CHAPTER VII
MAZDA'S MINISTERING ANGELS
Amesha Spentas in the making. Zarathushtra holds before mankind six, cardinal virtues of Ahura Mazda for emulation. Primarily, they are pure abstractions, etherealized moral concepts, symbolic ideals, abstract figures. They have no individuality, no characteristics, no mythology as the Indo-Iranian divinities have. Zarathushtra aims at replacing the divine beings that owe their origin to some natural phenomena and later rise to moral stature, by spiritual ideals. The heavenly beings that he finds honoured among his people are such ancient beings that have evolved from the various aspects of nature. Such are Mithra and his associates that hold spiritual sway over the hearts of the Iranian peoples. The prophet substitutes for these august concrete beings his worshipful attributes of Ahura Mazda. In the heavenly hierarchy they represent altogether a novel feature. They are entirely unlike the gods whom mankind had been accustomed to worship under various names before his advent. He names these divine qualifications Vohu Manah, 'Good Mind,' Asha, 'Righteousness,' Khshathra, 'Divine Kingdom,' Armaiti, 'Devotion,' Haurvatat, 'Perfection,' and Ameretat, 'Immortality.' They form Ahura Mazda's being. That is, Vohu Manah is Ahura Mazda's Good Mind or Good Thought, Asha is his Righteousness and so are others his different virtues. This idealistic phase that Zarathushtra puts before man does not long retain its character. The abstract virtues soon get detached from Ahura Mazda and assume thin personification. In two instances we meet with the appellative terms Mazdāo(schā) Ahurāonghō, 'Ahura Mazda and his associates,'[1] like the Vedic plural expressions Varunas and Rudras.[2] Here we witness the Amesha Spentas or the Holy Immortals of the post-Gathic period in the making.
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