UC-NRLF 
 
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THE 
 
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 CONSIDERED 
 
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 BY 
 
 R. BROWN, ESQ., F.S.A. 
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cv 
 
THE 
 
 RELIGION OF ZOROASTER, 
 
 Stev 
 
 OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY/ 
 
 OF 
 
 
 1. The Classics on the Date of Zoroaster. 
 
 ONE of tlie greatest, yet at the same time most shadowy, 
 figures in the history of the earlier religion of the world, 
 is that of Zoroaster the Magian, to whom aftertimes have 
 united in ascribing high and mysterious doctrine in com- 
 bination with occult and wondrous lore. His actual historical 
 existence was not doubted by the Greek and Latin writers, but 
 the time when he lived was only conjectured* Thus, Agathias, 
 writing about A.D. 576, observes that the Persians in his day 
 stated that Zoroaster lived in the time of Hystaspes, who, by 
 a not unnatural error, was regarded as identical with the father 
 
of the first Darius ; and the historian adds that whenever he 
 lived he was the Persian prophet and ' ' master of the magic 
 rites."* Pliny has preserved several traditional incidents 
 connected with Zoroaster, such as praise of a mysterious 
 stone called Astriotes, " the Star-like ; "f that he laughed on 
 the day of his birth, J a circumstance which those who connect 
 him with natural phenomena would probably regard as indi- 
 cating the joyousness of the bright heaven or the dread exult- 
 ation of the thunder-god ; and that he lived on cheese with 
 great austerity for twenty years,|| a statement which reminds 
 us of the traditional and mythical austerities of Hindu saints 
 and divinities. After referring to the general consent of authori- 
 ties that he was the inventor of magic, which Pliny judiciously 
 observes was doubtless originally connected with the healing 
 art, the Roman writer states that Eudoxos and Aristotle placed 
 Zoroaster 6,000 years before the time of Plato ; whilst Her- 
 mippos the philosopher, B.C. 250, who, of all the Greeks, most 
 deeply studied Zoroastrianism, and who wrote a work upon it, 
 now lost, entitled Peri Magon, placed the age of Zoroaster 
 5,000 years before the Trojan War.^f With this date Plutarch, 
 in, perhaps, his most valuable tractate, agrees when referring 
 to " Zoroastris the Magian."** Masudi, the Arabian historian, 
 A.D. 950, assigns Zoroaster a date about B.C. 600, a compu- 
 tation probably connected with the view that places him in the 
 period of the later Hystaspes. From these different opinions 
 we gain at least one important fact, that in comparatively late 
 times the people of the country in or near which he was said 
 to have lived still connected him with an Hystaspes (Vish- 
 taspa), who, in reality, was the Kava Vishtaspa, a friend of 
 Zoroaster, who is mentioned in the Gdthas. 
 
 2. The name " Magian" 
 
 The name "magian," whence magic and magician, occurs 
 in both our Testaments. In the Old, the Rab-mag, or chief 
 magian, is mentioned amongst the Babylonian princes of 
 Nebuchadnezzar at Jerusalem ;+t whilst in the New it is 
 recorded that magians (fidjot) came to worship the infant 
 Jesus. Jt In both cases the term implies not merely "wise 
 men/' but special experts belonging to a particular country. 
 What, then, is the derivation and meaning of the word, which 
 
 * Hist ii. 24. f Hist. Nat. xxxvii. 49. J Ibid. vii. 15. 
 
 Of. Shelley, The Cloud : " I laugh as I pass in thunder." 
 || Hist. Nat. xi. 96. f Ibid. xxx. 1, 2. ** Peri Is. Jcai Os. xlvi. 
 
 ft Jeremiah xxxix. 3. tt St. Matthew ii. 1. 
 
is certainly not Semitic ? The Aryan and Turanian families 
 of language have both claimed it. Thus, according to Haug 
 and others, the term ' ' magava " signifies one possessed of 
 maga, or power, i.e., spiritual or occult power; and the 
 Magavas were the earliest followers of Zoroaster. Maghavan, 
 ' ' the possessor of riches/' is a common epithet of the Yedic 
 Indra, and is also occasionally applied to Agni, the igneous 
 principle. On the other hand, Sir H. C. Rawlinson and 
 M. Lenormant regard Magism as non-Aryan in origin, but 
 engrafted with an Aryan religion.* In this case the word 
 must be Proto-Medic or Scythic, i.e. Turanian ; and I should 
 be inclined to connect it with the Akkadian mach, "very 
 high/' ' ' supreme/' Thus, in an Akkadian hymn,f translated 
 by M. Lenormant, we read ana zae mach men, " God, thou art 
 very .high."J Whether, therefore, the term be of Aryan or 
 Turanian origin, it signifies almost equally one exalted by the 
 possession of wealth, of knowledge, or of power. 
 
 3. Is Zoroaster an historical Personage ? His Name. 
 
 According to Sir H. C. Rawlinson, Zoroaster was " the per- 
 sonification of the old heresionym of the Scythic race." 
 Zara-thushtra or thustra, the Persian and Parsi Zardosht, the 
 Greek Zarastrades, Zoroastres or Zoroastris, in his theory is 
 Zera-ishtar,|| or "the seed of Istaru," the celebrated Assyrian 
 goddess^] of love, war, and the planet Venus, the zodiacal 
 Virgo, and whose two phases, Istar of Nineveh and Istar of 
 Arbela, reappear together in the Phenician (plural) divinity 
 Ashtaroth, the Greek Astarte. M. Darmesteter, who regards 
 Zoroaster as one of the many bright powers of heaven who 
 fight in an almost endless strife against the powers of dark- 
 ness and evil, observes, " The meaning of the name of Zara- 
 thustra is unknown. It is no fault of etymologies ; one can 
 count a score, and here is a twenty-first." And he proceeds 
 to trace it to a form zarat-vat, corresponding to the Vedic 
 Jtarit-vat, which signifies " He-who-has-the-red (horses)/' i.e. 
 the sun. Zarat-vat would thus mean "red," or ' ' gold 
 
 * Vide Canon Eawlinson, Herodotus, i. 346, et seq. ; Ancient Monarchies 
 ii. 348 ; Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, 218. 
 
 f Cuneiform Inscriptions of Western Asia, ir. 60. 
 
 j Etude sur quelques parties des Syllabaires Cuneiformes, 12. 
 
 Notes on the Early History of Babylonia, 41 ; vide also Canon Rawlinson, 
 Herodotus, i . 350. 
 
 || Assyrian, Ziru ; Heb. jnj. 
 
 ^f Istaru means "goddess" (vide Geo. Smith, Chaldean Account of 
 Genesis, 58). 
 
 B 2 
 
colour/' " and the entire name would be simply one of the 
 thousand epithets of the bright hero"* of the material 
 heaven. Haug, again, connects the name with the Sanskrit 
 jaratj " old," and uttara-ushtra, " excellent " ; and points out 
 that the superlative form Zarathushtrotemo, "the highest 
 Zarathustra," assumes the existence of several contem- 
 poraneous Zarathustras, which term would thus mean 
 " senior, chief (in a spiritual sense), as the word 'Dastur'f 
 does now."J Haug is perfectly convinced of the actual 
 historical existence of Zoroaster, and regards the Gdthas 
 (subsequently noticed) as really containing " the sayings and 
 teaching of the great founder of the Parsi religion himself." 
 He also points out that the sage's real or family name was 
 Spitama, and that, according to the Pahlavi books, a Spitama 
 was the ancestor of Zarathustra in the ninth generation. The 
 word Spitama was erroneously rendered by Burnouf " holy," 
 in which he has been followed by later writers ; and the sage's 
 full title would thus be " the Spitaman," or " Spitama, the 
 spiritual chief." Although it may for a moment appear some- 
 what paradoxical, yet the question of the actual historical 
 existence of an individual Zoroaster but little affects the 
 present investigation; for, just as we might have had Islamism 
 and the Koran without a particular Muhammed, or have (as 
 many think) an Ilias and an Odysseia without a particular 
 Homer, so the existence of the Avesta and the Parsi religion is 
 altogether independent of that of a particular Zoroaster; 
 and yet, so far as my own individual opinion is concerned, I 
 certainly agree with Haug and with Mr. Yaux, when he 
 declares, in his excellent little History of Persia, " I do not 
 doubt that Zoroaster was truly a teacher and reformer, and, 
 further, that his religious views represent the reaction of the 
 mind against the mere worship of nature, tending, as this 
 does directly, to polytheism and to the doctrine of Emana- 
 tions. It is, I think, equally evident that such views embody 
 the highest struggle of the human intellect (unaided by Reve- 
 lation) towards spiritualism [i.e. a truly spiritual religion] , and 
 that they are, so far, an attempt to create a religious system 
 by the simple energies of human reason. Hence, their gene- 
 ral direction is towards a pure monotheism." || 
 
 * Ormazd et Ahriman, 194, note 1. 
 t The Dasturs are the present priests of the Parsis. 
 Essays on the Parsis, 296-7. Edited by Dr. West. 1878. 
 Ibid. 146. 
 
 || History of Persia, 10. (In the series of Ancient History from the 
 Monuments.) 
 
4. Further Classical References to Zoroaster. 
 
 Ere turning to purely Oriental ground, a few other classical 
 allusions to Zoroaster may be mentioned. According to Plato, 
 in Persia it was usual to commit the heir-apparent to the cus- 
 tody of four chosen men, the first of whom instructed " him in 
 the magianism of Zoroaster, the son of Oromasus, which is the 
 worship of the gods."* Here the sage is described as the son 
 of his divinity, the Parsi Ormazd, the Achaemenian Aura- 
 mazda, the Zoroastrian Ahuramazda. Berosus makes Zoroaster 
 a king of Babylon and the founder of a dynasty of seven Chal- 
 dean monarchs,f a complete error ; whilst Justin, copying the 
 statement of Ktesias, court physician to Artaxerxes Mnemon, 
 has preserved the tradition that " Ninus, king of the Assy- 
 rians, who first made war upon his neighbours/' made " his 
 last war with Zoroaster, king of the Bactrians, who is said to 
 have been the first that invented magic arts, and to have inves- 
 tigated with great attention the origin of the world and the 
 motions of the stars. "J According to Justin, Ninus, who is 
 a personification of the Akkadian Nin, 'Lord' or 'Lady/ 
 killed Zoroaster. With this tradition Arnobius is in exact 
 accordance, and asserts that " between the Assyrians and 
 Bactrians, under the leadership of Ninus, and Zoroaster of old, 
 a struggle was maintained not only by the sword and by phy- 
 sical power, but also by magicians [on the Bactrian side], and 
 by the mysterious learning of the Chaldeans " on the Assy- 
 rian. Here Zoroaster is placed in his true abode, Bakhdhi 
 (Baktria), and the tradition is doubtless founded upon facts 
 and refers to great prehistoric contests between Aryan, Tura- 
 nian and Semite. In another passage, || Arnobius sneers at 
 some statement of Hermippos to the effect that " the Magian 
 Zoroaster " had crossed a mysterious fiery zone ; and legends 
 existed which described him as appearing to a multitude "from 
 a hill blazing with fire, that he might teach them new cere- 
 monies of worship."^]" Clement of Alexandria observes that 
 Pythagoras showed that " Zoroaster the Magus " was a Per^ 
 sian,** and identifies him ft with " Er, the son of Arminius," 
 who, according to the story in Plato, JJ having been slain in 
 battle, came to life again and related to his friends the destiny 
 of the soul and its journey after death. The legendary con- 
 
 * Alcibiades, i. apud Jowett, The Dialogues of Plato, ii. 472. 
 
 t Chaldaika, ii. Fragment, 9. 
 
 Hist. i. 1. So Moses of Chorene, i. 6. 
 
 | Arnobius, Adversus Gentes, i. 5. || Ibid. i. 52. 
 
 ^T Bryce, Arnobius adversus Gentes, 43, note 2. 
 
 ** Stromateis,i. 15. ft Ibid. v. 14. It Republic, x. 
 
nection of such, matters with Zoroaster is interesting. Am mi- 
 anus Marcellinus observes that " Plato, that greatest authority 
 upon famous doctrines, states that the Magiau religion, or 
 Magia, known by the mystic name of Machagistia, is the most 
 uncorrupted form of worship in things divine, to the philosophy 
 of which, in primitive ages, Zoroastres, a Bactrian, made many 
 additions drawn from the mysteries of the Chaldeans."* In 
 later classical times many clumsy forgeries were attributed to 
 Zoroaster, as to such personages as Orpheus (the Sanskrit 
 Eibhu) and Hermes-Trismegistos (Tet-Thoth, i.e. Thought or 
 Intellect) ; and there is still extant a work entitled Magika 
 Logia ton apo tou Zoroastrou Mag on. The younger Psellus, 
 A.D. 1020 1105, amongst his numerous writings composed 
 scholia on Zoroastrian literature, and gives as a Zoroastrian 
 saying the dictum that 
 
 " The soul, being a bright fire, by the power of the Father, 
 Remains immortal and is mistress of life."t 
 
 And, lastly, Ficinus, who died' A.D. 1499, and who wrote a 
 work entitled De Immortalitate Animi, states that, according to 
 Zoroaster, certain aquatic and aerial demons " are sometimes 
 seen by acute eyes, especially in Persia/'{ It would be inter- 
 esting to fully analyze and compare the above and other clas- 
 sical and mediaeval statements with Zoroaster and Magism as 
 revealed to us by modern discovery ; suffice it, however, to 
 observe here, that on the whole Zoroaster is described as an 
 eminent Baktrian, possessed of mysterious wisdom in matters 
 both physical and spiritual, engaged in contests with neigh- 
 bouring nations, the author of various occult works, versed in 
 the law connected with demons and the destiny of the soul, 
 closely associated with the reverential or mystical use of fire, 
 connected in the legend of Er, with a resurrection or revival, 
 and the son of Ahuramazda. His 'magic or wisdom appears as 
 a combination of both Baktrian and Chaldean lore, and its mys- 
 tic name, Mach-agistia, at once reminds us of the Akkadian 
 root machj " very-high/' to which I have ventured to refer 
 magism. 
 
 * Ammianus, xxiii, 6. 
 
 f M^x?) Trvp dvvafiti Trarpbg ovffa tfraeivbv, 
 
 AQdvCtTOQ Tf. fJif.Vf.lj KOI o/77 dfffTTOTlG EOT I. 
 
 t Apud Cory, Ancient Fragments, 255. 
 
 Souidas calls Zoroastres an astronomer in the time of Ninos, who 
 wished to be destroyed by fire from heaven, and warned the Assyrians to 
 preserve his ashes. He mentions another Zoroastres, whom he styles a 
 Perso-Median sage, who first established the Magian polity and lived 500 
 years before the Trojan war, perhaps the most reasonable date given by any 
 
5. Iranian Sacred Literature. 
 
 Such being the testimony of classical antiquity respecting 
 Zoroaster the Magian, let us next consider him and his religion 
 as they now stand revealed in the sacred books of Iran, trans- 
 lated, or I may rather say in many parts deciphered, by the 
 genius and persevering efforts of Burnouf, Spiegel, Haug, and 
 their several followers. The protagonist in this great work 
 was the Frenchman Anquetil Duperron, whose name must never 
 be forgotten in the history of Zoroastrian literature ; arriving 
 at Bombay in 1 754, he first revealed to Europeans the treasures 
 of the Avesta. The greater part of the sacred writings of Iran 
 has been lost, but judging by those of other countries, and from 
 the testimony of historians, we may well believe that they were 
 at one time of vast extent. Haug quotes the statement of Abu 
 Jafir Attavari, an Arabian historian, that " Zoroaster's writ- 
 ings covered 1,200 cowhides (parchments) ;"* and Hermippos 
 estimated the verses of the sage at no less than 2,000,000.f 
 According to the best tradition, which is supported by the 
 sacred writings now in existence and by other references to 
 many of the lost works, the entire canon once consisted of 
 twenty-one books, called Nasks, the Visparad and the Yasna. 
 The word nask is non-Aryan, and is connected by Haug with 
 the Assyrian nusku. Now the Assyrian and Babylonian divinity 
 Nabu (Nebo), the god of intellect, prophecy, and writing, is also 
 known as Nusku - } but Nusku, or rather Nuzku, was originally 
 a distinct Akkadian divinity, whose name signified "the High " 
 or "the height of heaven." J Hence these sacred books, the 
 nasks, purport to be named after the god of the height of hea- 
 ven, lord of intellect and writing. The Vendidad forms the 
 
 classical writer. He assigns several works on Nature, Astrology, and other 
 subjects to this Zoroaster. He also mentions a third personage, Zoromasdres, 
 whom he calls a Chaldean and a writer on mathematics and physics. In 
 masdres we have apparently the second part of the name Ahuramazda, 
 which, if we accept the derivation from ziru, " seed," would give " Son of 
 Mazda " as the meaning of the name, which would thus exactly agree with 
 the statement of Plato that Zoroaster was " the son of Oromasus." The 
 three personages mentioned by Souidas are doubtless identical. Diogenes 
 Laertius says, " From the time of the Magi, the first of whom was Zoroaster 
 the Persian, to that of the fall of Troy, Hermodorus, the Platonic philosopher, 
 calculates that 15,000 years elapsed. But Xanthos the Lydian [B.C. 470] 
 says that the passage of the Hellespont by Xerxes took place 6,000 years 
 after the time of Zoroaster " (Peri Bion, introduction, ii.). 
 
 * Essays on the Parsis, 123. 
 
 t " Hermippus qui de tota ea arte diligentissime scripsit, et vicies centum 
 millia versuum a Zoroastre condita, indicibus quoque voluminum ejus 
 positis explanavit." (Pliny, Hist. Nat. xxx. 2.) 
 
 t Vide Lenormant, Etude, 325. 
 
8 
 
 19th Nask. The Avesta-Zend in Pahlavi (i.e. ancient Persian), 
 Avistdk va zand, or "Text and Commentary/'' consists of (1) 
 The Yasna, or " Book of Sacrifice with Prayers." (2) The 
 Visparad, or "All Heads/' a collection of prayers. (3) The 
 Vendidad (Vidaeva-data), or " Law against the Devas/'* con- 
 tained in twenty-two Fargards or chapters ; and (4) The Khur- 
 dah- Avesta, or " Little Avesta," which consists of Prayers and 
 Yashts, or " Invocations." The Yasna may be compared in 
 point of priority and importance to the Rig- Veda of the Indian 
 Aryans and the Pentateuch. It consists of (1) the Five Gdthas, 
 or " Songs," which form the most archaic portion of the Avesta; 
 (2) the Yasna of Seven Has, or " Sections," written in the 
 Gatha dialect; and (3) the Later Yasna , which is written in 
 the ordinary language of the Avesta. Haug traces the form 
 avistdk "to a + vista (p.p. of vid, 'to know'), with the mean- 
 ing ( what is known/ or ' knowledge/ corresponding nearly 
 with Veda."1{ The text of the Avesta, as we have it, probably 
 belongs to the reign of Ardashir I., who in A.D. 226 put an 
 end to the Parthian dynasty of Askh (Arsakes) and became 
 the founder of the Sassanids. This monarch made every effort 
 to restore the national religion, which, although tolerated, had 
 necessarily become much depressed beneath five centuries and 
 
 f a half of Greek and Parthian rule. The efforts of Ardashir were 
 successful; the old sacred writings and traditions were collected, 
 and although many of them have been subsequently lost, yet 
 a most important residuum has been preserved to the present 
 day by the Parsis, who left their country for India on the 
 Muhammedan conquest of Persia A.D. 650. The great anti- 
 quity of the writings collected by Ardashir is evident, as, 
 amongst other reasons, in his time " the language of the 
 Avesta had long ceased to be spoken, and the contemporaries 
 of Ardashir could no more have composed a chapter of the 
 Vendidad than an English gentleman of this century could 
 imitate the Anglo-Saxon of King Alfred." J As to date of 
 composition, the Gdthas and the Earlier Yasna may be fairly 
 
 /placed some time prior to B.C. 1200; the greater portion of 
 the Vendidad cir. B.C. 1,000; the Visparad and Later Yasna 
 cir. B.C. 900-800 ; whilst the Yashts may be placed down to 
 cir. B.C. 400. In addition to the foregoing archaic works, 
 there is extant an extensive Pahlavi literature, using that term 
 to denote the language of Persia during the Sassanian dynasty, 
 A.D. 226-641. Two Pahlavi works in particular may be men- 
 
 * Vide inf. sec. 10. t Essays, 121. 
 
 J Bleeck, Avesta, introduction, xi. 
 
9 
 
 tioned, the Dinkard and the Bundahish or ' Cosmogony/ The 
 former consisted of nine books, 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 Nasks, great part of which were destroyed in the 
 time of " the accursed Alexander," at which period there were, 
 according to the Dinkard, 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 Eesurrection, 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 God 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 : 
 
 " Bather 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 song if that awaited the justified soul of 
 the deceased Zoroastrian. 
 
 * Essays, 313. 
 
 t Vide Bunsen, Egypt's Place, iv. 641 ; Lenormant, Chaldean Magic, 84. 
 And authorities cited. 
 
 t Heaven is called Garodemdna, " House of Hymns," and Ahu vahishta, 
 " the best life." As is well known, paradise (pairidaeza), i.e. ^ enclosure" a 
 place securely fenced in, is an Iranian word. si& 
 
 NIVERSITT 
 
10 
 
 6. Mythology and Religion. 
 
 Such, then, are the Parsi Scriptures; their composition 
 extended over 800 or 900 years or more, and thus, like the 
 Vedic 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 Bundahish; 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 Grod 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 f 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 
 f as' is unknown not only to the Vedas, but even to the 
 Greeks. "f 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, a propos 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. 
 t Sec. xiii, 
 
11 
 
 " As a loving wife shows herself to her husband, 
 So does Ushas, as it were, smiling, reveal her form."* 
 
 Here the symbolism and simile of the Yedic poet are as clear 
 and pure as the Psalmist's. Both are perfectly aware that 
 sun and dawn are alike merely natural phenomena, and, lastly, 
 there is no monopoly of the mysterious " as." Steinthal asks, 
 " I wonder whether I am mistaken ? " I think we may safely 
 reply that he is. Man, by the necessity of his being, applies 
 anthropomorphisms to the phenomena of nature; from his 
 standpoint the dawn smiles, the thunder shouts or laughs, the 
 sun knoweth his going down, and the deep utters his voice 
 and lifts up his hands on high. Here is no crude ignorance, 
 no grovelling concept, but a rich and splendid vein of natural 
 poetry, sublime because and this is the real power of all 
 potent thought and beautiful idea it is practically, nay 
 strictly, true.f 
 
 7. Character and Contents of the Gdthas. 
 
 To revert to the Gathas : their supreme age and importance 
 in the inquiry is evidenced, (1) by the exceedingly archaic 
 form of language in which they are composed; (2) by their 
 being frequently quoted or referred to with the greatest 
 respect in other sacred writings, e.g., they are expressly called 
 ' ' the five Gdthas of the pure Zarathustra." J (3) By their 
 being the repositories of numerous ideas and forms of belief 
 which have been subsequently elaborated; and (4) by the 
 uniform tradition on the subject. The word is from the root 
 gaij " to sing/' and they are composed in a metrical form for 
 recitation, each verse of the first containing forty- eight, of 
 the second fifty- five, and of the third forty-four syllables. 
 Some of the metres naturally greatly resemble those of the 
 Vedic Hymns. In quoting from them I use the translation of 
 Haug, as that of Spiegel is admittedly inferior, and indeed in 
 many passages absolutely unintelligible. The First Gdtha 
 bears the following heading, in the ordinary language of the 
 Avesta, and therefore added long subsequent to the composi- 
 tion of all five : 
 
 "The revealed thought, the revealed word, the revealed 
 deed of the righteous Zarathustra; the archangels first 
 sang the Gathas." Here it is implied that Zarathustra 
 
 * Rig-Veda, I. cxxiv. 7 (translated by Dr. Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 185). 
 t " Hold, in high poetic duty, 
 
 Truest Truth the fairest Beauty." 
 
