International Society for Iranian Studies

On Mysticism and Esotericism among the Zoroastrians Author(s): James R. Russell Source: Iranian Studies, Vol. 26, No. 1/2 (Winter - Spring, 1993), pp. 73-94 Published by: Taylor & Francis, Ltd. on behalf of International Society for Iranian Studies Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/4310825 Accessed: 20/10/2010 22:40
Your use of the JSTOR archive indicates your acceptance of JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use, available at http://www.jstor.org/page/info/about/policies/terms.jsp. JSTOR's Terms and Conditions of Use provides, in part, that unless you have obtained prior permission, you may not download an entire issue of a journal or multiple copies of articles, and you may use content in the JSTOR archive only for your personal, non-commercial use. Please contact the publisher regarding any further use of this work. Publisher contact information may be obtained at http://www.jstor.org/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=isis. Each copy of any part of a JSTOR transmission must contain the same copyright notice that appears on the screen or printed page of such transmission. JSTOR is a not-for-profit service that helps scholars, researchers, and students discover, use, and build upon a wide range of content in a trusted digital archive. We use information technology and tools to increase productivity and facilitate new forms of scholarship. For more information about JSTOR, please contact support@jstor.org.

International Society for Iranian Studies and Taylor & Francis, Ltd. are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to Iranian Studies.

http://www.jstor.org

James R. Russell

On Mysticism and Esotericism among the Zoroastrians

in The ideaof Zoroastrian mysticismmightat firstglanceseema contradiction above all else: terms. The Good Religion, after all, is cimig, "rational," mysteryof all faiths,theodicy, Zoroaster elegantlysolved the most intractable that of by the revelation cosmicdualism.' The mereassertion thereareesoteric has withinZoroastrianism been criticized.2This criticismspringsin doctrines of is itself, which,as it will be argued, partfroma flawedperception mysticism the not an independent entity,everywhere same. Rather,each religionhas a in withthe mainmysticism its own, oftenirreconcilable someof its features of with stream,and, in the case of Zoroastrianism, some of the religion'splain does not logic. Also, the existence of mysticismwithina religioustradition
imply its centrality to that tradition. Mysticism exists in Christianity, but

as the could scarcelybe calledessentialto it, considering claim,elaborated the to churchrose to universal overtand suffi Christian prominence, the radically
The research for this essay was carried out with the generous supportof a Lady Davis Fellowship at the Hebrew University. I thank the Trust and my colleagues in Israel, whose helpful comments and learned company were of great benefit. I am solely responsible for the audacity to approach this topic, and they share no responsibility for the many inadequacies readers will, undoubtedly,discover. 1. One might contrast to Zoroaster's clear vision of the beginning of all things and of their true nature in his hymns the theophany in Job. "All categories in which meaning can be identified are wiped out and the only voice Job can hear is that of the archaic thunderGod, El or Ba'L who speaks in enigmas of an ultimate premoral mystery" (Amos N. Wilder, 'The Rhetoric of Ancient and Modem Apocalyptic," Interpretation 25, no. 4 [October 1971]: 444, commenting on Frank M. Cross, "New Directions in the Study of Apocalyptic," Apocalypticism [JThCh 6] [New York, 1969]: 161-5). I am indebted for this reference to my colleague, Professor Michael Stone. 2. In his Zoroastrian Problems in the Ninth-Century Books, 2d ed. (Oxford Univ. Press, 1971), xxix, Sir Harold W. Bailey wrote that Shaul Shaked, in his "Esoteric Trends in Zoroastrianism," Proceedings of the Israel Academy of Sciences and Humanities 3 (1969): 175-222, had "tried, by surveying the use of rdz, to discover some mysticism in Zoroastrian orthodox traditionwhere J. de Menasce had found none. It is evident for whatever reason that Zoroastriancommentators avoid stressing such an aspect. It was therefore left to European scholars, whose mental basis has been saturated for 2,000 years with Hellenistic fantasy, to ignore the constant appeal to the . . . rationality of [Zoroastrian]tradition." This criticism appears to have been based on a misunderstanding. Shaked never meant, in fact, to suggest that the Zoroastrians promulgated mystical doctrines or practices, only that they restricted access to religious learning which might be misused by the ignorant, by foreign enemies of the Iranian faith, or by heretics within. One may compare this with the Mishnaic injunction to build a fence round the Torah. Professor Shaked would have been fully justi

74 Russell cient truth of the Gospel. In the case of the religion of Israel, for example, Kabbalahand related systems have existed, overtly and in abundance,for many centuries without ever usurpingor significantly transformingthe normativeJudaism of halakhah. An adequatehistory of Jewish faith and worship could be written without considering the Kabbalahas a majortrend. But such a history, however reasonable in correctly identifying the ideological mainstream that defined the Jewish people, would still be incomplete. A kindredassertion can be venturedwith respect to the religion of Iran. From the earliest times Zoroastriansbelieved that special knowledge about the end of

the cosmicbattlebetweengoodandevil, andthe meansto bringaboutthe victoryof Ahura Mazda-to maketheworldfraga-, "wonderful"-in addition the to revelation thesematters on in already provided theGathas, mightbe acquired by spiritually advanced believers employing mystical techniques.Apparently these involvedinduction a stateof joyousecstasyandprofound of insight,sometimes through intoxication wine3or the use of psychotropic with as drugs,4 well as by
mantricrecitations(Avestan manthra-)or silent meditation(cf. Av. tusni.maitig, "'silently thinking"). These practices,of course, have theiranalogue-even cognate-in the developed traditionsof Indianmysticism.5 One manthrain particufied in speaking of Zoroastrian mysticism or esotericism in its fullest sense, had he chosen to approach the topic. 3. Zoroastrians are associated in New Persian literature, from its very beginnings to the present time, with mystical practices and religious intoxication. Thus, we find an early New Persian poem in the Tdrikh-e Sistdn dedicated to the sacred fire of Karkoy in Sistan, cited from the earlier Ketcb-e Garshiisp of Abu'l-Mu'ayyad Balkhi. The fire temple in that work is itself reputed to have been built by two Iranian epic heroes, Kaykhosrow and Rostam (see, most recently, C. E. Bosworth, "The Coming of Islam to Afghanistan," in Y. Friedman, ed., Islam in Asia, Vol. I: South Asia (Jerusalem: Magnes Press, Hebrew Univ., 1984), 4. In that poem, the h6g, "consciousness" of Karasaspa(an Avestan hero discussed below) is supposed to reside, and the worshipper is invited to nush kon may nash/dast bar aghish, "Imbibe ambrosial wine,/The loved one in (thine) embrace." This may be a cliche; if not, it has the typical ambiguity of a Sufi poem linking wine and love to the mystical state of nearness to God. 4. As one might expect, arguments about hallucinogens in Zoroastrianism have involved very deep-seated cultural prejudices. The nature of haoma is still disputed, but its function of inducing ecstasy is not. Certainly, the literature of the Iranian faith is replete with allusions to mystical journeys assisted by the consumption of psychoactive substances, and, as seen above, this carries over into the image of the Good Religion in Persian Muslim sources. In the Persian Zardosht-name, Zoroaster is supposed to have given Vishtaspa a draught of wine which enabled him to see the next world (see discussion by M. Boyce, "On the Antiquity of Zoroastrian Apocalyptic," BSOAS 47, no. 1 [1984]: 60-61). One may suppose that in some literary sources, if not, perhaps, in actual practice, the distinction between a psychedelic drug that released the soul from everyday reality and the poison that separated it from the body forever might have been somewhat blurred. The pseudo-DemocriteanPhysica et Mystica, perhaps garbling an Iranian source, claims that the legendary Persian sage Ostanes "died ... having used poison to release the soul from the body" (cited by G. Fowden, The Egyptian Hermes [Cambridge,1986], 90, n. 66). 5. The Avestan word appears in Yasna 43:15, as an attributeof Ahura Mazda. The Scholiast to the Platonic Alcibiades, 211 E, asserts that Zoroaster fell silent at the

