Portal:Zoroastrianism/Article Archive/January 2007

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Ahura Mazda refers to a divinity of ancient proto-Indo-Iranian religion that was subsequently declared by Zarathushtra to be the one uncreated creator of all.
Although Ahura Mazda is accepted to be the conceptual equivalent of a proto-Indo-Iranian divinity, the details are a matter of speculation and debate. Scholarly consensus identifies a connection to the prototypical *vouruna and *mitra, but whether Ahura Mazda is one of these two, or both together, or even a superior of the two has not been conclusively established.
In the Gathas (Gāθās), the hymns thought to have been composed by Zarathushtra himself, the two halves of the name are not necessarily used together, or are used interchangeably, or are used in reverse order. However, in later texts of the Avesta, both Ahura and Mazda are integral parts of the name Ahura Mazda, which were conjoined as Ahuramazda in western Iran.
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