Other names for zoroastrianism are mazdaism and parsiism zoroastrianism is a monotheistic religion. The ties between judaismchristianity and zoroastrianism are certainly interesting, but the evidence is insufficient to say that the former borrowed from the latter. The visprat is a lesser liturgical scripture, containing homages to a number of zoroastrian. The rigveda is believed to have been created between 1500 and 1200 bc, although allegedly it was recorded in oral form only back then. Zoroastrianism is an ancient persian religion that may have. A comparison could be drawn between the innovative role of the sacred poetic coregathas in zoroastrianism and the very similar role of tao te ching in taoism. A passage from avestan scripture highlights the ancient rivalry and. Also on how zoroastrianism flipped their deities eg. The book presents zoroastrianism as a deep and multifaceted religious tradition that has been subject to a process of evolution and which, therefore, despite its apparent conservatism, is a dynamic and relevant to the twentieth century as it was when it was established some 1400 uears befpre christianity. Shukracharya cursed yayati that old age would set upon the king. Hinduism and zoroastrianism are two very different religions followed by people of different beliefs.
From the beginning, zarathushtras prophetic teachings were embodied in words, though they were not written down until more than a millennium later. The prophetic record of human destiny and evolution. With zoroastrianism on the decline, there is a chance the ancient religion may eventually disappear. Difference between zoroastrianism and islam difference. Sacrificial rituals known as yasnas in zoroastrianism and yajna in hinduism. Western ideals, beliefs and culture may in fact have iranian roots. World pilgrimage guide by national geographic photographer martin gray.
Its religious core is a collection of songs or hymns, the gathas, thought to be in the main the very words of zoroaster. Concepts of satan, angelology, demonology, a deliverer, future life, paradise and judgment in these religions may have been directly or indirectly derived from zoroastrianism. Ancient rivalry between zoroastrianism and hinduism judaism. Zoroastrianism was a monotheistic and messianic religion centered.
Other holy scriptures in hinduism are called the upanisads, the smrutis, the puranas, the ramayana and the mahabharata. People in it talked mainly about how zoroastrianism was a hybridbranch off of ancient avestan religion and hinduism since some of their terminologies are similar and some are different. Zoroastrian religion was practiced mostly in iran, or the ancient persia. The religion of hinduism originated in northern india, near the river indus, about 4000 years ago and is the worlds oldest existing religion. The ancient sanskrit in certain vedic texts is very close to the original avestan farsi language of zoroaster aka zardosht or zarathustra evidenced in the gathas. This introduction to zoroastrianism assumes no prior knowledge of the faith. Scythian zoroastrian influence on early buddhism ancient iranians played an important part in the transmission of buddhism to the east. We provide the complete text of the extant avesta, the most ancient scriptures of zoroastrianism, as well as many pahlavi scriptures. An introduction to the ancient wisdom of zarathushtra vols 1 and 2 farhang mehr. Zoroastrian religion zoroastrian in india zoroastrian. They form a middle section of the chief liturgical part of the canon, the yasna, which contains the rite of the preparation and sacrifice of haoma. The adherents of the two religions were each others bitter antagonists for a long time.
Origin of zoroastrianism the origin of zoroastrian religion is shrouded in mystery. The earliest known of these translators was an shihkao, a parthian. Zoroastrianism or mazdayasna is one of the worlds oldest continuously practiced religions. The sacred scriptures of hinduism, buddhism, zoroastrianism, confucianism taoism, mohammedanism, judaism and christianity alfred w. However, the puranas are supposed to be complied by muni vyasa. How does a religion change from its beginnings to its maturity and old age. Among the early translators of buddhist texts into chinese were parthians, sogdians, and khotanese. Zoroaster comes from the avestaa collection of zoroastrian religious scriptures. The epic of gilgamesh from sumer, although only considered by some scholars as a religious text, has origins as early as 2150 bce, and stands as one of the earliest literary works that includes various mythological figures and themes. Zoroastrianism is a founding belief system acknowledged to have heavily influenced both abrahamic judaism, christianity, islam and dharmic hinduism, buddhism, jainism. Zoroastrianism, like other religions is a religion with a book or rather a religion possessing written texts. Some of the other holy works and books of hinduism.
Ancient persia sacred books and early literature of the east, vol. Hinduism dominates in the indus valley civilization because of the aryan. Zoroaster, who lived in eastern ancient iran around bc, created zoroastrianism. The timeline goes from the 2nd millennium bce to the present. Adar in zoroastrianism, the sacred fire adar symbolizes righteousness and the presence of god. Download the bible, the holy quran, the mahabharata, and thousands of free pdf ebooks on buddhism, meditation, etc. It is a great myth that avestan resembles vedic religion. Differences and similarities between hinduism and zoroastrianism and their. In hinduism, the benevolent beings are called devas and the malevolent ones are asuras, while in zoroastrianism, the malevolent are daevas, and benevolent are ah. Zoroastrians believe ahura mazda created two spirits. Ancient persian zoroastrian influence on hinduism cybernooon 101707 cybernoon posted on 08172007 6. There is a concept of yasnasanskrit equivalentyajna in zoroastrianism. The latter represent the basic source of the religion.
