2807270History of Zoroastrianism1938Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla
HISTORY OF ZOROASTRIANISM
BY
MANECKJI NUSSERVANJI DHALLA, Ph.D., Litt.D. High Priest of the Parsis, Karachi, India
AUTHOR OF
Nyaishes or Zoroastrian Litanies, Zoroastrian Theology, Zoroastrian Civilization, Our Perfecting World—Zarathushtra's Way of Life
idha apām vijasāiti vanghuhi daena māzdayasnish vispāish am karshvān yāish hapta.
"Henceforth from now may spread
The Good Mazdayasnian Religion
Over all the zones that are seven."
Yasht 13.94.
NEW YORK OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS LONDON, TORONTO, MELBOURNE AND BOMBAY
1938
"May that man attain to better than the good
Who helps teaching us the upright paths of blessedness
Of this material world and that of the spirit
—The veritable universe wherein pervades Ahura—
That faithful, wise, and holy man is like unto thee, O Mazda."
The data of information—The Avestan Nasks—The Pahlavi, Pazend, and Persian sources—Parsi-Sanskrit and Gujarati sources—Oriental sources—Occidental sources—Inscriptions, coins, and tablets as the last source of information.
Zarathushtra doubts to know—Zarathushtra seeks silent, solitary seclusion—Zarathushtra yearns to see Ahura Mazda—Zarathushtra longs to commune with Ahura Mazda—Zarathushtra is filled with an intense fervour of enthusiasm for prophetic work—People marvel at the new prophet—Zarathushtra definitely breaks with the religion of his forefathers—The hostile Daevayasnian priests—Friendless and forlorn, Zarathushtra flees to Ahura Mazda—Zarathushtra's teachings win the ear of the royal court—Zarathushtra's mission.
Ahura Mazda is the name Zarathustra gives to God—Ahura Mazda is the Being par excellence—The nature of Ahura Mazda—The transcendental immanence of Ahura Mazda—Ahura Mazda is the creator—Ahura Mazda is the lord of wisdom—Ahura Mazda is the law-giver and judge.
Amesha Spentas in the making—Vohu Manah—The first in Ahura Mazda's creation—Vohu Manah is Ahura Mazda's Good Thought—Vohu Manah symbolizes Ahura Mazda's wisdom—Vohu Manah's grace—Vohu Manah's relation to paradise—Vohu Manah in association with cattle—Asha—The Indo-Iranians recognize a universal order prevailing in the world—Zarathushtra adopts Asha, the variant of rta—Asha stands for Ahura Mazda's righteousness—Zarathushtra best exemplifies Asha's righteousness in his life—Righteousness is the pivot around which the ethics of Zarathushtra revolves—Zarathushtra longs to see Asha—Asha's work—The Path of righteousness—The discipline of the individual in righteousness—Righteousness will win over wickedness—Fire is the visible symbol of righteousness—Khshathra—The sovereign power of Ahura Mazda—Zarathushtra exhorts mankind to work for the establishment of the Kingdom of Ahura Mazda—The Divine Kingdom in the world of perfection — Khshathra's sphere over metals—Armaiti—The feminine abstraction of Ahura Mazda's devotion—Zarathushtra's soul is wedded to Ahura Mazda through Armaiti's devotion—Armaiti's work—Armaiti's relation to the earth—Haurvatat and Ameretat—The inseparable pair of perfection and immortality—Water and plants form the province of Haurvatat and Ameretat—Sraosha—Sraosha is obedience to the religious lore—-Atar—The fire cult—Ashi—The feminine abstraction of sanctity—Geush Tashan and Geush Urvan—The Fashioner of animal life—Zarathushtra declared the only mortal who could assuage the sufferings of the kine—Agriculture and cattle-tending bring prosperity.
Prayer is the heavenward soaring of the soul on wordy wings—A host of gods claimed man's homage—Zarathushtra purifies prayer—The Manthras—Rituals and sacrifices.
