| Atar | |
|---|---|
God of Fire | |
 Fire bowl on a coin of the Sasanian emperorArdashir Babakan. | |
| Other names | Ataxsh, Atash, Atarsh, Adar, Adur, Azar |
| Avestan | Ātar 𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭 |
| Affiliation | The Thirty-Three Deities,Guardians of the Days of the Month, The Twelve Deities,Four Elements |
| Symbol | Fire, Light and Illumination |
| Sacred flower | Sunflower |
| Attributes | Guardian of Fire, Giver of Warmth |
| Day | 9th of each month in theIranian calendar |
| Gender | Male |
| Festivals | Azargān |
| Associated deities | Asha Vahishta,Verethragna,Sraosha |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Hephaestus |
| Roman | Vulcan |
| Indian | Agni |
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Atar (Avestan:𐬁𐬙𐬀𐬭,romanized: ātar) is theZoroastrian concept ofholy fire, sometimes described in abstract terms as "burning and unburning fire" or "visible and invisible fire" (Mirza, 1987:389). It is considered to be the visible presence ofAhura Mazda and hisAsha through the eponymousYazata. The rituals for purifying a fire are performed 1,128 times a year.[citation needed]
In theAvestan language,ātar is an attribute of sources of heat and light, of which the nominative singular form isātarš, source ofPersianātaš (fire). It was once thought to be etymologically related to theAvestanāθrauuan /aθaurun (Vedicatharvan), a type of priest, but that is now considered unlikely (Boyce, 2002:16). The ultimate etymology ofātar, previously unknown (Boyce, 2002:1), is now believed to be from theIndo-European *hxehxtr- 'fire'. This would make it a cognate toLatinater (black) and toAlbanianvatër (definite form:vatra) "hearth", "fireplace", which was loaned toRomanianvatră "hearth", "fireplace", and thereafter spread toSerbo-Croatvatra "fire" andUkrainianvatra "bonfire".[1][2]
In later Zoroastrianism,ātar (Middle Persian: 𐭠𐭲𐭥𐭥𐭩ādar orādur) is iconographically conflated with fire itself, which in Middle Persian is 𐭠𐭲𐭧𐭱ātaxsh, one of the primary objects of Zoroastrian symbolism.
Atar is already evident in theGathas, the oldest texts of the compendium of theAvesta and believed to have been composed byZoroaster himself. At this juncture, as in theYasna Haptanghaiti (the seven-chapterYasna that structurally interrupts the Gathas and is linguistically as old as the Gathas themselves),atar is still—with only one exception—an abstract concept simply an instrument, a medium, of the Creator and is not yet the divinity (yazata) of heat and light thatatar was to become in the later texts.
In the most ancient texts,atar is a medium, a faculty, through which judgement is passed and reflects the pre-Zoroastrian institution ofordeal by heat (Avestan:garmo-varah, heat ordeal;cf. Boyce 1996:ch. 6). Justice is administered throughatar (Yasna 31.3, 34.4, 36.2, 47.2), the blazingatar (31.19, 51.9), through the heat ofatar (43.4), through the blazing, shining, molten metal (ayangha Khshushta, 30.7, 32.7, 51.9). An individual who has passed the fiery test, has attained physical and spiritual strength, wisdom, truth and love with serenity (30.7). However, among all the references toatar in the oldest texts, it is only once addressed independently ofAhura Mazda. In this exception,atar is spoken of in the third person masculine singular: "He detects sinners by hand-grasping" (Yasna 34.4). Altogether, "there are said to have been some 30 kinds of fiery tests in all." (Boyce, 2002:1)
Also in the early texts, tangential to its role in establishing guilt,atar is the light of revelation through which Zoroaster is selected by Ahura Mazda, theZarathushtra Mainyu Athra (Yasna 31.3), radiated by Ahura Mazda (43.9), bearing the conviction of "Good Purpose" (Vohu Manah, 43.4; see alsoAmesha Spenta), and enlightening one's inner-self (46.7). Within this framework of the concept of divine illumination,atar radiates the "other lights" (31.7), the essence (of Ahura Mazda) from which insight and wisdom permeate the universe. So also Zoroaster's injunction to always pray in the presence ofatar—either towards the sun, or towards their own hearths—so as to better concentrate their devotions onasha, righteousness, and the virtue that should be striven for (Yasna 43.9, see also Boyce, 1975:455).
