Zoroastrian Saviour Imagery and Its Influence on ... - Kaveh Farrokh

<strong>Zoroastrian</strong> <strong>Saviour</strong> <strong>Imagery</strong>
scripture, i.e. the Avesta. But the quotation only draws parallels
between creation <strong>and</strong> individual, not universal, eschatology:
Whereas when Masya <strong>and</strong> Masyaye... men, too, when their time of death
(shall have come)...
This text cannot, therefore, on its own, be used as evidence for the
Avestan basis of the universal eschatological belief. The Dadistan i
denig <strong>and</strong> the Denkard also refer to the idea that men will not need to
eat food at the coming of Sosyant. The appearance of this idea in
Denkard 7 is important, since this section of the work, as has already
been noted, is not just a priestly work of the ninth century, but is lar-
gely a collection <strong>and</strong> precis of Avestan passages. In the first appearance
of the belief, Dk. 7: 8: 50 it is not said whether or not this is a quotation
from the Avesta, but in 7: Io: 2 the introductory formula reads
'as what it says...' the 'it' being explained in paragraph 4 as 'revelation'.
The passage then goes on to say that men do not have the same
need for food during the millenium of Usedarmah, <strong>and</strong> that one meal
is sufficient for three days. The same idea, in fact occurs in the extant
Avesta. Yasht I9: 96 declares that at the end hunger <strong>and</strong> thirst will
be smitten. This last passage on its own might be taken to imply that
the after life is a time of feasting, but in the total context of <strong>Zoroastrian</strong>ism,
where hunger is a weapon of Ahriman, <strong>and</strong> in the light of the
above passages, it is more reasonable to take it as referring to a belief
that men will not need to eat <strong>and</strong> drink, <strong>and</strong> thus will return to their
primeval state. Dr. Shaul Shaked is, therefore, fully justified in saying
that the basis of the creation/eschatological scheme is to be found in
the Avesta. 36)
It may be possible to take this a stage further <strong>and</strong> see the patterns
between the beginning <strong>and</strong> the end as pre-<strong>Zoroastrian</strong>, perhaps even
Indo-Iranian. Thus in the Haoma ritual, the central rite of Zoro-
astrianism, the worshipper looks back to the first slaying, <strong>and</strong> forward
to the last slaying of the bull. 37) Although this ritual has been thor-
36) 'Eschatology <strong>and</strong> the Goal of the Religious Life in Sasanian Zoroastri-
anism', paper to the Study Conference of the I.A.H.R., Jerusalem, July, I968. I
am indebted to Dr Shaked for giving so generously of his time during the con-
ference to discuss this matter with me.
37) See the forthcoming work of M. Boyce, 'Haoma, priest of the sacrifice',
in the W. B. Henning Memorial Volume (in the press).
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