Bibliographia Iranica

A predominantly bibliographic blog for Iranian Studies

Tag: History of Zoroastrianism

  • The Zoroastrian World

    The Zoroastrian World

    Rose, Jenny, Albert De Jong & Sarah Stewart (eds.). 2026. The Zoroastrian World. New York: Routledge.

    Although Zoroastrians in the contemporary world are numerically few – estimated recently at less than 150,000 across the globe – their ancient Iranian ancestors ruled vast areas of the Near East for over a millennium. From the mid‑sixth century BCE to the mid‑seventh century CE, the historical contribution of the ‘Mazda-worshipping’ religion to the intellectual, cultural, and political development of the region was momentous. The migration of some Zoroastrians to north-western India also had a significant social and economic impact on early modern and modern India. From the mid-seventeenth century until the present, Zoroastrianism has also played an important role in European discourse.

    Written by a distinguished team of international contributors, including many Zoroastrians, The Zoroastrian World presents a global guide to Zoroastrianism from the earliest period to the modern day, offering original perspectives through substantial thematic contributions on the lived experience of Zoroastrian communities across the world. This volume is organised into five distinct sections:

    • Imagining Zoroastrianism
    • The Developing Zoroastrian World
    • Living Realities: Zoroastrian Narrative and Symbol in the Modern World
    • Contemporary Challenges in the Zoroastrian World
    • Creative Contributions from the Zoroastrian World

    The Zoroastrian World provides an authoritative and accessible source of information on topics relating to the Zoroastrian religion, with a particular focus on interdisciplinary connections. The volume is essential reading for students engaged in studies of Religion, Philosophy and Ethics; Ancient and Modern Iran; the Near and Middle East; Central Asia; South Asian Religions; and Cultural History. The Zoroastrian World is intended for all curious readers, who seek to know more about this ancient, enduring religion.

    The editors are excited to showcase the original artwork ‘The Garden of the Universe’ by Hormazd Narielwalla as the cover of this book.

    The Open Access version of this book is available at PDF.

    Table of Contents

    Introduction

    Jenny Rose, Albert de Jong, and Sarah Stewart

    Part 1.  Imagining Zoroastrianism

    1. How Zoroastrianism imagined itself

    Albert de Jong

    2. Recasting Zoroastrian dualism within the Greek philosophical imagination

    Maria Cristina Mennuti

    3. Imagining Zoroastrianism in the light of the Maga Brahmanas and the Kambojas

    Antonio Panaino

    4. Zoroastrianism in the Chinese imagination

    Jeffrey Kotyk

    5. Zoroastrianism/Persian religion in the Hebrew Bible

    Jason M. Silverman

    6. Zoroastrianism in the Babylonian Talmud

    Geoffrey Herman

    7. Manichaean, Christian, and Mandaean Views of Zoroastrianism

    Jason D. BeDuhn and Paul C. Dilley

    8. Zoroastrianism in early Arabic sources

    Kayla Dang

    9. The European ‘rediscovery’ of the Ancient Persians and their worldview

    Olivia Ramble

    10. The history of the study of Zoroastrianism

    Albert de Jong

    11. Zoroastrianism and Freemasonry in colonial-era India and Britain: imagining Zoroastrianism and re-imagining Freemasonry

    Simon Deschamps

    12. A ‘Persian history’? Achaemenid history and Zoroastrian reception in Gore Vidal’s Creation

    Charlotte Howley

    13. The fascination of the flame: Zoroastrianism and tourism

    Jenny Rose and Sarah Stewart

    Part 2. The Developing Zoroastrian World

    HISTORY

    14. Imagining Ahura Mazda: the earliest form of Zoroastrianism

    Almut Hintze

    15. Persian religion in the Achaemenid Empire

    Amirardalan Emami

    16. Zoroastrianism in the religious context of the Arsacid Empire

    Lucinda Dirven

    17. Zoroastrianism in the Sasanian Empire

    Albert de Jong

    18. Zoroastrianism in Iran from the Arab conquests to the mid-nineteenth century

    Kiyan Foroutan

    19. Zoroastrianism in India: from the migrations of the Parsis to the late eighteenth century

    Shervin Farridnejad

    SOURCES

    20. The developing Zoroastrian world and orality

    Philip G. Kreyenbroek

    21. The oldest sources for Zoroastrianism: Avestan and Old Persian

    Amir Ahmadi

    22. “A jewel of wisdom literature in the Pahlavi tradition of Zoroastrianism” 

