History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 43

Independent origin of evil. The sharp antithesis of the Avestan period between good and evil is still further intensified by the Pahlavi writers. In fact dualism reaches its consummation in this period. It is the standard philosophy, and is upheld as the only possible solution of the problem of evil. The author of the Shikand Gumanik Vijar, who is himself a dualist of the most pronounced kind, strongly urges in his polemics against other religions that good and evil can on no account have originated from one and the same source. Evil is considered to have as independent and complete an existence as good; they are both primeval. They are so entirely separate from each other that neither good originates from evil, nor evil from good.^[1] Each one of them exists by itself, and entertains perpetual antagonism towards the other.^[2] The pairs of opposites such as heat and cold, perfume and stench, pleasure and pain, health and sickness, life and death, and all others fall under the compass of these fundamental terms, good and evil.^[3] This dualism between good and evil in the moral realm is the same as that between light and darkness in the physical world. Right is identified with light, and wrong with darkness. There has never been anything in the world which is not either good or evil or a mixture of both.^[4] Besides, in all periods, evil is found to be stronger than goodness.^[5] The nature of divinity is light and beauty, fragrance and purity, goodness and wisdom; for darkness and ugliness, stench and pollution, evil and ignorance are outside of his nature^[6] Ormazd is not responsible for this imperfect side of existence.

Tracing both good and evil to God deprives him of his divinity. It seems that the dualistic system is criticized by the non-Zoroastrian critics as detracting from the grandeur of the ​godhead;^[7] but the author of this treatise retorts by arguing at length that the indispensable attributes of God such as his goodness, omniscience, omnipotence, and the rest, demand that he could not simultaneously be the producer of good and of evil. If evil is also his creation, God is either not wholly good or he is not wholly powerful; both good and evil cannot be dependent on his will. The controversialist continues by addressing arguments to prove that Ormazd cannot be held accountable for evil without impairing some one or more of his attributes that are essential to his divinity; and whatever reflects upon even a single of his divine attributes degrades his position. We shall now see the main arguments advanced by the learned controversialist against the theory of tracing both good and evil to one and the same source.

The goodness of Ormazd demands that he could on no account be the author of evil. One of the essential requisites of the godhead is goodness. If evil arises from him as the deity, he is imperfect in goodness, and consequently could not be deserving of praise and sacrifice from men.^[8] Men cannot pray to one who is partly good and partly evil. If the divine being could have averted evil from mankind, and did not so will it, he is not perfect in goodness; and a being that is imperfect in goodness is not to be glorified by men.^[9] If he is perfect in goodness, he could not wish for the presence of evil, but only for its extinction;^[10] for a being whose will is evil is unworthy of his divinity.^[11] Such a view destroys his attribute of goodness. But Ormazd is perfect in goodness;^[12] and consequently, his will being eternally good, only goodness should prevail in the world from its beginning up to its end.^[13] But, the author maintains, the world shows more of evil than goodness,^[14] hence evil is outside of and independent of Ormazd. Beside all that, everything in the world either happens through his will, or it does not, or there may be some things that happen through his will, and others through the will of some other.^[15] If both the good and evil come to pass through his will, then his will is not perfect,^[16] and the being whose will is imperfect is himself im​perfect.^[17] If nothing proceeds through his will, he works automatically and is therefore made by some one,^[18] but this is unthinkable. If some things are through his will and others through the will of some other being, God either ordains the existence of the good or the evil, for there is nothing in the world which is not the result of either of the two. If God wills good, some one else wills evil, or if he wills evil, some other being wills good.^[19] Hence a power that personifies the opposing will exists,^[20] and since God is goodness, the evil in the world proceeds through the will of the rival spirit, who exists independent of the good spirit.

If it is argued that Ormazd has created evil for the reason that mankind may better understand and appreciate goodness; or again, that he has created poverty, pain, and death that human beings may better understand the value of wealth, health, and life, and consequently become more grateful to God, it is as unreasonable as saying that the Deity gives poison to mankind so that they may better understand and appreciate the value of the antidote.^[21] In another place, however, it is said in the Pahlavi texts that Ormazd allows Ahriman, the father of evil, to commingle with his creation for an allotted period for the experience and training of mankind.^[22]

