ABSTRACT
This chapter gives some account of the present state of the knowledge of the Parsees about their religion. The priests are a separate caste, and the priesthood is thus hereditary. As a body, the priests are not only ignorant of the duties and objects of their own profession, but are entirely uneducated, except that they are able to read and write, and that, also, often very imperfectly. The whole religious education of a Parsee’s child consists in preparing by rote a certain number of prayers in Zend, without understanding a word of them; the knowledge of the doctrines of their religion being left to be picked up from casual conversation. The Khordeh Avesta is a collection of prayers addressed to God and several angels, and it is some of these prayers, the preparation of which by rote, forms the staple of the religious education of the Parsee child.
