History of Zoroastrianism/Chapter 36

Zoroastrianism split up into a number of sects. As indicated above, the Zoroastrian church had lost all control over its adherents. Sect after sect arose, each claiming to interpret the religion of Zoroaster in its own light.^[1] The fact that numerous sects flourished in Iran at this period is proved by the frequent allusions to them by Greek, Arabian, Syriac, and Armenian writers. Shahrastani, as we shall see later, speaks of three sects, namely the Zarvanites, the Gayomarthians, and the Zardushtians. Mohsan Fani refers to fourteen sects as he witnessed in his days in the seventeenth century. Several of these, he adds, flourished from early times. Unfortunately the account of those sects, which we find in the extant Zoroastrian literature, is very meagre. Several of them, about which we get some information from the non-Zoroastrian sources, are not even mentioned by name in the Iranian works. The Armenian writers, Eznik and Elisaeus, writing in the fifth century about the Zoroastrians of their own time, state they were split into two rival sects called Mog and Zendik. Damascius (529 A.D.), on the authority of Eudemus states that sects flourished in Iran which held space as the primordial being that created the rival spirits of goodness and evil.^[2] The most formidable of the sects, which counted eminent persons among its adherents during the Sasanian period and which had a considerable following long after the disappearance of this last Zoroastrian empire, was that of the Zarvanites. Zarvan, or Time, accompanied Mithra in his migration to the far West and as Kronos was placed at the pinnacle of the divine hierarchy in the Mithraic cult.^[3] Antiochus I of Commagene speaks of Boundless Time.

Zarvan according to the Pahlavi writers. This image of the eternal duration of Time is as cold and lifeless in the Pahlavi works as it was in the Avestan texts. Ormazd created it, and with its creation the entire existence came into motion,^[4] or according to another passage, Boundless Time is eternally in Ormazd, and the very first work of his in creation appertained to Time.^[5] He brought into being the earthly and heavenly creatures through his own splendour and through the blessing of Time.^[6] Zarvan, or Time, is called hungerless and thirstless, painless and deathless, ever-living and ever-predominating over the fleeting things of the universe.^[7] Thus the authoritative Zoroastrian works speak of Boundless Time in its relation to Ormazd; just as any system of philosophy or theology may speak of the eternity of God. The demon Arashk is alleged to have said that Ormazd and Ahriman have been two brothers in one womb.^[8] Mani calls Zarvan in his heresy, Time Eternal, the Father God of Light.^[9]

Zarvan according to the non-Zoroastrian writers. The account that we get of this being from the writings of the classical and Armenian authors is different from what we find in the Iranian sources.^[10] The Armenian and Syrian writers attack Zoroastrianism on this point.^[11] Zarvan, or Time, they aver, is held by the Persians to be the generative principle of the universe. Moses of Chorene^[12] writes that the Zoroastrians regarded Time as the source and father of existence.^[13] According to Photius this being was looked upon as the ruler of the universe; he offered sacrifice in order to beget Hormizdas, but gave birth to Hormizdas and Satan.^[14] Damascius quotes Eudemus (about ​306 B.C.) as stating that Time is the father of Oromasdes or Light and Arimanius or Darkness.^[15]

The Armenian writer Eznik, in the fifth century A.D., attests the existence of a sect that held Zrovan or Time as the sovereign lord and was named after it. The sect, he says, holds Zrovan as the generative principle of everything, and it was from this primordial principle that both Ormizd and Arhmn have sprung. They are its twin children.^[16] The Armenian historians credit Mihr Narsih, the premier of Yazdagard II, with speaking of Zarvan as the prime originator of Ormazd and Ahriman.^[17] According to the teachings of this sect, as portrayed by these writers, Zarvan existed when the earth was not, and the heaven was not, and brooded over the thought of begetting a son who would create the universe. A doubt crossed his mind, the account claims, at the end of a thousand years, lest his sacrifice should turn out fruitless and he would not be blessed with a child. The sacrifice, however, turned out fruitful, but not without mishap. Zarvan conceived two offspring, one as the result of his sacrifice, the other as the outcome of the doubt that had desecrated his mind. He resolved to give sovereignty to him who was born first. Ormazd, who seems to have been possessed of fore-knowledge even before he was thus born, read the thought of his father Zarvan, and gave it out to his comrade in the embryo. Ahriman thereupon perforated the womb and came into existence before Ormazd. He demanded sovereignty from his begetter, Zarvan, who disowned this ugly, dark creature, and gave the sceptre into the hands of Ormazd, who was resplendent with light. Ahriman now charged his father with breaking his vow. In order to free himself from this accusation, Zarvan entered into a covenant with Ahriman, and decreed that the empire of the universe should be conjointly ceded to both Ormazd and Ahriman for nine thousand years, though the right of priority was ever to be with the Good Spirit. After the expiration of this period, Ormazd, it was destined, should be at liberty to deal with his wicked brother as he liked.^[18]

