Thus Spoke Zarathustra : On Zoroastrianism

From 2 parallel exhibitions on #Zoroastrianism, one of the oldest existing religions.

[The two parallel exhibitions on Zoroastrians(and Parsis in India) @ British Museum and 
@ SOAS.ac.uk (School of Oriental & African Studies, Uni of London. For this larger exhibition, Sponsors include The TATA Group, and Zubin Mehta as a chief patron).
They were GREAT opportunities to explore the beginning of one of the oldest known existing religion.. It has given interesting insights into how  Man creates Gods, 'promotes' and 'demotes' them, and even shifting some between Gods & Demons!- and their links to Hinduism's earliest scriptures!, for which I've been trying to dig for and gather bits and pieces ever since reading Early History of India by Romila Thapar.]

Popular modern image of Zarathustra.
Ironically, modern images from 19th century are in fact based on
a Sasanian rock relief near Kirmanshah, Iran, from about 363 AD, showing the god Mithra, who was demoted as a god by Zarathustra himself, who made Ahura Mazda as the only/supreme deity to be worshipped!
Zoroastrian Fire Temples are called Dar-e-Mihr, the gateway to Mithra.  

King, Fire & Prophet: Modern Parsi tiles from Mumbai, India.
Zarathustra is shown on the right with white priestly outfit, holding a bull-headed mace.
The holy fire in the centre is flanked by tongs and ladle used in fire rituals. Gujarati inscriptions refer to various legendary fires. Left shows an ancient Persian King/Shah Lohrasp, whose son was the patron of Zarathustra.

THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA! 

[Exhibition @British Museum] Vesta Sarkhosh Curtis, an Iranian scholar at British Museum (of pre-Islamic world & -coins from Persia, who head some committees of Iran Heritage Foundation, and who curated other exhibitions like IRAN BEFORE ISLAM) giving a members' evening special exhibition gallery talk- 
about #Zarathustra and the beginnings of #Zoroastrianism in ancient Persia..around 1500BC.
She is also the head of some commitee of Iran Heritage Foundation.

THUS SPOKE ZARATHUSTRA: He is asking these questions to Ahura Mazda, The Wise Lord.
GATHAS of Zarathustra in Old Iranian Avestan script.
 Zarathustra, poet, priest and philosopher (whose words captured the imagination of the classical Greek Philosophers centuries later-  (Plato and Aristotle.. founders of Western philosophy & science.. See the painting below by Italian Renaissance artist Raphael in 1509, with descriptions on this).

@SOAS.
Text from Avesta, the sacred text of Zoroastrians, contents dated around 1500BC, written much later in Avestan, the ancient Persian language closely linked to Sanskrit, but written right to left. These #EXISTENTIALIST hymns, "arguably the most poetic part of whole of Avesta", by Zarathustra (Prophet Zoroaster), asking rhetorical questions to AHURA MAZDA(The Lord Wisdom, the only God, Creator of All &the Universe).
Avesta fascinated Greek philosophers centuries later.
This part is mentioned as "Arguably one of the most poetic sections of the whole Avesta, Yasna #44, consists of rhetorical questions asked of Ahura Mazda about the creation of the universe, such as who established the path of the sun and the stars, who made the moon wax and wane, and who holds the earth in place beneath the clouds."
The daily Yasna (worship) ceremony which priests must learn by heart is the most important of the Zoroastrian rituals and include 17 hymns, the Gathas, which are attributed to Zarathustra.

Zarathrustra (meaning 'Gatherer of Camels'; Ushtra being camel in persian, she said, a word still in use) is believed to  have lived sometime between 1700~600BC, south of the Central Asian Steppes where he trained as a priest, and preached in Balkh/Bactria(current Afghan region).
From her research, Vesta Sarkhosh puts his dates around 1200BC. She did mention that though the beginning of Zoroastrianism as a religion is attributed to Zoroaster/Zarathustra, he only reformed an existing, more pagan religion of Mithraism- for instance, one major change he brought was promoting Ahura Mazda (as The only one/Supreme Lord Wisdom) and demoting Mithra & Varuna as 'Divine Beings', from earlier being Lords. 

