Asha and Druj — The Cosmic Battle

The doctrine at the heart of the Avesta: Ahura Mazda, the all-wise creator of light and life, opposed through twelve thousand years by Angra Mainyu, who is all death. Every human being is a soldier in that war — the farmer's spade as holy as the priest's prayer. At death each soul walks the Chinvat bridge to judgment; at the end of time the world is renewed, evil destroyed, and the dead raised. Heaven, hell, and a final judgment — the ideas that flowed from Persia into Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.