Authentic Gatha Zoroastrianism

In the seasonal Avestan calendar, May 25 marks the festival of haûrvatát. The Avestan term haûrvatát comes from the root haûrva and refers to “integral health, haleness or great health in all parts.”

Haûrvatát is “wholeness of mind/body, good health and freedom from sickness.” In Zoroastrian teachings health, wholeness and wellbeing are divine.

Haûrvatát’s Vedic equivalent is sarvá-tāt “intactness, wholeness” and Greek Hólos. The Latin term salute originally meaning “good health, well-being, safety from disease” comes from the same root.

In Isis and Osiris 46, Plutarch translates Haûrvatát as Πλοῦτος ploutos “Riches, fullness of life” and equates Haûrvatát with “Plutus,” the Greek god of riches.

The translation of Plutarch has a close parallel in the poetic gathas. The term “health with flow of riches/vitality” haûrvatáß draônö occurs in Yasna 33.8, 3^rd rhymed verse line and “good, delightful life” hû-jyátöiš is substituted for haûrvatát in Yasna 32.5, 1^st rhymed verse line.

The closest connection to haûrvatát’s idea is probably in the Gothic hails, which expresses the notion of “safety from disease, health, spiritual and corporal haleness, integrity, wholeness.”

Old Icelandic heil “good, happy omen,” and heilsa “salute, wishing good health” continue along the same line of thinking.

In runes, we read Wodini hailag translated as “endowed by Wotan with good health, well-being, haleness.”

We also read in the poetic gathas; mazdáv dadát ahûrö haûrvatö ameretátaß-čá; Mazda, the ahûrá, gives health/every cure and immortality, deathlessness; (See Yasna 31.21, 1^st rhymed verse line.)

The Avestan haûrvatát teaches the idea that to be intact and “bursting with health and vigorous energy” is divine. By its very nature divinity possesses every formula of “health, well-being” and it bestows this on mortals in the form of great health and by omens of good fortune.”

The Zoroastrian religiosity is rooted in the will to enhance, increase and strengthen life. Zoroastrianism is the religion of healthy mind/spirit and NOT the faith of a sick soul. It is HEALTHY both in spirit and body. It strives for equilibrium, wholeness and wellness in each and every part of being. Great Health permeates the religious life of the ancient Zoroastrian faith.

In Zoroastrianism, there is NO conflict between body and soul. The healthy body is an expression of a vigorous soul.

For this reason, every idea of killing the senses, of asceticism, lies impossibly remote from Zoroastrianism, and appears as an attempt to belie rather than balance nature.

The Mazdyasni vision is that of the spirit/soul which finds health, well-being and spiritual freedom in the material world and in the physical body. Such a good vision comprehends the whole being, the whole world, the whole universe and human life in it, as part of a creative, artistic order.

The furtherance of all growth comes from the Immortals, the prospering of cattle and of the fruits of the fields; the Immortals present mortals “with success, health, children and everything good and beautiful.”

In the Zoroastrian faith, there is a continuous struggle between on the one hand, the divine will of life, growth, prosperity well-being, wholeness, which strives to shape and introduce superb order for the enhancement of every living thing, and a will hostile to excellence; which brings disintegration, distortion, destruction, and decay of every life-force.

The All-Good God Ahûrá Mazdá (Öhrmazd) perpetually battles against the anti-excellence and narrow limitations of the gloomy, beaten spirit añgrö or Ahriman.

I shall conclude by a beautiful verse from the poetic gathas, Yasna 33.10, 1^st rhymed verse line; vîspáv-stöi hû-jîtayö “all the good, delightful lives that have been, and those that are, and those that shall come to be are Yours Mazdá.”

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Öhrmazd is the middle Iranian for the Avestan “Ahûrá Mazdá,” or the Old Avestan “Mazdá Ahûrá.” The very name Öhrmazd incorporates godhood and that he is an ahûrá or god being/power.

Ahûrá is related to the Old Norse term for the principal race of Gods or the Æsir.

We read in the Greater Bün-Dahišn (the Basis of Creation,) Chapter 1.34

Öhrmazd pîš az dám-dahišnî nî büd ḵvadáy, ud pas az dám-dahišnî ḵvadáy ud süd-ḵvastár ud farzánag, ud jud-bîš áškárag ud hamæ-ráyénîdár ud afzönig har-visp nigerîdár büd.

