Zoroastrians in afghanistan book

The parsis of india became largely successful due to their mercantile relationship with european companies. The religion zoroastrianism is believed by some to have originated in what is now afghanistan between 1800 and 800 bce, as its founder zoroaster is thought to have lived and died in balkh while the region at the time was referred to as ariana. Zoroastrianism, third edition traces the history and beliefs of zoroastrianism and its followers determination through centuries of persecution and hardship into the present day. In zoroastrian middle persian pahlavi texts, the term xwedodah av. Zoroastrianism, or mazdayasna, is one of the worlds oldest religions that remains active. The book of arda wiraz is a zoroastrian religious text of the sasanian era written in middle persian.

Along ancient trade routes, however, stone monuments of the once flourishing buddhist culture did exist as reminders of the past. I find that strange because all iranians i know including half iranians, know what zoroastrianism is, even if theyre completely whitewashed and practice very little iranian culture. Persecution of zoroastrians is the religious persecution inflicted upon the followers of the zoroastrian faith. Zoroastrians of afghanistan aryana 2,476 likes 2 talking about this. As well as studying the zoroastrians for their own inherent importance, this book contextualizes the zoroastrian migrations within contemporary debates on diaspora studies. How come zoroastrianism isnt present in afghanistan anymore. The zend is the commentary on the teaching and the avesta is the original teaching in the holy book. Many libraries were burned and much of their cultural heritage was lost. A very interesting account on zoroastrians in kabul. Oct 17, 2020 there is a cap of 3,000 on how many copies of religious books zoroastrians are permitted to publish.

I deal with this question somewhat in my doctoral dissertation the death of ahriman. The iranian and indian zoroastrian communities in which the religion has thrived without missionary efforts or vast numbers of believers is also explored. Zoroastrian places of worship were desecrated, fire temples were destroyed and mosques were built in their place. This is the arab name for irans zoroastrians, who were the majority of the. The magi began at a time when zarathustras people were still nomads, violently raiding villages. Indian origins of zoroastrians or parsees mystery of india.

Their religious beliefs and practices 2nd edition ma. Aug 05, 2016 christian communities flourished during late antiquity in a zoroastrian political system, known as the iranian empire, that integrated culturally and geographically disparate territories from arabia to afghanistan into its institutions and networks. The magi were educated in bactria modern afghanistan and sent out as missionaries. Luckily, this book makes it seem just a bit easier. The zoroastrian holy book, called the avesta, was written in the avestan language, which is closely related to vedic sanskrit. Your institution does not have access to this book on jstor. One of the largest surviving groups of zoroastrians is to be found in india where its members are known as the parsees.

Middle persian and pahlavi works created in the 9th and 10th century contain many religious zoroastrian books, as most of the writers and copyists were part of the zoroastrian clergy. Other than in kabul, there are still around 9 zoroastrians families living in afghanistan in the province of balkh. As the arabs destroyed and burned all the nonarabic and pahlavi writings, iranian scholars found a solution to save the books that was to translate them into arabic. Cama oriental institute golden jubilee volume, bombay, 1969, there is only one piece of modern zoroastrian sculpture in iran, and that is a fine bust of maneckji limji. I have heard dubious accounts of zoroastrians in the northwest. Ushidarena translated as support of divine consciousness or sustainer of divine wisdom is the mountain where zoroaster attained illumination and received the revealed knowledge. This book traces the continuous history of the faith from the time it was preached by zoroaster down to the present day a span of about 3500 years.

The source stated that the majority of zoroastrians in afghanistan live in khander which he described as being near the iranian border ibid. Feb 01, 20 other than in kabul, there are still around 9 zoroastrians families living in afghanistan in the province of balkh. Avesta, sacred book of zoroastrianism containing its cosmogony, law, and liturgy, the teachings of the prophet zoroaster zarathushtra. Zoroaster wrote the gathas and seven of the yasnas, parts of the text known as the avesta, which is analogous to the bible. Ive never met an afghan that has heard of zoroastrianism. Ancient flying machine truth be known zoroastrians. The god of the vedic people is the evil spirit of the zoroastrians. This is the first ever comprehensive englishlanguage survey of zoroastrianism, one of the oldest living religions evenly divided into five thematic sections beginning with an introduction to zoroasterzarathustra and concluding with the intersections of zoroastrianism and other religions reflects the global nature of zoroastrian studies with contributions from 34 international authorities. Zoroastrianism was indeed founded by zoroaster who was born in balkh and originated from balkh.

