Zoroastrianism Mazdaism

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Zoroastrianism (Mazdaism )
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• II. Persian Religion Before Zoroaster
• A. Most of what we know is from the hostile
  Gathas, hard-to- interpret references in
  inscriptions of Achaemenians kings and
  post- Gathic Avestan texts
• B. Popular religion was perhaps similar to
  that as reflected in the Vedas

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C. Common people worshipped powers known as
daevas 1. Usually identified with the devas or
shining ones in Rig Veda 2. Associated with
the powers of nature
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• D. Priests also recognized the ahuras (lords)
• 1. Considered to be the highest among the
  gods
• 2. Located in the heavens and concerned
  with cosmic order
• 3. Thus, a hierarchical order among the
  gods

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• E. Popular Gods
• 1. Indara or Intar (Vedic Indra)-- means he
  who struck down Verethra, an obstruction that
  held back the rain waters (Vedic Vritraa

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• 2. Intar was overshadowed by Mithra (Vedic
  Mitra)--a popular god who seems to have been
  known by Aryans everywhere
• a. In a Hittite document of 1400-1300 B.C.E.
  found in Asia Minor, Mithra is mentioned under
  name of Midr
• b. He was chief god of the Mitannia, an Aryan
  group in northern Mesopotamia
• c. Mithra was known as the god of light
• d. In a later Avesta, he is portrayed as the
  god to whom the princes pray when they go forth
  to battle
• e. Mithra could mean treaty or pact

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• 3. A Hittite document refers to a god called
  Uruwana (Greek Ouranos Vedic Varuna)
• a. He is the god of the domed sky
• b. He is the lord (ahura) of the moral order
  with a high ethical character

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• 4. Vayu, the wind, a companion of Intar
• a. Appears under the aspect of good and bad
  winds
• b. He blows from the beginning of time
• 5. Yima (Vedic Yama), the ruler of the dead,
  the first man to die

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• F. Underlying world order was a cosmic
  principle called asha or arta
• 1. Attributes are truth, right, justice,
  divine order
• 2. Similar to Vedic Rita

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• G. Fire Worship
• 1. The divine powers were worshiped under the
  open sky, with aid of priests, fire worship, and
  potion of haoma (Vedic soma)
• 2. Fire ceremonies similar to Vedic India
• 3. Atar was the god invoked and worshipped
  during these rites

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• 4. The ceremony
• a. The sacrificial fire is lit and
  reverenced
• b. The grass around the altar was
  consecrated, sprinked with haoma- juice and
  would be made the table upon which were laid
  portions of the sacrifice
• c. Sacrifice might be animal or cereal
• d. In the case of an animal, the victim
  would be touched the barsom, a bundle of
  boughs worshipped as supernatural and held
  before the face during the adoration of the
  sacred fire

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The Prophet Zoroaster
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• A. His early life
• 1. Date and birthplace highly controversial
• a. Many scholars will place his birth
  around 660 B.C.E.

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• b. Greek scholars such as Aristotle place him
  at 6000 B.C.E.

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• c. Believing that certain features of Gathic
  language are older than Sanskrit and the Rig
  Veda being written in 1800 B.C.E. cause some to
  believe that he lived prior to this time

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• d. Birthplace according to the Avesta is on
  the banks of the river Vaejah

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• e. Some believe that he was born in the city of
  Ragha, near modern Tehran

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2. Tradition has him assuming the kusti or
sacred thread at the age of 15
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3. At 20 he left his parents and wife to wander
and seek truth
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• B. The Revelation
• 1. At the age of 30 he received his revelation

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2. Legend has magnified the initial revelation
to a series of miraculous visions
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• a. First and most dramatic vision occurs on the
  banks of the Daitya River near his home

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• b. A figure nine times as large as a man
  appeared to him

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• c. The figure was the archangel Vohu Manah (Good
  Thought) who questioned Zoroaster and commanded
  him to lay aside the vesture of his mortal body
  and appear before Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord) as a
  disembodied soul

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• d. Ahura Mazda instructed him and called him to
  become a prophet of the true religion

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• e. During the next 8 years he would meet the six
  principal archangels and each meeting would make
  the revelation more complete

