 |
vol. title: Vol Four of The Theosophical Society of The Arya Samaj of Arya-wart vol. period: Sept 1878 – Sept 1879 pages in vol.: 350 |
The Fire- Religion
A second edition of Dr. Martin Haug’s “Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings and Religion of the Parsis,” has been reprinted by Houghton, Osgood & Co. It is Volume XI of the “English and Foreign Philosophical Library.” At the present time when oriental studies are prosecuted with so much zeal this work is sure of a cordial welcome. The editor, Dr. E. W. West, has somewhat enlarged it to bring the matter down to the present time, thus adding largely to its value. It has been a prodigious labor performed with an extraordinary fidelity, and we judge, with gratifying success. To add to its merit the Iranian and Sanskrit words are spelled so that we can pronounce them.
The Parsis are descendants of the old Persians, who emigrated to escape massacre and persecution at the hand of the Mussulmans. They live in Hindostan, and constitute a prosperous, highly intelligent and deserving people. They are Aryans, of the same race with ourselves, but, perhaps, of a purer blood. The early Aryan shepherds dwelt as a single nation in Middle Asia, at a period so ancient as to be beyond our power to assign a date. They finally divided into two communes, the Asuras and the Devas, or as we more commonly designate them, the Iranians and the Brahmans. The latter occupied the Punjâb or Hapta Hinda (seven rivers) and worshiped Indra as their chief god. The Vedas or sacred hymns were principally composed in this period. The uprising of Jainism and its offshoot, the Buddhistic doctrine, the later worship of the Trimurti, Brahma, Vishnu and Siva—a little else than the cult of Krishna, Maha Deva and the Linga-Sakti, all occurred subsequently.
The schism was of a social and political as well as of a religious character. The Iranians had become weary of nomadic and freebooting habits. Having·migrated to the Baktrian highlands and the country between the Oxus and Yaxartes, where permanent settlements were feasible, they forsook the pastoral life and·became agriculturists. They were now subjected to incursions from their former brethren, the Devas or deva-worshiping Hindus, who regarded them as separatists whom it was lawful to plunder. Any one conversant with the history of the Highlanders and Lowlanders of Scotland, will readily comprehend the matter. The Iranians became haters of Vedism and adopted a new worship, the “Religion of Life.” The Deva-religion was branded as the source of all mischief and wickedness, and instead of it the Ahura-religion of agriculture was instituted, which separated them thenceforth forever from their Brahmanical brethren.
The institution of this religion cannot have been the work of a single man only, although the peculiar form which it assumed was principally due to the personage, Spitama Zarathustra. But the fire-priests, the Saoshyantô, paved the way. Hence they are denominated in the “Yasna,” “the righteous spreaders of truth.”
This seems to show, notwithstanding the different views of Rawlinson, that fire-worship or Magianism was the primitive Iranian religion. In every house there was an altar or hearth on which fire was kept constantly burning, at which the spirits of the ancestors were supposed to be present. There were also similar shrines for the village, the tribe and nation. The divinities thus worshiped were called, Asuras, or living ones, and were represented as opposed to the Devas, or evil ones, as the Hindu gods were and are still designated; Deva, meaning deity with the latter and devil with the former. This is the form of worship which is described by Herodotus.
Spitama Zarathustra was the accepted founder of the true Mazdayasnian, Mazdean, or Parsi religion. The struggle between the two Aryan peoples had probably existed several centuries when he arose. But the decisive step had not been taken of completely separating the two parties from one another and establishing a new community governed by new laws. This was the achievement of Zarathustra.
The period when this occurred is a subject of dispute. The Parsis consider their great leader at one cotemporary of Darius Hystaspes, about в. с. 550, while Aristot…nd Eudoxus placed his era as much as 6,000 years before Plato. … antiquity was certainly very great. The great religious movement of which he was the representative, is alluded to in the earlier portions of the Vedas. In the “Yasna” he is called “the famous in the Aryan home,” Airyana Vaêjô, the region from which both the Iranians and Indians emigrated in times immemorial. He was a member of the family of Spitama, and said to be the ninth in descent from that individual. The designation, Zarathustra, signifies high priest, and was given to his successors as well as to himself. The title is now Dastur, and is applied to the spiritual guide and head of a whole district or province.
It is supposed that the home of the great Zarathustra was in Baktria. He was previously one of the Saoshyantô or fire-priests, because we find him, when standing before the sacred fire, delivering his speeches and receiving answers from Ahura Mazda out of the sacred flame. The personage of the Avesta is a man like Jesus, stripped of nearly everything that is peculiar to human nature, and vested with a supernatural and wholly divine power, standing next to God himself, and being elevated even above the Archangels. He was the concentration of all wisdom and truth, and the master and head of the whole living creation. But in his own works he modestly styles himself a reciter of religious hymns, a messenger, a herald; he listens to the oracles given by the spirit of nature, and sacred words are revealed to him by Ahura Mazda through the flames.
Zarathustra called into existence a new religious community to be founded on the principle of inviolable faith and truth. Hence the sacredness of a promise or contract in his teachings, transcended all religious ceremonies. Indeed, the Gathas of the older Yasna, the most ancient of the Parsi sacred books, make no allusion to such matters. He was only a teacher and a chief.
The leading idea of his theology was the doctrine of one God. This being he styled Mazdâo, the creator of all, and Ahura Mazda, the living creator who rules the universe, rewards the good and punishes the wicked. All that is created, good or evil, fortune or misfortune, is his work. The previous Ahura-worship or ancestral cultus of the fire-priests became merged into Mazdeism.
