Some remarks on water and caves in pre-Islamic Iranian religions

By Philip G. Kreyenbroek
Keywords: Western Iran, Pre-Islamic Religions, Nerangestan, cave, cult of water
The discovery of what is undoubtedly an ancient
sanctuary at Vesnave confronts us with aspects of
religious life in pre-Islamic and early Islamic Iran
that are not widely considered in the academic lit-
erature on the subject so far:
the prominent character of the cult of water in
branches of Sasanian Zoroastrianism;
the role of caves in religious life;
the existence of aspects of ritual and observance
whose existence was at best reluctantly admitted
by the Zoroastrian priests who supervised the fi-
nal redaction (in the 9
th
and 10
th
centuries BCE)
of the Pahlavi Books, our main sources of infor-
mation about Zoroastrianism in Sasanian and
early Islamic Iran;
the probable existence of popular cults in
Parthian and Sasanian Iran besides the official
form of Zoroastrianism reflected in the Pahlavi
Books.
As doctrinal aspects of the cult of water in Zoroas-
trianism and a range of observances connected
with water in that religion will be discussed else-
where in this volume, the present paper will dis-
cuss the evidence of the Nerangestan about the
cult of water; aspects of the ancient Iranian cos-
mogony which may account for the popularity of
caves in pre-Islamic Iranian religion(s); draw atten-
tion to a number of similar but hitherto barely ex-
plored instances of the combination of a water cult
connected with caves; and discuss some of the im-
plications of the material examined here, notably
the probability of the existence of popular cults,
and the relationship between originally Zoroastrian
and earlier beliefs and observances in Western
Iran.
The Nerangestan is a work whose core con-
sists of Avestan teachings concerning ritual mat-
ters, and also contains a translation and commen-
tary of these texts in Middle Persian.
1
The term
Avestan is used for the sacred, liturgical language
of Zoroastrianism, an Old-Iranian language that is
widely assumed to have been spoken in eastern
parts of Iran. The Nerangestan (hereafter Ner) has
long been transmitted orally in centres of priestly
education. The time of origin of the Avestan texts
therefore cannot be ascertained but, as was ar-
gued elsewhere,
2
it is likely that the fixation of
Avestan texts
3
in oral transmission took place in
the course of the Achaemenid period. At that time,
Western Iran became the centre of the Zoroastrian
world, and Western Iranian priests, whose native
tongue was not Avestan, began to learn the
sacred texts by heart rather than acquiring an ac-
tive command of the sacred language. Given the
unstable nature of texts in free oral transmission,
and the freedom of the transmitters to discard
what was no longer relevant, texts that were in-
cluded in the fixed Avesta in Achaemenid times,
were probably felt to be true and relevant at that
time.
The Pahlavi commentary of the Ner, on the
other hand, reflects the opinions of much later gen-
erations of Zoroastrian priests particularly, it
seems, those of the late Sasanian period.
4
As will
be seen below, the Pahlavi Commentators had to
respect the authority of the Avestan directions, but
were often able to interpret these in the light of
their own understanding and preoccupations.
The Zoroastrian ritual as we know it from con-
temporary ritual practice and from the Pahlavi
Books includes at least two distinct offerings to the
waters (ab-zohr):
an independent offering, which could be made
either by a priest commissioned for the pur-
pose, or by a lay person; it involved pouring a
mixture of milk and some other fluids (see be-
low) into a source of water, while reciting Ave-
stan prayers;
an offering that forms part of the high priestly
ritual known as Yasna, which is now always per-
formed by priests who are in a state of purity,
in a special place (Dar(b)-e Mihr), which often
forms part of a fire temple. The Yasna is always
performed in the first watch of the morning, i.e.
relatively early. The actual rite known as ab-zohr
comes towards the end of this ritual (Y. 62.11-70),
1
Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 1992; Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 1995; Kotwal/
Kreyenbroek 2003; Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2009.
2
Kreyenbroek 1996.
3
With the exception of the Ancient Avestan texts such as the Gat-
has, which had been memorised verbatim from a much earlier
period, see Kreyenbroek 1996.
4
Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2003, 1718.
and involves the offering of two forms of a fluid
known as parahaoma
5
to the Waters.