The obscure religion that shaped the west bbc culture. The most significant and important books of this era include the denkard, bundahishn, menogi khrad, selections of zadspram, jamasp namag, epistles of. Like mentioned before it also contains other valuable insights to zoroastrianism. He seeks and finds evidence of zoroastrianism in twentiethcentury iran and afghanistan, parses nietzsches adoption of the prophet as muse and conduit, tracks the puzzling history of the cathars, discerns iranian elements in gothic art and feudalism, and discusses how the prophet mani nearly turned zoroastrianism into a world faith. Zoroastrian places of worship were desecrated, fire temples were destroyed and mosque. Zoroastrians ebook pdf download and read online for free. The evil spirits feared by the community on the west side of afghanistan are devas. In afghanistan, tajikistan, and central asia, where the sunni branch of islam dominates the religious persianlanguage works reflect the sunni school of islamic thought. However, a few zoroastrian communities do still exist that are scattered around various areas of afghanistan, including the capital, kabul where you can find a lot of the small religious minorities, since afghanistan is 99. In 2015, the government budget allocated to the zoroastrian community was a minuscule 8.

The book also includes studies of zoroastrians on the internet, audiovisual resources, and the modern development of parsi novels in english. Zoroastrians living under muslim rule were required to pay a tax called jizya. Recently, the chief mufti of saudi arabia, abdul aziz al sheikh, said that iranians are majus. This avestan phrase has been revived by orthodox parsi zoroastrians in recent years. The qissai sanjan is a tale of the journey of the parsis to india from iran. This book was really innovative and thoughtprovoking at the time since it was written in the form of ritual poems. Although the book is scholarly in tone it is very readable and enjoyable. In this book, writer examines the two major constituent groups, parsi and iranian zoroastrians and analyzes the diversity as well as the unifying features specific among them. A very interesting account on zoroastrians in kabul, afghanistan zoroastrianism was indeed founded by zoroaster who was born in balkh and originated from balkh, but it has lost followers over time due to the introduction of other religions. By 650 bce, the zoroastrian faith, a monotheistic religion founded on the ideas of. Identity and perception local, tribal, and religious identities in the hindu kush region have always shifted depending on ones point of view. Zoroastrianisms main cosmogonical and eschatological text, the bundahisn book of primal creation was redacted in the year 1078. As the arabs destroyed and burned all the nonarabic and pahlavi writings, iranian scholars found a solution to save the books. Antinorouz campaign prompts backlash in afghanistan.

As afghanistan decides what it means to be afghan, it faces a kaleidoscope of moving perspectives. In a ceremony at an ancient, ruined temple in northern iraq, faiza fuad joined a growing number of kurds who are leaving islam to embrace the faith of their ancestors zoroastrianism. Christian communities flourished during late antiquity in a zoroastrian. They hide their identity by having two names one local and one zoroastrian, they wear the local garb, speak the local language, yet retain their zoroastrian identity. It is thought that there are between 5001,000 secret jews in afghanistan who were forced to convert to islam after the taliban took control of the country. According to mary boyce in her article maneckji limji hataria in iran in the k. Its actually rather difficult to find a good book on zoroastrianism. As mary boyce says in the preface that zoroastrianism is the most difficult of living faiths to study.

Most afghans i know that live in western countries dont even know what zoroastrianism is, even when theyre really in touch with their afghan roots. Sep 30, 2019 book of zoroastrians one of the most interesting things about zoroastrianism was the teachings of zoraster, the prophet, which was all gathered in a book named gathas. The three magi were zoroastrian priests not kings or. Zoroastrianism and hinduism hindupedia, the hindu encyclopedia. Zoroastrians today claim little knowledge of the magi story. The treatment of zoroastrians as najis unclean and polluting grew and zoroastrians were denied access to common public facilities including bathhouses. He seeks and finds evidence of zoroastrianism in twentiethcentury iran and afghanistan. How come zoroastrianism isnt present in afghanistan. Book 8 is of particular interest to scholars of zoroastrianism because portions of the canon have been lost and the denkard at. Calling iranians descendants of the magi is actually a. Today it is the official language of iran, tajikistan and one of the two official languages of afghanistan. This lithographic book was published in the nineteenth century by the royal kabul publishing house and is a source for judges who work on islamic jurisprudence. Persian in the persian language, are an ethnoreligious group who migrated to the indian subcontinent from persia during the muslim conquest of persia of 633654 ce. This article focuses on the importance of documenting the zoroastrian dialects of yazd and kerman, also known as zoroastrian dari a term not to be confused with classical persian dari or dari in afghanistan.

The story of the three magi is only found in matthews canonical gospel. During this period, zoroastrianism had broad influence in what is now modern pakistan. Persian language was, as with zoroastrianism and indigenous iranian culture as a whole, at risk of extinction. In his authoritative book on architecture in afghanistan, the university of. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Balkh is today a part of northern afghanistan, an area with a substantial tajik population. Most of the zoroastrian, greek, hellenistic, buddhist, hindu and other indigenous cultures were replaced by the coming of islam and little influence remains in afghanistan today. However, according to a representative of the zoroastrian society of ontario, there are only one or two hundred zoroastrians living in afghanistan 4 mar. Their physical and facial features are of the region. The holy book of zoroastrianism is called the zend avesta. The source stated that the majority of zoroastrians in afghanistan live in khander which he described as. The persecution of zoroastrians occurred throughout the religions history. Mar 14, 2018 habibullah rafi, a researcher and prominent afghan writer, says norouz has no religious connection to zoroastrianism, the worlds first monolithic religion. Nov 02, 2018 in zoroastrian tradition viraz arda viraz the zoroastrian priest who wrote the book of arda viraz is guided by saraosh while in islam muhammad is guided by gabriel through their journey of heavens.

