1.
Oxus Treasure
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The metalwork is believed to date from the sixth to fourth centuries BC, but the coins show a greater range, with some of those believed to belong to the treasure coming from around 200 BC. The most likely origin for the treasure is that it belonged to a temple, how it came to be deposited is unknown. As a group, the treasure is the most important survival of what was once a production of Achaemenid work in precious metal. The British Museum now has all the surviving metalwork, with one of the pair of griffin-headed bracelets on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum. The group arrived at the museum by different routes, with many items bequeathed to the nation by Augustus Wollaston Franks, the coins are more widely dispersed, and more difficult to firmly connect with the treasure. A group believed to come from it is in the Hermitage Museum in Saint Peterburg, although continuing influences from these sources can often be detected the Achaemenids formed a distinct style of their own. The griffin-headed bracelets from the hoard are typical of the 5th to 4th century BC court style of Achaemenid Persia. Bracelets of a form to ones from the treasure can be seen on reliefs from Persepolis being given as tribute. Glass, enamel or semi-precious stone inlays within the hollow spaces have now been lost. The surviving objects, a proportion of the original finds. There are a number of figurines, some of which may have been detached from larger objects. The single male figures appear to show rather than deities. The largest is most unusual for Persian art in showing a youth standing in a formal pose. The statuette shows Greek influence, in the figure and the fact of being nude, two hollow gold heads of young males, rather crudely executed, probably belonged to composite statues with the main body in wood or some other material. One figure in silver and gold has a headdress that suggests he may be a king, the wheels of the complete chariot would originally have turned freely, and it had received at least one repair in antiquity. It is pulled by four horses and carries two figures, a driver and a passenger, both wearing torcs. The chariot has handrails at the rear to assist getting in and out. A leaping ibex was probably the handle of an amphora-type vase, the two griffin-headed bracelets or armlets are the most spectacular pieces by far, despite lacking their stone inlays
2.
Zoroastrianism
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Ascribed to the teachings of the Iranian prophet Zoroaster, it exalts a deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda, as its Supreme Being. Zoroastrianism was suppressed from the 7th century onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633-654, recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 2.6 million, with most living in India and in Iran. Besides the Zoroastrian diaspora, the older Mithraic faith Yazdânism is still practised amongst Kurds, the religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition. The most important texts of the religion are those of the Avesta, in Zoroastrianism, the creator Ahura Mazda, through the Spenta Mainyu is an all-good father of Asha, in opposition to Druj and no evil originates from him. He and his works are evident to humanity through the six primary Amesha Spentas, Spenta Mainyu adjoined unto truth oppose the Spirits opposite, Angra Mainyu and its forces born of Akəm Manah. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to be among those who renew the world. to make the progress towards perfection. Its basic maxims include, Humata, Hukhta, Huvarshta, which mean, Good Thoughts, Good Words, there is only one path and that is the path of Truth. Do the right thing because it is the thing to do. The full name by which Zoroaster addressed the deity is, Ahura, The Lord Creator and he proclaimed that there is only one God, the singularly creative and sustaining force of the Universe. He also stated that human beings are given a right of choice, Zoroasters teachings focused on responsibility, and did not introduce a devil per se. The contesting force to Ahura Mazda was called Angra Mainyu, or angry spirit, post-Zoroastrian scripture introduced the concept of Ahriman, the Devil, which was effectively a personification of Angra Mainyu. The name Zoroaster is a Greek rendering of the name Zarathustra and he is known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan language word yasna, meaning worship, in English, an adherent of the faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression still used today is Behdin, meaning The best Religion | Beh < Middle Persian Weh + Din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan Daēnā. In Zoroastrian liturgy the term is used as a title for an individual who has formally inducted into the religion in a Navjote ceremony. The term Mazdaism /ˈmæzdə. ɪzəm/ is a typical 19th century construct, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda, the March 2001 draft edition of the Oxford English Dictionary also records an alternate form, Mazdeism, perhaps derived from the French Mazdéisme, which first appeared in 1871. In older English sources, the terms Gheber and Gueber were used to refer to Zoroastrians, however, Zoroastrian philosophy is identified as having been known to Italian Renaissance Europe through an image of Zoroaster in Raphaels School of Athens by Giorgio Vasari in 1550. The Oxford English Dictionary records use of the term Zoroastrianism in 1874 in Archibald Sayces Principles of Comparative Philology, Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent, supreme god, Ahura Mazda, or the Wise Lord
3.
Atar
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Atar is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as burning and unburning fire or visible and invisible fire. It is considered to be the presence of Ahura Mazda. The rituals for purifying a fire are performed 1,128 times a year, in the Avestan language, ātar is an attribute of sources of heat and light, of which the nominative singular form is ātarš, source of Persian ātaš. It was once thought to be related to the Avestan āθrauuan / aθaurun, a type of priest. The ultimate etymology of ātar, previously unknown, is now believed to be from the Indo-European *hxehxtr- fire and this would make it related to the Latin ater and possibly a cognate of the Slavic vatra. In later Zoroastrianism, ātar is iconographically conflated with fire itself, Atar is already evident in the Gathas, the oldest texts of the compendium of the Avesta and believed to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. In the most ancient texts, atar is a medium, a faculty, through which judgement is passed, so, for example, justice is administered through atar, the blazing atar, through the heat of atar, through the blazing, shining, molten metal. An individual who has passed the fiery test, has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth, however, among all the references to atar in the oldest texts, it is only once addressed independently of Ahura Mazda. In this exception, atar is spoken of in the third person masculine singular, altogether, there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all. Within this framework of the concept of divine illumination, atar radiates the other lights, there, identification in the realms of matter and of spirit serves only to bring more into prominence the main tenets of Zoroasters teachings in regard to Asha. A vestige of the ancient institution of ordeal by heat is present in Vendidad 4. Seen chronologically, the transition from atar as a vehicle of judgement to Atar Yazata the divinity presiding over blazing fire is abrupt, Asha Vahishtas association with atar is however carried forward, and they are often mentioned together. In Yasna 17.11, Atar is master of the house, Atar vohu-fryana, the atar of good affection, later qualified as the fire diffusing goodness, and the fire that consumes both water and food. Atar urvazishta, the atar of greatest bliss, later qualified as the fire of life. Atar vazishta, the atar most swift, later qualified as the fire in clouds, i. e. lightning, Atar spenishta, the atar most holy, ( described in Zend texts as the fire of prosperity and as the spiritual fire burning before Ohrmuzd. The description of the fires in the Sassanid era commentaries differs slightly from those described in the Bundahishn, in the latter, the description of the first and last kind of fire is reversed. During the late Achaemenid era, adar—as the quintessence of the Yazata Adar—was incorporated in the Zoroastrian hierarchy of angels, in that position, Adar is a helper of Asha Vahishta, the Amesha Spenta responsible for the luminaries. From among the associated with the Zoroastrian angels, Adars is the marigold
4.
Ahura Mazda
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Ahura Mazda is the Avestan name for the creator and sole God of Zoroastrianism, the old Iranian religion which spread across Asia predating Christianity. Ahura Mazda is described as the highest spirit of worship in Zoroastrianism, the literal meaning of the word Ahura is mighty or lord and Mazda is wisdom. Ahura Mazda first appeared in the Achaemenid period under Darius Is Behistun Inscription, until Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was worshipped and invoked alone. With Artaxerxes II, Ahura Mazda was invoked in a triad, with Mithra, images of Ahura Mazda began in the Parthian period, but were stopped and replaced with stone carved figures in the Sassanid period. Mazda, or rather the Avestan stem-form Mazdā-, nominative Mazdå and it is generally taken to be the proper name of the spirit, and like its Sanskrit cognate medhās, means intelligence or wisdom. Both the Avestan and Sanskrit words reflect Proto-Indo-Iranian *mazdhā-, from Proto-Indo-European *mn̩sdʰeh₁, literally meaning placing ones mind, the name was rendered as Ahuramazda during the Achaemenid era, Hormazd during the Parthian era, and Ohrmazd was used during the Sassanian era. The name may be attested on cuneiform tablets of Assyrian Assurbanipal, in the form Assara Mazaš, even though Ahura Mazda was a spirit in the Old Iranian religion, he had not yet been given the title of uncreated spirit. This title was given by Zoroaster, who proclaimed Ahura Mazda as the spirit, wholly wise, benevolent and good, as well as the creator. As Ahura Mazda is described as the creator and upholder of Asha, he is a supporter and guardian of justice, as a result of this vision, Zoroaster felt that he was chosen to spread and preach the religion. He stated that source of all goodness was the only Ahura worthy of the highest worship. He further stated that Ahura Mazda created spirits known as yazatas to aid him, Zoroaster proclaimed that all of the Iranian daevas were bad spirits and deserved no worship. These bad spirits were created by Angra Mainyu, the hostile, the existence of Angra Mainyu was the source of all sin and misery in the universe. Zoroaster claimed that Ahura Mazda was not an omnipotent God, nonetheless, Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyus superior, not his equal. Angra Mainyu and his daevas which attempt to attract humans away from the path of righteousness would eventually be destroyed, whether the Achaemenids were Zoroastrians is a matter of much debate. However, it is known that the Achaemenids were worshipers of Ahura Mazda, the representation and invocation of Ahura Mazda can be seen on royal inscriptions written by Achaemenid kings. The most notable of all the inscriptions is the Behistun Inscription written by Darius I which contains references to Ahura Mazda. An inscription written in Greek was found in a late Achaemenid temple at Persepolis which invoked Ahura Mazda, on the Elamite Persepolis Fortification Tablet 377, Ahura Mazda is invoked along with Mithra and Voruna. Artaxerxes III makes this invocation to the three again in his reign
5.
Zoroaster
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Zoroaster, also known as Zarathustra, Zarathushtra Spitama or Ashu Zarathushtra, was an ancient Iranian prophet whose teachings developed into Zoroastrianism. He inaugurated a movement that became the dominant religion in Ancient Persia. He was a speaker of Old Avestan and lived in the eastern part of the Iranian Plateau. Zoroastrianism was already an old religion when first recorded, and it was the religion of Persian Empires. He is credited with the authorship of the Yasna Haptanghaiti as well as the Gathas, most of his life is known from the Zoroastrian texts. Zoroasters name in his language, Avestan, was probably Zaraϑuštra. His English name, Zoroaster, derives from a later Greek transcription, Zōroastrēs, as used in Xanthuss Lydiaca and this form appears subsequently in the Latin Zōroastrēs and, in later Greek orthographies, as Zōroastris. The Greek form of the name appears to be based on a phonetic transliteration or semantic substitution of Avestan zaraϑ- with the Greek zōros, subject then to whether Zaraϑuštra derives from *Zarantuštra- or from *Zaratuštra-, several interpretations have been proposed. If Zarantuštra is the form, it may mean with old/aging camels. With angry/furious camels, from Avestan *zarant-, angry, furious, who is driving camels or who is fostering/cherishing camels, related to Avestan zarš-, to drag. Why this is not so for zaraϑuštra has not yet been determined, notwithstanding the phonetic irregularity, that Avestan zaraϑuštra with its -ϑ- was linguistically an actual form is shown by later attestations reflecting the same basis. All present-day, Iranian-language variants of his name derive from the Middle Iranian variants of Zarϑošt, there is no consensus on the dating of Zoroaster, the Avesta gives no direct information about it, while historical sources are conflicting. Many scholars like Mary Boyce used linguistic and socio-cultural evidence to place Zoroaster between 1500 and 1000 BCE, both texts are considered to have a common archaic Indo-Iranian origin. These scholars suggest that Zoroaster lived in a tribe or composed the Gathas before the 1200–1000 BCE migration by the Iranians from the steppe to the Iranian Plateau. The shortfall of the argument is the comparison, and the archaic language of Gathas does not necessarily indicate time difference. Other scholars propose a period between 7th and 6th century, for example, c, the latest possible date is the mid 6th century, at the time of Achaemenid Empires Darius I, or his predecessor Cyrus the Great. However, in the Avesta it should not be ignored that Vishtaspas son became the ruler of the Persian Empire, the most likely conclusion is that Darius Is father was named in honor of the Zoroastrian patron, indicating probable Zoroastrian faith by Arsames. e. This belief is recorded by Diogenes Laërtius, and variant readings could place it six hundred years before Xerxes I, however, Diogenes also mentions Hermodorus belief that Zoroaster lived five thousand years before the Trojan War, which would mean he lived around 6200 BCE
6.