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 75 lar, the greatAhuna Vairya prayerby which the Universe itself was created and the Evil Spirit smitten-according to the Zoroastrianaccount of Creationin the Bundahign-refers to the creation of the primal order of the world; the ethical duties (Av. syaotbana-) of mankindin the period when the powers of good and evil are at war; and the thirdcosmic age when salvation comes, whetherthrough Zoroasterhimself or by the handof his descendant,the Saogyant("Savior"). As will be seen, cosmology was a central feature of Zoroastrianesoteric doctrine, and knowledgeable recitation of the Ahuna Vairya, which was believed to be a living being in and of itself with a spirit of its own, provided insight into the very natureof Time.6 The categories sufficient to a characterization a mystiof cal system in the Zoroastriantraditionmight, then, be summarizedas follows: 1) provision of an experience transcending, differing from, the normaland oror dinary, whetherthroughspirit travelor intense apperceptionof divinity, brought about by defined practices; 2) acquisition of special knowledge, mostly cosmological and eschatological, as a result of these practices; and 3) emotional fulfillment, whether throughcloseness to God or the conviction that one's personality has been clarifiedor transformed. Allied to these practices were moderatephysical austerities, such as the maintenance of a vegetariandiet.7 The primevallinkage of eschatology to mysticism
age of seven, to resume speech only at age thirty, when he began to instruct the king Vishtaspa (Hystaspes), and adds that Zoroastrians greatly revere Mithra and connect him with the number seven. According to the traditional Zoroastrian hagiography, the prophet left home at twenty, received his revelation at thirty, and began to convert the court of Vishtaspa thirteen years later. There is no indication he was silent during his ten years' wandering, during which he was accompanied by his wife, fathered a son, and performed rituals which must have requiredthe recitation of manthras. 6. The prayer reads: Yatha ahiu vairy6 athai raltfi asActitbail Vanghausdazdd manangh6 syaothananam angbhu? MazddilXiathramca Ahurai d yim dragubyddaddt vastarkm. One reasonable rendering might be: "As the Lord he is desired; so is he as Judge, according to truth./He establishes the ways of action of the Good Mind in life for Mazda:/And the Kingdom belongs to Ahura, who has made him Pastor of the Poor." The ahu and ratu seem to be Vishtaspa and Zarathustra, exemplars of righthe teous temporal and spiritual authority. The second verse belongs to the sphere of ethics: the ways of action of the Faith are established through Zoroaster's revelation, which the Good Mind, Vohu Manah, enables his intelligence to receive and to shape into a way of life in this mixed state of good and evil which we now inhabit. The last line is probably eschatological, and has to do with Kingdom Come. The Pastor is Zarathustra or his remote progeny, the Saosyant; and the Poor (Av. dragu-, from which derives ultimately N. Per. darvish) are the faithful, who stand in need of Godspiritual poverty (the Phl. texts distinguish between this state and material destitution, the latter seen as evil)-and who will inherit the Earth. See Yasna chs. 19, 62; and, e.g., B. N. Dhabhar, tr., The Persian Rivayats of Hormazyar Framarz (Bombay, 1932), 2-15 et seq. 7. F. D. Goodman, in Where the Spirits Ride the Wind: Trance Journeys and Other Ecstatic Experiences (Bloomington, Ind.: Indiana Univ. Press, 1990), has connected varieties of ecstatic experience to particular postures assumed by diviners and shamans. It is noteworthy that the strange epithet xumbya, "(sitting in a) jar" (Yasht 13:138) is applied to the Avestan Fradhakhshti(cf. N. Per. khom, Gujaratimatlu). J.

76 Russell amongstIranians persistedthrough ages, whilstZoroastrians has the have on occasionborrowed practicesand beliefs fromthe mysticaltraditions other of faithswith whichthey have come into contacL Some features Zoroastrian of mysticaldoctrine practice or will, then,be familiar, othersspringuniquely but fromthe Iri'an faithandmaynotbe immediately recognizable mysticism as if thistermis accepted onlyon thebasisof its recognized characteristics other in or other-worldly their in religioussystemswhicharenon-dualistic intrinsically ultimate aims. Oneshouldrecallthe caution, voicedby Gershom Scholem,that thereis no mysticism such,but only thatof a particular as religioussystem. It has alreadybeen noted how Muslimpoets attributing mysticalpracticesto Zoroastrians associatewith these, invariably, merriment, usuallyin deliberate contrast the grimlyasceticaspectsof theirown tradition.Plinyrepeated to the well-known evidently legendthatZoroaster bornlaughing.Oneshouldconwas
trast to this the Christian mystics' practice of spiritual focus through tears,

attestedfromearliesttimes;JesusChristneverlaughed. The ShamO'el-e Termezi informsus thatMuhammad laughedonly once in his life: at the news of the deathof an enemywhose eye poppedout when he was shot and who fell backwards fromhis mount, his revealing nakedbuttocks.So even this laughter mustbe seenas scornful denrsive, joyousin anyrealsense.8 Whereone and not does encounter as a salientfeature mysticism Iran,it maywell havea in joy of Zoroastrian hallmark, in its later,Sufi manifestations. even Whilstin otherreligionsthe centralaim of mysticismhas been closenessto a transcendent God or annihilation the self in Him, it appearsthat for the of Zoroastrian emotional the of is equivalent this experience fullnessof visionof and thepurposes strategies theGodwhoseverynameis Wisdom, who,far of and frombeing ineffableor remote,is palpablygood, actively involvedwith this in in world,andmanifest it through holy creations whichHis sevenemanathe incarnate.It maybe sugtions,the Amen Sp.anu.are visiblyandintelligibly involvesprofound gestedthattheprocessof Zoroastrian mysticism apperception of the immanence God, rather of thandeparture another into forn of beingand thanexstasy. It is also evidentthatZoroaster his followers enstasyrather believedthemselves belongto a distinct privileged to and a groupsharing special
J. Modi, Oriental Conference Papers (p. 294 and n. 7), noted that there is such a meditational posture in yoga. The precise intent of the epithet, however, remains unclear. The Sammohatantra lists among the countries possessing tantric practices Bactria (Bdhlika) and Persia (Parasika)-among the others are Greece, Nepal, Gandhara, Tibet, and China (see S. C. Banerji, A Brief History of Tantra Literature [Calcutta, 1988], 71). Apart from the references, this source is unreliable. The list is very broad, and most likely post-Islamic, so tantramight here refer only to Sufism. 8. Cited by H. Weiner, 91/2 Mystics: The Kabbala Today (New York, 1969), 57-8.

"Te substance canonicaltexts, like thatof all of For the mystic,Scholemcontinues,

other religious values, is melted down and given another form as it passes through the fiery stream of the mystical consciousness . . . hard as the mystic may try to remain within the confinements of his religion, he often consciously or unconsciously approaches or even transgresses its limits, becoming then an either recognized or unrecognized heretic." In the Zoroastriancase, the mystical yearning for a primal unity as the object of devotion verges upon heresy against the primary tenet of dualism,

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 77 and transformativespiritual gift. So rites of initiation, with their psychological features of passage, surprise, and transformation,can also be examined in the context of a Zoroastrian mysticism. Zoroaster's own encounters with Ahura Mazda-whom he addressesfamiliarlyas a beloved friend9-involve a vision of the beginning of the world which itself can certainly be classified as mystical (Yasna 30). Well-established mystical traditions,such as the Sufi orders in Islam, preserve secretive rites of initiation. In general, such mystical sub-groupsfind toleration when it is plain that their purpose is not to usurp the confessional loyalties of an individual but to enhance his devotion within the faith to which he already Iranand also adheres. There is some evidence of such a sub-groupin Zoroastrian in pre-ChristianArmenia, a land itself steeped in Iranianreligion and culture with which Greeks and Romans were in contact of old. This is, of course, the forerunner of Roman Mithraism.10 The origins, teachings, and symbolism of this secret society are all disputed,but certainreasonabletheoriescan be advanced 1 about them.' "Pirates"(as the Romans termedthem) operatingoff the southem coast of Anatolia around the time of Christ worshippedMithraon a mountaintop. This is not unusual, for Mithrais said to have a mountainpalace, as might befit a yazata associated with the lofty Sun god (Yasht 10:50).12 Pirates these men might have appeared to the Romans, but to their own people, and to the theophorically-named Mithradatesof Pontus, they were fighters for freedom against an alien enemy. In their inexorableprogressionof aggressive conquests, the Roman legions came to this region and to inland Armenia-where, indeed, a late and corrupt traditionlocated the birthplaceof Zoroasterhimself and where the worship of Mithra was prominent. By Roman times the generic word for temple had become mehean, literally, "placeof Mihr (Mithra)." To this day the national epic Sasna crerdescribes how a hero namedLittle Mher (Mithra)is led to a cave by a raven. He now sits confined there, the wheel of fate in his hands, awaiting the end of time.13 All these featuresof the epic are significant individand thereby shares aspects of the philosophical school which elevated Zurvan-infinite time-above both Ohrmazd and Ahriman. 9. Avestan frya-. One may compare this with the mannerwhereby the Sufi addresses Allah as yar or diis. The Zoroastrian mystical path completely lacks the sense of numinous terror that is so integral to other mysticisms. 10. See J. R. Russell, "On the Armeno-IranianRoots of Mithraism," in J. R. Hinnells, ed., Studies on Mithraism (Rome: Bretschneider, 1992). 11. Mithraism should not be regarded as a distinct religion in its own right, but rather as a secret society within the larger frameworkof Iranianreligion, conferring rites of initiation. On the justifications for such a classification, see J. R. Russell, "Mithraism and the Craft Reconsidered," in Transactions of the American Lodge of Research (Masonic) (in press). 12. The Sun shines out of the 360 windows of Mt. Terag. The Sros Yast Vadi borrows at various points from the Mihr Yasht; and in Yasna 57:21, Sraosha has a mountain palace as well. See also R. C. Zaehner, The Dawn and Twilighl of Zoroastrianism,
111.

