Having brought down the "glorious destiny" of preserving the true religion to Kai Vishtâsp, the narrative goes on to relate how "the splendour, glory, and marvellousness of the prophet of the Mazdaworshipping religion, the best of creations, whose guardian spirit is reverenced, Zaratûsht of the Spitâmas" was passed on by the creator Aûharmazd through the material substance of Zaratûsht to the "light which is endless." Thence it fled on through sun and moon and stars to the fire in the house of Zoish, thence to the wife of his son who brought forth the mother of Zaratûsht. Alarmed at the radiance which emanated from her the priests, who play the part of wicked persecutors throughout, compel her father to send her away to a distant village, where she meets Porushâspo, is married to him, and in due course gives birth to Zaratûsht. Immediately on being born the wondrous child laughs aloud to the great dismay of the seven midwives present. The priests attempt to destroy him, but in vain. At the age of thirty he meets the angel Vohumano, who takes him away to a conference with Aûharmazd which apparently lasted two years, though no account of what passed at it is given. On his return to earth he begins to preach his religion, but is rejected by the priests, assailed and tempted by demons, and thrown into prison. Miraculously preserved from starvation, he is aided by celestial beings, and finally succeeds in converting King Vishtâsp, and establishing the true religion. All this is told in the most rambling, confused style. In fact it is told not in direct language, but as a reference to something which has been told elsewhere (in the Spend Nask probably); so that the indirect style adds to the obscurity of the text. The marvels which occurred during the remaining thirty-five years of the life of Zaratûsht are next recorded, and the narrative proceeds with the circumstances affecting the religion till the end of the world, when as a climax "Aharman and the fiend are annihilated, the renovation for the future existence occurs, and the whole of the good creation is provided with purity and perfect splendour."

The shorter account contained in the fifth book of the Dînkard is interesting chiefly from its allusion to the Jews and their sacred book, which if its title is correctly read as Gyêmarâ, is apparently the Gemara or second part of the Talmud. In a method of writing, however, like that of Pahlavi, in which one character has half a dozen values, the reading of this name cannot be more than guessed at. As we are told that the word read as Gyêmarâ may also be read Simrâ, it is permissible to feel a little doubtful as to the identification, which if correct would certainly be interesting. But that the Jews are alluded to seems certain from the statement that King Loharâsp, father of Vishtâsp, was an ally of Nebuchadnezzar (Bûkht Nasih, he is called) at the siege of Jerusalem. The name "Beta Makdis of Arum" is probably meant for Baitul Mukaddas of Rum, "the holy house of Syria," the well-known name of Jerusalem in Arabic.

The extracts from the Selections of Zâd-sparam contain matter similar to the two preceding texts, and in some particulars supply details wanting in them. Such, for instance, are the various intrigues and machinations of the Karaps or priests of the old religion against Zaratûsht, and the

account of what passed at the conference with Aûharmazd and the archangels. They also exhibit some of the fundamental precepts of the Zoroastrian religion; the five "dispositions" or characteristic qualities of priests, and the ten admonitions.

More interesting perhaps to the general reader is the chronological question raised by certain dates supplied in these selections. The translator in his learned and elaborate introduction gives reasons for believing that these Pahlavi versions of Avesta texts were completed in the fourth century of our era, and revised in the sixth. They "mention no persons or events of a later date than the reign of Kai Khusro I. (A.D. 531-578)." It may therefore from internal evidence be safely concluded that "these Pahlavi versions present a fairly complete view of the Zoroastrian legends. current in Sassanian times." And another and in many ways important inference follows from a consideration of these and similar texts, namely, that the ancient writers regard Zoroaster not as the founder of a totally new religion, but as the reformer of an existing one. His object was not to set aside all the forms of worship prevalent in his time, but to retain, amplify, and elevate the worship of good spirits, while strictly prohibiting the propitiation of evil ones.

This view of Zoroaster's mission is important in many ways. It explains the marvellous vitality and persistence of his religion, and its power of resistance to foreign influences. It also explains the ease with which in later times the Mazda worship was received on the shores of India, and settled down amicably among the various Hindu sects. It was accepted in fact, though this was due partly to misrepresentation, as only one of the many forms of Hinduism. It is important also with regard to the question of chronology. The Zoroastrian epoch is the "coming of the religion," an event which is fixed at the conference with Aûharmazd in the 30th year of the Teacher's life; which is also the thirtieth year of the reign of King Vishtâsp. This event is brought into connexion with European chronology by the statement in Bundahish xxxiv. 7, 8, that it occurred 272 years before the death of Alexander in B.C. 323, i.e., B.C. 595. Zâd-sparam, however, states, xxiii. 12, that the religion lasted till the three hundredth year, after which "the religion is disturbed and the monarchy is contested." If as is probable this refers to the invasion of Persia by Alexander, which cannot be placed later than B.C. 331, it would give B.C. 631 as the date of the founding of the religion, and the death of Alexander in B.C. 323 would have been in the 308th year instead of in the 273rd. There is thus a discrepancy of thirty-five years between the two accounts, which is probably due to intentional errors introduced into the Bundahish for the purpose of making the leading events fall in with its traditional system of dividing the history of the world into twelve millennia. The postponement of the end of the tenth millennium brings history into accord with the successive developments of the religion.