The problem of evil—The existence of evil is a stubborn fact of life—Zarathushtra stigmatizes evil as evil—Life is co-operation with good and conflict with evil—"Resist evil" is the clarion call of Zarathushtra to humanity—Man's duty to resist evil in his own nature—Man's duty to resist evil in society—To be good and eschew evil are passive virtues; to further good and to fight evil are active virtues—Angra Mainyu—The Evil Spirit and his characteristics—Daevas—The infernal crew—Aka Manah—The Evil Mind—Druj—The Kingdom of Wickedness—The adherents of Druj—Druj's followers are to be requited with evil in this world—Druj's disciples fare no better in the next world—Final defeat of the Druj—Aeshma—The demon of wrath.
Death lives by feeding on life—Death is man's last sleep from which he wakes up in the other world—The belief that he will one day meet the dear departed lightens man's burden of bereavement—The anomalies of earthly life and their final adjustment in heaven—Reward for the good and retribution for the evil—The soul reaps as it has sown—The Bridge of Judgment—Heaven—Abode of the righteous after death—The nature of reward in heaven—Intermediary place of Rewards—Between heaven and hell—Hell—The wicked are consigned to perdition—The nature of retribution in hell—Duration of punishment in hell.
The end of the world—The saviour Prophets—Universal Judgment—Righteousness triumphs over wickedness—The Kingdom of Righteousness: man's share in its inauguration.
THE AVESTAN PERIOD From about 800 b.c. to about a.d. 200 at the latest
The Avestan people—Zoroastrianism takes its root in Eastern Iran—Athravans, the Zoroastrian priests of Eastern Iran—The Medes and Persians of Western Iran—The religion of the Achaemenians—Magi, the Zoroastrian priesthood of Western Iran—Spread of Zoroastrianism in remote lands.
Zarathushtra is the chief of mankind as Tishtrya is of the stars—Zarathushtra invokes the Yazatas for various boons—Temptation of Zarathushtra—King Vishtaspa helps Zarathushtra in establishing his religion—Allusions to Zarathushtra in classical literature.
From the Gathas to the Later Avesta, a retrograde step—The angels that outshine the archangels—Their imprecations upon their careless votaries—Ahura Mazda invokes his heavenly ministers for help—Ceremonial implements, textual passages, and objects and expressions that share invocation—Zarathushtra's monologues in the Gathas as against his dialogues in the Avesta—The Avesta looks with unrelenting abhorrence upon idols and images of divinities.
The archangels—Their attributes—Their work—Zarathushtra the first among mortals to sacrifice unto the Amesha Spentas—Vohu Manah—His place in the Later Avesta—Vohu Manah guards wisdom—His work—Asha Vahishta—The formation of the name—His righteousness remains the basic doctrine of Zoroastrianism during the Later Avestan period—Righteousness is the highest riches—The world of righteousness, as against the world of wickedness—Bodily purity contributes to righteousness—Asha Vahishta comes to be regarded as the healing spirit of bodily diseases—Asha Vahishta's relation to fire—Khshathra Vairya—The change that the concept undergoes—Khshathra Vairya as the genius of earthly wealth—Spenta Armaiti—Her position in the Avesta—Armaiti as earth—Haurvatat and Ameretat—The dual archangels.