• [From 'The Dawn and Twilight of Zoroastrianism': "Mithra was one of the principle gods of Indo-Iranian tribes (even before they parted company  and went their separate ways into India and Iran ). Mithra's 1st appearance in a historical record is in an inscription found at Boghazkoy in easter Anatolia dating from 14th century BC, and commemorating the treaty with two Indo-European people: The Hitties and Mittani. Their 5 divinities : Varuna, Mithra, Indra, and two Nasatyas, IDENTICAL TO THOSE WHO APPEAR SLIGHTLY LATER IN the Rig Veda, the oldest book of the Hindu sacred canon. In the Rig Veda, Mitra and Varuna and Asuras, always mentioned together, often as the double-or-twin-god Mithra-Varuna." ]

After the talk, when I got some 15min to speak to her, I mentioned reading about Ahuras/Asuras &Devas and some terms in Rig Vedic sanskrit being closely linked to words in Avesta, as described in Romila Thapar's "Early History of India". Her face lit up suddenly, saying she knows Romila very well, and is a good friend etc.

After the collapse of Sassanian Empire in 651 AD,
Zoroastrianism (which was state religion from 224 AD)
was gradually replaced by Islam as the state religion of Iran.
After Islamic conquest many Zoroastrians left their Iranian homeland for India,
where they are also known as Parsis.

Faravahar / Fravashi, the winged symbol of Zoroastrianism,  symbolises the immortal spirit of each human being that defends the material world against evil. (Symbol evolved from that of the head of the Assyrian pantheon in Mesopotamian religion that existed around 2500BC- That is around 1000years before Zoroastrianism began).
 Faravahar has now become a national symbol of Iran, and apparently sought after by the youth, irrespective of their religious affinities. Here it is shown in a key-chain.

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More here: From the section, "The Context of the Rig-Veda"
[Chapter: TOWARDS CHIEFDOMS & KINGDOMS (1200 -500 BC),
from The History of Early India, by Romila Thapar ]
When the earliest kingdoms were formed in India, during the Iron Age/Vedic Period -

  http://greenwich-times.blogspot.co.uk/2011/08/aryans-not-race-from-history-of-india.html
Two parts which are more relevant here from that blog is added below. Click images to enlarge and read]

Mithra's 1st appearance in a historical record is in an inscription found at Boghazkoy in easter Anatolia dating from 14th century BC, and commemorating the treaty with two Indo-European people: The Hitties and Mittani. Their 5 divinities : Varuna, Mithra, Indra, and two Nasatyas, IDENTICAL TO THOSE WHO APPEAR SLIGHTLY LATER IN the Rig Veda, the oldest book of the Hindu sacred canon.

The Linguistic relationship between Avesta texts from Iran and Rig-Veda from North India.
Indra is demonic in the Avesta, as are the daevas (devas or gods in Sanskrit) and Ahura/asura emerges as the highest deity.
 This lead to the theory that originally the Old Iranian (ie., Avestan-speaking) and Indo-Aryan  speakers were a single group but dissensions led to their splitting up.

The possibly break-away group or those who gradually migrated to Indian subcontinent is now considered as those who formed the core of Vedic People in India (who assimilated some local cultures, possibly including the already-dispersed Indus civilization people), and who brought with them the Horse used in the Vedic Rituals, an animal alien to India. Meanwhile the native Elephants are treated as alien animal in the early Vedas! (As elaborated in this History of India book.Though the Hindu hardliners in India or abroad like the BJP,VHP,American Hindu Assoscn and other partisan political/religious entities don't like this interpretation of serious historians with hard factual/scriptural/archaeological/linguistic analysis!)
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Between Gods & Demons! :
Did the roles of Gods/Devas & Demons/Asuras get switched due to tribal political difference, resulting in related migrations of the breakaway group from Ancient Persia/Iranian plateau to Indian subcontinent ?? 

"Indra is demonic in the Avesta, so are Daevas (Deva or Gods in Sanskrit), and Ahura/Asura the highest deity." 

INDRA- GOD OR DEMON ??
Indra sits on a turquoise rock, by the River Ganges & mulls his future
Between Gods & Demons! : Did the roles of Gods/Devas & Demons/Asuras get switched due to tribal political difference, resulting in related migrations of the breakaway group from Ancient Persia/Iranian plateau to Indian subcontinent ??
"Indra is demonic in the later versions of Avesta, so are Daevas (Deva or Gods in Sanskrit), and Ahura/Asura the highest diety." 

Click to enlarge

• ["Daeva in Ancient Persia's Avestan language -of the Zoroastrian religious texts called Avesta,circa 1500 BC- meaning 'a being of shining light', is a term for a particular sort of supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics.(The word 'devil' is derived from their name.)
  
