An Atash Behram (Fire of Victory) is the highest grade of fire that can be placed in a Zoroastrianfire temple as an eternal flame. The other two lower graded fires are Atash Adaran and below Adaran is the Atash Dadgah; these three grades signify the degree of reverence and dignity these are held in. The establishment and consecration of the Atash Behram fire is the most elaborate of all the grades of fire. It involves the gathering of 16 different types of fire, including fire by lightning (i.e. gathering up any branch of tree ignited by a lightning strike), fire from a cremation pyre, fire from trades where a furnace is operated, and fires from the hearths as is also the case for the Atash Adaran. Each of the 16 fires is then subject to a purification ritual before it joins the others. A large team of priests is required for the purification and consecration ceremonies, which can take up to a year to complete.
The religious significance of gathering purifying and consecrating several fires is to purify and return to Ahura Mazda. His first pure creation in its pristine form, to become a focus of worship and His eternal pure symbol, never allowed to go out. The sacred fire at Udvada Atash Behram, for example, kindled in 721 CE in Sanjan, burns continually to this day, now in Udvada since 1741, and housed in a magnificent Persian style temple building since 1742.
Types of fire, its purification and consecration
The 16 types of fire required for an Atash Behram are:[1]
Fire used in burning a corpse
The fire used by a dyer
The fire from a house of a king or a ruling authority
Fire from a potter
Fire from a brick-maker
Fire from an ascetic
Fire from a goldsmith
Fire from a mint
Fire from an ironsmith
Fire from an armourer
Fire from a baker
Fire from a brewer
Fire from a soldier
Fire from a shepherd
Fire produced by atmospheric lightning
Fire from the house of a Zoroastrian: what is actually done is fire is collected from the houses of a dastur (high priest/senior priest,) a mobad, and a layman. A natural fire is also kindled by striking two flint stones and the spark igniting some sandalwood. This last fire is kept with the 16th fire
Whereas fires from professions/work listed above is obtained by a Zoroastrian layman or priest approaching the person and requesting he be allowed to collect burning embers from the fire, in the case of fire from a burning corpse, the Zoroastrian waits for the corpse to burn down, then with a metal ladle, with a handle at least three feet in length, he fills the ladle with sandalwood or other inflammable wood filings, these ignite by heat from the burning embers of the pyre, the person making sure the ladle does not touch the hot embers of the funeral pyre.
In the case of fire from atmospheric lightning, the Zoroastrian community of the region approaches neighbouring townsfolk and villagers to look out for lightning strike on a tree or plant (which may take months or a year to happen), and collects the burning embers without delay and conveys it in a ladle to the priests assigned the elaborate work of consecration.
The 16 fires so collected are taken through an elaborate process of purification. In the case of the fire from a funeral pyre, the process of purification is repeated for 91 times by holding a ladle filled with sandalwood filings and frankincense 15 inches over the fire and igniting the contents in the ladle - this is repeated by igniting a fresh fire from the previous one, each time igniting a fresh fire, the previous one allowed to die out, each new fire is placed in a new pit or in a fresh metal vase; this is repeated 91 times, the 91st fire is then ready for consecration. In case of fire from lightning this process is done for 90 times, similarly on fire obtained from a dyer this purificatory process is done 80 times, from fire obtained from king's palace 70 times, on fire from a potter 61 times, from a brick maker for 75 times, on fire from an ascetic 50 times, on fire from goldsmith 60 times, from the mint 55 times, from ironsmith, armourer and baker and brewer 61 times each, from fire obtained from warriors home 35 times, from a shepherd's home 33 times and fire from home of a high priest 44 times, the fire obtained by striking two flints the purificatory is repeated 144 times, the last fire of each of 16 fires thus purified as result from the set number of times shown here, and the final 16 purified fires are ready for consecration.
Each of these purified 16 fires is assigned to a team of priests who have all undergone the Bareshnum purification ceremony. The prayers recited over these fires first begin by going through basic prayers such as the kushtiSarosh Baj the Gah prayers, and then the 72 chapters of the Yasna (which contain the Gathas sacred poems said to have been composed by the prophet Zarathustra and thus the most sacred ) along with the Vendidad are recited over the fires the same number of times as the purification numbers of each fire.
On the purified fire drawn from a funeral pyre, these Yasnas and Vendidad are recited in the following traditional pattern: for the first three days these prayers are dedicated to and invoked in the name of Ahura Mazda, then the next two sets of Zoroastrian calendar thirty days these prayers are dedicated to Ahura Mazda and the six Amesha Spentas and 23 Yazatas and in the third month prayers are said for only 28 days (to Ahura Mazda, the six Amesha Spentas and up to Zamyad Yazad, (Yazata of the 28th day) thus totalling 91 times in 91 days (3+30+30+28=91).
