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G. Mythology and Religion. 
Such, then, are the Parsi Scriptures ; their composition 
extended over 800 or 900 years or more, and thus, like the 
Medic Hymns, they are the work of numerous individuals; 
and whilst possessing a kind of general unity of tone, on close 
examination are found to differ widely in style and religious 
standpoint as in language. The latest portion of the Avesta 
is replete with archaic ideas of a mythological character, a 
feature which applies equally to subsequent works, such as 
the Bundahisli; whilst in the Yasna, and especially in the 
Gdthas, the mythological element is but dimly visible, and 
the religious element is all-important. And here let 
me make a remark respecting the spheres of mythology 
and religion. The former corresponds with the material, the 
latter with the spiritual portion of the universe ; they rise 
together as twin ideas in the human mind, and at the same 
time the mental and the physical eye grasp, however dimly, 
some of the wonders of God and the Kosmos, of soul and 
body. Mythology did not spring from religion, nor religion 
from mythology. They were “ two sisters of one race,” widely 
differing indeed in value, but at first equally simple, equally 
pure. To give an illustration : Prof. Steinthal in The Legend 
of Samson* remarks, “ I flatter myself that I know the par- 
ticle by which was expressed the greatest revolution ever 
experienced in the development of the human mind, or rather 
by which the mind itself was brought into existence (!) It is 
the particle ‘as’ in the verse ‘And he [the Sun] is as a 
bridegroom coming out of his chamber; he rejoices as a hero 
to run his course Nature appears to us as a man, as mind, 
but is not man or mind. This is the birth of mind. This 
‘ as ’ is unknown not only to the Vedas, but even to the 
Greeks.”! Previously, it would seem, a most gross and 
crude mythology had reigned supreme ; every one regarded 
the sun as an actual bridegroom, a real hero, till one bright 
morning it occurred to the Psalm-writer, d projpos of nothing 
in particular, that these expressions were merely similitudes. 
Surely a stupendous credulity must be required to enable any 
one to accept such a theory, which is just as true and as false 
as the appended statement that this wondrous “as” is unknown 
to the Yedic poets. Take, for instance, a hymn to Ushas, 
the Dawn. The hymn-writer, after comparing Ushas to a 
dancer, and to a triumphant maid, continues — 
* Appended to Dr. Goldziher’s Mythology among the Hebrews. 
f Sec. xiii. 
