Yazata ( ae, 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀) is the

Avestan Avestan (), or historically Zend, is an umbrella term for two Old Iranian languages: Old Avestan (spoken in the 2nd millennium BCE) and Younger Avestan (spoken in the 1st millennium BCE). They are known only from their conjoined use as the scrip ...

word for a

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying (or used as an epithet of) a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship or veneration",.. and is thus, in this more general sense, also applied to certain healing plants, primordial creatures, the '' fravashis'' of the dead, and to certain prayers that are themselves considered holy. The ''yazata''s collectively are "the good powers under

Ahura Mazda Ahura Mazda (; ae, , translit=Ahura Mazdā; ), also known as Oromasdes, Ohrmazd, Ahuramazda, Hoormazd, Hormazd, Hormaz and Hurmuz, is the creator deity in Zoroastrianism. He is the first and most frequently invoked spirit in the ''Yasna'' ...

", who is "the greatest of the ''yazata''s"..

Etymology

''Yazata'' is an Avestan-language passive adjectival

participle In linguistics, a participle () (from Latin ' a "sharing, partaking") is a nonfinite verb form that has some of the characteristics and functions of both verbs and adjectives. More narrowly, ''participle'' has been defined as "a word derived from ...

derived from ''yaz-''; "to worship, to honor, to venerate", from

Proto-Indo-European Proto-Indo-European (PIE) is the reconstructed common ancestor of the Indo-European language family. Its proposed features have been derived by linguistic reconstruction from documented Indo-European languages. No direct record of Proto-Indo ...

''*yeh₂ǵ-'' (“to worship, revere, sacrifice”). The word ''

yasna Yasna (;"Yasna"
'' yagna Yajna ( sa, यज्ञ, yajña, translit-std=IAST, sacrifice, devotion, worship, offering) refers in Hinduism to any ritual done in front of a sacred fire, often with mantras.SG Nigal (1986), Axiological Approach to the Vedas, Northern Book ...

– "worship, sacrifice, oblation, prayer" – comes from the same root. A ''yaza+ ta'' is accordingly "a being worthy of worship", "an object of worship" or "a holy being". As the stem form, ''yazata-'' has the

inflected In linguistic morphology, inflection (or inflexion) is a process of word formation in which a word is modified to express different grammatical categories such as tense, case, voice, aspect, person, number, gender, mood, animacy, and de ...

nominative In grammar, the nominative case ( abbreviated ), subjective case, straight case or upright case is one of the grammatical cases of a noun or other part of speech, which generally marks the subject of a verb or (in Latin and formal variants of Eng ...

forms ''yazatō'' (), pl. ''yazatåŋhō'' (). These forms reflect

Proto-Iranian Proto-Iranian or Proto-Iranic is the reconstructed proto-language of the Iranian languages branch of Indo-European language family and thus the ancestor of the Iranian languages such as Pashto, Persian, Sogdian, Zazaki, Ossetian, Mazandara ...

''*yazatah'' and pl. ''*yazatāhah''. In

Middle Persian Middle Persian or Pahlavi, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg () in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasanian Empire. For some time after the Sasanian collapse, Middle P ...

the term became ''yazad'' or ''yazd'' (), pl. ''yazdān'', continuing in

New Persian New Persian ( fa, فارسی نو), also known as Modern Persian () and Dari (), is the current stage of the Persian language spoken since the 8th to 9th centuries until now in Greater Iran and surroundings. It is conventionally divided into thr ...

as ''izad'' (). Related terms in other languages are

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural diffusion ...

(''yájati'', meaning "he worships, he sacrifices"), (''yajatá-'', "worthy of worship, holy"), (''yajñá'', "sacrifice"), and perhaps also Greek (''

hagios ''Agios'' ( el, Άγιος), plural ''Agioi'' (), transcribes masculine gender Greek words meaning ' sacred' or ' saint' (for example Agios Dimitrios, Agioi Anargyroi). It is frequently shortened in colloquial language to ''Ai'' (for example Ai ...

'', "devoted to the gods, sacred, holy").

