FINNO-URGRIC MYTHOLOGY

INTRODUCTION
The Finno-Ugric race comprises a considerable number of tribes and peoples who speak different dialects descended from the same parent language. They live not in compact masses but in isolated groups, surrounded on all sides by powerful neighbours of other races.
They can be divided into four principal groups: the Ugrian, to whom belong the Voguls and the Ostyaks, established in Western Siberia, and the Magyars who came from the same region; the Permian group which includes the Zyrians, the Votyaks and the Permyaks who live in the provinces of Vyatka and Perm in Russia; the Cheremis-Mordvin with the Cheremis on the left bank of the upper Volga and the Mordvins on the middle Volga; and finally the Western group, represented by the Finns, the Karelians, the Esthonians and the Livonians on the one hand, and the Lapps on the other.
Scattered and separated from each other the Finno-Ugric peoples have been subjected to various influences: Iranian, Slav, Scandinavian. Their religious evolution has also been extremely varied: the Magyars became one of the chief ramparts of Catholicism; the Finns of Finland and the Esthonians a bulwark of the Lutheran church. The Finno-Ugrians of Russia were largely converted to Orthodoxy
with a minority who embraced Islam - though both long kept survivals of their ancient pagan beliefs, survivals which were particularly strong among the Finno-Ugrians of Asia.
With the aid of such survivals and by comparing them with the important evidence furnished by the great mythic epic of the Finnish West - the Kalevala - one can draw a reasonably complete picture of the mythology and ancient religious beliefs of the Finno-Ugric peoples.
THE KALEVALA
In about 1828 the Finnish scholar Lonnrot conceived the idea of gathering together the popular songs of ancient Finland. He then began to travel the country, visiting the humblest villages where he collected a considerable quantity of songs or runot (runes) which had been handed down by generation after generation of peasants. By patient comparison and arrangement he combined all these songs into a heroic epic which he entitled the Kalevala.
When the poem appeared in 1835 it contained about twelve thousand verses. By successive additions it continued to grow and in the definitive edition of 1849 there were twenty-two thousand eight hundred verses.
The subject of the epic is the struggle between Kalevala - which
according to the usually authorised interpretation signifies the 'Fatherland of Heroes' - and Pohja or Pohjola, the 'back country' -Northern Finland or Lapland.
The chief hero of the Kalevala is Vainamoinen, son of the Virgin of the Air. The beginning of the poem describes his miraculous birth. He clears the ground and sows it. He triumphs over Joukahainen the Laplander, whose sister Aino he plans to marry. But Aino throws herself into the sea and Vainamoinen. having escaped Joukahainen's ambushes, goes to search for a bride among the daughters of Pohja. Louhi, protectress of Pohja, promises him the hand of her own daughter if he can forge the sampo - a mysterious talisman which cannot be precisely identified for her. Vainamoinen confides this task to the smith Ilmarinen; but the daughter of Louhi prefers the smith to the hero and the wedding of the young couple is celebrated with great splendour.
Now a new character appears, Lemminkainen. He is a cheerful youth, a great seducer of girls, quarrelsome and turbulent. He too has come to the land of Pohja in search of a wife. He has even perished in the course of the voyage and all his mother's skill in magic was needed to recall him to life. Furious at not having been invited to the wedding of Louhi's daughter, Lemminkainen undertakes an expedition against Pohja. He kills the great chief of the family, but has to flee from the wrath of the people of Pohja who burn his house and devastate his fields. In vain does he attempt a new expedition. Louhi's magic power triumphs over his courage.
Meanwhile Ilmarinen is stricken with grief at the loss of his wife, devoured by the bears of Kullervo, the spirit of evil. He returns to Pohja to ask for Louhi's second daughter in marriage. When he does not obtain the mother's consent he carries off the girl. But she takes advantage of a time when he is asleep to give herself to another man. Her husband then changes her into a seagull.
When Ilmarinen returns to Kalevala he tells Vainamoinen about the prosperity which the sampo has brought to the land of Pohja. The two heroes thereupon make plans to go and seize the precious talisman. Lemminkainen joins them. On the way their ship runs into an enormous pike from whose bones Vainamoinen fashions a wondrous kantete, a sort of five-stringed dulcimer. After having
lulled his adversaries to sleep with the sounds of this instrument Vainamoinen takes possession of the sampo; but an untimely song sung by Lemminkainen awakens the people of Pohja. Louhi rouses a horrifying tempest in the course of which the kantele is carried away by the waves and the sampo is broken. Vainamoinen is able to rescue only its scattered fragments. This, however, is sufficient to assure the prosperity of the land of Kalevala. Louhi is enraged and unleashes a series of scourges against Kalevala. She goes as far as to shut up the sun and the moon in a cavern; but in the end Vainamoinen triumphs. Then, deciding that his mission has been completed, he embarks alone in a ship he has built and, carried by the waves, he disappears forever on the boundless sea.
From this tissue of legends which embrace, at times rather obscurely, the traditions and aspirations of the Finnish race, one thing at least stands out clearly: the richness and originality of the mythological element. Hence it is only necessary to turn the pages of the Kalevala in order to reconstruct the Finnish pantheon, together with the beliefs and practices connected with it.
MAGIC AND SHAMANISM
Beauvoir, in his study of magic among the Finns, wrote: All people who have been able to get to know the Finns have regarded them as masters in the occult sciences and, leaving national pride aside, have proclaimed their superiority. Norwegian kings in the Middle Ages forbade people to give credence to Finnish beliefs and prohibited voyages to Finnmark in order to consult magicians.'
Magic, indeed, was the basis of the primitive religion of the Finno-Ugric peoples.
In the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries the Swedish authorities searched for and confiscated the Laplander's 'magic drums' - or quodbas - to the sound of which Lappish sorcerers chanted their sacred exorcisms. Among the Finno-Ugrians of Siberia magic drums were still used at the end of the nineteenth century and even at the beginning of the twentieth by the priest-conjurers known as Shamans. Shamanism is distinguished from other religions by the power that man or rather certain men particularly endowed, the Shamans, exercise over nature or over the divine or demonic beings who represent and govern nature. Among Finnish peoples magic made its influence felt throughout all aspects of material and intellectual life. If the magic drum which is still found among the Ostyaks of Siberia has under Christian influence fallen into disuse among the Finns of Finland, their popular poetry remains thoroughly impregnated with the spirit of Shamanistic magic. The Kalevala is thus in the first place a magic poem which not only abounds in scenes of magic, in conjurations and incantations, but offers a complete repertory of spells by which the Finns claimed to exert power over men, animals, inanimate beings and, in general, over all the forces of nature.
This power, of course, was not conferred upon everyone, but remained the privilege of certain beings especially favoured or gifted.
Magic in the Kalevala. The great future pre-ordained for the imperturbable Vainamoinen was foreboded by the amazing circumstances of his birth. 'He passed thirty summers and as many winters in his mother's womb; he reflected, he meditated how to live, how to exist in this sombre hiding-place. ... And he cried out: "Break my bonds, O Moon! Sun, deliver me! And thou, radiant Great Bear, teach the hero how to pass through these unknown gates!" But the Moon did not break his bonds, nor did the Sun deliver him. Then Vainamoinen grew bored with his existence. He knocked loudly at the fortress gate with the finger which has no name (namely the ring-finger). He forced the wall of bone with his left big toe and he dragged himself by the fingernails across the threshold and on his knees issued from the vestibule.'
As for the debonair Lemminkainen his mother had bathed him, when he was a little baby, three times in the course of one summer night, and nine times one night in autumn, so that he should become a scholar and a magician in every way, a singer in the house and in the world a man of ability.
When Lemminkainen tried to slay the swan of Tuoni, the infernal river, and perished for his temerity because he had not learned the magic words which gave protection against the bite of serpents: and when his body was torn to pieces by the son of Tuoni and scattered in the waters of the black river, Lemminkainen's mother with
her magic arts succeeded in restoring him to life. She fished out the pathetic shreds, 'fitted flesh to flesh, bone to bone, joints to joints, and veins to veins', then she invoked the aid of the goddess of veins, Suonetar, and with her assistance gave her son life once more. But he was unable to speak. The mother magician then called upon Mehilainen, the bee, asking him to go and search beyond the ninth heaven for a wondrous balm which Jumala himself used. When she received the balm she applied it to the exhausted hero's wounds. He awoke from his dreams, he rose and he said: 'I've slept fora long time.'
It was less with the strength of their arms than with the power of their incantations that the heroes fought each other.
When the rash Joukahainen, 'the thin son of Lapland', came to challenge Vainamoinen he called all his knowledge to his assistance. Vainamoinen listened to him impassively and then sang in his turn. And 'behold, the swamps roared and the earth trembled and the copper mountains swayed and the thick boulders were shattered. .. He overwhelmed young Joukahainen with his spells, he changed his sleigh into a withered shrub, his pearl-handled whip into a seaside reed, his horse with its starred forehead into a rock of the cataracts. . .Then he hoaxed young Joukahainen himself; he threw him waist-deep into a swamp, into a meadow as deep as his loins,
into a patch of briars up to his ears...' To escape from this tight corner Joukahainen had to promise his conqueror the hand of his sister Aino. Later on he attempted to avenge himself by letting fly an arrow at Vainamoinen; but he only hit Vainamoinen's horse and the hero, thrown into the sea, was pulled out again by an eagle.
It was above all the land of the North, Lapland, which was celebrated for its magic singers and enchanters. We learn from the Kalevala that when the light-hearted Lemminkainen went to the house of Louhi he saw that it was full of tjetajat (wizards), powerful magicians, learned soothsayers, skilled sorcerers. All were singing Lappish runot (runes) and shouting out the songs of Hiisi - the god of evil. The cheerful Lemminkainen entered the house and 'began to shout his own savage runes and to display his own great powers of wizardry. Fire spurted from his leather tunic, flame shot from his eyes. He laughed at the proud men, he dispersed them on all sides, into waste lands, fields where nothing grew, swamps where there were no fish. He laughed at the warriors with their swords, the heroes with their weapons. He laughed at the old, laughed at the young. . .'