Öhrmazd before creativity and manifesting the creation was not a god-force, but after the creation of the creatures, He became a god-power; willing all advantage/boons; sagacious and immune from any harm; manifest and reigning over all, flourishing/ever-increasing and all visionary.

The negative particle nî in the text could be a revision or correction of what looks like ráy. But the point made is profound; Öhrmazd is ḵvadá or God because of his “creativity, excellence, virtues and brilliant imagination.”

In other words, the godhood of ahûras come from their “creativity, will to triumph and their foresight.”

In the poetic gathas, Yasna 46.17, 5^th rhymed verse line; the term used is dañgrá mantü “super skillful or incredible mind power,” also the “extraordinary powers of the spirit/will to triumph.”

The term Mazdá itself denotes the Indo European (*mens-dheh-) or when the “spirit/mind, will power, fiery passion, imagination” (*mens) is “set to establish, do, create” (dheh) [Courtesy of Didier Calin.]

The pagan Germanic tribes likewise believed that divinity or godhood was most present in “creativity and vision.”

The ancient commentary of the most sacred ahü vairyö mantra (will to become an ahûrá or god-power,) links the godhood/dominion of ahûrá to empowering the restricted/limited with wondrous powers and making them gods.

ḵvadáyî ö Öhrmazd dád bavîd [u-š Öhrmazd abar tan-î ḵvîš ḵvadáyî ud pádiḵšá kard bavîd] kî ö driyöšán dahîd vehigán [ud parvarišn kü-šán ayárömandî ud jádag-gövî kunînd]

The idea is that Öhrmazd is God because of his creativity/virtues. Furthermore, Öhrmazd is God because he wants to make gods/immortals out of the limited, restricted mortals.

Mortals enthrone Öhrmazd as their Creative God and Ruler King, to overcome their limitations and boundaries, to be free and unlimited; and to redeem themselves to superhuman sacred values.

This stands in great contrast to Mesopotamian Gods whose very essence is terror, tyranny and slavish relation of mortal men to them.

It shall be noted that many Avestan hymns like the hymn to Mithra/Miθra start with the statement of Ahûrá Mazdá that he created Mithra/Miθra and other adorable beings and made them as worthy of worship/adoration and prayers as Ahûrá Mazdá himself (10.1).

I shall conclude by the following most beautiful words that best describe the idea of godhood for us;

“There they stood . . . the immortals who are the source of all our blessings.”   Homer: Odyssey

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The word for “prize” in the poetic gathas is mîždá, it signifies “reward, recompense or prize for a brilliant adventure.” Avestan mîždá is a term common to Indo-Iranian, Greek, Germanic and Slavic.

Mîždá is related to Greek misthós (μισθός), Vedic mīḍha, Old English meord, Gothic mizdo, Old Slavic mižda. [Courtesy of Didier Calin]

The Vedic term mīḍha “prize in a competition” also Vedic mīḍhvas “magnanimity,” the term for “greatness, bountifulness and generosity” are all connected.

The Avestan mîždá “hard-won prize” is to be found in this life and in the promised world to come—awarded to the one who emerges victorious from a struggle or a competition.

Right at the beginning of the Odyssey (1, 5), where the subject is the tribulations of Odysseus, the hero, of whom the poet asks the muse to sing, ἀρνύμενος ἥν τε ψυχὴν καὶ νόστον ἑταίρων ‘he who seeks to gain his own life and the return of his companions’.

By hard struggles and in the course of many trials over which he triumphs, he wins the prize, which is to have saved his life and secured the return of his companions.

In the poetic gathas, the hard-won prize, the prize gained by the victor in a hazardous exploit is “godhood or divinity” the virtue and wisdom “to become godlike.”

We read in the 3^rd rhymed verse line of Yasna 34.13; hyat civištá hû-dábyö//mîždem mazdá ýehyá tü dathrem “the promised reward to the wise, to the creators of good//of which you are the prize Mazdá.”

In Yasna 40.1 of the poetic gathas, Mazdá, the quintessence of ahûrá or godhood is asked for mazdá-ship, “power of the spirit, will, mind to create, manifest and triumph.”

It is the potential of a superior godman, who justifies the existence of the human race. Friedrich Nietzsche, in Also sprach Zarathustra (1883–85) could not have said it better that Zarathushtra, spoke thus: Man is a rope, tied between beast and superman-a rope over an abyss. What is great in man is that he is a bridge and not an end.

