mazda zu den Amesha- spenta's. Wenn Ahura Mazda der Schopfer der Welt ist, so kommen ihm auch alle die Attribute zu, die das alte Testament Jehovah zuschreibt. Ahura Mazda ist, wie wir friiher schon sahen, der 182 heillge und allgerechte, der das Bose husst und, sei es im Diesscits oder im Jenseits ; nach Gebiihr bestraft den Frommen aber nioamt er in seinen Schutz und verleiht ihm das ewige Leben. El" is>t der unwandelbare, welcher " auch jttzt noch der gleiche 1st*' (Ys. 31, 7), wie er von Ewigkeit her gewesen ; er ist der aUtn&chtige, welcher tlmt was er will (vase-khshnyas, Ys. 43, 1) ; er ist der al/wissende, welcher vom Himmel herabschaut auf die Menschen (vergl. Psalms 14, oben S. 178) und alle ihre Anschlage sieht, die offentlichen, wie die geheimen (Ys. 31, 13). Ahnra Mazda ist ein Geist, er ist ein Wesen, das nicht mit menschlichen Ziigen ausgestaltet werden kann, er ist "der segensreichste Geist" (spenishta mainyii 1 , Ys. 43, 2), der absolut gufce. In der That sind anthropomorphistische Vor- stellungen in den Gatha's sehr selten. Wo sie vorkommen, da er- klaren sie sich einfach aus dem dichterischen Sprachgebrauche. Dem Zarathushtra war Ahura Mazda zweifellos ebenso sehr ein geistiges, iibersinnliches, unfassbares und unbeschreibbares Wesen, wie Jehovah den Psalmendichtern. Allerdings wird Ahura Mazda der Vater des Vohu-mano, des Asha, der Armaiti genannt (Ys. 31, 8 ; 45, 4 ; 47, 2) ; allein man vergegen- wartige sich, dass vohu-nwnd, asha, drmaiti nur abstrakte Begriffe " fromme Gesinnung, Heiiigkeit, Demut und Ergebenheit" sind. Daraus ergibt sich unzweifelhaft, dass wir es hier nicht etwa mit menschlichen Vostellungen zu thun haben, wie sie den Mythen der Griechen und Romer gelaufig sind, sondern einfach mit dichterischer Ausdrucksweise. Es bedeutet das nichts anderes als wenn wir sagen : Gott ist der Vater alles Guten ja er ist " Unser Yater.' J Auch von den " Hai)den " des Ahura Mazda ist die Rede (Ys. 43, 4). Es ware Hicherlich, wollte man darin irgend welchen Anthropomor- phismus sehen. Solche sprechweise konnte Zarathushtra natiirlich ebenso gut anwenden, wie noch jetzt der betende Christ alle seine Sorgen und W'dusche in die Vaterbande Gottes legt. Das ist eben weder heidnische noch muhammedanische, weder zoroastrische noch christliche sondern allgemein menschliche Redeweise. Irgend welche Ziige aber, welche darauf schliessen lassen, dass man sich in der altesten Zeit des Zoroastrianismus Ahura Mazda in irgend einer bestimmten sinnlichen Gestalt vorstellte, sind aus den 1 In anieren Gathastellen scheint iibrigens spenta mainyu von Ahura Mazda verschieden zu sein ; es ist eben vermutlich eine besondere Seite seines Wehena, vermoge dessen er der Geber des Guten in der Schopfung iat (Ys. 45,6; 47,1, u. ofters). 183 Gatha's sicher nicht zu entnehmen. Wenn wlr aber in spaterer Zeifc, z. B. auf den Denkmalern der Achilmenidenkonige eine bildliche Dartellurg Ahura Mazda's finden, so durfen wir daratis, denke ich nicht zu viel sehliessen. Erstlich ist zu beachten, dass die Perser der Acliamenidenzeit den Zoroastrismus als etwas Fremdes von aussen her bekommen batten, also manche Vorstellung hinzugefugt oder geiindert haben mogen ; und dann hat nicht auch Michel Angelo ein Bild Gott Vaters gezeichnet uud damit der kirchlichen Kunst des Abend- landes eineu Typus fiir die Darstellung der Gottheit gegeben? Wir haben gesehen, dass Zarathushtra zu der Edee eiues allrmichtigen, allweisen, allgerechten Gottes, ernes Schopfers und Erhalters der Welt gelangt ist und damit seiuern Volke an Stelle eines polytheistischen Naturdienstes den Monotheisrous gesclienkt hat. Wir haben ferner gesehen, dass die Art, wie diese eiuige Gottheit aufgefasst wird, lebhaft an die Vorstellungen des alten Testamentes von Jehovah erinnern, und zwar sowohl im allgemeinen wie auch in vielen bezeiclmenden Einzelziigen. Allein ich halte es nichts desto weniger fur durchaus irrig anzunehmen, Zarathushtra habe die Jehovah-Idee direkt oder indirekt von den Israeliteii entlehnt. Wir haben nirgends sonst im ganzen Awesta Spuren, welche auf wirkliche Beziehungen zvvischen den Iraniern und den Semiten schiiessen lassen und dadurch auch eine Entlehnung der religiosen Yorstellungen recht- fertigen wiirden. Auch hat der Kultus des Ahura Mazda, trotz aller Alinlichkeiten mit dem Jehoyahdienste, doch sein echtes nationales Geprage ; man denke nur an die enge Yerbindung des religiosen und des buuerlichen Lebens, die schon in den Gatha's liervortritt und einen charakteristischen Zig des ganzen Awesta bildet. Ich balte es iiberhaupt fur hochst bedenklich, aus blossen Abnlichkeiten der religiosen Vorstellungen auf Entlelmung schiiessen zu wollen. Wenn Ahura Mazda und Jehovah eine gewisse Verwandt- .schaft der Auffassung und des Begriffes zeigen, so Hegt das eben einfach darin, weil wir es hier bei den Iraniern wie dort bei den Juden mit einem Monotheismus zu thun haben. Wo aber einmal der Monotheismus zum Durchbruch kommt, da werden auch immer gewisse gleiche Vorstellungen sich geltend machen, welche eben dem Monotheismus eigentiimlich sind und gewissermassen dessen Wesen ausmachen. Wenn man also nicht schlechthin leugnet, dass ein Volk oder ein hervorragender Geist irgend eines Volkes selbstiindig auf die Idee der Einheit Gottes kommen kann, wenn man uicht 24 184 dogmatisch den Juden das Monopol des Monotheismus zuerkennt, so ^Yird man mir zustirnmen ia dcm Satze, class die Iiiinier selbstandig, in sehr alter Zeit, ohne Einfluss von anssen, durch die zoroastrische Reform in den Besitz einer Monotheistischeii Religion gelangten. IV. DIE THEOLOGIE DEB G ATI! AS. Wir kommen nun auf einen Eimvand, welcber moglicherwdse gegen unsere Auffassung der Lehre Zarnthusbtra's gemacht werden konnte. 1st denn iiberhaupt, so konnte man fragen, der Zorosvstriaiv* nismus ein wirklieher Monotheismus ? Preist und bekennt nicht das Awesta eine ganzej Anzahl von Genien, die Ameshi-spent, Mitbra, Sraosha, Veretbragbna, Haoma, Ard\i-sura tmd andere? Sind nicht mehrere dieser Genien, wie z. B. Mithra, Gestalten, welche aus der vorzoroastrischen Zeifc herstammen, welehe &ieh nneh in den vedischen Hjmncn der Inder vorfinden und somit ohne Zweifel in den arischen Naturdienst gehoren ? Wir wollen das Gewicht dieses Einwandes nicht verke-nraen; wir wollen demselben sogar eine gewisse Berechtignng nnd Wahrheit zugestehen. Aber Icier ist der PunJct, wo wir icohl zu unterscheiden haben zwisclien den Gatlia's und dem ilbrigen Awesta, zwischen der Lehre t wie sie unmittelbar von Zarathiislitra selbst herrtihrt, und wie sie spelter im Laufe der Zeit volkstumlicli sick ausgestaltete. Betn chten wir niimlich die Gatha's allein, so tritt uns aus denselben weit mehr ein reiner Monotheismus ent-gegen ; im spateren Awesta erscheint er mehrfach getriibt und beschrankt. Auf die Gatlia's wird somit aucb jetzt noch der Parse den Blick richten miissen, will er seine Religion nicht bloss in der iiltesten sondern auch in der reinsten Gestalt kennen lernen. Wie scharf und bestimmt tritt im spateren Awesta, namentlich in dem ihm gewidmeten 10 Yasht, die Geniengestalt des MitJira hervor. Er ist der Genius der Morgensonne, der das Licht herbei- fiilirt. Ais solcher ist er der Feind und Uberwinder der Damonen der Nacht. Er ist aber aueh der Gott der Wahrheit, des Rechtes und der Vertiage. Seine Machtsphiire erstreekt sich noch wcitor: er isfc Fiirst und Konig der Erde, der Heifer in den Schlachten, den die Krieger anrufen bei Beginn des Kampfes, und der ihucu zuin Siege 185 verhilft. Endlich 1st er der Riicher des Boseii, nameatlich straft er Luge und Vertragsbruch. 1 Ahnli-ch konnen wir den Tislitvya ans dei jiingeren Awesta schildern. Er ist Gestirnsgottheit, -spcziell gebietet er iiber den Stern Sirius. Ihm wild die Macht Biigeaehrieben, den lechzenden Fluren Kegen zu spenden. Er bek&npft den Diimoii der Diirre und Trocken- heit. Dass er die Herrsehaft der Gestirne fiber haupt in Ilanden hat kann nicht befremden, Auch die Fi-ai-ashi's, die Manen^ verteilen das befruchtende Wasser iiber die Efde; sie spenden iiberhaupt alles Gute, lassen Biiarpe und Pflanzen gedeihen und sind, wie Mithra Heifer in Kampf und Krieg. Kurz, wir haben es hier mit Genien zu thtm, die lebhaft an die Gottheiten des Rigveda erinnern, an Varuna, ludra, Mitra und andere. Wenden wir uns nun aber z.u den Gatha's zuriick, so erscheinfc uns da die Sache in einem ganz audereii Lichte. Hier werden nicht, einmal die Namen eines Mithra oder Tischtrya genannt. Auch die Fravashi's komraen nicht vor, ebeoso wenig wird Haoma ervviihnt oder Verethraghna, der Genius siegreicbea Kampfes, oder Anahita, die Genie der Gewiisser, Es fehlen in den Gdthas gerade die Nameu derjenigen Genien, welche iin spilteren Awesta am meiaten zu plastisclien Gestalfcen aasgebildet, am raeisteii mit individuellen Attributen ausgestaket erscheinen. Sollen wir das als blossen- Zufall erklaren? Ich hielte dies in der That fur einen Fehler, so sehr ich mir auf der andcren Seite bewusst bin, w'e bedeuklich jedes, i( documentum e silentio " ist. Es gibt eben doch zuweilen Umstiinde, anter denen man mit der Annahme eines Zufalls nicht8 erreicht und vieles- unverstanden und unerklart lasst. Wenn sich in den Gathas niemals eine passende Gelegenheit fande, den Mithra oder den Tischtrya oder die Fravashi's iiberhaupt zu erwiihnen, so wiirde es sich ja als Zufall erkliiren lassen, wenn ihre Namen nicht vorkommen. Sole he Gelegenheiten aber gibt es oft genug. Warum wird z. B. Mithra nie genannt, wo von Kampf en gegen die Unglaubigen die Rede ist? Es heisst ja doch von ihm Yt. 10, 3G : " Mithra eroffnet den Kampf, Er nimmt Stellung in der Schlacht; Im Streite stehend Zerschmettert er die Schlachtreihe." Oderauch die Fravaschi'swiirden passend angerufen werden ; denn. 1 Tgl. hieruber und zum ff. Spiegel, Eranisuhe Alterthumskunde, IJ. S. 77ff.,70jr.j91fl, 186 " Sie bringen in gewaltigen Schlachten am meisten Beistand " (Yt. 13, 37). Oft genug ist ferner in den Gathas von Feldern und Herden die Rede. Aber nie wird bei einer solchen Gelegenheit Tischtryagerufen, obvrohl dieser die Fluren segnet und die Herden gedeihen lasst. Ahnlich stehfc es auch bei den anderen Genien, welche wir in den Gatha's nicht erwahnt finden. Man kann nicht sagen, dass sich iiberhaupt kein Anlass fiudet, ihre namen zu nenueii ; soudern Hire Nichterwcilmung i$t offenbar beabsichttgt. Derganze Charakter der Gatha's ist in solchem Maasse em philoso- phischer, auf das Abstrakte und Uberainnliche gerichteter, dass in ibre Theologie solche Gestalten, \vie die erwahnten iiberhaupt nicht passen. Ich sage nicht, dass Zarathushtra und die iibrigcn Hym- nendichter von Mithraoder Tischtrya oder Anahita gar nichts wusst- en. Dieselben waren ohne Zweifel beim Volke viel verehrt ; aber der Prophet billigte solche Kulte nicht; er wo lite an die Stelle dieser Genien welche ihrem gauze Wesen nach allz.u sehr an die Gottheiten des altarischen IsTatardienstes erinnerten, hohere, philsophischere Begriffe setzen. Satntliche Genien, die in den Gatba's neben Ahura Mazda genfirint werden, sind in der That solche abstrakte Begriffe; \vie sich dieselben aber zu der von mir angenommenea monotheist- ischen Lehre der Gathas verhalten, davon weiter unten. Mithra, Tischtrya und die iibrigen in den Gatha's nicht genannten Genien werden im jiingeren A\vesta ziemlich stark anthropomor- phisiert. Sie werden gedaclit und geschildert ganz ahnlich wie die Gottheiten des Rigveda. Man stellt sie sich vor in Menschengestalt, als Mann oder Weib (wie Anahita), mit Riistung und Gewand ange- than, Waffen tragend, zu Wagen fahrend, in Palasten wohnend. Zuweilen erscheinen in sie sogar in Tiergestalt. Anthropomorphische Vorstellungen sind den Gatha's, wie wir sahen, iiberhaupt Fremd. Diejenigen Genien dagegen, welche in den Gatha's neben Ahnra Mazda sich erwahnt finden, in erster Linie die Amesha-spenta, sind aueh im jiingeren Awesta am allerwenigsten, ja eigentlich gar nicht anthropomorphisiert. Eine Ausnahme bildet nur et\va Sraoscha, der in den Gatha's noch eine ganz abstrakte Gestalt ist, spiiter aber zu einern Genius ausgebildet wird, dessen Attribute manche Ahnlichkeiten mit denen des Mithra aufweisen. Somit koanen wir einen durchgreifenden Unterschied zwischen der Theologie der Gathas und jener des jringeren Awest.T. konstatieren. In jener haben neben Gott nur solche Genien ihren Platz, welche 187 zuriachst welter nichts sind als abstrakte Begriffe, in dieser dagegen auch solche, welche plastischer ausgebildet erscheinen und sicli den Gottheiten der stammvenvandten Inder vergleichen lassen. \Viirde von den Geniennnmen, welche der letzteren Kategorie angelioren, nur der eine oder der andere in den Gatba's nicht vorkommen, so wlirde man das vtelleicht wieder eineu Zufall zu nennen geneigt sein ; wo aber die Scheidung eine so konsequente, nahezu ausnahmslose ist, da wird man wohl System und Ab.-iicht in ihr erkennen miissen. Wie aber kamen nun jene mehr anthropomorphen Genien, wie Mithra u.s.w., in spaterer Zeit in das zoroastrische System hinein? Ich glaube, dass dies nichfc allzu schwer zu erklaren ist. Die zoro- astrische Reform ist eine energische Opposition gegen den arischen Naturkultos. Imden Gatha's kommt auch nicht ein einziger von den Genien vor, welcber diesem Kultus angehort. Jede Opposition geht naturgemiiss in das Extrem, und sucht ihren Erfolg in der absoluten Verneinung des Bestehenden. Wird ja doch in einer Gathfistelle der Kultus des Haoma, wenigstens in der Gestalt, wie er zu der damaligen Zeit geiibfc wurde als etwas Venverfliches und Abscheuliches hingestellt (Ys. 48, 10)! Auf eine solche Aktion muss aber dann mit der Zeit die Reaktion folgen. Die Resultateaber, zu denen diese Reak- tion fiihrte, liegen in dem theolo^ischen System des jiingeren Awesta vor. Hier ist ein Komprotniss getroffen mit dem Yolks- glauben. Die Gotter, welche in dieseni verehrt wurden, werden, frei- lich in veranderter und vergeistigter Gestalt, wieder hereingenornmen in das neue System, uni gewissermassen das Gefolge und den Hofstaat Ahura Mazda's zu bilden. Aber, wie gesagt, die Vorstellungen erleiden manche Umgestaltungen; sie werden den neuen Verhaltnissen angepasst und dies geschickt namentlich dadurch dass die sittliche Seite an dem Wesen der eingelnen Geniengestalt mehr in den Vordergrund gestellt wird gegeniiber dem physikaliscben. Es entspricht dies dem Wesen des zoroastrischen Systems uberhaupt, das sich in erster Linie auf ethischer Grundlage aufbaut. Der heutige Parsismas wird, entsprechend dem ganzen Zuge unserer Zeit, wieder mehr an die Form seiner Lehre anknupfen, wie sie in der Gathfi's vorliegt. Er wird das philosophische Element seines Glaubens in den Vordergrund stellen, in ahnlicher Weise, wie der Christ die sittliche Kraft seiner Religion mehr betonen wird al deren dogmatische Lehren. Gerade durch die Hervorhebung des den verschiedenen Religionen Gemeinsair.en ist aber die verbindende Briicke zwischea ihnen gefunden. 188 Zu cler Eutwickelung der zoroastrischen Lebre, wie ich sie eben geschildert babe, finden sich auch bei tins im Abendlandc Analogien^ Auch in Deufcscbland gingen die crsten Verkiindiger des Christen- tums darauf aus, den heidniscben Glauben von Grand aus zu vernichten. Nicbts desto weniger gil)t heutzutage jeder einsichtige und unbefangene Forscber zu, dass gar manclies beidniscbe Element noch jetzt in unseren Volksvors*ellungen und Volksgebriiuchen versteckt ist. Es ist bekannt, dass in den Heiligen, wie sie in manchen Gegenden Deutschlands namentlich vom Landvolke verehrt werden, altheidnische Gutter wieder aufgelebt oder vielmebr in veriiuderter Gestalt und mit veriinderten Namen erhalten geblieben sind. So ist Thor, der Gewittergott, der stiindige Begleiter des Wotan, zum heiligen Petrus geworden, und es darf uns nicht mehr Wunder nehmen, wenn Petrus nacb dem Volksglauben auch andere Funktionen iibernommen bat, die sDnst seinem Vorglinger aus der Heidenzeitzukamen, wie z. B. die Verursachung von Regenwetter. Man bat eben die alte Vorstellung von dem Regen briugenden Gotte beibehalten, sie aber mit der Person des Petrus verbunden, da Thor's NaTie in der neuen Kirche keinen Raum mebr hatte. 1 Es ist also zwischen Christentum und Hiedentum ein Kompromiss geschlossen worden, indem jenes von diesem manche im Volke tief eingewurzelte Vorstellungen aufnubm, sie aber mit dem eigenen Geiste erf ii lite. Die Genien nun, welche die Gatbas neben Abura Mazda erwahnen, sind, wie scbon erwabnt, zunachst die sechs Amesha-spenta's : Asha, Vobu-mano, Kbsbathra, Armaiti, Haurvatat und Ameretat, und dazu nenne ich noch Sraosha und Ashi. Es liegt mir feme bier die Vor- stellungen, welcbe sich andiese Genien kniipfen, im einzeluenaus einan- der zu setzen. Das ware miissige Wiederholung. 2 Zur Orientierung sei nur kurz ges^gt, dass Asclia Genius der kosmiscben und der sittlichen Ordnung sowie Heiter des Feuers ist ; sein Name bedeutet "Heiligkeit." Vohu-mano ist die " gute und fromme Gesinnung" ; er beschiitzt die Herden, mit deren Zucht sich eben auch die Pnege Frommen Sinnes verbindet. Khsliatlira ist das " Reich," das Reich der frommen und Glaiibigen bier auf Erden, das Himmelreich im Jenseits. Armaiti ist 1 Das war im Parsismns anders. Hier kam mit der Vorstellung auoh der alte Name wieder zur Geltung. Wirmiissenuns ebeu erinnern, dass derselbe doch. immerhin aus der iriXnischen Naturreligion hervorgegangeu ist, wabreod der germanische Volksglaube dem Chtisteatume etwas Freindes war. 2 Vgl. Civilization of the Eastern Irariiaus in Ancient Times, Vol. I., pp. XXXIf. fif. 189 die "Deniut" und " Andncht," die Bchiiterin der Erde. Haurvatdt und Ameretdt bedeuten " Wohlfahrt" und " Unsterblichkeit"; sie herrschen iiber Wasser und Pflanzen. Sraosha ist der " Geborsam," und zwar gegen Gottes Willen und gegen die Vorschriftea der heiligen Religion, und ahnliche Bedeutung scheint im jiingeren Awesta auch Ashi zu haben. Uns interessiert hier nur die Frage, wie sich diese Genien zu Ahura Mazda rerhalfcen, ob durch sie nicht der von uns angenommene Monotheismus in der Theologie der Gathas beeintnichtigt und bescbriinkt, vielleicbt sogar auf'gehoben wird. Betracbten wir die Sache ausserlich, so muss man zugeben, dass die Amesha-spenta kaum eine geringere Holle zu spielen scheinen als Mazda- Das Wort Asha z. B. kommt in den Gathas rund 180 mal vor, der Name Mazda 190-200 mal; Vohu-mano (auch vahtshtoiii-mario) vielleicht 130 mal ; die tibrigen Namen allerdings nicbt so biiufig. Das sind keine Zahlen, die linsserlich auf eine verschiedene Geltung der ver- schiedenen Begriffe schliessen lassen, und doch besteht ein so durch- greifender Unterschied, dass es geradezu zur Unmoglichkeit wird, etwa Mazda und Asha auf eine Stufe zu sfcellen, ja iiberhaupt nur mit einander zu vergleicben. Mazda ist wirklicb zum Eigennamen geworden, zur Bezeicbnung des hochsten einigen Gottes, nicht weniger als Jehovah im alten Testamente oder Allah bei den Muhammedanern. Asha dagegen und ebenso die iibrigen oben genannten Genien Icann nur gelegentlich zu einer Art Personifikation gelangen; die urspriing- licbe abstrakte Bedeutung wird immer noch deutlich empfunden, an zahlreichen Stellen isfc sie die aliein richtige, an anderen kann man sch- wanken, welcha Bedeatung die passende sein konnte, ja oft genug mag Ton den Verfassern der Hymnen der Doppelsinn sogar beabsichtigt sein. 1 Streng genommen siud also Asba und Vohu-rnano, Khshathra, und Armaiti zuniicbst keine eigentlichen Genien, die neben Mazda stehen sondern sie reprasenti; j ren gewisse Krafte und Eigenscbaften der Gottheit die in Mazda und in dessen Wesen eingeschlossen und 1 Ahnliche Personifikation en abstrakter Begriffe, wie sie in den Gatha's st&ndig sind finden sich geleyentlich auch io den Psalmen. Man vcrgl. namentlich, Ps. 85, 11-14 : " Kahe ist Jehovah's Hilfe seinen Verehiero, BO dass Herrlichkeit wohnen wird im Lancie. Giite nnd 1'reue begev^en sich Gerechtigkeit uud Friedo klissen sich. Treue sprosst aus der Erde, Gerechtig- heit blickt vom Himmel hcrab. Auch wird Jehovah Grliick verleibcn, und unser Land wird seiucn Ertrag geben. Gerechtigkeit wundclt vor seineua Angeeicht und schrcitet vorwarts auf ihrein Pfade." 