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3. In the Gathas, Zoroasters own words tell the
revelation As the holy one I recognzed thee,
Mazda Ahura, when Good Thought (Vohu Manah) came
to me and asked me Who art thou? to whom dost
thou belong? By what sign wilt thou appoint the
days for questioning about thy possessions and
thyself? Then said I to him To the first
(question), Zarathustra am I, a true foe to the
Liar, to the utmost of my power, but a powerful
support would I be to the Righteous, that I may
attain the future things of the infinite
Dominion, according as I praise and sing thee,
Mazda,
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• 4. After the revelation he began to preach
  immediately, but was not very successful

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• a. Being discouraged he was tempted by the Evil
  Spirit Angra Mainyu, who encouraged him to
  renounce the worship of Mazda

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• b. Zoroaster refused him with the words, No! I
  shall not renounce the good religion of the
  worshipers of Mazda, not though life, limb, and
  soul should part asunder

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• 5. After the revelation he began to preach
  immediately, but was not very successful
• a. Being discouraged he was tempted by the
  Evil Spirit Angra Mainyu, who encouraged him to
  renounce the worship of Mazda
• b. Zoroaster refused him with the words,
  No! I shall not renounce the good religion of
  the worshipers of Mazda, not though life,
  limb, and soul should part asunder

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• 6. The next 20 years were spent in propagating
  the faith
• 7. Two holy wars would be fought defending the
  faith
• a. The first would see the rise of Isfender
  who would rout the invading northern nomads
• b. The second would led to the prophets
  death at the age of 77

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• C. According to the Younger Avesta, two persons
  served in semi-prophetic positions before
  Zoroaster
• 1. Gaya Maretan--the primeval man-- the first
  mortal who hears the divine tenets
• a. He is the first ruler of Iran
• b. He is the prototype of humanity

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• 2. Yimi (Vedic Yama)--also a king of Iran and
  prototype of a good ruler
• a. His reign was associated with justice
  and peace
• b. God warned him of three consecutive
  cold winters that would destroy all living
  things on earth
• c. He constructed a cave into which he took
  the seeds of various plants, every kind of
  cattle, and the best of human beings
• d. He ascended to the spiritual world and
  returned to earth

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The Teachings
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• A. The religion was one of ethical monotheism
• 1. The moral law required human righteousness
  and proceeded from the one good God, Ahura
  Mazda (Wise Lord)
• 2. His clan seemed to have given this god
  special devotion
• 3. Although no longer referred to as Varuna,
  many scholars see Ahura Mazda as taking
  Varaunas place

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• B. Final Revlation of One Supreme Deity
• 1. The Gathas sets forth that he had been
  called by Ahura Mazda himself and that the
  religion revealed to him was the final and true
  religion
• a. Ahura stems from the root Ah, meaning
  to be, to exist
• b. Mazda stems from Mana, meaning wisdom
  and intelligence
• c. Thus, Ahura Mazda is the Essence of
  Being and Wisdom

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• 2. Unlike, later followers who would create
  dualistic deities, his deity was the one supreme
  ruler, creating both dark and light
• 3. The Gathas state
• Who is by generation the Father of Right (Asha)
  at the first? Who determined the path of sun and
  stars? Who is it by whom the moon waxes and
  wanes again? . . . Who upheld the earth beneath
  and the firmanent from falling? Who made the
  water and the plants? Who yoked swiftness to
  winds and clouds?. . . What artist made light and
  darkness, sleep and waking? Who made morning,
  noon, and night, that call the understanding man
  to his duty? . . . I strive to recognize by
  these things thee, O
• Mazda, creator of all things through the holy
  spirit

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• C. Spenta Mainyu--Good Actions
• 1. Ahura Mazda used a Holy Spirit (Spenta
  Mainyu) and various modes of divine actions
  called the Immortal Holy Ones or Amesha
  Spentas to accomplish his deeds
• 2. These modes of ethical activity bear names
  such as
• a. Vohu Manah--Good Thought or Sense
• b. Asha--Right
• c. Kshathra--Power or Dominion
• d. Haurvatat--Prosperity
• e. Armaiti--Piety

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• 3. These modes appear to be abstract qualities
  or states, but some scholars believe he
  personified them