The Ner contains references to both these obser-
vances. While the Pahlavi commentary tends to in-
terpret the Avestan passages as references to the
final part of the Yasna, however, the Avestan texts
themselves are more easily interpreted as refer-
ences to independent ab-zohr offerings. In the Ave-
stan part of Ner 30.1-7, we find:
6
30.1) From what time onwards does the worship of
the divine Beings [i.e. the ritual] through the
(offerings to) the Good Waters commence?
30.2) It (can) last from sunrise to sunset.
30.3) Both in summer and in winter.
30.4) He who offers a libation to the Water [ab-
zohr]
30.5) after sunset (or) before sunrise,
30.6) does not perform a better action than if he
were to sprinkle it on the jaws of a veno-
mous snake.
In other words, it is said in the Avestan text that
one may make the offering to the Waters from sun-
rise to sunset. Since, as we the saw above, the pro-
per time for the Yasna is restricted to the first
watch of the morning, the passage can only mean
that the rite referred to here is the independent ab-
zohr. The Pahlavi commentary of the same Chapter
includes the following passage.
7
30.10) When he takes the zohr he should move in
the direction of the water and recite (the fol-
lowing prayers) near the water: . . .
30.11) And . . . (he should . . . recite): fra.te stao-
maide ahurane ahurahe van
J
h
e
us yasnasca
vahmasca hub
e
r
e
t sca usta.b
e
r
e
t sca van-
ta.b
e
r
e
t sca . . . yazatanam above the water;
(at) a he should turn (the Haoma cups)
face down; (at) asaonam he should fill them
with a little consecrated water; (at) kuxsnisa
he should fill them completely; (at) us b
barami he should lift them up from the
water; (he recites) raasca b
e
r
e
zato on his
way (to the ritual table, and) gaasca
srauuaiioit at the place where he puts it
down.
The Avestan texts included in the Pahlavi commen-
tary are passages from the liturgy of the Paragna
ceremony which precedes the Yasna. Otherwise Ner
30 contains no clear reference to the Yasna liturgy
in connection with the offering. This suggests that
the later priestly commentators could not imagine
that a minor, potentially lay ritual could be referred
to in such a venerable, ancient text, and took the
passage to refer to the Yasna ritual. The Ner text
continues:
30.12) If one commissions two priests to do the
work, then one of them should take the baj
from the other,
8
and they should recite ra-
asca b
e
r
e
zato.
The implication, in this priestly text, is that the ri-
tual can be carried out by priests. Modern practice
and other evidence suggest, however, that this only
happened if the ritual was particularly important. In
other cases it could be done by the laity, notably
by young girls. Mary Boyce,
9
describing the ritual
practices of the Iranian village of S

arifabad in the
1960s, writes:
It was when the villagers wanted the rite per-
formed for the dead that they entrusted it to the
Dastur [i.e. the priest, PK] so that it should be ri-
tually correct and fully effective, but during the be-
loved months [certain months of the Zoroastrian
year, PK], girls used to do it more simply for the
living members of the family, carrying the libations
to every stream in the village and pouring a little
into each while reciting some piece of Avestan.
Interestingly, Ner 30.8 also refers to a (ritual)
bowl prepared by children and parahaoma pre-
pared by children as a possible part of the offer-
ing.
10
Boyce describes the practice at S

arifabad as
follows:
11
The libation itself was provided by the laity in
the following way: A bowl, usually one inscribed
and kept for ritual use, was filled with milk directly
from the cow, a handful of oleaster fruits was
added and rose petals and marjoram leaves were
sprinkled on the surface, and then the bowl was
taken to the Dastur.
As we saw earlier, the Avestan parts of Ner
30 probably referred to the independent ab-zohr,
with a single Pahlavi passage suggesting that the
text was later associated with the Yasna ritual. The
same may be true of Ner 51, where the Pahlavi
commentary refers clearly to the latter part of the
Yasna service,
12
suggesting that the rite referred to
was the ab-zohr for the Yasna ceremony. The origi-
nal, Avestan part of this chapter on the other hand,
5
Viz (1) a mixture of leaves from the pomegranate tree, twigs of
the haoma plant, and consecrated water which is prepared by
means of pounding and straining during the preparatory cere-
mony (Paragna) preceding the Yasna (the first parahaoma);
and (2) a similar mixture, this time containing milk (the second
parahaoma), which is prepared during middle part of the cere-
mony (Yasna. 2228 and Yasna 3134); for references see Kot-
wal and Boyd 1991, 169, s.v. parahom
6
Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2003, 12831.
