History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 19

by Maneckji Nusservanji Dhalla

 

CHAPTER XIX

 

AHURA MAZDA

 

Ahura, Mazda, and Ahura Mazda. The name of God still retains its two elements separate. These have not yet coalesced into one word. In the metrical sections of the Younger Avesta the two elements are sometimes used apart from each other, or either one of the terms may be used to designate the Supreme Being, but in the prose compositions the collocation Ahura Mazda generally occurs as a compound phrase. In the formation of compounds, however, either Ahura or Mazda alone is used for the sake of convenience. The Ahura compounds such as Ahuradhāta, 'created by Ahura,' Ahura-tkaesha, 'of the faith of Ahura,' or the adjectival form āhuiri, 'of Ahura,' invariably represent the divine lord Ahura Mazda. Similarly, the Mazda element in the compounds Mazda-dhāta, 'created by Mazda,' Mazdayasna, 'worshipper of Mazda,' Mazdo-frasasta, 'taught by Mazda,' Mazdo-fraokhta, or Mazdaokhta, 'spoken by Mazda,' invariably stands for Ahura Mazda himself.

Ahura Mazda is the highest object of worship. Ahura Mazda still holds sovereign sway over both the worlds; his authority in the world of righteousness is undisputed, and his imperial right is unchallenged. He is the greatest and the very best of the angels.^[1] The Old Persian Inscriptions speak of him as the greatest of the divinities,^[2] The archangels and angels dutifully carry out Mazda's orders. Reverence for him has never abated, and adoration of him does not languish with the advent again of the old Indo-Iranian divinities. Like the dual divinities Vanina-Mitra who received joint invocation during the IndoIranian period, Ahura-Mithra or Mithra-Ahura are invoked together. Ahura generally takes precedence and Mithra stands second in the compound,^[3] but in the Nyaishes composed in honour of Hvare Khshaeta or the sun and Mithra, as also in the Yasht dedicated to Mithra,^[4] the order is reversed and we have then Mithra-Ahura. He is yet the sublimest goal of human aspiration. The best of all sacrifices and invocations are those of Mazda.^[5]

The faithful acknowledge their indebtedness to Ahura Mazda and devoutly offer to him their homage and sacrifice.^[6] They worship him with the very life of the body,^[7] and they long to reach him through the medium of fire, through the Good Mind, through Righteousness, and through the deeds and words of wisdom, as well as through good thoughts, good words, and good deeds.^[8] Ahura Mazda, in fact, is implored to be their very life and limb in both the worlds.^[9] It is through the Best Righteousness that the true in heart aspire to behold the Lord, to approach him, and to associate with him.^[10] The attainment of the companionship and the Kingdom of Ahura Mazda is the pious wish of the supplicant.^[11]

Mazda's titles. The Yasna sacrifice opens with the praise of Ahura Mazda and enumerates the following divine titles: maker, radiant, glorious, the greatest, the best, the most beautiful, the most firm, the most wise, of the most perfect form, the highest in righteousness, possessed of great joy, creator, fashioner, nourisher, and the Most Holy Spirit.^[12] He is all-pervading. There is no conceivable place where he is not. Closer than the nose is to the ears, or the ears are to the mouth, is he to all that which the corporeal world thinks, speaks, and does.^[13] He is the greatest temporal and spiritual lord.^[14] He is the absolute ruler.^[15] He is the most mighty and righteous.^[16] He is benevolent.^[17] He is the maker, the most holy, the most wise, and the best one to answer when questioned.^[18] His is the omniscient wisdom.^[19] He is undeceivable.^[20] He is omniscient and never sleeping.^[21] Radiant and glorious are the most frequent epithets with which the texts open the invocation to the divinity. Above all Ahura Mazda is the spirit of spirits.^[22] This essential trait stands intact through all changes in the concept of God. He is not invested with any anthropomorphic character, and his multifarious epithets are truly the figurative expressions of human language used by man in his feeble attempt to give vent to an outburst of the feelings of devotion and reverence for his Heavenly Father. Ahura Mazda is synonymous with light, even as his opponent is identical with darkness, and the sun is spoken of as his most beautiful form.^[23] Just as the Rig Veda speaks of the sun as the eye of Mithra and Varuna,^[24] so do the Avestan texts call the sun the eye of Ahura Mazda.^[25] Speaking about the nature of Ahura Mazda, Plutarch well remarks that among objects of sense the Zoroastrian godhead most of all resembles the light.^[26] The star-spangled heaven is his garment;^[27] the holy spell is his soul.^[28] Many are the names by which mankind have learnt to know him. The first Yasht, which is dedicated to him, enumerates seventy-four of these attributes. They are all descriptive of his wisdom, far-sightedness, power, righteousness, justice, and mercy.^[29]

Only the world of righteousness is created by Ahura Mazda. As the antithesis between the Deity and the Evil Spirit is now most strongly marked in the Later Avesta, the godhead is expressly described as the creator of everything that is good,^[30] evil being the counter-creation of Angra Mainyu. Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu in the younger texts are described as creating good and evil in turn. The archangels are Mazda's creations;^[31] so also are the angels and men, the animals, sky, water, trees, light, wind, and earth.^[32] In the various enquiries which Zarathushtra addresses to Ahura Mazda in the Vendidad, the divinity is portrayed as the creator of the corporeal world. Ahura expressly says to Zarathushtra that he has created everything in the world, and yet nothing in his creation comes up to the level of man, who is the greatest and the best of all creations.^[33] Through the wisdom of Ahura Mazda the world has come into being, and through his divine wisdom it will come also to an end.^[34]

 

1. Ys. 16. 1; Yt. 17. 16.
2. Dar. Pers. d. 1; Xerx. Elv. 1; Xerx. Van. 1.
3. Ys. 1. 11; 2. 11; 3. 13; 4. 16; 6. 10; 7. 13; 17. 10; 22. 13.
4. Ny. 1. 7; 2. 7, 12; Yt. 10. 113, 145.
5. TdFr. 28.
6. Ys. 13. 5.
7. Ys. 37. 3.
8. Ys. 36. 1, 4, 5.
9. Ys. 41. 3.
10. Ys. 60. 12.
11. Ys. 40. 2; 41. 2, 5, 6.
12. Ys. 1. 1.
13. TdFr. 58, 59.
14. Ys. 27. 1; Vsp. 11. 21.
15. Ys. 21. 3.
16. Ys. 56. 1.
17. Ys. 38. 4.
18. Vd. 18. 7, 13. 66.
19. Vsp. 19. 1.
20. Yt. 12. 1.
21. Yt. 12. 1; Vd. 19. 20, 26.
22. Ys. 4. 7.
23. Ys. 36. 6; 58. 8.
24. RV. 1. 115. 1; 6. 51. 1; 7. 61. 1; 63. 1; 10. 37.
25. Ys. 1. 11; 3. 13; 4. 16; 7. 13; 22. 13.
26. Is. et Os. 46.
27. Yt. 13. 3.
28. Yt. 13. 81.
29. Yt. 1. 7, 8, 12-15.
30. Ys. 71. 10; Vsp. 11. 5; Vd. 11. 1.
31. Yt. 1. 25.
32. Ys. 1. 1, 2, 12; 2. 12; 12. 7; 17. 12; 37. 1; 38. 3; Vsp. 7. 4; Vd. 19. 13, 16, 35; 21. 4, 8, 12; Aog. 30.
33. Aog. 30.
34. Yt. 1. 26.