Ancient Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs [New ed.] 9781433197970, 1433197979

Citation preview

Mitra Ara is a cultural historian and Professor of Persian and Iranian Studies in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of several articles and books.

ANCIENT ROOTS OF CREATION and AFTERLIFE BELIEFS

Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research, aided by linguistics, archaeology, and prehistoric and historic data, provides a view of sacred and secular life in ancient times. In every Near Eastern and Indo-Iranian religion there was a belief in an orderly cosmos and society which could be troubled by an unorderly force. The social and political aspects of a society were organized and maintained by that cosmic order, and interpreted and reinforced by the religious authorities and heads of states. The cosmogonic and eschatological myths are reinforced in a society in the same manner. They justify the process of the creation and also the ensuing historical chronicles as understood by a society. Since the creation and beginning of everything are experienced and not historically documented, they are categorized as mythical. As an example, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the doctrine of creation is solely based on the Book of Genesis; consequently, the religious concepts and theories regarding creation and humanity are constructed on the very same creation story. This book explores the religions of the Ancient Near East and their branches to explain their Semitic and Indo-European roots, their reverence for order and fear of chaos, heavenly rewards and unheavenly retributions, judgment and punishment, and their perspectives on death and the afterlife.

ANCIENT ROOTS OF CREATION and AFTERLIFE BELIEFS

Mitra Ara

Mitra Ara

WWW.PETERLANG.COM

9781433197970_cvr_eu.indd All Pages

20-Jul-22 10:55:25

Mitra Ara is a cultural historian and Professor of Persian and Iranian Studies in the College of Liberal and Creative Arts at San Francisco State University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of California, Berkeley, and is the author of several articles and books.

ANCIENT ROOTS OF CREATION and AFTERLIFE BELIEFS

Interdisciplinary and cross-cultural research, aided by linguistics, archaeology, and prehistoric and historic data, provides a view of sacred and secular life in ancient times. In every Near Eastern and Indo-Iranian religion there was a belief in an orderly cosmos and society which could be troubled by an unorderly force. The social and political aspects of a society were organized and maintained by that cosmic order, and interpreted and reinforced by the religious authorities and heads of states. The cosmogonic and eschatological myths are reinforced in a society in the same manner. They justify the process of the creation and also the ensuing historical chronicles as understood by a society. Since the creation and beginning of everything are experienced and not historically documented, they are categorized as mythical. As an example, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the doctrine of creation is solely based on the Book of Genesis; consequently, the religious concepts and theories regarding creation and humanity are constructed on the very same creation story. This book explores the religions of the Ancient Near East and their branches to explain their Semitic and Indo-European roots, their reverence for order and fear of chaos, heavenly rewards and unheavenly retributions, judgment and punishment, and their perspectives on death and the afterlife.

ANCIENT ROOTS OF CREATION and AFTERLIFE BELIEFS

Mitra Ara

Mitra Ara

WWW.PETERLANG.COM

9781433197970_cvr_eu.indd All Pages

15-Sep-22 15:53:14

Ancient Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

 

This book is part of the Peter Lang Humanities list. Every volume is peer reviewed and meets the highest quality standards for content and production.

PETER LANG New York • Berlin • Brussels • Lausanne • Oxford

Mitra Ara

Ancient Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

PETER LANG New York • Berlin • Brussels • Lausanne • Oxford

Library of Congress Cataloging-​in-​Publication Control Number: 2022019617 Bibliographic information published by Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek. Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the “Deutsche Nationalbibliografie”; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://​dnb.d-​nb.de/​.

ISBN 978-​1-​4331-​9797-​0 (hardcover) ISBN 978-​1-​4331-​9798-​7 (ebook  pdf) ISBN 978-​1-​4331-​9799-​4  (epub) DOI 10.3726/​b19791

© 2022 Peter Lang Publishing, Inc., New York 80 Broad Street, 5th floor, New York, NY 10004 www.peterl​a ng.com All rights reserved. Reprint or reproduction, even partially, in all forms such as microfilm, xerography, microfiche, microcard, and offset strictly prohibited.

Contents

Preface List of Abbreviations and Symbols

vii ix

1

The Background 1 Introduction 1 Religion and Myth 4 The Near East 6 Indo-​Europeans 16 Indo-​Iranians 18

2

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia Geography and Myths Egyptian Creation and the Life After Mesopotamian Genesis and Hereafter Great Floods and Restorations Canaanite-​Ugaritic Myths Hebrew-​Christian Views

25 25 31 41 46 59 61

vi | Contents

3

Indo-​Europeans Homeland, Migration, and Archeology Indivisible Secular and Sacred Life Sacrifice and Creation Death, Rebirth and Eschatology

71 71 76 79 85

4

Old Europe Hybridization of Ideologies Birth, Death, and Regeneration Disintegration and Reintegration

95 95 98 102

5

Indo-​Iranians Unity and Divergences Expansions and Contractions Religio-​Cultural Perspectives Death and Retribution

107 107 115 118 124

6

Vedic Indians Contextual Worldviews Creation and Destruction Ethical Existence World Beyond

131 131 141 153 167

7

Zoroastrian Iranians History and Textual Sources Genesis of Dualism Good and Evil Last Things and Apocalypse

185 185 195 203 216

Afterword 239 Bibliography Index

247 271

Preface

Although the suggestion of one religion’s direct influence on another is a delicate issue, there are genetic and historical links in the cosmogonic and eschatological beliefs of the so-​called eastern and western religions that argue for a comprehensive, collective treatment. This study is intended to generate enthusiasm for further in-​depth research into the Indo-​Iranian religion as a system, acknowledging its genetic historical connections with both earlier and subsequent traditions of the Near East. In the interest of accessibility, this research emphasizes only the universally accepted doctrines as found in the scriptures of major religions. It also risks oversimplification to facilitate understanding of certain doctrines and avoid exhaustive analyses of metaphysical-​philosophical concepts such as God, soul, and death. Nor do we concern ourselves with the problem of the origins of these concepts, a question that our present state of knowledge cannot definitively answer. Here, the intention is to elucidate, in language available to most contemporary people, the cultural and religious views on creation and afterlife held by those who lived during the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian Vedic, and Iranian Avestan periods. Today we are witnessing the rise of religious fundamentalism and martyrdom, fueled by the eschatological promise of rewards in heaven and fear of torments in hell. Recent history calls us to identify the similarities and relationships

viii | Preface

among religions and then enlist those findings in our examination of the divisive religious ideologies that foster separation through a naïve sense of unique ownership. The fact that the traditions and doctrines whose origins we examine here remain alive and potent in our time lends relevance to this ancient study. The interaction of culture, religion, environment, and language shapes a people in any period. To appreciate and respect the diversity of contemporary world religions, it is important to recognize their development from their inception to their present form so that we may better understand the past through drawing parallels and tracing the continuity of institutions and beliefs of specific areas through the centuries. Thus, this book has described the characteristic points of Indo-​Iranian religions, which are bound to contribute to a better understanding of the development of the eschatological beliefs in the presently prevailing major religions. By the end, this study’s goal is to demonstrate both the non-​static nature of religion and the organic end result of its dynamism—​the global prevalence of belief in an afterlife. While this belief may be called by different names in different eras, each variant arises from the fears and hopes of the people who gave expression to it in their time.

List of Abbreviations and Symbols

Abbreviations     Av AV AVN BCE Bd CE DD DK GAv GK IE IIr K hA MPers NPers OE OInd OIr

Avesta, Avestan Atharva Veda Artā ī Vīrāz Nāmak Before Common Era Bundahišn Common  Era Dādestān ī Dīnīg Dēnkard Gathic Avestan Greek Indo-​European Indo-​Iranian Khordeh Avesta Middle Persian New Persian Old-​Europe/​European Old  Indian Old Iranian

x | List

of Abbreviations and Symbols

OPers Pahl PIE PIIr ṚV ṚS Skt Vd Ved YAv Ys Yt Z A

Old Persian Pahlavi Proto-​Indo-​European Proto-​Indo-​Iranian Ṛgveda Ṛgveda Saṃhitā Sanskrit Vidēvdād (Vendidād) Vedas, Vedic Younger Avesta Yasna Yašt Zand Avesta

Symbols     < > [] () *

Indicate glosses or explanations in the original text. In the translations indicate a gloss or interpolation. In the translations indicate additions by the translator to clarify the meaning. Indicates a reconstructed word.

1

The Background

Introduction Religious and heroic myths with origins far back in time can be organized and interpreted in a variety of ways. They can represent cosmic forces personified, such as order and chaos, relate historical events, express rituals and practices, parade regional deities (both gods and demons), and demonstrate cultic observances. In the process, an array of distinguishable recurring themes persists, themes which continue to form and confirm our beliefs about creation and the place of humanity within the cosmos, the combat between the forces of good and evil, the quest for eternal life, and the expectation of an agreeable existence after death. Further, the protagonists and the heroes share similar attributes, having divine origin or connection, and guiding humanity on the orderly and just path—​qualities which are also expected of rulers and kings. So far, since our partial knowledge is based on the understanding of the origin of knowledge as presented in the Greek and Bible texts, the much earlier Near Eastern materials may be overlooked. As we continue to see in this study, the repetition and retelling of events from the beginning of time are intended to highlight the importance of the meaning and intention of those events that continue to have profound meaning and influence in our time today. They may be the events of creation, such as the great flood, the

2 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

survival of humanity, anxieties about death, and anticipations of the immortal and elated hereafter. The interaction of culture, religion, environment, and language shapes a people in any period. To appreciate and respect the diversity of contemporary world religions, we first recognize their development from their inception to their present form. We may better understand the past through drawing parallels and tracing the continuity of institutions and beliefs of specific areas through the centuries. Thus, this book describes the characteristic points of ancient Near Eastern, Indian, and Iranian religions, in order to contribute to a better understanding of the development of the cosmogonic and eschatological beliefs in presently prevailing religions. Religion never has an absolute beginning. Every beginning is only a point in history, a point that owes its existence to events still farther in the past. With this in mind, we expand our knowledge of a tradition as far back as the historical testimonies, including archaeology, allow us to do, without stopping at an arbitrary point in time. Understanding Near Eastern and Indo-​ European language and culture is a prerequisite to the study of the Indo-​Iranians. In a parallel way, it is critical to understand an analysis of the culture of the Old Europe as the new homeland of the Indo-​European immigrants. Early descriptions of the creation of the world are closely woven with the early imaginings of its end. It is with the end in mind that the world comes into being. In both eastern and western antiquity, we find a concern with last things, eschatology, from the Greek eschatos, meaning “last,” referring to that which is concerned with last things, the final destiny of individuals, humanity in general, and the cosmos.1 We can see its relevance in those religions that conceive of time as consecutive, and as moving towards a cosmic end. Early conceptions of the beginning of the world were shaped and given meaning through this consideration of the hereafter. Today we are witnessing the rise of religious fundamentalism and martyrdom fueled by the eschatological promise of rewards in heaven and fear of torments in hell. Recent history calls us to identify the similarities and relationships among religions, then enlist those findings in our examination of the divisive religious ideologies that foster separation through a naïve sense of unique ownership. The fact that the traditions and doctrines whose origins we examine remain alive and potent in our time lends relevance to this ancient study. This investigation is of the first textual emergence of religious beliefs about creation and life after death, beliefs that are still thriving. Of course, in the study of monotheistic religions, chiefly the Abrahamic, these topics have preoccupied others, but no one has yet systematically studied these eschatological doctrines in the Near Eastern, Indian, and Iranian cultural and religious systems as they are presented here.

The Background | 3 It is noteworthy that one religion’s influence on another requires great sensitivity, and a historical precedent exists for simply refusing the challenge as too delicate, since the evidence we discover is always open to different interpretations. However, it seems arbitrary to abandon the investigation of known religious traditions without examining precursor religions, so, in the interest of research, we accepted that challenge in undertaking this study. Although the suggestion of one religion’s direct influence on another is a delicate issue, there are genetic and historical links in the eschatological beliefs of the so-​called eastern and western religions that argue for a comprehensive, collective treatment. This study is intended to generate enthusiasm for further in-​depth research into the earliest religion as a system, acknowledging its genetic historical connections with both earlier and subsequent traditions. In the interest of accessibility, this book emphasizes only the universally-​ accepted doctrines as found in the scriptures of major religions. We choose to risk oversimplification to facilitate understanding of certain doctrines and avoid exhaustive analyses of metaphysical-​philosophical concepts such as God, soul, and death. Nor do we concern ourselves with the problem of the origins of these concepts, a question that our present state of knowledge cannot definitively answer. The intention of this study is to elucidate, in language available to most contemporary people, the cultural and religious views on creation and afterlife held by those who lived in the Near East during the Vedic and Avestan periods. This research uses an interdisciplinary methodology, isolating and identifying artistic, archaeological, cultural, religious, and literary affinities, and examining afterlife beliefs in Near East, Indian, and Iranian traditions and their unique bond with their ancient ancestral cultures—​Old European and Indo-​European. This process takes two approaches. The general approach looks for universal patterns, and the particular approach identifies what makes the Near Eastern, Vedic, and Avestan cases unique. In a contextual framework, this book offers a brief overview of the archaeological and historical backgrounds of related earlier traditions with respect to their overarching worldview and their doctrines of the genesis and the last four things: death, judgment, heaven, and hell. Highlighting their commonalities, this examination establishes a connection with the same doctrines found in the Near Eastern and Indo-​Iranian traditions and their respective successors, the Indians and the Iranians. Each religion, Near Eastern, Vedic Indian, and Avestan Iranian, is treated individually in separate chapters. The approach is encyclopedic, covering all aspects of one subject wherein everything that is considered cosmogonic and eschatological within the Indo-​Iranian traditions is briefly treated.

4 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

However, we do not deal with apocalyptic views covering the meaning and end of history as found in the major monotheistic religious traditions unless they have a direct relationship to the aforementioned cultural beliefs. The hereafter is central to most religions, both ancient and modern. However, to emphasize its importance is not to refute its ambiguity. Most of the cosmogonic, eschatological, and apocalyptic philosophers of monotheistic faiths hold fast to a literal reading of what they consider to be godly revelations about the end of the world and its accompanying rewards and punishments. These include a forthcoming end to linear time, involving God’s final judgment on evil, and a coming reward for the faithful, both in heaven and on earth. As recent history shows, scholars can no longer ignore the eschatological beliefs of such faiths with their myriad of believers in a literal heaven and hell, reward and punishment. Much of the earlier scholarship devoted to cosmology, eschatology, and apocalypticism concerns the origins of cosmogony and eschatology within Judaism and Christianity. These beliefs have not been adequately examined against the backdrop of the earlier religious notions that existed in the regions where these monotheistic religions originated. Ideas about death and the afterlife, as we know them chiefly through Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, were not created in a vacuum. Studying the evolution of these ideas is like reading books for a course in the humanities. Today we need to know the ancient ideologies of East and West, not just the current available scriptures, in order to understand why we envision our afterlife in heaven or on earth as souls or as bodies.

Religion and Myth Religions develop myths, imagining how everything came into being and what death and the afterlife might be like. These imaginative stories often reflect how people perceive the here and the hereafter based on their culture and personal feelings. Since death is a universal human occurrence, most religious traditions express a belief in an existence of an afterlife; however, so far, no one knows what death and the afterlife are truly like. For instance, the connection between religious belief regarding death and individual culture is visibly seen in traditions such as the Judaic tradition in which a shadowy afterlife was envisioned, and in Egyptian, Zoroastrian, Christian, and Islamic traditions where the soul is viewed as eternal in a physical afterlife. In addition to death, judgment, heaven and hell, the end of time, and the end of the world, the historical destiny of humanity is

The Background | 5 also a part of eschatological concerns. Many religious traditions seek to answer questions that so far have not been answered. Concepts of creation, death, afterlife, and end of time as presented in the Abrahamic traditions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam have had a profound influence on shaping the ideologies of billions of people in all societal levels, consciously or not. To find out where such expectations originate, we start several millennia ago in the Ancient Near East, where they, too, had concerns and beliefs about death, the afterlife, and the underworld. Culturally and religiously, death has been defined as the total cessation of one’s earthly life, but it has always been obscured by mystery and controversy. How a tradition views death determines the understanding of the notion of soul, the disposal of the corpse, and a belief in the afterlife and the end of the world. In addition to afterlife beliefs, creation myths are also interpreted and reinforced in a religious socio-​political system. Stories describing the creation of everything and the afterlife are categorized as mythical because they are not historically documented or personally experienced, but imagined. Similar to the afterlife myths, the creation stories describe how the world and the cosmos came into existence through a process understood by a given group of people. These stories not only provide explanations and justifications for the process of coming into existence but also for the future events. In Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the doctrine of creation is exclusively based on the Book of Genesis, and therefore the religious conjectures regarding the creation and the place of humanity in the universe are based on the same myth. The myths of creation and destruction are the figurative accounts of the beginning and ending of the world as imagined by a certain community. Every story is still based on previous accounts but with new interpretations developed in a new historical, social, political, and cultural setting. For example, the religious doctrines concerning Genesis in the Christian and Islamic religions are based on the previous rendering in the Hebrew Bible, which itself was built on yet earlier myths pervading the geographical region of the Near East. The cosmogonic myths refer to the events and processes through which the world and everything in it came into existence in an orderly manner, insentient and sentient, including humans and their functions in the scheme of universal cosmic order. In the Near Eastern societies, there are numerous creation myths with different creation gods; however, a certain shared depiction of the supreme creator god can be extracted. This wise sky god, who exists alone before anything else ever existed, deliberately decides to create the orderly cosmos and the entire creation, sentient and insentient. This perfect existence on earth, paradise-​like,

6 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

created for the enjoyment of the deities and humans, was disturbed by some fault of humans, causing a rupture in the good creation. Humans were made to serve and maintain the gods as their laborers. However, some fault or an assault causes a split in this perfect creation.

The Near East In the Near Eastern cosmogonic themes, often the world was created as the progeny of the primordial parents, mother and father, symbolizing the earth and the sky, with reference to an undifferentiated, chaotic existence before the world came into being. The stories also describe the establishment of the world from a dismemberment of the body of a primordial being. The concepts of dualism or opposition and divine twines are also shared in the original creation myths. The historical and literary records of this dualist concept originated in the ancient Iranian Zoroastrian religion with its strong conviction in the original spiritual existence, the presence of two primal spiritual forces, good and evil, and the birth of opposition and dualism. This creative duality is best described in the Zoroastrian Book of Creation, the Bundahishn, also known as Knowledge from the Zand, which survived over centuries through oral tradition until it was committed to writing in the ninth century CE. The text explains that the deliberate formation of the world was as a stage whereupon the two forces could engage in concerted combat for sole kingship over creation up to the cataclysmic end of finite time, followed by renovation and the absolute perfection of existence. Ancient Greater Iranian domains had a diversity of religious traditions, including ancient Indo-​Iranian practices, Zoroastrianism, Mazdakism, Manichaeism, Mandaeism, and other localized religions. The Zoroastrian tradition, with its monotheistic and dualistic features, ethical notions of good and evil, the pantheon of demons and angels, doctrines of afterlife judgment, hell and heaven, the final savior, the apocalyptic end of time, and the renewed eternal life, most likely had the greatest impact in the development of other Near Eastern religious thoughts, particularly Judaism, Manichaeism, Christianity, and Islam. In the chapter assigned to the Near East, the major ancient Egyptian, Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Ugaritic, and Hebrew literatures are examined, followed by the millennia-​old Indian and Iranian innovations of the earliest imaginations of heaven and hell. The Ancient Near East encompassed the regions of West Asia and Egypt, almost the same areas as the current Middle East, a political term invented in the twentieth century to further mark the countries

The Background | 7 and peoples of certain regions and backgrounds. Mesopotamia, meaning “the land between two rivers,” the Tigris and Euphrates, is the term used for the historical area of Western Asia, comprised of the major realms of Sumer, Assyria, Babylonia, Akkad, Levant, Arabia, Anatolia, Caucasus, and Greater Iran. The earliest written records of human civilization were found in Mesopotamia, often referred to as the “cradle of civilization.” What the Near Eastern religions had in common was a belief in an orderly cosmos and a society that could be disturbed by an unorderly chaotic force. Changes in life and in the world were expected and accepted for justifying and maintaining a social order. Priests were present to explain and enforce the religious views which assisted them. In exploring the ancient Near Eastern myths, Egyptian and Mesopotamian, we will first review the role and the importance of mythology in a society and in a given milieu. Further, we will establish common features, relations, and commonalities, and cross-​cultural and religious interactions. There are as many different types of creation and afterlife myths as there are cultures. In many cultures, myths are literal history based on actual occurrences such as great floods. Where legends are stories about heroes who struggled with creatures and armies to protect their people, myths involve gods and super astral beings as well. Myths as life manuals provide direction for people in how to live, how to be. They also provide answers to that which is unknown, such as the primordial beginning, creation, death, afterlife, and the end of time. Although the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, and Iranian cosmogonic myths may appear different from each other, there are noticeable commonalities in their stories about the origin of the world. The creation came about as the result of a battle, a struggle between the gods, or by an intentional act. In every Near Eastern religion there was a belief in an orderly cosmos and society which could be troubled by an unorderly force. The social and political aspects of a society were organized and maintained by the very cosmic order and interpreted and reinforced by the religious authorities and heads of states. The creation myths are reinforced in a society in the same manner. In a religious community, creation and cosmogonic myths provide an explanation and elucidation for the scriptural and religious elaboration of the original creation myth. Since the creation and beginning of everything are experienced and not historically documented, they are categorized as mythical. Stories that describe the creation are prominent in all the known cultures of the world. These stories explain the process through which the world and everything in it have come into existence, either by someone or by a progression. They not only justify the process of the creation but also the ensuing historical chronicles as understood

8 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

by a society. As an example, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the doctrine of creation is solely based on the Book of Genesis; consequently the religious concepts and theories regarding creation and humanity are constructed on the very same creation story. The religions of the Ancient Near East and their branches can be traced to Semitic traditions of the Assyrian, Babylonian, Canaanite, and Hebrew, and to the Indo-​European religions. The earliest sources, from the third millennium BCE, display traits of an Indo-​European religion in Mesopotamia. Ancient Greek and later Roman religions were strongly influenced by the Near Eastern religions. Also, the Hellenistic religious traditions were related to those of the ancient Egyptians and Indo-​ Europeans. Even the Roman Mithraic religion shared a similarity with the ancient Indian Vedic and Iranian religions, both of Indo-​European origin. Semitic and Indo-​European traditions both influenced the ancient Greek and ancient Iranian religious traditions, such as Zoroastrianism, which was a branch of the Indo-​Iranian religion. Both Zoroastrianism (Indo-​ European) and Judaism (Semitic) greatly influenced the later-​developed monotheistic religions of Christianity, Manicheanism, and Islam by assimilation and amalgamation. Furthermore, the notion of opposition, dualisms, also emerged from the creation myths, producing the element of antagonism as a component of the creative world, introducing the origin of evil in contrast to the good creator. This conception of opposition as presented in Zoroastrianism has a great presence in the Judeo-​Christian and Islamic belief systems. Near Eastern literary works have been discovered that reveal the religious beliefs and practices of these ancient people. Some of the myths, lamentations, and other forms of literature include stories that reveal images of the underworld. In the Near Eastern societies, although there are as many creation myths as there are cultures and religions with different creation deities, a particular description of the creator deity can be constructed. This wise deity, such as a sky deity, existing all alone prior to any thing ever existing, consciously, deliberately, and in an orderly fashion, manifests the cosmos and everything in it. Sometimes the world is created as the offspring of primal parents out of undifferentiated matter—​ mother as the earth and father as the sky. It is from this undifferentiated matter, for example a mass of water, an egg, chaos, or a monster, that the world is made or produced. In some of these creation myths, the deity goes away after the creation and resurfaces again when a calamity threatens the created order. In the creation stories where a deity has produced the material world, it is the deity that determines the preservation and destiny of humanity and the world.

The Background | 9 As early as the fourth millennium BCE, the ancient Egyptian mythologies describing cosmogony (origin of the world) and eschatology (end of the world) were the key elements constructing the foundation of the culture and social structure. Every aspect of their society was informed by a creation story, gods, and life after death. Through trade, Egyptian religion and beliefs in eternal life after death, sustaining the deities as the supernatural forces overseeing human activities and the afterlife, were transmitted to other cultures and societies. There are a number of Egyptian cosmogonic myths, primarily creation by a god or gods though birth, through molding from clay, through speech and thought, or through a cosmic egg. In one version, humans were created from sun-​god Ra’s tears falling to the ground as he cried when he saw the earth without life. Another version is that Khnum, the god of fertility and procreation, created humans and animals out of clay on his potter’s wheel and breathed his breath into their nostrils. Every creation myth was associated with a religious tradition and devotion to a certain god in the cities of Heliopolis, Hermopolis, Memphis, and Thebes.2 Nonetheless, they share a set of fundamentals. Like other creation myths prevalent elsewhere in the Near East, Egyptians also believed that the cosmos was created from something which has always existed. They believed that creation was initiated by a deity out of the dark infinite expanse of primordial waters called Nun. His name was Heka, god of magic. Out of the water rose a primordial mountain on which Atum stood. Finding himself all alone, he created two children—​Tefnut, goddess of moisture and order, and Shu, god of air and earth. Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Geb, the earth, and Nut, the sky. Geb and Nut mated and gave birth to Osiris, Isis, Set, Nephthys, and Horus. In the beginning, the gods ruled over the creation and people; when they left, pharaohs took their place as the representatives of god on earth. Egyptians also believed that all of creation is supported by ma’at (meaning base, foundation), the all-​embracing principle of order on which the entire community and ruling society stand. Ma'at, as a force, existed before creation. Opposite ma’at was isfet, the force of chaos and injustice. Translated as “falsehood, injustice,” isfet as the dual opposite of ma’at was to be defeated through orderly and just actions.3 The afterlife was also a continuation of the present life, and it was the god Heka who allowed the soul to pass to the afterlife where he would be judged in the Hall of Truth by the god Osiris. The place associated with death and rebirth was called Duat, located either in the underworld or in the sky. The views of the ancient Egyptians regarding the soul and its journey shows the conviction and value of their beliefs about the afterlife journey. Their funerary rituals, including their treatment of the dead body and the creation of numerous

10 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

artifacts, further confirms their trust in survival after death. Their understanding of the different aspects of the soul not only influenced different aspects of their culture but also of that of other nations. Similar to the Egyptians, the Mesopotamian worldview shows that they too believed that, first, there was nothing except the primordial and boundless ocean. Out of the water came the earth, with the sky above resting on a high mountain with the planets and stars rotating around it. The fresh water beneath the earth was called abzu or apsu, meaning abyss. Underneath the abyss was the netherworld, the abode of the dead. Gods and goddesses represented various aspects of nature. Afterlife was determined based on the judgment of the soul, and contrary to the Egyptian beliefs, it was not as blissful. In Mesopotamia, evidence as early as the third millennium BCE indicates that there was no single creation. However, it was believed that the gods existed before the world was formed. As early as the second millennium BCE, stories inscribed on Sumerian clay tablets refer to when only the Earth (ki) and Heavens (an) existed, all was dark, and primal water was in the ground. They describe how, in the beginning, gods split apart the sky and the earth and later created creatures and humans on earth and the netherworld. Numerous references to the underworld are mentioned in the Mesopotamian myths with a solar deity as the afterlife judge and god of the netherworld. However, the Mesopotamian netherworld is not a place of great desolation or joy, but rather a place where people would live a version of their life on earth. Despite all the calamities cast on the people by the gods, humans managed to survive, and in the cases of the great floods, some key individuals were even granted immortality after surviving the great flood. Of course, the other common theme is the idea that humans were created by the gods as laborers for the purpose of serving and maintaining them, and the laborers were to remain subject to the will of the gods. Accordingly, as soon as humans grew too many in number or became destructive and bothersome, death was brought upon them by the forces of floods, droughts, and plagues. Fragments of the Mesopotamian flood story spread throughout the region as far as Rome and Greece. This scenario remains the basic plot for several subsequent flood stories and their heroes, including the biblical Noah, dating from the first millennium BCE. It is in this schema that the Indo-​Iranian flood myth, and the Vedic and Zoroastrian versions in particular, are positioned. As explored in the ensuing pages, the hero of the Indo-​Iranian flood myth, is rooted in Indo-​ European mythology. The comparisons of the ancient Indian and Iranian flood stories, both deeply rooted in the Indo-​Iranian period, testify to the existence of a much earlier myth that, as the result of coming in contact with Mesopotamia,

The Background | 11 perhaps later influenced, and was influenced by, its neighboring cultures, including the Israelites. The Near Eastern myths served to provide assurance that human existence had a greater purpose. The tales of the great Mesopotamian floods and their heroes, Ziusudra, Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah all voiced the story of a human race created by the demiurges to obey gods, but the humans did wrong and were punished. Death was brought upon them, then with the promises of reward and punishment, the humans continued to hope for a better life, god-​like, immortals on a different plane of infinite existence. In virtually all known cultures, death is historically described as the extinction or total cessation of life, as we know it, occurring in all living beings as part of the creative and destructive forces of life. However, humans are the only class of beings to bury their dead in anticipation of an afterlife and end of time as part of their eschatological beliefs. Although death as a human concern has been discussed in various scientific, religious, and philosophical circles, so far no one knows what death and the afterlife are like. However, different religions developed their own mythology in an attempt to answer some basic questions. Such views regarding the meaning of death, the disposal of a corpse, the afterlife, and the rites and customs associated with passing are formed according to religious and cultural beliefs, such as those of the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Indians, and Iranians, in which a physical afterlife was envisioned. In the Ancient Near East, some of the oldest texts discovered are from Egypt, Sumer, Akkad, Babylon, and Canaan (Ugaritic and Hebrew texts). Some of the major texts concerning the subject of death and afterlife are the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Coffin Texts, and the Book of the Dead, which was known by the Egyptians as The Spells for Going Forth by Day. Sumerian and Akkadian texts are Inanna’s Descent to the Netherworld, The Epic of Gilgamesh, Nergal and Ereshkigal, and The Descent of Ishtar into the Underworld. Ugaritic texts are The Baal Cycle, The Epic of Kirta, Aqhat, and the Hebrew Bible. These texts include myths that reveal the religious beliefs and worldviews of the ancient Near Eastern people. In each piece of literature, images of the underworld can also be observed. The terms underworld and netherworld will be used interchangeably in this book. The religions of the Ancient Near East did not have the dualistic worldview that many modern people believe today. This dualistic perception of the universe is commonly seen as a paradise, such as a heaven, and a contrasting place of eternal punishment, such as a hell. The peoples of the Ancient Near East believed that there was one place in which they would spend eternity. Nevertheless, a dualistic and antagonistic being is found in many of the creation Mesopotamian myths.

12 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

This antagonist character, who may be referenced as the devil, at first appears as the knowledgeable and capable companion to the creator deity and has a part in the creation of the world. However, he gradually turns into an adversary in many of the myths, reinforcing dualistic world views. The Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh is the story of Gilgamesh’s search for immortality and his friendship with Enkidu. Gilgamesh, who fears his own death, meets Utnapishtim, the only Immortal, who assures him that death is not to be feared and is like sleep. Sumerian attitudes toward death are revealed through texts about the goddess Inanna, who journeys through the underworld. Losing her power as she enters the netherworld, she is saved by Enkidu, who also appears in various versions of the Epic of Gilgamesh as the one who explains the underworld. In Sumerian thought, there are different conceptions of the conditions of the netherworld. Both Inanna’s Descent and Gilgamesh show that the netherworld was conceived as being similar to, or parallel to, life on earth. The story of Gilgamesh, Enkidu and the Netherworld reveals that the conditions of the netherworld varied between individuals, depending on the conditions of their lives. These stories, as well as the other texts used, also reveal how the Sumerian people felt about death and the afterlife based on their conceptions of the underworld. In another Sumerian work of literature, existence after death is described as a dark distant and terrible place, a land of no return. Between Egypt and Mesopotamia was the land of Canaan, and later also the land of the Israelites, as indicated in the Bible. Canaanite mythology, including the Ugaritic texts, also point to a belief in a changeless, divinely appointed order threatened by the forces of chaos. They too believed in an end time when everything would be made anew. Often this chaos is described as that which cannot be explained. It is not like anything and existed before everything else. One of the most important texts is The Baal Cycle, dated from the second millennium BCE, with a much older oral transmission. This epic is a cycle of stories about Baal, the warrior storm god who becomes king. In several of these stories the inevitability of death and importance of after-​death care and rituals conducted by the relatives, particularly by the sons, are further emphasized. The inevitability of death is also stressed. Like the Sumerian and Akkadian texts, the word used for the underworld literally means earth and not hell. The concept of hell as a home to devils and a fiery place of torment did not exist in the aforementioned cultures. Evidently, the Israelite worldview had much in common with the views of the Canaanites, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians, and the Ugarit texts further attest to the influences of the earlier texts on the composition of the Hebrew Bible. For the Canaanites there was a divinely appointed cosmic order and truth,

The Background | 13 the manifestation of the great sun god. Similarly, Hebrew people believed in the principle of a divinely appointed order, and the judgment and government of Yahweh, underlying the social and political order of the people. The significant Ugarit texts shed a great deal of light on Canaanite worldviews and beliefs. Although there is not a singular text alluding to the creation story, there are scattered references to the ‘ilhm (equivalent to Hebrew elohim), the pantheon of gods or the children of El. The father of them all, the creator, was Elion. The multiplicity and descendancy of the gods continue through each pair of gods. Canaanites believed that after death, the soul leaves the body for the underworld of Mot where they continue their lives on a different plane of existence. For that purpose, goods, food, drinks, and other necessary objects were buried in the grave with the corpse. The emergence of eschatology among these three major Abrahamic religions was impelled by the productive encounter with Iranian religions, deeply concerned as these were with the struggle between good and evil and the moral and ethical issues of right and wrong, sin and virtue, judgment, punishment, resurrection, and the divine promise—​themes which are all addressed in this study. Several scholars have recognized this influence. On the subject of the possible influences of ancient Iranian religion on the development of the eschatological and apocalyptic notions in Judaism and Christianity, Duchesne-​Guillemin compares various subjects, among which the concept of Satan, dualism, and the Messiah-​K ing are most frequently discussed.4 Similarly, while eschatological concepts were slowly developing in Judaism, they were unlikely to have emerged in their fullness without the external influence of contact with Iranian religion.5 As Duchesne-​Guillemin further explains, the same is true of the belief in the resurrection of the dead. Ancient Iranian eschatology left its mark on Jewish thought in the first millennium BCE when Judea was part of the Achaemenian Empire for two centuries. As large Jewish communities lived within the territories of the empire, these beliefs, including of the apocalypse, were then passed on to their religious descendants—​the Christians and the Muslims. In addition to the affinities between Judaism and Zoroastrianism, Jews worked closely with Zoroastrians as scribes and business agents for centuries. The most famous union of Persian and Jew is the marriage of Esther to King Xerxes I (486–​465 BCE). From the time Persians liberated the exiled Jews, and their return to rebuild the temple by order of the Persian King Cyrus, strong bonds of political sympathy existed between Jews and Persians—​in the Bible (Deutero-​Isaiah), Isaiah hails Cyrus as the Messiah, the “Lord’s anointed.”

14 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

However, Hebrew people and their beliefs are rooted in much earlier traditions of the Near East. In this research, to further demonstrate the inherited links amongst the religious beliefs and practices, the biblical Book of Genesis and its creation and flood stories are compared and contrasted against the backdrop of Mesopotamia. For example, the origins of the Israelite god go back as far as the second–​first millennium BCE in Mesopotamia when the Hebrews worshipped him along with other deities. In Mesopotamia, the supreme god was El, as declared in the Canaanite and Ugaritic texts. In Semitic, El is related to the Hebrew Elohim as the plural form of Eloah. In Ugaritic texts, Elohim is the name referencing the pantheon of Canaanite deities as the children of El. In a later time, Yahweh became the national god of Israel. However, the authority and attributes of El merged with Yahweh. All references—​El, Eloah, Elohim, and Yahweh—​mean  God. Further, the commonalities among biblical Noah’s saga and the ancient Sumerian, Babylonian, and Akkadian flood stories include a chosen hero, godly wrath, flood warnings, instructions to build a mechanism to survive the flood, the gathering of animal and human lives, survival, and repopulation. There are also overlapping features in Mesopotamian stories, affirming the ancient Indo-​Iranian flood myths (Indo-​European) as an important part of the myth’s overall, cross-​ cultural universality. The best-​k nown Mesopotamian flood story is preserved in the Epic of Gilgamesh; in the Old Babylonian and Assyrian retellings circa the second–​first millennium BCE, the hero of the flood event is Utnapishtim. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about adventure, morality, and tragedy. King Gilgamesh, a demigod in search of immortality, meets Utnapishtim, who tells him the story of the flood and his survival. Utnapishtim is similarly warned by a god about a seven-​day rain and flood event and is instructed to build a vessel to save his family and the animals. Given the close resemblance of the stories, it is often assumed these epics referred to a single event, with only the heroes’ names changing. The biblical Book of Genesis preserves the enduring Mesopotamian flood story as it was passed down through oral traditions and in writings: “The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth …. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created …’ (6: 5–​8).” The flood continues for forty days and forty nights, and at the end of that time, only Noah and those in the ark are left. At the end of the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rests on the mountain of Ararat. Noah opens the window of the ark and first sends out a raven and then a dove to make certain the waters have subsided and the land has dried.

The Background | 15 God then orders Noah to leave the ark, bringing every living creature with him (Genesis  7–​8). We can find a belief in the afterlife on another plane of existence in most known cultures, from Asia, Europe, and Africa to the Americas. In all these places, the question of what is meant by a life in heaven and hell has given rise to impassioned discussions from ancient times. These ideas were often rooted in religious beliefs and a deep reverence for the cosmic order, known, for example, as ma‛at among Egyptians, ṛta among Vedic people, and aṣ̌​a among Zoroastrians. From this reverence arose a belief in ethical as opposed to unethical deeds, with a set of consequences attached to each. The Egyptians, with over 5,000 years of history, had vivid beliefs in a splendid life after death, and we can read of their perceptions of heaven and hell in the Egyptian Book of the Dead. Likewise, the Mesopotamians held that the soul of the deceased would continue its existence in an underground world. Assyro-​Babylonians, however, found that world also populated by demons and monsters. God promised the Hebrews a heavenly life on earth followed by an afterlife in the gloomy physical abode of Sheol (Šé’ ôl) in the lowest regions of the earth, also home to chaos.6 The gê-​hinnôm (Gehenna), however, is described as a place of torment for wicked sinners, located in a pit below the earth’s surface.7 Among Jews, and akin to the Indo-​Iranians, the concepts of “law” and keeping the “covenant” with God were imperative. Transgressors were those who broke that covenant, bringing the wrath of God upon themselves. The Greeks shared in the Jewish notion of heaven and hell, but their hell was called Hades. In the New Testament, hell is a land of fire beneath the earth, home to the evil one, Satan, and his messengers, and where sinners are tortured.8 Hell in Christian texts is also referred to as the Hebrew Gehenna, while Heaven is a place above the clouds where the virtuous attain eternal life in the company of God and the prophets.9 Among the three major monotheistic religions, Islam’s Qur’ān has the most prolific and vivid descriptions of events after death. The Arabic word for Hell, jahannam, from the Hebrew gê-​hinnôm, is mentioned more than seventy-​five times in the Qur’ān, along with references to fire, abyss, flame, and punishment. “For drink, boiling fetid water …. For them will be cut out a garment of fire: over their heads will be poured out boiling water …. In addition there will be maces of iron to punish them …. Will be the food of the sinful, like molten brass: It will boil their insides ….”10 The sinner can expect a variety of implements and methods of torture such as knives, boiling water, fire, smoke, snakes, and being beaten with a bar.

16 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

The Islamic Heaven, however, is described as a garden of delights, al-​Jannat, located in the al-​a’rāf, “the heights.” English translation often renders this as Paradise, from the Old Persian pairidaêza, “walled gardens.” The word entered Hebrew as Pardês, and later Greek as Paradeisos. In another linguistic turn, the English word best is etymologically related to the Avestan vahišta—​New Persian Behesht—​which under Persian influence also became the word for heaven in Islamic literature.

Indo-​Europeans In contrast to our highly secular world, we know that in ancient times, religion was virtually indistinguishable from the surrounding culture. Since history demonstrates this integration of the sacred and secular, investigating the ancient religions amplifies our understanding of peoples and cultures. This study begins with the Near Eastern (Egyptian and Mesopotamian), Indo-​Europeans, and their precursors, the Old Europeans. In the third millennium BCE, various peoples were emerging from the Proto-​Indo-​Europeans, who were living somewhere in the steppes of southern Russia in the fourth millennium BCE. Emerging among their descendants were groups with diverse identities speaking distinct, though related, languages. In a span of centuries, these people ventured far from their original homeland, spreading their many branches from Europe all the way to the Indus Valley. The Proto-​Indo-​Iranians and their descendants, the Indo-​Iranians in India and Iran, were only one branch of this expansive tree. Interdisciplinary and cross-​cultural research, aided by linguistics, archaeology, and prehistoric and historic data, provides a view of both the sacred and secular life in Indo-​European times. Fundamentally a linguistic construct, Indo-​ European has also been used for research in the fields of anthropology, history, comparative religion, and mythology. This has prompted the classification of the religions of these peoples as Indo-​European. Extensive research on these groups in the past century has yielded many diverse perspectives, an in-​depth discussion of which is beyond the scope of this study. We attempt, however, a general scholarly consensus even if such an overview appears cursory. Indo-​European ideology, including the creation and cosmic-​ending myths at the core of its cultural legacy, accounts for the origin and fate of the physical universe and humankind. The most secure heritage of the Indo-​Europeans is found not only in the languages people speak but also in their cosmological views irrespective of whether they think of themselves as Europeans or Asians. From

The Background | 17 the abundant scholarly research on their religions, this study, using a generalist approach, focuses on what these religions tell us about their worldview concerning both this life and the next. We first consider the cultural milieu in which Indo-​European ideology developed and how it transformed throughout centuries of diverse cultural interactions. To date, our perception of the religion and social structure of Indo-​Europeans has been based on later reconstructed materials. It is impossible to know how far and how much of these later materials can be safely projected back so it is crucial to combine the archaeology and mythology of the peoples and cultures, such as Old Europeans, that the Indo-​Europeans subjugated or encountered. Using archaeology and iconography, this exploration attempts the recovery of the antecedents of afterlife beliefs. We then have a fresh look at the totality of those prehistoric cultures related to the Indo-​Iranians. This comparison enriches our understanding of Indo-​Europeans and their cultural successors and will clarify some of the ambiguities in the Indo-​European religious system. Examples of these are the presence of female and male gods with names of non-​Indo-​European origin as well as beliefs in both linear and cyclical time, opposing myths, etc. The Old European beliefs provided the backdrop against which the Indo-​ European tradition developed. As Indo-​European people merged with the established traditions of Old Europe, they needed to reinforce their distinctions. Through an awareness of what they were not, they intensified their generation of individual group identities. The principal reason we address the Old European culture at this point is to draw attention to elemental aspects of European prehistory that have not been treated on a pan-​European scale, especially in the area of Indo-​European studies. Old European materials, largely the contribution of archaeology, may affect not only our vision of the past but also our sense of what is possible for the present and the future. As previously stated, it is through understanding other cultures that we learn to know ourselves. Perhaps much of Old European religion went underground, but some of the old traditions, particularly those connected with birth, death, and earth fertility rituals, have continued to this day. The final product of Old European elements combined with the religious traditions of the Indo-​Europeans was not a substitution of one tradition for another but a gradual amalgamation of two diverse symbolic systems. This is the historic process by which all known religious belief systems of the world have evolved.11 Although Indo-​European ideology has been researched as the official system of the ancient beliefs of Europe, the symbols and images of Old Europe were never totally uprooted.

18 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Indo-​Iranians In the Indo-​Iranian chapter, as the aim of this study directs, the focus is first to ascertain the orderly, ethical Indo-​Iranian world and its related gods; next, to investigate other worlds created for a life after death—​who goes where, why, and how—​and, finally, in an ethical world watched over by ethical gods, to identify some kind of judicial system. The brief account of mythologies, including the principal characters and their exploits, is not intended to provide a comprehensive treatment with detailed explanations of the symbols and metaphors involved, such as can be found in other works. It merely provides, in regard to Vedic and Avestan religions, something analogous to other religions’ acknowledgments of beliefs in death and the afterlife, i.e., something akin to the stories of Enoch, or the Tibetan Book of the Dead. The chief themes reviewed in this exploration are the genesis of the world, dualism and opposition, god and demon, good and evil, sin and virtue, death and the journey to another world, punishment and reward, and heaven and hell. Indo-​Iranians, like their predecessors the Indo-​Europeans, and their descendants, the Vedic and Avestan peoples, agreed that in the beginning, the world had been set in order by a god or by several gods and in its essentials was immutable. Security, victory in war, and social relations sanctioned by custom and law were the outward and visible signs of a divinely ordained order. However, that order was always imperiled by evil and destructive forces, including death. The Indo-​ Iranian religions preceded the Indian Vedic and Iranian Avestan religions and there were contacts between them, allowing us to investigate possible influences. The Indo-​Iranian worldviews, including the concepts of birth, life, and death, do not differ widely from ancestral ideologies. To trace the earliest concepts of death and afterlife in Indo-​Iranian cultures, we focus on the period when Indo-​Iranians first appear in the historical record, where linguistic and cultural similarities are shown to be offshoots of the Indo-​European family. This draws us closer not only to the ancestral community from which they originated but also to their subsequent trustees—​the Indians and Iranians. A reverence for order and the fear of chaos can be found in nearly all known religious cultures. As in most mythologies, the act of creation is the process of developing order out of chaos. In the Indo-​Iranian myths, the combat between cosmos and chaos was given symbolic expression. A god or a hero is charged with the task of keeping the forces of chaos at bay, and in return he is rewarded with the promise of a heavenly life. Heavenly rewards or unheavenly retributions were the result of some form of judgment based on the ethical (virtuous) or unethical

The Background | 19 (sinful) conduct of individuals in this life. Eventually, issues of justice gave rise not only to questions of judgment, punishment, and reward but also to intercession for the dead, either by relatives and the host community, or by a divine being, a god. Iranians further developed this belief by promising a time to come when a supreme god, with the arrival of the final messiah, would defeat the forces of evil and chaos for the last time in a final battle. These apocalyptic beliefs point to genetic historical relations between Judaism, Zoroastrianism, Christianity, and Islam—​a ll of which share an eschatological perspective.12 Our investigation of the characteristic features of Indo-​Iranian religions will contribute to a better understanding of the development of eschatological beliefs in later religions. Acknowledging and incorporating such traditions into religious studies may further clarify some of the ambiguities regarding Indian and Iranian religious elements. Since this research has been conducted primarily from a humanist perspective, however, some generalization and simplifications have been made for the sake of clarification. In recent years, near-​death experiences have been documented, generating a great deal of interest in the afterlife. In the past, scholars such as Plato, Pope Gregory the Great, and Jung have also spoken of visions of an afterlife. However, neither the classical nor the modern writers have examined this phenomenon in the context of cross-​cultural and religious perspectives of the oldest existing religious texts of the Indians and the Iranians. The migration of the Indo-​Iranians and their subsequent division into the Indo-​A ryans and Iranians, and their historical, cultural, and linguistic divergences up to the present time, are reviewed in the Indo-​Iranian section. The focus, taking a particular approach, is on Indo-​Iranian religious beliefs and practices supported by comparative mythology and the most recent archaeological findings, including funerary practices and rituals, with a concentration on beliefs concerning death and the afterlife. Furthermore, each chapter is designed to stand independently, even as correspondences between their particular topics become more apparent. For the Iranian and Indian source material, both primary texts and reference works in various translations and editions are used. Whenever possible, the most literal translations have been used, allowing the texts to speak for themselves in their own idioms. Some sources may be briefly cited within the text while the entire quotation may be found in the endnotes following each chapter. The Ṛg Veda as the primary Indian text is used with relevant excursions into secondary sources for purposes of further clarification and interpretations. However, some references in the Atharva Veda, Brāhmaṇas, Upaniṣads, and the

20 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Mahābhārata are also examined. The Vedic research covers the historical and cultural background of the Indus Valley, and the Indo-​A ryans and their settlements in the northern region of the subcontinent from the second half of the second millennium BCE. We discuss the Vedic ethical worldview and sources of evil and death, and the battles of opposite forces of gods and demons, with references to relevant verses from primary texts and comments by authoritative sources. Further, the Vedic chapter explores numerous topics relevant to eschatology, life in heaven and hell, and concepts of sat (existence); asat (nonexistence); ṛta (order); anṛta (chaos); druh (lie); ṛtavan (righteous); mṛtyu (death); amṛta (not death); Ātman (True Self, spiritual breath); pitṛ (ancestor; guardian spirit); ethical devas (gods) Yama, Mitra, and Varuṇa; asuras and rākṣasas (demons); Svarga (heaven) and Naraka (hell); Pitṛloka (world of ancestors); funerary rites from inhumation to cremation; and śrāddha (funerary ceremony). A popular Indian view on the afterlife is reflected not only in the Vedas but also in the post-​Vedic religious literature of India, including the Sūtras, Sṃṛtis, Purāṇas, and the epic Mahābhārata. In these works, we find numerous references to Hell, naraka, as the place where transgressors are sent to be tormented. Svarga, heaven, is a place above the earth, while naraka is a place located below the earth. In the Ṛg Veda, there are numerous references to a hellish world as an abode of sinners and demons marked by darkness, misery, and chaos. There is not, however, a single term uniquely assigned to this realm.13 Following the Vedic Brahmanical writers, in Buddhism, hell (niraya) is often mentioned as a living place for the sinner. There are eight great hells in addition to many minor ones, with vivid descriptions which might actually attest to ancient, even Vedic, popular beliefs. Many people are now familiar with the Tibetan Book of the Dead and its descriptions of the soul’s levels of experience after death and before rebirth; and we also find various hells and heavens in both Chinese and Japanese traditions. In researching the Avestan Iranians, we reference the historical, cultural, and related religious topics from the Indo-​Iranian migrations to the advent of Zoroastrianism and its subsequent expansion and influence on nations from Africa to South Asia. Pertaining to Zoroaster, we review his life, ideologies, pre-​ Zoroastrian religion, and doctrine of apocalyptic eschatology; this includes the primary religious text, the Avesta, along with later Zoroastrian religious texts such as Ardā ī Vīrāz Nāmak, “Visions of Vīrāz”, an apparent predecessor to Dante’s Divine Comedy, Bundahišn (the Book of Creations), and some Pahlavi Rivāyats (liturgical correspondences). We have also included Hindi and Persian versions of some of these texts. Most of the concepts and entities in Zoroastrianism are paralleled with their Vedic equivalents: aṣ̌a​ (order) and drūg (lie); aṣ̌a​ van (righteous);

The Background | 21 amərətāt (immortality); urvan (soul, inner self); fravaši (immortal aspect of the soul; guardian spirit; ancestor); Angra Mainyu (arch-​demon); Činvatō Pərətu (crossing of the separator/​judgment); daēnā (consciousness, vision); Yima (first mortal) and Sraoša, Rašnu, and Mithra, the gods associated with ethics, moral judgment, and the afterlife; Heaven, aṣ̌​ahyā gaēϑā “world of aṣ̌​a,” and Hell, drūjō-​ demāna “abode of the lie,” placed deep in the earth; misvan gātu (Pahl. Gyāg ī Hamēstagān) (place for the balanced ones, purgatory); Saošyants (the Messiah); and frašōkərəti (renovation, a new world created). Zoroastrians, too, believed in Hell, drūjô-​demāna “abode of the lie,” placed deep in the earth; and Heaven, aṣ̌​ ahyā gaēϑā “world of aṣ̌​a,” the destiny of the best, the most excellent, a place above the earth. In an interesting ancillary concept to hell and heaven, the Zoroastrians also believed in hamêstagān (the balanced place), a purgatory—​and so did the Christians.14 The Near Eastern myths served to provide assurance that human existence had a greater purpose. The tales of Ziusudra, Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah all voiced the story of a human race who were created by the demiurges to obey gods but did wrong, and the god or gods punished them by bringing death upon them. Then, with the promises of reward and punishment, humans continued to hope for a better life, god-​like, immortals in a different plane of infinite existence. Religious and heroic myths of the past with origins far back in time can be organized and interpreted in a variety of ways. They can represent cosmic forces personified, such as order and chaos, tell historical events, express rituals and practices, parade regional deities (both gods and demons), and demonstrate cultic observances. In the process, an array of distinguishable recurring themes persists, themes which continue to form and confirm our beliefs about the creation and place of humanity within the cosmos, the combat between the forces of good and evil, the quest for eternal life, and the expectation of an agreeable existence after death. Further, the protagonists and the heroes share similar attributes, having a divine origin or connection, guiding humanity on an orderly and just path, qualities which are also expected of rulers and kings. So far, since our partial knowledge is based on the understanding of the origin of knowledge as presented in the Greek and Bible texts, the much earlier Near Eastern materials may be overlooked. As we continue to see in this study, the repetition and retelling of the past events from the beginning of time are intended to highlight the importance of the meaning and the intention of events that continue to have profound meaning and influence in our time, such as the events of the creation, the great flood, the

22 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

survival of humanity, the anxieties of death, and anticipations of an immortal elated hereafter. At the heart of the aforementioned religions, as in most other religions, are the concepts of creation, death, and the journey to the afterlife, i.e., the individual’s fate at the end of life in this world. The Indo-​Iranians’ general beliefs about death and the afterlife are laid bare through linguistics, mythology, the later religious texts, and archaeological evidence of funerary practices. Views of the afterlife and of expectations concerning some form of survival after death were not isolated from the totality of their understanding of the nature of creation, the nature of humankind, and the structure of reality. Death was not seen as an absolute end to existence, and they even provided geographies of death, resurrection, and a life after death. It is the tension between chaos and order that brings about genesis, and the antithesis of death that brings about an afterlife. This research hopes to demonstrate both the non-​static nature of religion and the organic end result of its dynamism—​the global prevalence of belief in an afterlife. While this belief may be called by different names in different eras, each variant arises from the fears and hopes of the people who gave expression to it in their time.

Notes 1 See The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions. 1997: 318. 2 See Faulkner 1969. 3 Broadie 1978: 106–​28. 4 Duchesne-​Guillemin 1973:  179–​83. 5 According to Hultgård “The encounter with Iranian religion produced the necessary stimulus for the full development of ideas that were slowly underway within Judaism. The personification of evil in the form of figures like Satan, Belial, or the Devil, the increasing importance of the dual opposition between Good and Evil as well as their eschatological confrontation are ideas that are unlikely to have emerged without external influence. The doctrine of the two Spirits as professed by the Qumran community provides a striking example of Persian religious impact that had wider and long-​lasting effects on Jewish and Christian traditions.” 2000: 80. 6 See The Holy Bible 1989. Job 10:21–​2, 30:23. 7 Ibid. Apocrypha, 2 Esdras 7:35–​6. 8 Ibid. Matthew 25.41, 46; Luke 16.23, 12.5. 9 Ibid. Luke 23.43; Revelation 2.7; in addition see Boyce 1987, 1984. 10 The Holy Qur’ān. 1987. For the examples given here, see verses 14:16–​20; 22:19–​22; 44:  44–​8.

The Background | 23 11 See Gimbutas 1989, 1991. 12 Greek apokalýpsis “revelation,” apokalýptikos “pertaining to revelation.” Bowker further explains that the word was first used in the nineteenth century. 1997: 318. 13 See Dimmitt 1978. 14 See Boyce 1977, 1984.

2

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia

Geography and Myths Over the span of millennia, the dominant and riveting notions of creation, death, and afterlife as described typically by the major Abrahamic religions of Judaism, Christian, and Islam have had a deep impact on the social and political ideologies of billions of their adherents. To learn where such beliefs and world views were first formed and initiated, and their influences on later Jewish and Christian thoughts, we begin several millennia ago in their original homelands in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, India, and Iran. The Ancient Near East included the areas of Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt, almost the same areas as the current Middle East geopolitical territories of the Arabian Peninsula, Egypt, Iran, Iraq, Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, Palestine, Syria, and Turkey. Mesopotamia, meaning “the land between two rivers”—​the Tigris and Euphrates—​is the historical expanse of Western Asia, encompassing the major lands of Levant, Sumer, Assyria, Akkad, Babylonia, Anatolia, Caucasus, and Ancient Iran. The religious beliefs and practices of the Ancient Near East are rooted in Indo-​European religions and in the early Semitic religions of Assyria, Babylonia, and Canaan. The earliest Near Eastern sources show traits of Indo-​European religion as well as the influences of Near Eastern religions on Ancient Greek and later Roman religions. Both,

26 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Indo-​European and Semitic, influenced the Ancient Greek and Iranian religious traditions such as Zoroastrianism and Manicheanism, and Judaism greatly influenced the later developments of Christianity and Islam. The Hellenistic religious traditions were also connected to those of the ancient Egyptian and Indo-​European. As an introduction to the all-​encompassing religious traditions of the Near East, they can be categorized as polytheistic, theocratic with one deity of a city-​ state as the ruler, or monotheistic, in which case either one particular god was considered as the supreme, above all other deities, or just a singular god was worshipped. This research is intended to outline the common traits and patterns of the belief systems amongst all the known religions of the Near East that have developed in the past five thousand years, and even earlier, in the geographic areas of Mesopotamia, Egypt, Levant, Caucasus, and Ancient Greater Iran (Elam, Media, and Persia). Thus, the major Semitic religious traditions established in the Near East were ancient Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Canaanite, Judaic, Christian, and Islamic. In this chapter, we examine the religious traditions in ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, also referred to as the cradle of civilization, because Mesopotamia is where the first complex urban centers developed. The Egyptian religions, which also had a great influence on the development of other Near Eastern religions, evolved over millennia as their gods and goddesses merged and developed. For the Egyptians, life after death was more promising than for the Mesopotamians, who saw it as dark and gloomy. As is supported by the remains of their tombs and graves, the Egyptians viewed life after death as a continuation of their present life in an infinite existence. Just as individuals lived on earth, they would live their life after death. The spell for not perishing and for being alive in the realm of the dead, reads as “O you young men of Shu of the morning, who have power over those who flash among the sun-​folk, whose arms move about and whose heads sway to and fro; may I move about every day.”1 The Canaanite religion as recorded in the Ugarit texts included the god Elohim (son of the god El), the rain and storm god Hadad, and the goddess of war, peace, and fertility Anat. The Hebrew Bible, as it originated and developed in the region of Canaan, preserved the earlier gods along with their attributes. In the complex astral theology system of Mesopotamia, the gods and goddess were identified with the sun, moon, planets, and stars in the belief that their movements influenced the events on earth, and vice versa. For example, Shamash, the sun god, with the moon god, Sin (Sumerian Nanna), and the goddess of Venus Ishtar (Sumerian Inanna) formed the astral triad of divinities. Accordingly, priests and priestesses connected activities on earth with those of

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 27 the heavens, and by reading the celestial signs, they could predict the earth’s natural occurrences. It was this knowledge of the stars and planets that established the science of astronomy. Certain ethical qualities were associated with each god and goddess. For example, gods who were recognized as the sun god were invested with justice, like Shamash, or mercy, like Marduk, or Ea, the protector of humanity, a father who cares for his children. Any unorderly and unethical behavior brought about the wrath of the gods, which was remedied by rituals and prayers. Death was viewed as the departure of the breath from the body, and the afterlife was a dark existence in a place below the earth. The ancient Mesopotamian texts are stories of the deities and the people and their culture. “The stories were all written in Akkadian, a broad term which comprises the Semitic Babylonian and Assyrian dialects that were spoken and written for over two thousand years down to the time of Alexander’s successors, the Seleucids.”2 As the focus of this chapter, the creation, death, and afterlife myths, and the related religious beliefs, practices, and worldviews of the ancient people of the Near East, are surveyed by way of their surviving literary works. Although there was a belief in the hereafter and netherworld as a place wherein the dead would spend eternity, the contrasting concept of a heavenly or hellish afterlife was not a concern. In exploring the ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian myths, we will first review the role and importance of mythology in a society in a given milieu. Further, we will establish common features, relations, and commonalities, and cross-​cultural and religious interactions. There are as many different types of creation myths as there are cultures. In many cultures, myths are literal history based on actual occurrences such as the great floods. Where legends are stories about heroes who struggled with creatures and armies to protect their people, myths involve gods and super astral beings as well. Myths as life manuals provide direction for people on how to live, how to be. They also provide answers to that which is unknown, such as the primordial beginning, creation, death, afterlife, and the end of time. Although the Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Indian, and Iranian cosmogonic myths may appear different from each other, there are noticeable commonalities in their stories about the origin of the world. The creation came about as the result of a battle, the struggle between gods, or by an intentional act. In every Near Eastern religion there was a belief in an orderly cosmos and society which could be troubled by an unorderly force. The social and political aspects of a society were organized and maintained by the cosmic order and interpreted and reinforced by the religious authorities and the heads of states. In the

28 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

same manner, the creation myths too were reinforced in a society. In a religious community, creation and cosmogonic myths provided an explanation and elucidation for the scriptural and religious elaboration of the original creation myth. Since the creation and beginning of everything are experienced and not historically documented, they are categorized as mythical. Stories that describe the creation are prominent in all the known cultures of the world. These stories explain the process through which the world and everything in it came into existence, either by someone or by a progression. They not only justify the process of the creation but also the ensuing historical chronicles as understood by a society. As an example, in Judaism, Christianity, and Islam, the doctrine of creation is solely based on the Book of Genesis and, consequently, the religious concepts and theories regarding creation and humanity in the entire reality are constructed on the very same creation story. In the Near Eastern societies, there are numerous creation myths with different creation gods; however, a certain shared depiction of the supreme creator god can be extracted. This wise sky god, who exists alone before anything else ever existed, deliberately decides to create the orderly cosmos and the entire creation. The perfect existence on earth, paradise-​like, created for the enjoyment of the deities and humans, is disturbed by a human error, causing a rupture in the good creation. Humans were made to serve and maintain the gods as their laborers. Here, the term myth denotes the imaginative expression of what is experienced as basic reality, and the term creation refers to the beginning of things. Every creation myth is the symbolic narrative of the beginning of the world as understood by a particular community. Through this process the religious community establishes the sacred time and events, and the responsibility of people in sustaining the efficaciousness of the rituals in a given time and place. Myths are created to accommodate a particular group of people and cultures and are as varied as the people and cultures of the world. Every myth describes the beginning of the condition and environment of people who created them and are often complex in structure and meaning. Nonetheless, there are shared characteristics amongst all the known creation myths. For instance, there is one primordial powerful and wise creator being, whose nature may vary according to culture. Existing before existence, before the creation, and before the beginning of time, this deity deliberately and orderly creates everything through his own innate power. Although intending to create a perfect world, by some fault and defect his creation becomes imperfect, causing him to leave it. In these creation myths, there are numerous shared symbols such as the concepts of cosmic undifferentiated waters, celestial twins and dualism, the cosmic egg, the

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 29 dismemberment of a being, and sacrifice, where death and rebirth are introduced to the original creation. As will be reviewed later, in one of the cosmogonic myths recounting primal sacrifice and the dismemberment of a primordial being, the world is created from the body. In the Babylonian Epic of Creation, the creator god Marduk, after defeating Tiamat, the primeval mother, cut her in half—​from one piece the heavens were created, from the other piece the earth; humans were fashioned from the blood of her slain son Qingu mixed with clay. In the Akkadian creation literature, the Atrahasis clay tablets inscribed with the Old Babylonian version of the epic describe the creation of humans after the creation of the earth, air, wind, rivers, animals, and vegetation. The gods asked Enlil to create humans from the blood of Alla-​gods for the purpose of working as laborers. Correspondingly, in the Indo-​European/​Iranian chapters, similar creation themes in the Indo-​Iranian texts, such as the primordial waters, cosmic egg, one primal creator god, the coupling of the first demiurges, and the dismemberment of a being will be surveyed. For example, in the oldest Indian Vedic text, transmitted orally from the second millennium BCE, the Rigveda, the Creation Hymn (10.129: 1–​4), also known as Nāsadīya Sūkta “not the non-​existent,” reflects on the origin of the universe and creation, and how the one creator consciously decided to emerge. There was neither non-​existence nor existence then; there was neither the realm of space nor the sky which is beyond. What stirred? Where? In whose protection? Was there water, bottomlessly deep? There was neither death nor immortality then. There was no distinguishing sign of night nor of day. That one breathes, windless, by its own impulse. Other than that there was nothing beyond. Darkness was hidden by darkness in the beginning; with no distinguishing sign, all this was water. The life force that was covered with emptiness, that one arose through the power of heat. Desire came upon that one in the beginning; that was the first seed of mind. Poets seeking in their heart wisdom found the bond existence in non-​existence.3

In another creation hymn The Unknown God, the Golden Embryo (10.121: 1–​ 3), the lord of creation is the “unnamed one.” “In the beginning the Golden Embryo arose. Once he was born, he was the one lord of creation. He held in place the earth and this sky …. He who by his greatness became the one king of the world ….” In addition, another cosmogonic myth, called the Purusha Sukta (Puruṣa-​Sūkta) “The Hymn of Man,” describes the creation of the cosmos as a result of the sacrifice of a primordial man called Purusha (10.90): “The man has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet. He pervaded the earth on

30 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

all sides and extended beyond it as far as ten fingers. It is the Man who is all this, whatever has been and whatever is to be. He is the ruler of immortality…. With the sacrifice the gods sacrificed to the sacrifice. These were the first ritual laws….”4 A dualistic and antagonistic being is also found in many of the creation myths. This antagonist character, who may be referenced as the devil, first appears as the knowledgeable and capable companion to the creator deity and has a part in the creation of the world. However, in many of the myths he gradually turns into an adversary, reinforcing the dualistic world views. The original dualistic conception is most evident in the ancient Iranian Zoroastrian myths of divine twins (good and evil), and in Avestan texts where Ahura Mazda (in Pahlavi “Ohrmazd”) as the “Wise Lord” and Angra Mainyu (in Pahlavi “Ahriman”) as the “Evil Spirit” epitomize the two opposite cosmic principles—​creative and destructive forces. This creative duality, which will be discussed further in the later chapters, is described as both spirits together, one is he who is independent of unlimited time, while Ahriman in darkness, with backward understanding and desire for destruction. This creative duality is best described in the Zoroastrian book of creation The Bundahishn “The Creation,” also known as Zand-​agahih “Knowledge from the Zand,” which survived over centuries through oral tradition until it was submitted to writing in the ninth century CE. The text contains three core themes: the creation, the nature of earthly creatures, and the Kayanians, the first legendary dynasty founded and ruled by the primordial poet-​priests. Chapter 1: 2–​7 reads so it is declared that Ohrmazd is supreme in omniscience and goodness, and unrivaled in splendor; the region of light is the place of Ohrmazd, which they call 'endless light,' and the omniscience and goodness of the unrivaled Ohrmazd is what they call 'revelation.' Revelation is the explanation of both spirits together; one is he who is independent of unlimited time, because Ohrmazd and the region, religion, and time of Ohrmazd were and are and ever will be; while Ahriman in darkness, with backward understanding and desire for destruction, was in the abyss, and it is he who will not be; and the place of that destruction, and also of that darkness, is what they call the 'endlessly dark.' And between them was empty space, that is, what they call 'air,' in which is now their meeting.5

Both are limited and unlimited spirits for the supreme. One spirit, they call endless light and the other, the abyss which is endless dark. Between them is a void. One is not connected with the other; both spirits are limited to their own selves. Secondly, on account of the omniscience of Ohrmazd, both things are in the creation of Ohrmazd, the finite and the infinite; for this they know is that which

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 31 is in the covenant of both spirits. And, again, the complete sovereignty of the creatures of Ohrmazd is in the future existence, and that also is unlimited forever and everlasting, and the creatures of Ahriman will perish at the time when the future existence occurs, and that also is eternity. Like the creation story describing the coming into being, death is also described according to the cultural and religious beliefs of a society. Though depending on the culture, in general death is defined as the total cessation of earthly life. It is with the understanding of the nature of death and a view of the hereafter that a culture grasps the concepts of soul and the afterlife, in addition to determining the ways to dispose of the dead body. It is with the cultural and religious understanding of death that societies envision their afterlife journey and treat the dead body accordingly. The historic Egyptian, Indian, Iranian, Judaic, Christian and Islamic records testify to their views on death, judgment, retribution, and reward in hell and heaven. In virtually all known cultures, death is described as the extinction or total cessation of life as we know it, occurring in all living beings as part of the creative and destructive forces of life. However, humans are the only class of beings to bury their dead in anticipation of an afterlife and the end of time, as part of their eschatological beliefs. Although death as a human concern has been discussed in various scientific, religious, and philosophical circles, so far no one knows what death and the after life are like. However, different religions developed their own mythology in an attempt to answer some basic questions. Such views regarding the meaning of death, disposal of corpse, after life, and the rites and customs associated with passing are formed according to religious and cultural beliefs, such as those of the ancient Egyptians, Sumerians, Indians, and Iranians, in which a physical afterlife was envisioned.

