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 but both in subjection to Him who is at once the Lord of Life and Death, of Light and of Darkness.

In addition to these, Parsi theology acknowledges six immortal spirits or benefactors, who preside severally over the vital faculty; light and brightness; rule, power, and wealth; piety and obedience; prosperity; and immortality. The idea of a future life and of the resurrection of the body distinctly pervades the sacred books, both the earlier and the later ones alike.

The most ancient of these books are the Zend-Avesta, which contain the main principles and outlines of the Parsi religion, and which are written in a language allied to, but distinct from, Sanskrit. The later books are written in Pehlevi, which belongs to the Iranian group of languages, and these are frequently written in the Gujerati character, it being in Gujerat that the Par sis first found a home in India. It is in these latter books that the details relating to religious ceremonies and customs must be sought. Pehlevi is the language used on all religious occasions, the daily prayers of the Parsis being said in this tongue, although it is to the greater number of them quite unknown, so that they repeat their prayers as a sacred duty, but with little or no comprehension of the words they are using.

The Zoroastrians are frequently spoken of as being