personate Krishna and Radha,
but reverse the names, the _guru_ calling himself Radha and the woman
Krishna. The other disciples wait upon and serve them, and they perform
an immoral act in public. Parmarthi women sometimes have the _mantra_
or text, 'O Hari, O Krishna,' tattooed on their breasts.

The Parmarthis often deny the accusation of immorality, and the above
statements may not be true of all of them; but they are believed to be
true as regards a considerable part of the sect at any rate. "With all
his cleanliness, vegetarianism and teetotalism," one writer remarks,
"the Vaishnava is perhaps the most dangerous in the whole list of
Hindu sects. He has done very good service in civilising the lower
classes to some extent and in suppressing the horrors of the Tantric
worship. But the moral laxity which the Vaishnava encourages by the
stories of the illicit loves between the God and Goddess, and by
the strong tendency to imitate them which his teachings generate,
outweigh the good done by him." This statement applies, however,
principally to one or two sects devoted to Krishna, and by no means
to all nor to the majority of the Vaishnava sects.

Parsi or Zoroastrian Religion

[_Bibliography of works quoted_: Dr. Martin Haug's _Essays on the
Parsis_, Truebner's Oriental Series; _Bombay Gazetteer_, vol. ix. part
ii., _Parsis of Gujarat_. by the late Mr. Kharsedji Nasarvanji Seervai,
J.P., and Khan Bahadur Bamanji Behramji Patel; M. Salomon Reinach's
_Orpheus_; Rev. J. Murray Mitchell's _Great Religions of India_. The
whole account of the customs and social life of the Parsis is taken
from the excellent description in the _Bombay Gazetteer_.]

List of Paragraphs

1. _Introductory_.
2. _The Zoroastrian religion_.
3. _The Zend-Avesta._
4. _The Zend-Avesta and the Vedas_.
5. _Reasons for the schism between the Persian and Indian
Aryans_.
6. _The dual principle and the conflict between good and
evil_.
7. _The dual principle derived from the antagonism of light
and darkness_.
8. _The Zoroastrians in Persia_.
9. _Their migration to India and settlement there_.
10. _Their wealth and prosperity_.
11. _Marriage customs_.
12. _Religion_. _Worship of fire_.
13. _The Homa liquor_.
14. _Parsi priests_.
15. _The sacred shirt and cord_.
16. _Disposal of the dead_.
17. _Previous exposure of the dead, and mig