 Mrs. Browning, The Dead Pan. 
 J Yasna, Ivi. 3. 
 
12 
 
 received these sacred songs through angelic agency, and 
 hence that he was the human author of them and communi- 
 cated them to the world. The triad of though t, word, and 
 deed, often appears in the Avesta ; and is used in a somewhat 
 technical sense, as meaning the thoughts, words, and deeds 
 enjoined by the Zoroastrian faith. Thus in a fragment of the 
 Hddokht Nask, which gives an account of the progress after 
 death, we find four steps mentioned in the advance of the 
 soul. The first step of the righteous he places upon good 
 thought, the second upon good word, the third upon good 
 deed, and the fourth and last upon the eternal lights. The 
 account of the contrary progress of the unrighteous soul is 
 lost, except the last clause, "The soul of the wicked man 
 fourthly advanced with a step he placed on the eternal 
 glooms," a calmly awful saying, which vies in solemnity with 
 those of our own Sacred Books. The First Gdtha forms 
 chapters xxviii. xxxiv. of the Yasna } and is to some extent 
 a compilation of independent verses ; in one place Zara- 
 thustra is spoken of in the third person, but as a rule he 
 is the speaker throughout. In this Gdtha are chiefly 
 noticeable : 
 
 I. The theory of Agriculture as a sacred duty.- 
 II. The theory of the Twin Spirits. 
 
 III. The protest against the Devas and their worship. 
 
 In the Second Gdtha we have, in addition to various 
 references to the foregoing subjects, 
 
 IV. The view of Ahuramazda as the Creator. 
 
 The last three Gdthas which, on the whole, are not so 
 important, also contain similar references, and a very material 
 passage which explains Zarathustra's view of the theory of 
 the Twin Spirits. These different subjects I shall notice in 
 order. 
 
 8. Agriculture as a Sacred Duty. 
 
 It is remarked of the state of things prior to the creation of 
 human beings, and in a manner indicative of a certain incom- 
 pleteness, that " there was not a man to till the ground " ; 
 and the subduing of the earth is expressly assigned to the 
 human race, not in the first instance as a toil to be accom- 
 panied by " sweat of the face," but as a high and sacred duty. 
 So in the Greek religious-mythology, Demeter, " the Earth- 
 mother," the earth considered in a state of orderly rule and 
 cultivation, kosmic not chaotic, is the great patroness of Tri- 
 ptolemos and the other noble and nurturing heroes of civiliza- 
 tion, who wander over the world, making all men acquainted 
 
13 
 
 with the blessings and benefits of agriculture.* And here I 
 may appropriately notice a link in name between the Aryans, 
 Eastern and Western. De-meter, as is well known, is equiva- 
 lent to Ge-rueter, " Earth- mother." Now the Sanskrit gdus, 
 the equivalent of the Greek ge, signifies (1) cow, and (2) 
 earth ; the earth being thus regarded in a secondary sense as 
 the fostering cow of mankind, a kind of symbolism in exact 
 harmony with the ideas of India, Iran, or Egypt, but which the 
 intensely anthropomorphic spirit of the Greek would have 
 rejected with disgust. So the Ribhus in the Rig-Veda are 
 said to have renovated or cut the cow,f namely, by cultivating 
 the soil ; and in this first Gdthctj the Geush urvd, or " Soul of 
 the Cow," i.e. the spirit of the personified earth, is repre- 
 sented as complaining to heaven, and as being informed by 
 Ahuramazda through Zarathustra, that it was to be cut, that 
 is, ploughed, for the good of mankind. So Zarathustra, 
 apparently addressing a large assemblage, and unfolding his 
 doctrines to them, declares : 
 
 ' ( I will now tell you who are assembled the wise sayings of 
 Mazda, 
 
 And the hymns of the Good Spirit. 
 You shall hearken to the Geush urva." 
 
 That is, "You shall duly cultivate the earth." And again 
 we read of Armaiti, the personification of prayer, and who was 
 in Ahuramazda, J that 
 
 " When Thou (Ahuramazda) hast made her paths that she 
 might go 
 
 From the tiller of the soil to him who does not culti- 
 vate it. 
 
 Of these two (i.e. the agriculturist and the nomad), 
 
 She chose the pious cultivator, 
 
 Whom she blessed with the riches produced by the good 
 mind. 
 
 All that do not till her, but worship the Devas, 
 
 Have no share in her good tidings ; " 
 
 namely, in the blessings of wealth, order, and civilization 
 generally. The nomadic life necessarily degenerates; it 
 
 * For a full analysis of the mythic position of Demeter and Persephone 
 in connection with the Eleusinian mysteries, vide The Great Dionysiak 
 Myth, vol. i. 273, d seq. By the Writer. Longmans & Co. 1877. 
 
 t Vide Eig- Veda, iv. Hymns 33-37. 
 
 t " In Thee was Armaiti (Yasna, xxxi. 9). 
 
 Armaiti is also considered as the angel of the earth, probably because 
 prayers, although heaven-inspired, rise from earth. 
 
14 
 
 becomes by contrast more and more rude and barbarous, 
 and is sooner or later associated with lawlessness and rapine. 
 There are numerous indications in the Avesta that the Zoro- 
 astrians suffered severely from time to time from the violence 
 of wilder neighbours, and to promote the more settled and 
 orderly life of agriculture thus became a sacred duty. It was 
 in fact a form of the contest between chaos and kosmos. 
 
 9. The Zoroastrian Theory of the Twin Spirits. 
 
 Without here noticing the general view respecting Persian, 
 Magian, or Zoroastrian dualism, I will at once quote the 
 Gdthas, in illustration of the Zoroastrian concept of the Twin 
 Spirits : 
 
 ' ( In the beginning there was a pair of twins, 
 Two spirits, each of a peculiar activity ; 
 These are the good and the base, in thought, word, and 
 
 deed. 
 
 Choose one of these two spirits. Be good, not base ! 
 And these two spirits united created the first (i.e. the 
 
 material world) ; 
 
 One the reality, the other the non-reality. 
 Of these two spirits you must choose one. 
 You cannot belong to both of them." 
 
 Did, then, the composer of this hymn believe in the actual 
 objective existence from all eternity of two spirits, one the 
 personification of good, the other the personification of evil? 
 Certainly not; and why ? Briefly for the following reasons : 
 
 I. Ahuramazda himself is distinctly stated in the Gdthas to 
 have created all that is, and is spoken of as " He who created 
 by means of his wisdom the good and evil mind in thinking, 
 words, and deeds." 
 
 II. These twins, called "the two primeval spirits of the 
 world," are styled "the increaser" and "the destroyer." 
 This explains the profound Zoroastrian concept ; the twins are 
 the two sides of the divine action, like light and darkness ; 
 and, as Haug well observes, are " in Ahuramazda." So, in 
 another passage of the Yasna, Ahuramazda declares, " The 
 more beneficent of my two spirits has produced the whole 
 rightful creation."* 
 
 III. In later times, when Ormazd (Ahuramazda) and Ahri- 
 man (Angromainyush), the "dark" or "hurtful spirit," had, 
 in the general belief of centuries, been pitted against each 
 other for ages, the mind, still striving after a primitive unity, 
 
 * Yasna, xix. 9. 
 
15 
 
 derived them both alike from an imaginary personification 
 designated Zarvan-akarana, ' ' Boundless-time," a being un- 
 known to the Avesta"* 
 
 IV. The dogma of the eternal existence of evil in the past 
 is unknown to any [other archaic religious belief ; and there- 
 fore the most stringent proof of the existence of such a creed 
 must be furnished ere the fact can be accepted. But no such 
 proof can be supplied. 
 
 V. On the other hand, the cause and origin of the later 
 Iranian dualism is transparent. The dark spirit of Ahura- 
 mazda, the mysterious side of Providence, which shows itself 
 objectively in the existence of darkness, evil, pain, injuring 
 storms, and noxious creatures, soon naturally enough, and 
 indeed, almost inevitably, received in belief a separate 
 existence ; and, as its operations were in apparent contradic- 
 tion to those of the beneficent God, an imaginary strife arose 
 between them, a contest whose physical counterpart had long 
 before been known to mythology. 
 
 10. TJie Protest against the Devas and their Worship. 
 
 Zarathustra, like many other great men who have been 
 regarded as founders of religions, was essentially a reformer ; 
 and whilst undoubtedly claiming to be able to ' f teach the 
 way of God more perfectly/' was far from aspiring to the 
 invention of a new and superior kind of faith. To compare 
 small things with great, any particular religionist who makes 
 a mighty effect upon his age resembles, however faintly, the 
 Founder of our Faith ; who at once accepted, illuminated, and 
 fulfilled all past true religion; protested against the degene- 
 racy of the then present religion, and threw a blaze of 
 expanding and intensifying splendour upon the religion of 
 the future. Even men like Muhammed and Sakya-muni were 
 the outcome of terrible corruptions, against which they waged 
 war and protested with immense effect, however great may 
 have been the subsequent failure of their systems ; and the 
 creed of Zarathustra, having as its basis-principle the grand 
 truth of monotheism, has survived the vicissitudes of many a 
 stormy age, and still proclaims with unshaken fidelity the 
 doctrine of the archaic sage.f I will next consider the protest 
 of Zarathustra and the Deva-cult. In the Gdthas we read : 
 
 * The passage in which Zarvan-akarana is supposed to be mentioned, 
 really reads: "The beneficent spirit made (them) in boundless time" 
 (Vendidad, xix. 9), i.e. at some time in past period. 
 
 t " The Parsis are now strict Monotheists ; their one supreme deity is 
 Ahuramazda." (Haug, Essays, 53.) 
 
16 
 
 { ' Ye Devas have sprung out of the evil spirit 
 
 Who takes possession of you by intoxication. 
 
 You have invented spells, which are applied by the most 
 wicked ; 
 
 May the number of the worshippers of the liar (evil spirit) 
 diminish. 
 
 What, good ruler Mazda, are the Devas ? 
 
 Those who attack the good existence (i.e. good men, useful 
 animals, etc.). 
 
 By whose means the priest and prophet of the idols expose 
 the earth to destruction. 
 
 Whoever thinks the idols and all those men besides, 
 
 Who think of mischief only to be base, 
 
 And distinguishes such people from those who think of 
 the right, 
 
 His friend or father is Ahuramazda. 
 
 This is the beneficent revelation of the supreme fire- 
 priest." 
 
 Again, he says of ' ' the priests and prophets of idols," that, 
 
 ' ' They ought to avoid the bridge of the gatherer ; 
 To remain for ever in the dwelling-place of destruction." 
 
 And in the Earlier Yasna we find a formal confession of 
 faith : 
 
 " I cease to be a Deva (worshipper). 
 I profess to be a Zarathustrian Mazdayasnian (devotee of 
 
 Ahuramazda), 
 
 An enemy of the Devas, and a devotee of Ahura ; 
 A praiser of the immortal benefactors (i.e. the Ameshas- 
 
 pentas) . 
 
 I forsake the Devas, and those like Devas. 
 I praise the Ahuryan religion, which is the best of all that 
 are, and that will be." 
 
 As it may be objected, in limine, that the Deva- cult, which 
 is admittedly polytheistic in character, was universal in Aryan 
 regions until the age of Zarathustra, it may be replied, in 
 limine, that Zarathustra no more invented the Ahuryan creed 
 than St. Augustine (to take a prominent name) invented the 
 Christian. And the evidence is similar in both cases ; for just 
 as the Bishop of Hippo speaks with approbation of the faith 
 of many of his predecessors, and just as the name of Christ as 
 a divine personage and as God, is to be met with centuries 
 before his day ; so, we find Zarathustra alluding to ' ' sayings 
 of old" revealed "by Ahura,* praising the ancient fire- 
 
 * Yasna. xlvi. 6. 
 
17 
 
 
 
 priests,* and exhorting his adherents to revere the Angra 3 
 known in the Vedic Hynins as the Angiras, an ancient race 
 or family peculiarly connected with religious rites even before 
 the separation of Indian and Iranian; and so also we meet 
 with the sacred name Ahura, as applied to the supreme Aryan 
 divinity, even before the separation of the Eastern and Western 
 branches of the mighty family. Thus the Ahuryan religion, 
 the faith of the A ngra- Angiras, was already ancient in Zara- 
 thustra's day. Be it also observed that Monotheism does not 
 consist, as one might almost suppose from the manner in 
 which it is frequently treated, in the negation of the belief in 
 the existence of all sentient beings except God and ourselves. 
 For, just as we, who are monotheists, accept the existence of 
 angelic intelligences, good and evil, and of the souls of the 
 dead, holy and unholy ; so Zarathustra may have regarded the 
 Devas as actual objective existences, as evil angels or demons, 
 without thereby in any degree infringing on his position as 
 the champion of monotheism. I am not inquiring what his 
 views on the subject were, but merely wish to show that in 
 any case they do not affect the general question, inasmuch as 
 he certainly did not regard the Devas as true gods. 
 
 11. History of the name Asura : meaning of " Ahuramazda." 
 
 It is one of the greatest triumphs of modern scientific re- 
 search to have revealed, by means of historical and philological 
 investigation, the primitive unity of the Aryan family, a grand 
 fact, which, like all other facts } is in perfect harmony with 
 Biblical statement. We now know that there was a time when 
 the ancestors of Kelt, Teuton, Slav, Latin, Greek, Iranian, and 
 Indian, dwelt together as a single nation. Then came a first 
 and great separation, when Iranian and Indian were left 
 together, whilst the others, impelled by the old and mys- 
 terious law of " Westward Ho," pushed forward into Erebf 
 
 * Vide inf. sees. 30-32. 
 
 t Ereb signifies " the West/' and, similarly, the Arabs are the people in 
 the west of Asia. " Erebos " is originally the western glooin after sunset, 
 from the Assyrian eribu, "to descend," as the sun. In accordance with this 
 circumstance, the Homeric Erebos lies in the west. The cave of Skylle looks 
 "towards the west, (i.e.} to Erebos" (Od. xii. 81) ; Odysseus turns towards 
 Erebos to sacrifice (Ibid. x. 528), and thence the ghosts assemble (Ibid. xi. 
 37). Aides, as King of the Underworld, is called " Hesperos Theos " 
 (Sophokles, Oed. Tyr. 177); and a "westward position" was generally 
 adopted by the Greeks when invoking infernal divinities (cf. Mitford, 
 History of Greece, xxii. 2). The main entrance to Greek temples of gods 
 
 C 
 
18 
 
 now Europe. After a time came a second separation, when 
 the ancestors of the Aryan Indians wandered south-eastwards 
 into the Punjab, the region of the five or seven streams.* Now 
 the name Ahura, in the form Asura, is one of the most familiar, 
 and at the same time perhaps the most interesting title in the 
 sacred literature of ancient India. In late times the Asuras 
 are represented as demons or fiends confined in hell, and 
 powerless against the gods.f In the Puranas, their oppo- 
 nents are styled, by a false etymology, Suras ; and they are 
 supposed to be A-Suras, "not- Suras/' In the Vedic litera- 
 ture of the second class, the Brdhmanas } the Asuras are the 
 cunning and powerful opponents of the Devas or gods. Going 
 back still further, to the Yedic literature of the first class, we 
 find the Asuras described in the Atharvaveda, the last and 
 latest of the Four Vedas, as evil and tricky beings, who are 
 put down and whose devices are frustrated by the Rishis or 
 Vedic seer-poets. J Lastly, we come in an ascending scale to 
 the Rig-Veda, in the Tenth and latest book of which the 
 Asuras are still unfavourably described as the opponents of 
 the gods and the good. But in the earlier portions of the 
 Rik there are, according to Haug, only two passages where 
 the word is used in an unfavourable sense. Thus during the 
 latter part of the long period occupied in the gradual com- 
 position of the Rig -Veda, the depreciation and degradation of 
 the term Asura and Asuras went on steadily, until this prin- 
 ciple culminated in their position in the late mythology. I 
 will give some instances of the use of the word in a good 
 sense, in the earlier portion of the Rik; and I may here 
 remark that the translation by Wilson, which is based upon 
 the views of that Indian Eustathios Sayana, A.D. 1350, most 
 
 was generally on the eastern side ; for Zeus and his fellows are the Devas or 
 " Bright-beings," who love the east as connected with the dawn, the light, 
 and the day. But the shrines of heroes faced westward, to show that they 
 had once been mortal and had sunk like the sun in death ; for the Sun-god, 
 the Vedic Yarna, " was the first of men that died, the first who found the 
 way" (Rig-Veda, X. xiv. 1, 2) to the heavenly world (vide inf. sec. 24. Of. 
 " The happy west " in the archaic Egyptian religion). The west being thus 
 connected with the infernal divinities, some Christian writers regarded it as 
 the special region of the devil and evil spirits. The word erebos has also 
 been identified with the Sanskrit ragas, but this is not approved by the 
 best authorities (vide Prof. M. Miiller, Rig-V eda-Sanliita, i. 42). 
 
 " Hapta Hindu is the sapta-sindhavas of the Vedas, a name of the 
 Indus country or India." (Haug, Essays, 230, note 3.) 
 
 t Southey's Curse of Kehama fairly illustrates this stage. 
 
 It Vide Atharvaveda, IV. xxiii. 5 ; VII. vii. 2. 
 
 Rig-Veda, II. xxxii. 4 ; VII. xcix. 5. In the later passage Varchin, 
 an opponent of Indra, is styled an Asura, 
 
19 
 
 famous of native commentators on the Veda, is by no means 
 to be relied on in the matter.* Thus we read f : 
 
 " This soma { is to be distributed as an offering among 
 
 the Asuras" (Haug). 
 
 " This soma is to be offered by us for the divine beings " 
 (Muir) . 
 
 Here the Asuras are simply the gods. And the title Asura is 
 also applied to some of the principal divinities separately; 
 to Iudra, Agni,|| Savitri,^] to the divine diad Varuna and 
 Mitra,** but especially to Varuna,ft the archaic head and 
 chief of Vedic divinities, and whom we meet with in the west 
 as Ouranos, so that he was known to the undivided Aryan 
 family. Thus investigation discloses that the name Ahura, 
 in the form Asura, was originally used in a good sense, alike 
 in India and in Iran, and in both countries was especially 
 applied to the supreme divinity. This name and concept 
 were, therefore, the common property of the Eastern Aryans 
 ere their separation into Iranian and Indian. But the term 
 can be carried still further back, for we find it in the Aesir,{ J 
 the general name for the gods of the Teutons and Scandi- 
 navians, and in the Erse and Etruscan ./Esar ; and hence it 
 was the common property of the united Aryan race, their 
 ancient and venerable appellation of. the Supreme. 
 
 Next, what is its meaning? Connected with the Yedic 
 asu y ' breath/ ' life/ Asura is " the Living," the living God, 
 the Spiritual, and, more generally, " the Divine," as opposed 
 to the Human. The God of Zarathustra Ahuro rnazdao, 
 
 " Sayana represents the tradition of India" (Prof. Miiller, Rig-Veda- 
 Sanhita, Preface, xv.), and " in many cases teaches us how the Veda ought 
 not to be understood " (Ibid ix.). 
 
 t Rig-Veda, I. cviii. 6 : " Somo asurair." 
 
 The Soma-juice, supposed to have been obtained from the plant Ascle- 
 pias (vide Wilson, Rig-Veda-Sanhita, i. 6; Canon Kawlinson, Ancient 
 Monarchies, ii. 329). 
 
 Rig- Veda, I. liv. 3. || Ibid. IV. ii. 5. IF Ibid. I. xxxv. 7. 
 
 * Ibid. VII. xxxvi. 2 ; VIII. xxv. 4. 
 
 ft Ibid-. I. xxiv. 14. Here Wilson, under the influence of Sayana, 
 renders Asura " averter of misfortune " ; adding " It is an unusual sense of 
 the word, but it would scarcely be decorous (!) to call Varuna an asura" 
 ( Vide also Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v . 61.) M. Darmesteter remarks, " Varuna 
 est le clieu le plus frequemment designe sous le nom d' Asura " (Ormazd et 
 Ahrinian, 47). 
 
 Jl The original form of the word is ansu (vide Tiele, Outlines of the 
 History of the Ancient Religions, 190 ; Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahriman, 
 47, note 4). 
 
 " According to Suetonius, ^ESAR was an Etruscan word which meant 
 'God.' ASsar also means 'God' in Erse" (Rev. Isaac Taylor, Etruscan 
 Researches, 144). " Aisar means * gods ' or ' spirits ' " (Ibid, 293). 
 
 c 2 
 
20 
 
 l( the Ahura who is called Mazdao," is <( the Wise-living- 
 spirit/' or perhaps rather, "the Living-Creator." * 
 
 12. The Devas and the Deva-cult. 
 
 Such being the god of "the Ahuryan religion/' let us next 
 consider the Devas and their cult. The important root dyu, 
 meaning primarily ' to spring/ and hence ' to shine forth/ 
 has become the parent of a whole tribe of famous words, e.g., 
 Dyaus, a Vedic name for the god of the gleaming heaven, 
 the father; called Dyaus-pitar, the Greek Zeus-pater, and 
 Latin Ju-piter and Janus Pater. Juno, Dianus, Diana, 
 are other connected names; as is the German Tiu, which 
 survives in Tues-day. Dyu has also supplied the general 
 name for God or gods, deva, theos, deus, divus, i.e. "the 
 Bright;" so, conversely, the Yedic a-deva is a-theos, or 
 ' god-less.' The Devas are, therefore, "the Bright-ones/' 
 the divinities of the morning, the dawn, the day, the lighted 
 and gleaming firmament. So we find the dictum, 
 
 " The evening is not for the gods ; it is unacceptable to 
 them." f 
 
 Deva; therefore, like asura, was originally a good epithet 
 amongst the Aryans ; and has continued to be so in India, 
 Greece, and Italy. But just as the Hindu Aryan degraded 
 the latter term, so the Iranian Aryan degraded the former ; 
 and in the Gdthas and throughout the Avesta it is applied to 
 false gods and hostile demons, and at length appears in the 
 late Persian form dw,% meaning a fiend or evil spirit. The 
 name Vendidad signifies, as noticed, " the Law against the 
 Devas;" and from the Zarathustrian standpoint Aryan India 
 is pre-eminently " the country of the wicked Deva-worship- 
 ping men." Now, whatever the Aryan religion in India 
 may have been originally, it undoubtedly at a certain period 
 was, or became, polytheistic; and it will be observed that 
 
 * " Mazddo . . . the Vedic medhds, ' wise ' ; or when applied to priests, 
 1 skilful, able to make everything ' " (Haug, Essays, 301). Prof. Miiller and 
 Benfey agree in this connection (vide Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 120, note). 
 M. Darrnesteter prefers to derive Ahura from an Iranian word, ahu, 
 " master," form of an Indo-Iranian asu, with which he compares the Greek 
 WQ ; Ahuramazda would thus signify " the Very-wise Lord." The Kev. 
 K. M. Banerjea takes a bolder flight, and confidently connects Asura with 
 Asur, remarking "The name Ahura Mazda was derived from 'Asur/ the 
 Assyrian term for god or lord " (The Arian Witness. Preface, xi. Calcutta, 
 1875). f Rig-Veda, V. Ixxvii. 2. 
 
