186 BULLETIN 148, UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



too much. * * * How is the Mazdaean religion nourished? 

 By zealously 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. 



Zoroastrianism did not ignore the body for the elevation of the soul. 

 Physical cidture was extolled, and it allowed generally a whole-soided 

 enjoyment of life. Wealth and a large famUy are signs of virtue. 

 "He who has children is far better than he who is childless; he who 

 has riches is far better than he who has none. * * * " *8 



The Parsees, constituting one of the smallest religious communities 

 in the world, occupy a most prominent place among the several 

 nationalities and religious sects of India, and exemplify in their life 

 the true worth of the teachings of the great prophet of Iran. They 

 uphold the best of the tenets of the old faith with regard to religious 

 observations. They are distinguished by temperance, purity of life, 

 energy, enterprise, and capacity, and their reputation for benevolence 

 and generosity toward all men is world-wide. 



THE HEREAFTER, OR ESCHATOLOGT IN ZOROASTRIAN THEOLOGY 



God's righteous rule involves the idea of judgment and retribu- 

 tion, and Zoroastrian eschatology provides a judgment both for 

 the individual and for the world. The judgment of individuals 

 takes place at death, in which each man's destiny is determined by 

 his religion and by his thoughts, words, and deeds in this life. After 

 death the soid lingers three days and three nights near the body. 

 During these intervening days the soul of the pious tastes " as much 

 of felicity and joy as the entire living world can taste," and the 

 soul of the wicked tastes "as much of misery as the entire living world 

 can taste." On the fourth day at dawn the soul sets out on its 

 journey to the place of judgment at the chinvat bridge. To the 

 righteous comes a perfumed breeze wafted as if were from the south, 

 while the wicked is struck by a cold blast as out of the demonic 

 north, laden with foul stench. At the bridge Mithra, Sraosha, and 

 Raslmu sit in judgment.^^ Rashnu weighs the merits and demerits 

 of the departed on an "undeceiving" golden scale, and his fate is 



<' Zarathustrian doctrine is the first serious attempt to conform material interests and duties with the 

 spiritual needs and longings of mankind, and to reeoncOe the temporal with the eternal, by regarding the 

 former as reflecting and preparing for the latter. The religious root-idea of Zarathushtrism, when first 

 distinctly expressed, which, as history shows, has not remained fruitless, is that the life of the pious is a 

 sacred labor and struggle, constantly directed against the evil and impure in what wo are wont to distin- 

 guish as the world of nature and that of the spirit, in order that both may at last be thoroughly purified — in 

 short, that every pious man, according to his ability, is a fellow-worker with God." (C. P. Tiele, Elements 

 of the Science of Religion, Edinburgh and London, 1897, vol. 1, p. 192.) 



" Parallel to Minos, Aeacus, and Rhadamanthus, the three judges of the dead, in Greek mythology. 