7
Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2003, 13233.
8
I.e. exchange parts of a ritual formula with.
9
Boyce 1977, 190.
10
Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2003, 13031.
11
Boyce 1977, 190.
12
Nerangestan 51.10, 11. see Kotwal/Kreyenbroek 2003,
2345.
Philip G. Kreyenbroek 158
refers to a much more variable act than the Yasna
as we know it.
51.1) One who makes offerings to the water, not to
the bar
e
sman
13
51.2) If the bar
e
sman is placed within a distance
of the length of a chariot-pole, (or) the
breadth of a barley corn,
51.3) Let him offer it to the bar
e
sman also.
51.4) If not, he shall be punished with three (lashes)
or a days length of work in the field.
51.5) He who (offers it) to the bar
e
sman, not to
the water,
51.6) If the water is within a distance of three paces,
51.8) If he does not offer it he shall be punished
with three (lashes) or with a days length of
work in the field.
The text discusses offerings to the waters not in-
tended to include worship of the bar
e
sman, and
vice versa. As it is unlikely that the elaborate ritual
we call Yasna could be performed without homage
being paid to both water and bar
e
sman, the origi-
nal reference was probably to an independent ri-
tual, and was associated with the Yasna by the la-
ter commentators.
The evidence of the Ner, then, shows that
there were considerable changes and developments
in the way rituals were described in religious texts
representing the Achaemenid and the later Sasa-
nian and early Islamic periods. One tendency sug-
gested by the texts is that offerings to the Waters
had considerable prestige in early Zoroastrianism
but at least from the point of view of the priest-
hood later declined in importance. Such a devel-
opment may have resulted at least in part from the
increasing importance of fire, as the object and icon
of the temple cult. The latter probably became par-
ticularly prominent in Sasanian times, when it was
actively promoted by the State.
14
In the Pahlavi Books and in contemporary Zor-
oastrianism i.e. in the priestly tradition as it was
probably defined in the course of the Sasanian peri-
od fire clearly overshadows water as a focus of
worship. Older sources show, however, that consid-
erable offerings could be made to the Waters. Stra-
bo, who flourished from 63 BCE till 23 CE, writes:
15
But for water they go to a lake or a river or a
spring, dig a trench and sacrifice (the victim) over it,
taking care that nothing of the water near by is soiled
with blood, because thus they will defile it. Then they
arrange the pieces of meat on myrtle or laurel, the
Magi touch it with slender wands [i.e. the bar
e
sman,
PK] and sing invocations, while pouring out a libation
of oil with milk and honey, not into the fire or water,
but upon the ground. And they sing invocations for a
long time, holding the bundle of slender tamarisk
wands in their hands.
The passage
16
is interesting because it de-
scribes offerings to the Waters of a size that is un-
heard of in modern practice: while modern Zoroas-
trians pour some liquids into the water or on to the
earth, here the offering consists of animal sacrifice.
For a long time no other references to such an ab-
zohr were widely known to exist. Strabos informa-
tion is confirmed, however, by the Nerangestan, in
a passage dealing with the nourishment of the
Waters in a way that seemed wholly puzzling until
the discovery of Vesnave suggested an explanation.
49.1) How much fermented milk should a man of-
fer to the stagnant waters? As much as three
mouthfuls from the mixing bowl.
49.2) He may take the food that has been col-
lected. [Phl.
17
As much as has been col-
lected, that food [meat] he may collect.]
49.3) And he may even take up what has been
proffered of curdled milk.
Let him keep that curdled (milk) [cheese] for
(his own) keeping.
49.4) Similarly for navigable water.
When the water is deep it is the same.
49.5) But to navigable water,
(In the case of) deep water,
49.6) The Fraberetar
18
may without sin offer half
as much of it.
He who acts as frab
e
r
e
tar;may without sin
offer upward of half the quantity [i.e. for ap-
portioning (he should) use scales (made) of
skin.
49.8) Stagnant water accepts that (offering) of
which running water accepts half; except for
solid food, for solid food (should have) at
least three (bowls?) to be complete, and at
most six . . .
