Persian Literature, Ancient and Modern

by Elizabeth A. Reed

THE CHINVAT BRIDGE.

The Chinvat[^[140]] or Kinvaḍ bridge reaches to Mount Alborz, and it is also called the “Bridge of the Gatherer,” over which the souls of the righteous pass easily into the abodes of bliss, while the wicked fall from it into the den of falsehood and iniquity.

The Mohammedans call it the Al-Sirat, and it is represented in the Korān as being finer than the thread of a famished spider and sharper than a two-edged sword.

More beautiful by far is the Bi-frost, or rainbow arch of the Norseman—the bridge between heaven and earth, which was also borrowed from Chaldea:

“A link that binds us to the skies

A bridge of rainbows thrown across

The gulf of tears and sighs.”

And every day the gods come down to the judgment hall, of the Udar fountain, at the roots of the great ash tree and ride back on heavenly steeds across the bridge of many hues.