will overcome the demon Aeshma. A virgin will then conceive and
bring forth the second Zoroaster as a Messiah, who will cause the
resurrection of the dead. The good will be separated from the bad,
but the punishment of the latter will not be eternal; and after the
purification of the world by a general conflagration all humanity will
unite in the adoration of Ahura Mazda. [358] Meanwhile after death
the souls of all men are weighed and have to pass over a narrow bridge
called Chinvad. The good souls, lightened by the absence of sin, find
it a broad and easy path to heaven, while to the bad ones, weighed
down with their sins, it becomes narrow as a razor's edge, and they
fall over into hell. M. Salomon Reinach points out that their beliefs
have several points of resemblance with those of Judaism, but it is
not easy to say which religion has borrowed from the other. [359] The
word paradise, according to Dr. Haug, comes from _pairidaesa_ in the
Zend-Avesta and means a park or beautiful garden protected by a fence.

7. The dual principle derived from the antagonism of light and
darkness.

It is noticeable that Ahura Mazda is considered as luminous and good,
and Ahriman as gloomy and bad. Ahura Mazda, according to Darmesteter,
can be traced back to Asura, the supreme god of Indo-Iranian times,
and is the representative of Varuna, Zeus or Jupiter, that is the sky
or heavens. Similarly Ahura Mazda is described in the Zend-Avesta
as righteous, brilliant, glorious, the originator of the spirit
of nature, of the luminaries and of the self-shining brightness
which is in the luminaries. Again he is the author of all that is
bright and shining, good and useful in nature, while Ahriman called
into existence all that is dark and apparently noxious. Both are
complementary as day and night, and though opposed to each other,
are indispensable for the preservation of creation. The beneficent
spirit appears in the blazing flame, the presence of the hurtful one
is marked by the wood converted into charcoal. Ahura Mazda created the
light of day and Ahriman the darkness of night; the former awakens men
to their duties and the latter lulls them to sleep. These features
of the good and evil spirits seem to point to the conclusion that
the original antithesis which is portrayed in the conflict between
the principles of good and evil is that of night and day or darkness
and light. The light of day and all that belongs to it is good, and