Egyptian Creation and the Life After As early as the third millennium BCE (Old Kingdom), ancient Egyptian mythologies describing cosmogony and eschatology were the key elements in constructing the foundation of the culture and social structure. Every aspect of their society was informed by a creation story, gods, and life after death. Through trade, Egyptian religion and beliefs in an eternal life after death, sustaining the deities as the supernatural forces overseeing human activities, and the afterlife destinies were transmitted to other cultures and societies. In Egyptian thought, life was a journey to the afterlife to be lived as one imagined and wished the

32 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

afterlife to be, similar to the life lived on earth. It was the actions in this life that determined the afterlife journey and the final destiny—​living an orderly life would guarantee a joyful afterlife. The Egyptian creation myth and the afterlife journey are narrated in the hieroglyphic writings discovered on papyrus and in tombs and temples. For centuries, the Egyptians continued to develop complex texts and spells to help the dead in the afterlife. To mention a few, the Pyramid Texts were the oldest and the first set of religious spells to decorate the walls of the pyramids of the pharaohs, beginning in the third millennium BCE. Divided into sections, they are spells and incantations to be orally recited. These texts were designed to assist the pharaohs in their journey to the afterlife. The Coffin Texts were inscribed into the coffins to protect the dead and provide a good afterlife. These texts gradually took the place of the previous Pyramid Texts. The Book of the Netherworld contained several texts that described the afterlife journey as a guide and roadmap. The Book of the Dead, dating to the second millennium BCE, was a collection of the spells in the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts recorded on papyrus or wall inscriptions. In addition to spells for protection, these texts provided advice and information on the journey through the underworld.6 Other texts, also inscribed into the walls and coffins of the burial tombs, are the Books of the Netherworld containing illustrations and texts describing the underworld journey as a guide for the dead. The Book of Sky, highlighting the important role of the goddess Nut in the afterlife, contains three texts, the Book of Nut, the Book of Day, and the book of Night. In the journey to the netherworld, the dead had to face various challenges which they would overcome through the support of living relatives. The tomb was mainly constructed to preserve the body and to aid the soul to be transmitted to the other side. Tombs and coffins were designed based on the social statues of the dead while being alive. Nonetheless, all tombs were decorated with the spells to help guide the soul. The coffins were shaped similar to the body of the deceased, and the body was wrapped in a pure white cloth. The mummification of the body was to make certain that dead could use the body again in the underworld. However, after witnessing the decomposition of the corpse, they began to preserve the body parts in wrapped bandages for the return of the soul. Since they believed that the soul, the life force, Ka, lived forever, the offerings to the deceased included food and clothing and anything else that insured the survival of that soul. As the soul of the dead began its journey, a vehicle of some sort was needed for transportation. Depending on their social standing, the soul would either

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 33 use a boat to reach the underworld, as the sun god Ra rode on, or use a coffin. Spells for the celestial ferryman to bring a ferry-​boat in the realm of the dead for the deceased to cross the celestial river, was equated by the Egyptians with the Milky Way. “O Ferryman, bring me this which was brought to Horus on account of his Eye …. O you who bring the ferry-​boat of the Abyss to this difficult bank, bring me the ferry-​boat, make fast the warp for me in peace, in peace! Come, come; hurry, hurry, for I have come in order to see my father Osiris. O Lord of Red Cloth, who is might through joy; O Lord of Storm, the Male who navigates ….” 7 In Egyptian mythological thought, the journey of the soul began with the creation of the orderly world out of the chaotic dark waters and it came without a form. First the world was created from the stirring of the primordial waters. Then gods created the world over time while living on earth and ruled based on the principles of order and justice. The importance of living according to the cosmic order and universal harmony and justice known as the ma’at, meaning “order”, is stressed in every myth and in every stage of life. The principle of ma’at was thought to be at the heart of the entire creation, the universe, and the human being. This balancing force was made possible by the creative vital force heka, which existed before creation and was personified as the god Heka, who also oversaw the after-​death journey. This magical supernatural force also helped the gods perform their duties. The concept of ma’at as the absolute “order, truth” was the foundation of the Egyptians’ ethical, political, religious, philosophical, social, and cultural life; ma’at was consumed in food and water. Kings considered themselves as the lords of ma’at, and their every action and every word were based on it. Ma’at also had an important function in the individual judgment of the soul. Ma’at, personified as the goddess wearing an ostrich feather on her head, was the daughter of the creator sun god, Ra. After death, the soul appeared at the Hall of Justice before the god Osiris, who functioned as a judge. The deceased recited all the forty-​t wo names of the judges to establish its purity. In the process of the judgment of the dead, the heart of the dead person was weighed on a scale of the balance against the feather of righteousness (ma’at). A spell from the Book of the Dead read as follows: O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart which I had from my mother! O my heart of my different ages! Do not stand up as a witness against me, do not be opposed to me in the tribunal, do not be hostile to me in the presence of the Keeper of the Balance, for you are my ka which was in my body, the proctor

34 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

who made my members hale. Go forth to the happy place whereto we speed; do not make my name stink to the Entourage who makes men. Do not tell lie about me in the presence of the gods; it is indeed well that you should hear! Thus says Thoth, judge of truth, to the Great Ennead which is in the presence of Osiris: Hear this word of very truth. I have judged the heart of the deceased, and his soul stands as a witness for him. His deeds are righteous in the great balance, and no sin has been found in him. He did not diminish the offerings in the temples, he did not destroy what had been made, he did not go about with deceitful speech while he was on earth…. Here I am in your presence, O Lord of the West. There is no wrong-​doing in my body, I have not wittingly told lies, there has been no second fault. Grant that I may be like the favoured ones who are in your suite, O Osiris, one greatly favoured by the good god, one loved of the Lord of the Two Lands ….8

Arriving at the Hall of Justice the dead said: Hail to you, great god, Lord of Justice! I have come to you, my lord, that you may bring me so that I may see your beauty, for I know you and I know your name, and I know the names of the forty-​two gods of those who are with you in this Hall of Justice, who live on those who cherish evil and who gulp down their blood on that day of reckoning of Characters in the presence of Wennefer…. Lord of Truth is your name. Behold, I have come to you, I have brought you truth, I have repelled falsehood for you. I have not done falsehood against men, I have not impoverished my associates, I have done no wrong on the Place of Truth, I have not learned that which is not, I have done no evil, I have not daily made labour in excess of what was due to be done for me, my name has not reached the offices of those who control slaves, I have not deprived the orphan of his property, I have not done what the gods detest, I have not calumniated a servant to his master, I have not caused pain, I have not made hungry, I have not made to weep, I have not killed, I have not commanded to kill, I have not made suffering for anyone.9

Only the heart that was lighter than the feather would become immortal and enter the Field of Reeds, eternal bliss, to live a joyful life for eternity amongst the righteous ones and the gods in a beautiful lush field with many waterfalls. Provisions were also made for a spirit; a spell reads as “Hail to you, You who shine in your disc, a living soul who goes up from the horizon! I know you and I know your name; I know the names of the seven cows and their bull who give bread and beer, who are beneficial to souls and who provide daily portions; may

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 35 you give bread and beer and make provision for me, so that I may serve you, and may I come into being under your hinder-​parts.”10 The heavy heart, who lived the opposite of ma’at, isfet, was heavier than the feather and would be eaten by the Ammut/​A mmit, the devourer of the dead, and the soul would then be annihilated and cease to exist. In another version, the wicked, described as starving, naked, and blind, were thrown into the chaos that surrounded the orderly world. A concept of hell as described in Abrahamic religions didn’t exist. However, since Egyptians expected a joyful life after death, even the thought of not obtaining that state was equivalent to their understanding of hell. On the wall of the tomb passage “the priest Neferhotep is shown seated at a table piled high with food offerings. His wife sits at his side, and in front of him squats a harper. The words which he sings to the accompaniment of his harp are engraved above the group.”11 There, known as The Harper’s Songs, different feelings about life, death, and after death are expressed in three songs. The first part of the song (translated by Stern and published by Dümichen in 1869) reads: How reposed is this righteous lord! The kindly fate has come to pass. Bodies pass away since the time of the god, New generations come in their place. Re shows himself at dawn, Atum goes to rest in the Western Mountain. Men beget, Women conceive, Every nostril breathes the air, Dawn comes and their children have gone to their tombs. Make holiday, O priest! Put incense and fine oil together to thy nostrils, And garlands of lotus and rrmt-​flowers upon thy breast; While thy sister whom thou lovest sits at thy side. Put song and music before thee, Cast all evil behind thee; Bethink thee of joys Till that day has come of landing At the land that loveth silence [Where] the heart of the son-​whom-​he-​loves does not weary. Make holiday, Neferhotep the justified! Thou good priest pure of hands. I have heard all that happened to the –​– ​– ​–​,

36 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Their buildings have crumbled, Their dwellings are no more; They are as if they had not come into being Since the time of the gods.12

Opposite of ma’at was isfet as the force of chaos and injustice. Translated as “falsehood, injustice,” isfet as the dual opposite of ma’at was to be defeated through orderly and just actions. Egyptians saw the orderly world as being in constant threat by the maleficent forces of the isfet living in the deep dark netherworld. The gigantic serpent-​dragon evil god named Apep or Apophis, embodiment of chaos, was their leader. The chief opponent of light, order, and justice, he attacked straight out of the dark abyss of the underworld. Their origin is lost in the Egyptian myths but as the primordial chaos, isfet remained as the antagonist of ma’at. In one story, like the Indo-​European myths of the battle between a god of order and a serpent of chaos, as will be mentioned in the ensuing chapters, Apep blocked the passage of Ra, Seth, and lesser gods as they journeyed through the underworld. In a ferocious and elaborate fight, Apep was cut to pieces and burnt.13 In this story of the struggle between order and disorder, Seth emerges as the serpent-​dragon-​slayer who restores the orderly world of ma’at. Most of the Egyptian cosmogonic myths are recovered from the tomb wall writings and images referred to as The Pyramid Texts, from the third millennium BCE. There are a number of cosmogonic Egyptian myths from different periods in which a few gods are identified as the creator god who emerged from the primordial waters, including the gods, Ra, Atum, Shu, Amun, Khnum, and the goddesses Isis, Neith, and Hathor. The creator is also referred to as the one who makes himself into millions, signifying creation as the process of dividing into various elements of the universe. The cosmos was divided into the upper sky, the realm of the gods, the earth, and the underworld of the dead, the Duat, which also contained lakes and rivers. Therefore, the gods and soul of the dead are described as journeying by boat. Humanity was primarily created by a god or gods through birth, or molding from clay, through speech and thought, or through a cosmic egg. In one version, humans were created from the tear drops of the sun god Ra (also Re) falling to the ground as he cried when he saw the earth without life. Another version is that Khnum, the god of fertility and procreation, created humans and animals out of clay on his potter’s wheel and breathed his breath into their nostrils. In all versions of the story, after the creation of the physical body, a divine essence is transferred to it, to enable the breath of life to make it animated.

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 37 Egyptian cosmogonies have certain elements in common; for example, the notion of the creation out of Nu, the waters of chaos, or the cosmic egg instead of the waters, and the association of the sun god with creation. Every creation myth was associated with a religious tradition and devotion to a certain god in the cities of Heliopolis, Hermopolis, Memphis, and Thebes. Nonetheless, a set of fundamentals are shared among them. It was chaos that had existed forever and not the gods. The world was not created by a god. The chaos that existed before the earth and humans were created is described as an inactive force and not like anything that ever existed.14 This chaos was personified as Nun, a dark cast ocean without boundaries out of which the creation was formed, including the demiurges who fashioned the world. Since Nun existed before the gods, it was known as the father of the gods. His female counterpart was Naunet. However, it was through the demiurges that the separation, the opposition, and the multiplicity came to be. In Heliopolis, the creator god was Atum, the self-​created god, associated with the sun god Ra. Often, Atum is introduced as the creator god who began and ended each of the world great cycles of existence. In Heliopolis and Hermopolis, the belief was that it was Ra who emerged as the first demiurge.15 However, in Memphis thought, the first demiurge was Ptah, the earth god. In either case, the demiurge emerged from Nun, the chaotic darkness of waters, as a mythical Bennu bird. He stood on top of the primordial hill rising out of Nun and was known as Benben. As the creator of the gods and humans, Atum was responsible for maintaining universal order, ma’at. In one story from Hermopolis, after the first event, eight deities with the heads of frogs and serpents emerged, and they create a lotus flower out of which Ra emerged as a child. Another form of Atum was Ra, the sun god, who ruled over the earth and all that existed, including the humans created from the eye of Ra (wedjat). In one of the stories, the eye separated from Ra and was caught by Shu and Tefnut. As Ra resisted and struggled, humans were born from his tears. The eye of the god is the symbol of the power to see and restore order. Khepri was one of Ra’s names as he traveled across the sky as the scarab god in a boat.16 He was also known as Atum, the setting sun, and his symbol was the most powerful—​that of the sun. The Egyptian text, the Book of the Heavenly Cow, recognized as a destruction saga, similar to the great floods, was originally recorded in the third millennium BCE, but similar stories continued to evolve in later times. In the story, people rebelled against their creator, the sun god Ra, because he was getting old and becoming ineffective. Ra sent the goddess Hathor-​Sekhmet, his daughter, to kill as many people as possible. With this act, the earth became imperfect;

38 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

suffering and death were born. Residing in the heavens, Ra, regretting his decision, demanded that Hathor-​Sekhmet stop the killing but she refused because she was intoxicated with blood lust. Then Ra ordered beer to be mixed with red ochre to make it look like blood and ordered it to be spread over the field for Hathor-​Sekhmet, mistaking it for the blood of humans, to drink. The plot was successful; she became drunk and passed out. After waking up, she became the friend and protector of humans. Ra, no longer wishing to rule over the ungrateful humans, went to the highest heaven. He transformed Hathor into the protector of humanity, selected Osiris to rule over humans and maintain ma’at, and created the Field of Reeds, an afterlife paradise for the dead to reside in.17 This event marked the separation of the creator god from humanity. Osiris as the judge and god of underworld is praised as: Hail to you, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, Ruler of Rulers, who took possession of the Two lands even in the womb of Nut: he rules the plains of the Silent Land, even he the golden of body, blue of head, on whose arms is turquoise. O Pillar of Myriads, broad of breast, kindly of countenance, who is in the Sacred Land: May you grant power in the sky, might on earth and vindication in the realm of the dead, a journeying downstream to Busiris as a living soul and a journeying upstream to Abydos as a heron; to go in and out without hindrance at all the gates of Netherworld. May there be given to me bread from the House of Cool Water and a table of offerings from Heliopolis, my toe being firm-​planted in the Field of Rushes. May the barley and emmer which are in it belong to the ka of Osiris N. [representing the name of the dead king].18

In Memphis, Ptah was the creator god, creating the world from the thoughts in his heart and his words. He also became identified with the god of the necropolis, Sokar, and became a god of the dead, Ptah-​Sokar. And great and important is Ptah, who gave life to all the [gods] and their ka’s as well through this heart and this tongue, as which Horus and Thoth have both evolved by means of Ptah… It has developed that the heart and tongue have control of [all] limb[s], show[ing] that he is preeminent in every body and in every mouth—​of all the gods, all people, all animals, and all crawling things that live—​ planning and governing everything he wishes.19

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 39 In Theban cosmogony, Amun is a transcendent creator god of unknown origin, invisible to all, even to other gods. He is described as “the one who crafted himself, whose appearance is unknown. Perfect aspect, who evolved into a sacred emanation. Who built his processional images and created himself by himself.... ”20 The ancient Egyptian gods and rituals continued to develop and evolve over millennia. For instance, the gods Ra and Amun merged into one god as Amun-​ Ra, and similarly Ra-​Herakty, and so on. King Akhenaten, who reigned in the middle of the second millennium BCE, discarded all the previous gods and declared Aten, the disc of the sun god, to be the only true god. In Egyptian culture, the dead were as important as the living and the gods. People were just as concerned about their afterlife as they were about their present life and made provisions for life after their death. The surviving monuments they had built for the dead and the preservation of bodies are testimonies to their stern beliefs in life after death. Their afterlife beliefs—​rising after death, undergoing a trial judgment to determine the quality of their life in order to determine their fate, and the promise of an immortal life—​spread through other societies and influenced their beliefs. Because of their strong trust in a physical existence after death, they paid precise attention to preserving the physical body. Egyptians viewed a person as possessing many facets; nine parts are often mentioned. The three main parts of the soul are ba the “personality/​soul,” ka the “double,” and akh the “final sprit” which has transited to the afterlife. Often ba and ka both represent the soul of the dead. Other parts are khat the “physical body,” sah the “spiritual body” that connects to the other world, ren the “name,” ib/​jb the “heart,” shuyet or shut the “shadow,” and sekhem the “power, life energy.” The preservation of the physical body (khat) was important because it housed the soul and became the resurrected body. The personality/​soul (ba), could become physical and spiritual at will, with a close affinity with the physical body, often represented as a human-​headed falcon and viewed as remaining near the dead body for some time, also described as the true unique personality inherited in an individual. The name (ren) was an important part of the soul. As long as a person’s name was preserved, the soul continued to survive. Since the present life was a design for the next life, erasing a person’s name eliminated that individual from all records here and hereafter. The vital fire, the essence, continued its existence after leaving the body of the dead, like a spirit. Relatives and priests were expected to feed and maintain ka in order to receive protection from it. Ka was the life force that kept the body alive. The shadow (shuyet) was part of the soul and always present.

40 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

The heart (ib) was an important part of the soul. Since there was no distinction among the mind, intellect, memory, wisdom, love, and the heart, ib was the seat of all thoughts and feelings and survived after death as the witness to a person’s life. It was weighed against the feather of ma’at, truth and righteousness. If the heart was heavier than the feather, then the deceased was eaten by the “eater of the dead” (Am-​mit), and if lighter, then it joined the god of the underworld, Osiris, to live an immortal existence. “Spell for going into the tribunal of Osiris and the gods who govern the Netherworld, who guard their gates, who make report concerning their courts, who keep the doors of the portals of the West; for taking shape as a living soul, worshipping Osiris, and becoming an elder of the tribunal.”21 Hail to you, Foremost of the Westerners, Wennefer [another name of Osiris], Lord of the Sacred Land! You have appeared in glory like Re, and behold, he has come to see you and to rejoice at seeing your beauty…. I have come to you, O Lord of the Sacred Land, Osiris …. As for him who knows this book, nothing evil shall have power over him, he shall not be turned away at the gates of the West; he shall go in and out, and bread and beer and all good things shall be given to him in the presence of those who are in the Netherworld.22

The place associated with death and rebirth was called Duat, located either in the underworld or in the sky where Osiris and other gods resided. The power or life energy (sekhem) was the life force of the soul that continued in the afterlife. It was also described as the power of the soul. The immortal self (akh) was a representation of the intellect and an enlightened being. The opposite of akh was mut (dead), which was a state of not being transformed, i.e., enlightened yet. The spiritual body and the judge (sahu) separated from other parts of the soul after a favorable judgment and, like a ghost (eṭemmu), haunted those who had wronged people. The views of the ancient Egyptians regarding the soul and its journey shows the conviction and value of their beliefs about the afterlife journey. Their funerary rituals, including their treatment of the dead body and creation of numerous artifacts, further confirms their trust in survival after death. Their understanding of the different aspects of the soul not only influenced different aspects of their culture but also of that of other nations.

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 41

Mesopotamian Genesis and Hereafter So far, the archeological discoveries of West Asia, including inscriptions on clay and stone tablets, have been the source of our understanding of Mesopotamian mythology. Written in different languages and often translated from other languages, the events and stories described are often similar, overlapping, or inconsistent. Nonetheless, all in all, they provide consistent overarching themes and narratives. From the fourth millennium BCE, the development of Mesopotamian beliefs and practices were based on the survival needs of the nations and their rulers. Gods were believed to live in heaven and their statues on earth embodied their actual powers, while rulers were their representatives on earth. “The fourth millennium, then, as far as we can grasp it from contemporary source and later survivals, informed ancient Mesopotamian religion with its basic character: the worship of forces in nature. These forces were intuited as the life principle in observed phenomena, their will to be in this particular form.”23 The Mesopotamian legendary creation stories surviving from the third to the first millennium BCE display a pantheon of gods associated with natural forces and the first creation but do not necessarily recount any singular initial cosmogonic event. Several Sumerian compositions on clay tablets from the second millennium BCE describe different stories associated with the creation and involve deities and heroes. They are stories about the creation of earth, humans, and everything else, along with the great flood and the hope of immortality. Some of the oldest tablets are recognized as literary texts. They tell stories which were most likely well recognized in their world, most of which are written in the Akkadian language. The most recognized texts alluding to how the ancient people perceived the creation of the world, gods, and humans, as well as death and afterlife, are the heroic stories in the Epic of Gilgamesh. In this epic, the semi-​ divine king of Uruk, Gilgamesh (Gilgameš), becomes concerned about his own mortality after the death of his friend Enkidu and sets out to find immortality. On his journey he locates Utnapishtim (Utnapištim), the survivor of the great flood. Similarly, the myth of Atrahasis tells the story of creation and how gods became disappointed in humanity and decided to annihilate it by casting a great flood. The Epic of Creation, also known as the epic of Enuma Elish (Enūma Eliš), tells how the world came into being and how the first cities were built in Babylon under the protection of the god Marduk. Ishtar’s Descent into the Underworld describes the journey of the goddess Ishtar (Ištar) into the underworld to visit the queen of the netherworld, her sister Ereshkigal (Ereškigal). In the myth of Nergal and Ereshkigal, it is Nergal who descends to the underworld. The myth of Adapa

42 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

is about a wise priest who breaks the wing of South Wind and is questioned by the gods. His story is also about how humanity lost the chance of becoming immortal because of his error. Although written in different times and transmitted through various peoples and cultures, these stories have common themes regarding their world views, creation, death, and the afterlife which will be explored here in addition to other related texts. Sumerian texts tell the story of a time when the earth and heavens were one. There was a single dark existence. Then gods were born and they separated the heavens and earth and created human beings. They then put different gods in charge of the earth, heavens, and the underworld. Several Sumerian clay tablets describe the formation of the world before gods existed as being only the dark primordial sea, the goddess Nammu. She gave birth to Anki, the universe as the sky and the earth in one. Anki created the air god Enlil who split the universe in two, pushed them apart, and created the sky god An (in Sumerian, and Anu in Akkadian) and the earth goddess (Ki). An was the father of everything in creation; the gods were his children and so were demons. He established order out of chaos. The gods also recognized An’s divine authority. What thou hast ordered (comes) true! The utterance of prince and lord is (but) What thou hast ordered, dost agree with. O An! Thy great command takes precedence, Who could gainsay it? O father of the gods, thy command, The very foundations of heaven and earth, What god could spurn [it].24

An was the god of the sky and Enlil was the god of the earth, air, wind, and storm. He was the force in the reproduction of the plants and animals and in sustaining the waters. An and Ki had a child together, Enki. In several stories, Enlil is referenced as the chief deity in many Mesopotamian stories. He is praised by other gods for his constructions and creations. He was responsible for separating the heavens and earth in Duranki, the “garden of the gods” (similar to Mount Olympus in Greek mythology). He is also responsible for creating humans to serve and provide for the gods. Like An, Enlil is also called “father of the gods.” In the third millennium BCE, another Sumerian creation myth, Song of the Hoe, addressed seven philosophical debate topics. Included in its narration of the creation is the following:

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 43 Not only did the lord make the world appear in its correct form –​the lord who never changes the destinies which he determines: Enlil, who will make the human seed of the Land come forth from the earth –​and not only did he hasten to separate heaven from earth, and hasten to separate earth from heaven, but, in order to make it possible for humans to grow in 'Where Flesh Came Forth' [the name of a cosmic location], he first suspended the axis of the world at Dur-​an-​k i.25

In other Sumerian poems, the creation of summer and winter, floods, and fertility is the result of Enlil’s copulation with the hills. In the Sumerian pantheon of gods, Anunnaki, meaning the offspring of An, are mentioned as the most powerful deities—​A n, Enlil, Enki, as mentioned, the moon god Nanna, the earth goddess Ninhursag, god of justice and mortality, and the twin of Inanna, the goddess of love, war, and justice, also later known as Ishtar, the queen of heaven. In the poem The Debate Between Grain and Sheep, people are described as walking naked on earth; there were no vegetables, grains, or animals. People drank water and consumed only grass. At first, water wasn’t meant for human consumption. It was Enki, the god of water, knowledge, craft, and creation who created the major rivers, the Tigris and Euphrates, and other streams for people to drink from. It was Enki who decided to organize creation by assigning gods to administer different tasks such as managing wildlife, buildings, domestic animals, and so forth. In another story, the lesser gods, troubled by the hardship of maintaining the earth, complained to the mother goddess Ninmah, who was in charge of fertility and birth. She kneaded some clay and put it in her womb to create and give birth to humans. She advised Enki to create other beings to relieve the gods from some of their duties so he created other creatures and established the concepts of kingship and rulership. In the story associated with the creation of the moon, Enlil seduces the goddess Ninlil, forces himself on her, and impregnates her with the moon god Nanna. His action enrages the gods, who decide to punish him for his crime and expel him to Kur, the underworld. Ninlil, not having any option but to follow him to the underworld, bears other gods—​Nergal the god of the dead and the underworld, Ninazu the god of healing, and Enbilulu the god of rivers and canals. After thirty-​six hundred years of doing all the difficult chores for the gods, the humans refuse to continue and go on strike. Enlil, Anu (An in Sumerian), and Enki create a new class of species to do the labor for the higher gods in place of the minor deities. They sacrifice the god Geshtu-​e, the possessor of a great intelligence. Ninmah, the birth goddess, makes a mixture of his flesh and blood on which all the gods spit. Enki and Nintu, the womb goddess, recite

44 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

a magical incantation over the mixture and then divide the clay into fourteen pieces: seven pieces become men and seven pieces become women. The goddess Nintu then impregnates herself with the pieces and after nine months gives birth to the new creation of the gods—​humans. When the gods instead of man Did the work, bore the load. The gods’ load was too great, The work too hard, the trouble too much, …. They were counting the years of loads. For 3,600 years they bore the excess, Hard work, night and day. They groaned and blamed each other, …. She pinched off fourteen pieces (of clay) (And set) seven pieces on the right, Seven on the left. …. Called up the wise and knowledgeable Womb-​goddesses, seven and seven. Seven created males, Seven created females, For the womb-​goddess (is) creator of fate.26

The Epic of Gilgamesh, also known as Gilgamesh and the Netherworld and variants, was recorded between the third to second millennium BCE. There are various poems about Gilgamesh in early Sumerian literature and there was most likely an older oral tradition in existence before it was written down. The epic is the longest literary composition written in Akkadian cuneiform. The Epic of Gilgamesh reflects on death as the final fate, the possible destiny of man in the afterlife, and the search for immortality. Gilgamesh, the king of Uruk, the hero of the story, is described as two-​thirds divine and one-​third human. Enkidu is a primal man, born and raised in the wild with the animals. They meet, become close friends, and share many adventures together. Enkidu becomes ill and starts having images of the afterlife in a land of no return, dusty and dark, and eats clay as food. In the later story, The Descent of Ishtar to the Underworld, the goddess Ishtar visits the netherworld, “the land of no return” kurnugi, which is once again

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 45 described as where the dead live in darkness, eat clay, and are clothed like birds with wings. To Kurnugi, land of [no return], Ishtar daughter of Sin was [determined] to go The daughter of Sin was determined to go To the dark house, dwelling of Erkalla’s god, To the house which those who enter cannot leave, To the house where those who enter are deprived of light, Where dust is food, clay their bread. They see no light, they dwell in darkness, They are clothed like birds, with feathers. Over the door and the bolt, dust has settled.27

Gilgamesh promises Enkidu he will give him an elaborate burial to secure a better afterlife for him in the underworld. In this story, the underworld is described as an existence similar to the individual’s life on earth, with similar social and economic classes, although it is still described as a dark and gloomy house without light. Enkidu’s death makes Gilgamesh think of his own mortality and he begins searching for Utnapishtim (meaning He Found Life), who had survived the great flood, the only human who had attained immortality. On his way, he meets a barmaid who advises him not to waste life worrying and fearing death and instead try to live a full life. Gilgamesh, ignoring her advice, locates Utnapishtim, who also tries to convince him that death is inevitable and must be accepted. Utnapishtim then offers Gilgamesh a plant of life with which to renew his youth instead of becoming an immortal, but he loses it to a snake. Utnapishtim reminds him that immortality belongs only to the gods, and inevitable death is the fate of humans. In explaining death, Utnapishtim says, No one can see death, no one can see the face of death, no one can hear the voice of death, yet there is savage death that snaps off mankind. For how long do we build a household? For how long do we seal a document? …. How alike are the sleeping (?) and the dead. The image of Death cannot be depicted. (Yes, you are a) human being, a man (?)!

46 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

After Enlil had pronounced the blessings, The Anunnaki, the Great Gods, assembled. Mammetum, she who fashioned destiny, determined destiny with them. They established Death and Life, But they did not make known ‘the days of death.’28

Great Floods and Restorations Returning home disenchanted, Gilgamesh engraved his story and his sufferings on a tablet of stone. He also built the walls of his ancient Sumerian city of Uruk and constructed the temple of Eanna, the home of the goddess Inanna (later known as Ishtar), connected with justice, political power, love, and beauty, and Anu, supreme sky god and forebear of all the deities. In the later part of the epic on the death of Gilgamesh, his destiny is described as decided by the father of gods, Enlil: “In nether-​earth the darkness will show him a light: of mankind, all that are known, none will leave a monument for generations to come to compare with his. The heroes, the wise men, like the new moon have their waxing and waning… everlasting life was not your destiny.”29 The epic also tells the story of the creation and destruction by a great flood, a parallel of the biblical flood story of Noah and his Ark. It was the god Enlil who caused the great flood for the purpose of destroying humans and every other living thing because the earth was disturbingly overpopulated and noisy. In this flood story, it is Utnapishtim who survives the seven-​day flood with the help of Ea, the Babylonian form of Enki. The Akkadian and Babylonian god Ishtar, equivalent to the Sumerian Inanna, outraged by the destructive act of Enki, gives Utnapishtim his protection and later gods grant him immortality for his devotion. Utnapishtim describes to Gilgamesh how he constructed a great boat according to a specific measurement and design, loaded up every creature, and then the flood came. Six days and seven nights Came the wind and flood, the storm flattened the land. When the seventh day arrived, the storm was pounding, The flood was a war—​struggling with itself like a woman writhing (in labor). The sea calmed, fell still, …. On Mt. Nimush the boat lodged firm, …. A fifth day, a sixth, Mt. Nimush held the boat, allowing no sway. When a seventh day arrived

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 47 I sent forth a dove and released it. The dove went off, but came back to me; …. I sent off a swallow…, and it back to me…. I sent of a raven and released it…. The raven went off, and saw the waters slither back…. Then I sent out everything in all directions and sacrificed (a sheep).30

As in Noah’s story, Utnapishtim sends out a raven and a dove to make certain that the flood has subsided. Then the gods and Enlil decide to grant Utnapishtim and his wife the gift of immortality. Utnapishtim and his wife were mortals, but from that point they became like gods, immortal. Enlil, outraged by the survival of the humans, is advised by his son Ninurta to use famines and wild animals instead of floods to correct the overpopulation. Ninurta was the god of thunder, rainstorm, and the plow. In a battle against the demon Asakku, who brought sickness and diseases to earth, he brought a devastating flood against the demon and killed him. However, his flood also had a devastating effect on the people and the land, so he built a dam to protect the Sumer and pushed the waters back into the Tigris River. The combat between god and the monster of chaos was known not only in the Sumerian myths but also in the Egyptian ones, as well as in Indo-​European creation myths, the Indo-​Iranian versions of which are observed in the following chapters. Similarly, as part of the surviving Sumerian creation myths recorded on clay tablets, the religious text Eridu Genesis tells the seven-​days-​and-​seven-​nights flood story to destroy all creation, including humans who have overpopulated the earth. Everyone is killed except Ziusudra, who is helped by the god Enki. After the seventh day, the flood subsides and Utu the sun god emerges. Ziusudra makes sacrifices to the gods and, having survived the flood, is announced as an immortal by the gods An and Enlil. The story ends here as the clay tablets containing the remaining portion of the story have not survived. It is noteworthy that the Sumerian Utu (Akkadian Shamash) had the task of overseeing and maintaining the cosmic principles of order, truth, and justice known as kettu “justice” and mesharu “right,” similar to the Egyptian code of ma’at. Just as the Egyptian sun god Ra was the lord of ma’at, so was Utu, later Shamash. Kings, similar to the gods, had the responsibility of enforcing the law and maintaining the world order given by the gods for their benefit and that of humans. In reality, kings viewed themselves as the shadows of the gods on earth. They were the protectors and the shepherds. The understanding and practice of this law is recorded by a Babylonian king in his Code of Hammurabi (second millennium BCE):

48 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

I rooted out the enemy above and below; I made an end of war; I prompted the welfare of the land; I made the people rest in friendly habitations; I did not let them have anyone to terrorize them. The great gods called me, So I became the beneficent shepherd whose scepter is righteous; My benign shadow is spread over the city. In my bosom I carried the peoples of the land of Sumer and Akkad; they prospered under my protection; I always governed them in peace; I sheltered them in my wisdom. In order that the strong might not oppress the weak.31

The retelling of the oral version of the Mesopotamian flood story continues in other Near Eastern traditions, including the Egyptian and Abrahamic. In the Mesopotamian myth of Adapa, also known as Adapa and the South Wind or Adapa and the Food of Life, the hero of the story, Adapa, was not given the gift of immortality. Adapa, also known as Uan, was the first of the seven sages sent by Ea, the wise god of Eridu, to bring the arts of civilization to humankind. He was given the gift of wisdom and intelligence by Ea. His word commands like the word of [Anu] He (Ea) made broad understanding perfect in him (Adapa), to disclose the design of the land. To him he gave wisdom but did not give eternal life. At that time, in those years, he was a sage, son of Eridu. Ea created him as a protecting spirit (?) among mankind. A sage—​nobody rejects his word—​ Clever, extra-​wise, he was one of the Anunnaki, Holy, pure of hands.32

In the story, Adapa is thrown into the sea by the south wind while fishing. In anger, Adapa breaks the wings of the south wind and causes it to stop blowing. Anu the sky god summons Adapa to his gates to explain his action. Ea cautions him not to take the bread and water offered to him. Anu’s two gatekeepers, Dumuzi and Gizzida, intercede and ask Anu to grant Adapa immortality because of his wisdom. Anu accepts and offers Adapa the bread and water of immortality. Remembering Ea’s warning, Adapa refuses the bread and water of life and loses the chance to become immortal.

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 49 Anu watched him and laughed at him. ‘Come, Adapa, why didn’t you eat? Why didn’t you drink? Didn’t you want to be immortal? Alas for downtrodden people!’ ‘(But) Ea my lord told me: “You mustn’t eat! You mustn’t drink!” ‘Take him and send him back to his earth.’33

Thus, Adapa loses humanity the gift of immortality, as did Adam in the Book of Genesis. Then the Lord God said, “See, the man has become like one of us, knowing good and evil; and now, he might reach out his hand and take also from the tree of life, and eat, and live forever”—​therefore the Lord God sent him forth from the garden of Eden, to till the ground from which he was taken. He drove out the man; and at the east of the garden of Eden he placed the cherubim, and a sword flaming and turning to guard the way to the tree of life. (3.22–​24)

Another key Mesopotamian literature from the second millennium BCE is the Akkadian epic of Atrahasis (meaning extra wise), of which various versions have survived on clay tablets. Atrahasis is the story of the great flood sent by the gods to destroy humans, like the stories of Noah and Utnapishtim. As previously examined, the Sumerian flood story was a much older story which had been passed down orally through the generations. The older documented versions of the Great Flood are the Sumerian version known as the Eridu Genesis, written down during the third millennium BCE, and The Epic of Gilgamesh (Tablet X) between the third and second millennium BCE. Atrahasis, the only person to survive the flood, has been warned about the flood by Enki, the god of wisdom, who instructs him to build an ark and load up two of every type of animal. The reason for the destruction of creation by the gods, similar to the Sumerian flood story, is that the younger gods on earth, who are forced to do all the chores to serve and maintain the older and higher gods, rebel and stop their labor. Enki suggests that the gods create mortal humans to do the work instead. To assist in this effort, We-​Ilu, one of the gods, offers himself as a sacrifice. Nintu, the mother goddess, adds his blood to clay and makes seven male and seven female humans. Similarly, in one of the Egyptian cosmogonic stories, Khnum creates gods and humans out of clay from his potter’s wheel and brings them to life by breathing into their nostrils. After some time, the gods are disturbed by the loud noises of the human workers and decide to decrease their population by casting down on the earth

50 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

a series of destructions such as drought, plague, and famine. After six years of catastrophes, the people are starving and they cannot carry out the hard work for which they were created. Besides, the activities of the humans continue to disturb the gods anyway, especially Enlil, the god of the storm, who persuades An and other gods to annihilate the people by sending a great flood. The Sumerian goddess of reed Ningal, the patron of the city of Ur, was the daughter of Enki and the consort of Nanna, the moon god; their daughter was Inanna and their son Utu. In an enduring poem, she expresses her grief over the gods’ decision to send the flood. When I was grieving for that day of storm, That day of storm, destined for me Laid upon me, heavy with tears…. I could not flee before that day’s fatality. Dred of the storm’s flood like destruction Weighted on me, … Truly I shed my tears in front of An. Truly I myself mourned in front of Enlil: ‘May my city not be destroyed!’ I said indeed to them. ‘May Ur not be destroyed!’ I said indeed to them…. [Behold,] they gave instruction That the city be destroyed, [behold,] they gave instruction That Ur be destroyed, And as its destiny decreed That its inhabitants be killed.34

However, before the flood, Enki warns Atrahasis of the flood, directing him to build an ark and save a pair of every kind of animal, which he does, and then the flood comes. No one could see anyone else, They could not be recognized in the catastrophe. The Flood roared like a bull, Like a wild ass screaming the winds [howled] The darkness was total, there was no sun.35

Afterwards, all the gods deeply regret their destruction, and Enki proposes that instead of bringing catastrophe upon humans to control their overpopulation,

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 51 Nintu create a generation of infertile women and celibate virgin women devoted to gods and causing miscarriages. Atrahasis is then taken up to heaven as an immortal. In the Sumerian version of the same flood story, it is Ziusudra who survives the flood. The Babylonian world view is recorded in the most important Babylonian myth The Epic of Creation, also known in Mesopotamia by its incipit Enuma Elish (Enūma Eliš), translated as “When on High …” from the second millennium BCE, about a thousand lines recorded on seven clay tablets. It is the story of the creation of the world, the battle between gods over the supremacy of one god and the creation of humans for the purpose of serving the deities. “Based on various Mesopotamian traditions dating back to 2000 BCE, the Enuma Elish was compiled around 1200 BCE. The heart of the narrative is the cosmic struggle between the mother goddess, Tiamat, and Marduk, who is the son of Tiamat's former lover and now foe, Apsu.”36 The story begins with the beginning when there is nothing but the primordial waters, and how existence is before everything coming into being. When heaven above was not (yet even) mentioned, firm-​set earth below called by no name; (when) mingling their waters in one; when no bog had formed, when no god whosever had appeared, had been named by name, had been determined as to (his) lot: then were gods formed within them.37

The epic provides a chronology of the gods before the first creation when there was only Tiamat, the ocean waters, and Apsu (Apsȗ), or Abzu, a mass of fresh water beneath the earth. As the result of their mixing, other gods emerged. Apsu, annoyed by all the noise the gods make, decides to terminate them. The gods ask Ea (Éa), the god of wisdom and magic who resides under the waters, to help them. Ea recites an incantation that puts Apsu to sleep and then he kills him. Then Ea and Damkina his wife gave birth to Marduk, the most powerful hero-​god. And Ea and Damkina his lover dwelt in splendor. In the chamber of destinies, the hall of designs, Bel, cleverest of the clever, sage of the gods, was begotten. And inside Apsu, Marduk was created;

52 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

inside pure Apsu, Marduk was born. Ea his father created him. He suckled the teats of goddesses; The nurse who reared him filled him with awesomeness. …. Son, majesty, majesty of the gods! Clothed in the radiant mantle of ten gods, worn high above his head Five fearsome rays were clustered above him.38

Anu, the sky god, grants Marduk control of all the winds, which he uses to create storms and hurricane winds, upsetting the ocean waters, Tiamat. Other gods, also disturbed by the storm and wind noises, ask Tiamat to fight Marduk so they can have some peace and sleep; she agrees. In preparation for the battle, Tiamat promotes her husband Qingu to rule over all the gods and puts eleven monsters in charge of him. They prepare to fight against another group of gods who are on the side of Marduk. Meanwhile, Tiamat with her children marching by her side and a large army prepares for combat. The gods ask Marduk for his protection against Tiamat’s assault, which he accepts with the condition that if victorious, the gods will announce him as the king, ruler above all other gods. The gods though displeased and frightened by the arrangement accept Marduk’s offer to fight Tiamat and Qingu. They placed a constellation in their midst and said to Marduk, their firstborn: "O Lord, your decree be truly foremost among gods. Command destruction and construction, and may both come true. May your spoken word destroy the constellation, then speak again and may it be intact.” He spoke, and at his word the constellation was destroyed. He spoke again, and the constellation was (re)constructed. The gods, his fathers, seeing (the power of) his word, rejoiced, paid homage: “Marduk is king.” They gave him scepter, throne, and royal robe besides, Gave him an irresistible weapon overwhelming the foe:

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 53 “Go cut Tiamat’s throat! and let the winds bring her blood hither at tidings of joy!” The gods, his fathers, determined the status of the lord: Made him take the road of “Safety and Obedience.”39

Marduk kills them both then uses Tiamat’s corpse for the creation. Cutting her in half, he places one half on high as the heavens, and other half as earth. He then creates the mountains, clouds, winds, and so on from other body parts. He organizes the constellations of the stars, forms the moon, sun, day, night, and the calendar. Marduk then tells Ea of his plan to make humans do the work of the gods so the gods can rest: “Let me put blood together, and make bones too. Let me set up primeval man: Man shall be his name.” Marduk then fashions humans from the blood of the slayed Qingu to further assist the minor gods by releasing them from the duties of being servants to the higher gods. He released his arrow, it tore her belly. It cut through her insides, splitting her heart. Having thus subdued her, he extinguished her life. He cast down her carcass to stand upon it. After he had slain Tiamat, the leader, her band was shattered, her troupe broken up …. He made them captives and he smashed their weapons …. … and turned back to Tiamat whom he had bound. The lord trod on the legs of Tiamat, With his unsparing mace he crushed her skull. …. Then the lord paused to view her dead body, That he might divide the monster and do artful works. He split her like a shellfish into two parts: Half of her he set up and ceiled it as sky, He bade them to not allow her waters to escape…. He constructed stations for the great gods, Fixing their astral likenesses as the Images. He determined the year by designating the zones. He set up three constellations for each of the twelve months. After defining the days of the year …. The moon he caused to shine, entrusting the night to him…. At the month's very start, rising over the land, you shall have luminous horns to signify six days,

54 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

on the seventh day, reaching a [half] crown. At full moon…. When Marduk hears the words of the gods, His heart prompts him to fashion artful works. Opening his mouth, he addresses Ea To impart the plan he had conceived in his heart: Blood I will mass and cause bones to be. I will establish a savage, Man shall be his name. Truly, savage man I shall create. He shall be charged with the service of the gods that they might be at ease!40

In addition, people are now responsible for supplying food and drink to temples. Marduk fulfills his promise, order is restored through his kingship, and the gods rejoice in his victory and create Babylon and the temple of Esagila for him as the king of gods and their protector. Another creation story, the short tale “Marduk, Creator of the World” describes the primordial sea as existing before all other creations, then the earth appears as a floating mound of dirt, and then the cities, humans, animals, and vegetables are created. In this version of the story, Marduk, is also responsible for building the major Mesopotamian cities and temples. He builds the temple of Eanna “house of heavens” in Uruk, and the temple of Ekur “mountain house” in Nippur, as the garden of the gods, a paradise for the immortal gods, a notion that perhaps inspires the later development of the idea of the Garden of Eden for humans to live as immortals. The perception of an eternal afterlife, immortality, was pervasive in the Egyptian and Mesopotamian myths. The Mesopotamian afterlife literature sources belong to different genera, not just the religious literature, and were generated by various cultures through several millennia. Therefore, such views and concepts from different time periods and diverse cultures are neither static nor uniform. There is not a single existing Mesopotamian literature describing death and the afterlife. Nevertheless, various sources refer to certain beliefs regarding the journey of the dead. Mesopotamians viewed sickness and death as the result of their wrongful and sinful acts. The idea that humans are punished by the gods for their wrongdoings continued in the later developments of the Judaic and Christian beliefs. In Mesopotamian thought, life was produced by breath. The Akkadian napistu meant “to breath” as well as life itself. They didn’t mummify or dissect the corpse. Similarly, the Babylonians viewed death as a spiritual occurrence not a physical one, and therefore associated organs with the emotions rather than with physical functions. The heart was the dwelling place of the intellect, the ears

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 55 and the eyes of attention, and so forth. The Mesopotamian underworld is referenced by different names according to culture, language, and epoch. However, they often have similar meaning and references. Whether it is in Sumerian as “Kur” or in Akkadian as Ershetu, they describe a dark, dreary place underground where the dead live a version of their life living on earth. There are several names used in reference to the underworld, including the “lower world,” “land of no return,” the “desert,” and so on. The Mesopotamian netherworld, as an otherworldly existence, was not the opposite of heaven but a final destination based on behavior in life. The underworld was not a place of punishment; it was simply a destination after death for those who had had a proper burial. All the dead faced the same afterlife despite their actions during life. There was no food or drink except the drinks offered by their living descendants and relatives. The dead were expected to live a bleak existence for eternity. However, there was also a belief that the dead would be treated in the underworld according to how they were buried. Those who had been given a sumptuous burial, perhaps even buried with precious gifts for the gods, would receive favors and be treated better with possible accommodations such as listening to music. There was also a promise of a better existence in the underworld for those with many sons and those who lived a fulfilled life. However, those whose bodies were destroyed in fire or died in the desert would have no existence in the afterworld. Also, those who suffered a tragic death could become disconcerted and unruly in the afterlife and return as ghosts to disrupt their living relatives. There was no evaluation of actions, judgment, punishment, or reward. The dead only appeared before the goddess of underworld, Ereshkigal, to be pronounced dead. In the later stories, her husband Ganzir takes her place as ruler of the underworld. The underworld has seven gates guarded by Neti, a minor deity who also functions as the servant of Ereshkigal. Her messenger Namtar was the deity responsible for generating diseases, the demon Pazuzu was responsible for famine and locusts, and a group of demons collectively called alu and gallu, known as the offspring of hell, captured and dragged the dead to the underworld. Geshtinanna, the scribal goddess, was also present to record the names of the deceased. She was the daughter of Enki and the goddess of fertility, agriculture, and dream interpretation but became associated with the underworld after agreeing to take the place of her brother, Dumuzid, in the underworld for half of the year. Another surviving story that sheds light on Sumerians’ understanding of the afterlife is Inanna’s Descent to the Underworld. The goddess Inanna goes to the netherworld to defeat her sister, the queen of the underworld, Ereshkigal, and

56 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

seize her throne. Defeated and condemned to live in the underworld, Inanna is then rescued by Enki. In her place, the gallu demons from the underworld drag Dumuzid, the god associated with shepherds and the consort of Inanna (later known as Ishtar), to the underworld. Other literature in the Sumerian records share similar descriptions for the netherworld as bleak, dreary, and frightening. In the Akkadian literature, the underworld descriptions are very similar to the Sumerian myths. For instance, The Descent of Ishtar into the Underworld is similar to Inanna’s Descent into the Netherworld. In this version of the events, Ishtar is the one who comes to the seven gates of the underworld and threatens the gatekeepers to let her inside. “If you do not open the gate for me to come in! I shall smash the door and shatter the bolt, I shall smash the doorpost and overturn the doors, I shall raise up the dead and they shall eat the living: The dead shall outnumber the living!”41 Common Mesopotamian images of the underworld are also found in this myth—​a dark and bleak existence behind bolted doors, and dust and clay for food. Ereshkigal, the queen of the underworld, allows Ishtar in, treating her “according to the ancient creeds.” Therefore, at each gate, an article of clothing is removed from her body until she is totally naked, and then she is thrown in prison. Ea (Sumerian Enki), god of wisdom and creation and one of the original gods, creates an androgyne to retrieve the water of life from Ereshkigal, invoke the name of the great god, and sprinkle the water on Ishtar to revive her. Ishtar passes through the seven gates again, this time retrieving an article of her clothing at each gate. As narrated in Inanna’s Descent, Dumuzi (later known as Tammuz), a pastoral god and protector of seasonal fertility, previously Dumuzid, Inanna’s husband, is now Ishtar’s consort and takes Ishtar’s place in the underworld. In the myth, the Akkadian Arallu (Sumerian Ganzer), meaning the great city, references the city of the dead, the community living in the underworld. Like other Mesopotamian ideas of divine authority, the underworld is ruled by the lower and higher-​ranking deities with the assistance of a divine council called the Anunnaki. In both the Sumerian and Akkadian myths, the goddesses Inanna and Ishtar descend to the netherworld where the goddess Ereshkigal is queen, replaced later by Nergal. Another reference to the underworld is mentioned in the story of the great solar deity Shamash (Sumerian Utu), the son of Sin (Sumerian Nanna). Shamash, the Akkadian name of the sun god of justice, was the lawgiver and the judge of humans and gods. He too visited the netherworld every night on his journey through the heavens. As described, the Mesopotamian netherworld is not a place of great desolation or joy, but rather a place where people would live a

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 57 version of their life on earth. Despite all the calamities cast on the people by the gods, humans manage to survive, and in the cases of Atrahasis, Ziudsura, and Utnapishtim, they were granted immortality after surviving the great flood. Of course, the other common theme is the idea that humans were created by the gods as laborers for the purpose of serving and maintaining them, and they were to remain subject to the will of the gods. Accordingly, as soon as the humans were too many or became noisy and bothersome, death was brought upon them by the forces of floods, droughts, and plagues. Several stories of human origin are preserved in a second millennium BCE Sumerian-​A kkadian text known as KAR4, The Creation of Human Beings. One of the accounts describes the origin of humankind, the merging of human beings from the site called Uzumua, the linking place of heaven with earth in the land of Sumer. The mother goddess Mami, assisted by the god Ea, created people out of clay mixed with the blood of a dead god. It is similar to the Epic of Creation (Enuma Elish) where Marduk, with the help of Ea, used the blood of the slain Qingu to create humans. Here, Atrahasis is the main hero of the flood story, a flood that was created by the gods to reduce the overpopulation caused by humans. The epic recounts events like those of the flood stories preserved in the events of Utnapishtim, Ziusudra. “All these flood stories may be explained as deriving from the one Mesopotamian original, used in travelers’ tales for over two thousand years, along the great caravan routes of Western Asia: translated, embroidered, and adapted according to local tastes to give a myriad of divergent versions, a few of which have come down to us.”42 The Akkadian text from the middle of second millennium BCE known as KAR4 further displays motifs that may have influenced the formation of the biblical creation storylines. KAR4 lines 14–​37  reads: Enlil said to them: O Anunna-​gods, great gods, What should we do next? What should we make now? The great gods who were present, And the Anunna-​gods, ordainers of destines, Both replied to Enlil, In Uzumua, the linking place of heaven with earth, Let us slaughter Alla-​gods, Let us create humankind from their blood. Their labor shall be labor for the gods; To maintain the boundary ditch foe all time,

58 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

To set the pickaxe and workbasket in their hand, To make the great dwelling of the gods, Worthy to be their sublime sanctuary, To add field to field! …. For making the great house of gods worthy To be their sublime dwelling. You shall call their names Ullegarra and Annagarra.43

The earlier oral Mesopotamian flood story also reverberates in the Abrahamic religious text in the Bible where Noah and his family survive the Great Flood (Genesis 6:11–​14). Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight, and the earth was filled with violence. And God saw that the earth was corrupt; for all flesh had corrupted its way upon the earth. And God said to Noah, “I have determined to make an end of all flesh, for the earth is filled with violence because of them: now I am going to destroy them along with the earth. Make yourself an ark of cypress” wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch.

The Mesopotamians viewed death as a transformation from one state of being to another, as life continuing in the form of a spirit, a ghost, the Akkadian eṭemmu (Sumerian gidim), closely associated with the physical body and its needs such as thirst and hunger. The journey to the final destiny of the eṭemmu was the netherworld. Proper burial rites facilitated the grueling journey. Every ghost was expected to navigate malicious demons, cross a river, and pass by the seven gatekeepers of the seven gates of the underworld city. Once in the city, the eṭemmu was assigned a place by the group of deities based on their social standing while living and the funerary rites performed for them after their death.44 For instance, a king or a priest retained their high status in the netherworld. As previously mentioned, it was beneficial to have more children so as to have more relatives to ensure the necessary funerary rites, mourning, and postmortem rituals. In addition, the proper rituals and care for the dead appeased the spirit and prevented it from haunting the living. By no means did death sever the connections with the living; rather it reinforced the close ties. In Akkadian, the zaqiqi was another aspect of a being. It is described as a wind, birdlike, emanating from the body. It left the body during sleep and at the time of death departed for the netherworld together with eṭemmu. The eṭemmus who did not receive proper care by the living became vicious and restless ghosts

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 59 who abused and harmed the living, possessed them, and caused sickness and misfortune. To remedy this, the Mesopotamians established many ways to deal with revengeful ghosts such as drinking magical concoctions, using amulets, and reciting spells. The wellbeing and happiness of the living depended on the comfort of the ghosts of the dead. That comfort was provided through offerings made by the living.

Canaanite-​Ugaritic  Myths As early as the seventh millennium BCE, Ugarit was an important trade route and port in the Mesopotamia. At its height, during the second millennium BCE, it became a trade-​based kingdom trading in the Aegean with the Hittites, Cypriots, Egyptians, and many other Mediterranean peoples. The land of Canaan, as it is called in the Bible, was located between Egypt and Mesopotamia. In the literature, the name Ugarit is used in place of Canaan because of the Ugaritic cuneiform script used in the texts. Up to the middle of the second millennium BCE, the modern regions of Israel, Jordan, Lebanon, and parts of Syria combined and the people were called Canaanites. After that time, the region was also inhabited by another group of people called the Israelites. “They spoke a language that was related to Akkadian. We call it ‘Canaanite,’ and it was that language that later developed into Ugaritic, Hebrew, and Hebrew’s close relatives. Alone, in families, or in bands, they spread out over the land for several centuries.”45 It was in Ugarit and other Canaanite city-​states that certain concepts that persist in the present day began to develop—​beliefs such as one great god as the king who created other gods and goddesses, the forces of cosmic order and truth threatened by chaos and untruth, death and the underworld, the victory of good over evil, and kingship on earth. Archeological findings including the Ugaritic texts discovered at the site of the ancient city of Ugarit, known as Ras Shamra, provide a lot of information about the ancient Canaanite beliefs and practices. Several of these tablets narrate mythological poems, the names of gods, and rituals and sacrifices. Other excavated materials include the remains of temples and stelae representing major gods such as El (meaning god or deity most high), god of creation, Baal Hadad (meaning master of thunder, god of storms, and king of gods), and Asherah, his queen consort and goddess of the cult of the dead. Evidently, the Israelite worldview had much in common with the views of the Canaanites, Mesopotamians, and Egyptians, and the Ugarit texts further attest to the influence of the earlier texts on the composition of the Hebrew Bible.

60 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

For the Canaanites, there was a divinely appointed cosmic order and truth manifested by the great sun god. Similarly, Hebrew people believed in the principle of divinely appointed order and the judgment and government of Yahweh underlying social and political order. The significant Ugarit texts shed a great deal of light on the Canaanite worldview and beliefs. Although there is not a singular text alluding to the creation story, there are scattered references to the ‘ilhm (equivalent to the Hebrew elohim), the pantheon of gods, or the children of El, the supreme deity. The father of them all, the creator, was Elion. The multiplicity and descendancy of the gods continue through each pair of gods. The Canaanites believed that after death, the soul leaves the body for the underworld of Mot to continue life in a different plane of existence. For that purpose, goods, food, drinks, and other necessary objects were buried in the grave with the corpse. One important text is The Baal Cycle, dated from the second millennium BCE, with a much older oral transmission before being committed to writing. This epic recounts the cycle of stories about Baal, the warrior storm god who becomes king. He defeats Yam, the sea god, and fights Mot, the personification of death who resides in ars, the netherworld. He then announces himself as the king to the pantheon of gods. Mot responds by challenging Baal to die and make the journey to the underworld; Baal agrees and is slain. Anat, goddess of war and sister and mate of Baal, buries his body and asks Mot to return Baal. When Mot refuses, Anat attacks him and rescues Baal, and his kingship is restored. Like the Sumerian and Akkadian texts, the word used for the underworld literally means earth and not hell. The concept of hell as a home to devils and a fiery place of torment did not exist in the aforementioned cultures. In the Epic of Kirta, King Kirta becomes sick and his children lament, pondering on how their father can be mortal. One of the sons takes over the throne and rules in place of his father, but Kirta recovers and in anger curses the son to an untimely death, which translates to a tormented afterlife. In the Epic of Aqhat, the god El grants King Danel a son named Aqhat, and his adventures begin. In Aqhat, there are instructions for what the duties of a son involve, including after his father’s death. In several of these stories, the importance of the after-​death care and rituals conducted by the relatives, particularly by the sons, is further emphasized.46 The inevitability of death is also stressed as Aqhat refuses the gift of immortality offered by the goddess Anat. There are several similar images in the Hebrew Bible, such as praise to God for not giving believers an untimely death, or sending them to the underworld with gray hair, which would also mean an earlier untimely death. Living a happy life until old age and accepting death as an end to the earthly life, as described in

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 61 the Epic of Gilgamesh, are also found in Ecclesiastes. The Hebrew Sheol (Šé’ ôl), a place for the dead, also mentioned as the land of no return, has a similar portrayal to other Mesopotamian documents. The underworld is dark, dusty, and barred, and the dead lead a shadowy existence. The early Near Eastern images regarding death and the underworld as gloomy, dark, and drab were perhaps reminders to enjoy a long full life and did not necessarily express regret or fear of a timely death and the underworld.