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• D. Angra Mainyu--Evil Actions
• 1. Ahura Mazda is supreme but not unopposed
• a. Against Asha (Right) is Druji (The Lie)
• b. Against Truth is Falsehood
• c, Against Life is Death

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• 2. Zaehner believes that the Gathas teach that
  Ahura Mazda had twin sons and gave them free
  choice
• a. One became Spenta Mainyu--Good or Holy
  Spirit
• b. One became Angra Mainyu--Evil Spirit

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• c. The Gathas read
• Now the two primal Spirits, who revealed
  themselves in vision as Twins, are the Better and
  the Bad in thought and word and action. And
  between these two the wise once chose aright, the
  foolish not so. And when these twain Spirits
  came together in the beginning, they established
  Life and Not-Life and that at the last the Worst
  Existence (Hell) shall be to the followers of the
  Lie,but the Best Thought (Paradise) to him that
  follows Right. Of these twain Spirits he that
  followed the Lie chose doing the worst things
  the holiest Spirit chose Right

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• E. The Struggle of the Soul
• 1. Each human soul is the seat of a struggle
  between good and evil
• 2. Mazda gave each human freedom to chooses
  between good and evil
• 3. It is necessary for each human to decide
  between Mazda and Mainyu

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• F. Good and Evil
• 1. The Gathas, devotional hymns, do not give
  a definitive definition of good or evil
• 2. They do, however, give an indication of
  the practical differences
• 3. The good are those who accept the true
  religion
• 4. The evil are those who reject the true
  religion, especially those who practiced the
  old religion

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• 5. The good are those who till the soil, raise
  grain, grow fruits, root out weeds, reclaim
  wasteland, irrigate the barren ground, and treat
  animals kindly, especially cows
• 6. The evil have no agriculture
• He that is no husbandman, O Mazda, however eager
  he be, has no part in the good message
• The Liar stays the supporters of Right from
  prospering the cattle in district and province,
  infamous that he is.
• 7. The meandering nomads represented evil at
  its worst

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• G. Purification of ceremonies
• 1. The old Aryan ritual is purged of magic and
  idolatry
• 2. Orgies attendant upon animal sacrifices are
  eliminated
• 3. The ritual intoxication with Haoma-juice is
  condemned
• 4. The drinking of the urine from
  haoma-drinking priests was forbidden
• 5. The fire ritual was retained fire was a
  symbol of Mazda

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• H. Final Victory of Ahura Mazda
• 1. A general resurrection will take place at
  the end of the present order
• 2. Good and evil persons will be subjected to
  an ordeal of fire and molten metal
• 3. Later teachings indicate that the
  righteous will go through the fire with no
  pain the evil will suffer but will exit the
  fire pure

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• J. Final Judgment of the Soul
• 1. Individual judgment follows shortly after
  death and the state of the soul remains until
  the general resurrection
• 2. Each soul must face judgment at the Bridge
  of Separator (Chinvat) Bridge which spans the
  abyss of hell and paradise
• a. At the bridge the record of the soul is
  read
• b. A balance of merits and demerits is cast
• c. If good dominates over evil, the
  pointing of the hand of Mazda will be
  toward Paradise

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• d. If evil dominates over good, the hand will
  point to the abyss below the bridge
• Their own Soul and their own self daena shall
  torment them when they come to the Bridge of the
  Separator. To all time will they be guests for
  the Houses of the Lie.
• e. The daena refers to the moral center of the
  personality

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• V. Development in the Later Avesta
• A. Information between 300 B.C.E. to 700 C.E.
  is scarce
• 1. It is not known whether Zoroasters
  reform made its way to the main Mesopotamian
  basin or whether another parallel reform
  took place

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• 2. During the Achaemenid dynasty (559-330
  B.C.E.), under rulers such as Cyrus, Darius I,
  and Xeres, priests (magi) predominated
• 3. Mazda would be worshiped along with other
  deities
• 4. The Arsacids, Parthians, ruled from 250
  B.C.E. to 226 C.E.

