[42] Jeremias, op. cit. passim. Schrader-Zimmern, op. cit. p. 636 sq. Jastrow, op. cit. p. 565 sqq. Jensen, op. cit. p. 217 sqq.
[43] Haupt, ‘Die zwölfte Tafel des babylonischen Nimrod-Epos,’ in Beiträge zur Assyriologie, i. 69 sq. Jensen, ‘Das Gilgamíš (Nimrod)-Epos,’ xii. 6, in Assyrisch-Babylonische Mythen und Epen, p. 265.
In a still higher degree than the Chaldean religion Zoroastrianism represents an incessant struggle against evil spirits. Here everything in heaven and on earth is engaged in the conflict; it is a war between two mighty sovereigns, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, and their respective forces.[44] Whatever works for the good of man comes from and strives for Ahura Mazda, whatever works for the harm of man comes from and strives for Angra Mainyu. There can be no doubt that the powers of goodness will absolutely triumph in the end; but though Angra Mainyu and his band have been defeated, the battle is still raging. Ahura Mazda, being the originator of everything good in the world, is also the founder of the order of the universe, “the creator of the righteous order.”[45] In the Vendîdâd he is asked about the rules of life, and he is pleased to answer;[46] M. Darmesteter observes that the Avesta and the Pentateuch are the only two religious books known in which legislation descends from the heavens to the earth in a series of conversations between the lawgiver and his god.[47] The sacred law of Zoroastrianism enjoins charity[48] and industry,[49] it condemns the murder of a believer,[50] abortion,[51] theft,[52] non-payment of debts,[53] and, with special emphasis, falsehood and breach of faith,[54] and unnatural intercourse.[55] But the “good thoughts, words, and deeds” most urgently insisted upon are orthodoxy, prayer, and sacrifice; whilst the greatest sins are apostasy, transgressions of the rules of ceremonial cleanliness, and offences against sacred beings. It is less criminal to kill a man than to serve bad food to a shepherd’s dog; for the manslayer gets off with ninety stripes, whereas the bad master will receive two hundred.[56] And the killing of a water dog is punished with ten thousand stripes.[57] Offenders will be liable to penalties not only here below, but in the next world as well, where Ahura Mazda, “the discerning arbiter,”[58] establishes “evil for the evil, and happy blessings for the good.”[59] The views accepted in regard to the future life, whilst incomplete in the Gathas, are expanded in the Younger Avesta, and fully given in the Pahlavi books.[60] The man who has lived for Ahura Mazda will have a seat near him in heaven, and there he remains undecaying and immortal, unalarmed and undistressed, full of glory and delight; whereas the wicked soul will be tormented in the darkness of hell, “the dwelling of the demons.”[61] The good deeds of the virtuous and the bad deeds of the wicked, in the form of maidens, come to meet them on their roads to paradise or hell.[62] But the fate of the dead is not merely influenced by their conduct towards their fellow men while alive. It is said that “he who wishes to seize the heavenly reward, will seize it by giving gifts to him who holds up the Law.”[63] And the soul of him who recites the prayer Ahuna Vairya in the manner prescribed crosses over the bridge which separates this world from the next, and reaches the highest paradise.[64]
[44] According to the Vendîdâd (i. 3 sqq.) Angra Mainyu constantly countercreated the creations of Ahura Mazda. But this idea is not yet to be found in the Gathas, where the wickedness of Ako Mainyu is only represented as an attempt to destroy the good creation (see Lehmann, Zarathustra, ii. 75, 165).
[45] Yasna, xxxi. 7. Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, pp. 19, 24, 88, &c.
[46] Vendîdâd, xviii. 13 sqq.
[47] Darmesteter, in Sacred Books of the East, iv. (2nd edit.) p. lviii.
[50] Vendîdâd, iii. 41; v. 14.