The Magicians Of Mazda: Bharat Collection 7

by Ashwin Sanghi

Zoroastrian philosophy emphasised the value of their own trinity: good thoughts, good words and good deeds—humata, hukata and huvarastha. Shapoor

Asclepius, the Greek God of medicine, the mythological figure from whom the company derived its name. Believed to have been the son of Apollo, Asclepius had several daughters, one of them Hygieia, the Goddess of cleanliness, the other Panacea, the Goddess of universal remedies.

Jadi Rana then offered a bowl of milk to the leader of the refugee group, filling it to the brim until it overflowed. It was his way of conveying to the refugees that his kingdom was already full. But the wise Parsi dasturs stirred some sugar into the milk and returned the bowl to the king. It was a subtle message to Jadi Rana that they would only add flavour and sweetness to the land without causing an upheaval.

These ‘Gathas’, put into writing many hundreds of years later, became part of a wider body of religious scriptures called the Avesta.

The Avesta consisted of four books or volumes: the Yasna, the book of hymns; the Yashta, the book of prayers; the Visparatu, the book of righteousness; and the Vidaevadata, or the book of laws. The most important of these books was the Yasna which is composed of seventy-two chapters. Of these, seventeen had been sung by Zarathustra himself and were known as the Gathas

‘It is fashionable these days to ignore history in order to preserve the peace between faiths,’ she said. ‘And I am all for peace and interfaith understanding. But that process must start with recognising what happened, not whitewashing it. Forced conversions did happen; destruction of Zoroastrian places of worship did happen. Redeployment of fire temples as mosques did happen. Identification of Zoroastrians as polluted beings, najis, did happen. Transformation of Zoroastrians into beggars by snatching away inheritance rights did happen. The burning of Zoroastrian scriptures did happen. Compulsory humiliation of those paying jizya did happen.’ She ran out of breath.

The word “deva” is the root for words like “divine” and “deity”. But it is also the root for words like “devil” and “demon”. Think about that one!’ There