Persian Mythology

[Mehrbod]

Spenta Armaiti

Spenta Armaiti is one of the Amesha Spentas, the seven "Bounteous Immortals" of the Zoroastrian tradition. These are emanations of the one God Ahura Mazda, which are sometimes personified and sometimes considered as abstract concepts. Of all the Seven, Spenta Armaiti is perhaps the most difficult to translate and explain. The term Spenta is itself hard to translate into English; it
means "increasing" or "growing" but with a connotation of goodness, holiness, and benevolence. Ali Jafarey translates it prosaically as "progressive." Armaiti is even more difficult to convey in English. Scholars of Avesta have rendered the name as "divine wisdom," "devotion," "piety," "benevolence," "loving- kindness," "right-mindedness," "peace and love," or even "service." Jafarey, using the later Persian word aramati or "tranquillity" as his model, translates Armaiti as "serenity." Thus his translation of Spenta Armaiti is "Progressive Serenity," a rather opaque term. Dr. Farhang Mehr has translated Spenta Armaiti with the more gracious "universal bountiful peace."

In later Zoroastrianism, Spenta Armaiti becomes the patron of the Earth, the fertile land, and of sacred space. She is invoked when a new piece of land or a building is consecrated. In ceremonies, Spenta Armaiti is symbolized by the white sheet or pad that underlies all the other sacred objects, including the fire vessel: this designates the sacred space.

She is an earth and fertility goddess and daughter of Ahura Mazda. She was the fourth Amesha Spenta created. She personifies holy devotion and righteous obedience, and also perfect mindedness gained through humility, faith, devotion, piety, and so on. She is also the guardian of herdsmen and farmers. She is identified by the Greeks as Demeter and in Armenia she is known as Spendaramet. The fifth day of every month and the twelfth month of every year are dedicated to her. Her eternal opponent is the Arch-Demon of discontent, Nanqaithya.

The object of Zoroastrian spirituality is to actualize the Amesha Spentas within oneself, and thus become closer and closer to God. This means learning and practicing the virtues of each Amesha Spenta, whether they are "masculine" or "feminine." In the pairing of Spenta Armaiti and Asha, there is a balance between the "masculine" Justice, Truth, and Law of Asha, and the "feminine" qualities of Service, Kindness, Devotion, and Serenity. It is this balance of virtues and Divine qualities that the Zoroastrian spiritual seeker should have as his/her goal.

[Mehrbod]

Haurvatat
aka:Hordad

Haurvatat ("wholeness") is one of the seven Amesha Spentas. She is the personification of perfection and is associated with life after death. She brings prosperity and health. The third month(Khordad) is dedicated to her. Her eternal opponent is the archdemon of hunger, Tawrich.

In Zoroastrian tradition, each Amesha Spenta has guardianship over a sector of Creation, thus representing the Presence of God in the natural, physical world. In this doctrine, Haurvatat represents Waters.

Like the other Amesha Spentas also, Haurvatat is already attested in the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrianism and considered to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. And like most other principles, Haurvatat is not unambiguously an entity in those hymns. Unlike four of the other Amesha Spentas, Haurvatat does not have a standing epithet that in later Avesta texts becomes an element of her proper name.

In the hierarchy of yazatas, Haurvatat has as her assistants or cooperators three lesser yazatas: Vata-Vayu of the wind and atmosphere, Manthra Spenta of "bountiful spells" and the Fravashis, the hordes of guardian spirits.

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, Plutarch translates Haurvatat as Πλοῦτος ploutos "wealth, riches" and equates the divinity with "Plutus," the Greek god of riches.

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Ameretat
aka: Amurdad

Ameretat means "Deathlessness and Immortally". Together with Haurvatat, it is the ultimate goal and represents the completion of our evolutionary development and the final achievement of our life on earth. She is associated with plants. She personifies immortality and rules the physical and spiritual aspects of eternal life as are symbolized in plants. Ameretat is the Amesha
Spenta of long life on earth and perpetuality in the hereafter. In the day-name and month-name dedications of the Zoroastrian calendar, the seventh day of the month and fifth month of the year are named after Ameretat/Amurdad/Mordad and are under her protection. Her eternal opponent is the Arch-Demon of aging, Zarich.