The Zoroastrian angels—History of the Yazatas—Characteristics of the Yazatas—The functions of the Yazatas—Offerings and sacrifices to the Yazatas—Division of the Yazatas according to their grammatical gender—Group Yazatas—Dual Yazatas—Classification of the Yazatas—Celestial Yazatas—Terrestrial Yazatas—Daena—Religion deified—The names of the religion—The excellence of the Mazda-worshipping religion—Chisti—Divinity of religious wisdom—Sraosha—His personality—Sraosha's attributes—The work of Sraosha—Sraosha's gifts—Mithra—His place in the Avestan pantheon—Mithra's attributes—Mithra's associates—Mithra, the genius of light—Mithra, the inveterate foe of falsehood—Mithra, the guardian of contracts—Mithra as a war divinity—Mithra's chariot—Mithra's wrath—Sacrifices to Mithra—Mithra's boons—Rashnu—Personification of truth—Rashnu presides at the ordeal court—Arshtat—Divinity of rectitude—Erethe and Rasanstat—Minor divinities of truth—Verethraghna—The angel of victory—The patron angel of the Iranian countries—Verethraghna's work—His metamorphoses—Raman—He causes the joy of life—Rata—Physical and mental inequality leads to economic inequality—Charity personified—Akhshti—The angel of peace—Manthra Spenta—The Spirit of the spells—The potency of the spells—The chief spells—Ahuna Vairya—The number of times that the spells are recited—Those privileged to recite the spells—Dahma Afriti—She personifies the power of benediction—Damoish Upamana—He personifies the power of anathema—Airyaman—The genius of health—Haoma—The divinity of joint Indo-Iranian fame—Haoma pleads the greatness of his cult—Haoma's titles—His gifts—Haoma implored to rout the wicked—Haoma's due—Haoma's curse—Haoma, king of plants—Ashi Vanghuhi—Physically she stands for plenty, morally for piety—Ashi's attributes—Her supplicants—Her work—What offends Ashi most—Parendi—Ashi's associate—Drvaspa—The female genius of cattle—Her sacrificers—Geush Tashan and Geush Urvan—Drvaspa's associates—Hvarekhshaeta—The sun deified—Maonghah—The moon personified—Anaghra Raochah—Deification of the endless light—Asman—Firmament deified—Ushah—The female divinity of dawn—Tishtrya—The star genius directs the rain—Tishtrya's attributes—The sacrificial offerings enable Tishtria to work with added vigour and strength—His fight with the demon of drought—Vanant—A star-Yazata—Satavaesa—An acolyte of Tishtrya—Haptoiringa—Another acolyte of Tishtrya—Vayu—The deification of the wind—Vayu's attributes—Those who offer sacrifices unto Vayu—Atar—The fire cult in Iran—Atar is both the genius of fire and the element fire itself—Atar's boons—His work—What causes grief to Atar—Nairyosangha—Mazda's celestial herald—Ardvi Sura Anahita—The angel of waters—Her image in words found in the texts, corresponds with her statue in stone—Ahura Mazda heads the list of the sacrificers who entreat her for various boons—She refuses to concede the wicked persons their wishes—The offerings of libations—Animal sacrifices to Anahita—Any defilement of the waters evokes Ardvi Sura's displeasure—Ardvi Sura's chariot—Apam Napat—His nature and work—Ahurani—Another water genius—Zam—The earth deified.
The divine double in man—What are the Fravashis—Everything that bears the hall-mark of belonging to the good creation has its Fravashi—During the lifetime of the individual, his Fravashi accompanies him to this earth— Qualities of the Fravashis—Their work—Fravashis help the living—Fravashis of the dead long for sacrifices—Fravashis bless if satisfied, but curse when offended—Fravashis of the righteous ones of one's family, clan, town, or country invoked individually—Fravashis of the righteous ones of all ages and all places invoked collectively—Dual nature of the Zoroastrian ancestor-worship.
The nature of the Younger Avestan prayers—Supplicatory prayers—Confessional prayers—Devotional prayers—Benedictory prayers—Imprecatory prayers—Exorcising prayers—Priestly functionaries who conducted the sacrificial ceremonies—Revival of the Indo-Iranian rituals—Animal sacrifices.
