While the text of this commentary could apply equally well in terms of its developmental stages to the ancient sacred hymns or to a modern scientific cosmology, the tone is revelatory and religious, for it proclaims the createdness of “ordinary” form and matter, the power of the Holy Word, and the ability to perceive that Spirit, the supernatural, in and through the natural.
CONCERNING the original coming to be of the material creation, from the Exegesis of the Good Religion.
This is what is revealed concerning the instrument which the Creator fashioned from the Endless Light and in which he caused creation to be contained. Its Avestan name is the Endless Form and it is twofold. On the one hand it contains the “ideal” creation; on the other the material creation. In the “ideal” creation the Spirit of the Power of the Word was contained; and in the material creation the Spirit of the Power of Nature was contained, and it settled (in it). The instrument which contains the ideal creation was made perfect and the spiritual (ideal) gods of the Word were separated from it, each for its own function, to perform those activities which were necessary for the creation that was within the instrument. And within the instrument which contains the material creation the marvellous Spirit of the Power of Nature was united to the kingdom of the Spirit of the Power of the Word through the will of the Creator.
In greater detail this is what is revealed concerning the nature of the material world. First was the stage the Avestan name of which is the mass and which is called the…mass or conglomeration in the language of the world. From the stage which is called the mass and conglomeration (proceeded) the stage the Avestan name of which is conception and also hollowing and which is called the new phenomenon(?) and also…in the language of men. It is (as) an ailment(??) in the mass, and it was inserted into it. From the stage which is called conception, hollowing, the new phenomenon(?) and…(proceeded) the stage the Avestan name of which is formation and which is called expansion in the language of men. It is as an ailment(??) in the (former) stage and it was inserted into that stage. From the stage the name of which is formation and expansion (proceeded) the first body united with the Spirit of the Power of the Word; and its Avestan name is the Wheel and it also has the name of Spahr (Ewasa) and in the language of men it is called the firmament (spihr). In it, like embryos, are the luminaries, the Sun, Moon, and stars, all of the same origin. They control all creation under them and are themselves the highest natural phenomena. From the Wheel proceeded becoming, the hot and the moist of which air is composed: these are connected with the spiritual Word and share in its power: (and from it also proceeded) the elements which are the seed of seeds of material creations and which are the movement of becoming. The elements are called the form of the becoming of the primary qualities. From the movement of becoming (proceeded) the settling of becoming, living things, which include material cattle and men, for they are the form and shape of matter.
—R. C. Zaehner. Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1955, pp. 373–374.
Speaking of the World After Zarathustra’s death (c. sixth century B.C.), Zoroastrianism was changed probably by the Magi, Median priests who came later to the faith. They incorported certain deities such as Mithra, the Indo-Iranian sun god, and Anahitam, the fertility goddess, and absorbed astralism into the cult. In addition, the two primal spirits of Zarathustra’s creation myth evolved into Ohrmazd (that is, Ahura Mazdah), the spirit of goodness, and Ahriman, the principle of evil. Largely in this form, Zoroastrianism became the established religion of Iran and lasted until the Islamic conquest in the seventh century A.D.
A Zurvanite strain of Zoroastrianism from which this myth comes competed with this more traditional form of the religion. Zurvan, the god of time, was an ancient deity; there are references to his name as far back as the twelfth century B.C. Evidence of his adoption into the Iranian cult comes in later forms of the Videvat (“Law against the Demons”), where Zurvan appears in two forms: as Infinite Time (Zurvan aharana) and as “Time of the Long Dominion” or finite time (Zurvan deregho-chvadhata). There is an obvious parallel here to the earlier Gathas in which light was conceived in a similar manner, as absolute and unmanifest on the one hand and relative and manifest on the other.
In this Islamic commentary on Zoroastrian cosmology (from the second Ulema i Islam, vv. 6–20), Time is understood as the boundless eternal creator. Time made fire and water and, mixing the two, produced Ohrmazd (goodness). The origin of Ahriman (evil) is not explained here, but as soon as he was seen by Ohrmazd, the two gods proceded to do battle through creation.
