Zoroaster

Zoroaster married Hvōvi, the daughter of Frashaoshtra, Vishtaspa’s brother and vizier. They had three sons named Isat Vastar, Uruvat-Nara, and Hvare Ciθra; and three daughters named Freni, Pourucista, and Triti. According to tradition, he gave Pourucista in marriage to Vishtaspa’s second brother Jamaspa, another important vizier of the kingdom.

Another account says that he had three wives. The first two wives bore him the six children while Hvōvi, his third wife, was childless. All of them took up his religion and remained faithful to him until his death.

Zoroaster died at the age 77. As the story goes, a war was going on between Persia and Turan, a country that opposed his teachings. It is said that while Zoroaster was praying in the temple of Nush-Adar, he was attacked by a Turanian called Bratrok-resh and killed.

No one knows for sure, when Zoroaster was born or lived. Different scholars have put forward different theories on the plausible time of his birth; but no one has come forward with the exact year. Only the Zoroastrian tradition has something positive to offer.

According to Zoroastrian tradition, he was born 258 years before Greek Emperor Alexander the Great conquered Persepolis, the capital of the Achaemenian dynasty of Persia. Since that happened in 330 BCE, he must have been born in 628 BCE.

Moreover, when Zoroaster converted King Vishtāspa in 588 BCE he was 40 years old. This too indicates his year of birth to be 628 BCE. However, modern scholars, who base their theory on linguistic similarities between Zoroastrian Gatha, composed by the Prophet himself, and Sanskrit Rig Veda, have different views.

Since Rig Veda was created sometime between 1700 BCE and 1100 BCE and since the Gathas depicts an ancient Stone-Bronze Age bipartite society, scholars say that he must have been born sometime around 1200 BCE. Nonetheless, all of them agree that he was born sometime between 1500 BCE and 500 BCE.

There is also great confusion about the place of his birth. While majority of the scholars believe that he was born in the northeastern part of Persia, some have also tried to place him in western or northern Persia.

According to traditional belief, he was born in Airyanem Vaejah, which according to some scholars is the modern day Azerbaijan, the ‘Land of Fire’. However, there is no distinct proof of that and more importantly, the language of the Gathas is quite different from the dialect spoken in this area.

Another set of ancient scholars cite Bactria, spread between the Hindu Kush mountain range and the Amu Darya River, as his place of birth. This view is upheld by Greek and Roman scholars like Ammianus Marcellinus, Ctesias and Moses of Chorene, who obtained the information directly from Persian sources.

Some also believe him to be of Median origin while others call him a Chaldaean, a Perso-Median Persian, an Armenian, or a Pamphylian. However, all these may be hearsays, which might have sprung up as the religion he promoted began to spread.

Not much is known about his early childhood. However, the Gathas provide us with a very vague picture, from which one can sketch the story of his life.

Zoroaster was born in the house of Spitama. From the names of the family members, scholars have concluded that it must have belonged to a nomadic tribe, with Spitama as a distant ancestor.

His father’s name was Purushaspa, which meant ‘possessing grey horses’ while his mother was Doghdova, ‘milkmaid’. In his native language, he was called Zaraϑuštra, meaning ‘he who can manage camel’. While being transliterated in Greek, it became Zōroastrēs, which in turn was anglicized into Zoroaster.

It is believed that Zoroaster was born third of his parents’ five sons. There are many miraculous stories concerning his birth. It is said that, as he took birth, the angels from heaven came to pay their respect and that unlike other children, who cry out at birth, he laughed.

As Zoroaster turned seven, he began his training in priesthood, completing it by the age of fifteen. From an early age he was an unusual child, showing great wisdom.