The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1894-05-09

belong to and be under his command.
Then appeared, as time went on, greater
numbers of the clean and unclean;
these last supposed to be Ahriman's
creatures among the animal life, and
even plants of earth. To earth itself,
fire and wter.
Ormuzd's most valuable acquisitions
was given a sacredness almost incon-
ceivable TO us in this far away. prosaic
age, and many wierd superstition and
nursery story clothed in a modern dress
can be plainly traced back TO this old
religious belief
Snakes were Ahriman's creatures. and
he possessed, so they believed, the power
of turning himself into a huge serpent
called All, and in this form worked
great evil. NaturalistS know the white
falcon, wild bOars and gaZelles utterly
despise snakes and never leave one un-
til they destroy it; hence these animals
became dOubly sacred and ii was be-
lieVed that OrmuZd's good spirits often
came in the guise of these animals To
help fight the demoai7c powers of Ahri-
man. To kill or accidentally wound a
sacred animal was 10 receive terrible
punishments by stripes, even to death
itself. The dog was sacred, especially
the shepherd dog, partly for his use and
partly from another reason, which we
viii notice shortly. This old religion
very early developed strong belief in
abodcs after death for the spirits of
OTmuZd's believers. He'll and heaven
was strongly marked for them. and this
seems strange also. He'll was not for
Ahriman's creations. either spiritual or
material Annihilation awaited these,
but it simply was for Ormuzd's creatures
who failed tC observe the numberleSs re-
ligious Observances which the priests
claimed were demanded Of OrmuZds be-
levers especially. And some Of this idea
Of spiritual abodes survived the old re-
ligiCn a long time. Although any dead
body was polluting to them, still there
was no appreciate harm To he feared
from touching or coming near the dead
body Of Ahriman's creatures. They were
dead; there was no future life for them
that / can find i'm the belief; therefore
they were harmless. but woe betide one
who came near one of Ormuzd'S Great
ures when dead. The more sacred they
We're in life, the greater fear of them
after death And why? Because the
sacred body when the animating, con-
trolling spirit had left it was helpless
against the encroaches of Ahriman's
demons. who took malicious. develish
possession Of it, And from il passed
with all their power into the bodies OF
the living who handled or came near the
dead. A priest could pOllute ten more
men than an ordinarily religious man.
a shepherd dog seven more men than
the common individual. And great was
your punishment, even TO 10000 stripes
or death if you carelessly handled these
dead. Because you We're then a dread
TO the living. who, if they came near
you. would receive these demOniac serv-
ants of a master whom they called such
pet names as the old deCeiver; the father
of lies; the old dragon, and so on adj
libitum
But the dead had to be cared for. and
carefully at that, as they must not pol
lutte or touch either earth. fire or water,
all divinely sacred in this old religion.
nd fc r-hx- No dicrncp
of them in the earth or allow, if ii could
be helped in any way, them to be con-
sumed by fire. Carriers were appointed,
two Of them to the better divide the in
evitable demon incubation; and now we
see the saCredness Of the dog, especially
singularly marked one. You know
there are some. dogs who have above
each eye a light spot which looks very
much in the dark as though the dog had
four eyes. 1 heard once from an old
gypsy woman that such dogs could see
spirits. but 1 did not know then that
this strange superstition had its origin
in a religious belief But it had, for so
called four-eyed dogs We're kept by the
priests of this old religion to look upon
the demon possessed body and scare
to great extent they could do. The body
must be taken to some high, almost in
accessible place by the carriers, after
the dogs had looked upon 1t, and there
laid upon a carpet carried for the pur-
pose. left to birds of prey, wind and sun
TO quickly finish. The carriers on their
way back must have the four-eyed dog
cross their path four times, and then
the washings cleansings. baptizings and
solitude they must incur until they were
thoroughly cleansed was a role not
many would care to fill But this was
only a small part of their exhaustive
ceremonial belief of purity.
What they did in times Of pestilence
it would be hard to say, although |
suppose they thought then that Ahriman
and his demons We're just taking the
world by storm and a little more or
less of pollution would not matter
After awhile the rich were expected to
make Enclosures where their dead could
be carried. And from these have come
today what we call the Towers OF ST.
lence," mute memorials of a long-ago
superstition.
Ages have passed since that old reli-
gion as a state religion passed away.
through many phases of rule and con-
quest. Her borders and her religion
have met with many forms of change
since then. There are few of the
original fire worshipers left yet in one
certain locality, but the old belief is mod
flied greatly even here. The nation is
a mixed one, yet there are some Par
sees OF the old, pure blood, but their
religion is not as of old. They still
claim a belief in a great power Of good,
but not In any great power of evil called
Ahriman or the devil. He is gone from
their creed long ago, and the evil in
nature which we have any right to desig-
nate by that name is caused by man
either ignorantly or selfishly, alone and
OF himself. This is the belief of the
Parsee of pure blood. IDA s."