|
Contacts
Address: Pr. Mira, 10, Vladikavkaz,
362040, RNO-A, Russia
E-mail: soigsi@mail.ru
|
DOI: 10.23671/VNC.2019.73.43113
ON SPIRITUAL ESSENCE IN THE VIEWS OF THE IRANIANS AND THE OSSETIANS
Besolova, Elena B.
Izvestia SOIGSI. 2019. IIS 34 (73).
Abstract:
The philosophy of death, as well as the philosophy of life, in the system of religious views of
the ancient societies is both mysterious and dominant, and this determines the similarity of some
religious ideas of the Iranians and the Ossetians, testifying to the idea of close connection between
life and death, and to the immortality of the soul and eternal life. All the means used in the funeral
rite comply with the task: to interpret the heartbreaking phenomenon, to make this stable layer of
traditional spiritual culture as clear and recognizable as possible. The researchers have noted so far,
that the sense of community is significantly enhanced during the obligatory rituals and ceremonies
associated with the cult of ancestors and remembrance of the souls of the dead, as well as the belief
in reunion with them after death. Moreover, the Iranians have always believed that the souls of
dead ancestors attend all holidays and celebrations, where they rejoice with the living. Novruz is
celebrated in Iran, the Caucasus, and Central Asia, which confirms the presumption of S. P. Tolstov,
that the relations of the peoples of Central Asia with the Near Eastern ethnographic world go back
to pre-Indo-European antiquity. The article considers one of the aspects of the funeral rite – the cult
of veneration of ancestors, which is more resistant than religious views. The attempt is undertaken
to find convergence between the New Year (Novruz) and the holidays of veneration of the deceased
ancestors of the Iranians and the Ossetians, as well as to identify the relationship between the cult of
the Fravas and the cult of the dying and resurrecting nature.
Keywords: personification of the soul, cult of ancestors, urvan, ud, fravashi, afterlife, dualism, cult of dying and resurrecting nature
+ References1. Mify narodov mira. Entsiklopediya [Myths of the Peoples of the World. Encyclopedia].
Moscow, Sovetskaya entsiklopediya, 1987, vol. I, pp. 560‑565.
2. Besolova, E. B. Yazyk i obryad: Pokhoronno-pominal’naya obryadnost’ osetin v aspekte
ee tekstual’no-verbal’nogo vyrazheniya [Language and Ceremony: Funeral and Memorial
Rituals of Ossetians in the Aspects of its Textual and Verbal Expression]. Vladikavkaz, North
Ossetian Institute for Humanitarian and Social Studies, 2008. 408 p.
3. Avesta. Izbrannye gimny [Avesta. Selected Hymns. Transl. and comments by prof.
I. M. Steblin-Kamensky]. Dushanbe, Adib, 1990. 174 p.
4. Miller, V. Osetinskie etyudy [Ossetic Etudes]. Vladikavkaz, North Ossetian Institute for
Humanitarian Studies, 1992. 713 p.
5. Doroshenko, E. A. Zoroastriitsy v Irane (Istoriko-etnograficheskii ocherk) [Zoroastrians
in Iran (Historical and Ethnographic Essay)]. Moscow, Nauka, 1982. 133 p.
6. Boyce, M. Zoroastriitsy. Verovaniya i obychai [Zoroastrians. Beliefs and customs.
Transl. from English and notes by I. M. Steblin-Kamensky]. St. Petersburg, Peterburgskoe
vostokovedenie, 1994. 288 p.
7. Khamitsaeva, T. A. (comp.) Pamyatniki narodnogo tvorchestva osetin. Trudovaya
i obryadovaya poeziya [Folk Monuments of Ossetians. Labor and Ceremonial Poetry]
Vladikavkaz, Ir, 1992, vol. I. 440 p.
