PERSIAN MYTHOLOGY. 25 
the idols. As in China, so also in Japan, processions constitute an impor- 
tant feature in the celebration of religious festivals (pl. 6, fig. 11). 
We have already mentioned a few of the religious societies when we were 
treating of idolatry in China; we will therefore only add, since the same 
features are also found in this country, that Japan is also not without its 
monks and nuns, a few of which we have represented on pl. 5. Fig. 37 is 
a Jamabusi, or mountain monk of Japan; jig. 38, another, with the idol- 
box upon his shoulders, with which he wanders from place to place: jig. 
41 a blind monk, and jig. 42 a nun and a lay sister. 
6. JAVANESE MytHotoay. 
_ Sivaism seems to have constituted the primitive feature in the creed of 
the aborigines of the island of Java; only at a later period was Buddhism 
intermixed with it, but the whole was subjected to many reforms, and many 
centuries elapsed before the latter system became the prevailing religion. 
At the present time, most of the inhabitants are Mahomedans, though 
Christianity is not wholly unknown in the island. But though the Javanese 
profess now a belief in one God, they are by no means free from super- 
stitious practices, which bear evidently the marks of being remnants of the 
idolatry of their forefathers. A few of the idols of the olden times are still 
found in several places of the island, pictures of which will be found on pi. 
6. Jig. 18 represents Ganesa, a son of Siva, with the head of an elephant, 
whom the Indians.worshipped as the god of marriage. /%g. 19 is probably 
intended forthe Trimurti, with Siva as its chief, and (fig. 20a6) Swa 
himself, in his character as the destroyer, having around his neck the 
string of skulls.../7gs. 21, 22, and 23 are evidently not idols of Indian 
origin, and must have come from some foreign quarter; their import has 
not yet been ascertained. 
II. THE RELIGION OF THE ANCIENT PERSIANS. 
(PARSEEISM.) 
This religious system differs essentially from those already described, 
and has even a faint resemblance to the Mosaic and Christian religions. 
The primitive religion of the ancient Persians was simply a worship of 
the elements of nature, fire, water, earth, and air, the winds and the starry 
heavens, but particular reverence was paid to the sun and the moon. The 
rivers were also considered sacred. They had no temples, but sacrificed 
upon the mountains, by offering to the gods the lives of animals without 
burning their bodies. It is probable that, already at an early period, the 
principles of a religious system which came out of Media were incorporated 
into this service of nature, and became soon after the prevailing religion. 
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