Asha
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Asha is the Avestan language term for a concept of cardinal importance to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine. In the moral sphere, aša/arta represents what has called the decisive confessional concept of Zoroastrianism. The opposite of Avestan aša is druj, lie, the significance of the term is complex, with a highly nuanced range of meaning. It is commonly summarized in accord with its implications of truth and right, order. For other connotations, see meaning below and its Old Persian equivalent is arta-. In Middle Iranian languages the term appears as ard-, the word is also the proper name of the divinity Asha, the Amesha Spenta that is the hypostasis or genius of Truth or Righteousness. In the Younger Avesta, this figure is commonly referred to as Asha Vahishta. The Middle Persian descendant is Ashawahist or Ardwahisht, New Persian Ardibehesht or Ordibehesht, in the Gathas, the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and thought to have been composed by the prophet himself, it is seldom possible to distinguish between moral principle and the divinity. Later texts consistently use the Best epithet when speaking of the Amesha Spenta, Avestan aša and its Vedic equivalent ṛtá both derive from Proto-Indo-Iranian *ṛtá- truth, which in turn continues Proto-Indo-European *h2r-to- properly joined, right, true, from the root *h2ar. The word is attested in Old Persian as arta and it is unclear whether the Avestan variation between aša and arta is merely orthographical. Benveniste suggested š was only a convenient way of writing rt, Avestan druj, like its Vedic Sanskrit cousin druh, appears to derive from the PIE root *dhreugh, also continued in Persian دروغ / drūġ lie, German Trug fraud, deception. Old Norse draugr and Middle Irish airddrach mean spectre, spook, the Sanskrit cognate druh means affliction, afflicting demon. Aša cannot be rendered by some single word in another tongue but may be summarized as follows, It is, first of all. This true statement, because it is true, corresponds to an objective, recognized in it is a great cosmic principle since all things happen according to it. This cosmic force is imbued also with morality, as verbal Truth, la parole conforme, the correspondence between truth, reality and an all-encompassing cosmic principle is not far removed from Heraclitus conception of Logos. Both Avestan aša/arta and Vedic ŗtá- are commonly translated as truth as this best reflects both the meaning of the term as well as the opposition to their respective antonyms. The opposite of Avestan aša/arta is druj-, lie, similarly, the opposites of Vedic ṛtá- are ánṛta- and druh, likewise lie. That truth is also what was understood by the term as attested in Greek myth of, Isis and Osiris 47, Plutarch calls the divinity Αλήθεια Aletheia
7.
Iran
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Iran, also known as Persia, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, is a sovereign state in Western Asia. Comprising a land area of 1,648,195 km2, it is the second-largest country in the Middle East, with 82.8 million inhabitants, Iran is the worlds 17th-most-populous country. It is the country with both a Caspian Sea and an Indian Ocean coastline. The countrys central location in Eurasia and Western Asia, and its proximity to the Strait of Hormuz, Tehran is the countrys capital and largest city, as well as its leading economic and cultural center. Iran is the site of to one of the worlds oldest civilizations, the area was first unified by the Iranian Medes in 625 BC, who became the dominant cultural and political power in the region. The empire collapsed in 330 BC following the conquests of Alexander the Great, under the Sassanid Dynasty, Iran again became one of the leading powers in the world for the next four centuries. Beginning in 633 AD, Arabs conquered Iran and largely displaced the indigenous faiths of Manichaeism and Zoroastrianism by Islam, Iran became a major contributor to the Islamic Golden Age that followed, producing many influential scientists, scholars, artists, and thinkers. During the 18th century, Iran reached its greatest territorial extent since the Sassanid Empire, through the late 18th and 19th centuries, a series of conflicts with Russia led to significant territorial losses and the erosion of sovereignty. Popular unrest culminated in the Persian Constitutional Revolution of 1906, which established a monarchy and the countrys first legislative body. Following a coup instigated by the U. K. Growing dissent against foreign influence and political repression led to the 1979 Revolution, Irans rich cultural legacy is reflected in part by its 21 UNESCO World Heritage Sites, the third-largest number in Asia and 11th-largest in the world. Iran is a member of the UN, ECO, NAM, OIC. Its political system is based on the 1979 Constitution which combines elements of a democracy with a theocracy governed by Islamic jurists under the concept of a Supreme Leadership. A multicultural country comprising numerous ethnic and linguistic groups, most inhabitants are Shia Muslims, the largest ethnic groups in Iran are the Persians, Azeris, Kurds and Lurs. Historically, Iran has been referred to as Persia by the West, due mainly to the writings of Greek historians who called Iran Persis, meaning land of the Persians. As the most extensive interactions the Ancient Greeks had with any outsider was with the Persians, however, Persis was originally referred to a region settled by Persians in the west shore of Lake Urmia, in the 9th century BC. The settlement was then shifted to the end of the Zagros Mountains. In 1935, Reza Shah requested the international community to refer to the country by its native name, opposition to the name change led to the reversal of the decision, and Professor Ehsan Yarshater, editor of Encyclopædia Iranica, propagated a move to use Persia and Iran interchangeably
8.
Faravahar
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The Faravahar also known as Farr-e Kiyani is one of the best-known symbols of ancient Iran. It symbolizes Zoroastrianism and Iranian nationalism, the Faravahar is the most worn pendant among Iranians and has become a secular national symbol, rather than a religious symbol. It symbolizes Good thoughts, Good words and Good deeds, which are the basic tenets, the New Persian word فروهر is read as forouhar or faravahar. The Middle Persian forms were frawahr, frōhar, and fraward, the Avestan language form was fravaṣ̌i. Even after the Arab conquest of Iran, Zoroastrianism continued to be part of Iranian culture, throughout the year, festivities are celebrated such as the Iranian New Year or Nowruz, Mehregan, and Chaharshanbe Suri. These are remnants of Zoroastrian traditions, from the start of the 20th century, the Farvahar icon found itself in public places and became a known icon amongst all Iranians. The Shahnameh by Ferdowsi is Irans national epic and contains stories from pre-Islamic Zoroastrian times, the tomb of Ferdowsi which is visited by numerous Iranians every year, contains the Faravahar icon as well. The Sun Throne, the seat of Persia, has strong relations from the Farahavar. The sovereign would be seated in the middle of the throne and this religious-cultural symbol was adapted by the Pahlavi dynasty to represent the Iranian nation. Although there are a number of interpretations of the elements of the symbol. Nevertheless, Faravahar icons were not removed, as a result, the Faravahar icon became a national symbol amongst the people, and it became somewhat tolerated by the government as opposed to the Lion and Sun. Its the symbol of the religion of the Persian Empire. Nowadays, it is a symbol of both the modern and ancient Iranian state. Although Zoroastrianism is no longer Irans state religion, it is an important, customary, the winged discs has a long history in the art and culture of the ancient Near and Middle East. In Neo-Assyrian times, a human bust is added to the disk and this relationship between the name of the symbol and the class of divine entities it represents, reflects the current belief that the symbol represents a Fravashi. However, there is no description of the Fravashis in the Avesta, the sacred texts of Zoroastrianism
9.
Amesha Spenta
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Significantly more common than the non-specific meaning of Amesha Spenta is a restrictive use of the term to refer to the great six divine sparks of Ahura Mazda. In Zoroastrian tradition, these are the first six emanations of the noncreated Creator, the expression Amesha Spenta does not occur in the Gathas, but it was probably coined by Zoroaster himself. Spenta is a word of his revelation, meaning furthering, strengthening, bounteous. The oldest attested use of the term is in Yasna 39.3, like all other verses of the Yasna Haptanghaiti, Yasna 39.3 is also in Gathic Avestan and is approximately as old as the hymns attributed to Zoroaster himself. The divine sparks that appear in the Gathic Yasna 47, if they appear at all, they do not necessarily appear immediately adjacent to the noun. But in later tradition, these adjectives are integral to the names themselves, while Vohu Manah, Aša Vahišta, and Xšaθra Vairya are consistently of neuter gender in Avestan grammar, in tradition they are considered masculine. Armaiti, Haurvatāt, and Amərətāt are invariably feminine, in the Gathas, each Amesha Spenta represents a good moral quality that mortals should strive to obtain. Thus, the doctrine of the six is that through good thoughts, words. Not evident in the Gathas and first appearing in the Younger Avesta are the oppositions of haurvatāt- wholeness to taršna- thirst and these latter assignments reflect Haurvatats identification with water and Ameretats identification with plants. In the Gathas, aša/arta is the most evident of the six, in the 238 verses of these hymns, aša-/arta- appears 157 times. Of the other concepts, only vohumanah- appears nearly as often, in comparison, the remaining four of the great sextet appear only 121 times altogether, xšaθra-,56 times, armaiti-,40, amərətāt-,14, haurvatāt-,11 times. In the context of Zoroastrian view of creation, the group of the Amesha Spenta is extended to include Ahura Mazda, however, in most scholastic texts, an unqualified referral to the Amesha Spenta is usually understood to include only great six. In Yasna 44.7,31.3, and 51.7 and it is also through this Bounteous Force, Creative Emanation, or Holy Spirit that Ahura Mazda is immanent in humankind, and how the Creator interacts with the world. The doctrine also has a dimension, in that each of the heptad is linked to one of the seven creations. These physical associations are only alluded to in the Gathas>, a systematic association is only present in later middle Persian texts, where each of the seven is listed with its special domain, Ahura Mazda → Middle Persian Ohrmazd is the highest spirit. This anomaly is explained in modern scholarship by the fact that, in Stone Age cosmogony, the sky was considered to be the first of the creations and this is also reflected in Zoroasters revelation, where the sky is of the hardest stone. Later, with the event of bronze and then iron tools, this sky evolved to being of crystal, in due course, Xšaθras association with a stony firmament was eclipsed by the association with a metallic sky, and thence to metals in general. In non-specific usage, the term Amesha Spenta denotes all the divinities that furthered or strengthened creation and all that are bounteous and it not only includes the ahuras, but also all the other divinities that are alluded to in these texts
10.
Yazata
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Yazata is the Avestan language word for a Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying a divinity. The yazatas collectively are the powers under Ohrmuzd, who is the greatest of the yazatas. Yazata is an Avestan language passive adjectival participle derived from yaz-, to worship, to honor, the word yasna – worship, sacrifice, oblation, prayer – comes from the same root. A yaza+ ta is accordingly a being worthy of worship, an object of worship or a holy being, as the stem form, yazata- has the inflected nominative forms yazatō, pl. yazatåŋhō. These forms reflect Proto-Iranian *yazatah and pl. *yazatāhah, in Middle Persian the term became yazad or yazd, pl. yazdān, continuing in New Persian as izad. The term yazata is used in the Gathas, the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism. In these hymns, yazata is used as a generic, applied to Ahura Mazda as well as to the divine sparks, that in later tradition are the Amesha Spentas. In the Gathas, the yazatas are effectively what the daevas are not, that is, in the Younger Avesta, the yazatas are unambiguously divine, with divine powers but performing mundane tasks such as serving as charioteers for other yazatas. Several yazatas are given anthropomorphic attributes, such as cradling a mace or bearing a crown upon their heads, relatively certain however is that the day-name dedications predate the Avestas Siroza, which contain explicit references to the yazatas as protectors/guardians of their respective days of the month. The 9th–12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition observe the yazatas in much the way as the hymns of the Younger Avesta. In addition, in roles that are alluded to in scripture. For instance, Aredvi Sura Anahita is both a divinity of the waters as well as a rushing river that encircles the earth. The blockage is removed by Verethragna, and Tishtrya gathers up the waters, in stories with eschatological significance, Sraosha, Mithra, and Rashnu are guardians of the Chinvat bridge, the bridge of the separator, across which all souls must pass. The Amesha Spentas in turn had hamkars assistants or cooperators, each a caretaker of one facet of creation, in both tradition and scripture, the terms Amesha Spenta and yazata are sometimes used interchangeably. In general, however, Amesha Spenta signifies the six divine sparks. In tradition, yazata is the first of the 101 epithets of Ahura Mazda, the word also came to be applied to Zoroaster, but Zoroastrians to this day remain sharply critical of any attempts to deify the prophet. In the 1860s and 1870s, the linguist Martin Haug interpreted Zoroastrian scripture in Christian terms, in this scheme, the Amesha Spentas are the arch-angel retinue of Ahura Mazda, with the hamkars as the supporting host of lesser angels. At the time, Zoroastrianism lacked theologians of its own, in this situation, Haugs counter-interpretation came as a welcome relief, and was gratefully accepted as legitimate
11.