13. The cave seems to be, in diverse cultures, the symbol of time suspended. One might compare with this the uncanonical Jewish tradition of Abraham's concealment in a cave during the tyranny of Nimrod, whence he emerged speaking lIJdn ha-

78 Russell ual aspectsof RomanMithraism, are thoughonly in Armenia they linkedin a surviving,coherentnarrative. It seems the Romansadoptedthe worshipof Mithra Armenia elsewhere Iranized in or in Asia Minorwherethe identical cult in elsewhere the Iranian existed,for we do notfindattested world-or, moreto thepoint,in areastheRomans held conquered-meetings in caves,the useof the ravenas a degreeand symbolor astrological symbolismsuch as the wheel of fate. Mithraic acolytesunderwent seven gradesof initiation, each characterized by some symbolicobjector act. Thewriter a Iamblikhos, Syriansophistfluentin Aramaic who lived in Armenia, inserts curious a romance his book,Babyinto loniaka(ca. A.D. 170), writtenin the reignof Sohaemus. Two young lovers, Rhodanesand Sinonis,flee the latter'swicked fatherGarmos,encountering bizarre in obstaclesandordealswhichresemble severalinstancesthe Mithraic gradesof initiation. Garmosseems to be a Hellenization MiddleIranian of Azhi kerm,"worm, dragon"-thatis, the Avestan "man-dragon" Dahaka.Sinonis corresponds thelatter's to daughter, Sanghavachi. AndRhodanes but the is Hellenizedform,again,of Armenian Northwestern or MiddleIranian Hruden, i.e., Faridun (Av. Thraetaona)-literally, "third (son)"-the herowho freedthe in and wherehe waitsuntil dragon's her daughter imprisoned father Damavand, the end of time.14 It appears lamblikhos basedhis romanceon a protothat Mithraic in Armenia cult whichwas itself firmlyrootedin traditional Avestan lore. Ritesof this kindhavesurvived longerin Armenia Kurdistan in and than otherregionsof Iranwherethe centralized orthodoxy sanctioned temporal by
q&deg-Hebrew. There is in this legend the clear sense of transformation and epiphany, and Abraham'slife is said to have been a "thirdcreation," the original Creation of Barasith and the preservation of Noah and his progeny through the Flood having been the first two. The Zoroastriancosmology, as already noted in the discussion above of the Ahuna Vairya prayer, postulates three World Ages: Bundahign (Creation), Gumezign (Mixture [of good and evil]), and Wizdrign(Separation [of good from evil]). In a sense there are three Creations also: the essentially static creations of the spiritual beings (menogan) and earthly creatures (gitigan); the slaying of Gayomard, the replication of earthly beings, and the introduction of sin-exemplified in the human world by the division of Man into Man and Woman (Masya and Masyanag), with their frailties and carnivorousness (see below); and the advent of Zoroaster, parallel to Abraham. The Prophet prefigures the perfection of the world, since the Savior, Sdiyans, will come of his seed; and with him, in a sense, is the inception of Wizdrign. 14. See discussion by R. Merkelbach,Mithras (Koenigstein-in-Taunus: Hain, 1984), supp. "Armenische Erzaehlungen," 253-8. Romantic tales set in faraway Persia, both modern and ancient (the legend of Zariadrisand Odatis in the Deipnosophistai of Athenaeus, for example), became popular in the eighteenth century. See 0. H. Bonnerot, La Perse dans la litteratureel la pensee fantaises au XVIIIesiecle: De l'image au mythe (Paris, 1988), wherein the author stresses the popularity of Zoroaster. The men of the Erklaerung were convinced that their initiatory mysteries had roots in the ancient East which conferred upon them a venerable legitimacy superseding that of the Christian faith, against whose dominion many struggled. Thus, Mozart uses a crypto-Persianframe story in Die Zauberfloete with many parallels to the narrativeof Rhodanes and Sinonis.

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 79

rulerscould be enforced.15Thus the Babakiya flourished the region. G. in Widengren reasonably has linkedone of theirrites,a ritual followed bull-slaying by a communalmeal, to the well-knownpracticeof the earlierMithraists.16 The Ahl-i Haqqof the sameregionhaveconventicles, oaths,andtheritualfeast. Ivanowbelievedthis to be, again,a survival Mithraic of rites. Suchsecretive martial orders served, obviously, aneffectiveunifying as forceforpolitical resistanceto domination outsiders.17 by Mithra the idealyazatato be the focusof suchan order.He is a young,handis some Sun-god,a champion the manlyvirtues keepingone's wordas one's of of evil bond,andof fighting andtyranny.18 waspresent He whenAhura Mazda and
15. In Christendom Armenia was a stronghold of heresy from the Paulicians to the Tondrakites, who seem to have flourished down to the 19th century (see, most recently, J. R. Russell, "The Mother of All Heresies: A Late Mediaeval ArmenianText on the Yuskaparik," REArm [in publication]). The non-Christian sect of the Arewordik', "Children of the Sun," survived there down to the 1915 Genocide (see J. R. Russell, Zoroastrianism in Armenia, Harvard Iranian Series 5 [Cambridge, Mass., 1987], ch. 16). In northwestern Iran, the Mazdakite heresy of Zoroastrianism persisted for centuries in the vicinity of Alamut fortress after its suppression elsewhere in Iran. Indeed, Hasan Sabbah encountered Mazdakites there. It is no coincidence that the Ghulat extremists within Shi'ism retain features of ancient Iranianreligion. 16. See G. Widengren, "Babakiyah and the Mithraic Mysteries" in U. Bianchi, ed., Mysteria Mithrae (EPRO vol. 80) (Leiden, 1979), 676. He points out that the sect believed in metempsychosis-as do Khshnumist Zoroastrians, some Sufi Muslims, and some Jewish Kabbalists, though the orthodox of all three faiths reject such a doctrine. A recent writer rejects any substantially Iranianorigin for Mithraism, arguing that Mithra is not involved in any Iranian sacrifice of bulls (D. Ulansey, The Origin of the Mithraic Mysteries [Oxford, 1989]). But Professor Mary Boyce showed the sacrifice of a sheep by traditional Zoroastriansas an essential part of the worship of Mithra on the festival devoted to him ("Mihragan among the Irani Zoroastrians,"in J. R. Hinnells, ed., Mithraic Studies, vol. 1 [Manchester, 1975], 106-18). In the Manichaean MS T.M. 180r published by A. von le Coq, "Tuerkische Manichaica aus Chotscho, II," APAW 3 (1919): 5, Maitreya, the son of God (mitrii burkhan tangrii oghlii), is destined to come, but he is opposed by the demon-son, the "false Maitreya" (igid mitrii) whose mount is a bull. If there is a connection between Mithra and Maitreya, then the bull might be borrowed from Iranian iconography of the yazata. 17. The Spartacists' avowal of the Dionysian cult is the classic example of religion in ancient society as the unifying force for political action by the oppressed. Josephus' "Fourth Philosophy" of the Zealots who opposed Roman and plutocratic rule in Palestine is another case in point. The Ghost Dance rebellion of the Native American Indians, with its tenet asserting that White European rule actually made the land impure, presents a paradigmaticparallel to the case of the Zealots. 18. The pact, which Mithra personifies, is to be kept even with an enemy, as the Mihr Yasht cautions. In Plutarch'sDe Iside et Osiride, Mithrasis the intermediarybetween Oromazes and Areimanios-the witness to their agreement that the cosmic battle will have a limited term. Amongst the "Avestan"people, as in primitive societies of the present day, what would seem to us an inordinateamountof time was spent visiting and offering hospitality, even in wartime, to maintain bonds of relationship. It is natural that this be the context for observance of a covenant-one visits unarmed. Zoroaster uses the word mithra- (thus, as a common noun meaning "covenant") only