  In ancient Persia, Ahura ('Lord') is the title of gods, and the name for gods and spirits. The name was used to make a clear distinction between the Ahuras and the Daevas, who originally belonged to the same classification of godlike entities. The Daevas were in later religion degraded to the lesser kind of beings, demons or devils, they are now.
  
  Much of the information about Persian (old-Iranian) gods can be found in the religious texts from Zarathustra such as the Avesta, and in later sources such as the Bundahishn and the Denkard. The original Avesta dates back to 1400 - 1200 BC but it was destroyed by Alexander the Great when he invaded Persia."
  http://www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/middle_east/persian/articles.html ]
• From ‘Land of The 7 Rivers - A brief History of India's Geography’: "Use of the terms 'deva' and 'asura' - In the earliest Hindu scriptures of Rig Veda, the terms apply to different sets of deities and do not have clear connotations of good and bad. The god Varuna, for instance is described as an asura. However, in later Hinduism, the asuras would be identified as demons and devas as the gods. In contrast, devas refer to demons in the Zoroastrian tradition of Persia while the word asura is transformed into Ahura Mazda- The Great Lord. Since the deva-asura dichotomy is not clear cut in the Rig Veda but becomes very distinct in later texts, it is reasonable to argue that these opposing sets of meaning came to be attached at a later date. What caused this separation? Did the clans have religious disputes??..(between Bharatas and others?) ..One may never know for sure..
  
  There is a great deal of evidence that links the Rig Vedic Indians to the ancient Persians. The Avesta, the oldest and  most sacred text of the Zoroastrian religion, is written in a language that is almost identical to that of the Rig Veda. The older sections of the Avesta-- called The GATHAs-- are said to have been composed by the prophet Zarathustra himself. They can be read as Rig Vedic Sanskrit by making a minor phonetic change. The Avestan 'h' is the same as the Sanskrit 's'. Thus Sapta-Sindhu (mentioned in Rig Veda) in Sanskrit become Hapta-Hindu (mentioned in Avesta). A similar phonetic shift survives in the modern Indian language of Assamese and is easy to master"

• But (according to the latest book published in Dec 2013 during the SOAS exhibition, 'The Everlasting Flame, Zoroastrianism in history and Imagination',) in the oldest texts of Avesta, the Gathas attributed to Zarathustra, Daeva still means 'god', albeit a false one who should NOT be worshipped, while in the Younger Avesta texts, a Daeva has become a 'demon'(!). 
  A characteristic innovation of the religion of the Avesta is that the worship of Ahura Mazda is coupled with the rejection of the Indo-Iranian gods, the Daevas. Not only in the Zoroastrian texts but also in all Iranian languages, the Indo-Iranian and ultimately Indo-European word for god, *deiwo-, has changed its meaning from 'deity' to 'demon'
  The Gathas represent the Daevas as having been produced by the destructive force of 'Bad Thought':
  [ Yasna 32.3] : But you, (false) gods (daeva), all of you 
  are offsprings of Bad Thought,
  and (so it the one) who greatly worships you.
  Seed from Deceit and Pretension (are)
  known in the seventh part of the earth.
  The downgrading of the gods of earlier generations/cults/religions (before Zoroastrianism) and their subordination to another power, form part of a belief system that divides everything into good and evil. These two distinct groups are mutually exclusive, diametrically opposed to one another and described in the Gathas as 'life-giving' and 'destructive'.
  ...According to the Avesta, the Daevas rushed around on the earth unhindered and openly gave vent to their lust. Moreover, they attacked human beings and raped women (Yt 19.80)
  
  (I wonder whether this comes from some tribal raid between groups- such raids of villages and settlements of other tribes and groups to steal cattle etc is known among many tribes across the world..  and some of them involve rapes.. even today.. I sometimes wonder, the behavior during riots etc are remnants of such tribal past! :)
  
  ...The emphasis of the Zoroastrian tradition on the worship of Ahura Mazda and the vehement opposition to that of the Daevas has produced a number of elaborate scenarios of reward and punishment with regard to an individual's allegiance during life. After death, a person will reap the fruits of his or her good or bad thoughts, words and especially deeds. 

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  Zoroastrian Moral Code.

