ingly nature-powers rather
than persons, whereof the chief are Indra, Storm or Thunder; Mithra,
Sunlight; Aramati (Armaiti), Earth; Vayu, Wind; Agni, Fire; and Soma
(Homa), Intoxication. Worship is conducted by priests, who are called
_kavi_, "seers;" _karapani_, "sacriflcers," or _ricikhs_, "wise men." It
consists of hymns in honor of the gods; sacrifices, bloody and unbloody,
some' portion of which is burnt upon an altar; and a peculiar ceremony,
called that of Soma, in which an intoxicating liquor is offered to the
gods, and then consumed by the priests, who drink till they are drunken.

Such, in outline, is the earliest phase of Arian religion, and it is
common to both branches of the stock, and anterior to the rise of the
Iranic, Median, or Persian system. That system is a revolt from this
sensuous and superficial nature-worship. It begins with a distinct
recognition of spiritual intelligences--real persons--with whom
alone, and not with powers, religion is concerned. It divides these
intelligences into good and bad, pure and impure, benignant and
malevolent. To the former it applies the term _Asuras_ (_Ahuras_),
"living" or "spiritual beings," in a good sense; to the latter, the term
_Devas_, in a bad one. It regards the "powers" hitherto worshipped as
chiefly _Devas_; but it excepts from this unfavorable view a certain
number, and, recognizing them as _Asuras_, places them above the
_Izeds_, or "angels." Thus far it has made two advances, each of great
importance, the substitution of real "persons" for "powers," as objects
of the religious faculty, and the separation of the persons into good
and bad, pure and impure, righteous and wicked. But it does not stop
here. It proceeds to assert, in a certain sense, monotheism against
polytheism. It boldly declares that, at the head of the good
intelligences, is a single great Intelligence, Ahuro-Mazdao, the highest
object of adoration, the true Creator, Preserver, and Governor of the
universe. This is its great glory. It sets before the soul a single
Being as the source of all good and the proper object of the highest
worship. Ahuro-Mazdao is "the creator of life, the earthly and the
spiritual;" "he has made the celestial bodies, earth, water, and trees,
all good creatures," and "all good, true, holy, pure, things." He is
"the Holy God, the Holiest, the essence of truth, the father of all
truth, the best being of all, the master of purity." He is supremely
"happy," posse