Like men, animals too were submitted to the power of the magicians. When she sent her cattle to pasture, the wife of Ilmarinen, the smith, did not forget to invoke all the divine powers in order to assure the protection of the herd. She also conjured the bear whom she flattered with soft words. 'O handsome Otso, man of the woods, with feet running with honey, let us make a pact, a peace treaty for our lifetime. Swear to me not to attack my crooked-legged givers of wool.' In the same episode the shepherd Kullervo, wishing to avenge himself on his mistress for her cruelty, changes the cows into bears and wolves, and the wicked wife of Ilmarinen is devoured by her own cattle.
Magic powers also affected the elements. To triumph over Lemminkainen the Lady of Pohjola, Louhi, unleashed the Cold. 'O Cold, my gentle son, go where I bid thee. See that the audacious one's ship is held fast in the ice.' And the Cold set about submitting the sea to its power: on the first night he attacked the gulfs and lakes; on the following night he displayed terrible violence: the ice rose by an ell. He also thought of seizing the great hero and freezing him; but Lemminkainen quickly got the better of him, for he knew efficacious words, he understood the 'origins' of the Cold.
It is, in fact, rather curious that one of the chief magic formulas in the Kalevala consists of retracing the origin of the things over which one wishes to have a hold. It is only thus that one can subjugate them.
Vainamoinen one day accidentally wounded himself in the knee with his axe. He went to consult an old man who was a celebrated healer. But the healer could do nothing until he was told the origin of the Iron, which he did not know.
The magic element influenced all work, even the most pedestrian. Every time that a man, in work, had to deal with matter he must, in order to deal with it successfully, know the formula. When Vainamoinen was building his ship 'he would sing a song, a powerful song, to each part that he constructed. But when it was time to join planks together three words suddenly failed him.' From that moment it was impossible to finish the ship. Vainamoinen then set about searching for the magic words. He even descended into the underworld to find them, and finally, on the advice of a shepherd, he visited the giant Antero Vipunen. He found him 'lying under the earth with his songs, stretched out on the ground with his magic words. The poplar was growing from his shoulders, the birch from his temples, the alder from his cheeks, the willow from his beard, the fir from his forehead, the wild pine between his teeth.' After having felled all these trees Vainamoinen plunged his iron-clad staff into the giant's throat. The giant then opened his mouth and between his jaws swallowed up the hero and his sword. But 'Vainamoinen turned himself into a blacksmith. From his shirt he made a forge, from his shirt-sleeves and his fur-lined coat he made bellows, from his knee an anvil, from his elbow a hammer. And he began to strike mighty blows in the belly of the prodigious giant.' To Vipunen's imprecations Vainamoinen retorted: 'I shall sink my anvil farther into the flesh of your heart, I shall install my forge in a deeper place until I have heard the words, until I have learned from you the magic words.' Vipunen had to give in. 'He opened the coffer full of words, the coffer full of songs, in order to sing the efficacious words, the profound words of the origin..." Vainamoinen, having thus torn the magic chants from their cavern,
returned to his ship which by the power of words alone was finished without the aid of an axe.
It was also magic which was the basis of the work of the smith Ilmarinen, the unceasing beater of iron. Nothing is more characteristic than the fashioning of the mysterious sampo which Ilmarinen undertook to forge 'with the point of a swan's feathers, the milk of a sterile cow, a small grain of barley and the fine wool of a fecund ewe'.
After having set up his forge on a thick block of stone in the mountains which bordered the fields of Pohja, he lighted the fire, threw in the basic materials and called upon serfs to fan the fire and strong men to work. Every day he leaned over the furnace to
see what the fire had produced. There appeared in succession a golden bow, a red ship, a heifer with golden horns, a plough with a golden ploughshare and a silver handle. But the smith broke all these objects. Finally, as he leaned again over the furnace, he saw that the sampo had been created.
THE GODS OF THE KALEVALA
Confining ourselves to the Kalevala alone we find Finno-Ugric mythology rich in its number of divinities. The Swedish scholar Castren listed them in his Nordiska Resor ('Nordic Travels') which has been utilised in what follows.
The Celestial Gods. At the head of the Finno-Ugric pantheon stands Jumala, the supreme god, the creator. He is a semi-abstract entity whose sacred tree was the oak. His name is related to a word which signifies twilight, dusk, and it is probable that Jumala was originally a god of the sky. Without completely disappearing Jumala was later replaced by another supreme god, Ukko, whose personality is a little less vague. Ukko was the 'ancient father who reigns in the heavens'. He was the god of the sky and the air. It was he who supported the world, who gathered the clouds and made the rain fall. He was invoked only when all the other gods had been called on in vain. Ukko's wife was Akka, who was also called Rauni from the Finnish word for the mountain ash which was sacred to her. The other celestial powers were Paiva, the Sun; Kuu, the Moon; Otava, the Great Bear; and above all lima, divinity of the air, whose daughter Luonnotar, Vainamoinen's own mother, was closely connected with the myth of creation.
The Birth of the World. The Kalevala recounts how Luonnotar -whose name means Daughter of Nature - grew weary of her sterile virginity and her lonely existence in the midst of the celestial regions, and let herself fall into the sea and float on the white crests of the waves. Tossed by the waves 'the breath of the wind caressed her bosom and the sea made her fertile'. For seven centuries she thus floated without being able to find a resting place. She was lamenting this fact when an eagle - or a duck - appeared. He too was searching the vast sea for a place to build his nest. Perceiving Luonnotar's knee which emerged from the water he built his nest on it and deposited his eggs which he sat on for three days. 'Then the daughter of lima felt scorching heat on her skin; she bent her kree violently and the eggs rolled into the abyss. They were not, however, lost in the slime: their remains were changed into beautiful and excellent things. From the lower part of the eggs was formed the earth, mother of all creatures. From their upper part the sublime heavens were formed. Their yolks became the yellow radiant sun, their whites the gleaming moon. Their spotted fragments were the stars, and their black fragments the clouds in the air.' Finally Luonnotar completed the work of creation by causing promontories to spring up, flattening the shores and digging out gulfs. 'Already islands were emerging from the waves; pillars of air rose on their base. The earth, born of a word, displayed its solid mass. . .'
Divinities of the Earth and Waters. Among the divinities of the earth, which was personified by the Mother of Mannu, may be mentioned the Mother of Metsola, who personified the forest; Pellervoinen, the protective god of fields, lord of trees and plants; Tapio, 'of the dark beard, the fir bonnet and moss cloak', who with his wife Mielikki, his son Nyyrikki and his daughter Tuulikki, represented the deities of the woods, invoked by the ancient Finns in order to assure the abundance of game.
The chief water-god was Ahto or Ahti. With his wife Vellamo and his daughters he lived 'at the far end of the cloudy headland, under the deep waves, in the midst of the black slime, in the heart of a thick cliff.' It may be remarked that Lemminkainen bore the epithet Ahti, which suggests that the god and the hero were but one and the same person. Ahti was surrounded by the genii of the waters, generally harmful, such as Vetehinen, who was perhaps derived from the Slavonic Vodyanoi, and Tursas, a genie of monstrous aspect who, in the Kalevala, rises from the bottom of the sea to set fire to the grass cut by the virgins of the billows.
The terrestrial world was also peopled by evil spirits. There were, for instance, Lempo, Paha and Hiisi, whom the Kalevala describes as uniting their forces to direct the axe which Vainamoinen holds
The forging of the Sampo. by A. Gallen-Kallela. Atencum, Helsinki.
against his own knee. 'Hiisi made the handle shake, Lempo turned the cutting edge towards him, Paha misdirected the blow. The axe then split the hero's knee. Lempo plunged it into his flesh, Hiisi pushed it through his veins and the blood began to flow.'
The Underworld of the Kalevala. The idea of the afterworld as a place of punishment is not found in Finno-Ugric mythology. In the Kalevala the infernal region, or rather the kingdom of the dead, has the appearance of a land darker than other lands, though in it the sun shines and forests grow. The entrance to Tuonela, the land of Tuoni, or to Manala, the land of Mana - names of the Finnish underworld - was protected by a river with black billows. It required a long march to reach it: a week through thickets, another week through woods, and a third week through deep forests. Woe to
those who attempted to penetrate this accursed territory! 'Many enter Manala, but very few come out again.' Lemminkainen, to satisfy the demands of Louhi, ventured as far as the banks of the black river in order to shoot with his arrow the beautiful bird of Tuoni, the long-necked swan. But he was thrown into the depths of the river and his body, torn to pieces by the bloodstained son of Tuoni, was dispersed in the funereal waves of Manala.
Only Vainamoinen escaped unscathed from this perilous expedition. He had come to the land of Tuonela in the hope of finding there the magic words which he needed in order to finish the building of his ship. When he arrived at the river's edge he perceived Tuoni's daughters. They were short of stature and stunted of body and they were busy washing their old rags in the low waters of the Manala. By insisting, he succeeded in being taken to the other bank of the
i rum a Lapp snaman s uruni.
river, to the isle of Manala, the land of the dead. There he was received by Tuonetar, the queen of Tuonela, who politely offered him beer in a pot swarming with frogs and worms, but informed him that he would never leave the place. And, while Vainamoinen slept, Tuoni's crooked-fingered son threw across the river a net with iron mesh a thousand fathoms long in order to detain the hero for the rest of his life. But Vainamoinen, suddenly changing his form, dived into the water and 'glided like a steel serpent, like a viper, across the billows of Tuonela, and through the net of Tuoni'.
Over the land of Tuonela reigned Tuoni and his wife Tuonetar. Their daughters were divinities of suffering: notably Kipu-Tytto, goddess of illness, and Loviatar, 'the most despicable of Tuoni's daughters, source of all evil, origin of a thousand scourges. Her face was black and her skin was a horrible sight.' By her union with the Wind she gave birth to nine monsters: Pleurisy, Colic, Gout, Phthisis, Ulcers, Scabies, Canker, Plague and 'a fatal spirit, a creature eaten up with envy' who was not given a name. Among the goddesses of pain and disease there was also Kivutar and Vam-matar. As for Death, she was personified by Kalma who reigned over the graves. It should be pointed out that in Finnish the word kalma means 'the odour of a corpse'. On the threshold of the abode of Kalma stood the monster Surma, personification of fatal destiny or of violent death, who was ever ready to seize in his murderous teeth and swallow in his vast gullet the imprudent man who came within reach of his fangs.
on d urum. i^app ui uin ucsigii.