80 Russell
Angra Mainyuagreed on the terms of the cosmic battle, which makes him privy to cosmological mysteries. In a passage of the Ayadgar i Jama-spigcited by Shaked in his "Esoteric Trends in Zoroastrianism,"it is Mithra who will tell "many hidden secrets"(Phl. was raz l nihan) at the end of days to a man on the shore of the sea at Padashkhwargar, is, on the northernside of the Alborz that range facing the Caspian, probablyat Damavand. These "secrets"probably involve the strategy of the impending final battle against evil.'9 The latter will culminate in the sacrificial offering of the bull Hudayosh,whose flesh will confer immortalityupon resurrectedmankind. ThIisis reminiscent of the Mithraic cult scene of the tauroctony,but the objection is often raised that Mithradoes not sacrifice a bull himself. Also, the dying bull of the tauroctony scene is assaultedby variousnoxious creatures-scarcely what one would expect to see at the moment of the purificationand renovation of the universe. It can be proposed that the tauroctony telescopes into one scene both primal and final events-something an icon can do better than a text-suggesting that, just as the serial immortalityof the world's creaturesbegan with Ahriman's murderof the primeval Uniquely-CreatedBull, which released the cornucopia of life into the invaded universe, so, symmetrically,will the last, great, sacrifice, during the last battle in which Mithraplays an importantrole usher in an etemity of individual immortality.20 Moreover, it is near Damavandthat Mithrastands. This is the mountainwhere Faridunimprisoned Azhi Dahaka, who will emerge in the last days to be slain by Karosaspa,who sleeps beneath the earth in Pishin. This serpent-mantyrant
once in the Gathas: Y. 46.5, where the righteous man, who receives a follower of the Lie in consequence of a covenant between them, is allowed to warn his family of their guest's deceitful character, but is bound to receive him nonetheless. This seems a mitigating commentaryon a central and rigid aspect of the yazata's function, exalted at the outset of this Avestan hymn and reflected, at least a millennium later, by Plutarch. 19. An English translationof the passage in the Ayddgdr i Jamaspig is provided by B. N. Dhabhar, ed. and tr., Jamaspi (Bombay, 1930), 31, para. 18. On Phl. rdz, "secret," Arm. eraz, "dream,"and related concepts, see J. R. Russell, "Dreams and Dreaming in Armenian,"in J. Greppin, ed., Proceedings of the Fourth International Conference on Armenian Linguistics, Cleveland State University, Sept., 1991 (in press). The word is found in Gatha Ha 50.6, where Zoroaster asks in his own name that Ahura Mazda, as creatorof counsel, guide throughVohu Manah the secrets of his speech as he recites manthras. 20. With the murderof a bull that sets the living world as we know it in motion, and the correspondingsacrifice at the end of the world which will prolong human life into infinity, we deal with the earliest strata of Indo-Iraniancosmology. See, for example, B. Lincoln, Priests, Warriors, and Cattle (Berkeley, 1981). The Indic purusa-, the primal man whose sacrifice gave life to a previously static universe, is sometimes interpreted as being composed of pu- 'man' and vrsa- 'bull'. The idea that a primal event of tragic character prefigures an eschatological redemptive one is a commonplace of Christian typology. That the end mirrors the beginning is summed up in Christ's assertion that he is the Alpha and Omega. That it will be better than the beginning is an article of faith of the Old Testament prophets carried over to the Qur'an (wa'l-akhiratu khayrunlaka mina'l-awwala, "and the End is better for thee than the Beginning").

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 81 esoterics of the (Phl. Dahag, Modem PersianZahhak)is regardedby Zoroastrian present-day as the Pythagorean sum of all possible temporal evils, since his name, following a Pahlavi folk-etymology recognized by the Denkard, means "ten evils."21 Now the Pahlavi texts tell us Faridunwas cautioned to imprison Dahag, not to kill him, lest all manner of noxious creatures swarm from the monster'spuncturedcarcass. Karasaspaseems to have been introducedsecondarily, perhaps as a device to allow him atonement for accidentally drenching the sacred fire during his adventurewith Azhi Srvara-the slaying of Dahag having "ten evils" are originally been the job of Faridun. Though the serpent-tyrant's most probably modeled after the Decalogue of the Torah, the fact cannot be ignored that Zoroastrians believed in numerologyand regardedten as a "perfect" (for a discussion of this number-hence the modem Khshnumistinterpretation sect see below). The Andarz i O5nar i danag, "Counsels of Aoshnara the Wise," groups vices and virtues in successive numbers,though, unfortunately, there is a lacuna after six in the MSS. In the original form of the Iranianlegend, imprisonedheroes and monstersproh ably were to erupt from the titanic mountainsin which they had been confined, in the volcanic cataclysms attendingthe end of this world. But a learnedreason had to be found for Faridunthe dragon-slayernot to get on with it and slay his properdragon. With his anti-cornucopia evils, Dahag became the Ahrimanic of parallel to the Uniquely-CreatedBull againsta patternof sacrificerand sacrifice, all creation and apocalypse, into which Mithra,Faridun,and Korosaspa fit. The Avestan name of the vanquisherof this demonic opposite of the primeval bull, Thraetaona, is cognate with the Vedic traitana.22 Thraetaonais more closely identified with bulls than most Avestan heroes, even for the cowboy culture of the early Iranians. He is nurtured a cow, rides a bull, and, like Mithra,wields by a bull-headedmace. Originallyhe seems to have been the hero of agriculturalists and warriors. Mithra, likewise, is customarily invoked as vouru.gaoyaoiti-, "(lord)of wide cow-pastures." When the sun-like, divinely-bestowedGlory, the xvaranab-, departedfrom Yima, it divided into three parts, which were acquired by Mithra,Karasaspa,and Thraetaona. In the Manichaeanpantheon,Mithrais the Tertius Legatus, perhapsagain indicatingthe perceptionof kinship to Thraetaona, "the third." It may also be of significance that in Manichaeancosmology it is precisely the divinities of the third creation-to which Mithra here belongs-who intervene in the world, albeit nonviolently, to help mankind. In folktales of many lands, the third of three sons is the one who accomplishes a greatdeed and gains glory. In Gilgit, Nagyr, and Hunza,on the easternperiphery of the Iranian culture-area, in the Hindu Kush, there is told the tale of Shiri Badat, ruler of Gilgit, who is regardedas either the founder or destroyerof the Rais dynasty (ca. 14th century A.D.). This is the period when the populous,
21. Plainly, Zahhak is the Arabic of Isaac, and the monster's faith was identified by the Pahlavi writers with Judaism. See J. R. Russell, "Our Father Abraham and the Magi," Journal of the K. R. Cama Oriental Insiltute 54 (1987): 56-72. Peshyansai, where Karasaspalies, should be identified with modernPishin, on the road through the passes of Afghanistan linking Iran and India (see J. R. Russell, "Two Armenian Graffiti from Ziarat, Pakistan," R.E.Arm. 21 [1988-89]: 471-5).

82 Russell

stateof the Shinprinceswas obliterated Islamwas introduced, centralized and with a sparser, morefragmented societyresulting. ShiriBadatkilled the Shin kingShahRais,whohadpossessed Midas-like a goldenhorn. Thelatter his and whomZahhak staterecalledJamshid, overthrew.ShiriBadat,indeed,was no man but one of a hostilerace of mountain spirits,the yach (cf. Skt. yaksa).
Though like Zahhak's his realm flourished, the angels of heaven opposed him because he was a cannibal,havingdeveloped this taste througha stratagemof his

tale cook. Again, one mightcompare to the Iranian in which Iblis, disthis Zahhakto cannibalism. At this point, three guised as a cook, introduced all of brothers, peris, arriveat Danyor, northeast Gilgit. The youngest,named Jamshid AzruShamsher, or and slaysa cow withhis bow andarrow is forcedby his brothers eat the liverandkidneys. Thesearethe sacrificial to portions; he can no longerfly away. Conducted the palace,he falls in love with Shiri to Badat's daughter, whosenameis givenas eitherMijoChaior Nurbakhsh. They plot theirescape. She asks her fatherwherehis soul is. It is in the snow, he replies,andonly firecankill him. Thepeopledig a pit outsidethepalacewalls and light torches. He feels the heat,mountshis wonderful horse,andjumps over the wall, only to fall downintothe pit. Theythrowthe torches downand level the house with iron spades. (Note thatin his campaign againstZahhak Fanidun accompanied a commoner, blacksmith is by a namedsimplyKdva The and ["smith"].). youngpeoplemarry, havea childwhosefoot is a horse's hoof. ShiriBadat,havingburrowed underground, hidesin a glacier;so at now the winterTalenifestival,peoplelighttorchesto prevent return.It is also his said of the yach that they borrowhumanproperty feasts in theirhidden for
palace-halls.23

Whatarethehidden secretsMithra to relate?Whyaretheyhidden?To what is secretsdoes theprophet allude?Theyseemto haveto do withdetailsof escha48 to tologyandmaybe related theversesof Yasna on thesubject:
If after these things he conquers the Lie through Truth Whichare the deceitful doctrines of demons and men Moved by violence, then towards immortality Throughacts of salvation he will make your praise great, 0 Ahura. Tell me, Ahura, the things of which You are the knower, Before ihe far end of the course draws nigh me. 22. Thus M. Mayrhofer,Iranisches Personennamenbuch,I: Die altiranischen Namen, no. 312 (Vienna, 1979), I: 81-2. 23. See J. Biddulph, Tribes of the Hindoo Koosh (1880, repr. Lahore, 1971), 133; G. W. Leitner, Dardistan in 1866, 1886, and 1893 (1889, repr. Karachi, 1985), 9; and K. Jettmar, Religii Gindukusha (rev. Russian tr. from German) (Moscow, 1986), 50, 252-4. It is noteworthy that this reflex of the Iranianlegend contains several details found also at the Western periphery of Iran-in Armenia-but not in Iran itself. In Armenia, Artawazd, the deposed king, plunges on horseback into a pit. He is held captive by yaksa-like k?ajks,who steal from humans just as here. The diffusion, in quite recognizable and detailed form, of this legend of the overthrow of the tyrant by the hero is the most eloquent argumentpossible for its vast significance as a carrier of the deep religious values of the Iranianpeoples.

