The strife, kindled at the beginning of time between the two gods, has gone on ever since with alternations of success and defeat; each in turn has the victory for a regular period of three thousand years; but when these periods are ended, at the expiration of twelve thousand years, evil will be finally and for ever defeated. While awaiting this blessed fulness of time, as Spentô-mainyus shows himself in all that is good and beautiful, in light, virtue, and justice, so Angrô-mainyus is to be perceived in all that is hateful and ugly, in darkness, sin, and crime. Against the six Amesha-spentas he sets in array six spirits of equal power—Akem-manô, evil thought; Andra, the devouring fire, who introduces discontent and sin wherever he penetrates; Sauru, the flaming arrow of death, who inspires bloodthirsty tyrants, who incites men to theft and murder; Nâongaithya, arrogance and pride; Tauru, thirst; and Zairi, hunger.*
* The last five of these spirits are enumerated in the
Vendidad, and the first, Akem-manô, is there replaced by
Nasu, the chief spirit of evil.
To the Yazatas he opposed the Daêvas, who never cease to torment mankind, and so through all the ranks of nature he set over against each good and useful creation a counter-creation of rival tendency. “‘Like a fly he crept into’ and infected ‘the whole universe.’ He rendered the world as dark at full noonday as in the darkest night. He covered the soil with vermin, with his creatures of venomous bite and poisonous sting, with serpents, scorpions, and frogs, so that there was not a space as small as a needle’s point but swarmed with his vermin. He smote vegetation, and of a sudden the plants withered.... He attacked the flames, and mingled them with smoke and dimness. The planets, with their thousands of demons, dashed against the vault of heaven and waged war on the stars, and the universe became darkened like a space which the fire blackens with its smoke.” And the conflict grew ever keener over the world and over man, of whom the evil one was jealous, and whom he sought to humiliate.
The children of Angrô-mainyus disguised themselves under those monstrous forms in which the imagination of the Chaldæans had clothed the allies of Mummu-Tiamât, such as lions with bulls’ heads, and the wings and claws of eagles, which the Achæmenian king combats on behalf of his subjects, boldly thrusting them through with his short sword. Aêshma of the blood-stained lance, terrible in wrath, is the most trusted leader of these dread bands,* the chief of twenty other Daêvas of repulsive aspect—Astô-vîdhôtu, the demon of death, who would devote to destruction the estimable Fravashis;** Apaosha, the enemy of Tishtrya the wicked black horse, the bringer of drought, who interferes with the distribution of the fertilising waters; and Bûiti, who essayed to kill Zoroaster at his birth.***
* The name Aêshma means anger. He is the Asmodeus, Aêshmo-
daevô, of Rabbinic legends.
** The name of this demon signifies He who separates the
bones.
*** The Greater Bundehesh connects the demon Bûiti with the
Indian Buddha, and J. Darmestefer seems inclined to accept
this interpretation. In this case we must either admit that
the demon Bûiti is of relatively late origin, or that he
has, in the legend of Zoroaster, taken the place of a demon
whose name resembled his own closely enough to admit of the
assimilation.
The female demons, the Bruges, the Incubi (Yâtus), the Succubi (Pairîka), the Peris of our fairy tales, mingled familiarly with mankind before the time of the prophet, and contracted with them fruitful alliances, but Zoroaster broke up their ranks, and prohibited them from becoming incarnate in any form but that of beasts; their hatred, however, is still unquenched, and their power will only be effectually overthrown at the consummation of time. It is a matter of uncertainty whether the Medes already admitted the possibility of a fresh revelation, preparing the latest generations of mankind for the advent of the reign of good. The traditions enshrined in the sacred books of Iran announce the coming of three prophets, sons of Zoroaster —Ukhshyatereta, Ukhshyatnemô, and Saoshyant* —who shall bring about universal salvation.
* The legend ran that they had been conceived in the waters
of the lake Kansu. The name Saoshyant signifies the useful
one, the saviour; Ukshyate-reta, he who malces the good
increase; Ukshyatnemô, he who makes prayer increase.
Drawn by Boudier,
from the photograph
in Marcel Dieulafoy.