Chapter 1-6 Vocabulary: Zoroastrianism Essentials
Life of Zarathustra
• Birth & chronology debates: possible dates from -628\,\text{BCE} to -558\,\text{BCE} (early scholarship) or as early as the end of the 2^{\text{nd}} millennium \text{BCE} (Sir Rustam Masani).
• Homeland: Ancient Iran; belonged to the warrior clan Spitama. Father = Purushaspa, mother = Dughdovā (noble lineage).
• Religious upbringing shared deities with the Vedic Aryans; received the sacred initiation thread at 15.
• At 20 he left family & arranged bride, began search for truth.
• First great revelation at 30: vision of Vohu Manah (“Good Thought”) – appeared 9 × human size, escorted Zarathustra to the court of Ahura Mazdā (Wise Lord).
• Sequence of 7 visions over 10 years → theology, moral dualism, promise of immortality to followers.
• Limited success until about 40 when he converted King Vištāspa (a historically attested monarch; some link him to father of Cyrus the Great). Imprisoned first, released after miraculously healing the king’s favorite horse.
• Spent remainder of life preaching, serving at fire-altar. Lived to 77; died during the 2nd Turanian war, either slain at the altar or defending it.
Scriptures & Literary Corpus
• Canon = Avesta (“Book of the Law”) compiled across centuries. Surviving material:
– Yasna: liturgy; oldest section hosts the Gāthās (17 hymns spoken by Zarathustra).
– Visperad: extensions honoring Ahuras (“Lords”).
– Yashts: hymns of praise to individual divinities.
– Vendidad (Vidēvdāt): ritual & legal text against demons.
• Tradition claims original Avesta comprised 21 books; only the Vendidad survives intact today.
• Sample self-identification from Yasna 43:7-8:
– “I am Zarathustra… a true enemy to the wicked… a powerful support for the righteous.”
Theology: Core Beings
• Ahura Mazdā (\textit{“Wise Lord”}) – supreme god of light, truth, benevolence.
• Angra Mainyu (\textit{“Hostile Spirit”}) – primordial evil opposing Ahura Mazdā; commands the dævas/divas.
• Six Ameša Spənta (“Bounteous Immortals”) = divine hypostases / archangels bridging God & humanity:
Vohu Manah – Good Thought
Aša Vahišta – Best Truth / Cosmic Order
Xšaθra Vairya – Desirable Dominion
Spənta Ārmaiti – Holy Devotion (earth/faith)
Haurvatāt – Wholeness/Health
Amərətāt – Immortality
• Human moral program: choose between Drəgvant (Way of the Lie) v. Ašavant (Way of Truth).
• Debated ontology:
– Masani: Angra Mainyu uncreated, co-eternal → cosmological dualism.
– Cyrus Panjvani et al.: insist Zarathustra intended strict monotheism; later theologians introduced dualism.
Cosmology & Creation
• Zarathustra’s questions in Yasna 44 attribute creation of sun, stars, earth, seasons, & moral order to Ahura Mazdā alone.
• World initially pure & good; evil invades through Angra Mainyu’s assault.
• Humans are steward-partners of Ahura Mazdā; their ethical choices tip cosmic balance.
Anthropology & Ethics
• Human composition = body + soul, both inherently good gifts.
• No ascetic hatred of matter (contrast Mani’s flesh/spirit dualism).
• Ethical triad: Humata (Good Thoughts), Hukhta (Good Words), Hvarshta (Good Deeds).
• Civic virtues encouraged: truth-telling (Aša), justice, chastity, industry (planting corn, caring for cattle), charity, promotion of education.
• Motto summarized by Masani: “Be like God.”
Eschatology
• Individual judgment: upon death soul waits 3 nights; on dawn of 4^{\text{th}} day crosses Činvat Bridge.
– For righteous the bridge widens → paradise.
– For wicked it narrows “sharper than a razor” → abyss of Druj-Demāna.
• Ongoing post-mortem progress possible; eventual universal renewal (Frashō-kēreti / Frashokereti).
• Final drama:
– Return of a savior figure (\textit{Saoshyant}).
– Molten-metal river tests all; righteous feel it like warm milk, wicked are burned & purified.
– Angra Mainyu destroyed; perfected physical universe arises; universal salvation ushered in.
Rituals, Symbols, Lifecycle
• Initiation (Navjote / Nējāt) around age 7: child vested with sacred Sudre (white cotton shirt) + Kusti (woolen cord wrapped 3 \/\times, tied 2 \/\times).
