de theism and atheism, exist spiritism
and fetishism (with their inherent magic), and even ancestor-worship,
as implied by the reputed after-effect of parental curses.

When the circle is narrowed to that of the Indo-Iranian connection the
similarity in religion between the Veda and Avesta becomes much more
striking than in any other group, as has been shown. It is here that
the greatest discrepancy in opinion obtains among modern scholars.
Some are inclined to refer all that smacks of Persia to a remote
period of Indo-Iranian unity, and, in consequence, to connect all
tokens of contact with the west with far-away regions out of India. It
is scarcely possible that such can be the case. But, on the other
hand, it is unhistorical to connect, as do some scholars, the worship
of _soma_ and Varuna with a remote period of unity, and then with a
jump to admit a close connection between Veda and Avesta in the Vedic
period. The Vedic Aryans appear to have lived, so to speak, hand in
glove with the Iranians for a period long enough for the latter to
share in that advance of Varuna-worship from polytheism to
quasi-monotheism which is seen in the Rig Veda. This worship of Varuna
as a superior god, with his former equals ranged under him in a group,
chiefly obtains in that family (be it of priest or tribe, or be the
two essentially one from a religious point of view) which has least to
do with pure _soma_-worship, the inherited Indo-Iranian cult; and the
Persian Ahura, with the six spiritualized equivalents of the old Vedic
[=A]dityas, can have come into existence only as a direct
transformation of the latter cult, which in turn is later than the
cult that developed in one direction as chief of gods a Zeus; in
another, a Bhaga; in a third, an Odin. On the other hand, in the
gradual change in India of Iranic gods to devils, _asuras_, there is
an exact counterpart to the Iranian change of meaning from _deva_ to
_daeva_. But if this be the connection, it is impossible to assume a
long break between India and the west, and then such a sudden tie as
is indicated by the allusions in the Rig Veda to the Persians and
other western lands. The most reasonable view, therefore, appears to
be that the Vedic and Iranian Aryans were for a long time in contact,
that the contact began to cease as the two peoples separated to east
and west, but that after the two peoples separated communication was
sporadically kept up between them by individuals in