 $ Prof. Miiller has elaborately traced the forms of the root dyu, such as 
 div, dev, ddiv, etc. (Lectures on the Science of Language, ii. 493.) 
 
 Vendidad, xix. 29. 
 
21 
 
 Zarathustra does not proclaim the cult of the Ahuras as 
 against that of the Devas, but the worship of the Ahura, 
 Ahuramazda, as against that of the company of Devas, God 
 against gods, monotheism against polytheism. Now Zara- 
 thustra, as noticed, was a reformer, refers to good men living 
 ere his time, and did not invent the concept of Ahura ; and 
 therefore, so far as the investigation has proceeded, we have 
 exceedingly strong reasons for surmising that the Vedic 
 period was one of gradual degradation, during which, what- 
 ever may have been the superior faith or knowledge of indi- 
 viduals, Dyaus, " the Bright/' the god of heaven, was by 
 degrees transformed into the Devas or band of bright divini- 
 ties, in disregard of that profound saying of a Chinese sage, 
 " As there is but one sky, how can there be many gods ? "* 
 Ere considering the Vedic religion in this connection, several 
 points alluded to in the foregoing quotations from the Tasna 
 must first be noticed. 
 
 13. The Soma-orgies and the Bridge of the Judge. 
 The intoxication spoken of in the Gcitha is that produced 
 by the Soma-juice ; the Karapaiis or " Performers of sacri- 
 ficial rites," were accustomed in the days of feud between 
 Indian and Iranian to prepare solemn Soma-feasts for the 
 Indian divinities. The Kavis or Seer-priests of the Yedic 
 Aryans then invoked a particular divinity with hymns, and 
 the god was supposed to descend and partake of the delicious 
 beverage. His votaries next intoxicated themselves more or 
 less, and when sufficiently excited set out on plundering excur- 
 sions. Hence the horror and abomination with which the 
 Zarathustrians regarded these depraving orgies, which at 
 once vastly debased the concept of divinity and ruined the 
 peaceable and orderly agriculturist. The Gdtha speaks of 
 " the priests of idols," an expression which seems clearly to 
 imply an image- worship more or less pronounced. Prof. 
 Miiller states that "the religion of the Veda knows of no 
 idols. The worship of idols in India is a secondary formation, 
 a later degradation of the more primitive worship of ideal 
 gods."t Bollensen and others are of a contrary opinion. The 
 truth probably is, that images began to appear towards the 
 end of the Vedic period. These idol-priests are warned to 
 " avoid the Bridge of the Gatherer," the celebrated Chinvat 
 pul. The phrase may also be rendered "Bridge of the 
 Judge," which seems to me to be rather the preferable 
 
 * Apud Prof. Miiller, Introduction to the Science of Religion, 195 
 t Chips, i. 38. 
 
 NIVERSITT 
 
22 
 
 reading. This bridge leads across tlie 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 Al 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 Grood-Mind"] rises from a golden 
 throne ; 
 
 Vohu-mano exclaims : How hast thou come hither to us, 
 righteous one ! 
 
 From the perishable life to the imperishable life ? 
 
 The souls of the righteous proceed joyfully to Ahura- 
 mazda, 
 
 To the Amesha spent as, to the golden throne, to para- 
 dise." * 
 
 * fattdidad, xix. 
 
23 
 
 The corresponding account in a Fragment of the Hadokht 
 NasJc states, 
 
 " On the passing away of the third night [after death], 
 As the dawn appears, the soul of the righteous man 
 
 appears, 
 
 Passing through plants and perfumes. 
 To him there seems a wind, more sweet-scented than 
 
 other winds, 
 Advancing with this wind there appears to him what is 
 
 his own religion, 
 
 In the shape of a beautiful maiden. 
 Then the soul of the righteous man spoke to her, 
 
 1 What maiden art thou, most beautiful of maidens ?' 
 Then answered him his own religion : 
 I am, youth, thy good thoughts, good words, good 
 
 deeds/ " 
 
 And then the righteous soul advances the four steps to per- 
 fect consummation of bliss, the last being placed upon " the 
 eternal luminaries."* 
 
 14. The Ameshaspentas. 
 
 The soul of the righteous is said to proceed to Ahuramazda 
 and " to the Aineshaspentas," the Ameshaspends of the 
 Parsis, whose name signifies " Immortal Benefactors " and 
 of whom, as we have seen,f the devout Ahuryan is a praiser. 
 These personages may be fitly introduced by a very interesting 
 quotation from Plutarch : " Horomazes [Ahuramazda] having 
 sprung from the purest light, but Areimanios [Angromainyush] 
 from the darkness (k- rov o<ou), they made war on each 
 other : and the one [Horomazes] made six gods, the first 
 (the god) of Good- mind (tuvotac). This is Yohumano, 
 " the Good-mind/' afterwards known as the angel Bahman, 
 a personification of the nature of Ahuramazda, and who, as 
 noticed, J welcomes the righteous soul on its entry into 
 Heaven. 
 
 " And the second (the god) of Truth (oXijflefec)." This is 
 Asha-vahista ; the most beautiful truth." Aslia, the equiva- 
 lent of the Vedic rita, is the universal order of things, both 
 material as in the kosmos ; and religious, as in fitting worship 
 and ritual. Thus the term signifies order, righteousness, truth. 
 Asha-vahista is a kind of personification of light, which is 
 truth-revealing and displays the harmony of the All, in oppo- 
 sition to darkness, which is essentially ignorant and chaotic. 
 
 * Vide sec. 7. t Sup. sec. 10. t Sup. sec. 13, 
 
24 
 
 " And the third (the god of) Good-government 
 This is Khshathra-vairya, " the independent sway." The 
 Kshatriya, or warrior caste, is the second of the four ancient 
 Hindu castes which appear as early as the Brahmanas. 
 
 " And of the rest one was (god) of wisdom. 1 " This is 
 Spenta-armaiti, " the perfect thought/' piety. " And another 
 (the god) of wealth (wXovrov} ." This is Haurvatad, "Health/' 
 who was afterwards supposed to preside over the fruits of the 
 earth, which spring up from the dwelling of Plutus-Pluto. 
 " And the remaining one, the maker of the pleasures in what 
 is beautiful."* This somewhat curious definition we can but 
 apply to the remaining Ameshaspenta Ameretad, " Immor- 
 tality/'' in which the righteous shall enjoy the endless loveli- 
 ness of God. Now these six personifications, the Good-Mind, 
 Truth, Power, Piety, Health, and Immortality, who, together 
 with Ahuramazda, make up the mystic number of Seven 
 Spirits of holiness and purity, afford a striking instance of the 
 intense monotheism of the system of Zarathustra ; for they 
 are not distinct divinities in origin, but, as their names show, 
 merely phases of the beneficent action and perfect character of 
 the Supreme. In later times a corresponding list of demons, 
 such as Akem-mano, " the Evil Mind/' Taric, " Darkness/' 
 and Zaric, " Poison," were excogitated in order to supply 
 Angromainyush with assistant counsellors, and [to make a 
 complete system exactly corresponding in its halves, on the 
 principle 
 
 " Grove nods at grove, each alley has its brother, 
 And half the platform just reflects the other." 
 
 This formal and arbitrary arrangement of divinities and super- 
 natural personages good, bad, and indifferent is what may 
 be termed pantheonization, is purely or mainly artificial, and 
 always marks a late phase in the religious thought of a com- 
 munity. In Greece the Homeric Poems paved the way for 
 the system of Hesiod, from which the class of thinkers who 
 culminated in Socrates and Plato ever recoiled, and which 
 was essentially self-destructive. There is great truth, mixed 
 doubtless with some alloy of error, in the remark of Herodotus, 
 " Homer and Hesiod were the first to compose theogonies, 
 and give the gods their epithets, to allot them their several 
 offices and occupations, and describe their forms."f But, at 
 the same time, it must be observed that the concept of a 
 Supreme Power associated with six other personages, the 
 whole body forming a mystic seven, is a really archaic idea, 
 
 Peri Is. Jcai Os. xlvii. f Herod, ii. 53. 
 
25 
 
 and one which was not unfamiliar to the undivided Indo- 
 Iranians. Areimanios, says Plutarch, sprang from the dark- 
 ness, zophos, i.e. the west, as zephuros is the western wind. 
 Kence he is identical in concept with Erebos, the gloom after 
 sunset.* 
 
 15. Mithra. 
 
 With the exception of Ahuramazda himself, no name is 
 more famous in Iranian religious-mythology than that of 
 Mithra, " the Friend/' the Vedic Mitra, the divinity of beam- 
 ing light, and hence the Sun-god; not by any means the 
 solar photosphere crudely regarded as a sentient being. In 
 the Mihr-YaQJit, or "Invocation to Mithra,," Ahuramazda 
 declares 
 
 " When I created Mithra, I created him as worthy of 
 
 honour, 
 As praiseworthy, as I myself, Ahuramazda/' 
 
 Of Mithra M. Lenormant remarks that his " origin is not 
 clearly explained in what remains of the Zoroastrian books " 
 but that he ' ( seems to have sprung from Ormuzd, and to have 
 been consuLstantial ivith him." He was the " judge after 
 death. His name, title, and high position in the Mazdean 
 faith unquestionably belong to the most ancient phase of this 
 religion." f Elsewhere! he alludes to a passage "which has 
 much puzzled the commentators/' "the two divine Mithras. " 
 I understand Spiegel to interpret this of the sun and the 
 planet Jupiter, but as the sun is mentioned almost immediately 
 after, and is styled " the eye of Ahuramazda and Mithra/' I 
 suppose rather that "the two divine Friends " are Ahuramazda 
 and Mithra themselves. Now Mithra is almost the only divine 
 personage besides Ahuramazda to whom, in the more archaic 
 portion of the Avesta, a distinct, objective, actual, sentient 
 existence is undoubtedly attributed. Thus we read 
 
 " Mithra (who bestows) good dwelling on the Aryan 
 
 regions, 
 
 May he come to us for protection, for joy, 
 For mercy, for healing, for victory, for hallowing, 
 Mithra will I honour with offerings, 
 Will I draw near to as a Friend with prayer. 
 Give us the favours we pray thee for, O Hero, 
 Kingdom, strength, victoriousness, sanctification, and 
 purity of soul, 
 
 * Vide p. 17, note f. f Ancient, History of the East, ii. 33. 
 
 Chaldean Magic, 236. Yasna, i. 29. 
 
26 
 
 Greatness and knowledge of holiness, instruction in the 
 holy word/'* 
 
 The physical and mythological side of his character, which is 
 also of great interest, I need not refer to in this connection ; 
 but it will be observed that Mithra cannot, like the Ameshas- 
 pentas, be resolved into a mere personification of a quality or 
 a virtue or the like, and hence in the Zoroastrian system he is 
 not included amongst them. They are but illustrations of the 
 character of Ahuramazda, the Supreme ; Mithra, though ever 
 working in perfect harmony with him, though so closely con- 
 nected with him that M. Lenormant makes use of the remark- 
 able expression " consubstantial," is nevertheless also a distinct 
 divinity, as worthy of honour as Ahuramazda himself. Mithra 
 is not only the support, friend, and protector of the righteous, 
 but also the constant and triumphant opposer of the Devas 
 and of the wicked man. And, like the august concept of the 
 Sun-god elsewhere, he is pre-eminently the judge. So in 
 Egypt the Sun-god, as Ra and as Uasar (Osiris), is the judge 
 of men j whilst, as Fox Talbot has observed, " The great 
 name of the Sun in Assyrian theology was Daian-nisi or Dian- 
 nisij-f the Judge of men ; the Greek Dionysos.J Neither 
 Amen, " the Hidden-one," in Egypt, nor Anu, " the High- 
 one/' in Assyria and Akkad, nor Ahura, " the Living-one," 
 in Iran, take upon themselves the function of judge of mortals; 
 they delegate the great work to their august representative 
 and manifestation the Sun-god. It is impossible not to re- 
 call in this connection various statements in our own Sacred 
 Books in perfect harmony with this belief. Thus we are told 
 that "the Father hath committed all judgment unto the Son,"|| 
 who "was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and 
 dead,"H" "God having appointed a day, in which He will 
 judge the world in righteousness by that man whom He hath 
 ordained."** And this judge is "the Sun of righteousness/'ff 
 " a sun and shield." J J With the later Mithra, who as Mithras in 
 conjunction with Serapis so triumphantly invaded the Roman 
 Empire and drove the classic gods of Greece and Italy from 
 
 * Mihr-Yasht. 
 
 t From the Assyrian danu, judge ; Heb. dan (cf. Gen. xlix. 16 : Dan 
 shall judge his people) and nisu, man. 
 
 J Vide The Great Dionysiak Myth, ii. 209. 
 
 For a consideration of the concept and position, physical and spiritual, 
 of the Sun-god, vide The Archaic Solar-cult of Egypt. By the Writer. 
 (Theological Review, October, 1878- January, 1879). 
 
 || St. John v. 22. IT Acts x. 42. * * Ibid. xvii. 31. 
 
 ft Malachi iv. 2. J{ Psalm Ixxxiv. 11. 
 
27 
 
 the field, degrading even Jupiter himself to the rank of a mere 
 planetary genius, I am not concerned. His mysteries, trials, 
 tests, tortures, grades, and their contest and connection with 
 Christianity and Gnosticism, form an exceedingly interesting 
 study, but neither truly Zarathustrian, nor yet archaic. One 
 Euboulos, quoted by Porphyry, wrote a history of Mithra in 
 many books, and connected Zoroaster with his cult.* 
 
 16. Mithra and the Gdthas. 
 
 In the Mithra of the Avesta the Sun- god is presented before 
 us in his customary double aspect. Physically, he sees all 
 things, possesses wide pastures, has a chariot and swift horses, 
 or stands clad in gold upon the mountain-tops. But he is far 
 more than this ; he is also a mighty spiritual being, the judge, 
 the terrible opponent of evil men and evil powers, the avenger 
 of the broken contractf and the scourge of the liar, the be- 
 stower of reward, fame, and holiness to the soul, to whom a 
 man may draw near in prayer as to a friend. Now, as the 
 name Mithra does not occur in the Gdthas except in the sense 
 of ' ' contract " or " promise/' the next question for considera- 
 tion is, What is the connection between Mithra and the reli- 
 gion of the Gdthas? The general opinion is somewhat as 
 follows : " Whilst in the Gathas we never find mentioned 
 gods like Mithra and Anahita,J we meet with their names in 
 nearly every page of the later Yasna. Here arises the ques- 
 tion why the author of the Gathas disregarded these gods and 
 divine beings whom it was afterwards held sinful to neglect ? 
 The only (?) answer is that he neither believed in them nor 
 thought them to be an essential part of religion. " So Dr. 
 West observes, " Mithra finds no place in the earlier Zoroas- 
 trian scriptures, and his appearance with the other angels, in 
 the later writings, denotes a partial lapse into idolatry." || 
 Although I dissent with diffidence from such authorities, yet 
 I am compelled to do so in the present instance, and for the 
 following reasons : 
 
 I. Mithra occupied a position of exceedingly high honour 
 and importance prior to the separation of Indian and Iranian. 
 
 * Vide C. W. King, The Gnostics and their Remains, 97 ; Porphyry, 
 Peri apoches ton empsuchon, iv. 16 ; Peri tou en Odusseia ton Nuiiiphfin 
 antrou, 2. 
 
 t A promise or contract is called mithra, and to break it is " to lie to 
 Mithra " (vide Yasna, xlvi. 5 ; Vendidad, iv). 
 
 + The classical Anaitis and the Chaldeo-Assyrian Anatu. Her case 
 is not analogous with that of Mithra, as she sprang from an entirely different 
 source. Mithra is a purely Aryan divinity. 
 
 Haug, Essays, 260. || The Academy, June 29, 1878, p. 583. 
 
28 
 
 That position he never lost, either in the Avesta, or in the 
 earlier portions of the .Rig-Veda; whilst various other divini- 
 ties were degraded either by Indian or Iranian. 
 
 II. The authors of the GdtJias were perfectly acquainted 
 with the worship of Mithra, but it is never condemned by 
 them ; and as, moreover,, many Gdthas are undoubtedly lost, 
 it is quite possible that Mithra may have been mentioned with 
 approval in these. The argumentum e taciturnitate is proved 
 in countless instances to be one of the weakest that can be 
 employed. 
 
 III. There are apparently several indirect references to 
 Mithra in the extant Gdthas. Thus, as noticed, his name 
 occurs in the sense of ' contract'; and, as mentioned, refer- 
 ence is made to the Bridge of the ' Gatherer ' or ' Judge/ 
 Now Mithra, as M. Lenormant notices, was the "judge after 
 death " ; and the customary mythologico-religious function of 
 the Sun-god is to be the judge, guide, and conductor of 
 souls, as the one who first passed into the unseen world.* I 
 think, therefore, that Mithra is the personage here alluded to. 
 
 IY. In the later portion of the Avesta Mithra reappears in 
 a position of the highest honour, a circumstance which I do 
 not regard as a " lapse into idolatry/' because I do not think 
 that his concept was originally idolatrous ; this circumstance 
 points rather to his having been regarded with unbroken 
 respect. 
 
 Y. Lastly, the authors of the Gdthas, who were making a 
 great monotheistic protest, had an obvious reason for sup- 
 pressing the name, lest the nomen should as in countless 
 other instances, and as was subsequently actually the case 
 here, become the nutnen.^ 
 
 As M. Lenormant observes, there is doubtless a certain 
 obscurity connected with the Mithraic concept as it appears 
 in the Avesta; but I think with him, that we may without 
 hesitation link Mithra with the most ancient phase of the 
 Iranian religion; and, further, that a careful analysis of the 
 archaic concept of Mithra, and especially bearing in mind his 
 intimate relation with Ahuramazda, will make us hesitate ere 
 
 * Vide the ca&e of the Vedic Yania, and the Hymns on the subject in the 
 Rig-Veda, books IX. X. The Greek idea was similar. " Stesichoros, 
 B.C. 632-552, sings how Halios [Helios] Hyperion's sun, went down into his 
 golden cup and sailed away o'er ocean to the deep realms of night, to visit 
 his beloved ones in the sacred laurel grove." (The Great DionysiaJc Myth, i. 
 317.) 
 
 t Cf. Exodus xxiii. 13 : "In all things that I have said unto you be 
 circumspect : and make no mention of the name of other gods, neither let 
 it be heard out of thy mouth." 
 
29 
 
 we pronounce the respect or reverence originally paid him to 
 have been idolatrous. As the Homeric poems contain nume- 
 rous personifications of ideas, such as rumour, terror, panic, 
 discord, sleep, death, and the like ; so, in the Avesta, we find 
 disease, decay, poverty, deceit, dwarfishness, sloth, dark- 
 ness, poison, represented or spoken of as personal demons; 
 and other concepts more august such as Sraosha, the personifi- 
 cation of the divine service; Rashnu, the personification of 
 justice; Asha, order, physical, moral, and religious; and the 
 Ameshaspentas equally resolve themselves, so far as actual 
 objective existence is concerned, into thin air. But Mithra, 
 "the mightiest, strongest, most famous, most victorious, 
 most brilliant of the Yazatas," * or " beings worthy of 
 honour/' cannot be so resolved. He is neither the sun, nor 
 the light, but the spirit of brightness and the sentient friend 
 of man. 
 
 17. Ahuramazda as the Creator. 
 
 It remains to notice the statement in the Gdthas respecting 
 Ahuramazda as the creator of all things. I have already f 
 quoted a passage which declares that the material world was 
 created by his two spirits, and in another place we read ; 
 
 " Armaiti came with wealth, the good and true mind ; 
 She the everlasting one, created the material world." 
 
 Now Armaiti, the Yedic Aramati, is the personification of 
 Prayer or Divine Wish ; and, as noticed, is " in Ahuramazda," 
 and hence the meaning is that divine yearning tender and 
 benevolent occasioned creation. So, again, we read : 
 
 " That I shall ask thee, tell it me right, O Ahura ! 
 Who was in the beginning the father and creator of 
 
 righteousness ? 
 
 Who created the path of the sun and stars ? 
 Who causes the moon to increase and wane but thou ? 
 Who is holding the earth and the skies above it ? 
 Who made the waters and the trees of the field ? 
 Who created the lights of good effect and the darkness ? 
 Who created the sleep of good effect and the activity ? 
 Who (created) morning, noon, and night ? 
 Who has prepared the Bactrian home ? 
 To become acquainted with these things, I approach 
 
 thee, Mazda, 
 
 Beneficent spirit ! creator of all beings ! 
 That I shall ask thee, tell it me right, O Ahura ! 
 
 The Vedic Yajata " and the Parsi Izad or u angel." t Sec. 9. 
 
80 
 
 How may I come,, Mazda ! to your dwelling-place (i. e. 
 
 Heaven) 
 To hear you sing ? " 
 
 The touching simplicity of the last question may almost pro- 
 voke a smile, but let any Lucretius who, either in despairing 
 incredulity or in temporary satisfaction with the water of this 
 life, has 
 
 " Dropped his plummet down the broad 
 Deep universe and said c No God,' 
 Finding no bottom/' 
 
 commune for a moment with his own heart respecting this 
 sacred thirst of man for the more immediate presence of 
 divinity, this cry of agonizing intensity, " When shall I come 
 and appear before God ; " " for all men yearn after the 
 gods/' * Is it baseless, a mere desire for nothing ? I would 
 as soon believe that physical thirst was unaccompanied by an 
 answering actuality. No sadder doom can befall a mortal 
 than to convince himself that this, the noblest aspiration of 
 the soul, is altogether fallacious. To such an one it may 
 almost be said in those words of unapproachable sadness, 
 " The fruits that thy soul lusted after are departed from thee, 
 and all things which were dainty and goodly are departed 
 from thee, and thou shalt find them no more at all." That I 
 do not exaggerate, witness the confession of the candid and 
 most unhappy Physicus, at the conclusion of his able work, 
 <c I am not ashamed to confess that with this virtual negation 
 of God the universe to me has lost its soul of loveliness ; and 
 when at times I think of the appalling contrast between the 
 hallowed glory of that creed which once was mine, and the 
 lonely mystery of existence as now I find it, at such times I 
 shall ever feel it impossible to avoid the sharpest pang of 
 which my nature is susceptible." f Thank heaven that in 
 ancient Iran we see no such " monumental melancholy gloom/' 
 but rather a childlike confidence and simple faith that Ahura 
 will guide through all darkness and difficulty, and that at the 
 last, although in some almost "unimagined fashion," his 
 children " shall see his face." 
 
 " Ahura who is giving all (good things) cannot be deceived. 
 All that have been living, and will be living, 
 Subsist by means of his bounty only, 
 The soul of the righteous attains to immortality. 
 
