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| Verethragna | |
|---|---|
God of War and Victory Barrier-Breaker | |
 Relief of the God Varahram on a column inTaq-e Bostan,Sassanian period | |
| Avestan | Verethragna 𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬀 |
| Affiliation | The Thirty-Three Deities,Guardians of the Days of the Month |
| Planet | Mars |
| Symbol | White Horse, Strong wind, Wild Boar, Camel, Bull, Young Man, Ram, Wild Goat, Magnificent Armed Man, Bird of Prey |
| Sacred flower | Hyacinth |
| Day | 20th of each month in theIranian calendar,Tuesday of each week |
| Gender | male |
| Associated deities | Mithra,Tishtrya,Vayu-Vata |
| Equivalents | |
| Greek | Ares |
| Roman | Mars |
| Part ofa series on |
| Zoroastrianism |
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Verethragna orBahram (Avestan:𐬬𐬆𐬭𐬆𐬚𐬭𐬀𐬖𐬥𐬀,romanized: vər-ə-θraɣna) is aZoroastrianyazata.[1][2]
The neuter nounverethragna is related to Avestanverethra, 'obstacle' andverethragnan, 'victorious'.[3] Representing this concept is the divinity Verethragna, who is thehypostasis of "victory", and "as a giver of victory Verethragna plainly enjoyed the greatest popularity of old."[4] In Zoroastrian Middle Persian, Verethragna became𐭥𐭫𐭧𐭫𐭠𐭭Warahrām, from which Vahram, Vehram, Bahram, Behram and other variants derive.
The Proto-Aryan adjective *vrtraghan, which corresponds to the Avestan noun Verethragna, also has an etymological cognate in Vedic Sanskrit –Vrtra. In Vedic literature, Vrtrahan is predominantly an epithet used for Indra[5] after he defeated Vrtra. Vrtrahan literally means "slayer of Vrtra."
The name and, to some extent, the deity was borrowed intoArmenianՎահագնVahagn andՎռամVṙam, and has cognates inBuddhist Sogdian𐫇𐫢𐫄𐫗wšɣn w(i)šaɣn,Manichaean Parthian𐭅𐭓𐭉𐭇𐭓𐭌wryḥrmWahrām,Kushan BactrianορλαγνοOrlagno.[6] While the figure ofVerethragna is highly complex, parallels have also been drawn between,PuranicVishnu,ManichaeanAdamas, Chaldean / BabylonianNergal,EgyptianHorus,HellenicAres andHeracles.
Yasht 14, the hymn of praise to Verethragna, "though ill-preserved, contains what seem very archaic elements".[4] There, Verethragna is described as "the most highly armed" (Yasht 14.1), the "best equipped with might" (14.13), with "effervescent glory" (14.3), has "conquering superiority" (14.64), and is in constant battle with men and daemons (14.4, 14.62).
Verethragna is not exclusively associated with military might and victory. So, for instance, he is connected with sexual potency and "confers virility" (Yasht 14.29), has the "ability to heal" (14.3) and "renders wonderful". TheYasht begins with an enumeration of the ten forms in which the divinity appears: As an impetuous wind (14.2-5); as an armed warrior (14.27) and as an adolescent of fifteen (14.17); and in the remaining seven forms as animals: a bull with horns of gold (14.7); a white horse with ears and a muzzle of gold (14.9); a camel in heat (14.11-13); a boar (14.15); a bird of prey (veregna, 14.19-21); a ram (14.23); and a wild goat (14.25). Many of these incarnations are also shared with other divinities, for instance, the youth, the bull and the horse are also attributed toTishtrya. Likewise, the bird, the camel and the wind toVayu-Vata, another member of the Zoroastrian pantheon associated with martial victory.
Together withChista, Verethragna is a principal companion ofMithra (Mihr Yasht 10.70). Several sections of theBahram Yasht also appear in hymns dedicated to other divinities, but it is rarely possible to determine in which direction those sections were copied.
The identification of Verethragna as a boar inYasht 14 led Ilya Gershevitch to identify Dāmōiš Upamana – a boar in the Avestan hymn to Mithra – to be an alter-ego of Verethragna.[7][8][9]
In the Zoroastrian hierarchy of divinities, Bahram is a helper ofAsha Vahishta (Avestan, middle Persian:Ardvahisht), theAmesha Spenta responsible for the luminaries. In theZoroastrian calendar instituted during the lateAchaemenid era (648–330 BCE), the twentieth day of the month is dedicated to Bahram (Siroza 1.20).
In the later middle Persian textsBahram is especially venerated as one of theAmesha Spentas, effectively giving him the high rank for his success in driving backAngra Mainyu[12][13]
In the astronomical and calendrical reforms of theSasanian Empire (224-651 CE), the planetMars was named Bahram. Zaehner attributes this to the syncretic influences of theChaldean astral-theological system, where BabylonianNergal is both the god of war and the name of the red planet.[14] (see also: "Fatalistic"Zurvanism).
According to Boyce, the present-day expressionAtash-Behram as the name of the most sacred class of fires is a confusion of the adjectival "Victorious Fire" with "Fire of Bahram"[15] The former is the way it appears in Middle Persian inscriptions such as theKartir inscription atKabah-i Zardusht, while the latter is what is now understood by the termAtash-Behram.Gherardo Gnoli attributes the change to natural misunderstanding "abetted in Islamic times by a progressive decay in Zoroastrian priestly teaching"[16]
The only evidence of a cult appears in the first century account ofStrabo, who reports, probably on authority ofNearchus, that theCarmanians worshipped a divinity of victory (Geographika, 15.2.14). That this was Bahramb / Verethragna is unlikely if, as per Strabo, he was their "only god."[citation needed] However, the account does reveal that divinities of war were known to the people who were not of the Iranian plateau, evidence for which also comes fromHerodotus (4.59-62).