• Marriage ideal; strict monogamy & fidelity expected from both sexes.
• Priesthood hereditary; daily tending of temple Ātaš (fire) & preparation of Haoma (ritual elixir).
• Daily offerings of milk, bread, sandalwood; recitation of Avestan manthras.
• Annual calendar of 7 obligatory festivals (Gāhāmbārs) + New Year feast Now-Ruz (spring equinox).
• Death rites: corpse deemed pollutant. Sequence:
– Body washed, placed on stone, guarded by “four-eyed dog”.
– Carried by nasāṣârs to Dakhma / Tower of Silence (cylindrical platform \approx 6\,\text{m} high).
– Vultures strip flesh; dry bones later slide into central ossuary pit → dust, avoiding contamination of earth, fire, water, air.
– Family performs 3^{\text{rd}}-day rites, charity in name of deceased.
Historical Evolution
• Achaemenids:
– Cyrus II (ruled -559 to -530) possibly Zoroastrian; hailed by Isaiah as “anointed of Yahweh”.
– Darius I & Xerxes invoke Ahura Mazdā on royal inscriptions, stress righteousness.
• Magi: priestly class; syncretised older Iranian & foreign ideas, heightened dualism; remembered in Christian Gospel of Matthew.
• Sasanian era ( 224–651\,\text{CE} ): state religion; re-canonization; monarch-priest-warrior ideology; re-entrenched cosmic dualism.
• Heterodox movements:
– Zurvanism: supreme Time (Zurvān) above both principles; later condemned.
– Manichaeism (Mani 216–276\,\text{CE}): radical flesh/spirit dualism, influenced St. Augustine.
• Islamic conquest (7^{\text{th}} c.): initial non-People-of-Book status; soon granted dhimmi protection; many conversions under social pressure.
• Indian diaspora (Parsis): migrated to Gujarat 8^{\text{th}}– 10^{\text{th}} c. seeking trade & religious freedom; now concentrated in Mumbai.
Modern Demography & Challenges
• Global Zoroastrian population estimated as low as 1.24\times10^{5} (census shows \approx10\% decline per decade).
• Iran: only \approx200 adherents keep faith alive in Yazd where a sacred flame has burned 1500 years.
• Towers of Silence largely discontinued in Iran; one operational site remains near Mumbai.
• Pressures: migration, inter-marriage bans, low birth rate, modern secularization. Debate: should Parsis rescind prohibition on converts to survive?
Comparative & Cultural Influence
• Possible Zoroastrian impact on Jewish apocalypticism: angels, Satan figure, heaven/hell, resurrection.
• Christian epoch: Magi narrative; Ahura-Angra model echoed in later Christian demonology.
• Islamic philosophy engaged with concept of free will v. predestination via Zoroastrian dualism.
• Western modernity: Nietzsche’s “Thus Spoke Zarathustra”; environmental ethics studies cite Zoroastrian reverence for natural elements.
Key Terms & Glossary
• Aša (Asha) – cosmic truth/order (≃ \textit{ṛta} in Vedas).
• Drūj – lie, deceit; moral/ontic falsehood.
• Frashō-kēreti – world renovation.
• Haoma (Homa) – sacred plant/drink.
• Navjote / Nējāt – initiation ceremony.
• Sudre / Kusti – sacred vestments.
• Dakhma (Daghdā) – Tower of Silence.
• Zurvān – boundless Time principle (Zurvanite sect).
• Saoshyant – eschatological savior.
Ethical / Philosophical Implications
• Active human participation in cosmic battle underscores ethic of social responsibility.
• Environmental purity laws express proto-ecological consciousness (no pollution of elements).
• Debate over monotheism vs. dualism informs philosophical inquiry into theodicy & nature of evil.
Connections to Prior & Later Traditions
• Shares Indo-Iranian roots with Vedic religion (common deities, ritual thread, Haoma/Soma).
• Diverges by elevating ethical monotheism & eschatological linear time vs. cyclical rebirth in Hinduism.
• Influenced Gnostic, Manichaean, Jewish, Christian, and Islamic theological motifs.
Numerical / Statistical Highlights
• Original Avesta books: 21
• Zarathustra’s age markers: 15 (initiation), 20 (departure), 30 (first vision), 40 (royal conversion), 77 (death)
• Visions received: 7 over 10 years.
• World population of adherents: \approx124{,}000 with 10\% decline every 10 years.
• Sacred flame at Yazd burning 1{,}500 years.
• Operational Towers of Silence worldwide: 1 (Mumbai).