ransmigration of souls) was believed by the
Indians from the earliest period, and their whole history is built upon
it. A very ancient connection can be traced between India and Egypt,
manifested by Castes, which are found equally in both countries, and by
similiar Mythologies. When Alexander the Great invaded Northern India
from Persia, the Greeks found an Indian Mythology far more like their
own than the Persian or Hebrew. They thought they had met with the same
gods they had been accustomed to worship, though clothed in a different
form and color. They showed their faith in this discovery by the names
of the Indian Hercules and the Indian Bacchus, later so common among
them.

The worship of Vishnoo and Krishnoo in Hindostan differs very little
from the religion of Buddha and Fo which was established in China and
Thibet during the first century of Christianity. The former retained
caste, while the latter, following the teaching of Buddha, have
repudiated any class distinctions.

Decimal cyphers originated in Hindostan.

PERSIAN.

In everything appertaining to their religious belief the Persians bear
a close resemblance to the Hebrew, but the poetical part of their
mythology is more similiar to the Northern theology, while their
manners bear a strong resemblance to the Germans. The spiritual worship
of nature, light, fire, and of other pure elements, is embodied in both
the Zend Avesta (Persian) and the Edda (Scandinavian). The two nations
have the same opinion concerning spirits which rule and fill nature,
and this has given rise to poetical fancies about giants, dwarfs and
other beings, found equally in Persian and Northern Sagas.

The work of Lokman, existing now only in Arabic, has caused some people
to think that it is of Arabian origin; but it is really Persian, and of
the tenth century B.C. His Apologues are considered the foundation on
which Greek fable was reared. The Code of Zoroaster, in which the two
great principles of the world are represented by Ormuzd (goodness and
light), and Ahriman (darkness and sin) are as old as the creation.

Ormuzd is worshiped in the sun, the stars, and in fire. Zoroaster
explained the history of man as being one long contest between these
two powers until a time to come when Ormuzd would be victorious over
Ahriman. Ormuzd, as the ruler of the universe, seeks to draw men to the
light, to dispel the darkness of ignorance, and to extend the triumph
of virtue over the ma