190 einbegriffen sind. Dies ist jedenfallsdie urspriingliche Idee ; doch soil damit nicht gesagt werden, dass jene Genien nie und nirgends zu einer gejvissen Selbstandigkeit gelangfcen. Es ist das nameutlich an solchen Stellen der fall, wo die Amesha-spenta zusammeu mit Mazda gennant werden und vollkommen parallel zu ihm stehen. Ich mochte sie dann etwa mit den Engelu des alten Testamentes vergleichen. Auch diese sind urspriinglich nur Erscheinungsformen Jehovahs seller, urn spliter gewissermassen desseu Gefolge und Begleitung, seinen Hofstaat, zu bilden. So erscheint z. B. Mazda's name mitten unter denen der ersten Amesha-spenta's Ys. 28, 3 : Euch, o Ascha, will ich preisen und den Vohu-mano, den unvergleichlichen, Und den Mazda Ahura, mit welchen der ewige Khshatlira vereinigt ist Und die Segen spendende Armaiti : fcommt herbei auf niein Rufen, micli zu unterstiitzen ! Und ganz ahnlich Ys. 33, 11 (vgl. auch 12 u. 13): Der du der segensreichste bist, Ahura Mazda, und Armaiti Und Ascha, der die Niederlassungen mehrt, und Vohu-mano und Khshathra, Horet mich, erbarmet euch meiner, achtet immerdar auf mich ! Dass indessen nichts desto weniger Ascha und die anderen Genien nur ein Ausfluss des Wesens des Mazda sind, das wird dichterisch dadurch ausgedriickt, dass diese r als ihr Vater und Erzeuger, als ihr Schopfer bezeichnet wird (s. oben S. 50 und 51). \Vo aber Gott als Schopfer der neben und ausser ihm existierenden Geister gilt, da kann doch von keinem Polytheismus mehr die Rede sein. Die Frage, ob es ausser Gott noch irgendwelche geistige Wesen gibt, welche gewissermassen zwischen ihm und den menschen stehen, hat mit der Definition des Begriffes des Monotheismus nichts zu schaffen. Nun ist aber in Bezug auf die Theologie der Gathas noch volleuds festzu- halten, class die Namen der Amesha-spenta's zumichst absrakte Begriffe sind. Wenn also Mazda der Vater des Asha genannt wird, so bedeutet das nur, dass er die sittliche und die kosmische Ordnung erschaffen hat. 1 Oder wenn er Vater des Vohu-muno und der Armaiti 1 Daher ist er auch asha Itazaosha " einea Willens luifc Asba ;" was er thut stimrnt uberciu mit der von ihm gesetzlen Welt. 191 heisst, so besagt das, dass alle gute Gesinnung und alle demutsvolle Andacht, d. h. alles Gott wohlgefallige Leben auf ihm beruht und von ihm ausgeht. Durch den Glauben an die Amesha-spenta's wird der Monotheismus der Gatha-Theologie somit keineswegs beeintrachtigt. Abura Mazda ist trotzdem der allein allmachtige (Ys. 29, 3), er ist derjenige welcher iiber alles die Entscbeidung hat ; wie er will, so geschieht (Ys. 29, 4). Er ist einesWesens mil ihnen alien, oder wie der Dich- ter sich ausdriickt, er wohnt zusammen mit Ascha und Yohu-inano (Ys. 32, 2 ; 44, 9), d. h. er hat diese Krafte zur Verfiigung, sie stehen ibm zu Gebote, siegehenvon ibm aus undkehrenzuihm zuriick. Ahura Mazda war zuerst und zu ihm gesellen sich Armaiti und Khschathra und Vohu-mano und Ascha (Ys. 30, 7), nls naturgemiisse Ent- fallungen seines Wesens. Diese Krafte gehen von ihm aus, er teilt sie dem Menschen mifc (Ys. 31, 21); er steht weit iiber ihnen : Darnaeh frage ich dicb, gib mir richtige Anfcwort, o Ahura ! Wer hat die gesegnete Armaitijsamt dem Khschathra geschaffen? Wer machte durch seine Weisheit den Sohn zum Ebenbilde des Vaters 1 Ich will dich, o Mazda ! dem Yerstiindigen nennen Als den Schopfer des Alls, du segensreichster Geist ! (Ys. 44, 7). Zum Schluss babe ich noch einige Worte iiber AsJii und Sraosha beizufiigen. Bei ibnen zeigt sicb deutlich, wie sehr sich die Theologie der Gatha's von der des jiingeren Awesta unterscheidet. Dort kann Aslii iiberhaupt noch kaum als Name eiuer Genie gelten wie hier; das Wort hat vielmehr noch seine urspriinglic-h abstrakte Bedeutung: Lohn, Yergeltung; dann Segen, Erfolg (Ys. 28, 4 ; 43, 1 ; 43, 5, u. s. w). Eine Stelle, wo man es mit einiger Wahrschein- lichkeit als nomen proprium auffassen konnte, weiss ich nichfc anzugoben. Der Prozess der Erhebung eines Abstraktums zu einem Geniennamen vollzieht sich bei ashi offenbar in der Zeit, welch e zwischen der Periode der Gatha's und der des spiiteren Awesta liegt* Ahnlich steht es mit Sraosha. Im jiingeren Awesta ist daraus ein Genius von ziemlich fester und greif barer Gestalt geworden mit ausgepragten individuellen Ziigen ; in noch spaterer Zeit wird er zum Boten Gottes, der dessen Befehle den Menschen zu uberbringen hat. Hievou findet sich in den Gatha's keine Spur. Wir beobacbteu hier nur die ersten Anfange zu der Personifikation des Wortes in Stellen wie Ys. 33, 5, wo der Dichter den " machtvollen Sraoscha" 25 192 anruft, uud Ys. 44, 16. Hier erbittet sich der Verfasser einen Gebieter zum Schutz gegen die Feinde und wiinscht, dass zu diesem sich gesellen moge "Sraoschain Verbindung mit Vohu-mano,"d.h.Gehor- sam gegen die heilige Religion und fromme Gesinnung. In dieser Stelie liegt, wie icb glaube, ein beabsichtigter Doppelsinn ; wo aber sraosha sonst vorkoramt, da hat es die urspriingliche abstrakte Bedeutung " Gehorsam, Ergebenheit" Gegensatz ist asrusliti " der Ungehorsam" Ys. 33, 4 ; 44, 13 oder die konkrete Bedeutung "die Gehorsamen, die Ergebenen, die Frommen." Wir konnen die Ergebnisse dieses Abschnittes in eine Reihe von Satzen zusammenfassen : 1. DieTheologie der Gatha's ist eine abstraktere, philosophischere als die des spateren Awesta. Sie reprasentiert die alteste und urspriinglichste Form der mazdayasnischen Glaubenslehre. 2. Die Verehrung der mehr volkstiimlichen Gottheiten, wie Mithra oder Tischtrya, ist den Verfassern der Gatba's fremd. Die Kulte dieser Genien werden erst in einer spateren. Epoche adoptiert durch eine Art Ton Korapromiss mit dem Volksglauben. 3. Die Theologie der Gatha's ist eine Monotheistische : Mazda Ahura ist die Gottheit schlechthin. 4. Dieser Monotheismus wird durch die eonst in den Gathas genannten Genien keineswegs beeintrachtigt, da diese Genien lediglich Hypostasen abstrakter Begriffe sind, in ihrer ursprunglichen Bedeutung noch iiberall gefuhlt werden, iiberdies dem Wesen nach unter Mazda stehen, als dessen Schopfungen sie gelten. V. IST DIE ZOROASTRISCHE BELIGION EINE DUALISTISCHE ? Man hat die zoroastrische Religion vielfacheine dualistische genannfc. Diese Bezeichnung ist indessen nur dann berechtigt, wenn man unter Dualismus ein System versteht, in welchem neben der das Gute schaffenden und wollenden Gottheit Existenz einer ihr ent- gegenwirkenden Kraft angenommen wird. In diesem Sinne ware die alttestamentliche Religion auch eine dualistische. Strenge genornmen diirfen wir aber doch nur dann von Dualismus reden, wenn beide Prinzipien gleiohberechtigt und gleichmachtig neben einander stehen, beide in gleichem Masse auf die Welt einwirken und der Mensch von beiden in gleicher Weise sich abhangig und beeini3usst fuhlt. Wo aber der Mensch Kraft seiner sittlichen WaJblfreiheit sich fiir das Gute entscheiden und voin Bosen sich abwenden kann, wie dies in den 193 Gatha's oft genug hervorgehoben wird, da ist die Bezeichnung Dualismus meines Erachtens nicht mehr gerechtfertigt. Die Existenz eines solchen wiirde, wie ich meine, unter anderem es erheischen, dasa der Mensch dem biisen Geiste die namliche Verehrung zu erweiseu angehalten wird tfie dem guten, dass er jenem Opfer und Gebete darbringt, um ihn zu versohnen und alles Unheil abzuwenden, diesem dagegen, um seiner Segnungen teilhaftig zu werden. Dass aber vou solchen Vorstellungen sich im Awesta keine Spur findet, das brauche ich doch gar nicht zu betonen. Das Awesta, und zwar schon in seinen altesten Teilen kennt allerdings einen basen Geist, der in alien Stricken der Gegensatz zu dem guten Geiste ist. Die Annahme seiner Existenz sollte die Losung der Frage sein, die naturgeniass jeder Denkende sich vorlegen wird, wie denn iiberhaupt das Base in die Welt kommt, wenn doch die Gottheit ihrem Wesen nach gut ist und demnach auch nur Gutes aus sich hervorbringen kann. Woher stammen Schuld und Siinde, woher alles das Elend und die Unvollkommenheiten, die dem Menschen wie iiberhaupt der ganzen Schopfung doch anhaften ? Zarathushtra und die iibrigen Verfasser der Gatha's versuchten es, diese Frage auf philosopbischem Wege zu losen und ich will versuchen, im folgenden ihr System kurz darzulegen, wie es aus den Gatha's sich zu ergeben scheint. Ich sage : scheint ; denn die Gatha's haben ja nicht den Zweck, ein philosopbisches System zu entwickeln. Ihre Verfasser reden nicht zu einzelnen aus dem Vol&e, sondern zu dessen Gesamt- heit ; fiir sie kommt nicht der philosophische Gehalt ihrer Lehre, sondern deren praktische Seite, die Ethik, in erster Linie in Betracht. Wir miissen also aus kurzen Andeutungen und einzelnen Stellen der Hymnen die Vorstellungen uns zu konstruieren versuchen, welche den Verfassern iiber die in Rede stehenden Frage vorgeschwebt ha- ben mogen. Naturgeniass sind das speziell solche Stellen, wo der Prophet durch den Zusammenhang sich veranlasst sah, von dem Wesen des Bosen zu sprechen. Darauf, dass wir uber alte Einzelhei- ten des philosophischen Systems, das Zarathushtra sich gebildet ha- ben mag, ins Klare kommen konnten, miissen wir von vornherein verzichten. Aber auch in Bezug auf die Hauptmomente, wie ich sie zu schildern versuchen werde, kann man vielfach verschiedener Meinung sein ; man kann wohl leicht Stellen linden, welche von mir nicht geniigend beriicksichtigt zu sein, oder welche zu meinen Ansich- ten nicht vollig zu passen scheinen. 194 Im spateren Awesta 1st der Gegensatz zwisclien der guten und der bosen Geisterwelt auch forrnell aufs genaueste durchgefiihrt. Wie Abura Mazda an der Spitze der ersteren, so stehfc Agra Mainyu an der Spitze der letzteren. Den sechs Amesha-spenta's sind je sechs Erzdaemonen gegeniiber gestellt : Akem-mano dem Vohu-mano, Indra oder Andra dem Ascha, Sauru dem Khschathra, der Damon des Ubermutes Naoghaithya der Spenta Armaiti, Tauru und Zairica deru Haurvatat und Ameretat. Weiterhin folgt dann das Heer der guten und liehten Genien gegeniiber der Schar der Daeva und der Druj. In den Gatha's isfc das System, wie mir scheint, nicht so konse- quent durcbgebildet. Agra-mainyu als Name des bosen Geistes kommt nur einmal vor, nndzwaran einer Stelle (Ys. 45, 2), wo ihm nicht etwa Ahura Mazda, sondern spanyao mainyush gegeniiber gestellt \vird. Auch ako mainyush kommt nur an einer Stelle (Ys. 32, 5) vor ; zweimal findet sich akem-mano (Ys, 47, 5 und 32, 3), welches sonst die urspriinglicbe abstrakte Bedeutung "bose Gesinnung " hat, und zweimal acishtem mano (Ys. 30, 6 ; 32, 13,) als Bezeichnung des bosen Prinzips verwendet. Auf den ersten Blick mocbte es nun scbeinen, dass agra mainyush und ako mainyush forrnell das Gegenstiick zu spenta mainyush bilden j akem mano und acishtem mano dagegen zu vohu mano und vahishtem mano. Dies ist nun aber in den Gatbas nicht der Fall. Alle diese Namen bezeichnen unterschiedslos den bosen Geist schlechthin, d. h. den, der im jiingeren Awesta nur Agra Mainyu genannt wird. So werden z. B. Ys. 32, 3, die Daevas als Brut (cithra) des Akem-mano fcezeichnet, der in solcbem Zusammenhange doch offenbar der hoch- ste und das Haupt der bosen Geisterwelt sein muss. Das gleiche gilt wohl auch von Acishtem-mano, wenn es Ys. 30, 6 heisst, dass urn jhn die Daemonen sich scharen, wahrend die guten Geister zu Spenta- mainyu (Ys. 30, 7, und vgl. 5) sich gesellen. Ja es scheint so gar, dass in der namlichen Stelle auch Aesbma, das sonst Name ernes besonderen Daemons ist, nur zur Bezeichnung des Agra mainyu dient. Es ist nun fur die Erklarung des Verbaltnisses des bosen Geistes zu dem guten von Wichtigkeit, dass es zu dem Namen Ahura Mazda formell iiberhaupt kein Gegenstiick gibt. Die zur Benennung des bosen Geistes dienenden Namen stehen vielmehr den Namen Spenta- mainyu oder Vohu-mano gegeniiber. Wo aber (Ys. 45, 2 ; 30, 4-7) beide Geister zusammen genannt werden, heisst der gute Geist nicht 195 etwa Mazda, sondern spenta (spanyao, spenishta) mainyu. Die Rolle des ' Spenta-mainyu selbst erscheint in den Gathas nicht vollig klar. Derselbe wird bald mit Aliura Mazda idcntifiziert (z. B. Ys. 43, 2), bald 1st er von ihm verschieden (Ys. 45, 6 ; 47, 1, u. a.) ; er muss somit ein gottliches Wesen sein, welches bald in der hochsten Gottheit aufgeht, bald von ihr losgelost, eine gesonderte Existenz fuhrt. Halten wir dies alles zusammen, so lasst sich die Philosophie Zara- thnshtra's etwa folgendermassen charakterisieren. Das hochste Wesen est, die Gottheit schlechthin ist Ahura Mazda. Er 1st natiirlich gut und von ihm geht nur Gutes aus. Das Bose ist die Negation des Gu- ten ; es besteht nur im Yerhaltnisse zu diesem, wie Finsternis nur die Negation des Lichtes ist. Soferne nun Ahura Mazda das Positive ist, zu welchem das Bose die Negation bildet, heisst er Spenta- mainyu, das Bose oder dessen Personifikation ist Agra-mainyu oder Ako-mainyu. Beide Spenta-mainju und Ako-mainyu werden daher als Zwillinge bezeichnet (Ys. 30, 3), weil sie allein fiir sich nicht exis- lieren sondern jeder im Verbal tnis zum anderen ; beide gehen auf in der hoheren Einheit Ahura Mazda. Sie existieren vor Anfang der Welt, ihre Opposition kommt aber gerade in der sichtbaren Welt zum Ausdrucfe. Ahura Mazda ist Schopfer des Alls; wie er aber a]s Spenta-mainyu irgend ein Ding erschafft, so ist damit von selbst das negative Gegenstiick gegeben, oder, wie der Dichter sich in popnlarer Form ausdruckt: Agra-rnainyu, der hose Geist erschafft dasTJbel im Gegensatz zum Guten (Ys. 30, 4ff.). Das erste, was die Zwillingsgeister erschaffen, ist Leben oder Tod, oder, wie man vielleicht philosophise!! sich ausdriicken darf : Sein und Nichtsein, worin eben die Doppelseite ihres Wesens gekennzeichnet ist. Erschaift also Spenta-mainyu das Licht, so ist die Finsternis oder das Nichtsein, die Abwesenheit des Lichtes die Gegenschopfung des Agra-mainyu ; gibt jener die Warme, so riihrt von diesem die negation der Warme, d. h. die Kalte. Alles libel ist dem Zoroastrier somit nicht eigentlich etwas Reales, an und fiir sich Bestehendes, sondern eben nur das Fehlen des Guten. Es versteht sich damit aber auch von selber, dass Gut und Bose durchaus nicht gleichwertige parallele Begriffe sind, sondern letzteres lediglich relative Existenz besitzt. Geben wir dies aber zu, so wird man auch zugestehen miissen, dass der Zoroastrianismus ein Dualismus im eigentlichen Sinne des Wortes nicht genannt werden darf. Sobald wir nun fragen, wie der Mensch sich zu diesen beiden Gegen Batzen verhalt, so beriiliren wir damit das Gebiet der Ethik ; fragea 196 wir aber endlicb, wie zuletzt dieser Gegenzatz zwischen Gut und Bose zam Austrag gelangt, so kommen wir damit auf die Eschatologte, die Lehre von den letzten Dingen, dem Weltende und Weltgericht. Beide, Ethik und Eschatologie, sind besonders wichtige Punkte der zoroastrischen Lehre, beide stehen naturgemiiss in enger Wechsel- beziehung, iiber beide enthalten auch schon die Gatha's zahlreicbe und wichtige Andeutungen. Es ist bekannt, dass die ganze zoroastrische Ethik sich griindet auf den Dreiklang der " guten Gedanken, guten Worte und guten Thaten," dem humatem, hukhtem, huvarshtem. Dies setzt schon ein hohes Mass sittlicher Bildnng voraus, wenn die gedachte Siinde auf eine Stufe gestellt wird mit der Thatsiinde und somit in der Gesinnung die Wurzel alles Handelns, zugleich aber auch der Massstab jeder sittlichen Beur- teilung erkannt wird. Man wird zugeben miissen, dass die Stifter der Awestalehre damit doch zum mindesten die sittliche Stufe erreicht haben, auf welcher die besten Teile des alten Testamentes stehen, ja dass sie Neigungzu jener Vertiefung der sittlichen Anschau- ung zeigen, wie sie im Christentume zum Ausdrucke kommt. Wir miissen nun aber hervorheben, dass bereits die Gathas diesen Dreiklang kennen, der auch das ganze jungere Awesta beherrscht. Es besteht somit kein Zweifel, dass die Begriindung dieser Ethik auf Zarathushtra unmittelbar zuriickgeht. Der Charakter dieser Ethik ist auch in der That ein so persb'nlicher und individueller, dass wir unwillkiirlich zu der Annahrae gedrangt werden: sie ist das Prod ukt eines einzelnen hervorragenden Geistes, der mit besonderer sittlicher Beanlagung ausgestaltet zu einer solchen Scharfe und Bestimmtheit in der Erfassung der ethischen Gesetze gelangte ; dass diese Lehre aus einem ganzen Volke herausgewachten, dass sie gewissermassen Eigentum einer Gesamtheit sei und nach und nach zu der Form sich entwickelt habe, in welcher sie im Awesta vorliegt, erscheint mir ganz unglaubwiirdig. Ys. 30,3, sagt der Dichter, dass die beiden Geister, die von Anbeginn waren, die Zwillinge, 'ihm im Traume verldindig hatten, was das Gute ist und was das Bose in Gedanken , Worten und Werken. Ebenso wird die Frommigkeit, Ys. 51, 21, bezeichnet als Frucht der Gedanken, Worte und Werke einer demiitigen Gesinnung. Andrerseits gehen bose Gesinnung bose Reden und bose Handlungsweise von dem bosen Geiste aus (Ys. 32, 5). Beim Gottesdienste aussert sich die Dreiteilung in dem 197 andachtigen Sinne, welchen der Betende hegen sol], in den guten Spriichen, die er spricht, und in den Opferhandlungen, die er verrichtet (Ys. 30, 1) ; allein jene drei Begriffe ausscliliesslich als rituelle Aus- driicke aufzufassen, das ware eine Beschriinkung, vvelche durch die Texte nicht gerechtfertigt wird. Dass die Gesinnung den Grundton des Dreiklanges ausmacht, dass Reden und Handlungen auf ihr beruhen und nach ihr beurteilt werden miissen, das driickt der Prophet deutlich genug aus, wenn er von den Worten und Thaten einer guten Gesinnung spricht (Ys. 45, 8). Was nun die Stellung des Menschen zu gut und bose betrifft, so ist der hervorstechendste Punkt in der Ethik der Gatha's die vollkom- men freie Wahl t welche j^dem einzelnen zusteht. Der Mensch steht nach zoroastrischer Auffassung nicht etwa unter dem Banne irgend eiues Verhangnisses, einer von Ewigkeit her geltenden Bestimmung, die ihn bindet und seinen Willen unterdriickt. Da gibt es keine Erbsunde, die er als Folge der Verschuldungen seiner Eltern zu tragen hat und die seine Kraft zum Kanipfe gegen das Bose lahmfc. Das Bose Hegt nicht in ihm, sondern ausser ihm ; er kann es an sich heran kommen lassen und in sich nufnehmen, aber er kann es auch von sich weisen und bekampfen. Das ist gewiss ein gesunder Standpunkt, der alle Verantwortung auf den Menschen selber liidt und ihm die Moglichkeit benimmt, seine Lassigkeit zu entschuldigen mit irgend etwas, das nicht in seiner Hand liegt. Dass die Entscheidung fur gut oder bose Sache der freien Wahl ist. dies wird schon vorbildlich damit angedeutet, dass auch die Daemonen sich aus eigenem Antrieb auf die Seite des bosen Geistes stelJen, Sie sind also nicht schlechthin bose, sie werden es erst, indera sie thorichter Weise gegen Ahura sich entscheiden (Ys. 30, 6). Ja es ist sogar ein freier Willensaks des bosen Geistes selber, dass er die Siinde zu seiner Domane erwahlte, wahrend Spenta-mainyu die Frommigkeit und Wahrheit fiir sich erwahlte (Ys. 30,5). Und ebenso sind es die Frommen und Glaubigen welche die richtige Wahl treffen der guten