Mithraism before Zarathushtra

 

Farid Shoolizadeh

Amordad bi-weekly

One of the multiple deities that Iranians before Zarathushtra believed in was Mehr or Mithra.  Mithra should be considered as one of the most favoured deities of Iranians before Zarathushtra.  Worshiping this deity, together with other deities among Iranians, has a history of at least 8000 years, because in Sumerian scripts of 8000 years ago, the Caspians (the first group of Aryans that came to the plateaus of Iran) were called sun worshipers.  Of course, this statement will prove true only when we can prove that Mithra and the sun were one in Iranian myths, while we know that Iranians of the Avesta era had differentiated between the sun and Mehr (Mithra) and for each of these two features of Ahura’s creation (Avesta believed in pantheism and that everything is created by Ahura Mazda) there was a separate prayer.

According to the knowledge of creation among Iranians before Zarathushtra, every deity is the guardian of a part of creation and that a specific worldly process is carried out through support of this deity.  They knew of Mithra as the deity of vow and commitment and the guardian of commitment between human beings.  An example is a stone inscription in the cuneiform script belonging to the 15th century BC, containing an agreement between the Hittiti s and Mitannis (two clans of the Iranian race), in which the ruler of the Mitannis swears upon Mithra.

As regards the structure and root  of the word ‘Mehr’ in the Avesta and Sanskrit vocabulary, various meanings have been attributed to it but all of them have one general meaning which is ‘love and friendship’.  Bartholomae and Yusti believe its origin to be from the words ‘homeland’ and ‘home’ and its meaning to be ‘guest’.  In the fourth chapter of Vandidad the word ‘Mehr’ means  vow and commitment, for example, in Mehr Yasht also it has the same meaning.  In Sanskrit, too, this word means love and friendship.  In the contemporary Avesta Mehr or Mithra have come down from the position of ‘self-existance’ and have become a creation of Ahura Mazda.  Mithra in Mehr Yasht is a deity who is created by Ahura Mazda, who overlooks everything and guards oaths and protects the good people of the world.

Among Iranians before Zarathushtra killing animals in the name of sacrificing for their deities was prevalent and sacrificing for Mithra was of special importance.  Zarathushtra went into a serious war with the belief of sacrificing animals and believing in imaginary gods, and it is possible that one of the reasons for his being disfavored and having had to emigrate from his motherland was this.  It is clear that with the appearance of the Zoroastrian religion and prohibition of sacrifice for false deities, the leaders of the olden Aryan faith (Harrapans) would go under loss if sacrificing would stop and for this reason they started showing their enmity with this great man of Iran.

Evident characteristic of Iranian deities before Zarathushtra was the never ending greed of these deities for sacrifice and gifts!!  since only sacrificing animals on the alter would satisfy and please them!!  An example of the importance that a sacrificing alter had is the fact that all matters of life depended on sacrificing and they believed that the universe itself was existing due to sacrifices (Rigveda, 10th chapter, 9th line).

Chapter 32, line 12 of Gahan explains the contempt of Zarathushtra towards these misled people, who cruelly and gladly sacrifice useful animals for the false deities:

Translation of Rostam Shahzadi:  “with these deeds they (the Grahmas and Harrapans) prevent the people from good deeds and sacrifice animals with cheerful shouts and with deceiving words sick some, who are blind and deaf, on people with noise and commotion in order to rule over the people with injustice and tyranny.”

Cybille Shatouk writes about the sacrificing alters of Iranians before Zarathushtra:  “They would build  alters in special places, facing the East, with special shapes (round, semi round or square).  They would usually build walls around the alter.  The round shaped alter represented the earth, square represented the four ends of the sky and semi round represented the space between the earth and the sky.  The more the ceremony had details to the same proportion the number of the religious leaders would increase.

Sometimes they would build the alters in the middle of mountains or in caves and put stone benches on both sides of the passage inside the cave, for seating the leaders and the sacrificer. The light of this alter would be provided from  small openings in the ceiling or narrow windows, to the extent that the room of the alter was dark and this was because the original state of the cave should be preserved.