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 83 the Howwill ihe righteous man,0 Mazda, conquer followerof theLie? For such is knownto be the good conclusion existence. of Now, to the one who knowsis given the best of the doctrines the Whichi Ahurateaches,intelligent, holy and wise one, doctrines theseare theprofound Which teachesthrough He Truth: themselves: By the counselof the GoodMind,0 Mazda,he becomeslike You.24 Thus the mysteries of the faith-the "profounddoctrines"-involve knowledge about how to defeat the forces of evil before the end of the course of time. In Middle Iraniantradition,as we have seen, it is likely that it is these that are to be told on the shore of the sea at Padashkhwargar. The only mountainnear the sea with any legendary connection to apocalyptic events is Damavand in the Alborz range (thus named after the Avestan Hara Barazaiti),which would certainly have been known to the Sasaniancompiler of the Ayadgar i Jamdspig as the place where Dahag is confined. One also recalls that in Armeniantradition Mithrahimself dwells (or is confined) in a rock-caveuntil the end of time. Amongst modern Zoroastrians there is a school of theosophical esotericists, organized in the 20th century but incorporatingvarious older traditions,called 'elm-e khshnum.25 They maintain there is a place within Damavand with the Perso-Arabic name Firdaws. In this concentric paradisiacalcity of immortality and joy dwell the religious masters, the 'dbeds.26 The teacherof the Khshnumists, BehramshahShroff, a young Parsiof Suratin Gujarat,India, was induced
24. Yazi adcii asa drujim vangbAii hyal ansaiuita yd daibitana fraoxt&amar>aitt daevaiica maSydiica at toi savais vahmamvaxldt AhurallVaoca moi ya tvam vidhva AhurCa para hyat maiya mang paratbA jimaiti kat asavaiMazda vanghb dragvanwmhd zi angbafii vanguhl vista Akaratii/lAtvaadomnii vahistd sasnanam yam huda sasti asd Ahuro spantd vidhva yaecit guzrti sangbhingbh thwavas Mazda vangbhfi xrathwd manangho. In Yasna 31:14, also, Zoroaster implores God: td thwaya parasi Ahur& zi diti janghad,ci, "These things I ask Thee, 0 Ahura, which are impending, which will come." I have here translatedAga as "Truth"and Vohu Manah as "the Good Mind," though they are as much entities as qualities. 25. The writings of this group are in English and Gujarati. A historical overview, selection of texts illustrative of their main doctrines, and explanation of the name are provided by Mary Boyce, Textual Sources for the Study of Zoroastrianism (Manchester Univ. Press, 1984). 26. The belief in such a place seems to be derived from the legend, in the ninth book of the Denkard, about the seven palaces of diverse precious stones and metals belonging to Kavi Usan (Phl. Kay Us). Those who succeed in reaching the place, which is in the Alborz range, are rewarded with rejuvenation. The construction of another such place, KNKRT in Muslim writings, is attributedto him. Probably the latter is to be read as a Middle Iranian toponym, *Kang-kirt, i.e., the City of Kangha. This is the miraculous fortress of immortality (Persian Kang Dez), which Siyavosh built near Samarkand in Sogd. Kavi Haosravah (Persian Kaykhosrow) lives here, awaiting the battle at the end of time. The place seems to have been identified in the Middle Ages with the City of Brass of the Thousand and One Nights (see J. R. Russell, "The Tale of the City of Bronze in Armenian," in T. Samuelian and M. Stone, eds., Medieval

84 Russell early in this centuryto go thereby a mysterioussheikh he met encampedoutside Peshawar. There he spent a numberof years studying esoteric lore and returned to Surat,sworn to silence for many more.27 Among his teacherswas none other than Azar Kayvan, the Persian ZoroastrianEshraqi mystic of the time of the Mughal emperor Akbar. Eventually Shroff taught his doctrines to a dentist named Chiniwala, who published them in the form of a voluminous commentary on the Gathas in Gujarati. IranianZoroastriansof the Sasanianperiod further identified the CaspianSea with the Avestan Chaechasta(Phl. ceast), it and is a Khshnumistbelief that yet anothersecret community of initiates very much larger than the one in Firdawsdwells beneath its waters.28 Once a year, Damavand and Chaechastaopen and theirrespectivedenizens behold each other. This has a paallel in the Armenianbelief that the cave of Mher-Mithra, which overlooks Lake Van, opens once a year on the eve of Ascension Day. But it will open permanently-and Mithrawill emerge-only at the end of time. At a certain point, then, the battle is joined: Mithra is witness to the pact on when that will be, when the period of gumeziLnwill have run its course. When is this? Ahrimaninvaded the world when the Sun was in Aries, i.e., on the day of Ohrmazdof the month Fravardin,the first day of Spring in the 6,000th year since the Creation. When he is expelled, eternity will resume at the same point where it was interrupted-when the Sun is in Aries in the year 12,000. In the Mithraeumof SantaPrisca is the famous hexameter,Primus et hic aries restrictius ordine currit,"Herealso the Ram runsstraighterin line, the first." The seasons of the time of Mixtureexist because of the angle of the plane of the ecliptic, which intersects the celestial equatoronly at the two equinoxes. In Plato's Timaeus the two are shaken from a straightline at the cataclysmic moment of creation-a theory most likely derived ultimately from the Zoroastrian cosmogonic myth of Ahriman'sincursion,when the earthrocked violently and the mountains sprang up to stabilize it. When Spring is unbroken,as at the first, Aries will run straightagain, as at the first. This astrologicalexplanationon the basis of Iraniancosmology explains when the apocalypticbattle will be. It may

Armenian Culture, Univ. of Pennsylvania Armenian Texts and Studies 6 [Chico, Calif.: Scholars Press, 1983], 250-61). 27. The legend of Behramshah Shroff's sojourn in Damavand corresponds to narratives of spirit-traveldescribed in terms of visits to magic mountains; cf. the trip of a 16th-century Italian accused of witchcraft to the mountain of Venus where Donna Herodias-the goddess of witches-dwelt (see C. Ginzburg, Ecstasies: Deciphering the Witches' Sabbath [New York: Pantheon, 1991], 108-9). 28. The various legends of the Ten Lost Tribes are the prototype of such apocalyptic hopes, nurturedby small, persecutedpeoples, of a hidden remnant, grown vast, which will emerge for the great redemptivewar at the end of time-whether from the caverns beneath the Caspian, or over the perilous, rock-hurlingriver Sambatyon. An instructive example of how such myths can be re-used is the belief of 19th-century Mormons-a Christian sect persecuted in the United States-that the American Indians themselves were the Ten Lost Tribes, and that many of them, frozen in ice in the far North, would be defrosted, as it were (presumablyin the great Fire), and arrive at the end of time in their teeming multitudes (see Weston La Barre, The Ghost Dance: The Origins of Religion [GardenCity, N.Y.: Doubleday, 1970], 228).

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 85 be part of Mithra's raz l nihdn-the rest, one imagines, having to do with the battle itself and how it will be fought.29 Zoroastrian esotericism centers around a martialevent involving, notably, the yazata Mithra;so it is scarcely surprisingthatthe exemplarof piety and virtue in much Iranianand Parsi tradition, including mysticism, is the Saka hero of the Shah-name, Rostam, who, rather than any king, is in many respects the real hero of the "Book of Kings."30 The elevation of an epic-and secular-hero to such a position of great spiritualimportanceis characteristicof Iranianculture, and it is an aspect noted with particularhostility by Muslims alien to that tradition.31 But Rostam is not only a beloved hero embraced by the mystics; he lore of great spiriseems to have prior affinities to other heroes of Indo-Iranian tual stature. In a review of previous studies of Rostam, Leonardo Alishan reports that Markwartbelieved the mighty Saka to have been a transformed Karasaspa. Herzfeld saw in him the Vindafarnah (Gondophares) of Kuh-e Khwaja. H. Davidson connected him to Apam Napat on the strengthof the etymology of his name, "Strongas a river"(which is, in fact, quite a normalsort of Saka name).32 Mole pointed out the similarity of Rostam to the Indian Rama: only Rama can slay the Rakshasa demons, and only Rostam can defend Iran against Afrasiyab, the king of Turan. Both possess the weapons of Krsasva/Karasaspa-a figure, as we have seen, with close connections to Mithraand an eschatological role.33 One might add thatboth Rama and Rostam must sacrifice that which they hold most dear, and is most innocent, for the sake of their honor as heroes (Rama's ksatriyadharma): Rostam fights and kills his son, Sohrab,ratherthan disobey his sovereign;and Rama sends away Sita, ratherthan compromise his reputation. The importanceof the sacrifice has already been noted in the context of cosmology and eschatology, and of course the significance of sacrifice and of readiness and ability to perform it could scarcely be
29. It is such details, and not the apocalyptic scheme itself, which were seen, presumably, as secret. As M. Boyce has observed (Elr: APOCALYPTIC),Zoroastrianapocalyptic is already plain in the Gathas and is not in itself a secret revelation subsequent to other doctrines, as is the case in some other faiths. 30. Mahmud of Ghazna is said to have complained that the whole epic was about Rostam, to which the poet retortedthat God had created no other creaturelike Rostam. 31. S. Shaked, The Wisdom of the Sasanian Sages: Denkard VI, Persian Heritage Series (Boulder, Colo.: Westview Press, 1979), xxix, observes that it is common in Persian wisdom literature to endow traditional themes with an allegorical religious sense. But Abu Salik Gorgani, ca. A.D. 900, would have none of it. He wrote, Bot parastidan beh az mardom parast, "Idolatryis better than the worship of men," with the Persian hero-cult in mind (cit. by G. Lazard, Les premiers poetes persans [Tehran/Paris, 1964), 11:25, noted by G. E. von Grunebaum,"The Hero in Medieval Arabic Prose," in N. T. Burns and C. J. Reagan, Concepts of the Hero in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance [Albany: SUNY Press, 1975], 87). 32. L. Alishan, "Rostamica I" (unpublished). I thank my friend Narto for his valuable study. 33. See M. Mole, "Deux notes sur le Ramayana," Collection Latomus 45 (Hommages a Georges Dumezil), 1960, I: "L'initiation guerriere de Rama et celle de Rustam." This linkage of the hero and savior by the weapon they bear is of Avestan antiquity:

86 Russell
overestimatedin the Indo-Iranian religious traditions. In India,Ram is a name of God; to the Parsis, Rostam is an exemplar of the Zoroastrianvirtues. In the Pahlavi Paymdn i kadag xwadayih, the marriage contract and blessing, the groom is enjoined to be a bringerof sacrifices (zdhr-dword) like Rostam, the bride as fertile as Spandarmad.Zoroastrians believe the latteris our motherand Ohrmazdour father,so Rostam is here in very exalted company. Mobad Hoshiyar of Surat tracedhis own descent to Rostam-that exemplar of priestly piety. In a Parsi wedding song in Gujarati based partlyon the Pahlavibenedictioncited, the groom is to be like Rostam, a hero in valor (himnat ma pehelvan); the bride is to be like Gusesp (Goshasp), the daughterof Rostam's son, Faramarz, and herself a champion.34 There is in the Mandaeanliteraturea text entitled "The Simurgh:The True History of Rustam and His Son," in which it is written, "Now Rustam had knowledge of the Sun, whom they named Yazdan Pak, or Khur, and he was the Lord whom they worshipped. Rustamhad much secret knowledge, and in our histories it is writtenthat whateverstrengthRustamasked from the Sun, he received. . . . The Pehlawan were mastersof knowledge, for if they prayed, no one was able to vanquish them because of the power given to them by Yazdan Pak."35 The Persiandivine names here mean "PureGod(s)"t "Sun";so it is plain that and Rostam is seen in the hybrid tradition of the Mandaeans as having been a Zoroastrianmystic. In fact, it is suggested that the entire calling of the hero was intrinsicallymystical.36 The Mandaeanlegend serves as perhapsthe best example of how the religious elements inherentin the image of Rostam were subseelaborated strengthened. and quendly One might link Rostam's granddaughter, mentionedabove, to subsequentdevelopments in Iranianmysticism. Her name, Goshasp, derives from Goshnasp, the atag bahram in Azarbaijanwhich every Sasanian king visited on pilgrimage. As mentionedearlier, there were Zoroastrianmystics who followed the Eshraqi
in Yasht 19, the Saotyant will bear the same mace heroes had used of old to smite villains. 34. On the wedding song, see J. R. Russell, "Some Parsi Zoroastrian garbds and mondjats," J.R.A.S. 1 (1989):.51-63, esp. 60. For a discussion of Rostam's descendants in epic, including Goshasp, see M. Mole, "L'6pop,e iranienne apres Fird6si," La Nouvelle Clio 5 (1953): 377-93. 35. Translatedby E. S. Drower, The Mandaeans of Iraq and Iran (Oxford, 1937), 372 f.; cited also by H. Corbin,Avicenna and the Visionary Recital (London, 1960), 202, n. 69. The mention of Yazdan here may be of significance, even though the word is a common one for God in New Persian. Perhaps the Mandaeanlegend, then, preserves traditions of the Sasanian period adapted from Zoroastrianism and introduced into Mesopotamia. 36. One has not yet mentioned the most celebrated of Mithraic caves: the one on Ithaka discussed by Porphyry in his De antro nympharum. It has not, to my knowledge, been suggested heretofore that Mithraists might have chosen the cave of Odysseus as one prototype for their spelaea (the other being the one in which Zoroaster himself was supposed to have lived in quiet contemplation) because the Achaean was a hero and also an intimate of Athena. Within Iran, of course, the cou-

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 87 (Illuminist) school of Shaykh Shehabal-Din Sohravardi(d. A.D. 1191), the Iranian Muslim mystic who claimed to belong to a chain of philosophers going back to Zoroaster and Jamaspa(the courtier of king Vishtaspa).37 These were disciples of Azar Kayvan, the m6bad from Fars who emigrated to India in the reign of Akbar. The emperor's "Divine Faith" (din-e elchi) was intended to unite the higher doctrines of several religions, including Zoroastrianism. The great dastir MeherjiRana representedthe Good Religion at court. The Dasitfr alludes to this school as Partoviyan (from Persian parti, "ray of light") or The Kayvani mystics came from variousbackgroundsand walks Gas'dsbiydn.38 of life, but they adheredto Azar Kayvan's teachings,which were essentially Sufi Muslim with a strong emphasis on light and on Iranianculturalvalues. What has been seen of Zoroastrianmysticism has to do with heroic and pious devotion to duty in a battle which will end when the secret fastnesses of the and world release theirwarriorinhabitants Aries runsstraightagain;and the mysteries of the Iranianworld consist in a martialkind of initiation,after which one becomes privy to cosmic secrets and eschatological strategies.39All this is well and good. Yet one would also typically associate with mysticism, regardlessof the religion from which it may spring, a certain striving to transcend normal consciousness and the barriersof space and time, throughan ascetic exercise or other departurefrom normalkinds of activity. Thus, the behaviorand experience of a prophet and those of a mystic might converge at some points. Though the Zoroastriantexts do not provide many details of such practices, there is ample evidence for a spiritual elite amongst the Magi to which they might have been connected. The Magi, particularlyin the Sasanianperiod, were ever alive to the of danger of the zandig, the heretical misinterpreter the holy word. Shaked has discussed in detail the mannerby which the Pahlavi texts divide the Zoroastrian community into three groups:Dadig, Hadamansrig, and Gehdnig: "belonging to the Law," "belonging to that which accompanies the Holy Word," and "belonging to the Gathas." The latter is the highest, wisest grade. In the final PhoenicianNeoplatonistPorphyry partof his De Abstinentia,the fourth-century adduces examples from variousOrientalculturesof the practiceof vegetarianism
pling of religious and martial values is exemplified by the 'ayyriranof medieval literature. 37. See L. Massignon, The Passion of al-Hallaj, tr. H. Mason (Princeton, 1982), 1:48. 38. The Dasdtir is dismissed by many as a forgery, but many of the texts cited by the author of the Zohar to prove the antiquity and authenticity of his views were nonexistent as well. 39. The Qumranic text, The War of the Sons of Light against the Sons of Darkness, describes the apocalyptic battle with great precision in terms of Hellenistic military strategy. The dualistic character of the whole is obvious. Given the primeval antiquity of Zoroastrian apocalyptic and the eschatological and military character of its secret doctrines, it is reasonable to suggest that the text of the Essenes of the Dead Sea region, so striking in its departurefrom the styles and concerns of the rest of Jewish literature of the age, is nothing other than a copy of Iranian models. For a reasoned treatmentof such influence, see: S. Shaked, "Qumranand Iran:FurtherConsiderations," Israel Oriental Studies 2 (1972): 433-46; pace Hanson, cited by M.

88 Russell by wise men.40 In Persia, he says (citing Eubulus,who was an expert on Mithraism), thereare ttueegradesof Magi. Thoseof the highestgradeabstain fromall meat. The secondgradeeat only game,thatis, the fleshof wIldbeasts, like andwill notconsume fleshof thekindly,domesticanimals thecow and the theirmilkandwool. The thirdgrade,bethe sheep,who serveus by providing animals, theirsoulsbe punished lest lievingin metempsychosis, only certain eat in theirnext incarnation.DiogenesLaertius states thatthe highestMagi ate mostParsisareconfirmed Although only vegetables, cheese,andplainbread.41 frommeatonlyon thefourdaysof themonth consecrated carnivores abstain and and to the divineprotectors the animalkingdom fora few daysfollowingthe of of of deathof a member thefamily,thePahlavitextsspeakapprovingly Zoroastrianism-in the dualcontext,again,of cosmogonyandapocalypse.Thus,the give the teachesthat,towards endof time,menwill gradually up all Bundahign the of withmeat:Mashya Mashyane, parents the human race, and food,starting had The hadbeguneatingmeatbecauseAhriman deceivedthem.42 17th-century Persian treatiseDabesltin-e mazaheb, which describes the Zoroastrian Khshespoused themodern by Eshraqiyan anticipates and manyof thedoctrines "lifeagainsteatingthe flesh of animalswhicharezendebar, numists,cautions and bearing," domesticated usefulto the livelihoodof men,like the cow or i.e., knewthe De Abstinentia, so the horse. It seemsmost unlikelythatthe author of thisdetailmaybe independent confirmation an authentic of practice Zoroastrianesotericistswhich survivedin some form down the centuriesin Iran. whichwould,in animals notdomestic ones is a practice Eatingwild,hunted but and values. One has some respects, accordwith taditionalZoroastrian Iranian to and attaching thehunt notedtheparticular-and enduring-prestige reverence in Iranandits lingustic echo in the eschatological literature Qumran.Fora of animalmightwell the Zorastrianinclined towards asceticism, meatof a hunted be moreacceptable thatof a domesticone. One sensesalso in theZoroasthan triantradition certain to animals.In Yasna29 a hesitation kill andeat domestic of shiftsto earthwiththecryof the Cow for help; the cosaic drama theGathas of and in the thirdbook of the Denkard, the slaughter young animalsby the sacrificing onlya Jewsis regarded suchextreme with repugnance-Zoroastrians mature animal,nevera farstling-thatit meritsa placeamongthe tenevil comStone, "Apocalyptic Literature"in his Jewish Writings of the Second Temple Period