Hebrew-​Christian  Views The religion of Judaism as the foundation of Christianity and Islam was developed and characterized among the ancient Hebrews in Mesopotamia by a belief in the god Elohim, the plural form of eloah (god) and synonymous with the Ugaritic name of the pantheon of gods referred to as elohim. According to the Hebrew Bible, Elohim first revealed himself to Abraham and Moses. In the Genesis story, God begins his creation of inanimate and animate without mentioning the origin of it all. Perhaps it was understood that it was out of nothingness and the absolute void that he brought about creation, a pervasive view at that time in Mesopotamia. The biblical47 Book of Genesis 1:1–​7, describes the first creation. In the beginning when God created the heaven and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, “Let there be light; and there was light. And God saw that the light was good; and God separated the light from the darkness…. And God said, “Let the waters under the sky be gathered together into one place, and let the dry land appear.” And it was so. God called the dry land Earth, and the waters that were gathered together he called Seas. And God saw that it was good.”

In Genesis 1:27: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female created he them.” And in 2:7: “then the LORD God formed man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and the man became a living being.” In 2:15, man was created to care for and attend to the earth: “The LORD God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden to till it and keep it.” In the postexilic period and under the ancient Iranian influence, new concepts regarding the interpretation of the universe—​soul, eschatological beliefs, death and the afterlife, the restoration of the earth, and the existence and hierarchy of

62 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

other beings such as demons and angels—​entered the Hebrew Bible. The Persian king Cyrus the Great (600–​530 BCE) captured Babylon, freed the Jews from the captivity, helped them return to Judah, and ordered the construction of the Second Temple in Jerusalem, events which profoundly impacted Jewish history and culture (Book of Ezra 1: 2–​4). Thus says King Cyrus of Persia: The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem in Judah. Any of those among you who are of his people—​may their God be with them!—​are now permitted to go up to Jerusalem in Judah, and rebuild the house of the Lord, the God of Israel—​he is the God who is in Jerusalem; and let all survivors, in whatever place they reside, be assisted by the people of their place with silver and gold, with goods and with animals, besides freewill offerings for the house of God in Jerusalem.

Further, the biblical Edicts of Restoration made by Cyrus the Great left a lasting legacy on the Jewish religion. In the Hebrew Bible (Isaiah 45:1), Cyrus is described as the God-​anointed messiah: “Thus says the LORD to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have grasped to subdue nations before him and strip kings of their robes, to open doors before him and the gates shall not be closed.” God promised the Hebrews a heavenly life on earth followed by an afterlife in the gloomy physical abode of Sheol (Šé’ ôl) in the lowest regions of the earth, also home to chao: “Before I go, never to return, to the land of gloom and deep darkness, the land of gloom and chaos, where light is like darkness” (Job 10: 21–​22). Gê-​hinnôm (Gehenna), however, is described as a place of torment for wicked sinners located in a pit below the earth’s surface. Among Jews, akin to the Indo-​Iranians, the concepts of law and keeping the covenant with God was imperative. Transgressors were those who broke that covenant, bringing the wrath of God upon themselves. Later, for the first time, the concepts of the soul, journey of the dead, and resurrection entered Jewish writings. The word referencing “soul” was nefesh (nepheš) the “vital spirit,” and ruach, which meant “wind” as well as “ghost.” Similar to other Mesopotamian beliefs, here the underworld is a place where everyone goes—​k ing and peasant, good and bad all share the same fate. The dead would be resurrected, judged, and sent to their final destination. As one of the overlapping Mesopotamian and biblical concepts, both in Hebrew and in Akkadian, the afterlife existence of the dead is described in Hebrew as the nefesh which is the exact word for the Akkadian eṭemmu, both meaning a spirit, ghost, phantom, which is detached from the body and is migrated to the final place in the earth called Arallȗ in Akkadian and Sheol (Šé’ ôl) in Hebrew.48

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 63 In the Bible, Isaiah 26:19 proclaims: “Your dead shall live, their corpses shall rise. O dwellers in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a radiant dew, and the earth will give birth to those long dead.” Many of those who sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to everlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt” (Daniel 12:2). Further, 1 Samuel 2:8 declares: “The Lord kills and brings to life; he brings down to Sheol and raises up.” Judged by their moral behaviors, the wicked are sent to the fiery underworld, Gehenna, to be tortured for eternity: “For a fire is kindled by my anger, one burns to the depths of Sheol; it devours the earth and its increase, and sets on fire the foundations of the mountains” (Deuteronomy 32:22). Ultimately, the savior will arrive to re-​establish the kingdom on a renewed earth and rule over the resurrected righteous. In Numbers 16:28–​33, when Moses was challenged by the crowd, who had grown impatient for not reaching the Promised Land and questioned whether he was truly sent by God, Moses responded by describing what will happen to those who defy him: This is how you shall know that the LORD has sent me to do all these works; it has not been of my own accord: If these people die a natural death, or if a natural fate comes on them, then the LORD has not sent me. But if the LORD creates something new, and the ground opens its mouth and swallows them up, and they go down alive into Sheol, then you shall know that these men have despised the LORD.” As soon as he finished speaking all these words, the ground under them was split apart. The earth opened its mouth and swallowed them up, along with their household—​everyone who belonged to Korah and all their goods. So they with all that belonged to them went down into Sheol; the earth closed over them, and they perished from the midst of the assembly.

The flood stories found in many cultures are tales of great floods caused by a god or gods to destroy creation as a form of retribution against humans and ecologically restore the planet. The features of the ancient Near East flood myths point to a common origin, with various scholars proposing a number of interpretations. For well over a century, scholars have recognized that the biblical story of Noah’s Ark is based on older Mesopotamian models. As an example of the genetic connections amongst religious beliefs, the commonalities among Noah's saga and the ancient Sumerian and Babylonian flood stories include a chosen hero, godly wrath, flood warnings, instructions to build a mechanism to survive the flood, a gathering of animal and human lives, survival, and repopulation are surveyed. In addition, there are also overlapping features of Mesopotamian

64 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

myths, affirming the ancient Indo-​Iranian flood myths (Indo-​European) as an important part of the myth's overall cross-​cultural universality. The biblical Book of Genesis preserves the enduring Mesopotamian flood story as passed down through oral traditions and in writings. The Lord saw that the wickedness of humankind was great in the earth, and that every inclination of the thoughts of their hearts was only evil continually. And the Lord was sorry that he had made humankind on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So the Lord said, ‘I will blot out from the earth the human beings I have created—​people together with animals and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord (6: 5–​8). Now the earth was corrupt in God’s sight.... And God said to Noah, ‘I have determined to make an end of all flesh.... Make yourself an ark of cypress wood; make rooms in the ark, and cover it inside and out with pitch. This is how you are to make it: the length of the ark three hundred cubits, its width fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits. Make a roof for the ark, and finish it to a cubit above; and put the door of the ark in its side; make it with lower, second, and third decks. For my part, I am going to bring a flood of waters on the earth, to destroy from under heaven all flesh in which is the breath of life; everything that is on the earth shall die; and you shall come into the ark, you, your sons, your wife... two of every kind shall come in to you, to keep them alive’ (6: 11–​18). Then the Lord said to Noah, ‘Go into the ark, you and all your household, for I have seen that you alone are righteous before me in this generation. Take with you seven pairs of all clean animals... to keep their kind alive on the face of all the earth. For in seven days I will send rain on the earth for forty days and forty nights; and every living thing that I have made I will blot out from the face of the ground’ (7: 1–​3).

The flood continues for forty days and forty nights, and at the end of that time, only Noah and those in the ark are left. At the end of the seventh month, on the seventeenth day of the month, the ark rests on the mountain of Ararat. Noah opens the window of the ark and first sends out the raven and then the dove to make certain the waters have subsided and the land has dried. God then orders Noah to leave the ark, bringing every living creature with him (Genesis 7–​8). In the Hebrew Bible, the God Yahweh brings about the destructive flood because of the sinful acts of humans, and Noah is chosen to build the ark and save his family and animals.

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 65 YHWH saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And YHWH was sorry that he had made man on the earth, and it grieved him to his heart. So YHWH said, ‘I will blot out man whom I have created from the face of the ground, man and beast and creeping things and birds of the air, for I am sorry that I have made them.’ But Noah found favor in the eyes of YHWH (6: 5–​8).

As previously mentioned, the origins of the name Yahweh go back as far as second millennium BCE in Mesopotamia when the Hebrews worshiped him along with other deities; El was the supreme god as declared in the Canaanite and Ugaritic texts. In Semitic language, El is related to the Hebrew Elohim, the plural form of eloah. In Ugaritic texts, Elohim is the name referencing the pantheon of Canaanite deities as the children of El. In a later time, the authority and attributes of El and Yahweh merged. The biblical Genesis account of the flood story is better appreciated against a background of the ancient Mesopotamian flood stories told by the Assyrian, Babylonian, and Sumerian writers. The many known versions of the Mesopotamian flood story are more or less adapted from an older version. The earliest known thus far, dating from the third millennium BCE, is the story of Eridu Genesis, written in Sumerian cuneiform on clay tablets. In this Sumerian flood story, the hero, King Ziusudra, hears the voice of a god conveying to him the divine assembly’s decision to engulf all cities and all living beings in a storm lasting seven days and seven nights, destroying all that has been created. The king is ordered to gather his family, the seed of mankind, and the best of all living beings—​only they will survive the flood to repopulate the earth—​and build an enormous boat according to certain specifications. In the Akkadian Atrahasis epic, one of three Babylonian versions from the second millennium BCE, the hero, Atrahasis, is introduced as the ancestor of the known flood stories. In the epic, Atrahasis describes how lesser gods, tired of the demanding responsibility of having to feed their higher gods, refused to continue. Hearing their objections, the superior gods create people out of clay to do the work and please all the gods. However, the people reproduce and overpopulate the planet. All the noise bothers the gods in the heavens and disturbs their sleep, so they decide on total destruction. However, the god Enki warns Atrahasis about the coming flood, and orders him to build a boat, with a roof, walls, and a door, and bring his family and all kinds of living seeds on board. He is told there will be a destructive rainstorm for seven days and seven nights that will destroy everything on earth except for those on the ship.49

66 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Similar stories are preserved in the Old Babylonian and Assyrian retellings of the Epic of Gilgamesh. The Epic of Gilgamesh is about adventure, morality, and tragedy. King Gilgamesh, a demigod in search of immortality, meets Utnapishtim, who tells him the story of the flood and his survival. Utnapishtim is similarly warned by a god about a seven-​day rain and flood event and is instructed to build a vessel to save his family and the animals. Given the close resemblance of the stories, it is often assumed these epics refer to a single event, with only the heroes’ names being changed. On Tablet XI, Utnapishtim writes, “The heart of the Great Gods moved them to inflict the Flood. The gods said, ‘Make all living beings go up into the boat.... The boat which you are to build, its dimensions must measure equal to each other: Its length must correspond to its width....’ When the seventh day arrived,” Utnapishtim continues, “I sent forth a dove and released it. The dove went off but came back to me.... I sent forth a swallow and released it.... but it came back to me... I sent forth a raven and released it... but didn’t circle back to me. Then I sent out everything in all directions.”50 In this story, the ark rests on Mount Nisir. Fragments of the Mesopotamian flood story spread throughout the region as far as Rome and Greece. Similarly, Xisuthros, the Greek name of Sumer’s Ziusudra, is known from the writings of the priest Berossus (third century BCE) of the Babylonian temple of the great god Marduk. Berossus chronicled the great flood story in Greek, relaying that the god Kronos (Cronus) told Xisuthros that mankind would be destroyed by a flood and that he should build a boat and take his wife, children, and friends on board. After the flood subsides, he is told, the boat will become grounded upon a mountain, and he should release the birds to see if they return to the ship. Like the Ancient Greek sources, the gods revolt against humans due to the degeneration of mankind, and punishment is ordered by Zeus, a flood followed by a restoration for those who were saved in the vessel. The Deucalion myth, one of the few Greek flood stores, is like Noah’s story. The gods, angry at humans for creating wars, decide to punish them with a flood. Prometheus the Titan directs his son Deucalion to build a chest ark for himself and his wife Pyrrha. After nine days and nights of floating, the vessel rests on Mount Parnassus. This scenario remains the basic plot for several subsequent flood stories and their heroes, including the biblical Noah, dating from the first millennium BCE. It is in this schema that the Indo-​Iranian flood myth, and the Vedic and Zoroastrian versions in particular, are positioned. As explored in the ensuing pages, Yama is the hero of the Indo-​Iranian flood myth, rooted in Indo-​European mythology. The comparisons of the ancient Indian and Iranian flood stories, both

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 67 deeply rooted in the Indo-​Iranian period, testify to the existence of a much earlier myth that, as the result of coming in contact with Mesopotamia, perhaps later influenced, and was influenced by, its neighboring cultures. The great flood stories of the Near East discovered thus far, including that of the Hebrews and Indo-​Iranians, share a general pattern that begins with a god’s or the gods’ disappointment in humanity because of mankind’s mistakes, and follows with a verdict to destroy all living beings, after which creation starts anew. In the stories, a hero is chosen, and is warned about a destructive flood, the result of a rainstorm or melting snow, that will last for a certain number of days. The hero is ordered to build a vehicle, a quadrilateral enclosure, in which he is told to board himself, his family, and the best of living beings. God or the gods also provide the construction’s design, as well as its measurements and the specifics regarding its compartments, doors, windows, lighting, water systems, and more. The story ends with a new genesis, the repopulation of the earth, and the continuation of life. The Near Eastern myths served to provide assurance that human existence had a greater purpose. The tales of the great flood heroes Ziusudra, Atrahasis, Utnapishtim, and Noah all voiced the story of a human race created by the demiurges to obey gods, but the humans commit wrongs and are punished. Death is brought upon them, then with the promises of reward and punishment, the humans continue to hope for a better life, god-​like, immortals on a different plane of infinite existence. Religious and heroic myths of the past with origins far back in time can be organized and interpreted in a variety of ways. They can represent cosmic forces personified, such as order and chaos, tell of some historical events, express rituals and practices, parade regional deities both gods and demons, and demonstrate cultic observances. In the process, an array of distinguishable recurring themes persists, and these themes continue to form and confirm our beliefs about creation and the place of humanity within the cosmos, the combat between the forces of good and evil, the quest for eternal life, and the expectation of an agreeable existence after death. Further, the protagonists and the heroes share similar attributes, having divine origin or connection, guiding humanity on the orderly and just path, qualities which are also expected of rulers and kings. So far, since our partial knowledge is based on the understanding of the origin of knowledge as presented in the Greek and Bible texts, the much earlier Near Eastern materials may be overlooked. “The venerable religion of Mesopotamia, in its structure, its achievements, its successes, but also primarily in its potentialities and its promises, was in truth intelligent, open, and reasonable. It was a rich phase and is a wonderful remembrance of our human past.”51 As we continue to

68 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

see in this study, the repetition and retelling of events from the beginning of time are intended to highlight the importance of the meaning and intention of events that continue to have profound meaning and influence in our time today, may they be the events of creation, the great flood, the survival of humanity, anxieties of death, and anticipations of immortal elated hereafter.

Notes 1 Faulkner 1990: 64. 2 Dalley 2008: xv. 3 O’Flaherty 1981: 25. 4 Ibid. 1981: 30. 5 West 1880: 3–​4. 6 Hornung 1999: 26–​111. 7 Faulkner 1990: 90. 8 Faulkner 1990: 27. 9 Ibid. 1990: 29. 10 Ibid. 1990: 137. 11 Broadie, A. and J. Macdonald. 1978: 106–​28. Also see Morenz 1973: 110–​36, on ethics and its relationship to religion. 12 Lichtheim 1945: 178. 13 Ibid. 1945: 178. 14 Assmann 1995: 49–​57. 15 David 1998: 46–​49. Also see Allen 1988: 43–​44 for the Egyptian creation accounts. 16 Hornung 1999: 148–​151. 17 Allen 1997a: 21–​23. 18 Faulkner 1990: 27. 19 Allen 1997b: 23-​24. 20 Pinch 2002: 85–​94. Also see Budge 1960. 21 Faulkner 1990: 180. 22 Ibid. 1990: 180-​181. 23 Jacobson 1976: 73. 24 Ibid. 1976: 97. 25 The Electronic Text Corpus of Sumerian Literature is based at the University of Oxford.  https://​etcsl.ori​nst.ox.ac.uk/​secti​on5/​tr554.htm. Extracted  2021. 26 Dalley 1989: 9–​17. 27 Ibid. 1989: 155. 28 Kovacs 1989: 93–​94. 29 Sandars 1960: 118.

Near East: Egypt and Mesopotamia | 69 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51

Kovacs 1989: 101–​102. Pritchard 1969: 178. Dalley 1989: 184. Ibid. 1989: 187. Jacobsen 1976: 87–​88. Dalley 1989: 31. Riley 1992: 4–​10. Jacobson 1976: 168. Dalley 1989: 235–​236. Jacobsen 1976: 176. Arnold 2002: 42–​43. Dalley 2008: 155. Ibid. 2008: 7. Foster 2005: 492–​3. Black and Green 1998: 88-​89. Also see Bottéro 1998: 105–​10. Bottéro 1998: 14. James 1963: 182–​90. For all the Biblical entries see The Holy Bible 1989. James 1963: 187–​90. Also see Bottéro 1998: 204. Jacobson 1976: 112–​21. Kovacs 1989: 97–​103. Bottéro 1998: 223.

3

Indo-​Europeans

Homeland, Migration, and Archeology Our exploration begins with the first historical evidence of Indo-​Iranian (IIr) cultures with shared linguistic and cultural characteristics as offshoots of the Indo-​European (IE) family. In so doing, we draw not only nearer to the ancestral community from which they originated but also to their subsequent trustees: the Indo-​Iranians. We draw on the Bible, mythology, linguistics, physical anthropology, genetics, and archeology in an effort to approximate the origins of IE in time and place. Together with the Old Europeans (OE), they are further researched as one of the most important entities in the study of Indo-​Iranian religions, incorporating linguistics, mythology, folklore, and archeology. Along with these findings, we will also use the most important evidence from extant artistic expression. Art itself is an opulent treatise on the life of people in any given time—​how they lived and what they believed in—​and can be exploited to read the minds of our ancestors who have left us no written history. Historical documents tell us that peoples who lived 3,000 years ago in the vast regions from India to the Atlantic spoke intimately connected languages recognized as the precursors to languages spoken today by nearly half of the earth’s

72 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

people. These languages, and the peoples who spoke them in Eurasia some 6,000 years ago, are known as Indo-​European. Their geographical origin, the nature of their migrations, and their archeological artifacts remain debatable. Although it is impossible to research the cultural commonalities of every known IE culture and trace them to their original homeland, here, as necessary, we will identify those cultures known to have contributed to the cultural development of the Indo-​Iranians. The final stage of unity of the Proto-​Indo-​Europeans (PIE) ended with their initial dispersal seven millennia ago. Archeological evidence of an existing cultural frontier in the Volga-​Ural region also confirms a date before 6000 BCE. Based on the shared PIE words related to wheeled vehicles, which did not exist before 3500 BCE, a possible homeland is assigned to a region between the Urals and the Caucasus between about 4000 and 3000 BCE. Thus far, it is widely accepted that “the PIE homeland was probably located in eastern Europe, given the linguistic evidence for a temperate-​zone homeland and for contact between PIE and Finno-​Ugric on the one hand and PIE and Kartvelian on the other.”1 Based on the evidence of wheeled vehicles in the homeland and the differentiation of Indo-​Iranian and Anatolian by 2000 BCE, he period of diasporic movement is estimated that was around 3300 to 2200 BCE. The many borrowings and cultural exchanges between multiple cultures over several millennia have shaped the IE languages, leading some scholars to rely on archeological findings. Marija Gimbutas, the renowned archeologist and anthropologist of the twentieth century, suggested that the archeological materials of the Volga-​Ural and the Caspian Sea regions dating before the seventh millennium BCE are, to this point, insufficient for ethnographic interpretation, with more substantive evidence emerging only around two millennia later.2 It is her recognition of what she calls Kurgan culture that has gained the widest acceptance. Gimbutas introduced the Kurgan culture for the first time in 1956. She uses the Russian word kurgan, meaning “barrow” in Slavic and Turkic, because of its connection to the east. She also suggests that the PIE culture, based on its reconstruction from IE linguistics and mythology and with the support of early historic records, is congruent with archeological findings. Her theory, which other scholars have defended,3 supports the existence of a culture in the southern Russian steppes starting from the middle of the fifth millennium BCE which is considered an ancestor of the preceding IE cultures and languages. Gimbutas distinguishes these people as Kurgan from around 4500 BCE, the time of their conquest of the Black Sea.

Indo-Europeans | 73 Kurgan culture has been used as a blanket term by various Indo-​European and Indo-​Iranian researchers and is primarily associated with the works of Gimbutas and the supporters of her vision of the Kurgan as the missing piece of the puzzle of the IE motherland and their dispersal. We use the term “cultures” in an archeological sense, which traditionally refers to a preponderance of similar ceramic items, tools, architecture, and burial rites within a delimited region. Gimbutas locates the Kurgan cultural area as originating in and expanding from the forest steppe of the Ukraine and the steppes of southern Russia, carrying with it the IE language. The discovered Kurgan cultural elements are equivalent to the identified traits of PIE society. From 4500 to 2500 BCE, the migrations moved eastward in the form of related cultures, such as the Afanasyevo and Andronovo cultures of the Asian steppe and forest steppe; southward through the Caucasus; and westward in a series of three waves into southeastern and central Europe. As for the direction of the IE linguistic spread, Nichols argues for cultural derivation in an east-​to-​west pattern consistent with the east-​to-​west linguistic trajectory4 since it is unlikely that the spreading of an entire culture would not also involve spreading the language. However, not all researchers agree. As mentioned, the goal of this project is not to definitively establish a true homeland, true trajectory, or exact date, but to recognize a process through which a traditional belief is formed. If the extant texts can be linked to an archeological culture and a geographic region, then the connection between linguistics and archeology can provide answers to the questions produced in both disciplines. Among the recognized Kurgan cultures, Afanasyevo and Andronovo are the most valuable in studies of IIr. Afanasyevo and Andronovo are blanket terms for a series of Copper/​Bronze Age cultures that are closely identified with prehistoric IIr. Dating to ca. 3500–​2500 BCE, they occupied the Yenisei River valleys and the Altai Mountain steppes. Afanasyevo and Andronovo are often related to the Yamna Kurgan tradition, which appeared in the Old European territories during the first wave of migration, ca. 4400–​4300 BCE. “Yamna comes from yama, ‘pit,’ i.e., ‘pit grave’ under a barrow.”5 The Yamna culture, which reflected the earliest developments of semi-​nomadic pastoralism, covered territories from the Danube to the Urals, ca. 3600–​2200 BCE. This culture is largely known for its tens of thousands of burial mounds. The pits were roofed with stone slabs or timber with a Kurgan (tumulus) covering. Inside these graves the remains of children, women, tools, weapons, and solar motif-​decorated pottery, along with evidence of wheeled vehicles, cattle and horse breeding were found.

74 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

The geographical territories of Afanasyevo connect them with the linguistic ancestors of the eastern Iranian and the main line of post-​PIE, pre-​Turkic steppe cultures, which are customarily assigned to the IIr. Afanasyevo cultures are known from their settlements and cemeteries in which were discovered wheeled vehicles engraved on stone, the remains of horses, cattle, sheep, goats, dogs, and tools; weapons in the forms of axes and arrowheads; and other ornamental items made from copper, silver, and gold. The communal character and physical type of their burials, the positioning of the corpses, the inclusion of animal remains, including horses, wheeled vehicles, and the use of ocher and precious metals all suggest that these people shared the same tradition as the Indo-​Europeans. The cultures of Yamna on the west and Afanasyevo on the east contributed to the cattle/​sheep pastoralism and the mortuary customs of the Indo-​Iranians. He also describes a Yamna cart and human burial from about 3200 BCE as the earliest example of a wheeled vehicle discovered in the steppes. In addition, some of the Europoid mummies of Xinjiang have been claimed as Afanasyevan, although many of these have been dated to the third millennium BCE. Furthermore, the early Proto-​Indo-​Iranian culture has also been associated with the Sintashta-​A rkaim culture of east of the Urals. Numerous studies propose a link between Andronovo and Indo-​Iranian cultures, based on mortuary and sacrificial rites, systems, and organizations that reflect those described in the Vedas and the Avesta. Scholars point to the archeological discoveries of the Andronovo culture in Central Asia, which were excavated in the Bactria Margiana Archeological Complex (BMAC) near the borders of the Iranian plateau and India. Several aspects of Andronovo are associated with the “spread of Iranian or Indo-​Iranian languages across Central Asia and into India and Iran between about 1800 and 1500 BCE.”6 Similarly, the iconographic mythological elements of the Oxus Civilizations, 2300–​1800 BCE, in this region are traditionally based on the structure of Indo-​ Iranian, Aryan, Iranian, or Elamite terminology. Refraining from any back projections of known deities and demons, the iconographic elements are independent of other known regional traditions. In reconstructing their social, political, and religious traditions, “The Oxus Civilization symbolic system follows a deep trend of Old Central Asian beliefs of naturalist and shamanistic tonality…they venerate the goddess who gives life to the world each year again and again, encompassing the snake-​eagle opposition/​complementarily.”7 In ensuing chapters, we will examine the significance of similar symbols in Old Europe and Indo-​Iranian cultures.

Indo-Europeans | 75 Indo-​Europeans did not appear suddenly in history but gradually over several millennia, occupying vast geographical areas. Indo-​European testimonial records are in media as diverse as Anatolian and Greek clay tablets and carved inscriptions on the face of a cliff in Iran. Regardless of the form or its context, the language is clearly a differentiated tongue, not PIE.8 Based solely on archeological sites, burials, and excavated artifacts, so far as can be determined they also shared a similar cultural structure and basic religious ideologies, including beliefs in an afterlife. Although we cannot establish the original homeland of the Indo-​European languages, our best clarification for half of the world’s population speaking related languages is the Indo-​European hypothesis. This implies an acceptance of the earlier archeological explanations that people who lived somewhere in Eurasia long ago spoke a language with unbroken ties to those we now call Indo-​ European. Even the concept of a language family expresses the genetic relationship of a group of diverse languages sharing a common ancestor. The IE language family is divided into approximately twelve major groups, situated in differing degrees of relationship to one another.9 These branches are Germanic, Celtic, Italic, Baltic, Albanian, Slavic, Greek, Indo-​ Iranian, Armenian, Phrygian, Tocharian, and Anatolian, including Hittite. “The striking feature of the IE family is the early, almost simultaneous spread of many branches from a single root. The earliest partial branches are those of Balto-​Slavic and Indo-​Iranian.”10 By the beginning of the seventeenth century, the intimate associations among some European languages had already been identified. Joseph Scaliger (1540–​ 1609) separated the European languages into four categories based on the word “god”: the deu, dio, dio, dieu of the Romance languages; the Germanic gott, god, gud; the Russian bog, Polish bog and Czech buh; and the Greek theos.11 Scaliger’s theory did not advance much further than this but researchers in the following century made it even more apparent that the languages of Europe are much closer to the ancient languages than previously thought. Following Scaliger’s linguistic classifications of the European languages, and in search of some practical explanation for such correspondences, historians and classicists looked into Scythian and Thracian data to find their possible connections with the northern Greeks and Romans. Others, favoring the Bible as a historical reference, found explanations for the relatedness among Europeans in the Book of Genesis. Noah’s sons, Shem and Ham, fathered the Semites (Jews and Arabs) and Hamites (Egyptians and Cushites), respectively. Since much of the rest of humanity was supposedly

76 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

fathered by Noah’s son, Japhet, the early European peoples and languages often fell under the Japhetic banner.12 In the eighteenth century, James Parsons made the first connection between Eurasian and European languages through his comparison of Germanic, Slavic, Romance, and Indo-​Iranian languages. His conclusion—​that the languages of Europe, Iran, and India all derived from a shared ancestor—​revolutionized the world of linguistics. Unfortunately, he then ascribed the common ancestral language he had discovered to the language of Japhet and his offspring, who had migrated out of Armenia, the final resting place of the Ark. Due to these biblical inflections, both his name and his important discovery were abandoned in the historical studies of Indo-​European languages. In 1796, the honor of equal findings went, instead, to Sir William Jones. Jones’ findings pointed to an ancestral language, now lost, that was common to the majority of the people of Europe, Iran, and India; many researchers saw Jones’ work as the first modern exhibition of the Indo-​European hypothesis Scholars hold differing views on the use of lexical approaches in the analysis of IE cultural subjects, such as environment, economy, settlement, technology, social organization, religion, and so forth. As part of the process, vocabularies derived from cultural materials in IE languages, such as the words for livestock, agricultural tools, and elements of nature, were compared and analyzed. Linguistic methods are often used to analyze and reconstruct PIE cultural materials supported by archeological discoveries. Further, vocabulary items such as horse and cart are employed to deduce that the horse was indeed known to PIE, and that “the earliest wheeled vehicles are a fourth millennium BCE phenomenon, whether they are initially found in Mesopotamia, the Caucasus, the Pontic-​ Caspian steppe or along the Danube.”13 It is noteworthy that some scholars have argued against the use of linguistic paleontology to reconstruct such cultural items as wheeled vehicles for the PIE, and that two similar words do not prove that some hypothetical PIE used chariots with wheels or carts in their original homeland.14

Indivisible Secular and Sacred Life Interdisciplinary and cross-​cultural research, aided by linguistics, archeology, and prehistoric and historic data, provide a view of both the sacred and secular life of IE times. Linking earlier archeology with texts and linguistics clarified many ambiguities in both disciplines with respect to the IE. Since history demonstrates

Indo-Europeans | 77 that sacred life and secular life were inseparable in ancient cultures, familiarity with a particular culture’s religious aspects becomes essential in understanding that culture. Accordingly, studying the sacred aspects of the IE peoples and those of the prehistoric cultures that were transformed through contact with the IE provides a fresh look at the totality of prehistoric cultures, including IIr culture. Although the archeological reconstruction of religion cannot be complete, scholars have made available the relevant data that closely corresponds with the ancient elements of IE mythologies reconstructed on comparative mythology and linguistics. As stated in the previous section, IE linguistic reconstruction is the only convincing explanation for the affinities between the languages spoken by most people. As a result, IE, fundamentally a linguistic construct, has applications not only in comparative linguistics but also in research in the fields of anthropology, history, comparative religion, and mythology. Hence, the various religions of the peoples whose languages are classified in the IE language family, such as Indian and Iranian, are grouped and researched as Indo-​European religions. Past research has provided voluminous scholarly production on the subject of IE religion. However, I have focused attention on details of IE religion that reveal something about their worldviews, especially regarding present life and life in the hereafter. To illustrate a transparent image of IE people that includes their religious life, IE researchers have attempted a reconstruction based on the evidence of comparative linguistics. This reconstruction includes equivalences in the rituals, myths, laws, and cosmologies, together with views on the eschatology of the IE family and beyond. This has produced a hypothetical prototype that is capable of accounting for evident similarities along with a possible sequence of historical progress. I will use the same approach in this study, attempting to recover the antecedents of afterlife beliefs in Indian and Iranian cultures. My research must begin with the reconstructed religious lives of the IE and the OE with whom they collided but since this research flows primarily from a humanist perspective, some generalizations and simplifications are made for purposes of clarification. In ancient times, religion was woven into the fabric of daily life—​part of the normative patterns of behavior within the culture. The impulse to identify and separate religion from the rest of life is largely a Western preoccupation, an outgrowth of scientific and rationalist perspectives.15 When we speak of IE religion, we must consider the cultural milieu in which it developed and was transformed throughout centuries of cultural interactions.

78 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

So far, our disjointed perception of the past concerning the topics of IE religion and social structure has been based on later linguistic materials projected back onto the earlier cultures. Since it is impossible to determine how far and how much these materials can be authoritatively projected back, we must combine the archeology and mythology of the peoples and cultures subjugated or encountered by the Indo-​Europeans in order to assemble a religious system with an overarching worldview. Based on linguistic and archeological research, the IE are described as semi-​ settled pastoralists with wealth measured in herds of sheep, goats, and cattle. With a strong clanic organization and social hierarchy, the warrior class held prominence and heroes were often depicted as gods. In apparent concurrence with the IE incursions into Europe, the construction of temples, a recognized tradition of Old Europe, ceased, with the exception of some areas of the Aegean and Mediterranean. The question of whether or not the construction of temples and altars existed in the IIr traditions, as it did in the traditions of Old Europe, is reviewed in the chapter covering Indo-​Iranian religion. The Kurgan people engraved stone stelae from the second half of the fourth millennium BCE, the remains of which have been found in the Alpine regions, Eastern Europe north of the Black Sea, and the Caucasus. These remains offer substantive evidence of a new religion in Europe. Typically, these stelae depict male gods, weapons, and solar signs, including a radiant sun marked in the area of the head, perhaps a symbol of a sky god. They also display daggers, axes, bows, quivers and arrows, belts, breast plates, double spiral pendants; horses, stags, and goats; vehicles; and teams of oxen pulling a plow. These items have been invaluable for the reconstruction of mythical imagery and an accurate representation of the cultural and social organization of the related IE traditions. Kurgan archeological excavations imply the existence of a thunder god and the veneration or existence of the cults of sun, fire, horse, bull, wolf, dog, boar, and snake. The rotation of the sun and other celestial occurrences such as thunder and lightning had a direct connection with Kurgan religious ideologies. The Kurgan bright-​sky god is depicted in Bronze Age representations, adorned with copper or gold chest plates, gold or amber disks, and copper-​plated belts and carrying shining daggers, swords, and shields. Gimbutas explains that the male buried at the center was to be accompanied by his women, children, servants, horses, dogs, and oxen on his journey into the afterlife, indicating a very strong belief in life after death. Concerning the subject of human and animal sacrifice, she records her excavations of some of the early IE cultures as epitomizing a “classed social structure and the dominant position of men demonstrated by

Indo-Europeans | 79 richly equipped graves that contained astounding numbers of sacrificed human beings and animals.”16

Sacrifice and Creation In general, the myths of creation and cosmic consummation in all religious systems are meant to explain the origin and fate of the physical universe. As past IE research shows, we have achieved some insight into this process of religious evolution. Although recognizing the structure of the IE proto-​myth does not ensure a complete understanding of its social significance, an understanding of IE viewpoints on life greatly assists in reconstructing IE and antecedent visions of life in the worlds beyond death. Cosmology is an interpretation of the creation as meaningful and ordered; cosmogony addresses the birth of the cosmos and cosmography maps its dimensions.17 While there are assorted cosmogonic myths among the IE peoples, we also find a number of widespread fundamentals, allowing us to propose the existence of an underlying PIE myth, the all-​purpose structure of which can be, at least to some extent, retrieved. Part of the cosmogonic mythology is seen in the foundation myths that seek to explain the genesis of humankind, i.e., anthropogony, or the founding of specific peoples. In contrast with cosmogony, there are cosmologic myths describing the worldviews and the process by which all the elements in the world relate to one another. Among the shared fundamental elements of PIE cosmogonic mythology, including the anthropogonic elements, is the myth centered on the dismemberment of a divine being—​either anthropomorphic or bovine—​and the creation of the universe out of its elements. As an example, the Old Norse story where Ymir, meaning “Twin,” a giant, is the first being that lived in the world. Ymir lived in a primordial realm, which was rich in potential but not yet formed. The gods killed him and collected the materials needed to build the world from his body. Drawing a generalized account of creation, commonly shared among all the known IE myths, it is the result of a violent death in the form of sacrifice, murder, or death in battle, followed by dismemberment and the formation of the physical universe, including humankind, all other species, and elements, and the social universe. This account presents a set of alloforms between the anatomy of the host source and that of the physical world. Similar stories in many IE traditions tell of the origins of the material world from the substance drawn from

80 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

the body of a sacrificial victim and the similarities of matter posited between the microcosm and the macrocosm.18 The formation of the physical world is described as stones formed from the bones of the sacrificial man, earth from his flesh, the sun from his eyes, the sky from his head, trees from his hair, wind from his breath, clouds from his brain, the moon from his mind, waters from his blood, and so forth. This is a reversible process in anthropogonic myths in which parts of the human body are made from the elements cited in the above dismemberment: breath is made from the wind, flesh from the earth, blood from the water, mind from the moon, eyes from the sun, hair from the trees, and so on. This anatomical cosmology also extends into the cosmic and social partitioning of the universe where the whole body is divided into three sections: the head at the top, the feet at the bottom, and the middle region. These sections constitute the tripartite division of the universe: sky, atmosphere, and earth, and the corresponding social divisions: sovereignty, warfare, and fertility. A similar picture of world creation, including the tripartite universe and society, was handed down to the Indo-​Iranians, who in turn shaped the worldviews of the Indians and the Iranians. Preeminent among these IE creation stories is the foundation myth associated with the origin of man. Similar myths found in the Germanic, Roman, and IIr traditions describe how the first mortal died and how he established the otherworld after his death. In these shared IE creation myths, there is a first man who dies a sacrificial death or a “creative death.” *Manu, meaning “man,” offers his twin brother, the first king named *Yemo, meaning “twin,” in a sacrifice along with the first ox. From the sacrifice of *Yemo, the world, and along with it birth and death, is set in motion. The significance of the twins, discussed further in an ensuing chapter, can be clearly seen in this IE creation myth. The PIE *Yemo—​ “twin”—​underlies the name of a god common to the IIr (Indic Yama, Avestan Yima), who becomes the progenitor of humanity. Even though rudiments of this foundation myth are separate from the cosmogonic myth, there is adequate evidence for positing a single PIE myth involving the sacrifice of a PIE *”twin” and his subsequent dismemberment in order to bring about the world. Another creation myth has as its central character the first warrior, whose name was “Third” (*Tritos). Cattle were stolen by *Ṇg whi-​, a monstrous three-​ headed serpent. The serpent was not Indo-​European but an aborigine living on land invaded by IE. The story continues with the “Third” invoking the assistance of armed deities. He pours out libations, consumes intoxicating drinks, finds the serpent, slays him, and recaptures the cattle taken captive by the serpent. The image of the serpent-​k iller hero can be traced all the way through Roman, Hittite,

Indo-Europeans | 81 IIr stories, and even the Christian story of Saint George slaying the dragon and Saint Patrick driving the snakes out of Ireland. The exact myth reflected in the Iranian legend will be discussed later. Central to the creation myth is the sacrifice of a man, a giant, or an animal. The act of sacrifice among the IE peoples was probably seen as a re-​enactment of the initial cosmic dismemberment of a victim and the recreation of the universe by consigning the elements back to the universe. The persistence of the sacrifice of a man, a cow, or a horse is recorded in Greco-​Roman, Iranian, and Indian myths.19 To summarize, the primordial sacrifice of “Man” underscores the importance of sacrificial ritual and the practice of killing the wives, children, servants, and soldiers of a king after his death. Burial remains, such as the Kurgan pit-​ graves and the Scythian Royal burials, further support these findings. Extrapolating from the mythologies of various IE traditions, the PIE pantheon of gods was a socially oriented ideology. This system was well suited to a culture with a prominent sovereign class. The most common term used for a divinity was *deywo-​s, meaning “celestial, luminous, radiant,” fixing the locus of the gods in the region above, and placing them on a level above that of men. Prior research by other scholars, based on linguistic evidence, supports listing a number of deities, using their reconstructed names, within the PIE pantheon. Gods were also referred to as *ṇmṛto-​“immortal,” in contrast to humans *mṛto-​ “mortal.” *Swel, a distant, radiant, powerful god and a source of material goods personified the sun. *Ausos, was a goddess personifying dawn, *Egni, fire, and *Nepto-​no-​was the “Lord of Water.”20 We find variations in the development of a sky god in different IE cultures, including the IIr. However, James, in The Worship of the Sky-​god, explains the prevalent idea of a “Supreme Being” who creates the earth and fertilizes it by rain as nearly universal in Semitic and IE cosmologies.21 This Sky-​Father was known by the Vedic name Dyaus Pitar, the Greek name Zeus, and the Latin Jupiter, whose linguistic similarity points to a common source. In addition to the gods that can be reconstructed on linguistic grounds, there are gods in the IE mythologies with the same functions, for instance *seu-​ “ impeller,” but sharing nothing linguistically with the others. For the gods and goddesses for whom we find no PIE linguistic cognates, it has been suggested that they most likely belong to religions that existed prior to the IE arrivals. It is possible to reconstruct a number of myths that describe the origins of these divinities, their nature, and their sometimes problematic interrelationships. Such reconstructions, befitting the scope of this project, are taken into account under their respective subjects.

82 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

The goddesses assumed to be PIE are those that are mythologically comparable and linguistically cognate, such as *h2éusōs, goddesses of dawn, *séh2ul, daughter of sun, *dhōnu, personification of river or watery place, and earth goddesses. The IE female deities that do not have any linguistic cognates are perhaps the products of pre-​IE cultures aboriginal to the areas to which the IE migrated. These goddesses were assimilated and subsequently assigned passive roles in the patriarchal pantheon of the IE gods. They were merely the wives, brides, and consorts of male gods. The origins and natures of these goddesses are further discussed in the chapter on the Old European. Descriptions in the early religious literature and imprints on the archeological artifacts of the IE cultures clearly present a physical tripartition of the universe. An IE universe consists of three rotating skies or heavens, each marked by its own deities, colors, and social associations. Presentations of skies rotating around a pole or a giant tree are shared among all the known IE cultures. On the same topic of cosmology, researchers suggest that living things were also grouped into the three main zones of the tree of the world: the upper, middle, and lower worlds. The three skies, their deities, and the diurnal cycles are imitated in the generational myths of the IEs. For instance, the “kingship in heaven” theme with its three generations of ancestors also exhibits a succession of divinities ruling until the present time. The cycle of the ages of the world, presided over by a deity begins in the black of the night then moves into red-​gold dawn and twilight and culminates in the white-​silver daylight. The order of the deities is representative of the three heavens. The same colors are applied to the social divisions in various IE cultures: the sovereign, the warriors, and the laborers. The diurnal cycle of day, twilight, and night provided the early IE with a homology on which they based their view of time in general. As to the origins of the IE concept of the kingship in heaven, Littleton rejects all scholarly claims for the proposed IE derivation of this ancient theogonic theme. In reviewing the theme in ancient Greek, Norse, Iranian, Babylonian, and other cultures, he cautiously favors the possibility of a Babylonian origin for it, concluding with the suggestion that “the search for a common IE theogony must continue.” There is also a deity in IIr religion whose name means “brilliant” (Vivasvant). He is the father of the progenitor of people.22 Similar figures, though semi-​divine or only a king, play the same role in the mythologies of Norse, Indian, and Iranian cultures, where, by means of a contest, a king divides the world among his three sons.

Indo-Europeans | 83 Another useful method in the study of IE religion is based on the idea that the old-​world traditional society was holistic. As a result, we can view the society as a whole and make a re-​entry into a holistic world view. Lyle suggests that if we accept the existence of an old-​world cosmological continuum, concerns about the kingship in heaven theme no longer exist. The theme is present in Mesopotamian tradition as part of the old-​world cosmological ordering. It also exists in Indo-​ European contexts, partly from a Proto-​Indo-​European source and partly from borrowed motifs that were developed by other carriers of the world tradition.23 One essential of the envisioned cosmic structure is the three generations of gods counting from the first couple. Using Germanic mythology, a female figure is not only a wife to the primordial god but also the primal goddess—​she not only appears and symbolizes the mother goddess but also appears as the three rivers, three hymns, and three seasons. Lyle’s essential discovery becomes more apparent in the study of Old European ideologies wherein a creative female energy is recognized as the impetus behind both cosmogony and eschatology. We will return to this subject in the OE chapter. The division of three hierarchical classes or roles characterizes the social cosmology of the IE. Such a conclusion results from the comparison of texts describing the models of cosmic and social categorizations among the IE peoples, including the IIr. Some scholars have drawn parallels between the PIE structures of the pantheon and society. Verification for the tripartition of the IE world can be seen in one of the earliest sources of IE religion, namely the treaty between the kings of Mitanni and the Hittites, dating to about 1380 BCE. In this treaty, the king of Mitanni, who ruled over the “territories from the shores of the Mediterranean to the Zagros Mountains,” swears by a series of Hurrian gods—​“Mi-​it-​ra (Indic Mitra), Aru-​na (Varuṇa), In-​da-​ra (Indra) and Na-​sa-​at-​ tiya (Nāsatya).”24 In his theory of the “three functions,” Dumézil conceives of the IE world in terms of “religio-​magical sovereignty,” “martial force,” and the “spheres of production and reproduction.”25 From this theory, the gods evoked in the Mitanni treaty as Mitra-​Varuṇa represent the two aspects of sovereignty, i.e., the magico-​legalistic and the religious; Indra the warrior-​god represents martial force; and the twins, Nāsatyas (Aśvins), closely associated with people, livestock and horses, represent the third function. In recognizing similar partition methods in non-​IE cultures, “trifunctional ideology” not only pervades ancient religious materials but also influenced later societies. The IE ideological structure influenced the thinking of the later Christians of Europe, which still surfaces in Judeo-​Christian ideology “to equate

84 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

the three sons of Noah—​Japhet, Shem and Ham—​with the three estates of society: nobles (warriors), clerks (priests), and serfs (cultivators).”26 From the tripartite class categorization of the Mitanni deities we can see a pattern of dualism in IE ideology. The paired divinities, Mitra-​Varuṇa, and the twins, Nāsatya, provide clear evidence of dualism. Duality then becomes even more significant in the foundation myths mentioned earlier wherein the PIE *Yemo-​ “twin” (Indic Yama, Avestan Yima) becomes the progenitor of humankind.27 Future chapters will address the Indo-​Iranian myths describing the origins and functions of the twins and the significance of duality and opposition. It is possible to think beyond the dualism of twins and consider complete binary opposition as an underlying structure of Indo-​European ideology. The systematic opposition can be seen in the IE treatments of right and left directions and, respectively, between genders and concepts—​male strength, and female weakness.28 The importance of the binary roles in understanding cosmogony and, therefore, afterlife and eschatology, in the IIr religious system will become more evident in future chapters. As seen in the death sacrifice, the creation myth being inextricably connected to sacrifice reinforces the importance of ritual action. Moreover, it was established that without the substance drawn from the bodies of sacrificial victims, all the elements of the material world, e.g., sun, earth, stone, water, and wind, would be exhausted. The cosmos continues to exist only because these items are replenished through sacrifice. An important part of ritual action was the use of a sacred intoxicating drink by a god, a hero, or a priest. Research on its nature, origin, and use suggest that several IE cultures had inherited a common myth concerning a sacred drink. The shared myth conveys the same story in which the sacred drink bestows immortality and invincibility, among other qualities; it is then to be stolen by a swindler figure on behalf of humankind, but the swindler fails and the gods take exclusive ownership of the drink. Thus, humans are consigned to eventual death, and immortality remains the privilege of the gods. The oldest IE intoxicating beverage, *ṇmṛto-​“un-​dying,” was a pressed drink known to the Indo-​Iranians as *sauma, soma to the Indians, and haoma to the Iranians. The archeological discoveries of the Margiana temples, ca. 1900–​1700 BCE, provide clear evidence not only for the cult of fire but also for the use of soma. The search for the remains of the sacred Indo-​Iranian drink in the Andronovo, Bactria, and Margiana territories found evidence of cults of soma in both Bactria and Margiana. Along with the discoveries of soma, there is evidence of a fire cult in the same region and during the same period.29 In Togolok 21—​an IIr temple of the second millennium BCE in Karakum (Central Asia)—​microscopic residues

Indo-Europeans | 85 of a narcotic drink were discovered.30 More on this research will be found in the Indo-​Iranian chapter. The concept of this sacred drink of immortality persisted all the way into Christian mythology, as evidenced in the quest for the Holy Grail.31 In addition, in comparing the Indic and Nordic myths, the Mahābhārata and Hymiskviða, we can see that in both traditions, the drink of “undying” is from the sea, involves a serpent, and is obtained as a result of a partnership between demons or giants in Norse and gods.32 Ultimately, the gods win the drink of immortality in both traditions.

Death, Rebirth and Eschatology The IE ideology, including the creation and cosmic-​ending myths at the central core of its cultural legacy, accounts for the origin and fate of the physical universe and humankind. PIEs viewed death as “the dissolution of a complex entity, which was reduced to its constituent parts after a long process of erosion.”33 Textual evidence describes this dissolution as a kind of falling apart, a separation of body and soul. IEs believed in a concept equivalent to what the English language refers to as the soul, only “identified with the breath, *ṇsu-​, as the seat of life force and vitality.”34 As with the rest of the body, the breath departed at death, turning into its macrocosmic alloform, the wind. In other examinations, we see the means by which the body collapses into smaller particles after death: “The proto-​Indo-​ European verb *ĝer-​straddles the meanings ‘to go’ and ‘to fall apart,’ so also the verb *mer-​combines the sense ‘to die’ (thus: Sanskrit marate and mriyate, Avestan miryeite).”35 Similar thoughts on death and afterlife can be found in an ancient Greek inscription at the burial place of Athenian soldiers, 432 BCE, which reads: “Aither received their souls, and earth their bodies.” The Greek term psykhē, “life-​breath,” is described as departing the body at death and returning to the air. In the same way, the body, believed to be created from earth, returns again to the earth at the time of death. Another example can be seen in a quote from Euripides, Suppliants, II.  531–​4: Let the corpses now be covered with the earth, From which each of them came forth to the light Only to go back thither: breath (pneuma) to the aither, And body to earth.36

86 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Comparable descriptions are also found in the oldest Russian epic, Slovo o P”lku Igorevĕ (The Song of Igor’s Campaign), where the return of the body to the earth, in agricultural symbolism, is compared to grain that has fallen to the earth. Nourished by the water formed from the blood of the dead, the dead man then comes back to life.37 Threefold death reprises the IE trifunctional division. The patterns and significance of threefold death can be seen in the myths of IE cultures, especially the Celtic and the Germanic. Apparently, it referred to three manners of death—​by a weapon, drowning, and burning. Although each type of death is connected to a particular social function, at the mythological level, a victim, whether a king or a woman, simultaneously suffers a triple death by three different means. Sacrifice is another aspect of the threefold death connecting functionally located divinities to a particular mode of sacrifice, which is also connected to a specific functional identification of the victim, such as the drowning of a commoner or the killing of a warrior by a weapon. In addition to these philosophical approaches to death, a more pragmatic approach is also employed in the study of IE death beliefs. Particulars of the IE belief about death and the afterlife can be established to some extent by indications from archeological findings about funerary practices and inscriptions combined with mythology. Certainly, the IEs believed that individual existence would continue from this life into the next life, perhaps another world. Because of such beliefs, they built burial houses for the dead in which they placed their belongings, including items that would signify their status in the afterworld such as weapons, soldiers, servants, tools, vehicles, and domesticated animals. Findings from the excavation of Kurgan graves from the fifth to the third millennium BCE reveal that IE people held strong beliefs about life after death, which translated in a similar fashion to life on earth. Their graves consequently replicated houses topped with stone stelae and carved images of a male divinity wearing a belt or a necklace and holding a mace or an ax. The old IE custom of having the wife die with her husband is evidenced archeologically by the number of double graves of men and women who were buried at the same time. Eminent among the symbols carved on the objects found in the graves and elsewhere are the snake and the ubiquitous sun. The fact that the wheel or sun is imprinted on most ritually important objects attests to the importance of the sun cult and the significance of the symbolism connected to the year’s rotation. “Carefully constructed braziers found in houses and in graves suggest the perpetuation of fire as a holy element.”38 Footprints on third millennium BCE stelae are probably

Indo-Europeans | 87 associated with a belief in the footsteps of giant gods, probably the gods of fertility and the underground. Tombs belonging to important members of the society were extravagantly furnished, indicating the status of the dead. Kings and chieftains were often buried with their households—​wives, servants, children, and animals, which included teams of oxen, horses, and dogs. Death in battle was especially glorified, perhaps instigated by the eschatological belief in a final battle, and the subsequent restoration of the world. In Eurasia and the Iranian steppes, the tomb was also often decorated like a house, with lavish funeral gifts. Frequently, vehicles and foods supplied the necessities for the journey to the afterlife. Considered necessary for the well-​being of the departed, offerings of food continued to be made after the burial. Research conducted on the funerary traditions in IE cultures points to variations in funeral rites over both space and time. However, an original PIE burial mode has been constructed through an analysis of the burial rites of these cultures. The most that can be said is that an IE burial at any time up to about the fourth or third millennium BCE would more likely have been inhumation than cremation—​at that time less widely employed, being more common in peripheral areas of Europe. Generally, following a mourning period and preparation of the body, inhumation took place soon after death; however, there is some evidence, from the Atlantic coast to Asia, of a secondary burial of the deceased after the flesh had been either removed through exposure or cleaned from the bones. Even in the case of cremation, the bones—​impervious to the heat of a wood fire—​ would be buried. On the subject of the archeological excavations of the Neolithic and Bronze Age cultures, in some sense related to IE in the eastern parts of Central Asia, the 4,000 tombs discovered over the past thirty years were mostly built as dwelling places, with rich and diverse painted tools and potteries. The Arjan Kurgan, from the first millennium BCE in the northern areas of Central Asia, is one of the best examples of early nomad burial monuments. This colossal tomb of a king or an important leader comes down to us in the form of a gigantic stone circle, approximately 120 meters in diameter. It contains several bodies, dozens of fully caparisoned sacrificial horses of different colors, and various artistic bronze artifacts that show the early period of the so-​called Scythian animal style.39 There are numerous burial sites in the IIr zone of the Caucasus and Central Asia that share characteristics with the IE. These striking parallels offer testimony of their common belief in life after death.

88 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Evidence from the archeological and mythological comparisons of different IE groups suggests a PIE belief that after the inhumation or cremation of the corpse, the spirit of the dead person embarked on a journey. In different IE cultures, the soul’s journey to the afterworld may start immediately at death, at the end of ceremonies (most often three days long), or upon the destruction of the body whether by natural decay or cremation. What is generally agreed on is that the journey, whenever it began, led to a gloomy underworld via traversing a river, climbing a hill, riding in a chariot, following a path, or crossing a bridge. The world of the dead, where souls drifted in a pale and passive manner, was imagined as an underground realm ruled by the sovereign male god, or a deified man, together with some minor deities. The motif of conveyance to the site of burial by a wheeled vehicle is widespread among many IE cultures in both the historic and prehistoric periods. Judging from artistic depictions of the place where mortals go after death, the afterworld is marked by an earthen wall, a house-​like enclosure, or a fort. In this afterlife, the souls of the dead continue their existence, occasionally revisiting the world of the living but more often simply receiving gifts or sacrifices from their survivors and descendants. Scandinavian evidence associates the spirit of the dead person closely with the grave while a separate soul inhabits either Hel, the underworld named after the goddess of death, or Valhalla, the warriors’ paradise. The Valkyries took those who died in battle immediately to Valhalla where the soul, or the breath, was believed to exist eternally in the afterlife. Among IEs, a female figure and two guard dogs form part of the imagery connected to the afterlife. The female figure represented the goddess *Kolyo, “the coverer.” Her name is “preserved in the name of the Old Norse Goddess Hel (English Hell), that of the Greek Kalypso, and that of the Indian God Śarva (= Avestan Saurva).”40 From the front she is seductively beautiful and young while her old decrepit back is covered with serpents, worms, and reptiles.41 Furthermore, in addition to the concepts of duality and opposition discussed earlier, we can first observe the dualism expressed by the double-​sidedness of Kolyo along with the reunion of the living with the ancestors and then identify this binary opposition as one of the underlying structures of IE ideology. Another common IE theme associates dogs with death and the otherworld. Dogs appear, singly or in a pair, to guide the soul to the afterlife and also as choosers of the dead. In all the mythologies of IE cultures, dogs have a consistent role in guarding the path or gate to the otherworld, in addition to other duties. There is evidence, too, that the souls of those who—​owing to circumstances such as suicide and murder—​cannot enter the afterlife must pass their intervening

Indo-Europeans | 89 time in the form of dogs or wolves. This hellhound is still referred to by scholars by its Greek name Kerberos—​the name of Hades’ hound—​*Kerbero-​, “spotted.” Despite inconsistencies in different IE cultures, including Indian and Iranian, the dog’s presence, functions, and associations with the afterlife remain similar. The pairing or doubling of the dogs associated with mortuary beliefs is common, whether as a pair of dogs or in the doubling of some feature of the dog, e.g., the four-​eyed dogs of Indo-​Iranian traditions, or perhaps a two-​headed dog. These pairs are usually depicted in contrasting colors; for example, in Armenia and Brittany, they are black and white while in Indic and Iranian traditions one is spotted, and one is solid black, brindled, or copper. Archeological reflections of this network of beliefs have been recovered from prehistoric sites that some have associated with the early IE. In the northern Caucasus, a tomb of the Maykop Kurgan culture dating to ca. 3300 BCE yielded, at the head of the deceased, two figures of dogs, one of bronze and one of silver, reflecting the different colors of the two guardians of the dead in IE myths. Dog remains have also been found in the burials of the sundry Kurgan cultures of the steppes, and even further east into China. Burials at least as early as the Mesolithic period in Scandinavia have been accompanied by dogs, and dog remains have also been found in Iran during the same Mesolithic period, i.e., the tenth to eighth millennia BCE. The debate over whether dogs in Shang dynasty burials derive from IE contacts is unpersuasive given the fact that dog burials have also been found in the much earlier native Neolithic cultures of China.42 On the subject of eschatology, some comparative mythologists have managed to salvage the original IE proto-​myth in the remnants of associated traditions in the eschatological literature of Old Norse, Ireland, Iran, and India. A recapitulation of their findings is that early IE societies, true to their martial nature, believed that the world would end in a great battle between the traditionally opposed forces of good and evil. Motifs common to eschatological myths include an arch-​demon whose paternal relatives are unfavorable to the gods. The evidence shows that the importance of specific deities and their functional significance change both spatially and temporally, and that these factors affected their role in the final battle. A hero appears, spends some time preparing for this battle, assumes leadership of the community through default or guilt, and builds projects and forts. Prior to the battle, a climatic, astronomical, or social change occurs—​earthquakes, floods, or the disappearance of the sun. In Norse and Iranian traditions, it is foreshadowed by a cataclysmic cosmic winter. This battle occurs on a famous field, where many notables among the community of gods and their adversaries slay each other in single combat. The final

90 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

battle and its aftermath signal widespread death and destruction, an interruption of the cosmic order, and the end of a temporal cycle or era. Germanic sources are rich on the subject of the events leading to the conflict, and the actual battle is followed by an apocalypse, resurrection, and renewal. Investigating IE eschatology, we see that the Old Norse legend of the Ragnarök, the fate of the Gods, includes the destruction of the cosmos followed by the resurrection. Scholars who have sought to recover the original IE proto-​myth believe that Ragnarök is representative of ancient eschatological beliefs and is therefore very similar to the Indo-​Iranian data. The theme of the restoration of the world following eschatological destruction was always a part of indigenous Germanic pagan traditions and is not the result of Christian influence, as argued by some. “The fundamental pre-​Christian Germanic ideas of time and causality of the Rangarök cataclysm must be followed by a renovation and new beginning, Christian influence hardly being necessary for such a conclusion.”43 I have expressed a similar argument in support of the autonomous development of Iranian eschatological visions, independent of Judeo-​Christian influences. In the outcome or aftermath of the final battle, IE eschatological versions may differ due to the accumulated impact of centuries of social change but what has been affirmed is that a complex, cosmic-​ending myth did exist in the PIE period. And in view of the widespread occurrence of an epic version of the final battle theme and the concurrence of an epic and mythic version in various IE traditions, it is likely that a rearranged epic version had evolved then. It is clear that traditional IE thoughts on the topics of death, eschatology, and resurrection rest upon the same premises that informed their creation mythology and sacrificial ritual. When the orderly world is created, it is created out of man, whether this is done by means of cosmology, sacrifice, or death. Similarly, when humankind is created, it is created from the cosmos. The creation of one always implies the destruction of another. Death is not a final state, and life will continue in another realm until the end of time for it appears that nothing within the cosmos was seen to be final. The matter that assumes its cosmic form when one specific human body dies will once again assume a bodily form when that specific cosmos itself dies, as must inevitably happen. What we see in IE belief systems is that death and resurrection are reciprocal processes in which matter passes from microcosm to macrocosm and back again. When analyzing the IE concepts of death and resurrection, time and eternity, four major points arise as the fundamental premises of the IE myths: man and the cosmos are alloforms of

Indo-Europeans | 91 each other; matter is eternal in its existence but subject to infinite recombination; time is infinite; and change is constant but the same processes cyclically recur.44 The study of IE beliefs naturally brings us to the backdrop against which these were developed. As IEs entered into the distinctly established traditions of Old Europe, they had to reinforce their own awareness of difference. The realization of what they were not intensified the generation of distinct identities. This brings us to the Old European setting in which this reproduction, often in an opposing format, took place.

Notes 1 Anthony states that “The presence of wheeled vehicles in the PIE homeland implies a dispersal no earlier than about 3300 BC; and the presence of differentiated Indo-​ Iranian and Anatolian by 2000 BC requires dispersal no later than about 2200 BC.” 1991: 215. See also Gimbutas 1991; Nichols 1997. 2 Gimbutas 1991: 4. 3 Ibid. “[PIE culture] as reconstructed on the basis of comparative Indo-​European linguistics and mythology and supported by early historic records, coincides well with archeological data.” 1991: 383. See also Mallory (1976–​77) and Thomas (1982). 4 Nichols 1997: 14. 5 Gimbutas 1991: 352. 6 Anthony 1991: 30; 2001: 26. 7 Francfort 1994: 10. 8 Mallory writes: “No matter when or how we first encounter the language of Indo-​ European speakers, they all have one thing in common: they invariably speak an already differentiated Indo-​ European language over Proto-​ Indo-​ European.” 1989: 24. 9 Comprehensive descriptions of divergences and affinities via recognized branches of IE languages are provided by Burrow 1973a: 7–​9. 10 Nichols 1998: 256. 11 Scalinger, as quoted in Mallory 1989: 9–​10. 12 Mallory 1989: 10–​11. 13 Ibid. 1989: 110–​27. Mallory adds that the concept/​term was coined by Adolphe Pictet in 1859. 14 Ibid. 1989: 86. Mallory quotes Renfrew: “Certainly, the circumstance that the Sanskrit word for “chariot,” ratha, is agreed by competent linguists to be cognate with the Latin for “wheel,” rota, is interesting, and merits historical explanation. But that is a far cry from saying that the two cognate words tell us that some hypothetical

92 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Proto-​Indo-​Europeans used chariots with wheels (or indeed carts with wheels) in their original homeland.” 15 Eliade 1958: 282. 16 Gimbutas 1989: 399. 17 Cosmology is defined in The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions as a “reflection on, and account of the world/​universe as a meaningful whole, as embodying or expressing an order or underlying structure that makes sense: cosmogony is concerned with the coming into being of the cosmos, and cosmography with the description of its extent.” 18 Lincoln 1986: 1–​7. 19 Ibid. 1991: 10, 167. Lincoln credits Güntert, Götze, Reitzenstein, and Kasten Rönnow, scholars who worked on the idea of microcosm and macrocosm. In Lincoln’s view, Kasten Rönnow “rightly—​related this theme to that of ritual sacrifice.” According to Lincoln, however, Rönnow was heavily criticized for his writings on the widespread practice of human sacrifice in ancient Greek and IIr cultures. 20 Ibid. 1991: 5–​6. 21 According to James, “Both in its Semitic and Indo-​European modes of expression the belief in a celestial Supreme Being who created the earth and fertilized it by sending rain upon it has been almost universal. Behind it no doubt lay an earlier cult of the sky in which the vault of heaven was defied and associated with transcendental gods and supra-​mundane powers that dwelt in exalted seclusion in the celestial regions. Although concealed under a variety of names, forms and functions, the concept of the sky-​god basic in Semitic and Indo-​European religion was that of the physical sky with its constellations personified as the Supreme Sky-​Father, best known as the Vedic Dyaus Pitar, the Greek Zeus and the Latin Jupiter, whose names betray their common source.” 1963: 139. 22 Littleton 1970: 383–​404. Also see Haudry 1987. 23 From an article by Emily Lyle, “Markedness and Encompassment in Relation to Indo-​European Cosmology.” 1991: 59. 24 Mallory 1989: 37–​39. 25 As cited in Lincoln 1991: 167. 26 According to Mallory, “Ideology is often regarded as the central core of culture and it is here that some would see the most striking evidence for the Indo-​European legacy.” He then acknowledges Dumézil for identifying not only the genetic relationship of the IE languages but also the persistence of an inherited ideology. 1989:  270–​2. 27 Lincoln 1991: 7; Mallory 1989: 140. 28 Mallory suggests that the examination of the binary opposition in the IE ideological structure “is hardly removed from the structuralist approach of Claude Lévi Strauss, who proposes a universal tendency to mediate between opposites.” 1989: 140–​1. 29 Parpola 1995: 370–​1.

