Verethragna- Persian GodDeity"Smiter of Resistance"
Also known as: Bahram, Vahram, Vərəθraγna, and بهرام
Description
Verethragna takes ten forms, each a weapon of victory: a boar with iron teeth, a falcon whose feather warriors tied to their garments as a talisman. Sasanian kings took his name, Bahram, and fire temples of the highest grade burned in his honor.
Mythology & Lore
The Ten Forms
The Bahram Yasht describes Verethragna manifesting in ten incarnations, each answering a different kind of resistance. When he takes the shape of the wild boar, he charges with iron teeth and golden tusks, and nothing withstands him. When he appears as the falcon, his feather carries protective power: warriors tied it to their garments before battle. His Avestan name means "Smiter of Resistance."
Bahram
Several Sasanian kings took Verethragna's Middle Persian name. The most famous was Bahram V, called Bahram Gur, whose legendary exploits as hunter and warrior became inseparable from the god's own reputation for triumphant force. The falcon was linked to the khvarenah, the divine glory that sustained kingship, and a Sasanian coin stamped with Verethragna's image carried both the king's authority and the god's.
The Fire of Victory
The Atash Bahram is the highest grade of sacred fire in Zoroastrian worship, assembled from fires gathered from sixteen different sources: lightning, a king's hearth, a potter's kiln among them. These temples connected Verethragna's name to the heart of Zoroastrian ritual. Warriors invoked him before battle. His temples burned across the Sasanian empire.
Relationships
- Enemy of
- Created by