Prophet’s martyrdom

Very recently, I came across a publication Asho Zarathushtra and His Gathas Great, by Silloo Mehta, which was sponsored by the Ilm-E-Khshnum Society.

I was surprised to read therein that Zarathushtra did not pass away, i.e. he did not die like a normal mortal and his body and soul went to the heavens and was received by Ahura Mazda. That is an utter distortion of historical records. Zarathushtra died at the age of 77, at the hands of the dastardly Turanian, Tur Bara Tur (Bratraresh).

There are specific references to the elements of nature having militated against Zarathushtra’s killing, by sword, when he was in his prayers. Gloom descended on Airyana Vaeja (ancient Iran): trees shed the leaves, as if it was autumn; flowers faded and withered; birds stopped carolling in the air; and the elements unleashed, as if, a war against man... thunder and lightning shook Iran...

I would caution the readers against this misplaced adoration of Zarathushtra.

All Zoroastrians, unquestioningly, believe in his holiness. Till eternity, we will revere him, as our ancestors did, and his Gathas and other preachings will remain immortalized.

But that does not alter the fact that he died at the hands of a crafty Turanian criminal whom we will hate till eternity.

The said Society has no right to distort history and mislead lay readers. It should, in fact, issue a correction.

BEHRAM T. DASTUR

Silloo Mehta of California, USA replies

The Avesta, including the Gathas, Vendidad, Visperad, Yasnas, Yashts, Niyaeshs and all prayers, as also the Pahlavi and Persian writings and commentaries all vibrate with one truth about Asho Zarathushtra: He is a divine personality, a yazata, who assumed a human form; a Prophet specially nominated by Ahura Mazda, to discharge certain divine and spiritual missions amongst the mankind of this earth and to guide them and show them the paths leading to Ahura Mazda.

Let us then examine the event of His passing away. The Avesta does not contain a single reference about his death, much less murder! Even the more authentic Pahlavi texts (sixth to ninth century CE) are silent as to the method of Asho Zarathushtra’s passing away i.e. slaying by the sword. The only mention of the "killing” of Zarathushtra with a "sword” is found in the much later (17th century CE) Persian work Dabestan-e-Madaheb (School of Religious doctrines), which refers to secondhand sources and states that the Prophet was martyred at Balkh. This account is a secondhand source, with the writer referring to "books composed by Zartosht’s followers and also in the ancient histories of Iran,” without, however, naming a single such book. Today, we are not in possession of a single Avesta or Pahlavi source that corroborates this theory.

The Dinkard, to which we are indebted for many important matters on religion, contains a series of chapters on the life of the Prophet that provide the most reliable source for this subject. These chapters called the Pahlavi Zarathushtra-Nameh give an account of the events before his birth, at the time of birth, his infanthood, childhood and his work and mission in a chronological narrative. In its introduction, the author emphatically states that his source is the Avesta and that the 10 chapters of the Nameh are on the illustriousness and glory (gada) and miracles (afdi) of the Prophet. It is very pertinent that the author chooses to call the narrative an account of the "glory and miracles” rather than the "life” of Zarathushtra, indicating thereby, that this is not the biography of an ordinary mortal.

The Dinkard refers to the the passing away of Zarathushtra as vikhiz and going to Pahlum Ahvan. The great Avesta-Pahlavi scholar, Dastur (Dr) Darab Peshotan Sanjana translates this as "the passing away of Zarathushtra of the revered Fravahar to the best abode...” Several other scholars unanimously uphold this rendition.

The Pahlavi term vikhiz, written in the modern style of Pahlavi orthography as wihez, is defined by Mackenzie, in his Pahlavi dictionary (pg 90) as "move, progress.” Sanjana gives the root of vikhiz as "to rise” or "to ascend.” The normal terms for death in Pahlavi would be "margih (hence amargih — immortality) widerishnih murd,” etc.

The Pahlavi masters of the Dinkard specifically did not use these common terms to describe the alleged killing of Asho Zarathushtra, but preferred to use wihez, which perhaps has not been used to describe any other person’s death. Hence the logical assumption that the "killing” has more than meets the eye.

How is it possible that the Dinkard, which treats in so expert a manner Asho Zarathushtra’s life and the Zarathushti religion, keeps silent upon the slaying of Asho Zarathushtra by the sword of a Turk?

Again, the Sadder Bundehesh, to which we are also indebted for many important statements, also contradicts the Dabestan account by asserting that Zarathushtra at least did not die in Balkh, but returned to Aryanavaija (Airan Vaiz). The same book also raises the question why such a distinguished character as he should die at all.

