Vol. IX, No. 10.] India in the Avesta of the Parsis. 431 
NS. 
Spiegel, thought, that this chapter only contained a list of the 
countries known to the ancient Iranians. Prof. Darmesteter 
took it merely as ‘‘a geographical description of Iran.’’ I 
think, that the chapter contains an enumeration of the countries 
which were occupied, one after another, by the ancient Irani- 
ans, and in which the ancient Mazdayacnan religion prevailed 
to a more or less extent. e very beginning of the chapter 
helps us to say so. It runs thus :— 
‘““Mraot Ahuro Mazd4o Spitamai Zarathushtrai azem 
dadham Spitama Zarathushtra aso ramé-daitim noit kudat- 
shaitim. Yedhi zi azem ndit daidhyim Spitama Zarathushtra 
aso ramo-daitim ndit kudat-shditim vispo anghush astvao 
Translation.—Abura Mazda said to Spitama Zarathush- 
tra: O Spitama Zarathushtra! I have created (all) countries 
O Spitama Zarathushtra! Had I not created (all) countries to 
give pleasure to its inhabitants, but had created them as 
destructive of pleasure, then the whole of the living world 
have crowded in the country of Airyana Vaeja 
with large snakes. After creating Iran, as the first of the 
crowded Iran. Thus, one after another, as one city or country 
got overcrowded, another was created and made h 
All such countries had with their advantages, one or another 
ached to them. India was the 
fifteenth country in the list, and the disadvantages attached to 
it were, ‘a) that it was excessively hot, and (b) that there, 
women had to pass through the state of menstruation at a 
very early age of life. 
/ e the countries named in the Vendidad are the 
following :— 
Names in the Avesta Modern names. 
1. Airyana Vaéja - Iran. ae 
2. Sugdha (Sogdiana of the Greeks) Samarkan 
6uru : :. Merv. 
. Méur 23 oo 
4. Bakhdhi 46. 4 ~~ sealkh. 