Ohrmazd made finite time—the Time of the Long Dominion (12,000 years)—out of Infinite Time and filled it with sky and the stars to ultimately mark its passage. Overwhelmed by Ohrmazd’s righteousness, Ahriman was rendered inactive for the first 3,000 years of creation. During the next quarter of the “Long Dominion,” Ohrmazd made the sky, water, earth, plants, the Bull, and Gayomart (primal man), and finally Adam and Eve. After he had finished, Evil came into the world and polluted it with his demons of Foulness, Darkness, and Stench. The forces of good finally captured him and bound him in hell under guard.
(6) FIRST I will speak of the world and discuss whether it has (always) existed or whether it was created. If it should be said that it has (always) existed, this opinion is untenable: for ever anew do things wax in the world and then again wane [and wax], decrease and then again increase. Further all that is susceptible of coming to be and passing away and is the effect of a cause is not proper to God. Thus it is established that the world has not (always) existed and that it has been created. Moreover, a created thing necessarily implies a Creator. (7) Now it must be known that in the Pahlavi religion to which the Zoroastrians adhere, the world is said to have been created. After saying that the world has been created we must further say who created it and when, how, and why he created it.
(8) In the religion of Zoroaster it is thus revealed. Except Time all other things are created. Time is the creator: and Time has no limit, neither top nor bottom. It has always been and shall be for evermore. No sensible person will say whence Time has come. In spite of all the grandeur that surrounded it, there was no one to call it creator; for it had not brought forth creation. (9) Then it created fire and water; and when it had brought them together, Ohrmazd came into existence, and simultaneously Time became Creator and Lord with regard to the creation it had brought forth. (10) Ohrmazd was bright, pure, sweet-smelling, and beneficent, and had power over all good things. Then, he looked down, he saw Ahriman ninety-six thousand parasangs away, black, foul, stinking, and maleficent; and it appeared fearful to Ohrmazd, for he was a frightful enemy. (11) And when Ohrmazd saw this enemy, he thought thus: “I must utterly destroy this enemy,” and he considered with what and how many instruments he could destroy him. (12) Then did Ohrmazd begin the work of creation. Whatever Ohrmazd did, he did with the aid of Time; for all the excellence that Ohrmazd needed, had (already) been created. And Ohrmazd made Time of the Long Dominion manifest which has the measure of twelve thousand years, and within it he attached the firmament, the artificer (and heaven). (13) And each of the twelve Signs of the Zodiac which are bound to the firmament he appointed for a thousand years. During three thousand years the spiritual creation was made; and Aries, Taurus, and Gemini held sway each for a thousand years. (14) Then Ahriman (with the aid of Time) turned toward the heights that he might do battle with Ohrmazd: he saw an army marshalled and drawn up in ranks, and rushed back to hell. From the foulness, darkness, and stench that was wihin him, he raised an army. This was possible for him. In this matter much has been said. The meaning of this is that when he (saw he) was empty-handed, he rushed back to hell. (15) Because of the righteousness he saw in Ohrmazd for three thousand years he could not move, so that during these thousand years material creation was made. The control of the world passed to Cancer, Leo, and Virgo. In this matter much has been said.
(16) I will say a few words on this subject. In the creation of
the material world first he manifested the sky, and the measure of it was twenty-four (thousand) by twenty-four thousand parasangs, and its top reached Garooman. ̴ After forty-five days he caused the water to appear (from the sky): after sixty days the earth appeared out of the water: after seventy-five days he manifested plants, large and small: after thirty days the Bull and Gayomart appeared: and after eighty days Adam and Eve made their appearance. (17) When the three thousand years we have mentioned (had elapsed) and Man, the material world, and the other creatures we have mentioned had come into existence, the accursed Ahriman again bestirred himself: and (Time brought it about that Ahriman) bored a hole in the sky, the mountains, and the earth, rushed into the material world and defiled everything in it with his wickedness and impurity. (18) As he possessed no spiritual thing, he did battle for ninety days and nights in the material world; and the firmament was rent, and the spiritual beings came to the assistance of the material world. (19) And they seized the seven most evil demons and brought them to the firmament and bound them with unseen (spiritual, minu) bonds. And Ahriman afflicted Gayomart with a thousand torments till he passed away. And from him certain things came into existence. About this much has been said. From the Bull too certain things and animals came into existence. About this much has been said. (20) Then they seized upon Ahriman and carried him off to hell by that very hole through which he had entered the world; and they bound him with unseen bonds. Two angels, even Ardibihist, the Amahraspand, and Varhram, the god, stood in guard over him.
