Are present day Zoroastrians actually Zorvanist?
Updated January, 2014
Sometimes after Zarathushtra’s messages became popular with
the majority of intellectual Iranians, the Magies, in order to save their upper
class position in the society, jumped on Zarathushtra’s bandwagon but they
never understood the depth of the Zarathushtra’s doctrine. And after
Zarathushtra’s death these Magies gradually injected their own ancient beliefs into
Zoroastrianism assuming that they are doing Zarathushtra a service. This trend has
continued throughout the Iranian history and got even worse during the Sassanid
dynasty.
The Sassanid Era
Ardeshir Babakan, the founder of the dynasty, who himself
was a Mobed, in order to counter the advancement of the newly found
Christianity that was spreading fast including into the Persian Empire
territory such As Georgia and Armenia, he made the Zoroastrianism the official
religion of the country (first time in the nation’s history).
The above policy had created tremendous amount of political
power for the Magies of Sassanid era who were wrongfully calling themselves
Mobed. I say wrongfully because the Mobeds are Zoroastrian spiritual leaders
while the Magies are the pre-Zoroastrian spiritual leaders mostly followers of
Zorvan.
Things got worse during the Sassanid because a tremendous
amount of administrative power that the religious authority used to enjoy with
the availability of government budget had created an atmosphere of contest, on religious knowledge, among the “Mobeds”. Higher knowledge in religion eventually
would result in a higher position in government administrative positions and
more wealth.
With that in mind, during over four centuries of Sassanid
dynasty, a great number of Mobeds have written numerous books injecting
different ideas, old and new, into Zarathushtra’s doctrine to a point that at
the end of that dynasty’s reign the religion called Zoroastrian had nothing to
do with Zarathushtra’s doctrine whatsoever with the exception of its name and the three mottoes of "Andishehy Neek, Goftar-e Neek ,Kerdar-e Neek". As a
mater of fact, in most cases, their beliefs and their practices were and is
exactly the opposite of Zarathushtra’s teachings.
For example, one of the principle Zarathushtra’s teaching,
recorded in Gathas (the only writing that is left written by Zarathushtra
himself) is freedom of choice while the Sassanid used to impose their religion
on others and used to persecute non believers. They killed Maani and his
followers in third century AD. And brutally killed Mazdak and massacred his
followers in fifth century AD. Neither the Achaemenid, nor the Parts imposed
their religion on others.
Cyrus the Great, in his inaugural speech, had made freedom
of religion an individual choice. That policy was upheld throughout the reign
of that dynasty. Maybe that was why, during the 480 years of Sassanid, not even
once Cyrus the Great, Dariush the Great, or even the word Achaemenid was
mentioned in any book; like they did not exist. Thanks to the modern day
European researchers that discovered the most glorious period of the Persian Empire's history by excavating large
amounts of piles of dirt in present day Iran.
Another example of present day Zoroastrian teaching, that is
the leftover from the Sassanid era Zoroastrianism, is the belief in heaven and
hell, belief in the existence of angels;"Izadan", and many other superstitious beliefs that can not be found in Gathas. Those used to be the beliefs of different groups of pre-Zoroastrian Iranians.
I have heard from a few Iranian Zoroastrian as well as the Parsis giving credit to Zarathushtra for the principle of heaven and hell and claim that the Abrahamic religions have copied that principle from Zarathushtra which, as I mentioned above, is not true.
Around 1750 BC., Abraham was the citizen of city of Ur, the religious capitol of Sumer. Please see "The Sumerians, Their History, Culture, and Character" by Samuel N. Kramer.
Abraham had learned the heaven and hell principle from the Sumerians that used to believe in the existence of an "Underworld". The Sumerian "Underworld "was an unpleasant place and was made to send the criminal gods to the Underworld on temporary basis for punishment. Of course the Underworld by no mean resembled the Hell that is described in the Old Testament or Quran. Consequently we must give all the credit to Abraham and leave Zarathushtra out of it.