The all-wise God would not create his own adversary. Omniscience is one of the attributes requisite for divinity;^[23] and in the Pahlavi period Ormazd is always spoken of as omniscient.^[24] If it is maintained that both good and evil proceed from Ormazd himself, the question then arises why he, being omniscient, should have foreseen the harm that would be caused to his creation, and yet not have found it inexpedient to create, through his own will, a perverse creature that would turn out to be his adversary and cause him perpetual anxiety and sorrow.^[25] If he did not foresee the evil consequences, he is not omniscient.^[26] If he created this eternal foe to man for the sake of experiment, without knowing the result, then such a being is making experiments at the painful cost of the miseries of the countless generations of mankind, and is consequently not omniscient.^[27]

​Again it is meaningless for the wise one who is contented with his own divinity and grandeur to have produced through his own knowledge and will an enemy of mankind, who causes them misery in this and the next world.^[28] A wise person always acts with a view to the good of all, and does not contemplate evil. Now evil abounds in the world. If the Lord has created Ahriman, who does good neither to him nor to his creatures, but positive harm to all, then this creative act of Ormazd is unwise.^[29] Again if God does not know the means to avert evil, he is equally unwise,^[30] and an unwise God is imperfect.^[31] But Ormazd is perfect in wisdom, and knows how to eradicate evil,^[32] which he has not created.

Omnipotent Ormazd has not created evil. One of the indispensable attributes of God is omnipotence;^[33] and the divinity of the Deity without this quality would be incomplete.^[34]The independent existence of a rival spirit, which the theologians of this period so zealously maintain, is in no way considered to diminish the power and grandeur of God.^[35] Inasmuch as the ultimate victory rests with the Good Spirit, and goodness is to rout evil at the end of time, the omnipotence of Ormazd is not considered to be impaired. It is emphasized in Pahlavi literature that Ormazd, who is omnipotent,^[36] would on no account be the author of evil.^[37] If he desired to prevent evil, but could not do so, he is impotent. The omnipotent being must be capable of performing his own will, for otherwise mankind would not adore him as the almighty Lord.^[38] If he is thus capable of performing his will, and if at the same time his will is always for good and never for evil, it should come to pass that the avoidance of sin, the shunning of the path to hell, and the striving to be worthy of heaven would be manifest among all mankind according to God's will.^[39] But this is not the case.^[40] If the Deity is capable of performing his will, and yet does not do it, he is unmerciful and of inconstant will.^[41]

Again, if the rival spirit did not exist, and if evil did not originate from him, the omnipotent creator ought to have created ​his creatures without blemish.^[42] His mercifulness and omniscience would have demanded this from him.^[43]

If it is said that the adversary was created originally good by Ormazd, from whom he afterwards revolted and became evil, then it shows that the adversary possesses a more powerful will than that of the sacred being, since in that event the power of evil is thus able to break his commandment and diffuse more harm in the world than the good of the sacred being.^[44] Furthermore, Ormazd, as the almighty being, should not have created an opponent who in the long run, by deluding and misleading mankind, threatened to become triumphant over him.^[45] In addition, as the omniscient being, the Deity should have foreseen the consequences and not have produced a rebel for whose existence he would have to be sorry.^[46] Moreover, the Evil Spirit should not, under these circumstances, be unreasonably blamed, since he has been created of so headstrong a will by God;^[47] on the contrary, the Good Spirit who has created him of such perverse nature should be held accountable for the mischief that the Evil One is now doing in the world.^[48]

If it is maintained that Ormazd has created disease and misfortune to give an opportunity to mankind—an opportunity to practise the virtue of mitigating these evils, and thus to be finally rewarded by eternal happiness—it means that he is not actually able to bestow happiness upon the virtuous, except by causing distress to others.^[49] Again, to say that he will give recompense to the sick and needy, who have undeservedly suffered in this world, would reflect upon the Good Spirit;^[50] for it shows that it was impossible for him to give these unfortunate people happiness in heaven, without first causing them misery in this world.^[51] This after-nobility of rewarding after harassing does no credit to the Almighty One.^[52] But, the argument continues, Ormazd has neither created Ahriman nor his evil.

From the trend of his argument we might be led to think that our author thus prefers to limit the omnipotence of Ormazd rather than ascribe to him the authorship of evil. But his contention is that inasmuch as Ahriman, who is independent in his origin, will ultimately bow the knee before Ormazd and ​perish at his hands, the omnipotence of the Good Spirit may be considered to be intact.

