Sacred Fires

Today people draw a sharp line between Iran and Pakistan, calling one the "Middle East" and the other "South Asia." World history textbooks almost always read this back into ancient times, even when the material clearly suggests other groupings. One example of this is the migrations of the Indo-Iranian branch of the Indo-Europeans into the Iranian plateau and northern India. The common linguistic heritage brought with it a common culture, seen partly in religion.

A couple of weeks ago, I mentioned the importance of fire in Zoroastrianism. According to Mary Boyce, the preeminent historian of Zoroatrianism, cults of the hearth fire began with the earliest Indo-Iranian sedentarization, and with all sacrifices, a portion, usually fatty, went to the fire. Similarly, the historian of Hinduism A.L. Basham wrote that all ancient Vedic sacrifices were mediated through Agni, the god of fire, and involved offering butter to the hearth fire in each home.

Similarly, both Zoroastrianism and Vedic worship involve three levels of fire, as well as a sacred beverage, either haoma or soma. Finally, while the sacredness of the cow is well known in Hinduism, cattle are the "sixth creation" in Zoroastrianism (fire is the seventh), and under the special protection of Ahura Mazda.

Ateshgah

On the Absheron Peninsula of modern Azerbaijan, where natural gas vents kept fires burning for centuries, Zoroastrians constructed temples which became sites of pilgrimage. "Ateshgah" is the Persian for "fire place," and is used as the name of this one near Baku, which is now an open-air museum. Now it has a special gas pipe supplying fuel for the fire, but at its height the gas below the surface kept not only the central fire burning, but fires at the top of the four corner posts, as well. There was also a small secondary fire off to the side, and chambers in the outer wall where the pilgrims and ascetics would live and perform feats like this:



Why is fire sacred in Zoroastrianism? It actually goes back to pre-Zoroastrian Indo-Iranian beliefs in the order of the cosmos where were formalized in a belief in seven creations: sky, water, earth, plants, beneficent animals (especially cattle), humanity, and fire. According to Zoroastrianism, fire, the seventh creation, runs throughout and provides the guiding spirit for the others. It is a vital elemental force under the dominion of Asha, the cosmic principle of order which battles the darkens and will eventually bring about the triumph of good.