The poetic gathas teach that humans can become gods. We have to learn how to be Gods ourselves. We believe that in the ages to come, through the creative power of spirit/mind, through triumph of the will, mortal man at last may become like God – a God.”

The poetic gathas teach that mortal men can become divine, that man is potentiality of godhood limited by mortality for now, and that the only difference between Gods, angels and men is a difference in their power of spirit/mind, their will to triumph over all obstacles and limitations, their creativity and power of imagination.

In Mazd-yasná; God never stops progressing. Mazdá is constantly increasing his power of spirit/mind and creativity; constantly developing in wisdom/virtues and brilliant aspirations.

And our ultimate triumph, our hard-won  prize is to become a God like Mazdá, through triumph of the will, through the creative power of spirit/mind.

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April 22^nd is the great festival of ašá/arthá in the Avestan calendar. In the Zoroastrian religious calculation whenever the name of the god being that presides over the month and the day coincide, there is cause for great joy, festivity and celebration and April 22^nd is such a day.

Prophet Zarathûštrá invokes ašá/arthá more than any other god entity in his poetic gathas. Ašá/Arthá is an ahüric god force or god being of greatest importance in the Old Avestan sacred poetry.

Ašá/Arthá in the poetic gathas is “excellence, virtue, artistry, ingenuity, inventiveness, superb order.”

In Old Avestan poetry, ašá/arthá is a grammatical neuter such as in ašem and/or Vedic r̥tám. But when the seer/prophet wants to address ašá directly or represent ašá as a speaking figure, ašá/arthá becomes masculine.

This change in grammatical gender is identical to the Indo-Iranian god being of “pact/contract” Avestan Mithrö and/or Vedic Mitrá. Mitrá/Mithrö is the masculinized form of the neuter mitrám/mithrem “pact, contract.”

In Indo European poetry talents/virtues could be made into god beings by giving them an animate gender.

Avestan ašá and/or arthá, Vedic r̥tá and Latin ars, artus, ritus, are all referable to a root ar “right fit, precise arrangement, ingenious order.”

This root is well known outside Indo-Iranian because of it numerous formations. Among examples could be cited; Greek ararískō “fit, adapt, harmonize” Gr. artús “order,” artúnō “arrange, equip” Gr. árthron “joint, limb”; Latin ars, artis, “qualification, talent” Lat. artus ‘joint’ ritus ‘rite.

In Indo European poetry everywhere the root ar is: “the right fit, precision, artistry, perfect order.”

We have a striking correlation between aśá/arthá and the concept of thémis designating family law in ancient Greek poetry.

Thémis is of heavenly origin, and the plural thémistes stands for the sum total of codes inspired by the gods, a collection of oracular responses which determine how to proceed every time the order of the génos “kin, race, creation” is at stake.

The phrase hḕ thémis estín, which is usually translated “as is fit and right” in Illiad.2, 72-73 is a fitting example. Here Agamemnon is speaking of how to exercise the thémis, which prescribes “the way he has to proceed and the usages to be observed.”

In Book 16 of the Iliad, l. 387, we see “the anger of Zeus towards men who deliver by the use of violence, unjust decrees thémistes.

In Illiad it is expressly stated: it is by virtue of divine order that the helmet which belonged to Achilles, must never be sullied with dust. This is because Achilles was a “godlike man” (anḕr theîos, l. 798.)

The connection between Old Avestan ašá/arthá and thémis in Illiad could be best demonstrated by the 2^nd rhymed verse line of Yasna 31.7 of the poetic gathas: hvö ḵrathwá dámiš ašem//yá dárayat vahištem manö “his superior/unmatched wisdom is the deviser of artistry, excellence//which is upheld by the most wondrous spirit/mind.

Here dámiš ašem “devising of artistry virtue, excellence, ingenuity,” relates directly to the notion thémis. In fact, both dámiš and thémis come from the root dhe/ ðhe “to establish in a creative way, to establish into existence” by the gods.

The second part of Mazdá (God of Genius, Willpower, Mind) comes from the same exact root of dhe/ ðhe.

I shall conclude by stating that in Old Avestan poetry ašá/arthá “artistry, ingenuity, excellence, virtue, luminosity” is the wondrous self of god, (See Yansa 39.5, 3^rd rhymed verse line.)

The god beings are divine because of their ašá/arthá because of their “virtue, talent, luminosity and ingenuity.”