Even the great scholar, K. R. Cama, in his Paegambar Asho Zartoshtna Janmarano Ehewal, Avesta Uparthi (pg 250) says that there is no mention in the Avesta as to how Zarathushtra passed away from this earth, or when or where.

Faced with contradictory statements from such authentic sources as the Dinkard and the Sadder Bundehesh and in the absence of any corroboratory accounts from other Avesta or Pahlavi sources, we are left with no choice but to examine the Dabestan account in a different light. Moreover, the language of the narrative itself suggests the presence of a deeper significance behind the outward surface meaning.

Max Mueller, the great Orientalist and editor of the Sacred Books of the East, emphasizes, "Unless we learn to understand this metaphorical or hieroglyphic language of the ancient world, we shall look upon the Upanishads and on most of the Sacred Books of the East as mere childish twaddle.”

When Asho Zarathushtra arrived on earth, evil was rampant. The evil thoughts, words and deeds of men had created a tremendous cloud of evil energy, which was poised menacingly over the earth, capable of untold destruction. This cloud is known as Turbaratur. But who could take upon himself the force and the impact of the rushing Tur? Asho Zarathushtra created a powerful magnetic force around his human form and attracted the rushing Tur. Zarathushtra’s divine form was ready for the clash; there was a swift transmission of energies, powerful magnetic storms arose, and the evil Tur disintegrated. The coarse bodily energy in Zarathushtra’s human form was spent in the process, the human form dissolved, and the Yazatic light flew away to Pahlum Ahwan (heavens) and further.

We know from the Avesta (Vd. 19, 1-3) that the demon Buiti, who was ordered by Angra Mainyu to strike Zarathushtra, could not do so and said: "I see no way to kill him, so great is the glory of the holy Zarathushtra (S.B.E. Vol. IV).”

In the Tir Yasht (paragraph 44) it is distinctly stated: "...He (Ahura Mazda) has fixed Zarathushtra as the Lord and overseer of men, whom neither Ahriman, nor genii and (wicked) fairies, nor sorcerers, nor all demons collectively can vanquish and dare to kill.”

Even the arch-foe Angra Mainyu is powerless against Asho Zarathushtra: "The ill-informed evil spirit... bawled out thus: ‘All the Yazatas could not shatter me against my will, but only Zarathushtra has suppressed me against my will; he smites me... Ashi Yasht (paragraph 20).’”

The Dinkard mentions several instances when the daevas tried to kill the infant Zarathushtra, by fire, under the hooves of stampeding bulls and horses, by a vicious she-wolf. Each time the glorious infant was miraculously able to save himself. In one instance the evil demon Durasrub "wished to crush with hands the delicate head...And here a great miracle was manifested... the hands of that devil were turned backwards...”

We know that Asho Zarathushtra possessed the knowledge of the past and of the future, a gift which he bestowed on Jamasp via the darun-offering of fragrant flowers. So how could he have not foreseen his own death by a Turk? If Zarathushtra had indeed been killed by a human being as alleged, the narration of the events of his death, the place and method of disposal of his body, the attendance of King Vishtasp and the general public would surely have been recorded in Avesta-Pahlavi writings and such books would have been referred to with great reverence by the community. But, as we know, there were no such records. Even today, we have the ruins of the astodans of the Achaemenian kings at Naksh-e-Rostam; yet, there is no such dakhma or astodan with regard to the great Prophet of Prophets (Vakshur-e-Vakshuran) Asho Zarathushtra.

Asho Zarathushtra’s passing away from this earth cannot be explained by taking the slaying incident literally. For, how could it be possible that one who is himself a channel of Ahura, a Yazata (Ys. 3.2, 21; 4.23; 7.21), one who has been described in the Avesta as the Lord of the entire temporal world (Fravardin Yasht, 24), one who is ranked amongst (Khordad Yasht, 1) and even above (Ys. 71.2) the seven Amesha Spentas, can be killed by an ordinary human being? How is it possible that one who could not be killed by even the most powerful of demons with all their witchcraft, as stated in the Avesta and Pahlavi writings, be slain by the sword of an ordinary Turk? We cannot discard Avestan and Pahlavi passages given above in favor of the account in the much later Dabestan, because the Avesta is the most authentic.

Asho Zarathushtra and His Gathas Great is a publication of The Maz-dayasnie Connection of California, USA and not of the said Ilm-e-Khshnum Society.