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TRANS-HIMALAYAN REMINISCENCES IN PALI LITERATURE
[Indra has, by his own greatness, made the Indus flow northwards, and has pulverised the chariot of Ushâ, after having penetrated weak forces with the help of his swift moving army. Indra performs these deeds when he is exhilarated with soma.]
JUNE, 1921]
This passage demands more than a passing notice, as it clearly points to the fact that a considerable body of Indo-Aryans entered the country along the Indus valley, and possibly across the Karakorum range, and perhaps even from Western Tibet. This would suggest a number of roads, viz., for example, the northern and the north-western ways leading to Kashmir across the Hindu Kush and the Pamirs, as well as the N. E. route along the Indus and the Sutlej valleys from Western Tibet. These paths, however, are so difficult that it is not likely that they came in large numbers, but the movement must have gone on for centuries until the Indian branches of the Aryan people gradually came down to the sunny, well-watered basin of the Sapta-Sindhu or 'seven rivers'
(2) THE ZEND-AVESTA.
(i) The Gods of the Zend-Avesta.-The Zend-Avesta introduces us to that stage of the history of the Aryan people when the Indian and the Iranian branches had separated from one another but still retained much of their common tradition. The Vedic literature is composed of Mantras, Brahmanas and Sutras. The first two are universally acknowledged to be revealed. Now, of these two parts, the Brahmanas are never mentioned in the ZendAvesta, though Mantram appears in it in the form of Manthran. Zoroaster is called a manthran, i. e., one who utters a mantra, and the holy scriptures of the Parsis are called Manthra spenta, which means 'holy prayer'. In fact, some of these prayers are actually addressed to deities who are among the oldest and are recognised by both the branches of the Aryan race, e. g., Mitra, Varuna, Aryaman.
The most noticeable thing in the Zend-Avesta is the movement which was inaugurated by Zoroaster against the Devas and Deva-worshippers. In the earliest Riks, there is no distinction between Devas and Asuras, thus bearing testimony to a period when there was no disruption of the friendly relations between the Deva party and the Asura party. But, later on, a considerable number of the Vedic hymns are invocations of the favourite deities against the Asura party. In the Zend-Avesta, however, the Deva party seems to be in discredit from the very beginning, the Zoroastrian movement itself being hostile to the Devas and Deva-worshippers, and, by and by, the name Deva' becomes a synonym for evil spirit, just as Asura' in the Vedas becomes a synonym for the tribes at war with the Aryas. If, therefore, the ancient Iranian geography gives us indications of the country where the parting took place, it will furnish us with important materials for tracing out some steps of the great racial movements of the Aryan stock.
(ii) The Geography of the Zend-Avesta.-In Fargard, I, of the Vendidad, there is an enumeration of sixteen perfect lands created by Ahura Mazda. Of these the following nine have been definitely identified
Zend Name.
Sughda
Mouru
Bakhdhi
Haroyu
Vehrkana
Harahvaiti
Haetumant
Ragha
Hapta hindu
Modern Name.
Sagdh (Samarkand).
Mary.
Balkh.
Hare (rud).
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Gurgan.
Ar-rokhaj or Arghand-(ab).
Helmend.
Rai.
Hind (Panjab).