The Zoroastrian texts inspired the Greek Philosophers + Zoroastrians, Jews & Christians:
 "Iranians, Jews and Greeks were in contact from the establishment of the Achaemenid Empire (Persian Empire) from 559 BC onwards, leading to exchange of ideas between different communities, especially between Jewish Rabbis and Zoroastrian priests. This has left numerous traces in Jewish biblical literature and theology. One area where this is especially noticeable is in the field of Jewish Law (civil, criminal and private), particularly in the Babylonian Talmud.

The Babylonian Jewish community began with the Exile, the deportation of the Jews from Egypt to Babylon by Nebuchadnezzar II from 597 BC, not long before Cyruss II became the first king of the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire in 559 BC and captured Babylon in 539 BC.
The Talmudic period of in Babylonia began when the legendary Jewish teacher Abba Arikka (Rav_ moved from Palestine to Babylonia around 220 AD, when it was part of Sasanian Persian Empire (in which Zoroastrianism was the State Religion), that lasted until the Arab conquest and the introduction of Islam. The Talmudic period, the most important source of Jewish law, the Babylonian Talmud was produced by  Babylonian Rabbis. It shared numersous intellectual and cultural concerns with the Zoroastrian priests, their neighbours in the capital of Sasanian Empire."

Greek historian Herodotus, circa 450 BC wrote that the Persians had their sons educated in 3 subjects: Horsemanship, archery, and TELLING THE TRUTH.

From Histories of Herodotus [5th Century BC], speaking of the Persians in Achaemenid Empire:

"[1.136] Next to prowess in arms, it is regarded as the greatest proof of manly excellence to be the father of many sons. Every year the king sends rich gifts to the man who can show the largest number: for they hold that number is strength. Their sons are carefully instructed from their fifth to their twentieth year, in three things alone, - to ride, to draw the bow, and to speak the truth. Until their fifth year they are not allowed to come into the sight of their father, but pass their lives with the women. This is done that, if the child die young, the father may not be afflicted by its loss."

From the records of greek historian Plutarch (circa 50-120 AD) and others, it is known that the Zoroastrianism was of great interest to the philosophers associated with the Platonic Academy in Athens in 3rd and 4th centuries BC.

[click to enlarge and read the description] 

Zoroaster in Italian Renaissance artist Raphael's painting 'School of Athens'(1508) -shown along with Plato, Aristotle etc. It is one of a group of 4 frescoes showing different branches of knowledge: philosophy, poetry (including music), theology and law. It represents the ancient knowledge of the most famous philosophers centred around Plato & Aristotle whose doctrines dominated Western thought from Antiquity upto the late 17th century. Zoroaster is usually identified as the figure on the far right holding a globe.

@SOAS

By 3rd century AD, communities of Syriac-speaking christians co-existed alongside Zoroastrian neighbours in the Persian Sasanian Empire.
Zoroastrians were almost always referred to in the western sources as Magi-- from which the term Magic is derived.

 THE THREE WISE MEN FROM THE EAST,
The Magi in the Nativity story of the Bible- were Zoroastrian priests.
 Guided by an 8-pointed star, they approached and offered their gifts (of gold, frankincense and myrrh)
to Mary and Child.
[wiki] : The Magi are popularly referred to as wise men and kings. The word magi is the plural of Latin magus, borrowed from Greek μάγος magos, as used in the original Greek text of the Gospel of Matthew. Greek magos itself is derived from Old Persian maguŝ from the Avestan magâunô, i.e., the religious caste into which Zoroaster was born, (see Yasna 33.7: "ýâ sruyê parê magâunô" = "so I can be heard beyond Magi"). The term refers to the priestly caste of Zoroastrianism.[8] As part of their religion, these priests paid particular attention to the stars and gained an international reputation for astrology, which was at that time highly regarded as a science. Their religious practices and use of astrology caused derivatives of the term Magi to be applied to the occult in general and led to the English term magic.

IMPERIAL IRAN / FORMATION OF FIRST PERSIAN EMPIRE:
Between 1200 and 1000 BC, Iranian tribes migrating from Central Asia settled in the region of the inner Zargos mountains. The tribes 'Medes' occupied the region around Hamadan, while the 'Persians' moved further south to the Elamite Kingdom of Anshan, which later became known as Parsa. They were settled there for several generations before Cyrus II (circa 559-530 BC) founded the first Persian Empire.

