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25-494: The Iranian word is cognate with the English moon , from PIE *mēns Although there are two Avestan hymns dedicated to the Moon, he is not a prominent divinity. In both the third Nyaish as well as in the seventh Yasht , the 'moon' more commonly spoken of is the physical moon. In these hymns, the phases of the moon are described at length. Ahura Mazda is described to be the cause of

50-518: A dedication in the Zoroastrian calendar . The exceptions are Drvaspa and Vanant . The twenty-one yasht s of the collection (notes follow): Yazata Yazata ( Avestan : 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀 ) is the Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying (or used as an epithet of) a divinity . The term literally means "worthy of worship or veneration", and

75-500: A mace or bearing a crown upon their heads, or not letting sleep interrupt their vigil against the demons. At some point during the late 5th or early 4th century BCE, the Achaemenids instituted a religious calendar in which each day of the month was named after, and placed under the protection of, a particular yazata . These day-name dedications were not only of religious significance because they ensured that those divinities remained in

100-485: A part of the primary liturgy, they do not count among the twenty-one hymns of the Yasht collection. All the hymns of the Yasht collection "are written in what appears to be prose, but which, for a large part, may originally have been a (basically) eight-syllable verse, oscillating between four and thirteen syllables, and most often between seven and nine." Most of the yazata s that the individual Yasht s praise also have

125-656: Is reflected in other texts where the moon is associated with mental harmony and inner peace . Yasht The Yashts are a collection of twenty-one hymns in the Younger Avestan language. Each of these hymns invokes a specific Zoroastrian divinity or concept. Yasht chapter and verse pointers are traditionally abbreviated as Yt. The word yasht derives from Middle Persian 𐭩𐭱𐭲 yašt (“prayer, worship”) probably from Avestan 𐬫𐬀𐬱𐬙𐬀‎ (yašta, “honored”), from 𐬫𐬀𐬰‎ (yaz, “to worship, honor”), from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂ǵ- or *Hyaǵ- , and several hymns of

150-448: Is removed by Verethragna ( Vahram ), and Tishtrya ( Tir ) gathers up the waters and spreads them over the earth ( Zam ) as rain. In stories with eschatological significance, Sraosha ( Sarosh ), Mithra ( Mihr ), and Rashnu ( Rashn ) are guardians of the Chinvat bridge , the bridge of the separator, across which all souls must pass. Further, what the calendrical dedications had begun,

175-581: Is thus, in this more general sense, also applied to certain healing plants, primordial creatures, the fravashis of the dead, and to certain prayers that are themselves considered holy. The yazata s collectively are "the good powers under Ahura Mazda ", who is "the greatest of the yazata s". Yazata is an Avestan-language passive adjectival participle derived from yaz- ; "to worship, to honor, to venerate", from Proto-Indo-European *yeh₂ǵ- (“to worship, revere, sacrifice”). The word yasna or yagna – "worship, sacrifice, oblation, prayer" – comes from

200-671: The Yasna liturgy that "venerate by praise" are—in tradition—also nominally called yasht s. These "hidden" Yashts are: the Barsom Yasht ( Yasna 2), another Hom Yasht in Yasna 9–11, the Bhagan Yasht of Yasna 19–21, a hymn to Ashi in Yasna 52, another Sarosh Yasht in Yasna 57, the praise of the (hypostasis of) "prayer" in Yasna 58, and a hymn to the Ahurani in Yasna 68. Since these are

225-627: The Kushan Empire , Sogdia , China, and other regions where Zoroastrianism was practiced outside of Iran. In the 1860s and 1870s, the linguist Martin Haug interpreted Zoroastrian scripture in Christian terms, and compared the yazata s to the angels of Christianity. In this scheme, the Amesha Spentas are the arch-angel retinue of Ahura Mazda, with the hamkars as the supporting host of lesser angels. At

250-564: The Zoroastrian calendar , the twelfth day of the month is dedicated to and is under the protection of the Moon. The Moon plays a prominent role in Zoroastrian cosmogony, in particular as described in detail in the Bundahishn , a text finished in the 12th century. The legend runs as follows: Ahriman (Av: Angra Mainyu ) incites Jeh ( Jahi ) the primeval whore to kill the primordial bovine Gawiewdad (Av. Gavaevodata ). Jeh does as told, but as

275-406: The yazata s are to be worshipped while the daeva s are to be rejected. The Gathas also collectively invoke the yazata s without providing a clue as to which entities are being invoked, and—given the structure and language of the hymns—it is generally not possible to determine whether these yazata s are abstract concepts or are manifest entities. Amongst the lesser Yazatas being invoked by name by

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300-525: The Amesha Spentas amongst the yazatas , the most prominent amongst those "worthy of worship" is Mithra , who "is second only in dignity to Ohrmazd (i.e. Ahura Mazda) himself." Outside of the traditional yazatas, local and foreign deities may have been incorporated into local religious practice in various distant territories of the Persian Empires. This features prominently in Zoroastrian worship in Armenia ,

325-461: The Zoroastrians were poorly equipped to make their own case. In this situation, Haug's counter-interpretation came as a welcome relief, and was (by-and-large) gratefully accepted as legitimate. Haug's interpretations were subsequently disseminated as Zoroastrian ones, which then eventually reached the west where they were seen to corroborate Haug. Like most of Haug's interpretations, this comparison