The word amərətāt is grammatically feminine and the divinity Ameretat is a female entity. Etymologically, Avestan amərətāt derives from an Indo-Iranian root and is linguistically related to Vedic Sanskrit amṛtatva. In Sassanid Era Zoroastrian tradition, Ameretat appears as Middle Persian Amurdad, continuing in New Persian as Mordad or Amordad.

The relationship between Ameretat and Haurvatat is carries forward into the Younger Avesta. 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. These associations with also reflect the Zoroastrian cosmological model in which each of the Amesha Spentas is identified with one aspect of creation.

Like the other Amesha Spentas also, Ameretat is already attested in the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrianism and considered to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. And like most other principles, Ameretat is not unambiguously an entity in those hymns.

Through the association with plants and water, Ameretat and Haurvatat are consequently identified with food and drink, and traditionally it was out of respect for these two Amesha Spentas that meals were to be taken in silence

According to the cosmological legends of the Bundahishn, when Angra Mainyu (MP: Ahriman) withered the primordial plant, Ameretat crushed it to pulp and mixed it with water. Tishtrya then took the water and spread it over the world as rain, which in turn caused a multitude of other plants to grow up.

[Mehrbod]

Fire-temple of Baku

At the city of Baku in former Iranian province of Arran, today known as the republic of Azerbaijan, on the shore of the Caspian Sea, there was for a long time a very old fire-temple; this particular fire-temple was probably older than recorded history. (Other fire-shrines dotted the whole area of Baku, which in the present day is a major petroleum source.)

According to Haxtha usen (who wrote about Baku in a book published in 1863) this Atish-gah or Atish-jah--that is, the Place of Fire; in Persian, 'fire-temple' is atash kuda--had been recently rebuilt: the holy flame issued from a central opening and also from four hollow pillars in the temple, which was a building of triangular form, about one hundred and ninety paces to the side, constructed by a Hindu merchant in the eighteen hundreds. He described the flame as about four feet high, bright, and a wondrous sight as it waved heavily to and fro against a dark sky - ie, the temple was unroofed.

In 1876, the English traveler James Bryce also visited the fire-temple, and remarks that its maintenance and the upkeep of the one attendant priest was paid for by the Parsee community of Bombay, whose members also visited Baku on pilgrimage.

And in 1784, by the account of George Forster of the Bengal Civil Service, the Atish-gah was a square structure about 30 yards across, surrounded by a low wall and containing many apartments, in each of which was a small jet of sulphurous fire issuing from a funnel "constructed in the shape of a Hindu altar." The fire was used for worship, cookery and warmth. On closing the funnel the fire was extinguished, at which time a hollow sound was heard accompanied by a strong and cold current of air. Exclusive of these, there was a large jet from a natural cleft, and many small jets outside the wall, one of which was used by the Hindus (of which there was a large trading community at Baku just then) for burning their dead.

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Fire Temples
Aka: Atash-Kadeh

All traditional Zoroastrian temples, also know as agiaries or "places of fire," include a holy fire to represent the goodness and purity toward which all should strive. Once it is properly consecrated, a temple fire should never be allowed to go out, although it can be transported to another location if necessary.

A fire temple is the place of worship for Zoroastrians. Zoroastrians revere fire in any form. In the Zoroastrian religion, fire, together with clean water, are agents of ritual purity. Clean, white "ash for the purification ceremonies [is] regarded as the basis of ritual life," which, "are essentially the rites proper to the tending of a domestic fire, for the temple [fire] is that of the hearth fire raised to a new solemnity".