Ašá/Arthá “artistry, ingenuity, inventiveness, excellence,” is what governs the worlds; the relations between Immortals and mortal men; and the relations of mortal men to other life forms and one another.

Without the ease of ašá/arthá everything is just disorder, injury, a lie or trick called drûj in the Avestan terminology.

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Persian xratu is the word for “superior wisdom.” The ancient Indo- Iranian xratu or more accurately the Avetsan ḵratü “unrivaled wisdom, superior powers of mind/spirit to recall and summon into being” is in the poetic gathas and the Avestan lore, interchangeable with mazdá, the supreme god of “imagination, mind and inspiring creativity.”

The term ḵratü appears over 22 times in the poetic gathas.

Avestan ḵratü, Vedic kratú, Greek krátos refer to “the power of the spirit to triumph.” Ḵratü is closely associated with manas “passion, energy, spirit, mind-power.”

In ḵratü “vision, wisdom and superior skill” are ONE. Lommel’s translation of ḵratü as “Geisteskraft” or “the unrivaled power of spirit/mind to create, manifest, summon into being” is right on the dot.

 Mazdá and/or Ma(n)zdá (*mens-dheh-) incorporates the Indo European noun *mens of the stem ménos (passion, spirit, will power, mind-energy) and the verb *dheh “to set, establish, do, create.” Hence, Mazdá translates into “setting mind power, spirit, fiery passion into doing, creating and manifesting.”

In Avesta and the rest of the Zoroastrian sacred lore, Ahûrás are ahûrá or god beings because of their “virtue, goodness” and their ḵratü “wisdom, unrivaled creativity and superb genius.”

In the Rig Veda, kratú is best translated as “wisdom of making/creating.” The word is used in the context of spiritual power or the seer/poet’s craft.

The Rig Veda conceives the seer/poet as a kárú, meaning “maker, creator, worker.” The notion of the Rig Vedic seer/poets is one of uniting spiritual energy with realization and result called kratú in Sanskrit. Kratú is also the “answer to prayers” during the yajna ritual literally “zealous yearning.”

In Homeric terms krátos is “superiority.” Krátos is connected with the Avestan ḵratü “superior wisdom, powers of mind/spirit to recall and summon into being”.” The Greek term kratús, just like the Avestan ḵraôžd (See Yasna 30.5, 2^nd rhymed verse line) is related to Gothic hardus “hard, solid, firm.”

In both Greek and Avestan there is an overlap of the two word families. This is well illustrated by the twofold use of the word kraterós for example in Homer.

“Come to my aid, friends, I am alone,” shouts Idomeneus, “I am sorely afraid of swift-footed Aeneas, who is coming against me; he is very karterós “hard, indestructible, solid” in slaying men in battle and he is in the flower of youth, which is the greatest krátos “superior position” (Il. 13, 481ff.).

Tomorrow the god will give krátos “superiority” to whomever he wishes,” says Odysseus to his young rivals (Od. 21, 280).

When Idomeneus sees Aeneas coming against him he calls on his friends: “I am afraid: he has the flower of youth, this greatest superiority (krátos mégiston). For if we were of like age in this our ardor, swiftly would he win great advantage (méga krátos) or else I would” (Il. 13, 486).

Zeus proclaims (11, 191; cf. 17, 205). Peleus, when sending his son Achilles to Agamemnon, gave him this advice: “Krátos “superior wisdom” will be given you by Athena and Hera if they so wish. Do you restrain your proud heart in your breast” (9, 254).

Avestan ḵratü is “the triumph of the spirit or the superiority of imagination, mind-power” which animates the Seer-Will into being. It has the same conceptual nucleus as the Homeric krátos.

I shall conclude by the following gathic verses:

vaηhéûš ḵratüm man.aηhö//ýá ḵšne.vîšá géûš.čá ûrvánem

Through “the superior wisdom/creativity” ḵratüm of the “brilliant disposition, good spirit/mind” vaηhéûš man.aηhö; I shall delight/know the “soul of the living universe” géûš ûrvá (the primordial cow.)” See Yasna 28.1, 3^rd rhymed verse line.

θwá.vãns mazdá vaηhéûš ḵratθwá man.aηhö

 To become like you θwá.vãns, “supreme god of inspiring creativity” Mazdá, through the “superior wisdom” of vaηhéûš man.aηhö “the brilliant disposition, good spirit/mind.” See Yasna 48.3, 4^th rhymed verse line.

