Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices

Auteur :

Éditeur : Routledge & Kegan Paul	Date & Lieu : 1979, London
Préface :	Pages : 252
Traduction :	ISBN : 0-7100-0121-5
Langue : Anglais	Format : 152x254 mm
	Thème : Religion

Présentation	Table des Matières	Introduction	Identité	PDF
Zoroastrians: Their Religious Beliefs and Practices Zoroastrianism is the most difficult of living faiths to study, because of its antiquity, the vicissitudes which it has undergone, and the loss, through them, of many of its holy texts. Originating over 3 500 years ago in a Bronze Age culture on the Asian steppes, it became the state religion of three mighty Iranian empires in succession, and so was endowed for many centuries with temporal power and wealth. Its lofty original doctrines came accordingly to exert their influence throughout the Middle East - an area where Judaism developed, and Christianity and Islam were born. To the east Iranian rule extended into Northern India, and there Zoroastrianism made a contribution to the development of Mahayana Buddhism. Some knowledge of the teachings of Zoroaster and of the history of his faith is therefore needed by every serious student of world religions; and the recent expansion of religious studies in universities has created a demand for an introductory book on this theme. The present work is an attempt to meet that demand. In it it has been sought to treat Zoroastrianism not merely as a mighty seminal influence, but also as a noble faith in its own right, which has held the loyalty of its followers over millennia and through harsh persecutions. Instead, therefore, of stopping, as is usual, with the worldly eclipse of Zoroastrianism by Islam, the book traces the continual history of the community through the subsequent years of oppression, down into the prosperity of modern times...


Table des Matières
Contents Preface / xiii Glossary / xv Signs and abbreviations / xix 1 The background / 1 Introduction The Indo-Iranians The old religion The cult The gods Death and the hereafter Conclusion 2 Zoroaster and his teaching / 17 Introduction Zoroaster and his mission Ahura Mazda and his Adversary The heptad and the seven creations Creation and the Three Times Death and the hereafter 3 The establishing of Mazda worship / 30 Introduction The Zoroastrian badge The times and manner of praying The seven festivals The oldest prayers The creed The liturgy and Yenhe hattlm The Ashem vohu The hymns 4 The unrecorded centuries / 39 The early days Doctrinal developments Belief in a world Saviour The extension of purity laws Priests and worship Conclusion 5 Under the Achaemenians / 48 The Medes, the Persians and Zoroaster The early kings Cyrus Cambyses Darius the Great Xerxes Achaemenian palaces and tombs Fires and fire altars The divine beings Icons and temples The priesthood The Zurvanite heresy The Zoroastrian calendar The three world Saviours Practices of the faith The spread of Zoroaster's teaching 6 Under the Seleucids and Arsacids / 78 Alexander and Iran The Seleucids and Iran The rise of the Parthians Eastern Iranian borders: the Kushans Western Iranian borders: Armenia Fire temples and image shrines Funerary practices Developments in calendar and chronology The Avesta Developments in the scribal tradition Human affairs Next-of-kin marriages Ecclesiastical organization Unbelievers Conclusion 7 Under the early Sasanians / 101 The rise of the Sasanians Tansar, a religious propagandist Calendar changes Iconoclasm and sacred fires The rise of Kirder, the second great prelate The prophet Mani Zurvanism in the early Sasanian period Learning and writing The summit of Kirder's power Persian made the official language of all Iran Conclusion 8 During the mid Sasanian period / 118 Upholding a Zurvanite orthodoxy The three great sacred fires Liturgical reform Religious literature and royal propaganda Calendar reform The Mazdakite movement 9 Under the later Sasanians / 132 Khosrow 'the Just' The written Avesta The Pahlavi literature Religious observances The last years of Zoroastrian Iran Conclusion 10 Under the Caliphs / 145 The Arab conquest of Iran Inducements and barriers to conversion Islam takes root in Iran Zoroastrians in ninth-century Iran Zoroastrians in tenth-century Iran Turkish and Mongol invasions of Iran 11 Under Il-Khans, Rajahs and Sultans / 163 Zoroastrian survival Manuscript copying and preservation The Parsi founding fathers Parsis in the twelfth to fourteenth centuries Parsis in the fifteenth century Irani Zoroastrians in the sixteenth century Parsis in the sixteenth century 12 Under the Safavids and Mughals / 177 Irani Zoroastrians under Shah 'Abbas: their beliefs and practices Parsis in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries Eighteenth-century Parsi religious disputes Irani Zoroastrians in the eighteenth century The Parsi Panchayat of Bombay Eighteenth-century European studies of Zoroastrian beliefs 13 Under the Qajars and British / 196 Christian missionaries and Parsi beliefs Parsi religious reforms Haug and West on Zoroastrian beliefs Theosophy and the Parsis Ilm-i Khshnum: Zoroastrian occultism Parsis and the printed word The Parsi practice of the faith Irani Zoroastrians in the nineteenth century Parsi calendar and religious reform in the early twentieth century 14 In the twentieth century / 216 Urban Parsis Zoroastrians in modern Iran Parsis in independent India and Pakistan Recent interpretations of Zoroastrian belief International dispersion Bibliography / 229 Index / 237