49.17) Without sin (one may offer) a whole cooked
animal as part of the solid portion, not the
liquid.
Without guilt is he who [cooks together] all
five, those of the (solid) offering, not the fat
(offering).
It is suggestive that the Pahlavi version of Ner
49 does not translate the Avestan words for a
whole cooked animal, but misinterprets Av. pux-
e
m cooked as a form of puxa- fifth. Evidently
13
I. e. the bundle of twigs used in the ritual.
14
Boyce 1979, 106-9.
15
Geography 15.3.14; trsl. de Jong 1997, 126.
16
On the questions raised by the description of the offerings see
de Jong 1997, 140142.
17
The Pahlavi translation of the passages is here given in italics.
Square brackets denote additions to the actual translation by
the commentators.
18
In later usage the word frab
e
r
e
tar, lit. one who offers, is al-
ways used for a ritual priest. It the Avestan passage, however,
it may have referred to anyone who made an offering.
Some remarks on water and caves in pre-Islamic Iranian religions 159
the practice described in the Avestan part of the
Ner did not correspond to the observances for the
Waters that were known in later Sasanian times.
The tendency of the priesthood to keep the ri-
tual directions that are referred to in their texts with-
in the confines of priestly practice, is illustrated by
the fact that as in the two cases discussed above
at the end of this Chapter the Pahlavi commentary
again seeks to explain the passage as part of the
Yasna ritual by referring to the liturgy of Y.62-70:
49.23) And at yen
J
he.me asat haca vahist
e
m (Y.69.2)
both times one should offer the zohr. At yen
J-
he, one should pour a little of the libation
into the mortar, and at pait (one should of-
fer) the solid food.
The combined evidence of Strabo and the Ner,
therefore, shows that major offerings were made to
the Waters by some Iranian communities as late as
the first century CE, while the commentators who
probably flourished towards the end of the Sasa-
nian era, could or would not associate these refer-
ences with practices they accepted as part of prop-
er Zoroastrian observance.
The Avestan part of the Ner, which must have
reached Western Iran in the course of the Achaeme-
nid period, refers to offerings of food and liquids,
but no reference is made in any part of the text to
jewellery or coins, such as were found at Vesnave.
As was suggested earlier, a plausible explanation
for this lack of references to what was evidently a
later custom, as for the tendency to misinterpret
Avestan references to offerings to the Waters, is
that such observances did not find favour with the
later priesthood. In the case of Vesnave, the narrow
entrance, which forces visitors to crawl on all fours,
would have made it almost impossible for a Zoroas-
trian priest to keep the physical purity required for
ritual practice. It could be deduced, then, that the
cult at Vesnave was not primarily a priestly one. If
this is so, Vesnave is the first documented site of a
Zoroastrian popular cult in Iran.
In Western Iran, Zoroastrian teaching, and to
some extent observance, was superimposed on an
existing tradition. This process probably began in
Achaemenid times, and probably took place from
the top down. Priests the only group who were
able to recite the sacred Avestan texts clearly
played a key role in its transmission. As a result, a
growing distinction came to be made between high,
priestly rituals in the course of time this came to
mean intrinsically connected with the temple cult
and popular, largely lay observances. Many of the
latter such as the offerings to water probably
went back to common Iranian culture and may have
existed in both the pre-Zoroastrian and Zoroastrian
traditions. As the priesthood was presumably pre-
occupied with high rather than popular ritual, Zor-
oastrianism came to be represented in written
sources mostly in terms of the former, while tradi-
tional observances that required neither temple nor
priest, continued to be practised, but were not pro-
minently described in the Pahlavi Books. This may
explain why official Zoroastrian sources of the
post-Achaemenid era implicitly describe fire as
more worthy of worship than water, while offerings
to the Waters clearly played an important part in
lay Zoroastrian observance. In fact, such offerings
were not only made under the Sasanians, as is
shown by the evidence of Vesnave, but continue to
be made to this day by non-Zoroastrian Iranians,
both in the Kermansah region
19
and in northern
Fars.
20
This strongly suggests that offerings to the
waters persisted on a popular level.
The existence of a water cult can thus be shown
to have ancient roots in Western Iranian religion. A
closely related question, in a work focussing on Ves-
nave, is to what extent the same is true of caves.