FortressPress, 1984), 386, n. 14. (Philadelphia: Les 40. IV.16:text in J. Bidez andF. Cumont, Mages Hellenises(Paris,1938),I:26of but 8. An antiquated convenienttranslation the whole work by T. Taylor,On at from Animal Food, was reprinted Londonin 1965 (see esp. p. 167). Abstinence perhapsthe same The Greeksources are awareof divisions withinZoroastrianism, referthese to the class of affirm,thoughthe former thatthe Pahlavibooksseparately the Magi and call them three "philosophies"(Schol. Alc. I:122a, 8, in Bidezbetweenthe Magi and the Cumont,Mages Hellenises 1:23). As to the distinction and as fittingto note thatin Aramaic, subsequently community a whole, it is perhaps to as in Arabic,theZoroastrians a wholewerereferred as "Magians." Mage Hellenises1:67. 41. Bidez-Cumont, Pahlavi text Bundahiln 220.15-221.11 and 102.9-103.1 (transcribed 42. Greater Iranianor GreaterBunZand-Ak4sih: in with Englishtranslation B. T. Anklesaria, dahign [Bombay,1956], 283-4, 131).

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 89 mandments of Zahhak promulgated in opposition to the ten noble ones of Jamshid.43 The sixth book of the Denkard contains an anecdote describing two aged mobaddn who live in seclusion and simplicity-much as Zoroasteris alleged in Greek tradition to have lived-chanting the Avesta and eating only vegetable food. But before withdrawingto a pious vita contemplativa,these two had fulfilled all the obligations of earthly work and procreationincumbentupon every Zoroastrian. In this one might perceive the adaptationof the ways common among mystics to the Zoroastrianethic of the mean. Perhapsin response to the extreme asceticism of some Indian religious practices, the Denkard warns that refusing all food is as much a sin againstKhordad and Amordad(the divinities of the waters and plants) as gluttony. People die when Az, the demoness of lust, conquers their natureand it refuses nourishment. The mystics in the Zoroastrian community can scarcely have been very differentin outwardappearance pracor tice from the rest of theirco-religionists--except, perhaps,for the very learnedor sagacious-in leading the vigorous, ethical life of earthly pleasure and uncompromising struggle against evil. Their spiritual striving found its symbolism in the martial heroism of Rostam, Faridun, and the god Mithra; and the secrets towards which their practices guided them involved, in large part, the apocalyptic conclusion of the war against Ahriman which every Zoroastrian wages in every ritual and with every uttered manthra or act of charity. In all these things, one imagines, they found an intensified sense of nearnessto a God alreadyknown and manifestin His world. Modem Khshnumists counsel silence on one particularsubject: that of the purpose of evil in the world. But they will discuss its origins. According to their cosmology, time is not linear but cyclical: every 81,000 years the world is annihilated and a new one comes into being. The source of creation is the unmanifest and transcendentbeing called Ahu, who generates a series of emanations. Out of the soul (ruwan) of the sacred Gathas, the Staota Yesnya ("Liturgyof Praise"),comes an egg (anhumna) which is called MazdaAhura. The cosmic egg then divides into Perception (baod) and Soul. In the Khshnumist view these are the Twins (yama) to which Yasna 30 alludes. One-fourthof the Soul becomes Angra Mainyu, the Destructive Spirit, apparentlyby reason of a fleeting moment of envy or doubt, whilst out of Perceptionemerges the Soul of the Sacred Word (manthraspanta), and AhuraMazda is emanatedfrom thence. The Khshnumist justification for the origin of evil in this cosmology lies in a reading of the Srosh Yasht Hadhokht (Yasht 11), 1:3: Manthro spanto drujamnizbairisto, "The Sacred Word brings down most the spirimainLyovim tual Lie."44 In his study of the texts on Sraosha, Professor Philip Kreyenbroek translatedndbairigta- correctly as "that which best removes," which gives the
43. Dk.M. 299:16-20; Dk.S. vol. 7, para. 288, text p. 332. See J. de Menasce, Le Troisieme Livre du Denkart (Paris, 1973), 285 and J. R. Russell, "OurFather Abraham and the Magi," J.C.O.I. 54 (1987): 61. 44. I am indebted for much information on 'elm-e khshnum to Mrs. Silloo Mehta of Bombay, India, and her family. On the source of the evil spirit, her explanation is in

90 Russell
text, of course, a meaning diametricallyopposite the one imputed to it by the Khshnumistreading. Indeed, it is very much the function of a Zoroastrianmanthra to destroy lies. This cosmology displays aspects of Hinduism. The cosmic egg, for example, resembles the brahmanda, which Dara Shikoh rendered into Persian as barhmdndand explained as the Arabic kull, "the All."45 Cyclical time, though an extremely ancient concept, seems wholly at variance with the clear Zoroastrian exposition of the linear dramaof the universe and would, indeed, set the meaning of all human striving and virtue at naught. One is reduced to silence, not only about the purposeof evil (as though there were one), but also about the purposeof good. The doubt or envy which creates Ahrimanand enables him to emerge from the egg/womb earlierthanOhrmazdmust be seen as a restatement, with theosophicaland Indianelaborations,of the ancient theories of Zurvanism. The idea that Zurvan-Infinite Time-was the common origin, the mother and fatherof both Ohrmazdand Ahriman,was so influentialin SasanianIranthat the fifth-century Armenian theologian Eznik Kolbac'i and the historian Elishe, at least a centuryafter him, both representedit simply as the Persianreligion itself. ZoroastrianabjuPost-Sasaniancondemnationof the dahrig heresy in a standard ration, which is still commonly recited, may refer to fatalism in general, though the word is simply a Pahlavicized form of the Arabic for "Zurvanite."46It is also striking that Zurvanism does not seem to have been prominent in other countries where Zoroastrianismexisted, such as Armenia, Parthia, and Sogd. The magousaioiof fourth-century Cappadociawho espoused it were probablythe descendants of Persian colonists.47 The Good Religion lays primaryemphasis on a man's deeds, not his beliefs, for deeds are the truestexpression of his affirin mation of AhuraMazdaand of his participation the dualistic, cosmic struggle. There is no evidence to suggest that the Zurvanites deviated in the slightest of degree from the requirements Zoroastrian orthopraxy. Indeed, the present-day Khshnumists are frequently the most pious members of their communities in
accord with that of Tavaria's printed exposition (pp. 18-20), cited also by Boyce, Textual Sources. 45. The translatorof the Upanisads, Yoga Vasistha, and Bhagavad Gita, Dara Shikoh was also a patronof Eshraqimystics such as the IranianJew Sarmad. He was killed by his brother Aurangzeb in 1660. Prince Dara is known also for his work Majma' albahrayn, "Confluence of the two Seas," these being Indian and Muslim wisdom (cf. the Perso-Muslim syncretism of the Sufi poets noted above). Hinduism looms fairly large in Khshnumist explanations of the Avesta. Thus, the sin of Karasaspawas explained to me as his awakening Azhi (Dahaka)-who is the serpent-power of yoga and tantra,kundalini! 46. Cf. also the statement in the Zoroastrianpolemic, 'Olama-ye Esldm (Dhabhar, Persian Rivayats, 445): "The sect which opposes our Good Religion contradicts our propositions and says that good and evil are from God, but Zartost Asfantaman has not ascribed falsehood, perfidy, ignorance, oppression, and deceit to the nature of God." 47. Our information on the magousaion ethnos in Cappadocia comes from a letter of A.D. 377 of St. Basil, Bishop of Caesarea, who alludes to their Zurvanism in a rather garbled form: ". . . they claim a certain Zarnouasas the founder of their race" (see M.

