History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 44

Death is the completion of life. The faithful is warned, in the Pahlavi texts as in the Avesta, that he should always remember the transitory state of earthly existence, the death of the body, and the responsibility of his soul;^[1] for, in the end, the body will be mingled with the dust, but the soul will survive; and man should therefore labour for the future welfare of the soul.^[2] Death is the completion and perfection of life.^[3] It is not an extinction of individuality, but a transfer from one state to another; it is the transition of the soul to a higher life, in which it gives up one duty to take up another.^[4] Death brings the dissolution of the body, the earthly elements are dispersed, and the spiritual elements accompany the soul, which now proceeds to the next world to render the account of its deeds.^[5] The body served as the garment of the soul as long as the soul wore it during life, but when it is outworn the soul flings it behind it. The body is likened, in more than one Pahlavi passage, to a house, of which the soul is a tenant; for when the body is divested of vital power and falls to the ground, the master of the house leaves it to crumble into dust.^[6] Just as a rider becomes helpless without his saddle and his weapons to overthrow his enemy, so does the soul lose all hopes of routing the Druj, when the body perishes; for the soul is the lord of life and conducts the battle between good and evil.^[7] It is the master of the body.^[8] The body becomes useless and perishes when the soul leaves it.^[9]

Man should not put his trust in the possessions of this earth; ​his happiness is but the passing cloud of a rainy day; riches and wealth, titles and honours, distinctions of birth and race—all will be of no avail when death will at last come upon him.^[10] Body is the lineament of man; he should not mistake it as his real self. Whoso moulds his actions with the higher object of the welfare of his soul gains this world by leaving good name and fame behind him, and obtains the next as his reward; but the slave to passions and evil desires, who lives solely for the body, loses both this world and the next as well.^[11] The body of the one is lean in this world, but his soul is fat in heaven, whereas a man who pines after bodily pleasures is fattened in body in this world, but his soul is hungry and lean in the next world.^[12] There is a remedy for every thing, but not for death.^[13] A man may live a hundred years in this world, but death will at last overtake him.^[14] Then at last he will sleep in the deep silence of death. The closed eyes will not open; the heart will not throb; hands and feet will not move; and the prince and peasant will leave the world in exactly the same manner.^[15] The body will then be removed to its final resting-place, where go the great and the small, the master and the servant, the righteous and the wicked alike.^[16]

A man may avoid the danger of tigers and wild beasts, of robbers and inimical persons, but he cannot live without fear of the demon of death.^[17] He is helpless when death swoops down on him. Some die at an early age, almost as if they had never been born, and even those that live long have ultimately to quit the world.^[18] Life is short in this world but long in the next.^[19] Man should practise such good deeds during his lifetime that on his death-bed he should think it would have been better had he done even more of them, and avoid such acts for which he would have to wish during the last moments of his life that they had not been performed.^[20] The individual who has been indif​ferent in his devotions to the Lord is distressed when death approaches and thinks of him the more.^[21]

Srosh's help indispensable for the disembodied souls. At death the soul shakes off the fetters of the body. This severance of the soul from the body is fraught with momentous difficulties for the former. As an infant that is just born in this world requires care from a midwife and others, so does a soul that has just emerged from the body require help and protection against evil influences. It is said that the righteous Srosh acts at this juncture as a midwife to the righteous soul in its bewilderment, and does not let it go into the clutches of Ahriman.^[22] It is therefore deemed advisable to secure the services of this angel even in advance by propitiating him with rituals during the lifetime of the individual. But if that has not been the case, his relatives should never fail to offer sacrifices in his honour immediately after death and continue them for the three days and three nights that the soul stays in this world after death.^[23] Besides watching and protecting the soul at this critical period, Srosh is also one of the judges who will then take account of the soul. It is indispensable, therefore, to order ceremonies to be performed for Srosh during the time that the soul tarries in this world before embarking on its celestial journey.^[24]

