Zoroastrianism

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Zoroastrianism
Universal religion
Classification	Iranian
Scripture	Avesta
Theology	Dualistic[1][2]
Language	Avestan
Founder	Zoroaster (traditional)
Origin	c. 2nd millennium BCE Iranian Plateau
Separated from	Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
Number of followers	100,000–200,000

Zoroastrianism, also known as Mazdayasna and Behdin, is an

With possible roots dating back to the 2nd millennium BCE—the Avestan period—the Zoroastrian religion enters recorded history around the middle of the 6th century BCE. For more than a millennium between c. 600 BCE and 650 CE, it served as the official religion of the ancient Iranian empires, beginning roughly around the time of the Achaemenid Empire and formally coming to an end with the Muslim conquest of Persia. The fall of the Sasanian Empire and the subsequent persecution of Zoroastrians by the early Muslims culminated in the decline of the religion as a whole. During this time, many Zoroastrians fled to the Indian subcontinent, where they were granted refuge by various kings. Recent estimates place the world's current Zoroastrian population at upwards of 110,000–120,000 people, with the majority of this figure residing in India, Iran, and North America; their number has been thought to be declining.

The most important texts of Zoroastrianism are those contained within the Avesta, which includes the Gathas—the central writings that are thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, serving as sacred hymns within Zoroastrian liturgy, known as the Yasna. Zoroastrianism and its holy book (The Avesta and its Commentary Known as Zand) are known to have changed over the centuries. The Avesta itself being "composed at different times, providing a series of snapshots of the religion that allow historians to see how it changed over time".^[5] Zoroaster's religious philosophy divided the early Iranian gods of

into Ahriman (𐭠𐭧𐭫𐭬𐭭𐭩), advancing him to be Ahura Mazda's direct adversary.

Additionally, the life force that originates from Ahura Mazda, known as Asha (truth, cosmic order), stands in opposition to Druj (falsehood, deceit). Ahura Mazda works in gētīg (the visible material realm) and mēnōg (the invisible spiritual and mental realm) through the seven (or six, when excluding Spenta Mainyu) Amesha Spentas.

Etymology

The name Zoroaster (Ζωροάστηρ) is a

The first surviving reference to Zoroaster in English scholarship is attributed to Thomas Browne (1605–1682), who briefly refers to Zoroaster in his 1643 Religio Medici.^[10] The term Mazdaism (/ˈmæzdə.ɪzəm/) is an alternative form in English used as well for the faith, taking Mazda- from the name Ahura Mazda and adding the suffix -ism to suggest a belief system.^[11]

Theology

Some scholars believe Zoroastrianism started as an Indo-Iranian polytheistic religion. Yujin Nagasawa says that "like the rest of the Zoroastrian texts, the Old Avesta does not teach monotheism".^[12] However Sayem describes Zoroastrianism as one of the oldest monotheistic religions in the world.^[13]

It is generally accepted that Zoroastrianism treats

Brian Arthur Brown states that this is unclear, because historic texts present a conflicting picture, ranging from Zoroastrianism's belief in "one god, two gods, or a best god henotheism".[16]

Mario Ferrero suggests that Zoroastrianism transitioned from polytheism to monotheism due to political and economic pressures.^[17]

In the 19th century, through contact with Western academics and missionaries, Zoroastrianism experienced a massive theological change that still affects it today. The

]

The arrival of the German orientalist and philologist Martin Haug led to a rallied defense of the faith through Haug's reinterpretation of the Avesta through Christianized and European orientalist lens. Haug postulated that Zoroastrianism was solely monotheistic with all other divinities reduced to the status of angels while Ahura Mazda became both omnipotent and the source of evil as well as good. Haug's thinking was subsequently disseminated as a Parsi interpretation, thus corroborating Haug's theory, and the idea became so popular that it is now almost universally accepted as doctrine (though being reevaluated in modern Zoroastrianism and academia).^[18] It has been argued by Almut Hintze that this designation of monotheism is not wholly perfect and that Zoroastrianism instead has its "own form of monotheism" which combines elements of dualism and polytheism.^[19] Farhang Mehr asserts that Zoroastrianism is princpally monotheistic with some dualistic elements.^[20]

Lenorant and Chevallier assert that Zoroastrianism's concept of divinity covers both being and mind as immanent entities, describing Zoroastrianism as having a belief in an immanent self-creating universe with consciousness as its special attribute, thereby putting Zoroastrianism in the pantheistic fold sharing its origin with Indian Hinduism.^[21][22]

Nature of the divine

Zoroastrianism contains multiple classes of divine beings, who are typically organised into tiers and spheres of influence.^{[citation needed]}

Ahuras

The Ahura are a class of divine beings "inherited by Zoroastrianism from the prehistoric Indo-Iranian religion. In the Rig Veda, asura denotes the “older gods,” such as the “Father Asura”.... Varuna, and Mitra, who originally ruled over the primeval undifferentiated Chaos."^[23]

