It was a compilation written in an ancient language (the
Zend) which the faithful themselves no longer understood. It was
divided into twenty-one books, inscribed on 12,000 cow skins, bound by
golden cords. The Mohammedans destroyed it when they invaded Persia.
But some Persian families, faithful to the teaching of Zoroaster, fled
into India. Their posterity, whom we call Parsees, have there
maintained the old religion. An entire book of the Zend-Avesta and
fragments of two others have been found among them.
=Ormuzd and Ahriman.=--The Zend-Avesta is the sacred book of the
religion of Zoroaster. According to these writings Ahura Mazda
(Ormuzd), "the omniscient sovereign," created the world. He is
addressed in prayer in the following language: "I invoke and celebrate
the creator, Ahura Mazda, luminous, glorious, most intelligent and
beautiful, eminent in purity, who possessest the good knowledge,
source of joy, who hast treated us, hast fashioned us, and hast
nourished us." Since he is perfect in his goodness, he can create
only that which is good. Everything bad in the world has been created
by an evil deity, Angra Manyou, (Ahriman), the "spirit of anguish.
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