Zoroastrianism is undoubtedly one of the oldest civilizations in the world, igniting the fire of civilization in Central Asia and giving its first revelations about life in the universe. You can still see the speckled imprints of this ancient civilization today...
Eternal Fire: The History and Imagination of Zoroastrian Culture
Written and courtesy of / School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London
Translation / Ding Jiewen
△ The unquenched fire in the Temple of Atish giyak, built by the Zoroastrians in India in the 17th century, Baku, Azerbaijan.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > before Zoroastrian culture: Iran-India twins</h1>
The Indian writer Tagore once wrote: "The Indo-Iranians, like the soup of the great rivers, embarked on a nomadic career in a land that has now been forgotten at the chaotic moment of the dawn of history." Eventually they split into two flowing forces, one to the west of the Hindu Kush Mountains, and the other to the Indian plains..."
Tagore's passage tells that as early as 3000 BC to 2000 BC, Indo-Iranian immigrants from Central Asia had begun to enter the Indus Valley and the Iranian plateau.
This is also confirmed by the fact that some of the characteristics of the ancient Iranian religion are very similar to those of the Indian Vedic religion. They all possess religious sacrificial rites presided over by trained priests, sacred scriptures (Avista in Iran and Vedas in India, respectively), revelations about the universe and world order (asha in Avista and "plough" rta in Vedics, respectively), and basic theories of good and evil. Worship involves prayers and exhortations to the indo-Iranian pantheons of gods who are both reckless and grumpy, including Mithra, Varuna, and Indra (symbolizing the fear of war in the heroic age).
△ Carved with a gold beard comb of the Scythians fighting a lion. Discovered in the Solocha region of Kurgan in the Dnieper steppe, in the 4th century BC. The Scythians were an ancient nomadic people who lived between 900 and 200 BC in what is now South Siberia and belonged to the East Iranian-speaking family.
For these semi-nomadic peoples, the forces of nature played a vital role in their lives, and the settlers brought to the new land chariots driven by horses, the fruits of taming the wild horses of the steppes, which in turn became a powerful and belligerent people themselves.
Soon after, Hindu-Iranian gods and goddesses also merged with gods from other regions, including those from Mesopotamia, one example being the water god Aredvi Sura Ahahita and the Mesopotamian god Nanai, both goddesses of abundance.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the sacred scriptures of Zoroastrianism</h1>
Although there is no clear record of the life of Zarathustra, the founder of Zoroastrianism, his teachings have survived by word of mouth over the centuries. It was not until the Sassanid period (224-651 AD) that these teachings were finally consciously recorded in textual form, forming the Book of Avesta written in Avesta. However, the Avesta language, at all levels of its composition, was incomprehensible to anyone except the priests, and was thus lost.
The Avista's book includes "Gatha"—an inspired discourse presented in the form of a short text, dedicated by Zarathustra to the most high god, Ahura Mazda, expressing the truth and philosophical reflections he recognized. One of the passages speaks of the conflict between good and evil: "There are two spirits ... Two thoughts, two languages, two actions, they are good and evil..."
△ Avista and Pahlavi versions of the Book of Ward off Evil Spirits, 1323, now in the British Museum.
Yasna is also a part of Avista and mainly describes the sacrificial rites of Zoroastrian priests, and the traditional Yasna text can be divided into two basic parts: Iran and India. One of the important texts dates back to 1556 AD and is now in the British Library. Avesta manuscripts are often accompanied by translations and commentaries into Pahlavi or Middle Persian (the language of the Sassanids). One of the oldest surviving Avesta-Pahlavi texts is called "J2" and was made around 1323. Probably the oldest Sanskrit version is based on the Pahlavi version of the late 11th century, written by Neryosangh Dhaval.
The great Sassanid Avesta text is the last sacred text of Zoroastrianism and consists of 21 parts, all of which are derived from oral transmissions and recorded in the form of writings. The Videvdad (or Law against the Daevas) is a normative text that focuses on how the pure law fights against evil. The Avesta text and its notes were later severely damaged in Iran by several arab, Mongol, and Turk raids.
△ Silver coin of the Sassanid King Shapur I (reverse), 241 AD to 272 AD. In the middle of the coin is an altar of fire, flanked by armed guards.
