Introduction
Some time in the history of the universe, no one is quite sure
when, there was born a man. This man would eventually be the first to
found a monotheistic religion. The name of this man is Zoroaster; the
name is actually a corruption of Zarathushtra. Zoroaster’s birth date,
along with whether his religion is actually monotheistic, is a subject
of great debate. The opinions concerning his birth, and consequently
about the beginning of this great religion, range from as early as 6000
years before Plato to as late as 500 B.C.E. In any case he was born
somewhere in Iran, although whether in the East or West is also
arguable. In the early writings the people belonging to this religion
are called Zarathustris; the system he taught is called Mazdaism. The
present day followers are called Parsees. Zoroaster removed the
multiplicity of deities from religion and created a faith in which
there were two, or perhaps, one God. All other higher beings were
regarded as demons, or evil spirits. No one knows for sure the
different stages of popularity that Zoroastrianism experienced. We do
know that at the time of Darius I, 558?-486 B.C.E., it was protected by
royalty. Later, however, Zoroastrians were continually chased by the
members of the Islamic religion through Kathiawar in India, and Surat,
and finally they settled again in Bombay. The universe is the
battleground. The opponents are Mazda Ahura, later to be known as
Ahura Mazda, and Anra Mainyu, later call ed Ahriman. Ahura Mazda is
the good force and the bad is Ahriman. The battle will last till Ahura
Mazda defeats Ahriman in the year 12,000 (we are now presumably around
11,500). This is the world and its future in accordance with
Zoroastrian beliefs.
Zoroaster
Zoroaster had a very non-conforming mind and was forced to flee
his parents’ house without his parents’ consent because of the rebuking
he gave to those who sacrificed cattle or drank intoxicating haoma. He
fled to the mountains and gave himself to God. Sometime between the
ages of thirty and forty an angel appeared to him and brought him to
the throne of the highest God, Ahura Mazda. After this occurred, the
prophet tried for twelve years to convert people, but to no available.
During this period many visions were revaled to him. A milestone in
the progression of the religion occurred when Zoroaster converted
Vishtaspa,the king of Persia. He also converted the king’s son,
brother, counsellor, and grand vizier. Zoroaster married, along with
two other women, the counsellor’s daughter. Zoroaster was killed at
the age of seventy-seven by Ardshataspa, a neighboring prince, who
invaded Vishtaspa’s capital. According to the Parsees, Vishtaspa is
the father of Darius, who reigned from 521-485 B.C.E. Another view
holds that Zoroaster lived 258 years before Alexander the Great; he
would have therefore lived between 570 and 500 B.C.E. The Greeks tend
to place him six thousand years before Plato. Ahura Mazda, while not
necessarily discovered by Zoroaster, was found on an inscription dating
around 714 B.C.E. In ancient Persia, before Zoraoster’s reforms,
religion was polytheistic. Zoroaster objected to these dieties and
referred to them as demons. Many of the rituals and Gods that he
removed were later reinstated due to the fact that the people were
still emotionally attached to them. We can see this from the fact that
on the epigraphs of Artaxerxes II Mnemon (404-358 B.C.E.) the Mithras
and Anahita, ancient gods, are mentioned. Temples and images of God
were also introduced into the religion at a later date.
Zoroastrian Beliefs
The Zoroastrian religion is based on the fundamental concept of a
constant battle of good against evil. The good is represented by Ahura
Mazda while the bad is represented by Ahriman. Ahura Mazda created this
world as a trap for Ahriman. Human beings draw Ahriman into this
world; he will jump at any chance to cause others to do evil. He will
then be entering Ahura Mazda’s world, and when people choose good over
evil voluntarily this will weaken Ahriman to the point where he can be
destroyed. It is hard to reconcile the two opposing views on the
dieties in the Zoroastrian religion. The claim is made that the
religion is monotheistic; it is also alleged that the opposing forces
in the world, good and evil, are represented by two equal gods. Modern
day Parsees resolve the contradiction by explaining that Ahura Mazda
has always and will always stand above all. Anra Mainyu, or Ahriman,
was only created due to an evil thought that once entered Ahura Mazda’s
head. The real opponent of Ahriman is Spenta Mainyu, the good spirit.
