Airyanem Vaejah

Template:Short description Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use shortened footnotes Template:Italic title Template:Zoroastrianism sidebar Template:Lang (Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx; Template:Langx, 'the Arya ExpanseTemplate:Refn') is considered in Zoroastrianism to be the homeland of the early Iranians and the place where Zarathustra received the religion from Ahura Mazda.Template:Sfn The Avesta also names it as the first of the "sixteen perfect lands" that Ahura Mazda created for the Iranians.Template:Sfn

Based on these descriptions, modern scholarship initially focused on Airyanem Vaejah in an attempt to determine the homeland of the Iranians or Indo-Iranians in general.Template:Sfn Among these early attempts, the region of Khwarezm emerged as a likely locale.Template:Sfn More recent scholarship, however, no longer agrees as to where Airyanem Vaejah might have been located or to what extent it is a mythological rather than a specific historical place.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Etymology and related words

The Avestan Template:Lang and the Middle Persian Template:Transliteration are compound terms, where the first part is the adjective or genitive plural of Arya (Template:Langx, Template:Transliteration; Template:Langx, Template:Transliteration), respectively.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn This term also appears in Vedic Sanskrit as the self designation of the people of the Vedas.Template:Sfn Within the context of Iran, however, this term simply means Iranian.Template:Sfn However, the exact meaning of the second part Template:Lang or Template:Transliteration is uncertain.Template:Sfn Friedrich Carl Andreas derives it from a hypothetical Old Iranian *vyacah which he connects to Vedic Sanskrit Template:Lang "territory, region".Template:Sfn On the other hand, Émile Benveniste connects it to the Avestan term Template:Lang (brandish, throw (a weapon)) which would be cognate to Vedic Sanskrit Template:Lang (vehement movement, irruption, flow) and, therefore, would give Template:Lang the meaning of "extent" or "expanse".Template:Sfn It may also be related to Vedic Sanskrit Template:Lang (to move with a quick darting motion, speed, heave (said of waves)), suggesting the region of a fast-flowing river.Template:Sfn

Zoroastrian tradition knows at least two other terms that associate the Iranian people with a geographical region. The first is found in the Avesta specifically in the Mihr Yasht. Vers Yt. 10.13 describes how Mithra reaches Mount Hara and overlooks the Airyoshayana (Template:Langx, 'Iranian lands'). This term is usually interpreted to refer to the entire land inhabited by Iranians which would make it an umbrella term for the Iranian regions mentioned in the following verse Yt. 10.14.Template:Sfn However, Gherardo Gnoli notes the ambiguity of the text, such that Airyoshayana, like Airyanem Vaejah, may only refer to a specific country, one that occupies a prominent place among the Iranian countries from verses Yt. 10.13–14.Template:Sfn The second term is the Middle Persian Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang) and Template:Transliteration (Template:Lang). This word is the origin of the modern Persian term Iran. However, a possible Old Iranian origin Template:Lang has not been established and the term may be an innovation of the Sassanians.Template:Sfn

In the Avesta

The earliest mentions of Airyanem Vaejah are found in the Avesta, in particular in the Vendidad and several of the Yashts. In the Yashts, Airyanem Vaejah is most prominently named in the Aban Yasht as the place where both Ahura Mazda and Zarathustra sacrifice to Anahita:

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The other verses in which Airyanem Vaejah occurs in the Yashts follow the same structure, differing only in the deity to whom the sacrifice is offered. While in Yt. 5.104, Zarathustra is sacrificing to Anahita, this is changed to Drvaspa in the Drvasp Yasht (Yt. 9.25), and to Ashi in the Ard Yasht (Yt. 17.45). In the Vendidad, however, Airyanem Vaejah appears as the first of the sixteen best lands and countries that Ahura Mazda had created for the Zoroastrian community:

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This connection between Airyanem Vaejah and winter is further described in Vd. 2.20–23. In these verses, Ahura Mazda is meeting there with Yima and instructs him to build a shelter for the winter that Angra Mainyu would soon unleash upon the material world. The harsh description of Airyanem Vaejah in Vd. 1.3, however, seems to conflict with the positive assessment given in Vd. 1.1. This has led some to speculate that the third verse is a later insertion,Template:Sfn while others think that it could be a fragment of an originally longer description, and the text in Vd. 1.3 refers only to the upper headwaters of the river Daitya.Template:Sfn