The Gathic role ofatar as the medium for detecting guilt is not directly evident in the later texts of the Avesta, but reappears in modified form as an allegory of burning and annihilating theAngra Mainyu through righteousness, "where Asha Vahishta is identified at times with the household fire on the hearth." There, "identification in the realms of matter and of spirit serves only to bring more into prominence the main tenets of Zoroaster's teachings in regard to Asha" (Dhalla, 1938:170). A vestige of the ancient institution of ordeal by heat is nonetheless present inVendidad 4.54–55, where speaking against the truth and violating the sanctity of promise is punishable by flogging and is detected by the consumption of "water, blazing, of golden color, having the power to detect guilt." TheZend translation/commentary on this passage translates "blazing" as "having brimstone and sulphur", and notes that innocence or guilt was established by the consumption of this "guilt-detecting liquid". Similarly, in theDenkard, Adharbad Maraspand—theSassanid era high-priest to whom the collation of theAvesta texts is attributed—is purported to have nine measures of "unburning molten zinc" applied to his chest as proof of accuracy of the sacred texts.
Seen chronologically, the transition fromatar as a vehicle of judgement toAtarYazata the divinity presiding over blazing fire is abrupt. While the older Gathic Avestan texts have heat (and thus fire) associated with harsh judgement, theYounger Avestan texts have the divinityAtar completely representing and being represented by fire itself; and associated with warmth and light and essential for growth.Asha Vahishta's association withatar is however carried forward, and they are often mentioned together (Yasna 62.3,Nyashes 5.9, etc.). So also in their roles as protectors, for "when the Evil Spirit assailed the creation of Good Truth, Good Thought and Fire intervened" (Yasht 13.77).
It is in the later texts thatAtar is personified as "the son" of Ahura Mazda (standard appellation,Yasna 25.7 et al.) and is addressed as "full of glory and full of healing remedies" (Nyash 5.6). InYasna 17.11,Atar is "master of the house", recalling the role of the hearth fire in the Gathas. The same passage enumerates the "five kinds of fire":
The description of the fires in the Sassanid era commentaries (theZend texts) differs slightly from those described in theBundahishn ("Original Creation", completed in the 11th or 12th century). In the latter, the description of the first and last kind of fire is reversed.
During the lateAchaemenid era,adar—as the quintessence of theYazataAdar—was incorporated in the Zoroastrian hierarchy of divinities. In that position,Adar aidsAsha Vahishta (Avestan,Middle Persian:Ardvahisht), theAmesha Spenta responsible for the luminaries. From among the flowers associated with theYazatas,Adar's is themarigold (calendula) (Bundahishn 27.24).
The importance of the divinityAdar is evident from a dedication to the entity in theZoroastrian calendar:Adar is one of the only fiveYazatas that have a month-name dedication. Additionally,Adar is the name of the ninth day of the month in the Zoroastrian religious calendar, and the ninth month of the year of the civil Iranian calendar of 1925 (modern Persian:Azar) which has month-names derived from those used by the Zoroastrian calendar.
In Zoroastrian cosmogony,Adar was the seventh of the seven creations of the material universe. It is only withAdar's assistance, who serves as the life-force, that the other six creations begin their work (Bundahishn 3.7–8; more logically explained inZatspram 3.77–83).
Although Zoroastrians revere fire in any form, the temple fire is not literally for the reverence of fire, but together with clean water (seeAban), is an agent 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 cult is that of the hearth fire raised to a new solemnity" (Boyce, 1975:455). For, "the man who sacrifices unto fire with fuel in his hand, with theBaresman in his hand, with milk in his hand, with the mortar for crushing the branches of the sacredHaoma in his hand, is given happiness" (Yasna 62.1;Nyashes 5.7)
The Zoroastrian cult of fire is apparently much younger than Zoroastrianism itself and appears at approximately the same time as the shrine cult, first evident in the 4th century BCE (roughly contemporaneous with the introduction ofAdar as a divinity). There is no allusion to a temple cult of fire in the Avesta proper, nor is there anyold Persian language word for one. Moreover, Boyce suggests that the temple cult of fire was instituted in opposition to the image/shrine cult and "no actual ruins of a fire temple have been identified from before the Parthian period" (Boyce, 1975:454).
That the cult of fire was a doctrinal modification and absent from early Zoroastrianism is still evident in the laterAtash Nyash: in the oldest passages of that liturgy, it is the hearth fire that speaks to "all those for whom it cooks the evening and morning meal", which Boyce observes is not consistent with sanctified fire. The temple cult is an even later development: FromHerodotus it is known that in the mid-5th century BCE the Zoroastrians worshipped to the open sky, ascending mounds to light their fires (The Histories, i.131).Strabo confirms this, noting that in the 6th century, the sanctuary at Zela inCappadocia was an artificial mound, walled in, but open to the sky (Geographica XI.8.4.512).
