Atar- Persian GodDeity"Son of Ahura Mazda"

The Pursuit of the Khvarenah

The Zamyad Yasht recounts how Azi Dahaka, the three-headed dragon, seized the divine khvarenah, the royal glory that legitimized righteous rule. When the khvarenah fell into the cosmic sea Vourukasha, Atar dove after it, seeking to recover it for the righteous. Azi Dahaka threatened to extinguish him, but Atar called upon Ahura Mazda and was preserved. Though it was ultimately Thraetaona who defeated the dragon, Atar confronted it first.

Zoroastrian texts call Atar the Son of Ahura Mazda. Fire emanates directly from God and carries his nature into the material world. It consumes impurity rather than absorbing it. Corpse matter must never be burned, not from fire's weakness but because burning the dead would defile what is sacred.

The Sacred Flame

Zoroastrian fire temples maintain flames that burn continuously, some for over a thousand years. The highest grade is the Atash Behram, the "Fire of Victory," created by combining sixteen different fires through years of ritual. Only nine survive in the world today. The faithful pray before fire during the five daily gahs, facing the flames as they recite devotions. Fire must not be extinguished by blowing, nor polluted with dead matter.

The River of Fire

At the Frashokereti, molten metal will flow across the earth in a final purification. The Bundahishn describes how the righteous will experience this river of fire as warm milk, while the wicked will be purified through its burning. The same fire that warmed creation through the long age of mixture will cleanse it permanently.