Zend Avesta Part 02

SR No.: 007672
Original Sutra Author: N/A
Author: James Darmesteter
Publisher: Oxford
Publication Year: 1883
Total Pages: 2221
Language: English
Classification: Book_English
File Size: 41 MB

Page 1917

INTRODUCTION.
xxvii
celebrated idol-temple on the shore of Lake Kêkast by Kai-Khûsrôi (ibid. i, 39; Mkh. ii, 95), we find nothing in the legends about this form of idolatry, till 'the oppressiveness of infidelity and idol-worship, shortly after the downfall of the Sâsânians, is lamented (Dk. VII, viii, 6). Demon-worship (ibid. iii, 35; iv, 30; vii, 17, 36, 37 ; viii, 7, 34), although a term sometimes applied to idolatry, seems to be often used in its literal sense of 'worship of evil spirits,' one form of which is described by Zaratust (ibid. iv, 47–53).
51. Another interesting study, for which these Zoroastrian legends supply materials, is the traditional chronology which they contain; and how far it will be found, upon examination, to harmonize with the system stated in Bd. XXXIV, or to explain the manifest inaccuracies of that system. The matter is rather complicated, but the Zoroastrian system can be connected with the European system of chronology with some degree of probability.
52. The epoch of Zoroastrian chronology is the coming of the religion, but it has long been doubtful whether this event was the birth of Zaratust, or his going to conference with the sacred beings, or the acceptance of the religion by Vistâsp. Any doubt, however, as to the meaning of the phrase, has now been removed by the statement in Dk. VII, viii, 51, that the first century of the religion is that from the time when Zaratust came forth to his conference, which event happened when he was thirty years old (ibid. iii, 51, 60, 62). It is also stated, in Bd. XXXIV, 7, that Vistâsp reigned thirty years before the coming of the religion, that is, before Zaratûst went to his conference. From these data it is evident that the traditional Zoroastrian chronology makes the birth of Zaratust coincide with the accession of Vistâsp.
53. The nearest date to these events, which is well defined in both the Zoroastrian and European systems of chronology, is that of the death of Alexander, near midsummer in B.C. 323, which Bd. XXXIV, 7, 8, places 272 years after the coming of the religion, that is, after the thirtieth year of Vistasp's reign. And if this were the first
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