Ahura
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For the fictional character in the Marvel Universe series, see Ahura, for the river, see Akhurian River. Ahura is an Avestan language designation for a class of Zoroastrian angelic divinities. Avestan ahura derives from Indo-Iranian *asura, also attested in an Indian context as Rigvedic asura, as suggested by the similarity to the Old Norse æsir, Indo-Iranian *asura may have an even earlier Indo-European root. It is commonly supposed that Indo-Iranian *Asura was the name of a specific divinity with whom other divinities were later identified. For obscure reasons, the Oxford English Dictionary lists asura, rather than ahura and that should not, however, be construed to reflect a view of a primordial opposition. Although the daevas would, in later Zoroastrian tradition, appear as malign creatures, in the Gathas, the prophet does not specify which of the divinities other than Ahura Mazda are considered to be ahuras. In the Fravaraneh, the Zoroastrian credo summarized in Yasna 12.1, the adherent declares, I profess myself a Mazda worshiper and this effectively defines ahura by defining what ahura is not. In the Younger Avesta, three divinities of the Zoroastrian pantheon are repeatedly identified as ahuric and these three are Ahura Mazda, Mithra and Apam Napat, and hence known as the Ahuric triad. Other divinities with whom the term Ahuric is associated include the six Amesha Spentas and Aredvi Sura of The Waters and Ashi of Reward, for derivatives in a European context, see Tyr. The Vedic Sanskrit cognate of Avestan daēuua is devá-, continuing in later Indo-Aryan languages as dev, the same is true of the daiva inscription, where the daiva are the gods of rebels, but still evidently gods that continued to have a following. The issue is related to the question of how Zoroasters own contribution to Iranian religion might be defined, while the progressive hypothesis gives Zoroaster credit for giving Iranian religion a moral and ethical dimension, it does not give Zoroaster credit for the development of the daevas into demons. It assumes that the development was gradual, and that a general distrust of the daevas already existed by the time the Gathas were composed
12.
Daeva
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Daeva is an Avestan language term for a particular sort of supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon and this meaning is – subject to interpretation – perhaps also evident in the Old Persian daiva inscription of the 5th century BCE. In the Younger Avesta, the daevas are noxious creatures that promote chaos, in later tradition and folklore, the dēws are personifications of every imaginable evil. Equivalents for Avestan daeva in Iranian languages include Pashto, Balochi, Kurdish dêw, Persian dīv/deev, all of which apply to demons, monsters, the Iranian word was borrowed into Old Armenian as dew, Georgian as devi, with the same negative associations in those languages. In English, the word appears as daeva, div, deev, Old Avestan daēuua or daēva derives from Old Iranian *daiva, which in turn derives from Indo-Iranian *daivá- god, reflecting Proto-Indo-European *deiu̯ó with the same meaning. For derivatives in a European context, see Tyr, the Vedic Sanskrit cognate of Avestan daēuua is devá-, continuing in later Indo-Aryan languages as dev. The same is true of the inscription, where the daiva are the gods of rebels. The issue is related to the question of how Zoroasters own contribution to Iranian religion might be defined, while the progressive hypothesis gives Zoroaster credit for giving Iranian religion a moral and ethical dimension, it does not give Zoroaster credit for the development of the daevas into demons. It assumes that the development was gradual, and that a general distrust of the daevas already existed by the time the Gathas were composed, although with some points of comparison such as shared etymology, Indic devá- is thematically different from Avestan daēva. In the Rigveda, the devas are the angels of natural elements, in conflict with the asuras, although, asuras cant be compared to western world demons. There is no such division evident in the Zoroastrian texts, the use of asura in the Rigveda is unsystematic and inconsistent and it can hardly be said to confirm the existence of a category of gods opposed to the devas. Indeed, RigVedic deva is variously applied to most gods, including many of the asuras, likewise, at the oldest layer, Zoroastrianisms daevas are originally also gods, and it is only in the younger texts that the word evolved to refer to evil creatures. And the Zoroastrian ahuras are also only vaguely defined, and only three in number, the Gathas speak of the daevas as a group, and do not mention individual daevas by name. In these ancient texts, the term daevas occurs 19 times, wherein daevas are a category of quite genuine gods. In Yasna 32.3 and 46.1, the daevas are still worshipped by the Iranian peoples, Yasna 32.8 notes that some of the followers of Zoroaster had previously been followers of the daevas, though, the daevas are clearly identified with evil. In the Gathas, daevas are censured as being incapable of discerning truth from falsehood and they are consequently in error, but are never identified as drəguuaṇt- people of the lie. In Yasna 32.4, the daevas are revered by the Usij, described as a class of priests, devoid of goodness of mind and heart. Like the daevas that they follow, the Usij are known throughout the region of the earth as the offspring of aka mainyu, druj
13.
Angra Mainyu
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Angra Mainyu is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianisms hypostasis of the destructive spirit. The Middle Persian equivalent is Ahriman, Avestan angra mainyu seems to have been an original conception of Zoroasters. In the Gathas, which are the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and are attributed to the prophet himself, in the one instance in these hymns where the two words appear together, the concept spoken of is that of a mainyu that is angra. In this single instance—in Yasna 45. 2—the more bounteous of the spirits twain declares angra mainyu to be its absolute antithesis, a similar statement occurs in Yasna 30.3, where the antithesis is however aka mainyu, aka being the Avestan language word for evil. Hence, aka mainyu is the spirit or evil mind or evil thought, as contrasted with spenta mainyu, the bounteous spirit with which Ahura Mazda conceived of creation. The aka mainyu epithet recurs in Yasna 32.5, when the principle is identified with the daevas that deceive humankind, in Yasna 32.3, these daevas are identified as the offspring, not of Angra Mainyu, but of akem manah, evil thinking. A few verses earlier it is however the daebaaman, deceiver—not otherwise identified, in Yasna 32.13, the abode of the wicked is not the abode of Angra Mainyu, but the abode of the same worst thinking. One would have expected to reign in hell, since he had created death and how, at the end, Yasna 19.15 recalls that Ahura Mazdas recital of the Ahuna Vairya invocation puts Angra Mainyu in a stupor. In Yasna 9.8, Angra Mainyu creates Aži Dahaka, in Yasht 13, the Fravashis defuse Angra Mainyus plans to dry up the earth, and in Yasht 8.44 Angra Mainyu battles but cannot defeat Tishtrya and so prevent the rains. In Vendidad 19, Angra Mainyu urges Zoroaster to turn from the religion by promising him sovereignty of the world. On being rejected, Angra Mainyu assails the prophet with legions of demons, in Yasht 19.96, a verse that reflects a Gathic injunction, Angra Mainyu will be vanquished and Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail. In Yasht 19. 46ff, Angra Mainyu and Spenta Mainyu battle for possession of khvaraenah, Yasht 15.43 assigns Angra Mainyu to the nether world, a world of darkness. So also Vendidad 19.47, but other passages in the chapter have him dwelling in the region of the daevas. There, Angra Mainyu is the daevanam daevo, daeva of daevas or chief of the daevas, the superlative daevo. taema is however assigned to the demon Paitisha. In an enumeration of the daevas in Vendidad 1.43, Angra Mainyu appears first, nowhere is Angra Mainyu said to be the creator of the daevas or their father. Zurvanism was a branch of Zoroastrianism that sought to resolve the dilemma of the spirits of Yasna 30.3. The resolution, which developed out of the contact with Chaldea, was to have both Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu as twin sons of the First Principle Time. Zurvanism was strongly criticized as a heresy during the Sassanid period of Iranian history, although the monist doctrine is not attested after the 10th century, some Zurvanite features are nonetheless still evident in present-day Zoroastrianism
14.
Avesta
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The Avesta /əˈvɛstə/ is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism, composed in the otherwise unrecorded Avestan language. The Avesta texts fall into different categories, arranged either by dialect. The principal text in the group is the Yasna, which takes its name from the Yasna ceremony, Zoroastrianisms primary act of worship. The most important portion of the Yasna texts are the five Gathas and these hymns, together with five other short Old Avestan texts that are also part of the Yasna, are in the Old Avestan language. The remainder of the Yasnas texts are in Younger Avestan, which is not only from a stage of the language. Extensions to the Yasna ceremony include the texts of the Vendidad, the Visperad extensions consist mainly of additional invocations of the divinities, while the Vendidad is a mixed collection of prose texts mostly dealing with purity laws. Even today, the Vendidad is the liturgical text that is not recited entirely from memory. Some of the materials of the extended Yasna are from the Yashts, unlike the Yasna, Visperad and Vendidad, the Yashts and the other lesser texts of the Avesta are no longer used liturgically in high rituals. Aside from the Yashts, these lesser texts include the Nyayesh texts, the Gah texts, the Siroza. Together, these texts are conventionally called Khordeh Avesta or Little Avesta texts. When the first Khordeh Avesta editions were printed in the 19th century, the term Avesta is from the 9th/10th-century works of Zoroastrian tradition in which the word appears as Zoroastrian Middle Persian abestāg, Book Pahlavi ʾpstʾkʼ. In that context, abestāg texts are portrayed as received knowledge, the literal meaning of the word abestāg is uncertain, it is generally acknowledged to be a learned borrowing from Avestan, but none of the suggested etymologies have been universally accepted. The surviving texts of the Avesta, as they exist today and that master copy, now lost, is known as the Sassanian archetype. The oldest surviving manuscript of an Avestan language text is dated 1323 CE, summaries of the various Avesta texts found in the 9th/10th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition suggest that about three-quarters of the corpus has since been lost. A pre-Sasanian history of the Avesta, if it had one, is in the realm of legend, the oldest surviving versions of these tales are found in the ninth to 11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition. The legends run as follows, The twenty-one nasks of the Avesta were created by Ahura Mazda, supposedly, Vishtaspa or another Kayanian, Daray, then had two copies made, one of which was stored in the treasury, and the other in the royal archives. Following Alexanders conquest, the Avesta was then supposedly destroyed or dispersed by the Greeks after they translated the scientific passages that they could make use of, the Denkard also transmits another legend related to the transmission of the Avesta. In that story, credit for collation and recension is given to the early Sasanian-era priest Tansar, who had the works collected
15.
