BABYLON AND PERSIA

164 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.one of the last Yeshts (XXII.), so that, by combiningthe two, we obtain a beautifully complete narrative,if such a word may be applied to a vision of thefuture." Zarathushtra asked Ahura-Mazda : ' O thou all-knowing Ahura-Mazda !Should I urge upon the godly man and upon the godlywoman, should I urge upon the wicked daeva-worshipper wholives in sin, that they have once to leave behind them the earth madeby Ahura, that they have to leave the waters that run, the corn thatgrows, and all the rest of Uieir wealth ? ' Ahura-Mazda answered ;Thou shouldst, O holy Zarathushtra,'" ' O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One ! where are therewards given . . . that, in their life in the material worid, theyhave won for their souls ? '" Ahura Mazda answered : ' When the man is dead, when histime is over, then the hellish, evil-doing dae-vas assail him, and whenthe third night is gone, when the dawn appears and brightens.up,and makes Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reach the allhappy mountains, and the sun is rising-then the fiend namedVl-ZARESHA carries off in bonds the souls of the wicked daevaworshipperswho live in sin.*The soul enters the way made byTime and open both to the wicked and the righteous.' " (Vendidad,XIX.)During three nights the soul is said (Yesht XXII.)to have its seat near the head of the body it has justquitted.If the deceased was a righteous man, " hissoul in those nights tastes as much of pleasure as thewhole of the living worid can taste."During thesethree nights the relatives offer prayers andfices to Sraosha, Rashnu, and Vayu.sacri¬* C6mmentai-y : " Every one has a noose cast, .around his neck :when a man dies, if he has been a righteous man, the noose, fallsfrom his neck ; if a wicked, they drag him with that noose down intohell." The good and evil spirits struggle on the bridgefor the pos¬session of the soul. "