Airyanem Vaejah, whose
location is disputed, contained the first mountain created on
earth, Hara Berezaiti or High Hara. The Vedas, which do
not mention Airyanem Vaejah directly, nonetheless are familiar
with this premier mountain (96).
Close to the mountain was a sea, called Vourukasha in the Avesta,
where the "Tree of All Seeds" grew. Coursing down the
mountain, or near it, was a mighty river. [26] The early Indo-Iranians
believed that all mountains were connected by their roots to High
Hara; and that all bodies of water were connected to the magical
sea (97).
Ahura Mazda, the god who
created High Hara, also built palaces on it for the greatest gods:
Mithra, Sraosha, Rashnu, Ardvi-sura Anahita, and Haoma, all of
whom ride in special chariots. While humans could not live on
the holy mountain, the greatest mythical heroes made sacrifices
there. The way to the other world, a special abode of the blessed
(where the largest and most choice specimens of plants and animals
were found) lay through the foothills of Hara/Meru. The Chinvat
bridge of Zoroastrian mythology, over which the souls of the dead
had to pass was on or near High Hara. The motif of birds dwelling
near the summit is shared by Iranian and Indian accounts, as is
the theme of the theft of the intoxicating plant haoma/soma from
the mountain's summit by a magical bird (Syena/Garuda/Simurgh);
and the slaying of a multi-headed, multi-eyed dragon nearby (98).
In the Indian tradition, Agni, the rock-born god of fire with
tawny hair and iron teeth is connected with the sacred mountain.
In the Iranian tradition, High Hara is also associated with metallurgy.
Fire and metals were introduced to humanity after the hero Hoshang(Haoshyangha)
sacrificed on the mountain (99).
High Hara was also the locale of many of the most memorable contests
in Iranian mythology (100).
The Avesta and
the Vedas do not contain sufficiently precise geographical
information to locate Airyanem Vaejah. [27]Despite this, for more
than a century scholars have attempted to locate this legendary
"original homeland" based on various interpretations
of details. Thus, unbelievably, references to the severity of
the winter storms in the mountains and certain poetic statements
led to a "polar hypothesis"(101).
The fact that the Avesta has survived only in an eastern
Iranian language, the statement that the prophet Zoroaster's initial
visions and early teaching occurred here, and the belief that
cattle raising developed exclusively on the steppes of eastern
Iran, led to the selection of eastern Iran as the most likely
site, by some (102).
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, a number of scholars
suggested that Airyanem Vaejah should be sought in the Caucasus
or adjacent areas. This view, which was developed most thoroughly
by A.V.W. Jackson, was shared by James Darmesteter, an early translator
of the Avesta and A.J. Carnoy, author of the article on
Iranian mythology in Mythology of all Races
(vol. 6), among others (103).
According to these hypotheses, the sacred mountain (High Hara)
and the magical sea (Vourukasha) would correspond to either Mt.
Rewanduz and Lake Urmiah; Mt. Ararat or Mt. Aragats and Lake Sevan;
Mt. Suphan or Mt. Nemrut and Lake Van; or Mt. Savalan or Mt. Demavend
and the Caspian Sea. This last is the favorite of later Iranian
tradition. Jackson suggested that Azerbaijan was the most likely
site for Airyanem Vaejah, and that the later Zoroaster also hailed
from this land of mountains, rivers, and prized pasturage (104).
Two place names mentioned
in the Avesta and the Vedas have been associated
with the Arax river: [28] the great semi-mythical river Raha which
had its source in the High Hara; and a place repeatedly styled
"the goodly Daitya", located somewhere in Airyanem Vaejah (105).
It was there that Ahura Mazda convened his assembly of spiritual
Yazatas and where the first kings addressed their people. It was
at the goodly Daitya that Ahura Mazda told of the coming destruction
of humanity and the need to build a refuge. Some have associated
Daitya with the valley of the Arax river, though numerous other
sites have been suggested for Daitya and Raha, stretching across
Iran and northern India (106).
