Armaiti, Humility, is the daughter of Ahura Mazda. Already in the Old Avestan texts, she is clearly the deity of the Earth, as she is in the later Avestan texts and in several other Old Iranian mythologies (Persian, Sogdian, Khotanese). She is therefore the counterpart of the celestial Order, with which she is frequently associated, and this couple therefore corresponds loosely to the Old Indic couple Heaven and Earth. If Armaiti is, as always assumed, derived from the verb aram man-, it must literally mean “thinking in correct measure, balanced thinking,” as opposed to “too much“ or “too little,” as implied by its opposite “thinking beyond its measure,” especially “think (too) little (about), scorn.” More probably, its meaning is “humility” and refers to the earth’s “humble” role as the daughter and spouse of Ahura Mazda. Note that humble is from Latin humilis, which is derived from humus “earth.” Hence the ritual action of “homage” (nemah), that is, bending down to the earth, is regularly associated with Armaiti. These two refer to the fact of not having defects and blemishes and not dying before one’s time. They represent the desired state of the world and are generated by the sacrifice. In both the Old and Young Avestan texts, they can be used to refer to water and plants, whose protectors they are said to be in the Pahlavi texts. The sacrificial fire, belongs to Ahura Mazda (in the Young Avesta it is the son of Ahura Mazda), the messenger who goes between the worlds of thought and of living beings, bringing the offerings of the worshiper to the gods and the gifts of the gods to the worshiper. In the Young Avesta, sacrifices and worship are offered to a number of deities, among them Mithra, the sun god; Anahita, the heavenly river; Vayu, the god of the intermediate space between the spherical heaven and the earth suspended in its center; Tishtriya, the Dog Star, who fights the demon of Drought to release the rains; etc.
Zoroastrianism and Best Order of Universe
