Avesta, Veda

Iranian, Arians ( Arya)

Cognate words are two different words having the same linguistic derivation.

• Example:
  • Father ( English)
  • Vater  ( German)
  • Pater  ( Latin)
  • ପିତର  ( Sanskrit)

1500 BCE:

Today the religion practised in Iran and India are so different. But 3500  years back, around 1500 BCE, there were uncanny similarities in the language, Concept, Religion and Literature of these two lands.

Iran is the land which gave rise to Zoroastrianism . The  holy scripture of this religion is called Avesta. There are various phases in the creation of Avesta. This is deduced from their linguistic and phonetic construction. The ancient Avestan language dates back to 1000 BCE and earlier. It is totally different from the mid and late Avestan scriptures.  Their linguistic and words are uncannily close to Rigveda.

( The sanskrit of Rigveda is different from the sanskrit of later Vedas and Puranas.)

Avesta of Zoroaster and Rig Veda of Aryans are contemporary and have many Cognate words. It must be noted that ’s’ in sanskrit is replaced by ‘h’ in Persian.

Example-
Sindhu becomes Hindu

Sapta sindhu has become haptahindu in Avesta.indhu becomes Hindu

The creator God in avesta is Ahura Mazda. This word is cognate with Asura Medha of ancient Indian literature. Mazda is wisdom in ancient Persian (Avestan) and is equivalent to Medha in Rigveda.

Here are few more:

Sanskrit	Avestan	Remarks
Yajna	Yasna	Sacrifice
Soma	Homa	Sacrificial drink
Ahura	Asura	Lord
Deva	Daeva
Sapta Sindhu	Hapta hindu	Indus River, Punjab
Saraswati	haraxvati	Arachosia
Sarayu	Harayu	Hari river ( Afgan)
Kubha river	Kabul river
Mitra	Mithra	Roman God
Indra	Verethra	Demon
Sena	Hayna	Army
Hota (in Yajna)	Zaotar	Priest
Vak ( speech)	Vaksha	Oxus river
Chakshu (Sight)	Yaksha	Jaxartes River
Mount Meru	Mount Hara	Hindu Kush/ Himalayas
Gomati	Gomal river	Afganistan

The word Asura is Lord in Avesta but Demon in Brahmanical literature .

In early Vedas, Asura has the status of Gods. For example, the word Asura occurs one hundred and eight times in the Rigveda samhita and in 94 passages it means a divine spirit.

In Avesta, Daeva represents demon, so is Indra a Demon

Ahurmazds has created 16 maha janapadas in Sweta Dwipa. The last one is called Hapta Hindu. And the devil Angra Manue ( Compare Manu of Veda) created 16 mahajanapada in the Jambu dwipa

One theory suggests that in anthropology, agriculture followed shepherd life. While the nomadic shepherds moved into the saptasindhu region, farming has already started in the east Iranian lands. Often the cattle tending Vedic Aryans plundered the pre-Zarathustrian settled agriculturists of Iran. As a result, the Devas of cattle tending vedic Aryans have been demonised by Zarathustra in his Vendidad.

One of the important part of Avesta is Vendidad ( Vi-devo-data) which translates to ”given against the Daevas ( Demons)

Devas of Aryans have been demonised in Avesta.