Gathas
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The Gathas are 17 Avestan hymns believed to have been composed by Zarathusthra himself. They form the core of the Zoroastrian liturgy and they are arranged in five different modes or metres. The Avestan term gāθā is cognate with Sanskrit gatha, both from the Indo-Iranian root *gā to sing, the Gathas are in verse, metrical in the nature of ancient Iranian religious poetry, which is extremely terse, and in which grammatical constructs are an exception. The 17 hymns of the Gathas consist of 238 stanzas, of about 1300 lines or 6000 words in total and they were later incorporated into the 72-chapter Yasna, which in turn is the primary liturgical collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. The meter of the hymns is historically related to the Vedic tristubh-jagati family of meters, hymns of these meters are recited, not sung. The sequential order of the Gathas is structurally interrupted by the Yasna Haptanghaiti, the language of the Gathas, Gathic or Old Avestan, belongs to the old Iranian language group which is a sub-group of Eastern families of the Indo-European languages. The dependency on Vedic Sanskrit is a significant weakness in the interpretation of the Gathas, as the two languages, though from an origin, had developed independently. While some scholars argue that an interpretation using younger texts is inadvisable, the risks of mis-interpretation are real, but lacking alternates, such dependencies are perhaps necessary. This obviously reflects the Gatha interpretation by the priests of the Sasanian period, the other three are Christian Bartholomaes Die Gathas des Awesta, Helmut Humbachs The Gathas of Zarathushtra, and Stanley Islers The Gathas of Zarathustra. These three texts exploit the Vedic approach, and Bartholomaes was the first of its kind, some of the verses of the Gathas are directly addressed to the Omniscient Creator Ahura Mazda. These verses, devotional in character, expound on the divine essences of truth, the good-mind, other verses, from which some aspects of Zoroasters life have been inferred, are semi-biographical, but all revolve around Zarathustras mission to promote his view of the Truth. For instance, some of the passages describe Zarathustras first attempts to promote the teachings of Ahura Mazda, and this and other rejection led him to have doubts about his message, and in the Gathas he asked for assurance from Ahura Mazda, and requests repudiation of his opponents. Aspects of Zoroastrian philosophy are distributed over the collection of Gathas. There is no arrangement of doctrine in the texts. The following excerpts are from the translation by Humbach & Ichaporia, Zoroaster asks Mazda for guidance Where and which part of land shall I go to succeed. They keep me away from the family and the tribe, the community that I wish to join does not gratify me, nor do the deceitful tyrants of the lands. How shall I gratify you, O Mazda Ahura, with these entreaties, O Mazda Ahura, may we not anger you, nor Truth or Best Thought, we who are standing at the offering of praises to you. You are the swiftest invigorations, and the power over benefits, I ask you, O Ahura, about the punishment for the evil-doer who delegates power to the deceitful one and who does not find a livelihood without injury to the cattle and men of undeceiving herdsman
16.
Yasna
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Yasna is the Avestan language name of Zoroastrianisms principal act of worship, and it is also the name of the primary liturgical collection of Avesta texts, recited during that yasna ceremony. The function of the ceremony is, very roughly described. The yasna service, that is, the recitation of the Yasna texts, culminates in the apæ zaothra, the ceremony may also be extended by recitation of the Visperad and Vendidad texts. A normal yasna ceremony, without extensions, takes two hours when it is recited by an experienced priest. The Yasna texts constitute 72 chapters altogether, composed at different times, the middle chapters include of the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon. Several sections of the Yasna include exegetical comments, Yasna chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated with Y. The Avestan language word yasna literally means oblation or worship, the word is linguistically equivalent to Vedic Yajna. Unlike Vedic Yajna, Zoroastrian Yasna has to do with water rather than fire, the Encyclopedia Iranica summarizes the aim of the yasna ceremony as the maintenance of the cosmic integrity of the good creation of Ahura Mazdā. The culminating act of the ceremony is the Ab-Zohr, the strengthening of the waters. The Yasna service, that is, the recitation of the Yasna texts, culminates in the Ab-Zohr, the Yasna ceremony may be extended by recitation of the Visperad and Vendidad. A well-trained priest is able to recite the entire Yasna in about two hours, with extensions, it takes about an hour longer. In its normal form, the Yasna ceremony is only to be performed in the morning, Yasna 1 then enumerates the divinities, inviting them to the service. Yasna 2, the Barsom Yasht, presents libation and the barsom to the invited divinities, most verses in Yasna 2-3 begin with the formula ayese yeshti …, by means of this sacrifice, I call …, followed by the name of the divinity being invoked. Yasna 3-8 known collectively as the Sarosh dron, presents other offerings, Yasna 3 draws the attention of the divinities invoked in Yasna 1, and in Yasna 4, the offerings are consecrated to the divinities. Yasna 5 is repeated in Yasna 37, Yasna 6 is almost identical to the first 10 verses of Yasna 17. Yasna 9-11 is the Hom Yasht, a collection of accolades to the Haoma plant, Yasna 12 constitutes the Fravarane, the Zoroastrian creed and declaration of faith. It is in Artificial Gathic Avestan, that is, it is stylistically and linguistically aligned with the language of the Gathas, the last strophe of verse 7 as well as all of verses 8 and 9 are incorporated into the Kusti ritual. Yasna 13-18 are comparable to Yasna 1-8 in that they too are a collection of invocations to the divinities, chapters 14-18 serve as an introduction to the Staota Yesniia of Yasna 19-59
17.
Vendidad
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The Vendidad or Videvdat is a collection of texts within the greater compendium of the Avesta. However, unlike the other texts of the Avesta, the Vendidad is an ecclesiastical code, not a liturgical manual. According to the divisions of the Avesta as described in the Denkard, a 9th-century text, the Vendidad includes all of the 19th nask, the Vendidads different parts vary widely in character and in age. Although some portions are relatively recent in origin, the matter of the greater part is very old. In 1877, Karl Friedrich Geldner identified the texts as being distinct from both the Old Avestan language texts as well as from the Yashts of the younger Avesta. Today, there is controversy over development of the Vendidad. The Vendidad is classified by some as an artificial, young Avestan text, the Vendidad is thought to be a Magi composition. It has also suggested that the Vendidad belongs to a particular school. The Vendidad consists of 22 fargards containing fragments of discussions between Ahura Mazda and Zoroaster, the arrangement does not suggest it was composed by the prophets contemporaries. However, some consider the Vendidad a link to ancient early oral traditions, the writing of the Vendidad began - perhaps substantially - before the formation of the Median and Persian Empires, before the 8th century B. C. E. In addition, as with the Yashts, the date of composition of the version does not exclude the possibility that some parts of the Vendidad may consist of very old material. Even in this age, Zoroastrians are continually rewriting old spiritual material. The first chapter is dualistic creation myth, followed by the description of a destructive winter comparable with the floods of various other mythologies. The second chapter recounts the legend of Yima, chapter 19 relates the temptation of Zoroaster, who, when urged by Angra Mainyu to turn from the good religion, turns instead towards Ahura Mazda. The remaining chapters cover diverse rules and regulations, through the adherence of which evil spirits may be confounded, there is a degree of moral relativism apparent in the Vendidad, and the diverse rules and regulations are not always expressed as being mystical, absolute, universal or mandatory. The Vendidad is mainly about social laws, mores, customs, in some instances, the description of prescribed behaviour is accompanied by a description of the penances that have to be made to atone for violations thereof. Such penances include, payment in cash or kind to the aggrieved, corporal punishment such as whipping and they argue that it has origins on early oral tradition, being only later written. They argue that it was written nearly 700 years after the death of Zarathustra, an article by Hannah M. G. Shapero sums up the refomist perspective, How do Zoroastrians view the Vendidad today
18.
Visperad
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Visperad or Visprad is either a particular Zoroastrian religious ceremony or the name given to a passage collection within the greater Avesta compendium of texts. The Visperad ceremony consists of the rituals of the Yasna, virtually unchanged and these supplementary sections are then – from a philological perspective – the passages that make up the Visperad collection. The standard abbreviation for Visperad chapter-verse pointers is Vr. though Vsp. may also appear in older sources, the name Visperad is a contraction of Avestan vispe ratavo, with an ambiguous meaning. Subject to how ratu is translated, vispe ratavo may be translated as all patrons or all masters or the older and these bounteous immortals are the all patrons – the vispe ratavo – who apportion the bounty of creation. However, the Visperad ceremony itself is dedicated to Ahura Mazda, the Visperad collection has no unity of its own, and is never recited separately from the Yasna. During a recital of the Visperad ceremony, the Visperad sections are not recited en bloc but are instead interleaved into the Yasna recital and this second recitation is performed by the assistant priest, and is often slower and more melodious. In contrast to barsom bundle of a regular Yasna, which has 21 rods, the Visperad is only performed in the Havan Gah – between sunrise and noon – on the six gahambar days. The ritual – which is technically an inner one requiring ritual purity – is instead celebrated as a ritual where ritual purity is not a requirement. Often there is one priest instead of the two that are actually required, and the priests sit at a table with only a lamp or candle representing the fire
19.
Yasht
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The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns in the Younger Avestan language. Each of these hymns invokes a specific Zoroastrian divinity or concept, Yasht chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated as Yt. The word yasht derives from Avestan yešti, for venerate, since these are a part of the primary litury, they do not count among the twenty-one hymns of the Yasht collection. Most of the yazatas that the individual Yashts praise also have a dedication in the Zoroastrian calendar, the exceptions are Drvaspa and Vanant. The twenty-one yashts of the collection, Notes
20.
Ab-Zohr
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The Ab-Zohr is the culminating rite of the greater Yasna service, the principal Zoroastrian act of worship that accompanies the recitation of the Yasna liturgy. As described in the liturgy that accompanies the procedure, the rite constitutes an offering to the waters in order to purify them. The technical terms Middle Persian ab-zohr and Avestan apé zaoϑra literally mean offering to water, the words of the expression have Indo-Iranian roots. The Parsi name for the procedure is djor-melavi, which reflects the purpose of the offering to water. By metathesis ab-zohr is pronounced ab-zor in the Zoroastrian Dari dialect, the procedure is also called the parahaoma rite, reflecting the technical name of the liquid being prepared and consecrated during the ritual. In the 9th-12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition the procedure is also referred to as the hom-zohr. The Haoma plant is the source for the essential ingredient for the parahaoma, in Zoroastrian tradition, two independent preparations of parahaoma are made for the offering. Both preparations must be made between sunrise and noon, in the Hawan gah, the time of pressing, the time of day of the Yasna service is itself dictated by this restriction. The first parahaoma is prepared during the rites in which the site of worship is consecrated. The second parahaoma preparation occurs during the third of the Yasna service. The recipes for the two parahaoma preparations, though not identical, are largely the same, in both cases, the ingredients include three small haoma twigs, consecrated water, twigs and leaves from a pomegranate tree. The second parahaoma also includes milk, the consecration of the water and haoma also occur during the preliminary rites. The liquid is retained in a bowl, while the twig, the second parahaoma preparation occurs during the middle third of the Yasna service. It is prepared by the celebrant priest of the Yasna and is essentially the same as the first, but includes milk and this second parahaoma preparation begins with the recitation of Yasna 22, and continues until the beginning of Yasna 28. During the recitation of Yasna 25, the priest dedicates the mixture to the waters, the mortar remains untouched during the recitation of Yasna 28-30. Finally, during the recitation of Yasna 31-34, the priest pounds the mixture a last time, the twig and leaf residue from the second parahaoma is also placed next to the fire to dry. Yasna 62 marks the beginning of the stage of the Yasna service. At the beginning of the recitation of that chapter, the priest who made the first parahaoma moves the twig, Yasna 62.11 also marks the beginning of the actual ab-zohr
21.