 * TIdvTeg fit BtMv \ariova' avOpcjTrot. (Od. iii. 48.) 
 
 t A Candid Examination of Theism, 114 (English and Foreign Philo- 
 sophical Library, vol. ix.)- 
 
31 
 
 Him I wish to adore with my good mind, 
 
 Him who gives us fortune and misfortune according to 
 his will,, 
 
 He knows with his true and good mind, 
 
 And gives to this world freedom from defects and im- 
 mortality;" 
 
 for He "only hath immortality." It will be remembered 
 that I am not speaking so much of Iranian religion generally, 
 nor even of the religion of the Avesta, a work of many hands 
 and many years, but of the religion of Zoroaster ; and I think 
 it must, upon the whole, be admitted that amongst the various 
 phases of uninspired faith, his will stand almost second to 
 none; and that it is distinctly and essentially monotheistic. 
 Having now considered it in itself, I will next briefly view it 
 in connection with Archaic, i.e. pre-Zarathustrian, Mono- 
 theism, and with this feature chiefly as it appears amongst 
 the eastern members of the Aryan family. 
 
 PART II. THE EARLY VEDIC BELIEF. 
 
 18. Various Modern Theories respecting the Nature 
 of Vedic Belief. 
 
 As the earliest Vedic literature is admittedly nearer in lan- 
 guage, style, and tone of thought to the period of Indo-Ira- 
 nian unity than the Avesta generally, or perhaps even than the 
 Gat Jt as, it is to the Rig -Veda, the " Yeda of Praise," which 
 stands at the head of the Aryan sacred literature of India, that 
 we must, in the first instance, turn for information respecting 
 pre-Zarathustrian faith. The Sanhita or 'Collection' of the 
 Rik, consists of 1,017 SuJctas or ' Hymns/ containing 10,580 
 Riclias or ' Verses/ and is divided into ten Books called 
 Mandalas or ' Circles/ The work appears to be the production 
 of some 150 writers, and its composition doubtless extended 
 over several centuries. From the nature of the human mind 
 and from the experience we possess of other archaic sacred 
 works, we may expect to discern in it a great uniformity of 
 tone and a general method of treatment, combined with almost 
 infinite* variety in detail, often apparently highly conflicting,, 
 and a gradual drifting of the mind towards fresh mental stand- 
 points ; a phase which shows itself in a fluctuation in the amount 
 of respect paid to various divinities, who thus from time to time 
 fall or rise in the estimation of their votaries. All this we shall 
 find abundantly in the Rik. There is, of course, no question 
 that the faith of the Aryan Indian became practically polythe- 
 istic, although many theistic or even monotheistic features were 
 
32 
 
 retained or added whilst pantheism, ever a late form of philo- 
 sophico-religious thought, likewise appeared in its turn in a 
 most pronounced and developed phase, But the question 
 before us is not what archaic Indian faith had become at the 
 end, but what it was (to go back at present no further) at the 
 commencement, of the Yedic period. And here at the thres- 
 hold of the investigation, the inquirer must not be discouraged 
 by finding the widest difference of opinion amongst experts. 
 The student, therefore, whilst giving all honour where it is 
 due, will carefully retain the right of private judgment, nor 
 consent to follow blindly the chariot of any particularly great 
 literary conqueror. Theie is no absolute and inherent neces- 
 sity that the best philologist should be also the best mytholo- 
 gist, or that the man who possesses the greatest acquaintance 
 with the body of a work should have most truly caught its 
 real spirit. There is, indeed, a decided a 'priori probability in 
 his favour, but nothing more. Professor Miiller, with a par- 
 donable preference for his great study, observes, " The Veda, 
 I feel convinced, will occupy scholars for centuries to come, 
 and will take and maintain for ever its position as the most 
 ancient of books in the library of mankind."* I think the 
 Veda scarcely possesses this pre-eminent claim to antiquity, 
 but whether scholars will be thus occupied with it or not, 
 sure I am that " for centuries to come " (should the present 
 state of things endure so long) men will investigate with undi- 
 minished interest the archaic beginnings of religion, in connec- 
 tion with the supreme question of its truth, and of the reason 
 of its existence amongst mankind. The fact that highly able 
 inquirers have regarded the Vedic religion as polydaimonic or 
 even lower ; as polytheistic, as henotheistic, or as monotheistic, 
 is at first sight very startling ; but even a slight study of the 
 Veda almost clears up the mystery, inasmuch as it soon reveals 
 the principles on which the various experts acted. Thus, ac- 
 cording to A, the Yedic Indian observing, like other savage or 
 semi-savage tribes, a vast amount of extra-human power 
 around, worshipped it everywhere and in anything or in every- 
 thing. The principle of anthropomorphism obtained more or 
 less, as of course, and thus the cult was polydaimonic or fetish- 
 istic. According to B, the Yedic Indian, like other Aryans, 
 was deeply impressed by the most remarkable phenomena of 
 nature, which he personified and adored ; hence he was a poly- 
 theist. According to C, the Yedic Indian had a wonderful sense 
 of the greatness and goodness of the divine, but he was unable 
 to consider the whole except in its parts ; and hence when he 
 
 Rig- Veda Sanhita, i. Preface, x. 
 
33 
 
 hymned this or that phase of superhuman potency, it assumed su- 
 preme dimensions in his mind, and being, of course, personified, 
 the worshipper thus became a henotheist, or one who adores 
 many gods, any one of whom may be regarded in turn as the 
 highest. According to D, the Vedic Indian originally believed 
 in one God, whose phases of character and material manifesta- 
 tions by degrees became personified; whereby the original, 
 simple and sublime idea was shrouded and hence forgotten. 
 And are there then passages in the Rig -Veda which coun- 
 tenance, or seem to countenance, each of these contradictory 
 opinions ? Most certainly, and hence the theories ; but here, 
 as elsewhere, let us as far as possible avoid being entangled 
 by what I may call the tyranny of isolated texts. " It is 
 written again/' must be our constant motto, for the ninety- 
 first Psalm is by no means the only Scripture that may be per- 
 verted through this most objectionable principle. What must 
 be sought in an investigation of the Rik is, not simply odd 
 passages or quotations which maybe used in support of a par- 
 ticular theory, but broad, general principles of belief. To give 
 an instance : 110 passage in the Veda is more familiar and per- 
 haps more remarkable than the famous statement : 
 
 ({ They call Him Indra, Mitra, Varuna, Agni ; 
 And (he is) the celestial, well-winged Garutmat. 
 Sages name variously that which is but one : 
 The}' call it Agni, Yama, Matarisvan."* 
 
 Here, it may be said, we reach monotheism at a bound ; here 
 is an explanatory statement in the earliest portion of the Veda, 
 giving the general practice and belief. And towards the close 
 of the Rile we read similarly : 
 
 ' l The wise, in their hymns, represent, under many forms, 
 
 the well- winged (god) who is but one."t 
 
 I value these passages very greatly, but the argument in favour 
 of archaic monotheism must not be allowed to rest upon them 
 alone, or upon any other similar passages elsewhere. And we 
 must be cautious not to strain them ; thus it may be asked 
 who is the ( Him/ the ' it/ and the ' well-winged ' ? It is easy 
 to reply that the Deity is undoubtedly meant, and such very 
 likely may be the case ; but the great commentator Yaska, 
 B.C. 400, applied the former passage to Agni, whilst Sayana 
 thought that Surya, the Sun, was intended. However, ere 
 examining the principal Vedic concepts, we may remember 
 
 * Rig-Veda, I. clxiv. 46. The translations of Vedic passages are chiefly 
 taken from Dr. Muir's Sanskrit Texts, and occasionally from the work of the 
 late Prof. Wilson, continued by Prof. Cowell. t Ibid X. cxiv. 5. 
 
 D 
 
34 
 
 with comfort a statement of Professor M tiller, which is not 
 based upon any particular passage or passages, but upon a 
 wide and careful investigation of the subject, a statement 
 which has my warmest assent, " Like an old precious metal, 
 the ancient religion, after the rust of ages has been removed, 
 will come out in all its purity and brightness, and the image 
 which it discloses will be the image of the Father, the Father 
 of all the nations upon earth."* 
 
 19. The Vedic Divinities. 
 
 The principle of explaining the concept of a myfchologico- 
 religious being from the signification of his name, is one which 
 has of late been employed with the most distinguished success; 
 and therefore a first step towards determining archaic Vedic 
 faith is to tabulate the Vedic divinities and to notice the 
 meaning of their names. The following are the principal per- 
 sonifications or divine personages of the Rig-Veda : 
 
 Aditi. " The Boundless." " The Infinite."f " The Infinite 
 personified" (Miiller). Mother of the seven or eight 
 Adityas : namely, Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, Amsah, 
 Bhaga, Daksha, Agni, and Martanda. The passages 
 do not absolutely agree respecting the names of the 
 Adityas. 
 
 Agni. The Slavonic Ogni. Lat. ignis. The igneous prin- 
 ciple, which shows itself alike in the terrestrial, aerial, 
 and heavenly flame, visible and invisible. "The Ag-ile." 
 
 Amsah. "The Sympathizer" (Eoth). "The Sharer" 
 (Tiele). "Portion" (Whitney). Very rarely men- 
 tioned. 
 
 Aryaman. "The Favourer" (Roth). "Protector" (Whit- 
 ney). Closely connected with Mitra, and sometimes 
 incorrectly identified with the Iranian Ahriman. 
 
 Asura. " The Living." J We often find one Asura particu- 
 larly mentioned, who is called " Asura of heaven. " 
 
 Asvins. "The Horsemen." "ThePervaders" (Goldstticker.) 
 Sons of Asva, the Sun in his aspect of a racer. || " The 
 two powers which seemed incorporated in the coming 
 and going of each day and each night" (Miiller). In 
 the West the Dioskouroi, Castor and Pollux. 
 
 Bhaga. " The Distributer." "Fortune" (Whitney). The 
 
 * Introduction to the Science of Religion, 67. 
 
 j- Vide Prof. Miiller's course of lectures On the Origin and Growth of 
 Religion. J Vide sup. sec. 11. 
 
 Haug, Essays, 269. || Of. Psalm xix. 5. 
 
Wendie Bogu. The " name became at an early date a 
 general designation of the gods among the Slavs. "* 
 Brahmanaspati. " The Lord of spells." A phase of Agni. 
 Brihaspati. " The Lord of prayer." A phase of Agni. 
 Daksha. The Intelligent " (Roth). " The Power " (Tiele) . 
 "The Powerful in will" (Lenormant). "Insight" 
 (Whitney). " Daksha sprang from Aditi and Aditi 
 from Daksha. Aditi was produced, she who is thy 
 daughter, O Daksha.^f 
 Lyaus. " The Shiner." " The Bright." J The heaven and 
 
 bright heaven god, Zeus. 
 
 Hiranyagarbha. "Golden embryo." " The source of golden 
 light " (Miiller) . A very remarkable hymn is addressed 
 to this divinity. The poet exclaims : 
 " In the beginning there arose the source of golden-light 
 He was the one born Lord of all that is. 
 He established the earth, and this sky ; 
 Who is the God to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ? 
 He who gives life, He who gives strength ; 
 Whose command all the bright gods revere : 
 Whose shadow is immortality; whose shadow is death; 
 He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm 
 He through whom the heaven was 'stablished nay the 
 
 highest heaven. 
 
 He who is the sole life of the bright gods ; 
 He who alone is God above all gods; 
 He the Creator of the earth ; He the Righteous, who 
 
 created the heaven." || 
 
 Indra. " The Rain-giver." The name is probably derived 
 from indu, ' drop/ The Zeus Ombrios, Jupiter Pluvius, who 
 with his thunderbolt destroys the rain-concealing demon and 
 sets free the refreshing waters. A peculiarly Indian divinity 
 who, from the local characteristics of the country, became 
 almost the head of the Pantheon. If the Iranians knew him 
 at all, which is very doubtful,^ they degraded him by making 
 him into a demon.** 
 
 Maruts. "The Crushers." ft The Storm- winds. Greek, 
 Ares. Latin, Mars. 
 
 * Tiele, Outlines of the History of the Ancient Religions, 109. 
 f Rig-Veda, X. Ixxii. 14. Vide sup. sec. 12. 
 
 Rig-Veda, X. cxxi. 
 
 j Translated by Prof. Max Miiller in his History of Ancient Sanskrit 
 Literature, 569. 
 
 *|f Vide Darmesteter, Omazd et Ahriman, 260, et seq. 
 ** Vide Haug, Essays, 272. 
 
 ft The above is the generally-received interpretation. M. Darmesteter pre- 
 fers, however, to render marat or marut " man" (vide Ormazd et .4/irwnew, 164). 
 
 D2 
 
 ITT) 
 
36 
 
 Mitra. "The Friend." Iranian Mithra.* Nearly always 
 mentioned in connection with Varuna. t 
 Prithivi. "The Broad Earth." Greek, Flatus. 
 Purusha. "The Male." The Purusha Sultta% gives a 
 somewhat pantheistic account of the Deity under this name. 
 The poet says : 
 
 " Purusha has a thousand heads, eyes, feet. 
 Purusha himself is the whole (universe), whatever has 
 
 been, whatever shall be. 
 He is the lord of immortality. 
 All existing things are a quarter of him, and that which 
 
 is immortal in the sky is three-quarters of him. 
 The moon was produced from his soul ; 
 The sun from his eye ; Indra and Agni from his mouth ; 
 And Vayu from his breath." || 
 Pushan. "The Growth-producer." (Tiele.) 
 Rudra. " The Terrible." This personage forms an excel- 
 lent illustration of the principle nomina numina, and of the 
 utter baselessness of many of the bugbears which have 
 frightened millions of mankind for ages. His name in origin 
 is only an adjective applied to Agni. Thus we read 
 "Agni, the Brilliant, the Terrible J (i.e. Rudra). 
 
 Agni, the terrible (rudra) king, the golden-formed." ** 
 Rudra as a distinct divinity continued to increase in import- 
 ance until as Siva, " the Gracious," a euphemism for his title 
 Sarva, " the Wrathful," he attained almost the first place in 
 the Hindu Pantheon, becoming the Mahadeva, or " Great 
 god," Megas theos. His dread consort Kali, " the Black," 
 was merely originally one of the seven fire- tongues of Agni. 
 In such instances as these we see polytheism developing 
 before our eyes, many made out of one. 
 
 Savitri. "The Vivifier" (Tiele), "The Inspirer" (Cox). 
 A solar phase. 
 
 Soma. "Intoxication" (Canon Rawlinson). Originally 
 the moist, humid, and watery element in nature, ft Also 
 closely connected with Agni. 
 
 * Vide sup. sees. 15, 16. 
 
 } Mitra and Varuna are the subject of a recent monograph by Dr. 
 Hillebrandt, Varuna und Mitra (Breslau, 1877). 
 
 J Rig-Veda, X. xc. 
 
 An early instance of symbolical monstrosity, a principle which has often 
 made art hideous. 
 
 || Apud Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 368, et seq. The hymn affords an exact 
 parallel to some of the later Egyptian hymns to the pantheistic Sun-god. 
 (Vide The Archaic Solar Cult of Egypt. By the Writer.) 
 
 f Big-Veda, III. ii. 5. ** Ibid, IV. iii. 1. 
 
 ft Vide sup. sec. 13 ; inf. sec. 29. Soma is a liquid Agni. 
 
Surya. "The Shining" (Tiele). Greek, Helios; Latin, 
 Sol, the Sun. 
 
 Tvashtn. "The Creator" (Lenormant). "The Maker" 
 (Miiller). A solar Hephaistos. 
 
 Ushas. "The Dawn." Greek, Eos, Aiis, Auos. Also 
 called Ahana. Greek, Athena, " the Brilliant ; " and Sa- 
 ranyu, Greek, Erinnys, the ' running ' light. 
 
 Varuna. "The Coverer" (Tiele). Greek, Ouranos. The 
 God of heaven, the Asura and head of the Vedic Pantheon. 
 After having ruled in the Oversea, Varuna in later times was 
 degraded to the Undersea, and became an Okeanos.* 
 
 Vaiju. "The gentler wind." Of. Lat. Favonius. The 
 spirit-breath of heaven. 
 
 Vishnu. "The Penetrater" (Gubernatis). The Sun, as 
 striding across heaven. 
 
 Vivasvat. "The Brilliant" (Roth). Heavenly light and 
 the sun. 
 
 Yama. "The Twin." Of. Lat. Gemini. The Iranian 
 Yima, who reigned in the happy golden age of the past. By 
 Yama and his twin-sister Yami some understood Day and 
 Night, or Light and Darkness. Yama is especially the 
 western or setting sun. He reigns over the departed, for to 
 die is but to go away ; and the fathers, the elder worthies of 
 the human race, dwell with Yama in bliss in the unseen 
 world. 
 
 Such, then, are the principal divinities of the Rig-Veda. 
 There are also many minor figures, goddesses, who play 
 unimportant parts, for a goddess, to use an Assyrian expres- 
 sion, is originally merely the ' reflection ' of her husband-god j 
 ideal personifications, such as Vach, ' Voice/ Sraddha, 
 ' Faith/ and the like ; compound names for the supreme 
 divinity, and other heterogeneous concepts ; but the foregoing 
 list contains all, or nearly all, the personages of any real 
 importance. 
 
 20. Analysis of the Vedic Divinities. 
 
 Reckoning the Asvins and the Maruts as each one person- 
 age, the list contains twenty-nine names, from which we may 
 at once deduct the three special phases of Agni, namely, 
 
 * Cf. the position of the Homeric Okeanos : 
 'Qictavov Tf, QtS>v ys 
 
 (II. xiv. 301-2.) 
 
38 
 
 Brahmanaspati, Brihaspati, and Rudra. The remaining 
 twenty-six, on analysis, appear as follows : 
 
 I. Phenomenal Objects. 
 
 5. Purely solar. 
 
 1. Celestial. 
 
 Savitri. 
 
 Aditi. 
 
 Surya. 
 
 Dyaus. 
 Soma. 
 
 Vishnu. 
 Vivasvat. 
 
 Varuna. 
 
 2. Aerial. 
 
 Yama. 
 6. The Earth. 
 
 The Maruts. 
 
 Prithivi. 
 
 Vayu. 
 3. The Dawn. 
 
 II. Abstractions of Deity. 
 
 Ushas. 
 
 Amsah. 
 
 4. Semi-solar. 
 
 Bhaga. 
 
 Agni. 
 
 Daksha. 
 
 Aryaman. 
 
 Hirany agarbha . 
 
 The Asvins. 
 
 Purusha. 
 
 Indra. 
 
 
 Mitra. 
 
 III. The Aryan God. 
 
 Pushan. 
 
 Asura. 
 
 Tvashtri. 
 
 
 They may also be further divided into : 
 
 I. Natural Objects merely so 
 
 regarded. 
 
 Aditi. 
 
 Dyaus. 
 
 The Maruts. 
 
 Ushas. 
 
 Prithivi. 
 
 Vayu. 
 
 II. Natural Objects connected 
 with spiritual power. 
 
 1. Heat and Humidity. 
 Agni. 
 Soma. 
 
 2. The Heaven. 
 Varuna. 
 
 3. The Light. 
 Aryaman. 
 The Asvins. 
 Indra, 
 Mitra. 
 
 Pushan. 
 Tvashtri. 
 
 4. The Sun. 
 Savitri. 
 Surya. 
 Vishnu. 
 Vivasvat. 
 Yama. 
 
 III. Forms of Deity. 
 
 1. General. 
 Asura. 
 
 2. Abstract. 
 Daksha. 
 Hirany agarbha. 
 
 . Connected ivith Light. 
 Amsah. 
 Bhaga. 
 
 4. Pantheistic. 
 Purusha. 
 
39 
 
 21. Natural Objects merely so regarded. 
 
 In the present day, when knowledge and research have so 
 vastly extended,, and when whole books are written on single 
 divinities, it is of course utterly impossible in a brief paper to 
 give anything like a complete representation of the facts, or a 
 full justification of the views adopted. But it is quite possible 
 to indicate a general method of treatment, and, I venture to 
 add, to advance very strong arguments in its favour. Nor is 
 further investigation either into the researches of original 
 students, or by such students themselves, likely, in my judg- 
 ment, to turn the monotheistic position here adopted. We 
 have a number of names, an apparent polytheism, but in 
 origin a real monotheism. To begin with Infinite Space, 
 Heaven, Earth, Dawn, Wind, and Tempest, six of these 
 twenty-six figures : as far as I am aware there is no passage 
 in the Rik which necessarily implies that any one of them 
 was regarded by any poet as an absolutely sentient being of 
 divine nature. As to Aditi, the infinite, she is of course in 
 one point of view mother of everything and of every personage 
 which infinite space contains; but she is no real divinity, 
 being essentially a mere negation, the not-bounded, and space 
 itself is mainly unsubstantial extension. Heaven and earth, 
 again, broadly regarded as the two halves of the all, heaven 
 being all that is above, and earth all that is below, are, anthro- 
 pomorphically speaking, father and mother of men and things 
 in many a kosmogony ; but, as in the case of Aditi, and as in 
 that of the Greek Ouranos and Gaia, this is a mere figure of 
 speech. Thus, the ancient song of Dodona ran, " The earth 
 sends forth her fruit, therefore call the earth mother." Dyaus, 
 in the East, is but a name ; in the West he is the true god-father, 
 Zeus. Conversely, Ouranos in the West is but a name ; in the 
 East he is the true god-father, Varuna the Asura. Dr. Muir 
 is of opinion that epithets of ' c a moral or spiritual nature " are 
 applied to the Vedic Dyaus and Prithivi, but such terms as 
 " innocuous, beneficent, wise, promoters of righteousness," by 
 no means necessarily contain such an implication. Thus, for 
 instance, the righteousness spoken of is merely kosmic order ; 
 of which heaven and earth are, of course, the two great sup- 
 porters. The wisdom of heaven is no more than that of the 
 physical sun who " sees all things/' and therefore is said to 
 know all things. Beautiful hymns are addressed to Ushas, the 
 dawn ; but there is little, if anything, in them which a modern 
 poet might not have written, and there is not a tittle of evi- 
 dence to show that the ancient poet regarded Ushas otherwise 
 
40 
 
 than a modern Aryan bard would do.* Chateaubriand 
 writes : 
 
 " The dawn peeps in at the window, she paints the sky with red ; 
 And over our loving embraces her rosy rays are shed. 
 She looks on the slumbering world, love, with eyes that seem divine ; 
 But can she show on her lips, love, a smile as sweet as thine 1 "t 
 
 There is no mystery here ; simply a constant working of the 
 anthropomorphic principle. And so the Vedic Ushas, daughter 
 of the sky, sister of night, bride of the sun, mistress of the 
 world, kinswoman of Varuna, divine, immortal, golden-hued, 
 as we have seen, smiles upon the earth ; and to her, to the 
 region whence all drawn-light springs, go holy souls after 
 death. J Again, Vayu, the wind, touches the sky, and is swift 
 as thought ; he does not occupy a prominent position in the 
 Rig-Veda, but is very closely connected with Indra, as ruling 
 the middle region. The Maruts are a troop of winds, some- 
 times said to be twenty-seven in number, sometimes a hundred 
 and eighty. They attend and aid Indra, the god of the bright 
 heaven, who drives away darkness by storm. Thus, this group 
 of divinities, on examination, disappear absolutely, not merely 
 to ourselves, but to the Vedic Indian. They stand confessed 
 as the ordinary phenomena of nature, and nothing more. 
 
