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CONFLUENCE OF OPPOSITES
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in this way that he may continually destroy the fiend
(verge 36)." I do not suppose there is a dastur alive to-day who has the least idea of what the creations of Aubar Mazd mean ; they all seem to have imbibed the poison of exotericism rather well, and cannot perceive aught but the fashionable "lofty monotheism” (see, for instance, The Teaching of Zoroastrianism by S. A. Kapadia, p. 17) in every nook and corner of their Holy Books. I bave no doubt whatsoever after reading the Bundahish that it is the real key to the elucidation of the wonderful mythologies of the Jewish, the Christian and the Muslim creeds, and will not unlikely be found to have furnished the frame-work of many another system of myths and legends which flourished at one time in the countries Iying west and north-west of Iran.
I hope the Parsis will not now rest content till they solve the entire riddle, which naturally must come easier to them than to an utter outsider who may not be familiar with their customs and manners and above all with their language and traditions of the past. I have said enough here to point out the direction of investigation, and I do not think it should be at all difficult for an enthusiastic band of really competent scholars to restore the hole lofty edifice of their dharma in a short time. They should, however, always bear in mind that revelation according to their Scriptures is "The omniscience and goodness of the unrivalled Auhar Mazd” (Bunda. hish, 1.2), and is concerned with the "explanation of
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