Ahuna Vairya
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Ahuna Vairya is the Avestan language name of Zoroastrianisms first of four Gathic Avestan formulas. The text, which appears in Yasna 27.13, is known after its opening words yatha ahu vairyo. In Zoroastrian tradition, the formula is known as the ahunwar. Numerous translations and interpretations exist, but the meaning of the text remains obscure. The Ahuna Vairya and Ashem Vohu are together very cryptic formulas, the Ahunavaiti Gatha, is named after the Ahuna Vairya formula. Like the other three formulas, the Ahuna Vairya is part of the Gathic canon, that is, part of the group of texts composed in the archaic dialect of the Avestan language. Together with the three formulas, the Ahuna Vairya is part of the envelope that liturgically encloses the Gathas. One of the formulas, the Airyaman ishya follows the Gathas, unlike the third and fourth formula, the first two formulas -- the Ahuna Vairya and the Ashem vohu -- are part of the Kusti prayers. Unlike the third and fourth formula, the first two do not express wishes and are technically purificatory and meditational declarations. As a primordial utterance, the Ahura Vairya is described to have talismanic virtues, the power to aid mortals in distress, elsewhere in the Avesta, the Ahuna Vairya is described as the most victorious, as the veracious word, as the sacred gift. In Vendidad 11.3, in addition to being most healing, in Yasna 9.14, Zoroaster is given credit as the first mortal to recite it. The hymns supremacy among sacred Zoroastrian formulae is well developed in the 9th-11th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition, the Bundahishn, an 11th/12th century narrative of Zoroastrian cosmogonical myths, continues and embellishes the Avestas description of the Ahuna Vairya as a primordial utterance. In that tradition, Ahuna Vairya is not only an utterance of Mazda following the creation of the spiritual world, the Sayast ne Sayast additionally notes that a mumbling of the prayer is particularly offensive. The Denkard additionally suggests the formula be uttered when entering a house, like all Gathic Avestan verses, the prayer is altogether ambiguous and translations vary significantly. Even though several translations and interpretations exist, the meaning of the prayer remains obscure. The terseness of the prose, elaborate arrangement and poetical techniques make a translation from the Old Avestan difficult, given its syntactic density, scholarly agreement on a definitive translation, or even close approximation of its meaning, remains unlikely. Translations based on Middle Persian translations of the hymn also exist, transliteration of Helmut Humbach, yaϑā ahū vairyō¹, aϑā ratuš aṣ̌āt̰cīt̰ hacā vaŋhə̄uš dazdā manaŋhō, š́yaoϑənanąm² aŋhə̄uš mazdāi xšaϑrəmcā ahurāi. Translation by Boyce essentially derived from that of S. Insler, As the master, establish the power of acts arising from a life lived with good purpose, for Mazda and for the Lord whom they made pastor for the poor
22.
Fire temple
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A fire temple in Zoroastrianism is the place of worship for Zoroastrians, often called dar-e mehr or agiyari. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire, together with water, are agents of ritual purity. For, one who sacrifices unto fire with fuel in his hand, as of 2010, there were 50 fire temples in Mumbai,100 in the rest of India, and 27 in the rest of the world. First evident in the 4th century BCE, the Zoroastrian cult of fire is much younger than Zoroastrianism itself and it appears at approximately the same time as the shrine cult and is roughly contemporaneous with the introduction of Atar as a divinity. There is no allusion to a cult of fire in the Avesta proper. That the cult of fire was a modification and absent from early Zoroastrianism is also evident in the later Atash Nyash. In the oldest passages of that liturgy, it is the fire that speaks to all those for whom it cooks the evening and morning meal. The temple cult is a later development, from Herodotus it is known that in the mid-5th century BCE the Zoroastrians worshipped to the open sky. The second, the atroshan, were the places of burning fire which became more and more prevalent as the movement gained support. Following the rise of the Sassanid dynasty, the shrines to the Yazatas continued to exist, also, as Schippman observed, there is no evidence even during the Sassanid era that the fires were categorized according to their sanctity. It seems probable that there were only two, namely the Atash-i Vahram, and the lesser Atash-i Adaran, or Fire of Fires. The faith was practiced largely by the aristocracy but large numbers of fire temples did not exist, some fire temples continued with their original purpose although many Zoroastrians fled. The oldest remains of what has been identified as a temple are those on Mount Khajeh. Only traces of the foundation and ground-plan survive and have been dated to the 3rd or 4th century BCE. The temple was rebuilt during the Parthian era, and enlarged during Sassanid times, the characteristic feature of the Sassanid fire temple was its domed sanctuary where the fire-altar stood. This sanctuary always had a ground plan with a pillar in each corner that then supported the dome. Archaeological remains and literary evidence from Zend commentaries on the Avesta suggest that the sanctuary was surrounded by a passageway on all four sides. On a number of sites the gombad, made usually of masonry with courses of stone, is all that survives
23.
Denkard
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The Dēnkard or Dēnkart is a 10th-century compendium of the Mazdaen Zoroastrian beliefs and customs. The Denkard is to an extent a Encyclopedia of Mazdaism and is a most valuable source of information on the religion. The Denkard is not itself considered scripture, accordingly, dēn-kart means religious acts or acts of religion. The ambiguity of -kart or -kard in the title reflects the orthography of Pahlavi writing, the individual chapters vary in age, style and authorship. Of these three books, only a portion of the third has survived, which de Menasce proposes is the result of a transmission through other persons. The first three books were edited by a certain Ādurbād of Ēmēdān of Baghdad, who is also the author of the remaining six books. The manuscript B that is the basis for most surviving copies and translations is dated 1659, of other copies only fragments survive. The Denkard originally contained nine books or volumes, called nasks, the first two and part of the third have not survived. However, the Denkard itself contains summaries of nasks from other compilations, such as Chihrdad from the Avesta, the natural divisions of the books are as follows, Books 3-5 are devoted to rational apologetics, book 4 to moral wisdom, and books 7-9 to exegetical theology. Book 3, with 420 chapters, represents almost half of the surviving texts, de Menasce observes that there must have been several different authors at work as the style and language of the collection is not uniform. The authors are however united in their polemic against the bad religions, the majority of the chapters in book 3 are short, of two or three pages apiece. The topics covered in detail, though rare, frequently also identify issues for which the Zoroastrians of the period were severely criticized, such as marriage to next-of-kin. The last chapter of book 3 deals with the legend of Alexanders destruction of the Avesta, although once considered to be a historical account, it is now accepted that the Avesta was not written before the 1st century CE, and even more likely, not before the 4th. Book 4, the shortest volume in the collection, deals primarily with the arts, Book 4 also contains an enumeration of works from Greece and India, and reveals foreign influence from the 3rd century onward. The last chapter of Book 4 ends with a chapter explaining the necessity for practicing good thoughts, words and deeds, Book 5 deals specifically with queries from adherents of other faiths. The first half of Book 5, titled the Book of Daylamite, is addressed to a Muslim, one Yaqub son of Khaled, a large part of this section is summary of the history of the world up to the advent of Zoroaster and the impact of his revelations. The history is then followed by a summary of the tenets of the faith, the second half of Book 5 is a series of 33 responses to questions posed by a certain Boxt-Mara, a Christian. Thirteen responses address objections raised by Boxt-Mara on issues of ritual purity, the bulk of the remaining material deals with free will and the efficacy of good thoughts, words and deeds as a means to battle evil
24.
Bundahishn
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Bundahishn, meaning Primal Creation, is the name traditionally given to an encyclopædiaic collections of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology written in Book Pahlavi. The original name of the work is not known, although the Bundahishn draws on the Avesta and develops ideas alluded to in those texts, it is not itself scripture. The content reflects Zoroastrian scripture, which in turn reflects both ancient Zoroastrian and pre-Zoroastrian beliefs, in some cases, the text alludes to contingencies of post-7th century Islamic Iran, and yet in other cases reiterates scripture even though science had by then determined otherwise. The traditionally given name seems to be an adoption of the word from the first sentence of the younger of the two recensions. Most of the chapters of the date to the 8th and 9th centuries, roughly contemporary with the oldest portions of the Denkard. The later chapters are several centuries younger than the oldest ones, the oldest existing copy dates to the mid-16th century. The Bundahishn survives in two recensions, a shorter was found in India, and is thus known as the Lesser Bundahishn, or Indian Bundahishn. A copy of this version was brought to Europe by Abraham Anquetil-Duperron in 1762, a longer version was brought to India from Iran by T. D. Anklesaria around 1870, and is thus known as the Greater Bundahishn or Iranian Bundahishn or just Bundahishn. The greater recension is about twice as long as the lesser, the two recensions derive from different manuscript traditions, and in the portions available in both sources, vary in content. The greater recension is also the older of the two, and was dated by West to around 1540, the lesser recension dates from about 1734. Traditionally, chapter-verse pointers are in Arabic numerals for the lesser recension, the two series are not synchronous since the lesser recension was analyzed before the extent of the greater recension was known. The chapter order is also different, the Bundahishn is the concise view of the Zoroastrianisms creation myth, and of the first battles of the forces of Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu for the hegemony of the world. According to the text, in the first 3,000 years of the year, Ahura Mazda created the Fravashis. He used the insensible and motionless Void as a weapon against Angra Mainyu, the Bundahishn finally recounts the creation of the primordial bovine, Ewagdad, and Gayomard, the primordial human. Following MacKenzie, the chapter names in quotation marks reflect the original titles. Those without quotation marks are summaries of chapters that have no title, the chapter/section numbering scheme is based on that of B. T. Anklesaria for the greater recension, and that of West for the lesser recension, excerpt from Chapter 2, - On the formation of the luminaries. Ohrmazd produced illumination between the sky and the earth, the stars and those also not of the constellations, then the moon
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Jamasp Namag
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The Jamasp Nameh is a Middle Persian book of revelations. In an extended sense, it is also a source on Zoroastrian doctrine. The work is known as the Ayādgār ī Jāmāspīg or Ayātkār-ī Jāmāspīk. The text takes the form of a series of questions and answers between Vishtasp and Jamasp, both of whom were amongst Zoroasters immediate and closest disciples, Vishtasp was the princely protector and patron of Zoroaster while Jamasp was a nobleman at Vishtasps court. Both are figures mentioned in the Gathas, the oldest hymns of Zoroastrianism, here there occurs a striking theological statement, that Ohrmazd’s creation of the six Amašaspands was like lamps being lit one from another, none being diminished thereby. The question-answer series is a literary technique in Zoroastrian literature. In the past, and among Zoroastrians themselves, this technique was frequently misunderstood to be an indication of a first hand account. The text has survived in three forms, a Pahlavi manuscript, that is, a rendering of the Middle Persian language using an Aramaic-derived script, the Pahlavi manuscript is damaged and fragmented. A transmission in Pazand, that is, a rendering of the Middle Persian language using Avestan script, the Pazend version has survived in its entirety. A Modern Persian translation in Arabic script has also survived and it is slightly younger than the other two manuscripts. The Dēnkard, a 10th-century compendium of the Zoroastrian beliefs and customs, the Bundahishn, a Zoroastrian account of Mazdaen cosmogony and cosmology. The Ayadgar-i Zariran, a Zoroastrian epic story Frashokereti, Zoroastrian eschatology Boyce, BSOS6, 1930–32, pp. 56–68 Bailey, H. W. BSOS6, pp. 581–600 Olsson, Tord, apocalypticism in the Mediterranean World and the Near East
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Qissa-i Sanjan
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The Story of Sanjan is an account of the early years of Zoroastrian settlers on the Indian subcontinent. The account begins in Greater Khorasan, and narrates the travel of the emigrants to Gujarat, the first chapter, which is the longest, ends with the establishment of a Fire Temple at Sanjan, and the later dispersion of their descendants. In later chapters, the Qissa narrates the success in repelling Islamic invaders, then the failure in the same, the account closes with a chapter on the conveyance of the Fire of the Warharan to Navsari. In its conclusion, the story is signed by a Parsi priest named Bahman Kaikobad, the date of authorship is recorded as 969 YZ - several centuries after the described events are thought to have occurred. The account is in verse, in the highly verbose style common to Persian poetry, the Kisseh-i Sanjan, as Abraham Anquetil-Duperron transliterated the name, became available to European scholarship in 1771, when Duperron published a French translation. However, it was not until the beginning of the 20th century that the poem attracted widespread attention, quotations in the following section are from an English language translation by Shahpurshah Hormasji Hodivala, published in 1920. The first chapter of the narrative begins with the fall of the Sassanid Empire in 642CE, the subsequent persecution of Zoroastrians led to the dispersion of the people of good faith, and ultimately the Zoroastrians departure from Greater Khorasan. The refugees first made for a port city near Bushire. From there they sailed for Hindustan, the territories of the Indian subcontinent. They landed on the Island of Div, in southern Saurashtra, from Div, they sailed along the coast, weathered a severe storm at sea, and finally landed in Gujarat. Some accounts state that about 18,000 Parsis came in seven junks, five of them landing in Div, one at Variav near Surat, there, they approached the local Hindu king, Jadi Rana, and requested asylum. Having been granted asylum, the established the settlement of Sanjan. Some time thereafter, the priests of the community approached the king with a request to establish a Fire Temple. Their wish was granted, and a temple was installed and consecrated. The Fire is subsequently referred to in the story as the Fire of Warharan, the narrative then glosses over the next five or seven centuries. At the end of the first chapter, many of the descendants of the settlers are said to have dispersed in all directions. In the subsequent three chapters, the account narrates the invasion by Islamic troops, at first, with the assistance of the Zoroastrians, the invaders are repelled. In the battle on the day, Fortune turned its face