The souls visualize the good or bad deeds of the lives they have just completed. In conformity with the statement of the Avestan texts, the Pahlavists also depict the human souls as hovering about the head of the dead for three nights after death, experiencing joy or grief, according as they have lived in righteousness or wickedness.^[25] It is stated that during the first night satisfaction from their good thoughts comes to the souls and vexation from their evil thoughts, during the second night satisfaction from their good words and vexation from their evil words, and during the third night satisfaction from their good deeds and vexation from their evil deeds.^[26] The demon Vizarsh struggles with the souls during this period.^[27] The souls experi​ence as much pleasure or pain during these nights as they have had during their whole life on earth.^[28] The soul of the wicked person, over whose head hangs the coming retribution, now wishes that it could re-enter the body for some time in order to make up for the faults and shortcomings of the life that it has just finished.^[29] Mohammedanism, in the same manner, refers to the desire of the soul of the dead person to be sent back to the bodily life that it can practise good deeds that have been left undone. As a rider requires a horse, so the soul needs a body, without which it is unable to act in this world.^[30] It now discovers, when it is too late, that it has lost the opportunity and worked all the while for naught. It feels as if it had thrown away all good deeds either into the fire to be burnt or into the water to be drowned instead of practising them and storing them up for its own merit.^[31] It wishes it had enjoyed less in the world below and practised virtue more,^[32] and it realizes too late that the most precious period of its earthly life is now lost beyond recovery.

The souls escorted by the genii of their own deeds to the other world. At the end of the third night when the dawn breaks, the souls undertake their memorable journey with the co-operation of the good angels Srosh, Vae the good, and Varhran; in the midst of the opposition of Astovidat, of Vae the bad, Frazisht, Nizisht, and Eshm. When the souls pass from the midst of the sweet-scented trees, if they are righteous, or from among foul-scented trees, if they are wicked, they meet their conscience, the righteous soul beholding her in the form of a beautiful damsel, personifying the store of its own good works, but the wicked soul seeing a hideous woman, typifying the store of its own evil deeds.^[33] In addition to the escort of the angelic figure or the fiendish apparition, the Dinkart and some copies of the Bundahishn mention that a beautiful fat cow and a fair garden, as well as this damsel, are met with by a righteous soul, while an ugly, lean cow and a barren desert, besides the hideous hag, are encountered by a wicked soul.^[34] The description of the celestial ​journey and of the happenings on the way, as found in the Menuk-i Khrat, differs a little from the other works. These, in agreement with the accounts in the Avestan texts, depict the soul as meeting its daena prior to its crossing the bridge, but Menuk-i Khrat brings her on the scene after the soul has passed the bridge. Besides, the pious soul is made to converse on the way with Srosh, which is not the case in the other texts.

The heavenly judges. The Pahlavi works give us an elaborate account of the way in which justice is administered to the souls after death. The reckoning takes place on the dawn of the fourth day.^[35] Throughout the entire life of the mortals it is the duty of Vohuman to note down three times each day the good and evil deeds of everyone, both men and women, in the book of life.^[36] Mihr, Srosh, and Rashn sit as judges in the hereafter to take account of the souls that approach the bridge.^[37] Unlike the human judges who base their decisions on the biased or fallible evidence of the witnesses for the plaintiff or the accused, the divine judges need only to scan with their spiritual eyes the record kept by an archangel, and then to acquit or sentence the souls accordingly.^[38] Rashn holds the balance in his hands and weighs the good and evil deeds of the souls so impartially that the scales do not turn wrongfully, even by a hair's breadth in favour of a righteous man or of a wicked, of a lord or of a king, but work equally in case of the peasant and the prince.^[39] Job makes a solemn protestation of his integrity and says that let God weigh him in an even balance that he may know the truth.^[40] The works of the dead are similarly weighed in a balance according to the teachings of Mohammed. Injustice and partiality have no place in this celestial court, which is administered with stern but exact equity.^[41]

Location of the Bridge of Judgment. All the righteous as well as the wicked souls have to proceed to this bridge for judgment, where the account of the souls takes place.^[42] The bridge rests on the peak called 'the peak of justice,' situated in the ​middle of the world in Iranvej, and is of the height of a hundred men. The two extremities of the bridge rest on the northern and southern ridges of Mount Alburz.^[43]