Gesinnung, Worte und Werke, nicht aber die Unfrommeu (Ys. 30, 3). Mit dieser Lehre von der freien Wahl des Menschen steht die schon oben von mir besprochne (S. 177-178) Anschauung, dass die Religion Sache des Verstandes ist, dass Frommigkeit und Wahrheit einerseits und Unfrommigkeit undLiigeandrerseits begrifflich 193 sich decken, in engstem Zusammenhang. Der Mensch 1st eben nach zoroastrischer Auffassung nicht an ein blindes Geschick gefesselt noch auch durch angeerbte Fehler in seinen Urteil beeintriichtigt. Gottihat ihrn seinen Verstand gegeben und wer Ohren hat, der hore, wer Urteil besitzt, der entscheide sich fiir das Richtige und Wahre- Der Sunder ist ein Thor und der Thor ein Sunder. "Wie gross die Gefahr fiir jeden einzelnen ist, in wie mannigfaltiger Gestalt das Bose in der sichtbaren Welt sich zeigt und den Frommen zu Fall zu bringen droht, dessen ist der Zoroastrier sich wohl bewusst. Sein Leben ist daher ein steter unermiidlicher Kampf gegen da Bose. Es ware iiberfliissig, fiir diese ernste Auffassung vom Leben als einem ewigen Kampfe in getreuer Pflichterfnllung, in Arbeit und Miihe Beweisstellen aus den Gathas zu bringen. Die Ermahnung auszuharren in der Frommigkeit und Gottergebenheit und nicht miide zu werden, bildet so recht eigentlich den Grundton der meisten Lieder. Formmigkeit ist des Dichters sehnlichster Wunsch (Ys. 32, 9); er fleht zu Armaiti, sie moge ihnfesthalten lassen am Glauben (asha) vund ihm den Segen einer frommen Gesinnung verleihen (Ys. 43, 1). Der Glaube ist das hochste GuLtfyakisfaeni), das ervon Gott erlangen kann. Um dieses hochste Gut fleht er fiir sich und fiir seinen Anhiinger Frashaoshtra (Ys. 28, 9). Dem Mazda ist es eigen ; von ihm aus gelangt es zu den Menschen, wenn diesen das heilige Wort verktindigfc wird (Ys 31, 6; 45, 4). Um wie viel hb'her stehen in dieser Beziehung die Gatha-Hymnen, als die des Rigveda. Dort sind es fast ausschliesslich geistige und sittliche Giiter, welche der Dichter sich wiinscht ; nur in vereinzelten Fallen (Ys. 44, 10) bilden materielle den Gegenstand seines Verlangens. Die vedischen Siinger fiehen um Rosse und Kinder und glanzenden Reichtum. Ein hervorstechendes Merkmal der Gfitha's gegeniiber dem jiin- geren Awesta bildet das Zuriicktreten des Kultus und der Zeremo- nien. Regelmassig wiederkehrende Gebete, Opferhandlungen, Rezitationeu undt'aglich oder bei bestimmten Veranlassungen vorzu- nehmende Rsinigungen spielen im jiingeren Awesta eine bedeutsarne Rolle; sie bilden den eigentlichen Inhalt des Vendidad, des religi- osen Gesetzbuches der Zoroastrier. Die Hiiter dieser zahlreichen Vorschriften sind die Priester; sie haben deren Ausfiihrung zu iiberwachen und dem Nachlassigen und Siiumigen, welcher sie iibertrat, die gebiihrende Busse aufzuerlegen. Das ganze Leben der 199 Zoroasfrier wird von diesen Reinigungsvorschriften mit ihrem rr.inutiosen Zeremoniell beherrscht. Werfen wir aber einen Blick in die Gatha's, so finden wir keine Spur von alien diesen Bestimmungen und Brauchen. Hiefiir ist eine doppelte Erklarung moglich Entweder nehmen wir an, class der Zusammenhang in den Gatha's, die Tendenz nnd Absicht, welche ihre Verfasser verfolgten, iiberhaupt keine Yeranlassung boten, von Ritual und Zeremoniell zn sprechen; oder wir erkliireii die Erscheinung damit, dass zu jener Zeit, \vo die Gatha's verfasst wnrden, iiberhaupt noch keine solchen Einzelbestimmtingen getroffen waren, sondern das ganze System erst nachmals, als die Gemeinde mehr gefestigt war und die neue Lehre weitere Verbreitung gefunden hatte, sich ansbilden konnte. Ich glaube, dass wir kein Bedenken tragen diirfen, letzterer Annahme zu folgen. Die Gatha's schweigen ja nicht ganz von den ausseren Formen des Gottesdienstes. Sie sprechen von denPreisliedern, durch welche man die Gottheit verehert (Ys. 34,6; 45, 6 und 8 ; 50, 4) ; durch Opfer erhoht man Ahura Mazda (Ys. 45, 10); sie sind die Thaten der guten Gesinnung, mittels derenman Gottnahe kommt (Ys. 50, 9) und die heiligen Genien sich gunstig stimmt (Ys. 34, 1). Allein das sind ganz allgemeine Yorstellungen. Die Ethik der Gatha's ist in so hohem Masse eine innerliche, sie erkennt so entschieden die Frommigkeit in einem heiligen Lebenswandel und in energischer Bekiimpfung des Bb'sen, dass sich damit die Vorstellung, als konne durch das gewissenhafte Befolgen ausserlicher Zeremonien irgend ein Yerdienst erworben werden, kaum zu vertragen scheint. Der Ausdruck, mit welchem im spateren Awesta die Ausiibung der Reinigungsvorschriften bezeichnet wird, yaozhdao, kommt in den Gatha's iiberhaupt nur ein einzigesmal vor (Ys. 48, 5). Die Gatha's kennen ja nicht einmal einen gemeinsamen Namen fur den Priester- stand. Sie bezeichnen zwar die gesamte Gemeinde der Glaubigen und im besondern, wie es scheint, die Lehrer und Verkiindiger der neuen Religion mit einem bestimmten Worte (saoshyanto); aber dieses Wort bekommt im jiingeren Awesta eine ganz andere Bedeutung, und der Ausdruck athravan, womit. hier die Priester bezeichnet werden, fehlt in den Gatha's vollstandig. Qhne die Existenz eines geschlossenen Priesterstandes ist aber die Ausbildung und Hand- habung eines so in die Einzelheiten gehenden Rituals, wie der Yen- didad es lehrt, undenkbar. Das Fehlen eines Priesterstandes aber wie auch das Fehlen eines ausgebildeten Rituals und Zeremoniells erklart sich ganz ungezwangen aus den allgemeinen Kulturverhalt- 26 200 nissen, wie die Gatha's sie schildern. Damals war die zoroastrische Gemeinde erst im Entstehen begriffen, die Lehre uoch eine neue, nicht seit langer Zeit im Volke bekannte und verbreitete ; jene beiden Erscheinungen aber, ein nach aussen abgeschlossener Priesterstand und ein entwickeltes System von religiosen Brauchen und Vorschrif- ten begegnen uns nur unter gefestigten Verhaltnissen. Sie setzen eine gewisse Tradition voraus, eine liingere Entwickelungsperiode, in der es moglich geworden, das System niclit bloss in den allge- meinen Grundziigen festzustellen sondern auch im einzelnen auszubauen. Die allgemeinen Grundziige des Zoroastrianismus aber liegen in den Gatha's vor, der Ausbau im einzelnen im jiingeren Awesta. Ob freilich dieser Ausbau in alien Fuukten dem Geiste entspricht, welcher die Gatha's durchweht, das scheint nicht zwei- fellos zu sein. Die Gatha's sind entstanden, wie wir sahen, in einer Zeit heftiger Kampfe. Oft genug befinden sich die Gliiubigen in Not und Bedrangnis, die Gottlosen uud Unglaubigen frohlocken und scheinen den Sieg davon zu tragen. Da musste sich von selbst der Gedanke aufdriingen: wie werden die Frommen entschiidigt werJen fiir alles Unrecht, das sie hier auf Erden erleiden, und wie werden die Gottlosen, die von Gliick und Erfolg begleitet erscheinen, fiir ihren Frevel entschatiigt werden. So ist sclion in der friihesten Zeit des Zoroastrianismus der Gedanke einer ausgleichen- den Gerechtigkeit im Jenseits lebendig. Er bildet einen der Grundpfeiler des ganzen Systems, ohne diese Hoffnung wiirden auch die Glaubigen kaum alle Verfolgungen siegreich uberwuiiden habeu, die sie anfangs ei'dulden mussten. Tiber alle Leiden des Diesseits hinwpg blickten sie, den christlichen Miirtyrern der ersten Jahrhunderte vergleichbar, auf die Freuden, welche im Jenseifcs ihrer warten. *' Wenn sie err.pfangen werden den Lohn fiir ihr Thun, Die, welche jetzt leben, die gewesen sind, und die leben werden, Dann wird des Frommen Seele in Ewigkeit wohlgemut sein, Aber nie wird endeu die Qual des Unglaubigen : So hat Mazda Ahura nach seiner Macht bestimmt." (Ys. 45, 7.) Der Ausgleich zwischen Verdienst und Schicksal erfolgt durch ein gottliches Gericht. Dieses Gericht ist ein doppelies, ein indivi- duelles und ein generelles, Das individuelle Gericht trifft jode 201 eiuzelue Seele nach ihrem Ausscheiden AUS dem Korper, das generelle Gericht dagegen die Gesamtheit am Ende der Welt, am jiingsteii Tage. Mifc dem letzteren erfolgt, wie es scheint die vollkommene Loslosung des Bosen vom Guten, die Aufhebung der Negation, nach welcher das Positive und Reale, das Gute, allein bestehen bleibt. So viel wir aus den Andeuttmgen in den Gatha's iiber das Schick- sal der Seelen naeb ihrem Abscheiden entnehmen konnen, stirameii die Vorstellungen jener Zeitperiode mit denen des spateren Awesta ifberein. Das Gericht findet statt bei der Briicke Cinvat, welche das Diesseits mit dem Jenseits verbindet. Tiber diese Briieke geht die fromme Seele hiniiber in Gemeinschaft mit den Seelen aller derer welche auf Erden dem guten nachgesfcrebt haben (Ys. 46, 10). Sie geht nun ein in die " geistige Welt," die in den Gatha's oft (Ys. 28,3 ii, s. w.) der sichtbaren, korperhaften Welt entgegen gesetzt ist. Dort wircl ihm die hochste Seligkeit zu toil. Dieselbe besteht vor allem dariu, dass er Mazda und die himlischen Geister von Angesicht zu Angesicht sieht und mit ihnen in ewigem Lichte zusammen wohnt. " Asha, wann werde ich dich schauen," fragt daher Ys. 28, 6 der Dichter, "und den Vohu-mano mit Wissen und die Statte, die dem Ahura zn eigen gebort?" In die Behausung das seligen Q eistea werden den Bosen zum Trotze dereinst die Frommen gefiihrt werden nach Ys. 32,15. Wer durch Wahrheit die Liige iiberwunden hat, dem wird von Mazda das himmlische Reich samt der ewigen Seligkeit verliohen werden (Ys. 30,8), uud ungehindert werden die, welche am guten Glauben festhalten, in die Wohnung des Vohu-mano, clea Ascha und des Mazda eingehen (Ys. 80, 10). Allen denen wird Gott das ewige Leben geben, welche Zarathushtra sich anschliessen (Ys, 4G, 13), und dieses Leben ist ein Leben der Wonne ; denn garo -demand, Wohnstatte des Lobgesanges, wird Ys. 45, 8 das Paradies, in dem die Frommen weilen, genannt. Wir sehen wieder, wie die Gatha's ihrem ganzen Charakter ent- sprechend, die Seligkeit im Jenseits als eine im wesentlichen geistige auffassen. Wie in der christlichen Lehre beruht sie vornehmlich im " Schauen Gottes," in dem engen Zusammensein mit der Gottheit. Indische Ziige finden wir kaum. Der Zoroastrianismus steht hier wieder in schroifem Gegensatze zu den Naturreligionen, welche das Leben nach dem Tode als eine Fortsetzung des diesseitigen Lebens auffassen mit alien semen Freuden, Geiuissen und Gewohnheiten, aber olme dessen Leiden und Miihseligkeiten. 202 Wahrend die Seele der Frommen frohlich die Briicke Cinvat uberschrei- tet, welche sie zum Himnielreich fiihrt, wird die Seele des Sunders, im Vorgefuhle der sie erwartenden Strafe, von Farcht und Entsetzen ergriffen (Ys. 51, 13). Der gottliche Richterspruch verweist sie in die Holle. Wie das Reicli des Mazda lauterLicht ist, so istFinsternis die Behausung der Damonen (Ys. 32, 10) 1 . Hier wird sie von den bosen Geistern unter Hohnreden einpfangen und mit ekelhaften Speisen bewirtet (Ys. 49, 11). Aber wie rein geistige Freuden das wesentliche des Paradieses ans raachen, so sind es auch vornehmlich seelische Qualen, unter denen die Seele des Bosen nach ihrem Abscheiden zu leiden hat. Sie ist getrennt von Mazda und den seligen Geistern, sie wohnt in E\vigkeit zusammen mit den Diimonen, sie wird namentlich gefoltert durch das eigene Gewissen, das sie anklagt und verdammt (Ys. 46, 11). Also Bulie und heitere Frohlichkeit auf der einen Seite, bei den Seligen, Unruhe, Gewissensbisse, Reue auf der anderen Seite, bei den Verdammten : das ist der Ausgleich im Jenseits fur das Missverhaltnis zwischen Verdienst und Scbicksal, das wir so oft im Leben der Menschen hier auf Erden wabrnehmen. Dieser Ausgleich vollzieht sich unmittelbar nach dem Tode des Einzelindividuums. Allein die Welt ist nicht fur die Ewigkeit bestimmt, sie wird dereinst zu grimde gehen, und mit dem Weltende verbindet sich ein Weltgericht. Wir finden diese Vorstellung bereits jn den Gatha's. Das generelle Gericht steht in keinem Widerspruch zum individuellen Gerichte Letzteres findet in ersterem seine feierliche Bestadgung und, wir diirfen wohl anneh- men, dass im Weltgerichte das B.ose an sich vernichtet und aufgehoben wird. Die Gatha's itussern sich hieriibor allerdings nicht bestimmt ; allein das spiitere Awesta enthalt diese Lehre, und wir konnen wohl sagen, dass ohne sie die Vorstellung von einem Gerichte am Ende der Welt iiberhaupt so ziemlich gegenstandslos ware. In den Hymnen wird das Weltgericht anscheinend gar nicht vom indivi- duellen Gerichte unterschieden. Mazda, der von Anbeginne der Welt her war, hat es in seiner Macht festgesetzt, das Boses die Vergeltung der Bosen nnd Gutes die Belohnung der Guten sein solle am Ende der Welt. Bei diesem Weltende wird der Fromme eingehen in Mazda's Himmelreich (Ys. 43, 5, 6 ; 51, 6) ; d. h. er wird die Vernichtung iiberdauern welche das Bose und die Bosen treffen wird. 1 Acislitahya demane manaylio "in der Behausung des bosen Geistes" ist der Formelle wie sachliche Gegensatz zu dem in Strophe 15 stehenden vaijheuah a demane manayhe. 203 SCHLUSSFOLGE. Ich stehe nun am Ende meines Uberblickes. Es schien mir in der That zeitgemiiss und lohnend, einmal die Gatha's als den altesten Toil des Awesta berauszuheben und den Inhalt ihrer Lehre gesondert zu betracbten. Die Albeit selber mag den Beweis liefern, dass dies moglich isfc. Sie mag gleichzeitig ein Beitrag sein zu dem Nach- \veise, dass eine tiefe Kluft die Gatha's von den iibrigen Bdchern des Awestfi trennt, und dass die Parsen recbfc batten und durch triftige Griinde geleitet warden, wetm sie schon friihzeitig den alten Hymnen eine besondere Heiligkeit zuschrieben. Meine Aufgabe erschien um so lobnender, als ans den Gatha's eine besonclers ursprlingliche und altertiiinliche Form der zoronstrischen Lehre sich ergibt und diese Form zugleich die reinste und erhabenste ist, die wir kennen. Sie ist nocb frei von mancher jungeren Zuthat und lasst uns die Personlichkeit Zarathushtra's, seine sittlich ernsfce und doch menschliche Gesinnung und seine philosophiscbe Beanla- gung, die sich an die hochsten und bedeutendsten Probleme wagt, in giinstigstem Licbte erscheinen. Wir erkennen in ihm einen Mann, der, seiner Zeit weit voraneilend, scbon in fernem Altertume eine monotbeistische Religion dem Volke verkiindigte, das Wesen der Gottheit, das Verhaltnis der Menschen zu ihr und die Entstehung dea Bosen von einem pbilosopliischen Standpunkte Auffasste, und den Schwerpunkt nicht in Op fern und ausserlicben Zeremonien sondern in einer frommen Gesinnung und in einem dieser Gesinnung entsprechenden Leben erkannte. So wendet sich diese Arbeit einerseits an die Parsen Indiens andrer- seits an diejenigen unter den Europaern, welcbe fiir Indien und clessen Bewohner warmes Interesse hegen. Sie will jenen die iilteste und gewisserma'sen auch dwell with idle complacence on the high praise which European scholars have almost invariably bestowed on Zoroastrianism for its sublime ethical conceptions, and to ignore allegations as to the practices in question of the early Compare Dr. Wm. &eig(fr t Ostir&ni*0heKultii,r t p. 246 : ' Audi den Wes!- Ira-niernwardie H>irat von Hlutsverwandten nicht fremd. Schon dieklns~ischen Autoren \vissen davon zu bericbten. Eercdot is der in-igen Ar sicM, d-asa Kambyses sie eingt-fiihrt hnbe, alser seine Schwcster Atossa xm Wei be nabm. Gcrj.de in der konigliehen Familie knm sie haufig rot. Man hatte hie/ beson- cleres Interesse daraii, (ieti Stammbaum rein zu bewabren und das eigene GescLlecht rr.oglic-hst von audercn KamitiHii zu pcparieren. Aussor Kambjs^i iviii'e Artaxerxes anzufub-en, de-r f-'eino beiden Tocbter heiratete, sowio Teri- tuchmes, der mit seiner P oh wester Roxane, und Kob;Ul I, der mit seiner Scbwrster Sarnbyke SK-b verrr.ablte." Also cf. Windischmann, Zoroastrische Stvdien, p. 208, and L'Muscon (1886), La Noms Propres L'ei-so-Accsti^nc'& t par Ik. Keijier, pp. 212 se$. 209 followers of Zoroaster. One of the true criteria of the morality of a nation is its marriage institution. The moral life of society begins and is nurtured in the family. It is, therefore, scarcely possible to conceive how a nation, much less a religion, which has been generally extolled for its pure system of morals, and proverbial for its strictly moral habits, should have sanctioned or tolerated a custom which must naturally have demoralized the highly valued precept of "pious mind, pious words, pious actions." 1 But, here, I may be allowed to observe that the Greeks who charged the Persians with the crime of consanguineous mar- riages, and who were distinguished among the Western nations before the Christian era for the high stage of civilization they had reached, were not unfamiliar with incestuous enormities. (1) In the Prefatio of Cornelius Nepos, the contemporary of Cicero, it is said that "Cimon, the greatest of the Athenians, was nob dishonoured for having espoused his sister on the father's side/' (2) The celebrated comic poet Aristophanes, who flourished in the 5th century B. C., relates in verse 1371 of his comedy of " The Frogs": " He began reciting some of the verses from Euripides, where one perceives a brother miserable, having married his uterine sister." (3) Demosthenes in his Appeal against Eubulides of Miletus, asserts: " My grand-father had espoused his si&ter not uterine," 2 According to the Scholiast the marriage with a half-sister was permitted by law among the ancient Greeks. The details which M'Lenan has gathered on this subject, go to prove that the old Spartans were also accus- tomed to marry even their uterine sisters. Again Mr. Robertson iComp. my " CiviVzation of the Eastern Iranians," vol. I , pp. 162-163:" It affords iudeed proof of a great ethical tendency and of a very sober and pro- found way of thinking, that the Avcstfi people, or at least the priests of their religion, arrived at the truth that sins by thought must be ranked with sins by deed, and that, therefore, the actual root and soui ce of everything good or b id must be sought in the mind. It would not be easy to find a people thafc attained under equal or similar historical conditions to such a height of ethical knowledge." Also*/. " Christ and Other Masters,'] by the Rev. Mr. Hard- vriok, p. 541:" In the measure of her moral sensibility, Persia may be fairly ranked among tho brightest spots of ancient heathendom." a For these references to- Greek incest I am indebted to the kindness of the Honourable Sir Raymond West, President of the B. B. R. A. Society, and of M. James Darmesteter. 