Ahura Mazda

Ahura Mazda, also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ormazd, Ormusd, Hoormazd, Harzoo, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmz, is the creator deity and the supreme god in Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda stands for the dual deity Mitrāˊ-Váruṇā of the Hindu holy book known as the Rigveda.^[23]

According to scholars, Ahura Mazda is an uncreated, omniscient, omnipotent and benevolent God who has created the spiritual and material existences out of infinite light, and maintains the cosmic law of Asha. He is the first and most invoked spirit in Yasna, and is unrivaled, has no equals and presides over all creation.^[24] In Avesta, Ahura Mazda is the only true God, and the representation of goodness, light, and truth. He is in conflict with the evil spirit Angra Mainyu, the representation of evil, darkness, and deceit. Angru Mainyu's goal is to tempt humans away from Ahura Mazda. The belief in Ahura Mazda, the "Lord of Wisdom" who is considered an all-encompassing Deity and the only existing one, is the foundation of Zoroastrianism.^[25]

Ahura Mithra

Mitra, also called Mithra, was originally an Indo-Iranian god of "covenant, agreement, treaty, alliance, promise." Mitra is considered a being worthy of worship and is "characterized by riches".^[26]

Yazata

The

The origins of

Notable Yazata

• Ahura Mazda
• Mitra or Mithra
• Anahita - formerly an Iranian water goddess
• Ātar (Fire)
• Rashnu, one of the three judges who pass judgment on the souls of people after death
• Sraosha or Srōsh
• Verethragna - who may be the Vedic god Indra

Amesha Spentas

Yazatas are further divided into Amesha Spentas, their “ham-kar” or “Collaborators” who are Lower Ranking divinities,^[31] and also certain healing plants, primordial creatures, the fravashis of the dead, and certain prayers that are themselves considered holy.

The Amesha Spentas and their “ham-kar” or “collaborator” Yazatas are as follows:

• Vohu Manah + Mah / Geush Urvan / Ram;
• Asha Vahishta
  + Atar / Sraosha / Verethraghna;
• Khshathra Vairya + Khwar / Mithra / Asman / Anaghran;
• Spenta Armaiti + Ap / Daena / Ashi / Manthra Spenta;
• Haurvatat + Tishtriya / Fravashi / Vata;
• Ameretat + Rashnu / Arshtat / Zamyad; ^[32]

Principal beliefs

Tenets of faith

In Zoroastrianism,

Daena (din in modern Persian and meaning "that which is seen") is representative of the sum of one's spiritual conscience and attributes, which through one's choice Asha is either strengthened or weakened in the Daena.^[34] Traditionally, the manthras (similar to the Hindu sacred utterance mantra) prayer formulas, are believed to be of immense power and the vehicles of Asha and creation used to maintain good and fight evil.^[35] Daena should not be confused with the fundamental principle of Asha, believed to be the cosmic order which governs and permeates all existence, and the concept of which governed the life of the ancient Indo-Iranians. For these, asha was the course of everything observable—the motion of the planets and astral bodies; the progression of the seasons; and the pattern of daily nomadic herdsman life, governed by regular metronomic events such as sunrise and sunset, and was strengthened through truth-telling and following the Threefold Path.^[36]

All physical creation (getig) was thus determined to run according to a master plan—inherent to Ahura Mazda—and violations of the order (druj) were violations against creation, and thus violations against Ahura Mazda.^[37] This concept of asha versus the druj should not be confused with Western and especially Christian notions of good versus evil, for although both forms of opposition express moral conflict, the asha versus druj concept is more systemic and less personal, representing, for instance, chaos (that opposes order); or "uncreation", evident as natural decay (that opposes creation); or more simply "the lie" (that opposes truth and goodness).^[36] Moreover, in the role as the one uncreated creator of all, Ahura Mazda is not the creator of druj, which is "nothing", anti-creation, and thus (likewise) uncreated and developed as the antithesis of existence through choice.^[38]

Parsi

Wedding, 1905

In this

Humata, Huxta, Huvarshta (Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Deeds), the Threefold Path of Asha, is considered the core maxim of Zoroastrianism especially by modern practitioners. In Zoroastrianism, good transpires for those who do righteous deeds for its own sake, not for the search of reward. Those who do evil are said to be attacked and confused by the druj and are responsible for aligning themselves back to Asha by following this path.[40] There is also a heavy emphasis on spreading happiness, mostly through charity,^[41] and respecting the spiritual equality and duty of both men and women.^[42]

Central to Zoroastrianism is the emphasis on moral choice, to choose the responsibility and duty for which one is in the mortal world, or to give up this duty and so facilitate the work of druj. Similarly, predestination is rejected in Zoroastrian teaching and the absolute free will of all conscious beings is core, with even divine beings having the ability to choose. Humans bear responsibility for all situations they are in, and in the way they act toward one another. Reward, punishment, happiness, and grief all depend on how individuals live their lives.^[43]