The bridge provides a wide passage to the pious souls, but confronts the wicked with its sharp edge. The bridge is guarded by the angels and the spiritual dogs.^[44] It is broad as a beam and has many sides. Some of these are twenty-seven reeds in width or nine spears or nine javelins or even a league in width, whereas the others are as sharp as the edge of a razor.^[45] The bridge is so arranged that it presents its broad side when a righteous soul passes over it, and gives it an easy passage, but puts forward its thin edge when a wicked soul attempts to cross it.^[46] According to Mohammedanism all souls have to cross the Bridge as-Sirat which lies across heaven and hell. It is finer than a hair and sharper than the edge of a sword. It gives an easy passage to the righteous souls, but the souls of the wicked cannot cross it and fall headlong into hell. The pious soul is helped by Srosh, Atar, and by its own conscience to cross the bridge and go to its destination, but the impious one falls headlong into hell.^[47] A passage adds that the fire Frabag smites the darkness and enables a pious soul to pass over the narrow edge in the form of fire.^[48] Furthermore, Vae, the angel of wind, takes such a soul by its hand and escorts it to its proper place.^[49] Of all the wicked souls the one of a malicious man finds it most difficult to cross the bridge, for malice is a sin which does not affect the sinner only, but generally abides in a lineage.^[50] The wicked soul complains that it would prefer being cut by a sharp knife or pierced by an arrow to its being obliged to cross the terrible bridge.^[51]

Insane persons and children are not accountable for their own deeds, but their parents are responsible. All those that are mentally unsound and also children are not held responsible for their deeds, but are considered eligible for paradise.^[52] We ​are further told in another passage of the Pahlavi texts that the children accompany their parents either to heaven or hell as the latter have deserved.^[53] The children that have thus entered hell with their wicked parents are separated from them if due ceremonies are performed in honour of Srosh by their relatives, and may then proceed to heaven.^[54]

The method of administering justice in the heavenly tribunal. Among the ancient Egyptians when the soul appeared before the heavenly tribunal, its heart was weighed in a balance. Similarly, the ordinary way of judging the souls according to the Pahlavi writers, is said to be that of weighing the good and evil deeds in a scale and deciding to which of the two sides the scale turned. Roughly speaking, if the good deeds exceed the evil, the soul is entitled to go to heaven.^[55] But if the evil deeds preponderate, the soul is assigned to go to hell.^[56] The side of the balance that outweighs the other even by a hair of the eyelash determines the fate of the soul accordingly.^[57] If the good deeds are in weight three Sroshocharans more than the evil deeds, the soul attains to heaven;^[58] if the evil deeds exceed the good ones by three Sroshocharans, the soul is doomed to hell until the time of Resurrection.^[59] An infidel is saved from hell if good deeds are one Tanapuhar weight more than his evil deeds.^[60]

The author of the Dadistan texts takes a more rational view and asserts that it is not simply the preponderating good or evil deeds that score off their opposite, so that the soul receives recompense or retribution on the residue, but that every single good or evil deed is taken into account separately and receives its recompense or retribution in accordance. Thus a righteous soul whose preponderating good deeds have entitled it to heaven does not escape a temporary punishment for the few misdeeds that stand on its account. Similarly the wicked soul that is doomed to hell for its evil deeds has at least a few good deeds to its credit, and consequently receives temporary enjoyment severally for these before it is sent to perdition for its wrongs.^[61] In other words, ​the righteous soul may have a few misdeeds for which it has not atoned, and will therefore undergo a corresponding punishment after death before it is admitted to the company of the righteous,^[62] and the same is logically true of the soul of the sinner. The sins usually accounted for at the bridge are those that have not been expiated during the lifetime of the individual.^[63] Those that are already atoned for in this world are not laid to his charge hereafter, but stand cancelled in the book of life, and no account is taken of them at the bridge.^[64] We find, however, in another place that such a soul does receive a temporary punishment at the bridge, but is spared the future torture of hell.^[65]

We have already seen that the Pahlavi-Persian works speak of the Treasury of the Eternal Weal where the supererogatory deeds of the faithful are stored and from which the souls found to be in need of merit at the Bridge of Judgment are compensated.^[66] It is said that every Zoroastrian gets the benefit of the accumulated good deeds performed by the faithful in all the seven zones of the earth. If a soul is found deficient in merit at the reckoning the deficit is made up from this treasury.^[67] This doctrine appears in the later Judaism and Christianity.^[68] If a man brings forward false accusation against another or steals his property, the heavenly judges take away corresponding merit of good deeds, which the sinner may have done in this world and credit it to the account of the wronged person. But when it is found that the wrong-doer has not any accumulated merit of his own, the judges draw upon the Treasury of Eternal Weal and compensate the soul of the person who has suffered.^[69]