Mythological Value of the Kalevala. Such was the world of the gods as the Kalevala reveals it. It is as well to remember, however, that the poem is a collection of popular songs, no doubt primitive in their inspiration, but collected at a late date, so that some of them show signs of foreign influence. The Kalevala must not, then, be regarded as an exact reflection of the basic beliefs of the Finno-Ugric race. And even if it were, the pantheon as depicted in the Kalevala in no way resembles the Olympus of the Greeks. It is therefore excessively rash to make comparisons such as, for example, that attempted by George Kahlbaum who assimilated Ihnarinen, 'the eternal hammerer of iron' with Hephaestus, and the sampo with Pandora's Box. Actually the divinities of the Kalevala are only vaguely sketched and even the relationships between them are impossible to establish. Castren himself was obliged to recognise that 'the religious doctrine of the Finns was half-way between the direct worship of nature and a kind of religion which to phenomena and to natural objects attributes spirits or divinities who inhabit these phenomena and these objects and animate them'. This is a truer description of Finno-Ugric mythology.
FINNO-UGRIC ANIMISM
Shamanism, which as we have seen is the basis of primitive Finno-Ugric religion, is scarcely compatible with the idea of gods who are essentially superior to humanity, because the Shaman is
A shaman with his drum. The Finno-Ugric peoples believed that shamans were able to communicate with spirits both good and evil and that they had the power to overcome the spells of the former and transmit the wishes of the latter. In order to enter into such communication the shaman would beat with a spoon-shaped stick upon a sacred drum covered with cabalistic signs until a trance was induced. I       Lapp drum design.
[       capable of subduing everything with the magic of his spells. Shags      manism presupposes an elemental force in all objects which can I      be dominated by a greater force, namely that of the magician. Hence the animistic character of Finno-Ugric religion.
The Soul of Things. For the Finno-Ugrians every being, every | object, was endowed with a soul which the Finns called haltija, \ the Votyaks uri, the Cheremis ort. Thus among the Votyaks d'u-urt I is the soul of the corn, busi-urt the soul of the cornfield; and among ' the Cheremis pu-ort is the soul of the tree.
i         The soul is, however, indissolubly linked to the body with which it forms an indivisible whole. Having no independent existence it dies with the body. That is why the Ingrians went to weep over the grave of the deceased and placed offerings there during a period roughly equivalent to the time of the body's decomposition. Afterwards the grave was no longer visited for, they said, 'there is no longer anything left of the soul'.
For the Voguls the heart and the lungs were the seat of the soul. Thus their warriors would eat the heart and lungs of the vanquished in order to absorb their vital force, that is, their soul. Other tribes attributed a particular importance to the skeleton, the framework of the soul as well as of the body. The Lapps, for example, would avoid breaking and destroying the skeleton of a sacrificed animal, believing that the gods used it again for making a new animal. The belief that the soul lasts as long as the skeleton exists is also
clear from the ceremonies of the 'Bear's festival' of which the Kalevala gives us a curious description. After the bear had been hunted and killed its flesh was eaten; then its bones were put in a tomb with skis, a knife and other objects. The slain animal was treated as a friend and asked to tell the other bears about all the honours men had paid to it. The account in the Kalevala is merely a lyrical paraphrase of this custom which was practised among the pagan Finns.
Just as all animals possessed a soul, so did all plants, the earth and the waters. When the Lapps of Kola cut down trees in the forest they never omitted, before felling the tree, to 'kill' it with a special blow of the axe. Otherwise the tree would not burn properly on the fire. When the Finns drew water from a well they would pour back two drops so that the 'well should not be killed'.
Hence man was surrounded by a multitude of living beings against whom he must ceaselessly be on guard and whose goodwill he sought to win by prayers and offerings. Thus in the mountainous regions of the Altai in Siberia the natives, who have remained Shamanists, would attach bags made of birch bark to birch-trees and fill them with gifts intended for the good spirits. Not long ago they, still sacrificed horses and hung up their skulls and hides on poles: an obvious survival of a very ancient custom, since in the Kalevala Vainamoinen does the same thing with the remains of a bear which he carries to the summit of a mountain and suspends from the top of a sacred tree.
The Divine Multitude. This infinity of spirits or genii who peopled the universe presents a rudimentary form of divinity. It was, as it were, an anarchical polydemonism. Absolute individualism reigned in this mythological world. There was no systematic organisation and no genealogical order. All the gods and genii were independent of each other in their respective spheres of influence.
The genii or gods who animated various beings, living or inert, were too closely allied to them to have a distinct individuality.
This explains the indeterminate character of the gods in the Kalevala: we glimpse scarcely more than a vague attempt at anthropomorphism in the differentiation of sex between the divinities. Among the Votyaks there are two terms, murt ('man') and mumi ('mother'), which designate the god and the goddess. Hence korka-murt is the 'man of the house' or the spirit of the hearth; obin-murt is the rain man, vu-murt the water man. Shundimumi is the 'mother of the sun'; gudiri-mumi the 'mother of the thunder', muzem-mumi the earth-mother, and so forth.
It is not easy to keep our bearings in this almost anonymous divine multitude. Only a few personalities emerge with a slightly more marked individuality, such as the goddess Maan-Eno. This name was given by the Esthonians to the wife of Ukko, the god of thunder. She saw to the success of the harvest and the fecundity of women. Then there was Rot, the god of the Underworld in Lappish mythology. But usually we meet only genii whose names merely recall their functions.
Water Spirits. Such, among others, were the very numerous water spirits. To Vu-murt, the Votyaks' water-man, corresponds the Vizi-ember of the Magyars. He was a water genie who lived in lakes and rivers and was apt to demand human victims. When these were slow in forthcoming those who lived beside the river would hear his mysterious voice crying: 'The time is come and no one has yet arrived.' After that someone was certain to drown. In addition to a water-man, Magyar mythology had its water-mother - Viz-anya - and the 'maiden of the water' - Vizi-leany. The appearance of these spirits always foretold misfortune. With these harmful genii may be classed the Kul' of the Ostyaks who haunted big lakes and deep waters; the Va-kul' of the Zyrians who was represented as a man or a woman with long hair; the Yanki-murt and the Vu-vozo of the Votyaks. When a Votyak drank water in a strange village he would conjure away the possible malevolence of the vu-vozo with this prayer: 'Do not attack me. Attack, rather, a Russian woman or a Cheremis!'
On the other hand the water sheltered benevolent spirits as well, such as the tonx of the Voguls who brought men luck when hunting or fishing, and cured illness; the as-iga or 'old man of the Ob', venerated by those Ostyaks who live beside the great Siberian river; the Vu-nuna, 'the water-uncle', who defended the Votyaks against the wicked yanki-murt; and the Vu-kutis, 'the
aquatic aggressor', who, the same tribe believed, fought disease.
The Finno-Ugrians also had sacred rivers and lakes. Among the Voguls these were the jelpin-ja and Ihejelpin-tur; among the Lapps, the passe-jokka and the passe-javrre, inhabited by the tchatse-olmai or water-men; among the Finns, the pyhajoki and the pyhajarvi. Waterfalls and torrents also had their divinities.
The Finns of Finland had a large number of aquatic divinities among whom the most widespread was Nakki, genie of the Water. The population of the West and South of Finland still believes that in lakes there are places which are bottomless. Such places are entrances to the kingdom of the water-god who lives in a superb castle filled with riches.
Nakki emerged from his abode and came to visit the earth at sunrise and sunset. He could assume all kinds of shapes. When bathing one had to cry out before diving in: 'Nakki, come out of the water! I'm the one who's in the water!' For protection against Nakki it was useful to toss a coin into the water and recite this exorcism: 'May I be as light as a leaf and Nakki as heavy as iron.'
We could similarly enumerate the spirits of the forests and the trees. All of this, however, belongs to the study of folklore rather than to mythology.
The Myth.
Myths in the strict sense of the word are rather rare. The Kalevala has preserved a few, such as the myth of the origin of the serpent, that of the origin of iron and of the origin of fire. Fire came from a spark which Ukko made when he struck his flaming sword against his fingernail. He confided the spark to one of the virgins of the air. But she negligently let it escape from her fingers and the spark 'rolled through the clouds, through the nine vaults and the six lids of the air'. Finally it fell into a lake where it was snapped up by a blue trout who was gulped down by a red salmon who in his turn was swallowed by a grey pike. Vainamoinen. aided by llmarinen, succeeded in catching this grey pike. He freed the spark which, after causing numerous fires, was captured by the hero under the stump of a birch and shut in a copper jar.
The Lapps preserve a myth concerning the creation of man by a divine couple: Mader-Atcha and Mader-Akka. The former created the soul, his wife created the body. If the child to be born waste be a boy Mader-Atcha sent it to his daughter Uks-Akka; if a girl, he sent it to another daughter, Sar-Akka. The product of this celestial creation was then placed in the womb of its earthly mother.

The Sejda of the Lapps 
The same Lapps distinguished a 'wooden
god' who in the form of a birch trunk represented the god of thunder, and a 'stone god' who had the aspect of either an animal or a man. Traditions concerning these two divinities are, however, extremely vague. More concrete is the existence of certain sacred stones, called sejda, which the pagan Finns put in various places and which can still be seen in Finland, Karelia and above all in Lapland where they are especially numerous. The sejda - called saivo or saite by the Lapps of Sweden - served also as talismans. Castren relates that a Lappish sorcerer named Lompsalo owned a sejda thanks to which he caught large quantities of fish. On the opposite bank another sorcerer was in despair at catching nothing. One night when Lompsalo was asleep he stole his sejda and the fish came swimming into his nets. But Lompsalo procured a new and more powerful sejda and all the fish swam back again until the rival sorcerer destroyed his sejda.