Mysticismand Esotericismamong Zoroastrians 91 India and the West. Terms such as orthodoxy and heresy, therefore,are inadequate to describe the religious situation where Zurvanite ideas are concerned, either in SasanianIranor in the modem world. But is not the Khshnumistrejection of primal dualism and of a linear universe inconsistent with the intense concern amongstZoroastrian esotericists, including the Khshnumists themselves, about apocalypse? If the world will be remade after it ends, what does it matterwhen and how the end will happen? This theoretical inconsistency seems to be of a piece with the ethical inconsistency of maintaining Zoroastrian orthopraxy, all of which is stoutly predicated on an absolute dualism, whilst maintainingprimal unity, a role for evil, and the infinite repetition of the worlds. Of course, we deal not with logic but with matters of the heart. Although the rituals of purity and the ethical tenets of the Good Religion have undoubtedbenefits for the practitioner, Zoroaster'sbold vision of Ahriman's onslaught may provide little comfort for weaker souls faced with tragedy and loss in a world where Good shows no sign of overcoming Evilwhere the Parousia has not come about. Hence it is hoped that, even in the abyss of infinity, this manifestationof the world will enjoy the arrivalof a Savior.48 It is supposed, consolingly, that evil may have some useful, if mysterious, role to play in Creation. In fact, there is some reflection of this attitude in the Pahlavi literature,where the destructiveforce of Time is allowed the mitigating purpose of bringing about the death of evil beings, who might otherwise exist deathless and unchanging.49 There seems to be some inconsistency in Zoroastriantraditionabout the fate of the wicked at the time of the Last Judgment. It is fairly plain from Zoroaster'sown words that they are to be consigned utterly to oblivion, burned away by molten iron, but a later Pahlavi doxology states that the wicked-and this includes all non-Zoroastrians, who are agden, "of evil religion"-will be purified, if painfully, and saved. This changed attitude may reflect an obvious historicaldevelopment:Zoroasterwished to convert all mankind to his faith and found the pagan practices against which he strove wholly repellent and unworthy. The Sasanians found themselves, by contrast, followers of a religion largely limited to those of Iranianorigin, with little impulse to proselytize, surrounded otherpeoples of high cultureand unquestionby able morality. One could scarcely shut the doors of salvation throughthe Good Religion to them and consign them to eternal damnationbecause those doors were shut. Their relative misfortune had to be viewed as a matter of predetermined fate, a view the Khshnumists maintain.50 It may be supposed,
Boyce, A History of Zoroastrianism, vol. 3 [Handbuch der Orienialistik 1.8.1.2.21 [Leiden, 1991], 277-8). 48. Mrs. Mehta informed me (written comm. of 12 August 1989), for instance, that the recitation of the prayer Citbrambuydd will hasten the coming of Sosyans. 49. See M. Mole, "Une asc6tisme moral dans les livres pehlevis?" R.H.R. 155 (1959): 154. 50. The Pahlavi doxology is discussed in J. R. Russell, "The Do'a-ye Nam Stayisn" in R. Emmerick and D. Weber, eds., Corolla Iranica: Fesischrift D. N. MacKenzie (Frankfurt, 1991), 127-32. I was informed by Mrs. Mehta in a conversation that the Khshnumists consider people of different faiths as born under the influences of different planets. They should not intermarry, any more than one planet ought to risk

92 Russell indeed, thatin infinite futureuniversesevery reincarnated soul will at some point be Zoroastrian, dependingon God's dispensation. Above secret doctrinesor ascetic practicesor intoxicatingsubstances,the vehicle of the mystic is prayer. The Khshnumistsattendto their prayerswith particular devotion, invoking as the protectorof prayer Shah Lohrasp to guard the worshiper's thoughtsagainst distractionor temptation. It is common to keep a portraitof this Avestan and epic figure at one's customaryplace of prayerat home. The practice may derive from the venerablelegend that the yazata Drvaspaprotected the infant Zoroasteragainst the assaults of Ahriman. A prayer itself is called a mithra, perhaps in part because it is powerful, binding, true, and an intermediarybetween this world and the spiritual realms. Certain mudras, or positions of the hands,are also employed. In the recitationof the greatmanthra of Creation, the Ahuna Vairya, the left hand is closed in a fist over the thumb, while the tips of the fingers of the right hand meet the tip of the thumb. Perhaps this means that the right receives and the left retains. One is enjoined in Yasna 28:1 to pray orans-Avestan ustanazasta-as Zoroasterhimself does.5' Zoroastriandaily prayers, such as the Sro( bdj, often require five consecutive recitationsof the Ahuna Vairya(there are, of course, five times of prayerdaily). The Khshnumists explain this as an injunction to remind oneself of the five inner qualities of the mind (panj zarvekag-ebdilini):association, coordination, cognition, recognition,and creativity. The mystic often describes his devotion in terms of willing slavery to God or passionate self-sacrifice for His sake. Canonical Zoroastriantexts speak of the ultimate devotion of the believer as becoming xwegih l yazdan "propertyof the yazatas." In the Patet, or Confessional, of the Sasanian high priest Adurbadi we Amahraspandan, read:Xwecih yazddndaStan bawed,ku agar td-. az an e

rasadku in tan ruwanra be abayeddadan,be daham,"To hold oneself as a

possession of the yazatas is this. If it comes to the point when this body has to be given up for the soul's sake, (one declares) 'I give it up!"' In Yasna 60:12 one finds words expressing not so much self-sacrifice as a passionatelonging for closeness to God: Ahura Mazda, Aga Vahigta,Aga sraeJta, darosa,nathwd, pairi thwa jamydma, bamomthwa haxma, "Ahura Mazda, best Truth, Truth most beautiful! Let us behold Thee, let us come to Thee, let us be in Thy intimate company!" The Khshnumistshave perceived these prayerfulexaltations in part through the teachings of the Muslim mystics: in the presence of God, the sole Existent being (hastl), the worshiper's separate existence is annihilated. Hence this world's true nature,insofaras it is distinct from God, is nonexistence (nlsta). The Kayvanis, and now the Khshnumists, recite the Persian mantra, Nlst hastl be-joz yazddn, "There is no being but God," which may perhaps be seen as a philosophical extension, and a calque in its phrasing, of the Muslim
collision with another by entering its orbit. This theory corresponds to the ancient Near Eastern belief that each nation is under the influence of a particularsign of the zodiac. 51. This, of course, is the posture of prayer amongst Christians also. The Armenian name of the orans attitude,bazkalarac ("with arms outstretched"),may be a calque on the Avestan expression.

Mysticism Esotericism and amongZoroastrians 93 is credo,Ld iliha illd Allah,"TMere no god butGod." Like Sufis,Khshnumist devoteesare given the approving Perso-Arabic sobriquet sclek, "taveler,"for attachment nothing to saveGod. theyallowthemselves AzarKayvan's discipleKhoda wrotein his Mokashefat-e Ju'i Kayvani, "When the souls departed fromAhura Mazdaon theirmissionto fightwith the evil in thismatenral world,theyweremuchgrieved theirseparation; Ahura at but Mazda consoledthemby sayingtheycouldtalkwithHimthrough and prayers see His resplendent presencein theirpurehearts,good words,andgood deeds." For a
Zoroastrian,then, the mystic traditionis the revelationof the time and character

of the end of days, the strategy the battle,and the sacredgeography the of of earth. These thingsare interwoven with his own earthlydutiesand religious devotions-for prayers possess a powereven as deeds do. The devotionsof in prayer absorption thecosmicdrama and in placetheZoroastrian a heroicrole, exemplified the greatwarriors epic, notably of by Rostam. A Zoroastrian mystic is bothhumble exalted, and and The self-sacrificing greatin strength. ordeals andinitiations the Mihraistsandtheirsuccessors the Iranian of on seem plateau to haveenabledthecandidate partake thisdrama the universe several to of of in stages,andto havetelescoped Creation the end of daysinto a singleact of and sacrificein whichthe heroicgod Mithra mightbe contemplated. with mysAs tics elsewhere,the Zoroastrian mightavail himself of prayer,of the joys of wine, and of a mild asceticismin the twilightof an active and virtuouslife. Pervading this was the certainty the ultimate all of transcendence, xwegihi of whichtheBundahiLn yazd4an, declared thebeginning Timeandwhichwill at of still be trueat the last. The Sufi leaptin ecstaticdance,mast-ealast, intoxicated the greatQuestion by "AmI not yourLord?" whichthe soulsof menanswered to "Wetestifyto it!" before Creation.52His wine and his joy, the Question,the Answer,and the stagesandmysteries the Creation follow, all deriveultimately of that fromthe

52. Sura 7:172: "And when your Lord held from the sons of Adan and made them to testify on themselves, Am I not your Lord (alastu bi-rabbikum)? they said, Yes, we bear witness to it-lest you say on the day of Resurrection,Indeed we were unaware of this." Cf. GreaterBundahign 3.23-4: "In the hour of the noon watch, Ohrmazd with the Amahraspandsperformed a spiritual yasna ceremony, and during its performance He made all the creatures. He deliberated with the consciousness and spirit (boy ud frawahr) of humanity, and, having granted mankind omniscient wisdom, he asked, Which seems more advantageous to you: that I fashion you in the material world and you contend in bodily form with the Lie and you destroy the Lie, and in the end I restore you healthy and deathless and create you in material form anew, forever undying and unaging, and you will have no more enemy; or should there be made for you eternal protection against the incursion? And the spirits of mankind saw, through that omniscient wisdom, the evil that is from the Lie, Ahriman, which would arrive in the material world on account of him and the fmal removal of his deleterious opposition; and for the sake of the healthy and immortal return to the material being of the Final Body forever and ever, they consented to go into the material world."

94 Russell mystical practices-andorthodox doctrine-of theGoodReligion Iran, of rooted in theprimal, sourceof thatfaith:theGathas Zoroaster. revelatory of JamesR. Russell,Department Near EasternLanguagesand Civilizations, of Harvard University