Parthia

HISTORY

Ruled by Xerxes of the Akamenian dynasty

RELIGION

These are the tenets of the Mazdayasni Zarathushtri religion, as accepted and preached by all the Dasturjees and religious teachers and common Zarathushtris in Arya. May our faith increase day by day, in these glorious tenets that our ancestors have believed in for thousands of years.

· All our Scriptures are sacred, including the Gathas, Yashts, and the Vendidad. We pray all of them in our Fire temples, before the Sacred Fire, and they have immense spiritual power, their very utterance in the sacred Avestan language serving to further righteousness and fight evil.

· All our fire-temples and rituals of the Yasna are sacred and are necessary for the religion, such as the Nirang-din ceremony, which creates the Holy Nirang. The spiritually powerful Nirang forms the foundation of many other sacred rituals, that when performed, increase the power of good in this world and decrease the power of evil.

· Dakhma-nashini is the only method of corpse-destruction for a Zarathushtri, as enjoined in the Vendidad: this is the destruction of the dead body in the stone-enclosed Dakhma, by the flesh-eating bird or the rays of the Sun, the most spiritually powerful method as commanded by Ahura Mazda to Zarathushtra. Dakhma-nashini is also very hygienic and ecologically-sound, because it prevents the world from being spiritually or materially polluted by decaying dead matter. For more information on Dakhma-nashini, see the The Dakhma-nashini mode of disposal of the dead.

· Marrying, Zarathushtri man or woman, to a Zarathushtri only is commanded in our religion in the Vendidad, to preserve the spiritual strength of the Aryan Mazdayasni religion, and the ethnic identity of the Zarathushtri Aryans. For the Zarathushtri, ethnic identity and religion are synonymous, as declared in the Vendidad by Ahura Mazda Himself - the Mazdayasni faith was revealed by Ahura to the Aryans under King Jamshed, thousands of years before Zarathushtra, and was meant only for the Aryans of Iran.

· The Fravardin Yasht says that the Righteous of every nation in this world are present in heaven in the form of Glorious Fravarshis. Thus, the Righteous of every religion go to heaven, all religions are equal, and it is folly to convert. Conversion goes against the Master Law of Ereta (righteousness) itself, because God has given us birth in our respective religions, to adore Him in them, and not to mistrust His Judgement and rebel and go over to another faith. For, each faith leads ultimately to God. Thus, the Zarathushtris do not convert other people.

· The observance of the Laws of the Vendidad is an important pillar of the Zarathushtri religion. This includes the concept of menstrual seclusion (the woman is in a state of impurity during menstruation and must stay away from all religious objects including the household fire, and also stay away from her husband during those days) and the dreaded impure state of NASU the corpse is in after death, only touchable by the Nassesalars (corpse-bearers) who may then be purified by ritual means. The Vendidad also carries strong moral injuctions against the acts of homosexuality and prostitution, prohibiting these immoral acts.

· Faith, and Hope in the coming of the Saoshyant (Saviour) has sustained our religion through the centuries. We firmly hope, and pray, that Ahura Mazda sends the Saoshyant to the earth to defeat evil and further righteousness (Ashoi).

· We firmly believe that when the Saoshyant comes, the final spiritual battle between the forces of good and evil will commence, resulting in the utter destruction of evil. Ristakhiz, the ressurection of the dead will take place - the dead will rise, by the Will of Ahura Mazda. The world will be purged by molten metal, in which the righteous will wade as if through warm milk, and the evil will be scalded. The Final Judgement of all souls will commence, at the hands of Ahura Mazda the Judge (Davar), and all sinners punished, then forgiven, and humanity made immortal and free from hunger, thirst, poverty, old age, disease and death. The World will be made perfect once again, as it was before the onslaught of the evil one. Such is the Frashogad (Frasho-kereti), the Renovation, brought on by the Will of Ahura Mazda, the Frashogar.

Atha Zamyat Yatha Afrinami, May it be so as we wish.

