The Encyclopedia Of Demons And Demonology

278 Zoroastrianism
vas) in the Veda were demonized, and the class of deity
called ahura by Iranians and asura by the Indians were
eliminated. The exception is Ahura Mazda (later called
Ohrmazd), who was elevated to the status of the one true
God from whom all other divinities proceed.
Evil is a separate principle and substance standing
against the good God and threatening to destroy him.
Against the God stands Angra Mainyu (in Hinduism,
Aryaman), later AHRIMAN, the Destructive Spirit. The
duration of this conflict is limited; Ohrmazd will defeat
Ahriman. God needs humans’ help in his battle with the
“Lie,” as the principle of evil is frequently called in the
ancient documents. Evil is not identified with matter. The
material world is the handiwork of God, a weapon fashioned
by the Deity with which to smite the Evil One. The
world is the trap God sets for the DEVIL, and, in the end,
Ohrmazd will deal Ahriman the death blow.
According to the Bundahishn, or Book of the Primal
Creation, the two antagonists had always existed in
time, but when Ohrmazd first chants the Ahunvar (True
Speech), the key prayer of Zoroastrianism, it reveals to
Ahriman that his annihilation is certain. Assaulted by
this truth, Ahriman falls unconscious for 3,000 years.
Ohrmazd creates the universe, the two worlds (spiritual
and material), as a weapon with which to defeat Ahriman.
An unorthodox text called the Zurvan indicates that early
creation myths varied or were altered, for in the Zervanite
version, Ahriman creates first the Lying Word (the exact
opposite of the Ahunvar) and then Akoman, the Evil
Mind, which he could not do if he were unconscious.
The human soul is a spiritual being called fravashi or
fravahr, a concept that encompasses not only individual
human souls and guardian angels, but also local genii,
the intelligences of places.
Both human body and its fravashi are creatures of
Ohrmazd and his wife/daughter Spandarmat, the Earth.
The soul preexists the human body but is not eternally preexistent
as in many Eastern religions. Humankind belongs
to Ohrmazd and will return to him. The first Primal Man
mates with Ahriman’s “Demon Whore.” Each individual is
free to choose good or evil, but evil is an unnatural act.
Life on Earth is a battle between Ohrmazd and his attendant
Powers, on one hand, and Ahriman and his demonic
hordes, on the other. For Zarasthustra, it was a very real
battle, since daeva worshippers were still adherents of the
traditional religion; he identified these with all that is evil.
Forces of Good
Ohrmazd is helped by the six amarahspands (or Amesha
Spenta), the Bounteous Immortals, who are comparable
to archangels and serve as Ohrmazd’s ministers. After
Ohrmazd adopts Man, each of the amarahspands adopts
one of the material creations. Their names are personifications
of abstract concepts or virtues:
• Vahuman: Good Thought, Good Mind
• Artvahisht: Best Righteousness, Truth
• Shahrevar: Choice Kingdom, Material Sovereignty
• Spandarmat: Bounteous Right-Mindedness, Wisdom
in Piety; also identified with Earth
• Hurdat: Health, Wholeness, Salvation
• Amurdat: Life, Immortality
Beneath the ahmarahspands are the yazatas (adorable
beings), who are legion and are divided into heavenly
(spiritual) and earthly (material) subcategories. Ohrmazd
himself leads the spiritual Yazatas, and Zarasthustra the
material Yazatas. They have assignments, as do the celestial
intelligences and the DAIMONES of water, air, fire, and earth.
Forces of Evil
Ahriman is served by a host of DEMONS, most of which
are personified vices, such as concupiscence, anger, sloth,
and heresy. There are six archdemons, who oppose the
amarahspands and try to destroy their good work. According
to the Bundahishn, they are assisted by “furies
in great multitude,” who are “demons of ruin, pain, and
growing old, producers of vexation and vile, revivers of
grief, the progeny of gloom, and vileness, who are many,
very numerous, and very notorious.”
The six archdemons are the following:
• Akoman, the Evil Mind, foments vile thoughts and
discord and opposes the amesha spenta, or good
spirit of Vahuman, who opposes Vahuman
• ANDRA, the Slayer, who opposes Artvahisht
• Naoghatya, rules arrogance, presumption, disobedience,
insubordination, and contempt and opposes
Spandarmat, an amesha spenta, or good spirit
• Saru, the Tyrant, opposes the good spirit (amesha
spenta) of Shahrevar and oversees misgovernment,
anarchy, and drunkenness
• TARU, Evil Hunger, opposes Hurdat
• ZARIKA, Evil Thirst, opposes Amurdat
Numerous other demons populate the mythology.
Among them are the following:
• Akatasa, who shapes evil and is “the fiend of inquisitiveness”
and meddling
• Anaxsti, who sows discord
• Apaosa, who fights the rain god Trishtya and always
loses in the end and rides a black bald horse
• Araiti, who encourages stinginess
• Arast (Araska), who spreads falsehood and lies, malice,
envy, and jealousy
• Asrusti, who incites disobedience
• Ayasi, who governs the EVIL EYE
• Daiwi daeva, who encourages lying
• Driwi daeva, who rules beggary
• Freftar, who orchestrates deceit and seduction
• Kasvi daeva, who rules spite
• Mahmi, who tried to convince the creator god
Ohrmazd that if he had sex with his mother, the
Sun would be born, and if he had sex with his sister,
the Moon would be born