Zoroastrianism

I INTRODUCTION

Zoroastrianism, a religion that arose from the teachings of the devotional poet Zoroaster, born
in Urmia, known as Zarathushtra to ancient Iranians, who is regarded as the founding prophet
of this faith. Scholars believe that Zoroaster lived sometime between 1750 and 1500 BC or
1400 and 1200 BC. The Zoroastrian scripture, called the Avesta, includes poems attributed
to Zoroaster. The religion continues to be practiced today by Zoroastrian communities in
India, Iran, the United States, Canada, and other countries.

II BELIEFS

In his writings Zoroaster speaks of an ethical and moral opposition between Asha (“order”),
which he equates with righteousness, and Drug (“confusion”), which he equates with evil and
the lie. Zoroaster personifies this dualism in a pair of spirits called Ahura Mazda (“Wise Lord,”
known as Ohrmazd in Middle Persian), and Angra Mainyu (“Evil Spirit,” known as Ahriman in
Middle Persian).

According to Zoroastrian doctrine, Ahura Mazda is a perfect, rational, and omniscient (all-
knowing) entity. Thus, Zoroastrians believe that Angra Mainyu created sin, disease, death, and
similar evils. Ahura Mazda is said to have created six Amesha Spentas (“Holy Immortals”), who
represent aspects of material creation, in addition to other minor spiritual beings who assist in
protecting the world and all creatures. Angra Mainyu is said to have produced numerous
Daevas (demonic spirits), who represent aspects of pain, suffering, and death, to attack Ahura
Mazda’s creations. Many of the spirits worshiped or renounced by Zoroastrians also appear in
early Hindu texts because the ancient Iranians and Indians shared a religious and linguistic
heritage.

Zoroastrians believe that Ahura Mazda created humans as allies in the cosmic struggle against
evil and that humanity will be resurrected and granted immortality once evil has been
defeated. They further view the material world as a trap into which evil has been lured and in
which evil will undergo defeat by divinities and humans working together. Zoroastrianism
preaches that when someone dies his or her soul undergoes individual judgment based on
actions while alive. If the soul’s good deeds are greater than its evil deeds, it enters paradise. If
the soul’s evil deeds outweigh the good done while alive, it is cast into hell to await the day of
universal judgment. In cases where a soul’s good deeds equal its evil deeds, it is consigned to
limbo.

Close to the end of time a savior will resurrect the dead, Zoroastrianism claims. Ahura Mazda
will descend to earth with the other good spirits. Each sinner, having already suffered in hell or
limbo after death, will be purified. Thereafter, immortality will be granted to all humans. Ahura
Mazda, the holy immortals, and other divine beings will annihilate the demons and force Angra
Mainyu to scuttle back into hell, which will then be sealed.

The Zoroastrian doctrine of heaven, hell, and limbo influenced other faiths. Islam
absorbed not only the ideas of heaven, hell, and limbo, but also the scheme of individual
judgment at a celestial bridge and the notion of final, universal judgment. Christianity
further assimilated the Zoroastrian belief of the soul’s afterlife and the appearance of a
savior, resurrection, and eternal life at the end of the world.

III PRACTICES

Zoroastrian Ceremony
Young Zoroastrians are initiated into the faith between the ages of 7 and 15. During the initiation
ceremony, they don a white undershirt that symbolizes spiritual rebirth. A holy white cord, tied around the
waist during the ceremony, is ritually untied and retied during morning prayers after initiation.
Corbis/Lindsay Hebberd

Zoroastrians regard fire as a pure creation, and thus fire became the symbol of Zoroastrianism
much as the cross is the symbol of Christianity. Many Zoroastrian rites take place within fire
temples. A holy fire is kept constantly burning in an altar at each of the major fire temples in
India and in Iran. Smaller temples are located in Pakistan, Sri Lanka, the United States,
Canada, and elsewhere. Those smaller temples do not maintain holy fires, but a fire is usually
lit in an altar before the performance of acts of worship.

Priests called mobeds or magi (see Magi) oversee Zoroastrian rites. The magi originally
formed a priestly clan among the Medes, an ancient Iranian tribe (see Media). The magi
adopted Zoroastrianism after the religion spread widely among the ancient Iranians. The magi
entered Christian belief as the wise men from the East who journeyed to Bethlehem after the
birth of Jesus. Today, the office of priest passes from father to son. A son who inherits the
priesthood begins studying Zoroastrian liturgies and rituals in childhood. A two-stage
ceremonial initiation, based on the degree of training undergone as a practicing priest follows,
usually by early adulthood.