One more example: There are two words in present day
Zoroastrian religion which are commonly used that has nothing to do with
Zarathushtra. The two words are; “Urmozd” and “Ahreeman”. These
two words and the belief in them, used in today’s Zoroastrianism, has created none
ending debate among world scholars. It is the source of reason that some
scholars believe that Zoroastrianism has a dualism principle, similar to Manichaeism
(Maniism) that is a belief in “Light and Dark” principle.
Again these two words were never used by Zarathushtra in
Gathas. Actually the above two words, or entities, are the principle belief in
Zorvanist religion, (a pre-Zoroastrian religion).
What is Zorvanist!
According to Book of Avesta; Zorvan, a male god, has brought to this world twin son;
first was Urmozd that has all the good qualities and values who promotes
peace, prosperity, truthfulness etc. Right after that Ahreeman was born with
all the devilish characteristic, and advocate of war who creates miseries on Earth. Please refer to;
"Andisheh hay Falsafi-e Irani" by A. Gh. Parto.
Urmozd, the god of goodness
Ahreeman the evil god >
Zorvan is the oldest god of ancient Iranians. They believed that he had no beginning nor will he have an end. He had no maker but was self-appeared. That is the word "Khoda" came from which is consisted of "Khod", meaning self and "Aa" meaning to come.
even though Zorvan approves and advocates the
conduct of Urmozd and is against his younger son Ahreeman’s bad behavior, but
he does not interfere with the business of the two brothers who are constantly at war against each other. He gives equal power to both sons. His reasoning is that the world must be balanced between good and evil,
beside if there is no Ahreeman then the goodwill of Urmozd can not be
recognized and appreciated.
Zorvan gives the "Azarakhsh"(Lightening and Thunder) to Urmozd to fight injustice.
Emergence of Mithra
Later-on; there came a belief that Urmozd had used
Azarakhsh; hitting a large white stone (sang-e marmar) inside a cave at the peak of the
Damavand mountain and from that a lightning had appeared and Mithra; a mail god, the god of love (Mehr) was born who had all the characteristics of goodness; who brings prosperity to the world and with his lite he gives life to everything in the world and the Sun became the symbol of Mithra.
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| Mithra rising from marmar rock in Damavand mountain,. Date unknown |
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| Above: Mithra born from marble rock 180-192 A.D. From the area of S. Stefano Rotondo, Rome |
Mithra had two "Mehrbaans". Mithra himself, or Mehr, is the Sun in midday. One Mehrabaan will become the Sun at sunrise and the other at close to sundown. It was believed that Mehr and the two Mehrabaans went to the sky and placed themselves on seven levels of sky which "Haft Akhtaraan" (Seven-Stars) was born . The seven stars are being seen with their Sheed (ray), noor in Arabic. They are as follows:
1-Mahsheed which is the "Moonday" and the moon will be cherished on that day.
2-Tirsheed; (Mercury day) which Tir will be cherished on that day.
3-Naaheedsheed; (Venus day) Naheed will be cherished.
4-Mehrsheed (Sun day). This day will not be observed until the last since it is the day of no work and all day prayers.
5-Bahraamsheed; (Mars day)
6-Berjeessheed; (Jupiter day
7-Keyvaansheed; (Saturn day)
Note: Planets beyond Saturn were not discovered yet at that time.
Note: The above tradition of Iranzamin,has created the 7-days week on calendar which is being used in most calendars of today's world. In Gregorian calendar Moon-day (Monday) and Sun-Day (Sunday) still kept its original forms.
Mithraism was not a religion but a belief, an Aeen, a doctrine. There was no messenger representing Mithra. It was an
Aeen based on belief that; a good human is the one who possesses the highest quality of humanity. Its members should pursuit; true love for others and environment, good life, good and happy living, honesty, integrity, hard working, helping others, respect for other humans, animals and environment, and cleanliness. That is why all ancient Iranians, regardless of their religious belief, used to practice Mitraism principle, and values.
