History of the Parsis : including their manners, customs, religion and present position : with coloured and other illustrations : in two volumes

XXVIii INTRODUCTION.

nection with the Parsis is their religion. On that important matter I have allowed myself to dwell at considerable length, as I believe that both scholars and the reading public generally will take interest in learning what the Parsi religion consists of, as well as in becoming acquainted with the tenets first enunciated by Zoroaster, and which have been faithfully held by the Parsis ever since. Notwithstanding the long intercourse with the Hindus which has necessarily led to the introduction of some practices not free from the suspicion of superstition and at variance with the teaching of Zoroaster, the Parsi creed remains to the present day a pure and distinct religion. This is the more remarkable as many of the books on which it was based have disappeared, while others were lost sight of during many centuries. The religious doctrines flourish almost intact, and they constitute a system of monotheism which refutes the too-common allegation that the Parsis are worshippers of fire rather than of God. On this point the opinion of the great historian Gibbon may be quoted :—

“The theology of Zoroaster was darkly comprehended by foreigners, and even by the far greater number of his disciples ; but the most careless observers were struck with the philosophic simplicity of the Persian worship. ‘That people,’ says Herodotus, ‘rejects the use of temples, of altars, and of statues, and smiles at the folly of those nations who imagine that the gods are sprung from, or bear any affinity with, the human nature.