Zoroastrian boys and girls undergo initiation into the faith between the ages of 7 and 15. The
initiation ceremony, which symbolizes a spiritual rebirth, is known as the Navjote (“new birth”)
or Sedra-Pushun (“donning the sacred undershirt”). During this ceremony the initiate puts on a
white undershirt called the sedra or sudra, then ties a holy cord known as the kusti or kushti
around the waist. After initiation Zoroastrians continue to wear the undershirt and cord every
day. The cord is ritually untied and retied with the recitation of prayers each morning and
before worship at fire temples. Use of the cord is a practice that Zoroastrians share with Hindu
Brahmins as a legacy of their common Indo-Iranian heritage.

Following a practice introduced by the ancient magi, Zoroastrians in parts of India and
Pakistan still expose the dead within circular funerary towers, which are popularly called
towers of silence. Zoroastrians in other places now bury or cremate the deceased.

IV HISTORY

Zoroaster
This detail from a 2nd-century wall painting at Dura Europus in Syria depicts Zoroaster, a religious poet
regarded as the prophet and founder of Zoroastrianism. The mural was painted more than 1,000 years
after Zoroaster lived.
Agenzia LUISA RICCIARINI—MILANO
Zoroastrianism gradually emerged as the official religion of ancient Iran during the
Achaemenid dynasty, which ruled from about 550 BC to 330 BC. Inscriptions from the reign of
Darius I, from 522 BC to 486 BC, are full of the praise of Ahura Mazda. Darius stressed
truthfulness and seems to have regarded the lie as a worldwide evil force. Later, the
Achaemenids officially approved the worship of other Iranian divinities as part of
Zoroastrianism. Artaxerxes II, who reigned from 404 BC to 359 BC, had inscriptions produced
that honored Ahura Mazda, Mithra (a male divinity of contracts and later of fire), and Anahita
(a female divinity of water, fertility, and kingship). Under the Achaemenids open-air fire altars
were constructed. The earliest Zoroastrian temples may also date to the Achaemenid period.

When the Macedonian Seleucids ruled parts of western Iran, from 312 BC to 175 BC, a merging
occurred in the worship of Greek and Zoroastrian divinities—for example, Zeus with Ahura
Mazda and Aphrodite with Anahita. Traditional Zoroastrianism was revived slowly under the
Parthian (see Parthia), or Arsacid, dynasty, which ruled from about 250 BC to AD 224. By the
time of the Sassanian dynasty, from AD 224 to 651, Zoroastrianism had become the popular
religion among most groups in Iran and Central Asia and was practiced from the Middle East to
the western border of China. In general it was tolerant of its Middle Eastern rivals, Judaism and
Christianity. Sassanian Zoroastrianism produced unorthodox variants of traditional belief that
also proved popular—for example, the idea that Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu were the
warring offspring of Zurvan (time).

Arab Muslims conquered Iran and Central Asia during the 7th century AD. Over the next six
centuries most Zoroastrians converted to Islam. A minority of Zoroastrians grouped together to
practice their religion in central and eastern Iran at cities such as Yazd and Kermān. Others
migrated; some went to China where the community eventually died out, while others moved
to the west coast of India where they became known as Parsis (Persians). Zoroastrians who
continued to reside in Islamic Iran had to endure periodic persecutions and pay a special tax to
Muslim authorities until 1854, when Zoroastrians from India convinced the Qajar dynasty of
Iran to abolish the religious tax.

During the 20th century the Iranian Zoroastrian community experienced a few decades of well-
being under the Pahlavi dynasty, whose rulers glorified Iran’s pre-Islamic past. Approximately
60,000 Zoroastrians lived in Iran during the 1960s. During the late 20th and early 21st
centuries, under the Islamic Republic, the number of Zoroastrians in Iran declined as a result of
increased conversion to Islam and emigration to Europe and North America. Iranian
Zoroastrians currently number about 45,000 people, living mainly in the cities of Tehrān,
Kermān, and Yazd.

Zoroastrians who moved to India in the 10th century, on the other hand, prospered in a variety
of professions, especially during the colonial era of British rule. The Parsi Zoroastrians
developed into an urbanized middle class, adopted Western education and customs, and
played a central role in the creation of India’s modern industrial infrastructure. Parsis today
number approximately 76,400 people in India. From India Parsi Zoroastrians, like their Iranian
coreligionists, have spread worldwide.

