Lands of Asia layouts (Eng) 26.11.21

part iii | cultural and spiritual development
the new religion. The king of Balkh (Bactra), Hystaspes, the patron of Zardusht, was
described by Tabari, Makdisi, Firdausi, Daqiqi, Biruni and other medieval authors.
The indisputable connection between Zarathushtra and Zoroastrianism and Bactria
was also established by Graeco-Roman authors, beginning with Ctesias of Cnidus (5th
century BC); in several fragments of his works Zarathushtra is referred to as a magus
and a king of the Bactrians. The tradition associating Zarathushtra with Bactria was
echoed in later Graeco-Roman sources, for example in the Res Gestae of Ammianus
Marcellinus (4th century BC), writing about the ‘Bactrian Zoroaster’ (XXIII, 6, 32), as
well as in the works of early Christian authors writing about Zoroaster as the founder of
Bactra, from where the ‘new law’ spread ‘over the entire world’.
Contrary to the scepticism of earlier scholars such as W. Henning, there is striking
evidence of the existence of Zoroastrian burial rites in the accounts of Onesicritus, a
Macedonian who accompanied Alexander the Great on his campaigns in Asia, stating
that: ‘Those who are disabled by disease or old age are thrown alive to be devoured by
dogs kept expressly for this purpose, and whom in the language of the country they
call “entombers”. The places on the exterior of the walls of the capital of the Bactrians
are clean, but the interior is for the most part full of human bones.’ (Strabo. XI, 11,
3). Scattered human bones found by myself and A.S. Sagdulaev in settlements dating
from the Achaemenid period in northern Bactria and in Southern Sogdia support
this account. B.A. Litvinsky established that the Oxus temple at Takht-i Sangin was
Zoroastrian, and apparently built at the end of the 2nd century BC.
There is considerable and unequivocal evidence of the existence of Zoroastrianism
in Bactria during the Kushan period. In particular, there is the Rabatak inscription
published by N. Sims-Williams and J. Cribb. Lines 7–11 of this inscription state
that King Kanishka gave orders to Shafar the karalrang to build a sanctuary and to
make and place in it images of gods ‘(of) whom the … glorious Umma leads the
service here, (namely:) the lady Nana and the lady Umma, Aurmuzd, the Gracious
one, Sroshard, Narasa, (and) Mihr’. Moreover, above the names of these Zoroastrian
deities the names of the Hindu deities Maaseno (Mahasena) and Bizago (Vishakha)
were inscribed in smaller letters.
Thus, the Rabatak inscription establishes the primary role of Zoroastrian deities
in the religious beliefs of King Kanishka I and, accordingly, in Bactria, as the abovementioned
sanctuary was built in Baghlan, within the territory of this region. The
name of the deity Sraosha is recorded in one of the caves of Karatepa. The names
of other Zoroastrian deities, Pharro and Mao, have been found in inscriptions at
the Buddhist temples of Fayaztepa and Dalverzintepa. This may indicate some
fusion of Zoroastrianism and Buddhism or assimilation of Zoroastrian deities into
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