Keeping the Fires Pure

While fire purifies, even consecrated, holy fires are not immune to contamination, and Zoroastrian priests take many precautions against such an action occurring. When tending to the fire, a cloth known as a padan is worn over the mouth and nose so that breath and saliva do not pollute the fire. This reflects an outlook on saliva that is similar to Hindu beliefs, which shares some historical origins with Zoroastrianism, where saliva is never allowed to touch eating utensils due to its unclean properties.

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Ashi
aka: Ashi Vanghuhi, Ashishwangh, Ard

Ashi`s origin meaning is portion and plenty but after that gets character and became independent & lavish goddess. It was imagined like a beautiful girl that is sited on a bench at sky and is protecting spring blooms.

She has always known of a good epithet and donor of happy and good life for humankind. And against Greek beliefs is a donor of good and happy life. A life that every one hope to have her help.

The good Ashi, the beautiful Ashi, the shining Ashi you make happiness for men whom are on your way by your holy Ascent .There are good smell happy life and friend ships at those houses that house which you walk in it. The good Ashi if you help men, they will make a country with enough food. Indeed good for people who get help from you please help me you donor and powerful.

The 25th day of the month in the Zoroastrian religious calendar is named for her. She is a co-worker of Spenta Armaiti.

Seventeenth Yasht (part) of Avesta which is on of the oldest parts of Avesta is dedicated to Ashi and at this part this Persian beautiful goddess has been prayed by beautiful and attractive songs.

Art by Linda Bergkvist

[Mehrbod]

Mitra
Aka: Mithra, Mehr, Myhr
Avestan: Miθpa

Mithra is the Zoroastrian divinity (yazata) of covenant and oath. In addition to being the divinity of contracts, Mithra is also a judicial figure, an all-seeing protector of Truth, and the guardian of cattle, the harvest and of The Waters. The most important of the Yazatas outside the Amesha Spentas, Mithra gained the title “The Unconquered Sun”, not
for being Ahura Mazda’s son, but for recovering the Sun Chariot that carries the Sun, slaying the Divine Bull before it reached heaven and thus creating all live on the World from his blood, among other things.

While Mithra is not the divinity of the Sun in Zoroastrian scripture (or in Indian scripture either), this being the role of Hvare. khshaeta (literally "radiant Sun", whence also Middle Persian Khorshed for the Sun), in Zoroastrian/Iranian tradition, Mithra became the divinity of the Sun. How, when or why this occurred is uncertain, but is commonly attributed to a conflation with Babylonian Shamash, who – in addition to being a Sun god – was a judicial figure like Mithra. In the Hellenistic era (i.e., in Seleucid and Parthian times), Mithra also seems to have been conflated with Apollo, who – like Mithra – was an all-seeing divinity of the truth.

Mithra always presents himself on the world as a person with a high sense of justice, always on the alert and quite perceptive. Notably he was a famous police man, a security man, a fighter for world peace, a watcher of the streets. Even as a man, he seems a hero. Great things and achievements are expected from the Scions of Mithra and they commonly live to them. They fight to keep peace and justice on the worlds and their connections. All life on those worlds is just as important as the worlds themselves.

Together with Rashnu "Justice" and Sraosha "Obedience", Mithra is one of the three judges at the Chinvat bridge, the "bridge of separation" that all souls must cross. Unlike Sraosha, Mithra is not however a psychopomp. Should the good thoughts, words and deeds outweigh the bad, Sraosha alone conveys the soul across the bridge.

In the Zoroastrian calendar, the sixteenth day of the month and the seventh month of the year are dedicated to, and under the protection of, Mithra. The position of the sixteenth day and seventh month reflects the Mithra's rank in the hierarchy of the divinities; the sixteenth day and seventh month are respectively the first day of the second half of the month and the first month of the second half of the year. The day on which the day-name and month-name dedications intersect is (like all other such intersections) dedicated to the divinity of that day/month, and is celebrated with a Jashan (from Avestan Yasna, "worship") in honor of that divinity. In the case of Mithra this was Jashan-e Mihragan, or just Mihragan in short.