However, some minor religious literature written in Pahlavi survived, including translations and summaries of the lost Book of Avesta. Edited from older sources, these Pahlavi works represent the development of Zoroastrian religious ideology in the 9th century AD, dealing with the creation of the world, the judgment of the soul at the moment of death, and the eschatology of heaven and hell vividly depicted in arda Wiraz Namag or Book of the Righteous Wiraz. The life of Zarathustra is outlined in full detail in these works, and the book also tells the story of heroes and kings, such as the romantic love affair of the Sassanid king Ardashir.
For the next few centuries, Iranian Zoroastrianism maintained a relationship with their cognate religion, the Indian Vedas, and answered questions from believers about rituals and practices, a series of correspondence known as Persian Rivayats, which took place between the 15th and 17th centuries.
The entrance to the ruins of Persepolis, the second capital of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, built during darius I (reigned 522 BC to 486 BC). It was at this time that Zoroastrianism spread.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > spread to the Empire</h1>
The origins of Zoroastrianism have not yet been discovered. It is clear that in the first millennium BC, Zoroastrianism arrived in western Iran and is apparently known to the Achaemenid dynasty (559–330 BC), which united the Persians and medians. The inscription of King Achaemenid, although it does not mention Zarathustra's name, leaves an imprint of consciousness and expression from Avista. Some of the most important documents from this period come from the inscriptions of King Achaemenid and the Treasure of Oxus (located on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan), which contain a series of gold fritters depicting figures dressed in medic dress holding barsoms or a bouquet of incense, both of which were religious tools used by Zoroastrian priests for The Ritual of Yasna.
△ Stucco "Smov" decorated with bricks, "Smov" is a fantasy animal that combines the characteristics of dogs and peacocks to represent the authority of King Kaiyan, the Sassanid king regarded himself as his successor, 7th and 8th century AD, found in Chaal Tarkan, Iran.
Beginning with the reign of Achaemenid II (404 BC – 358 BC), the worship of Anahita, a sacred image popular with the Persians, took on a different face among the Greeks, one of whom was Aphrodite. However, with alexander the great conquering the Persian Empire in 334 BC, Alexander the Great became a cursed name in medieval Persian literature, and Zoroastrianism was once annihilated. It was not until the rise of the Parthian dynasty (247 BC to 224 AD) that Zoroastrianism was revived. At this time, Zarathustra from northwestern Iran may have been the first to be remembered for the rich tradition of bards he had condensed.
△ Golden statue of Zoroastrian fire priesthood wearing a mask and holding a Balsam branch, the Treasure of Oxess unearthed on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan during the Achaemenid dynasty and in the 5th century BC.
The Sassanid Dynasty (224 AD – 651 AD) succeeded the Parthian Dynasty in inheriting the lands of Iran, during which time Zoroastrianism became widely known as a royal faith. The image of the Sassanid king wearing a crown appears on the obverse of the coins of this period. On the reverse side of the coin, there are sometimes scenes of the king holding a sacrifice in front of the fire with Ahura Mazda or Anahita. Zoroastrian beliefs are also reflected in Sassanid art, especially on metal artifacts with reliefs depicting animals, plants, and such things as the fantasy bird "senmurv". "Smov" is a fantasy animal that combines the characteristics of a dog and a peacock to represent the authority of King Kaiyan, a legendary dynasty who regards the Sassanid kings as their successors.
△ Gold plaque of Zoroastrian priesthood dressed in medes and holding Baltham branches, the Treasure of Oxesus unearthed on the border between Afghanistan and Tajikistan during the Achaemenid dynasty, from the 5th to the 4th century BC.
<h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > traces of the Zoroastrian culture along the Silk Roads and Central Asia</h1>
"Ahurah Mazda said to Zarathustra: 'I have created every inch of land for the people of this land, and although this land does not seem particularly attractive, if I do not create these lands, even if they do not seem to be anything special, this whole world of life will intrude into the expansion of the Aryans.'" (The first paragraph of the Book of Warding Off Evil Spirits)
This is the first mention in the Avista text of the creation of land for the Iranians by Ahura Mazda, encompassing some of the central highlands of Sogdians, Bactria and Khwarazm. The Sogdians were the main traders of the Silk Roads built during the Parthian dynasty, and their capital, Afrasiyab (today's Samarkand), was once an important trading town.
△ Sogdian frescoes, 7th-8th centuries AD, unearthed in the ancient city of Afrasiab on the northern outskirts of Samarkand. The Sogdian frescoes that have survived in the city depict many Zoroastrian elements.
