Zoroastrianism (Ancient Persian Religion)
Zoroastrianism is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4,000 years ago. Arguably the world's first monotheistic faith, it's one of the oldest religions still in existence.
Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world's oldest continuously practiced religions, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. Zoroastrianism has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good.
Zoroastrians believe in one
God, called Ahura Mazda (meaning 'Wise Lord') -
One God Means -
·
Omniscient (knows everything)
·
Omnipotent (all powerful)
·
Omnipresent (is everywhere)
·
Impossible for humans to conceive.
·
Unchanging.
·
The Creator of life.
· The Source of all goodness and happiness.
These religious ideas are encapsulated in the sacred texts of the Zoroastrians and assembled in a body of literature called the Avesta.
Zoroastrianism
Zoroastrianism or Mazdayasna is one of the world's oldest continuously practiced religions, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster (also known as Zaraθuštra in Avestan or Zartosht in Modern Persian). Zoroastrianism has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology which predicts the ultimate conquest of evil by good. Zoroastrianism exalts an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom, Ahura Mazda (Wise Lord), as its supreme being. The unique historical features of Zoroastrianism, such as its monotheism, messianism, judgment after death, heaven and hell, and free will may have influenced other religious and philosophical systems, including Second Temple Judaism, Gnosticism, Greek philosophy, Christianity, Islam, the Baháʼí Faith.
With possible roots dating back to the Second Millennium BCE, Zoroastrianism enters written history in the 5th century BCE. It served as the state religion of the ancient Iranian empires for more than a millennium, from around 600 BCE to 650 CE, but declined from the 7th century CE onwards following the Muslim conquest of Persia of 633–654 and subsequent persecution of the Zoroastrian people. Recent estimates place the current number of Zoroastrians at around 110,000–120,000 at most, with the majority living in India, Iran, and North America; their number has been thought to be declining.
The most important texts of the religion are those contained within the Avesta, which includes as central the writings of Zoroaster known as the Gathas, poems within the Yasna that define the teachings of the Zoroaster, the main worship service of Zoroastrianism. The religious philosophy of Zoroaster divided the early Iranian gods of the Proto-Indo-Iranian tradition into ahuras and daevas, the latter of which were not considered worthy of worship. Zoroaster proclaimed that Ahura Mazda was the supreme creator, the creative and sustaining force of the universe through Asha, and that human beings are given a choice between supporting Ahura Mazda or not, making them responsible for their choices. Though Ahura Mazda has no equal contesting force, Angra Mainyu (destructive spirit/mentality), whose forces are born from Aka Manah (evil thought), is considered the main adversarial force of the religion, standing against Spenta Mainyu (creative spirit/mentality). Middle Persian literature developed Angra Mainyu further into Ahriman and advancing him to be the direct adversary to Ahura Mazda.
In Zoroastrianism, Asha (truth, cosmic order), the life force that originates from Ahura Mazda, stands in opposition to Druj (falsehood, deceit) and Ahura Mazda is considered to be all-good with no evil emanating from the deity. Ahura Mazda works in gētīg (the visible material realm) and mēnōg (the invisible spiritual and mental realm) through the seven (six when excluding Spenta Mainyu) Amesha Spentas (the direct emanations of Ahura Mazda).
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. In Zoroastrianism, the purpose in life is to become an ashavan (a master of Asha) and to bring happiness into the world, which contributes to the cosmic battle against evil.
Zoroastrianism's core teachings
include:
· Follow the Threefold Path of Asha: Humata, Huxta, Huvarshta (Good
Thoughts, Good Words, And Good Deeds).
·
Charity is a way of keeping one's soul aligned with Asha and thus of
spreading happiness.
·
The spiritual equality and duty of men and women alike.
·
Being good for the sake of goodness and without the hope of reward (see Ashem Vohu).
Terminology
The name Zoroaster (Ζωροάστηρ) is a Greek rendering of the Avestan name Zarathustra. He is
known as Zartosht and Zardosht in Persian and Zaratosht in Gujarati. The Zoroastrian name of the religion is Mazdayasna, which combines Mazda- with the Avestan word yasna, meaning "worship,
devotion". In English, an adherent of the
faith is commonly called a Zoroastrian or a Zarathustrian. An older expression
still used today is Behdin, meaning
"The best religion|beh <
Middle Persian weh ‘good’ + din < Middle Persian dēn < Avestan daēnā". In the Zoroastrian liturgy, this term is used as a
title for a lay individual who has been formally inducted into the religion in
a Navjote ceremony, in
contrast to the priestly titles of osta, osti, ervad (hirbod), mobed and dastur.
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. 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.
Overview
Theology
Zoroastrians believe that there is one universal, transcendent,
all-good, and uncreated supreme creator deity, Ahura Mazda, or the "Wise Lord" (Ahura meaning "Lord" and Mazda meaning "Wisdom" in Avestan). Zoroaster keeps the two
attributes separate as two different concepts in most of the Gathas yet sometimes combines them into one form. Zoroaster also
claims that Ahura Mazda is omniscient but not omnipotent. In the Gathas, Ahura Mazda is noted as working through
emanations known as the Amesha
Spenta and
with the help of "other ahuras", of
which Sraosha is the only one
explicitly named of the latter category.
Scholars and theologians have long debated on the nature of
Zoroastrianism, with dualism, monotheism, and polytheism being the main terms
applied to the religion. Some scholars 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. In any case, Asha, the main spiritual force which comes
from Ahura Mazda, is the cosmic order which is the antithesis of chaos, which is evident as druj, falsehood and disorder. 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.