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Chinvat Bridge
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The Chinvat Bridge or the Bridge of the Requiter in Zoroastrianism is the sifting bridge which separates the world of the living from the world of the dead. All souls must cross the bridge upon death, the bridge is guarded by two four-eyed dogs. A related myth is that of Yama, the Hindu ruler of Hell who watches the gates of Hell with his two four-eyed dogs, the Bridges appearance varies depending on the observers asha, or righteousness. Those souls that cross the bridge are united with Ahura Mazda. Often, the Chinvat Bridge is identified with the rainbow, or with the Milky Way galaxy, however, other scholars such as C. F. Keary and Ferdinand Justi disagree with interpretation, citing descriptions of the Chinvat Bridge as straight upward. Three divinities are thought to be guardians of the Chinvat Bridge, Sraosha, Mithra, alternate names for this bridge include Chinwad, Cinvat, Chinvar or Chinavat. The concept of the Chinvat bridge is similar to that of the As-Sirāt in Islam, in the 71st chapter of the Avestan text, the Yasna, there is a description of the Chinvat Bridge. The Vendidad also describes the Chinvat Bridge in fargard 19, dimitris Lyacoss second part of the trilogy Poena Damni With the People from the Bridge alludes to the Chinvat Bridge. In the book a bridge functions as part of the setting of a makeshift performance, american poet Charles Olson references the Chinvat Bridge in his epic, The Maximus Poems, a work which deals with Avestan mythology, among numerous others. Representations of bridges on early medieval Sogdian funerary couches have been identified as the Chinvat Bridge. The most notable of these appears on the east wall of the couch of the sabao Wirkak excavated at Xian. As-Sirāt Bifröst Vaitarna River Zoroastrian eschatology
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Zurvanism
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Zurvanism is a now-extinct branch of Zoroastrianism in which the divinity Zurvan is a First Principle who engendered equal-but-opposite twins, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. In Zurvanism, Zurvan was perceived as the god of infinite time, Zurvan was portrayed as a transcendental and neutral god, without passion, and one for whom there was no distinction between good or evil. The name Zurvan is a rendition of the word, which in Middle Persian appears as either Zurvān, Zruvān or Zarvān. The Middle Persian name derives from Avestan zruvan-, time, which is grammatically without gender, Zurvanism enjoyed royal sanction during the Sassanid era but no traces of it remain beyond the 10th century. Although Sassanid era Zurvanism was certainly influenced by Hellenic philosophy, the relationship between it and the Greek divinity of Time has not been conclusively established. The Avestan word zruvan is etymologically related to the late Sanskrit word sarva, meaning all, entire, the earliest evidence of the cult of Zurvan is found in the History of Theology, attributed to Eudemus of Rhodes. The principal evidence for Zurvanite doctrine in the polemical Christian tracts of Armenian, the post-Sassanid Zoroastrian Middle Persian commentaries are primarily Mazdean and with only one exception do not mention Zurvan at all. Of the remaining so-called Pahlavi texts only two, the Mēnōg-i Khrad and the Selections of Zatspram reveal a Zurvanite tendency. The latter, in which the priest Zatspram chastises his brother’s un-Mazdaean ideas, is the last text in Middle Persian that provides any evidence of the cult of Zurvan. The 13th century Zoroastrian Ulema-i Islam, a New Persian apologetic text, is unambiguously Zurvanite and is also the last direct evidence of Zurvan as a First Principle. There is no hint of any worship of Zurvan in any of the texts of the Avesta, in the texts composed prior to the Sassanid period, Zurvan appears twice, as both an abstract concept and as a minor divinity, but there is no evidence of a cult. In Yasna 72.10 Zurvan is invoked in the company of Space and Air and in Yasht 13.56, the plants grow in the manner Time has ordained according to the will of Ahura Mazda and the Amesha Spentas. Two other references to Zurvan are also present in the Vendidad, Zurvan does not appear in any listing of the Yazatas. The origins of the cult of Zurvan remain debated, one view considers Zurvanism to have developed out of Zoroastrianism as a reaction to the liberalization of the late Achaemenid era form of the faith. Another view proposes that Zurvan existed as a divinity that was incorporated into Zoroastrianism. The third view is that Zurvanism is the product of the contact between Zoroastrianism and Babylonian-Akkadian religions and it is however not known whether Sassanid era Zurvanism and Mazdaism were separate sects, each with their own organization and priesthood, or simply two tendencies within the same body. Following the fall of the Sassanid Empire in the 7th century, the former continued to exist but in an increasingly reduced state and by the 10th century the remaining Zoroastrians appear to have more closely followed the orthodoxy as found in the Pahlavi books. Why the cult of Zurvan vanished while Mazdaism did not remains an issue of scholarly debate, Zaehner is of the opinion that the Zurvanite priesthood had a strict orthodoxy which few could tolerate
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Zoroastrian calendar
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This article treats the reckoning of days, months and years in the calendar used by adherents of the Zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrian religious festivals are discussed elsewhere, but have a relationship to Nawruz. Three distinct versions of the calendar are currently in use by different Zoroastrian communities, english spellings follow this recommended usage. The forerunner of all modern Zoroastrian calendars is the used to reckon dates in the Persian Empire. In 539 BC, Persias rulers conquered Babylon, and soon afterwards – at least by the 4th century BC – adopted the Babylonian luni-solar calendar for civil purposes, the earliest Zoroastrian calendar follows the Babylonian in relating the seventh and other days of the month to Ahura Mazda. This Avestan calendar of 360 days required regular correction to keep it synchronised with the solar year, older research suggests the first intercalation took place in 309 BC. They therefore counted years of the era of Alexander, the Parthians, who succeeded the Seleucids, continued the Seleucid/Hellenic tradition. Mary Boyce has observed that contemporary scholars are divided on whether this 365-day calendar was in fact preceded by a 360-day calendar of Zoroastrian observances. A 365-day calendar, with largely identical to the Egyptian calendar, was introduced shortly after the conquest of Egypt by the Achaemenid ruler Cambyses. The five additional days were inserted after the twelfth month and these five days were named Gatha or Gah days, after the ancient Avesta hymns of the same name. In AD224, when the Babylonian calendar was replaced by the Zoroastrian,1 Frawardin, the older custom of counting regnal years from the monarchs coronation was reinstated. At this point the calendar was realigned with the seasons by delaying the epagemonai by eight months and this caused confusion, since the new year now fell five days earlier than before, and some people continued to observe the old date. After 46 years, with 1 Frawardin now on 19 September, another reform was implemented by Ardashirs grandson Hormazd I. In later years the population had observed the Gatha days, hormazds reform was to link the popular and official observance dates to form continual six-day feasts. Nawruz was an exception, the first and the days of the month were celebrated as different occasions. Lesser Nawruz was observed on 1 Frawardin,6 Frawardin became Greater Nawruz, a day of special festivity. Mary Boyce has argued that sometime between AD399 and AD518 the six-day festivals were compressed to five days, the major feasts, or gahambars, of contemporary Zoroastrian practice, are still kept as five-day observances today. By the reign of Yazdegird III, the celebrations were again somewhat adrift with respect to their proper seasons
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Zoroastrian festivals
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Zoroastrianism has numerous festivals and holy days, all of which are bound to the Zoroastrian calendar. The Shahenshahi and Kadmi variants of the calendar do not intercalcate leap years, the third variant of the Zoroastrian calendar, known as either Fasli or Bastani, intercalcates according to Gregorian calendar rules and thus remains synchronous with the seasons. For details on the differences, see Zoroastrian calendar, six irregularly-spaced seasonal festivals, called gahanbars, are celebrated during the religious year. The six festivals are associated with the six primordial creations of Ahura Mazda, otherwise known as the Amesha Spentas. The six festivals are, Maidyozarem Gahanbar, originally celebrated as a mid-spring festival, maidyoshahem Gahanbar, originally celebrated on the summer solstice. Paitishahem Gahanbar, originally celebrated as a harvest festival, ayathrem Gahanbar, originally celebrated at the end of autumn. Maidyarem Gahanbar, originally celebrated on the winter solstice and this gagambar is not a seasonal festival in the technical sense, but rather commemorates the souls of the dead at the end of the religious year. It is better known as frawardigan, in the present-day, each of these festivals is celebrated over five days, except Hamaspathmaidyem Gahambar which is held over ten days. Originally, these festivals were celebrated on one day each. The Zoroastrian calendar was originally a 360-day luni-solar calendar, and also without intercalation, with the result that the seasons and these apparently caused some confusion, and at some point the old and new festival days were joined together as six-day-long observations. However, following the collapse of the Sassanian state, after which Zoroastrianism had no authority to govern intercalation. As a result, in living Zoroastrianism, the Gahanbar are again no longer synchronous with the seasons, there are fifteen name-day feasts in a Zoroastrian religious year. Each of these feasts is held on the day on which the day-of-the-month/month-of-the-year dedications to a yazata intersect, eleven of these intersections are dedicated to individual yazatas, and four intersections are dedicated to Ahura Mazda. A special Yasna or Jashan service is held in honor of the respective yazata on those day/month intersections. Four of the feasts are dedicated to Dae Creator, who has the tenth month of the year plus four days per month dedicated to Him. Accordingly, the 1st, 8th, 15th, 23rd day of the month are each feast-days of Ahura Mazda. Six of the Jashan days are dedicated to the six Ameshaspands and these six days are respectively, Jashan of Bahman, celebrating animal creation. 2nd day of the 11th month Jashan of Ardavisht, celebrating fire, 3rd day of the 2nd month Jashan of Shahrevar, celebrating metals and minerals
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Zoroastrian wedding
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Zoroastrian weddings are a religious ceremony in Zoroastrianism in which two individuals, a man and a woman are united. In Zoroastrianism, marriage within the community is encouraged, and is favored in religious texts. In the Avesta, manhood and womanhood are gained at the age of 15, however, in India, the threshold for marriage is set by the Parsi Marriage and Divorce Act,1936 which states the threshold at 21 for males and 18 for females. If either of the parties are below the age given in the act. Traditionally marriages are arranged by the parents with the consent of the children, in recent times however, it is not uncommon for this system to be reversed, with the parents consulted about a decision made by the marrying parties. Ceremonies exist which are observed prior to the marriage and they will be most likely spread over several days. Ceremonies vary, and not all the rites described below may be observed in one wedding, other customs may also be included. It is upon this betrothal that the bride takes the name of her husband and this betrothal is often performed quickly after a marriage is arranged. Two lamps are lit, one in each of the homes of the marrying parties, once again the ladies travel to the home of the other party and place a silver coin upon the lamp. It is at this occasion that formal gifts are exchanged and this includes the exchange of wedding rings. The third day before the wedding, is regarded as the day for gift exchanging, on this day the grooms family visits the brides home to present her with all the gifts like clothes and jewelry. The ritual is known as Adarni, the bride herself may also go over to the grooms home for this tradition but the groom cannot do the same. The relatives, neighbors and friends are treated to a meal of sev and dahi, boiled eggs. Auspicious days, such as new moon day or Hormazd, the first day of the Parsee month, are favoured for the wedding ceremony. The first day of these is known as mândav-saro, when a twig of a tree, generally a mango-tree, is planted near the door and this is followed by two Varadh-patra days when religious ceremonies in honour of the dead are performed. With the marriage ceremony occurring in the evening of the day the bride and bridegroom will have prior taken baths. The marriage must be performed in front of an assembly of witnesses, the ceremonial dress of the Parsees is the Jâmâ-pichhoir of which the bride wears a white variety, with the bridegroom sporting the mark of a Kunkun on his forehead. A few hours before the ceremony a procession forms carrying gifts to the bridegrooms house and it then turns to the house of the bride where, typically, the marriage occurs