 22. The Forms of Deity. 
 
 Twenty personages remain. Let us next take the group of 
 forms of deity. Daksha is merely a personification of intelli- 
 gence, or intelligent will, which will, as noticed, even pro- 
 duced infinite space. Whose will ? That of the Asura. 
 Amsah, whose name very rarely occurs, is the " sympathizer," 
 or " sharer." But who sympathizes with mankind, or divides 
 amongst them the good things of existence save the Asura ? 
 That Bhaga, " the distributer," is merely another of his names 
 is evident ; amongst other reasons, from the fact that Bhaga 
 became a general name for God amongst the Slavs, and there- 
 fore belonged to the period of Aryan unity. He who is 
 Amsah is Bhaga, and both, as noticed, are Adityas. Hiranya- 
 garbha and Purusha are later philosophical concepts of Grod ; 
 they are therefore identical with each other and with Asura. 
 
 * Vide sup. sec. 6. 
 
 t Apud Victor Hugo, The History of a Crime, iii. 27. 
 
 J Rig- Veda, X. Iviii. 8. Sup. sec. 19. 
 
41 
 
 Lastly, there is Asura, and here at length, amid this world 
 of shadows, we " touch earth." The Asura is God. 
 
 23. The Sun. 
 
 So far all has been simple ; we have examined twelve names 
 and found one divinity. But it is far from my intention to 
 attempt to free the Vedic Indians from the charge of poly- 
 theism ; as a body they certainly were or became polytheistic, 
 and we can easily see how and why. The time to which our 
 attention is turned is the commencement of the Vedic age, and 
 we observe how numbers of the gods resolve themselves into 
 simile. But others are of a different character. We next come 
 to natural objects connected with spiritual power ; and here is 
 the stronghold of Vedic polytheism. And yet even here the 
 evidence of previous monotheism is almost, if not quite, as 
 strong. To take first the sun and the sun-god : Savitri, 
 Surya, Vishnu, Vivasvat, and Yama are each the sun. For 
 mankind, however, there is but a single sun ; they are, there- 
 fore, really identical : it is possible that there may have been a 
 time when they were regarded as five distinct, objective, 
 sentient personages or solar gods. But there must have been 
 a time when the one had not yet become five, for thus to 
 divide and classify requires an elaborate mental effort, and a 
 corresponding period for its development. This division of 
 the sun and of the sun-god is familiar. Thus in Egypt we find 
 the diurnal and nocturnal sun ; Ba., the mid-day sun ; Kheper, 
 the prolific sun; Haremakhu, the horizon sun; Turn, the setting 
 sun; Mentu, the rising sun; Fenti, the climbing sun; Atumu, 
 the chthonian sun ; Harpakrut, the new-born wintry sun ; 
 Aten, the power of the solar disk; Uasar (Osiris), the suffering 
 sun, and the like. The Vedic sun proper is Surya, whose 
 name reappears in the Greek helios and the Latin sol ; and 
 as these are simply names of the solar photosphere and not of 
 the solar divinity, we may fairly conclude that Surya in origin 
 similarly signified the physical sun, just as Ushas means the 
 dawn. Surya, in the Hymns, is the son of Aditi, the son of 
 Dyaus, the husband of LTshas, and the eye of Mitra, Varuna 
 and Agni, expressions which require no comment. In Savitri 
 the solar power rises higher. Savitri is an Asura ; he is 
 especially praised by Varuna, Mitra, and Aryaman, with whom 
 he works in harmonious concert ; he is the lord of all creatures 
 and the bestower of immortality ; he is the sender of bless- 
 ings, is prayed to deliver his votary from sin,* and to convey 
 
 Eig-Vtda, IV. liv. 3, 
 
42 
 
 the holy soul to the abode of the righteous.* He is pre- 
 eminently the god of golden lustre, and as a matter of course 
 is sometimes distinguished from Surya, and sometimes identi- 
 fied with him ; Surya, speaking generally, being the body, and 
 Savitri, the spirit, of the sun. Altogether, Savitri in position 
 and general concept very closely resembles the Iranian 
 Mithra ; and hence we are not'surprised to find him identified 
 with Mitra.f Vishnu, " the Penetrater," is the sun from 
 whose heat nothing is hid ; who, forcing his way up from the 
 under world, crosses heaven in three strides and penetrates 
 again into the hidden region. J Vivasvat, " the brilliant," is 
 a minor solar phrase. 
 
 24. Yama. 
 
 Savitri, who can free from sin and who conveys the soul 
 after death to bliss, glides into Yama and becomes identical 
 with him. In India, as in Egypt, the sun received different 
 names during the different portions of his career ; and Yama, 
 as connected with the death of man, and of the sun, and with 
 the unseen world, is associated with the setting sun, and hence 
 with the west. His name, " Twin/' is mysterious. Prof. 
 Roth considers him a representative of one of the original pair 
 of mortals, but this view Prof. Miiller rejects. Had the locus 
 been Egypt, I should have been inclined to regard the twins as 
 the sun nocturnal and diurnal, but here there is not sufficient 
 authority for such an opinion. I have already mentioned other 
 conjee tures. In the ninth and tenth books of the Rig- Veda 
 Yama is prominently introduced in connection with the 
 doctrine of a future life and the state of the fathers, the 
 departed worthies of the human race. In the Atharva-Vedawe 
 read : 
 
 "Reverence ye Yama, the son of Vivasvat,|| 
 The assembler of men (in the unseen world) ; 
 Who was the first of men that died, 
 And the first that departed to this (celestial) world.^^f 
 
 And this is but the slightly later echo of the Eik, 
 
 " Worship with an oblation King Yama, son of Vivasvat, 
 
 * Rig-Veda, X. xvii. 4. f Ibid V. Ixxxi. 4. 
 
 J Vide the explanation of the Vishnu-myth by the ancient commentator 
 Aurnavabha, a predecessor of Yaska (apud Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. 64). 
 
 Sup. sec. 19. 
 
 The western sun is the son of the brilliant mid- day sun, 
 
 Atharva-Veda, XVIII. iii. 13. 
 
43 
 
 The assembler of men, who departed to the mighty 
 
 streams,* 
 
 And spied out the road for many, 
 Yama was the first who found for us the way. 
 This home is not to be taken from us. 
 Depart thou, depart by the ancient paths whither our 
 
 early fathers have departed. 
 There thou shalt see the two kings, t Yama and the god 
 
 Varuna, 
 Meet with the fathers, meet with Yama, in the highest 
 
 heaven. 
 
 Throwing off all imperfection go to thy home. 
 Become united to a body, and clothed in a shining 
 
 form/'' J 
 
 According to the Atharva- Veda, " death is the messenger 
 of Yania, who conveys the spirits of men to the abode of their 
 forefathers. " Here, then, is the august figure of the sun-god 
 dwelling in celestial light, in the inmost sanctuary of heaven, || 
 with the Asura Varuna and the elder worthies of the human 
 race. In the sun-god we met with a second undoubted 
 divinity. 
 
 25. The Semi-solar Light Gods. 
 
 I pass on to the semi-solar light gods. Aryaman, " The 
 Favourer/' one of the Adityas, is seldom mentioned, and 
 generally with Varuna and Mitra, of whom he is a phase. 
 The favourers of man are the Asura of heaven and the kindly 
 sun-god. The mysterious Asvins are emanations of the bright 
 gods, and have been defined as " the two powers which seemed 
 incorporated in the coming and going of each day and each 
 night."1[ Indra, the god of the bright heaven and slayer of the 
 monster of darkness, is a purely Indian divinity, unknown 
 even to the period of Indo-Iranian unity ; he is another aspect 
 of Varuna-Dyaus, whom he to a great extent superseded, and 
 affords a good example of the polytheistic advance. He was 
 certainly regarded as a distinct personage ; but as he is not 
 pre-Vedic, the circumstance is immaterial to the monotheistic 
 position. Mitra, the Iranian Mithra, is a veritable divinity, 
 belonging to the period of the Indo-Iranian unity. I shall 
 notice him further when speaking of Varuna, with whom he is 
 
 ( 'ETT' 'QKtavolo podwv (II. iii. 5). 
 
 t I think it quite possible that originally " the Twins " were Varuna and 
 Yama-Savitri. Cf. c< the two divine Mithras " (sup. sec. 15). 
 t Big- Veda, X. xiv. S Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 303, 
 
 (I Rig-Veda, IX. cxiii. 7. 
 T Prof. Miiller, Lectures on the Science of Language, ii. 53. 77 
 
H 
 
 almost invariably associated in the Hymns, and, as mentioned,*' 
 he is identified with Savitri. Pushan, " the Growth-producer/' 
 is a phase and name of the sun-god. Pushan guides on 
 journeys and to the unseen world, aids in the revolution of day 
 and night, is an Asura, knows all things, presides over mar- 
 riage, and conducts the souls of the departed. He is Yama- 
 Savitri. Tvashtri'is a personification of skill in divine work- 
 manship, an Indian Hephaistos. We still meet with no abso- 
 lute separate divinity except the Asura and the divine solar 
 and light-god, whose names are numberless ; he is in reality 
 the Savitri- Yama-Mitra-Pushan. So far as I am aware, 
 Savitri, Pushan, and Tvashtri are purely Indian appellations ; 
 whilst Yama and Mitra belong to the earlier period. 
 
 26. Varuna. 
 
 Prof. Mutter has remarked that an ' e advantage which the 
 Veda offers is this, that in its numerous hymns we can still 
 watch the gradual growth of the gods, the slow transition of 
 appellations into proper names, the first tentative steps towards 
 personification ;" and that " the feeling that the various deities 
 are but different names, different conceptions of that Incom- 
 prehensible Being which no thought can reach and no lan- 
 guage express, is not yet quite extinct in the minds of some 
 of the more thoughtful among the Vedic bards." t This Being 
 is especially mirrored in the Vedic Varuna, whose name 
 belongs to the period of Aryan unity, and who is identified by 
 many with the Varena of the Vendidad. Varuna is "the 
 Coverer," fc the Encompasser," the all-surrounding, all-space- 
 filling. He is pre-eminently the AsuraJ and the King (naja), 
 king of the universe, king of all that exists, king of gods and 
 men, universal monarch, far-sighted and thousand-eyed. He 
 made the revolving sun to shine, the wind is his breath, he 
 witnesses man's truth and falsehood ; through him it is that 
 though all the rivers run into one ocean yet they never fill 
 it; his laws are immutable, and they rest upon him as on a 
 mountain. He has fashioned and upholds heaven and earth, 
 and dwells in all worlds, 
 
 " Lives through all life, extends through all extent, 
 Spreads undivided, operates unspent." 
 
 He is frequently celebrated alone and frequently together with 
 Mitra, and between the two the closest harmony exists. 
 
 * Sup. sec. 23. f Lectures on the Science of Language, ii. 454. 
 
 t "The epithet asura is frequently applied to Varuna in particular." 
 (Muir, Sanskrit Texts, v. 61.) Of. Ecclesiastes i. 7. 
 
45 
 
 Mitra, on the other hand, is hardly ever hymned alone. 
 Yaruna and Mitra together are styled sun-eyed, kings, strong, 
 terrible (nidra), divine (asura), upholders of the earth and 
 sky, placers of the sun in heaven, guardians of the world, 
 awful divinities, haters of the lie, acquainted with heaven and 
 earth, lords of truth and light who made wise the simple, and 
 avengers and removers of sin.* In a word, Yaruna is the 
 Asura, God Almighty ; and Mitra is the high and holy Sun- 
 god, ever in the closest union and harmony with him. Yaruna 
 can only be beheld in beatific vision : 
 
 " When I have obtained a vision of Yaruna, 
 
 I have regarded his lustre as resembling that of Agni."+ 
 As Sir G. W. Cox well observes " a pure monotheistic convic- 
 tion is pre-eminently seen in the following prayer :" J 
 
 " Lef me not yet, Yaruna, enter into the house of clay, 
 Have mercy, almighty, have mercy. 
 If I go along trembling like a cloud driven by the wind, 
 Have mercy, almighty, have mercy. 
 Whenever we men, Yaruna, commit an offence before 
 
 the heavenly host, 
 
 Whenever we break thy law through thoughtlessness, 
 Have mercy, almighty, have mercy. " 
 
 And here we may inquire, Is Yaruna, the Asura, identical 
 with Ahuramazda ? Windischmann thought not, and Prof. 
 Spiegel seems inclined to agree with him ; but, on the other 
 hand, Profs. Koth and Whitney are strongly in favour of the 
 identity, which certainly is not denied either by Prof. Miiller 
 or Dr. Muir ; whilst in my opinion, the recent researches of 
 M. Darmesteter|| demonstrate their unity beyond reasonable 
 doubt. With the degradation of Yaruna, the gradual process 
 by which he was at length reduced to complete insignificance, 
 I am not here concerned. 
 
 27. Tlie Ameshaspentas and the Adityas. 
 
 As Ahuramazda stands at the head of six divine personages, 
 the Good-mind, Truth, Power, Piety, Health, and Immortality, 
 the whole forming a sevenfold aspect of the One ; so, Asura- 
 Yaruna stands at the head of six personages, the Friend, the 
 Favourer, the Sympathizer, the Distributer, the Intelligent, 
 
 * I omit for brevity references to texts in support of each of these state- 
 ments, t Rig-Veda, VII. Ixxxviii. 2. 
 J Mythology of the Aryan Nations, i. 331. 
 
 Translated by Prof. Miiller in his History of Sanskrit Literature, 540. 
 jj Ormazd et Ahriman, 1877. 
 
46 
 
 and the Personified Fire, a corresponding group though not 
 perhaps quite so severely monotheistic. Mithra, excluded by 
 an intensity of monotheism from the Iranian Seven, appears 
 amongst the Vedic Seven,* but alike in both regions the gods, 
 when traced to their origins, resolve themselves into Ahura 
 and Mithra, Asura and Mitra. 
 
 28. Martanda, the eighth Aditya. 
 
 In Rig-Veda, X. 72, we read : 
 
 " Let us celebrate with exultation the births of the gods. 
 In the earliest age of the gods, the existent sprang from 
 the non-existent." 
 
 And after mentioning Aditi as the daughter of Daksha, the 
 poet continues: 
 
 " When ye, gods, like devotees, replenished the worlds, 
 Then ye disclosed the sun which had been hidden in the 
 
 ocean. 
 Of the other sons who were born from the body of 
 
 Aditi, 
 She approached the gods with seven, but cast away 
 
 Martauda. 
 For birth as well as for death she disclosed Martanda." 
 
 The important Satapatha-Brdhmana-f thus comments on 
 the foregoing passage: " Aditi had eight sons. But there 
 are only seven whom men call the A.ditya deities. For she 
 produced the eighth, destitute of any modifications of shape 
 (without hands and feet, etc.). He was a smooth lump. 1 ":]: 
 Roth and Darmesteter render Martanda "Bird," in which case 
 we should have the familiar myth of the Phoenix, the solar 
 bird ; but the preferable derivation is from mrityu, " death," 
 and anda, " egg," the name thus signifying " the Egg of 
 Death." Prof. Miiller renders Martanda " Addled Egg/' but 
 I do not think that such imperfection is intended. Martanda 
 
 * For instances of the recurrence of the number seven, vide The Great 
 Dionysiak Myth, ii. 225, et seq. 
 
 t Brahmana signifies, " That which relates to prayer, brahman." The 
 Brahmanas form the second portion of Vedic literature, each of the four 
 Vedas being divided into Sanhita, Brahmana, and Sutra or " Band.'' The 
 Brahmanas are founded upon the Sanhita, and the Sutras mainly upon the 
 Brahmanas. The chief object of the latter " is to connect the sacrificial 
 songs and formulas with the sacrificial rite. We find in them the oldest 
 rituals, the oldest linguistic explanations, the oldest traditional narratives, 
 and the oldest philosophical speculations." (Weber, History of Indian 
 Literature, 2nd edit. 1878, p. 12.) 
 
 % Apud Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. 15. 
 
17 
 
 differs from his seven brethren in two respects, in form and in 
 being subject to death. Now his seven immortal brethren are 
 of divine form, and it is undoubtedly implied that the divine 
 form is also more or less anthropomorphic ; but Martanda is 
 an egg, a circle,* a lump without hands and feet, in a word, 
 the solar photosphere, the golden egg of the heavens, which 
 dies daily. f Martanda is, as it were, thrown out by Aditi 
 from the company of the gods and the splendours of the in- 
 visible world, into the inferior, visible, and material world, to 
 live and die daily in the sight of men. He is thus a type of the 
 humiliation of the divine nature by its alliance with material 
 form and subjection to death ; and so the converse of Yama, 
 in which we see the human nature raised to the divine and 
 perfected. And even the glorious sun himself, protagonist of 
 materiality, when disgraced by idolatry becomes to us as it 
 were Martanda, an addled egg ; even as that venerable relic 
 the Brazen Serpent became Nehushtan, for fr The gods that 
 have not made the heavens and the earth, they shall perish 
 from the earth and from under these heavens. "J 
 
 29. Soma. 
 
 The Vedic divinity Soma affords an excellent instance of 
 the process by which the human mind constantly converts into 
 obscure mysteries things in themselves exceedingly simple. 
 Soma is (1) a plant, the juice of which was largely used in con- 
 nection with religious ritual ; and (2) the principle of 
 humidity, which shows itself in rain, sap, dew, and otherwise. 
 In illustration of this, it may be observed that in several pas- 
 sages of the Atharva-Veda Soma is identified with the moon ; 
 and it is stated that " the Sun has the nature of Agni, the 
 moon of Soma ; " that is to say, the sun is igneous, the moon 
 humid. The moon is the night- queen, and the night is the 
 time of growth (symbolized by the increasing moon),|| dew 
 and humidity generally. Thus Apollo is Sauroktonos, " the 
 lizard-slayer," *[ for the lizard was a symbol of humidity 
 
 - Plato's commendation of the circular form in the Timaios, may be 
 accepted except so far as a tangible sentient divinity is concerned. Such a 
 
 god must be more or less anthropomorphic, and will yet be the 
 and tiKwv TOV ficoi) TOV aopdrov. 
 
 f The egg-sun is familiar in Egypt (vide The Archaic Solar Cult of 
 Egypt. By the Writer). In the frontispiece to The Great Dionysiak Myth, 
 vol. ii., I have given a Hellenico-Egyptian representation of the winged sun, 
 Dionysos Psilas (vide Pausanias, iii. 19), supported by the twin serpents of 
 plenty. J Jer. x. 11. Vide sup. sec. 13. 
 
 || One of the Akkadian names of the moon is Enzuna, " the Lord of 
 Growth." Of. Deut. xxxiii. 14: "The precious things put forth by the 
 moon." ^[ Pliny, xxxiv. 8. 
 
48 
 
 because supposed to live upon the dew. We can therefore 
 easily see the process by which Soma or humidity generally 
 became identified with the moon, the queen of humidity. 
 Soma is the Iranian Haoma, the Omomi of Plutarch,* and the 
 whole of the ninth book of the Rig-Veda is devoted to its 
 praise; illimitable power, benefit, and 'efficacy being ascribed 
 to the personified King Soma, the Asura. Now, after making 
 all due allowance for the wonder and delight which may have 
 been produced in the human mind by wine (using that word in 
 a general sense), and also for man's appreciation of, and thank- 
 fulness for, moisture in its various forms, there still remains 
 something unexplained and mysterious in the intensity of the 
 Soma-cult and in the apparent extravagance of the Soma 
 laudation. But the great idea behind these lower ones in- 
 volves man's yearning for continued existence, and the line of 
 thought is as follows : Moisture, drink, wine of heaven, 
 water of life, renews the face of the earth, man and nature in 
 the present physical and visible state of things. But man is to 
 live hereafter in another and a higher world ; then must there 
 be some subtle nektar, some elixir of immortality, which, when 
 procured, shall be in him as a well of water springing up into 
 everlasting life. This is the true Soina, of which the other is 
 but the shadow, nor can it be too highly praised, too ardently 
 desired. This view alone enables us to understand such 
 aspirations as the following : 
 
 " Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun 
 
 is placed, 
 
 In that immortal imperishable world place me, Soma. 
 Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, 
 Where the worlds are radiant there make me immortal. 
 Where there is happiness and delight, where joy and 
 
 pleasure reside, 
 Where the desires of our desire are attained, there make 
 
 me immortal."t 
 
 And this poetic prayer we might transcribe in words more 
 familiar : May He who is the light of light,} dwelling in the 
 world, whose sun goes not down, whose service is perfect 
 freedom, in whose presence there is fulness of joy, and at 
 whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore, clothe our 
 mortal with immortality in the third heaven of heavens. || 
 Speaking elsewhere of Dionysos as Theoinos, I have considered 
 
 * Peri Is. Jcai Os. xlvi. f Rig-Veda, IX. cxiii. 7. 
 
 4. " The Deity who is, as an ancient Christian lamp attests, $ 
 (W. B. Cooper, in Faith and Free, Thought, 246.) 
 
 2 Cor. xii. 2. || 1 Kings viii. 27. 
 
49 
 
 the Vedic Soma, tlie Iranian Haoma, the Assyrian cc water of 
 life, the drink of the gods/' the living water of Egypt, the 
 mead in the halls of Odhinn, and the bowls of wine in the 
 Garden of Delight of the Koran, and in summing up the phase 
 of Bakchos Theoinos, I observed : " We recognize reverence 
 for the principle of humidity, without which all is parched and 
 sterile, when earth pants and gasps under the influence of the 
 burning Typhon, the scorching dog-star of ruin, the choking, 
 rain-restraining Yedic snake, or the consuming Athamas. 
 Opposed to these are the all-fostering Okeanos, the rivers, 
 symbols of the force and flow of life, the beloved Zeus-rain, 
 and Dionysos lord and first cause, not only of wine, but of the 
 whole humid nature.* But, secondly, and distinct from the 
 foregoing train of thought, is the yearning for immortality 
 coupled with the idea that as ordinary food and drink sustain 
 ordinary mortal existence, so superhuman nourishment, 
 f angels' food,' will sustain, or is required to sustain, the im- 
 mortal life, which it is possible for some at least to become 
 possessed of."f 
 
 30. The Physical Agni. 
 
 A single Yedic divinity remains for examination, Agni, who 
 stands in the front rank, and whose importance at once 
 appears by the fact that no less than fifty-three out of one 
 hundred and ninety-one hymns of the first book of the Rik 
 are addressed to him either solely or with others. But Agni, 
 who is seen in the West as ignis, a name, not a god, is a vast 
 and difficult concept. We may, therefore, say with the 
 Stranger in Plato's Sophistes, " The object of our inquiry is 
 no trivial thing, but a very various and complicated one. 
 This is a very questionable animal one not to be caught with 
 the left hand, as the saying is."J Agni appears in almost as 
 many aspects as Osiris, and therefore the question for con- 
 sideration is, What concept of Agni will include all other 
 narrower and derivative concepts, and hold true throughout 
 their divergent modifications? Working from the known to 
 the unknown, from the obvious to the obscure, we notice Agni 
 in his first and simplest phase as ordinary terrestrial fire ; 
 and as such he is described in the hymns with great power 
 and variety of imagery. Thus, he is the son of the ten fingers 
 and of the two sticks, wriggles like a serpent, cannot be 
 
 * Plutarch, Peri Is. kai Os. xxxv. 
 t The Great Dionysiak Myth, ii. 111. 
 t R. W. Mackay, The Sophistes of Plato, p. 89. 
 