The graduated heavens. The division of heaven, or the celestial realms, into several mansions of Paradise, as recognized in the Avesta, remains unaltered in the Pahlavi period. Heaven in general is designated Vahisht, Paradise, but the divisions of heaven into the domains of Good Thoughts, Good Words, and ​Good Deeds, with the highest heaven Garotman, make up the four chief heavens.^[70] Endless Light and Best Existence are variants frequently used for Garotman.^[71] The several heavens of the celestial world are also known after the names of their locations in space, and are then called the heavens of the Star Region, the Moon Region, the Sun Region, and that of Endless Light.^[72] A distinction is generally made between the lower heavens and the highest heaven.^[73] If one's good deeds are three Sroshocharans more than his evil deeds he goes to Vahisht, or heaven, but if they are only one Tanapuhar in weight more than his misdeeds the soul goes to the Best Existence.^[74] With the same idea it is said that when ceremonies are not performed for the good of the soul, it goes to heaven, but when performed it ascends to the highest Garotman.^[75]

If the good deeds are in excess the righteous soul goes to heaven on the dawn of the fourth day, but if, in addition to the stock of this virtue, he has chanted the Gathas and thus has extra merit to his credit as a true believer, he then is transported aloft to Garotman.^[76] Vohuman welcomes such a righteous soul, and announces at the command of Ormazd, its place and reward.^[77] The same archangel thereupon offers the sanctified spirit a cup of ambrosia to drink,^[78] and the righteous souls that are in heaven greet it with joy and pleasure.^[79]

Location of heavens. The concept of the next world, which was abstract and spiritual in the Gathic and Later Avestan periods, gradually becomes concrete and material. The separate heavens as well as hells retain their names which designate abstract virtues as Good or Evil Thoughts, Words, and Deeds, but they are now in reality completely materialized. Different heavens are located in different parts of the cosmos, and a sharply defined boundary line divides them from one another. The separate heavens, begin with the Star Region.^[80] The first heaven, of Good Thoughts, is represented as extending from the ​stars to the moon; the second heaven, of Good Words, commences from the moon and reaches the sun; the third, of Good Deeds, extends from the sun to the lower limits of Garotman, and the last, or the highest Garotman, the Best Existence, the abode of Ahura Mazda, is in the regions of the Endless Light.^[81]

Nature of heaven. Heaven is exalted, resplendent, most fragrant, and most desirable.^[82] It possesses all light, all goodness, all glory, all fragrance, and all joy.^[83] It has comfort, pleasure, joy, and happiness that are higher and greater than the highest and greatest comfort, pleasure, joy, and happiness in this world. It is devoid of want, pain, distress, and discomfort,^[84] and it is luminous, full of charm and full of bliss.^[85] Just as anything that is unlimited, imperishable, inconsumable, and everlasting is greater than that which is limited, perishable, passing, and consumable, so is the felicity of heaven greater than that of this world.^[86] The supremest happiness and pleasure in this world could not bear comparison with the eternal felicities of heaven.^[87] Sweet-scented breezes like that of basil, continually blow in paradise, spreading fragrance everywhere.^[88] The grandeur and beauty are such that the souls have never seen anything so exquisite in the material world. It is the residence of Ormazd, the archangels and angels, and of the Guardian Spirits as well as the most blessed among mankind.^[89]

Condition of the souls in heaven. The souls in paradise move and perceive, and feel like the angels and archangels, they are undecaying, undying, unharmed, untroubled, full of glory, joy, pleasure, and happiness; and enjoy the fragrant breeze as sweet as the basil.^[90] The radiance and brightness of the souls in heaven are like the stars and the moon and the sun, and they sit on the golden thrones and carpets.^[91] The beautiful souls are attired in clothings embroidered with gold and silver and are seated on golden carpets and richly adorned cushions. Those of ​women are bedecked with jewelry, and those of warriors with golden arms and equipment studded with jewelry.^[92]

Celestial food. The food that is given to the souls of the righteous ones in heaven as soon as they enter its gates is the ambrosia, the spiritual food of the angels themselves.^[93]

Duration of heavenly bliss. The souls that have ascended to heaven enjoy happiness, and remain full of glory forever and ever.^[94] This state of felicity continues up to the day of Resurrection.^[95]

The intermediary place between heaven and hell. It is situated between the earth and the starry regions.^[96] According to the belief current in the Pahlavi period, which dates back to far more ancient times, there is provided a place for those particular souls in whose case the balance trembles evenly between good and evil at the bridge owing to the exact counterpoise between righteousness and sin in the scale into which they have cast their deeds in the present life.^[97]

The condition of its inmates till the final day of the Renovation. The place of the Hamistagan resembles this earth.^[98] The souls that are transported to this place have no other sufferings than cold and heat.^[99] Exposed to the inclemency of weather, they shiver in winter and frost and are scorched in the tropical summer up to the day of Resurrection.^[100] Beyond that, however, the Pahlavi texts speak of no other suffering, and their final fate is postponed till the universe is restored at the last day of the general restoration of the world.