    Alan Williams

    23. The meaning of Persian Zoroastrian literature

    Albert de Jong

    24. A historical overview of Parsi writing in Gujarati

    Meher Mistry

    25. Zoroastrian literature in English from the nineteenth to early twentieth centuries

    Jenny Rose

    MATERIAL EVIDENCE

    26. Central Asian expressions of Zoroastrianism

    Michael Shenkar

    27. Central Asian Zoroastrianism: can a case be made for Sogdiana?

    Pavel Lurje and Kersi B. Shroff

    28. Zoroastrianism in Anatolia and the Caucasus

    Matthew P. Canepa

    29. The ‘fire-worshippers’ of Georgia

    Sarah Stewart

    Part 3. Living Realities: Zoroastrian Narrative and Symbol in the Modern World

    30. The role of Parsi Zoroastrians in the evolution of British colonial India

    Omar Ralph

    31. Zoroastrian politics in the era of the Constitutional Revolution in Iran (1905-1911)

    Janet Kestenberg Amighi

    19. Reconciling Persianate and Western forms of knowledge: esotericism as Zoroastrian hermeneutics in colonial India

    Mariano Errichiello

    20. Calling on divine help: Parsi religious expressions in Mumbai, Navsari, and Surat

    Khojeste P. Mistree

    ZOROASTRIAN COMMUNITIES IN DIASPORA

    34. Zoroastrian communities outside India and Iran

    Rashna Writer

    35. A personal account of migrating to North America

    Tanya Hoshi

    36. Teach your children well: Zoroastrian religious education

    Jenny Rose and Sarah Stewart

    DIGITAL APPROACHES TO ZOROASTRIANISM

    37. The use of digital resources in studying the Zoroastrian religion

    Edward N. Surman

    38. Digital projects in Zoroastrianism

    Céline Redard

    39. The impact of the digital world on internal Zoroastrian discourse

    Nazneen Engineer

    Part 4. Contemporary Challenges in the Zoroastrian World

    INTERNAL CHALLENGES

    40. Demographic issues and identity in twenty-first-century India: Jiyo Parsi

    Shernaz Cama

    41. The reverberations of the dokhmenashini debate in Mumbai and Zoroastrian death rituals practiced in India

    Dorothea Lüddeckens and Ramiyar Karanjia

    PERSPECTIVES ON THE ZOROASTRIAN PRIESTHOOD

    42. Perspectives on the Parsi priesthood in India

    Kerman Daruwalla

    43. Perspectives on the Zoroastrian priesthood in Iran

    Mobed Ramin Shahzadi and Mobedyar Parva Namiranian

    44. Perspectives on the Parsi priesthood from the UK: an interview with Ervad Yazad T. Bhadha

    Sarah Stewart

    45. Perspectives on the Parsi priesthood from the United States: an interview with Zerkxis Bhandara

    Sarah Stewart

    46. Who speaks for Zoroastrianism today?

    Ruzbeh Hodiwala

    THE CHANGING ROLES OF MEN AND WOMEN

    47. The changing roles of men and women within the Iranian Zoroastrian community

    Shahin Bekhradnia

    48. The changing roles of Parsi men and women in India

    Nazneen Engineer

    49. Care for the Zoroastrian elderly in India

    Dinshaw K. Tamboly

    50. A caring model for the elderly in the UK

    Zubin Sethna and Rozy Contractor

    EXTERNAL CHALLENGES

    51. Zoroastrianism and human rights

    Niaz Kasravi

    52. Zoroastrianism and the environment: reviving the forests of Doongerwadi in Mumbai, India

    Rashneh N. Pardiwala

    53. Zoroastrian approaches to business ethics and sustainable development in contemporary times

    Edul Daver

    Part 5. Creative Contributions from the Zoroastrian World

    54. ‘First Darling of the Morning’: an interview with Parsi novelist, Thrity Umrigar

