Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/367

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
334
SECTS

them and overpowered them. The belief in Fate and Kismet and Karma have all been equally paralysing. In one case it is the movements of the stars, in other the arbitrary will of Providence and in the third, actions of past life, that grip the individual at every step he takes in his life. Anything and everything that happens is predestined either by the stars and planets or by the inscrutable decree of Kismet or by the inexorable law of Karma. The fatalistic belief has crippled the activities, cramped the progress, stifled the spirit, and blighted the ardour of countless millions of people in the East.

Mithraism is loaded with fatalistic ideas which it received from Babylonia before going to Europe. Orthodox Zoroastrianism did not entirely escape the Babylonian influence. The Babylonian and Magian diviners played important part in the lives of the people. Shah Namah abounds in instances of superstitious regard for omens and portents and astrological auguries. The court astrologers read the stars to indicate the future events The kings did not embark upon war without consulting the diviners. According to the Pahlavi Aiyadgar-i Zarıran, King Vishtasp asks his wise diviner, Jamasp, to foretell the consequences of the war.[1] When Xerxes was marching against the Greeks, an eclipse of the sun took place. The king was taken with alarm and consulted the magicians about the meaning of the portent.[2] Men and women regulated the chief events of their daily lives according to the dictates of the planetary movements. Fate generally became the ruling force of life.

Fate is the decree of Time. Time and Fate are indissolubly linked together. They are often spoken of as identical with each other.[3] The movements of the heavens regulate Fate, and the planets and constellations are the arbiters of man's fortune.[4] The good and evil stars determine man's lot, which is linked with the course of the stars. Every good and evil event that falls to the lot of man comes to pass through the doings of the twelve constellations that are ranged on the side of Ormazd, or through the baneful influence of the seven planets, as their special antagonists, arrayed on Ahriman's side. Both of these agents combine to administer the affairs of the world.[5]

  1. ↑ 35–39.
  2. ↑ Herod 7 37.
  3. ↑ Theodore of Mopsuestia, apud Photius, Bibl. 81.
  4. ↑ See Gray, Fate (Iranian) in ERE. 5. 792, 793.
  5. ↑ Mkh. 8. 17–19, 21.
This article is issued from Wikisource. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.