In Chaitraratha's* lovely shade,
And viewed each fairest scene afar
Transported in thy radiant car.

But source of every joy wast thou.
Alas! my joy is ended now."

Rama was touched by her sorrow, and desired Vibhishana to take the women back to the inner apartments and to prepare the funeral rites for his brother, Ravana. Vibhishana took away the women, and returned to Rama, and said: "This Ravana was my enemy; he kicked me before all his council, and I have therefore no desire to perform his funeral ceremony." But Rama replied: "I am much grieved to hear these words from you. Ravana is now dead, and he is therefore no longer your enemy, but your elder brother, and it is proper for you to perform all his funeral rites." Vibhishana listened to the commands of Rama, and performed all the funeral ceremonies of his elder brother, Ravana, with the grandeur and magnificence which befitted the Rajah of Lanka.

* The garden of Kuvera, the god of wealth.

the mountainous country now known as Afghanistan, then called Bactria. Its ancient capital is identified as the modern Balkh. The Aryans were originally nomadic; but at the time when they first come under our view, in the valley of the Indus on one side, and on the high plains of Persia (Iran, as it is still termed) on the other, they had setled down into an agricultural life.

At a date which, in the absence of certain information, is provisionally fixed at 2300 B.C., causes probably based on religious differences impelled the two antagonistic sects to leave Bactria, and journey south and west respectively. The primitive Aryan religion, simple though it doubtless was, seems yet to have admitted divergence of opinion as to its interpretation. But that the Hindus and Iranians were originally one people is a secure inference from the fact that the Zend, or ancient Iranian tongue, in which the oldest parts of the Avesta are written, is closely akin to the Sanskrit. And indeed it was through its resemblance to Sanskrit that the old Persian language was deciphered by scholars.

Varuna (a name found also in the Greek Ouranos) seems to have been the primal deity of the Bactrian Aryans. In him they worshiped the All-the sum of creation and its author. The imaginative and speculative Hindus gradually lost the simplicity of their first faith, and established a pantheism which degenerated into an idolatrous form of worship. The Iranian emigrants were of a less facile and more spiritua.

fibre. The conception of Varuna was subdivided into seven attributes, including Varuna himself; and all were sons of Aditi, the Infinite. Each of these attributes, or spiritual principles, was personified and named. As culture deepened, Varuna in his purely spiritual aspect was figured as AhuraMazda (Ormuzd), and his several qualities were called Amshaspands-Immortal Holy Ones; the significance of AhuraMazda being "The Spiritual Wise One." Wisdom, or Light, was thus made supreme. But as darkness is the inevitable complement of light, the conception of Angra-Mainya, the god of Darkness or evil, was developed; he and his demons are in eternal conflict with the powers of Light. But in the end—such is the optimistic Iranian faith-Wisdom and Good shall overcome, and Falsehood and Evil suffer final annihilation.

Meanwhile, the war between Ahura-Mazda and AngraMainya, or Ormuzd and Ahriman, constitutes the spiritual history of mankind. The devs, demons, or angels of Ahriman were degraded from the position of minor deities in the popular regard; purity in thought, word and act was inculcated as the moral duty of man, and holiness ensured him immortality in heaven. Cultivation of the soil was commended as the most laudable of pursuits; and homage was enjoined to the elements (air, earth, water, and especially fire) as being creations of Ahura-Mazda.

This analysis or development of the original Aryan creed is popularly ascribed to a personage called Zarathushtra, or, as the Greeks rendered it, Zoroaster. But when was the period of his ministry, or whether such an individual ever existed, are matters still under dispute. According to the Persian epics, he lived under Prince Vishtaspa (Hystaspes) of Bactria, and was slain at the altar by Turanians at the storming of Balkh. His birthplace is given as Rhagæ or Shiz, in Media. Roth, the German Orientalist, suggests that the Iranian religion, originating in Bactria, may have culminated in Media; in which case the date of 1000 B.C. might be assigned to Zoroaster. Other students, keeping in view the fact that the Avesta presents internal evidence of having been composed at successive periods, incline to the belief that Zoroaster may

have been the general title bestowed upon a priesthood. Deductions drawn from the Gathas, or ancient hymns of the Avesta, point to a period of transition from a nomadic to a pastoral state. But the testimony of Plato, Aristotle and other Greek writers goes to show that Zoroaster was a real, historical person; and if this be accepted, we may suppose him to have lived in the sixth century before the Christian era.

The Avesta is the Persian Holy Scripture. It was originally an extensive work, but large portions have perished. The Gathas, or hymns, alone are regarded as the actual production of Zoroaster; the remainder is in great measure a sort of growth or commentary upon the primitive nucleus, and to this was given the title, "Zend." Avesta (in the Pahlavi avistak) is translated "knowledge." Zend-Avesta, then, properly means Text and Commentary-Avistak va Zend; Zend standing for the later Pahlavi explanation of the first inspired or authoritative writings. The inversion of the title was the error of early students.

The Avesta, in its present form, is the production of the Sassanian period-the Sassanids being a dynasty of Persian kings ruling from 224 to 641 A.D. According to a record of the sixth century A.D., all existing fragments of the Avesta were collected by order of a king living about the second century of our era, together with the oral traditions of the priests, and the text thus assembled was edited under successive Sassanian rulers, and received its final form at the hands of Atur-pat-Maraspend, prime minister of Shapur II.

The Avesta consists of several parts :-the Yasna, the Vispered, the Vendidad, and the Yashts. The Yasna is a collection of liturgies and hymns (Gathas); the word means sacrifice and worship. The Vispered (vispe ratavo) is a series of invocations to "all the lords." The Yashts (yashti, to worship), are twenty-one hymns to the Yazatas or Izads. The Vendidad (vidaeva data) comprises the law against demons, and may be likened to the Hebrew Leviticus. The Yasna is the chief liturgical work, and contains the most sacred portion of the Avesta―the verses from the sermons of Zoroaster, written in the oldest known dialect of the Iranian language.

Regarded as a whole, the Avesta indicates a religious faith more spiritual than do the Hindu Vedas. The qualities given to Ahura-Mazda are Righteousness, Good Judgment, Divine Order, Wisdom, Perfection and Immortality. There are many inferior genii; and Fire is regarded as a heavenly minister. The future state of each man is determined by the preponderance of good or evil in his deeds while on earth. He is required to resist evil, to adore the true God, to observe purity of soul and body, and to care for useful animals, the cow especially. Among other rules, there is one forbidding the burning or burial of the human body. The Persians under Cyrus, perhaps with the exception of the priests or Magi, did not observe this rule; but the Parsis-as those Persians are termed who settled in India when Persia was overthrown as an independent kingdom-adhere scrupulously to the ancient

faith, and erect "Towers of Silence" on which the dead bodies are exposed to be devoured by vultures.

The Avesta is the only surviving monument of ancient Persian literature. The products of Persian genius since the Mohammedan faith was accepted by the people are separated by a wide gulf from the austere enigmatic oracles of Zoroaster and his followers.