According to Darius I (c. 522-486 BC), the Persians traced their ancestry back to Achaemenes, after whom the dynasty was named. In this dynastic line, Cyrus II was the son of the Persian Cambyses I, and Mandana, his wife, the grand-daughter of Cyaxeres, who founded the Median Empire (Medes & Persian tribes thus linked), following the death of the last great Assyrian king, Assurbanipal (c. 668-627 BC).

[ "Assurbanipal is famed for amassing a significant collection of clay tablet documents in cuneiform script, one of the earliest forms of writing, for his royal palace at Nineveh.This collection, known as the Library of Ashurbanipal, is now housed at the British Museum"The oldest surviving royal library in the world, was on the banks of Tigris river in current city of Mosul in northern Iraq. A project was setup by British Museum to use technology to make its contents accessible to modern readers]

Persian Empire (Achaemenid Empire), 500BC,

stretching from Indus in the east to parts of Greece, Egypt, Libya in the west.

Cyrus II founded his dynastic capital as Pasargadae, a site that provides the earliest examples of Ancient Persian monumental architecture and iconography. The great palaces built by Darius I at Persepolic and Susa, his rock relief at Bistun and the burial monuments of the Achaemenid kings at both Naqsh-e- Rostam and the hill above Persepolis preserve iconography and inscriptions (in Old Persian, Akkadian, Elamite, Aramaic and some in Egyptian hieroglyphs). These are valuable sources of information concerning the religious beliefs and practices of the Ancient Persians.

The 'Persian religion' also entered recorded history at this time through the accounts of Greek historians such as Herodotus and Xenophon.

• From the records of Greek historian Herodotus [written around 450 BC], speaking of the Persians (Achaemenid) Empire:

[1.131] The customs which I know the Persians to observe are the following: they have no images of the gods, no temples nor altars, and consider the use of them a sign of folly. This comes, I think, from their not believing the gods to have the same nature with men, as the Greeks imagine. Their wont, however, is to ascend the summits of the loftiest mountains, and there to offer sacrifice to Jupiter, which is the name they give to the whole circuit of the firmament. They likewise offer to the sun and moon, to the earth, to fire, to water, and to the winds. These are the only gods whose worship has come down to them from ancient times. At a later period they began the worship of Urania, which they borrowed from the Arabians and Assyrians. Mylitta is the name by which the Assyrians know this goddess, whom the Arabians call Alitta, and the Persians, Mitra.[1.132] To these gods the Persians offer sacrifice in the following manner: they raise no altar, light no fire, pour no libations; there is no sound of the flute, no putting on of chaplets, no consecrated barley-cake; but the man who wishes to sacrifice brings his victim to a spot of ground which is pure from pollution, and there calls upon the name of the god to whom he intends to offer. It is usual to have the turban encircled with a wreath, most commonly of myrtle. The sacrificer is not allowed to pray for blessings on himself alone, but he prays for the welfare of the king, and of the whole Persian people, among whom he is of necessity included. He cuts the victim in pieces, and having boiled the flesh, he lays it out upon the tenderest herbage that he can find, trefoil especially. When all is ready, one of the Magi comes forward and chants a hymn, which they say recounts the origin of the gods. It is not lawful to offer sacrifice unless there is a Magus present. After waiting a short time the sacrificer carries the flesh of the victim away with him, and makes whatever use of it he may please.

 - See more at: http://www.iranchamber.com/history/herodotus/herodotus_history_book1.php

Gold Bracelet, Oxus Civilization Treasure from around 400 BC,found in modern Tajikistan, showing the fabulous creature with a Falcon's head, Ram's horns, Lion's legs.Possibly used in Zoroastrian rituals.Found along with other gold treasures showing Zoroastrian priests in rituals.Oxus Civilization, related to Indo-Iranian tribes stretches west from Bactria (area north of Hindu Kush mountains in northern Afghanistan, with modern day Balkh as its capital). Traditionally, Bactria is considered as the area where Zarathustra was born Vesta Sarkhosh mentioned that Zarathustra practiced as a priest in Balkh.

Many famous Persian poets came from Balkh, including Maulānā Rūmī (born 1207).
@BritishMuseum

INDO-IRANIAN MIGRATION:

"Zoroastrianism is rooted in the prehistoric Indo-Iranian culture of the 2nd & 3rd millennia BC and shares a common heritage with the closely related Vedic language and culture of ancient India."