After sacrificing the animals for Mithra or other deities they would grill the meat and make kebab, and would spill some of the blood under the alter.  They would mix the blood with the juice of ‘Hauma’ and wine and would divide it among those present.  Then, they would start making merry and eat the grilled meat of the sacrificed animal with bread till late at night!!

By studying the contemporary Avesta, specially th Hum Yasht and Mehr Yasht, we come to know that the immortal words of Zarathushtra has kept many faiths of Iranians from getting corrupted and diverted.  For example, we can mention the meaning of celebrating and rejoicing next to Iranians and the sacredness of Hauma.

Maybe, the main reason for the mistake some make in thinking that the deity ‘Mehr’ is the same as the Greek/Roman Mithra is just because of the common name used and of course the similarity of western Mithraism with Zoroastrian religion.  If we compare the difference between these two we will realize that worshiping Mehr by Iranians before Zarathushtra, from the point of view of the religious structure, had nothing in common with the Greek/Roman faith.  Not only the Mehr worshiping faith, as one of the Aryan deities, but no other organized faith, could have existed before Zarathushtra and not left its effecti in history!!  Dr Mehrdad Bahar, the famous Iranian mythologist, has had extensive research in myths, ancient culture and religions.  In his book “Asian Religions”, which is a cultural encyclopedia of ancient religions, does not mention anywhere about a separate religion by the name of Mehr or Mithra among Iranians before Zarathushtra and so

righteously speaks about Mithra in the frame of those multiple Aryan deities.  By reading the Iranica encyclopedia (1978) and also the series of reports of the second world congress on research in Mehr (1975, Tehran), we will find two clear points:  first, most of the scholars in Mehr believe that Roman/Greek Mithraism in Europe to be definitely influenced by Zoroastrianism of Iran, and second: they believe the European Mithraism to be lacking direct and structural connection with Mehr worshiping among Iranians before Zarathushtra and worshiping Mehr as a creature of Ahura Mazda, as written in Avesta

the resting place of Zarathustra

Farid Shoolizadeh
Amordad bi-weekly 

The resting place of the Iranian prophet or the first Imam of the Shiite Moslems?  This is a question, which the writer will try to answer, as far as his knowledge allows.

Inside the mausoleum of Mazar-i Sharif an epigraph is engraved with the following poem written by the Iranian learned and insight seeking poet and philosopher, Jami, which tells us of his knowledge about the truth of Mazar-i Sharif Mausoleum:

They say the house of Mostafa is in Najaf

But come to Balkh and see the house of a pure man

Jami, forget paradise and Bein-al-Jabalein

The sun is single and its light is spreading everywhere

This is part of the poem that the people of his time inscribed on stone and engraved it in the Mausoleum of Mazari Sharif.  I should draw your attention to this point that none of the two dates of the birth and death of the first Imam of the Shiite Moslems occurred during Nowrooz, while historic documents and Zoroastrian religious texts show that 6th Farvardin (Khordad Day) is the birthday of the messenger of wisdom and righteousness, Ashu Zarathushtra Espantaman.  Therefore, isn’t all these joyful Nowrooz celebrations, especially on the first days of Nowrooz, celebrated by the Afghans, a message of the ancestors and a national unity with Iranians, specially Zoroastrians?

I have not come across any study made by a foreign or local researcher about the reason that, and the time since this mausoleum has been attributed to the first Imam of the Shiite sect, but there are stories told in that place which has come chest to chest, to the present generation.  The story is that Abu Moslem Khorasani succeeded, in Baghdad, to overthrow the cursed Bani Omayeh dynasty.  Since the Bani Omayeh dynasty would insult the family of Imam Ali, Abu Moslem paid pilgrimage to the Mausoleum of Imam Ali, after establishment of the Qaliphate of Abu Al Abbas Saffah Abbassi and decided to transfer his body to Khorasan, as a sign of respect.