​This fantastic legend has left no traces whatever in the extant Pahlavi works. They do not even mention any sect which had its designation after Time itself, and we fail to glean any connected account of the doctrines of the Zarvanites from the extant Pahlavi works. Be this as it may, it is certain that a sect of the Zarvanites, who evidently aimed at resolving the Zoroastrian dualism into monotheism by the apotheosis of Time, did flourish for a long time in Iran. Shahristani, who wrote in the early part of the twelfth century, attests, as we shall see later, that he met the followers of this sect in his day.

Superstitious belief in Fate that weaves the web of events in man's life. God has willed man to be the architect of his destiny and endowed him with the freedom of will, says Zarathushtra.^[19] Man's ignorance and superstition have led him to the belief that he is not a free agent who can control and shape the actions of his life. Human happenings, it is believed, are regulated by the position and movements of the stars and planets and constellations. Ingenious brains have laboured to divine the future from the careful observation of the movements of the heavenly bodies They have practised augury by watching the flight of birds and have drawn omens from the stars and other sources. They have endeavoured to read the course of the stars and to study with utmost scrupulous care and anxiety, worthy of more rational and useful pursuits, the phenomena, in the vain hope that they would thereby be able to foretell coming events and forestall coming misfortunes. Fate, they have taught, dogs man's footsteps and overtakes him unawares. It hunts him like wild animals to and fro. Nothing could be done against it. In vain would a man struggle to save himself from being drowned in the floods of fate. The mightiest among men has to yield submission to the decrees of unrelenting fate. This credulous belief in the inevitability of the decrees of Fate has led men and women to accept with fatalistic resignation what befell their lot. It has led them to submit and succumb to the buffetings of life where they should have braved them and fought ​them and overpowered them. The belief in Fate and Kismet and Karma have all been equally paralysing. In one case it is the movements of the stars, in other the arbitrary will of Providence and in the third, actions of past life, that grip the individual at every step he takes in his life. Anything and everything that happens is predestined either by the stars and planets or by the inscrutable decree of Kismet or by the inexorable law of Karma. The fatalistic belief has crippled the activities, cramped the progress, stifled the spirit, and blighted the ardour of countless millions of people in the East.

Mithraism is loaded with fatalistic ideas which it received from Babylonia before going to Europe. Orthodox Zoroastrianism did not entirely escape the Babylonian influence. The Babylonian and Magian diviners played important part in the lives of the people. Shah Namah abounds in instances of superstitious regard for omens and portents and astrological auguries. The court astrologers read the stars to indicate the future events The kings did not embark upon war without consulting the diviners. According to the Pahlavi Aiyadgar-i Zarıran, King Vishtasp asks his wise diviner, Jamasp, to foretell the consequences of the war.^[20] When Xerxes was marching against the Greeks, an eclipse of the sun took place. The king was taken with alarm and consulted the magicians about the meaning of the portent.^[21] Men and women regulated the chief events of their daily lives according to the dictates of the planetary movements. Fate generally became the ruling force of life.