Ormazd, the sovereign ruler, would not harass his earthly subjects by the creation of evil. If the divine being who is the eternal sovereign^[53] keeps out distress, oppression, injustice from the world, and routs the enemies that threaten the peace and security of mankind, he is worthy of his divinity,^[54] but if he rules as a tyrant occasioning eternal distress to mankind, he is unworthy of his divinity.^[55] His title to divinity further demands that he cannot be a good and a bad sovereign, causing happiness as well as misery unto mankind, for that would make him of a mixed individuality.^[56]

Again, he could not produce evil to injure his own creatures, unless he ceases to be their friend and turns out their enemy.^[57] But the creator is the friend of creation and not its enemy. He is its best ruler. Evil is introduced into his earthly kingdom by an infernal sovereign who struggles to found the Kingdom of Wickedness on earth.

Unmerited harm could not emanate from a just God. Ormazd is just, and administers justice with exactitude unto all. Now, if he is the author of evil, crime, and sin, there is no justice in his thus creating these and then enjoining that mankind shall abstain from committing them, under penalty of incurring punishment.^[58] Ormazd, the writer continues, is the emblem of truth and justice even as Ahrıman is the embodiment of falsehood and injustice It is, therefore, inconsistent for a true and just being to say, on the one hand, that he hates sin and sinners, and on the other hand to produce more sin and sinners than good deeds and doers of good deeds.^[59] It is not justice, moreover, to inflict unlimited punishment for a limited sin, and to cause perpetual pain and distress to his creatures for indulging in the evil which he has himself produced.^[60] But Ormazd is the embodiment of justice, whereas the existence of evil is a glaring injustice to innocent humanity. Hence evil, the writer concludes, is the creation of an unjust power, that is, of Ahriman.

God, the embodiment of mercy, could not inflict evil upon his own creatures. One of the essential traits of Ormazd is ​his mercifulness.^[61] If, then, he is merciful, why should he knowingly permit Ahriman to introduce misery and harm among his own creatures.^[62] Mankind, even with their little knowledge, would never, of their own accord, allow the lion, the wolf, and other noxious creatures in among their young ones; why has the Lord, who is called merciful, let in Ahriman and his ribald crew of demons upon his own creation.^[63] If he is capable of removing evil and yet does not do so, but, on the contrary, curses those who adhere to evil and casts them away for punishment in hell, he is not merciful.^[64] Where is his divine mercy in fathering such a world of woe and sorrow.

Again, as a wise being Ormazd acts for some purpose when he creates the universe, for to act without a purpose is not worthy of the all-wise lord.^[65] If he has, then, created the world for his own pleasure and for the happiness of mankind, as religion claims, why should he ever indulge in their slaughter and devastation.^[66] But this is not true, for Ormazd is merciful and he does not slaughter, nor devastate, nor wish evil to his creatures; evil is, therefore, not of his making, but of some other merciless being.^[67] Such is the view maintained in the treatise.

It is deemed futile to attempt to resolve Ahriman into a symbolic personification of man's evil nature. To those who put forth the theory that evil springs from the nature of man, our author asks whether it had its origin before the creation of mankind or at the same time with man.^[68] If evil arose before man, he says, it must either have been created by God, or it had its independent existence.^[69] If it arose after mankind through man's own making, that is, through the freedom of his own will, it means that man originated it in defiance of the imperfect will of his own creator.^[70] This is setting up the will of man in opposition to the will of Ormazd. Now the sinners among mankind are punished by Ormazd. His omnipotence and mercifulness demand that he should not have thus allowed men to sin, when he wanted to punish them afterwards for having committed sin.^[71] If evil originates with mankind, because mankind are created by God, then the creator is responsible for the production of evil.^[72]

​It is further explained, in the same Pahlavi tractate, that if from outward appearance it seems that good and evil alike spring from mankind it is because mankind are not perfect in goodness.^[73] As sickness and death are due to the bodily imperfection of man, so does evil originate owing to his moral imperfection.^[74] The two competing propensities existing in human nature cause these imperfections.^[75]

Whence this evil propensity in the nature of man? Does it originate with him? Does man load the infirmities of the flesh and the inequities of his moral nature on the back of Ahriman and proclaim him as the source of all evil? If so, why circumscribe Ormazd's greatness by postulating this imaginary creature? But the general verdict of the Pahlavi writers is that evil is primeval in its origin; it is not relative, nor did man bring it into existence. It is enhanced when the flesh triumphs over the spirit, but it does not originate with the flesh. The father of evil is as real a personality as the father of goodness. We shall now peruse the life-story of this Prince of Darkness as narrated in the Pahlavi works.

