6 PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM. vol.61. 



them, and by abusing causes all moral and physical disturbances in 

 himself and in the condition of the world he lives in."^ There is 

 no question that the modern Parsees are monotheists. 



ZOROASTRIAN ETHICS. 



Zoroastrianism is a religion of struggle and exertion. The cardi- 

 nal doctrine that the world is a great battle field, on which beneficient 

 powers ceaselessly contend with baleful forces is one of the hinges 

 on which the entire system of Zoroastrian ethics turns. Man is not 

 a passive spectator of this war on whose issue his fortune in time 

 and eternity depends, but a combatant in the thick of the fight. 

 Every man, being treated as a free agent, is by his own choice ar- 

 rayed under one banner or the other, contending for the good world 

 or the bad. 



The moral teachings of Zoroaster are summed up in the triad: 

 good thoughts, good words, good deeds {humata, hukhta^ hvarsKta; 

 contrast: du^hmata^ duzhukhta, duzhvarshta) . Character lies not 

 in overt act alone, but in the inner springs of conduct. The virtues 

 inculcated n:iay be comprised in general terms as purity alike of body 

 and soul, uprightness, humility, obedience, peaceableness, charity, and 

 benevolence. In addition to these good qualities particular stress is 

 laid upon truthfulness and the faithful keeping of one's word and 

 pledge. " Never break an agreement, O Spitama, neither one that 

 you make with a wicked man nor with an upright man of your own 

 religion; for an agreement holds with both wicked and upright." 

 Next to falsehood and deceit making debts is to be shunned, for that 

 leads to lying and fraud." 



The tilling of the soil, the reclamation of waste land by rooting 

 out w^eeds and thorns, and extending irrigation to make grain and 

 fruits grow is part of jDractical religion. " Who makes glad the earth? 

 He who plants the most grain, grass, and fruit trees, who brings 

 water to a field where there is none and draws it off where there is 

 too much. . . . How is the Mazdaean religion nourished? By zealous- 

 ly sowing grain. He who sows grain sows good. . . ." The useful 

 animals, especially cattle and dogs, are to be kindly treated, well fed 

 and cared for; cruelty and neglect are grave sins, wanton killing 

 of cattle a crime. On the other hand, the destruction of beasts of 

 prey and noxious vermin is a highly meritorious act. 



B Rastamji Eduljl Dastoor Peshotan, Zerathushtra and Zarathushtrianism in the Avesta. 

 Leipzig, 1006, p. 159 ; compare also Dosabhai Framjl Karaka, History of the Parsis, 

 London, vol. 2, p. 187; Martin Haug, Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and 

 Religion of the Parseos, Bombay, 1862, p. 258. 



"Compare Herodotus, book 1, §§ 136 and 138 : " Beginning with the age of 5 years to 

 20,. they [the Persians] instruct their sons in three things: to ride, to use the bow, and 

 to speak truth. ... To tell a lie is considered by them the greatest disgrace ; next to 

 that, to be in debt, and this for many reasons, but especially because they think that one 

 who is in debt must of necessity tell lies." 



