BABYLON AND PERSIA

86 ' MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA. ,is no exception, and is said to offer a sacrifice to thisor that divinity by him created ! to request his orher assistance in the protection of the material worldagainst the evil powers.This glaring inconsistencycan be explained only by the' different stages of areligion, in which Ahura-Mazda was a god amongother gods before he became the One SuiDreme Godand Creator.23. Nor has the belief in the conjuring efficacy ofprayers and sacred texts the Manthra at allabated in the Eranian period. The Manthra isagain and again spoken of and invoked as a divineperson.So are the Gathas, and also certain prayerswhich are considered as particularly holy and won¬der-working.But the most potent spell of all, themost healing, most fiend-smiting, lies in a prayerknown under the Parsi name (corrupt) of HoNOVER,called in the Avesta the Aiiun,\-Vaik.VA, a prayerwhich adevout Parsi even now repeats dozens oftimes every day on every possible occasion of life.This famous prayer is written in so obscure alanguage that a final and satisfactory rendering of ithas not yet beenachieved, though every Avestanscholar has attempted a translation.The discrepan¬cies between these translations are so great and thesense remains so uncertain still, that it is scarcelypossible to make a selection between them, and togive them all would be confusing and unprofitable.The most extravagant magic powers are ascribed tothis sacred text, which Ahura-Mazda is said to havefirst uttered " before the creation of heaven, beforethe making of the waters, and the plants, and the