Eliminating these discrepancies we get the date B.C. 660-583 as that of the lifetime of Zaratûsht. Vishtâsp (Pers. Gushtasp) is usually identified with Hystaspes, the father of Darius, but his fabulously long reign of 120 years must be taken to represent a dynasty, probably that of which a list

is given on the Behistun inscription. The received date of the elevation of Darius, son of Hystaspes, to the throne of the Empire is B.C. 521, though of course he may have ruled, as a sub-king over the tribe of Persians, before this. Even so, however, it is difficult to bring him quite into touch with Vishtâsp. At any rate, it may be admitted that stated in general terms the traditional date of Zaratûsht falls somewhere in the sixth or seventh century before Christ. The modern Parsi calendar supports this view. By an ingenious calculation the origin of this method of reckoning time is fixed at A.D. 505 in the reign of this same Darius. Owing to the omission of our one day in every fourth or leap-year the Parsi New Year's Day retreats one day in every four years, so that it retreats all round the year in 1,460 years. The calculation is explained very lucidly at p. xliii of the introduction.

This traditional date of Zaratûsht is somewhat of a stumbling-block to the comparative philologist, because the language of the Avesta is undoubtedly a sister-tongue to Sanskrit, and not merely to classical Sanskrit, but to the archaic language of the Rig Veda. It would hardly be possible to place the earlier Gâtha hymns of the Yasna so late as Darius Hystaspis. Of course it is not necessary to suppose that Zarathustra the Spitâma wrote the whole or even any part of the Avesta collection himself, But if not written by him they must have been written by his disciples, as he himself is mentioned by name. It is true that the Gâthas have the appearance of scattered verses put together from different sources, and it would be quite legitimate to suppose that we have in them remains of ancient hymns which from containing sentiments in accordance with the principles of Zoroaster's reformed religion were retained and re-cast, still preserving their archaic language. It must be remembered that we know nothing definite or reliable about the history of Persia before the rise of the Achæmenid dynasty.

But if the traditional date of Zaratûsht is too late, that of the Greeks and Romans which places him in B.C. 6000 or thereabouts is much too early. It is plausibly accounted for by supposing it to be based on the Pahlavi tradition by which the classical Zoroaster of the seventh millennium B.C. is identified with "the traditional Zaratûsht in his ante-natal spiritual state after he had ceased to be a mere Fravashi or primary idea, and had become an intelligent, moving, and personal existence, but still a spirit." That a conception of this sort, so purely esoteric and peculiar, should have penetrated to Europe is not surprising. The religion of the Magi certainly had some effect upon Gnosticism, as the similarity of the Fravashis to the Gnostic Eons, among many other points, shows. The solution of this question, however, lies beyond the scope of the present work.

There are many other points in this interesting work which well deserve careful study, though it may be feared that the uncouth and crabbed style of the original has not been sufficiently toned down in the translation to make it pleasant reading to any but a specialist in this department of research.

For facility of reference we publish with some of our quarterly reviews of one or more of "The Sacred Books of the East" Series, a complete list of them, brought up to date, which we hope our readers and Oriental scholars generally will consider to be a useful addition. The Series now stands as follows (1st January, 1899):

BOOKS OF THE

EAST.* (Translated by various Oriental Scholars, and edited by the Rt. Hon. F. MAX MÜLLER.)

* Published at the Clarendon Press, Oxford.

"LITERATURE AND SCIENCE."*

BY SIR LEPEL GRIFFIN, K.C.S.I.

WHEN, a few days ago, I was requested to deliver before this Club an inaugural address on "Literary Method and Study," I appreciated the compliment but realized that it was impossible for me, at so short a notice and with my time largely engaged, to do justice to the subject. On the other hand, I felt that I might, with perfect confidence, trust to your generosity and indulgence; while the temptation of speaking at Luton on a subject other than politics was difficult to resist. It is moreover a great pleasure to be able in any way, however feebly, to help the aims and objects of a Literary Club which has been founded for the encouragement of Study by several of your most distinguished citizens, whose names are familiar to the outside world for their literary labours and their scientific achievements in chemistry, botany, anatomy, and medical jurisprudence.. You will, therefore, I trust, excuse my want of adequate preparation and forgive me if I do not adhere too closely to the methodical line which the title of this lecture implies, but rather make such general and preliminary observations on literature and science as seem appropriate to the young men and young women of a manufacturing town like Luton, and reserve to another occasion any detailed suggestions on literary method. For it is more particularly to the inhabitants of towns, whose occupations are often monotonous and distasteful, where life appears sordid, dull and filled with the perpetual struggle for necessaries and comfort, that an inherited or acquired love of books is the greatest refreshment and delight. Those who live altogether in the country are surrounded everywhere, from sunrise to sunset, by the beauties of nature which in themselves are an education to the sympathetic mind and heart; but the town dweller has an especial need to counteract the narrowing influence of his daily occupations by as close a contact as he can maintain with the ideal world, revealed to him in books, wherein, however monotonous his toil, he may enjoy the society and think the thoughts and breathe the inspiration of the great masters of literature, whose wisdom and experience form the best part of the world's wealth. This need of intellectual change and refreshment grows every day more urgent for town dwellers, because the tendency of modern industrial life is to the infinite division of labour owing to the multiplication of machinery and the economic saving that results from such division. The result is that the artisan tends to become more and more of an automaton, infinitely repeating some monotonous and mechanical process, and he often is no more than the living guardian of a machine which seems, in its iron frame, to contain the soul and intellect which produces the industrial result,

* This admirable paper formed the Inaugural address at the opening of the first session of the Literary Club of Luton, Bedfordshire, England. The writer is so well known, especially in India, that the paper will be read with much interest by all our. readers.-Ed.