In Zoroastrian tradition, life is a temporary state in which a mortal is expected to participate actively in the continuing battle between Asha and Druj. Prior to its incarnation at the birth of the child, the urvan (soul) of an individual is still united with its fravashi (personal/higher spirit), which has existed since Ahura Mazda created the universe. Prior to the splitting off of the urvan, the fravashi participates in the maintenance of creation led by Ahura Mazda. During the life of a given individual, the fravashi acts as a source of inspiration to perform good actions and as a spiritual protector. The fravashis of ancestors cultural, spiritual, and heroic, associated with illustrious bloodlines, are venerated and can be called upon to aid the living.^[44]

The religion states that active and ethical participation in life through good deeds formed from good thoughts and good words is necessary to ensure happiness and to keep chaos at bay. This active participation is a central element in Zoroaster's concept of

Zoroastrianism's emphasis on the protection and veneration of nature and its elements has led some to proclaim it as the "world's first proponent of ecology."[46] The Avesta and other texts call for the protection of water, earth, fire, and air making it, in effect, an ecological religion: "It is not surprising that Mazdaism…is called the first ecological religion. The reverence for Yazatas (divine spirits) emphasizes the preservation of nature (Avesta: Yasnas 1.19, 3.4, 16.9; Yashts 6.3–4, 10.13)."^[47] However, this particular assertion is limited to natural forces held as emanations of asha by the fact that early Zoroastrians had a duty to exterminate "evil" species, a dictate no longer followed in modern Zoroastrianism.^[48] Although there have been various theological statements supporting vegetarianism in Zoroastrianism's history and those who believe that Zoroaster was vegetarian.^[49]

Zoroastrianism is not entirely uniform in theological and philosophical thought, especially with historical and modern influences having a significant impact on individual and local beliefs, practices, values, and vocabulary, sometimes merging with tradition and in other cases displacing it.^[50] The ultimate purpose in the life of a practicing Zoroastrian is to become an ashavan (a master of Asha) and to bring happiness into the world, which contributes to the cosmic battle against evil. The core teachings of Zoroastrianism include:

• Following the threefold path of Asha: Humata, Hūxta, Huvarshta (lit. 'good thoughts, good words, good deeds').^[40]
• Practicing charity to keep one's soul aligned with Asha and thus with spreading happiness.^[41]
• The spiritual equality and duty of men and women alike.^[42]
• Being good for the sake of goodness and without the hope of reward (see Ashem Vohu).

Cosmology

Cosmogony

According to the Zoroastrian

the destructive spirit/mentality, existed in darkness and ignorance below. They have existed independently of each other for all time, and manifest contrary substances. In the Gathas, Ahura Mazda is noted as working through emanations known as the Amesha Spenta[54] and with the help of "other ahuras".^[18] These divine beings called Amesha Spentas, support him and are representative and guardians of different aspects of creation and the ideal personality.^[54] Ahura Mazda is immanent in humankind and interacts with creation through these bounteous/holy divinities. In addition to these, He is assisted by a league of countless divinities called Yazatas, meaning "worthy of worship." Each Yazata is generally a hypostasis of a moral or physical aspect of creation. Asha,^[7][36] is the main spiritual force which comes from Ahura Mazda.^[36] It is the cosmic order and is the antithesis of chaos, which is evident as druj, falsehood and disorder, that comes from Angra Mainyu.^[38][24] The resulting cosmic conflict involves all of creation, mental/spiritual and material, including humanity at its core, which has an active role to play in the conflict.^[55] The main representative of Asha in this conflict is Spenta Mainyu, the creative spirit/mentality.^[52] Ahura Mazda then created the material and visible world itself in order to ensnare evil. He created the floating, egg-shaped universe in two parts: first the spiritual (menog) and 3,000 years later, the physical (getig).^[37] Ahura Mazda then created Gayomard, the archetypical perfect man, and Gavaevodata, the primordial bovine.^[43]

While Ahura Mazda created the universe and humankind, Angra Mainyu, whose very nature is to destroy, miscreated demons, evil daevas, and noxious creatures (khrafstar) such as snakes, ants, and flies. Angra Mainyu created an opposite, evil being for each good being, except for humans, which he found he could not match. Angra Mainyu invaded the universe through the base of the sky, inflicting Gayomard and the bull with suffering and death. However, the evil forces were trapped in the universe and could not retreat. The dying primordial man and bovine emitted seeds, which were protect by

being resurrected to immortality.

Cosmography

Zoroastrian cosmography, which refers to the description of the structure of the cosmos in Zoroastrian literature and theology, involves a primary division of the cosmos into heaven and earth.^[59] The heaven is composed of three parts: the lower-most part, which is where the fixed stars may be found; the middle part, where the domain of the moon is located, and the upper part, which is the domain of the sun and unreachable by Ahirman.^[60] Further above the highest level of the heaven/sky includes regions described as the Endless Lights, as well as the Thrones of Amahraspandān and Ohrmazd.^[61] Although this is the basic framework which occurs in Avestan texts, later Zoroastrian literature would elaborate on this picture by further subdividing the lowest part of heaven to achieve a total of six or seven layers.^[62] The Earth itself was described as possessing three primary mountains: Mount Hukairiia, whose peak was the focal point of the revolution of the star Sadwēs; Mount Haraitī, whose peak was the focal point of the revolution of the sun and the moon, and the greatest of them all, the Harā Bərəz whose peak was located at the center of the Earth and which was the first in a chain of 2,244 mountains which, together, encircled the Earth.^[63] Although the planets are not described in early Zoroastrian sources, they entered Zoroastrian thought in the Middle Persian period: they were demonized and took on the names Anāhīd (Pahlavi for Venus), Tīr (Mercury), Wahrām (Mars), Ohrmazd (Jupiter), and Kēwān (Saturn).^[64]