 As to the " Suastika," a word which, according to some, is equivalent 
 
 E 
 
50 
 
 suckled by his mother, is butter-fed, and wind-driven, sees 
 through gloom, has blazing hair, a golden beard, sharp 
 weapons, and burning teeth, is footless and headless, 
 thousand-eyed, thousand-horned, all-devouring, roars like 
 thunder, like the wind, like a lion, bellows like a bull, has a 
 hundred manifestations, and is the youngest of divinities, 
 because constantly produced.* These physical epithets and 
 characteristics require no explanation ; but what a world of 
 simile and symbolism is involved in them, leading to subse- 
 quent trope and metaphor still more obscure, and thus to 
 mythologico-religious mystery. So the web of mythology 
 is woven, and here we behold its pristine simplicity. 
 And now let me ask, With what mental feeling did these 
 Vedic Indians regard the Agni which they produced day 
 by day ? Did they crudely worship) the mere flame in 
 fetishistic imbecility ? To believe this would be to give the 
 lie direct to every noble passage in the Veda, even to the very 
 existence of these hymns, for no fetish worshipper would ever 
 have produced a single strophe. Be fetishism ancient as well 
 as modern, or modern only,f that the Yedic poets were 
 infinitely superior to such grovelling concepts is as certain as 
 any fact in history. Let those who are compelled by the 
 necessities of theories of evolution, physical and mental, per- 
 sistently endeavour to degrade archaic man. Freethought, 
 truly so called, is warped by no such trammels ; and, whilst 
 fully admitting that the Deity might, in the abstract, have 
 worked by evolution as well as in any other way, believes that 
 there is no real evidence He has done so, and that the whole 
 theory is " not proven." And yet I would remark, in passing, 
 that a man cannot fairly be made answerable for the follies of 
 his extreme followers ; and that I respect the caution and 
 wonderful powers of observation of a Darwin, as much as I 
 despise the baseless dogmas of a Haeckel. The Indian Aryan, 
 then, may not have known that heat was but ' ' a mode of 
 
 to e v sffTt " as the sign of good wishes," P^, vide Schleimann, Troy and its 
 Remains, 101, et seq.; Waring, Ceramic Art in Remote Ages, plates xli.-xliv. 
 It appears equally in Akkad. " The ideograph -|-j with the determinative 
 of wood, certainly appears to contain the elements of the primitive fire-stick." 
 (Mr. St. Chad Boscawen in Transactions of the Society of Biblical Archceology, 
 vi. 281.) The investigation into the pictorial meaning of the ordinary As- 
 syrian cuneiform which, through the archaic Babylonian, still in numbers of 
 instances directly or indirectly represents the object or idea signified by the 
 word, is a study of the highest interest, and one which promises very im- 
 portant results. 
 
 * Gf. Yavishtha-Hephaistos i.e. Juvenis. 
 
 t Vide Prof. Max Miiller's Paper, Is Fetishism a primitive form of Religion? 
 (Macmillan, June 1878). 
 
51 
 
 motion/' but he certainly did know that flame was but flame. 
 And why, then, did he so reverence it, for its physical aspect 
 does not fully explain his respect ? Because he knew that the 
 mere ordinary earthly flame, born so mysteriously, is but the 
 last and lowest link in a wondrous chain, which includes all 
 fire, aerial and celestial, all light, all heat, and hence all 
 life ; a chain which descends from the abode of " those 
 primeval heats whereby all life has lived," from the dwell- 
 ing-place of Him who is f e a consuming fire." And this aspect 
 of Agni will explain why the different divinities are identi- 
 fied with him, and also his varied parentage. Thus, he is 
 the son of heaven and earth, because they, regarded as the 
 two halves of the all, necessarily include the sum total of 
 igneous effulgence. He is the son of Dyaus alone, for he 
 manifests himself in the visible sky, in lightning, and in the 
 sun. He is produced by the dawn, a time when, as an old 
 English poet tells us, " The light shoots like a streak of 
 subtle fire." He is produced by Indra between two clouds, 
 struck together like the sticks on earth. He is made by the 
 gods, yet conversely he is also their sire ; for without Agni 
 how could mortals know aught of the bright Devas, or how 
 could they even exist ? Lastly, he is the son of Daksha 
 and Aditi, that is to say, he is the manifestation of the 
 Supreme Spirit throughout space. Whatever produces or 
 occasions light and heat is the sire or mother of Agni ; and the 
 result is real consistency accompanied by an apparent contra- 
 diction. 
 
 31. Agni, a Combination and Manifestation of the Vedic 
 Divinities. 
 
 Let us next notice how the Yedic divinities are identified 
 with and combined in Agni. We read : 
 
 " Thou Agni, art Indra, thou art Vishnu, the wide- 
 stepping, 
 
 Thou, Brahmanaspati, art a priest.* 
 Agni, when kindled, is Mitra ; Yaruna is Javatedas/'f 
 
 i.e. "All-possessing," a frequent epithet of Agni. 
 
 " Thou, Agni, art born Yaruna, 
 Thou art Aryaman in relation to maidens ; ^J^ 
 In thee, son of strength, are all the gods. J 
 Thou, Agni, art the royal Yaruna, 
 Thou art Aryaman, thou art Tvashtri, 
 
 Rig- Veda, II. i. 3. t Ibid. III. v. 4. J Ibid. V. iii. 1, 2. 
 
 2 
 
52 
 
 Thou art Mitra, thou art Eudra ; 
 As Pushan, thou cherishes t those who offer worship. 
 Thou art the divine Savitri, thou art Bhaga.* 
 Thou encompassest the gods as the circumference the 
 spokes (of a wheel) ."f 
 
 By the sacred radiance of Agni 
 
 " Varuna, Mitra, Aryaman, and Bhaga shine, J 
 and through him they triumph, for he is the 
 
 " Immortal sustainer of the universe, exempt from death. || 
 Whatever other fires there may be, 
 They are but ramifications, Agni, of thee.^f 
 By thee, Agni, Varuna, and Mitra and Aryaman are ani- 
 mated. 
 
 So that thou hast been born comprehending them all, 
 Universally in all functions, 
 
 And encompassing, as the circumference the spokes** 
 Agni is associated with heaven and earth, 
 As (a husband with) one only wife.ff 
 I, Agni, am the living breath of threefold nature, 
 The measure of the firmament, eternal warmth. J{ 
 I offer praise to Agni, the creator, the first. 
 He who has hidden darkness within light. 
 He has spread out the two sustaining (worlds) like two 
 
 skins : 
 
 Vaisvanara comprehends all energy. || || 
 A steady light, swifter than thought, 
 Stationed among moving beings to show (the way) to 
 
 happiness.^]" 
 
 Agni knows all that exists,*** 
 Appropriates the prayers addressed to the Eternal 
 
 Creator."ftt 
 Elsewhere a poet exclaims, 
 
 "May our sin, Agni, be repented of ;"tJ{ 
 and Agni, who is styled Asura, is besought to preserve from 
 
 * Eig-Veda, II. i. f Ibid. V. xiii. 6. J Ibid. VIII. xix. 
 
 Ibid. I. cxli. 9. || Ibid. I. xliv. 5. f Ibid. I. Ixix. 1. 
 
 * Ibid. I. cxli. 9. ff Ibid. III. vii. 4. IT III. xxvi. 7. 
 
 " Ibid. V. xv. 1. 
 
 Ibid. VI. viii. 3. Vaisvanara signifies " He who is beneficial to all," 
 like Mitra, " the Friend.' ; 1T1F Ibid. VI. ix. 5. *** Ibid. III. xii. 4. 
 
 ttt Ibid. I. Ixxii. 1. On this passage Wilson observes, "This looks as if 
 a first cause were recognized, distinct from Agni and the elemental deities." 
 (Rig-Veda-Sanhita, i. 190.) ttj Ibid, I. xcvii. 1. 
 
53 
 
 sin.* I have alreadyf quoted the celebrated passage where 
 Agni is said to be a name of the One, and is identified with 
 Yama. As throughout this Paper I have as much as possible 
 avoided, though by no means ignored, the mythological 
 element, I shall not quote here any of the numerous passages 
 which treat of the physical functions of Agni in connection 
 with the Devas. But, on the foregoing extracts, we may 
 observe that the identifications are not to be regarded as 
 implying a strict and absolute monotheism, as if there were 
 really only one god, Agni ; what they undoubtedly show is 
 that all the divinities are of the same igneous nature, and 
 that Agni who, in his lowest manifestation is ordinary earthly 
 flame, in his highest is identical with Yaruna himself, is the 
 Asura, ultimate source of all light, heat, life and energy. 
 Agni as the ritual-fire, is a priest and sage, messenger and 
 link between God and man, and bears to heaven the prayers 
 addressed to the Eternal Creator. How clearly in these 
 Hymns we see the struggle between monotheism and poly- 
 theism ; the poets are apparently inconsistent and contra- 
 dictory, there is but One and yet there are many ; there are 
 many, but yet they are merely names of the One. Again 
 and again through the increasing clouds of ignorance and 
 error, the supreme form of the Asura of heaven breaks forth, 
 upon His children like the blue sky of His abode. J 
 
 32. Agni the highest Manifestation of Divinity. 
 It is stated that, 
 
 " The gods formed Agni for a threefold existence." 
 
 According to the great commentator Yaska, B.C. 400, and hia 
 predecessor Sakapuni, this triadic existence refers to the 
 igneous principle (1) on earth, (2) in the air, and (3) in the 
 sky, as fire, lightning and sun. In another passage Yaska 
 observes : 
 
 "Owing to the greatness of the Deity, the one Soul is 
 lauded in many ways. The different gods are members of 
 the one Soul. It is soul that is their car, steeds, weapon, 
 
 * Rig-Veda, VI. xv. 12. f Sup. sec. 18. 
 
 J Prof. Miiller observes that Vedic poets, Zoroastrian worshippers, 
 Hebrew prophets, and Homeric singers " had no name for that which is 
 the sky's own peculiar tint, the sky-blue, the cceruleum." (Contemporary 
 Review, May, 1878, p. 230.) I do not feel sure of this. The blue, formerly 
 bleue sky, is the blew-en or blown sky, from which the clouds are driven, 
 so that the vault of heaven appears. In Assyrian the same ideograph stands 
 for scmu, " blue," and samu, " sky ; " therefore in Mesopotamian regions, blue 
 = sky colour. Rig-Veda, X. IxxxviiL 10. 
 
54 
 
 Arrows, soul is a god's all. There are three deities according 
 to the etymologists; Agni, whose place is on earth; Vayu 
 or Indra, whose place is in the atmosphere; and Surya, whose 
 place is in the sky. These receive many designations in con- 
 sequence of their greatness or from the diversity of their 
 functions."* 
 
 Yaska had before him the interpretations of Sakapuni and 
 Aurnavabha, two very ancient and famous expounders of the 
 Veda, so that he was well acquainted with archaic tradition ; 
 and Dr. Muir observes on the passage that, 
 
 " Agni, Yayu or Indra, and Surya appear to have been 
 regarded in the time of Yaska as the triad of deities in whom 
 the supreme spirit was especially revealed." 
 
 And, according to Yaska, even these three "agree in one," 
 and are merely protagonistic manifestations of the only Soul 
 or Spirit. But by this time the One Spirit has become semi- 
 pantheistic. According to a passage in the Atharva-Veda, 
 
 " Agni becomes Varuna in the evening, rising in the morn- 
 ing he is Mitra ; 
 
 Becoming Savitri he moves through the air, becoming 
 Indra he glows in the middle of the sky."f 
 
 Agni is thus, 
 
 " That light whose smile kindles the universe." 
 Highest and brightest manifestation of divinity, 
 
 " Ignis ubique latet, naturam amplectitur omnem." 
 And according to the Avesta, 
 
 " Son of Ahuramazda, giver of good, the greatest Yazata,"J 
 and it is in this connection that Zarathustra styles himself 
 " the supreme fire-priest," the priest of the Iranian Atash or 
 Atar.|| Lastly, Agni, like Yama, conveys to bliss the soul of 
 the righteous after death : 
 
 ' ' When thou hast matured him, Jatavedas, 
 Then send him to the fathers. 
 
 As for his unborn part,^f do thou kindle it with thy heat ; 
 Let thy flame and thy lustre kindle it ; 
 
 * Apud Muir, Sanskrit Texts, iv. 160. 
 
 f Atharva-Veda, XIII. iii. 13. 
 
 j Khurda-Avesta, xi. Sup. sec. 10. 
 
 || 
 
 Atar et dOfivrj sont deux formations de la meme racine. II est im- 
 possible de se"parer Atar du vedique athar, et entre athar et dOrjvij il y a, 
 quant a la racine, le ineme rapport qu'entre la racine manth (dans pra- 
 mantha}et la racine pavd dans Trpo/^-tue." (Darmesteter, Ormazd et Ahri- 
 man, 34, note 3.) - IF The germ of immortality. 
 
55 
 
 With those forms of thine which are auspicious convey it 
 to the world of the righteous." * 
 
 33. The Essence of the Vedic Divinities. 
 
 Such, then, are the Vedic divinities ; from being few they 
 become many. In various passages thirty-three gods are 
 alluded to, but, according to others, there are one hundred 
 and eighty Maruts alone ; and elsewhere it is said that three 
 thousand three hundred and thirty -nine gods have worshipped 
 Agni. Thus Pantheons extend. As time goes on, other im- 
 portant figures appear upon the stage ; Brahma, a personifica- 
 tion of ' ' the magic power hidden in the sacred word and in 
 prayers;"f Siva,J Krishna, but these are not Ye die divinities, 
 and therefore do not concern us. Goddesses also play an im- 
 portant part, a sure sign of degeneration ; the miserable 
 doctrine of the transmigration of the soul, entirely unknown to 
 the Rig-Veda, makes its appearance to the torment of man- 
 kind ; and, after many a weary age, including the reaction of 
 Buddhism and its suppression, we reach a vague and atheistic 
 pantheism or a grovelling superstition ; a truly remarkable 
 instance of mental evolution, although at the same time un- 
 doubtedly a descent of man. And, amid the crowd of shadowy 
 forms that make up the group of Yedic divinities, where do 
 we find reality save in the Asura, Yaruna, Mitra, Surya- 
 Savitri, Yama, and Agni ? And these, again, resolve them- 
 selves into God, the sun-god, and the universal spirit of 
 divinity. They are all known elsewhere; alike in name 
 (Ahura, Ouranos, Mithra, Helios, Yima, Ogni) and in reality. 
 
 34. The Law of Circle. 
 Thus we can see how, long ere the days of Zoroaster, there 
 
 * Big-Veda, X. xvi. 
 
 t Tiele, Outlines of the History of the Ancient Religions, 125. 
 
 J Siva, " the Gracious," is merely a euphemistic appellation of Sarva, 
 "the Wrathful/' And Sarva, in torn, is merely an epithet of Eudra con- 
 sidered as the Mahadeva (Megastheos) or " Great god." And Rudra, " the 
 Terrible," is as noticed (sup. sec. 19;, merely an epithet of Agni Thus 
 much out of little. The Hindu Trimurti, Brahma, Vishnu, and Siva, is a 
 modern philosophical concept, arbitrarily attached to these names. (Vide 
 Tiele, Outlines, 153.) 
 
 m Krishna, the Black," " the hidden sun-god of the night " (Tiele, Out- 
 lines, 145), is undoubtedly a very ancient mythological figure, but probably 
 non- Aryan in origin. The nocturnal sun is a remarkable feature in Egypt 
 and Akkad, and the dark colour harmonizes with the complexion of those 
 dusky races who were subdued by the lighter Semites and Aryans. Shem 
 is probably connected with the Assyrian samu, ll brownish," and Japhet (nP) 
 with ippu, " white," ippatu, " white race." ( Vide Rev. Prof. Sayce, Assyrian 
 Lectures, 145.) 
 
56 
 
 existed a practical monotheism, to which he endeavoured to 
 return, as good men in all ages have looked back wistfully to 
 a " higher, holier, earlier, purer church." It is easy to deny 
 this great fact on the ground that we everywhere encounter 
 numbers of figures of divinities; but a careful analysis of 
 these shadows will resolve them into their kindred air, and 
 the result will be the same, whether the process is applied in 
 Vedic India, or in Iran, Scandinavia, Germany, Italy, or 
 Greece. Nor does this principle obtain in Aryan regions only. 
 Prof. Sayce affirms* that Babylonian and Akkadian religious 
 mythology is essentially solar ; that is, that we shall meet 
 again with Mitra and Savitri and Yama and Agni, under other 
 names indeed, but veritably the same personages in reality ; 
 and M. Chabas, who is well entitled to speak for Egypt, says 
 that " the Egyptian doctrine revealed to the initiated the 
 unity and incomprehensibility of God, while the multitude was 
 abandoned tothecult ofmaterial symbols.^f And thesemoderns 
 have been anticipated by an ancient writer, who has left it on 
 record that 
 
 , T cAuroc, Hav, Zeuc TC, feat 
 
 <n*tv. 
 
 The theory of an archaic monotheism has been objected to on 
 the ground that the instance of Plato and the other philo- 
 sophical Greeks of the great ages shows that the monotheistic 
 idea is the culmination and end, not the beginning of human 
 thought. But the reply is obvious. Doubtless it required the 
 intellectual might of a Plato to free the human mind from the 
 meshes of a long -established polytheism, but there is no evi- 
 dence that any such powers are needed for the original recep- 
 tion of the simple truth that ' ' there is one God, and none other 
 but He/' Monotheism is simpler than polytheism, even as 
 
 * " The more the Babylonian mythology is examined, the more solar is 
 its origin found to be ; thus confirming the results arrived at in the Aryan 
 and Semitic fields of research." Except Ann and Hea, " the great deities 
 seem all to go back to the Sun " (Trans. Spc. Bib. Archceol. ii. 246, note). 
 We are thus, it will be observed, left with a triad, namely (1) Anu, 
 Akkadian Ana, " the High " God : called Zi-Ana, " Spirit of the heavens ; " 
 Pater. (2) The Sun-god ; Potentia. (3) Hea, the lord of wisdom and of 
 the deep, called Hea- Ana, Grk. Cannes, "the god Hea," Mens. 
 
 t Records of the Past, x. 6. " There may be truth in the assertion that 
 the esoteric religion of ancient Egypt centred in a doctrine of divine unity, 
 manifested through the heterogeneous crowd of popular deities." (Tylor, 
 Primitive Culture, ii. 322.) 
 
57 
 
 one is simpler than numbers. And the Platonic age affords us 
 an illustration of that mysterious Law of Circle, which rules 
 alike in nature and in thought. The heavenly bodies, circular 
 in form, constantly describe their circling movements ; the sun 
 has his zodiac, and annus the year is but annulus, a ring. 
 Eternity is fitly symbolized as a serpent, tail in mouth, and 
 "He that sitteth upon the circle of the earth/' has, from 
 remote antiquity, been described as a circle whose centre is 
 everywhere, and its circumference nowhere. Nature abhors 
 a straight line as she is said to abhor a vacuum, and Nature is 
 " the earliest gospel of the wise ; " poetry, philosophy, religion 
 are essentially cyclic, and history repeats itself.* Human 
 progress is no straight line of continuous advance. The 
 world-poet saw this when he spoke of " the whirligig of time/' 
 and told us that " our little life is rounded." And the great 
 truth is " an anchor of the soul/' for it assures us that as from 
 God we come, so to God we shall return. The poor, blind, 
 stumbling world, at whose ignorance heaven winked, despised 
 by chosen nations and peculiar people, still dreamed of its 
 divine Asura, still chanted that archaic song heard amid the 
 oaks of Dodona, " Zeus was, Zeus is, Zeus will be, O great 
 Zeus ! "f or raised the piteous cry, " Doubtless thou art our 
 Father, though Abraham be ignorant of us, and Israel 
 acknowledge us not; thou, O Lord, art our Father, our 
 Redeemer." And in the latest days of the old-world of 
 heathenism, "a pagan suckled in a creed out-worn/' could 
 yet so distinguish substance amid shadow and reality from 
 illusion, as, addressing the Asura of heaven by a name 
 known centuries earlier on the banks of the Indus, and 
 grasping the grand principle of circle, to exclaim : 
 
 " Thou whose power o'er moving worlds presides, 
 Whose voice created, and whose wisdom guides I 
 From thee, great Zeus ! we spring, to thee we tend, 
 Path, motive, guide, original, and end ! " 
 
 * Thus the philosophical Thucydides is satisfied if his history " is judged 
 useful by those who may desire an accurate knowledge of the past as a clue 
 to that future which, in all human probability, must repeat or resemble the 
 past." (Prof. Jebb, Greek Literature, 108.) 
 
 f Pausanias, x. 12. " There is little or no trace of mythology in this " 
 [song]. (Prof. Max Miiller, Lectures on the Science of Language, ii. 482.) 
 As Prof. Jebb well observes, " There was a time when they [i.e. archaic men] 
 had begun to speak of the natural powers as persons, and yet had not forgotten 
 that they were really natural powers, and that the personal names were merely 
 signs." (Greek Literature, 16. Vide sup. sees. 6, 21, 30.) 
 
58 
 
 THE RELIGION OF ZOROASTER CONSIDERED IN CONNECTION 
 WITH ARCHAIC MONOTHEISM. 
 
 PART I. THE BELIEF OF ZOROASTER. 
 
 1. The Classics on the date of Zoroaster. 
 
 2. The name " Magian." 
 
 3. Is Zoroaster an historical personage ? His name. 
 
 4. Further Classical references to Zoroaster. 
 
 5. Iranian Sacred Literature. 
 
 6. Mythology and Religion. 
 
 7. Character and contents of the Gdthas. 
 
 8. Agriculture as a sacred Duty. 
 
 9. The Zoroastrian theory of the Twin Spirits. 
 
 10. The protest against the Devas and their worship. 
 
 11. History of the name Asura ; meaning of ' Ahuramazda.' 
 
 12. The Devas and the Deva-cult. 
 
 13. The Soma-orgies, and the Bridge of the Judge. 
 
 14. The Ameshaspentas. 
 
 15. Mithra. 
 
 16. Mithra and the Gdthas. 
 
 17. Ahurainazda as the Creator. 
 
 PART II. THE EARLY VEDIC BELIEF. 
 
 18. Various modern theories respecting the nature of Vedic Belief. 
 
 19. The Vedic Divinities. 
 
 20. Analysis of the Vedic Divinities. 
 
 21. Natural objects merely so regarded. 
 
 22. The Forms of Deity. 
 
 23. The Sun. 
 
 24. Yama. 
 
 25. The Semi-solar Light gods. 
 
 26. Varuna. 
 
 27. The Ameshaspentas and the Adityas. 
 
 28. Martanda, the eighth Aditya. 
 
 29. Soma. 
 
 30. The physical Agni. 
 
 31. Agni, a combination and manifestation of the Vedic Divinities. 
 
 32. Agni, the highest manifestation of Divinity. 
 
 33. The Essence of the Vedic Divinities. 
 
 34. The Law of Circle. 
 
59 
 
 HSITT 
 
 ADDITIONAL NOTES. 
 
 P. 8. Earliest Notice of the Avesta. 
 
 The earliest historical notice of the Avesta occurs at the close of the 
 Median version of the Behistun (i.e. Baz-istan, " Place of the god") Inscrip- 
 tion of Darius Hystaspes, cir. B.C. 516. This Inscription, which is about 
 400 feet from the ground on the rock of Behistun, near the western frontier 
 of Mada (Media, i.e. " the country "), and contains more than 1,000 lines of 
 cuneiform writing, concludes : 
 " And Darius the Bang says : 
 
 ' I have made also elsewhere a book in Aryan language, that formerly 
 
 did not exist. 
 
