the darkness of night and that which belongs to it evil. As already
seen, Ahura Mazda is considered to be equivalent to Varuna or Zeus,
that is the god of the sky or heavens. Originally it seems likely
that this deity also comprised the sun, but afterwards the sun was
specialised, so to speak, into a separate god, perhaps in consequence
of a clearer recognition of his distinctive attributes and functions
in nature. Thus in the Zoroastrian religion Mithra became the special
sun-god, and may be compared with Vishnu and Surya in India and Apollo
in Greece. In the Avesta the sun is addressed as the king. [360]
Ahura Mazda speaks of the sun-deity Mithra as follows to Zoroaster:
"I created Mithra, who rules over large fields, to be of the same
rank and dignity as I myself am (for purposes of worship)." The only
visible emblem of Ahura Mazda worshipped by the Parsis is fire, and it
would seem that the earthly fire, which is called Ahura Mazda's son,
is venerated as the offspring and representative of the heavenly
fire or the sun. Thus Ahura Mazda may have been originally an old
god of the heavens, and may have become the abstract spirit of light
from whom the sun in turn was derived. If, as is now supposed, the
original home of the Aryan race was somewhere in northern Europe,
whence the Iranian and Indian branches migrated to the east, the
religious tenets of the Parsis may perhaps have arisen from the
memory of this journey. Their veneration of fire would be more easily
understood if it was based on the fact that they owed their lives to
this element during their wanderings across the steppes of eastern
Europe. The association of cold, darkness and snow with Ahriman or
the evil one supports this hypothesis. Similarly among the Indian
Aryans the god of fire was one of the greatest Vedic gods, and fire
was essential to the preservation of life in the cold hilly regions
beyond the north-west of India. But in India itself fire is of far
less importance and Agiri has fallen into the background in modern
Hinduism, except for the domestic reverence of the hearth-fire. But
Zoroastrianism has preserved the old form of its religion without
change. The narrow bridge which spans the gulf leading to heaven
and from which the wicked fall into hell, may have originally been
suggested by the steep and narrow passes by which their ancestors
must have crossed the mountain ranges lying on their long journey,
and where, no doubt, large numbers ha