In the Zoroastrian tradition, druj comes from Angra Mainyu (also
referred to in later texts as "Ahriman"), the destructive
spirit/mentality, while the main representative of Asha in this conflict
is Spenta Mainyu, the creative
spirit/mentality. Ahura Mazda is immanent in humankind and interacts with creation through
emanations known as the Amesha Spenta, the bounteous/holy immortals, which are
representative and guardians of different aspects of creation and the ideal
personality. Ahura Mazda, through these Amesha Spenta, is assisted by a
league of countless divinities called Yazatas, meaning "worthy of worship", and each is generally
a hypostasis of a moral or
physical aspect of creation. According to Zoroastrian cosmology, in articulating the Ahuna
Vairya formula,
Ahura Mazda made the ultimate triumph of good against Angra Mainyu
evident. Ahura Mazda will ultimately prevail over the evil Angra Mainyu, at which point reality will undergo a
cosmic renovation called Frashokereti and limited time
will end. In the final renovation, all of creation—even the souls of the dead
that were initially banished to or chose to descend into
"darkness"—will be reunited with Ahura Mazda in the Kshatra Vairya (meaning "best
dominion"), being resurrected to immortality. In Middle Persian literature, the prominent belief
was that at the end of time a savior-figure known as the Saoshyant would bring about the Frashokereti, while in the Gathic
texts the term Saoshyant (meaning "one who brings benefit") referred
to all believers of Mazdayasna but changed into a messianic concept in later
writings.
Zoroastrian theology includes foremost the importance of
following the Threefold Path of Asha revolving around Good Thoughts, Good
Words, and Good Deeds. There is also a heavy emphasis on spreading
happiness, mostly through charity, and respecting the spiritual equality
and duty of both men and women. 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." 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)." However, this
particular assertion is undermined by the fact that early Zoroastrians had a
duty to exterminate "evil" species, a dictate no longer followed in
modern Zoroastrianism.
Practices
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 free will and Zoroastrianism as such rejects extreme
forms of asceticism and monasticism but
historically has allowed for moderate expressions of these concepts.
In Zoroastrian
tradition, life is a temporary state in which a mortal is expected actively to
participate 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. On the fourth day
after death, the urvan is reunited with its fravashi, whereupon the experiences
of life in the material world are collected for use in the continuing battle
for good in the spiritual world. For the most part, Zoroastrianism does not
have a notion of reincarnation, at least not until the
Frashokereti. Followers of Ilm-e-Kshnoom in
India believe in reincarnation and practice vegetarianism, among other
currently non-traditional opinions, although there have been various
theological statements supporting vegetarianism in Zoroastrianism's history and
claims that Zoroaster was vegetarian.
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). Both water and fire are
considered life-sustaining, and both water and fire are represented within the
precinct of a fire temple. Zoroastrians usually pray
in the presence of some form of fire (which can be considered evident in any
source of light), and the culminating rite of
the principal act of worship constitutes a "strengthening of the
waters". Fire is considered a medium through which spiritual insight and
wisdom are gained, and water is considered the source of that wisdom. Both fire
and water are also hypostasized as the Yazatas Atar and Anahita, which worship hymns and litanies dedicated to them.
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. Other Zoroastrian communities either cremate their dead, or bury them in graves that are
cased with lime mortar, though Zoroastrians are keen to dispose of
their dead in the most environmentally harmless way possible.
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 the Revayats and other scripture though later priests have
condemned these judgements. 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 ecclesastical authority within Iran) endorses conversion but
conversion from Islam to Zoroastrianism is illegal under the laws of the
Islamic Republic of Iran.
History
Classical antiquity
The roots of Zoroastrianism are thought to lie in a common
prehistoric Indo-Iranian religious system
dating back to the early 2nd millennium BCE. The prophet Zoroaster
himself, though traditionally dated to the 6th century BCE, is thought by many
modern historians to have been a reformer of the polytheistic Iranian religion
who lived in the 10th century BCE. Zoroastrianism as a religion was not
firmly established until several centuries later. 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.
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.
Following the unification of the Median and Persian empires in
550 BCE, Cyrus the Great and later his son Cambyses II curtailed the powers of the Magi after they had attempted
to sow dissent following their loss of influence. In 522 BCE, the Magi revolted
and set up a rival claimant to the throne. The usurper, pretending to be Cyrus'
younger son Smerdis, took power shortly
thereafter. Owing to the despotic
rule of
Cambyses and his long absence in Egypt, "the whole people, Persians, Medes
and all the other nations" acknowledged the usurper, especially as he
granted a remission of taxes for three years.
Darius I and later Achaemenid
emperors acknowledged
their devotion to Ahura Mazda in inscriptions, as attested to several times in
the Behistun inscription, and
appear to have continued the model of coexistence with other religions. Whether
Darius was a follower of the teachings of Zoroaster has not been conclusively
established as there is no indication of note that worship of Ahura Mazda was
exclusively a Zoroastrian practice.
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 circa 60
BCE, appears to substantiate this Zoroastrian legend. According to one
archaeological examination, the ruins of the palace of Xerxes bear traces of
having been burned. 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, but it is unlikely.
Alexander's conquests largely displaced Zoroastrianism
with Hellenistic beliefs, though the
religion continued to be practiced many centuries following the demise of the
Achaemenids in mainland Persia and the core regions of the former Achaemenid
Empire, most notably Anatolia, Mesopotamia, and the Caucasus. In the Cappadocian kingdom, whose territory was
formerly an Achaemenid possession, Persian colonists, cut off from their
co-religionists in Iran proper, continued to practice the faith
[Zoroastrianism] of their forefathers; and there Strabo, observing in the first
century B.C., records (XV.3.15) that these "fire kindlers" possessed
many "holy places of the Persian Gods", as well as fire
temples. Strabo further states that these were "noteworthy
enclosures; and in their midst there is an altar, on which there is a large
quantity of ashes and where the magi keep the fire ever burning." It was not
until the end of the Parthian
period (247 b.c.–a.d. 224)
that Zoroastrianism would receive renewed interest.