Legend identifies the banks of the Arax river with the birthplace of the god Mithra, god of contracts. The Iranist G. Widengren writes:
According to the "legend" of the mysteries Mithras was born from a rock, petra genetrix giving life to him. He is therefore de petra natus... We also know that Mithra was born on the shore of the river Araxes, Ps. Plutarch, De fluviis 23 par. 4 (where, however, a confusion is found in so far as this story is attributed to a son of Mithras), that his father hated women and therefore threw his sperm on a rock which afterwards was pregnant. These details are not as the great pioneer in Mithraic studies [Franz Cumont]assumed "de pure fantaisie", on the contrary they are part of a birth myth attested among the Ossetians in Caucasus and have already in the Hurrian "Epic of Kumarbi" an unmistakable association. The localization of this scene of Mithra's birth to the shore of the Araxes in Armenia confirms our presumption that north-western Iran and Armenia was the homeland of Mithraic mysteries. Also the shepherds who are seen on Mithraic reliefs in connection with the birth-scene possess their correspondence in Ossetic tales and Iranian salvation legends, and indicate likewise a north-western origin of the stories about Mithra's birth (107).
Even though there is insufficient evidence to locate the legendary Airyanem Vaejah, it is clear that certain symbols are associated with it. Among these are mountains, metallurgy, the entrance to the other world, and the deities Anahit and Mithra, dwelling on the sacred mountain. Scholars who place Airyanem Vaejah and the locale of the early Indo-Iranian myths in eastern Iran suggest that the myths received a Middle Eastern coloration at a later period in western Iran, Azerbaijan, and Media where they were written down and commented on (109).
[30] Eastern Asia Minor and
the Caucasus were familiar in varying degrees to the Greeks, Mesopotamians,
and Indo-Iranians. The Greeks were familiar with the southeastern
corner of the Black Sea and the area to the west of Lake Van;
the Mesopotamians with the Diarbekir-Van-Urmia region and perhaps
with the Ararat area to the north; the Indo-Iranians with the
valley of the Arax river, and the areas around Urmia and south
of the Caspian. Not only is there familiarity with these areas,
but the images defined by them have striking similarities. All
three traditions associate the area with metals and metallurgy,
the entrance to the underworld or other world, and hybrid monsters.
It was a place of origin and/or salvation of humanity; a place
where the Mother Goddess had special sway; where certain non-patriarchal
forms of social organization and inheritance obtained; and a place
associated with magic potions, medicines, and people knowledgeable
in their preparation. Concomitant with the association with metallurgy
is an association with its finished products: mechanical marvels
and magically forged weapons. An association with horse and chariot
appears in the details of all three traditions. Areas south of
the Armenian highlands also associate the area with timber, precious
stones, and craftsmen, all of which, historically, were obtained
from there.
In addition to the similarity
of images, there is a deeper similarity which is thematic. Prometheus
(son of Iapetus), Noah (son of Japeth), and Hoshang are all civilizing
culture-heroes who bring the blessings (or secrets) of the gods
down to humanity in this special area. [31] The theme of the almost
successful destruction of humanity by the gods and its rebirth
here is shared by Greek, Mesopotamian, and Iranian mythology.
Odysseus, Heracles, and Gilgamesh, adventurers turned seekers-after-immortality,
all visit here. Such similarities have led some to suggest that
we are not dealing with independent traditions but with certain
great or memorable events in the early history of humanity--interpreted
differently-- some of which entered sacred tradition while others
remained part of classical mythology.
There is sufficient evidence
to suggest that in addition to reflecting foreign images of eastern
Asia Minor and the Caucasus, some of the myths reviewed above
actually derive from the area. The one-eyed cyclops of Greek mythology,
and the demon Humbaba of Mesopotamian mythology may descend from
the one-eyed T'ork, whose worship was known from areas to the
west and southwest of Lake Van. Another deity and his gestes,
the culture-hero Prometheus may derive from the Vahakn-Ardavazd-Amiram
figures known from Armenian and Georgian mythology. Tales of dragons
and rock-born gods are also known from eastern Asia Minor and
the Caucasus. It is reasonable to suppose that along with the
natural resources and finished products that were exported from
this area, the stories themselves travelled. This is even more
likely if the merchants, traders, and warriors were migrants from
the area. If so, then these myths, which currently are the earliest
literary monuments of humanity, simultaneously become reflections
of the earliest native traditions, valuable for the study of eastern
Asia Minor and the Caucasus, and extending references to this
area back to the dawn of writing.