CONCLUSION
We see in the above example the usefulness and importance of magic talismans in Finno-Ugric belief. It was thanks to these talismans that a man could control the countless haltija scattered through the universe. It was by the secret magic of sorcerers, by the sacred chants of the eternal bards that he succeeded in penetrating the great mystery of nature and in communicating with the forces hidden in the deep 'origins' of things. That was why as soon as the imperturbable old Vainamoinen began to sing to the accompaniment of his kantelc all the animals drew near to listen with delight to his joyful tunes. The austere old man of Tapiola, all the forest folk, the queen of the woods herself hastened to enjoy the beautiful harmony. The eagle deserted his eyrie and the wild duck the deep waves; the lovely virgins of the air also lent an attentive ear to the voice of the great hero. Kuutar, the resplendent daughter of the moon, Paivatar, the glorious daughter of the sun, dropped shuttle and spindle. Ahto. king of the blue waves with his mossy beard, rose from his humid kingdom and reclined on a bed of water-lilies. The virgins of the water's edge, adorned with reeds, forgot to smooth their luxuriant hair, while the sovereign of the billows, the old lady whose bosom was enveloped in willows, emerged from the depths of the sea to hear the wondrous melody of the kantele. . .
And thus the lovely Finnish poem brings before our eyes the picture of a mystic and sacred festival in which are united the forces of nature, beasts, men and eods.
MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT PERSIA

RELIGION OF THE ZEND-AVESTA
THE HISTORICAL AND RELIGIOUS SETTING
The Iranians are an offshoot of that branch of the Indo-European race which is known as Aryan ('noble'). Iran, or Eran, is the land of the Aryans, who without doubt came from Southern Russia, passed into Asia either by way of the Caucasus or the Dardanelles, and gained the plateau of 'Iran'. Their language, which is very similar to the Vedic of India, is a variety of the same tongue which is inferred to be the parent language of Slavonic, Teutonic, Celtic, Greek and Latin.
Among the Indo-European peoples the Aryan tribes were those which established themselves farthest in the East of Eurasia, either in Iran, in the valleys of the Indus, or, to the North of Pamir, in what is now known as Chinese Turkestan.
We find no mention of the future 'Iranians' previous to the ninth century B.C. The first allusion to the Parsua or Persians, who were then in the mountains of Kurdistan, and to the Madai or Medes, already established on the plain, occurs in 837 B.C. in connection with an expedition of the Assyrian king Shalmaneser III. About a hundred years afterwards the Medes invaded the plateau which we call Persia (or Iran), driving back or assimilating populations of whom there is no written record; and Deioces (708 — 655) established a Median Empire. One of his successors, Cyaxares, became strong enough to ally himself with the Babylonians against the Assyrians, destroyed Nineveh (606) and annexed Assyria. In the following century it was another Iranian people, the Persians, who gained pre-eminence in Western Asia when their king, Cyrus, in 538 seized Babylon. Henceforth the Iranians took the historical place of the Assyro-Babylonians although the Persian Achae-menian Empire represented in Iran a return to Aryanism - an Aryanism purer than that of the Medes.
Iranian Religions. The complexity of the religion of classical Persia is due not only to the fact that it arose from a mingling of Assyro-Baby-lonian and Aryan beliefs, but also to the great change it underwent during three successive dynasties: the Achaemenian (558—330 B.C.). the Parthian (250 B.C.—191 A.D.) and the Sassanian (224- 729 A.n.). Now, leaving on one side inscriptions (the most valuable being that of Darius at Bisutun) and the documentary evidence of neighbouring civilisations, Iranian cults and myths are known to us only through the Zend-Avesta which, though many of its themes are rooted in prehistoric Aryanism, was written at a very late date, during the Sassanian period.
The Cult of Fire. Before being considered in Iran as a symbol of the supreme god, fire must have been the object of a direct cult, in which more or less all the Indo-Europeans participated. The Mazdaians were called 'ateshperest' or fire-worshippers. Several Parthian princes bore the title of 'fratakara' - fire-maker. In the traditionalist organisation of the Magi during the Sassanian period the 'herbedh' - fire-chiefs - occupied an eminent position. Two fire altars, possibly very archaic, survive at Naqsh-i-Rustem and 'fire places' (atesh-gah) - the prytaneum of the Greeks - are preserved in many localities. The various Iranian religions maintained this basic and primitive cult, with the result that light and purity have enjoyed incomparable prestige in all that bears the mark of Iranianism. In the ritual of Brahmanism all that concerns the use of fire obviously arises from this same Aryan belief.
The myth of Atar - Fire, the fire of the sky as well as that which resides in wood - is only an expression of this cult. It is true that Atar is represented as the son of Ahura Mazda, but the student
will suspect that the son must be older than the 'father'. He is much more than the element Fire. Personified he brings men comfort, grants them the wherewithal to live, wisdom, virility, noble offspring and a paradise reserved for the virtuous. He accompanies the sun's chariot. He defends the world against the enterprises of the Evil One. One crime only is in his eyes unforgivable: to burn or cook dead flesh. This is the supreme insult to the Life Principle.
The Rite of the Haoma and Immortality. From the same Aryan root springs the rite of ambrosia, the beverage of immortality -the haoma of the Zend-Avesta which is equivalent to the Vedic soma. Though the plant differs - due to the difference of habitat - it is in both cases a sacred herb, pressed through a strainer and producing a liquor which when fermented was believed to heighten spirituality. The incantations pronounced during the haoma ritual drove away evil genii and prepared the way for the reign of the good. (Ya.ina. X, i.)
Haoma was made a mythical personage, 'correct in faith and the adversary of death'. He proclaimed what mortal humanity owed to him: 'Vivanhvat was the first mortal in the corporeal world who prepared me. The fate which was imparted to him and the grace which he was awarded were to have for a son Yima the Splendid, the good shepherd, the most glorious of those who were born, the sole mortal possessor of the solar eye; and, because of his power, to render men and beasts non-mortal, water and plants exempt from drying up, so that man could consume food preserved from all evil spells. In the kingdom of the potentate Yima there was neither cold nor heat, old age nor death, nor envy which is the work of devs (demons).' (Yasna, IX, 4 & 5).
Above these gods - who afterwards appeared as minor divinities -a chief god was to rise, under three influences which in this respect converged. These were namely, that of the Magi, the Persian kings and Zoroaster.
The Magi. The Magi appear to have been a priestly corporation which originated in a certain Median tribe. They were given to the practice of a special ritual which expressed the ancient Aryan cult. The famous revolt against Cambyses of the Magus Gaumata, the double of his brother Bardiya, leads one to suspect that these priests, in their hostile attitude towards the Persian hegemony, retained an ancient fidelity to the ideals of the Medes.
This corporation for long kept in touch with communities in the mountainous region of the Azerbaijan where the practices of the primitive Aryans persisted in their purest form.
It is, however, a misuse of terms when Greek authors, through ignorance or prejudice, call the Magi the Iranian clergy. They were, indeed, invested with religious functions, but they had no monopoly of them. The Magi must have been no more than a sect until, under the Sassanians, they became an official priesthood which organised Mazdaism. No doubt they had first been fire-priests rather than zealots of Mazda.
Mazda, the God of Persian Royalty. Mazda eclipsed all other divinities only because he was the god of the Achaemenian kings. His mythological triumph was simply a symbol of the pre-eminence achieved in the Iranian world, with its many tribes, by a certain Persian family. The god of gods, master of the heavens and creator of all creatures, was a reflection of the king of kings, master and
ruler of all peoples. The etymology of Mazda is disputed. It seems to be related to the Sanskrit medha, 'wisdom'. But this explanation has, by some authorities, been abandoned for an alleged connection with mada, 'intoxication', and mastim, 'illumination'; and the god would then be the dispenser of'transcendent powers'. Other scholars compare the Iranian term Ahura Mazda with Assara Mazaas, god of Ashurbanipal (668-626 B.C.), creator and chief among the gods. They also point out a connection between ahura (Iranian), asura (Indian) and Asshur (Assyrian). Thus, at least, it is certain that the god of the Achaemenians had existed before them and had already enjoyed the respect of an Assyrian sovereign. As early as 715, in the inscriptions of Sargon, the expression 'mazdaka' twice appears in names of Medes.
The sculptors of Persepolis represented the protective divinity of Darius as a man with a venerable beard in the Assyrian style. His body is plumed with symmetrical and majestic wings and a vertical tail of a bird. The hieratic serenity of this lord of the heavens hovers in the atmosphere and bears witness to his impressive royal qualities.
Ahura Mazda, to whom these bas-reliefs give human features, belongs, however, to metaphysics rather than to myth: to picture
him in human shape was simply an artifice of sculpture. This king of nature who created all things surpassed humanity in every way. The Asha - the universal law - was bom of him, as Descartes' eternal verities are born of the divine spirit. This god had no human weaknesses and he operated in his capacity of a spirit. The celestial personages who composed his retinue - a species of archangel - were abstractions made concrete. It is a stiff and hieratic pantheon, as different from the pantheon we find in the Vedas, as the mosaics of Ravenna are from the reliefs of Angkor.
The Reform of Zoroaster. Zoroaster, in a certain sense, reconciled the religion of the Magi with that of the kings. But this reconciliation did not become official or orthodox until about eight centuries after the time of Zoroaster himself who, according to Parsee tradition, lived between 660 and 583, when the Zend-Avesta was written down in its present form.
Zoroaster's biography consists of marvel after marvel. He was bom amidst universal rejoicing and at his birth he neither wept nor cried but laughed. The hostility, however, of the kavis and the karpans - heretical priests and idolaters - was to surround him with a network of deceit. In the drama the Turanian karpan Duras-robo played the part of a Herod. When the future prophet wished to marry he submitted to his parents' choice, but like a good Iranian devotee of frankness and light he insisted on seeing his fiancee's face before the marriage.
His religious vocation was in many ways similar to that of Buddha. At the age of twenty he left the paternal roof in search of the man who 'was most in love with rectitude and most given to feeding the poor'. To feed animals and the wretched, to tend the fire with wood, to pour the juice of haoma in the water - such, according to him, were the works of piety. He remained in silence for seven years in the depths of a cavern decorated with an image of the world, on a mountain which recalls Sinai. At the age of thirty he received from each of the archangels various revelations which gave him a hold over the various elements of the cosmos. The first revelation came to him from Vohu-mano, the Spirit of Wisdom, who conferred on him ecstasy in the presence of Ahura Mazda on the banks of the Daiti (Azerbaijan). At once he began to wander and to preach, travelling as far as Ghazni on the borders of Afghanistan and the Eastern fringe of Iran. Other revelations, obtained in other specified regions, initiated him into the manner of treating domestic animals, fire, metals, the earth, water and plants.