Although Vesnave is the only sanctuary of this type to
have been investigated in any depth so far, a number
of other, similar sites have come to light, or come to
be associated with pre-Islamic religion, in the past
decade or so. Perhaps significantly these seem to oc-
cur in clusters, two of which can now be identified.
Not far from Vesnave is the cave system of N asar,
next to which a spectacular waterfall is found. In one
of the central halls of this system of caves, the image
of a sun has been carved into the rock.
21
In many ways, the system of caves under the
Yezidi sanctuary of Lales in Northern Iraq is similar
to that of Vesnave: in both cases there is evidence
that the caves were used for religious purposes be-
fore Islam became dominant,
22
in both cases water
springs from living rock, and in both cases access
to the main cave is through a narrow corridor. The
sanctuary of N asar has a counterpart not far from
Lales, at Charst n/Charsitun near Duhok. There one
finds traces of a waterfall,
23
with conduits to take
its water into the cave. In the cave itself there is a
19
Information received by the author from several inhabitants of
Kermansah, who pour rose-water into streams.
20
I am indebted for this information to Dr. Kianoosh Rezania,
who informs me that Moslem friends of his family used to ma-
ke such offerings for barakat (blessings).
21
Information I owe to Dr. Shahrokh Razmjou (oral communicati-
on London, 7 May 2008).
22
In one, apparently man-made, hall in the rock adjacent to the
natural caves, a man-shaped figure was hewn into the rock.
Although the figure is now corroded, or has been defaced by
later generations of visitors, the most plausible reason for
creating such a monument in a subterranean space appears to
be the need for the representation of a divinity. The fact that
the hall strongly resembles a Roman Mithraeon may or may
not be relevant here.
23
An artificial waterfall has now been created in the bed of the
natural one, so that water can be seen to fall even during the
dry season.
Philip G. Kreyenbroek 160
large fire-place (about a metre and a half in dia-
meter) surrounded by four columns. The fire-place
is too shallow to have supported an eternal fire,
suggesting that huge fires were lit on special occa-
sions; the cave, which is relatively high up in the
mountains, can be seen from parts of the valley of
Duhok, which was presumably inhabited at this
time. Lower down on the mountain there are rem-
nants of several buildings, whose original functions
have not yet been adequately identified by archae-
ologists. Vesnaveh and N asar, Lales and Charst n,
in short, all combine evidence of a religious use of
caves in connection with water.
There appear to be no relevant references to
caves in the Zoroastrian religious texts, except
those to the cave (vara-, var-) of Yima. In Indo-Ira-
nian mythology, Yima/Yama was the mythical figure
who discovered the path to the realms of death,
and in the Veda he is portrayed as the ruler of the
dead. In Zoroastrianism, the existence of death is
regarded as one of the evil consequences of Ahri-
mans attack on the world, which means that in the
Zoroastrian world-view there was no place for a le-
gend associating an ancient hero or king with
death. In the Zoroastian sources, Yima is said to
have been a great king, who was prevailed upon to
retire with what might be called the prototypes of
all living beings to a subterranean cave (Vendidad
2), from which he is expected to return, accompa-
nied by the ideal forms of life he has guarded, at
the end of time.
24
In the Indian Rigveda, we find a
similar reference to creatures being released from a
cave (vala, cf. Avestan vara), but here this is de-
scribed as having taken place at the beginning of
time: Indra is said to have released both the Waters
and the Cows when, apparently at the time of Crea-
tion, he opened the vala and slayed the dragon
who guarded it:
25
The one who made firm the quaking earth;
the one who made fast the shaken mountains; the
one who measured out wide the atmosphere; the
one who propped up heaven: he, o men, is Indra.
The one who, having killed the serpent, re-
leased the seven rivers; the one who drove out the
cows by unclosing the vala, the one who generates
fire between two rocks, the victor in battles: he, o
men, is Indra.
The one by whom all things here were made
moving . . .: he, o men, is Indra.
Here we find a combination of the themes of
an act of killing, the opening of a cave, making
things moving, allowing the Waters to flow, caus-
ing animals to appear, and generating fire between
two rocks.