Indo-Europeans | 93 30 Sarianidi 1990: 159, 162. 31 For further reading, see Dumézil 1924. 32 See Oosten 1985. 33 Lincoln 1986: 119. 34 Ibid. 1986: 14. 35 Ibid. 1986: 119; Watkins 2000: 17, 55. 36 Ibid. 1986: 120; Guthrie 1957: 49–​52. 37 Lincoln writes: “First the corpses are compared to grain that is threshed and winnowed, the souls presumably being associated to grain and the bodies to chaff that is let fall to earth…, the bones—​the most solid and enduring part of the body—​are further compared to the seed, which is sown in the earth in order to produce a rebirth of the grain.” 1986: 120. 38 Gimbutas 1970: 170, 172. 39 Zhimin 1992: 161, 470. 40 Lincoln 1991: 78. 41 Described by Güntert, who was the reconstructor of Kolyo’s name and, hence, one of the major contributors to the study of this goddess. 1919. 42 Gamkrelidze and Ivanov 1985. 43 Bauschatz, as cited in Lincoln 1986: 130–​1. 44 Lincoln 1986: 140.

4

Old Europe

Hybridization of Ideologies Since religion has no absolute beginning, every point in its history owes its existence to events still farther in the past. Bearing this in mind, we must expand our knowledge of a tradition as far as the historical testimonies, including archeology, allow. Just as understanding Indo-​European language and culture is a prerequisite for the study of Indo-​Iranians, an analysis of Old European culture, the new homeland of the Indo-​European immigrants to Europe, is imperative. The justification for devoting a chapter to the examination of Old European culture is to raise our awareness of essential aspects of European prehistory previously unknown or not treated on a pan-​European scale. Traditionally, research on Indo-​Iranian and Indo-​European religions involves projections of concepts and divinities back and forth from one culture to another, but not going beyond a certain fixed point in time. This applies even when there are no linguistic or mythological grounds for the reconstruction of an archetype. The Old European materials, however, which we know largely through archeology, may influence our vision of the past as well as the potential for the present and future. Gimbutas used the term “archeomythology” in her study of the Old European social structure as shown in religious imagery and myth. This Neolithic society

96 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

(7000–​3500 BCE) grew from small agricultural villages to very large settlements, which were bigger than the largest proto-​urban tells in the Near East. Taking into account archeological, historical, linguistic, and religious evidence, Old European society was organized around a theocratic, communal temple community and a higher female status in religious life. The structure was matrilineal, and it was through the female line that succession to leadership and inheritance were derived.1 James, who investigated The Worship of the Sky-​God in various Semitic and European cultures, noted that within patriarchal and nomadic societal structures, the sky-​god generally assumed the role of sovereign lord and creator of the universe, as well as father of mankind. In matriarchal and agricultural social structures, however, the mother goddess tended to become supreme, sometimes acquiring celestial status even as she retained some elements of her original vegetation and fertility functions of life producer in various forms and universal mother.2 The massive presence of female figures, as depicted in painted potteries, figurines, engravings, and other excavated materials, and, respectively, the lack of male figurines during the early periods from central Europe eastward to Mesopotamia show that the goddess religion was a relatively unified tradition across various ancient societies. Many contemporary scholars devote their research to the topic of early goddess traditions.3 By using modern scientific archeological interpretations and interdisciplinary methods, they go beyond what previous scholars have hypothesized over the last century. In recent years, some Indo-​Europeanists have pointed to the importance of studying myths as a whole picture, which includes Indo-​European history. For example, as part of the research of Indo-​European cosmogonic myths, Lyle suggests methods through which a “detailed model of the whole in the register of the pantheon” can be produced. She claims that the old-​world traditional society was holistic and therefore needs to be studied in the same manner as a holistic model based on a range of particular elements. Incorporating previous studies, Lyle declares, “The emergence of the male from the primordial female associated with undifferentiated space and time is the first stage in the postulated Indo-​ European cosmogony.”4 To foster a better understanding of death and afterlife beliefs in Indo-​ European traditions, this chapter will bring to light a less treated factor, i.e., that of the Old European peoples, who played a crucial role in the ideological development of their successors. These peoples built magnificent tomb-​shrines, temples, and homes, and created splendid paintings, sculptures, potteries, and many other religious paraphernalia. In bringing to light Old European creative

Old Europe | 97 symbolism, we get a glimpse into the minds and beliefs of Old Europe. By juxtaposing the textualized myths of Indo-​European cultures with Old European visual imagery and symbolism, we can see a pictorial pattern evolve from one tradition to the next. Such comparative study brings us a step closer to a greater understanding of Indo-​Europeans and their inheritors and clarifies some of the ambiguities and inconsistencies in Indo-​European religious systems, such as the presence of female and male gods whose names are of non-​Indo-​European origins, and beliefs in both linear and cyclical time, opposing myths, and so on. From the archeological research, we can see that Old Europe’s images and symbols survived and were disseminated by the Indo-​Europeans. The exact meanings and functions of these symbols and images, and to what extent they were transformed by Indo-​Europeans, is hard to say but not impossible to surmise. McLean, in The Triple Goddess: An Exploration of the Archetypal Feminine, follows the goddess figure through various ancient traditions of east and west starting with the Paleolithic period, examining the triad of goddesses in particular. McLean clarifies the use of the word “archetype,” a Jungian term, as meaning “those spiritual patterns woven into our astral soul, as the embodiment of spiritual being in our inner substance.”5 He does, however, acknowledge the difficulties in understanding such an idea. Gimbutas, describing the source of her discoveries of Old European traditions, suggests that Freud would have denigrated such imagery as primitive fantasies, and Jung would have valued it as “the fruits of the inner life flowing out from the unconscious,” or “the repository of human experience” and a “depth structure.” However, Gimbutas concludes by proclaiming: “To an archeologist it is an extensively documented historical reality.”6 The term Old Europe refers to Neolithic Europe before the Indo-​Europeans. These people inhabited Europe from the seventh to the third millennia BCE, and their way of life, religion, and social structure are the subjects of this chapter. The functions and images of Old European and Indo-​European deities and different sets of symbols show the existence of two contrasting religions and mythologies. As they collided, the two symbolic structures hybridized. Indo-​European prevailed while the Old European remained as an undercurrent. This insight into the belief structures of the Old European and Indo-​European peoples, and the genesis and meanings of their symbols, beliefs, myths, and their penetrations into subsequent religious divergences, such as Indo-​Iranian, help us to understand the research into the related subject matter. The coming together of two traditions with dissimilar social and ideological structures resulted in delineating the changeover to the dominating culture,

98 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

that of Indo-​European, which gradually changed the features of Old Europe. Interdisciplinary research, which also embraces historical-​archeological-​mythological data, helps in the attempt to substantiate this transition. Examining the religious features of prehistoric cultures, e.g., Neolithic, casts a new slant on the complete culture that transformed it, i.e., Indo-​European. Gimbutas stresses the importance of considering several chief junctures of transforming the ethnic patterns in Old European culture. The first shock wave came around 4300 BCE when horse-​riding pastoralists rode in from south Russia, resulting in population shifts in the Danube Basin. The flowering of Old Europe was truncated and two very different culture systems began to hybridize. The second wave occurred in the second half of the fourth millennium BCE. Strong influences came from the North Caucasus region, increasing the transformation of central Europe. The third wave was a massive Kurgan influx from the lower Volga region after 3000 BCE. They came into east-​central Europe, causing a new ethnic shift. These were the warlike and horse-​riding Bell Beaker people of the middle and second half of the third millennium BCE. By the third quarter of the third millennium BCE, almost all parts of Old Europe were transformed both economically and socially. “The Indo-​European religion became official, but the Old European Goddess religion was carried on to the present day through fragments of Old European culture.”7 Describing the creation of the original frontier from 5800 BCE and the cultural conflicts between the Indo-​Europeans and the Old Europeans, Anthony states that “The Western ‘Old European’ cultures had distinct origins and histories, not just different pot types.”8

Birth, Death, and Regeneration The chief subject of religious symbolism in Old European archeology is a female figure, representing the cyclic mystery of birth, death, and the renewal of life. This parthenogenetic (self-​generating) female is the sole source of life. In the archeological findings, the imprint of her figure is surrounded by images and symbols. Based on the way she has been depicted, she is a creative energy discernible in all plants and animals, wells and springs, and in the earth, sun, and moon. She is the giver of life, wielder of death, and the earth fertility goddess, rising and dying with the plants. In her recurring image, closely connected with earth and water, she is the primeval mother, and a giver and guardian of life water.9 These female figures were mainly iconographic representations of life creators,

Old Europe | 99 not Venuses, beauties, or the consorts of male gods, and most certainly not representative solely of fertility and motherhood. Similar descriptions are also given for the goddess figures discovered in Central Asia and the Indus Valley. A description of the archeological discoveries of the Oxus civilization and the socio-​political changes brought about by male dominant cultures shows that “the local male aristocracy loves to see itself in representation. However, [the Oxus civilization] venerated the goddess who gives life to the world each year.”10 In the Old European tradition, male gods are depicted as the protectors of wild animals and nature. Since male figurines make up only “2 to 3 percent of all Old European figurines,”11 it is impossible to reconstruct their exact cultic role. However, in Upper Paleolithic art, male figures are identified in paintings, engravings, and sculpted forms. Examples are found in the cave of Les Trois Frères in France, namely, the horned, nude bison-​men, the most well known in archeological literature, with their bison heads, large horns, and hairy pelts with tails. They are depicted driving a herd of animals before them. There is only a handful of recurring Old European images from the Neolithic period, connected to creation, death, and the afterlife, that still play a part in the folk and religious beliefs of most Indo-​European traditions. In Indo-​Iranian religions, these presentations are often found with the exact same meanings, or reversed meanings perhaps intentionally done to disguise their origins. The functions and meanings of relevant symbols and images that have survived in the Indo-​Iranian religious traditions are reviewed in later chapters. The images and symbols have been discovered in cemeteries, graves, and shrines in the form of friezes, engravings, sculptures, paintings on potteries, carved objects, and religious paraphernalia. There are persistent images of the vulture, cuckoo, owl, raven, crow, toad, frog, and lizard as omens of death. Images of the dove and the swan, as they appear in tombs, are symbolic of that which continues to move forward after death; perhaps what is referred to as the human soul. Caves and graves constructed in the shape of the womb are symbolic of birth and rebirth. The crescent and full moons are symbols of becoming or transforming into something else. A cup holding a sacred drink or water and associated with a divinity is symbolic of life, health, and strength. The color black represents the earth and red represents the color of life and seasonal renewal. Stiff nudes, as images of death, are made of bone, marble, and alabaster. White, the color of bone, is symbolic of death, as well as bone’s relative tones of yellow and gold. The number three symbolizes totalities and wholesomeness. Tri-​lines, triple

100 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

levels, triple images, and a unit of three females represent the triple aspects of life—​birth, death, and rebirth. The snake is symbolic of the life force. Gimbutas explains a coiled or horizontally winding snake, “often with 14–​17 twinings denoting the waxing moon, or with 29–​30 symbolizing the days of the moon cycle.”12 Snakes, which are represented in an upward winding fashion from water or the womb, are portrayed in tombs, temples, and on pottery, and may signify rebirth, particularly when snake and tree are depicted together. Since ships in megalithic tomb-​shrines appear in association with the serpent and the goddess of death and regeneration, they may be interpreted as vehicles of the afterlife. Ships also have serpent-​shaped keels, and since serpents represent hibernation and transformation, death may therefore represent a similar transition. A ship is portrayed with a serpent, a life tree, the sun, and cult scenes on Bronze Age rocks in southern Scandinavia. Reverence for the snake as a symbol of life energy, cyclic renewal, and immortality is represented by the hibernating and awakening snake, as a metaphor of dying and reawakening, which remained in the IE mythologies but with negative overtones in some later traditions. To communicate strength and development Old European cultures used images of doubles to indicate progressive duplication, and therefore potency or abundance. This is seen in the frequent use of double images of caterpillars, snakes, and female figures, and double-​headed figures, double-​fruit symbols resembling two corncobs or seeds, the seasonal earth fertility of summer and winter, and by the dual concepts of young and old—​life and death—​death and regeneration.13 In Indo-​European religion, most Indo-​European female deity names do not have linguistic cognates in Indo-​European and are most likely the products of pre-​Indo-​European cultures indigenous to the areas to which the Indo-​Europeans migrated. It must be that after the migrations of Indo-​Europeans, Old European goddesses were subsequently assimilated into the Indo-​European pantheons. They are generally represented as transfunctional, like the Greek Athēnē. The pre-​Indo-​European female figures assimilated into the Indo-​European pantheons fulfilled a broad range of functions and were diversely personified.14 In contrast, the goddesses of Proto-​Indo-​European origins, who are not only mythologically comparable with one another but linguistically cognate as well, demonstrate a lack of personification, narrow functionality, and passivity. Among the Old European figures that survived through transformations are the Greco-​Roman deities. “Most strikingly visible is the conversion of Athena, the Old European Bird Goddess, into a militarized figure carrying a shield and wearing a helmet. Her birth was from the head of a male god, Zeus.”15 In

Old Europe | 101 Indo-​European symbolism, a thunder god is represented in the form of a bull. Similarly, in the Old European imagery, the goddess is born from the head of a bull, which is often translated into a creation myth. Gimbutas cites from the Golden Ass, a Latin novel from the second century CE, where Lucius Apuleius invokes the goddess Isis. She emerges and avows I am she that is the natural mother of all things, mistress and governess of all elements, the initial progeny of worlds, chief of the powers divine, queen of all that are in Hell, the principle of them all that dwell in Heaven, manifest alone and under one form of all the gods and goddesses. At my will the planets of the sky, the wholesome winds of the seas, and the lamentable silences of hell be disposed; my name, my divinity is adorned throughout the world, in divers manners, in variable customs, and by many names.16

Hence, these images of the past may explain the feminine principle, which has played a significant role in the religio-​spiritual life of the IE peoples. Later, in Christian times, the birth giver and Earth Mother were fused with the Virgin Mary, who is still connected with life water and healing springs and trees. Mother goddess is a misconception for the prehistoric female divinities. There was a Mother Earth and a Mother of the Dead, and the rest of the goddesses cannot be subsumed under the same term.17 In later times, this female deity was also turned into a witch of night and magic. She came to be considered a disciple of Satan and an evildoer demoness, associated with death, darkness, and night. In the Christian era, German fairy tales tell of a winter goddess, Frau Holla (Holle, Hell, Holda, etc.). She is an ugly old hag who lives in the depths of caves and mountains and is known as the snow and weather maker. She appears as a frog and a dove. Bread sacrifices are made to Holla, the Mother of the Dead. Having healing powers, Holler, Holunder, or the elder tree was her sacred tree, under which the dead lived.18 This same goddess still plays a prominent role in the beliefs of Europeans in the Baltic, Polish, and Siberian regions. Moreover, the Old European culture was the matrix of much later beliefs and practices. As explained above, Indo-​European images and concepts, which do not necessarily belong uniquely to the Indo-​Europeans but have survived with a lesser significance, were perhaps incorporated from the indigenous culture into which IE migrated. Sacred Old European images and symbols remain a vital part of the cultural heritage of Indo-​Europeans and their descendants, including the Indo-​Iranians. In most, if not all, Indo-​European cultures, including the Indian and the Iranian,

102 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

the folk and epic worlds contain similar images transmitted from ages before. In India and Iran, sacred and miraculous rivers and springs continue to flow, and holy forests and groves with mysterious powers continue to flourish. The female image is associated not only with life but also death and the afterlife.

Disintegration and Reintegration In the iconography of Old Europe, there is much more emphasis on regeneration than death. Nevertheless, death is notably exhibited in art by the nakedness of bone, howling hounds, vultures, owls, and boars. On the subject of beliefs concerning death in Old European culture, Gimbutas explains that the question of mortality was of profound concern but the deep perception of the periodicity of nature based on the cycles of the moon and the female body led to the immediate regeneration of life at the crisis of death. There was no simple death, only death and regeneration. And this was the key to the hymn of life reflected in this art.19

This mirrors the conviction that new life grows out of every death—​life energy re-​emerges in another form. Further, human death was thought to imitate nature’s death in winter, with short days and long nights. Consequently, depictions of death are often combined with the dark night and the moon, and tombs are constructed facing the direction of sun on the day of the winter solstice. Bull figurines, horns, and bucrania became ubiquitous in the art of the Near East and Old Europe with the introduction of sedentary life. In Old Europe, Indo-​European traditions, a bull, not only a symbol of life itself but also a source of life, is visible as the imperative and essential animal in the lives of the people. The evidence is in the miniature clay bucrania from early farming village occupation layers of the eighth millennium BCE at Tepe Guran, Iran. At Çatal Hüyük, the bull dominates the shrines of the seventh millennium BCE.20 Wall paintings on the tomb-​shrines depict bulls, people, and vultures defleshing bodies; bulls’ heads are also hung on the wall. Despite the presence of death in the tomb-​shrines, the scene depicting the vulture in red color flying upwards conveys resurrection after death. Terracotta nude female figurines of the Harappan civilization, a culture that flourished in northwestern India from 2500 to 1500 BCE, mirror the goddesses of Old Europe. James describes them as wearing headdresses like the ones found in Syria and the Eastern Mediterranean. “To enhance their life-​giving properties,

Old Europe | 103 most of them had been painted over with a red slip or wash, as are many Hindu figurines today.” These sacred images probably represent a goddess with qualities similar to those of the great mother goddess, the lady of heaven and a special patron of women. Among archeological discoveries is the yoni symbolism of Harappan culture, a sexual and fertility symbol. The mystery of birth and regeneration lies behind it.21 In the Ancient Near East, from the Mediterranean to the Indus Valley, this finds expression in the worship of the mother goddess, both with and without a male god. The dog, too, held a prominent role in Old European religion, as is demonstrated by its copious depictions in terracotta, marble, and rock. Dogs also appear on vases and in paintings. As one of the foremost sacrificial victims, the dog is closely linked with funerary rites. A representation of a white-​gray hound next to an image of a woman is associated with death. As in the Indo-​European traditions, the dog symbolizes a protector and a guide of the dead. In addition, dogs were also guardians of the living. Occasionally, dog sculptures wear the mask of a woman. Masks were a special category of Old European death symbols: “In a cemetery from the 5th millennium BCE, in Bulgaria, 16 graves out of 81 excavated were mask graves.”22 There were no human or animal remains, only life-​size masks in the form of a human face with convex eyes and decorated with gold. The strong Old European belief in cyclic regeneration is the main idea in their grave architecture, where the tomb is constructed in the shape of a womb. Such caves and tombs, interchangeable with the womb, egg, and uterus, are symbolic of death and life. Columns of life—​trees, snakes, and phalli—​as embodiments of the life force rise from the womb, cave, or tomb. Moreover, it was thought that a barrier of water existed between this world and the next, which was crossed by ships, which were also symbols of regeneration. Communal burial was a typical Old European practice. The megaliths of Western Europe were sacred centers of the community, and the burial of defleshed bones in these central shrines meant a return to their ancestors. Furthermore, burial of the bones, in various forms, meant “a return to the body of the Mother for regeneration within the womb of nature.”23 In summary, the concepts of creation and destruction, and life and death in both Old European and Indo-​European cultures do not differ greatly. Based on thus far reviewed beliefs concerning life, death, and rebirth/​regeneration in the traditions of Old Europe and Indo-​Europe, the sustenance of the world and everything in it is drawn from the bodies of the dead, and death is not an absolute end to existence. Creation always follows death, and the life cycle continues. Just

104 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

as cosmogony alternates with anthropogony, so death alternates with renewal/​ resurrection. As is evident from the construction of cemeteries and graves in the shape of a womb, with the corpse positioned as a fetus, death was most likely viewed by the Old Europeans as another birth or another existence. It appears that life after death also involved a journey by ship through water. The engravings of ceremonial ships found in the tombs often have depictions of cup-​marks containing a liquid, trees, vertical lines resembling people, and keels like serpents. The fresco paintings on the walls of shrines and at burial sites depict vultures in flying up, marked with the color of life, red, and pointing to life as a continuation of death. A female figure with a hound is either accompanying the dead or heralding the nearness of death. Perhaps much of the Old European religion has continued to this day, particularly connected with birth, death, and earth fertility rituals. The final product of the collision of Old European religious traditions with those of the Indo-​Europeans was not a substitution of one tradition for another but a gradual amalgamation of two diverse symbolic systems. This is a historic process by which all known religious belief systems of the world have evolved. Although the Indo-​Europeans’ ideology has been researched as the formal system of the ancient beliefs of Europe, the symbols and images of Old Europe were never totally uprooted. Some of the earlier traditions, which were not completely assimilated into Indo-​ European beliefs, are those particularly connected with birth, death, rebirth, and the mother goddess.24 The latter includes notions of nature goddesses, especially in connection to waters and rivers, and rituals of earth fertility.

Notes

1 2 3 4

Gimbutas 1991: xi, 349. James 1963: 169–​70. Townsend, 1990; Wall 1990; McLean 1989; Lyle 1991. Lyle further clarifies that “It is the female totality expressed in these goddess figures that I see as the ultimate encompassing element in the cosmogony, and I attempted some years ago to grapple with the apparent anomaly by which the female was both the whole (the cosmic tree, the entire year) and also a part (the earth’s surface, harvest).” Accordingly, in researching the Greek and Germanic cosmogonic myths, Lyle first, in the Greek myth, identifies the three generations of gods counting from the first couple, and then an additional generation before the first couple where there is a single primordial female. In Germanic myth, Lyle points to a female figure not

Old Europe | 105 only as the wife of the primordial god but also as the primal goddess. She not only appears and symbolizes the mother goddess, but she also appears as three rivers, three hymns, and three seasons. 1991: 39–​59. 5 Providing a different view in reading the past, McLean further clarifies C. G. Jung’s explanation of ‘archetype’ as follows: “An archetype represented a structure in the unconscious part of the human psyche. It belonged not so much to the particular race and tradition within which this individual was born and brought up. The archetypes are, in this sense, the remnants of experiences of our ancestors and, collectively, of the race to which we belong. A hard-​line behaviorist would be tempted to describe these as part of a racially inherited programming of the brain.” 1989:  111–​12. 6 Gimbutas 1989: 320–​1. 7 Ibid. 1991: 401. 8 Anthony 2001: 20–​1. 9 As an explanation of the motive behind creating such a great quantity and variety of female images, Gimbutas writes: “This symbolism is lunar and chthonic, built around the understanding that life on earth is eternal transformation, in constant and rhythmic change between creation and destruction, birth and death. The moon’s three phases—​new, waxing and old—​are repeated in trinities or triple functional deities: life-​giving, death-​giving, and transformational; rising, dying, and self-​renewing. Life-​givers are also death-​wielders. Immortality is secured through the innate forces of regeneration within Nature itself…The obvious analogy would be to Nature itself; through the multiplicity of phenomena and continuing cycles of which it is made, one recognizes the fundamental and underlying unity of Nature. The Goddess is immanent rather than transcendent and therefore physically manifests.” 1989: 316, 320, 399. 10 James 1963; Fairservis 1995; Francfort 1994: 14. 11 Gimbutas 1989: 175. 12 Ibid. 1989: 199–​329. 13 Ibid. 1989: 199, 323. 14 This is suggested by Lincoln (1991), Mallory (1989) and Dexter (1990, 1996). 15 Gimbutas 1989: 318. 16 Ibid. 17 Ibid. 1989: 316, 319–​21. 18 Ibid. 1989: 320. 19 Ibid. 1989: 321. 20 Ibid. 1989: 265. 21 James 1963: 69, 71. In addition, it has been suggested that since the Çatal Hüyük site lacks the minimum requirements of an Indo-​European culture, such as evidence of the horse and wheel, it is not Indo-​European. Further, it has been pointed out that the strong male deities of the early Indo-​Europeans contradict

106 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

the goddess-​centered religious ethos of Çatal Hüyük. In addition, this tomb-​shrine occupies a region that later became dominated by a non-​Indo-​European people. Yakar 1991; Mellaart, 1967. 22 Gimbutas 1989: 197, 205–​6. 23 Ibid. 1989: 185, 199–​201. 24 Ibid. 1989: xv–​x xiii.

5

Indo-​Iranians

Unity and Divergences Indo-​Iranian is one of the early branches of the Indo-​European family, among other early cultures of Asia such as the Anatolians, which included the Hittites, Tocharians, Phrygians, and Armenians. The Indo-​Iranians were related not only linguistically but also culturally to the extensive Indo-​European family. In addition, linguists observe that the resemblance between the two groups of Aryans, the Indian and the Iranian, is not one of just grammar and general lexicon but also culture. Even the references to the means of rituals in the two languages derive from a common ancestor, evidence of a common cultural background that is also reflected in the sharing of deities and geographical milieu, including names for rivers and mountains. This common physical and cultural background shaped their religious beliefs and rituals. Based on the writings of Herodotus, it is believed that Indo-​Iranians venerated the sun, the moon, the earth, fire, water, and the stars. Subsequently, from the allied beliefs of the Iranians and the Indians, we can infer a confirmation of the epoch of Aryan (Indo-​Iranian) unity. Due to the sketchy nature of the available Indo-​Iranian materials from the epochs of their unity to the time and nature of their divergence, it is tremendously difficult to establish a portrayal without encountering some opposition. What we

108 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

tentatively know about the milieu of Aryan life is that in even more remote times, the Iranian and Indian ancestors formed one people, the Proto-​Indo-​Iranians. They were a branch of the Indo-​Europeans and it is believed they lived as pastoralists on the South Russian Steppes, to the east of the Volga. Conjecture places the time as being from the fourth to the third millennium BCE. These people forged such a strong religious tradition that even to this day elements of it have been preserved by their descendants, the Brahmans of India and the Zoroastrians of Iran. In about the third millennium BCE, the Proto-​Indo-​Iranians drifted apart. They became two different peoples, the Indians and the Iranians, as identified by their speech.1 As a precursor to an analysis of the development of Indo-​ Iranian religion in India and Iran, it is useful to consider a bird’s-​eye view of their religio-​cultural practices. The Indo-​Iranians were one of the earliest branches of Indo-​Europeans who lived as one people in the same region, spoke the same language, shared similar beliefs and worldviews, and practiced the same customs. They branched off into various communities, partitioned themselves into different countries, and inhabited different lands even beyond Iran and India. Eventually, the various Indo-​ Iranian peoples came to speak different languages and adopt different habits. Among these people, over millennia, the shared religions of the Indians and the Iranians developed and transformed beyond recognition, conditioned by historical and ecological events. And yet, when we attempt to study the fundamentals of their religious ethos and world views, we arrive at countless similarities, if not complete identity, with those of the ancient people who had branched off from the same parental stock known in times long past as Aryan. It is certain that the Indo-​Iranians lived in the steppes of what is now Central Asia, north of the Caspian and Aral seas. As to the exact date when they lived in a continuum as a single group, there is no consensus. The proposed dates, based on the archeological evidence, range from 3500 to 2000 BCE. Historical linguists, however, suggest that Indo-​Iranians began to diverge before 2000 BCE, and the dispersal and division into two linguistically distinct groups, Iranian and Indo-​ Aryan, began in the middle of the third millennium BCE. There exists just as much controversy over the exact migration routes of Indo-​ Iranians as there is concerning the original homeland of the Indo-​Europeans. Harmatta, based on an elaborate chronological linguistic scheme drawn from Proto-​Indo-​Iranian and Proto-​Iranian loan words such as horse and chariot, concludes that the contacts between the tribes in the Caucasus and the Indo-​ Iranians took place perhaps in about 4000 BCE. He further suggests that the migrations of the Proto-​Indo-​Iranians took place over several centuries in three

Indo-Iranians | 109 consecutive stages with different characteristics: the first migration was by small cattle-​breeding groups; the second by the tribes and clans with armies and chariots; and the third by huge groups of equestrian nomads with their livestock.2 Today, the most widespread model of Indo-​Iranian origin locates their direct ancestry among the peoples of the eastern steppe in the southern Urals and Kazakhstan from the third millennium BCE. The region also provides a convenient contact zone with the Finno-​Ugrian languages. The culture most frequently associated with the earliest Indo-​Iranians (Aryans) is the Andronovo culture, situated across the forest steppe, the steppe, and later in the northern regions of Central Asia. The blanket term Andronovo is based on Gimbutas’ Kurgan archeological discoveries. Andronovo culture, ca. 2000–​900 BCE, extended over western Siberia from the southern Urals to the Yenisei River in Russia. This culture was made up of mostly mobile pastoralists as well as those established in small villages, chiefly in Central Asia. The structures of the burials and the remains of wheeled vehicles, livestock, horses, ornaments, weapons, and tools are closely associated with the Indo-​Iranians. This relationship is further supported by their pastoral lifestyle and the distribution of Iranian place names across the region of their occupation. Andronovan archeological evidence is often compared with the textual data of the Indo-​Iranians, and the results are often used to confirm the Indo-​Iranian identity of the various steppe tribes, including the Iranian-​speaking tribes of Sarmatians, Alans, and Sakas that occupied the region during the first millennium BCE.3 Furthermore, the Indo-​Iranization of greater Iran and the Indian subcontinent relies heavily on a model that requires Andronovo tribes to have originated in Central Asia. As for the archeological traits that would identify the migration routes of the Aryans from Central Asia into India and Iran, various characteristics include horse sacrifices and horse burials, or a cult of the horse; a fire cult, which if not invented by the Aryans was most definitely spread by them; and the burial customs of cremation and exposure of the corpse. Weapons found in the excavations are made of bronze and iron. Aryans, who were experts of horse-​drawn chariots and wagons as well as cattle herding, brought iron tools and implements into the Near East and India.4 From the archeological remains of the Andronovo people, Elena E. Kuzmina has traced Aryan migration from the steppe to the south in the second millennium (seventeenth–​sixteenth centuries BCE). She also agrees that all the above-​mentioned Aryan features were shared among the Andronovo culture of Kazakhstan, and the later Aryans (Iranians) who remained in the Central Asian

110 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

region after the separation and southern migration of a group into India. These Aryans did not migrate as horse-​riding nomads, as in later times, but on foot or in chariots or wagons. Cemeteries from various sites where warriors were buried produced the earliest known examples of light-​wheeled horse-​drawn chariots. Kuzmina emphasizes the importance of incorporating the archeological data with the linguistically reconstructed cultures in order to broaden our understanding of Indo-​Iranian history and peoples before writing began. “In determining the routes followed by the Indo-​Iranians as they migrated away from their original homeland, precedence is taken by the data reflecting their spiritual culture, and not by the characteristics of their ware and similar characteristics.”5 There have been archeological discoveries, including burials, shrines, and temples, marked with signs, images, and symbols that confirm an Indo-​Iranian cultural basis. One of the Bactria-​Margiana Archeological Complex (BMAC) sites is a mound one hundred feet high and one hundred and twenty-​five acres wide and is an archeological-​historical-​cultural treasure. It is a mud-​brick structure of a walled city with gated towers, buildings, and streets. The most prominent structure has connecting rooms, hallways, storage facilities, altars, hearths, burials, painted pottery, a myriad of artifacts, jewelry, including a gold bull’s head set, and enigmatic amulets. The entire complex is virtually a hecatomb, probably representative of a century or more of funerary ritual.6 Furthermore, the BMAC culture, associated with Indo-​Iranians, further attests to a southern migration from Central Asia into the Indian subcontinent. Studies of BMAC will definitely shed more light on the cultural and religious understanding of the Indo-​Iranians, particularly those of the Indians and the Iranians. Other archeological sites in Central Asia, including constructed cemeteries and graves, shrines, temples, and altars, are ascribed to the Indo-​Iranians. From Mesopotamian, Central Asian, Iranian, and Indic records, we know that the Aryans were knowledgeable in the arts of weaponry, mining, carpentry, pottery, seafaring, building construction, agriculture, and, therefore, irrigation and sewerage. As Aryans migrated into newly discovered lands, they also circulated their religious practices and beliefs. In summary, Indo-​Iranians spanned the Eurasian steppe as part of the broader movement of the Indo-​European peoples. The spread zone is further confirmed by the historically attested movements of Iranian-​speaking peoples, such as the Sarmatians and Alans, into Central and even Western Europe, across Southern Russia, Kazakhstan, and extending as far east as Xinjiang in western China. Even though there no conclusive migratory route has been determined for the Indo-​Iranians, we know that the Indo-​A ryans settled in the northwestern

Indo-Iranians | 111 part of India, the Punjab region, and Anatolia, and the Iranians settled in Iran, i.e., in an area that includes modern Iran, Afghanistan, and parts of Central Asia, especially the area bordered by the Oxus and Yaxartes rivers. The linguistic similarities between the Indians and the Iranians not only suggest a period of Indo-​Iranian unity but also a period of accord with the earlier Proto-​Indo-​European language.7 The Indo-​Iranian language group, the largest sub-​branch of the Indo-​European family of languages, is distinct from the non-​ Indo-​European languages of India. It is comprised of Indic, linguistically also referred to as Indo-​A ryan, Iranian, and Nūristāni, of which only the first two, the Indic and the Iranian, were recorded in antiquity. Nūristāni languages are also known as kāfirī. Kāfir, “infidel,” was the name given to the people of the Hindukush by their Islamic conquerors. It was later changed to Nūristāni (Nūr, “light”). The most recent research demonstrates that Nūristāni languages have features of the Aryan language that were lost in Iranian and Vedic. Evidence shows that they might belong to a different Western, Indo-​European-​speaking immigrant group that left traces in the high Himalayas.8 The genetic relationship between the Indic, Nūristāni and Iranian languages means that they formed a common system of communication in an earlier period. More Avestan and Vedic scholars are now looking into Central Asia, including the Hindukush region, to gain a better understanding of Indo-​Iranian language and tradition. However, the earliest Indo-​European written evidence, from northern Mesopotamia, the Mitanni treaty (second millennium BCE), with its Proto-​A ryan names, is still the center of Indo-​Iranian linguistic debate. This was reviewed in preceding chapters. Reading through the related materials, it appears that there is some confusion regarding the proper usage of the terms “Aryans” and “Indo-​A ryans.” Some clarification is needed before we proceed further. The former term, based on self-​ designation by the Vedic poets, represents many ethnic groups that subscribed to a newly emerging ideology. The latter term designates speakers of a subgroup of languages within the Indo-​Iranian branch of the Indo-​European family. Neither term is coterminous with racial groups.9 However, the linguistic, cultural, and religious usages of Aryan and Indo-​Iranian terminology, referencing periods of their unity, are interchangeable. There is no debate about the external origin of Indo-​A ryan languages spoken today in South Asia. Indo-​A ryan and Iranian languages are further discussed later. The Indo-​Iranian languages have the largest territorial distribution of any Indo-​European language sub-​grouping and were spoken in the region north of the Black Sea to the Yenisei River in Russia, as well as in Central Asia, Western

112 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

China, Iran, and the northern Indian subcontinent. Historically, this would include the Sarmatians, Alans, and Scythians. The ability to reconstruct a Proto-​ Indo-​Iranian language is supported by the self-​designation, āryo-​“Aryan” (Sanskrit ārya-​, Avestan airya-​, Persian ariya) shared by both Indians and Iranians. “Aryan” is also preserved in the name of Irān (Iran), which is derived from an earlier term, aryānām, meaning [the country] of the Aryans (Āryas). Although these Aryans or Iranians used different dialects, they formed a nationally self-​conscious whole.10 This must have led them to feel they were one race as they were careful to separate themselves from the an-​āryas, peoples “not Iranian.” Some scholars have claimed that the name for Ireland, Eire, is the same word as ārya, and, considering the wide and early dissemination of the word, Ārya must be the name used for all the early speakers of Indo-​European languages. The primary indicators of Aryan identity are not physical or racial but cultural (e.g., religion and language).11 On the subject of ethnic identity and language spread, Nichols explains: “Though ethnic identity and pure ethnonyms are not typical for attested and reconstructible steppe and desert nomads and are apparently not necessary for language spread on the steppe, they have occurred.” She cites the example *ārya-​, an ethnonym attested at Skt. *ārya, Ossetic Iron (ethnonym for speakers of one dialect, and name of the dialect), Scythian Alan, Persian ĭrān “Iran.”12 Furthermore, Aryan refers to the traditional linguistic or racial categorization of the authors of the Ṛg Veda, and they referred to themselves in their own language as ārya, the “noble,” the “exalted one,” to further distinguish themselves from other non-​A ryan groups.13 It seems impossible to study the heritage of the Indo-​Europeans without first dispelling the specter of the Aryan Myth.14 The scholarship devoted to the early nomads of the eastern steppes is dominated by the belief that these people were Indo-​European, and most certainly of the Indo-​Iranian group. As demonstrated, there have been archeological discoveries, including graves, temples, symbols, and images, that confirm an Indo-​Iranian cultural basis. Models of Iranian origins and dispersions refer back to the steppe lands and presume that the difference between the Indo-​A ryans and the Iranians is more a matter of the geography of dispersion than of cultural content. Their socio-​ cultural characteristics are described as those of the Indo-​Iranians (Aryans), i.e., semi-​nomadic, tribal, hierarchical, patriarchal, and patrilineal. Details of their religious ideologies are discussed in the Vedic Indian chapter. The archeological evidence for the earliest Indo-​A ryans in northwest India is either controversial or ambiguous as it is difficult to define what precisely should be expected of an Indo-​A ryan culture.

Indo-Iranians | 113 Indo-​A ryans, probably over a period of several centuries starting from the middle of the second millennium BCE, moved through Central Asia and the Hindukush and down into the Indus Valley. They were equipped with horse-​ drawn chariots, cattle, dogs, and bows and arrows. In the Indus Valley, they encountered indigenous dark-​skinned people whom they called dāsas. The Indo-​ Aryans, ruled by a king, continued their tribal-​warrior lifestyle. Maintaining harmony with the gods and the cosmic order, the king brought prosperity, security, and wealth to his people. The Indo-​A ryans, in keeping with their ancestral heritage, bestowed the highest social ranks on the priests, who were often more powerful than the king himself. The earliest religious hymns (both Vedic and Avestan) also reflect a geographical knowledge of the sapta-​sindhava, the seven rivers, or tributaries, of the Indus. Their distribution would cross with that of the Harappan culture of the Indus region, but from the results of research to date, the latter culture would serve as a very poor candidate for early Indo-​A ryans. Nevertheless, Fairservis, in search of Indo-​A ryan identity, compares the archeological evidence with the religious texts. Referencing other researchers, Fairservis suggests that “it is to this Central Asian Bronze Age Complex, or BMAC, that we must turn if we are to recover evidence for its genesis.”15 Both the Andronovo culture as a staging area and the BMAC as a cultural filtering center through which some of the Indo-​ Iranians must have moved southward to the Mehrgarh in the Indus Valley are supported by the remains in cemeteries and Painted Grey Ware cultures. In contrast, Renfrew suggests that Indo-​A ryans came from the west, i.e., Anatolia, crossing the Iranian Plateau and arriving in West Pakistan with the spread of agriculture prior to 6000 BCE. This argument and others made by Burrow are either linguistic or religious and never based on the archeological findings that testify to a southern migration from Central Asia into the subcontinent. However, in reviewing the various possibilities of the migration routes suggested by various scholars, Mallory proposes that “Indo-​A ryans divided south of an earlier staging area with some moving east and others far to the west, or they actually immigrated in mass forming a broad continuum across Western Asia to the Indus and were later divided by the incursion of Iranian-​speaking peoples.”16 As Aryan peoples gradually migrated into the Indus Valley of India in the second millennium BCE, they encountered a culture that generally dates from around 2600–​1800 BCE. Indus Valley culture, or Harappan and Mohenjo-​daro, named after two of its major cities, extended from the borders of the Iranian Plateau to the Ganges. The period of the Indus Valley civilization is generally regarded as the first chapter in the history of ancient India. The urban period of

114 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

the Indus Valley, dated between 2500–​2000 BCE, is marked by large planned settlements with streets, buildings, and inter-​urban water systems. The objects discovered from the Indus sites contain symbols and images, e.g., adorned animals, the bull, female goddess-​like figurines, and pictographs similar to the Old European ones described by Gimbutas. The archeological artifacts from the Indus Valley, distinguished by their unique symbolic markings, particularly the goddesses, highlight the presence of similar figures found as far west as Europe. Accordingly, the goddess image of the Indus is associated with the tree of fertility and the bull, and she is depicted wearing the same headdress as figurines discovered in Mesopotamia from the third millennium BCE.17 Indus Valley motifs were present until the historical period of India, as is also the case in neighboring countries. Those Aryans who migrated to the area now called India are linguistically referred to as Indo-​A ryan in order to distinguish them from other Aryans who moved elsewhere, either to Iran or Mesopotamia. Indo-​A ryans settled as semi-​ nomadic pastoralists in the region of the Sapta-​Sindhu (seven rivers) and the Doab (two rivers). They lived in tribal communities with an economy based on pastoralism and agriculture, in which cattle served as the main form of wealth. Their religious practices and early religious texts are described in greater detail later. The Indo-​A ryan languages, as a branch of the Indo-​Iranian language family, are derived from a single form of speech introduced into India by the Aryans. This form of speech is linguistically referred to as Indo-​A ryan and should be further distinguished from Iranian languages. The classical form of Old Indo-​A ryan eventually came to be designated by the term saṃskṛta-​, “polished, cultivated, correct,” in contradiction to prākṛta, which was Indo-​A ryan in origin but was subject to steady change and evolution.18 The Indo-​A ryans used the term mleccha-​“unrefined, uncultured” for the locals, i.e., the āryas, to distinguish themselves from the non-​āryans. The written form of this archaic language, Saṃskṛta (Sanskrit), is found in the massive corpus of religious literature known as the Vedas. The Vedas, “knowledge,” consists of a body of texts extending from the fifteenth to the sixth century BCE. The Vedas contain the cultural products of the ancient Indo-​A ryans19 and have had a profound influence on the understanding and interpretation of the Indo-​Iranian world. In addition to the Indo-​A ryan languages, India possesses another major linguistic group of non-​Indo-​European origin: the Dravidian language family, which dominates the southern third of India. The Middle Indic languages, or Prākṛt [“made before, natural, vernacular”], are the languages of early India that were spoken ca. 400 BCE to 1100 E.

Indo-Iranians | 115 During the earlier stages of the Middle Indic period, the Prākṛt languages of the Buddhist scriptures, referred to as Pāli, emerged. The modern Indo-​A ryan languages began to emerge from Prākṛt in the first millennium BCE. These provide the largest group of the spoken languages of India and Pakistan today. Vedic Sanskrit represents the earliest stage, and the succeeding languages are known as Classical Sanskrit, Pāli, Prākṛt, Hindi, Sindhi, Bengali, Gujarati, Marathi, Panjabi, Rajasthani, Bihari, Oriya, Urdu, Nepali, etc.20 Thus, in the literary documents of India alone, there is more than three thousand years of continuous Indo-​Iranian linguistic history recorded in literary documents. Although in India itself we cannot go earlier than the Vedas, researchers claim to have found the earliest written evidence for an Indo-​A ryan language from northern Syria, the empire of Mitanni. As referred to in the Indo-​European chapter, the Mitanni treaty, written in a cuneiform script in the non-​IE language Hurrian and dated to the middle of the second millennium BCE, contains the names of some gods and elements like the ones found in the early texts of India and Iran. Although the basic language of the Mitanni was non-​Indo-​European, there is, nevertheless, clear evidence of the use of Indo-​European vocabularies. Thieme, following a detailed linguistic analysis of the names of deities and cultural terms used in the treaty, refers to the contents of the treaty as Proto-​A ryan.21 He further objects to any other categorization, such as Indo-​A ryan or Proto-​ Indian, based on the lack of adequate cultural-​historical data. The details of Indo-​A ryan religious beliefs, which largely define their cultural identities, are discussed later. The Indo-​A ryans are credited with the composition of the earliest religious texts, which have served as a foundation for the later development of other religious ideologies in India. This early-​developed religion is often referred to as Vedic religion, and is to be distinguished from its later offshoot, Hinduism.

Expansions and Contractions Various models of Iranian origins and dispersions refer back to the steppe lands, and to the fact that Īrān (Iran) is derived from an earlier word, aryānām, meaning “[the country] of the Aryans.” The geographical descriptions presented in the earliest texts confirm the archeological discoveries of the settlements and cemeteries of the steppes. They point to a semi-​pastoral, tribal-​communal society resembling the Andronovo cultures of Central Asia and Southern Siberia from the Bronze Age. The Iranian nation itself formed part of a wider grouping as the

116 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Indo-​Iranians formed only one member of the large Indo-​European family of nations. It is generally assumed that the Indo-​Iranians moved down from the north, i.e., from the Ural region. However, there are two hypotheses of their exact migration route into the Iranian Plateau. The first is from west of the Caspian Sea and over the Caucasus; and the other route is from east of the Caspian Sea. The archeological results from Bactria and Margiana favor the eastern route migration.22 In addition, there is another theory suggesting two routes of migration into Iran, one from the northwestern areas and the other from eastern Central Asia. The current distribution of Iran differs greatly from its ancient expansion, which included a vast portion of the Eurasian steppe. The major Iron Age nomads of the Pontic-​Caspian steppe, the Scythians, Sarmatians, and Alans, expanded their immediate territories westward into Europe. The Alans and Sarmatians went as far as North Africa via Europe. Remnants of the Alans have survived in the modern Ossetes of the central Caucasus. Other Iranians farther to the east were the Parthians and the Bactrians. The Sogdians, the Khorasmians, the Khotanese Saka in China, and the Tumshuqese were among the other Iranian-​speaking peoples. The latter two languages are thought to be related to that of the Iron Age Scythians of the Old Iranian period. Nichols writes, “Throughout much of the first millennium BC, speakers of Iranian languages, whose best-​k nown representatives on the steppe were the Scythians, ruled the Eurasian steppe and the deserts of Central Asia.”23 Other Iranian languages in Central Asia, in the confines of China, and in the plains of South Russia continued to develop as well. All the above-​mentioned languages are labeled by linguists as Northeastern and Eastern Iranian, to contrast them with the Persian language of Western Iran. The languages that evolved in the Iranian Plateau are Avestan (Old Iranian), Old and Middle Persian (Pahlavi), New Persian, Kurdish, Tajik, Dari, Pashto, and Baluchi. The primary language of Iran until the Arab conquest of 642 CE was Middle Persian or Pahlavi, which spread over the territory of many of the other Iranian dialects of Iran. New Persian emerged after the Arab conquest of Persia to become the state language of modern Iran. It is also spoken in other countries such as Afghanistan, Tajikistan, and parts of Central Asia. The earliest document to mention Persians is from the middle of the ninth century BCE. This document mentions that the Assyrian King Shalmaneser received tributes from the twenty-​seven tribes of the Paršuwaš, which is generally thought to indicate the Persians as members of a western Iranian tribe. The Medes (ca. 614–​550 BCE), from a northwestern Iranian tribe, are also mentioned in the eighth century BCE under Tiglath-​Pileser III. The Medes were the first

Indo-Iranians | 117 Iranians to make an impact on the West. Zaehner further states that the Persians “swooped down upon the Mesopotamian plain and extinguished forever the Assyrian power that had, among other things, carried Israel off into captivity.”24 The first written monuments of the Persians, however, are the sixth-​century BCE royal inscriptions of the Achaemenid kings (550–​330 BCE), primarily Darius the Great (522–​486 BCE) and Xerxes (486–​465 BCE), which were carved into the face of a cliff at Behistun in a specially invented cuneiform script. Moreover, during the reigns of Cyrus and Darius, the Persian territories extended westward to Africa and eastward to India, establishing satrapies, which included northern India, i.e., the Indus region. According to Renou,25 it was in this period that the Persians (sixth and fifth centuries BCE), “opened the way on the material and spiritual planes,” along with the Greeks and Indians. The only written sources for the history of Iran before the Achaemenids are the Old Persian inscriptions (Darius’s inscriptions), Herodotus, and the Avesta. The Avesta is a liturgical text, originally transmitted orally like the Indic Vedas. Avestan takes its name from the great body of early religious scriptures known as Avesta, meaning probably “authoritative utterances.” The Avesta also provides enough geographical points of reference to indicate that its cultural milieu was east of the Caspian Sea.26 The Avesta also mentions the airiianәm vaējō, meaning “the Aryan expanse,” which is generally taken to be the homeland of the Aryans. The Avestan corpus, having evolved orally over many centuries, began to emerge in the fifth century BCE. During the Sassanian period (224–​651 CE), the Avesta became canonized; at this time, Zoroastrianism was institutionalized and became the state religion. It was during this time that the Avesta was first committed to writing in a specially invented alphabet, i.e., Avestan. This collection of hymns displays much the same archaic nature as the Indian Vedas. It is this fact that has prompted linguists such as Burrow to reject the traditional dating of Zarathushtra to the sixth century BCE and propose a much older date, by possibly half a millennium or more. The most archaic portion of the Avesta, the Gāthās (Gāθās), as noted earlier, closely resembles the Indic Vedas. The composition of the Gāthās is credited to Zaraθuštra (Zarathushtra)—​ later known by the Greeks as Zoroaster, a zaotar “priest” belonging to the older tradition of Indo-​ Iranian who became a reformer of his ancestral religion. Zarathushtra’s later institutionalized religion, known as Zoroastrianism, is supported by a set of scriptures. Accordingly, Iranians who adhered to his tradition are called Zoroastrians. According to the rules of his tradition, Zarathushtra was trained for the priesthood from the age of seven. Even though he did not intend to abolish his father’s religion, he attracted the hostility of the conservative

118 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

priests by attempting to reform some aspects of it. Boyce describes the underlying social setting of the society of Zarathushtra as the Heroic Ages, wherein war chariots played a large part. Boyce explains that the Rathaeshtars, literally “chariot-​standers,” formed a new dominant group who sought wealth and fame for themselves and stopped helping their tribes protect the cattle. References in the Gāthās suggest a semi-​pastoralist society wherein cattle, horses, and camels were highly valued. There are varying views on when Zarathushtra lived; however, it is certain that by the time his ideologies reached Iran, they were already marked as ancient. Based on the later Greek calculations, Zarathushtra lived 258 years before Alexander the Great, placing him in the middle of the sixth century BCE. Another theory, however, based on comparative linguistic and archeological records, suggests a date even earlier than 1500 BCE Boyce says that there is enough evidence to suggest that Zarathushtra flourished sometime between 1400 and 1200 BCE, somewhere northeast or east of Iran. The Avesta contains two separate sets of texts, referred to as the Old and Young. The dating of the Avesta is another controversial subject; however, the composition of the Gāthās, the Old materials, based on its archaic makeup, dates to 1700 BCE. The younger Avesta dates from the nineth century BCE to the third century CE. However, Humbach suggests that Zarathushtra lived in 1080 BCE, which he states is in approximate agreement with the linguistic evidence. From the middle of the first millennium BCE until the seventh century CE, Zoroastrianism was the religion of the Iranian empires. In the mid-​seventh century CE, Muslim Arabs from Arabia overthrew the Sassanian Empire. A small group of Iranian Zoroastrians escaped execution at the hands of Muslim Arabs and took refuge in India during the tenth century CE, where they were known as Pārsees. Today, a small community of surviving Zoroastrians lives largely in Iran and India, and in various other countries. Zoroastrianism, its texts, and its impact on the eschatological development of later religions are discussed later.

Religio-​Cultural Perspectives Witzel proposes a new approach to the study of Vedic religion, one that is significant for both Vedic and Avestan studies. He suggests that because of increasing specialization and the fragmentary nature of available materials, there are often statements that no major overreaching Ṛgvedic worldview yet existed. “Instead of the many detailed but atomistic studies of the past century a new,

Indo-Iranians | 119 fuller description would proceed in a concerted, systematic way (using metalinguistic terminology) and would indicate in how far and in which way the various deities, demi-​gods, demonic powers and other forces make up a fairly coherent conceptual system.”27 He recommends a close comparison with Iranian, Indo-​European, Nostratic, and Eurasian mythologies to help establish some of the obscure yet widespread common parameters and motifs underpinning Indo-​ Iranian mythology and ritual. Witzel further suggests the need for a comprehensive study that would include the influences of the Pre-​Vedic era from the Urals to the Punjab, notably, the BMAC region, the Hindukush, and the Near East, via Elam, Baluchistan, Afghanistan, and the Indus, all of which would involve a comparison with Eurasian myth from Iceland to Japan and beyond. Similarly, this book is aimed at providing a broader understanding of the Indian and Iranian religions. As we have already established, Indo-​Iranian religion has a prehistory that dates back all the way to the Indo-​European configurations, and even farther. The Indo-​Iranians were also influenced by the local beliefs they encountered on their migration routes through Central Asia. Archeological records, especially those from Central Asia (BMAC), testify to the cultural and religious diversity of their milieu. Moreover, what has come down to us in the Vedas and the Avesta is the culmination of their metamorphosis. Important to the study of Indo-​Iranian religion, in addition to the cemeteries and graves discovered, are the archeological discoveries of Aryan temples, among which is the Togolok 21 temple. Concerning the discovery of an Indo-​Iranian temple from the second millennium BCE in the Karakum, east of Turkmenistan, Sarianidi says, “At Togolok 21, as at temples of similar date in Bactria, there are elements of Indo-​Iranian worship… of particular interest in that they include both fire worship and the use of haoma libation.” He further describes the temple and its various cells, including altars “connecting with both the fire cult and cultic libations” and phallic objects connected to the phallic cult, like the ones found in Bactrian and Harappan cultures. Another interesting cultic object discovered in the Togolok 21 temple is a marble head of a bull. Images painted on the walls include an eagle, a dog, a goat, and two figures. The images of frogs and snakes crawling upward on the inside walls of the vessels used for pouring libations are similar to the Old European symbols. On the interior of one cultic vessel there are figures of a woman and a man who is holding a child. Sarianidi connects this image to the cultic libation of haoma-​soma, based on the Ṛgvedic myth, where soma is referred to as the child of heaven and earth, both male and female. “One can assume that the friezes of the cultic vessels reflect the Indo-​Iranian myth in

120 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

which father-​heaven and mother-​earth bear a child and offer it up to heaven for worship.”28 Sarianidi further compares this image to the Ṛgvedic Parjania, the thunder god, who also appears in the role of a father. It appears that the Indo-​Iranians who lived in these parts of Central Asia in the second millennium BCE built temples with different layouts for different ritual practices. Nowhere in the Vedic and Avestan texts is there mention of a temple, and based on the statements of Herodotus, it was generally accepted that the Aryans did not build temples, altars, and icons; nevertheless, archeology has shown that the Aryans did build fire altars and temples.29 Icon (Gk, eikon, “image” or “picture”) is defined as a flat picture painted on wood, metal, and other materials and found on walls, ceilings, and stands.30 As such, there are various friezes, decorated cultic objects, engravings, and even statuettes with religious significance attached to them. They are excavated as part of temples, cemeteries, shrines, or graves. It would appear only logical for a priestly religion such as that of the Indo-​Iranians, with so much importance and emphasis placed on ritual acts, including sacrifice, oblation, and offering, to have had designated locations for proper preparation and performance. The essentials of linguistics are also important to the study of religion in that they clearly show that Indo-​Iranian religion developed in a state of cultural variety. n the study of Indo-​Iranian religion, one may be dealing with diverse phenomena developing according to various social dispositions. Nevertheless, it appears that several cultural and religious qualities were held in common by the various tribes. We will demonstrate in future chapters that the underpinning of the Indo-​Iranians’ religiosity remained unchanged in both Indian and Iranian. As to their particular views on life and afterlife, their respective convictions may have developed distinctively but they were still rooted in their primeval creeds. The Aryans shared similar material and social cultural foundations to an extent, which influenced their religious construction. They were pastoralists who herded livestock such as goats, sheep, and cattle. Cattle were the most vital for the Aryans as they provided food, leather, urine for purification, and dung for fuel. As we have already discussed, the cow also held a chief position in Old European and Indo-​European religion as it symbolized life and sustenance. Aryans learned the use of wooden carts at first pulled by oxen, and then later, after they learned to tame the wild horses of the steppes, by horses. The importance of water, in the forms of rivers, springs, and rain, together with fire, both in the altar and in the form of the sun, are common motifs in Indo-​Iranian religion. As herders and hunters, Indo-​Iranians lived in tribes (Avestan zantu, and various names in Vedic), which consisted of a group of extended families known

Indo-Iranians | 121 as *wik (Avestan wis, Vedic viś). They also recognized all the Aryan tribes as one people, one nation called dahyu. Aryans placed importance on the family, the tribe, and some form of social structure. The Aryan classes were among the earliest attested Indo-​European social classes based on tripartition. In Vedic India, these are listed as brahmin “priest,” kṣatriya “warrior,” and vaiśya “herder-​ cultivators.” Social divisions among Iranians, as noted in the Avesta, were tripartite as well—​āthravan “priest,” rathaēštār “one who stands in the chariot, a warrior,” and vāstryō-​f šuyant “husbandman, farmer.” Among Indo-​Iranians, the priests were specialists in ritual and the performance of sacrifice.31 As discussed earlier, sacrifices were performed in their most elaborate forms in order to maintain the cosmos. Therefore, priests regularly enforced the claim that without the proper performance of the rituals, all existence would collapse back into chaos. Correspondingly, everyone—​warriors, kings, and lay people—​were reliant on the priestly class. Myths about how the world and the people in it came to have the form they now have are numerous among Indo-​Iranian traditions and are similar to Indo-​European traditions. However, in all of these myths, one or some, if not all, of the following themes are shared: creation through the dismemberment of a primordial being; creation by an omnipotent being who places the cosmos in the void; creation by a hero who separates earth and heaven; the fashioning of the cosmos by an all-​maker; and the hatching of the world and everything in it from the cosmic egg or seeds. The specifics of creation myths in Indian and Iranian religions are discussed later in their respective chapters. In addition, a natural law that guaranteed the persistence of the cosmos and existence itself in an orderly manner was posited by the Indo-​Iranians. This law was known to Vedic Indians as ṛta, and to Zoroastrians as aṣ̌​a. Subsequently, ṛta has two basic meanings in Indo-​Iranian—​“truth” and “cosmic order.” All the nature gods, as well as the abstract gods and humans, were held in place by this cosmic law. This concept had ethical implications as it was thought of as having governance over human conduct. Honesty, devotion, and truth were proper virtues for humanity; hence, opposite behaviors such as dishonesty, falsehood, lies (Vedic druh, Avestan druj), and cheating in games were considered disorderly and untruthful, or sinful. In a religious system such as the Indo-​Iranian one, where there is so much emphasis on ṛta, “orderly conduct,” and a prohibition of anṛta, “disorderly acts,” there is bound to be justice. Justice, as an abstract principle of order, is found in most ancient traditions, and the Indo-​Iranian is no exception. Indo-​Iranians divided the world into three parts—​earth, atmosphere, and heaven. This tripartition provides the basic orientation of the religion. Since the

122 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

three parts are arranged in ascending order, humans perceive them in order of transcendence. The earth, while holy, is the kingdom of human activity and immanence. The atmosphere envelops all three tiers, touching the earth, surrounding humans, and extending to the vault of heaven. It is ever-​changing, apparently void but crossed by the wind, which is unpredictable. The atmosphere forms the stage for the continual activity of forces that inspire awe and are often violent. Above the atmosphere is the vault of heaven and, beyond that, heaven itself. The atmosphere touches mankind, but mankind cannot conceive of heaven, which is entirely beyond the realm of human experience. Its height is a natural symbol of transcendence. In the Indo-​Iranian creation myth, the sky is made of stone and serves as the vault of heaven. In addition, a cosmic mountain reaches heaven from the center of Earth, and a cosmic river pours down to Earth from heaven and is the source of all waters. The source of the river is a cosmic sea or ocean into which the rivers flow. The details of these cosmogonic myths, as developed in India and Iran, are reviewed in their respective chapters. As the world comes into existence in its three planes so does the duality of orderly and disorderly worlds. The orderly existence, cosmos, is born out of chaos. Cosmos, however, is enclosed by chaos, symbolized either as the waters or as darkness. "There also occurs a vertical differentiation in chaos; that is, the waters surrounding the heavens are the source of Truth, whereas those in the nether regions below and around the earth are shrouded in darkness and are the source of the anticosmic principle of Falsehood.”32 Dualism was seen to arise from the two fundamental causal principles, chaos and order, underlying the existence of the world. Both of the previously discussed traditions, i.e., Old European and Indo-​European, exhibited recognition of the importance of this principle in the nature of existence. More clearly defined in the cosmological and anthropogonic myths, this principle is responsible for the genesis of the cosmos and humankind. Furthermore, the ethical orientation of the Indo-​Iranians was also formed based on their conception of the duality of the cosmos. Dark chaos, home of the demonic forces, was continuously endangering the cosmic order. Night and darkness were associated with the netherworld of chaos, as light was associated with the orderly world. Since it was in the darkness of night that demons moved up into the world of humans, nights were viewed as dangerous and vulnerable times for people. The orderly cosmos, corresponding to “existence/​being,” was recognized as the “real, true” (Vedic satya, Avestan haithya); and all that existed in the nether region was chaos, untruth, and non-​being.