Late antiquity
As late as the Parthian period, a form of Zoroastrianism was without a
doubt the dominant religion in the Armenian lands. The Sassanids aggressively
promoted the Zurvanite form of Zoroastrianism,
often building fire temples in captured territories to promote the religion.
During the period of their centuries-long suzerainty over the Caucasus, the Sassanids made
attempts to promote Zoroastrianism there with considerable successes, and it
was prominent in the pre-Christian Caucasus (especially modern-day Azerbaijan).
Due to its ties to the Christian Roman Empire, Persia's arch-rival
since Parthian times, the
Sassanids were suspicious of Roman
Christianity,
and after the reign of Constantine
the Great,
sometimes persecuted it. The Sassanid authority clashed with their Armenian subjects in
the Battle of Avarayr (a.d. 451),
making them officially break with the Roman Church. But the Sassanids tolerated
or even sometimes favored the Christianity of the Church of the East. The acceptance of
Christianity in Georgia (Caucasian
Iberia) saw
the Zoroastrian religion there slowly but surely decline, but as late the
5th century a.d. it
was still widely practised as something like a second established religion.
Decline in the middle Ages
Most of the Sassanid
Empire was overthrown by the Arabs over the course of 16 years in the 7th century. 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. 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), 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." 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.
The Arabs adopted the Sassanid tax-system, both the land-tax
levied on land owners and the poll-tax levied on
individuals, called jizya, a tax levied on
non-Muslims (i.e., the dhimmis). In time,
this poll-tax came to be used as a means to humble the non-Muslims, and a
number of laws and restrictions evolved to emphasize their inferior status.
Under the early orthodox caliphs, as long as the
non-Muslims paid their taxes and adhered to the dhimmi laws,
administrators were enjoined to leave non-Muslims "in their religion and
their land." (Caliph
Abu Bakr,
qtd. in Boyce 1979, p. 146).
Under Abbasid rule, Muslim Iranians
(who by then were in the majority) in many instances showed severe disregard
for and mistreated local Zoroastrians. For example, in the 9th century, a
deeply venerated cypress
tree in Khorasan (which
Parthian-era legend supposed had been planted by Zoroaster himself) was felled
for the construction of a palace in Baghdad, 2,000 miles (3,200 km) away.
In the 10th century, on the day that a Tower of Silence had been completed at much trouble and expense, a Muslim
official contrived to get up onto it, and to call the adhan (the Muslim call
to prayer) from its walls. This was turned into a pretext to annex the
building.
Ultimately, Muslim scholars like Al-Biruni found few records
left of the belief of for instance the Khawarizmians because figures like Qutayba ibn Muslim "extinguished and ruined in every possible way all
those who knew how to write and read the Khawarizmi writing, who knew the
history of the country and who studied their sciences." As a result,
"these things are involved in so much obscurity that it is impossible to
obtain an accurate knowledge of the history of the country since the time of
Islam…"
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, with the
nobility and city-dwellers being the first to do so, while Islam was accepted
more slowly among the peasantry and landed gentry. "Power and
worldly-advantage" now lay with followers of Islam, and although the
"official policy was one of aloof contempt; there were individual Muslims
eager to proselytize and ready to use
all sorts of means to do so."
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 Husayn, son of the fourth
caliph Ali and grandson of
Islam's prophet Muhammad, had married a captive
Sassanid princess named Shahrbanu. This "wholly
fictitious figure" was said to have borne Husayn a son, the historical
fourth Shi'a imam, who claimed that
the caliphate rightly belonged
to him and his descendants, and that the Umayyads had wrongfully wrested it from him. The alleged descent
from the Sassanid house counterbalanced the Arab nationalism of the Umayyads, and the Iranian national association with
a Zoroastrian past was disarmed. Thus, according to scholar Mary Boyce, "it was no longer
the Zoroastrians alone who stood for patriotism and loyalty to the
past." The "damning indictment" that becoming Muslim
was Un-Iranian only remained an
idiom in Zoroastrian texts.
With Iranian support, the Abbasids overthrew the Umayyads in 750, and in the subsequent
caliphate government—that nominally lasted until 1258—Muslim Iranians received
marked favor in the new government, both in Iran and at the capital in Baghdad. This mitigated the
antagonism between Arabs and Iranians, but sharpened the distinction between
Muslims and non-Muslims. The Abbasids zealously persecuted heretics, and although this was
directed mainly at Muslim sectarians, it also created a
harsher climate for non-Muslims.
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 Bukhara (in
present-day Uzbekistan), resistance to Islam
required the 9th-century Arab commander Qutaiba to convert his province four times. The first three times
the citizens reverted to their old religion. Finally, the governor made their
religion "difficult for them in every way", turned the local fire
temple into a mosque, and encouraged the local population to attend Friday prayers
by paying each attendee two dirhams. The cities where
Arab governors resided were particularly vulnerable to such pressures, and in
these cases the Zoroastrians were left with no choice but to either conform or
migrate to regions that had a more amicable administration.
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 Middle Persian dialect of that period (free of Arabic words), and written
in the difficult Pahlavi
script (hence
the adoption of the term "Pahlavi" as the name of the variant of the
language, and of the genre, of those Zoroastrian books). If read aloud, these
books would still have been intelligible to the laity. Many of these texts
are responses to the tribulations of the time, and all of them include
exhortations to stand fast in their religious beliefs. Some, such as the "Denkard", are doctrinal
defenses of the religion, while others are explanations of theological aspects
(such as the Bundahishn's) or practical aspects
(e.g., explanation of rituals) of it.
