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

CHAP. IV.] DUALISM. 187

the Angro Mainyush (the decreasmg or destructive spirit). God (Mazda), through the agency and interaction of these two spirits, is the causer of all causes in the universe. He is the creator as well as the destroyer of all things. These two causes have been working under one Almighty, day and night, and have been creating and destroying ever since the universe began.

Some writers have not clearly understood this philosophical point, and have therefore said that Zoroaster preached dualism. A patient study of the early Avesta literature clearly shows that it is not the case that Zoroaster ever placed the destructive spirit (Angro Mainyush) as an independent spirit against God. Dr. Haug very lucidly refutes this charge. He says: “The opinion so generally entertained now that Zarathushtra was preaching a dualism, that is to say, the idea of two original independent spirits, one good and the other bad, is owing to a confusion of his philosophy with his theology. Having arrived at the grand idea of the unity and indivisibility of the Supreme Being, he undertook to solve the great problem which has engaged the attention of so many wise men of antiquity and even of modern times, viz. how are the imperfections discoverable in the world, the various kinds of evils, wickedness, and baseness, compatible with the goodness, holiness, and justness