Frescoes have been found in archaeology in Sogdian cities depicting unique Zoroastrian elements such as priests wearing masks (padams) to prevent their breathing from contaminating the fire, and using clay urns to load exposed bones. The Yasna text, which records the rituals of priestly sacrifices, was unearthed in a new discovery at the temple of Dzhartepe near Samarkand.
The Sogdians also established trade relations with China, and a large number of fire temples were established in the early Tang Dynasty (about 630 AD). One of the astonishing discoveries came from Dunhuang, an important node city on the Silk Road, where fragments of the oldest known Zoroastrian manuscript were found, recording the prayers of the devout Ashem Vohu.
△ The prayer of Ashem Vohu, a devout Zoroastrian, written in Sogdian, was discovered in Dunhuang in the 9th century AD by Stein in 1917. It is the oldest Zoroastrian text ever found and is now in the British Museum.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > the exchange between Zoroastrian culture and Jewish Christ</h1>
The connection between Jews and Iranians began in the 6th century BC, during the reign of King Darius of the Achaemenid dynasty of Persia, Darius conquered Babylon and allowed the Jews to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple. This connection continued to develop during the subsequent Parthian and Sassanid dynasties, as Zoroastrianism did not exclude Judaism and later Christianity and Islam. In particular, the emphasis on the war between good and evil increasingly appears in the literature between the Old and New Testaments, for example, when the Jewish Old Testament deals with both truth and lies, an idea that has been further developed in the Dead Sea Scrolls of the Qumran community.
△ Fresco of the Three Doctors of the East dressed in Persian costume (the Three Doctors from the East who celebrated the birth of Jesus Christ in the Bible), 5th century AD, Basilica of The New Saint Apollinaire, Ravenna, Italy.
Further, the Zoroastrian ideology of individual judgments about death, the distinction between good and evil, and the distinction between right from wrong, have acquired their first and most complete expressions, and these basic ideas are no stranger to Jews, Christians, and Muslims. Moreover, it seems that when the Iranian dynasty ruled the Near East, Judeo-Christian ideology entered Zoroastrianism. In explaining the creation myth that appeared in the first man, Mashya, and Mashyana, the woman, Zoroastrianism contains the meaning of urging human beings to resist temptation. Muslim-Iranian painters depict a couple in a garden who become pregnant because of the seduction of an elderly Manuel Angra Mainyu (Satan in Zoroastrianism).
< h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > after the Arabs</h1>
In the 7th century, after the Arab occupation of Iran, Zoroastrianism declined under the powerful wave of Islamization. Since then, the pre-Zoroastrian myths and Zoroastrian beliefs have been fused with each other and expressed through poetry and literature. Compiled by the Persian poet Ferdowsi (940–1020), the early 11th-century epic shahnameh is a pre-Islamic "Iranian" quintessence that retains considerable religious ideas. According to Zoroastrian creation myths, The first man in the world, Gayomaretan, was killed by the evil god Ahriman and the world's first animal, the bull, and destroyed by the first plant.
Gayomaretan left a seed after his death, and after the cleansing of the sun, the first men and women grew from the rhubarb plant. The legend of Gayomaretan continued to evolve in Iranian literature, and Gayomaretan was gradually seen as a male figure, as the inventor of kingship, who tamed beasts from the evil god Aliman and ruled the entire world. In other ancient Indo-Iranian creation myths, such as Avista, the descendants of humans are thought to have originated with the yin-yang yima, while in different Iranian mythologies the image of the ancestor is called Jamshid, a male twin figure who is believed to be the first human and the earliest king.
△ In Zoroastrian interpretation of the creation myth of the first man Mashya and the woman Mashyana, there is a meaning of urging human beings to resist temptation, which is very similar to the story of paradise lost in the Bible, Persian miniature painting, painted from 973 to 1048.
The Zoroastrian sage Sorush appears frequently in the Book of Kings. In the story of the Sassanid Dynasty, Khosrow Parviz tries to seize the throne, but is defeated and exiled, and Shalush appears in green clothes and riding a white horse to protect Khosrow's safety. The ancient Zoroastrians were tormented by fire, and the Yast poems dedicated to the holy Shalush continued throughout Persian literature. The Book of Kings also depicts Siyavush, the son of the Sassanid king Kaiyan, riding over a fire in order to prove his purity, in order to refute the accusation that he had an affair with his father's wife. The Zoroastrian themes often depicted in the manuscripts of the Book of Kings also include the seven holy spirits.