The primeval surce of evil. If evil exists in reality, and is neither produced by Ormazd nor by man, then the only alternative is that it must have originated from an independent source. And so it is, say the Pahlavi works. Ahriman, or the Evil Spirit, called in Pahlavi Gana Menu (possibly to be read as Anrak Menu, from Av. Angra Mainyu), is its originator. As we have already seen in the Pahlavi writings, man does not simply objectify the basest and vilest in his own nature under the name of Ahriman; the rival spirit is a personality. He is an independent being, and is co-existent with Ormazd.^[76] He abode from eternity in the abyss of endless darkness,^[77] and, aflame with hatred, he rushed into the world at the beginning of creation to work for its destruction, as he constantly wages war against Ormazd and the good creation.^[78] He is described as dwelling ​eternally in darkness and gloom; and as wholly evil without goodness,^[79] as the prime source of evil in the world,^[80] and as the producer of sin.^[81] Though it is possible for Ormazd to drive him out of the world, it is not thought necessary to do so now until the end of time, when Ormazd has determined his final defeat.^[82]

Ahriman is a spirit. As the very name of the arch-fiend indicates, he is a spirit, and as such can be thought of in the mind, but cannot be seen by the eye or grasped by the hand. Having no material existence, even the wicked souls, who are domiciled with him in hell, can only understand his nature but cannot see him.^[83] The sainted priest Viraf, however, in his apocalyptic journey to hell sees him in the inferno.^[84] In the beginning of creation he sprang like a snake from the sky to the earth,^[85] and rushed upon the entire creation like a fly.^[86] In one Pahlavi passage he is mentioned as possessing the body of a lizard,^[87] though he could for his vile purposes assume the pleasing shape of a young man, as noted in the same connection. In allegorical references he is spoken of as assuming the form of a horse when subjugated by Tahmuras.^[88]

Ahriman has backward knowledge. When the Evil Spirit defies Ormazd, the latter reminds him that he is not omniscient;^[89] and does not, therefore, foresee his own final defeat.^[90] In fact he has only after-knowledge, and knows no event that is to come. He was not even aware of the existence of Ormazd, until he arose from the abyss;^[91] thus, though cunning, he is totally ignorant and blind.^[92] He cannot attain to any knowledge pertaining to the Good Spirit,^[93] and does not make any preparations to avert his coming downfall.^[94] What scanty knowledge he possesses is evil and he will see the consequences of his ignorance at the time ​of Renovation.^[95] He is unobservant, stupid,^[96] and ill-informed.^[97] He is the after-thinker. Ignorance is the parent of many evils, and Ahriman is the very personification of it. Mani, in his heresy, ascribes foresight to Ahriman.^[98]

As the arch-enemy of Ormazd, Ahriman swears vengeance upon the good creation. The Evil Spirit is the avowed enemy of the creatures of Ormazd.^[99] Being of malicious nature,^[100] and a blemish-giver,^[101] he ever wishes evil to all.^[102] As the enemy of mankind, he ever strives to make man unhappy;^[103] he is filled, in fact, with rancour against the entire creation; he is bent upon its destruction and never thinks, speaks, or does anything but harm to mankind.^[104] Ormazd saw through his omniscience that the Evil Spirit would find scope for his work up to the time that the imperfections of the world were removed, and evil became eradicated. He therefore proposed peace to Ahriman, asking him to bring help unto the good creatures, and offering to make him in return immortal, undecaying, hungerless, and thirstless.^[105] The Evil Spirit thought that it was. helplessness and weakness on the part of Ormazd that had thus compelled him to proffer peace, and rejected the divine offer.^[106] He then defiantly answered the Good Spirit that not only would he never bring help and praise unto the good creation, but he would ever seek to destroy it and force the creatures into disaffection to Ormazd and affection for himself.^[107] Ever since this first dispute with the Deity, Ahriman has firmly adhered to his resolve, and is so absorbed in contriving the ruin of his rival's creatures that he has never rested at ease since creation began.^[108] He is bent upon perverting creatures from their own nature, in order, if possible, to prevent Ormazd from bringing about the resurrection and the renovation of the world and restoring his creatures.^[109] Having ​created evil for the ruin of the good creation, he strives to wrest the supremacy from the hands of Ormazd,^[110] for the idea of revenge eats like a canker into his heart. A righteous person of firm resolve can put him to flight, for he is a coward, just as the prophet Zoroaster routed him. In the beginning of creation when Ahriman first saw the angels and their prowess he fled precipitately back to the darkness of hell;^[111] when next he beheld Ormazd's creation, he became languid, and when he learnt Ormazd's design of renovation he was stupefied, and fell on his knees;^[112] yet he remained resolute in his wicked purpose and has never ceased to vent his rage upon humanity.