210 Smith remarks in his " Kinship and Marriage in Early Arabia" (p. 162) : " At Athens we find marriage with a half- sister not uterine occurring in later times, and side by side with this we find an ancient tradition that before Cecrops there was a general practice of polyandry, and consequently kinship only through mothers." Mr. Wm. Adam points out that Xenophon's memoirs of Socrates refer to the intercourse of parents with children among the Greeks (vide hi* dissertation on " Consan- guinity in Marriage," contributed to the Fortnightly Review, vol. II., p. 719). These are some of the facts which plainly indicate that the custom of consanguineous marriages did actually exist in aacient Greece at a very remote period. These facts are pre- served in its native archives, which it is difficult to controvert. But, hence, it is allowable to infer that the Greek historians of ancient Iran were not unfamiliar with next-of-kin marriages, before they wrote a word upon any Oriental history or religion, and that their sweeping assertion of the incestuous practices of civilized Arians was to a certain extent due to their knowledge of the existence of such practices amongst Semitic nations 1 as well as amongst themselves. i In some of the sacred documents of the Jews, particularly in the Books of Genesis and Exodus, it is recorded that Abraham was married to his half- sister Sarai, Nahor to his niece Miloah, Amram to his aunt Joohebed, and Lot to his two daughters The Book of Genesis xix. 36-38 says : " Thus were both the daughters of Lot with child by their father ; and the first-born bare a eon, and called his uameMoab; .... and the younger, she also bare a son and called his name Benammi." At a much la^er period, the grand- daughter of King Herod the Great is said to have married her unole Fhilip. Again, the Assyrians are charged by Lucian (Luician de Sacrijiciis, p. 183) with the guilt of close consanguineous marriages. Also Orosius, a Spanish Presbyter who nourished in the 5th century after Christ, relates in his Historiarum adversus Paganos Libri VII., that Semiramis, the widow of Ninus, married her own son, and authorized suoh marriages among her people in order to wipe out the stain of her own abominable action (<'f. Adam, Fortnightly Review). The old Egyptians seem to have legalized the marriage between brothers and sisters (vide Hawiinson's History of Herodotus, Vol. II., p. 429, note Ij ; and, according to Philo, the Alexandrian Jew, there was no restriction even as to marrying one's whole sister (Philo de Speviilibus Legibus, p. 778). The recently published work of Mr. Robertson Sjnith illustrated the existence of the practice of ruarriage between nearest blood -relations among the early Arabs. Bat how far all these statements as regards those Oriental nations may be reliable, I leave it to the studenti of their his-uries and religions to prove with positive evidence 211 In reference to the reports of Greek historians on Oriental customs, what assertion could be more sweeping and loose than that of Ptolemy, who (relying upon the authority of the Paraphrasis of Proclus, who flourished in the 5th century B.C.) when treating of India, Ariana, Gedrosia, Parthia, Media Persia, Babylonia, Mesopotamia and Assyria, relates that " very many or most of the inhabitants of those countries intermarry with their own mothers" (vide Adam, F. R., " Con- sanguinity in Marriage/' p. 713). But can this vague state- ment support so grave a charge? In the absence of something definite to go upon, some well attested instances, must we not pause before believing that the Ind6-Ir&nians, even as indivi- dual peoples, could ever be guilty of the heinousness they are charged with ? With these preliminary remarks I address myself to my task, and lay before you what I purpose to demonstrate in the following propositions : I. That the slight authority of some isolated passages gleaned from the pages of Greek and Koman literature, is wholly insufficient to support the odious charge made against the ancient Iranians of practising consanguineous marriages in their most objectionable forms. II. That no trace, hint or suggestion of such a custom can be pointed out in the Avesta or in its Pahlavi Version. III. That the Pahlavi passages translated by a distin- guished English Pahlavi savant, and supposed to have refer- ences to such a custom, cannot be interpreted as upholding the view that next-of-kin marriages were expressly recommended therein. That a few of the Pahlavi passages, which are alleged to contain actual references to such marriages, do not allude to social realities but to supernatural conceptions relating to the reaction of the first progenitors of mankind. IV. That the words of our Prophet Zarathushtra himself, which are preserved in one of the strophes of the Gathic hymn LI II , express a highly moral ideal of the marriage relation. 1 1 Here let me draw attention to the opinion of Dr. L. H. Mills on the contents of the Gathfis. In S. B. E.,Yol. XXXI., p. 1, the translator observes;- oto *J J ( I. CLASSICAL TESTIMONY ON THE SUBJECT. Without presuming to attack any particular European theory, I beg to put forward iny humble impressions in confirmation of the firsfc statement. Among the Western classical writers, who are concerned with Persian history or religion, there are about fifteen who have touched upon the subject of next-of-kin marriages iu ancient Iran, and who belong to different periods, from the 7th century B. C- to the 6th century A. D. They aro Xanthus (fl. about B. C. 650); Herodotus (B.C. 434-409); Ctesias (fl. about B. C. 440) ; Strabo (B. 0. 54 to A. D. 24) ; Plutarch (b. A. D. 66); Curtius (b. A. D. 70) ; Tcrtullian (A. D. 160-240); Origen, Clemens Alexandria us, Diogenes Laertius, and Tatian(who flourished in the 2nd century A. D.) ; Minutius Felix, and Athenaaus (fl. in the 3rd century A. D.) ; and Agathias (about A. D. 536-533). Of these Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, Origen, Diogenes Laertius, Athenaeus, Curtius, and Minutius Felix ascribe incestuous marriages to the Persians generally, according to Mr. Adam, "without any distinction or qualification." The spurious works of Xanthus as well as the genuine books of Strabo and Tatian, impute such practices to the Magians alone, without drawing any line of separation between the different Magian orders among the Chaldaanns or the Persians. Herodotus, Ctesias, Plutarch, and Agatiasmake special mention ofnames of persons of rank, whom they charge with the guilt of such incest. Now, if we were to inquire to what different sources these reports owe their origin, we should find that Tertullian, Clemens Alexandrinus, and his pupil Origen, as well as the true Plutarch, bn,sed their statements with regard to this question on the authority of " So far as a claim to a high position among the curiosities of ancient moral lore is concerned, the reader may trust himself freely to the impression that ha has before him an anthology which was prob ibly co-npo- -^-O" Humutt VohAman 30 sJiant. Heretlio word ^y may be read d&Jtht or y&kht and it may respec- tively mean (1) a daughter, (2) one who is coupled or joined in wedlock with another. Tbus the passage may be rendered (1) HuTuai. the daughter of Vohu- uian, (reigued)thiny years ; or V 2) Hutm.i, who was coupled with (i. e., married to) Vohurnau, (reigued) thirty years. The latter rendering is the more correct interpretation, and also in harmony with the elaborate biography of Behman, written in the reign of CJ=F fcUUl/o tj+s.* ^i Sultn Makmud ilalikbhah Salj6k (Hijra 537-551), aud known as the Bahmnnn&maJi, which relates that the Hu^ai, whom Vohuman married, was not his own daughter, Lnt the daughter of an Egyptian king named ^^V^ Nasrj&rs. The of the poet run as follows : 223 gratify the rancour and most wicked vengeance of tlie queen- mother against the children of Sfcatira, the innocent victim of her revenge for the murder of her own daughter Amistris, the wife of Terituchmes cirri sister of Artaxerxes. It is also not improbable that Ctesias' narrative of the marriage of Atossa with her father owed its origin to the vindictive Parysatis alone, and wag adopted by a writer who prefer- red to relate astounding inventions instead of sober truths. Oriental history is not unfamiliar with the malignant accusations of the -crime of ineest by step-mothers or even by mothers-in-law against their daughters or daughters-in-law. It might, therefore, be inferred that if the Greek writer did not invent any fiction as to the domestic lifts of the Persian ruler, there was another and a more powerful cause which would have given rise to such an abominable story and esta- blished it as sober truth in the mind of the original biogra- pher of Artaxerxes, Besides this, a few European scholars seem to point to another such instance in the history of Artaxerxes Mnemon. They discover in Ctesias that Terituchmes, the brother-in-law f the king, and husband of Amestris, was married to his sister Roxana. However, with all deference to their scholar- ship, 1 may be permitted to draw attention to the original words of the Greek writer, wherein, as far as I am able t@ comprehend, the notion of marriage is by no means involved. u* j 3 1 iS ( * A S- eJ ( t^ *J^ (* f ^ '* L$ '-> 8 J 4^ ^ & l -^ &* J 8 IA-, 224 According to a passage occurring in the English translation of Plutarch's Lives, by Langhorne (III, p. 451), Ctesias relates : ft Terituchmes, the brother of Statira (the wife of king Artaxerxes II), who had been guilty of the complicated crimes of adultery, incest, and murder, . . . married Ilames- tris, one of the daughters of Darius, and sister to Arsaces ; by reason of which marriage he had interest enough, on hi 8 father's demise, to get himself appointed to his Government. But in the meantime he conceived a passion for his own sister Roxana, and resolved to despatch his wife Humestris. " It is said further on, that " Darius, being apprised of this design, engaged Udiates, an intimate friend of Terituchmes, to kill him, and was rewarded by the king with the government of his province. " Such is the plain evidence of Ctesiasj but it does not assert that Terituchrnes was ever married to Koxana. Here is evidently the case of a passion conceived by a licen- tious brother for his sisjber. It must, however, be remembered we have again to deal with a story o Ctesias, a story which may naturally be regarded as tho outcome of a general hatred at court against Terituchmes, and a!s3 as the invention of a motive for his most cruel murder of his wife, the daughter of Parysatis a queen who had contrived the most wicked means of gratifying her vengeance against her son-in-law and all other unfortunate victims who were suspected of abetting him. Whatever may be the source to which we may trace this story, ib is still difficult to determine whether Terituchmes married again at all after having murdered his wife Amestris. As regards Svsimithres, a single isolated reference in a wiiter like Curtius is hardly sufficient to claim onr attention. Next we turn to the name that belongs to the period of the Sasanida3, a single positive illustration, indeed, of incestuous marriage, according to the Greeks, during the long period of more than 450 years. That name is Kobad I., father of the famous king Noshiravan. He is reported by Agathias to have married his daughter Sambyke. However, it is remarkable that neither Professor Bawlinson nor Firdusi seem to notice this occurrence. Nevertheless, trusting implicitly to the 225 account of Agathias, a writer who was contemporaneous with Kobad's son, we must here consider the influences under which the king might have been persuaded to yield to such an act. Let us refer to the history of that part of his reign which de- scribed the imposture of Mazdak and the effect which the latter produced upon that weak-minded king by preaching his abominable creed. "All men," Mazdak said, " were, by God's providence, born equal none brought into the world any property, or any natural right to possess more than another. Property and marriage were mere human inventions, contrary to the will of God, which required nn equal division cf the good things of this world among all, and forbade the appreciation of particular women by individual men. In communities based upon property and marmge, men might lawfully vindicate their natural rights by taking their fair share of the good things wrongfully appropriated by their fellows. Adultery, incest, theft, were notreally crimes, bat necessary steps towards re-es- tablishing the laws of nature in such societies/' (Vide Rawlin- son, *' The Seventh Great Oriental Monarchy, " pp. 342, seq.) Such being the teaching of Mazdak, it is easy to see what attractions it would have for a licentious prince who would willingly substitute it for the moral restraints of his purer faith. Be this as it may, Kobad's aposticy was followed by a civil commotion, which ended in the deposition of the king and his imprisonment in the " Castle of Oblivion." Now, does not this successful popular resistance to royal incest and adultery prove that the minds of the Iranians were averse to any viola- tion of the moral law as to the relation between the sexes ? There is one important point to be observed in the accounts of Agatliias bearing on the doctrines which the Mazdakiau here- tics professed, viz., his assertion that consanguineous marriages were enormities recently introduced in Iran. If we accept this remark of a contemporary writer, does it not give a death-blow to all preceding authorities ? Hence Mr, Adam rightly asserts ( P. R., p. 7 1C) : " But if ' those enormities were recent, ' this contradicts all the preceding more ancient authorities, which affirm their earlier prevalence from Ctesias downwards.' 1 526 Now, discarding all the fanciful hypotheses indulged in by speculative thinkers upon early human ideas and practices, I shall make a few assumptions that naturally strike me, while examining the evidences above-mentioned. The first point to be remarked upon is that great care is required to avoid the confusion arising from the indiscriminate use of the words " sister," " daughter/' " mother." Among some Oriental people the designation t sister" is not merely applied to a sister proper or daughter of one's own parents, but, as an affectionate term, also to cousins, near or distant, to sisters-in-law, to female friends, &o. Likewise, the word for daughter is used to denote not only one's own daughter but also the daughter of one's own brother or sister, and generally the daughter of a relative, &c. Similarly, the term "mother" does not signify tho female parent alone, but it is employed as a respectful form of address to an elderly lady who enjoys the honour of being the materfamilias of ft household. It is, likewise, necessary to observe that in Old-Persian or Pahlavi there are rarely any distinct expressions to distinguish sisters from sisters-in-law or female cousins. It is not, therefore, too strained an inter- pretation to believe that what Herodotus, Ctesias and others supposed to be sifters and daughters, should hare been perhaps next-cousins or relations. In the same manner, it might be surmised that a mistake would be made owing to the same name being borne by several female members of a family. Thus the wife and a daughter, or the wife and a sister, or the wife and the mother, having the same name, what was asserted of one might be wrongly applied to the other. Innumerable instances may be found in Parsi families where the name of the mistress of the house coincides with that of one of her daugh- ters-in-law, nieces, &c. But, one can scarcely infer from the particular illustrations of classical testimony on the subject, which are met with m Herodotus, Ctesias, and Agathias, and are open to msny objec- tions, that incestuous marriages were common and legal among the old Iranians as a people, and especially among the Magi. The very statement of the Greeks, that the Achaemeniau 227 monarch, was supposed to be above the law of the land and of religion, indicates that his adultery or incest was not in accord- ance with the established institutions of his realm. Nor did the people in the time of Kobad I. allow such incest to pass without vehement opposition. Even, if we accept the evidence of the Western historians who charge Cambyses, Artaxerxes, Mnemon, Kobad, and Terituchmes with incest, it must be noted that these few are the only instances they have been ablo to gather in the long period of upwards of a thousand years, and that they are insufficient to support so sweeping a general- ization as that incestuous marriages were recognized by law, and commonly practised among the old Iranians. It is just as unreasonable as to ascribe the custom of marriage between brother and sister to the civilized Grecians, because we discover references to it in Cornelius Nepos, Demosthenes, and Aristo- phanes. If the MahdbJtdrata tells us that the five Pandava princes who had received a strictly Brahmanic education, were married to one wife, should we, therefore, ignore the existence of the Brahmanic law, 1 which clearly lays down (Max Miiller^ " History of Ancient Sanskrit Literature", p. 53 ;M ; Lennan,p. 215) " they are many wives of one man, not many husbands, of one wife," and charge with the custom of polyandry all the ancient Brabmanic Indians who constituted one of the most eminent and highly intellectual nations of the early Oriental world. From what I have said above, it is not difficult to see thai the doubtful evidences of the Greeks neutralize themselves, and that it is absurd to form, with any reliance upon them, a definite opinion as regards the marriage customs of (Le old Iranians. I, therefore, repeat my conviction which I have set forth in my first statement That the slight authority of seme 1 Compare " Tagore Law Lectures" (1883), by Dr. J. Jolly, p. 155 : " But I have been led recently to consider my views," remarks Dr. Jolly, " by the investigations of Professor Biibler, who has j ointed out to me that a certain sort of i'olyandry is referred to iu two different Smritis. ^Apastamba (II. 10, 2', 2-4) speaks of the forbidden practice of delivering a bride to a tthole family (kula). brihaspati refers to the same custom in the same terms." Further on he says : " 'i he text of A pastamba refers to the custom as to an ancient one, which was enjoined by the early sages, but is now obsolete." 228 passages gleaned from the pag?s of Greek and Roman literature, is ivholly insufficient to support the odioiis charge mado agaimt the old Iranians of practising consanguineous marriages in their most objectionable forms ! THE MEANING OP TFIE AVESTA WOUD Hvaelvadatha. II. In proof of the second statement That no trace, hint or suggestion of such a custom can be pointed out in the Avesta, or in it >t Pahlaui Version it is first of all necessary to enquire what is the opinion of the Avesfca on the subject; whether we are able to trace to any Avesta precept the alleged custom of next-of-kin marriage in old Iran. According to European scholars, the term that expresses such a marriage is .j^^nsf^r hvaetvadatha or khaetuadathain. the Avesta, and ^ex^ift))" khcelult- ddt (originally hvet&kddt) or -Kj-o^itf))* 1 khueliik-dasihin Pahlavi. It has, therefore, been our object to examine the evidence put forward in favour of the European standpoint of Yasna XII, 9, ( Spiegel's edition, Ys. t XIII, 28), which, it is assumed, contain under the word hvaetvadatha an allusion to next- of-kin mar- riages in question, In the Avesta the term huaelvadatha 'occurs in five passages only, each of which belongs to five different parts of the text, excepting the Gdlhds, namely, Yasna XII, 9; Visparad III, 3; Vendiddd VIII, 13; Yaxht XXIV, 17; and Gdh IV, 8 (Westergaara's edition). Of these, the idea expressed in Gdh IV is repeated or almost quoted in Visparad III, 3, and in YasJtt XXIV. So we have only to consider three references in the Yasna, the Gdh and the 'Ven<1iddd respectively, and to see to what extent they can be used to throw light on the meaning of hvaetvadatha. The word, as it stands in the Avesta, is employed as an epithet or a qualifying word. In one place it forms an epithet of the Avesta religion, in the second an attribute of a pious youth, in the third a qualification fora pious male or female, 229 Etymologically hvaetvadatha may be regarded as a compound word composed of hvaetu and datha, of which the first part may be compared with Skr. svayam, Lat. suus, Pahlavi khvish and Mod. Pers. kh'ish, which are derived from Av. hva, Skr. sva, Lat. sibi, and Eng. self. Hence it may originally mean "self," "one's self/' "one's own," "a relation," or " a kindred/' The second part dalha, which is equivalent to the Pahl. das, comes from the Av. root da " to give, '' " to make," t( to create;" dath being properly a reduplication peculiar to the Iranian dialect, from the Indo-Iranian root dd " to give," &c. Thus the derivation of the whole word itself might suggest for it a number of definitions. It may mean " a gift of one's self, or to one's self, or from one's self,' ; "a gift of one's own, or to one's own," "a gift of relationship or alliance," " a making of one's self," or " self -association," " self -dedica- tion," ft self-devotion," " self-sacrifice," &c. x These are some of the significations which may be indicated on the ground of etymology; however, it is hazardous to choose from them any particular notion without the authority of the native mean- ing. On applying to the Pahlavi translation of the A vesta to know the meaning attached to the word by early commentators, I am disappointed to find that it affords no more light than can be obtained from a mere Pahlavi trans- literation, kltvetiik-ddt or khvetuk-dasih, of the original Avesta expression hvaetvadatha. The reason for this striking omission of any definite interpretation in the Pahlavi version, may perhaps be that the technical meaning of the word was, even centuries after the compilation of the Avesta, a thing too * Compare Prof. Darmesfceter's remarks on the derivation of the word suggested by Dr. Geldner in his Ueber des Metrik den jungen'n Avesta (Etudes Jr&nieiies, Vol. II., p. 37) : "Parfois les etymologies de 1'auteur sont si ingenieuses qu 'on est peine d'etre force de les repousser ou clu nioins deles ajourner : le hcaetvadatho, le marriage entre parents, devient par la simple application d'une loi d'ecriture, hvaetu-vadatlia, c'est-a-dire que le inotsignifie- rait etymologiquement la chose qu'il designe en fait : mais, si tentante que soit IVtymologie pour un sanscritiste, comme I'acl existe en zend, et que par suite, s'il etait la, tradition qui connaissait le sens du mot entier n'avait aucune raison de le meconnaitre, la forme pehlvie du mot livaetult-datfh nous prouvera que le mot doit se deviser comme le divisent les manuscrits, en hi-actva-datha ceci rend trea douteuse 1'etymologie de M. Geldner, qui a d'ailleurs 1'inconve- nient d'etre trop logique et tiop ooatbrme au seus; les mots eout larement des definitions." 