—R. C. Zaehner. Zurvan: A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1955, pp. 409–411.
On the Mixing of the Bounteous Spirit and the Destructive Spirit In this Zoroastrian myth from the first chapter of Selections of Zatspram, Zurvan (the ancient god of time), Ohrmazd (the principle of goodness), and Ahriman (the principle of Evil) are all active. As a protection against the Lie of the Destructive Spirit, Ohrmazd first fashioned the ideal creation—the incorruptible forms of sky, water, earth, plants, cattle, man, and fire—and with the help of Zurvan managed to fix the temporal boundaries for the coming conflict. For the first half of manifest time (6,000 years), Ohrmazd managed to avoid a confrontation by use of the religious law and prayers. For the next 3,000 years, after he had made the ideal creation manifest and material, he still kept everything pure by withholding motion and thus change. But, since the purpose of creation was to allow evil to express itself and thereby be overcome by good, Ohrmazd asked Zurvan to make motion and animate the world. Ahriman then entered the universe and pulled it down to his dark and evil realm so that only the top of the sky remained close to the light of goodness. According to Zoroastrianism, the subsequent battle between the two great principles is being fought out now in time on earth.
(1) THUS is it revealed in the Religion: the light was above and the darkness beneath; and between the two was the Void. (2) Ohrmazd in the light and Ahriman in the darkness. Ohrmazd knew of the existence of Ahriman and of his coming to do battle: Ahriman knew not of the existence and light of Ohrmazd. (3) In the dismal darkness he wandered to the nether side: then, rushing, he came up and beheld a point of light, and because it was of a different substance from himself, he strove to attain it, and his desire for it waxed so mightily that (it was as great as his desire) for the darkness. (4) When he came to the boundary, Ohrmazd, wishing to hold Ahriman back from his kingdom, advanced to join battle. By the pure word of the Law he laid him low and hurled him back into the darkness. As a protection against the Lie he fashioned in the heights the “ideal” sky, water, earth, plants, cattle, man, and fire—all in ideal form. For three thousand years he held him back. (5) Ahriman too was preparing weapons in the darkness.
At the end of three thousand years he returned to the boundary, and threatening said, “I shall smite thee, I shall smite thy creatures. Art thou of a mind to create a creation, O thou who art the Bounteous Spirit? Verily I shall utterly destroy it.” (6) Ohrmazd answered (and said,) “Thou canst not, O Lie, accomplish all.”
(7) Again Ahriman threatened (saying), “I shall bring all corporeal existence to hate thee and to love me.”
(8) Ohrmazd, in his spiritual wisdom, saw that what Ahriman had threatened he could do unless the time of the conflict were limited. (9) He begged Time to aid him, for he saw that through no intermediary belonging to the light would (Ahriman) desist. Time is a good helper and right orderer of both: there is need of it. (10) (Ohrmazd) made it in three periods, each period three thousand years. (11) Ahriman desisted.