26
As is well known, the Vedic deva Indra
usurped many of the original functions of the
asuras Mitra and Varuna, to whom similar creative
activities are attributed in other hymns, which may
go back to an earlier tradition
Far to the West of Iran, in Roman Mithraism
whose followers claimed to be Persians, and by
implication to follow a Persian cult we find repre-
sentations of Mithra killing a bull in a cave, thereby
causing the sun to rise and setting the world in mo-
tion. In Zoroastrianism, Mithra is the Lord of the
sun, fire, energy and movement (fire being the ele-
ment thought to enable movement). All this sug-
gests that the task of setting the world in motion
may originally have been ascribed to Mithra.
The fullest account of a Zoroastrian cosmo-
gony is found in the Pahlavi Greater Bundahisn.
27
This account forms part of a world-view which be-
lieves in a stark and absolute opposition between
good and evil, seeing the world as an arena cre-
ated by the good Ohrmazd (Av. Ahura Mazda); ori-
ginally ideal, the world was partly spoiled by the
incursion of the evil Ahriman (Av. Angra Mainyu). It
is Mans task to behave in such a way that Evil will
be weakened and eventually disappear from the
world. Until this process is completed, the souls of
those who think, speak and act rightly will be re-
warded in heaven; the souls of the wicked will stay
in hell until they have expiated their sins. Even-
tually, the Powers of Evil will have become so weak
that the Final Battle can commence; the way for
this is prepared by the appearance of a Saviour
(Saosyant) born of a virgin mother, and by the phy-
sical resurrection of the dead. When Evil has been
defeated forever, the world will become timeless,
eternal and blissful.
In the Greater Bundahisn (Ch. 15), it is said
that in the beginning, there was no time and every-
thing in the Universe was static. Ohrmazd was on
high, in the light, Ahriman in the depths, in dark-
ness. Ohrmazd knew that he could only remove
the Powers of Evil if he created a dynamic world,
limited as to space and time. To do this, he created
and ideal form of the world, first in a non-material
and then in a material form. The world floated on
the Waters, and contained only one Plant, one ani-
mal (a Bull), and one Man. In the course of time,
Ahriman attacked the world, pounding the plant
and killing both Bull and Man. Originally Ahriman
seemed to have won, but the good creations of
24
See e.g. Zand Wahman Yasn 9.14, Cereti 1995: 167.
25
Rigveda ii.12.24. See MacDonnell 1972, 468, on which the
translation given here is partly based.
26
The terms deva/daeva and asura/ahura represent different
groups of Indo-Iranian divinities. In Iran, the ahura became the
only divine beings to be worshipped, while the daevas were
seen as evil demons. In India, on the other hand, the devas
were more prominently worshipped, eclipsing the asuras.
27
Chapter 15. See Anklesaria 1956; see also Kreyenbroek
2002.
Some remarks on water and caves in pre-Islamic Iranian religions 161
Ohrmazd remembered their fundamental nature and
began to fight back. Thus dynamism came into the
world: the earth expanded and grew roots so that
it became firmly anchored, the waters began to
flow, the sun began to move causing day to alter-
nate with night. In short, the world became as we
know it.
This myth has certain points in common with
the Vedic and Mithraic cosmogonies. In one re-
spect, however, it is extremely unusual: it must be
one of the very few creation myths in the world
that attribute to the devil the first performance of
actions that are normally carried out by priests as
part of the main ritual. As Ahriman does in the
myth, pre-modern Zoroastrian priests regularly of-
fered animal sacrifice, and they still pound the hao-
ma plant to prepare its juice for ritual purposes.
This phenomenon is so unusual that it seems legit-
imate to wonder if the Cosmogony found in the
Pahlavi Books is not an adaptation of an older
myth: one that does not describe these primal ac-
tions as wicked. Taking into account the combined
evidence of the Veda, the Avesta (which contains
certain passages which are not in conformity with
the Bundahisn version), and of Mithraic iconogra-
phy, it is possible to outline the contents of such a
hypothetical myth.
28
The ancient Indo-Iranians, it seems, originally
believed in a Creator God who, like a father, had
generated the prototype of the world. This small
version of the world was contained in rock, as an
unborn child is contained in its mothers womb.