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The Four Ages of the world narrated in the Avestan Südgar/Südkar commentary of the poetic gathas reminds one of very similar accounts in both Greek and Vedic mythologies.

Südgar is the first of the ancient Avestan commentaries on the poetic gathas or the sacred verses of the seer/prophet Zarathûshtrá. The name Süd-gar/kar means the “creator/producer of advantage.”

Süd-kar commentarial style is to take a verse or word from the gathic original and explain it in reference to mythological narratives found in the Avestan Yašts or ancient hymns. Many passages have parallels in other Middle Iranian texts and the Persian rivāyats or correspondences.

For example we read in Yasna 31.5: “Voice in words to me….of those things that will not be or will be.”

Süd-kar commentary on the aforementioned verse follows by a narration of the 4 ages of the world rooted in ancient Indo European mythological past.

The same account is repeated in the Zand ī Vahman Yasn (ZWY I.3): u-š wan-ēw bun padiš bae deed kee čahár azg padiš büd ék zareen ûd ék aseemín ûd ék pöláwadeen ûd ék áhan abar gûmeex éstád

And he saw the trunk of a tree that had four branches, one golden, and one silver, and one steel and one of mixed iron.

The Südkar apocalyptic account is extremely similar to Mahābhārata. Also a resembling theme could be observed at the saules koks “tree of the sun” among the Balts, as well as the lœraðr tree in Völuspá and Grimnismál in the Norse lore.

Truth is that an depth understanding of the poetic gathas is only possible within the context of ancient Indo European ideas, beliefs, magic of wordplays and worldview.

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Fravashis are the archetypal ideals in the Zoroastrian theology. They are perfect spiritual exemplars exerting their influence from beyond the visible.

Fravashis are archetypal models that govern the behavior of all living organisms as well as inorganic matter. They could be compared to Plato’s “Primordial Ideas” or Schopenhauer’s “Prototypes.”

The word fra-vashi is a compound. The first part means “first, primeval, primordial” and the second part vashi is “wish, desire, will.”

They might also have developed from a sound play on the gathic term fra-vaôčá “first/primordial voice, word” or the gathic fra-vaxšyá “first generative voice, word.”

They are logos or animus of creation, “a conscious infused WILL” that reflects the Ideal.

The immortal soul of the saints and the beloved luminous ones are like a bridge or link to the PARADISIACAL.

They ride the sky like mounted warriors and when called upon in times of sadness, come to aid and lift the spirit up to the sky like a bird.

The symbol of the winged sun disc IS THOUGHT TO represent a Fravashi, (Persian Fravahar.) Yet, this winged sun disc first appears in the Achaemenid period on royal inscriptions. It is clearly an artistic borrowing from the Assyrians.

What the winged sun disc represented in the minds of the Achaemenids who adapted it from earlier Mesopotamian and Assyrian reliefs is UNCLEAR. There is absolutely NOTHING in the Achaemenid Inscriptions that alludes to or names the winged sun disc symbol as fravashi.

But, because the winged sun disc first appears on royal inscriptions, it is much more likely to represent the “Heavenly Glory, Good Fortune” (khvarenæ,) of the Achaemenid rulers, their divine mandate of sort.

The winged sun disc has a similar connotation in the Indo-European Hittite art representing royal fortune and God Sent Good Luck.

It shall come to many as a big surprise but the symbol known as fravahar today, is entirely ABSENT from both the Parthian/Arsacid and Sassanid art.

In ancient Iranian history, the winged sun-disc symbol is unique to the Achaemenid art only.

It has been adopted by today Zoroastrians in the past 100 years or so after the excavation of the majestic Achaemenid ruins. However, there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING in the entire Zoroastrian sacred lore that connects the idea of fravashí to the winged sun disc. There is NO physical description of the fravashis in the Avesta, and in the Avestan, fravashi is grammatically feminine (not a bearded flying old man on a sun-disc.)

Although there are a number of interpretations of the individual elements of the winged sun disc today, NONE of them are older than the 20th century, and they all appear fanciful and highly speculative, with NO basis whatsoever in the original Avestan sources.

The only likely Avestan connection is the fabulous, mythical bird, Simorgh. The name Simorgh derives from Avestan mərəγō saænö ‘the bird Saæna. Simorgh must have been originally a golden eagle or firebird, and is etymologically identical to Sanskrit śyená.