This story says that the armies under command of Abu Moslem were mostly from 4 groups of people, from which the Balkh group were one of them.  Since each of the groups wanted the body of Imam Ali to be buried in their city they started arguing with each other.  Abu Moslem ordered to prepare 4 coffins.  Then, he placed the body of Imam Ali in the coffin belonging to the Balkh group and filled the other 3 coffins with other objects, and closed and sealed the coffins and handed them over to the 4 groups.  The Balkh group took the coffin to Balkh, under great hardships, and built a mausoleum in the present place (Mazar-i Sharif) and buried the correct coffin there.

This story, for various reasons, does not have historic credibility because, first of all, Abu Moslem was not Shiite to have been interested in the mausoleum of Imam Ali in Najaf.  Instead, he was the representative of Mahdi of Al Abbass dynasty, and was assigned, with sufficient funds, from Medina to Khorasan in order to instigate the Arabs in Khorasan and the newly converted Moslems of Khorasan against Bani Omayeh and in favour of Bani Abbass, the grandsons of Abbass, the prophet’s uncle, and transfer the Qaliphate, not to the grandsons of Ali, but to the family of Abbass.  One point that has been clearly forgotten in this story is that why should a follower of Sunnite sect get himself into trouble for the sake of the objectives of the Shiite sect and by doing the sin of opening a grave, displace the body of the first Imam of the Shiite sect?

We know that from the start of Islam, Arabs showed great interest in destroying religious buildings of other religions and building mosques on top of them.  A proof is the building of mosques on top of fire temples and the synagogues of Jews and Christian churches.  The most famous of them is Alaqsa mosque which was built on the Suleiman Synagogue in Jerusalem.  This destruction by the Arabs also included the fire temple of Anush Azar in Balkh.  This place of worship is the same place where the noble Ashu Zarathushtra Espantaman was martyred at the age of 77, while praying, by a wicked man named Toorbaradroosh.  Ferdowsi very well described this story in Shahnameh:

“An army from Tooran invaded Balkh, which made the life of the people of Balkh bitter.  Balkh became full of plunder and murder, the people started fleeing.  King Lohrasb was killed in Balkh and from that day the life of Iranians became dark and bitter.  They raided the Anush Azar temple and killed whoever was in it.  The fire died.  Such tyranny cannot be imagined.”

Based on some opinions, after the invasion of Balkh by Tooranians, which resulted in the destruction of the city and massacre of the monotheist people and martyrdom of the great prophet and many other pious followers, the followers who survived buried the body of Zarathushtra in the same school and worshiping temple where Zarathushtra would teach the people, guide them and advise them.

In the opinion of the writer, with view to the existing historic evidences Mazar-i Sharif can be accepted as the resting place of Zarathushtra.  Maybe, if the possibility arises for scientific excavation in this area, we can get access to strong evidences in this regard.  Previously, Mazar-i Sharif was situated in the suburbs of Balkh but after the invasion of the Arabs and prevalence of Shiite sect and then the overall destruction of Balkh by the Moguls, slowly Mazar-i Sharif turned into a big city.  There is no doubt that the Iranian Zoroastrians knew where the resting place of Zarathushtra was before the invasion of the Arabs, but after all the written documents of the Iranians were burned by the Arabs, the following generations remained blank about their identity and their history, to such an extent that before the travel of Hassan Sabbah to Egypt and his visit to Alexander library, and before the publishing of Ferdowsi’ Shahnameh, Iranians had no

trace of their identity.  There are many historic sites in Iran, like the Mausoleum of Yaghub Leis in Shooshtar, Azargoshasb Fire Temple in Sheez (Takhte Sulieman), the tomb of Kourosh the Great in Pasargad (grave of the mother of Suleiman) and . . . which have been saved by changing their names.  I have gathered the ancient history of some of them, which I will publish in a comprehensive article, in the near future.

It will not be surprising if, behind the layers of the walls of the present structure in Mazar-i Sharif another building with the architecture style of ancient times of Iran is hidden; a scene which future generations might be lucky to see.  Eidoon bad (may it be so).