An Index of Names in Persian Mythology

The Indo Europeans are defined by a common group of languages that extend, as the name implies, from India to Ireland. The languages include the many Hindu and other Indian languages, that of the Persians, the Kurds, Armenians, the extinct Hittites, and the languages of Europe excluding Basque, Hungarian, and Finnish. Among these peoples extensive mythologies have survived in Indian, Persian, Greek, Norse or Germanic, Irish, and Welsh. Our studies have analyzed all of these six mythologies collectively and to a depth that far exceeds all previous studies. Our result is that we have shown that all of these mythologies are derived from the histories of seven members of six generations of one family, the “Family of the Gods”. These histories are most completely preserved in Indian mythology and religion. In Indian terms they extend from Brahma to Krishna.
Persian mythology is particularly valuable because of the many similar names and accounts in it and Indian that show of close linkages after they left the Indo European Homeland; But in fact they tell of the myths from a strongly rival viewpoint. For example the Indian “King of the Gods”, Indra, is not only almost absent from Persian myths but he is a demon, and a minor demon at that. We are clearly looking at the other side of an ancient bitter rivalry that is not represented in the other Indo European mythologies.
Another striking aspect of Persian myths is that we have been able to reconstruct a mythology that places the central figure of Zoroaster (or more correctly Zarathustra) in a vastly different light from all other studies. He is not the almost historical and relatively recent figure of Persian history but an individual who was part of the last generations of the Indian Gods. In fact we identify him with Sharadwatasuta, usually known by the name of Aswattaman, a survivor of the losing side of the Mahabharata War. We also find that the Indian Krishna and Lakshmi are also present in the Persian myths but they are not called by their usual names. Indeed a comparison of the complex of Persian and Indian genealogies including Zarathustra shows many remarkable matches in names .
However the extent of Persian documentation is sadly limited and as one scholar has said “As the Parsis are the ruin of a people, so are their sacred books the ruin of a religion".
While this study will not solve the issue of incomplete documentation, we believe that this collection is a useful addition to understanding Persian mythology.