Indo-Iranians | 123 The Indo-​Iranians offered their worship to a particular divinity or cultic god, such as Water, Fire, Soma/​Haoma, Soul of the Bull, and to nature gods, such as sky/​earth, sun/​moon, and two gods of the wind. The performance of rituals, including sacrifices and offerings, was the responsibility of the priesthood. Fire (Latin ignis, Lithuanian ugnis, Vedic agni, Avestan atar) was a divine element with its own enduring cult. A cognate, Ak/​gniš, identifying as a god of destruction and annihilation, also appears in the Mitanni treaty found at Bogazköy. The archeological remains of fire altars, standing alone or as part of a larger temple structure, can be found throughout Central Asia and Iran. There are also remains of temples and shrines dedicated to the water goddess in the same regions. The Proto-​Indo-​Iranians personified earth, rivers, and other waters as goddesses. Daily offerings, however, were made to the gods of fire and water. Juice from a pounded plant (Vedic “soma,” Zoroastrian “haoma”) was offered as part of the ritual. This sacred drink, personified as a priest and a god, was used to heal and protect the people. In addition to its use as an offering, warriors, sages, poets, and even gods consumed the juice for the enhancement of certain abilities and activities. The Indo-​ Iranians used two names to refer to gods. One meant “the Immortals” (Vedic “amṛta” and Avestan “Aməša”). Another name used was the “Shining One,” in Vedic “deva,” in Avestan “daeva.” Both words are Indo-​ European in origin. Yet another term used by the Iranians was *baga (Vedic bhaga), “He who distributes [good things].” The tripartite division of the universe, accordingly, provided habitats for the gods based on their attributes. The sky gods, like Mitra, are creators and representatives of the code of ethics. The atmospheric gods, martial in nature, are described as traveling through the sky, often in chariots, or living in high mountains (often the cosmic one). Deities of the atmospheric region are occupied with wars and storms, e.g., the wind gods Vāta and Vāyu. The former is the bringer of clouds, and the latter is the “god of the breath of life itself—​beneficent while he sustains it, but terrible in the moment when he makes it depart.”33 The earth deities, concerned with prosperity and fertility, are goddesses who also preside over the rivers, both earthly and cosmic. The god of fire resides in all levels as the messenger between humans and gods. The Indo-​European deities mentioned in the Mitanni treaty, Varuṇa, Mitra, Indra, and the Nāsatyas or Aśvins, continued their existence in both the Indian and Iranian religions. The pattern of dualism through paired deities continued its stronghold in the religion of the Indo-​Iranians. Among these divinities, there were gods with natures rooted in ethical concerns and not just personified natural

124 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

phenomena, as most scholars have assumed. These gods and some others are discussed further later. In Indo-​Iranian religion, like the religions of their ancestors, the creation myth is inextricably connected to sacrifice, and therefore the importance of ritual action is reinforced. In addition to sacrificial ritual, verbal rituals, including vows and oaths, played an incredibly important part in the establishment and preservation of social bonds. The basic act of worship for the Indo-​Iranians was the offering made to fire and water called by the Iranians the “Yasna,” by Indians the “yajña” (from the verbal root yaz-​“sacrifice, worship”). The chief acts of worship of the gods, however, were performed through various rituals of sacrifice. Boyce explains that “The Indo-​Iranians felt a sense of awe and danger at taking life, and never did so without consecrating the act by prayer, whereby, they believed, the creature’s spirit was enabled to live on. There was a strong sense of kinship between man and beast.” Boyce further clarifies that the Aryans did not kill domesticated animals for consumption; they did so only for sacrifices offered to the gods. The Aryans mainly hunted for their food, and even then, the hunter was required to consecrate the animal before killing it. The central deity, Fire, was present at all rituals, often along with the sacred drink (haoma/​soma). The fat and meat were offered through fire, with the sacred drink mixed with milk. As pointed out earlier, the residue from libations and fat stains from meat and fat offerings have been discovered in excavated Indo-​Iranian temples. As part of the sacrificial ritual, hospitality rites were observed by the proper preparation of the area in which the gods would sit, and the same for the sacrificial animal. The purity and cleanness of the ritual areas for the gods, as a guard against evil, was of the utmost importance. As a part of the functions associated with the three social divisions, the sacred area and tools were cleaned and disinfected with the urine of the cattle, which is high in ammonia content. The elaborate purification rites administered later by both Zoroastrians and Brahmans likely originate in simpler rituals already practiced by their Stone Age ancestors.

Death and Retribution In the lives of the Indo-​Iranians, no end was forecast as long as the collaboration between humans and gods continued. In the end, the gods were the determiners of the individual’s fate. However, people were given the alternative of living according to the “Orderly Law” (aṣ̌​a/​ṛta) or the “Chaotic Law” (anṛta)—​they had the freedom of choice. Those lawless individuals who lived an untruthful,

Indo-Iranians | 125 unrighteous life were damned for retribution in the dark subterranean kingdom of the dead, and individuals who lived righteously and dutifully were rewarded with a bright heavenly life among the gods. Like its earliest forms described previously, the disembodied spirit/​breath simply departed for another world of existence, which was ruled by the first to die. As part of the afterlife journey, there is a concept of crossing over to another side, like that of the Old European cemetery painting of a ship crossing to the other side. The spirit of the dead had to pass through a dangerous place by means of a path, a ford, or ferry over a dark river.34 The final destination was on the other side, a dark place for the sinful person or a bright one for the virtuous. There were two paths through which the dead traveled from this world to the next. One path is characterized as straight, easy to traverse, and ascending to a pleasant celestial world where one dwells happily, feasting in the company of the gods. The other is described as dark, dreary, twisting, and treacherous. It descends to a gloomy underworld marked by tedium, suffering, filth, and bad food. In reviewing the concept of “crossing over” within various Indo-​European traditions, Lincoln further adds, “This is the picture one finds in descriptions of the “God-​way” (goðvegr) and “Hell-​way” (helvegr) of the Eddas.”35 The meaning and transformations of these paths in Vedic and Avestan texts will be reviewed later. Naturally, heavenly reward or un-​heavenly retribution had to be the result of some form of judgment based on the ethical (truthful) or unethical (sinful) conduct of individuals in this life. Subsequently, issues of justice gave rise not only to questions of judgment, punishment, and reward but also to the intercession for the dead, either by relatives and the community or by a divine being, i.e., a god. In Indo-​Iranian tradition, it is the king of the dead—​the first to die (Vedic Yama, Avestan Yima), who, with the help of some other abstract gods and beings, guides the dead. The role of the living in assisting the fate of the dead, range from providing a fitting burial, food offerings, and, as evident in the later texts, prayer offerings. Supported by the archeological excavations of cemeteries and graves, a belief in an afterlife involving a journey was certain; it was the responsibility and obligation of the living to provide amenities for the support of the journey of the dead. The living made offerings and sacrifices for the dead ritually in order to maintain the deceased’s existence in a similar manner to that of their earthly lives. The Indo-​Iranian funeral rite, connected with the belief in another world, made the underworld the home of the dead. The burial rituals were also held to be essential for the protection of the soul from evil powers while it waited to depart and to give it the potency to reach the other world.

126 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

The consequences of not living righteously or truthfully were made visible in the present life on Earth through ordeals. As part of their judicial procedures, ordeals by fire and water were held by the Indo-​Iranians. Ethical gods, often as judges or witnesses, oversaw the judicial proceedings and ruled accordingly. The survival or death of the person proved their innocence or guilt. In correspondence with these two ordeals, Varuṇa, who resided in water, and Mitra, the sun god, became not only the overseers of human conduct but served a judicial role as well. Along with the hope of reaching Paradise, there was also a belief in the resurrection of the body. It was obviously impossible to conceive of experiencing the heavenly pleasures only in spirit; therefore, it was understood that at one point the physical body, in its earthly form, would also be raised up and reunited with the soul in heaven to fully enjoy the heavenly delights. The significance of the body as a continuing entity in the afterlife has been attested to in many traditions. Archeological discoveries of Indo-​Iranian ossuaries and the burial of bones, either after cremation or after defleshing, further support the existence of a belief in resurrection. The notion of eschatology comes with the idea of receiving a body after death. This refers to the faith of the soul in the life after death. Details of such beliefs in Indian and Iranian traditions are discussed later. In accordance with the beliefs of life after death, Indo-​Iranians placed a great deal of importance on the veneration of the ancestors, the ones gone before—​the ones who have passed over to the other side. Since the ancestors had already reached the world beyond, it was believed that they had acquired knowledge whereby they would possess some power not only over the living but also over the processes of life in this world. Accordingly, they were to be appeased by the regular performance of the rites of the dead, i.e., through offerings and prayers. They were also asked to assist humans during difficult times such as sickness or natural disasters. In the continuum of Indo-​Iranian and Proto-​Indo-​Iranian ideology, the ordered cosmos continued to be threatened by chaos. The antagonism between gods and demons, and the tripartite world and its social divisions, were affected and influenced by rituals and offerings, which continued to form the religious systems of the Indians and Iranians. Gods and heroes continue to represent the ideal Aryan warrior, who is able to smash the defenses of his opponents and defend the Aryans’ properties. Retribution for orderly and disorderly deeds continued to shape their afterlife beliefs. The Indians and the Iranians also believe in a journey to another existence after death, like the journey into the afterlife on a ship over the water depicted in drawings discovered at Old European burial sites.

Indo-Iranians | 127 In summary, the worldview in Indo-​Iranian religion, including the concepts of birth, life, and death, does not differ significantly from its ancestral ideologies and continues, in a more or less similar fashion, in the Indian and Iranian religions. Views of the afterlife and of expectations concerning some form of survival after death have not been isolated from the totality of the understanding of the nature of creation, the nature of humankind, and the structure of reality. Death is not an absolute end to existence, and there are geographies of death, resurrection, and a life after death. The opposition of chaos and order brings about the genesis of life, and the antagonism of death brings about an afterlife. In addition, it is merely otherness that provides existence for opposites—​day and night, earth and sky, water and fire, man and woman, sacred and profane, life and death, life here and life hereafter. Belief in a rebirth after death might be labeled differently at different times. In the Old European, Indo-​European, and Indo-​Iranian religions, this belief is expressed as regeneration, resurrection, or reincarnation (metempsychosis or transmigration), with the possibility of one or even a series of lives on Earth or elsewhere. Nevertheless, all of these beliefs express human concerns, which arise from human fears and hopes within a given time and place.

Notes

1 Boyce 1979: 2. 2 Harmatta 1992: 368–​9. 3 For further reading, see Parpola 1995; Hiebert 1995. 4 Frye 2001: 62. 5 Kuzmina 2002: 2. 6 Fairservis 1995: 206–​8. 7 Mallory explains the process by which the Indian and Iranian materials were discovered by the European scholars: “The discovery of the Indo-​European language family did more than simply elucidate the historical relationship between many European and Asian languages. It severed once and for all the fantasy of deriving all languages from Hebrew, and by extension, Adam. The indivisibility of the human race was being destroyed not only by those who profited from exploiting different peoples, but also by science itself. Following the west’s discovery of the wealth of Indic and Iranian literature, European scholars looked beyond Eden to seek their own more illustrious forebears in Central Asia, Iran and India.” 1989: 267. 8 Witzel 1995a: 110. 9 Erdosy 1995: 3. 10 Burrow 1973a: 1–​3; Zaehner 1961: 20.

128 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

11 Trautmann writes: “Though probably also attested in Celtic (Irish Eire), it is chiefly Indo-​Iranian, and can be reconstructed as an ethnonym either for an important part of the society (a charismatic clan?) or for the entire ethnic group during the spread. Together with their ethnonym, the Indo-​Iranians evidently carried a distinctive and prestigious religion with elaborate ritual including poetic composition or recitation, so the Indo-​Iranian spread was a simultaneous spread of language, religion and ethnic identity.” 1997: xii. 12 Nichols 1998: 261. 13 In contrast to the explanations provided on the origin and meaning of the word ārya, Szemerenyi adds that the word is not Indo-​European in origin but rather of Ugaritic origin, meaning ‘kinsman, companion.’ Szeremenyi 1977: 125–​49. See also Erdosy 1994: 223. Also quoted in Mallory 1989: 276. 14 Mallory writes: “The world is all too familiar with how the concept of racial supremacy was implemented by the National Socialists in Germany, and we would be quite mistaken to imagine that this grotesque obsession with the Indo-​Europeans or, as they were then more popularly known, the Aryans, was merely the creation of a handful of Nazi fanatics. A fascination with the ‘Aryans’ was, in fact, very much part of the intellectual environment of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries… Although Indo-​European and Indo-​Germanic had both been coined early in the nineteenth century, Max Müller, and other linguists, encouraged the use of Aryan to describe the ancient Indo-​Europeans. Naturally, if these early Aryans were the ancestors of the Europeans, then they too must have been part of the superior white race… The myth of Aryan supremacy was neither a direct nor a necessary consequence of the philological discoveries of the nineteenth century, but rather the misappropriation of a linguistic concept and its subsequent grafting onto an already existing framework of prejudices, speculations and political aspirations. The Indo-​ Europeans leave more than the legacy of Aryan supremacy.” 1989: 276. 15 Fairservis 1995: 206–​7. The other researchers referenced include Sarianidi 1990; Hiebert, and Lamberg-​K arlovsky 1992. 16 Renfrew 1987: 178–​97 (also noted by Mallory); Mallory 1989: 42–​43. 17 Nagar 1998: 85. 18 Burrow 1973a: 1. 19 Referring to the Dravidian language family, Fairservis suggests that evidence exists of Indo-​A ryan lexemes in the Dravidian languages. 1997: 65. 20 Masica 1991; Renou 1953; Burrow 1973a: 1–​3. 21 See Mallory 1989: 37–​38 for further detail on the Mitanni; Thieme 1960: 301–​17; Deshpande suggests that linguistic, biological, and cultural identities must be kept separate for analytical purposes. 1995: 81. 22 Mallory 1989: 48–​56; Zaehner 1961: 20; Sarianidi 1979; Lamberg-​K arlovsky 1987. 23 Nichols 1998: 221. 24 Mallory 1989: 48–​9; Zaehner 1961:20.

Indo-Iranians | 129 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35

Renou 1954: 2. Boyce 1984: 3, 8; Mallory 1989: 49–​50. Witzel 2003: 1. Sarianidi 1990: 159, 163–​4. Boyce I, 1975: 131. The Oxford Dictionary of World Religions 1997: 461. See Malandra 1983: 7–​8; Jamison 1991: 18; Boyce 1975a: 6. Ibid. 1983: 11. Boyce 1979: 6–​7. Ibid. 1979: 12–​13. Lincoln 1991: 119.

6

Vedic Indians

Contextual Worldviews The Indo-​Iranians, the earliest branch of Indo-​Europeans who lived as one people in the same region, speaking the same language, sharing similar beliefs and worldviews, and practicing the same customs, branched off into various communities, partitioned themselves in different countries, inhabited different lands even beyond Iran and India, spoke different languages, and adopted different habits of life. Among these people the Indians and Iranians, over millennia, developed and transformed their once-​shared religions beyond recognition, conditioned by historical and ecological events. Yet, when an attempt is made to study the fundamentals of their religious ethos and worldviews, typologically and not necessarily linguistically, and move beyond their external variations, we arrive at countless similarities, if not a single identity. The Aryans, who moved in consecutive waves from the north into Central Asia through the passages of the Hindukush and down into the Indus valley, arrived over a period of several centuries, probably from the second millennium BCE onwards. Groups of these Aryans branched off and gradually entered the northwestern region of the Indian subcontinent, bringing with them not only their language but also their religious practices. They were apparently well

132 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

equipped with horse-​drawn chariots, bows, arrows, and bronze axes, and had domesticated dogs, cattle, sheep, and goats. They lived as tribal communities in the region they referred to as the Land of the Seven Rivers and grouped together socially as warriors, priests, and commoners. The social organization that they inherited from the Indo-​Europeans would have a great impact on the formation of social divisions and the caste system in later India. In the world of the Vedic Indians, victory in war, dominion, prosperity, and long life were gifts from the gods, given for living in harmony with them and the cosmic order. Furthermore, the virtuous were guaranteed a heavenly life in the company of their ancestors and the gods after death. However, offenders against the divinely appointed order and the gods were destined for retribution, both in this life, through sickness, poverty, and a shortened life span, and in the afterlife, in a perpetual hellish existence in the netherworld. Apparently, the migrations and the subsequent trans-​formations of some of the beliefs and symbols from the ancient European traditions continued persistently into the subsequent cultures, including the Vedic Indian and Avestan Iranian. Study of the Vedic religion as a religious system with a history, like all other religions, can assist in clarifying some of the motifs that underlie its myths. Our focus is first on establishing the cosmogony of the orderly, ethical, and moral world of the Vedic people, including the ethical gods as described in the Vedic texts, and second on investigating the other worlds created for life after death and discovering who goes there, how, and why. The brief account of Vedic religion, including the principal characters and their exploits, is not to provide a comprehensive treatment with detailed philosophical and esoteric explanations, but an attempt to provide something analogous to other religions’ acknowledgments of the beliefs in death, judgment, hell, and heaven—​a ll of which are founded on an ethical religion. Vedic texts, from ca. 1500 to 500 BCE, are the primary sources concerning religion and ritual in Vedic India. The Veda, literally meaning “knowledge,” was heard and experienced by certain sages in a state of visionary ecstasy. With their insights into its hidden origins, they provided magical techniques and rules for establishing contact with the gods. The entire body of Vedic literature, religious in nature, was the perfect manual for life. The Vedas were discovered by Europe in the early nineteenth century CE. From that time, they have proved to be essential not only for the study of Hinduism but also for Indo-​European studies, linguistics, and comparative religion. Vedic Sanskrit, the language of the Vedas, the most archaic Indian language, represents the earliest stage from which other Indic languages, such as

Vedic Indians | 133 the Classical Sanskrit, Pāli, Prakṛt, Hindi, Urdu, and many others, branched off. The Vedas represent not only the language of the Aryans who entered India but also their cultural, religious, economic, and social milieu. The entire body of Vedic literature was transmitted orally for centuries before writing developed and it was finally committed to any script. The mnemonic capacity developed by the sages guaranteed the uninterrupted survival of the Vedas down to the present. In addition, based on this concept of the nature of their origin, the credibility of the Vedas is indisputable. The reverence with which they were learnt is shown in the belief that the Vedas were seen and not composed. The Vedic scriptures are traditionally indexed into the Vedas, Brāhmaṇas, Āraṇyakas (and Upaniṣads), and Sūtras. The first three collections are considered to be revealed, śruti, or ‘heard’ from the gods by the ṛṣis, the seers, and not read or written. Therefore, they are held to be apauruṣeya, i.e., not composed by men, and sanātana, i.e., eternal. The importance of the ritual in Ṛgvedic thinking caused the holy Word to grow in esteem, being regarded as supremely effective. It is personified and deified as the goddess Vāc, ‘speech, sound, word.’ She is envisaged as the creative power that produced and shaped the cosmos. In ṚV 10.125, 3, 5, 7–​8, Vāc introduces herself, among many other things, as: I am the sovereign queen, the collectress of treasures, cognizant (of the Supreme Being), the chief of objects of worship; as such the gods have put me in many places, abiding in manifold conditions, entering into numerous (forms). I verily of myself declare this which is approved of by both gods and men; whomsoever I will. I render formidable, I make him a Brahmā, a Ṛṣi, or a sage. I bring forth the paternal (heaven) upon the brow of this (Supreme Being), my birthplace is in the midst of the waters; from thence I spread through all beings, and touch this heaven with my body. I breathe forth like the wind giving form to all the created world; beyond the heaven, beyond this earth (am I), so vast am I in greatness.

The other later Vedic texts, including the Sūtras, are considered as smṛti, i.e., ‘remembered’; therefore, they are not viewed as revealed. In addition to these strictly Vedic compositions, a number of other texts became associated with the Veda, including the Vedāṅga, Upa Veda, Itihāsa, and Purāṇa. The Vedas (ca. 1500–​500 BCE) were organized into four collections, or ‘Saṃhitā,’ consisting of the Ṛg Veda, containing 1,028 hymns (10,600 verses), Sāma Veda, Yajur Veda, and Atharva Veda. After the Ṛg Veda, Atharva and Yajur

134 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Vedas are linguistically the oldest.1 The Saṃhitās, the most ancient of the documents, contain hymns, sacrificial formulas, and chants. The age of the Vedas is still a controversial subject; however, the Ṛg Veda is generally dated to 1500–​ 1200 BCE on linguistic grounds.2 Later compilations of non-​Vedic Sanskrit texts, recorded before the common era and well rooted in the Vedas, are the epics (itihāsa) Rāmāyaṇa (the exploits of Rāma) and Mahābhārata (the great story of Bharata’s descendants), and the Purāṇas, i.e., the ‘ancient’ chronicles of the ancient mythological accounts. These texts, along with the Saṃhitās, are used here as points of reference. The Mahābhārata epic is said to have originated in the period of tribal warfare among the early Aryan settlers; it is seven times the Iliad and the Odyssey in length, consists of 106,000 verses, and is considered the most voluminous single literary product of mankind. Based on the most recent archeological discoveries of areas frequently mentioned in the Mahābhārata, the text could even date as far back as 1000 BCE.3 Among Vedic texts, the only written source of information about the Aryans in India is their earliest religious work, the Ṛg Veda. The Ṛg Veda sheds some light on Vedic beliefs and rituals. Since the compilation of the Ṛg Veda extends over a period of time, it represents the religious thought of that era, which is the earliest phase in the evolution of India’s religious consciousness. The Ṛg Veda consists of ten books, of which the oldest six, 2–​8, are referred to as the family books and are credited to the earliest seven sages. The Ṛgvedic hymns include prayers and praises to the gods and their mighty creations. The major translation of the Ṛg Veda used here is that of H. H. Wilson, together with the commentary of Sāyaṇa (incorporation of other translators is noted accordingly). From the events, metaphors, hints, and references, a clear worldview is composed and includes views of life here and in the hereafter. The major characteristics of Vedic religion equivalent to the central focus of other religions, e.g., cosmogony, gods, and rituals, and allusions to death, reckoning, judgment, hell, and heaven, are assembled in an attempt to form a coherent and palpable religious doctrine, which was most likely built on the foundation of older concepts. The circumstance within which the Vedic religion was fashioned was perhaps akin to the conditions that facilitated the creation of other religions. Oldenberg explains: “These conditions are equally true of the Veda. Not just evident here or there, but visible in a broad spectrum are other layers of concepts, much older than what the reader encounters at first in the Ṛgveda.”4 The Vedic hymns are addressed to the various deities with natural and ethical attributes; to name a few: Sūrya (Sun), Agni (Fire), Āpah (Water), Pṛthivī

Vedic Indians | 135 (Earth), Vāyu (Wind), Uṣas (Dawn), Savitṛ (Impeller), Mitra (Friend, Covenant), Varuṇa (All-​Encompassing), Aśvins (Horsemen), and Aryaman (Companion). “Though several gods are praised in the Ṛgvedic hymns, it is not hard to discern an undercurrent of their oneness, which is well-​expressed in the ṚV 1.164.46, according to which various gods are different manifestations of one Supreme Being (ekaṃ sadviprā bahudhā vadanti).”5 That “One,” however, is interpreted by the commentators Sāyaṇa as the Sun, which is the one great spirit, and by Yāska as Agni, which is all the divinities together. In its widest sense, the Vedic religion can be described as the Vedic people’s perception of the divine and supernatural powers. These people also recognized their reciprocally efficacious relationships with the higher powers. This conviction is manifested in various forms of rituals and myths built around a divinity that describe his attributes and exploits. Through ritual offerings, the Vedic people asked the gods for long life, good health, and prosperity in this life, and for a heavenly life in the life after death. Since the subsequent philosophies and practices of the Indo-​A ryans were built upon earlier Vedic thought, a proper understanding of such thought is fundamental. The goal, however, is not to arrive at an exact demarcation of a divinity and a creed in the Vedic belief system, but simply to condense several associations and levels of meaning and references to provide fluidity in the reconstruction of a major principle, primarily that of afterlife and eschatology. The use of multi-​ interpretable suggestions and allusions, instead of a search for explicit references may provide some graspable meanings for the unexpressed elements. In ancient India, as in many other ancient civilizations, religious philosophers and mystics often devoted their thoughts to the explication of the concepts of creation and life after death. What happens after death is a recurring question in most religions. However, there are certain related doctrines which are accepted by most known religions. Among such principles is the belief in an element encompassing the existence of a being that continues to survive, in some form or another, after the death of the physical body. As summarized in previous chapters, the worldview, e.g., concepts of creation and destruction, life and death, the Indo-​European cultures, and their preceding tradition of the Old Europe, do not differ greatly. Correspondingly, in the Vedic belief system, the sustenance of the world and everything in it is drawn from the body of the sacrificed, i.e., the dead person. Death is not an absolute end to existence; creation always follows death and the life cycle continues. Just as cosmogony alternates with anthropogony, so death alternates with renewal and resurrection.

136 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

In keeping with the role of sacrifice in the cosmogony of the Indo-​Europeans and Indo-​Iranians, the Vedic gods also depended on sacrifices to receive nourishment and to maintain their immortality. Heaven, as the realm of the gods, and earth, as the human sphere, relied on each other for existence; they were two halves of a single whole. The whole survived because of the universal principle known as ṛta, ‘Cosmic Law/​Order, the Truth,’ and the sacrifice was offered in order to strengthen ṛta, which is opposed to anṛta, ‘disorderliness, untruth,’ that is to say enmity, evil, blunder. In Vedic culture, similar to other Indo-​European traditions or even other ancient cultures such as Egyptian and Mesopotamian, sacrifice was the most powerful support of the cosmos. There are certain gods with a clear Indo-​Iranian, if not Indo-​European, background at the core of the Vedic rituals. The liturgical gods, Agni and Soma, along with Varuṇa and Mitra, oversaw the cosmic functions and order. The cosmic sovereign gods, the warrior god Indra, and the twin horsemen, the Aśvins, are concerned with, among other things, land and pasture. Accordingly, the three functions of the spiritual world are also applied to the three worldly Vedic social groupings of the Brahmins (priests), kṣatriyas (warriors), and vaiśyas (cultivators).6 In addition to the above-​mentioned gods, there are other significant deities connected with the cosmogony and the eschatology that will be discussed below in more detail. In a ritualistic setting, the most important dual deities are Agni, ‘fire,’ and Soma, the deified sacred beverage. From a cosmic viewpoint, they represent the fiery and watery elements. In keeping with Old-​European and Indo-​European ancestral cult traditions, the Vedic people had fire present in all rituals, whether at home or elsewhere. Flames, in both domestic and sacrificial settings, were kept burning at all times and offerings of milk and/​or animal fat were made to fire on a daily basis. As the archeological evidence of Central Asia in the 2nd millennium BCE attests, temples built by Indo-​Iranians were used for conducting rituals. The residues of offerings and various instruments used in conducting the rituals were found among the remains of such temples. It would only be logical for a ritualistic tradition such as that of the Aryans to have had a designated place for the performance of consecrations, offerings, and sacrifices. There are various instructions and formulas in the Vedic texts for the different rituals dedicated to various occasions. These include the number and layout of the altars and technical instructions for the priests assigned to conduct each ritual ceremony. The priests conducted sacrifices on behalf of a tribe, family, or individual. As explained in the liturgical text of the Brāhmaṇas, the requirement for the presence of a priest at every ritual and his recompense shed more

Vedic Indians | 137 light on other forces behind the persistence of the performance of the rituals by the priesthood. As individuals, including kings, became more prosperous, so did the priests who performed the rituals. The sacrifice, however, whether it was an animal or a plant, represented the sacrifice who was offering up themselves, not the priest conducting the ritual. The sacrifice was then carried up to the gods in smoke. The triangle of reciprocity between the individual who offered the sacrifice, the priest, and the god made the sacrifice efficacious for all parties. The grounds where the ritual would take place were cleaned and arranged accordingly, with a seat, Vedi, made of dried grass, called barhis, spread near the fire for the gods visiting the sacrifice, or yajña. The hosts were also seated with the gods. As a guest, the gods would enjoy the offered food and drink and return the hospitality by bestowing a favor upon their host. There was abundant interest in having two gods above all other Vedic gods present, namely, Agni and Soma, who were interested in all rituals. Agni, in the form of fire, would receive the sacrificial offerings and convey them to the gods through smoke. Soma was the divinized plant of amṛta, i.e., “immortality.” The juice ritually extracted from the soma plant was also a central feature of the sacrifice and was consumed by the gods and the sages. Soma provided the unique vision, dhī, to the Vedic poet-​ seers (kavi, ṛṣi, or vipra), who translated the vision into sacred speech, or mantras. Vedic sacred utterances were also personified as the goddess of speech, Vāc. Revered since ancient times, fire became a god of protection in both the Vedic and Iranian traditions. Fire, Vedic Agni, is related to the Latin ignis. In the Ṛg Veda, Agni, with 200 hymns devoted to him, is second in importance after Indra, the warrior-​god. Ever renewed in the ritual hearths, Agni is both the youngest and the oldest god. Various descriptions of Agni’s births place him ubiquitously; he is an omnipresent god. He is known primarily as the son of an Indo-​European god Dyaus, the sky god, and Pṛthivī, the earth goddess. Born in heaven, Agni also has parents on earth, araṇīs, i.e., “fire sticks.” According to the Ṛg Veda, Agni, as a primordial, paradoxically resides in bodies of water and is referred to as the child of the waters, Apāṃ Napāt, and the bull of the waters. The relationship between fire and water is represented by the cosmic waters, i.e., as feminine energy, and by fire as a virile bull, i.e., as masculine energy. This masculine energy enters the water and impregnates her in order that she might give birth to fire repeatedly. Oldenberg presents a theory in which Apāṃ Napāt, based on his representation in the Veda, is also a “god of waters,” which juxtaposes him with the Indo-​Iranian demon who also resides in the water.7 This water demon is also present in the Avestan Iranian religion as “a spirit of the waters.”

138 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Agni as the cosmic power was present everywhere in the world and knew all that happened. Present also in the sun, he extended light over the earth, bringing comfort and life energy. A wise and benevolent god, he protected people and their animals, but he was also feared, a terrifying manifestation of violent destruction. He was an essential part of transmitting the sacrifice to the gods, who could only enjoy it with his presence. He brought the gods to the sacrifice and took the offering to them in heaven. Agni also consumed the offerings made over the fire on behalf of all the gods. As a priest, he officiated at the sacrifice and invited all other gods to the offerings. A highly prized oblation in Vedic ritual was soma, *sauma, haoma to the Iranians, which was used in the ritual ceremonies from the Indo-​Iranian period. In the Veda, soma is often referred to as the drink of amṛta, “immortality.” The name soma is derived from the root su, “to press,” and since there is no parallel word in Indo-​European languages, the origin is considered Indo-​Iranian. Nevertheless, the presence of a sacred drink is also found in both the Old European and Indo-​European traditions. The archeological discoveries of the Margiana temples (ca. 1900–​1700 BCE) provide clear evidence not only of the cult of fire but also of the cult of Soma. The botanical nature and geographical origin of the *sauma plant, from which the drink was prepared, have long been subjects of speculation, and debate continues to this day. After a full analysis of the possibilities, various scholars identify soma with ephedra, amanita muscaria, harmala, the opium poppy, and hemp.8 However, without further archeological discoveries, the definite nature of the original soma cannot be determined. The Ṛg Veda (1.93.6) conveys that the soma plant had to be stolen or obtained from a far-​away mountain: “Agni and Soma, the wind brought one of you from heaven, a hawk carried off the other by force from the summit of the mountain; growing vast by praise, you have made the world wide for sacrifice.” There is also a reference to the descent of soma from heaven by an eagle (ṚV 4.27): “The eagle was restrained by a hundred iron fortresses, but it flew away with the Soma.” In a religious ritual, priests prepared the drink by pressing the stems of the plant between two stones to extract the juice and then mixed it with milk. It was an invigorating drink, which both humans and gods drank to gain strength and vigor to revitalize themselves. The consumption of soma by the priests and poets resulted in revelations of the secrets of the universe. At the sacrifice, gods and priests drank soma together to fortify their ties. As the defender and friend of the gods, Soma was personified as a god who would safeguard the other gods’ well-​ being and demolish their enemies. As a god, Soma was referred to as the creator

Vedic Indians | 139 and preserver of all existence. Furthermore, the god Soma ruled over the cosmic waters and their circulation. In addition, the pressing of soma, itself a form of sacrifice, took on a celestial significance. The sound of pressing represented the thunder, the strainer symbolized the clouds, and the dripping juice was the rain. All three—​thunder, clouds, and rain—​provided moisture and water, which fostered life and regeneration. Life, as an everlasting process, was Soma’s realm. He was also present in semen; Soma ensured the continuance of the cyclical process and reproduction. Soma was often associated with the moon. As a nuclear belief in the Old European tradition, the waxing and waning of the moon easily lent themselves to be an expression of the cosmic processes of growth, death, and renewal. As in the Vedic tradition, this cyclical process was presided over by Soma. The position of Soma, both as a sacred drink and as a god in the Vedic context, is discussed in the following pages. Indra, the most vividly realized god in the Ṛg Veda, has more than one quarter of the hymns (250 hymns) devoted to him. Although his origin and the etymology of his name are unclear, Indra is mentioned as the son of Mother Earth and Father Sky, and it is clear that he was born outside the primeval world. Indra is referred to as a “deva,” a “Shining One.” In Avestan, the same word is “daeva”—​both of these words are Indo-​European in origin. His birth and nature are described in the Ṛgvedic hymn (2.12.1–​15). Embodying the supreme creative force, Indra is said to have been born from valor, overwhelming power, and creative energy. “You, Indra, were born from overpowering strength and energy” (ṚV 10.153.2); nevertheless, later commentary identifies Aditi as his mother and Tvaṣṭṛ as his father. Later in the Brāhmaṇas and Upaniṣads, the idea of Indra as the creative force is presented in a philosophical form, symbolic of the force behind the Piṇḍa (microcosm) as well as the Brahmāṇḍa (macrocosm). In the Vedas, Indra is portrayed as the creator, “ janitā,” of all the sentient and insentient, and animate and inanimate. He is the progenitor of the earth and heaven, the father of the fathers, the pitā, the father.9 Even though there are references to the creation of the world by Indra, the world apparently was not created with the intervention of any god. Kuiper explains the creation process as due to internal forces. He adds further that Indra “starts a process in the primeval world of unformed matter, a process owing to which a world of mere potentiality became the world of reality, in which light has arisen and forms a contrast with darkness, in which life exists only with death, and in which good is counterbalanced by evil.”10 As a divine warrior, Indra is described anthropomorphically, with mighty hands and arms, an insatiable mouth and throat, and an exceptional appetite. As a formidable warrior, he is often violent

140 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

and cunning: “Offer fervently, my war-​loving companions, true praise to Indra, if he truly exists” (ṚV 8.100.3). Indra often drinks soma to collect strength and be victorious over the foes of the Aryans, smashing all obstacles using his vajra, cudgel. His weapon, functioning like lightning, was made especially for him by his father, Tvaṣṭṛ, the artificer of the gods. He never misses his mark when he throws his thunderbolt. A divinity protective of the Aryan people, Indra was worshiped by all the tribes. One of the earliest Aryan tribes mentioned in the Ṛg Veda as supported by Indra was known as the Bharata tribe. The Bharatas are also mentioned in the Iranian texts as the enemies of Iranian tribes and the raiders of their cattle. Indra even steals cattle and horses from others and gives them to the Aryans. He also helps his worshippers to subjugate a non-​A ryan tribe referred to as the Dāsas. The Dasyus, like the Dāsas, were another aboriginal tribe, described as noseless, “anāsaḥ,” with dark skin, with whom the Aryans collided as they entered their newly discovered territories. On the subject of the demonization of the subjugated at the hands of the warriors, Lincoln tells of the IE myth of *trito, i.e., “Third,” who conducted the first cattle raid. Another form of the same myth is found in the Ṛgveda, where cattle belonging to the Indo-​A ryans were stolen and held captive by a three-​headed serpent called Viśvarūpa, the “universe-​formed,” who was a non-​IE aborigine living in the land invaded by the Indo-​Europeans. Trita Āptya, a hero, upon the assistance of the warrior-​god Indra, kills the serpent and releases the cattle. The serpent, slightly modified, appears in other myths in the Vedas.11 The same story also appears in Iranian myth, which is discussed later. Indra, however, is not just a warrior-​god. Satiated with vitality and life-​ generating energies, he is a benevolent deity who bequeaths fertility on the land and on women. The cosmogony was the first materialization of his beneficent power. In a distant cave, a demon called Vala, “confinement,” imprisoned herds of cows. The owners of the cows were demons called Paṇis, “misers,” who by failing to make proper offerings to the gods and the priests had lost their cows to Vala. The demonized Paṇis were probably the native inhabitants of India, enemies of the Aryans. As the cornerstones of religion, the Indo-​European traditions of ritual and sacrifice provided order and sustenance. Indra appears as a priest-​k ing in this myth, guided by his dog Saramā. He also has the support of the god Bṛhaspati, “Lord of the Song,” along with a host of heavenly priests. Rather than using his might and weapons, Indra instead makes offerings and sings sacred songs over the sacrificial fire. His proper priestly performance of the ritual releases cosmic

Vedic Indians | 141 order, known as ṛta, and sets the cows free. With the re-​establishment of order and the liberation of the cows—​their red color symbolizing the dawn—​the sun, once hidden in the dark, shines forth again. Darkness is expelled and light permeates the orderly world (ṚV 4.3.11). In the Vedic culture, the cow had more than monetary worth; it also signified everything that was most dear to people. The sacredness of the cow is expressed in the imagery of a herd of cows as rays of light at dawn instilled in the sacrificial rituals. The well-​being of gods and human beings, and the very survival of the ordered world, depended on the enactment of the sacrificial ritual. The word for cow or cows, used as a figure of speech at the end of a sentence, designated the holiest of beings: “She who is the mother of the Rudra, the daughter of the Vasus the sister of the ādityas, the home of ambrosia—​I have spoken to men of understanding—​k ill not her, the sinless inviolate cow” (ṚV 8.101.15–​16). The sacredness of the cows, however, did not prevent Vedic people from killing and consuming them. The cow was the chief sacrificial offering to the gods. To prevent the orderly world from collapsing into the dark world of the demons, the gods received their needed nourishment and provisions from the people in the form of sacrificial food and drink.

Creation and Destruction Cosmogonic myth holds the key to an insight into the Vedic religion. This myth is not only a story of events that happened long ago, nor is it merely a coherent description of the genesis of the world. It explains that the origin of the world constituted the sacred prototype of how life and this world renew themselves over and over again in an endless cycle. Subsequently, the significance of the ritual performance of the sacrifice refers to the Vedic myth of creation and the puruṣamedha, or the human sacrifice. This is like the previously described PIE cosmogonic myth of the priest, *manu, that is, the Man, sacrificing the king *yemo, “Twin.” The Ṛg Veda, representing the earliest phase of the evolution of religious consciousness in India, contains hymns that speculate on the ambiguity of the creation.12 Vedic cosmogony describes the creation of the universe from the different parts of the first sacrificial victim, the Cosmic Man (Puruṣa), whom Sāyaṇa identifies with the aggregate of all living beings, the universal spirit animating all creation, and the supreme, embodied spirit.

142 | Ancient







Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

1. Puruṣa who has a thousand heads, a thousand eyes, a thousand feet, investing the earth in all directions, exceeds measuring ten fingers. 2. Puruṣa is verily all this (visible world), all that is, and all that is to be; he is also the lord of immortality; for he mounts beyond (his own condition) for the food (of living beings). 3. Such is his greatness; and Puruṣa is greater even than this; all beings are one-​fourth of him; his other three-​fourths, (being) immortal, (abide) in heaven. 4. Three-​fourths of Puruṣa ascended; the other fourth that remained in this world proceeds repeatedly, and, diversified in various forms, went to all animated and inanimate creation (ṚV 10.90.1–​16)

In a solemn ritual, Puruṣa, as the lord of immortality, is voluntarily sacrificed, and from the dismemberment of his body, the entire cosmos, with all the elements and beings as well as the orders of society, is created. The four social categories created from Puruṣa’s body include the three previously discussed divisions: the brahmins (priests), kṣatriyas/​rājanyas (warriors and rulers), and vaiśyas (artisans, cultivators), as well as the fourth category of śūdras (serfs). The hymn makes it clear that Puruṣa contains within himself all the raw material of the cosmos: inanimate, animate, mortal, and immortal beings. Here the body of Puruṣa represents the undifferentiated cosmos, and its dismemberment represents the sacrifice. In order to bring forth the manifest cosmos, the body must be divided up into specific parts: “By sacrifice the gods worshipped (him who is also) the sacrifice; those were the first duties” (ṚV 10.90.16). In a way, this hymn suggests the relationship between mankind and the world, the gross and the subtle, the body and the mind. In each sacrifice, the process of dismemberment and the distribution of the parts throughout the cosmos are re-​enacted. The sacrifice assures the survival of the universe, and the cosmos depends on this sacrificial replenishment to avoid becoming exhausted. Sacrificial victims were taken from either animals or foods. Based on Kurgan archeological discoveries, human sacrifice was practiced among many Indo-​European peoples. Personal possessions, such as weapons, animals, servants, and wives, were sacrificed and buried with the dead. The ancient Hindu custom of sacrificing the wife, that is, satī, where the widow joins her dead husband on his funeral pyre, is perhaps a remainder from the IE tradition. However, satī was not practiced in the Vedic period. The only possible reference to it in the form of a ritualistic substitute is found in ṚV 10.18.8–​9 where the dead man’s

Vedic Indians | 143 brother, addressing the mourning widow, advises her to leave the body of her husband, who is no longer here in this world, and continue with her life: Rise, woman, (and go) to the world of living beings: come, this man near whom you sleep is lifeless: you have enjoyed this state of being the wife of your husband, the suitor who took you by the hand. Taking his bow from the hand of the dead man, for the sake of our vigour, energy and strength, (I say) you are there; may we (who are) here, blessed with male offspring, overcome all the enemies who assail us.

Sacrifice as a cosmogonic process through which the materials from the microcosm were transferred to the macrocosm by way of a scheme of homological alloform, however, was not the only method. Bodewitz explains that “The cosmogonic myth does not only live on in the ever repeated rituals, but also in the ideas on life and death, body and soul, and release from mundane existence.”13 In death, the same process occurs. In a Ṛgvedic funeral hymn, the dead are specifically instructed to do the same—​to be distributed throughout the cosmos. ṚV 10.16.3 reads: “Let the eye repair to the sun; the breath to the wind; go you to the heaven or to the earth, according to your merit; or go to the waters if it suits you there, or abide with your members in the plants.” This set of homologies is not only a direct inheritance from the Indo-​ Europeans to the Vedic people, via the Indo-​Iranians, but is also inherited from the Old Europeans, whose principal dogma was that of regeneration and metempsychosis. Similar beliefs became prevalent in the Vedic and the later traditions of India as well as in Iran. Based on the archeological discoveries from the Old European burials and the interpretations of their iconographic representations, the cycle of life, that is, birth, death, and rebirth, was viewed as life’s natural cycle in accordance with the cycles of the moon. In an agricultural society such as that of Old Europe, the cyclicity of life was naturally recognized to be based on the agricultural rotations. Recognizing the cycles of the body, moon, and nature, the perception of existence from birth to death and rebirth became a replica of natural cycles.14 There could not be an absolute end or annihilation as long as there was a persistent process and life was preserved. The Indians and the Iranians both developed an awareness of life, death, and rebirth, perhaps from an early faith in the cyclic nature of existence. Such a belief continued in India and later matured under the name of karma, in relation with the process of transmigration (saṃsārar). In Iran, there arose a belief in the resurrection and renovation of the world.

144 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Searching for the Vedic roots of the doctrine of karma, Tull explains that the term karman, utilized in the Vedic tradition, was derived from the Sanskrit root kṛ, to do, and explained the “doing” of the sacrificial ritual. “However, over the many centuries during which it represented India’s ‘culturally hegemonous’ system of belief and practice, the Vedic sacrifice developed into an entity of astounding complexity, and the ‘doing’ of the sacrifice became more than a matter of simple action.”15 Furthermore, scholars often use the prevalent agricultural imagery of rice to elucidate their explanations of the karmic process. For instance, O’Flaherty notes, “Rice is planted twice, first the seed and then the seedling that is replanted; rice is also harvested over and over in a year, rather than at a single harvest season; hence it is a natural symbol for rebirth.”16 Despite the fact that rice cultivation did not exist in the Indus Valley, the use of this analogy persists among the scholars who continue the debate over the concept of karma as a religious phenomenon unique to India. Describing the concept of karma in Hinduism, Goldman clarifies that the facts “that some spirit survives the death of the body and that some metaphysical mechanism ensures that we reap what we sow, are—​far from being uniquely Indian—​in reality virtually universals of human culture.”17 The concept of karma will be discussed further in the ensuing examinations of the concept of the afterlife. In the beginning, there were no oppositions; there was no difference between night and day, between the upper region and the netherworld. ṚV 10.129 describes how in the beginning, the non-​existent and existent did not exist—​ there existed only nothingness. Neither death nor immortality existed. Without involving a creator or a being, it posits a single principle that it calls tad ekam that is, that “one” or the “one thing” which existed before the non-​existent, asat, and the existent sat, the gods, or any being. The one was self-​existent; it came into existence through impulsive self-​existence. Once it came into being, the first seed of the mind, kāma, desire, was experienced.



1. The non-​existent was not, the existent was not; then the world was not, not the firmament, nor that which is above (the firmament). How could there be any investing envelope, and where? Of what (could there be) felicity? How (could there be) the deep unfathomable water? 2. Death was not nor at that period immortality, there was no indication of day or night; That One unbreathed upon, breathed of his own strength, other than That there was nothing else whatever.

Vedic Indians | 145









3. There was darkness covered by darkness in the beginning, all this (world) was undistinguishable water; that empty united (world) which was covered by a mere nothing, was produced through the power of austerity. 4. In the beginning there was desire, which was the first seed of mind; sages having meditated in their hearts have discovered by their wisdom the connection of the existent with the non-​existent. 5. Their ray was stretched out, whether across, or below, or above; (some) were shedders of seed, (others) were mighty; food was inferior, the eater was superior. 6. Who really knows? Who in this world may declare it! Whence was this creation, whence was it engendered? The gods (were) subsequent to the (world’s) creation; so who knows whence it arose? 7. He from whom this creation arose, he may uphold it, or he may not (no one else can); he who is its superintendent in the highest heaven, he assuredly knows, or if he knows not (no one else does).18

Similar depictions are also found in the Old Testament, for example, Genesis 1:1–​3: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters. Then God said, ‘Let there be light’; and there was light.”19 In the Ṛg Veda, the god Indra brought about the dualism of the lightness and darkness, and earth and heaven. In the beginning, the asuras were gods who existed at a time before time, when the world was undifferentiated; there was no heaven or earth, no good or evil, and no oppositions. There existed only Āpaḥ, the water. These primeval waters contained the germ of life. From the bottom, a small earthen clod rose to the surface and floated. It then spread over the surface and became a mountain, which was the beginning of the earth. It continued to float. This primordial world was sacred in itself so the process of this genesis did not need a creator. Things existed in their own right. There was no dualism and no opposition. The world was still undifferentiated: “In this first stage…, as presented by the mountain, the world was still undifferentiated unity.” Poets sometimes refer to the initial state as a darkness but this is simply an attempt to express the inexpressible. “None of the contrasts which constitute our phenomenal world yet existed. There was no heaven or earth, no day or night or, properly speaking, darkness.”20 There was no separation of the Real sat from the Unreal asat. There was neither ṛta, the body of Cosmic Law or the Truth, governing the Real, sat nor men. The only beings were called asuras, the Lords, the living sentient entities

146 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

possessed of will and mysterious supernatural power known as māyā. “The wise behold with their mind (seated) in their heart the Sun made manifest by the illusion (māyā) of the asura; the sages look into the solar orb, the ordainers (of solar worship) desire the region of his ray” (ṚV 10.177.1). Oldenberg suggests the asura might date back to the clash of a group of Aryans, mainly Vedic people, with the worshipers of Asura, whose gods were later demonized in the Vedic tradition. The same word appears among Iranians as Ahura, the name of the highest god and the creator. Oldenberg raised the question, “How is this to be explained, which appears to have turned the meaning ‘god’ into the meaning ‘devil’?”21 Kuiper says, “Varuṇa and the other asuras are the ‘Older’ race of gods, that is, the gods of that primordial world which precedes the partition into upper and nether world.” Kuiper also adds that the world of the asuras “is one of unformed, potential life—​the material out of which the cosmos is shaped. The asuras are not fallen angels but potential gods.”22 The asuras were of two kinds. The creation myth called one āditya, a being who is devoted to release, expansion, growth, and development. The other was called dānava, a being who is devoted to bondage or restraint or non-​expansion, committed to inertia. Ādityas, themselves being asuras, are described as human in form and in contrast to demonized asuras in all actions. The goddess Aditi, “freedom,” is their mother. Called a milch cow, Aditi signified freedom and increase, qualities inherent in ṛta. The waters were often called cows. Viewed as sacred, they were a source of physical and moral healing. Goddesses presiding over waters and the cow were anthropomorphized in various forms. Both water and the cow, recognized as two factors in the process of creation, procreation, and the sustenance of life, were also highly revered in Old European religion. Aditi is closely associated with nature and represents the notion of freedom from all obstruction and restriction. She gave birth to eight sons, the eighth being Mārtāṇḍa, “mortal egg.” Brown explains that the last son, born of a dead egg and thrown away by Aditi, became the “author of our mortality.” Aditi rejected her son, thinking that the last son would not be able to produce other gods. The cast-​ away son became the sun, who is “not capable of being an immortal…bore him to be born and then die again. Thus it was that mortality came into the world.”23 Every day the sun is born and dies, providing days and nights by which human life is measured. Aditi and ādityas support and foster ongoing life. With respect to the creation of the world, the demonized asuras acted in opposition to the ādityas and were against ordered life and freedom while the ādityas were positive and benevolent—​a lways standing for good and an orderly world.

Vedic Indians | 147 In the Vedic myth, some of the asuras go over to the side of the devas but the majority of the asuras were driven to the netherworld by the devas.24 The opposition of the devas, the newly arrived gods, and the asuras, totally obvious in the Ṛg Veda, did not exist from the beginning of time; they were created at one point. The one who promoted the emergence of a dual world of individualized forms from the undifferentiated asat was Indra. By causing this change, he also brought about the opposition of the asuras-​devas and rent the cosmos apart into upper and nether worlds. The most important cosmogonic myth of the Ṛg Veda (1.32), the one most often recounted or alluded to, the one that receives the most attention in the Ṛgvedic sacrifice and has the most influence in shaping its ritual, is the Indra-​ Vṛtra myth. Even though there is not a complete hymn retelling the entire episode, the events can be restructured from the scattered references to it. In the myth, it is quite apparent that it was the involvement of Indra in the war that manifested the orderly, differentiated world. It is only in the last few decades that scholars have come to recognize that the central myth of the Ṛg Veda, the fight of Indra with the dragon (vṛtra/​Vṛtra), is a creation myth. As already established, the Vedic world was divided between two opposite forces, the ādityas and the asuras. In the Ṛg Veda, the asuras who wanted the world to come into existence and were assisted by Indra are referred to as the devas, the shining ones; and, naturally, the term devas is translated as “the gods.” The other asuras who remained in the undifferentiated world, however, are called asuras, “demons.” The chief of the ādityas was an asura called Varuṇa, whose name is of uncertain origin. When offered the position of rulership, Varuṇa willingly became a deva.25 The asuras are described as serpents, dragons, or, sometimes, boars, and are dedicated to obstructing, binding, and restraining. Their leader is the arch-​ demon serpent Vṛtra, the son of the arch-​demoness Dānu, and is of Indo-​Iranian origin; his name means “restrainer,” “opposition,” “blockage.” The asuras were holding, enclosing the impetuses of life—​the waters and the sun. Kuiper says, “It cannot be doubted that Dānu is a term inherited from the Indo-​Iranian religious language for ‘stream,’ with special reference to the primeval waters.” He further explains that in the Ṛg Veda, the waters denotes the “primeval waters upon which the earth rested, and it can be proved that it was of these waters that Varuṇa became the ruler.” As the god of the primordial world, Varuṇa “resided in the netherworld, at the roots of the world tree and near to (or in) the subterranean cosmic waters.”26

148 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Scholars, including Lüders and Hillebrandt, have offered different views on the associations of Varuṇa, either with the cosmic ocean or the cosmic mountain, respectively. Nevertheless, Varuṇa’s association with the waters endures. In ṚV 7.49.3, those waters referred to as goddesses have Varuṇa inside them: “those in whose midsts King Varuṇa moves, looking down upon the truth and falsehood of people, those pure and clear waters that drip honey—​let the waters, who are goddesses, help me here and now.”27 Lüders presumed that a celestial ocean served as heaven and therefore as a home to Varuṇa. He believed that the waters, as the fourth classification of heaven, were lying above the third. Realizing the cosmogonic aspects of the Vṛtra and Vala myths, Lüders also connected them with the celestial ocean. Commenting on the thorough and exhaustive works of Lüders on the subject of Varuṇa, Dandekar concludes that Lüders’ findings are not exceptional and that in the Vedic, post-​Vedic, and classical Sanskrit literature, Varuṇa’s dwelling place is said to be the waters. Varuṇa is associated with heaven, which is the proper home of the waters. “Indeed, the heavenly and the earthly waters are identical and Varuṇa is connected with both.”28 However, Kuiper considers the celestial ocean as mythologically identical with the subterranean waters during the night,29 in which the whole situation is reversed and Varuṇa resides in heaven among waters at the roots of the inverted cosmic tree. The creation myth starts with the conditions before creation. The Aryans of the Ṛg Veda saw the ordered world cosmos as always imperfect and constantly threatened by destructive forces. Nevertheless, the world does survive indefinitely. The cosmos, however, has not always existed; it was established at a particular moment in the past. In defining cosmology, we can also say that any mythology still accessible in an appropriate form contains a beginning and an end. This is determined by the last manifestation of supernatural beings, cultural heroes, or ancestors. Cosmogony also tells us about the order of the cosmos and how people and the world communicate and relate to each other in an orderly manner. At the outset, the cosmic waters were enclosed, or covered over, by Vṛtra, who was depicted as an enormous snake, Ahi, lying on the primordial mountain. In certain places, the mountain, with the waters inside it, is depicted as contained within the snake. Nevertheless, Vṛtra is the one containing the provisions of the world’s creation. In the Ṛg Veda, Vṛtra, though demonized, is portrayed as a primordial ancestor; a primordial being that had to be destroyed in order for the younger gods, some of which were originally asuras, to take their proper place in the new age of the newly ordered world. Some of the greatest Vedic gods, such as Varuṇa, Soma, and Agni, went to the other side only at Indra’s command. The

Vedic Indians | 149 demon Vṛtra, described as perilous and evil, residing at the boundary of darkness, was also imagined to be a boar lying on the waters. In the beginning, the sun, then an embryo, was also contained in the cosmic waters that were held by the serpent-​demon Vṛtra. As long as the waters were restrained, the sun would not be set free to roam the sky. By holding the waters captive, the orderly world was also detained by the Father-​A sura and only the undifferentiated world existed. However, the ādityas, being asuras themselves, wanted the orderly world to come into existence by setting free the waters and the sun. Thus, the war between the dark forces and the guardians of light and life, that is, the ādityas, began. The ādityas were apparently defeated, although there is no direct reference to their setback in the Vedas. However, realizing their defeat and that they were in need of a champion, they sought the help of Indra. When Indra was ready to fight the demons, he first extorted a promise that, if triumphant, he would become the king of the gods; this promise was granted. In preparing for the war, Indra took three great drafts of soma, which transformed him into a figure of gigantic stature. Indra filled the sky and earth, which until then had been united, and divided them forever. Dividing the earth from the sky was the first stage of ordering the world. As the wielder of the thunderbolt and sender of rain, Indra is associated with, and aided in wars by, the storm gods, the Maruts. Indra created a horrifying storm, embodied in the god Rudra and his entourage, the Maruts. Fortified with soma and vajra, a supernatural thunderbolt made for him by the craftsman-​god Tvaṣṭṛ, and aided by Agni, Indra began the war. In a fierce fight, Indra hurled the vajra against Vṛtra, killing him and his mother Dānu. As the text describes the scene, Indra burst Vṛtra’s belly, and Dānu lay like a cow with her calf. With the unrestricted cosmic waters flowing freely out of the belly of the demon, Indra, the king of gods, constructed the ordered world and separated the existent, sat, from the non-​existent, asat, that had always existed as the primordial chaos. This is depicted in the Ṛg Veda (10.72.3): “In the first age of the gods existence was born of the non-​existent.” Brown explains that in the Vedic concepts of asat and sat, Indian philosophers found “a dualism, which they resolved into a monism that comprised the undifferentiated primordial chaos… sometimes they gave it a new name, such as Skambha or Brahman.”30 By separating the sky above from the earth below, Indra divided the world; hence, the Vedic people considered the universe to consist of two parts. Indra subsequently divided Vṛtra and all other demons from all that existed above the earth and gave them a new habitat in the netherworld, the two realms being

150 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

separated by a chasm. The upper world was divided into three parts: sky, atmosphere, and earth, all of which became the roaming regions of the gods and humans. As part of the orderly world, a pathway was carved into the stone sky for the sun to move along in an orderly fashion. In this world, the life-​generating waters, together with the sun, fostered existence. This upper part of the universe is called sat, meaning the Existence, the Real. The lower part, reached from the earth by a great chasm, was a place of dreadfulness, populated by demons.31 This he called asat, meaning anti-​sat, the Non-​existent, the Unreal. The creatures of the two parts were in a natural state of enmity with each other, and the two regions themselves were adverse. As the result of Indra’s victory, separation came into existence. Therefore, the gods willed the creation of the ordered universe and the phenomena of nature that characterize the ordered universe. The things that make up the existing universe, including the sun and the waters, had to be compelled to leave the great darkness of chaos in order to be created again. The greatest Vedic gods, Varuṇa, Agni, and Soma, were originally asuras who had lived inside Vṛtra, whom they refer to as “the Father.” They only emerged because of Indra’s demands and encouraging promises. In ṚV 10.124.2–​4, first Agni and then Soma are lured to abandon the Father-​Vṛtra with the promise of immortality. Agni says, “Secretly going away from the non-​god, being a god and seeing ahead I go to immortality. Unkindly I desert him who was kind to me, as I go from my own friends to a foreign tribe.” Then Soma utters, “I have spent many years within him. Now I choose Indra, and desert the father. Agni, Soma, and Varuṇa all fall away. The power of kingship has turned around; therefore I have come to help.” After the killing of Vṛtra in Indra’s victory, the rest of the asuras were chased to the underworld. In ṚV 7.104.1, their eternal enmity is expressed when Indra and Soma are fighting the demons: “destroy the rākṣasas; showerers (of benefits) cast down those who delight in darkness: put to flight the stupid (spirits); consume, slay, drive away, utterly exterminate the cannibals.” Indra and the devas had to fight the remaining asuras as they repeatedly returned to this world. In the Ṛg Veda, the asuras are often referred to by the name of their species, such as rakṣas, yātu, piśāca, instead of by their individual names. The demonic evil forces are divided into asuras, who oppose the gods, rakṣasas, who oppose men, and piśācas, who oppose the Fathers. Demons were employed by sorcerers as well as by wicked and corrupt people to harm others or interfere with the performance of a sacrifice. People could also become demons. In fact, a whole nation or a race could be viewed as demonic. The Ṛg Veda describes them as having no

Vedic Indians | 151 limit to their immoral and disruptive activities. The demons struggled to destroy the world, which they had tried to prevent from coming into existence in the first place. With the gods on one side and the demons on the other, the battle of the two forces over their rightful place in either world continued. The Ṛg Veda represents demons in much the same way the sacred and blessed goddesses were represented within Old European tradition. Demons appeared in human forms, often as women, but sometimes distorted. Other times they were described as animals, mostly as snakes, reptiles, dogs, vultures, and owls; that is the very same animals by which the goddesses of Old Europe became manifest. Able to transform themselves at will, the demons changed their forms into bird-​ demons, who flew at night. It was also believed that when people were at their most vulnerable, for example, when mourning the death of a loved one or after the birth of a child, they fell victim to these demons’ tricks. Kuiper proposes that the key to understanding the basic concepts of Vedic religion is grasping the cosmogony. He elucidates how the account of the beginning was not just a story: “It was the expression of a religious Mystery, based on an urgently felt need to get into a right relationship with the sacred world as the source of cosmic order, upon which early man felt his existence and survival to depend.”32 Time was observed as being cyclical. The birth of the cosmos was regarded as the secret to the continuation of life, articulated by the return of the sun, the seasons, and the germination of seeds. This provided a model for all regeneration, and in turn called for a re-​enactment ritual to ensure continuation of the cosmic order. In India and Iran, the time of the new year signified the changeover from the old to the new. Therefore, this moment of crisis called for a specific celebration ritual, which continues to this day. Kuiper explains that the central feature of Vedic cosmogony and of the created world is the division of the undifferentiated primal waters into a dualistic cosmos. The asuras, associated with primeval affairs, were defeated, and replaced by younger devas. The war between the old gods, the asuras, and the new gods, the devas, occurs periodically throughout the cycle of time, for example, at the New Year. Apparently, the recorded history of speculative thought in India started with the Vedic myth of Indra killing Vṛtra, releasing the waters and the sun and setting the stage for the creation of the cosmos and the establishment of order within it. This cosmogonic myth also gave birth to a special view concerning order and antagonism; such developments gave birth to escha-​tology.33 Out of this cosmological myth, the philosophy with its particular view of truth, and a belief in an afterlife, appears to have developed.

152 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Indra’s cosmogonic myth, representing the asuras as the evil, dark primordial chaos of nonexistence, and the life-​generating waters and sun as the bright, orderly world of existence for gods and mankind, has much in common with the other Old European myths and Iranian myths in particular. As a warrior-​ hero god, Indra is exalted over all other gods, who were powerless in the face of atrocious dark forces. By setting the world and everything in it into motion, in accordance with law and the good, Indra inaugurated a new age of the opposition of good and evil. Furthermore, Bodewitz explains that the Vedic “ethical-​philosophical dualism” is composed of two conflicting and self-​governing powers of good and evil. One power is connected with light and the other with darkness: “These powers are responsible for good and evil in this world. This opposition is also associated with spirit and matter, body and soul. Often this dualism has been explained as a theodicy, as a justification of God in a world full of evil and injustice.”34 Bodewitz further clarifies that the opposition of the asuras, as the dark force, and the devas, as the force of light, is merely based on their respective mythological roles. The asuras are the primeval elder powers, and the devas are their younger brothers. Earlier, Bergaigne had also interpreted the Ṛgvedic data as a dual system, combining both ritualistic and naturalist approaches. He classified the motifs into two parallel levels, the celestial and the atmospheric, which were further characterized by two opposing female and male elements—​on one side as the celestial processes of light and darkness and on the other side as atmospheric phenomena. It is important to refer to the previously discussed concepts of dualism and opposition, which were also principal ideological concepts in the religions of Old Europe and Indo-​Europe. The structuralist approaches of Dumézil and Lévi Strauss explained the systematic dualism, the opposition seen in the IE treatments of right and left directions, and the difference between genders and concepts, respectively, male being equal to strength and female to weakness.35 The Old European dualistic and binary imagery and symbology display similar standpoints to those of the Indo-​European and the Indo-​Iranian. Duality, which was an essential condition in the process of the world’s creation in both the traditions of Old Europe and Indo-​Europe, becomes more evident in the Indra and Vṛtra myth. Vṛtra’s traits are antagonism to life and sterility; Indra’s qualities, that is creation and virility, are therefore in opposition to Vṛtra’s hostility. In keeping with the history of the Indo-​European migrations and the subsequent IE collision with, and domination of, the Old Europeans, the victory of the IE storm-​god over the snake-​goddess and the birth of new gods into a new world and era become more transparent in the Indra-​Vṛtra episode.

Vedic Indians | 153 Indra becomes a creator god through the destruction of the snake and its old world. It is only by killing the primordial ancestor that life continues with its new gods born out of “the Father,” the snake Vṛtra. This version of the antagonism and war between gods and demons, good and evil, and the eventual victory of good over evil, were not only passed down from the first Indo-​Europeans to the Indo-​Iranians but were disseminated among the Semitic peoples in their contact with the Persians in the first millennium BCE. However, it should be noted that other ancient cultures, such as Mesopotamian and Egyptian, possessed similar myths. This is not to say that these myths had the same origins but rather that they perhaps point to a human phenomenon, that is, an expression of a universal set of memories and emotions, hopes and fears, and a conception of a world that is always threatened by chaos. Intersecting the above explanation is the opposition of the devas and the asuras, both having an Indo-​Iranian background. Asuras, as primordial rulers and possessors of the goods of life, hold a higher ranking. However, since the name asura is given the meaning of demon, the opposition of deva-​asura takes on a dualistic overtone. The antagonistic wandering deva warriors, led by Indra, are triumphant over asuras and bring this world into existence, making Indra the One Ruler (eka samrāṭ). Mankind came into existence to provide nourishment for the gods through sacrifice and to support the cosmic order. Caught in the middle of the battle between gods and demons, mankind often allied with the gods against the demons, who maintained their existence in asat.36 However, there were people who did ally with the demons and were led by them to the lap of Nirṛti, or Destruction. In the Ṛg Veda (7.37.7), Nirṛti is personified as the goddess of disorder and disintegration, and, subsequently, as the abode of the dead. Following the opposition of the created ordered world of light, and the uncreated disordered, dark place of dissolution beneath it, there came another set of opposites: life and death. Aditi, the personification of benevolent boundlessness, symbolized sat, or the world of existence: Nirṛti, the personification of malevolence and destruction, symbolized asat, or the non-​existent.37 In this dualistic conception of asat and sat, the existent and the non-​existent are often allusions to the worlds of the living and the dead.