The Zoroastrian Dakhma-nashini mode of disposal of the dead

After a human being dies, according to the Vendidad (ancient scripture of the Zoroastrians) - the evil spirit of putrefaction rushes on the dead body within about three hours after death, ie. in the next Geh (division of time) immediately after the one he dies in. After this time, the dead body cannot be touched by anybody except special corpse bearers (Nassesalars) who live apart from the rest of society. Spiritually and physically, the dead body is most unclean at this time. The body is now bathed in the urine (Taro) of a special white bull - again an ancient Indo-European or Aryan method of purification. The clothes are destroyed. A new Sudreh-Kusti are tied on the body - the Sudreh being a religious garment, the Kusti an ancient mark of the Aryan people, a religious woollen cord tied around the waist (a close parallel being the Janoi of the Indian Brahmins, who too have derived from the Aryan people.)

The body is now tied up in old Sudrehs, only the face is kept uncovered. Any person who touches the body at this time has to purify himself by taking the Nahan (religious bath) with Taro, which he has to pour on his body as well as sip of. The abhorrence the ancient Aryans had for the dead body and its polluting influence is stressed at every step of this ancient ritual. The special corpse bearers now put the corpse on a marble stone. Fire is kept alongside burning with sandalwood, and a Diva (lamp) is also lighted. The Dastur (Zoroastrian fire-priest) now comes and intones special prayers in the ancient Aryan language of Avestan (a sister language of Vedic Sanskrit).

By the evening or the morning of the next day, the Dasturs (priests) pray the GEH-SARNA ceremony. As per the Vendidad, the soul wanders near the body for the first three days and is as a new-born child, very susceptible to the attack of evil spirits. The Geh-Sarna ceremony strengthens the soul and helps it to proceed on its way - it is a well known fact that there have never been any ghosts of Zoroastrians because of the powerful effects of the ancient Avestan Mathras (verses of prayer). In fact no pregnant woman is allowed to be present near the Geh- Sarna ceremony because of the fear that the powerful incantations may have an adverse effect on the unborn child ie. the soul that has recently attached to the child in the womb and is waiting to be born. Such is the power of the Aryan Avestan prayers.

The members of the household then say goodbye to the departed for the last time (without touching the body). The corpse bearers then carry away the body on a special iron bier (iron and stone cannot be polluted, wood can) from the prayer rooms and prepare for its final destruction. In the open, the body is placed on a stone slab and a Dog is brought near to gaze on the face of the dead person. The Dog posseses divine sight, and as per Aryan tradition has the power to see and chase away any evil spirits. The body is then placed by the bearers in a circular well shaped stone structure, called the Dakhma or more recently the "Tower of Silence". Stone like iron is not polluted and so shields the good earth from the evil of putrefaction.

As per the Aryan scriptures, the Sun and the Vulture then work systematically and hand-in-hand to destroy the dead body. The rain then falls and washes away the dried bones into the sea. As much as 1 year is allowed in the Aryan scriptures for this process, and this is contrasted to the burial process where the earth is polluted for at least 50 years, and lies shallow and unused for cultivation - the greatest worship of God being cultivation, as per the Aryans. Burial/burning of corpses are both considered wrong actions in the Vendidad. In an earlier Fargad (chapter), Mazda says that they were actions dreamed up by the evil one and taught to humanity to mislead them to pollute the earth and the Fire.

Sacred ceremonies then go on for 4 days. On the morning of the 4th day, by the rays of the rising sun, the soul of the departed person ascends and passes to the "Chinvato-Peretu", the Bridge that separates the spiritual (Minoi) world from the physical (Geti) world. There he meets his own conscience, in the form of a Kainini-Keherpa ie, in the astral form of a maiden. The maiden is as beautiful; or as hideous as his own works in the world. The soul is then judged by the divinity Mithra (Meher) and either passes on to Garodman, the abode of songs where Ahura Mazda (God) awaits him or to drujo-deman, the abode of the evil one. There the soul waits until it is time for the Resurrection of all the dead and the final defeat and expulsion of evil from this world, when death and disease and hunger and thirst will be a thing of the past and God Himself will come down to the earth, assisted by the final Saviour (Saoshyant.)

VARIANT AND PRESTIGE CLASSES

Available Magical Order: Telwar Pyros (PoM p.110)