When Ahriman contemplates any harm to Ormazd, it recoils upon himself, and proves of advantage to his adversary; but when Ormazd does anything for his own advantage, it turns out of advantage to himself, and harm to Ahriman.^[113] He is able to mar the doings of Ormazd, but in only so far as it does not ultimately turn out for harm to Ormazd, for the final victory rests with Ormazd.^[114] It is said that Ormazd had created Yım, Faridun, and Kaus immortal, but that Ahriman rendered them mortal;^[115] yet when Ahriman contrived to make the monstrous Zohak, the wicked Afrasiab, and the accursed Sikandar immortal, Ormazd did not permit him to do it, as that would have meant incalculable harm to the good creation.^[116]

Ahriman lures man to destruction by deceit. He is the arch-deceiver,^[117] corrupting man's nature, and beguiling him into wickedness and sin.^[118] He lurks about to overtake man in his unguarded moments, and has stationed his sentinels for the purpose. Woe unto the man who is found weak in the moment of temptation. Ahriman desires that man shall not actually recognize him, for if he once appraised the Evil Spirit at his true value, he would not follow him on the path of Wickedness.^[119] Ahriman seduces man to give up the religion of Ormazd and embrace his evil faith, and exults when this object is achieved.^[120] ​Inasmuch as he does not see that his work of deception will finally bring his own ruin, he deceives himself.^[121]

Ahriman produces seductive demons to pervert mankind. The first creation of Ahriman was falsehood.^[122] Afterwards he produced six chief demons, Akoman, Indar, Sovar, Nakahed, Tairev, Zairich as adversaries to the six archangels of Ormazd.^[123] Besides this he produced many demons and fiends.^[124] Mankind formerly did not commit crime,^[125] and there was no sin,^[126] but Ahriman implanted various vices in man's nature as the enemies of the soul; among such are avarice, covetousness, anger, jealousy, stubbornness, lust, enmity, idleness, apostasy, slander, ignorance, malice, stinginess, hatred, strife, and many other seductives that mislead men.^[127] Ahriman meditates upon nothing but falsehood, wrath, malice, and discord;^[128] and especially does he seek to conceal from man the reward of good deeds and the retribution of evil deeds, thus leading human creatures to wickedness and sin.^[129] In designing man's ruin Ahriman does not consider his triumph over him complete unless he succeeds in effecting his spiritual destruction; nor does he deem it a victory merely to deprive a man of his life and wife, child and fortune; but he must succeed in seducing his soul.^[130] Nothing satisfies his voracity so much as the capture of a human soul.

Ahriman introduces disease and death into the world. When Ahriman first entered the world, he plagued mankind, and introduced death among the living beings;^[131] thus misery and affliction entered the world through him.^[132] And all the ills human flesh is heir to are from him. He smote the progenitor of animals and made the primeval man mortal.^[133] Disease, destruction, and death are identified with Ahriman, and form his chief work.^[134]

​Ahriman infests the earth with noxious creatures. One of the many malicious acts of Ahriman, to thwart the creation of Ormazd, is his creation of biting and venomous creatures, such as the snake, scorpion, frog, lizard, and many others, in so great a number that the noxious creatures did not leave an empty space on earth to the size of the point of a needle.^[135] Hence killing these noxious creatures and extirpating their burrows are meritorious deeds.^[136]

Ahriman disfigures Ormazd's creation. Smoke and darkness were mingled with fire by the Evil Spirit;^[137] the trees that grew on the earth before the appearance of Ahriman had neither thorns, nor rough bark, nor was poison mixed with any of their species. It was Ahriman who introduced these into vegetation, also blight to wither it.^[138] Thus he brings disfigurement upon the creatures of Ormazd,^[139] and exultingly cries out that everything of Ormazd has been assailed by him and spoiled.^[140] Over against each one of Ormazd's good creations there is balanced an evil one of Ahriman.

The end of Ahriman. One of the essential proofs of Ahriman's inequality with Ormazd is that he is not eternal. As has been noted above, although he was co-eval and co-equal with Ormazd, he is not co-eternal, because there will be a time when he will cease to exist.^[141] Ormazd and Ahriman are therefore not actually balanced equally against each other. As mankind advances in righteousness, and succeeds in weakening the dominion of wickedness, Ahriman will be baffled in his vile attempts to tempt men to the wicked path.^[142] Ahriman will then find his resources exhausted and will become impotent and confounded.^[143] Being completely overpowered,^[144] and broken,^[145] predominating no longer,^[146] he will become afflicted and miserable.^[147] He will bow his unwilling knees to the divine authority. Thus baffled, ​he will flee into darkness and be fettered in hell in perpetual sorrow.^[148] We are informed in another place that when he is thus defeated, he will rush back to hell,^[149] and disappear.^[150] Still other passages state that he will be repulsed and slain.^[151] Ahriman exists in the world so long as he can find his lodgment even in one man in the world, but when, owing to the goodness of men, he will be completely cast out from human bodies, he will be exterminated.^[152] He will enter into nothingness.^[153]