Under theSeleucids (330–150 BCE) andArsacids (250 BCE–226 CE), that is, in the Empires influenced by Hellenic culture,Verethragna was both identified asAres and associated withHeracles, and given the Greek nameArtagnes.[17] This syncretism is well attested in statuary and iconography, most notably in that of the inscription ofAntiochus I Theos of Commagene, in which all three names occur together.
That Bahram was considered the patron divinity of travelers is perhaps reflected by the life-size rock sculpture of the divinity on the main highway at Behistun. There Bahram reclines with a goblet in his hand, a club at his feet, and a lion-skin beneath him.
In the early Sasanian period Bahram is still represented as the Greek Heracles. In the relief ofArdeshir I at Naqs-e Rajab III,[citation needed] Bahram appears as one of the two smaller figures betweenAhura Mazda and the king. There, he has a lion's skin in his left hand and brandishes a club in his right. The other small figure – who appears to be paying homage to Bahram – is the future kingBahram I.
Bahram also appears as wings, or as a bird of prey, in the crowns of the Sasanian kings. This iconography first appears in the crown ofBahram II which also bears the name of the divinity. A similar image is adopted byPeroz (whose name also means 'victorious') as well as byKhosrau Parwez (again, Parwez meaning 'ever-victorious'). Similarly, boar and eagle heads on caps crown the heads of princes. Boar figures are widespread in Sasanian art, appearing in everything from textiles to stucco and in silver ornaments, coins, and seals. Other animal motifs have been found that recall the aspects of Bahram (see the ten forms of Bahramin the Avesta, above). The bird motif on Sasanian-era fire altars are also believed to represent Bahram.
Bahram was the name of sixSasanian kings:
In his famous book, Al-Najm Al-Thaqib,Mirza Husain Noori Tabarsi lists 182 names of theShia Mahdi. There were a number of ancient Persian and Zoroastrian titles, andTabarsi listedBahrām as one of theMahdi's names,[18] possibly alluding to the role of theMahdi being a victorious military commander.
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The interpretation of the divinity was once one of the more widely debated fields in Zoroastrian scholarship since the theories of origin reflected a radical revolution in ethical, moral and religious values.[20]
Primarily because the Avestan adjectiveverethragnan ('victorious') had a corresponding Vedic termvrtrahan where it appeared "preponderantly [as] a qualification of Indra", Zoroastrians and Hindus accept that[21][page needed] in Indo-Iranian times there existed the warrior godIndra and that AvestanVerethragna might be analogous to that divine figure. The Sanskrit cognate of Verethragna is Vritraghna, which is an epithet forIndra in Vedic literature, and he too is the destroyer of "Vritra", an Asura whose name literally means obstacle.
But western scholars oppose this identification: In the Avesta, it is the hero warrior-priestFereydun who battles the serpentAži Dahāka (which, for the virtue of 'Azi' being cognate with Sanskrit 'Ahi', snake, is – by proponents of the theory - associated with VedicVritra[a]). One Western scholar claims that, in the Vedas, the epithet 'hero' (sura) is itself almost exclusively reserved forIndra, while in the Avesta it is applied toThraetaona and other non-divine figures. The term "victorious" is not restricted toVerethragna, but is also a property of a number of other figures, both divine and mortal, includingThraetaona. Then, while in the Vedas it isIndra who discoversSoma, in the Avesta, it is humans who first pressHaoma andThraetaona is attributed with being the "inventor of medicine". In the Vedas,Indra strikes withvajra, but in the Avestavazra isMithra's weapon.
Attempts to resolve these objections led to the development of another theory, in which, in addition to the pre-historical divinity of victory, there was also a dragon-slaying heroIndra. Then, while the Iranians retained the figures independently of one another, the Indians conflated the two (leaving an echo in the character ofTrita Aptya).
This theory too had its problems, in particular the fact thatIndra was already evidently a divine figure, and not a man, inthe Mittani treaties, where he appears in the company ofMitra andVaruna. That again raises more questions since the treaties echo theRig Veda's invocation of all three as protectors of contract, again, not a property associated withVerethragna.[b]
However, as Benveniste and Renou demonstrated, many of the objections to the first theory could be negated if the evidence were reviewed in light of the fact that the principal feature ofVerethragna was not to slay noxious creatures but to overcome obstacles (verethra), in particular to unblock the flow ofapas, the waters, the holiest of the elements.[22]
Paul Thieme agreed with this principal feature, but clarified that while the wealth of archaic elements in theBahram Yasht clearly point to the pre-Zoroastrian era, the interpretation of proper names is "highly conjectural", and "in no case do we get a decisive argument against their Indo-Aryan or old Indic character"[23][c]Adopting "the exact linguistic and exegetic analysis" of Benveniste and Renou, Thieme concludes "Proto-Aryan*Indra has assumed the functions of a Proto-Aryan god*Vrtraghna." Noting thatVrtrahan is the name of Indra only in the later Sanskrit texts (but not in the Rig Veda), Thieme adds "there is no valid justification for supposing that the Proto-Aryan adjective*vrtraghan was specifically connected with*Indra or any other particular god."[25]
With a foreword by Robert Hillenbrand
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