CHINVAT BRIDGE, the "crossing" or "bridge of the separator" or of the "decision"—the meaning is not certain—is, in the Zoroastrian tradition, a mythical bridge that souls must cross to go to Paradise. They succeed in crossing it only if they are souls of the asha-van, that is, faithful followers of asha, truth and order (Vedic, ṛta), the fundamental principle of Indo-Iranian religion. If they are souls of the dregvant, that is, followers of druj (falsehood), they will fall off the bridge, which for them will narrow itself to a razor's edge, and they will forever reside in Hell. Indeed, Chinvat Bridge stretches over the infernal abysses. One of its ends is on the peak of Mount Harā, also known as Alburz or Harā Berez ("high Harā")—a mythical mountain that figures importantly in Indo-Iranian cosmological conceptions; the other end reaches Paradise (garōdman), which...