The Sīmūrgh was the son of Ahūm-stut, who was perhaps “the holy falcon—praiser of the lord.” He builds his nest amidst the cliffs of Mount Alborz, and the gigantic structure is woven with the branches of the aloe and the fragrant sandal-wood. Around it gleam the white cliffs in the sunlight, and precious stones lie beneath it, for it is far beyond the reach of man. The Sīmūrgh became, in later literature, a mythical incarnation of supreme wisdom.
AHŪRA-MAZDA.
This deity is represented as the supreme god of the Persians, the creator of the other gods, and the ruler of them all.
The word Ahūra appears to have much kinship with Asūra, of the Hindū mythology. In the early portions of the Ṛig-veda this word has a good meaning, but in the latter part of the same work the Asūra[Asūra] is represented as a black demon, who committed fearful devastation until he was defeated by Indra. Among the Persians, Asūra, or Ahūra is pictured as the sky-god, who is represented among the Hindūs as Varuṇa, who looks down from heaven with his countless starry eyes and “wields the universe as the gamesters handle dice.”[[135]]
The heaven of Ahūra-Mazda surrounds the highest peaks of the “Lofty Mountain” in the upper air, and it is called the “Abode of Song.” It is said “the maker Ahūra-Mazda has built a dwelling on the Hara-Berezaita, the bright mountain around which the daily stars revolve.... With his arms lifted up towards immortality, Mithra, the lord of wide pastures, drives forward a beautiful chariot, wrought by Ahūra-Mazda and inlaid with stars.”[[136]]
The attributes of Ahriman, the serpent, or evil principle, became personified, and the various forms of falsehood, darkness and death became abstract demons. So, also, Ahūra-Mazda was afterward worshipped as a multitude of deities, and thus it happened that victory, benevolence, sovereignty, and even health were each worshipped as a separate divinity, and gathered together in the heavenly councils as a band of Yazatas or angels. These are numbered by thousands, but the one demanding the greatest reverence is
ATAR.
This is the god of fire. He was called the “most great Yazata,” and as such he commanded the undying worship of the Persian devotee.
The first duty of each Pārsī householder was to cherish the sacred fire upon his own hearth, feeding it only with delicate bits of fragrant sandal wood, while the fires in the temples were committed to the care of the priests. Atar is the Persian form of the Hindū Agni, the guardian of the home, and the symbol of social union.
The cypress tree was planted in front of their fire temples, and when it had reached a towering height, it was surrounded by a gilded palace like a sheath of flame,[[137]] while more simple altars arose from their mountain tops and blazed with the sacred symbol.