< h1 class="pgc-h-arrow-right" > lives in India</h1>
The prose work Qisseh ye Sanjan tells the story of a group of Zoroastrians who set sail from the Iranian port of Hormuz in order to escape persecution by Muslim rulers. When they reached the west coast of India, the Indians regarded them as Parsi or Persians and allowed them to practice their religion and build sacred fire temples. Centuries later, by the time European merchants reached India in the 17th century, the Parsi community had become urbanized, and the accumulation of wealth and good education of the Parsi middle class made them an important driver of Mumbai's economic growth. In the early 19th century, under colonial rule, the Parsi were involved in the trade of cotton and aluminum exports to China and other long-distance trade activities.
△ Wall tiles depicting the crowned ruler Jamshid and the bodyguards, 19th century. Jamesid is believed in Iranian mythology to be the first human and the earliest king.
From the 18th century onwards, European portraiture was popular among the wealthy classes of the Parssi. Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy (1783-1859), a Percy merchant who made his fortune in the aluminium trade, commissioned painters to paint portraits of himself, in which he was examining a document presented to him by a Chinese secretary, while his daughter wore a long embroidered "sudreh" (sudreh) with a "kusti" around her waist and a book in her hand, indicating that she had been educated in English. In Mumbai, the Parsi and Ilani (as a term for the Zoroastrians who later came from Iran) contributed significantly to hotels, cafes, and small businesses. In Britain, one of the first three Asian-American parliamentarians was Muncherjee Bhownagree, a Parsi, who had close ties with the King of Iran and the representatives of the members of parliament of the Iranian Zoroastrians.
△ In the Iranian port of Hormuz, Zoroastrians fleeing persecution by Muslim rulers began their journey of flight.
In the mid-19th century, weavers from the town of Surat on the west coast of India came to Shanghai, China, to learn Chinese silk weaving techniques, which led to a unique style of sari, the tanchoi. Tanchoi is popular with Parsi women for its delicate texture and Chinese themes. The boom in trade with China prompted the Parsi to stay in China for several months, and some brocade and embroidered silk were produced especially for the sarees market for the Parsians. In addition to tanchoi, other unique Parsi textiles are garo, a plain sari long satin with a black base and embroidered with contrasting patterns. The Parsi Sari brooch is also unique in that it uses European design styles when depicting tulips and lilies, and continues the Victorian love of animals and insects, with a passion for butterflies and grasshoppers.
In the 19th century, the Palsi trade with China also contributed to the popularity of carved furniture and wooden cabinets with Chinese themes. Cabinets were used to transport delicately woven and embroidered silk. Chinese porcelain was another imported commodity that the Parsi demanded as their wealth grew from trade with China.
△ The Book of Kings depicts Siyavush, the son of the Sassanid king Kaiyan, riding over a fire to prove his purity, showing elements of Zoroastrianism, miniature painting, 1586.
<h1 class= "pgc-h-arrow-right" > fire temple sacrifice</h1>
Since ancient Zoroastrianism included sacrifices to fire, water, and gods, these rituals became part of the priests' worship rituals. In the past, Zoroastrians prayed five times a day 24 hours a day, usually facing a light source. These light sources can be fire in the stove or lights that are constantly lit in the house, or they can be the sun or the moon, because fire represents truth and light.
△ In the Pasi people of India, the parsi people held weddings, and elements of Zoroastrianism can still be seen.
There are many rituals when Zoroastrians enter the fire temple. Before entering, the faithful cover their heads, then enter the clean area to wash their faces and hands, and wear a ritual belt (padyab kusti) with a ceremonial knot tied around the belt, which Zoroastrians began to wear after they entered the church between the ages of 10 and 12. Before entering the prayer hall, the faithful buy some sandalwood and then light a fuel lamp to prepare for entering the sacrificial room. Sandalwood, aided by the priest, was offered to the fire, who was the only one allowed to enter the inner hall of the fire offering room. After this, the faithful began to worship, reciting scriptures or reciting them according to Roman, Persian, or Gujarati scriptures placed in the room.
The faithful also paid homage to the water god Aban, who would go to the well that provided the fire temple with water for ceremonies. The "inner" rituals of faith, such as Yasna, are usually performed by priests in worship ceremonies at fire temples.
△ Zoroastrian fire temple, Yazd, Iran.
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This article was originally published in civilization magazine in July 2018
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