In scripture

The term ''yazata'' is already used in the

Gathas The Gathas ()"Gatha"
''

, the oldest texts of

Zoroastrianism Zoroastrianism is an Iranian religion and one of the world's oldest organized faiths, based on the teachings of the Iranian-speaking prophet Zoroaster. It has a dualistic cosmology of good and evil within the framework of a monotheisti ...

and believed to have been composed by Zarathustra himself. In these hymns, ''yazata'' is used as a generic, applied to

as well as to the "divine sparks" that are in later tradition the

Amesha Spenta In Zoroastrianism, the Amesha Spenta ( ae, , Aməša Spəṇta—literally "Immortal (which is) holy/bounteous/furthering") are a class of seven divine entities emanating from Ahura Mazda, the highest divinity of the religion. Later Middle Persia ...

s. In the Gathas, the ''yazata''s are effectively what the ''daeva''s are not; that is, the ''yazata''s are to be worshipped while the ''daeva''s are to be rejected. The Gathas also collectively invoke the ''yazata''s without providing a clue as to which entities are being invoked, and—given the structure and language of the hymns—it is generally not possible to determine whether these ''yazata''s are abstract concepts or are manifest entities. Amongst the lesser Yazatas being invoked by name by the poet of the Gathas are

Sraosha Sraosha ( ae, 𐬯𐬭𐬀𐬊𐬴𐬀 or ) is the Avestan name of the Zoroastrian '' yazata'' of "Conscience" and "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of his name. In the Middle Persian commentaries of the 9th-12th centuries, the di ...

, Ashi, Atar, Geush Tashan,

Geush Urvan Gavaevodata (') is the Avestan language name of the primordial bovine of Zoroastrian cosmogony and cosmology, one of Ahura Mazda's six primordial material creations and the mythological progenitor of all beneficent animal life. The primordial be ...

, Tushnamaiti, and Iza, and all of which "win mention in his hymns, it seems, because of their close association with rituals of sacrifice and worship".. In the Younger Avesta, the ''yazata''s are unambiguously divine, with divine powers though performing mundane tasks such as serving as charioteers for other ''yazata''s. Several ''yazata''s are given

anthropomorphic Anthropomorphism is the attribution of human traits, emotions, or intentions to non-human entities. It is considered to be an innate tendency of human psychology. Personification is the related attribution of human form and characteristics t ...

attributes, such as cradling a mace or bearing a crown upon their heads, or not letting sleep interrupt their vigil against the demons. At some point during the late 5th or early 4th century BCE, the

Achaemenid The Achaemenid Empire or Achaemenian Empire (; peo, wikt:𐎧𐏁𐏂𐎶, 𐎧𐏁𐏂, , ), also called the First Persian Empire, was an History of Iran#Classical antiquity, ancient Iranian empire founded by Cyrus the Great in 550 BC. Bas ...

s instituted a religious calendar in which each day of the month was named after, and placed under the protection of, a particular ''yazata''. These day-name dedications were not only of religious significance because they ensured that those divinities remained in the public consciousness, they also established a hierarchy among the ''yazata''s, with specific exalted entities having key positions in the day-name dedications (see

Zoroastrian calendar Adherents of Zoroastrianism use three distinct versions of traditional calendars for liturgical purposes, all derived from medieval Iranian calendars and ultimately based on the Babylonian calendar as used in the Achaemenid empire. ''Qadim ...

for details). Although these day-name dedications are mirrored in scripture, it cannot be determined whether these day-name assignments were provoked by an antecedent list in scripture (e.g. ''

Yasna Yasna (;"Yasna"
'' Avesta's ''Siroza'' ("30 days"), which contain explicit references to the ''yazata''s as protectors/guardians of their respective days of the month.

In tradition

The 9th–12th century texts of Zoroastrian tradition observe the ''yazata''s (by then as

''yazad''s) in much the same way as the hymns of the Younger Avesta. In addition, in roles that are only alluded to in scripture, they assume characteristics of cosmological or eschatological consequence. For instance, Aredvi Sura Anahita (''Ardvisur Nahid'') is both a divinity of the waters as well as a rushing world river that encircles the earth, which is blocked up by

Angra Mainyu Angra Mainyu (; Avestan: 𐬀𐬢𐬭𐬀⸱𐬨𐬀𐬌𐬥𐬌𐬌𐬎 ''Aŋra Mainiiu'') is the Avestan-language name of Zoroastrianism's hypostasis of the "destructive/evil spirit" and the main adversary in Zoroastrianism either of th ...

(''Ahriman'') thus causing drought. The blockage is removed by

Verethragna Verethragna ( ae, 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬀‎ ') is an Indo-Iranian deity. The neuter noun ''verethragna'' is related to Avestan ''verethra'', 'obstacle' and ''verethragnan'', 'victorious'. Representing this concept is the divin ...