We still see the existence of trace of those values among present day Iranians, specifically among none professional Iranian athletes, more so among those who practice ancient Iranian sport called (Varzeshe Baastaani). Also a few of those Mitraism qualities can be seen among all present day Iranians such as; respect for women, which Islam has forbade, fascination with colorful clothing among remote village-women (order by Islam is black color only), house cleaning (Khanehtekaani) before Nowrooz, etc.
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Above: From left: Mithra, A Mobed, and Ardeshir I or II
Mithra‘s birth night used to be celebrated on the night of Winter Solstice (December, 21).
The belief was that the passive days of Sun, the symbol of Mithra, are over and the day-light time will get longer from that point on.
At the present time, the Iranian stock all over the worlds celebrate that night which is called “Shab-e Yalda”.
Yalda in Ceryani language means Birth Night.
The swastika emblem shows the rotation of the
sun which is the symbol of love and peace on Earth
Note: Mithraism was exported from Persia to Rome in third century B.C.
From around Mid. 300 A.D. Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire and from that point-on the suppression of Mithraism had begun; forcing them to convert to Christianity.
During the reign of Italian Pope, Leo-I 440-61 A.D., anyone who would celebrate the birth of Mithra would have been punished severely, sometimes to death; the early morning sun worshiping, or calling sun (the symbol of Mithra) “The Love” was forbidden.
But people used to celebrate the night of December 21 in hiding, by lighting candles and ornamenting a twig of “Minu tree” (a sacred tree in Mithraism).
Finally Pope Leo-I had decided to call Jesus Christ, the god of love and ordered the Christians to celebrate, December 21st as the birth of Christ-day; they were free to light candles and ornament the same kind of tree used by the Mehrians. (Since then, the Christmas celebration day has changed throughout the world, from December 21, to 25 to 26 and in some areas to January sixth which is the birthday of Zarathushtra, who was born thousands of years before Christ.
Up to the present day the Christians, all over the world, ornament the tree with light, which is the symbol of Mithra and also on the top of the tree they put a silver color star which is the symbol of sun.
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Most present day Zoroastrians, still under the influence of the Sassanid era teachings, are relying more on “Vandidad” section of the book of
Avesta which is covered with superstitious stories and beliefs. As a mater of
fact a great number of elderly Zoroastrians, either from Iran or India (The Parsis) do not know what Gathas is.
It was in late 1990s or early 2000s that I attended a
three-day seminar which was held in city of West Minister,
Southern California. There were numbers of
well educated Zoroastrian scholars as speakers, who previously had formed an “Assembly”
(Anjoman) to purify the Zoroastrian religion from all superstitious beliefs
that were injected into it after Zarathushtra’s death.
Their goal was to abandon Vandidad (mostly Zorvanist
beliefs) and other impurities and go strictly by the Gathas. I myself proudly
joined that Assembly in 1998.
It was on day 3 of the seminar that a Zoroastrian born lady
(a great grand mother) that stood up and asked the speaker; last three days I
have been hearing repeatedly about Gathas. What is this Gathas that I have
never heard of it before?
Zand-e Avesta and Pazand-e Avesta
Zand-e Avesta and Pazands are books, supposedly translation
of the Gathas from Avestan language to Pahlavi, written by the Zoroastrian
Mobeds in Sassanid period.
Martin Haug was an early 19th century German
linguist, specialized in Eastern civilization languages. He was fluent in
several languages including Persian, Dari Persian, and Avestan. He has been credited by the
European scholars; the first person who has translated Gathas correctly.
Meaning all other translation of Gathas were inaccurate and flawed.
Martin Haug in his book “The Parsis Essays on their
Sacred Language, Writings and Religion” indicates that in Sassanid period
the Avestan language was a dead language by four to six hundred years and the
Mobeds were the only group that used it mostly in religious ceremonies. But
they did not know the language fluently, not enough to be able to translate
Gathas from Avestan into Pahlavi writing.
Consequently they used to read the Gathas, which was in
Avestan (mother thong of Zarathustra), then whatever they could comprehend they
used to put it in Pahlavi writing. In other word, it was not a translation but an
interpretation. That is why they named it; “Zand-e Avesta”.