The prophet henceforth knew what he had to know. Angra Mainyu came from the North in order to tempt him, so that he might abstain from killing the demons, his creatures. He offered him an earthly kingdom but, armed with exorcisms, Zoroaster avoided the temptation. 'With the sacred mortar, the sacred cup, the word of Mazda, my own weapon, I shall vanquish thee.'
In the course of the twelfth year of the restored faith the conversion of Vishtaspa, king of Balkh, took place. Conversions extended as far as the Hindus and the Greeks. The science of the prophet apart from its ritual aspect, included physics, a knowledge of the stars and of precious stones. With herbs he cured a blind man. But in these last years the propagation of the faith was no longer pacific: against the infidel Turk, enemy of Vishtaspa, a holy war raged in which the valour of Insfendiar shone with splendour. Here the Shah Nameh adds a note of heroism to the ritualism of the Zend-Avesta, and Zoroaster was believed to have been killed in his seventy-seventh year by an odious Turanian.
The mortal aim of Zoroaster consisted essentially of striving after perfection by thought, word and deed. After death the soul was weighed in a balance and judged according to its deeds.
Vicissitudes of Mazdaism. Mazdaism, the religion of Mazda, eclipsed all other Iranian cults. But it varied greatly in form. The traditional 'Iranian Dualism' popularised by books on the history of religions is far from corresponding to the reality of the beliefs which were held between the days of Cyrus and the Moslem conquest.
Though preached by Zoroaster as one aspect of his system, this dualism only became implanted much later under the political pressure of the Sassanians who were eager to renew an ancient and indigenous tradition in opposition to Hellenistic influences. Until then it had been merely the opinion of one sect.
The Mazda of the Achaemenians was the god of the 'king of kings'. The Mazda of the Sassanians was the god of a priesthood
claiming kinship with the ancient Magi. But between these two forms of Mazdaism - the Achaemenian and the Sassanian - there was the age of the Parthians during which other religions monopolised the Iranian conscience.
Religion under the Arsacids. The balance-sheet of these religions is extremely confused and obscure. First must be reckoned the beliefs of the Parthians (Pahlavas, whence the name of the language Pahlavi) who were Iranians originally from Scythia and to whom belonged the founder of the dynasty, Arsaces. They practised ancestor-worship. Afterwards there was Buddhism, which was widespread in Bactria. Then there were various cults influenced by abstract philosophy which revealed a mixture of Greek, Gnostic and Iranian elements. The most famous of these was Mithraism which penetrated not only Western Asia but, carried by the Roman armies, very nearly conquered Europe which it reached in the first century before Christ.
Mithraism. The origin of Mithraism goes back to the Mitra of the Aryans, though it underwent many transformations. Herodotus mentions a sky-goddess Mitra and in Persian mihr meant 'Sun'. This is a long way from the old god of contracts, common to India and Iran; however the duality Mithra-Ahura of the Zend-Avesta corresponds to the duality Mitra-Varuna of the Vedas. According to one authority the Mithra of Mithraism was a divinity who formed a link between the Ahura Mazda and the Angra Mainyu of Zoroaster; for it is time, marked by the revolutions of the sun, which regulates the alternation of light and darkness.
Hellenistic sculpture has popularised the scene of the immolation of a bull by Mithra, wearing a Phrygian cap, in one of those grottoes where the initiates gathered. In it the god accomplished a fecundity rite, as is witnessed by the vegetation of all kinds which luxuriates around the wound through which the victim's blood escapes.
Far though this Mithraism may have been from the Mazdaism
of Zoroaster, it maintained in common with it its two essential ideas: an ardent zeal for moral purity obtained and preserved by a belligerent attitude, that of a 'soldier' of the faith (whence the prestige of this cult among the Roman legions) and a veneration of light; for the sole principle which is 'unconquered' - in other words absolute - is the Sun (sol invictus).
Manichaeism. A similar inspiration, but nearer to Zoroastrianism, was found in the sect of Mani, in which the religion of Christ met a dangerous rival - to such an extent, indeed, that Manichaeism was denounced as a Christian heresy. Mani undertook his aposto-late in the beginning of the Sassanian era, at the accession of Sapor I to the throne in 242 A.D. A native of Babylonia, Mani combined with Mazdaian dualism the Gnostic tradition borrowed from the Christians of John the Baptist, the Mandaeans of the Lower Euphrates. He propagated the Gospels and the Epistles of Saint Paul and proclaimed himself to be the ultimate spokesman of Christ. He founded a Church in which the Christian hierarchy was closely copied. According to his teaching, asceticism, more or less strict according to the degree of initiation, was necessary in order that the conflict of the universal dualism should, in the individual, end in the final victory of the luminous principle.
Exploration in the neighbourhood of Turfan and the discovery of a medieval library in the grottoes of Tunhwang have brought Manichaean texts to light. Knowledge of the sect is also accessible through the refutations of its detractors, Christian, Mazdean and Moslem. A proof of its immense influence is found in the profound traces it left in France and Spain, in Africa and even in China. No doctrine carried the Iranian spirit farther afield.
A legendary history recounted how the science of salvation had been revealed in various epochs by the Christ, Son of the First Man, who had taken on the guise of flesh in order to denounce its wickedness. It taught how the dualist faith, the only true faith, preached in India by the Buddha, in Persia by Zoroaster, in Palestine by Christ,
had at last been proclaimed in its full purity in Babylonia and from there throughout the entire universe by Mani and his apostles.
Apart from the revelations he received when he was twelve and twenty-four years old, the life of Mani with its forty years of apostle-ship gave rise to few legends. One of them is related in a fragment from Turfan. Mihirshah, the brother of Sapor, was hostile to Mani. 'In the Paradise you celebrate,' he demanded, 'can there be a garden as beautiful as mine?' The apostle of the light answered by revealing his luminous Paradise to Mihirshah's eyes and at the sight the Prince remained for three hours in ecstasy.
Prophetic and apocalyptic books proclaimed what would be the fate of the Elect who faithfully followed the holy precepts, of the Hearers who only half followed them, and of the Sinners who continued to violate them. They foretold that the Elect, once rid of their fleshly bonds, would take the road for heaven and return to their fatherland. The Hearers would remain on earth and their souls would enter other bodies. Finally the Sinners, slaves to matter, would follow it into inferno. On the day, such books added, when every spirit who was to be liberated had regained its
first abode (Paradise) the world would be left to itself and abandoned by the Ornament of Splendour which sustained it in the North and by Atlas who in the South bore it on his shoulders. Then the stars would fall, the mountains would crumble and all the material elements would gather in the dark abysses of inferno, there to burn as though in an immense furnace. They would at once be covered over by a stone as vast as the earth itself and to the stone would be attached the souls of sinners. Thenceforth Good and Evil, returned to their first estate, would remain separated by an impassable barrier.
DIVINE FIGURES AND LEGENDS
The following exposition, which is dogmatic and not historical, will briefly describe the final stages of Iranian mythological evolution under the Sassanians.
The Antagonism between Ormazd and Ahriman. The omniscient Lord, Ahura Mazda, by a fusion of his two names, became Ormazd.
Angra Mainyu - 'agonised or negative Thought' - became Ahriman. These two personages marked the two poles of existence. The first created life, the second death. The first consisted of light and truth, the second of darkness and falsehood. They could be defined by their antagonism: the god as anti-demon, the demon as anti-god. The real world was the result of their hand to hand struggle. All was conflict between these two principles.
This is the history of creation:
'Thus spoke Ahura Mazda to the holy Zarathustra (Zoroaster):
' "I have created a universe where none existed; if 1 had not made it the entire world would have gone towards the Airjana-Vaeja.
' "In opposition to this world, which is all life, Angra Mainyu created another which is all death, where there are only two months of summer and where winter is ten months long, months which so chill the earth that even the summer months are icy; and cold is the root of all evil.
' "Then I created Ghaon, the abode of Sughdra, the most delightful place on earth. It is sown with roses; there birds with ruby plumage are born.
' "Angra Mainyu then created the insects which are noxious to plants and animals.
' "Then I founded the holy and sublime city of Muru, and into it Angra Mainyu introduced lies and evil counsel.
' "Then I created Bashdi the enchanting, where surrounded by
lush pastures a hundred thousand banners fly. Angra Mainyu sent wild beasts there and animals to devour the cattle that serve for man's use.
' "Afterwards I created Nissa, the city of prayer; and into it Angra Mainyu insinuated the doubt which gnaws at faith.
' "I created Haroju, the city of rich palaces. Angra Mainyu caused sloth to be born there and soon the city was poverty-stricken.
' "Thus each of the marvels I have given to men for their welfare has been counteracted by a baneful gift from Angra Mainyu. It is to him that the earth owes the evil instincts which infest it. It is he who established the criminal usage of burying or burning the dead, and all the misfortunes which ravage the race of mankind." '
Before becoming the spirit of evil Ahriman had, perhaps, been an underworld divinity. Indeed, among the devotees of Mithraism, whose temples were often grottoes or caverns, we find dedications: Deo Arimanio. In an early phase of the integration of this god with Mazdaism Ahura Mazda was supposed to have created two antithetical genii: Spenta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu, the beneficent spirit and the wicked spirit. This dualism was then subordinated to a deep-seated monotheism.
Even in the most dualistic form of the Iranian religion there is a dignity about the god which makes him more than the correlative of the demon: just as he must have existed alone in the golden age so would he exist alone in the future after exterminating his adversary.
The Powers of Good: The Amshaspends. Ormazd commanded six spirits who, like him, were 'Benign Immortals', Ameshas Spenta or Amshaspends. They were: Vohu-mano (Bahman), the 'Spirit of Good'; Asha-Vahishta (Arbidihist), 'Supreme Righteousness'; Khshathra-Vairya (Shahriver), 'Ideal Dominion'; Spenta-Arama-iti (Sipendarmith), 'Benign Piety'; Haurvatat (Khordadh), 'Perfection'; and Ameretat (Mourdad), 'Immortality'.