30 230 familiar to the native Zoroastrians to require any interpreta- tion ; or that the nature of the good work implied by hvaetva- datha was too doubtful in the minds of the old Iranian priests to be definitely and lucidly explained. Consequently, very little help can be obtained from the indigenous authority of the Pahlavi translation of those Avesta passages wherein the term hoaeU'aJatha occurs. For- tunately, however, there is no Jack of passages in Pahlavi, which, though sometimes very obscure and difficult, give us a meaning for the first member of the compound, viz., hcaetu, and which is kftish or kh'ishih, meaning "self," ''himself,'* 'one'd own" or "kindred," "relation/' ''individuality," &c. The Pahlavi meaning of "self" or "relation" is still preserved in the Mod. Pers. word ktfish, and accords best with the etymology and ihe context. Dr. F. Von Spiegel translates hvaetu by '* tier Vera-andie" (Yasna XXXII. 1, &c.) " the allied or relation," and remarks in note 7, page 125, of his German translation of the Avesta, that it denotes " the spiritual relation to Ahura Muz da, as though one feels himself almost in communion with Him. 1 " It is characteristic that in the GatluU the word hvaetu very often stands in connection with the terms verezenya 2 and airyamna, signifying '* an active labourer" fulfilling the desires of Mazda, and "joyful devotion" towards Him (XXXII, 1; XXX111,3,4;XLIX, 7;XLVI, ]; LIIF.4). The Gaiha XXXII, ] says: " Unto Him may the allied 3 aspire, his deeds coupled with devotion/' hi XXXI If, 3 and 4 Z.init!iuhtra speaks: (3) '* He is the best for the Righteous Lord, Ahura ! who having knowledge, becomes Thy ally, Thy active labourer and Thy true devotee, ar.d who firtluously fosters the cow ; ib is he who thinks himself to be in the servL-e-fk-lil of A. (Good Mind)." (4) " MazJa ! 1 C" mp. ZcitKJirijt dei- devtxr/wn tHorgvnlandtxcLcn. &08vU*f-hnft t Vl. XVII. (1803 . * Bemerkungen ilber eiuige btolleu des Avestc-," by F. von Spiegel, pp. 58^9. 8 Avoiding to Fahlavi, vereze-nya may menn "an active neighbour" of the Almighty. 8 The Eer. Dr. L. B. Mills, " A Study of the Gathas," p. 87.; (his) Lo^-d kinBraan." 231 I hate whosoever is disobedient and evil-minded towards Thee, disregardfnl of Thy ja*na while discharging liis moral or rdligbus duties. It is a gift to whioh he aspires every moment. Relying upon this meaning of Jivae'u 9 it is not d'fficnlt to assigu an iJe.-i to hvaelca Ldha, which will harmonize with the context and bs rec:mcilordiu* to the GiUhas, it can only be " the gift of com -minion" with tie Deity ; etymo'ogically, it tniyalso moan "self-wsociation," "self-dedication," &c. 1 In Gah IV, 8, the term 13 used as an appellation of pie^y, where the passage runs te I commend the youth of good thoughts, of goad words, of good deeds, of good faith, who is pious and a preceptor (lord) of piety; I praise the youth truth-speaking, virtuous 1 ShouLl we attach importance t f > the meaning in which the word is st m3. t'mes found employed in the later Iranian writings, still iQ^yftP khretiik' Jasih oould hardly denote " next-of-kin marriage." Only marriages between relations, whether near or distant, are therein referred to, 232 and a preceptor of virtue ; I praise the Iwaetvadatha youth ? who is righteous and a preceptor of righteousness." Here hvaefvadatha can very appropriately bear the idea of a most desirable attribute with which a pious youth might be gifted ia the moments of devotion, viz., " a communion with Ahura Mazda," or "self- dedication." Of the two remaining passages in Avesta, that in Fendiddd VIII is so difficult and obscure that almost all the European translators have failed to discern any definite sense in it. Even the Pahlavi does not help us here, because of the mere transliteration of the Avesta words. What is most important to be considered is Yasna XII. 9 (Sp. Ys. XIII, 28), a passage in which Prof. F. von Spiegel and several German savants who follow his opinion, seem to discover traces of the precept of consanguineous marriage, (vide Geiger, Ostirdnische Kulhtr, p. 246 ; Justi, Altbaktrisch, s. v. ; Noeldeke, Encyclopedia Britannica, Yol. XVIIL, s. v> Persia ; Geldner, Metrick, s. v.). I have already remarked upon this passage in the first volume of my English translation of Prof. Wm. Geiger's Ostirdnische Kultur im Alterthum (p. 66, note), and I beg to repeat that there is not the slightest indi- cation that the passage in question has any reference to conju- gal union of any kind ; but, on the contrary, the term hvaetva- datha agreeing with the noun daena " religion" in number, gender, and case, is evidently one of the epithets applied to the Afazday'asndn religion, and implies the virtue of that religion to offer the sacred medium of alliance with Ahura Mazda, or self- devotion towards Him. The Pahlavi Commentary plainly tells us that the manifestation of this gift of communion with the Peity on earth was due to Zoroastrism, while every stanza of the Gathas extols this highest and noblest ideal of the human spirit in the pious sentiments of Zarathushtra himself (cfr. Ys. XXVIII, 3, 4, 6, 7, etc.) I quote, and translate the passage ( Yasna XII, 9) literally as follows : 233 / K^' f< I extol the Mazda-worshipping religion, that is far from all doubt, that levels all disputes, * the sacred one, the gift of communion (with God); the greatest, the best, and the purest of all religions that have existed and will exist, which is (a manifestation) of Ahura and of Zarathushtra." Here it is impossible to conceive the idea of marriage be- tween nearest relations in a passage which glorifies the virtues of a religion. Happily, my own humble conviction has been supported, with reference to the Avesta, by Dr. E. W. West, a scholar whose high and unrivalled attainments in Pahlavi in the European world of letters, will ever be a matter of pride to every English Orientalist. In his essay on the "Meaning of Kh vet ilk -das," appended to Vol. XVIII of Prof. Max M tiller's edition of the " Sacred Books of the East " (pp. 389-430), the learned writer summarizes the result of his examination of all the passages referring to hvaetvadatha in the Avesta in the following manner (vide p. 42 7) : " The term does not occur at all in the oldest part of the Avesta, and when it is mentioned in the later portion it is noticed merely as a good work which is highly meritorious, without any allusion to its nature ; only one passage (Vendiddd, VIII, 13) indicating that both men and women can participate in it. So far, therefore, as can be ascertained from the extant fragments of the Avesta the only internal authority regarding the ancient practices of Mazda- worship the Parsis are per- fectly justified in believing that their religion did not originally sanction marriages between those who are next-of-kin." i Comp. S. B. B. Vol. XXXI., Dr. Mill's translation : " The Faith which has no faltering utterances the Faith that wields the felling halbert" (p. 250). 234 THE REFERENCES TO Khuetiik-ddt OR Khvetfik-dasih IN PAHLAVI. II T. In reference to the third proposition : Thai the Pah- lain passages translate.!, by a distinguished English Falilavi sacant, and suppose I 1o rrfer to such a custom, cannot be in" titrpretttd a; upholding fhe VIHJB that next-of-kin marriage wvr& recummmdeJ, therein ; and that a jew of th-t J\i.hlavi. whi'-li art alleged tt> contain actual rpfat-etices fo suth mzrrin.ci33,d.> not allude to social realities, lut o>,li/ to supernatural conccp'iom relating fo ihe creation of the first progenitors of mankind I tag to call your attention again to the exhaustive cssny on this subject by the English Pahlnviist, Dr. B. W. West, wh searasfcolrive raked the extensive field of Palilavi literature, and collected with laborious in luslry all the Pahlnvi postages bearing on tbo term khce'uk-danh. This learned scholar ex- presses the result of his patieut and useful research in the following words : "Unless the Parsis determine to reject the evidence of such P.ihlavi works as the Palil Y., Chap. II., 57, Gl) ; eight of them belong to the Dinkard, Bk. Ill, Chapters 80, 193, and 285, Bks. Vf, VII, and IX : Varshtmansar Nask, FaryarclXVUI, 27 ; Haydn 236 Nosh* Fd. XIV, 2, XXI, 9) ; eight to the Dddistdn-l-Dinik (Chaps. XXXVII, 82 ; LXIV, 6; LXY, 2 ; LXXVI, 4, 5; LXXVII, 6, 7; LXXVIII, 19) ; three to the Uainu i Khrat (Chaps. IV, 4 ; XXXVI, 7 ; XXXVII, 12) ; and one to the Pahlavi Ravdyet. It is needless to point out that of these thirty references more than twenty-two may be excluded from our inquiry, since, according to the result of Dr. WesVs own survey of them, it is admitted that " there is nothing in those passages to indicate the nature of the good work " meant by the word khvetuk- dasih (namely, Ys. XII. 9 ; Vsp. Ill, 3 ; Gdh. IV, 8; Vend. VIII, 13; Vishtdtp, r*.17; D/4.,Bk.,III, Chaps. 193, 285; Dk., Bk. VI ; Mamu-i-Kkrat, Chaps. IV, 4; XXXVI, 7; XXXVII, 12 ; and Bahman Yasht, II, 57, 61). Besides, the first five passages above-mentioned of the Dadistdu-i-Dinik contain, according to him, mere u allusions to the brother and sister," who were the first progenitors of mankind. As for the remaining three of the same book, he says, it is not certain that " the term is applied in them to the marriages between the nearest relatives." Con- sequently, we have to examine only nine passages out of thirty, viz., two of the Bagdn Nask, one of the Varshtmdtisar Nask, three of the Dtnkard, one of the Pahlavi gloss to Yasna XL1V, 4, one of the Pahlavi A rdd- Viraj, and one of the Pahlavi Ravdyet, which, from the standpoint of Dr. West, contain direct or in- direct traces of the practice of marriage between the next-of-kin. Before we set out to consider these nine references, it will be useful to know the extent to which the work of khvetuk-dasih whatever may be its nature or meaning is extolled or regarded as a righteous or meritorious action in the Pahlavi writings : In Chap. IV. of the Pahlavi Dind I Mdinu i Khrat, the reply to the question : " Which particular meritorious action is great and good?" is as follows: "The greatest meritorious action is liberality, and the second is truth and hhvetuk-dasih, the third is the Gdsdubdr, the fourth is celebrating all the religious rites, the fifth la 237 the worship of the sacred beings, and the providing of lodging for traders." Here klivetiik-dasih, in connection with liberality and truth, might imply some moral habit almost equal to them in degree of excellence. The Shdyast Ld-shdyast, Chap. VIII, 18, says : " Khvetiik- ddd extirpates sins which deserve capital punishments." Also it is said by Ahura Mazda elsewhere: "0 Zaratusht ! of all those thoughts, words, and deeds, which I would proclaim, the practice of khvetuk-daszh is the best to bejthought, performed, and uttered." The Bahman Yasht, which may be regarded as one of the oldest Pahlavi works written on the exegesis of the Avesta, gives us a clear idea of the term. This idea best harmonizes with our notion regarding the meaning of Ys. XII, 9. It says in Chap. IT, 57: "0 Creator! in that time of confusion" (i. e., after the conquest of Persia by the Arabs), " will there remain any people righteous ? Will there be religious persons who will preserve the kustl on their waist, and who will per- form the Yazishne rites by holding the Barsams ? And will the religion that is khvetiik-das, continue in their family? 7 ' A little further on it says: "The most perfectly righteous of the righteous will that person be who adheres or remains faithful to the good Mazdayasnan religion, whereby the reli- gion that is khvetuk-dasih will continue in his family." These two passages are supposed by Dr. West to be translations from the original Avesta text of the Yasht devoted to the archangel Voliu-mano (S. B. E,, Vol. V, Part I, p. 212, note). In a passage in the Shdyast Ld-shdyast (chap. XVIII, 4) y it is declared: "Whosoever approximates four times to the practice of khvetdk-ddd, will never be parted from Ahura Mazda and the Ameshaspends. I leave it to you, gentlemen, to say what signification ought to be attached to the word khvetiik-dasih from its connection with the moral and spiritual conceptions mentioned in the above citations. I need only assert that the moral excellence of khvetiik-dasih is parallel to truth and sanctity ; that its at tain- Si 238 ment, according to the Yasna and Bahman Yasht, is by the intermediary of the Zoroastrian religion of Ahura Mazda; and that the approximation to the condition of khtetuk-dasih is well nigh a participation in spiritual conference with the Almighty and the Ameshaspends or archangels. Consequent- ly, it is a pious and noble gift of which the Zoroastrian concep- tion must be purely moral, and not abominable as is the idea of marriage between the next-of-kin. Referring to the eight Pahlavi passages under inquiry, it is with some hesitation that I find myself differing from the literal English translation of two of them, viz., the 80th chapter in the third book of the Dinkard, and the twenty-first Fargard of the Bagdn Nask. The difficulties of interpreting the often highly enigmatic and ambiguous Pahlavi are multifarious' 1 , and one is often astonished at the totally different versions of one and the same obscure passage, suggested by scholars of known ability, so much so that they appear to be versions of two quite distinct passages having no connection whatever with each other. 1 Comp. S. B. E., Vol. V., Introduction, pp. XVI XVII. " The alphabet used in Pahlavi books contains only fourteen distinct letters, so that some letters represent several different sounds.; and this ambiguity is increased by the letters being joined together, when a compound of two letters is sometimes exactly like some other single letter. The complication arising from these ambiguities may be understood from the number of sounds, simple and compound, represented by each of the fourteen letters of the Pahlavi alphabet respectively : jt a, a, ha, kha.^j ba. pa, fa, va. V ta, da..(^cha, ja,za, va. * ra, la. - za. * sa, yi, yad, yag, yaj, di, dad, dag, daj, gi, gad, gag, gaj, ji, jad, jag, jaj (17 sounds). & sha, tha, ya, yah, yakh, ih, ikh, da, dah, dakh, ga, gab, gakh, ja, jah, jakh (16 sounds). ^ gha. t) ka, ga, i. m . > na, va, wa, u, 6, ra, la. 3 ya, i, e, da, ga, ja. . . . . There are, in fact, some compounds of two letters which have from ten to fifteen sounds in common use, besides others which might possibly oaour. If it be further considered that there are only three letters (which are also consonants as in most Semitic languages) to represent five long vowels, and that there are probably five short vowels to be understood, the difficulty of reading Pahlavi correctly may be readily imagined." 