In Khorasan in northeastern
Iran, a 10th-century Iranian nobleman brought together four Zoroastrian priests
to transcribe a Sassanid-era Middle Persian work titled Book of the Lord (Khwaday Namag) from
Pahlavi script into Arabic script. This transcription, which remained in Middle
Persian prose (an Arabic version, by al-Muqaffa, also exists), was
completed in 957 and subsequently became the basis for Firdausi's Book of Kings. It became enormously
popular among both Zoroastrians and Muslims, and also served to propagate the
Sassanid justification for overthrowing the Arsacids (i.e., that the Sassanids
had restored the faith to its "orthodox" form after the Hellenistic
Arsacids had allowed Zoroastrianism to become corrupt).
Among migrations were those to cities in (or on the margins of)
the great salt deserts, in particular to Yazd and Kerman, which remain centers
of Iranian Zoroastrianism to this day. Yazd became the seat of the Iranian high
priests during Mongol
Il-Khanate rule,
when the "best hope for survival [for a non-Muslim] was to be
inconspicuous." Crucial to the present-day survival of Zoroastrianism
was a migration from the northeastern Iranian town of "Sanjan in south-western
Khorasan", to Gujarat, in western India. The descendants of
that group are today known as the Parsis—"as the Gujaratis, from long tradition,
called anyone from Iran"—who today represent the larger of the two groups
of Zoroastrians.
The struggle between Zoroastrianism and Islam declined in the
10th and 11th centuries. Local Iranian dynasties, "all vigorously
Muslim," had emerged as largely independent vassals of the Caliphs. In
the 16th century, in one of the early letters between Iranian Zoroastrians and
their co-religionists in India, the priests of Yazd lamented that
"no period [in human history], not even that of Alexander, had been more grievous
or troublesome for the faithful than 'this millennium of the demon of Wrath'."
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.
Today Zoroastrianism
can be divided in two main schools of thought: reformists and traditionalists.
Traditionalists are mostly Parsis and accept,
beside the Gathas and Avesta, also the Middle Persian literature and
like the reformists mostly developed in their modern form from 19th century
developments. They generally do not allow conversion to the
faith and, as such, for someone to be a Zoroastrian they must be born of
Zoroastrian parents. Some traditionalists recognize the children of mixed
marriages as Zoroastrians, though usually only if the father is a born
Zoroastrian. Reformists tend to advocate a "return" to the
Gathas, the universal nature of the faith, a decrease in ritualization, and an
emphasis on the faith as philosophy rather than religion. Not all Zoroastrians
identify with either school and notable examples are getting traction including
Neo-Zoroastrians/Revivalists, which are usually reinterpretations of
Zoroastrianism appealing towards Western concerns, and centering the idea
of Zoroastrianism as a living religion and advocate the revival and maintenance
of old rituals and prayers while supporting ethical and social progressive
reforms. Both of these latter schools tend to center the Gathas without
outright rejecting other texts except the Vendidad. The Ilm-e-Khshnoom and the Pundol Group are
Zoroastrian mystical schools of thought popular among a small minority of the
Parsi community inspired mostly by 19th-century theosophy and
typified by a spiritual ethnocentric mentality.
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 Tata, Godrej, Wadia families, and others.
Though the Armenians
share a rich history affiliated with Zoroastrianism (that eventually declined
with the advent of Christianity), reports indicate that there were Zoroastrian Armenians in Armenia until
the 1920s. A comparatively minor population persisted in Central Asia, the Caucasus, and Persia, and a growing large
expatriate community has formed in the United States mostly from India and
Iran, and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia.
At the request of the
government of Tajikistan, UNESCO declared 2003 a year to celebrate the
"3000th anniversary of Zoroastrian culture", with special events
throughout the world. In 2011 the Tehran Mobeds Anjuman announced that for the
first time in the history of modern Iran and of the modern Zoroastrian
communities worldwide, women had been ordained in Iran and North America as
mobedyars, meaning women assistant mobeds (Zoroastrian
clergy). The women hold official certificates and can perform the
lower-rung religious functions and can initiate people into the religion.
Relation to other religions and cultures
Some scholars
believe that key concepts of Zoroastrian eschatology and demonology influenced the Abrahamic
religions. On the other hand, Zoroastrianism itself inherited ideas
from other belief systems and, like other "practiced" religions,
accommodates some degree of syncretism, with
Zoroastrianism in Sogdia, the Kushan Empire, Armenia, China, and other places incorporating local and foreign
practices and deities. Zoroastrian influences on Hungarian, Slavic, Ossetian, Turkic and Mongol mythologies have also been noted, all of which
bearing extensive light-dark dualisms and possible sun god theonyms related
to Hvare-khshaeta.
Indo-Iranian origins
The religion of
Zoroastrianism is closest to Vedic religion to
varying degrees. Some historians believe that Zoroastrianism, along with
similar philosophical revolutions in South Asia were interconnected strings of
reformation against a common Indo-Aryan thread. Many traits of Zoroastrianism
can be traced back to the culture and beliefs of the prehistorical Indo-Iranian
period, that is, to the time before the migrations that led to the Indo-Aryans and Iranics becoming
distinct peoples. Zoroastrianism consequently shares elements with the historical Vedic religion that also has its origins in
that era. Some examples include cognates between the Avestan word Ahura ("Ahura Mazda") and the Vedic Sanskrit word Asura ("demon;
evil demigod"); as well as Daeva ("demon")
and Deva ("god") and they both descend from
a common Proto-Indo-Iranian religion.
Manichaeism.
Zoroastrianism is
often compared with Manichaeism. Nominally an Iranian
religion, it has its origins in Middle-Eastern Gnosticism. Superficially such a comparison seems apt, as
both are dualistic and Manichaeism adopted many of the Yazatas for its own pantheon. Gherardo Gnoli, in The Encyclopaedia of Religion, 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".