Dualism in evolution—The earliest non-Zoroastrian writers speak of Zoroastrianism as the religion of dualism—Angra Mainyu—The titles of the Evil Spirit—The counter-creations of Angra Mainyu—Angra Mainyu grovels before Zarathushtra—Angra Mainyu's final defeat—Daevas—The Demons—The work of the demons—Means to confound them—Those who strike terror into the hearts of the demons—The Daeva-worshippers—Zoroastrianism is anti-daeva, or against the demons—Aka Manah—The demon of Evil Mind—Druj—The embodiment of wickedness—Other Drujes—Druj as the personification of bodily impurity under the name Nasu—The barrier between the ashavans and dregvants is still impassable—Indar—A god in the Vedas, a demon in the Avesta—Saurva—Foe to the archangel Khshathra Vairya—Taromaiti—She thwarts devotion—Naonghaithya—A demon of incipient personality—Taurvi and Zairicha—The adversaries of Haurvatat and Ameretat—Astovidhotu—The fiend of death—Vizaresha—This demon's work—Kunda—A demon at the gate of hell—Bushyansta—Sloth personified—Aeshma—The demon of wrath—Buiti—The tempter of Zarathushtra—Apaosha—The demon of drought—Spenjaghri—Apaosha's associate—Azi—Demon of avarice—Vayu—A collaborator of Astovidhotu—Minor demons—Pairikas—The fairies.
The theory of rebirth and the binding nature of Karma become axiomatic truths in India—The mightiest of men cower before death—The recital of the sacred formulas on the deathbed of man helps his soul when it leaves the tenement of the body—From this world to that which is beyond—All souls dwell three nights on earth after death—Daena accompanies the soul to die next world—All souls have to make their way across the Chinvat Bridge into heaven or hell—Heaven—Four heavens—A cordial welcome awaits the pious souls in paradise—The pious enjoy eternally what but few mortals enjoy, and then only for a short period in this world—Misvana Gatu—The intermediary place between heaven and hell—Hell—Four hells—The wicked souls reap in incessant tears the crop they have sown in the finite world.
Alexander consigns the Zoroastrian scriptures to the flames—Zoroastrianism thrives better under the Parthians than under the Seleucids—Zoroastrian practices embraced by the Parthians—Classical references to Zoroastrianism during this period—Zoroastrianism spreads its influence abroad—Zoroastrianism at the close of the Parthian empire.
Mithraism is Zoroastrianism contaminated with Semitic accretions—Mithraism patronized by the State—The creed—Mithraic ethics—Mithraic eschatology—Christianity triumphs over Mithraism.
Miracles as credentials of a prophets mission as God's messenger—Legend grows about the prophet of Iran that obscures his personality—The Pahlavi works—The classical writers of the period on Zoroaster—The date and place of Zaratusht—The birth of Zaratusht—Zaratusht's childhood—Zaratusht's youth—Zaratusht meets Vohuman—Zaratusht confers with Ormazd—Zaratusht's seven conferences with the Amshaspands—Zaratusht at the court of king Vishtasp—The passing away of the prophet.
Ardashir, a Magus, rejuvenates Zoroastrianism—The revival of Zoroastrianism continues with unabating zeal—The Pahlavi works are written by many hands in successive periods—The Pahlavi literature has its roots in the Avestan soil—The Pahlavi literature is the completion of the Avestan works—The trend of the religious thought of the Pahlavi period—The Sasanian Church became an arbiter of the faith of Zoroaster.
The Pahlavi works on proselytism—An Armenian account of the Zoroastrian propaganda—Judaism and Christianity penetrate into Persia as the formidable rivals of the national faith—Judaism in Persia—Christian propaganda in Iran.
Zoroastrianism split up into a number of sects—Zarvanites—Zarvan according to the Pahlavi writers—Zarvan according to the non-Zoroastrian writers—Fatalists—Superstitious belief in Fate that weaves the web of events in man's life—Fate is the decree of Time—The inscrutable power of Fate—How far Fate affects man's exertions.
Heretics detested more than the demon-worshippers—Mani—The arch-heretic of the Sasanian period—Mani's eclectic system—Mani holds matter to be the root of evil, hence self-mortification of the body is a virtue in his system—Zoroastrianism stands for controlling and regulating bodily desires, but not for suppressing and killing them—Celibacy a virtue with Mani, a vice with Zoroaster—Fasting recommended by Manichaeism, condemned by Zoroastrianism—Mani's doctrine of poverty in the light of Zoroastrianism—Mazdak—The economic basis of his religious reform.
