god Ahura Mazda and the bad god Anra Mainyu.[1] All nature is divided between their respective clients; the dog, for instance, is a champion of Ahura Mazda, the frog of Anra Mainyu. Man has to fight for the good god against the bad one. Each has a court, as an Eastern king might have. The seven Amesha Spentas (Holy Immortals), like archangels, fight for Ahura; seven evil spirits oppose them in the service of Anra Mainyu. The symbol of Ahura Mazda, the most sacred thing visible, is the Sun and fire. There is a hierarchy of priests called mobeds, under their chief, the mobedan mobed; in their temples they keep alive the sacred fire, symbol of Ahura's reign of light. What are we to call this religion? It is very old, developed out of the original Aryan mythology, of which Brahmanism is another, a baser development. When the Aryans poured into the plains of Persia, already they brought with them at least the germ of this faith. It was organized, reformed (in no sense founded), by Zarathushtra.[2] But to call it Zoroastrianism is as bad as to call Islam Mohammedanism, or worse. The small communities who still hold this old religion in India are called Parsis (which means simply Persians), in Persia "Gebers" (which is an insulting nickname used by Moslems).[3] "Fire-worshippers," too, is an offensive name, which they repudiate indignantly. According to our general principle, one would like to call them by their own name for themselves. But they have none. They call their cult "the good religion of Ahura Mazda"; they call themselves often yazdān parast (worshipper of God). All things considered, "Mazdæism" and "Mazdæan," from the name of their god, seems the most reasonable. But we may notice that Zoroastrian, Parsi, Geber (guèbre), Magian, Fire-worshipper, all mean the same thing. I add only one or two more points about Mazdæism which cccur in connection with our story. It has most elaborate principles of ritual cleanness and defilement. The mobed wears
- ↑ In later Persian Ormuzd and Ahriman. Ahura Mazda = Wise Lord, Anra Mainyu = Evil Spirit.
- ↑ Now Zerdusht; Greek Zoroaster. He was undoubtedly a real person. See A. V. Williams Jackson: Zoroaster, the Prophet of Ancient Iran, New York, 1899.
- ↑ Either = Kāfir (infidel) or Ḥabār (wizard); perhaps Persian Gabrā (= Aramaic Gebar, a man).