But they are quite
different. Manichaeism equated evil with matter and good with spirit, and
was therefore particularly suitable as a doctrinal basis for every form of
asceticism and many forms of mysticism. Zoroastrianism, on the other hand,
rejects every form of asceticism, has no dualism of matter and spirit (only of
good and evil), and sees the spiritual world as not very different from the
natural one (the word "paradise", or pairi.daeza,
applies equally to both.).
Manichaeism's basic
doctrine was that the world and all corporeal bodies were constructed from the
substance of Satan, an idea that is fundamentally at odds with the Zoroastrian
notion of a world that was created by God and that is all good, and any
corruption of it is an effect of the bad.
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.
Religious
text
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. 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 evidence historically towards
these claims 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.
As tradition
continues, under the reign of King Valax (identified with a Vologases of the Arsacid Dynasty), an
attempt was made to restore what was considered the Avesta. During the Sassanid Empire, Ardeshir ordered Tansar, his high priest, to finish the work that King Valax had
started. Shapur I sent priests to locate the scientific text
portions of the Avesta that were in the possession of the Greeks. Under Shapur II, Arderbad Mahrespandand revised the canon to
ensure its orthodox character, while under Khosrow I, 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 literature is
correct. The later manuscripts all date from after the fall of the
Sasanian Empire, the latest being from 1288, 590 years after the fall of the
Sasanian Empire. The texts that remain today are the Gathas, Yasna, Visperad and the Vendidad, of which the
latter's inclusion is disputed within the faith. Along with these texts is
the individual, communal, and ceremonial prayer book called the Khordeh Avesta, which contains the Yashts and other important hymns, prayers, and rituals?
The rest of the materials from the Avesta are called "Avestan
fragments" in that they are written in Avestan, incomplete, and generally
of unknown provenance.
Middle Persian (Pahlavi)
Middle Persian and
Pahlavi works created in the 9th and 10th century contains 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 Denkard, Bundahishn, Menog-i Khrad, Selections of Zadspram, Jamasp Namag, Epistles of Manucher, Rivayats, Dadestan-i-Denig, and Arda Viraf Namag. All Middle Persian texts written on
Zoroastrianism during this time period are considered secondary works on the
religion, and not scripture. Nonetheless, these texts
have had a strong influence on the religion.
Zoroaster
Zoroastrianism was
founded by Zoroaster (or Zarathushtra) 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 polytheistic religion, which featured excessive animal sacrifice and the excessive ritual use of intoxicants,
and his life was influenced profoundly by the attempts of his people to find
peace and stability in the face of constant threats of raiding and conflict.
Zoroaster's birth and early life are little documented but speculated upon
heavily in later texts. What is known is recorded in the Gathas, forming the core of the Avesta, which contain hymns
thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. Born into the Spitama clan, he refers to himself as a poet-priest
and prophet. He had a wife, three sons, and three daughters,
the numbers of which are gathered from various texts.
Zoroaster rejected
many of the gods of the Bronze Age Iranians
and their oppressive class structure, in which the Kavis and
Karapans (princes and priests) controlled the ordinary people. He also opposed
cruel animal sacrifices and the excessive use of the possibly hallucinogenic Haoma plant
(conjectured to have been a species of ephedra and/or Peganum harmala), but did not condemn either practice
outright, providing moderation was observed.
Zoroaster in legend
According to later
Zoroastrian tradition, when Zoroaster was 30 years old, he went into the Daiti
river to draw water for a Haoma ceremony;
when he emerged, he received a vision of Vohu Manah. After this,
Vohu Manah took him to the other six Amesha Spentas, where he received the
completion of his vision. This vision radically transformed his view of
the world, and he tried to teach this view to others. Zoroaster believed in one
supreme creator deity and acknowledged this creator's emanations (Amesha Spenta) and other divinities which he called Ahuras
(Yazata). Some of the deities of the old religion, the Daevas (Devas in
Sanskrit), appeared to delight in war and strife and were condemned as evil
workers of Angra Mainyu by Zoroaster.
Zoroaster's ideas were
not taken up quickly; he originally only had one convert: his cousin
Maidhyoimanha. The local religious authorities opposed his ideas,
considering that their faith, power, and particularly their rituals were
threatened by Zoroaster's teaching against the bad and overly-complicated
ritualization of religious ceremonies. Many did not like Zoroaster's
downgrading of the Daevas to evil ones not worthy of worship. After twelve
years of little success, Zoroaster left his home.
In the country of
King Vishtaspa, the king and queen heard Zoroaster debating with
the religious leaders of the land and decided to accept Zoroaster's ideas as
the official religion of their kingdom after having Zoroaster prove himself by
healing the king's favorite horse. Zoroaster is believed to have died in his
late 70s, either by murder by a Turanian or old
age. Very little is known of the time between Zoroaster and the Achaemenian period, except that Zoroastrianism spread
to Western Iran and other regions. By the time of the founding of the
Achaemenid Empire, Zoroastrianism is believed to have been already a
well-established religion.
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 Zoroaster from
Paradise and to have stood in today's Kashmar in
northeastern Iran and to have been planted by Zoroaster in honor of the
conversion of King Vishtaspa to Zoroastrianism.
According to the Iranian physicist and historian Zakariya al-Qazwini King
Vishtaspa had been a patron of Zoroaster who planted the tree himself. In
his ʿAjā'ib al-makhlūqāt wa gharā'ib al-mawjūdāt, he
further describes how the Al-Mutawakkil in
247 AH (861 AD) caused the mighty cypress to be felled, and then
transported it across Iran, to be used for beams in his new palace at Samarra. Before, he wanted the tree to be reconstructed
before his eyes. This was done in spite of protests by the Iranians, who
offered a very great sum of money to save the tree. Al-Mutawakkil never saw the
cypress, because he was murdered by a Turkish soldier
(possibly in the employ of his son) on the night when it arrived on the banks
of the Tigris.
