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tioned, the Dinkard and the Bundahish or ‘ Cosmogony/ The 
former consisted of nine hooks, the first two of which are lost ; 
and contains, amongst other things, the opinions of ancient 
Zoroastrians on traditions and customs and on various duties ; 
the miracles of the Zoroastrian religion from the time of the 
first man to that of the last of the yet future prophets ; details 
of the life of Zoroaster and an account of the contents of the 
twenty-one Nashs, great part of which were destroyed in the 
time of “ the accursed Alexander/’ at which period there were, 
according to the Diiikard , but two complete copies of the 
sacred books; one of these then deposited in the royal archives 
at Persepolis was burnt there. The Bundahish contains an 
account of the creation, of the opposition between the good 
and evil powers, of the nature of the various creatures, and of 
the future destiny of mankind, including the Resurrection and 
the Last Judgment. The two latter remarkable features are, in 
Haug’s opinion, “ founded on original Avesta sources which 
are now lost.”* An ancient song is embodied in the account 
of the Resurrection, the burden of which is that although it may 
appear to man to be impossible that the body when resolved 
into its elements and scattered to the winds should nevertheless 
be raised again, yet that to Cod all things are possible. So, 
too, the archaic Egyptians held firmly the doctrine of the resur- 
rection of the body,f a dogma in after-ages to provoke the 
laughter of the Greek, mirth melancholy to the true philosopher, 
since it sprang from perhaps the most pronounced and at the 
same time the saddest feature in his character, an intense and 
passionate clinging to this perishing earth life. Achilles, the 
Greek ideal, has fitly been made the mouthpiece for that dark 
sentiment : — 
“ Rather I’d choose laboriously to bear 
A weight of woes, and breathe the vital air, 
A slave to some poor hind that toils for bread, 
Than reign the sceptered monarch of the dead.” 
Far different from the gloomy Homeric abode of the departed 
was the paradise of songj that awaited the justified soul of 
the deceased Zoroastrian. 
"* Essays, 313. 
t Vide Bunsen, Egypt's Place, iv. (ill ; Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, S4. 
And authorities cited. 
+ Heaven is called Garddcmdna, “House of Hymns,” and Aim rahishta, 
‘ the best life.” As is well known, paradise (pairidaeza), i.c. “ enclosure,” a 
place securely fenced in, is an Iranian word. 