The world is divided into three sections. The upper world is bathed in
light, the earth is divided into seven sections, and the underworld is
a dark place. The forces of good and evil will do battle for the
twelve thousand years of the world’s total existence. In the
beginning, as Ahriman attempts to kill Ahura Mazda, he is stopped and
pulled away. Both of the Gods agree to a period of peace that will
last 9,000 years. During the first three thousand years Ahura Mazda
creates angels, good spirits, and Frava shis. These Fravashis are the
original heavenly images of men living in the upper world. During the
next three thousand years the Fravashis come down to earth. There they
lead a perfect sinless life. Anra Mainyu is angry because of the
advantage he sees the Ahura Mazda has gained over him in preparation
for the final battle. He tries to bring evil to the world, but he is
rendered powerless by the sacred Ahunavairya formula that Ahura Mazda
utters. In the next three thousand years Anra Mainyu invades the
world. He kills the early man and animal and disperses demons
throughout the world. However a human couple arises from the seed of
the early man and a cow from the seed of early animal. These beings
are mixed and must choose between the good and evil that now inhabits
the world. The final three thousand year period begins and Ahura Mazda
sends Zoroaster down to the world. Zoroaster had been in fravashi, or
spiritual, form since the beginning of the second period.
After Zoroast er’s death, every thousand years till the end of
this three thousand year period, a prophet will arise. This prophet
will come from a virgin who is fertilized by remnants of Zoroaster’s
seed, which is preserved in a lake. The prophet will bring about an
improvement in society for a short period of time. The last of these
prophets, Saoshyant, or “helper”, will bring about a resurrection of
the dead. The final fight will then occur and the death of Ahriman will
take place. All evil will disappear and the world will be cleansed by
a fiery stream of metal which will bring about a complete
transformation, or Frashokereti. Ahura Mazda will rule over all
forever.
Zoroastrian Literature
The main source for the teachings of Zoroaster is the Avesta.
These are the only writings which come directly from Zoroaster and are
written as if spoken to him by God Himself. Due to the fact that the
Iranians couldn’t write, all this information was passed down orally;
this, in part, led to the eventual loss of this material. Around the
fifth century an Avestan alphabet was created for this purpose. These
documents date back to 1323. The Gathas are sacred literature which
are difficult to translate and are believed to inclu de rituals,
prayers, hymns, visions of God, His purposes, and prophecies. The
Gathic portions of the Yasna were preserved by being included in the
Yasna writings which involved the worship process of every day. The
younger Avestan parts of the Yasna were being written throughout all
the centuries eventually having seventy-two sections. These contained
many topics and protected the basic Gathic texts. Some of the Extended
Avesta was taken from the Yashts which were hymns addressed to the
lesser divine beings and were very poetic. These were written in the
Avestan dialect. The Gathas on the other hand, were memorized due to
their holiness.
The Vendidad were written in the late younger Avestan period. They
included laws on purity and on fighting evil. The Visperad is an
extension of the Yasna and the Vendidad. They dealt with the seven
holy days of faith. The Nayesh and Goh were prayers recited, on the
average, eight times a day. They were for priests as well as lay
persons. Some were directed at certain forces of nature and were said
less frequently. The Khorda, or Little Avesta, is a book of common
prayers. Each Khorda had the same prayers but in different orders. They
were previously memorized and only said by priests, but now, because
they are printed, are said by everyone. The Great Avesta is grouped
into twenty-one nasks, or books. They were last written in the sixth
century and contain all the previous works and much more. They
included the life and legends about the prophet, the religious
doctrine, the end of days, law, creation of the world, and science.
These were placed in all the temples, but during the Islamic period all
the temples were destroyed and not a copy remains. A book, the
Denkard, has a detailed summary of these works in Pahlavi and it seems
that the Extended Avesta took a quarter of the whole canon. The only
reason that the Pahlavi survived is because they were used extensively
and therefore known by heart, and priests made copies of them at their
houses.
Zands, or intrepertations, on the Avesta have always been written.
The old ones are included with the Avesta. This continued until the
fourth century when the Sasanians, the last Zoroastrians to rule Iran,
c hanged the language to Middle Persian, or Pahlavi. The ones written
in this Pahlavi language are the only ones that fully remain of the
Zand and so are considered the Zand. The Yashts are the only part of
the Avesta not to have a Zand written together with it. The Pahlavi
works were written as if being said aloud. Because of this free style
of being written they were changed or added to freely by future
people. In subsequent times the Zoroastrian community was very
persecuted and they were lowered to a group of poor and intellectualy
isolated people. They reduced the writings to the basics and much of
their writings are simply copies of previous texts. They also left
their Pahlavi writings for the more current Persian. As the religious
community moved about they translated their writings into many of the
different languages of the places where they were residing at that
time. Not much was added and even the writings they retained were
copied with mistakes. In later times, from the fifteenth to eighteenth
centuries, because of the split in the Zoroastrian communities, one
being in Iran and the other in Persia, the writings were not very
frequent. The writings basically consisted of Parsi questions to their
Iranian counter parts, usually about law and purity, and the answers.