Golden Treasure from Oxus civilization  showing a mounted charioteer and warrior. [Reminiscent of Arjuna & Krishna ? ;) ] Horse is a very most important clue to the migration of the people from Central Asian steppes (where horse the horse originally comes from, and it is NOT native to India- nor is it shown in any of the Bronze Age Indus civilization artefacts from 3300-1500BC (The so-called "unicorn" is now considered to be the image of the bull). Horse is also central to Vedic rituals and is prominent in earliest Hindu scripture Rig Veda, which is from the Iron-Age (post-1500BC). The elephant which is native to India, is prominent in Indus Seals, but in Rig Veda, it seems to be almost absent or described as very unfamiliar animal.. But in later Hindu scriptures of other Vedas, elephant is appears gradually as a more familiar animal. 

[The arguments given AGAINST this theory, in Sanjeev Sanyal's 2012 book 'Land of The 7 Rivers - A Brief History of India's Geography', to support Indian tribes moving to Iran rather than the other way around, are too thin, positively VAGUE and very unconvincing with too many hunches, compared to eminent historian and scholar Romila Thapar's 'History of Early India' (details in the blog post mentioned above) which supports the theory of Iranian tribes moving to India- it gives the very systematic arguments with details explained very logically from linguistic and archaeological evidences, and also mentioning what has evidence and what parts do not have etc]

Indo-Iranian Origins.
From the latest book published in Dec 2013 during the SOAS exhibition,
 'The Everlasting Flame, Zoroastrianism in History and Imagination'

...

According to a currently widely accepted hypothesis, the later Indo-Aryans were the first to leave northern Steppes in the late 3rd millennium BC. A group migrated westwards and eventually settled in northern Mesopotamia to form an upper classin the non-Indo-European Hurrian kingdom of the Mitanni. It is from there that the earliest historical evidence for any Indo-Iranian language comes, both in the form of divine names in a 1380 BC treaty between Mitanni and Hittite Kings.

Image from Wikimedia commons: "Archaeological cultures associated with the Indo-Iranian expansion, after the 1997 Encyclopedia of Indo-European culture (p. 310)".
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bactria-Margiana_Archaeological_Complex

PARSI FIRE TEMPLE:I was very intrigued and fascinated ever since seeing a Parsi FIRE Temple with always closed gates with creepers, on the busy SM Street, the SweetMeat street in Calicut/Kozhikode, which was seen from the Bata showroom.. What an unlikely setup to see Kerala's only Parsi Fire Temple!)
[ More @ The Parsees of Calicut / The Erstwhile Zerdusht people of Malabar: http://calicutheritage.com/parsees_calicut.aspx]

Fire is one of the seven Holy Creations, the son of Ahura Mazda, and the symbol of Zoroastrianism. Sacred fires were established through most of Ancient Persia (Iran) from 500BC until the Islamic conquest of 651 AD. At the coronation of each king, a Royal Fire was lit and kept burning throughout his reign.

A Parsi Fire Temple recreated @SOAS Zoroastrianism exhibition
Zoroastrians are NOT Fire-Worshippers.
Zoroastrian Fire Temples are called Dar-e-Mihr, the gateway to Mithra.
(They worship only Ahura Mazda, the creator of Fire)
But Fire is a Holy element
(One of 7 Holy creations of Ahura Mazda- Sky, Earth, Water, Plants, Beneficent Animals, Mankind & Fire)
  These holy elements must not be polluted.
In the Fire Rituals, Zoroastrian priests have their mouth covered due to this.
Also, the reason why the Zoroastrians do not burn or bury their dead (earth will be polluted)

Parsi Fire Rituals

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TOWER OF SILENCE & SKY BURIAL Funerary Ritual & India’s Vanishing Vultures

Traditional Funerary practices in Iran & India - Sky Burial

From Histories of Herodotus [5th Century BC], speaking of the Persians (Achaemenid) Empire, especially the customs of the Magi / Zoroastrians:

[1.140] Thus much I can declare of the Persians with entire certainty, from my own actual knowledge. There is another custom which is spoken of with reserve, and not openly, concerning their dead. It is said that the body of a male Persian is never buried, until it has been torn either by a dog or a bird of prey. That the Magi have this custom is beyond a doubt, for they practise it without any concealment. The dead bodies are covered with wax, and then buried in the ground. 