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Tishtrya
aka: Tistrya, Tir, Tishtryaeninis, Tishtar

Tishtrya (Tištrya) is the Avestan language name of an Zoroastrian benevolent divinity associated with life-bringing rainfall and fertility. Tishtrya is Tir in Middle- and Modern Persian. As has been judged from the archaic context in which Tishtrya appears in the texts of the Avesta, the divinity/concept is almost certainly of Indo-Iranian origi
n.

As soon as Hormozd (Ahura Mazda) had rested from his creation, he appointed Tishtar to irrigate the world by taking rain from the clouds to drench the land, refresh the plants, open the flowers, fill the rivers with water and make he springs flow and all the Aryan lands prosperous and flourishing.

In the Zoroastrian religious calendar, the 13th day of the month and the 4th month of the year are dedicated to Tishtrya/Tir, and hence named after the entity. In the Iranian civil calendar, which inherits its month names from the Zoroastrian calendar, the 4th month is likewise named Tir.

During the Achaemenid period, Tishtrya was conflated with Semitic Nabu-Tiri, and thus came to be associated with the Dog Star, Sirius. The Tiregan festival, previously associated with Tiri(a reconstructed name), was likewise transferred to Tishtrya. During the Hellenic period, Tishtrya came to be associated with Pythian Apollo, patron of Delphi, and thus a divinity of oracles.

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Zam
aka:Zamyad, Zamyat, Zam Yazad

Zam (Zām) is the Avestan language term for the Zoroastrian concept of "earth"(prototyped as a chemical element in ancient philosophy, and as a minor Yazata in Zoroastrianism and later Persian mythology.), in both the sense of land and soil and in the sense of the world. The earth is prototyped as a primordial element in Zoroastrian tradition, and represented by a
minor divinity Zam who is the hypostasis of the "earth". The word itself is cognate to the Baltic 'Zemes' and Slavic 'Zem', both meaning the planet earth as well as soil.

The term 'Zam' exists with the same meaning in both Avestan and middle Persian languages. Zam is occasionally paired with the Amesha Spenta Armaiti, with whom Zam shares some attributes. According to Xenophon(Greek historian), Cyrus sacrificed animals to the earth as the Magians directed.

The element zam exists with the same meaning in Middle Persian, which is the language of the texts of Zoroastrian tradition. The divinity Zam however appears in the later language as Zamyad, which is a contraction of "Zam Yazad", i.e. the yazata Zam.

The last hymn recited in the procedure for the establishment of a Fire temple is the Zamyad Yasht. This is done because to achieve the required 91 recitals in honor of the Yazatas, would in principle require each of the 30 hymns associated with the divinites of the 30 days to be recited thrice with one additional one.

notwithstanding the dedication of the 28th day of the month and the manifestation as one of the primordial elements, Zam is not a particularly significant divinity.

From among the flowers associated with the yazatas, Zam's is the Basil.

[Mehrbod]

Name: Vayu-Vata
aka: Vata, Vayu

Vayu-Vata (or Vata-Vayu) is the Avestan language name of a dual-natured Zoroastrian divinity of the wind (Vayu) and of the atmosphere (Vata). The names are also used independently of one another, with 'Vayu' occurring more frequently than 'Vata', but even when used independently still representing the other aspect.

The entity is simultaneously angelic and demonic, that is, depending on the circumstances, either yazata - "worthy of worship" - or daeva, which in Zoroastrian tradition is a demon. Scripture frequently applies the epithet "good" when speaking of one or the other in a positive context.
In Zurvanism (Zurvanite Zoroastrianism, a now-extinct form of Zoroastrianism), Vata-Vayu represented two facets of the quaternary Zurvan. In this arrangement, Vata-Vayu represented "space" while the other two facets represent "time."
Vayu-Vata has Indo-Iranian roots, and has the same name in historical Vedic religion.

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