In addition to the larger communities in India and Iran, today there are about 20,000
Zoroastrians in Canada and the United States; 4,000 in England and Scotland, with a few
thousand elsewhere in Europe; 2,800 in Pakistan; plus smaller groups in Australia, Africa, and
other Asian countries. In these communities the religion’s principles are still taught, basic
rituals are practiced, and clerical and lay organizations remain active.

Ahura Mazda
Ahura Mazda, the supreme creator god in Zoroastrianism, the religion of Persia (now Iran)
before the establishment of Islam in the 7th century. The term Ahura originally referred to 33
ruling gods in ancient, pre-Zoroastrian religions in Persia and India. Zoroaster the prophet who
founded Zoroastrianism, preached against all the other gods except Ahura Mazda, who, he
said, should be worshiped eternally. Ahura Mazda, meaning Wise Lord, was known as Ohrmazd
in Middle Persian. In the writings that express Zoroaster’s teachings, Ahura Mazda is
characterized as a benevolent, wise creator and is pitted against Angra Mainyu, a demon
whose purpose is to destroy the earth and its inhabitants.

Ahura Mazda has no physical form, but Zoroastrians worship him through his attributes, or
Amesha-Spentas (Holy Immortals). The Amesha-Spentas reflect the different aspects of the
divine nature of Ahura Mazda. These aspects are Creative Spirit, Righteousness, Good Purpose,
Devotion, Power, Health, and Long Life. Some are considered male, others female. Scholars
sometimes compare the Amesha-Spentas with the archangels of Christianity.

Ahura Mazda is symbolized by fire, which is considered the most holy substance by
Zoroastrians because it represents divine emanation (outpouring). Because fire symbolizes
Ahura Mazda’s power, presence, and purity, it must never be extinguished in fire temples.
These sacred fires are maintained by a hereditary male priesthood who learn required prayers
and perform ritual duties.

Ahura Mazda was first officially worshiped as an all-powerful god by the Persian king Darius I
(522-486 BC). Worship of Ahura Mazda continues today primarily in India in the vicinity of
Mumbai (formerly Bombay) among Parsis, Zoroastrians who migrated from Iran to India in the
10th century. Zoroastrian communities also survive in Iran. To express their faith, members of
the community are advised to wear special clothing, observe seven annual festivals, and pray
five times a day. At the end of time, the Zoroastrian community foresees the resurrection of all
believers into a kingdom on earth ruled over by Ahura Mazda.
Angra Mainyu
Angra Mainyu, form of the Evil Spirit, also known as Ahriman, in the ancient Persian religion
Zoroastrianism. The embodiment of wickedness, he was thought to be contemporary with but
not equally eternal to Ahura Mazda, the Good Principle, who stood at the head of the
Zoroastrian pantheon. The prophet Zoroaster taught that there was only one Supreme Being,
the good and bright Ahura Mazda, against whom were pitted Angra Mainyu and his dark forces.
Despite the unmistakable dualism that the conception of Angra Mainyu encouraged,
Zoroastrianism in its pure interpretation recognized Ahura Mazda as the mighty head of a
hierarchy of gods, and Angra Mainyu and his evil hosts as lesser deities standing in opposition
to those gods.

Avesta
Avesta or Zend-Avesta, the prayer book of Zoroastrianism. It forms the sacred books of the
present-day Zoroastrians known as Parsis, who live in small communities in Iran and in India
and Pakistan. The original home of these worshipers and of their holy scriptures was ancient
Persia, and the faith they profess was that founded by the ancient Persian Zoroaster, one of
the great religious teachers of the East. The doctrines of this ancient belief and a record of the
customs of the earliest period of Persian history are preserved in the Avesta.

Flourishing six centuries before the Christian era, the religion represented by the Avesta may
have been the faith of the Achaemenids, the dynasty of the Persian kings Cyrus the Great,
Darius I, and Xerxes I. The religion lost adherents after the conquest of Persia by Alexander the
Great in the 4th century BC, and many of the sacred books were lost. It was revived but was
then virtually destroyed in the 7th century AD by the Muslims in their victorious invasion. Most
of the Zoroastrians were then compelled to accept the Qur'an (Koran), the sacred scriptures of
Islam; many, however, fled to India for refuge and took with them what was left of their sacred
writings. A few of the faithful remained behind in Persia and, although persecuted, they
continued to practice their religion. These two groups, about 80,000 persons in India and
18,000 in Persia, were responsible for the preservation of the Avesta in its present form.

