SanskritAncient Indo-Aryan language of South AsiaSanskrit (; stem form संस्कृत; nominal singular संस्कृतम्, saṃskṛtam,) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late Bronze Age.
VayuVayu (Sanskrit: , romanised: Vāyu, lit.'Wind/Air'; Sanskrit pronunciation:), also known as Vata (Sanskrit: , romanised: Vāta, lit.'Wind/Air') and Pavana (Sanskrit: , romanised: Pávana, lit.'Purifier'), is the Hindu god of the winds as well as the divine messenger of the gods. In the Vedic scriptures, Vayu is an important deity and is closely associated with Indra, the king of gods.
Proto-Indo-Iranian religionProto-Indo-Iranian religion was the religion of the Indo-Iranian peoples and includes topics such as the mythology, legendry, folk tales, and folk beliefs of early Indo-Iranian culture.
Zoroastrian literatureZoroastrian literature is the corpus of literary texts produced within the religious tradition of Zoroastrianism. These texts span the languages of Avestan, named after the famous Zoroastrian work known as the Avesta, and Middle Persian (Pahlavi), which includes a range of Middle Persian literature.
AvestanAvestan ( ) is the liturgical language of Zoroastrianism. It belongs to the Iranian branch of the Indo-European language family and was originally spoken during the Avestan period (c. 1500 – c. 400 BCE) by the Iranians living in eastern Greater Iran as evidenced from names in Avestan geography. After Avestan became extinct, its religious texts were transmitted orally, then collected and put into writing during the Sasanian period (c. 400 – c. 500 CE).ZurvanismZurvanism was a fatalistic religious movement of Zoroastrianism in which the divinity Zurvan is a first principle (primordial creator deity) who engendered equal-but-opposite twins, Ahura Mazda and Angra Mainyu. Zurvanism is also known as "Zurvanite Zoroastrianism", and may be contrasted with Mazdaism. In Zurvanism, Zurvan was perceived as the god of infinite time and space and also known as "one" or "alone."
Historical Vedic religionThe historical Vedic religion, also called Vedism or Brahmanism, and sometimes ancient Hinduism or Vedic Hinduism, constituted the religious ideas and practices prevalent amongst some of the Indo-Aryan peoples of the northwest Indian subcontinent (Punjab and the western Ganges plain) during the Vedic period (c. 1500–500 BCE). These ideas and practices are found in the Vedic texts, and some Vedic rituals are still practised today.
DaevaA daeva (Avestan: 𐬛𐬀𐬉𐬎𐬎𐬀 daēuua) is a Zoroastrian supernatural entity with disagreeable characteristics. In the Gathas, the oldest texts of the Zoroastrian canon, the daevas are "gods that are (to be) rejected". This meaning is – subject to interpretation – perhaps also evident in the Old Persian "daiva inscription" of the 5th century BC. In the Younger Avesta, the daevas are divinities that promote chaos and disorder.YazataYazata (Avestan: 𐬫𐬀𐬰𐬀𐬙𐬀) is the Avestan word for a Zoroastrian concept with a wide range of meanings but generally signifying (or used as an epithet of) a divinity. The term literally means "worthy of worship or veneration", and is thus, in this more general sense, also applied to certain healing plants, primordial creatures, the fravashis of the dead, and to certain prayers that are themselves considered holy.
Literal translationLiteral translation, direct translation, word-for-word translation, word-by-word translation, or word-to-word translation is the translation of a text done by translating each word separately without analysing how the words are used together in a phrase or sentence. In translation theory, another term for literal translation is metaphrase (as opposed to paraphrase for an analogous translation).
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