These 'powers' can be compared to the biblical archangels Gabriel, Michael and Raphael; though they are rather more closely related to Vedic-Brahmanic abstractions. Thus Asha-Vahishta is the perfection of Order (asha is rita, the original form of the dharma or the 'law', moral as well as cosmic). Khshathra-Vairya is the domination of the noble class which, in India, is the caste of the kshalriyas. Spenta-Aramaiti, daughter of Ormazd and the sky, whom Plutarch interpreted as Wisdom, is the beneficent Earth, priihivi of the Hindus; and the generous and spontaneous piety of which she is the incarnation recalls that which in India was named bhakti - or love composed of devotion, surrender and confidence. Haurvatat is fullness and achievement - the Indian Paramita. a term of health.
Ameretat is the letter, amritatvam, non-mortality thanks to the beverage of life, an ancient Aryan idea.
Each of these serene figures reigned over a particular order of reality, such as a part of the year or of the week, or a category of beings. Vohu-mano presided over useful animals; Asha-Vahishta governed fire; Khshathra-Vairya made the sun and the heavens move and ruled over metals; Aramaiti, Haurvatat and Ameretat commanded respectively the earth, the waters and plant life.
The Yazatas and the Fravashis. All nature was peopled by the Yaza-tas (Sanskrit yajata), genii to whom sacrifices were due. This class of divine beings was in a sense a duplication of the Amshaspends. The Amshaspends' chief protagonist was Zoroaster. The Yazatas belonged to a much more remote Iranian and even Aryan past. Nevertheless at a late period they are carefully listed and we are told that Ormazd was the first of the celestial Yazatas, while Zoroaster himself was the first of terrestrial Yazatas. Certain Yazatas corresponded to the heavenly bodies, to the elements, and to forces at the same time cosmic and moral - like the Amshaspends. Among the Yazatas primitive sacrificial fire played an important part as it did in Indian Brahmanism. Khwareno, glory or splendour (the tejas of India), had the radiant aspect offeree and authority. In the triad Mithra-Sraosha-Rashnu the two last terms designated respectively Obedience and Justice. Verethraghna, who must not be confused with the Indian Vritrahan, was a genius of Victory; Indo-Greek or Indo-Scythian coins are fond of representing him as a kind of Nike.
Among good genii the Fravashis occupied a special position as guardian angels. Properly speaking the Fravashi was an important part of the human soul, created by Ormazd before a man's birth. During life it remained in the order of immaterial beings and it survived death.
The Powers of Evil: The Daevas. Angra Mainyu - Ahriman - was the prince of demons. It is striking that the demons of the Zend-Avesta are called by the same name as the gods of the Vedas - in Sanskrit deva, Persian div, Latin divus. This reversal of meaning may result from the fact that a specifically Iranian religious reform like that, for instance, of Zoroaster, altered the brilliant and serene cohort of the Aryan gods into dark and malignant genii, while in India they continued to be revered as celestial genii.
The diabolic nature of the Daevas consisted in their devotion to trickery and falsehood. Their vocation was to 'thwart' all efforts to achieve the good. Vohu-mano's opposite number was Ako-Mano, the 'Spirit of Evil' for whom Ahriman was immediately responsible. Indra had nothing in common with the august Vedic Indra except his warlike ardour, in this case devoted to the deception of men. On Sinvat, the bridge which souls must cross to reach the other world, Indra would lie in ambush to seize and throw them into the gulf below. During their lifetime he plunged people into moral uncertainty. In this he opposed the zeal of the moralising archangel Asha-Vahishta. Sauru - whose name is related to the Vedic terms sars or sarva, epithets of Rudra-Shiva - strove for the triumph of anarchy and tyranny over the regular exercise of royal authority which was the province of Khshathra-Vairya. Naonhai-
thya (Naosihaithya) - the Vedic Nasatya (epithet of the Ashvins) opposed Aramaiti and encouraged pride, rebellion and irreverence. Taurvi (Tauru) and Zairisha (Zairi) devoted themselves to degrading men and to their downfall. The antithesis of Haurvatat and Ameret-at, they destroyed what was good and caused old age and decrepitude. Aeshma, who was the incarnation of rage and devastation, formed a contrast with Sraosha. He was the Asmodeus (Aeshma daeva) of the Book ofTobit.
Drujs, Pairikas, Yatus. Many other demons sowed horror and crime. The Drujs, adversaries of the asha, were creatures of deceit, often female, always monstrous. The Pairikas '(or Peri) disguised their malevolence under their charming appearance. They disturbed the normal action of the heavenly bodies and of the natural elements. The Yatus were sorcerers. The Kavis and the Karapans were priests of false religions.
Among the Drujs may be mentioned Nasu and Azidahaka. The former would assume the disguise of a fly and alight on corpses to hasten their corruption; it needed sharp eyes to get rid of him. The latter evolved into a serpent with three heads, six eyes and three pairs of fangs. Arab historians turned him into a mythical king of Babylon, Zohak, the constant enemy of Persia. An older tradition made him the adversary of Yima whom he had dethroned through jealousy. Thraetona (Feridun), the hero of the epic, overthrew the demon and chained him under Mount Demavand.
The vices to which women are subject were incorporated in the druj Jahi: a kiss which Ahriman once gave her introduced into the world the impurity of menstruation. Jahi furnished Milton with the prototype of Guilt.
Cosmogony. The creation of good principles by Ormazd and of bad principles by Ahriman, then the rivalry of these two powers, and finally the victory of Ormazd, is a cosmological myth which
is strictly Zoroastrian and even more Sassanian. It partly covers a more ancient cosmogony of a ritualistic character, derived from the old Aryan background.
The twelve thousand years - the duration of this world - were divided into four periods, each lasting three millennia. Ormazd, the un-created creator, at first proceeded with the immaterial elaboration of beings: he still limited himself to thinking of them. He thus foresaw the coming of Ahriman and Ahriman at once emerged from the darkness. Ormazd proposed peace between them, but did not obtain it. He then declared war which should last for the nine remaining millennia and end in the triumph of the Light. The unconquerable weapon of victory was the sacred formula Ahuna Vairya, infallible like the Vedic hymns or the Hindu mantras. Zoroastrianism made this formula the evidence of Zarathustra's messianic mission -- the affirmation that the prophet was the authentic Lord and Master who was to prepare the reign of Ormazd.
The second period of three thousand years was devoted to the actual creation of beings, either by God or by the Demon. The third period comprised the vicissitudes of the human race between the days of the first man until those of Zoroaster. The fourth was the period during which the victory of Zoroaster would become the final victory of Ormazd and the last judgment.
Myths of Primitive Humanity. Gayomart and the First Human Couple. The first man Gayomart, and the primitive bull, Gosh, were the original creatures who produced all life. This human-animal pair is evidence of the survival of archaic notions according to which everything resulted from the immolation of a victim by a primordial sacrificer. India, in its turn, preserved the memory of this belief in a cosmogonic rite. The bull of Mithraism was another residue of it. The death of Gosh and of Gayomart was the work of Ahriman. The seed of Gayomart was buried for forty yeais in the earth,
and from it was born the first human couple: Mashya and Mashyoi. Ormazd said to them: 'You are human beings, masters of the world. In the perfection of thought I have created you the first of creatures. Think that which is good, say that which is good, do that which is good. Do not worship the Daevas.'
Their first thought was: 'That is God.' And they rejoiced one in the other, saying: 'Behold a human being.'
Their first act was to walk. Then they ate and said: 'It is Ormazd who made the waters, the earth, the tree, the ox, the stars, the moon, the sun and all other good things, both fruit and root.' Then a thought sent by the Demon occurred to them and they said: 'It is Angra Mainyu who created the water, the earth and so on... fruit and root.'
Thus they spoke, and the lie was to the taste of the demon and from it Angra Mainyu derived his first pleasure.
Initially pure, Mashya and Mashyoi thus became the victims of falsehood. Since the spirit of evil was more to blame than themselves the divine powers continued to protect them. In this way they learned how to make fire and use it, and how to provide for their needs. They gave birth to seven couples. From one of these, Siyamek and Siyameki, proceeded Fravak and Fravakain who were the ancestors of the fifteen races of mankind.
MYTHOLOGY OF ANCIENT PERSIA — 319
In these early days many things were revealed to man and civilisation was founded. The first king, Haoshyangha (Hoshang) and his successor Tahmouras, far from being oppressed by the Evil One, actually subjected his demons.
All this mythical history of primitive Persia lives again in the Shah-Nameh - or Book of the Kings - a sparkling poem of nearly sixty thousand verses which the Persian poet Firdusi composed in the tenth century. In it he made use of Avestaic traditions and Pahlavi literature. No better guide could be found for retracing the epic of Iran of which the following is a brief summary.
Husheng. The First King.  Hoshang (Husheng) was the son of
Siyamek. He began by avenging his father whom a Div (or Demon) had destroyed. Then, when he had assured the peace of his own kingdom, he set about civilising the world and spreading justice throughout the entire earth. First he discovered a mineral and, by his art, was able to separate the iron in it from the stone. He then invented the art of the blacksmith in order to fashion axes, saws and hoes. Afterwards he concerned himself with the distribution of water; he led it from the rivers and thus fertilised the fields. With the power which God had given him and with his own royal might, the wise Husheng domesticated animals which he used for the culti-
vation of the ground. Wild animals he killed and with their skins he made clothing to cover men's bodies. 'He died, having in his lifetime achieved many works by the aid of spells and of thoughts without number.'
Tahmuras. The son of Husheng, Tahmuras, continued the civilising work of his father, teaching men to spin wool and weave carpets, to train cheetahs, gerfalcons and the royal hawk for the chase. 'He bound Ahriman by his spells and rode him like a swift steed. He saddled him and without respite made him carry him on a tour of the world.' But the wicked Divs took advantage of his absence to revolt. Tahmuras returned in haste to put down the rebellion. 'He was girded with the majesty of the master of the world. On his shoulder he bore a massive club. The courageous Divs and the enchanters all foregathered, forming an immense army of magicians. The black Div shouting aloud, led them, and their howling rose to the very heavens. The air darkened and the earth grew black and men's eyes were enveloped in shadows. Tahmuras, lord of the world, Tahmuras the Glorious, advanced with girded loins to do battle and wreak vengeance. On one side there was the noise and flame and smoke of the Divs; on the other the king's gallant men. Suddenly the king attacked the Divs. The combat was not long. He bound up two-thirds of them by magic and struck down the others with his heavy club. They were dragged away wounded and ignominiously tied together. They begged for mercy, saying: 'Do not kill us, and thou shall learn from us a new art which will be useful to thee.' The illustrious king granted them their lives so that they might reveal their secret. When they had been delivered from their chains they begged his protection. They taught the king how to write and made him brilliant in learning.'
