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CHAP. IV.] RELIGION OF THE MAGI, ZOROASTER.
85
Then came the Magi, who held, that a knowledge of the Tenets of the
Creator was only to be obtained by an intimate acquaintance Mdgl "
with his works; particularly with the movements of the
heavenly bodies. These persons, being in possession of all
the science of the age, acquired, in consequence, unbounded
power over the minds of the people; they taught the worship
of the sun, moon, and planets; they also inculcated reverence
for parents, affection for the human race, and compassionate
tenderness for the brute creation. 1
Zoroaster subsequently endeavoured to restore the purer Hormuzd and
Chaldean doctrine of one immortal and beneficent Being limai1 '
(Zerwan), the Creator of the universe; and he added the
contending principles of good and evil. Hormuzd represented
the former, and under him, as his deputies, were angels pre
siding over the months and days ; these were supposed to be
assisted by the agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. of the priests, who were to preserve in
a pure state the four elements of man, of which light, the
highest (represented by the sun 2 ), was the especial type of
Hormuzd. Ahriman, or the evil principle, with his angels
of destruction, was represented by darkness, over which the
light was at length to triumph. 3
In the third century B.C., Artaxerxes endeavoured to purge Thyeiigion ^
the religion of the Persian sage from the corruptions intro- introduced,
duced in the time of the Macedonians and Parthians, when
there was bestowed on the symbol itself (fire) that devotion
which was originally intended for the Deity only. The reli
gion of Zoroaster continued to be that of the state until the
flood of the Arabian conquest in the seventh century, when
some of the so called Jaurs (Kafirs, or unbelievers) preserved
their ancient tenets at the expense of a forced exile into Kir-
man, or the countries more eastward; whilst the rest unwil
lingly submitted. The sword of Muhammed was not to be
successfully resisted; and the new doctrines were received in
the divided forms now known as Sunnie and Slii'ah. After
1 Malcolm's History of Persia, Vol. I., p. 496.
2 Herod., b. I., c. 31, says, the Persians worshipped the sun, the moon,
earth, fire, water, and the winds.
Malcolm's History, Vol. I., p. 497.