By theParthian era (250 BCE–226 CE), Zoroastrianism had in fact two kinds of places of worship: One, apparently calledbagin orayazan, sanctuaries dedicated to a specific divinity, constructed in honor of the patron Yazata of an individual or family and included an icon or effigy of the honored. The second were theatroshan, the "places of burning fire", which as Boyce (1997:ch. 3) notes, became more and more prevalent as the iconoclastic movement gained support. Following the rise of the Sassanid dynasty, the shrines to theYazatas continued to exist, with the statues—by law—either being abandoned as empty sanctuaries, or being replaced by fire altars (so also the popular shrines to Meher/Mithra which retained the nameDarb-e Mehr—Mithra's Gate—that is today one of the Zoroastrian technical terms for a fire temple).
Also, as Schippman observed (loc. Cit. Boyce, 1975:462), even during theSassanid era (226–650 CE) there is no evidence that the fires were categorized according to their sanctity. "It seems probable that there were virtually only two, namely theAtash-i Vahram [literally: "victorious fire", later misunderstood to be the Fire ofBahram, see Gnoli, 2002:512] and the lesserAtash-i Adaran, or 'Fire of Fires', a parish fire, as it were, serving a village or town quarter" (Boyce, 1975:462; Boyce 1966:63). Apparently, it was only in theAtash-i Vahram that fire was kept continuously burning, with theAdaran fires being annually relit. While the fires themselves had special names, the structures did not, and it has been suggested that "the prosaic nature of the middle Persian names (kadag,man, andxanag are all words for an ordinary house) perhaps reflect a desire on the part of those who fostered the temple-cult [...] to keep it as close as possible in character to the age-old cult of the hearth-fire, and to discourage elaboration" (Boyce, 2002:9).
The IndianParsi-Zoroastrian practice of rendering the termathornan (derived from the Avestan language "athravan") as "fire-priest" in the English language is based on the mistaken assumption that theathra* prefix derives fromatar (Boyce, 2002:16–17). The termathravan does not appear in the Gathas, where a priest is azaotar, and in its oldest attested use (Yasna 42.6) the term appears to be synonymous with "missionary". In the laterYasht 13.94, Zoroaster himself is said to have been anathravan, which in this context could not be a reference toatar if a cult of fire and its associated priesthood did not yet exist in Zoroaster's time. Thus, in all probability, "the word athravan has a different derivation." (Boyce, 2002:17)
InVendidad 1,Adar battlesAži Dahāka, the great dragon of the sky.
InFerdowsi'sShahnameh,Hoshang, the grandson of the first manGayomard, discovers fire in a rock. He recognizes it as the divine glory of Ahura Mazda, offers homage to it, and instructs his people to so as well. Also in the Shahnameh is the legend ofSevavash, who passes through "the unburning fire" as proof of his innocence.
During the Sassanid era (226–650 CE), the symbol of Fire plays much the same role that the winged sunFaravahar did during theAchaemenid period (648–330 BCE). Beginning withArdashir I, the founder of theSassanid Empire, many of the kings of the dynasty issued one or more coins with a symbol of Fire on the verso, and seals and bullae with the fire symbol were common.
The first silver coins of the empire have helmeted busts ofArdashir I (r. 226–241) or his fatherPapak on the obverse (a figure of the ruling monarch on the obverse is consistent throughout the dynasty), with a representation of a fire altar, accompanied by the legendatash i artakhshir, "Fire of Ardeshir", on the reverse. Ardashir's son,Shapur I (r. 241–272), has much the same image but adds two attendants at the fire altar. On the coins ofHormizd I (also known as Ardashir II,r. 272–273), the emperor himself tends the fire with the help of an attendant.Bahram II (276–293) also appears himself, accompanied by what may be his queen and son.Narseh (r. 293–303) also attends the fire himself, this time alone. On the coins ofShapur III (r. 383–388), a divinity appears to be emerging from the fire. The shape of the fire altar in the coins ofYazdegerd II (r. 438–457) are similar to those in present-day fire temples. The legend introduced under Ardeshir yields to a mint mark and year of issue underPeroz (r. 457–484), a feature evident in all the coins of the remaining dynasty.
Atar is the name of a French jet engine, developed and produced by the SNECMA company.
Romanian also famously borrowedvatër 'hearth' with patently Toskva- and proceeded to spread it to wherever Vlachs expanded subsequently.
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