Fate is the decree of Time. Time and Fate are indissolubly linked together. They are often spoken of as identical with each other.^[22] The movements of the heavens regulate Fate, and the planets and constellations are the arbiters of man's fortune.^[23] The good and evil stars determine man's lot, which is linked with the course of the stars. Every good and evil event that falls to the lot of man comes to pass through the doings of the twelve constellations that are ranged on the side of Ormazd, or through the baneful influence of the seven planets, as their special antagonists, arrayed on Ahriman's side. Both of these agents combine to administer the affairs of the world.^[24] ​Ormazd allots happiness to man. If man does not receive it it is owing to the extortion of these planets.^[25] Like brigands and highwaymen they rob the righteous of their good lot and bestow it upon the wicked.^[26] Ahriman has specially created them for the purpose of depriving man of the happiness which the good stars would bestow upon man.^[27] Like witches they rush upon the creation to spread evil,^[28] and pervert every creature that comes across their path.^[29] Fate, as the guardian of the celestial sphere, is therefore implored to help mankind at all times and in every deed.^[30] That which is ordained to come to pass will unfailingly happen; man should not worry over things over which he has no control. He should learn to receive with tranquillity and calm whatever falls to his lot.^[31] Though nothing in the world can rescind the inexorable decree of Fate,^[32] divine Providence, moved by the prayers and supplications of mortals, can still, in special cases, intervene in mortal behalf. Owing to the counter-movements of the evil planets, Providence rarely interferes.^[33]

The inscrutable power of Fate. Among the masses humility is apt to degenerate into servility in human affairs, or into fatalism in their relations with the superhuman powers. In Persia, the dissolution of the great empire, and the centuries of struggle and servitude that followed the national catastrophe, drove the Iranians to believe in Fate, the inevitable necessity before which they had to bow. The fatalist doctrine pervades the writings of the Pahlavi period. As early as the fifth century the Armenian controversialist Eznik attacks this fatalistic doctrine of the Persians.^[34] Fate, we are told, is written on man's forehead; he is fettered to it from his very birth.^[35] Man is ignorant of the course mapped out for him by Fate, which guides the affairs of the world.^[36] Fate holds sovereign sway over every one and everything.^[37] Vazurgmitra states that the world shows that fools prosper and the wise suffer, for which reason he up​holds the view that the ordering of results of man's actions is not in man's hands, but rests with Fate.^[38]

Under the influence of Fate the wise man fails of his wisdom, and the fool shows intelligence, the hero becomes a coward, and the coward plays the part of a hero, the industrious turn out to be indolent, and the indolent become industrious.^[39] When Fate befriends an indolent, ignorant, and wicked man, his sloth becomes like unto diligence, his ignorance unto knowledge, and his wickedness unto righteousness. On the other hand, when Fate frowns upon a wise man and a good man, his wisdom is transformed to foolishness and ignorance, and his knowledge, skill, and worthiness do not help him in the least.^[40] Life, wife, and child, power or fortune alike, come all through Fate.^[41]

How far Fate affects man's exertions. Replying to the query whether man gets various things through Fate or through his own exertion, Vazurgmitra, the talented premier of Noshirvan, states that both of these are as closely linked together as are man's body and life. As the body falls a ruined tabernacle of clay when life has quitted it, and as life without the body is an intangible wind, so are Fate and exertion indissolubly united with each other.^[42] Fate is the efficient cause, and exertion is the means through which man attains everything.^[43] It is true that exertion is of no avail when Fate has ordained otherwise Man may toil, and yet may not reap the fruit of his labour. But then, man's exertion in good works, even if not rewarded with fruitful results in this world, will reap a benefit in the next world through the angels Man, therefore, has to depend upon the doings of Fate for the good of this world, but upon his own actions for the spiritual goods to be enjoyed in the world. hereafter.^[44]

Through Fate man performs meritorious deeds.^[45] Man, it is true, is dependent upon the decree of Fate as regards his earthly possessions, but it is left only to his individual exertion whether ​he shall reap the reward of righteousness or the retribution of wickedness.^[46] Tansar, in his letter to Jasnaf, the king of Tabaristan, writes that it is wrong to deny the sovereign sway of Fate over man's life, but it is equally wrong to give up personal effort under the exaggerated idea of the influence of Fate. The wise, he continues, should take the middle course, for Fate and man's free will are like two loads on the back of an animal. If either is heavier than the other, both fall down.^[47]

Despite such prominence given to the workings of Fate by the Pahlavi writers, fatalism never came to be employed among the Zoroastrians as an excuse for cloaking man's indolence. It is idle persons, we are told, that blame Fate.^[48] The feeble and faltering always throw the burden of their faults on Fate. The ever active spirit of Zoroastrianism militated against fatalism, and saved the people from much of its baneful influences.