Eschatology

Individual judgment at death is at the Chinvat Bridge ("bridge of judgement" or "bridge of choice"), which each human must cross, facing a spiritual judgment, though modern belief is split as to whether it is representative of a mental decision during life to choose between good and evil or an afterworld location. Humans' actions under their free will through choice determine the outcome. According to tradition, the soul is judged by the Yazatas Mithra, Sraosha, and Rashnu, where depending on the verdict one is either greeted at the bridge by a beautiful, sweet-smelling maiden or by an ugly, foul-smelling old hag representing their Daena affected by their actions in life. The maiden leads the dead safely across the bridge, which widens and becomes pleasant for the righteous, towards the House of Song. The hag leads the dead down a bridge that narrows to a razor's edge and is full of stench until the departed falls off into the abyss towards the House of Lies.^[43][65] Those with a balance of good and evil go to Hamistagan, a purgatorial realm mentioned in the 9th century work Dadestan-i Denig.^[66]

The House of Lies is considered temporary and reformative; punishments fit the crimes, and souls do not rest in eternal damnation. Hell contains foul smells and evil food, a smothering darkness, and souls are packed tightly together although they believe they are in total isolation.^[43]

In ancient

According to legend, the final savior of the world, known as the Saoshyant, will be born to a virgin impregnated by the seed of Zoroaster while bathing in a lake. The Saoshyant will raise the dead—including those in all afterworlds—for final judgment, returning the wicked to hell to be purged of bodily sin. Next, all will wade through a river of molten metal in which the righteous will not burn but through which the impure will be completely purified. The forces of good will ultimately triumph over evil, rendering it forever impotent but not destroyed. The Saoshyant and Ahura Mazda will offer a bull as a final sacrifice for all time and all humans will become immortal. Mountains will again flatten and valleys will rise; the House of Song will descend to the moon, and the earth will rise to meet them both.^[43] Humanity will require two judgments because there are as many aspects to our being: spiritual (menog) and physical (getig).^[43]

Practices and rituals

Throughout Zoroastrian history, shrines and

The incorporation of cultural and local rituals is quite common and traditions have been passed down in historically Zoroastrian communities such as herbal healing practices, wedding ceremonies, and the like.

In Zoroastrianism, water (aban) and fire (atar) are agents of ritual purity, and the associated purification ceremonies are considered the basis of ritual life. In Zoroastrian cosmogony, water and fire are respectively the second and last primordial elements to have been created, and scripture considers fire to have its origin in the waters (re. which conception see Apam Napat).

A corpse is considered a host for decay, i.e., of druj. Consequently, scripture enjoins the safe disposal of the dead in a manner such that a corpse does not pollute the good creation. These injunctions are the doctrinal basis of the fast-fading traditional practice of ritual exposure, most commonly identified with the so-called Towers of Silence for which there is no standard technical term in either scripture or tradition. Ritual exposure is currently mainly practiced by Zoroastrian communities of the Indian subcontinent, in locations where it is not illegal and diclofenac poisoning has not led to the virtual extinction of scavenger birds.^{[citation needed]}

The central ritual of Zoroastrianism is the Yasna, which is a recitation of the eponymous book of the Avesta and sacrificial ritual ceremony involving Haoma.^[77] Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern Zoroastrianism.^[78][79] The Yasna itself descended from Indo-Iranian sacrificial ceremonies and animal sacrifice of varying degrees are mentioned in the Avesta and are still practiced in Zoroastrianism albeit through reduced forms such as the sacrifice of fat before meals.^[80] High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be the purview of the Mobads with a corpus of individual and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta.^[77][81]

A Zoroastrian is welcomed into the faith through the Navjote/Sedreh Pushi ceremony, which is traditionally conducted during the later childhood or pre-teen years of the aspirant, though there is no defined age limit for the ritual.^[35][82] After the ceremony, Zoroastrians are encouraged to wear their sedreh (ritual shirt) and kusti (ritual girdle) daily as a spiritual reminder and for mystical protection, though reformist Zoroastrians tend to only wear them during festivals, ceremonies, and prayers.^[83][35][82]

Historically, Zoroastrians are encouraged to pray the five daily Gāhs and to maintain and celebrate the various holy festivals of the Zoroastrian calendar, which can differ from community to community.^[84][85] Zoroastrian prayers, called manthras, are conducted usually with hands outstretched in imitation of Zoroaster's prayer style described in the Gathas and are of a reflectionary and supplicant nature believed to be endowed with the ability to banish evil.^[86][87][56] Devout Zoroastrians are known to cover their heads during prayer, either with traditional topi, scarves, other headwear, or even just their hands. However, full coverage and veiling which is traditional in Islamic practice is not a part of Zoroastrianism and Zoroastrian women in Iran wear their head coverings displaying hair and their faces to defy mandates by the Islamic Republic of Iran.^[88]