These writings were known as the Persian Rivayats.
From the mid-nineteenth century and on the Parsis prospered
greatly. This brought about an increase in the amount of literature.
The literat ure was written in many languages including Gujarat (one of
the previous places of residence) and English. These consisted mainly
of the religion’s beliefs and observances. The Zoroastrian religion
makes an abrupt turn at this point and changes from its previous highly
orthodox religion and writing. The society is hurt and confused
because of a sudden plunge into modernity. The society searched for
new ways to explain the older writings. The writing is transformed
into one writing influenced by the beliefs of many of the surrounding
religions including Christianity and Hinduism. Some writings simply
talk of a belief but advocate no actual observance requiring any
actions. Into the twentieth century the writings decrease and show a
greater influence by the Muslims.
Zoroastrian History
From around 550-330 B.C.E. the Iranian tribes left the steppes
where they had been previously living and conquered and moved into
modern-day Iran. The eastern Iranians brought the Zoroastrian faith to
the western Iranians, the Meads, and the Persians. It became the
religion of the Achaemenian empire. The Avestan writings, however,
remained in the eastern dialect. Alexander slaughtered many of the
Zoroastrian priests thereby also harming the transmission of the
texts.
The Asacids, from north-east Iran, later established the second
Iranian empire. The empire was called the Parthian empire. The few
written records they had indicated a tolerance of the Zoroastrian
religion. This empire ruled from approximately 144 B.C.E. through 224
C.E. The Sasanian period was from 224 to 651 C.E. By this time
Zoroastrianism had returned to many of the things that Zoroaster had
taken out at the beginning of the religion. They had gone back to
their old ways of sacrificing, drinking haoma, and believing in more
than one God. However, even as the orthodoxy of the religion declined,
its popularity increased to the greatest point in its history.
After the fall of t his empire Persia was converted to Islam.
About fourteen thousand remain in Iran today. The others either
converted or moved to India, where different religions were more
tolerated. The Zoroastrians there are called Parsees, and most live
around Bombay. They number about 150,000. They have greatly
prospered, and probably owe this to their honesty and generosity.
Ethics
Zoroaster based his concept of good and evil on the things that
happened to be good and bad for the people of his time. Animals which
were used for cattle bearing were considered good and created by Ahura
Mazda. On the other hand, animals which were harmful to cattle were
created by Ahriman. Large families were praised, and any attempt to
stop sex from having children was forbidden. The main purpose of man is
always to make good decisions and to fight with Ahura Mazda against the
forces of Ahriman.
Life after Death
Cadavers are unclean and therefore should not be allow ed to touch
the holy fire and earth. The Zoroastrians have devised a way of
dealing with this in which they place the dead bodies on dakhmas, the
towers of silence. Certain people who have received this position by
inheritance, as it is unholy, bring the bodies into these towers. Once
placed on the towers of silence the bodies are devoured by vultures in
a matter of hours. Water is then poured over the bones and is run into
the sea. Modern ways of dealing with the dead are by placing them into
cement containers or by burning with electricity.
Spiritually, after a person dies, his body remains in the area in
which he died for three days. After this his conscience appears to him
in the form of a woman. If the person had a bad conscience the woman
is ugly; if he had a good conscience the woman is beautiful. The woman
then takes him over a bridge called the Chinvat Peretu, the
accountants’ bridge. If the person led a good life he walks over the
bridge into paradise; if he led a bad l ife he falls to hell. If the
person is not evil nor good he reaches the intermediate kingdom,
Hamestakans, which is between paradise and hell. After the end of the
world is reached, the spirits will be returned to their bodies and it
is only then that their final fate will be decided.
Conclusion
In conclusion I think that the following observation correctly
summarizes the enduring contributions of Zoroastrianism. It is an
inspired ideology which is based upon three beli efs: there is a battle
between good and evil, there will be an end to the world together with
a final divine judgment and the purification of earth, and there is a
paradise, a perfect society in heaven. These ideas have had far
reaching effects upon other religions and people. Zoroastrianism has
brought a concept of a sense of the religious meaning of history along
with a stronger monotheism and ethics. It has removed the religious
identification with nature and states of consciousness.
There are those that believe that the Ancient Hebrews only adopted
the concepts of a resurrection of the dead, an end to the world, and a
final judgment, once they came into contact with the Zoroastrians. All
of these ideas are presently important to the Jews, Christians, and
Muslims. We can all see how far reaching and important the Zoroastrian
religion has been on the evolution of the important religions out of
which most modern civilizations have evolved.
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