Dvâsrûb in different Rivâyats, and Dvâsrûzd in D.v., consisted of 65 sections. It contained accounts of khrétûkdas (next-of-kin marriage), forming connections among relatives, and such-like. In the Riv. and D.v. this is the 18th Nask, having changed places with the next one, as has been already noticed in the remarks on the 12th Nask. 17. Húspåram, corresponding to Av. â in Y. a. v., and called Aspâram in the Rivâyats, and Aspârûm in D.v., consisted of 64 sections according to the Rivâyats (one of them says 60), or 65 according to D.v. It contained religious matters which all people know well, the punishment suffered by sinners which they receive in their last career; everything which is innocent is allowable, and what is not innocent is not allowable; the stars which preside over the destiny of men, and such-like. This is the 17th Nask according to all authorities. 18. Sakáḍum, corresponding to Av. yim in Y. a. v., and called Askâram in the Rivâyats, and Askârûm in D.v., consisted of 52 sections. About giving orders and exercising authority, practising wisdom in everything; causing the resurrection, by which every man who has passed away is made living again, and the malformations of Ahriman and the demons are destroyed; and the like. 19. Vik-dev-dâḍ, Vîk-shêdâ-dâd, or Javid-shêdâ-dâḍ, corresponding to Av. dregubyć in Y. a. v., and called Vandîdâd, or Jud-dêv-dâd, in the Rivâyats and D.v., consists of 22 sections. About what preserves men from evil and impurity, and will restrain them from all kinds of pollution. Of all the 21 Nasks, the Javid-dêv-dâd has remained complete; while several remained scattered by the wretched accursed Alexander, this Vendîdâd remained in hand, and from its elucidation the Mazdayasnian religion exists now. 20. Hâdôkhtô, corresponding to Av. dadad in Y. and called Hâdukht in the Rivâyats, consisted of 30 sections. It contained much goodness and much gratifica tion. Every one who recites this Hâdôkht, drives the evil Ahriman far from him, and approaches and comes near to Aûharmazd. This is the 21st Nask according to the Rivâyats and D.v., which remove all the Nasks, except the 12th, 13th, 16th, 17th, and 21st, one step lower on the list. 21. Stúd-yasto, corresponding to Av. vâstârem in Y. a. v., and called Stûd-yasht in the Riv. and D.v., consisted of 33 sections. It contained the praise and reverence of Aûharmazd and the Ameshâspends, and thanksgivings. Aûharmazd sent this Nask into the world that every one should recite it from memory; and to every Dastur who recites both the Avesta and Zend of this Nask three times accurately the Ameshâspends will come near; he knows this without doubt. This is the 1st Nask in the Rivâyats and D.v., as has been previously mentioned. III.—THE BOOKS NOW EXTANT, AND THE SUPPOSED Of these twenty-one Nasks, which have been enumerated, only the nineteenth, the Vendidad, is preserved complete; of a few of the others, such as the Vishtâspsástó and Hâdôkhtô, and perhaps the Bako,1 some fragments only are extant; but by far the larger number of these ancient sacred books have been lost for ever. There are, however, in the Zend-Avesta, as used by the Parsi priests nowadays, other books extant besides the Vendidad, which are either not mentioned in the foregoing list, as the Yasna and Visparad, or not clearly indicated, as the Yashts. These last, as well as the shorter prayers (Nydyish, Afrîngân, Gâhs, Sîrôzah), were very probably contained in the 14th and 21st Nasks. 1 In the library of the Khân Bahâdar Dastur Nôshirvanji, at Poona, there is a small fragment said to belong to this Nask, and referring to the treatment of a dead body and the fate of the soul immediately after death; but Dastur Hoshangji is doubtful about its authenticity. As to the Yasna and Visparad, they are not to be found in any of the twenty-one Nasks, if we examine the statements of their contents. They were probably separate from them altogether, occupying in regard to the Nasks the same rank as the Vedas, in the Brahmanical literature, do in reference to the Shâstras and Purâņas. That the Yasna is the most sacred book of the whole Zend-Avesta may be easily ascertained by perusing and comparing it with the other books contained in the scripture of the Parsis nowadays, where (as in the Vendidad) many verses from it are quoted as most sacred and scriptural. The difference between the Yasna and the Avesta-Zend said to have been contained in the twenty-one Nasks is about the same as that between the five Mosaic books (Pentateuch), which were always believed by the Jews to be the most sacred part of the Old Testament,1 and the other books of the Old Testament together with the different parts of the extensive Talmud.2 There is no doubt, and the present state of the only Nask now completely extant, viz., the Vendidad, seems to prove it, that by far the