Ethical Existence The ethical world of the Ṛg Veda, with its unique view of the magical power of Truth, is where the Indian history of speculative thought begins. As previously

154 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

explained, it started with the cosmogonic battle between opposites—​a god, Indra, and a demon, Vṛtra. The creation and the sustenance of the ordered world were possible only by the defeat and slaughter of the demon; thus the separation of the existent, sat, from the non-​existent, asat. It appears that some of the later philosophical developments in India grew out of this myth. All that existed in sat, including its operations and uses, was subject to a body of universal cosmic law, or the Truth, called ṛta. It is impossible to define the concept of ṛta in one or two words. Nevertheless, it has been translated as set in motion, order, and cosmic law and order. The world of the Vedic people existed because of this invincible, absolute law, or ṛta. Therefore, in the Ṛg Veda, the highest impersonal entity is ṛta, which is also closely associated with the sun. Bergaigne explains that the root of ṛta, “ṛ,” means to rise and to adapt oneself to. Furthermore, following Grassmann’s explanation, Bergaigne defines ṛta as what is adapted. On the subject of the idea of law, Bergaigne notes that this is expressed in the Vedas by four principal words—​dhāman, dharman, ṛta, and vrata. After an exhaustive and thorough linguistic explanation, he concludes that every term denotes the idea of law in three different aspects: “the laws of nature, the laws of sacrifice and moral laws.”38 In the Vedic world, everyone, including the gods, has duties to perform in order to maintain ṛta. Duties, referred to as vrata, were to be fulfilled by the followers of the law, the ṛtavans. The word vrata, from the root vṛ (to choose, to desire), has been given many meanings, among which will, obedience, obligation, to cover, to encompass, and to envelope are the most commonly used. This concept, the cornerstone of Vedic religion, has an important place in Hinduism. Punishments for failure to perform vrata, according to ṛta, and the rewards for doing so were held to be experienced in the afterlife. In Vedic religion, right and virtuous behavior is the duty and personal responsibility of every individual. This understanding starts with a belief in two opposite forces—​one stands for the orderly and cooperative operation of the parts, and the other for the chaotic and destructive elements. The whole of existence, including the cosmos and everything in it, is held together by the force of a set of principles known as satya, or ṛta, that is, cosmic truth or order. However, disorder, or anti-​order, known as anṛta, ever threatens the universe, fighting to interrupt its orderly functions or demolish it altogether. Every being, including the gods and human beings, is responsible for preventing this from happening by shunning anṛta in all aspects of life. Failing to do so has drastic consequences. This duty or function of the individual is known as vrata (ṚV 9.112). Vrata is such an important concept that in post-​Vedic times the

Vedic Indians | 155 word came to mean a solemn vow, to be undertaken with great seriousness and observed with unflagging zeal. The regular order, ṛta, which rules over the world, is an inheritance from the Indo-​Iranian period. The same concept, known as aṣ̌​a, is formulated in the Iranian Avesta. Like its Vedic counterpart, aṣ̌​a also has three-​way significance, representing the ethical law, the physical order of the universe, and the proper order of the sacrifice.39 Ṛta is expressed as not only a law enforced by the gods but also as an independent cosmic force that binds all creation, including the gods, to obey its laws. The alternations of day and night, the cycle of the moon, the seasons, and human life—​birth, death, and afterlife—​are all part of ṛta. Other visible expressions of ṛta are the orderly movements of the sun and the stars, the revitalizing stream of waters in the rivers, and the flow of milk from the cow. The ritual rubrics for how the oblations and sacrifices were to be performed and offered were also arranged according to ṛta. Above all, the ethical and moral behaviors of the people, including their relationships towards one another and to the gods, were laid down in accordance with ṛta. To think, speak, and act truthfully, honestly, righteously, and morally brought prosperity within this world and eternal life after death in the bright world of the gods. However, those who lived their lives lying, deceiving, and cheating were cursed and destined to live in the dark netherworld full of misery. Whatever promoted and conserved life was ascribed to ṛta, and in opposition, that which brought death, deceit, and destruction was under the sway of anṛta. Subsequently, just as Indra created this world according to the values of ṛta, he also created the opposite world according to anṛta for the demons, sorcerers, sinners, and so on. Ṛta has a threefold aspect, signifying the course of nature and the regular and general order in the cosmos. With reference to sacrifice, this means the correct and ordered way of the cult of the gods. It also means the moral conduct of mankind. Ṛta is described in the ṚV (4.23.8–​10) as having all three aspects: “Many are the waters of ṛta: the adoration of ṛta destroys iniquities… Many are the stable, sustaining, delightful forms of the embodied ṛta… The worshipper subjecting ṛta to his will verily enjoys ṛta.” The Vedic world was identified as an ethical and morally driven one. It was the law and order of ṛta that put the cosmos in orderly motion as it included not only the physical but also the moral world order. Tasks were allocated to the gods in accordance with the law and their nature. Anṛta was the law that maintained the world of asat, where there was no ṛta; there also was no life, sun, or moisture there, and it was marked by decay and death. The followers of anṛta were

156 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

destined for the dark world of asat: “The asat and its inhabitants constitute the Ṛgvedic conception nearest the western notion of Hell and the Devil or devils.”40 The occupants of the world of anṛta, the demons, however, found their way into the ordered world through a chasm in the earth. These demons were committed to overthrowing the gods and developed ways to weaken ṛta in the world of sat. They often visited the world of the living in the dark of the night. Even today, Indians believe that it is during the night that spirits (bhūt) and demons lurk around the world of the living. Demons persistently interfered with the performance of sacrifices and rituals. If the rituals were not carried out, natural disasters would occur, a guaranteed manifestation of chaos. The demons would be happy and the cosmos would collapse into chaos. As long as the demonic forces threatened the very existence of the orderly world, Indra had to fight and defeat them all. Sat, or the orderly world, could not sink back into the chaotic world of asat. In order to maintain the function of the world according to the law of ṛta, humans had to perform sacrifices and make the proper ritual offerings to the gods. In addition, they had to perform their personal and social duties (vrata) in the world. When these two duties were performed, the Vedic person would be considered Ṛtavam, observer of ṛta. The outcome of living according to ṛta was life and prosperity for both humans and gods. Just as the gods were assigned their responsibilities according to ṛta and their own natures, it was Varuṇa, an asura born from the belly of the demon Vṛtra, who had the closest connection with ṛta and was deeply concerned with its maintenance. In charge of ethical conduct, he punishes those who commit acts of violence and murder.41 Although Varuṇa, like Indra, is also mentioned in the Ṛg Veda as the one who at the beginning fixed the sky and the sun in their proper places and measured out the earth, he is not portrayed as a warrior god involved with the various battles. As the protector and guardian of ṛta, Varuṇa watches over all of creation, including human behavior and society. In addition to being the promoter and enforcer of ṛta, Varuṇa is often referred to as ṛta itself. Just as the people beseeched Indra to protect them in their battles against their enemies, they pleaded with Varuṇa for the maintenance of their society. Performing one’s social duty according to one’s social function was also part of the operation of ṛta and was supervised by Varuṇa. Varuṇa is also related to māyā—​craft, magic, illusion, signifying occult power —​which was also the creative power of the asuras, or demons. Varuṇa ordained ṛta through māyā. He attacks the sinners, seizes them, and punishes them severely. He binds them with his snares or fetters. Varuṇa is also mentioned

Vedic Indians | 157 with Aryaman (companion), also an āditya, Ha god to whom formal hospitality, nobility, and sovereignty are ascribed. The Indo-​Iranian gods, Aryaman, Varuṇa, and Mitra, the god of intimate friendship, are referred to in the Ṛg Veda as kings. Varuṇa’s close partner in overseeing the functions of ṛta was Mitra, a sun god. Mitra–​Varuṇa (mitrā varuṇau) are often invoked together as adjudicators who bestow rewards or punishments according to the sinful or virtuous acts performed by people. Together, Mitra and Varuṇa are referred to as the universal rulers (samrāj). In the Vedic world, as previously discussed, the whole of existence, including the cosmos and everything in it, is held together by the force of a set of principles known as satya or ṛta, that is, cosmic truth/​order. This concept is the cornerstone of Vedic religion and has maintained its importance in Hinduism. Punishments for the failure to perform vrata, according to ṛta, and rewards for its performance were held to be experienced in the afterlife. In the Vedic ethical system, that aspect of the living reason (called spirit or soul) migrates to another existence where adjudicators bestow rewards or punishments accordingly. In the Ṛg Veda, the Sanskrit term pāpa, translated as evil act, often has a moral sense: people are evil-​minded; adultery is evil; incest is evil. Pāpa is also generally used to refer to the sinner and to sinful and evil acts. Sin can be committed without the free will of the individual by the force of a magic spell put on them by others; the sinner is entangled in fetters or knots, or it can be committed willingly. Either way, sin is punishable by the wrath of a god. In Ṛg Veda 1.121.13, people who do not perform sacrifices are also marked as sinners and therefore are to be punished by Indra: “having driven those who offer no sacrifices to the opposite bank of the ninety rivers, you compel them (to do) what is to be done.”42 Several words signify sin in the Ṛg Veda. The word anṛta is often used to express it; so are the words āgas, enas, aṁhas, and durita. Erroneous performances of rituals and sacrifices and the reluctance to worship the gods were marked as sins and, therefore, became punishable offenses against ṛta. Drunkenness, anger, murder, cursing, and cheating at dice were all prohibited and labeled as anṛta by the gods.43 In ṚV 10.89.8–​9, Indra, described as the punisher of sinners, is summoned: You, Indra, who are wise, punish the guilt (of worshippers); you cut off their sins as a sword (cut off) the limbs (of victims); (you cut off) the people who (ignorantly) injure the supporting (function) of Mitra, and Varuṇa, (which is) as it were their close friend.

158 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Against those who sinfully offend against Mitra, Aryaman, your companions (the Maruts) and Varuṇa, against these your enemies sharpen, Indra, showerer (of benefits), your rapid showering radiant thunderbolt.

Highlighted as one of the Aryan ethical traits was the importance of a contract, the swearing of an oath, which is verified in the earliest Aryan document from the second millennium BCE, that of the previously discussed Mitanni treaty. This trait found continuity in the Vedic religious system. In the Mitanni treaty, there are five Aryan divinities mentioned, along with the Hittite king Šuppiluliumaš, who is bound to a pact by the Hurrian ruler Mattiwaza. The divinities who witness the binding of the contract between the two kings mentioned in the treaty are Mitra (mi-​it-​ra), Varuṇa (ú-​ru-​ua), Indra (in-​da-​ra), and the twin Nāsatyas (na-​ša-​at-​ti-​ia).44 Entering into a contract was a holy act of order and integration, as opposed to chaos and separation. Mitra, a sun-​god, is generally described as a divinity whose name means contract, covenant. He was the foundation of friendship that unified people in peace. The contract between people was the replication of its archetype, that is, the original cosmic contract that reconciled the oppositions of day and night, light and dark, life and death. The principle of the contract was applicable to the processes of nature and human dealings, which were both subject to the same order, ṛta. Therefore, everything is tied to, and bound by, the contract, including the relationships between gods and humans. Consequently, Mitra, who is personally concerned with the operation of ṛta, serves also as the personification of the contract. With the understanding that speech and words carried supernatural force, swearing an oath was performed as a religious act with its own specific rites. To swear falsely was to act against ṛta and thus to commit a sin. The performance of ordeals, by fire or water, as part of the judicial process was also mentioned as an Indo-​European moral trait. As the guardian of law and order, Varuṇa was also the god of the oath—​breaking an oath was to commit a sin and therefore deemed fit for retribution. Varuṇa was concerned with the control of the regular flow of water and rainfall, and so oversaw the ordeal by water, while Agni oversaw fire ordeals. The accused individual crossed a river, walked through fire, or, as indicated in the later Vedic and Avestan literature, drank poison in order to prove their innocence.45 Varuṇa’s intimate association with the waters went beyond regulating their flow. According to the Ṛg Veda, it was out of the ocean that the whole cosmos materialized. Based on Iranian and Indian records, the celestial name Apām Napāt, “son of the waters,” of Indo-​Iranian origin, was perhaps an original epithet

Vedic Indians | 159 of Varuṇa, and not Agni. Accordingly, Ṛg Veda 2.35.2 reads: “Let us address to him the prayer that is conceived in our hearts, and may he fully understand; for he, the lord, the grandson of the waters (Apām Napāt) has generated all beings by the greatness of his might.” Since Varuṇa’s abode is the cosmic ocean located outside the orderly world, this makes him not only the guardian of cosmic law but it also connects him with the darkness of the night; thus he is called god of the night. In the Ṛg Veda, as in most other known religious texts, the sinner is ultimately judged and punished by an ethical god. Just as the impersonal physical and moral law of the world agrees with Varuṇa’s, so does sin violate Varuṇa’s commands or order. The close affinity of Varuṇa with ethical order is clearly visible in ṚV 7.86.5–​6: “Relax the bonds imposed by the ill deeds…liberate, royal Varuṇa, like a calf from its fetter…It is not our own choice, Varuṇa, out of our condition; it is that which is intoxicating, wrath, gambling, ignorance; there is a senior in the proximity of the junior: even a dream is a provocative to sin.” Varuṇa’s decree was the foundation of all law and all morality, and he saw to it that gods and people acted in conformity with it. Ever vigilant, Varuṇa with the assistance of his spies, watched over everyone’s conduct and punished those who transgressed ṛta. In this life, Varuṇa punished the malefactors by casting them down and bringing upon them poverty, sickness, and even death. The dead were also judged based on their actions in life. Those who lived an unrighteous life according to anṛta were sent down to the netherworld, while the truthful and righteous enjoyed a paradisal life in heaven. Aware of their insufficiencies and fallibilities, the people prayed to Varuṇa to forgive them their involuntary transgressions. In addition to inflicting disease upon the sinner, Varuṇa could also catch the sinner with his snare, pāśu, and drag them to the netherworld. Rudra, the Paśupati, “Lord of the beasts, cattle” (paśus), could also catch sinners with his snare. Indra and Yama also seized sinners with a noose. The dead would encounter both kings—​Yama and Varuṇa. Not only is Varuṇa at times identified with death (mṛtyu) but his abode is also mentioned as the destination of the dead, who follow the same paths as their fathers. “This shows that, as a result of Varuṇa’s incorporation in the pantheon of the Devas, also Death and the ominous powers have been integrated with the cosmic order.”46 Varuṇa’s close colleague in overseeing the moral conduct of the people was Mitra. Varuṇa was associated with water and the dark night and Mitra was connected with fire, daylight, and the sun. Accordingly, a white-​colored animal was

160 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

offered to Mitra at the sacrifice and a dark one to Varuṇa. In the Ṛg Veda, that which is said of Varuṇa is also mentioned in reference to Mitra. As the divine intimate friend, Mitra is also a guardian of contracts and oaths. Both Mitra and Varuṇa are called the guardians of the world, the upholders of the three worlds and three heavens. “Mitra, as a friendly divinity, helps to bring about friendly bondage between man and man, and between god and man; he is particularly the guardian of human laws. Varuṇa, on the other hand, presides over an all-​ inclusive cosmic domain; his Law includes all laws.”47 The god Aryaman is generally mentioned in the Ṛgvedic prayers next to Mitra and Varuṇa. In these prayers, people ask for these gods’ safe guidance for their journey to the other world and for the gods’ forgiveness. For example, the Ṛgvedic hymn 2.27.6–​8 reads: “Aryaman, Mitra and Varuṇa, easy is the path (you show us), and free from thorns, and pleasant…may Aryaman lead us by easy paths and attain the great happiness of Mitra and Varuṇa.” As a deity who cared for people and the social order, Mitra inspired friendship and elevated the importance of upholding the covenants, contracts, and agreements. Mitra oversaw the practical operation of ṛta in the world, befriending and allying himself with those who lived according to it, just as Varuṇa guarded the principle of ṛta. In charge of the maintenance and restoration of order, Mitra watched over everything and saw with never-​closing eyes: “Mitra, when praised, animates men to exertion… Mitra looks upon men with unclosing eyes” (ṚV 3.59.1). Recognizing Mitra as essentially a sun god, Gonda follows his exploits from the Vedic era to the post-​Vedic. When discussing the portrayal of Mitra, Gonda objects to the “one-​sided suggestion that Mitra’s main, central or most important function was to be ‘the guarantor of orderly international relations.’” He further argues that Mitra “may have been much more than a lord of the oath.” Mitra and Varuṇa are also associated with the idea of satya (the true, the real) and dharma (preserving power, inherent qualities). There has been much discussion about the nature of the relationship between Mitra and Varuṇa. In general, however, Mitra is typified as a “god of equilibrium and stabilization.”48 Ṛg Veda contains many verses that also portray Indra as a protector of ṛta. Like Varuṇa, who is depicted as one with kingship over all and the guardian of ṛta, Indra is also the maker and defender of ṛta and a contender for kingly splendor. The pairs Mitra/​Varuṇa and Indra/​Varuṇa indicate the same function and purpose for both gods. Indra is mentioned as ṛta itself, who opened the ears of the morally deaf and motivated thoughts that averted transgression. By upholding the law, Indra established the world, regulated nature, made the

Vedic Indians | 161 sun and the stars rotate, and brought light into this world. Fighting against the forces of chaos and the demons of the netherworld, Indra was the affirmation of the divine order. The ethical god Varuṇa is mentioned in almost all the hymns devoted to him as the forgiver of the sins. People prayed to him for forgiveness. Similarly, Savitṛ, the impeller, the god of the rising and setting sun, is referred to as the one who makes men sinless. In ṚV 4.54.3, the prayer reads, “If, Savitā, through ignorance, through pride in feeble or powerful (dependents), or through human infirmity, we have committed (offence) against your divine person, or against gods or men, do you on this occasion hold us to be unoffending?” However, the great god Agni is often declared to be above all the gods, including Varuṇa and Mitra, and is worshipped by them. Agni also punishes those who digress, much like Varuṇa and Mitra.49 In addition, Uṣas, the Dawn, an Indo-​Iranian goddess, a relative of Varuṇa and a sister of Night, is both closely related with, and opposed to, Night and the netherworld; she repels the powers of Darkness and Evil. “The appearance of Uṣas represents the victory of Light over Darkness, of Life over Death. Her victory, like Indra’s and Agni’s, releases the goods of Life from the bonds of the nether world.”50 Eternally young and beautiful, Uṣas’ shining dawn light vanquished the darkness and supplied welfare. People prayed for her regular return. Since the darkness of night was reminiscent of chaos, anṛta, each daybreak was viewed as a reinstatement of ṛta. As the destroyers of darkness and the demons that prospered in it, the twin Aśvins, owners of horses, also known as Nāsatyas, are comparable to Uṣas. Like Uṣas, the twins were associated with ṛta and the spreading light of daybreak. As compassionate doctors who helped women in childbirth and sheltered warriors in battle, Nāsatyas also protected ṛta. Vāyu, the wind god, also fought the demons in order to restrain anṛta within the world of the demons. Vāyu is the breath, born from the breath of Puruṣa, which leaves the body at the time of death. In the war against Vṛtra, Vāyu creates the Maruts to assist Indra. In the Ṛg Veda, Rudra is referenced as the father of the Maruts: “Father of the Maruts, send your kindness here. Do not cut us off from the sight of the sun. Let the hero spare our horses. O Rudra, let us be born again through our children” (ṚV 2.33). If people did not make the proper sacrifice and did not stay on the path of truth, Rudra hurled at them all that embodied chaos and disorderly existence. Bright as the sun, he is the asura of heaven. The Vedic deities, who are presented with naturalistic associations, possess natures that are deeply rooted in ethical concerns.

162 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

As the one definite event in the life of all beings, death is feared and shunned by most humans from the moment of birth. Throughout the history of humanity, the belief in some mode of existence beyond death, whether referred to as spirit, ancestor, ghost, or saint, has persisted. Lincoln explains aging as an inevitable erosion process of the body with a definite ending. He further clarifies: “For even if erosion is slowed and the threats posed by time, illness, and accidents are countered with proper nutrition and healing practices, still the end to human existence may only be postponed a bit, never avoided altogether.” Therefore, just as “all the erosion ends in total collapse or pulverization,” “all life ends in death.” The PIE verb *ger is defined both as “to age” and “to fall apart.” In the Vedas, however, the verb *mer-​(marate and mriyate) means “to die” (Avestan miryeit).51 The Vedic Indians’ understanding of death and the afterlife is rooted in the “animism which the Indo-​European people brought with them from their primitive stages of development.” Oldenberg adds: “This concept finds expression in references to an air-​shaped or shadowing being, namely the soul that dwells in the body…It parts permanently from the body in death and continues to lead its own existence for some time or for ever assuming visible or invisible shapes.”52 In accordance with the elementary commonalities of the Old European and the Indo-​European traditions, as well as the Indo-​Iranians’ funeral customs, it appears likely that Vedic afterlife beliefs were not entirely divergent from other ancient traditions. In light of this, the Vedic beginnings of the doctrine of life after death as a transmigratory process are also traceable to the birth of religion as a whole. In Vedic religion, the soul of the dead was believed to reside, temporarily or permanently, in animals, plants, and so on. One characteristic that was very prominent among Indo-​Iranian peoples was the innate correlation of the doctrine of the soul’s migration with the idea of moral retribution. The good and the evil that a person has undertaken in this life will be returned to them either in heavenly bliss or in a dark torturous hell. In our review of the anthropology and religious history of the Vedic religion, a belief in life after death appears as the most common element. Because of these views on life after death, which are also present in other cultures, scholars now agree that there was a similar afterlife belief among the early Vedic people. The information we have from the Ṛg Veda supports such a statement. In Vedic religion, as in other religions, the state of life after death for people depends on how they lived their earthly life. Although the ṛṣis (seers, sages) were often occupied in promising their virtuous patrons such optimistic items as wealth, long life, and an immortal life in heaven, they frequently forewarned enemies and transgressors of an early death and an unpleasant afterlife. In the Ṛg Veda, the “cosmic myth

Vedic Indians | 163 does not only live on in the ever repeated rituals, but also in the ideas on life and death, body and soul, and release from mundane existence.”53 Although in the Ṛg Veda evidence of the significance of the dead and life after death is meager, there is enough material for an investigation. One of the most obvious ways this closure of life was envisioned was as a separation of body and soul. Other views go further and discuss the ways in which the body itself crumbles into smaller pieces after death. The Vedic peoples, like the Indo-​Europeans, cast death as the disbanding of a compound unit. Death only appears as an end. The body is reborn from the cosmos again, like a breath from the wind. “After his dispersion to the elements, the dead man is said to be resting (Skt. ilayati), from which there is inevitably a reawakening.”54 Additionally, death is viewed as a repetitive ritual act, on par with the sacrifices. Each death repeats the first death, which was the first sacrifice that effected the creation of the universe. Therefore, as part of a cosmogonic act, death becomes the fate of all beings. It is through death that the universe is recreated and sustained. The frequent association of death with the moon points to a cyclical understanding of life and death. What happens to the moon and the agricultural cycle proves that there is life in death. The Vedic explanation appears to be applicable also to the later transmigration doctrine in Hinduism. The homology of death, the moon, and the underworld forms a safe base for the Vedic approach to belief in an afterlife. Like other Indo-​Europeans, the Vedic people believed that the spirit was an intangible substance, like breath. Therefore, death was viewed as the spirit’s temporary separation from the physical body. In the Vedic literature, the spirit and body are distinct, and there are two expressions that recur often enough to show that their meaning was generally known. Asu, life, was a physical aspect that, to Vedic India, would be just as physical as any other aspect of the spirit because it is based on the idea of mankind’s breath, the visible sign of life and intellect.55 Moreover, on the subject of the early doctrine of transmigration as stated in the Upaniṣads, Butzenberger comments: “It is not the deceased in his entirety who continues to exist after his individual death has occurred, but only the core of his atman/​breath, which enlivens him and which has the macrocosmic wind as its natural analogue.”56 There are various references in the Ṛg Veda to the journey of the spirit or soul after death. These references testify to beliefs in the soul of the dead; the survival of this substance; its journey, which follows its separation from the body to a temporary residence based on its own merits; and its final destination in immortal life. For example, ṚV 10.57.3–​5 indicates:

164 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

We call upon the spirit [manas] (of Subandhu) with Soma appropriated to the progenitors, with the praises of the Pitṛs (forefathers). May (your) spirit [manaḥ] (Subandhu) come back again to perform pious acts; to exercise strength; to live; and long to see the sun. May our progenitors, may the host of the gods, restore (your) spirit [manaḥ]: may we obtain (for you) the aggregate of the functions of life.

Furthermore, after being separated from the body at death, the imperishable soul is said to have gone into the earth, the sun, plants, mountains, and waters (ṚV 10.58). Nevertheless, hymn 58 also states that these locations are not the final destination; the soul is promised an immortal life in another place (heaven): “Although your spirit has gone far away to what has been, or to what is to be, we bring back that (spirit) of yours to dwell here, to live (long)” (ṚV 10.58.11–​12). In addition, a funerary hymn provides the necessary instructions for the dead: “Let the eye repair to the sun; the breath to the wind; go you to the heaven or to the earth, according to your merit; or go to the waters if it suits you (to be) there, or abide with your members in the plants” (ṚV 10.16.3). In both hymns there may perhaps be found the germ of the later doctrine of metempsychosis since the soul (manas) is thought of as going into waters or plants. In later Indian philosophy, Keith explains manas, the mind, “as the means of knowledge of all internal events, and a necessary link in the knowledge of external events en route from the senses.”57 Nonetheless, in the Ṛg Veda, asu, spirit, breath, is expressed as physical vitality, and the manas, soul, as the seat of thought. The asu and manas together form the living person. Therefore, the Vedic term gatāsu signifies the spirit leaving the body; it means death. Oldenberg adds that often, life and death appeared to depend on the remaining or the going out of asu, or manas, or, at times, of both.58 In the previously discussed hymn (ṚV 10.58), the manas has left the body of a dead person, who has gone to the world of the dead, to the world of Yama. ṚV 10.135.6–​7 explains Yama’s world in the following manner: How restitution was made appeared from the (command given) at first; before that the depth was outstretched, afterwards a means of returning (from Yama) was provided. This is the dwelling of Yama, which is called the fabric of the gods; this pipe is sounded for his (gratification), he is propitiated by hymns.

Vedic Indians | 165 Yama is said to fetch the soul of people; his epithet, asutṛp, means the robbing of the soul. In addition, Bodewitz further explains this reference, asutṛp, as signifying the “sorcerers who produce soul-​loss through magic. Temporarily, one can live without the asu, but the continuing separation of body and asu produces death. Therefore the priests try to get back the asu which has already left the body during illness.”59 For example, ṚV 10.161.2 states: “If he be of wasted life, or already dead, or be come to the verge of death, I bring him back from the lap of Nirṛti (death/​destruction); I have made him strong enough to live for a hundred years.”60 There are various references to the survival of the soul and, thus, the continuation of life after death. There are also references to breath being taken out of the body or brought back into it. In addition to the spirits embodied in the waters, mountains, forests, trees, and animals, other spirits were recognized in the Ṛg Veda, among which the spirits of the dead ancestors, the fathers, pitṛ, who were worshiped like the gods, are referred to repeatedly. Since they could return to this world and act both maliciously and benevolently towards living people, the Vedic people kept them pleased by offering them food, water, and prayers. The offerings intended for the benefit of pitṛs at the proper time, in a proper place, and in accordance with the prescribed procedure, are called śrāddha. However, śrāddha must be offered with full śraddhā; that is, faith, for the pitṛs to be gratified. A Ṛg Vedic hymn (10.151.3) devoted to faith marks its importance as a religious element: “As the gods’ bad faith in (their fight with) the Asuras, so grant the boon which has been asked for to our sacrificers who solicit happiness.” Here, the asuras are referred to as the ancient gods who are not yet demonized. Kane suggests that the word śrāddha is perhaps derived from śraddhā, which is “defined as the composure of the mind… confidence (in the efficacy) of religious acts…One who has no faith has no reason (or motive) for engaging in religious acts.” Kane further explains that “what is offered at the śrāddhas becomes transformed into that kind of food for the use of the pitṛs who require food in the new bodies they might have assumed according to the doctrine of karma and punarjanma [reincarnation].”61 The world of the fathers is referred to as the place where the one who has gone over, the preta, lives; preta also means ghost. Bodewitz suggests that Pitṛloka, the world of the pitaras, or fathers, may be the world belonging to a category of beings that people feared and to whom they made offerings, not the immediate ancestors.62 The Vedic texts also refer to the pitṛs, who represent a group, a category, rather than just one’s own ancestors. ṚV 10.15.1 describes three main classes of pitṛs, categorized by the degree of their merits: “Let the lower, the upper, the

166 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

intermediate pitṛs, rise up, accepting the Soma libation: may those progenitors who, unlike wolves, acknowledging our offerings, have come to preserve our lives, protect us upon our invocations.” Kane explains that the word pitṛ means father; however, the word pitaraḥ means “a man’s three immediate deceased ancestors,” and also refers to “the early or ancient ancestors of the human race that were supposed to inhabit a separate world (loka) by themselves.”63 It is said in the Ṛg Veda that pitṛs are often in the company of the gods, Yama in particular. ṚV 7.76.4 reads: “Those ancient sages, our ancestors, observant of truth (ṛta), rejoicing together with the gods, discovered the hidden light, and, reciters of sincere prayers, they generated the Dawn.” The fate of the deceased may also be connected with funeral customs. In order for the spirit to enjoy the paradisal pleasures, the dead participate in a resurrection, which requires an unharmed physical body. There are clear instructions about not harming the bones of the deceased in the process of inhumation, disintegration, or cremation. This concern about bodily injuries, for instance, is expressed in ṚV 10.16.6: “Should the black crow, the ant, the snake, the wild beast, harm (a limb) of you, may Agni the all-​devourer, and the Soma that has pervaded the brāhmaṇas, make it whole.” As a result, the bones of the dead are to be collected carefully and put away, buried in the ground or deposited in an ossuary. Of course, the deceased, considered impure and therefore polluting for the survivors, was not to be touched for three or ten days, or even until the bones were ready to be collected. In the Ṛg Veda, both burials and cremations are mentioned. The Vedic term, house of clay, mṛnmaya gṛha, is often explained as a reference to the burial; that is, a grave. However, in ṚV 7.89.1, it is only indicative of an undesirable place: “May I never go, royal Varuṇa, to a house made of clay, grant me happiness, possessor of wealth, grant me happiness.” What is translated as grave, mṛnmaya gṛha, is also referred to as a house in which life continues. Another term used in the Ṛg Veda is the stone house (harmya) of Varuṇa, which is the netherworld, in continuity with the dark primeval chaotic world of asat and anṛta.64 In addition to the spirits of the dead ancestors, the spirits of the rākṣasas, demons, are also frequently mentioned in the Ṛg Veda as the malicious spirits who return only to interfere destructively with the lives of the living. Furthermore, Oldenberg points to a different set of spirits who reside in the stars. He comments: “Can we not consider as a vestige of the belief in the star-​soul the naming of the Great Bear as seven Ṛṣis, or the naming of the Pleiades as Arundhatī, the symbol of fidelity, or the concept of the Kṛttikās as the consorts of the heavenly

Vedic Indians | 167 Bears?”65 The desire for the demons to never return from the underworld also points to an expected life, survival after death. In ṚV 7.104.3, the rākṣasas are thrown into bottomless darkness “so that not one of them may again issue from it.”66 Similarly, describing a heavenly life, often denoted by immortality, amṛta, for the departed ones points to an expected life after death.

World Beyond The dead person, who is expected to join the fathers, the gods, and, above all, mother earth, is to meet Yama, twin, the king of the dead. Yama’s background, as previously mentioned, is in the Indo-​European tradition; however, his lineage is not quite clear. He is referred to as a god, the king of the dead, the first man to die, father of the human race, and the ruler of hell and the south region. All the hymns related to Yama, that is, funerary rites, and the sacrifice for the fathers, the ancestors pitṛmedha, appear in the tenth, the last, book of the Ṛg Veda. However, this does not necessarily mean that they were composed at a later date. It is possible that when the ṚV was compiled, these hymns were brought together and placed in book ten, just as the Soma hymns were collected in book nine. In ṚV 10.17.1–​2, Yama is described as the twin of his sister, Yamī, and son of Vivasvant, the luminous, and Saraṇyū, the swift. These two were also mentioned as the parents of the twin Aśvins (Nāsatyas) of Indo-​European heritage. Nevertheless, the twins, Yama and Yamī, are rooted in the Indo-​Iranian tradition; their positions in the Avestan Iranian tradition will be discussed later. Yama, as the head of the human race, provides the beginning of human life and a future life. Like the story of Adam and Eve, Yama and Yamī became the progenitors of the human race, and Yama’s death marks the origin of sacrificial death. From that point on, Yama is identified with mṛtyu, death. As the first to die, like Puruṣa, Yama discovered the path from earth to the other world. ṚV 10.14.1–​4 describes how Yama, who first discovered the path for people, conducts those who are virtuous from the earth and opens to many the path to heaven. He provides a guide for the journey: “In the leafy tree where Yama drinks with the gods, there the progenitor, the lord of the house, invites us to join the men of old” (ṚV 10.135.1). As a solar god, Yama occupies the highest region of heaven in more than one reference. ṚV 1.35.6 describes the three spheres and the path to the realm of Yama: “Three are the spheres: two are in the proximity of Savitā, one leads men to the dwelling of Yama. The immortal (luminaries) depend upon Savitā as a cart

168 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

upon the pin of the axle; let him who knows (the greatness of Savitā) declare it.” Sāyaṇa comments, “the intermediate loka, antarikṣa, or firmament, is described as the road to the realm of Yama, the ruler of the dead, by which the pretaḥ, or ghosts travel.”67 One member of the great pantheon of Vedic gods is Viṣṇu, who later became a great god in Hinduism. Providing rain and food, Viṣṇu cultivated fertility and guarded conception and as an ally of Indra, he assisted in the war against Vṛtra. Viṣṇu was also understood to be a benevolent creator god, who, by taking three strides, provided space for all beings: Viṣṇu with his third step created heaven. In ṚV 10.14.8, Yama’s abode is located in parame vyoman, that is, in the uppermost heaven. The highest step of Viṣṇu, the highest heaven, is represented as his abode and is connected with ideas concerning life after death. After their death, pious men live happily in the Yama-​loka, Viṣṇu’s favorite region of (ṚV 1.154.5). Yama is mentioned in the list of gods along with Varuṇa, Mitra, and Agni. In ṚV 10.14, Yama is exalted as a god, as a gatherer of men; he is even praised as a rājan, a king, like Varuṇa. Nevertheless, in most hymns he is the punisher of men for evil deeds and the one who, like Varuṇa, catches and fetters the sinner. In ṚV 10.97.16, the sage prays: “May they liberate me from the sin produced by curse, from the sin caused by Varuṇa, from the fetters O Yama, from all guilt caused by the gods.” In the journey to the other world, the soul of the dead is met by Yama’s assistants, the two dogs Sārameyau. They are sons of Saramā, the messenger of Indra. In ṚV 10.15.10–​12, the dead are forewarned about the dogs: Pass by a secure path beyond the two spotted four-​eyed dogs, the progeny of Saramā, and join the wise pitṛs who rejoice joyfully with Yama. Entrust him, O king, to your two dogs, which are your protectors, Yama, the four-​eyed guardians of the road, renowned by men, and grant him prosperity and health. The messengers of Yama, broad-​nosed, and of exceeding strength, and satiating themselves with the life (of mortals), hunt mankind; may they allow us this day a prosperous existence here, that we may look upon the sun.

Merh indicates that there is nothing in the ṚV that shows directly that Saramā was a bitch; nevertheless, in translation, Saramā is often referred to as the bitch of Indra. Yama’s dogs, one described as brindled (śabala) and the other as brown, guard the gate of heaven, select the ones who are to die, and guide the dead in their upward journey to heaven. Like Varuṇa and Yama, the dogs assist the dead

Vedic Indians | 169 with their transition: Two dogs, the owl (ulūka), the pigeon (kapota) as well as bad dreams and mṛtyu are called Yama’s messengers. The owl and the pigeon also referred to as evil and destructive enemy forces and are to be driven out. As we have seen, the archaeology of Old Europe has presented examples of dogs, pigeons, and owls as the revered symbols of the goddess of regeneration and, therefore, auspicious omens. The owl was recognized as a prophetic bird, a messenger of death, and an epiphany of the goddess of death; her images appear on stelae, in megalithic tombs, and on urns in south-​eastern Europe and western Anatolia. Owls, as well as ravens and crows, were omens of death. The swan, goose, and duck stood for fortune and destiny. The dog, however, was sacred to the goddess of death; her epiphany was both an omen of death and a guardian of life.68 Nevertheless, in the Vedic religion, the dog came to be associated with destruction, death, and Yama (ṚV 10.165.1, 4–​5): O gods, let us worship for that, desiring which the pigeon sent as Nirṛti’s messenger, has come to this (ceremony); let us make atonement, may prosperity be given to our bipeds and quadrupeds. May that which the owl shrieks be in vain, (and may it be in vain) that the pigeon takes his place upon the fire; may this reverence be paid to Yama, (the god of) Death, as whose messenger he is sent. (Praised) by our hymn, O gods, drive out the pigeon, who deserves to be driven out, exhilarated (by our oblation), bring us food and cattle, dissipating all our misfortunes; abandoning our food, may the swift (pigeon) fly away.

In addition to Yama, his two dogs, and Varuṇa, certain women also meet the souls of the dead. Two of these women are Mānasī (Lady Mind) and Cākṣuṣī (Lady Eye). Bodewitz describes them “As a unity in duality…These two women are also said to weave the worlds; they produce the mental and visual conception of the world. The woman called Mānasī is priyā (dear) or perhaps even (own). This means that the deceased meets his own soul in the form of a beautiful woman.”69 Similar female characters are also found in Avestan tradition. In the post-​Vedic literature, Yama’s position is changed to a negative one. From a lofty heavenly abode, he was degraded to the underworld or even to hell and was no longer the benevolent ruler of humankind. As a result, Yama gradually changed from a beneficent ruler of the departed soul in the very early Vedic times to a dreadful punisher of mankind.70 Bodewitz also explains that “It is unclear how a celestial, benevolent deity could become degraded to a dark god of the underworld. Rather we should assume that the darker side of Yama was

170 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

original, that celestial transformation took place as a consequence of the discovery of heaven for human beings.”71 He also compares Yama’s situation to that of Varuṇa’s, who, as a demon, resided both in heaven and in the underworld. Both Yama and Varuṇa were connected with death, the moon, the underworld, and night, and were in charge of people’s moral conduct. Having left for another world of existence, the full personality of the departed, consisting of body (śarīra), soul (asu) and spirit (manas), is preserved. The Ṛg Veda (9.113.9, 11) depicts this personality as: Where in the third heaven, in the third sphere, the sun wanders at will, where the regions are filled with light, there make me immortal; flow Indu, for Indra. Where there is happiness, pleasures, joy, and enjoyment, where the wishes of the wishers are obtained, there make me immortal; flow, Indu, for Indra.

In this world, once again possessing a physical body, only the virtuous dead enjoy heavenly physical pleasures, including hearing the sound of the flute, and eating and drinking the “spirit-​food,” that is, the funeral offerings. In the Ṛg Veda, the nature of heaven, which is attained by the spirit, is described repeatedly. Heaven is described as a world already reached by the pious, e.g., the hero killed in battle, the ascetic pitaras, and those people devoted to ṛta, all of which points not only to another existence after death but also to judgment and belief in the heavenly life. The concept of judging one’s deeds and actions, although not specifically mentioned, are applied to the gods’ determination of humanity’s just reward. The Ṛg Veda further directs the dead to “go to those to whom the honey flows… to those who through penance have gone to heaven,” and to the “observers of truth, speakers of truth, and augmenters of truth” (ṚV 1.154.1–​5). In the light of such imagery, it is not accurate to assume total annihilation to be the fate of the deceased. Keith declares: “It is probable that in the Indo-​Iranian period there had already developed the conception of the distinction between the heavenly lot of the blessed dead and the dismal fate in hell of the evil.”72 Recent Vedic studies confirm such a probability. Bodewitz also argues that the Vedic people did recognize a life after death. He indicates that references to an immortal heavenly existence after death in the earlier books “are reserved for some mythical ancestors, the Aṅgirasas and the Ṛbhus,” and that it is only in the later hymns that everyone becomes a potential candidate. Nevertheless, the later hymns, including the hymn of the funeral rite in which there are references to the world of the blessed dead, confirm that “an institution like a ritual presupposes some tradition.”73

Vedic Indians | 171 As part of the cosmogony of the universe, and also of Viṣṇu’s third stride, the heavens were created. In heaven, the dead continued a life in the company of the fathers gone before and Yama, the first man to die. Heaven is described in the Ṛg Veda as a blissful place of radiant light and joy. Liberated from the pestering of the demons, the people there take pleasure from feeding on milk and honey and making love. Sounds of flute-​playing and sweet singing are heard everywhere. There are also wish-​cows providing whatever is wished for under the fig tree where Yama drinks with the gods. In short, the promised life in heaven was an improved replica of life on earth, with the familiar gifts of human pleasures. The idea of heaven in the Ṛg Veda is quite clear: “Imperial rulers of this world, you shine, Mitra and Varuṇa, at this sacrifice, the beholders of heaven: we ask of you the wealth (that is) rain, and immortality for your forms traverse earth and heaven” (ṚV 5.63.2). The blissful heavenly life is described as taking place in the center of heaven, in the lap of dawn, in the luminescent world, and so on. Heaven is located in the sky, the highest heaven, the third heaven, and the highest step of Viṣṇu. As the supreme knower of the guilty and the innocent, Varuṇa rules over this sunny world. Heaven is also where Yama resides. Among the numerous Ṛg Vedic descriptions of heaven, hymn 10.135.6–​7 expresses the following: How restitution was made appeared from the (command given) at first; before that the depth was outstretched, afterwards a means of returning (from Yama) was provided. This is the dwelling of Yama, which is called the fabric of the gods; this pipe is sounded for his (gratification), he is propitiated by hymns.

In Kaṭha Upaniṣad (1.1.12), Yama describes heaven to Nachiketas, who is inquisitive about the matters of death and the afterlife. Yama says: “In heaven there is no fear—​you (death) are not there, (and) nobody is struck with fears because of old age. Having transcended both hunger and thirst, and crossed over sorrow, one rejoices in the heavenly world.”74 Yama also tells Nachiketas of the dhārā, a path or bridge over which one must cross to reach the afterlife destination (1.3.14). It operates as a system of reckoning and judgment: “Arise, awake, and learn by approaching the excellent ones. The wise ones describe that path to be as impassable as a razor’s edge, which, when sharpened, is difficult to tread on.”75 A clear distinction is made here between two paths in the Ṛg Veda (9.41.2): “We may think upon the bridge of bliss, leaving the bridge of woe behind.” Separated from the body at death, the honorable spirit journeyed to heaven, where it was reunited with its physical form. Accordingly, the bones of the dead

172 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

had to be collected carefully and put away, especially for the purpose of resurrection. Despite the various prevalent methods of disposing of the dead body, such as burial, cremation, and exposure to the elements, the body was restructured in the same form for the spirit to re-​enter and so live another life in the other world. The Vedic people further believed that the departed soul would receive a new body with which to live in the company of Yama and the fathers. ṚV 10.14.7–​8 is addressed to the spirit of a dying person and points to a belief in the journey of the spirit and resurrection in heaven: Depart, depart, by the former paths by which our forefathers have departed; there shall you behold the two monarchs Yama and the divine Varuṇa rejoicing in the Svadhā. Be united with the pitṛs, with Yama, and with the fulfillment of your wishes in the highest heaven; discarding iniquity, return to your abode, and unite yourself to a luminous body.

In the Indo-​European and Indo-​Iranian cosmological systems, there is no movement without a counter-​movement, and no shift of matter without an opposite balancing shift. Therefore, we expect to find numerous descriptions of resurrection where a new body similar to the earthly one is provided for the dead at the end of the life cycle. ṚV 10.15.14 refers to the condition of the dead, who has departed the body, made the journey, passed Yama’s four-​eyed guard dogs, and arrived at their final destination. At this place, the Supreme Lord is asked to “construct at your pleasure that body that is endowed with breath.”76 Since a soul cannot consume soma, milk, or honey, listen to the delightful sounds of singing and the flute, or delight in the joys of sex without a body, the soul and the body are joined together in heaven. The Ṛgvedic hymns were composed by the privileged seer-​poet-​priests for affiliates of the privileged class of society, mainly kings and warriors, who were expected to engage in proper rituals, perform their duties, and honor the gods. In light of this, there are more hymns that promise a happy and fortunate or heavenly life after death than there are words of admonition and reprimand warning of the other possible destination, that of hell. Although there are no specific Ṛgvedic words translated as hell (like the Atharvavedic naraka, hell, in contrast to svarga, heaven), there are clear descriptions of an unpleasant world to which transgressors are sent. In any case, it was not in the interest of either the poets or their audience to speak or hear of such a place.

Vedic Indians | 173 As a natural complement to heaven, hell is a place of punishment in the Ṛg Veda. It is undeniably a place to where certain gods hurl the sinners in order to punish them. Hell is in an endless abyss deep under the three earths and is therefore a place of deep darkness and evil. Although the term “punishment” is used against the sinner, this concept does not necessarily include torment by fire or other specific physical tortures. Moreover, Oldenberg affirms that it is not Yama or any other god who gives mortals life after death. The continuation of life after death has been accepted since the earliest primitive times; all that could be hoped for or feared was that the gods would either be merciful to the soul that lived on or exercise their wrath, respectively. “Therefore, we must accept without hesitation the Vedic belief in hell.”77 Like most other religions, including Christianity and Islam, Vedic beliefs in hell are often expressed in an indirect way through references made to a dark, bottomless pit, an abyss, the abode of demons, and so on. In the dualistic fashioning of the cosmos, the upper world was created for the gods and the earth was created for mortals. The Ṛg Veda describes the earth, the sky, and the heaven above the sky as the ordered world operating according to ṛta. In contrast to this world, the Ṛg Veda describes the worlds of sat and asat. The world of sat was maintained by ṛta as the residence of the truthful and the virtuous, wherein they lived as immortals; and the chaotic dark netherworld of anṛta was the abode of the sinners, enemies, and demons. The netherworld, situated outside the ordered world, is the realm of chaos; it is the lap of Nirṛti, the goddess of decay. “Once the concept of life after death had been developed with emphasis on other worldly rewards for earthly virtues, the idea of punishment, meted out in the other world for earthly sin, had to surface. This was an unavoidable consequence.”78 In the Vedas, the terms that denote the underworld are the deep pit, the abyss, darkness, the world under the cosmic mountain, Nirṛti (destruction), harmya (stone house), and parāvat (distance). In his discussion of parāvat as a non-​heavenly yonder world far away, Bodewitz explains that in most traditions, a distant western place on the outer borders of the world serves as a designated place for the dead. However, in the Vedic texts, “death is associated with the South.” Since the west is where the sun sets, and Varuṇa, who is closely connected with death, is the deity who resides there, the west could be the entrance to the netherworld. The Ṛg Veda mentions the sun as emerging from a distance, parāvat, and extending into the underworld in the west.79 Citing ṚV 10.58, “Although your spirit has gone far away to…,” Bodewitz specifies that the term is used to indicate “dying or soul-​loss and a going far away (dūrakam) of the soul to various places, including the parāḥ parāvataḥ.”80

174 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Both Agni and Soma, originally asuras, are brought to human beings from the parāvat. Kuiper identifies Soma as being fetched not only from the parāvat but also from the rock, which would denote the cosmic hill situated on top of the netherworld. Kuiper, like Renou, notes parāvat as being the dwelling-​place of the asuras and Uṣas, the goddess of the Dawn. Such terms not only “denoted the totality of the dualistic cosmos” but also demonstrated that parāvat “was not a dwelling-​place of the devas.”81 This descent to the lower faraway places was selected for those who failed to perform sacrifices or lived according to falsehood, anṛta. The general understandings of the notion of hell in the Ṛg Veda thus far are based on the descriptions of the afterlife as a gloomy, dark netherworld where all commoners go to live out a hopeless existence. Nevertheless, references to the netherworld as the specific destination for sinners are numerous throughout the Ṛg Veda. Life according to anṛta belonged only to the world of asat, and those who did not live their lives according to ṛta did not receive any protection from the gods or from Yama’s dogs. On their afterlife journey, they were snatched and dragged away by demons that came up from asat. “The asat and its inhabitants constitute the Ṛgvedic conception nearest the Western notion of Hell and the Devil or devils.”82 The netherworld was the permanent habitat of the demons. The Ṛg Veda describes the netherworld as a bottomless pit, an abyss covered in absolute darkness. Those individuals who have gone against ṛta by performing anṛta actions or speech, or both, are judged, punished, slain, and sent there by the gods, the guardians of ṛta: In ṚV 4.5.5, “the wicked, false (in thought), false (in speech), they give birth to this deep abyss (of hell).”83 Ṛgvedic hymns make frequent references to punishment in hell for sinners, and the deep place (padam gabhīram), bottomless darkness (ālambana-​rahitor), or pit (vavra) is emphasized. In a brief article entitled “The Rigvedic Equivalent for Hell,” Brown says that, “By piecing together bits of scattered information and pursuing more or less obscure clues, it is possible to get a general idea about the nature of the Vedic death and after life, and to give it a place in the Vedic cosmos.” Brown continues with an examination of two hymns, that of ṚV 7.104 and Atharva Veda 8.4, with which he compares other hymns that allude to the “equivalent for hell.” These hymns, reviewed in the preceding pages, describe a distinct group of beings being dispatched to this place. They were caught in the fetters of Varuṇa for committing anṛta acts (sins) or were simply missed by their guardian gods (nṛcakṣas), who were supposed to protect them on their afterlife journey.84 Following Brown’s suggestion, the hellish place described in the Ṛg Veda is referred to simply as hell. Those who reach hell are anti-​ṛta, the false worshipers,

Vedic Indians | 175 and, like Asura-​Vṛtra, other asuras, Dasyus, and Dāsas, they go to the deep darkness (adhamaṃ tamas). The sorcerers employing rākṣasas, whether yātudhānas or kimidīns, rob the pious of the “fruit of their good works” and destroy sacrifices, and their punishment is to be sent to hell. Although references to hell and punishments for enemies and sinners are found throughout the Ṛg Veda, selected verses from hymn 7.104 are specifically cited here for expediency:















1. Indra-​Soma, burn the demon; bear down on him; ye two bulls, thrust down those who prosper by (or, in) darkness. Crush away the impious (acitas), scorch them, slay, push, become sharp [so as to put] down (ní śiśītam) the atrins (devourers). 2. Indra-​Soma, let painful heat boil up, like a pot in a fire, against him who plots evil against [us]. Set inescapable hate against the Brahman-​hating, flesh-​devouring, evil-​looking kimidīn. 3. Indra-​Soma, pierce the evil-​doers that they may fall into the chasm, the bottomless darkness, so that not a single one of them shall come up here again. Let this be your furious rage to overcome [them]. 4. Indra-​Soma, [like a yoked team] roll hither the weapon from the sky, roll hither the shattering weapon from the earth upon him who plots evil. Fashion from the mountains the whizzing bolt, with which you burn down the demon who has prospered [in the darkness]. 5. Indra-​Soma, roll it across the sky. With weapons of heat by fire (agni), that smite with stone, ageless, pierces the atrins (devourers) till they fall into the abyss. Let them go to silence. 6. Indra-​Soma, let my spell (mati) girdle you as a girth girdles a pair of vigorous horses. The invocation which I direct to you by my wisdom, these holy spells, do you hasten them, as the two Aśvins [speed a chariot]. 7. Come swiftly and do counter magic [against our enemies]. Slay those who employ demons, who hate us, who would break us to bits. O Indra-​Soma, let there be no happy state for him who does evil, who at any time so ever troubles me with hate. 8. Whoever, when I am acting with pure and single heart, works against me with charms that are counter to the ṛta (anṛta), may be, O Indra, as he pronounces non-​existence (asat), himself go to non-​existence, like waters held in the fist.

176 | Ancient











Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

9. They who with their swift courses distract him of pure and single heart or spoil the blessing with its heavenly rewards—​let Soma deliver them over to the serpent or let him set them in the lap of destruction (Nirṛti). 10. There is a clear distinction for a man clever (in religion). True (sat = existent) and untrue (asat = non-​existent) charms conflict. The True one, the straighter, just that one Indra favors. He destroys the untrue. 11. Whoever calls me a sorcerer when I am not a sorcerer, or whatever user of demons claims to be pure, let Indra smite him with his mighty weapons. Let him fall below all creation (víśvasya jantór adhamás padīṣṭa). 12. She who raids about at night like an owl, with hate, disguising herself, may she fall into the endless pits (vavrān anantān áva sā padīṣṭa). May the soma-​pressing stones with their noises slay the demons. 13. Indra, slay the male sorcerer and the female who triumphs by her magic (māyā). Let the false worshippers, without necks, disappear (or, go down?). Let them not see the sun rise.85

In verses one and two, Indra and Soma are to burn the demon, to let heat (tapus) boil up against the evil plotter. In verse three, hell is described as a chasm (vavra), bottomless (anārambhaṇa) and full of darkness (tamas). In verse four, Indra-​Soma’s bolt is to burn the rakṣas, who have waxed great (rakṣo vāvṛdhānam nijūrvathaḥ). In verse five, hell is an abyss (parśāṇa), a place of annihilation and of destruction (asann asata Indra vaktā). In verses eight and nine, creatures that operate with charms, contrary to ṛta, go to the lap of Nirṛti (anṛtebhir vacobhiḥ). In verse ten, the sorcerer and his children are put down. In verse twelve, hell is the place of non-​existence (asat), contrasted with the ordered universe where ṛta orders the place of sat, existence. Therefore, in the Ṛg Veda, anṛta and asat are synonyms, the opposite of sat, satya, ṛta. In verse sixteen, hell is the place below all creatures. In verse five, it is also a place of silence (nisvaram), and in verse seventeen, the noise of the soma-​pressing stone assists in the slaying of demons and sending them there (grāvāṇo ghnantu rakṣasa upabdaiḥ); that is, into endless pits (vavrān anantān). Verse three states that there is no return for one who goes there (yathā nātaḥ punar ekas canodayat) and verse twenty-​four states that hell is a place for disappearance (vigrévāso mūradevā ṛdantu). Agni smites him who enacts the non-​ṛta (mūra-​deva).86 In his analysis of this hymn, Bodewitz adds: “throwing into a hole is often associated with punishment and sometimes the hole may represent some sort of hell or underworld…duṣkṛto vavré antár…prá vidhyatam…The whole hymn contains some further references to a realm of the dead or hell.” Bodewitz suggests

Vedic Indians | 177 that where the Ṛg Veda mentions a chasm, a hole, or a pit in conjunction with chastisement, these are references “to the undivided underworld or to the hell of sinners.”87 He further explains that whether the hole is a symbol of the underworld into which one is thrown or an entrance to a subterranean realm, the material of the texts clearly supports the concept of an undivided underworld and a hell that forms the ultimate destination of sinners and enemies. The underworld was represented in the oldest Vedic literature and in related ancient cultures. The post-​Vedic literature also shows this concept in great detail. Therefore, it is possible to conclude that the occasional references to it in the Vedic prose texts between Saṃhitās and the post-​Vedic literature are evidence of an underlying belief that never went away.88 Numerous references to hell are found in the post-​Vedic religious literature of India, including the Sūtras, Smṛtis, Purāṇas, and the Mahābhārata epic. Hell, naraka, is the place where the transgressors are sent to be tormented. In the Atharva Veda, naraka is also explicitly named as a hellish place to where the sinful dead are committed. There are references in the Kaṭhopaniṣad (2.5–​6 and 5.7) to another life after death for the soul of the dead based on the actions performed while living. There are also numerous references in the Buddhist religion to hell as a living place for the sinner, which might provide evidence for ancient Vedic beliefs. There are eight great hells mentioned in Buddhism, in addition to many other minor ones. As the wellspring of Hindu religion, law, philosophy, and social institutions, the Ṛg Veda demonstrates the earliest recorded confirmation of belief in death as a continual process of life. This process is explicitly illustrated in the Ṛg Veda, particularly in the funerary hymn (ṚV 10.16.1–​6). Sāyaṇa says that these six verses “are to be recited at (or upon) the death of an initiated person (dikṣitamaraṇe).”89





1. Agni, consume him not entirely; afflict him not; scatter not (here and there) his skin nor his body; when Jātaveda, you have rendered him mature, then send him to pitṛs (the fathers). 2. When you have rendered him mature, then give him up, Jātaveda, to the pitṛs, when he proceeds to that world of spirits, then he becomes subject to the will of the gods. 3. Let the eye repair to the sun; the breath to the wind; go you to the heaven or to the earth, according to your merit; or go to the waters if it suits you (to be) there or abide with your members in the plants.

178 | Ancient







Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

4. The unborn portion; burn that, Agni, with your heat; let your flame, your splendour, consume it; with those glorious members which you have given him, Jātaveda, bear him to the world (of the virtuous). 5. Dismiss again to the pitṛs, Agni, him who offered on you, comes with Svādhas: putting on (celestial) life, let the remains (of bodily life) depart: let him, Jātaveda, be associated with a body. 6. Should the black crow, the ant, the snake, the wild beast, harm (a limb) of you, may Agni the all-​devourer, and the Soma that has pervaded the Brāhmaṇa, make it whole.

The first verse, where the command to the fire is to “consume him not entirety,” points to a belief in the resurrection of the body. As previously discussed, the body was not to be reduced to ashes and the unharmed bones were collected and buried for their future use in the recreation of a heavenly body for the dead. Verse three points to the existence of another world beyond death to where the spirits, according to the judgments of the gods, will journey. However, verse three is often taken as the Vedic reference to the possibility of transmigration as another afterlife option for the dead. This dispersion, like the later Upaniṣadic descriptions, is fashioned on a cosmogonic level. The first human cosmogonic sacrifice established the joining of the body with its macrocosmic alloforms at death. Lincoln states, “We are explicitly told that the parts of the body which enter the earth, into the plants and waters are to be understood as food, which will be consumed by men and cattle alike and from which their bodies will be rebuilt.”90 This doctrine was further developed in India under the title of karma. Jainism and Buddhism both accepted the joint doctrine of karma and rebirth, a retribution for one’s deeds in future existences. Already appearing in late Vedic thought, the doctrine was popularized by these religions until it became an axiom, which continues in modern Hindu India. In addition, the desire to transcend the tangles of daily life gave rise to a conviction in the final beatitude, that is, liberation (mokṣa) as the ultimate reward. Kane similarly explains that “The original theory of early Vedic times was that of Heaven and Hell, which is also that of most religions.”91 Later, when the doctrines of karma and punarjanma were universally believed in India, the theory of heaven and hell were modified. The evolved belief was that heaven’s pleasure and hell’s torments ended at some point, and the sinner was born again as an animal or a tree or a human being who suffered from diseases and other defects. This set of homologies is perhaps not only a direct inheritance from the Indo-​ Europeans, via the Indo-​Iranians, but is also derived from the Old Europeans,

Vedic Indians | 179 whose principal dogma was that of regeneration and metempsychosis. Such a prevalent belief, in both the Vedic and later traditions of India, is also found in Iran. Perhaps both the Indians and the Iranians developed their awareness of life, death, and rebirth based on an early faith in the cyclicity of existence. As long as there was an incessant process, there could not be an absolute end or an annihilation; life has to persist. In the case of India, this doctrine continued and was further developed under the rubric of karma. Among the Iranians, the same doctrine inspired a definite belief in frašagird, that is, the resurrection and renovation of the world to its original form.

Notes

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9

10 11

12 13 14 15 16 17

18

Jamison 1991: 6–​11; Renou 1954; 1–​23. Kane IV, 1953: ix. Kulke and Rothermund 1998: 34, 43–​4. Oldenberg 1894: 315. Merh 1996: 6–​7. Dumézil 1958. Oldenberg, 1894: 67. Nyberg 1995: 382-​406; Parpola 1995: 370; Keith 1925: 166–​71; Watkins 2000: 42. See Bergaigne 1897: 92–​103; Brown 1966: 19–​20; Choudhuri 1981: 5–​9; O’Flaherty 1981: 141. Kuiper 1983: 11. Lincoln explains the Ṛgvedic warrior acts: “Every warrior needed to act as “Third,” fearlessly raiding on all foreign enemies—​who were seen as thieves and subhuman monsters like “Serpent”—​whom they killed or subjugated, and whose wealth they ruthlessly seized, secure in the belief that no livestock could ever rightfully have belonged to any non-​Indo-​Europeans but must have been stolen by them.” 1991: 10–​12; see also Oldenberg 1894: 78–​80. Kuiper 1983; Lincoln 1991: 7; Wilson IV, 2001: 422–​3. Bodewitz 1991: 10. Gimbutas 1989: 206–​11. Tull 1989: 6. O’Flaherty 1980: xvii. Goldman further adds: “The notion that one’s condition in the life to come, whether that life is on earth or in another world, is dependent on the quality of one’s actions in the present life, is the very cornerstone of virtually every religious tradition the world has known.” 1985: 415. Wilson IV 2001: 516–​19.

180 | Ancient

19 20 21 22 23 24

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Holy Bible, NRSV trans. Metzger 1989: 1. Kuiper 1983: 10. Oldenberg 1894: 85–​7. Kuiper 1983: 37, 16. Brown 1966: 20–​1, 70. Kuiper explains that “In the Ṛg Veda, the distinction between asuras and devas has been clearly preserved as devāv asurā, “asuras who have become devas,” and asurā adevāḥ, “asuras who are not devas.” 1983: 14. 25 Kuiper explains that “an asura of his accord leaves his world and sides with the devas. In other cases he is ‘called forth’ (as the texts say) by the devas, who are unable to achieve their aim without the assistance of a certain asura.” 1983: 16. 26 Ibid. 1983: 121, 16. 27 O’Flaherty 1981: 232. 28 Lüders 1951, 1959; Dandekar 1979: 315. 29 Bodewitz 1998: 48–​4. 30 Brown 1941: 79–​80; see also Atharva Veda 17.1.19. 31 In the later versions of the Brāhmaṇas the slaying of Vṛtra is viewed as the sacrificial death that brought about the creation of the world and the cosmos. Brown explains that in both cases Indra brought about the Existent from the Non-​existent ‘asac ca san muhur ācakrir Indraḥ’ (ṚV 6.24.5), that is, he differentiated the two. “Thus chaos, by a dichotomy, became, on the one hand, the ordered universe of flat earth, atmosphere, and vaulted sky, and, on the other hand, the dark, cold space of dissolution lying below this universe.” 1941: 79–​80. Additionally, Kuiper explains, “the primordial world became the sacred earth, which together with heaven formed a pair of cosmic moieties.” However, the earth was resting on primordial waters, which formed the subterranean world. 1983: 14. 32 Kuiper 1983: 1–​2. 33 Brown 1966: 7. 34 Bodewitz 1991: 5. 35 When reviewing the concept of twins, Mallory proposes that “We can go beyond the dualism expressed by twins to outright binary opposition as one of the underlying structures of Indo-​European ideology.” 1989: 141. 36 Brown further explains. 1966: 21–​22. 37 However, by viewing the ideas of life after death with a structuralist approach, Bodewitz declares that the possibility of life for the dead is alluded to in the Ṛg Veda. He states: “starting from the opposition of the upper and the nether world… the subterranean world would represent some form of primeval chaos and in this subterranean world we may expect the dead to ‘live’.” 1994: 37. 38 Bergaigne 1897: 215–​18. 39 Keith adds, “We are doubtless justified in seeing in the word Arta as it appears in the names recorded in the Tell-​el-​A marna correspondence the same word, and in

Vedic Indians | 181 inferring that the sense was somewhat the same at that early period about 1400 B.C.” 1925: 83. 40 Brown 1966: 18. 41 Choudhuri explains that Varuṇa stands for both ṛta, the Truth of Becoming, and for satya, the Truth of Being. 1981: 46. 42 Moreover, Bodewitz translates karta in the phrase “those who offer no sacrifice (api kartam avartayo ’yajyūn)” as the abyss into which the sinful are cast. 1999 b: 216. 43 Kane 1953: 6–​8, 35–​8. 44 Thieme 1960: 41. 45 On the subject of the performance of ordeals as a form of divine judgment in the Vedic tradition, Keith explains: “The idea is not that the deity would actually punish an accused person so much as that it should by its treatment of him show whether or not he is innocent of the charge made against him. But the analogy of the ordeal to the oath in which the swearer invokes a penalty on himself, if he is telling untruth, shows that the separation of the ideas of punishment and discrimination cannot be assumed to have been present to the Vedic mind: the form of ordeal recorded for early Vedic times shows the prevalence of punishment at the same time as the test of fact.” 1925: 392–​3. 46 Kuiper 1979: 12. 47 Dandekar 1979: 63. 48 Gonda 1972: 104, 62–​4. 49 Oldenberg describes Agni as follows: “It is indeed true that the most powerful orders of the natural and cultic events are manifest in him; as the next divine companion of human life he, the supervisor of all statutes, looks through all the wrong-​doing, he distinguishes the good from the evil, and the thing that is done intentionally from the one that is done thoughtlessly; as a friend of the dark, as one banishes and consumes in fire evil demons, he also burns alive the human evil-​doers, the offenders of the orders of Varuṇa and Mitra; and as such he is the champion of law and order.” 1894:  103–​4. 50 Kuiper 1983: 161. 51 Lincoln 1986: 119. 52 Oldenberg 1894: 307. 53 Bodewitz 1991: 10. 54 Lincoln 1986: 124. 55 Keith adds: “later, but not in the Ṛgveda, the term Ātman, the breath, is the most characteristic term for the self, and the breaths, Prāṇas, are a constant subject of investigation in the Upaniṣads, where often they appear as essentially representing the life and spirit of man. The identification of the breath and the asu is made formally in the Śatapatha Brāhmaṇa, but this fact is much less important than the clear indications of the Ṛgveda.” 1925: 403. 56 Butzenberger 1998: 4.

