Ill 



OUR ARYAN FOREFATHERS 



IN the beginning of the Vendidad, or first 

 of the Parsi collection of sacred books 

 known as the Zendavesta, we are told that 

 the supreme deity Ahura- Mazda created a 

 country full of delights, but difficult of access, 

 and the name of this country was Aryana Vaejo. 

 So charming was this primitive country that, had 

 it not been made difficult of approach, the whole 

 animate creation would have flocked thither and 

 quite overwhelmed it. But this state of things 

 did not long continue ; for Ahriman, or Anra- 

 mainyus, the spirit of darkness, was the impla- 

 cable adversary of Ormuzd, or Ahura-Mazda, 

 the spirit of light, and took pleasure in spoiling 

 all his creations. So this death-dealing enemy, 

 with the aid of his daevas, or demons, created 

 a great serpent and brought ten months of 

 winter cold upon the land, so that Aryana Vaejo 

 was no longer a comfortable dwelling-place. 

 The good spirit then created a new home for 

 his people, called Sugdha ; but the adversary 

 spoiled this by creating a kind of wasp which 

 devastated the fields and brought death to the 

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