The supreme godhead—Ormazd is eternal—Ormazd is invisible—He is intangible—He is omniscient—He is omnipotent—Ormazd is the creator and conservator of creation—He is all-good—He is all-merciful—Ormazd is light physically, morally he is truth—He is all-just—Man should devote himself body and soul to Ormazd—The Holy Spirit.
The archangels—Their attributes—Their work—Vohuman—His materialization—He protects Zaratusht from the time of the prophet's birth, and helps him in his prophetic work—Vohuman's functions—Goodness and wisdom abound in man when he welcomes Vohuman as his guest—On the material side Vohuman is the patron divinity of animals—Artavahisht—His zeal for the protection of fire now supersedes his primal work of guarding righteousness—His work—Shatravar—Once the genius of the Divine Kingdom of Ormazd, but in the Pahlavi period the guardian spirit of the mineral kingdom only—Spandarmad—Her work—Khurdad—The giver of daily bread—Amardad—Amardad's activity of guarding the vegetable kingdom.
The angels—The Izads are the loving guides and protectors of men—Sacrificial offerings made to the angels—Srosh—His activity—A judge of the dead—Mihr—Lord chief justice of the heavenly tribunal—Rashn—He holds the balance of judgment in the celestial court—Khurshed—The sun—Khurshed's message to mankind—Tishtar—He retains his position as the genius of rain.
The Farohars have existed long before the world came into being—They volunteer to descend to earth and stand by men to the end of their lives—In the Pahlavi period their influence is less prominent—It is for the welfare of the living that the Farohars solicit sacrifices—The line of distinction between the souls and the Farohars of the dead is gradually obliterated in the Pahlavi texts.
Independent origin of evil—Tracing both good and evil to God deprives him of his divinity—The goodness of Ormazd demands that he could on no account be the author of evil—The all-wise God would not create his own adversary—Omnipotent Ormazd has not created evil—Ormazd, the sovereign ruler, would not harass his earthly subjects by the creation of evil—Unmerited harm could not emanate from a just God—God, the embodiment of mercy, could not inflict evil upon his own creatures—It is deemed futile to attempt to resolve Ahriman into a symbolic personification of man's evil nature—Ahriman—The primeval source of evil—Ahriman is a spirit—Ahriman has backward knowledge—As the arch-enemy of Ormazd Ahriman swears vengeance upon the good creation—Ahriman lures man to destruction by deceit—Ahriman produces seductive demons to pervert mankind—Ahriman introduces disease and death into the world—Ahriman infests the earth with noxious creatures—Ahriman disfigures Ormazd's creation—The end of Ahriman—The final disappearance of evil from the world—Divs—The emissaries of Ahriman—Their work—Akoman—Ahriman's premier—His attempt to enter the mind of the prophet Zaratusht when a child to pervert it is frustrated by Vohuman—Evil thoughts in man come from Akoman—Druj—The change wrought in the conception of her work—Druj's work—What puts her to flight—Indar—Transformation of a great Indian divinity into an execrated demon in Persia—Sovar—Enemy of the Divine Kingdom of Righteousness—Taromat—The demon that dries up the spring of devotion in man—Naonghas—Taromat's confederate—Tairev—The opponent of the archangel of perfection—Zairich—Tairev's comrade—Astovidad—This demon of death casts his deadly noose around all—Vizarsh—Astovidad's collaborator—Eshm—An impetuous assailant of man—Aposh—Tishtar's antagonist—Jeh—A powerful demoness—Other demons.