Scripture

Avesta

The Avesta is a collection of the central religious texts of Zoroastrianism written in the old Iranian dialect of Avestan. The history of the Avesta is speculated upon in many Pahlavi texts with varying degrees of authority, with the current version of the Avesta dating at oldest from the times of the Sasanian Empire.^[89] According to Middle Persian tradition, Ahura Mazda created the twenty-one Nasks of the original Avesta which Zoroaster brought to Vishtaspa. Here, two copies were created, one which was put in the house of archives and the other put in the Imperial treasury. During Alexander's conquest of Persia, the Avesta (written on 1200 ox-hides) was burned, and the scientific sections that the Greeks could use were dispersed among themselves. However, there is no strong historical evidence for this and they remain contested despite affirmations from the Zoroastrian tradition, whether it be the Denkart, Tansar-nāma, Ardāy Wirāz Nāmag, Bundahsin, Zand-i Wahman yasn or the transmitted oral tradition.^[89][90]

As tradition continues, under the reign of King Valax (identified with a

, the Avesta was translated into Pahlavi.

The compilation of the Avesta can be authoritatively traced, however, to the Sasanian Empire, of which only fraction survive today if the

Middle Persian (Pahlavi)

Middle Persian and Pahlavi works created in the 9th and 10th century contain many religious Zoroastrian books, as most of the writers and copyists were part of the Zoroastrian clergy. The most significant and important books of this era include the

]

History

Zoroaster

Zoroastrianism was founded by Zoroaster in ancient Iran. The precise date of the founding of the religion is uncertain and estimates vary wildly from 2000 BCE to "200 years before Alexander". Zoroaster was born – in either Northeast Iran or Southwest Afghanistan – into a culture with a

Zoroaster rejected many of the gods of the

Legendary accounts

According to later Zoroastrian tradition, when Zoroaster was 30 years old, he went into the Daiti river to draw water for a

Zoroaster's ideas were not taken up quickly; he originally only had one convert: his cousin Maidhyoimanha.[100]

Cypress of Kashmar

The Cypress of Kashmar is a mythical cypress tree of legendary beauty and gargantuan dimensions. It is said to have sprung from a branch brought by

Fire Temple of Kashmar

Kashmar Fire Temple was the first Zoroastrian fire temple built by Vishtaspa at the request of Zoroaster in Kashmar. In a part of Ferdowsi's Shahnameh, the story of finding Zarathustra and accepting Vishtaspa's religion is regulated that after accepting Zoroastrian religion, Vishtaspa sends priests all over the universe And Azar enters the fire temples (domes) and the first of them is Adur Burzen-Mihr who founded in Kashmar and planted a cypress tree in front of the fire temple and made it a symbol of accepting the Bahi religion And he sent priests all over the world, and commanded all the famous men and women to come to that place of worship.^[103]

According to the Paikuli inscription, during the Sasanian Empire, Kashmar was part of Greater Khorasan, and the Sasanians worked hard to revive the ancient religion. It still remains a few kilometers above the ancient city of Kashmar in the castle complex of Atashgah.^[104]

Early history

The roots of Zoroastrianism are thought to lie in a common prehistoric

Classical antiquity

Greco-Bactrian kingdom

, 3rd–2nd century BCE

Tomb of Cyrus the Great at Pasargadae, Iran

.

Zoroastrianism enters recorded history in the mid-5th century BCE. Herodotus' The Histories (completed c. 440 BCE) includes a description of Greater Iranian society with what may be recognizably Zoroastrian features, including exposure of the dead.^[115]

The Histories is a primary source of information on the early period of the Achaemenid era (648–330 BCE), in particular with respect to the role of the Magi. According to Herodotus, the Magi were the sixth tribe of the Medes (until the unification of the Persian empire under Cyrus the Great, all Iranians were referred to as "Mede" or "Mada" by the peoples of the Ancient World) and wielded considerable influence at the courts of the Median emperors.^[116]

Following the unification of the Median and Persian empires in 550 BCE, Cyrus the Great and later his son

Darius I and later

According to later Zoroastrian legend (Denkard and the Book of Arda Viraf), many sacred texts were lost when Alexander the Great's troops invaded Persepolis and subsequently destroyed the royal library there. Diodorus Siculus's Bibliotheca historica, which was completed c. 60 BCE, appears to substantiate this Zoroastrian legend.^[119] According to one archaeological examination, the ruins of the palace of Xerxes I bear traces of having been burned.^[120] Whether a vast collection of (semi-)religious texts "written on parchment in gold ink", as suggested by the Denkard, actually existed remains a matter of speculation.^[121]

Alexander's conquests largely displaced Zoroastrianism with

Late antiquity

As late as the

]

