Ahura Mazda (deity)

Symbols: Fire; winged disc

Culture: Persian; Iranian; Zoroastrian

Ahura Mazda, the Wise Lord, is a powerful god who was initially worshipped in ancient Persia as the head of the numerous deities of the Indo-Persian pantheon. The ancient Persians, who believed in a variety of gods, not just Mazda, also embraced two other religions—Mithraism and Zurvanism.

A prophet called Zarathustra initiated religious reforms and elevated Ahura Mazda, the god who created the universe, in the divine pantheon. As an advocate of the worship of one true god, the omniscient Ahura Mazda, Zarathustra replaced polytheism, the belief in a plurality of deities, with a type of monotheism.

Thus Zarathustra, who may have lived around the first millennium BCE, founded the Zoroastrian religion, with Ahura Mazda as its all-wise heavenly deity. Over time, Zoroastrianism rose to become the state religion of Persia and one of the most influential religions of the ancient world.

Some myths say that Ahura Mazda created the twin spirits of good, the Holy Spirit Spenta Mainyu, and evil, Angra Mainyu. Together, these spirits established life and death. Thus, Ahura Mazda, who signifies light and truth, is pitted against his own negative creation in a universal struggle for dominance. Another version states that Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu are twin brothers.

Ahura Mazda also created six other lesser divinities, the Amesha Spentas or the Holy Immortals. Along with Spenta Mainyu, they aided him in the creation of the world and help him maintain the cosmic order.

The god is represented in ancient Persian art as a winged disc, from which a bearded figure sometimes emerges. He is also shown as a human figure holding the ring of kingship or as a man who has both a beard in the Assyrian style and plumed wings. Sometime later in Persian history, the god’s name was fused together, and he became Hormazd or Ormazd, and Angra Mainyu was contracted to Ahriman.

In Mythology

According to the myths, Gayomart was the first man, and he existed alongside Gosh, the primitive bull. They were the first creatures to produce all mortal life. After many years, Angra Mainyu killed both of them. Gayomart’s seed was buried in the earth for forty years, and from it were born Mashya and Mashyana, the first human couple. Ahura Mazda spoke to them and told them that he was their creator. As the first of their kind, they were to think, say, and do that which is good; they should not worship evil. But then Angra Mainyu caused Mashya and Mashyana to disobey Ahura Mazda by getting them to lie, and thus began man’s battle with evil.

Like many ancient religions, Zoroastrianism also has a flood myth. According to the myth, a fierce, malevolent demon created torrential floods that alternated with fierce summers. Ahura Mazda was worried about the devastation that this cycle was causing, and he feared that humanity would be destroyed. So he appeared to the good king Yima and told him to build a huge subterranean chamber for shelter. He instructed Yima to bring together representatives of every species of animal, bird, plant, and fruit—as well as many human couples—and place them in the chamber. Soon, the flood came and destroyed everything outside the chamber. When the flood had receded, Yima and the others stepped outside and again inhabited the earth.

Origins and Cults

Early elements of Ahura Mazda’s worship emerged from the religion of the Indo-Aryans who settled in ancient Persia. Seminomadic pastoralists, they worshipped a pantheon of gods who represented both aspects of nature and abstract principles such as justice, truth, and obedience. These people especially revered fire and tried to keep it burning constantly. They honored divinities by performing rituals, mostly held in open-air plots.

Scholars believe that Zarathustra reimagined some of these deities and adjusted these beliefs to suit his embrace of monotheism, which now elevated Ahura Mazda, making him the supreme god. Zarathustra denounced the worship of nature spirits and particularly opposed selfishness, cruelty, and hypocrisy in the name of religion. He preached that darkness, falsehood, and death were the work of the evil Angra Manyu. Zoroastrians therefore looked upon the world as a battleground in which truth and falsehood were perpetually pitted against one another. The concept of free will, making the right choice, is central to Zoroastrian belief. One of the presumed tenets of the religion was that life should be filled with "good thoughts, good words, good deeds." Zoroastrians also consider fire to be sacred because it is the symbol of Ahura Mazda’s light. So rather than practicing idol worship, they pray in fire temples to the holy fire that is a manifestation of Ahura Mazda’s divine being.

The chief source of the teachings of Zarathustra is a compilation of works called the Avesta, the primary holy book of Zoroastrianism. Some of the oldest parts of the Avesta contain short verse texts called Gathas (a type of poem or psalm), which are attributed to Zarathustra himself. They represent his passionate, direct conversation with Ahura Mazda. Unfortunately, the Avesta is written in a language that is no longer spoken, and translators disagree on the meanings of the texts.

The Achaemenid kings of the fifth century BCE described themselves on inscriptions as worshippers of Ahura Mazda, but there is an ongoing debate among scholars over whether these kings were also followers of Zoroastrianism. However, it is true that the god was popular among the members of the Persian royal family. At one time, the Persian Empire was one of the greatest in the world. It was at its height in the middle of the sixth century BCE, during the reign of King Cyrus. Cyrus revered Ahura Mazda as the great god of kings. In 331 BCE, Alexander the Great invaded Persia and destroyed the fire temples, burned the library containing the holy scriptures, and killed many priests. Many scriptures, written and oral, were thus lost during this time.

Two centuries later, Zoroastrianism was reestablished by the Parthians who ruled Persia until 224 CE. From the third to the seventh centuries CE, Zoroastrianism served as the state religion of the Sasanians. But the religion was again threatened by the spread of Islam, and sometime around the ninth century, the Zoroastrians, who were being pressured to convert, escaped to western India. Those who migrated to India are called Parsis. They allegedly brought their sacred fire with them to the Indian coast. It is said that this fire has been kept burning continuously since that time. The fire temple that houses this holy fire in Udvada is a major pilgrimage spot for all of the world’s Zoroastrians.

Bibliography

Briant, Pierre. From Cyrus to Alexander: A History of the Persian Empire. Trans. Peter T. Daniels. Winona Lake: Eisenbrauns, 2002. Print.

Coulter, Charles, and Patricia Turner. Encyclopedia of Ancient Deities. London: Routledge, 2012. Print.

Fisher, Mary Pat. Living Religions: An Encyclopaedia of the World’s Faiths. London: I.B. Tauris, 1997. Print.

Forgotten Empire: The World of Ancient Persia. Ed. John Curtis and Nigel Tallis. Berkeley: U of California P, 2005. Print.

An Introduction to Ancient Iranian Religion: Readings from the Avesta and Achaemenid Inscriptions. Trans. and ed. William W Malandra. Minneapolis: U of Minnesota P, 1983. Print.

The New Larousse Encyclopedia of Mythology. Trans. Richard Aldington and Delano Ames. London: Hamlyn, 1959. Print.