The final disappearance of evil from the world. With the disappearance of the Father of Evil, goodness will completely rout evil.^[154] The great conflict between good and evil will eventually end in perfecting good and in eliminating evil.^[155] Moral and physical imperfections will vanish; for vice and impiety, wickedness and sin, demons and fiends, disease and death will be no more.^[156] The dual nature of the creatures of good and evil will be supplanted by the single characteristic of goodness. The evil creatures will perish.^[157]

The emissaries of Ahriman. There are six arch-fiends created by Ahriman in exact opposition to the archangels; and there are also other minor demons as their evil confederates.^[158] They love evil for its own sake. Hell is the specific habitat assigned to them, and from there they rush to the summit of Mount Arezur to hold their infernal council.^[159] The north is believed to be the region of Ahriman and demons, just as the south is that of Ormazd and angels; and darkness is the steadfast quality of this fiendish crew.^[160]

Their work. The diabolical host works for procuring success for Ahriman They will do this up to the end of the world.^[161] ​The strongest and most triumphant of their weapons against man is deceit;^[162] they lead man to sin through it.^[163] Every demon is an instigator of some evil, on that account, man should always entertain an abhorrence for the demons. He should array himself on the side of the angels, and join in the fight against the demons, who always contemplate harm to man.^[164] When they have sway over man's doings, righteousness is arrested and wickedness thrives,^[165] for man becomes sinful and wicked in their company.^[166] They take up their abode in him when his innate wisdom forsakes him;^[167] whence once possessed by demons, he is possessed by evil knowledge.^[168] The demons seize upon and carry off one-third of the wisdom and glory of that man who eats in the dark without washing his hands.^[169] Procrastination on the part of man also helps the demons; for example, when a man is in the habit of postponing some good work from day to day, until he is overtaken by death, and the good deed remains unaccomplished, the demons are greatly rejoiced.^[170] Persons who associate with the wicked in this world get demons for their companions in the next.^[171] The fire of Ormazd chases the demons and puts them to flight; for, when a large number of them rushed to destroy the child Zoroaster at his birth, they could not harm him owing to the presence of the fire.^[172] Zoroaster brought them all to his feet, and forced them to rush headlong into the jaws of hell. Just as the sheep is terrified by the smell of the wolf, so do the demons tremble when they smell the soul of a righteous person.^[173] The demons will live so long as man will have something of the demon in him. When righteousness at last shall triumph in the world, and the world of humanity reach perfection at the final renovation, the demons will sink into their native darkness, and perish forever.^[174]

Ahriman's premier. As Vohuman is the first celestial being in the good creation, so Akoman, Evil Mind, ranks first among the evil creatures. Ahriman first produced Falsehood and after that Akoman,^[175] as a consequence of which they often work in concert.^[176] Still another text speaks of Akoman and Varun as created together.^[177] Akoman came out from the dark world of Ahriman;^[178] and of all the fiends this demon of perversion is most to be dreaded.^[179]

His attempt to enter the mind of the prophet Zaratusht when a child to pervert it is frustrated by Vohuman. When Ahriman learnt of the birth of Zaratusht, who was to be a sure weapon of destruction against the Kingdom of Wickedness, he sent Akoman with instructions to enter the infant's mind deceitfully and pervert it.^[180] The fiend approached the house in which Zaratusht was born and contemplated entering by the door.^[181] But being as stupid and ignorant as his father he was easily defeated by his own weapon of deceit being turned against him. Vohuman, who had chased him to the spot, schemingly turned back and asked him to enter the house. Akoman thought that as his rival was leaving the place, his own work was finished, and consequently returned without accomplishing anything.^[182] Akoman, moreover, is generally said to frighten children at their birth with the ghastly picture of their sufferings at the Renovation, and this is given as a reason why children cry at birth.^[183]

