It must be remembered that in the old Indian creeds, holy books were handed down entirely by recitation. The letters of the alphabet, according to Professor Max Müller, General Cunningham, and the chief authorities, were not known in India until Asoka's day. We know from the Mahâwanso that the holy books of Ceylon were not committed to writing until the reign of King Wattaganini (104 to 76 B.C.). So the books that Asoka ordered to be handed down by the recitation and chantings of his monks must have plainly constituted the entire body of the recognised scriptures. In what way could any other scriptures come down? Dr. Oldenburg talks of these seven books as if they were "passages" only, he believing that the large body of Pâli scriptures of Ceylon were in existence as early as the second convocation. But if they were "passages," who was to remember and recite the rest of the voluminous canon? Asoka's monks were expressly forbidden so to do. Of immense importance is one more fact. The Dhauli inscription announces that the four Greek kings (Chapta Yoni Raja), who took over Alexander's empire, had allowed their subjects to "follow the doctrine" of Asoka. He mentions Antiochus and Ptolemy. Also "Gongakenos" and Megas of Cyrene. This plainly proves that his missionaries had reached Egypt and Greece. CHAPTER V. _The Apostles of the Bloodless Altar._ There are two Zoroasters, or rather a sort of dual personality. One of these Zoroasters lived six thousand years B.C. according to Darmesteter, and the other about five hundred years B.C. The earlier Zoroaster swathed Persia in a network of silly rites and regulations. A culprit who "threw away a dead dog" was to receive a thousand blows with the horse goad, and one thousand with the Craosha charana. A culprit who slew a dog with a "prickly back" and a "woolly muzzle" was to receive a similar punishment. ("Fargard," xxx.) This Zoroaster was particular about the number of gnats, ants, lizards, that the devout had to kill. ("Fargard," xiv.) This Zoroaster proclaimed a god who loved to see on his altar a "hundred horses, a thousand cows, ten thousand small cattle," and so on. ("Khordah Avesta," xii.) But the second Zoroaster proclaimed a bloodless altar, and sought to tear the network of the first Zoroaster to shreds. What was the meaning of this? Simply that the Buddhist Wanderers had by this time invaded Persia, and had fastened their doctrines upon the chief local prophet. This was their habit. A study of this second religion, the religion of Mithras, will help us to some of the secrets of Buddhist propagandism.