Daeva
According to Zarathustra , Daevas ( avestian ) were not yet the sinister beings they embody in the younger Avesta ; For the founder of the religion, the Daevas are still gods who are to be rejected because they cannot distinguish between truth ( asha ) and lies ( druj ).
In the younger Awesta as well as in the Zoroastrian tradition and later also in the Shahnama , the Daevas are sinister - mostly demonic - beings who act as opponents of the Yazatas ("venerable").
In the copywriters of the Zoroastrian tradition, especially in the Bundahishn , the horde of Daevas - Middle Persian dew s - is set up as evil-minded servants of Ahriman (Avestian: Angra Mainyu ). Seven of these innumerable representations of every imaginable sickness function as arch demons and as direct opponents to the seven Amesha Spentas .
The concept and ten of the Zoroastrian Daevas can be found as neo-Persian divs in the shahnama of Iranian mythology . They correspond to the Armenian devs .
List of Daevas
literature
- Clarisse Herrenschmidt, Jean Kellens: Daiva. In: Encyclopædia Iranica