Similarly, in the now purified fire from lightning the same set of prayers are done for 90 days as 3+30+30+27 days but first three days dedicated to Daep Meher Yazata, then two months of 30 days beginning with Daep Meher and ending with day of Geush Yazata, and then 27 days these liturgies ending with day dedicated on the 27th day to Khurshed Yazata; on fire obtained from a dyer which was purified 80 times, 80 days prayers as detailed above would cover 3 days dedicated to the second Amesha Spenta Vohuman then two months totalling 60 days to all 30 divinities and the third month prayers would be recited for the balance 17 days ending with day dedicated to Rashna Yazata. (3+30+30+17 days=80 times.) Applying the same pattern to the purified fire from fire obtained from the king, consecration involve prayers over 70 times which would be three days prayers dedicated to the third Amesha Spenta Asha Vahista (Ardibehsth) then two sets of 30 day months dedicated to 30 divinities and the balance of only seven days ending with the day dedicated to Adar Amesha Spenta, totalling 70 days of prayer. (3+30+30+7=70)
Similar formulae as detailed are applied to the rest of the 16 purified fires; for example, to the purified fire from the house of a priest, the prayers are recited for 3+30 full month days+ 11 days of second month, totalling to 44 recitations of the Yasna and Vendidad for 44 days, corresponding to the 44 times this fire was purified.
These 16 purified and consecrated fires, which until the last day of the year (the Zoroastrian calendar has 12 months of 30 days each, the last five days piously dedicated to the five Gathas) are kept separate and kept burning with sandalwood and frankincense. On the first Gatha day the final ceremony of combining the 16 fires and consecration of this begins with the recitation in the dawn part of the Ushahin Geh (this Geh begins at midnight and up to the first sign of dawn the next morning.)
Now, the 16 fires are, beginning with the consecrated fire from fire from funeral pyre, ceremoniously gathered into a large censer by priests who have undergone the Bareshnum especially for this purpose, and then for the next three days Yasna and Vendidad are recited in honour of Sarosh Yazata, the great Yazata who since creation is assigned to protect Ahura Mazda's creation every night. Thereafter for next thirty days these set of liturgy, Yasna Vendidad and the mandatory prayers are recited before the assembled fire, each day in honour of the Yazata that presides over that day.
Now this great Atash Behram fire is considered a king and on the day which the founders, who can be an individual or a family or combined people of the place called Anjuman, have decided to enthrone the fire in its consecrated room within temple, it is carried there in a procession with pomp headed by the High Priest and placed on the large censer in the center of the consecrated room. The first Boi reciting the Atash Niyash (the liturgy in honour of Adar Yazata who presides over all Fires) is performed, and the great ritual that lasted a year or more ends with few days of performing Jashans[2] of thanksgivings and merriment amongst Zoroastrians of the place (refer J J Modi The Religious Ceremonies and Customs of the Parsis now also available in Avesta.org).
List of Atash Behrams
This is a list of Atash Behrams that still survive today.
Zoroastrianism, also known as Mazdayasna and Behdin, is an Iranian religion. Among the world's oldest organized faiths, it is based on the teachings of Iranian prophet Zarathustra—commonly known by his Greek name Zoroaster—as set forth in the primary religious text called the Avesta. Zoroastrians exalt an uncreated and benevolent deity of wisdom as the universe's supreme being, commonly referred to as Ahura Mazda. Opposed to Ahura Mazda is Angra Mainyu, who is personified as a destructive spirit and the adversary of all things good. Zoroastrianism combines a dualistic cosmology of good and evil with an eschatology that predicts the ultimate triumph of Ahura Mazda over evil. Opinions vary among scholars as to whether the religion is monotheistic, polytheistic, henotheistic, or a combination of all three. Zoroastrianism shaped Iranian culture and history, while scholars differ on whether it significantly influenced ancient Western philosophy and the Abrahamic religions, or gradually reconciled with other religions and traditions, such as Christianity and Islam.
The Avesta is the primary collection of religious texts of Zoroastrianism from at least the late Sassanid period. It is composed in the Avestan language, with the oldest surviving fragment of a text in the Avestan language dating to 1323 CE.
Atar, Atash, Azar or Dāštāɣni, is the Zoroastrian concept of holy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire". It is considered to be the visible presence of Ahura Mazda and his Asha through the eponymous Yazata. The rituals for purifying a fire are performed 1,128 times a year.