Graduated hells. Corresponding to the four heavens or a fourfold division of heaven, the texts mention four principal ​hells. These are the Evil Thought Hell, Evil Word Hell, Evil Deed Hell, and the Worst Existence of Darkness.^[101] Sometimes the grades of hell are vaguely spoken of without any definite number.^[102]

Location of hell. The abode of the sinners is in the middle of the earth,^[103] down below the Chinvat Bridge.^[104] It is in the northern regions, as in Avestan times it was also believed to be, and below the surface of the earth, with its gate on the ridge Arezur, where the demons hold their fiendish council.^[105]

Description of hell. Hell is deep and dreadful, dark and stinking, vile and grievous, cold and stony, devoid of joy and pleasure, of comfort and happiness, and full of pain and punishment, filth and stench, misery and torture.^[106] It is coldest beyond description in one place and hottest in another and is full of noxious creatures, stench, and darkness.^[107] It is traversed by a gloomy and dreadful river filled by the tears shed by men for their departed ones.^[108] The depth of hell is such that its bottom cannot be reached by a thousand cubits,^[109] and it is tenanted by the demons, fiends, and the souls of the damned.^[110]

Ahriman greets the wicked souls in hell with scorn and mockery. No sooner is the terrible sentence pronounced upon those destined for perdition than Vizarsh and other demons pounce upon the wretched souls of the sinful and put them in heavy chains, and, beating them and mercilessly torturing them, drag them down to hell.^[111] The wretched souls now repent of their sins and exclaim that it would have been better for them if they had not been born upon the earth.^[112] The angels give them up to the charge of the demons, their own conscience deserts them, and thus forsaken and forlorn, they lament and weep, shout and shriek, gnash their teeth and tear their hair, mutilate their limbs and lacerate themselves, making moan, and soaking ​the ground with a torrent of tears. But all in vain. Unavailing are their cries and lamentations, for the denizens of heaven seem to be under the spell of the drowsy fiend, Bushasp, who has lulled them to sleep, and the righteous souls in heaven seem to have grown callous and indifferent to the pangs of their former earthly associates. In this frightful condition there is no one to pity them, and none to cast a look of mercy on them in their disconsolate condition on the way to the infernal realm. Writhing in suffering and sorrow, weeping and lamenting and gnashing their teeth, they now enter hell,^[113] and with the fourth step of the downward descent to perdition they approach Ahriman, who addresses them with ribald mockery, saying in scornful banter that it is strange they preferred the gloom and misery of hell to the joy and happiness of heaven,^[114] revolted from the will of Ormazd, whose bread they ever ate, and practised the evil of the Evil Spirit.^[115] The demons and fiends incessantly rail at the wretched souls and finally hurl them headlong into the darkest abyss.

Punishments and retributive justice. The souls are generally punished by the particular demon or demons in conformity to whose will the individual has sinned in this world.^[116] These fiends take a cruel delight in torturing the souls for the very sins that they themselves had instigated. The degree of suffering is exactly proportioned to the transgression, and the form of punishment meted out corresponds in the same manner to the various crimes committed in this world. We may select only a few instances from the elaborate list of Viraf. The one that has slain a pious man is himself killed over and over again in hell as a punishment.^[117] He who has eaten unlawfully without saying grace starves eternally of hunger and thirst.^[118] The merchant who used false scales and sold adulterated goods on earth must day and night in hell measure bushels full of filth and then devour them.^[119] A tyrant king is tortured by being flogged by demons with darting serpents.^[120] A liar and a slanderer have ​their tongues ever gnawed by noxious creatures.^[121] The law obtains in hell that all demons assail their victims from the front, but the demon of slander alone attacks from the rear, because a backbiter usually indulges in secret calumnies in the absence of a person.^[122] An apostate is converted into a creature with the head of a man and the body of a serpent.^[123] The person who in life has defiled the fire or the water through some pollution by means of dead matter must in hell continually devour dead matter.^[124] The man who withheld food from the dogs in this world has to offer them bread in plenty in the inferno, but they prefer to devour his flesh instead; nor do they give him a moment's respite.^[125] The individual who has removed the boundary stones of others and usurped their lands has to pay the penalty of digging a hill with his fingers and of carrying a mountain of stones on his back.^[126] One who has ill-treated cattle is ever trodden under their feet.^[127] This method of inflicting punishment analogous to the sins is so systematically carried out that in certain cases where the greater portion of the body of a sinner is exposed to torture corresponding to the sin a single limb may be exempted from the punishment, because it served as a medium of doing some good. For instance, a man whose whole body was either cooked in the caldron or was undergoing some other torment had one of his legs stretched out unmolested, because he had either shoved a wisp of hay before a hungry animal that was tied and could not reach it or killed some noxious creatures with it.^[128] He had not done any other good deed his whole life long.