larger bulk of the various contents of these books contained Zend, or the explanation of an ancient sacred text called Avesta. A good deal of the contents of these Zend books is in all probability extant in the Pahlavi literature, as yet very imperfectly known in Europe. From the contents of the Nasks, as given above, we clearly see that they must represent the whole religious and scientific literature current throughout the ancient Persian Empire; for they treated not only of religious topics, but of medicine, astronomy, agriculture, botany, philosophy, &c. That the contents of those Zoroastrian books which were known to the Greeks and Romans, 1 The Samaritan Jews acknowledge, to this day, only the five books of Moses as scripture. 2 Some portions of this enormously large work, which may be said even " to surpass the original extent of the were of such a various character, undoubtedly follows from the reports which have reached our time. Indexes of them, like the catalogues of the ancient literature known to Parsi priests nowadays, were extant at the time of Alexander the Great; because Hermippos (see p. 8) is said to have read and perused such a catalogue. This extensive ancient literature, which in all probability was already complete in B.C. 400 (see the last section of this Essay), shows the great activity and scientific interest exhibited by the priests of the Zoroastrian religion in olden times. So comprehensive a literature was of course the work of centuries, especially if one takes into consideration the scarcity and expense of fit writing materials,1 the clumsiness of the ancient characters used (in all probability a kind of cuneiform), and the long time which Orientals require for original composition. The composition of the sacred literature of the Jews, from the time of Moses (B.C. 1300 to 1500) down to the close of the Talmudic literature (A.D. 960), occupied a period of about 2400 years. Were we to apply the same calculation to the Zoroastrian literature, its beginning would have to be placed as early as B.C. 2800, which would not in the least contradict the statements made by the Greeks,2 about the age in which the founder of the Parsi religion was believed by them to have lived. At all events, this much seems to be certain, that at least a thousand years must have elapsed before a sacred literature so various and extensive could have grown up out of the seeds sown by the great founder of the Parsi creed, Spitama Zarathushtra. 66 1 They used cowskins, which were prepared for the purpose. In the fragments of the ancient literature, extant in the Zend-Avesta, no word meaning to write" is anywhere to be found. This is merely fortuitous, because systematic books on scientific matters can never be composed without the aid of writing. That the art of alphabetical writing, as practised As to the authorship of these books, they were ascribed by the ancient Greeks and Romans, and are so by the present Parsis, to Zoroaster himself. This opinion being so old as to have been known to the Greeks several centuries previous to the commencement of the Christian era, we may presume that it is not without foundation; though, on the other hand, it is impossible for a modern critic to believe that so extensive a literature as this, treating of such various topics, was the work of a single man. The Parsi tradition, it is true, gets over this difficulty by asserting that all the twenty-one Nasks were written by God Himself, and given to Zoroaster, as his prophet, to forward them to mankind. But such assertions being inadmissible in modern criticism, which tries to solve problems by appeal to reason, not to miracles of the most extraordinary character, we must dispense with them entirely, the more so as such claims to God's immediate authorship of the whole Zend-Avesta are never made in any of the books which are now extant. They lay claim to divine revelation (only the Yasna, not the Vendidad), but not in such a form as to exclude all activity on the part of the receiving prophet. As to the nature of this revelation, the reader may best learn it from the second Gâtha, of which a translation will be given in the 7th section of this Essay. He will see that the prophet was believed to have held conversations with God Himself, questioning the Supreme Being about all matters of importance, and receiving always the right answers to his questions. The prophet accordingly, after having been instructed, communicated these accounts of his conversations with God to his disciples and the public at large. Who wrote them down is quite uncertain; for in the old books no mention of this circumstance is made. The scanty texts which can be traced to the founder himself were very likely not written down by him, but learned by heart by his disciples, as was the case with the numerous Vedic hymns which |