    Jenny Rose

    55. A larger laughter: the unique legacy of Parsi theatre

    Meher Marfatia

    56. The house of song

    Raiomond Mirza

    57. Devotional poetry and songs of the Zoroastrians of Iran

    Farzaneh Goshtasb

    58. “I yam what I yam”: a conversation with screenwriter, director and photographer, Sooni Taraporevala

    Jenny Rose

    59. The Garden of the Universe: an interview with artist Hormazd Narielwalla

    Sarah Stewart

    60. Identity and silk: the emergence and re-emergence of Sino-Parsi trade textiles

    Firoza Punthakey Mistree

    61. “You have to crack a few eggs to make a Parsi omelette”: an interview with chef and culinary author, Farokh Talati

    Jenny Rose

    62. Memories of growing up in Iran, Persian food, Zoroastrian festivals, and life as an author and cookery writer: an interview with Shirin Simmons

    Sarah Stewart

    63. How Parsis helped make India a cricketing nation

    Mihir Bose

  • Zoroastrian Apocalypticism in The Maʿnī-yi Vahman Yasht

    Zoroastrian Apocalypticism in The Maʿnī-yi Vahman Yasht

    Alimoradi, Pooriya. 2024. “The wolf era ends, and the sheep era starts”: Zoroastrian apocalypticism in the Maʿnī-yi Vahman Yasht. Leiden: Brill.

    This book studies, for the first time, the Maʿnī-yi Vahman Yasht , the New Persian version of the Zand ī Wahman Yašt , the most important Zoroastrian text in apocalyptic genre. Through offering a critical edition, translation, and commentary, Alimoradi argues that the MVY is not a translation of the extant Pahlavi ZWY and is derived from another recension of apocalyptic materials in Pahlavi. He also offers suggestions in identifying several unspecified characters and events referred to in the text whose identities have been debated for decades. The book is relevant to those interested in Zoroastrianism, Iranian apocalyptic traditions, and anyone studying the Arab conquests in Western and Central Asia in 6ᵗʰ to 9ᵗʰ c. CE.

  • A Portrait of Slaves and Slaveholders of Fire Foundations in Sasanian Iran

    Tamari, Nazanin. 2023. Zoroastrian Fire Foundations: A Portrait of Slaves and Slaveholders. Slavery & Abolition 44(4). 697–719.

    Throughout the Sasanian era (224-650/1 CE), Zoroastrian Fire Foundations were some of the most significant landowners in Iran. The sources represented in this study reveal that Fire Foundations were among the most prominent organizations in late antique Iran, actively utilizing slaves and their labour in various social, economic and religious contexts. This article studies the religious, social, legal, and economic aspects of slaves in general, and slaves of Fire Foundations in particular throughout the Sasanian period. Drawing on Middle Persian legal and religious texts, the article examines three interrelated themes: the Fire Foundations characterized as slavers, and the function of priests in mobilizing their immense landed estates, income, and the utilization of slave labour; the relationship between free persons and slaves; and the link between the Fire Foundations and slaves. Analyzing these key questions and the considerable involvement of clerics in all these aspects enables us to discern the structural role of priests in Fire Foundations’ use of slavery and within the broader framework of the Sasanian economy. Through this analysis, the article highlights the close administrative and financial ties binding the priesthood and the monarchy during Sasanian Iran.

  • Early Zoroastrianism and Orality

    Kreyenbroek, Philip G. 2023. Early Zoroastrianism and orality (Iranica, GOF III/NF 20). Wiesbaden: Harrassowitz Verlag.