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• B. The Sassanid Revival, 226-651 C.E.
• 1. Zoroasters name would come to the
  forefront once again
• 2. The Avesta, later Zoroastrian scriptures
  would be assembled
• 3. Zoroastrianism became the state religion
  with great modifications

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• C. Zoroaster elevated through myth
• 1. A worshipful attitude came to be taken
  toward Zoroaster
• a. He became a godlike personage whose
  existence was attended by supernatural
  manifestations
• b. His coming was known and foretold three
  thousand years before by the mythical primal
  bull and King Yima, in the Golden Age warned
  the demons of their coming demise

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• c. The Glory of Ahura Mazda united itself
  with Zoroasters future mother at her birth and
  rendered her fit to bear the prophet
• d. Concurrently, a divinely protected stem of a
  haoma plant was infused with the fravashi (genius
  or ideal self) of the coming prophet
• e. At the proper time, his parents drank its
  juices mixed with a potent milk which contained
  the material essence (body protoplasm) of the
  child about to be conceived

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• 2. After his birth, all nature rejoiced and
  demons and wizards surrounded him
• a. The baby would almost be killed in his
  cradle, burnt in a huge fire, and trampled to
  death by a herd of cattle
• b. He was placed in a cave with wolves whose
  young had been killed-- they allowed a ewe to
  suckle him

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• 4. Greeks and Romans would be impressed by what
  they heard of him
• 5. Plato wanted to study Zoroastrianism but was
  prevented with the outbreak of the War of Sparta
  with Persia in 396 B.C.E.

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• D. The Sharing of Power with other Divinities
• 1. Even though Mazda was still considerred to
  be the supreme deity, old Aryan nature-gods
  (whom Zoroaster condemned) crept back into the
  faith
• 2. The early Gathas did recognize the
  existence of Immortal Holy Ones but they were
  regarded as modes of divine action

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• 3. The later Avesta, depicts Yazatas (angels or
  sub-deities), most of whom were Indo-Aryan in
  character (about 40 are named)
• a. Mithra--the greatest of them all
• (1) His name would be repeated with Mazda in
  many later inscriptions
• (2) Although technically subordinate to
  Mazda, he attained a supreme stature as the
  god of light for the masses
• (3) He was seen as the rewarder of those who
  spoke truth
• (4) He was relied to help in the journey
  after death

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• b. Haoma--refined from earlier use, the
  intoxicant became deified
• (1) Animal sacrifices were made to him
• (2) He became again the Averter of Death, as
  associated in the Rig Veda with long life and
  immortality of the soul

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• c. Verethragna (Vedic Indra)--the strongest and
  most aggressive
• d. Vayu (Vedic Vayu), a winged god who had a
  double nature, a good and evil side

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• 4. A group of beings called Fravashis were also
  recognized
• a. Originally they seemed to have been
  ancestral spirits, guarding and expecting
  worship from the living
• b. Later, they would stand for ideal
  selves, who were also guardian genii-- both of
  gods and of humans
• c. Each person was thought to have a
  fravashis (eternal element)

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• E. The concept of evil would be intensified
• 1. Concept of evil approached an almost
  complete dualism
• 2. The spirits of evil would be more sharply
  defined and individualized
• 3. In later Avesta, Angra Mainyu shared in
  the creation

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• 4. Mainyu created demons to help him
• a. Aka Maah--Bad Thought
• b. Andar (Vedic Indra)
• c. Naohaithya (Vedic Nasatyas)--the heavenly
  twins now reduced to one being
• d. Druj--the Lie, appearing in the likeness
  of a female demon
• e. There were also myriads of evil spirits
  and daevas

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• F. The development of Zurvan (space-time)
• 1. Another answer to the dualism saw Mazda
  and Mainyu springing as twins from a unitary
  world-principle called Zurvan (boundless Time or
  Space)
• 2. Thus, God and devil would be co- equal
• 3. But the ultimate victory of good over evil
  was declared to be certain

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• G. Concepts of the Final Judgment grew in
  detail
• 1. The future life was worked out in graphic
  detail
• 2. At death, the soul remains for four days
  on earth and mediates upon its good and evil
  deeds
• 3. On the fourth day the soul comes to the
  Chinvat Bridge to stand before judges--Mithra,
  Sraosha, and Rashnu

