and good deeds. It was this righteousness of the soul that had made the daena so lovely and so fair.[1]
This is a piece of an allegorical soliloquy on the part of the soul, in which the consciousness of its having led a virtuous life on earth brings it inner joy in the future, and that sweet voice of conscience comforts. In its flight to heaven which proves to be an eternal comfort, such a soul, redeemed by its piety on earth, is helped by Sraosha, Rashnu, the good Vayu, Arshtat, Mithra, and the Fravashis of the righteous in its advance to the realms of final beatitude.[2]
On the other hand, the soul of the wicked person is harassed by the thought of its wicked life, and marches at the end of the third night on the dreary and dreadful path that lies amid the most foul-scented wind blowing from the northern regions.[3] The full Avestan text is missing here, but we gather from the similar account of the wicked soul's journey preserved in the Pahlavi scriptures that the soul of the sinner is confronted by the personification of its own conscience in the shape of an ugly old woman who mercilessly taunts it for the wicked life it has led.
All souls have to make their way across the Chinvat Bridge into heaven or hell. The righteous as well as the wicked souls must needs go to this Bridge of Judgment, made by Mazda, before they can be admitted to the realm of the hereafter.[4] Dogs are stationed at the bridge to guard its transit.[5] These hounds of the spiritual realm help the pious souls to cross the bridge, but the wicked ones long in vain for their aid The dogs accompany the daena of a good soul.[6] Whoso in the fulness of faith recites the sacred Ahuna Vairya is enabled by Ahura Mazda to cross the Chinvat Bridge and to reach paradise in a threefold manner, namely, unto the best existence, the best righteousness, and the best lights.[7] Ahura Mazda proclaims to Zarathushtra certain rules of righteousness by the practice of which he could pass over the bridge to paradise.[8] Speaking about the qualifications of a priest, the Heavenly Father informs the prophet that he shall be called a priest who by his wise precepts teaches a man
