530 The National Geographic Magazine 



" RELIGION OF ZOROASTER " 



The Parsees are of Persian origin, of 

 the Iranic race, and are supposed to have 

 had a common ancestry, somewhere in 

 West-Central Asia, where man, as we 

 now know him, is said to have had his 

 birth. More than 3,000 years ago their 

 forefathers left the uplands of that mys- 

 terious Aryan home from which our 

 own ancestors had already gone forth, 

 and were in all probability the first of 

 the Indo-European family to embrace a 

 purely monotheistic faith. 



In religion they are followers of Zo- 

 roaster, who was a religious reformer 

 and founder of this ancient Persian re- 

 ligion at a period probably prior to the 

 Assyrian conquest of Bactria, his native 

 country, which is said to have taken 

 place 1,200 years before the Christian 

 era. At all events, the religion of Zo- 

 roaster can certainly claim a hoary 

 antiquity which unquestionably chal- 

 lenges our deep respect. 



The scripture of this faith, the Parsee 

 Bible, is called the ' ' Zend-Avesta ' ' or, 

 more properly, simply "Avesta," or 

 iZ A vesta and its Zend. ' ' While Zend is 

 understood to mean the translation of 

 the original text and commentary, in the 

 Zend language, the oldest form of Iranic 

 speech known, and to which Dr March 

 gives the name of " Old Bactrian," the 

 Zend-Avesta embraces the whole Parsee 

 religious literature, ancient and modern. 



The Avesta proper is one of the most 

 interesting documents coming to us from 

 the early history and religion of the 

 Indo-European family. It is made up 

 of several distinct parts, many of which 

 are fragmentary and of different ages, 

 some of which must be many centuries 

 older than our era. This religious sys- 

 tem is a monotheism. It recognizes the 

 dual principle of good or light, and evil 

 or darkness. Fire is its principal em- 

 blem, as being the purest of all elements ; 

 hence the misconception that its ad- 

 herents are fire-worshipers. The com- 



mon charge of worshiping fire, the sun, 

 water, and air, brought against the Par- 

 sees, is not well founded. The Parsees 

 emphatically deny the charge, and his- 

 tory gives several accounts of acts of 

 hatred shown by the Parsees toward 

 idolatry. 



God, according to the Parsee faith, is 

 the creator, preserver, and ruler of the 

 universe. He is the emblem of glory and 

 light. In view of this a Parsee while 

 engaged in prayer is directed to stand 

 before fire or turn his face toward the 

 sun, because they appear to be the most 

 proper symbols of the Almighty. Such 

 is still the present practice among their 

 descendants in India. 



Zoroaster, the Parsee Moses, appears 

 as a being of supernatural endowments 

 and as receiving from the supreme di- 

 vinity, by personal interviews, by ques- 

 tions and answers, the truths which he 

 is to communicate to men. The idea 

 of a future life and the immortality of 

 the soul pervades the whole of Avesta 

 literature. The doctrine of the resur- 

 rection of the body at the time of the 

 last judgment is claimed as a genuine 

 Zoroastrian dogma, without the slight- 

 est trace of its being borrowed from a 

 foreign source. 



With religion Zoroaster has com- 

 bined both moral and speculative phi- 

 losophy in a remarkable degree. In 

 regard to man, he takes cognizance of 

 two intellects — the "Asno-Krato," the 

 innate or born wisdom, and the " Go- 

 ashosruto-Kratu," or acquired wisdom. 

 The Zend-Avesta insists in emphatic 

 terms that ' ' virtue alone is happiness 

 in this world," and its path is the path 

 of peace. 



The moral foundation of the Parsee 

 religious works is built upon three basic 

 injunctions, which are pithily expressed 

 in the Avesta, viz., " Humata," " Hu- 

 khta," and " Hvarshta," which mean 

 " good thoughts," " good words," and 

 ' ' good deeds. ' ' 