In the epic of god-kings or shāh-nāmæ the female bird Simorḡ is the savior, tutor and guardian of Zāl-the wise albino. This motif is attested first in ancient Iran for Achaemenes, who was reared by an eagle according to Aelian (De natura animalium XII, 2).

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Xenophon, in his Cyropaedia, portrays Cyrus as an ideal ruler (Avery, pp. 529-31; Hirsch, pp. 84-86). Also, Plato considers him a great conqueror and a wise statesman (Laws 3.694A-D.)

Cyrus like his ancestors and kin, was by all Greek accounts a worshiper of Ahûrá Mazdá. According to Xenophon (Cyropaedia 4.5.14), in religious matters Cyrus followed the instruction of the Magis or the Zoroastrian Priests at his court.

Yet, the priests of Babylon recognized him also as the appointed of Marduk.

On the Cyrus cylinder he claimed that the Babylonian god Marduk had ordered him to become ruler of the whole world and to treat the Babylonians with justice; Marduk, satisfied with Cyrus’s “good deeds and his honest mind, ordered him to advance against his city Babyloṇ . . . and went with him as a frienḍ . . . . He made him enter his city Babylon without any battle, without inflicting any damage to the city . . . . All the people of Babyloṇ . . . greeted him with joy . . . with his help they had re­turned from death to life.”

The fact is that while tolerance for other religions and beliefs, is fundamental to Zoroastrianism and Mazda-Worship; praising alien demons from Susa and the cities of northern Mesopotamia does NOT fall within that accepted category of respect/tolerance from a Zoroastrian point of view.

The Achaemenid Empire (539-333 BCE) was the first Great Indo European empire of the ancient world. And Cyrus as the representative of migrating Indo-European Persians and founder of that Empire deserves much credit.

However, it is Darius the Great that is fondly remembered in the Zoroastrian literature and sacred history. Fact is that there is NO mention of Cyrus in the Zoroastrian literature, nor is there a trace of him in shah-nameh, the great Persian Epic of god-kings.

The Assyrians and Babylonians relationship to their conquered lands was a tyrannical and parasitical one. What is unique about Achaemenids is a harmonious, mutually beneficial alliance between ancient rival civilizations of Anatolia, Mesopotamia, Elam, and the ancient Indo Europeans of the Iranian Plateau.

Darius is called great, not because of his conquests but because of the fact that he perfected this harmonious,mutually beneficial alliance and tolerance without sacrificing his Zoroastrian and ancient Iranian identity or uniqueness.

The Mazda worshipping Great King Darius never forced his Assyrian, Babylonian or other non-Aryan, non Iranian subjects to pray to Ahûrá Mazdá.

Darius gave even state monetary support for the rebuilding and repair of the places of worship such as the sanctuaries in Egypt or the Temple in Jerusalem. However, Darius did so without compromising his own Zoroastrian beliefs and his ancient Iranian ethnicity.

Darius and his successors understood well the important role of religion as a determinant of people’s identity and while respecting others, zealously safeguarded their own.

The king’s law was established to do benevolence to Ahuramazda’s good creation where there would be “happy horses, happy men” no lie and no drought/crop failure.

Darius also upheld the democratic institutions of the Greek inhabited cities on the Ionian coast and did not interfere with their or other local traditions.

Darius showed tolerance and greatly respected diversity. Yet his loyalty was first and foremost to his own faith and blood. The unique ancient Iranian religion and identity had its paramount place for him within the first great empire in the history of man. That is why Darioush the Great is fondly remembered in the Zoroastrian history.

By Contrast, Cyrus is NOT even ONCE mentioned in the Zoroastrian ancient history accounts or literature. He is also ABSENT from shahnameh, the epic of god-kings.

From a Zoroastrian point of view, Cyrus went too far in adopting alien Mesopotamian beliefs and customs. He was simply too pragmatic. Cyrus greatly pushed the limits of the Ancient Iranian identity and noble religion in favor of an alien Mesopotamian melting pot with their demon-gods. That is why he is utterly absent from our records. While he deserves much credit as the founder of the first Indo European world empire, it is his successor, Darioush the Great that is truly worthy of our praise.

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The word paradise comes from the Old Iranian pairi-daæz “an idyllic enclosure.” The modern Persian páliz “lush secret garden” comes from the same root.

In Old Persian Inscriptions, Darius the Great, describes his lush garden palace complex at Susa as frasha “splendid, marvelous, beaming with vigor/life.”

