Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/257

Rh and for the glory of his country, name and fame in this world, as well as the shining, all-happy paradise of the righteous. Whoso does not treat the fire well displeases Ahura Mazda. Zarathushtra blesses King Vishtaspa that he may be as resplendent as the fire.

His work. When Mithra goes on his usual round in his golden chariot, Atar drives behind him along with the other divine personifications. Like Agni who knows the paths leading to the gods, Atar shows the most upright path to those who lie not unto Mithra. When Angra Mainyu breaks into the creation of righteousness, Atar in company with Vohu Manah opposes the malice of the Evil Spirit. When Yima, reft of his senses through the Kingly Glory, revolts from Ahura Mazda, the Glory departs from him and he falls to destruction. It can well be imagined that the monster Azhi Dahaka should strive to capture the departed Glory, but Atar intervenes and vanquishes him.

What causes grief to Atar. Angra Mainyu has created the inexpiable crime of burning or cooking dead matter, and the Vendidad enjoins capital punishment for those who commit it. We are informed that the Persians considered it a mortal sin to defile fire by blowing it with the mouth, or by burning dead matter over it. The Achaemenian monarch Cambyses roused the indignation of his countrymen when he burnt the corpse of King Amasis at Sais. It is, therefore, a crime to bring back fire into a house in which a man has died, within nine nights in winter and a month in summer. Highly meritorious is the deed of bringing to the fire altar the embers of a fire desecrated by dead matter, and great shall be the doer's reward in the