ANCIENT WISDOM: Beginnings of Zarathustra's Mission

Around 1200 BC Zarathushtra was born into a spacious home of a local chieftain.  His father was Pourushāspa Spitama, a hot-headed and braggadocios man who was the lord of a village and its surrounding land, as well as a wealthy horse owner.  Zarathushtra's mother was Dughdova, a mysterious figure who seems to have had a significant impact on her son’s life.

Not Dughdova

Dughdova was known for having a bright and remarkable character, with legend even attributing to her a luminous glow that dazzled all around.  When she was young a serious of disaster in her home region caused the people to blame these events on her practicing witchcraft, and they informed the priests.

Seeking to preserve his daughter, but fearing reprisals from the priests and the people, her father sent her to a neighboring land to live in the house of Padiragtarāspa, a local chieftain.  It was here where she met, and eventually married, his son Pourushaspa, who fathered  Zarathushtra.

Legend has it that Zarathushtra, upon his birth, came out laughing rather than crying.  Pourushaspa exclaimed that it was on account of the virtue and magnificence of his mother that a child could be born laughing.  He called a local priest to inspect the child.  

The priest called for Zarathushtra’s death.  The father acquiesced and sought to go through with the infanticide, but Dughdova rushed to her son’s rescue and clung to the child herself, refusing to let go of the baby.  She rebuked her husband and kept the child from him for many years, rarely allowing him to see Zarthushtra, and primarily raising him herself.

By his 15th year Zarathushtra had become renowned for his wisdom, the broadness of his intellect, his love for the divine, and his strong sense of ethics.  Moreover, he increasingly began to question the thoughts and beliefs of his time, especially the religion of the priesthood. Needless to say this led to much conflict between the young Zarathushtra and the religious establishment of his day.  The priesthood regarded him as secretly corrupted and an enemy of their order.  

At the age of 20 he left his home in search of greater knowledge and wisdom.  It seems he was greatly discomforted by the nature of the false religion, the unethical rulership, the poverty and inequity and the lack of truth.  So he sought answers, both on how to right the wrongs of society and the ultimate nature of reality.

A few years later he went to an institution renowned for its wisdom and knowledge.  Eventually, he became dismayed with their worship of the daevas and their reliance on the hallucinogenic drug haoma to reach the divine.  He again left in search of greater wisdom.  

At the age of 30 he was suddenly struck with some type of revelation, one in which he was able to commune with the divine.  The way the world was shaped was told to him and he saw the true nature of reality.  He went from a relatively unknown poet in a small corner of the world to, as far as we can tell from the written record and oral tradition, to an encounter with God.

For a decade Zarathustra would commune with the Lord of Wisdom while he tried to teach his new system of understanding to the people around him.  He traveled far and wide teaching.  He clearly repudiated the daevas, the gods his people worshiped.  He denied them as false and harmful creations of misled minds.  This led to sympathy from some and outright condemnations from others. Feeling like had had not found any success, he attended at the court of an important Lord named Vishtaspa.

Kavi Vishtāspa was the tall, young and vigorous leader of a powerful clan rich with many cattle and horses.  He was, it seems, a very competent chariot racer.  He was famous far and wide for his wealth, stature, and his chariot racing.  Many came to his court to ask things of him.  He kept a diverse court of priests of a wide variety.  Zarathustra reached this court at around his 40th year of age.  He was weathered by life, but was hopeful for the future and continued his mission to teach his insights to others who would learn.

At first Zarathushtra was greatly welcomed.  Vishtaspa was very interested in Zarathushtra's insights and accepted him into his court to learn from his counsel and wisdom.  The "political establishment" of the priesthood, however, felt threatened because he spoke against the worship of daevas, their use of hamoa, and their exploitation of the common people.  The priests devised 33 riddles to test his intellect.  Zarathushtra successfully answered three of these riddles when one of the priests plotted to have him imprisoned by lying about his character.  Vishtaspa, being thus deceived, had Zarathushtra locked in a dungeon and left to die with hardly any food or water to drink.

When the chieftain and his priests returned, they had expected Zarathushtra to have died, but instead, he was healthy and vigorous.  The priests were punished and Zarathushtra was given the patronage of the chieftain Vishtaspa.  For the next two years Zarathushtra composed more of his writings, his poetry, and more people were attracted to his teachings.  During these two years he also spent much time with the chieftain teaching him the very ways in which the worlds were ordered and instilled in him a deep sense of morals.

Zarathushtra tried three times to convince Vishtaspa of the validity of, and to accept his teachings as the guidance for his living.  The first time Vishtaspa declined claiming that the benefits of this guidance would not outweigh the many men that he had slain in battle.  Even though Zarathushtra had pointed out that these people he had slain were invaders seeking to harm the chieftain's people, it was the invader's fault for not turning to Wisdom and following Truth.  Vishtaspa was not yet convinced.

The second attempt was when Vishtaspa convened a council of the wisest and most learned priests of the land to evaluate the validity of Zarathushtra's teachings. After a period of deliberation they all became convinced of his teachings.  But Vishtaspa a political envoy arrived who demanded political tribute from him.  The worries of dealing with this situation prevented his acceptance of Zarathushtra's teachings.

The third time Vistaspa determined to evaluate this faith system once and for all.  He ordered a preparation of haoma be brought to him.  He took the drink and went into a deep sleep.  While dreaming, he found himself visiting the higher realm of the Lord of Wisdom and the seven divine attributes radiating from that Lord.  He marveled at what he saw.  When he awoke in the middle of the night he called for Zarathushtra to be brought to him so that he could accept the belief system.  From this point on Vistaspa vigorously supported Zoroastrianism and encouraged all the people of his land and the surrounding lands to accept it as their lifestyle.

Next, before we move into Zarathushtra's writings, is a look at Zoroastrianism throughout a long history.

Source: The Gathas - Zarathushtrian Assembly