239 Accordingly, it is permissible to assume that the ambiguous passages adduced by Dr. West, as seeming to allude directly or indirectly to consanguineous marriage, will bear quite another meaning from a still closer research than the first efforts of the learned translator seem to have benefited by. I think, there- fore, it is as reasonable as appropriate to defer for the present any attempt on my part to give a definite translation of any of these extensive passages which are acknowledged by Dr. West himself to be obscure and difficult (S. B. E,, Yol. V., p. 389), contenting myself with giving briefly what remarks I have to make upon them. One of these obscure passages constitutes the eightieth chapter in the third book of the Dinkard. It is very extensive, and contains a long controversy between a Zoroastrian and a Jew, 1 concerning the propriety or impropriety of the doctrine of the Avesta as regards the creation of mankind, the different uses of the term khvetuk-daslh, &c. Herein it is difficult, owing to the confusion of different ideas as well as to the obscurity of the text, to distinguish the words of the Jew from those of the Zoroastrian. Any sentence that would seem to be a point in favour of the European view, may naturally be ascribed to the Zoroastrian as well as to the Jew. It is not, therefore, easy to determine whether it is the Zoroastrian or the Jew who advo- cates or condemns a particular position or custom. However the portions wherein both the Translators (Dastur Dr. Pesho- tanji and Dr. E. W. West) agree, show that the term khvetuk- dasih is technically applied in this passage to supernatural 1 The antagonism between the religious beliefs of the early Jews and those of the Mazdayasnians is well known to the Ttinkard, the Mainu i Khrat, the Shayatt La-shdyast, and the Shikand Gumdnllt Vizar. The MaJnu } Khrat records the destruction of Jerusalem by Kai Lohrasp and the predominance of the Zoroastrian faith therein. Tho Shik;and GumAnik Vizar points to. some inconsistencies in the Jewish belief regarding the birth of Messiah. Its Chapter, XV, 31, states : " And there are some even" (according to Dr. West's translation) " who say that the Messiah is the sacred being himself. Now this is strange, when the mighty sacred Being, the maintainer and cherisher of the two existences, became of human nature and went into the womb of a woman who was a Jew. To leave the lordly throne, the sky aud the earth, the celestial sphere and other similar objects of his management aud protection, he fell for concealment into a polluted and straitened placet 240 unions, what are called the khvetuk-dasili between the father and the daughter, the son and the mother, the brother and the sister. We know that "in the Avesta, Spentd Armaiti (Pahl. Spenddrmat) is the female archangel, and as Ahura Mazda is called the Creator and Father of all archangels, Spenddrmat is, therefore, called His daughter. Now, Spenddrmat is believed to be the angel of the earth; and since from the earth God has created the first human being, Spenddrmat, in the later Pahlavi writings, is alleged to have been spiritually associated with the Creator for such a mighty procreation as that of Gayomard, the first man according to Iranian cosmogony. Thus this supposed supernatural union passed into an ideal conception, and technically denoted what is called "the khvetuk-dasih between the Father and the daughter." Again, it is said that the seed of Gayomard fell into the mother-earth by whom he was begotten. So Mashiah and Mashianeh were called the offspring of that union between Gayomard and Spendarmat, or of "-the kJivetuk-dasth between the son and the mother"; and since the first human pair was formed of brother and sister, viz., Mashiah and Mashianeh, their union, which was an act in consonance with the Divine Will, came to denote " the khvettik- daslh between the brother and the sister." This idea of khvetuk- dasih, it must be remembered, is a later development of the abstract and religious notion of a direct spiritual alliance with the Deity, or of self-devotion. The term was afterwards applied to the unions of the first progenitors of mankind, which were believed to have been brought about by the operation of the Creator Himself. In creating man endowed with the knowledge of His Will, it was the Creator's design to raise up an opposi- tion against the morally evil influence of Ahriman on earth. Accordingly, wherever the khvelttk-dasth between the father and the daughter, the son and the mother, the brother and the sister, are referred to in the later Pahlavi writings, they do not imply any commendation of such unions among ordinary men, but only among the first human beings to whom they were naturally confined, to produce a uniform and pure race of mankind without any promiscuous blending with irrational 241 Creatures or animals. What are called tlie Jshuetuk-dasih be- tween the father and the daughter, the son and the mother, the brother and the sister, are, therefore, expressly the supernatural association between Ahura Mazda and Spenddrmat, between Gayomard and Spenddrmat^ and the union between Mashiah and Mashidneh. Now, as to the signification of the word Jchvetiik-das, the transition from meaning the gift of communion with the Almighty and with the supernatural powers, to meaning the gift of moral union between the human sexes or among mankind generally, is an easy and a natural step. Such an idea of a bond of union in a tribe, race, or family, is suggested by the writer of this eightieth chapter of the Dinkard in question. Notwithstanding, it is in the first passage and in the thirteenth that the English translator seems to have discovered a definite reference to consan- guineous marriages. I may, therefore, be allowed to put forward in this place my own interpretation of these paras., to show that it is not next-of-kin marriages that they in any way recom- mend, but only moral or social union in a tribe, race, family, or near relations ; and that the thirteenth passage explicitly con- demns incestuous marriages as unlawful practices indulged in by lewd people. My version of the passages is as follows : " Khvetuk-dasth means a gift of communion. Thus honour is obtained, and the union of power acquired by adherents, rela- tives, or fellow-creatures, through prayers to the Holy Self-exist- ent One. In the treatise on human relationship, it is the (moral) union between the sexes in preparation for, and in continuity to the time of the resurrection. In order that this union might proceed more completely for ever, it should subsist between the innumerable kindred tribes, between adherents or co-religionists, between those who are nearly or closely connected." What follows describes the application of the term to the three kinds of supernatural unions which were necessary for the procreation of a kindred human pair in this world. The passage says : " There were three kinds of hampatvandih ' co-relation/ for example, between the Father (the Deity) and the daughter 242 (Spenddrmat) ; between the son (Gayomard) and the mother (Spendarmat) ; between the brother (Mashiah) and the sister (Mashyaneh). These I regard as the most primitive on the basis of an obscure exposition by a high-priest of the good reli- gion." The succeeding statement gives again a clear explanation regarding the propriety of such unions in the creation of mankind. The thirteenth passage of the same chapter of the Dinkard says : " If a son be born of a son and a mother, he (the begetter) would be reckoned the brother as well as the father ; that would be illegal and incestuous ( -^ jeh). If so, such a person has no part in the prayers (of the Deity) and in the joys (of Paradise) ; he produces harm, and does thereby no benefit ; he is extremely vicious and is not of a good aspect." (Of. Dastur Peshotanji's Translation of the Dinkard, Vol. II, p. 97.) It must also be observed that the allusion in this same passage to an Amman or an inhabitant of Asia Minor, somewhat strengthens the opinion of the translator of the Dinkard as to the advocacy of the Jew himself for the marriage with a daughter, sister, &c. Dr. West admits that, in the portion where anything like " conjugal love " is meant, " marriages between first cousins appear to be referred to" (p. 410). The passage runs as follows: if There are three kinds of aifection between the offspring of brothers and sisters" (see Dr. West's rendering, p. 404) "one is this, where it is the offspring of brother and brother ; one is this, where the offspring is that of brothers and their sisters; and one is this, where it is the offspring of sisters/' It is only to this passage, or to the period when it may have been composed, that we can ascribe the development of the idea of marriage relationship between cousins attached to the term "khveihk-dasih under the erroneous interpretation of its ambi- guous paraphrase khvish-deheshnih, which occurs in it. Here the term implies the different degrees of union first, between supernatural powers and the Deity ; next, between supernatural 243 powers and mankind ; then, between the first man and woman, hence the bond of moral or social union in a tribe, race, or family. The later interpretation, however, confines, as is expressly indicated in the Persian Ravdyets, love or marriage union among mankind only to such of the cousins as are described in the quotation mentioned in the precedig para. The idea of khvetuk-ddd, denoting an act of forming relation- ship between cousins, has rarely been expressed again in the subsequent Pahlavi writings, nevertheless it has been preserved in the later Persian Ravdyets by Kdmah Behreh, Kdus Kdmah , and Narimdn Hiishang. Now, regarding the passage in the earlier part of the fourteenth Fargard of the Bagdn Nask, it may well be remark- ed that the khvetiik-dasih of Spenddrmat and Ahum Mazda here referred to is again, according to Dr. West's translation, an allusion to the communion of two spiritual powers for the creation of man, and not an indication of marriage between a father and a daughter. Dr. West, likewise, observes (p. 196) : " This quotation merely shows that khvetiik-das referred to connection between near relations, but whether the subsequent allusions to the daughterhood of Spenddrmat had reference to the khvetuk-daa of father and daughter is less certain than in the case of the Pahlavi Yasna, XLIV, 4. " The same might also be said concerning the passage from the seventh book of the Dinkard, mentioned at page 412, * where we are informed, as Dr. West remarks only about the khvetiik-dasth of Mashiah and Mashianeh. Likewise, concerning the passage inserted irrelevantly in the Pahlavi Commentary to stanza 4, Yasna, Chapter XLIV, which refers to the fatherhood of Ahiira Mazda and to the daughterhood of Spenddrmat. The passage is rendered by Dr. West (p. 393) thus: " Thus I proclaim in the word that [which he who is Auhar- mazd made his own] best [Khvetuh-das]. By the aid of right- eousness Auharmazd is aware who created this one [to perform i Vide S. B. E. Vol. XVIH. 244 Khvetuk-das], And through fatherhood (of Auharmazd) Vohu- man (referring to Gayomard) was cultivated by him, [that is, for the sake of the proper nurture of the creatures, Khvetuk- das was performed by him]. So she who is his (Auharmazd's) daughter is acting well, [who is the fully-minded] Spendarmat, [thafc is, she did not shrink from the act of Khvettik-das~\ . She was not deceived, [that is, she did not shrink from the act of Khvetuk-das, because she is] an observer of every thing [as regards that which is Auharmazd's, [that is, through the religion of Auharmazd she attains to all duty and law]." From this quotation it is easy to see that here the reference is plainly to the particular supernatural khvetdk-dasth of Ahura Mazda and 8pffftddrmai 9 and not to any practice of consangui- neous marriage among the old Iranians. The passage in the latter part of the eighteenth Fargard of the Varsht-mdnsar Nask, evidently describes, as the heading, madam sideishno frashokaHo zimdn, actually indicates, the nature of the resurrection of the first parents of mankind, viz., Mashiah and Mashianeh, their birth and union after the entire annihilation of evil, and the renovation and the reformation of the human world. In reference to the passage in the Pahlavi Eavdyet, however, it may be suggested that the Pahlavi expression khvetiik-dasih levatmin lordar va bentman vabiduntan, as used in a couple of sentences, might well denote the exercise of the gift of coai- munion with the Almighty, or self-devotion, in association with one's mother, daughter, or sister ; in a word, it must have been considered as highly commendable and meritorious that a whole Zoroastrian household should be given to devotion or pious resignation to the Will of the Supreme Lord of the Zoroastrian religion. There now remain two passages which claim our particular attention. One of these belongs to the book of the Ardd Virdf, another to the Dinkard in the twenty-first Fargard of the 245 Bagdn ffiasJc. The passage in Viraf in which European scholars discover the alleged practice of marriage between brothers and sisters, runs as follows : <' Viraf had seven sisters, and all these seven sisters were like a wife unto Viraf " 1 They spoke thus : " Do nob this thing, ye Mazdayasna, for we are seven sisters and he is an only brother, and we are all seven sisters like a wife unto that brother." Here arises an important question, whether it is possible to conclude hence that those seven sisters were actually married to Viraf, or that they were merely dependent upon him for their sus- tenance, just as a wife is dependent upon her husband. It is, indeed, characteristic that the sisters do not call Viraf their husband, but their brother, and they further regret that the disappearance of their brother from this life should deprive them of their only support in this world. Again, the Pahlavi word KJ& chigun, " like, " implies a condition similar to that of a wife and not the actual c ondition of a wife. Such an expres- sion of similarity was quite unnecessary, if those sisters were actually the wives of Viraf. On the other hand, there is a difference in the words of the two oldest texts from which all subsequent copies were transcribed. A copy which is preserved in the collection of Dr. Hang's MSS-, and dated Samvat 1466, has quite a different word, zandn, ''wives " in, the place of aklitman, "sister." If we should accept the former word, the meaning would be (t Viraf had seven wives, who were all sisters. " By-the-bye it is difficult to conceive how Viraf, one of the most pious men of his day, should have been so luxurious or licentious as to take as his wives all his seven sisters, an in stance altogether unparalleled in the whole history of Ancient Persia. The passage in question, I believe, expressly points to an instance of the dependent condition of women nofc unknown to the Zoroastrian community, of unmarried sisters or daughters being wholly supported in life by parents, a brother, or even a brother-in-law. It rather represents an extreme case of rigid seclusion on the part of Viraf and his austere exereig of acts of piety, devotion, and self-denial, 33 246 The next passage which is assumed by the English translator to be a reference to the marriage of a father and a daughter and "too clear/' according to him, " to admit of mistake, though the term khvetuk-das is not mentioned, " is cited from the middle of the Vahishtok Yasht Fargard of the Pagan Nask. The contents of this Fargard are summarized in a Pahlavi version of it, and found about the end of the Dinleard. Regarding this ambiguous citation, it may be observed that it admits of more than two significations, the choice between which is made to suit the particular construction and interpretation adopted by the translator. Generally speaking, this twenty- first Fargard of the Bagdn N'ask seems to esteem, among other acts of religious credit, the exaltedness of a modest attitude of respect, which a woman observes towards her father or husband. " Tarsgasih ben abltar va shoe " is an expression which de- notes, literally, " awful respect to one's father or husband, "and is a special point of female morals frequently urged in the say- ings of the ancient Iranian sages or high priests. The same idea appears to have been inculcated by this passage of the BagdnNask, which, if rendered accordingly, would put forward a meaning quite different from the"one expressed by Dr. West, whose version of the Pahlavi text runs as follows (p. 397): " And this, too, that a daughter is given in marriage to a father, even so as a woman to another man, by him who teaches the daughter and the other woman the reverence due unto father and husband. " According to my humble interpretation, the passage would convey quite a different idea. I translate the passage thus : " And this, likewise (is a virtuous act), that a woman fays respect to another man (or stranger), just as it is paid by a daughter to her father, in her womanhood or married condition, through him who teaches his own daughter or any other woman respect towards one's father or husband. " Here we have a religious position ascribed to a person who inculcates on women a modest and respectful behaviour to- wards male strangers and nearest male relations. This pas- 247 sage does not expressly imply any notion of marriage ; on the contrary, ifc points to modest reverence which in every Oriental community is due from a woman to a male stranger, from a wife to her husband, or from a daughter to her father, &c. Even if we should accept the interpretation of Dr. West as one might be constrained to do by the ambiguity, obscurity, or erroneous transcription of the original text of all the Pahlavi passages under inquiry still it would be difficult to prove that next-of-kin marriages were actually practised in Iran even "in the later years of the Sasanian monarchy." His state- ment only indicates that incestuous marriages were merely advocated 1 by one or more Pahlavi writers on account of their misapprehension of the A vesta tenets, and also " with very little success." Finally, in support of tlie view that even the genuine Pahlavi writings d.o not proclaim as meritorious a practice which in tlxe eye of reason and culture is highly discreditable, I may be allowed to adduce a passage from the seventh book of the Dinkard, on the supernatural manifestations of Zoroaster's spiritual powers. This passage expressly ascribes to the Mazdakian followers the vicious practice of promiscuous inter- course between the sexes, denouncing those who indulged in it as of the nature of wolves or obnoxious creatures. In the divine revelation communicated to the prophet Zarathushtra. by Ahura Mazda, and recorded as such in the Dinkard, about the changes and events which were to happen during the mik lenniums that followed the age of Zoroaster, there is one which predicts as a calamity to befall the religious welfare of the early SAsanian period, the birth of Mazdak in this world, the abominable influence of his creed and the consequent beastly condition of his imbecile adherents, The passage in question may ba rendered as follows; ( (( Ahura Mazda spoke") : *' And again of the adversaries of the Mazdayasndn religion, and of the disturbers of piety, the 1 This may well be ascribed to the ignorance or erroneous notions of the subsequent Pahlavi copyists. 248 AharmSg ( Mazdak) and they who will be called also Maz- dakians will declare one's offspring as fit for mutual intercourse, that is, they will announce intercourse with mothers, and they will be called wolves, since they will act like wolves, they will proceed according to their lustful desire just as one born of the wolf does with its daughter or mother, and they will also practice intercourse with their mothers, their women will live like sheep or goats. *' This revelation plainly indicates how abhorrent the practice of promiscuous intercourse between the sexes, was to the idea of the early Zoroastrians, and that it was to be expressly the teaching of a heretic who was to rise for the annihila- tion of the social morality of the Sasanian Iran, and lo preach to the imbecile monarch K6bad I. what, according to the Ahuramazdian revelation, was believed to be the detestable doctrine of sexual intercourse between the next-of-kin,. Such was not the creed of the primitive Zoroastrism, but of its opponents and enemies, of Mazdak and his immoral beastly followers. THE NOBLE IDEA OF THE MARRIAGE EELATIONSHIF IN THE AVESTA. IV. Finally, in support of the theory that the Avesta comprehends a purer and nobler idea of the marriage-relation- ship, no better proof could be adduced than a stanza in the Gathas, wherein, according to Dr. Wm. Geiger, the bond of marriage is regarded " as an intimate union founded on love and piety. " This stanzia must have formed part of the marriage-formula which seems to have been recited by Zoroa- ster on the occasion of the celebration of the marriage between the Prophet's daughter Pouruchishtd and Jdmdspd 1 : i The Pahlavi Commentary to stanza 4 of the Yasna, chap. LIU., says : Avash i-almanich ae ab& rdi rastryiishdn kdri [aigJi Jtate-Jthfiddeih r&i] aednnich avd nafshman [ash tanpavan ntshmanih bard yehaMnishn/)~], aharubfi [P6i-uchitit6~] avo ralman iaJiarfibo [_Jdm&sp6] yehabun. 