    Early Zoroastrianism was transmitted orally, as is now generally accepted by scholars. There is no consensus, however, regarding the implications of that insight. The few scholars who have referred to the question so far generally based their approach on the assumption that academic theories on orality are valid for all forms of oral transmission, which is demonstrably untrue. Moreover, whilst progress has been made on individual aspects of Avestan texts, the early history of Zoroastrianism as such has received scant attention in recent decades.
    Philip G. Kreyenbroek has combined an almost life-long study of Zoroastrianism with empirical research on the oral traditions of two modern Iranian religious groups. In this book he applies his first-hand knowledge of the workings of oral transmission and his familiarity with early Zoroastrian priestly practices to extant Avestan texts in order to uncover their history in the light of their earlier oral transmission. Taking into account a number of recent discoveries by other scholars, the work arrives at new conclusions about the genesis and early development of the Zoroastrian tradition.

    See the table of content here.

  • Zoroastrian Holy Marriage

    Pirart, Éric. 2023. Hiérogamie mazdéenne. Présentation, texte, traduction et commentaire des deux dernières Gāϑā et de leurs annexes (uniés 51, 52, 53 et 54 du Yasna) (Supplementa 2). Girona: Sociedad de estudios iranios y turanios (SEIT).

    In a radical departure from the method of Jean Kellens, which is both intuitive and reserved, Éric Pirart, with Hiérogamie mazdéenne (Mazdean Hierogamy), revisits the last archaic texts of Zoroastrianism and their appendices (Yasna 51-54), while ensuring that nothing is left untranslated or without grammatical explanation and that the etymology of all the words is examined on the basis of systematic criteria. In these texts, contemporary with the prophet Zaraϑustra, he looks for the features that differentiate them from the rest of Zoroastrian literature.

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  • Social History of Zoroastrians of Yazd

    Tašakorī, ʿAlī-ʾAkbar. 2020. tārīḫ-e ejtemāʿī-ye zartoštīyān-e yazd [Social History of Zoroastrians of Yazd]. 3 vols. Irvine: Dr. Samuel M. Jordan Center for Persian Studies and Culture at the University of California.

    Ali Akbar Tashakori’s three-volume Social History of Zoroastrians of Yazd (in Persian) deals with the social history of the Yazdi Zoroastrians from the medieval to modern times. While the focus is primarily on the Yazdi community, the work also covers the wider history of Iranian Zoroastrians. The book examines the challenges faced by Zoroastrians in the medieval and early modern periods, as well as the beginning of the nineteenth century social and intellectual empowerment among Iranian Zoroastrians supported by the Parsis of India. It also highlights the growing political and economic influence of the community in the late Qajar and early Pahlavi era, as well as the remarkable role of the Pahlavis in elevating the status of Zoroastrians within Iranian society as a whole.

    The first volume covers the lives of Zoroastrians of Yazd starting with the arrival of Islam in Iran, in 641 AD, until the formation of the Anǧoman-e Nāṣerī of Yazd in 1892 AD. This book discusses the treatment of Zoroastrians under the new Muslim rulers who regarded them as monotheists and “people-of-the-book”. It highlights two massive internal migrations to the Yazd region elevating its status as the center of Zoroastrianism. It also focuses on the formation of Anǧoman-e Akāber-Ṣāheb by Parsis and their efforts to abolish the Jazzieh tax and improve Zoroastrians’ lives. 

    The second volume covers the formation of Anǧoman-e Nāṣerī by Keykhosro Khān-Ṣāheb in 1892 AD until the beginning of Pahlavi dynasty in 1924 AD.

    This third volume covers the period that starts with the rise of Reza Shah and the formation of a secular government, which relied heavily on the pre-Islamic image of Iran, something which had a direct influence on promoting the social status of Zoroastrians. This volume focuses on the rule of Mohammad Reza Shah and the modernization of Iran, two elements with a profound influence on the lives of Zoroastrians of the Yazd region.