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• 4. In a Pahlevi text called the Bundahishn the
  would walks on the bridge
• . . . there is a sharp edge which stands like a
  sword . . . and Hell is below the Bridge. Then
  the soul is carried to where stands the sharp
  edge. Then, if it be righteous, the sharp edge
  presents its broad side. . . . If the soul be
  wicked, that sharp end continues to stand
  edgewise, and does not give a passage . . . With
  three steps which it (the soul) takes
  forward--which are the evil thoughts,evil words,
  and evil deeds that it has performed--it is cut
  down from the head of the Bridge, and falls
  headlong to Hell

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• H. Final Rewards and Punishments
• 1. A concept of world-ages developed, each
  age lasting three thousand years
• 2. Zoroaster appeared at the beginning of
  these ages

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• 3. He would be succeeded by three
  savior-beings, each appearing at an interval of
  1000 years
• a. Aushetar--born a thousand years after
  Zoroaster
• b. Aushetarmah--born two thousand years later
• c. Soshyans (Saoshyant)--at the end of the
  world

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• d. Zoroaster would be the father of each
• (1) His seed was being miraculously preserved
  in a lake in Persia
• (2) At intervals of 1000 years, three pure
  virgins would bathe there and conceive the
  deliverers

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• e. With the appearance of Soshyans, the final
  days will begin
• (1) All the dead would be raised
• (2) Heaven and Hell would be emptied
• (3) Righteous and Wicked would be separated
• (4) A flood of molten metal would pour out upon
  the earth and hell, purifying each reunion
• (5) All living souls would have to walk through
  the flaming river to the righteous it would
  appear to be like warm milk, to the wicked it
  would bring terrible agony as their sins are
  being purged
• (6) The fate of Mainyu has several versions,
  but somehow will be destroyed
• (7) Adults would remain forever at the age of
  40 and children at 15

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• I. The Holy Scriptures
• 1. The size of the original Avesta is unknown
• 2. Two early Muslim scholars stated that the
  whole Avesta was written on 12,000 cowhides
  two copies were written
• a. One copy was deposited in Persepolis
  and burned during the invasion of Alexander
• b. The second copy would be taken to Athens
  where it was translated into Greek

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• 3. This early Avesta consisted of 21 volumes
  (nasks) later reorganized into three parts
• a. Gassanik (Garthic or devotional hymns)
• b. Hadha Mansarik (combination of spiritual
  and temporal teachings c. Datik (law)

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• 4. Contemporary Avesta is divided into five
  parts
• a. Yama (reverence)--72 chapters (haiti)
• (1) Contains the two Gathas
• (2) Deals with the creator, revelation,
  eternal law, freedom of choice, purpose of
  life, immortality of soul, law of
  consequences, and renovation of the world

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• b. Vispred (revered)--Composed in praise of the
  Yazatas
• c. Yasht (all festivals)--24 chapters--relates
  to the six thanksgiving festivities--the
  Gahanbars
• d. Vendidad (law against demons and false
  deities)--mainly rules of hygiene
• e. Khordeh Avesta is bilingual and contains the
  daily prayers, part of which are in
  Persian--represent the Sassanian and
  post-Sassanian prayers

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• 5. The Zend Avesta is a translation of the
  Avesta in Pahlavi with commentaries during the
  Sassanians
• 6 . The Gathas are considered to be the most
  sacred and authentic part of the Avesta

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• VI. Modern Zoroastrianism
• A. Effects of Muslim Conquest
• 1. Islamic armies conquered the Sassanids in
  651 (652)
• 2. For a century, the Arab conquerors
  attempted no wholesale pressure for conversion
• 3. However, within a hundred years a great
  number of them left Persia

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• 4. From the eighth century onwards there was
  considerable migration to India
• 5. They would be called Parses in India

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• B. The Gabars
• 1. Zoroastrians in Persia would be called
  Gabars (infidels) by the Muslims, they called
  themselves Zardushitians or Bahdinan (those of
  the good religion)
• 2. A series of persecution made them
  secretive
• 3. They strive to maintain the old sacred
  rituals and ceremonies

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• C. Fire Temples
• 1. Both in Persia and India the fire-temples
  cannot be distinguished from other buildings
• 2. But the sacred fire is kept inside
• 3. Various sacred fires have different
  qualities of holiness
• 4. The more holy fire has to be compounded of
  sixteen different fires, all purified after a
  long and complicated ritual