Page:The Religion of the Veda.djvu/31

1.
India the Land of Religions
conquest of Persia, fled to India with their priests,
sacred fire, and the manuscripts of the Avesta, their
holy scriptures. Their descendants, about 80,000 in
number, still adhere to their ancient religion. They
form one of the most esteemed, wealthy, and philan-
thropic communities on the west shores of India,
notably in the city of Bombay. It is not of record
that they had even the faintest idea that they were
fleeing into the hospitable bosom of a people related
by blood and language, or that the Hindus who gave
them shelter knew that they were receiving their
very own kin. As far as we know, the Aryan
Hindus at any rate, throughout their history, are
entirely unconscious of the important fact that,
across the mountains to the north-west of their
country, dwelt at all times a branch of their own
stock-the other half of the so-called Indo-Iranians
or Aryans.
15
And yet, the languages of the Hindu Veda and
the Persian Avesta, the respective bibles of the
two peoples, are mere dialects of the same speech.
Students regularly enter upon the study of the
Avestan language through the door of the Veda.
Entire passages of the Avesta may be turned into
good Vedic merely by applying certain regular sound
changes. It is said sometimes that there is less dif-
ference between the Veda and the Avesta than be-