  • The First Three Hymns of the Ahunauuaitī Gāθā

    Peschl, Benedikt. 2022. The First Three Hymns of the Ahunauuaitī Gāθā. The Avestan Text of Yasna 28–30 and Its Tradition (Corpus Avesticum 4). Leiden: Brill.

    At the center of this book stands a text-critical edition of three chapters of the Gāthās, exemplifying the editorial methodology developed by the “Multimedia Yasna” (MUYA) project and its application to the Old Avestan parts of the Yasna liturgy.
    Proceeding from this edition, the book explores aspects of the transmission and ritual embedding of the text, and of its late antique exegetical reception in the Middle Persian (Pahlavi) tradition. Drawing also on a contemporary performance of the Yasna that was filmed by MUYA in Mumbai in 2017, the book aims to convey a sense of the Avestan language in its role as a central element of continuity around which the Zoroastrian tradition has evolved from its prehistoric roots up to the modern era.

    Table of Contents

    Part 1 Editing Old Avestan in the Context of the MUYA Project

    • Manuscripts Collated
    • Methodology of the Collation Process (1): Transcription of the Manuscripts
    • Methodology of the Collation Process (2): Regularisation of Variant Readings
    • Scope of the Constituted
    • Editorial Decisions Regarding Non-Trivial Phonetic and Orthographic Alternations

    Part 2 Yasna 28–30: Text, Translation, Selected Commentaries and Glossary

    • Preliminaries to the Edition of the Avestan Text
    • Yasna 28: Edition of the Avestan Text
    • Yasna 29: Edition of the Avestan Text
    • Yasna 30: Edition of the Avestan Text
    • Yasna 28: Constituted Text and Translation
    • Yasna 29: Constituted Text and Translation
    • Yasna 30: Constituted Text and Translation
    • Notes on the Translation of the Avestan Text
    • Selected Commentary Essays Proceeding from the Avestan Text
    • Glossary of the Avestan text of Yasna 28–30

    Part 3 Studies on the Ritual Setting of the Ahunauuaitī Gāθā (Yasna 28–34)

    • Ritual Actions During the Recitation of the Ahunauuaitī Gāθā
    • Considerations on the Rationale Behind Specific Ritual Actions
    • Ritual Directions Accompanying Yasna 28–30 in the Manuscript Tradition
    • Studies on the Exegetical Reception of Yasna 28
    • Re-approaching the Pahlavi Gāθās
    • Edition and Translation of Pahlavi Yasna 28
    • Pahlavi Yasna 28: Commentary
    • On the Marginal Headings Accompanying the Old Avesta in the Exegetical Manuscripts of the Yasna
    • Yasna 28.11, Yašt 1.26 and the Warštamānsar Nask: Untangling an Intertextual Network
    • Appendix to Part 4: Edition and Translation of the Commentary on Yasna 28 in the Dēnkard Epitome of the Warštamānsar Nask (Dk 9.28)
    • Concluding Thoughts: Advancing a Holistic Approach to the Zoroastrian Textual Tradition

    Benedikt Peschl holds a BA in General and Indo-European Linguistics from the University of Munich, an MA in Religions of Asia and Africa from SOAS University of London, and a PhD in Study of Religions from SOAS (2021). He now works as a postdoctoral researcher at the Institute of Iranian Studies of Freie Universität Berlin.

  • The Avestan Priestly College and its Gods: The Indo-Iranian Origins of a Mimetic Tradition

    Panaino, Antonio. 2022. Le collège sacerdotal avestique et ses dieux: Aux origines indo-iraniennes d’une tradition mimétique (Mythologica Indo-Iranica II) (Bibliothèque de l’Ecole des Hautes Etudes, Sciences Religieuses 195). Turnhout: Brepols.

