Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/175

Rh prayer. Angra Mainyu, the wicked and deadly, howled in impotent rage that Zarathushtra alone succeeded in routing and smiting him where all the Yazatas failed to encompass his defeat. He bewails that Zarathushtra smote him with the Ahuna Vairya, the deadly weapon, which was as a stone as high as a house, that he burnt him with righteousness as if it were molten metal, and that he, the prophet of Mazda, was the only one who made it better for him to leave the earth.

King Vishtaspa helps Zarathushtra in establishing his religion. Bactria sheltered Zarathushtra when his own native place had cast him out. King Vishtaspa embraced his faith and he thought and spoke and did according to the law. He became the arm and support of the new religion. He gave movement to the religion, say the sacred texts, which stood motionless for a long time. He helped its promulgation all around and made it prosper. Ragha, we are told, became the seat of the prophet's ministry and here he was both the spiritual and temporal chief. The royal example evidently influenced many people to give ear to his teachings. People now warmly welcomed him and heard him with bated breath. His countenance radiated light among them and they felt that their souls had awakened to new life. The faithful undertake to tread in his footsteps, conform themselves to his likeness, live his life, and walk in his light. Zarathushtra thus triumphed in lighting a beacon to illumine the path for mankind to tread.

Allusions to Zarathushtra in classical literature. In absence of any authentic Iranian data regarding the age and place of Zarathushtra's birth, we eagerly turn to the testimony of the classical writers who have written up to the time of the close of the Avestan period. The information, however, that we derive from them is fragmentary and mostly legendary. The cycle of legends has formed around him and he is undiscernibly remote from the writers. His name is given variously as Zaras, Zaratas,