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India’s Vanishing Vultures (and Cultures) - by Meera Subramanian

("Zoroastrians use Towers of Silence on Malabar Hill for sky burials— laying out bodies for vultures to come and feast on. But vultures haven't been seen here for years.
The Parsis, like the vultures, are dwindling in number. There are only an estimated hundred thousand worldwide, more than half concentrated in Mumbai. According to the traditionalists within their ranks, conversion and intermarriage are forbidden." )
http://www.vqronline.org/articles/2011/spring/subramanian-vultures/

"Far from the Jorbeer dump, in a posh part of Mumbai, the Parsis continue to lay out the bodies for the vultures that no longer come. Once, it was the perfect system of human disposal. Since the days of their prophet Zarathustra, Zoroastrians have used dhokmas, Towers of Silence, for sky burials. While the vast majority of humans on earth choose to bury or burn their dead, Parsis believe that earth, fire, and water are sacred elements that cannot be polluted by a human corpse. In their native Persia, they placed bodies on natural stone promontories exposed to the sun and vultures would descend to feast. When they migrated to India in the eighth century, escaping persecution and becoming known as Parsis, they continued the tradition on 155 forested acres known as the dongerwaadi in the heart of Malabar Hill, today Mumbai’s toniest neighborhood. They built a series of squat towers, now mottled with moss, where the bodies are still placed after priests have said the prayers and a dog turns its head away in disinterest from the body. It is a ritual so ancient that Herodotus noted it in The Histories in 450 BCE.
The Parsis, like the vultures, are dwindling in number. There are only an estimated hundred thousand worldwide, more than half concentrated in Mumbai. According to the traditionalists within their ranks, conversion and intermarriage are forbidden....."

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http://on.fb.me/195LCy8

(At the closing night of the Zoroastrian Exhibition @SOAS) Iranian Music from traditional Iranian Yalda Night(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yaldā) celebrations of Winter Solstice, related to the birth of Mithra, Persian God of Light&Truth(Sun),after the longest night, & Mithraism that existed before (and from which) Zoroastrianism began in 2nd millennium BC .
Zoroastrian Mithra, god of the sun, the first light, god of reasons, contracts and supreme judge, enjoyed a high status in Ancient Persia. Roman Mithras, also identified with the sun, was popular amongst soldiers from 100-300AD. Roman Mithra inspiration came from Iranian Mithra, but much adapted.
At the centre of the Roman cult was the killing of the bull by the Mithras. In Zoroastrianism, on the other hand, it is the evil spirit who kills the 'Uniquely created Bull'. Its seed was purified by the moon and returned to the earth as the origin of animal life. In parts of Iran today, a cow/bull is sacrificed at Mihrigan, the Autumn Equinox, named after Mithra (Mihr). Zoroastrian Fire Temples are called Dar-e-Mihr, the gateway to Mithra.

Audio &Translation of the Song of Laila-Majnoon [from Persian poet Maulana Jalal ud-Din Muhammad Rumi's MASNAVI ] performed here:

 by Polina Proutskova (vocals/Persian) and Peyman Heydarian (santur) :

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Further material linked to Birth/Evolution of Religions:

• @TED-Ed: The Five Major World Religions

It's perfectly human to grapple with questions, like 'Where do we come from?' and 'How do I live a life of meaning?' These #existential questions are central to the five major world religions -- and that's not all that connects these faiths. John Bellaimey explains the intertwined histories and cultures of Hinduism, Judaism, Buddhism, Christianity and Islam.
(Existentialism : At the heart of many world religions, lie existentialist questions like ..who created the universe?, why are we here?, what is the purpose of life?, where do we go from here?... that can also be found reflected in the myths of many tribes around the world, each having made their own versions in answer to such mystical questions)

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• Persian GULF - Recent Geological Origin & The Great Flood stories of different cultures

  http://greenwich-times.blogspot.co.uk/2013/12/persian-gulf-recent-geological-origin.html
  
• Interesting article about the origin of Islamic emblem, from the Moon God in Sumeria/Assyria and Mesopotamia - Three States of The Moon :
  http://www.wsimagazine.com/uk/diaries/report/culture/three-states-of-the-moon_20130815074237.html
  
• The Birth of Religion - Gobekli Tepe 

We used to think agriculture gave rise to cities and later to writing, art, and religion. Now the world’s oldest temple suggests the urge to worship sparked civilization.

http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2011/06/gobekli-tepe/mann-text

• Göbekli Tepe - Latest (from last 10-15years) Archaeological find of the Oldest Temple on Earth, around 12,000years old

@ National Geographic Channel [1hr]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8JfbV21weQE

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• 18th Century Before Christ -