Due to its ties to the Christian

Decline in the Middle Ages

Hamza ibn ‘Abd al-Muttalib

Burns Zarthust's Chest and Shatters the Urn with his Ashes

Over the course of 16 years during the 7th century, most of the Sasanian Empire was conquered by the emerging Muslim caliphate .^[129] Although the administration of the state was rapidly Islamicized and subsumed under the Umayyad Caliphate, in the beginning "there was little serious pressure" exerted on newly subjected people to adopt Islam.^[130] Because of their sheer numbers, the conquered Zoroastrians had to be treated as dhimmis (despite doubts of the validity of this identification that persisted down the centuries),^[131] which made them eligible for protection. Islamic jurists took the stance that only Muslims could be perfectly moral, but "unbelievers might as well be left to their iniquities, so long as these did not vex their overlords."^[131] In the main, once the conquest was over and "local terms were agreed on", the Arab governors protected the local populations in exchange for tribute.^[131]

The Arabs adopted the Sasanian tax-system, both the land-tax levied on landowners and the

Under

Ultimately, Muslim scholars like

Conversion

Though subject to a new leadership and harassment, the Zoroastrians were able to continue their former ways, although there was a slow but steady social and economic pressure to convert,

In time, a tradition evolved by which Islam was made to appear as a partly Iranian religion. One example of this was a legend that

With Iranian support, the

Survival

Despite economic and social incentives to convert, Zoroastrianism remained strong in some regions, particularly in those furthest away from the Caliphate capital at Baghdad. In

The 9th century came to define the great number of Zoroastrian texts that were composed or re-written during the 8th to 10th centuries (excluding copying and lesser amendments, which continued for some time thereafter). All of these works are in the

]

In

]

Among migrations were those to cities in (or on the margins of) the

The struggle between Zoroastrianism and Islam declined in the 10th and 11th centuries. Local Iranian dynasties, "all vigorously Muslim,"

Modern

Zoroastrianism has survived into the modern period, particularly in India, where the Parsis are thought to have been present since about the 9th century.^[144]

Today Zoroastrianism can be divided in two main schools of thought: reformists and traditionalists. Traditionalists are mostly

]

From the 19th century onward, the Parsis gained a reputation for their education and widespread influence in all aspects of society. They played an instrumental role in the economic development of the region over many decades; several of the best-known business conglomerates of India are run by Parsi-Zoroastrians, including the

For a variety of social and political factors the Zoroastrians of the Indian subcontinent, namely the Parsis and Iranis, have not engaged in conversion since at least the 18th century. Zoroastrian high priests have historically opined there is no reason to not allow conversion which is also supported by the Revayats and other scripture though later priests have condemned these judgements.^[149][18] Within Iran, many of the beleaguered Zoroastrians have been also historically opposed or not practically concerned with the matter of conversion. Currently though, The Council of Tehran Mobeds (the highest ecclesiastical authority within Iran) endorses conversion but conversion from Islam to Zoroastrianism is illegal under the laws of the Islamic Republic of Iran.^[145][18]

Though the Armenians share a rich history affiliated with Zoroastrianism (that eventually declined with the advent of Christianity), reports indicate that there were Zoroastrians in Armenia until the 1920s.^[150]

At the request of the government of

The current Zoroastrian population is said be around 100,000 to 200,000 and reportedly declining.[156] However, further studies are needed to confirm this, as numbers have also been rising in some areas, such as Iran.^{[157][158][159]}

Demographics

Zoroastrian communities internationally tend to comprise mostly two main groups of people:

Iran and Central Asia

Main article:

Zoroastrians in Iran

Parsi Navjote

ceremony (rites of admission into the Zoroastrian faith).

Iran's figures of Zoroastrians have ranged widely; the last census (1974) before the

Communities exist in

]

The number of Kurdish Zoroastrians, along with those of non-ethnic converts, has been estimated differently.[163] The Zoroastrian Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has reported that as many as 100,000 people in Iraqi Kurdistan have converted to Zoroastrianism recently, with some community leaders speculating that even more Zoroastrians in the region are practicing their faith secretly.^{[164][165][166]} However, this has not been confirmed by independent sources.^[167]

The surge in Kurdish Muslims converting to Zoroastrianism is largely attributed to disillusionment with Islam after experiencing violence and oppression perpetrated by

South Asia

Historical population of Parsis in India

Year	Pop.	±% p.a.
1941	114,000	—
1971	91,266	−0.74%
1981	71,630	−2.39%
2001	69,601	−0.14%
2011	57,264	−1.93%
2019	69,000	+2.36%
Sources:[169][170]

India is considered to be home to a large Zoroastrian population – the descendants of migrants from Iran and today known as the

The Zoroastrian population in Pakistan was estimated to number 1,675 people in 2012,

Western world

Relation to other religions and cultures

Indo-Iranian origins

The religion of Zoroastrianism is closest to

]

Zoroastrianism itself inherited ideas from other belief systems and, like other "practiced" religions, accommodates some degree of

