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INTRODUCTION.
were supported by the Tûr's brother ; but the Tūr's son, who presided, remonstrated with them, and Adrvâîtà-dang himself protected him, but refused to be converted. Zaratust was afterwards sent to demand slaves and horses from Vêdvoîst, a rich Karap, who refused them arrogantly; he also went to Parshad-gau in Sagastân and cured his bull with Hôm-water, whereupon Parshad-gau joined him in worship, but not in public. Zaratûst repulsed the demons as in Vd. XIX, 1-4; he is then tempted by a Karap in the form of Spendarmad, whom he also repulses. And he is finally sent to the court of Viståsp, where he is relentlessly opposed by the Kîgs and Karaps who obtained his imprisonment, during which he is saved from starvation by a miracle; then some of the sacred beings arrive to assist him, and Vistasp is at last converted, twelve years after the coming of the religion when Zaratust went to his first conference with Adharmazd.
7. Chapter V refers to the marvels of the last thirty-five years of Zaratust's life, after Vistasp's conversion, but says nothing about his own death, except that he departed to the best existence at the age of seventy-seven. It mentions the establishment of ordeals of thirty-three kinds, the victory of Vistâsp over Argåsp the Khyôn, the useful works and advice of Zaratûst, the compilation of the Avesta, and the birth of Pêshyôtan, the immortal ruler of Kangdes.
8. Chapter VI continues this account of marvels till the death of Viståsp, which occurred forty-three years later. The legends related are about the presentation of a heavenly chariot to Vistasp by the soul of an old hero Srító who had been killed about 350 years before; and regarding the coming of two high-priests from the southern regions of the earth, ten years after the departure of Zaratust, to enquire about the religion.
9. Chapter VII relates the marvels occurring after the death of Viståsp until the end of the sovereignty of Irân; mentioning king Vohûmand who was a grandson of Viståsp, the high-priest Sênóv who lived throughout the second century of the religion, the devastator Alexander the Great, the four successive high-priests who restore ortho
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