The origin and development of the moral ideas

In a still higher degree than the Chaldean religion Zoroastrianism represents an incessant struggle against evil spirits. Here everything in heaven and on earth is engaged in the conflict; it is a war between two mighty sovereigns, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu, and their respective forces.44 Whatever works for the good of man comes from and strives for Ahura Mazda, whatever works for the harm of man comes from and strives for Angra Mainyu. There can be no doubt that the powers of goodness will absolutely triumph in the end; but though Angra Mainyu and his band have been defeated, the battle is still raging. Ahura Mazda, being the originator of everything good in the world, is also the founder of the order of the universe, “the creator of the righteous order.”45 In the Vendîdâd he is asked about the rules of life, and he is pleased to answer;46 M. Darmesteter observes that the Avesta and the Pentateuch are the only two religious books known in which legislation descends from the heavens to the earth in a series of conversations between the lawgiver and his god.47 The sacred law of Zoroastrianism enjoins charity48 and industry,49 it condemns the murder of a believer,50 abortion,51 theft,52 non-payment of debts,53 and, with special emphasis, falsehood and breach of faith,54 and unnatural intercourse.55 But the “good thoughts, words, and deeds” most urgently insisted upon are orthodoxy, prayer, and sacrifice; whilst the greatest sins are apostasy, transgressions of the rules of ceremonial cleanliness, and offences against sacred beings.

It is less criminal to kill a man than to serve bad food to a shepherd’s dog; for the manslayer gets off with ninety stripes, whereas the bad master will receive two hundred.56 And the killing of a water dog is punished with ten thousand stripes.57 Offenders will be liable to penalties not only here below, but in the next world as well, where Ahura Mazda, “the discerning arbiter,”58 establishes “evil for the evil, and happy blessings for the good.”59 The views accepted in regard to the future life, whilst incomplete in the Gathas, are expanded in the Younger Avesta, and fully given in the Pahlavi books.60 The man who has lived for Ahura Mazda will have a seat near him in heaven, and there he remains undecaying and immortal, unalarmed and undistressed, full of glory and delight; whereas the wicked soul will be tormented in the darkness of hell, “the dwelling of the demons.”61 The good deeds of the virtuous and the bad deeds of the wicked, in the form of maidens, come to meet them on their roads to paradise or hell.62 But the fate of the dead is not merely influenced by their conduct towards their fellow men while alive. It is said that “he who wishes to seize the heavenly reward, will seize it by giving gifts to him who holds up the Law.”63 And the soul of him who recites the prayer Ahuna Vairya in the manner prescribed crosses over the bridge which separates this world from the next, and reaches the highest paradise.64

In Vedic religion we likewise meet with a conflict between gods and demons, but the struggle is too unequal to result in anything like the Zoroastrian dualism.65 Various misfortunes are attributed to the ill-will of evil spirits, but their power is comparatively slight, and the greater demons, like Vṛtra, are represented as defeated or destroyed by the gods.66 On the other hand there is among the great gods themselves one who has a distinctly malevolent character, namely Rudra, a god of storm,67 “terrible like a wild beast”;68 but though the hymns addressed to him chiefly express fear of his dreadful shafts and deprecations of his wrath, he is also sometimes supplicated to confer blessings upon man and beast.69 With this exception the great gods are all beneficent beings,70 though of course liable to punish those who offend them. Varuna has established heaven and earth,71 has made the celestial bodies to shine72 and the rivers to flow.73 He rules over nature by laws which are fixed and immutable, and which must be followed by the gods themselves.74 He sees and knows everything, because he is the infinite light and the sun is his eye;75 and in connection with Mithra he is said to dispel and punish falsehood.76 Varuna has even been represented as “the supreme moral ruler,” but it seems to me that scholars have generally credited him with a somewhat more comprehensive sense of justice than the hymns imply.77 Every hymn to Varuna contains a prayer for forgiveness, but there is no indication that the sins which excite his wrath include ordinary moral wrongdoing.

That sin and moral guilt are not identical conceptions in the Rig-Veda is fairly obvious from the fact that forgiveness of sin is also sought from Indra,78 whose favour is only won by those who contribute to his wellbeing or who destroy persons neglectful of his worship.79 The Vedic religion is pre-emiently ritualistic. The pious man par préférence is he who makes the soma flow in abundance and whose hands are always full of butter, the reprobate man is he who is penurious towards the gods;80 and just like the other gods, Varuna visits with disease those who neglect him,81 and is appeased by sacrifices and prayers.82 After death the souls of those who have practised rigorous penance,83 of those who have risked their lives in battle,84 and above all of those who have bestowed liberal sacrificial gifts,85 go with the smoke arising from the funeral pile to the heavenly world, where the Fathers dwell with Yama—the first man who died86—and Varuna, the two kings who reign in bliss.87 There they enjoy an endless felicity among the gods, clothed in glorious bodies and drinking the celestial soma, which renders them immortal.88 Yet there are different degrees of happiness in this heavenly mansion.