    In this monograph, the author proposes a general reflection on the metaphysics of the Zoroastrian priestly organization in the light of the Indo-Iranian context and starting from the preparation of the sacrifice and the installation of the seven assistant priests in the solemn Zoroastrian liturgy under the direction of their chief-priest, the zaōtar-. The relationship between priests and gods is analysed in the light of the symbolism endorsed by the priestly college, which is “activated” as a mimetic double of the divine world. Thus, names, functions and liturgical correspondences between the eight priests (seven plus the zaōtar-) and the college of Aməṣ̌a Spəṇtas headed by Ahura Mazdā himself (as zaōtar-) are discussed. On the other hand, the book analyses the functional correspondences of the activated priestly team in the Vedic field. The author also develops a discussion concerning the unbroken chain of sacrificial rituality as a structure of the cosmic and temporal order. Within this framework, he highlights the importance of the deinstallation or deactivation of the sacrificial college before the end of the Yasna in the long liturgy, a theme that is linked to the question of the reinstallation of another college in the unbroken chain of cosmic liturgy. This study also sheds light on the question of the purpose of the sacrifice and that of the bloody sacrifice. Finally, it proposes a return to Kerdīr through an analysis of the “vision” of the High Priest, this time explained as an esoteric liturgy of the encounter with the feminine double.

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  • 2022 Society of Scholars of Zoroastrianism Conference

    This is an online event (3 hours): The History of Zoroastrian Priesthood, The bond between the Avesta and Persian Literature & The Forgotten Sources of Medieval Zoroastrianism

    Sat, November 19, 2022, 9:30 AM – 12:30 PM CST

    Morning Session – Scholarly Symposium

    9:30 – Opening Address: – Prof. Dan Sheffield introduced by Zal Taleyarkhan

    10:00 – Dr. Kerman Daruwalla – The History of Training Zoroastrian Priests in India

    10:45 – Dr. Benedikt Peschl – Zoroastrian Middle Persian Literature and its Relation to the

    Avesta: current research perspectives

    11:30 – Prof. Dan Sheffield – The Pahlavi Book of Religious Decrees: a Forgotten Source for the

    History of Medieval Zoroastrianism

  • Zoroastrians of Iran: A History of Transformation and Survival

    Kestenberg Amighi, Jaenet. 2022. Zoroastrians of Iran: A History of Transformation and Survival. First. Costa Mesa: Mazda Publishers.

    Zoroastrianism is both an ancient and still practiced religion. At its height it was the state religion of the Sasanian empire (224 to 651 AD) that ruled in the land of Persia. Arab conquest of the area destroyed that empire and a multitude eventually converted to Islam. Under Islamic rule Zoroastrians lived under severe restrictions, persecution while paying burdensome taxes. Many converted to Islam to escape these conditions and so Zoroastrian numbers dwindled. By 1850 no more than 8000 lived in their original homeland. Those who survived did see some periods of prosperity and eventually thrived under the secularizing rule of Reza Shah Pahlavi (1925-41) and his son (1941-79) who promoted an Iranian nationalism that embraced the Zoroastrian heritage. The main challenge to Zoroastrian persistence was the increasing secularism of society. With the establishment of the Islamic Republic of Iran once again the nation’s Zoroastrians found themselves subject to myriad discriminations, even their touch deemed polluting. Islam permeated Iran to a degree not seen before. The present work offers a unique socio-political history of the challenges faced by the Zoroastrian community from the 19th to 21st centuries as they confronted and adapted to the dramatic changes before them. The author, Anthropologist Janet Kestenberg Amighi lived and researched among her Zoroastrian in-laws in Iran from 1971-1978 and subsequently visited post-revolutionary Iran several times. This work is based on scholarly research as well as over 120 interviews with Zoroastrians, amusing personal experiences and the knowledge and experiences of her collaborator Bahman Moradian, an Iranian Zoroastrian scholar and community activist. Their collaboration provides varied insights and analyses of the socio-cultural and political change we see happening over the decades. The diverse Zoroastrian community perspectives are well represented.