body of Parsis still to be found in Persia and India. According to the Parsi belief, the good after death pass safely over the bridge Chinevat, which stretches from Mount Alborj up to Garotman, the blissful realm of Ormuzd; while the wicked fall from the bridge into the Gulf of Duzahk, which yawns beneath, where they are tormented by dævas. At the end of the world, a comet will fall upon the earth, causing a vast conflagration, by which the whole earth will be melted, and the molten stream will pour down into Duzahk, carrying with it the sinners who are on earth at the time. Here they and the earlier comers, except those already redeemed by the prayers of friends, will burn for three days and nights and then thus purified will be received into heaven. Afterward all the dævas, and even the arch-fiend Ahriman, will have their evil burned away and will also enter the abode of light.
The Laws of Manu, one of the early sacred books of Brahmanism, names twenty-one hells. Punishments for different sins are, to be reborn into one of these hells, or to return to earth as a beggar, cripple, or leper, or in the form of a rat, a snake, or a louse, the penalty being in each case appropriate to the crime. Punishment need not be endless for any one, as each successive life is a new probation, in which righteousness wins admission to a higher stage of existence.
In Buddhism, which is one of the religions of China, and the state religion of Thibet and other countries of eastern Asia, future punishment is provided for in a great hell, comprising a system of one hundred and thirty-six lesser hells. The torments of these hells are depicted in many Buddhist books and paintings, with much detail and vividness.
- ↑ The Dragon, Image, and Demon, by the Rev. Hampden C. Du Bose, pp. 311-313.
