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reading-. This bridge leads across the aerial abyss to 
Heaven, and all souls must essay to traverse it; but the 
righteous alone can succeed, whilst the wicked fall from it 
into Hell beneath. It is the origin of the Muhammedan 
bridge A1 Sirat, “ laid over the midst of hell, finer than a 
hair, and sharper than the edge of a sword/' whence the 
wicked will fall into the abyss. The root of the idea seems 
simply to be that Heaven being regarded as above and Hell 
beneath, the soul at death rises, in the desire to reach the 
former. But how shall it cross the vast abyss save by some 
aid, which may fitly be figured as a bridge ? The wicked 
necessarily fail, as they may not enter Heaven. The account 
of the soul's progress after death is highly interesting; the 
righteous man is assisted across the Bridge by a beautiful 
maiden, who is a personification of that holiness which he 
has chosen when in life, an unique and remarkably fine idea : 
“ Said Ahuramazda : after a man is dead 
At daybreak after the third night he reaches Mithra ; " 
apparently the solar region. 
“The soul goes on the time-worn paths. 
Which are for the wicked and which are for the righ- 
teous. 
To the Chinvad bridge created by Mazda." 
Here it is met by the maiden referred to. 
“ She the beautiful, well-formed, strong, comes. 
She dismisses the sinful soul of the wicked into the 
glooms. 
She meets the souls of the righteous when crossing (the 
celestial mountain), 
And guides them over the Bridge of the Judge" 
into the heavenly regions, where they are joyfully welcomed. 
“Vohu-mano [“the Hood-Mind"] rises from a golden 
throne ; 
Yohu-mano exclaims : How hast thou come hither to us, 
0 righteous one ! 
From the perishable life to the imperishable life ? 
The souls of the righteous proceed joyfully to Ahura- 
mazda, 
To the Ameshaspentas, to the golden throne, to para- 
dise." * 
Vcnclidad, xix. 