249 " Admonishing words I say unto the marrying maiden, " And to you (the youth), I who know you. Listen to them, " And learn to know through the laws of religion the life of a good mind ; "In piety you shall both seek to win the love of each other, only thus will it lead you to joy ! " (Yasna LIIL, 5 ; * vide rny " Civilization of the Eastern Iranians, " Yol. L, p. 62.) Although the Avesta text, of which the larger portion is destroyed or lost, is a scanty collection of fragments in its present condition, still there is no lack of references which show us that the custom of contracting marriages amongst the Iranians in the age of the Avesta, cannot at all be reconciled with any theory of incestuous wedlock. The expression moshu-jaidhyamna, " courting or solicitation, " direct or indirect, for the hand of a maiden, and its root vadh or vaz, fl to convey or take home the wife " (ducere puellam in mairimonium], presuppose that intermarriage between differ- ent families or citizens was not unknown to the Avesta- nation. The idea of conveying a bride to the house of the bridegroom, which is implied in the Av. root vadh (signifying in the Zend-Avesta " to marry"), implicitly contradicts the notion of several European scholars that the Avesta people were fond of marrying in their own family only, and with their nearest relations. Besides, the moral position of the wife in the Iranian household, was in no way inferior to that of an English mater familias. Similar as she was in rank to her hus- band, her chastity was an ornament to the house, and her piety and participation in private and public ceremonies a blessing. Moreover, the prayer of an Iranian maiden imploring the Yazata Vayu for a husband, does not at all allude to any desire for marrying a next-of-kin relation, but simply an Iranian youth who may be valiant, wise, and learned : 1 The last verse is translated by Dr. Mills : " (And to you, bride and bridegroom), let each one the other in Righteousness cherish; thus alone unto each shall the home-life be happy." (Vide S. B. E., Vol. XXXI., p. 192.) 250 "Grant us this grace, that we may obtain a husband, a youthful one, one of surpassing beauty, who may procure us sustenance as long as we have to live with each other ; and who will beget of us offspring ; a wise, learned, and ready- tongued husband " (vide my C. E. Iranians, p. 61 ; Yt. XV, 40). Further, there is no trace of consanguinity in Vendiddd, chap. XIV., where one of the meritorious acts of a Zoroastrian priest or layman, is to give his daughter in marriage to any pious Mazdayasna. It is characteristic that wherever the subject of marriage is alluded to in the A vesta the word hvaetvadatha is never mentioned. It is also to be remembered that Zarathushtra having six children born to him, three sons and three daughters, did not think of marrying his own son with his own daughter, nor did he ever take his own mother or one of his own daughters to wife. If it was actually the creed of the Prophet, Zoroaster ought to have realized it first of all in his own family and among his primitive supporters. The question as regards the existence of the practice of consanguineous marriages in ancient Iran, will not, I hope, create a difficulty for any longer time. Not only has the meagre testimony upon it of Greek and Roman historians been shown to be unreliable and erroneous, but also the attempt to trace it to the old Iranian Sacred Books, viz., the Zend-Avesta, has entirely failed. So long as no cogent proofs are brought to bear on the ques- tion, sufficient to convince a student of Iranian antiquities or religion, I shall be content with the arguments or remarks I have been able to put forward on the other side, repeating at the conclusion of this paper the convictions with which I set out, viz. : I. That the slight authority of some isolated passages gleaned from the pages of Greek and Roman literature, is wholly insufficient to support the odious charge made against the old Iranians of practising consanguineous marriages in their most objectionable forms. 251 II. That no trace, hint, or suggestion of a custom of next-of-kin marriage can be pointed out in the A vesta or in its Pahlavi Version. III. That the Pahlavi passages translated by a distin- guished English Pahlavi savant, and supposed to refer to such a custom, cannot be interpreted as upholding the view that consanguineous marriages were expressly recommended therein That a few of the Pahlavi passages, which are alleged to contain actual references to such marriages, do not allude to social realities but to supernatural conceptions relating to the creation, and to the first progenitors of mankind. IY. That the words of our Prophet himself, which are preserved in one of the stanzas of the Gatha, chap. LIJL, express a highly moral ideal of the marriage-relationship. THE PRESIDENT'S OPINION.* The Honourable Sir Eaymond West/ in proposing a vote of thanks to the lecturer, said : You will all agree with me that the paper that has been just read is a very important one, and we are very much indebted to Mr. Sanjana for reading it and adding so much to the treasures of the Society. I hope it will be ranked amongst the papers which deserve to be printed and enshrined in our records. There is a special appropriate- ness in a Parsee priest bringing forward the subject which affected the honour and credit of his race and religion, and I can scarcely imagine that the work could have been done with better spirit, greater clearness, and better appreciation of the historical and scientific evidentiary method in which to go to work upon a task of that particular kind. * [Extract from the Proceedings of the Bombay Branch Royal Asiatci Society for the month of April 1887.] There were present on the occasion : Sir Jamshedji Jijibhai, Bart., C.S.I., Mr. Justice Jardine, Mr. C. E. Fox, Mr. Kharshedji Fardunji Parakh, Mr. Sorabji Shapurji Bengali, C.I.E., Sir Jehangir Kavasji Jehangir Eeadymoney, Dr. J. G. da Cunha, Mr. Khar shedji Rustomji Cama, Mr. Jamshedji Bahmanji Wadia, Surgeon Steele, Dr. Atmaram Pandurang, Dr de Monte, Mr. Jamshedji Kharshedji Jamshedji, Segnior 0. S. Pedraza, Mr. Javerilal Umiashankar Yajnik, and others. 1 He is now Vice-President of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. 252 I cannot pretend to the knowledge of Zend and Pahlavi tnafc would enable me to discuss with any profit the proper sense of the much- debated expression on which Mr, Sanjana has expend- ed such close and searching Criticism. I will but offer a few- remarks on the general aspects of the question which he has handled with so much learning and zeal. It is evident, on a reference to Herodotus, who is the only one of the Greek writers quoted to whom I have been able to make a direct reference, but equally evident from the, no doubt, correct quotations from, the other Greek authors, that they wrote rather from loose popular stories, and with a view to satisfy their reader's taste for the marvellous than from a thorough and critical examina- tion of the subject of consanguineous marriages as one of mo* mentous importance. Herodotus has been confirmed in so many instances in which it seemed most unlikely that he has gained, and well deserves just confidence whenever he relates anything as within his per- sonal knowledge ; but of the subject of King Cambyses' mar- riage, he must needs have gathered his information at second- hand. The other Greek writers hardly prof ess to do more than retail their stories out of a stock gathered with industry no doubt, but entirely without the control of the critical spirit which in modern times we have learned to consider so indispen- sable. Ctesias, who must have known a great deal about Persia and its people, from original observation, has told so many un- doubted falsehoods that his evidence is unworthy of credit on any contested point. The first sources of European informa- tion on the subject before us are thus remarkably unsatisfactory, yet it is to be feared that it is with impressions derived from these sources that the Western scholars have approached the Parsee literature. So influenced they may very naturally have construed the mysterious and rare phrases supposed to involve a sanction of incestuous unions, in a frame of mind which had led to illusions such as the Dastur has insisted on and striven to dispel. One would gather from the narrative in Herodotus that the marriage of Cambyses was of a kind to startle and shock the 253 sensibilities of his people else why reconnt it ? That would indicate very probably the survival in the popular legends, drawn from a pre-historic time, of some ancient tale of wrong which the popular fancy was pleased to annex to a king who had played so great a part and had so terrible a history as Catnbyses. In almost every country one may observe a ten- dency, when some ruler or chir-f has taken a strong hold of the popular imagination, to tack on to his biography any floating legend that wants a personal centre that story-tellers and readers can clothe with a certain reality. In England the group of legends that gathers round the British hero, King Arthur, affords an illustration of this. Some scholars have assigned a similar origin to the stories of Achilles and Odysseus in the two great poems commonly ascribed to Homer. At a later time many stray legends went to add to the glory of Robin. Hood, and in Ireland still unowned achievements of daring and ferocity are commonly assigned to Cromwell. In Eastern countries the sovereign and the royal family are looked on- and still more were looked on as standing so entirely apart from the common people, that any tale of wonder or horror would almost inevitably be connected with them. They really do RO many things exceeding ordinary experience, that listeners of uncritical character, not knowing where to draw the line, would accept without question statements of other things quite uncredible or even unnatural. It must be admitted, too, that these Eastern monarchs and royal families might easily learn in ancient times, as they have in modern times, to think there was 'something sacred about their persons which made ordinary offences no sins in them. A course of adulation and superiority to legal coercion readily breed a contempt of moral restraints. It commonly produces an inor- dinate pride. "We might thus have a Persian prince indulging in unions like the king of Egypt and the Incas of Peru, which would, after all, be only in them the practice, or the casual excesses, of tyrants besotted with despotic power. Germany in the last century was full of royal foulness, which yet stood quite apart from the general life of the people. Unbridled lust dis* 254 turbsthe reason almost more than any other passion. History abounds in instances of it, and if Persian despots and their children were sometimes incestuous in their moral delirium, we should not be justified in reasoning from such instances to any custom of the people. The stories rather imply that these excesses were startling, and probably revolting, as were the tales at one time current about James the Sixth of Scotland and First of England. If one applies to the narratives of the Greek writers, the tests by which one would pronounce on the guilt or innocence of an accused, it may, I think, safely be said the evidence is insufficient. It would then surely be wrong to convict an otherwise highly moral na'ion, endowed with fine sensibilities, of a revolting practice, on the testimony on which one ivould not condemn a pick-pocket. It is very likely, indeed, that the ancient Persians, like other nations, before their emergence from the savage state, looked without disfavour on connexions that we now cannot think of without a shudder. The prevalence of family polyandry is as well authenticated as any fact in Anthropology. The ancient Britons had one or more wives for a group of brothers, so had the Spartans. A similar arrangement prevails among some of the Himalayan tribes, and traces of it are to be found in the Hindu law literature. The children in such cases are formally attributed to the eldest brother. A communal system, under which all the females were common to the tribe, seems in many cases to have preceded the family polyandry on the arrange- ments that we may see still amongst the Nairs. Where such a system prevailed it would very often be impossible to say whether a young woman about to be taken by a young man was or was not his sister. If she had been borne of a different mother, she could not be more than his half-sister, and as civilization advanced and the family was founded on the basis of single known paternity, the half-sister in Greece continued to be regarded as a proper spouse for her half-brothers. 255 A marriage of such persons farthered the policy of the Greek statesmen by keeping the family estates together. Amongst the Jews also, who, as we know, recognized the levirate which the Hindus first commanded and afterwards condemned, union with a half-sister by a different mother must have been recog- nized as allowable, at any rate by dispensation from the chief in David's time. This is evident from the story of Amnon and Tarnar ; and we may gather that the practice had once been common. In the Polynesian Islands there are tribes of which all the women are common to all the men of other particular tribes. When the children, as commonly, take their classifica- tion from the mother, it is obvious that consanguineous unions must be frequent. They seem even to be regarded in some cases as connected with religious needs, since at certain festivals all restraints on licentiousness are cast aside even amongst males and females of the same family who do not ordinarily even speak to each other. There seems to be everywhere tendency to connect sexual anomalies with the mysteries of religion, and with persons of extraordinary national importance. The account given of the parentage of Moses, if taken literally, makes him the offspring of a nephew and an aunt. Beings who are so highly exalted are supposed to be quite beyond the ordinary standard. Both these sources of legends may have been in operation in ancient Persia, as it was known, and but superficially known to the Greeks. There too, no doubt, as elsewhere, the transi- tion from female to male gentileship was attended with a period of great confusion. A similar change took place, it seems, amongst the Hindus at a very early time ; and in Greece Orostes is almost inclined to insist that he was not related to his own mother. As one set of relationships took the place of another, many apparently strange connections would be formed which yet would not really be incestuous when properly under- stood. Language would adapt itself, as we see in fact it did, but imperfectly, to the change of the family system. The Greeks probably knew Persian very imperfectly. In this 256 country the young civilian is continually puzzled by finding words of relationship received in a much wider sense than their usual English equivalents, and the Greeks may well have found equal difficulty in catching the precise sense of Persian terms of relationship in the tales that were told to them. Their own system would make them take some narratives as quite rational, which to us are revolting ; in other cases the strange- ness of the story told of a king or prince would prevent a critical examination of the terms employed. It would be welcome just in proportion, as it was outrageous. It seems likely that such considerations as these may not have been allowed due weight by European scholars in their interpretation of the few passages in which an ambiguous phrase seems to countenance the notion that incest is recom- mended. I venture to suggest, as I have been able to do in iny conversation with my learned friend, Mr. Sanjana, that a sense akin to that of svyamdatna, in Sanskrit an idea of self-devotion, varying according to the context in its precise intention would satisfy the exigencies of all or uearlv all the doubtful passages. This, however, is no more than a speculation : I cannot judge its worth. I can only thank Mr. Sanjana on behalf of the Society, and most sincerely, for the very valuable addition he has contributed to our transactions. I trust it will form a new starting-point in history and criticism by the view it presents to European scholars. OPINIONS- *' I have examined your translation of Dr. Geiger's 'Zaratnustitra in den Gathas ' in the specimens sent me. In a few passages in order to attain an easier style you have given a free rendering of the original German ; but so far as my examination has gone you have caught both the meaning and the spirit of the original throughout and have succeeded in reproducing in excellent readable English this learned German thesis on a subject of admitted difficulty. You deserve to be congratulated on the success with which you have accomplished your difficult task," -The Rev. Dr. D. Mackiclmn. " Having been favoured with an inspection of the proof-sheets of your ^ translation of Professor Geiger's Essay on " Zarathushtra in the Gathas," I have much pleasure in expressing the satisfaction I have felt in the perusal of so carefully written and so scholarly a work. It deals with n subject of greatest importance to the Parsi community, and one on which many Europeans in this country will be glad to obtain precise information in a well-arranged form. It will be evident that the Essay of Professor Geiger is of special excellence and displays much originality of thought, and it may indeed be called the first serious attempt to treat the theology of the Gathas with really scientific exactitude. Your rendering of the often difficult German text is a task of great merit. I have read the tanslation with great pleasure, and can cordially recommend it to the perusal of all Parsis desirous to get a deeper insight into the many excellent and lofty doctrines expounded in the most ancient of. their sacred books." The Rev. Dr. Alois Fuhrer, " I have already read over the greater part of your version, and find it- remarkably well done. That a Parsi priest should succeed so well in rendering a German scientific work into idiomatic English, is truly a most creditable fact for the Mazdean Community of Bombay. I read with particular interest your own notes and additions, most of which are deserving of very careful consideration from European (avants. I hope soon to see the continuation of your very important work, besides many other original productions which will be of value for the promotion of Avestic and Pehlevi studies in India and in England. Meanwhile let me eincerely congratulate you on what j'ou have already so brilliantly achieved." The Rev, Dr. L, C. Casartetli* 11 OPINIONS. 