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

192 HISTORY OF THE PARSIS. [CHAP. IV.

astvat, ‘bodily, or parahu, ‘prior life,” and as manahya, ‘mental,’ or daibitya, ‘the second.’ They express the idea of body and soul. To be distinguished from these ‘two lives’ are the ‘first’ and the ‘last lives, which mean this life and that hereafter. “The idea of future life and the immortality of the soul is expressed very distinctly in the Gathas and pervades the whole of the Avesta literature. The belief in a life to come is one of the chief dogmas of the Zend-Avesta.”

“ Closely connected with this idea,” says Dr. Haug, “ig the belief in heaven and hell which Spitama Zarathushtra himself clearly pronounced in his Gathas. The name for heaven is Garodemana (Garotman in Persian), ‘house of hymns,’ because the angels are believed to sing hymns there, which description agrees entirely with the Christian idea as founded on Isaiah vi. and the Revelation of St. John. Garodemana is the residence of Ahura Mazda and the most blessed men. Another more general name for heaven is Ahu Vahishta, ‘the best life, afterwards shortened to Vahishta only, which is still extant in the modern Persian bahisht, ‘paradise.’ Hell is called Drujodemana, ‘house of destruction,’ in the Gathas. The later name is Duzhanha, which is preserved in the modern Persian duzakh, ‘hell.’ Between heaven and hell is Chinvat Peretu (Chinvadpul), ‘the bridge