BABYLON AND PERSIA

30 MEDIA, BABYLON, AND PERSIA.are to recite daily, in a certain order,the service orliturgy proper ;-also of hymns of praise to variousdivine beings whom the modern Parsis regard as sub¬ordinate angels or good spirits, which hymns, as wellassome short prayers and fragments, are groupedunder the title of Lesser Avesta (KllORDEH Avesta),as being of less vital importance, and to be recitedonly once a month and on certain occasions.Theprincipal divisions of the Avesta as it has stoodsince the text was definitively established and sanc¬tioned under the Sassanian king, Shapilr If. (about325 A.D,), are as follows :I. The Vendidad, corrupted from a much longerword which means "the law against the Devat "{i. e., the Demons). It is, propeHy, a code of lawsand regulations tending towards the establishmentof righteousness andthe defeat of the Powers ofEvil, but includes some interesting mythical legends,traditions, and digressions of various sorts.II. The Vispered :invocations to all the divineand holy beings, who are honored under the title of" Chiefs of the Good Creation," and invited to assistat the sacrifice that is preparingvery much in theform of a litany.HI. The Yasna, " Sacrifice," i. e., the prayers andtextManthraswhich are to accompany the veryminute and complicated performances that composethe sacrifice, in presence of the sacred fire, to whichare presented offerings of meat, milk, bread, andfruit, in small quantities, and the juice of acertainplant, the Haoma, which is pressed out on the altarItself with many strictly prescribed ceremonies.The