Asman: The Sky, Its Guardian and the Zoroastrian Creation Accounts

Asman names both the sky and its divine guardian. Avestan prayers and Middle Persian creation texts explain its place in creation, its defence against the Evil Spirit and its dedication on the twenty-seventh day.

The sky comes first in the material creation

Āsmān means sky or heavens. In Zoroastrian religious writing, the physical sky and the spiritual power associated with it can be discussed together without being identical objects. The Indian Bundahishn, in E. W. West’s translation, lists the material creations in a definite sequence: sky, water, earth, plants, animals and humanity (1.28). Earlier in the chapter, the necessary creatures first exist in a spiritual state for three thousand years (1.8). The sky’s priority belongs to this account of creation and its struggle against destruction. It is not a claim that the surviving book was written before every other religious text. [1] [2]

A palace and a star-covered garment

The Frawardin Yasht gives another way of imagining the heavens. In 13.1–2, Ahura Mazda declares the strength and assistance of the righteous fravashis, through which he maintains the far-shining sky above the earth. The following verse compares it to a magnificent palace and to a garment adorned with stars. In Darmesteter’s translation, Ahura Mazda wears this heavenly garment alongside Mithra, Rashnu and Spenta Armaiti. These images connect divine protection, ordered space and visible light. They do not describe Asman as an isolated creator acting independently of Ahura Mazda, nor do they supply a human biography for the sky’s guardian. [3]

The armoured guardian and the trapped destroyer

The Bundahishn’s sixth chapter describes the Evil Spirit wishing to escape after entering creation. The spirit of the sky stands ready like a warrior wearing armour; Ohrmazd establishes a defensive rampart, and the fravashis guard it as a close array of warriors. The result is that the destroyer cannot find a way back out. This is more specific than saying that the sky simply prevents evil from ever entering the world. The Greater Bundahishn, 26.76 in Anklesaria’s translation, similarly distinguishes the spiritual sky from the sky it sustains and credits it with preventing the Evil Spirit’s return. Its shining-metal imagery belongs to this defensive role. [2] [4]

Why descriptions of the sky’s substance differ

The surviving traditions do not offer one uniform material description. Tafazzoli’s comparison identifies passages describing the sky through stone, shining metal, glass and spiritual wind. He interprets almāst in the relevant cosmological passages as steel, so automatically translating every occurrence as modern diamond would mislead. A white, spherical sky can also be compared to an egg. These are different textual formulations of the enclosing heavens, rather than excavated samples of a physical dome. Four celestial levels—stars, moon, sun and boundless light—occur alongside six- or seven-level arrangements. A diagram should therefore identify the particular tradition it represents. [1]

The sun’s routes through the cosmic mountain

Chapter 5 of West’s Bundahishn places the sun’s changing routes in relation to the cosmic mountain Alburz. It describes 180 eastern and 180 western apertures and connects the changing route with the unequal lengths of day and night. The account names the zodiacal positions associated with seasonal turning points. Reading this passage beside the guardian episode shows that the same work contains both a model of celestial movement and a religious story of cosmic defence. Its Alburz is part of that cosmography; the passage should not be presented as a measured description of a modern mountain road or as contemporary astronomy. [2]

The twenty-seventh day in worship

The second Siroza arranges invocations by the thirty named days of the Zoroastrian month. Number 27 invokes the shining sky and the bright, blessed dwelling of the righteous. This gives Asman a specific liturgical position, rather than merely a general association with anything overhead. Number 28 turns to Zam, the earth, and has its own invocation. The numbered days belong to the Zoroastrian calendar; a reference to Asman’s day does not automatically mean the twenty-seventh of a Gregorian month. The prayer, the creation lists and the defensive narrative together show how the visible sky could also be approached as a sacred protector. [5]

Sources and further reading

1. Ahmad Tafazzoli, “Āsmān”, Encyclopaedia Iranica II, pp. 770–771 (1987); comparison of cosmological texts, substances, levels and the guardian of the sky.
2. Bundahishn, Indian recension, translated by E. W. West, Pahlavi Texts I (1880): 1.8 and 1.28 on creation; chapter 5 on solar routes; chapter 6 on the sky’s defence and the Evil Spirit’s attempted retreat.
3. Frawardin Yasht 13.1–3, translated by James Darmesteter; primary prayer on the fravashis, the sustained sky, palace and garment imagery.
4. Greater Bundahishn, translated by Behramgore Tehmuras Anklesaria, chapter 26.76; primary passage distinguishing the spiritual sky and the sky it holds.
5. Siroza 2.27–28, translated by James Darmesteter; the invocations for Asman and the earth on consecutive named days.
6. Mjkhoshnood, night sky above Sangbast, Khorasan (2024), Wikimedia Commons; photograph released under CC BY 4.0.