 And I have made the text of the Divine Law (Avesta), and a com- 
 mentary of the Divine Law, and the prayer, and the translation. 
 And it was written, and I sealed it. 
 
 And then the ancient book was restored by me in all nations, and the 
 nations followed it.' " (Translated by Dr. Oppert in Records of the 
 Past, vii. 85, et seq.) 
 
 Darius thus made a translation of the Avesta from the original Baktrian 
 into the Persian of the Achaemenian period. 
 
 P. 11. Dialect of the Gdthas. 
 
 For an account of the linguistic peculiarities of the Gdthas, vide Prof. 
 C. de Harlez, Manuel de la Langue de VAvesta, 105, et seq. 
 
 P. 14. Non-reality. 
 
 Expressions such as "non-reality," "nonentity" (Rig-Veda, X. cxxix. 1), 
 and the like, when occurring in archaic poetry, are used in a physical not in 
 a metaphysical sense, and refer to what may be called Primitive Negative 
 Concepts (vide Dr. Hyde-Clarke, Researches in Pre-historic and Proto- 
 histonc Comparative Philology, 21, et seq.). Amongst these are Woman, i.e. 
 Not-man, Night, Darkness, Black, Evil (Not-good), Not (i.e. nought), Death, 
 Dream, Shadow. The reappearance of heaven and earth after the darkness 
 of night is regarded by the Vedic poets as a sort of re-creation, a rescue from 
 the realm of non-reality. 
 
 P. 19. Asu-Asura. 
 
 " The root as, which still lives in our is, existed in its abstract sense pre- 
 vious to the Aryan separation. The simplest derivation of as, to breathe, 
 was as-u, in Sanskrit, breath ; and from it probably asu-ra, the oldest name 
 for the living gods." (Prof. Miiller, Lectures on the Origin and Growth of 
 Religion, 191-2.) Prof, de Harlez gives in his Lexicon, " Anhu (ah, etre-f- 
 asu). 1. Monde. 2. Mai tre, chef" ; and " ahu (ah+asu), etre,vie,monde. 
 maitre, chef." The Vedic s, except sometimes in a final syllable, appears 
 in the language of the Avesta as h ; e.g. Sonia, Haoma ; Asura, Ahura. 
 
60 
 
 P. 20. The Deva and Ahura Cults. 
 
 M. Julius Jolly has recently remarked that "the theory of a religious 
 schism, which was supposed by Dr. Haug to have brought about the separa- 
 tion of the Iranians from their Indian neighbours, has been entirely dis- 
 posed of by M. Darmesteter's researches, and the revolution theory has been 
 replaced by an evolution theory/' (Academy, February 1, 1879, p, 102.) I 
 greatly admire M. Darmesteter^s very able work (Ormazd et Ahriman) but 
 am unable to come to any such conclusion. Haug has probably pushed his 
 views on the matter too far, and three of the demons of the infernal council 
 of Ahriman, i.e. Saurva, Andra, and Naonhaithya, in all probability are not 
 identical with the Vedic Shiva or Siva, Indra and the Nasatyas or Asvins. 
 But thus much granted, the conclusion by no means follows. The remark- 
 able career of the words deva and asura appears to be regarded by M. 
 Darmesteter as " an accident of language." But to say that such and such 
 a circumstance happened to occur is a re -statement of the fact, not an ex- 
 planation. Moreover, M. Darmesteter's theory depends upon the negation 
 of an historical Zoroaster, a negative which is incapable of demonstration. 
 Hang's views are in the main accepted by Bunsen, Max Diincker (Geschichte 
 des Alterthums), Lenormant (Manual of the Ancient History of the East), 
 and Justi (Handbuch der Zendsprache), and are not denied by Prof. Spiegel. 
 
 P. 31. The name " Avesta" 
 
 Dr. Oppert observes that in the Behistun Inscription, clause li. " the 
 Persian affords us the true origin of the word Avesta. It is Abastd, the 
 Divine Law ; it is explained by the Assyrian Kinat, the laws." (Records of 
 the Past, vii. 107, note 1.) 
 
 P. 36. The Connection between Agni and Soma. 
 
 As to the very intimate connection between Agni and Soma, who some- 
 times form a dual divinity, Agni-Shomau, and represent two variant yet 
 constantly intertwining phases of the Visible-external in its relations with 
 the Invisible-external, vide M. Abel Bergaigne, La Religion Vedique d'apres 
 les Hymnes du Rig-Veda, tome premier, 11-235. 
 
 P. 47. The Unanthropomorphic Sun. 
 
 As Martanda, the Vedic egg-sun, is " a smooth lump, destitute of any 
 modifications of shape," so in the Egyptian Funereal Ritual, cap. xlii., we 
 read of the justified and triumphant Uasarian, or follower of Osiris, who 
 has been made like his lord, the Sun-god, that, 
 
 " He is in the [Solar] Eye and the [Solar] Egg. 
 He is the Day for race after race of men. 
 He is the Germ emanating from the firmament. 
 He is the Golden Ape of the gods without hands or feet. 
 He goes forth, the Ape goes forth " [on his celestial path]. 
 
61 
 
 The CHAIRMAN. I am sure our thanks are due to Mr. Brown for his very 
 interesting paper : it is now open for any one to offer remarks thereon. 
 
 Rev. Dr. EULE. I have read Mr. Brown's paper as carefully as possible, 
 and should be glad if he would instruct us as to some conclusions, towards 
 which the particulars we have in his paper do not in my opinion lead us. The 
 cry certainly is not piteous wherewith the Hebrew acknowledged God to be 
 his father, " father of Abraham "; and here I cannot exactly understand why 
 we should limit our recognition of the Godhead to Zeus. With regard to 
 Zoroaster, I believe the main doctrine of that author was that of duality that 
 of two gods, a god of darkness and a god of light. We have a book which 
 contains a distinct historic reference to this idea. We have in that book the 
 name of a person distinctly known in history, whose successor Darius, son of 
 Hystaspes, waged war against Magism, which was associated with Zoroastri- 
 anism. We find there a doctrine against that duality, and I think we have 
 materials there, which are distinctly historic, and the account of God which 
 we have, is not imbued with the vague superstitions of heathenism, but it is 
 distinctly stated at the very beginning of the Bible and is historically con- 
 tinued all through as revealed monotheism as proved by all prophecy, 
 prophecy fulfilled, associated and linked in with the general history of the 
 whole world. It does appear to me, whilst anxious to second the vote of 
 thanks to Mr. Brown for the great pains he has taken with this paper, that we 
 should be anxious inquirers into Eevealed Truth. I think if we were to take 
 some firm basis in regard to this great subject of monotheism whereon to 
 rest our researches, we should obtain some place on which to rest our inquiry. 
 I think, however, that Mr. Brown's paper has tended to furnish us with a 
 very striking illustration of an undoubted proof, that none, by searching, can 
 find out God ; and that those historians who have searched have most singu- 
 larly failed, and have deprived us of any idea that the notion of Professor 
 Muller, which is adopted very warmly by Mr. Brown, will ever be realized. 
 The words are these, and I think more distinctly than in any other part of 
 the paper, they express the conclusions arrived at at the foot of page 33 : 
 
 " However, ere examining the principal Vedic concepts, we may remember 
 with comfort a statement of Professor Muller, which is not based upon any 
 particular passage or passages, but upon a wide and careful investigation of 
 the subject, a statement which has my warmest assent, ' Like an old precious 
 metal, the ancient religion, after the rust of ages has been removed, will 
 come out in all its purity and brightness, and the image which it discloses 
 will be the image of the Father, the Father of all the nations upon earth." 
 
 Now, it does seem ungrateful very ungrateful to forget that Divine 
 Revelation and the coming of Christ into the world have not thrown the rust 
 of ages upon the ancient truth, but have rather removed the rust of ages and 
 brought life and immortality to light, and that whatever great change in the 
 world has taken place in religion since the time of Zoroaster, must be 
 attributed to that Divine interpretation which we find recorded in the Bible. 
 Therefore, I should be glad if we could be conducted by Mr. Brown to a 
 
62 
 
 more definite conclusion than that with which he has favoured us, and I 
 trust that he will accept my strictures in the spirit of courtesy and kindness 
 in which I have intended to give them. 
 
 Mr. ENMORE JONES. I am sorry that I have not been able thoroughly to 
 study the paper, and would ask the author whether he could favour us with 
 his idea as to when Zoroaster really lived ? The last speaker has referred 
 to revelation. Before he spoke, I had in my mind the fact that there is a book 
 called Job, which contains a clear statement as to the Great One God, and 
 therefore I felt anxious to know whether Job was first or Zoroaster. 
 
 Mr. BROWN. On page 8 I give as a conclusion that as to date, the compo- 
 sition of the Gathas may be fairly placed at some time prior to B.C. 1200, 
 and Zoroaster may be put from 1500 B.C. to 1200 B.C. 
 
 Mr. JONES. There seems at any rate to be a vagueness about the date, 
 whereas if we take Job, as a book of itself, it has a clear and definite idea 
 given in it of the Creator 2,300 B.C. say one thousand years before 
 Zoroaster ; .and it has this advantage, that it contains a series of historical 
 incidents. I think it is very important that in searching amongst the 
 ancients for the philosophy of the ancients, we should not forget the vital 
 knowledge we have through the Scriptures. We have the Jewish Scriptures 
 and the Christian Scriptures ; and they both certainly teach us that there 
 is one God, that He is the one God, the Creator, the Preserver, and Governor, 
 not only of all the countries of this world, but of the universe. I must say 
 it struck me that in the history we call our Scriptures, we have a much 
 clearer narrative there of the workings of the Deity in nature than we have 
 in Zoroaster, or in any other teacher. I think that the principles which have 
 guided the Institute ought to be kept clearly before our minds. 
 
 Mr. J. E. HOWARD, F.E.S. I should like to make a few observations aa 
 to the age of Zoroaster and his religion. I do not wish to put aside the very 
 well-intentioned observations of those who have preceded me ; but I think 
 there is another aspect of the question , to which they have not perhaps given 
 as much attention as they might have done. I refer to the very interesting 
 abstract which this paper contains of the doctrines of Zoroaster. And suggest 
 that it becomes the duty of our missionaries and those who are in contact 
 with the Parsees in India, to make themselves acquainted with the religion 
 which they have there to combat ; otherwise they might be placed under a 
 great disadvantage. Perhaps it may be known to some here, that a great 
 controversy took place on the occasion of one of the Parsees being converted 
 to the Christian faith, when the Parsees took up many popular ideas, and 
 showed that theirs verged very much on the Zoroastrian religion. For 
 instance, that popular hymn well, I cannot call it that, but that trans- 
 lation of an old Koman verse 
 
 " Vital spark of heavenly flame ! 
 Quit, quit, this mortal frame." 
 
 That is entirely, though unintentionally, Parseeisin. This controversy shows 
 that, at all events, the Christians who come in contact with these doctiines 
 
63 
 
 ought to know very well what they are about ; I trust that the writer of 
 this paper has no intention to depreciate Christianity by those expressions 
 which have been noticed by previous speakers. The great idea which he 
 endeavours to bring out, that monotheism is really at the bottom of this 
 religion, is no doubt correct. The question as to the age of Zoroaster 
 is a very difficult one, and I confess that I cannot get at the bottom of it. 
 I have studied the very elaborate examination, by Dr. Chwolson, of St. 
 Petersburg, of Eastern authorities respecting this matter ; and he seems to 
 prove that the change in the religion of Persia is from Sabaism to the 
 religion of Zoroaster. Early idolatry began, according to the Eastern 
 authorities, with Tamniuz. Dr. Chwolson says (L p. 347) that we know 
 almost nothing of the religion of the old Persians, and that it would not be 
 correct to identify that which prevailed in the northern provinces with the 
 peculiar Persian religion. In Bactria and Media the religion of the reformer 
 Zoroaster was prevailing long before Cyrus ; but the old Persians were pro- 
 bably no adherents of the religion of Zoroaster, but, as the geographer 
 Dimesqui asserts, were Sdbians. " In early days men worshipped God 
 and the angels whom He sent " (vol. ii. pp. 606, 459, 206), but Tammuz 
 endeavoured to lead his sovereign into idolatry, to worship the heavenly 
 host ; and to consider the stars, and particularly the planets, as the gods 
 and directors of mankind ; who governed everything that took place on 
 earth. The result of this was that, according to the tradition, Tammuz 
 was put to death by his sovereign ; and his bones were ground in a 
 mill, and scattered to the winds. He was put to death in a very cruel 
 way ; and in consequence of his death all the gods came together at a 
 temple in Babylon, and spent the whole night in weeping and bewailing 
 the death of this prophet ; and then betook themselves to their respective 
 homes all over the world. This gave occasion to the ceremony of weeping 
 for Tammuz, which is alluded to in our prophets. They kept up that festival, 
 with this peculiarity about it, that the women were not allowed during its 
 course to have anything that was ground in a mill, because the bones of 
 Tammuz had been ground in a mill. Now, this was a world-old institution. 
 [According to Mr. Boscawen, " the god Tammuz is evidently the Dumzi," 
 the son of life, " to seek whom Ishtar descends into Hades." The deification 
 of Tammuz, and the complication with, perhaps, a solar myth, seems 
 engrafted on the original story. More light will probably be thrown on the 
 obscurities of the subject. In the mean time, the tradition strongly indicates 
 that, before the introduction of idolatry, a purer religion prevailed. The 
 attempt to restore this is perhaps to be attributed to Zoroaster. Is it not 
 probable that he is identical with Budasp ? (confounded with Buddha) ; of 
 whom Masudi relates that he came from India, travelled through Sind, 
 Segestan, and Zabulistan, and again to Kerman ; until at last he came to 
 Persia, everywhere giving himself out as a prophet, and maintaining that he 
 was one sent from God, and a mediator between Him and his creatures. This 
 took place, according to some, in the reign of the Persian king Thamurath ; 
 according to others, in the time of the King Jemschid. Chwolson, vol. i. 
 
64 
 
 p. 208.] I hope that the subject will be again taken up by some member 
 of the Institute. 
 
 Mr. MACDONELL. I am much pleased to hear the remarks of the last 
 speaker. I think that two of the previous speakers have not done sufficient 
 justice to this remarkable and interesting paper, one that evidently con- 
 tains the result of very great information and research, a paper that ought 
 not to be treated in a light manner. It is full of other persons' thoughts, and 
 containing authorities that are not within the reach of most people. It gives 
 extracts from literature of a most interesting character, and quotes novel 
 and beautiful poetry. Now, it seems to me that the paper is not open to 
 the observations made by the first speaker. So far as I can gather from 
 the statements that were made, there was no such feeling as he referred to 
 running through the paper at all. On the contrary, frequent allusions were 
 made in the paper by which we were reminded of the superiority of the 
 Scriptures. So far as I understand the paper, it goes to show that, even in 
 early times, there was a groping after some form of monotheism. This of 
 itself would be a most valuable result. Having said so much in praise of 
 the paper, may I be permitted to put one or two questions to the lecturer ? 
 I was curious to see what opinion the lecturer had arrived at as to the 
 precise age at which Zoroaster lived. At page 2 he states that Endocos and 
 Aristotle placed Zoroaster 6,000 years before the time of Plato, and 
 Hermippos placed the age of Zoroaster 5,000 years before the Trojan war ; 
 while another authority, Masudi, gives another date, namely B.C. 600. 
 Mr. Brown himself arrived at a fourth opinion, which was somewhat different. 
 With respect to the ground upon which he arrived at that opinion, or, in 
 fact, the grounds upon which he has arrived at any of his opinions, I 
 think there is room for further enlightenment. It is one thing to know 
 when Zoroaster lived, and it is another, almost as important, to know whether 
 he lived at all ; and I think this is fairly open to doubt. At page 3 we 
 have the opinion of Sir H. Kawlinson, to the effect that Zoroaster was 
 " the personification of the old heresionym of the Scythic race." At the same 
 page we have the opinion of a learned foreigner, M. Darmesteter, who 
 regards Zoroaster as " one of the many bright powers of heaven who fight in 
 an almost endless strife against the powers of darkness and evil f and at 
 page 4 we have the statement of Mr. Brown himself that the question whether 
 Zoroaster lived or not is of comparatively little importance. Then, further 
 on, it is said that Zoroaster might be regarded as the founder of a religion and 
 as one who was essentially a reformer ; and, if so, I suppose that at some time 
 or other he lived. I should like to know from Mr. Brown whether there are 
 any solid grounds for believing that Zoroaster was an historical personage, or 
 whether Zoroaster is merely the name in which was included a vast number 
 of religious reformers and teachers, perhaps of different ages ? There is 
 another remark I should like to make. I would venture to ask whether the 
 method of inquiry pursued by the lecturer in the latter portion of the paper, 
 is a method of inquiry that is likely to result in really sound conclusions ? 
 It seemed to me that the mode of reasoning which he followed was one which 
 
65 
 
 might lead to false conclusions. He took up a divinity named Agni, and 
 endeavoured to find the various forms under which that divinity was expressed 
 and discovered. He found a constant reference to fire, and then grouping the 
 various descriptions together, he arrived at the conclusion that Agni was the 
 God of fire. Now I think this is a dangerous way of reasoning. Suppose 
 that 5,000 years hence some person with the same means of reasoning with 
 respect to our society, as Mr.Brown has with respect to ancient Persia, should 
 get information with respect to ghosts that have been seen in the 19th 
 century, and putting all together should ask himself what there was in 
 common ? Mr. Brown has found that by common consent Agni in all respects 
 was fire. What would a person considering the question of ghosts 5,000 
 years hence find ? He would observe that they were always seen robed in 
 white, and probably conclude that the idea of a ghost in the 19th century, by 
 common consent, was inseparably connected with white calico. (Laughter.) 
 Such a course of reasoning strikes me as rather dangerous, and I would 
 suggest that Mr. Brown should state what portion of his paper he really 
 considers conjecture, and what portion he considers as sound and based upon 
 undoubted evidence. I think that there are two elements in the paper we 
 have heard to-night, and that the valuable element which I have referred 
 to is of no small extent. (Hear, hear.) 
 
 Mr. D. HOWARD. I think the subject of the paper well worthy of careful 
 consideration, for it involves the whole question of early religions. There is 
 a certain school of thought which tells us with all the boldness which modern 
 scientists alone can command, especially when they are not quite sure of their 
 subject, that man is an improving subject, and that man's religion in the be- 
 ginning was -not monotheism. It does seem to me that the more we study the 
 early histories of religious thought, the more profoundly we are convinced 
 that there is no truth whatever in this conception. I should not venture to 
 enter into the question as to how far Zoroaster was responsible for the dualism 
 in which his followers indulged ; but still it is most interesting to find that 
 at that early age you have a reformer appealing not to progress, but to 
 antiquity. He does not appeal to the growing intellect of man, but he appeals 
 to antiquity. He looks back to monotheism, not forward ; and I say that 
 from this point of view we cannot too carefully consider this ancient record. 
 It is still more interesting to find the same monotheistic idea running through 
 the religious books even of those he opposed. It is, indeed, true that there 
 is a school of thought which goes to those books to find the origin of the Old 
 Testament revelation. We may study Plato to see what the lights of the 
 Greek mind were, and we may study St. Paul without thinking that St. Paul 
 borrowed from Plato, and it seems to me that we may well study the longings 
 of the human mind for a purer religion, that purer religion being monotheism ; 
 and we shall find that in the past and better ages the religion of our fathers 
 was monotheism. Any one coming fresh to the confused thoughts and to 
 the muddled ideas of the books we have been considering, will all the more 
 value the ideas contained in the book of Job, and it is interesting to find in 
 that book those allusions to kissing the hand to the sun, which was the very 
 
 P 
 
66 
 
 beginning of that nature-worship which has degenerated into that horrible 
 and barbarous system which we now see practised in India. Then, again, it 
 is interesting to watch those attempts at reformation that are not founded 
 upon revealed religion, but on human intellect . Another thing which renders 
 the Zendavesta and Persian thought a matter of interest, is the amazing 
 influence the Persian thought had on early Christian thought and on the 
 speculations of the Gnostics. 
 
 Eev. J. JAMES. I should be glad to say a word or two in the same 
 direction that has been pursued by the last two speakers ; namely, that I do 
 not see in the paper the slightest tendency to disparage the revelation we 
 have in the Bible. On the contrary, every reference to the Christian faith 
 in this paper is a loyal and warm tribute to the doctrines of the Gospel I 
 wish also to say that I look upon the paper as a very valuable contribution 
 to the true philosophy of Religion. As has been observed by the last speaker, 
 it seems to be a valuable contribution to the argument, that the degraded forms 
 of religion which are found in all the heathen nations of the earth are not 
 aboriginal, but descendants from an original higher height, and that that 
 higher height is the highest height of monotheism. One passage has been 
 referred to as an objectionable one, but which I must say, in my opinion, is 
 a very valuable thought. It is Max Miiller who says, " like an old precious 
 metal, the ancient religion, after the rust of ages has been removed, will 
 come out in all its purity and brightness, and the image which it discloses 
 will be the image of the Father, the Father of all the nations upon earth." 
 True, the Gospel supplies us with religion free from rust ; but what we 
 want is to see that that rust which has grown upon the earlier and purer 
 forms of pagan faiths is capable of being rubbed away, and that underneath 
 we shall find tokens if not proofs of an aboriginal religion, which is a faith in 
 the one God. I wish to join in the thanks to the author of the paper for his 
 valuable contribution to this important argument. I should like to know, 
 with reference to the passage in Greek given in the paper, where the words 
 are taken from. The words are these : 
 
 HtpasQovrj, Ajj/i/jrTjp, KuTrpig, "Epwreg, 
 
 /7(,' 0' 9 "H<paiffTOQ Tf. K\VTOG, Tldv, ZSUQ re, KO.I Hpj;, 
 *Aprt/U, r}d' 'EKotpyog 'ATroXAwi/, fig 6*05 CCFTIV." 
 
 Mr. BROWN. I believe the passage is quoted in Athenaeus and I think 
 it has been attributed to Herrnesianax. 
 
 Mr. J. FERGUSON (Ceylon). Seventeen years' residence in the East has 
 led me to think that one important point in the preparation for missionary 
 work is a knowledge of the religious beliefs of the people among whom 
 Christianity is to be taught, and a sympathy, so far as possible, with precepts 
 and doctrines not distinctly evil in their tendency. I believe our most suc- 
 cessful missionaries in the East have been those who have not only learnt 
 the language of the people amongst whom they have laboured, but who 
 have been enabled to translate their sacred and other notable books, and 
 thus to obtain the sympathies of the enlightened among the natives. I 
 
67 
 
 think that this paper will be particularly valuable to Christian teachers 
 going to work in Northern and Western India, and Persia, and I hope 
 that it may pass through the hands of our more enlightened fellow-subjects in 
 India. I think the value of such papers as this is very great to missionaries 
 going to the East, who ought to get an idea of the religions they are about 
 to controvert. 
 
 Captain F. PETRIE. We all know that it is unfortunately too common 
 a thing to find people in these days going into such inquiries as Mr. Brown 
 has, with a very small portion of the abilities that he has brought to 
 the task ; such inquirers are unhappily only too eager to publish to the 
 world the results of their investigations, which being imperfect, and generally 
 very incorrect, naturally give false impressions ; it is amongst the writings of 
 such inquirers that the advocates of infidelity find weapons forged for their 
 use. I think we may congratulate ourselves that the subject of inquiry in 
 the present paper has been taken up by Mr. Brown, for few in England 
 have had the training to enable them to take up the subject and investigate 
 it with understanding as he has done. 
 