The word frashö/frashá goes back to the poetic gathas of the ancient Aryan Prophet Zarathûshtrá and is of paramount importance in the Zoroastrian sacred literature and apocalyptic account of future events.

Frashö refers to the time when all imperfections and limitations wither away and the world becomes “marvelous, splendid, radiant with life and fresh/new energy.”

The term also illuminates the role of mortal man in the sacred history as an idyllic gardener of the worlds.

For Darius the Great, his lush garden palace, the Old Persian pairi-daæz– was the earthly manifestation of an ideal marvelousness/splendor on this earth.

In a similar way Zoroastrian rulers’ duty was to create a heaven on earth for their Aryan Kingdom (Airan-Shahr) and their entire extended Realm.

At the time of frašö–kart the world becomes luminous (röšan), without darkness (a-tár,) the stars (stáragán) and the moon (máh) and the sun (xvar) will come down on earth, making the world indestructible (anöša), complete/comprehensive (han-girdîg) and entire/whole (hámön).

The idea of an extraordinary, marvelous cosmic rebirth, resurrection and the formation of a new bodily form can clearly be traced to the poetic gathas, See for example Yasna 30.7, 2^nd and 3^rd rhymed verse lines.

We read in the ancient commentaries for example: The savior saôšyánt and the Wise Lord, Öhrmazd, proceed to do the following:

án î mûrd, sôšyáns abág awēšán frašgird kardár kîš ayár hînd ö ristag tan ēstēnd öhrmazd ast az zamīg ûd xön az áb ûd möy az ûrvar ûd gyán az wád xváhēd ēk ö deed gumēzeed ud ēwēnag î xvad dáreed daheed

Those who are dead, the savior Sōšyáns along with those who are the makers of marvelous splendor (frašö-kart), who are his helpers, will raise them to their bodies, Öhrmazd will call (their) bones from the earth and blood from the water and hair from the plant and spirit from the wind, he will mix one with the other and he will create the form which each has.

Zoroastrian apocalyptic literature demonstrates elements that definitely are rooted in the Indo-European remote past. But the ancient Aryan Prophet Zarathûshtrá made innovative additions such as the concept of frašö/fraša- “marvelous, new splendor” and building of idyllic perfections/heavenly gardens on this good earth.

The magnificent, cataclysmic event will change the myriad of the worlds and transfigure them for their new extraordinary splendor, See Yasna 30.2, 3^rd rhymed verse line.

There will be a new body of eternal youth and a spring without end. Happy Ôstara!

ardeshir

The 13^th day after the vernal equinox is the day of Tištar, the DOG-STAR OF THE THREE-STARS or Sirius, Old Norse Hunda-stjarna.

The day dedicated to Tištar or the most brilliant three stars visible in the firmament is a most auspicious day in the Zoroastrian calendar. The day is known in Iranian folklore as sizdah-bae-dar “13^th outdoors” marked by picnicking by the waterfalls and streams.

Vedic Tiṣya (RV V.54.13; X.64.8) corresponds to Avestan Tištar according to the etymological explanation proposed by Forssman (1968), which puts the star Sirius in a clear relationship with the three stars of Orion’s Belt.

The symbolic link with the astral theme of the celestial “arrow” Tyr is strongly present in the Avestan Yasht/hymn to Tištar or the three stars.

The Avestan hymn to Tištar contains two different mythical events. One concerning Tištar’s battle with Ap-aôša “draught” and the latter with the Pairikás, “evil fairies or witches of the bad/difficult year” duž-yaair.

The latter myth with evil fairies and the bad/difficult year corresponds to shooting stars.

In the body of a white horse Tištar attacks Apaôša “draught,” but after three days and nights the three star is defeated, because the three star was not sufficiently worshipped by the Aryans (see Yt. 8.24).

Only after an empowering yasná- “intense wish/desire, zeal” is offered by the Wise Lord Ahûrá Mazdá in favor of the most luminous star (Yt. 8.25,) can Tištar move again against Apaôša and at midday defeat draught ; thus the waters of the Vouru.kaṧa “wide-shored ocean” are free and can be distributed among the seven kingdoms.

Tištar’s epithet is afš-cithra-“having the seed/origin” of the waters (rains), but also “having the brilliance of the waters/rains.”

It is a most lucky day for ancient Iranians.

ardeshir