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.
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.
Principal beliefs
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.
In Zoroastrianism, Ahura
Mazda is
the beginning and the end, the creator of everything that can and cannot be
seen, the eternal and uncreated, the all-good and source of Asha. In the Gathas, the most sacred texts
of Zoroastrianism thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, Zoroaster
acknowledged the highest devotion to Ahura Mazda, with worship and adoration
also given to Ahura Mazda's manifestations (Amesha Spenta) and the other ahuras (Yazata) that support Ahura
Mazda.
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. Traditionally, the manthras, spiritual
prayer formulas, are believed to be of immense power and the vehicles of Asha
and creation used to maintain good and fight evil. 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.
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. This
concept of asha versus the druj should not be confused with Western and
especially Abrahamic 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). 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.
In this schema of asha versus druj, mortal beings (both humans and animals) play a
critical role, for they too are created. Here, in their lives, they are active
participants in the conflict, and it is their spiritual duty to defend Asha,
which is under constant assault and would decay in strength without counteraction. Throughout the Gathas, Zoroaster emphasizes deeds and actions within
society and accordingly extreme asceticism is
frowned upon in Zoroastrianism but moderate forms are allowed within. This
was explained as fleeing from the experiences and joys of life, which was the
very purpose that the urvan (most
commonly translated as the "soul") was sent into the mortal world to
collect. The avoidance of any aspect of life which does not bring harm to
another and engage in activities that support the druj, which includes the
avoidance of the pleasures of life, is a shirking of the responsibility and
duty to oneself, one's urvan, and one's family
and social obligations.
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.
In the 19th century,
through contact with Western academics and missionaries, Zoroastrianism
experienced a massive theological change that still affects it today. The Rev. John Wilson led various missionary campaigns in
India against the Parsi community, disparaging the Parsis for their "dualism" and "polytheism" and as having
unnecessary rituals while declaring the Avesta to not be "divinely
inspired". This caused mass dismay in the relatively uneducated Parsi
community, which blamed its priests and led to some conversions towards
Christianity.
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). It has been argued by Dr Almut Hintze that
this designation of monotheism is not wholly perfect and that Zoroastrianism
instead has it "own form of monotheism" which combines elements of
dualism and polytheism. It has otherwise been opined that Zoroastrianism
is totally monotheistic with only dualistic elements.
Throughout Zoroastrian
history, shrines and temples have been
the focus of worship and pilgrimage for adherents of the religion. Early
Zoroastrians were recorded as worshiping in the 5th century BCE on mounds and
hills where fires were lit below the open skies. In the wake of Achaemenid
expansion, shrines were constructed throughout the empire and particularly
influenced the role of Mithra, Aredvi Sura Anahita, Verethragna and Tishtrya, alongside other traditional Yazata who all have
hymns within the Avesta and also local deities and culture-heroes. Today,
enclosed and covered fire temples tend to be the focus of community worship
where fires of varying grades are maintained by the clergy assigned to the
temples.
Cosmology: Creation
of the universe
According to the
Zoroastrian creation myth, Ahura Mazda existed
in light and goodness above, while Angra Mainyu existed
in darkness and ignorance below. They have existed independently of each other
for all time, and manifest contrary substances. Ahura Mazda first manifested
seven divine beings called Amesha Spentas, who
support him and represent beneficent aspects of personality and creation, along
with numerous Yazatas, divinities worthy of
worship. Ahura Mazda then created the material and visible world itself in
order to ensnare evil. Ahura Mazda created the floating, egg-shaped universe in
two parts: first the spiritual (menog) and 3,000
years later, the physical (getig). Ahura Mazda
then created Gayomard, the archetypical perfect man,
and Gavaevodata, the primordial bovine.
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 Mah, the Moon. From the bull's seed grew all beneficial
plants and animals of the world and from the man's seed grew a plant whose
leaves became the first human couple. Humans thus
struggle in a two-fold universe of the material and spiritual trapped and in
long combat with evil. The evils of this physical world are not products of an
inherent weakness, but are the fault of Angra Mainyu's assault on creation.
This assault turned the perfectly flat, peaceful, and ever day-lit world into a
mountainous, violent place that is half night.
Eschatology:
Renovation and judgment
Zoroastrianism also
includes beliefs about the renovation of the world (Frashokereti) and individual judgment (cf. general and particular judgment),
including the resurrection of the dead, which are
alluded to in the Gathas but developed in later Avestan and Middle Persian
writings.
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. Those with a balance of good and evil go to Hamistagan, a neutral place of waiting where according to
the Dadestan-i Denig, a Middle Persian work from the 9th
century, the souls of the departed can relive their lives and conduct good
deeds to raise themselves towards the House of Song or await the final
judgement and the mercy of Ahura Mazda.
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.
In ancient Zoroastrian eschatology, a 3,000-year struggle between good
and evil will be fought, punctuated by evil's final assault. During the final
assault, the sun and moon will darken and humankind will lose its reverence for
religion, family, and elders. The world will fall into winter, and Angra
Mainyu's most fearsome miscreant, Azi Dahaka, will break
free and terrorize the world.
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. Humanity will require two judgments because
there are as many aspects to our being: spiritual (menog) and physical
(getig). Thus, Zoroastrianism can be said to be
a Universalist religion with respect to salvation in
that all souls are redeemed at the final judgement.
Ritual and prayer
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. Extensions to the Yasna ritual are possible
through use of the Visperad and Vendidad, but such an extended ritual is rare in modern
Zoroastrianism. 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. High rituals such as the Yasna are considered to be
the purview of the Mobeds with a corpus of individual
and communal rituals and prayers included in the Khordeh Avesta. 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. 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.
