The Creation Myth of Ahura Mazda vs. Angra Mainyu
Zoroastrian cosmogony, drawn from the *Avesta* and later Pahlavi texts.
In the beginning, there was only boundless space, and within it dwelled two spirits. One was Ahura Mazda, radiant, wise, and eternal, who shone with truth and creation. The other was Angra Mainyu, dark and restless, who sought only deceit and destruction. They were twins in the void, yet their natures could not be reconciled.
Ahura Mazda looked upon the empty world and dreamed of order. He spoke light into the darkness, and the first fire sprang into being. He shaped the heavens, high and star-filled, and beneath them spread the waters, the earth, and the wind. From his own essence he called forth the Amesha Spentas, the immortal guardians who would watch over each element of creation: Good Mind, Truth, Devotion, Wholeness, Immortality, and Dominion.
But when Angra Mainyu beheld this new order, he was filled with rage. He spat out the daevas, foul spirits of cruelty and falsehood, to mar what had been wrought. Where Ahura Mazda raised mountains, Angra Mainyu dug pits; where Ahura Mazda set flowing rivers, Angra Mainyu poisoned their springs; where Ahura Mazda placed beasts gentle and strong, Angra Mainyu released serpents and scorpions to torment them.
The struggle spread across all creation. Day and night became the measure of their contest, light ever driving back darkness, darkness ever returning with cunning and claw. The stars themselves were set as watchers, their courses marking the endless cycle of battle.
Yet Ahura Mazda had foreseen the struggle and knew that time would be his ally. He bound the contest to a span of nine thousand years, declaring that truth and order would endure while deceit consumed itself. To this end he created humankind, frail but free, to choose between the paths of asha and druj. The choice of mortals would tip the balance.
For a time Angra Mainyu seemed strong, his daevas spreading fear and corruption. But every act of deceit revealed itself, every cruelty turned upon itself, and every darkness ended when light returned. The Amesha Spentas stood beside humankind, teaching fire-keeping, prayer, and devotion, and in these acts of truth the power of Ahura Mazda grew.
It is told that the battle still rages. At dawn, Ahura Mazda’s light rises and the daevas scatter; at dusk, Angra Mainyu’s shadow creeps forth and the stars keep watch. But the end is already written in the fabric of creation: when the span of years is fulfilled, Angra Mainyu will be unmade, and all the world will be renewed in light.
So the Persians tell of the beginning — not of peace eternal, but of a cosmos born in struggle, where every fire lit, every prayer spoken, every truth upheld is a blow against the darkness. The tale is less an end than a reminder that the contest began before all memory, and will continue until the world itself is remade.
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