Evil thoughts in man come from Akoman. In opposition to Vohuman, Akoman gives evil thoughts to men and causes discord.^[184] It is owing to those evil thoughts of his that man becomes wicked.^[185] Man has to purge himself of vicious thoughts. Unless he does this, he finds himself driven hither and thither ​like a shuttlecock, influenced now by Vohuman, now by Akoman. The man whose will is ruled by Akoman fails to discriminate between good and evil,^[186] for the friendship of Akoman makes one vicious,^[187] and he who entertains Akoman as his guest turns out to be wicked.^[188] Such a man courts spiritual destruction.^[189] When Akoman prevails over Vohuman in the mind of man, his intelligence becomes blunted and he loses greatness in both the worlds,^[190] inasmuch as righteousness flees from him and he is steeped in sin.^[191] He is even spoken of as introducing physical evil in the world,^[192] even as he brings evil knowledge of religion to man's mind,^[193] and makes him miserable.^[194]

The change wrought in the conception of her work. This personification of wickedness and deceit has by this time lost her distinctive individuality, and consequently she no longer remains an exclusive rival of Artavahisht, or Best Righteousness. In fact her name is not mentioned as Ahriman's counter-creation against Artavahisht. Indar, as we shall see in the sequel, usurps her place as Artavahisht's recognized adversary Druj no longer in the Pahlavi period stands exclusively as the class designation of the female demons, which in earlier times was her chief characteristic. The term is at times promiscuously applied to male and female demons alike; in fact it now designates demon in general. Ahriman himself is most frequently termed Druj; and several demons are simultaneously termed divs as well as drujes in one and the same text.^[195] The evil passions of man are personified as drujes.^[196] These abide in man to pervert his nature,^[197] for Ahriman has created the drujes;^[198] he is their leader,^[199] and is himself the arch-druj.

​Druj's work. The wicked deeds of man further the evil power of Druj in the world. When man leaves the blessed company of Ormazd, he is easily overpowered by her,^[200] who makes his life miserable and full of blemish.^[201] So long as he remains under her damaging influence, he cannot work on behalf of his creator.^[202] Druj Nasu, the embodiment of pollution, performs her work of defilement.^[203]

What puts her to flight. Recital of the holy spells, the heartfelt expiation on the part of the sinner, and the performance of righteous deeds will drive Druj out of man,^[204] she flees far from a man of religious inclination.^[205] It is the duty of man, therefore, to drive away the various drujes that may surround him.^[206] Ormazd has endowed him with the knowledge whereby to rout them,^[207] and has given him strength commensurate with his needs. The angels help to drive out Druj from the creation, an act that will contribute to furthering the work of the Renovation.^[208] When the world reaches the state of goodness, Druj will be impotent and perish.^[209]

Transformation of a great Indian divinity into an execrated demon in Persia. In the Pahlavi texts Ahriman is represented to have created Indar as the opponent of Artavahisht.^[210] In Ys. 48.1, Druj is glossed in Pahlavi by Indar. His personality is again quite ill-defined. He does not personify Wickedness proper, as the opponent of Artavahisht should logically do in the dualistic system; but his chief business is to drive the thoughts of men from virtuous deeds, and incite them to do away with the sacred shirt and girdle.^[211] He will be routed by Artavahisht in the final struggle.^[212]

Enemy of the divine Kingdom of Righteousness. The business of this demon is, by introducing tyranny and anarchy into the world, to thwart the efforts of Shatravar towards establishing the Divine Kingdom upon earth.^[213] He is delighted if the faithful discard their sacred shirts and girdles.^[214] He falls before his rival and perishes at the final conflagration wrought by the flood of molten metal at the end of the world.^[215]

The demon that dries up the spring of devotion in man. This demon, residing in the human will, produces disobedience,^[216] and dissuades man from following the dictates of Spandarmad;^[217] but he will meet with his end on the last day at the hands of Spandarmad.^[218]

Taromat's confederate. This demon is identified with Taromat,^[219] and is ranked as the opponent of Spandarmad. His Avestan counterpart is Naonghaithya. He gives discontent to creatures and is delighted when one goes without shirt and girdle.^[220]

The opponent of the archangel of perfection. The demon is the adversary of Khurdad^[221] and mingles poison with plants,^[222] and is rejoiced when one walks barefooted.^[223] He will lie low before his opponent.^[224]

Tairev's comrade. He also poisons plants^[225] and other eatables.^[226] He is the enemy of Amardad,^[227] who will finally vanquish him.^[228]