Death is the completion of life—Srosh's help indispensable for the disembodied souls—The souls visualize the good or bad deeds of the lives they have just completed—The souls escorted by the genii of their own deeds to the other world—The heavenly judges—Location of the Bridge of Judgment—The bridge provides a wide passage to the pious souls, but confronts the wicked with its sharp edge—Insane persons and children are not accountable for their own deeds, but their parents are responsible—The method of administering justice in the heavenly tribunal—Heaven—The graduated heavens—Location of heavens—Nature of heaven—Condition of the souls in heaven—Celestial food—Duration of heavenly bliss—Hamistagan—The intermediary place between heaven and hell—The condition of its inmates till the final day of the Renovation—Hell—Graduated hells—Location of hell—Description of hell—Ahriman greets the wicked souls in hell with scorn and mockery—Punishments and retributive justice—All conceivable forms of physical torture prevail in hell—Solitude in hell is appalling—Intensity of the darkness and stench of hell—The foulest food served to the sinners—Duration of punishment in hell.
Those who further the work of the final restoration—Saviours born immaculately—The millennium of Hoshedar—The millennium of Hoshedar-mah—The millennium of Soshyos—The collaborators of Soshyos—Resurrection of the dead—Universal judgment—Bodily punishment—Ordeal of molten metal—The righteous and the wicked shall no longer remain as divided, but unite in one—The removal of the imperfection of the material bodies of men—The last decisive battle between the forces of good and evil—Humanity attunes its will to the will of Ormazd.
A PERIOD OF DECADENCE
From the seventh to the eighteenth century
Iran sinks before the hordes of Arabs—Persecution and conversion—Almost every vestige of Iranian scholarship perishes—A glimpse into the religious life of the Iranians during the centuries that followed—The Zoroastrian community in Persia, during these centuries, lay steeped in the grossest ignorance and darkness.
The Deva-worshippers of India greet the Daeva-abjurers of Iran—Reviling each other's gods, yet living peacefully together—A period of literary arrest—Pahlavi studies—Parsi-Sanskrit literature.
The birth and childhood and youth of Zartusht—Zartusht receives the revelation—Zartusht at the court of king Gushtasp—Zartusht's fabled religious debates with Indian and Greek sages—Zartusht's death.
To know God one must become god is the dictum of mysticism—The allegorical method of interpreting religious texts—Desatir and Dabistan—Zoroastrian mystics—Azar Kaivan and his disciples—Mystic literature during the period—The alleged twofold meaning of the Avesta—Ascetic practices of the Parsi mystics—Unmistakable influence of Hindu Yogism.
Beginning of the spirit of exclusiveness among the Parsis—The community was divided regarding the question of admitting lower classes of aliens into its fold—The fear that the community might be swamped by the undesirable alien element was a reason why proselytizing fell into disfavour.
Awakening of the communal conscience—The new knowledge profoundly modified the religious conceptions of the young—An illiterate priesthood failed to satisfy the intellectual wants of the enlightened youth.
Parsi scholarship at this period—Introduction of the science of comparative philology among the Parsis—Textual criticism brings startling revelations for the Parsis—Back to the Gathas was the war-cry of the new school—A new theory to defend the Gathas from the accusation of dualism.
Indifferentism on the part of the Parsi youth arouses the proselytizing zeal of the Christian missionaries—Salient features of Zoroastrianism assailed by the missionaries—Parsi apologists meet the charges of their opponents by resorting to allegorical explanations—The outcome of this controversy.
Crusade against the non-Zoroastrian practices engrafted upon Zoroastrianism—The reformers protested against reciting their prayers parrotwise in an unintelligible language—The Avestan texts metamorphosed into an ungrammatical jargon—Too much ritualism protested the reformer—The progressives denounced the intercessory prayers for the dead—The good sense of the disputants saved the community from being split into sects.
Inquiring minds seek a deeper meaning of life—Parsi theosophists—Custodians of the only key to Zoroastrianism—The theosophists summarily rejected the method the philologist adopted in interpreting the sacred texts—Parsi theosophists as champions of the cause of orthodoxy—Avestan prayers, however unintelligible, are declared the most efficacious owing to their occult significance—Zoroastrianism in the light of theosophy—Zrvan Akarana as an impersonal God in the theosophic light—Zoroastrianism declared by the theosophic claim to be incomplete without the doctrine of transmigration of souls.
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