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. Traditionally, Zoroastrian rituals have
also included shamanic elements involving mystical methods such as spirit
travel to the invisible realm and involving the consumption
of fortified wine, Haoma, mang, and other ritual aids. 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. 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. 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.
Demographics
Zoroastrian communities internationally tend to comprise mostly
two main groups of people: Indian
Parsis and Iranian Zoroastrians. According to a study
in 2012 by the Federation
of Zoroastrian Associations of North America, the number of Zoroastrians worldwide was
estimated to be between 111,691 and 121,962. The number is imprecise because of
diverging counts in Iran.
Small Zoroastrian communities may be found all over the world,
with a continuing concentration in Western India, Central Iran, and Southern
Pakistan. Zoroastrians of the diaspora are primarily
located in the United
States, Great Britain and the former
British colonies, particularly Canada and Australia, and usually anywhere
where there is a strong Iranian and Gujarati presence.
In South Asia
India
India is considered to be home to the single largest Zoroastrian
population in the world. When the Islamic armies, under the first caliphs,
invaded Persia, those locals who were unwilling to convert to Islam sought
refuge, first in the mountains of Northern Iran, then the regions of Yazd and
its surrounding villages. Later, in the ninth century CE, a group sought refuge
in the western coastal region of India, and also scattered to other regions of
the world. Following the fall of the Sassanid Empire in 651 CE, many Zoroastrians migrated. Among them were
several groups who ventured to Gujarat on the western
shores of the Indian
subcontinent,
where they finally settled. The descendants of those refugees are today known
as the Parsis. The year of arrival on the subcontinent cannot be precisely established
and Parsi legend and tradition assigns various dates to the event.
In the Indian census of 2001, the Parsis numbered 69,601,
representing about 0.006% of the total population of India, with a
concentration in and around the city of Mumbai. Due to a low birth rate and high rate of emigration, demographic trends
project that by 2020 the Parsis will number only about 23,000 or 0.002% of the
total population of India. By 2008, the birth-to-death ratio was 1:5; 200
births per year to 1,000 deaths. India's 2011 Census recorded 57,264 Parsi
Zoroastrians.
Pakistan
In Pakistan, the Zoroastrian
population was estimated to number 1,675 people in 2012, mostly living
in Sindh (especially Karachi) followed by Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. The National Database and
Registration Authority (NADRA) of Pakistan claimed that there were 3,650 Parsi
voters during the elections in Pakistan in 2013 and 4,235 in 2018.
Iran, Iraq and
Central Asia
Iran's figures of Zoroastrians have ranged widely; the last
census (1974) before the revolution
of 1979 revealed
21,400 Zoroastrians. Some 10,000 adherents remain in the Central Asian regions that were
once considered the traditional stronghold of Zoroastrianism, i.e., Bactria (see also Balkh), which is in Northern
Afghanistan; Sogdiana; Margiana; and other areas close
to Zoroaster's homeland. In Iran, emigration,
out-marriage and low birth rates are likewise leading to a decline in the
Zoroastrian population. Zoroastrian groups in Iran say their number is
approximately 60,000. According to the Iranian census data from 2011 the
number of Zoroastrians in Iran was 25,271.
Communities exist in Tehran, as well as in Yazd, Kerman and Kermanshah, where many still speak
an Iranian language distinct from the usual Persian. They call their language Dari (not to be confused with the Dari of Afghanistan). Their language is
also called Gavri or Behdini, literally "of the Good Religion".
Sometimes their language is named for the cities in which it is spoken, such
as Yazdi or Kermani. Iranian
Zoroastrians were historically called Gabrs, originally without a
pejorative connotation but in the present-day derogatorily applied to all
non-Muslims.
The number of Kurdish Zoroastrians, along with those of
non-ethnic converts, has been estimated differently. The Zoroastrian
Representative of the Kurdistan Regional Government in Iraq has claimed that as
many as 100,000 people in Iraqi
Kurdistan have
converted to Zoroastrianism recently, with community leaders repeating this
claim and speculating that even more Zoroastrians in the region are practicing
their faith secretly. However, this has not been confirmed by independent
sources.
The surge in Kurdish Muslims converting to Zoroastrianism is
largely attributed to disillusionment with Islam after experiencing violence
and oppression perpetrated by ISIS in the area.
Western world
North America is thought to be home to 18,000–25,000 Zoroastrians of both South Asian and Iranian background. A further 3,500 live in Australia (mainly in Sydney). As of 2012, the population of Zoroastrians in USA was 15,000, making it the third-largest Zoroastrian population in the world after those of India and Iran. It has been claimed that 3,000 Kurds have converted to Zoroastrianism in Sweden. In 2020, Historic England published A Survey of Zoroastrianism Buildings in England with the aim of providing information about buildings that Zoroastrians use in England so that HE can work with communities to enhance and protect those buildings now and in the future. The scoping survey identified four buildings in England.
Few More Details -
Zoroastrianism
is an ancient Persian religion that may have originated as early as 4,000 years
ago. Arguably the world’s first monotheistic faith, it’s one of the oldest
religions still in existence. Zoroastrianism was the state religion of three
Persian dynasties, until the Muslim conquest of Persia in the seventh century
A.D.
Zoroastrian
refugees, called Parsis, escaped Muslim persecution in Iran by emigrating to
India. Zoroastrianism now has an estimated 100,000 to 200,000 worshipers
worldwide, and is practiced today as a minority religion in parts of Iran and
India.
Zoroaster
The
prophet Zoroaster (Zarathrustra in ancient Persian) is regarded as the founder
of Zoroastrianism, which is arguably the world’s oldest monotheistic faith.
Most
of what is known about Zoroaster comes from the Avesta—a collection of
Zoroastrian religious scriptures. It’s unclear exactly when Zoroaster may have
lived.