The earth was without movement, without light,
floating on the water of a prototypal ocean con-
tained in the rock cave. On the earth stood the pro-
totypes of animals and plants: one bull and one
plant. Mithra the Lord of Fire, the Sun, and Energy,
was hidden in the rock surrounding the cave, as fire
is hidden in the stones that produce it (cf. the Ve-
dic passage quoted above). Mithra then sprang
from the rock (the Mithraist God is called petro-
gene` s, born from a rock).
29
He offered the first sa-
crifice, killing the bull and pounding the first plant
to extract its juice. As Mithra was Lord of fire, sun
and energy, movement entered the world with him,
the sun appeared in the cave and rose up, thereby
raising the roof of the cave so that it became the
sky; the waters began to flow; Mithras actions in-
creased the size of the earth and the volume of the
waters, so that land and sea came into existence;
mountains sprang up; all species of animals and
plants sprang from the first Bull and the first Plant.
In short, the world became as we know it. Thus the
myth of Mithras delivery of the embryonic world in-
volved both a cave and flowing water.
The myth outlined above is no more than an
explanatory model showing the possible connec-
tions between the cosmogonies of the Veda, Mi-
thraism and post-Avestan Zoroastrianism. That such
a myth may in fact have been current in Western
Iran is suggested by the evidence of Roman Mithra-
ism on the one hand, and by the strikingly similar
cosmogonies of two modern religious groups
speaking Iranian languages, the Yezidis and Ahl-e
Haqq, on the other.
30
The possible existence of
such a creation myth may go some way towards ex-
plaining the link between water and caves in pre-
Islamic religion.
The lack of references to caves in the ritual
parts of the Avesta suggests that worship in caves
did not form a prominent part of the original Zor-
oastrian ritual tradition, but the value of such argu-
menta ex nihilo is of course limited. Since, as we
saw, traditional observances continued to be cele-
brated by Zoroastrian communities in Western Iran,
it could be that a predilection for caves with a pro-
minent connection with water was common to Zor-
oastrian communities and pre-Islamic Iranian
groups which had only partly been influenced by
Zoroastrianism. If this is true, it could explain the
common features of Vesnave and N asar in the
undoubtedly Zoroastrian Iranian heartland, and
Lales and Duhok in remoter lands.
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30
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Phi l i p G. Kr e y e nbr oe k
Universitat Gottingen
Seminar fur Iranistik
Weender Landstr. 2
37073 Gottingen
Email: gkreyen@gwdg.de
Summary
The paper analyses the evidence of the Nerangestan
about the cult of water in Zoroastrianism. It discusses
aspects of the ancient Iranian cosmogony which may ac-
count for the popularity of caves in pre-Islamic Iranian reli-
gion(s). It further draws attention to a number of similar,
but largely unknown instances of the combination of a
water cult with caves. It further considers the implications
of some of the evidence we now have, notably the likeli-
hood of the existence of popular cults, and the relation-
ship between originally Zoroastrian and earlier beliefs and
observances in Western Iran.
Some remarks on water and caves in pre-Islamic Iranian religions 163
I IV, 1312 Seiten mit 223 Abbildungen, 30 Tabellen
Herausgeber: Svend Hansen und Mayke Wagner
Redaktion: Barbara Helwing und Nikolaus Boroffka
Wissenschaftlicher Beirat: Abbas Alizadeh (Chicago)
David Braund (Exeter)
Henri-Paul Francfort (Nanterre)
Ernie Haerinck (Ghent)
Stefan R. Hauser (Halle/Saale)
Lorenz Korn (Bamberg)
Stephan Kroll (Munchen)
Michael Pfrommer (Trier)
Susan Pollock (Berlin)
Robert Rollinger (Innsbruck)
Miroslav Salvini (Roma)
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2011 by Deutsches Archaologisches Institut, Eurasien-Abteilung
ISSN 1434-2758
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Deutsches Archaologisches Institut

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ologische Mitteilungen
aus Iran und Turan
Band 43
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2011
DIETRICH REIMER VERLAG GmbH
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ARCHOLOGISCHE MITTEILUNGEN AUS IRAN UNDTURAN
Sonderdruck aus Band 43, 2011
Deutsches Archologisches Institut
EURASIEN-ABTEILUNG
AUS S E NS T E L L E T E HE R AN
A
M
I
T
Water and caves in ancient Iranian religion:
aspects of archaeology,
cultural history and religion