Kshatra Vairya (; also Šahrewar

Middle Persian Middle Persian, also known by its endonym Pārsīk or Pārsīg ( Inscriptional Pahlavi script: , Manichaean script: , Avestan script: ) in its later form, is a Western Middle Iranian language which became the literary language of the Sasania ...

: 𐭱𐭲𐭥𐭩𐭥𐭥,Šahrewar
Iranica Online and Xšaθra 𐬑𐬱𐬀𐬚𐬭𐬀, a

cognate In historical linguistics, cognates or lexical cognates are sets of words that have been inherited in direct descent from an etymological ancestor in a common parent language. Because language change can have radical effects on both the s ...

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; stem form ; nominal singular , ,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan languages, Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in northwest South Asia after its predecessor languages had Trans-cultural ...

'' kṣatrá'' in the

Avestan Avestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian languages, Iranian branch of the Indo-European languages, Indo-European language family and was First language, originally spoken during the Avestan period, Old ...

language, from

Proto-Indo-Iranian Proto-Indo-Iranian, also called Proto-Indo-Iranic or Proto-Aryan, is the reconstructed proto-language of the Indo-Iranian branch of Indo-European. Its speakers, the hypothetical Proto-Indo-Iranians, are assumed to have lived in the late 3rd ...

'' kšatrám'') is one of the great seven " bounteous immortals" of

Ahura Mazda Ahura Mazda (; ; or , ),The former is the New Persian rendering of the Avestan form, while the latter derives from Middle Persian. also known as Horomazes (),, is the only creator deity and Sky deity, god of the sky in the ancient Iranian ...

in the

Zoroastrian Zoroastrianism ( ), also called Mazdayasnā () or Beh-dīn (), is an Iranian religion centred on the Avesta and the teachings of Zarathushtra Spitama, who is more commonly referred to by the Greek translation, Zoroaster ( ). Among the wo ...

religion. The spelling ''Xšaθra'' is used by followers of the Zoroastrian faith in a representation of the dominion of the Creator

. In the

cosmology Cosmology () is a branch of physics and metaphysics dealing with the nature of the universe, the cosmos. The term ''cosmology'' was first used in English in 1656 in Thomas Blount's ''Glossographia'', with the meaning of "a speaking of the wo ...

of the faith, Kshathra Vairya is borne of the divine principal of

Vohu Manah Vohu Manah (Avestan: 𐬬𐬊𐬵𐬎⸱𐬨𐬀𐬥𐬀𐬵 ''vohu manah'') is the Avestan language term for a Zoroastrian concept, generally translated as "Good Purpose", "Good Mind", or "Good Thought", referring to the good state of mind th ...

, from which comes the core belief of 'Good Thoughts'. In the

Gatha ''Gāthā'' is a Sanskrit term for 'song' or 'verse', especially referring to any poetic metre which is used in legends or folklores, and is not part of the Vedas but peculiar to either Epic Sanskrit or to Prakrit. The word is originally derived ...

s, ''Xšaθra Vairya'' does not have an association with a specific creation, and it is only in later texts that this Amesha Spenta is considered the guardian of metals. This anomaly is explained in modern scholarship by the fact that, in

Stone Age The Stone Age was a broad prehistory, prehistoric period during which Rock (geology), stone was widely used to make stone tools with an edge, a point, or a percussion surface. The period lasted for roughly 3.4 million years and ended b ...

cosmogony, the sky was considered to be the first of the creations (and thought to be of stone), but metal has no place among the creations (the bronze and Iron Ages were yet to come). This is also reflected in Zoroaster's revelation, where the sky is "of the hardest stone" (''Yasna'' 30.5). Later, with the event of bronze and then iron tools, this sky evolved to being of crystal, which was seen as both of stone and of metal (''Yasht'' 13.2). In due course, Xšaθra's association with a stony firmament was eclipsed by the association with a metallic sky, and thence to metals in general. The 6th Persian month

Shahrivar Shahrivar (, ) is the sixth month of the Solar Hijri calendar, the official calendar of Iran and Afghanistan. Shahrivar has thirty-one days. It begins in August and ends in September by the Gregorian calendar. The Afghan Persian name is Sonbol ...

is named after him.

References

{{Reflist Yazatas Zoroastrian calendar