Haurvatat

_ae. Haurvatat (" _ae. Haurvatāt") is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian concept and hypostasis of "wholeness" or "perfection." As a divinity, Haurvatat is the Amesha Spenta of water ("cf." "apo"), prosperity, and health.

Etymologically, Avestan "haurvatat" derives from an Indo-Iranian root and is linguistically related to Vedic Sanskrit "sarvatāt" "intactness, perfection." The Indo-Iranian root has in turn Indo-European origins. In Common Era Zoroastrian tradition, Haurvatat appears as Middle Persian "Hordad", continuing in New Persian as "Khordad". The Iranian civil calendar of 1925, which adopted Zoroastrian calendar month names, has "Khordad" as the name of the 3rd month of the year.

The word "haurvatat" is grammatically feminine and the divinity Haurvatat is a female entity. Hordad/Khordad were/are however considered male, a development that is attributed to the loss of grammatical gender in Middle Persian. In "Isis and Osiris" 46, Plutarch translates Haurvatat as Πλοῦτος "ploutos" "wealth, riches" and equates the divinity with "Plutus," the Greek god of riches.

In scripture

In the Gathas

Like the other Amesha Spentas also, Haurvatat is already attested in the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrianism and considered to have been composed by Zoroaster himself. And like most other principles, Haurvatat is not unambiguously an entity in those hymns. Unlike four of the other Amesha Spentas, Haurvatat does not have a standing epithet that in later Avesta texts becomes an element of her proper name.

Already in the Gathas, Haurvatat is closely allied with Ameretat, the Amesha Spenta of "Immortality". Addressing Ahura Mazda in "Yasna" 34.11, the prophet Zoroaster exclaims that "both Wholeness and Immortality are for sustenance" in the Kingdom of God. In the same verse, as also in "Yasna" 45.10 and 51.7, parallels are drawn between Ameretat and Haurvatat on the one hand and "endurance and strength" on the other.

In the Younger Avesta

The relationship between Ameretat and Haurvatat is carries forward into the Younger Avesta ("Yasna" 1.2; 3.1; 4.1; 6.17; 7.26; 8.1 etc; "Yasht" 1.15; 10.92). The Younger Avestan texts allude to their respective guardianships of plant life and water (comparable with the Gathic allusion to sustenence), but these identifications are only properly developed in later tradition (see below). These associations with also reflect the Zoroastrian cosmological model in which each of the Amesha Spentas is identified with one aspect of creation.

The antithetical counterpart of Haurvatat is demon ("daeva") "Tarshna" "thirst," while Ameretat's is "Shud" "hunger." Ameretat and Haurvatat are the only two Amesha Spentas who are not already assigned an antithetical counterpart in the Gathas. In the eschatological framework of "Yasht" 1.25, Ameretat and Haurvatat represent the reward of the righteous after death ("cf." Ashi and "ashavan"). Haurvatat and Ameretat will destroy the demons of hunger and thirst at the final renovation of the world ("Yasht" 19.95-96).

Unlike Ameretat, Haurvatat has a "Yasht" consecrated to her ("Yasht 4"), and is invoked as the protector of the seasons and years ("Yasht" 4.0, "Siroza" 1.6, 2.6 ). In "Yasht" 4.1, Haurvatat is described as having been created by Ahura Mazda for "the help, joy, comfort, and pleasure of the "ashavan"." The righteous can put demons to flight by invoking the name of Haurvatat ("Yasht" 4.2). In "Yasht" 4.4, Haurvatat is implored to give mankind the power to withstand the seductive attacks of the "Pairikas", the devilish sprites of Angra Mainyu.

In tradition

Through the association with plants and water, Ameretat (MP: "Amurdad") and Haurvatat (MP: "Hordad") are consequently identified with food and drink ("cf." sustenance in the Gathas, above), and traditionally it was out of respect for these two Amesha Spentas (MP: "Ameshaspand") that meals were to be taken in silence. In "Book of Arda Viraf" 23.6-8, the righteous Viraz sees a man punished in hell "for consuming Hordad and Amurdad while unlawfully chattering while he chewed."

In the "Bundahishn", a Zoroastrian account of creation completed in the 12th century, Ameretat and Haurvatat appear - together with Spenta Armaiti (MP: "Spendarmad"), the third female Amesha Spenta - on the left hand of Ahura Mazda ("Bundahishn" 26.8). Throughout Zoroastrian scripture and tradition, these three principles are most consistently identified with the creations that they represent - respectively plant life, water and earth. In "Arda Viraf" 35.13, the three daughters of Zoroaster are described to be in the image of Armaiti, Ameretat and Haurvatat.

In the hierarchy of "yazata"s, Haurvatat has as her assistants or cooperators ("hamkars") three lesser "yazata"s: "Vata-Vayu" of the wind and atmosphere, "Manthra Spenta" of "bountiful spells" and the Fravashis, the hordes of guardian spirits.

In the day-name and month-name dedications of the Zoroastrian calendar, the sixth day of the month and third month of the year are named after Haurvatat/Hordad/Khordad and are under her protection. The Iranian civil calendar of 1925 reinstated Zoroastrian month-name conventions and hence also has "Khordad" as the third month of the year.

In other religions

Haurvatat-Ameretat (Pahlavi "hrwdˀd" "ˀmwrdˀd") appears in Sogdian language texts as "hrwwt mrwwt". A relationship to Armenian "hawrot" "mawrot" has been suggested but is not confirmed. According to Georges Vajda ("Encyclopedia of Islam", 2.III:236-237), the angels Hārūt and Mārūt of Qur'an 2:96 derive their names from those of the Amesha Spentas.

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