(''Vahram''), and

Tishtrya Tishtrya ( ave, 𐬙𐬌𐬱𐬙𐬭𐬌𐬌𐬀, Tištrya, fa, تیر, Tir) or Roozahang is the Avestan language name of a Zoroastrian benevolent divinity associated with life-bringing rainfall and fertility. Tishtrya is Tir in Middle- and Mode ...

(''Tir'') gathers up the waters and spreads them over the earth ( Zam) as rain. In stories with eschatological significance,

(''Sarosh''), Mithra (''Mihr''), and

Rashnu Rashnu ( ae, 𐬭𐬀𐬴𐬢𐬏) is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian '' yazata'' of justice. Together with Mithra and Sraosha, Rashnu is one of the three judges who pass judgment on the souls of people after death. Rashnu's standa ...

(''Rashn'') are guardians of the Chinvat bridge, the bridge of the separator, across which all souls must pass. Further, what the calendrical dedications had begun, the tradition completed: at the top of the hierarchy was

, who was supported by the great heptad of

s (''Ameshaspand''s/''Mahraspand''s), through which the Creator realized ("created with his thought") the manifest universe. The Amesha Spentas in turn had ''hamkars'', "assistants" or "cooperators", each a caretaker of one facet of creation. In both tradition and scripture, the terms 'Amesha Spenta' and 'yazata' are sometimes used interchangeably. In general, however, 'Amesha Spenta' signifies the six divine emanations of Ahura Mazda. In tradition, ''yazata'' is the first of the 101 epithets of Ahura Mazda. The word also came to be applied to Zoroaster, though Zoroastrians today remain sharply critical of any attempts to deify the prophet. In a hierarchy excluding either Ahura Mazda or the Amesha Spentas amongst the ''yazatas'', the most prominent amongst those "worthy of worship" is Mithra, who "is second only in dignity to Ohrmazd (i.e. Ahura Mazda) himself.". Outside of the traditional yazatas, local and foreign deities may have been incorporated into local religious practice in various distant territories of the Persian Empires. This features prominently in Zoroastrian worship in

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''O ...

, the

Kushan Empire The Kushan Empire ( grc, Βασιλεία Κοσσανῶν; xbc, Κυϸανο, ; sa, कुषाण वंश; Brahmi: , '; BHS: ; xpr, 𐭊𐭅𐭔𐭍 𐭇𐭔𐭕𐭓, ; zh, 貴霜 ) was a syncretic empire, formed by the Yuezhi, ...

Sogdia Sogdia ( Sogdian: ) or Sogdiana was an ancient Iranian civilization between the Amu Darya and the Syr Darya, and in present-day Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Kazakhstan, and Kyrgyzstan. Sogdiana was also a province of the Achaemenid Emp ...

, China, and other regions where Zoroastrianism was practiced outside of Iran.

In the present day

In the 1860s and 1870s, the linguist Martin Haug interpreted Zoroastrian scripture in Christian terms, and compared the ''yazata''s to the angels of Christianity. In this scheme, the Amesha Spentas are the arch-angel retinue of Ahura Mazda, with the ''hamkars'' as the supporting host of lesser angels. At the time Haug wrote his translations, the Parsi (i.e. Indian Zoroastrian) community was under intense pressure from English and American missionaries, who severely criticized the Zoroastrians for—as John Wilson portrayed it in 1843—"polytheism", which the missionaries argued was much less worth than their own "monotheism". At the time, Zoroastrianism lacked theologians of its own, and so the Zoroastrians were poorly equipped to make their own case. In this situation, Haug's counter-interpretation came as a welcome relief, and was (by-and-large) gratefully accepted as legitimate. Haug's interpretations were subsequently disseminated as Zoroastrian ones, which then eventually reached the west where they were seen to corroborate Haug. Like most of Haug's interpretations, this comparison is today so well entrenched that a gloss of 'yazata' as 'angel' is almost universally accepted; both in publications intended for a general audience''cf.'' .''cf.'' . as well as in (non-philological) academic literature.''cf.'' .''cf.'' . Amongst the Muslims of Iran,

came to be "arguably the most popular of all the subordinate Yazatas", for as the angel Surush, only he (of the entire Zoroastrian pantheon) is still venerated by name..

Notes

References

;Bibliography * . * * . * * * . * * * * * * * . * .

External links

*{{Commonscatinline, Yazatas Middle Eastern deities Persian legendary creatures Zoroastrian legendary creatures Ancient Iranian legendary creatures