Note 436 — Chapter I · (continued 2)

In the Shah nameh Naser it is stated, in the life of Ardashir Babegan (see Hyde, p. 280) that this king, abolishing several regulations of Alexander the Great, granted toleration to followers of the faith professed by Gushtasp, and wishing to re-establish Zoroaster’s religion, demanded from its Mobeds miracles, which they performed. The king, satisfied by these proofs, not only adopted their tenets himself, but obliged all others to do the same. In the life of Shapur it is said, in the book quoted, that, when Ardashir was inaugurated in the government, he demanded from the chiefs of the Magi miracles, after the performance of which Ardai Viráf, during a whole week, supporting by arguments the truth of his religion, brought also forward all that relates to hell and heaven. Some believed; others doubted or denied: the number of the last was 80,000.—A. T.