86 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



privileged race we have a parallel in the historical evolution of 

 Buddhism, as a religion of pure humanity aspiring to univer- 

 sality, out of the narrow exclusiveness of Brahmanism with its 

 rigorous politico-ethnological system of hereditary caste. 



If, however, we go back to an earlier period, we meet with a 

 most striking example of the workings of these conflicting forces 

 in the disintegration and reconstruction of old Aryan society, 

 thirty centuries ago, in the highlands of Bactria. The nature of 

 this epoch-making movement, which took place as the result of 

 Zarathustra's teachings and under his leadership, and the deep 

 and enduring enmity it excited between people of the same blood, 

 are perceptible in the solemn pledge or confession of faith by 

 which the proselyte was received into the fellowship of the 

 Iranian community. , 



This remarkable document, written in the ancient Gatha dia- 

 lect, which is surmised to have been the vernacular of Zarathus- 

 tra's native j)rovince and the mother-tongue of the prophet, 

 begins with an abjuration of the ancestral deva worship and a 

 vow of devotion to the glorious and munificent Ahuramazda, and 

 then proceeds to a renunciation of all evil works, and especially 

 of those deeds of violence peculiar to nomadic freebooters : " I 

 choose the beneficent Armaiti (earth), the good. May she be 

 mine! I detest all fraud and injury done to the spirit of the 

 earth, and all damage and destruction to the homes of the Maz- 

 dayasnians. I permit the good spirits, which dwell on the earth 

 in the form of good animals (such as sheep and kine), to roam un- 

 disturbed according to their pleasure. I j)raise, besides, all offer- 

 ings and prayers to promote the growth of life. I will never do 

 harm or hurt to the habitations of the Mazdayasnians, neither 

 with my body nor with my soul. I forsake the devas, the wicked 

 and malicious workers of iniquity, the most baneful, most malig- 

 nant, and basest of beings. I forsake the devas and their like, 

 the wizards and their allies, and all creatures whatsoever of such 

 kind. I forsake them in thought, in word, and in deed. I for- 

 sake them hereby publicly, and declare that all their deceits and 

 lies shall be put away." After further asseverations in the same 

 strain, and after renouncing anew the devas, and entering into 

 covenant with the waters, the woods, and the living spirit of 

 Nature, and accepting the creed of the fire-priests, the diffusers 

 of light and of truth, the convert concludes by avowing himself 

 to be a disciple of Zarathustra, an adherent of the pure Ahuryan 

 religion, and a member of the righteous brotherhood. Hence- 

 forth he is a sworn foe of the evil-doing, ancestral deities, and a 

 zealous co-worker with Ahuramazda in promoting good thoughts, 

 good words, and good deeds humata, hilkhta, hvarshta. 



With this proclamation of a purer religion the promulgation 