Some
scholars believe he was a contemporary of Cyrus the Great, a king of
the Persian Empire in the sixth century B.C., though most linguistic
and archaeological evidence points to an earlier date—sometime between 1500 and
1200 B.C.
Zoroaster
is thought to have been born in what is now northeastern Iran or southwestern
Afghanistan. He may have lived in a tribe that followed an ancient religion
with many gods (polytheism). This religion was likely similar to early forms
of Hinduism.
According
to Zoroastrian tradition, Zoroaster had a divine vision of a supreme being
while partaking in a pagan purification rite at age 30. Zoroaster began
teaching followers to worship a single god called Ahura Mazda.
In
the 1990s, Russian archaeologists at Gonur Tepe, a Bronze Age site in
Turkmenistan, discovered the remains of what they believed to be an early
Zoroastrian fire temple. The temple dates to the second millennium B.C., making
it the earliest known site associated with Zoroastrianism.
Persian Empire
Zoroastrianism
shaped one of the ancient world’s largest empires—the mighty Persia Empire. It
was the state religion of three major Persian dynasties.
Cyrus
the Great, founder of the Achaemenid Persian Empire, was a devout Zoroastrian.
By most accounts, Cyrus was a tolerant ruler who allowed his non-Iranian
subjects to practice their own religions. He ruled by the Zoroastrian law
of asha (truth and righteousness) but didn’t
impose Zoroastrianism on the people of Persia’s conquered territories.
The
beliefs of Zoroastrianism were spread across Asia via the Silk Road, a
network of trading routes that spread from China to the Middle East and into
Europe.
Some
scholars say that tenets of Zoroastrianism helped to shape the major Abrahamic
religions—
Including Judaism, Christianity and Islam—through
the influence of the Persian Empire.
Zoroastrian
concepts, including the idea of a single god, heaven, hell and a day of
judgment, may have been first introduced to the Jewish community
of Babylonia, where people from the Kingdom of Judea had been living in
captivity for decades.
When
Cyrus conquered Babylon in 539 B.C., he liberated the Babylonian Jews. Many
returned home to Jerusalem, where their descendants helped to create the
Hebrew Bible.
Over
the next millennia, Zoroastrianism would dominate two subsequent Persian
dynasties—the Parthian and Sassanian Empires—until the Muslim conquest of
Persia in the seventh century A.D.
Muslim Conquest
The
Muslim conquest of Persia between 633 and 651 A.D. led to the fall of the
Sassanian Persian Empire and the decline of the Zoroastrian religion in Iran.
The
Arab invaders charged Zoroastrians living in the Persia extra taxes for
retaining their religious practices and implemented laws to make life difficult
for them. Over time, most Iranian Zoroastrians converted to Islam.
Parsi Religion
Parsi
are followers of Zoroastrianism in India. According to Parsi tradition, a group
of Iranian Zoroastrians emigrated from Persia to escape religious persecution
by the Muslim majority after the Arab conquest.
Experts
speculate that the group sailed across the Arabian Sea and landed in Gujarat, a
state in western India, sometime between 785 and 936 A.D.
The
Parsi are an ethnic minority in India and Pakistan. Today there are about
60,000 Parsi in India and 1,400 in Pakistan.
Zoroastrian Symbols
The
Faravahar is an ancient symbol of the Zoroastrian faith. It depicts a bearded
man with one hand reaching forward. He stands above a pair of wings that
are outstretched from a circle representing eternity.
Fire
is another important symbol of Zoroastrianism, as it represents light, warmth
and has purifying powers. Some Zoroastrians also recognize the evergreen
cypress tree as a symbol of eternal life.
Zoroastrian Beliefs
Fire—along
with water—are seen as symbols of purity in Zoroastrian religion.
Zoroastrian
places of worship are sometimes called fire temples. Each fire temple contains
an altar with an eternal flame that burns continuously and is never
extinguished. According to legend, three ancient Zoroastrian fire temples,
known as the great fires, were said to have come directly from the Zoroastrian
god, Ahura Mazda, at the beginning of time.
Archaeologists
have searched for these places, though it's unclear whether the great fires
ever existed or were purely mythical.
Zoroastrians
gave their dead “sky burials.” They built circular, flat-topped towers called
dakhmas, or towers of silence. There corpses were exposed to the elements—and
local vultures—until the bones were picked clean and bleached. Then they were
collected and placed in lime pits called ossuaries.
Dakhmas
have been illegal in Iran since the 1970s. Many Zoroastrians today bury their
dead beneath concrete slabs, though some Parsi in India still practice sky
burials. A dakhma remains in operation near Mumbai, India, for example.
Thus Spoke Zarathustra
Many
Europeans became familiar with Zoroastrian founder Zarathustra through the
nineteenth century novel Thus Spoke Zarathustra by
German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche.
In
it, Nietzsche follows the prophet Zarathustra on his travels. Some have called
the work “ironic,” since Nietzsche was an avowed atheist.
Zoroastrianism in Western
Culture
British
musician Freddie Mercury, lead singer for the rock band Queen, was of
Parsi descent. Mercury, born Farrokh Bulsara, practiced Zoroastrianism. Mercury
died of complications from AIDS in 1991, and his London funeral was
performed by a Zoroastrian priest.
Zoroastrian
god Ahura Mazda served as the namesake for Japanese automaker Mazda Motor
Corporation. The company hoped that an association with the “God of Light”
would “brighten the image” of their first vehicles.
American
novelist George R.R. Martin, creator of the fantasy series A Song
of Ice and Fire, which was later adapted into the H.B.O.
series Game of Thrones,
developed the legend of Azor Ahai from Zoroastrianism.
In it, a warrior demigod, Azor Ahai, defeats darkness with the help of the deity R’hllor, a fire god which Martin may have modeled after Ahura Mazda.
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