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Ahura Mazda
(redirected from Ahuramazda)

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Ahura Mazda

Supreme god of ancient Iranian religion, especially Zoroastrianism. Ahura Mazda was worshiped by Darius I and his successors as the greatest god and the protector of the just king. Zoroaster taught that Ahura Mazda created the universe and maintains the cosmic order, and that the history of the world consists of the battle between two spirits he created—the beneficent Spenta Mainyu and the destructive Angra Mainyu. The Avesta identifies Ahura Mazda himself with the beneficent spirit and represents him as bountiful, all-knowing, and the creator of everything good. In late sources (from the 3rd century), Zurvan (“Time”) is the father of the twins Ormazd (Ahura Mazda) and Ahriman (Angra Mainyu), who in orthodox Mazdaism (Zoroastrianism and Parsiism) reign alternately over the world until Ormazd's ultimate victory.


Ahura Mazda
(Ormuzd, Ormazd) the spirit of good and creator of all things. [Zoroastrianism: Payton, 11]
See : God

Ahura Mazda 

the supreme god in a number of ancient and early medieval Iranian religions in Southwest and Middle Asia, as well as in the ancient Armenian pantheon, some syncretic Hellenistic cults, and so forth. Today Ahura Mazda is still recognized by the Parsees and the Gabars. In the ancient Persian religion the supreme (but not the sole) god Ahura Mazda was the creator of the sky, the earth, and man, and also the protector of the king and the guarantor of public law and order. In the Gathas by Zarathustra, Ahura Mazda is a single god with the functions of the principal ancient gods, and in the Young Avesta he is the head of a new pantheon of gods. With the development of dualistic notions about the age-old struggle between the principles of good and evil, Ahura Mazda came to be associated with good, in opposition to Angra Mainyu. The modern Zoroas-trians, the Parsees, recognize only the one good god Ahura Mazda (Ormazd) and understand Angra Mainyu (Ahriman) to be essentially only a symbol of the evil tendencies in man.

E. A. GRANTOVSKII



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The difference lies in the conception of the cosmic forces of Ahuramazda and Ahriman, good and evil, respectively.
 
 
 
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