(12) Ohrmazd saw that unless Ahriman were encompassed, he would return to his own principle of darkness whenever he so willed and would prepare more weapons, and the conflict would be without end. After fixing the time, he chanted the Ahunvar. (13) And in the Ahunvar he showed him three things. (14) First that every righteous thing is the will of Ohrmazd: (15) and from this it is plain that since righteousness is the will of Ohrmazd, obviously there are things which are not according to the will of Ohrmazd—and these can only be whatever has its root in Vay who is of a different substance. (16) Secondly this, that he who does the will of Ohrmazd, reward and recompense are his; and he who does not the will of Ohrmazd, punishment and retribution are his. (17) This shows the reward of the virtuous and the punishment of sinners, and thence, too, heaven and hell. (18) Thirdly it shows that the sovereignty of Ohrmazd prospers him who keeps affliction from the poor. (19) This shows that the wealthy are to help the needy: as the learned teach the ignorant, so should the rich generously lend a helping hand to the poor; for the creatures of Ohrmazd are in strife and battle one with another.
(20) For the final rehabilitation will be effected by these three things. (21) First orthodoxy, that is the belief in two principles, in this wise and manner that Ohrmazd is all good and devoid of evil and his will is all-holy; and that Ahriman is all evil and devoid of good. (22) Second, the hope of reward and recompense for the virtuous and the fear of punishment and retribution for sinners, striving after virtue and shunning vice. (23) Third, that creatures should help one another: for from mutual help comes solidarity, from solidarity victory over the enemy, and this is the final rehabilitation.
(24) By this word (Ahriman) was laid low and fell back into the darkness.
(25) (Then) Ohrmazd projected creation in bodily form onto the material plane, first the sky, second water, third earth, fourth plants, fifth cattle, sixth man: and fire permeated all six elements, and the period for which it was inserted into each element lasted, it is said, as much as the twinkling of an eye. (26) For three thousand years creation was corporeal and motionless. Sun, Moon, and stars stood still in the heights and did not move.
(27) At the end of (this) period Ohrmazd considered, “What profit have we from our creation if it neither moves nor walks nor flies?” And with the aid of the firmament and Zurvan he fashioned creation forth. (28) Zurvan had power to set the creation of Ohrmazd in motion without giving motion to the creation of Ahriman, for the (two) principles were harmful to each other and mutually opposed.
(29) Pondering on the end he (Zurvan) delivered to Ahriman an implement (fashioned) from the very substance of darkness, mingled with the power of Zurvan, as it were a treaty, resembling coal (?), black and ashen. (30) And as he handed it to him, he said, “By means of these weapons Az (concupiscence) will devour that which is thine and she herself shall starve, if at the end of nine thousand years thou hast not accomplished that which thou didst threaten, to finish off the treaty, to finish off Time.”
(31) Meanwhile Ahriman, together with his powers went to the station of the stars. (32) The bottom of the sky was in the station of the stars: from there he dragged it into the Void which lies between the principles of light and darkness and is the field of battle where both move. (33) And the darkness he had with him he brought into the sky; and he dragged the sky down into the darkness so that within the roof of the sky as much as one third only could reach above the region of the stars.
—R. C. Zaehner. Zurvan:
A Zoroastrian Dilemma. Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, 1955, pp. 341–343.
Answer of the Spirit of Wisdom The influence of astrology in later Zoroastrianism, coupled with a recognition of Time (Zurvan) as an independent power, is most evident in this mythical exchange between a wise man and the Spirit of Wisdom (from the eighth chapter of the Menok i Xrat).
With the blessing of Time, Ohrmazd (the principle of goodness) fashioned the material world, the spiritual beings (Amahraspands), and the Spirit of Wisdom out of his own essence of light. And, in a vividly described fashion, Ahriman (the principle of evil) committed sodomy on his own person and thereby “gave birth to the demons, lies and other abortions.” If procreation is the common metaphor for divine creation, given its usefulness as a way of describing the origin of something out of nothing, this analogy of self-sodomy is an arresting way to point out the self-centeredness and essential uncreativity of Evil’s “creative” act.
Numerology becomes important later in the myth as seven—the number of planets and days of the week, and here a symbol of evil—is contrasted with twelve—the number of signs of the zodiac, months in the year, thousands of years in finite time, and the symbol of goodness. The thorough blending of the two in all spheres appropriately reflects the mixture of good and evil found in life—a condition which will exist until Ohriman is defeated and creation dissolves back into the infinite goodness of Ohrmazd.
Primal Myths Page 21