182 | Ancient

57 58 59 60

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Keith 1925: 403–​4. Oldenberg 1894: 308. Bodewitz 1991: 43. Bodewitz writes: “In ṚV 1.32.10, the laying down or sleeping in the long darkness (dīrgha tamas āsayat), though this describes a dead enemy, implies that “death is not a total annihilation.” 2002: 214. 61 Kane 1953: 352. 62 Bodewitz explains: “Depending on the texts and the contexts, the Pitṛloka seems to be the second best world, above this world but distinct from and lower than the Svarga or the second worst world, subterranean but perhaps distinct from and superior to the world of the sinners, the rivals, the demons, at least superior to hell.” 2002: 222. 63 Kane 1953: 340–​1. 64 In support of Kuiper, Bodewitz agrees that the netherworld is also called the stone house because it is the abode of Varuṇa, where “he dwells in the depth of the cosmic mountain.” 1994: 38. 65 Oldenberg 1894: 323. 66 Regarding immortality as stated in the Ṛg Veda, Bodewitz adds, “Reaching a positive, auspicious life after death in a heavenly sphere might also be denoted by terms denoting immortality. It has long been observed that terms like amṛta and amṛtatva in the ṚS [Ṛgveda Saṃhitā] often or even mostly do not designate life in heaven when associated with mortals.” Bodewitz also points to the term non-​dying, amṛtatva, as it is used for rain, which signifies a continuation of life. 1994: 31. 67 Wilson I, 2001: 92. 68 Merh 1996:49. Gimbutas 1989: 322–​4. 69 In addition, Bodewitz points to the story of the sage Bhṛgu, who is sent to the other world, where, among other things, he sees two women: “In the one version they guard a treasure, which obviously represents the good and bad works of man. The other version states that the one woman is beautiful, kalyāṇā, and the other is atikalyāṇā, probably to be interpreted as no more beautiful, ugly.” 1991: 26. 70 After a detailed analysis of Yama’s position in the Ṛg Veda, Kane states: “It has already been seen how Yama is said to have within his powers again and again foolish men who believe in the existence of this world alone and deny the existence of the next.” 1953: 160. 71 Bodewitz 2002: 222. 72 Keith 1925: 413. 73 Bodewitz 1994: 36, 37. 74 trans. in Gambhīrānanda 1996: 16. 75 trans. in Ibid. 1996: 79. 76 Bodewitz writes: “Somewhere between death and the admission to heaven a so-​ called soul must be assumed acting apart from the body. This is also the case with

Vedic Indians | 183 seriously ill people who have consciousness and whose return to the body the Atharvanic magicians try to realize.” 1999: 109. 77 Oldenberg 1894: 103–​6, 312. 78 Ibid. 79 Commenting on ṚV 6.61.14 [mā tvat kṣetrāṇy araṇāni ganma “May we not go from you to distant fields”], Bodewitz points to Keith who “takes araṇa as ‘joyless,’ probably because he did not realize that distance and death belong to the same sphere.” 2000: 104; 2002a: 104. 80 Ibid. Furthermore, he notes Renou, who assumes that “parāvat is the forerunner of terms denoting hell.” 2000: 104; 2002a: 104. 81 Kuiper 1983: 225. 82 Brown 1966: 18. 83 Following the translation of this verse, Wilson points to Sāyaṇa’s comments on idaṁ padam ajanatā gabhīram, “they give birth to this deep abyss,” as the narakastnam, “place of hell,” and also Milton’s description of “Satan falling in chaos,” in reference to the same phrase. IV, 2002: 263. 84 Brown 1941: 76, 78. 85 trans. in Ibid. 1941: 76–​8. 86 Ibid. 1941: 76-​79; Bodewitz 1999, 2002. 87 Bodewitz 1999:216, 222. 88 Ibid. 1999: 221. 89 In Wilson IV, 2002: 227. 90 Lincoln adds: “To the best of my knowledge, only these Indo-​Iranian sources preserve mention of the sitiogonic alternative, and we also lack any discussion whatsoever of the fate of animals at death. Yet perhaps it is not too much to assume that animals at death repeated the fate of the first animal, from whose body food was created. If this is so, then we might speculate further and suggest that just as an animal victim might do service for a human victim in sacrifice, its body becoming the cosmos instead of just food, so too a human corpse might assume the fate ordinarily reserved for animals, becoming food instead of the cosmos.” 1986: 125. 91 Kane 1953: 158.

7

Zoroastrian Iranians

History and Textual Sources The Iranian religion, Zoroastrianism, as the most significant religion of pre-​ Islamic Iran, is one of the best-​k nown ancient existing religions. The religion takes its name from its founder, Zaraθuštra (Zarathushtra) of the Spitaman family, generally known under his later Greek name Zoroaster, and the Middle and New Persian Zardušt. Zoroaster started as a fully qualified priest of an Old Iranian religion. From around the age of seven, he underwent the customary rigorous training for the priesthood. Traditionally, it is believed that from the age of twenty, he led a nomadic life for many years, visiting sages and seers. During these times, Zoroaster experienced unique visions. He experienced enlightenment, or visions, in which he saw and heard the great god Ahura Mazdā, Lord Wisdom, encircled by six other luminous figures. From this experience, Zoroaster declared himself to be the divinely selected herald of a religion that differed from the traditional Iranian faith. As already mentioned, Iranians were Aryans who settled on the Iranian plateau. A comparison of ancient Iranian and Indian texts enables us to reconstitute the Aryan or Indo-​Iranian religion prior to its division. This branch of the Indo-​ European nation divided into two distinct groups during the second millennium

186 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

BCE, one entering India and the other Iran. Furthermore, it has been determined from the language of the seventeen hymns of the Gāθās (Gāthās) (psalms, hymns), the oldest Iranian religious hymns ascribed to Zoroaster himself, that the Zoroastrian Iranians spoke a language like that of the Vedic Indians. Thus, the civilization and language of Iran, before the arrival of Arab Muslims in the seventh century CE, were related to those of Aryan India, that is, during the Vedic period. The Iranian religious background was also very similar to the Vedic Indian. The territories conquered by the Iranians, who spoke various dialects, included present-​day Iran, Afghanistan, Baluchistan, Russian Turkistan, Jaxartes, Oxus, and the Aral and Caspian regions as far as the shores of the Black Sea. During the first millennium of its existence, Zoroastrianism established itself over vast areas of eastern and northeastern ancient Iran. It also infiltrated into western Iran, which had already been invaded by the Persians in the south and by the Medes in the north. By the seventh century BCE, the magi, the traditional priests of western Iran, had also converted to Zoroastrianism. Zoroastrianism developed further under the first Iranian Empire, the sixth-​century BCE dynasty of the Achaemenians, which already contained many Zoroastrians. Whether or not Zoroastrianism was adopted previously by the founder of that empire, Cyrus the Great (549–​529 BCE), there can be no doubt about his successors. Inscriptions on the tombs of Darius the Great (522–​486 BCE), Xerxes (486–​ 465 BCE), and Artaxerxes I (465–​424 BCE) bear witness to the unchanging nature of the dynastic faith. However, every Achaemenian monarch saw himself as God’s representative on earth. Zoroastrianism continued to flourish not only during the Achaemenian but also during the Macedonian dynasty of the Seleucids. Afterwards, Zoroastrianism officially functioned as a state religion during the 800 years of the ruling Iranian empires of the Parthians (or Arsacids) and Sassanians up to the seventh century CE. The royal dynasties of Iran, in accordance with the creed of Zoroastrianism, saw themselves as the guardians of order and truth and the rulers appointed by god, Ahura Mazdā. A translation from the inscription of the Achaemenian King, Darius the Great (522–​486 BCE), from Behistun in Iran (IV. 61–​9), reads For this reason Ahura Mazdā bore (me) aid, and the other gods who are, because I was not disloyal, I was not a follower of the Lie (Drauga = Av. Drūg), I did not do wrong—​neither I nor my family. I walked in justice. Neither to the weak nor to the mighty did I do wrong…You who shall be king hereafter, the man who follows the Lie or who shall do wrong –​be not a friend to them, (but) punish them well.1

Zoroastrian Iranians | 187 In the seventh century CE, Arab Muslims conquered the Iranian lands and overthrew the Sassanian Empire along with the state religion, Zoroastrianism. Even though the ethical qualities of Zoroastrianism enabled the religion to survive countless ferocious attacks, involving many executions and much adversity, it eventually ceased to be, numerically, one of the world’s major religions. Today, the small communities of surviving Zoroastrians live in the diaspora. There are Zoroastrians known as Parsis, that is, Persians, living on the Indian subcontinent where their ancestors fled many centuries ago to escape Muslim persecutions in Iran. Even though in Iran and in the diaspora there are fewer than 100,000 Zoroastrians, Zoroastrianism has survived the onslaughts of the Macedonians, Seleucids, Arabs, Mongols, and Turkic Islamic peoples to the present day. There are many disagreements among scholars on the exact date of Zoroaster himself. According to some traditions, the prophet lived 258 years before Alexander, which would place him in the middle of the sixth century BCE. However, since this late calculation was based on Greek fiction and not necessarily historical data, for over a century archeologists and linguists have been accumulating data in favor of an earlier date, when Iranians were still pastoralists, some time between 1500–​1200 BCE or even earlier. More recently, scholars have argued for an earlier date of 1080 BCE.2 “In the fourth century BC, Aristotle saw his great teacher Plato as a re-​embodiment of Zarathushtra, who, he held, had lived 6,000 years earlier.”3 Based on similar calculations, Zoroaster is placed in remote antiquity by the Zoroastrians. There is also some disagreement concerning Zoroaster’s homeland and activities. Some scholars hold that his homeland, like the original homeland of the Aryans, was somewhere in the southern region of the Urals. However, the general scholarly agreement is that Zoroaster and his people settled somewhere in the east of Iran, and that Zoroastrianism, most likely, originated in the eastern regions of the ancient Iranian world between the great mountain ranges of the Hindukush and Seistan. Without any historical facts, Zoroastrian priests of later times also tried to assign a western Iranian origin to Zoroaster. Since the scriptures do not show any reference to a western Iranian culture or people, for example, Media or Persia, this further indicates that the religion had already developed elsewhere before it arrived in western Iran. The geographical boundaries indicated in the Avesta further define the eastern Iranian world by including all of modern Afghanistan as well as some neighboring regions. Zoroastrianism grew out of a politically fragmented Aryan tribal society, ruled by a warrior aristocracy, as one of the three Aryan social structures: sovereign priest (āthravan), warrior (rathaēštar), and herdsman (vāstryō.fšuyant).

188 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Various sources establish that Zoroaster was from the family of Spitaman, a distant progenitor, and the son of Pourušaspa (possessing gray horses) and Doughdhōvā (one who has milk).4 Zoroaster’s own liturgical hymns (Gāthās) refer to pastoral traditions and customs without a single reference indicative of an agricultural society. The society described is clanic and tribal, and the fame and power of individuals are measured in the number of livestock and domesticated animals owned, including camels and horses. In his prayers (Yasna 44.18), Zoroaster asks the supreme god for domesticated animals useful in the life of a pastoralist: “This I ask you, O Ahura, tell me truly: In truth, do I deserve that prize ten mares with a stallion, and a camel, (a prize) which secures for me integrity and immortality, as you take them for yourself?” In the second millennium BCE, a group of Aryans traveled down through the Caucasus to Mesopotamia, where they learned the art of chariot warfare that transformed the art of combat for all Iranians. Some of the warriors stayed there while others, in later times, came back to the steppes as professional chariot warriors, acquainted with new tactics of fighting. Rathaeshtars, chariot-​standers, began to form a new and dominant group in Iranian society. This was the Iranian Heroic Age, represented in surviving fragments of their epic poetry. These warriors were the cattle raiders among the Iranian tribes. From evidence in the Avesta hymns, Zoroaster knew of two kinds of pastoralist tribes: those that lived mainly from their cattle and sought good pasture, and those that were headed by a warrior chieftain, delighted in violence, and killed herdsmen and raided their cattle. The prophet identified with the cattle breeders and allied himself with them. In many verses, Zoroaster asks the gods to provide protection from the attacks of the cattle raiders. For instance, in Yasna 49.4, he says: Those who (influenced) by the person of Bad intellect increase wrath and fury with their tongues, being no cattle-​breeders among the cattle-​breeders, (people) whose bad deeds weight down (the scale) because of their lacking in good deeds, such people establish the Daēvas, which is (in accordance with) the religious view of the deceitful one.

Even though Zoroaster never intended to eradicate the religion of his ancestors and merely aimed at reforming it, that was enough to invite the hostility of the priests of his former religion. Since Zoroaster could not set himself up as a prophet where he was raised, he had to move away. At the age of 42, Zoroaster found himself a new home and a patron, King Vishtāspa, under whose political

Zoroastrian Iranians | 189 protection and financial support he preached his religious doctrines, including the promise of immortality to the faithful, and disseminated his religion. Moreover, in addition to the later-​established name, Zoroastrianism, the religion itself is also known as Mazdaism, a name derived from ahura, that is, Lord, and mazdā, that is, wise, or Ahura Mazdā, the Wise Lord, Zoroastrianism’s supreme god, or “daena vanghu māzdayasnya, the good Mazda-​worshipping religion.”5 The religion, especially among its adherents, is referred to as hu-​daena, the good religion, without any reference to the names of Ahura Mazdā or Zoroaster. Although the name Mazdā, as a designation of the concept of the godhead, might be viewed as uniquely Zoroastrian, Moulton understands otherwise. In 1912, Moulton noted that the name Mazdaka, a derivation of Mazdā, occurs twice in Median proper names in the Assyrian inscriptions of Sargon as early as 715 BCE. As a divine name, Assara Mazās also appears in the earlier inscriptions of Assurbanipal.6 Additionally, James argues that at first glance, the three major monotheistic religions of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam may appear as Semitic products; however, “it appears to have been the ancient polytheistic Iranian Sky-​ god whom Zarathushtra transformed into Ahura Mazdā as the one, ethical Wise Lord. Similarly, in the Graeco-​Roman world, the Aryan-​European sky-​god Zeus, or Jupiter, acquired the status of a Supreme Being.”7 In Yasna 31.7–​8, Ahura Mazdā is described as: The primal one who conceived (the manthra): “Let the free spaces be filled with light,” with His intellect created truth. By that spirit by which one upholds best thought you still grow, O Mazdā Ahura, you who (have remained) the same until today. Thus, when I grasp you with my eyes, O Mazdā, I realize that it is through (your) thought that you, the Primal One, are youthful, the father of good thought, the true creator of truth and the Ahura (judging) the deeds of the world.

These stanzas “describe the miraculous nature of Ahura Mazdā who is primal, creator, father, and judge and, simultaneously, youthful and still growing and who is still today one and the same.”8 What sets Zoroastrianism apart from the religions of other Indo-​European peoples is this very emphasis on monotheism and its radical dualism. Zoroaster’s concept of one god as the creator and the ethical framework in which Zoroaster envisioned his answer to the problem of evil are fundamental to his philosophical and religious doctrine. To Zoroaster, “evil is just evil, nothing more nor less. It is not an unripe good, nor is it good in the making… illusion does not cause

190 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

evil; it exists in the realm of reality. It is the most disagreeable fact of God’s universe.”9 According to Zoroastrian teachings, principles of good and evil are both constantly at work in this world, and mankind was created, as an assistant to the creator, to fight against evil. Having a high regard for inward-​seeking knowledge, Zoroaster created an intellectual religion rooted in the Indo-​Iranian priestly tradition, that of Aryan mysticism, which valued thought and knowledge. Zoroaster’s unique creation of Ahura Mazdā reveals that the prophet was in search of knowledge and enlightenment. In Yasna 44.3–​7, Zoroaster addresses his god: “This I ask you, O Ahura, tell me truly: Who, by procreation, is the primal father of truth? Who created the course of the sun and the stars? Through whom does the moon wax and wane? These very things and others I wish to know, O Mazdā.” Zoroaster came to see all existence as the gradual realization of a divine plan. He also foretold the ultimate fulfillment of that plan, a glorious consummation when all things would be made perfect for the last time. Later, elaboration by the clergy, the reemergence of the old rituals, contact with other polytheistic religions, and historical developments in Iran all contributed to the changes made to the original Zoroastrian message. However, its complex religious tradition has persisted throughout thousands of years of Iranian history. The collective sacred scripture of Zoroastrianism is known as the Avesta, perhaps meaning the authoritative utterance or the injunction (of Zarathushtra).10 It contains seventeen hymns known as the Gāθās (Gāthās), the composition of which Zoroaster himself is credited. The archaic language of the Gāthās, referred to as the Gāthic Avestan, is close to that of the Ṛg Veda and is generally assigned to the second millennium BCE. Dumézil explains that “The language of the oldest Ṛg Veda and that of Zarathuštra’s Gāthās are no more divergent from each other than, for example, modern Italian and Spanish as the outcome of Latin. The formal and substantive contents point at every step to a rather recent joint origin.”11 The older Avesta has been dated variously, as early as the fourteenth to the eleventh centuries BCE, close to the middle of the second millennium, and as late as the eighth to the seventh centuries BCE. Other parts of the Avesta are also in an ancient eastern Iranian language; however, linguistically they are recognized to be from a later time. For this reason, these portions are referred to as the Younger Avesta. Nevertheless, the content belongs to a more ancient period, viewed as materials from the distant past that had been preserved by Zoroaster and his immediate followers. The Younger Avesta illustrates how the new ideas were synthesized with the older beliefs without conflicting with the original ethical and spiritual values

Zoroastrian Iranians | 191 advocated by Zoroaster. The religion itself absorbed those fundamentals reflecting the values of the first and third social class, those of the priests and herders (commoners), respectively, and not necessarily the warriors. The corpus was transmitted from generation to generation by the priestly schools but today, only a quarter of the original Avesta has survived. The main sections of the Avesta are the Yasna, or act of worship, which contains the Gāthās, songs, and hymns; the Yašts, hymns of praise to the divine entities; the Vidēvdād (Vendidād), the code against demons, which has survived in its entirety and is basically a code of purity to be used in the struggle against the evil powers; the Visparad, worship of all the masters; the Nyāyish and the Gāh, periods of the day, a sort of Zoroastrian collection of daily prayers for priests and laymen; the Khorda, or little Avesta, a prayer book comprised of selections from other Avestan texts, including the Hadōkht Nask, book of the scriptures, the Aogemadaēchā, “We Accept,” which is important for its concept of the afterlife; and the Nīrangistān, precepts for the organization of the cult. Besides the Avesta, there are the Pahlavi, or Middle Persian books, which were canonized in their final format in the ninth and tenth centuries CE. They include translations of the lost passages of the Avesta, a summary of the entire original Avesta, and the Dēnkard, the Acts of the Religion. However, the ones particularly important to the study of eschatology are the Pahlavi books, beginning from the ninth century CE, written during the Islamic period, among which is the Zand, the commentary of the Avesta; the Bundahišn, the Book of Primordial Creation; Wizīdagīhā ī Zādspram, the Selections of Zādspram; Zand Āgāhīh, Knowledge from the Zand, which pertains to cosmology, cosmogony, and eschatology; Dādestan ī Mēnōg ī Khrad, the Book of Judgments of the Spirit of Wisdom, and Ardā Vīrāz Nāmak, the Book of Ardā Vīrāz, which contains a description of a trip to the hereafter and a vision of heaven and hell.12 The various translations of the above-​mentioned textual materials employed here are noted accordingly. The major translations of the Avesta, including the Yasna, employed in this book are that of Geldner and Mills. However, for the Gāthās, only Humbach’s translation has been used. Notwithstanding some impediments, these diverse works have allowed scholars to recreate, with a strong level of confidence, the teachings of Zoroaster, including the interpretations of the theologians and the ethical worldview of Iranian society during his epoch. Dumézil states, “In spite of the originality and vigor of Zoroastrian reform, we can see with precision the system of gods, quite a few myths, many rituals, the types of priests, and even the conceptions of social structure of the Indo-​Iranians before their division.”13

192 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

As we would expect, the reconstruction of the Avestan worldview is one and the same with the Vedic. They both share the notion of a ubiquitous order. In the Avesta, the Vedic concept of the moral order, or the truth, ṛta, is changed to aṣ̌​a (asha); however, its meaning has remained the same. In the same way, the term aṣ̌​avan, similar to the Vedic ṛtavan, was used for a righteous being. The Mitanni people also recognized it as arta or areta. Arta was also used in the Old Persian inscriptions as an element of a proper name. However, when aṣ̌​a is personified in Avestan tradition, it signifies righteousness. Druh, falsehood, a Vedic term often used in association with anṛta, is paralleled to the Avestan term druj. Both aṣ̌a​ and druj are rooted in Indo-​Iranian tradition and have as their counterparts the Vedic ṛta and druh. Another aspect of Indo-​Iranian society evident in Zoroaster’s hymns are the three social categories referenced by the terms nar meaning man, also referring to the warrior class, zaotar, priest, and vāstar, pasturer, the herdsman. In the later Avesta, these terms were changed to āthravan (Skt. atharvan) the priest, rathaēštar (Skt. kṣatriya), the warrior, and vāstryō-​f šuyant (Skt. vaiśya), the herder. In his hymns, Zoroaster refers to himself as the zaotar (Skt. hotar), priest, and the mąthran, or knower of the mantras. Similarly, the Avesta does not deviate from the Ṛg Veda in its handling of the great gods, who brought the ordered world into being and were responsible for supervising it. Many hymns of the Yašt are dedicated to the ancient Indo-​Iranian, pre-​Zoroastrian deities, some having their exact Vedic counterparts; for example, Mitra, Indra, Soma, Sarasvatī, Trita, Yama, Bhaga, Nāsatyas, Aryaman, Āpas, Vāta, and Vāyu.14 In addition, there are two elements that were central to the Indo-​Iranian ritual: the sacred drink haoma (IIr. *sauma; Skt. soma) and fire, personified as both gods and elements.15 The god of fire, Ātar, has the same nature and functions as the Vedic Agni. He is called the son of Ahura Mazdā and he protects his creation. Jamasp-​A sa explains: “To the ancient Iranians of the pre-​Zoroastrian times, the fire was the holy emblem of God. To Zoroaster, fire was the sustaining and purifying divine power of Ahura Mazdā…. We worship Ahura Mazdā through his symbol, the Fire…. And through this symbol we form a mental concept of God.”16 The Aryan settlers of Iran brought with them the cult of fire, which they themselves inherited from their Indo-​Iranian ancestors. In its various manifestations, light is representative of God as the fire in the hearth or in the altar, as the sun, moon, or stars, or even as the fire within all living beings, which provides life. The importance of fire, therefore, was already established among the Iranians when Zoroaster incorporated it into the newly reformed religion. In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazdā is described as the eternal light whose abode is the everlasting lights of the highest heaven.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 193 The aggressive and hostile nature of some Indo-​Iranian deities, such as Vedic Indra (Av. Indar), destined them to be relegated to the position of demons in Iran, consequently referred to as daēvas, demons. All the positive essentials of the warrior principles were put to the service of the new religion and credited to the gods. For instance, such is the case with Miθra (Mithra, Pahl. Mihr), who in Iran stands out as a far more imposing character than the Vedic Mitra. Marked by powerful warrior characteristics, Mithra possesses all the positive qualities of the god of light and the guardian of truth and order in the cosmos. Although there is no direct reference to the name Ahura Mazdā in the Ṛg Veda, it does appear that the Vedic priests had knowledge of a benevolent god they referred to as the Asura (Av. Ahura). For instance, in the Ṛg Veda, hymn 5.63.3, asurasya māyā, the power of asura, points to the benevolent act of an asura who brings forth the rain. Jackson explains the terms ahura and daēva as definitely pointing to the period of Indo-​Iranian unity and “that even the figure of Ahura Mazdā himself shows some traits inherited from the early Indo-​European conception of the sky-​ god besides those which he has in common with Varuṇa.”17 Furthermore, in the Vedic hymn, they are part of the group of gods known as asuras, lords. These gods, unlike the mere gods (devas, celestial beings), were possessed of a more moral, abstract quality. This distinction was observed in India and Iran in two different ways. In India, in the classical period, the arch-​demon and the asuras became demons because the moral quality became occult. This left the devas as the only gods. In Iran, the opposite evolved. “The ahuras monopolized the divine quality to the detriment of the daēvas who sank to the level of demons.”18 On the topic of the unique teachings of Zoroaster, Boyce writes, “Many of Zarathushtra’s teachings are clear from a combined study of the Gāthās and the Zoroastrian tradition; and most are readily comprehensible by those familiar with the Jewish, Christian or Muslim faiths, all of which owe great debts to the Iranian religion.”19 Zoroastrianism, as an establishment endowed with great temporal power, possessed of temples, shrines, and vast estates and served by numerous priests, could hardly be impatient for the transformation of the world, for the arrival of the Kingdom of Heaven on earth, or “the making wonderful.” Zoroaster foresaw an apocalyptic time when the supreme god and his allies would defeat the evil forces of chaos and destroy them in a final battle, and the world would become untroubled and secure forever. That expectation influenced the Jews, as seen in some of the writings found at Qumran, that is, the Dead Sea Scrolls. The Zoroastrian expectation of the end of the world continued down through the ages. The story was the basis of not only the Christian and Islamic

194 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

apocalyptic speculations but also the numerous millenarian movements that subsequently developed. In the western tradition of the Medians, the Avestan priests, āthravans, were known as the magi. In the first half of the fourth century BCE, the necessary changes were made by certain scholar-​priests (magi) referred to as the Zurvanites. They had the concepts of time and space as the highest categories in religious thought and drew their names from these categories. In this new sect, both the infinity of time and space are personified. Zurvān was important not only as the god of time but also as the creator of the path of death. Furthermore, the most important change made by the magi was their modification of the doctrine of dualism. According to the original doctrine, the beginning of everything, the root of the conflict between the forces of good and evil, could be traced to the principle of time as destiny (Pahl. Zurvān). The importance of time in Iranian thought is further confirmed in the deity Zurvān, meaning Time, who was worshiped as both the finite and the infinite. Like the Vedic god Prajāpati, who made offerings to the gods to obtain offspring, Zurvān made offerings to get a son. As a result, he gave birth to the twin spirits, good, Ahura Mazdā, and evil, Angra Mainyu. In a later compilation of Avestan texts, Vidēvdād (19.29), Zurvān is mentioned as the creator of the path of death. The magi’s new formulation, however, no longer considered Ahura Mazdā as the transcending principle but, rather, placed him in a lesser role as one of the two opposing spirits. Thus was born Zurvānism, whose existence is documented by sources from the Sassanid period as well as by Christian, Armenian, Syriac, and Greek sources. Duchesne-​Guillemin adds, “This correspondence proves, according to Widengren, that in both cases we have to do with the High God out of whom the universe emanates. And this confirms the antiquity of Iranian myths about Zurvān.”20 In Zoroastrianism, time is constantly moving forward, always in motion. There is, however, a divergence between unlimited infinite time, or eternity, and limited bounded finite time. “The term, zrvan akarana, ‘boundless time,’ is also used in its ordinary meaning of the unlimited time or eternity…Zrvan Daregho-​ khvadhata, ‘Time of Long Duration,’ on the other hand, is a limited period portioned out from the Boundless Time.”21 This revision of the religion accommodated a scheme of successive world-​ages. Perhaps influenced by the Babylonian astronomers’ speculations about the great year, or limited time, Zoroastrians divided the span of human history into three millennia. In one version, it was divided into three equal periods of 3,000 years each, comprising 9,000 years. In another version, it comprises 12,000 years, divided into four equal periods.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 195 According to the Bundahišn, this comprises the full 12,000-​year cosmic struggle. The supreme god, now called Ohrmazd (Pahl) in Zurvānism, becomes aware of the Evil Spirit, now called Ahriman. Becoming aware of Ohrmazd’s intention to bring the orderly world to a purely spiritual state, Ahriman attacked the good world and, having been defeated, is thrown back into the dark netherworld, where he creates the daēvas as allies. During the first 3,000 years, Ohrmazd transforms his spiritual creation into a material one, at the end of which, Ahriman attacks it with more success. Since Ahriman is able to introduce death and disease into the world, he has more success this time. Ohrmazd created the soul of Zoroaster after 6,000 years of living in a spiritual state and gave him a body in the 9,000th year. At this time, Zoroaster received the revelation of the one true religion. The final period of 3,000 years, during which the final struggle ends with “the making wonderful,” is divided into three periods of 1,000 years each, terminating with the appearance of a new savior, or Saošyant. In addition, the birth story of Zoroaster’s three sons is described as they will be conceived by three different mothers and the seeds preserved at the bottom of a lake. Further, it is explained that three virgins will bathe in the lake and become pregnant with a savior at the end of each millennium. The final messiah, the supreme Asvat-​ereta, will bring an end to the material world.22 The universal eschatology will be further discussed in the following pages.

Genesis of Dualism Iranians illustrated the Vedic fight between light and darkness, good and evil, truth and lies, and order and chaos in myths dating back to Indo-​European times. The Aryan religions, both in Iran and India, shared the concepts of struggle between two opposing forces. Similarly, Zoroastrianism shared the dogma of dualism with other ancient beliefs. The battle between light and darkness, good and evil, and life and death is the main subject of both the mythology and the religious teaching of Zoroastrianism. Tiele explains: “The doctrine of the Avesta indeed has not arisen of itself by gradual evolution, but it has borrowed from this primitive dualism a portion of its own material. The Zarathushtrian reformers preserved this traditional form, utilizing the dogma to clothe their own moral, religious, and social tenets.”23 The opposition between the dual forces of good and evil, ahuras and daēvas, is clearly an ancient dualistic concept that is also shared by the Vedic Indians as

196 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

asuras and devas. Already in the Indo-​Iranian past, the asuras formed a distinct class from devas, endowed with special occult and moral powers. After the Vedic period in India, asuras were degraded and reduced to the level of demons, perhaps due to their accentuation of the occult. However, in Iran the opposite took place, that is, ahuras became superior while the daēvas were degraded. Another opposition is expressed in the moral dualism of aṣ̌​a and druj—​the truth and the lie. Just as the Vedic gods and demons had their own abodes in the light and the darkness, respectively, so did the Avestan gods and demons. In addition to the cosmogonic events in which monstrous giants, often serpents, are slain by the gods of the sky or the storm, both traditions tell of a fight against the powers of darkness by those of the light. In both the Vedic conception and the Iranian tradition, they were also systematized in dualistic form. Both cultures had a strong tendency toward symbolism, causing and associating moral ideas with the cosmic struggle. This led naturally to dualism. The ancient Iranians divided the world into two facets: the spiritual, intangible world, mainyava (Pahl. mēnōg), and the material, tangible world, gaēiθya (Pahl. gētīg). At first, Ahura Mazdā created the world in a spiritual state and then altered it into the visible, palpable, material world. On the subject of cosmogony and dualism in Zoroastrianism, Shaked explains that the view of the world consisted of two aspects or modes of being. One was mental, unable to be experienced by the senses; the other was material, called boney or osseous in the ancient Iranian period. It was tangible and visible.24 The entire cosmogony reflects three basic moments: first, the creation of the world; second, the revelation of the “good religion”; and third, the eschatology, or the final transfiguration. In the Pahlavi religious texts, the three cosmogonic periods are methodically referred to as bundahišn, creation, gumēzišn, the mingling of the two opposing spirits, and wizārišn, their final separation. Everything in the world exists in a double state, either the material or the spiritual. In Zoroastrianism, the material world is not seen as negative in itself; rather, it exists in the state of a mixture, contaminated by the aggressive activity unleashed against it by the evil spirit, Angra Mainyu. Based on Zoroastrian teachings, life and death, and good and evil, result from the meeting of the two spirits. Accordingly, in the final stage of cosmogony, once the two spirits are permanently separated, death will no longer exist. The spiritual world is directly connected with the material world, as if the latter were the manifestation of the spiritual world. In addition, since the evil spirit is inherently destructive, it is not able to transform the spiritual into the material.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 197 In these three moments of cosmogony, as described in the Pahlavi texts, the first period is that of the creation by Ohrmazd. During the mēnōg (or ideal) stage, Ahriman (Av. Angra Mainyu) starts his struggle against the forces of good. The second period, the result of an agreement between the two opponents in order to establish a period of 9,000 years in which to mingle, witnesses Ohrmazd’s creation transform from the mēnōg stage to the gētīg. The third period begins with Ahriman’s attack against the world created by Ohrmazd. A fourth period begins with the revelation to the prophet of the “good religion,” an event that takes place in the 9,000th year of the history of the world and continues with the advent of the three saviors at the end of each millennium. To further clarify, in the first stage, the two spirits separate in the mēnōg. The second stage is that of their mingling in the gētīg. The battle between Angra Mainyu and Ahura Mazdā is confined to this finite time. Its ending will denote the close of limited time, the annihilation of Angra Mainyu, and the conclusion of the operation of druj. The triumph of aṣ̌​a will be the start of an eternal blessed existence. The third stage is that of their final separation in a state of perfect purity, abēzagīh, in which man will live in his future resurrected body, tan ī pasēn. According to an ancient Indo-​Iranian creation myth, in the beginning, there was only one of everything—​one plant, one animal, one man, one earth, and so forth; the Iranians had the same cosmogonic doctrine. Additionally, Zoroaster proclaimed that there was also only one god, Ahura Mazdā, the only supreme god deserving worship. There also existed an antagonist against Ahura Mazdā, Angra Mainyu. Yasna 30.3 and 45.2 state: Now I shall proclaim the two spirits in the first (stage) of existence, of whom the holy one shall address the harmful one as follows: “Neither our thoughts nor pronouncements, neither intellects nor choices, neither utterances nor actions nor religious views, nor our souls are in agreement.” There are the two spirits (existing), in the beginning, twins who have been heard of as the two dreams, the two thoughts, the two words, and the two actions, the better and the evil. Between these two, the munificent discriminate rightly but not those who give bad gifts.

Angra Mainyu, or the Evil Spirit, who is independent, is the arch-​fiend who disputes the kingdom on earth with the Holy Spirit, Spəṇta Mainyu, or with Ahura Mazdā; he introduces discord and death in the world and strives to thwart God’s purposes.25 Yasna 30.4 describes how the two spirits fight to win each individual over to their respective side: “When these two spirits confront each

198 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

other (to fight for a person, then that person) determines (his) first (existence), (with) vitality or lack of vitality, and how his existence will be in the end. (The existence) of the deceitful will be very bad, but best thought will be (in store) for the truthful one.” The normal, natural state of mankind is created as good, and those who side with evil create an unnatural state of existence for themselves. The evil spirits, who sided with Angra Mainyu, are also marked as demons, daēvas. Yasna 32.3–​5 describes them thus: But all you Daēvas are the seeds of evil thought, as is the ‘great’ person worshipping you, as well as the actions of deceit and contempt, for which again and again you have become notorious in the seventh clime of the Earth (the clime Khavaniratha is the central of the seven parts of the world). Since you, (the Daēvas), order the worst things, by producing which the mortals hope to prosper as your minions, flinching from good thought and straying away from the intellect of Mazdā Ahura and from truth. You (Daēvas) cheat the mortals of good life and immortality in the same way as both the evil spirit, (associated) with evil thought, (cheated) you, the Daevas, and the action (inspired) by evil word, by which a ruler recognizes a deceitful person.

At the beginning of creation, when the two great spirits came face to face, the demons sided with Angra Mainyu to fight against that which stands for wisdom and righteousness, Ahura Mazdā. The original source of the cosmogony of Zoroaster, as found in the Gāthās, is an ancient cosmogonic myth, which perhaps was established before Zoroaster and was formed by centuries of reflection in the priestly school by generations of Zoroastrian theologians. In Bundahišn, the Pahlavi book of creation, the ancient concepts of the nature of the world are closely linked with Zoroaster’s own dogmas. Bundahišn describes how the world was put in order and arranged in seven stages. According to Zoroastrian cosmology, in the beginning, everything was motionless, and only later was it set in motion as part of the completion of the creation. First, the sky, made of stone and rock crystal, was created above; the water below had the flat earth floating over it, on which there was vegetation, and upon the vegetation an animal, a human, and fire were formed. The earth is surrounded by a great mountain range called Harā Bərəzaitī, meaning High Harā (Pahl. Harburz; NPers. Alburz), which is connected through subterranean roots with Mount Harā at the center of the earth. The earth is divided into seven parts, karšvar (Pahl. kešvar), analogous to the Sanskrit dvīpa, wherein the first and the

Zoroastrian Iranians | 199 largest part, the Khvaniratha, is the only one inhabited by mankind. The other six parts surround the Khvaniratha. From Mount Harā, waters flow down into the sea, Vourukaša, that is, having many inlets. The sea covers a third of the earth towards the south and has a mountain made of the same substance as the sky at its center. Two great rivers, the Vaŋhvī Dāityā and Raŋhā, originate in the Vourukaša Sea and mark the eastern and western borders of the Khvaniratha kešvar. Mount Harā is also known as Hukairya, of good activity. From the top of Harā, the highest point on earth, the souls of the dead embark on their journey to the next life. At the center of the Vourukaša Sea is the Tree of All Seeds, as well as another tree endowed with healing powers that confer immortality. This tree, identified with haoma, is the chief of plants. The background of many of these doctrines is rooted in the Indo-​ Iranian tradition. For instance, in Indian mythology and cosmogony, there is Mount Meru or Sumeru, the seven dvīpas, the Jambū Tree to the south of Mount Meru, and Mārtāṇḍa (mortal seed). The first animal, the bull, described as the gav aēvō-​dāta, uniquely created bull, (Pahl. gāv ī ēv-​dād), was white, gigantic, and bright as the sun. The first man was as bright as the moon, broad and tall, and was called Gayō-​marətan (Pahl. Gayōmard), mortal life. The bull lived on the riverbank opposite to the one the man lived on. Long before Zoroaster’s time, the Indo-​Iranians perceived a divinity in fire. For the Iranians, fire (ātar) was a major cult object, analogous to its position among the Vedic Indians, to which offerings were made in the daily act of worship. The seventh creation, fire, took form as the visible fire and as the unseen vital force pervading the entire animate creation. At first, the fiery sun stood still overhead and the world was motionless and changeless. Changes began once the gods sacrificed the man and the bull. They became the prototypes of humans and animals, respectively. From their seed originated all manner of good animals as well as the first human couple, a man and a woman, Mašya and Mašyānag. From the first couple came the entire human race. “The body of the Gayōmard and the Bull are both said to have been created out of earth; but their seed was from fire, not water, which otherwise is the ultimate source of all life.”26 Subsequently, the gods pounded the first tree, and from its milky and moist sap all plants came into existence. Thus, the cycle of life was set in motion, with death following life and one generation succeeding another. The sun began its regular journey across the sky; the seasons began to follow their regular course. In the beginning, the two spirits continued living different existences in the divided expanses of the infinite light and the endless darkness of the abyss. The

200 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

creations of Ahura Mazdā were to remain in the insentient spiritual state of light for 3,000 years. The Evil Spirit, Angra Mainyu, saw the light and rushed out of the abyss to destroy it; however, recognizing the power of the Good Spirit, he retreated in fear into the darkness. There he began to form many demons, beasts, and evil people. Having seen the terrible creatures created by Angra Mainyu, Ahura Mazdā, with full knowledge of how the world would end, went to offer peace to the Evil Spirit. However, Angra Mainyu did not accept the offer and refused to help Ahura Mazdā in his creation. Then Ahura Mazdā asked him to assign 9,000 years to the mixing of their respective creations. In the first 3,000 years, only Ahura Mazdā would rule, in the second 3,000 years both sides would mix, and then in the final 3,000 years one side would be defeated, that of the Evil Spirit. As discussed previously, the Vedic people believed that it was Indra who created the netherworld for the demons and had to fight them constantly and throw them back into their bottomless and dark abyss. Similarly, the Avestan people believed that it was Zoroaster who had to battle the demons and push them back into their netherworld abode by means of properly performed chants and prayers. The 3,000 years during which Angra Mainyu harassed the created world is appropriately referred to as the time of mixture. During this time, Angra Mainyu came to the surface from the center of the earth after piercing it; he then mixed smoke with the pure fire, punctured the sky, made the waters salty, and turned much of the earth into a barren desert. Out of malice and wickedness, the Evil Spirit brought about death and the primeval sacrificial killing originally executed only by the gods. Since the two forces could not carry out the battle on their own, they needed to manifest allies for themselves. Ahura Mazdā’s creations were carried out by a divine being called Spəṇta Mainyu, Bounteous Spirit, the Holy Spirit of the Ahura Mazdā “who is both his active agent and yet one with him, inseparable and yet distinct.”27 In order to neutralize Angra Mainyu’s devastation, plants, animals, and people were created en masse by Ahura Mazdā and the Aməša Spəṇtas, the Bounteous Immortals. The noun aməša, meaning an undying being in Avestan, is the counterpart of the Vedic amṛta. Acting only in accordance with Ahura Mazdā’s will, the Aməša Spəṇtas were six powerful divine beings with whom Ahura Mazdā formed a group of seven holy immortals, who are of fundamental importance for understanding Zoroaster’s beliefs. As personifications of abstract virtues, the Aməša Spəṇtas were a class of higher celestial beings created by Ahura Mazdā to work with him as his archangels.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 201 The Aməša Spəṇtas represented the qualities of an individual who has attained the status of aṣ̌a​ van. They are Vohu Manah, Good Thought or Mind; Aṣ̌​a Vahišta, Best Truth; and Khšaθra Vairya, Dominion or Kingdom to be Chosen. The goddess Spəṇtā Ārmaiti, Holy Devotion, personified the feminine abstraction of devotion and the dual divinity of perfection was represented by Haurvatāt, Wholeness, and Amərətāt, Immortality.28 Zoroaster, however, was more concerned with the purpose of creation than with the actual process. When he took over the ancient doctrine of aṣ̌​a/​ṛta, he reinterpreted it to fit his own profoundly ethical worldview. According to Zoroastrian rituals, preserved throughout millennia, the prophet placed each of the seven creations under the care and protection of one of the great holy immortals. In order of the creations, Khšaθra Vairya was connected with the sky, Haurvatāt with water, Spəṇtā Ārmaiti with earth, Amərətāt with plants, Vohu Manah with animals, especially cattle, Spəṇta Mainyu with mankind, and Aṣ̌​a Vahišta with fire. In Yasna 51.7, both entities are put together: “You, O Mazdā, who fashioned the cow, the waters, and the plants, grant me immortality and integrity through the most holy spirit, strength and stability through good thought at the pronouncement (of your judgment).”29 To simplify this, the sky was under the care of Dominion, water was under Wholeness and Health, the earth was under Holy Devotion, the plants were under Immortality, animals were under Good Thought, mankind was placed under the care of Ahura Mazdā himself or of his Holy Spirit, and fire was placed under the care of aṣ̌​a.30 By associating fire with the all-​embracing principle of order itself, aṣ̌a​ , Zoroaster gave it a more profound meaning, as the life force within all creatures. To this day, Zoroastrians pray before a hearth fire and their priests pray before a ritual fire or before the great fires of the sun and the moon, all of which represent the life force within. By conceiving the Aməša Spəṇtas, Zoroaster intertwined the spiritual and the material together so that the physical world itself was seen as saturated with moral meaning and directed by spiritual determination. Dumézil’s functional tripartition theory, discussed in the Vedic section and also used by Iranian scholars, created a framework in which Aṣ̌​a and Vahu Manah are the substitutes for Varuṇa and Mitra, with magical and juridical sovereignty functions. Khšaθra Vairya is power, might, and sovereignty, and corresponds to Indra, representing the warrior function. Haurvatāt and Amərətāt correspond to the twin Nāsatyas (Aśvins) and, together with Ārmaiti, conform to the function of fertility and fruitfulness. The foundation of dualism is basically ethical, and the nature of the two conflicting Zoroastrian spirits, Spəṇta Mainyu and Angra Mainyu, who are both the creation of Ahura Mazdā, results from the choice they

202 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

made between truth, aṣ̌​a, and falsehood, druj, between good thoughts, good words, and good deeds and evil thoughts, evil words, and evil deeds. Far from being an objection to monotheism, dualism is an essential and rational outcome thereof; its function is to give details concerning the genesis of evil. Duality acts as an archetype of the choices that face each individual as they decide to choose the path of truth or untruth. Accordingly, Yasna 49.3 reads, “And truth, O Mazdā, has been implanted in this (our) choices to benefit (us), but deceit (has been implanted) in (false) teaching in order to harm (people). Therefore I request the shelter of good thought, and I banish all the deceitful from (our) fellowship.” In Zoroastrian thought, the daēvas (Vedic devas) became evil simply because they made the wrong choice. Yasna 30.3–​6 describes this as follows: There are the two spirits (existing) in the beginning, twins who have been heard of as the two dreams, the two thoughts, the two words, and the two actions, the better and the evil. Between these two, the munificent discriminate rightly but not those who give bad gifts. When these two spirits confront each other (to fight for a person, then that person) determines (his) first (existence), (with) vitality or lack of vitality, and how his existence will be in the end. (The existence) of the deceitful will be very bad, but best thought will be (in store) for the truthful one. Of these two spirits the deceitful one chooses to do the worst things, but the most holy spirit, clothed in the hardest stones, (chooses) truth, (as do those) who, with true actions, devotedly gratify Mazdā Ahura. The Daēvas do not at all rightly discriminate between these two spirits, for as they take counsel with each other delusion comes over them, so that they choose the worst thought. In that way they all run to meet wrath, by which the mortals sicken existence.

Clearly, the superhuman twin spirits also had to make a choice between the two principles of aṣ̌​a and druj. The dual spirits, in Zoroaster’s mind, personify the forces necessary to maintain existence. According to his true nature, Ahura Mazdā chose to side with the aṣ̌​a, and Angra Mainyu chose the druj. From that moment, the struggle began between the two forces. As for the ongoing combat between good and evil, Zoroastrianism has given it a more concrete, tangible form. For the Indo-​Iranians, including the Vedic and the Avestan peoples, the divinely appointed order, though constantly disturbed, had nevertheless been essentially static. In the Vedic world, things remained the same from the moment

Zoroastrian Iranians | 203 the orderly world came into the existence. In Zoroaster’s thought, however, nothing was static; the struggle between the forces of good, evil, the gods, and the demons, and protection of the orderly creation went on, but not forever. He promised an end to this ever-​present struggle. Known as the earliest millenarian prophet, Zoroaster promised total renovation and an absolute perfecting of existence. The production of the ordered world had moral intentions, one of which was the crushing of Angra Mainyu, designed to draw upon the antagonism, the aggression, and detrimental ferocity of that dark power. This metamorphosis was a realization, a completion, and not a falling apart or disintegration. Through the creation of the material world, Ahura Mazdā fashioned a stage on which his allies could engage in concerted combat against the forces of chaos.31 Angra Mainyu and his forces would become ensnared and destroyed in this trap.

Good and Evil In addition to the newly arrived gods and divine beings, Zoroastrians also continued to worship the gods of the Indo-​Iranian tradition, with hymns dedicated to them in the Avesta. Scholars debate whether these figures were brought into the religion by Zoroaster himself or were introduced later. The supreme god in the Avesta, however, is Ahura Mazdā, who is in charge of the ordering of cosmos and the maintenance of the cosmic order, with the sun and light as its visible aspects. In the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti (Liturgy of the Seven Chapters) 37:1–​2, he is described as the ruler of all: Thus, in this manner we are sacrificing to Ahura Mazdā, who put in (their) places both the cow and Order, (who) put in (their) places both the good waters and the plants, (who) put in (their) places both the lights and the earth and all good (things in between), by his command and greatness and artistries.

Ahura Mazdā is said to have brought about the order of the world as its father and, as an artisan, to have fashioned many of its elements. Finally, in the role of divine poet-​sacrificer, he brought forth the cosmic order by his thought. Although Ahura Mazdā was the sole creator god in the Gāthās, in the Younger Avesta, he is referred to as merely another yazata, a god or a venerable one, among the many other gods. In the Yasna Haptaŋhāiti, however, Ahura Mazdā is closely connected with aṣ̌​a and displays a strong resemblance to the Vedic asura, Varuṇa,

204 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

who is also intimately associated with ṛta. Ahura Mazdā is like Varuṇa and his wives, the Varuṇānīs, because when he is mentioned as ahura, he is accompanied by his wives, the Ahurānīs, the waters. In the Younger Avesta, there are also Ahura-​Mithra compounds identical to the Vedic references to Varuṇa-​Mitra, often with the exact same functions. In addition, “The couple Mitra-​Varuṇa survives in Iran in the Avestan expression Miθra ahura bərəzanta meaning ‘two great ones, Mithra and Ahura.’ Here, Ahura is a designation of Varuṇa who, in India, was the asura par excellence. In Iran, as a rule, his name is qualified by the epithet mazdā ‘wise’.”32 Ahura Mazdā is also said to be humāya, that is, possessing good māyā, the magical power with which Varuṇa was endowed. Sraoša, Obedience, Hearkening, obedience to the divine law, is particularly important in the role of the lord of prayer in both the Gāthās and in later Zoroastrianism, where he protects against the evil of death and judges the soul after death. Sraoša is the angel of religious obedience and corresponds to the concept of angels that have a distinct personality. He is the priest-​divinity who acts as an embodiment of the divine service. Recognized as the master of sacrifice and prayers, he is often compared to the Vedic god Bṛhaspati, the Lord of Prayer. Sraoša is also closely connected with Aṣ̌​a, the goddess of award, abundance and sanctity, also of fertility and abundance, who is called the sister of Sraoša. Together with the watchful Mithra and Rašnu (Pahl. Rašn), the Judge, they form the heavenly tribunal for the judgment of the dead. Yasna 43:12 describes Sraoša as an angel of judgment with a reward for the opposing factions of good and evil. When Sraoša preaches the truth, he cannot be disobeyed. “Let me arise before attention comes to me, followed by wealth-​granting reward, which will distribute the rewards according to the balance at the (assignment of) benefit(s).” In Yasna 33:5, Sraoša is invoked by Zoroaster as the greatest of the heavenly beings that will appear at the final Consummation of the World: “At the resting-​place I shall invoke your utmost attention, having reached long life and the power of good thought and the paths straight through truth, whereon Mazdā Ahura dwells.” Daēnā, meaning conscience, self, and religion, acts through one’s life and after death. As a divine force, she is not affected by sins or death but can influence the soul after death. In a famous allegory, Daēnā is presented in a way that is similar to the Indian concept of karma. She appears after death to the soul of the righteous as a beautiful maiden to escort the dead to heaven, or as an ugly old hag to the unrighteous to drag the dead to the hell. As a goddess, Daēnā also appears as the daughter of Ahura Mazdā and Ārmaiti. The word ārmaiti-​(Vedic arāmati-​) is commonly derived from the verb arəm man-​, conforming thought,

Zoroastrian Iranians | 205 thinking in correct measure, balanced thinking; therefore, it is the counterpart of Vohu Manah, Good Mind. Ārmaiti is both Ahura Mazdā’s daughter and the Earth and is, therefore, the counterpart of heaven, Good Thought. Daēnā is further associated with čisti (chisti), insight, doctrine. There are other deities in the Avestan texts who are not from the Gāthās but rather from the old Indo-​Iranian pantheon, and who are not in contrast with the philosophy of the new religion. These ancient gods are simply referred to as the yazatas. “If the Aməša Spəṇtas are the archangels in Zoroastrian theology, the Yazatas are the angels.”33 An Avestan god not mentioned in the Gāthās is Mithra, that is, Contract, Covenant. In Yašt 10.1, a hymn dedicated to Mithra, Ahura Mazdāh speaks to Zarathuštra the Spitamid: “When I created grass-​land magnate Mithra, O Spitamid, I made him such in worthiness to be worshipped and prayed to as myself, Ahura Mazdāh.”34 Mithra, the most popular god among Iranians, has many parallels with his Vedic counterpart Mitra. Mithra is a sun god, and also the god of lights, friendship, and agreements. Aided by his heavenly spies, Mithra watches over all social orders and individual conduct. Mithra’s nature, like that of the Vedic Mitra, is rooted in ethical and moral concepts. He lives high up on Mount Harā and rides his chariot across the sky, watching over the lands, peoples, and animals. The entire Avestan hymn of Yašt 10 is dedicated to the praise of Mithra. In the hymn, Mithra is described as sweeping away the crumbling dwellings, dwellings that are no longer inhabitable, in which the owners of Falsehood used to live, that is, those “who are false to the treaty and strike at what virtually owns Truth.”35 Gershevitch also dates the hymn to Mithra to about the second half of the fifth century BCE, and describes it as being “the one extensive ancient literary record we have of the attributes, habits, equipment, companions, and cult of the Iranian god whose worship was destined to spread into Europe as far as Britain some five to six hundred years after the hymn was composed.”36 The cult of Mithra spread through the Roman Empire where it became a mystery religion and Mithra maintained his regal and militaristic attributes. Mithra, together with Rašnu and Sraoša, judges the souls after death. Rašnu is very active in ordeals and oaths. Sraoša, on the other hand, is an exceptional deity who also survived in Islam as the angel Surōsh. As a deity in the Avestan tradition, his name, derived from the verb sru-​, that is, to hear, means discipline, obedience. The meaning of Arədvī Surā Anāhitā, the Moist, the Mighty, the Immaculate, refers to her three functions in addition to wealth and fruitfulness. Anāhitā, corresponding to the Vedic Sarasvatī, is also similar to Harahvatī, having streams,

206 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

a place-​name in Iran. Arədvī Surā Anāhitā is the great Iranian goddess of the waters and rivers. Not associated with any particular river, she is the personification of waters and streams. Anāhitā is the Iranian counterpart of Sarasvatī,37 both descended from the same Indo-​Iranian goddess. The yazata of Victory, Verethraghna, has an Avestan name Vərəθrayan, smiting (of) resistance, which corresponds to the epithet Vṛtrahan, slayer of Vṛtra, of Vedic Indra. Verethraghna is called the dragon-​slayer and is also referred to as the killer of Vishap. Iranian in origin, Vishap was an epithet for the dragons mentioned in the Avesta, meaning having poison as its juice. In Yašt 14, Ahura Mazdā describes Verethraghna in his ten reincarnations as he expresses his overwhelming vitality in the form of a strong rushing wind, a bull, a stallion, a rutting camel, a boar, a youth, a falcon, a ram, a buck, and an armed warrior. He confers power and gives health and virility to men who accord him appropriate worship. Verethraghna also destroys the witches and sorcerers who side with the demons. Although there is no reference in the Avesta to Verethraghna killing an arch-​demon, there is a reference in Armenian sources to a god named Vahagan, called the dragon-​slayer. From the first century CE until its gradual conversion to Christianity, Armenia was Zoroastrian. The Vahagan of pre-​Christianity was worshipped by the Armenians as a god who bestowed valor on his people. The Avestan hymn Yašt 8 portrays an astral god, Tištrya (Tishtrya). Fashioned by Ahura Mazdā, he was gifted with the power of magic and loved by all the creatures on earth and in the waters. Tištrya’s name derives from a proto-​Indo-​European word meaning belonging to the group of the three stars. Panaino explores many of the speculations about Tištrya, among which his roles in myths and his associations with the rainy season, the Star-​arrow Sirius, and Tīr. Concerned with ensuring the prosperity and survival of Iranians, Tištrya operates in three guises—​a young man, a bull, and a horse. Also, as a star, he wards off the female demons that come out at night to harm people. In the form of a bull, he promises abundant cattle, and in the form of a young man, he grants plenty of sons. Also in Yašt 8, Tištrya appears as a beautiful white stallion in his fight against the Apaoša, the demon of drought and famine. Apaoša, as a black stallion, blocks the source of all waters and all rain. For three days and nights, Tištrya fought Apaoša but is defeated because of the lack of proper ritual from his people. On hearing his complaints, the people accord him with appropriate worship. Tištrya then wins the battle and plummets into the sea, causing the waters to make clouds and the rain that fertilizes the land. This is an annual struggle, not only with the arch-​demon but also in the constant fight with the lesser demons to

Zoroastrian Iranians | 207 defend the order of the world. Tištrya is identical with the astral god Tīriya (Skt. Tiṣya), who was worshipped as a divinity among the Kushans in Eastern Iran.38 In Iranian mythology, Indra may have been excluded from the pantheon. Trita, however, is known as a beneficent hero and the first priest who prepared haoma. He is called the first healer, the wise, and the strong. Under the name Thrita (Skt. Trita, son of Āptya), he is the giver of the drink made from the juice of a plant that grows on the summits of mountains. In Iranian legendary tradition, a warrior, Kərəsāspa, rises in defense of the created world and fights the demons. Similar to Indra, Kərəsāspa is aided by the god Vayu, “wind” (Skt. Vāyu), who occupies the region between earth and sky and who is the first to receive the offering made to the gods. Vayu, who partly comes forth from Ahura Mazdā, is a warrior to whom all gods, including Ahura Mazdā, offer sacrifice. The Avesta also mentions the legend of Thraētaona, son of Āthwya, as the hero fighting the demonic forces. Thraētaona has often been compared with the Vedic god Trita Āptya, who resembles Indra in bravery and heroism and kills the three-​ headed, six-​eyed dragon. As Indra fights the snake monster to free the waters, referred to as the goddesses, so Thraētaona frees the two maidens held captive by the dragon. In Indo-​Iranian tradition, the snake-​dragon represented a force that if not restricted would reduce the orderly world to chaos. In Avestan tradition, Thraētaona defeats the three-​headed, six-​eyed dragon named Aži Dahāka, the spirit of deceit created by Angra Mainyu, often translated as “dragon of the Dāsa.” As explained in the Vedic chapter, Dāsas were the indigenous people conquered by the Aryan tribes. The scene of struggle is the four-​cornered Varena, a mythical remote region. All the essential features of the battle are the same on the Vedic and Iranian sides. Yašt 19.47–​51 describes the battle scene where Thraētaona, with the help of Ātar, the god of fire (Skt. Agni), is victorious over the snake-​dragon. Ātar has the same nature and function as that of the Vedic Agni. He is called the son of Ahura Mazdā and is in charge of protecting his father’s creation. Apąm Napāt, the Child, or Descendant, of Waters, is a deity in charge of distributing the waters. Characterized as an Ahura, he is the only god besides Mazdā and Mithra who is referred to as an ahura in the Avesta. The Avestan Haoma is the same god as the Vedic Soma, and also refers to the plant and its intoxicating drink. Haoma, as a priest of the sacrifice, also personifies the object of the sacrifice. Khvarənah (Pahl. Khwarrah, Farr), “splendor, glory, and grace”, is a yazata who personifies luminous energy, a vital force, and is thus a provider of fortune usually linked with royalty. Fortune can be lost when a ruler sins. As an example, Khvarənah departed from Yima in the form of a falcon, kept by different

208 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

divinities and heroes. The god Zrvan (Zurvān), “Time,” has two aspects, finite and infinite, and is often worshipped along with Vayah (Skt. Vayas), “Duration.” Hvar, the Sun, similar to its Vedic counterpart Sūrya, is portrayed as riding his chariot led by swift horses across the sky. Along with the sun and the stars, the Iranians also venerated Māh, the Moon. Closely associated with the dead, Māh was a stopping place for the departed souls of the virtuous on their journey to heaven. In the Avesta, in addition to the gods and the seven Holy Spirits, there are also hymns dedicated to beings and entities worthy of worship, such as the fravašis, souls or guardian spirits, a surviving trace of the ancient cult of the spirits of the dead. The literal meaning of this word, and the significance of the concept, has been discussed at length. Similar to the Vedic pitṛs, who lived in their own world of Pitṛloka and protected the living as they made their offerings, fravašis, as the spirits of dead heroes or ancestors, also acted as the guardians of the living. In Yašt 13, Ahura Mazdā pays tribute to them as indispensable allies. Fravašis, imagined as winged female warriors, like armed Valkyries fighting the demons, appear in groups of 99,999 and were called upon in time of distress and war. Fravašis are further described as the creative force assisting Ahura Mazdā in creation. Malandra adds, “The notion of creative power residing in insight is an archaic feature of Aryan religion.”39 Fravašis are numbered amongst the divine beings that sustain and strengthen aṣ̌a​ . Among various descriptions provided to explain the fravašis as one of the most complex marvels of Zoroastrianism, Dhalla writes that they primarily constitute a world of homonyms of the earthly creations and have lived as conscious beings in the empyrean with Ahura Mazdā for all eternity. The various objects of the world are earthly duplicates of these celestial beings. “The Fravašis constitute the internal essence of things, as opposed to the contingent and accidental. Earthly creations are so many imperfect copies of these types. They are the manifestations of the energy of Ahura Mazdā.”40 Ahura Mazdā has also created important allies among mortal creatures, such as the cattle allied with Ahura Mazdā against Angra Mainyu. In Zoroastrianism, the maternal, nurturing cow was the supreme representative of the good animal on which human life depended. The cow, like the biblical sheep or lamb, was the symbol of persecuted goodness; Zoroaster saw himself as the defender of these defenseless victims. In the Gāthās, when the soul of the cow appeals to God, Ahura Mazdā replies that the help must come from Zoroaster Gēuš Uruuan, meaning soul of the bovine, is a divinity representing the souls of all the sacrificed animals. It is also the soul of the primordial bull from which all animal life forms were created. Gēuš Uruuan, representing the animal world in Yasna

