________________
202
THE INDIAN ANTIQUARY.
[JULY, 1906.
Mazda is accordingly often styled Spenta Mainyush or Spentotema, which is generally translated by the "holy spirit" and the "most holy spirit," though, properly speaking, the words indicate "salvation-giving" and the "most beneficent." We shall examine later on how far this is related to the dualism and to what extent an adverse spirit is opposed to this benevolent deity. The same epithet of honor beneficent is bestowed upon heavenly beings, chiefly Armaiti. So far as I can judge, sanctity, in the Mosaic or the Christian sense of the term, is an idea foreign to the Gathas, though the concept of holiness underlies the personified abstractions of Asha and Vohumano.43
If he is, as his common name connotes, the all-wise and the omniscient, he is likewise expressly denominated the all-seeing (vispa-hishas) who cannot be imposed upon, the watch-keeper (hara) whose eyes observe not only what is planned openly but what is designed in secret, the arbiter (vihira ahura) or judge who knows all that men and the daevas have done or will do. And it is of a piece with this omniscient conception of the deity that the commerce between the believers and their God should be a perpetual form of interrogation "This I ask of Thee, tell me aright O Ahura." Man ever seeks to learn from him not ars vivendi alone, but guidance and direction, - in electing what is best and knowledge of the origin of creation. At times when the response seems
be delayed, the faithful in despair longs for a token that Ahura Mazda, Asha, and Vohumano exist so that he might approach and sing hymns to them. And not the sage alone, but the pastor also, directs his enquiry to him who " ruling over his creatures in justice in consonance with decrees of law" prescribes the moral constitution of the world.
Sometimes Mazda Ahura is addressed in the plural and in two places Mazdas Ahuras are spoken of. The recently proposed translation "Mazda and the Gods" may be philologically incontrovertible, but it conflicts with the meaning of Ahura and runs counter to the spirit of the Zarathushtrian doctrine. For properly speaking, it knows no gods. In the inscription of the Persian kings local gods are mentioned along with Ahura Mazda, to whom the people and the royal house adhered. This does not seem to have been regarded without resentment by strict Mazdayssnians nd to have been reluctantly tolerated by the spiritual authorities. The priests and theologians inden recognised Yazatas, "adored and adorabl beings," but they would have none of the gods proper. Those were idols, daevas. I am therefore of opinion that here we have a collective noun like the Hebrew Elohim, or the modern Persian Yazdan. In Mazda are comprehended all the Ahuras, a whole class of gods from the East Aryan period, probably from a still anterior epoch; all that is godly is united in him. Hence probably the plural which occurs only in one Gátha and was obviously not generally used,$7
However pure and in many a respect lofty this conception of God on part of the old Zarathushtrian prophets may be, still even for those ancient times it is neither unthinkable nor unique. Compare what is here said of Mazda Ahura with what is said in the Veda of Varuna, the Asura, and the resemblance is perceptible and the difference negligible. The difference lies in this that, whereas Varuna is the supreme deity of a still strongly polytheistic religion, the principal figure in a rich system of mythology, the Mazda Ahura of the Zarathushtrian is, if not in the strictest sense, an only God, the only o..e among all the celestial beings who can truly be called God, and one that is exalted high above his satellites and servants. Besides, Varuna has a rival in the cult; Mazda Ahura, properly speaking, has none, though others also are invoked along with him. No Indra disputed with him precedence in his own council. Reference indeed is made in an anthropomorphic sense to his body, his hand, his mouth, his tongue, his eyes, but not otherwise than what the
42ma 45, 4; 51, 7; 43.
43 Yasna 43, 6; 45, 4; 29, 4. 45 Yasna 28, 11; 30, 11; 31, 3; 34, 6, &c.
44 Yama 44; 31; 14-21. 48 Yana 29, 1; 28, 2; 30, 4 and 9.
* In all there are four passages in the Ahunaraiti hymns. Mazda and the other Amesha Spentas cannot be meant for in all the passager. One or other of them is separately cited by name, as Yasna 28, 2.