Jam or Yima (Jemshid). Jam or Yima, son of Tahmuras, is above all the prototype of the sovereign of the golden age. He lived in a sort of underground fortress, his Var, where he maintained the just laws and purity of the Aryan stock. In this he both resembles and differs from the Yama of India. Yama was the king of the dead and Yima, his Iranian equivalent, the ideal of the 'good shepherd'.
When, through the malevolence of the demon Mahrkusha, floods alternating with torrid summers threatened to devastate the earth and wipe out mankind and the animals, Ahura Mazda foresaw the tragedy and decided to save Yima, the just. He bade him build a hypogeum or subterranean dwelling where he should find shelter.
'Build a var as long as a horse can run, and of equal length and width. Into it carry representatives of every kind of beast, great and small, of men, dogs, birds, oxen and sheep.
'There thou shall make water lo flow. Thou shall pul birds in ihe Irees along the water's edge, in verdure which is everlasling. There pul specimens of all plants, the loveliest and most fragrant: and of all fruits, the most succulenl. All Ihese kinds of things and creatures shall remain and not perish as long as they are in the var.
'Bul pul ihere no deformed crealure, nor impolenl, nor mad; neither wicked, nor deceitful, nor rancorous, nor jealous; nor a man wilh irregular leeth, nor a leper.
'In the upper part of the var thou shall lay oul nine avenues; in Ihe middle, six; in Ihe lower part, three.
'In the streels of the upper part Ihou shall place one thousand couples, men and women; six hundred in the streets of the middle parl; ihree hundred in ihe streets of the lower part.
'And over the var thou shall open a window for the light.
'Yima wondered: "How shall I make this var?"
'Then Ahura Mazda said lo him: "Thou shall knead Ihe earth wilh Ihy feet and thy hands as the pollers do." '
This same Yima is found again in Ihe Shah-Nameh under the name of Jemshid. To him, according lo Ihe poel, Ihe manufacture of Ihe firsl iron weapons was due, as well as Ihe fabricalion of linen and silk clothing, work in precious stones, the invention of perfume and Ihe art of medicine. Unhappily Jemshid, intoxicated with power, committed the sin of pride and thus made himself vulnerable to the attacks of Zohak - the incarnation of the druj Azidahaka.
Zohak. He is a curious figure, Ihis Zohak, Ihe ambilious son of a desert king. Ahriman, Ihe spiril of Evil, lillle by lillle succeeded in making him his crealure. After having persuaded Zohak lo kill his own falher and seize Ihe Ihrone, Ahriman installed himself in Zohak's caslle as chef. Thanks to his culinary skill he taughl
Ihe king lo eat the flesh of animals, an innovation which seemed startling and slightly sacrilegious lo a vegelanan people. Zohak was delighted wilh Ihese new dishes and offered lo reward the demon. Ahriman asked for only one thing: That his gracious majesty permit me lo kiss Ihe lop of his shoulders and there rest my eyes and face.' The request was granted and the demon-chief disappeared after having kissed the king.
Bul the king suddenly beheld a black snake spring from each of his shoulders. The snakes were cut away, bul immediately grew again. All spells and remedies proved useless. Ahriman returned, this time disguised as an illustrious doclor. He prescribed that the snakes should be fed each day with human brains.
Thenceforth Zohak was himself changed into a redoubtable demon. After he had vanquished Jemshid and had him sawn in iwo he reigned over Ihe earth for a Ihousand years. 'The cusloms of decenlmen vanished, the desires of the wicked were accomplished. Virtue was despised, magic was held in honour, righteousness remained in hiding, vice flaunted itself openly.'
But one night in a dream Zohak saw himself vanquished and enchained by a young prince. The next day he summoned his Mobeds and asked them to inlerprel his dream. 'All were silent; Zirek Mobed who was wise and upright alone loosened his longue before Zohak and said to him: "Empty thy head of wind, for none is born of his mother save to die. Wert Ihou a ramparl of well-wroughl iron Ihe rotation of the heavens would break Ihee none-Iheless, and thou shouldst disappear. There will be someone to inherit thy throne and he will overthrow thy might. His name will be Feridun and for the earth he will be an augusl sky,"' In terror Zohak ordered the massacre of all children, hoping thus to destroy in his cradle him who it was intended should put an end to his reign.
Feridun. But no sooner had Feridun been born lhan his molher, the prudent Firanak, succeeded in saving his life. She confided him to the keeper of Ihe garden where lived Ihe miraculous cow Purmajeh, who suckled Ihe infanl hero. Afterwards she carried her son lo Hindustan and put him under Ihe care of a pious old mountaineer.
When he had grown up Feridun learned aboul Zohak's misdeeds from his molher, and swore lo punish him. Now Zohak 'day and nighl continued lo speak of Feridun; his tell slalure was benl wilh fear, his heart suffered agony because of Feridun'. One day a man appeared al his palace, demanding justice. When the king asked him to name the person who had wronged him the man beat his head with his hands and said: 'I am Kaweh, ihe smilh... II is Ihee whom I accuse in the bitterness of my soul... The brains of all my sons have been given to thy serpents to devour. I hold thee accountable for what thou hast done.'
Neither gifls nor words were able lo appease ihe smith. Worse still, when he left ihe palace he stirred up Ihe mob wilh his outcry. Finally he seized his smith's apron and tied it to the end of a lance to serve as a banner. He gathered togelher a group of partisans and led them towards Feridun's palace. Feridun received the smith and his banner as a sign of destiny, and decided to take up arms againsl Zohak.
Armed wilh a massive club Feridun sel forth with his little army, his heart full of joy. As he marched an angel descended from heaven to teach him magic and to foretell the happiness of his future.
He crossed the Tigris by boldly spurring his horse into the river's swirling waters, and arrived at Zohak's palace. He entered il and no one dared to oppose him. The king was absent. The young hero smashed the talismans and set free the daughters of Jemshid -Shehrinaz and Arnewaz, the two lovely black-eyed girls whom Zohak had kepi prisoners.
Meanwhile Zohak had been warned by a servanl and was already on the way home, coming post-hasle. He pul on iron armour which rendered him unrecognisable and penetrated the palace. 'He saw the black-eyed Shehrinaz seated near Feridun, melting with tenderness and enchantment.' Maddened with rage and despair Zohak flung himself on Feridun, but Feridun was prepared for him. Just as Zohak drew his sword Feridun smote him with his club. An angel then intervened and commanded Feridun not to slay the demon, bul instead lo lie him up firmly and later lo chain him in a rocky cavern silualed under Mounl Demavand.
Feridun, having avenged Jemshid and his father, was at last able to mount the throne. 'The world remained in his power for five hundred years, during which not a day passed that he did not overthrow the foundations of unrighteousness. Wherever he beheld injustice, wherever he saw waste lands, he bound the hand of evil with the hand of good, as it befits a king to do!'
The Sons of Feridun: Minucher. When Feridun grew old he divided his vast kingdom between his three sons. To Selm, the eldest, fell the land of Roum and the West. To Tur he gave Turkestan and China. Irej, the youngest, inherited Iran. But Selm and Tur were discontented with their shares and decided to join forces and fight their young brother.
In vain the virtuous Irej, to whom this fratricidal struggle was repugnant, came alone and unarmed to his brothers, hoping to appease them by freely offering to give them all they wished for. Tur struck him on the head with his heavy golden chair; then, drawing a dagger, he covered Irej from head to foot with a torrent
of blood, tearing the royal breast of his brother with the steel poniard. Finally he filled Irej's skull with musk and amber and sent it back to Feridun.
'Feridun kept watching the road. The army and the court early awaited the arrival of the young king. They were preparing to sally forth to meet him. Wine had been ordered, and singing and music.. .when black dust rose from the road. From the cloud of dust emerged a dromedary, mounted by a cavalier who was broken with sorrow. This bearer of sad news cried out with grief. To his breast he held a golden coffer. In the golden coffer was a silken cloth. In the silken cloth was placed the head of Irej.. . Feridun fell from his horse to the ground and all his warriors rent their garments; their cheeks were black and their eyes were white, for they had expected to be greeted by a very different sight
Heartbroken by the death of his beloved son Irej, old Feridun longed for revenge. An avenger finally appeared in the person of Minucher, the grandson of Irej. Attacked by Selm and Tur, who had again invaded Iran with their powerful army, Minucher
defeated and put them to death. The battle was so furious and bloody that 'one might have said that the surface of the field was covered with tulips and that the feet of the war-elephants, sinking into the blood, appeared like so many pillars of coral'. His vengeance achieved, Feridun died, leaving the crown to Minucher.
Zal. For some time the young sovereign had had as a counsellor one of his lieutenants, the noble Sam, governor of Hindustan. Sam, shortly after returning to his province, became the father of a son, whose visage was fair as the sun but whose hair was white like that of an old man. Sam was ashamed of the strange appearance of the baby and had him exposed on a distant mountain. But a vulture, the noble Simurgh, was attracted by the cries of the infant and, taking him in its claws, bore him to its nest on the summit of Mount Elburz. The child grew and became a 'man who was like a tall cypress: his breast was like a hill of silver, his waist like a reed'. In the meantime Sam was stricken with remorse and, warned by a dream, began to seek for his son. He reached the distant mountain where he discovered Simurgh's rock. Simurgh consented to relinquish his adopted child and deposited him at Sam's feet. Sam blessed his innocent son and named him Zal.
The exploits of Zal', a hero full of wisdom and valour, are recounted at length in the Shah-Nameh. One of the most gracious episodes is that of his love for the beautiful Rudabeh.
One day while travelling through his father's domains Zal stopped at Kabul, where he stayed with Mihrab, one of Sam's vassals. There he was magnificently entertained. He learned moreover that Mihrab kept a daughter veiled whose visage was more beautiful than the sun. 'She is,' he was told, 'a silver cypress filled with colours and perfumes, a rose and a jasmine from head to foot. You would say that her features pour wine and that her hair is all of amber. Her body is moulded of rubies and jewels and the tresses of her hair are like a coat of mail made of musk.' The young prince immediately fell in love with the unknown beauty.
