Hvare-khshaeta

Hvare.khshaeta (" _ae. Hvarə.xšaēta", " _ae. Huuarə.xšaēta") is the Avestan language name of the Zoroastrian divinity of the "Radiant Sun."

Avestan "Hvare khshaeta" is a compound in which "hvar" "Sun" has "khshaeta" "radiant" as a stock epithet. Avestan "hvar" derives from the Indo-Iranian root "*svar" "to shine," from which Vedic Sanskrit "Surya" - again "Sun" - also derives. In Middle Persian, "Hvare khshaeta" was contracted to "Khwarshēd", continuing in New Persian as "Khurshēd"/"Khorshīd." ("cf." a similar contraction of Avestan "Yima khshaeta" as "Jamshid").

The short seven-verse 6th "Yasht" is dedicated to Hvare-khshaeta, as is also the Avesta's litany to the Sun. The 11th day of the Zoroastrian calendar is dedicated to and is under the protection of Hvare-khshaeta. Although in tradition Hvare-khshaeta would eventually be eclipsed by Mithra as the divinity of the Sun (this is attributed to "late" syncretic influences, perhaps to a conflation with Akkadian Shamash), in scripture the Sun is still unambiguously the domain of Hvare-khshaeta and remains distinct from the divinity of "Covenant."