This is part III of the Sacred Books of the East Zend Avesta, translated by L.H. Mills, who took up the task after James Darmesteter, the translator of the first two parts. It includes liturgical material, some of which is almost completely unchanged from the earliest period of Zoroastrianism, and still in use today. Of great interest are some of the oldest formulations of dualism, which later became a core concept of other middle eastern religions, including Judaism, and later Christianity. Moreover, the texts in this part of the Avesta are not so far removed from Vedic-era Hinduism, and as such represent a link between the later great Eastern and Western religions.
About Author:
Friedrich Max Müller (December 6, 1823 – October 28, 1900), more regularly known as Max Müller, was a German philologist and Orientalist, one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology, a discipline he introduced to the British reading public, and the Sacred Books of the East, a massive, 50-volume set of English translations prepared under his direction, stands as an enduring monument to Victorian scholarship.
Friedrich Max Müller, K.M. (Ph.D., Philology, Leipzig University, 1843)—generally known as Max Müller or F. Max Müller—was the first Professor of Comparative Philology at Oxford University, and an Orientalist who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic field of Indian studies and the discipline of comparative religion. Müller wrote both scholarly and popular works on the subject of Indology and the Sacred Books of the East, a 50-volume set of English translations, was prepared under his direction.
Müller became a naturalized British citizen in 1855. In 1869, he was elected to the Académie des Inscriptions et Belles-Lettres as a foreign correspondent. He was awarded the Pour le Mérite (civil class) in 1874, and the Bavarian Maximilian Order for Science and Art the following year. In 1888, he was appointed Gifford Lecturer at the University of Glasgow, delivering the first in what has proved to be an ongoing, annual series of lectures at several Scottish universities to the present day. He was appointed a member of the Privy Council in 1896.
His wife, Georgina Adelaide Müller was also an author. After Max's death, she deposited his papers at the Bodleian Library, Oxford.
While these writings are not enjoyable in a modern narrative sense, they are wonderful for their historical and religious impact on religions and society. They should be read by anyone, especially if Judeo-Christian so as to see the similarities. Do not let the flame go out!