This demon of death casts his deadly noose around all. He it is who causes the painful separation of the soul from the body and brings death.^[229] He casts around the necks of all that are born in this world a noose which cannot be thrown off by any one during life. But at the dissolution of the body, when the soul emerges from its prison of clay, it can shake off the halter if it is righteous, but is dragged to hell by means of this rope if it is wicked.^[230] When the wicked demon Astovidad strokes a man, he causes lethargy; when he lays his hands on the sick, he makes him feverish; when he looks the victim in the eye, with his deadly gaze, he deprives him of life.^[231] He was sent by Ahriman in the beginning of creation to slay the primeval man;^[232] and ever since that time he has been destroying all, and yet he knows no check.^[233]

Astovidad's collaborator. The demon Vizarsh^[234] frightens the souls during the three nights of their stay in this world after death.^[235] He sits at the gate of hell, ready to drag the wicked souls down to the infernal depths, as soon as they are sentenced to hell by the heavenly judges. When the souls approach the bridge, he contends with Srosh for their possession.^[236] He casts a noose around the neck of all persons. The righteous ones are able to free themselves from it, but the wicked ones are entangled in it, and are dragged into the infernal abyss by it.^[237]

An impetuous assailant of man. This demon, Eshm,^[238] who has no bodily existence,^[239] occasions trouble in the world by con​tests.^[240] He swells man's spirit to wrath. He contrives all evil, and he attacks mankind with the sevenfold strength of a fiend,^[241] and man loses his senses when Eshm overpowers him.^[242] He rejoices when man disregards the admonitions of a religious preceptor,^[243] and any man in whom he makes his abode acts like a thief.^[244] Destruction follows where he steps in.^[245] For example, through his seductiveness he made King Kaus discontented with his earthly possessions, and bred in him a burning desire for conquering the heavenly regions,^[246] in which attempt to fly up to the sky he fell to his undoing. He incites Arjasp, the arch-enemy of Zoroastrianism, to invade the territories of Gushtasp, who had embraced Zoroaster's faith,^[247] but Arjasp's ruin followed. Terrible as was the condition of Iran when Afrasiab, and still earlier when the monstrous Zohak ruled over her destinies,^[248] it would have been immeasurably worse had Eshm been the earthly sovereign.^[249] When he fails to spread discord and quarrelling among the righteous, he works among the wicked to the same end, and again if defeat meets him here too, he causes strife among the demons and fiends.^[250] He contests the passage of the soul to the Bridge on the dawn of the fourth day after man's death.^[251] One of the Pahlavi commentators speaks of him as the antagonist of Vohuman,^[252] but his special adversary is Srosh, who will smite him in the end.^[253]

Tishtar's antagonist. The Pahlavi works mainly repeat the account of this demon's encounter with Tishtar, that is, how the angel of rain fled a mile away in terror when he was first assaulted by this demon of drought, but how he later, after having begged more strength from Ormazd and received it, at last over​powered his adversary.^[254] This demon struggles always to stop the rain from falling; and failing in this, he strives to convert its flow into a cause of damage.^[255] Aposh is the chief cause of drought,^[256] but the evil eye of the greedy rulers and false judges falling on the rain, prevents its fall;^[257] and in this act Spenjagra, another demon, joins with him.^[258]

A powerful demoness. Ahriman has created the menses in women; and Jeh is the demoness of menstruation. She is so powerful that her very look smites as nothing else could do.^[259] When Ahriman first saw man, Ormazd's best creation in the world, he was confounded; and coward as he is, he fell prostrate bewailing. His evil confederates tried all in their power to give him courage but to no purpose, until finally Jeh, by her beguiling devices, succeeded in reclaiming him from impotency and dejection.^[260]

The inmates in the house of ill-fame are her creatures. It is at her promptings that they bring upon earth this darkest curse that blights human life.

The author of the Bundahishn tells us that every single demon is accompanied by many more, and it would be tedious to enumerate them all here. They are certainly very numerous, and much of their defiling nature is mingled up in the bodies of men.^[261] In fact, there are as many demons as the sins that man commits.^[262] The following are the demons and fiends who are mentioned in the texts, but about whom nothing special is known. They are Mitokht and Arast (falsehood), Arashk (malice), Bushasp (sloth), Uda (chattering while eating), Zarman (decrepitude), Akatash (perversion), Oshtohad (excessive winter), ​Chishmak (disaster), Varun (lust), Sej (decay), Az (avarice), Niyaz (distress), Nas (defilement), Push (stinginess), Friftar (seducer), Spazg (slander), Aighash and Sur Chashmih (evil eye), But (idol), Kundak (wizard), Kashvish (revenge), Drivish (poverty), Daiwish (deceit), Nung (shame), Paitish, Dadani, Frazisht, Nizisht, and Safle.^[263]