The next endeavor of the great sage was to solve the problem of evil. He affirmed the existence of two spirits, “creators” or “masters,” the beneficent and the hurtful. Spento-mainyush, who created the light of day, and Angrô-mainyush, who produced the darkness of night. The two operated together, producing the world of material things as well as that of the spirit. They are present everywhere, in Ahura Mazda as well as in men. Life is produced by Spentô-mainyush, but extinguished by Angrô-mainyush, whose hands, by releasing the soul from the fetters of the body, enables her to rise into immortality and everlasting life.
In course of time this doctrine was changed and corrupted. The designation of the beneficent spirit was made a name of Ahura Mazda himself, and then, of course, Angrô-mainyush was entirely separated from him, personified and made his constant adversary. Thus the Dualism of God and the devil arose. Each of the two spirits was considered an independent ruler, endeavoring to destroy the creation of the other; then there was assigned to each a council and court. The Babylonian, Rabbinical and modern Christian ideas of God, angels and arch-angels was thus originated, also the notion of a personal devil and an infernal kingdom. The Devas, the Brahman gods and priests seem to have made this region their abode.
The effect of this perversion was the establishment of two parties: the Zendik, who followed the “Zend,” or interpretation, and the Maghavas or Magians who clung to the original doctrine of one sole supreme being. The Magians appear to have flourished in Media and Persia. The Zendiks abounded in Baktria. The Greek word gnôsis is a literal rendering of Zend, and it is apparent that the Western Gnostics were co-religionists of the Zendiks.
The Sacred Books of the Parsis are very incomplete. There were two complete copies, they inform us, one of which was burned by Alexander at Persepolis, and the other fell into the hands of the Greeks. The Mohammedans, however, were the actual destroyers. The “Avesta” and “Zend” were divided into twenty-one books or Nasks, of which only one, the “Vendidad,” (Vik-dêvâ-data, given against the devils) alone is entire. They treated on religious topics, medicine, astronomy, agriculture, botany, philosophy, etc., and represented the whole religious and scientific literature of the country. The “Yasna,” however, was the oldest and most sacred of the books, and is quoted as such. It is a ritual of fire-worship, and exhibits striking resemblances to the Brahmanical forms.. It was written in the old Gatha language. There were also the later “Yasna,” the “Vispered,” the “Gathas” and the “Yashts.” They are prayers and chants composed by the fire-priests. The “Vendidad” was the joint production of the Zarathustras, extending over several centuries. The “Gathas” appear to have been genuine productions of Spitama Zarathustra, but the “Yashts,” though ascribed to him, were of a later period. In one of them Gotamas is mentioned, showing that Buddhism had already been introduced into Balk and received with favor. The goddess, Anahita is also named.
The ancient Persian religion is memorable for its influence on the faiths of other peoples. It eradicated the employment of images in worship, and accomplished more than has been imagined in the way of obliterating the cultus and rites that existed in Egypt, Palestine, Assyria, Asia Minor and Greece. It was characterised by the worship of the sacred fire; and the fiery serpent and pillar of flame and smoke accompanied every army and caravan. Fire-towers, sacred hearths and blazing altars were everywhere common. The Jewish Rabbis and Pharisees evidently adopted the Persian ideas after the colonisation of Judea, and maintained them with remarkable tenacity. The doctrine of a twofold spirit, future life, heaven and hell, the resurrection of the dead, the personal devil and his imps, the last judgment, the advent of the Redeemer, Sayoshyas, the supernatural son of Spitama Zarathustra, all were received from the Persians. Few modern faiths would have much to show if their Iranian inheritance should be torn from them. Indeed, if they only included the old Persian veneration for truth, every one of them would be the gainer.
Texts from The Dhammapada
Messrs. Houghton, Osgood & Co., have re-printed as Vol. XII. of the “English and Foreign Philosophical Library,” Mr. Samuel Beal's translation of the Chinese work, entitled “Texts from the Buddhist Canon, commonly known as Dhammapada.” This work is regarded as being of much importance in the study of Buddhism. It is made up of texts or quotations from the four ancient canonical books, connecting each of them with some incident in the history of the Sage. It is a somewhat novel way of teaching, but we have other examples in translations of Sir. William Jones from Sanskrit authors. The treatise in this form not only explains the peculiar doctrines of Buddha, but serve too illustrate peculiar modes of expression, which though seemingly atrocious in their simple form, are shown to be figurative and to relate to important principles.
Though rendered from the Chinese, the “Texts” like other Buddhist works, had been translated into that language from the Sanskrit. Mr. Beal gives as his reason for selecting this particular version, the Chinese, its completeness. Its purpose is to show the method adopted by the early Buddhist teachers and preachers who were mainly instrumental in diffusing a knowledge of this religion through the Eastern world.
In a foot-note Mr. Beal informs us of certain blunders by missionaries, which serve to render their doctrines misunderstood and thereby unpopular, especially among Chinese Buddhists.
The expression used by the Roman Catholic missionary for “God” (tien chu) is the common term in Buddhist books for “Indra,” or we say, “Jupiter.” Almost every page of the New Testament version used by Protestant missionaries in China, has some expression or other which would convey to the mind of the Buddhist either a perverted idea, or else one repugnant to his prejudices. Thus, it would appear that the wilfulness in refusing to understand Buddhism aright or to speak cordially concerning it, is already producing its legitimate fruit.
<... continues on page 8-97 >
Editor's notes