350-496: The creature lies dying, the chihr is rescued and placed in the care of the moon. This chihr is then the "prototype" ( karb ) of all creatures of the animal world. In the hierarchy of yazata s , the Moon is the assistant (or 'cooperator', hamkar ) of Vohu Manah (MP: Bahman), the Amesha Spenta of animal welfare, in particular of cattle. The identification with Vohu Manah - the hypostasis of "Good Purpose" or "Good Mind" -

375-454: The day-name dedications provoked the compilation of such lists. Relatively certain however is that the day-name dedications predate the Avesta 's Siroza ("30 days"), which contain explicit references to the yazata s as protectors/guardians of their respective days of the month. The 9th–12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition observe the yazata s (by then as Middle Persian yazad s) in much

400-568: The gods, sacred, holy"). The term yazata is already used in the Gathas , the oldest texts of Zoroastrianism and believed to have been composed by Zarathustra himself. In these hymns, yazata is used as a generic, applied to Ahura Mazda as well as to the "divine sparks" that are in later tradition the Amesha Spentas . In the Gathas, the yazata s are effectively what the daeva s are not; that is,

425-604: The healing one". "During the spring, the Moon causes plants to grow up out of the earth". The Moon is repeatedly spoken of as possessing the cithra of the primeval bull. This is an allusion to a cosmological drama that is however only properly attested in the texts of Zoroastrian tradition (see below). Herodotus states that the moon was the tutelary divinity of the Iranian expatriates residing in Asia Minor . The divinity Mah appears together with Mithra on Kushan coins. In

450-455: The moon's waxing and waning, and the Amesha Spentas evenly distribute the light of the moon over the earth. The Fravashis are said to be responsible for keeping the moon and stars on its appointed course. The sun, moon, and stars revolve around the peak of Hara Berezaiti . The Moon is however also "bestower, radiant, glorious, possessed of water, possessed of warmth, possessed of knowledge, wealth, riches, discernment, weal, verdure, good, and

475-535: The poet of the Gathas are Sraosha , Ashi , Atar , Geush Tashan, Geush Urvan , Tushnamaiti, and Iza, and all of which "win mention in his hymns, it seems, because of their close association with rituals of sacrifice and worship". In the Younger Avesta , the yazata s are unambiguously divine, with divine powers though performing mundane tasks such as serving as charioteers for other yazata s. Several yazata s are given anthropomorphic attributes, such as cradling

500-407: The public consciousness, they also established a hierarchy among the yazata s, with specific exalted entities having key positions in the day-name dedications (see Zoroastrian calendar for details). Although these day-name dedications are mirrored in scripture, it cannot be determined whether these day-name assignments were provoked by an antecedent list in scripture (e.g. Yasna 16), or whether

525-759: The same root. A yaza+ ta is accordingly "a being worthy of worship", "an object of worship" or "a holy being". As the stem form, yazata- has the inflected nominative forms yazatō ( 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬋 ), pl. yazatåŋhō ( 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬂𐬢𐬵𐬋‎ ). These forms reflect Proto-Iranian *yazatah and pl. *yazatāhah . In Middle Persian the term became yazad or yazd ( 𐭩𐭦𐭲𐭩‎ ), pl. yazdān , continuing in New Persian as ’êzaḏ ( ایزد ). Related terms in other languages are Sanskrit यजति ( yájati , meaning "he worships, he sacrifices"), यजत ( yajatá- , "worthy of worship, holy"), यज्ञ ( yajñá , "sacrifice"), and perhaps also Greek ἅγιος ( hagios , "devoted to

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550-475: The same way as the hymns of the Younger Avesta. In addition, in roles that are only alluded to in scripture, they assume characteristics of cosmological or eschatological consequence. For instance, Aredvi Sura Anahita ( Ardvisur Nahid ) is both a divinity of the waters as well as a rushing world river that encircles the earth, which is blocked up by Angra Mainyu ( Ahriman ) thus causing drought. The blockage

575-420: The terms 'Amesha Spenta' and 'yazata' are sometimes used interchangeably. In general, however, 'Amesha Spenta' signifies the six divine emanations of Ahura Mazda. In tradition, yazata is the first of the 101 epithets of Ahura Mazda . The word also came to be applied to Zoroaster, though Zoroastrians today remain sharply critical of any attempts to deify the prophet. In a hierarchy excluding either Ahura Mazda or

600-451: The time Haug wrote his translations, the Parsi (i.e. Indian Zoroastrian) community was under intense pressure from English and American missionaries, who severely criticized the Zoroastrians for—as John Wilson portrayed it in 1843—"polytheism", which the missionaries argued was much less worth than their own "monotheism". At the time, Zoroastrianism lacked theologians of its own, and so

625-449: The tradition completed: at the top of the hierarchy was Ahura Mazda , who was supported by the great heptad of Amesha Spentas ( Ameshaspand s/ Mahraspand s), through which the Creator realized ("created with his thought") the manifest universe. The Amesha Spentas in turn had hamkars , "assistants" or "cooperators", each a caretaker of one facet of creation. In both tradition and scripture,

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