Haurvatat
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Haurvatat
Etymologically, Avestan haurvatat derives from an
The Avestan language noun haurvatat is grammatically feminine and in scripture the divinity Haurvatat is a female entity. However, in tradition (K)Hordad was/is considered male; this development is attributed to the loss of grammatical gender in Middle Persian. In Isis and Osiris 46, Plutarch translates Haurvatat as Πλοῦτος ploutos "wealth, riches" and equates the divinity with "Plutus," the Greek god of riches.
Scripture
Gathas
Like the other
Already in the Gathas, Haurvatat is closely allied with Ameretat, the Amesha Spenta of "Immortality". Addressing Ahura Mazda in Yasna 34.11, the prophet Zoroaster exclaims that "both Wholeness and Immortality are for sustenance" in the Kingdom of God. In the same verse, as also in Yasna 45.10 and 51.7, parallels are drawn between Ameretat and Haurvatat on the one hand and "endurance and strength" on the other.
Younger Avesta
The relationship between Ameretat and Haurvatat is carries forward into the Younger Avesta (Yasna 1.2; 3.1; 4.1; 6.17; 7.26; 8.1 etc.; Yasht 1.15; 10.92). The Younger Avestan texts allude to their respective guardianships of plant life and water (comparable with the Gathic allusion to sustenence), but these identifications are only properly developed in later tradition (see below). These associations with also reflect the Zoroastrian cosmological model in which each of the Amesha Spentas is identified with one aspect of creation.
The antithetical counterpart of Haurvatat is demon (daeva) Tarshna "thirst," while Ameretat's is Shud "hunger." Ameretat and Haurvatat are the only two Amesha Spentas who are not already assigned an antithetical counterpart in the Gathas. In the eschatological framework of Yasht 1.25, Ameretat and Haurvatat represent the reward of the righteous after death (cf. Ashi and ashavan). Haurvatat and Ameretat will destroy the demons of hunger and thirst at the final renovation of the world (Yasht 19.95-96).
Unlike Ameretat, Haurvatat has a Yasht consecrated to her (Yasht 4), and is invoked as the protector of the seasons and years (Yasht 4.0, Siroza 1.6, 2.6). In Yasht 4.1, Haurvatat is described as having been created by
Tradition
Through the association with plants and water, Ameretat (MP: Amurdad) and Haurvatat (MP: Hordad) are consequently identified with food and drink (cf. sustenance in the Gathas, above), and traditionally it was out of respect for these two Amesha Spentas (MP: Ameshaspand) that meals were to be taken in silence. In Book of Arda Viraf 23.6–8, the righteous Viraz sees a man punished in hell "for consuming Hordad and Amurdad while unlawfully chattering while he chewed."
In the
In the hierarchy of
In the day-name and month-name dedications of the
Religiosity
Haurvatat-Ameretat (
Bibliography
- Boyce, Mary (1975), History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 1, Leiden: Brill, pp. 205–208
- Boyce, Mary (1983), "Amurdād", Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 1, New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul, pp. 997–998
- Dhalla, Maneckji N. (1938), History of Zoroastrianism, New York: OUP, pp. 171–172
- Panaino, Antonio (2004), "Hordād", Encyclopaedia Iranica, vol. 12, Costa Mesa: Mazda, archived from the original on 2007-10-06, retrieved 2007-07-20