A very interesting account on zoroastrians in kabul, afghanistan. The three magi were zoroastrian priests not kings or astrologers. Zoroastrian poets, daghighi and zardosht bahram pazhdoh and the persian poets as ferdowsi, hafiz and khayyam among many are to be mentioned here. Apr 06, 2017 though it was once the state religion of iran and widely practised in other regions inhabited by persian peoples eg afghanistan, tajikistan and much of central asia, zoroastrianism is today a. The first religion of which would probably have to be buddhism. Christian communities flourished during late antiquity in a zoroastrian political system, known as. Top countries of the world by zoroastrian population worldatlas. The arda wiraz namag book of righteous wiraz, although based on sasanianera materials, also survives through a ninth or tenthcentury redaction and preserves the description of a spiritual voyage through heaven, limbo, and hell. Although the exact date zoroastrianism was founded is unknown, archaeological evidence and linguistic comparisons with the hindu text rig veda suggest that it emerged around 12001500 bce.

These groups sought refuge in isolated areas of iran or fled to india, china, presentday afghanistan and russia, and other countries. Zoroastrianism is the ethnic religion of the parsi people. Iraqi kurds turn to zoroastrianism as faith and identity entwine 28. List of countries by zoroastrian population wikipedia. The denkard or denkart is a 10thcentury compendium of zoroastrian beliefs and customs. Zoroastrians believe that evil cannot come from a 100% good god, there must be a 100% wholly evil being. Religion a thousand years of the persian book exhibitions. The influence of the zoroastrian religion on hadiths and.

And the goodnatured gods of the vedas on the east side of afghanistan are also devas. The zoroastrian representative of the kurdistan regional government in iraq has claimed that as many as 100,000 people in iraqi kurdistan have converted to zoroastrianism recently, with community leaders repeating this claim and speculating that even more zoroastrians in the region are practicing their faith secretly. And afghanistan was also more religiously diverse than iran was so afghanistan s identity wasnt built around zoroastrianism like irans was. Zoroastrianism was the official state religion of three successive empires in iran from 550 bce to 642 ce. The ancient prophet zarathustra, founder of zoroastrianism, was a deeply radical. This estimate then reappeared in the 9th to 12thcentury arabic and pahlavi texts of zoroastrian tradition, like the 10th century almasudi who cited a prophecy from a lost avestan book in which zoroaster foretold the empires destruction in three hundred years, but the religion would last for a. Zoroastrians today, and with devotees and practitioners of the seven religions whose. Abdollahibntahir, abbasid governor of khorasan, banned publication of persian, that is pahlavi books and decreed and all zoroastrians were required to bring their religious books for a. Zoroastrianism was the national religion of the various preislamic persian dynasties the achaemenides, the seleucids, parthians, sasanids. It is possible that zoroastrianism was extremely popular in most of afghanistan not sure though at one time, but that would have been many centuries before islam came into the fold and the afghans. Portal primary topics zoroastrianism mazdaism ahura mazda zarathustra asa asha arta angels and demons amesha spentas yazatas ahuras daevas angra mainyu scripture and worship avesta gathas yasna vendidad visperad yashts khordeh avesta abzohr the ahuna vairya invocation fire temples accounts and legends denkard bundahisn book of arda viraf book of jamasp story of sanjan history and. Before the invasion of alexander and the islamic conquest of iran there were a total of 21 books followed by zoroastrians called nasks. He is thought to have lived in what is now northern afghanistan, though, again, historians are not quite sure. A heretical form of zoroastrianism was also followed in armenia which for a time was even ruled by a cadet branch of the arsacid house of persia note before the kingdom converted to christianity, with its own native deities thrown in.

Muslims are recorded to have destroyed fire temples. Browne wrote in his book, a year amongst the persians 1893, this dari dialect is only used by the guebres a derogatory word that muslims called zoroastrians amongst themselves, and all of them, so far as i know, speak persian as well. The discrimination and harassment began in the form of sparse violence and forced conversions. Gradually an increasing number of laws were passed which regulated zoroastrian. Sources of information on zoroastrian sacred mountains are found in parts of zoroastrian avesta literature known as zamyad yasht and the pahlavi bundahishn. Iraqi kurds turn to zoroastrianism as faith and identity entwine. There are afghan jewish communities in israel, the united states, canada and the united kingdom. There was a small jewish community in afghanistan who fled the country before and after the 1979 soviet invasion, and one individual, zablon simintov, still remains today.