Zoroastrian Iranians | 209 29.1, complains to Ahura Mazdā: “The soul of the cow complains to you: For whom did you shape me? Who fashioned me? Wrath and oppression, fury, spite, and violence hold me fettered. I have no shepherd other than you. Thus reveal yourselves to me with good pastoral work.” Also mentioned are the Druvāspā, “possessing strong horses,” a female yazata closely associated with Gēuš Uruuan, and Nairyō-​saŋha, “of manly utterance,” equivalent to the Vedic Nārāśāṃśa, who functioned as a messenger between the gods and the people. In Zoroastrianism, dogs are also valued and deeply respected as the protectors of the good. The importance of the dog in the tradition has been noted in the various religious texts. However, Vidēvdād contains the most descriptive instructions on how to care for dogs, punishable offences against dogs, and the excellence, virtue, and praise of dogs. Vidēvdād 8:42–​48 describes the dog as possessing the characters of eight different creatures: a priest, a warrior, a husbandman, a strolling singer, a thief, a wild beast, a courtesan, and a child. Every character is fully described. For example, the priest and the warrior characters of the dog are depicted as follows: He eats broken food, like a priest; he is grateful like a priest; he is easily satisfied, like a priest; he wants only a small piece of bread, like a priest; in these things he is like unto a priest. He marches in front, like a warrior; he fights for the beneficent cow, like a warrior; he goes first out of the house, like a warrior; in these things he is like unto a warrior.41

In the Vidēvdād, Ahura Mazdā is asked to name the best among the creatures of the good spirit that spend all night killing the creatures of the evil spirit. He answers, “The dog”. Today, Zoroastrians still look upon the dog as a righteous creature and believe that the gaze of a dog drives away the demons. At a Zoroastrian funeral, for instance, a dog must be present to clean the corpse of any evil presence with its gaze. Iranians inherited the foundations of their beliefs about malign supernatural beings from Indo-​Iranian times. We can reconstruct as Indo-​Iranian terms *yatu, for evil beings possessing magical powers, and *drugh from “harmful entity.”42 The principal of evil, Angra Mainyu, who created darkness, death, and suffering, is the arch-​demon in the Zoroastrian tradition. He is eager to harm the good creation of Ahura Mazdā by bringing it into falsehood, into druj, and is against all that is in accordance with aṣ̌a​ . Demons were capable of seducing people into worshipping them and there were cults devoted to certain demons. According to

210 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

Zoroaster, there could only be a negation of all that Ahura Mazdā intended for his good world. The numerous demons of Angra lived and flourished in the wilderness outside the boundaries of the settlement and in the darkness of night, which was a dreadful time for people. The great daēvas were the supreme embodiment of the forces of chaos, with Angra Mainyu as their creator and commander in chief. As the most important of the demons, the daēvas were traditionally divine beings; however, for Zoroaster, they were the counterpart of the Holy Immortals. In later Zoroastrianism, ancient Indo-​Iranian gods were demonized, such as Indra, Nāŋhaithya, Taurvi, Zairik, and Saurva. An assembly of six daēvas, with Ahriman as the seventh, were grouped together to form an explicit antithesis to the Aməša Spvṇtas. The demons appear in the Vidēvdād in a ritual cleansing a person who has become contaminated through contact with a corpse. The intention is to drive all demons from his life. Though Nāŋhaithya is etymologically connected to the Nāsatyas, he has nothing else in common with his Vedic counterparts. As a demon of death, Nāŋhaithya is a leader, like the Vedic Indra. In the Dēnkard, he is the spirit of disobedience who leads Zoroastrians from the path of righteousness. As the personification of druj, the god personifying aṣ̌​ a, Aṣ̌​a Vahišta, rightly destroys him. The demons Taurvi and Zairik introduce poison into plants and animals. The Bundahišn I, 55–​56 tells of the Saurva, the demon of drunkenness, along with Indra, Nāŋhaithya, Taurvi, and Zairik. Other frightful creatures are the dragons Gandarva and Snavidka, who are described as poisonous yellow monsters. Sruvara and Gandarva, who lived at the bottom of the sea, were so mighty that if they were not killed, Ahura Mazdā would have had no guard against Angra Mainyu and the whole universe would have been destroyed.43 It was believed that if Snavidka, who was slain in his youth, had reached adulthood, he would have made heaven and earth his chariots. Among the demons are Aka Manah, “Evil Mind,” Aēshma, “Wrath,” Būshyanstā, “Sloth,” Apaosha, “Drought,” the Yātus, “sorcerers,” and the Pairikās (MPers. Parī “fairy”), who are spirits of seduction. Particular human tendencies were used by the demons to entice them into offending the law of order. Accordingly, there are demons who are listed as the embodiment of moral deficiencies and flaws, such as envy, the evil eye, wrath, greed, slander, procrastination, false speech, and all that is against order (ṛta/​aṣ̌​a). Above all, death was the triumph of the demons. Furthermore, “In addition to a host of demons referring to disease, we have Zaurvan ‘Age, Decrepitude’; (Astō) Viδōtu ‘The Wrecker of the Bodily Frame,’ the demon of death who binds the soul and separates it from the body; and Vīzaresha, who struggles with the soul for three days after death.”44 The Vidēvdād 3:14–​18 describes a frightful demoness of decay called Nasu, who

Zoroastrian Iranians | 211 settles on a corpse at the moment of death, as well as other demons with names meaning “he who binds the body,” and “he who drags the body away.” The corpse of an unrighteous person, who lives their life according to the druj, is immune from such harassment because it has no place in the realm of Ahura Mazdā. It is Nasu who is driven out by the glance of a dog as part of the funerary ritual. Deeply rooted in the distant past, the dualistic creed of Zoroaster also included humans in the struggle against the destructive evil forces. Avestan Iranians, like priests, heroes, and gods, were directly involved with the maintenance of the orderly creation. People helped through their ordinary daily tasks and rituals to prepare the way for when the world is made perfect and final salvation is present. Indo-​Iranian customary commitments and obligations became the infrastructure of the Zoroastrian philosophy that to this day inspires and reinforces the rituals. Zoroaster made it the responsibility of every person to choose consciously between destructive and constructive values with each step, whether these were in the form of thoughts, speech, or actions. The choices embody the ubiquitous forces generated by the two spirits of good and evil. Subsequently, the notion of free will became the central focus of the Zoroastrian ideology. In Zoroastrian tradition, human beings are expected to do everything in their power not only to promote their own welfare and affluence but also that of the whole world; and this is set as their highest religious duty. According to the teaching of Zoroaster in the Gāthās, the good man who is patient, disciplined, and courageous is the one who safeguards the good creation. He is to defend creation against the demons and humans that are a danger to its welfare. Zoroastrians are further expected to aid Ahura Mazdā by observing laws of purity and cleanliness to strengthen the orderly world and weaken chaos. As long as the orderly world and chaos are kept apart, the good creation is preserved. A dead body, for instance, represents the victory of Angra Mainyu and therefore is considered impure. Any contact between the corpse and the created world, such as earth, water, and fire, will bring disaster and chaos. In the Pahlavi books, certain animals, such as the snake, the lizard, and the wolf, are labeled as instruments of evil, and are therefore to be kept away. Similar to the Vedic gods, the Avestan gods and angels needed people’s support and were predisposed towards their worshippers. In spite of its original anti-​ritualistic character, Zoroastrianism became a religion in which ritual played a leading role. The absence of temples resembling Greek or Babylonian ones does not exclude the existence of other sacred areas dedicated to religious ceremonies, such as altars, sacrificial grounds, and temples. As the main symbol of Zoroastrianism, fire is also the most venerable witness of sacrifice. Offerings

212 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

made to fire from both the animal and vegetable kingdoms usually consisted of a sacred drink, milk, butter, and pieces of meat. In addition to fires built in the various altars, that is, the three main ritual ceremonial fires, there are also five natural fires residing in the bodies of humans, animals, and plants, and in clouds and the earth. Two deities are associated with fire: Apąm Napāt (son of waters) and Nairyōsanha (of manly utterance), who is the yazata of prayer. Khvarənah (splendor or divine grace) is also related to fire, and here it is represented as a fiery fluid and vital seed. Because of the symbolic values Zoroastrians attribute to fire, they are erroneously considered fire worshippers, especially by Muslims. The invocation of fire, the Ātaš Niyāyeš, continues as an essential part of all rituals. The iconographic representations of the goddess Anāhitā and the gods Ahura Mazdā and Mithra, created during the Achaemenid and Sasanian periods, are still standing in the province of Fārs. Besides the fire altar, another traditional symbol of Zoroastrianism is the barəsman (ṚV barhis), a ritual object consisting of a bunch of herbs and, later, a bundle of consecrated twigs or grass.45 The importance of prayer was always fundamental for Iranians, and some forms of prayer, particularly revered ones, have lasted through the centuries. An example of such a prayer is the traditional manthra (Skt. mantra), which is endowed with magical powers. Even in modern times, the day of a pious Zoroastrian is divided into five prayer periods. Sacrifice had the same significance for Avestan Iranians as it had for Vedic Indians; it was a form of hospitality for which a return of favor was expected. The sacrifice, commissioned by the faithful and performed by the zaotar (Skt. hotṛ), takes place in twelve stages. The priests performed a series of highly developed sacrifices through which, symbolically, the primordial cosmogonic sacrifice was re-​enacted. The priest himself represents the first man, offering stone, water, earth, plant, animal, and fire. Corresponding to the Vedic ritual, the sacrificial ground was cleaned, consecrated by prayers, and marked off by a furrow to keep out the evil forces. Following the Indo-​Iranian tradition, consecrated cow urine, called gōmēz, was used in the purification ceremonies. In each sacrifice, a name and prayers invoked a particular god. The sacrificial offerings, a cow or a horse, milk, or the haoma, were shared among the priest and the worshippers while the smoke of the fire carried the sacrificial food to the gods. The strongest analogy with Vedic sacrifice and its ideology is to be found in the cult of haoma. Similar to the Vedic soma, haoma is an immortalizing potion that brings benefits such as inspiration, fertility, and victory. Avestan 10.6 lists the offerings made to Mithra:

Zoroastrian Iranians | 213 I will offer up libations unto him, the strong Yazata, the powerful Mithra, most beneficent to the creatures: I will apply unto him with charity and prayers: I will offer up a sacrifice worth being heard unto him, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, with the Haoma and meat, with the baresma, with the speech, with the deeds, with the libations, and with the rightly-​spoken words.46

Iranian society was chiefly pastoralist, and religion revolved around either a god or a hero, along with sacrificial rites, yasna, sacrifice (Skt. yajña), and initiations. Animal sacrifices, especially with the bull (gav) and haoma, were performed before the fire. In the Gāthās, however, Zoroaster expresses his strong objection against animal cruelty by giving voice to what Yasna 29 calls Gēuš Uruuan, that is, the soul of the cow. He also condemns the consumption of the intoxicating, stimulating haoma. In Yasna 48.10, Zoroaster says, “When, O Mazdā, will the men of the believer take (their) positions (at the sacrifice)? When will they kick over this urine-​like intoxicant with which the Karapans and the bad rulers of the lands, (inspired) by their (bad) intellect, cause racking pain?” Among the numerous ritual ceremonies, the most celebrated is an initiation ceremony in which a child, around the age of eight or nine, is dressed in a special shirt (sudra) and a cord (kustī). To wear a cord as a sign of membership was an Indo-​Iranian custom for members of the religious community, as is still observed by the Hindu Brahmins of India. However, all the members of Zoroastrian community, men and women alike, are required to wear the cord as part of religious initiation. There is also a ritual of penance, paitita (Pahl. patīt), “expiation,” in which the confession of sins is made. In the Pahlavi books, the confession of sin is urged repeatedly, and there are four formularies for this purpose.47 Funeral rites are another important ritual that takes place in the dakhma, “the tower of silence,” where the dead are exposed to the elements and the scavenger birds. The Indo-​Iranian funeral practice was burial, which also underlies Vedic rituals and texts. “The Zoroastrian word dakhma, used later for the place where corpses were exposed, comes not (as used to be thought) from the base dag ‘burn,’ but through *dafma from the IE base *dhṃbh ‘bury’.” Boyce further explains the association of the ancient custom of the burial “with an equally ancient concept of a home of the spirits of the dead beneath the earth.”48 The later funeral ceremonies performed for the dead in the dakhma help to free the deceased from the demon of corpses, Nasu. In addition, there are rituals for locating proper places for building dakhma and ātashgah, the fire house. There are seven holy days of obligation (Av. yāirya-​ratavō; MPers. gahāmbārs) to honor Ahura Mazdā and the Aməša Spəṇtas with the seven creations. “The

214 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

seventh festival is called in the Middle Persian Nō Rōz, ‘New Year,’ and is the greatest holy day, prefiguring annually the future ‘New Day’ of eternal bliss.”49 In the Zoroastrian calendar, the first month of the year is dedicated to the fravašis, the spirits of the just, who originally were thought to be the transcendental doubles of the soul. Zoroastrians believe in the fravašis of the dead, the unborn child, and also in the living. In accordance with Indo-​Iranian traditions, the fravašis are believed to return to earth at the end of the year before the vernal equinox, the first day of the new year. According to Boyce, in ancient Iran, the annual celebration was known by the still unexplained name of Hamaspathmaēdaya.50 Previous attempts to analyze this word were unsuccessful. The first day of spring is still the official national new year of Iran, where celebrations and rituals are held for thirteen days. Zaehner comments, “The feast Nō Rūz survives as the greatest by far of all the national holidays in Iran even now because it is genuinely national, a survival from a long-​forgotten pagan past, as little influenced by Zoroastrianism as it is by Islam. Its founder was the mythical ancestor of the Iranian race, ‘royal Yima whose glance is of the sun’.”51 Thus, the celebration of the new year is connected to the legend of Yima (NPers. Jamshīd), the first king of the ancient golden age who chose the day of the feast of the vernal equinox as the beginning of the year. Yima is an important figure in the Zoroastrian religious tradition. His name derives from Proto-​Indo-​European *Yemo, corresponding to the Vedic Yama, the lord of the dead. Zoroastrianism shares several similarities with the cosmogonic myths of Indo-​European and Indo-​Iranian traditions. The names of many primal men are also shared. For example, Manu survives in Avestan tradition in the name Manušciθra, meaning the race of Manu. Gayō Marətan (Pahl. Gayōmard), meaning the mortal life, is often compared with the Mārtāṇḍa, the Vedic solar deity, who plays the same role in the myths. Just as the world of the living was created, so was the world of the dead. The primordial father, Yima, corresponding with the Vedic Yama, was the first king, the founder of civilization. He was also the first to die and the king of the world after death. As part of the creation myth, Yima extended the earth three times, an act reminiscent of the Vedic myth of Viṣṇu’s three steps, to accommodate for overpopulation. Yima was both the spiritual and the material leader and educator of people. He is a solar deity, and together with the sun, Hvar, and Mithra, is one of the only deities who share the epithet xšaēta, meaning the sun. The Avestan Yima also has a twin sister Yimī, and as previously discussed, the name Yima also means “twin.” In one legend, they are mentioned as the children of Gayōmard. The Vidēvdād 7.4 conveys that Ahura Mazdā gave his law to Yima to bring it to mankind:

Zoroastrian Iranians | 215 (1) Zarathushtra asked Ahura Mazdā: Ahura Mazdā, Most Holy Spirit, Creator of the material world, just! To which man did you first speak, Ahura Mazdā, other than to me, Zarathushtra? To whom did you first teach the Ahuric, Zarathushtrian religion? (2) Then said Ahura Mazdā: To fair Yima, possessed of good herd, O just Zarathushtra….To him I taught the Ahuric, Zarathushtrian religion. (3) Then to him I said…: Fair Yima, son of Vivahvant, make ready to recite and propagate my religion! Then fair Yima answered me, O Zarathushtra: I was not born nor taught to remember and propagate the religion. (4) Then to him I said, O Zarathushtra, I who am Ahura Mazdā: If, Yima, you are not ready to recite and propagate my religion, then increase my world, then enlarge my world. Then shall you make ready to be protector and guardian and watcher over my world.52

In the Avesta, Yima is the son of Vīvanghvant, who first prepared the haoma. In Yasna 9.3–​4, when Zarathushtra asked Haoma who first prepared him for the corporal world, Haoma answered: He the holy one, and driving death afar: Vîvanghvant was the first of men who prepared me for the incarnate world. This blessedness was offered him; this gain did he acquire, that to him was born a son who was Yima, called the brilliant, that he made from his authority both herds and people free from dying, both plants and waters free from drought, and men could eat imperishable food.53

Jamshīd, the name of a very ancient Indo-​Iranian hero, is the Persian form of Yima Khshaēta, “Yima the Brilliant.” During his reign, Yima subjugated the Daēvas. He took their possessions and the advantage they held in the form of their riches, prosperity, herbs, contentment, and renown. As the first man and the first king of the golden age, Yima is also mentioned as the ruler of the end of the world. The world of the twelve millennia was to end by a catastrophic winter, followed by a heavenly happy immortal existence on earth for those who received protection in the var (enclosure), which Yima was put in charge of building. Ahura Mazdā met with Yima at the center of the world, Airyanəm Vaējah, that is, “the homeland of Aryans,” to forewarn him of the detrimental winters to come and impel him to build a three-​level var under the earth. The exact directions on how the enclosure should be constructed were given by Ahura Mazdā. Yima was to collect the best of people, animals, plants, and fires, and protect them inside the enclosure for the future repopulation of the world, similar to the Mesopotamian flood myths. Every forty years, twins, a

216 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

male and a female, were born, and they lived the happiest life. Vidēvdād 2.35–​6 describes the chosen ones who were given shelter in the var: There he brought the seeds of men and women, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind on earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of cattle, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth. There he brought the seeds of every kind of tree, of the greatest, best, and finest kinds on this earth; there he brought the seeds of every kind of fruit, the fullest of food and sweetest of odour. All those seeds he brought, two of every kind, to be kept inexhaustible there, so long as those men shall stay in the Vara.54

The enclosure represents a similar realm to that of heaven, where only the ones free from the forces of evil may enter. Nonetheless, since the world was coming to an end by fire, and not by winter, based on the Zoroastrian cosmology, Yima’s enclosure came to be viewed as a type of Noah’s ark. Yima’s heavenly kingdom is similar to the Vedic heaven, and is described as being bright, and free from sickness and death: “In the reign of valiant Yima, neither cold nor heat was present, neither age nor death was present, neither envy, demon-​founded.”55 Apparently, Zoroaster rejected Yima because he was also the first to teach men to eat meat. In the first sacrifice, he gave men a portion of ox flesh to eat. He also committed the sin of presumption: “[He] was guilty of a lie which caused the loss of paradise.”56 In Yasna 32.8, Zoroaster utters, “Even Yima, the son of Vivahvan, became notorious for such crimes. He, wishing to gratify the mortals, our people, failed by calling himself God.” Nonetheless, as long as there is mortality, the legend of Yima continues to persist and his rule in the afterlife becomes even more evident.

Last Things and Apocalypse The Avesta describes two different worlds: the present, corporeal world, astavat, and the spiritual, after death world, manahya. “I approach you with good thought, O Mazdā Ahura, so that you may grant me (the blessings) of the two existences, the material and that of thought, the blessings emanating from truth, with which one can put (your) supporters in comfort” (Yasna 28:2). Man is formed both by the physical body and the spirit. Mallik suggests that by analyzing humans, we understand their nature and constitution, and their past, present, and future.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 217 Souls enter the body in perfect form as they are created pure and innocent. The soul uses the body as a vehicle to perform actions in this world. As long as body and soul live in harmony, this worldly life continues. Furthermore, they have their own relevant material organs and other essentials. Both the physical and the spiritual aspects of humans consist of various parts and functions with different names. There are nine constituents in the formation of humans—​three are corporeal, three astral, and three spiritual. The physical human is comprised of gaēθā, the material elements, and it is only by the mixing and mingling of these elements that the physical body, tanu, comes into being with its sensory and sinewy systems, azdi. Of the three astral aspects of human personality, uštāna is the vitality and breath of life, kəhrp is recognized as the astral or ethereal body, and təvīšī is the “subtle etheric substance abstracted from the process of life.”57 In addition, there is urvan, the soul, and fravaši, the guardian angel. In the Avesta (Yašt 26.4), daēnā and fravaši are also listed in addition to the three spiritual principles urvan, ahū, and baodah. In later times, additional terms express various spiritual faculties or constitutions of humans’ non-​material nature. Terms such as xrtu (khrad), wisdom, are spoken of as the being that holds space next to God. However, as a human faculty, khrad is of two kinds—​innate (asno khrad) and acquired intelligence (gōshansrūti khrad). Čisti represents knowledge, vačah, word, syaothna, deed, vasah, will, kāma, desire, vīr, the faculty of reason or deduction, and hōś, prudence and memory, which is closely associated with vīr. Urvan is generally taken as closely expressing the meaning of soul in its broadest sense. Its form and meaning are seemingly unaltered in its journey from the Gāthās to the Pahlavi rūbāno and New Persian ravān. Urvan is a moral power by which humans exercise their free choice between good and evil. It undergoes judgment followed by reward or punishment after death. Therefore, it is generally understood that this is the element that remains immortal after death and bears the responsibility of reward or punishment for actions in this life. As a result, it is commonly used in contrast to tanū, the body. In a broader sense, the two opposing terms are used, at least in the later literature, to indicate the spiritual and the material worlds, respectively. Urvan also applies, though rarely, in both Gāthic and later Avestan to animals. For example, the soul of the primeval ox, the gə ū š urvan, was taken up into heaven after its slaughter and became the genus of cattle. Ahū, in a broad sense, means life or the vital force which comes into being with the body and expires with the body. Bōī or bōd, or the Avestan baodah, is self-​consciousness; it also appears to indicate consciousness or perhaps intelligence

218 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

and shares the responsibility of the urvan. Bōd remains with the soul, urvan, and, with the fravaši (fravāhar or frōhar), goes to meet its reward or punishment. The fravašis, as previously described, are the divine double in mankind—​the true essence of things and the manifestations of the energy of Ahura Mazdā. They are also described as the Universal Spiritual Essence, the Divine Spark of the Spirit, and the Holy Spirit. The relationship of the urvan to the fravaši, in spite of all that has been written on the subject, remains obscure; the etymology of urvan is also uncertain. Generally, daēnā has been rendered as conscience, soul, or self. As a divine force, daēnā is not affected by the sins of people or by death; however, she can influence the soul after death. In both Vidēvdād 19 and Yašt 12, she is described as one’s own conscience. Depending on whether the individual was good or bad, she leads the soul into heaven or hell as a divine beauty or in wretched ugliness, respectively. While urvan is free to choose, the realized part of the Self or the Soul, Daēnā (Daēnā can be derived from √ di (Sk. dhi) = to perceive or to think), is the “Inner-​Self, spiritual individuality, the sense of spiritual perception, the evolving experiencing ego and the acquired character of man.” What “is revealed to the Inner-​Self (Daēnā) becomes in Zoroastrian terminology Revelation or Religion (Daena or Din).”58 According to Zoroastrian teaching, whether in the physical or in the spiritual world, people exist in and with both forces in the universe, the evil and the good. Mankind is also endowed with the power of free will and, as lords of the material world, they choose and work in this life for one or the other of these opposing forces. They establish their own reward or punishment, happiness or misery, in heaven with Ahura Mazdā or in hell with Angra Mainyu. Accordingly, in these paramount ethical teachings, reward and punishment for one’s own actions in this world and the next permeate the entire religious corpus of the Zoroastrians. Here are examples from Yasna 30.10–​11 and 31.14, 20: For then destruction will come down upon deceit through its elimination. The swiftest steeds will be yoked, and they will win good fame (in the race) to the good dwelling of good thought, Mazdā, and truth. O you mortals, when you observe the rules that Mazdā has established, for good behavior and about where not to go, and when (you consider) the long-​lasting harm which is (in store) for the deceitful, and also the benefits for the truthful, then (you will realize that) by those (rules) the things desired will be there.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 219 I ask you, O Mazdā Ahura, about the things that are approaching and will reach (us), about the invigorating gifts people will obtain from the truthful one or from the deceitful, and how they will be there when the reckoning (takes place). Brilliant things instead of weeping will be (the reward) for the person who comes to the truthful one. But a long period of darkness, foul food, and the word ‘woe’ to such an existence your religious views lead you, O deceitful ones, because of your own actions.

A saintly life in Zoroastrianism is not only for a few; living virtuously becomes everyone’s duty. The traditional system provides hope of future reward for the performance of righteous acts and the rejection of wickedness in the face of retribution. In Avestan prayers, like Vedic prayers, people ask for the boons of long life, wealth, health, happiness, and immortality in the next world. In addition, Zoroaster asked god for long life. In Yasna 43.l3, he states: “I realize that you are holy, O Mazdā Ahura, when one approaches me with good thought to take note of the aim of my wish. You have imparted that to me: [the wish] for a long life that nobody can oblige you to grant, and for a desirable possession which is said to be in your power.” He also questions whether he will receive riches in the next life. “I took counsel with both good thought and truth, with a view to a proper knowledge of existence … Along which way will my soul meet the good things to come?” (Yasna 44.8) In Zoroastrianism, Ahura Mazdā—​as the supreme godhead—​is the exclusive bestower of reward and punishment. In Zoroastrianism, death is described as the cessation of physical life caused by the separation of the soul (urvan) from the body. The components of the human personality are dispersed accordingly. The body is returned to the earth, life to the wind, the form to the sun, and the soul is joined to the fravašis. In death, the body, only a temporary abode, is terminated and the immortal soul journeys to the world of manahya. Death is seen as the completion and perfection of life. Individuality is not extinguished but transfers from one state to another. The soul transitions to a higher life where it gives up one duty and takes up another. Zoroastrian eschatology, rooted in the Gāthās, reflects the Indo-​Iranian concepts of individual eschatology. Prior to Zoroaster’s time, the Iranians’ afterlife beliefs, which represented only an individual eschatology and not a universal one, developed along similar lines to Vedic beliefs. At first, it was believed that all the dead led a shadowy existence underneath the earth then it was believed that only chosen individuals, such as priests, warriors, and kings, who lived according to Truth and Order, went to the bright heaven to enjoy its pleasures while the sinful plunged straight down into the dark, joyless netherworld. Rewards and

220 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

retributions were granted on the basis of some sort of ethical and moral judgment. In the Indo-​Iranian conception, gathered from the Vedas, the home of the dead, the kingdom of Yama, appears sometimes as a paradise of light and sometimes as a sinister, underground, dark, bottomless abyss, entered by a downward path. However, Zoroaster provided a different scenario of the afterlife.59 Traces of this innovative Zoroastrian eschatology, including the state of individuals after death as well as the state of the world after the end of time, are found in the corpus of the Zend Avesta and other Pahlavi texts. The Gāthās do not provide a clear picture of the fate of the soul immediately after death; however, the later Avesta provides several passages that clearly describe the state of the soul. After a person’s death, the soul hovers above their head for three days. Every night a particular prayer is chanted by the soul, and on the third night, the Song of Salvation is chanted. In another description, during the first night, the soul abides in the state of good word and the second night in the state of good deed. During the third night, the way divide into two paths. One leads to felicity, the other to perdition. These are the ways open, one to the wicked, and one to the righteous, that is, the Chinvat Bridge. On the fourth morning, the soul sets out on its journey. At death, the soul leaving the body needs protection and guidance. Sraoša (Pahl. Srōš), acting as the guardian of the soul, comes to the rescue with Ātar (Fire), and on the journey, protects the soul from the harassments inflicted by evil forces. The itinerary of the journey, as previously discussed, is based on the individual’s morality during his life. As you sow, so shall you reap is also a Zoroastrian aphorism. The Pahlavi texts further describe the state of the soul as it separates from the physical body and witnesses its destruction. The righteous soul is confident of attaining the Best Existence as a result of the merits it has accumulated while in the body. Such a soul is equally certain of the Final Renovation, when life is reunited with the flesh. However, the thought of Resurrection becomes a source of fear and torment to the unrighteous. During the first three nights the soul of the wicked cries the wail of woe, the Gāthās of lamentation,60 as it is attacked by the hosts of evil spirits. At the bridge, the soul stands for individual judgment, where the individual’s thoughts, words, and deeds from the age of fifteen are weighed against one another on the scales of Rašnu. The final decision is made, based on the turn of the scales, by three judges: Mithra, Sraoša, and Rašnu. One’s deeds are weighed on two sides of the scale. If the good deeds weigh more, the soul is guided to heaven; if the evil deeds weigh more, the soul is destined for hell. One’s meritorious deeds are said to be stored in heaven, protected by Ahura Mazdā: “All of

Zoroastrian Iranians | 221 good spirit is offered to you thoughtfully, as well as the actions of the holy man whose soul is in harmony with truth, O Mazdā, at the glorification of one such as you, entrusting (our) possessions (to You) with songs of praises.” (Yasna 34.1) Thus, the Avesta instructs that after death, the soul can reach heaven, or the Infinite Light (Anagra Raocha), by following three steps, which are a succession of increasingly bright and intense lights—​the stars, corresponding with good thoughts (humata), the moon, with good words (hūxte), and the sun, with good deeds (hvaršte). However, to embark on the afterlife journey, the soul must undergo a dramatic trial, the crossing of the Činvatō-​Pərətū (Chinvat Bridge), that is, the Bridge of Separation/​Judgment. Činvat literally means “of the dividing one” that connects the two worlds, which are separated by a deep chasm. Pavry writes that the balancing and the judgment take place at the bridge, and that Zoroaster acts as one of the judges. However, Mazdā, the supreme arbiter, would separate the righteous from the wicked for future beatitude or torment. After judgment, the souls are asked to pass over the bridge and, depending on their past deeds, thoughts, and words, they either envision the bridge as wide and easy to cross or as narrow and impossible to walk upon. Yasna 46.10–​11 and 51.13 describe these events: O Mazdā Ahura, whosoever, man or woman, gives me those things which you know are the best of existence: reward for truth and power through good thought, and whom I stimulate to glorify those such as you, with all those I will cross over the Account-​keeper’s Bridge. Through their power the Karapans and the Kavis yoke the mortal one to evil actions in order to destroy existence. When they reach the Account-​keeper’s Bridge their own soul(s) and their own religious view(s) will make them tremble, and they will be guests in the house of deceit for all time. In such a way the religious view of a deceitful person will miss the reality of the straight (path). His soul, facing (him) at the Account-​keeper’s Bridge, will make him tremble, for he has strayed from the path of truth by his own actions and those of his tongue.

Zoroaster rendered to this passing over the bridge a new moral significance. In his teachings, everyone, regardless of their gender, age, or social class, can achieve a heavenly life. In accordance with the earlier texts, the Pahlavi books describe the journey of the soul, with some additional explanations for exceptional cases. The later texts describe the location of the bridge as resting “on

222 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

‘the peak of justice’ in the middle of the world in Iranvej, and it is of the height of a hundred men. The two extremities of the bridge rest on the northern and eastern ridges of Mount Alburz.”61 Thus, the bridge extended over hell and led to paradise. On its way to the next world, three days after death and its separation from the body, the soul meets its Daēnā as its own self-​image, who serves as the creation and personification of the individual’s deeds, words, and thoughts during life. The figure appears as an exquisitely beautiful girl in the case of the virtuous soul, and as a horrible hag in that of the sinful soul.62 It escorts the soul either to eternal happiness or to desolation and chastisement. The daēnā of the soul meets the soul at the bridge, which is well guarded by angels and celestial dogs. The descriptions of the soul meeting with Daēnā are congruent in most of the texts; the only difference is in her appearance either prior to or after the judgment at the bridge. Yasna 51.13 describes the situation as follows: “In such a way the religious view of a deceitful person will miss the reality of the straight (path). His soul, facing (him) at the Account-​keeper’s Bridge, will make him tremble, for he has strayed from the path of truth by his own actions and those of his tongue.” According to Vidēvdād 19.27–​30, when Zoroaster asked about the rewards, Ahura Mazdā replied that the daēnā guides the soul of the righteous to the Judgment Seat at the bridge, and, after that, helps the soul to cross triumphantly. For the wicked soul, however, either the daēnā in her ugly form or the demon Vīzaresha drags the soul to the Seat of Judgment and after the announcement of the verdict drags it to the dark abyss of hell. O Maker of the material world, thou Holy One! Where are the rewards given? Where does the rewarding take place? Where is the rewarding fulfilled? Whereto do men come to take the reward that, in their life in the material world, they have won for their souls? Ahura Mazdā answered: ‘When the man is dead, when his time is over, then the hellish, evil-​doing Daêvas assail him; and when the third night is gone, when the dawn appears and brightens up, and makes Mithra, the god with beautiful weapons, reach the all-​happy mountains, and the sun is rising. Then the fiend, named Vîzaresha, carries off in bonds the souls of the wicked Daêvas-​worshippers who live in sin. The soul enters the way made by Time, and open both to the wicked and to the righteous. At the head of the K[Č]invad bridge, the holy bridge made by Mazdā, they ask for their spirits and souls the reward for the worldly goods which they gave away here below.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 223 Then comes the well-​shapen, strong and tall-​formed maid, with the dogs at her sides, one who can distinguish, who is graceful, who does what she wants, and is of high understanding. She makes the soul of the righteous one go up above the Hara-​berezaiti; above the Chinvat bridge she places it in the presence of the heavenly gods themselves.63

The crossing of the bridge is described with different details in other Pahlavi and Parsi texts. For the souls of the righteous, it widens; the souls of the evil ones, however, fall into hell as the bridge narrows to the width of a razor’s edge when they attempt to cross it. A Zoroastrian influence on Manichaeism is apparent in the descriptions of the soul being greeted by the gods and the maiden as well as by demons. Manichaeism was a Gnostic religion founded in the third century CE by Mani, an Iranian living in the Parthian province. Pavry describes the soul of the righteous as meeting three gods and a maiden, and the wicked soul being met by demons and a grisly she-​demon, who drag the soul away after it had been weighed at the judgment.64 After judgment, if one’s morality and virtue weigh more, the soul is escorted by the Ātar and Sraoša to the luminous mansions of the sky to dwell in the presence of Ahura Mazdā and the Holy Immortals. On the contrary, if evil thoughts and deeds weigh more, then the person is sent to the netherworld, where, according to the Gāthās, it dwells in an abode of the Lie, druj, and the dark, pain-​ inflicting realm of Angra Mainyu. Yasna 36.1 reads: “At first we approach you, O Mazdā Ahura, with the community of this fire, [we approach] you with your most holy spirit, you who are pain to the one whom you seize for painful treatment.” Besides heaven and hell as the final destinations of the soul, the Gāthās identify a third place—​an intermediate area, akin to the notion of purgatory, for those who deserve neither heaven nor hell because the total weight of their good thoughts, good words, and good deeds is equal to that of their bad thoughts, bad words, and bad deeds. Among the Indo-​Iranians before Zoroaster, there was also a belief in the reunification of the soul with an immortal physical body in heaven. According to the Gāthās, the prophet suggested that the souls would remain disembodied in heaven until the end of a limited time when there would be a universal bodily resurrection. As in other ancient religions, the core of Zoroastrian religion is the belief in the continuance of existence, the future state of the soul after death in a spiritual world, and a judgment and retribution in the afterlife. The descriptions of the afterlife found in Zoroastrian prayers are very similar to the Vedic heaven with an everlasting life filled with brightness, happiness, health, pleasure, and

224 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

delight. Life in this world ends in death in order to awake in the afterworld. The Zoroastrian doctrine of the state of people’s souls after death is remarkably consistent through the whole range of literature, from the Gāthās to the Pahlavi treatises. The celestial abode for the pious souls, or heaven, is designated by the name garō-​demāna, House of Song, or aṣ̌​ahyā gaēϑā, world of aṣ̌a​ , which serves as the dwelling place of Ahura Mazdā and his holy ones. The souls ascend by means of their past accumulation of humata, good thoughts, hūxta, good words, and huvaršta, good deeds. It is also designated as the abode of good mind (vahu manaha), vangheush demāna manangho. “The [truthful] will be cared for by those two, [integrity and immortality], in the house of good thought.” (Yasna 32.15) In the later Avesta, heaven is also expressed as the anaghra raochah, endless light, or vahištā anhuš, the best existence, which has remained the ordinary term in New Persian (Behesht). Garō-​demāna, however, is recognized as the highest heaven of the four. Heaven with a more concrete and material form is described vividly in the Pahlavi texts. Based on these texts, Dhalla describes heaven as, “Exalted, resplendent, most fragrant, and most desirable. It possesses all light, all goodness, all glory, all fragrance, and all joy … It is devoid of want, pain, distress, and discomfort … The souls in Paradise … are undecaying, undying, unharmed, untroubled.”65 Conversely, the place of the wicked after death is the opposite of the heavenly abode. It is the Drujō-​demāna, the house of the Druj (the house of the lie). The wicked souls descend through their dušmata, evil thoughts, dužuxta, evil words, and dužvaršta, evil deeds. “But the deceitful of bad power, bad actions, bad words, bad religious views, and bad thought, [their] souls come to meet them with foul food. They will be real guests in the house of deceit” (Yasna 49.11); or, as it is stated in the later Avesta, it is the achištā anhuš, the worst existence. The lowest hell of the four, however, is also called the anaghra temah, the endless darkness. The Bundahišn describes the location of hell as in the center of the earth below Chinvat Bridge. There is little doubt for the Gāthās that the life of a soul both in heaven and in hell is conceived as eternal, as shown by the phrases amərətāitī, eternity, and utayūtā, perpetuity, as these are applied to both the blessed and the damned. “They will be guests in the house of deceit for all times.” (Yasna 46.11) In the later theology, however, this was modified. The idea of eternal damnation in hell and eternal heavenly life lasts until the day of the World Renovation. At that time, a great flood of molten metal and the final resurrection and regeneration will purify even hell and the wicked in it. Just as the Vedic literature knows of a hell and the kingdom of the dead, so does the Avesta. Boyce adds: “A parallel development, on a strictly ethical pattern,

Zoroastrian Iranians | 225 can be seen in Zoroaster’s own teachings concerning the hereafter, according to which there were three abodes, Heaven, Hell and a shadowy between-​place for the morally indifferent, whose inhabitants knew neither joy nor pain, but merely existence.”66 The intermediary place, previously mentioned, between hell and heaven, similar to purgatory, is called misvan gātu (Pahl. Gyāg ī Hamêstagān), place for the mixed ones, purgatory. The general scholarly opinion, however, recognizes the Hamīstagān (a plural adjective of Hamīstak, in equilibrium, stationary) not a purgatory as envisioned by Dante but as a state in which the two scales are exactly balanced and therefore stationary. Yasna 33.1 describes this threefold destiny: “Just as by those (present), so the straightest actions following the laws of the first existence, shall be performed by the judge both for the deceitful one and the truthful one, as well as for the one whose wrong and right (deeds) are reckoned together.”67 In the later Pahlavi texts, the Hamīstagān is described as more of a physical place than an abstract location. It is said to be located in the intermediary place between earth and the starry expanse. It is like Earth; the only suffering mentioned is the cold of winter and the heat of summer. Souls remain there until the final judgment and resurrection day. As medieval Christianity had its Dante, who embodied the doctrine of the world beyond the grave in his immortal vision, so Sassanian Zoroastrianism had the saintly Vīrāf, which was probably based on a short Pahlavi religious treatise known as the Artā-​ī Vīrāf Nāmak, “Book of Artā Vīrāf,” most likely composed during the Sassanian period, perhaps the fifth or sixth century CE. Artā-​ī Vīrāf Nāmak contains the visions of the Zoroastrian seer and his visit to the spirit world under the guidance of the spirits Srōš, the Avestan Sraoša, and Ātar, the genius of fire. Chapter 18.1–​9 describes how Vīrāf is guided over the Chinvat Bridge and into the world beyond the grave. First, he journeys to the four heavens and then to the Inferno. At the end, he returns to the divine throne in Garōtmān, the highest heaven. While Dante is supposed to have visited the other world while still in his physical body, Saint Vīrāf made the journey disembodied, in a state of trance induced by mang. There is no clear description for mang; it is suggested to be a form of sleep-​inducing narcotic. Boyce suggests it may be a type of poison. Virgil and Beatrice guided Dante, while Vīrāf was accompanied by two celestial beings, Srōš (Religious Obedience) and Ātar (Fire). In the Artā-​ī Vīrāf Nāmak, 83 of the 101 chapters are devoted to the description of hell and the many different kinds of sins and chastisements. Dante also describes Lucifer as frozen in the lowest depths of the earth.

226 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

According to Saint Vīrāf, when his soul departed from his body, the first things he encountered were the Chinvat Bridge and a beautiful girl. When Vīrāf asked her who she was, she replied that she was his religion, daēnā, and his deeds, and that it was on account of his actions that she appeared so beautiful, sweet-​ scented, and undistressed. At that point, the Chinvat Bridge became wider, and with the assistance of Sraoša and Ātar, Vīrāf easily crossed over. Both divinities promised to take him through heaven and hell but they first had to stop in the Hamīstagān, the resting place of those whose good deeds and sins were evenly balanced. Departing from Hamīstagān, Vīrāf ascended the three steps of good thoughts, good words, and good deeds. These steps lead to Garō-​demāna, the dwelling place of righteous souls. Chapter 16.1–​12 states that Vīrāf, along with the angels, arrived at a great river where many distressed souls were not able to cross. When he asked what river this was, the angels replied that it was the river of tears shed in grief by the relatives of the deceased. The crossing of a river as the way of entering into the spirit world is a common topic in the Indo-​European tradition. Vīrāf and his guides then followed the soul of a wicked man, which had just departed from his body. In its first night in hell, it had to endure as much misfortune as a man can bear in a completely unhappy life. Under the Chinvat Bridge is an abyss for most sinners. At the bottom of the abyss is Angra Mainyu, the Evil Spirit, who ridicules and mocks the wicked. As the place of punishment, hell is dark, full of the stench of foul foods, where, amid the cries of woe, the soul of the sinner is tormented. In that most frightening pit, venomous creatures rip apart the souls of the wicked. All conceivable forms of physical torture prevail, and there is a special torment for every crime. Vīrāf recounts the ghastly spectacle he had witnessed in the vision given him of hell. Dēnkard also describes the punishments and retributions in hell: “The various kinds of most hideous tortures in hell are so dreadful that the torments and sufferings in this world dwindle into insignificance before them; and the worst of earthly calamities and infections present but a feeble and inadequate counterpart to their terror.”68 The Indo-​Iranian evidence permits a reconstruction of a temporal scheme involving four world ages, at the end of which there is an apocalyptic collapse followed by the resurrection and recreation of a new, pure, and regenerated world. When the beginning of the cosmic battle between the forces of good and evil was revealed to Zoroaster, so was the end of the time of mixture. Zoroaster postulates a renovation of the world at the end of the final millennium, when all becomes perfect on earth. The struggle between the forces of good and evil, light and dark, ends with the coming of the Messiah, the victory of good, the resurrection

Zoroastrian Iranians | 227 of the dead, a general judgment, and the ultimate annihilation of evil forces. “Some of these Iranian beliefs, especially those concerning the resurrection of the dead, seem to have influenced Jewish and, subsequently, Christian eschatology.”69 Eliade confirms that the Zoroastrian doctrine of the millennium is analogous to the Indian doctrine of the ages of the world. In Indian tradition, the 12,000 years are also divided into four ages: 4,800, 3,600, 2,400, and 1,200 years, respectively. Furthermore, in both traditions, the end of a millennium is marked by the degeneration of the human race. In both traditions, the world is conceived of as the body of a supreme being. The four cosmic periods signify the four ages of this being that is imagined as either a man or a tree with four parts or branches. In each period, a savior intervenes, and in the case of India, this savior is an avatāra of the god Viṣṇu. At the end of each period, the world is renewed once again to its original state and the process of life starts all over again. However, for Iranians, the world was to be renewed for the last time with the coming of the final savior in the victory of Ahura Mazdā over evil at the end of the fourth period. Even though the saviors in Zoroastrian tradition are the sons of Zoroaster, there is a general belief that they were all reincarnations of Zoroaster himself, based on the statement made in Yašt 13.146: “We worship all the good, awful, beneficent Fravašis of the faithful, from Gayō-​marətan down to the victorious Saošyant.”70 In a vision, Zoroaster sees a tree with four branches made of four different kinds of metals, representing different periods of religious history. The golden branch represents the first period, which is the golden age, the silver and the steel branches symbolize corruption; and the iron branch represents the age of the great catastrophe, the overpowering upheaval that endangers the entire existence. Dēnkard describes how at the end of the fourth period, “when the mighty work of reclaiming mankind from evil is accomplished, there will follow the Renovation of the universe. Those who work to bring this period nearer are said to be holding communion with Ohrmazd.”71 In Zoroastrianism, the history of the cosmos grows out of three figures—​ Gayō-​marətan (the first man), Zoroaster, and Saošyant, that is, he who will bring benefit, the future benefactor, representing, respectively, the beginning, middle, and end. The archaic idea of a future savior appears in the oldest hymns. In Yasna 43.3, Zoroaster himself is forewarned of a future savior who will come after him: “May that man attain what is better than good, who could show us the straight paths of benefit of this material existence and that of thought, the true (oaths) to the possessions where the Ahura dwells, the one such as you, zestful, bound (to us), and holy, O Mazdā.” Based on such a description, the figure of the savior was created: he will come when druj has triumphed over aṣ̌a​ . Zoroaster

228 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

believed that he had been sent by Ahura Mazdā to compel people to side with the right before the end of this world and its final transformation. In the later scriptures, various saviors appear in various epochs to reform the world and its people. The name Saošyant, besides referring to the final savior, is also used as a generic reference for all the saints. Yasna 46.3 and 48.12 refer to the coming of such benefactors: When will the bulls of the days, the intellects of the benefactors, rise above the world with increased proclamations (for people) to grasp truth? To which people will one come with good thought to provide them with nourishment? I choose you, O Mazdā Ahura, tell me (that). Those will be the benefactors of lands who with good thought join in your recognition, with actions (inspired) by the truth of your proclamation, O Mazdā. For these (benefactors) are appointed to be removers of wrath.

In Yasna 30.9, Zoroaster asks god to permit him and his devoted followers to participate in the final dispensation, the making wonderful. “Thus may we be those who make existence brilliant, O Mazdā and you (other) Ahuras, with the bringing of changes, and with truth, while (our) thoughts are concentrated on the place where insight wavers.”72 However, Zoroaster died and the world was still not transformed. Like the early Christians, the first generations of Zoroastrians were disappointed. However, they came to see the prophet as sent by god and who will be reincarnated in a future savior in order to complete his mission. According to the later tradition, each savior is born of a virgin impregnated by the seed of Zoroaster. This takes place while she bathes in the waters where the seeds are deposited, in the great Hāmūn-​i-​Hilmand Basin, in Iranian Seistan, which is watched over by 99,999 souls of the righteous dead. (Yašt 13.62) One legend holds that there will be three saviors—​Ukhšyatərəta, he who makes truth grow; Ukhšyatnəmah, he who makes reverence grow; and Astvatərəta, he who embodies truth. All three saviors, each a son of Zoroaster, will appear during the last three millennia (9,000–​12,000) in the history of the cosmos. As the final millennium comes to a close, a virgin called Vīspa-​taurvairī, she who conquers all, will bathe in the lake and become pregnant with the prophet’s seed, and will bear the Astvat-​ərəta, the final Saošyant. Yašt 13.129, 142 speaks of the Astvat-​ ərəta and his mother Vīspa-​taurvairī: Whose name will be the victorious Saoshyant and whose name will be Astvat-​ ereta. He will be Saoshyant (the Beneficent One), because he will benefit the

Zoroastrian Iranians | 229 whole bodily world; he will be ASTVAT-​ERETA (he who makes the bodily creatures rise up), because as a bodily creature and as a living creature he will stand against the destruction of the bodily creatures, to withstand the Drûg of the two-​ footed brood, to withstand the evil done by the faithful. We worship the Fravashi of the holy maid Eredat-​fedhri, who is called Vîspa-​ taurvairī. She is Vîspa-​taurvairī (the all-​destroying) because she will bring him forth, who will destroy the malice of Daêvas and men, to withstand the evil done by the Gahi.

In support of Astvatərəta, and among the armed comrades grouped around him, are the great Holy Immortals, Zoroaster’s royal patron Vištāspa and his sons. The savior, at the time of the universal ending, will resurrect the dead and give them back their bodies. He will also assemble the dead and the living for the fiery ordeal. At the final stage, by gazing on the world, he makes it immortal and incorruptible thereby completing the renewal of the world, the making wonderful. In regard to the concept of the coming messiah, Boyce writes: “With its message of hope, one of the most influential doctrines of Zoroastrianism, affected, it seems, both Buddhists to the east and Jews and Christians to the west, as well as the adherents of Mithraism and diverse Gnostic faiths.”73 With a belief in the coming of the perfected world, Zoroastrians have kept their faith alive. In Iran, the history of Zoroastrianism continues to show that this belief was a vital feature in supporting Zoroastrians in their faith when their Muslim rulers victimized them. Given the basic code of beliefs of Indo-​Iranian thought, nothing in the cosmos is final, not even death. Death inescapably alternates with resurrection of some sort, whether this is labeled as regeneration or metempsychosis. Accordingly, the fundamental features of Zoroaster’s eschatology, which permeate the entire corpus of the Avestan texts, declare a final ending to the struggle between good and evil forces in which good will triumphs and there is the resurrection of the dead and final judgment for all. The earth will be purified and God’s Kingdom will be established on the heavenly earth. Zoroaster envisioned a universal judgment at the end of all things beyond heaven, hell, and an intermediate state. The righteous will be divided from the wicked at the great Separation, when the flood of molten metal institutes an ordeal for all to undergo; when good will triumphs over evil, the world is restored to perfection (frašōkərəti), and the Kingdom (xšaθra vairya) rises. Similar to other ancient civilizations, the Iranians, prior to Zoroaster, believed in a return of the golden age. A disastrous winter would come upon the earth but

230 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

the chosen humans, along with animals and vegetables, would outlive others by means of a haven, a refuge. Zoroaster proclaimed a universal eschatology alongside an individual one. There would be an exact time when the world, as we know it, would come to a definite end and, after a purification process, would be created anew. Church summarizes the function of eschatological myths as locating “the sacred dimension of life, the source of meaning and power for man, in future time; to enable man to identify personally with a cosmic reality greater than his own existence; and thereby to deny the reality of human death.”74 Concerning the Zoroastrian teachings, Boyce adds that Zoroaster himself spoke of all these things in the Gāthās, where he looks back to eternity past where the world began and forward to the eternity to come, and the Last Judgment. In between, he sees everything that takes place as part of a planned cosmic struggle between good and evil. This struggle leads to the final overthrow of evil, which accomplishes God’s purposes. Zoroaster has therefore been called the first apocalypse “because the thrust of his teachings was moral, he had a passionate concern for ultimate justice, hence for what has been termed ‘apocalyptic eschatology,’ that is, revealed knowledge of the last things.”75 According to Zoroastrian teachings, there are three stages in which the cosmic drama takes place: the creation, the progress of religion, and the final rehabilitation. The last, the frašōkərəti (Pahl. fraškart) or making excellent, is the inevitable end of the world.76 Bode explains the concept of frašōkərəti as “the Eternal Progression of the life of the Spirit,” yet he also states that this concept is not to be understood as an event that will take place at some point in the future but is an ongoing progress of the soul.77 The responsibility of regenerating the world and all the people in it rested on the shoulders of the savior. Based on the Zoroastrian theory of the world ages, the Pahlavi texts describe each of the four periods, including the close of the fourth period when the Saošyant, the Messiah, is born. The last days of the world are described in the book of the Bundahišn (19.89–​90): That will cleave unto the victorious Saoshyant and his helpers, when he shall restore the world, which will (there forth) never grow old and never die, never decaying and never rotting, ever living and ever increasing, and master of its wish, when the dead will rise, when life and immortality will come, and the world will be restored at its wish. When the creation will grow deathless, the prosperous creation of the Good Spirit, and the Druj shall perish, though he may rush on every side to kill the holy beings; he and her hundred-​fold brood shall perish, as it is the will of the Lord.78

Zoroastrian Iranians | 231 The savior destroys the evil spirit, Ahriman (Av. Angra Mainyu), and brings about resurrection and future existence. When the final savior reaches thirty years of age, the sun stands still at the high point of the sky for thirty days and nights. Through his supernal power the demonic nature among men will be broken. The savior will then bring about the Resurrection and future existence. He will come to restore life to the dead and bring final perfection to the world. Then the new order will begin. Like their Vedic Indian counterparts, the Iranians developed an awareness of life, death, and rebirth based on the early belief in cyclic existence according to nature. As long as there was an unceasing process, there could not be an absolute end or annihilation; life would persist. In the case of the Indians, this doctrine also continued and was developed as an aspect of karma. Among the Iranians, however, there was a definite belief in the resurrection and a belief that the world would be renovated by restoring it to its original form. According to Zoroastrian teaching, the savior, Saošyant, in the time of the universal ending, will resurrect the dead and give them their bodies back before “the making wonderful.” First the Gayōmard, the primeval ancestor of the human race, and then Mašyē and Mašyānē, the first parents of mankind who were the first to commit a sin, are raised from the dead. Saošyant, however, only has the power to raise the scattered elements. He cannot reconstitute them as individual people. This capability belongs only to Ohrmazd, who will restore to each their individual form (adhvēnak) and character. The final sacrificial ceremony performed by the savior, Saošyant, inaugurates the resurrection of the body and bestows immortality. He will use the fat or marrow of a miraculous cow blended with white haoma to will bring about the final transfiguration. Zaehner writes that the Zoroastrian doctrine of the resurrection, which Christianity inherited from Zoroastrianism, was not only difficult for the Zoroastrians to understand but was perhaps even confusing for Zoroaster himself as he questioned Ahura Mazdā, as recorded in the Pahlavi Zātsparam. In Part IV of the Zātsparam (34: 1–​6, 17), Zoroaster asks: “Will the embodied beings who passed away on earth, be again embodied at the renovation or will they be like shadows?” Ahura Mazdā replies: “They will be embodied again and live.” Zoroaster then asks: How will these reapproach together, who passed away, whom the dog and the bird have wiped off and the wolf and the [vulture] have carried away?79

Ahura Mazdā replies:

232 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

I was able to create these creations when they did not exist and now when they were disintegrated to rebuild them is [easier]. For these are my five storers who accept the embodied state of the dead: one, the earth which is the guardian of the flesh, the skeleton and [sinews] of men; one, water, the chief watchman of the blood; one, the tree, which is the keeper of the hair; one, light, the acceptance of the fire; one, the wind, which is the life of my own creatures at the time of the renovation. I will send Aîryaman, the messenger, in whose duty is the completion of the work. He causes the skeleton, the blood, the hair and the light of the lives of Gayōmarṭ, Masîyā and Masîyānî to approach. Thereupon I reconstruct the skeleton of Gayōmarṭ as chieftain; thereupon I give the skeleton of Masîyā and Masîyānî [the first couple] as lieutenants on the right and the left.80

The homological analysis of the body’s fate in Zoroastrianism, Lincoln explains, does not differ greatly from their close relatives, the Vedic people, who also viewed the earth as the alloform of the body. Indo-​Europeans also had similar visions of the macrocosmic alloforms for the body, breath, blood, hair, and so forth. The later Zoroastrian eschatological texts depict the reconstruction of the body from its macrocosmic alloform. The account of the reversal of the process of death’s effects at the end of the cosmic cycle, when the resurrection of the body becomes necessary for the universal judgment, is given in the Pahlavi text, the Dādestān ī Dēnīg 48.54–​55: He who is the chief, Sošyants, the accomplisher of the Renovation, and those who are his assistants, set out on the resurrection of the body. And Ohrmazd summons bone from the earth, blood from the water, hair from the plants, and life-​breath from the wind. He mixes one with the other, and he keeps creating the form proper to each.81

There also exists a creation story in the Pahlavi Rivāyat that describes the genesis of the world from the different parts of the body of a giant. According to Zaehner, the giant fashioned parts, one by one, from its own body, for example, the sky from its head and the earth from its feet. As in the myths of the Scandinavian Ymir and the Vedic Puruṣa, the idea of man as a microcosm created from the sacrifice of a primal giant and the dismemberment of his body also appears in the Bundahišn, the Book of Creation, where Gayōmarṭ, the first man, is killed and cut to pieces by Ahriman.82 From his dismemberment the material world, including people, animals and plants, was manifested.

Zoroastrian Iranians | 233 Similar to the Vedic accounts and in most Iranian myths, Yima as the first king is also the founder of the social hierarchy. In the Škend Gumānīg Wizār (1.20–​24), the homologies between the body parts and social classes are described in a manner comparable to the Vedic creation of varṇas, or social classes.83 Yašt 19.30–​39 describes this creation from the royal glory of Yima, who was divided into three portions, representing sovereign, warrior, and commoner social classes. However, before the final sacrifice, the Savior will also assemble the resurrected dead and the living for the final judgment, in the form of a fiery ordeal, in which each sees his good and evil deeds. As early as the Gāthās, the collective eschatology is dominated by the notion of an ordeal by fire. As the son of Ahura Mazdā, fire is aṣ̌a​ ’s instrument in the process of the judgment of the dead. At the time of the Final Assessment, Ahura Mazdā will judge the souls of the righteous and the wicked by fire. “O Mazdā Ahura, we desire your fire, strong through truth, most vigorous and impetuous, to be of clear help to (your) supporter, but of visible injury to (your) enemy by the (recompenses) coming from its hands.” (Yasna 34.4) The fire will then melt the metals in the mountains and hills, and the earth will be covered with a stream of molten metal. Everybody must pass through the fiery molten metal. To the righteous the stream will feel like warm milk, and to the wicked it will feel like walking in molten metal. The righteous are set apart from the wicked; the former are taken to heaven and the latter are cast back into hell for their final punishment of three nights. Later, in the Avestan literature, the fiery molten metal flood is presented as a purgatory where the sins of the wicked are burned away, preparing the soul to live beside the righteous. Yasna 47.6 and 51.9 describe the ordeal: Through this holy spirit, O Mazdā Ahura, you have established the distribution (to be performed) in the good (way) with fire, according to the balance, on account of the solidity of right-​mindedness and truth. This (distribution) indeed shall win over the many who approach. Make clear (to them) in (their) minds, O Mazdā, which (is) the gratification you apportion with your red fire and the molten metal according to the balance. In order to damage the deceitful, the truthful one.

As part of the Indo-​Iranian traditional ordeal practices, by water, fire, or molten metal, the practice of pouring molten copper on the chest of an accused person was already in use among some local Iranians tribes as part of the judicial system. If the person were innocent, the divine powers would intervene to save him, and if he were not, he would die.

234 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

In the final stage, by gazing on the world, the messiah makes it immortal and incorruptible, thereby completing the renewal of the world, the making wonderful. The final episode is described as a world that will stop growing old and will never die, decay, or rot; it will always be fresh and will live forever. Death will no longer exist, life and immortality will come to pass forever, and the dead will rise again. The Evil Spirit, along with all the demons, is defeated. “The evil-​doing Angra Mainyu bows and flees, becoming powerless” (Yašt 19.96), and good prevails for all time. In the Zādsparam, and in the other Pahlavi books, the state of the final Renovation is represented by the Bounteous Immortals and the Ohrmazd thus: We are seven, but one in thought, word, and deed; and because we are one in thought, word, and deed, we are unaging and deathless, knowing neither corruption nor decay; and when you who are men become one in thought, word, and deed, then will you become unaging, free from sickness, knowing neither corruption nor decay, even as we, the Bounteous Immortals are.84

The divine beings Ahura Mazdā created to be his allies, the Holy Immortals, will win a final victory over the forces created by Angra Mainyu. Finally, Ahura Mazdā himself will come to the world as a celebrating priest to perform one last sacrifice. After the last sacrifice, men will become like the Immortals. Once the blissful souls are endowed with physical bodies, they will be able to experience the joys of the senses as well as those of the spirit. In this perfect environment, the surviving human beings will live in ideal harmony with one another. Those who have reached maturity will remain forever as if they were forty years old, and the bodies of the young will remain fixed at fifteen. According to Zoroastrian philosophy, the conquest of evil is the conquest of death, and death is diminution and separation. By eliminating evil, good has the sole sovereignty, and that means life everlasting, along with increase, harmony, and the union of separate wills with the will of God, even as each person remains themself. Such doctrines represent a yearning for a transfiguration of our beings and of life, and are strongly fueled by eschatological hope. Zoroaster himself exclaimed, “Thus may we be those who make existence brilliant.” (Yasna 30.9) In addition Boyce writes, “The essential Gathic apocalyptic, modified by scholastic and religio-​political developments down the ages, thus remained the mainstay of hope for the community into modern times.”85 The renovation of existence is a promise, the fulfillment of which, however remote, has always meant a great

Zoroastrian Iranians | 235 deal to the Zoroastrians. The promised state of bliss is foreshadowed by the Zoroastrians throughout the millennia up to the present time.

Notes 1 In Boyce 1984: 104. 2 Duchesne-​Guillemin 1959: 122; Kingsley 1990: 245–​4; Boyce 1984: 11; Humbach 1994: 11; Skjærvø 1995: 160. 3 Boyce 1984: 15. 4 Boyce further explains: “These names may well have been traditional in his family, rather than having any particular relevance to the circumstances into which he himself was born.” 1975a: 183. 5 Dhalla 1963: 178; Boyce 1975a: 38. 6 Moulton 1912: 30–​31. 7 James 1963: 169. 8 Humbach 1994: 35n. 9 Dhalla 1914: 47. 10 Boyce 1984: 1. 11 Dumézil 1986: viii. 12 Boyce 1984: 1–​7. Duchesne-​Guillemin 1959: 132. 13 Dumézil 1986: 1. 14 See Dhalla 1914; Boyce 1975a; Malandra 1983. 15 Explaining the meaning of the noun haoma, Malandra says: “haoma is simply ‘the thing which has been pressed, pressing, i.e., juice.’” He adds: “It is important to realize that this specialized word originally meant ‘juice’; it was not the name of a plan. Only at a later time could the sacred juice have become the name for the plant from which it was extracted. This fact has been one of the greatest impediments to an identification of the plan.” 1983: 150. 16 Jamasp-​A sa 1983: 40. 17 Jackson 1928: 204. 18 Duchesne-​Guillemin 1959: 133. 19 Boyce 1984: 12. 20 Duchesne-​Guillemin 1958: 58. 21 Dhalla further explains: “This finite time is also personified and it invoked by name along with Boundless Time.” He notes: “This genius Boundless Time, like several abstract idea which are in course of time personified and yet are not classified among the Yazatas, is not listed as an angel. He is often invoked by name in company with Space and Vayu, the genius of Wind.” 1963: 244–​5. 22 Boyce 1975a: 283–​7; 1984: 21. 23 Tiele 1912: 136.

236 | Ancient

Roots of Creation and Afterlife Beliefs

24 Shaked writes: “In the Sassanian period this dichotomy was designated by the term mēnōg and gētī –​seems to be another typical feature of the Iranian conception.” 1994: 10. 25 Dhalla 1914: 48. 26 Boyce 1975a: 140. 27 Ibid. 1984: 12. 28 Ibid. 1984: 12–​13; 1975: 203, 211. In addition, Dhalla describes them as: “Haurvatāt is the fulfillment of the end of man’s life on this earth, as Amərətāt is to be the eternal prize for his soul in the next world.” 1914: 39. 29 Duchesne-​Guillemin indicates that “as “Darmesteter has shown, the idea that the waters and plants are capable of healing and of averting death goes back to Indo-​ Iranian times.” 1973: 138. 30 Malandra 1983: 20–​1; Boyce 1979: 22–​3. 31 See Hultgård 2000: 44–​8. 32 Duchesne-​Gullemin 1979:  8–​10. 33 Dhalla 1914: 96. 34 trans. in Gershevitch 1959: 75. 35 trans. in Ibid. 1959: 91–​92. 36 trans. in Ibid. 1959: 3. 37 According to Duchesne-​Guillemin 1973: 128, Dumézil and Lommel have independently shown this. 38 Malandra introduces an argument put forth by Forssman, who identifies Tištrya with the Vedic astral deity Tiṣya. According to Malandra, tiṣya (