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Essays on the Sacred Language, Writings, and Religion of Parsees
Essays on the Sacred Language Writings and Religion of Parsees Author:Martin Haug General Books publication date: 2009 Original publication date: 1862 Original Publisher: Printed at the "Bombay Gazette" Press Subjects: Avesta. Selections Avesta Parsees Zoroastrianism Pahlavi language Avestan language Avesta language Religion / Zoroastrianism Notes: This is a black and white OCR reprint of the original... more ». It has no illustrations and there may be typos or missing text. When you buy the General Books edition of this book you get free trial access to Million-Books.com where you can select from more than a million books for free. Excerpt: I. HISTORY OF THE RESEARCHES INTO THE SACRED WR1T1NGS AND REL1G1ON OF THE PARSEES FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES DOWN TO THE PRESENT. 1. -- THE REPORTS OF THE GREEKS, ROMANS, ARMENIANS, AND MOHAMMEDANS. In this chapter I intend to give a brief outline of the gradual acquaintance of the western nations with the Zoroastrian religion, (now professed only by the small Parsee community in India, and by a very insignificant portion which remained in the ancient fatherland in Persia,) and principally to trace the history of the scientific researches attempted in Europe into the original records of this ancient creed, where the true doctrine of the great Zoroaster and his successors, buried for thousands of years, is to be found. To the whole ancient world Zoroaster's lore was better known by the name of the doctrine of the Magi, which denomination was commonly applied to the priests of India, Persia, and Babylonia. The earliest mention of them is made in the Prophet Jeremiah (39, 3), who enumerated among the retinue of king Nebuchadnezzar at his entry into Jerusalem, the " Chief of the Magi" (raJ mag in Hebrew), from which statement we may distinctly gather, that the Magi exercised a great influence at the court of Babylonia 600 years B. C. They were, however, foreigners, and are not to be confounded with the indigenous priests. In the OldTestament no account of this religion is given ; only once (Ezekiel VIII.,...« less