Magi
Magi, priestly caste in ancient Persia. They are thought to have been followers of Zoroaster,
the Persian teacher and prophet. Professing the doctrines of Zoroastrianism, they practiced a
ritual that involved pouring libations of milk, oil, and honey over a flame while chanting
prayers and hymns. Gradually, the religion of the magi incorporated Babylonian elements,
including astrology, demonology, and magic. (The word magic is derived from the word magi.)
By the 1st century AD, the magi were identified with wise men and soothsayers. Thus, the
biblical magi who came from the East to worship the infant Jesus (see Matthew 2:1-12) were
regarded as wise men.

Parsis
Parsis or Parsees (Old Persian Parsa, “Persia”), followers of the ancient Persian religion known
as Zoroastrianism, living in India, Iran, and Pakistan. Their ancestors fled from Persia in the 7th
and 8th centuries to avoid persecution by Muslim invaders. They now number some 155,000,
of whom 120,000 live in and around Mumbai (formerly Bombay). Indian Parsis are largely
engaged in business. Pakistani Parsis, who number fewer than 5,000, live mainly in Karachi.

The Parsis divided into two sects in the 18th century over a calendar disagreement, and almost
all present-day Parsis belong to either one of these sects. The religious and ethical literature of
the Parsis is derived chiefly from the Avesta. Their priesthood is hereditary, and they regard
fire as purifying and sacred. A fire is kept constantly burning in the main temples by priests,
and prayers and sacrifices are offered before this fire on all festival days. In order that the dead
not defile fire or the earth, the Parsis have traditionally left corpses exposed on towers to
vultures and other carrion-eating birds.

Urmia
Urmia, formerly Rezaiyeh, city in northwestern Iran, capital of West Azerbaijan Province, near
Lake Urmia. It lies in a fertile agricultural region and is the center of a rug-making industry. To
the east is Gelma Khaneh, a lake port. Urmia is the traditional birthplace of the Persian
religious teacher Zoroaster. Of interest are the bazaars, the Jama Mosque, and the Mosque of
the Three Domes. Population (1996) 435,200.

Zoroaster
Zoroaster, religious poet regarded as a prophet and considered the founder of Zoroastrianism.
Scholars believe he lived sometime between 1750 and 1500 BC or between 1400 and 1200 BC,
although Iranian tradition places him about 570 BC. In ancient Iran, where his teachings gained
followers, he was known as Zarathushtra, which later was rendered into Greek as Zoroaster.

Devotional poems known as the Gathas are attributed to Zoroaster and form the core of the
Avesta or Zoroastrian scriptures. In these poems Zoroaster praised the concept of Asha
(“order”), which he linked to a creator deity named Ahura Mazda (“Wise Lord”). At the same
time, he rejected the concept of Drug (“confusion”), which he linked to a harmful spiritual
entity named Angra Mainyu. Contents of the Gathas coupled with archaeological evidence on
the migrations of Proto-Iranians (ancestors of the Iranian people) suggest that Zoroaster lived
in Central Asia and that his preachings were carried southward, becoming the religion of the
ancient Iranian empires. The magi, an Iranian priestly tribe, adopted Zoroastrianism and
served as its priests. The magi claimed Zoroaster had been one of them.

Much of what modern scholars know about Zoroaster’s life is based on traditional religious
accounts produced by the magi in late antiquity and the Middle Ages. The magi drew upon
images of Zoroaster’s struggles, conflicts, and successes in the Gathas, which they combined
with their own recasting of Zoroaster’s life to correspond with the general outlines of the
biographies of Middle Eastern holy men such as Moses and Jesus.

Zoroaster’s words exerted a profound influence on Western thought because of the interest
Plato, Aristotle, and Pythagoras showed in his ideas. They and other Greek and Roman writers
also viewed Zoroaster as a prophetic founder of Eastern wisdom and magic. Later, through
Zoroastrian contact first with Jews and then with Christians, Zoroaster’s notions affected the
development of Judeo-Christian beliefs about demons and angels, the afterlife, and heaven and
hell, as well as the concept of resurrection of the dead at the end of time.