All conceivable forms of physical torture prevail in hell. Viraf recounts the ghastly spectacle he had witnessed in the vision vouchsafed him of hell. The various kinds of most hideous tortures in hell are so dreadful that the torments and sufferings in this world dwindle into insignificance before them; and the worst of earthly calamities and inflictions present but a feeble and inadequate counterpart of their terror.^[129] Nay, the memory ​of the miseries on earth is the only joy for the unfortunate inmates of hell in contrast to the torment they have to undergo in the inferno. Viraf relates that the souls are ever gnawed by snakes and scorpions, worms and other noxious creatures, flogged with darting serpents as whips in the hands of demons, suspended head downwards by one leg or by the breasts in the case of women or, again, trodden under the feet of cattle. Iron spikes and wooden pegs are driven into their eyes; they are made to stand on hot brass and compelled to lick a hot oven with their tongues. A brazen caldron is constantly boiling, and is continually fed by the tens of thousands of wretched souls flung into it. Miserable as their lot is as they are cooked, it is made still more miserable by the fact that the fire that burns them never consumes them. On earth such miserable wretches could have hope that a merciful death would release them by bringing an end to their sufferings; but even that one solace is denied to the damned, for though the fire burns them unceasingly, their souls are equally eternal, and cannot therefore be annihilated.

Solitude in hell is appalling. One of the miseries that the souls have to endure in hell is its solitude.^[130] The souls stand as close to one another as the ear is to the eye, but each one feels itself alone and solitary; and though the souls be as many in number as hairs in the mane of a horse, each one feels that it is lost in solitude, with no eyes to see its sufferings and no ears to hear its groanings.^[131] A thousand souls are huddled together in the short space of a span, and yet every one is ignorant of the presence of others besides itself, and considers itself thrown out in the wilderness.^[132]

Intensity of the darkness and stench of hell. The infernal region is the abode of all darkness.^[133] The Avestan texts spoke of hell as the abode of darkness; in the Pahlavi texts the concept is intensified, and the darkness is conceived of as being so dense that it can be grasped by hand,^[134] and the stench such that it can be cut with a knife.^[135] All the wood in the world put on the fire would not emit a smell in this most stinking place.^[136]

​The foulest food served to the sinners. The most fetid, putrid, and disgusting kinds of food are given to the sinners in hell,^[137] and these the wretched creatures devour in quantities, but yet remain eternally hungry and thirsty.^[138] Brimstone and lizard,^[139] poison and the venom of snakes, scorpions, and other noxious creatures,^[140] blood and filth, bodily refuse and excrement, impurity and menstrual discharge, dust and human flesh, dirt and ashes, form the variety of dishes that the infernal caterer supplies to the inmates of hell.^[141]

Duration of punishment in hell. Mashya and Mashyoi, the first human couple, broke the divine commandment and lied unto Ahura Mazda; they were sent to hell, and will remain there until the Renovation.^[142] When a convert from Zoroastrianism to some other faith dies, his soul is sentenced to the sufferings of hell until the day of Resurrection.^[143] Punishment of long duration,^[144] or forever and eternal suffering are the expressions most frequently met with in connection with the duration of the souls in hell.^[145] This, however, refers only to the end of the cycle, the period of Renovation, when the world will be regenerated and all the sinners saved by the compassionate Lord. Ahura Mazda will not allow even the worst of the sinners to fall permanently into the hands of the Evil Spirit.^[146]

The souls find the time so slowly moving and tedious that when they have passed only three days and nights in the torments of hell, or sometimes even a single day, they feel as if nine thousand years had elapsed and as if it were already time for the day of Resurrection to come and bring them release from the prison of the inferno.^[147]