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Tower of Silence
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A Tower of Silence is a circular, raised structure built by Zoroastrians for excarnation – that is, for dead bodies to be exposed to carrion birds. Zoroastrian exposure of the dead is first attested in the mid-5th century BCE Histories of Herodotus, the doctrinal rationale for exposure is to avoid contact with earth or fire, both of which are considered sacred. One of the earliest literary descriptions of such a building appears in the late 9th-century Epistles of Manushchihr, another technical term that appears in the 9th/10th-century texts of Zoroastrian tradition is dakhmag, for any place for the dead. This Zoroastrian Middle Persian term is a borrowing from Avestan dakhma, of meaning but related to interment. In the Avesta, the term is pejorative and does not signify a construction of any kind, in the Iranian provinces of Yazd and Kerman, dakhma continues as deme or dema. Yet another term that appears in the 9th/10th-century texts is dagdah, the word also appears in later Zoroastrian texts of both India and Iran, but in 20th-century India came to signify the lowest grade of temple fire. In India the term came into use after a tower of silence was constructed on a hill of that name. The English language term Tower of Silence is a neologism attributed to Robert Murphy and this name is used in the English translation of Around the World on a Motorcycle by author Zoltan Sulkowsky, when he observed a sky-burial at one such tower in India. Zoroastrian tradition considers a body to be nasu, unclean. Specifically, the demon was believed to rush into the body and contaminate everything it came into contact with. To preclude the pollution of earth or fire, the bodies of the dead are placed atop a tower and so exposed to the sun, thus, putrefaction with all its concomitant evils. is most effectually prevented. Zoroastrian ritual exposure of the dead is first known of from the writings of the mid-5th century BCE Herodotus, in Herodotus account, the rites are said to have been secret, but were first performed after the body had been dragged around by a bird or dog. The corpse was embalmed with wax and laid in a trench. The tombs of the Achaemenid emperors at Naqsh-e Rustam and Pasargadae likewise suggest non-exposure, according to legend, Zoroaster is himself interred in a tomb at Balkh. Towers are a later invention, and are first documented in the early 9th century. The ritual customs surrounding that practice appear to date to the Sassanid era and they are known in detail from the supplement to the Sayest ne Sayest, the two Rivayat collections, and the two Saddars. The modern-day towers, which are uniform in their construction, have an almost flat roof. The roof is divided into three rings, the bodies of men are arranged around the outer ring, women in the second circle
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Frashokereti
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Frashokereti is the Avestan language term for the Zoroastrian doctrine of a final renovation of the universe, when evil will be destroyed, and everything else will be then in perfect unity with God. The name suggests making wonderful, excellent, thus, each human bears the responsibility for the fate of his own soul, and simultaneously shares in the responsibility for the fate of the world. On earth, the Saoshyant will bring about a resurrection of the dead in the bodies they had before they died and this is followed by a last judgment through ordeal. The yazatas Airyaman and Atar will melt the metal in the hills and mountains, and the molten metal will then flow across the earth like a river. All mankind—both the living and the resurrected dead—will be required to wade through that river, the river will then flow down to hell, where it will annihilate Angra Mainyu and the last vestiges of wickedness in the universe. The narrative continues with a projection of Ahura Mazda and the six Amesha Spentas solemnizing a final act of worship, the righteous will partake of the parahaoma, which will confer immortality upon them. Thereafter, humankind will become like the Amesha Spentas, living without food, without hunger or thirst, the material substance of the bodies will be so light as to cast no shadow. All humanity will speak a language and belong to a single nation without borders. All will share a single purpose and goal, joining with the divine for a perpetual exaltation of Gods glory, similarly, the host of divinities brought into existence by Mazda continue to have distinct existences, and there is no prophecy of their re-absorption into the Godhead. Kali Yuga Apocatastasis Last judgment Millenarianism Resurrection of the dead Saoshyant Tikkun olam Boyce, a History of Zoroastrianism, Vol.1. 1996 as A History of Zoroastrianism, Vol 1, The Early Period, textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism. Millennialism, Eschatology, and Messianic figures in Iranian Tradition Boston University
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Zoroastrianism in India
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Zoroastrianism in India has significant history within the country. The Zoroastrian groups are regarded as either Parsi or Irani depending on the time of migration to India, during these conquests, buildings and books were destroyed. Due to this persecution, Zoroastrians became refugees in India, one of the conditions of their refugee status was that they would not partake in missionary activities or marry outside their community. During this period, Zoroastrian traders faced execution outside India, including in China where many were killed during the Guangzhou massacre, the immigration of Zoroastrians to India continued, and by 1477 they had lost all contact with Persia. Not until three hundred years had passed would they come into contact, Zoroastrians also played a notable role during the freedom movements of India. Based on data from 2016, the Indian census counted 57,264 Zoroastrians in India, the previous figure of Zoroastrians in the diaspora, and on the results of the Indian census of 1981, which counted over 71,630 Zoroastrians. Independent estimates are that there are at least 100,000 Zoroastrians in India, the Zoroastrian community in India remains one of the most recognized groups, playing a part in various commercial sectors such as industry, movies, and politics. There are two major Zoroastrian communities in India, the word Parsi in the Persian language literally means Persian. Persian is the language of modern Iran, which is also known as Persia. The language is referred to as Farsi, because, after the Arab invasion of Persia, because of the absence of the P / G / Zh / Ch sounds in the Arabic language. Similarly, Babak Khorramdins first name, originally Papak, Young Father, the long presence of the Parsis in the Gujarat and Sindh areas of India distinguishes them from the smaller Zoroastrian Indian community of Iranis, who are more recent arrivals. The descendants of the immigrants of those times remain culturally and linguistically closer to the Zoroastrians of Iran, in particular to the Zoroastrians of Yazd, consequently, the Dari dialect of the Zoroastrians of those provinces may be heard among the Iranis. List of countries by Zoroastrian population Indo-Sasanians
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Zoroastrians in Iran
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Zoroastrians are the oldest religious community of Iran. Prior to the Islamization of Iran, which was preceded by the Muslim invasion, according to the countrys official census, there were 25,271 Zoroastrians within the country in 2011. There are no records from Zarathushtras time. The earliest surviving references to Zarathushtra are those of Greek writers from 1000 BC. Prophet Zoroaster and his first followers were proto-Indo-Iranians that lived between the Bronze Age and Iron Age, the name Za-rath-ush-tra also translates to a Divine Chariot that brought heavenly Light-Knowledge. The time of the Iranian peoples migration to Iran can be estimated through Assyrian records. Also, Herodotus recalled one of the Mede tribes to be called Magoi, better known as Magis, a known to have included many priests. By the time of the Median empire, Zoroastrianism is known to have well established in both the Pars region as well as in the Eastern regions. Persians led by Cyrus the Great soon established the second Iranian dynasty, however, it is clear that by the time of Darius the Great, the empire was clearly in favour of Zoroastrianism. It was also the capital of the Near East. One of the functions of Persepolis was to serve as the host of the ancient Zoroastrian festival. Therefore, every year representatives from each country under the rule of Persia would bring gifts to Persepolis to show their loyalty to the king, the Sassanid dynasty was the first Persian empire which declared Zoroastrianism as the state religion and promoted the religion more than ever. It is believed that Avesta was first gathered and put together at this time, the Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in the Battle of Avarayr, making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Persian Church, Mani was received kindly by king Shapur I and spent many years at his court where he was protected during all of Shabuhrs reign. Zurvanism enjoyed royal sanction during the Sassanid era but no traces of it remain beyond the 10th century, unlike Mazdean Zoroastrianism, Zurvanism considered Ahura Mazda not the transcendental Creator, but one of two equal-but-opposite divinities under the supremacy of Zurvan. The central Zurvanite belief made Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu twin brothers that had co-existed for all time, non-Zoroastrian accounts of typically Zurvanite beliefs were the first traces of Zoroastrianism to reach the west, which misled European scholars to conclude that Zoroastrianism was a dualist faith. The Zoroastrian cult of Zurvan should not be confused with the Manichaeisms use of the name Zurvan in Middle Persian texts to represent the Manichean deity of light, Mani had himself introduced this practice in his Shapurgan, which he dedicated to his patron Shapur II. For much of the rest of the Sassanid era, the Manichaens were a persecuted minority, the three great sacred fires of Persia at the time of the Sassanids were the Adur Farnbag, Adur Gushnasp and the Adur Burzen-Mihr which burnt in Pars, Media and Parthia respectively
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Parsi
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Parsi /ˈpɑːrsiː/ is one of two Zoroastrian communities majorly located in India and few in Pakistan. At the time of the Arab conquest of Persia, the dominant religion of the region was Zoroastrianism, Iranians rebelled against Arab invaders for almost 200 years, in Iran this period is now known as the Two Centuries of Silence or Period of Silence. During this time many Iranians who are now called Parsi chose to preserve their religious identity by fleeing from Iran to India, the word پارسیان, pronounced Parsian, i. e. Parsi in the Persian language, literally means Persian. Persian is the language of modern Iran, which was formerly known as Persia, and the Persian languages endonym is Farsi. According to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Parsi, also spelled Parsee, the Parsis, whose name means Persians, are descended from Persian Zoroastrians who emigrated to India to avoid religious persecution by the Muslims. They live chiefly in Mumbai and in a few towns and villages mostly to the South of Mumbai, there is a sizeable Parsee population in Pune as well in Hyderbad. A few Parsee families also reside in Kolkata and Chennai, although they are not, strictly speaking, a caste, since they are not Hindus, they form a well-defined community. The exact date of the Parsi migration is unknown, according to tradition, the Parsis initially settled at Hormuz on the Persian Gulf, but finding themselves still persecuted they set sail for India, arriving in the 8th century. The migration may in fact have taken place as late as the 10th century and they settled first at Diu in Kathiawar but soon moved to south Gujarāt, where they remained for about 800 years as a small agricultural community. The term Pārsi, which in the Persian language is a demonym meaning inhabitant of Pārs, until that time, such texts consistently use the Persian-origin terms Zartoshti Zoroastrian or Vehdin the good religion. The 12th-century Sixteen Shlokas, a Sanskrit text in praise of the Parsis, is the earliest attested use of the term as an identifier for Indian Zoroastrians. The first reference to the Parsis in a European language is from 1322, subsequently, the term appears in the journals of many European travelers, first French and Portuguese, later English, all of whom used a Europeanized version of an apparently local language term. For example, Portuguese physician Garcia de Orta observed in 1563 that there are merchants and we Portuguese call them Jews, but they are not so. In an early 20th-century legal ruling, Justices Davar and Beaman asserted that Parsi was also a used in Iran to refer to Zoroastrians. In any case, the term Parsi itself is not necessarily an indication of their Iranian or Persian origin, moreover, if heredity were the only factor in a determination of ethnicity, the Parsis would count as Parthians according to the Qissa-i Sanjan. Zoroaster taught that good and evil were opposite forces and that it was a duty to make a choice between the two. The two paths are of asha or righteousness and of druj, the lie, Good is represented by Ahura Mazda and evil by Angra Mainyu. The Zoroastrian holy book, called the Avesta, was written in the Avestan language, the Qissa-i Sanjan is a tale of the journey of the Parsis to India from Iran
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Religion in the United States