Abrahamic religions

Zoroastrianism is sometimes credited with being the first monotheistic religion in history,[185]antedating the Israelites and leaving a lasting and profound imprint on Second Temple Judaism and, through it, on later monotheistic religions such as early Christianity and Islam.^[17][186] There are clear commonalities and similarities between Zoroastrianism, Judaism and Christianity, such as: monotheism, dualism (i.e., a robust notion of a Devil—but with a positive appraisal of material creation), symbolism of the divine, heaven(s) and hell(s), angels and demons, eschatology and final judgment, a messianic figure and the idea of a savior, a holy spirit, concern with ritual purity, an idealization of wisdom and righteousness, and other doctrines, symbols, practices, and religious features.^[187]

According to Mary Boyce, "Zoroaster was thus the first to teach the doctrines of an individual judgement, Heaven and Hell, the future resurrection of the body, the general last judgement, and life everlasting for the reunited soul and body. These doctrines were to become familiar articles of faith to much of mankind, through borrowing by Judaism Christianity and Islam; yet it is in Zoroastrianism itself that they have their fullest logical coherence. Since Zoroaster insisted both on the goodness of material creation, and hence of the physical body, and on the unwavering impartiality of divine justice."^[188]

The interactions between Judaism and Zoroastrianism resulted in transfer of religious ideas between the two religions and as a result, It is believed that Jews, during Achaemenid rule were influenced by Zoroastrian angelology, demonology, eschatology, as well as Zoroastrian ideas about compensatory justice in life and after death.^[189] It is also postulated that the Jewish high monotheistic concept of God developed during and after the period of the Babylonian captivity, when the Jews had a prolonged exposure to sophisticated Zoroastrian beliefs.^[190]

In addition to this, Zoroastrian dualistic concepts, had influenced middle eastern religions such as Judeo-Christian beliefs, since Achaemenid period to the early centuries of present era. The dualistic ideas of Jewish eschatology such as the belief in savior, the final battle between good and evil, the triumph of good and the resurrection of the dead, have been influenced by Zoroastrian beliefs. These ideas later passed on to Christianity, from Zoroastrian-inspired texts of the Old Testament.^[191]

According to some sources, such as The Jewish Encyclopedia (1906),^[192] there exist many similarities between Zoroastrianism and Judaism. This has led some to propose that key Zoroastrian concepts influenced Judaism. However, other scholars disagree, finding that the general social influence of Zoroastrianism was much more limited, and that no link can be found in Jewish or Christian texts.^[193]

Proponents of a link cite similarities between the two: such as dualism (good and evil, divine twins Ahura Mazda "God" and Angra Mainyu "Satan"), image of the deity,

Others, such as

Manichaeism

Zoroastrianism is often compared with

Manichaeism adopted many of the Yazatas for its own pantheon.^{[citation needed]} Gherardo Gnoli, in The Encyclopaedia of Religion,^[202] says that "we can assert that Manichaeism has its roots in the Iranian religious tradition and that its relationship to Mazdaism, or Zoroastrianism, is more or less like that of Christianity to Judaism".^[203]

The two religions have substantial differences.^[204]

Present-day Iran

Many aspects of Zoroastrianism are present in the culture and mythologies of the peoples of Greater Iran, not least because Zoroastrianism was a dominant influence on the people of the cultural continent for a thousand years. Even after the rise of Islam and the loss of direct influence, Zoroastrianism remained part of the cultural heritage of the Iranian language-speaking world, in part as festivals and customs, but also because Ferdowsi incorporated a number of the figures and stories from the Avesta in his epic Shāhnāme, which is pivotal to Iranian identity. One notable example is the incorporation of the Yazata Sraosha as an angel venerated within Shia Islam in Iran.^[205]

See also

References

Citations

Works cited

• Black, Matthew; Rowley, H. H., eds. (1982),
  ISBN 978-0-415-05147-7
• Boyce, Mary (1979), Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices, London: Routledge,
  ISBN 978-0-415-23903-5
  (note to catalogue searchers: the spine of this edition misprints the title "Zoroastrians" as "Zoroastians", and this may lead to catalogue errors; there is a second edition published in 2001 with the same ISBN)
• Boyce, Mary (1982), The History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 2, Leiden: Brill,
  ISBN 978-90-04-06506-2
• Boyce, Mary (2001). Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices. London: Routledge.
  ISBN 978-0415239028
  .
• Büchner, V. F. (1934), "Yazdān", in Houtsma, Martijn Theodor (ed.), Encyclopedia of Islam, vol. IV (1st ed.), Leyden: Brill.
• Bulliet, Richard W. (1979), Conversion to Islam in the Medieval Period: An Essay in Quantitative History, Cambridge: Harvard UP,
  ISBN 978-0-674-17035-3
• Duchesne-Guillemin, Jacques (1988), "Zoroastrianism", Encyclopedia Americana, vol. 29, Danbury: Grolier pp. 813–815
• ISBN 978-1-78074-308-0
• Geiger, Wilhelm (1885), Civilization of the Eastern Iranians in Ancient Times, Oxford: OUP/H. Frowde
• doi:10.1017/S1356186313000333
• Hourani, Albert (1947), Minorities in the Arab World, New York: AMS Press
• Panaino, Antonio (1995). "Uranographia Iranica I. The Three Heavens in the Zoroastrian Tradition and the Mesopotamian Background". In Gyselen, R. (ed.). Au carrefour des religions. Mélanges offerts à Philippe Gignoux. Peeters. pp. 205–225.
• Panaino, Antonio (2015). "The Classification of Astral Bodies in the framework of an Historical Survey of Iranian traditions". In Bläsing, U.; Arakelova, V. (eds.). Studies on Iran and The Caucasus in Honour of Garnik Asatrian. Brill. pp. 229–244.
• Panaino, Antonio C.D. (2019). A Walk through the Iranian Heavens: Spherical and Non-Spherical Cosmographic Models in the Imagination of Ancient Iran and Its Neighbors. Brill.
• Skjærvø, Prods Oktor (2005), "Introduction to Zoroastrianism" (PDF), Iranian Studies at Harvard University, archived from the original (PDF) on 24 December 2021, retrieved 13 July 2019
• Zaehner, Robert Charles (1961), The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism, London: Phoenix Press,
  ISBN 978-1-84212-165-8

