Page:History of Zoroastrianism.djvu/543

of millions being reduced to a small community of a little over a hundred thousand souls all told, still true to its ancient faith. Everything that was nearest and dearest to them in the fatherland was gone. Zarathushtra remained their only hope, and with his religion as the only cherished heritage, the Parsi exiles sought an asylum in India. Thirteen centuries have dragged their weary course since they first landed on this the land of their hope and began their life anew. Rulers of nations they have not become, but they have proved themselves to be the true bearers of the great name and fame of their illustrious forebears. The pages of their national history are still thrilling with the noble deeds of the ancient Iranians, and their dutiful descendants have faithfully reflected their past national glory in the mirror of their small community. Zoroastrian virtues have made the modern Parsis great. The community has secured a pioneer place in the social, intellectual, and industrial life of the teeming millions of India. They have amassed vast fortunes and have given away equally vast sums for philanthropic purposes without distinction of caste, color, or creed. An individual member among the Parsis to-day is a better cared-for unit than one in any society. The Parsis yearly contribute for his relief at a rate which no people in the world does for its individual member. The virtue of charity has been built into the very communal fibre, and is woven into the tissues of every individual's being. A religion that produces such results in the practical life of a community well deserves the epithet 'excellent,' which the Mazda-worshipping religion of Zarathushtra is given in the Confession of Faith.

With sublime confidence Zarathushtra foretold to the Evil Spirit that his religion will ever live and his followers will do battle with the forces of evil up to the end of the world.^[1] His noble faith has weathered the heaviest of storms and survived them; and a religion which stood these trials in the past will stand any trial in the future. Zoroastrianism will live by its eternal verities of the belief in the personality of Ormazd, an abiding faith in the triad of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds, the inexorable law of righteousness, the reward and retribution in the life hereafter, the progress of the world towards perfection, and the ultimate triumph of the good over evil through the coming of the Kingdom of Ormazd with the co-