The rigveda is a collection of hindu hymns that is considered to be one of the four vedas sacred canonical texts of hinduism. The avesta is the analogue of the bible for zoroastrians. Lets discuss about the similarities given by you between both religion. Hinduism is practised by more than 80% of indias population. Zoroastrianism is the ancient, preislamic religion of persia modernday iran. Zoroastrianisms influence on judaism, christianity, islam, hinduism imazighen tech. Here at the hinduismsection of, we aim at presenting the original works that lay the foundations of hinduism. It also includes information about the avestan language, and other useful information for students of zoroastrian religion. Zoroastrianisms influence on judaism, christianity, islam.
To begin with, their the term zoroastrianism, coined in the 19th century in a colonial context, is inspired by a. Zoroastrianism is closely related to judaism, christianity and islam. The holy book of zoroastrianism is the zend avesta zoroastrianism is also dualist. What is the connection between hinduism and zoroastrianism. Hinduism and zoroastrianism by erin connell on prezi. Displayed is a page from the gathas, in the middle persian language pahlavi, and its translation into modern persian. A comparative study of the fundamental theologies of zoroastrianism and hinduism points out to some surprising conclusions, something that scholars have been ignoring for so long. Zoroastrian scriptures presentation at north american. Yet, a brief glance at an ancient religion still being practised today suggests that what. Zoroastrianism and hinduism hindupedia, the hindu encyclopedia. The complete guide to left hand path sex magic by ni. It survives there in isolated areas but primarily exists in india, where the descendants of zoroastrian persian immigrants are known as parsis, or parsees.
Why are there so many similarities between zoroastrianism. The religious texts of the zoroastrian faith of ancient persia are referred to as the avesta. Hinduism pertains to hindus but the word hindu itself is actually a persian word coined by cyrus the great in the 6th century b. According to these records, zoroastrianism and hinduism are the two oldest religions of our modern humanity. Ascribed to the teachings of the iranianspeaking spiritual leader zoroaster also known. Sacred drink made in ancient times from the sour, milky juice of the soma plant. The iranians, in their first migration into iran, were led by the great teacher zoroaster, who belonged to the same mighty brotherhood as manu of the indic tradition and was a high initiate of the same great lodge, taught by the same. The oldest sacred texts of both religions have a similar grammar, structure and. The puranas are holy books of hinduism that date back to gupta empire in ancient india. Zoroaster likely lived between 1500 and bc, but some. Hinduism is followed by hindus and zoroastrianism is followed by people referred to as parsis. So, the core religion of zoroastrianism should be antivedic. The religion was established around 7th century bc but its followers were exiled from iran in the 7th century ad by the muslim fanatics. Worship of gods bearing identical names such as mithra and yama or yima.
Hinduism hinduism is the indigenous, most predominant religion of. In zoroastrian thought, the amesha spentas are heavenly beings created by ahura mazda and, combined, represent the sevenfold character of god. A peculiar and interesting difference is that of benevolent and malevolent beings. Most of the texts in these archives are extremely rare. These texts are glorious tales of the hindu trinity brahma, vishnu and maheshwar shiva. In this case zoroaster converted hindu gods to his new religions. Hinduism is the worlds third most popular religion, with around 750 million followers. One of the oldest known religious texts is the kesh temple hymn of ancient sumer, a set of inscribed clay tablets which scholars typically date around 2600 bce. Miracle stories in christianity, judaism, buddhism, hinduism and islam by kenneth. The most common symbols of zoroastrianism are the faravahar, which was inscribed on ancient temples, and the adar or sacred fire. Erin connell and riley freeze which religion was founded first and where. The obscure religion that shaped the west bbc culture. Once in a fight between the devas and the asuras, the devas had the upper hand.
Similarities between early hinduism and zoroastrianism. Information, pictures, maps of 1500 holy places and sacred sites in 160 countries. Followers of zoroastrianism, they migrated from persia. What are the similarities between hinduism and zoroastrian. It is believed that zoroastrianism was preceded in the region by an ancient religion that had some affinity with the rigvedic religion, and the differences and similarities between zoroastrianism and hinduism might be due to the distinction zoroastrianism tried to establish against its predecessor. Devas were the fake gods and ahuras were the ones to be praised. The oldest part is the gathas, which includes a collection of hymns and one of the oldest examples of religious poetry attributed to the prophet zoroaster ca. The upanishads are also called as vedantas or the end of the vedas. Pdf it is important to understand that modern hinduism is not the same.
Ritual chanting of manthra or mantras during religious ceremonies. Both zoroastrianism and hinduism have similar origins, pay homage to the same spiritual seers, venerate the same gods and even have the same verses throughout the early scriptures. This includes the original words of their founder zarathushtra, preserved in a series of five hymns, called the gathas. Mazdaen scholars zubin mehta and gulshan majeed 2 had noted a similarity of kashmiri customs with zoroastrian ones. Zoroastrian new years day coinciding with the vernal equinox, the most popularly observed annual holy day. Indeed, if any borrowing was done, it was likely zoroastrianism borrowing from judaismchristianity.
It was among an ancient iranian people, the sakasscythians. Early vedic schismindoiranian split and rise of zoroastrianism. Ancient iranians played an important part in the transmission of buddhism to the east. While we have the main vedas, upanishads, the mahabharata in several translations we also present newer commentaries, anthologies. It is a multitendency faith centered on a dualistic cosmology of good and evil and an eschatology predicting the ultimate conquest of evil with theological elements of henotheism, monotheismmonism, and polytheism.
The scriptures of the vedas are meant to guide hindu believers in their daily lives. The most holy of the hindu books is written in sanskrit and is referred to as the vedas. An introduction by jenny rose, demons of the flesh. The god of zoroasters religion in his holy book zend avesta is called ahura mazda.
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