11 1 should have thanked you before now for the very handsome and interesting volume, the fruits of your meritorious industry, which you were kind enough to send me last week. ***** A full exhibition of the details and most characteristic developments of any one of the religious systems which have helped to form the character and shape the destinies of men possesses an abiding interest which is felt even by those who do not exactly regard the revival or purification of the existing historical religions as an indispensable condition of future progress. But undoubtedly whatever makes these religions more rational, and therefore more truly spiritual, is matter for congratulation This, I think, your labours will help to effect, and I greatly hope they may be appreciated by your countrymen." Dr. Wm. Wordsworth. Do The Secretary to the SIR JAMSHETJI J. ZARTOSHTI MADRESSA. SIR, I have the honour to inform you that according to your request I examined Mr. Darab Dastur Peshotan Sanjana in the German language. The book which he had read for this purpose was " Goethe's Wander- jahre." Goethe, as you are well aware of, is one of the most difficult of the German classical writers. But in spite of the difficulties presenting themselves to a beginner, Mr. Sanjana translated several passages with great skill and knowledge into idiomatic English i, I then tried him in other passages out of the works of the same author Prose as well as Poetry, and to my astonishment he distinguished himself also there. After a short time of meditation about the passage proposed he gave a true and sensible translation. Mr. Sanjana is certainly to be congratulated updn the remarkable progress he made in the course of three years by his great diligence joined with natural talent for languages. Yours, <&c., E. USTERI, S. J. " \Ve have to thank the translator for an excellent version of a most, interesting book. Dr. Geiger has devoted much earnest labour to the investigation of the history and religion of the primitive Zoroastrians. Indeed, there are few more interesting histories than that which belongs to the development of the Zoroastrian faith among the early inhabitants of Eastern Iran. The translator has done his work admirably, express- ing the German original in singularly clear, terse, and idiomatic Eng- lish. He has also added some very valuable notes." Guardian. "A considerable contribution to Oriental study." Scotsman, OPINIONS. Ill " Dr. Wilhelm Geiger's extensive and careful researches into the reli- gion and life of the primitive Zoroastrians have excited much interest throughout Europe, and his great work is well known to all who are occupied in kindred studies. Those who cannot read German easily will now be able to read a good English translation, which is doubly valuable from the fact of the writer being a Parsee, and therefore naturally understanding and sympathising with the subject and being able occa- sionally to correct errors of the author. The translation will be valuable even to those who possess the work in the original German." Westminster Review. "A German scientific work translated into English by a Parsi priest is a novelty in literature ; and when to this is added the fact that the original work is the best and most complete that has been written on the subjects of which it treats, and that the translation is as good as can be expected from any Englishman, it may safely be recommended as a book well worth perusal by any one who wishes to learn all that can be really ascertained from the Avesta texts about the manners and customs of the ancient Zoroastrians. A short bub comprehensive essay on the religion of the Avesta, its sacred beings and demonology, has been contributed by Dr. Geiger as an introduction to the English translation, and forma by no means the least interesting part of the work." Dr. !. W, West in the ' Academy. 1 " It is a pleasure, in passing, to refer to the debt of gratitude which Eranian scholars owe both to the High- Priest (Dastur Dr. Peshotan) himself for his various editions of hitherto inaccessible Pehlevi texts, and to his accomplished son Darab Dastur, for the really excellent English versions and editions of the German writings of Spiegel and Geiger, on Avestic subjects, particularly his handsome translation of the latter's Civilization of the Eastern Irdnians in Ancient Times, of which the second volume has just appeared." The Babylonian and Oriental Record* [Extracted from the Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland.] KARNAME-I AETAKHSHIR-I PAPAK^N; the Pahlavi Text, with trans- literation, English and Gujarati translations and introductions ; also an appendix, including extracts from the Shah-nameh. By DARAB DASTDR PESHOTAN SANJANA. 8vo, pp. 269. (Bornbav 1896.) This historical romance was first translated into Gujarati by the learned father of its present editor ; his translation was published at Bombay in 1853, and has now been so thoroughly revised as to be practically rewritten. The Pahlavi text was also translated into Ger- man bj Professor Koldeke, from copies of the same MSS., and this IV" OPINIONS. translation was published at Gottingen in 1878. i But the original text is now printed for the firsb time, with transliteration, translations, and corresponding passages from the Shah-nameh, specially for the use of College students in Bombay, and also for Pahlavi scholars and readers in general. For the students it appears very suitable, as the simple narrative style of the text presents few difficulties to a competent reader, beyond the identification of some names of persons and places. Before Pahlavi MSS. of the Karnamak had become known to scholars it was generally assumed when the work was mentioned by a Persian writer, that it must have been a chronicle of events written by Artakhshir himself. Thus Richardson (in his Dissertation on the Literature of Eastern Nations, p. vi) states that Artakhshir " wrote a Kar-nainah, or journal of his achievements," which " was afterwards improved by Noshirvan the Just." But all the three translators have come to the conclusion that this Pahlavi Karnamak can only be a narrative drawn up, from the original records of Aitakhshir (as the first words of the Pahlavi text actually assert), probably in the time of Khusro Noshirvan, or perhaps rather later. And the editor of this edition suggests that Buzurg-Mihir, Khusro's chancellor, may have been the epitomizer of the older records. The contents of this Pahlavi Karnamak are briefly as follows : After the death of Alexander there were 240 rulers in Iran, of whom Ardavan, in Stakhar, was the chief. Papak was frontier governor of Pars, and had no son ; while Sasan, of the race of Dara, descendant of Darius, was his shepherd ; but he did not know that Sasan was of the race of Dara. On three successive nights Papak was disturbed by different dreams about Sasan, and sent for the interpreters of dreams, who explained that Sasan, or his son, would rule the world. Papak then sent for Sasan and asked him about his ancestors, promising him protection, and Sasan told him the secret of his parentage. Papak was glad and told him to put himself into a bath (avzano], clothed him with royal garments, fed him well, and afterwards gave him his daughter in marriage, who bore a son, named Artakhshir, whom Papak accepted as his own son. [This adoption made Papak the lawful father of Artakhfhir, as stated in Sasanian inscriptions ; but some writers about Noshirvan's time were still aware that Sasan was his real father.] On account of his proficiency in learning and athletic exercises, Artakhshir was summoned by Ardavan to court when fifteen years old, to be educated with other princes. He soon surpassed them all in riding and hunting, and in such games as polo (di/wV/'iw), chess OPINIONS. V (catrang], and backgammon (nev-ArtaWistiir}. But, owing to a dispute with Ardavan's eldest son, while hunting a wild ass (gor], he fell into disgrace, and was sent to work in the king's stables. Here a handmaid of Ardavan saw him and fell in love with him, often visting him in the stables. One day the king consulted the astrologers, who told him that some servant, who should run away within three days, would soon unite the whole land under his absolute sway. The handmaid told this to Artakhshlr, who induced her to run away with him on horseback with many valuables, in the direction of Pars. When Ardavan discovered their flight, he pursued them with his troops, and heard from some peasantry that they had passed by, hours before, followed by an eagle which, the astrologers told him, must be the kingly Glory, and, if it overtook them, they would be safe. The next day some travellers told him that the eagle was seated on one of the horsses when the fugitives passed them ; and the high-priest said that further pursiiit was useless. So Ardavan returned home and sent his son, with troops, to capture the fugitives in Pars. [In this episode, there is some doubt whether the animal which personates the kingly Glory is luk, "an eagle," or varak, "a ram"; the only difference between the two words, in Pahlavi characters, being the initial va in the second word, which, in some cases, may be an optional final o of the preceding word in the sentence. The doubtful word occurs five times, and in the oldest surviving MS. of the text, from which all other known copies have descended, the initial va is certainly absent in three cases, and it may be an optional final o of the preceding word in the other two cases. So far, the evidence is in favour of lulc (= Persian luh\ " an eagle'*; and this reading is further supported by the Zamyad Yasht, 34-38, in the Avesta, which states that the kingly Glory departed from Yima in the shape of a bird, (meregha) ; the first time in the shape of a Yareghna bird, and this is repeated for the second and third times. Nbldeke has preferred to consider the animal as a ramt, probably because the Shahnamah uses the word ffhurm, but some parti- culars of Firdausi's description of this animal are not quite consistent with the appearance of a ram, such as " a wing like the Simurgh and a tail like the peacock." The Zvarish verbs rehatun and sayitun, which are used in the Pahlavi text, appear to be applied to the motion of both birds and quadrupeds.] The Karnamak next narrates how Artakhshlr went on towards the sea- coast, and many of the people of Pars submitted themselves to him. At one place, afterwards called Hamishn-i Artakhshlr, a magnanimous man, named Banak (or Bohak) of Ispahan, who had fled from Ardavan, came VI OPINIONS. and joined him, with his six sons and several warriors. ArtakhsWr ordered a town to be built, and left Banak and his forces there, while he himself proceeded to the sea-coast, where he built the town of Bukht- Artakhshir and established a Yahram fire on the shore He then returned to Banak, to raise an army, and, after hard and continuous fighting, Ardavan was conquered and slain, and his daughter became the wife of Artakhshir, who, returning to }Pp.rs, built other towns and constructed various public works. Collecting a large army, he went to war with Ma Hg, king of the Kurds, in which he was first beaten, but after some wandering he conquered the Kurds, obtaining much plunder, which was lost in a battle with the army of Haftan-bokht, lord of the Dragon (kirm], who carried it off to Kuiar in the district of Kuzaraa (?), where the Dragon dwelt. Artakhshir had intended to go to Armenia and Aturpatakan, where Yazdankard of Shahrzur was ready to submit; but he was compelled to stay and fight with the sons of Haftan-bokht, and was again defeated. Haftan-bokht had seven sons (hence probably his name), one of whom now came from Arvastan with reinforcements, Arabs and Me^anlgan, over the sea, and Artakhshlr's forces were hemmed in. Mitrok, son of Anoshakpac?, of Pars, took the opportunity to plunder Artakhshir's capital. Then Artakhshir departed alone, and came to the house of two brothers, Burjak and Burj-atur, who comforted him and showed how he might kill the Dragon. But first he marched to Artakhshir -gada, defeated Mitrok, and slew him. Then, disguised and with the two brothers, he obtained admittance into the town of the Dragon, and when the creature was about to eat, he poured melted metal into its mouth ; when, at a prearranged signal, his troops attacked the fortress and destroyed it. He then returned (home) the second time (do bar}; and his troops came towards Kirman for war with fiarcan. Artakhshir had two sons of Ardavan with him, and two others had fled to the king of KSpul ; these latter wrote to their sister, who was married to Artakhshir, sending her poison, and hinting at the death of her husband being necessary. Upon this hint she thought it her duty to act, and when her husband caine in, thirsty from the chase, she handed him some poisoned meal milk ; but they say that the Farnbag fire flew in, like a red eagle, and struck the goblet out of the king's hand with its wing. Both king and matron (zihdnalco] stood confounded f while a cat and dog licked up the liquid and expired. The king sent for the high-priest, and ordered him to take the culprit to the executioner ; OPINIONS. vii she pleaded pregnancy, but in vain. The high-priest, who had already protested, secretly intrusted her to his wife's care, until her son was bora, who was named Shahpuhar (" the king's son "), and he remained with them for seven years; but his mother's fate is doubtful. One day, while hunting, Artakhshir was reminded of the child he had wilfully lost, by the devotedness of a pair of wild asses to their foal ; and he became so melancholy as to alarm his courtiers. The high- priest, princes and nobles, chieftains and secretaries, all anxiously inquired the reason of his despondency ; when the king explained how he had been reminded of the lost child, and feared he had committed a grievous sin. The high-priest then confessed that he had disobeyed the king's orders, and a handsome and accomplished son had been born, who was then produced ; the high-priest was richly rewarded, and a city was built on the spot, called Raye-I Shahpuhar ( (( the splendour of Shahpuhar "). Afterwards, Artakhshir became weary of continual wars for consolida- ting his power, and determined to inquire of various wiseKaits who were soothsayers, whether he was destined to become the sole ruler of Iran, For this purpose he sent one of his faithful dependants to a Kait of the Hindus, to ask him the question to which he replied that the sole ruler of Iran must be a descendant of two families, that of Artakhshir and that of Mitrok, son of AnoshakpaeZ. When the king heard this, he was angry, because Mitrok had been his greatest enemy ; so he went to the dwelling of Mitrok and ordered that his children should all be killed. But one daughter, three years old, was saved alive by the village authorities, and intrusted to a farmer's care, by whom she was suitably brought up. One day, Shahpuhar came that way while hunting, with nine horse- men ; and the girl, who was drawing water for the cattle, welcomed them to the shade and water. The horsemen tried to draw water, but the bucket was too heavy for them to raise when full of water. Shahpu- har was annoyed at their want of strength, and went himself to the well and drew up a bucketful. The girl recognized him by his strength, of which she had often heard. Being asked who she was, she first said she was the daughter of the farmer ; but, this being disbelieved, she begged protection, and then owned that she was the only survivor of Mitrok's seven children. Shahpuhar then married her, and they had a son named Auharmazd : but all these circumstances were kept secret from Artak- shir for seven years. One day, Auharmazd went to the racecourse with the princes, and was playing at polo (cupagdn] with them, when Artakhshir and his courtiers were present. One of the youths drove the ball so near to Artakhshir (who took no notice of it) that none of the princes dare approach it, till Auharmazd advanced boldly and struck the ball back, Artakhshir asked viii OPINIONS. who the boy was, but no one knew. So Auharmazc? himself was asked, and said he was the son of Shahpuhar, who was then called, and he stated the circumstances of the boy's birth, and the reasons for their concealment. Artakhshir was satisfied, and exclaimed: This resembles what the Hindu Kait said." Afterwards, when Auharmazd came to the throne, he was able to bring the whole land of Iran back to a single monarchy, and the chief neighbouring rulers became submissive and tributaries. Likewise, the Kaiser, or Emperor of the Romans, the Tab of Kapul, or King of the Hindus, the Khakan of Turan, and other chief rulers, from various quarters, came to his capital with courteous salutations. This statement, which concludes the Karnamak, seems singularly inapplicable to the short reign of Auharmasd I. It is true that his father, Shahpuhar I, when he canae to the throne, some thirty years before, made his son governor of Khurasan, where he seems to have distinguished himself; but Auharmasd I actually reigned very little more than one year, a period which could have given him little oppor- tunity of gaining the respect of neighbouring sovereigns. The compiler of the Karnamak, in its present form, must either have imagined the congratulations of the sovereigns, or they may have been presented merely as a politic token of respect for the new dynasty, which had once inore united the Persians under a single powerful ruler. The deference, which had been really extorted by the deeds of the father and grand- father, might have been readily paid to the son who had succeeded to their power, and might have been expected to live many years. Under such circumstances, the congratulations would have been mentioned in the original records ; but that the later compiler of the Karnamak, writing some 280 years afterwards, should have attributed them solely to the personal achievements of Auharmazd I, displays a lamentable ignorance of history. The extracts from the Sha;ma:nah, appended by the editor, cor- respond very closely with the tale told in the Karnamak. Though both the Pahlavi writer and the Persian poet sapply some details omitted by the other, they agree in all matters of importance, as if the information of both had descended from the same original. Regarding the MSS. of the Karnamak, it is certain that the oldest one, known to be still surviving, is in the library of Dastur Dr. Jamaspji Minoclieherji Jamasp-Asaaa in Bombay. When I copied it, twenty-one years ago, it was the 22nd Pahlavi text in an octavo volume of 142 folios, containing about thirty-three texts, and about one-fifth of the words were more or less worm eaten. Accordinjg to its colophon, this OPINIONS. IX volume was written by Mitro-apaa, son of KtU-Khusrob, who completed it in aglari or small fire-temple, at Taaak or Tamnak, 1 on 10th October, 1322. And at the end of ths Karnamak text there is a note that it " was written from the copy of Rustm Mit/'o-apan." This Rustam was a great-uncle of Mibro-apaa, who also copied the Arda-Viraf-namak, completing it in Iran on 13bh June, 1269, and a Visparad, at Ankalesar, in India, oa 28th December, 1273. We have, therefore, good reasons for believeiag that Rustem wrote his copy of the Karnamak in Iran, and brought it to India, some tima between the last-mentioned two dates, or about 625 years ago. It is also worthy of notice that the Yadkar-i Zariran, the first Pahlavi textia this old manuscript volume, was likewise trans- scribed from a copy made by the same RQstam. That all other old M38. of the Karnamak re derived from Mitro Span's copy is evident because they copy several of his blunders, and misread some of his uncouth letters. Ervad Darab could not obtain access to Dastur Jamasp's old MS., but he probably collated an old copy of it, made in 1721 by Dastur Jatnshed Jarnasp Asa, when the original was in much better condition than it wag tweuty years ago. His present edition is very carefully prepared, and its general accuracy and convenience will, no doubt, be thankfully appreciated by Parsi students and other readers. The translations will probably be more useful to baginners than a vocabulary would be, as thsy save time and stimulate thought, whan thj taacher requires the text to be properly construed. E. W. WEST. December, 1897. 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. RENEWALS ONLY TEL. NO. 642-3405 This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. l^ffi O *ttfi& AS AErgrx *8a5^y PA & t AM - j- JQ JQ^et 55?,1 ^-"WKJ j 4 1 r%"7O APR 14 19T9 t^tSr^!^ u-^gKn-. BOOK MUST BE CHAR&Ep OUT WITH CASE 14 DAY USE RETURN TO DESK FROM WHICH BORROWED LOAN DEPT. RENEWALS ONLY TEL. NO. 642-3405 This book is dtie on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. RECT) LD Al SEP 17 SEP 1 1 ' 69 "12. ^f U. C. BERKELEY UOAN. DEPT, MAR 6 RECTD LD FEJ 20 70 " KC..CIR. APR 3 1979 LD 21A-40m-2.'69 (J6057slO)476 A-32 General Library University of California Berkeley