The Hittites -  A Civilization That Changed The World

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jq9FyI6D-xo

Persian GULF - Recent Geological Origin & The Great Flood stories of different cultures

#ClimateChange, formation of #PersianGULF, #GulfOasis, #SeaLevelRise, & #TheGreatFlood stories in Sumerian, Akkadian, Babylonian, Hebrew, Biblical, Qur’anic &Hindu mythologies.
According to new research findings from 2010 [by Jeffery Rose, University of Birmingham], The current (Persian) Gulf was formed only 8000years ago?!!, when the Indian Ocean flooded into the basin now called by researchers as #GulfOasis (where Bahrain would have been a highland, not an island!), driving out the humans, due to #ClimateChange after the last #IceAge (during which much of the world's water was locked in ice, with sea level as much as 100m below current level). There is a possibility that flooding due to sea level rise from this time, is related to the origins of #TheGreatFlood in Sumerian and Biblical accounts and Noah's story (and The Great Deluge ['PRALAYA'] of Indian mythology).
 [News report based on the GulfOasis research - Ancient Desert Oasis Echoes Eden : http://news.discovery.com/earth/ancient-desert-oasis-echoes-of-eden-101210.htm

"The Gulf Oasis was at the southern tip of the Fertile Crescent, or Mesopotamia. The Fertile Crescent eventually gave rise to some of the first cities, including Ur, which was located in the southern portion of Mesopotamia. One famous resident of Ur was Abraham, considered to be the patriarch of the Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religions." ] 

One of the shallowest seas in the world, the average depth of the Persian Gulf is only 36m. 
Much shallow, <20 m deep along UAE coast and >40m along coast of Iran [http://www.ocean-sci.net/2/27/2006/os-2-27-2006.pdf].
 But during the last Ice Age (starting 24,000 years ago, then warming, Ice Age starting to end, with Ice sheets melting from 14000 years ago, and the "Gulf Oasis" completely flooded 7500 - 8000 years ago. During Ice Age, when most of the world’s water was frozen into giant ice sheets the size of continents like in Antarctica now), the sea levels were upto 100m below current level, and coastlines and climate zones would have been very different…..   

On India’s coast, this means, the coast would have been 25 to 100km out to the sea from current coastline (depending on the slope/’plain-ness’ of the area).. Submerged remains of buildings and ancient civilizations were also found off Gujarat coast, believed to be due to flooding by rising sea, around the same time as flooding to form the Persian Gulf, after the last Ice Age.  And in Indian myths too, there is a story of The Great Deluge/’PRALAYA’:

Edited info from Wiki/Manu & the book 'Land of the Seven Rivers' : 

“Manu, considered the first king to rule this earth, who saved humanity from the great flood — after being warned of it by the Matsya avatar of Vishnu, who had also advised him to build a giant boat. The King Manu built a huge boat which housed his family, 9 types of seeds, and animals to repopulate the earth, after the deluge would end and the oceans and seas would recede. Vishnu in the form of a fish, then towed it to safety. Manu and the survivors are then said to have rebuilt civilisation.(The parallels to the story of Noah are obvious) The story is mentioned in early Hindu scriptures such as the Satapatha Brahmana, and it has often been compared with the popular traditions of a Great Deluge from other cultures around the world, particularly that of Noah's Ark.." 

 + Also from what I had read elsewhere long back, it is known that upto 8000 yrs ago, Britiain was NOT an island and was connected by land to mainland Europe along the current English Channel.

• [wiki/English_Channel: The English channel is relatively shallow, with an average depth of about 120 m at its widest part (177km wide), reducing to about 45 m between Dover and Calais at its narrowest part (27km wide, roughly where EuroTunnel is made).  From there eastwards the adjoining North Sea continues to shallow to about 26 m in the Broad Fourteens where it lies over the watershed of the former land bridge between East Anglia and the Low Countries (Belgium & the Netherlands)]  
• [From wiki/GreatBritian: "Until about 10,000 years ago, Great Britain was joined to Ireland, and as recently as 8,000 years ago it was joined to the continent by a strip of low marsh leading to what are now Denmark and the Netherlands"] 

(Note: Picked up this thread from 'Land of The Seven Rivers'- A Brief History of India's Geography, by Sanjeev Sanyal, that refers to research by Jeffery Rose and explored further.  Image is from the exhibition, 'The Everlasting Flame: Zoroastrianism in History & Imagination', at SOAS- The School of Oriental and African Studies, University of London)