Archive

When you visit a hospice where the terminally ill are awaiting their final moments and talk to them, you will find they have reflected deeply on their lives and are either at peace or are agitated. This introspection, often due to having enough time to reflect, profoundly impacts them. But this is not limited to the terminally ill. It’s a moment that every human being will experience at "the very edge of their time” (Peretum) before the brain shuts down. It is a moment for evaluation, Chin-Vato (Chin-Bovat) of their own deeds and words (Khvaish Shyaothanaish Hizvas cha) (Gatha Ha 51.13).

In ancient times, before electricity, people often slept under the open sky, especially during summer. Gazing at the stars, they formed them into shapes and imagined stories about them which became myths and gave birth to gods, angels, disciples, heroes and even demons. These stellar patterns are what we now call constellations. Today, we believe those stories rather than their astronomical significance. 

Ancient Iranians, along with the Chinese, Egyptians and Indians, identified one such constellation in the shape of an archer (see "Tirgan: Archer in the sky,” Parsiana, July 21-August 6, 2024). The Iranians in the Avesta named this archer Erekhsha; in modern terms, he is called Arash-e-Kamangir (Arash, the Archer). This constellation is described in the Avesta’s Tir Yasht, along with its journey across the sky over different landscapes and its connection to climatic conditions, depicted in the form of black and white horses, essentially creating an astronomical report. Later, the Shahnameh mentioned Arash as an able archer without referencing any historical or astronomical connection. 

Decades ago, in the 1960s, the Iranian poet Siavash Kasrai wrote a patriotic poem that mistakenly linked Arash to an irrelevant historical period and held the long flight of his arrow as the determinant of the border between Iran and its arch-enemy Turan. This misattribution, now part of folklore, is authenticated by erroneously connecting it to the Avesta and Shahnameh, though examining these sources reveals it as an error.

Similarly, there is a belief in the existence of a bridge known as the Chinvat bridge, which Zoroastrians have to cross after death on their way to heaven or hell. Two dogs are said to guard this bridge. The Vendidad (Fargard 13.9 and 19.30) describes the role of the dogs, the judgment process and the consequences of one’s deeds. During the Sasanian era, the Arda Viraf Nameh expanded on the concept of the Chinvat bridge, describing how it narrows for sinners, causing them to fall into hell, and widens for the righteous, allowing them to cross into heaven. Later, during the Islamic era, the bridge is mentioned again in Pahlavi texts such as the Denkard and Bundahishn (Chapter 30). The word Chin-Vato is originally mentioned in the Gathas of Zarathushtra (Yasna 46.10, 46.11, and 51.13) though the word "bridge” does not appear in any of those verses in the Avesta language. Translators and paraphrasers have introduced the term "bridge” in their translation of the Gathas.

The ancient Iranians, who worshipped Mithra (Mehr), saw the Milky Way in the night sky and envisioned it as a bridge to Mithra’s abode. These followers of Mithra, who converted to Zoroastrianism, likely introduced this idea. Over time, through the Vendidad and Arda Viraf Nameh, this evolved into the concept of the Chinvat bridge. 

Mithraism predates Zoroastrianism. In the Shahnameh, figures like Shah Jamshid, Hushang, and the hero Rostam were followers of Mithra. After the fall of the Akha-Manesh (translated as "benevolent thoughts”) (Achemenid) dynasty, Alexander, following Aristotle’s guidance, sought to destroy Zoroastrianism and promoted Mithraism, particularly among the Ashkanians (Parthians). Ardalan, the last Ashkanian king, tried to revive Zoroastrianism after 500 years by collecting the scattered Avesta.

The Sasanians, who overthrew the Ashkanians, completed the job of collecting the Avesta but were faced with many incomplete concepts and unanswered questions. Many of the Magi, formerly Mithra followers, worked to fill these gaps. Arda Viraf, one such Magi, consumed ritual narcotics and, after a seven-day trance, recounted what we now know as the Arda Viraf Nameh.

The two dogs at the bridge’s entrance reflect Greek influence after the fall of the Akha-Manesh Empire. What Iranians, Egyptians, Chinese and Indians saw as an archer, the Greeks transformed into a dog called the Canis Major. On either side of the Milky Way are constellations depicted as dogs: Canis Major (the Big Dog) and Canis Minor (the Lesser Dog). This helps establish the origin of the Chinvat bridge as a post-Alexander concept, rooted in Mithraism rather than the Gathas, where translators inserted the word "bridge” under Mithraic-Zoroastrian influence.

In the Gathas (Ha 51.13), "Chin-Vato Peretao Akao, Khvaish Shyaothanaish Hizvas cha” translates as: "How review before death reveals their own deeds and words.” It refers to the self-examination of one’s life just before death. This can bring either peace or pain before the brain ceases to function. (In Sanskrit, Pareta Kalpa=almost dead; in Persian, Partgha=edge; Akao=reveal, Chin=how; Vato=Bovat=was).

The Gathas are grounded in realism. Zarathushtra sought the truth and urged others to seek it. Search for Ashem Vohu, the good truth, and transform the good truth into the best, Vahista-e-Ashem. 

Every religion has a different story about the afterlife, which is a matter of belief. You believe what you cannot prove. The Gathas in the Avesta language reveal the truth.