 Mr. BROWN. I have to thank the meeting for the attention they have 
 given to my paper, and, at the same time, to say a few words on one or two 
 points which seem to require a reply. Dr. Rule has said that the Hebrew 
 cry was not piteous, I did not say that it was ; but that the words were 
 spoken in that piteous way in which enlightened man would speak. He 
 doubted whether the conception of Zoroaster was monotheism, and remarked 
 that it was mere duality ; but he did not allude to the opinions of the latest 
 investigators on this point, and he quoted the Scripture " Canst thou by 
 searching find out God 1 " I would answer by another passage of Scripture 
 " You shall find me if you seek me with your whole heart." Mr. Jones 
 followed, and seemed to hope that I had not intended to degrade Christianity. 
 Certainly not. I can yield to no man present in my respect for Christianity 
 and the Holy Scriptures. The object of this paper is their defence, and I 
 should have thought it almost unnecessary to point it out. I am glad 
 to find that other speakers have relieved me from the charge. This 
 paper was not written merely for persons who accept Holy Scripture. It 
 is a paper intended for the whole world. The object of this society is to 
 set forth the truth of religion, and in doing so it must start from a common 
 basis. It is no good appealing to people on grounds which your opponents 
 disavow. You must say " I will look at the question from your own point 
 of view " : that is the basis of this paper, and that is why extracts from the 
 Scriptures are not more introduced, as the second speaker appeared to wish. 
 The object is to show that the statements of the Bible are supported by history. 
 We believe the Bible to be inspired ; but, at the same time, we are not on 
 that account to neglect the teachings of nature. We should make a threefold 
 cord that cannot be easily broken. This paper, I trust, may be examined by 
 people who have not a belief in Holy Scripture. If it only has the effect of 
 bringing them to a more careful study of these questions, it will lead 
 towards the truth. Mr. Howard has alluded to Taiumuz as a prophet. 
 
68 
 
 I think that he will find that Tamumz is the Assyrian Dumtizi, and that 
 the women who wept for him wept for the setting sun. One gentleman has 
 alluded to the great differences of opinion which exist as to the age of Zoroaster. 
 I have given all the different opinions as to the age of Zoroaster, not because 
 I follow them, but because I wish to give something like literary completeness 
 to my paper. The highest authorities, who have devoted many years to this 
 subject, place him at B.C. 1400, or 1300, and they educe this from the 
 progressive state of the language. That is the chief means of fixing his date. 
 As to the evidence, that is also comparative. You cannot call direct evidence 
 of the original fact whether there was such a man or not, but I will read you 
 a letter which I have received from Professor Sayce, of Oxford : 
 
 " I am altogether of your way of thinking in regard to the historical 
 personality of the Iranian prophet. The character of Zoroastrianism seems 
 to me to postulate an individual founder, just as much as Christianity, 
 Muhammedanism, or Buddhism." 
 
 One gentleman has objected to my analysis of the Vedic Agni, and asked 
 how it was that he was fire ? We have the word " ignis," and we know that 
 " ignis " means " fire." As to mythology and religion, my meaning is simply 
 this, that mythology is the result of man's childlike and simple considerations 
 of the world around us. If I may quote from a passage in a note on page 
 57 of the essay, I would say, 
 
 " Prof. Jebb well observes, ' There was a time when they [i.e. archaic 
 men] had begun to speak of the natural powers as persons, and yet had not 
 forgotten that they were really natural powers, and that the personal names 
 
 That, I take it, was the simple primitive origin of mythology, and that is 
 what I mean by calling it the younger sister of religion. The great point 
 which this paper aims at is, to show that mankind began well. That is our 
 fundamental doctrine as Christians. However the book of Genesis may be 
 understood, it certainly lays down most precisely that man began well. If 
 that position can ever be turned, and it can be shown that man began badly, or 
 as a being evolved out of some lower form of life, with no knowledge of God 
 or of religion at all, but that he was a creature moving about in a world half 
 realized, then the position of Christianity would be turned ; but I am as 
 certain of the fact as that I am here, that this can never be shown, and that 
 the position of Christianity is impregnable. It is my wish to set forth that 
 as far as we can extend our researches into these early records side by side 
 with the Bible, we find them in perfect harmony with the Biblical state- 
 ments. I am exceedingly obliged to the meeting for the manner in which 
 they have listened to my paper, and especially to Mr. James for his 
 kindly remarks. 
 
 The meeting was then adjourned. 
 
Clje Rctoria 
 
 
 or 
 
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THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
 
 The Journal is arranged so as to secure its special useful- 
 ness to Country and Foreign Members and Associates (who 
 form two-thirds of the Institute). 
 
 The Journal contains the Papers read at the 
 Meetings, and the Discussions thereon. 
 
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 actually present at the Meetings. 
 
 THE JOURNAL OF THE TRANSACTIONS. 
 
 Since the Inauguration of the Society, on the 24th of May, 1866, the following 
 Papers have been read : The Quarterly Parts of the Journal are indicated by the 
 numbers prefixed. (The volumes are sold at One Guinea to Non-Members ; Half-a- 
 Guinea to Members and Associates.} 
 
 FIRST SERIES, VOLS. 1 TO 6. 
 VOL. I. 
 
 1. A Sketch of the Existing Eolations between Scripture and Science. By the late 
 
 GEORGE WARINGTON, Esq., F.C.S. 
 
 2. On the Difference in Scope between Scripture and Science. By the late C. MouNTFORD 
 
 BURNETT, Esq., M.D., Vice- President V.I. 
 
 On Comparative Philology. By the Rev. ROBINSON THORNTON, D.D., Vice-President V.I. 
 On the Various Theories of Man's Past and Present Condition. By the late JAMES REDDIE, 
 
 Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. 
 
 3. On the Language of Gesticulation and Origin of Speech. By Professor J. R. YOUNG. 
 
 On Miracles: their Compatibility with Philosophical Principles. By the Rev. W. W. 
 
 ENGLISH, M.A. 
 
 Thoughts on Miracles. By the late E. B. PENNY, Esq. 
 
 On the General Character of Geological Formations. By the late E. HOPKINS, Esq., C.E. 
 4. On the Past and Present Relations of Geological Science to the Sacred Scriptures. By the 
 
 Rev. Professor JOHN KIRK. 
 
 On the Lessons taught us bv Geology in relation to God. Rev. J. BRODIE, M.A. 
 
 On the Mutual Helpfulness "of Theology and Natural Science. By Dr. GLADSTONE, F.R.S. 
 
 On Falling Stars and Meteorites. By the late Rev. W. MITCHELL, M.A., Vice-President V.I. 
 
 (The above Papers, with the Discussions thereon, and with " Scientia Scientiarum ; 
 
 being some Account of the Origin and Objects of the Victoria Institute," with the 
 
 Reports of the Provisional Proceedings, and the Inaugural Address by the late 
 
 Rev. Walter Mitchell, M.A., Vice-President, form Volume I. of the "Journal." 
 
 VOL. IL 
 
 5. ^On the Terrestrial Changes and Probable Ages of the Continents, founded upon Astronomical 
 
 Data and Geological Facts. By the lace EVAN HOPKINS, Esq., C.E., F.G.S. 
 On the Credibility of Darwinism. By the late GEORGE WARINGTON, Esq., F.C.S. 
 On the Credibility of Darwinism. By the late JAMES REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. 
 On Utilitarianism. By the late JAMES REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. 
 On the Logic of Scepticism. By the Rev. ROBINSON THORNTON, D.D., V.P. 
 Annual Address (On the Institute's Work). By the late JAMES REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. 
 
 7. 
 
 On the Relations of Metaphysical and Physical Science to the Christian Doctrine of 
 
 Prayer. By the Rev. Professor JOHN KIRK. 
 On Geological Chronology, and the Cogency of the Arguments by which some Scientific 
 
 Doctrines are supported. (lu reply to Professor Huxley's Address delivered at Sion 
 
 College on 21st Nov., 1867.) By the late J. REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. (1867-68). 
 On the Gt^.-m'trical Isomorphism of Crystals, and the Derivation of all other Forms from 
 
 those of the Cubical System. (6 Plates.) By the late Rev. W. MITCHELL, M.A., V.P. 
 
THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
 
 VOL. III. 
 
 9. On the Antiquity of Civilization. By the Right Rev. Bishop TITCOMB, D.D. 
 
 On Life, with some Observations on its Origin. By J. H. WHEATLEY, Esq., Ph.D. 
 
 On the Unphilosophical Character of some Objections to the Divine Inspiration of Scripture. 
 
 By the late Rev. WALTER MITCHELL, M.A., Vice-President V.I. 
 On Comparative Psychology. By E. J. MORSHEAD, Esq., Hon. For. Sec. V.I. 
 
 10. On Theology as a Science. By the Rev. A. DE LA MARE, M. A. 
 
 On the Immediate Derivation of Science from the Great First Cause. By R. LAMING, Fsq. 
 
 On some of the Philosophical Principles contained in Mr. Buckle's "History of Civiliza- 
 tion," in reference to the Laws of the Moral and Religious Developments of Man. By 
 the Rev. Prebendary C. A. Row, M.A. 
 
 On the Nature of Human Language, the Necessities of Scientific Phraseology, and the 
 Application of the Principles of both to the Interpretation of Holy Scripture. By 
 the Rev. J. BAYLEE, D.D. 
 
 11. On the Common Origin of the American Races with those of the Old World. By the Right 
 
 Rev. Bishop TITCOMB, D.D. 
 
 On the Simplification of First Principles in Physical Science. By C. BROOKE, Esq. , F. R.S., &c. 
 On the Biblical Cosmogony scientifically considered. By late G. WARINGTON, Esq., F.C.S. 
 On Ethical Philosophy. By the Rev. W. W. ENGLISH, M.A 
 
 12. On some Uses of Sacred Primeval History. By the late D. McCAUSLAND, Esq., Q.C., LL.D. 
 On the Relation of Reason to Philosophy, Theology, and Revelation. By the Rev. Pre- 
 bendary C. A. Row, M.A. 
 
 VOL. IV. 
 
 13. Analysis of Human Responsibility. By the Rev. Prebendary IRONS, D.D. (And part 16. 
 On the Doctrine of Creation according to Darwin, Agassiz, and Moses. By Prof. KlRK. 
 
 14. On the Noachian Deluge. By the Rev. M. DAVISON. 
 On Life Its Origin. By J. H. WHEATLEY, Esq., Ph.D. 
 
 On Man's Place in Creation. By the late Professor MACDONALD, M.D. 
 
 15. On More than One Universal Deluge recorded in Scripture. By Rev. H. MOTTLE, M.A. 
 
 On Certain Analogies between the Methods of Deity in Nature and Revelation. By the 
 
 Rev. G. HENSLOW, M.A., F.L.S. 
 On the Respective Provinces of the Observer and the Reasoner in Scientific Investigation. 
 
 By the Rev. EDWARD GARBETT, M.A. 
 On the Credulity of Scepticism. By the Rev. R. THORNTON, D.D., V.P. 
 
 16. On Current Physical Astronomy. By the late J. REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. 
 Analysis of Human Responsibility. By Rev. Preb. IRONS, D.D. (See part 13.) Concluded. 
 
 VOL. V. 
 
 17. On the Origin of the Negro. By the Right Rev. Bishop TITCOMB, D.D. 
 
 On the Testimony of Philosophy to Christianity as a Moral and Spiritual Revelation. By 
 
 the Rev. Prebendary C. A. Row, M.A. 
 On the Numerical System of the Old Testament. By the Rev. Dr. THORNTON, V.P, 
 
 18. On Spontaneous Generation ; or, the Problem of Life. By the Rev. Professor KlRK. 
 A Demonstration of the Existence of God. By the Rev. J. M'CANN, D.D. 
 
 Why Man must Believe in God. By the late .JAMES REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I, 
 
 19. On Geological Proofs of Divine Action. By S. R. PATTISON, Esq . F.G.S 
 On True Anthropology. By W. HITCHMAN, Esq., M.D. 
 
 On Comparative Psychology. (Second Paper.) By E. J. MORSHEAD, Esq., Hon. For. Sec. V.I. 
 
 20. On the High Numbers in the Pentateuch. By P. H. GOSSE, Esq., F.R.S , V P 
 Israel in Egypt. By the Rev. H. MOULE, M.A. 
 
 VOL. VI. 
 
 21. On Civilization, Moral and Material. (Also in Reply to Sir John Lubbock on "Primitive 
 
 Man.") By the late J. REDDIE, Esq., Hon. Sec. V.I. (1869-70.) 
 On Dr. Newman's "Essay in Aid of a Grammar of Assent." By the Rev. Preb. Row, M.A. 
 
 22. On the Evidence of the Egyptian Monuments to the Sojourn of Israel in Egypt. By the 
 
 Rev. B. W. SAVILE, M.A. 
 
 On The Moabite Stone, by Captain F. PETRIE, Hon. Sec. 
 On Phyllotaxis ; or, the Arrangement of Leaves in Accordance with Mathematical Laws. 
 
 By the Rev. G. HENSLOW, M.A., F.L.S. 
 On Prehistoric Monotheism, considered in relation to Man as an Aboriginal Savage. By 
 
 the Right Rev. Bishop TITCOMB, D.D. (1871-72.) 
 
 23. On Biblical Pneumatology and PsychoJogy. By the Rev. W. W. ENGLISH, M.A. 
 On Some Scriptural Aspects of Man's Tripartite Nature. By the Rev. C. GRAHAM. 
 On Ethnic Testimonies to the Pentateuch. By the Right Rev. Bishop TITCOMB, D.D. 
 
 24. On the Darwinian Theory. By the Rev. Prebendary IRONS. D.D. 
 
 Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt. By W. R. COOPER, Esq!, late Sec. Soc. '-Biblical Archae- 
 ology, 129 Illustrations. 
 
THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
 
 SECOND SERIES, VOLS, 7 TO 12. 
 
 VOL. VII. 
 
 25. On Natural Theology, considered with respect to Modern Philosophy. By the Rev. G. 
 
 HENSLOW, M.A., F.L.S. 
 On Fatalism. Contributed by the Rev. J. BOBBINS, D.D. 
 
 26. On Darwinism Tested by Recent Researches in Language. Ey F. BATEMAN, Esq. , M.D., &c. 
 On Force and its Manifestations. By the Rev. J. M'CANN, D.D. 
 
 On Professor TyndalTs " Fragments of Science for Unscientific People." By the Rev. 
 
 Prebendary IRONS. D.D. 
 
 On the Origin of the Moral Sense. By the Rev. Professor KiRK. 
 On Force and Energy. By CHARLES BROOKE, Esq., M.A., F.R.S., V.P. 
 
 27. On Darwinism and its Effects upon Religious Thought. By C. R. BREE, Esq., M.D., &c. 
 Remarks on some of the Current Principles of Historic Criticism. By Rev. Preb. Row, M.A. 
 On "Scientific Facts and Christian Evidence." By J.ELIOT HOWARD, Esq., F.R.S.,F.L.S. 
 
 28. On the " Law of Creation Unity of Plan, Variety of Form." By Rev. G. W. WELDON, M.A. 
 
 Some Remarks on the Present Aspect of Enquiries as to the Introduction of Genera and 
 Species in Geological Time. By Principal J. W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S. 
 
 VOL. VIII. 
 
 29. The Paleolithic Age Examined. By N. WHITLEY, Esq. 
 
 (Annual Address.) On the Moral and Social Anarchy of Modern Unbelief. By the Rev. 
 Principal T. P. BOULTBEE, LL.D., Vice-President. 
 
 30. On the Identity of Reason in Science and Religion. Rev. R. MITCHELL. 
 
 On Buddhism. By the Right Rev. Bishop PIERS C. CLAUGHTON, D.D., &c., with communi- 
 cations from Professors CHANDLER and BREWER. 
 On the Contrast between Crystallization and Life. By JOHN ELIOT HOWARD, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 31. On the Brixham Cavern and its Testimony to the Antiquity of Man examined. By N. 
 
 WHITLEY, Esq., Sec. Royal Inst. of Cornwall. 
 On the Rules of Evidence as applicable to the Credibility of History. By W. FORSYTH, 
 
 Esq., Q.C., LL.D., M.P., Vice-President. 
 On the Principles of Modern Pantheistic and Atheistic Philosophy as expressed in the last 
 
 work of Strauss, Mill, &c. By the Rev. Prebendary C. A. Row, M.A. Paper on the 
 
 same, by Professor CHALLIS, F.R.S. 
 
 32. On " Prehistoric Traditions and Customs in Connection with Sun and Serpent Worship." 
 
 J. S. PHEN, Esq., LL.D., F.S.A., with Illustrations. (1872-73.) 
 
 VOL. EX. 
 
 33. On the Varying Tactics of Scepticism. (Annual Address.) By the Rev. ROBINSON 
 
 THORNTON, D.D., Vice-President. 
 Ou the Harmony between the Chronology of Egypt and the Bible. By the Rev. B. W. 
 
 SAVILE, M.A. 
 
 On the Ethical Condition of the Early Scandinavian Peoples. By E. W. GOSSE, Esq. 
 31. On Magnitudes in Creation and their bearings on Biblical Interpretation. By the Right 
 Rev. Bishop TITCOMB, D.D. Paper on the same, by Professor CHALLIS, F.R.S. ; with 
 communications from the Astronomer Royal's Department, the Radclifi'e Observer and 
 Professor Pritchard, F.R.S. 
 On Biblical Interpretation in connection with Science. By the Rev. A. I. McCAUL, M.A. 
 
 (King's College), with a communication by Principal J.'W. DAWSON, LL.D., F.R.S. 
 On the Final Cause as Principle of Cognition and Principle in Nature. By Professor G. S. 
 MORRIS, of Michigan University, U.S. 
 
 35. On the Bearing of certain Palaeontological Facts upon the Darwinian Theory of the Origin 
 
 of Species, and of Evolution in General. By Professor H. A. NICHOLSON. M.D D Sc 
 
 F.G.S., &c. 
 On the Early Dawn of Civilization, considered in the Light of Scripture. By J. E. HOWARD, 
 
 Esq., F.R.S. 
 On the Indestructibility of Force. By the Rev. Professor BlRKS, M.A. 
 
 36. On Mr. Mill's Essays on Theism. By Rev. Preb. W. J. IRONS, D.D. 
 
THE VICTORIA INSTITUTE. 
 
 VOL. X. 
 
 37. On the Chronology of Recent Geology. By S. R. PATTISON, Esq. , F. G. S. 
 
 On the Nature and Character of Evidence for Scientific Purposes. By the Rev. 
 
 J. M'CANN, D.D. 
 The Relation of the Scripture Account of the Deluge to Physical Science. By Professor 
 
 CHALLIS, M.A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. 
 
 38. An Examination of the Belfast Address from a Scientific point of view. By J. E. HOWARD, 
 
 Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 /Annual Address: Modern Philosophic Scepticism examined. By the late Rev. R. MAIN, 
 V F. R. S. , V. P. R. A. S. , The Radcliffe Observer. 
 On the Etruscan Language. By the Rev. ISAAC TAYLOR, M.A. 
 
 39. On " Present Day Materialism." By the Rev. J. McDouGALL. 
 
 On the Sorrows of Scepticism. By Rev. R. THORNTON, D.D.. Vice-Pros, (see parts 6, 15, 33). 
 On Heathen Cosmogonies, compared with the Hebrew. By Rev. B. W. SAVII.E, M.A. 
 On the Place of Science in Education. By Professor H. A. NICHOLSON, M.D. 
 
 40. I On Egypt and the Bible. By J. E. HOWARD, Esq., F.R.S. 
 
 VOL. XI. 
 
 41. The Flint " Implements " of Brixham Cavern. By N. WHITLEY, Esq. (Photographically 
 
 illustrated. ) 
 
 On The Flint Agricultural Implements of America. By Dr. J. W. DAWSON, F.R.S. (1876-7.) 
 An Examination of " The Unseen Universe." Rev. Preb. IRONS, D.D. 
 The Uncertainties of Modern Physical Science. By Professor BIRKS. 
 The Ethics of Belief. By Professor H. WAGE, M.A. (1876-7.) 
 
 42. On the Metaphysics of Scripture. By Professor CHALLIS, M. A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. 
 
 On the Theory of Unconscious Intelligence as opposed to Theism. By Prof. MORRIS, U.S.A. 
 On the Myth of Ra. By W. R. COOPER, Esq., F.R.A.S., M.R.A.S., Sec. Soc. Bib. Arch. 
 On Christianity as a Moral Power. By Professor LIAS, St. David's College, Lampeter. 
 
 43. On the Structure of Geological Formations as Evidence of Design. By D. HOWARD, F.C.S. 
 On the Bible and Modern Astronomy. By Prof. BIRKS (Camb.). 
 
 44. On Comparative Psychology. By E. J. MORSHEAD, Esq. 
 
 45. 
 
 VOL. XII. 
 
 On the Indestructibility of Matter. By Rev. Professor CHALLIS, M.A., F.R.S., F.R.A.S. 
 On History in the Time of Abraham, Illustrated by Recent Researches. By Rev. H. G. 
 
 TOMKINS. With Numerous Notes by various Assyriologists. 
 On the Horus Myth. By W. R. COOPER, Esq., F.R.A.S., M.R.A.S., Sec. Soc. Bib. Arch. 
 
 (Illustrated}. Additional Papers by various Egyptologists. (1875-6.) 
 
 The Influence of True and False Philosophy. (Ann. Address.) J. E. HOWARD, Esq., F.R.S. 
 The History of the Alphabet. By Rev. ISAAC TAYLOR, M.A. 
 Creation and Providence. By J. E. HOWARD, Esq., F.R.S. 
 Nature's Limits ; an Argument for Theism. By S. R. PATTISON, Esq., F.G S. 
 Mr. Matthew Arnold and Modern Culture. Prof. LIAS, St. David's Coll., Lampeter. 
 On the Relation of Scientific Thought to Religion. The Ri^ht Rev. BISHOP COTTERILL, D.D. 
 Monotheism. By the Rev. Dr. RULE (Author of " Oriental Records"^. 
 Physical Geography of the East. By Professor J. L. PORTER, D.D., LL.D.^ 
 
 (Volume XII. published in January.1879.) 
 
 * - 
 
 _ _ 
 
 NOTE From the 1879 Beport AS TO THE " PEOPLE'S EDITION'S." 
 
 " A PEOPLE'S EDITION of some few papers has been issued, it is much used by 
 lecturers, and its popularity is very encouraging. 
 
 " LECTURES. In many places, at home and abroad, the papers in the Journal continue 
 to be used, both by Members and Non-members, as the basis of lectures ; and several 
 letters have been received commending them as being just what were needed. One 
 most active and popular lecturing Member writes : " Without them I should be 
 unable to give my lectures ;" another says, " Had it not been for the publications of 
 the Institute I should never have read a paper on such a subject." (In this case the 
 audience, a metropolitan one, among whom were 300 clergymen, requested the publi- 
 cation of the lecture). The works of Reference in the Library are also utilized by 
 Members giving lectures ; and every effort is made with a view of rendering the 
 Organization of the Institute as useful as possible." 
 

 
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