According to Haug “Zand” in Avestan language means interpretation. Then after
some period of time, a younger Mobed would read the Zand-e Avesta and whatever
he would understand from it would rewrite it and call it “Pazand-e Avesta”; “Pa” in Avestan language means “re”. In another word Pazand-e Avesta is
reinterpretation of the Avesta.
Haug continues that Avestan is a very elaborate and complicated language
which same words or sentences could have different meanings, depending where or
how they have been used. And the Mobeds who wrote Zands did not have a correct
understanding of the language. Consequently he has discredited all Zand-e
Avestas and Pazand-e Avestas altogether.
Huag believes that the effort of Sassanid period Mobeds in
this regard, due to misinterpretation, has changed the base of Zoroaster’s
doctrine upside down and should be completely disregarded. Haug argues that from 72 Nask of Gathas only 16 was written by Zarathushtra himself, the rest were mimicked by his students which most of them are prayers and other superficial subjects, while those that were written by Zarathushtra himself were deep philosophical materials.
Haug says; nowhere in Zarathushtra's Gathas the word "worship" was mentioned.
For instant; in one of the Gathas that was written by a student of Zarathushtra you will see the worship of a twig of a "Minu tree". The twig of "Minu tree" used to be sacred in Mitraism.
The believers used to go into a "Mehrab" which resembled the present day Jacuzzi; each with a twig of "Minu tree" in their hand with a towel wrapped around their waist. They would go into the "Mehrab" until the water would cover their knees then they used to insert the twig into the water and bring it out, apply it on their body and prey in order to wash-out the impurities from their Saul.
The Mehrab actually was a workshop not a temple.
Considering that Mitraism was exported from Iran to the Roman Empire by the Parts around 300 B.C.,This ceremony was copied by the new religion of Christianity which still is being practiced as "Baptism" and the "Minu tree" is used as Christmas tree. Please read Andisheh hay Falsafi-e Irani by A. Gh. Parto
With above in mind, one can say with great certainty that
today’s Zoroastrians that are the product of the Sassanid era teachings
actually are not Zoroastrians but Zorvanist.
Mr. Jalal Ashtiani, a Muslim born Iranian scholar, who
reveres Zarathushtra as I do, some times in early 2000, has written a one page
essay in Persian that was published in the Southern California Zoroastrian
Magazine, addressing the present day Zoroastrians, as a friend, who came to the same
conclusion as I have.
To understand what the Book of Avesta is; please read my
article:
“The book of Avesta belongs to all Iranians”.http://maziaraptin.blogspot.com/2012/07/book-ofavesta-october-23-2011-belongs.html
To understand who the real Zarathushtra was, what he stood for, and what his doctrine is please read the followings; Zarathushtra a messenger or a philosopher, Thus Spoke Zarathushtra, True Zoroastrianism all on this blog.
In conclusion, while I believe that the present
day Zoroastrians believe in some superstitious principle of Zorvanist that contrast
with Zarathushtra’s doctrine, I do not mean that they are bad people. On the
contrary; I must point out that they do live by Zarathushtra’s motto of “Andisheh-e
Neek, Goftaar-e Neek, and Kerdaar-e Neek” and as I have pointed out in my other
articles on this subject; Present day Iranian Zoroastrians, while suffering
from over 1,300 years of atrocities by the hands of their Muslim countrymen they
stood firm and kept the name of our greatest philosopher alive and also carried-on most of Iranian culture that we cherish today. And as I mentioned in one of my
previous article; they are our national treasure and we must cherish that
.
Thank you Maziar Aptin
پارسی زبانانِ گرامی: برای آشناشدن
با برخی ازدگرگونیهای نا درست که موبدانِ زمانِ ساسانی در "فرهنگِ فلسفیِ ایرانی"
ایجاد کرده اند را در ویدیوهای زیر از پرفسور منوچهر جمالی ببینید.
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