Makaranda Madhukar Anand Mahendale Festshrift

Author(s): M A Dhaky, Jitendra B Shah
Publisher: Shardaben Chimanbhai Educational Research Centre

Page 250

Avestan Eschatology
239
shall take place
There are numerous passages in the Gāthās where Ahura Mazdah is invoked by Zarathushtra as the Ruler over the twofold awards, who at the time of the Final Dispensation will divide the wise from the unwise". He is the supreme arbiter, and His decision is final. At the time of the Resurrection it is Zarathushtra who will be the Judge (ratav), Mazdah being the Overlord (ahu); and Zarathushtra expressly declares himself to be the ratav appointed by Ahura43. Thus the Gāthās contain, at least in substance, those essential elements that are elaborated in the Later Avesta and in the Pahlavi books. And, the doctrine of the Individual Judgment is one of the cardinal teachings of Zarathushtra concerning the life hereafter".
There is also in Zoroastrianism the doctrine of an intermediate stage, the tenet of Hamistakan, oe 'Equilibrium'. Zarathushtra recognized the possibility that the good and evil deeds of an individual might balance exactly when weighed in the scales at the heavenly tribunal; and a special place and condition are assigned to such a soul until its ultimate fate shall have been determined at the Universal Judgment. Zarathushtra's keen vision and logical mind caught glimpses of this General Judgment at the end of all things. This optimistic hope of the dawn of a new and better eon is the note that rings again and again in the Gäthãs. The Prophet's graphic presentation of these events may well have stirred the imagination of his hearers and inspired his followers to carry on the task of furthering the Wished-for-Kingdom (xsaOra vairya) and to look forward to the day when good shall finally triumph over evil, and the world shall be restored to perfection (frašokereti). The accounts given in the Later Avestan and Pahlavi books are essentially the same as those found in the Gathās, except that the picturesque side is more fully developed.
Annotations :
1. Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla Zoroastrian Civilization (ZC) Oxford University Press, New York 1922, pp. 38-39.
2. Panini - 'Astädhyayi", 1. 2. 61; 1. 4. 81; 3. 1. 84; 4. 3. 71; 5. 2. 89; 6. 4. 5; 7.1. 96; 8. 1. 35, etc.
3. A. V. Williams Jackson, Zoroastrian Studies (ZS), AMS press Inc., New York