In Zoroastrian tradition

In middle Iranian sources, Airyanem Vaejah appears as Eranwez. The Bundahishn describes how Eranwez was the place where the first cattle was created (Bd. 13.4) and where Zarathustra first received the religion from Ahura Mazda (Bd. 35.54). The Bundahishn furthermore states that Eranwez is located near Adarbaygan (Bd. 29.12) and that it is connected by the river Daitya to a country called Gobadestan (Bd. 11A.7). The identity of Gobadestan is not known, but its name has been interpreted as a distortion of Sugdestan.Template:Sfn Likewise, the river Daitya is often identified in the literature with the Oxus.Template:Sfn This apparent conflict between a western and an eastern localization in Greater Iran has been explained as a westward shift in geographic place names that may have taken place parallel to the rise of political power in the western regions, in particular Media and Persis.Template:Sfn

Modern scholarship

File:Avestan geography vendidad.png

Approximate location of Airyanem Vaejah according to a number of scholars.Template:Refn

When investigating the historical reality behind Airyanem Vaejah, modern scholarship is faced with the fact that many references appear in a clearly mythical context, while others may point to a specific historical location.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn Airyanem Vaejah has, therefore, been compared to Mount Hara, a mountain that both appears in Zoroastrian mythology and has been variously identified with real geographical locations.Template:Sfn Modern scholarship is thus trying to distinguish between these mythical and historical elements in the Zoroastrian sources and to find out how the early Iranians conceived of their world in each respective context.Template:Sfn Template:Sfn

Since the Bundahishn (29.12) specifically places Airyanem Vaejah near Adarbaygan, it is clear that during Sassanian times Iranians believed it to be located in Western Iran.Template:Sfn Some early modern scholars tended to accept this localisation, assuming that it also reflected the understanding of Iranians at the much earlier time of the Avesta, i.e., the time when the earliest sources were produced.Template:Sfn However, this notion has been criticised due to the observation that all place names in the Avesta that can be reliably identified with modern places are found in the eastern and northeastern part of Greater Iran.Template:Sfn As a result, more recent scholarship mostly favours an eastern localisation of Airyanem Vaejah.Template:Sfn

One hypothesis that has attracted considerable interest identifies Airyanem Vaejah with Khwarezm.Template:Sfn It was proposed early on by Wilhelm Geiger Template:Sfn and Josef Markwart Template:Sfn and a number of arguments have been voiced in its favor over the years. First, Airyanem Vaejah is described as having long and cold winters and Khwarezm is among the coldest regions of Greater Iran.Template:Sfn Next, Airyanem Vaejah is described as the original homeland of the Iranians and Khwarezm has been proposed as an early center of Iranian civilization.Template:Sfn This point has been widely discussed within the search for "the traditional homeland" or "the ancient homeland" of the Iranians, perpetuating interpretations of the Airyanem Vaejah as Template:Lang, Template:Lang of the Indo-IraniansTemplate:Sfn or the Template:Lang.Template:Sfn Another argument builds on a comparison between the list of Iranian countries in the Vendidad (Vd. 1.1.–1.19) and the Mihr Yasht (Yt. 10.13–14). As Christensen has argued, the place occupied by Khwarezm in the Mihr Yasht seems to be occupied by Airyanem Vaejah in the Vendidad.Template:Sfn Taken together, these reasons have made the Khwarezm hypothesis very popular and scholars like Mary Boyce,Template:Sfn Nasser Takmil Homayoun, Template:Sfn and Elton L. Daniel Template:Sfn have endorsed it more recently.

However, this hypothesis has also seen a number of criticisms and counter proposals. For instance, Vogelsang has noted that the notion of Khwarezm as an important center of early Iranian civilization is not substantiated by recent evidence and places Airyanem Vaejah in the general region of Transoxiania.Template:Sfn Frantz Grenet has interpreted the cold of Airyanem Vaejah as referring to a mountainious rather than a northern region and places it in the upper course of the Oxus river at the pre-Pamirian highlands.Template:Sfn According to Michael Witzel, however, Airyanem Vaejah lies at the center of the 16 lands mentioned in the Vendidad – an area now in the central Afghan highlands (around Bamyan Province).Template:Sfn He also concludes that the idea of finding the "Aryan homeland" in the Avesta should be abandoned and one should rather focus on how both the earlier (Yasht 32.2) and later Avestan texts themselves regarded their own territory.Template:Sfn Finally, some scholars like Skjaervo have concluded that the localization of Airyanem Vaejah is insolveable.Template:Sfn

References

External links

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Etymology and related words

In the Avesta

In Zoroastrian tradition

Modern scholarship

See also

References

Notes

Citations

Bibliography

External links