Ahura

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Zoroastrianism / Mazdaism Ahura Mazda Zarathustra (Zoroaster)

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Ahura is the Avestan language designation for a class of divinity, adopted by Zarathustra (Zoroaster) from prehistoric proto-Indo-Iranian religion. The term was subsequently inherited by Persian mythology, where ahura (Persian: اهورا‎) has the same meaning as in Zoroastrianism.

Contents 1 Etymology and definition 2 Association 3 See also 4 Bibliography

[edit] Etymology and definition

The term ahura is cognate to the Vedic asura, a designation that remains in use in present-day Vedic religions. Both terms may have an even earlier proto-Indo-European root, as suggested by the similarity to the old Germanic æsir. For not altogether obvious reasons, the Oxford English Dictionary lists asura, rather than ahura, as a Zoroastrian term.

Vedic asuras became associated with demonic or evil qualities, but in the Rigveda, asuras can still be perceived as a class of deities without such negative connotations, with venerated members such as Varuna or Mitra. In Zoroastrianism, where the battle between good and evil is a distinguishing characteristic of the religion (see also asha and druj), the ahuras are wholly benevolent, and the daevas are wholly malevolent.

The process by which the terms came to have different meanings remains unclear, but the use of ahura to designate the 'right' divinities and daeva to designate the 'wrong' divinities was firmly established by the time the Gathas, the oldest and most sacred of the texts of the Avesta, were composed (roughly contemporary to the Brahmana period of Vedic Sanskrit).

In the oldest of the Vedic texts, asura is used to denote the "older gods" presiding over the moral and social phenomena of the primeval universe, while the devas are the "younger gods" who preside of nature and the environment (Rig Veda 10.124.3). In the Vedic account of creation, some of these "older gods" went over to the "younger gods", so joining the ranks of the devas, and the remaining asuras were exiled to the nether world. While this distinction between asuras and asuras-who-became-devas is preserved in the texts of the Rig Veda, in later texts, asura is simply an epithet to categorize all non-devas, or alternately, those who are opposed to the devas.

In the Gathas, which are thought to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, the prophet exhorts his followers to pay reverence to only the ahuras, and to rebuff the daevas and others who act "at Lie's command". In the Fravaraneh, the Zoroastrian credo summarized in Yasna 12.1, the adherent declares: "I profess myself a Mazda worshiper, a follower of the teachings of Zoroaster, rejecting the daevas, ... " This effectively defines ahura by defining what ahura is not.

[edit] Association

In the texts of the Avesta, three divinities of the Zoroastrian pantheon are repeatedly identified as Ahuras. These three are Ahura Mazda, Mithra and Apam Napat, and hence known as the "Ahuric triad". Other divinities with whom the term "Ahuric" is associated include the six Amesha Spentas and (notable among the lesser yazatas) Aredvi Sura of The Waters and Ashi of Good Fortune.

In the Gathas, the hymns considered to have been composed by Zoroaster himself, the poet does not specify which of the divinities aside from Ahura Mazda he considers to be ahuras. While Ahura Mazda is unambiguously "the mightiest Ahura" (Yasna 33.11), in the only two occurences of the term where the word does not refer to Ahura Mazda, the poet uses the expression mazdasca ahurano (Yasna 30.9, 31.4). This phrase, generally understood to mean "the Wise [Mazda] One and the (other) Ahuras", it is in "common opinion" (Boyce 1984:159) recognized as being archaic with the "other Ahuras" being Indo-Iranian *mitra, *varouna and the predecessors of the other RigVedic Adityas.

[edit] See also

• asura, the Vedic equivalent of ahura.
• daeva, the moral opposite of ahura.
• Zoroastrian angels: Yazatas, and Amesha Spentas

[edit] Bibliography

• Boyce, Mary (1996). History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. I, The early period. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-10474-7. 
• Boyce, Mary (1997). History of Zoroastrianism, Vol. II, Under the Achamenians. Leiden: Brill. ISBN 90-04-06506-7. 
• Boyce, Mary. (2002). "Ahura Mazda". Encyclopaedia Iranica. New York: Mazda Pub.
• Kuiper, B. F. J.. (2002). "Ahura". Encyclopaedia Iranica. New York: Mazda Pub.