We have said already that the original monotheism of Zoroaster did not last long. False interpretations, misunderstandings, changes, and corruptions crept hi, and dualism was established in theology. The two principles then for the first time became two powors,hos tile to each other, each ruling over a realm of his own and constantly endeavoring to over throw the other. This doctrine, which appears firstfully developed in the Vendidad, once accepted by some of the most influential leaders,it soon followed that, like terrestrial rulers, Oafh of the two powers must have a council and a court of his own. The number of coun t:dors was six, each having to rule over some special province of creation; but Ahuramazda, who at first merely presided over this council, came gradually to be included in their number, and we then read of seven instead of the usual six Amesbaspentas, or immortal saints. These six supreme councilors, who have also found their way into the Jewish tradition embodied in the Talmud, are both by etymology and the sense of the passages in which they figure, distinctly seen to be but abstract nouns or ideas, representing the gifts which God grants to all those who worship with a pure heart, who speak the truth, and perform good actions. The first of these angels or principles (Vohu Mano) is the vital faculty in all living beings of the good creation. He is the son of Ahuramazda, and penetrates the whole living good creation. By him are wrought all good deeds and words of men. The second (Ardibehesht) represents the blazing flame of are, the light in luminaries, and brightness and splendor of any and every kind. He represents, as the light, the all-pervading, all-penetrating Ahuramazda's omnipresence. He is the pre server of the vitality of all life and all that is good. He thus represents providence. The third presides over metals, and is the giver of wealth. His name is Sharavar, which means possession, wealth. The fourth (Issandarmat = Devotion) represents the earth. It is a symbol of the pious and obedient heart of the true Ahuramazda worshiper, who serves God with his body and soul. The two last (Khordfid and Amerdfit) preside over vegetation, and produce all kinds of fruit. But apart from the celestial council stands Sraosha (Serost) the archangel, vested with very high powers. He alone seems to have been considered a personality. He stands between God and man, the great teacher of the prophet himself. He shows the way to heaven, and pronounces judgment upon human action after-death. He is, in the Yasna, styled the sincere, the beautiful, the victorious, who protects our territories, the true, the master of truth. "For his splendor and beauty, for his power and victory," he is to be worshiped and invoked. " He first sang the five Gathas of Zarathustra Spitama;" that is, he is the bearer and rep resentative of the sacred tradition, including the sacrifftial rites and the prayers. He is the protector of all creation, for " he slays the demon of destruction, who prevents the growth of nature, and murders its life. He never slumbers but is always awake. He guards with his drawn sword the whole world against the attacks of the demons, endowed with bodies after sunset. He has a palace of 1000 pillars, erected on the highest summit of the mountain Alborj It has its own light from inside, and from outside it is decorated with stars Ile walks teaching religion round about the world," In men who do not honor him by prayer, the bad mind becomes'powerful, and impremates them with sin and crime, and they shall become utterly distressed both in this lie and iu the life to come.
In the same manner as Ahuramazda, his counterpart, Angiiimainyus, was in later times endowed with a council, imitated from the one just and consisting of six devas, or devils, headed by Augrtmainyus himself, who is then styled Devanain Devo = arch-devil. The first after him is called Ako Mano, or Naught Mind, the orig inal " non-reality," or evil principle of Zoroaster. He produces all bad thoughts, makes man utter bad words, and commit sin. The second place is taken by the Indian god Indra; the third by Shiva or Shaurva; the fourth, by Naonhaitya—tho collective name of the Indian Ashuras or Dioscuri; the fifth and sixth, by the two personifications of "darkness" and "poison." There are many devas, or devils, besides to be found in the
Zend-Avesta, mostly allegorical or symbolical names of evils of all kinds. While the hem enly council is always taking measures for promoting life, the infernal council is always endeavoring to destroy it. They endeavo ; to spread lies and falsehoods, and altogether coincide together with their great chief, with the devil and the infernal hie rarchy of the New Testament.
Thus monotheism was in later times broken up and superseded by dualism. But a small party, represented by the 3Iagi, remained steadfast to the old doctrine, as opposed to that of the followers of the false interpretation or Zend, the Zendiks. In order to prove their own interpretation of Zoroaster's doctri les, they had recourse to a false and unmninmatical explanation of the term Zervana Akarana, which, merely meaning time witiout bounds, was by them pressed into an identity with the Supreme Being; whilst the passages on which the present Desturs, or Parsee priests, still rest their faulty inter pretation, simply indicate that God created in the boundless time, i.e., that Ile is from eternity, self-existing, neither born nor created. Two intellects and two lives are fur ther mentioned in the Zend-Avesta. By the former are to be understood the heavenly, spiritual -wisdom, and the earthly wisdom, i.e., that which is learned by ordinary teach ing and experience. The two lives are in the same manner distinguished as the bodily and the mental, i.e., body and soul. From these two lives, however, are to be distin guished the " first " and "last" lives, terms which refer to this life and the life to come. The belief in the latter, and in immortality, was one of the principal dogmas of Zoroas ter, and it is held by many that it was not through Persian influence that it became a Jewish and a Christian dogma. Heaven is called the " house of hymns," a place where angels praise God incessantly in song. It is also called the "best life," or paradise. "Hell' is called the house of destruction. It is the abode chiefly of the priests of the bad (deva) religion. The modern Persians call the former Behesht; the latter, Duzak. Between heaven and hell there is the bridge of the gatherer or judge, over which the soul of the pious passes unharmed, while the wicked is precipitated from it into bell. The resurrection of the body is clearly and emphatically indicated iu the Zend-Avesta; and it belongs, in all probability, to Zoroaster's original doctrine—not, as has been held by some, to later times, when it was imported into his religion by other religions. A detailed description of the resurrection and last judgment is contained in the Huntlehesh. The same arcrumeut—the almightiness of the Creator—which is now employed to show the possibility of the elements, dissolved and scattered as they may be, being all brought back again, and made once more to form the body to which they once belonged, is made use of there to prove the resurrection. There is still an important element to be noticed —viz., the Messiah, or Sosiosh, from whom the Jewish and Christian notions of a Messiah arc held, by many, to have been derived. He is to awaken the dead bodies, to restore all life destroyed by death, and to hold the last judgment. Here, again, a later period introduced a plurality, notably a trinity. Three great prophets are also to appear when the end of the world draws nigh, respectively bearing the names of Moon of Happy Rule, Aurora of Happy Rule, and Sosiosh, who is supposed to be the son of Zarathus tra, begotten in a supernatural way; and he will bring with him a new portion of Zend Avesta, hitherto hidden from man. Even a superficial glance at this sketch will show our readers what very close parallels between Jewish and Christian notions on the one hand, and the Zoroastrian on the other, are to be drawn; but, as we have noticed under PARSEES (q.v.), an attentive reading of the Zend-Avesta reveals new and striking points of contact almost on every page.