Further reading

• ISBN 978-90-04-10474-7
• Boyce, Mary (1984), Textual sources for the study of Zoroastrianism, Manchester: Manchester University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-226-06930-2
• Boyce, Mary (1987), Zoroastrianism: A Shadowy but Powerful Presence in the Judaeo-Christian World, London: William's Trust^[ISBN missing]
• Boyce, Mary (1991), The History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 3, Leiden: Brill,
  ISBN 978-90-04-09271-6
• Clark, Peter (1998), Zoroastrianism: An Introduction to an Ancient Faith, Brighton: Sussex Academic Press,
  ISBN 978-1-898723-78-3
• Dastur, Francoise (1996), Death: An Essay on Finitude, A&C Black,
  ISBN 978-0-485-11487-4
• Dhalla, Maneckji Nusservanji (1938), History of Zoroastrianism, New York: Oxford University Press^[ISBN missing]
• Eliade, Mircea; Couliano, Ioan P. (1991), The Eliade Guide to World Religions, New York: Harper Collins^{[ISBN missing]}
• Kment, Petr (February 2018), "Zoroastrian tradition at Mangyshlak: underground mosque Shakpak-Ata", Kulturní studia / Cultural Studies, 6 (11),
  ISSN 2336-2766, archived from the original
  on 10 December 2022
• Malandra, William W. (1983), An Introduction to Ancient Iranian Religion: Readings from the Avesta and Achaemenid Inscriptions, Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press,
  ISBN 978-0-8166-1114-0
• Malandra, William W. (2005), "Zoroastrianism: Historical Review", Encyclopaedia Iranica, New York, archived from the original on 5 December 2018, retrieved 17 September 2012{{citation}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)
• Moulton, James Hope (1917), The Treasure of the Magi: A Study of Modern Zoroastrianism, London: Oxford University Press,
  ISBN 1-564-59612-5
• Robinson, B. A. (2008), "Zoroastrianism: Holy text, beliefs and practices", Encyclopaedia Iranica, archived from the original on 5 December 2018, retrieved 1 March 2010
• Rose, J. (2000), The Image of Zoroaster: The Persian Mage Through European Eyes, Persian Studies Series, Bibliotheca Persica Press,
  ISBN 978-0-933273-45-0
• Rose, J. (2011), Zoroastrianism: A Guide for the Perplexed, Bloomsbury Publishing,
  ISBN 978-1-4411-4950-3
• Rose, J. (2014), Zoroastrianism: An Introduction, I. B.Tauris,
  ISBN 978-0-85773-548-5
• Russell, James R. (1987), Zoroastrianism in Armenia, Harvard Iranian Series, Oxford:
  ISBN 978-0-674-96850-9
• Skjærvø, Prods Oktor, ed. (2011), The Spirit of Zoroastrianism, Yale University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-300-17035-1
• Schmidt, Francis (1987), The Inconceivable Polytheism: Studies in Religious Historiography, Harwood Academic, pp. 217–19,
  ISBN 978-3-7186-0367-1
• Stoyanov, Y. (2000), The Other God: Dualist Religions from Antiquity to the Cathar Heresy, Yale University Press,
  ISBN 978-0-300-19014-4
• Verlag, Chronik (2008), The Chronicle of World History, United States: Konecky and Konecky^[ISBN missing]
• Zeini, A. (2020), Zoroastrian Scholasticism in Late Antiquity: The Pahlavi Version of the Yasna HaptaA Haiti, Edinburgh University Press,
  ISBN 978-1-4744-4291-6

External links

• Zoroastrianism, BBC Radio 4 discussion with Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, Farrokh Vajifdar & Alan Williams (In Our Time, Nov. 11, 2004)
• FEZANA – Federation of Zoroastrian Associations of North America
• Zoroastrianism at
  Curlie