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EVIL
95

Aeshma

The demon of wrath. The foe of Sraosha, who is above all the genius of obedience and revelation, is Aeshma, or 'Wrath.' When Geush Urvan, or the Spirit of animal life, complains of the disturbance and disorder, chaos and anarchy prevailing on the earth, it speaks of Aeshma as the prime originator of these calamities.[1] The Fashioner of the Cattle, thereupon, consults Asha to find out a chieftain who would ultimately banish Aeshma from the creation.[2] Furthermore in this connection, when the twain spirits of good and evil first met together at the beginning of the creation, the demons embraced evil and rushed to the standard of Aeshma in order to bring destruction to the life of man.[3] Those who with firmness control and repress this archfiend are the saviours.[4] Zarathushtra says that the faithful follower of the good, who is striving to hold and make his own the Good Mind through righteousness, should in the first place put down Aeshma, the fiend of fury.[5]

  1. Ys. 29. 1.
  2. Ys. 29. 2.
  3. Ys. 30. 6.
  4. Ys. 48. 12.
  5. Ys. 48. 7.