8. Kuzmina, E. E. Skifskoe iskusstvo kak otrazhenie mirovozzreniya odnoi iz grupp
indoirantsev [Scythian Art as a Reflection of the Worldview of One of the Groups of Indo-
Iranians]. Skifo-Sibirskii zverinyi stil’ v iskusstve narodov Evrazii [Scythian-Siberian Animal
Style in the Art of the Peoples of Eurasia]. Moscow, Nauka, 1976, pp. 55‑56.
9. Magometov, A. Kh. Obshchestvennyi stroi i byt osetin (XVII‑XIX vv.) [The Social System
and Life of Ossetians (XVII‑XIX centuries)]. Ordzhonikidze, Ir, 1974. 373 p.
10. Miller, V. F. Otgoloski kavkazskikh verovanii na mogil’nykh pamyatnikakh [Echoes
of Caucasian Beliefs at Grave Monuments]. Materialy po arkheologii Kavkaza, sobrannye
ekspeditsiyami Imperatorskogo Moskovskogo arkheologicheskogo Obshchestva, snaryazhennymi
na Vysochaishe darovannye sredstva. Vyp. III. Khristianskie pamyatniki [Materials on
the Archeology of the Caucasus, collected by the Expeditions of the Imperial Moscow
Archaeological Society, equipped with highly gifted funds. Iss. III. Christian Artifacts].
Moscow, Tipografiya A. Mamontova and Co, 1893, pp. 119‑126.
11. Chibirov, L. A. Drevneishie plasty dukhovnoi kul’tury osetin [The Oldest Strata of the
Ossetian Spiritual Culture]. Tskhinval, Iryston, 1984. 218 p.
12. Tokarev, S. A. Rannie formy religii [Initial Forms of Religion]. Moscow, Politizdat,
1964, pp. 270‑274.
13. Gatiev, B. Sueveriya i predrassudki u osetin [Superstition and Prejudice among
Ossetians]. Sbornik svedenii o kavkazskikh gortsakh [Collected Information about the
Caucasian mountaineers]. Tiflis, Tipografiya N. Zeidlitza. 1876, vol. IX, pp. 1‑83.
14. Kaloev, B. A. Osetiny (istoriko-etnograficheskoe issledovanie) [Ossetians (Historical
and Ethnographic Study)]. Moscow, Nauka, 2004. 471 p.
15. Livshits, V. A. Zoroastriiskii kalendar’ [Zoroastrian Calendar]. Bikerman. Khronologiya
Drevnego mira [Bikerman. Chronology of the Ancient World]. Moscow, Nauka, 1975,
pp. 320‑328.
16. Meitarchiyan, M. B. Pogrebal’nyi obryad zoroastriitsev [The Funeral Rite of the
Zoroastrians]. Moscow, Institute of Oriental Studies of RAS, 1999. 243 p.
17. Inostrantsev, K. A. Sasanidskie etyudy [Sassanian Etudes]. St. Petersburg, Nauka,
1909, pp. 82‑109.
18. Biruni, A. Pamyatniki minuvshikh pokolenii. Izbrannye proizvedeniya [Biruni Abu
Reyhan. Monuments of Past Generations. Selected works]. Tashkent, Uzbek SSR Academy
of Sciences, 1957, vol. I, pp. 202‑205.
19. Snesarev, G. P. Relikty domusul’manskikh verovanii u uzbekov Khorezma [Relics of
Pre-Islamic Beliefs among the Uzbeks of Khorezm]. Moscow, Nauka, 1969. 336 p.
20. Tolstov, S. P. Drevnii Khorezm. Opyt istoriko-arkheologicheskogo issledovaniya [Ancient
Khorezm. An Experience of Historical and Archaeological Study]. Moscow, Moscow State
University, 1948. 352 p.
21. Guriev, T. A. Iz zhemchuzhin Vostoka: AVESTA [From the Pearls of the East. AVESTA].
Vladikavkaz, North Ossetian State University, 1993. 87 p.
← Contents of issue
|
