Aka Manah- Persian DemonDemon"Evil Mind"
Also known as: Akoman and Akem Mano
Titles & Epithets
Domains
Description
Vohu Manah gives good thoughts. Aka Manah takes them away. The foremost archdeava poisons the mind itself, turning truth into something that looks like a lie. He is the last demon destroyed at the Frashokereti, because evil thought is the root from which all other evils grow.
Mythology & Lore
The Worst Thought
In Yasna 32, Zoroaster denounces those who follow the "worst mind" and choose the Lie over Truth. This is the work of Aka Manah. Where Vohu Manah, the first Amesha Spenta, fills the mind with good thoughts, Aka Manah fills it with evil ones: doubt and the kind of reasoning that makes falsehood look wise. He does not drive people to violence. That is Aeshma's work. Aka Manah corrupts the thinking that precedes every choice.
The Bundahishn places him at the head of the six archdaevas, directly opposite Vohu Manah. The first corruption against the first virtue.
The Last to Fall
The Vendidad describes Aka Manah as the first demon to assault the righteous soul at death. Before the soul reaches the Chinvat Bridge, he tries to lead it astray. The Dēnkard adds that he is responsible for heresy and the intellectual arrogance that leads people to reject divine truth in favor of their own distorted understanding.
At the Frashokereti, he will be the last demon destroyed. Every other evil has a source in corrupted thought. Only when the mind is purified can creation be made whole again.
Relationships
- Serves