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Religion in the United States is characterized by a diversity of religious beliefs and practices. Various religious faiths have flourished within the United States, a majority of Americans report that religion plays a very important role in their lives, a proportion unique among developed countries. Historically, the United States has always marked by religious pluralism and diversity. In colonial times, Anglicans, Roman Catholics and mainline Protestants, as well as Jews, Eastern Orthodoxy has been present since the Russian colonization of Alaska. Various dissenting Protestants, who left the Church of England, greatly diversified the religious landscape, the Great Awakenings gave birth to multiple Evangelical Protestant denominations, membership in Methodist and Baptist churches increased drastically in the Second Great Awakening. In the 18th century, deism found support among American upper classes, the Episcopal Church, splitting from the Church of England, came into being in the American Revolution. Pentecostalism emerged in the early 20th century as a result of the Azusa Street Revival, Unitarian Universalism resulted from the merge of Unitarian and Universalist churches in the 20th century. Beginning in 1990s, the share of Christians is decreasing due to secularization, while Buddhism, Hinduism, Islam. Protestantism, historically dominant, ceased to be the category of the majority in the early 2010s. The majority of Americans identify themselves as Christians, while close to a claim no religious affiliation. The same study says that other religions make up about 6% of the population. According to a 2012 survey by the Pew forum,36 percent of Americans state that they attend services every week or more. From early colonial days, when some English and German settlers came in search of religious freedom and that influence continues in American culture, social life, and politics. It guarantees the free exercise of religion while also preventing the government from establishing a state religion, however the states were not bound by the provision and as late as the 1830s Massachusetts provided tax money to local Congregational churches. The Supreme Court since the 1940s has interpreted the Fourteenth Amendment as applying the First Amendment to the state and local governments. President John Adams and a unanimous Senate endorsed the Treaty of Tripoli in 1797 that stated, the survey report stated that the results showed America having a greater similarity to developing nations than to other wealthy nations, where religion plays a minor role. In 1963, 90% of Americans claimed to be Christians while only 2% professed no religious identity, in 2014, the percentage of Christians was closer to 70% with close to 23% claiming no religious identity. The United States federal government was the first national government to have no official state-endorsed religion, however, some states had established religions in some form until the 1830s
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Irani (India)
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The Irani are an ethno-religious community in South Asia, they belong to the Zoroastrians who emigrated from Iran to South Asia in the 19th century. The Parsis and Iranis are considered legally distinct, a 1909 obiter dictum relating to the Indian Zoroastrians, also observed that Iranis were not obliged to uphold the decisions of the then regulatory Parsi Panchayat. At the time, Iran was ruled by the Qajars and religious persecution of Zoroastrians was widespread, the descendants of those immigrants remain culturally and linguistically closer to the Zoroastrians of Iran, in particular to the Zoroastrians of Yazd and Kerman, than to Parsis in India or Pakistan. Consequently, many Iranis still speak the Dari dialect of the Zoroastrians of those provinces, as is also the case for the Parsis, the Iranis predominately settled the west-coast of India, in the states of Gujarat and Maharashtra. A concentration of their live in and around the city of Mumbai. Irani is the surname for the community. Some families have adopted surnames related to their hometowns in Iran, such as Kermani, Yezdani, Khosravi, Faroodi
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Persecution of Zoroastrians
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Persecution of Zoroastrians is the religious persecution inflicted upon the followers of the Zoroastrian faith. The persecution of Zoroastrians occurred throughout its history, the discrimination and harassment began in the form of sparse violence and forced conversions. Muslims are recorded to have destroyed fire temples, Zoroastrians living under Muslim rule were required to pay a tax called Jizya. Zoroastrian places of worship were desecrated, shrines were destroyed and mosques built in their place, many libraries were burned and much cultural heritage was lost. Gradually there were increased number of laws regulating Zoroastrian behavior, limiting their ability to participate in society, over time, the persecution of Zoroastrians became more common and widespread, and the number of believers decreased by force significantly. Most were forced to convert due to the abuse and discrimination by followers of Islam. However, under the Samanids, who were Zoroastrian converts to Islam, on occasion, the Zoroastrian clergy assisted Muslims against those who they deemed Zoroastrian heretics. Zoroastrians and the Jewish communities in pre Islamic Persia coexisted peacefully for hundreds of years before the Arab invasion and this is also reflected in some of the later books of the Old Testament. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of four pre-Islamic Persian empires. The Arab invasion abruptly brought to an end the domination of Zoroastrianism in Persia. After the Muslim conquest of Persia, Zoroastrians were given dhimmi status and subjected to persecutions, discrimination and those paying Jizya were subjected to insults and humiliation by the tax collectors. Zoroastrians who were captured as slaves in wars were given their freedom if they converted to Islam, many fire temples, with their four axial arch openings, were usually turned into mosques simply by setting a mihrab on the place of the arch nearest to qibla. Zoroastrian temples converted into mosques in such a manner could be found in Bukhara, as well as in and near Istakhr and other Persian cities. Urban cities where Arab governors made their quarters were most vulnerable to such persecution, great fire temples were turned into mosques. Many libraries were burnt and much cultural heritage was lost, over time, persecution of Zoroastrians became more common and widespread, and the number of believers decreased significantly. Many converted, some superficially, to escape the systematic abuse, others accepted Islam because their employment in industrial and artisan work would, according to Zoroastrian dogma, make them impure as their work involved defiling fire. According to Thomas Walker Arnold, Muslim missionaries did not encounter difficulty in explaining Islamic tenants to Zoroastrians, according to Arnold, for the Persian, he would meet Ahura Mazda and Ahriman under the names of Allah and Iblis. Once a Zoroastrian family converted to Islam, the children had to go to Muslim religion school and learn Arabic and the teachings of the Quran and these factors continued to contribute to increasing rates of conversion from Zoroastrianism to Islam
40.
Avestan
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The Yaz culture of Bactria-Margiana has been regarded as a likely archaeological reflection of the early Eastern Iranian culture described in the Avesta. Avestans status as a language has ensured its continuing use for new compositions long after the language had ceased to be a living language. It is closely related to Vedic Sanskrit, the oldest preserved Indo-Aryan language, Avestan, which is associated with northeastern Iran, and Old Persian, which belongs to the southwest, together constitute what is called Old Iranian. The Old Iranian language group is a branch of the Indo-Iranian language group, Iranian languages are traditionally classified as eastern or western, and within this framework Avestan is classified as eastern. But this distinction is of limited meaning for Avestan, as the developments that later distinguish Eastern from Western Iranian had not yet occurred. Avestan does not display some typical Western Iranian innovations already visible in Old Persian, Old Avestan is closely related to Old Persian and also in some extent close in nature to Vedic Sanskrit. It is believed that it might be close to a dialect of Pashto as well. The Avestan language is attested in two forms, known as Old Avestan and Younger Avestan. Younger Avestan did not evolve from Old Avestan, the two not only in time, but are also different dialects. Every Avestan text, regardless of whether originally composed in Old or Younger Avestan, Karl Hoffmann traced the following stages for Avestan as found in the extant texts. In roughly chronological order, The natural language of the composers of the Gathas, the Yasna Haptanghaiti, the script used for writing Avestan developed during the 3rd or 4th century AD. By then the language had been extinct for centuries. As is still the case today, the liturgies were memorized by the priesthood, the script devised to render Avestan was natively known as Din dabireh religion writing. It has 53 distinct characters and is written right-to-left and these symbols, like those of all the Pahlavi scripts, are in turn based on Aramaic script symbols. Avestan also incorporates several letters from other writing systems, most notably the vowels, a few letters were free inventions, as were also the symbols used for punctuation. Also, the Avestan alphabet has one letter that has no corresponding sound in the Avestan language, Avestan script is alphabetic, and the large number of letters suggests that its design was due to the need to render the orally recited texts with high phonetic precision. The correct enunciation of the liturgies was considered necessary for the prayers to be effective, the Zoroastrians of India, who represent one of the largest surviving Zoroastrian communities worldwide, also transcribe Avestan in Brahmi-based scripts. Today, Avestan is most commonly typeset in Gujarati script, some Avestan letters with no corresponding symbol are synthesized with additional diacritical marks, for example, the /z/ in zaraϑuštra is written with j with a dot below
41.
Zagros Mountains
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The Zagros Mountains form the largest mountain range in Iran, Iraq and southeastern Turkey. This mountain range has a length of 1,500 km. The highest point in the Zagros Mountains is Dena, the Zagros fold and thrust belt was formed by collision of two tectonic plates, the Eurasian Plate and the Arabian Plate. This collision primarily happened during the Miocene and folded the rocks that had been deposited from the Carboniferous to the Miocene in the geosyncline in front of the Iranian Plate. The process of collision continues to the present and as the Arabian Plate is being pushed against the Eurasian Plate, the Zagros Mountains, a relatively dense GPS network which covered the Iranian Zagros also proves a high rate of deformation within the Zagros. The GPS results show that the current rate of shortening in the southeast Zagros is ~10 mm/yr, the north-south Kazerun strike-slip fault divides the Zagros into two distinct zones of deformation. The GPS results also show different shortening directions along the belt, normal shortening in the southeast, the sedimentary cover in the SE Zagros is deforming above a layer of rock salt whereas in the NW Zagros the salt layer is missing or is very thin. This different basal friction is partly responsible for the different topographies on either side of the Kazerun fault. Higher topography and narrower zone of deformation in the NW Zagros is observed whereas in the SE, deformation was spread more, stresses induced in the Earths crust by the collision caused extensive folding of the preexisting layered sedimentary rocks. Subsequent erosion removed softer rocks, such as mudstone and siltstone while leaving harder rocks, such as limestone and this differential erosion formed the linear ridges of the Zagros Mountains. The depositional environment and tectonic history of the rocks were conducive to the formation and trapping of petroleum, salt domes and salt glaciers are a common feature of the Zagros Mountains. Salt domes are an important target for exploration, as the impermeable salt frequently traps petroleum beneath other rock layers. The Zagros Mountains have a totally sedimentary origin and are primarily of limestone. In the Elevated Zagros or the Higher Zagros, the Paleozoic rocks could be found mainly in the upper and higher sections of the peaks of the Zagros Mountains along the Zagros main fault. On the both sides of this fault, there are Mesozoic rocks, a combination of Triassic and Jurassic rocks that are surrounded by Cretaceous rocks on the both sides. The Folded Zagros is formed mainly of Tertiary rocks, with the Paleogene rocks south of the Cretaceous rocks, the mountains are divided into many parallel sub-ranges, and orogenically have the same age as the Alps. Irans main oilfields lie in the central foothills of the Zagros mountain range. The southern ranges of the Fars Province have somewhat lower summits and they contain some limestone rocks showing abundant marine fossils
42.
Tamarix
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The genus Tamarix is composed of about 50–60 species of flowering plants in the family Tamaricaceae, native to drier areas of Eurasia and Africa. The generic name originated in Latin and may refer to the Tamaris River in Hispania Tarraconensis and they are evergreen or deciduous shrubs or trees growing to 1–18 m in height and forming dense thickets. The largest, Tamarix aphylla, is an tree that can grow to 18 m tall. They usually grow on soils, tolerating up to 15,000 ppm soluble salt. Tamarisks are characterized by slender branches and grey-green foliage, the bark of young branches is smooth and reddish brown. As the plants age, the bark becomes bluish-purple, ridged and furrowed, the leaves are scale-like, 1–2 mm long, and overlap each other along the stem. They are often encrusted with salt secretions, the pink to white flowers appear in dense masses on 5–10 cm long spikes at branch tips from March to September, though some species tend to flower during the winter. Tamarix can spread vegetatively, by adventitious roots or submerged stems, and sexually, by seeds. Each flower can produce thousands of seeds that are contained in a small capsule usually adorned with a tuft of hair that aids in wind dispersal. Seeds can also be dispersed by water, Seedlings require extended periods of soil saturation for establishment. Tamarisk trees are most often propagated by cuttings, Tamarix species are fire-adapted, and have long tap roots that allow them to intercept deep water tables and exploit natural water resources. The salt is washed away during heavy rains, Tamarix species are used as food plants by the larvae of some Lepidoptera species including Coleophora asthenella which feeds exclusively on T. africana. The tamarisk is used as a shrub, a windbreak. The wood may be used for carpentry or firewood and it is a possible agroforestry species. Plans are being made for the tamarisk to play a role in programs in China. Salt cedars can be planted to mine salts, then be used in the production of fuel, the tamarisk was introduced to the United States as an ornamental shrub, a windbreak, and a shade tree in the early 19th century. In the 1930s, during the Great Depression, tree-planting was used as a tool to fight soil erosion on the Great Plains, eight species are found in North America. The Athel tree is used for windbreaks on the edge of agricultural fields
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