Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/438

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EVIL

powered his adversary.[1] 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.[2] Aposh is the chief cause of drought,[3] but the evil eye of the greedy rulers and false judges falling on the rain, prevents its fall;[4] and in this act Spenjagra, another demon, joins with him.[5]

Jeh

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.[6] 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.[7]

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.

Other Demons

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.[8] In fact, there are as many demons as the sins that man commits.[9] 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),

  1. ↑ Bd 7. 8–10; Zsp. 6. 9–11.
  2. ↑ Dd. 93. 12.
  3. ↑ Bd. 28. 39.
  4. ↑ Dk., vol. 3, p. 148.
  5. ↑ Bd. 7. 12; 28. 39; Dk., vol. 3, p 148.
  6. ↑ SLS. 3. 29.
  7. ↑ Bd. 3. 1–7.
  8. ↑ Bd. 28. 37, 38.
  9. ↑ Bd. 28. 43.
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