Yasna is the Avestan name of Zoroastrianism's principal act of worship. It is also the name of the primary liturgical collection of Avesta texts, recited during that yasna ceremony.
In Zoroastrianism, the Amesha Spenta are a class of seven divine entities emanating from Ahura Mazda, the highest divinity of the religion. Later Middle Persian variations of the term include the contraction 'Ameshaspand' as well as the specifically Zoroastrian 'Mahraspand' and 'Amahraspand'.
A fire temple, (Gujarati: અગિયારી, romanized: agiyārī) is the place of worship for the followers of Zoroastrianism, the ancient religion of Persia. In Zoroastrianism, atar or fire, together with aban, water, are agents of ritual purity. Clean, white "ash for the purification ceremonies [is] regarded as the basis of ritual life", which "are essentially the rites proper to the tending of a domestic fire, for the temple [fire] is that of the hearth fire raised to a new solemnity". For, one "who sacrifices unto fire with fuel in his hand ..., is given happiness".
A daeva is a Zoroastrian supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon, the daevas are "gods that are rejected". This meaning is – subject to interpretation – perhaps also evident in the Old Persian "daiva inscription" of the 5th century BCE. In the Younger Avesta, the daevas are divinities that promote chaos and disorder. In later tradition and folklore, the dēws are personifications of every imaginable evil. Over time, the Daeva myth as Div became integrated to Islam.
Yazata is the Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying 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 yazatas collectively are "the good powers under Ahura Mazda", who is "the greatest of the yazatas".
Soroush, or Sraosha, is the Avestan name of the Zoroastrian yazata of "Conscience" and "Observance", which is also the literal meaning of his name.
Fravashi is the Avestan term for the Zoroastrian concept of a personal spirit of an individual, whether dead, living, or yet-unborn. The fravashi of an individual sends out the urvan into the material world to fight the battle of good versus evil. On the morning of the fourth day after death, the urvan returns to its fravashi, where its experiences in the material world are collected to assist the next generation in their fight between good and evil.
Zam is the Avestan language term for the Zoroastrian concept of "earth", in both the sense of land and soil and in the sense of the world. The earth is viewed as a primordial element in Zoroastrian tradition, and represented by a minor divinity, Zam, who is the hypostasis of the "earth". The word itself, changed to Zamin in Modern Persian, is cognate to the Baltic Zemes, Slavic Zem, Serbian Zemlja, Greco-Thracian Semele, meaning the planet Earth, as well as soil.
Dahman or Dahman Afrin is the Avestan language name of a Zoroastrian concept, later considered to be the embodiment of prayer, and ultimately (also) as a divinity, one of the yazatas.
Apas is the Avestan language term for "the waters", which, in its innumerable aggregate states, is represented by the Apas, the hypostases of the waters.
Asha or arta is a Zoroastrian concept with a complex and highly nuanced range of meaning. It is commonly summarized in accord with its contextual implications of 'truth' and 'right', 'order' and 'right working'. It is of cardinal importance to Zoroastrian theology and doctrine. In the moral sphere, aṣ̌a/arta represents what has been called "the decisive confessional concept of Zoroastrianism". The opposite of Avestan aṣ̌a is 𐬛𐬭𐬎𐬘 druj, "deceit, falsehood".
Haurvatat /ˈhəʊrvətət/ is the Avestan language word for the Zoroastrian concept of "wholeness" or "perfection." In post-Gathic Zoroastrianism, Haurvatat was the Amesha Spenta associated with water, prosperity, and health.
In the Avesta, airyaman is both an Avestan language common noun and the proper name of a Zoroastrian divinity.
A barsom is a ritual implement used by Zoroastrian priests to solemnize certain sacred ceremonies.
Visperad or Visprad is either a particular Zoroastrian religious ceremony or the name given to a passage collection within the greater Avesta compendium of texts.
This is an alphabetical list of topics related to Zoroastrianism. This list is not complete, please add more to it as needed.
The Fire Temple of Yazd, also known as Yazd Atash Behram, is a Zoroastrian fire temple in Yazd, Yazd province, Iran. It enshrines the Atash Bahram, meaning “Victorious Fire”, dated to 470 AD. It is one of the nine Atash Bahrams, the only one of the highest-grade fires in Iran, where Zoroastrians have practiced their religion since 400 BC; the other eight Atash Bahrams are in India. According to Aga Rustam Noshiravan Belivani, of Sharifabad, the Anjuman-i Nasiri opened the Yazd Atash Behram in the 1960s to non-Zoroastrian visitors.
References
↑ Hartman, Sven S. (1980). Parsism: The Religions of Zoroaster. BRILL. p.20. ISBN9004062084.
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