Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices

Mary Boyce

Psychology Press, 2001 - Religion - 252 pages

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 3,500 years. First taught among nomads on the Asian steppes, Zoroastrianism became the state religion of the three great Iranian empires and had a remarkable influence on other world faiths: to the east on northern Buddhism, to the west on Judaism, Christianity and Islam. With the conquest of Iran by the Muslim Arabs, Zoroastrianism lost its secular power, but continued to survive as a minority faith. Despite its antiquity, it remains a living religion.

Contents

• The background: 1
• The IndoIranians: 2
• The old religion: 3
• The gods: 6
• Death and the hereafter: 12
• Conclusion: 16
• Zoroaster and his teachings: 17
• Zoroaster and his mission: 18
• Ahttra Mazda and his Adversary: 19
• The heptad and the seven creations: 21
• Creation and the Three Times: 25
• Death and the hereafter: 27
• The establishing of Mazda worship: 30
• The Zoroastrian badge: 31
• The times and manner of praying: 32
• The seven festivals: 33
• The oldest prayers: 34
• The creed: 35
• The liturgy and Yenhe hatąn: 37
• The Ashem vohu: 38
• The unrecorded centuries: 39
• Doctrinal developments: 40
• Belief in a world Saviour: 42
• The extension of purity laws: 43
• Priests and worship: 46
• Under the Achaemenians: 48
• The early kings: 50
• Cambyses: 53
• Darius the Great: 54
• Xerxes: 56
• Achaemenian palaces and tombs: 57
• Fires and fireholders: 60
• The divine beings: 61
• Icons and temples: 62
• The priesthood: 65
• The Zurvanite heresy: 67
• The Zoroastrian calendar: 70
• The three world Saviours: 74
• Practices of the faith: 75
• The spread of Zoroasters teaching: 76
• Under the Seleucids and Arsacids: 78
• The Seleucids and Iran: 79
• The rise of the Parthians: 80
• the Kushans: 83
• Armenia: 84
• Fire temples and image shrines: 85
• Funerary practices: 90
• Developments in calendar and chronology: 92
• The Avesta: 93
• Developments in the scribal tradition: 95
• Human affairs: 97
• Unbelievers: 98
• Conclusion: 100
• Under the early Sasanians: 101
• Tansar a religious propagandist: 102
• Calendar changes: 104
• Iconoclasm and sacred fires: 106
• The rise of Kirder the second great prelate: 109
• The prophet Mani: 111
• Zurvanism in the early Sasanian period: 112
• Learning and writing: 113
• The summit of Kirders power: 114
• Persian made the official language of all Iran: 116
• Conclusion: 117
• During the mid Sasanian period: 118
• The three great sacred fires: 123
• Liturgical reform: 125
• Religious literature and royal propaganda: 126
• Calendar reform: 128
• The Mazdakite movement: 130
• Under the later Sasanians: 132
• The written Avesta: 134
• The Pahlavi literature: 136
• Religious observances: 138
• The last years of Zoroastrian Iran: 141
• Conclusion: 143
• Under the Caliphs: 145
• Inducements and barriers to conversion: 147
• Islam takes root in Iran: 150
• Zoroastrians in ninthcentury Iran: 152
• Zoroastrians in tenthcentury Iran: 156
• Turkish and Mongol invasions of Iran: 161
• Under IlKhans Rajahs and Sultans: 163
• Manuscript copying and preservation: 165
• The Parsi founding fathers: 166
• Parsis in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries: 168
• Parsis in the fifteenth century: 171
• Irani Zoroastrians in the sixteenth century: 175
• Under the Safavids and Mughals: 177
• Parsis in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries: 182
• Eighteenthcentury Parsi religious disputes: 188
• Irani Zoroastrians in the eighteenth century: 190
• The Parsi Panchayat of Bombay: 192
• Eighteenthcentury European studies of Zoroastnan beliefs: 194
• Under the Qajars and British: 196
• Parsi religious reforms: 199
• Haug and West on Zoroastrian beliefs: 202
• Theosophy and the Parsis: 204
• Zoroastrian octultism: 205
• Panis and the printed word: 206
• The Parsi practice of the faith: 207
• Irani Zoroastrians in the nineteenth century: 209
• Parsi calendar and religious reforms in the early twentieth century: 212
• In the twentieth century: 216
• Zoroastrians in modern Iran: 218
• Parsis in independent India and Pakistan: 223
• Recent interpretations of Zoroastrian belief: 224
• International dispersion: 226
• Bibliography: 229
• Index: 237

About the author

Mary Boyce is Professor Emerita of Iranian Studies at the University of London and is the author of a number of works on Zoroastrianism and Manicheanism.

Bibliographic information

• Title: Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices; Library of religious beliefs and practices
• Author: Mary Boyce
• Edition: illustrated, reprint
• Publisher: Psychology Press, 2001
• ISBN: 0415239028, 9780415239028
• Length: 252 pages
• Subjects: Religion / Ancient; Religion / General; Religion / Zoroastrianism