Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/444

This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
411
LIFE AFTER DEATH

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.[1] 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.[2] Mihr, Srosh, and Rashn sit as judges in the hereafter to take account of the souls that approach the bridge.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] 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.[6] 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.[7]

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.[8] The bridge rests on the peak called 'the peak of justice,' situated in the

  1. ↑ Dd. 13. 2; 20. 3; Gs. 133.
  2. ↑ Dd. 14. 2.
  3. ↑ Dd. 14. 3, 4; Mkh. 2. 118.
  4. ↑ Dk., vol. 7, p. 451.
  5. ↑ Mkh. 2. 119–122.
  6. ↑ Job. 31. 6; cf. Proverbs, 16. 2; 1 Samuel 2. 3.
  7. ↑ Sg. 4. 98, 99.
  8. ↑ Bd. 12. 7; Mkh. 2. 115; Gs. 133; AnAtM. 139, 147.
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.