3. The Vendidâd, or “Law against the demons,” is, in Geldner's words, “the Leviticus of the Pársís, the Eccle- The Vendidâd. siastical Law-book, which prescribes the priestly purifications, expiations, and ecclesiastical pen­ances,” and comprises twenty-two chapters (fargard). Of these, the first, describing the successive creation by Ormuzd (Ahura Mazda) of the good lands, and the counter-creation by Ahriman (Anro Mainyush) of a corresponding evil in each case, has been the chief basis of all discussion as to the regions originally known to and inherited by the people of the Avesta.

4. The Yashts, twenty-one in number (cf. p. 98, l. 5 supra), are hymns in honour of the various angels and spiritual beings, the The Yashts. Amshaspands and Ízads, one of whom presides over, and gives his name to, each of the thirty days which constitute the Zoroastrian month. Originally, as the Pársís hold, each of these had his appropriate Yasht; so that it would appear that nearly a third part of this portion of the Avesta has been lost. This mention of the Zoroastrian calendar reminds me of another illustration of Another illustra­tion of the resur­gence in the East of ancient reli­gious doctrines and observances that resurgence of ancient religious beliefs and observances in the East of which I have already spoken. The Zoroastrian year comprises 12 months of 30 days each, to which are added 5 extra days, called the gáthás. The year, in short, is a solar year, comprising, like our own, 365 days, with a suitable arrangement for further intercalation. The modern Bábís, wholly Muhammadan in outward origin, and ultra-Shí'ite in their earlier stages of development, abandoned the Muham­madan lunar year (which falls short of the solar by about 11 days), and, taking as their numerical base their favourite number 19, substituted for it a solar year consisting of 19 months of 19 days each, making a total of 361 (= 19 × 19) days, which were supplemented as required to maintain the correspondence between the calendar and the real season, by some or all of the five extra days which represented the numerical value of the Báb's title (B = 2, Á = 1, B = 2), and were, in the Bábí phrase, fixed “according to the number of the Há,” i.e., of the Arabic letter which stands for five. More than this, each day of the Bábí month, and each month of the Bábí year, is consecrated to, and derives its name from, some attribute, aspect or function of the Deity, just as each day and each month of the Zoroastrian year stand in a similar relation to one of the angelic beings who constitute the Zoroastrian spiritual hierarchy. The only difference between the two systems—the most ancient and the most modern which Persia has produced—lies in the substitution of attributes for Angels by the Bábís, and further in the fact that to only twelve of the thirty Amshaspands and Ízads who preside over the days of the month are allotted months also, while with the Bàbís the same nineteen names serve for both purposes. In both calendars the week plays no part; in both it happens once in each month that the same name indicates both the month and the day; and in both cases such days are observed as festivals. Yet it is most improbable that the Báb, who was a Sayyid, and, ere he announced his Divine mission (A.D. 1844), an ultra-zealous Shí'ite, holding all unbelievers as unclean and to be sedulously avoided (he enjoins in the Persian Bayán the expulsion of all who refuse to accept his doctrine, save such as are engaged in avocations useful to the community, from the five principal provinces of Persia), had, or would have condescended to acquire, any direct knowledge of the Zoroastrian religion and practices; and the same applies to the many striking analogies which his doctrine, and even phraseology, present with those of the Isma'ílís and other older sects; so that we are almost driven to regard a certain circle of religious and philosophical ideas as endemic in Persia, and liable at any moment, under a suitable stimulus, to become epidemic. To this point we shall have repeated occasion to recur later.

5. The Khorda Avesta, or “Little Avesta,” is a kind of prayer-book or religious chrestomathy compiled for the use of The Khorda Avesta. the laity in the reign of Shápúr II (A.D. 310-379) by the priest, Ádharpádh Mahraspand. It consists partly of selections from the whole Avesta, partly of formulæ written in Pázend (see pp. 81-2 supra); and comprises the five Nyáyishes (prayers addressed to the Sun, the Moon, Mithra, the Genius of the Water, and the Bahrám-Fire), the five Gáhs, the greater and lesser Sírúza (“thirty days”), and the four Áfríngán, or blessings.

Such, with the independent fragments preserved in Pahlawí books like the Nírangistán (chief amongst which are the Review of the Avesta as a whole. Aogemadaêcâ and Hâdôkht-nosk), is that remnant of the Zoroastrian scriptures which we now know as the Avesta. Intensely interesting though it be as an ancient document embodying the doctrines of so cele­brated a person as Zoroaster, and the tenets of an old-world faith which once played an important part in the world's history, and which, though numbering at the present day not ten thousand adherents in Persia, and not more than ninety thousand in India,* has profoundly influenced other religions of intrinsically greater importance, the Avesta cannot be described as either pleasant or interesting reading. It is true that the interpretation of many passages is doubtful, and that better understanding might lead to higher appreciation of these; but, speaking for myself, I can only say that while my appreciation of the Qur'án grows the more I study it and endeavour to grasp its spirit, the study of the Avesta, save for philological, mythological, or other comparative purposes, leads only to a growing weariness and satiety. The importance of its place in the history of religious thought, as well as its interest from an antiquarian and philological point of view, will ever attract to it a certain number of devoted students, apart from those who regard it as a Revelation and a Law from God; but to me it is doubtful whether any translation of it could be made which the ordinary reader of average curiosity and intelligence would be willing to read through from cover to cover, save for some special purpose. At any rate the number of translations into English, French, and German is sufficiently large to enable any one who chooses to try the experiment for himself, and the citation of selected passages in this place appears quite superfluous.