Paradise and Transcendence in Zoroastrian Cosmology: Garodemana as a Structural Symbol of Perfection, Alienation and Return
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.33064/37aeuph9141Keywords:
Zoroastrianism, Paradise, Iranian cosmology, Garodemana, Avesta, Myth criticism, Religious symbol, Transcendence, Eschatology, Human alienation.Abstract
This article examines the mythic motif of paradise in Zoroastrian cosmology through an analysis of its manifestations in the Avesta, the Pahlavi texts (particularly the Arda Viraf Nāmag and the Bundahishn) and the relevant secondary literature. It is argued that Garodemana (the House of Praise), together with its conceptual variants (Humata, Hukhta, Hvarsta), constitutes not merely a geographical-celestial representation, but a dynamic symbolic complex that articulates humanity’s experience of ontological exile and its possibility of return through the practice of the Three Good Deeds (Humata, Hukhta, Hvarsta: Good Thought, Good Word, Good
Deed). In contrast to interpretations that reduce the Zoroastrian paradise to a mere reflection of the Judeo-Christian Heaven, this work demonstrates that it possesses a structure of its own of extraordinary sophistication: it is both a manifestation of creative power (ahūriš daēnā—the eternal Law of Ahura Mazda) and a lived experience of alienation and cosmic redemption in the eschatological struggle against Angra Mainyu (the Destructive Spirit). A comparative analysis with parallel motifs in Indo-Iranian, Neoplatonic and Abrahamic traditions reveals significant convergences and divergences that enrich our understanding of how ancient
cultures articulated the transition between the contingent and the absolute, the corruptible and imperishable perfection
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