Zoroastrianism and Hinduism
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Hinduism and Zoroastrianism are the two of the oldest surviving religions and derive from a common origin.
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[edit] Similarities
[edit] Common origin
- Main article: Proto-Indo-Iranian religion
Both Zoroastrianism and Vedic religion are of Indo-Iranian origin, that is, are developments of cultures that have common roots. The oldest sacred texts of both religions have a similar grammar, structure and style, and indeed share words and phrases. The language of the Gathas (the oldest hymns of the Zoroastrian collection of texts known as the Avesta) and the language of the Rig Veda are similar to the point that many translations of Gathic Avestan were made by scholars of Vedic Sanskrit.
[edit] Prototypical kings: Yama and Yima
Yama (in the Vedas) or Yima (in the Avesta) is a name common to both religious systems. Yama/Yima was born from Vishswat/Vivanghat. In both religions he is a judge and a king. While Hindus refer to him as "Yama Raja", the "king" epithet does not occur as a stock epithet in the Avesta's Yima Kshaeta, "Radiant Yima".[citation needed]
[edit] Elementary principles: rta and asha
In the Vedas, rta is the cosmic order of the universe, violation of which is druh. In the Avesta, asha is literally 'truth', opposed to by druj, literally 'falsehood'.[citation needed]
In Zoroastrianism, asha is protected by Mithra. In Vedic religions, Mitra is a protector of rta.[citation needed]
[edit] Ritual oblation
In Sankskrit, oblation ("sacrifice") is yajna while in Avestan it is yasna. Ritual oblation is common to both Vedic religion and Zoroastrianism.
[edit] Differences
[edit] asuras/ahuras versus devas/daevas
It has been observed that present-day Indians worship the devas as gods and the asuras as demons, while in present-day Zoroastrianism this dichotomy is reversed.[citation needed]
In the oldest texts of the respective Indo-Iranian branches (that is, the Rig Veda for the Indo-Aryan branch, and the Avesta for the Iranian one), these differences are not quite as they are in the modern derivations of the religions: In the Rig Veda, the asuras were considered the "older Gods". This is also evident in Zoroaster's Gathas, with additionally the daevas being the "wrong gods", the followers of whom were to be brought back on the path of the 'good religion'.
It is possible that at some common point in history, the ancestors of both branches worshiped the same set of divinities. Later, it seems, one group came to favor one set and the other group favored the other, leading to rivalry between the two groups, and a crystallization of the individual sets into what then became the asuras/ahuras versus the devas/daevas. This stage is still evident in both the Rig Veda and in the earliest texts of the Avesta. It is hypothesized that the Indic and Iranian branches of Proto-Indo-Iranian culture were already divided along these lines even prior to the Indo-Aryan migration. The theological reversal in both faiths may be a lingering religious expression of the old rivalry that long subsided and was eventually forgotten.
[edit] Canon
In Hinduism, there is no single scripture that adherents focus on, with the commentaries on the Vedas (known as the smriti) eventually achieving a similar status as the Vedas themselves. In Zoroastrianism however, the texts of the Avesta singularly accepted as doctrine, with the commentaries (the Zend) simply being a means to understand the philosophy.