The maiden had also heard Zal praised for his strength and beauty and she too felt her heart filled with the fires of love. She confided in her slaves who, on the pretext of gathering roses, drew near Zal's camp and succeeded in speaking privately with him. Thus Zal obtained the promise of an interview with the princess.
Rudabeh secretly prepared a palace hung with Chinese brocades, filled with flowers, adorned with vases of gold and turquoise, scented with musk and amber and strewn with rubies and emeralds. There, on the terrace above the palace, she awaited Zal. As soon as she saw him she bade him welcome and as he sought some means of reaching her she loosened her long tresses and let them fall from the crenellated walls, calling down: 'O son of a gallant father, seize the ends of my black curls; for thee must I become as a noose.' Zal gazed at the moon-like beauty of Rudabeh's face and covered the musk-scented tresses with kisses so that she heard the sound of his lips. And he answered: 'May the sun never shine on the day when I lift a finger against a woman carried away with love!' From the hands of his slave he took a cord, made a running-knot and without further words tossed it in the air. The noose caught in the battlements and Zal climbed up at a bound. When he had mounted the high wall the lovely face of the fairy-like princess drew near to salute him. In her hand she took the hand of Zal and together they departed as though intoxicated. But the happiness of the young couple was threatened by a grave obstacle. The family of Mihrab, who was a direct descendant of Zohak, were hereditary enemies of the family of Minucher. The question was whether Zal would ever be able to obtain the consent of his father Sam and of his overlord, the mighty Minucher. He succeeded, however, after various trials, and because the astrologers who were consulted declared that 'this virtuous couple will have a son like unto a war-elephant, a stoutly girded son who will submit all men to the might of his sword and raise the king's throne above the clouds. Thanks to him evil days will fall upon Turan and prosperity will be spread throughout Iran.' And indeed this son was to be the glorious and invincible Rustem.
Rustem. The Shah-Nameh recounts how Zal's son Rustem (Rotas-tahm) installed the dynasty of the Kaianides on the throne and tells of the marvels he wrought not only against the Turanians beyond the Oxus but also against the demons. After the first two monarchs, Kai-Qobad and Kai-Kaus, Rustem secured the succes-
sion of the fortunate Kai-Khosrau. The following sovereign, Lohresp, had a son during whose reign legend says Zoroaster lived. During the same legendary dynasty - which corresponds historically with the Achaemenians - was born Alexander, the reputed issue of the Persian king Darab and the daughter of Philip of Macedon.
The valour of Rustem symbolised the struggle between Iran and Turania, in other words between the peoples of the North and those of the East, ancestors of the Turks and the Mongols, who lived beyond the Oxus. Neither Rustem nor his father Zal appear in the Zend-Avesta. They belong, therefore, to a cycle of later legends with an Aryan basis. The cycle forms a military epic concentrated on a single hero whose exploits extend over several reigns.
The most celebrated of these exploits is the slaying of the White Demon in the mountains of Tabaristan. Another demon succeeded in surprising Rustem one day while he was asleep and throwing him into the sea. But the hero extricated himself from this peril as he had from all the others to which the malignity of the demons had exposed him. Only the treachery of the king himself, the king whom Rustem had served so well, was able to cause the hero's death. Jealous of Rustem's glory, the king had deep trenches dug in a game preserve; the bottom of the trenches bristled with spears, javelins and swords. Then the king said to Rustem: 'Should you care to hunt, I own a property where there are herds of wandering game. You must not fail to pay this charming spot a visit.' Rustem accepted the invitation. His horse Raksh scented the trap and refused to enter the treacherous preserve. But in vain; for Rustem stubbornly spurred him forward onto the fatal path. Together they plunged into one of the trenches and were cruelly lacerated. Rustem's wounds were fatal; but before he expired he at least had the satisfaction of killing the perfidious king with an arrow.
Eschatology. The Iranians, who held that the human soul was igneous or luminous, believed that the dead continued to exist. The idea, widespread among Indo-European peoples, of an underground abode of the dead gave them their conception of the var of Jam. Nevertheless the normal destiny of souls was the Light from which they came - hence a celestial abode. This integration with the Ahura, however, was not instantaneous. The Persians no doubt received from the Semites the notion of a last judgment together with related ideas: prophets and world salvation prepared by a Messiah.
As time ran out and the end approached the earth would become flatter, people would become more similar and, indeed, better. Ancient heroes, coming to life again, would exert themselves for the collective welfare. Thus Keresaspa, after his long lethargy, would exterminate Azidahaka (Zohak) whom previously Feridun had merely enchained. Many 'future helpers', many saviours, the Saoshyants, would suppress evil. Their moral and cosmic role was similar to that of the Buddha of the future, Maitreya, among the Indians. Such would be the direct, though distant, fruits of Zoroaster's apostolate: an ardent contribution to the final glory of Ormazd and the salvation of his creatures. According to the Armenian Eznik the final saviour should be a reincarnation of Gayomart, the first man.
The prototype of the Saoshyants was Zoroaster himself. The animating principle of his religious personality - that which the Iranians called his daena would redouble its efficacy towards the end of time. The pre-eminent saviour, Astvatereta, who would be immaculately conceived by the virgin Vispataurvi, would promote the achievement of Mazda's work, not without the collaboration of minor saviours whose task would be to bring the reign of celestial Light to the different regions of the earth. Meanwhile the Amesha Spenta would make it shine forth in splendour in the world above. Each Virtue would triumph over its opposing Vice, and the very name of Angra Mainyu would in the end be forgotten. All creation would again become worthy of Ahura Mazda and bear witness to its creator.
A SUMMARY OF MOSLEM MYTHS
The  Arabs  before  Islam.   Before  their  conversion  to  Islam  the Arabs, scattered through the vast peninsula between the Persian
Zein el-Abidin was supposed to be the son of Hosein and Sher-banu, daughter of the last Sassanian king Yazdgard III. In this way began a development of Islam especially fitted to Persia with its mingling of religion and national tradition. The imam Zein el-Abidin indeed assumed a political character; he sheltered his devotees from tyranny and assured their favour with the sultans.
Mohammed el-Bagir was the patron of scholars; Jafer as-Sadiq, a master of piety; Musa al-Kazhim, a healer; Ali ar-Riza, a guide when one travelled; Mohammed at-Taqi dispensed not only the rewards of unselfishness but also those of riches; Alian-Naqi presided over justice, and also over charity. Abdallah Hasan watched over the decencies, formality and decorum of worldly as well as of religious behaviour He thus assured constant happiness. Mohammed al-Mahdi, who in infancy vanished underground, would announce the news of the imminent end of the world. Meanwhile he procured victory and saw that loans were repaid.
Art abstained from the impiety of representing the features of the imams. Their faces were veiled or their effigies symbolised by flames.
Influence of the Stars. In Moslem Persia astrology enjoyed great prestige, as it did throughout Islam and had done in ancient Chaldea. The Sun was the principle of heat as was the Moon of humidity. The planets represented dryness and cold. Jupiter and Venus exercised favourable influences; Saturn and Mars unfavourable. Mercury was ambiguous. He appeared as the patron of authors, while Mars was that of the blood-thirsty and Jupiter that of philosophers and men of religion. The Sun protected the powerful of this world, Saturn the cut-throats, and Venus the courtesans.
Genii and Demons. A union took place which reconciled Mazdaian demonology with the genii of the Koran. Among the latter may be mentioned the jinns, with their father Jann who was created before Adam. They were long faithful to the law of the Creator, but became corrupted by the sin of pride. Iblis, Satan, was born among them. His fault, too, was a lack of submission. The amalgamation of the two religions produced vague assimilations: Gayomart-Adam, the first man; Zoroaster-Ibrahim, the friend of God; Ahriman-Sheitan, the devil; and Ormazd-Allah, God.
The Hagiography of the Sufis. Mysticism occupied an outstanding place in Persian Islam as it did in the religions of neighbouring India. The Sufis of Persia, like the Hindu Yogis, sought absolute intuition in holiness and in gradual achievement of intelligence. Their vocation and their perfection were objects of legends.
Ibrahim ibn Edhem was hunting an antelope. The antelope - like Saint Hubert's stag - came to him and said: 'Is it for this that thou wert brought into the world? Who has ordered thee to live in this fashion?' The prince was touched with grace and decided to live alone and in poverty.
According to another story the young prince saw bizarre creatures on the roof of his palace who explained that they were looking for camels. 'What!' he asked in bewilderment, 'Camels on roof-tops!' And they answered him: 'And yet thou seekest, on the throne, to find God.'
Then there was Abdel-Kader Jilani who practised the supernatural powers of yoga: levitation, the increase or decrease of his stature. By means of hypnotism he would also transport a medium through space or into the future. Other saints, anticipating wireless, would trace magic circles and hear conversation which took place at great distances.
The Phantasy of the Poets. The phantasy of the Persian poets displayed the wisdom of the mystics in a lighter vein.
In the twelfth century Attar described the destiny of souls as a flight of birds across the seven valleys of Seeking, Love, Knowledge, Independence, Unity, Stupefaction and Annihilation The final term symbolised the heart lost in the divine Ocean and thenceforth happy.
Jelal-ud-din Rumi (thirteenth century) in his Malhnawi writes philosophy in the form of fables which recall those of La Fontaine. For example, he explains the subjectivity of sense perceptions in this manner: 'A master said to his pupil who was cross-eyed: "Go into the house and find a certain bottle." When the child saw two bottles he asked: "Which one shall I take?" "There are not two.. .Break one of them." The child obeyed and both disappeared.'
Biblical legends, transformed by a lively imagination and transposed into symbols, provided many Persian myths. The story of Solomon and Absalom became, in the hands of Jami (fifteenth century) the following: a king decided to abstain from all connection with women. Nevertheless he succeeded in obtaining a son -Salaman. The king desired that this son should participate in the same purity. But Salaman was seduced by the charms of Absal, the too ravishing nurse to whom he had been confided. The couple fled to the Isle of Voluptuousness. But the king, by the power of thought, put a thousand obstacles in the way of the two lovers who in despair threw themselves into the flames of a funeral pyre. Only Absal was consumed. Suffering enlightened Salaman and, having lost the desire and yearning for physical love, he became worthy of reigning.